GB Chapter 21: All Hail the Tavern King

General Summary

Opening

• Fork wakes up and drunkenly decks a random bar patron. Balcazar goes inside to collect him, and the two head to the Tundra Tumbler. Meanwhile, Draconius remains in the alley and tinkers with his demon book & the Thugoran Callstone, successfully learning a new form for the Balgura demon if he summons it
• Obu joins the Church of Danos through an exhilarating ritual
• At the Tundra Tumbler, Balcazar & Fork learn about the Vilsafar Grand Library, where they could learn more about Danos, the vampiric government, and the Daidrin Gaioforce.
• Fork announces his status as Tavern King immediately upon entering, and quickly gains a drunken subject named Marzis. He instructs his underling to go table to table until he learns about Wizard Santa. One guy seems to know shit and he wasn’t forthcoming, so to persuade him to talk, King Fork slaps him across the face. A bar fight breaks out, unarmed & magic only.

Tavern King Fork & Big Brain Balcazar vs. a Frost Elf mage

Initiative

• Fork: 20
• Balcazar: 4
• Frost Elf Mage: 14 (32/73)

Round 1

• King Fork: uses a ki point to make two strikes, hit one for 7 damage. Uses his second attack for 8 damage. Disengages, but disguised it as a drunken stumble away. Marzis expresses concern for his king.
• Frost Elf Mage: Swings, but misses completely
• Balcazar: Uses his Blacksun Amulet to cast Chill Touch, dealing 14 necrotic damage as chilling hands grab the mage’s ankles. As dude is held in place, Balcazar bites him for 5 piercing.
• Master Obu: walks in on the scene, finding comfort in the violence.

Round 2

• King Fork: The might of his royal fist lands a Stunning Strike on his adversary, who fails his saving throw and is stunned after taking 5 bludgeoning. Pushes him over with a finger to the forehead for 2 damage.
• Frost Elf Mage: Stunned
• Balcazar: Picks up the magic douche and throws him into the chair. He glares at his prey and sits at the table. King Fork joins him and begins interrogation.
• Master Obu: Joins the interrogation.

Aftermath

• The gang learns from the bar patron that Wizard Santa is a multi-centennial being who delivers joy to those on the nice list and punishment to those on the naughty list. Performs this once a year, and potentially resides in the North Pole
• Obu shares some of his recent adventures and knowledge with the group in a very cryptic way, and the gang talks to more people about the First Vempire. They learn about how things run in Vilsafar and some bits about how it got there:
• “In Vilsafar, citizens are farmed as food, but not in the traditional way. Instead, they live their lives with the threat of the Blood Scouts & Moon Elves over their shoulders. When they are chosen, they are taken from these lives and input into the food system, either killed immediately for volume or as personal blood slaves. On paper, the Blood Governor of Vilsafar uses a random lottery system to determine who is taken each day for his & the Daedrian Empire’s food needs. However, it’s almost always dissidents and citizens who openly dislike the vampire’s merciful rule.”
• After learning all this, B decide to go to the library; Draconius busts into the tavern & stays with Marzis to drink.
• They arrive at the Vilsafar Grand Library and “finesse” their way past the guards, who call reinforcements to push up the group’s timetable.
• In their investigations, Balcazar found a flesh bound death book, icy history book & a continental map of Cyregnor.
• Fork found a whimsical holiday scroll that doesn’t open to his pull, but he pockets it anyway. The outside inscription reads “The True Meaning of Christmas” in whimsical-font Elvish.
• Master Obu finds a Daidrin Thought Crystal mixed among the vast wellspring of knowledge, pocketing it for later use.
• Balcazar finds a slightly hidden passage and heads down with Fork; they come across an etching on the wall saying “This way to salvation” in Elvish, a skeleton with a near-fossilized blood stain on the wall behind it, and a small ritual chamber littered with skeletons. There is a hole in the wall behind the “alter”, which the trio immediately go through. It slides down and the gang controls their slide, but fall out the end off a 40 foot outlet. Fork lands with his scepter like Mary Poppins, Balcazar casts Eldritch Blast to break his fall and briefly knocks himself out (has another dream flash from his patron), while Master Obu lands in his shell but briefly knocks himself out.
• While Balcazar, Fork & Master Obu find themselves in the situation presented above, Draconius stumbles his way to the Vilsafar Grand Library, with Marzis at his side. Draconius will only refer to Marzis as Stonius, who is too drunk to mind. They arrive to see four Blood Scouts (two of which he remembers from the first tavern) running up to the two guarding the library, who then head in as a 6-man team (presumably to find his companions, which Draconius would not know. Nor would his companions know how many Blood Scouts are searching for them.)
• Draconius & New Stonius head into the library when the coast is clear, and perform a hilarious Scooby Doo-esque search sequence to find desirable information while simultaneously avoiding the Blood Scouts. New Stonius learns nothing of significance, but Draconius finds “The Infernal Tongue”, a language book that he can research during downtime to learn the Infernal language. They discovers the same hole that the rest of the party traversed (though they would not specifically know this), and hearing the Blood Scouts closing in, decide whether to search for more knowledge or go down the hole.

Rewards Granted

• Everyone: 1,000 XP for establishing Fork’s reign as the Tavern King, gathering useful knowledge, and exploring new avenues of adventure & purpose.
• Fork: “The True Meaning of Christmas (written in Elvish)”, a mysterious scroll giving off whimsical holiday vibes (did not open when Fork attempted).
• Balcazar: A flesh-bound book of death written in an unknown language (to him), an up-to-date continental map of Cyregnor, and a history book on the First Vempire & the Tundra Wars.
• Master Obu: A Daidrin Thought Crystal, some new friends, and a newfound understanding of purpose
• Draconius: A language instruction book called “The Infernal Tongue”

Missions/Quests Completed

• Completed The Church of Danos side quest
• Contemplated Wizard Santa’s riddles & learned a brief legend about him
• Gained more knowledge of the region & the Daidrin Gaiostone

Character(s) interacted with

• Marzis, a drunken patron of the Tundra Tumbler
• Danos cultists & death priest
• Magic bartender at the Tundra Tumbler
• Several patrons at the Tundra Tumbler
• Four Blood Scouts (two interacted with Obu, while two interacted with King Fork & his royal procession)

Report Date

13 May 2022

Primary Location

Vilsafar

Secondary Location

Cyregnor

Related Plots

• The Daidrin Expedition