Session 41: The Flycatcher and the Marquis
General Summary
Most of the party snapped into Nemara's grimoire just as Nemara herself finished explaining the bargain she'd struck with Lord Antyress: Retrieve the wizard, who was in some kind of suspended state, and leave with him.
Left alone, Lins and Sigvurd decided to follow the trail that Antyress had outlined. But as they investigated the double-doors and pushed them open, Lins felt a breath on her neck, and turned just in time to see a horrific spider-creature retreating along the ceiling with her familiar, Kaida, in its clutches.
The creature fled using teleportation magic, and when they caught up to it in the room down the hall, the pseudodragon was nowhere to be seen. Giggling at its own scheme, the creature - who identified himself alternately as the Flycatcher, the Devouring Prince, Blackleg, and the Threshold Walker - demanded the party perform a favor for him in return for the safe return of their companion.
An incursion of "absolute ghouls" from below had been threatening the Flycatcher's perceived dominion over the tomb. He asked that the duo bring back their leader's head, along with a square seal he had stolen.
With someone who trusted them hanging in the balance, the party agreed, and set out to find these insurgents.
They crossed a rickety bridge over a river as red as fresh blood. Across it, a looming gatehouse.
Lins took a tumble, and barely managed to moor her down the side, the river carrying her twenty feet before she could find a footing. She and Sigvurd fought the Xorns who had been chewing at the bridge's foundations, and then knocked down the gate.
They were greeted by a surprisingly civil man, who despite his sallow complexion and the green-light lantern which - to Sigvurd's delight - caused his invisible form to glow, didn't seem upset at the incursion.
The man, who introduced himself as Moreto, claimed to have come from below on a holy voyage. Most of his accompaniment had died during the journey, two of them to the Flycatcher's spells. He made the party a counter-offer: bring the Flycatcher's head, and they could have the seal for themselves.
The party found this person much more agreeable than the insane spider, and returned to confront him. But the Flycatcher saw he was outmatched, and with a sinewy hand firmly clasped around Sigvurd's ankle, began to phase away...