Session 59: Negotiations Break Down
General Summary
After they had feasted, Lins and Fraeya went in the book, and Sigvurd and Nemara recapped what they had learned so far with their new friend Sruggut.
Sigvurd was of the opinion that the Harbinger should not be tangled with, and that the party should get whatever they could still learn without encountering him and then leave, a plan Sruggut endorsed wholeheartedly, anxious as he was to leave.
They settled on using the Teleport scroll right away - after all, Sruggut was the best source of information, and he was coming with them!
Sruggut had the best chance of getting the scroll to cast, so he read it. It disintegrated in his hands and.... nothing happened.
Things deteriorated quickly. Sruggut accused them of scamming him with a fake scroll. The party lamented about being stuck there, to which Sruggut bitterly retorted that the obsidian ring didn't prevent them from leaving on foot. Conversation grew more and more hostile until Nemara declared that she didn't think they should help him escape after all, and began to leave.
The naga plaintively called for them to "wait," but when they turned over their shoulders in the doorway they saw the hatred in his face and the spell components in his hand. Sigvurd slammed the door and the chase was on.
Nemara temporarily misled Sruggut with an illusory double, and with the help of Sigvurd's magically-conjured vines they scaled the cliff with a hefty lead on the sluggish creature. They fled the zigurrat, climbing over the obsidian ring and booking it toward the jungle, where they almost ran into a corpulent, yellowish-brown creature who stank horribly and seemed very interested in hiring a couple of strapping adventurers.
He was surprised at the party's willingness to come along, and admitted he had just been going to eat them, but wondered if they would actually do a job, since they seemed so agreeable. A beholder had been assembling a small army of trolls in the northern ruins, and really harshing his vibe, would the party care to fight some trolls? Oh also he's been having his trolls scavenge items from the ruins, surely something could be useful in the hoard.
With few other options besides a blind run through the jungle, the two accepted. They tracked and took down most of a troll scavenging party with ease, and got the remaining troll to lead them to their base.
Once inside, they realized that Boshliwur had not been exaggerating aboutthe number of trolls. At least twenty of the creatures lounged around the inner courtyard, eyeing the newcomers hungrily as the guards herded them toward the square building in the centre of the complex.
Nemara reached in her pocket and crushed the magical black pearl there, then grabbed Sigvurd's arm, turning both of them Invisible as they ducked out of the way of the surprised troll's groping hands.
The warlock was light on her feet, and jumped behind one of the trolls, shouting an insult for the only one who seemed to know Common, then tossing an acid vial under the foot of another onlooker. The quarrelsome creatures began shouting and swinging at each other, and she dodged into their midst, seeking more opportunities to stoke the fires of chaos.
Meanwhile, Sigvurd scouted the inner building, then returned to the courtyard to scatter caltrops, spurring the fight into a full-on brawl. As the chaos of a two-dozen-troll-fight erupted all through the courtyard, they slipped into the central building, hoping to get some treasure for their trouble.
The ground floor had an open doorway in each compass direction, looking out into the Troll Fight, and a wide table in the centre with a variety of archaic junk on it - armbands, pottery, tools, and the like. A decent collection, but given the descriptions they'd heard, it couldn't be all of it.
Stairs led down, and both agreed that the real stash, and its Beholder owner, probably lurked below.