Session 31 Report

General Summary

Grissint 2 Snowdeep 834EA

Glynna Willowbank escorted Harthe, Jodariel Balakin, Pōtiki, and Selestine Ignasia to the Rouvray City Hall and directed them to hand in their weapons at the front and up the stairs to the viewing mezzanine overlooking the council meeting chamber. She them told them she would see them later and wished them luck in their investigations. Upon their arrival, the meeting was already in session as the councillors had discussed business as usual activities. This was of no interest or concern to the party but eventually the discussion turned to the more pressing issues. A male half-elf with copper skin and medium length wavy silver hair tied up in a half-ponytail and wearing very fine clothes, reported that the citizens of Rouvray were getting restless and concerned. A male firbolg with pale blue fur, simple blue robes and thinning wavy red hair with thick sideburns, reported that there had been no changes with Haley Cleroy's health but that they should all prepare for the worst, just in case. There were a few sad nods around the room. A dwarf with ruddy skin and curly black hair in a tight ponytail wearing a more decorated uniform of the Rouvray Enforcers indicating their rank, assured that their forces could contain civil unrest. A female half-elf with bronze skin and curly black hair twisted into many short tight braids and wearing good quality robes and a pair of gold spectacles, asked an oldish wood elf with dark brown skin with white swirling elven tattoos, if there had been any word from Chambon. The wood elf replied that there had been messages that they'd been fielding and distracting as best they could but echoed the firbolg's sentiments that the council needed to "prepare for the inevitability of Emperor Sovereign Haley Cleroy's death". There was a collective gasp from around the room. The Venturers watched the faces and noted that some seemed genuinely shocked and disturbed by the statement while others seemed already resigned to the Emperor's fate but not exactly happy about it. The wood elf rolled his eyes and retorted "what?! We were all thinking it and if not, we need to face facts!" A silence befell the room. A female human with tanned skin and dark brown hair worn in a severe bun and a well dressed and groomed female half-orc with pale grey-green skin and long dark twisted braidlocks broke the silence with their questions about a successor. Eventually a tall muscular male aasimar with light skin that seemed to glow slightly with short curly gold and silver hair and goatee and heavy armor, spoke up and diverted the conversation, stating "If Emperor Cleroy's death is inevitable, then I need some more time to mobilise the troops for war. How long can you buy us with Emperor Huchon Peletier, Nym?" The wood-elf, now identified as Nym Quineiros, responded "So far, so good. But I think any more than six months is asking for trouble". There were more nods around the room. A male human with light skin and short wavy black hair and a beard, seated at the head of the table, cleared his throat for attention and stated that the council needs to start a succession plan next meeting and implement a policy that all future leaders have a second for this reason. He then called the meeting to a close and the councillors left the room. The party then discussed what to do next. They decided they would go and see if they could find any of the gisirs to ask them questions to try figure out who was the likely culprit. They headed back downstairs and spotted the female half-elf gisir with gold spectacles and the male human gisir who had chaired the meeting heading towards a corridor of doors. They followed them down the corridor. The woman headed into a door and the party continued to follow the man as he went further down the hallway. He turned around at the sound of Jodi's clanking armor. He asked them who they were and why they were following him and then noted their The Silver Whisperers badges. He nodded and led them into his office. He introduced himself as Gisir Athen Cantrill. Selestine gave him a dead-eye stare to try intimidate him but she farted and it just weirded him out instead. They asked him a lot of questions about Haley, Chambon, Emperor Peletier, and who might have beef with Haley. He told them that he couldn't think of anyone, they asked about the councillors and he said that if any of them thought they had something to gain from killing Haley, they were mistaken and shooting themselves in the foot with an explosive arrow. He shared how there is still bad blood between Cleroy and Chambon on the part of Cleroy going right back to when Chambon took over the land of Taesai. He said that Haley inspired Clerons to not try and fight Chambon as they would lose. He said that while Gisir Nicolai Holst seemed bored and frustrated with the peace, he'd be a fool if he was gunning for Haley in order to stoke war. He said he thought Peletier was a dick but believed he saw potential in Haley and genuinely liked her. Pōtiki asked him about what he personally thought of Haley. He said that she could be emotionally driven and irrational but was a good leader and a lot to offer. The party learnt that he was somewhat a mentor and advisor to her and would genuinely mourn her death. He told them Haley was well loved. They asked about whether it was possible that Peletier was after a political alliance. He said it was possible but he was not aware of anything of the sort. He said she had a lot of pressure on her to produce an heir but she had not had any interest in any alliances, more interested in a love match. Pōtiki commented that that was stupid. Athen agreed and said it was idealistic and unrealistic for someone in her position. He asked if they had any further questions as he had more work to do but was happy to help. They asked where the spymaster's office was and he told them Nym's office was next door on the right, they also asked where the Gisir of Military's office was. He told them that he didn't actually have an office in the City Hall and his base was instead at the Cleroy Barracks and gave them directions. They thanked him and left. They then knocked on Nym's door a few times but there was no response. They tried to open the door but it was locked. They debated quietly having Selestine pick the lock but they decided that breaking into the spymaster's office was probably unwise and Harthe noted that if he was a spymaster worth his salt there would not be any secrets or clues in his office anyway. They then decided to see the woman they had followed along with Athen down the hallway. She called them in after they knocked and they asked her questions similar to those they'd asked Athen, after registering her as Gisir Amnestria Lanlee, Gisir of Education and Arts. However, the discussion was fruitless as she seemed very out of it and they figured she had perhaps suffered a traumatic brain injury as even Harthe's detect thoughts spell gleaned nothing but static. They found out that she had fallen out of a tree once and lamented how she had been able to get her job or retain it depending on when the injury had taken place which they could not ascertain. They deemed the discussion to be a dead end and left, discussing whether to go to the barracks to talk to Gisir Nicolai, go to The Rude Spittoon in Nuvar or visit the Cleroy Palace kitchen in case some tea that Amnestria had mentioned serving to Haley. They collected their weapons and left city hall. Outside, they met Glynna who asked them what they wanted to do next and how their investigations were going. They told her about their concerns about Gisir Amnestria and how they believed she needed a cleric to see about her possible brain injury. Glynna seemed concerned and confused and assured them she would go and speak to her soon to see what she could do. They mentioned wanting to visit the palace kitchen and she told them she could escort them there but noted that all staff and facilities had been thoroughly checked out by the Silver Whisperers and triple-checked by Tyna Brushgather herself. She told them it might help for them to see Haley themselves and she could show them to her chamber. They agreed and were led to Haley's room. The room was very warm and the air stale and the thick drapes drawn. Haley lay in the middle of a very large four-posted bed, impossibly pale and drenched in sweat, periodically rambling incoherently and thrashing wildly. Tyna greeted the party and ordered everyone else in the room to leave. She then asked to speak with Glynna privately and the two women left the room and left the Venturers alone in the room. Harthe tried his detect thoughts spell again on Haley and got the impression she was not cognizant and fever dreaming. Jodi tried to lay on hands a couple of times but it had no effect an Pōtiki reminded her that high leveled clerics had not had any luck healing her either. They then decided to make some investigations of the room in case something in the room was causing her illness. They did not find anything untoward, but did find a crumpled letter in the back of her nightstand drawer, seemingly undisturbed due to the other contents of the drawer being rather personal in nature. The letter was addressed to Haley from Emperor Peletier and proposed a political marriage (see notes/extra material). Harthe read it out to the group and they speculated whether it was possible that if Haley had refused, Peletier could be vengeful enough to take over Cleroy by force. Eventually Tyna returned and they asked her about the letter and she said she was aware Peletier had been seeking a political alliance but could not be sure that he would retaliate as she got the sense he genuinely liked her. Pōtiki asked how old he was and if he was a creep. She said not exactly a creep but entitled and noted that he didn't exactly need Haley as he had plenty of concubines. She said she had not been able to establish a connection between him and Haley's illness but that it was in the realms of possibility that he could have influenced one of the councillors and that was the reason she had them under investigation. The party then left the palace and tried to get a cart to the barracks, after having been told that it would be an hour's walk each way. After noting the time and having had no luck getting a cart to ride, they decided they could continue questioning people the next day and instead go to Nuvar to The Rude Spittoon to find the artifact. They sent a message to Glynna via their communication pebbles and she told them to meet her at the Rouvray Library. They went to the library and Glynna first showed them towards a room in the back guarded by two Rouvray Enforcers and a Silver Whisperer. They began to ask for papers but spotted the party's Silver Whisperers badges and let them through. Inside the small room was a teleportation circle. Glynna told them it was the sigil for arriving back in Rouvray and gave Harthe time to copy it into his spellbook. She then led them into another similiarly sized room and drew up her own teleportation circle. She told them that it was her personal one for Nuvar that they could use and Harthe could copy into his spellbook as well, which he did, but that whenever they wished to use it they would first need to contact her so that she could warn the people at the other end. She then sent a message and invited the party to jump into the circle to teleport through to Nuvar. They did so and arrived in another small room and were greeted by the smiling face of a priestess of Unnia called Radelia Chapmyre. She communicated with them through sign language but none of the party knew what most of the signs meant except for directions and to follow her. She led them out into the main room of the Nuvar Temple of Unnia and they thanked her and left for The Rude Spittoon. While still fairly early in the evening and not long past opening time, the bar was already lively with a number of patrons. The party ordered drinks and found a table in the corner to quietly discuss a plan of attack. Pō eventually used a spell to allow themself to go invisible briefly and pass through the door to the apartment upstairs. They checked upstairs and the studio apartment was dark and Pō could not see any sign of any occupants. They went back down to the door and unlocked it and whispered to the others through their communication pebbles that it was all clear. Each of the party then entered the door one by one as opportunities arose with no one watching. They were then all gathered at the bottom landing of the stairs and whispering what to do next when they heard a voice upstairs. "Tormir, do you hear something?" and a lantern lit up the room above. Harthe still in his old man disguise went up the stairs and pretended to be lost and looking for the bar and was faced with a naked male dwarf, Brirook and a naked male halfling. They demanded the group get out of their house and started to try herd them out. Harthe cast charm person but only the halfling seemed to be affected. Pō told them they were not there to hurt the men and thought the house was empty and had come to find something that belonged to the previous owner and asked if they could please put their clothes back on. The two men having spotted that the party were well armed and it was not worth trying to fight, got dressed and told the group they could have five minutes and disappeared downstairs. The group then started looking for an access point in the ceiling. Selestine managed to spot it and was about to pull on the latch when Pō warned that it could be trapped. Selestine investigated and discovered there was an arcane lock on it. She and Harthe looked to disarm it but accidentally triggered it in the process and felt a fear effect wash over them. However, their strength of mind brushed off the effect. The trap now disarmed, dissipated the illusion over the access point and revealed a mundane lock which Selestine unpicked. The hatch opened and Selestine poked her head through. From below, the ceiling space looked no bigger than a box. However, Selestine disappeared completely through the hatch and found herself in a 40x25ft room, dimly lit and surrounded with mirrors with a small chest at the end of the room. The others were confused by her impossible disappearance into such a small space until she assured them it was fine and to come up. Pō again warned about traps and Selestine checked and found it to be ok. Harthe followed and cast detect magic and found the mirrors, chest and lanterns aglow with various schools of magic. Harthe cast mage hand to touch the chest and trigger any trap and it was thrown back at him by a wall of force. Shadowy reflections then popped out of the mirrors to attack and two hairy dwarf-sized creatures popped out and attacked. Selestine called Jodi and Pō up and they started to fight the creatures. The two hairy dwarf-sized creatures shape-shifting into most of the party's worst fears. For Harthe, a red tiefling woman on fire burning to death and crying out at him, for Pō, a spirit man yelling hateful things at them telling them that Pō was nothing more than a tool and he never cared about them, and for Selestine, a half-elven man crying out at her asking why she abandoned him and left him to die and didn't help him. They eventually took the monsters down, the last boggart at some point transforming into the whole party dying and scaring Harthe away and out of the room. With the monsters finally taken down, the party discovered that the chest was no longer trapped but had a large eyeball watching the group, and four chains appeared around the box with a large padlock with a small crystal in the place of the keyhole. A small plaque on the chest contained an inscription with the words "Astra inclinant, sed non obligant" followed by a poem in Sylvan beneath (see notes/extra material) which Pō slowly read out with the help of their helm of comprehend languages. Each party member shared their deepest regret one by one dropping a chain and making the crystal glow brighter, with Selestine initially trying to deceive and bringing the process back to square one with the chains reappearing. Eventually all the chains had dropped and the chest opened revealing a large glass marble ball.

Rewards Granted

Artifact

Character(s) interacted with

Created Content

Notes

Letter to Haley Cleroy from Huchon Peletier found in her nightstand:

Dear Sovereign Emperor Haley Cleroy, I beg you to reconsider my proposal. As you well know, neither of us are getting any younger and I am well aware of the increasing pressure on you to ensure succession of your line. While our countries have a long history of tension, we both know the peace has been maintained through our alliance and those of our predecessors. Why not make it formal? You are after all, an Emperor without an empire. This way, you will have an empire again. Mine. We wouldn't need to change anything. This after all would be a purely political alliance. You can stay in Rouvray and lead your country. I can even return some of your ancestral lands in Western Chambon. What is there to lose? Please do not keep me waiting too long. Yours, Emperor Huchon Peletier

Inscription on the chest in the Rude Spitoon:

"The stars incline us, they do not bind us Leave behind your deep regrets And worry not for what you share The fey will guard your secrets here."

Campaign

Venturers of Iklarel

Protagonists

Selestine Ignasia

Pōtiki

Jodariel Balakin

()

8 / 8 HP

STR

DEX

CON

INT

WIS

CHA

Harthe

Report Date

15 Aug 2021

Primary Location

Rouvray

Secondary Location

Nuvar

Previous sessions

Following sessions

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Session 31 Report

General Summary

Grissint 2 Snowdeep 834EA

Rewards Granted

Character(s) interacted with

Created Content

Notes

Selestine Ignasia

Pōtiki

Jodariel Balakin

Harthe

Comments

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