Session 40: Fear the Pact of the Damned
General Summary
The session began at 6AM on HearthWarmth 12, 2597 in the Cloud and Stars Inn within the Ward of Nobility in Skormp following news of the loss of the Absolute Majesty II and the death of Jandar. The party went to the docks to investigate where they found the dock master. After intense interrogation and threats, they learned two young dock hands had witnessed the explosion on the ship along with two guards (who Atticus identified as being on his payroll). The party interrogated them both (a young dragonborn and a young elf). Rodan Spice broke the nose of the young dragonborn for an offhand comment and Atticus scared them to death. After the dragonborn urinated on himself, the information they mainly gathered was two voices being heard on the ship right before an explosion. One of the voices belonged to Jandar. With the importance of telling their mothers they love them emphasized, they went to the actual burned hull of their ship sticking out of the water.
Atticus located his gun on the ocean floor and was able to successfully direct Wren as an octopus to bring back Jandar's burned remains. Tork was also an octopus who discovered Bull the Oxen's remains but only brought one leg to the surface. With his body on the dock, Alena Birch cast speak with dead and they asked the corpse five questions. First they asked what happened which he described as:
Some of the party held vigil over his body while Kale and Rodan Spice went shopping (Kale to acquire materials to reincarnate Jandar and Rodan Spice to purchase some magical arrows). With these supplies, Kale looked for a suitable place to perform the reincarnation ritual. Finding a shallow ditch, he planted the body in the ground and began working on the casting. He kicked in dirt, pieces of branches, lathered on oil, and over time a new body formed that called in Jandar's soul. With this, Jandar was reincarnated as a yellowish-green half-orc. Kale gave him a blue cloak to cover himself for the time being.
Atticus was fairly certain Jandar's description matched Hilaf Loroun, so they decided to stake out the Loroun family estate. After watching a definite increase in guard presence and people coming and going all day (including the head steward who did not return), a portion of the party decided to go back to the temple of Artemis to see if Hilaf Loroun might be there (conversations with the priestess revealed he had not been back and Alena Birch took some time to pray).
As time wore on, Atticus became increasingly impatient and decided to take matters into his own hands. He got Kale (who was listening in on the house as a raven on the roof, discerning the guards were searching for someone) to leave and cast a fireball directly into the second story over the doorway of the Loroun family estate. When the dust settled, three people were unmoving in the rubble from Kale's point of view. Kale revived the one he recognized, the mother, and flew off, only to witness Rodan Spice put two arrows through her head, not 15 seconds later.
With this, the two groups met in the southern portion of the Ward of Nobility where they determined via their telepathic communication to go to the Northern portion of the Ward where some of Atticus' network had last spotted the Loroun steward. Atticus knocked on the doors of nearby estates and asked about if anyone had seen the man, but no one had as the guards who answered were very defensive given the recent explosion at the Loroun household. With this, the party returned back to the Cloud and Stars Inn for the night.
Within the Inn, a female elf with a half shaved head handed the party a large leather case embossed with a golden "F". The contents proved to be a letter granting an appearance for the group before King Jorip for 15 minutes until or at the gala beginning at dusk on HearthWarmth 14, 2597. With this information, the party decided to retire for the evening so in the morning Kale could attempt to use magic to scry upon Hilaf Loroun. As Kale went to bed however, he saw a figure who was attempting to be invisible appear from under his bed, recognizing him as Hilaf Loroun. As Kale attempted to talk with him, he attacked with vigor wounding Kale. As Kale attempted magic, it simply deflected off Hilaf Loroun, though the beginnings of a feline face began to appear beneath a mask of sorts.
With this commotion, the rest of the party came to Kale's aid. The creature made many in the party ineffective as it dismissed all the magic they threw at it without care (including a fireball from Atticus). Eventually thanks mainly to Tork they were able to defeat the creature and a seriously wounded Kale knocked it to near obliteration. As it lay on the ground and the short but intense fight ended, Joint Operations LLC. began questioning and torturing it.
The first thing they learned was that it had brought the bow with it and hid it under the bed from which it had emerged. Alena Birch was able to find it there and retrieve it. They learned from it that it had killed Hilaf Loroun months ago and taken his place. It had not been hired but was doing this work as part of some larger group (stealing holy weapons like the bow). It admitted to killing Jandar and burning the Absolute Majesty II without care, and still with some malice. Repeatedly the creature said it would still kill them and they were a mere road bump, a minor loss in a minor part of a larger plan. As the continued to torture it and attempt to extract information, it yielded little more. With a final hit to cave in its chest, the creature screamed "Beware the Pact of the Damned!" as it was pulperized. As it breathed out, its body began to burn into ash, leaving a symbol of two intertwining symbols of fire wrapping around one another in a helix burned into the charred floor. This ended the session, near 11PM on HearthWarmth 12th, 2597. Meta Plot Note For Clarity: The creature (Rakshasa) infiltrated the Loroun household and stole the bow of Artemis. When the party came knocking, the high steward reported to it that the party had named themselves, were at the docks with a ship named the Absolute Majesty II, and were searching for something relating to the temple of Artemis. With this information, they killed the high steward to keep the information from spreading and then as Hilaf Loroun killed Jandar and burned the ship in looking for them. They managed to sleuth out their whereabouts and their stay at the Cloud and Stars Inn where it would try to ambush them the following night. It then returned as the high steward to the Loroun household before leaving again still disguised as the same. After leaving its guards, it changed appearance and broke into their room in the Cloud and Stars Inn where it lay in wait, attempting to cover its tracks by taking out the team investigating the theft.
Not the First Fireball
Helps Channel the Rage
Screw Jandar, I Miss Bull
Beef Jerky
When I Was a Young Man
Atticus Is Leaving at a Pretty Good Pace
Rodan Spice Likes to Talk About The Boat
Accessory to Grand Theft Kale
I'm Ready to Kill
We're Not Exactly Short on Enemies
Maybe We Should Just Kill Them All
This is a Shit City
I Will Pile Body Upon Body
Might Be Going to the Gala to Commit an Act of Terrorism
Ship
Ox In the Cargo Hold
Sure They're Only On Your Payroll?
First Two Bodies for Our Pyramid of Bodies
Kale the Dolphin
Return of Shork
Deckhands
Slap Him In His Face
My Own Zone of Truth
Kneecapping?!
Were You Committing Crimes?
We're Sort of Above the Law
We Murder People
Young Supple Bodies
Did They Piss Themselves?
I'm Not Below Fucking or Killing Mothers
Atticus Will Fuck Your Mom & Become Your Dad
I'm Going to Need a Bit of Action Out Of You
Tell Your Mothers You Love Them...
Find a Homeless Person and Ask Them For Me
Now Only 52 Pitons
One of Bull's Leg
Wrentopus & Torktopus
Not Complete Face Melting
Pyramid of Bodies
Over His Dead Body
Weird Octopus Fettish
5 Questions
Comes Back as a Gnome
If He's a Gnome, He's Fired But Alive
Second Hand Embarrassments
I Would Like a Chance to Not Fail Again
My Sweet Boy, You Did Not Fail
Pray to God It Isn't Smaller Than a Human
I'm Excited to See If I Still Respect Him or Not
Let's Kill Him a Couple Times at Least
I Don't Care What You Like
Arrows and Oils
I'm The Druid Here, We're Planting Him
Not Burying, Putting In the Ground
Slight Ditch, Throw Some Dirt
You Lather That Body in Oil
Can't Go By Jandar Anymore
Fancy Blue Robes for Half-Orc Jandar
No Kids Are Ever Going to Sit On You Again
Rajdan
Post-Skormp, After Body Pyramid
Sounds Like Hilaf Loroun
Weird With His Hands
Let's Go Fucking Check His Hands
Shake Whoever We Need to Shake
Atticus Will Go Invisible and Walk Away
Staking Out the House
That Powerful of a Body
I'm Going to Fuck Damnit
Hat Tossed From Thin Air
Attractive But Not So Sexy To Draw Attention
That (Wo)Man is Decent Looking
Disguise as Jandar the Human
Orange Face?
Extensive Body Painting Session
Raven Kale
Am I Over That?
The Many Eyed Raven
Security Might Be Increased
We Only Broke In There Twice in One Night
Perfect Crime to Break In Again
I'm Hot, I Think I Should Do It
High Steward Is Back...
My Balls Are About to Freeze Off
Artemis Musings
If We Hadn't Broken In Twice Last Night...
The One With the Weird Hands
Hand Fixation...
Casually Continue On
The One With the Gimpy Hand
Literally Missing
100% + 50% is 75% Sure
51% Sure He's Involved
Get a Healthy Distance Away From the Building
Jandar Casts Fireballs
Committing Atrocities From the Grave
3 Unmoving Bodies
Just Exploding Them Is Fine Too
Kill the Feminine Scream
Tracking the High Steward
A Decent Looking, Slightly Frightened, Not Super Hot, And Not Terrified Half Elf Woman
I Blew It Up
I Shot A Woman In the Brain
I Didn't Expect the Double Tap
We've Got to Work on Communication
Trying to Make a Statement
Killing Potentially Innocent People?
No One Is Truly Innocent...
Reincarnate Her Tomorrow?
Just Because We're Getting No Where Doesn't Mean We Commit Acts of Terrorism
Remember When You Said You Owe Me One?
The Girl Was the Only One I Hoped Didn't Die
They Might Have All Been Innocent Of the Crime, But Guilty of Something... Look At Their House
You Did Commit An Act of Terrorism Technically
Alright Kale, Go to Sleep
We Should Try Hitting It
No Buffs, Just All Utility & Damage
Goddamit, For Once We Need a Good Character In This Group
He's Erect
Kale's Angry At This Point
Golf Swing Right Into It
I'm Going to Try To Be Quiet (Post Fireball)
Just Kill Me
I'm Pretty Sure I Still Will Kill You
I Take The Next Finger
There's A Process to this Torture
Keep Taking Fingers First
You Can't Just Use
Is the Beam Work Exposed
Give Me All Your Rope
Guilty of Any And All Crimes I Want to Accuse Him Of
I Have No Regret For Anything I Did Tonight
I'm Going To Need You To Reincarnate That Family
Lourun Has Been Dead For Months
You Really Are the Stupid One
Tork Would Like to Watch
Aw Shit, Jandar's Still Alive
Tork Pulps Ya!
Denizens of Hell Collecting Holy Artifacts
Atticus located his gun on the ocean floor and was able to successfully direct Wren as an octopus to bring back Jandar's burned remains. Tork was also an octopus who discovered Bull the Oxen's remains but only brought one leg to the surface. With his body on the dock, Alena Birch cast speak with dead and they asked the corpse five questions. First they asked what happened which he described as:
He felt cold metal on either side of his neck. A voice asked him where the member of Joint Operations, LLC. were and he replied they were gone for the night. He then tried to turn around and attack the creature person but felt his neck and throat slit. The last thing he remembered was looking up at the face and then bright red before black closed in.The corpse was asked if he recognized the person, to which he replied:
NoNext the party asked him what the person looked liked. He described:
A with black hair and a goatee, slightly rotund, who had something weird happening with his hands.Following this the party asked him if he wanted to come back to life. He replied:
Yes, he would like a chance to not fail againAtticus comforted that he had not failed. A final question was asked as well.
Some of the party held vigil over his body while Kale and Rodan Spice went shopping (Kale to acquire materials to reincarnate Jandar and Rodan Spice to purchase some magical arrows). With these supplies, Kale looked for a suitable place to perform the reincarnation ritual. Finding a shallow ditch, he planted the body in the ground and began working on the casting. He kicked in dirt, pieces of branches, lathered on oil, and over time a new body formed that called in Jandar's soul. With this, Jandar was reincarnated as a yellowish-green half-orc. Kale gave him a blue cloak to cover himself for the time being.
Atticus was fairly certain Jandar's description matched Hilaf Loroun, so they decided to stake out the Loroun family estate. After watching a definite increase in guard presence and people coming and going all day (including the head steward who did not return), a portion of the party decided to go back to the temple of Artemis to see if Hilaf Loroun might be there (conversations with the priestess revealed he had not been back and Alena Birch took some time to pray).
As time wore on, Atticus became increasingly impatient and decided to take matters into his own hands. He got Kale (who was listening in on the house as a raven on the roof, discerning the guards were searching for someone) to leave and cast a fireball directly into the second story over the doorway of the Loroun family estate. When the dust settled, three people were unmoving in the rubble from Kale's point of view. Kale revived the one he recognized, the mother, and flew off, only to witness Rodan Spice put two arrows through her head, not 15 seconds later.
With this, the two groups met in the southern portion of the Ward of Nobility where they determined via their telepathic communication to go to the Northern portion of the Ward where some of Atticus' network had last spotted the Loroun steward. Atticus knocked on the doors of nearby estates and asked about if anyone had seen the man, but no one had as the guards who answered were very defensive given the recent explosion at the Loroun household. With this, the party returned back to the Cloud and Stars Inn for the night.
Within the Inn, a female elf with a half shaved head handed the party a large leather case embossed with a golden "F". The contents proved to be a letter granting an appearance for the group before King Jorip for 15 minutes until or at the gala beginning at dusk on HearthWarmth 14, 2597. With this information, the party decided to retire for the evening so in the morning Kale could attempt to use magic to scry upon Hilaf Loroun. As Kale went to bed however, he saw a figure who was attempting to be invisible appear from under his bed, recognizing him as Hilaf Loroun. As Kale attempted to talk with him, he attacked with vigor wounding Kale. As Kale attempted magic, it simply deflected off Hilaf Loroun, though the beginnings of a feline face began to appear beneath a mask of sorts.
With this commotion, the rest of the party came to Kale's aid. The creature made many in the party ineffective as it dismissed all the magic they threw at it without care (including a fireball from Atticus). Eventually thanks mainly to Tork they were able to defeat the creature and a seriously wounded Kale knocked it to near obliteration. As it lay on the ground and the short but intense fight ended, Joint Operations LLC. began questioning and torturing it.
The first thing they learned was that it had brought the bow with it and hid it under the bed from which it had emerged. Alena Birch was able to find it there and retrieve it. They learned from it that it had killed Hilaf Loroun months ago and taken his place. It had not been hired but was doing this work as part of some larger group (stealing holy weapons like the bow). It admitted to killing Jandar and burning the Absolute Majesty II without care, and still with some malice. Repeatedly the creature said it would still kill them and they were a mere road bump, a minor loss in a minor part of a larger plan. As the continued to torture it and attempt to extract information, it yielded little more. With a final hit to cave in its chest, the creature screamed "Beware the Pact of the Damned!" as it was pulperized. As it breathed out, its body began to burn into ash, leaving a symbol of two intertwining symbols of fire wrapping around one another in a helix burned into the charred floor. This ended the session, near 11PM on HearthWarmth 12th, 2597. Meta Plot Note For Clarity: The creature (Rakshasa) infiltrated the Loroun household and stole the bow of Artemis. When the party came knocking, the high steward reported to it that the party had named themselves, were at the docks with a ship named the Absolute Majesty II, and were searching for something relating to the temple of Artemis. With this information, they killed the high steward to keep the information from spreading and then as Hilaf Loroun killed Jandar and burned the ship in looking for them. They managed to sleuth out their whereabouts and their stay at the Cloud and Stars Inn where it would try to ambush them the following night. It then returned as the high steward to the Loroun household before leaving again still disguised as the same. After leaving its guards, it changed appearance and broke into their room in the Cloud and Stars Inn where it lay in wait, attempting to cover its tracks by taking out the team investigating the theft.
Rejected Session Names
Report Date
02 Nov 2023
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