Kingdom on the Brink - Session 25
General Summary
The party finishes up at Salwor's study, Oneiro and Ashara write down some notes he found on a Bathazaar coil written in Salwor's journal (unnoticed) and leave. The party returns to the Messy Rose, Oneiro plays some cards and wins the pot, Hendred and Stormsong talk about her dreams and how she's stressed out about how the dragons gave her a vision and have a purpose for her, Stormsong reminds her she has friends to lean on. A person approaches Del Varis and Ashara, introduces himself as Robert, and asks them to help him, there's someone stealing from the guild vault and the only people he can trust is the party because they're outsiders. The group long rests for the night, in the morning Ashara fills the party in on the mission to find out who's stealing from the vault. The group heads to the guildhall and find Robert, he informs the party that he noticed several weeks ago that gold was missing from the vaults, but only from the portion that was earmarked for refugee relief if the guild vote passes (The vote has been put on hold due to the mercenaries seeking guildship and the death of Erlathen). He explains the gold on the books versus what's actually in the vaults doesn't add up and he would greatly appreciate it if the party could handle this discreetly. The party gather information: who has access, where the attendants were, if anyone would have motive, etc and then go to the vault. Robert explains that there's a log of who enters the vault and that there's many magical and mundane ways it's protected, Artimus dimension doors into the vault, which sets off glyph of warding that leaves him singed and activates an alarm. He dimension doors out and shortly thereafter several guards show up, they ask what happened and Artimus asks who got the alarm first, a female elf turns to him and asks why he wants to know. Artimus assumes, correctly, She's the one who set the alarm, he asks if there's a rotation of mages who renew certain spells, if it's always the same people. This line of questioning makes the elf (Merith) suspicious and the party mentions that there's been a theft, which leaves Robert annoyed, Merith says she'll need to discuss this with Robert. Ashara decides it's best if she leaves and she head towards a shop, the rest of the party manages to persuade Merith that it's best if she lets the party continue their investigation as this has the ability to destabilize an already precarious situation. Merith sees the logic in that and lets them continue, the party is allowed to inspect the vault, they notice glyphs all over the place and that there isn't really much in the way of evidence (Very clean). Artimus goes to check the log book and Oneiro asks about any sort of illusion enchantments that might record the inside of the vault, Artimus also asks Hendred and Del Varis to double check the log. The party is able to deduce that there's no pattern to people entering the vault, but there's a window of time in which the thief is striking due to discrepancies in the illusion records and the records the door keeps when it opens. The party exits the vault and Merith resets the enchantments, the party is coming up with a plan and about to leave when the alarm goes off again, Merith has Robert open the vault and sees a scorch mark. Merith and Robert look at the party (Since Artimus entered before), Stormsong tries to keep it together but Merith sees through her and gets agitated.
The vault gets reset and the party begins to break off, Oneiro buys three big bags of flour and finds Ashara, She helps him put the flour into the portable hole and Ashara gets some extra gold to buy a shield. Del Varis posts up next to the fountain and admires the interesting stone work. Hendred, Stormsong, and Artimus wait a little bit and when Merith walks out he offers to buy her some drinks to smooth things over. Merith takes him up on the offer and he regals her with exaggerated stories about fighting hordes of orcs and undead, which she finds preposterous, Artimus continues to act like he's drinking and manages (after some convincing and Stormsong playing music not fitting for the atmosphere) to persuade Merith to see his wagon. Hendred pulls Artimus away to somewhere more discreet while Stormsong stays with Merith, Hendred asks what he's thinking, Artimus says that Hendred isn't his type and that if they're to face what's coming they'll need help. Hendred asks if he's sure, they're dealing with dark magic, Artimus says he doesn't see another way, Hendred relents and says to be careful. Artimus, Hendred, Merith, and Stormsong head towards the wagons outside of town, after some time Ashara and Oniero finish up at the shop and see Del Varis. He says he saw the others head towards the town gates, Ashara mentions they should probably head towards that direction and talk to the refugees since the money that was being stolen was earmarked for the refugees if the guild vote succeeded, and they set off to the refugee camp. Artimus and his group arrive at the wagons and he pulls the covers off, revealing the chained up undead to Merith, she looks at them and thinks they're still alive asking why they'd treat them in such a terrible way. Artimus' demeaner changes and he gets more serious and tells her to look closer, she stares for awhile and looks perplexed, realizing that while the undead move, they shouldn't be given their state of health (eye missing, seeing bones, necrotic flesh). Artimus again explains about the undead horde and they need help, Stormsong assists in persuading her, Hendred comes up and reassures Merith that they are trying to do good. Merith exhales and says she'll try her best, and begins to walk back to Strongfare. During this time Ashara, Oneiro, and Del Varis begin to ask around the Hillfar refugee camp about anybody who's been assisting the refugees, Ashara finds out that Cecilla Velrik (Leader of the guild of Architects) has been very generous with the refugees. Ashara finds Oneiro, who's looking at a skinned tiger rug, and Del Varis and they start to discuss their next move, Ashara sees Merith walking back to town and she asks if she saw the wagon. Merith looks at Ashara and realizes she was briefly at the vault, she acknowledges she did and Ashara says "good" and lets her continue on. The party goes on their separate ways: Hendred, Artimus, and Stormsong go to the mage academy, Del Varis goes to find Cecilla, and Ashara wonders around town.
At the mage academy Artimus inquires on how to join, the receptionist says that he'll have to get a sponsor within the academy, usually requires a demonstration of abilities. Artimus casts dancing lights, a level 1 spell, Misty Step, and then fireball into the air, each casting takes the receptionist from mildly congratulatory to eventually impressed. She mentions that if he wants to join then he needs to pay guild dues and stay at the academy, this causes Artimus to pause, he wishes her farewell and on his way out he casts skywrite over the academy that says "Artimus was here." Hendred asks if she could see the body of Erlathen (Former magic guild leader), she explains she has a way to speak with him and get some answers, the receptionist says it isn't possible for just anyone to do that but she'll pass the information along, Hendred thanks her and catches up with Artimus and Stormsong. Ashara walks all over town, keeping her distance from any mercenary types, and listening in on conversation. Del Varis finds a courtyard that is frequented by the guild of architects and is greeted by a member, he asks if he could speak to Cecilla, the member says it isn't possible if Del Varis doesn't have an appointment. Del Varis mentions he's heard of some of their monastery work around Bralor, the guild members inquires about which order he's with, but doesn't recognize it. Del Varis asks if he could inquire about some of the work the guild is planning to do, he'd like to help if possible, The guild member says he'd look into it and asks for a name and residence so he can get back to him, Del Varis thinks for a few seconds and decides he's trustworthy and gives him the information. He then thanks him and walks off, once out of sight he takes some time to compose himself and heads back to the inn.
The party slowly makes their way back to the guildhall, Artimus sits in a coffee shop (with a Kyzet motiff going on, the air permeated with judgement) he wasn't paying attention since his familiar Fawkes was in a tiny spider form watching the vault and would alert him. Ashara, Hendred, Stormsong, and Artimus conceal themselves on roof tops or around buildings, once midnight comes the streets start to clear and they noticed a hooded figure. The figure heads into the guildhall and shortly thereafter Fawkes alerts Artimus who heads that direction, casting gift of alacrity on himself, the rest of the party converges, Fawkes let's Artimus know the figure is leaving and Artimus bursts through the door and gets line of sight for a brief moment and casts fireball which blows out a window and the figure starts to flee. Artimus, Ashara, and Del Varis follow with Hendred and Stormsong about six seconds behind. Del Varis is about to catch up when Artimus casts Polymorph and turns the cloaked figure into a tortoise, Del Varis catches it and flips it upside down, as the group catches up they see Del Varis spinning it. The group start to decide what to do next when three figures come into view, they seem pleasantly surprised they find the group and then attack. Artimus launches a fireball, but the assassin manages to evade it and the champion manages to avoid the worst of it. The assassin moves up and attacks Stormsong, both poison fused attacks land (despite the displacement cloak) and downs Stormsong, barely avoiding death. Del Varis moves up and attacks the assassin, landing a stunning strike and healing Stormsong as part of his flurry of blows, the enemy conjurer attempts to summon an elemental but Artimus is able to counterspell it. Stormsong gets up and firebolts the assassin which kills him, Hendred heals Stormsong. The champion moves up and strikes Del Varis several times, bringing him close to unconsciousness, Artimus unleashes four magic missiles on the champion and goes for the tortoise. Ashara moves to engage the conjurer but it teleports onto a raised platform and casts a 4th level fireball, which downs Del Varis (injuries Hendred, Stormsong, and Artimus further), Stromsong casts healing word on Del Varis and Hendred moves to engage the champion with her warhammer. Ashara attempts to attack the conjurer recklessly but misses on both strikes, the champion catches his breathe and continues his attack on Hendred which downs her, Artimus manages to keep concentration on polymorph and grabs the tortoise and teleports out of immediate danger. The conjurer attempts to poison spray Ashara but fails and begins to disengage to the north by teleportation. Del Varis gets up and and attacks the champion, stunning and poisoning him and healing Hendred, Hendred gets up and channels divinity to heal Del Varis and herself and summons her spiritual weapon to attack the champion. The champion tries to strike Del Varis but he easily evades the greatsword as the champion runs out of steam, the conjurer unleashes one more fireball and attempts to flee by teleportation on the roofs. Stormsong fires off more firebolts which down the champion and attacks the conjurer with a quickened firebolt, Hendred moves up and finishes off the conjurer with a guiding bolt.
The party gathers together, Ashara is frustrated that she wasn't as effective as she could of been and the group finds that the tortoise bit Artimus, they loot the bodies. Del Varis finds an ornate necklace and asks the group about it, Ashara, Hendred, and Artimus recognize it as the cultists necklace from Stathmor (and from Hendreds past), Ashara rips off the clothes of one and finds a tattooed dragon in black ink. The group gathers the bodies in the portable hole and head back to the guildhall, they find several guards there investigating the fireball impact, Artimus persuades one to get Merith and puts the tortoise the ground, once Merith arrives he drops polymorph and the figure changes back into a dwarf. Merith looks at Artimus and with frustration asked if he knows who it is, Artimus shakes his head no, she explains it's Kragoir Lavaforge, the leader of the guild of craftsman. With this development Ashara pulls out the three cultists bodies and mention they he might be working with them, Kragoir says he has no idea who they are, he was stealing the gold to help the refugees since the vote had stalled and wasn't going to go forward until the mage guild and the mercenaries had been voted on. The party sympathizes with Kragoir they decide that the best way forward is to officially blame the incident on the dead cultists and let the guilds deal with Kragoir's theft internally, Del Varis hands Robert the gold to cover the shortfall and the party bribes the guards to keep it a secret (this would greatly destabilize the guild politics as the craftsmen were a major guild power). Ashara asks that the party be granted an audience with the guilds before the elections were held, the agenda would be concerning the mercenaries.
The vault gets reset and the party begins to break off, Oneiro buys three big bags of flour and finds Ashara, She helps him put the flour into the portable hole and Ashara gets some extra gold to buy a shield. Del Varis posts up next to the fountain and admires the interesting stone work. Hendred, Stormsong, and Artimus wait a little bit and when Merith walks out he offers to buy her some drinks to smooth things over. Merith takes him up on the offer and he regals her with exaggerated stories about fighting hordes of orcs and undead, which she finds preposterous, Artimus continues to act like he's drinking and manages (after some convincing and Stormsong playing music not fitting for the atmosphere) to persuade Merith to see his wagon. Hendred pulls Artimus away to somewhere more discreet while Stormsong stays with Merith, Hendred asks what he's thinking, Artimus says that Hendred isn't his type and that if they're to face what's coming they'll need help. Hendred asks if he's sure, they're dealing with dark magic, Artimus says he doesn't see another way, Hendred relents and says to be careful. Artimus, Hendred, Merith, and Stormsong head towards the wagons outside of town, after some time Ashara and Oniero finish up at the shop and see Del Varis. He says he saw the others head towards the town gates, Ashara mentions they should probably head towards that direction and talk to the refugees since the money that was being stolen was earmarked for the refugees if the guild vote succeeded, and they set off to the refugee camp. Artimus and his group arrive at the wagons and he pulls the covers off, revealing the chained up undead to Merith, she looks at them and thinks they're still alive asking why they'd treat them in such a terrible way. Artimus' demeaner changes and he gets more serious and tells her to look closer, she stares for awhile and looks perplexed, realizing that while the undead move, they shouldn't be given their state of health (eye missing, seeing bones, necrotic flesh). Artimus again explains about the undead horde and they need help, Stormsong assists in persuading her, Hendred comes up and reassures Merith that they are trying to do good. Merith exhales and says she'll try her best, and begins to walk back to Strongfare. During this time Ashara, Oneiro, and Del Varis begin to ask around the Hillfar refugee camp about anybody who's been assisting the refugees, Ashara finds out that Cecilla Velrik (Leader of the guild of Architects) has been very generous with the refugees. Ashara finds Oneiro, who's looking at a skinned tiger rug, and Del Varis and they start to discuss their next move, Ashara sees Merith walking back to town and she asks if she saw the wagon. Merith looks at Ashara and realizes she was briefly at the vault, she acknowledges she did and Ashara says "good" and lets her continue on. The party goes on their separate ways: Hendred, Artimus, and Stormsong go to the mage academy, Del Varis goes to find Cecilla, and Ashara wonders around town.
At the mage academy Artimus inquires on how to join, the receptionist says that he'll have to get a sponsor within the academy, usually requires a demonstration of abilities. Artimus casts dancing lights, a level 1 spell, Misty Step, and then fireball into the air, each casting takes the receptionist from mildly congratulatory to eventually impressed. She mentions that if he wants to join then he needs to pay guild dues and stay at the academy, this causes Artimus to pause, he wishes her farewell and on his way out he casts skywrite over the academy that says "Artimus was here." Hendred asks if she could see the body of Erlathen (Former magic guild leader), she explains she has a way to speak with him and get some answers, the receptionist says it isn't possible for just anyone to do that but she'll pass the information along, Hendred thanks her and catches up with Artimus and Stormsong. Ashara walks all over town, keeping her distance from any mercenary types, and listening in on conversation. Del Varis finds a courtyard that is frequented by the guild of architects and is greeted by a member, he asks if he could speak to Cecilla, the member says it isn't possible if Del Varis doesn't have an appointment. Del Varis mentions he's heard of some of their monastery work around Bralor, the guild members inquires about which order he's with, but doesn't recognize it. Del Varis asks if he could inquire about some of the work the guild is planning to do, he'd like to help if possible, The guild member says he'd look into it and asks for a name and residence so he can get back to him, Del Varis thinks for a few seconds and decides he's trustworthy and gives him the information. He then thanks him and walks off, once out of sight he takes some time to compose himself and heads back to the inn.
The party slowly makes their way back to the guildhall, Artimus sits in a coffee shop (with a Kyzet motiff going on, the air permeated with judgement) he wasn't paying attention since his familiar Fawkes was in a tiny spider form watching the vault and would alert him. Ashara, Hendred, Stormsong, and Artimus conceal themselves on roof tops or around buildings, once midnight comes the streets start to clear and they noticed a hooded figure. The figure heads into the guildhall and shortly thereafter Fawkes alerts Artimus who heads that direction, casting gift of alacrity on himself, the rest of the party converges, Fawkes let's Artimus know the figure is leaving and Artimus bursts through the door and gets line of sight for a brief moment and casts fireball which blows out a window and the figure starts to flee. Artimus, Ashara, and Del Varis follow with Hendred and Stormsong about six seconds behind. Del Varis is about to catch up when Artimus casts Polymorph and turns the cloaked figure into a tortoise, Del Varis catches it and flips it upside down, as the group catches up they see Del Varis spinning it. The group start to decide what to do next when three figures come into view, they seem pleasantly surprised they find the group and then attack. Artimus launches a fireball, but the assassin manages to evade it and the champion manages to avoid the worst of it. The assassin moves up and attacks Stormsong, both poison fused attacks land (despite the displacement cloak) and downs Stormsong, barely avoiding death. Del Varis moves up and attacks the assassin, landing a stunning strike and healing Stormsong as part of his flurry of blows, the enemy conjurer attempts to summon an elemental but Artimus is able to counterspell it. Stormsong gets up and firebolts the assassin which kills him, Hendred heals Stormsong. The champion moves up and strikes Del Varis several times, bringing him close to unconsciousness, Artimus unleashes four magic missiles on the champion and goes for the tortoise. Ashara moves to engage the conjurer but it teleports onto a raised platform and casts a 4th level fireball, which downs Del Varis (injuries Hendred, Stormsong, and Artimus further), Stromsong casts healing word on Del Varis and Hendred moves to engage the champion with her warhammer. Ashara attempts to attack the conjurer recklessly but misses on both strikes, the champion catches his breathe and continues his attack on Hendred which downs her, Artimus manages to keep concentration on polymorph and grabs the tortoise and teleports out of immediate danger. The conjurer attempts to poison spray Ashara but fails and begins to disengage to the north by teleportation. Del Varis gets up and and attacks the champion, stunning and poisoning him and healing Hendred, Hendred gets up and channels divinity to heal Del Varis and herself and summons her spiritual weapon to attack the champion. The champion tries to strike Del Varis but he easily evades the greatsword as the champion runs out of steam, the conjurer unleashes one more fireball and attempts to flee by teleportation on the roofs. Stormsong fires off more firebolts which down the champion and attacks the conjurer with a quickened firebolt, Hendred moves up and finishes off the conjurer with a guiding bolt.
The party gathers together, Ashara is frustrated that she wasn't as effective as she could of been and the group finds that the tortoise bit Artimus, they loot the bodies. Del Varis finds an ornate necklace and asks the group about it, Ashara, Hendred, and Artimus recognize it as the cultists necklace from Stathmor (and from Hendreds past), Ashara rips off the clothes of one and finds a tattooed dragon in black ink. The group gathers the bodies in the portable hole and head back to the guildhall, they find several guards there investigating the fireball impact, Artimus persuades one to get Merith and puts the tortoise the ground, once Merith arrives he drops polymorph and the figure changes back into a dwarf. Merith looks at Artimus and with frustration asked if he knows who it is, Artimus shakes his head no, she explains it's Kragoir Lavaforge, the leader of the guild of craftsman. With this development Ashara pulls out the three cultists bodies and mention they he might be working with them, Kragoir says he has no idea who they are, he was stealing the gold to help the refugees since the vote had stalled and wasn't going to go forward until the mage guild and the mercenaries had been voted on. The party sympathizes with Kragoir they decide that the best way forward is to officially blame the incident on the dead cultists and let the guilds deal with Kragoir's theft internally, Del Varis hands Robert the gold to cover the shortfall and the party bribes the guards to keep it a secret (this would greatly destabilize the guild politics as the craftsmen were a major guild power). Ashara asks that the party be granted an audience with the guilds before the elections were held, the agenda would be concerning the mercenaries.
It is just after midnight on the 27th day of Kyzet 2517 AGF
Rewards Granted
Diamond (50 GP)
Diamond dust (50 GP)
Dagger
Greatsword
Shortsword
Plate armor
Cult Necklace
Diamond dust (50 GP)
Dagger
Greatsword
Shortsword
Plate armor
Cult Necklace
Missions/Quests Completed
Find out who was stealing from the guild vault
Comments