Session 7 - Vomit and Blood

General Summary

When last we left our heroes...

The party had made their way into the cells they came across, where they found many weak, malnourished dragonborn - including Novakian of Nadarr, who Slappa immediately recognized as the chief of his village. Trickles and Glitz immediately set to work unlocking cells, and found that while the keys from the guard worked on most of them, the lock to Novakian's door and the lock on the empty cell would not budge and couldn't be unlocked by picking them either.
Novakian gestured for the heroes to come closer. "I am starting to suspect you are not a part of this horrific death cult," he said. Novakian explained to the party that the dragonborn under his care were exhausted and weakened from long hours of forced manual labor. He believed it would not be a good idea to try and move everyone at that time. He also explained that the leader of the death cult, Norath Pyloth, had a separate set of keys that open his cell door and had been forcing the dragonborn to work for him under threat of their clan elders being killed. The clan had been working in shifts, digging at both ends - half in a large cave with a dragon skeleton, and half working in a tunnel towards some unknown destination.
Novakian also explained, "Norath seemed to be occasionally speaking of another, someone even higher than him that had plans he was a part of - I got the feeling that even he was working for a higher power."
After some discussion, the group agreed that it would be better for the dragonborn if they left them there for now until they could get them out of the tunnels safely, so they locked the cell, propped the guard's body against the wall (Glitz used her fabulous hat to make it look like he was sleeping) and set out again, following Slappa's map.
The team went north down the long hallway, going room by room. First they stopped in the first chamber on the left, a large throne room of some sort with a giant golden throne, two giant golden statues of Killamore, and two guards asleep on both sides of the throne. Trickles and Glitz were able to easily sneak up on the guards and knock them out. They made an attempt to intimidate them into giving more information, but couldn't get much out of them other than "It's just a job, it's just a job!"
Moving onward, the group tried out the first door on the other side of the hall - and quickly realized it was a big mistake. Trickles and Arindorf swung open the door to reveal a large dorm-type room filled with cultists - none of which looked happy to see them. Thinking quickly, Trickles leapt into the room with a hearty "Friends!" But none of the cultists bought it. One of them said, "Is that a pillowcase?"
A brief but messy battle ensued. Trickles got in some nice swings with his rapier. Arindorf resisted the pull of spells being flung left and right and still got in some good crossbow shots. Slappa swung his shortsword around. Flaar cast Ray of Sickness and took down one of the cultists with nothing but their own vomit. Glitz invented a new tactical maneuver (Vom Slide, anyone?) and deftly took out her foes. Marcel whacked some people on the head with a magic surfboard.
As the battle wrapped up with all the cultists dead or unconscious, the group decided to head further down the hall, past the double-door at the northern end of the hall.

Slappa's Map

Report Date

14 Oct 2020

Characters Interacted With:
Novakian

The Short Version

The heroes opened the cell doors and found the missing dragonborn! After speaking with Novakian of Nadarr, the chief of the village, they decided it would be best to leave the captives there for now until they could get them out of the tunnels safetly. The party continued on down the hall, stopping in two of the closed doors. The first, a giant throne room with two sleeping guards, whom Glitz and Trickles were able to sneak up on and tie up, but also couldn't give any relevant information. The second, a dormitory with lots of death cultists, who initiated a rough and dirty battle that the heroes ultimately came out of victorious.
We will jump back into the story as the party comes to the large double-door at the northern end of the hall, wondering what - or who - will be beyond it.