Session 48 - The Burning Questions Answered About Interplaner Travel, Where All of The Shoes Went To, And What Tork Really Does With His Money
2 Felmont 1010 - 9 Felmont 1010
General Summary
The terrifying eye, a Beholder, creature of legend as everyone recognizes from lore, is in the far corner, and there are five zombies not too far from the door the party has entered. Only one of these appears to be the stitched together, stronger "zombies." Stavos immediately engages the stitched-man and takes him to the ground and strikes hard multiple times. Leo drives Mind Sliver into the Beholder, hoping that would soften it up for another, more powerful follow-up spell. It seems that the eye gets a movement action pretty frequently, though it does not move very quickly. As it gets closer, the party realizes this is not a regular Beholder, but a Zombie Beholder. Perhaps the last act of the necromancer that lived in this tower. While it seems to be but a shadow of a full Beholder, it still packs a wallop with it's devastating eye beam, though throughout this combat only one hits Stavos (hard!), whereas the rest are evaded by the party. Elincia leverages the effects of Mind Sliver, and lands Faerie Fire on one of the humanoid Zombies, and the Beholder. Seraphina drops a moonbeam into the path of the Beholder. One of the lesser Zombies attacks Leo a couple times, but with their soft target status, they are quickly dealt with by the party as the Beholder slowly moves in. It's eye beams are greatly weakened by its zombie status, missing the various party members it targets (with the exception of the first round hit on Stavos), and the lumbering speed enables Elincia and Leo to deal significant damage to it before it reaches the party. By the time it has reached the party, the humanoid Zombies are mostly dealt with, and it is forced to face the full assault of the party. It does not have the stamina to keep this up, and is destroyed by a sharpshooter blast from Elincia, eye-puss blasting out the back.
After the combat is complete, the party searches the area. There is a well made, leather-bound, and apparently leather-paged, book written in a language nobody recognizes. Leo begins casting Comprehend languages, with Seraphina guarding him as the rest of the party continues exploring a descending passage north out of the room. They are only able to find one shoe, sadly, and it looks to have been away in a corner where it may have been overlooked by whatever lurked here. The passage ends at a pit, within which are the bones of what Tork recognizes was an otyugh. He recalls that Giants have been known to use these dangerous creatures as "garbage disposals" and, given the fetid odor in this pit, and it's location at the bottom of the deep underground passage, this seems to be the case in this tower as well. Besides these bones, and the shoe, there isn't much to see.
Meanwhile, Leo has gained the ability to read the strange script, and the title of the tome is Of the Flesh. He flips the book open and begins reading. It appears to be a mix of arcane and biological information - as he reads a bit he feels a tremendous pain in his brain and can't continue to read. He slams it shut and discusses what happened with Seraphina. After some debate (by now Elincia and the rest of the party has arrived), they decide as they did with the staff from the Gulthias Tree, that the knowledge in this tome may be dangerous to the world. After all, it is clear that the original tower owner was torturing humans and converting them into Zombies and stitched Zombies. From the evidence, it seems likely that he created a Zombie Beholder, which eventually turned on him. The contents of this tower suggest that the knowledge of the Tome may not be "good." They destroy the tome in an ashy heap by stoking a powerful fire. Leo has some sense of regret after this (perhaps he took the damage the Tome did to him a little too personally!), as knowledge is not necessarily evil, but what is done is done.
They work their way back upstairs, and decide to clear their way through the rocky barricades to the other half of the complex to explore it as well. They don't find any evidence of Zombie infestation as they explore, though they do find it branches - to the east is a row of cells similar to those to the north and to the south it opens to another room. They explore the southern branch, finding a storage room and then another room with some beds and chests with normal folks' possessions. Beyond this they find what an underground cavern system that is at sea level and there is a boat pulled up to the shore, as well as some reasonably recently used cooking tools, stove, table, and vegetables. Stavos wades out the passage, and confirms that it does lead to the sea, and that there are no ships nearby.
The return to the junction and go east to check the row of cells. These cells do not look to have been used in a very long time, except one, which has no door, and looks to be someone's sleeping quarters. Beyond the cells they find another well room, with newer mops, buckets, and brooms, and the passage turns south, ending with doors on either side.
They open the western door and find a room with a strange symbol painted into the floor, a couple small tables, a chair, a bookshelf, a globe, and a desk with books on top of it. The books all seem very scholarly, on a wide range of topics, from geology to geography, to biology etc, and in several differnt languages. None seem to be hiding any other items in them, and no signs of a ledger or anything accounting related. Inside the drawer they find a set of keys. In case they should need them later, they take those with them. They then move on to the Eastern door from the hallway, and here they find a tall "birdman."
It is very lean and he turns at the noise of them entering, looking at them with a long pause before saying, "Ah, I wasn't expecting you yet." After quite some discussion, they learn that he is Ynyr. The party recognizes him as a nagpa, often spoken of in bogeyman-type stories, though there are no credible reports of these stories being true. He makes it clear that he's been tracking the party's exploits, and knows them reasonably well, so he introduces himself. His communication style is totally deadpan, emotionless, and he describes things in a factual manner. In time the party relaxes a bit as it doesn't seem that there is any hostility risk. Ynyr explains that he was once a man (implied human, but perhaps not, as he treats all of the party as "men"), but had done something that offended one of the Immortals. This resulted in something akin to a curse that changed him into this bird-like humanoid form. He explains that the only way for him to escape this form is to go to a different plane, but interplanar travel is difficult and so far impossible for himself. Due to the restrictions that protect this plane nominally from interplanar invasions etc, it is also very difficult for interplanar beings to leave this plane as well, and somehow this traps him here as well. He is unable to travel from this plane through the magics used by "men."
In short, he is interested in any interplanar objects, and mentions that as an example, the green sword they got from the false Alphaks is likely an interplanar object. He identifies it as Baatorian Green Steel and "Alphaks" as a Marilith - a demon who must have taken the sword as a trophy from a devil. He asks if he can have the sword; after some discussion the party decides that yes, he can have it. He also identifies himself as the "friend" that sent the letter of warning to Seraphina. In the end, they return the keys they "borrowed" from his desk, along with some notes, and agree to confirm that the zombies are all cleared out "next door" on their way out. He also assures them that the smugglers are simply tax dodgers, and not involved in slaving in any way. He says that if he finds any rumors of other interplanar objects, he will contact them to see if they can track these objects down. He also seems interested in checking the remains and ruins in the zombie section after they have left.
With that the party returns to town, repairing the gate to the magic doorway they entered, and leave the way they came in. After all, while there are no longer zombies roaming the halls down there, the door itself still represents a threat to folks.
The next day they receive a note that says to visit Winston. When they do so, they receive another note that states that they should be ready to go on the 6th (a few more days from now) and that they should not start anything new. They should meet at Abbey Island.
They buy some basic goods for the invasion, but besides this do little. On the 5th they inform Captain Kazimir of their desire to depart on the 6th and to prepare the crew and the ship.
They depart as planned on the 6th and, once at sea, they explain to Kazimir their real plans and the implied danger of joining the party on this expedition. They say that anyone that isn't comfortable with it can stay with the Hin throughout the mission. Most of the crew, having spent a fair amount of time with the party want to participate, and in fact they have too many, as they don't want to have a suspicious number of crew for a smuggler's ship. Several of the crew insist that Tadpole not come, and the party agrees with this logic, as the lad is in fact a lad. He protests, but is overridden. They also consider it too risky for Lucky Pete to come, since he is a Hin, and the blockade is made up of Hin. To reduce their numbers further they resort to drawing lots (excluding the officers who insist on participating).
They arrive at the rendezvous as planned and find to their pleasure the Sea Lion, captained by Tolliver Hummock. They use the island as a barrier from sight from at least parts of the area, and tie off with the Sea Lion. The ship is transformed by the two crews into its former, disreputable, Sea Ghost configuration. They rough up the ship, making it a bit less well maintained, re-brand it, take off their signature Green Devil skull, and load up the hull with Ierendi fruits and vegetables to smuggle in to port. The two Fists of Hin Commandos join the ship as well, and they simply have to wait for the right kind of storm to create cover.
A few days later the weather turns sour, and they depart. Naturally the weather is truly terrible, which is great for cover but, unpleasant to sail through. However, in their downtime, the "new captain" Leo has studied up a bit; the real captain is still present as well. With some skill, and a bit of luck, they get through the worst of the storm, with just a bit of damage to the topsails. The Sea Lion peels off as they approach the port and makes a final shot that misses wide. As they approach the port, a lantern is bobbing on the Northern Dock, indicating Plan B from the discussions, not that that significantly impacts the party's activities for the evening.
The party is in their smugglers disguises, Leo (Golfin), a peg-legged Gnome Captain, with a once-fancy pirate hat that seems a bit worse for wear. Stavos (Geoff) in more subtle attire as the first mate, with his shield stashed away in the Bag of Holding, Tork (Billy) is dressed in well worn sailor garb, his dragonbone spear also stored in the bag of holding, Seraphina (COVERNAME??) unable to wear her full plate, had purchased leather armor. Her full Plate, as well as her shield is stashed in the bag of Holding. Elincia (Mononoke) transforms herself into a parrot, to provide parrot-like obnoxious commentary throughout the evening.
As they dock, and lay out their plank, the Harbormaster approaches. He asks what they have aboard, and Leo explains that they've brought fresh fruit and vegetables expecting that the blockade would bring quite a premium for such goods. He shrugs and indicates that the bosses will make that decision. Not too long after, some troops head toward the harbor, including two ogres and the party's old friend, Langdedrosa Cyanwrath, definitely confirming that the raids on Greenest were lead out of the Black Eagle Barony; Tork busies himself on the far side of the ship, as he could be recognizable by the half-dragon. When he boards the ship he asks the questions and they give the same answers. He sends some troops to search the ship, and they find what was described, fruits and vegetables. Cyanwrath asks what they expect to be paid, and Leo explains that seeing as there is a blockade and all, he expects $1000 gold for the trouble. Cyanwrath replies with an offer of 900. Leo pushes for 925, but eventually caves and takes the offered 900. Cyanwrath orders the unloading process to begin - Leo objects, saying that they should be paid first, but is forced to allow the unloading to commence.
Landedrosa leaves with his ogres and the unloading begins. The Harbormaster offers to take them to the bar, sorry as it is in these times while the ship is unloaded, and Leo agrees, figuring this would be less suspicious. The tavern has in fact seen better days. The blockade has probably suppressed their activities, and the only patrons appear to be soldiers of the BEB. There is a bartender and a waitress, and possibly staff in the kitchen. They have a drink or two, and discuss the blockade a bit. Eventually there is a thunderous, crashing sound, and the soldiers all get a bit excited. The other dock appears to be engulfed in flames.. Some of the troops eventually leave the bar as messengers come and it appears that several will stay behind.
As time wears on, Tork suggests taking the Parrot back to the ship to cut down on the commentary, and the harbormaster agrees, but sends two guards with him, which is not quite what Tork had in mind; he was hoping to find a place that Elincia could transform back into Elincia. He leaves, but convinces the guards that what he would prefer to do is find some women, and when "Mononoke" makes a comment, he swipes at her and she flies off toward the ship. The guards don't seem too put off by this. After some back and forth, they seem convinced that he is above board, and they take him a bit east along the river to an unmarked building. He goes inside and pays for a woman. Once in the room he gives her three gold, and tells her to loudly pleasure herself, as he walks back out the door, she comments "aren't you going to watch??" He returns to the front desk, and gives the patron five gold and tells him if anyone questions, that the half-orc "was rough with the girl, and thrown out the back door by the bouncer." The patron points to the back door, and asks when this happened - "Right now."
Once out back, Tork reconnects with Elincia, who is still in Parrot mode. They work their way back toward the tavern, and Elincia flies ahead to see if she can see the party inside still.
Meanwhile at the Tavern, Stavos suggests that they should get back to the ship to oversee the last of the unloading. Just as the party is preparing to leave, a messenger arrives informing the harbormaster that nobody is to leave the tavern. They return to their table, and after some time, Stavos explains that he needs to relieve himself of some excess beer, and is allowed to go outside, where he encounters Elincia (still in bird form) and she explains that Tork is coming back from the East to the Tavern. Stavos heads back in, and the guards get a bit suspicious, and say we better take your weapons, at which point Stavos pulls out his rapier, and the party jumps into action.
Elincia rushes off to inform Tork of the situation (the party not being able to leave the Tavern), and they start heading back.
There are three hobgoblins, and nine human soldiers in the tavern when the fight breaks out. The barkeep dives behind the bar, and the table server runs into the kitchen. With just Stavos, Seraphina, and Leo in the Tavern, and both Seraphina and Stavos with reduced armor (no shields and no plate) what would normally be a pretty simple overpowering becomes a bit more dicey. Stavos, who is right by the door, is quickly surrounded by hobgoblins and some of the human guards. Seraphina upends the table and takes out the harbormaster. The rest of the guards move in to surround her and Leo, but Leo decides the situation is too dangerous to allow the numbers to be this lopsided, and drops a Shatter spell in the middle of the room, taking out two of the hobgoblins and three human guards. Strangely, all of the guards stay on target despite the quick destruction of their peers. They are able to land quite a few hits on the party though before they are subdued. Tork and Elincia arrive just as the last of the guards are being dealt with. Elincia tries to make a splashy entrance by flying as a bird through the window and transforming but, much as expected, she in fact simply smashes into the window and is transformed back into Elincia on the wrong side of the window! It was a great attempt, but did not work out so well. When the last soldier is slain by Tork, they all get a chance to catch their breaths.
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