Session 76 - Upper Decker
18 Eirmont 1010 - 21 Eirmont 1010
General Summary
The party decides that instead of heading directly to town they will go check on the status of Halag , which they can do with Elincia's Transport via Plants spell. Leaving in the morning, they first travel to just outside Luln , to congratulate Sascia on her new title and see how the refugee situation is working out. They stop by the town hall, and speak with the clerk there, who says that she is probably out on the west side of town overseeing the road improvements. In their conversation with the clerk, they ask if there is anything they can do to help with the refugees, and he suggests they go to the Woodsmans' Guildhall, where there is a small hospital set up for any sick. They let the clerk know that they will be over there in case Sascia frees up, and that they would like to talk to her if possible.
The party goes over to the guildhall, and they meet with representative Clifton, who indicates that if they can help with the healers that would be great. Elincia also offers up a large number of Goodberries which would free up an entire day's worth of rations for the town.
As they are helping with some of the sicker folks using Cure Disease, and general first aid, Sascia arrives. She is happy to see them helping out the refugees. The party congratulates her on her new title, and asks how things are going with the expanded responsibilities. The region has been very supportive of the refugees and there is plenty of work for the newly resettled. When asked what she's been hearing from Halag, she says that things are still not going too well there. They still have some issues with the humanoids that the Black Eagle Barony had brought in causing troubles and it seems they may be having a rough year in Halag with poor crops due to the large numbers of people departing the region. Overall things don't seem to be going too well for young Milo. Sascia doesn't seem to think too highly of Milo's performance to date.
The party decides to stay the night in Luln, and depart in the morning. This allows Seraphina to do some soil enrichment via Plant Growth, which they think may also be very helpful in Halag. While the party is asleep, Ynyr enters Leo's dreamscape, and seems indignant. "You said you would only be gone a day or two" (this was only the second day of course) "where are you!" Leo says they are in Luln, which makes Ynyr even more upset. "What are you doing there? I've finished alterations to track the remaining pieces, but I want to go look into the strange altar in the lowlands. I plan to leave tomorrow." Leo says they can be in Saltmarsh tomorrow morning and trade pieces of the artifact.
The next morning Leo brings the party up to speed on the change of plans and, after a nice breakfast, they travel with Elincia's Transport via Plants back to a spot near the Tower of Zenopus. They reach out to Captain Kazimir to pick them up not too far from the tower. Leo meets with Ynyr, who instructs him in the methods of tracking the next piece. Leo expresses some concerns that assembling the Orrery may result in some unexpected consequences. After all, if the reason Ynyr can't travel off this plane is that the Immortals were trying to prevent travel to this world, perhaps bad things will happen if Ynyr is able to leave. Ynyr seems completely unconcerned about this, which of course does not alleviate Leo's worries. In the end, Ynyr is proceeding to the Cruth Lowlands with the Chronolometer, while the party will use the Wheel of Stars to track the other pieces.
With the exchange taken care of, the party is picked up by the Everlasting Light. As they are coming back into town, Eliander finds the party and explains that they have someone from the Iron Ring in custody, and would like to take Seraphina up on her offer to help interrogate with her Zone of Truth spell. Tork, Seraphina, and Elincia go to the jail with Eliander for the interrogation. Leo and Stavos don't participate because the room would be too crowded, and they can't really help much in this case.
Eliander explains that the lad in custody got into an altercation at the bar and stabbed someone. Nobody was killed, thankfully, but after taking them into custody their search revealed a tattoo indicating membership in the Iron Ring - the words "Body" and "Soul" interlinked. It seems he is willing to tell them some things if they go easy on the sentencing.
Once the Zone of Truth is in place, it is clear that the suspect (Dobromil) is extremely nervous. He seems to want to cooperate, but is terrified of the consequences, saying "If I say too much they will kill me!" As they pry into his association with the Iron Ring, it is clear that he is very low level in the organization and doesn't seem to know very much. As they ask about the tattoo, and how the Iron Ring can control their members, he gets very nervous, again saying if he'll be killed if he says too much. When explaining the way he got his tattoo, he screams in pain, his entire side erupting in flames where the tattoo is, burning it off, and drops dead on the spot. Seraphina makes a quick decision to resurrect Dobromil, casting Revivify. The diamonds are destroyed and the lad convulses back to life. He seems surprised to be alive - Seraphina explains that the tattoo is gone and he should be safe from the Iron Ring now.
He instantly seems relieved and explains what he can to them. When they tattooed him it was some sort of magic ritual, but he doesn't know much beyond that. They are told that if they say anything about the Iron Ring they will die before they can share much. He then shares a description of someone (a tall man with a cauliflower ear) that seems to be higher up in the Iron Ring that he saw talking to his now-dead contact in Saltmarsh. Because of his cooperation, Eliander will try to find a way to get him sent somewhere farther away, where nobody would recognize him, and that should protect him from the Iron Ring. He will most likely need to still do some sort of punishment, but it will be on the lenient end. The party believes this man may be Toboldt, who they later learn has been seen talking to the captain of the Empress Eriadna.
Meanwhile, Stavos has run into a messenger named Vasil. Vasil has been sent by Ingo the Drover, relaying a request to meet in private. Stavos agrees and meets with Ingo, whose home has a few extra guards on hand. Ingo explains that he had received a threatening message from the Alphatian ship - that Zandor has Ingo's son Ericall and Ingo should return to serve the empire (what remains of it). Ingo visited with Keledek and through some divination magic they are convinced Ericall died when Alphatia was destroyed. Ingo also tells how he had just found a good job for a young Alphatian and the lad was excited, but the next day the young man disappeared, never showing up at his new job. He thinks he was picked up and taken to the Alphatian ship. He is convinced they are enslaving the people that have gone missing from port.
Stavos agrees to dig in deeper, while Ingo says he can make sure much of the town is distracted if they go raid the boat, by having a big party hosted for the town council, especially Eliander.
The party decides to scout out the ship first, to see if they can confirm slavery is present. They base their observation from the island just outside the port area and then have Elincia transform into a seagull and fly around the boat, communicating back to the group through Leo's Far Scribe. After some flybys, wandering the masts and rails, and finally perching in some open portholes, it is clear that there are slaves on the lower deck (chained individuals sleeping on the benches).
With this evidence, the party decides the raid is a go. Late at night, they depart from the same island, utilizing Pass Without Trace, Waterwalk, and Water Breathing, and easily reach the ship undetected. Upon arrival, Tork simply runs up the side of the ship carrying a grappling hook and pops up on deck, securing the hook for the rest of the party. A guard notices this, and cries out with alarm that the ship is being raided. By the time anyone can respond though, the entire party has boarded the aftcastle.
Leo sets a Sickening Radiance on the front half of the ship, avoiding the opening to the slave deck below. Quickly, the defenders are fully engaged. Things are looking pretty good for the party until two wizards emerge from the front of the ship. The first manages to dispel Leo's Sickening Radiance, taking some of the tactical advantage away. As Tork, Seraphina, and Stavos move forward to engage, the Captain emerges and dashes up the stairs to engage Leo and Elincia, as all the melee party members are now engaged on the main deck below. Then, the second wizard summons an Air Elemental, which creates significant challenges for Tork, Stavos, and Seraphina. The first Wizard unleashes a Lightning Bolt, zapping half the party extremely painfully. Leo, having been hit hard by the Lightning Bolt, and knocked down multiple times by the Captain, is getting a bit worried. Thankfully, Elincia comes to the rescue with a summon of three dire wolves, taking the pressure of the captain off Leo. Meanwhile, Stavos and Seraphina seem to be getting the hang of the Air Elemental, while Tork has managed to fight his way right up to the summoning wizard. After a few rounds of more "conventional" combat, the party is clearly dominating the battle. The addition of the wolves offset the effect of the Air Elemental, and soon Tork and Leo are able to push the summoning wizard right off the deck into the cold waters below. Stavos severely wounds and knocks the wand out of the remaining wizards hand. Seeing where this fight was going, the Captain, the remaining Wizard, and the few crew left alive all surrender to the party, preferring whatever justice Karameikos metes out over the certain death of continued combat. Looking over the sides of the ship and at the water, the party finds no sign of the wizard blasted off-ship.
The party, having once again overcome the forces of enslavement, achieves level 13!
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Report Date
04 Jun 2023
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