(DM note: I completely forgot to start the audio recording for this session until we were already an hour in. My bad!)
The party arrives in
Zargos, the capital city of
Avernus, and first order of business is to go shopping.
Izar buys some local cuisine and trade goods, while Ignacio Icarsus and
Bosgosho visit a magic shop for spellcasting supplies. Along the way
Bosgosho is charmed by a will o' wisp and is briefly enamored with a blackjack table. This solution is swiftly resolved when
Natsu provides a swift smack to the head.
Once shopping is done, the party makes their way to the castle so that
Natsu can negotiate for the release of her father and restoring
Hobbs' memories. Despite the intimidating nature of the residents and the rings of fire surrounding the castle itself, the castle is surprisingly "normal". There are guards to ask directions and also ample signage, written in common, to direct them to where they need to go. They eventually reach a small lobby, where
Ophelia is guarding the door to the throne room. Nervous introductions are made, but penguin is surprisingly calm and understanding.
Shenanigans are had, but once the group finally gets to business it is clear the negotiation is not going to go as planned. For starters,
Penguin no longer has
Kei in his possession. According to him it quickly became clear that they would not gain anything from torturing the man, and so they had stopped. Instead they used him as bait, since he was suspected to be the spouse of
Viper. This theory was confirmed when she came to rescue him from the dungeon the day before the party arrived.
Penguin offered to recapture
Kei on
Natsu's behalf, but of course she did not actually want that and so they move on to the next request.
Penguin gives
Hobbs a physical inspection, in which he grabs him by the chin and they stare deeply into each other's eyes for roughly ten minutes. After this inspection, he concludes a few things:
- Hobbs definitely does not have Moon Plague (he would have two souls)
- His memories were stolen by magical means
- Said magic was powerful, likely divine in nature.
- Depending on its origin, he may not be able to interfere with said magic
Penguin does agree to at least make an attempt, however he requires additional information. He will need
Natsu to use
Vecna's Orb in order to demonstrate its effectiveness and also to collect some relevant information. He would ask two questions, which she would have to answer to the best of her ability using the orb.
Natsu does agree to this, but of course the orb is still back on
Barry the Airship.
Penguin then says that nobody in the room is "asking for what they really want". The party finds this highly unsettling, but nobody immediately fesses up to any secret desires.
Before the orb is retrieved, Ignacio Icarsus makes a request of his own. He wants meaningful information about his triangle.
Penguin has guesses, but they are not free. After a little back and forth,
Penguin decides not to attempt to answer himself. Instead, he suggests that the party attend his weekly poker game with the other gods, including
The Traveler and
Nemain. Either of those two would be more likely to have answers.
Everyone except
Natsu is then sent out of the room. Some of the party returns to
Barry the Airship to retrieve
Vecna's Orb, while the rest remain just outside the door.
Natsu and the DM go into the secret voice chat for some private negotiations.
Hobbs returns with a bag containing
Vecna's Orb and
Button. He did not stop to explain himself to any of the guards, and so there is a large entourage of devils behind him on his return, which
Penguin casually waves away. Ignacio Icarsus is prepared to attack
Button, but
Penguin waves him off too.
Natsu sits down in the middle of the room with the orb and uses it to scry on
Lolth. She is seen with several drow lieutenants gathered around what appears to be a battle map of
Avernus. The map indicates a clear conflict zone to the west of the capital city of
Zargos. This is relayed to
Penguin, who seems unsurprised and unperturbed.
Natsu rolls to use the orb again, and then a third time, but is very confused to see the same visions again.
Penguin is outwardly quiet about this, but does not publicly explain himself.
Penguin and
Natsu communicate some more by way of telepathy, and then
Penguin turns his attention to the rest of the party. He once more says that
Memento Vitae wants more than he is letting on. He tries repeatedly to warn
Memento Vitae away from
Lolth, but he gives an impassioned speech and vehemently refuses
Penguin's assistance.
Penguin then turns his attention to
Thaiva Phenol. He acknowledges that he is butting in on matters that are none of his concern, but it would be "irresponsible" of him not to at least try to help a friend of a friend. He tells
Thaiva Phenol that she will destroy herself if she carries on the way she is. He compares her situation to a sort of slavery, even going so far as to admire having the "self-awareness" to wear a collar around her neck.
Thaiva Phenol refuses to discuss the subject even a little, and so they revert to talking about poker.
The game is held every week. The winner receives some prize from the host of that game, but is also responsible for hosting the next one. As the host,
Penguin is offering the winner of tonight's game "a romantic sail down the
River Styx". Ignacio Icarsus questions the safety of such a venture, but
Penguin insists that, as a god, he can keep the river calm enough to sail a boat on. There is no penalty for losing, so multiple members of the party would be interested in playing. The party would be under no obligations unless, of course, one of them wins.
Penguin even offers
Memento Vitae a chance to test out a mask like
Lenora had for the duration of the game. If he wants to keep it afterwards then he must pay the same 3% of his soul that
Lenora did.
Penguin does, however, give a little discussion about
Ignacio's Title(plot:e981c7ad-6def-4b7d-9fdf-2c0145515fc4). He says that @[The Traveler was able to read it, and pronounced it "asheidigamma".
Penguin was not aware of what that actually meant.
They then discuss
Lolth and her attacks on the borders of
Avernus.
Natsu agrees to scry on
Friar Pibphi, a resident of his hometown
Phyloph.
Natsu botches the roll and learns nothing. After some nervous conversation,
Natsu tries it again, and sees a myconid in a white robe standing in front of an altar as a spear comes flying through the window and impales him in the head.
Bosgosho is deeply distressed to hear about the friar's death.
The party discusses the possibility of traveling to
Phyloph to investigate, but
Bosgosho is hesitant. He is an outcast from the city, and besides it has been so long that they will probably be unable to do much good.
Bosgosho explains that whoever is chosen by
The Dagda is the rightful ruler of
Phyloph, but when
The Dagda chose
Bosgosho the ruling family was not willing to give up their grasp over the city and had him removed.
Penguin then invites the party to dinner, which in this case is spicy auroch meat. The meat itself is technically imported from
The Abyss and
Acheron, but the people of
Avernus have a very particular way of preparing it. He also offers the party some hookers, but is turned down. At dinner,
Ophelia confirms that
Phyloph has been captured by
Lolth, and the populace most likely enslaved. There is a fair amount of additional small talk around the dinner table, but not much of it had any plot relevance.
