Session 3A: Mind Bending Technology and Spies
General Summary
The Heroes
Emet-Selch {Vedalken Artificer}
Eralyse Sarrallon {Aasimar Paladin}
Jon Mastiff {Human Wizard}
Mala {Aarakocra Monk}
Mellow Leaf {Tabaxi Ranger}
The group spent the day scavanging the destroyed town for anything of value that could be recovered. They found a number magical trinkets and some assorted coins. Though most things had been washed out to sea. The group was concerned that word would not properly get back to Gregorio's cousin the group made a brief stop in the city of Thornpond before heading on to Grimford with a short stop over in the village of Bromwhich.
The group took a path that branched off of the main road and found themselves coming to the village of Bromwhich nestled in a valley between several hills. Even before reaching the gate they could see that this was a mining town with a an opening in one hill with a set of tracks leading from it to the village. In the village the tracks ended at a mechanism that allowed mine carts to be emptied and placed on a parrallel track to return to the mine. The front enterance had a large wooden pallsade with a sign that read:
Welcome to Bromwich, Leave now if you value your life
A single guard dressed in mail with a helmet and spear warmly greeted the group and allowed them to enter without any questions. So the group questioned the guard. Intially, they tried to causually refrence the sign but when he seemed confused they asked him directly what the sign said. Confused the guard indicated that the sign simply said "Welcome to Bromwhich" with some fancy scrollwork underneath it.
So, the group headed into the town. Beyond the wall they could see a number of buildings that made up the town square as follows: Fireside Inn, don’t spend the night turn around now
Genenral Store, get your wares and leave
Miner's Major Pub, don't dwadle
and the Mayor's Office, Seriously get out now
Additionally, a rather non-descript building had a banner fluttering outside declaring it to be headquaters of the Order of the Hidden Serpent, with a boy outside selling parchments with writing on them.
Everyone they talk to is friendly but none of them seemed to think there was anything odd about the signs. They also found out about a "puppet show" that they should go to. However, they gave conflicting information about when it started 8pm all the way up to midnight. They were also told to see the mayor though again for different reasons.
"He'll give you a discount" "He'll sell you the tickets" "He'll give you complimentry tickets" "He'll give you a voucher for complimentry drinks for the show"
The group decided to approach the boy selling papers, who not only gave them a paper for free but refused payment of any sort in exchange for it. The paper it's self was a bit odd. Since it was a sort of tabloid that was all about secrets. But they were secrts too small to even be blackmail material and were simply embarrasing at most. The boy told them that the organization were truth seekers and that they sought the truth in order to share it with others.
So, some of the group broke off to talk to the mayor while the others went to the Miner's Major Pub. The trip to the mayor's office however was quite short since the office was closed.
At the pub the group talked to more people about the puppet show and continued to get conflicting information. Everyone seemed to have seen it once and felt there was no reason to see it again. Eralyse did detect evil in the pub and discovered that 80% of the people in the pub detected as evil.
The group decided to leave the pub since it was late in order to rest outside the town. They noticed the boy packing things up and asked if they could speak with someone in the organization. Eralyse decided to see what she could dig up by investigating the town's "underbelly". While the group went inside.
What she found was strange, vagrents and theives cleaned the streets and made small repairs to buildings. She looked for signs of an underground organizaiton and soon found herself in front of the Order of the Hidden Serpent's building where the rest of the group had entered.
Upon entering the building the group saw a small room with 3 writing each with papers, quills and a crystal ball affixed to it. A stair case lead upstairs and a trapdoor in the back behind the desks.
The group asked questions about various people and the organization indicated they had secrets on all of them. If the person was someone who lived in town the information was readily available. However, for anyone not living in the town it was explained that it would take a day to retrieve the information from their archives. The group decided it would be best if they slept just outside of town, out of sight of the city walls. During the third watch (while Eralyse was watching), a halfling attempted to sneak up on the group with some kind of cermanic sphere in his hand. Eralyse cast light on her crossbow prompting the man to throw the sphere at the camp. Eralyse shot the sphere out of the air which burst into a cloud of smoke. The man then turned and fled. Eralyse awoke the others and gave chase. Mellow Leaf hit the man with a few entangling shots, while Emet and Jon hit him with greese spells. Allowing the group to surround him and force his surrender. The man identified himself as Rineil and that he had tried to kill the group because he was afriad they had been "taken" like the others. He explained that about six months ago a dwarven resident of the town by the name of Yormoth Duskstone discovered and excavated a strange buildng. Not long after that he and others began to "change" their personalities flipped and they started trying to lure others to the building. Rineil was able to avoid suffering a similar fate by pretending that he had already changed. He used illusion magic to place the signs they saw in an attempt to ward away travellers. This is because anyone who came to the town was changed and sent to work in the mines. The group was fairly sure that if they were able to get to the building and destroy whatever was inside of it that it would free the town from whatever was affecting them. Rineil was more than happy to take the group to the building but let them know that he would not be going inside. He also indicated that if they failed and were taken by the mirror they would not remember the last 24 hours and thus wouldn't remember his secret. The group went to the building and found it to be a similar style to the structure they found in Thornpond. Emet realized that both buildings were Shondae structures. This one had two townsfolk lounging in rocking chairs in front of it. A long mine cart that had been re-fitted with wagon wheels was in front of the building. Along with rope and 5 chairs. The group snuck around back and magically placed a door on the backside of the building. The door warped and momentarily vanished. When it re-appeared it had changed to be of a complimentry style to the building. Opening the newly placed back door caused the front door to close.
The inside of the building was a single mostly empty room that was illuminated with an unseen light source. In the center of the room sat a tall metal disk mounted in an oranate frame anchored to the floor. The disk was etchd with swirling carvings and words in a strange language. Those who entered the building found themselves mentally linked with anyone else in the room. Leaving the room not only severed the link but caused the person leaving to recieve a minor electrical shock. The group quickly worked to dislodge the disk from it's frame and upon doing so the light went out and the mindlink faded. They also now saw that the front of the disk was a large polished mirror which faded from a bright silver surface into a dull black crystal. Emet applied alternating sources of heat and cold in order to cause the crystal to crack making it difficult to repair the device. Though he did notice it took considribly more effort than it should of. They also found that it was impossible to open the front door while the back door was open and vise versa. This caused speculation that the inside of the building was actually an extra dimensional space. The goup then checked on the townsfolk in the rocking chairs and they were very confused not remembering anything that had happened for the past 6 months. The group also checked on the mine and found a female dwarf berating a bunch of people for being in the mine where they had no buisness being. After some convincing she allowed the group inside with her to see what had been going on. They found that much of the non-valuable rocks had been mined leaving behind large sections of coal. The group also returned to the Order of the Hidden Serpent. The inside of the building had greatly changed now it looked like a hole in the wall bar with a bartender. After the group explained to him what had happened he was willing to trade in information with the group though his prices were quite steep. The group discovered that Zadkiel had come to them looking for information on Yaunti bloodlines and confirmed that Cassie's ancesstor was a Yaunti. Zadkiel had also been seeking information on Shondae ruins as well as blood magic. But for some reason had cancelled those requests and instead hired Yormoth Duskstone and the two left. With Yormoth transformed. The group once more sought out the mayor, but was only able to speak with his aide. They let the aide know what had happened and she informed them that she was only authorized to give the group 50 gold for their help. The group decided to take the money and put it toward their lodging and food and set out for Grimford. While they were travelling they attempted to contact Zewyn. However, they only recieved a brief message written in blood that stated "Not right now". The group then found themselves at the walled city of Grimford. A stone outer wall extended around the city with the only break being where the Shaudover river flows into the city. A number of massive gates set into the great stone wall grants enterance to the town. They were one of many heading into the city, as a large number of refugees in wagons form long lines into the city and it soon became evident why. A shimmering barrier sat over the city with it's edges fastened to the top edges of the great stone wall, stopping the saltwater rain. However, it didn't takethe group long to identify a faster way into the city. Those without wagons were being directed to pass through a smaller gate where a group of guards intently watched everyone that entered. The occiasional individual got pulled aside for additional questioning, but most were allowed to enter without any hassle. As the group got close they saw signs indicating processing fees with a smaller sign has been nailed over it, stating that all fees were currently being waived by order of the mayor until further notice. Once inside the wall the group saw a series of small fields surrounding an inner wall. One of the fields was now being used as a place for refugees to camp. The group had been instructed to go to the white farm house with the grey trim and a yellow wooden fence. Initially this seemed crazy because most of the farm houses were white with some kind of dark trim and some kind of light colored fence. Though it soon became evident that this specfic combination was no where to be seen. After an hour or so they were able to find a farm house that matched the description they were given. They knocked on the door and a halfling answered the door. Without preamble he looked at them and asked "What lies upon the table of my lady?". Jon thought back to their meeting with Zewyn and relayed that a psuedo dragon sat upon her table. The man became visibly releaved and quickly usrued everyone inside. The house was a bit odd in that all f the furnature was human porportioned. Once everyone was comfortable he then asked. "So, what was the king's response" Apparently he had sent a message to Zewyn detailing the druid's plan to temporarily stop the saltwater rain but it would require the druids to enter the kingdom's borders since a magical anchor needed to be created within the kingdoms borders in order to sustain the spell that was to be cast. Additionally, the druids would then have to magically create weather within the dome to compensate for what was being blocked. This was all in order to minimize the damage to the kingdom's food supply. Time however was now running short and the location was too dangerous for him to go to himself. Before he could explain further there was a loud knocking on the halfling's front door and color drained out of his face. "It's my neighbor, quick everyone..." but before he could finish the door was thrown open and a femal aaracockra was standing in the doorway. She screeched at him "ah hah! I knew it! You DO have meetings with nefarious folk" The group tried to talk her down but after a few mintues she just wasn't having it and took to the air calling for guards forcing the group to flee. The druid passed the magical staff and a map to the group. They eventually escaped but not without being badly injured by the pursuers. So, the group gathered up and followed the map they had been given to the location indicated. After a few hours travel the road came to an abrubt end. At the end of the road was a small stone pillar with the kingdom seal along with a skull and set of crossed bones. The group soon realized what the sign meant and where they likely were. The sign indicated that the king had declared that the area beyond was extremely dangerous. They also realized that their destination was an old warforged factory that had been decommissioned as part of the terms with the silvershade druids. So, the group decided to take a long rest before venturing into such a dangeorus area. Soon after entering the group was assulted by flying metal spheres that shot beams at them. While the fighting raged lightening began striking the ground bringing forth the creatures from beyond. Though, the group soon discovered that whatever force was brining these creatures into the prime material plane had a waning strength as only one of the beasts partially formed and as a result died upon arrival. In the end the group was victourous and soon turned their attention upon the grim factory that was their destination.
Emet-Selch {Vedalken Artificer}
Eralyse Sarrallon {Aasimar Paladin}
Jon Mastiff {Human Wizard}
Mala {Aarakocra Monk}
Mellow Leaf {Tabaxi Ranger}
The group spent the day scavanging the destroyed town for anything of value that could be recovered. They found a number magical trinkets and some assorted coins. Though most things had been washed out to sea. The group was concerned that word would not properly get back to Gregorio's cousin the group made a brief stop in the city of Thornpond before heading on to Grimford with a short stop over in the village of Bromwhich.
The group took a path that branched off of the main road and found themselves coming to the village of Bromwhich nestled in a valley between several hills. Even before reaching the gate they could see that this was a mining town with a an opening in one hill with a set of tracks leading from it to the village. In the village the tracks ended at a mechanism that allowed mine carts to be emptied and placed on a parrallel track to return to the mine. The front enterance had a large wooden pallsade with a sign that read:
Welcome to Bromwich, Leave now if you value your life
A single guard dressed in mail with a helmet and spear warmly greeted the group and allowed them to enter without any questions. So the group questioned the guard. Intially, they tried to causually refrence the sign but when he seemed confused they asked him directly what the sign said. Confused the guard indicated that the sign simply said "Welcome to Bromwhich" with some fancy scrollwork underneath it.
So, the group headed into the town. Beyond the wall they could see a number of buildings that made up the town square as follows: Fireside Inn, don’t spend the night turn around now
Genenral Store, get your wares and leave
Miner's Major Pub, don't dwadle
and the Mayor's Office, Seriously get out now
Additionally, a rather non-descript building had a banner fluttering outside declaring it to be headquaters of the Order of the Hidden Serpent, with a boy outside selling parchments with writing on them.
Everyone they talk to is friendly but none of them seemed to think there was anything odd about the signs. They also found out about a "puppet show" that they should go to. However, they gave conflicting information about when it started 8pm all the way up to midnight. They were also told to see the mayor though again for different reasons.
"He'll give you a discount" "He'll sell you the tickets" "He'll give you complimentry tickets" "He'll give you a voucher for complimentry drinks for the show"
The group decided to approach the boy selling papers, who not only gave them a paper for free but refused payment of any sort in exchange for it. The paper it's self was a bit odd. Since it was a sort of tabloid that was all about secrets. But they were secrts too small to even be blackmail material and were simply embarrasing at most. The boy told them that the organization were truth seekers and that they sought the truth in order to share it with others.
So, some of the group broke off to talk to the mayor while the others went to the Miner's Major Pub. The trip to the mayor's office however was quite short since the office was closed.
At the pub the group talked to more people about the puppet show and continued to get conflicting information. Everyone seemed to have seen it once and felt there was no reason to see it again. Eralyse did detect evil in the pub and discovered that 80% of the people in the pub detected as evil.
The group decided to leave the pub since it was late in order to rest outside the town. They noticed the boy packing things up and asked if they could speak with someone in the organization. Eralyse decided to see what she could dig up by investigating the town's "underbelly". While the group went inside.
What she found was strange, vagrents and theives cleaned the streets and made small repairs to buildings. She looked for signs of an underground organizaiton and soon found herself in front of the Order of the Hidden Serpent's building where the rest of the group had entered.
Upon entering the building the group saw a small room with 3 writing each with papers, quills and a crystal ball affixed to it. A stair case lead upstairs and a trapdoor in the back behind the desks.
The group asked questions about various people and the organization indicated they had secrets on all of them. If the person was someone who lived in town the information was readily available. However, for anyone not living in the town it was explained that it would take a day to retrieve the information from their archives. The group decided it would be best if they slept just outside of town, out of sight of the city walls. During the third watch (while Eralyse was watching), a halfling attempted to sneak up on the group with some kind of cermanic sphere in his hand. Eralyse cast light on her crossbow prompting the man to throw the sphere at the camp. Eralyse shot the sphere out of the air which burst into a cloud of smoke. The man then turned and fled. Eralyse awoke the others and gave chase. Mellow Leaf hit the man with a few entangling shots, while Emet and Jon hit him with greese spells. Allowing the group to surround him and force his surrender. The man identified himself as Rineil and that he had tried to kill the group because he was afriad they had been "taken" like the others. He explained that about six months ago a dwarven resident of the town by the name of Yormoth Duskstone discovered and excavated a strange buildng. Not long after that he and others began to "change" their personalities flipped and they started trying to lure others to the building. Rineil was able to avoid suffering a similar fate by pretending that he had already changed. He used illusion magic to place the signs they saw in an attempt to ward away travellers. This is because anyone who came to the town was changed and sent to work in the mines. The group was fairly sure that if they were able to get to the building and destroy whatever was inside of it that it would free the town from whatever was affecting them. Rineil was more than happy to take the group to the building but let them know that he would not be going inside. He also indicated that if they failed and were taken by the mirror they would not remember the last 24 hours and thus wouldn't remember his secret. The group went to the building and found it to be a similar style to the structure they found in Thornpond. Emet realized that both buildings were Shondae structures. This one had two townsfolk lounging in rocking chairs in front of it. A long mine cart that had been re-fitted with wagon wheels was in front of the building. Along with rope and 5 chairs. The group snuck around back and magically placed a door on the backside of the building. The door warped and momentarily vanished. When it re-appeared it had changed to be of a complimentry style to the building. Opening the newly placed back door caused the front door to close.
The inside of the building was a single mostly empty room that was illuminated with an unseen light source. In the center of the room sat a tall metal disk mounted in an oranate frame anchored to the floor. The disk was etchd with swirling carvings and words in a strange language. Those who entered the building found themselves mentally linked with anyone else in the room. Leaving the room not only severed the link but caused the person leaving to recieve a minor electrical shock. The group quickly worked to dislodge the disk from it's frame and upon doing so the light went out and the mindlink faded. They also now saw that the front of the disk was a large polished mirror which faded from a bright silver surface into a dull black crystal. Emet applied alternating sources of heat and cold in order to cause the crystal to crack making it difficult to repair the device. Though he did notice it took considribly more effort than it should of. They also found that it was impossible to open the front door while the back door was open and vise versa. This caused speculation that the inside of the building was actually an extra dimensional space. The goup then checked on the townsfolk in the rocking chairs and they were very confused not remembering anything that had happened for the past 6 months. The group also checked on the mine and found a female dwarf berating a bunch of people for being in the mine where they had no buisness being. After some convincing she allowed the group inside with her to see what had been going on. They found that much of the non-valuable rocks had been mined leaving behind large sections of coal. The group also returned to the Order of the Hidden Serpent. The inside of the building had greatly changed now it looked like a hole in the wall bar with a bartender. After the group explained to him what had happened he was willing to trade in information with the group though his prices were quite steep. The group discovered that Zadkiel had come to them looking for information on Yaunti bloodlines and confirmed that Cassie's ancesstor was a Yaunti. Zadkiel had also been seeking information on Shondae ruins as well as blood magic. But for some reason had cancelled those requests and instead hired Yormoth Duskstone and the two left. With Yormoth transformed. The group once more sought out the mayor, but was only able to speak with his aide. They let the aide know what had happened and she informed them that she was only authorized to give the group 50 gold for their help. The group decided to take the money and put it toward their lodging and food and set out for Grimford. While they were travelling they attempted to contact Zewyn. However, they only recieved a brief message written in blood that stated "Not right now". The group then found themselves at the walled city of Grimford. A stone outer wall extended around the city with the only break being where the Shaudover river flows into the city. A number of massive gates set into the great stone wall grants enterance to the town. They were one of many heading into the city, as a large number of refugees in wagons form long lines into the city and it soon became evident why. A shimmering barrier sat over the city with it's edges fastened to the top edges of the great stone wall, stopping the saltwater rain. However, it didn't takethe group long to identify a faster way into the city. Those without wagons were being directed to pass through a smaller gate where a group of guards intently watched everyone that entered. The occiasional individual got pulled aside for additional questioning, but most were allowed to enter without any hassle. As the group got close they saw signs indicating processing fees with a smaller sign has been nailed over it, stating that all fees were currently being waived by order of the mayor until further notice. Once inside the wall the group saw a series of small fields surrounding an inner wall. One of the fields was now being used as a place for refugees to camp. The group had been instructed to go to the white farm house with the grey trim and a yellow wooden fence. Initially this seemed crazy because most of the farm houses were white with some kind of dark trim and some kind of light colored fence. Though it soon became evident that this specfic combination was no where to be seen. After an hour or so they were able to find a farm house that matched the description they were given. They knocked on the door and a halfling answered the door. Without preamble he looked at them and asked "What lies upon the table of my lady?". Jon thought back to their meeting with Zewyn and relayed that a psuedo dragon sat upon her table. The man became visibly releaved and quickly usrued everyone inside. The house was a bit odd in that all f the furnature was human porportioned. Once everyone was comfortable he then asked. "So, what was the king's response" Apparently he had sent a message to Zewyn detailing the druid's plan to temporarily stop the saltwater rain but it would require the druids to enter the kingdom's borders since a magical anchor needed to be created within the kingdoms borders in order to sustain the spell that was to be cast. Additionally, the druids would then have to magically create weather within the dome to compensate for what was being blocked. This was all in order to minimize the damage to the kingdom's food supply. Time however was now running short and the location was too dangerous for him to go to himself. Before he could explain further there was a loud knocking on the halfling's front door and color drained out of his face. "It's my neighbor, quick everyone..." but before he could finish the door was thrown open and a femal aaracockra was standing in the doorway. She screeched at him "ah hah! I knew it! You DO have meetings with nefarious folk" The group tried to talk her down but after a few mintues she just wasn't having it and took to the air calling for guards forcing the group to flee. The druid passed the magical staff and a map to the group. They eventually escaped but not without being badly injured by the pursuers. So, the group gathered up and followed the map they had been given to the location indicated. After a few hours travel the road came to an abrubt end. At the end of the road was a small stone pillar with the kingdom seal along with a skull and set of crossed bones. The group soon realized what the sign meant and where they likely were. The sign indicated that the king had declared that the area beyond was extremely dangerous. They also realized that their destination was an old warforged factory that had been decommissioned as part of the terms with the silvershade druids. So, the group decided to take a long rest before venturing into such a dangeorus area. Soon after entering the group was assulted by flying metal spheres that shot beams at them. While the fighting raged lightening began striking the ground bringing forth the creatures from beyond. Though, the group soon discovered that whatever force was brining these creatures into the prime material plane had a waning strength as only one of the beasts partially formed and as a result died upon arrival. In the end the group was victourous and soon turned their attention upon the grim factory that was their destination.
Rewards Granted
- 2,400 tin pieces worth of assorted coins
- All Purpose Tool +1
- Cap of Water Breathing
- Spell Gem (Lapis Lazuli)
- Pyroconverger
- Robe of Useful Items
- Amulet of the Drunkard
- Ever Smoking Bottle
Missions/Quests Completed
Solve the Mystery of Bromwhich
- Defeat / Befriend Rineil
- Break the Enchantment Upon the town
- Make Contact in Grimford with the Silvershade Druids
- Neogiate with / Escape from the Nosy Neighbor
Character(s) interacted with
- Gregorio's Cousin
- 1 Extra Friendly Guard
- Many Mirrored Miners
- 1 Nieve Newsie
- 1 Influenced Bartender
- 1 Clerk with a secret everyone knows
- Rineil
- 1 Completely "harmless" Mirror
- 1 Irrate Master Chief of Mining
- 1 Bartender with secrets known by few
- 1 Flummuxed Government Worker
- Zewyn
- 1 Illegal Silvershade Diplomat
- 1 Concerned Citzien
- Many rather upset guards
- 5 Sneaky Sentry Spheres
- 2 upset extra planar tourists
- 1 very upset extra planar tourist that wanted a refund
Report Date
31 Aug 2021
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