Ashe C2 Episode 54 - Insolent Howl and Hightower
Previously on Liters of Tomorrow...
Months ago the team ventured deep underground into a cave system led by the mysterious Deadrose Knight. Buried underneath was an ancient manor owned by the Allesandre family going back to the second age. Inside you found powerful religious artifacts and a strange painting protected by a magical force wall. The painting was of a thin well dressed tiefling man. Underneath was a strange recess that looked like it could accept a similarly shaped item acting as a key. You narrowly escaped the many dangers thrown at you by the Dark One himself.
In the last few days you entered the city of Copenhaus and found it in the control of one of the Fallen. The powerful horned warlord known as Vernabogge. You chipped away at his forces one by one and foiled a bomb plot planned to detonate deep below the earth in Drow territory. You also battled your way into an embassy turned into a prison to free Mausim's father and several other important people in the city. Your greatest feat, however, was taking on Vernabogge and his personal guard on the Light Bridge. After a long bloody battle you defeated him and watched as his body crumbled to dust.
Knowing that the Fallen are not disposed of that easily your sought answers amongst the scholars of the city. A dwarven historian named Yovotan Candor told you that the painting you had seen down in Allesandre Manor may have been a phylactery of sorts feeding Vernabogge his power and immortality. By finding a key amongst his possessions you may be able to remove the force field and destroy the painting.
This required you to enter Nuxhall Manor, his base of operations in the city. Now taken over by a couple of his lieutenants, Ragvar Hightower and an assassin named Insolent Howl. You spent the last half an hour battling guards and strange metallic spheres equipped with blades. Demaia rode one of the balls up to the second floor and was invisibly attacked by Insolent Howl who wields psionic blades. The rest of the team made their way up the stairs to find her in mortal danger against the psionically masked assailant. Demaia used her constrictor snake form to grapple the tabaxi and Nuth and Finn used a combination of spells to reveal herself.
The dangers are far from over, however, as Insolent Howl renews her attack. More dangers present themselves as intellect devourers tumble out of the children's room and another sphere rounds the corner!
Months ago the team ventured deep underground into a cave system led by the mysterious Deadrose Knight. Buried underneath was an ancient manor owned by the Allesandre family going back to the second age. Inside you found powerful religious artifacts and a strange painting protected by a magical force wall. The painting was of a thin well dressed tiefling man. Underneath was a strange recess that looked like it could accept a similarly shaped item acting as a key. You narrowly escaped the many dangers thrown at you by the Dark One himself.
In the last few days you entered the city of Copenhaus and found it in the control of one of the Fallen. The powerful horned warlord known as Vernabogge. You chipped away at his forces one by one and foiled a bomb plot planned to detonate deep below the earth in Drow territory. You also battled your way into an embassy turned into a prison to free Mausim's father and several other important people in the city. Your greatest feat, however, was taking on Vernabogge and his personal guard on the Light Bridge. After a long bloody battle you defeated him and watched as his body crumbled to dust.
Knowing that the Fallen are not disposed of that easily your sought answers amongst the scholars of the city. A dwarven historian named Yovotan Candor told you that the painting you had seen down in Allesandre Manor may have been a phylactery of sorts feeding Vernabogge his power and immortality. By finding a key amongst his possessions you may be able to remove the force field and destroy the painting.
This required you to enter Nuxhall Manor, his base of operations in the city. Now taken over by a couple of his lieutenants, Ragvar Hightower and an assassin named Insolent Howl. You spent the last half an hour battling guards and strange metallic spheres equipped with blades. Demaia rode one of the balls up to the second floor and was invisibly attacked by Insolent Howl who wields psionic blades. The rest of the team made their way up the stairs to find her in mortal danger against the psionically masked assailant. Demaia used her constrictor snake form to grapple the tabaxi and Nuth and Finn used a combination of spells to reveal herself.
The dangers are far from over, however, as Insolent Howl renews her attack. More dangers present themselves as intellect devourers tumble out of the children's room and another sphere rounds the corner!
Plot points/Scenes
Nuxhall Manor / Second Floor
Second Floor - Moving Clockwise
Upper porch open air - This large beautiful porch overlooks the ocean many hundreds of feet below. Fourteen large columns give it a greek revivalist style and it's intricate teak herringbone cut flooring keeps it inviting.
Guest bedroom 01 and breakfast nook - The first bedroom on the left is decorated in several shades of blue. It has an attached breakfast nook with a setting for four.
[Insolent Howl has moved in here. She keeps many trophies of her victims on display. Some options are a woman's hand with a massive diamond ring floating in a jar. A man's shirt stained with blood. A silk kerchief wrapped around a man's penis. A queen's guard helmet from the Kingdom of Crossing sun and stars fit for a tabaxi.]
Upper study - The bedroom abuts an office with a massive rug that has the symbol of House Nuxhall. The western window overlooks the garden pond below.
Servants bedroom - a plainly furnished room with two single beds is found on the western wall. The door is molded to look like the walls themselves so that the servants appear from almost nowhere.
Guest bedroom 02 - This bedroom is decorated in several shades of Yellow.
Upstairs dining room - Another eating area that can seat 10.
Children's bedroom - A series of single beds in a brightly colored room. The walls are painted with magical monsters in a cartoonish style. [DM Note: in the beds were three Intellect Devourers. Finn awakened them and they have rushed into the hallway to begin eating mental energy!
Detect Sentience. The intellect devourer can sense the presence and location of any creature within 300 feet of it that has an Intelligence of 3 or higher, regardless of interposing barriers, unless the creature is protected by a mind blank spell.]
Center foray overlooking the first floor - In the center of the second floor is a massive room with ceiling height of 20 feet. Several skylights let in natural light and the ceiling itself is inset with magical lights that mimic the night sky when the sun goes down.
Nightowl Office - yet another office extending off of the master bedroom. It has it's own fireplace and a large mahoghany desk wit a light blue leather office chair.
[Here vernabogge has hidden his most important relics. A marble bust of a Tiefling man has an inset metal seal that bears the insignia of House Allesandre. The metal seal is about six inches long and is shaped like a rectangle with rounded edges on the right side. The bust is of an older Tiefling man with tight chin beard. His father.]
Master Bedroom - the main bedroom of the Baron and his wife. It has a bearskin rug and all the furnishings they need including washroom.
[Vernabogge has taken over these rooms. Two Succubi await his return in the bed. They will polymorph into attactive human women and attempt to charm any who enter. DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. If they fail they will attack with claws and draining kiss.]
Trophy room - The baron's trophy room has many taxidermied heads from his many hunting excursions.
Diplomatic study - A separate staircase leads up to this very official looking room. It holds a large square office table and seating for nine. The baron would often hold meetings here with his staff and visiting officials.
Ballroom - the circular room above the bar and grill is the opulent ball room. It can hold up to 60 guests for music and dancing.
[Now this area of the house has become the Illithid's - Virulent Whispers -room of torture and horror. Instead of the gaming tables and barrels of wine it now has glass jars of disembodied brains. Some of which are in the process of transforming into Intellect Devourers. In several of the corners there are people strapped to leather chairs. All in different states of torture. The worst have their scalps pinned open and the bone of their skulls polished and prepped.]
Themes
Remaining Dangers on the Second Floor:
The two Succubi will disguise themselves as concubines of Vernabogge. They will attempt to seduce at first pretending to be unaware of the threat the players pose. If confronted with a threat they will turn to fear and pleading with the party. This only lasts as long as needed to attack and attempt to feed on a target.
Their fake names are Candy St. Claire and Francia Goodhead.
Cast Charm: DC 15 Wisdom Saving throw
Draining Kiss: The fiend kisses a creature charmed by it or a willing creature. The target must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw against this magic, taking 32 (5d10 + 5) psychic damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The target's hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken. This reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.
Structure
Exposition
Virulent Whispers
The Mind Flayer takes a different approach and he unleashes the Cask of Ancient Winters inside the manor. [If a player finds the cask and closes it the wintry conditions end. This Cask is only a replica for one time use. It's magic has ended.]
The temperature in the manor drops quickly to 15 degrees F/-9 Centigrade, and it begins to snow in every room.
The floor now ices over and becomes difficult terrain, this halves their movement. From now on every round each player must make a constitution saving throw DC 14 or take a point of exhaustion.
Coupled with the cold the mind flayer unleashes illusions of cold, holiday themed creatures to bedevil the party. Candy Lads leap through the snow and wield deadly sharp canes. A goat legged creature in a festive red coat appears in doorways and snowman like creatures form out of snowbanks. While the players jump at shadows the Mind Flayer will blast them with his Mind Blast and cast icy magic missiles at them out of a wand he carries. 4 missiles per attack, 1d4 damage each. Shield spell mitigates this attack.
Mind Blast (Recharge 5–6). The mind flayer magically emits psychic energy in a 60-foot cone. Each creature in that area must succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence saving throw or take 22 (4d8 + 4) psychic damage and be stunned for 1 minute. A creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.
With the Intellect Devourers and the other dangers keeping their attention only Nuth will begin to feel the presence of the Mind Flayer with his psionic abilities. Each Round he will have to do an intelligence saving throw DC 15. On a success he starts to piece together images that lead to Mind Flayer. An Octopus, followed by parasitic Wasp, and then a purple grub becoming a black moth. On a failure he takes 1d6 psychic damage as Virulent Whispers enters his mind. If he reaches 0 HP his body rises in a sleep like condition and walks towards the mind flayer ready for implantation.
[DM Note: if the players fail and drop to 0 HP they will then find themselves in the clutches of Virulent Whispers. He restrains them on hard chairs like heavy iron dentists chairs. He will then implant them with tadpoles to turn them into Mind Flayers. He taunts them and says when the tadpoles are implanted they are free to go. He also mentions that Vernabogge is very much reconstituted by now, he expects to hear from him momentarily. He asks them to wait in the city until his return. Virulent Whispers has not had a family for quite some time, he looks forward to their metamorphosis.]
Conflict
Obtaining the Key
When a player takes possession of the metal insignia a purple colored magical pulse emanates outward. Mausim, Finn and Archos feel it wash over them and feel cleaner as a result. Like their very skin has been scrubbed with an exfoliant. The magical tracking field has been disabled and they are able to leave the city. Remind them that it has the look and shape of the depression under the painting in Allesandre Manor.
Their next move should be finding a way back to the Ashen Forest as soon as possible. Vernabogge will resurrect soon and the entire continent is in danger. Their are many ways to travel back to Ashe, they could charter a boat or try to convince the city elders to loan them Griffons to ride. Or they could grab horses and carriages and go by land. The city allows the griffons to fly as far west as Stoneport but claim that they need them for defense so they must return immediately.
Rising Action
Once we get back on the road:
The Dead Tree
A section of forest that has a dark history. A horrific series of murders leaves this place susceptible to the Dark one's influence. He manifests in the tree and summons three massive undead creatures from the soil beneath. The tree itself attacks the players with roots that grab and grapple.
The tree itself twists it's trunk into a hideous face replicating the dark one himself. It's eyes glow with a bright sickly green color. It taunts them and tells tales of it's history in the region. How he can feel himself getting stronger every day and that this area is rich with the soil of death. A great battle took place her three thousand years ago and the evil of that day still resonates, allowing him to reach out and touch this part of the material plane.
He resurrects three creatures from that day who rise up with glowing green eyes and attack the party. A massive minotaur with rotting flesh, an ogre enmeshed with human and elven body parts, and a Knight whose rusted helmet is till intact. A green glow emanating from the visor.
News of the last few months
If they travel to Helletown, Allachi, or Stoneport they will hear news of the upcoming battle cries that are emanating from Penthaheim. Note that many traders, ship captains, and ministers will be very upset about these reports considering the violence of 35 years ago. This will also strain further the hold of the great Houses on governments throughout the region.
Their power is fast collapsing and people are noticing. What could possibly be the next wave of governmental structure thoughout Tellenheim? Many will try to go back to a Monarchy citing Warshaw as an example.
Penthaheim Many of the city states have begun assembling armies and small trade disputes are becoming war worthy.
As they travel they can see war encampments just off roads or possibly even blocking roads and waterways. They will have guards set up to check travelers allegiances or point of origin. This should lead to many encounters involving diplomacy or stealth to get through.
As the team travels into Penthaheim this situation will get much worse. Vernabogge has pitted many of the major city centers against each other. Lamborginus is once more revving up it's war machine and breaking treaties it has had in place for the last 35 years. They are still viewed unfavorably after the Knights of Aventador marched on Penthos. They were bound by treaties to not assemble any weapons or militia for the next century.
Vellen Falls will stay neutral, as always, claiming it's importance as a cultural center and a hub of diplomacy with the other continents.
Volen and Vetren have combined forces and are much larger population centers than they were 35 years ago. They now have joined under one banner known as Voltron.
Tellenor, Onsalm, and Franc have considered themselves neutral but are prime targets for any force looking to hold the continent. They are the breadbasket of the region, the main farming center including and vineyards.
Jolar Settelement and Crom have become a force to be reckoned with. They are a series of barbarian tribes of great strength and have become the new targets of Vernabogge's quest to pit the strongest against each other. The barbarians have answered the call and look to march on Copenhaus and destroy the city.
Copenhaus is now ruled by Vernabogge who has revved up their armed forces and looks to use their mighty navy and air power to take over the continent. He has a plan to attack Lamborginus first and add their forces to his own. With their combined might he can easily take over the continent.
Penthos, the capitol city, is the last powerful entity in the south. Their navy is the strongest in the region and their army is well trained and equipped. Even they know that if Vernabogge wins he will march on the city and sack it. They will enlist the dwarven society in the Urgolos Mountain Hold to fight with them. Their last chance is making a deal with Alcan Island and the Aarokocra. Penthos and Alcan have fought over shipping lanes and resources for the last several centuries and they do not get along. There were several attempts by the great Houses to invade Alcan and take control of Alcala 150 years ago. A great many sailors and Aarokocra died in this war and the memories are still raw all these years later.
Completion Date
12/22/23
12/22/23
Plot type
Main Story
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Related Locations
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