An Unexpected Party Report

General Summary

After each of our adventurers received their letters from Sylvan, inviting them to the Fiend's Festival, the six of them gathered in their friend's locale, Hell's Outcasts, and were treated to a free meal of flame roasted halfling chili (halfling not included) as well as some booze.  It was here that Sylvan explained his reasoning for throwing the party.  He was simply bored and decided that his grand return to Greyhawk needed a little celebration.  The party was not all too amused by this, but was nonetheless thankful for the invite.  The six went their separate ways until the festival began, during which the party purchased a magical war hammer for Naelen named Singer, which plays fragments of songs it has heard recently when it strikes something.  When the day of the fest arrived, the other five made their way to Sylvan's Festival, where he stood at a ribbon closing off the street.  After saying a few words about how happy he was to be running the festival and that everyone was welcome, he cut the ribbon, allowing the crowds to pour in.  While Sylvan spent his time meandering around, socializing with a few of his higher-status guests and personal invites, the rest of the party made their way to the first section of the festival, the Realm of Gluttony.  This section had several food stands serving everything from apple pies to genuine dwarven stout.  The five of them didn't tarry long, merely stopping to say hello to Yarruk and Febblekin, who were running a stand themselves.  Naelen stayed behind to partake in the fine spirits available while the other four moved on to the realm of amusement.  Most of the party had more fun there, as there were several fun attractions, such as dunk the kobold, knife throwing and pin the tail on the demon (which was actually a very greasy goat).  Kaizzt took a shot at dunk the kobold, but threw so poorly that he accidently beamed the kobold instead of the target, after which, he gifted the kobolds 10 gp as an apology.  Martin participated in knife throwing, but used his catapult spell to earn himself a speedy victory, and a large demon plushie.  Dreamstroke set up an arm wrestling booth, while Clarimund made her way to the Realm of Greed, which was full of shopfronts, where she bought Luka a few chew toys and a book called the Slimonomicon, filled with information about various oozes.  It was nearing 10 AM when crowds began to gather around the Realm of Gluttony, where Sylvan was making a huge announcement, where he sarcastically thanked some of the individuals whom he invited, such as Nara, the town guard who harassed him as a child.  She was promptly thrown out by the crowd once Sylvan made this public knowledge.  After the dust had settled from that, he announced a treasure hunt around the city, giving the first clue, which was "find the rose on a sea of blue".  It did not take Kaizzt long to figure this out, as he took to the skies on Raijo and spotted a group of performers dressed in blue suede called Royal Blue.  The lead lutist had a rose in his mouth and gave Kaizzt the next clue, which was "you will find your next clue where the Laughing Rogue is revered".  Thanks to a bit of religious knowledge, Kaizzt knew that this was a moniker for Olidammara.  As the party did some investigating they discovered that there was a temple dedicated to Olidammara not two blocks away.  They immediately made their way there, but discovered that the place was empty, save a scrap of paper under a few empty shot glasses that read "We have your priest - The Thieves' Guild".  The party went to Sylvan with the dead end who was understandably pissed that they would mess with his game, so he decided to break the rules a bit and help them find the priest.  Sylvan, thanks to his connections from his tavern, knew of a nearby hideout in a sewer that the Thieves' Guild used regularly and bade that the party follow.  It was only a few streets away, under an ordinary manhole, which they made their way down.  Once below, they immediately spotted a strange yellow ball, which Martin identified as yellow mold, which he quickly destroyed with his fire bolt cantrip.  Moving forward with Kaizzt's dancing lights spell, they discovered that the sewer opened up into a wide pit, at the bottom which sat a very hungry Otyugh, which leapt at the party.  Thankfully the party had faced worse foes and took care of it quickly.  Sheathing their weapons, Kaizzt spotted an alcove covered by an wooden board, inside which was a pouch of flowers and herbs, as well as a chest containing a good sum of gold and a silver amethyst necklace.  Moving on, the party made their way to a heavy iron door, behind which they heard several individuals having a good time.  Sylvan knocked demanding entrance, though the man on the other side demanded a password.  Thinking quickly, Martin used his medallion of detect thoughts to read the person's mind and discovered that the password was "cheesy bread" (This is an inside joke that would take too long to explain, but it won't be the last time you hear it).  Martin quickly relayed the password to Sylvan, who spoke it aloud.  The man lifted a door bar and was immediately surprised to see a party of armed adventurers at his doorstep.  Though the thug at the door and the rest of their band seemed ready to put up some sort of fight, the leader of the group quickly assessed the situation and figured it wasn't worth it, and gave up the priest, who was bound, gagged, and incredibly intoxicated.  As soon as he was on his feet, he gave the party his hint, which was "your next hint lies with the brass dragon's offspring.  This one had the party stumped for a bit, but they remembered that there were many taverns and inns around Greyhawk that were named after dragons, and after a little asking around, they discovered that there was one named the brass dragon inn at the main gate into the city.  As they entered and began looking around, they found that the barroom was fairly empty, save a few patrons and the bartender, who when asked about the clue, claimed they didn't know anything about a clue.  Martin however, had an idea, and ordered a single egg.  The bartender smiled and gave him a single hardboiled egg and a slip of paper, which read "Go where the augur watches water run the processional.  A puzzling clue, but the party knew that the main street that ran through Greyhawk was called the processional, so they began there.  Martin, using his connections with the guard, made his way up through a guard tower and spotted a place where a river ran under a bridge farther along the road.  Making their way there, the party spotted an old shack which had a crystal ball on a swinging sign outside.  Figuring that there was nothing better to try, they made their way inside, where a fortune teller was plying her trade.  For a few gold, she gave the party the next hint in the form of a fortune, which was "I see a place where many adventures begin, a place where friendships are forged."  This seemed like a very obvious nod to the Green Dragon Inn, the place where the party first formed.  Making their way there, Rickard Durant was manning the bar like he always did, and Helga serving drinks to the few customers around.  In the corner sat a table with drinks ready, a half played game of cards on the table, and a few snacks, strangely similar to that first rainy day that they first met.  Sitting down, they noticed under the table was a large framed painting.  Pulling it up, they saw that it was a painting of the party sitting around the table in a jovial mood, perhaps celebrating a successful adventure together, with friends and family in the background.  With their treasure hunt complete, they returned to the festival, ate a wonderful dinner, and watched a grandiose fireworks display designed by Sylvan as twilight passed into the dark.

Rewards Granted

• 2,800 XP divided 4 ways
• Painting of the party
• 328 gp divided 6 ways
• Silver necklace with amethyst gemstone (270 gp)

Missions/Quests Completed

An Unexpected Party: Complete!

Notes

• Began the 18th of Coldeven, 601 CY
• Ended the 21st of Coldeven, 601 CY