Session 37: Blue Alley: Part 3 - The Hunt for Icantha Report
General Summary
The party continues their search of Blue Alley, opening a door they previously passed. Inside they find a corridor with frescos depicting all manner of flying creatures and copper rods 15 feet in the air conducting lightning up and down the corridor.
Cameron sends his turret to investigate, but finds nothing. As a couple members of the party move forward into the corridor Andryn Stormpeak noticed a pressure plate in the middle of the room. The party is careful to avoid the trap and continued along until hey saw a door to the north and found that the corridor wrapped around to the south. On the other side of the U corridor is a spiked pit. The party opts to open the door to the north and found a large chamber full of garbage.
Cameron again sends his turret to investigate and it immediately sets off a bear trap. The triggering of the trap alerts 6 skeletons in a nearby secret room to come investigate. Caelynn tries to solve the situation diplomatically, but one fo the skeletons immediately fires upon her with a shortbow. Four of the skeletons look to be made of bones from various humanoid creatures. The party discovers that the sound of the bones grinding and clacking together as the skeletons move is incredibly frightening. The entire party is frightened on and off for the entire battle.
Cameron's turret is destroyed early on, which doesn't help his frightened state. Andryn casts Gust of Wind. Unfortunately, that ends up just making the clacking skeletons clack more as they move back toward the party. Caelynn takes a large brunt of the attacks in the battle. She ends up going unconscious briefly before being revived by Andryn.
Between some excellent bludgeoning action from Runt and Andryn and a few magic spells and rocks (which are not for licking...Runt) from Caelynn and Cameron, the party vanquishes the skeletons. Runt gets caught in a bear trap but manages to free himself as he uses the long weapons in the bag of holding to tap ahead of the party as they collect themselves and have a short rest.
As they investigate the room, the party finds three bodies that look recently deceased. A dwarf, human, and an elven woman bearing a resemblance to their description of Icantha Redmane. Her party members are riddled with arrows, while her leg is caught in a bear trap. The reason for her death isn't immediately apparent after a medicine check from Andryn. They do notice that a portion of Icantha's armor is missing and she has a tattoo of three red inverted triangles arrange into a larger triangle on her upper arm. They recognize this symbol from the letter the Cassalanter's received. Cameron investigates the body and finds a note. The note reads: "A blind stone must see. Manshoon overplayed his hand with X. Z's are down an eye."
Cameron recalls that Manshoon was a wizard and the founder of the Zhentarim. He died over a hundred years ago. When he died it turned out he created several clones of himself over the years. Upon his death, the clones were activated and were unfortunately hell-bent on destroying each other. There was a not insignificant war between these clones that raged for quite some time.
The party decides to take the bodies out of Blue Alley both for more information and to return to their loved ones. The decide to check a door before exiting the room and find a long hallway full of whirling blades emerging from the floor and several scything blades swinging back and forth. Cameron closes the door and the party nopes out of that.
On a floating disk created by Cameron, the party heads toward the entrance of Blue alley with the bodies. As Runt hurries out of the deathtrap alley, he's suddenly thrown back as he hits an invisible barrier.
The party is not getting out the way they got in...
Cameron sends his turret to investigate, but finds nothing. As a couple members of the party move forward into the corridor Andryn Stormpeak noticed a pressure plate in the middle of the room. The party is careful to avoid the trap and continued along until hey saw a door to the north and found that the corridor wrapped around to the south. On the other side of the U corridor is a spiked pit. The party opts to open the door to the north and found a large chamber full of garbage.
Cameron again sends his turret to investigate and it immediately sets off a bear trap. The triggering of the trap alerts 6 skeletons in a nearby secret room to come investigate. Caelynn tries to solve the situation diplomatically, but one fo the skeletons immediately fires upon her with a shortbow. Four of the skeletons look to be made of bones from various humanoid creatures. The party discovers that the sound of the bones grinding and clacking together as the skeletons move is incredibly frightening. The entire party is frightened on and off for the entire battle.
Cameron's turret is destroyed early on, which doesn't help his frightened state. Andryn casts Gust of Wind. Unfortunately, that ends up just making the clacking skeletons clack more as they move back toward the party. Caelynn takes a large brunt of the attacks in the battle. She ends up going unconscious briefly before being revived by Andryn.
Between some excellent bludgeoning action from Runt and Andryn and a few magic spells and rocks (which are not for licking...Runt) from Caelynn and Cameron, the party vanquishes the skeletons. Runt gets caught in a bear trap but manages to free himself as he uses the long weapons in the bag of holding to tap ahead of the party as they collect themselves and have a short rest.
As they investigate the room, the party finds three bodies that look recently deceased. A dwarf, human, and an elven woman bearing a resemblance to their description of Icantha Redmane. Her party members are riddled with arrows, while her leg is caught in a bear trap. The reason for her death isn't immediately apparent after a medicine check from Andryn. They do notice that a portion of Icantha's armor is missing and she has a tattoo of three red inverted triangles arrange into a larger triangle on her upper arm. They recognize this symbol from the letter the Cassalanter's received. Cameron investigates the body and finds a note. The note reads: "A blind stone must see. Manshoon overplayed his hand with X. Z's are down an eye."
Cameron recalls that Manshoon was a wizard and the founder of the Zhentarim. He died over a hundred years ago. When he died it turned out he created several clones of himself over the years. Upon his death, the clones were activated and were unfortunately hell-bent on destroying each other. There was a not insignificant war between these clones that raged for quite some time.
The party decides to take the bodies out of Blue Alley both for more information and to return to their loved ones. The decide to check a door before exiting the room and find a long hallway full of whirling blades emerging from the floor and several scything blades swinging back and forth. Cameron closes the door and the party nopes out of that.
On a floating disk created by Cameron, the party heads toward the entrance of Blue alley with the bodies. As Runt hurries out of the deathtrap alley, he's suddenly thrown back as he hits an invisible barrier.
The party is not getting out the way they got in...
Rewards Granted
A small box filled with different sized buttons found among the garbage.
Missions/Quests Completed
Icantha: found! Is she somehow involved with the Asmodeus cult?
Character(s) interacted with
Skeletons: terrible diplomats.
Comments