Monday, 5 December 2016

(G300 29/11/16 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK, NG) SS14

(G300 29/11/16 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK, NG) SS14


DAY 276 (11th Nightal)(December) cont ...

[Hail, dear reader! The next part of the story is amply covered by a report that happened to make its way into my possession not so long ago. The writer is a drow detective aligned to House Dusklorn. His name is Merlock Tomes and he takes up the story here ...]

Of course, the death of Elessarwa Nledoor the matron of House Dusklorn was sudden and brutal but perhaps not unexpected. She had a habit of abducting and torturing to death anyone she liked off the streets of Pedestal and that is not a hobby that one can pursue indefinitely without meeting with censure.

I was first told of the murder by my master Lord Gragrax who sent me immediately to the scene of the crime. It appeared that Elessarwa had been shot through the belly with an arrow so forcefully that at first I assumed it was magical. The assassins had been clever and taken all their missiles away, however I later tended to believe that the arrow in question was psionically focused.

Muvaysil, Elessarwa's consort had been struck a mighty blow by a great axe. With a  strength that lead me to think a half-orc had possibly landed the blow.

Of the other's in the room I surmised there was a female magic user firing magic missiles, a male warlock firing eldritch blasts and their pet rhinoceros. The rhinoceros was clearly evident from the smell of rhinoceros that still lingered in the air. On my last trip to the surface I made it my mission to seek out and sniff as many creatures as I could and that endeavour was now bearing fruit.

Surface dwellers then, and since there was only one place I would certainly find them I went immediately to the Dripstone Inn where I located them immediately. I enquired of the locals discreetly and soon found the names of them and their likely professions.
The rhinoceros turned out to be a kiloren druid, which, of course, would have been my second guess.

To put their descriptions briefly here then we have:
Billitoppe - a sex starved gnome scout who appears to be good in nature
Durz - his boon companion, a simple but powerful brute barbarian that knows little else but violence and lust
Dwerry - a quiet, bookish aasimar that is not all that she appears
Arahel - a juvenile kiloren with much more power than sense
Fenrir - a renegade warlock murderer of whom a famous song was written in his home town of Waterdeep
    (also noted that he has vampire bite marks on his neck, which was interesting)

I watched them with keen interest, and observed their various bizarre mating rituals. This was, evidently, not an adventure band that cared much for keeping a low profile.

I initially sent a messenger to Lord Gragrax to tell him the killers had been discovered, but advised him not to move just yet, as after a spot of eavesdropping I discovered that their next target was the Necromancer's Spike. If this was the case then either a) they would die in the attempt to take the spire or b) they would kill the denizens within, who were all enemies of House Dusklorn.

So, on the morrow of the next day I followed them at a careful distance as they did indeed make for the Spike. Well, all but Billitoppe, who escorted his gnomish sex-pets out of the city.
I left Doctor Wazzon to tail after him and followed the others.

On the way, as they swaggered through the streets of Pedestal like they owned them, they were  attacked by a large gang of plaguelost. There were ten of the plaguelost, powerful ones too, drow, goblins and grimlocks, that came seeping out of the cracks of buildings in green mists that formed and then attacked.

Fenrir took to the air, but some of the plaguelost followed him. Dwerry fired magic missiles and the others used their magical weapons. One by one the plaguelost were dispatched but not without the Buffalo Bunch being injured and one of them being infected with ashdoom.

They returned to the Dripstone Inn for healing, but I was impressed by how efficiently they dealt with the undead attack. I would estimate it would take ten of our finest warriors mounted on driders to defeat them and probably a powerful wizard thrown in for good measure.

I sent another message to Lord Gragrax to prepare such a force should it be required.

They did not waste much time though and soon made their way to the Spire of Maroe the  Necromancer. I had instructed the guards at the Spike to let them pass (House Dusklorn lays  claim to the spike although we dare not enter it) and in they went.

I followed at a careful distance and guaged their progress by the destruction they left  behind them.

The first chamber, the one that had killed off so many with its deadly trap, they managed to traverse using an enchanted ring that nullified the magic within.

Taking the left hand door they then explored the trophy rooms and after that made their way into Dining Room. From here they made their way into the guards quarters, looked into the chamber of frozen corpses (I assume Maroe used them as undead advisors) and thence into the Shrine of Lolth.

Here they triggered a trap that made the large statue in the shrine come to life. It was a Bone Spider Golem and a dangerous foe. Swarms of spiders spewed from its abdomen and it attacked with powerful jaws. The Buffalo Bunch did not take long to defeat it though, with powerful blows and magic. The spider exploded as it died, injuring the Bunch, but not in any mortal way.

Once they had got their breath back the headed for the kitchens.

It was noon now. It seemed they were making short work of the Spike so far, but I knew what they did not, namely the evil that lurked further up in the tower.

Sunday, 4 December 2016

(G299 22/11/2016 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK, NG) SS13

(G299 22/11/2016  via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM), MJ, HK, NG) SS13

DAY 275 (10th Nightal)(December)  cont ...

Durz, after some nagging, got up, put his breeches on and went to talk to Billi.

Billi then decided to have a group meeting and went and woke up Fenrir. Durz went and tried to wake Arahel. When she wouldn't arise after the door was given a hefty pounding he kicked it down. This still didn't wake her, but it did wake the rest of the inn.

In the end though, they all made their way down to the common room where Dwerry was eating. Billi lead the questioning and talked to Dwerry and Berum separately.
Dwerry seemed confused and concerned saying that she could only think that Berum must have been mistaken or deceived.

Fenrir also used his Detect Magic ability and noticed many magical aura's on  Dwerry and none on Berum.

Billi decided one way to settle things was to go to the house Berum had trailed Dwerry to. The house in question was near the Bazaar and did not take long to find. Berum pointed at the door and Billi knocked on it. There was no answer.

Fenrir decided to fly around the two storey building but saw that all the windows were securely boarded up. Durz, impatient, used his 'key' and chopped down the  front door in less than a minute. Fenrir landed and did his best to scare away the people that were watching from the street including a drow beggar who tried to convince them that this was his house.

Once they were in, they found a small front room and a kitchen downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs. As the poked about, nine dire rats came scampering in, but they were only interested in raiding the kitchen cupboards for food.

Billi, while upstairs, could smell the strong perfume he knew to be Erin Ja's in and around one of the beds and then came downstairs to question Dwerry further.

Dwerry could not explain what was going on, just that perhaps Berum had seen  someone that looked like her, after all Erin could change her appearance to be anyone she liked.

Billi asked Fenrir to detect magic on Dwerry and he noticed, among other things, an illusion aura on her. She said, 'Oh, that must be my ring, it helps protect me from evil yuan-ti... magic.'
Billi was unconvinced and asked her to take it off, but she refused.

Fenrir tipped Dwerry a wink, he could perhaps see that her story was not stacking up very well, and came in on her side.
'Oh yes, this ring is giving off the aura. It is as she says.'

Billi accepted this, but was deep in thought as they walked back to the Dripstone Inn, tugging on his beard and pondering the evidence.

Dwerry talked to Arahel on the way back, 'You think I'm alright don't you?'
Arahel wasn't so sure, but then, she was just nine years old.

They all went to bed and woke in the morning, going downstairs to have an  Underdark style breakfast of fungus and creepy crawlies.

The next task on the list given to them by Es Sarch was to kill Elessarwa Nledoor.
As the mysterious undead fellow had explained to them earlier:

"The disruption following Pedestal's fall lasts even unto this hour, though I must admit  the vacuum provided by the fleeing drow has been to my advantage. Consider, though, that  the reason this City did and does not completely collapse into chaos is due to my efforts. Nearly everyone here appreciates my influence. Bur gratitude doesn't last, and others seek  to displace me."
Es Sarch's voice fell to a whisper. "The Assassins' Guild has decided to seek an alliance with  House Dusklorn. If my agents were to disrupt this burgeoning accord, I fear I'd do more to cement the relationship than diffuse it. I ask you to eliminate or drive off Elessarwa  Nledoor, matron of the house and a psychotic to boot. I have knowledge of a hidden route into  her secret torture chamber, where she slinks away from her duties to the Dusklorn to apply  her savage arts to hapless victims she takes from Pedestal's alleys. I have arranged matters  so the Dusklorn will believe her death to be the work of the duplicitous Assassins' Guild.
That will be the end of that."

He gave them directions to a secret tunnel under the nearby tannery. The only person they found in the tannery was a crazy old beggar and once he'd shuffled off they located the secret tunnel and followed it to the lair of Elessarwa.

The tunnel lead to yet another secret door which when opened revealed the lair and torture chamber of the wicked drow matron. She was there, with her companion Muvaysil, a drow wizard.
They appeared to be about to sacrifice some poor wee svirfneblin female who was shackled to an altar before them.

Muvaysil cast a web spell at the door to try and hold them back, but with little success. Arahel changed into a rhino and charged in and Billi floated past it. Durz too, charged in and with a huge swoop of his axe killed the wizard. Elessarwa tried to flee as Fenrir's bolts found their target but she was finished off by a deadly psionically focused arrow from Billi's bow.

Billi cut of Elessarwa's ear to try and make it look like an assassination. They also discovered two more svirfneblin, a male and a female in a cell at the back of the chamber. (There names were Lorimila and Yoshik for the females and the male was called Qifyx)

Now, I am not a huge expert on the inter-gnome relationships of the various gnome species but I will say that Billi, when the got back to the Dripstone Inn, took them up to his room and indulged in what can only be described as an orgy. I assume gnomes have a similair view on these things as the bonobos I met in Chult.

The Buffalo Bunch had become famous in the Inn by now so this only added to their reputation
as bizarre surface dwellers and not to put a fine point on it - freaks.
More entertainment for the patrons was provided when Arahel, still in the shape of a rhino, tried to get up the stairs to see what the gnomes were doing and only succeeded in totally destroying the stairs.

This event very nearly made Es Sarch get up out of his chair, something I am lead to believe had last happened three years ago when the tavern had been attacked by an army of driders.
Arahel rolled out of the way and back into the common room as undead servers came to tidy up  the mess and propped a ladder up as a temporary means of escalation.

Billi only came down to the common room again that night to take up as much booze as he could carry. He then shut the door on his room once more and treated the rest of the Dripstone to the sounds of a drunken gnomish sex party.

Meanwhile Durz retired to his room with Berum, to make his own racket and Fenrir, in a more genteel fashion, turned his charm of Dwerry.

They spent the rest of the day and night at the inn, in this fashion.

DAY 276 (11th Nightal)(December)

Fenrir succeeded in bedding Dwerry that night, although once the effects of the alcohol and his charm had worn off her she skuttled through to her own room so he awoke to find his bed empty again.

By mid morning, Durz was up and about and went to the shop near the bazaar to pick up his adjusted armour. Hrodyn had it ready for him and had also added a little extra magic to it. She seemed to have taken a shine to Durz, something that Berum picked up on and was  not overly pleased about. Fenrir had gone with them and spent most of the day selling off the loot they had gathered so far in and around Pedestal.

Billi spend half the day still upstairs doing the god's only knew what and Arahel was in her normal form helping fix the stairs.

No one noticed then, that Dwerry had gone missing, despite all of them agreeing to watch her the day before. Fenrir and Durz were undone by avarice, Billi by lust and Arahel by naivety.

When they gathered that evening for dinner and compared notes they realised that Dwerry had been unaccounted for all day.

Fenrir went upstairs and checked her room and found her reading a book. He invited her down for dinner and to receive her split of the gold made from the selling of the loot.
This she did.