Session 17: The one where Elias starts a criminal empire (May 7, 2023)
Last session, Jeremias dropped by the auction in Arkos, hoping to find someone who knew something about their puzzle box. There he met Frederick Ehrhalt, a dragonborn archaeologist and specialist in Jörnann, the ancient giantess who was trapped in the puzzle box and who is now possessing Thom.
The two headed back to Aqua Vita and met up with Heph and Rormir, who were keeping an eye on Thom prior to the appearance of the moon. There Frederick expressed his devotion to Jörnann, which was received by a confused Thom.
The sun then set and the moon appeared in the sky. Thom’s eyes glowed greyish blue as he was suddenly taken over by Jörnann. Failing to convince her that they were worthy, the party began to fight Jörnann (well, all except for Frederick, who healed her). Some injuries sustained, the party eventually subdued the giantess causing her to declare them worthy and collapse on the couch.
The party decided to accompany Frederick and Jörnann up north to restore her original body, since they were planning on heading that way anyway. Most of their work in Arkos completed, they now must decide their next steps…
- The party goes to sleep at the Aqua Vita inn after their fight with Jörnann
- At 6am Elias remembers about the riddle door at the
Circle and jumps out a window
- He trips and falls into a bush for 2 bludgeoning damage
- He heads off to the Circle, and the guards recognize him and let him through
- He heads down to Otto’s workshop, and tries to communicate with
Otto
- He is unable to speak Minotaur and he fails to communicate through gestures
- Otto shrugs and goes back to what he’s doing
- Elias starts struggling with the riddle door
- Elias heads back to Aqua Vita
- As the party leaves the inn, they look for another 10 gold to pay for the rooms
- Thom screams and comes running down the stairs
- The party head towards the docks to return to Ivalgo
- On the way there they come across Jude
- He looks surprised and embarrassed to see them
- Elias says “Hey, Jude”
- Heph says “Don’t be afraid”
- He thanks the party for not killing him while he was down
- The party approaches the docks and see the Bright Horizon
- The party heads up to the ship and First Mate Carol Withers says due to their heroics they sail on this ship for free
- Heph is carefully studying his crossbow and fire bolt “gun”
- Jeremias goes into a mop closet and Elias comes out
- Elias walks into the galley, flipping a silver piece in his hand
- He slides the piece of silver to the Chef Emeril Lagasse and asks if he has any crackers
- Emeril says his specialty is a doughy circle with tomato sauce, cheese, and various meats and vegetables on it
- But he’s recently been working on something similar that’s more of a flat bread
- He gives Elias a rectangular sheet of slightly overcooked, peppered dough
- It takes okay, though
- Elias upgrades to a gold piece with a flourish and tucks it into Emeril’s pants pocket
- Elias heads up to the deck of the ship
- Ana Cardi appears disguised as the Emeril, and they have a
discussion
- She reveals her identity by using her natural voice and removing the Emeril mask
- Elias says it looks better than her manhole cover disguise, and she says she had more time to prepare this one
- Elias tells Ana he wants to make an investment in
the Ivalgo underworld and needs connections
- Ana agrees that for a cut she will introduce him to some individuals
- She’s just clear that Governor Literi, who’s hiring her to spy on them, can’t find out
- Rormir comes to talk to Heph
- Heph is startled a bit and snaps himself with the crossbow string he was playing with
- Rormir wants to know if there’s a way to transform Karrl into a different type of animal that can navigate the world better
- It’s difficult carrying Karrl around in a tank all the time, and they’re about to travel to a desert
- Heph knows a thing like that should be possible, but they would need to find a wizard
- Elias walks by and makes some sparks with Prestidigitation
- Heph tells Rormir he doesn’t know any wizards, but Rormir can probably find one in Ivalgo if he looks
- Night falls
- Heph and Rormir are asleep below decks
- Elias is sleeping up on deck
- Before sleeping, Elias notices the same sort of turquoise lights
that he saw when the party encountered the sirens
- They are a mile or two off the starboard side of the ship
- He can also see swimming figures, and winged humanoids flying between rocks in the sea
- The captain comes to talk to Elias and says she’s never seen
anything like this before the encounter with the sirens
- Something is changing in the sea
- Elias says he’s seen creatures like this before, but not around
here
- The captain suggests they’ve come from the same place Elias came from
- Elias agrees to try to help the captain figure out what is going
on
- They’ll share information with each other best they can if they learn anything
- Jörnann wakes up during the night
- She runs to the top deck and throws up over the side of the ship
- Being an earth goddess she isn’t accustomed to the sea
- Frederick runs up after her and helps her out
- Around noon the following day the party arrives in Ivalgo
- They head back to Potion Pitstop
- Heph works in his workshop, Rormir sleeps in a space bedroom Amble and Spraus set up for him in a storage space, and Elias sleeps on the roof
- Frederick and Thom begin their journey
north after a day or so
- Thom seems tired and out-of-it
- Elias spends the next week making some connections and attempting
to set himself up as a mastermind of the criminal underworld
- Ana introduces him to a group working out of a warehouse, smuggling items from Homeburr past Ivalgo’s heavy regulations and tariffs around such goods
- Ivalgo’s economy is based on artisan goods similar to what the gnomes of Homeburr make, so there are lots of rules around imports and exports
- The group lets him in on probation to see how he does
- He does extremely well (nat 20 intelligence check) and reorganizes the entire operation to randomly shuffle their smuggling schedules and communicate in code, making it much more difficult for Ivalgo guards to catch them
- He rolls a 100 on a
d100, making 200gp over the week
- Heph spends the week working in his workshop
- There are a lot of explosions and several small holes in the wall between Heph’s workshop and the storage room Rormir is staying in
- A couple of the fragments definitely hit Rormir
- Heph rolls a nat 1 arcana to invent a firearm
- Heph managed to find about 10,000 ways not to make a gun
- By the end of the week, he creates a device that he is pretty sure will work, but he hasn’t been able to test it yet
- It is some sort of gun-looking device that shoots cut down crossbow bolts by using a fire charge to propel it
- He also has one level of exhaustion
- Rormir spends the week looking for a wizard to see if he can
transform Karrl into another animal
- Heph’s parents point Rormir towards Ivalgo City University
- He heads over there and attempts to get a wizard to talk to him
- It takes him a bit of time initially to figure out how to act in an academic environment and people give him a wide berth
- Eventually he walks into a classroom where at the desk sits a man with a long white beard, flowing blue robes with silver stars stitched into them, and a pointy hat
- Rormir explains the situation, and the wizard starts examining Karrl with various tools and measuring devices
- He notices the connection between Rormir and Karrl, and realizes Rormir isn’t really from this plane
- He says that transforming Karrl may be possible because of whatever strange magic from Rormir’s home is connecting him with Karrl
- The wizard offers to train Rormir in how to change Karrl’s form
- Rormir agrees to the help, and offers to pay the wizard for help
- After a few days, Rormir hasn’t quite figured out how to do the magic
- The wizard says he might need a component to enable him to do this magic as he isn’t a natural wizard
- He pulls out a 3D abacus and does some fancy math, and offers to make Rormir a device for 100 gp
- Rormir agrees without any debate, and the wizard shoos him away so he can work
- By the end of the week, the wizard has a device made specially for Rormir, which appears to be a golden ring with a badly made octopus design scratched into the outside
- It’s a bit too big for Rormir’s finger, so he hits it with a hammer until it is bent enough to fit
- Rormir can now cast Find Familiar once per day through this ring
- Rormir transforms Karrl into a wild creature with a cow head, bear paws, and scorpion tail
- The wizard says fuck this and kicks him out
- Before Rormir goes, he asks the wizard his name, which is Mortimer Slaan
- Rormir shows off Karrl to everyone at the university, telling them that Slaan helped him do this
- People take a step back, and some of the faculty clearly don’t know who Mortimer Slaan is
- Rormir explains to an administrative official that he got this ring from a wizard named Mortimer Slaan and the official says “Oh no, he’s back” and runs off in the direction of the classroom
- The last day of the week (Wholement) comes around while the party is in
Ivalgo
- In the middle of a meeting of the underworld leaders (they’re all wearing black cloaks), Elias pops up and runs off to the roof
- He leaves Jimmy to handle affairs, and tells him there better not be a repeat of last time
- Elias exits the building, and climbs onto the roof of a warehouse that he now owns
- He sets up on top of a crane
- He opens his device, looks at it, and broods for a bit, before heading back to the meeting
- The day the party plans on leaving Ivalgo arrives
- Rormir has settled with Karrl on an eagle-like form
that is all black for the trip
- Heph notices that Karrl is a bird, and asks about it
- Rormir tells the story of the interaction with the wizard
- Heph offers to reshape the ring, but it is really poorly made and Heph makes it worse on a nat 1
- It no longer fits on Rormir’s finger, although the magic still seems to be intact
- Heph apologizes profusely and blames it on his exhaustion, and suggests that Rormir wear it as a necklace for now
- Due to the damage, Karrl’s transformations might be a little screwed up until it’s fixed
- Amble and Spraus have a gift for Heph
- Heph opens the wrapped package
- It’s an Aerial Beacon that will allow Heph to communicate with Potion Pitstop even while away
- Amble and Spraus are a little teary-eyed about Heph going out to adventure, Heph is a little embarrassed about the whole thing
- Elias asks Rormir if he ever had parents
- Previously, Elias had left Jimmy in charge of operations while he
is out of town, as he didn’t fuck up with the council earlier
- Jimmy rolls a nat 20, so things are in good hands
- The party approaches the stables in the Reaches
- It is eerily quiet and empty
- A group of people comes around the side of the building, wearing ill-fitting
black robes and expressionless porcelain masks
- They approach silently and prepare to attack