Session 34 (December 14, 2023)
Last session, our heroes were out of the metaphorical frying pan and into the literal fire as Heph and Elias struggled to escape the now burning Frau Bino’s Excellent Casino. Heph burst through the wall with a Catapult and ran out, leaving Elias behind to tussle with the five guards that came flooding through the door. Maho, still carrying an unconscious Daro Mandel, rushed in, confused why people weren’t more concerned about the fire. She doubled in size and grabbed Elias, hauling him out of the smoke-filled room.
The party prepared to escape the Casino property, but not before General Angst Störung showed up to stop them. Despite his clear toughness, Maho put all her force into a sequence of attacks against him, announcing “TK sends his regards” before killing him on the ground. The rest of the guards in shock, the party slipped out between nearby buildings and made their way back to The Floating Teeth where they planned their next moves. Elias disguised himself as Mr. Pippinpadolopsocopolias the 3rd. The party opened the lacquered box Heph had stolen from the office desk, retrieving a 3ft×2.5ft folded sheet of paper, which upon exposure to heat began to reveal some faded ink. They found a sending stone on Mandel’s person, as well as a sack of coins.
Heph and Elias carried a now Juice-drugged Mandel to an alley by the Casino, and Maho called her boss in Eken to say things went south. He responded asking for more information.
Determined to leave town quickly, the party then snuck to the docks, where they saw a number of ships at mooring and a decent number of guards patrolling the area. Hiding behind boxes near them, they saw two familiar faces: Peg Leg Steve from the Dune Skimmer standing next to a halfling they recognized from the Bright Horizon. Elias snuck up to them, startling them. After collecting himself, Peg Leg Steve then looked mischievously towards the docks, reached into his pocket, and asked “Are you up to have some fun?”.
- Elias flips a coin (rolls a 2 on a
d2), and decides he’s up for some fun- Kenku Steve pulls from his pocket a mesh pouch filled with some kind of dark powder
- He asks if Elias has a light
- The other guy is surprised to see “Lord Jeremias”
- Elias explains that he is old man Pippinpadolopsocopolias the 3rd, not Jeremias
- The other guy (a halfling) introduces himself as Peg Leg Steve, the other Steve’s cousin
- Kenku Steve asks Elias if he’s here with his friends, and he answers he works alone but his friends are over there
- The Steves motion Heph and Maho over, who creak and clank over to the group
- Kenku Steve explains he got knocked out, and when he woke up two “wet dicks”
were standing over him
- He heard them talking about being late to report to duty at the Midlane
- Thinking they knocked him out, he yelled, scaring them off
- Heph asks if the Dune Skimmer sailors are dry dicks, and we decide that they are big dry dicks and the sailors are small wet dicks
- Heph Messages Elias asking if setting the boat on fire will make it more difficult to leave, and Elias says, out loud, “oh shit you’re right”, then realizes he should’ve responded to the Message
- The Steves are planning to run and not stick around, so Elias offers to be a distraction while they go do their thing
- They were just planning to blow up crates, not a boat
- Elias asks what’s in the crates, Kenku Steve pops one open and sees it is full of oranges
- Elias asks for one, Steve gets out one, crushing it in the process as he pulls it through the narrow opening, and Elias eats it
- Maho asks if the Steves have a ship, Halfling Steve mentions the Bright Horizon and Kenku Steve mentions the Dune Skimmer The Hog
- Elias, Heph and Maho confer a bit, and concoct a plan to hide Maho in a crate of fruit and hitch a ride to Eken
- Heph tells Halfling Steve that he gets to be a big wet dick because he is helping his cousin right a wrong
- Elias sends Heph to ask if the ships take passengers, and gives Heph the beard (from the human hair pillow) and shoves him out into the visible area
- The soldiers do not notice Heph pop out at all
- Heph approaches a ship that is loading crates from the area we were in, the ship is named the Midlane
- Heph approaches a crew member and a couple guards by the bottom of the gangplank, and they straighten up a bit and notice him, they seem wary but not concerned
- The crew member tells Heph they take passengers for 10gp each
- Heph heads back and explains the situation, and the Steves light the bomb (with the help of Elias’s Prestidigitation and a candle) to create a distraction on the far end of the docks
- Kenku Steve throws the firebomb far away down the docks, creating a massive burst of flame and setting a bunch of crates on fire
- A bunch of the guards rush off to deal with the flames
- Elias gives the Steves each a shiny rock
- Elias runs over to a crate to pry it open
- Heph hands Maho his crowbar to help
- Elias and Maho pry an orange crate open, and dump the crate towards Heph, who has jumped off the wood and is pushing them under the boardwalk
- Maho dumps ⅔ of the crate onto Heph, who works to push the oranges under the boardwalk
- Maho gets in the crate and Elias hides her under some oranges to disguise her as best as possible
- Elias swaps his cloak over to something sparkly and gaudy and names himself Duke Pippinpadolopsocopolias the IVth
- Heph is now playing the role of the duke’s servant, and is scolded for pretending to be the duke’s friend
- Heph pays for the passage from Mandel’s bag of coins, which doesn’t really feel any lighter after doing so
- Some workers struggle to pick up Maho’s crate, but they don’t think too much about how heavy it is because they are behind schedule due to the chaos
- She’s placed into the hold of the ship
- The gangplank pulls up, the sails are lowered, and the ships departs, heading to Eken
- On board the ship
- Heph convinces Elias it’s fair to divide Mandel’s gold in 3
- Heph and Elias let Maho out for a bit to stretch her legs
- No one else is around in the hold
- Elias calls out Heph for the other bag of gold, and Heph divides that
- Mandel’s bag had 1980 gold, and the bag from the casino had 300 gold
- Heph heads off to get some sleep, and Elias climbs his way up a mast, about halfway to the mast with the crow’s nest
- Elias pulls out his candle, and using Mage Hand levitates the candle up to the crow’s nest, and uses Prestidigitation to light the candle and float it around like a ghost
- On a low performance check, the human-sized woman sitting up there smacks the candle the instant it lights and just sighs and says “Ugh, ghosts”
- In the morning, Maho wakes up and sees a pigeon,
hawk, and a woman sitting nearby
- She also sees a flat brass cylinder sitting on the ground nearby
- The woman introduces herself as Ana, and identifies Maho as a replacement for herself or Rormir
- Ana wants to meet Maho because Salty, Heph and Elias seem to like her
- Ana introduces Heph and Elias as Harold and Elias, and Maho introduces herself as Tall Stacks
- Maho asks how Ana got here, and she explains that
she swam after the boat
- And boy are her arms tired
- Maho wants to race her, on land or in the water
- Maho asks Ana to hang out, which she says she’s happy to do, but is there for another reason
- She asks Maho what her thoughts on Heph and Elias are, Maho says they got her out of a tight spot and are all aligned looking for Sentin Thornwillow
- After some back and forth, Ana asks Maho if she trusts Heph and Elias, she thinks Heph is smart but has trouble keeping up with Elias
- She thinks she might just not get Elias yet
- Ana gives Maho the cylinder, and suggests Maho ask Elias about it
- Maho asks where she’s going and if she’s a ghost, which she’s flattered by, and she says she likes to disappear, and after fumbling for a bit with her ring vanished
- She is only half hidden behind a crate, and Maho can plainly see her
- Ana has trouble disappearing in front of Maho,
and asks her to not mention the fumble
- She teleports into a peach crate
- Ana decides to take a nap, and Maho suggests she stay out of sight
- Heph spends some time identifying the poison
vials from Rormir
- They are all vials of poison, but they are obviously poison
- In addition, they all have the ability to cast Remove Curse if ingested, and also they can dispel the magic of Lucien Blinds (the porcelain masks)
- One of them, when dripped into the mouth of a dead creature casts Revivify
- One of them causes the Command spell to affect the target
- The remnants of the used one had the Zone of Truth effect
- The other two don’t have any additional effects
- Heph spends some time attuning to Rormir’s ring, and working on repairing the bracer from Farley
- The bracer is using techniques that are either too advanced, or have been lost to time, but it has some bond with Heph
- As he is fiddling with the bracer, tracing lines with his finger, he feels the bracer start to hum with magical energy, and then suddenly stops
- It seems to be awoken, and in working order, and Heph is now attuned
- He gains the Metamagic Adept feat
- It feels brand new, and it feels like it belongs to Heph, and it’s hard to believe that it was ever anyone else’s
- Elias spends some time forging a patent of nobility for Duke Pippinpadolopsocopolias the IVth
- Maho goes out searching for Elias, trying to pass
herself off as someone who belongs on the ship
- She asks the pigeon to go bring a message to Elias
- Salty nuzzles up to her, and Maho points at the brass disk and up the stairs, trying to communicate to Salty that Elias is the target
- Salty shrugs, hops a few feet away, stops and wheezes, then flies away up the stairs
- Maho investigates the brass cylinder, which opens and appears to be a pocket watch
- It is different looking, with two hands but one points at marks around the edge with 7 regions, and the smaller one points at one of 16 regions
- Salty flies up to Elias, out of breath, and looks at
him expectantly
- Elias says hi to Salty, and gives him a cracker
- Elias pulls the note off and reads it, it is addressed to Old Man PP
- Elias pens an intricate letter back, and sends Salty back, but uses Mage Hand to lower him down so he doesn’t have to fly
- He waddles down the stairs back to Maho
- Maho reads the note Elias sent back, which explains
she must have mistaken the Duke for his father
- But that he will come down
- Elias climbs down and heads down to the cargo hold, at the same time Heph feels a pull from Rormir’s ring and heads down into the cargo hold
- Maho seems surprised that Heph showed up too
- Heph spots Karrl and heads over to him, and suddenly feels a bit queasy and dizzy
- He closes his eyes, and when he opens them he is looking at himself from Karrl’s perspective
- Maho asks Elias and Heph if the birds are their friends
- Elias spots the pocket watch and does a spit-take in his head, and asks Maho what she has there
- Maho explains that a ghost gave this to her and said she should ask about it
- Elias, knowing Salty is there, looks around to find Ana, and recognizes her snoring from a nearby crate
- In the background, Karrl is staring at Heph and Heph is moving really weird
- Elias heads toward Ana, and Maho says “there’s nobody in there”
- Elias bangs on the crate and says “Ana I know you’re in there”
- She groans that ships are so fast, he introduces himself as the duke, and she tells him to fuck off
- Elias asks how she found the cylinder, and she said Salty did
- He asks why, and Ana, says oh you’re talking to me now
- They banter back and forth for a bit, and Ana tells Elias to have an open conversation with his party mates and be honest with them
- Maho moves the crate on top of hers, because she said some
interesting things and Maho wants to ask more questions
- Karrl flies up onto Heph’s shoulder and Heph wanders over, still with his eyes closed
- Maho pries open the box that Ana is in, and inside is a giant peach with all the smaller peaches
- Maho is confused by the giant peach, and Elias pokes it with his rapier
- Ana drops the disguise and says she is way too tired for this
- Maho asks Ana to explain why she said we were fucked, and she explained because we killed the general
- Heph asks to see the cylinder,
Maho hands it to him, Elias tries to grab it but
Ana pricks his hand to prevent him from grabbing it
- Elias compliments her rapier, though
- Heph inspects the watch through Karrl’s eyes, and he feels a sort of connection to both Karrl and Rormir, and while Heph doesn’t recognize the elvish writing on the watch but through Karrl’s eyes he is able to read it
- The inner ring, the 16 regions, are numbered 1 to 16
- The outer ring is the 7 days of the week
- The message scratched into the top of the pocket watch says “Don’t be late again. - Ash”
- One day and one number are marked with scratches, the same as the message
- Heph hands the watch back to Maho, turns to Elias, and asks “Who’s Ash?”