Perrinor

Session 46: Goats can fly? (May 2, 2024)

Last session, our heroes surveyed the damage of their pitched battle in the Eken Institute library. Heph dragged Isabella Isabelli back into the reading room, and he and Elias searched her. They found a pass to Hexicon with the name “Isariel Ilbareth” on it and no picture, some clay and wax hiding her pointy ears, and a sending stone.

Hearing someone at the door, the party set about hiding the non-dead goliaths upstairs. Ana set about walking Elias through his first practical lesson as an Apprentice of Disguise, transforming him into a fox. He then hid Isabella’s body under some illusory books when in walked a fancy academic woman and four Central Command soldiers. Heph failed to convince the woman—Headmistress Jom Barom—that Aoki was the only goliath who had attacked them, and Maho with the other goliaths upstairs were discovered.

Heph gave Headmistress Barom one of the Lucien Blinds, and she expressed interest in studying it. The Central Command Commander Edward looked surprised and angry to see the masked goliaths here. Ana, disguised as Head/Chief Inspector Jẽph, started sneaking goliaths out to some undisclosed location.

Heph got a sending stone from the Headmistress to stay in contact about the masks. She was then chased out by foxy Elias, and Edward started taking the party’s statements. Elias snuck out the unconscious Isabella, distracting Central Command with an illusory Kobold from his Deck of Illusions. Edward let slip that this attack “wasn’t authorized”, and was convinced Maho was hiding something until she tied the attack to her old boss Tyvus Kenig. At this, he ran out of the library and was tailed to a Central Command station by Karrl.

Their statements done and knowing Ana had hidden the goliaths somewhere, the party then headed toward The Free Ride. They stole a hearse to transport Isabella, removing the body from the back, and on a nat 20 animal handling arrived at The Free Ride in no time. Maho fed the horse the lollipop head Mort had given her, which it ate happily before briefly turning invisible. They then hung Isabella upside down from the ceiling of their room, cast Charm Person on her, and prepared an interrogation.

• Isabella asks to be let down, and Heph unties her, resulting in her crashing to a lump on the floor
  • She says that Heph and Maho are not their friends, and Heph and Maho leave the room, pressing their ears up to the door to try to listen in
  • Elias makes a show of checking that the room is empty, then pulls up a chair as she flops onto the bed
  • Elias says he’s kind of surprised to see her and asked how she found us, and she said that she was tracking Heph using the NDA he signed
  • She offers to teach Elias how to do the magic, and explains that the paper also allows her to exert some influence
  • She tells him about Geas, which she had cast on Heph, and apparently also on Rormir, who was really affected by it and was very easy to control
  • Elias asks what Rormir is up to, and she is relatively cagey in explaining that he has been rather helpful
  • She goes on to say that Heph has not been as easy to influence
    • Rormir is much more naturally inclined to the dream-like state induced by the Blinds
  • Elias makes a big show of checking that Heph and Maho are gone, and Heph hides but Maho is left standing right in the doorway
  • Seeing Maho, Isabella casts Command and orders Maho to “leave”, and Maho simply walks away down to the bar
  • Isabella asks Elias to close the door again, and then tells Elias that they may have to eliminate Heph and Maho since they are not falling in line
  • Isabella is unsure about Maho, and as a general rule doesn’t trust large creatures that can crush her
• Elias prompts her to continue revealing the next portion of the plan
  • She says it is time to move on to Bad Zamdorf and meet up with Sentin
  • Elias asks her to clarify where exactly they’re going to meet up with Sentin, and she explains he has a suite arranged in one of the larger hotels in the area
  • Heph sends Elias a message, “message”, and Elias responds that he just wanted Heph to feel included
• Maho decides to check up on the horse, which is still sitting around, and Maho hitches the horse up and chills with the horse while short resting
  • She washes herself and the horse with some water from a nearby well
  • She is muttering to herself about what is a good name for this horse while attending to it, mumbling something about “Speedwagon”, and listing off various other names
  • The horse is watching Maho do this, and seems to be reacting to the various names suggested, communicating through interpretive dance
• Back upstairs, Isabella is prompting Elias for healing, and he says he’s going to have to run out to get a potion
  • Elias suggests it’s better for him to hang out for a while so she is safe, while she rests up a bit, she agrees and lays back down on the bed
  • Heph starts to message Elias, gets out “Get her” but then feels like finishing the thought is opposing the Geas command, and Elias just replies “Hello? Hello?”
  • Elias asks Isabella to tell him more about Sentin, and she says he’s wonderful and they’ve been working together for several years
  • She explains they’re both from Fleetwood, Elias points out he is also an elf, and Isabella recognizes him as an elf from a different space
  • Isabella points out the followers was a convenient place for her to hide, and it was a bit too easy to convince Elias that she was blindly following him
  • Isabella goes on to explain Sentin’s vision of the world and how civilizations interact is revolutionary and will change things
  • She is in her job for the money, but she believes in it regardless
  • It seems that Sentin trusts Isabella quite a bit
  • Isabella again asks about healing, and Elias reminds her that he was making sure she stayed safe
  • She asks Elias to tell her about himself, he says “around”, and asks her to tell him more about the command spell she just used on Maho
  • She says it’s pretty basic, he pulls out the Complete Moron’s Guide to Magic and says it’s not in there
  • She recommends Captain Flibbertyjibbitz Fantastical Fantastic, and says Elias could pick it up from most book shops
  • She offers to show Elias how it works by casting it on him, but Elias is quite hesitant to allow her to cast it
• Downstairs at the horse, Maho is listing off more names
  • She lists off: Lolipop Jules, Woahdoe Boedough, Blinking Berry, Fantastical Fantastic, Pog, Charron, Juniper, Twilight Sparkle, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie
  • It reacts positively to Twilight Sparkle, but seems to react most positively to Woahdoe Boedough
  • On a natural 20 insight check, Maho realizes that the horse really likes Woahdoe Boedough, and that the way the horse is moving seems to match what he might observe from a child reacting to words
  • Maho points to herself and says “Maho”, and the horse does a little dance in response, seeming to map the name to a dance move and acknowledge the name
• Back up in the room, Elias asks Isabella if she’s been following us since the Potion Pitstop incident
  • She says not quite that early, that is what put us on Sentin’s radar, and they sent another welcome party to the stables before we left Ivalgo
  • Production is ramping up on the masks, on the order of thousands
  • They do not yet have thousands of agents, but they don’t need them as their business is selling the Blinds more than anything
  • Elias asks about rebinding the blinds, but she explains there is a dispel magic spell used to “destroy” the magic to prevent corporate espionage
  • Isabella notes that attacking the masks directly is a novel approach
  • Elias asks if she can reactivate the magic, she says she cannot but Sentin might be able to
• Outside, a guy approaches with breakfast, and Heph takes the breakfast, puts it down, and tips the guy 1 silver
  • The breakfast is a plate with just about every option on it, and inside Isabella says she could go for breakfast
  • Elias circles back to Geas, asking for more information and asking if there was anything Heph could use to break the spell
  • Elias proposes a plan where he pretends to kill Isabella, she interprets that as she can pretend to drop the spell
  • Elias tells her Heph is smarter than that and she may need to actually drop the spell to get him to believe it
  • With a natural 20 persuasion roll, Elias convinces her that she really needs to drop it in order to lull him into a false sense of security and persuade him to work with them
  • She asks what should be the trigger to drop it, and Elias gets up and dramatically pulls out his sword to signal that he’s about to kill her, but she is convinced that Heph is nowhere to be found
  • Elias throws open the door, picks up the breakfast tray, and waves Heph over to come into the room to join him and Isabella for a chat
• Heph joins them, and sends a message to Maho to join them and to just play along when she gets there
  • Elias explains they have a proposition, and Isabella suggests Elias continue
  • Elias suggests Heph and Maho join them in their quest, in exchange for dropping the Geas spell
  • She drops the spell, and Heph plays along and asks Isabella what their next move is
  • She says it is time to move along to Hexicon and get there a bit early to meet up with Sentin
  • Elias prompts her to talk about Sentin, and she reveals to the group that they are from the same town, Fleetwood, and have a product they are very excited about
  • Maho asks if Sentin is collaborating with the large folks from the library, and she says they are in early stage testing, as they have qualities that will make for good agents
  • She goes on to say that Sentin has some personal bodyguards of about 10 people, about half goliaths, to demonstrate the effectiveness
  • Isabella proposes that we try wearing masks, and says they can be removed after being fitted
  • Heph messages Elias, asking “when are we going to kill her?” and Elias responds “I thought we’d subdue her or fit a mask or something” and then shrugs
  • Maho sighs and says “it’s been a long morning”, and offers Elias a shoulder massage, Elias seems slightly confused and says no thank you
  • Elias asks Heph to accompany him to go get a health potion, and suggests Maho take care of Isabella
  • Heph messages Maho to tell her to keep the ruse up for a bit longer
• Elias grabs a pancake and bacon, drags Heph downstairs out of earshot, and has a quick conversation about what to do next
  • While they debate what to do, Isabella asks Maho about her interest in Goliaths
  • Maho explains she’s not from around here, and asks more about the Goliaths that have been employed
  • Isabella spent some time extolling the advantages of abducting goliaths from Cryptop, because they are really strong and nobody cares about them being taken
  • Central command is the one sending groups to go retrieve them on a regular basis
  • At the bar, Elias has been pulling out daggers while Heph digs through his pockets
  • Heph comes up empty, and reluctantly agrees to let Elias do his thing, and tells him to pick his favorite dagger
  • Elias says “they’re all my favorite” and picks them all up, putting them between his fingers, and walks upstairs hiding them behind his back
• Maho is contemplating hurting Isabella, and while doing so feels a warmth coming from her katana
  • Maho feels a maternal presence, like the one she had previously felt, next to her while she contemplates her next action
  • Elias enters the room, and sees Maho kneeling on Isabella’s back, looking like she is about to dislocate Isabella’s shoulders
  • Isabella is not yet suspicious, but asks Maho if she has any experience with massage because it’s not super comfortable
  • Maho breaks Isabella’s arm and whacks her in the head to knock her out, since Elias didn’t do anything to stop her
  • Elias asks Maho if they should just leave her, and Maho is not quite sure
  • Maho asks if Elias is really planning to team up with her, and Elias says no
  • Elias is just about satisfied with the amount of information they got, and is fine with killing her
  • Heph messages Elias asking her to “search her for the NDA”, he finds burnt scraps, Heph tells him to take everything, and Elias empties her pockets fully, taking even the lint
  • Elias and Maho briefly discuss, Maho thinking she deserves to die
  • Elias says she doesn’t, but gestures with his hands and throws a dagger at her, causing her to fail two death saves
  • Elias continues eating breakfast, and Maho pulls out her katana and beheads her rather ceremoniously
  • After a few seconds, Isabella’s head lets out a last breath, and the katana goes icy cold before returning to room temperature
  • Elias is a bit upset about the mess and tries to contain it a bit, but isn’t super effective at doing so
• Elias pulls out some rope, and ties her head back on to “Weekend at Bernie’s” her
  • Elias asks Maho to carry her down to the hearse, Maho is hesitant to go through the bar, but Elias uses Minor Illusion to make her seem alive
  • Maho just decides to jump out the window instead, looking very cool while doing so, and sticks her in the hearse
  • Woahdoe is happy to see Maho
  • Elias goes down to the bar, but not to be outdone he slides down the banister
  • Elias tells Heph “we have our very alive friend in the hearse” and walks out, Heph following behind, and Maho loads the body into the hearse
  • Elias walks up to the horse and says he’s decided to name him Mystery
  • The horse is happy to see Elias, but doesn’t love the name
  • Maho says the horse loves Woahdoe Boedough and the horse is really happy, but Elias is really unhappy and insists its name is Mystery
  • Elias jumps up onto the horse and says they have a body to dispose of, the horse is practiced in doing this
  • Heph and Maho climb onto the hearse, and the horse confidently heads off in a particular direction
  • Elias drives the horse towards the cliff, stopping near the edge, and tells Maho to grab the body and throw her over the edge
  • Heph looks for a good place to do this, and they move there and throw the body over
  • Elias uses Minor Illusion to make the body look like a goat for the first 30 feet of its fall
  • The group successfully manages to sneakily dump the body, despite Maho being the most conspicuous she could possibly be
• Heph tries his best to wash out the back of the hearse, then the group visits Barth one more time before heading out of town
  • On the way to Barth’s, the group swings by Maho’s old house, and there is a moving crew moving furniture out of the house, and Elias spots Morty hiding behind a bush with his hand on the foundation of the house
  • Heph and Maho head into Tap That Glass, and Barth is upstairs, seemingly getting ready to go down to the forge
  • Heph asks him for some crystal lenses, and Barth brings Heph down to the forge to form the lenses
  • They have a conversation about kinks and the neighborhood kids and gloryholes, and makes up the lenses and polishes them up real nice
  • Heph asks how much, he leans in a bit and asks if they will help keep Maho safe, Heph says yes and he gives them to Heph free of charge
  • Barth turns to Maho, and asks if she’s leaving town, she says yes, her Dad has left and she left TK’s employ
  • Maho asks Barth if he has a sturdier sheath for her katana, and he offers to spend an hour making one up for her
  • As Maho hands over the katana, she hears a super faint voice say “what, where am I, how did I get here, what’s going on?”, and the voice sounds faintly like Isabella
  • Heph also hears the voice, and exchanges a look with Maho, who asks him if he’s okay
  • Heph says it’s been a rough morning, and Maho agrees, despite how she often beats up people
  • Maho thinks she is being haunted, Heph thinks somehow Isabella’s soul got trapped in the sword, but it’s not a soul blade because the mechanics are wrong
    • Soul Blades/Oragasts always have new souls in them

Referenced in

• Calendar