Session 55: Another Beheading (July 25, 2024)
Last session, our heroes continued their fight against Sentin Thornwillow and his traveling retinue. Elias brought Maho back to consciousness with a bottle of Grace, Heph lit the Lucien Dynastic wagon on fire, and Rormir noticed as Sentin turned invisible and seemed to fly out of the wagon across the river.
The party prepared to flee as they continued taking many hits from the assembled mages, both agent and no. Sentin set about placing masks on three of the unconscious goliaths while Rormir commandeered his wagon and horses and swung back around to pick up the rest of the party. Maho, unwilling to leave without the goliaths, stepped away from the waiting wagon and began trying to destroy the mask of one of the now-conscious prisoners. Sentin, still invisible, decried the party’s insistence on ruining the hard work of others, and more focused on protecting his “merchandise” than ending the party then and there, teleported away with three of the goliaths.
Taking a moment to regroup, the party searched the bodies and wagon, healed their fallen, and packed up some captives to take back with them as they returned to the city to plan their next moves.
- Heph and Elias fill Rormir in on some of
the details of what has been going on, about who Kogar is
and that Elias’ sister is there to keep an eye on him and kill him
if the opportunity presents itself
- The group continues discussing the notes and receipts while traveling back to the town, deciding to try to figure out what Sentin is up to with Harris Kelner
- Approaching town, it seems guards are amassing at the Northern side of the town, so the group enters from the West to avoid the presence
- In an attempt to further disguise the wagon, Elias uses Minor Illusion to create a logo with an octopus, hawk and horse, and a red background that blends into the green fabric
- The guards at the West entrance wave the group over, and Rormir waves back
- Rormir is riding a horse on the wagon, Elias is driving the wagon with a cloak matching the wagon’s logo, Maho is riding Woahdoe Boedough, and Heph is in the back of the wagon with the unconscious people
- The guard who waved us over seems to recognize Elias and Maho from the wanted posters, and motions to the guard in the guardhouse
- Maho rolls some wild magic due to bad rolls, and ends up being able to see invisible people and dealing some necrotic damage to the party and healing herself
- She sees a ghostly visage of an old woman emerging from the sword, genie in a bottle style
- Approaching the guards, the guard says he will need to see into the wagon, but
Elias warns him we are transporting live animals and should not
look
- Elias pulls out his patent of nobility, and with a natural 20 deception roll plus a natural 4 guidance roll, the guard seems thoroughly convinced by it and immediately bows down to him
- Elias tries to make him say the full name, and he panics so much trying to pronounce it he ends up throwing up
- The guard, Hans, offers his service to the duke, and asks where the circus will be, but Elias explains he is just passing through town for Hexicon
- The guard ends up writing his address on the back of the wanted poster and
hands it to Elias, so he can find him if needed
- He lives in The Town
- Elias moves away, and looks back into the cart and tells Heph “you won’t like what this will do for my ego”, and suggests Maho move into the cart as well
- Heph uses Disguise Self to make himself look different and more like an assistant to a duke, and swaps places with Maho
- As Elias guides the wagon to the Inn, Maho is talking to her sword, and when she says hello the ghostly woman seems surprised she can see her
- Maho seems confused about the woman; she explains she is from the ball Maho purchased and was transferred to the sword, and she is there to help
- Arriving back outside Tertel’s, Elias asks Woahdoe Boedough to
keep an eye on the other horses, and he nods in response
- With this, Elias realizes that Woahdoe Boedough is a 2nd level wild magic sorcerer, and now slightly intimidated, gives him a sugar cube
- Maho carries all of the unconscious people into the inn
- Walking in, the paintings are all different, and Tertel is again talking to a mannequin
- Tertel greets us, and Elias walks over and glues googly eyes on the mannequin and then walks upstairs
- Tertel nods approvingly and says “this is not a bad gift, my friend has been asking me for the gift of sight, and the gift of sight is a good gift indeed”
- Elias uses Minor Illusion to make the mannequin repeat “good gift indeed”, but he doesn’t look away from Elias
- Tertel turns to Rormir and says “you’re new”, to which Rormir replies “you’re old”, and then Tertel says “one more guest is one more gift I think”
- Rormir says “a gift for me?”, but then casts Guidance on Tertel as a gift, and something feels natural and familiar about it, and Tertel smiles at Rormir and says “yes, having you here will be quite a gift indeed”
- Tertel informs us he had trouble getting into the room, and that a visitor did as well, but the visitor has been dealt with, then he returns to chatting with his mannequin
- The door to the room is still locked, but seems to have some new scratches
- Next to the door is a new painting, of a bar in the auction house, and seated at the bar holding a drink but looking confused is Frederick, his body is frozen in place, but his eyes seem to be looking at us and following us
- Elias uses Minor Illusion to create a beautiful painting of Woahdoe Boedough in place of Frederick
- Maho asks Heph to take another look at her sword, explaining she saw a woman
- Elias tries to open the door with Mage Hand, but it doesn’t work,
and Elias flips Heph off with the Mage Hand while
opening it with his real hand
- Thom sits up when we enter, and Rormir asks him how he’s doing
- Thom is very confused, and Heph explains that the dolls are almost certainly moving and watching him, and he’s there for his safety, Frederick tried to get to him while we were away
- Heph explains to Thom that he isn’t a prisoner, but
Jörnann is, and Elias offers to untie him until
night so he can stretch, and he goes to pee in the bucket in the corner
- He makes a bit of a mess
- We tie up Alsa and the agents to different corners, and Rormir goes downstairs to take a nap near Tertel
- Heph and Elias decide to briefly interrogate Alsa before heading out to find Steam Williams
- Splashing water on her to wake her up, Elias immediately casts
Charm Person on her, and she calms down and relaxes, and also charms the doll
tied to her leg
- Elias takes her gag off, and she coughs a bit and spits out some blood
- She whispers “the ones who ambushed us, they’re here too”, and Elias reassures her that we are under his spell, because he used Charm Person on them
- She seems satisfied by this explanation, and is a bit confused why a friendly is in league with the ambushers
- Elias explains he was planted, and he was trying to keep the group away from Sentin, but he lost control
- Elias prompts her for an update on what he’s got going on, and she looks for the papers and Elias provides them to her, and she seems very relieved she didn’t lose them
- Elias fills her in on some of what she missed after getting knocked out, and she informs him he is staying at The Hopeful Ermine in Promenade Square, and probably continuing his experiments there
- Izume is also at the hotel, under guard, and Alsa is supposed to be taking notes there
- Maho asks if Sentin is overseeing the memory extraction, which she confirms, but first she expresses to Elias that she is impressed that the Charm Person Elias has cast on Maho doesn’t seem to have glazed over her eyes
- Elias asks Alsa about Harris Kelner and Steam Williams, and she explains Steam Williams is a spa, and she doesn’t know much about Harris Kelner but he is trying to acquire bodyguards because someone is after him
- Maho asks “did we interrupt the meeting?”, to which Alsa responds that he was hoping to make it back to meet with Harris Kelner in time, and she predicts he will make the meeting
- Elias asks her about Kogar, and she says she knows even less about that, he sent a threatening letter, but she still doesn’t know where the meeting will happen
- She mentions Sares, which Elias asks about, and she is surprised that he doesn’t know Sares, but Elias manages to convince her that he is in and out enough that he misses things like that
- Alsa explains Sares is Sentin’s homunculus servant in the shape of a squirrel
- Elias notes that we should get Karrl to go look for this squirrel when we meet up with Rormir again later
- Elias continues questioning, and asks about the 7pm meeting on the 15th with Heph, and Alsa explains that inexplicably Sentin is planning to try to recruit Heph
- Heph plays along with being charmed, and acts a bit confused why Sentin would try to recruit him if he’s already recruited
- Meanwhile, in the lobby, when Rormir closes his eyes to nap, he
can still see and finds himself in a clearing in the woods in his plane
- Rormir sees Tertel, wearing travelers clothes and a bindle and holding himself taller, in the clearing, and he welcomes him and says it really was a gift
- Tertel says that Rormir is even weirder than him, and Tertel is not from this deep
- Rormir sees a clearing in a woods, but Tertel sees something different
- Tertel establishes that he is trustworthy, and he asks Rormir what brought him away from home
- Rormir explains his goal is to bring balance, and the physical plane is a learning experience for him
- Tertel wipes some blood from under Rormir’s nose and says “you are dying”, which he clarifies he means in the material plane
- Rormir asks what he should do, and Tertel tells him he should trust his instincts, and whatever he brings back to that plane will probably be helpful
- Rormir thanks him, and Tertel says Rormir’s presence in his home away from home is a gift
- Rormir opens his eyes, and he is alone in the bottom floor of the house
- Rormir whispers “I hope to see you again in the clearing some time”, and he sees a slight bit of movement as a doorway closes
- Rormir heads upstairs slowly, and tries to open the door to the room, but can’t get it open and struggles, and Heph opens it for him and explains via a message that Alsa thinks Elias has charmed us and to just play along
- Rormir asks Elias what he needs, and Elias says just sit quietly, which Rormir does eventually, and then Elias asks Rormir for guidance
- Alsa asks if we are going to meet back up with
Sentin, to which Elias responds that we
will keep her safe until she is healed up to travel
- Maho thinks about the schedule, and when trying to remember who the Shear Brigade is her hair suddenly falls out
- Elias says oh Heph remembered something, and Heph says sure but it’s private
- Elias remembers that Kommandant Ferus seems to be fighting plants, and likely needs recruits to help push back the land
- Elias asks who the biggest contract is so far, since he hasn’t checked in in a while
- Alsa says likely Kogar
- Elias asks more questions about the receipts, and Alsa explains
that the general was the primary point of contact between Lucien
Dynastic and Central Command
- Sentin likely was maintaining a good diplomatic relationship with the princess because it’s good to do so for business to flow smoothly
- Elias asks how many blinds are being sold to Central Command, Alsa doesn’t know exactly, but she imagines quite a few, probably on the order of hundreds
- Elias asks about Mavern, but she doesn’t seem to know a lot of details
- Alsa asks Elias why he is asking so many questions, and he says he is trying to be up to speed so he doesn’t disappoint him further
- Elias turns to the room to ask if anyone else has more questions, and Rormir asks how powerful Alsa is, and Alsa says he is really powerful
- Maho notes she was jealous of Heph, and she acknowledges it, and claims to be very in with Sentin
- Maho asks who she has tried the memory tech on, and she says random people here and there, it’s easy to get people to volunteer as you pass through cities
- They are left behind as they were not up for traveling after the experiments went wrong, they are now living much simpler lives, but are happy
- Maho moves to “untie” Alsa, moving behind her and drawing her sword
- Alsa notices and starts to react, and Elias jumps to cover her mouth, and Heph launches off a volley of magic missiles
- Maho swings at her, Alsa dodges the first strike, but Maho swings back and cleanly lops her head off, and Maho’s katana grows cold for a moment and she hears Alsa’s voice asking where she is