Session 56: A Botched Stealth Mission (August 8, 2024)
Last session, our heroes traveled back to Bad Zamdorf after their multiple harrowing encounters north of the city. Trying to avoid an increased guard presence no doubt due to Sentin warning the authorities, they cut around to the west, where they were nonetheless stopped by guards on the road. Elias on a nat 20 deception convinced one guard who had recognized him from his wanted poster that he was actually a duke visiting with a traveling circus. With the guard’s address in The Town hastily written on the back of the poster, the party continued on into the city.
Maho was granted the temporary ability to see invisible creatures due to some mild indigestion from the Grace, and saw the Widow Seer peering out from her katana with a comforting, matronly presence. The party eventually made their way back to Tertel’s Little Heavy, <:)3, Heph reminding them to bring gifts. Elias gifted Tertel googly eyes for his mannequin. Rormir, who Tertel seemed very interested in, gifted him Guidance. The party found Frederick trapped in a painting outside their attic room, and walked in to a now-awake Thom cowering in fear of the inexplicably-increasing number of dolls surrounding the bed. They helped him pee, he made a bit of a mess.
Bathroom time concluded, the party woke up Alsa and after a successful Charm Person asked her questions about the letters and schedules they had found after the battle. They learned about the upcoming meeting with Harris Kelner, the relationship between Sentin and Kogar, the planned memory extraction experiment on Izume, who “Sares” was, what the “Shear Brigade” was, and Sentin’s plans to give an “offer” to Heph. Maho moved to kill Alsa with her sword, and decapitated her before she could escape. As she did this, her sword grew cold, and she heard Alsa’s voice emerging from it, saying “Where am I?”
- With Alsa’s head removed, Elias freaks out a bit and the group
tries to figure out how to deal with their latest problem
- Tertel might be able to help, but he is nowhere to be found at the moment
- Thom is a bit freaked out about the whole situation, but seems to just be going along with it a bit
- Elias turns to the doll he charmed earlier and asks if it can help dispose of Alsa, and the dolls mouth drops open, revealing a set of very sharp teeth
- Heph asks, almost not believing what he is about to say, if they should keep the head to present it to Sentin as a threat at some point
- The group decides the head probably isn’t going to be helpful, and Elias Mage Hands it over to where Maho has moved the body, under some blankets she found in a trunk
- Watching the blanket, it seems to be slowly deflating, and eventually it deflates almost completely, leaving only the shape of dolls and some flat objects near the ground
- Elias Mage Hands the blanket up, and there is a skeleton, skull, and some slightly plump dolls
- Elias explains to the charmed doll that he charmed it and gives it a dagger as a reward
- Rormir casts Guidance on the doll, giving it some aid if it tries to use the dagger
- Thom wants to leave
- Bringing the group back to focus, Heph suggests that the group should spy on the meeting with Harris Kelner
- Heading to the bad district, we find Steam Williams, and a bar nearby with the
name Digks
- Heph and Maho head into Digks with Thom, who is grateful to be out of the room with the creepy dolls
- We are met with a decent amount of commotion; sitting down at a table is Tomatsu with a giant jug of ale, across from a strong dude, surrounded by the patrons and the other goliaths
- The crowd is chanting “chug, chug, chug!” and Tomatsu and the strong dude down the ale, clearly the goliaths have been bar crawling
- The strong dude passes out, and another dude comes over to take up the challenge
- We head to a quiet, empty table in the corner, where we can hang out unnoticed
- Heph grabs 5 drinks from the bar, 3 in one large glass, and pays 8 silver + 2 silver as a tip to Digk Büt, and brings the drinks back to the table
- Settled in, Heph starts to cast Identify
- Heph finds himself in a workshop, built of rosy aromatic wood, and
there are devices on shelves
- There is an old gnome stooped over a workbench carving expertly spaced lines into a small object
- Heph is immediately able to recognize Leo the Grammarcist, and the devices on the walls seem to be early prototypes of modern well-known devices
- On closer inspection he is sitting on something invisible, and he is working on the bracer
- Heph is not wearing his bracer, and his belt appears to be an early prototype, but it still has his bag of holding
- Heph pulls up his own invisible stool, and sits patiently at the workbench, waiting patiently for Leo to finish
- Leo finishes, notices Heph, is startled for a moment then says “oh just in time, come try this on”, Heph walks over and takes the bracer, which fits him perfectly
- Leo seems to know Heph’s name
- Heph and Leo have an exchange, where
Leo presses Heph to explain why he is
different from Sentin, and Heph seems to
give satisfactory answers
- “Artificery isn’t inherently good or bad. It’s a skill. It’s a tool. What matters is what you do with it.”
- “The question becomes, can the things you craft, the things you invent, can their good outweigh the evil that many with your same skills want to do in the world?”
- He and Sentin are two sides of the same coin
- Heph has a good amount of skill, some inherited, most self-developed. It remains to be seen whether his path will win out
- Meanwhile, Maho finds herself in the Window Seer again, with a
different woman, older with white hair
- She is the Widow Seer herself, the mother of the woman we had met in the shop, and she explains a bit to Maho about the crystal ball and how the sword is working
- Her daughter Greta, the current proprietor, is an infant in a crib
- “When I had my young child, I wished for the wisdom to protect her, and to know how to raise her into the woman I wanted her to be. Of course, how a child grows up can be unpredictable. You would have to see what is to come to really know what is best for them.”
- “I began my studies into the arcana of time, and through it, the esoteric nature of the planes of existence. I knew I could only see so far here in the Prime Material. But out there, beyond the Shroud, reside souls and spirits that had passed through the timeless Astral Sea and experienced all things all at once. If I could contact them before they moved on to what lays beyond, I could ask them what they had seen. I could know what to do. So at the dead of night, when the light of Vaitera shone brightest through the many holes in the shroud, I reached out. And, eventually, they reached back.”
- “I imbued that sword with some of my knowledge. When a soul is trapped inside, you can call it forth to ask what it knew in life, and potentially ask what is to come. Once you do so, the spirit will be able to continue on its path to its eternal rest.”
- Back in the bar, about 11 minutes have passed, and multiple people are passed out from the drinking competition with Tomatsu
- Rormir and Elias approach Steam Williams, working on
their plan to infiltrate the place
- Rormir would recognize Sentin’s shoes/footprints, but doesn’t see any sign he is there
- He does see Kelner show up, looking a bit nervous, and head inside
- Rormir turns himself into a spider, and rides on Elias’ shoulder, who walks in to try to speak with Kelner before Sentin shows up
- Elias gives his name as Elias Stormborn to the young woman behind the desk, but she doesn’t see his name on her list having a private room with Harris, so Elias adds his name to the schedule using Minor Illusion
- She ends up not being convinced by this illusion, and Elias books himself a separate room, and heads into it, while the woman watches him suspiciously
- Rormir, as a spider, pops back out of the door and looks at the woman, and he can see her talking to someone in the room, and he is able to read her lips
- She seems to be telling Kelner someone was looking for him, and she seems to be trying to reassure him that he will be safe conducting his business
- After discussing with him, she grabs a pocketwatch of some kind and twists some dials on it
- Rormir scurries over to the private room, and in it he finds Harris Kelner looking anxious and paranoid, and then he walks into the steam room
- Rormir comes back, transforms into himself, and then updates Elias on the situation
- Heph sends a message to ask for an update, and Elias responds “It’s a Rormir mission now, I tried my best”
- Elias continues to tell Rormir that he needs to go in there and get some information from Harris and Sentin
- Rormir transforms back into a spider and scurries back to
Kelner’s room
- Elias opens the door, and cartwheels out, with a cartwheel that looks like a child’s
- Elias says he feels great now, and then walks out the door
- Rormir successfully sneaks into the inner room and finds Kelner sitting alone in the steam room in his towel
- Rormir transforms back, and appears out of the shadows, approaching Kelner
- He explains he is an agent of Sentin, and that Sentin is looking forward to the meeting and Kelner should not screw it up
- Kelner is not sufficiently scared into silence, and opens his mouth to scream for help
- Rormir tries to charm him, but doesn’t manage it, and Kelner starts screaming
- Elias hears the scream from the roof through a chimney
- Rormir knocks him out, and Elias runs into the building and chases the receptionist woman into the changing room
- She says Central Command will be there soon, and Elias pulls out Jarles, which freaks her out
- She asks him to leave, and Elias knocks her out with Jarles’ pommel
- Elias convinces Rormir to grab Kelner and get out, and grabs Kelner’s clothes, which have a scrap of paper with the address of Steam Williams, various addresses for Mauerbau, and a small abacus
- Elias grabs his clothes, and searching the receptionist grabs her clock thing, and then runs out with Rormir dragging Kelner in tow, using Pass Without Trace to help them along
- Elias throws down a card on the way out, leaving a succubus in front of the building for the Central Command soldiers that are currently a block away to find
- Heph messages Rormir to ask how things are going, to which he replies “Elias left me alone in an alley with a naked guy”, at the same time Elias enters the bar and tells Heph and Maho that they need to go
- As we exit, we hear a thump as Tomatsu passes out, and the whole group makes their way back to Tertel’s
- Back at Tertel’s, we are greeted by the horses, and the other two horses seem
to also have a more intelligent look in their eyes
- Elias pats Woahdoe Boedough with Mage Hand, which he seems to recognize as coming from Elias
- Heading inside, the mannequin is standing there holding out its hand, and Rormir gives it Kelner’s towel, its head seems to cock for a moment, then it collapses to the floor, but it somehow seems disappointed
- Rormir drops two gold on the mannequin, then decides to drop 10 more down
- Elias attempts to glue more eyes to the mannequin, but it isn’t having it, and Elias is briefly covered with a magic shield
- Maho carries Harris up the stairs, and Elias opens the door to the room
- Thom decides to hang out in the lobby
- Opening the door to the room, Elias sees Delilas
seated on the bed
- She starts to say she has the stuff we need, but is interrupted as a crossbow bolt shoots out of the mirror of the vanity that was previously covered by a blanket, striking her in the chest