Session 73: The one where Elias is… Reliable? (January 30, 2025)
Last session, our heroes began interrogating Harris Kelner, the dwarf who the Swordfish had given them a 3000 gold bounty to kill. They used the popular technique of good cop, bad cop, terrifying murderer cop, with Elias, Heph, and Maho taking those respective roles. When Harris revealed that he was on the run because he had embezzled from his previous criminal boss, the party left him tied up to discuss his fate. With the decision on whether to let him live or die undetermined, he undid his bonds and climbed out the attic window, beginning to run away through the residential district denying any guilt. The party Feather Fell right to him, coordinating to kill him in a terrifying display that left his soul in Maho’s sword and a neighbor shutting their curtain having witnessed the whole thing.
The party stuck the body in a trash can and re-entered Tertel’s Little Heavy <:)3, leaving a gift of a chunk of dark temple rock with the mannequin. They then returned upstairs and had the dolls piranha the body, gathering all accumulated bones into the trash can. Thom and the Eladrin returned with food, and the party set about planning to begin moving on Kogar before he has a chance to meet with Sentin. Upon hearing the sound of footsteps, the party realized the neighbor had called Central Command on them, and they began looking for an escape route. Heph had no luck opening the doors to nowhere in the building, but Maho’s mussel seemed energized by the idea. Eventually they and the 40 Eladrin and Thom gathered in the attic, and Elias fed Maho the mussel, allowing her to open a doorway to Sal’s Castle and out of harm’s way.
They assuaged the fear of the lone caretaker in the tavern as he stumbled through his own existential crisis, and headed upstairs to meet with Almer, Wyn, and Kel, Delilas’s compatriots and friends. They relayed that Ash had been leaving her lodging at night and returning around 7am, but that she had not returned by that time this morning. We then cut to Karrl flying through Vogue Alley, seeing a cloaked figure with long white hair, arriving back late at the Cedar Sash.
- Elias remembers he has Kelner’s clothes and searches them, finding
various scraps of paper with his handwriting that might help prove we
interacted with him
- Karrl comes back, relaying the image of Ash
- Elias, having just drank some water, finishes the water before exclaiming “What?”
- Heph suggests we go talk to her, and Elias asks
Heph if he thinks she found someone else, and Heph
tries to reassure Elias she hasn’t, but he doesn’t really know
- They are absolutely having a conversation about the important things
- Heph suggests he can try to Message Ash from a distance, and asks Elias to start thinking about a Message to send her to try to convince her to come out and help
- Wyn raises their hand and asks if we’re talking about the same Ash that betrayed the resistance, and Elias responds yes and tries to convince the group that he will be the only one taking risk
- The group discusses various plans to get Ash to help, but Heph refocuses the group on the plan to mobilize and get there
- It is decided Delilas’ crew will take the new Eladrin in smaller groups and attempt to move through the city stealthily
- Karrl heads off to try to find an abandoned or empty building to rally in, and when he gets back Heph relays to the group a couple of options for buildings to hide in
- Elias points out the three of them are pretty noticeable, and Elias looks around for a pigeon
- Finding two Wyns, he grabs one and asks her for help disguising Maho, and the other one answers “of course”, and Elias hugs the real Wyn he’d been grabbing
- After some discussion, the group decides Maho should be disguised
as Ash, and Ana gets to work
- There is a flurry of activity, and suddenly Ash is standing next to Ana
- Maho looks at herself and realizes she is now short and skinny
- Heph uses Disguise Self to disguise himself as a relative that isn’t related by blood
- Elias puts on his the royal clothes he took as his disguise
- Heph says it’s time to go, and tells everyone to put their hands
in and say “down with Kogar”
- All like 47 people
- There is a palpable excitement in the room as the group gets ready to mobilize
- The Eladrin are nervous and tired, and are palpably anxious and excited
- On the way Maho almost grabs a bucket and steps in it, but Heph manages to grab it before she makes any noise
- After about 30 minutes, the group arrives at the empty building near Cedar Sash, and Elias sneaks up to the door, unlocks it, and Heph and Maho follow him in
- Heph and Elias head up to the third floor, leaving Maho to get the Eladrin inside when they arrive
- Heph looks through the window, and sees Ash sitting next to the window, tied up, and she seems to be occasionally focused on something else in the room
- Downstairs, the Eladrin start to arrive
- Heph and Elias craft the following message: “Don’t
acknowledge you can hear me, it looks like you’re tied up, do you need help?”
- She responds “who are you?”
- Heph says “Someone who can help you, if you need it”
- She says “so… okay, that was very vague. How would you like to help?”
- Heph asks “how many people are in the room with you?”
- She says “so you can understand me being suspicious… yes?”
- After briefly conferring, Elias decides we need to reveal he is there, and Heph agrees
- Heph messages “Yes, I can understand your suspicion. Look out the window behind you towards the southeast, and don’t react to what you see.”
- There is a pause, she acts like she’s stretching out her arms and neck, and manages to look out the window, and sees Elias holding the pocket watch, and he looks up and waves at her
- She yells out “fuck!” in surprise, and everyone ducks out of line of sight before anyone else is able to look out and see
- Heph messages “way to not react”
- She responds “I just hurt my neck while I was stretching, that is all, please go back to your book”
- Heph sends “did they go back to their book?”
- She responds “what the fuck, this doesn’t sound like Elias”
- Heph: “That’s because it’s not. I am Elias’ friend, Heph, and Elias doesn’t know this spell, so I’m communicating on his behalf. Elias says hi”
- Ash: “God, what a dork. Congratulations, I’ve been keeping track of you all for a bit now and you’ve managed to find me, spectacular, you found me a bit tied up. He’s gone back to… I think he’s just reading smut. In answer to your earlier question I would love some assistance. What did you have in mind? Also, hey would you like to hear where all the guards are?”
- Heph messages “We have many options, we are just deciding the best one. Any information you have will help us make an informed decision.”
- She responds “You’re so professional, Elias chooses his friends well. Well there is one absolute dog in the room with me, keeping an eye on me but rather distracted. There is at least one other guard on this floor, however, because I hear him pacing like an absolute maniac Aelos Zinnan is here. And of course you also know there are 4 guards outside the building, 2 at each door, and a few more on the first and second floor inside.”
- Heph asks “Where is Kogar?”
- She responds “The Lord Emperor caught me on one of my nightly excursions because of your absolute shitshow, and an influx of guards delayed me getting back before he got up, but he’s out running his important Lordly errands.”
- Heph sends “Thanks for the information, we will get back to you very shortly. Hang tight”
- She responds “I look forward to it, please keep me abreast of what you’re planning”
- Heph messages “Do you have your Misty Step?”
- She responds “I do not, I needed to use that to escape, however, I made a certain pact where I can travel to a heavily shadowed area if you can provide the darkness. It’s not a bad pact, I’m not a demon.”
- Heph sends a message, “Okay, here’s the plan. We’re going to make an illusory in front of you of you, Elias is going to Misty Step into the room, untie you, and help you escape out the window. If things go south, I’ll turn you both invisible.”
- She says “Well, that definitely sounds like… Well it’s good to see Elias again. What’s the plan for the horny-as-all-getout guard and Aelos?”
- Heph replies “They won’t know you’ve left until after you’re gone.”
- She says “Yes, as part of the plan you mentioned my dear old friend Elias is going to appear in the room here without provoking suspicion?”
- Heph says “That’s the point of the illusory image in front of you, it will hide you guys from view of the guard. Alternatively, do you think you could get him to go get you a glass of water?”
- Ash replies “We’re really working on the fly here, I could ask for a glass of water, I am a princess and there is a degree to which they are here to serve me despite my current predicament. I probably can’t be alone for too long in the room though.”
- Heph asks for clarity if it’s a guard or a mistguard, she replies they are traveling with mistguards
- Heph messages her “Okay, forget the water. We’re going with the illusory image, and Elias will be there momentarily to help untie you. Good luck!”
- She replies “This is going to go great”
- Elias uses Silent Image to do the CCTV thing, making an illusory
wall in front of Ash in the room, Maho using a storm rune
to enter a prophetic state to help Elias, and Elias
succeeds in making the illusion appear
- He Misty Steps into the room behind the silent image, in the same room as Ash for the first time in a long time
- She looks over at Elias, surprised, and her legs are tied and her arms are tied
- Elias can see through the image, and sees the single guard looking at a large graphic novel in front of him with a decent amount of near nudity
- Elias awkwardly waves at Ash, pulls out New Jarles, and cuts her bonds
- He opens the window quietly, managing to do so without the guard noticing
- Elias drops down his rope of climbing, having it knot itself up, and the two of them climb down the rope, Ash quickly look to both side and quickly gives Elias a hug
- He is shocked for a moment, and then returns the hug, shedding a single tear, which he wipes away as they pull apart
- Ash gives him a look and says “let’s get out of here”, and Elias peeks around the corner of the building, looking for anyone that could spot them, and Maho opens a window on the first floor for them to climb in
- Ash climbs in the window, and sees a room of 40 Eladrin and herself,
and her hand jumps to her waist to grab a weapon, but it’s not there
- Ash is nervous in the room, unsure what she’s been led into, and Elias tries to reassure her
- Heph comes into the room and says it kind of depends on why she betrayed everyone, Wyn speaking up and says she’d be more comfortable if Ash is restrained
- Elias says he’d be more comfortable if she’s not, and pulls out a Juicy Shaft, and hands it to Maho-Ash to shoot Ash
- Elias asks if she’s okay with it, and Ash is very confused why he pulled out a Juicy Shaft (and it’s not the first time she’s heard him say that), and she says she would be glad to be tied up, she is deeply ashamed for what happened
- A lot of the blame for what happened fell on Elias, and while it’s not entirely inaccurate, more of the blame should fall on her
- The group moves into a windowless room and when Elias ties her up, she says “so we’re doing this already huh”
- Ash asks why she’s being shot and why there’s another Ash here, and Elias says he has a friend who is good as disguises, and Ana-Ash pulls off her mask and reveals herself
- Elias checks out the window, and seeing that the central command guards are gone, the group moves to the backup safehouse
- In the backup safehouse, Elias explains that the Juicy Shaft will
magically force her to tell the truth, but she has to be shot with a bow to
make it work, and Maho will shoot her very lightly
- Maho attempts to shoot Ash and misses, but Ash manages to twist herself and catch the arrow in midair, tossing it back to Maho and saying let’s try that again
- Elias is stunned at her abilities, standing with his mouth open
- Maho shoots again, missing, and Ash catches it again
- Elias grabs the arrow and shoots her clean in the arm, dealing a bit of damage
- Heph walks over and heals her as Elias pulls out the arrow, and she seems ready to talk