Session 21: Burning the Place Down
Dramatis Personae:
Mo - Goliath Bard (College of Lore)
Orryk - Forest Gnome Monk (Way of the Four Elements, variant)
Fiona - Half-Elf Wizard (Evoker)
Taman - Human (variant) Rogue (Inquisitive)/Ranger
Joybell - Forest Gnome Paladin (Oath of the Ancients)
GM - Everyone Else
8 Sicklin 748 (Campaign day 39) (immediately after)
After a few minutes of shock and tears, we saw that a crowd was starting to gather around us.
Joybell: I don’t want people to see him like this.
Joybell and some of the orcs took Imaktis’ body into the Cracked Shield compound.
Fiona, Taman and Mo went off to the hotel to get the cart and the horses. (We agreed without much discussion that none of us were going to be alone, so Orryk stayed with Joybell.)
After they left Orryk stood at the damaged entrance to the compound and called out into the crowd for someone from C&C to come forward.
No one immediately did, though there was movement and action in response to his call. After a few minutes someone stepped through the crowd and into the clear area littered with dead Masks and Imaktis’ blood. Seeing the Masks, the man sighed.
Orryk: You own the Masks’ building?
C&C Agent: Yes. We’ve been renting it to them for a while.
Orryk: How much to buy it? We’re going to burn it down and we’d rather not have it be a big thing where you send guys after us and we kill them. It would just go on and on.
C&C: That’s a negotiation for someone higher than me. Someone will be in touch with you.
Joybell found a little urchin in the crowd and paid her 3 silver to tell Black Irnod that there were 12 more dead Masks down in Blooming Cliffs outside the Cracked Shield compound if he was interested.
That’s as much interest as any of us had in the bodies of the fallen Masks.
As the folks getting the cart were returning, Joybell and Orryk talked to the orcs about relocating -- perhaps to the Jagged Sword’s territory, where the Orcphans were taken from, or to the area around Embernook. Joybell thought about suggesting that there was a town outside of Embernook (Kalmarn) that was depopulated and ready for folks to move into, but she wasn’t sure how the people of Embernook would feel about that. They agreed that they needed to explore the possibilities available to them and were already doing so. They had a while before the Masks could return to Pelsoreen -- which was good because it was going to be a major caravan to move everyone and all of their stuff out of the city.
Joybell: I’m so sorry! I feel like I brought this on you all when I brought you into my vendetta.
Rask: No. It’s okay.
He then offered for them to pay for a raise dead spell for Imaktis, since he died defending them.
(Note: This is the point in the notes where this exchange, from Session 20, fits in best:
Orryk: He died defending the Orcs.
Imaktis’ Ghost: I died defending you guys!)
We said no thank you -- from Joybell’s perspective at least in part because they had their own dead to perhaps raise -- and loaded Imaktis onto our cart and left. We took him to the temple of the Joyful.
Mo: We lost a friend and we are hoping you can bring him back.
Tormaz said that it would cost 500gp for the material components -- however, Imaktis had been donating a lot of money to the temple, so there wouldn’t be any additional charge.
We took Imaktis to a back room and Tormaz cast the spell -- there was a swirl of energy focused around Imaktis’ chest and the diamond, but the diamond didn’t shatter and Imaktis didn’t return to us.
Tormaz: He is at peace now. The two sides that were at war within him are now at peace. He did not want to return.
Joybell: Could we try again later? Maybe in a year he will want to come back.
Tormaz: Yes. But you will need to have some of his body for the magic to work.
We loaded Imaktis back into the cart and Tormaz cast Gentle Repose on him so that nothing unfortunate would happen while we were taking care of his remains.
Before we left, Mo dropped several large handfuls of silver into the poor box. As always, someone from the temple came out and took most of it inside, leaving a few coins for those who needed it.
Mo, to Tormaz: That spell you cast. We might have need of that. Could you write us down notes or instructions on how to cast it?
Tormaz: I will look into it. But it will be expensive for us to create. We have a scroll with a revivify spell that I can sell you, however.
So we bought the revivify scroll (because Joybell has that spell on her spell list) and the required material component (a diamond of specified value) from him.
Then we headed off to the Last Doorway to talk to them about cremation.
Priest: Good day.
Orryk: No. Not really.
Priest: I apologize. I’m hoping we can make it better.
Joybell: We’d like to use your facilities for a private funeral. We want to light the fire ourselves, if that’s possible.
We also said that we’d like some of his ashes in an urn -- enough to cast resurrection at some point in the future.
The priest agreed that all of that was possible and that the next time available was going to be first thing in the morning the next day. Imaktis’ remains were moved into a small room there, where they would be safe and treated with respect.
We then sat out front on the cart for a while, taking a short rest. (We’d realized that the agent from C&C that was going to come talk to us had probably had a devil of a time catching up to us, because we were moving around the whole time.)
As we rested, we looked at the magical items we’d removed from Imaktis’ body -- the gauntlets of ogre power, the mantle of spell resistance and the necklace of prayer beads. With him not returning to us, we redistributed them. Mo put on the gauntlets, Joybell put on the necklace and tucked it under her tabard to keep it safe, and Orryk put the mantle on. He then gave the wand of web to Mo, because he had as much magic as he could handle.
About an hour later, a nicely dressed human came walking up the street.
Illya: My name is Illya. I’m from C&C. You wanted to negotiate for the purchase of a building so you can destroy it?
Orryk: Yes. We want to destroy the building. No. We’re going to destroy it. But we don’t want to get into a problem with you. You’ll send assassins after us. We’ll kill them. It won’t be good.
Joybell: We really just want the structure. We don’t want the land. You could rebuild right away. We wouldn’t care.
Orryk: We’re going to send a message.
Illya: You want to be indemnified for the damage.
Joybell: Yes!! Exactly!
Illya: For two thousand gold pieces, we can give you two days to do whatever you want with the building.
Joybell, to the others: That sounds like a bargain.
Illya: For another five hundred gold pieces, we will give you the name of the person who has rented it from us.
Joybell: We won’t need two days. Could we pay one thousand gold pieces for one day?
Illya: The two thousand is the cost to rebuild it, primarily. We cannot go lower than that. We will also need to know half a day before you start so we can have people on scene to protect the surrounding structures.
Orryk created a small flame then snuffed it out then said, “We won’t let the fire spread.”
We accepted the terms offered and Illya handed us a contract -- written in very straightforward terms so that we knew exactly what we were contracting to pay and what they were contracting to grant us. We were told to take the contract and the money to the C&C headquarters half a day before we wished to destroy the building.
We decided to just go take care of that now, while Mo grumbled that it felt like we were ticking off boxes rather than going and just tearing the place apart.
We left the horses and cart back at the Iron Steed, paying for another night there at the same time, then followed Illya to the C&C headquarters on foot.
In the office we gave her the paperwork and each of us paid our share of the money. As an expression of disgruntlement, Mo paid four hundred of his share in gold pieces and the remaining hundred as one thousand silver pieces, pulled out of the many pockets in his armor by the handsful. A pity it wasn’t 10,000 copper ...
We told her that we were to start destroying the building tomorrow at noon, after Imaktis’ funeral. But we were going to go over and spend some time in it tonight -- searching the place thoroughly. She said that was fine as long as we didn’t do any damage.
After we paid, she stepped out of the room for a bit. When she returned she said that the building had been rented to a dwarf man named Turnik Steeltear. When we asked for an address for him, she said they’d been collecting the rent payments at the House of Masks and mostly from the Masks themselves, not from Steeltear himself.
That was less helpful than Joybell, at least, hoped. But it was also the letter of the agreement.
We headed from there over to the House of Masks to check the place out -- loot if there was any loot to be had, make sure there were no survivors lurking there, re-destroy the teleportation circle. That sort of thing. Before we went in Mo did his Junior Birdman clairvoyance mask again and looked around upstairs -- there were 12 beds in the bunkroom and 12 dead Masks, so that was a good sign. Each of the beds had a longbow and a quiver of arrows next to it (so the near-endless supply of arrows in the bag of holding got replenished). When we went inside, we looked very thoroughly around -- they hadn’t had time to accumulate any treasure so all we found was the bows and arrows. There were, again, no papers or documents of any kind.
All we found were some bags of food supplies -- grains and gruel. Joybel wanted to take them, because we were going to be heading off on the road, but Taman pointed out that he could forage for better food than that. Then she thought of giving it to the Cracked Shield for their journey, but they also can get better food than that. So she left the bags outside the door so anyone could take them, rather than letting food get destroyed with the building.
We went back to the Iron Steed and settled down to activities each according to her or his nature. Mo and Taman commenced to get very drunk. Fiona worked on transcribing the shadowbolt spell we found into her spellbook.
Joybell, to Orryk: Do you want to spar? Because I don’t want to get drunk. I want to fight.
Orryk and Joybell went out to the stableyard and sparred and did exercises and drills.
During and after his drinking, Mo was going to work on something to say at Imaktis’ funeral.
Eventually we made our usual precautions for the night, including the tiny hut, and rested. The night passed without incident.
9 Sicklin 748 (Campaign day 40)
On the way to Imaktis’ funeral, first thing in the morning, we talked about the fact that we didn’t know anything about his family or where he came from. We didn’t know if there was anyone we should tell about his passing or how to go about it.
When we got there, we found Imaktis laid out on a pyre by the Last Doorway priests. We gathered around, along with a few of the orcs from the Cracked Shield there to pay their respects to him.
Joybell looked to Mo to say something.
Mo: I guess he’s home. It’s a shame he’s never going to leave this city.
Taman: We don’t want to leave any part of him here.
At that, Taman asked the priests if they could scatter the ashes that we don’t take (because we won’t get all of them) out on the ocean. That way they’d get dispersed all around and he’d get to lots of places. The priests said they could give them to a ship captain sailing to Mahassar (the sub-continent to the east of Urnod) and ask him to scatter them along the way.
Mo: He was a good friend. Always in the front line of danger.
Joybell: He was a good person. He helped people others wouldn’t. Like he went to the brothels and healed the ladies.
Mo: He went to the brothels?
After that we lit the pyre. Orryk controlled the flames so that they took Imaktis’ shape. Then he cast it again so that the Imaktis-shaped fire burned the color of his spirit guardians. We stayed with him until he was gone to ash.
Joybell: Farewell, Imaktis.
Before we left the priests gave us an urn with 10lbs of his ashes. (Note: GM says that this is enough to cast resurrection.) That went into the bag of holding.
As we left, Orryk said that he wanted to get a magical weapon that did necrotic damage, so he’d be more prepared when we faced the Masks again. We decided to go to the temple of the Purveyors and Wrights to get a recommendation for a magical item dealer, since we didn’t want to wind out dealing what a charlatan or someone who was palming off cursed goods.
At the temple the cleric we’d spoken to back on our first day in Pelsoreen asked how he could help us.
Orryk: I’m looking for a weapon that does specific kinds of damage. Have you heard of the Masks and how many fewer of them there are now?
Cleric, looking impressed: Yes...That was you?
Mo: Boo.
He recommended a shop in Stonetree run by an elf woman named Allona. She doesn’t have shelves stocked with items on display -- she listens to what her clients need and offers them a curated selection that really will suit them. She’s been in business in the same location for a few hundred years.
Mo: You know most of the movers and shakers in the town, I expect. We’re looking for a dwarf named Turnik Steeltear.
Cleric, after thinking for a bit: No. I’ve never heard of a dwarf with a name like that.
When he put it that way, Mo agreed that Steeltear is a weird name for a dwarf. Most dwarf clan names are a little more positive and sturdy -- Steelarm rather than Steeltear.
The cleric speculated that perhaps it was a duergar name -- but all the drow and duergar cities were destroyed in the Fiend Wars and for all intents and purposes the drow and duergar cultures were eliminated. There may be some scattered individuals, but no communities remain.
We left with that thought in our heads and headed off to Stonetree. On the way to Allona’s we stopped in at the alchemist Burnaka’s place to see how he was getting on with the gorgon snot. He wasn’t done, but he said he believed that he’d be making something like the oil of prevention of petrification. He will be able sell us the oil at 150gp a bottle when he’s got it made. But if we don’t buy any he can sell it to other people. Mo asked about a discounted rate, since we brought him the gorgon snot, and he said that was the discounted rate.
Somehow, Joybell wasn’t sure we were getting any recompense for bringing him the material to make something he can sell to other people...but whatever. We killed the gorgon anyway.
We went on to Allona’s.
Orryk: I’m looking for something that does necrotic or psychic damage. Do you know the Masks? Do you know how many fewer there are of them?
Joybell: Necrotic and psychic damage! That’s the key!
Allona: What are you looking for? What kind of weapon do you use?
Orryk: Anything simple.
Joybell: He’s amazing with his fists.
Allona then went into her back room and came back with a somewhat tatty looking pair of black leather gloves that looked like they’d seen some serious business. She said that they were created as an emergency backup for a spellcaster, in case something got too close. If you touch someone with them, they can do a spell attack that does necrotic damage. And if it hits, the wearer heals half as much damage as the target takes. She said they cost 750 gold.
Orryk: Sold.
Mo then mentioned getting a weapon that did more damage than a rapier. Now that he has the gloves of ogre strength, he’s no longer a skinny weakling. Well, he’s still skinny, just not a weakling. Orryk pulled one of the Mask’s longswords out of the bag of holding and handed it to him.
Mo: Well, I’ll just use that then.
Taman asked after something that would be a magical ranged weapon, preferably a longbow. He also mentioned the possibility of something that could be thrown for Joybell. Allona returned with a handful of javelins of lightning for Joybell, at 750 gp each. Joybell declined -- we’d spent a lot of money in the last two days and she’s still saving up for plate armor one of these days.
Allona also had a longbow (+1) for Taman for 800 gold.
Taman: Sure.
And with that it was time to tear down the House of Masks. When we got there, Mo cut down the sign in the front of the building. Joybell strapped it to the outside of her backpack. It is at least as large as her torso, but she has it there for now at least.
We started inside the building by physically beating on the support pillars, at least Mo, Orryk and Joybell did, partly to weaken them and partly just for the satisfaction of hitting and breaking them. While that was going on Taman went around splashing oil all over the place and Fiona was calculating the most effective places to start the fire and the most effective supports to bash on. Orryk went up into the attic to break holes in the ceiling so that the fire would have better ventilation.
Then Fiona lit the oil and the building on fire with fire bolts, in the best spots to really get the fire to spread and bring the building down.
When the fire was going well, we all went outside to watch it burn. Orryk patrolled around the building checking for fires spreading to the neighbors and snuffing any stray sparks that he saw. When it looked like the fire inside might be flagging a little he gave it some extra oomph as well.
As the roof collapsed inward, Joybell shouted: "For Imaktis! And the Wold! And the orphans! And everyone else these bastards have hurt!"
By the time the fire had burned itself out and the building was as destroyed as it was going to be, most of the day had passed and evening was settling in, so we returned to the Iron Steed.
With our usual precautions, the night passed without incident.
10 Sicklin 748 (Campaign day 41)
The next day we decided to head out to Rodzun and the Keeper of Secrets on the track beyond. However, the Ovverway causeway was going to be up starting a couple of hours before sundown. We had the whole day to occupy in Pelsoreen.
We decided to check out the Outer Chaos signal the orrery was getting from the headquarters of the Water and Sewer department. As we left the inn, Taman saw only one group following us -- they weren’t bothering to even try to hide from us. Taman waved at them.
At the Water and Sewer building, we went into a reception area.
Receptionist: Can I help you?
Joybell, to Mo: Do you want to handle his?
Mo: We’re adventurers from out of town. You probably don’t get this much…
Receptionist: You might be surprised…
Mo: We think there’s something from the Outer Chaos here. Something dangerous. Maybe that concerns you. We should talk to your boss.
Orryk: Whenever we encounter these things there’s screaming and people dying. You probably should be concerned.
He pulled out the orrery -- it spun for a bit and settled on pointing at a door off the reception area.
Receptionist, puzzled: That’s the old planning office.
Joybell: What’s in there?
Receptionist: Plans?
Joybell: Can we take a look, please?
Receptionist: Sure.
Before she let us into the office, Mo cast clairvoyance, standing there in the office with his junior birdman mask. All he saw inside were a couple of drafting tables or desks and bookshelves with papers, and tied up rolls of papers.
Orryk: How long has the office been unused?
Receptionist: We haven’t had to expand the system in at least eight years. As long as I’ve been here.
Fiona took ten minutes to cast detect magic. While she was doing so, Taman listened at the door for a bit, but heard nothing. Then we just milled about while she was casting. Fortunately the receptionist let us do that.
When the spell was done, the receptionist let us into the planning office. On one of the shelves there was a rolled up sheaf that was vaguely magical. That same sheaf of paper was also what the orrery was pointing to.
There were no monsters and no obvious crazy books or writings. Just that one rolled up sheaf of paper.
Fiona sat down again and began the ritual to cast identify. Once again the rest of us sort of milled about for ten minutes. Joybell looked at other papers and plans just to pass the time.
After ten minutes, Fiona learned that the scroll wasn’t created by a spell or anything. It is simultaneously a plan of a prior arrangement of the water and sewer lines in the city and a map of a part of the outer chaos. (Mapped chaos?) This prior arrangement was from quite a while ago, but not even close to being as long ago as the Severance. This isn’t like the Book of Madness -- it isn’t powerful enough, or closely enough connected to the Chaos, to draw someone in. The only danger is if someone unrolls these plans and reads them.
Joybell: Who do we need to talk to about taking these?
Receptionist: Let me go get my boss.
Joybell: Good idea.
She left and a few minutes later a dwarf showed up and introduced himself as Bjorn.
Joybell: What do you know about this set of plans? They were on the shelf over there.
Bjorn, after looking at the sheaf of papers, still rolled up: They’ve got to be close to one hundred years old.
Mo: Did you notice anything about the pattern or arrangement of these pipes being weird?
Bjorn: There were sections that didn’t make a lot of sense…
Mo: Who designed the system?
Bjorn: The guy who was the head of this department then.
Joybell: What was his name?
Bjorn: He was human. Humans die so quickly you barely have time to remember their names. <looks at Taman>No offense. His name was Turla or something like that.
Joybell: These papers are connected to the Chaos Between Worlds. Will anyone miss them if we take them off your hands?
Bjorn: I’ll sell it to you for 50 gold.
Joybell: Well, we could leave them here. It would be like a trap - someone could read it and become a monster and kill people.
Bjorn: And wouldn’t that weigh on your conscience?
Joybell, pulling out a coin purse: And this is the problem with having me negotiate. Okay.
With the sheaf of papers safely in the Bag of Holding, we went off to Thani-Breel university to get the Book of Madness from Amlorr. While we were there, he also gave us the proper name of N., the Keeper of Secrets -- Nicolana.
We got the horses (still Horse 1, Mr. Ed., and Horse 2, Secretariat) and the cart and headed out across the causeway. We arrived at the other shore around sunset, so we stayed at an inn or caravanserai on the other side.
We made our usual precautions and the night passed without incident.
11 Sicklin 748 (Campaign day 42)
We travelled all day through Ivvereen to Tummeleen. On the way, Joybell tried to find the same little squirrel she’d spoken to on the way out before, but had no luck. Otherwise the day passed in uneventful travel. When we approached Tummeleen, we noticed that Jorlas’ cart had been moved from where we left it. We found it parked in Tummeleen -- where someone was working on cleaning it up and fixing it.
We spent the night at the Sterling Scythe again. The townspeople still looked a little freaked out from the attack of the Skinned One and the Star-Spawn Grues.
Mo performed for our discounted lodging and his supper -- it was far from his best performance ever. He found himself setting down his pipe and doing cheezy “magic” tricks with his fingers.
Oh, well, they can’t all be gems.
After Mo’s incredibly awkward performance, we made our usual precautions for the night and had no problems.
12 Sicklin 748 (Campaign day 43)
We travelled through Orlimunn and Lunn and had a very quiet day. We stayed at the Flying Turtle again, and Joybell spent the evening thinking of Imaktis and missing his company.
Mo’s performance was better this evening -- he made good money in tips and we got our discounted lodging.
The night passed without incident.
13 Sicklin 748 (Campaign day 44)
We got to Rodzun around midday, so we just continued straight on out the eastern side of town on the cart track. As we went we talked about what exactly we wanted to ask Nicolana, the Keeper of Secrets.
We settled on “Who is responsible for the Masks and where do we find that person?” If we can ask follow up questions, we’ll ask about Turnik Steeltear.
Taman reminded us that if the conversation with Nicolana goes south, be careful to break eye contact. Just in case she has the same eye/gaze attack as the agents of her mother, the Tundra Queen. Though, we did realize that just because she’s the Tundra Queen’s daughter, that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s an ally. Because fey political alliances and networks are complicated.
About three or three and a half hours after we left Rodzun, we got to a rise or small hilltop that we’d been able to see a half hour or so earlier. When we’d seen it in the distance it looked like a mostly bare, grassy hilltop with some rocks on it. When we arrived there, however, we saw a small hut.
As we pulled the cart to a stop, Taman called out: "I seek the Keeper of Secrets."
Mo got off the cart and went to knock on the door, but before he got there it opened and a human-looking woman who looked 25 years old or so came out.
Nicolana: You’re not Jorlas.
Mo: He read the book.
Nicolana: He should have known better.
Mo: It can be very convincing.
Nicolana, looking at all of us: You may come into my house. I offer you my hospitality freely.
Taman, who’s done some study of the Fey, understood that there were no conditions to us coming in. She was genuinely welcoming -- and she was letting us read her and see that genuine welcome.
We went in to a nice casual dining room with food laid out on the table. Joybell left Scooby outside to watch the horses. Nicolana made it clear that he was welcome inside, but Joybell, without Taman’s insight into the Fey and having heard stories of people eating and drinking with various Fey in the woods and being lost for weeks or months at a time, declined and said he’d be fine outside.
Nicolana: So. You have a book for me?
Mo: It depends on what you’re going to do with it.
Nicolana: The thing about Erkonin is that it’s where I keep my stuff. I have no interest in bringing in the Outer Chaos to destroy everything.
That was a satisfactory answer to all of us, so we began to negotiate for the name and location of the person behind the Masks -- as we’d discussed on the way. After a few minutes, Nicolana sort of shook her head.
Nicolana: You want to know how to get to where the Masks are forged. The name and location alone would do you no good.
We agreed that she would give us the information in exchange for the Book of Madness and the scrolls from the Department of Water and Sewers.
The directions:
Leave Pelsoreen by Mountainway. Stay on the road around the Green Quilt (the Dunnimar Mountains). After ten sleeps, head into the mountains (this will be south-ish). After you do that, whenever you choose a path, take the road less traveled -- and look for twins.
We’ll know we’re there when we find the twins. And from the twins we’ll find the way to where the Masks are forged.
Joybell knows a little of the northern Dunimar Mountains, that’s where the Wold was, and knows we won’t get as far as the Wold in our ten days of travel from Mountainway.
Once we had that information, Taman said: I don’t suppose anyone has told you who I am.
Nicolana: You have a grudge.
Taman: I don’t believe you’ll tell me anything because I don’t have any more secrets.
Nicolana: Well then. But I’ll tell you the one you seek is not my mother’s servant.
Taman: I know that. But your mother does things that irk me.
Nicolana: Me too. But unlike my mother I play fair.
She stood then and told us that we were invited to stay in her hut for the night and to eat the food that was available, but she had to leave.
Joybell: Before you go, can you give us information about how to get in touch with Jorlas’ wife and children. She’s waiting for him to return, but he’s gone now and never will. They need to know that he’s dead.
Nicolana: That is not a secret to keep. I will make sure they know.
(Note: We ended before Joybell got a chance to pull out the letter that Jorlas was writing to his wife and ask if Nicolana could get it to her. It would probably make Martra happy to know he was thinking of her.)
Dramatis Personae:
Mo - Goliath Bard (College of Lore)
Orryk - Forest Gnome Monk (Way of the Four Elements, variant)
Fiona - Half-Elf Wizard (Evoker)
Taman - Human (variant) Rogue (Inquisitive)/Ranger
Joybell - Forest Gnome Paladin (Oath of the Ancients)
GM - Everyone Else
8 Sicklin 748 (Campaign day 39) (immediately after)
After a few minutes of shock and tears, we saw that a crowd was starting to gather around us.
Joybell: I don’t want people to see him like this.
Joybell and some of the orcs took Imaktis’ body into the Cracked Shield compound.
Fiona, Taman and Mo went off to the hotel to get the cart and the horses. (We agreed without much discussion that none of us were going to be alone, so Orryk stayed with Joybell.)
After they left Orryk stood at the damaged entrance to the compound and called out into the crowd for someone from C&C to come forward.
No one immediately did, though there was movement and action in response to his call. After a few minutes someone stepped through the crowd and into the clear area littered with dead Masks and Imaktis’ blood. Seeing the Masks, the man sighed.
Orryk: You own the Masks’ building?
C&C Agent: Yes. We’ve been renting it to them for a while.
Orryk: How much to buy it? We’re going to burn it down and we’d rather not have it be a big thing where you send guys after us and we kill them. It would just go on and on.
C&C: That’s a negotiation for someone higher than me. Someone will be in touch with you.
Joybell found a little urchin in the crowd and paid her 3 silver to tell Black Irnod that there were 12 more dead Masks down in Blooming Cliffs outside the Cracked Shield compound if he was interested.
That’s as much interest as any of us had in the bodies of the fallen Masks.
As the folks getting the cart were returning, Joybell and Orryk talked to the orcs about relocating -- perhaps to the Jagged Sword’s territory, where the Orcphans were taken from, or to the area around Embernook. Joybell thought about suggesting that there was a town outside of Embernook (Kalmarn) that was depopulated and ready for folks to move into, but she wasn’t sure how the people of Embernook would feel about that. They agreed that they needed to explore the possibilities available to them and were already doing so. They had a while before the Masks could return to Pelsoreen -- which was good because it was going to be a major caravan to move everyone and all of their stuff out of the city.
Joybell: I’m so sorry! I feel like I brought this on you all when I brought you into my vendetta.
Rask: No. It’s okay.
He then offered for them to pay for a raise dead spell for Imaktis, since he died defending them.
(Note: This is the point in the notes where this exchange, from Session 20, fits in best:
Orryk: He died defending the Orcs.
Imaktis’ Ghost: I died defending you guys!)
We said no thank you -- from Joybell’s perspective at least in part because they had their own dead to perhaps raise -- and loaded Imaktis onto our cart and left. We took him to the temple of the Joyful.
Mo: We lost a friend and we are hoping you can bring him back.
Tormaz said that it would cost 500gp for the material components -- however, Imaktis had been donating a lot of money to the temple, so there wouldn’t be any additional charge.
We took Imaktis to a back room and Tormaz cast the spell -- there was a swirl of energy focused around Imaktis’ chest and the diamond, but the diamond didn’t shatter and Imaktis didn’t return to us.
Tormaz: He is at peace now. The two sides that were at war within him are now at peace. He did not want to return.
Joybell: Could we try again later? Maybe in a year he will want to come back.
Tormaz: Yes. But you will need to have some of his body for the magic to work.
We loaded Imaktis back into the cart and Tormaz cast Gentle Repose on him so that nothing unfortunate would happen while we were taking care of his remains.
Before we left, Mo dropped several large handfuls of silver into the poor box. As always, someone from the temple came out and took most of it inside, leaving a few coins for those who needed it.
Mo, to Tormaz: That spell you cast. We might have need of that. Could you write us down notes or instructions on how to cast it?
Tormaz: I will look into it. But it will be expensive for us to create. We have a scroll with a revivify spell that I can sell you, however.
So we bought the revivify scroll (because Joybell has that spell on her spell list) and the required material component (a diamond of specified value) from him.
Then we headed off to the Last Doorway to talk to them about cremation.
Priest: Good day.
Orryk: No. Not really.
Priest: I apologize. I’m hoping we can make it better.
Joybell: We’d like to use your facilities for a private funeral. We want to light the fire ourselves, if that’s possible.
We also said that we’d like some of his ashes in an urn -- enough to cast resurrection at some point in the future.
The priest agreed that all of that was possible and that the next time available was going to be first thing in the morning the next day. Imaktis’ remains were moved into a small room there, where they would be safe and treated with respect.
We then sat out front on the cart for a while, taking a short rest. (We’d realized that the agent from C&C that was going to come talk to us had probably had a devil of a time catching up to us, because we were moving around the whole time.)
As we rested, we looked at the magical items we’d removed from Imaktis’ body -- the gauntlets of ogre power, the mantle of spell resistance and the necklace of prayer beads. With him not returning to us, we redistributed them. Mo put on the gauntlets, Joybell put on the necklace and tucked it under her tabard to keep it safe, and Orryk put the mantle on. He then gave the wand of web to Mo, because he had as much magic as he could handle.
About an hour later, a nicely dressed human came walking up the street.
Illya: My name is Illya. I’m from C&C. You wanted to negotiate for the purchase of a building so you can destroy it?
Orryk: Yes. We want to destroy the building. No. We’re going to destroy it. But we don’t want to get into a problem with you. You’ll send assassins after us. We’ll kill them. It won’t be good.
Joybell: We really just want the structure. We don’t want the land. You could rebuild right away. We wouldn’t care.
Orryk: We’re going to send a message.
Illya: You want to be indemnified for the damage.
Joybell: Yes!! Exactly!
Illya: For two thousand gold pieces, we can give you two days to do whatever you want with the building.
Joybell, to the others: That sounds like a bargain.
Illya: For another five hundred gold pieces, we will give you the name of the person who has rented it from us.
Joybell: We won’t need two days. Could we pay one thousand gold pieces for one day?
Illya: The two thousand is the cost to rebuild it, primarily. We cannot go lower than that. We will also need to know half a day before you start so we can have people on scene to protect the surrounding structures.
Orryk created a small flame then snuffed it out then said, “We won’t let the fire spread.”
We accepted the terms offered and Illya handed us a contract -- written in very straightforward terms so that we knew exactly what we were contracting to pay and what they were contracting to grant us. We were told to take the contract and the money to the C&C headquarters half a day before we wished to destroy the building.
We decided to just go take care of that now, while Mo grumbled that it felt like we were ticking off boxes rather than going and just tearing the place apart.
We left the horses and cart back at the Iron Steed, paying for another night there at the same time, then followed Illya to the C&C headquarters on foot.
In the office we gave her the paperwork and each of us paid our share of the money. As an expression of disgruntlement, Mo paid four hundred of his share in gold pieces and the remaining hundred as one thousand silver pieces, pulled out of the many pockets in his armor by the handsful. A pity it wasn’t 10,000 copper ...
We told her that we were to start destroying the building tomorrow at noon, after Imaktis’ funeral. But we were going to go over and spend some time in it tonight -- searching the place thoroughly. She said that was fine as long as we didn’t do any damage.
After we paid, she stepped out of the room for a bit. When she returned she said that the building had been rented to a dwarf man named Turnik Steeltear. When we asked for an address for him, she said they’d been collecting the rent payments at the House of Masks and mostly from the Masks themselves, not from Steeltear himself.
That was less helpful than Joybell, at least, hoped. But it was also the letter of the agreement.
We headed from there over to the House of Masks to check the place out -- loot if there was any loot to be had, make sure there were no survivors lurking there, re-destroy the teleportation circle. That sort of thing. Before we went in Mo did his Junior Birdman clairvoyance mask again and looked around upstairs -- there were 12 beds in the bunkroom and 12 dead Masks, so that was a good sign. Each of the beds had a longbow and a quiver of arrows next to it (so the near-endless supply of arrows in the bag of holding got replenished). When we went inside, we looked very thoroughly around -- they hadn’t had time to accumulate any treasure so all we found was the bows and arrows. There were, again, no papers or documents of any kind.
All we found were some bags of food supplies -- grains and gruel. Joybel wanted to take them, because we were going to be heading off on the road, but Taman pointed out that he could forage for better food than that. Then she thought of giving it to the Cracked Shield for their journey, but they also can get better food than that. So she left the bags outside the door so anyone could take them, rather than letting food get destroyed with the building.
We went back to the Iron Steed and settled down to activities each according to her or his nature. Mo and Taman commenced to get very drunk. Fiona worked on transcribing the shadowbolt spell we found into her spellbook.
Joybell, to Orryk: Do you want to spar? Because I don’t want to get drunk. I want to fight.
Orryk and Joybell went out to the stableyard and sparred and did exercises and drills.
During and after his drinking, Mo was going to work on something to say at Imaktis’ funeral.
Eventually we made our usual precautions for the night, including the tiny hut, and rested. The night passed without incident.
9 Sicklin 748 (Campaign day 40)
On the way to Imaktis’ funeral, first thing in the morning, we talked about the fact that we didn’t know anything about his family or where he came from. We didn’t know if there was anyone we should tell about his passing or how to go about it.
When we got there, we found Imaktis laid out on a pyre by the Last Doorway priests. We gathered around, along with a few of the orcs from the Cracked Shield there to pay their respects to him.
Joybell looked to Mo to say something.
Mo: I guess he’s home. It’s a shame he’s never going to leave this city.
Taman: We don’t want to leave any part of him here.
At that, Taman asked the priests if they could scatter the ashes that we don’t take (because we won’t get all of them) out on the ocean. That way they’d get dispersed all around and he’d get to lots of places. The priests said they could give them to a ship captain sailing to Mahassar (the sub-continent to the east of Urnod) and ask him to scatter them along the way.
Mo: He was a good friend. Always in the front line of danger.
Joybell: He was a good person. He helped people others wouldn’t. Like he went to the brothels and healed the ladies.
Mo: He went to the brothels?
After that we lit the pyre. Orryk controlled the flames so that they took Imaktis’ shape. Then he cast it again so that the Imaktis-shaped fire burned the color of his spirit guardians. We stayed with him until he was gone to ash.
Joybell: Farewell, Imaktis.
Before we left the priests gave us an urn with 10lbs of his ashes. (Note: GM says that this is enough to cast resurrection.) That went into the bag of holding.
As we left, Orryk said that he wanted to get a magical weapon that did necrotic damage, so he’d be more prepared when we faced the Masks again. We decided to go to the temple of the Purveyors and Wrights to get a recommendation for a magical item dealer, since we didn’t want to wind out dealing what a charlatan or someone who was palming off cursed goods.
At the temple the cleric we’d spoken to back on our first day in Pelsoreen asked how he could help us.
Orryk: I’m looking for a weapon that does specific kinds of damage. Have you heard of the Masks and how many fewer of them there are now?
Cleric, looking impressed: Yes...That was you?
Mo: Boo.
He recommended a shop in Stonetree run by an elf woman named Allona. She doesn’t have shelves stocked with items on display -- she listens to what her clients need and offers them a curated selection that really will suit them. She’s been in business in the same location for a few hundred years.
Mo: You know most of the movers and shakers in the town, I expect. We’re looking for a dwarf named Turnik Steeltear.
Cleric, after thinking for a bit: No. I’ve never heard of a dwarf with a name like that.
When he put it that way, Mo agreed that Steeltear is a weird name for a dwarf. Most dwarf clan names are a little more positive and sturdy -- Steelarm rather than Steeltear.
The cleric speculated that perhaps it was a duergar name -- but all the drow and duergar cities were destroyed in the Fiend Wars and for all intents and purposes the drow and duergar cultures were eliminated. There may be some scattered individuals, but no communities remain.
We left with that thought in our heads and headed off to Stonetree. On the way to Allona’s we stopped in at the alchemist Burnaka’s place to see how he was getting on with the gorgon snot. He wasn’t done, but he said he believed that he’d be making something like the oil of prevention of petrification. He will be able sell us the oil at 150gp a bottle when he’s got it made. But if we don’t buy any he can sell it to other people. Mo asked about a discounted rate, since we brought him the gorgon snot, and he said that was the discounted rate.
Somehow, Joybell wasn’t sure we were getting any recompense for bringing him the material to make something he can sell to other people...but whatever. We killed the gorgon anyway.
We went on to Allona’s.
Orryk: I’m looking for something that does necrotic or psychic damage. Do you know the Masks? Do you know how many fewer there are of them?
Joybell: Necrotic and psychic damage! That’s the key!
Allona: What are you looking for? What kind of weapon do you use?
Orryk: Anything simple.
Joybell: He’s amazing with his fists.
Allona then went into her back room and came back with a somewhat tatty looking pair of black leather gloves that looked like they’d seen some serious business. She said that they were created as an emergency backup for a spellcaster, in case something got too close. If you touch someone with them, they can do a spell attack that does necrotic damage. And if it hits, the wearer heals half as much damage as the target takes. She said they cost 750 gold.
Orryk: Sold.
Mo then mentioned getting a weapon that did more damage than a rapier. Now that he has the gloves of ogre strength, he’s no longer a skinny weakling. Well, he’s still skinny, just not a weakling. Orryk pulled one of the Mask’s longswords out of the bag of holding and handed it to him.
Mo: Well, I’ll just use that then.
Taman asked after something that would be a magical ranged weapon, preferably a longbow. He also mentioned the possibility of something that could be thrown for Joybell. Allona returned with a handful of javelins of lightning for Joybell, at 750 gp each. Joybell declined -- we’d spent a lot of money in the last two days and she’s still saving up for plate armor one of these days.
Allona also had a longbow (+1) for Taman for 800 gold.
Taman: Sure.
And with that it was time to tear down the House of Masks. When we got there, Mo cut down the sign in the front of the building. Joybell strapped it to the outside of her backpack. It is at least as large as her torso, but she has it there for now at least.
We started inside the building by physically beating on the support pillars, at least Mo, Orryk and Joybell did, partly to weaken them and partly just for the satisfaction of hitting and breaking them. While that was going on Taman went around splashing oil all over the place and Fiona was calculating the most effective places to start the fire and the most effective supports to bash on. Orryk went up into the attic to break holes in the ceiling so that the fire would have better ventilation.
Then Fiona lit the oil and the building on fire with fire bolts, in the best spots to really get the fire to spread and bring the building down.
When the fire was going well, we all went outside to watch it burn. Orryk patrolled around the building checking for fires spreading to the neighbors and snuffing any stray sparks that he saw. When it looked like the fire inside might be flagging a little he gave it some extra oomph as well.
As the roof collapsed inward, Joybell shouted: "For Imaktis! And the Wold! And the orphans! And everyone else these bastards have hurt!"
By the time the fire had burned itself out and the building was as destroyed as it was going to be, most of the day had passed and evening was settling in, so we returned to the Iron Steed.
With our usual precautions, the night passed without incident.
10 Sicklin 748 (Campaign day 41)
The next day we decided to head out to Rodzun and the Keeper of Secrets on the track beyond. However, the Ovverway causeway was going to be up starting a couple of hours before sundown. We had the whole day to occupy in Pelsoreen.
We decided to check out the Outer Chaos signal the orrery was getting from the headquarters of the Water and Sewer department. As we left the inn, Taman saw only one group following us -- they weren’t bothering to even try to hide from us. Taman waved at them.
At the Water and Sewer building, we went into a reception area.
Receptionist: Can I help you?
Joybell, to Mo: Do you want to handle his?
Mo: We’re adventurers from out of town. You probably don’t get this much…
Receptionist: You might be surprised…
Mo: We think there’s something from the Outer Chaos here. Something dangerous. Maybe that concerns you. We should talk to your boss.
Orryk: Whenever we encounter these things there’s screaming and people dying. You probably should be concerned.
He pulled out the orrery -- it spun for a bit and settled on pointing at a door off the reception area.
Receptionist, puzzled: That’s the old planning office.
Joybell: What’s in there?
Receptionist: Plans?
Joybell: Can we take a look, please?
Receptionist: Sure.
Before she let us into the office, Mo cast clairvoyance, standing there in the office with his junior birdman mask. All he saw inside were a couple of drafting tables or desks and bookshelves with papers, and tied up rolls of papers.
Orryk: How long has the office been unused?
Receptionist: We haven’t had to expand the system in at least eight years. As long as I’ve been here.
Fiona took ten minutes to cast detect magic. While she was doing so, Taman listened at the door for a bit, but heard nothing. Then we just milled about while she was casting. Fortunately the receptionist let us do that.
When the spell was done, the receptionist let us into the planning office. On one of the shelves there was a rolled up sheaf that was vaguely magical. That same sheaf of paper was also what the orrery was pointing to.
There were no monsters and no obvious crazy books or writings. Just that one rolled up sheaf of paper.
Fiona sat down again and began the ritual to cast identify. Once again the rest of us sort of milled about for ten minutes. Joybell looked at other papers and plans just to pass the time.
After ten minutes, Fiona learned that the scroll wasn’t created by a spell or anything. It is simultaneously a plan of a prior arrangement of the water and sewer lines in the city and a map of a part of the outer chaos. (Mapped chaos?) This prior arrangement was from quite a while ago, but not even close to being as long ago as the Severance. This isn’t like the Book of Madness -- it isn’t powerful enough, or closely enough connected to the Chaos, to draw someone in. The only danger is if someone unrolls these plans and reads them.
Joybell: Who do we need to talk to about taking these?
Receptionist: Let me go get my boss.
Joybell: Good idea.
She left and a few minutes later a dwarf showed up and introduced himself as Bjorn.
Joybell: What do you know about this set of plans? They were on the shelf over there.
Bjorn, after looking at the sheaf of papers, still rolled up: They’ve got to be close to one hundred years old.
Mo: Did you notice anything about the pattern or arrangement of these pipes being weird?
Bjorn: There were sections that didn’t make a lot of sense…
Mo: Who designed the system?
Bjorn: The guy who was the head of this department then.
Joybell: What was his name?
Bjorn: He was human. Humans die so quickly you barely have time to remember their names. <looks at Taman>No offense. His name was Turla or something like that.
Joybell: These papers are connected to the Chaos Between Worlds. Will anyone miss them if we take them off your hands?
Bjorn: I’ll sell it to you for 50 gold.
Joybell: Well, we could leave them here. It would be like a trap - someone could read it and become a monster and kill people.
Bjorn: And wouldn’t that weigh on your conscience?
Joybell, pulling out a coin purse: And this is the problem with having me negotiate. Okay.
With the sheaf of papers safely in the Bag of Holding, we went off to Thani-Breel university to get the Book of Madness from Amlorr. While we were there, he also gave us the proper name of N., the Keeper of Secrets -- Nicolana.
We got the horses (still Horse 1, Mr. Ed., and Horse 2, Secretariat) and the cart and headed out across the causeway. We arrived at the other shore around sunset, so we stayed at an inn or caravanserai on the other side.
We made our usual precautions and the night passed without incident.
11 Sicklin 748 (Campaign day 42)
We travelled all day through Ivvereen to Tummeleen. On the way, Joybell tried to find the same little squirrel she’d spoken to on the way out before, but had no luck. Otherwise the day passed in uneventful travel. When we approached Tummeleen, we noticed that Jorlas’ cart had been moved from where we left it. We found it parked in Tummeleen -- where someone was working on cleaning it up and fixing it.
We spent the night at the Sterling Scythe again. The townspeople still looked a little freaked out from the attack of the Skinned One and the Star-Spawn Grues.
Mo performed for our discounted lodging and his supper -- it was far from his best performance ever. He found himself setting down his pipe and doing cheezy “magic” tricks with his fingers.
Oh, well, they can’t all be gems.
After Mo’s incredibly awkward performance, we made our usual precautions for the night and had no problems.
12 Sicklin 748 (Campaign day 43)
We travelled through Orlimunn and Lunn and had a very quiet day. We stayed at the Flying Turtle again, and Joybell spent the evening thinking of Imaktis and missing his company.
Mo’s performance was better this evening -- he made good money in tips and we got our discounted lodging.
The night passed without incident.
13 Sicklin 748 (Campaign day 44)
We got to Rodzun around midday, so we just continued straight on out the eastern side of town on the cart track. As we went we talked about what exactly we wanted to ask Nicolana, the Keeper of Secrets.
We settled on “Who is responsible for the Masks and where do we find that person?” If we can ask follow up questions, we’ll ask about Turnik Steeltear.
Taman reminded us that if the conversation with Nicolana goes south, be careful to break eye contact. Just in case she has the same eye/gaze attack as the agents of her mother, the Tundra Queen. Though, we did realize that just because she’s the Tundra Queen’s daughter, that doesn’t necessarily mean she’s an ally. Because fey political alliances and networks are complicated.
About three or three and a half hours after we left Rodzun, we got to a rise or small hilltop that we’d been able to see a half hour or so earlier. When we’d seen it in the distance it looked like a mostly bare, grassy hilltop with some rocks on it. When we arrived there, however, we saw a small hut.
As we pulled the cart to a stop, Taman called out: "I seek the Keeper of Secrets."
Mo got off the cart and went to knock on the door, but before he got there it opened and a human-looking woman who looked 25 years old or so came out.
Nicolana: You’re not Jorlas.
Mo: He read the book.
Nicolana: He should have known better.
Mo: It can be very convincing.
Nicolana, looking at all of us: You may come into my house. I offer you my hospitality freely.
Taman, who’s done some study of the Fey, understood that there were no conditions to us coming in. She was genuinely welcoming -- and she was letting us read her and see that genuine welcome.
We went in to a nice casual dining room with food laid out on the table. Joybell left Scooby outside to watch the horses. Nicolana made it clear that he was welcome inside, but Joybell, without Taman’s insight into the Fey and having heard stories of people eating and drinking with various Fey in the woods and being lost for weeks or months at a time, declined and said he’d be fine outside.
Nicolana: So. You have a book for me?
Mo: It depends on what you’re going to do with it.
Nicolana: The thing about Erkonin is that it’s where I keep my stuff. I have no interest in bringing in the Outer Chaos to destroy everything.
That was a satisfactory answer to all of us, so we began to negotiate for the name and location of the person behind the Masks -- as we’d discussed on the way. After a few minutes, Nicolana sort of shook her head.
Nicolana: You want to know how to get to where the Masks are forged. The name and location alone would do you no good.
We agreed that she would give us the information in exchange for the Book of Madness and the scrolls from the Department of Water and Sewers.
The directions:
Leave Pelsoreen by Mountainway. Stay on the road around the Green Quilt (the Dunnimar Mountains). After ten sleeps, head into the mountains (this will be south-ish). After you do that, whenever you choose a path, take the road less traveled -- and look for twins.
We’ll know we’re there when we find the twins. And from the twins we’ll find the way to where the Masks are forged.
Joybell knows a little of the northern Dunimar Mountains, that’s where the Wold was, and knows we won’t get as far as the Wold in our ten days of travel from Mountainway.
Once we had that information, Taman said: I don’t suppose anyone has told you who I am.
Nicolana: You have a grudge.
Taman: I don’t believe you’ll tell me anything because I don’t have any more secrets.
Nicolana: Well then. But I’ll tell you the one you seek is not my mother’s servant.
Taman: I know that. But your mother does things that irk me.
Nicolana: Me too. But unlike my mother I play fair.
She stood then and told us that we were invited to stay in her hut for the night and to eat the food that was available, but she had to leave.
Joybell: Before you go, can you give us information about how to get in touch with Jorlas’ wife and children. She’s waiting for him to return, but he’s gone now and never will. They need to know that he’s dead.
Nicolana: That is not a secret to keep. I will make sure they know.
(Note: We ended before Joybell got a chance to pull out the letter that Jorlas was writing to his wife and ask if Nicolana could get it to her. It would probably make Martra happy to know he was thinking of her.)
