DDAL Jasper DMs Call of the Netherdeep

[jasper]

For some strange reason, none of the players were remembering Question's dungeon map did not match theirs. Some kept saying she was lying. It was around 830 before it dawn on them the dungeon shifts. And some did not check their notes even with me telling them to. I nearly had to give team dead the clue to unlock their door.

 

[jasper]

Netherdeep Session 6

Travelling Shoes

Fessuran 24 1000 To Quen’pillar 1

PC Killed 0 Monsters Killed 54 Villains Captured 0 Villains Escaped 4

Start time 6:11 PM End Time 9:52 M

You leveled up, 10 Down time days, 1,000 Gp

I had an average group of five. Poppy Echo Knight 7. Gaisma Life Cleric 1, Dream Druid 6. Tarsim Cordinger Clockwork Sorcerer 6 Order Domain Cleric 1. Jundis Jonstar Cleric 1 Warlock 2 Sorcerer 4. Toz Twilight Cleric 1, Shadow Monk 6.

Your shopping items will be available on Quen’pillar 2 in the afternoon. In the Suncut Bazaar at the Bone Garden. Keeps your hands on your own billfolds.

The group was descending the stairs when two driders spiderman down to fight. The group cut their webs, fireball, fire bolt, toll the mostly dead, and hacked and slashed them with some amazing jumps from Toz. As they get to the bottom an evil wail of a man in agony begins. Entering a chamber, they see.

A beam of light from above illuminates a statue in the middle of the room. The statue, made of pale marble, is shaped like a man on his knees, arms pinioned behind his back, trussed up in chains that cut into his skin. Hooks line the corners of the figure’s mouth, pulling his lips away from his teeth, and smaller barbs encircle his eyes, holding the eyelids open. All the while, hideous noise comes out of the statue’s open mouth—yet still, its expression is one of ecstasy. A double door made of iron is set into the statue’s chest; these surfaces have no handles. Three arms hold the chains.

Tarsim and Jundis approach the man statue. Their ears begin to bleed. Tarsim knows some one from his group has cast a spell on him. Is Jundis the enemy? No. It must be Gaisma! Tarsim casts lightning bolt on her and flees across the chamber. No, the enemy is Toz, a fireball will roast him nicely. Who else is the enemy? While this is happening, Jundis notices in each palm a purple pimple glow evilly. He yells at the group to take them out. The sane members of the group attack the pimples and try to avoid evil Tarsim’s spells. As the pimple is burst, Tarsim regains his sanity. The doors open.

A short rest is taken while the group decides to explore the other two exits or explore the double doors. They choose what is behind the doors. About sixty feet later on a winding path they enter an amber chamber. It is forty-five feet across with forty feet being a deep meteor strike crater. At the bottom is an amber coffin. The group try to slide down to the coffin safely but Poppy and Jundis do it the fast way. Ouch.

Gaisma touches the coffin. The music plays. The special effect dudes go to work. CHANGE BRINGER.

A spectral figure blossoms forth from the amulet. This warrior, who called himself Alyxian in your previous vision, looks up at you with a faint smile and says, “You came… you followed… you can find me.” The crystals around you glow brightly, and your vision goes white. Then you see a company of armored soldiers, Alyxian among them, marching into the Betrayers’ Rise. Their expressions are grim. Though they do not speak, you can tell that none of them expects to come home.

The vision shifts again, and everyone in the company of soldiers is dead except for Alyxian, who continues to fight while surrounded by the corpses of mortals and demons. He is hurled across the battlefield by the claws of a gorilla-like demon. The scene blurs, and he falls to his knees, pleading, before a simple wooden altar that bears the holy symbol of Avandra. At the end of his prayer, he’s lifted to his feet by a tall young woman with light brown skin and flowing black hair.

A foreboding voice cuts through this scene of divine intervention, and Alyxian freezes. “The Change Bringer and a mortal,” the voice intones. “What brings you into my sacred, devouring darkness? Even if you save him, Change Bringer, he will suffer. He will die. He will be forgotten. All that he has worked to save will crumble and be devoured by worms. Why invite further suffering? Let go. Give in. All is futile in the end, so why…”

As the voice trails off, Alyxian turns to face you and falls to his knees in tears. The scenery shifts, and the forsaken warrior is now underwater, amid the ruins of a sunken city. “The Crawling King spoke true,” he mutters. “All was futile. All has been forgotten… and I am lost in darkness. Please, help me set it right.”

The group starts talking with Alyxian (Al). Alyxian was born in the lands of Wildemount under full Ruidus, which cursed him to endure a life of suffering. He decided to spend his life shielding others from pain, since he was already doomed to suffer.

He fought in the Calamity and was called the Apotheon because he beseeched the gods for power three times and three times received it—first on the shores of Wildemount, again in the depths of the Betrayers’ Rise, and once more in a temple of Corellon the Arch Heart in a city of elves and orcs in the jungles of Marquet. These divine gifts transformed him from a mortal being into something more. Alyxian says that the city of elves and orcs was destroyed centuries ago

Alyxian is imprisoned in an underwater place lit by a crimson glow. He grows angry as he explains that mortals are harvesting the source of the glow and leaving him in darkness, and that this act is torture for him.

A sudden headache breaks Gaisma from the trance. A lead sling bullet is embedded in her scalp. It is shaped like a broken heart.

Brin Tobatros, “Wakey, Wakey, my love. Me and your former friends want something from you. Put the necklace in the bag.” Brin tosses a bag down into the crater. The bag has a long heavy cord attached to it. The group looks up out the crater. One the side they slid down is Team Ayo. On the entrance side is Brin, Esily, and in the rear Aloysia.

Gaisma, “I told you Brin the wedding is off…”

Brin, “And I, your former friends, Esily and the nice Aloysia will off you. If you don’t pass over the necklace.”

Dermont winks at Jundis. Brin fires his broken-hearted sling bullets from his Farther Pro Folding Metal Slingshot. Toz faerie fires Team Ayo.

Galsariad, “You pigs.” He casts a reverse Gravity Wave tossing Brin, Esily and Aloysia out of the chamber. Just as the Teams are going to cheer, Aloysia casts Earthquake, which closes the entrance to the chamber but the chamber does not collapse due to it magical nature. It takes a day for the teams to dig themselves out. They recover some magical tablets. They report in to Bazzoxan.

Prolix and Question compare notes. The tablets are teleportation tablets. The location is somewhere Ank’Harel. Prolix offers to introduce the characters to his peers in the Allegiance of Allsight, who can help the characters learn more about the Apotheon. With both tablets the two teams teleport to Ank’Harel. Team Ayo goes off in search of a good inn and to do some soul searching. Question goes off to report to the Friends of the Cobol Soul. The group spend three days picking up information about the city.

The next morning, they will make a decision. An arena match or taking a mission for the Cobol Soul.

(Information dumps will be in the Facebook page.)

End of session 346.

 

[jasper]

Netherdeep Session 7

Auntie Arena

Quen’pillar 1 0700 To Quen’pillar 6 0700

PC Killed 0 Monsters Killed 54 Villains Captured 0 Villains Escaped 5

Start time 6:04 PM End Time 8:34 PM

I had a weak group of four. Gaisma Life Cleric 1, Dream Druid 6. Tarsim Cordinger Clockwork Sorcerer 6 Order Domain Cleric 1. Toz Twilight Cleric 1, Shadow Monk 6.

The group decides to take their chances in the arena and go to the Bowl of Judgement. Being foreigners and newbies they only either qualify for white puppet crew or story crew. Looking at the white robes and white sombreros’ the crew would wear, they choose story crew.

They turn in all weapons and magic. The story crew cannot use their own magic but must use the costumes and nerf weapons of their character. The Story recreates with some random combat the story of the Evil Adventurers Vs Ruler J’mon Sa Ord. The evil adventurers stole Ord’s favorite teddy bear and tried to escape with it. The evil adventurers must push an artificer construct of a unicorn bearing a halfling artificer. Think the puppet crew of some Macy’s walking floats. Tarsim chooses the evil paladin Eric who has four by six-foot paper mache shield. Toz chooses the green sombrero with magical water balloons of the evil mage Presto. Oliver chooses the six-foot balloon club and becomes Bobby. Gaisma chooses the six-foot crossbow and becomes Hanks. (Yes stole the idea but I don’t know where. And it wasn’t until the second check point the players figure it out because I didn’t use the names until this write up.) On the fifth of the month, the next time at the arena all but Tarsim would go one on one with a gladiator and win. (And no more betting on combat in the arena after this.)

During this time, they find they had been turn out of their free lodging and force to meet their new benefactor at Lap of the Gods in Sand-Herald District. The good news is the room cost is covered to the end of Quen’pillar. The bad news. Gaisma’s Auntie Nadiir Lacis. Auntie is wanting to know how come she is dreaming of hunky men. Drow don’t dream. She leaves a crack black bowl with a special magic on it. The other bad news Auntie is not paying for meals. Meals are breakfast 1 GP. Lunch 5 GP. Dinner 10 GP. SPA treatment 3 GP.

(DM Note. I made Toz, Oliver, and Gaisma do homework on some their rivals. Gaisma topped the others by at least two pages each of her aunt and rival. But if a font and background I had difficulty to read. So I painted a Tupperware bowl black and dropped in a shiny stone. In Khan’s Voice “She tasks me. She TASKS ME!” I also gilded a lily. It is a lily if the DM says so Toz. Actually I glued some glitter to a purple rose prop. Hey just check the spell it just has to be a gilded flower. Sticks tongue out at Toz.)

On the third of Quen’pillar their shopping supplies come in. On returning to their nice prepaid lodgings, Gaisma summon fey and her fey guard and blink dog paw patrol mount arrive. She has a letter to Brin Tobatros who is somewhere in the city.

Gaisma has the DM a scroll with red ribbon around it. DM opens the note. Reads the first two sentences and is too surprised to curse.

DM, “Well that blows my side plot with your ex out the water. Shut up people I still reading.” After reading takes off glasses and pounds head against table as Gaisma has logically, in character, with malice and forethought. Not forethought. Eight Thought. NAY Twenty Thought. Ruin very nicely any way to use the ex as a villain.

DM, “Would the fey and blink dog stick around for an answer?”

Gaisma, “Yes.”

Back to the fiction. A few hours later the fey returns with note on back of the letter. “Can write now. Beware of Pig.”. It is in Brin’s hand writing. The next morning while walking through one the meat markets Gaisma notices a pig giving her the evil eye. As she goes to cast Speak with Animals on the pig she is interrupted by the owner.

Zuckerman, “What are you doing with my pigs strange lady? Daughter Edith come here.” After some conversation the owner agrees the strange druid can cast Speak with Animals. After a few questions Gaisma finds out one the pigs escaped while talking with owner but the owner says his count is correct.

The group decided on fifth to take on a mission for the Friends of Cobol Soul, this may lock them in the Knowledge is Power story track. Iwo Zalarre a Monastic Operative asks the group to safely, quietly, and no tossing friends into blenders a gentle named Laurin Ophidas who MAY again MAY be a member of Zehir the Cloaked Serpent one of the Betrayer Gods. They follow Laurin to the apartments of the Scroll’s Alcove. (Map is way too small for an apartment complex.) Being around lunch hour the complex is mostly quiet. Well except for a door with three bolts being kicked open and someone’s face being violently inserted into the dry wall. A few questions later Laurin confesses to having stolen a Staff of the Adder from his boss and fleeing here. He is a member of the Cerberus Assembly and is unable to find any members. The group turns him and his staff over to the Hands of Ord. (And the dm updates his laws for the area.)

Achievement unlocked. No Kills.

End of Session 348

 

[jasper]

tozs home work.
My name is Toz and I grew up on a farm where Savalirwood borders the Ivory Lake. I was brought up being taught how to use Sarenrae’s gift to heal others. My pa, Terry was the strength of the family but my ma, Tera was its backbone.
Pa never raised a hand to discipline my brother Taz or I. He had a commanding presence about him that made us want to behave. Pa taught us how to fish, to clean and fillet them, and how to properly cook them. We fished on the lake every Miresen and brought our catch back to cook for ma; we were taught that was her day to rest. She did so much for our family, I didn't realize it then.
Though he didn't punish us with pain, he disciplined Taz and I through manual labor. We chopped down trees, gathered herbs, and helped ma tend her garden. Goats were milked, sheep sheared, and chicken eggs were gathered. The pain he caused us from labor only made us stronger. Though he loved to thump us on the back of the head when we weren't paying attention. This taught us to be more mindful out our surroundings.
It was a humble farm. Ma was extremely gifted with Sarenrae’s light. Workers from nearby farms and mines would bring us gifts from their craft knowing that they could count on her to provide aid. She used to say that it was "outside of the dark and into the light, that we find our strength."
I remember once, my brother and I were working and his shears were kicked out of his hands by a sheep. One of the blades lodged in his thigh. I ran crying to ma that a sheep had killed him. She calmly took my hand and led me back to the stables back to the cries of my wounded brother. The light that emanated from her was like noon on a cloudless day. A light that I have never witnessed since. One that I could only wish to achieve myself.
My brother lived but that was the final loving act our ma preformed. At dusk, from out of the lake nearby, a dark mass appeared. My parents fought the creature, an aboleth, but were killed right in front of my brother and me. We escaped and never returned for fear that we would be killed as well. I still haven't gone back.

 

[jasper]

Sir Oliver home work
Family fued.
Over 100 years ago a sorcerer tricked my great grandfather into buying some pigs. Pigs that were in fact not pigs but polymorphed rats. Deeply insulted by this my great grandfather went on a drunked rampage to find and murder the sorcerer. Stumbled into a group of werebears and punched one of them in the mouth. His hand scraped their tooth and when he woke up he had lycanthropy. Then continued to seek out the sorcerer but not find him. After this he got married and had children. Before he died him and my grandfather were out visiting different cities for military service only for him to find the old sorcerer that tricked him. He was apart of the Cerberus assembly.

 

[jasper]

Gaisma home work.
Gaisma jumped around her aunt’s worktable, “Auntie Nadiira! Auntie Nadiira! You have to come quickly! I have found something in the yard and I just know it is a fragment!”

Drawing a sharp intake of breath, Aunt Nadiira snapped at her, “Gaisma, I have told you repeatedly not to interrupt me while I am working. You are lucky this one does not require much focus. I do not have time to play a game of hunt the Luxon fragments with you.”

“But this is not a game, I swear it really is one this time!” Gaisma pulled at her aunt’s sleeve trying to get her to follow.

Aunt Nadiira shook off her tiny hand, “I have to start the spell that you just interrupted again, I cannot just stop and go look at every shiny thing you find. Your parents cannot get here soon enough. You have been a handful this time.”

Heartbroken that her favorite person in the world would not even come look at what she found, Gaisma headed back outside and found a small shovel near her aunt’s garden. Auntie Nadiira may not want to help, but Gaisma was a big girl now and could do it herself!

It took her what felt like hours to dig the shiny stone out of the ground, but as she freed it from its resting place, Gaisma found that her aunt was correct. This stone definitely was not a piece of the fragment, but one day her eye for shining items would lead her to be successful on her hunt. Until then, she would just have to settle with washing off this beautiful crystalline rock and sharing it with Auntie Nadiira.

Gaisma carried the dripping wet stone carefully in front of her stomach. Her arms were tiring by the time she made it through the house and back to her aunt’s workshop. Not wanting to get yelled at again, she stopped short of the door and peeked her head around the door frame and made sure her aunt was not busy with a spell. She spotted Aunt Nadiira standing over her spellbook in the far corner from her desk. Feeling confident she was not interrupting again, Gaisma headed in.

“You were right, Aunt Nadiira, it is not a fragment, but it is a really pretty rock.” Gaisma hoisted the large stone up onto her aunt’s worktable, and then it rolled. Not tall enough to stop it from happening, all Gaisma could do was stand there and watch as the water that was on the rock blurred the ink on the spell page that was laying on the table and as it continued it bumped into two of the large bowls before coming to a rest. Crack!

Gaisma turned wide eyed to look at her aunt as a mist started to fill the area where the liquids of the two bowls met.

“Gaisma! What have you done?” shouted Aunt Nadiira running across the room grabbing a big swath of cloth as she came. “I should have never allowed your parents to drop you off this week. I had too much work to do, and you have just set me back weeks’ worth of research. “

The edges of her vision started to fade as her aunt frantically tried to clean the mixed components. “I am sorry,” whispered Gaisma as she slipped into unconsciousness.

And her ex home work
Gaisma sat on the fallen tree and watched the rest of the circle of druids dance to the sound of the satyr’s pipes. Pixies flitted around the campfire casting fly on the littlest of the members of the families. The kids giggled and took off flying after each other over the tree tops. Their parents did not even give pause to their revelry to act concerned. They would be back before long.

Smiling and laughing as he approached, Brin Tobatros stopped in front of her and offered his hand, “Join us, darling.”

She had been with the circle for months now, but she still did not feel comfortable joining in with the nightly revelry with the fey creatures. She had been raised not to trust the creatures from the feywild, and learning to get over that distrust was one of her biggest hurdles within the circle at this point. “Not tonight.”

Brin slid onto the open spot next to her on the tree and brushed her pale white hair behind her ear. “You know when we get married that the fey creatures will be there to give their blessings to the joining. You really need to get to know some of them or we will be poorly blessed.”

Gaisma called out into the darkness, “Hundil!” It only took a second before a dog blinked into existence in front of the couple, “I know and trust Hundil. That counts right?” she asked while running her hands over their blink dog that had been out on patrol for the night. Speaking in broken Sylvan to Hundil, “I hope you have a good patrol tonight. I am sure you will get that displacer beast this time.”

Hundil let out a low growl in response. “Did you have to remind him of the one that got away last night?” sighed the sprite that had been invisible on the dog’s back until now. “Now he’s not going to stop until he tracks that beast down.” Then the pair blinked away.

“I mean, I guess it is a start, but he does not have the widest vocabulary for blessing the marriage. I do not think his rider likes you summoning him while he is supposed to be on patrol.”

Chuckling at the thought of their blink dog trying to give a speech, Gaisma stood up. “So which one is the shyest of them? Maybe I could get to know a quieter one.”

Brin introduced her to Zheza, the oldest of the satyrs. “Greetings, Elder Zheza. I would like to introduce you to my future life partner, Gaisma Lacis.”

Gaisma smiled shyly and sat next to the elder, “A pleasure to meet you.”

Gaisma crawled into their shared tent in the wee hours of the night. Sleepily from his bedroll, “How was talking to Elder Zheza?”

“She was amazing. I could have talked for hours more, but she was losing energy and had to go rest.”

“That is good to hear,” he mumbled rolling back over.

“Hey, Brin?” “Yes, darling?” “I am ready to officially join the circle.”

 

[jasper]

And her letter which toss my evil plans into the trash can.
My dear Brin,

After seeing you standing there in the Betrayer’s Rise filled with anger and hatred, I knew it was time to reach out and apologize. I am very sorry for the way things ended between us. I was truly happy during my time in the woods. Even now, I am in love with you. Each night I spend not watching over your sleeping form, is a long reminder of everything I ran away from. As our marriage was getting closer and closer, I was in constant conversation with Elder Zheza and she supported the joining of our two lives. I had even secured the favor of a few others that I was going to surprise you with on our wedding day as they blessed our joining. I was looking forward to spending the rest of our long lives together.

I ran away because I have been raised to hate and distrust those from the Dwendalian Empire. The bird that delivered that the message that summoned the circle back to your home was my aunt that I hadn’t heard from in over 200 years. After an accident when I was real young, I have been mentally bonded to her. She warned me that you guys were from the Empire and that I needed to flee before you guys took me back home and imprisoned me. Confused about the news that you were from the Dwendalian Empire, and scared for my own freedom, I ran. What I didn’t think about is that it was a member of the same family that taught me to distrust the Dwendalian Empire that was warning me. She did not know you or of our relationship. She just knew that she did not like the Empire.

Since I have left the woods, I have landed with a group of adventurers. I have been fighting side by side with members of the Empire, and I have learned that not all that come from there are evil. You did not judge me for being from the Kryn Dynasty, but I unfairly judged you when I learned of your own allegiance, and I am sorry for that.

I now find myself in a horrible new place called Ank’Harel. The sun beats down constantly and the lands are arid. As I stare into the darkened skies of the night, I miss you. If you can find it in your heart to forgive me and are willing to give us another chance, please find your way to this strange place and meet me in the River District. It is the only place here that I can pretend to feel like I am back home with you.

You are forever in my heart,

Gaisma


jasper loads the shotgun and grabs the baseball bat.
"I better not see any of you dm eyeing my player!" gives everyone the evil eye.

 

[jasper]

Netherdeep Session 9

Flower Power

Quen’pillar 6 0700 to Quen’pillar 9 0700

PC Killed 0 Monsters Killed 57 Villains Captured 0 Villains Escaped 7

Start time 6:00 PM End Time 9:33 PM

600 GP each. No down time and no level.

I had an average of five. Tarsim Cordinger Cleric 1 Clockwork Sorcerer 6. Gaisma Life Domain Cleric 1 Moon Druid 6. Poppy Echo Knight 7. Toz Twilight Cleric 1 Shadow Monk 6. Sir Oliver Untgat Barbarian 7.

Iwo Zalarre asks the group to met him just after breakfast. Zalarre, “We suspect a local baker in the River District is dealing with illegal magic items. His name is Kruuk. He is next to Sammy’s Sandwich Shop. But we need proof before we turn him over to the Hands of Ord. Do not kill him or destroy his shop. Unlike, Team Ayo did on a mission.”

The group walks to the River District and the humidity climbs into the high forties. The group scopes out Old Man Kruuk’s Bakery. The smell of bake goods and fresh river water washes over the group. The shop is busy with the morning office crowd, In the rear of the building a construction crew is slowly removing a fallen tree. Two workers and two supervisors watch the group. Entering the shop, they met Poppy who is buying “I am sorry” cupcakes for Team Ayo. The group talks and talks and talks while ordering the cheap part of the menu. Oliver and Gaisma smell something. The group leaves.

Gaisma, “Did anyone smell mold and mildew?”

Oliver, “I did. From the baking area.”

A mass of bake goods are tossed into the river. Toz, “My dark chocolate bagel is okay.” The group wander around the district for an hour before settling across the street at Sammy’s. After about four hours Toz leaves to use the outhouse. As he does his business, he sweat suddenly sours. He starts having a nightmare of his parents’ death, but it is not how it actually happen.

Voice, “I killed your parents and will gladly kill you.” Suddenly the sour sweat pours from his body. His smell overwhelms the outhouse. He dashes from the bathroom and dives into the river canal. A dozen or so dead fish float to the surface. The group see Toz flee in terror from something rush out of the sandwich shop. They catch him returning.

George, “Hey idiot. Damn foreigners. You can bath in the local spa and shower. It two blocks down and one to right. Tell them George sends you.” As Toz talks about his daymare, suddenly Tarsim, and Poppy become sick to their stomach. She reaches for her waterskin and finds the water has pond scum on it. All the adventurers waterskin has turned sour. Sammy is griping and closing his shop as his water has turned soured too. Sammy and Team Mayhem accuse each other but before the Hands of Ord gets called Gaisma casts create water into the den mother pot. It starts to scum over but the spell works. Toz decides he needs the spa treatment. After a refreshing treatment, the group returns to scope out the bakery. Oliver helps the construction crew with the fallen tree. Kruuk is well liked but he closes his shop exact at six and one minute after six you are out of luck.

Night falls and the group has a plan. Gaisma morphs into a mouse and enters the bakery. The kitchen would get Kruuk shut down if there was a health department. She makes her way to the back having to drop her wild shape. She opens the back door. The back room is full of cheap illegal goods, and stolen items. A Silence spell is casted to keep the search noises down. Oliver finds a fake crate which flips open to reveal a lockbox. Breaking the lockbox open, Oliver and Poppy are sprayed with poison and a short sword with red veins is discovered. Suddenly a lantern light beams into the room. Kruuk and a gnome are standing in the hallway door. Oliver morphs into werebear form and charges the gnome. Darkness goes up.

Oliver is nearly killed due to Ashann’s psychic powers. Some quick healing and a quick beating later, the gnome is captured by Kruuk has fled. Securing the gnome, they smuggle him to the Temple of the Mentor.

Zalarre congratulates the group. He pays them and lets them keep the loot. The Cobol Soul will turn over the gnome to the Hands of Ord and tell them about the bakery.

The next day Team Ayo contacts poppy about a job they can cover. The Allegiance of Allsight then the Life Dome in the River district has an opening into the undercity. The Life Dome is the water treatment plant for the city. The group gets passes to talk with Carliale the supervisor who gives them a tour. Gaisma does see some sediment floating to the surface as she goes to change into a croc, two invisible stalkers hop out the water and try to kill her. The party puts down the stalker not so quickly. And the sediment floating to the surface was a trap. Carliale thinks it was a false flag clue either from the Vermillion Dream or Sentinels of Memory. (Note DM made a mistake and missed it was a false clue.)

The group does a quick shopping trip. And are hearing rumors of the pawn shop being destroyed by a huge red elephant. The next morning, they are approached by an elegant, dressed man.

Jersey, “You don’t mind I if join you. I thought not. It has come to my attention that your team help destroy of the favorite tourist spots and well know pawn shop. Well accidents do happen, but the woman of the shop would like a gift to show that you are sorry about you destroying the business. You are sorry. She wants a golden lily for the palace gardens. It is in the center fountain. I suggest you guys go in after dark as too many visitors, gardeners, and guards are present during the day.” He straights Oliver’s bear cape and leaves. Oliver finds a silk veil tucked underneath his collar.

The group checks out the gardens and the center fountain does have some floating water lilies and a golden lily at the top of the fountain. Various plans are thought of driving the DM up the wall. Finally, a great plan is created. It involves Invisibility, Pass without a Trace, Darkness, and the shadow monk. The job is pulled off within two minutes with only one alarm being given. The group walks towards the Suncut Bazaar. Thinking it maybe a trap, they get Oliver’s quasit to deliver the flower.

Jersey is smoking a cigar waiting at a small table in the ruins of the Bone Garden pawn shop. The flower drops onto the table. “WHAT. IS. THIS. The idiots. They stole the actual gold lily. I Told them.” He is interrupted by Team Ayo who presents them with a golden water lily from the fountain. “Ayo it seems some of your friends got the wrong idea. Please return this to the garden before the dragon finds out.”

Most of Team face palms

Note. The casino heist is next week. If someone wants to draw a three-floor casino floor plan with a vault in the center of the third floor feel free. I will only give you mission titles and very little information before hand because your pcs will not have advance notice of actual missions. The players have agreed to run some of Team Ayo to round out the group if we have more than one missing player.

End of Session 350.

 

[jasper]

missing session 8
Netherdeep Session 8
Poppy Pops
Quen’pillar 1 0700 To Quen’pillar 6 0700
PC Killed 0 Monsters Killed 55 Villains Captured 0 Villains Escaped 7
Start time 6:04 PM End Time 7:22 PM
I had a strong group of six. Poppy Echo Knight 7. Tonight, Gaisma will be playing the parts of Ayo Jabe Water Genasi Ranger Tier 2 and Dermot Wurder Goblin Cleric Tier2. The DM will be playing the parts of Irvan Wastewalker Human Tier 2. Galsariad Ardyth Drow wizard tier 2. Maggie Keeneyes Ogre.
Being concern about her friend Ayo, Poppy splits the party to do a health and welfare check on Team Ayo. Ayo and company have taken up with Prolix and the Allegiance of Allsight. (Note DM is still confusing npcs with factions. Prolix Allegiance of Allsight. Question Library of Cobol Soul. Aloysia Consortium of the Vermilion Dream. Please help me keep these straight.)
After an hour over breakfast where Poppy does cheer Ayo out her depression and rage of being a failed leader, Prolix asks them to do a pick up and return. A marble statue which maybe magical is in the hands of Bone Garden Pawn shop in Suncut Bazaar. The code word is “Do you know the muffin man.” Once they have the item, they need to return to the Gatekeeper Raashid at the Crystal Chateau.
Arriving at the Bone Garden a well know pawn shop of fence goods, they hit a problem. The wife does not speak but uses sign language. Greyhawk the grey parrot does and he has a wicked sense of humor. After feeding Greyhawk a sample of drow beef jerky. The wife summons her man. Rerosha, “Yes I know the Muffin Man. The one who lives on Drew berry lame”. It will be one minute. He pulls a key and spends a minute moving things under the counter. He shoves a small black silk pouch with a lump in it. “You will have to signed that you redeemed your pawn Mr. Shriek.” He shoves the pawn book over,
Ayo opens the pouch. A red elephant falls into her hand. It starts to glow a ruby red and gives an elephant shriek. It grows to full size and crushes Ayo and Poppy. The group attacks with Galsariad casting gravity wave which floats the elephant off the duo. Spells, daggers, mauls, and a floating Poppy go off on the elephant. Within a few seconds the elephant returned to is marble elephant size.
Looking around the shop owners are not to be found. The shop is half destroyed. Irvan, “Ayo the Hand of Ord is coming we have to go.” The group flees.
Returning to Crystal Chateau they have escaped from the cops. They faintly hear from across the street the muffled sound of a door being kicked in and someone being shoved into dry wall.
Ayo, “Not our problem. So Gatekeeper Raashid, why is this red? Why did you try to kill us.”
Prolix, “Come in quick. It glowed red. This is bad. It is affected with Ruidium. It is a red element named after the moon Ruidius. We think it is being mined by the Consortium of the Vermilion Dream. We also know that they are planning to steal from the casino Luck’s Run some time soon. We will pay you for your time.”
You need to choose from the following missions. Steal the Lilly. Mission two from the Cobol Soul. Mission two from the Allegiance. Casino mission. Poppy has open up the Allegiance track. Also, Team Ayo is willing to swap partners. Do you want to run some of the NPCs if people don’t show.
End of Session 349.

 

[jasper]

gaisma version of session 10
After the fiasco at the water plant, we determined that taking a break from the initiation process with the Cobalt Soul would be a good idea. We were becoming known to the other factions fast and the enemy groups were starting to see us as targets that needed to be taken out.
The group was enjoying a morning meal when I overheard a conversation that there was to be a heist at the local casino in a few days. Seeming like a good distraction in this horrible city, we headed to the casino to offer our services.
Bumping and shoving our way through the noisy crowds of the casino, we decided that we wanted to scope out potential entry points and try to listen in at the various tables for further clues. The first floor tables housed lizard racing. The handlers roughly placed 3 racing lizards in their starting bays and the betting began. Not wanting to look out of place and needing a reason to be standing there, I put my money on number 2. Afraid to be seen as cheating, I chose not to encourage the little guy to move faster. Turns out I didn’t need to, he won the race anyways. After a few rounds of resets and winning on number 2 a couple of times, I decided to go big and put all my winnings on my favorite guy. This time I noticed something a little different as the race started, door number 1 opened just a little faster allowing him to get a head start. That glitch allowed him to win and I lost my winnings. The handlers must have seen me looking too closely at the doors because they suddenly scooped up the 3 racing lizards from each of the tables and tossed them together in a large box, and then they redistributed all the lizards to different tables. Watching the table closely now, I didn’t notice anything with the doors again, so I chalked it up to a mistake.
Those poor lizards ran for the full hour that we were watching. Having lost enough money, I decided to become an observer at a few tables. It did not take that long to notice a pattern, the lizards would be taking turns winning most of the time, but when someone at the table went in big, suddenly one of the doors was opening a little slower than the others and the big spender was taking a loss. As soon as that would happen, the handlers would shuffle the lizards and the process would start again. The casino was cheating. Not wanting to jeopardize the heist job, I kept the observation to myself, but I determined I would do something about it when we returned.
Having been completely engrossed with the watching of the tables, I turned to look for the rest of my group. Tarism and Poppy were nearby, but it took us awhile to find Sir Oliver and Toz who looked a little rough while talking to the Halfling owner about the details of the job. We were to stop the heist but to do it discretely so as to not alarm the patrons of the casino as to what was going on. I looked at our group and knew this was going to be fun. We were not exactly known to be a discrete group back home, but we were still strangers in these parts, maybe it would go differently this time.
After a good rest back at the hotel, we returned to the casino. Sir Oliver had noted earlier that the windows were not a potential entry threat as they were just an illusion on the wall. He headed upstairs to protect the main target, the vault. Poppy and Toz headed to the second floor to see if there were any suspicious people roaming the crowds. Tarsim and I were to watch the first floor. I figured that the best way to blend in was to be part of the races as the lizards would travel from table to table and maybe I could hear the planners of the heist talking.
Suddenly there was some confusion at the table I was nearby as a 4th lizard was found in the finishing area. I found myself being aggressively picked up and looked over, before being tossed into the box with several dozen other lizards. It was crowded in there with so many other lizards. Able to talk freely with them now, I asked how long they had to keep running each day. Apparently no one had ever asked them a question like that because I was met with silence from everyone. From somewhere in the box one lizard finally chimed in, “We run until the crowds go home. If we stop running, we disappear and never get seen again.”
I was back out on a racing table, I could hear from the excited voices that lizard 2 had been doing very well at that table and everyone was putting their money on him to keep winning. As the gates opened, I realized that I was number 2 and that my door had opened just a little be faster than the rest. So I took two steps out onto the race and flopped down. I wasn’t going to participate in the cheating.
“We have a dud on table 7,” called out the handler at my table.
I quickly found myself back in another box, but this one smelled differently and I traveled much further then the distance to the next table. The one carrying this box cared very little about my well being as I was being shaken all over in there. The ride ended with me being shoved into a shoot and landing into a pit of lizards. They looked exhausted and some were even hurt, but I was going to get them out of here. The cage was too small for my full sized body as I came out of lizard form and it busted the box wide open. I apologized to the group as I squished a few with my big feet as I stood up. Thinking quickly now, as there were 3 people standing there gawking at me, I pushed open the kitchen door and told the 45 lizards to flee. Screams from the crowds as the lizards scrambled everywhere drowned out my call for the lizards on the tables to run for their lives, so only half of them heard the call out.
The 3 people in the backroom took steps toward me, so I touched the necklace and went invisible pushing my way into the crowds. Seeing the freed lizards being trampled on by the stampeding crowds, I call them to me. Together as one massive pile of lizards swirling around me, I shoved open the office doors and stepped in. The Halfling cowered in fear until a box appeared around myself and my new friends so I ordered them to push out and break free once again, and then I realized that they met no resistance and the box was just an illusion. I saw Tarism approach the office with man in bright red robes. The Vermillion Dream was behind the heist?
Another guard burst through the door and was stunned for a moment at the sight of the swirling lizards. Finding his voice, the guard said “Uh, boss, we have a situation. The guards you hired have managed to empty the entire casino of patrons.”
The Halfling’s eyes darted between the swarm of lizards and the guard and went to move toward the door. I made no attempt to attack him, so he ran out. I walked my swarm of lizards to the main door and told them to run free. I walked toward a back stair well before becoming visible again and I approached the group as though nothing had happened.
After a 3 hour debriefing, the owner finally admitted that he had hired us to annoy the Vermillion Dream who had also been promised gold if they stopped the thieves. The casino had made it through the night without a theft, so we succeeded in the mission and the owner begrudgingly paid us our money. After getting him to agree to stop racing animals, we were shown the front door and told never to come back.
As we walked away, I felt a bit of movement in my pocket. I reached in and pulled a racing lizard from inside, “Now what are you doing in there?”
The voice that had spoken up in the box answered, “You saved us from that place. I shall remain faithful to you forever for that.”
And that’s how Laghairt became my faithful companion.