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ghostlenin · 5 years

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West Arlew Session 3 Recap

Session 2 (or, the second part of session 2) ended at the docks with the commotion of the arrival of the Boyar of Gogolgrad’s delegation. In the crowd you noticed a mystery man on top of a warehouse shipping crane, a brewmeister with a familiar apron and a magical aura that prevented people from standing too close to him, the Copper Street Urchins casing the crowd, and Lady Beatrice d’Saudade making a rare public appearance.

Aldora had paid the Urchins for some info. They told you that in the fight with the flying abomination - people are calling it the Red Terror - it seems to have been wounded. For a bit more gold, they told you princess Olesya’s injuries were not just physical, but she also seems to have been poisoned by the Red Terror. For a bit more gold, though not as much as they were asking because Cody snuck up on the orphan child, you learned that the welcome fete is still happening, but in 5 days’ time and - this is the juicy part - at the Cosmos, the up-and-coming luxury hotel and competitor of the Majesty, Daggerpoint’s premier hang for the social elites.

Looking up to identify the mystery man on the crane, he disappeared with a poof after he twirled his cloak around.

The brewmeister of the Pointy Hat invited you back to his bar to talk in a more private location. It’s in Oldtown, number 12 on the map above. The bouncer/doorman made you deposit your weapons in the mouth of a carving of a face on the wall, and you got your hand stamped when you put your stuff in. The bar itself is underground in the cellar space seemingly spanning the entire block. Its low ceilings were arched, and all of it were made of brick and stone. Imagine something like the picture below:

Towards the back of the large room was the bar, and the man from the docks was already behind the bar washing some glasses. He introduced himself as Taryn Kettleman, the brewmeister of the Pointy Hat. He looked like Phoebus from the Hunchback of Notre Dame (above). He praised the party for showing great potential and being brighter than most of the others that join up with the Guardians. It seemed like it took him a bit to remember that he’d sent a messenger out to you while you were on your way back from Swindmore. After some questions and some very large beer orders from Cody - entire liters of tasty brown ale - he offered you a deal. “You take care of something for me, to prove you can handle yourselves, a test of sorts, and I’ll answer as many of your questions as I can. In fact, I’ll open up a whole new world of weird and mystery to you.” All you have to do is deliver a small package to an elderly elf woman named Yrnamar at the Tower Stables in Cliffton, and then bring back the package she’ll give you. You agreed. Balthazar’s detect magic spell pinged at least 5 different schools of magic coming off the small box.

Scoping out the bar, Katriel noticed that there was a wood statue in the corner that looked just like the messenger that came running for you on the road. There were 4 other statues in the corners that looked like other people, but carved out of wood all the same. Kettleman mentioned that, since you’re Guardians and all, there happens to be a bounty for a caravan guard to Cliffton - why not make a little money on the way?

Outside the bar, after retrieving your weapons, Katriel summoned her familiar, an undead skeleton bird that materialized out of a wall. Aldora went looking for more information on the Pointy Hat and Kettleman. What he found out was that the bar’s been around longer than anyone can remember - might as well be forever - but nobody he talked to had actually been in there. Another guy said that they sell Pointy Hat ale at the market, and it’s the best he’d ever had. Orin went looking through the magic item room at the Horse and Pony and finally settled on his reward - gloves of ogre strength. Balthazar went to the magical library in town, the Arcaneum Originem, to see what interesting things he might find on the road to Cliffton and read about a tavern called the Bearded Grell, the fantasy equivalent of a biker bar, famous for its wild mushroom soup. Cody went to sleep.

The next morning, the party visited Ulin Gerswain, the person looking for a caravan guard. The address listed was a three-story building outside Cliffgate (6 on the map at the top) with a large staircase. In the offices at the top, you met a 2 1/2 ft tall hunchback gnome arcane inventor. Like the picture above, but more hunched over. His latest scheme is to make a safe, reliable, and quick transportation option for the 31-mile trek between Daggerpoint and Cliffton called the Magi-lev. It involves erecting 30 ft high poles every half mile. On top of the poles is a device of his own cunning that essentially acts as a spell amplifier, director, and repeater. Once the line is set up, you go to the station (which he owns), and board what is essentially a large cart. The cart's driver is a trained magic user who casts the spells to keep the cart floating and moving. Ulin's done extensive testing and is sure - in theory - that it will work. While he won't share the details of what he calls 'substitutiary locomotion' he was too excited not to mention the great discovery that led to his breakthrough: by using an ancient, long-forgotten magical language he can alter common spells to act in different ways. His understanding of this language isn't that good though - he's only got partial translations of two dusty scrolls - so he has to rely on the power of the leylines.

The job was to protect him and his supplies on the way to Cliffton and to help him and his assistant, a warforged fighter named Tigermoth, install the 65 poles. He said while much of the journey will be made along the actual road, because the Magi-lev has to follow the leylines, some of it will be in the forest. It normally takes about 2 days to walk from Daggerpoint to Cliffton, but Ulin estimated it will take 4-5 days if we can average 15ish poles per day (takes about an hour to walk to the next position, dig the hole for the pole, and then have Ulin enchant and activate it). Ulin also offered you the chance to be part of the maiden voyage of the Magi-lev once you get to Cliffton.

Most of the pole-installing went easily. Many people passing by seemed to know Ulin and wanted to know what was going on - he was happy to give them his sales pitch. The first complication was a pole that needed to go exactly where a roadside shrine to Tymora, goddess of fortune, has been erected. This was touchy business. You got the statue moved very easily, with Cody earning a bit of favor from the goddess, but Katriel could only remember the exact position of 48% of the offerings, and she burned the rest, and immediately felt a sense of foreboding. Aldora offered the prayer to rededicate the shrine and did a fine enough job.

The next issue was that a pole needed to go directly in the middle of the Bearded Grell. Balthazar relayed what he’d read about the place, and Ulin apologized - he knew this was going to be an issue. In fact, he’d been thrown out of this place when he’d asked the owner, Shon. But, he also had a special short pole he could put on top of the Bearded Grell if Shon agreed. The party went in and negotiated with Shon, who looks like Nathan Explosion from Metalocalypse, to the tune of a 800gp/month contract with Ulin in exchange for putting the Magi-lev pole on his roof. The mushroom soup was delicious. That night, Katriel had terrible dreams, but couldn’t remember any of them when she woke up.

The next day, there were a few more complications. First, Malanoor, a Tree Maiden of the Sisters of the Forest, accosted you for desecrating the forest. Orin felt bad and tried to sympathize, but just came off both aggressive and suggestive. She left without incident, but promised she’d let the Sisters know what was going on.

Later, while laying a pole, you smelled fire off deeper into the woods. Katriel’s familiar revealed a cult of pyromaniacs arsoning a village. You went in to stop the fires. Aldora cast fog cloud, Orin shapeshifted into a giant elk, Katriel set the elk’s antlers on fire, and Cody and Balthazar hopped into the fray and went for the cult leader, a quaggoth.

You made short work of the cultists, outright killing most of them, including a decapitation from Cody and a Piccolo-style beam cannon eldritch blast shot right through the chest of another. One guy yielded and two others were put to sleep. Aldora took the one that surrendered to Ulin while the rest helped put out the fires in the village.

The cultist explained that they weren’t from here but were summoned. They just love lighting shit on fire though, and they just happened to arrive at this village, so they did what they do best. He had no idea why they appeared where they did. Aldora suggested to Ulin and Tigermoth that summoning members of a cult that doesn’t even exist on this plane of reality was likely a result of his incomplete knowledge of powerful ancient magic he was using to build the Magi-lev. Tigermoth countered that 1) you can’t prove it was his master’s fault, and 2) dealing with unintended consequences is a major part of life. Besides, Ulin has - or will have - enough gold to hire you or anyone else to take care of those issues, should they arise. Aldora still felt uncomfortable, but you all agreed to keep the bounty contract. Orin however decided to stay behind in the village to help them clean up and start rebuilding, promising to meet back up in Cliffton.

The next day, Ulin needed a pole placed in the middle of a fairy ring. Cody, being a bear, knew this was probably a bad idea. Nevertheless, he and Aldora crossed into the fairy ring. They blinked out of reality for a couple seconds, but then reappeared as if nothing happened. Katriel leaned down to investigate the mushrooms that made up the ring and inexpertly plucked one, which made her blink out of reality for a second as well. Nobody else wanted to cross into the ring, but the pole went up anyway.

While blinked out, Cody, Aldora, and Katriel found themselves in the court of a lord of the fey, a powerful magical creature. He offered them a choice: either amuse him by sacrificing a part of themselves, or let him perform a little magic trick on them. Aldora sacrificed a level 2 spell slot, but Cody and Katriel decided on letting him perform a trick (read: curse). Cody can no longer enter any building without being explicitly invited, and Katriel will forever smell strongly of fish.

The next day, you got closer and closer to the road. The last pole in the forest however presented a problem. When you tried to insert the pole into the hole you and Tigermoth dug, you heard a low and grumbly “ow!” The ground rose up and unfolded - it was a galeb duhr!

He was angry you hit him on the head with a giant pole, but you explained the situation. The Magi-lev would help people! “Well I like helping people,” he grumbled. All he had to do was move. “But I’ve been in my spot for 419 years, I don’t know where I should go,” he grumbled. You told him of the village from yesterday that could probably use some help. “Well I like helping people,” he grumbled. Cody gave him a tiny red pebble. “Thank you, I haven’t eaten in 419 years,” he grumbled, then curled up into a boulder and rolled off toward the forest village.

The only other complication was near the gates of Cliffton. A group of young nobles started harassing you. “What are you doing to my road? You’re ruining it!” Turns out his father, Sir Snively Whipface, had adopted this stretch of the road. This young man, Snidely Whipface, was very indignant, but realized that in a head to head fight, he and his posse would lose badly. Instead, he resorted to insults and threats.

Finally you got to a building outside Cliffton that looked just like Ulin’s offices near Daggerpoint - it’s the end station. He thanks you for your assistance, pays you your 200gp, with a bonus 200 in helping deal with all those complications, and then urges you to return in a few hours to be a part of the maiden voyage on the Magi-lev!

#dnd #west arlew

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