Episode 5 "Secrets in the Cage"

Session #20: 11/10/2019

 1st of Octoban 2350 of the 5th Age

Recap

 * The session began as Thokk was awoken by his older brother, Greatforge. Together the brothers headed to the roof of the Twilight Citadel in the midst of a massive storm. Thokk witnessed his brother forging a massive magical warhammer, imbuing it with the power of the storm.
 * At the height of the storm, as Greatforge enchanted the hammer with its magic, he was struck by lightning. With Liosynth's help, Thokk carried his brother down to his quarters.
 * In the morning, the party came together for a meal with Savacool in the imperial apartments. They discussed their plans for the day, heading out into the city with a Writ to the Treasury so that they could arm up in preparation for their journey to hell.
 * Simimsk let the party know that a theatre in the Ocean quarter of the city has invited them to see the premiere of "The Trials of Asmodeus" a very famous play written by the Aasimar bard Anodius.
 * The meal was interrupted by Kierka, one of Savacool's personal guardsmen, informing Vendrin that Gristled Shiela had stormed into the entry hall of the Twilight Citadel, demanding to see him.
 * Shiela felt obligated to give him additional information about Kas the Bloodyhanded so he wouldn't think her info was bad. She told him that though Kas was briefly on the material plane, he left, for the Abyss.
 * Before going shopping, the party went to the now-empty Ash Reminder to meet with Oberon. He thanked them for freeing him from a century of being slaved to the former emperor. Oberon told them that he planned to rebuild the Savit Cel Ru and make it what it was supposed to be. He gave them a fair amount of advice on the journey before them, advising them to find a forger who could create them a Letter of Passage that might make their travels in Baator easier. Before they parted, he offered them a pledge, that should they require aid in the future, he would come to help them.
 * The party set out into the city stopping by Cloud's to purchase a handful of new magic items, Dorian's Liquid Gold to pick up potions and poisons, and Blaze's blacksmith to pick up armor and traps. All told, they spent nearly 100,000gp from the Elberen Treasury.
 * They also stopped by the Temple of the Endless Sky where Phiora Moonsparrow gave them two Scrolls of Death Warding, in case Vendrin was cut down in Baator.
 * As their shopping spree came to a close, the party went to the Everfey theatre in the Ocean District and watched the "Trials of Asmodeus" from their private box. The play detailed a version of Asmodeus' origins, claiming that he was once an angel and that he had tricked the gods into bestowing the powers of hell to him, and that though he was brought to trial by the forces of good on three separate occasions, he came out unscathed each time. At intermission, the party was introduced to Ton, the changeling actor playing the lead role.
 * That night, the party returned to the Twilight Citadel to rest. Vendrin began to head to his quarters but Zeevah caught up with him and asked to read the contract burned into his arm. Vendrin called it forth and Zeevah learned that, though there were no apparent loopholes, the contract on his arms is a copy of the actual contract, which is kept in Baator. She also learned and informed him, that the name that replaced Zufason's is Asmodeus.
 * While Zeevah and Vendrin were investigating the contract, Thokk, Kandra, and Liosynth headed to Savacool's quarters. They heard a scuffle on the opposite side of the door and were horrified to find that Cor, the fiendish drow assassin had arrived and planned to take Savacool's life.
 * Lio and Kandra leapt into action to defend their father, backed up by Thokk. Zeevah and Vendrin were alerted via the Earrings of Whisper and rushed to aid them as well.
 * In the end, Liosynth saved Savacool and Kandra struck the final blow against Cor using her Nine-Lives Stealer sword, sucking his soul into the sword and imprisoning him within it for eternity.
 * Savacool thanked them for their aid but worried still that their efforts only delayed his inevitable descent to baator. But Liosynth and Kandra vowed to never let that happen.
 * The next morning, Thokk went to visit his brother before the party left for Sigil and Greatforge gifted Thokk his masterwork. Vihar-Agyar, the Storm's Fang.
 * The party gathered together and using Zeevah's doorknob, headed to the City of Doors.
 * Upon arriving in Sigil, the party found themselves within the now-defunct Bigby's College of the Academic Arts. Vendrin found himself intrigued at the prospect of meeting the titular archmage.
 * The party was briefly confronted by one of the Dabus who began tearing down the college.
 * The party walked out onto the street but found themselves suddenly rushing back within the college, fleeing from the path of the Lady of Pain with a strange man off the street.
 * The man was named Vocar the Disobedient, a one-handed, one-eyed former servant of Vecna. He was surprisingly friendly and told the party the story of Vecna's assault on Sigil millenia ago, when Vecna attempted to use the mythical "Last Word" a spell so powerful, it can kill a god.
 * The party went back onto the street and Zeevah suggested that it might be prudent for them to find a tout, a kind of special guide to Sigil, and no sooner had they begun discussing the prospect of hiring a tout than they were approached by Etain the Quick, the self-proclaimed "Best Tout in Sigil."
 * For 200gp a day, the party hired Etain to help them find their way and connect them with the right people. Etain was the tout who helped Ver the first time he came to Sigil looking for info on Dis  Etain also informed them that shortly after meeting Ver, an info broker named Shatter had been found murdered in the Lower Ward, fairly brutally.
 * Etain took them to a hotspot called the Fortune's Wheel and introduced them to Shemeshka the Marauder, the unofficial leader of the Mutual Trade Association of Sigil and THE person to talk to if they want to get connected in the fiend community. The party inquired as to the location of Moloch, the former archfiend of Malboge who is rumored to reside in Sigil and deal in Hellish intel. Shemeshka confirmed that she could most assuredly help them but that nothing comes free, and if they wanted info, they would have to do something for her.
 * Shemeshka told them that a highly profitable trade route of hers that cuts through the Astral Sea has been constantly waylaid in the past several weeks, she needs some muscle that she knows isn't involved to head out and keep an eye on an important shipment that she has coming in. Their contact would be a dwarf named Norgo.
 * The gate to the Astral Sea, though, is only open for a quarter of the day and the party had 17 hours until they could embark on your quest.
 * First, the party headed to an attraction called the Bear Baiting Pit where Thokk wrestled with a gigantic, undead bear trying to beat the current record time. Kandra bet 2 minutes and 5 seconds while Lio bet 43 minutes. Thokk lasted for exactly 2:05 and won 200gp as a prize.
 * Then Etain led the party to the Brothel for Slaking Intellectual Lusts and they spent the next 6 hours there, each spending no small amount of time with a medusa known as Marissa, the Knower of Secrets. Marissa had an almost omnipotent amount of knowledge and the party learned a great deal from her. Such as:
 * Vendrin learned that Gideon Iredburn cannot use any magic, learned that the only other person The Serpent has ever approached is Vecna, and that there is a prophecy surrounding him and his friends. A prophecy stating that they will attain enough power to slay gods and upend the natural order and that is why so many powerful beings are casting their eyes on them.
 * Thokk learned that to defeat Bugbearspine Dorgad, he would have to best him in single combat but that in doing so, he would earn the ire of the High Chieftan of the Empire of Gramt, he learned that the being posing as Dolos is actually a demon lord by the name of Frazz-Urb'luu and that this demon claims his soul. He also learned that Kas the Bloody-Handed has dethroned Orcus and claimed Thanatos, the 113th layer of the Abyss for himself.
 * Liosynth learned that only Oberon could separate Titania from Tyri's spirit but that she would have to trust him, she learned that Savacool's soul is held in Nessus, Cor killed Elred Eilminor and framed Savacool for murder, Ineera tricked Lio into committing the murder in the alternate timeline, the Arkinians are mounting an assault on Elberneth, and that Asmodeus is Zeevah's father!
 * Kandra learned (from both Marissa and Nenny Nine-Eyes) that her grandmother knows of her existence and views her as a threat, she learned that Asmodeus daughter, Glasya, the ruler of the Malboge, might be a way to get at Asmodeus, she learned that her uncle and namesake, Kander, is famous in the Hells for withstanding the torture and resisting the transformation into lemure, she also learned Harkel prime is still alive, having escaped death by being in an alternate universe when they reset the timeline.
 * The party, overwhelmed at having learned so much, returned to the Fortune's wheel and purchased rooms in the Azure's Iris inn on the top floor.
 * Before retiring to bed, Etain pointed Vendrin toward the Archmage, Bigby, who happened to have taken up residence in the Fortune's Wheel. He and Vendrin shared a brief but friendly conversation where they discussed the corrupting nature of power. In the end though, Bigby pointed out that he has gained massive power, and he wants little more than to read, teach, and live out his life in peace.
 * The next morning, their friendly tout, Etain, guided them to the gateway to the Astral Sea. Hidden beneath a building called the Shattered Temple, a place destroyed by the Lady of Pain after she killed Aoskar, the former God of Portals.
 * The party left Tennebris and Hermes with Etain since it would have been thoroughly unpleasant for them in the Astral Plane, they each picked up a broken brick (the gates gatekey) and leaped through the gate, which is a hole in the ground.
 * The party suddenly found themselves floating in an endless silvery void, shrouded in mists. They discovered that to move in the Astral Sea, they simply had to will it with the power of their minds. They began moving away from the gate, which appeared as a swirling pool of light.
 * The party met up with their contact, Norgo, hiding inside the rotting head of a long-dead corpse. Norgo had a skip ready, loaded with crates, and he was beyond pleased to see the group.
 * They set off and began heading back toward the portal. On the way, they were assailed by a Githyanki raiding party lead by three gith knights leading an adult red dragon. The fight was brutal, the hardest battle the Good Samaritans have had yet. Near the end of the fight, Nogo was killed,  Zeevah had been knocked unconscious as had Thokk who was also invisible and floating off into oblivion, but Liosynth managed to land the killing blow against the dragon. The party worked to revive their friends and was able to find the invisible Thokk by using Detect Magic.
 * As the session ended, the party stood on the skip, among the vomited dragons hoard, the corpse of a red dragon, and the crates bound for Sigil.