Episode 8 "Wolf in Macaw's Clothing"

Session #24: 12/8/2019

 16th of Faluri 2350 of the 5th Age

Recap

 * The session began as the party woke for breakfast in the Twilight Citadel, two weeks after the end of the siege, and gathered to find Kandra strangely absent.
 * Liosynth received her daily message from the Order of the New Moon: A clue as to where her training for the day would be. Today's message: "Meet me nearest to the sky."
 * Lio rushed out the door to find her meeting place, thinking that the clue referred to the rooftop of the Ash Reminder.
 * Savacool arrived to join the Good Samaritans for breakfast and was disappointed to find both of his daughters absent. However, he told the rest of the party that after tense discussions with members of the military, he had decided that the Good Samaritans would have first pick at the dragon's hoard. He thought it only fair that, seeing as they were the ones to actually slay the dragons and the fact that they orchestrated the assault on the Io'Thrayoth, they should have a slice of the treasure. The rest would be given to the families of the soldiers who perished in the battle to end the siege.
 * Before heading to visit the Io'Thrayoth, the party decided to have Vendrin scry on Kandra, to make sure she wasn't in any kind of trouble. Vendrin cast his spell and found that Kandra was stood on a mirrored surface, garbed head to toe in a black robe. They saw that she was impatiently waiting for someone to arrive. Vendrin sent her a message to see that she was alright, she responded that she was busy, but that they should pick her out something nice.
 * Meanwhile, Lio realized that the message actually referred to the roof of the Temple of the Endless Sky, not the Ash Reminder.
 * Just as Kandra finished her conversation with Vendrin, Lio reached the temple's roof.
 * Lio saw that on this day, Akir Atharis, the leader of the Order of the New Moon, was waiting for her, accompanied by a slender figure in a hooded black robe. As Lio approached, Akir began to greet her, only for Kandra to reveal herself too soon, leading to Akir's frustration.
 * Akir has Lio and Kandra spar, probing them and lecturing as they spoke. First, he offhandedly mentioned that they were both the children of the Emperor. Lio was astounded that Akir knew this and demanded to know. How. Akir responded that she had just told him!  Second, as they sparred, Akir jumped into the fight, casually switching between one side and the other. As they fought, he told them how it was on this ledge that Savacool Vesparian's life was ended. Just as they were to be married, Cor T'sarrin attacked Kyorlin and Savacool, ultimately throwing her from the roof of the temple. It was that night that led to the Emperor's soul being the property of Asmodeus.
 * Akir told them that Savacool's leadership through the Siege of Eloria had led to the people of Elbereth referring to him as "Ri Camhnora" or "The Guardian King." He said that when someone goes from being a convicted murderer, rotting in the Ashen Hold, to suddenly becoming the ruler of the Empire, it behooves the head of the Order of the New Moon to know everything about him. Akir is suppressing knowledge of Savacool's predicament but expects that the sisters will eventually do something about it.
 * Meanwhile, the rest of the party hurried to explore the dragon's hoard in the Io'Thrayoth. They ascended the side of the massive city-ship and found a squad of elvish soldiers methodically stripping slain dragonborn of their armor and weapons for salvage. Vendrin had the presence of mind to cast Detect Magic on the pile and discovered a Fernian Ash Focus clutched in the death grip of a blue dragonborn arcanist.
 * Ver appeared on the deck to guide the party down to the hold. As they went he told them that he was organizing a sweep of the lower levels to find a few Arkinian holdouts that have been enacting guerilla-style warfare. He asked the group to only take, at most, one magic item each or 3000gp.
 * As Vendrin, Thokk, and Zeevah began digging through the massive hoard of treasure, Kandra and Lio hurried to join them. The sisters arrived and together the party chose their items.
 * Vendrin found a Figurine of Wonderous Power and 3000gp in jewels.
 * Thokk found a Skold Ingot Rune.
 * Zeevah focused on finding items of monetary value rather than magical items, finding hundreds of platinum and a fine necklace with dozens of jewels.
 * Liosynth found a Vorpal Longsword.
 * Kandra found a Portable Hole with gold and Illusionist Bracers and a Headband of Intellect inside.
 * The party finished digging through the pile of magic items and returned to the elevator.
 * As the elevator began to rise, the party heard footsteps on the top of the lift. A half-dragon cast Time Stop and unloaded a Cone of Cold into the paralyzed elevator.
 * The party quickly regained their senses and slayed the half-dragon, but his massive frame fell to the bottom of the elevator car with enough force to snap the rope holding it up. The elevator began to fall, the party had only moments to save itself; Thokk leapt into action, diving through the open hatch and using his Boots of Spider Climb to attach to the wall and grab hold of the edge of the car, using his massive strength to keep his friends from plummeting to their deaths.
 * Behind Thokk, and Elberen soldier opened the elevator gate to investigate the noise and found Thokk holding up the car. Vendrin and Lio used Dimension Door to leave the elevator, Zeevah Misty Stepped, and Tennebris climbed with his massive claws. Kandra, however, quickly searched the mage and found an interesting ring on his finger. Hermes leapt onto Thokk's back and howled at Kandra to hurry.
 * Thokk lost his grip on the elevator just as Kandra leapt into the air and caught her as the car plummeted half the height of the city-ship to crash at the bottom.
 * The party dusted themselves off and returned to the barge that would take them back to the city. As they traveled, Vendrin identified the magic items they found.
 * At this point in the session, we covered what else the party had gotten up to in their downtime since the end of the siege and in the weeks after visiting the Io'Thrayoth.
 * Vendrin spent this downtime recovering from his death and carousing with the Elberen nobles. He also spent one evening by purchasing a 1000gp bottle of Feywild Whiskey and visited Orion Alivaur's home, they drank and mourned their dead as well as discussing their great loves. Orion told Vendrin stories of the feywild in its prime and how he envied the urgency that accompanied human lifespans.
 * Liosynth spent this time training with the Order of the New Moon and used the Hat of Disguise to covertly learn the gossip among the nobles, attempting to test their reaction to Liosynth and her father's ascent to power. For the most part, the people seem to love Savacool, often referring to him as Ri Camhnora, and viewed the Good Samaritans favorably. As for Lio herself, the nobles talked of rumors she had journeyed to hell on Corellon's behalf, earning her redemption. The nobles also discussed why the Arkinian's assaulted Elberneth, speaking of rumors that the empire has something the dragonkin want.
 * Zeevah spent a good deal of time with Tennebris, learning the ins and outs of his new form. She spent time hunting with Liosynth and bonding with her. She also ran a handful of private errands.
 * Thokk visited the guards barracks and sparred with the guardsmen and spent time with his brothers. He also ensured that he took the time to speak to Savacool on behalf of the Lycans in Valirain, hoping to earn them reprieve in the city. Savacool told him that, though many in the city still feared them and their affliction, their actions in defending the city from attack had earned them goodwill. The emperor was sending relief to their village to help them rebuild.
 * Kandra spent time following Lio to her training and, after meeting Akir Atharis, asked him to a drink. They discussed what he knew about Kandra's uncle and namesake, Kander, over drinks. After talking, Akir and Kandra spent the night together. ;)
 * In addition to their personal business, Rain urged the party to upgrade their weaponry. After the Arkinian fleet traveled to Elberneth, the Elvish fleet is severely depleted. This has led to a surge in piracy. The party spent some gold to renovate their firing decks allowing them to shift cannons from one side to the other and purchased two more cannons.
 * Come the 1st of Faluri, Lio woke in the Twilight Citadel to find Akir Atharis waiting in her chambers. He gave her her first assignment. She and her team are to travel to Tik'Covir and investigate the Sea King Ovishah who had recently come into a massive amount of gold. He wants to know whether Ovishah and his new financier present any danger to the empire.
 * That morning, Kandra woke to find two silver daggers in leather sheaths hanging on her bedpost. She inspected them and found that they were intricately designed with fine scrolling.
 * The party met with Savacool one more time and shared a meal before Kandra and Liosynth said goodbye to their father. The group went to their ship and set sail for Tik'Covir, which happened to be on the way to Dorgad.
 * The party began their journey, back at home upon their sailing fortress. Having come into quite a bit of gold, almost all of the party decided to visit their tattooing crewman, Pym, to get magically enhancing tattoos. These tattoos took a total of two weeks to finish and were excruciatingly painful.
 * The party spent time fooling around the ship for two weeks as Theresh guided them to their destination, finding that having a Merrenoloth sailing the ship for them had many benefits.
 * Two days out from Tik'Covir Theresh alerted the ship to three ships that had appeared and were encircling them. A battle was imminent.
 * The crew of the Kingmaker leaped into action, Vendrin and Liosynth teleported to the rear ships to unleash fire and sleep upon the pirates while Kandra fired Thokk, via catapult, to the lead ship. Zeevah took command of the ballista and began firing upon the lead ship. The rest of the crew was busy on the firing deck, unloading their cannons onto the lead ship, confident that Vendrin and Lio could handle the rear ships with magic.
 * The barrage of cannon fire from the pirates was not ineffective though, the Kingmaker took a major pounding from dozens of cannonballs, Theresh screeched in pain each time his hull was impacted.
 * As Thokk confronted the pirate captain Ironheart, the lead ship wheeled on the Kingmaker and unleashed a column of lightning from its enchanted figurehead.
 * The battle ended as the lead ship was sunk and Lio and Vendrin forced the final ship to surrender.
 * After the battle, the party regrouped on the Kingmaker to assess the damage. Otanyn Fotath, their Triton cook, had lost an arm to a cannonball but that was not the worst of their losses. Irva Moonbrook had been slain by a ballista bolt and Tyri, their young ward, had been killed in the lightning blast from the lead ship.
 * In a fit of rage, Thokk, Rain, and Skord massacred the pirates who had surrendered and set the final ship ablaze. The decision was made to hurry to Tik'Covir and hope that there was a healer there who could raise Tyri and Irva.
 * The party arrived at Tik'Covir two days later. After being escorted by a guardship, the party was led by a large orc named Havilk up the hill to the villa of Sea King Ovishah.
 * As the party entered, they noticed that the villa was undergoing extreme renovations as gold was being inlaid almost everywhere they walked.
 * Ovishah turned out to be a brightly colored Aarokocra, reminiscent of a Macaw. He greeted the party with open arms and ordered his on-staff healer, a halfing cleric of Mannanan named Rabbit, to tend to their fallen.
 * After the party purchased some supplies, Rabbit performed the spells, wrapping Tyri and Irva in seaweed and attempting to bring them back. Tyri returned from death but Irva did not, though whether by choice or circumstance, Rabbit could not say.
 * Otanyn was also healed but his arm couldn't be replaced. Thokk and Vendrin took him down the hill to the merchant stall of a gnomish tinkerer who was selling prosthetics. They purchased him a metal arm which the gnome attached then and there.
 * After returning Tyri and Irva's corpse to the ship along with Otanyn, the party sat down for dinner with Ovishah and focused on the task at hand. Discovering how he had come into so much gold and whether he had any sinister intentions.
 * The party drank and ate with Ovishah for several hours, gently interrogating him and learning as much of his business as they could. He claimed to be an entirely honest merchant, dealing in all manner of legitimate businesses, though he admitted that he didn't crack down if some of his ship captains smuggled on the side, claiming that all the proceeds went to humanitarian efforts.
 * As most of the party talked with Ovishah, Vendrin excused himself to the restroom and then used Invisibility and Benign Transposition to get into Ovishah's office unseen. He realized though, that there was an alarm spell on Ovishahs desk and if he was to open it, he would have to use a Knock spell, which would be LOUD.
 * While Vendrin was away, Ovishah probed Thokk for information on his home kingdom and discussed with him his dislike for an orcish Sea King who holds the ear of High Chieftain Gramt. While they were talking, Thokk realized that Bugbearspine Dorgad, the orc who had taken his island, was the sea king to which Ovishah was referring.
 * Vendrin used the Earring of Whisper to reach out to his companions still at the table with Ovishah to make a loud distraction on his count.
 * Kandra, thinking quickly, used Hermes Size-Changing collar to have him suddenly return to full-size from under the table, causing a massive ruckus. She apologized profusely, claiming that the collar had been acting up and that she would be more than happy to pay for the table. Though Ovishah said he understood and that it would not be necessary.
 * The distraction worked exactly as Vendrin had hoped. His knock spell went off without anyone being alerted to his presence. Digging through the desk he found numerous business reports, a message from someone who oversaw the assault on Sea King Impstinger, and most interestingly, a message from someone confirming that "Those People" would be kept in the dungeons beneath the villa.
 * Vendrin returned to the dining room, and though there was no table, Ovishah and the party continued to share a drink.
 * The party inquired as to what it was that Ovishah was drinking, noticing that his beverage was not being taken from the table, but that a servant was bringing it in just for him. He admitted, embarrassed, that it was a medicinal concoction to help him stop molting feathers. He told the party that it began to happen as an aarokocra got older and he was just fighting the inevitable.
 * Lio decided to push the envelope and attempt to get the friendly Sea King to open up about the more shadowy aspects of his business. After probing for a while and offering to invest in his business, Ovishah admitted that he did have a more morally dubious activity he was involved in. Ovishah claimed that he allowed some of his sailors to engage in the sale of Red Dust, a narcotic with amphetic and hallucinogenic properties which is highly addictive, but swore up and down that he did not profit from it. Instead, the proceeds from the sale of the drug go to disaster relief for islands affected by war and natural disasters.
 * It was at this time that Zeevah realized Ovishah was putting on a show for them. There was an eerie cold look in his eyes that she had only ever seen in the eyes of true monsters. From that moment forward it was like an illusion had dropped, she realized that he was lying through his beak. Every word he said was calculated to manipulate them.
 * Vendrin, upset because Red Dust had been something of an epidemic in Romalia during his childhood, excused himself.
 * As the night wound to a close, Thokk wondered aloud to Ovishah, how he would react to a more friendly Sea King usurping Dorgad. Ovishah told Thokk that should such a thing come to pass, he would be happy to make favorable trade deals and offer guidance, should that person hold to better ethics than Bugbearspine Dorgad.
 * Ovishah told the party that they were welcome to stay as long as they liked and that rooms had been made up for them.
 * The party retired to their chambers to discuss their situation and their next moves. Vendrin did a quick sweep of the room, trying to find any scrying devices, and found a rock in a potted fern that had a scrying spell cast on it. Thokk threw the fern out the window then quickly went to each of their rooms and did away with any potted plants he found.
 * The session ended as the party gathered to discuss their findings and plan for the next day.