Episode 3: "Compromises Made"

Session #17: 10/13/2019

7 Ibn'Lagar 2350 of the 5th Age

Recap

 * The session began with the party standing in the ancient ruins of a feywild city, outside the tallest spire in the city.
 * The party, having just slain two werewolves and a doppelganger after tracking Rotten Polly across the plains, are ready for blood.
 * Tentatively, the party advanced into the tower and quickly made their way to the top, with Thokk stripping loose Mithril as they went.
 * Reaching the top of the tower, the party could hear voices from a large room beneath a living wood dome. Vendrin threw Dancing Lights into the room to see what sort of reaction occured and the voices stopped.
 * The party moved into the suddenly silent room and found all the makings of a Hag's lair and a woven wall of wood covered in hack marks and scorches, but no hag.
 * Suddenly, a hold spell was cast on the party and an unfamiliar hag with purple skin and black hair appeared across the room.
 * Most of the party managed to resist the hold spell though, and a brutal fight ensued as two more hags appeared, Rotten Polly among them. Liosynth killed the second unfamiliar hag and Thokk cut Rotten Polly in two.
 * After her sisters were slain, the Night Hag attempted to Plane Shift away but realized the amulet she wore was keeping her in place. She tore it from her neck and disappeared, vowing to see the party again soon.
 * The amulet began to vibrate and Thokk smashed it, fearing an explosion or something much worse. After breaking it, an image of the cliffside portal they had come through appeared before them; then faded away.
 * As the party explored the now cleared tower, Liosynth neared the woven wood wall and it opened for her. The party found a pristine royal court on the other side. And sitting in the center of the court: A throne of glowing stone shaped like a dragon with an amulet sitting on it.
 * As the party entered the court, a vision played out before them. A tall eladrin-esque male begged a beautiful queen to follow out of the fallen city but she refused, saying it was her duty to stay and seal the court. The eladrin cried out as he was dragged from the court, swearing to find her again.
 * Liosynth recognized the figures as Oberon and Titania. Rulers of the Seelie Court.
 * As the party examined the throne room, Vendrin identified the amulet as the Amulet of the Seelie Queen, an artifact of great power and the badge of office for the ruler of the Seelie Court. The throne, he realized. was wreathed in old magic and defied understanding. But he knew that if one could attune to the throne, they could use the amulet.
 * Liosynth attempted to attune to the throne but after a moment was suddenly wracked by white lightning and thrown from the chair. She was nearly killed. (Taking 90 points of damage in one hit.)
 * The party decided to take the amulet but leave the throne, and with their mission to the feywild complete, they made ready to leave They realized though that with the amulet destroyed, the portal had closed. The party decided to travel back to the prime via Sigil, using Zeevah's doorknob.
 * The party went through the magical doorway and found themselves in the Clerks ward in Sigil. Specifically, standing in the Brothel for Slaking Intellectual Lusts.
 * The party briefly considered spending some time in Sigil, but realized they had left their animal companions back on the Prime and so immediately traveled back.
 * As the party walked through the gateway, Zeevah recovered a memory.
 * The party found themselves immediately back on the cliff behind Rotten Polly's house, but they were surrounded.
 * A group of Devils had captured Hermes and Tennebris, but had thrown Violet from the cliff.
 * Vendrin assumed the devils were there for him but it quickly became clear that the devils were there for Zeevah. More specifically they were waiting for Zeevah to give them orders!
 * An imp with one wing asked Zeevah to order the devils to take the mortals and the group realized that the devils couldn't harm them without Zeevah ordering them to.
 * Zeevah ordered the devils to leave, but as they did the imp called back that her father would hear about this.
 * Once they were safe, the party confronted Zeevah, demanding to know what the hell was going on. Zeevah told the party that she is only getting bits and pieces of it in memories, but that it appears that in this alternate timeline, she is an agent for hell and she had been sent to retrieve Vendrin's soul. (Though the imp said "souls")
 * The party returned to Veilhold Castle and quickly retired for the night.
 * Before turning in though, Liosynth went to Kandra and they spoke briefly about Kandra's past with Cor, trying to figure out what Cor could have been talking about in her memory, where he taunted them. As they spoke, Kandra suddenly recovered a memory of speaking to her mother about why she hasn't just told her her father's name. Kandra realized that her mother has lost most of her memories of her father.
 * In the night, Thokk had a dream where Dolos spoke to him and asked how was enjoying being a werewolf.
 * The next day, the party sat down for a meal with Vendrin's family. While most of the group ate, Vendrin went to the cellar to speak with Bagus and confront him about his dubious alignment. Thokk told everyone about his dream and Arthur warned him that the full moon is only two days away.
 * Vendrin found that Bagus seemed to be dying. In his chamber there was a small pile of blood-covered handkerchiefs. Bagus confessed to Vendrin that he was once an agent for the Romalian empire. A fixer of sorts. He served the crown and recognized the symbol on Vendrin's hand. He warned Vendrin that Gideon Ireburn was a heartless man.
 * Vendrin went back up to speak with his family, advising them to reach out to the druid Nedan and request aid with rejuvenating the land on Caldor. With the hag gone, her poison will leave the island and allow things to grow, but a druid would speed this process up considerably.
 * The party said their goodbyes and left to return to the Kingmaker.
 * The party decided to set sail for the city of Eberneth on the isle of Eloria next.
 * That first night at sea, Vendrin asked Tyri to meet with him after her studies and he put the Amulet of the Seelie on her. Suddenly, she was no longer Tyri, but was possessed by the Fey Spirit within her. Vendrin grabbed Zeevah to help him and together they discovered that the spirit inside of Tyri is Titania, Queen of the Seelie Court. She claimed to have no knowledge of how she came to be bound within Tyri and became severely distressed when she realized she should be dead after expending her life to preserve the court.
 * Tyri fell unconscious and Vendrin removed the amulet, asking Zeevah to keep this development quiet for the moment.
 * On the second night at sea, the party locked Thokk in the brig as a precaution in case he turned. And he did. Unfortunately, in werewolf form, Thokk burst out of the cell and rampaged through the hold but luckily, no one was seriously hurt. Though Thokk now sports some new scars from Kandra's silvered sword.
 * Over the next month and a half, the party was constantly at sea. Each of them found a way to spend the time constructively.
 * Liosynth spent a great deal of time training with Tyri and working with her woodcarving. Tyri is getting pretty good with a shortsword and Lio gained proficiency with woodcarvers tools.
 * Thokk spent the month refining his skills as a smith and attempting to forge the mithril into several items. He wasted quite a bit while refining his forging method but managed to forge a mithril greatsword for Liosynth and a mithril arrow for Zeevah.
 * Vendrin spent his time working through all of the books in his room. He is making headway in learning both Infernal and Sylvan, but he is not yet fluent.
 * Zeevah spent a great deal of time practicing her archery, working with Tennebris, and made a friend in the Sarustian crewman, Thran Traigh as well as getting to know Xafiq better.
 * Kandra spent the time training with Hermes, who has now grown to full size, and gambling and getting to know the crew better by gambling with them till they wouldn't gamble with her anymore because she kept taking all their money.
 * Over a month into the journey, the full moon came again. But this time, the party was better prepared. Thokk had taken the time over that month to smith some silver chains that helped keep him from harming his friends.
 * The party arrived in Elberneth on the 6th of Ibn'Lagar.
 * The party settled the payment they owed their crew for the last month and a half, paying out 1000gp. The crew will be rotating shore leave during the party's time in Elberneth. However, Xafiq agreed to stay on the ship for the duration of their stay in the capital, considering his history with the empire and the ongoing war with the Arkinians.
 * The party anchored the Kingmaker off the coast of the island and took the Red Lion into the harbor. The party avoided paying a mooring fee due to Liosynth's status as a noble.
 * As Thokk walked down the gangplank, he was struck in the face by a purple flier. Pulling it from his face, he say that it said "Lycan? Come to Valirain. We can help" with a smiley face drawn on the bottom in glowing Cyan ink, reminiscent of Dolos' hair.
 * Liosynth led the party through the city, giving them a brief tour of the city, pointing out the Temple of the Endless Sky, the Twilight Citadel, and the Ash Reminder. She led them to the gate to the Old Quarter where she was given a cold reception but allowed passage. She then led the party to her childhood home, The SilverRidge Estate.
 * Lio was immediately given a massive bear hug by a Firbolg named Groundskeeper Tohm. Lio introduced the party to him, the guardsmen Daynen and Kirka, and the steward, Simimsk.
 * At the estate, Lio was given a letter from her father that had been waiting at the estate for several weeks.
 * Zeevah brought up that on the way to the house, she had noticed a familiar shop in the Still-Fey Market. Cloud on a Mountaintop's Mystical Emporium.
 * The party headed to Cloud's shop but noticed that there were signs between his and the shop next door which indicated a rivalry. Vendrin and Thokk went into this other store, The Unseelie Redoubt. They found a strange creature with grey skin and massive eyes named Ix'qick who attempted to sell them several strange items, before ultimately settling on purchasing some Gnomengarde Grenades.
 * The party spent some time annoying Cloud but did ultimately end up purchasing several items.
 * Kandra took the time to head next door and see Ix'qick herself and managed to purchase a Crystal Ball.
 * After this the party decided to head to the Twilight Citadel and formally announce their arrival to the city in preparation for the trial.
 * On their way to the citadel, Vendrin felt the sending stone in his pocket (The Ireburn Stone) going off, but ignored it.
 * The party arrived at the Twilight Citadel and once the guards realized who they were, hurried them inside. However, they were stopped by a tall high elf with unnatural beauty and a wood elf with greasy, disgusting features. Lio recognized the greasy one as Volifan the Breaker, lawmaster of the Ashen Hold, and the beautiful elf introduced himself as Orion Alivaur.
 * The party were brought to the imperial court where they were officially announced as the Good Samaritans, settling the name dispute once and for all.
 * They were led into the court and after being greeted, waited while the courtiers were dismissed.
 * The emperor, Leldanel Starbow, had Saria and Taran Lamoth brought in and introduced Dorethau, a vampire ambassador from Zarath who is also one of the names on Kandra's list.
 * What happened next was something none of the party expected. The emperor explained that things with Saria are more complicated than they appear. Unbeknownst to the general public, Zarath is not only an undead nation but one that serves Vecna directly. And because Saria sold her soul to Vecna, she is technically a Zarathi national, because they are a theocracy. This means Elbereth cannot try her under their own laws. And so he needs their aid. They must agree to forgo their official testimony and allow Saria to be taken to the other side of the Dark Shroud to Zarath. They must also agree to never breathe a word of Zarath's ties to Vecna as the populace would never stand for an alliance with an outright evil force and Elbereth cannot handle another war.
 * The emperor offered to give the party anything they desired in exchange for their acquiescence. Liosynth requested that the emperor release her father from his imprisonment in the Ashen Hold. The emperor agreed, on the condition that he be confined to SilverRidge for the time being but that he ultimately leave Elberneth and never return. Kandra and Zeevah were happy to be bribed with gold, on the condition that Taran be allowed to accompany his wife across the Dark Shroud.
 * Thokk requested the emperor's aid in hunting down his brother, Eartaker. The emperor, however, did Thokk one better, when he miraculously produced his older brother Greatforge Thokk!
 * Vendrin, however, was appalled by the notion of allowing such a subversion of justice to occur and refused to be party to it. Liosynth begged Vendrin to reconsider and even cast Command on him, but when she failed he fled. Misty stepping out of the building. The emperor told Lio to speak with "her human."
 * The party then left the citadel and split up. Zeevah and Thokk went drinking with Greatforge, while Lio and Kandra went to retrieve Lio's father from the Ashen Hold.
 * Arriving at the Ash Reminder, Lio saw Loray Sirothian and called out to him but Sirothian pretended not to know them and bumped into them on his way out the door, slipping a card into Lio's hand. This card had the name of an Inn: The Centaurs Tracks. Lio went to the desk where Volifan sat dejectedly and retrieved her father, Savacool Vesparian.
 * At the pub, Greatforge told Zeevah the story of Thokk's childhood name, Chickensmasher and told Thokk that he believes their brother, Eartaker, is in the city and planning something awful.
 * Vendrin wandered the streets of Elberneth for a while before finding a small, out of the way tavern and sitting down for a mug of ale. Then he called up Gideon Ireburn.
 * Ireburn chewed out Vendrin for having taken so long to return his call but Vendrin told him that their relationship was over. He would investigate the Zarathi, but on his own terms. Ireburn laughed at Vendrin but before he could get a response out, Vendrin dropped the Sending Stone into his mug.
 * On his way out of the tavern, Vendrin was stopped by Orion Alivaur who had appeared out of nowhere. He and Vendrin walked and talked for a while as Alivaur tried to persuade him to keep the Zarathi connection to Vecna quiet, pushing the idea that, though it was distasteful, it will save lives.
 * Vendrin noticed that people seemed to be crossing the street to avoid them and Alivaur admitted to Vendrin that he was the commander of the Savit Cel Ru, the Secret Police of Elbereth. A shadowy organization but one that Alivaur claims it "for the greater good."
 * Vendrin and Alivaur parted amicably as Vendrin considered their conversation, and a plan began to formulate in his mind.
 * The party each returned to the SilverRidge estate, one by one.
 * Savacool was welcomed home to the estate with jubilation. Lio and Kandra talked with him for a great deal of time, learning about his old work as an ambassador to the drow kingdom of Nal'Shezzan.
 * Savacool excused himself upstairs to bathe for the first time in a while and Kandra used the crystal ball to check his ankle, where he did indeed have a scar. But she was unable to tell specifically what the scar was from, or what its full shape was.
 * Greatforge and Zeevah brought a nearly unconscious Thokk back to the SilverRidge estate near the same time Vendrin returned. The party made brief amends but didn't speak at length about the day's events, though Savacool did hug Vendrin and thank him for everything he has done for Lio.
 * Savacool retired for the evening as did the party. Both Lio and Vendrin also recovered memories as they laid down to sleep for the evening.

Note
Greatforge is staying at the Twilight Citadel, doing work for the Emperor.

The magic items the party acquired were:
 * Glamerweave
 * 3 Gnomengarde Grenades
 * Helm of Devil Command
 * 2 Bags of Holding