Mother of Flies - Session 38: Walcourt Raid, Part I

Dramatis Personae

Alfaren “Alfred” Eredel – Elf transmuter

Alizander Carmelizzia - Human (Varisian) sorcerer

Boecca – Half-orc inquisitor of Erastil

Carlos Santiago - Half-orc (Alkenstarian) evoker

Slavé/Jancen – Tiefling (in guise as a human) rogue/assassin

Tavo Dechirent - Human cleric of Pharasma

Oathday, 21 Pharast, to Fireday, 29 Pharast, 4709 A.R.

Armed with the Mother of Flies’ knowledge, the Returners take care of some business before moving on to the Council stronghold of Walcourt. Carlos completes work on his clay golem. Slavé (with assistance from Carlos) heads to Egorian to search for magic items and visit the archives to search for historical evidence on Walcourt. Alfred flies over Walcourt (invisibly, of course) and notes the existence of several guards on the structure’s rooftop, despite its otherwise decrepit and abandoned appearance. Alizander wanders the city, while Boecca spends time with Jezeletrix at the Returners’ safehouse. Tavo, now one of the leading clergy of Pharasma in the city, ministers to the few adherents to her faith in Westcrown, spreading the unusual (some would say heretical) tenets of the Insolare sect.

Tragedy strikes on the 29^th of Pharast, when two of the Returners’ friends and companions suddenly go missing. Rhialto, Carlos’ mentor and surrogate father, disappears with little trace, save a scent that Boecca is able to track east to the river bank. Nagiphax, formerly an active member of the Returners, is abducted in the early evening from behind the bar of the Beer Golem Tavern. Witnesses describe the tavern being thrown into sudden darkness. Several recall an inky black figure caught in fleeting glimpses on the edges of the darkness before the common room was suddenly light again and Nagiphax was gone without a trace.

Starday, 30 Pharast, 4709 A.R.

With Carlos’ clay golem finally complete, the party makes its final preparations to assault Walcourt, hoping that their friends Nagiphax and Rhialto were kidnapped by the Council (and not some other, unknown threat) and that clues to their whereabouts may exist at the Council stronghold.

They take on the Council guildhouse from the rooftop first. Alfred and Carlos swoop in from above, borne aloft by magical flight. Boecca uses his own magic to swiftly whisk himself, Slavé, and Alizander through an extradimensional space and onto the rooftop catwalk. The Council thieves on guard are taken by surprise and summarily dispatched, whereupon the Returners advance through the rooftop door into Walcourt’s second floor. Walcourt’s interior proves much better appointed than its decrepit exterior. The party sneaks through the mazelike conglomeration of rooms in the guildhouse. Slavé discovers reams of documents in what appears to be a commander’s office – lists of guild agents, current jobs, and invaluable information pointing to extensive riots, assassinations, and general mayhem in the Council’s near-future plans.

Soon enough, the Returners stumble upon a group of Council supporters – three dark stalkers pouring over plans and manuscripts in a small bedchamber. A fight breaks out in the confined space. The dark stalkers attempts to shroud the area in darkness are countered by Tavo, wielding the Morrowfall. Slavé scouts down a narrow side passage, certain other Council agents hearing the battle will soon come to the defense of their guildhall. He stops when he comes to a room with an elaborate spear trap. Hearing the sound of footsteps advancing down the hall opposite the trap, Slavé positions himself at the trap’s trigger mechanism and waits for the footsteps to reach him.

Treasure

· From the rooftop Council thieves

o Potions of cure moderate wounds (5) (worth 750 gp total)

o +1 Leather armour (5) (worth 1450 gp total)

o Masterwork rapiers (5) (worth 400 gp total)

o Masterwork hand crossbows (5) (worth 500 gp total)

o Coins and jewelry (1500 gp total)

· From the Rooftop Observatory

o Brass telescope (worth 1500 gp)

Experience Awards

· Council thieves (5) – 4000 xp

· Dark stalker guildsman (1) – 4800 xp

· Total – 8800 xp

· Per PC (6) – 1467 xp

Current XP Total per PC

· Carlos, Slavé – 92,302 xp

· Alfred – 89,747 xp

· Boecca – 89,727 xp

· Tavo – 85,657 xp

· Alizander – 84,317 xp

Fame Points – 21

The Bastards of Erebus - Session 7: Down with the Bastards!

Dramatis Personae

Alizander Carmelizzia - Human (Varisian) sorcerer – works and performs at Cayden’s Blessing
Carlos Santiago - Half-orc (Alkenstarian) wizard – works at Rhialto’s Tonics and Talismans
Nagiphax - Cyclops-kin rogue – works at the Beer Golem Tavern
Slavé – Tiefling (appears human) rogue – detective in dottari employ

Tavo Dechirent - Human cleric of Pharasma – employed as a mortician and coroner
Vaeden Corleone - Human rogue – former nobleman, often seen at Alfred’s Smithy

Oathday, 26 Rova, 4708 A.R. (continued)

Alizander jumps down the hole in pursuit of the escaping rogues. He misjudges the distance of the jump and lands heavily on a pile of crates and furniture that Dravano the Digger used to reach the ceiling and claw his way through the earth. Dazed and prone on the ground, Alizander is just able to register that he is deep within the secret hideout of the Bastards of Erebus, and that there are several more tiefling rogues and thugs nearby.

The battle against the Bastards of Erebus continues, and several more party members climb or jump into the hole leading to the Bastards’ lair. The leader of the Bastards, a cleric of Asmodeus named Palaveen, joins the skirmish from an adjoining chamber. He sends his two controlled wolf skeletons into the fray, hoping to create enough confusion among the party that his rogues can finish them off. Unfortunately for Palaveen, Tavo manages to wrest control of one of the undead wolves and pits it against the other one. Carlos is rendered unconscious early in the battle, but manages to come to his senses and, having exhausted the majority of his spells for the day, resorts to using his exotic, double-barreled wheel-lock pistol. The combatants are surprised and shaken by the weapon, never having experienced or seen such an unusual device before. Carlos uses this to his advantage and fires off several good shots, including one that fires clean through Palaveen’s hip. During the battle, the Bastards recognize that Vaeden is the most tactical-minded of the attackers and set upon him. Vaeden takes down several of the tiefling rogues before finally succumbing to his wounds and falling unconscious. Nagiphax, working tactically with Vaeden, also manages to bring down several Bastards.

Slavé, meanwhile, remains above-ground and rushes over to the tiefling thug that Tavo and Nagiphax left bound in the church. Slavé reveals his tiefling heritage to the thug and tricks him into believing he is a friend of the Bastards who wishes to join their group. He unties the thug, who urges Slavé to follow him through the church and into the Bastards’ underground lair to circle around and enter the battle from behind, hopefully to take the attacking party by surprise. Slavé agrees in order to see if he can learn anything about the Bastards and the hideout. The thug leads Slavé deeper into the lair, pausing in a hallway guarded by four of the Bastards’ hell dogs – fighting dogs that have been fed a steady diet of tiefling blood – and indicates to Slavé that there is a secret door here leading to Palaveen’s chamber. Not wishing to get into a situation that he can’t get himself out of, Slavé bluffs the thug into thinking the heated battle on the other side of the door is about to spill into the hallway, and the two retreat back into the church. Slavé decides the thug is of no more help to him, and fires a crossbow bolt through the poor sod’s neck.

The battle between the rest of the party and the Bastards finally comes to an end with the death of Palaveen, marking a major victory for the Returners against the criminal element that has been allowed to fester within Westcrown. Searching through the Bastards ill-gotten gains, the party finds many of the items that were reported stolen from various tradespeople in the city. In addition, they find a note among Palaveen’s things that suggests a connection between the Bastards of Erebus and another organization thought to have been eradicated over 200 years ago. The note reads:

“Palaveen – While we appreciate the work of your Bastards, the Council never intended this association to be anything more than that. We shouldn’t need to remind you that if your tiring applications continue, we’ll need to solve this problem in a manner less concerned with your continued good health.”

Several party members recall the tales of the legendary Council of Thieves, the most influential criminal organization to have graced the streets and halls of power of Westcrown. Said to have assembled in the late 4200s, the Council of Thieves was an amalgamation of numerous gangs and thieves’ guilds in Westcrown that came to dominate city’s underground element, so much so that at its height in the 4300s the at least half of Westcrown’s noble families were rumoured to hold ties to the Council. Many leaders of the Council of Thieves were said to have become wealthy enough to purchase land and titles for themselves, or blackmail others into bequeathing the same. In the end, the Council became too powerful for its own good, and is believed to have been eradicated in the late 4400s. Could it be that the Council of Thieves still exists, or is the Council alluded to in Palaveen’s letter an upstart organization capitalizing on the Council’s mythical status? The thought weighs heavily on the Returners’ minds.

Treasure

· Studded leather armour (4) – from tiefling rogues – 50 gp

· Light crossbow (4) - from tiefling rogues – 70 gp

· Crossbow bolts (40) - from tiefling rogues – 2 gp

· Short sword (4) – from tiefling rogues – 20 gp

· Thieves’ tools (4) – from tiefling rogues – 60 gp

· Potion of Disguise Self – from Palaveen

· Wand of Cure Light Wounds – from Palaveen

· +1 Breastplate – from Palaveen

· Morningstar +1 – from Palaveen

· 470 gp – from rogues and Palaveen

· Gems (stolen) – returned

· Pearl (stolen) – returned

· Masterwork dagger (stolen) – 151 gp

· Masterwork rapier (stolen) – 160 gp

· Masterwork jeweled short sword (stolen) – 600 gp

· Masterwork light mace (stolen) – 152 gp

Experience Awards

· Tiefling rogues (6) - 1200 xp

· Wolf skeletons (2) - 800 xp

· Palaveen - 800 xp

· Hell dogs (avoidance via bluffing the Bastards) - 440 xp

· Story Award (defeating the Bastards) - 3600 xp

· Story Awards (returning stolen gems) - 1800 xp

· Total - 8640 xp

· Per PC (6) - 1440 xp

· Fame Point (defeating the Bastards) - 1

· Fame Point (returning stolen gems) - 1

· Total Fame Points (Council of Thieves Part 1: The Bastards of Erebus) - 5

Current XP Totals Per PC (after session 7)

· Alizander, Carlos, Slavé, Vaeden – 5255 xp each (advance to level 3)

· Nagiphax – 4735 xp

· Tavo – 4595 xp

· Croso, Orem – 2875 xp