Loose threads: Unidentified Demon summoner and gentleman babau (Lone Tricks Mercenary Company?) still at large, sending stone used by the demons to communicate with one another which indicates they are organized
Participants: Ash Sauda Tara Tula Mirarim (note: Archiebald started the quest but dropped out due to personal situations)
Locations: Roanoke, nearby village in mountains
Short summary:
The party went to Roanoke to investigate demon summoning. They found evidence of a succubus being summoned, and found her and a swathe of other demons in a town in the mountains. With the town enthralled and soon to become demon fuel, the succubus Eleonore challenged the party to a fashion contest for her amusement. The party spent a week preparing costumes and whittling down the posse of demons, and managed to emerge victorious in the walk off. Eleonore took mass rejection poorly, and the party put her down for good.
Full Report
Sauda, Tara Tula, Ash, and Mira gathered to investigate intel from guild scouts that a summoning circle had been seen near Roanoke. With evidence suggesting that the circle had been used successfully to bring through a demon, the goal was to find the summoner, find the demon, and deal with both. The party entered Roanoke and met up with Casare, their local guild agent, who advises that demon sightings have mostly stayed in the mountains, but also that a mysterious woman has been gathering attention in the east. Casare leads the party to the circle, where Mira was able to determine that the circle was used to call through a specific individual, and Ash was able to determine that the individual was a succubus.
The party continued to a village in the mountains, finding signs of the succubus along the way. As the party arrives, they encountered a gathered crowd watching a fashion show, starring a beautiful woman named Eleonore. It became immediately apparent that the villagers have been enthralled by the performances over the past few days, showing bizarre fashion choices and uncommonly haughty behaviours. While investigating, Tara Tula ran into a Roru demon in a suit working backstage in the fashion show, and tried to talk her way past it. As the party noticed other demons and a bulette among the enthralled crowd, they realised they were at an impasse, so the party chose to bide their time and stayed at the inn for the night.
The party continued to investigate around town the next day, finding more lesser demons casually wandering around the unnoticing citizens, and eventually drawing the attention of a babau demon with a cowboy hat and a Southern gentleman accent (and his bulette). Sauda managed to bait it into giving the party an introduction to Eleonore, which the party then used to parley with her. Her obvious identity as the succubus was confirmed, as was their goal in town (corrupt everyone for the Abyss). Feeling playful, Eleonore offers a competition for the fate of the town: a fashion show walk off in one week's time.
With Casare's help and understanding, the party began preparing costumes for the contest. It was decided that Mira would be the model, and with research it was found that religious and occult-themed costumes would be best.
On the second day of preparations, Sauda noticed the Roru demon stalking alone into the forest, and found out that it had been leaving dangerous traps by the third day. The party went in the forest to aid some of the villagers who had been having trouble with the traps, and ran into the bulette. Thanks to Sauda's defenses, they were able to wear it down and slay it, protecting the villagers. After the fight, the party found a sending stone of some kind to communicate with the babau, which they destroyed.
On the fourth day, Casare went missing. As the party tried to find her, they encountered the Roru, who tried to kill the party with the aid of some commanded deer. The party were able to invoke his weakness (bad animal handling) and slay him as well, but found no further signs of Casare.
On the fifth day, a guard came to the party claiming to have a lead to Casare. The party followed him, noted his suspicious excuses as he led them into an abandoned building, noted the aura of necromantic energy, and sarcastically pretended to be surprised when he blocked the doors and revealed himself to be an Invidiak demon, trying to take some initiative and kill the party himself. As the party begins to fight him, a charmed Casare joins and starts trying to kill Mira. The party slew the Invidiak with little effort, and managed to nonlethally incapacitate Casare and break the charm on her. They destroyed another sending stone, and determined that Casare had been deliberately kidnapped and charmed.
The party finishes their preparation, and goes into the competition on the seventh day. After three rounds of competition, Mira's flair and some careful calls by the party managed to turn the favour of the crowd. When the demon "judge" attemptes to call Eleonore the victor, the crowd disagreed, triggering Eleonore's rejection weakness and leading her to choose violence. While she was able to charm and drain Sauda in the ensuing fight, it did not stop him from mowing down her minions, and with Ash and Tara's help, Mira was able to splatter Eleonore across the floor with her flickmace.
The party found another sending stone, and listened in on a message of the babau taking his leave. With Eleonore dead, the town was freed from their charm, and the party departed, wondering who had summoned the demons in the first place, and what the babau was up to next.