Loose threads The fancy looking goat woman who seemed to disappear when the lights went out; who was she and where did she go? Was she the source of the voice that called out ""That was better than I thought! I"m glad we took a detour to- wait the dungeon!". If not then who's voice was that?
Participants Abraham Dolvameg Uzziel Mordel Carrion Queck Lodster
Locations The Goat Dungeon
Short summary:
The adventurers travel to the Goat Dungeon, finding themselves deposited on a cruise ship. Pretending to be performers they explore the ship and try to learn about what they are supposed to be doing or what story threads there are to follow, as hinted at by some of the guild outside the dungeon. While exploring, they discover a dead body, and talk their way out of being immediately accused of murder. After performing for the cruise goers, another body is discovered after a momentary lights out moment on the cruise ship. The party volunteers to track down the murderer and eventually confronts the monster in the ship's engine room, ending the crisis.
Full Report
After seeing a simple message posted in the Blinking Pug enticing a group of adventures to head towards the Elemental Portal Shrine with the promises of relics, prizes, and challenge a band of unlikely friends in Abraham, Uzziel, Carrion, Queck, and Lodster find themselves all interested and put together as a haphazard group. Unfortunately for this group they are assaulted by a group of angry badgers on what is often a relatively safe road. The party quickly dispatches the three creatures and finds themselves continuing on until the reach a series of tents around the shrine.
The party begins this particular leg of the adventurer by asking the semi-permanent residents where exactly this Goat Dungeon is and are introduced to a lizardfolk woman named Hesk. SHe informs the party that this is no standard dungeon, and honestly has no idea if we will be walking into a frozen tundra or a baking desert. The advice she gives is to simply follow the story that's presented to us as that can be the quickest and easiest way to the end. After a short healing session by the guild scouts the party successfully tracks down the trapdoor to enter the goat dungeon. After climbing down the long ladder exposed by the trapdoor the party finds themselves in a room full of wooden boxes and wet floor boards.
The party quickly begins searching around the room for exits with the use of familiars while others examine the contents of the boxes, finding a variety of supplies for cooking, cleaning, and entertainment. As they are looking around a kobold that appears tobe a well dressed waiter enters and asks them exactly what they are doing "down here". The group convinces the kobold that they are here to perform. Although seemingly a bit concerned about this group the kobold proceeds to lead them through the dungeon. The party then learns that they are currently on a boat, as they go past a deck dedicated to the engine, then the crew deck, and eventually the top deck of what is a magnificent entertainment cruise ship. The kobold tells the group they can enjoy themselves until it's time for their performance of their new hit genre of music called Mushroom Grunge.
The party at this point splits up to explore and learn as much about the ship as they can. Carrion finds himself going to the bar, where he learns about potential leaks on the ship and about someone named Abdu who appears to hold some authority on the ship. Simultaneously, Queck himself searches for some food for his animal companion Northra and tried to learn more about the ship from the chef. While the chef was abrasive and not keen on conversation, he learned the ship was heading toward Ucril. Before leaving he has a brief interaction with a strange humanoid wearing clothing that appeared to conceal their entire face as this creature seemingly ate their food. The creature has an odd manner of thinking and after a brief conversation Queck leaves. Shortly after that Queck and Carrion run into each other they both discuss that Abdu may be someone worth looking for, at which point Abdu makes his presence known by enforcing a no running rule on the main deck. Queck approaches and learns that Abdu is in charge of security on the ship. Carrion and Queck continue trying to discern more details but Abdu attempts to redirect them into simply enjoying the cruise while the staff handle the workings of the ship and heading off.
Lodster himself spends some time to get a view of the water and ends up meeting a Leshy who appears to be protesting the pollution that large cruise ships like The Oberon create. They have a brief conversation where Lodster helps the Leshy with her community outreach plan and some of her slogans and then learns her name as She-Who-Nurtures-The-Natural-World. She quickly gets back to her protesting as she begins calling out "EAT THE RICH" causing a mild disturbance on the relatively relaxing cruise ship.
Meanwhile Abraham walks around looking for some conversation. He meets a woman named Thasi who seems to be quite confused by the novel (to her) concept of slot machines. Abraham proceeds to explain the concept and even offering to find out how much it is worth. After bringing news to this woman of her windfall, she proceeds to hand out her winnings to nearby gamblers and Abraham and recording some sort of information in a small book she carries before heading off. Abraham proceeds to gamble just a bit of gold on a hand of poker run by a catfolk but eventually loses, but not before learning the name of the boat as "The Oberon". Uzziel similarly looks for some sort of group and conversation to learn some information and finds himself entranced by a Wayang performer who uses flames and shadows to put on a bit of a show. He learns the performers name is Laatod, and they have a brief conversation where Laatod convinces Uzziel to attempt to perform and gain some confidence. Uzziel asks Laatod if he has any suggestions for getting around the ship without drawing attention, learning that a disguise or distraction are the easiest ways on this ship. Uzziel sees the rest of the group huddling together and wishes Laatod well before heading off to rejoin his friends.
The adventurers regroup and share the information that was learned, and at this point they decide they need to take the investigation into their own hands. The decide to use the distraction of Abdu dealing with the protesting Leshy to head down a few decks and investigate, but not before they notice storm clouds in the distance getting closer. As they get back down towards the storage room they identify a human woman guard outside the door to the area they want to approach. The group has Uzziel approach the guard and deceive her into thinking Abdu requested her aid and she quickly heads back up. The group enters the storage room to begin their investigation. While cursory searches are not fruitful they do eventually find something odd in a box that was supposed to have food being full with seawater instead, as well as a few odd grey strings floating within. Carrion is able to then find the corpse of a waiter, hidden in the corner of the storage room and completely drenched with water. They see signs of a struggle as if the body was beaten, bleeding on the back of the head, and the corpses lungs are also full of water.
At this point the group is alerted the guards are returning and they all attempt to hide. Carrion messages Uzziel and lets him know that he also found some claw marks in the vents and ask him to try and convince Abdu they are here to help. Uzziel steps out, followed shortly after by Abraham, as they try and convince Abdu they only want to help and they certainly are not the murderers in this case. It's a tough argument considering the group had deceived the guard of this particular room who returned with Abdu, and in a bit of measured rage Abdu sends the group up to a room with a security detail until it is time for their apparently real performance that is upcoming. Abdu forces Abraham and Uzziel to proceed to the room but the others in the party remain hidden and listen in as guards and a doctor return for investigation. It takes about an hour for the investigation to conclude, determing cause of death was approximately a day ago due to drowning. Abdu makes it clear that guards must now remain outside the door at all time to ensure no one gets in or out. Queck, Lodester, and Carrion all eventually make their way out of their rooms both stealthily and not so stealthily, but are reunited with Abraham and Uzziel without additional interrogation as the same tar covered goat humanoid named Bouc appears to always find the group.
The group then plans for their performance on the ship. Lodster, Abrahman, and Uzziel will perform some songs and dance on stage while Queck and Carrion work through the crowd and the rafters to give the show a certain spectacle. While the songs the group performs may not be typical for the nobles in the group, they finish a 3 song performance with great applause and appreciation from the crowd and even some admiration from the guards watching the show. In particular there is a fancy, goat-headed woman at a table filled with Boucs that seems to be important who enjoys the show. Unfortunately at this time a bright flash illuminates the room as a loud boom of thunder crackles out through the room. A feminine voice is heard saying "That was better than I thought! I"m glad we took a detour to- wait the dungeon!".
At this point nobles and crew members begin casting light to illuminate the room, but noticing the goat woman and the Boucs are all gone from their table. A crew member returns and calls out that their has been a murder on the ship and general panic begins to overcome the room. The group, alongside the catfolk running poker games from before, are able to effectively calm down and bring the people to their senses, and it appears this catfolk is actually the cruise director. He gives a nearby kobold directive to let us investigate the murder and he leads the way. While the kobold seems nervous and the group gets suspicious of him, further questioning seems to reveal that this kobold is in no way related to the murder and is simply too nervous to deal with everything that's going on. The group investigates the murder and identifies similar claw marks and a nearby vent which has been both damaged and left open. In one last confirmation the group checks the nervous kobold's claws and determine he truly is innocent.
From here the party tries to determine ways to keep the rest of the passengers safe but can't quite come up with any feasible ideas, made more difficult by the rain and thunder pelting the ship from the outside at this time and all the passengers being trapped inside with few areas left for large gatherings and safety. The group then determines to go meet with Abdu and once again offer their assistance.
Abdu overall seems annoyed with the group, after seemingly already talking to the Cruise Director. He is brusque and pushes the party away at first but they persists and he eventually relents by simply giving them the task of finding the murderer. The party is given acesss to schematics of the ship outlining the structure of the vents. They review the schematics and aren't quite able to discern anything useful, so Lodster takes it into his own hands and begins to climb through the vents. After an hour and some insight from Lodster with his new-found vent experience post-exploration the party is able to determine that the creature is likely in the engine room. The group decides to mostly hide as Uzziel will make himself a target for the creature, at which point they will all ambush it.
As the group settles into the large engine room and sets their plan into motion. After about 20 minutes the creature finally emerges near him, a humanoid amphibian with oversized claws, glassy eyes, and black spittle dripping from it's mouth. The creature is fast and able to use both his claws to damage and his sleep-inducing spittle to keep the party at bay for a time and even briefly knocking out the animal companion Northra as well as Lodster before they are invigorated with healing magic from the group. In a last ditch effort before the creature falls it summons a strange snake, but the party quickly executes the murderous creature and find themselves victorious. Gaurds arrive, including Bouc, and the party explains that this creature, a drowning daemon, was the source of the murders. The party enticed by the prospect of a celebration follow Bouc and find themselves in a strange door that leads to a stone room with a single wooden table in the middle. There are sacks of treasure along with a sign that reads "You win! We'll get you next time!". The party reviews the treasure left for them as a ladder falls down from the ceiling. They all climb the ladder to exit the dungeon and utilize their recallers to return home safely with newfound treasure for all.