Previously: Chapter 38: The Path Emerges
Reunion
When the party wakes in the morning they all go downstairs to get some breakfast. Dandelion takes the vegetarian option, while the rest scoff down the duck sausages with duck eggs that is on the breakfast menu. Penny considers getting a dessert, but Fie talks her out of it. As the food is being brought out, Kal gets a quick glimpse into the kitchen, and spots a cornucopia of what looks like gold plated pots and pans, and a surprisingly clean and well organized kitchen. She also spots a man with green skin and loads of tattoos, but is too absent to think anything about it.
As they kill some time in the morning, waiting for the messenger Elfred was going to send, Dandelion and Penny play Dragon’s Gambit, with Dandelion winning easily. A patron in the inn challenges Penny, and he also beats her, making Penny lose a hefty amount of gold. While she plays, Fie quietly slips away to do some business in the city.
Kal walks over to the counter where Sanira is doing the books for the day, to compliment the food. She thanks her for her feedback, and they talk a bit about Saniras background. She is from way down south in Asimaria, beyond the Eternal Malestrum. She moved to Rexendell for a woman, but she passed. She allows Kal to get a tour of the kitchen, where she is told that they have appliances and tools from all around the plane, to make whatever their guests would request (as long as it has duck in it). In the middle of the tour, a half-orc comes wandering through a door. Throk. He immediately freezes when he sees Kal, and goes over to give her a hug. They do a explanatino to Sanira, before walking into the dining area to meet Kal’s companions. He tells them he was in the army with Kal, and Kal tells them that he is the one who taught her to cook. They agree to catch up over some drinks when they both have the time.
In the meantime, Fie has been scouting around the area around the Cotton Wharf, to try to find hints about where Ranesh’s daughter might be hiding, and he finds that there have been a string of minor arsons around the Long Shade District. For anyone else it just looks like kids being kids, setting things on fire, but Fie knows better. On his way back to the Lucky Duck, he acquires a map of the city, giving him an overview of the most important landmarks and temples.
Waiting
The trio remaining in the Lucky Duck head out after dividing up some of the party fund, as Dandelion can afford another agate, to awaken Ira as well. They leave one of the sending stones in Sanira’s care, and asks her to let them know if a messenger arrives for them.
Heading out looking for some place to buy an agate, Dandelion and Penny have a hard time, and can’t find a shop that might have one. Luckily, Kal is with them, and points out they are standing in front of a place called “The Sparkling Jewellers”. They head inside, and meet the gnome shopkeeper Nelimia Ombrello. She helps Dandelion find what she is looking for, while Kal looks around for any useful items that she might carry. They discover that she is in possession of a Headband of Intellect that will make the wearer more intelligent. Seeing the usefulness of this when doing research, they want to buy it, and they manage to haggle down the price from 750gp to 450gp.
As they exit the store, they get a message from Sanira telling them that there is a gentleman looking for them.
Autopsy
When the trio return, Fie returns at about the same time. The messenger tells them the message from Elfred. “He’s back, come meet me at [insert address here].” before running off, with more messages to deliver. They decide to head there immediately, but first, Fie asks if Dandelion and Penny would be willing to sign their name in his book, so that he can keep in touch with them whenever he needs to. Dandelion signs her name, which is surprisingly pretty written, with Penny giving her signature, barely legible. But they both seem to function properly, as Fie can send a message to both of them through the book.
When they reach the address they were given, it appears to be a shrine to Mova. Being the goddess of death and all. They meet Elfred inside, who reiterates that “he” is back. He leads them into a chamber below ground, where the dead are being prepared for their final rites. A couple of clerics can be seen preparing a body, while Elfred leads them to the back of the room, where a body lies on a slab.
On first examination, it looks like a Infernis, with purple skin and horns, but there is no tail. They deduce that this might be a devil-kin of sorts. They know devils can come back if they die on a different plane than their native one, but not this fast. Fie examines the body, being assisted by the various ways the party can assist. Definitely deceased, eyes burned out completely, probably the cause of death. Pale in color, they thought at first that this was because he was dead, but it seems that he is regularly this pale. He also discovers a piece of parchment in his hand: a ripped part of a spell scroll. He seems to be dressed inconspicuously, no identifying items or labels on the clothes. They ask Elfred what eye color he usually has, and he replies that they are red.
Kal attempts to cast a spell to speak with the deceased, but as she casts it, it has no effect. She knows that there are some reasons for this to fail, one of them being if someone has cast the same spell within the last week. Fie casts detect magic, but other than the room being latently magical, and the coins on the corpse's eyes being magic, the body itself seems to be mundane. Kal attempts to detect Evil and Good, and the corpse is not undead, but a fiend. She also notices that the room is consecrated. Fie tries to identify the body, but it is not under the effect of any spells. They ask Elfred where the body is found, and it seems that it is a random place every time. This body was found in a back alley next to Gnome Depot.
As the clerics in the room prepare the corpse of the devil-kin, Kal observes, asking questions about the process in the hopes of learning herself. They do a prayer to Mova as part of the ritual, with Kal wanting to point out that it probably won’t work as he is a devil, but decides against it. The body is put on a trolley, and Elfred takes the body outside and outside of the city towards the cemetery, followed by the party.
When they walk to the cemetery, Fie remembers that he is looking for a spell scroll of unseen servant, as it might come in handy.
Exhumation
Reaching the cemetery, the rest of the party can see the fresh graves that Elfred has dug for the same man, ten times before. They agree to dig up the bodies, to see if it truly is the same man risen again, or if it is a clone or something. They spend some time digging up the first grave, and find an identical corpse, down to the clothing, of the same purple fiend-kin. In his hand he also carries a piece of a scroll, a different piece than the one they found before. Dandelion wonders if he killed himself, as the stab wound is on his neck, but as it looks to be twisted after the stab, she decides that it was probably someone else.
They spend some time digging up the rest of the corpses, with Penny animating a shovel to help out. They are all of the same man, all of them with a piece of a spell scroll in their hands. When the final corpse has been dug up, a white spectral horse appears out of nowhere, and gallops towards them. Elfred runs away in fear, with Penny standing firm, trying to stop the horse, but it just runs straight through her as if she wasn’t there. It runs into the woods next to the cemetery, and disappears.
Fie tries to put together the pieces of the scroll, and manages to discover what spell it is, but before he can say anything, eight entities suddenly appear. Eight women, with pale skin, and sharp fangs. Penny recognizes them as vampires.
Ambush
The eight vampires immediately spring into action, trying to stop the party. They seem to be saying something in abyssal, but the party doesn’t understand what they are chanting. On their chests, they seem to be branded by a symbol that nobody in the party recognizes. The vampires seem to be quite dangerous when they get their bites in the party, draining them of life force, and even manages to take down Dandelion at one point, but Kal uses the rings of the true companions to keep her standing. Penny turns into a T-Rex, with Dandelion casting Moon Beam, and Kal activating Spiritual Guardians, as Fie circles from above, casting eldritch blast at whomever he can see. One by one they are taken down, as the radiant damage from the moon beam and spiritual guardians seem to be highly effective, but one vampire manages to get away after being thrown into an open grave by Kal. When the last remaining vampire crumbles to dust, they check on Elfred, who seems to be quite taken aback by the ordeal, having soiled his pants. Dandelion asks Argus to take a sweep around the area to see if the vampire who escaped is lurking around, but he finds nothing. They manage to convince Elfred that Argus didn’t really talk and that he is in shock. Penny summons a chair for him, and he sits down.
Rejuvenation
While this happens, Fie walks over to one of the corpses with the tattered spell scroll in hand, wonders for a bit, before casting the spell that was etched on the torn spell scroll: Remove Curse. As Fie casts the spell, all the corpses react, turning into a ball of white light and energy, converging in the middle of the cemetery, and explodes in a bright flash of sunlight. When the light fades, the man stands there, alive and well.
The man introduces himself as Lord Reverence. The party asks him what or who he is, and what has happened to him. He tells them that he has been stuck in an endless cycle of death, being forced for years to be killed over and over again. He was attempting to use a scroll of Remove Curse, but every time he managed to get a hold of it, he was killed yet again, only retaining a small piece of it. He sniffs around, and notices that he is on the material plane, managing to pinpoint about the correct area as well. He doesn’t seem to like it here. They ask him why he was put in an endless cycle of death in a pocket dimension, with him explaining that he pissed off the wrong god: Emos, the evil god of despair and delirium. Seems the vampires that attacked the group were his followers, as it was his symbol that was branded on their chests. His dead bodies have been appearing in random locations all around the planes, and for the moment seemed to be concentrated near Ravenforge.
Realizing that this is a devil, they ask if he knows a devil called Raam, that the group killed earlier. He joyfully responds that he knows the devil, but hasn't spoken to him in quite some time, but points out that he is a very vindictive fellow. They ask if they can put in a good word for them, considering that they saved his life, and considering they did kill Raam and messed up his operation. He promises that he will try to talk to him, but makes it clear that he can’t make any promises. He whistles with his thumb and pointer, causing the white spectral horse to appear. Seems that this is his mount, that he uses to travel between dimensions. He tells the party that he has to depart, as his companions is trapped in a different dimension, and he has been unable to reach them for a few years, so he now has to go and help them. He waves the party goodbye, and disappears in a flash as the horse gallops off into nothing. Elfred is sitting in his chair, even more in shock than before.
They decide to search the bodies of the vampires, at least whatever remains they find. Seems that they all had the same brand of Emos, but other than that they had no possessions on them. Fie however does find an old key with the symbol of Mova on it, which he shows the party before pocketing. Kal wishes she had calm emotions right now as Elfred could surely use it, but they decide to help him home, with Fie using prestidigitation to clean everyone up as best as he can. When they reach Elfreds home, they take him inside and make a big jug of tea to calm his nerves, before sending him to bed, and going back to the Lucky Duck for some well deserved r&r.
Awakenings (again)
When they wake the following afternoon, as they did return to the tavern at about 5 in the morning, Dandelion tells the party that she is going to spend the day awakening Ira, as she finally has the component required. She locks herself in their room, and starts the ritual. The rest of the party heads out to do various errands in the meantime.
Fie heads to the castle to talk to Bertram Honeypot. He is led inside without issue, now having the written declaration of access, and is granted an audience. He asks Bertram about Emos and vampires, but he hasn’t heard of any connections between the two before. The only experience Bertram has with vampires is the one that Ansgar and his companions took down a while back. He asks Fie if the vampires they encountered seemed to be spawns or regular ones. Fie noticed that they all seemed to be of fairly equal strength, and since they lived to tell the tale, then they weren’t full fledged vampires, which means that a more powerful Vampire most likely resides in the area. Would explain the increased population of rats around the Cotton Wharf. He asks if Fie can look into it, before telling Fie what he knows about their weaknesses and strengths: They are resistant to most damage, but are vulnerable to magical weapons and wooden weapons. Most of them don’t cast a reflection, and some, but not all, are weak to sunlight. He recommends that they bring holy water, but that radiant damage might not always be effective. Fully grown vampires lose some powers and weaknesses, but gain others. The most important thing is that they are highly dangerous if encountered in their lairs.
Fie asks Bertram if he knows of any good places to acquire spell scrolls, and is told about the magic shop called Scry Me a River on the waterfront of the Dusk Docks. It’s the only reputable magic shop in town according to Bertram. If there are any particular spells he is looking for, then Thervan Avalast or Ansgar Cain might be able to help him out. They head over to Ansgar’s office, and lo and behold, he does have the spell he was looking for, and allows him to copy it. Ansgar gives Fie a slap on the shoulder, and tells him he hopes it comes in handy for him.
Interrogation
Penny has been walking around town, just perusing, waiting for something to happen or to find something fun. After a while, she spots a cat, shiny white, with pink streaks running through its fur. She can’t resist, and tries to follow it. Through the crowd, and down the street, Penny tries to reach it, before it heads to a side alley and takes a turn, before jumping over a fence, disappearing from Penny. As she turns around, she can see that she has been followed by three people. A blonde, blue eyed elven woman, and two male mooks at her sides. The woman remarks that that was way easier than she expected. The mooks grab Penny, holding her against the wall, before searching her. Finding nothing, they ask her where it is. Penny tells her she doesn’t know what she is talking about. She casts Zone of Truth while she is being pinned to the wall, eventually failing her saving throw, leaving her unable to lie. The lady asks again where it is, with Penny technically being truthful in telling her she doesn’t know. One of the mooks punches Penny hard in the stomach, and Penny tries to retaliate, but the lady counters her spell. They ask where it is, and who took it, but Penny gives them no useful information. She tries to attack one of the mooks with a spell, managing to severely wound him. This causes the woman to slap a collar on her neck, and Penny feels that the magic is being suppressed. Her patron whispers in her ear that she should just tell them what she knows. She doesn’t listen to him. The lady asks who has the key one last time, or at least who was with her when it was taken, but Penny only tells her the names of her companions. One of the mooks holds a dagger to Penny’s throat, and asks if they should just kill her or take her with them, with the lady declining, telling him that it would just lead to the rest of the party coming looking. The mooks beat Penny to a pulp, grievously wounding her, and leaving her unconscious in the alley.
Kal wanders around looking for a golden reliquary to use as a spell component. After wandering around various temples which are unwilling to sell to her, she comes across an antique shop that has one worth 600gp, but it is a reliquary to Nuesis, the god of travel and entertainment. Kal wants a blank one or something dedicated to Udall. She heads outside to the waterfront, sits down on a bench, and does a commune. He tells Kal that he has no reliquaries in Ravenforge or Elvenroth, and that the one for Nuesis will do fine for her purposes. She reluctantly heads back to the antique shop to purchase it.
Rescue
As she exits the antique shop, she can sense a weak whisper from her ring. Something she has felt before when one of the party members goes down. Fie and Dandelion also notice this, with Fie sending a message via his book to both Dandelion and Kal, asking if they felt it. He tries to contact Penny, but gets no response. Dandelion replies that she is busy, and they have to handle it, since she will lose the spell and stone if she stops the casting.
Kal and Fie meet up, with Kal using the crystal ball as a focus to scry on Penny. She can tell that she is lying in an alley, badly beaten, unconscious. Using the clues of the area, she can tell that she is around the trade district. They take Argus with them and head over to the area. They send Argus to the skies to scout for her, but he is unable to find her. They ask a city guard for help, and he mobilizes the local troops to put out a search party, helping Kal and Fie in the search for Penny.
After spending a while looking, Fie eventually stumbles across her in a back alley. He cleans her up, and uses the rings to heal her, waking her up. She immediately checks her belongings. Seems they didn’t find her coin purses as she hid them too well.
When Fie and the city guard lead Penny into the square near where she was found, Fie spots Delphine on the other side. She gives a shooting gesture at him, before disappearing in the crowd. Penny gives a description of her assailants to the city guard, with Fie recognizing the description of the woman as Delphine. He thinks that the two henchmen are either eyes or nerves, but doesn’t say anything. The city guard takes down the information, and seems a bit disturbed by what he hears, but promises to bring it further.
Introductions
Kal and Fie ask Penny if she has learned anything from the ordeal, and she reluctantly admits that she shouldn’t follow random cats, and definitely shouldn’t wander around alone. They head back towards the Lucky Duck for the night, as evening begins to approach.
At the same time, Dandelion finally completes the spell, and Ira awakens at last. He seems to be a bit easily distracted by random things, and seems to be a bit more needy and attached to Dandelion. After telling him about how he should act to survive, they head out to find the rest of the party, but they don’t have to wander far, because as soon as she steps out of the inn, she can see them approaching. Penny looks beaten up, but alive. They head inside the inn to get a drink to wind down. After making sure Penny is fine and finishing their beverages, they head up to their rooms for some privacy. Penny tells Fie that the lady told her a message as she drifted into unconsciousness: “stay away from our business”. Fie tells the group that the lady is dangerous, and that he thinks they want information. Penny tells the group what they asked her about, but that she managed to dodge around the truth, even though she cast Zone of Truth on her.
Fie tells the party about the organization that he was a part of: The Watchers. They deal mostly in state secrets, and that the party is not the goal, but this clearly has something to do with the Key. Vuthul tells Penny that he would be willing to let her be free of him if she gives the key to them. She again tries to ignore him. Fie thinks that the Watchers might be looking to use the Key somehow. But to summarize, The Watchers and Delphine is dangerous, and should not be taken lightly.
Kal, looking thoughtful about the information she has just learned, tells the party that she promised Throk to catch up, and heads downstairs to meet him before it gets too late in the evening.