Previously: Chapter 39: Death Loop
Catching Up WIth Old Friends
As the party finishes talking about the watchers, and the rest of the party winds down to go to sleep, Kal heads downstairs to see if Throk is available for a chat. As she reaches the tavern, Sanira is still dealing with the books, and shortly after Throk emerges from the kitchen, hands full of trash. He sees Kal, heads out back to throw it out and returns to her, bringing along a bottle of wine, as they head to a private booth for a chat.
The air is tense as Throk is uncomfortable with the whole situation, feeling awkward about catching up with someone from his past. Kal expresses her gratitude for teaching her how to be a good chef, and they talk a bit about what Kal have been up to. She tells him she spent some time in Jasperset, before heading west, and eventually meeting up with the rest of The Flock. She asks Throk about his faith, after telling him about her own… issues with Udall. He tells her he’s a follower of Yondalla, and Kal mentions that Granny followed the same god. On the subject, she asks if he knows anything about Shehemis, and he knows little more than what they already know, that he is a trickster god who likes to have fun with people, mostly harmless. They spend a few hours talking, before Kal heads to bed, finding Dandelion fast asleep with drool pooling on the floor next to her.
Gathering Intel
The next morning, after having breakfast, they split up to do different errands. Penny wants to spend her money, being fearful that she might lose all of her gold if she ever is cornered like she was last night again, with Kal coming along for the ride. Dandelion wants to research more about the cleric that Udall had 2500+ years ago, but first wants to talk to Honeypot about her curse, while Fie recons a bit more on the location of the daughter of Ranesh..
Penny and Kal head to Scry Me a River, the only reputable magic shop in town, and she wants to find an instrument of the bards, and also a weapon of sorts that might be useful. They are led to a side-chamber, full of various instruments, both magical and non-magical. She is immediately drawn towards a lyre, but it proves too expensive, but Vontara suggests that she can hold it for a while, considering it is basically just collecting dust at the moment, and Penny tells her she will be back when she has the money. She also suggests, if Penny is looking for protection, to talk to Deacon Ember in Elvenroth. Penny takes it into consideration.
In the meantime, Fie is doing more recon in the Cotton Wharf, and finds that there have been another attempted arson, but this time the city was prepared, and the damages were not as severe. There is no sign of the woman among the onlookers however. He spends some time when he is there to examine the concentration of rats, to see if there is any particular area that is more or less affected, but it seems that it is rather evenly distributed. Discouraged, he heads to the magic shop Scry Me a River, just missing Penny and Kal as they leave.
The Castle
Dandelion heads to the castle, and provides her writ of passage, allowing her to enter to talk to Bertram and Thervan. She asks if there is anything that she can do about her curse, and Thervan thinks the description matches the “curse of the dying breath”. Basically, they have taken her last breath from her. When it comes to fixing it, it would either be to return The Crystal Ball to where they took it from, or have someone else steal it to transfer the curse to them. Dandelion doesn’t think either of these solutions are fitting, considering the hags are dead, and she doesn’t want anyone else to be cursed. Another solution would be to find a hag that could remove the curse for her, but that usually comes with a cost. She mentions Wanda in Elvenroth, whom both Thervan and Bertram has had dealings with. She has to consider what to do. She then asks about research and how to go about it, to which both of them mention that the Royal Athenaeum in Elvenroth is the best place to do that, but it is costly, about 50gp per week spent researching. Next, she mentions the attack on Penny, and they seem to know who is behind it, without mentioning a name. Bertram mentions that he got a message about Penny being attacked, but didn’t think any of it as it was very limited information. They promise to send someone to look over them when they are in Ravenforge, to try to keep them safe. They also mention that their research into The Key is nearly complete, but they need another day to make sure, and that they will call on them. When Dandelion starts talking about not being able to afford it and that she only has “useless copper coins that nobody wants”, Thervan quickly excuses himself, with Bertram politely leading her out, telling her that her friends can probably help her. When she heads out of the castle, she sends Ira and Argus to look for Penny and Kal.
Fie heads to the magic shop, and asks about how one would go about capturing an elemental, specifically an Efreeti. Vontara mentions that the best way would be to use an Efreeti bottle, and that she can acquire one for the small price of 45000 gp. A bit too steep for Fie. If anyone can help, it’s probably the court wizard. Fie thanks for her help, and departs. As he leaves, he overhears a town crier mentioning that the owner of the Transcendence Theater in Tempervale has passed away in a freak accident.
Cleaning Up the Shrine
Penny and Kal are walking in the streets, when they suddenly are “ambushed” by a snow owl, who lands on Penny’s horn, looks down on her, and says “found you”, before flying off. Soon after Dandelion meets them, with Argus landing on her arm, saying “I couldn’t- … FOUND THEM!”.
Dandelion tells them that she wants to research the cleric of Udall from way back when, but is unsure if it is any point to it, or if it would lead to anything useful. Kal realizes that she can just ask, and they try to find a fitting place, a shrine of Udall for instance, where they can do a commune. After asking around, they are led to the park in The Knot, and all the way to the back, near the outer wall of the city, they find an old, unkempt, shrine of Udall, overgrown with vines and thorns. Penny leaves a silver coin in the offering tray, with Udall booming in the distance. Kal tells her it means he says thanks. They spend some time cleaning it up, with Dandelion summoning 8 ponies to eat whatever they can of the weeds, and Penny summoning a giant shear that she animates to help, and Kal finishes it off by taking water from the nearby lake to clean it as well as she can. When they are done, Kal sits down to do her ritual, with Penny and Dandelion watching from nearby. As she sits down, she can feel that by cleaning the shrine she has been given a boon, and can ask four questions instead of the usual three.
Will researching your last cleric lead to anything? Yes.
Is Elvenroth the best place to do so? Yes.
Is Faunus an alias of one of the twelve gods? No.
Is Faunus an actual god by themselves? Yes.
Dandelion almost scoffs at this, because of course he is real! Kal and Penny however seem surprised, but seem to like the idea. They head back to the Lucky Duck to meet up with Fie.
As they return, they head to one of the private booths that are available, to talk about what they have learned throughout the day. It seems in Fie’s eyes, he’s the only one who have done anything useful, but they talk a bit about Faunus and the implications of him being real and an actual god. They compare it to wines and magic, and talk about what they are going to do the next day, either go after the daughter of Ranesh, or the vampire they have heard about. Dandelion wants to make a shrine for Faunus in Ravenforge, and shows the rest of the party her portable shrine that she always carries with her. They suddenly remember that they found a key with the symbol of Mova on it, so they might find a lead if they go talk to one of her priests. After a while, and a few drinks, they head back to their rooms for a good nights rest.
The Key(s)
The next morning, when they head downstairs for breakfast, Sanira mentions that someone left a note for them in the morning, a messenger. They open it, and find it’s from Thervan, asking them to return to the castle when they are able to. But first, breakfast.
When the party reaches the castle gates, the guards recognize them, and just let them pass. Thervan is waiting for them at the entrance, and leads them into his office. The flaming ball floating under the ceiling illuminates and warms the room, which is filled with books on one side. The Key is floating on his desk. He tells the party that after much research, they are unable to detect any presence in the Key. It seems that whatever was in it has now latched onto Penny, and it now acts more as a conduit. They were also unable to sense any direction when they tried to focus on it, so they suggest that they head to where Penny has been drawn towards. He also tells the party that they can leave immediately, and that he will teleport them as close as he can, to throw off any prying eyes that are probably watching their every move in the city. The party tells him that they first have some business to deal with, both a vampire, but also an efreet that is wreaking havoc. They have a way of containing the efreet, and have a lead on the vampire, but the cost of the spell to contain it is a gemstone worth 1000gp. After a bit of convincing, Thervan agrees that since they are doing it for the city, he will provide them with a gemstone that will suit their purpose. He gives them a glowing red ruby, and tells them to let him know when they are ready to depart.
The party decides to first go check out the temple of Mova, to see if anyone recognizes the key they found. As they enter, they are greeted by a cheerful priest named Carlos, who tells them that the key won’t be from this temple as they “changed providers” a few years back, but that it might fit in the old temple of Mova in Cotton Wharf. They also ask if he knows anything about vampires, and he basically tells them that it is difficult to pinpoint exactly what a vampire's mortal weakness might be, but basically try different methods when they have weakened it to “see what sticks”. He also sells them holy water, which might help. And also tells them to try to use religious signs to scare it.
Beneath the City
As they head towards Cotton Wharf, they hatch a plan to avoid any minions' eyes that might be watching the place. Penny will turn herself and Kal invisible, with Dandelion wildshaping into a rat, and Fie will disguise himself as a rebellious teenager who acts like he has been “dared” to explore the temple. Surely nothing can go wrong.
When they head into the rundown temple, Dandelion can feel that she is a bit out of place, but scurries on nonetheless. Fie taking the lead, finds a door in the basement of the temple. A locked door. He tries the key, and several locks open one by one, with the door creaking open. Inside he sees a long hallway leading down into the darkness. They follow it.
After traversing the hallway stealthily for a few hundred feet, they can tell that they must be far underground now, most likely below sea level. Around a corner, Dandelion can hear gnawing of bones, and tells Penny about this, who tells the group. Fie sneaks around the bend, and can see several shapes of ghouls and ghasts. He tries to make quick work of them with a well placed fireball that engulfs the room, incinerating a few, but the rest spring into action. They seem to not be an issue for the most part, but they manage to get a few good hits in on Kal, and when the ghasts die, they explode in a barrage of entrails and blood, covering Dandelion, causing her to feel infected by something. With the undead slain at their feet, their focus is led towards the door to their right, leading into a sunken tomb…