Adventure Notes – The Adventurers 46

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  • The party has just come out of the sewers after recovering the gem which is inlaid in a skull
  • Korra brings up that they should definitely check with the Thieves Guild if they know more about the gem
  • As the party meets back at the Caravan – they’re surprised to see that neither Ragnaroc nor Sephrenia are at their wagon
  • They look around the tattered down and find no indication of where Ragnaroc or Sephrenia might be
  • Korra makes contact with one of the Thieves by the name of Frel “Lucky” Horseshoe, who talks to her down by the pier
  • Korra asks Frel about Ragnaroc and Sephrenia have gone missing
  • Frel explains that people used to go missing frequently; but a merchant who recently showed up has employed several of his guards to remain here and protect the town, so it’s gotten better the last two days
  • Korra asks who that might be, and Frel confirms that it’s Kraun Torodon
  • Korra gives descriptions of Ragnaroc and Sephrenia to see if Kraun is potentially the one holding her friends captive; Frel agrees to see if he can find out more information
  • Adrian mentions that they could go back to the tower and use the Scrying pool
  • Korra brings up that they have the gem inlaid in the skull, and that it may be an issue for Darius; who changed his mind and now believes his soul will be released when the gem is destroyed
    • DM Note – It was interesting the party considered some rather evil actions; such as giving the skull gem to Kraun – letting him go crazy – so the party can kill him legitimately and take his gold
  • Eventually, Frel makes contact with Korra again and explains that from what he’s gathered, Kraun does not have her friends captive; but one of his guards may know where they’re at – because apparently one of your wizard friends apparently did something to his brother – so he’s been following your wizard around – and saw something happen to your friend. (DM Note – once again, being generalized as “a wizard” but Ragnaroc is a Warlock)
  • Adrian asks if the Thieves Guild would be able to help, and Frel explains that Kin Ravenclaw and the rest of the guild is pretty busy cleaning up the mess below (after the ordeal with the Wererat division and the skull gem) explaining that their “contacts” have an issue with them because they can’t keep their house in order
  • The party comes up with a plan to tell Kraun that they’re looking to get the skull gem; but two of their companions are missing and they need their help – the Warlock to “sense” the gem and the Healer to heal them – but that they can’t seem to locate their friends anywhere
  • They approach Kraun’s wagon(s) – and several guards begin shouting out, “They’re coming!” “They’re here!” and Kraun steps out of his elaborate wagon to greet the party as they enter his well protected circle of wagons
  • He approaches the party and extends his hand, “Good friends, it’s so good to see you. Have you found the skull gem?”
  • Adrian explains, “We need more man power – and we’re missing two people.”
  • Kraun looks at Adrian, “You wouldn’t be accusing me… would you?”
  • Adrian explains, “No, it’s just you seem like a very resourceful individual.”
  • Kraun pauses and goes back and forth for a moment, then looks at them, and asks, “Where is the skull where you need your other companions?”
  • Korra explains, “It’s in the Thieves Guild – but apparently there’s some division.”
  • Kraun looks and says, “Your pant legs are wet – you’ve been down there?”
  • Buppido explains, “Yes. But there’s wererats down there. One of them – the priestess – can cure the infection wererats cause.”
  • The party tells Kraun that they’ve learned that the skull gem causes madness; and Korra catches a faint smile as Kraun says, “Worry not – I’ve got wizards and scholars on my caravan – and they’ve developed something similar to a Bag of Holding – it’s a chest of Holding – by placing it in there, it puts it in another… dimension… where the whispers won’t be heard.”
  • Kraun nods, “Well, as luck would have it – Bristor – one of my guards – you two,” he points his Tiefling hand which is decorated in several rings, “have met him. Well, as you may or may not know, Bristor is convinced your wizard friend murdered his brother – after all, Bristor had sent him back to tell your friend to stay back – and that was the last Bristor saw of his brother. So… Bristor has been keeping an eye on your wizard friend – seems he wants to … talk … to him one on one… and he happened to be watching your wizard friend, when he claims five men abducted him – right in the alley.”
    • DM Note: Since Ragnaroc and Sephrenia were absent last mission, I came up with a side quest that they’d been “abducted” – by who… and why… well, that remains to be seen…
  • Bristor – refusing to lose the one who last saw his brother – followed these abductors – and followed them to a small camp – where he found not only wizard friend – but your elf priestess in separate cages.”
  • Kraun calls for Bristor and says, “Bristor – the wizard’s friends are looking for him and their elf priestess. You’d mentioned you’d followed the ones that abducted the wizard and you know where their camp is? Could you take them to rescue their friends – it would seem they need them in order to get the… item… I have requested they fetch… that is, retrieve… for me.”
  • Bristor agrees to lead the party, explaining – his sole reason is because he wants an opportunity to “speak” with Ragnaroc one on one to find out more about his brother’s disappearance; and he explains that he’s seen his brother Dollen get stabbed a hundred times, and take the blade that stabbed him and plunge into the enemies before him – so it had to be magic that took Dollen down.
  • It takes several hours, but Bristor leads them to an area – where there is a small camp, and five brigands, who seem overly casual for having abducted two people – and there, in one cage each is Sephrenia and Ragnaroc
  • The party is able to peer up over a small ledge to see them
  • Buppido moves his owl at the maximum range so he can hear one of the brigands; and all he hears is the Brigand whistling some song
  • The only brigand who seems to be doing more than being casual is the one just west of the cage where Sephrenia is; who seems to be leering at her and saying how pretty she is and how he’s never been with an elf before
  • The party begins developing a plan where Korra could Disguise Self then get close to one of them and use Charm Person on one – so that they can get information
  • Korra decides that she will go with that plan; but Don points out that if they’re working for Bristor rather than Kraun – there could be an issue – where Bristor hired these men to abduct them after Kraun refused to abduct them because Kraun needs them to get the gem skull
  • However – at that very moment – the one who was hitting on Sephrenia suddenly finds himself bathed in fire
    • DM Note: While the party was discussing the plan, Sephrenia successfully broke free of her bonds where he hands had been tied, and her mouth gagged, to prevent her from casting magic. She managed to get one hand loose and loosen the gag on her mouth which allowed her to cast Burning Hands
  • The human stumbles backwards and catches the tent behind him on fire; and initiative begins!
  • Seeing his friend on fire, he assumes (correctly) that Sephrenia is behind it – and attempts to stab her repeatedly, but only one of the stabs hits
  • Bupiddo focuses a fireball west of Sephrenia’s cage – and lands a burning hit – killing all of the brigands save one (who managed to save against the savings throw)
  • The Brigand is startled because he saw her catch one of his friends on fire; and assume she’s responsible for the fireball too – and he manages to land a critical hit on her doing some good damage
  • Sephrenia (DM Note: Kudos to the player, she as a player knows they want a survivor for questions; but the character doesn’t know – and the party rarely ever takes prisoners – so she went for a killing blow) – landing a Guiding Bolt landing maximum damage; killing him
  • The party then moves up and frees Sephrenia and Ragnaroc from their cages
  • The party asks what happened – and neither of them can recall much – they remember a voice saying, “Easy, I got you”
  • Bupiddo asks, “Do you know about twins?”
  • Bristor laughs, “Oh, yeah. I know a lot about twins.” And chuckles.
  • Adrian clarifies, “The Tabaxi Twins.”
  • Bristor nods, “Yes. I know them. They’ll do anything for coin.”
  • Adrian then casts Zone of Truth and then asks, “You’re not hiding anything from us?”
  • Bristor shrugs, “Well, I am hiding something – I never told you about my past. My father, he was very abusive, my brother and I ran away at the age of 8. We lived on the streets…” (and goes on to tell about his life story), the party eventually cuts him off and asks if he knows about these thugs, and he says, “I don’t know them.”
  • Korra asks about the gem skull, and Bristor says, “Oh, the talky skull? No, I just know he wants it so he can sell it to someone, blah blah blah,” waving his hand as if disinterested in the topic more than that
  • Korra asks about Kraun, and about how well he knows him; and Bristor goes on to say, “He pays me 100 gold a day, to do stuff – keep an eye on things – you know, keep him and his gold safe, blah blah blah.”
  • Korra asks, “What if we didn’t help?”
  • Bristor replies, “He’d just hire someone else. He just hopes to get it before we leave Lakefront, so he can have it ready for a buyer.”
  • Korra asks, “Do you think your boss wants to continue to help the town?”
  • Bristor nods, “Of course – this town used to be a hub for trading. So it’s to his benefit to help the town get back on its feet – so he can take a small cut once it’s back in running order. Your wizard friend sent George for a donation collection – and Kraun took that as a business opportunity. So he wanted to say his thanks.”
  • Ragnaroc calls for the party to come over, and Korra walks over there, “Is there something you need to say?”
  • Ragnaroc simply says, “We need to kill this guy. We can’t let his leader know we know everything about the skull.”
  • Korra looks puzzled, “Wait – what do you mean kill him? He’s not done anything?”
  • Sephrenia approaches, “Why do you hate this man so much?”
  • And Ragnaroc replies, “His brother attacked me first.” Korra can tell, from her experience, that Ragnaroc isn’t telling the full truth.
  • Ragnaroc confesses, “Listen – he’s going to keep coming after me – us – because I murdered his brother. I am sure he somehow orchestrated this abduction. I don’t have any evidence to prove it – but I know he’s behind it.”
  • Don pipes in, “If you want to kill him – grow a pair and tell him you killed his brother. He will attack you – and then we attack him, saying we defended you.”
  • Sephrenia shakes her head and says, “I can’t participate in this plan. We have no proof that Bristor is behind this abduction. The only thing we know is that you,” she turns to Ragnaroc, “murdered his brother. You say he attacked you first – but we don’t know if he did. You never mentioned anything about it until now, which seems telling.”
  • Buppido agrees, “This should be a one on one fight.”
  • Ragnaroc purposely avoids staying out of the Zone of Truth and tells Bristor that it’s true – he killed his brother
  • Bristor however, doesn’t take the bait – and says, he’d be a fool to attack Ragnaroc now – surrounded by his friends – even if his friends “vow to stay out of it” – he’s seen how his “friends” deal with things (pointing to the burned bodies of the thugs).
  • So the whole party, along with Bristor heads back to town – and Bristor heads for Kraun’s wagon and says, “You know where to find me, blah, blah, blah.”
  • Korra tosses him a gold coin and says, “Thanks for your help.”
  • Bristor catches it and nods, and takes a bite of the coin, and winks at Korra and says, “You ain’t so bad, lass. Just watch the company you keep – since one of them is an openly confessed murderer.”
  • Korra brings up that they may need to break away from the caravan and get to the Broken Lands before Kraun – but the problem there is – the caravan travels in large numbers for safety
  • Adrian mentions that he did promise to do the job – and that Kraun paid them some money to get the job done – and he’d taken the money to buy potions – and managed to land a potential date with the potion maker (Isabella Crowfeather)
  • The party also debates – that if they keep the gem skull and remain with the caravan – it may be difficult to keep it hidden from Kraun since he has wizards employed
  • As the party continues to discuss their plan – screams can be heard down near the pier and the party quickly rushes to examine what’s going on
  • They see a Drow – riding on a water spout – and he points to Korra, “It was you! You who was scrying on us! Well, then air-bender, I have a gift for you!”
  • And the churning waters suddenly seem to come alive as a water elemental rushes forth!
The enslaved Water Elemental
  • The water surges forward – and combat begins!
  • Korra explains that this was her fear – the Drow are going to be using Elementals to wreak havoc
  • Adrian doesn’t do anything first round (Critical Fail)
  • In the chaos, Don misfires his Starbow at the Water Elemental and strikes Adrian (which is no surprise, one of the most commonly hit during Critical Fails)
  • The Water Elemental moves up and envelopes everyone – grappling Buppido, Ragnaroc, and Sephrenia swirling around inside of him; and it deals significant damage to everyone (even those who passed take damage)
  • Within the swirling water, Sephrenia manages to get out a Healing Word that heals for 11 points
  • The Water Elemental continues to move its body, slamming those inside of it, against the pier for damage, while dealing drowning damage
  • After several attempts, it’s finally Adrian who delivers the “killing blow” against the Elemental which dissipates it, freeing his companion
  • When the others are freed – it becomes clear that there was someone else helping – Bristor, slings a bow over his shoulder and looks at Ragnaroc, and walks away – having helped against the Water Elemental
  • The party rests up as night approaches – Adrian goes to get flowers, while the others go to the Wagon, where Korra begins to explain the war happening between the Elemental Planes; and how four Drow Commanders had acquired four of them (one from each Plane) which has enslaved Elemental Elders – and now a war has broken out between the different Planes because they’re accusing one another of stealing the Rings
  • Korra asks Sephrenia to send a magic message – and one of them she sends to her parents to let them know she’s tracking the Drow Commanders – she knows where they are – and they need to find a way to do some peace talks
  • Buppido also brings up that they could give the gem skull to Kraun – since he has a safe way to keep it – and then just keep an eye on who the buyer is – steal from the buyer and destroy it
  • The rest of the party talks to Ragnaroc about what happened – and he tries to explain and is vague about “stuff happened and he died” – and Buppido explains that neither of them were restrained – they were freely walking with Bristor
  • Buppido also mentions that they told Kraun that they’d gone down into the sewers and came out – and that they needed to get the other two – so it might be a good idea to head to the sewer and make it look like it’s true what they said to him