Session 1: "Makeover Montage!"
(June 24, 2018)
Before Dara and Snadwick are woken up by the commotion in the kitchen (Session 0.1), Gunnhe Ward is awakened by a gentle knock at their door. It is the Bear and Bonnet's kitchen boy, delivering a note from his brother Simon, who is the night guard at the constable's office. The note says Snargle, the leader of the band of kobolds currently locked up in the constable's jail, wishes to speak with her. Ward heads out to the lockup, where Simon is seated on the porch outside, toying with some silver coins. He tells her to go on in, but "no funny business."
There are two cells in the lockup. One holds the five kobolds; the other holds a human swashbuckler named Lan, who arrived here after an altercation with his shipmates, who knocked him out, locked him in a shipping crate, and sent him here. He is filthy and bedraggled. He was jailed until the constable (a wood elf named Ollenor) could figure out what to do with him. He shares his cell with a single male dwarf, who snores all through the ensuing scene.
Snargle greets Ward, and tells her that he could tell she was the type of person who would stand up for the little people and the downtrodden. He says the kobolds won't find any justice from the dwarf Captain Kaldek, whose racial animosity toward kobolds led him to lock them up when the other witnesses (Ward, Snadwick, Dara) were deputized and sent to sleep in the local tavern. He says the kobolds are a secret security detail working for Early Morning Rain, a high-ranking tabaxi monk who is a prominent figure in the politics of Curraxol, the tabaxi kingdom most closely allied to Rajgan. (Early Morning Rain is the tabaxi in rich robes Dara noticed on the airship. Some people might call her the Head Lama in Charge in Curraxol.) The kobolds were hired, Snargle says, because no one really pays attention to kobolds; the stereotype of the cowardly kobold means that no one worries much when a handful of them show up.
The kobolds, Snargle says, have been following a figure they call "the Snake" for about two months, ever since there was an attempt on Early Morning Rain's life at "a human town" whose name Snargle doesn't say. "The Snake," he says, is a yuan-ti pureblood with the ability to disguise herself to more closely resemble a human, though her eyes always retain something reptilian. On the airship, the kobolds observed "the Snake" sneaking into the cargo hold, and followed her. She lit the fuse on the bomb, Snargle says, before jumping out the unlocked porthole window—and that's when Captain Kaldek and his Rajgan guards captured the kobolds, and Ward and her party entered the story.
Snargle insists that Ward must let the kobolds free so that they can track down "the Snake." The dwarf won't be looking for "the Snake," Snargle says, because a dwarf would never trust the word of a kobold, and no one else saw the yuan-ti.
Ward uses a sleep spell to knock out Simon, and takes all seven bundles of prisoners' belongings (including the snoring dwarf's). She gives a bundle containing a lockpicking kit to a kobold named Bargin, who quickly picks both locks and sets everyone free. Ward pulls a dagger on Lan and tells him not to say a word of what happened to anyone. Lan deflects her blade, but joins with Ward when she says he can hide out with her at the Bear and Bonnet.
Once outside, the five kobolds attempt to scatter in different directions. Ward catches Bargin and pulls her into an alley. Separated from her pack, Bargin is easily intimidated and breaks down, whispering, "Everything he said was a lie!" She reveals that the kobolds really did set off the bomb, that every word of Snargle's story was false, and that the kobolds have been working for "the Lady." Lady Rothenel's manor has been their local hideout for the last two months, and they used her resources to get the bomb (and themselves) aboard the airship. She has overheard conversations between Rothenel and Snargle, in which the two discussed orders from someone named Starling. Bargin agrees at once to help Ward and hide out with her at the tavern.
Meanwhile, Snadwick and Dara bring the emaciated and comatose wizard Thiala back to town. Thiala rouses from her trance only once, crying out, "Don't get near her! She's not herself," before falling back into her coma. The local healer, a gnome named Widdershins, says he will summon an elf healer from a nearby settlement, but there's nothing he can do on his own to aid an elf this far gone. They will have to wait a day or two for the elf healer to arrive.
Ward, Snadwick, and Dara meet up for a late breakfast after the latter two return to the inn. They swap stories, and eat a lot, much to the consternation of Merric the innkeep. They return to the room to find Bargin hiding under the bed. Coaxed out, she confirms everything she said before in the alley: Snargle was lying, the kobolds set up the bomb, and they've been working for Lady Rothenel for two months.
Captain Kaldek returns from talking to Lady Rothenel, appearing puzzled and concerned. He reports that the manor house is a mess, filled with spilled wine, rotting food, plates and goblets and broken bottles left where they fall. He gives the party half an hour to make themselves presentable before the Lady requests (demands) to speak with them. Ward uses her disguise kit to alter the looks of both herself and Lan, making them appear like sister and brother.
Dara and Snadwick agree to go, while Ward insists that she and her "brother" have some catching up to do. Distracted, Kaldek agrees.
Dara and Snadwick accompany Kaldek to the manor house. Inside the grand entrance hall, they find workers (mostly human, elf, and halfling) all packing iron containers into shipping crates. These shipping crates don't have the Rothenel crest. Instead they are marked with a tiger's paw, uplifted, in a red circle—the crest of Aanja Subscribers, Ltd., a major shipping firm in Malimpel, which specializes in exotic or magical shipments. There is a faint odor of sulfur in the grand hall.
Kaldek leads them upstairs, where Lady Rothenel awaits in a private dining chamber. Fresh and rotting food alike are piled on the table; broken chairs and other debris litter the floor. The Lady reclines on a luxurious chaise lounge, and insists that the party come closer and dine with her while they talk. Her face changes expression when Dara approaches to within 60 feet. Rothenel grows more hostile, gesturing to her bodyguard and insisting that a young yuan-ti pureblood entered her service some time ago, thanks to "that filthy wizard Thiala," and abused her trust to orchestrate the bombing. (Containers shipped with the magically-stamped, hard-to-duplicate crests of noble families and recognized shipping firms are allowed to circumvent security searches in Rajgan.)
Dara and Snadwick cast spells at her and a battle begins. The "Lady" whips out a pistol and wounds Dara before turning to escape. Snadwick sets fire to the doorway, blocking her escape as well as the arrival of her bodyguard and reinforcements. Ward and Lan, who had been sneaking around on the grounds, hear the gunshots and arrive in time to aid the party. Lan swings on a pair of chandeliers to deliver the final blow with his sword.
The "Lady" turns out to have been a doppelganger. A search of the manor house leads to Dara hearing ethereal elven singing, an ancient song about the changing face of the moon and the impermanence of the world and the lives within it. She rushes recklessly upstairs, encountering two duergar guards, who magically turn into giants and attack her at once. She is nearly knocked out before Snadwick and Kaldek come to her aid. The three of them manage to defeat the giant duergar guards and open the room at the top of the stairs. Inside is the real Lady Rothenel, who has been locked up here for some two years while the doppelganger used her position to orchestrate plots for the so-called Starling. She seems convinced she is on a ship bound for the Summer Lands; seeing Dara, she asks if Dara is the captain. The real Rothenel is brought to Widdershins to await the elven healer.
In Rothenel's sleeping quarters, where the doppelganger has been living, Lan finds a contract and shipping manifest for the iron containers:
Aanja Subscribers
Recipient: Rothenel
25 ob sp (live) in flasks
Source: Darjheim Cavern
Delivered: Periwinkle Carn
Three flasks are missing, leaving 22 in the grand hall. Lan finds two shipping receipts for shipping them further on: One to the Manor of Anduriel (a minor elven noble's household a day's travel to the east), and one to the Burrow of Willbareen (the home of a halfling official in Asherhet, a river town three days' travel to the west). The third receipt, if it exists, is nowhere to be found.
In a locked desk, he finds a certain cameo necklace, carved in the likeness of a hideous face. The cameo is a locket; inside is part of a map he has been searching for. (No other characters are aware of this.) He also finds a letter written in cipher, which Snadwick decodes:
Fulfill the bargain and the pleasures of the house remain yours.
The kobolds will take care of the bomb. Merely support them.
The wizard shall require finesse; your helper shall be of great use.
My boss sends the oblexes. The list of targets is in the mind of
your helper. Do not let her leave until all the flasks are sent.
Once this is done, await instructions, and enjoy the manor.
---Starling
Searching also reveals that the dungeon is full of the old household servants (who would have noticed the change in "Rothenel's" behavior), a few unlucky travelers, and alone in her own cell, another duergar—but that's for next session!
Loot discovered:
750 gp worth of assorted silverware, plates, goblets, coins, etc.
Cloth-of-gold vestments worth 25 gp
Black velvet mask worth 25 gp
Embroidered silk handkerchief worth 25 gp
Gold locket worth 25 gp
Spell scroll for Detect Thoughts
Oil of slipperiness
Keoghtom's ointment (4 doses)
Elemental gem (yellow diamond)
Before Dara and Snadwick are woken up by the commotion in the kitchen (Session 0.1), Gunnhe Ward is awakened by a gentle knock at their door. It is the Bear and Bonnet's kitchen boy, delivering a note from his brother Simon, who is the night guard at the constable's office. The note says Snargle, the leader of the band of kobolds currently locked up in the constable's jail, wishes to speak with her. Ward heads out to the lockup, where Simon is seated on the porch outside, toying with some silver coins. He tells her to go on in, but "no funny business."
There are two cells in the lockup. One holds the five kobolds; the other holds a human swashbuckler named Lan, who arrived here after an altercation with his shipmates, who knocked him out, locked him in a shipping crate, and sent him here. He is filthy and bedraggled. He was jailed until the constable (a wood elf named Ollenor) could figure out what to do with him. He shares his cell with a single male dwarf, who snores all through the ensuing scene.
Snargle greets Ward, and tells her that he could tell she was the type of person who would stand up for the little people and the downtrodden. He says the kobolds won't find any justice from the dwarf Captain Kaldek, whose racial animosity toward kobolds led him to lock them up when the other witnesses (Ward, Snadwick, Dara) were deputized and sent to sleep in the local tavern. He says the kobolds are a secret security detail working for Early Morning Rain, a high-ranking tabaxi monk who is a prominent figure in the politics of Curraxol, the tabaxi kingdom most closely allied to Rajgan. (Early Morning Rain is the tabaxi in rich robes Dara noticed on the airship. Some people might call her the Head Lama in Charge in Curraxol.) The kobolds were hired, Snargle says, because no one really pays attention to kobolds; the stereotype of the cowardly kobold means that no one worries much when a handful of them show up.
The kobolds, Snargle says, have been following a figure they call "the Snake" for about two months, ever since there was an attempt on Early Morning Rain's life at "a human town" whose name Snargle doesn't say. "The Snake," he says, is a yuan-ti pureblood with the ability to disguise herself to more closely resemble a human, though her eyes always retain something reptilian. On the airship, the kobolds observed "the Snake" sneaking into the cargo hold, and followed her. She lit the fuse on the bomb, Snargle says, before jumping out the unlocked porthole window—and that's when Captain Kaldek and his Rajgan guards captured the kobolds, and Ward and her party entered the story.
Snargle insists that Ward must let the kobolds free so that they can track down "the Snake." The dwarf won't be looking for "the Snake," Snargle says, because a dwarf would never trust the word of a kobold, and no one else saw the yuan-ti.
Ward uses a sleep spell to knock out Simon, and takes all seven bundles of prisoners' belongings (including the snoring dwarf's). She gives a bundle containing a lockpicking kit to a kobold named Bargin, who quickly picks both locks and sets everyone free. Ward pulls a dagger on Lan and tells him not to say a word of what happened to anyone. Lan deflects her blade, but joins with Ward when she says he can hide out with her at the Bear and Bonnet.
Once outside, the five kobolds attempt to scatter in different directions. Ward catches Bargin and pulls her into an alley. Separated from her pack, Bargin is easily intimidated and breaks down, whispering, "Everything he said was a lie!" She reveals that the kobolds really did set off the bomb, that every word of Snargle's story was false, and that the kobolds have been working for "the Lady." Lady Rothenel's manor has been their local hideout for the last two months, and they used her resources to get the bomb (and themselves) aboard the airship. She has overheard conversations between Rothenel and Snargle, in which the two discussed orders from someone named Starling. Bargin agrees at once to help Ward and hide out with her at the tavern.
Meanwhile, Snadwick and Dara bring the emaciated and comatose wizard Thiala back to town. Thiala rouses from her trance only once, crying out, "Don't get near her! She's not herself," before falling back into her coma. The local healer, a gnome named Widdershins, says he will summon an elf healer from a nearby settlement, but there's nothing he can do on his own to aid an elf this far gone. They will have to wait a day or two for the elf healer to arrive.
Ward, Snadwick, and Dara meet up for a late breakfast after the latter two return to the inn. They swap stories, and eat a lot, much to the consternation of Merric the innkeep. They return to the room to find Bargin hiding under the bed. Coaxed out, she confirms everything she said before in the alley: Snargle was lying, the kobolds set up the bomb, and they've been working for Lady Rothenel for two months.
Captain Kaldek returns from talking to Lady Rothenel, appearing puzzled and concerned. He reports that the manor house is a mess, filled with spilled wine, rotting food, plates and goblets and broken bottles left where they fall. He gives the party half an hour to make themselves presentable before the Lady requests (demands) to speak with them. Ward uses her disguise kit to alter the looks of both herself and Lan, making them appear like sister and brother.
Dara and Snadwick agree to go, while Ward insists that she and her "brother" have some catching up to do. Distracted, Kaldek agrees.
Dara and Snadwick accompany Kaldek to the manor house. Inside the grand entrance hall, they find workers (mostly human, elf, and halfling) all packing iron containers into shipping crates. These shipping crates don't have the Rothenel crest. Instead they are marked with a tiger's paw, uplifted, in a red circle—the crest of Aanja Subscribers, Ltd., a major shipping firm in Malimpel, which specializes in exotic or magical shipments. There is a faint odor of sulfur in the grand hall.
Kaldek leads them upstairs, where Lady Rothenel awaits in a private dining chamber. Fresh and rotting food alike are piled on the table; broken chairs and other debris litter the floor. The Lady reclines on a luxurious chaise lounge, and insists that the party come closer and dine with her while they talk. Her face changes expression when Dara approaches to within 60 feet. Rothenel grows more hostile, gesturing to her bodyguard and insisting that a young yuan-ti pureblood entered her service some time ago, thanks to "that filthy wizard Thiala," and abused her trust to orchestrate the bombing. (Containers shipped with the magically-stamped, hard-to-duplicate crests of noble families and recognized shipping firms are allowed to circumvent security searches in Rajgan.)
Dara and Snadwick cast spells at her and a battle begins. The "Lady" whips out a pistol and wounds Dara before turning to escape. Snadwick sets fire to the doorway, blocking her escape as well as the arrival of her bodyguard and reinforcements. Ward and Lan, who had been sneaking around on the grounds, hear the gunshots and arrive in time to aid the party. Lan swings on a pair of chandeliers to deliver the final blow with his sword.
The "Lady" turns out to have been a doppelganger. A search of the manor house leads to Dara hearing ethereal elven singing, an ancient song about the changing face of the moon and the impermanence of the world and the lives within it. She rushes recklessly upstairs, encountering two duergar guards, who magically turn into giants and attack her at once. She is nearly knocked out before Snadwick and Kaldek come to her aid. The three of them manage to defeat the giant duergar guards and open the room at the top of the stairs. Inside is the real Lady Rothenel, who has been locked up here for some two years while the doppelganger used her position to orchestrate plots for the so-called Starling. She seems convinced she is on a ship bound for the Summer Lands; seeing Dara, she asks if Dara is the captain. The real Rothenel is brought to Widdershins to await the elven healer.
In Rothenel's sleeping quarters, where the doppelganger has been living, Lan finds a contract and shipping manifest for the iron containers:
Aanja Subscribers
Recipient: Rothenel
25 ob sp (live) in flasks
Source: Darjheim Cavern
Delivered: Periwinkle Carn
Three flasks are missing, leaving 22 in the grand hall. Lan finds two shipping receipts for shipping them further on: One to the Manor of Anduriel (a minor elven noble's household a day's travel to the east), and one to the Burrow of Willbareen (the home of a halfling official in Asherhet, a river town three days' travel to the west). The third receipt, if it exists, is nowhere to be found.
In a locked desk, he finds a certain cameo necklace, carved in the likeness of a hideous face. The cameo is a locket; inside is part of a map he has been searching for. (No other characters are aware of this.) He also finds a letter written in cipher, which Snadwick decodes:
Fulfill the bargain and the pleasures of the house remain yours.
The kobolds will take care of the bomb. Merely support them.
The wizard shall require finesse; your helper shall be of great use.
My boss sends the oblexes. The list of targets is in the mind of
your helper. Do not let her leave until all the flasks are sent.
Once this is done, await instructions, and enjoy the manor.
---Starling
Searching also reveals that the dungeon is full of the old household servants (who would have noticed the change in "Rothenel's" behavior), a few unlucky travelers, and alone in her own cell, another duergar—but that's for next session!
Loot discovered:
750 gp worth of assorted silverware, plates, goblets, coins, etc.
Cloth-of-gold vestments worth 25 gp
Black velvet mask worth 25 gp
Embroidered silk handkerchief worth 25 gp
Gold locket worth 25 gp
Spell scroll for Detect Thoughts
Oil of slipperiness
Keoghtom's ointment (4 doses)
Elemental gem (yellow diamond)
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