RealmsToowoomba Recap # 90 [RPG]

[3 Eleasis 1372 Continued]

It is dusk in Waterdeep, and as the shadows and fog roll in, El Capitan stands alone in an alleyway, his path to safety blocked by two leering pirates (slavers in truth) who have begun to advance towards him. The cat-man, one of the former top students at a dueling academy in Silverymoon, shows no fear or apprehension. Instead he draws his scimitar and brandishes it dangerously at his foes. One dismissively sneers “Kitty’s got a claw?” before motioning to his fellow, and both suddenly toss large nets at El Capitan.  The agile adventurer easily dodges the cumbersome attacks and somersaults just past the men, stabbing one in the back with an expert backwards thrust.  The dying assailant slumps to the ground, leaving his companion to call out for help from unseen compatriots.  El Capitan takes advantage of the darkness and fog to slip away around a corner and then up the wall of a nearby warehouse.  From his new vantage point, the cat-man sees the slaver known as First Mate Gristle emerge from the direction of a ship tied up to a nearby pier.  With Gristle comes a small army of ruffians, all armed with swords, clubs, or nets.  When Gristle sees the results of El Capitan’s swordplay, he dispatches his men to search the otherwise deserted docks.  El Capitan waits for one of the slavers to be alone before silently dropping down from the rooftop and cracking the man on the back of the skull with the pommel of his scimitar! The man collapses like a stone, unconscious. El Capitan quickly kills the man and then decapitates him!   Moments later, as Gristle and the others call out for the missing crewman, they are shocked and horrified to see his severed head land in their midst. Although his men are on the verge of panic, Gristle cracks his whip and challenge El Capitan to face him.  The cat-man instead slips into the night and disappears.

At the kenku meethouse, Ralkin continues his discussion with one of the elders from the local Murder.  The elder, Peshbeck Honetalon, cautions Ralkin that his interest in robbing a magical shop is likely to be extremely difficult given the defensive wards and sigils often used by shopkeepers to protect their valuable inventory. Honetalon instead advises robbing an individual wizard on the street. However, Ralkin seems convinced that the specific item that he requires is unlikely to be found anywhere but in a magic shop. He tells Horntalon that he may not be in Waterdeep for long, but will be able to check back soon and would like to set some things in motion during his absence. Horntalon agrees to be make some enquiries on the whereabouts of a fabricationdevice.

Meanwhile, Shiro visits a hidden shrine to Shar in the hopes of being offered an assignment. She is not disappointed, as Nightsister Tenebrae has an opportunity available. However, as payment for the lead, Tenebrae asks to know where Shiro’s loyalties lie. It seems there is significant tension in Waterdeep’s criminal underworld due to conflict between various groups: specifically, the local Murder of Kenku, the re-emergent Shadowthieves, and a powerful band of lycanthropes. Shiro states that her loyalties are to Shar and to the kenku. Her contact nods and share details of the target:  Zabbas Thuul, a thief and minor magician who has made a living bilking the people who come to him for spellcasting services. The fellow is known for his dark, oily hair and has a habit of conducting business in the city’s various festhalls.  Tonight, Tenebrae adds, he is certain to be at the Blushing Nymph, though Thuul is also known to favour the Flaming Troll inn. It would be best, Tenebrae advises, were the deed to be done tonight, and she warns that Thuul has proven to be remarkably evasive. Shiro accepts the contract and heads back to the kenku safehouse to speak with her brother. She offers Ralkin the chance to join her in this task in exchange for a cut of the profits and first choice of any magical items the target may possess, but Ralkin declines.

In the conjured mansion, Mellia and Cain lay in bed, recuperating from her latest attack of hormones. She sheepishly tells her husband that she ‘doesn’t know what came over her’, something Cain notes has happened often of late - though he hastens to assure her that he is not complaining. When Mellia suggests they should get on with their latest Nesme raid though, Cain states that he would rather they skip that activity for the day. Mellia is surprised that he wants to delay, especially since it will likely result in a rebuke from their magical bonds. Cain evasively tells his wife that he has a ‘plan’ that he is working on that he requires time to prepare.  Mellia is confused but agrees to the delay. Cain meditates and prays in the fireplace while Mellia begins to learn the spell of telepathic bond from the scroll that she purchased. Long before she finishes work, she realizes that her exhausted husband has fallen asleep. Amused, she completes her task, rouses Cain long enough for him to return to the bed, and curls up beside him for the night.

That evening, Markus, who continues to avoid all of his companions (especially Urist and the sailor’s widow Bettina), spends time in the common room of the small inn he’s been staying at and elicits several recommendations of good festhalls to visit. 

El Capitan, finding himself without a place to stay for the night, finds shelter with a friendly group of back-alley itinerants.

Shiro remains active and on the hunt for her new quarry. Outside the Blushing Nymph, she uses her ring of invisibility to conceal herself as she heads inside. She finds that the interior of the festhall is a lavishly decorated space full of curtained alcoves that contains a well-stocked bar of the finest liquers in Faerun.  Shiro quickly locates her target in one of the alcoves, negotiating with a portly merchant. Moving closer, she eavesdrops on their conversation and hears Thuul agree to identify a magical wand that the merchant has obtained for the low price of only 75 gold. When the merchant heads upstairs to enjoy the entertainments offered by the festhall, he leaves his two guards outside the alcove to make sure Thuul doesn’t run off with the wand.  Thuul sets out a pearl, owl feathers, and a cup of wine, and then pulls the alcove’s curtains shut for privacy. Shiro decides to draw off the guards by adopting the guise and voice of the merchant; the plan works well, but by the time the disguised kenku pulls back the curtain, Thuul, the spell components, and the wand have vanished! Her quarry having escaped, Shiro begins to head towards the Flaming Troll in hopes of relocating him. Unfortunately, despite her history in Waterdeep, she is not particularly familiar with that inn and it takes her until the pre-dawn hours to locate the place. With the rooms locked and shutters drawn, she cannot identify the room belonging to her target and for the time being, is forced to concede defeat. She returns to the safehouse by the sewers.

[4 Eleasis]

In the morning, both Mellia and Cain are weakened by feelings of guilt for failing to adhere to their magickal oath to destroy Nesme. Nonetheless, Mellia awakens in a buoyant mood and teases her husband for “planning” while asleep.  Cain continues to claim he is developing a secret strategem that he will reveal to her when the time is right. However, when he again suggests skipping the raid on Nesme, Mellia puts her foot down and demands answers, telling him that she does not believe for one moment that he would wish to keep putting off such an important task - especially given the negative toll that delaying takes on the two of them. She demands to know: What is really going on?  Cain hesitates and then tells Mellia the real answer that Hestia gave to yesterday’ssending. Everything should be fine, Hestia said, so long as Mellia gets plenty of bedrest and avoids stress and excitement. Mellia immediately bursts into tears, hysterically noting that something must be wrong with the babies. Though Cain attempts to reassure her, she angrily confronts him and accuses him of lying to her. Cain claims to have been merely ‘withholding information’ in order to ‘ease her’ into the recommended routine, but Mellia is incensed and stalks away.

El Capitan purchases a masterwork blade before returning to the hostel to seek out his companions.  He enters to find Ralkin already there eating breakfast. Though the feline is eager to share the story of his battle against ‘fifty pirates’ with ‘heads ending up at the bottom of the harbour’ (though he cannot quite remember the name of the ship), Ralkin appears disinterested.  Mellia soon arrives at the hostel, with Cain in tow, though she is noticeably tearful and upset. She’s happy to see El Capitan and Ralkin however, and says that they need to regroup with all of their companions and depart Waterdeep to make larger preparations for Nesme. She suggests heading to the Dalelands and the Oracle’s Circle.  She mentions that El Capitan might enjoy the chance to spend more time with the orphan boy Pietro, and the cat-man agrees to the plan, as does Ralkin. When talk turns to the potential for a raid on Nesme that day, Mellia and Ralkin agree that it is too dangerous for the kenku to come along; instead, Ralkin will seek out the large quanity of smokepowder necessary to carry out their long term plan to destroy the Temple of Auril in Nesme. It is agreed that the group will reconnect at the hostel the next morning and ideally, depart from there for the Dalelands. Mellia tells Ralkin that she wishes to discuss his sister with him and they agree to move outside to talk in her conjured mansion where they won’t be overheard. As the group heads outside, El Capitan attempts to fill Cain and Mellia in on his battle with the pirates, though he is offended when Cain tells him that ‘no one cares’. Mellia, still visibly upset with her husband, calls him out for being mean and alludes to Cain being ‘deceptive’.

While El Capitan waits outside the mansion with Ralkin’s bag of holding, Mellia, Ralkin and Cain discuss how to deal with Shiro. Given the group’s lack of trust for Shiro, Mellia suggests that if Ralkin’s sister wishes to continue traveling with the group to protect her brother, she will need to accept some ‘ground rules’ or Mellia will not agree to teleport her. Ralkin is more than happy to go along with this plan and assists in developing a set of conditions that will be discussed with Shiro the next day. The conditions include Shiro handing over her ring and bow to Ralkin nightly, her being guarded by unseen servants in her room, and her agreeing not to kill/murder anyone without permission (unless it is in the heat of battle). With this business complete, Ralkin heads out to search for smokepowder. Mellia says that she will contact Markus and asks Cain to follow-up with Hestia - challenging him to find out why the midwife has suggested what Mellia sees as such extreme precautions. Unfortunately, once again, Hestia forgets the word limit on her reply, and Cain tells Mellia that he will have to wait until another time to get more information. For her part, Mellia contacts Markus who tells her that he is busy and in hiding and will see the group at the end of the week.

While waiting for Cain and Mellia to finish their sendings, El Capitan suddenly remembers the name of the pirate ship that had attempted to take him as unwilling cargo: The Woeful Tide. Hearing that name immediately sets Cain’s teeth on edge and he tells his wife that Nesme will have to wait: he has personal vengeance to seek! Months ago, it was the crew of the The Woeful Tide that had Cain, Fargrim, and Rolen sold into slavery.  Though Mellia protests that they have just been let out of jail and she has no wish to return, Cain is insistent. He intends to flamestrike the ship in the harbour. Mellia protests that as this is a slave ship, it could be full of innocent victims, though Cain seems unconcerned. Seeing he will not be swayed, she agrees to help and at least persuades him to take some precautions. The plan is that when El Capitan (who is happy to continue taking revenge on the pirates) guides them to the ship, she will use her spell of prying eyes to investigate and perhaps see if there are slaves aboard. In addition, she insists that they use spells of invisibility and haste and that they depart immediately afterwards for Nesme so they won’t be linked to another incident in Waterdeep. Finally, she asks that he memorize the pillars of Waterdeep as another location for his word of recall spell. Though eager to get to the ship, Cain agrees. El Capitan also briefly draws Mellia’s scathing gaze his way by wishing out loud that Mellia and Cain could use haste to move their conversation along.

Meanwhile, Shiro returns to the inn of the Flaming Troll to make another attempt to track down her quarry. She uses her skills at disguise to take on the image and voice of Thuul and attempts to persuade the well-muscled and surly half-orc innkeeper that she has lost her key and must be let into her room.  The ruse fails and Shiro is forcibly removed from the premises. She heads back to her contact at the shrine of Shar and reports that the target still lives. Tenebrae, says that Shiro is welcome to try again the next night, but now the contract must be opened to other interested takers. She adds that Thuul often carries out his petty deceptions at festhalls, though never the same one within a tenday.  The kenku spends the remaining hours until nightfall on the streets looking for other opportunities in her chosen profession, but the continuing tensions in the underworld and her uncertain allegiance leads to distrust.  She does manage to glean a little more information on the mysterious band of lycanthropes that Tenebrae mentioned: apparently, it’s a band of wererats using the sewers under the city as a base of operations.

As Cain spends an hour at the white pillars memorizing the location for his travel spell, El Capitan takes the opportunity to drink, dance and carouse with his usual zest for life, even managing to earn some coin from passersby. Still very upset, Mellia decides to contact Gideon and asks him to check in with Hestia, reporting that Hestia’s message to Cain was cut off and Mellia is afraid something is wrong with the babies. Unfortunately, it is only after the words escape that Mellia remembers that Gideon was not yet aware of her pregnancy. Her former mentor says he now understands what was behind her “impulsive marriage” and that should she strike out on her own, her friends at the Oracle’s Circle will support her.  Mellia explains to Cain that Gideon may be labouring under the misapprehension that she does not really love her husband.  Her earlier anger replaced by chagrin, Mellia tells Cain that she isn’t really angry with him - she’s just frightened and worried. Unfortunately, Cain has further bad news: He has realized that due to the rules of his spell, he will not be able to return them to Waterdeep that evening if they go to Nesme. He could take them to Startop Mountain, but neither deems that a good idea. Instead, Mellia suggests that after Nesme, they teleport to the Oracle’s Circle, where they will be safe and can sort things out with Gideon. Cain agrees, noting that he also hopes to speak further with Hestia.

Ralkin spends the day searching the city’s alchemist shops for smokepowder but is disappointed to find only very small quantities, significantly less than he had been hoping for. When he returns to the safehouse, Shiro asks if he would like to assist her in rooting out the lycanthropes.  Ralkin again turns down an offer to assist her sister, and instead raises the issue of the restrictions on her activities that he discussed with Mellia.  Shiro says she will discuss the proposed restrictions with the individuals responsible for setting them in the morning.  The two turn in for the night.

With other matters settled, Cain, Mellia and El Capitan head to the docks intending to confront the pirates and slavers on the Woeful Tide. However, to Cain’s great annoyance, the ship has obviously departed. With that plan foiled, El Capitan bids Cain and Mellia a good evening and heads out to enjoy the city.

Across the city, Markus decides to make amends for his rude behaviour at Kappiyan Flurmastyr’s house the previous day. He returns and speaks to the man’s wife, apologizing for his rudeness. She notes that Kappiyan was rather upset and has spent most of the day puttering in his garden. She allows Markus to offer contrition in person, and Kappiyan warms to Markus when he realizes that the young swordsman has some knowledge of alchemy. He agrees to allow Markus to spend the day assisting him, and by the end of the day even offers a tentative apprenticeship.  Markus politely declines, saying he has to help a friend with an important quest first.

Cain and Mellia discuss their strategy for the Nesme raid, agreeing to stay together and to concentrate their efforts on killing any Priestesses of Auril that they may see. Once their protective spells are in place, Mellia teleports them to the same animal training grounds in Nesme that they visited last time. Once again, it seems that the defenders of Nesme are ready for them or that the regular patrols are now sufficiently prepared that there is no element of surprise in an attack. An armoured bear immediately scents the newcomers and roars before charging to attack, leading bystanders and soldiers alike to blow on strange, high-pitched whistles.  Mellia and Cain each manage to get cast a wall of fire that burns two Priestesses of Auril, but the clerics use their divinely-granted gifts to heal. Before the attackers can do more, the bear lunges for Mellia and seizes her in its grasp before raking her with its claws and teeth, wrenching her away from Cain’s grasp. Cain reaches his wife, but not before the Priestesses of Auril cast a spell of silence and make it impossible for the surprised adventurers to cast spells to escape.  

In seconds, a far greater danger literally begins to loom over them!  Rynnarvyx, the white dragon loyal to the frost giant allies of the Aurilites, appears and dives down towards the worshippers of Kossuth. Death seems assured - but suddenly salvation comes from the dragon itself. The frightening presence of the newly-arrived dragon is more than the armoured bear can withstand and the smaller animal flees in terror. Mellia finds herself thrown free, and she and Cain are able to dart outside the range of the silence spell. Mellia teleports herself and Cain to the Oracle’s Circle, narrowly escaping almost certain death.