Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 19 [RPG]

[16 Desnus, 4708 A.R. continued]

Yvicca the Sea Hag

Immersed in eight feet of the murky waters of the Jeggare River, the Harrowed Heroes continue their exploration of the Nidalese merchant ship Direption.  The Reckoner moves the unconscious jigsaw shark out of the way and then pushes open the swollen door it was guarding.  Crew quarters lay on the other side, hammocks drifting in the water amidst a haze of gore, fish heads, and half-eaten eels.  A terrible sight drifts near the back of the chamber—an ancient-looking woman whose hair is like rotting seaweed, skin like algae, and face like weathered rock.  A sea hag!  She moves suddenly, raising a shortspear, and the very sight of her makes Goldcape feel weak in the knees.  The Reckoner cleverly braces himself in the doorframe to find purchase with his legs as the hag advances to kill him.  He stabs her multiple times with his short swords, but the hag curses him in turn, filling his mind with horrifying phantasms that send him drifting off into a motionless fugue state!  With Goldcape weakened and The Reckoner virtually comatose, the situation seems dire indeed—but Rocky darts through the doorway and catches the hag by the neck, shaking her until she dies unceremoniously.

Yraelzin and Goldcape realise just how serious the curse affecting The Reckoner is—if it’s not broken, he could slide from a coma to death in just a day!  They rush him to the surface and find the fishing boat still waiting for them.  But as they clamber aboard with their helpless ally, they notice the gnome fisherman isn’t paying them any attention—he’s standing astride the bow, staring off toward Old Korvosa.  All of the wooden bridges connecting it to the rest of the city are in flames!  Goldcape leaps atop Rocky’s back to fly to the Burnt Honey Inn to gather some coins from Ralph Blackfeather’s secret stash, while Yraelzin forces the gnome to start rowing again and help transport The Reckoner to the nearby Temple of Abadar.  There, after forcing their way through a crowd, they meet with Ishani Dhatri and he arranges for a more experienced priest to break the curse affecting The Reckoner.  With a gasp, the vigilante awakens.  Before they leave, Ishani explains about the burning bridges—Old Korvosa has been quarantined!  The Grey Maidens have set fire to all of the wooden bridges, and have set up guards around the only stone bridge.  Ishani says it’s a sign of how terrible the plague has become and that he hopes the new hospice set up by Doctor Davaulus, the Royal Physician, will be able to help some of those affected.

Concerned that in their hasty exit they may have left vital clues behind, the group hire the same fisherman to take them out again.  Yraelzin is able to magically conjure bubbles of air for the dive, but explains they’ll only last a few minutes.  Fortunately, The Reckoner still has the bottle of air recovered from a previous adventure and is able to supplement the group’s ability to breathe in an emergency.  But, apart from some silt eels, a thorough search of the wreckage turns up nothing of value—indeed, the ship is oddly empty of any crew or cargo.  The Harrowed Heroes return to the surface, disappointed and sure that they must have missed something.

Once everyone is seated on the boat again, The Reckoner suggests rowing across the river to Trail’s End to see how young Brienna Soldado is faring—especially now that Yraelzin has proclaimed, in his usual grandiose manner, that Razmir has given him the power to cure blood veil.  But they’re too late, explains the girl’s mother, Tayce.  Brienna passed away yesterday morning, and her body has already been transported to the Grey.  She doesn’t blame the group, and says they at least gave her a few extra days with her daughter.  She does ask them for a favour, however: to check in on Grau.  The Korvosan Guardsman was about to sell his mithral blade for the money to pay for Brienna to be cured, but was persuaded that elixirs from the perfumery Lavender would cure the disease.  Obviously, they didn’t, and his niece’s death has hit Grau hard—he’s taken up drinking again.  The group agree to help, and give Tayce a now-rare magical potion that may cure blood veil if she or her other children contract it.

Outside, Goldcape, Yraelzin, and Ralph Blackfeather discuss what to do next.  Yraelzin is upset that Old Korvosa has been quarantined, as his newly-established Temple of Razmir is there!  Ralph is intent on finding something that once belonged to Rolth Lamm to see if a diviner could use it to discern the purported necromancer’s location.  Goldcape, however, is keen to help Grau.  The trio decide that Yraelzin and Ralph will return to the Grey and the derro warrens below to see if they can find anything Rolth left behind, while Goldcape will see if she can find and help the despondent Guardsman.

Sergeant Clenkins

Goldcape leaves the other two behind and flies on the ever-growing Rocky across the river to Citadel Volshyanek.  As usual, the friendly and moustachioed Sergeant Clenkins is on duty.  He confirms that Grau hasn’t shown up for work and has been spotted making the rounds of some local taverns.  He gives Goldcape some leads, and the two discuss recent events in the city.  Clenkins says that the Longacre Building, the government building where the arbiters (magistrates) do their work and pass sentence on accused criminals, was taken over by the Grey Maidens and that Zenobia Zenderholm, the most famous arbiter in the city, is missing!  Goldcape wonders aloud why Clenkins is always on gate duty and never in the field, and hears how he suffered a leg injury some years ago while on a raid that never quite healed properly.

Meanwhile, Yraelzin and Ralph cross back into the city via the North Bridge and stop by the Burnt Honey Inn to change into some drier (and cleaner) clothes.  While chatting with the innkeeper, Yraelzin hears a rumor that the palace tried to have the king resurrected, but that it backfired!  Yraelzin laments that a Priest of Razmir like himself hadn’t conducted the ritual, as it surely would have come off perfectly.  Ralph and Yraelzin then make the trek on foot to the Grey District and take up a surveillance position high up on the wall around the cemetery.  They see the distressing sight of mass graves dug for the numerous victims of blood veil. 

At the same time, Goldcape has managed to track down Grau—he’s sitting despondently in the corner of an ironically upbeat inn called the Bard’s End in South Shore, just a block from the Kendall Amphitheater.  Grau is so drunk as to be barely conscious and coherent.  Goldcape tries to cheer him up, but can’t get through to him.  In a show of solidarity, Goldcape decides to have a couple of drinks with him, but the alcohol rushes to the vanara’s head quickly!  Still, she has the wherewithal to send a message via Rocky to Ralph, saying that she’s found Grau.  When Ralph receives it, he sends a message back stating that he and Yraelzin are ready to go into the derro warrens, and that Goldcape should come too, as it could be dangerous.  But Goldcape is quite drunk by this time, and sends back a message saying they can go tomorrow.  Feeling let down by a teammate, Ralph sends back an angry note saying they’ll go in without her.  The derro warrens look to have been stripped of anything valuable—the alchemical equipment, library, and all signs of criminal or necromantic activity are gone.  But Ralph remembers from a conversation with Yraelzin that something like fingernail clippings or a lock of hair could be vital to a successful scrying spell.  He searches the bedroom where they once found the broken key-shaped blade, and turns up several brown human hairs!

The two hurry out of the warrens and pass from the Grey to South Shore.  Inside the Bard’s End, they find Grau has completely passed out and Goldcape is too intoxicated to be of any assistance.  Annoyed, Ralph leads Yraelzin to the Heights, knowing that’s where Mercival Jeggare’s luxury townhouse will be found.  Yraelzin, however, manages to talk his ally out of a plan to break in, kidnap the learned aristocrat, and interrogate him for information on Rolth Lamm, by arguing that the risk of being caught and punished by the city’s constabulary is too high.

[17 Desnus, 4708 A.R.]

The next morning, a hungover Goldcape meets the others at the Burnt Honey Inn.  They decide their best chance of finding a diviner is at Theumanexis College in East Shore, since the far more prestigious Acadamae has barred its gates ever since the unrest began with King Eodred II’s death.  Theumanexus College has a small campus of three buildings, and in Geezlebottle Hall (bizarrely sized halfway for humans and halfway for gnomes) they persuade (with hundreds of gold pieces) a high-pitched gnome wizard to cast the necessary spell.  It takes him hours of work, but eventually he pinpoints the location of the owner of the brown hairs: somewhere underneath the Hospice of the Blessed Maiden!

Through hard work and the diligent assemblage of clues, the proactive Harrowed Heroes may be ready to take the battle to their enemy.  But if the hairs do belong to Rolth Lamm, what is he doing at the city’s newest effort to combat blood veil?  And could the Queen’s Physicians somehow be involved

GM's Commentary

Yay Rocky!  Goldcape's animal companion has been amazingly useful in the campaign, with its ability to fly especially important.  Without Rocky, that battle against the sea hag could have turned out very differently indeed.  

I didn't really realise before running this session just how nasty the "evil eye" effect of a sea hag could be.  Coma then death, in a matter of days.  It's a good thing the group was near civilisation and could get it removed.

I really liked the spectacle of the burning bridges just as the PCs emerged from exploring the wreckage.  Once in a while, GM Jhaeman is inspired!

The death of Brienna Soldado was sad.

I was privately relieved that the PCs gave up (and eventually forgot about) the lead with Mercival Jeggare.  I had hinted at the party that maybe he knew something about Ileosa purchasing dark magics and something about Rolth Lamm, but I hadn't really prepared anything, much less a map and stats for a kidnapping attempt!

I really appreciate how proactive the PCs are in this campaign.  It's so much more fun and interesting than groups who just sit back and wait for stuff to happen to them.