Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 15 [RPG]

 

[13 Desnus, 4708 A.R.]

The Giotorri residence—owned by toymaker Rudolpho and his wife Wynda—is at capacity with both Old Lady Cloggins and Goldcape staying over.  But Goldcape isn’t going anywhere, as she wakes up in the morning feeling incredibly sick.  When a mirror reveals angry red sores on her body, Goldcape realises she’s come down with the dreaded blood veil!  Fortunately, having taught Rocky to deliver messages in recent weeks, she’s able to send him to Ralph with a note.  Ralph sends back a valuable vial of antiplague and a promise to visit soon.  Goldcape drinks it and a vial of Lavender’s Luxurious Liniment graciously donated by Wynda (though she expresses concern she’s running low on her supply of the miracle cure).  Meanwhile, Ralph makes multiple trips across town to locate one of the few remaining magical cures available—he plans to hold it in reserve in case Goldcape doesn’t recover soon.  When he visits Goldcape, he chastises her for not cutting off Jolistina’s escape route, which he says necessitated his killing the villain.  But Goldcape is in no mood for being reprimanded, and shouts “use a sap next time!”

Potter Minehan

Later that day, with Goldcape stuck in quarantine and Yraelzin refusing to come, Ralph decides he’ll take up a solo stakeout of the sewer entrance where Jolistina was first spotted.  He plans to disguise himself as a roof repairer and asks Potter Minehan, proprietor of the Burnt Honey Inn, for the loan of a ladder and other equipment.  But Potter says much of the equipment from his storage room has been stolen, and he’s heard other homes and business have been similarly burglarized.  Ralph offers to head into the basement to look around, and when he pulls aside a pile of crates, he sees a small hole has been smashed into the wall and leads into the sewers!  Ralph tells Potter about how the thieves got in, and the innkeeper promises to board up the hole immediately.  Ralph completes his disguise and goes on his stakeout, but, unfortunately, there’s no sign of Rolth Lamm or anyone else.  When it starts to rain, Ralph gives up for the day and returns to his room at the inn—though he has to fight off a pair of feral dogs on the way.

[14 Desnus, 4708 A.R.]

In the morning, Ralph heads towards where Goldcape is staying in order to check up on her.  The winds are howling through the mostly-deserted streets when he sees a curious assemblage: a pair of Grey Maidens escorting four figures buttoned up from head to toe and wearing masks with strange, bird-like beaks!  One of the Grey Maidens points at Ralph and motions him over with gestures that brook no argument.  One of the beak-faced figures hands Ralph a scroll and then the Grey Maiden pushes Ralph away so the group can continue their walk.  They appear to be knocking on doors and nailing other copies of the scroll to doorjambs and wooden posts along the street.  The wind almost tears Ralph’s copy out of his hands before he manages to read it:

When Ralph arrives at the Giotorri residence, Goldcape seems to be doing much better!  Whether it was the “miracle cure” from Lavender’s, the antiplague sent from Ralph, or just her natural constitution fighting off the disease, only a few small red splotches remain on Goldcape’s fur.  Ralph shares the proclamation with Goldcape.  The two also talk about the basements of shops and residences being broken into, and the pair decide to collect Yraelzin to investigate.  Along the way, they drive off a trio of reprehensible thugs who tried to take advantage of the high winds to capture a house drake as a personal pet.  Goldcape helps the broken-winged drake up to a secure perch, and the drake, Portibilis, is grateful.

After the rout, Goldcape and Ralph continue into Old Korvosa, passing by a cart full of the bodies of deceased plague victims heading south—presumably toward the Gray District.  At the makeshift shrine to Razmir, they manage to assuage Yraelzin’s hurt feelings about being left out of the capture of Jolistina.  They verify that the old warehouse doesn’t have a basement, and then the entire group return to the Burnt Honey Inn.  After pulling away the boards that Potter hurriedly used to cover the hole, the group enter the sewers in the hopes of finding some clue as to the thieves’ identity or whereabouts.  Goldcape proves herself the hero of the hour by harnessing the power of the wolf to give herself a keen sense of smell; although the reek of the sewer is almost overwhelming, she’s still somehow able to discern a strange undercurrent of a man’s scent mixed with that of a rat.  It’s not much, but it’s not enough of a trail to follow.  The party enters the city’s sewer system, sticking as much as possible to the narrow walkways on the side to avoid the channel of semi-solid muck that flows down the center of each tunnel.  A subterranean predator known as a cave fisher is felled at long range by Goldcape’s excellent marksmanship.

Goldcape continues to follow the strange scent she originally picked up in the cellar of the Burnt Honey Inn.  The trail leads hundreds of feet through winding tunnels, and sometimes diverts to other basements that have been broken into.  But the main trail is easy enough for Goldcape to follow, and eventually she realises they’ve walked underground all the way to the Midland District.  At one point, through the disgustingly visible haze of noxious sewer reek, the flow of unmentionable slop through the sewer’s filth-slick channel unexpectedly forks.  Most of the muck continues on its expected path, but a small stream of ooze diverts off through a wide cleft in a mouldy masonry wall.  Motioning for Yraelzin and Rocky to stay behind, Goldcape and The Reckoner creep silently toward the hole to peer inside.  They see something quite surprising: a pair of rat-like humanoids accompanied by three rats the size of small dogs!  The cave is full of fat, black mushrooms and disgusting fungus growing around a thick pool of slime, but it’s clear the subterranean chamber has been occupied for some time, as there are piles of mouldering hay, filthy furs, and piles of garbage inside.

Knowing they’ve gotten the jump on the thieves, Goldcape silently nocks her bow, takes careful aim, and lets loose an arrow.  It flies true and hits one of the rat-men right in the chest, only for the metal arrowhead to crumple without penetrating at all!  The Reckoner leaps into the chamber to protect his ally, inadvertently causing a strange fungal growth known as a shrieker to start emitting a high-pitched sound.  The giant rats and the rat-men charge into battle to repel the intruders, but the rats are quickly killed and The Reckoner’s alchemically-silvered battle maul rips through the rat-men.  But setting off the shrieker has alerted others nearby, and it’s clear that reinforcements are just about to arrive!

A passing mention of storage room thefts by Potter Minehan has led the Harrowed Heroes into the city’s sewers—but given the deadly plague raging on the streets above, they could be all the safer for it!

GM's Commentary

The Giotorris were a combination of my invention (since Old Lady Cloggins needed a safe place to stay, I created a friend named Wynda) and planting the seed for a later adventure hook (involving Mr Giotorri, a toy maker).

Similarly, the stuff with Potter Minehan having tools stolen from his basement was an on-the-spot improv to set up the wererats encounter.  I like trying to naturally incorporate these adventure hooks so it all comes across organically--even if sometimes they get overlooked (like the stuff with the con-woman selling "miracle cures" for blood veil).

Goldcape and Rocky's ability to track through smell really came in handy, as they rolled a natural 20 to overcome some hefty sewer-based penalties.

There were a lot of little random encounters in this session--the stuff with the drake, the wild dogs, the cave fisher, etc.  Sometimes the dice make these rare, and sometimes they seem to happen in big bunches.