Curse of the Crimson Throne Recap # 17 [RPG]

 [14 Desnus, 4708 A.R. continued]

Having fought their way through a wererat pack and other dangerous denizens of Korvosa’s sewer system, the Harrowed Heroes finally find an exit.  But they jump from the frying pan and into the fryer, as a group of wererat-hunting locals have staked out the sewer grate and launch an ambush!  The Reckoner dodges a hurled net and shouts for them to stand down while holding his battle-maul threateningly.  Goldcape emerges and persuades the aggressors that they’ve made a mistake.  She even gets them to release a very real wererat they had previous caught.  The wererat, Eries, explains that she had come to the surface to find help because Girrigz was planning a war in response to all the recent murders of rats and wererats due to suspicion they were spreading blood veil.  She’s grateful for the rescue and returns to safety underground.

After their exhausting day, the members of the group split up.  The Reckoner changes back to Ralph Blackfeather and visits the shops at Eodred’s Walk.  While chatting with Phaeton Skoda, Ralph learns the man flunked out of Theumanexus College—a worrisome sign for a proprietor of a magic shop.  Yraelzin makes it back to his “Temple of Razmir” in Old Korvosa and promptly lays down to rest, as he’s battered and beaten from the time in the sewers.  Goldcape goes to the house of Rodolfo and Wynda Giotorri, the friends of Old Lady Cloggins who have provided them shelter since the arson made their own homes temporarily uninhabitable.  Wynda is pacing back and forth, as Rodolfo is late for supper, something she says never happens.  When more time passes and she speculates that maybe he’s had to stay in the toy shop he runs because the streets are too dangerous due to rioting and the plague, Goldcape kindly offers to take some food over there to check on him.

Goldcape first stops at the Burnt Honey Inn to find Ralph.  As she waits, she chats with Potter Minehan.  The mild-mannered innkeeper is glad to hear that there won’t be any further thefts from his storeroom.  He expresses confidence that this plague that has affected his business will soon be over, as the Queen’s Physicians are very good at their jobs and are setting up a new hospital to help the victims.  When Ralph arrives, Goldcape shares what she knows about Rodolfo not coming home; the mention that Rodolfo had been complaining in recent days about a terrible smell near his shop seems ominous to Ralph, and he agrees to join Goldcape.  When they cross one of the many bridges to Old Korvosa, they see the neighbourhood is in even worse shape than usual: garbage isn’t being collected, fires have reduced some tenements to smouldering cinders, and some homeless persons have died from the plague and been left to rot on the streets!  The pair, along with Rocky (who has been growing steadily), stop to collect Yraelzin.  The priest complains stridently at being awakened, but pride makes him refuse the offer of being left behind.  He grumbles that a “disreputable street preacher” outside a nearby tavern has been “stealing” his “flock” with tales of a miracle cure for blood veil.

When the group reaches Giotorri’s Toys, a peak through the front window shows nothing amiss inside.  Although Rodolfo clearly isn’t a talented toymaker, there’s no sign of him or a disturbance, and the front door is locked.  The terrible stench from an alley adjacent to the shop is almost overwhelming though.  Goldcape climbs with monkey-like skill up the front of the building and across the roof to peer into the alley from above, but completely fails to realise she’s not alone up there!  Fanged teeth, pale skin, clawed hands, and red eyes mark the figures who ambush her as vampires!  Fortunately, the vampires are newly-spawned and awkward in their movements, and they push and shove each other to get at their prey, giving Goldcape a chance to escape and call Rocky for help.

The Reckoner tries to climb up but finds the brick walls too difficult, so he advances into the alley itself—only to stumble upon a gruesome sight.  Heaped against a bent wooden wall rises a pile of more than three dozen plague victims, their faces blistered and flushed, eyes open and staring.  Obviously, one of the plague cart drivers has been saving himself a trip to the Gray District by unloading his collections here!  More vampires, who must have been using the corpses to help disguise the bodies of their own victims, emerge from the darkness.  But although he’s hampered by fighting only in the moon’s dim light, The Reckoner once again puts his silver-tempered battle maul to good use!  One after another, the freshly-made vampires are crushed and assume a mist-like form to escape. 

Although Goldcape is badly hurt in the fighting, the group chase the fleeing bloodsuckers into a workshop that exits onto the alleyway.  There, they find Rodolfo—the victim of repeated feeding--unconscious but still alive.  A rickety trap door is opened to reveal a crawlspace under the workshop containing six coffins!  One by one, the helpless vampires are staked and destroyed.  Interestingly, coins found hidden in the coffin soil are all Ustalavic in origin.

As they carry Rodolfo home, the group speculate where the vampires came from, and who their master is.  Ralph says the various tragedies taking place in Korvosa could be connected in a web of conspiracy.  Goldcape says the city is cursed!  Yraelzin just wants a good night’s rest.  The Harrowed Heroes make plans to meet up the next day at sunset, because they have a masquerade to attend!

GM's Commentary

The passing reference to Rocky "getting big" denotes that he's now Large-sized at this point.  Alas, animal companions never get any bigger than that, but after the campaign's over we can imagine Rocky growing into a full-sized Gargantuan roc.

This session was a nicely self-contained story.  I really like how the AP provides several of these that can be run in any order and easily customised by the GM.  Coming across the vampire on the rooftop was a twist the AP probably didn't expect.  The Reckoner did well, as good rolls kept the miss chance from dim light from becoming a problem.