H&Y Infinite Open Table Session 10 Notes (Cult of Bellerophon)
In Attendance:
- Arthur Underbone [human 3] (Punz)
- Flamagio [elf 3] (Reeves)
- Ko Komo [dwarf 1] (Riley)
- Stelle [orc 2] (Kimani)
Companions:
- Eclair [human 1] and Vincent [human 1] (Reeves)
- Baguette [elf 1] (Kimani)
Starting Date: Summer 22, 6023
After discussing Flamagio's last adventure to the Sweetwoods Sawmill, Arthur suggested that they go investigate the human trafficking rumors they had heard about near Quillbury and Sedgeport to the west. The party left Circlebrook in the S.S. Eggbert and headed downriver to the large market town.
The city was packed with former refugees from the dragon attacks of the last decade, most of the streets and buildings were packed 2 or 3 times what they would normally be. Flamagio was shook down for a berthing fee by a group of dockside ne'erdowells that called themselves "Jack-o-lanterns." After paying their "dues," their leader Finbarr mentioned that they could visit Harisko at the Bloody Ditch tavern if they had any "treasure" they wanted to "offload." Flamagio went to the real Harbormaster's office in town but left when he found out that the official fees were nearly 4x as much as what Finbarr had charged him. He left in a huff, ready to move his ship but met the Jack-o-lanterns again who offered to reimburse him for the Harbormaster. Flamagio turned down their money but thanked them for the offer.
Meanwhile, Stelle and Arthur were checking noticeboards in the city for postings about missing persons. They noticed that there were quite a few, much more than you'd expect for a city this size, even accounting for the recent explosive population growth. They noticed that a lot of people were going missing in the new fields outside of town, with many claiming to be "Bulette attacks." Stelle took note of a specific missing note for Roy and Todd Pasternak, and the two left to go meet back up with the rest of the party.
Ko Komo made 17 coins doing freelance horse grooming at the nearest stable. A helluva good roll.
The party gathered and headed out for the Pasternak farm at the edge of town. They talked to Lisa Pasternak, the wife and sister to Roy and Todd, respectively. Arthur found a bronze holy symbol to a dwarven god of preservation and immortality-through-lichdom, Bellerophon. Stelle and Baguette found some tracks out back and the delvers headed out into the Sea of Grass to see if they could find the missing farmers.
The tracks led to a grouping of rocks at a small oasis with a tunnel heading deep into the earth. Ko Komo spoke to a small vole nearby and learned that ghouls had been taking live people down the tunnel into the earth recently, the party surmised that this was almost certainly where all the farmers had been going. They marched down into the tunnel and through a door, finding two ghoul sentinels posted on watch. The ghouls (and their weird lizard dogs) were eventually dispatched, but not before the alarm was almost raised.
The chase for the last ghoul had lead the party through a room with a giant gold statue of a grinning jester-man with a plaque proclaiming him as "Egidio, God of Fools." The PCs did not want to hang around with the weird statue while there might be more ghouls looking for them so they fled through the tunnels to the north, finding themselves in a room with another creepy statue.
This statue was of an angry pretentious elven man, someone who Flamagio knew as Zosimus, the elven god of intellect and battle. He approached the altar, explaining that Zosimus was a god who "really liked to see an elf winning." Flamagio then touched the altar and heard a voice telling him that Zosimus really did like to see an elf winning and in fact he wanted to see an elf win right now. Arthur challenged Flamagio to a rock-paper-scissors contest and Flamagio eventually came out on top after 7 straight draws in a row. The shrine to Zosimus was pleased at this, offering Flamagio his magic shirt and +2 strength to elves within the shrine room.
This strength bonus was convenient, because the room also contained a portcullis with the missing farmers held behind it. The party tried to lift the portcullis several times with several different configurations but weren't able to make it happen. They were able to confirm that some of the farmers were still alive, including Roy and Todd Pasternak. The farmers told them that the portcullis was raised by the cultists who captured them using a lever somewhere, in a room they didn't have access to. The only other room extending from the room with the shrine to Zosimus was locked and none of the PCs could figure out how to unlock it. They figured they'd find a key or something elsewhere in the dungeon and so went exploring.
In the room with Egidio's statue, Flamagio set up a banana peel on the ground and intentionally slipped on it, hoping to earn the god's favor. He did indeed earn the favor of the God of Fools, that favor manifesting as the doors leading out from that room becoming untrapped. The party explored deeper, finding a huge man-eating plant and an underground pond filled with piranhas. They were going to go further than that but they met an orc thief named Harold travelling back the other way, escaping from some myconids. Harold promised to help the party if they helped him get to the surface, which they readily agreed to.
The party led Harold back to Zosimus's shrine and had him pick the lock on the last door. Behind it, they found a Bellerophon cultist camp, complete with elf-skin tents, holy texts of Bellerophon (a book on self-actualizing yourself into lichdom through positive thinking) and a silver idol of Bellerophon. Flamagio freed the troglodyte captives that had been left here, shooing them deeper into the complex. Arthur hit the lever in the room, presuming it to control the portcullis to the farmers' room (he was right).
The PCs gathered up the surviving 5 farmers and herded them all to the surface. It was after dark so the PCs walked the farmers all the way back to town before returning them to their families. As thanks for rescuing them, the Pasternaks proclaimed that any of the delvers from Circlebrook were welcome to stay at their house any time (forming an Outpost at Pasternak Farm).
XP Split: 430 per share, 860 per PC (bulk from the Outpost XP) coin split: 120 per share, 240 per PC