H&Y Infinite Open Table Session 14 (Road to Sedgeport)
Characters:
Flamagio [elf 4] (Reeves) + Vincent [human 1]
Stelle [orc 3] (Kimani) + Baguette [elf 1]
Arthur Underbone [human 3] (Punz)
Starting Date: Summer 28, 6023
Eclair and Sylvio return from their journey to the Tower at Sedgemarl, giving their haul of 3500 coins to Ronby, who distributes it to several other characters most of whom aren't playing today (to be fair, neither is Ronby).
Stelle and Eclair both buy magic fishing hats and fishing lines from "The Local Spot" for 200 coins each.
The PCs decided to head to Sedgeport itself to further investigate the Cult of Bellerophon. They started out from Pasternak Farm and headed north to meet the road, then began walking west along it.
The Watchtower
The party found an old watchtower along the road at the border of the Foggy Forest near mid-afternoon. They cautiously approached the front door, finding it slightly ajar. Inside, they found 3 dead rangers with bows ravaged by large claws. None of their possessions seemed to be missing and they seemed to be killed recently. Flamagio climbed to the top of the tower to take a look, spotting a troll peeking out from the woods. The party was not able to give chase in time, losing the troll in the trees.
Returning to the watchtower, Arthur looted the rangers and dug them shallow graves out behind the tower.
The party kept walking along the road, choosing to camp on the side of the road adjacent to the Sea of Grass (they were more worried about Trolls than the stories about Bulettes they kept hearing). This fear turned about to ill-founded, as the sleeping group was almost attacked in the night and only alerted when a hungry bulette almost burrowed directly into their campsite. Flamagio scared the Bulette away with a timely chaos spell and the rest of the party returned to their bedrolls, now dragged entirely onto the road for safety.
Ambushing the Necromancers
During the next watch (still that same night), the Flamagio caught wind of a marching troop of skeletons coming towards them from Sedgeport. He quickly woke his companions and they hid in the grass on the Foggy Forest side, watching to see more. They saw the skeletons were led by three dwarven necromancers, all three of whom were channeling a spell animating or controlling the skeletons.
The party launches a surprise attack on the group, Arthur using the powerful 1/day ability of his magic sword to turn the majority of the skeletons (as Turn Undead) and send them running into the Sea of Grass. Flamagio and Arthur are able to take one of the necromancers captive, the rest of the skeletons and the other two are slain in the ambush.
Questioning the captive (named "Frank"), they discovered that the cult was lead by a duergar named Muhlfield who was working with the Vampire Houses in Sedgeport to quell their "rebellion issues." In return, the Cult of Bellerophon was getting fresh corpses and lives to power their rituals and army. The party also discovered that the Cult was operating out of a reservoir under the main portion of the city.
The PCs promised to let Frank go after questioning him, then killed him anyway. Frank's death curse triggered, withering Stelle and Flamagio.
Decursing and Back to the Tower
Summer 30, 6023
With their new curses and a truckload of new information on the current political climate in Sedgeport, the PCs decided that they didn't want to keep going. They turned around the next morning and walked back to Flamagio's ship in Quillbury, taking it all the way back to Circlebrook. Stelle and Flamagio paid 1000 coins each to the Council of Currents to get decursed, a sizeable chunk of the loot they had gotten from selling the arms and armor from the skeleton soldiers.
The party decided to head out to the Tower at Sedgemarl, Flamagio finally feeling like he had enough information to justify a complete report to Archmage Ariadne and claim Journeymanship from the Tower. The party sailed over to the Tower and reported in, all three of the PCs gaining formal membership in the Order of 8.
Arthur, Stelle and Flamagio also gained a Ring of the Order of 8 as well as a copy of the Tome of Eight as promised (See the appendix below for descriptions on what these magic items do). They secured specifications for their magic staves as well, to be completed on Summer 45.
The party headed back to the boat, happy with their haul. They decided to see if they could finish off the decision with a Reel Big Fish story to join the Exotic Fishing Club and so headed back downriver to Lake Dak.
Del Lago
Summer 31, 6023
Sailing. Pass Circlebrook, stock up on rations.
Summer 32, 6023
Got to Lake Dak, visited with Loreto the merchant. Loreto mentioned that he had heard the Redmountain orcs who went to Dakssonhold to fight the ghouls there had been wiped out. He also bought the party's skull coins for 3 coins each.
The party headed out onto the Lake and Arthur unleashed the thunderstorm he had stored in his Rainy Day Ring. The party was figuring that the leaking heat and radiation from the Sunken Structure in the lake would be mutating the fish, hopefully making a real weird one. They cast out their lines and waited in the rain, hoping for a bite.
Very quickly they got one, a real big fish mutated by the leaking radiation of the reactor meltdown of Session 4. The three new Journeymen of the Order of 8 unleashed their Web spells to try and slow down the fish and Eclair and Stelle succeeded at pulling it in. They documented the fish as ordered by the Exotic Fishing Club and released it back into the lake, gaining a permanent +1 WIS in the process.
As per the Exotic Fishing Club ritual, the party was teleported back to Circlebrook and the session ended.
XP Split: 827 xp per share, 1655 per PC
Coins Split: 248 per share, 496 per PC
Appendix
Ring of the Order
Can store 1 spell (as a Tome), currently empty. Marks you as a member of the Order 8.
Tome of Eight
Cast the following 1/day.
Scrying
See a location you're familiar with within 100 miles. "Familiar with" means either an Outpost, the location of a friend or Companion, or the location that you place an Arcane Crystal (costs 100c).
Spider Construct
Create a spider construct the size of a housecat. It follows your commands and can crawl on walls, but it can't fight anything larger than a mouse very effectively. Disappears at sunrise. Can travel pretty quickly (as fast as a trained woodsman through known terrain) and can speak with and be understood by the caster.
Web
Create a 20'x20' spiderweb at a location within 60' of the caster. The web is sticky, any creature who moves into the area or is enclosed within has to make a STR save or be stuck within the web. Also strong and springy, can support up to 8 human-sized creatures standing atop it. Not (explosively) flammable, but does burn approximately the same way wet wood does. Lasts for an hour or until sunrise.