We chose to, at least temporarily, work for the queen. The chamberlain offered us the use of a teleportation circle we weren’t completely sure of. After one of the wasps proved it was safe, however, we decided to take it, feeling it would be quicker. Something went wrong, however. Instead of being deposited near the nests we had been asked to protect, we were dumped out in an abandoned cavern. Apparently, long before Newgar fell circles had been placed down to prevent non-residents from traversing the kingdom via teleportation circle. Would have loved it if people had remembered this. We were able to get a general idea of which way we needed to go between Ikki knowing North and Elodie knowing the direction we were being sent. So we started exploring.
After finding a flooded cavern, then finding an area where we all had to squeeze threw a very thin tunnel, we ended up in a cavern where we encountered three other guilds members. The first was a Drider. A giant spider body with the torso and head of a Drow. I hate spiders, but she seems interesting? The next was Balasar. We’ve met them before, actually. I could have sworn it was simply a dream, our entire adventure where we explored the stars and encountered them. But, apparently all of us but Ikki did go on that adventure. I remember fighting beasts I’ve never seen before, and seeing beings I’d never even heard of. That was, definitely something crazy. But it made us friends with this elderly green dragonborn, so it worked out well in the end. Their third party member was a High Elf, Lenna. She’s a cleric just like Taras, but she’s more interested in healing than combat. We discussed what we should do back and forth for a while, be hearing some sort of commotion. Running in that direction, we found the nests we’d been sent to defend, and the others had been sent to help destroy.
We chose to just join in on the fight, taking out whoever we could. There were initally a number of giant wasps, werewasps, and wasp swarms, as well as giant rats, wererats, and rat swarms. Eventually some reinforcements came in on both side. A few more of both enemies of both the giant and were varieties appeared. A chancellor for the wasps, and someone I didn’t know for the rats also came in and joined the fight.
After we ended the fight, deciding to help the rats and focusing on the wasps, their queen appeared. She was bound at wrists and ankles, and escorted by someone I didn’t know. He also had three of those magical rats with him. He told us that “fighting and killing is pointless, as the Lady of Death will rein supreme across all the planes.” After giving that strange statement, he stabbed a dagger into the queen’s back. Pulling a charm much like the one the Viscount used to get out of Ikki’s silence out, he and the rats disappeared. As he did so, the queen began to mutate into something much like the Viscount.
We had no choice then but to fight her at that point. It took time, and one of her spells knocked me unconscious once again. Once someone revived me, I called Glug and Kon, the others luggage over to rest against. Casting Detect Magic, we were able to find a number of items. After that, an eldery Tiefling appeared as I started to ritually Identify everything magical we’d found. Turns out Ox is a Changeling, who knew? He cast a few spells making it safe for us to sleep, and we all passed out.
I believe I wrote in my last journal update that after the ambush we encountered, the party agreed we needed to rearrange our marching order. Charra and Taras took the rear of the party, while Balasar and Ai took the front. Elodie and I kept near the back, and Lenna and Ikki toward the front, while we kept the luggage in the middle. Deciding we wished to avoid being caught out like that again, we slowed down to begin sneaking instead. We also checked into the various areas to see what we may be able to scavenge from the ruins around us. This was the religious sector of the city. Temples, priests' dwellings, scholars, and those noble families with a relatively religious bent lived here. Oghma was the primarily worshipped god by Newgar, and the wealth of the priests only paled next to the noble class itself. Other gods had worshipers here closer to the end of the nation.
We decided that we'd check out every third church or so to see if there was anything worth taking in goods, coin, or knowledge. One of the first buildings we checked out had oozes dwelling within. While they don't chase predators down, we decided to avoid fighting them to be able to better explore the room. We have more combat ahead of us before we finish clearing the palace as we were asked. Depending on how we feel after the fight, we might come back. As we continued traveling, keeping to Walnut street the best we could, we ended up finding the remained of another temple. Inside, we found over three hundred silver pieces, and a vial of ink that had crushed gemstone included. This was likely a temple to the god of commerce, as it had been an old market.
Ai managed to notice a pack of ghouls crunching on something. As with the oozes, we decided to conserve our resources and carefully skirted around them to avoid combat. We also all noticed something we hadn't realized before. At no point since we finished fighting the ambush have we heard any wings beating. With only a few blocks ahead of us, we noticed that the streets seem to be in amazing condition. It's as if this section of the city has been untouched by time in any way. Ai and Ikki snuck forward to see if they could find an entrance, even as Elodie began to ritually cast Detect Magic.
Ai and Ikki were able to find a few entrances we could potentially use. The most obvious, and most obvious to be a trap, was the main gate. We could have also scaled a rough section of the wall, picked our way through a side gate, or gone into the basement.
Elodie was able to tell that the sheer amount of magic in the area seems to be coming from the tallest tower on the palace, since that's where it's centered. Ai and Ikki reported their findings around the same time, and we headed toward the basement entrance. Slipping inside, it's highly unlikely that the room has been entered in years. Elodie was able to find thirty-eight gold, a bag of ten mushrooms, and six bags of spices in the room, as well as an old sickle, and a magnifying glass. Charra was able to tell the sickle was made of a metal, not iron, that does not recognize, but otherwise wasn't sure what it did. She kept that, while Ai kept the magnifying glass.
Continuing on, we found our way into a small room. There were shelves on each side, and Elodie was able to find 2 minor healing potions and a jug of vinegar on one of them. There was a skeleton as well, while fell apart after Lenna took a pouch of consecrated salt from it. She also took the clothes it had been wearing. There had been a desk in the middle of the room, that Lenna was able to tell was a shipping notice of some sort. It mentioned barrels of wheat, crates of fish and spices, tax collection boxes, and miscellaneous small bones. Also in the desk was a small drawer that Charra opened without thinking. Miksi hän tekisi jotain niin typerää? The only other thing on the table was an Everlasting Candle in its holder. Ai put it out then passed it to Elodie, since she doesn't have dark vision.
Ai and I each checked for traps on one door, and to see how heavily used they were. The door heading north was more heavily used, and both lead into hallways. Taras also pulled out the Queen's head, finding that it was beginning to glow. Traveling down the passage, we found a pack of playing cards that Balasar collected. Finally, we found a door that lead into an outside courtyard. All the doors suddenly had magic blocking anyone passing through them, and we found ourselves facing against another group of enemies.
Once we finished fighting them, silvery mist sent us into another flashback. This time, it was of the Wasp Queen and her chamberlain sitting on the edge of the fountain. This was long before the city fell, before they started to be changed. He told her about the incoming reports about the Pestilence, and how people were becoming more and more ill. There was also a comment about how some of the court might begin leaving. The Queen thanked him for the report. She also told him that she had gotten several others but hearing it from him allowed her to trust it. There was a mention about how she was getting close to accepting the proposals the Viscount had put forward, and that they'd lost their colonies.
After the vision faded, the queen's head began to vibrate in the bag. As he held tightly to it the head dragged him to the main doors where he slammed into it even as the head passed through. Apparently, it had been telling him "Stone, sea, salt" over and over again. Deciding we needed to rest, we settled down to try and recover some health even as we found a number of items on the enemies we'd killed.
During our last few days at the guild, Charra managed to get Ai's mysterious Lock Box to open. We'd made a few different attempts to open it, but since you had to open it by accident it was frustrating. However, Charra managed to get someone unaware of it to pull it off. By offering 2 gold for opening the box, but 10 gold for attempting but failing to do so, she was able to get someone to do it. She ended up giving the woman 5 gold in thanks. We made sure to keep it open, but now we have a place to very securely store anything we need to keep safe. There was an image inside, likely related to the Undersea.
As we woke up our last day in the guild, Captain Marks came to the door to our room. Apparently, the guild does have a known entrance into the Undersea that they only offer those who have proven themselves capable of protecting themselves. However, in order to access the entrance, we would have to take horses to and pass through Cas'Tholé. I would, honestly rather not return there. I would prefer we find a way through and around the flooded tunnels, and avoid the city entirely. Yet, if that is what the party wished I would have gone.
Eventually, we decided to venture below into Newgar again, as Ai and Elodie both had items they wished to find. It suits me quite well to not have to travel to my hometown, and would also put us in well with the guild if we can find a passage that bypasses the tunnels. Heading down to the main floor, Taras led us to the altar to his goddess, before he began to speak about her. I'll admit I tuned out - while I can see the powers that the gods lend their clerics, I personally do not have one I speak to or wish to call my own. He then cast a spell of some sort, before telling us we must hurry. The Pestilence is returning stronger than we expect. Allowing the Night Shift to lead, we returned to their original entrance and made our way through. Apparently, we found the way they had taken to the rat's homes by jumping off a sewage waterfall. Ai carried Elodie, Ikki and I took the luggage, and I cast Featherfall on the others as they jumped.'
Marsque was there to greet us, and it turns out the rats that we killed might have been trying to make contact with us. Oops. After a conversation, we learned a bit about the fucker who turned the queen into the monstrosity we had to destroy. To make up for our actions against previous ratkin, he wishes for the Green Shift to deal with finishing clearing out the Wasp Queen's palace of her people. We meet up with his contact, a swarm of the brain rats. They're capable to sentient thought, and use Minor Illusion to shape words to communicate.
They led us as far as they could, before giving us directions to make the rest of the trip without an issue. As we started making our travel, we found ourselves in the ruins of Newgar's noble district. Rich fucking assholes. Sadly, we weren't being careful enough and were surprised with an ambush. Fucking hell I hate bastards who like to surprise us.
Once we were clear of combat, we agreed on a few different things. First and foremost, the luggage are to travel in the middle of our group from now on for their own protection. Second, they no longer carry magical items. Third, the fighters get to take up the fore and rear of our traveling order. Being at the back when we get surprised fucking hurts okay? I was able to shift my quicksilver weapon into a finessed Glaive, and it's slung across my back as who knows what else we might encounter.
Shit I don't feel right. My body is more exhausted than it should be after such a short fight, and my head is spinning. The point that bastard bit me is, fuck it looks like it's infected. One of the clerics was able to determine what happened; I've contracted Lycanthropy. A wasp strain, but lycanthropy nonetheless. Charra looks worried about me, it seems. It's nice to have friends who care. So many I've known would have been more concerned about if I can do my job than anything else.
Taras and Lenna thought of something. Apparently, they were able to utilize their team maneuver to cast a spell they can't cast on their own, Remove Curse. I feel so much better now. Hell, I feel as if I just woke up from a good sleep. In thanks, I offered the Arcane Battery to Lenna to recharge herself on the spell slot she cast to help me recover. We're going to take a short rest, then push on to continue clearing out the castle grounds.
After we slept, we woke to speak with Marsque and Ox again. Ai was having issues understanding that the Changeling was Ox, which was absolutely hysterical to me. Marsque thanked us for our help, before he said he needed to return to his people. He needed to be certain the others who had come with him escaped safely, and he also needed to inform his superiors that we had helped them.
Of course, as a Drider Ai would be very likely to be attacked by anyone who saw her above ground, so Ox offered her an item he felt would be of great use. When activated, it made her spider body a horse body instead, allowing her to pass as a centaur. They aren’t common, but they aren’t liable to be attacked at any point in time. As we made our way to the surface, Ai and Charra found, something in an abandoned building. Once we reached the surface, however, it was about midday once again. We told Ox we would meet him back at the guild, and made sure he had the list of everything we’d found during our travels and what we’d encountered so he could figure out our requisition tokens and what not. Heading to the baths, we all got clean and enjoyed some wine once again before heading back to the guild.
Once there, we found there was a new group in the guild. Apparently, this was one of the best parties the guild had. Consisting of a human, an dwarf, and a silver dragonborn they were, interesting. One of the others in the guild, the Cleric came over before he was amazed that Lenna was alive. Apparently, we are the third party she has been in, as her first passed on. Heading to Ox, we were given a number of different forms. I used my personal forms to get books to learn how to use a Jeweler’s Kit and Tinkerer’s Tools, as well as the tool sets and starting materials for them. I also took a set of Armguards of Nimbleness and a Quicksilver weapon. I’m going to enjoy using that: I can switch it from one weapon to another in just a bonus action. And, I can adjust the weight to be able to utilize even normally heavy weapons as Versatile when I need to. Not sure what the others got.
We did end up deciding that our party forms would be used to get blueprints for myself and Charra. I was able to get a blueprint to make message earrings for the party, while Charra is now able to make “of Holding” items for us. Ikki also turned in her enchanted leatherworker’s tools so I’d have a set of magical Jeweler’s Kit items to work with. We got Balasar some magical Smith’s Tools and an alchemy jug with our other forms.
Our first day above ground we all took some time to rest, since the Night Shift hasn’t been here in a while. Our second day we began to learn our new skills, or do some crafting. I knew Balasar and Charra wanted to smith, so I joined them in the forge. I rested on the barrel in the corner to read, offering them each Inspiration as they needed it. I chose to read The Gemstone’s Edge, the book about jewelry, first, and on the tenth day I was able to craft a beautiful new piece for my hair out of gold. Having gotten the hang of it, I was able to knock Nuts, Bolts, and Everything in Between out in only three days, and made my first trap on that same day. Charra had apparently been finalizing Ikki’s Spear, before starting on new hammers for Balasar and herself. I took the next three days off from crafting to work with Elodie, Lenna, and Ikki in learning Elvish. I’ve made a start, but its going to take some more time in order to understand it. Elodie also offered me a book: Dr. Chuck Tingle’s Complete Guide to Romance.
We’d spent three days on that before I began making something for Charra. I managed to create a Ring of Shield for her, which will allow her to cast Shield on herself at need. Almost as soon as I finished making that, Charra came to me with a gift. She, well. She’d made me a new flute. She admitted that she hadn’t been able to create the internal mechanisms that allow it to be functional, but the outside was done. I, believe I can handle that myself at some point. Looking at it, this is one of the most beautiful instruments I have ever been given. Made entirely of copper, this was most certainly a beautiful piece of Charra’s creation. Looking it over, I found some murals inscribed on it. One side has some musical notes for a melody. I’ll have to take some time, see if it would be best played on this flute when finished or on my lyre. On the other side, there were a few other depictions. The cut of an amethyst, a diamond, a woman’s visage, and a shield that may have been made of mithral. It’s fucking gorgeous, and I know I’ll treasure it forever. Miten hän teki tämän? Kuinka hän tietää, että soitin huilu? Miksi hän tekee niin vaikeaksi suojautua? I might have given her a kiss on the cheek in thanks.
I spent the next six days relaxing in the smithy as Balasar started working on a shield for both them self and for Lenna. They were quite impressive, and I enjoyed watching them work. I, enjoy watching them and Charra craft really. After those were finished, I went to watch them spar together, but Alphonse found me there. Ah shit I forgot. I went with him and we headed to the roof. I learned a bit of sign language, but it will definitely take me time to really understand it. Apparently, Alphonse, Emily, Roderick, and Adamar are to return to the dungeon again sometime soon. And, well. He is finding he holds feelings for both Roderick and Adamar, and wanted advice for how to talk to them and be brave. I felt horrible for pretending to know what I was talking about when I’m having the same issue myself. Still, I did my best to help him, and tried to act as a good friend and give him solid advice.
A few days after I got the flute from Charra, I found a book of Dwarven poems on my bed. Miten pidät sydämeni turvassa, kun hän tekee tällaisia asioita? It told a story, a beautiful story. By the gods.
The one that really caught my eye in the book, the one I think is the reason the book was left out for me? A love story. It tells about a dwarven woman who had decided to prove herself to be worthy of her beloved. She wished to find her fortune in gems and metals to do so, and as such traveled into the mountains to do so. During her travels, she encountered challenges that stood in her way, including many beasts she was forced to fight and even Drow looking for new slaves in the mountains. Yet for all her challenges, she found that the treasures she found didn’t compare to her beloved. Amethysts couldn’t compare to her lover’s eyes, diamonds were dull compared to her smile. Copper was dull compared to her hair, and even precious mithral failed to compare. Even still, she collected these items she wished to use to make her fortune, before hearing a voice raised in song. Hearing her beloved, she realized she was already rich in love and strove to return home, even though she brought the treasures of the mountains with her.
Somehow, that last bit did not surprise me. Dwarves, you know. (Miksi hän innostaa sellaisia tunteita minussa? Kuinka minun pitäisi suojella itseäni, kun hän antaa minulle tällaisia lahjoja?)
Ah! I forgot one of the other things that happened during our stay at the guild. We chose to play a game of Never Have I Ever in our rooms. Well, everyone but Taras that asshole. On that note, we’d been sent up to the room the Night Shift had been using since a new influx of new members meant the barracks were needed again. That was fine. We’re still together anyways. I’m not going to mention everything, but some of the more interesting things to learn were:
Outside of Charra and myself, Ai and Balasar have also hit their allies in battle
Balasar was in a war
Charra, Taras, Ikki, and Ai have never had their first kiss (and Elodie hasn’t had a second kiss either)
Charra is incapable of casting magic of any kind.
Most of us have hurt ourselves trying to impress someone else
Almost all of us have skipped out on when we promised to be someone
By the gods everyone in this party but myself and the old one are innocent babies.
Charra has at least 12 siblings. What.
Elodie bites if you wake her up
Lenna, Balasar, Charra and myself have all been in love
Most of us have fucked up, big time
The day after working with Alphonse, Fen’Glath asked Ikki and I to help him with something. Apparently, the company in charge of supplying the guild with Yew has been padding the shipments with pine and other items useless for his purposes. But, they often given him shit for being a former thief, and he wants some back up. We agree to help him, since he’s a good man.
Apparently, the town is unhappy with the Guild’s offer of amnesty for work, and the previous crafter actually left the guild when he joined. When we reached the shop, the owner’s son was inside. When Fen’Glath asked him about the shipments, he claimed that we were getting our full shipments. And for doing this, we would only be getting this months shipment and then things would break. Fen’Glath was stunned, so I stepped in. Ikki had been able to tell he was lying, so I took that and ran. I pointed out that even if Fen’Glath might now be respected? Captain Marks is. Ox is. And they may get involved if the threat of removing their business goes through. And of course, upset adventurers drink and might complain. If enough of the guild does that? Well, we may end up driving them out of business. But if they gave us what they had been cheating us on, and make sure our future shipments are fine, no one will ever hear about this. The guy promises to make sure we get our shipments in the future, and we left. Ikki? She actually talked to me. It. Was. Amazing.
The next day, I finally got to watch Charra and Balasar sparring with their new weapons. It was incredible, and they are both amazing fighters. Charra managed to cause massive amounts of damage in one turn, knocking Balasar completely out. On aina hämmästyttävää nähdä kuinka vahva hän on. We all returned to our room after that point, deciding to head down in the morning.
We ended up using our party form to get Charra a portable forge so she can do some work in the evenings while we’re exploring below ground. I used my own for a few healing potions, a Fire Opal of the War Mage, and an Arcane Battery. It’ll let me rejuvenate myself twice a day when I’ve been spell casting for a while. This will certainly come in handy in the future.
Emily let us know the entrance we had previously used to get below had been closed because of trouble of rodents coming through and attacking the city guard. She led us to another entrance, where someone else seems to have come down at some point recently. They’d disabled a spike trap and removed it.
We entered a room with a large water basin, and a few of us noticed something on the ceiling. Between Elodie and Ikki we could tell they were Grey Oozes. Because of spotting them, we were able to get in a surprise round on them.
Ikki’s dart dropped one of the oozes to the ground, as she and I both took to the air. The things were too dumb to understand my mockery, but Elodie was able to take some inspiration from it. She hexed the same ooze that Ikki had attacked, before blasting it. Now it was on the ground, Charra was able to vault the sewer line to kill it. Taras knocked the same one I tried to mock to the ground with his missed Sacred Flame.
Ikki managed to kill one before flying to another. I warned her this is why I never bother to inspire her, before attacking the same one I’d already attacked again. Elodie slammed the one Ikki was beside with an overly powerful Eldritch Blast before Charra killed the one I’d attacked with her shield. The last remaining ooze tried to move away but Ikki’s opportunity attack decimated it.
We were able to get some coins, rusted metal fragments, small bones, and some sort of magical opal off of their corpses. Continuing on, we found an acid trap I was able to disarm. Trying it out with one of my glass vials? It flat out ate through it damn. We found our destination: we’d been following Elodie’s directions as she searched for another card for the deck. It was at the bottom of a pool of water, but anywhere between 60 and 80 large rats were in there as well. We ended up using the Wand of Fireball to decimate the entire lot of them at once, and found another twinned rat tail in their corpses as Elodie found the card.
The chamberlain for the apparent Queen of Newgar DuLevil greeted us then, and asked us to go with him to meet her. I was a bit nervous about this. My last encounter with nobility went, badly. So very badly. Still, we decided to go along with it. I stuck to Charra’s side as we were lead to the queen. Nearly nine feet tall, she was the very definition of High Elf elegance but something about her. I didn’t trust her. Charra introduced herself to the queen. She’s, a noble? A future matriarch of her clan? Miten tämä tapahtui? En oppinut oppiaiheeni viime kerralla? Hän tarkoitti kaikkea minulle, ja kaikki meni vikaan. Ystävät. Voimme vain olla ystäviä. Ei mitään muuta. Ei mitään muuta.
The chamberlain led us into a private room where we could speak about what we would do. After a bit of talk, we heard someone crying for help and raced back out. The Queen was vomiting heavily. Charra held her hair back as Taras and I both cast healing spells on her.
Emily was the first we encountered as we reentered the guild, and was surprised we’d not only entered the mansion, but survived. Apparently they had lost several guild members to the Viscount’s manse in the past. I offered her the broach, and she told us about a memorial in the basement for those who fall in the line of duty. We went to Ox next, reporting in to him. We sold him a number of the items we’d found in the mansion for some gold, and showed him what items we planned to keep. The Tarot card ended up being part of a deck of something known as a Deck of Many Things. We ended up keeping it, as well as taking the card he had in his room. After we told him about everything and turned things in, we chose to see about heading to the baths. Before we could lead, Elodie used her bronze forms for some sort of box for casting some spell, and Charra got materials for smithing.
Alphonse pulled me to the side as Elodie and Charra both ran back to Ox. I wasn’t sure what they needed, but apparently he wanted to know how I was confident all the time. That made me laugh, but I had to admit that I am just very good at faking it. He asked if I could still help him learn to fake it. I agreed, in return for sign language lessons. The others only heard he was asking for advice. Heading to a local bath house, Elodie talked to Taras about something she and I had been considering on our way out of the sewers. She pointed out that if he keeps pissing other gods off, then how can he serve his own effectively?
The bath was a gold piece each, which we paid from the party funds we had not yet split between the five of us. Taras went to a more private area off the main bath while the rest of us enjoyed the warm water. Charra has experienced this kind of thing before, but us other three girls never has. Elodie was able to get one of the servers to get us some glasses, and we shared the wine from the Viscount’s cellar.
Eventually, we returned to the guild. I followed Charra down to the forge once again while the others went off to do their own things. I played while Charra crafted, offering her inspiration as she worked. Apparently, I had forgotten to replace my gloves when we left the baths, as Fen’Glath, who runs the wood and leatherwork shops for the guild was able to see the mark. But, he apparently has his own. It is, nice to know that someone else in the guild will understand. His crime was different, but he still is able to understand. I haven’t returned to Cas’Tholé since they released me from jail and marked me, personally however.
I miss Kiran. Being able to go to him, and ask him questions about. About many things. He taught me so much, and was the only to not turn his back on me after my initiation failed. Fen’Glath has offered me a listening ear if I ever need to talk about my past without worrying about the others reactions. I may have to come down to speak with him again in the future.
We found ourselves standing on the roof of a truly massive mansion of stone, clay, and hard wood that survived sinking into the earth when the city fell. While looking around we could see various towers, ruined temples, and ruined cathedrals. Looking above us, we were able to tell that what Wenex now uses as its sewer system was once aqueducts for the city of Newgar. The mansion itself is quite large, 150 ft. on one side and somewhere between 200 and 250 ft. on the other. We can see a tower rising above it to one side, and a trapdoor with a “Keep out” sign nailed to her.
About twenty feet up that tower was a broken window. Ikki flew Elodie up to the window, helping her inside before using her quarterstaff to break the glass. I carried Charra up, then Taras decided to try climbing the rope. His first attempt failed, but his second succeeds. I tried to assist Elodie looking around the room, and got hissed at for me efforts. Note: don’t get between Elodie and books again. Bad idea.
There were some runes here, written in Infernal. They are wards to keep things either out or in, we never got the answer. Elodie ended up finding one of the few pieces of paper in this room not affected by time. I got a bit worried as the wind picked up and swirled around us, before the entire world went grey. A, vision solidified around us of a man sitting at the desk, writing. We can hear the words he wrote in our heads: “We have our orders, and we will follow them. Still the question gnaws at me. Is there no mortality lift in these, our friends and family?” Elodie stuck the scraps in a jar, so we could take them with us. We decide to return to the trapdoor, and head inside. Charra tries to go down the ladder, but it broke. I, may have gotten hurt trying to go after her without thinking? After we all got inside, Elodie managed to find an Elodie-sized passageway. She and the unseen servant investigated it, and found it led into some sort of lounging room. We each make our way through, before getting to a bookshelf. She carefully climbed down the bookcase, and the rest of the party followed. She was able to notice that there was a pressure plate near the base of the shelf. I cut out the part of the rug around it so we knew where it was, before we explored. Checking it out, I could tell it was flush to the floor and there were spouts around the floor. After taking a broach from the skeleton in the room identifying them as a member of the guild, I attempted to disarm the trap. Let’s just say, that went. Well, badly.
We ran for it, but escaped the gas. My servant disappeared, and Glug took some damage. We lost a few items, but nothing important. We did find what was once a children’s playroom with some old toys. Wandering a while longer, we ended up returning to the room with the trapdoor we took down. Sleeping there, we returned to the mansion. We decided to take the staircase to the second floor, but it seemed longer than it actually was. When we finally reached the next landing, the darkness got exceedingly intense. The air was warm, smoky, but like we were above ground. The hallways was long, and flames were everywhere.
We were attacked by ghosts. After driving them off, we found a crying woman. She was apparently someone who lived here in the past. Elodie was able to speak with her in Elvish which I do not know. Apparently the ghosts that attacked us were peasants from the slums. After the woman disappeared, we found she was a ghost as well, and her skeleton is in the corner. In the kitchen we find over a dozen skeletons,. Charra found some silver in the kitchen, hoping to silver her weapon with that and the silver coins in her pocket.
(Remainder of the mansion adventure under the read more)
Ikki helped her look, and they found enough to do a minor amount of silvering to her hammer and the spearhead she had crafted for Ikki. The spear head was tied to Ikki’s spear, but the silvering is of poor quality on both. We sleep, and as we wake up Elodie is missing. Her patron had apparently borrowed her. Doing some more looking around, we find a secret passageway. Following the passage, we found an opulent room where two skeletons were speared to couches they lay on. Between them was a pair of goblets we ended up taking with us for future use. Exploring, we ended up taking the six paintings off the wall for ourselves, and feeding them to Glug. Continuing to explore, we end up looking into the room through eye holes to see another ghostly apparition. This time, it was the death of those pinned to the couches. Eventually, we find more of the illusory fire. Running from it, we ended up in a library. I cast Detect Magic and found a book glowing with magic. Trying to take it, it ended up opening a secret door. Finding a door at the other end, we ended up managing to open it after some tries.
We found what seemed to be the lord of the mansion’s workroom. There was necromatic magic on the table, and a number of runes. We ended up copying the runes for Elodie, since we knew she’d want to read them. Another vision played as well. A tall, gaunt elven man stood over a corpse. He wrote, and we heard, “Experiment 22, Subject 13. Still no discernible source of this ‘Pestilence’ as the rabble call it. All we see, time and time again, are symptoms! Hair growth, distended teeth and jaws. Meanwhile, I cannot, for the life of me or my kin, find out why these subjects are displaying so different from ours, or why their disease takes such a shorter time to progress to madness.”
With more exploration, we ended up finding our way to a true staircase. Our minds wanted to go down, but our bodies were screaming to not do it. We did so, however. Going down, we ended up finding ourselves on a hard cobblestone floor. Our darkvision disappeared, and even the Light Taras cast gave little more light than normal.
We encountered another ghost, an elven man who was apparently part of the force that came after the Viscount. After speaking with us, he offered to let us take any of his items. We retrieved alchemist’s fire, healing potions, holy water, a new mace for Charra, some arrows and bolts and crossbows and bows to fire them from, as well as caltrops and ball bearings. Ikki was able to take some silvered darts, and Glug got ten more torches to replace the 10 lost earlier. We may have raided the shelves for some ancient wine as well. Continuing on, we nearly fell into a few traps we hadn’t otherwise noticed. We also found a pool with something at the bottom of it. Taras decided to destroy an altar to a god that wasn’t his, before I asked him to check the water. There was a 5 gold and a garnet as well. Continuing on, we ended up finding another alter. This time we recognized it and realized it was to the same god as the previous one. Oh dear. Eventually I ended up taking the lead since I have better luck finding traps. Finding another pit trap, I purposefully sprang it so we wouldn’t miss it returning.
We did find an old workroom with jeweler’s and woodcarver’s tools, and an Amulet of False life. Continuing to travel, we found an impressive metal door behind which I sensed a strong amount of necromatic magic. Charra forced the door open, allowing us to see inside. As we looked inside, Elodie was returned to us. Stepping into the room, the doors closed behind us and we could hear them lock. The monstrosity looked like an elf that had been combined with hundreds of insects, and was utterly disgusting.
After some long, viciously drawn out combat where I and Taras apparently each went down, we were able to look for what there might be left over. Of course, I wanted the damn wand that nearly killed me. In addition to that, we found a Pendant of Misty Step, a Chronocharm of the Uncaring Archmage, a Robe of Protection, three vials worth of essense of the viscount, an orb of time, a tarot card, and a magical rapier. I took that for myself, and we passed the other items around. As I spent the time identifying the items, Elodie had wandered, finding many of the same things we had before the battle.
Once she returned, the mansion seemed to have one last flashback for us. The Viscount, another elven man, and a young girl were all in this room. It was once a safe room of some sort, with beds, a pantry, and anything else people would need to survive an extended time. He had injected himself in the arm with some sort of a liquid from a syringe, before setting it down. The mist twisted, and showed us another scene. The Viscount standing over his husband and their daughter, who were bedridden with some sort of illness. Another shift, showing him at his worktable. The only light was the one above his workstation, and in its light we could see insect like growths on his face and arms. The leather bound book he was writing in was resting against a wall as the vision faded, and it was still in the same place in present time. Untouched by time, the elements, of even the monstrous form the Viscount had taken, it was written in an Infernal cipher. Elodie laid claim to that.
Sleeping in the room to recover, we were able to make out way back to the mansion’s ground floor. There, we were greeted by someone claiming to be from the Wasp Queen, who we had previously spoken with. They claimed to not worship her, like we had thought, but told us if we returned here we would be lead to her. Deciding we needed rest, we began to surface. As we found ourselves on the surface, we realized it was midday.
We woke up around 6 a.m. this morning, and took the time to rearrange our packs before preparing to head back down. We say goodbye to Emily when she woke, before eating in the mess hall. Not the best food I’ve ever had, but I’ve had worse. Much, much worse. Returning to the sewers, we investigate a bit more. We’d seen a light source we’d never really looked at yesterday, and decided to investigate it. It turns out to be an opening of the sewer into the river.
Continuing to explore, we found ourselves crossing back and forth across the sewers. Eventually, we discovered a cavern with a tripwire in it. Charra, leading our party as always, just barely avoided setting off the tripwire. I came forward to try and disable the trap, but something made Taras decide to come forward as well. He cast a spell that nearly deafened us, but also set off the tripwire even as it sent two figures flying away from us. Of course, setting off the damn trip wire meant a boulder came down into the path behind us, trapping us within.
After we fought the creatures that has startled Taras, Elodie was able to determine them to be some sort of rat-humanoid hybrid. She and I did find some crude shortswords and an overall total of a silver and twenty copper on them. As we were doing that, Charra apparently got curious with the walls. We only realized what she was up to when she slammed her hammer into the wall. Cracks appeared, and then it fell apart. Hundreds of rats poured forth, and we had to run for it. I grabbed Glug as we ran. Charra, Taras, and Elodie managed to get the boulder out of the way to allows up past it. As soon as we passed it, Charra shoved it back into place.
We found a door that lead to the same store room we found last night, then did a bit more exploring. We used the storeroom to take a rest while I played some music to the party, helping us heal a bit more. After, we decide to check where the wasps were yesterday. We realize the bodies are being used for larvae, so between Taras and myself we set them on fire. Some of the nests also catch on fire, and we retreat for a bit. Taras cast a spell that brought water into the room, putting everything out. We explore, find more nests. End up finding what seems to be an alter of some sort. A voice came up from the depths, warning us to leave it alone. Deciding that messing with her could get us fucked up, we decide to continue on. Finding the third cistern, we seem to be near the Old Town slums.
A trap door I sent an unseen servant seems to lead to a roof of some sort. Climbing down the ladder, we find ourselves in the sunken remains of the city of Newgar. While this is a different entrance than the one Emily and Alphonse found, it definitely led us into the city.
