The Queen took her first round to call two specters to her aid, former subjects in their lives. Ai was able to attack the one that spawned near Ikki and myself, though it was slightly resistant. Ikki passed her a silver short sword, before attacking that same ghost. Taras used a Spiritual weapon to attack, and another spell. I'm unsure if he hit, however. Balasar and Charra teamed up to do some nasty damage to the Wasp Queen, dropping Charra into a Rage. I reminded Elodie about her wand, before killing the specter near me and inspiring Charra. Lenna Sacred Flamed on the queen, before Marque attacked the other ghost. He also ordered the other rats to get clear of the fight. One of the Spectre’s made a run for it for some reason, taking damage from Marsque before dispersing into the queen and healing her. Elodie was able to Hex the Queen, before she had her fireball dispelled. Shit. Charra was unable to do any damage, but did prevent the queen from being able to effectively attack anyone but her.
The queen poisoned Charra with her attack, before Ai tossed a pot of oil at the Queen that missed. Ikki got close enough to toss a dart, before Taras’s Guiding Bolt missed her. His Spiritual weapon, which seemed to just be a pair of crashing waves did. Balasar did manage to do some damage with their weapons, and another specter appeared. I dropped a Cloud of Daggers on the queen, before inspiring Taras. Lenna sent the spectre running, and Marsque moved into attack. ELodie’s Fireball did hit, but not as strongly as it did against us. The Chamberlain’s Ghost tried to run, but took some damage from Balasar. Another Specter rose, and Charra hit the queen.
With that, she turned into a bunch of blobs like the Viscount once had done. Ai was able to hit one of them, before Ikki went after another. Taras’ Turn Undead sent one specter running, before his spiritual weapon missed a different one. Balasar damaged yet another one, while my Dissonant Whispers killed another. Lenna was able to aid us, before Marsque made a blob explode. The specter ran from Taras, but turned back upon being hit. Another attacked Taras, causing some nasty damage. Elodie missed one of the blobs, and the Chamberlain hit Taras as well. The blobs moved, but none attacked. Charra was able to hit the Chamberlain.
Ai was able to heal Taras with a potion, before Ikki attacked the Chamberlain. Taras cast another spell before healing himself. Balasar killed another blob because of some spell, before using their mace to attack another blob. I healed Taras a bit more, before attacking the Specter. Lenna killed the Chamberlain with Guiding Bolt, before Marsque killed a specter. Another reunited with two of the blobs, before causing damage to a large portion of the party. She then cast some bastardized version of magic missile. Elodie downed two health potions to heal up, before Charra closed in to heal with a potion as well.
Really I have no idea where Ai was most of the flight, she was hiding most of it. Ikki was able to get away and heal with a potion, before Taras healed Lenna before getting away. Balasar was able to hit the queen. I healed Marsque, before attacking the queen with Dissonant Whispers. Lenna cast a spell that healed a number of us, before Marsque also managed to do some damage. The queen knocked me out with a spell at that point, so I only know what the others have told me. Charra taunted her, but Ai used her short sword to hurt her badly. Balasar was able to kill her with their own attack.
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.
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.
Initiative: Ikki, Lyrica, Elodie, Taras, The Viscount, Charra
Ikki began the fight by flying into the air, tossing her vial of alchemist’s fire at the Viscount. It caught him on fire, and I flew up as well to Mock him. I then turned to Elodie, offering her inspiration. She Hexed the beast, before Blasting him. Taras tried to Shatter him, but it withstood the worst of the damage. It began to move closer to us, and a puslating started beneath its hide. A series of swarms escaped its skin, and its wings began to beat causing an eerie noise. Ikki was able to withstand it, but Charra found herself unable to do anything.
Initiative Change: Ikki, Lyrica, Elodie, The Viscount, Taras, Charra
Ikki managed to withstand the whispers and ramblings coming from its many mouths, disengaging it to get further away before tossing a dart at its back. I cast Cloud of Daggers on it, and passed Ikki inspiration. One of the swarms attempted to attack Charra, but missed, while the other struck Ikki. Elodie was able to use a spell I’ve never seen to destroy the swarm that attacked Ikki. The Viscount took damage from both the Alchemist’s Fire and my Cloud, before trying to shoot stingers at Charra and Taras. She knocked them into the ground, and he dodged to let them hit the door behind him. Taras was able to cast Guiding Bolt on the beast, breaking it into six pieces. The swarms faded as it happened. No longer affected by the buzzing, Charra was able to attack one of the blobs.
Initiative Change: Ikki, Lyrica, The Viscount’s Body Pieces, Elodie, Taras, Charra
Ikki was able to attack another blob, while I went after the same one that Charra had attacked and inspiring Taras. I am out for the day now. I need to learn how to recover them more easily, and use them more often. I also stopped concentrating on Cloud of Daggers, as it was only a danger to us. One blob was killed by Ikki when trying to escape, while the one Charra and I have attacked missed her. The other four all began to close in. Elodie kills one, and Taras another, though Charra missed the one she went after.
Ikki was able to damage one of the remaining blobs, then I went after another. I also tossed some healing Ikki’s way, seeing she was getting hurt. The remaining blobs reconvened, showing us the Viscount. He speaks in Elvish, and while I don’t know most of he and Elodie’s conversation, I did hear the insult he cast at Charra’s mother before casting a spell at Taras. Elodie recognized it as Crown of Madness, letting us know that we need to break his concentration even as he broke her Eldritch Blast apart. Taras failed to hit Charra and broke free of the crown, though Charra’s attempt to grapple the Viscount failed.
Ikki somehow laid a Silence around the Viscount, and I stepped far enough away I was able to cast Cloud of Daggers again on him. Of course, something on his belt was a charm that allowed him to Misty Step away before casting a fucking fireball at us. I was sent unconscious, and don’t know what else happened before Taras revived me with a spell. I was able to see Charra grapple the Viscount.
Ikki attacked him with her spear after using a healing potion, then I took one as well. Sadly, my Mockery failed me again. Ikki was able to knock the wand away from him, and Elodie destroyed him with Eldritch Blast before something strange happens because of her bond to her patron.
As combat began, the ghosts began to make their way towards us. Ikki, flying up as always, was able to slam Ghost 1 with her quarterstaff and talons but her weapons didn’t seem to do as much damage as they normally would. I managed to Mock the same one, before passing Charra inspiration. She came forward to attack the same ghost, standing directly below Ikki. Ghost 2 was Hexed by Elodie, but her attack missed. Taras also failed to hit it with his spell.
The Peasants move a bit closer, and Charra’s intervention kept the third one from hitting me. The first and fourth both missed Charra, but the second did hit Taras. Ikki managed to force the first back into its ghostly form, before I attacked the third with my shortswords. Note to self: learn more combat spells. Charra took an opportunity attack from Green trying to attack Purple, but missed. Elodie Blasted the second one, before Taras forces three of them to run away.
The one ghost who didn’t run took opportunity attacks from Ikki and Charra that reverted it back into its spectral form. I hit the fourth, removing its fear. Ikki went after the one she had already hit this round doing even more damage, while I Mocked the one I’d already attacked. Charra turns that same one into its spectral form with her attack, before Elodie and Taras attack the third so Taras can kill it.
The second one took an opportunity attack that turned it into a ghost, while the first kept running. The fourth attacked me but missed. Ikki attacked and killed the second, before flanking the one attacking me. I was able to deal some damage to it, before Charra’s attack went so bad she accidentally hit Ikki in the shin. Elodie shifted her Hex to blast the last remaining ghost, before Taras killed it with Toll the Dead. The last escaped us entirely.
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.
As always, Charra is the first in the combat. She attacked one of the wererats, slamming it with her hammer, before Taras’ Toll the Dead failed to damage the other. I and Ikki took the the air, deciding to take advantage of the higher ceiling in the room to give ourselves some height advantage. My Vicious Mockery hit the wererat Charra had attacked, while Ikki attacked the other. The first failed to harm Charra, though the other managed to harm Taras. Elodie brought out a new spell on the second of the beings, before throwing an Eldritch Blast in its face.
Charra never seems to have much luck hitting her opponents? She once again missed, though this time Taras did injure his opponent. I tossed Charra some inspiration before attacking my target with my shortsword. Ikki manages to get the other, and both fail to hit either of us. Once again, Elodie blasted the same monster. This time, it died!
Charra did manage to hit her target, then shifted around it to stand closer to me. Taras’s Toll the Dead proved successful, especially when it seemed my one shortsword that hit caused absolutely no damage. Ikki did harm it, however. It went after me, though Charra’s shield got between us to prevent its attack. Elodie missed her attack, sadly, though Charra then brought her hammer down one last time to kill the beast.
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.
