#dr eidel

[we-are-a-dragon]

Godric (fairy warlock): Do you know anything about a cult which uses a black line down the face? Mind control may be involved?

DM: Dr Eidel flips through a book. "There are a couple of possibilities..."

Godric: I don't know if it's an important detail, but also outfits made from two different sets?

DM: Her eyes narrow. "You've seen this?"

Godric: *shifty* Maybe.

DM: "Definitely from two distinct sets?"

Godric: Yes.

DM: She lets go of the book. "It sounds like Demogorgon. The line down the face symbolizes the two heads, Aameul and Hethradiah. The split outfit represents duality."

Kjell (half-elf barbarian): What if it was a scar instead of paint?

DM: Her eyes widen slightly. "That would be a sign of direct touch by Demogorgon itself. Was this recent?" She gasps. "Is it in the city?"

Kjell: *hesitates*

DM: She puts a hand to her mouth. "A cult of Demogorgon in Suda? This is terrible! And very exciting..."

Godric: Can you think of any other instances of this happening?

DM: She thinks. "Not in this lifetime... There were whispers a while ago of something near Darratar..."

Kjell: *awkward* Not anymore...

DM: "You destroyed a cult of Demogorgon?? What did you find in the temple??"

Kjell: *uncomfortable* Two baboons sewn together.

DM: Her eyes almost bulge out of her head. "Can you bring it to me for study??"

Godric: It's a two-week trip each way! Plus, we set it free.

DM: She's desperate. "I'll pay. What's your rate?"

[we-are-a-dragon]

DM: I think you also have one more thing to ask Dr Eidel about.

Marijn (playing Godric): Uh...

M (playing Kjell): ...Oh! Demogorgon amulets!

Ma: Right! We ask her if she can tell what they're for.

DM: She is very excited by them. She touches only the chain, and is extremely careful to not put so much as a finger through the loop.

Tati (playing Seraph): *looks at Andy*

Andy (playing Una): Shut up.

Marijn: "One of our party members put one on. Nothing happened."

DM: She grimaces. "Well, they were very lucky. These are protective."

Marijn: "Can you tell what they protect against? We couldn't get any more than that."

DM: "Yes. This is known as a curse-ward."

M: I gulp. "Curse?"

DM: "Yes. And based on the strength of this enchantment, they were expecting it to be a rather nasty one."

Marijn: Just gonna... pocket those.

[we-are-a-dragon]

DM: Dr Eidel squeals, "You FOUGHT DEMOGORGON???"

Kjell (half-elf barbarian): Yep.

Godric (fairy warlock): An aspect of him.

DM: Her eyes are like saucers. "Tell. Me. Everything."

Godric: *describes fight* I wanted to sell you the body but I was outvoted.

DM: She asks, "Do you have even some of the ashes?"

Godric: I actually did save a small jar. How much will you pay for them?

DM: She examines the jar with glee. "Will you take 100 gold?"

Godric: *glances at Kjell*

Kjell: *mouths 'more'*

DM: Galwyn sighs but doesn't intervene.

Godric: 500 gold.

DM: She chews her lip. "300."

Godric: 350... and I'll tell you its last words to us.

DM: Her eyes gleam. "Deal."

[we-are-a-dragon]

Party recap:

Travelling Trauma Centre settled into their new manor house in Suda, including meeting a cast of strange servants. Kjell and Godric visited Dr Eidel, the expert on cults, and, while updating her on the defeat of J and Demogorgon, sold her some of J's ashes under the table.

[we-are-a-dragon]

M (playing Kjell): I ask Dr Eidel if she remembers what we talked about last time.

DM: She says, "Yes, yes... You were investigating a cult of Demogorgon. Did it ever come to anything?"

Marijn (playing Godric): I ask, "How much do you know of what's been going on in Suda over the last week?"

DM: She says, "Well, it turned out that a mindflayer was controlling the Emperor and the leader of the witch hunters, to torment the city and especially- oh, you. Sorry."

M: I roll my eyes.

DM: She goes on, "And then you and The Craftsmen saved the Emperor and all of us, so, thank you!" She claps.

M: I say to Galwyn, "Hah, she didn't know you were there."

Marijn: "He wasn't there, he was recovering from being dead."

M: ...Fuck. I apologise to him at length.

[we-are-a-dragon]

Godric (fairy warlock): That sounds like Kjell coming down the stairs. I don't know if you want to be here, I know things got tense last night.

Seraph (siren sorcerer): We've spoken, it's okay.

Godric: We're off to talk to the cult professor.

Seraph: *blank*

Godric: The one who pointed us toward Demogorgon. We said we'd let her know how everything went. Do you want to come?

Seraph: *hesitates* I think I'd like a day or two to get my bearings before I jump back into anything heavy.

Godric: That's fine! Totally makes sense. If you're hanging around here, you could go talk to Damaris.

Seraph: Yes! It's been playing on my mind that we never got to talk about magic, so I definitely will.

[we-are-a-dragon]

Marijn (playing Godric): We get to the university and I knock on Dr Eidel's door.

M (playing Kjell): After a second I reach over and knock again since most people probably don't hear your fairy fists.

Marijn: Fair.

DM: She opens the door and peers at you. "Ah! ...Godwin?"

Marijn: Half right.

DM: She turns to Kjell. "And..."

Marijn: Doesn't she watch tv? I use fairy ventriloquy and whisper "Kjell."

DM: Galwyn, who of course heard, covers a smile. Dr Eidel exclaims, "Kjell!"

M: *facepalms*

[we-are-a-dragon]

DM: Alright, so you've got two days in-game before you have to take Duke Farlaing on an adventure for Round Five. We're going to run through the things you wanted to check out from last session real quickly, which will take up most of those two days. First up, you talked to Dr Eidel, the cult professor. Who wants that?

Adam (playing Billie): Hit me.

DM: *passes note*

Adam: "It's extremely hard to study Vecna as the god of secrets. His cults are top-down, and always run by one with the title 'Thought of Vecna'. The groups and their members are named after organs: teeth, fingers, blood. It's a common practice to remove the left eye and/or hand, as his were. Splinter groups rarely collaborate, and may not even know of each others' existence." That's really not a lot.

Hamish (playing Thaddeus): I think that's pretty much lifted from the wiki page on Vecna.

DM: Pretty much, yeah. There's next to no lore. Next, you wanted to break into Farlaing's office while he's out with TTC B.

Tati (playing Seraph): Godric and I go the first night of their round.

DM: You don't find anything that seems to relate to the tournament or any correspondence, but instead there are papers everywhere written in ciphers and multiple languages. Godric, you can work out enough that you realise it's the same message over and over: 'I am not the mastermind.' There's also a hidden message among them that you can't deduce.

Tati: We copy everything down and take it back to the others.

DM: Ben, you work out that the hidden message is two words repeated throughout: 'revenge' and 'Jaril'.

Noelani (playing Ben): Jaril, like a name?

DM: Yes.

Tati: As in, "Watch out for the mindflayer -J"?

Adam: *eyes widening* Oh.