Session 6 (6/26/21)

 The Trolls' Egg

The party was summoned to the Druid Grove by Arkus Woodsplitter who told them that rare albino lake trolls were being attacked by black scaled kobolds. He didn't know what drove them towards their cave, but that the albino trolls were an endangered species that must be protected. He also warned that they were fiercely stupid, and would likely also be aggressive towards the party. The kobolds wore a strange holy symbol which the party did not investigate. 

The party went and fought off the kobolds, leaving the cave to the trolls. Returning to the grove they had a divinatory smoking, and saw that the trolls were guarding a bronze dragon egg that would soon hatch into a wyrmling. Arkus told them that dragons are the source of magic and that too few are born. They did a great thing for the magical environment by saving the egg from the kobolds who would have likely destroyed it.

A Captivating Masterpiece

Faunra, a high level bard from the college of art, wishes to create a captivating masterpiece by studying the songs of a harpy, a bog nixie, and a siren. All of them have the ability to sing a captivating song, which is more powerful than the fascination bardic performance. She hopes by studying them she can create a more powerful song herself.

She asked the party to obtain an unharmed harpy, siren, and bog nixie. The party consulted the druids on how they might succeed- the druids suggested nets. 

They found that a nest of harpies has been bothersome on the Nation of Holly, and that Thrain Horsemaster knows an area of sea where sirens tend to attack his sailors, and they learned from the druids about a bog nixie in a swamp. They went there and found a large pond, large enough to hold a huge creature. They went in and were attacked by a huge frog, who began to swallow pending. Vesper had deafened herself and made herself immune to the nixie's captivating song. They defeated the frog, but the nixie hid herself and they were unable to locate her. The party retreated back to town to come up with a new plan. 

Session 5 (6/4/21)

 Intro to the Fighter's Guild

The party was hired by Adam Oleander and his partner Steve to stop an inventor from the Artificer's Guild- Leonardo de Squiggle, from publishing his invention- a mouse trap device that would make early fighter's guild missions obsolete. 

The party attempted to discuss the invention with Leonardo, but he was very absent-minded and obsessed with inventing. They discovered that the Artificer's guild keeps him happy, fed, and taken care of, and in exchange they take his best inventions for themselves. Pending decided to take the invention, create his own blueprints for the device, and quickly go patent it himself to prevent the work from being readily available (without profiting the Fighter's Guild). 

Intro to the Mage's Guild

The party was hired by Sylvia, an elven diviner from the mage's guild, to help her associates complete a magic ritual. The ritual was one that the Church of Asmodeus would likely oppose, so they would run security. Baru Coin and Umbrealla Arachniz were running the ritual, which summoned Chilaxian contract devils in order to find loopholes and ways to break existing mage guild contracts.

The church tried to trick the party by sending an associate dressed as a Mage Guild member, but Pending had already asked about this specific scenario, and was not tricked. They were able to hold off the advance. The church wheeled up an invisible cannon, and managed to disrupt the ritual by breaking off part of the roof, but not demolishing it, so the ritual was able to be completed the next day. 

The Lyre off Liars

The party was hired by Lanliss Stringcoaxer who is building a collection of magical items created by the wild mage, Otis Illcrafter, known for creating magical items that did not serve their intended purpose- such as a potion of tongues that created an additional tongue, or the Rapier of Fencing which helped build fences. 

He was looking for the "Lyre of Liars" which was intended to assist with deceptions. The party went to a tomb where it was said to reside. There they found a recently abandoned camp. Inside, the tomb was mostly ransacked, and there was a tunnel leading to a natural cave. Inside the cave was a naked neried, who had her shawl stolen from her. They tracked down the thief, who was an undine gunslinger. He claims to have taken it because she tried to drown him, but as an undine he was able to survive. The party defeated him and returned the shawl. In return, the party gave the male members the ability to breathe water, and Vesper was crafter her own shawl, which did leave her vulnerable if the shawl was destroyed, but gave her the Unearthly Grace feature- adding charisma as a deflection bonus to AC. The party found the tomb of the paladin Chaucer, guarded by a golem, which they defeated. Upon finding the Lyre, they found it was an intelligent speaking item, not a Lyre OF Liars, but a Lyre OFF Liars, dedicated to destroying deceivers, and having powers to see through illusions and identify mistruths. They brought it back to Lanliss, who added it to the museum. 

Session 4 5/28/21

 The Hero's Tale

The party was hired by Jorm Stormgate in the College of Art, who was writing an epic ballad about the life of Alleah Babwa, a famous dwarven barbarian. Amongst her accomplishments is singlehandedly taking down a hundred mounted bandits, saving the king of Gambuldar from an assassination attempt, and defeating the necromancer Grizelda Deathwhisper. What she is most famous for is being a dwarven feminist- she was one of the first dwarven women to cast off her beard and wear revealing clothing, advertising her femininity in a way unheard of in dwarven culture- inspiring many other women to do the same.

Jorm has been carefully detailing her deeds, but he worries that she will outlive him, accomplishing great deeds he can never write about or- worse yet- retire and peter out like an untended campfire. He arranged for a rematch between her and Grizelda Deathwhisper by reconstructing her necromantic artifact and arranging a meeting between them for a final showdown- which he wanted the party to watch and report on. 

When the party got there, they realized that Grizelda was not an evil necromancer, but that she was possessed by the dark artifact that controlled her mind and used her to raise armies of undead. Alleah arrived and was heartbroken to see that the artifact was reconstructed. She began battling the undead and was brought to tears at the prospect of having to kill Grizelda- who was, in fact, her lover. 

The party intervened, and helped heal Alleah and climbed to the top of the temple to shatter the artifact, freeing its control on Grizelda. They convinced them of the importance of true love, and both of them faked their deaths- giving the College of Art a great story, whilst allowing them to run off incogneto and have a life together. 

Pending got himself added in as a co-researcher on the book, giving him extra credit at the College of Art. 

The Princess and the Frog

Julietta Rosen, hearing the tragic tale of forbidden love lost to time, approached the party. She is a separatist cleric of Naderi- the goddess of tragic suicides due to forbidden love- though she focuses on Naderi's original portfolio- being a patron to forbidden lovers. 

She had received a vision that two people were doomed to not be with their true loves: Zirule and Glenn- but were they to work together, they may find that they each have what the other needs to find true love in their lifetimes. 

She asked the party to facilitate this cooperation. Vesper, having a relationship with Zirule already, reached out to him.

Zirule had long been courting Missandei Emmanuel. However, she was a princess of a desert tribe, and her family would be pressuring her to marry royalty if possible. Zirule had a plan- he had heard of a ruined castle on a small swampy island that was overrun with swamp trolls. If he could get a group to help him clear it out, he could declare himself king of the new nation. That means Missandei would be queen if she marries him, and he would become a great suitor for her. 

Meanwhile, Glenn- a grippli knight, was in love with his princess and charge: Leene Guardania, an elf. He had long resigned to love her from afar, as many knights do with princesses, because her family would never allow the marriage- he is a short lived grippli, and she would require an elven royal. 

However, the noble Glenn believed in the cause of true love, and agreed to help Zirule gain his castle in the name of his own true love.

The party took a ship to the swamp island covered in swamp holly bushes, and began clearing out the trolls with Zirule and Glenn. The trolls called for help and a green hag appeared, disabling most of the party. She was about to kill Zirule when Glenn sneak attacked her and killed her- saving the day.

Zirule declared himself king of the Nation of Holly, and made Vesper, Pending, and Nantar lords and ladies. Glenn, for his exemplary service, he declared a blood brother, performing an ancient elven blood brother ritual- giving him a very small amount of elf blood, and making him a legal prince. 

Back home, at a tournament for Leene's hand, Glenn won, and declared his love for Leene- at Zirule's encouragement. When the family denied his request for not being an elven prince, Zirule publicly stood up for Glenn, arguing that as his adopted brother he is a prince, and as a person who has a tiny bit of elf blood, he can be legally considered an elf in law. Julietta started the crowd chanting in favor of Glenn, and King Janus Guardania blessed the union, allowing Glenn and Leene to marry. Missndei- moved by Zirule's actions to help the noble Glenn find true love, found herself fallen in love with Zirule, and accepted his proposal as well.

 

Session 3 (5/14/21)

Mission 3- Continued

The party continued towards Twoshirts. They got to a large chasm spanned by a sturdy bridge. They saw the people who stole the necklace crossing the bridge (towards them) on horseback. The people were spooked, and the party shot their horses to prevent them from escaping. 

The thief indicated that he sold the necklace to someone who lives in a hut outside Twoshirts and they were allowed to leave.

Arriving at Twoshirts they found the town deserted, houses were smashed in as if the place was attacked, but there were no bodies. They started following the tracks of the attackers and identified that they were most likely hill giants with a large wagon to haul away the people. 

At this point they decided to abandon following the tracks and search for the hut. That night they saw an mind-controlled hill giant walking through the woods and followed it. At one point it bypassed another mind controlled hill giant walking in the other direction.

They followed the giant to a witch's hut where she was wearing the necklace and casting dominate person on the hill giants. They waited an hour to see if she went to sleep, and Vesper snuck into her hut. Inside she saw that townsfolk were being drained of blood for some kind of ritual. She snuck past the crow familiar into the witch's room, where she was not asleep, but was projecting her eyes elsewhere. 

Unskilled in stealing, Vesper snatched the necklace and ran wildly out of the room. Kotkin distracted the hill giant and led it into the forest and hid from him, while Brody and Vesper fled the crow who was watching them and leading the witch to them. They attempted to lose the crow but Brody gave away their position. Realizing he couldn't escape, Brody led the crow and witch away from Vesper, getting captured so that Vesper could escape.

When Vesper regrouped with Kotkin, Kotkin devised a plan to go back to the witch and offer the return of the necklace in exchange for their lives. Vesper warned him that this plan was suicide, especially with his weakness to mind control, but he went anyway. Vesper went back to town to wait for them, but they never arrived. 

Vesper returned the necklace to Zirule, who was saddened to hear of the tragedy and gave an extra 1000 gp to try to make up for it- he had no idea it would be so much trouble. 

Session 2 (5/7/21)

 The Slave Girl

The party was hired by Thrain Horsemaster (a friend of Zirule's) to disrupt the buisness of a rival, Kazmut Charterer. Kazmut owns a shipping company that sometimes moves slaves, and he's had a run of bad luck- many of the slaves he's been sent to pick up have been freed before he got there. He is now trying to enter into a partnership with Walder Baelish of Cheliax in order to gain a more lucrative contract and stay above water. If the meeting can go south, Kamut's debts will come due and Thrain can purchase his ships at tremendous discount.

The party tried to enter Kazmut's estate and found themselves mysteriously back at the Pan Kowalski an hour later. They found that they had been mind wiped. Witnesses saw them leave the estate earlier as if in a daze. Suspicious that Kazmut had psionics or a psion on retainer, they did some research and found that sometimes Kazmut acted strangely, as if he himself had been manipulated at times. Michael paid for a memory modification to restore his lost memories, and remembered entering the estate and telling some slaves that he was there to rescue them. At that point, one of the slave girls had used a psionic suggestion on them to leave, and modified their memories as they left to maintain anonymity. 

Rather than confront her, the party spread the rumor that one of Kazmut's slaves was actually a psion in disguise and was manipulating him (which was true), ruining his reputation as someone who can control slaves and souring the deal with Walder

The watch came with Kazmut to remove the girl, who turned out to be an agent of the Bellflower network- she was undercover as a slave and using her powers to identify slave trade pickup areas, and was sending communication to her other agents so they could disrupt the pickup and free the slaves before delivery. She was arrested and send to a prison somewhere that could handle psionic prisoners.

Thrain was pleased and rewarded for their efforts.

Mission 2:

The party was hired by Zirule to recover an necklace he had purchased, which was pickpocked from him as he watched a street performer. He wants it returned so he can present it as a gift. The watch has been searching for weeks and has been unable to uncover it.

The party learned that a belly-dancing performer was distracting crowds so her accomplice could pickpocket them. The Thieves' Guild was also after them for unlicensed thievery. Vesper used a contact at the jewelry store to identify that the man had a Twoshirts accent- a mining town four days away. They left town.

They saw that they were being watched at a distance by a couple of orcs, but they were not bothered by them. The second day they saw a wounded bear guarding her cubs. Vesper healed her wound and the went on. That night, the orcs, impressed by her healing of the animal, led her to their camp, where they met the chief, Arcus Woodsplitter, who invited them to feast and drink with them, which the party did. Kotkin found himself drinking and being courted by Bonks With A Club- an ogerkin orc with a vestigal fetal head growing out of her neck. After a night of alcohol, he was able to be courted. Vesper and Brody went with the chief to smoke and go on a vision quest, where they astrally projected to a distant world where the sprit of nature was being hunted by local humanoids. Despite being incoporeal, Vesper was able to affect their magic net, and cut the net, allowing the spirit to escape. They earned the respect of Arkus and were named Friends of the Tribe. Arkus said he would watch the stars for signs, and may contact them again in the future. 

Session 1 (4/30/21)

Mission 1: The Date

 The group met up and found Laplace Johnson who introduced them to Zirule Liadon.

Zirule had arranged an upcoming date with Miessandei Emmanuel from Qadira, and he waned to make sure that the date went well, so he hired the party to attack them on their date, so he could fight them off and look good.

The party set up the attack. Little did they know Miessandei was able to defend herself, and she was an accomplished battle dancer. As confusion grew in the combat, the lights went off, as thieves guild members attempted to kidnap her. In the darkness and fog there was no visibility, but Kotkin got off a lucky shot and blasted a kidnapper, while Zirule stabbed another one, his bravery enhanced, thinking it was all part of the act. 

By the time the watch showed up, Miessandei had been saved, and it appeared that Zirue had driven off six attackers. He was very happy with the party's performance. 

Mission 2: The Package

Brody met with Dibbler, a contact with the Thieves' Guild, to try to get the party involved with the guild more. Dibbler wanted the party to retrieve a fragile package from a watch warehouse before Sparhawk, the paladin to whom the package belonged, could get it. Brody disguised himself as Sparhawk and was able to obtain the package, when they discovered that it contained a small cassian angel. They decided to free the angel rather than turn it in to Dibbler. As it left, it revealed itself as an imp, and Dibbler's familiar, who came in and told him all about it. Dibbler revealed that this mission was really a test to see if they could be trusted to complete a mission without being distracted by moral issues- one that the party was proud to have failed. Brody relinquished his affiliation with the Thieves Guild. 

The PCs

Michael Tuk

Human (F)

A friar of the Monastary of the Whispering Winds- a monastic order based on perfection of self. Wandered away from the party out of the blue, citing that she felt the call of her creator to focus on book learning. 

Brody O'Duff

Half-Elf (M)

An associate of the Thieve's Guild. Killed in action distracting a witch away from the rest of the party. 

Kotkin Davieth

Aasimar (M)

A soldier here to defend the city. He died attempting to negotiate for the return of Brody O'Duff from a powerful mind control witch. 

Lady Vesper Nightrune of the Nation of Holly

Aasimar (F)

A woman looking for her lost childhood friend. 

Lord Pending of the Nation of Holly

Tiefling (M)

A bard from the College of Art looking to expand his celebrity.

Lord Nantar of the Nation of Holly

Blue Goblin (M)

A blue goblin with an interest in human religions who focuses his psionic ability on healing others.