Session 44

General Summary

• Wendi isn't happy that the party keeps killing all her friends.
• Wendi says that she saw a fellow who kind-of matched Oskar LaVista's description. He was running drugs for The Hounds Guild, under the name of "ElVesta", and he was wearing some cloak.
• In the basement of the apothecary's shop, Kesmet noticed more of that pink stuff from the Hounds Guild.
• Wendi's familiar, Munchie, followed the party through the tunnels. Kesmet attempted to throw it off by making an illusory wall that seemed to work.
• The party exited the tunnels at a more-or-less abandoned warehouse filled with crates of building materials, where they took a short rest.
• Sol DeWork interrupted the party's rest with a knock on the door. He wants to meet the party at an empty estate in The Pearl District while Baxton is distracted.
• Munchie had entered the warehouse too. Grogery noticed him first and tried to command it with a bridle to go back to Wendi, but this didn't even come close to working. Dwardazik swiftly knocked him out, and Kesmet stuffed him in a random crate, keeping the crowbar he used to open and close the crate.
• Looking for a place to lie low so that they could travel under cover of night, the party stopped off at The Spire of Beasts to see if they could help the dragon.
• At the Spire of Beasts, an ogre in a bright yellow vest was fighting a pack of gnolls.
• The party managed to scare off the gnolls and convince the ogre to go back to work.

 

Full Recap

The session opens with the entire party and Wendi back together upstairs in The Thistle Dew, with the dishonored Rubymist dwarf in the corner.  

Leaving the Thistle Dew

Dwardazik: Did you get her? She's gone?   Kesmet: I left her alive! Kesmet backs away from Dazki.   Dazki: She's gone...   Dwardazik: Finally.   Dazki: ...but I didn't kill anyone. She escaped, like we should, because the guards are coming.

  This only seems to anger Wendi.  

Wendi: This is ridiculous. Only my friends are dead, again.   Kesmet: I thought we were your friends!   Wendi: You can't be my friend if you keep murdering my other friends!   Kesmet: Not murder, self-defense! They attacked us first!   Dwardazik: Tilda was worried about you, so we came here... but they did try to kill us.   Wendi: Well, they sure didn't try to kill me. Maybe you're the problem.   Dazki, musing mostly to himself: She might be right...   Wendi: They accepted me for who I am, not who my parents are.   Kesmet, fully uninterested in this part, takes this opportunity to extinguish the fire that's been burning bright hot from the barrel of red dust that spilled earlier.   Wendi: You're just as bad as my sister, focusing about how things used to be instead of how things are.

  This put Dwardazik at a loss for words, so Dazki stepped in to slightly change the subject, pointing out that at the moment, Wendi mostly had two choices: she could either try to follow after her friend in the Blue Dress, or to stay, give a statement to the guards, and go back to try to work things out with Tilda if she thinks that's possible.   Wendi, realizing the dilemma, asked her familiar, Munchie, for advice. Munchie, a monkey, responded by making unintelligible monkey noises.   Kesmet tried to convince Wendi that Blue Dress was bad news and trying to manipulate her, but was interrupted:  

Dwardazik: That's a good point, Kesmet, but Dazki had an even better point: the guards are on their way, let's get out of here. We're wanted anyway!   Wendi: Wait, what was that?   Kesmet: Oh, never mind him. This was all a huge misunderstanding.   Dwardazik: It's great to see that you're OK, Wendi. Those Rubymists are trouble, be careful!   Dazki, musing to himself again: Hm, at this point, so are we...   Kesmet, overhearing this: self-defense!

  Before the party takes their leave, Grogery asks if Wendi had seen Oskar LaVista. When Wendi didn't respond to that name, Kesmet conjured up an illusion of him to help jog her memory, which she did respond to:  

Wendi: Oh, "LaVista"? I thought it was "ElVesta"...   Grogery: You know where he is?   Wendi: Yeah, he's delivering stuff to the Hounds Guild.   Grogery: He is not working for the Hounds Guild...   Wendi: I don't know, he was really convincing... he looked like that, only he had a cloak.   Kesmet: Do you remember anything about his behavior?   Wendi: He was... strangely enthusiastic about running drugs.   Kesmet: How long ago did you see him?   Wendi: Not too long ago. The Hounds Guild has this fella, ElVesta, who I guess seemed really cool for an old man. They sent him out to go drop some stuff off or something. I don't know much more than that, I don't hang out with the Hounds Guild so much, mostly the Rubymist... er, well, I did. Oh no, let me guess, you're going to kill him too?

  Kesmet comes up with 3 explanations (1. LaVista has a doppleganger, 2. he's unaware of his actions, 3. he's a criminal mastermind), and Dazki begins to dwell on this ("hmm, he's probably undercover, especially with a bad fake name like that") but the pair are quickly brought back to reality:  

Grogery: Front door or basement?   Dazki: Front door should be fine...   Kesmet: We should consider the secret entrance in the basement.   Grogery: Yeah, my disguise got burned off from the double fireball.   Dazki: Fine, let's take the tunnels and get lost in them... Dwardazik, how good are you at navigating tunnel systems?   Dwardazik, flabbergasted: Are you serious? If you weren't my friend, I'd punch you in the chest...   Dazki: Sorry, on adrenaline right now, forgot who I was talking to... Dazki looks over to the manacled, beardless Rubymist dwarf slumped over in the corner. Pointing, he asks: hey, what happened to that guy?   Dwardazik: That traitor? I gave him the signature dishonorable treatment.   Dazki: Was that really necessary?   Grogery: No.   Dwardazik: It's still alive, is it not? I thought that was merciful.   Dazki: The guards are coming. We can't take him with us, so I'm going to take his manacles off.   Dwardazik: Here's the key, do as you will. I don't know what you're talking about over there, there's only garbage in that corner.   Dazki, to the other dwarf after unlocking him: If the guards come, tell them what happened, and tell them to bring the fireguard. We need their attention on us for now.   Other dwarf: This whole shop's fucked anyways, maybe we should all just leave. I've got nothing left for me here.

  Dwardazik realizes that they may already be too late and goes to take a look outside. There are no guards in sight, though he realizes that the guards wouldn't be using their flares around these parts. There are, however, two other dwarves across the way sitting in stone chairs who seem to have noticed the exploded building. Dwardazik yells out to them, "There was an explosion! A bad mix of chemicals! This place was dangerous! Get some help if you can!". The other dwarves seem neither surprised nor particularly concerned that the alchemists' shop would explode like that. In fact, it seemed that one of them lost a bet to the other one over it.   Satisfied that the guards were nowhere in sight, Dwardazik returns the group.  

Dwardazik: All right, let's head on out.   Grogery: Is it really safe for us to do that? There are pictures of us going around, you know.   Dwardazik: Those other dwarves outside didn't seem to care about what's going on here. I'm not feeling too great, though, so we should probably find a place to lie low for a while.   Grogery: We could try to find LaVista...   Dazki: We're probably better off trying to find an abandoned warehouse.   Dwardazik: What was that about tunnels, again?   Dazki: There's an escape tunnel in the basement, I'm not sure where it goes.   Dwardazik: Wendi, you don't need to like me, but just a couple of questions... you know where those tunnels go under here?   Wendi: All kinds of places, you can pretty much pop up anywhere in the city.   Dwardazik: And what about that room next to you? He motions to the back room that she came out from earlier.   Wendi: Just an apothecary, you can check for yourself.

  Inside the room, Dwardazik sees various alchemy-related objects strewn about, two Potions of Greater Healing, an as-yet-unidentified grey-green potion, and a book with an orange flower engraved on the front. He takes everything.  

Dazki: Hey, Dwardazik, we've gotta get going! Tunnels or front door, clock is ticking.   Dwardazik: The tunnels may be safer. Guards the other way, probably, but we need rest.   Dazki: Fine, tunnels, LET'S GO. On the way down, he turns to Wendi: Wendi, good luck.   Wendi: Yeah, whatever.   Dwardazik: I'll tell Tilda that you're all right and that you're with... good company. He scowls after saying that.

  The party goes down into the basement of the Thistle Dew. Before going all the way down into the tunnel system, however, they stop:  

Dwardazik: Hey, does anyone know what this potion is? He takes out the grey-green potion.   Kesmet: Of course, let me see! He examines it for a while. Hmm, it's... a potion of... I don't know. Changing the subject, he looks around. Hey, this is that pink stuff that the Hounds Guild were using.

  The party continues down into the tunnels. Dazki asks if Kesmet can lock the hatch behind them. He cannot.  

In the Tunnels

  As the party makes their way through the tunnels, Dazki notices a presence behind them. It's Wendi's familiar, Munchie. Now that there's a chance to get a good look at the monkey, Dazki notices something he didn't notice before: Munchie's right eye is a pale white, almost greyish color.  

Dazki, quietly to just the rest of the party: Wendi's monkey is following us. I'm not sure if it's tailing us or anything.   Kesmet: Do you see Wendi along with it?   Dazki: No, just the monkey right now.

  When the party turns to look at Munchie, it sits down on its baboon-like butt and starts picking his nose a bit, as if it's pretending to be doing just normal monkey things.   Dazki suggests that they rest at the warehouse. Dwardazik heads in that general direction, but takes a roundabout path to try to lose Munchie. Every time they turn around to look back, the monkey is still behind them, and still pretends to just be doing monkey things. Unable to lose their pursuer, Dwardazik asks Kesmet if he could make the party invisible ("No, not all of us").   Kesmet then gets the idea to conjure up an illusion of a wall after the party turns a corner, to confuse the monkey. It appears to have worked, the monkey just getting extremely confused when he puts his hand up to the wall and it goes right through. The party stealthily walks away, and the monkey does not appear to follow.   When the party reaches a ladder leading up to a vent, they're momentarily stopped by a padlock, which Dazki is able to pick open successfully. Dazki goes up the ladder, followed immediately by Dwardazik, who loses all control of himself for a brief moment when he looks up at Dazki's behind.  

At the Warehouse

  This warehouse, while not abandoned per se, has a plethora of crates strewn about. The crates are stamped to indicate that they contain mostly building materials. It's mostly one level, though there is a loft above that goes around the area. The party decides to rest on the loft. Dazki, not needing as much rest, identifies the grey-green potion as a Potion of Animal Friendship.   45 minutes into the rest, there's a knock on the front door. Peering out the window, Dazki sees Sol DeWork. Dazki initially ignores Sol, but after letting the party know who it was, he decides to respond.  

Dazki: Yes?   Sol: Uh, yes, intrepid adventurers? Do you still have no name?   Dazki: What do you need?   Sol: I think it would be valuable for us to meet.   Dazki: We can converse easily enough through this door.   Sol: It's rather unprofessional, but if you insist. I believe that I am being intentionally distracted by coming here, but I think we could still make good use of the time.   Dazki: How so?   Sol: This conversation is really private, and I really think it's unprofessional to be shouting it through a door. I know a place where we could talk more privately, if you're concerned.   Dazki looks back to the rest of the party. Kesmet makes a gesture that he'll shoot Sol if he comes in.   Sol: Well, obviously, he knows you're here, so this isn't exactly the safest spot.   Dazki: How?   Sol: Because I'm here, and I sure as hell did not know to come here. Again, I'm pretty sure I'm being intentionally distracted.   Kesmet: Who's distracting him? What's distracting him?   Dazki: Baxton is controlling him.   Sol: If he wants me distracted, then perhaps he's distracted, right? This probably isn't a good place to talk anyways.   Dwardazik: He's a link to Baxton.   Sol: There's an empty estate in The Pearl District that was recently built. It's not even furnished yet. He writes the location on a note and slips it under the door. I'm going to leave for there now, perhaps you should come there later.

  After Sol leaves, the party discusses amongst themselves.  

Dazki: Do we feel comfortable going, knowing that it very well could be a trap?   Dwardazik just laughs, heartily.   Kesmet: We're looking for Oskar, right?   Dazki: Right, and helping the dragon.

  While the party converses, Grogery notices Munchie next to him. He readies a Bridle of Capturing, but tries to persuade it first.  

Grogery: Your name is Munchie, right? If you can understand what I'm saying, go back to Wendi.   When Munchie does nothing, Grogery attempts to control it using the bridle, but with absolutely no effect.   Grogery, to the party: Hey guys, I think I know how Sol knew we were here...   Munchie reaches out to offer a gift to Grogery from his hand. Grogery accepts and is treated with a pile of monkey shit. Munchie seems very pleased with himself over this.   Grogery: eww... Kesmet, Prestidigitation please.

  Dwardazik wastes no time and just knocks out Munchie with his pickaxe. Oddly, for a familiar, the monkey just gets knocked out and doesn't poof away.  

Dwardazik: Huh. That was easy. How did that get in here? Can you check that grate? Someone does. It's still locked.   Kesmet: It's too big to fit through the grate.   Dazki: It has a rat tail. Maybe it can squeeze through like a rat?   Kesmet: Good idea! Kesmet then proceeds to try to shove the monkey through the bars. No, its skull is too wide.   Dwardazik: Let's just open a crate, stuff it in there, and leave.   Dazki: Yes, let's do that, and then leave.   Kesmet grabs a crowbar, uses it to open a random crate, stuffs the monkey inside, and uses the crowbar to close the crate back up again. He does not return the crowbar.   Dwardazik: Where do you say we go?   Dazki: Get out, see where we are, then maybe The Spire of Beasts.   Dwardazik: All right, let's get out here.

  The party leaves the warehouse back through the tunnels. They use the tunnels to get a little closer to the spire, but the system ends before they can make it all the way over there. They walk the rest of the way without incident.  

The Party, Inspired

 

Dwardazik: Why are we here again?   Dazki: Maybe we can do something to help the dragon.   Barry: But if we let the dragon go, then who's going to watch our bombs?   Grogery: If we release the dragon, he'll owe us one, so he'll be able to watch the bomb.   Barry: There's a lot more concerning stuff right now! I still don't know who I am, being a fish person sucks, there's a turtle out there that really needs out help, and there are like 4 factions out there that want us!!!   Dwardazik: Yer right. Let's just go to the elf lands, get new names, have a pint, and wait for this whole thing to blow over.   Grogery: Lots of people rely on us fixing this problem.   Dazki: If you think Baxton is going to give up just because we leave the city, you're wrong.   Barry: Plus, there's... what was his name... Dennis?   Dwardazik: *sigh* Let's get to the gnolls, then, I guess.

  As the party moves deeper into the area, the air grows louder with the sounds of feverish gnoll laughter. A large barrel, or crate, or something shatters in the distance. When the party moves close enough, they see an ogre in a bright yellow vest, who seems to have angered (or been angered by?) the gnolls. He picks one up and throws it into an alleyway.   While observing the scene, Grogery asks one of the gnolls on the outskirts of the fray what an ogre is doing here, but it turns out that they don't know either.   Dwardazik asks loudly if anyone needs any help, but the gnolls just try to shove him into the circle with the ogre.  

Dwardazik: I didn't come here to fight, but if you want trouble, I have some steam to let off!   Random Gnoll: You started trouble as soon as you stepped foot in here!

  As Dwardazik starts to get surrounded, and the ogre is rampaging through the gnolls:  

Dazki, to Kesmet: Now might be the time to use the fire to slow things down.   Kesmet: OK, sure! What do you think that'll be, like, 6 counts of self-defense? Maybe 7?   Dazki: No, just intimidate them!

  As they debate this, Dwardazik gets shoved towards the ogre, so Kesmet casts a minor illusion of a fireball blast above everyone's head, putting a brief pause to the commotion.  

Dazki: Hey assholes, cut the shit!! Many do. Why are you attacking this guy?   Random Gnoll: He's The Man™! He does not belong here. We are free kind here! As this gnoll says "free", many in the crowd echo that word loudly.

  Grogery begins trying to get any kind of details out of the ogre, who is currently wielding a gigantic piece of wood like a club. With some effort, we learn that the ogre left his work to come here. He doesn't actually want to stay, though, because of the gnolls. He also wants to go find a "lady ogre" and "have lady ogre babies".   Meanwhile, back to Dwardazik and Dazki, the brawl has resumed. The gnolls are splitting their focus between the ogre and Dwardazik. Dwardazik jump-kicks a bloodied gnoll, knocking him out.   Kesmet approaches the ogre now:

Kesmet: Dude, there's no lady ogres here in the Spire of Beasts. You should really head on over to the Pearl District. There's all kinds of lady ogres up there!   Ogre: No lady ogres yet. Too many dogs. Need safe place for ogre children.   Kesmet: But if you have ogre children here, then they'll get attacked by "dogs"!   Ogre: No I stay, squish doggies. He swings his massive piece of wood like a baseball bat, narrowly missing one of the gnolls.   Grogery: The "dogs" don't like your vest and earring! If you take off the vest and give me your earring, then maybe they'll be nicer to you.   Ogre: Need clothes for city.   Grogery: They'll think that you still want to work, and lady ogres won't be interested in you.

  Meanwhile, Dwardazik punches another gnoll. Overhearing the other conversation, Dazki tries a different tactic:

Dazki: Assholes! Gnolls! Get out of here! This clearly isn't working for you, and he wants to leave The Man™.   The most authoritative-looking gnoll ("Gnoll Leader") replies: Yeah this has become not-worth-our-time anymore. I'm sure he'll get lost, or fall in a pit, or do something else that will make him die anyway.   Grogery: He wants to stop working there. Why are you trying to make him mad at you?   Gnoll Leader: We had it under control!   Grogery: Wouldn't he be a better ally? If he wants to be here, let him.   Gnoll Leader: He's made his choice.   Grogery: What did he do? Who hit first?   Gnoll Leader: We won't be subjugated like his kind have been. We'll find our own way. The fool... his meat is better in our bellies than surrounding that thick skull.   Grogery: He wants to not be subjugated!   Gnoll Leader: Good for him. Go not be subjugated somewhere else!   Dwardazik: These fools only respect one thing: strength. He charges towards the Gnoll Leader and throws a punch, but she elbows him in the ribcage before it can connect.   Gnoll Leader: This hunt has already failed. We might as well leave. Our children go hungry today! She does a bunch of yips, and everyone starts to leave.

  Dwardazik makes another run at the Gnoll Leader. This time, he does manage to make contact, but his follow-through fails to land. The Gnoll Leader slashes his face with some acid-coated daggers and then turns to walk away again. Dazki convinces Dwardazik to let them go. Dwardazik yells out, "It was a good fight. Let's go again next time, but no weapons, though!", throwing some rations in front of Gnoll Leader. The Gnoll Leader herself walks past the rations, but signals for some other gnolls from the group to pick them up. They do.   Meanwhile, Grogery is still trying to get some kind of information out of the ogre, which is turning into a more tedious endeavor by the minute:  

Grogery: What's your name?   Ogre: What's yours?   Grogery: I'm Grogery, but what's your name?   Ogre: I am Pot.   Grogery: Why stop working for the dwarves?   Pot: Work is hard. Ogres should have respect and meat.   Grogery: Don't they give you food?   Pot: Pot get food. Pot want better food!   Grogery: Why the Spire of Beasts? What's here for you?   Pot: Pot smart ogre. Pot know these guys don't work for dwarves. Pot safe to eat any meat here.   Grogery: That meat belongs to people and might also be... alive, so...   Pot: Dogs not alive. Dogs mean.   Grogery: Things can be mean and alive, like those dwarves.   Pot: Dwarves not alive. Dwarves mean. Pot is a vege...rian. Only eat dead things. No eat animal, give Pot bad tummy. Veg... vegeta...   Grogery: Vegetarian? Well, this would be the place to go to not have to work for the dwarves anymore. But you would still have to do something to earn your food.   Pot: Pot fine, Pot eat dogs.   Grogery: They won't let you eat them.   Pot: No complain, already smushed. Don't eat live dog, am vegenarian.   Dwardazik: If you want to live here and not be attacked all the time, you shouldn't do what you're about to do.   Pot: Pot go back to dwarves?   Dwardazik: I didn't say that.   Pot: Then Pot stay here.   Grogery: Everywhere you go that there's other people, there are going to be rules. There were rules with the dwarves, and there are rules here. Here, one of the rules is that you don't just fight the "dogs" and then eat them when they're dead.   Pot: But Pot need food.   Grogery: That's against the rules.   Pot: Pot will staaarve!   Grogery: Not overnight. We'll find you a way but you can't do this.   Pot: But Pot just did!   Grogery and Dazki together: Shouldn't! You shouldn't do that! That's why they're mean!   Pot: Dogs were already mean.   Dwardazik: He's slow, Grogery.   Grogery: Just because he's slower doesn't mean you can't get him to do good things.   Pot: They say Pot do good work, Pot do better than when Pot do bad work.   Dazki: What kind of work does Pot want?   Pot: Pot not want work. Pot want lady ogre and lady ogre babies!   Dazki: You need work to get money for that.   Pot: What's money?

  Grogery, embodying all the patience that you would expect from a follower of Pelor, tries to explain the concept of money to Pot, with the help of Kesmet. Pot, embodying all the intelligence that you would expect from an ogre, understands exactly none of it. When it becomes clear that this isn't going to work, Grogery tries to at least lay out the different options that Pot has, giving a respectably well-thought-out list of pros and cons, to which Pot replies:  

Pot: You don't make sense. Pot confused. Where should Pot go?   Grogery: Wherever Pot wants.   Pot: Pot wants to get to a place with lady ogre and lots of dead meat. Where Pot go?   Dazki: Go back to work for the dwarves.   Pot: OK, Pot go back to dwarves... after Pot eat dog meat?   Dazki: NO!   Pot: But... dog meat go bad... OK.   With that, Pot leaves in a direction. The party is generally unsure about what might actually lie in this direction, and it's possible that Pot might have been more confused even than he was letting on, but given that it's not the same as the direction that the gnolls left in, the party decides to leave him to it.   Grogery: I guess this was the smart choice, but I still feel bad.   Dazki: Look at it this way, maybe they'll unionize!

  Surveying the area, there are three gnoll bodies that the rest of the gnoll pack left behind. Two are definitely dead, but the one that Dwardazik jump-kicked is still alive. Grogery heals it back up, and it rushes away towards the rest of the pack.