Session 156

General Summary

• The party joined the officials from the government — already convened around Fae'lala Medui — to plan next steps.
• Virren Sempu'ur ran the meeting and shared the concern of some VIPs about involving the capital in solving the worm issue.
• Jose Mightly explained that the worms they track seem to be in two places at once, with one fixed location likely being the "mother worm" lair.
• Jose also revealed that the large purple worm is a mind-controlled shell, controlled by a smaller worm that devours parts of it and leaves organ-resembling offspring inside it.
• Tex proposed a plan to place modified Spheres of Annihilation in the mother worm's lair to destroy it.
• The party gained limited access to the capital's resources and agreed to meet Tex the next morning for a personal discussion about their exploits.
• Firelord Maota Helens provided feedback and critiqued the party's teamwork and battle strategies, leading to them working on improving their coordination.
• The party contacted Wendi and forwarded her an invitation to discuss further.
• Back at The Cloak and Stagger, they shared thoughts on their meeting with the VIPs and decided against bringing The Quicksilvers with them on their mission to the worm hive.
• They chose not to open the sack given to them by Soves, despite this not containing any magic or thinking creatures.
• They settled down for a long rest. Editor's note: out-of-game, we know that the party split into two halves during this, each experiencing their own secret encounter during this portion. There's no concrete, specific in-game reason why either of the two halves would expect that the other half also had an encounter.

Full Recap

The party take a short rest to get themselves cleaned up for the meeting later — everyone but Dazki, who just needs to fix up his hair.

Getting to the Meet of it

Dwardazik makes sure that his merchant badge is outwardly visible as the party arrive at Fae'lala Medui, where several VIPs have already gathered:

• Firelord Maota Helens of Highwater
• Virren Sempu'ur of the Red Wood
• Manchineel Lignis
• Stickson Stonethrower-Bonebreaker
• Jose Mightly
• Gorwin "Tex" Texylraan, accompanied by what must be some elite guards from Phoenix Landing

Virren runs the meeting. He opens by explaining that they've heard of the party's previous exploits, and mentioning that some people here don't want to get the capital — represented here by Tex — involved in solving this. He goes on to mention that they want to come to some sort of arrangement with the party to take care of the worm problem — but he gets a bit fidgety when it comes to what that precise arrangement would be. Jose interjects, mentioning that they've been able to try to track the large worm as it fled, with "somewhat interesting results", but Virren insists that they walk through an overview first.   Virren again dodges any details about the precise arrangement, and Jose again interjects: they will track one worm just fine, but then all of a sudden the entity that they're tracking will suddenly jump a great distance, sometimes even seeming as if the worm is in two places at once. The only solid lead is that when it goes to "two places at once", the secondary "place" is always the same specific location, which Jose marks on the party's map.   Jose also has had some time to examine the worm carcasses: the large purple one is indeed just a mind-controlled "shell" of sorts that the smaller one seems to "wear". The smaller one will devour the larger one's stomach and its liver, and a lot of the intestines to make room for it. Somehow, the smaller one seems to leave offspring inside of the larger one that will resemble those organs, in such a way that you wouldn't even be able to tell that they weren't the organs... unless you go "fiddling around in there", like Jose apparently did. Dazki interjects here, musing that this might be related to why other once-purified areas are getting reinfected, but Jose shoots this idea down: once the infection is purified, it's gone. He hadn't yet heard about this phenomenon.   Tex finally grows too impatient with this and cuts right to the chase ("we can simply tell you what it is we need you to do, and we can explain it later if you have questions"): the secondary location being presumably the "mother worm"'s lair, they send a small but powerful force out there as a secret weapon to eliminate it from within — or, at least, its hive. He brings out some large black orbs that, he says, will act as modified Spheres of Annihilation. Editor's note: as a reminder of my role here, I freely make links to base game reference materials... but as he said "modified", you will have to use some other means to figure out the full effect.   The intent — because the government here doesn't want to get the capital overly involved — is to place the spheres strategically and detonate the Mother worm's corrupted hive from deep within. Tex can't spare "more tame" elemental energies to help with the Turmoil cleansing — as such resources are already engaged in dealing with the rest of the countryside — but he is prepared to give the party some limited access to the capital's resources that they may need. He is also curious about the party's exploits and wants to discuss what they've encountered so far; he's read reports from Annu, but he wants to talk about it on a more personal level. The party agrees to this, so they all will meet up the next morning once the party has had some time to discuss what other resources they will need to requisition.   Dazki prompts Maota to reveal what she learned about them from their combat earlier. She does so:

• Marvin is "a real charmer"
• Dazki's mind and tongue are both silver, but he lacks confidence in himself to make decisions: "a weird combination of quick thinking and inconsistent acting"; "at least you don't have the confidence to be wrong".
• Dwardazik is confident, down-to-earth, and gets the job done. He's sturdy and dependable, but he lacks in novel strategic planning and big-picture thinking.
• Nathan (Theran) is a strong thinker, but "too kind-hearted to have any real convictions".

She decided to let the rest of the government work with them because she didn't see them as a threat. She also concluded that they seem to act as four separate individuals instead of working together, which she felt to be "a real shame". Dwardazik protests, but she clarifies: it's not that they don't have the conviction or resolve to support one another, but their battle strategy and tactics earlier felt uncoordinated, as if they were just four separate people trying to achieve four separate goals. "You could love each other until death do each of you part, but if you don't work together, all that's gonna happen is that you guys are gonna die, next to each other."

Met

The group discussion ended, the various officials part ways, but the party corners Jose to discuss what they had promised to Wendi earlier. Jose is not particularly impressed with the superficial quality of the scrolls, but he can't help but be intrigued by the novel concept, interested in learning more and discussing with whoever crafted the sample that Marvin shows. They name-drop Wendi Hammerfall, and he's a bit skeptical about her being a dwarf, but he doesn't say anything outwardly about it. He offers to have her sent his way, though he cautions that a lot of his time is taken up by the worm-related troubles throughout the countryside.

• Theran forwards along the invitation to Wendi using a "25 Words is Not Enough" spell, and Wendi burns the entire allotment for her reply:
• "OMG, THIS IS SO COOL! I CANT BELIEVE SOMEONE IS ACTUALLY SENDING TO ME! TO ME, OF ALL PEOPLE! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! THINGS ARE —"

They also take the firelord's advice to heart and spend some time discussing battle tactics and strategies. During this, the others convince Theran to contact his family, at least to let them know that he's still alive and unharmed.

Tavern

Back at The Cloak and Stagger, the tavernkeep today is a long-haired human male with a goatee. (Insight 22) You've never seen this man before, but you've heard his voice plenty of times.

Tavernkeep: Welcome back. I hope all of your meetings were... worthwhile.   Dwardazik: Wait... (he turns away and puts on his "disguise")... who were you talking to?   Tavernkeep: ... ... ... my apologies. I must've mistook you for someone else.   Dwardazik: Yeah, I'm a regular in here, you know me!   Tavernkeep: ... ... ... I've never seen you before in my life. What're you having?   Dwardazik: Uh, you know... the regular!   Tavernkeep:

  He makes up an ale for Dwardazik.   Tavernkeep: I feel that now would be an apt time to warn you that some of our facilities are under repair.   Dazki: From the worms?   Tavernkeep: You go chuggin' swill like this, you're gonna end up peein' yourself.   Dwardazik: The shrubs are gone?! What about the outdoor shrubs?!   Tavernkeep: Those are still there. Just check for interlopers hiding within before doing anything... unsavory. Last week, I had a man pee on another man in a gillie suit. I don't know why that had to be my problem. But he told me about it.   Dwardazik, putting the mug back down: ...that sounds like a problem.   Tavernkeep: Urine stains don't come out of beard hair very easily.   Dwardazik, putting a silver on the table: Sorry for your troubles. (He backs away.)

Dazki grabs the party's attention and points to a pair of armored tieflings seated at the table by the door, eating. He pulls out some playing cards — strongly hinting that the tieflings belong to the House of Cards — but suggests that there probably will not be any trouble from them.   They have some more discussion among themselves about what to request from Tex when they meet the next morning, and they also conclude that they probably shouldn't bring The Quicksilvers along with them when they leave the city to go to the worm hive.   Dazki brings up an experience that he had with Gilda Lily earlier on as an example of his occasional social missteps, which confuses Dwardazik to the point where he has a sidebar with Theran to translate for him, ultimately just flat-out asking Dazki what the heck he's on about. The gist of it is that Dazki apparently invited Gilda out on a date to pick out some art for the estate, she had responded by turning up at their place with a potted plant as a gift, and that was supposed to be taken as a graceful rejection. Dwardazik, confused as ever, plucks a poppy and hands it to Dazki saying that he doesn't have any romantic feelings for the elf, which is enough to make Dazki lose all his composure and just laugh uncontrollably.

Dwardazik: What?! That's how it works, right?   Dazki: Not one bit, Dwardazik...   Dwardazik: I just wanted to be friends!   Dazki: We are friends! I have not asked you out on a date, nor do I intend to, so you don't need to let me down by giving me a potted plant — instead of going to pick out art — as a housewarming gift...   Dwardazik: Ahh! ...I forgot the vase.   Dazki: Unrelated!

They move on to discuss what to do about the sack that Soves shoved at Dazki while being hotly pursued. Examining it, it has a little sign that clearly indicates "do not open" (in Thieves Cant). Theran casts a Checkity-Check spell to see if there's any magic about it — there isn't. He also tries a Really Good Insight spell to see if there's any thinking creature inside — there isn't. They put it to a vote and decide not to open it.   Theran spends some time sending messages back to his family at home, apparently telling them "I'm safe, unharmed, and traveling free without force or coercion".   They go down for a long rest, and everything goes just fine.