Session 100: What happened to Shniska? Report

General Summary

Session 100 – Wednesday March 2, 2022 – What happened to Shniska?

4 Hour role playing/ battle session 5:30 PM to 10:00 PM

Party of 5 (The order of Heroes, Inc.):

It is the 7th day of the month of Nightal (The Drawing Down) in the 3rd year of the Age of Enialis

• Annalisa (Anna) – Human L8 Monk – L7 Wizard /L3Fighter – Ryan Armstrong (Remote)
• Jaquette Mara – L19 Human Druid – Jackie Armstrong
• Lucky Lightfoot – Leprechaun – L18 Bard/L1 Sorcerer – Jacob Munson
• Luigi Risotto – Wood Elf L17 Monk/L2 Wizard – Dan King (Absent – Church)
• Rolen – Human L19 Warlock – Josh Pozsonyi
• Tyrena Rechs – Human L16 Ranger/L3 Fighter – Nathan Gioconda
• Fergewon – L19 Firbolg Cleric – Spencer Armstrong (School)

Goals:

• Gather the other parts of the god Destroyer sword (Blade, Hilt and guard)
• Destroy the Amber Sarcophagi with the god Destroyer sword
• Take the sword to the Summer Queen and have her destroy it.
• Get dragon egg for Lady Cersei.

Into the mines.

Jaquette and Tyrena arrived at the end of the battle. Jaquette saw that Anna was freezing and summoned a polar bear to warm her up. Rolen collected the heads of the defeated undead giants and put them into the portable holes. Tyrena examined the tracks in and out of the cave and Jaquette cast pass without a trace as the party entered the mines. The temperature in the mine wasn’t as cold as the outside so Anna let the polar bear go. Anna cast light on her hand to see inside the cavern. They saw that some of the areas were newly mined and had no supports while other areas were mined some time ago and had wooden beams supporting the ceiling.

They found a room with various sets of tools. Lucky wanted to collect them, but he was reminded that they were not supposed to take anything. They found a room of crates. Jaquette opened one and saw it had food and then she moved on to join the others exploring. They saw the mines extended south with supports and a newly mined area extended to the east. Anna examined the walls and determined they were mining diamonds.

They found various areas that seemed to be mined out recently with mounds of rubble. They continued east and found a large pile of rubble that blocked the path. Examining it, they determined this was a cave in that happened just moments ago. Jaquette turned into a spider and crawled through the rubble and found a large open area on the other side. Once on the other side she turned herself into a bat and began searching the area. While Jaquette crawled through, Rolen and Tyrena began clearing out some of the rubble and realized they could easily cause another cave in if they wanted to.

Jaquette goes off on her own.

Jaquette spotted a dark wizard hiding in a small area of the cave. The Wizard saw the bat and fired a firebolt striking the bat reverting Jaquette to her normal form. He demanded to know who she was. She said her name was Jaquette and she offered to help. He recognized her from her poster, smiled and said, “I thought it would be you”. Then he asked her if she killed the Giants. She started to tell him while he started casting a spell over a bag of holding in his hands. The bag crumbled to dust and Jaquette backed off. Jaquette stepped back another 5 feet and cast wall of thorns. After she did, she heard a crunch and saw a green mist poor a few feet through the thorns. Jaquette called back, “We have a live one in here.

Anna started looking for another entrance into that section of the mine. Rolen and Tyrena started digging faster and they cleared a narrow passage in the rocks. As they Crawled through, Jaquette led them to where the necromancer was trapped. She removed the wall of thorns and they saw the remains of a body, its head and upper chest dissolved into dust from necrotic damage. Jaquette said, “He wasn’t this way when I found him.” Rolen identified the garments as someone who has studied necromantic magic and realized he could be associated with Ducia but saw nothing specific. Searching through the dust they found 700gp worth of diamond dust.

The party examined the area and surmised that the necromancer was most likely there controlling the undead. They also surmised that he was getting diamonds for some nefarious purpose and probably linked to Ducia. They determined that the hallway was collapsed just before the party came in, but they didn’t quite figure out why. Realizing the diamonds were most likely destroyed, they left the body, and the diamond dust. They did a quick search of the rest of the mines and Anna avoided several more cave collapses. They found nothing and then they left.

Night at the nearest village.

As the party exited the mines the weather was getting worse. The temperature dropped and the wind and snow were picking up. Anna was the only one who didn’t have winter clothing, but she made it to the village just as the sun was setting. The villagers saw the party and welcomed them into a large tent where they were greeted by Crow. Rolen left the heads outside of the tent. Rolen explained what they found.

Crow offered the party to spend the night and offered each party member a companion to keep them warm. Crow offered the party some ale and Tyrena challenged Crow to a drinking contest. After the first 9 drinks, Tyrena didn’t look so good. After another 3, Crow started to struggle, and Tyrena had her 2nd wind. After 2 more drinks Tyrena called it quits. Crow, impressed with Tyrena offered to keep her warm that night. Jaquette’s partner was muscular, but Jaquette needed a couple drinks to bear him. Rolen opted to sleep alone in his sleeping bag and refused Gretta. Anna chose to stay warm with Gretta.

Gretta led Anna to a different yurt saying she’s “not of Crow or Shniska.” Anna asked her to elaborate. Gretta explained that Killgrave would allow magic while Shniska just wants fish and trade. She said, “One day Bane will kill Crow and Killgrave will take over from Shniska.” In the morning Gretta gave Anna a warm fur coat.

The Journey Back

Crow had 3 of the local tribesmen help carry the giant heads back to Shniska. They journey was uneventful as the snow lightened up. Crow told the group he had to take the heads to Bralbruff Fornsburger, the taxidermist just outside of the port of Gundbarg. Crow told the party he’d meet them at the palace in 4 hours. Rolen went along with Crow to see what he could learn from the Taxidermist. After a few hours Rolen learned quite a bit about taxidermy (18 for memory.)

The rest went to the Dragon Turtle Inn. Tyrena talked to the bar maid Freja. She told Tyrena that even though Tyrena’s cold they’re in the middle of a warm spell. Lucky ordered everything on the menu as the party tried the famous pickled herring. Tyrena asked about Crow and Freja was very happy with Crow and Shniska because Shniska “lavishes” the people with the wealth of the pirates.

Waking up Shniska

Crow told Rolen to go ahead and he’d meet him there at the palace in 15 minutes. They party made their way to the palace in the cliffs and once inside asked for directions to Shniska’s room. They eventually found his room, knocked and walked on in. They found Shniska sitting in a chair with his head slumped on his chest and a cat on his shoulder licking the back of his neck. They closed the door, but Rolen left it unlocked. Lucky went up close and saw the tail end of a crossbow bolt sticking out of Shniska’s neck and pulled it out.

Tyrena grabbed the cat by the scruff of his neck and asked Jaquette to interrogate it. The Cat was very happy licking the blood off Shniska’s neck but explained that a short man with a long beard came in and shot the crossbow bolt into Shniska’s neck. The cat told them that he had never seen the short man before. Jaquette asked how long ago this happened and the cat (not familiar with time) said, “probably 3 naps ago.”

Lucky handed the bolt to Anna who examined it and confirmed it was actually one of Rolen’s bolts. Jaquette examined the body and estimated the time of death between 12 and 24 hours ago. The party discussed the ramifications of bringing Shniska back to life. Lucky tried but the spell failed. Rolen said “This is awkward.” Some suggested the party tell the truth, Lucky said they could cast spells on Crow.

Who would want to kill Shniska?

Anna cast sending to talk to Gretta. Gretta seemed surprised and didn’t quite know what to do. They heard footsteps approaching. Lucky walked up to the ceiling. Anna told the party that there is another named Killgrave who wants to take power here, just as Crow walked in the door. Rolen greeted him with a friendly “Crow!” Rolen was able to explain what they saw and persuaded Crow not to kill them all right away. Crow locked the door and started to question the party.

There was a knock on the door and Crow saw that Bane was outside. Crow told him that Shniska was busy and explained the political situation to the party. Rolen told Crow everything they knew, and Crow reluctantly believed them. Bane left to get Killgrave. The party debated various plans and politics and tried to figure what to do next. After realizing that no new ships have been docked recently, Rolen suspected that the culprit was on-board their ship.

They asked, if they brought the culprit and could prove that he did it would the OoH be pardoned? Crow said, “If you have a full confession, yes.” Rolen told Crow to stall Killgrave and Crow showed the OoH a back door through the hall of heads. The party took the cat and to help identify the culprit once they found him. They walked quickly down the hall and made their way back to the main hall. They turned and saw what looked like Bane and Killgrave walking away from them towards Shniska’s room.

Who done it?

They made it back to their ship and found Gantu. Gantu reported that Nikabrik (a short, bearded man) had gone AWOL. Gantu directed them to Stinky Pete. Stinky Pete explained that he saw Nikabrik leave the ship last night with some islanders. Jaquette asked the cat if Stinky Pete killed Shniska and the cat said no. Anna offered the crew 120gp for anyone who finds Nikabrik.

The party went into the crew’s quarters and Jaquette picked the lock on Nikabrick’s footlocker. Finding a beard brush, Anna found a hair and with that, Lucky cast Scrying. They discovered that Nikabrik was with a guard inside a yurt in Killgrave’s village. Asking a guard, they found that Killgrave’s village is a 2 hour walk to the south. Jaquette cast windwalk on the party and they made it to the village in 12 minutes.

Capturing Nikabrik

The OoH approached the guards and tried to get them to give them Nikabrik, but the guards refused. Rolen pulled out the dagger and said, “We’ll do this the hard way.” Lucky suggested that the guard go in and hold Nikabrik and the guard did. Al made the same suggestion to the 2nd guard, and he did the same thing. Jaquette walked in and saw a 3rd guard and she cast blight on him. The guards attacked Jaquette. Rolen went in and banished the 3rd guard with banishing smite and bloodied one of the other guards. Anna went in and cast psychic lance on the 2nd guard incapacitating him and whipped the first guard stunning him. Tyrena ran in and tackled the first guard and bound him with her ropes.

Lucky and Al went in and commanded a guard and Nikabrik to grovel. Jaquette bound the 2nd guard and secured it (7.) Nikabrik groveled and Rolen quickly slapped a set of manacles on him. Rolen said to him, “You really screwed up this time.” Nikabrik peed his pants as the OoH grabbed him and left.