[WIP] Paralogue: Justine's Journey

While Mystery Inc recovered from their latest venture into the Feywilde, Justine led a group of mercs on a secret mission to X. This rag tag band consisted of Emeric, the fisherman from Hammer Isle, Garret Shieldingway, a paladin from the Eldeen Reaches, and Wren Javron, a city watchman from Bralin. When we last saw Justine, she was preparing to steal some contraband from the upcoming Cannith exposition fair, specifically the bomb that would power their King Joe power suits. Additionally to expose Cannith's war crimes, we attempted to capture and reveal Legion, the demonically enhanced Sahagin experiment to the public though how we were to accomplish these goals remained up for debate. But before we could follow any of these headings, Lady Justine needed to convince the people at home to support her bid for town mayor. As I passed out promotional material for her campaign, I ran into the familiar fisherman from the Hammer, Emeric. We were in the midst of catching up when 2 strange warriors jumped on stage shouting warnings of assassins who soon appeared flanking the lady. I urged Emeric to help defend her and jumped onstage putting myself between Justine and one of the assassins but they soon called their own reinforcements dropping a massive explosion from above as another invisible threat revealed himself. On the other side of the stage the mysterious warriors fought off the other assassin, another strange warforged but the bunny noticed my target used the distracting explosion to launch a surprise attack and threw himself in front of Justine. I thank this Shieldingway as he called himself and healed him in return. He then leapt up to skewer the 3rd fiend who after being attacked, decided to vanish again but that was no problem for the other warrior, the arcane Mr Wren whose magic arrow sought the slippery scoundrel out. Emeric then took the opportunity to double down the damage wounding him severely. Mr Shieldingway finished him off with an acute moonbeam. With a little more effort, we tracked down the last rogue as he attempted escape Emeric homed in on his location and Justine roasted him alive. Wren recognized a symbol on one of the assailants as the symbol of the Hut cartel. Although they each had different reasons for coming to Hearth, they agreed that helping Justine would serve their goals as well. I assisted Shieldingway by introducing him and the others to Jeanette who I asked to cast the spell since the corpses would be hostile to me. After questioning, we learned that the Hutt cartel do have a base at Last Stop with 2 more accomplices Jango and Boba, hired by the Sahagin leader Dagna, at a bounty of 10k. After Justine returned from her investigation, she wanted to check on the contraband in Patrice's possession. Luckily, I recently furnished my chambers with a scrying font and was able to spy on the little mouse Darren snuck into the bomb crate before Patrice hauled it away. From what I saw, the Sahagin hosted a makeshift laboratory for Cannith's scientists to apparently siphon the elemental energy from the bomb to fuel another King Joe model. In their company was a burned looking bunny who must've been the Flamingway, assisting or maybe even directing the experiments in comfort and contentment. This revelation shifted our priorities to finding Flamingway posthaste and sabotaging the development of this new weapon system. In preparation we bought loads of dynamite and shark bait then carefully made our way to the River Clan's cave. Justine lured a horde of guards away as the rest of us snuck past the remaining 2 and dealt with them deftly once inside. We awaited Justine's return, then sealed the entrance behind us, buying some time to reach the lab. The next pair of guards looked a bit meaner, one of them donning the same weapon system I saw in the scry. Somehow with a little luck and diversion we ducked past them too only to find ourselves in an unconventional shark tank. My initial instinct was to use the actual shark bait we procured for this mission, so I had Lady Justine shoot a bolt with some across the tank to draw their attention but even with invisibility the sharks could sense us. Only the furthest one was momentarily distracted by the bait that shot pass it as the others honed in on our location. I urge the party to swim as quickly as they could toward the exit as I pondered a quicker way to bait them away. I remembered I could animate the little lumps of flesh and did so at the cost of my invisibility giving half of us a chance to reach the exit relatively unscathed. Unfortunately Shieldingway and Wren suffered a few bites so I healed Shieldingway when we resurfaced in another tunnel. This one had a lovely whale carcass as the centerpiece. As Justine and I advanced passed it, Wren sensed a writhing from within and we glimpse what appeared to be hands protruding against the skin. Emeric recognized this particular phenomenon as a characteristic of a certain leechman species known to inhabit such carcasses and lo, that's exactly what popped out, 3 of them to be precise. Shieldingway thwarted the first attack aimed at me and soon broke invisibility to attack the rest. Luckily they were weak to radiant blows so we made quick work of them especially as Shieldingway expelled the last of them, including the tiny spawn that burrowed into him and Wren. The last leech that attempted to flee ran into the next steaming chamber and promptly ran back out a shriveled husk, foreshadowing what awaited us. Justine pushed aside the steam to reveal a huge elemental ringed with arcanic runes, the source of the steam probably a result of the device bound to it. I disabled the binding ring, hoping to win it's trust with this act of liberation. Unfortunately it still displayed aggression toward anyone trying to pass it to the other side. After some strange communication attempts involving Justine and Shieldingway shifting into lopporit form, the elemental calmed and shrank to a more stable size mirroring the bunny forms. It then extended a hand in friendship which signaled that it now accepted us and would follow us. Given the last ambush of leeches, we sent the stealthy Emeric ahead this time to scope things out. He reported seeing Burningway in the company of the scientist, as previously scried, and one other exit which needed blocking so we sent him back to plant the dynamite and get Burningway's attention as we swam toward the final cavern and waited for the cue of the explosion. With that, the final battle began as we burst from the water catching the enemy off guard. We instructed the steam elemental to guard our rear and prevent any reinforcements trying to follow as we dispatched the guards. They retaliated with some fierce potions of fire but I put an end to that by blowing up their supplies with a well placed fire wall. But before I knew it, my mind went blank and I felt something take over, telling me to 'slay the intruders' and after that, an eerily familiar darkness overtook everything. This feeling consumed me but once in my past, resulting in the destruction of my home monastery by the time I woke to the light. This time however my faith in the silver flame empowered me to slowly retake control as I pulled myself toward the light of my friends' voices. When I came to, the fighting had ceased though the wizard also made his escape with the mechanical weaponry. On the other hand, Shieldingway and Justine managed to convince Burningway of Cannith's dubious nature so he agreed to come home with us. Jeanette greeted us in the Silver Flame temple and graciously healed our wounds. I consulted her on my fugue state and how that wizard seemed to trigger it. She hypothesized a potential counter by modifying the existing spell that repels influence from other beings after witnessing the transformation through Wren's memories. It then occurred to me that I should ask Fran Kee to scan this hidden power in my core. He couldn't detect it before but after the recent activation, he couldn't miss it. Apparently some warforged models were equipped with this arcane engine and the now illegal control mechanism the wizard used to activate it before the treaties were signed to grant my kind autonomy. Though I could now theoretically access this new power with some practice, removing the controlling trigger would require tracking down this wizard to deactivate it permanently.
 
With one night before the Cannith Expo, we planned to gather as many allies and resources as possible. Wren & Justine went to treat with Fisk of Tharask, Emeric would see about Lady Maria & Red, while Shieldingway and myself recruited Mazery and Legion. Mazery was easily plied with vague promises of looting the Cannith tech. I heard Shieldingway might've had a bit more trouble convincing Legion but with Mazery's confidence, we secured their support. Next, Shieldingway and I paid the Zilargo Gnomes a visit. We shopped for a device to hold our friend Legion at the expo in case his bloodlust consumes him. We also spread the word about Cannith's dubious dealings and doomsday devices, asking their reporters to document the proof themselves tomorrow. With our missions accomplished, we regrouped at the mystery mansion. Emeric convinced Red to lead a force provided by Lady Maria to divide Cannith's attention while we presented Legion to the arriving crowds at the main gate. We arrived ahead of the expo's opening to lay our traps and scout the camp. Justine caught an eagle eye's view, relaying the details to the group. No turrets to deal with this time, however Cannith was in no short supply of sentries. The super weapons we briefly encountered in sahagin caves were on display as was the Wizard in charge of that operation. I wouldn't be a reliable ally as long as he was in play so I elected to stay hidden in Justine's portable hole in the meantime...