A New Horizon Sessions 31 - 40

Session 30 With only one more point of business to attend to here in Kamakisqa, the party set about snooping on Iron Eye, agreeing that a direct assault would likely go poorly. The plan was to send Leigh-la and Snips in to scout the place out and learn what they were up against; the latter even purchasing shiny new boots of elvenkind for the occasion. All this went out the window when Flea opted to eat another one of her magic fruits, and against all odds, assumed the form of a gaseous cloud. Calling an audible, Flea was sent to investigate instead. She was able to circumnavigate the guards and traps that kept the Black Sun penthouse secure, and though she was nearly caught by Iron Eye's magic eye, she was able to learn that the pirate lord was planning an attack on Soros and that forces were gathering at his secret sanctuary.
From there, the party pivoted to searching his ship for clues as to where this sanctuary could be. This time, the whole party went in, with Flea and Lir invisible, Tess confidently disguised as a pirate, Snips doing his thing, Leigh-la as a mouse and Zuno watching through the eyes of Long Mike. They scoured the ship, deftly avoiding the skeleton crew still aboard, and pulled some good loot from the hold, noted their brig was empty (still no sign of Leigh-la's friends) caused a diversion to raid their armory and yoinked two sets of Mariner Armor, and lastly, investigated the captain's quarters. Leigh-la was able to circumnavigate the glyph of warding sealing the quarters by assuming the form of an ant. Within, she found a map whose compass markings pointed to Mount Vaeros as a frequently visited location. On their way out, Snips simply tanked the glyph and raided the quarters for goodies, acquiring a few potions before launching himself out the window.
With a potential location for Iron Eye's sanctuary discovered, it was time to shove off and escort the Menagerie victims back to safety. The voyage was cramped, but relatively smooth sailing, at least in terms of external threats. In transit, Zuno pressed First Mate Quincy for answers (he had previously offered to use the magic aura spell to mask their presence from Iron Eye) on who he was, using detect thoughts to probe deeper into his mind. Zuno proved tenacious, and "Quincy" let it slip in his mind that he was none other than Zuno's father. Zuno reeled from this revelation and was altogether unsure how to react. Eventually, he asked for more information on the situation, but still remained at a distance. Otherwise, the only other notable event of the voyage was a brief encounter with some kind of dragonborn hermit chilling on a small island.
Back at New Providence, the party quickly learned the Haedian Empress was in town. A group of customs officers insisted on processing the party's ship, but thankfully a lengthy audit was waved off by the minstrel Machi Navalli, who the party was somewhat surprised to see have so much clout with government officials. Beyond that though, the troubadour was thrilled to see the party return with exciting new stories in tow. Leigh-la took a particularly keen interest in him, and the two went off to get drinks and share stories. Then, it was simply a matter of wrapping up outstanding business.
Zuno went to Eqora for some wizardly advice on his revelation (of which she had very little to offer), Zuno and Lir sold intel on Iron Eye to Aliva of the Confidence Exchange for a hefty sum, the whole group returned the holy relic to the Aonian Church, squaring their outstanding bill for their last resurrection, and finally, Tess made a shocking announcement: she intended to take the money she had accumulated and use it to begin a refugee shelter in New Providence in order to help those harmed by the Magpie and others. Because of this, she would no longer be travelling with the group. The party said their "see you laters," with Flea seeming to take it particularly hard, and went their separate ways.
Now, the remaining party has a meeting upcoming with Marshall to discuss Iron Eye's intended invasion, and Snips and Lir in particular found themselves in an interesting position: Upon returning to report a successful mission to Lord Blackwell, they discovered that the crime lord Warren Flint was there, having just concluded a rather tense-looking meeting…
XP earned: 250 each
Session 31 With Blackwell released from Warren Flint's ire, the shady noble was able to give the details to Snips for his next assignment, though first, Snips requested the Dagger of Venom up front as part of his payment for the previous job, to which Blackwell readily agreed (he was planning on offering it as an incentive for the next job anyway). Blackwell required the gang to track down a turncoat amongst his "employees" who was now selling the drug Dazzle at an undercutting rate (this was the purpose of the meeting with Flint). Snips agreed to take the case and went to reunite with the rest of the party.
Later, as the rest of the group reconvened from their day's nonsense at the town bulletin board and noticed a rather unorthodox notice seeking aid in finding a genie. Upon expressing interest in the missive, its writer, an elf called Nix approached them. They opted to help each other out and travel together for a time; timely, as Tess's spot in the group needed filling. With that settled, they went on to meet Marshal, along with Cpt. Anders and Arcanist Palmer at the Roasted Chestnut.
They shared what they learned about Iron Eye's machinations in Kamakisqa and his Sanctuary (or at least one of them, as they pointed out), though they played coy about Iron Eye still being alive so as to not jeopardize the bounty they collected on him. The sailors seemed to appreciate the severity of the situation and promised to move this as far up the chain in the Assembly as it needed to go in order to stage a counter-attack on the Sanctuary as well as defend the island from an invasion.
The next day, the group set about some idle shopping and preparation for Blackwell's job. Snips acquired some potions and made sure the alchemist Zero shared any breakthroughs he made on potions that gave kobolds wings while Flea purchased a Javelin of Lightning from Corybar, whom Lir also propositioned for some new shield upgrades (he wants a gun attachment now, too). As the sun set, they went to pursue some leads on Dazzle dealers Snips drummed up.
Along the way, they happened upon a bizarre sight: a guardsman was being attacked by an unseen assailant. The party moved to intervene. Zuno and Nix deduced that this was an Invisible Stalker: a summoned elemental usually sent to kill a specific target. The party was able to strike down the creature before it could permanently put the guardsman down, who in turn was quite grateful for his life but decidedly less so about Nix and Zuno grilling him for reasons why such a creature would be after him. Between Nix pressuring him (in the name of his own safety, of course) and Zuno using detect thoughts, it was revealed that he suspected a woman called Anne whom he had some kind of encounter with may have gone to the "witch" Lucille. It was clear the guard wasn't interested in diving into that particular can of worms though, and the party left him at that.
Back on the job, the party was easily able to track down a few Dazzle dealers and ID'd one as one of the turncoats. Upon threat of death, the mook revealed where they set up shop. As thanks, Snips slit his throat. However, the rest of the party took pity on him and stabilized him before he could fully bleed out.
At the meat-packing warehouse, Snips snuck around to find a back entrance and nearly bungled taking out the lone guard, who alerted the others with a gunshot. However, as the front door guards went to investigate, Nix hit one with a crown of madness. In the ensuing chaos, the party snuck into the warehouse. Inside, they found it occupied by a dozen or so thugs prepping the drug for distribution while under the watch of a handful of dragonborn up on the catwalk. Snips went up to search for Hayes while the rest of the group scoped out the cellar. The former spotted a door guarded by an orc that seemed a likely place where Hayes could be while the latter located a mid-sized safe guarded by another orc.
In tandem, they made their moves. Snips set off a bomb on the catwalk and then began taking potshots at the dragonborn sorcerer from cover. The party surprised the thugs downstairs and cleared the room in quick succession, giving them unfettered access to the safe that they suspected contained the product they sought. Now it was just a matter of recovering it before the bulk of the bandits upstairs were able to get Snips in their sights…
XP earned: calculate with next session.
Session 32 The party concluded their "business" with Hayes' Dazzle operation. The party reunited on the main floor and engaged the goons in an outright brawl. The orc mercenary and dragonborn sorcerer proved the most troublesome, but a timely counterspell by Zuno and good saves against a hypnotic pattern spell kept the latter at bay, and a crown of madness from Nix turned the former against his allies while the rest of the party whittled him down. Ultimately, a handful of goons opted to flee while the dragonborn fought to the death, with Snips getting an explosive kill shot on the sorcerer that had been harassing him.
With the way cleared, the party confronted Hayes. Snips confirmed his identity and promptly killed him before he could attempt to talk his way out. Upon realizing the party's business was strictly with Hayes, the two dragonborn who were accompanying him politely took their leave. With that, they cracked the safe, survived the poison gas trap held within, and retrieved all 5 casks and a small chest of gold for their trouble. Meanwhile, Leigh-la spotted the tell-tale signs of an increasingly familiar sight: bizarre, maggot-like worms crawling around the bullet wound in Hayes head.
With the job completed, the party reported back to Blackwell, who was quite pleased to see his "product" recovered. He also shed some light on the dragonborn allied with Hayes, speculating that they were members of the Palaxi Mob based out of Majeir, likely seizing the opportunity to destabilize Warren Flint's control of New Providence's underbelly.
From there, the party went about some shopping and restocking (and attempted thievery from Corybar the Tinkerer, dissuaded by a loud alarm that was triggered) and finding a carriage to take them to New Haven to investigate this necrosis phenomena affecting the countryside. Leigh-la, Lir, and Snips also found Machi Navalli performing at the Silver Cloud to catch up. There, he gave them a bit more information on the treasure hunt he had commissioned, helpfully pointing out that the location of the crypt was only a day or two's voyage from New Haven.
The next day, the party departed on their rented carriage. The short journey was uneventful save for a pair of Wandering Sisters that offered aid and the promise of searching for Leigh-la's friends in the Sisterhood. Upon approach to the town, it became clear that this "decay" situation was getting worse. A literal dark cloud hung over the hills threateningly close to the town's limits…
XP earned: 1,300 each
Session 33 The party ventured into the rundown streets of New Haven to get the scoop on the shroud that had fallen over the countryside. They learned that it was first observed two weeks back, that they were not the first adventuring group to look into it, and that the Crown Mage Araneth was in charge of its monitoring. They made their way to his encampment on the edge of town, though not before scoping out the nearby tavern, the Crooked Gull, which prized itself on being "not as bad as you'd think."
At the camp, Araneth provided a few more details: the sthe shroud, or something within it, was turning those who had ventured through it (town guards, other adventurers, and a fellow Crown Mage) into ghouls. His associate had managed to narrow the source of the shroud to the cellar of the homestead where it first appeared. Finally, the transmuter mage offered one of the PCs his transmuter's stone, which granted proficiency in constitution saving throws. Leigh-la took up the wizard's offer in order to boost her concentration spells. With that, they got a "good" night's rest at the Crooked Gull and returned to face the shroud in the morning.
Moving through the blighted farmland, the party avoided a roving band of ghouls and quietly reached the cursed homestead, where they found it patrolled by the undead, as if they were guarding whatever was inside. The party dispatched the ghouls with relative ease (though Lir found himself paralyzed by a ghast's claws) and encountered a dybbuk: a demonic creature possessing the corpse of Araneth's fellow Crown Mage. The spectral demon retreated when its host's body was destroyed, allowing the party to investigate the house.
Inside, they found signs of a previous resident who worked with bodies and collected blood, as well as had iconography with fiendish inclinations. In the cellars, they found a hidden door behind an armoire with a false back that in turn concealed a dark series of caves. Within, they found old cages still containing human remains, a ruined alchemists lab, and a shrine to the demon lord Orcus. Finally, they encountered the source of the shroud: in the farthest chamber of the caves, they discovered a bodak lurking within an old study along with a compliment of ghouls and the dybbuk in a new host.
The bodak did not give the party time to think, fixing its gaze on Flea and dropping her with a look. Nix was able to withstand its deathly gaze and realized that they needed to avert their eyes from the bodak were they to have a chance of surviving here. And while it was clear their was plentiful evidence in the form of documents, maps, and scrolls on the bodak's sundered desk, survival took priority, and Nix flung a pair of fireballs into the room in order to whittle down the bodak's defenses. Lir was again paralyzed by the ghoul's claw attacks and was very nearly brought down, though he was able to rally at the end and smite the bodak (having a bit of a scare as its head fell at his feet and met his diverted gaze. Fortunately, it was quite dead). Snips dispatched the dybbuk (which he had marked as something of a rival) and the remaining ghouls were mopped up.
With their lives intact, the party combed the room for anything that may have survived the fire. Zuno found a grimoire on the bodak's body, Snips discovered a small lockbox containing some valuables and a wand of magic detection, and Lir recalled from his religious studies that bodak's serve the will of Orcus and their creation is via a self-sacrificial ritual that whoever lived here prior must have undertaken willingly. Additionally, with the death of the bodak, it was clear that the shroud was already beginning to disperse. Now all that was left was to return to town and collect their reward…
XP earned: 1,125
Session 34 The party wrapped up their business with the bodak and returned to Araneth to get paid. The crown mage escorted them to New Haven's governor, who personally offered the reward and gave some insights into the town's downtrodden luck (citing the pay-increase being thanks to a collection of the town's remaining upper class). With that business concluded, they set out to find a ship to take them to the Atotakan ruin Machi Navalli had pointed them towards.
In town, Nix went about telling everyone they should leave because New Haven sucks, Snips found the triton-run Prawned Pawn where he procured some potions for the group (with the money he kept for himself from the bodak's lair), and Lir stumbled across the Dancing Altie, the mercenary ship that had ferried him to Archaios in the past. The mercenaries were happy to offer their services to their old chum (for a reasonable fee, of course) so long as they waited until the "shipment" they were expecting was delivered the following day.
With a bright new day dawning over New Haven (at least significantly less gloomy than its been, thanks to the Shroud), the party set sail to find this lost ruin. In transit, Lir caught up with his pals, Flea improved Lir's pistol, and Zuno unlocked the secrets of the bodak's grimoire. In it, he learned that the creature was once a man who served the Demon Lord Orcus and was tasked with tracking down his master's wand, stolen by a "member of the Night's Song at the conclusion of the Extinction War." The notes eluded to the thief still being alive and having been sighted in the Talhani Isles somewhere. Otherwise, the brief voyage was calm and uneventful.
Upon reaching the island though, they discovered that they were not alone, as another ship was moored off the shore. Upon investigation, the party discovered another group of adventurers, and much to Snips' dismay, it was the very same group that had "liberated" him from the Underdark all those years ago. Lir and Snips approached them as the rest of the group hung back. They learned that the group was part of the Archanics expedition into the Nadalan Jungles and were the ones who found the data cache that pointed this tomb. They were quite thrilled to see Snips "returned" and offered to buy him back from Lir, which they ended up agreeing to (with little intention to remain with them, of course). Snips also convinced the bard of the group to take a dose of Dazzle, which Snips claimed was a potion, rendering the bard in a state of stupor as the group made their way into the tomb. As planned, the rest of the party waited a bit before following with the intent of pretending to be a wholly separate adventuring group.
Inside, they discovered a dedication to the occupants of the tomb, which Lir was able to decipher with his helm of comprehend language. Further in, they encountered an altar with tempting offerings left behind and metallic snake sculptures "guarding" the doors further in. It was here that the rest of the party showed up. Snips old "friends" proved standoffish; not wishing to share the loot they would pull from here any more than they already had to with Lir and Snips. During the commotion, Snips unlocked the next door, prompting the "sculptures" to surge to life and attack everyone in the room.
During the ensuing combat encounter, the other party proved themselves to be unorganized and rather inept. The snake's beguiling venom caused them to hit each other more than the enemy. Despite this, the mechanical snakes were dispatched with everyone more or less intact. The others wanted to take a short rest but were none to keen on letting the party push farther on. Eventually though, they came to an agreement and took a quick breather, allowing the other party to recuperate. With that settled, the conjoined party readied themselves to plunge farther into the dungeon…
XP earned: 300 each
Session 35 The two parties delved deeper into the dungeon. One room to be precise. Snips goaded the rogue and fighter of the other group to investigate the suspicious sarcophagi in the next chamber, and lo and behold, mechanized mummies sprung forth to greet them. The main party opted to hang back and first and let the other group take the mummies hits, which proved to be quite devastating. The rogue barely escaped with his life, the fighter was paralyzed and brought to death's door, and the cleric was overwhelmed and put into a coma, as the mummy's curse prevented her from healing. A sculpted fireball from the other party's wizard dealt a crippling blow to the mummies though, and the main party quickly mopped them up.
With their cleric comatose, the other party came to the conclusion that they needed to retreat and get her help, leaving the main party to proceed alone (much to the dismay of the bard, Snips did not come with them). Deeper in, the party found and disabled a few traps and worked their way to a record room. Lir was able to translate some of the documents with his helm of comprehend languages and found them to be mostly record of genealogy, lineage, land ownership, and war records. Beyond this, they found the burial chamber of the Warlord Tonauac himself. There, they found his scepter gripped by the stone hand of a a carving of his likeness on the lid of his coffin and a massive statue wielding a nuridium greatsword standing over it. Nix was able to spot the barely visible markings of a pressure mechanism in the palm that Snips could then disarm. Unfortunately, disarming the trap did not prevent the Shield Guardian from awakening when the scepter was removed and it, along with the clockwork bronze scouts lurking beneath the sandy floor of the chamber, sprung into action.
The Shield Guardian conjured a storm sphere that buffeted the party with thunder and lightning (this KO'd Flea), but they were ultimately able to break its concentration and wore the construct down with Lir being able to largely hold its attention by parrying and avoiding its blows with the greatsword. Ultimately, he destroyed it with an explosive smite.
With the constructs dead, the party was free to search the rest of the tomb for treasure (ironically finding the Shield Guardian's control amulet after it was already in pieces). They avoided the trapped decoy treasure room and found the true treasure vault to be guarded by yet another trap. This time though, curiosity got the better of them, and Snips and Zuno triggered the trap intentionally, which caused a massive stone ball to drop from the ceiling and promptly crush everyone save Zuno. From there it was a mad rush to stabilize everyone before they bled out. Fortunately, nobody died and they were free to loot the place. They realized that the treasure was warded, but presenting the Tonauac family crests they took from the mummies earlier would likely circumvent any curses.
After taking every last coin (as well as a few magic items) from the vault, the party prepared to leave. However, upon making their way back out, they heard the tell-tale sounds of somebody (or something) skulking about up ahead…
XP earned: 1,130
Session 36 The party opted to hide and scope out who these new arrivals in the dungeon were. From their vantage point in the false treasure room, they discovered it was the same spider-like creatures that attacked the HNS Guiding Light led by some kind of elven mage. They expressed little interest in the treasures of the crypt and instead went straight for the archive. The party was able to stealthily spy on them as they tore through the scrolls. Meanwhile, Snips decided he was out and snuck his way back to the surface. On his way, he encountered the bard from the other group in the atrium, unconscious. Snips relieved him of his lute and gold and ultimately decided to finish him off then and there. Outside, he discovered that the rest of that group was still lurking around the entrance, though they did not notice Snips slink out on his own. From there, both groups simply sat around and waited for quite a while to see what the others would do.
Eventually, the elf seemed to give up on his search, taking one scroll that he had set aside. The main party waited for them to leave before clearing out themselves. Top side, Snips old party hid from the strangers and opted to leave themselves, believing that the strangers' departure created too many variables for them to carry out their original plan of mugging the party for the scepter. With all other factions gone, the party was free to depart as well. Once they were finally able to get a decent night's sleep, the party felt more invigorated than ever. Zuno even figured out how to fly (much to the shock and awe of his father, whom he showed off to later).
The Dancing Altie took them back to New Haven. From there, they hired a carriage to take them back to New Providence, where Marshal had requested a meeting once they were back in town. Finally back in a proper city, the party took some time to unwind, shop, and get up to hooliganism. A bottle of strong Gorin, Orin, and Dorin Distilled Vodka put Lir, Flea, and even Zuno straight on their asses. This almost spelled disaster, as Zuno was accosted by a mysterious mage as he wandered an empty side street. Fortunately, the boy was able to overcome her initial ambush, and the mage fled when it was clear it wasn't going to be an easy fight. Zuno mostly brushed this off, though he still let the party know what had happened. But without any real lead to go on, they weren't able to look much more into the matter.
During the meeting with Marshal, the navy officer informed the group that the Assembly was dragging its feet in dealing with Iron Eye's "remnant force." He implored the party to take matters into their own hands: pose as mercenaries hired by Iron Eye, infiltrate the sanctuary, and sabotage it if possible. The party ultimately agreed to the task but wanted to take a little more time to recover from their previous adventures first.
After a couple days of stocking up on gear, learning a bit more about poisons with the half-orc Toks, who Snips talked into being a tutor of sorts, and Lir nearly getting arrested for public indecency, the party boarded the Damnation of the Tides once again in order to sail to Iron Eye's sanctuary hidden somewhere on the isle of Mount Vaeros…
XP earned: 300 each
Session 37 As a bit of a retcon, before sailing off to Iron Eye's Sanctuary, the party wished to look into the posting of the man seeking to meet a fairy. They found a rather peculiar man living in a messy workshop. Through talking with him and Zuno examining some of his schematics lying around, it seemed he was interested in somehow harnessing the power of a fairy. Curious, Leigh-la met with him and even agreed to come back in a week so he could resize his contraption to fit her (he had built it big enough for something like a pixie). With that, they were truly ready to sail off (very specifically not finding Machi to give him the scepter).
During the voyage, the party stopped to aid a group of sea elves involved in a losing conflict with a raiding party of sahuagin. With their timely intervention, the elves were saved (Lir felt he owed them for their help with sahuagin during a previous battle) and the sahuagin driven off. The elves offered their thanks and some cryptic warnings about the increased activities of the shark-people portending the awakening of the Deep Dwellers.
Later, as the party approached the Sanctuary, the encountered another ship: The Loathsome Supreme, a pirate vessel of the Blood Hawk Clan of Kamakisqa. The party was able to convince them that they were mercenaries hired by Iron Eye and diffused the situation peacefully (though Nix seemed particularly keen on kidnapping their captain and stealing their ship).
Finally, at the island that housed the Sanctuary, the party was able to locate the hidden entrance to the cove that held the Atotakan Facility that served as Iron Eye's base. They were again able to convince the pirates there that they were hired hands thanks to Zuno using detect thoughts to glean the needed password. There, they found the Iron Eye ready to give an address to the assembled crowd. With him was one of the Wandering Temple priests who had helped Leigh-la. Unable to do anything to help presently, they could only watch as Iron Eye gave a spear-rattling speech wherein he described an invasion of New Providence and a destructive eruption of the volcano they currently sat under. Upon its conclusion, he exited back into the pyramid structure.
The party followed and began gathering information as best they could. Meanwhile, Leigh-la also tried in vain to explain what "friendship" was to Snips. Inside the facility, the party was able to learn about both the invasion plan and some of the machinations of the volcano facility itself: namely that the hobgoblins had somehow rigged it to blow. They also learned that many of the scholars and archeologists who were "persuaded" to work on the project were now being sold off in a slave auction. The party took part in the auction and "acquired" a dragonborn archaeologist and the elven family (thankfully the whole package, despite the pirates doing their best to separate them) of the so-called Project Lead, whom they learned had been cast into the "Hole." If they could save him, he would be able to help them stop the eruption.
Other highlights: Snips wants the mechanical arm of one of the hobgoblins that can launch its fist like a missile, and upon chatting with the guard who watched over the door Iron Eye passed through, the party learned that some kind of badge is issued to those who are allowed passage.
Meanwhile, Leigh-la did some scouting in flying spider form (thanks to Zuno's casting of Fly). She found Iron Eye had assembled his inner circle and was engaged in a ceremony to determine a "new" Iron Eye for the Blind Scorn, whose previous captain was killed by the party. Most importantly, she noted her friend was still by Iron Eye's side. She didn't stick around much longer afterwards, as she new Iron Eye's Iron Eye was able to detect the presence of magic.
Back in the main chambers, the party began to scout out the Hole and how best to spring its prisoners. Lir got to chatting with some of the pirates hanging about nearby, including one particularly erudite and self-aware hobgoblin who had an in-depth conversation with Lir about the motivations behind the plan and its long term effects it would have on the local economy and the like. During this chat, the polite hobgoblin explained how the Hole worked and even opened it up so Lir could chuck something in it. In that moment, he glimpsed the elven prisoner as well as a few others in the gloom.
As the pirates continued to ship off one-by-one to join the attack on the Assembly, the party has still thus far maintained their cover as hired mercenaries awaiting orders. Now, alone in the belly of the beast, they contemplate their next moves, as they alone are in a position to stop this potentially cataclysmic eruption before it's too late…
XP earned: 455 each
Session 38 Needing a means of opening the Refuge Disposal seal without raising suspicion, Nix went about finding an acceptable guard to impersonate, dolling out the charm to get her potential marks to let their guard down and share some pertinent details. Meanwhile, Flea went about scrounging materials for some makeshift bombs and Leigh-la confronted Iron Eye, who had appeared within the Assembly Plant with his crew in tow. Disguised, she attempted to "buy" her friend back from him, but the pirate lord was uninterested in any amount of coin she offered, merely telling her to get to her ship. Zuno tailed from a distance and used message to communicate with the priest, who begged them to find and save her daughter, who was being held as collateral.
Zuno was then approached by an angry looking hobgoblin who quickly revealed himself to be his father Adius in disguise, come to check on them (prompted by the cavalcade of prisoners that had arrived at their ship). With his help, and Nix's new disguise, the party was able to extract the Project Lead from the hole by claiming Iron Eye had use of him. They quickly ushered him into a quiet corner, and the elf revealed what he knew of the facility. Most pertinently, he shared how the eruption could still be thwarted. From there, the party used a distraction caused by Flea's bombs and a major image illusion from Adius to again enter Refuse Disposal (making a big show of "throwing" the elf back in) to retrieve the discarded valve controls to allow steam to again enter the facility's machinations. They also freed the remaining prisoners who had been cast down here, including a belligerent dwarf and three operatives of Raali Division, Karrera's spec-op organization. Anxious to get a second chance against their captors, they made it their mission to disable the Sea Pumps (using Lir's coat to stand on top of each other to travel incognito) while the party retrieved Leigh-la's friend and reactivated the facility (so as to let the caldera seal be undone once they reached the controls).
First, the party repaired the steam controls and brought life to the long dormant facility, throwing everything into pandemonium as the remaining pirates suddenly had a fully functional assembly plant operating around them. From there, they were able to avoid detection as they slunk through the riled crowd and found where the second priestess was being held in a barrack in the wings. At first, it seemed they wouldn't be able to talk their way into getting the pirates to relinquish their prisoner, but Zuno deployed the Rod of Rulership and was able to beguile enough of the pirates that they were able to take the priestess without a fuss. In addition, the hobgoblin mage holding her was more than happy to hand over his access badge, which would allow its wearer to bypass the automated defenses still active in the east wing of the facility.
Hoping to find more badges to accommodate the rest of the party, Snips infiltrated the still excited crowd and deftly recovered four more badges. During that time, though, the rest of the party was approached by a pair of Black Sun pirates who recognized some of them from the attack on the Magpie's Menagerie. They demanded justice for the deaths of their fellows, despite the party's attempts to play deaf. Again, Nix put to work her hobgoblin disguise and diverted their focus long enough to disorient the assailants with a subtly cast darkness spell.
Finally, with enough badges in hand for five people and a wild-shaped Leigh-la to pass without fuss in the east wing, the party made their way there. Lir was forced to employ the command spell to get the guards out of the way long enough to slip into the closed off corridor. At the Workshop, the party briefly split as more of Iron Eye's men questioned their presence. Ultimately, this just resulted in them reuniting in the east wing Crew Quarters, where they discovered patrolling automatons that paid them no mind. They also found a few potions and spell scrolls that had been left behind. Now all that was left to push past the handful of hobgoblins in the Maintenance room that led to the Geothermal Controls overlooking the caldera itself and confront Iron Eye once and for all…
XP earned: 300 each
Session 39 The party launched a surprise attack on the hobgoblins in the maintenance room and reduced them to a fine red mist before they could even react, with Snips taking particular offense at the existence of one of the "Iron Shadow" monks present. During the skirmish, Leigh-la returned to fairy form and triggered the rooms automated defenses, an automated ballistae, as it recognized her as a sapient being without identification. Fortunately for her, reverting back into a beast broke the ballistae's focus on her and instead turned on the remaining hobgoblin, who had his badge stolen by Snips. He was promptly incinerated by the ballistae's fire bolt. With that, the party moved into the caldera overlook to confront Iron Eye.
Nix kept up the masquerade as a hobgoblin pirate, but her deception failed under scrutiny (Iron Eye recognized her disguise and what ship he sailed on, catching her in a lie). With that, combat broke out. The party quickly realized that the priestess Iron Eye kept at his side was there to provide a warding bond, as she absorbed half the damage dealt to the warlord. However, when Leigh-la revealed that the priestess' daughter was safe, Iron Eye failed to intimidate her into submission, and she turned against him. Despite his retaliation that knocked her out, the priestess' decision turned the tide of battle. Lir, who had struggled to initially overcome Iron Eye's defenses, channeled the full might of his oath and overwhelmed him. For his part, Iron Eye simply wondered aloud if he had met Lir at some point before the latter's spiritual weapon pierced his eye and killed him. Meanwhile, Nix kept the hobgoblin devastator contained with a couple of well-timed counterspells, Zuno splashed everyone with fireball, Snips and Flea unloaded on Iron Eye's minions, one of whom attempted to break the caldera controls but was fortunately stopped thanks to a timely hold person spell. Finally, Leigh-la healed her friend, who in turn used a casting of spirit guardians that took out Iron Eye's pet displacer beast.
With that, the party stood winded and wounded, but victorious. Thanks to Nix's rudimentary knowledge of Atotakan script and Lir's helm of comprehend languages, they were able to find the controls to open the caldera's seal, letting a veritable geyser of steam and magma to erupt forth. But despite the initial explosivity of this action, it ultimately resulted in the decreasing of pressure within the volcano; calming the mountain.
Upon leaving the facility, however, they came across a peculiar sight. Another ship, an Assembly frigate, was in the process of sending Iron Eye's flagship to the bottom of the harbor with extreme prejudice. This turned out to be the ship of none other than Mul Curunir, who had come as a SABR agent of the Assembly to contain the situation. He expressed gratitude to the party for beating them to it and gave some insight into both SABR and how he hoped to learn more of the Atotakah here. Zuno attempted to probe his mind for more information, but found that Mul had impenetrable mental defenses.
With the pirate threat gone, the party salvaged Iron Eye's treasure from his ship and set sail back home on a max-capacity Damnation of the Tides, during which time they "installed" of the pirate's advanced prosthetic legs onto Cpt. Ransford, which in turn gave him the abilities of the jump spell (this prompted Snips to consider installing some of this hardware onto himself). During the trip, Lir also reported back to Cmdr. Marshal about the incoming pirate armada. When they finally returned to New Providence, it appeared that the military took the warning to heart; the bay was full of sunken pirate ships with little indication that they ever even made it to land.
However, at the docks, they were met by a frantic Machi Navalli who info-dumped a super condensed tale of the Empress' caravan being attacked by pirates who had managed to evade the garrison's search for the "infiltration" team. The tl;dr: was simply that she was safe and wished to invite the party to the ceremonial feast marking the beginning of her Tour of the Isles, which was ironically moved to the city of King's Port for her safety. The party accepted and travelled with an entourage to King's Port, where they were honored for their actions along with Machi and Marshal, who proved invaluable in their own ways for defending the Empress. Mul and his dragonborn SABR companion were present as well and seemed to be impressed by everyone's efforts. Finally, the party was invited to travel with the Empress for her Tour of the Isles, which would let them briefly visit each of the major cities of the other Assembly nations. All of them accepted, save for Snips who instead opted to return to New Providence to see what kind of work he could drum up in the undercity in the wake of the attack. With that, the party was set to have at least a couple months of downtime to rest up, learn new skills, and spend some of their hard-earned cash. They would likely come to need the break, as who is to say what new adventures await them upon their reconvening in New Providence…
XP earned: 1,300 each
Session 40 The party reconvenes after a long stretch of downtime with their pockets significantly lighter and the desire to find new work. As they consider their options, a cloaked figure approaches and hands off a letter to Snips from Lord Blackwell, who has requested that a boathouse be burned down. After some deliberation, the party agrees to do this and goes to seek out the boathouse in question.
In transit, the party finally notices the sneaky Witness of Aevilok who keeps reverse-pickpocketing literature into the party's bag. All except Lir watch as he does his work, allowing him to continue even after he's noticed. With that, he slinks back into the crowd as Lir is politely informed that he's gained some inventory.
As the sun begins to set, the party reaches the boathouse and find it guarded. Lir attempts to pass the party off as private investigators, but this only seems to irk the guards. Nix and Flea attempt to use their fancy new toys to access the upper levels of the house but draw unwanted attention, with the former getting chastised for "not having a permit" for her flying broom. Eventually, Snips simply surprise attacks on of the guards, Dave, and kills him in one blow of his Dagger of Venom. The party then quickly disperses with the ensuing chaos as the other guard freaks out and draws a crowd of bystanders; Lir and Zuno jump into the bay to find another way in, Snips teleports inside by way of his Cape of the Mountebank, and Flea and Nix presents herself as a good Samaritan that needs to get this man immediate medical attention, dragging the body inside the boathouse after Flea deftly unlocks the front door.
Those who made it inside watch from the shadows as the other guard frantically brings news of what transpired to those assembled. As they listen in, it is revealed that this boathouse is owned by none other than Warren Flint, the head of organized crime in New Providence and ostensibly the one Lord Blackwell is working for. Not letting this fact deter them, the party proceeded with their plan. Nix took the form of Dave and added a bit of confusion to the mix. The leader of the thugs here ultimately asked their resident mage to "sedate" them so they could receive medical treatment (they were clearly delirious). Nix counterspelled whatever the mage was about to cast, and Snips took this as his cue to fire an explosive shot into the gathered crowd. Meanwhile, upon hearing gunfire, Lir and Zuno (who were unable to open the bay doors of the boathouse) accosted the single guard watching the side door and made their way inside as a full on brawl broke out.
It quickly became clear that the men guarding the boathouses were no common street rabble and fought ferociously. However, the party proved tenacious, and despite some close calls, they were able to clear the boathouse. Some highlights: Zuno preemptively setting a fire by hurling a fireball into the middle of the room, Flea climbing around the walls of the building firing every weapon she had and piercing the magic shield of the mage who had been conjuring cloudkill spells, Nix confounding the hell out of the thugs by throwing spells around while still looking like Dave and also rallying a group of commoners to their aid from the crowd outside, Snips playing cat and mouse in the rafters with the archers on the drydocked ship, and Lir blocking the captain from escaping and getting surrounded by veteran fighters but still fighting his way out despite heavy injury.
While a fire was already starting to build, the party was able to investigate the facility and discovered a) this was indeed a property of Warren Flint and b) they appeared to be using captured Dolphin Delighters (fey-dolphins) in some capacity to create the drug, Dazzle. Naturally, Lir set the dolphins free, using his healing abilities to clear the poisons fogging their minds enough to give them the ability to jump into the bay.
With that, the party beat a hasty retreat and regrouped at the Roasted Chestnut. Snips swung by Blackwell's estate and did something he usually tries to avoid: he asked why Blackwell seemed to be moving against Flint. Blackwell simply replied with a cryptic "you should go back to not asking questions." Despite this, Snips accepted the money and split it with the rest of the party, who were happy to accept a hefty payout now that they were back to business as usual…
XP earned: 1,500 each