EooD Session 1: A Dance with the Devil
General Summary
7/4/890
Nearly three years have passed since the defeat of the Sunken God at the hands of the Royal Knights Brigade, its veteran heroes becoming household names all over Pescaliat. As the world moved on and recovered from the monstrous deity's reign of terror, many nations chartered the creation of adventuring guilds to compete with the RKB and its incredible success in the service of Gameth.
Rakka, on the cusp of an industrial revolution that would transform life on Ekal for centuries to come, invested heavily into the race for an adventuring guild of its own. Hundreds of potential candidates were interviewed and tested, and in the end six people became the founding members of the nation's adventuring guild: Mickal Irakosk, a veteran spy/ranger with years of experience in the war against the drow; Shad Stixs, a firbolg cleric who washed up on the shores of Rakka one day after a mysterious event destroyed his ship; Pino Chio, a warforged barbarian designed by a skilled dwarven artisan from the Free State of Thorvald for use by the Rakkan government; Vama Hasidor, a hobgoblin bladesinger wizard who honed her powers of sword magic after years spent fighting the drow left her with a permanent leg injury; Kupkuru, a dwarven rogue with an impregnable vow of silence; and Zayin Sephiran, a kalashtar warlock/bounty hunter who had traveled south to hunt down his longtime rival.
Rakka's inaugural adventuring guild traveled south from the capital to Qilthani, a port city vital for trade between the eastern and western coasts of Pescat. A pack of gnolls had recently attacked a store on the edge of town, but the mysterious circumstances of the invasion left the locals desperate for answers. The party traveled by steamboat, a form of transportation that cut the travel time to Qilthani in half. Pino scared the ship's crew the first time she powered on, even more so when she picked up members of the crew and allowed Zayin to toss one of them overboard. When the steamboat finally docked in Qilthani, Shad pushed aside several crew members on the gangplank and plunged them into the chilly waters of the Arrayas Ocean with a valuable crate of military supplies.
The party quickly made its way over to City Hall to meet with Proserpine Hafiz about the recent gnoll attack. The guards didn't give them much trouble, and together they went up to the newly renovated building's second floor to meet with Qilthani's mayor. The gnoll attack happened three weeks before the party ]made it to town, but Proserpine still looked tired from spending countless days quelling the concerns of her citizens.
Pouring out a couple glasses of Ifrit for the party, she explained to them the mysterious circumstances of the gnoll invasion. A gnoll attack often comes with a wave of destruction and countless deaths, but apparently the gnolls only broke into one building: a bookstore owned by an aasimar woman named Hedera. Hedera left town months ago without a word, and despite the unusual circumstances many of her neighbors insisted that it was gnolls who broke into the store. Proserpine requested the party was to bring back gnoll pelts and put Qilthani back at ease. She'd worked hard to keep the docks safe and its citizens at ease, and she didn't want a minor panic derailing years of hard work. Finishing their drinks, the party agreed to investigate the matter and return once they had a clearer picture. Kupkuru left the room walking backwards, staring at Proserpine the entire time.
After some small talk from Mickal, the mayor's secretary gave them a town map along with the official police report from the night of the break-in. Together the party headed to the outskirts of town to see Devil's Bargain up-close. Along the way Shad cast 'Disguise Self' to hide his firbolg features and blend in more with the tiefling population.
Sure enough, Devil's Bargain looked near exactly the same as when Hedera left it half a year ago. The only signs of damage were around the front door, where the handle was broken and one of the hinges loose from when the gnolls broke into the store. Inside the bookshop a thick film of dust covered every visible surface, highlighting every paw-print left behind by the gnoll invaders. Vama investigated the store's bookkeeping, and with Mickal and Shad's help she pieced together that the gnolls had stolen around a dozen books that all dealt with devils and the Nine Hells. Hedera had a particular interest in extra-planar worlds and creatures, so the store was full of tomes theorizing on worlds beyond Ekal.
When at first it seemed as if all the books on devils had been stolen from the store, Pino found one more resting on the top shelf of the shop's extra-planar section. It was an old vellum-bound manuscript, the cover worn and beaten to the point where only one word could be deciphered on the cover: Devil. The party took it out into the street to investigate it further, and while Pino pored over the infernal script a monstrous creature formed behind her in a rose-colored fog. A bearded devil appeared to pay the party a visit.
Mickal, as one of the only party members who could speak Infernal, tried negotiating with the devil. Despite his entreaties, the devil laid out the terms of his deal: either the party abandoned its quest to find the gnolls and Hedera, or he would fight them with deadly results. To even the deal he agreed to provide the party with some information if they managed to defeat him. Refusing to back down from a fight, the party agreed to a battle.
The bearded devil summoned a small imp to help in the fight, pestering Vama before she was able to kill it with the blade hidden inside her cane. Shad and Kupkuru both dealt a couple of blows, but the devil's power was so overwhelming that they were both knocked conscious in a matter of seconds. Mickal's old training kicked in as he dealt a series of blows to the devil from behind as Pino attacked it from the front. Zayin kept his distance, unleashing a combination of powerful telepathic screams and 'Eldritch Blasts' from his patron genie.
The battle took a dark turn when the bearded devil lost his patience with the party and summoned a glaive out of thin to deal devastating amounts of damage. With a single blow he swung his massive glaive and decapitated Vama, silencing the entire party at the gravity of the death of their fallen ally. Pino began to feel an emotion that wasn't found anywhere inside her programming: rage. Together with Mickal and Zayin's help she managed to defeat the devil and tie him up with some spare rope, making him an easy target for Mickal's interrogation.
The devil tried playing coy, but after a while he decided to humor the party and provide them with the information they wanted to know. He explained how the gnolls stole the books on devils to give them to drow working in the nearby Underdark, and the deal left these gnolls a little more enlightened than their typical brethren. He was cagey about Hedera's whereabouts, but he did confirm that she was working for the same boss: a devil named Naberious. The devil explained how the Nine Hells liked to departmentalize information, so if the party wanted to learn more about Hedera's whereabouts they'd have to find the gnolls who broke into her bookstore. As for who Naberious' boss was, this was something the devil refused to tell. He did say that Mickal reminded him of this mysterious boss, but he refused to give their name. When it became clear that the devil wasn't going to provide any more info, Mickal gave the go-ahead for Pino to deliver the killing blow to the devil.
After the interrogation the party stabilized Kupkuru and Shad and took in the carnage of the devil attack. Vama's familiar, a white barn owl, flew over to its owner's side and nudged her body for a sign of life. Vama didn't respond.
Rewards Granted
- Mickal reached lvl 2
- Pino reached lvl 2
- Shad reached lvl 2
- Kupkuru reached lvl 2
- Zayin reached lvl 2
Character(s) interacted with
- Proserpine Hafiz - Mayor of Qilthani
- Naamah - Proserpine's secretary
- The Bearded working for Naberious
Comments