Session 19 Summary

General Summary

The session began with the party recovering from the previous night’s indulgences with a bit of a sleep-in at Trollskull Manor. After finally making it downstairs shortly before lunch, Wilbur the barman called to them and when Lunchmoney went over to see him, he was handed a pouch of 600 gold that had been delivered to the manor on behalf of Jalester of the Lords’ Alliance; for successful completion of their recent mission.
After making their server and hostess, Kira, cry with a fake firing, and eating a hearty brunch prepared by Timm the cook, the party was soon visited by their friend Renaer, who came to share what he’d learned from his contacts with the Harpers. He revealed that the man Fala saw fleeing the explosion matches the description of Urstul Floxin; a suspected member of the Black Network.
The Harpers reported that another North Ward resident claimed he saw Urstul enter Gralhund Villa, in the North Ward, shortly after the fireball incident. The Gralhunds are a minor house and their villa is not far from Trollskull Alley.
Renaer also told them that the City Watch had spoken to Lord Gralhund, who had assured them that no one had broken into the estate and that everything was fine. Since the constables hadn’t any grounds to get a search warrant, they didn’t pursue the matter any further.
The party then decided to check out the Gralhund villa themselves. From the outside, the Nimblewright Detector revealed the presence of an automaton within the villa walls. After scouting the perimeter of the 12 foot wall surrounding the villa, it was decided that Hawthorne would attempt to pick the lock on the padlock securing a large sliding door. With the aid of one of Horus’s rousing and suggestive stories, he was successful and the party soon found themselves inside the villa walls, in a coach house. While they explored the building, they repeatedly failed to quiet or calm Lady Gralhund’s persnickety riding horse, who’s stomping and snorting soon drew the attention of the Gralhund’s crazed groundskeeper and his two large mastiffs.
They party quickly dispatched the crazy-eyed servant with weapons, while a well-placed Sleep spell let them tie up the dogs and leave them slumbering in the tack room.
From there, the party exited the coach house, crossed the walled garden and entered the villa proper. They first explored a kitchen, where they snagged a few unattended cinnamon buns, and then headed into the pantry. Hawthorne, who had used a Disguise Self spell to impersonate the groundskeeper, then opened a door to the west that lead to the manor’s Great Hall, but quickly and quietly ducked back into the party after seeing a room strewn with no less than 10 corpses; eight house guards and two Zhentarim thugs, and avoided detection by two more Zhents who were still on their feet.
Deciding not to engage, the party went north of the kitchen into the villa’s laundry room, where they found the body of what appeared to be the head maid. From there, the party decided to ascend the servant’s stairs, but as they did, they began to hear sounds of ongoing battle taking place on the villa’s second floor, and that’s exactly where we left off.

Report Date

20 Dec 2024