Chapter 2, Session 4: A little procrastination, a little investigation, a LOT of psychic damage
General Summary
He seems under pressure Sigholdt... perhaps you should give him some advice... It worked exceptionally well for Peregrine...The party, reeling from the letter, discussed their findings, especially the mention of 'pieces' that were 'prophesised' and why Artur Coric would give himself the title of 'Investigator'... as well as what could have been meant by Emperor Honour's 'angel'. However, Esmerae and Sigholdt, despite knowing that the word 'Angel' was used in Honour's honorifics, could not recall what exactly that meant.
- Crumble mocks Sigholdt's efforts to help Mallus and Peregrine.
The party decided to take a long rest and, first thing the next morning, they would speak to Emerald Quick-Wick about Coric and their relationship. As they rested, Sigholdt watched Mallus and the two talked about the fact Mallus never sleeps, with Sigholdt revealing that he knew Mallus was a member of The Black-Blooded despite Mallus working hard to dodge Sigholdt's questioning.
Eventually, Mallus relented slightly and admitted that he knew a hypothetical 'friend' who suffered recurring nightmares and he asked what Sigholdt's organisation, The Waking would do about it. Sigholdt responded that he and his group felt that dreams should be just be left to naturally take place as, in his mind, repressing dreams was part of the problem of Kaechaek as so many people became more stressed over their dreams which caused them to 'realise'. Sigholdt eventually explained how his two familiars Hero and Crumble worked as they were once dreams and nightmares Sigholdt had that were taken, with Sigholdt, to a planar forge and plucked from his mind so they could become his sentient weapons instead. However, he expressed his lack of certainty in turning a nightmare like Mallus' into a weapon as this Nocta Mori seemed far more powerful than your average nightmare. Before the two went to sleep for the night, Sigholdt then asked if Mallus was loyal to the Black Blooded as he explained that he had a vendetta towards the group... Mallus didn't elaborate too deeply but did state it had been a 'long time' since he had been with the faction.
With that, Peregrine, during the night, attempted to speak to her own dreams once more as she asked them 'what do you know about The Sleeping King ?' however, things went catastrophically awry for Peregrine as the flames chuckled and claimed 'this one has grown comfortable, far too comfortable' and so they surrounded and slathered Peregrine's body; burning her alive for 8 hours. During this time, Peregrine felt her fear of fire spike and escalate as she took SIGNIFICANT psychic damage but also felt her fire based spellcasting become stronger.
The rest of the party woke to find Peregrine's handprint a bright crimson colour and bleeding profusely whilst Peregrine screamed and screeched in pain and fear. Eventually, Hermione threw a pot of water over Peregrine as the tiefling kept claiming they could feel themselves burning and Sigholdt put 15 points of lay on hands into Peregrine to heal their painful wounds before Peregrine said she tried to talk to her dreams and they did NOT respond well... Keeping this in mind, the party gave time for Peregrine to heal and then moved on to breakfast where Calara Mira convinced Mallus and Peregrine to do another performance during the day to get the group another night of board and food. She also told the group, as Mallus quizzed her on Spooks she knew, that a local fungus farmer named Blair Bloomson regularly ran deliveries to the Spooks secretive home of Dawncrest. With that information, the party decided to split; with Hermione, Sigholdt and Esmerae going to visit Emerald Quick-Wick to speak to him about the bounty on Coric whilst Auriel, Peregrine and Mallus visited Blair Bloomson to learn what they could about the home of the spooks.
Team Emerald visited Emerald Quick-Wick's Mayoral Housing and, after Esmerae shooed away two of The Drifters guards at the door, saw it was in a state of relative disarray as though it was not being adequately cared for and, when inside, they saw a tired looking Emerald and they reintroduced themselves and introduced Sigholdt after explaining that Fionn Tadhg had died in The Wheel. Emerald clearly remembered the party and addressed them cordially before they talked to him about Coric. Emerald was adamant that Xauna was the one responsible for Coric's death however, his tone changed when Hermione showed him the dagger the group had recovered from Coric's office; Emerald revealed that he had made the dagger for Coric as a gift and a thank you after the two became friends and the memory was clearly painful to relive for Emerald. However, Esmerae then showed Emerald the letter from Coric to Emperor Honour and Emerald was clearly shocked, explaining that he had no idea Coric knew Honour and wasn't sure why he would keep that secret. Though Emerald seemed unwilling to speak or think ill of Coric and doubled down on his assertion that he wanted the bounty on Xauna completed, he also stated that if the party wanted to give tribute to Coric then they could visit his old home to see the memorials left for him but that no one was welcome into his home. Before the party left however, they asked to see the place where Grand-Daughter Tiana was being kept and saw that she was still kept in a pit that seemed secure to their inspection.
With that, the group decided to head to a northern Drifter outpost to chase up the movements of Xauna after they discussed the fact that finding a Nightmare amidst a crowd of nightmares would be nearly impossible. Upon speaking to the drifter guard, they told the party that Xauna and the other kalashtar and nightmares moved through the northern tunnels and came out of them a couple of days later and were spotted moving towards, and through, the Shadewoods.
With that information, the trio agreed to wait for the rest of the party and then see what they could do with the information they had learned.
Meanwhile, Team Blair visited The Fungus Fields and found the owner, Blair Bloomson who was teaching a lesson on safe mushroom retrieval to a group of Bloomwilt children. The group approached him and he explained that he often made trips to 'Dawncrest' and that he would gladly escort the group there if they agreed to protect him so he would not have to hire mercenaries, saving him money and giving the group the 'win' he thought they needed. However, he wasn't particularly helpful when Peregrine asked what he advised them to bring with them on their excursion as he revealed he didn't really know anything about adventuring and often just walked with a good pair of boots. With that information in their hands, Peregrine and Mallus went to purchase rations for the upcoming trip, with Peregrine only being able to afford rations for herself and Mallus not needing to eat.
The party quickly met back up at The Midden Tick and discussed their findings; coming to the conclusion that they should likely try to sail on a boat around to the Shadewoods in order to find Dawncrest; mainly due to the speed it would offer them in travel and the fact they also needed to somehow catch up with the migrating nightmares in order to locate Xauna and Nashien Calcus, however, Peregrine made clear her fears of the water when travelling with Mallus and Auriel who had each had nightmares that included the water, however, the group agreed to try and sail anyway due to the chance to travel at more speed.
With that, the party went to the docks of Bloomwilt, a small cave alcove that had several fisherman and ships within. First the party spoke to an elderly earth genasi named Ol' Macabre but found the cantankerous elderly man's obsession with killing a 'giant monster' unappealing and next found Saria Sensua who was passionately arguing in the centre of the docks with Investigator Sellix; apparently the cause of their argument was Sellix attempting to purchase Sarai's ship and recording everything Sarai had said to her in a recent conversation. The party intervened in this as they asked if Sarai would be willing to give them a lift, pleased to have a chance to embarrass Sellix, Sarai invited the party into her ship to discuss what they wanted.
Sigholdt chose to stay out of the negotiation and instead spoke to Sellix who explained that the people of Bloomwilt treated her with aggressive mistrust after she released her last article on Emerald Quick-Wick but that she now believed she had enough material to write a full article on the ineptitude of his leadership of Bloomwilt. On speaking further with Sigholdt when he told her about the Xauna bounty she expressed that she did not believe the investigation was handled correctly and that it was foolish to accept the statements and reports of drifters due to the fact that they were, when all was said and done, bandits and thugs that pretended to be trained guards. When Sigholdt asked what she would do if she was investigating this, Sellix said she would likely search through Coric's home to see if there was anything to learn there.
Finally, Sigholdt noted that her title was 'Investigator' and Sellix stated that was her job role for her work as a journalist for The Platinum Herald. When Sigholdt asked if Emperor Honour hired anyone to be Investigators for him, Sellix said that she did not know anyone with that title hired by Honour as the emperor had a reputation for more direct action that utilising investigators and spies.
After they finished their conversation, Sigholdt asked Sellix if there was anyway he could thank her for her answers and advice, the investigator told him that if she disguised herself and he brought her along on Sarai's ship she would see that as more than adequate payment.
Meanwhile the rest of the party spoke to Sarai and asked her to escort them to the edge of the shadewoods, the bugbear was clearly reluctant but, in the end, Peregrine managed to strike a deal in which they would pay her 100gp for safe passage to the location and they would also help sail the ship, BUT if Sarai's ship was damaged during the journey the party would instead pay 175gp. The party agreed to this deal and it was decided that they would leave the following morning with Blaire and they would take Sarai's ship there.
The party then returned to the Midden Tick where Mallus and Peregrine performed another comedy routine for a night of free board and meals; as they performed, the rest of the party were notified they would be sneaking Sellix aboard and, albeit reluctantly, agreed as Sellix revealed themselves to be able to disguise themselves as a gruff male half orc. After that, the party decided they would search Coric's estate home that night in the hope of finding more evidence of what, exactly, was going on.
Upon checking his home in the middle of the day, the party noticed it was well guarded and onyl really possible to enter through a locked window or the front door which had abjuration magic upon it's lock as part of it's design, a magic item that Hermione believed she could 'switch off'. The group agreed to stay in the Midden Tick until that night and then, before leaving in the morning, they would try to investigate Coric's home. And that marked the end of the session.
Report Date
29 Aug 2023
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