Session 8: Sweep
Activity Log - Amidst extermination efforts, a plot advances
General Summary
The morning after returning Khelan to the college, more or less safe, the four of us discussed our options. The money offered by Spash for the counting house is considerable, but none of us were comfortable with helping someone with such a dubious and controversial background. It was not often we were in total agreement with each other on a given topic. Still, I mention that others might try for the lock box, specifically the Masked Necromancer, whom we now suspected of being, or at least connected to, the missing Ian Becker. I suggest potentially trying to stop an attempt at a heist, but settle on warning the constabulary of the possible danger to the counting house during the Flower Festival night celebrations. I sent another letter to Lt. Freeleaf outlining our concerns and suggesting they post more guards.
While we make our way to Dayne Reed’s office, we notice that a black cat has been following Horick since this morning. We catch him referring to the animal as “Mr. Crisp”, but he claims only that he has decided to take care of it as a pet. Tea Kettle is especially wary; I don’t think he much likes cats. Once we arrive at the office, we speak to Uncle Dayne and discover that a lucrative offer has come in from someone named Cornelius A. Tiege, who will pay 1,000 Aurins, with a quarter upfront, if we manage to capture and deliver a wyvern for a menagerie he is building. The tone of the letter is rather bombastic, and though the beast hunting aspect is dangerous, it was an enticing offer; I was starting to have my fill of plots and conspiracies. Dayne is rather insistent that we take this job, but also, in a rare moment of generosity, allows us time to celebrate the Flower Festival before taking on any more work. Taking advantage of this shift in his otherwise recently dour mood, I ask him if he suspects anything about Ian Becker still being alive, as I insinuate he might have escaped the fate of the other Blackhearts. Dayne responds that if he were, he’d have come back by now, but seems slightly hopeful when I say we’ll look into any rumors. His glumness at the loss of his group is, at least, genuine. On the way out, TK reminds us that his master still wishes for him to help sabotage a laboratory, and that the fate of the continent hangs in the balance. Grandiose as such a claim may be, that trip would take us some distance from the city, so we decided to put a pin in that until we were well prepared for an extended absence. We collectively decide to wrap up some older requests. Svala Skurgrid’s job from a couple weeks ago to bring back a werecreature’s entrails was presumably still available, and the moon was supposed to be full tonight. We make our way towards the grand temple where the letter said to meet, first stopping by the nearby University grounds to speak with Khelan. In his room, and looking better after his ordeal, we ask if he knows anything about Svala as she is supposed to work at the school. He immediately identifies her as a TA in the archaeology department. She is from the north, a Frostmerite most likely, and has a reputation for having odd ideas and beliefs and is always handing out charms to the students. I suggested we talk to the professor she assists. Though it is near the history dept, I doubt anyone there remembers my face as it has been years since I was last here with father. Horick excuses himself to run an errand and disappears after promising to meet with us afterwards. At the archaeology department, we find the office of professor Galen, an elf and Svala’s boss. He informs us that she has not been seen in several days and is likely at the grand temple, spouting her usual strange moon nonsense. He asks that we send her back as she has work that needs completing. Despite her eccentricities, it seems she was in fact quite helpful to Galen. The three of us head towards the Grand Temple. We spot that a fire brigade has arrived to put out a fire that had reduced a park bench to mostly cinders. Horick was nearby, with Mr. Crisp curiously spitting out a gem, which our companion retrieved. The behavior was more than a little suspicious. Cojitron was tinnily muttering something about Mr. Crisp being a fiend. All that would have to wait as we went to see Svala at the temple. The Temple was once home to the worshippers of the gods of Tairos centuries ago. If such beings still existed, no one knew, but the people that now occupied it could be described as oddly devoted in their search of old knowledge and religious practices. In other words, what most people would describe as kooks. We find Svala in the inner building and she is overjoyed when we tell her we are responding to her letter, praising the moon god Wynte for sending us to her. She wishes the entrails of a blessed werecreature in a ritual she is preparing, and the moon cycle is just right for such an event. She is offering 200 Aurins and an amulet of twilight, which TK and Cojitron nod in agreement that it is in fact magical and not just a curio. We accept her job. Svala reminds us that such creatures are extremely vulnerable to silver, and suggests we have such weapons to aid in our hunt. Too late in the day to get weapons silvered, TK rakes his brain to come up with a way to concoct a trap for a potential lycanthrope. First, though, we would have to find one. Fortunately, Svala indicates that at least one is suspected of causing some trouble in Lakewatch Veil. It being close to midday already, we hired a coach to take us to Lakewatch Veil. We were certainly intimate with the area at this point. We begin asking around the downtrodden inhabitants of the streets of Lakewatch if there has been any monster sightings in the ruins of late. Ianai, a young gnome, claims that there has been rumors of a creature that has made off with several people in the last week or so; descriptions point to a winged horror terrorizing the dwarven sector of Lakewatch. I scrutinize her story, and deem it believable enough. Paying her, we make our way to that district. When last we were here, we had broken into an abandoned oil refinery to chase down the invisible stalker. This time, we find ourselves in a block of run down, but still well made and reasonably sturdy apartment buildings. Dwarven work kept the devastation at bay. Several local dwarves eyed us warily, so Horick, despite his newly odd appearance, approached to ask them about monster problems. They were at least willing to talk to a fellow dwarf, as my interjection in dwarvish was met with more suspicion. Fortunately, Horick’s offer of 15 Aurins for the three of them was enough to spur their memories. They confirm that there have been some disappearances of late of some of the squatters in these buildings; a winged creature is rumored to be the culprit. In spite of their unwelcoming behavior, they seemed to be telling the truth. We scout out the third floor of the building, and decide on an open area to lay a trap for later that evening. TK was rather excited at the opportunity to set something up to help take down our werecreature. Pulling out a small bag of silver coins, he sets to work melting it down with his portable workshop and tells us that we could coat the silver into a woven net to use against it; he was rather confident in his ability to snare our quarry with this trap. As we had no time to silver our weapons, we set to work doing the tedious task of creating this net with his instructions. By midafternoon, we had finished a large, silver net which TK was satisfied with; less satisfactory is the lack of time we had to create an elaborate trap using his engineering know-how to operate the net without putting us in harm’s way. That would take too much time, he lamented. We would have to make do with our own skills. With only a couple hours of daylight left, we decided to finish a task we had let linger for a while and made a trip to the stables near the MacMurdaugh Hotel to see the remaining Throat Wolves. Teal and the Bills greet us, and we remind them that fulfilling their requests means that they will depart the area and return to the safety of their homes. Teal tries to pull a fast one but I have hardly forgotten the deaths of Rudivik and her gang after our violent encounter. Bad Bill’s monster hunt has come and we head to the hotel to root out the displacer beast that has used it as a lair. As we enter the hotel, we realize that we are still safe so far as Horick is close by; his status as a “concierge” of the hotel has granted him these privileges, as well as an aura that wards off the other haunts. Curious, and knowing it will be the difference in our safety, TK analyzes the area of effect that emanates from this ability. Horick for his part barely comprehends his surroundings as he remarks on how great the hotel looks, greeting people that only he can see. His mind has been taken by the illusion that has been fed to him. Cojitron continues staring at Mr. Crisp with what I assume to be distrust and concern. We enter the bar and Horick approaches the counter and speaks with someone whom he calls “Evelyn”. We take this to be a spirit of an employee of the hotel. From the one side of the conversation we can hear, we take it that the Night Manager has been pleased with the work Horick has done so far, which includes, due to his slipping tongue, the arson at the college earlier. Evelyn informs Horick that the displacer beast, a guest of the hotel, is currently residing in the ballroom. Horick makes sure that it is ok with the management that the beast is expelled from the hotel and, presumably getting permission, we follow him out of the bar and into the ballroom. The ballroom is, like the rest of the MacMurdaugh, in utter disrepair. We begin looking for signs of the displacer beast, and I manage to spot large paw prints leading out of the ballroom, flanked by two smaller sets. Likely, the beast had cubs with them. Guessing where the lair was, TK sends his construct out into the opening while we hide, waiting in ambush. The bait is taken as a large, dark feline creature with two waving tentacles stalks into view, ready to pounce on the bird-like machine. We launch ourselves into combat, and after several blows and swipes exchanged, the displacer beast starts using its innate abilities to project an image of themselves to confuse us. Several weeks ago, I would have been hesitant to get anywhere near such a dangerous monster, but recent events have rather steeled our resolve against threats even greater than this. I steal the shadow from the monster and in spite of its abilities, we overwhelm and cut the monster down. Our clumsy attempts to harvest usable body parts from the displacer best prove laughably futile, so we opt to take one of its tentacles as proof for Bad Bill. We search the lair and find a modest amount of money, though little else of its victims remained. Horick hears the sound of hissing, and he finds the two cubs we suspected of being in the lair, and, unsure of what to do, begin debating the fate of two creatures that were likely to grow into fearsome monsters. TK was willing to mercy-kill the cubs, and I could not argue with the logic, for how likely were they to survive on their own? Cojitron and I suggested turning them over to Cornelius Tiege as exhibits for his menagerie. Though they were not the wyverns he requested, surely they could attract some interest? Horick, to our surprise, showed a rather soft spot for the animals that I had not known he possessed. He tended towards violence as a default response to threats. He would not hear any talk of killing the cubs, and in fact, spoke to Evelyn, who seemingly, as far as we knew, allowed the use of one of the guest rooms to house the two of them until Horick could figure out what to do with them. He didn’t seem very keen on the idea of sending them to a zoo either, but, leaving some food and water for them and saying he would check in on them himself, we let the matter lie. As Horick doted on the displacer beast cubs in the room, Cojitron murmured quietly to the rest of us that they were sure that Mr. Crisp was a conjured demon of some kind merely in the form of a cat, which was quite cunning given Horick’s newfound fondness for animals. We eyed the thing warily, and though I knew little of what a demon even was, found myself unnerved at the creature, not the least because it could sense our true feelings, even mine. The three of us agreed that we needed to keep a close eye on Horick, as he seemed almost completely enraptured by the idea of a MacMurdaugh in its heyday and the privileged concierge serving their duty to its management. Words I never would have thought I’d find myself saying about my brutish and…excitable friend. Returning to the stable, and glad to be free of that damnable hotel, we report to Teal and the Bills our success, handing over the tentacle of the adult displacer beast. All that was left was Good Bill’s desire for a strong weapon like Babu, and, not having much else on me that I was willing to part, I handed him one of my enchanted daggers, cautioning him to train carefully in its use. Satisfied, Teal, with some wistfulness officially disbanded the Throat Wolves. I found myself almost regretful, especially since they wondered if they would see any of the others again. I reminded them that they all had homes now within the city; it would hardly be too difficult a task to gather together whenever they pleased. I let them know of Daghilla’s alehouse and how it could be a good meeting point considering Emmy and Misfire already lived near there. Suddenly worried, I penned another letter to Lt. Freeleaf to drive home the potential threat to the counting house tonight, hoping that the message would be received and taken seriously. I tasked the Bills to deliver it to the couriers for some coins, which they happily accepted. Seeing them safely out of Lakewatch Veil, we returned back to the apartment buildings as night began to fall and the moon revealed itself. We pass by several dwarves on our way to the rooftops, investigating the areas that were known to have had a sighting of this werebeast. We found more than we bargained for, discovering the body of a man that had been dead for some time in one of the upper rooms that had long been abandoned. His identification and torn satchel revealed that these were the remains of Ridiglio, the courier that worked for Trevor that went missing a week or so ago. We made a note to deliver the unfortunate news to him next chance we get. In the meantime, I directed the others to several hiding spots while TK set himself on a beam on the ceiling, and we waited in the room we were hoping the thing kept as one of its haunts. We did not wait long, for the full moon tonight drove this thing to activity. We heard the flapping of leathery wings as it glided down into our hiding area; the large, grotesque bat monster loomed over us in the shadows. Screeching as it spots us, Cojitron hurled flame at the creature, catching it in the chest. Though it connected, the wound seemed shallow as it began to close up. Horick lept out and started swinging his weapon at the thing, though not before channeling some strange magic into me beforehand. It was an odd sensation, but it did help so I decided not to dwell too much on it. I caught the were-bat across the leg with my blades, but the effect was minimal as well. Swiping back, it began to take to the air, but TK’s aim was true and, having remained hidden during the skirmish till now, dropped the net over the monster. The silver bit and burned into its filthy, furred hide, and, unable to take flight, landed heavily to the floor. We lept into action and fought to keep it caught within the net; the wounds caused by the silver did not regenerate, and our attacks now counted fully against it. Its screening yowl nearly pierced my eardrums, but it had difficulty fighting back and trying to escape the net at the same time. Eventually, Cojitron immolated it with their spells and it crumpled to the ground, burnt and battered. The corpse then before our eyes reverted back to that of a human woman, very much dead. I am thankful TK’s quick thinking saved the night; this thing fully mobile and resistant to our weapons would have made this encounter far deadlier. Horick set to removing her entrails, a grisly task, but we had what we needed at long last and counted it as a threat to the people here removed. We quietly bury hers as well as Ridiglio’s bodies near the building and prepare to leave the area, when an explosion heard even as far as Lakewatch Veil erupted in the night sky. The direction came from the area where the Flower Festival parade was being held, and instinctively we knew that the counting house had been attacked and breached. I weighed how severe the consequences of the lockbox being taken could be, and how careless we had been in accepting a job that led to something so dangerous and conspiratorial. For now, we returned to Svala at the Grand Temple and received our reward. She seemed almost childishly pleased with the macabre offer we presented her and continued speaking the praises of Wynte. I barely listened as I thought about how much to possibly reveal to Dayne. I doubted he knew what was going on but it wasn’t impossible my Uncle was in danger from Ian and the Masked Necromancer. The End for now, ~Bayour S.
Rewards Granted
- 200 Aurins and an amulet of Twilight from Svala for completion of her disturbing request
- The satisfication that no vulnerable persons now inhabitated the grounds near the MacMurdaugh Hotel
- Two pet(?) displacer beast cubs
Missions/Quests Completed
- Svala's request completed
- Throat Wolves disbanded and safely back in the city in their homes
- Were-bat killer dealt with
- Displacer Beast of the MacMurdaugh Hotel defeated
Character(s) interacted with
- Dayne Reed
- Khelan, recovering archaeology student
- Svala Skurgrid, Frostmerite worshipper of Wynte and teaching assistant to professor Galen
- Professor Galen, elven Archaeologist at the college of Ghal Pelo
- Mr. Crisp, demon in the form of a cat serving as Horick's minder
- Teal, Bad Bill and Good Bill
Related Reports
Report Date
14 Apr 2024
Primary Location
Secondary Location
Related Characters
