Session 2 & 3: They Come at Night

Unedited Activity Log - Retrieval of Item for Dayne Reed

General Summary

Uncle Dayne was quick to organize a funeral for the former Blackhearts a mere day after they were discovered crushed to death, or in the case of Dakar, stopped by us. At his request, we attended the quiet service, of which only us four and he were present. I remember Whisper Vale Cemetery giving me a cold and grim feeling. Little has changed. For the burial, the Blackhearts were laid in graves next to each other. A fifth grave remained open; evidently Uncle Dayne had little confidence Ian Becker survived whatever killed the others. As was predicted, Dayne wants us to follow up on the previous Blackhearts’ mission; to travel to the infamous MacMurdaugh Hotel to retrieve an item; a small chest belonging to a guest that perished during the disaster there years ago. In an understandably sulking mood, he proclaims Ian dead, musing aloud that as the brains of the operation for the Blackhearts, his decision to join the others in the field was unusual and, clearly, deadly. He sends us to a store owned by an associate of his named Trevor DeWitt for supplies and equipment for this errand of his. I do my usual reassurances more to calm him down than any true belief in the mission being successful before we leave to visit this Trevor. Trevor’s store is unassuming and unremarkable; but once we identify ourselves, he welcomes us heartily and usher us into the back. He is an odd man, stocky with an unusual accent. His wares are mostly recovered items of varying magical properties. He also deals in manacite. While we pour over his equipment, Trevor chats as he looks for the package Dayne left for us for this task. He has previously adventures with Dayne, and admits to a dislike for the now deceased Blackhearts. As I suspected, even an old companion like Trevor is aware of Dayne’s sour disposition, though he excuses it as having become cynical over his experiences through the years. I admit curiosity, but Trevor waves it away and won’t go into further detail this time. Trevor offers his wares for sale, which are out of our price range, and finally finds and gives us a box containing some manacite, two magical daggers, an old prosthetic mechanical arm, a candle of the deep, a mana gauge and a club he claims is called “Bonk”, which purportedly possess elemental properties that need to be awakened by slaying the creatures of appropriate strength. Naturally, Horick asks Tea Kettle to attach it to Dakar’s maul, proclaiming it to now be named, “Balls Out Mauls Out”. Amusing as always. The files he gives us details the MacMurdaugh hotel’s history, which was previously quite fancy and popular until disaster struck the area and now the place has become a derelict along with the surrounding district. I have only vague memories of the incident myself. I believe father once visited for a conference in the past, but I and the others had little experience with the establishment. Our targeted item belonged to a gnome explorer named Tabel Fink. The client, one Hencil Spash hired the Blackhearts to find a box he had that has a combination lock. No clues are given as to what it looks like or what the combo is. I hide my anxiety from the others; there is much about the situation that does not sit well with me. The others seem less concerned overall. As previously noted, Becker did not normally go on missions, but as he said he knew the hotel he insisted on going with this time, and now has gone missing and presumed dead. From Tevor’s shop in Union East, we travel to Lake Watch Vale where the MacMurdaughd sits. We decided to stop by Daghilla Ghuldran's store to check on her progress. Construction is ongoing, but she welcomes us in and offers us sweet buns and beer. We casually mention our current job and she gives us a list of mushrooms to keep an eye out for, for her Ghal Ankar mushroom beer recipe, just in case we came across them. We obliged, and after asking how Fizzle and Wilkas Cromokal were getting on (barely adequately, to her slight chagrin), we departed. On foot it takes a couple hours to get to Lake Watch Vale. As mentioned earlier a hurricane around ten years ago came through and devastated the area. It is now a swampy mess, and roving gangs and monsters now ruled the district. Nature has reclaimed some of it, and rumors of undead roaming the area persist among those in the city proper. The danger makes us wary, and I caution to move as stealthily as we can manage. We successfully sneak through to avoid confronting any violent gangs and monsters. The gloom from this area makes me nervous; again, the others do not detect my anxiety. I do my best to keep an eye out for trouble. Fortunately, it seems the gangs active in the area pay us little mind or do not notice us at all despite the unusual nature of our little band. Not far from the hotel, we are approached by a few beggars; one woman and her two young children. I say beggars, but the woman seems tough and capable, though armed only with a dagger. They were not in a good state, and looked hungry as they scavenged for suppliers. Though distrustful at first, once we offer some of the sweet buns to her children and some money for information, she becomes willing to engage with us. The woman eventually bargains with us for three gold for information. Costly, but we accept. We needed the intelligence, provided she told the truth. She introduces herself and her two daughters, Saskia, Kyla and Orin respectively. They could not have been much older than eight and six, and made sure to stick close to her. It grieved me to think they had not known anything but this desolation. After she has given them the food we handed over, she begins her tale. Saskia used to work as the head of security for the MacMurdaugh hotel and knows the layout, even after all these years, as well as previously having a set of keys that opens all the doors in the building. She claims to have seen the Blackhearts go in the night before last, and after an hour saw some lights and sounds of fights and yells, then quiet. She investigates no further. Saskia also informs us that there’s a new gang operating out of the old tailor shop that was seen by her sweeping the hotel last week as well. Concern for her and her children, we offer her a chance to leave the district and seek employment at Daghilla’s still in construction ale house, letting the proprietress know we sent her. Saskia’s experience in security could be quite helpful and welcomed, especially since she only had Fizzle and Wilkas at the moment. This would get her out of the dangerous area. Saskia considers this then offers the keys to us if we clear the bakery she and her children were staying at so she can gather her things before they make the journey to Daghilla. Giant rats currently occupy it after chasing them away. In addition, there was also a creature that could only be a displacer beast based on the description roaming about hunting the area around the hotel of late. We decide to avoid the creature at all costs for the time being. In addition to the rat hunt, Saskia asks us to convince her oldest daughter, Emmy, who has joined a child gang calling themselves the Throat Wolves, to join them. She naturally wouldn’t leave without her. They had taken up living in the stables several blocks away. We agree to her terms. Saskia finally warns us to stay away from the boathouse as a vicious gang led by someone named Rudivik currently occupy it. When we reach the bakery, I instruct the others to wait for me to go ahead to find their positions before following. I find a number of giant rats within, having taken the remaining flour still festering within as sustenance. A misstep alerts them to my presence and they manage to box me in. Fortunately for my well being, the others burst in and we brought the battle to them. I am swarmed and felled quickly, though Tea Kettle is by my side quickly and helps me to my feet. A rumble from underground is heard and one even larger giant rat crashes through to confront us. With it directing the others, the battle becomes desperate. Fortunately, the magic at our disposal and Horick’s new “weapon” power us to victory. looking into the hole the master rat came from, we spy four baby giant rats. Leaving them alone, we retrieve Saskia, who, after some appreciative noises, collects her meager belongings and hands us a large ring of keys. We promise to get Emmy back to her. We go to the stables and cautiously enter it. A bevy of hoots and howls come from all over the stables, and we are confronted by a number of young boys and girls in costumes to make them appear as canines. The Throat Wolves, I presume. I step forward to convince them that we meant no harm, and fortunately that causes them to stand down and let us inside to speak to them. We ask for Emmy, and a girl steps forward, saying that she won’t go back to her mother, even as we show her her mother’s keys. A disagreement between mother and daughter it seemed. I confess that I could not relate. Father, on the other hand... We pledge to be junior Throat Wolves in order to gain their trust; upon this proclamation, their leader, a youth calling himself Teal the Great, steps forward full of braggadocio, claiming among his many accomplishments to have killed Rudivik. He hasn’t, but we allow him his fantasy. After we get acquainted with the Wolves and some convincing later, Emmy reveals they lost a clanker friend named Misfire last time they were in the hotel hunting for things to take, in room 237. They say that the hotel is haunted by several spirits after the sun goes down, and they had to leave Misfire behind before it got dark. Emmy agrees to go with her mom if we get Misfire back, who lacks limbs and must be worn like a backpack. The Throat Wolves tell us about the Bent Neck Lady, the Lost One, the Lounge Singer, the curious boy and the one above them all, the Night Manager. Tea Kettle recalls some of these stories from travelers and manacite merchants passing through Tengu Town. It seemed the area was indeed quite infamous for these hauntings for those making their way through the disaster zone. At night there are also drifting lights in the hotel that drain souls, according to the children. Dangers upon dangers. At around 6pm we arrive at the hotel as the light quickly fades. We go inside and find where the Blackhearts probably met their end. The pile of rubble is conspicuous. The hotel is unstable and collapsing, with tracks leading where they were dragged out of the hotel after their corpses were discovered. No trace of Ian Becker was found. We carefully make our way upstairs using rope and reach room 237 with little trouble. A hole in the middle of the room catches our eye, and, peering down, find Misfire caught on a pipe, about to fall to the basement level. We call down to Misfire and tell it we would have it up in no time. It can turn to see us but is quite happy to have been found. As we mused over our situation, we saw steam and water running from the bathroom. Deathly energy grows as it gets closer to night. Tea Kettle casts a detect magic spell in response and senses illusion in the basement and necromantic energy upstairs. Despite our wariness, Horick is attacked abruptly by something coming out of the bathroom that we can’t quite see, leaving a cold handprint on him. We drive it off for now and catch our breath. Thinking quickly, Horick goes to the 1st floor to catch Misfire in case it falls from the pile. Bracing ourselves, we pull out and use the prosthetic arm we were given by Trevor and with Tea Kettle’s tinkering with the finger joints, make it an effective grabber that we use to carefully extract Misfire, who TK now carries. We escape the hotel as night falls and return back to the stables. The children are overjoyed to see Misfire safe and, after some time catching up, Emmy takes Misfire and agrees to go to her mother who is waiting nearby. to meet her. Emmy tells us after we ask some questions about the hotel that if the log is missing from the front desk, which we didn’t see on our earlier venture, there are records kept in the basement and that there should be something there to help us. We decide to spend the night there and continue on to the hotel for the lockbox in the morning. The other Throat Wolves are excited and agree to disband if we also grant some wishes as we did Emmy, after we try and talk them out of remaining in this dangerous area. Jammy, a sharp young gnome is rather talkative and gives us some information about a monster in the basement that she had once seen drag a victim through a pipe. It had the awful habit of coaxing people with promises in order to get them to get near enough to drag down. Babu, a Tengu child, agrees to go back to Tengu Town if he can bring back a great weapon. Horick gives a javelin to Tea Kettle stealthily to inscribe with some “runes”, then gives it to Babu, which he accepts, wielding it enthusiastically. Two boys named Good Bill and Bad Bill, and another named Felrick contemplate their wishes. Teal simply wants 50 gold to start his own mercenary company. An ambitious one. In the morning we return to the hotel and head to the basement, using rope to navigate the bad staircase. It is flooded to chest level and worse for Horick. While Codjitron uses the candle of the deep from our kit to explore underwater for filing cabinets with the logs, we keep an eye out for this basement monster Jammy warned us about. Horick is attacked from behind by a green monster woman with a large distended mouth trying to swallow him whole, rising from the fetid water. He fights her off while we attack the grotesque thing. She manages to get her mouth on him, and attempts to swallow him whole. We eventually kill her and free Horick from her maw. Afterward, upon closer inspection, we find the pipes nearby are covered in gristle and gore from her previous victims. Thus ended the menace of Mishra the Eater. Good riddance. Codjitron’s search yields a readable log and we find Fink’s room, 312. We leave the basement and patch our wounds. We retreated back to the Barn, where the Throat Wolves were betting on our successes. We are told that the Displacer Beast has made its lair in the first level ballroom, according to Good Bill it leaves its lair to hunt at night. The next morning we find Horick missing, and tracks of his that lead to the hotel. Tea Kettle seems nonplussed by this development but we have a disquieting feeling one of the spirits followed us back to the stable. We make haste and travel back to the hotel and make our way upstairs to room 312. We see Fink’s corpse on the dilapidated bed, glass embedding his body in the aftermath of the disaster. The floor in the room is particularly unstable. We search and find Fink’s fine coat, walking stick and light crossbow among the detritus of the room. We also discover a suitcase. We carefully make our way back out the room with our findings. As we enter the hallway, we spot Horick approaching us, having been possessed by the ghost from the shower the previous day, the lady with the bent neck, blaming us for having broken into her room in our companion’s voice. I take a long shot and try to pass myself off as another ghost possessing a body but she wants a hand in exchange for the insult of trespassing on her territory and, when no sacrifice of a hand was coming, she attacks us. She injures us as we retreat, and suffer several blows and arrows as we retreat down the opposite end of the hallway. With the ghost having taken our burly friend, I apologize to no one in particular and shoot a chandelier above him, causing it to crash to the ground, smashing the rotting, unstable floor and sending him into the the level below. angered, she threatens us further as she makes her way out of the rubble below us. We take the opportunity to retreat, and open the suitcase from 312. My failure to find any traps proves…painful as it blows up, hitting me with shining radiant energy. Injured and temporarily blinded but still alive, we throw open the suitcase and find the lockbox with the combination lock and a large dragontooth within. We agreed to keep the dragontooth for ourselves; it was, after all, not a part of the mission. As we pass room 333 we note some activity within, and we spy a cloaked figure bleeding from a stomach wound. There is a bone shrine near where the figure stood. We come inside the room and she pulls a dagger after noticing our intrusion. We convince her we can help her with her injury and she says that she was attacked by skeletons commanded by a necromancer and was stabbed during the encounter the previous night. The room is protected from spirits by the shrine’s power and after we heal her with a potion she agrees to talk to us and tries to get us to convert to the power of the Night Manager that runs this hotel. She’s also been trying to buy the property legally. It was all very strange, but she seemed to lack any humor at her ambitions. We inform the cultist, Bethany, that we’re trying to help a friend that was possessed and she agrees to bless some blood that she says will exorcize the ghost. We take the dubious charmed blood and leave Bethany’s room to find Horick. We search room 237 for Horick, where the bent neck lady was, and Tea Kettle and Cojitron take to cleaning the bathroom with magic. I find a dirty, ragged looking boy hiding under the bed who says his parents are missing and he can’t remember his name. We guess this to be the Curious Boy. Horick finds us in 237 and the boy sees the ghost of the bent neck lady but not the physical form of Horick. After a brief encounter, we manage to use a wand of smiles, again from Trevor’s kit (most helpful trinkets for this mission it turned out) to force his mouth to move open against his will. I slip the vial of blessed blood into his mouth. The ghost is thus forced from his body and leaves back to her room. Horick is unconscious and we attach the magic coin back to him and move him to the entrance, struggling with his weight. Tea Kettle nonchalantly mentions that his attempt earlier to throw the coin at Horick to exorcize the bent neck lady failed dramatically and he had to root through rubble to retrieve it. The boy remembers his name as we get closer to the entrance, Nikol, and that his family is in room 303. We tell him we have to leave, and the news starts making him upset. The spirit has a deep anxiety about being abandoned, clearly, but I give him one of the keys from Saskia’s keyring for (randomly, room 410) and promise him we will be back to get the key from him as we need to return to our “room” eventually. This calms him down and he accepts our promise for now. I sympathize with the spirit of Nikol; the tragedy of the MacMurdaugh hotel has created a myriad of tormented souls. With Horick, we travel back to the bakery. Promising to return, we make the trek back to Uncle Dayne’s office to turn the lockbox over; we tell him that we found the site where the Blackhearts perished, making up a story about what might have happened. He seemed to accept this, saying it was far better for them to have gone out fighting instead of having fallen prey to poor, failing architecture. We also tell him that Ian Becker was nowhere to be found, dead or alive. Uncle Dayne seems oddly relieved, and promises us more work after several days, providing uncommon praise for our success. I wonder at the contents of the lockbox, but it is not my business and we had more trouble to deal with than we asked for. We already made plans to return to the MacMurdaugh to scavenge and potentially deal with the problem of the displacer beast to retrieve the potential treasure it hoards. The End for now, ~Bayour S.

Rewards Granted

A ring of keys from Saskia that allows access to every room in the MacMurdaugh Hotel
A mysterious Dragon Tooth found with the mission item in question, Fink's lockbox
Payment from Dayne Reed on delivery of the lockbox

Missions/Quests Completed

The rescue of the limbless Misfire from the hotel
Reunited Emmy with her family
More competent help sent to Daghilla in the form of Saskia, former head of security of the MacMurdaugh
Defeated Mishra the Eater in the flooded basement of the hotel

Character(s) interacted with

Dayne Reed
Daghilla Ghuldran
Teal the Great and his Throat Wolves; Saskia's eldest Emmy, Jammy the gnome, Good Bill, Bad Bill, Babu the Tengu, Felrick, Misfire
Saskia and her two younger daughters, Orin and Kyla
Bethany, cultist of the Night Manager and prospective buyer of the hotel ruins
The Curious Boy, a lost spirit of the MacMurdaugh, looking for his parents

Related Reports

Notes

No definitive sign still of what caused the deaths of the Blackhearts
Ian Becker still missing
A necromancer is scouring the hotel for something with summoned undead

Report Date

27 Jan 2023

Primary Location

Ghal Pelor

Secondary Location

MacMurdaugh Hotel

Related Characters