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Ashe C2 Episode 8 - Rescue Mission for House Quail

Previously on Liters of Tomorrow


SF 3 3027
Wes and Crashe delivered the dangerous criminal known as Revlar Groundtooth to the Red Wulves fighters guild in Porsk. They obtained the bounty for bringing him in alive and split it with their companion Balia. One of the Red Wulves decided to beat Crashe into the guild but wound up getting knocked out in the fourth round instead courtesy of a haymaker by Crashe. The impromptu boxing match earned Crashe the rank of Corporal and a new sigil to wear on his armor.
Heading out to stable the horses and look for a good tavern the small team ran into an old acquaintance named Archamemnon. A strange tiefling fellow trying to avoid the Assembly of the Weave. He seemed desperate so they let him join their little band. As they headed to an antique warehouse that dealt in enchantments and magic items they found a strange green elven girl who swore she recognized them and was a winged unicorn from the feywild. The story seemed like the mad ravings of someone who had lost their mind but Wes used an arrow of truesight to prove her story to be correct. Thinking her to be the same unicorn they had helped just a week prior they took her in to keep her protected.
Next they were invited to a party at the Manor of House Quail, an ancient orrery that had been turned into a royal mansion. As a reward for returning the carriages stolen by Revlar they were to be granted an audience with the Baroness. They accepted and decided to get some finer clothes in the morning.
Retiring to the Bronze Dragon Tooth Inn they headed to the common room to get a drink and some dinner. The Inn was abuzz with the arrival of the famous adventuring group San Cisco. The team had just come in to Porsk from some grand affair where they killed a dangerous cult leader out in the west. Archamemnon was able to ask their goblin sorceror for help in dealing with the Assembly of the weave and Wes had an encounter with their female fighter Mads Maddeline.
The following day was one of clothes shopping and running errands while they got ready for the grand party that night. Entering the grand affair they were met by the Baroness of House Quail herself. She asked them to find her daughter and return her before she could get into trouble. An 18 year old by the name of Messendria Quail, the baroness was worried that some of her political rivals could be using the girl as leverage to upset her position in town. Or it could just be teenage rebellion, all the more reason to ask some independent contractors with a talent for finding things....

Plot points/Scenes

Find Messendria Quail
The baroness has put together this party to reward the team but is also concerned about her missing daughter and she thinks some clever mercenaries may make short work of the mystery without giving the perpetrators any leverage on her. Her spies think the girl was taken by Colkuchek Bom who wants to use the missing girl to force the baroness to vote for increased power by the Council of Elders. It is possible that Bom has allied himself with the dwarven clan of raspgrinder who seek to oust the Quails. There is an old abandoned mining town west of Porsk that they could be using as a hideout. Reports from the last few years also tell of an infestation of Mossdogs and sporeback frogs.
Porsk and House Quail -
The town is under the rule of House Quail and has been for almost 400 years. At this point the rule is almost ceremonial like many of the cities and towns of the Eigerlands. The current head of the house in Porsk is the Baroness Gillian Offerdahl Quail. She is an older human woman but fiercely intelligent. Her current goal is to fend off the takeover of the main government by a group of dwarven ministers from Stoneport. She also has taken a strange man as her Paramour by the name Ionn Castaliogne. [DM Note: he is one of the Fallen in disguise, he has inserted himself in House Quail in order to acquire pieces for his device. A weapon to fire into the shard moon to create a shatterfall!]
The main administrators of the town are the council of Elders. A millenia old organization that has changed into an elected series of ministers. The current council is made up of five local officials. Gaspar Render, Celia Blomkampf, Vickel Rumpus, Naspo Rahm, and Colkuchek Bom. They are all currently being feted by a dwarven delegation from Stoneport to rewrite the town charter and remove any allegiance to the Five Houses of Penthos. They seek better trade deals and to cut out the city of Penthos from the Eigerlands.

The bounty Hunter - 
Mike you sit uneasily in the Blue Jetsam Inn.  The table in front of you has a slight wobble and the bench you sit upon feels uneven and stained with one hundred years of pint spills.  You wait all the same for your informant.  This mining town feels unfamiliar and a little too rustic but you have traveled through worse.  The crowd is a rowdy group of hard edged day laborers from the mines and the sailors who move goods up and down the great river and lakes in the area.  All of whom smell like sweat, coal, and lumber.  The mix between dwarf, human, halfling, and gnome is an unpleasant one.  The server offers to get you a drink, a frizzy haired halfling man who seems annoyed even though his shift just started.  "What'll it be mac?"
Roll a perception check. [DM Note: The goblin likes to use stealth at all times.  He is indeed the goblin formerly known as Stimpy by ATG.  His real name is Rega Ragnash of the boartooth clan.  He is in his fifties now and is far more cautious these days.  He also hunts the war forged and is looking for information on Cog.  He is allowing this new bounty hunter to help due to a patron that has contacted him known as Temovar Plok.  This patron only reaches out to him by magical means however, interesting.]
Finally the short but well built goblin man appears at your table.  He is older for a goblin and his yellow greenish skin has a gray stubble growth around his mouth.  He wears a dingy old pirate hat that barely holds it's shape.  His nose hooks downward and his pointed ears are fairly large with several gold hoops in them.  "I see you didn't order one for me bounty hunter. Kind of rude."
Rega says there have been sightings of the warforged over the last year or so in the cities of Westinox, Ulirre and Stoneport.  Kind of a wide net. "I have heard of a seer that may be able to help though.  He just arrived in Porsk over the last week or so.  I think you should look him up and see if he has the knack or if he is a charlatan.  The description is a Tiefling man, reddish skin, scholarly type.  Spotted him earlier today talking with a sun elf and a human ranger.  Two newcomers who just traveled up from Ashe they captured Revlar Groundtooth."
I'll move on to Stoneport in the meantime.  Use this sending stone, it has three charges left.  I've got the receiver, let me know which place you wind up in next and we can exchange information again.  Hey, if you talk to your friend let him know that my rates are going up."

Themes

Crashe Dream #2 -
You wake up in the middle of the night in a wide luxurious bed next to a beautiful elven woman you have never seen before. She is fast asleep and very naked, half covered in an elven silk bed sheet. The room appears to be a large richly furnished room with three tall windows on the wall facing south. The night air is peaceful and the star filled night sky features the two moons in wane. You notice that the middle window is open and partly swung inwards.
The gauzy curtain moves with a warm night breeze. You do not recognize the city outside, you appear to be on the twentieth floor of an enormous palace. The streets below are dotted with luminescent globes and the web of buildings seems to stretch on to the horizon. Roll a perception check….. DC 14.
A shadow moves to your left. You are not alone in here. Roll a dexterity saving throw! A dart flies through the air aimed at your throat. If. Crashe fails he wakes up, if he succeeds he can roll initiative against the assassin. [DM Note: After this dream give Crashe a new fighting maneuver to be used once per day. It adds +2 to his next attack roll.]

Structure

Exposition

The Party at Greykeep Orrery-
    You all stand underneath the great orrery of Greykeep manor.  The building is ancient and some of the granite blocks that make up the walls look enormous.  The main room is easily the size of football pitch and the great device representing the solar system slowly rotates overhead with a bronze and glass dome protecting it from the elements outside.  Dozens of servants mill about the party carrying trays of drinks or foods.  A couple dozen circular tables hold various dignitaries, merchant captains, and nobles from the dwarven clans, Trading companies, and House Quail.  The fancy clothes you purchased make you appear like you belong at the party though your lack of social graces are a tell.  
As the baroness takes her leave after asking for your help in tracking down her daughter her advisor stays to chat with you a bit.  He is a tall human man with jet black hair and a resplendent moustache.  He has broad shoulders and looks to be in his fifties.  "My friends your service to House Quail has been exemplary, in truth honest people such as yourselves are hard to come by.  My name is Ionn Castaliogne." He drinks from a crystal champagne flute. "There are many merchants in Porsk who owe you a great debt.  There was a small trinket that sadly is still missing and I wanted to ask you if you had come across it.  A small wooden chest, well carved, possibly some metal around the edges?"
you see a dwarven man walking over. 
The dwarven man introduces himself as Weller Raspgrinder. "So you are the lads who recovered the carriages from Revlar! The name is Weller Raspgrinder."
He is 5'3" and dressed in burgundy and black dinner attire. A coat with a pin on the label featuring a pickaxe and a badger that signifies his clan.
"Glad to make your acquaintance, you recovered quite a bit of my property in your efforts. " He is quite pleased but would like to add that he warns them from taking up with House Quail. He mentions that he and his family are trying hard to remove the Quails from the government here as well as all of the corrupt houses of the East. He mentions the idea of an Eigerlands free of the great houses and even the ETC.
These groups have been fighting over the control of commerce for millenia. He mentions that the girl is a runaway and is trying to extricate herself from the Quail family and run off with her elven boyfriend, Nicovar Thelypteris. If she is actually taken and held prisoner maybe they could help her and send her on her way instead of helping out the baroness. Or she is running off with Nicovar and if the team does find her help her get on a boat and sail off to Ventenheim. Anything to hurt the Quails is fine with him.
Possible rewards offered by Weller: 55 gold. The insignia of Clan Raspgrinder. Safe passage and lodging in certain areas of the Eigerlands like the Ulirre Valley and Westinox.
On the Road to the Fallen Tower -
The road stretches west from Porsk and unlike the wide heavily used road that stretches from Ashe to Vela'Rus to Porsk this one is far bumpier and riddled with tree roots and old rocks.  This early autumn day however grants you some solace as a warm sun looks down on you from above and a cool breeze brushes past you.  The horses seem happy to be on the move and not overly stressed.  After a couple of hours on the road you see a couple of figures riding small horses or ponies moving east towards your direction.  [DM Note: The two are a half elven man named Isarre Fling who looks like Bill Paxton and a half orc woman named Gruntubulous. They are very wary of the party and Fling holds his side where he appears to be injured. They are former members of the Thieves guild the Vestal Moth and have just been fired essentially for incompetence. They do have a potion of Stoneskin and a potion of haste. Both have a duration of 10 rounds.] 
Wes you should make a perception check! DC 14.  If he succeeds allow him to hear the moss dogs coming.  If he rolls over twenty he hears them and sees a raven up in the trees keeping watch on them.  If he fails allow Mike's character to try before they are set upon by Moss Dogs!
Five Moss dogs rush in following the blood scent trail left by Fling.  They seem ravenous for warm blood it is possible that they were sent by Kormirra Gravca as a test, animated from plant matter from the Ashen Forest.

Conflict

Secret of the Kidnapping-
  In the lair of the kidnappers a blond woman of a similar height and build to the baronesses daughter can be seen with the dwarves and humans who are setting all of this up. There is also an enchanted pendant that will make the wearer look exactly like the daughter when worn. Their plan is to replace the daughter with the other woman and possibly assassinate the baroness. The daughter is unaware of this part of the plot but is trying to run away with her boyfriend in a teenage rebellion.
    Premalkin Po and the Vestal Moth are in charge of this operation hired by the Raspgrinder clan. Po will not be part of the crew but they answer to him.
The thieves for this job are-
*Runcullious Scorn - Hobgoblin man very intelligent. Ruddy red skin 3rd level fighter.
*Triffid Dour - Dwarven man 3rd level rogue, Large black beard huge scar on side of head.
*Ulia Bane - Human woman 3rd level assassin, dirty blond hair.
*Westovar Moult - A human man 3rd level fighter, hawk like nose and black hair.
* four Were Ravens patrol the outside of the fallen tower as well.
Underneath in the caves are four bugbears that the Vestal Moth have hired for added muscle.  Runko, Yotullus, Herigar, and Bayland.

Rising Action

In the caves underneath -
Room 1A is the first room on the left as you enter near the waterfall.
Room 2A is the well lit room down the stairs - Here two of the bugbears take turns patrolling.  Large fire is lit on the north side of the room with a cooking pot and several rabbits roasting.  A series of couches tables, barrels, and torch braziers line the room. A stair case goes up from the north wall and another goes west .  A raised section can also be seen on the west wall.
Room 3A is the southermost room full of crates of burlap, grain, and other useless materials that are old and rotted.
Room 4A is an old shrine devoted to Mankata.  Two blood sacrifice chairs still equipped with leather straps and bloodletting spikes sit the northern side.  Blood red tapestries depict Mankata and his boons.  The chamber seems to be very old.
Room 5A is the northwestern room with a circular table covered with a burgundy table cloth.  Messendria Quail can be seen tied to a chair and gagged.   Her paramour Nicovar Thelypteris is tied to another chair and has been beaten bloody. Another fireplace keeps the room warm and plenty of cooking pots and pans are hung on the wall.  A wide rough hewn bed is on the northern wall stuffed with straw and laden with some large furs for blankets.  [DM Note: Ulia Bane and Westovar Moult are here going over the plan.  Ulia is roughly the same height and size as Messendria.  Anyone watching stealthily will see her try on the mask on the table.  It has been enchanted to make someone look just like Messendria, in the face anyway. She crows about how she got it to work perfectly! Moult grabs her by the waist and kisses her hard.]
Room 6A - is the room with the small fire pit in the center.  It's many alcoves holds the thieves belongings mostly clothes, cooking utensils, and furs.  It has an opening on the eastern side that overlooks the pond.
Room 1B - The room on the Eastern side of the waterfall.  A bugbear man patrols here alone.  He has a cooking fire set up and is swinging a club at the walls. 
Room 2B - This room is a large room full of barrels of wine and whiskey that seems over thirty years old.  Markings on the barrels match those of several wineries and distilleries found in Westinox and as far away as Tellenor.  At least three barrels are marked as Blizzard Hops Whiskey SF 3 2999.
Room 3B - More a series of tunnels broken up by a rectangular room, you see a well reaching down full of fresh water.  Just to the north is a large table full of dirty plates, bowls and utensils.  Two bugbears sit at the table tearing apart some game hens and washing it down with wine. 
Room 4,5,6B - These rooms are full of training dummies covered in burlap and stuffed with straw and wood shavings.  Dozens of crates hold ceramic wear from a century ago as well as many fine art pieces that would be welcome at any museum. Scorn and Dour train two more bugbears here.  The sound of wood and fabric beaten by edged weapons can be heard down the hall.
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