ATG Mission 9.2 - The Morendath Ever'Rend

Previously on Liters of Tomorrow

The team was briefed on a dangerous situation evolving in The Points, a city in the southern forest realms that is a den of gambling and vice. With the help of the fussy and irritating Ontus Jostle, Trusilla Fane laid out the plans of the dangerous spy group known as the Morendath Ever'Rend. You had slowly been collecting code books and important documentation for two years now and tossing it over your shoulders nonchalantly leaving home office to sort through it all in classic adventurer fashion. That information though began to form a pattern, a grand plan that the Morendath Ever'Rend have been carefully putting together for half a decade. Using the important port city of Stoneport to move arms to Lamborginus to foment a war in Penthaheim. Using criminal organizations like the Diligent Corbomites to collect those arms and powerful shard rocks to make more.
All along the way the only thing slowing them down has been the bouncing ball of chaos known as Adventure Team Grimm. A group of reckless overly powered individuals who show up at the wrong time to throw a spanner in the works.
Now we come to the grand prestige of their years of dark workings. By assassinating a powerful Elven Diplomat, Baron Garizon Thelypteris, a series of broken treaties will trigger a continent wide war amongst the elven realms, The Eigerlands, Lamborginus and Penthos. What this group gets out of all of this is still unclear, maybe just limitless arms sales, a return of underdark society to a more prestigious place, maybe just to watch the world burn.
Vom Fass, Mew, Hops, and the rogue known as Ijin teleported into the Enchantment under the Sea Casino. From there they began to gather information on Baron and found out about a parade scheduled to take place in the morning. The baron is the guest of honor and will be giving a speech at noon in the middle of the parade route. Ijin approached some mercenaries looking for work and was invited to the Constellation building at nine which resides at the middle of the parade route. He also encounted another Ijin, possibly a version of himself who exists in our world. This Ijin invited him to the Maycroft building also at nine.
Mew on the other hand took a different approach to information gathering. She approached the owner of the casino named Calabann Maycroft and asked if she could foretell his future. Though Calabann was skeptical of her doom saying he allowed her into the VIP lounge where she joined a high stakes dice game. There she met the brother of Garizon Thelpyteris, an elven man named Delthorne Thelpyteris. He was a lower viceroy who had snuck off to the Points early to get in some gambling and partake in other pleasures the city had to offer. Mew seduced the man who brought her back to his hotel room at the Blue Cauldron. Vom Fass and Hops followed invisibly and rummaged through Delthorne's belongings finding the parade route and a map of the city.
Meeting up with Ijin at the tavern of the Blue Cauldron you all decided to investigate the two buildings that seemed to be the best place to assassinate the Baron during his speech. Splitting into teams of two, each team investigated the two buildings. Ijin and Vom Fass flew up to the top of the Constellation building and broke into the top floor. There they encountered some mercenaries paid to watch the area. Extracting what information they could they then exiled the mercenaries to the Frozen wastes of the north lands with a clever teleportation circle by Vom Fass.
Mew and Hops headed to the top of the Maycroft building.  They took the opposite approach, Convincing the door man to let them in they then headed to Calabann Maycroft's apartment and told him of the possible danger.  Leaving his wife safe in their apartment, he accompanied Mew and Hops to the uppermost floor of the building.  There Mew used her soulsight to see some humanoids hiding within.  A melee ensued when they were discovered by the strange aarokocra mercenaries guarding this area.  Ijin and Vom Fass flew over to assist and the team was victorious.  Now you stand over the broken bodies of these mysterious fighters on the patio of the roof of the Maycroft building.  Calabann Maycroft storms up to you demanding an explanation...

Plot points/Scenes

You stand there atop the Maycroft building several aarokocran mercenaries lay dead around you. The warm sea breeze moves past you as you look down over the well lit city of The Points.
Calabann Maycroft rushes out to the patio "What in the Seven Hells is going on here?! I demand some answers! Who were these men?"
The Return of Vorleana -
[DM Note: Vorleana has been working with The Mist's Eye a drow government intelligence operation. She has been tracking the Morendath Ever'Rend for over a year now. It is their equivalent of MI6 and Vorleana is Agent 5. She has uncovered the assassination plot and has discovered that Baron Garizon is the target. Now she is heading into the Maycroft building to uncover some clues. As the team deals with Calabann she will sneak up on them and point a weapon on them.]
Roll perception checks a DC 19 reveals a shady figure with a dark blue hood leaping over the side of the building after scaling it with a grappling hook. She flicks her hand out pointing it right at you and a series of dark grey metals form a small crossbow with a light blue magical dart forming last in the middle. Her hood obscures her face, her leather armor is a dull grey with black urban camouflage printed all over it. She says "Don't move your game is up." As she takes a beat to see the faces in front of her she recognizes Mew, Vom Fass, and Hops. "Wait, Mew? Is that you!?"
Notable members of the Morendath Ever'Rend in The Points currently:
Gwenevyar Umbra'Can - Current leader of this mission, she is undercover as the Baron's personal assistant.
She is going by the name Lydia Castamere, an elven woman with straight blond hair and spectacles. She wears a light brown vest over a pressed white shirt and a long flowing dark brown skirt. She has a dark brown jacket that she wears which is well fitted around her waist and shoulders. [DM Note: She is using the Disguise Self spell and supplementing it with a rune stone that extends the duration of the spell for 12 hours. If the assassination attempt by Ijin fails she may kill the baron anyway after she finds a way to plant evidence on the body.]
Jeznae Mizzruil - Currently posing as one of the Point Guard ,Cory Lazar - Blue tielfling woman with curled black horns. She has bright yellow eyes and is always in on a scam or bribery situation. She is incredibly intelligent and wields several black daggers. Unlike the others she is actually using a physical disguise of costume horns and a little bit of make up over her already bluish purple skin. Her eye color is made with glowing contact lenses.
Zuncator Kharza'Can - One of the posted guards defending both Delthorne Thelypteris and Garizon. He is using a disguise self spell as well increasing the duration with the rune stone. He currently looks like an elven man with light skin and long brown hair. His uniform is a Light blue jacket with yellow embroidery on the epaulettes and going up and down around the buttons on front as well as around the cuffs in a complicated winged pattern.
Morendath Infiltrators - 
They also have several cloaked wetworks agents that use special armor equipped with invisibility runes. Once activated the runes will give the operative one minute of invisibility.
Our objectives for Friday:

• Stop our Ijin from assassinating the baron during the parade speech.
• Find and apprehend the three Morendath Agents.
• Justin's Ijin must assassinate the baron after the parade due to interdimensional time space wrinkles
• The Morendath Agents are also implicating House Thelpyteris with other fake evidence.
• Framing Mew and Delthorne by creating fake alliance / treaty papers making it look like The Kingdom of Crossing Sun and Stars is spoiling for war against Lamborginus with the help of House Thelpyteris!
• Planting a bomb amongst Delthorne's belongings making it look like he is trying to kill Major Arkon Arquebus, a visiting dignitary from Lamborginus. The Major is a disgruntled former military officer who is now a low ranking diplomat.

Themes

The White and Gold Parade -

[DM Note- The parade route is as follows: It begins with the floats and marchers at the Loiwar Port and moves north along the wall and then East to Mointair. The parade marches north up King's Street and stops for twenty minutes at the bridge fortress so the Parade Master can give a speech. The western side of the street carries the parade north and It then button hooks down the Eastern side of the street moving south and then East again towards the Deasert District and then ends at the Enchantment under the sea casino which is the larger building on the dry river bed. In front of the bridge fortress as the Parade Master, Garizon Opan Thelypteris, gives his speech the assassin will fire a long bow fitted with an arrow made from Stoneport Steel that was given to Lamborginus and the Knights of Aventador. This implicates the Aventadors and the Archos Divinus in the Barons killing. One of the tall buildings on the King's Street will be the perch for Ijin Matsushige of our world.]
You hear the banging of dozens of drums and wail of horned instruments as the parade begins to move through the packed streets of The Points. The smell of hundreds of street carts full of fried meats and vegetables as mixes with the sugary smell of fritters and cakes, an assault on the senses. thousands of onlookers crowd the streets excited to get the festivities started. Parents with small children outfit them with colorful painted hats and goofy costumes.
Most of the crowd pull out ceramic mugs full of ales, lagers, mead and wine. Many of the grizzled veterans of these festivities have flasks in hand as they look around for tussle or an argument. You are all experienced travelers at this point, you've seen enough large cities and festivals to know where this is headed. The early afternoon sun will heat up the streets and by dusk this city will be strewn with drunks and disorder.
Roll perception checks: The Point Guard as they are known don't look much better than the crowd. Some of them are also holding flasks already, you don't trust them much to keep the peace once the blood alcohol level redlines.
The first part of the parade is several local marching bands that play reasonably well. Clearly not a college of bards or serious musicians. The next section is a group of floats pandering to the local taverns and breweries and they get a roar from the crowd. The carts are pulled with teams of horses or mules and they are decorated with paper crafts of alcoholic beverages and are staffed with scantily clad men and women.
The middle section of the parade is led with a regiment of elven warriors. None of whom look happy to be here. Clearly they drew the short straw or are being punished for falling last in their division for cleanliness or marching time. A large white and gold float flying dozens of elven house flags has a huge white wooden throne upon it. In it sits the Baron Thelypteris himself. He waves to the crowd and has a big stupid grin on his face.
The Constellation Building
The Constellation building is one of the younger building's in the points located right on King's Street on the Western Side. It is a five story tall rectangular building with White stone walls framed with huge beams of redwood criss crossing through them. Each floor has wide windows facing the East and West. The top floor has a red painted pagoda style building dominating it. Wide sliding doors can be found on a wide patio section with potted plants all around it. These doors are locked [DC 17] The upper floors of the building contain office space and several apartments. It is all rented by wealthy ministers or elven royalty who keep apartments here for frequent vacations in The Points.
The owners of the building are an elven company called Silver Oracle. The upper three floors are reserved for the main patriarch of the family Elzario DuSoong. You notice the smell of rich elven tobacco, a very different thing than Karnac's pipeweed. The furniture is all crafted from finely polished Inorian Redwood and everything looks clean and put away fastidiously.
Moving through these rooms an investigation check will reveal pictures of his family and significant other but plenty of articles of clothing and other recorded illusions depicting DuSoong with a purple tielfling woman performing all manner of sex acts.
-A rack of fine elven wines stands against the northern wall, and an expensive liquor cabinet holds centuries old elven whiskey.
-A bottle of rum stands on an end table, several drops stain the top of the table. A history check reveals that this rum is common sailor fare and doesn't jibe with the rest of the apartment. [DM Note: Hiding in the back bedroom are several Jolar Skinners looking to attack the party! If they keep them busy for several rounds the team will not have time to stop the assassination.]

The Maycroft Building on King's Street
The rival building to the constellation built in the last twenty years by the wealthy Maycroft family. It was built on the ruins of a much older building and the Maycroft's know quite well what they are hiding underneath. They have their own entrance into the ancient city below. It stands opposite the Constellation building on the East side of King's Street.
[DM Note: This is where Ijin has set up his sniper's perch. He has hired many Jolar Skinners to patrol both buildings, they are instructed to watch for any adventuring parties or investigators and rough them up. He has told them nothing of the assassination just paid them to keep others busy. In the top apartment are the Crimson Vettel, specifically placed here to keep the team busy long enough and then blame Justin for the Assassination.]
The top several floors of the Maycroft building are made of a white stucco with light colored wood framing, it has a very Mediterranean coast type feel. Several windows face King's Street and sunlight dapples the rooms inside. You notice a strong cigar smell as you enter as well as a strong incense. Maybe too strong, as if someone is trying to change the smell in here. On the top floor their are several skylights made of glass and a wide patio surrounds the top floor, perfect for looking out upon the city at night or to observe the parade.
Investigation checks reveal
-Stubs of cigars smoked recently, the ashtrays on the end tables and desk. Mixed in is a smaller tighter cigarette rolled in dark brown paper.
-On a table is a card propped up and folded in half with the inscription "For Ijin" on it. [DM Note: The paper is coated with a fast acting sleep potion if anyone touches it. It feels wet to the touch. Roll a DC17 Constitution saving throw. Success leads to one point of exhaustion, failure leads to 1d12 rounds of sleep!]
-The Crimson Vettel is on the roof waiting to pounce through the skylights!
-Tanaheim Ijin is in position to fire his arrow at the Baron! [Reminder that the arrow is rigged to look like the metal from Stoneport and the rest to look like Aventador weapon]

Structure

Exposition

The main goals are to find the three Morendath Ever'Rend agents and uncover their various plots.

The White Gold Gala - 

If the team is successful in stopping the assassination Garizon will invite them to the Gala being held that evening at the Zodiac Casino.  From there they can continue to work with Vorleana to find the Morendath Agents.  Remember that one of them is Garizon's assisstant.

Informants at The Points-

Trum Kezler - A shifty looking Gnome man with long white hair. His Left eye is just a dark blue orb. He claims it allows him to see in six directions at once. It doesn't but he does have excellent perception. He wears a dark brown heavy knit shirt and a lime green coat. He plays at being the affable drunk but in reality he knows everything that happens in the city.

Netta Green Hand - A human woman who looks a lot like Adrien Barbeau with a corset that shows off her ample cleavage. She wears a heavy long black coat with a wide collar and red pants. Her left hand is a bright green clawed goblin hand. She claims she lost it in battle and a sorceror's wild magic explosion attached a new one in southern Ventenheim.

Schist Gravilon - An earth genasi man with teal green mineral spikes for hair. His skin is a dull green and brown and has a slight transparent sheen to it like a crystal. He wears a red velvet coat and has bard skills to hide his information gathering. He often whips out an Ocarina or mouth pipe to play a ditty.



Information to gather

• Ever heard of the Crimson Vettel? Mercenary group that just came to town.
• Influx of Jolar Skinners, those guys are bad news steer clear.
• I've seen a drow man and a Woman, they were dressed like bad news.
• Heard of a guy renting apartments in The Mointair District right along the parade route

Jango Fist are employed by Obun Gillory to look into things as well. Obun doesn't trust the Point Guard and uses his own private security force to check on things. He may enlist the team if they don't put things together fast enough.

Related Organizations

• Morendath Ever'Rend

Related Locations

• The Points