Session 8: They're Coming to Take me Away, Haha!

Monday, Jan. 18th, 2021 @7pm-10pm & Tuesday, Jan 19th, 2021 @7pm

General Summary

The Monk, The Madman, and The Horse

Since they did not take the portal back, Duul and Emyr opted to take their Compsky-drawn carriage. Their trip had them passing by the local firefighting agency, the small group casually sidestepped the brigade, making their way to the estate the long way around. During this travel, they soon found a rather strange, grass-hued draft horse barreling towards them. Upon recognizing his brother, the horse sped up, and Ghozun soon transformed from the beast, greeting them eagerly, but confused; there was no escaping the apparent remnants of arson that the trio were leaving in their wake. Rejoining this portion of the party, they set back into their travels. This, however, put them in the path of an older lady comforting a collapsed horse, which turns out to be dead. The lady asked that they help her in getting to the nearest village, which she says should be further down the road, in the direction they were travelling. Following Duul's grilling, the old lady revealed herself to, in fact, be his and Ghozun's great grandmother Yuvari. To ensure they could not simply escape instead of talk to her, she temporarily transforms Chompsky into a plush teddy bear, though changes her back at Emyr's urging. She then offers them a deal; she will dismiss their curse, including the part where she owns their immortal souls upon their deaths, if they rid the world of a particular... thorn in her side. As it turns out, their current quest seems to be leading them down the path to its defeat, though the creature she wants eliminated has been wholly obliterating souls, making it impossible for her to claim them. With Duul hesitant to accept or refuse the deal, Great Grandmother directed her efforts to Ghozun, stating that she can send people to cure his mentor if he accepts. This seems to force their hand, and Duul accepts under the condition she goes back to hell and leave them be, with the promise that he will, absolutely murder her upon their next meeting.

The Gang's Back Together, Boys!

For all intents and purposes, the rest of the trek back to the estate turned out to be uneventful, thankfully so. With the party reunited, Lavug inquires as to whether or not Emyr has any idea what the strange liquid was that he drank at the asylum, leaving them all just as confused as before, as Emyr has no clue. Duul inquired with Thimbald if he has learned anything regarding demons and the like and stated that he'd need any research into the matter sped up, as he'll need the results far sooner than he'd ever anticipated. After this conversation, they are informed that Wynne has returned to the estate and wishes to speak with them. She obtained information that there were slavers moving "product" at one of the coastal towns, and she requests their aid in freeing said product and eliminating these traders. Most of the party decides that rest would be best prior to setting off on the journey, as they don't have a specific time restriction, though Ghozun brings up that he must go to Siarhaven. Eldin decides to gather supplies. Emyr plans to rest. Duul sets about picking up where he left off in his demonology research. Slab's time was determined to be spent with the crystal ball from before as well as training the slaves turned citizen soldiers. Lavug requests wood carvers tools while Ghozun is in town looking for socks, though he doesn't join in favor of helping Duul with his research, a decision that greatly aided in the tiefling-orc's endeavors. This happened in such a way that Lavug uncovered where they could be able to find descendants of demon hunters that might know Great Grandmother Yuvari's true/full name.
In town, Eldin and Ghozun encounter Dok setting up a stand in the marketplace, haphazardly hammering the sign into place. He offers them healing, including "legitimate" Potions of Healing for sale for 2GP/ea. Having not been with the group at the time, Ghozun had not met Dok and continues to be confused by the concept of an asylum. Since Dok doesn't offer socks, Ghozun goes off to find a stall that does. Eldin thought it would be a good idea to check in on Philip, though the skull was less than happy to see him again and started immediately threatening him, telling him to die (and drink all the potions at once), and remind him repeatedly that he hates him. Put off by the gestures but nonetheless wanting to have potions, he purchase the full ten potion stock of: 2 Red Dok Potions, 2 Blue Dok Potions, 2 Yellow Dok Potions, 2 Green Dok Potions, and 2 Purple Dok Potions. Having found a clothing stall, Ghozun inquires as to whether or not they have socks in his size, though the merchants are troubled by their limited supply of such, offering him a pair of older, discounted socks for two silver; Ghozun pays him in two silver buttons, which the merchant accepts due to being silver and the approximate size of coins. After purchasing the socks, he set about purchasing a used wood carver's toolkit for 1GP. He then sought out directions for where to locate a weaver's kit, which he was given an older, used one for free from an Ms. Thimberly, whom he gives a silver button, too, in thanks. Looking for one last thing, Ghozun spent another silver button on a four color variety pack of chalk. Meeting back up with Eldin afterwards, who had purchased a tacklebox and fishing rod for a combined total of 1GP, they considered the notion of purchasing something for Chompsky. At Eldin's suggestion, they go to a hat shop and purchase a large floral sunhat for 1GP. With the shopping completed, they make their way back to the estate.
Chompsky almost immediately receives her gift, seeming intrigued by the hat. They tell Emyr nothing of their plans. The bear looks for a reflective puddle, stares into it deeply, and then offers her approval of the gift. Ghozun then decides to wait for Lavug and Duul to rejoin them before giving him his change and kit, thinking it best not to disturb them. After some downtime, they get together briefly, with Emyr thanking Ghozun for Chompsky's gift. Here, Wynne offers to guide them to the city in question the next day, though for now everyone must rest and prepare.
As it turns out, the city in question is the one that Emyr and Duul met Wynne at to begin with. This means that: they had already freed slaves from here before; they happened to be in the city when a prominent figurehead of the community died in an estate "bombing"; the local nobility ride bears as a symbol of status, a trend started by Emyr previously. Wynne doesn't know exactly where the slavers may be, just that they are in the general vicinity of the city itself. She bids them adieu to attend to her own meetings and contacts, trusting them to handle the mission proper, perhaps too hopefully. They begin to debate how they plan to find "cheap labor" in the area, though they opt to split up to do so most effectively. Regretably, Eldin had the most luck in this search. In the worst way. Now part of the inventory, Eldin was at least manage to regain consciousness enough to get a general feel for where he ended up. Helpfully, Lavug managed to see part of this go down, from a distance, and alerted the rest of the party to the occurrence. In an attempt to speed the quest along, Emyr inquires as to cheap Digglet labor, thus laying the groundwork for cheap, foreign child labor in this Murdeg city. With Lavug's instruction, they end up following the slavers as they drag Eldin away. They manage, along this vein, to follow well enough to see them throw a sacked, tied-up Eldin get thrown into a small boat.

In way of distraction, Emyr shoots one of the men in the longboat, affording a mouse shapeshifted Ghozun a distraction with which to sneak onto the boat in question. Scurrying into the sack to stay with Eldin, he tucks his mouse self into one of the elf's many pouches, listening and spying on the rest of the boat's inhabitants. Regrettably, the distraction means that the main ship will be put on high alert. Brought onto the ship, Ghozun was dumped into a metal box with Eldin's possessions, which he promptly tried to chew through. Failing at this, he ended up breaking his teeth and doing enough damage to himself to accidentally forcibly transform back into an orc. The metal chest was most definitely not built for a full sized orc... or the ox that he turned into and began chewing on silver buttoned nobility clothing. Confused by this turn of events, the crew leads the ox off to the cages, where Ghozun in this form winks at Eldin to let him know he's there. Eldin takes the opportunity to try to break out, failing miserably at the task while the crew tries to figure out what to do with ox-Ghozun. Realizing that they could butcher the creature for food, the captain thinks it best to execute the ox with his pistol. Ghozun, realizing his demise is now impeding, rages and gores him with his horns. This starts a rather short lived combat, as after being stabbed a few times, ox-Ghozun tossed the captain overboard. While Duul, Emyr, and Slab search for a vote they can use, Lavug stayed back, working inadvertedly as lookout and watches the body splash into the cove. The crew is left in a panic while the party commandeers a an unguarded longboat, the four of them hopping in and rowing to the ship. Arriving and boarding successfully, the quartet find the turmoil the ox has left on the ship. Ghozun, meanwhile, is trapped in a bloodlust, eventually barreling into the cages, busting the gate down before collapsing post-rage. Eldin, confused, was previously patting an ox in an attempt to calm him, only to soon be gently, awkwardly patting Ghozun and telling him he did a good job. It is in this state that the party finds the two of them, before Eldin separates himself to locate his gear, lead there soon by a more self-aware tiefling-orc.

The slaves now freed, they flee for their lives, shouting their thanks and moving to try to return to their families. Bringing each other up to date, the party works to establish a plan of action for the rest of the mission. Two crewmates are captured, shackled, and kept under guard of Lavug and Eldin. For the rest of the party, their goal becomes to try to find crewmates to interrogate, leading them to the kitchen and mess hall. Duul sneak attacks the chef, knocking him out in a single hit and likely leaving him with a nasty scar when he awakes. Upon minimal questioning of the captives, they discover that only one third of the total crew is on the ship at all, with the rest at port. To further their interrogation, Ghozun makes threats, or at least requests, at eating the crew if they serve no other purpose for them. Somehow, this promptly leads to Duul believing that he has gotten the chance to torture people while wondering if his brother has finally snapped due to the sheer power of Ghozun's poker face. This is amplified when Ghozun drags the loudest man, cursing and flailing, to the back of the kitchen. After many dismembered toes, and a victim's slit throat, Duul learned only that the slaves were heading towards the kingdom and the original First Mate was supposed to be on shore leave.

Noticing that some of the land crew are heading their way, the new crew weigh anchor and attempt to steer the ship. They are promptly shoved away from the wheel by an exasperated Slab, who is the only one among them that actually knows how to sail a ship. Eldin is no longer allowed to "help" with ships.
-pt 2-

Report Date

18 Jan 2021