Session 3: Returning Scrolls, Questioning Zinon, Starting for the Ingredients Report
General Summary
They set off, leaving the dead cyclops as meat for the town, and decide to walk as much as they can till dark on the road to Meletis. Meelo finishes his scroll and gets choked up about the ending. Tetra and Meelo attune to their items, bracers and wand, and they head down the trade road till dark and go to a tree to camp for the night, just off the road. Make camp for about 10-hour rest to keep watch and wake at dawn-ish. Meelo talks about finishing his book and looking forward to the next one from the author who lives in Meletis.
Tyrael foraging for herbs and plants to cook for dinner. Finds some plants and rosemary to make rations taste better. Meelo adds burning hands to his spellbook. Tyrael's watch ends. Tetra doesn't see anything, impressed with new bracers. Cleaned them as the smelled like cyclops. Is better. Meelo's watch goes without him seeing anything. Starts reading the scroll about the beasts in Theros. A random encounter of wolf pack attacking the camp. As they're resting they sort of notice Meelo talking to himself about the beasts and Tetra & Tyrael tell him to read in his head and Tyrael tries to fall asleep to the boring story. As they're falling asleep, they hear heavy panting in the fields around them. They investigate the breathing noise and try to stealthily check out the noises. Tetra is doing well, but Tyrael drops his shield on his foot and squeaks, altering the three wolves.
Phil doesn't wake up to see the wolves with her drunk sleep, so Tyrael attacks first and holds an action to attack a wolf that approaches with his talons. The wolf moves up and tries to snap and bite at Tyrael for a nice chunk out of his leg. Tyrael strikes out and slashes the wolf with his talon. Meelo sees the wolf next to the camp and uses the wand to cast radiant magic missile and shoot two beams at the wolf. Smashing to the wolf and hurting it very badly. The other wolf runs up to Tyrael from the side as he's closer and goes to bite him. His teeth slash down Tyrael's arm. Tetra sees the two wolves on Tyrael and Meelo doing well at camp, so she dashes over to Tyrael and rages at him. She stabs the wolf through the gut with the greatsword and kills it. Tyrael and Tetra stand their ground at the face of the other wolf. The wolf at Meelo tries to attack him but it misses, still dazed from the magic missile. Phil now wakes to the sounds of fighting and sees the wolf at Meelo and runs up to stab it with her dagger. She nails it in the shoulder joint and the wolf is barely hanging on. She takes one other shot with her off hand and ends the wolf. Tyrael is now facing off with the last wolf in his face. He slashes out with his talons missing once and scratching it with his off-hand. The wolf misses his bite and Tyrael uses his wing to knock the attack away. Meelo sees the last wolf and agrees that the last magic missile worked so he'll try it again with his normal magic missile. It hits him but the wolf doesn't go down. Tetra takes a reckless swing at the last wolf and slashes it with her greatsword for a massive strike, ending it.
Morning comes, wolf steak is eaten, Tyrael gets one extra wolf steak. Get to Meletis and to talk to Filippa. Reach market district. Tetra's sword is glowing. They go to her shop and she gives Meelo the scrolls and says she'll always help with history in the area and to look things up.
They go to the blacksmith, Meletis Metal Trades. Tyrael puts in an order for custom leather armor at 75 g. Meet Zoi and get to know the shop. Go into the market, it's very busy. Phil took a walk because she was bored by weapons and returned with a note for Meelo from Perisophia about the prisoner is ready for interrogation. They decide to go there first and meet with her to be present in questioning.
Basis of Questioning: Perisophia sends a message to Meelo letting him know that the corrupt councilman, Zinon, has been processed and will be questioned. If they want to be present to learn anything from him they can come to the Court of the Twelve where he is being jailed. The PCs can go to the cell where Zinon is being kept and listen to the questioning or ask to question him themselves. He will be cryptic but honest, and he will also be susceptible to deception, intimidation, or actual threats as well. With some social work, the PCs can be alone to question him, but Perisophia will fight it at first and will require a good reason. If he sees the opportunity to attack one of them or the group during questioning he will attack. He will only do this if they are locked in the cell with him during questioning.
About Zinon and the Other dead councilman Periklis
Zinon- Chaotic Evil, Male, As a practitioner of evil and dubious pursuits, he is a follower of Phenax and believes every lie is an homage to Phenax. Most champions of Phenax are exemplars of deceit, motivated by greed, revenge, or a good swindle. They have chosen to serve a mortal who ascended to godhood, possibly because they want to emulate him. The ends justify the means; I do whatever it takes to win. He has dedicated his life to upsetting the balance of power in the polis by manipulating the other council members who believe him to be good and law-abiding like the rest of them.
Knew the now deceased Periklis- Chaotic Evil, Male, he is also a follower of Phenax and works with Zinon to upend the council wherever they can with subtly. They are typically responsible for getting guilty criminals off without punishment and he personally works with sentencing and seeks to make it far shorter than it likely should be. He has proven himself a capable liar and teller of tall tales. All deception requires secrecy, but not all secrets are meant to deceive.
Strange questioning session.
Perisophia welcomes them inside of the council chambers once they make it past the guards and lets them know that they've imprisoned Zinon in the underground jail, that they don't use often. She lets them know that Zinon has been switching between total silence and crazy ramblings. She talks about how the councilmembers are chosen as a representative government. Explains that the dagger was a lost relic, to the point that people didn't know if it was real. Dagger of deception is capable of mind control, but not much else is known. She explains that they are a bit desperate for answers from him as they have had no luck. She and the guards escort the party down below the council building to the "jail," which seems very empty and a bit maze-like. Zinon is in a cell with bars that close him off. He is shifting to himself and muttering. Phil does not like it down there and is very quiet. They try to get him to talk, and he tells them to come inside the cell. Zinon explains that he doesn't care what the other council members think of him. Meelo seems like he wants to learn more from him, desperate for knowledge, he thinks they can handle him. Zinon is sure that Phenax is proud of him. He alludes to the fact that there were probably more killed that just the single triton. Tetra tries to intimidate him and at first, he just seems to close off. Meelo wants information bad, he goes up to bars and asks what is the bigger reason behind this attack & does it have to do with the Path? Zinon perks up and says everything is about the Path and he will walk it too one day. The Path of Phenax has something to do with how he became a god. Zinon looks at Tetra as she says he'll have to do better than one triton if he's to be a god and his form shimmers for a second and he's taken on the form of her sister, Trina. Unbeknownst to them all, Erebos is actually controlling Zinon and has disguised himself as Phenax. These powers to shift his form into someone dead, come from Erebos, not Phenax. And unfortunately, that does mean that Trina is dead. Tetra backs up at the sight and asks if anyone else is seeing this. She can tell that it's a loose approximation of her sister's form. They are struck by how odd it is for him to do that. Tetra flies into a rage and slams her fists into the bars and demands to know where he's seen her sister. Zinon swallows down hard, very intimidated, and at first his voice cracks. Says his god lets him see many things. She asks, "so you haven't' seen my sister then?" He responds with "not yet." Tyrael says, "oh that wasn't a good answer buddy." Zinon says that he just does what he's told and that perhaps their group holds interest with Phenax. Tetra asks about the dagger and he seems to retreat into madness again. "Dagger, dagger fast asleep. In the ground so dark and deep. Then it made its way into my hands." Phil steps forward up to the bars and she reacted to Tetra's anger. She reaches out a hand and says, "if you can be tricksy, then I can be tricksy." She casts charm person on Zinon. She just charms him. A pink glaze goes over his eyes and she asks what she is supposed to say. Tetra says to ask about the dagger. Phil approaches him and does so. Zinon says to Phil, in a way where he's not aware, "I was sleeping, Phenax was there, he left it on his nightstand to use and pulled it from the ground." Tetra suggests asking what the reason was behind getting the triton to attack. Zinon says a bit more closed off, "I'm not one to question my god, but he did say it was for the good of the Society." Reminder about the lost dagger and that it can mind control a person for up to 24 hours. Tetra says to ask him about her sister. Phil does and the pink pulses over his eyes again stronger and he says, "He just showed her to me right now, I was supposed to do it to be mean, he just showed me." They remark on there surprise that Phenax is there right now? And Meelo reminds them "well, gods." Tetra asks Perisophia is there is something that she wants to have Phil ask, and she says "They should have tried this, but they didn't want to sink to that level. Says to ask how Phenax has shown himself to Zinon." Zinon is a bit confused by her description of Nylea, but the spell pulls the truth out of him and the pink pulses. He says, "sometimes it's just a voice, like now, but the time he came to give me the dagger was different. He made himself small enough to fit inside the room, dark robes, red pinpricks of light where his eyes should be, under the robe the mask he wears should have some type of detailing because it was like he had massive horns. It was incredible." Tyrael has encountered something like this before, the last day he was with the Cult. He accidentally walked into that conversation. He couldn't see a face, but what he remembers is that the figure the priest was talking to had horns. This seems accurate to what he's learned. Tetra says to ask why they want them to come inside the cell. He says, "No, I'm never lonely with my god so near me. I want you in here so that I can prove myself to him." Tyrael and Tetra think about giving it a go with him, but Tyrael says that they should keep him there and locked up. That if he knows who this Phenax really is, the thing he'd want is for one of his followers to die. Zinon gets very angry at this and says, "He doesn't want us to die. He doesn't want Death, he wants Chaos, and to make power come true for the One True Fate." Tyrael determines that Zinon doesn't know who's manipulating him. Meelo asks Phil to ask Zinon about the Society, he says, "Worship of Phenax is misunderstood, and often left to smaller players in the grand scheme of things. The Society are his true followers. They are who have constructed temples upon temples to ensure his will is wrought." Secret temples? Body is a temple? They are hidden temples. Phil specifically asks about the details of what he was supposed to do. He says, "I was supposed to use the dagger to manipulate strong creatures into causing chaos and death. I was to do it until told otherwise." Recruiting? "No, not recruit. Just strong creatures, size did not matter, it was about strength of will. They were to be able to cause as much destruction as possible without dying themselves." Tetra says to ask if they mind controlled the guy that stole from Phenax that fell in love with a fleece maned lion. Zinon says no, Phenax did that. How long has he worshipped Phenax? "Has been a follower of Phenax for quite some time. Take time to reach my rank. I am a priest." They talk about informing the council members once they have been re-vetted and aside from that keeping it just between them. Tetra also says to ask about the potion peddler selling gorgon poison, the apothecary. He says, "I have no idea what you're talking about." Tetra tries to see behind his words but thinks he genuinely doesn't know. Perisophia agrees to not let him go anywhere and suggest that they can come back again, she can't guarantee he will be safe but ensures that he will be safe in there for now. Tetra tells her about the apothecary they met on the road. Perisophia inquires about the Pharika robes because it doesn't sound like her to do this. She also points out that the description of Phenax was off. He wears a mask but does not have horns. She also remarks on the Society. She has heard rumors of a Phenax cult looking to disrupt the threads of fate because that is what he did. He Returned. She points out that the death aspect of all this is odd unless the cult is far more violent then they have heard about. They leave the "jail." They decide to stop and get some food at the market stall and chat with the rather colorful owner of the Full Pot- Argiris Rodinotis- before they go on the road and head toward Hunter's Crossing to find the ingredients. They discuss what they learned and how this sounds like Erebos, that Erebos and Phenax hate each other, and maybe the Green Lady said something about this. Tetra and Tyrael agree that it sounds like Erebos is impersonating Phenax to incite people to kill for him. Meelo points out that from his scroll he's learned that Phenax is a mischief-maker, however, there is a later addition to the scroll that says that actually the two gods hate each other and it has to do with the fact that Phenax did Return from the Underworld and Erebos is super pissed about it. Erebos despises him for it. He talks about the Returned and how they do wear masks because they lose a bit of themselves when they come back, quite a bit in fact. There are also Returned that worship Phenax and those that worship Erebos. Phil sort of remembers the Green Lady perhaps mentioning either one or both of the Gods. Tyrael explains more about his reasoning behind leaving the Cult of Erebos. Get on the road and go forward to hit the bandits at Give Us Your Shit encounter. A group of bandits stalks the trade road for easy marks and will lay an ambush for the PCs on their way to Hunter's Crossing. The leader, Myron, will threaten the worst but will let the PCs go on their way if they hand over all of their possessions. They do not see the bandits in wait and are surrounded in the lightly wooded area. Meelo and Phil feel a bit wary but the others say to just press on. They say they want their stuff and they'll do a once over of them to be sure they found everything. Tyrael takes off his cloak and flies up saying "I'd like to see you try." There are the captain and the second in command in front of them, plus two lackies. And then two other lackies and a dog behind them. The bandits say to land and hand his things over, they might have their way with the ladies, and then they'll be able to go on their way. Tyrael and Tetra are furious, Meelo is terrified and Phil is very confused. The bandit captain says that they don't mind taking their belongings off their dead bodies but corpses are hard to hide this close to the road. Tetra looks up at Tyrael and says, "hey feathers, make it rain." Phil springs into action as the combat starts and says, "it worked well before," and tries to cast charm person again. It fails. She turns to Tetra next to her and says, "You're very pretty and I believe in you and I'm very nervous," and she gives Tetra a bardic inspiration. The trained dog attacks next and runs up to Meelo and bites at him, but misses. Meelo somehow manages to get out of the way and yells, "no, no, no!" Then the large bandit captain acts and is perturbed with Phil's attempt to charm him. He shoots his crossbow at Phil. It hits her for 5 damage. He yells, "Oh come now! You know you want to hand it over. You pretty girls want to hand, it, over." His other lackey goes and shoots his crossbow at Tetra. He aims very well and hits her for 10. It infuriates Tetra and she rages and goes for the big guy. She smashes at the bandit captain for 10 damage. The second in command now goes to attack Tetra with his mace for 2 damage. He swings again for another 2 damage. The bandit lackey next to him goes against Tetra as well, surrounding her. He swings over her head and misses. Tyrael flies down with his spear at the second in command. He does hit him for 7 damage and holds up his shield. A smaller bandit behind the party runs up to Phil and misses. His friend goes up to Meelo and hits him very hard with his shortsword for 10 damage. Meelo spins around casting mage armor on himself and takes his potion of healing. He heals for 9. Phil spins around to face the guy behind her and stabs at him with a dagger and does 5 damage. He's very hurt. She stabs again and does one point of damage. The dog tries to bite Meelo again and almost lands a solid bite but Meelo casts shield and a shimmering aura of protection keeps him safe. The bandit captain screams and attacks Tetra with his mace for 2 damage, the second attack hit for 2. The smaller bandit on Tetra swings at her for another 2. Tetra takes her healing potion for 4 healing. She channels the bardic inspiration to hit the captain hard. She sends him to his knees and the rest of the crew is very worried about this. Tetra spits a bloody wad at the ground growls at them to fuck off. They are terrified of her. The second in command says, "come on we can figure this out, we're just trying to make a living" and doesn't attack. The smaller bandit near him follows his lead and also does not attack. Tyrael shifts to face the leader and goes to stab at him with the javelin but the captain just barely slaps it away. The half-dead guy on Phil is swinging out of survival but misses. The other attacks at Meelo but the arcane shield protects him. Meelo then looks at the bandit captain on the ground and knows he needs to stay down and casts Mind Sliver at him. It pierces his mind for 4 damage and kills him. He screams and grabs his head, eyes bleeding, and collapses to the ground dead. The remaining men drop their weapons. Tetra tells them to find a new profession. She also asks what they have to give because it seems appropriate. They offer their weapons, and Tyrael tells the bandits to walk off and leave their stuff and leader. He flies up over Tetra and frames her with his wings, holding his spear. Still in a rage, Tetra glares at them and the fury is palpable. They are terrified and abandon their camp, dead leader, and weapons. She tells them if she hears about bandits on this road again, she'll kill them. If she hears about men touching women who don't want to be touched, she'll make it slow and painful. The second in command stutters out that it wasn't him it was the captain, but we'll go. He tries to get some food from their camp. The other bandits try to protect about leaving their belongings and not wanting to leave but the Second says, "Yes, we're leaving!" They decide to camp there for the evening.Rewards Granted
They were able to keep the scrolls from Filippa and she promised to help them with future research/became an ally. They also learned valuable information about what is going on with Phenax and how there is very possible another god, Erebos, at play for a large part of it.
Each bandit (x4) drops a scimitar and a light crossbow. The captain had a mace and 7 gold on him. The next in command (Thug 2) dropped a mace and a heavy crossbow. Then, Meelo searches the bedroll of the captain and finds 50 gp worth of gems, a black mask in the likeness of a ravening wolf worth 20 gp, and a brown paper sachet that smells vaguely like flowers, and all the items were found contained in a bag of holding. Off to the side where they were hiding is a small cart with some sleeping gear, a loaf of bread, some sacks of wheat, cooking pots, blankets, some apples and grapes, and a recently emptied cask of ale. They found the bandit's red flower leaf stash- a finely ground brown powder with a tinge of green. They could tell it was drugs but not what kind.
Missions/Quests Completed
Finished Delayed shipment with scrolls and received them as well as an ally from that. Started Foraging for Theo, got through Give Us Your Shit, and they learned more about the strange cultist activity with the questioning session.
Character(s) interacted with
Zinon- corrupt councilman, Zoi of the Metal Trades, and Full Pot's owner- Argiris Rodinotis.
Report Date
10 Aug 2020
Primary Location
Secondary Location
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