2/25/2-3/9/24, rest 3/10, active 3/11
PC: Valda, Zektel, Cracaryn
Hench: Elizabete, Arif
Team B was in play this session, having been locked away in the besieged vaults of the late Nekane the Great (Patron Dwarf Vaultguard, deceased). Finally free, they got with their latest employer Bigtoe the Wombat to get paid, and paid they got. It took a long time to get this session actually moving but it finally lurched into action by way of a trip to Millon.
The scheme was to get double-paid by Patrons for a mutually beneficial hook. Bigtoe had a map to a lair with potential components for his machines that the party had discovered a while back was guarded by or coincidentally located near or under a unicorn grove. Redcorn the Cleric wanted to befriend all Lawful fantastic creatures he could find. Easy money, what could go wrong?
They sent a messenger pigeon to Redcorn in advance to try to cut down on the days they’d need to spend waiting to see him. (I don’t allow PCs to just show up and meet with high level NPCs unless it’s a Patron with an explicit order of “I will see X Y and Z adventurers about such and such problem”) The travel to Redcorn’s domain of Millon was pretty tame, only running across a thief named Arif who was picked up as a henchman by Cracaryn and would prove to be useful down the line.
They languished in Millon for a few days waiting on their appointment, eating up Martha’s baked goods (throwaway NPC baker from way back that naturally became a cornerstone of the campaign because PCs). They haggled with Redcorn, got some rewards for information on unicorns and gnomes, and then were left with a lack of actual adventure to pursue. I think they expected Redcorn to drop everything and fly out to the location or something, idk, but nah bruh. What now?
They had pulled mysterious metals, weapons, and other goodies from a dungeon a while back and had it delivered to Bigtoe, but one item, a golden double-headed eagle sign, was stolen by the thief that had insisted on escorting the item. They decided that now was the time to hunt the guy down and get their loot back.
Zektel the Shaman smoked and shrooms and rolled around with his snakes and creeped everyone out to gain his Commune class ability, learning that the thief still lived, he was not in Riverstride, and he was not in Talston. So that pointed them towards Deinwick to start. I randomly determined if the thief lived and where he had ended up as they were drafting their questions but they didn’t know. Unfortunately, the dice said Deinwick so there wasn’t likely to be some wild goose chase.
When they arrived in Deinwick, they made all manner of claims that they were super tight with the thieves’ guild in the city because they bought some poison once last year. Nay nay, said I, for the thieves’ guild has layers of protection for just such an event. You don’t have a business card for the shady mfer you bought illegal goods from, sorry. The party went about trying to locate a contact, which is when Arif the new thief displayed his talents. He knew a guy who knew a guy and in short order they had a meet.
The fence they were meeting was modeled after Watto, the blue flying dude in the Star Wars prequels that owned Anakin. I tried once to do an annoying New Yorker accent (read: all New Yorker accents) but it was awful so I dropped it. My future with CR is in shambles.
He told them that their target was pissing off every fence in the city by haggling prices over the stolen item then backing out of the deal at the last minute. He’d be happy to lure him into a confrontation in order to get him out of everyone’s hair. Watto agreed to the party’s plan to offer a higher payout for the item and would set the meet.
Fast forward to an abandoned warehouse at night, the party set in ambush, and Watto with a couple thugs loitering near the rubbish inside. The thief Mel showed up, gestured to someone hidden in the shadows behind him, and approached. He clearly did not have the item on him.
The party stayed hidden and allowed him to haggle with Watto again, who just agreed to whatever price to get the item on site. Mel left then returned, sneaking up on the building with the large sign in his hands and a dozen or so zombies in tow. They burst in the front door and attacked Watto, apparently intent on stealing the money offered for the item instead of selling it.
Mel didn’t know the party was there and the ensuing fight was pretty one sided. The zombies were mostly turned and easily defeated by the adventurers, and although significantly tougher for some reason, Mel wasn’t all that formidable either. He did manage to beat Watto to death using the sign as a weapon, which gave the PCs pause, but ultimately he was killed by one of Zektel’s giant pythons. It squeezed him until his head popped off, blasting blacklight and violet gas into the air of the warehouse.
With the threats defeated, the PCs started looting the area. Valda the Fighter tried to carefully bag the sign, but failed the saving throw to avoid contact. I’ve been very soft on cursed items in the past and I think going forward they are going to be truly impactful. Anywho, the sign was a corrupted Aquila, the icon of the God Emperor of Mankind in 40k. The eagle heads were deformed and fanged, the proportions were wrong, and it was possessed by Khorne.
The fighter went into a bloody rage, attacking Watto’s surviving henchmen and beating them to death. She turned on the party but was talked into some semblance of calm, agreeing to have a drink back at the Helpful Hobbit tavern before resuming her rampage. When her back was turned, Cracaryn the Elf Ranger tried to lasso her so the party could take her to a church for help. It did not go well.
See, the sign behaved as a weapon in the hands of a martial PC, provided magical protection, and advanced their prowess by 4 levels. In the hands of Mel the thief, it was unwieldy and ineffective. In the hands of an actual fighter, oof. Valda made contact a few times, nearly killing Cracaryn before eventually being killed herself. The fight dragged and dragged as the PCs tried to subdue her rather than kill her, but eventually they had to get real before she started cleaving them down.
In another of many examples of why I hate fate points, Valda was able to stabilize to 1 hp but would require bed rest and/or magical healing. They tied her up anyway and left the cursed item laying where it was. She was ranting and raving and foaming at the mouth so they were pretty sure she was still affected.
A late night visit to the local Heironeous temple and a massively upcharged “donation” got them the Remove Curse spell that they needed while Zektel and the sneks stayed to guard the warehouse with the item in it. The following day, they debated whether to try to sell it to some unsavory entity or have it destroyed. “Well, how are we even gonna find someone to sell it to?” Arif the thief tentatively raised his hand and said he might know a guy. The implications of that were not lost on the PCs but hey, they’re tryna get paid. Arif was dispatched to make contact with a definitely not problematic entity and the rest of the party took turns guarding the item in the abandoned warehouse.
Musings:
I knew the eagle was cursed when they got it and I knew that’s why Mel the thief stole it. I didn’t really know what it did at the time but I do now. Had they interacted with it sooner, it’d have been developed then. It was fun to have that thread picked up and it served as a good session for a party otherwise a bit lost on what to do. It’ll be fun to see if they can sell the obviously cursed item. They’ve shed all their Lawfuls in that group so they don’t have anyone preaching at them.
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