Session Date: 03/23/2025
Last We Met
We were in the Undermarket and found a gentleman named Atratus the Bitter who gave us a quest. If we complete it, he will deliver us the barrels of the Thuuls out from under The Lady so that we can take them. He is a wizard that turns failures into furniture in his room. He had befriended Iskra, and had contact with a servant of Tristan, Dinadan.
Session Start: Explaining the Job
We are in the Undermarket in The Rotten King Tavern, all together. The tavern features a corpse with a crown bolted to its skull, and we have some drinks. We know that outside of the Undermarket is a Yuan-Ti wizard named Muhshei.
Dia and Arythas do not fit in here at all, and Rohan is using the hat of disguise to look as generic human NPC as possible and hide from his mother.
Iskra, Inky, and Arythas explain the quest from Atratus and what we have to do, and what we will get out of it. Dia starts freaking out about this, and Arythas admits that he doesn’t like this one bit, but he and Inky both didn’t see another way to get the thuuls out of the situation they’re currently in since we definitely cannot pay for them.
Muhshei lives on the outskirts of the Undermarket in a cave-like situation.
The Tunnels
We head out and make it to the train tracks - the only thing that is stable here. We make it to the cave and go inside, and Inky is aware that the tunnels we are walking through are kobold-made. Inky runs smack into a kobold who is surprised to see him and immediately picks up that he’s not a local, asking who he is. Inky strikes a pose and says that he’s Inky Shadowbane.
The kobold isn’t so impressed and asks what Inky wants, and Inky says he could pay for some information. The kobold asks if we want to see the Yuan-Ti, and he comments that the bastard is really busy today. Inky says that we were looking for help with some magic, and the kobold says us and everyone else, but he has a nice cave.
Dia asks who is looking for the wizard, and she winds up describing Ace Freeman to see if that is who looking for him. The kobold explains Ace Freeman isn’t welcome in the tunnels, but it was a drow of some kind looking for him. The drow isn’t the one that’s wanted - he hired someone from the east tunnels to guide him and guard him. The kobold tells us how to get to Muhshei and not spring any traps.
The kobold explains that the Yuan-Ti has a pet, which the kobold hates. He doesn’t elaborate any more than that.
The Cave
We approach the cave that Muhshei lives in, and we can definitely hear the back and forth conversation. We all try to listen in and Arythas and Rohan hear that the argument is because Muhshei has not fulfilled the promise that he made, and the other person (the drow, we assume) is not having this. It seems to boil down to Muhshei’s magical components were not up to par. We get the vibe that the drow is annoyed and won’t stop us, nor will he start anything on his own.
We enter and Muhshei says this is a bad time, and the drow says this is a great time. The drow is amused that the party has brought a knight (Arythas). Muhshei explains that he’s fulfilled his promise and the drow rolls his eyes and asks what we are here for, and Iskra explains we are here for delivery. Muhshei asks what delivery - he wasn’t expecting anything, and Iskra explains that Muhshei is the delivery. The drow is interested and asks who asked us to grab him, and Iskra explains a friend. The drow knows that we are no friends - this is next to the Undermarket, after all - and he is still interested to know.
He introduces himself as Viliaris. Muhshei tries to say that this is his home, he can’t be taken, and Viliaris points out that Muhshei lives in a hole with a desk in it. Iskra comments that he doesn’t judge anyone for their home, and Viliaris says he judges everyone because it’s more fun. His attention turns to Rohan and asks if he has a voice in his head, and Rohan tries to say no, he doesn’t, but it’s clear Viliaris knows otherwise.
Muhshei asks who hired us, and Iskra doubles down that it’s a friend. Muhshei asks if we were here to kill him and Inky says that’s not what we said, and Muhshei says that we will have to kill him rather than take him to him. Inky convinces Muhshei to speak to us about what has been going on and why he’s been scamming people. Muhshei explains that he acquires rare items for spells, and Viliaris explains that Muhshei creates forgeries of such items, which do not work. Inky asks if he thought this wouldn’t come back to him, and Muhshei explains he thought everyone would die.
Inky suggests Muhshei fakes his own death, which he doesn’t think will work. Inky, Iskra, and Dia all chime in together to try to convince him that we could help him fake his death and get him out. Muhshei still doesn’t believe us, but Dia’s puppy dog eyes make him hesitate.
Combat starts. We beat up Muhshei until he gives up, and Arythas knocks him out and picks him up to carry him back. Viliaris calls us interesting, and give us leave to take Muhshei to face his punishment. During this, Inky is going through Muhshei’s things to try to find out what he’s doing and if he has a spellbook. As he goes through Muhshei’s things, he notices an attempt to get into The Library Between.
It’s unclear what he was doing here, other than the fact that he wound up here after scamming and pissing off enough people that he wound up ekeing out a meager living here. After more examination, it’s clear that getting into the library was the actual goal: the first thing he was working on was to actually get into the library. Mattai clearly thinks this guy is a nobody, and his goal was to get in and either stay there, or exit somewhere else more interesting. The books and items he has around was to create enough of a library vibe to make The Library Between accessible, as it’s hard for him to actually enter.
On the way out, Dia wishes him luck and says she believes he will know how to contact us if he needs us in the future at all. Viliaris comments he has our scent, and Taraaq is concerned by this because it’s clear Viliaris knows his demons. Iskra hopes that we don’t have to drag him in later, to which Viliaris says he does like being grabbed in some contexts. Before they do fully leave, Arythas thanks him for his help.
The kobolds aren’t upset about us dealing with this guy: they didn’t like him before, and they know of the name Shadowbane and there are whispers about that.
Back to the Atratus
We return to the market and a wraith passes by, but doesn’t bother us. The violence we committed was outside of market. Iskra and Arythas go back to Atratus to deliver Muhshei.
Atratus is rather pleased that we brought him back, and Atratus says to give him an hour and the shipment is ours. He advises that we wait downstairs until we get it.
We leave to rejoin the party downstairs, and we hear the screaming of Muhshei as Atratus does his fleshshaping.
As the screaming happens, Dia gets up and leaves, and Arythas follows her to make sure she remains safe.