Session Date: 05/06/2024
While we did essentially save the city, we are not currently receiving the recognition that perhaps we really deserve - the people in charge (such as Guard Captain Amaree and Joe Bullheart) have decided it is probably for the better not to alert the general population about the eldritch abomination that was in the city. Gurt is helping get things back together: he’s instructing people what to do, he’s working on piecing together a new version of The Murky Dragonfruit, and the like.
As for the party, we are all doing what we need to rest after this confrontation. Faylen is taking a much needed spa day and patching up his aches and sores, and also washes his hair. Tabby finds a bar to go for drinks and makes a couple friends: he’s met some rather colorful folk, including a dwarven blacksmith specializing in swashbuckler weapons that gives him a new rapier.
Bosch is going to disappear and gets up to “something” (don’t worry about it). Bosch takes the plush seal to the manor where we fought the creature. He wrecks the place even more, and then tells all of the passersby about how a group of brave adventurers defeated the plush seal in combat. He makes it look like the seal was the boss that we fought and defeated. The story he tells is that it was not a Dark Demesne creature but an occult creature of some sort, and when it was struck down it turned into a plushie and was rent asunder.
By chance, this is how he manages to really perfect piling lies upon lies until he’s able to make it all sound absolutely believable.
Mary spends her time in the parks of Brex Grana, helping the nature recover as she’s there. Joe went to the manor where the Duke’s castle was, and essentially starts building out another park, and Mary eventually joins him to help. Some arboreals come to help them as well, a few even staying above ground.
Most of the leadership of the group against changelings were at the castle when it disappeared, and many of the changelings from the shantytown are helping with the recovery effort. People are no longer blaming changelings on things going on, at least, though there will still be trouble ahead. The prince is open to a more democratic government there, so things are looking up.
Later, Faylen is pouring over his spellbook, studying. A guard comes over and mentions that the Guard Amaree spoke highly of Faylen, and they need help identifying the magic on an item. They take him over to the plush seal that they’ve removed from the site of the story, and Faylen recognizes his own sigil being the magic they’ve identified on the seal. He immediately begins laughing as he realizes what it is, and explains what the sigil is and that he put it there, and they do some serious mental gymnastics to explain it away.
When Faylen realizes that they are not going to change their minds, he reassures them that it is safe and they do not need to be so careful. He tells Bosch about this interaction later, reassuring him the story was very successful, and Bosch is happy about this.
We later convene in a town square and see a dark elf giving a speech about the blessed darkness enveloping all of us, and the overlord of shadows has finally gotten a piece of the Seal of Infinity and is now ready to envelope the entire world in darkness, and happiness.
Being a dark elf is a choice, you become one, it’s a magical procedure. For some it’s a political statement, for others it’s a religious thing. In the past it was a punishment, for others a reward.
Nobody is buying this because they still believe the Seal of Infinity to be in Jewel. Faylen asks who, and his name is Argent, the Overlord of Shadows.
By chance, Faylen’s sister had a friend who ended up converting to being a dark elf and was no longer fun to be around. She converted because of one of these guys. Faylen’s heard that he is new and organizing. What he’s doing is very cultish, and seems to be using dark elves to further his influence rather than considering what that means in society. He’s spoken a big deal about maybe doing an armed uprising against the commonwealth. Faylen overheard about it at a college party before it got too big, too.
The man speaking has some magic training of some sort, but Faylen isn’t sure how true it is that Argent has a Seal of Infinity piece, but it is absolutely possible. Faylen asks where to go if they are interested in joining the cult or getting more information, and he explains up north in the city of Shelmourn, which is where they’ve taken residence now. He gives an unsettling smile, to which Faylen smiles back and thanks him for the information and his time, and then walks off.
They walk off to find Gurt and ask him how many days of travel it will be from Brex Grana to Shelmourn. It will be two weeks by foot, but he has two names that can help us find transportation. One is an Orc merchant named Urdeg, and another called “The Skull Guy” who’s real name is Balazar.
We start with Balazar, and go outside of the city. There is a very small wizard tower surrounded by skulls. Outside of it is a small graveyard, and we actually see a man with a shovel out there wearing a dark skull cap and wearing all black. He has a sinister goatee and is clearly happy about something.
Bosch does the talking and greets him, then explains we are going to a small town up north and he also explains we need a way to get up north without the Misconduct Department getting wind of us. Balazar mentions that he doesn’t like them, they keep giving him trouble even though all of his necromancy is by the book.
Balazar asks about skeletal horses, and Faylen is the only one that isn’t completely bothered by this idea.
Faylen knows that necromancers tend to be a bit goofy and have a couple of screws loose. It’s either selection bias where they are either incredibly edgy and dramatic or a bit goofy, or the process of doing necromancy makes you a bit like this. They talk a little more about it, Faylen explaining that necromancers can be rather interesting to talk to if they aren’t completely wacky. Mary and Tabby aren’t so convinced.
We go to visit Urdeg and it seems as if he has a large amount of rather large wolves. Mary can tell that they aren’t quite wolves - they may be wargs - but she isn’t entirely sure. He puts up a lot of airs of having wolven pelts and the like, but it is still comfortable enough.
Tabby explains that we need transportation, and he says he can get us some wolves. One of the wolves goes up and nuzzles him affectionately, and he says he might have a bit of a discount right now thanks to how happy people are in the city.
Mary watches the wolves and she can tell that they are giving us all the stink eye. She looks at how they are moving around us, and the wolves seem to be talking and pointing at us. There is a conversation happening about us. It does not seem to be friendly, they don’t seem to like us. She asks the wolves directly if they have an issue with us. The wolf looks at her and says: “Howl. Woof.”
The wolf tells Urdeg to go take his break, and Urdeg says sure thing. The wolf-thing explains that they will not attack us as we will defeat them, but they had a good deal with Clapperclaw and now there is no Clapperclaw. They essentially tells us to get lost, our money is no good, and we leave.
We run into The Vim & Vigor Brothers as we look for an alternative to the skeleton horses. They ask about the story that Bosch started, and Bosch pretends he hasn’t heard it and hangs on every single word they say. Bosch navigates the conversation to possibly getting a ride to Shelmourn with them. Between Bosch and Faylen together explain that this is the capital of a cult and they likely have quite a bit of money to steal, so they are all game to go there.
We help Vim, Vigor, and Vogue get supplies for the trip. We load up and start to head up to Shelmourn and find out what awaits us there.