Round 5
Wren shoots the remaining vampjerk with her wand, then flies around invisibly to avoid location.
”cawCAW!”
force damage
HP: 73-27-25+13+13/73
AC: 18 (3 dex, 4 mage armor, 1 NA)
Arcane Bond: 0/1 used
Open spell slots:
Left Hand: none
Right Hand: wand
Sage Advice: (0/9 used)
:
”cawCAW!”
[ dice]5d4+5[/dice] force damage
Bronin looks down at his handi-work and gives a smile.
HP 112/112
AC21 T13 FF19
CMD 30
Fort +12, Ref +12, Will +8; +1 Luck bonus vs. traps, +4 Ref vs traps
SA: sneak attack +4d6, studied target +3 (3rd, swift action), trap spotter
Orc Ferocity: 1/1
Tactician: 2/2
Target:
Active: Vamp
Adder attacks the final vampire.
Whiskeyjack moved in on the lone vampire, his singed beard parted with a huge toothy smile as he raised the Raven's Head high.
Seeing Bronin's handiwork she giggles and claps her hands together. "Wonderful!"
"Whiskey! Lena! Behind me." Elena begins calling out targets as a bit of her fortune flows into the pair.
The group rushes in on the vampire, wounding him badly, however he still remains standing.
Bronin moves and takes a swing at the surviving opponent.
Double Crit Damage
You all swarm in on the last vampire. Lena manages to land one of her scorching rays while Adder and Bronin rush in and with powerful blows, cut it down. The vampires are down - notably not changing into gaseous form to escape. They had nowhere left to run to.
End of Combat
Elena grabs ahold of large sheets to try and smother the flames as she stomps them out. "Are there any more of them?" She seems to look at all of the shadows in the room.
Wren pauses, swirling invisibly while using her see-invisibled vision to check for more foes. Burnt as she is, she's not happy about all the fires and damages and whatnot.
"Oh dearies, I'm so glad you all survived, my lil' flock of angry birds," Wren examines the damages to her armor and skin. "Well, let us get what we came here for: loot and treasures. These bastards owe us for what they've done."
Wren, with Detect Magic, will begin scouring the place for loot.
You drag the vampires into the sunbeam to destroy the bastards and settle in to some good old-fashioned looting. Quinley, who was held up in traffic for that last fight, arrives just a little too late and has the decency to appear embarrassed.
After you run around putting out fires and opening up some windows you gather what you can from the piles of ash which is quite valuable:
- Six +1 longswords
- Six +2 cloaks of resistance
- Six +2 headbands of alluring charisma
- Six +2 rings of protection
Exploring the rest of the tailor shop nets the following as Wren floats about with detect magic, shoving goodies into a large bag.
The shoe room contains several magical pairs of footwear:
- boots of levitation
- boots of the winterlands
- slippers of spider climbing
The basement is cavernous, and you manage to locate Radvir's own secret crypt attached to the basement behind several false sarcophagi. Within the crypt of a massive stone sarcophagus atop an elevated dais. A long tapestry depicting the shining crusade hangs on the far wall, which is probably quite valuable if you can haul it out of here. Within the basement a shattered foyer connects to deeper tunnels, and likely is how Radvir traveled to and from the Vampire Underground.
Upstairs you see signs of a slaughter, possibly a result of Radvir's death and his associates feasting on their own. Several humans have been killed, their possessions left with them.
- Six +2 breastplates
- Six +1 longswords
- 1200 gp
The mystery of what the hell Radvir was actually doing murdering vampires is laid bare as you continue your exploration of the upstairs. A dye room which reeks of powerful chemicals shows three gaunt bodies, stripped and impaled on wooden stakes hanging from iron crossbars on the south wall. Quinley identifies them as known vampires.
If the stakes are removed, the vampires will return to life - however Quinley makes it pretty clear he has no personal interest in their continued survival. None are his mother, who has been long-since destroyed.
Within a drawer on the table is Radvir's journal. It contains a list of vampire elders he's targeted, but also the Ustalavian nobles he's framed through forged documents. It makes it clear that Radvir was acting on behalf of Adivion Adrissant, the head of the Whispering Way.
These actions were to assist with the return of Tar-Baphon, the Whispering Tyrant. The book includes several notes in individual envelopes from two names new to you: Aisa and Hetna Dublesse. These missives detail ongoing requests for more vampire bodies to be delivered to the Abbey of Sante-Lymirin in exchange for additional bloodbrew elixir, the powerful drug that freed the minds of enslaved vampires.
The journal includes the abbey's location, and Radvir's own musing on the witches' intentions for the bodies. He believes the sisters are trying to squeeze every drop of badness out of the vampire bodies to create a potion for undead transformation, likely in relation to their work with the Whispering Way.
----
As you close the journal and jot down the location of the Abbey of Sante-Lymirin (a few miles north of Caliphas along the coast), Quinley lets out a miserable sigh.
"So Radvir was working for the Way, murdering his own people in exchange for this drug and Gods know what else. I cannot thank you enough. My mother is gone, but her killer has been destroyed and I can rest knowing what happened. I will let Luvick know what has transpired."
He points at the vampires staked on the wall. "I am already in Luvick's good graces. These ones may live or die as you please. It is not my fight. Thank you friends. I believe we have done what we came here for. My path does not lead me to this Abbey. Good luck and may the Gods smile on you."
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Lena doesn't hesitate. Provided she won't reignite the building, she burning hands the vampires until they are ash.
done, and well done. She snickers at her unintended pun. She thinks a second.
let's gather out loot, and get ready for the next step. We might buy some gear, and rest to recover our spells.
Wren chirps and coos as the looting and sorting is done, anxious to get to the market and begin some serious gossiping. There are some tales she can tell that will really wow the gossipmongers, let her tell you...
"Yes, Lena, lead the way! You're our local about town, I'm sure you know the best places to buy and sell," Wren chitters anxiously.
Whiskeyjack put the surviving vampires out of their misery then cleaned off his hammer as they discussed what to do.
"Seems t' me tha' we did our part an' now i' be Luvick's time t' be spillin' wha' 'e knows. We already be havin' a clue where t' be goin', bu' if'n Luvick be havin' more info, then i's the price he needs t' be payin'. Le's be gettin' tha' payment from 'im, get our shoppin' done, and be gone from this foul city!"
Elena flips one of the bright cloaks over her shoulders and slips a ring on her finger. "This is all ours!" She gawks at the apparel as she had never owned anything quite so nice in her life. That is until she finds a pair of fuzzy UGGS sitting in the corner and she squeals with glee, kicking her ratty shoes off and sliding them on. "They are so comfortable."
With her feet now cushioned Elena follows Lena out the door to go shopping.
[ooc]Waiting total before shopping.
This is incredible magic and a stash of riches. Wow.
I am glad that we have ways to magically protect such a delicate flower like Vestal Lena.
Parasites? Wren quirks her head at the term, especially in reference to Lena’s hometown. She’s not going to argue, and will try to avoid any parasitic infections while shopping.
Wren floats closer to Elena.
”Now, Elena, dearie? What are we going to do about your hair?”
Elena runs her hands through her smooth but slightly disheveled hair. "My hair? What's wrong with it? What do you suggest?" She is oblivious and has obviously never pampered herself.
Pleased from a hard morning of vampire slaying and being repeatedly lit on fire, you all make your way across the fog-shrouded city to the grand market you had visited previously. Barragaro Road is the centre of commerce for this sprawling port city, and just off of it is Vangrier Alley. Vangrier Alley is the heart of magical commerce in the city. Here you can find sham soothsayers on the street, exotic dancers who are clearly distracting marks for pickpockets, and the city's dealers of magical goods. There's also a quite upscale hairdresser for the more bedraggled of the group.
Bronin goes up and down the aisles. Finding great items of interest.
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Elena moves around the shops as she picks up another ring. This one with small ruby's inset within. She smiles as the jeweler tells her it will help protect against the heat ass he fans his face and smiles. She giggles splurging on the beautiful ring.
Heading to another shop Wren helps her find a tailor that sews an extra inlay in her cloak with a special thread.
Finally she finds a charlatan on the side of the street, the homeless youthful man holds his hand out as Elena offers him up a hefty bag of gold. Wren gives her a strange look. "He needs this more than I do. that is more money than I will ever need Wren." The young man smiles and cups a smooth flawed stone into Elena's hands as his hands shake with the effect of someone much, much older. "Thank you. This never did me any good but maybe it will for you." Elena beams, feeling like she did some good. She looks to Wren. "See!" She looks back to thank the younger man and he is suddenly gone. Near his place is a man well into his 80's looking up at her. She shrugs. "Hmm, he must have got all excited and ran off."
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"My hair? What's wrong with it? What do you suggest?"
Wren smiles. ”Oh, there is nothing wrong with your hair, dearie! I’ve made many nests from twigs and branches that resemble your hair,” Wren smiles her yellow-toothed cracked smile. ”I just wanted to see if you wished to try something different. It’s your choice if you don’t want to look like you have a robin’s nest on your head. I support whatever you want to do!” Wren smiles beneficially at Elena. She takes her arm and leads her to the market, then to the upscale part of town where yet more gossiping will occur.
* * *
Wren declines to buy too much, just making sure her spell components are well stocked and her wand has enough charges.
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elena, your hair is fine. Lena says, a bit exasperated by the conversation. focus on the magic you want. Oh! suddenly distracted she runs over to a tray of rings.
yes, that one, the ring of counterspells. And the circlet. Lena loses herself in purchasing. Once done, she settles, inviting Whiskeyjack to a lunch of pasties and ale.
Elena runs her hands through her hair, Her fingers get stuck in a few snarls. "Any recommendations on where I can go to get it worked on?"
This place is amazing. lots to look at!
But, Bronin is 90 gold lighter for his wandering eye.
He did find some reputable places to enhance the magics to his sword and to get an amulet that should provide some nice protection.
Did you guys know that there was magic that allowed you to hold stuff and it doesn't weigh that much! There's this side pouch I found that was being sold and it stores like so much stuff!
You spend a lovely day hobnobbing around the fanciest part of Caliphas, buying the sorts of powerful magic items only adventurers of true ability get to play around with, and arguing about haircuts. The next day, however, you head out - you are on the tail of the Whispering Way, and have learned the terrible truth. The Whispering Tyrant, one of the greatest threats Avistan has ever seen, continues to lie imprisoned in Gallowspire. Adivion Adrissant, the leader of the Way, may have found a way to bring about his return - for the fate of humanity they must be stopped.
However, there are still unanswered questions. What were the bodies of dead vampires being used for at the Abbey? Why is the Abbey of interest to the Whispering Way? And who the hell are Aisa and Hetna Dublesse?
================================
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The Abbey is thankfully not too far from Caliphas, maybe a few hours' walk. You make your way out there on another miserable fog-shrouded day. However, as you get closer and higher the fog clears to reveal a pleasant autumn day. A simple dirt road climbs these high bluffs overlooking Avalon Bay, leading to a two-story stone abbey connected to a squat carriage house by a tree-lined terrace. An adjoining bell tower rises sixty feet from its southern exposure, commanding a wide view of Caliphas to the south.
The old abbey appears to be on a sizable estate. The monastery is up ahead on your right but further on is a nice winery and to the east are acres of woodlands and vineyards. However the first building you encounter is the carriage house, and inside of it you can spot a stable hand going about his chores.
I had a beautiful city that I helped "plan out" that had large estates, and a local winery overlooking rich and fertile land.
My, o' my. Did Knight's Keep have the best of everything.
Bronin has that far off dreaming look.
And those Whispering Way bastards took it all away. Everything except my trusty horse Patience.
He pats Patience and heads towards the carriage house.
in a low whisper Patience is very smart. Maybe he can find out if there's shenanigans just from the stables.
Fog and damp weather made Whiskeyjack grumpy. The padding in his armor got clammy, and it took more than the usual amount of whiskey to drive the chill away. Even the brisk walk from the city to the abbey didn't really help. In fact, it was worse. He should have had his inner armor padding replaced when they were in the city. Now the chafing was starting to get to him. Not even lena was able to sheer him up with her acerbic comments on Wren's behavior. And the little lordling...
As they reached the abbey, he brightened a bit. There was sure to be fighting, and he was lookign forward to smashing a nose or two flat with his shield. He peered at the grounds and buildings with bloodshot eyes, looking for anything amiss, or for clues as to where to start.
Wren surveys the abbey from a distance, squawking excitedly. She begins casting Prying Eyes, summoning orbs of sight. She sends 4 pairs of 2 out to scout around and atop the abbey, peering in windows and seeing if there are any cracks for them to bump into.
While she waits for them to return, she chats amicably with the party.
”Well, this place is huge. Larger than that one pleasure dun...blahblahblah...6 levels of sin...blahblahblah...pay to get knickered...blahblahblah...drink was cheap, thrills were...blahblahblah...and a gnome with a massive...blahblahblah...I mean, it was huge! ...blahblahblah...two yanks for a quarter...blahblahblah...‘insert this side up’...blahblahblah...and well, so we got soaked...blahblahblah...pineapple. We ate lots of pineapple.” Wren concludes while waiting for eyes to return.
Whiskeyjack gets a better look at the stable hand, and he notices something a little odd. The stable hand is cleaning things that are already clean, and just moving hay from one area to another. The work doesn't seem very purposeful.
Wren sends her little prying eyes off on an adventure with instructions to look into windows of the top floor of the abbey. To her delight there are plenty of lovely, good-condition windows.
F13 - A lovely outdoor terrace, teeming with small flowers and shrubs. Wren notices a lot of (normal) spiders hidden among the bushes.
F14 - An empty study.
F15 - A library, filled with bookshelves. A headless skeleton stands erect, lashed to a long wooden pole, its bits bound together with string. It is covered in small labels that indicate which bones attach to what.
F16 - A huge bedroom with a nice canopy bed.
F18 - A laboratory with a huge bubbling cauldron. A human woman is within the laboratory, stirring the cauldron. She notices the eyes as they floats at the window, and after doing a double-take, narrows her eyes curiously. She grins and wags her finger, before heading into the southern door.
F19 - This room appears to be a barracks with eight beds, and contains four men. The woman from the northern room arrives and begins speaking to the men, who snap to attention as she enters.
F20/F21 - The floors of the bell tower do not appear to have any inhabitants.
Aside from two small rooms adjacent to the master bedroom, which are sealed shut, the eyes get a full accounting of the top floor and return to Wren for their report before vanishing.
As her little bird-eyes return, Wren explains what visions they had.
”Lots of spiders in that terrace, that’s interesting, isn’t it?” Wren says, ”Well, that’s all very interesting. Nothing too weird, I’d say.”
Feeling pleased with herself, Wren is ready to follow other forward.
Elena shudders. "Lena, can't you just burn them all. I hate spiders." She says as she watches the stable hand clean the same spot over and over. "'Scuse me. You okay?" She approaches with a soothing hand. Potpie bobbles his head around aimlessly as he knocks it around on a cleaning tool hanging on a hook near the stables.
Whiskeyjack took a deep pull from Wren's flask and smacked his lips before passing it back. "Good stuff, tha'. Wish I be learnin' t' summon more'n jest Ol'Wanker's. Th' stuff has a kick like a mule. An' speakin' o' mules, tha' one o'er there has more th' look o' a lookout than a stablehand."
You make your way over to the stables where the stablehand starts, apparently oblivious as Elena comes over to talk to him. "Oh garsh! What a pretty lady you are. I'm just doin' mah chores. How can I help you nice folks?"
Whiskeyjack thumped right up to the stablehand and glowered at his through his beard.
"Ye ken be puttin' away the hick local act an' be tellin' us where t' find Advin Hairdresser! Ye' know, th' big man behind th' Whisperin' Way?"
Wren, humming to herself, casts Detect Magic and looks around the place while others speak to the hayseed.
She will float up and down, examining things.
Perception (w/Detect Magic)
Elena blushes as her new haircut bobs in the air. She had the front pinned out and high while the sides and back stayed loose and flat. While most animals would take the display as a sign of threat and to stay away, humans seemed to have found it pleasing. "What chores you doing, looks pretty clean to me." She says with a charming smile.
As the group moves in close, the man grins. Wren detects the presence of magical auras as she floats in. Ooh, yep there's a magic aura on that guy. Also his grin is getting wider. And wider.
"I would have enjoyed playing with you more but
The man's mouth suddenly opens into a horrifying roar and the illusion over him begins fading. Rather than a man, you start to see a towering, four-armed monstrosity.
However, the demon's attempt to get the jump on you is unprepared for the incredible mind of Wren and lightning reflexes of Adder!
Wren immediately identifies the towering demon as a glabrezu. Powerful demons from the souls of treacherous mortals. She also knows that all demons are resistant to magic, acid, cold, fire, and are best hit with good-aligned weapons.
Adder
Lena
Elena
Bronin
Wren
---
Dolthysuun
---
Whiskeyjack
Round of Surprise
Wren, shocked and squawking in fear, moves away from the demon.
Surprise round
I am a Lord. I have double the So....
and he is interrupted by the onslaught of the Glabrezu.
HP 112/112
AC21 T13 FF19
CMD 30
Fort +12, Ref +12, Will +8; +1 Luck bonus vs. traps, +4 Ref vs traps
SA: sneak attack +4d6, studied target +3 (3rd, swift action), trap spotter
Orc Ferocity: 1/1
Tactician: 2/2
Target: Glabrezu
Active:
Adder studies his foe, drawing his falchion and moves to flank with Whiskey.
"This is not what I expected."