Session 30

Date: 29 October 2020

Prev: Session 29

Next: Session 31

After the fight, Mino grabs Quill and gives him a noogie, which Quill is unable to immediately escape from begrudgingly accepts. Nergil can tell the crowd of townsfolk that is gathering is surprised and confused, and proclaims “Thank heavens the Lighthaus Inspektorz are here!” in an effort to drum up name recognition. Unfortunately, no one in the crowd seems to know what he means. Astrid helps Pasky and Nergil to their feet with cure wounds, and Quill casts it on himself. The knights firmly request the party come back to the comte's and recount the events, to which they acquiesce. They relax a little when Nergil namedrops Kenzie in conversation.

Elaim meets the group at the manor entrance in full emergency supervisor mode, complete with hi-vis vest. The knights send a house guard to retrieve the fallen guards. The party sits to the side of a makeshift triage space (also known as the banquet hall), watching Elaim move around at an 11. The handful of house servants begin setting up some food, and some of them give Pasky confused looks. Mino decides to make a point to them, and flags down one of the servants to harass them. He informs the servent that "You'll serve Pasky", although the confused servant replies "um, we're not serving anyone?" Mino attempts to drive his point home by dramatically firmly stating "WELL, YOU WILL NOW."

Kenzie enters eventually and approaches the group. They've heard two different reports (from the guards and knights) but would like their first-hand experience as well. The group explains that, in the end, Quill killed a marilith. Kenzie explains they were confused when Astrid left - she felt the same "ripping" feeling, used a spell to see what was happening, but by the time she flew over, the Inspektorz were already there. They confirm they also felt the rip at the standing stones. Quill asks Kenzie if they saw anyone suspicious, and they affirm there are no reports of anyone opening the portal. They offer a reward specifically to Quill (but the group more broadly) for his brave and decisive action.

The group briefly discusses whether this portal is spontaneous or deliberate and conclude that it was spontaneous, but potentially because of the undermining of the stones or in a crack in their metaphysical support structure. They also wonder about the marilith's motivation, but more or less assume that when she saw her chance when the portal opened and took it, because Pandemonium is fairly inhospitable. Nergil suggests that Dreli check on the stones more often, and Dreli reluctantly cedes the point. Mino begins to freak out that things are escalating - portals opening unexpectedly - but Pasky reassures him: "We can do anything if we're together!"

Kenzie is less reassured and more explicitly worried. The house that was destroyed (by Astrid, but destroyed nonetheless during a planar incursion) belonged to an influential trader named Dow, and Kenzie wonders "How will the Dow recover from this?" They plan on meeting with the guards' families and doing damage control for the market's reputation, but that still leaves the question of how to handle future incursions. There's no stable adventurer presence in the town, just the guards and the couple of knights. Quinn was able to help with the bugbears, but she is a ranger and was just passing through. Dreli's talents lie more towards support rather than combat.

The party discusses if they should stick around, or perhaps teleport back to the town if needed, if they check in now and again with sending. Because of the cost and time to cast, teleportation isn’t really feasible. Should they also investigateTahm Kench and getting him on their side? Could they ask Kenzie for money? As they retire for the night, Mino escapes to the library and finds an introductory book on gods. Why did the marilith make a comment about Winnehild to Mino? He figures it was probably bravado. The group goes to bed, although Nergil spends some time practicing and transcribing illusory script from the spellbook they purchased.

In the morning, Mino takes a moment to pray to Winnehild, despite his unfamiliarity with praying or religious practices in general. At breakfast there are horsehead apples, a variety grown around Redford; Raen is not unimpressed. Over breakfast, Nergil asks Quill what kind of reward he might request. Quill answers flatly "money", but has no idea what amount would be acceptable. Astrid assures that Kenzie won't shortchange them, but they're welcome to ask for a specific amount. The party just can't really agree what would be good. They reflect on the fight the previous day, and Mino argues passionately for the idea that Quill could use telekinesis to throw him around the field. After several long minutes of being lectured and diagrammed at, Mino eventually capitulates that haste is probably just the better option.

When they meet with Kenzie, Quill asks for gold. Kenzie was already going to offer an honorarium, so they confer with Elaim and offer a total of 750 gold. The party asks about the River King. Kenzie recounts some of the legends around him and offers a guard to escort them, but the Inspektorz decline. They'll just pay a casual visit on their own.

They're directed to the southern bridge, where at the base of the bridge on the northern side of the river, they find a small statue of a frog, about 1.5 ft tall, holding out an offering dish. The statue shows no sign of weathering, and there are a couple of coppers in the dish. Pasky surprises the group by suddenly remarking that he has been to this spot before, and he fought a wererat at the time. The group investigates the spot pretty thoroughly, but don't find much of anything. Nergil takes a moment to ritually cast detect magic. He sees the sparkle of magic on his friends, the stones of the bridge, and the small rabbit's foot he picked up, but not the statue (or Corrin's bow, which he was asked to look at). Mino touches the statue, but nothing remarkable happens.

Nergil places one of the gold teeth onto the collection plate. They are all surprised when Tahm Kench slowly emerges from the river and quickly scoops up the gold tooth with his tongue and eats it. He informs the group that he accepted the offering, and now he's here. Mino asks if Tahm has seen any suspicious characters, but the demon declines to answer without an offering. Mino counters with an offer to be violent, although the group quickly dissuades him. Nergil instead offers his fake signet ring, which Tahm accepts (after some negotiation) for three questions. After eating the ring, using his tongue to take it from Nergil's hand, Tahm claims he doesn't promise true answers. The party confers briefly about what to ask. Tahm explains all he's interested in is their interest, their desire. Mino has trouble with this and attempts to goad Tahm, although Tahm remains unperturbed.

• Q: Which rivers that you are connected or hang out in SPIRITUALLY that have been poisoned in the service of opening a rift to destabilize the land?
• A: Besides the hole in the other side of the world [he gestures to Raen], no river he’s connected to is poisoned.

Raen looks as baffled as the rest of the group when they turn to him for more information - all he can offer is that things work differently in Tymill. Nergil reaches out to his dad using the Dark One's Own Luck. "Do you know Tahm?” he asks, and his father responds at first with a stunned silence. "What have you gotten mixed up in? Do you not trust me?" Nergil explains the situation and asks if they can trust Kench. His dad explains that Tahm won't lie if he thinks telling the truth will get them to give him more of what he wants. He leaves Nergil with a warning - Tahm is a far older power than himself, and makes himself nervous.

• Q: Which nature spirits have you heard about getting killed recently in the service of opening a rift to destabilize the land?
• A: He's heard of none.

The party tries to figure out what to ask for the final question. They discuss whether they can trust the answers they've gotten so far. Astrid points out that at least the second question is probably honest, because he's the type who wants to establish a pattern of trust before screwing you over.

• Q: What is full name of the person who masterminded the placing of the moss monster on the standing stones near Redford, the blowing up of the historical manor of the baron of Breakrest, and the controlling of the duke of Fishmouth?
• A: Etheon Symol.

The party is stunned that the answer was given so easily, but Tahm is delighted that he has their attention. He offers another deal: "More information? Your hunger is my satiation." Corrin counters by asking what else Tahm has to offer, and the party is tense - Mino did not receive a favorable response when he asked Tahm for information with nothing in exchange earlier. Tahm replies that he could furnish them with Symol's goal and motivation. Corrin grins, thinking he's tricked Tahm into revealing more than he planned (confirmation that Symol has a goal), but Tahm shrugs. Something like that is just a teaser, because it's obvious to him that Symol would have some kind of goal.

The party tries to decide what to do, and think maybe they've come to the edge of what they're comfortable with. Mino wants more information, so he tries another gambit, offering Tahm whatever is in his pocket - "it's valuable, you can't live with out it," he claims. Tahm immediately sees through the deception and calls Mino out: "Your kind is good at many things, but not trickery." Kench explains it is the hunger for something - and the willingness to give up something of value in exchange - that satisfies him. Mino offers Blinky, his shield, in exchange for 3 more questions. Kench demurs, he'll only take the shield in exchange for the question that is really burning in Mino's heart. Mino tries to negotiate further, but Tahm is firm.

• Q: What is Symol's weakness?
• A: That shield is more valuable than the answer (that is, Mino wants to keep the shield far more than he wants the answer to this question - it's an unfair exchange).

Mino contemplates this, then asks if that means the shield is worth more than one answer. Tahm agrees with that estimation, but since Blinky matters so much to Mino, the questions must matter just as much. After laying that out, he taunts Mino by asking - is that exchange worth it?

• Q: When I was a kid, I was found in the woods. Where did I come before that?
• A: A village of minotaur on Mount Celestia called Tirig.

Mino thanks him for the answer, then says that since he didn't promise when the second question would be asked, he'll be leaving - with the shield. The river surges its banks and holds Mino's legs as the party starts to panic. Tahm makes it clear that he will have the shield as payment, and that Mino will ask the second question now (or at least furnish payment). Mino asks nastily: "How do I kill you?", but Tahm just laughs. He explains that he can’t be killed; he is eternal, because there will always be desire.

Mino relents and holds out the shield. Tahm grabs it with his tongue and eats it before casually strolling back into the river.

The party climbs the steps up the side of the bridge to the town level. At the top, Raen turns to Mino and grabs his shoulder. "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT?"