Session 34
Date: 3 December 2020
Prev: Session 33
Next: Session 35
The party is in the immediate aftermath of the fight, surrounded by iced-over streets and frozen guards and townspeople. As they regroup, Astrid urges them to move on - they don't want to be around to get caught up in the bureaucracy of the city when they've only just arrived. As she's saying this, Pasky pops up stealthily nearby. Damien and Dessi are confused by the kobold's appearance, but Pasky announces he has a skill that will assist here. He performs a sequence of hand gestures and draws them into the shadows, casting pass without trace using his ninja magic, and slip away past the gathering crowd. (Raen convinces Mino to carry him, overdramatizing his injuries.) Both Dessi and Nergil use their Mask of Many Faces abilities to cast disguise self, becoming a very bland-looking dwarf and an inoffensive human man, respectively. Pasky politely asks them to keep the magic to a minimum, as it's difficult to maintain the spell around their transformations.
Nergil chats with his siblings in infernal as they walk. Damien looks around at the group and tells Nergil their "dad would be proud! You're gathering an entourage", a notion Nergil chooses not to disabuse him of. He came to this conclusion based on Pasky's assistance and Raen's use of the hell dagger, and thinks gifts like that are an excellent way to secure loyalty. Nergil changes the subject: what are they doing here? Dessi avoids the question, telling him that if he wanted to know, she shouldn't have left. Corrin, also knowing infernal and able to follow the conversation from a distance, mutters to Nergil, "that's what she's like normally?" Nergil chooses to focus on catching up with Damien, agreeing with Damien's claim "the worst is the best" and observing later that "people gotta like you even if you're lying".
As they move closer to the Niccolai district where Astrid lives, she's not thrilled about the suspicious siblings knowing where her home is. The inn isn't too far from where Astrid lives, so Quill suggests going to the inn first.
Guy bursts out of the house, trips in the street, looks up at mino: PLEASE HELP and faints. Mino puts him on t he shoulder, quill cure wounds Raen, mino moves towards the house
Dessi: when did you bcome uncool; Desi: then come home; Nergil: I don’t want to see that ghost; mino turns back and corrin’s prestidigitation strong smel;l he wakes up and is hyperventilating, nergil moves in to separate them; desi spooks him with disguise self until he faints.
Astrid suggests bringing him to the inn; they decide not to wait 10 minutes for ritual casting detect magic; mino goes through his pocket as he picks up the guy and finds the key; they head to the inn; desi leaves, Damien desperately wants to stay
The reedy innkeeper (bald, great at solving puzzles, paces, suspicious, good con bad str) is suspicious of the fainted guy. Nergil blurts out that he saw a ghost; Quill sort of persuades him that’s it’s ok but he’s not thrilled
Lay the guy out on a sofa in the common area; take a short rest; astrid brings back fresh food; quill is aghast that there’s no service; innkeeper’s daughter helps out, she’s engaged, could be the maid? While resting: nergil: remember, when we delivered a baby like a day ago???
Mino: anything else in the cart? Quill: just normal stuff. Mino: is there a market for this kind of thing? Astrid: yes, spell ingredient. Quill: very dangerous as Nergil: very cool. Everyone is surprised to hear about quill’s past with ghosts and fighting, he doesn’t want to talk anymore, the party is excited though.
Wakes up. WHERE AM I??? nergil calms him down. Name? Max Maher, from halfcourt. Hotter, colder, scratching, . he wanted to sell the house, started a day after he moved in. brought a priest, no undead. The party asks about grudges or phylactery; people living in it; “I just want to go home, if you deal with it, the deed is yours, it’s your house, put it off for 2 years”. Started at night, all hours of the day now.
[scooby doo puppet show, Nergil “the one where those kids mess up the good works?”, instead of punch and judy. Quill is velma, raen daphne, ]
Astrid stays behind; they set up the guy.
They approach the house; the sun is starting to set quill casts see invisibility. Corrin takes out the frog, mino unsheaths the sword. They enter: LEAVET HIS PLACE: mino: shut up. Mino looks around. Into the corridor, ghostly apparition does psychic damage raen, quill, mino. It floats ofr a minute while corrin yells in each of his languages, but then it disappears.
They enter the kitchen, while distracted by scratches from the ceiling, a kobold steals nergil’s book of secrets. They enter the pantry, and don’t look around. Into the living room, nergil tries to look around but is too flustered. Quill investigates and finds some scratches under the table, which corrin immediately recognizes as kobold scratches. They head back to the staircase and raen looks up, and heads up.
“get out” and cold gust of wind, corrin realizes it’s an illusion. Quill investigates and finds tinker items under the bed; raen realizes it’s from the construction of a trap. Small bedroom to the south; mno and ro detonate a fear glyph; mino runs away and pauses on the staircase. Ro gets downstairs and starts running around downstairs, the zoomies; mino and corrin try and calm her down. It doesn’t go well.
Quill and raen and nergil look for candles; they can see in the dark, but they don’t find any. They go into the guest bedroom. Raen goes to go in a door, but nergil’s like NO THIS ONE and manhandles him into the room. In the guest room, raen tries to look around but nergil snatches up his book and trips the liquid ice trap, only quill takes damage. Mino and corrin come upstairs. They keep investigating and turn up a fine bristled bone inlaid hairbrush.
In the last bedroom, raen notices the carpet is scuffed; underneath is a gray-green kobold scale. Presumably there was some play fighting
“Mino would never let us charge rent, he’s some kind of anarchist.” “she’s not wrong.”
They realize there’s a basement. Raen tries to pick the lock, and springs the needle trap and takes poison damage. Corrin helps to figure out how the trap works, and raen unlocks it smoothly.
In the basement, they find tracks crossing the room. mIno attempts to open the door to the next room and burns his hand.
The party notices that the room is smaller than above and the carpet appears to go under the wall. Quill investigates the room and realizes the wall is an illusion. He calls mino over to go through the wall. Mino goes through. They find a tunnel.
They go into it and turn left at the fork, and find the cave-in. they trigger the trap, and while they’re looking at around, the trap finally goes off. They all take very little damage.
In the pit room, nergil casts fly on raen and mino, who cross the pit. “we’re cave inspectors” they draw weapons.
“we’ll leave just give us our l
Nergil: “I’m mad about the book.” The thief apologizes and says he was going for the cloak, nergil accepts the apology but would be also annoyed about the cloak.
Nergil: “can we help you? Do you live in swansing”
They live outside the city, not
Nuktuk
Quill suggests using telekinesis. Nuktuk is very interested in magic. They are a little surprised that people will help, but are happy to accept it.
Scared of ro, but they warm up because he’s being extra nice.
Quill lasts out the TK spell and mino helps, but complains the whole time.
Kobolds ask to stay onemore night and promise not to cause any more hijinx.
Quill wants to close tunnel off; raen agrees there might be something worse. Mino asks if they’re fine with it closing, they don’t care. What’st he story that they tell max? they got rid of the problem, it was a ghost, they exorcised it, nergil suggests mino doesn’t tell the story.
Astrid is suspicious of nergil’s story but the guy signs over the deed anyway to Lighthaus Inspektorz. They will stay there tonight so they can close the tunnel.
Corrin sadfaces raen into giving him the master bedroom. Quill is grumpy about the room, but settles into the space with the desk. Mino sleeps… on the couch? “outside”
