World of Embrel: Knights of Magic - Episode 3

==Summary==
After playing a decisive role in the defense of Wilderest from invading giants, the party became Knights of the Vanguard, knighted by the king of Oldirin himself. The Vanguard then tasked the party with a new adventure: to find a ship that will carry them south of the Summer Sea. There, they would find an isle with a shrine to the Goddess of Magic, where they might learn why magic in Embrel was dying—and how to prevent that death.
In this episode, the party encountered a tanuki swarm, raided a vault for the Valk Family, and met the sailor known as Face.
==Group Unknowns==
*Is the Coral Breaker a real ship?
*What gives the Coral Breaker the ability to break through coral?
*Why doesn't the Second Moon want magic to return?
*What is Anara Silverclaw doing in Záchálas?
*What is the goal of the Serpent Queen’s cult?
==The Second Moon Strikes==
Previously, the Knights had explored Záchálas, met Lugo’s parents, encountered thieving tanuki, and learned that a ship called the Coral Breaker might be able to take them to Efrelyn’s shrine. A sailor named Face had more information, should they be able to locate and talk with him. He was a prisoner bound for the Wretched Vault.
While the party hashed out their experiences and questions surrounding recent events, they enjoyed their time in Záchálas, sitting at a fountain near the center of the harbor district. They ate cuoppo, which consisted of a cone of wax paper stuffed with fried vegetables and seafood. But soon tanuki swarmed them, an unusual sight since tanuki didn’t stay in such large groups. They stole items from the party, including Xochiquetzal’s steamroot and two gleaming trumpets; Kartuk’s dagger; Ferrah’s torch, tinderbox, and friendship ribbons; and Linus’ gilding and etching tools, one of his books, his tinker’s tools, and a Message Cave Pearl. Most importantly, they stole the map case from Linus, which contained the map to Efrelyn’s shrine.
Lugo spotted the tanuki holding the case as it climbed the rooftops and dashed after it. Tuk did the same, though a roof collapsed under her, a major setback. Ferrah caught the tanuki holding her ribbons and retrieved them, though it wrapped around her arm and gave her an endearing face.
Linus snatched back the Message Cave Pearl and took his time to extrapolate where the swarm might be headed. He sprinted ahead of them and kicked out the legs of a stall, causing its roof to fold; a tanuki holding the gilding tools tumbled off the structure and fell into Linus’ lap. Xochi cast Speak with Animals and convinced a tanuki carrying one of Linus’ items to play its latest belly song, releasing it from an enchantment that seemed to be controlling it.
Lugo caught up with the map case just as it was handed over to Alabi Anzul, an assassin and thief of the Second Moon wearing a tanuki mask, a cape, a large hat, and a brooch depicting a full moon and a crescent moon. Alabi told Lugo that he came for the map and didn’t want to fight; but Lugo dashed and threw a dagger. He snapped his fingers, disappeared, and reappeared behind Alabi. The man turned, surprised, just in time for the dagger to slide into his back.
“Ah, you got me,” the assassin said. “But you do not realize, I already had you.”
Lugo glanced down and saw Alabi’s rapier drawn and at his gut. With a slight flick, the man stabbed into Lugo, the poisoned blade dropping him instantly.
Ferrah caught up and punched the assassin with rime-covered fists, though he both stabbed her and shot her with a bolt from his concealed wrist crossbow. Alabi declared that he knew much about the party’s exploits and hoped they survived the encounter, as it would be a pity for people like them to die in such a way. Ferrah tried to spit on him as she lost consciousness.
Linus wasn’t getting anywhere near Alabi and tried to cast Blindness/Deafness, to no avail. Xochi arrived and attempted negotiation, convincing Alabi to let them copy the map before he took it to his employers. Just as he was agreeing to the deal, Tuk—who had snuck up on him from behind—threw a dagger at Alabi, which then shot out a Hail of Thorns over him.
While Alabi was distracted, Xochi wildshaped into a tanuki and mixed in with the swarm. She convinced the others that Alabi had cuoppo in his pockets, and they dropped everything to clamber upon him and loot him. In the confusion, Xochi grabbed the map out of the case, which Tuk noticed. The Seafolk feigned surprise at the swarming and ran away, which Alabi said was a wise decision as he turned his focus to the tanuki.
At that moment, Alabi froze, falling under the effects of a Hold Person spell cast by Linus. The wizard retrieved the map case, but found no map. He searched Alabi frantically, realizing that he had less than a minute before the paralysis wore off.
Tuk doubled back and used a Cure Wounds Cave Pearl to heal Lugo; Lugo in turn used his own Cure Wounds Cave Pearl to heal Ferrah.
The group tied up Alabi and took his weapons, cape, and mask, though he wore another mask under his mask. They interrogated him, and he easily revealed his name and that he worked for the Second Moon. When asked why the Second Moon didn’t want magic to be renewed, he explained that the organization had no stakes in magic’s return; they were hired hands, willing to do most anything, and they had accepted a job to take the map. Since he failed, another assassin would be coming.
After a bit of negotiating and debating the semantics of who stole from whom and who stabbed whom—including a moment when Linus suggested breaking Alabi’s hands—they came to a deal. The assassin would take a fake map to his employers, which would stall whichever assassin would come for the party next. In return, the party would return Alabi’s cape and crossbow, and also let him live.
Lugo wasn’t convinced, however; he wanted to know why the cape was so important. Alabi stated that his father gave it to him. Lugo tried it on, but it immediately began to choke him. After Tuk untied Alabi, the thief whistled, causing the cape to release Lugo. Lugo cleared his throat, threw the crossbow and cape at Alabi, and told the man to leave. Linus sketched a fake map onto a piece of parchment he had and put it in the case, then gave it to Alabi, who left with a flourish.
Soon after, guards arrived, fining the party for snapping their loud strings and all the other laws they had broken. The group gave a report of events, but a swarm of tanuki and a gentleman thief sounded fantastical to the guards.
==A Favor for the Family==
===Meeting the Uncles===
With evening coming on, Lugo led his friends to the home of his uncles. The villa sat on a cliff below the merchant district, overlooking the entirety of the harbor. A few guards milled outside. They immediately gave Lugo a nod and let them enter. Strains of violin and accordion spiced the air, attendants carried food, and laughter drifted from the backyard. On the wraparound terrace merchants lounged, including Klace and Titus, the identical twins who were Lugo’s uncles. Klace wore yellow and had a glass eye while Titus wore blue.
The uncles greeted the Knights warmly, hugging and kissing Lugo and calling for drinks to be passed around. They each wore an arcane hand cannon on their side, rare weapons from a previous age. They noted Linus’ big beard and expressed shock to learn it was fake. Xochi complimented Klace’s right ear, which prompted the man to show off his left ear, which was missing a chunk from it.
The uncles told a tale from Lugo’s childhood, when the neighborhood children bullied him by putting him in a tide barrel, an old torture device.
“But they didn’t know Lugo was part of the family,” Klace said.
“Did you break their hands?” Linus asked.
The uncles chuckled. “Oh, they should be so lucky.”
After the uncles had rescued their nephew, they confronted the parents of the children, then told the kids that their parents would be put in tide barrels as punishment. The children panicked, and the uncles said that they were kidding—but then they did it anyway. No one bothered Lugo after that, not for a long time.
The group dined and told tales of Lugo’s time in the Vanguard, including his incredible dancing skills, which he performed live for his uncles. Then Klace and Titus dismissed the other loungers and attendants, leaving them alone with the Knights. They announced the business they had in mind: Giles Keane had blueprints in his home vault, which the uncles needed. The party would retrieve those blueprints before dawn.
While most of the party resisted the request—which prompted Klace to state that it was not a request, but a demand—Lugo said that it would be a quick family favor, and they would get paid. The uncles provided special equipment for them and promised to retrieve the sailor Face, expecting to have him by the time the party returned. The uncles said it would be a cake walk, a term Xochi was unfamiliar with.
Eventually, Ferrah said that they would either have to perform a prison break or a robbery. Xochi voted for the robbery. Tuk had a sour taste in her mouth, but swallowed most of her aggression.
To prepare for the heist, the party was granted a scroll of Dispel Magic and a wand to detect secret doors for Linus, a sleeper arrow for Tuk, a potion of Spider Climb for Ferrah, and a masterwork blade for Xochi with a hilt that was styled after vines. During the break-in, they would need to retrieve a key from around Giles’ neck, make it through the traps leading to the vault, and dispel the wards on the vault itself. Anything they found in the vault, besides the blueprints, would be theirs to keep.
Before departing, Lugo asked how Oliver was. The uncles said he was fine and asked if there was a problem. Lugo said that he was just wondering.
The group left, the sun having long set. All asked Lugo what in the world was going on. He didn't know ahead of time that such a request was going to happen, but in Záchálas, nothing came for free. It was just a trade of favors. The party was suspicious, but Lugo stated that he simply didn't want anyone angry at each other. Tuk felt exploited. Lugo said that they had a job to do.
Xochi, who had taken some tiramisu cake with her and walked with it, placing it in front of her to simulate a cake walk, stated that they would get the job done. She then smashed the cake in Lugo's face. Lugo tried to take it in stride, which frustrated the party. They committed that this was the only job they would do for the uncles, Tuk making it clear that consent under duress was not consent.
===The Heist===
Linus realized that Giles Keane was the vault designer for the Hammered Coin, a powerful organization of banks. Giles was one of the most accomplished artificers for vault design. He informed the group about this.
The house of Giles lay in a rural area on a quarter acre of property with security outside the gate: two guards, one of whom stayed by the gate while the other patrolled the grounds, a thirty-minute circuit. The vault was in the cellar. Giles slept on the second floor, his bedroom facing the street. At the top of the house, similar to most others, was a bell tower with a brazier on it that, when lit, warned of danger and signalled any guards in the vicinity.
While the party discussed possible maneuvers, they saw someone dive over the fence and scuttle into the bushes. Linus said it could be someone who lived there, but the others knew it had to be another trespasser.
The party moved as one. Linus cast Sleep on the guards, and he and Tuk bound and gagged them, hiding them in a bush. Ferrah drank her Spider Climb potion, flipped over the fence, and climbed to the brazier in order to empty it of flammable materials. Xochi wildshaped into a tanuki while Lugo cast Levitate, and the two entered Giles’ bedroom window. Giles, a purple-skinned dwarf in a nightcap and gown, was asleep in his bed. Magic radiated from a lamp, which looked like a Magic Mouth alarm system. Xochi grabbed the lamp while Lugo took the key from Giles. The sight of a tanuki holding a lamp nearly made Lugo laugh, but he stifled it.
The party reconvened on the bottom floor. Xochi covered the lamp’s mouth just as it began to scream that there was an intruder, then smashed the lamp to silence it. Linus realized that it must have been someone else in the house who tripped the Magic Mouth, since Xochi had been holding it for too long to be the cause.
The group reached the basement and found the cellar full of fog. Linus cast Gust of Wind to clear the fog, revealing ten locked doors. He then cast Detect Magic to show that nine doors were mere illusions. Lugo used his masterwork lockpicks to attempt opening the real door, but it was unpickable. As he pulled back, a dagger flew past his face and broke the lock. Tuk retrieved her dagger and opened the door. Inside was a stairwell full of spiderwebs, which a Firebolt quickly cleared out. As they walked down the stairs, the webs began to re-form magically.
At the bottom, the corridor split in two directions. Linus saw that both had abjuration and enchantment magics flowing through them.
Suddenly, half the party felt the desire to take the right path while the others wanted to take the left. Both groups were adamant that their way was correct. Linus said Ferrah should take the right path and the rest would wait to see what happened. She agreed and crawled along the roof with Xochi on her back. By the time they reached a dead end, they wondered what had compelled them to think that was the right way. Then they looked down and saw a pit, inside of which was Anara Silverclaw.
Ferrah helped him out. When they got back to the party, the others asked who had hired Anara to steal from the vault. They tried to bluff that they were security and succeeded, but Anara wouldn’t admit who hired him. Tuk put a knife to his throat, but he merely chuckled. She tied his hands and told the rest to continue with their job. They took him with them towards the vault. Linus cast Detect Thoughts and noted that Anara was worried about Axle, his child. As Linus pushed deeper into Anara’s mind, he heard, “The Virtue.”
As they moved, a hiss of smoke rose around them. Lugo stopped breathing to avoid the Stinking Cloud, and Tuk and Anara merely wrinkled their noses, but the rest of the group began to retch. They continued to move; the gaseous magic eventually dissipated.
The walls soon became covered in webbing, and at the end of the hall was what appeared to be a massive spider sleeping on its web. Linus informed the group that the hallway radiated illusion magic and the web held evocation, but the spider appeared to be mundane.
Anara called the party out on their lie about being security, saying that they obviously were there to steal from the vault as well. The group ignored him.
Tuk cast Produce Flame and burned the web, but the fire spread over the walls, which were actually covered in oil but hidden by the illusion. All were singed in the corridor of fire, but Linus was not fast enough to dodge it and got more severely burned.
The spider fell on the ground, a taxidermied specimen that posed no threat. Beyond it was the vault. Linus pulled out the Dispel Magic scroll and started to cast the spell, but Lugo stopped him and asked Anara how he planned to open it. Anara pulled out a wand. Lugo asked Anara to work with them, and while the Lizardfolk said that they didn't seem agreeable, he'd give them the wand if they let him go. They did, agreeing that neither side saw anything.
However, Lugo said that Anara could wait and they could leave together, in case there were more traps. Anara said that was a good idea, “But don't use that wand, it’ll explode on you. Take this one.”
Lugo burst into laughter and Xochi, still a tanuki, climbed onto Anara’s head. Anara gave a longsuffering sigh. Lugo offered a trade, willing to remove Xochi and wear her himself if Anara gave them the exploding wand as well. Anara readily agreed.
Lugo gave the good wand to Linus, who used it. The etchings on the vault filled in and the stone turned from purple to mundane gray. The illusion disappeared, showing a single keyhole. Lugo used the key, and the vault opened to a small treasure, including three spell scrolls, a small bag, a jewelry box, stretched skin with runes and writing on it, and 200 ounces of gold bars.
Behind them, Giles Keane arrived and told them to take anything, just not the jewelry box. Tuk said that sounded like a deal, but Lugo wasn’t convinced. Apparently the jewelry box contained a demon, too powerful to be killed, so it was trapped in the box.
Anara walked up to Giles and whispered that everything was alright, putting him to sleep. The group discussed their options, and while Lugo was curious about the demon box, the others did not care and were adamant that it would remain in the vault. They split the gold with Anara and while Anara also wanted the blueprints, the party refused.
Tuk asked if Linus would take the scrolls, but Linus wanted nothing to do with them. He said that Oen prized knowledge but also frowned upon those who took knowledge that wasn’t meant for them to wield. As Linus wasn’t meant to be in that vault, any knowledge inside of it was not meant for him, and he refused to steal it.
Anara took 100 ounces of gold. He said he hoped the party found their Coral Breaker, and he’d tell Axle that they said hello. Then he departed.
The party took the schematics and the remaining gold. They closed the vault, put the key back on Giles, and then took the old man back to his bed. Tuk reminded the group to untie the guards, and Linus put them to sleep again so that they possibly thought it was all a dream. The Knights left uncaught, no alarms going off. It was a successful heist.
===Head of the Family===
Back at the uncles’ villa, the party handed over the schematics. The uncles were excited, but the party was quiet, haggard. Lugo said they were just tired.
The uncles invited Lugo inside and said that Face was on the way. After the uncles and Lugo departed, Tuk leaned against the door to hear their conversation.
Once the door shut, Lugo revealed his excitement at the successful heist and tried to tell the story, but his uncles cut him off. They said he was truly part of the family and revealed to him that they were not actually the leaders. Myra, Lugo's mother, entered the room. She was the true head of the Valk family. She had previously expressed displeasure at Lugo working for the family, but that was a ruse to fool Rekka, Lugo’s father. Myra told Lugo that he had to maintain the secret. They would never discuss business face-to-face except once a year when the whole family met together. However, Lugo would get notes from her with red lining, a gold seal with the family crest, and the smell of freesia.
Finally, she granted him a present: an arcane hand cannon of his own, along with three bullets. One was amethyst, another obsidian, and the final appeared to be made of water.
Lugo was speechless and gave his mother a massive hug and kiss. His uncles and mother welcomed him to the family and returned the affection.
Tuk walked away, having heard all she needed to know.
A disturbance came from the front of the house. Onto the terrace was brought Face, held by people on three sides. The sailor appeared much more weathered than any Forged the party had yet met. His face was blank, though he carried masks on his hip that could convey his emotion.
“Why am I here?” Face asked in his deadpan voice.
Linus stepped forward. “We’ve heard you know about the Coral Breaker.”
“I do know.” Face put on his interested mask. “What do you know about Witches?”
Tuk groaned. “I hate them.”
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Knights of Magic - 03