Session0016

Episode 0016 - We'd See It All Over Again
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**Setting:**

Saltcrest - April 18th-19th, 211 AW
**Synopsis:**

* The party arrives in Saltcrest, where they shop for magic items and find lodging at a smuggler's safehouse.
* Asking around for leads regarding XV and the clone of Tamrius Grimm, the party learns of Grimm Manor - an ancient, abandoned manor on a solitary island, believed by the locals to be haunted.
* The party also finds wanted posters for Gragnok, as well as Valania Aloro, a figure of interest in Odell's study of rune magic.
* In the morning, the party meets with Grenfi Nackle. Grenfi agrees to start investigating the whereabouts of Valania Aloro, while the party searches Grimm Manor for the clone of Tamrius Grimm.
* The party enters Grimm Manor, where they are attacked by swarms of reanimated undead body parts, which they defeat.
* Searching the manor, the party encounters and kills XIX, another undead former test subject of Dr. Johann Conrad Dippel.
* With the help of a series of encoded notes found throughout the manor, the party uses a magic piano to open two secret passages - one which leads to the rooftop, and another which leads into a hidden chamber containing magic items, treasure, and a note requesting aid from Patches.
* While the rest of the party is collecting the treasure, XVIII proceeds to the rooftop, where he encounters a headless undead humanoid emerging from a secret passageway in the manor's chimney.

## April 18th

In the later afternoon, the party arrives at Saltcrest aboard Eleazar O'Brien's smuggling ship. O'Brien and his crew drop the party and their belongings off outside of the city, and they part ways. Bidding Malkoth a fond farewell, Armin Fatfingers tells him that if he wants more drugs, that there is a dealer in town named Bingo Sandyman.

After parting ways with the smugglers, the party splits up to begin exploring the city and investigating for clues regarding the whereabouts of XV and the clone of Tamrius Grimm. Before they split up, Rye plays the Psalm of Awakening so that they won't require sleep for the night.

Malkoth remains outside the city, where he spends the evening cleaning and curing the skull of the sea rex that the party battled while at sea, in hopes of finding someone in town to buy it.

Exploring the city, the party checks in at the adventuring guilds to shop for magic items, including the local chapter of the Pathfinders Alliance. At the Pathfinders Alliance chapter, the guild representative shows them the guild's adventure lead board, which includes bounties for Gragnok and Valania Aloro. The bounty for Gragnok indicates that he was last seen in the desert of Chwaka on March 28th, implying that the troops that returned to Hartwell from the Imlaq Colossus did not keep their discovery of Gragnok secret, as promised. The bounty for Valania Aloro indicates that she is wanted for arcane crimes, with a reward offered by the Weavers Conclave. The guild representative states that the adventure lead board is ordinarily offered only to guild members, but that the Conclave specifically requested that they show the bounty for Valania Aloro to all adventurers.

Odell checks in at the local Weavers Conclave headquarters, and asks after Grenfi Nackle. The Conclave representative says that Nackle will be arriving in the morning, and Odell tells them that he'll be staying at a nearby inn, the Golden Orb. He also asks about XV, and Tamrius Grimm. The representative hasn't heard of anyone named XV, but they point Odell toward Grimm Manor - an ancient, abandoned manor on an isolated island nearby, which was formerly the home of Tamrius Grimm. They warn that the manor is widely believed to be haunted and dangerous, and people tend to avoid it.

The party reconvenes outside of the city with Malkoth and shares their findings, and then heads into the city together to find accomodations for the night. Jack secures the party lodging at a smugglers' safehouse near the docks. Here, Malkoth also finds Bingo Sandyman, and purchases some drugs from her.

Later, the party visits the city's magic item shop, Galleria Magicae, where they purchase a few items, and sell Malkoth's sea rex skull.

During the night, Pepper shows Jack a series of drawings, including one of Jack's first meeting with Djinni, one of a violent encounter with the Weavers Conclave, and one of a gnoll named Drez, the chief of Djinni's former tribe. He explains that he spent the previous night thinking about the Taruki Jungle, in hopes of dreaming of Death Cap Temple to help the party, but was unsuccessful. He and Jack spend the evening talking about Djinni and the afterlife.

## April 19th

In the morning, the party regroups and makes preparations to continue their investigation into Grimm Manor. Gragnok and XVIII, both eager to begin the investigation, begin walking to the manor, utilizing magic items and abilities to walk across the sea floor toward the island.

Meanwhile, the rest of the party meets with Grenfi Nackle at the Golden Orb Inn. Odell fills Grenfi in on their findings so far, and Grenfi tells Odell that she has brought Halimath Wasanthi's codex, and is willing to share it with Odell once they find one of Wasanthi's descendants. The party inquires about the bounty that they found for Valania Aloro, asking why the Weavers Conclave is looking for her, and what arcane crimes she committed. Grenfi seems surprised to hear about this bounty, and says that she is unaware of any interest that the Conclave has in Aloro. After some discussion, Grenfi agrees to begin investigating the whereabouts of Valania Aloro, while the party heads to Grimm Manor to search for the clone of Tamrius Grimm. Grenfi also expresses an interest in speaking with XVIII, if they are willing, in hopes of learning more about their time with Dr. Johann Conrad Dippel.

The party begins searching for a boat to take them to Grimm Manor. They find that most are unwilling to go anywhere near the island, fearing that it is haunted and perilous; however, they eventually find a smuggler willing to take them to the manor in exchange for payment, and return to pick them up afterwards. The smuggler expresses doubt that the party will survive, but agrees to return to the manor at sundown for the next three days to pick them up.

Meanwhile, Gragnok and XVIII arrive at Grimm Manor, and begin scouting. They find that the manor appears to be long-abandoned and decrepit, overgrown with foliage. While they wait for the rest of the party to arrive, they break open the front door of the manor. XVIII calls out for XV, but there is no response. The two decide to wait until the rest of the party arrives before proceeding into the manor.

During the party's boat ride to Grimm Manor, Patches prays for guidance from his god regarding their investigation into the manor. A voice in his head tells him to search for the manor for notes. When asked, the voice clarifies that he should look for both written notes, and music notes.

The rest of the party arrives at Grimm Manor and rejoins with Gragnok and XVIII. Entering the manor, the party finds the interior of the mansion heavily coated in dust and debris, seemingly untouched for centuries. They finds signs of a violent altercation of some sort taking place long ago, with furniture knocked over and elements of the manor damaged and ransacked.

As the party begins investigating the manor for clues, they are attacked by swarms of undead creatures that emerge from hiding. The creatures seem to be dismembered body parts - hands, limbs, bones, etc. - animated by necromantic magic. The party battles and destroys the undead body parts, taking note that the majority of the body parts are unnaturally pale, and seem to have belonged mostly to children.

With the undead swarms defeated, the party continues their investigation of the manor. On the lower floor, they find a magic piano, on which they detect abjuration magic. Using an *identify* spell on the piano, Malkoth discerns that the piano can be used to open two different secret passageways within the manor, by playing specific sequences of notes which serve as passcodes. The party begins searching the manor for clues regarding these passcodes.

XVIII finds footprints in the manor that they recognize as belonging to XV, seemingly only about a day old. They follow the footprints upstairs to the manor's upper floor, but from there the footprints are lost, disturbed by the recent battle with the undead body parts. XVIII searches for XV, recalling their time spent together playing hide and seek in Dr. Johann Conrad Dippel's keep, but is unable to find him.

Searching through the manor's bedrooms, Malkoth finds a cryptic note sewn into the inside of a cashmere nightgown in one of Tamrius Grimm's closets. With a *detect magic* spell and careful investigation, he discovers that some of the letters on the note are written in magic ink, causing them to stand out from the rest of the note under the scrutiny of *detect magic*. The magic letters spell out the word "coniecturas," the ancient draconic word "hypothetical." Notably, Malkoth discerns that the magic letters seem to have been written over the original note by someone other than the original writer.

Searching through the manor's kitchen and pantries, Odell finds a recipe for stain remover written by Tamrius Grimm. Much like the letter from Grimm's nightgown, the stain remover includes an encoded message written in magic ink, which provides a recipe for an alchemical sleep tonic.

Suspecting that the word "coniecturas" is one of the passcodes for the magic piano, the party begins studying the piano and attempting to discern how to use the piano's notes to spell a word. Meanwhile, Odell and XVIII continue exploring the manor. On the second floor of the manor, Odell finds an office where a violent altercation clearly took place, with blood stains on the floors, broken furniture, and burned piles of burnt books. While searching through this office, Odell is ambushed by a creature hiding suspended from the ceiling - a gaunt, emaciated undead humanoid figure with ghostly pale skin and long vampiric fangs - which springs to attack him.

The party rushes to Odell's aid and begins battling the undead figure, which is accompanied by several sentient clouds of bloody mist. XVIII recognizes the figure as XIX, who was also a former test subject of Dr. Johann Conrad Dippel. To XVIII's memory, XIX was a human girl, approximately their same age, who underwent a similar regimen of treatment and experimentation. In her current state, however, XIX seems to have lost her intelligence and sapience, violently attacking the party and showing no hint of recognition for XVIII. XVIII tries to convince XIX to stand down and talk to them, but she is unresponsive, and continues attacking the party, including XVIII. Eventually, Gragnok kills XIX, and the party defeats the blood mist creatures.

Searching XIX's body, the party finds a tattoo on the back of her neck that reads "XIX." Curious, Rye checks the back of XVIII's neck, and finds a similar identifying tattoo on theirs. XVIII explains who XIX was. Rye offers his condolences, and asks XVIII if they should give XIX burial rites of some sort, but XVIII insists that they should focus on finding XV as soon as possible.

Searching the rest of the office, Odell finds another cryptic note hidden in a desk drawer. Like the others, this note contains an encoded message in magic ink, which says "middle C".

Continuing to search the manor for the passcodes needed for the magic piano, the party finds a martini recipe written by Tamrius Grimm, which contains an encoded message which leads them to yet another note, hidden inside the manor's grandfather clock. The note recovered from the clock contains the word "omnino," draconic for "completely," encoded in magic ink.

Following the clues found on the notes, and with some guidance from a voice speaking to Patches in his mind, the party plays the passcode "omnino coniecturas" on the magic piano, using the middle C musical note as the "c" of the alphabet. When they do, they hear a rumbling sound coming from somewhere above, presumably of a secret passage opening somewhere in the manor.

At Odell's suggestion, the party also plays the word "fragment" on the magic piano - a word that is capitalized and repeatedly used in the cryptic notes recovered from throughout the mansion. When they do, a nearby wall opens, revealing a secret passage to a hidden corridor. Within this corridor, the party finds a treasure chest, containing a great number of valuable gems, a few magic items and potions, another cryptic note signed by Tamrius Grimm, and a candle. As the rest of the party works on identifying the magic items and studying the note, XVIII sneaks off alone in search of the other door that opened elsewhere in the manor.

Studying the treasure, the party discerns that both the note and the candle have a similar smell - a strong chemical odor. Unlike the other notes from throughout the manor, this note does not contain any magic text. At Jack's suggestion, Patches lights the candle and uses it to illuminate the note. He discovers that the candle's wax, when applied to the note, causes some of the letters to change color. The message revealed by the candle's wax reads as follows:

> Patches, I need help in Volus at once to escape these twats. Send Ice here. - Tamrius Grimm
>
>

After reading this message, Patches suddenly grows faint, and falls unconscious. While unconscious, he has a dream wherein he finds himself in a candlelit tower. The entity that Patches refers to as his god - a small lynx-like tabaxi in black-feathered robes - appears, and presses Patches about his task to retrieve the Phaelux Beacon from the Luxturrim Obelisk, explaining that the Beacon is needed to rescue Tamrius Grimm, who is in need of help. The individual implies that Tamrius (who he calls "Tam-tam") is somehow associated with his own past, and complains that Patches isn't taking his task seriously, or serving him as loyally as he should. Patches pushes back against these complaints, blaming the individual for his problems with his memory, and saying his instructions haven't been clear. The entity again urges Patches to retrieve the Phaelux Beacon and rescue Tamrius, promising him a set of magical dice in exchange for his cooperation. After this bizarre vision, Patches reawakens in Grimm Manor.

While Patches is unconscious, Odell checks on his condition to try to discern what has happened to him. With an *identify* spell, he discerns that Patches is under the effect of magic similar to a *dream* spell. Notably, he also finds that Patches has strange plant growth on his body, such as small twigs and foliage protruding from his skin.

Meanwhile, as the rest of the party is studying the magic items and attending to Patches, XVIII discovers that the other hidden passageway that opened in the manor leads to the rooftop. He climbs up the passageway and onto the roof, where he finds that a doorway has opened in the side of the manor's chimney. Stepping out from this opening, XVIII sees a headless humanoid figure emerge, and draw a weapon to attack.