Session0040

Episode 0040 - Personal Interests
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**Setting:**

Karaad - The Tempest Gulf - May 26th-29th, 211 AW
**Synopsis:**

* The party teleports to Karaad, does some magic item shopping and gambling, then sets out into the Tempest Gulf towards the undersea ruins of Volus in search of Tamrius Grimm and Avara Wasanthi's Tome of Rune Magic.

## May 26th

The party investigates the corpses within Dr. Johann Conrad Dippel's body pit. Carefully inspecting the bodies, XVIII recognizes a few individuals that they remember from their time with Dippel, including several numbered experiments. They also find a few numbered experiments that they do not recognize. With some help from the rest of the party, they remove the 10 numbered experiments corpses from the pit, and bury them in proper graves. Afterwards, Malkoth incinerates the remaining corpses and body parts within the pit.

During this ordeal, XVIII notes that XV is reading some of Dr. Johann Conrad Dippel's notes that the party recovered from the pit - specifically, a note that refers to the "failure of experiment number XV." XV seems distressed by the notion that he is a failure, but XVIII comforts him, assuring him that it was the experiment that failed, not him.

Meanwhile, Gragnok remains nearby, but keeps a distance from the party.

Discussing their next plans, XVIII says that they need to return to Dr. Dippel's former keep briefly, as they wish to return Valomir Quinn's carriage to him, and give him the gift that Louche purchased for him in Mimrinoth, which he forgot to give him previously. The party gathers their things and makes their way back to the path which leads to the keep, where they make their campsite for the night.

On their evening watch, Louche and Lane Coronato speak. As Lane requested at their previous meeting at the Imlaq Colossus, Louche gives him a name: Delectus. Lane expresses continued skepticism of Louche's apparent acts of good will and familial affection toward him, seemingly certain that there are some sort of strings attached to these acts of kindness. Louche also warns Lane to be careful with his relationship with Valomir Quinn, and their relationship could be leveraged against him. Lane says that he would like to help Valomir get his revenge against Dr. Johann Conrad Dippel before traveling to the Hells.

## May 27th

**NOTE: Bolded text was retroactively roleplayed at the beginning of Session0041**

In the morning, the party heads back to the former keep of Dr. Johann Conrad Dippel. Along the way, as they approach the keep, they pass by a group of imperial soldiers, who Malkoth recognizes as the same soldiers that questioned Berty the previous day.

Arriving at the keep, the party finds Valomir Quinn and Berty are well. XVIII asks about the imperial guards, and Valomir explains that the guards questioned him and Berty within a *zone of truth*. He says that he expects more questioning and surveillance to come, but says that he is safe and well for the time being.

XVIII gives Valomir Quinn a gift - the book that Louche purchased for him in Mimrinoth. XVIII also returns their carriage, saying they won't be able to teleport with it anyway. Despite protests from XVIII, Berty returns the money that XVIII paid her for the carriage. XVIII also offers Valomir the *nightfall pearl* - a magical item retrieved from the Luxturrim Obelisk which can be used to create permanent nightfall in a region. Valomir refuses this offer, saying that XVIII needs the item more, and that having it in his possession could bring him trouble with adventurers anyway.

XVIII also asks Valomir Quinn if he knows what the purpose of Dr. Johann Conrad Dippel's experiments was. Valomir does not know, but against expresses that no ends could justify the means which Dr. Dippel used to pursue his experiments.

Having concluded their business at the keep, Malkoth teleports the party to Karaad.

In Karaad, the party spends the afternoon doing some magic item shopping at the adventuring guilds and the bazaar. Throughout the city, they note that there are indications that the imperial military is mobilizing for the impending war against Kameshima. Notably, Malkoth remains disguised as Varrius Quince for the party's entire stay in Karaad.

**Gragnok heads out on his own into the nearby desert outside the walls of Karaad, and finds an isolated place where he prays for guidance from the Raven Queen. A messenger of the Raven Queen appears to him, riding on Elnorath, and asks why Gragnok is asking for guidance after having rejected the service of the Raven Queen at Osh Thilivern. Gragnok pushes back somewhat against this characterization of his choices, and says that he specifically wants guidance for how to deal with XVIII now that they are fully undead. The messenger says that it is not Gragnok's place to interfere in XVIII's destiny, as Gragnok has rejected destiny himself. The messenger also draws some parallels between Gragnok and XVIII, and insinuates that while XVIII's new state of undeath is an abomination that must be set right, it is not in the Raven Queen's plans for Gragnok to be the one to do so, and that he should focus on his own destiny. After this conversation, the messenger departs, and Gragnok returns to Karaad.**

At the Pathfinders Alliance adventuring guild, Malkoth peruses the board of mercenaries for hire, and makes arrangements to meet with a mercenary named Crotalus, in hopes of hiring him for protection. He also tells the guild that the body pit in the desert has been explored, and that it was related to Dr. Johann Conrad Dippel.

XVIII sends *paper birds* to Auvorix, Ursula Wolff, and Alvoril Shukura, telling them that he would like to further discuss Dr. Johann Conrad Dippel, and asking them to meet at their soonest convenience. With Frog and Odell's assistance, he also contacts Grenfi Nackle using *sending*, and makes the same request of her. She agrees, and says that she can teleport and meet in Karaad shortly.

A couple of hours later, Grenfi Nackle arrives in Karaad and meets with XVIII and XV to talk. XVIII asks Grenfi if she helped Dr. Johann Conrad Dippel escape from the Weavers Conclave's attempt to apprehend him. She denies it. XVIII wonders how Dippel was able to escape a group of such powerful arcanists and hide from divination magic, and implies that someone on the inside must have helped him. She pushes back against this assertion, saying that Dippel was also a powerful arcanist himself, and has likely abjured himself against divination magic.

Grenfi Nackle goes on to further detail the reasons why Dr. Johann Conrad Dippel was expelled from the Weavers Conclave, including not only the immoral nature of his experiments, but also his keeping of magical secrets from the Conclave. She explains some of his history, describing him as something of a folk hero, as a prominent and respected healer, prior to the revelations of the nature of his experiments. She also says that Alvoril Shukura was his replacement, and shares some of his history as well.

Afterwards, Grenfi Nackle and XVIII discuss the philosophical difference between life and undeath, necromancy and healing. XVIII reveals that they are undead. Grenfi expresses her continued desire to learn more about Dr. Johann Conrad Dippel's experiments, for the sake of understanding the nature of the experiments, and also for the sake of protecting the reputation of the Weavers Conclave.

Before departing, Grenfi Nackle warns XVIII to keep a low profile, as the party is still wanted for the murder of Duke Vincent Mason.

Meanwhile, Odell asks Jack about potentially returning the *lorekeeper orb* from the Free Arcanists Lodge to Thalien Omadithas. Jack sends a message to Binti Redroot and says that they would eventually like to meet to discuss the matter further.

Later, Louche, Lane Coronato, and a few other members of the party search Karaad, looking for places from Louche's recovered memories of his mortal childhood. Louche finds that his memories are clouded by fey magic due to his year spent in the Feywild, but he is nonetheless able to find his childhood home - a small hovel in an impoverished part of the city, now vacant. He also finds the city's graveyard, but is unable to find any sign of his parents' graves. He considered going to Fort Inferna - the city's military center - in hopes of sparking more new memories, but eventually thinks better of it after Lane cautions against it.

At Louche's request, Frog uses a *modify memory* spell to investigate Louche's memories of his mortal life. Frog is able to discern that Louche's memories have been magically altered by some sort of extremely powerful magic far beyond a normal *modify memory* spell, seemingly as part of his transition from mortality into fiendhood.

In the evening, the party reconvenes at Chuparosa Casino to do so gambling, with the exception of Odell, who spends the evening working on his Rune Magic pursuits. While the rest of the party spends some time playing games against the house, Malkoth finds a table in the casino's private lounge to play high stakes poker against the richer clientele. After a couple hours of play, Malkoth comes out even, but notices that a pair of human men at the table are seemingly cheating by discretely colluding with one another. When the two leave, Malkoth and Lane Coronato follow them out into the streets.

Using some trickery and magical charms, Malkoth and Lane Coronato convince the two men to take some fey drugs, which cause them to become incapacitated and semi-conscious. Afterwards, they steal the men's money and leave.

Meanwhile, Odell spends the evening at the gravesite of Halimath Wasanthi, where he completes his development of a Rune of the Star Road, the first new rune developed since the Age of Arcana. He sends his findings to the Circle of Rune Carvers using his *book of sending*.

Arriving at the Pathfinders Alliance adventuring guild to rest for the night, Malkoth meets with Crotalus, the mercenary he intends to hire for the party's journey to Volus. He tells Crotalus about the job, and they come to terms for their agreement.

**Later that night, Gragnok visits XVIII for a conversation about what happened at the former keep of Dr. Johann Conrad Dippel, and their transition to undeath. Gragnok explains that he was upset by XVIII's choice to embrace undeath fully, and expresses his distrust for necromancy and undeath, but nonetheless expresses his regret for having struck XVIII. XVIII asks Gragnok for an explanation of the difference between life and undeath, and Gragnok says he doesn't know what the difference is in technical or philosophical terms, but that he has encountered plenty of undeath and it has all been negative. Despite their differences in opinion, the two agree that they have common ground and mutual objectives to accomplish, and that they wish to continue traveling together. When asked by XVIII, Gragnok assures them that he will prevent them from doing anything evil if their new state of vampirism causes their nature to change.**

## May 28th

In the morning, the party reconvenes for one of Louche's psalms at the Zenith, and Malkoth introduces Crotalus. Discussing their plans regarding Volus, the party decides to teleport to the wilderness near Orion's Crypt, and from their make their way to the coast of the Tempest Gulf. While discussing their goals in Volus, Louche uses his truesight goggles to inspect the letter recovered from the home of Valania Aloro in Saltcrest, which made reference to Volus. He finds that the last line of the letter, disguised by *illusory script*, reads "If you do not hear from us, look for answers in Volus."

The party teleports to the wilderness at the border between Aerzen and the Golden Wastes, near Orion's Crypt. From there, they travel towards the coast of the Tempest Gulf, a journey which takes a few hours, as the terrain transitions from green meadowlands to the barren wastes. Along the way, they discuss how they plan to reach Volus at the bottom of the sea, and whether it would be better to attempt to sail through tumultuous Tempest Gulf, or travel along the sea floor. Eventually, they decide to travel along the sea floor.

Patches shapeshifts into a hadozee.

As the party approaches the coast of the Tempest Gulf, they are attacked by hostile elementals which appear from the storm, which they battle and defeat.

Afterwards, the party begins their journey across the sea floor toward Volus, using Malkoth's *water breathing* magic to travel underwater.

After a few hours of underwater travel, the party makes a pair of *leomund's tiny huts* for cover, and sets up to rest for the night.

During their night's watch, XVIII notices that the area where they have made camp is home to a great deal of skeletons and corpses of sea fallen sea life. Louche also asks them some questions about their new vampiric nature. XVIII answers some questions, but eventually asks Louche telepathically to stop talking about it in front of XV.

## May 29th

Near the Zenith, a pair of colossal sea serpents swim near the party's huts. They take notice of the huts, but unable to get through them, they eventually lose interest and move on.

Louche plays the Psalm of Awakening at the Zenith.

Patches shapeshifts into a fairy.