Session 12

## Opening - the Kuo-toa

The session began with the party underground in the abandoned ruins of Fisclappe. Having just fought an illithid, the battered party took a short moment to rest and discuss their plan. Lilliana cast a spell to locate the pipe they had been instructed to find by the Crooked Men. Following this trail, she soon noticed the pipe moving around in a circle. As they approached the object, they began to hear undercommon chanting, intelligible only to Lilliana.

Soon, the party stumbled upon an abandoned market square filled with fish-like kuo-toa, led in the chant by a clerical-looking kuo-toa whip. They saw the destroyed scrap of wooden puppets lying around and a crucified illithid strung up. The kuo-toa chanted about the “Bringer of Gifts” and their protection and passed a metal pipe between them in a circle. While the party decided how to approach, they were intercepted by two kuo-toa. With only two options: fight or negotiate, the party chose to speak with the creatures’ leader and offer their aid.

The whip seemed trusting of the group due to each member’s outwardly devout appearance. With Savos translating and Lilliana taking the lead, the kuo-toa questioned the group about why they were in the tunnels. Lilliana indicated that they were investigating the hollow men, a common enemy. The kuo-toa spoke fearfully of two illithids in the tunnels beneath the city and revealed that there had initially been three. When the creatures received the gift of the pipe, however, they were able to destroy it. They also spoke of “the Smoke Den,” where the illithids were supposedly based. The party offered to aid in killing the remaining illithids and asked if they could use the pipe to assist them. After some convincing, the kuo-toa agreed. Briefly, during this conversation, Lilliana and the kuo-toa bonded over a volleyball-like game of hitting the floating Savos back and forth.

After receiving the pipe, Erianna identified it as a “Mind Flayer Slaying Pipe” capable of doing immense damage to illithids. Since Ciarán was the only party member capable of playing the instrument, it was given to him to use.

The party was offered food and rest for the night. Lilliana was more familiar with underdark food, but Ciarán and Salibar were surprised by strange mushrooms and abyssal chicken. Salibar, choosing not to eat the kuo-toa’s food, conjured food with his bowl – much to the amazement of the kuo-toa. The kuo-toa told stories by firelight, conjuring a grand illusion of a night sky that was unfamiliar to the group. They saw constellations of the kuo-toa and the head of a mind flayer. The whip spoke of their people’s great power coming from the stars, and while the rest of the party slept, Ciarán embroidered these constellations on some fabric for posterity.

In the morning, the leader of the kuo-toa led the party towards the presumed location of the mind-flayers. When they reached a point where the fish-like creatures would go no further, they said their farewells. Ciarán gifted the whip the embroidered star cloth as a sign of respect, and the kuo-toa remarked that he “carried the stars in his hands”. To Ciarán’s amazement, small constellations appeared on the skin of his hands.

## A Real Boy?

After some time, the party encountered another animated puppet and came upon a small house, what appeared to be a toymaker’s shop. The door lay open, and above the door, they saw a wooden puppet. When Lilliana touched the puppet, she triggered a mechanism that caused it to dance. After some short deliberation, the party entered through the front door. They headed towards the back of the building, where they saw another open door that filled the room with light. An old man approached them, dragging one of his legs and babbling about his son. Ciarán, as a healer, offered to help heal the man’s son.

The party then found themselves in a large workshop. On one side of the room, they saw what must have once been a teenage boy. Only his face remained; the rest of the boy’s body had been replaced with wood and twisting vines that had grown into the floor. Upon inspection, Ciarán realised that there was no way he could move the boy without potentially killing him. As Ciarán was inspecting the boy, Lilliana attempted to contact the boy telepathically but was confronted with only screaming and pain. Ciarán then began casting a detection spell to determine the type of magic used on the boy.

Meanwhile, Salibar and Lilliana attempted to draw more information out of the old man, and Lilliana cast detect thoughts on him. While the old man outwardly revealed little information and kept repeating that his son, Pinocchio, was sick, his thoughts revealed something different. In the old man’s head, Lilliana heard, “I can’t believe these Mudmen are falling this old man act”. Their suspicions were raised further by the fact that he appeared amateurish with his woodcarving tools, despite the handiwork displayed in the workshop.

Lilliana then turned her mind towards Pinocchio. She pushed past the screaming, and the boy allowed her to access his thoughts. Lilliana saw a vision from 1500 years ago. She saw an old man and a young boy resembling the toymaker and Pinocchio cutting down a glowing green tree. A fae creature emerged from the tree, pointed at the boy, and turned him to dust. The fae then cast some kind of magic on the man, replacing his heart with vines. Over time, the vines fully engulfed the man’s body, and he eventually died, becoming rooted in his workshop.

Around this time, Ciarán, unaware of these revelations, had finished detecting magic and had discovered that a fae creature had used powerful necromantic magic on the boy. He invited the old man to sit down so he could discuss his findings, but when Ciarán placed his hand on the old man’s shoulder, he shattered an illusion, and the old man morphed into a dryad-like creature. The young boy also disappeared, replaced by the corpse of the old man Lilliana had seen in her vision. The party was then thrown into combat.

Despite the party seemingly killing the creature, it rose again with a different, more tree-like form. However, the party quickly defeated the fae again, and the animated wooden puppets in the workshop fell down lifeless.

Before moving on from the place, Lilliana inspected the old man’s corpse and found a set of woodworker’s tools. Despite Ciarán urging her to leave the tools, Lilliana added them to her belongings. This act seemed to anger the Reaper, and Lilliana felt her Blessing of the Reaper disappear.

## Rematch

The party then began to search another direction, and before long, they saw pools of blood on the floor. Salibar recognised the blood as that of the illithid the party fought, and they began to track the trail.

They soon found themselves in an open chamber. The room was filled with strange objects, including two tanks containing preserved bodies, metal coffins on the walls, and an enchanting table. In the middle of the room was a single lantern, which Salibar approached. While they were busy examining the room, the figure of an illithid appeared in the doorway and, in deep speech, remarked that the party had “killed the swarm”, and “disrupted [their] plans” and had to die.

A tense encounter ensued in which Ciarán and Salibar were quickly stunned. After Lilliana summoned a sphere of darkness around the aberration, the party lost track of the illithid, only to find them immediately on the roof above them. All three party members were rendered immobile, and hope seemed lost. However, the creature, lingering too close to Ciarán’s spirit guardians, took blasts of radiant damage and fell down, dead.

After killing the creature, the party didn’t find any trace of the other illithid mentioned by the kuo-toa. Upon inspecting the corpse to take as evidence to the kuo-toa, Salibar found a small glowing green gemstone. Salibar also found a hand axe constructed of cold iron, a material capable of dealing additional damage against faefolk.

The party examined the preserved bodies further, discovering that they had been subjected to a process that attempted to transform them into illithids. Seemingly connected, they found notes in undercommon that referred to “Operation Hubbard” – an operation for acquiring food for the illithids. Finally, they found a single playing card face down on a table. The party were aware of some divinatory magic around the card, which would have been activated upon touch. They avoided touching the card.

Having slayed the illithid and cleared the undercity of its present danger, the party returned to the kuo-toa. The fish creatures praised them for killing the illithid but enquired whether the party had found an object they called “the Heart of the People”. In response, Salibar produced the small stone from his pocket, and the kuo-toa rejoiced. They stayed another night in the village before heading back to the surface. The kuo-toa showered them with gold and gifts; according to the kuo-toa, these gifts would protect them on their way to the surface. The party then departed from the kuo-toa on the 1st day of the 5th month, also known as Pentober. ***[There have been some miscomunications about the date, luckily it isn't critical].***

On their way up through the tunnels, Ciarán noticed that they were being followed by a rat. Concerned, he tried to catch the rat but only succeeded in getting lost in the tunnels for some time. Eventually, however, the party made it to the surface without any problems.

## Back to the Surface

Emerging from the sewers, the group found themselves in the middle of the city. Lilliana prestidigitated the party clean, and they approached a throng gathered around some speakers. They saw a well-dressed woman with an air of authority, accompanied by a flamboyantly dressed man and three women (two dressed in wizarding robes, and one hag-looking, with blue-tinged skin). Listening to their speech, the party learned that they were listening to Lady Luriel, the Magistrate of Misclap, accompanied by the Knave of Hearts. She spoke passionately about solving the city’s problems by “reclaiming Fisclappe” with the help of the Hags and the Court of Underland.

After this, the party headed straight for the parlour of the Crooked Men. At the door, they exchanged the password (“for every crooked penny, I’ll walk a crooked mile”) with a dwarf and entered the parlour. They returned the pipe to Karwise, who handed them 20 gold for their trouble. Lilliana asked about paying for another tattoo but decided against getting one. While here, they also received a note from Karwise addressed to “the Flame, the Moon, and the Axe”. Lilliana identified the note as a coded message from the Red Hand, with the symbols directing her to urgently return to the Red Hand’s head office. The party resolved to immediately visit the Red Hand.

When the party arrived at the group’s headquarters, they found the place buzzing with action. Soon, all doors were closed, and spellcasters began to cast wards around the building to protect against scrying. The room was filled with members of the Red Hand and the Woodland Watchers. Matron Ziroli then stood on her desk and addressed the crowd. Along with Raimes(?), an older-looking hunter and high-level Watcher, she detailed the Red Hand’s concern with Magistrate Luriel and her sudden decision to reclaim the undercity. According to Ziroli, the Magistrate had changed approximately two months prior, but Luriel had been somewhat absent as a leader. In fact, she had never stayed in the city for more than 14 days. More concerning were inconsistencies in her story. For example, despite having supposedly travelled to Rymes, Jeremiah, a ranger at the university, informed the Hand that she was not in the city during that time. Also concerning was the fact that no one had been able to access the undercity due to some kind of magic – although Ziroli confirmed that the magic was not fae in nature. After she had finished her speech, Ziroli spoke to Lilliana, Salibar, and Ciarán privately.

Ziroli revealed that she had been scrying on the party, and since they accessed the undercity, she presumed that some magic must have been cast on the city’s inhabitants before their arrival. So Ziroli gave them a job: they were to get close to Luriel, proving their loyalty by joining one of the Magistrate’s expeditions to investigate Aartuk attacks.

**[*Someone might have to fill in the gaps here – my memory isn’t great from this section, so I’ve just included some names and points that were touched upon.]***

Arriving at the Magistrate’s residence, the party was met by Jack, the “Knave of Hearts”. Upon shaking the hands of each party member, they noticed the man emanating a subtle charm effect. Here they also met Sid Steelwell, a member of the Red Hand of a similar level to Alexus Dunloss, and Sister Clearwater, a hag. They also saw the Imprisoned Elf from the “Stout Skipper,” who they learned would lead the expedition to the island known as “Woman’s Wept”. When Ciarán inquired about the phrase “the Forests Below” in relation to the elf, Clearwater explained that certain elves followed a god known as The Drowned God and believed in the principle of “as above, so below” – essentially, as there as gods of the forests below, so there must be of those below. Having joined the expedition, the party left for the island.

While on the ship, Sister Clearwater revealed some additional information to the party. She had reason to believe that the individual controlling the Aartuk was a hag. According to Clearwater, a Grandmother hag, Granny Ironblood, had previously been stationed in Solace, a great Unseelie city ruled by the Archfae Maleficent, before she went missing. Clearwater believed Granny Ironblood to be the one responsible for the attacks.

## The Island

When the expedition arrived on the island, they split into multiple teams to cover as much ground as possible. After some time trekking through the forest, several Aartuk ambushed the party. From what they could see, each expedition group was simultaneously attacked by similar creatures.

The party spent most of the fight close to death, with Salibar and Ciarán falling unconscious at the beginning of the battle. When the tide of the battle had turned in the party’s favour, and they had killed most of the plant creatures, however, a new figure appeared. As Ciarán fell unconscious for a second time, he spotted something in the trees that cacked and exclaimed, “You’re all going to die here,” before shooting him with a bolt of lightning. The creature, a hag, countered most of their magical attacks, and in a final blow that took out most of the party, it called lightning to knock both Ciarán and Lilliana unconscious. It stood cackling over the bodies of the sorcerer and cleric and beckoned Salibar to “come here”. Salibar, the only party member left standing, tried to attack the hag in a last desperate attempt, but his smites were countered. Soon he, too, was knocked unconscious.

#### The Hag’s Hut

When the party woke, they found themselves without gear and imprisoned in cages inscribed with magical runes. The room around them bore all the signs of a hag’s hut: they saw strange potions, jars filled with eyes, and a large cauldron in the middle of the room. The hag from the island, revealed as Granny Ironblood, stood before them, stirring the cauldron.

While the party tried to talk to the hag and reassure her that they bore her no ill will, she took their decision to kill the Aartuk with axes and spells as a sign of animosity. Granny Ironblood asked the group what they knew of the Tuatha De Danann, and revealed herself to be a follower of the three-faced lady. During this conversation, she termed Lilliana’s god, the Burning God, one of the “Whispering Gods”. She then revealed the true reason they had been captured: one of them would be sacrificed so that the Sluagh De Danann, minor gods associated with the Wild Hunt, could rise. This was supposedly a favour for treating the Imprisoned Elf with relative kindness.

She left them to decide amongst themselves who would die. Ciarán immediately offered his life, declaring that Salibar and Lilliana had much greater destinies and people relying upon them. However, Salibar also offered his life so that Ciarán and Lilliana would live.

The hag, amused by the fact that the elf and the tiefling were so eager to give up their lives, gave the group an alternative: if they could beat her in a game, they could go free. The first game would be decided by the party, the second by a coin flip, and the third by Granny Ironblood. The group agreed to this deal, with Lilliana going first, Salibar going second, and Ciarán going last.

While Lilliana and Salibar considered their games, Ciarán tried to find common ground with the hag. First, he mentioned that they were seeking Baba Yaga, a name that angered the hag. She revealed that Baba Yaga was the reason she was cast out of the coven. Then, in another last-ditch attempt to connect with Granny Ironblood, he mentioned the Stranger, a figure that the hag revealed she had previously dealt with. Ciarán then quietly conjured Fionntán and attempted to contact the Stranger and ask for aid.

Lilliana played first against the hag in a game of tic-tac-toe. Despite easily winning and being released, she decided to stay and watch.

Salibar went next, choosing to play blackjack against Granny Ironblood. After winning against the hag twice, he noticed her attempt to magically cheat with her third hand. He called her con, and the hag folded and conceded defeat.

Finally, Ciarán was forced into a game of Liar’s Dice with the hag. Ciarán was losing against Granny Ironblood and was reduced to a final die when something strange happened. The numbers on his die suddenly changed; the one, two, three, four, five, and six were replaced with seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, and twelve. With Ciarán now betting impossible numbers, the hag was forced to call his bluff. When Ciarán inevitably won, the hag conceded, muttering only “luck of the Stranger indeed…”.

Angrily, the hag released all three party members and offered to teleport them to a location of their choosing. The party decided to return to Misclap and to their unfinished business in the city.

## Misclap ... Again?

Their first stop was the Magistrate’s residence, where they relayed the information they had discovered. However, as they approached the Magistrate’s office, Ciarán spotted a strange, speeding shadow heading in the same direction. When they arrived at the office, they saw the “Knave of Hearts,” who had somehow managed to return from the island before the party. The party gave an account to the Magistrate, but even after probing about her time in Rymes, failed to gather any additional evidence against her.

Upon leaving the Magistrate’s residence and walking through the gardens, the group began to discuss their next actions. Eavesdropping on this conversation, a halfling woman approached the group and asked whether they were investigating Luriel. The halfling told them that most of her colleagues had disappeared and almost every staff member had been replaced. She handed the group some letters that had been written by other staff members before they disappeared and then returned to her work. The letters were stained with a strange liquid.

The group then visited the Red Hand to discuss what they had found. They shared their experience on the island, the strange behaviour of Jack, and the notes they had received. Ziroli then offered the party two further jobs to gather additional intel on the Luriel: they could infiltrate the Magistrate’s building or accompany Luriel on a voyage to Goback. The party chose to deliberate on these options.

Ziroli had also directed the party to seek out the Hand’s gnomish alchemists, who could analyse the liquid on the letters. They revealed that the substance was cranial fluid, a substance Ziroli, concerningly associated with illithids.

With the plot growing thicker and the future of Misclap looking increasingly grim, the session ended with the party facing some tough decisions.