COS II Session 4

Session 4 thumbnail, outlining Birdwatcher's favourite hobby

## Starring...

* The Barovian Freedom Fighters
	+ Red, delighting in aerial combat
	+ Xadriel Maverran, surely wanting to go home
	+ Tokili
		- Tokili
		- Tokili
		- Tokili
		- Tokili
		- Tokili
		- Tokili
		- Tokili
	+ Galia Trey, not so hot on aerial combat
	+ Stone, tragically pecked to death
	+ Twiggy, protecting(?) the wildlife
* Ezmerelda d'Avenir, jail guard
* Cipher, living another day
* Birdwatcher, dead silent
* Approximately 10,000 assorted birds

Notable absentees: Max von Austrahlung, +2 shortsword

## "Can we keep him? Please?"

Last time on Pawns of a Greater Game, the party was aboard the URD-3, flying aimlessly while Tokili interrogated the CLA agent Cipher. Tokili ran out of questions (he did not cast *prismatic spray*, Twiggy did not liquefy the prisoner with his massive tree hands, and Cipher was not sent to another plane).

Tokili leaves the bomb bay to confer with the rest of the party on how to proceed, and one of his robots punches Cipher for bidding a polite farewell. The rest of the party (even without the morally superior +2 shortsword and its mouthpiece) decide to keep Cipher alive for the time being. Ezmerelda agrees to keep watch over him in Argynvostholst and send regular updates via *sending*. With a solution plotted out, "it's time for Cipher to go to sleep"—Twiggy gets overexcited and tries to re-enact his retconned beating, but he is successfully held off as a robot knocks Cipher out.

The gang flies back to Argynvostholst and deposits Cipher's unconscious body in a guest bedroom. \_\_\_. Stone regifts her beloved modified *goggles of night* to Ezmerelda.

Ezmerelda suggests that the party's next destination should be Krezk, so they could talk to the Van Richten Society about their prisoner. The party agrees and boards the airship once more.

## Follow That Bird

On the way to Krezk, a raven lands on the airship's deck, carrying two bags. One is empty, while the other has a 1000gp red diamond and a note reading:

```
*Thank you so much for acquiring the gems :) We sent this raven to collect them :) Put them in the bag and it'll be on its way :) Here's a little payment for your troubles ;)*

```

The party, as per good business practices, takes their payment upfront. Then, as per terrible business practices, they refuse to hand over the winery gems—a raven stole them to begin with, why trust this one? Twiggy makes small talk ("Who do you work for?") with the increasingly insistent raven. Everyone agrees to make a stop at the Wizard of the Wines to inform them of the situation. After a long, triple-translated conversation, negotiations take a turn for the worse, and the raven tries to flee.

The party does not allow this.

The party arrives at the winery, raven prisoner in tow. The Martikovs confirm that the raven is not one of theirs. Frustrated, the Freedom Fighters withhold the winery gems on grounds of "you literally bury these an inch underground and someone is actively trying to steal them". They argue among themselves about a course of action, eventually releasing the bird and following it in the extremely loud and conspicuous airship, arguing all the while. The raven settles in the woods, where the party gives up on it (bar Twiggy, who spends a while longer trying to coax and capture it).

It is early evening by the time the URD-3 descends on Krezk. Everyone is tired and defeated. They use Krezk's abbey bell to call a meeting of the Van Richten Society, only to have 2/3 children arrive (Killian is a curfew-obeying coward). The party asks the present children for questions for Cipher—they have none—and tell them not to trust ravens. The meeting adjourns.

Thoroughly exhausted and emotionally drained, the party retired to Argynvostholt for the night.

## New Friends, Old Friends

Twiggy, for reasons unknown (like he literally shouldn't know it exists), really wants to visit the Amber Temple. The Freedom Fighters decide it's a fine idea, as Birdwatcher is based vaguely in that direction.

They stop at the still-ruined Tsolenka Pass, where there is nothing of note. The absence of anything notable is notable in itself, because most members of the party recall former ally Y'drey'ne Verma abandoning a cart of valuables in the area. They do not find anything. Twiggy, unaware of the treasure to be found, beelines for the ancient guard post to add four (thankfully adult) skeletons to his gang. As the party prepares to advance to the Amber Temple, Tokili pulls Twiggy aside to inform him of a change to the Terms of Service—no dead or undead children allowed on the airship. Twiggy says he'll "consider it", which is Druidic for "probably not".

Approaching the Amber Temple, the Freedom Fighters spot a familiar lich: their old friend Exethanter, standing outside the temple with his belongings packed. Through friendly small talk ("ever heard of a guy named Birdwatcher?"), they find out:

* the CLA is enacting some dastardly scheme in the Amber Temple,
* Exethanter was evicted under implied threat of execution,
* the CLA destroyed all of the books in the temple,
* the CLA destroyed most of the amber sarcophagi,
* a metal bird-man and his giant eagle took an entire amber sarcophagus from the Worst Gifts room,
* and said metal bird-man departed in the direction of Yester Hill.

The party thanks Exethanter for the information, vows to avenge his eviction, and departs for Yester Hill.

## Birdicane

The flight to Yester Hill takes a bizarre turn—swarms of ravens are forming and flying alongside the airship, seemingly headed for Yester Hill. Close to the hill, some ravens begin to attack the ship, though they are beyond trivial to the party. The air grows thicker with cacophonous corvids the closer the party gets, coalescing into a solid, screaming storm around the hill. The birds show strange intelligence, aiming for Red's eyes and Tokili's pockets. After fending off the most hostile of the ravens, Tokili orders the ship to simply charge through the birdwall.

In the eye of the storm, the Freedom Fighters spot a glimmer of metal on the ground, rapidly ascending to meet them—Birdwatcher, apparent commander of the storm. He explodes into ravens. Combat initiated.

* The ravens are numerous, but delicate, allowing spellcasters to wipe them out en masse (and Galia to stare wistfully).
	+ However, a third of the ravens have a neat little trick where they divebomb anyone casting a spell.
* Although the party knows they should target Birdwatcher, they can't seem to find him due to him hiding amongst his swarms.
* Alongside ravens, Birdwatcher also summons giant eagles. They aren't much that much more powerful than ravens for some reason.
* In the middle of battle,Tokili decides to create an illusion of himself standing in 12 different places, emulating "Mirage" from hit game Ap
* Birds try to blind Stone, but her lack of eyes make that difficult. They do manage to rip off her mask though.

Much of his army diminished, Birdwatcher prepares to summon more. Before he can, however, Tokili's constructs manage to arm a ballista and fire. The first shot is deflected by Birdwatcher's defense matrix; the second is a critical hit. Heavily wounded, Tokili finishes him off using a firebolt, causing his wings to catch fire. He explodes and the party watch as the bird man's body falls 200ft towards the ground.

### Clipping Wings

The birds disperse, though the actual thunderstorm remains.

* Birdwatcher is destroyed. The party cuts up his body and turns it into scrap metal to completely make sure he doesn't come back. Tokili keeps his brain intact, saving its memories for later.
* The party notices a washed up ritual circle in the mud. Unable to figure out its purpose, they elect to ignore it.
* Twiggy briefly considers punching the Guthias Tree before the party tells him to get the fuck back on ship.

## Developments

* Cipher has been secured.
* Because Tokili pocketed the red diamond and did not hand over the winery gems, Birdwatcher has technically paid off his 1000gp debt.
* Exethanter has been reintroduced, and evicted.
* Birdwatcher is dead.
	+ His corpse has been scrapped.
	+ His brain is in Tokili's possession.
* The winery gems have been retrieved, the party can safely return them, and they hopefully won't be stolen again :)