Session12

## NOBLES STAY

### **7am**

You're awoken to the ground violently shaking, the wooden walls moan and creek under the stress as dust falls down from the rafters. A few moments later the rumbling stops. You can hear a few shouts and commotion coming from outside but it doesn't seem too serious.

*(At this point the players will likely head downstairs.)*

* **Dining Area:** In the Inn dining room you can see a few groups of people sitting around eating breakfast. Near the center tables there's an old man with his son, he is helping him with a glass of water as he appears to be a little shaken from the small quake. At the back tables there's a party of what looks to be town guards eating a large bacon and egg breakfast. They're joking around with each other and are paying no mind to what's going on around them. At the table next to them is a loan young man. He is in the middle of his meal and doesn't seem to mind the commotion around him. Suddenly there's a large clang as a waitress slips over on some water that seemed to have been spilled during the quake and she apologizes and her face flushes red with embarrassment.
	+ **The old man and his son:** Nearing their table now you can see they are both rather scholarly. The symbol of denier a lit candle above an open eye can be seen embroided on their clothes. You can overhear them talking about how the prophecy from the seer has already started. The "roots of the city" have shown themselves. Even Theodas the last of the elder elves in this city has confirmed that this is the first sign and they should leave immediately.
	+ **The guards:** As you get near to their table you can overhear them talking about whether or not the earthquake had anything to do with the incident at the wall yesterday.
		- castle has been under construction since the city was liberated.
		- budget issues and the royalty being incredibly private. King Patrick Sea
		- the northern castle wall was destroyed in attack yesterday, probably by the wolf king.
		- due to the attempted break in the guards have tippled, ***not even a fly could get in without the royal seal,*** no one is allowed in, even the guards.
		- discussing a group of adventurers who won in the beast ring and earned a favor from the don for the first time in many years.
	+ **The young man:**
		- Hid body language shows he is closed off and his clothes are fancy and clearly designed to show he is a man of great status and power.
		- If approached he recognizes the 'brick detective agency'. And tells them he is here for their report.
		- ***MAKE SURE TO LET THEM KNOW HE WILL BE RETURNING TO THEIR MANSION VIA THE TELEPORT CIRCLE***
* **Nobles stay front entrance:** As you walk through the front doors of the entrance you can see the damaged caused by the quake you felt as you awoke. The damage outside seems to be far worse than the damage inside. It appears you were lucky. Chaos is all around you. Just over the street you can see a cat caught in a tree and a young girl crying because it wont come down. Not too far away a large raised water tank is tilted and leaking large amounts of water onto the ground below turning it muddy and what was once fresh paved cobblestone has all seem to have come loose. Huge cracks and craters have formed in random locations all over the city making traveling difficult.
* **Cat stuck in a tree:** As you get closer to the tree you can see now that there appears to be a young maid trying to console her mistress, a girl in a frilly dress no older than 10 with long black hair while the servants try and coax the cat out of the tree. From the quality of their clothes and the style of the dress you can tell they are likely from the Rigatonis.
	+ Young mistress name is Sirin. Her family try to keep her out of the business so she lives separately.

**(Players get the cat):**

*"Thank you noble sirs"* the young lady courtseys you clumsily *"of course a young princess like myself will reward you handsome sirs. SERVANT \*she claps her hands\* give these brave knights a gift for assistant me.*

At this point the maid who is behind her begins to try explain they have nothing of value on them at the moment but the young lady is having none of it. She starts stomping her feet and shouting *"I said give them a reward. I told them I would reward them, I'll tell my dad you made me break my word."*

The maid who now seems a little stressed and awkward and while putting on a small show for her lady steps forward and says *"Thank you kind sirs for your bravery and service, It's but a small token of appreciation from the Rigatonis."* She presents you with a bundle of herbs(zeezee) and leans and whispers softly. *"I'm sorry I have nothing on me right now, these are just some herbs our family uses to control beasts they are worth some gold and can be sold however."* She bows again and steps back before convincing the young lady to leave as they are already late and her father will be angry at her if they get back later.

* **Leaking water tank:**
* Damaged cobblestone roads. (Rough terrain for mounts)

## castle (1) 1 hour travel by foot

### 8 AM

* At the castle gates you can see hundreds of guards lined across the battlements. Standing by the closed gate are a few guards. They call for you to halt and ***present your seal*** should you wish to pass. (note if the players try to sneak through the barrier, the barrier will kill them)
* Passing through the gates in front of you, you seem to pass through an invisible barrier. The uncompleted castle lays before you. The odd thing is, only a few small piles of construction materials can be seen around the place. And they don't seem to have been used in a long time. furthermore now up close you can see the castle design is weird. It looks more like an incredibly large warehouse than a castle.
* As the main doors swing open you're greeted by the oddest of sights. The inside is completely just one huge large room with the occasional support pillars keeping up the roof. In the middle a giant tree, the largest you have ever sen in your life probably close to 1km in length.
* Scattered about the place you can see the occasional collared elf attempting to chisel away at the stump. They seem to be swinging incredibly hard but are only taking small pieces off at a time. You can see a small fissure from the earth quake has opened up close to the base of the tree that seems to be leading under it.
* As you climb down through the fissure in the ground it leads into a small and winding tunnel. following the path you occasionally see thick roots from the tree stump weaving throughout the walls and sometimes partially blocking your way. After over an hour of travelling you finally arrive at;
	1. a DEAD END, wet dirt has seeped in causing the passage way to collapse.
	2. a drop off point into a dark room below you. You can hear a deep and heavy breathing coming from the room below.
* about 20 meters down wolf king in the pit, silver fur, snarling teeth etc seem to be blocking the only passage out of the room.
* (snarling)"You can not pass, that bastard elf holds the contract between our kinds and I compelled to obey him. Turn back now and find some other way to free me. I do not wish to kill you, and you do not wish to be dead.".
* **FIGHT = loss without putting the dog to sleep.**
* The wolf king passes out in the corner, his injuries and the sleeping herbs are too much.
* Through the tunnel now it gets deeper and deeper before finally it opens out into a large cavern around 60feet tall and wide filled with long and winding roots. At the center you can see the visage of an elf who Faen recognizes immediately as Fevod. His body is trapped in a mess of entangled thick bark, wood and thorns that are penetrating his skin and body. 4 large roots that are thicker than the rest extend out from his lower body about 20 feet. Inside the roots deep veins that seem to be coursing with magic almost like a heartbeat can be seen pulsing inside them.
	+ "Ah, Faen you are finally here. It took you far longer than I expected. This damned staff can not properly control the tree without your pendant. Hurry up and hand it to me so I can purge these lands once and for all"
	+ Your father brokered the deal for peace when Myth Drannor was invaded to ensure the survival of their family. However the hearts of the people who had lost their loved ones during the invasion still thirst for vengeance. Which is why I was able to stage a coupe with the help of the orcs in order to seize the staff and wipe out all life from these lands.
	+ "We are not so different you and I? Would you not sacrifice everything for your chance at revenge on me. And now you have your chance, if you give me the pendant, I will die from casting this spell and so will everything within 1000 miles. However you and your friends will be protected by the world tree and will live."
	+ "You may as well give up the pendant willingly, or I will simply kill you and take it from your course. If you're planning on starting again without the pendant good luck.
		- the tree uses the life force of everything in range to power a time skip.
		- he couldnt control the magic without the pendant so he got caught ina feed back loop.
		- cant move from his current location because of the roots.

BOSS FIGHT

AS you engage him he mutters some incantations under his breath and the 4 large roots around his body seem to slightly curl back in toward his body, restricting their length but they appear to be giving him armor.

**+3 AC per ROOT (16 BASE AC) 28, 25, 22, 19**

* move earth to cover the escape.
* use 4 tokens to represent 4 roots that can only move 20ft from the main body (main body can't move)
* Makes a slam attack 20ft not 5ft (mainbody stats) with each root that is still alive
* Can also use the roots to loose a rock from the cieling (rock attack mainbody stats)
* Each root has 50hp
* after each root dies gains access to a new spell
* When all roots die exposes main body 50hp
* 3 legendary actions, cast abilities not on it's turn
* 2 legendary resistances, succeed on any failed check
* Mainbody has 60hp stats
	+ SPELLS
		1. Confusion (white)
		2. reverse gravity (black)
		3. wall of thorns (green)
		4. antilife shell (red)

REWARDS: WORLD TREES TWIG, 500 gold.

## GETTING THE CODE FOR TELEPORTATION DEVICE

* only the rigatonis, estavanas, and the sea's direct family members have access to the code as the teleportation circles, each one is unique and for their own homes so they will need to visit king patrick if they wish to get his key.
* If the players reveal they are caught in a loop, offers to give them the password if he can kill them. That way if what they say is true, they'll simply start the loop again but if not he has no worries of the password getting out.

8am 1 hour travel by foot

* shopping(5)
* castle (see castle section)
* residential(8)
* silver cloud(9)

9am 2 hours travel by foot

* trading area(2)
* city outskirts(3)
* laborers district(7)
* holy district(9)
* slums(10)

## KING PATRICK SEA's ESTATE (11) - 10am 3 hours travel

* do the players know where it is? roll investigation

* also the home of Theodas the oldest elf.

Approaching the small farm that is king pattricks temporary estate, you see many many men who appear to be from the rigatoni family. Even from the distance you are away you can see they seem agitated and on guard. As you get a little closer a slightly fatter more well dressed guard calls for you to halt and identify yourself and your purpose here.

* ***If the players manage to convince the guards they mean know harm***, they're told they can only get in with permission from the don.
* Robbery just transpired
* The don doesn't even know about it yet
* Guards were told to lock down the area and retrieve the seal however it was stolen before they could even get to the main road by a group of thieves. Very likely professional. Probably from the thieves guild.
* ***HE TELLS THEM TO LEAVE AS THEY ARE AWATING A GROUP OF INVESTIGATORS FRROM THE GUILD The groups name is The eye and their leader is Tommy.***

 (leads players in if they can bluff or know the name from check it in a previous timeskip)

### Inside the farm house

* ***if the players teleported*** he is by the teleportation circle and asks them how they got into the house and cracked his teleportation circle. Only he knew the password. He seems more curious about how you did it than angry.
* reveals his seal was robbed at 8am this morning and it was a professional job. Likely hired by the thieves guild. It will take months and a small fortune to create a new one.

### Stopping the robbery.

If the players teleport to the house before the robbery takes place

* can convince king patrick hes going to be robbed
	+ **success** he sends a fake cart out to confirm
	+ **fail** he thinks it sounds like a scam and they have no way to prove it as they could be in league with the robbers even if they do come.

BATTLE WITH THEIVES GUILD.

If the players choose to wait it out and fight with the thieves for information

THIEF FIGHT 5 x assasins

If the players keep any thieves alive for questioning they all immediately consume a poison capsule and kill themselves, (otherwise if they get the poison they reveal when tortured they belong to the theives guild in baldurs gate and were hired with very decent money to do this job)

## PLAYERS TOO LATE 11AM

You feel the earth rumble like it did this morning, only this time much more severely. Huge cracks open up and powerful huge roots taller than a skyscrapper burst out the ground. Their towering forms can be seen even far off into the distance hundreds of miles away. Screams can be heard as the smaller roots grab onto anyone in proximity to them. Some people try to run however the roots are fast and powerful catching everyone within seconds and sucking the life out of them. Buildings crumble all around as the entire city begins to collapse into the ground. A few roots shoot toward you all and you feel them pierce into your skin and begin to drain away your life. Faen your hair begins greying and body withering and you feel everything begin to go black before your pendant that you had hidden away glows bright and creates an orb around you about a meter and a half wide before. Snap you're suddenly woken to the sounds of the ground rumbling underneath you. *(only faen has memories unless the others were within the orb whent hey diued)*

7am; players awake

7:30: Broken water tower has leaked all it's water.

8:00am; seal gets stolen from king Patrick as he leaves his mansion to head toward the castle

11am; city is destroyed day restarts