Session 27: Local Swindler Attempts to End Civilization Across Multiple Timelines

The group is travelling back through the tunnel when they encounter Vica and Suvulaan coming the other way. Vica explains that Suvulaan enchanted her against detection by the clerics, and the others explain Theras’ situation. Vica wants to inspect him anyways, so they turn back for another look. Vica speaks to the demon, finding out that his real name is Var and that he is familiar with her father. Vica too is powerless to save Theras, so the whole group returns to the shore.

Along the way, Suvulaan explains that a diviner predicted that someone might free the demon lord, and that she came here to try to prevent it. Shula is mentioned, and Suvulaan explains that Shula is a nasty broker who they shouldn’t have done business with. Vojta asks Joe about Saleekh’s warning. Joe says that he told his girlfriend, the head of the weaver district, to get out of the city before the war starts. He admits that war in Glyckheart would be advantageous for him because it would disrupt his competitors, but he assures Vojta that he did nothing to encourage the war.

The group rests for the remainder of the night. In the morning, a group of clerics arrive with a warrant to arrest Arran, Vojta, Joe, and Vica. It turns out that Shula makes a business out of sneaking people past the walls and then selling them out for it. Joe teleports towards the ship and takes Arran with him, while Vica dashes away at incredible speed. Vojta turns into an air elemental and flies high into the air. Grombrin isn’t wanted, so he casually walks towards the shore while the clerics try in vain to shoot Vojta out of the air.

When Joe and Arran arrive at the ship, they find Shula and a tabaxi cleric, the guard captain, ready to stop them. The captain attacks with her greatsword, but Arran wards her off by shrouding himself in mirror images. Meanwhile, Joe conjures a giant magic hand, grabs Shula, and plunges her underwater where she can’t speak the words to cast any spells. The captain sees this and attacks Joe, breaking his spell, prompting Shula to transform into a fish and flee. Vica arrives, and works together with Joe to barrage the captain with arrows from multiple directions. The captain remains resilient and injures Joe, but Vojta appears from the sky and delivers a powerful blow against her. Injured, she tells the group to leave the island, then teleports away.

When Grombrin arrives shortly after, the group rushes onto the ship and air elemental Vojta pushes the sail to make it depart quickly. The clerics wave their weapons at them menacingly as they depart. Vica has Grombrin send a mental message to Suvulaan asking whether she’s safe, and she answers that they should meet her in Xandarbor. While at sea, Vojta remains suspicious of Joe, and asks Saleekh about the intercepted letter. Saleekh answers that Joe sent a fake war declaration from Ornokarth to Glyckheart, and tells Vojta to find out what else Joe has been up to.

When the group arrives back in Xandarbor, Joe sells the ship to some dwarves for a generous price. He then purchases half plate for Arran and ivory strips as a spell component for Grombrin, while Grombrin repurposes Arran’s dragonscale armour for Vica to wear. While Joe is haggling, Vojta tells Arran, Grombrin, and Vica about the fake war declaration. He is hesitant to confront Joe because of his usefulness, but says that they need to investigate him.

The group gathers and initiates a communion with Mereteth. Arran requests her to transfer the blessing from him to Vica, since it would be more suitable for Vica to have the blessing of nature, and for Arran to gain the blessing of order from Namos. Mereteth is unable to do this when outside of her temple, but mentions that she has two other temples in Namos and the Great Hollow, and also that the other primordial gods might be able to reassign her blessing. Joe asks Mereteth if she could stop the angelic queens from interfering, but Mereteth could only do so by wiping them out, which they figure would create greater problems.

The group goes to the Rustic Oak to speak with Suvulaan, who warns them that Namos received a war declaration from the dragonborn as well. Joe asks about other war declarations, and Suvulaan mentions Seagate, Ironclad, and Fayekro. Suvulaan also explains that the Investor had a mysterious visitor from Glyckheart, and became reclusive afterwards. She’s now heading to San’edhe to find out more. They then spend a long time talking about various things, with Vica discussing her traumatic past as a half-demon outcast, and Joe mentioning his ambition to dethrone the merchant prince of Glyckheart and take his place. During this conversation, Vojta quietly seeks out Joe’s room and enters it by crawling under the door as a spider. He searches Joe’s belongings but finds nothing he didn’t already know, so he returns to the bar.

Late at night, after Joe retires to his room, Vojta gathers Arran, Grombrin, and Vica to discuss confronting him. They consider using Grombrin’s magic to make him tell the truth, but are worried about Joe teleporting away when pressed. Arran suggests sending a letter to the Ashen Archive in San’edhe and requesting help from a wizard who can counterspell Joe’s teleportation. The others agree, but remark that they will need to stay in Xandarbor another day to receive the response. Arran cryptically vows that he will take care of that, before the group splits up for the night.