Session 56

* Cathedral of Kellos Underground Area
* Sewers
* Abandoned Secret Lair of a Dwarven Alchemist
* Secret Daqanite League Safehouse
* The Cat's Pyjamas

**Previously...**

## And Now...

Following the battle with Torvic's hordes, the group is split in two, with Leshrac, Goldie and Dandy seeking refuge in a safehouse operated by the League of Daqan, and Gar, Nyarduke and Dondras Stormborn attempting to evade capture by the City Guards.

### The Safe House

Once inside, the heroes notice almost immediately that almost every surface of the room they've entered is cluttered and lined with various types of warding runes. The effect of this is immediately felt as Lady Bellia is ejected from within the magical painting and Goldie re-assumes their humanoid form. The house's owner, an elderly female gnome and high-ranking member of the League of Daqan, invites them in and goes off to prepare food and drink for her visitors, as many of them appear in poor condition.

Alongside the food and drinks, she also offers them an array of healing potions, which they take advantage of. They then begin to outline the reasons for them being in Archaut, and the wide array of desperate predicaments they find themselves in. On mentioning to Bea that their friends may be in trouble, she reassures them, and offers to see what she can do to deal with it.

### Meanwhile, at The Cat's Pyjamas

Gar, assuming draconic form, attempts to carry Nyarduke and Dondras to safety, but Dondras elects to remain behind to discourage pursuit. Unsure of where to go, Gar returns to The Cat's Pyjamas. Both he and Duke are in appalling condition, especially Duke, who besides suffering from horrific burns over much of his body, and not a few grievous wounds, is drenched in a fragrant mix of raw sewage and blood, both his own and that of the unfortunate horse.

The pair attempt to wash away the worst of it in one of the Inn's bathrooms, but are interrupted by a young elven lady. Gar attempts to explain, but recalls he can only speak Draconic. He offers the young woman a handful of silver and eventually, the two of the manage to clean off the accumulated grime of the past day.

Amnir comes knocking on the door, looking for their help. His Husband Dodras has been arrested by the Marshals and taken to the Citadel. He is distraught and needs help figuring out what to do. Just as they are finishing up, a mysterious paper plan wafts in and, on opening it, reveals a message giving Gar and Nyarduke directions whereby they can meet back up with the rest of the group.

### Putting their Heads Together.

Led by the paper plane, Amnir, Gar and Nyarduke arrive at the safehouse. Upon entry, the wards transform Gar back into his orc form and, unexpectedly, bring Nyarduke back to full control of his body. He explains that he can still sense Hereshna's presence, but that he is 100% in control. This led to a discussion on what to do about that particular situation should Hereshna attempt to re-assert dominance, with a number of potential magical, alchemical or item-based solutions being offered.

After this, everyone takes the chance to catch everyone else up on what's been happening and the group settles down to gather together the various strands of information they have, and to try and determine their next step. It's beginning to look like this is going to be an attempt to spring Giana and Dondras from captivity.

   Bea explains that, whatever they decide to do, the team may need someone with local knowledge and calls for a specialist. This is Harper (Scott's new character) a Half-Gnome, Half-Catfolk Scoundrel who explains that he's a specialist in 'covert infiltration'. He is also a sometime agent of the League, employed for his skills and extensive knowledge of the city. Introductions are made. There seems to be some confusion regarding his 2 ‘companions’ - a mushroom-like creature named Fearghal and a small, blue frog named Alby.

With the immediate trouble out of the way, Dandy presents Bea with the various legal books, and the notes she was able to recover from the Silver Crescent Safehouse in the Slums. The team explain, as quickly and succinctly as possible, what they fear is going on, concerning the attempt to shatter the Conclave. In response, Bea sends runners to gather the other League members currently in Archaut. They will have much to discuss.

While they're waiting, Goldie suggests that Tovric will need at least one, though more probably two or more Barons that he can influence, corrupt or blackmail if the plan is going to have 100% chance of success. Leshrac concurs, saying that he's really not the sort to leave a plan's success to chance. They learn that the Pryor Family is probably a good candidate as they're suspected as being corrupt, and possibly in league with a thieves' guild. There's no proof that anyone knows of, but a lot of circumstantial evidence. Goldie suggests investigating and Emerson offers to assist.

Looking to gather more information, Leshrac asks to visit the League's sanctum so he can try and use his ‘seeing eye’ magic without the wards interfering. He has a vision is of a Brooch or Buckle in a pool of blood. The symbol on the buckle is an eagle holding a stack of wood- which they later confirm is the family of the Steward of Archaut - The Pelbrutt family. The blood, obviously, a reference to Torvic. He also sees a vision of Valcum Sephone in chains, but it’s unclear if the vision is one of the past, present or the future. As this is happening, Leshrac hears a voice in the Sanctum talking to him. This is later identified as ‘Trev’. Bea seems annoyed that he interrupted Leshrac, but not surprised. Leshrac, however, is suspicious and leaves the sanctum, with a plan to investigate later.

At this point, the various leaders of the League's 'Shadow Conclave' arrive at the door, most of them with faces concealed by masks. The white porcelain masks are all plain and non-descript except for a single unique identifying symbol (similar to popular playing card symbols) of various virtues. After being welcomed, they head upstairs to convene and await Bea's presence.

After a few minutes, Nyarduke's curiosity is piqued and he walks into the gathered meeting of the assembled leaders. Due to some truly impressive chutzpah and a little doubletalk, he even manages to stay for awhile. The main order of business at this point appears to be 'Courage’ trying to convince the others to overlook their non-violence rule and approve an assassination-based action in order to deal with Baroness Pryor of Pelgate.

Unaware of this, Bea welcomes back various runners, who update her on what information they have gathered. Despite Leshrac's vision, Valcum is not a prisoner, and is residing in considerable comfort at the Prince's Garden, a luxurious inn in the city centre. Giana and Dondras, however, ARE imprisoned in the Citadel, in an area normally dedicated to the interrogation of highly-important prisoners.

Bea asks if there's anything else she can do. Gar asks if there's a temple or shrine to Belaros in the city, and is told that there's one in an industrial area within the Daqan District. The team also asks after the Elven Dream Cult, but Bea explains that that will take some time to track down.

Before they can embark on their mission to rescue Giana and Dondras, there are some things that need doing:

Their next order of business should be recovering Duke's spear and armour from the Alchemist's lab where Hereshna stripped them off before his attempts at oil wrestling and from then, onwards to the mysterious chamber where Nyarduke can acknowledge his role in the prophecy and claim his treasure from Seraphim. First, however, Goldie and Leshrac work together for a few hours to make a (ingest only) potion to afflict the Vampire (by preventing his ability to transform).

While they are doing this, Dandy takes the opportunity to go shopping. Donning her disguise as Kellosian acolyte Ploppy Gaphershifter, she heads out to obtain equipment for the break-in, and the quest through the sewers and, as she's on her way out, Leschrac informs her of a local black market contact in the city. While out, she purchases 8 Healing Potions (one each for the party members and 1 each for Giana and Dondras), 6 Pairs of Wading Boots (for Sewer-related shenanigans - one each for every member of the party except Dandy, and 2 for Gar because he keeps losing boots), a temporary replacement spear for Nyarduke (non-magical but ornately decorated), an assortment of snacks, an excellent-quality lockpicking kit and some information on the Citadel prison where G & D are being held (A master key and a rough mud-map).

Bea heads upstairs to finally convene the meeting proper, only to find Duke there. She chastizes everyone for letting him sit in, and Duke is finally made to leave... just as things were getting interesting, too.

Goldie and Leshrac finish the potion, Dandy returns from shopping and the Shadow Conclave meeting finishes. Everyone prepares to head out, except Leshrac, because Lady Bellia should not be left unguarded.

Before everyone, except Leshrac leaves for the sewers, Bea speaks to Harper in private. She lets him know that, if everything goes disastrously wrong, she has a deep agent inside the Citadel, Lucan Blackwater, a Gnome with handlebar moustache. If they are in dire trouble Harper can show the ring she gave him to Lucan and he will help them out, but if they don't need to, she'd rather he maintain his position of anonymity.

### Going Underground

The group, including Harper (who's less than enthusiastic, and demands extra pay) but excluding Leshrac (who volunteered to remain behind to guard Lady Bellia Sephone) venture back into the sewers to recover Nyarduke's equipment. A quick search of the remaining vampire thralls resulted in Gar finding belt buckles identifying them as members of the Steward's retinue, with the same heraldry as Leshrac saw in his vision.. Dandy took the opportunity to grab some bits of shrivelled and dried vampire skin and bone fragments in case they're of use to Goldie or Leshrac.

Following this, they made their way to the Basement of the Kellos Cathedral and re-entered Seraphim's chamber. Because they'd forgotten to inform Nyarduke of the correct procedure, he got Royally whomped by Seraphim, but then claimed his sword (which promptly restored him to full vigour and vitality). He was then offered his one question. He asked, "What would be the best question to ask?" and Seraphim replied, "Which one, among your number, will be the one to betray Kellos?" At that point, Seraphim, the room and the doorway vanished, and everyone returned to the sewers with plans to loot the alchemist's lair before returning to the safehouse.