Session 52:

* Slum Sewers
* South-Western Gatehouse
* The Cat's Pyjamas Inn

**Previously....**

## And Now...

### Below the City

   They find a secret exit from the basement; a narrow stairwell which goes deep beneath the city. At the end of the passage is a locked door, with a bell mechanism to alert its opening. Goldie freezes the bell and they go through.

On the other side, they find ancient city sewers. A huge semi-circular tunnel travels at a right angle to the door and several other smaller corridors branch off - one of them giving off some light. The sewers are also filled with a river of vague, indistinct ghosts shambling up and down its length in two distinct lines. They don’t respond to the characters, but touching one causes extreme discomfort and fear.

Solly casts a spell to talk to the ghosts and calls out to one passing by. Talking to him, they learn that the ghosts are in an ongoing ‘battle’ with ‘Xeravax’ (which would appear to be the ghost of the Dragon who died attacking Archaut centuries ago). The ghost also describes seeing an old and ugly vampire in the sewers, and indicates towards the corridor with the light.

Suspecting the presence of all the ghosts could be tied to the Runebound Shard they are looking for, Goldie uses her Rune of Finding (actual name?), but it only points back up to the city surface (in the slums or maybe the west wall bordering the slums). Several party members suggest an interest in trying to free the ghosts from their eternal battle with the dragon, but for now, they have other concerns. They approach the corridor with the light (The ghosts now side-stepping them due to Solly’s magic) and hear the sound of chanting coming from an adjoining room.

Goldie announces, “I bring news of Kellos!” and charges forward.

The room inside has a large ward etched into the floor and filled with blood - three men in robes and bearing marks of the Silver Crescent are chanting over it. They react by summoning a cloud of darkness, which Leshrac partially counters, limiting the area, before battle is joined.

In the fighting, the ward is sundered by magic and the cultists are quickly dispatched, but not without causing some wounds.

Checking the bodies, they find a letter and a Book of Forbidden Lore. The letter seemed to be a confirmation from Torvic about his arrival, including dates and times (in ~1-2 hours time). The lore book seemed to be entirely about vampires and the various potions and spells that could be fuelled by their bodies or parts thereof.

Interacting with the book triggers the summoning of some foul monster, a mass of boiling, swelling flesh which grew and took form in moments. They fought it and eventually turned it to ash with blessed fire.

The party are alerted to something within an adjoining room by Boggin's growls. Entering, they find a monstrous, mummified-looking creature strapped to a table. Solly immediately lunges forward, plunging her spear into its chest, seemingly to little effect. The creature's eyes flicker open, and addresses the heroes in a thin, whispering voice.

### The Vampire

   The bound vampire, for so it is, introduces itself as ‘Cotran’ and agrees to exchange information in return for blood (some of it his from nearby vials) and perhaps his freedom. They learn:

* He was sired by one of Torvic's Progeny, and is an unwilling puppet of the vampire Lord.
* He has been bound in that room for 5 years.
* He used to feed in the slums.
* Torvic’s visit is to attend the Conclave as an official representative of the 13th Baron (Waiqar), and there to make an accusation.
* The name of the vampire who’s taken dominion over the mages of the Unchained Tower in Strangehaven is probably ‘Bertrand’, a Lord of Bilehill.
* If Cotran is allowed to leave, he just wants to get far from Terrinoth (perhaps Zanaga). He does not want to serve Torvic.
* The Gnome accompanying Torvic is most likely his ‘Pet Engineer’ (no name given), a centuries-old living Gnome who has helped Waiqar build his ‘Machine’.

While they openly debate the merits of freeing the vampire, he offers to give them one more important bit of information if they free him. They let him go and, as he starts to leave, he tells them that Torvic plans to accuse someone of Treason. Dandy thinks back to the books she secured from the burning building an hour before and thinks some of them may be very useful.

Solly is unhappy they let the Vampire go, and departs, heading off into the tunnels to track it down and kill it. *[Possible exit from the campaign - as of yet no knowledge of how that event played out].*

### Topside

With Torvic's arrival being imminent, the rest deciding not to stick around. They make their way back to a manhole exit they found when they explored the slums hours before and exit the sewers.

On the way back through the West Slum Gate, they take note of the huge dragon skull that’s mounted over the gate: The skull of ‘Xeravax’. Leshrac asks Dandy if she can get a chip from it.

The rest of the group distract the guard standing over the entrance to the inner-gate and Dandy makes her way in. She finds a tooth, presumably from the same dragon, on display in the guards rec room and takes it - along with an unattended wand (A ‘Flare’ wand) .

They meet back at The Cat's Pajamas and start going over what they have learned and what knowledge the books hold. Amongst Dandy’s book haul is a single page with several scribbled titles and notations.

* 'Powers of the Conclave: Book 3: Limits of the Barons', By Edgert Bloothbum *(Chapter 11, ‘Treason’ - “Only the King")*
* 'The Privilege of the 13th Baron: An examination' By Magister Kulana Westfell.  *("No Loopholes, their hands are tied")*
* 'Treason, Mutiny and Insurrection: A revised guide for the laws of Sedition, circ. 899' by Olister Brohmen *("Book 1, Chapter 3 - Barons. Evidence beneficial, but not crucial.")*
* 'The Stewards of Archaut - A complete History, part 4', Compiled by Master Librarian Caefed of the Citadel. *("Chapters 4,5 and particularly 6. Steward Sirdrel Pelbrutt; Eliza, Blaine, August, Zara, Tomger: Witton Hill")*

Dandy has a copy of ‘Treason, Mutiny and Insurrection’ and ‘Powers of the Conclave’. Gar and Goldie dissect the books and try to understand what they are relevant.

They discover that if a Baron is accused of Treason (and the accusation seconded by another Baron), then only the king can rule on the accusation. Until the king rules on the accusation conclave is forbidden from meeting and the Barons have no collective ability to rule. With everything they have learned, they come to the conclusion that Torvic is going to use this knowledge to disrupt the Baron’s ability to rule - if he makes it to the Conclave.

Dandy theorises that this may have something do with the book from the Greyhaven Library they were contracted to vandalise (See Session 28). The book in question was 'Notes from a Conclave' ~150years ago by the bard, Cylian. Everyone puts their heads together and suspects that it may tie in, concluding that one of the Barons in that meeting was compromised by organised crime and its possible their family may still be. If Waiqar knows who this Baron is, he may be using it as leverage.

With very little time on the clock and the sun having set, they hear a disturbance from outside. Rushing out, they see people looking up to the sky at a majestic Airship. The ship approaches the docking station in the central ‘ring’ of the city, and they see a woman falling from the sky (having already made it about ⅔ of the distance from presumably the airship), holding onto a colourful cloth (cloak? Shawl? scarf?) like a parachute. Her fall seems to have slowed, but not by much and she will probably die on impact.

Leshrac asks, “Goldie, want to help me!?” - End on Cliffhanger.