Session 11

## Rewards from the Crooked Men

> Afternoon 547/04/25
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The session began in a dingy tattoo parlour, where each party member received a tattoo as payment for their services to the Crooked Men. Salibar received a quill tattoo capable of creating invisible ink, Lilliana received a starry void tattoo capable of summoning a familiar, and Ciarán (unknowingly at the time) received a Shadowfell tattoo capable of making him momentarily incorporeal. Erianna left around this time, promising to reconvene with the group before their departure from Misclap.

While at the parlour, the party met the leader of the Crooked Men in Misclap, a distinguished and aged-looking shadar-kai named Selman Karwise. After the party revealed they were travelling to Glumm, Selman told them he was looking for a woman in Glumm and asked them to deliver a package. Salibar agreed to take the package on one condition: he would not open it or ask questions about it.

After Selman ushered the party out of the parlour, Ciarán ran back and briefly asked whether, as a shadar-kai, he had experienced any “dreams”. Selman revealed that he was also troubled by dreams of the darkwoods every night and told Ciarán to seek out the Red Hand, who were organising an expedition to the darkwoods. He also gave Ciarán a bottle of whiskey to “deal with the dreams” and sent him on his way.

## Dinner, Dreams, and Drama

> Evening of 547/04/25
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The party retired for the evening at a tavern named “The Violet Glove”. They spoke to the husband-and-wife innkeepers and paid for two rooms for the night. Lilliana and Ciarán ordered some variation of potato for supper (Salibar used his Create Food bowl), and the party sat down for a meal. Here they discussed a few recent developments and Salibar revealed the true nature of his condition to the party. He told them that he was now undead and would need a Greater Restoration spell to treat his affliction. The party agreed to find a cleric in Misclap.

They had sat next to an older, bearded gnome, who refused Ciarán’s offer of whiskey. The gnome soon left, but not before remarking, “making progress?” and winking at the party. Ciarán followed them outside, but the gnome had vanished into thin air, with their footprints suddenly ending. While on the street, Ciarán spotted several young children placing posters on a wall. He returned inside. Having finished their meals, the party retired for the night.

Salibar, now alone, decided to check his lead lockbox. While no new objects had appeared, he found a letter containing sketches of arcane glyphs and spell components. These notes detailed ways of dealing with the Hand of Malediction, containing information on how to repair the hand, how to animate the hand, and how to attach the hand. Next to this final option, a familiar hand had written the word “best”. Salibar decided to write a note to himself or the aspect of himself that had been collecting items, asking, “Why are you doing this?”. He then placed the note in the lockbox.

Meanwhile, in her room, Lilliana decided to test out her new tattoo, and drawing a summoning circle on the ground, she conjured a small raven familiar. When Lilliana went to sleep, however, she was troubled by bad dreams. She was walking through a burnt and barren landscape, and a figure was stalking her in the shadows. The figure soon revealed itself to be Titus Kiyth. He approached Lilliana and demanded to know the location of Salibar. Lilliana was hesitant to reveal the party’s whereabouts and told him that the party had been warned not to trust him. Titus told Lilliana that he was simply trying to save Salibar’s life, warning her that Salibar was in grave danger. Alarmed by this suggestion, Lilliana relented and gave Titus the party’s location. The dream then swiftly ended.

> Early Morning 547/04/26
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Not long after, Ciarán, in the main hall of the tavern, saw footsteps appearing on the floor. Immediately suspicious, he cast a See Invisibility spell, which revealed Titus swiftly making his way upstairs. Ciarán intercepted the half-orc and attempted to block him from getting to Salibar. Undeterred, Titus simply commanded Ciarán to step aside and proceeded towards Salibar’s room.

Titus then approached the sleeping Salibar in his bed, and despite Ciarán’s pleas to wake Salibar and talk, Titus cast some kind of enchantment on Salibar to stop him from waking. He commanded Ciarán again to step aside and rummaged through Salibar’s lead box. The half-orc seemed to take something before vanishing into the night.

A few moments later, the spell over Salibar seemed to end, and Ciarán was able to shake him awake. Salibar immediately checked his belongings but seemed to find nothing missing. He closed the box to prevent Ciarán from looking inside. While Ciarán suggested waking Lilliana and meeting about what had happened, Salibar wanted to wait for later in the morning. Ciarán sat outside Lilliana’s door and waited for the morning.

Salibar did not return to sleep. Instead, he examined the lockbox again. He found a new note that responded to his previous inquiry. The note read: “I have a vested interest in your well-being. Choose one – S.” Taking the note’s meaning, he decided – much to Savos’s chagrin – to attempt to attach the Hand of Malediction to his own hand. The ritual involved removing his left hand and placing the lich’s hand in its place. This granted him the ability to use a kind of paralysing touch and allowed him to conjure a spectral mage hand.

In the morning, Ciarán informed Lilliana of the previous night’s happenings. The party then reconvened after Salibar emerged from his room. The rest of the party appeared concerned that he had chosen to attach the hand but trusting he knew what he was doing, they continued with their day.

## On the Streets of Misclap

On the street, the party spotted two guards removing the children’s posters from the wall. While the guards attempted to stop them from viewing the posters, Lilliana grabbed a poster with her mage hand, and Ciarán glimpsed the posters. They appeared to be propagandistic and read: “Stay away from the Rat Catchers’ Guild”.

The party also viewed a questing board, finding a posting from the Woodland Watchers that included a list of locations and dates of interest. Most relevant to the party, the Watchers were seeking to interview people who had been in Rymes, particularly around the university, for a small reward.

While the party was viewing this board, a figure approached the party from behind and pulled Salibar into a tight grapple. It was a small wooden marionette constructed of various pieces of scrap. After a brief altercation, the party destroyed the construct. Upon examining the remnants, they found a small crest that Savos identified as that of an extremely old dwarven craftsman’s guild. While they were examining the scraps, two guards approached them and questioned them about their encounter with the marionette. The guards, Clarkson and John, revealed that about a dozen similar creatures had been seen around the west side of the city. The guards gave the party a rough map of sightings and points of interest. When the party asked to see one of these other marionettes, one of the guards led the party to his home, where he was keeping a marionette for his son – a worker at one of the city’s factories.

Here Ciarán cast a detect magic spell, which identified an aura of necromantic magic around scrap from the marionette that had attacked them. The party enjoyed a brief tea with the guard before leaving to investigate the marionette appearances further.

Throughout the morning, they visited multiple locations. Among these was the Bonekeeper’s Guild, where they spoke with the city’s crypt keeper. They also talked to a craftsman and showed him the remains of the marionette. He confirmed the age of the materials used to construct the creature, specifically the outdated oar technology. When the party inquired where they might find such old materials, he suggested looking in Misclap’s undercity, known as Fisclappe. The party learned the undercity could be accessed through the sewers and resolved to seek out the Rat Catchers’ Guild.

## The Rat Catchers’ Guild

Heading to the group’s main guild hall, they found a barred-up building with no visible entrances. However, they soon noticed a rat watching them. The rat then scampered its way up a drainage pipe, entered a complex code into a combination lock, and entered the building through a skylight on the roof. Lilliana followed the rat with her raven familiar, who observed a figure seated with a crossbow inside and two figures standing, blank-eyed, facing a wall. Unfortunately, she only caught a glimpse of this scene before the seated figure fired a bolt at her familiar.

The group resolved to enter through this skylight, with Ciarán teleporting onto the roof and helping the others with a rope. When the party peered inside, the seated figure fired another crossbow bolt and urged them to leave, believing the party to be members of some other group. The man beckoned them inside when the party revealed no affiliation with the group. Once the party lowered themselves into the room on a rope, they immediately noticed something was off. The seated man kept reciting the same line over and over, and none of the figures in the room seemed to be acting naturally. Two figures bearing crossbows then entered the room, and the party was forced into combat.

Noticing throughout the fight that the individuals seemed to react to damage as a group, the party realised that they were under some kind of charm. After all the figures had been knocked unconscious, Lilliana attempted to break this charm by dispelling the magic on their leader. Upon casting this spell, she found herself in an intense battle of wills against some powerful, nonhuman intelligence. She fought against its influence, and the other party members observed her hand beginning to unravel with the force of the spell. Finally, however, she overcame the intelligence’s power and broke the charm on the leader.

The leader, who introduced himself as Jack, appeared terrified and immediately made to leave the building. He spoke of something in the basement and revealed that his men had similarly investigated the structure as adventurers but had been placed under a charm. Jack urged the party to run away from the place and never return and headed straight for the docks to catch the first ship out of Misclap.

Upon leaving the building, Ciarán, who was last, found himself surrounded by a swarm of rats. Luckily, due to his Spiritual Guardians, the rats did not approach him but simply watched as he ascended the rope. However, as the party walked away from the building, they noticed they were being followed by several rats.

The party decided to return to the Crooked Men to ask about accessing the undercity. They again encountered Selman at the parlour, who led the party into a hidden speakeasy lounge behind the building. He gave them a map of the sewers and a path into the undercity. He also asked the party to keep an eye open for an artefact, a magical set of pipes that was said to be capable of controlling minds.

After leaving the Crooked Men, the party visited the Red Hand, as Lilliana thought they would prove valuable allies in exploring the Rat Catcher’s Guildhall. Lilliana produced the symbol indicating her rank, and the party were invited to speak with the Hand’s leader, Matron Ziroli. They talked to Ziroli, an older gnomish woman and powerful cleric who agreed to aid them in investigating the building. She also coordinated a strike on the other Rat Catcher Guild halls throughout the city to “cleanse” them of any similar enchantment magic.

The party reconvened with Erianna, and accompanied by Ziroli and two other Red Hand spellcasters, they blasted through the front doors of the building and proceeded towards the lower levels. As the party descended deeper into the basement, they encountered swarms of rats. While they easily took out swarms of rats, when they reached the bottom level, one of the Red Hand spellcasters was eaten alive by the rats when they walked into the midst of a swarm. At some point during this fight, Ciarán was attacked by the rats and, unknown to him, became infected with a plague.

The party’s odds turned when a swarm of cranium rats burst through a hole in the wall. These rats differed from the others, as their brains were distended and exposed, and electric energy seemed to spark between them. Their first action was to collectively cast Dominate Monster on Salibar. Salibar felt his mind leave his body and lost all control over his actions. The rat-controlled Salibar then turned on Erianna, and in one fell swoop, sundered her head from her body. Lilliana’s sister fell down, dead.

Having seen this, Ciarán dispelled the charm effect on Salibar, but Lilliana nonetheless attacked him, believing him still to be under the effects of the charm. With Salibar back on their side, the party soon overcame the rats, with Lilliana conjuring a great sphere of void-like darkness that turned the tide of the battle. Both Ziroli and the other Red Hand member survived.

After finishing off the rats, the party found a little over 200 gold on the bones of dead adventurers lying in the room, and Ciarán found a rapier that he added to his gear. The party then examined the bodies of the rats and, with the assistance of Savos, learned that such rats were found in the Underdark and were created by creatures called illithids or Mind Flayers. The party was confronted with two possibilities: either these rats had escaped from some illithids eons ago, or there was an illithid at work in the city.

While the party was finishing in the basement, Matron Ziroli handed Lilliana a fireball scroll and ordered her to burn the building down. Lilliana agreed, but instead of using the scroll, she opted to burn the building by creating a bonfire.

## Downtime

The party retired to “The Violet Glove” again for the evening. During this time, Lilliana attempted to defuse one of her trapped Wands of the War Mage and appeared to make some progress towards defusing the object.

Ciarán decided to go shopping for spell components and arrived at “The Griffon’s Oddities”. When he entered, he noticed a shortsword emblazoned with an image of the Moon that seemed to glow with pale moonlight in response to his approach. The shopkeeper approached Ciarán with interest and detailed the history of the sword. They revealed that it was previously carried by a cleric of the Man on the Moon. When lost in the darkwoods, the cleric had prayed to the Moon, day and night, and his talisman (one very similar to Ciarán’s own) was transformed into the short sword. The sword helped the group of travellers escape. The shopkeeper offered Ciarán the sword for 200gp, and he agreed to buy it, promising to carry it with honour.

In the evening, Savos expressed concern to Salibar that he had failed to visit a cleric that day. Salibar promised he would seek one out in the morning.

## "The One" Emerges

> 547/04/27
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In the morning, the party decided to head to a temple to the Magus. At this temple – more of a library or archive than a temple – the party met the head cleric, a man named Rolf de Grey. Upon seeing Salibar, he immediately recognised another follower of the Magus and offered his assistance. Salibar detailed his situation and requested healing from the cleric. Rolf agreed and took Salibar into a private room.

In the main chamber, Lilliana and Ciarán searched for any tomes of interest. Lilliana searched for information about kuo-toa and more general fae research. Ciarán inquired about many subjects: the Stranger, the Strife of Camlin, the shadar-kai, the Mirror of Kathepis, and how to care for dragons. He managed to find some interesting information about the Strife of Camlin and the Stranger.

Meanwhile, Rolf offered Salibar two options: he could attempt a restoration spell or use a powerful scroll held by the Magus clerics. However, Rolf revealed that the spell scroll was only to be used in dire circumstances – which, he perceived, Salibar’s were not. He then cast a Greater Restoration spell on the tiefling, which seemed to have no effect.

After casting this spell, the cleric seemed taken aback and declared to Salibar, “You are the One”. After proclaiming this, he cast a damaging spell that would have killed a less powerful adventurer. Salibar’s survival seemed only to reaffirm Rolf’s faith. He then apologised for attacking Salibar, revealing that it was done out of jealousy: he seemed outraged that the “One” had only followed the Magus for six months.

According to Rolf, this “One” was said to be the chosen disciple of the Magus and would appear around the coming of the seventh sunderance. According to prophecy, they were said to have travelled from afar, had visions, and walked half in life and half in death.

Rolf urged Salibar to immediately seek out the tree of his visions and gave directions to the quickest path out of the city and towards the north. When Salibar revealed that he would be travelling south to Glumm, Rolf was horrified and urged him to reconsider. When Salibar refused, Rolf began to pack his belongings and resolved to seek out the tree himself and meet the party there. Soon the entire building was in a commotion, with all of the Magus’s followers immediately leaving for the north. Rolf left Salibar with a few parting words, saying, “When you want to complete your destiny and understand your place in all this, come and find us”.

The party then found themselves alone, save for a young scholar who continued to whisper “the One”. Salibar shared his revelation with the party but reassured them that he would continue to accompany them on their current quest towards the south. Ciarán told Salibar that he would follow him on the path to his destiny when the time came. After lingering for a few hours to read, the party headed for Misclap's undercity.

## The Undercity

Before reaching the Undercity, the party reconvened with Erianna, who had been conducting some of her own research. She had found some information on “The Chronicler”. According to Erianna, they were one of the Old High Ones and could be contacted by a powerful warlock, possibly one associated with a cult.

With the map of the Undercity provided to them by the Crooked Men, the party began to descend into the sewers. Soon the tunnels opened into a large and ancient dwarven city. The party had not travelled far, however, when they heard a sound of fabric rustling above them. Lilliana sent her raven familiar to scout but discovered nothing, and her raven was crushed by some unknown entity.

Soon, sensing they were being watched, they found themselves surrounded by wooden marionettes. When Ciarán attempted to de-escalate the situation by asking them to take the party to their “Father,” the group charged the adventurers. After a brief tousle with the marionettes, a new enemy emerged: an illithid. The party attacked the illithid, dealing a reasonable amount of damage to the aberration. But before they could kill the creature, however, it vanished, telepathically leaving a message that it would see the party again.

Having destroyed the remaining marionettes, the party ended deep underground, having uncovered a dark conspiracy beneath the city of Misclap.