Session 10

## Flight from Flotsam

Upon leaving the fight with Van Helsing, the party was met with a confronting sight. A large ship had arrived, and Flotsam was filled with clerical women bearing the symbols of the Merciful Mother.

At first, the party believed the mothers were offering aid, with groups of the Mother’s followers seemingly administering healing. However, they began questioning these intentions after a young man ran into the party, his arm burning with some divine magic. The people of Flotsam seemed torn between running towards the newly arrived ship and fleeing for their lives.

Hoping for the best, the group brought Erianna to a mother and requested healing. Rather than heal Lilliana’s sister, however, she cast some kind of spell, which harmed both Ciarán and Erianna.

Around this time, one woman - clearly the leader of the mothers - began to deliver a rousing speech before the Flotsam locals. Her speech identified the mothers as “Matrons of Contempt” and referred to the “Judix Iscariot,” an undercommon phrase that the party understood to mean “Wrath of Justice” or “Wrath of the Judge”. Finally, she proclaimed, “May the mother have mercy upon you, for we will not”. Upon declaring this, several ships appeared simultaneously, and bird-like humanoid creatures began to fire attacks on the town.

The party began to flee towards the Rosewater Docks, where they could depart for Misclap on one of Legless Jim’s ships. Ciarán, slowed from carrying Erianna, decided to disguise himself magically. When confronted by a Matron of Contempt, he pretended to be in pursuit of Salibar and Lilliana.

The paladin and the sorcerer hurried ahead, quickly putting about 50ft of distance between themselves and Ciarán. Unfortunately, while the pair easily cleared a large gap caused by a rising bridge, the gap had widened further by the time Ciarán arrived.

At this point, Legless Jim emerged from his hideout, and his followers began to fire on the bird monstrosities or “hagravens” that were descending upon Flotsam. Here the party split, with Ciarán taking an underground passage and Lilliana and Salibar fighting their way above ground. The pair encountered hagravens but easily reached the ship at the docks. The ship’s captain gave the party thirty seconds before the boat would depart. At this time, Ciarán and Erianna were still unaccounted for.

Meanwhile, Ciarán had not travelled far through the shaking underground passage when a loose beam of wood hit him and knocked him unconscious. Faced with death for the first time, Ciarán had a strange vision. He found himself floating, suspended between two worlds: above him, he saw stars and a figure waving, silhouetted against the moon, and below him, he saw the Stranger and the black foliage he had previously seen in his dreams. Having been blessed by the Reaper, Ciarán soon found his way back to the material world. But, before coming to consciousness, he saw a strange figure over him, who appeared to have been “interrupted in their work”. This figure wished him “good luck” before vanishing. Ciarán then escaped with Erianna, who had been trying to stabilise him, and the pair emerged at the Rosewater Docks.

As Ciarán and Erianna boarded the boat, a hagraven leapt aboard, forcing the party into combat. Ciarán, being close to death, cast invisibility and hid from the fight, while Salibar and Lilliana battled the hagraven. In this struggle, Lilliana briefly fell and was stabilised by Salibar. Eventually, the pair killed the hagraven, and the ship launched from the docks. Amidst a crowd of fleeing ships, the city of Flotsam sank beneath the waves, torn asunder by the assault.

The group inspected the hagraven, noting that it was a monstrosity that seemed to have been created. The creature’s body was covered in magical burn marks, and its feathers appeared identical to a great eagle’s. To dispose of the hagraven, one of the pirates cast a spell upon the body (probably gentle repose), the party removed the hagraven’s head, and both body and head were thrown into the water. Likewise, Ciarán helped perform funeral rites on a fallen sailor before his crew members threw him in the ocean - not without a nip of alcohol to see him off, however.

Having survived the day from hell, the party decided to rest.

## The Voyage to Misclap

Soon after the ship escaped, Ciarán retreated below decks. Hoping for some kind of guidance (and figuring that his day couldn’t get much worse), he tried to induce a vision of the Stranger. Rather than the Stranger, however, he was met with another strange vision. He was standing on a sea of silver, and looking up into the sky, he saw the sprawling planetary mass of Evergreen. He was on the Moon. Beside him was a shadowy, masculine-shaped figure Ciarán recognised as the Man on the Moon. Ciarán briefly spoke to them. They answered several of Ciarán’s questions, confirming that they had granted Ciarán his powers, that he was “chosen” rather than randomly gifted his powers, that the Stranger was some kind of messenger who had dealings with the Man on the Moon, and that Fionntán was their messenger. Finally, they told Ciarán that he could find followers of the Man on the Moon to help him by asking them, “when will the next eclipse be”. After this, Ciarán floated back to his body aboard the ship. He then excitedly relayed his experience to Fionntán.

On their second day of travel, the party spotted a strange twinkling mass of lights in the distance. As the lights approached, the air around the ship began to cool, the ocean began to freeze, and the other members of the crew stood still, as if they had been frozen in time. The party soon realised they were being visited by the Yulefather, one of the Old High Ones. The Yulefather knew each party member by name and gifted each an object of value. The Yulefather gave Salibar a sentient granite orb containing the consciousness of the drow scholar Savos. Savos’s last wish was that his knowledge would not be lost from the world, so the drow made a deal with a fae that placed his consciousness in the orb. This deal occurred approximately 20 years before the events of the campaign when Savos was 527 years of age. The Yulefather gifted Lilliana a Far Realm Shard, revealed to be one of eight used in the aberrant wars of the second age. Dion received a Staff of Swarming Insects, previously belonging to Serasis, the “Lord of Rot”. To Ciarán, he gifted an Amulet of the Devout, adorned with a mithral image of the Moon. The amulet was made by the eladrin and was worn by the leader of [...], a major city destroyed during the webbed wars. The Yulefather informed Ciarán that this was a gift from the Man on the Moon. Ciarán expressed childlike excitement towards the Yulefather and was able to briefly pet one of the Yulefather’s giant flying elk before the Old One departed. Before leaving, the Yulefather told the party they would need to visit Baba Yaga, who could provide information that would aid them going forward.

Sometime during this voyage, Salibar consulted with Savos, who offered the tiefling his expertise. The drow became concerned by some of the information that Salibar revealed to him, particularly regarding the Hand of Malediction. He was familiar with Malediction and recalled meeting the lich at one point. Advising Salibar not to attune to the artefact, Savos urged him to give the hand to one of his companions. Savos also connected Salibar’s newfound undead nature to Malediction and the wraith the party fought in Grimordia. According to Savos, only a self-banishment spell or a greater restoration would cure Salibar’s undead affliction.

During this conversation, Salibar also found that a hidden compartment had been stitched into the bottom of his pack. Upon examining this compartment, Salibar found a locked lead box that he recognised as a magical dampening box. Savos urged him to try the code that Salibar himself would have used to seal the box. Upon entering the numbers 6-7-4, the box opened. Salibar found several objects inside this box, including the first of the Wickerman’s Tomes and the ring described by Titus Kiyth. He also found a note written in his own hand and signed “S”. The note read: “*I was hoping you would find this later. Keep these in the box or they’ll find us. Don’t mention this to the others. I’ll protect us*”.

Lilliana used her downtime to search through Van Helsing’s belongings. She found a number of case files, one with her name written on the front (however, her surname had been erased). While not giving Lilliana the name she sought, the file gestured towards another file containing information on a “suspected Archfae”. The file connected this figure to Lilliana and numerous missing individuals. Helsing’s notes also indicated that the Archfae was a rogue agent with an unknown court alignment. Finally, the file contained a note, seemingly written to Helsing himself, to “consult the Chronicler at the next chance”. Lilliana also found a complete Monster Hunter’s Guild Guide, which she took time to examine. However, she found no information about the hagravens the party had encountered.

## The Stone Brig

### Day One

Upon arriving at Misclap, the party was confronted with a heavily fortified city under a giant, lighthouse-like structure that radiated beams of light over the ocean. Before arriving at Misclap, they were surrendered to the city guard, who “arrested” them for piracy and confiscated their goods.

They were moved to a prison arranged in a panopticon-like layout, with a central guard tower overseeing rows of cells. Here they were introduced to the prison’s warden, Marcus Ironfoot, who, strangely, had the insignia on some of his medals (?) rubbed out.

On their first day, the party met several prisoners. Salibar spoke with the most intimidating prisoner, a towering Dragonborn (more dragon than born), who offered Salibar information in exchange for a shiv. They told Salibar that he could find a shiv on a tabaxi prisoner. Lilliana spoke with two individuals: a necromancer named “Stumps” and a blind drow. This drow revealed that they were also in league with the Crooked Men; however, they revealed that they had failed to complete their mission, and thus, they were stuck in prison. Finally, Ciarán, for the first time, met some shadar-kai, who he struggled to communicate with. These shadar-kai revealed that their home was Alyvesari.

At lunch, Salibar approached the tabaxi the dragonborn had told him about. The tabaxi offered their shiv in exchange for some unreasonable demands. Salibar refused this offer. During lunch, Lilliana also spotted Nimbin the Nose in the prison’s mess hall.

In the mines after lunch, Lilliana and Ciarán confronted Trusk the Great Orc and questioned him about his decision to abandon the Crooked Men. Trusk revealed that he had been offered four times the rate promised by Legless Jim to engage in random attacks to prevent “adventuring types” from reaching the city of Featherpost. In addition, he revealed that he was working for “Silver heart,” an individual or group that the party quickly connected to Tobias Gold.

The party was introduced to their cellmates in the evening, meeting Tarquin the Trickster, who had been imprisoned for a week after writing an insulting ballad towards Misclap’s ruler; Tolvar the Blacksmith, who had stolen a rival’s blacksmith’s patented designs; and Graxx the Ironfist, an enforcer who was arrested for beating some individuals. The party talked with Tarquin for some time before being shushed by the guards at curfew.

### The Next Week

The party would spend many days in the Stone Brig. Throughout their imprisonment, they continued to gather intel and learn about the prison. They attempted mining below the prison and spoke with figures such as the drow, the dragonborn, and the shadar-kai again. Upon speaking with one of the shadar-kai, Ciarán was able to organise an assassination hit on Nimbin the Nose in exchange for passage out.

One day, Ciarán spotted Foxx Rouge. While he tried and failed to get information out of Foxx by asking about their connection to an accountant, he was able to share the location of Foxx’s cell with Lilliana and Salibar. The party converged on Foxx’s cell just as the nearby guards had been drawn away by a scream, presumably the sound of Nimbin being assassinated.

When the party confronted their target in their cell, Foxx appeared amused by the party’s lack of interrogation skills. Then, producing a handmade lute from under their bed, Foxx began to play a tune and vanished. At first, the party scrambled to find Foxx. However, they were able to magically reveal the bard and silence them. Foxx, unable to cast any magic, surrendered to the group and offered to exchange information for passage out. Despite initially refusing to give any information until they had escaped, Foxx did eventually reveal that “The Magpie” was based in Featherpost and revealed that they were a gnome. The party promised Foxx passage out and left the bard in their cell.

Having interrogated Trusk, killed Nimbin, and dealt with Foxx, the party returned to the blind drow to report that they had finished their tasks. However, the drow appeared confused and revealed that Nimbin was still alive. According to the drow, Nimbin was still in his cell. Upon hearing this, Ciarán began to panic and begged Lilliana and Salibar to accompany him to confront the shadar-kai assassin, but the pair refused. So instead, the party decided to confront Nimbin directly.

The party found Nimbin in his cell. Nimbin, recognising their intentions, begged the group to spare his life, revealing a great secret that would supposedly put their lives in danger. According to Nimbin, the *real* Legless Jim had been replaced by a doppelganger. Nimbin offered evidence for his claims in the form of a buried cache. The party, however, did not trust the cannibal or his claims. One of the party members **(*I think it was Salibar*?)** knocked Nimbin unconscious, and both Salibar and Ciarán left the cannibal in his cell. Lilliana, however, lingered behind and killed Nimbin.

The next day, something unusual happened. The gates to the prison were opened, and a group of new prisoners were marched in. Among the prisoners was Warden Ironfoot. A new, short-haired woman spoke to the prisoners, introducing herself as Warden Rice. She claimed that the “corruption” in the Stone Brig had been rooted out, and all guilty individuals had been imprisoned. Salibar, Lilliana, and Ciarán were faced with the prospect of being detained indefinitely. Ciarán reacted by searching for signs of unrest that could lead to a prison uprising, Lilliana reacted by continuing to mine and shave time off her sentence, and Salibar decided to “silence” Foxx Rouge.

Having decided to silence Foxx himself, Salibar confronted the bard in their cell, where he smote Foxx with his bare hands. Despite Salibar initially overpowering the bard, they were able to deal a great deal of damage to Salibar. In the fight’s final moments, Foxx pushed Salibar against the railing on one of the higher levels of the prison before saying, “Deal’s off”. Foxx then pushed Salibar over the railing, and the tiefling fell unconscious into the open space below.

The sight of Salibar falling caused a ruckus, and in the confusion, Ciarán raced over to Salibar’s body to stabilise him. At the same time, Lilliana spotted Foxx above, and casting dissonant whispers, she killed them, and Foxx’s lifeless body fell onto Salibar below. Salibar was gravely injured and close to death, so Ciarán relented and revealed his magic, healing Salibar to prevent him from dying. Upon seeing this, however, the guards raced to apprehend Ciarán. The half-elf did not struggle against the arrest or deny that he was a healer, and he was thrown into solitary confinement in a lead-lined cell.

After a few days of being locked in his cell, the door to Ciarán’s cell opened, and a halfling introduced themselves. They apologised that the  “plan” had gone awry and introduced themselves as Derrick. The halfling also handed Ciarán a bent copper piece, known as a skew to those in the Crooked Men, reciting the words “for every crooked penny”. Ciarán was then escorted out of his cell. Salibar and Lilliana were also escorted from their cell in the same manner.

Having escaped the prison, the party relayed the information they had received from Foxx Rouge to Derrick, revealing that the Magpie was a gnome in Featherpost. During this conversation, the group questioned Derrick about their knowledge of “Tobias Gold” or “Lewis Cypher”. Derrick was familiar with the name Lewis Cypher and revealed that the gnome had passed through Misclap recently. Derrick also gave several favours to the group, giving each member a copper skew (a small favour within the Crooked Men) and a gold skew (a major favour). They also offered each party member a magical tattoo, revealing their own tattoo’s capabilities by transforming into a gnome woman. This was supposedly compensation for the magic items that the party would no longer receive. The party also received 350 gold.

The night closed with the party in Misclap, ready to receive their tattoos and explore the new city.