Session 72: Chosen, P.I.

The group teleports to Cho’s sanctuary in the Valley of Five Rivers, then flies from there to Seagate, a small city with a large gate slowing down the river. Cho guides them to the impressively large but understaffed church. Derek, the head of the church, is giving a speech, calling for donations so they can take more action. After the sermon ends, Cho approaches Derek and they immediately start arguing. Cho accuses him of sacrilege for refusing to take in refugees from the dragonborn occupied lands, while Derek argues that they might provoke an invasion if they do. Cho expresses that he wants the church to aid the effort to retake Kadoma, by offering shelter to their allied forces. Derek asks who is on their side and isn’t very impressed by the mention of Moradhin and Redmud. They explain that the gods are on their side as well, but he isn’t convinced. He emphasizes that they are welcome to stay here but that he won’t aid in any war.

They leave and go to the Ivy League tavern in search of Dalg. Cho talks to the barkeep, who says that neither Dalg nor Elra have been seen recently. Cho mentions to him that he heard a rumour that the war declarations were fake. The barkeep says someone from Glyckheart has been insisting on that as well. He also claims that a shady figure, possibly a hired killer, has been staying at the Blackwater tavern and skulking around at night. Cho pays the barkeep a huge tip to make sure the tavern is doing well. Then they head out to investigate the alleyways that appeared in Cho’s dream. They search around and Vojta finds some gouge marks and dried blood stains on the back wall of the church. Cho recognises this from his vision and concludes that Dalg was indeed killed here.

Intent on finding the killer, they go to the Blackwater tavern. Cho asks the barkeep if one of his patrons has been asking about him. He says no but he hasn’t worked here long. There is a drunken babbling man who seems homeless, so Cho offers him a bed to sleep in. He drunkenly wonders if Cho wants to kill him. Cho picks him up and brings him to the church while he protests and babbles incoherently. Cho gets a priest to cure his intoxication. The sober man then explains that his name is Tulgar and he drinks to forget his time in the army. Cho offers to give him money for more drinks in return for information. Tulgar says that two weeks ago a man showed up looking for an enforcer of Yane. Derek sent him away and nearly got stabbed. He frequently comes into the tavern at night but he hasn’t seen him for three days. His room is the fourth window from the left. Cho pays him as promised.

The group sets up a stake-out for the killer. Cho heads inside the tavern, Vojta keeps watch on the roof as a raven, and Nan hides in the alley, cloaked in magical darkness. After a while, the window opens and a shadowy humanoid squeezes out. Nan tries to mentally stun it, but it resists and runs away. Vojta caws, alerting Cho. Nan sprints after the killer, but finds it waiting around the corner and gets stabbed with an enchanted shortsword. Cho runs outside and blocks the killer’s path, but it teleports past him and continues fleeing. Vojta reverts to human form and tries to polymorph the killer, but it seems to be resistant to magic.

Nan flies onto the roof and shoots at the killer, blowing holes in its body. As it flees further away, Vojta turns into a giant wolf and sprints past it to block its path. It turns around and flees into the tavern. When Nan chases inside, it further wounds her with a thrown shadowy sword. Cho then bursts through the wooden wall and cleaves the monster clean in half with Kolo’s sword. A gaunt humanoid form with no face remains. While it’s still half alive, Vojta tries to read its thoughts, but they seem to be warded. Nan finds that her wounds from the magic sword continue draining her life force, so she dispels the weapon’s curse while Cho decapitates the creature to be sure.

They pay the barkeep handsomely for the damage, then head out carrying the monster’s body. Cho recognises from his dream that the monster’s sword is a colourless replica of the one Dalg’s killer used. That leaves them with no trace to find the real killer, so they decide to go along to Watershade. First they burn the demon’s remains outside the city, then spend the rest of the night in the Ivy League tavern. In the morning, they get a telepathic message from Disiver’s demon guard, claiming that the master they seek hasn’t returned yet, but a different master wants to speak to them.

Cho doesn’t want to go, but Nan and Vojta say it might get them leverage against Disiver, so Cho accepts. He first informs Derek about the matter of Dalg’s murder and the demon. As a sign of good faith despite their disagreements, Derek casts the death ward spell on him. Vojta then teleports the group back to Disiver’s palace. The two demons point them to one of the other buildings, the observatory, and claim that a past version of Disiver lives there. Inside the observatory, they find various demons working with scrolls and taking measurements on an orrery.

A large many-limbed demon with a bug-like face greets them. He explains that a copy of him is made for every demon lord he works for, so that no information of one demon lord is passed to another. This version worked for Pha’uel. He took an interest in them because Nan tried to open the vault and got further than most mortals. He asks how they invoked the current Disiver’s wrath, so they explain why Ti’ireth wants them gone. He then offers to help them by giving access to his archives. They ask if he can open the vault, so he says he will try, but it may have been changed too much.