Over the Rooftops

and

Justin as the DM

"**Over the Rooftops**" is the twenty-fifth episode of Rise of the Arcane, the third season of Tales From Del'nasra

While breaking into a brothel's bathroom through the sewers, after having split up, a few members of the party were attacked by a belligerent sailor who stabbed Antyr with lethal intent and have just watched as after they rendered him unconscious he rapidly withered into a husk in front of their eyes.

## Episode Synopsis

#### **Previously on Tales from Del'nasra**

*"Antyr, Lionel and Grin reunited with the others in the sewer hideout under Port Creach after being teleported back there by Iggwilv after the trio suggested that course of action as things with Guardian Peshan weren’t lining up correctly and suspicions were beginning to bubble up. The trio explained to the others that the ritual Guardian Peshan had sent Antyr on had failed and they instead ended up in a place in the Feywild called the Dreaming and learned some vital clues in regards to the Grand Restoration there and were given advice on how to unite the fey courts together against the Umbral Courts, but that would require a visit to Auntie Gothel.*

*After discussing the events of their brief sojourn, the party decided to map out the sewers and while mapping the sewers they came across the creature Jorje spoke of that lived down there, something called an otyugh. The party cornered it within its lair and it was eventually defeated, with the party discovering the remains of three missing children from Jorje’s group as well as a blunderbuss hidden amidst the mess in the lair.*

*It was here that the party decided their best course of action would be to return to the hideout and make a plan. While there Grin returned one of the children’s remains to the reef as their spirit wished and saw the marquis sloop that you all had crashed in the reef being investigated. Grin returned, shared this information and then the group formulated their plan. The masquerade was in four days time so you all decided to split up into two teams. Vonkar, Torger and Grin would map out the sewers while the others would use the sewers to sneak into the city and gather whatever information they could in regards to acquiring invitations and costumes for the masquerade.*

*While mapping out the sewers, the group doing so discovered a large blockage of waste, fat, grease and other materials in the one tunnel blocking their progress. Grin attempted to harvest some of this blockage, noting purple veins of a viscous substance streaked throughout it and recognized it as the highly volatile and explosive substance called acrid having learned about it from stories told by papa. The blockage nearly exploded during the extraction process which would have absolutely annihilated the three of them, but Grin successfully harvested some.Meanwhile, the other group wound their way through some other tunnels and eventually discovered an area of the sewers that workers and Jorje’s gang would use to get around the city. The tunnels were labeled with destinations and arrows, and choosing to follow these arrows, the group found themselves at the bottom of a latrine leading into a brothel. After some messy escapades, this group of Lionel, Doe, Antyr and Hopper successfully climbed up into the bathroom of the brothel. While inside Antyr discovered a strange colorful crystalline substance on one of the surfaces and as they went to collect it they were stabbed by a large, orc sailor claiming the substance was theirs. There was a brief scuffle against the sailor, with them eventually being knocked out and their unconscious body being placed in the stall the party had just climbed up through.As the sailor was propped up on the latrine’s seat, Antyr adjusted their head while Hopper smeared some of this substance across their face and as this all had occurred, the sailor’s body rapidly withered into a husk and they died.That’s where we’ll pick up, with Antyr, Lionel, Doe and Hopper crammed into a bathroom stall with this orc having basically turned into a raisin on this toilet after being knocked out and this substance smeared across their face."*

#### The Episode

Antyr, Lionel, Doe and Hopper were looking over the body of the withered orc sailor that sat on the latrine bench. After some deliberation and theorizing on the cause of death, Hopper began bashing the body with his shield and dropped the corpse through the toilet and into the sewers. Upon hiding in the corpse in the sewers Hopper identified the strange crystalline powder that Antyr got stabbed for grabbing was raw cathadiuum crystal, which was the Weave condensed into physical form.

The group left the latrine and entered the brothel proper where they were offered oysters and other aphrodisiac foods. Antyr ate one of the oysters, but didn't understand how to do so and broke one of their teeth attempting to do so. They then left the brothel and exited out onto the streets of Port Creach where they immediately witnessed a few muggings, cementing that the city might not be the best.

Meanwhile, Vonkar, Torger and Grin continued their travels through the sewers in their attempts to map it out, with them eventually heading down the tunnels that the others traversed not too long prior. As they made their way Grin contacted Antyr and asking where they could find them. It turns out that the others had just witnessed a mugging from an incredibly destitute looking elf who pointed them to the "Quay" to seek out fancy clothes. The group exited the sewers into the marketplace and could see the others a block and a half up the road.

Torger, under the cover of the storm and using the gloom from it, teleported behind Antyr who was now wearing Doe as a backpack and attempted to knock them to the ground as a prank, but became adhered to Doe's adhesive body and the three of them collapsed to the ground in a heap. Doe dropped their object form and the reunited party continued making their way to the clothing store to get their masquerade outfits sorted. After a few moments the party arrived at The Strap, which was the clothing shop. A customer walked out holding an embroidered bag which strangely seemed to deter the cut-purses and thieves' in the town. They entered the shop and met the elderly tailor who ran the establishment, Marius Quay.

The man who ran the shop seemed incredibly excited to make outfits for the party and mentioned he had other guests to deal with first. In the back he was meeting with a group of pale elves and their sprite companions, before clocking they were attempting to break into the masquerade and mentioned he wasn't able to help them. Marius returned to the party and began working on their costumes and helping them purchase costumes for the masquerade. He let them know that the Marquis had sent him strict orders this year for costumes and that everyone wearing a costume would be required to stand out from the rest, citing security concerns. Torger seemed to act quite strange while discussing with Marius, trying to insist on having the same costume as someone else, but Marius seemed reluctant to do so, mentioning it sounded like they wanted to break in or sneak around the masquerade.

Eventually, the costumes were sorted with most of the party asking for custom made costumes to be picked up the following morning. Marius also explained that the invitations to the masquerade would be going out this evening using some sort of magic, to once again curb the security issue the Marquis was so adamant about. With their costumes in hand, the party left the shop and began making their way back towards the brothel at Hopper's suggestion to gain information about invitations. While discussing things secretly in an alleyway, a feminine voice was heard from above saying "Ah, shit" before they were heard running off along the rooftops, clearly having been spying on the party. Torger and Grin flew up and gave chase, seeing the figure who spoke running across the rooftops with speed and quite the athleticism. They appeared to be seven feet tall or so, and in the distance on a further away rooftop was another hooded figure of around the same height that lifted up into the sky and began flying towards the other figure, before landing and sprinting across the roofs at a remarkable speed.

Torger eventually caught up to the feminine hooded figure but failed to tackle them, while Grin cast *Darkness* and fired a crossbow bolt from the darkness, striking the feminine one in the back. Upon being hit, they shouted out to the other hooded figure saying "They're hostile! I think?!"

#### After the Break

A fight broke out on the rooftops with the party and the pair of hooded figures, with the other hooded one closing the distance with incredible speed. The feminine one spun around, drawing a large great-axe from their side that seemed to made of a writhing black metal and began swinging the blunt end of the axe towards Torger's knees who hopped around avoiding the blows. Grin tossed a net onto the feminine one, while Torger stunned the other one with a few kidney blows.

The feminine one broke out of the net, screamed and stunned Torger with the power of their shout. The other figure snapped out of the stun and cracked Grin across the forehead with the hilt of a rapier, dealing significant damage to Grin, who rebuked the damage reflecting it back towards the attacker. Words were exchanged during the tussle, with the hooded figures mentioning they were wanting to speak with Guardian Peshan, and wanted answers from their allies, the party. The party explained they stopped working with them due to things not lining up correctly and the fight ended in a case of crossed wires and mistaken identities.

The one figure who spoke with a deep, masculine voice mentioned they should speak in private as they had no idea who could be listening and lead the group towards their small abandoned shack they were using as a hideout. The figures stepped inside and removed their hooded cloaks. The masculine one was a bugbear with two red dragon-like wings with their left arm covered in red scales like that of a dragon and was wearing sleek, black leather armour stylized like a roman gladiator. The other figure turned out to be a goliath woman with pale purple skin and purple hair coming down into a long braid that started going white at the tip. Their skin was covered in battle scars and they were wearing sleek, sleeveless black armor with a tattered red cloak. They introduced themselves as Druck and Dax respectively and explained they were old friends of Guardian Peshan, calling them Kena and that they used to travel for a time. They mentioned that things seemed strange when they last met at their tower, and Druck could hear people shouting help me somewhere with his excellent hearing. When he went to investigate, Kena became hostile and tried killing the pair of them, with Druck and Dax narrowly getting away and have been hunting them since for answers on what happened.

Druck also explained that communications stopped after they informed the pair of them that Kena was going to meet with another friend, Flitz who now served on the council for the Soulspyre Academy. He mentioned it was just himself and Dax as the other members of his adventuring party had retired or were busy with their jobs. He mentioned that himself and Dax had only come to Port Creach to find Kena and get answers on why they have been unable to hear from Flitz who usually responded in a timely manner to them, but it's been quiet for a week or so, and that they couldn't go meet Flitz as visitors weren't permitted at the academy. They had been gathering information at the local tavern, but left because for some reason people seemed compelled to tell the truth while inside, like something magical was causing it.

The conversations led into the evening, and around this time a knock was heard at the door which caused Druck and Dax to instantly become vigilant and check the door, only for there to be no-one there, but Druck mentioned he could sense an invisible figure lurking about. A voice spoke outloud introducing itself as a "Courier" and formally invited the members of the Fonkey Casuals to the masquerade. Each member of the party was branded with a magical sigil, each one different from the others before they faded into the skin. Hopper immediately cast Identify on their sigil learning that it had their name cast into it as well as any other identities they went by and was also affected by the *geas* spell, citing that the specific command tied to the spell was to enter the masquerade through the front gate and that anyone who disobeyed this would come under the side-effects of the spell.

Druck and Dax explained they'd most likely be heading out in the morning, but the party were free to spend the night in the shack. Everyone took them up on this offer, while Hopper and Grin returned to the brothel, known as Harbor Tempations to spend the night there and see if they could learn a thing or two.

## Featured Characters

### Player Characters

* Antyr Xiloscient
* Doe
* Grin
* Hopper Thimblefoot
* Lionel
* Torger Otrson
* Vonkar Eldsaga

### Returning

* Dax Joraltanai
* Druck
* Kena Peshan (via Sending Stone)

### Mentioned

* The Archmaw
* Argent Nutslurry Lemongrass
* Baba Yaga
* The Bagman
* The Creep
* Duskreaper Aelinor
* The Faust and the Furious
* Flitz Tumblepots
* Marquis Torgol Marrshade
* Oberon
* Quoin Hearting
* Ven Khihalis