Episode 199 - Betrayal in the White Spire

Mike Bachmann is a traitor! The White Spire is under attack and the party rushes up the various floors, gathering up various potions, scrolls, and other items to prepare them for the big boss battle on the 7th floor... only to find out the big boss isn't the monster that's been attacking the tower, but Jett Razor and all his masked assassin buddies from an otherworldly city called Nareev!

## **Story**

The party has entered the White Spire and the RAD is freaking out. There's no way to track the monster that's attacking the tower because the RAD is saying there is a massive magical disturbance throughout the whole building. But they know the monster is real. Everyone is panicking and trying to escape, including Zothan the guard who tells Toby that he's seen the horrifying monster himself on the seventh floor, where it was cornered the last he looked.

The party moves onward and upward, from the lobby, up through the library where Toby saves a few books, to the fourth floor where they pick up some scrolls, and through the Potion Lab where the sees signs of battle and dead guards about the floor. On the sixth floor, Magical Law Enforcement and Incarceration, there isn't much to see besides a few newly imprisoned folk, including a disgraced wizard Mandar Handuke Cardoor, which the party decides to leave in his cell before moving up to the floor where all the commotion is occurring. The Hall of Mysteries and Dangerous Artifacts.

Small doors line the room and strange, unknown, artifacts that are likely cursed, and definitely dangerous, are scattered about the main chamber. Runes and magical symbols are etched into the floor, dampening any magics that would allow individuals to pop into or out of the room with ill intent. At the other end of the room is a wooden doorway, larger than all the other doors, that is barely holding shut as some monster continually crashes into it from the other side. The beam barring the door could splinter at any moment. So the party looks about the room to plan their approach to combating whatever it is that's on the other side, when the door behind them suddenly slams shut. And from all the smaller doors that line the room appears twenty masked assassins. One of them speaks, asking to confirm that the dwarf is Aludra, and it's Jett who responds, after moving on over to join his mates. His crew.

They all wonder what is going on, and Aludra asks Jett if these assassins are the birds he's always talking about. But Jett corrects her and says that they are the birds. The party and everyone in Drunkeros. He and his people are from Nareev. Jett calls over one Jerry and asks him to turn into a table and some chairs so they can have a quick chat. He explains that they, the Nareevians, live in a city that's currently held up in the sky, unseen by those below. To prevent it from crashing down and getting destroyed, they've managed to channel all kinds of magic the White Spire that shoots up at the sky to support the city. Their city was pulled into the world of Drunkeros when magic of the world was fundamentally altered by Zird the Arcane. They appeared in this world and saw it all covered in demons. And even when the demons were fought back, all that was left was a planet filled with what they saw as inferior beings. Jett Razor doesn't mind giving them a few answers before they die, but Jaela cuts him off before he can say too much more and combat begins.

An assassin in a cat mask strikes at Jaela as she tries to attack Jett. Aludra uses Stone Shape to create a coffin of stone behind Jett. Toby is confused with everything that's going on. He's only just met the party, including Jett, and he has no idea who all the masked people are. He doesn't understand why they're fighting each other rather than preparing to fight the beast that on the other side of the door, still trying to bash its way through and get into the chamber. However, he does have the presence of mind to counter Jett's magical attacks on Jaela. And in an attempt to gain a few moments to understand what's going on, he casts *Wall of Force* and encases Aludra, Jaela, and himself. Just as he completes the spell, the giant wooden door is shattered, knocking over a glass-like barrel containing an unknown red liquid. A giant explosion busts out the walls and crumbles the floor beneath them.

They all fall.

## **Trivia**

* Steve coming back was planned since before The Battle Above the Abyss, when Steve mysteriously disappeared from Thom's head.
* Jett intentionally tried to get Harper killed and so only used his weakest attack against Longcryer.
* There is no plumbing inside the White Spire when it comes to toilets. Everyone poops into Bags of Holding.
* We're told the holding cells are now on the sixth floor rather than level thirteen. But we're also told that the library is on the third floor yet spans several stories. Either floors are subdivided into multiple levels, or the cells could be considered the sixth or thirteenth floor depending on how you count it, or... magic.

## **In This Episode...**

### **Cast and Player Characters**

* Michael "Thrifty Nerd" DiMauro - *Dungeon Master*
* Mike Bachmann - Jett Razor
* Nika Howard - Jaela
* Jennifer Cheek - Aludra Wyrmsbane
* Tim Lanning - Toby Treacletart

### **Non-Player Characters**

* Zothan
* Masked Assassins
	+ Egyptian Cat Mask Assassin
	+ Jerry (Not that Jerry
* Prisoners
	+ Mandar Handuke Cardoor

### **Locations**

* Glaine, the Jewel of the East
	+ White Spire

### **Inventory Updates**

* +A book on various Yanghar based plants. How to Greet People in 46 Different languages. And a children's book on not being rude.
* +Some scrolls of Flying, Arcane Eye, Locate Creature, and perhaps a scroll to allow them to talk to donkeys.
* +Some healing potions, acid, climbing, and a Potion of Resistance
* -1 Jett Razor from the Party

### **Quest Log Updates**

* [Complete] - Discover who the Masked Assassins are.
* [Complete] - Find the monster terrorizing Glaine, the Jewel of the East
* [Complete] - Discover the cause of the magical disturbance
* [Complete] - What are birds?
* [NEW] - Defeat the threat of the Nareevians
* [NEW] - Defeat Jett Razor
* [Active] - Curse of the Raven Queen
* Save the shrinking high elf city of Galanthis

### **Quotes**

**"The birds. Right. Right, I forgot about the birds. Do you know what birds are? Do you know what *birds* are! Birds are *you* lot. You're all birds! All o'ya. Every single one of you are biiiiiirds. Alll of you. Everyone... from Drunkeros... is birds."** ~ *Jett Razor of Nareev*

## **Rolls**

* **Recap**
	+ Jennifer - 18 - 10
	+ Bachmann - 18 - 3
	+ Tim - 14
	+ Nika - 9

* Toby - **Arcana Check** - 24
	+ The entire tower is shooting energy that's being funneled into it and straight up into the air.

* Toby - **Arcana Check** - 20
	+ Agrees to get those scrolls.

* Jaela - **Intimidation Check** - 6
	+ Mandar Handuke Cardoor is confused why Jaela is glowering at him.

* Toby - **Nature/Arcana Check** - 24
	+ Nothing distinguish it. Anguished Howls... Anguish Towels.

* Toby - **History Check** - 13
	+ Hasn't heard of Nareev

**Jaela**
- Names Jett as her Oath of Enmity and...

*Combat Begins*

* **Initiative** vs Jett and the Masked Assassins
	+ Cat Mask Assassin - 19+
	+ Jett - 16 + 2
	+ Jaela - 17 + 1
	+ Aludra - 17 + 0
	+ Toby - 12

*Round 1*

* **Cat Mask Assassin** vs Jaela
	+ Melee Attack - 25... but with disadvantage... 23 vs AC
		- Hits - 14 damage (bludgeoning) & 21 damage (necrotic) (resisted to 11) - Max hit points decreased by 10
* **Jett Razor** vs Jaela
	+ *Geas* vs Will
	+ **Toby** reacts and casts
		- *Counterspell* (at 5th level)... but at the last second doesn't... because Geas...
		- Fails - Nat20 - Jaela unaffected
	+ *Bardic Inspiration* to one of the closer Masked Assassins
* **Jaela** vs Jett
	+ Melee Attack - 28
		- Hit - Miss - Critical Hit - 56 damage
* **Aludra** vs Jett
	+ *Stone Shape* - To make a stone coffin behind Jett about 10 feet away from him.
* **Toby** vs Jett
	+ *Wall of Force* - Creates a dome containing himself, Aludra, and Jaela.

*Combat To Be Continued...*