Prisoner 626

"Prisoner 626" (C1.S08.2) is a one-shot in the first campaign of The Vanguard.

## Synopsis

On a miserable day in Waterdeep, Izzarina Whellerton, head of the Chapter House Shadowhand called Chase Fletcher a human rogue, Mirabellis a half-elf warlock, Kereg the half-orc barbarian, Aelariana of Eldoria the Eladrian cleric, Thale Stormstride a Dragonborn fighter and Julae Butterbranch a halfling rogue to The Den. The group was greeted by The Den’s changeling enforcer Dox Tauren and permitted into the room greeted by a roaring fire. They gathered towards the back where Izarrina and Valas Dyrr waited for them. Valas made his apologies for the airship debacle and Izzarina let them know that the Monomaterial are staging a raid on Revel’s End, the infamous prison in the North, to gather or kidnap the kin of Aelara the Moonsage, thought to have a connection or understanding of the whereabouts of the 4th key to the Vault of Naraxas.

The group was tasked with extracting Thoren of Eldoria from his cell and bringing him back, offering protection and housing. Izzarina offered to send them undercover as either guards or cooks. Chase, Thale and Kereg chose the guard uniforms, and the rest took on the mantle of cooks. They were greeted by Zillat Forgehand and his automaton creation Skitch. Zillat was able to produce mage maps of the compound visible only to the wearer of a bracelet for them all and two pairs of sending stones. After handing them over, Kereg attempted to tap on them using a pair inadvertently. Luckily, Zillat provided one more from his personal effects. The group was whisked to Lusken and then to Revel’s End via the airship Indulgence piloted by Captain Xhandis who let them know their best option for escape was down the front so he could hug the cliffside, hiding the ship from the towers.

The group was greeted by Seargent Barg who promptly gave them a quick tour and dropped the cooks off to Tiny Toulaine in the kitchen. Walking by the center console for the prison, Thale noticed the buttons and dials used to operate the facility and Barg then left the guards in the barracks leaving the adventurers to work on planning the escape. Thale suggested Kereg head downstairs and meet the cooks in the mess hall. Kereg headed downstairs in search of food and finding a few guards in the hall and few unfinished portions, decided to help the cooks out and clean the rest of the food from them. Mirabellis met Kereg in the hall and Kereg told them to meet up in the hospital. After a bit Aelariana and Mirabellis found Kereg in the empty hospital to plan a bit and created a tincture that would cause someone to be sick. Fearing that Kereg got lost, Thale attemped to find him but was turned back by Barg who was sick of the new guards trying to find a bite between mealtimes.

As Kereg went back to the barracks, he spotted 626 being shoved back into his cell by a guard. As the dinner bell was called, Aelariana and Mirabellis were able to secure serving spots and Mirabellis found herself 6th in line and surmised 626 had to be in that block. Unable to find the exact prisoner, Mirabellis was nudged quickly by Aelariana walking by her as she spotted him right away. Quickly putting the tincture in his food, Thoren began to immediately become sick. Thale offered to escort him, but the guards turned him down. Aelariana was able to convince them with the help of Mirabellis and they took Thoren to the hospital escorted by another guard. Mirabellis was able to quickly convince Thoren to escape with them when the Monomaterial struck in a daring wyvern rider raid. Alarms sounded and chaos tore through the complex.

The group, on Thoren’s instruction, went back to his cell where he had been working on a way out. He’d deftly been digging a hole through the wall into a cold, drafty sink hole inside his cell, covered by a hand drawn picture of his wife, Raquel. Kereg stepped up and, with one strike, destroyed the wall, creating a large opening into a cavern below the cell. As the group dove down the ceiling collapsed leaving them in darkness. Lighting a torch and using a bit of magic they illuminated the ice cave they were in only to find a massive Ice Troll standing between them and the entrance. During an intense battle, the group consumed some cold resistance potions as Julae shot from afar and Chase struck from the side. Mirabellis wisely lit the creature up from the start using Faerie Fire offering a better target for the group. Finally, Aelariana’s guiding bolt split the creature perfectly down the middle exposing its innards. Thoren began to extract the heart knowing it has magical properties.

As the group stepped out of the cave, they were immediately greeted by a wyvern rider named Norzuc, The Crueltalon of Manshaka, and her wyvern Dagahra. Kereg had a friendly conversation and Norzuc promised to kill him last as she sprung sending a bolt into Thale from across the way crippling him badly and vanishing from sight. As the guild members tried to bring the wyvern down with Eldritch Blasts and steel, it struck taking a bite from Kereg and sending its stinger into Thale leaving him at death’s door. Thoren offered Thale a bite from the heart knowing it had regenerative powers, but Aleriana healed him. Kereg, enraged from the blow grappled the wyvern growing gigantic in size. As The Indulgence showed up firing ballista bolts into the creature, Norzuc began to flee. As they left, the group attempted to bring her down, but they barely escaped. Xhandis, knowing there were more, took the ship back to Waterdeep.

As the group gathered once more in The Den, Izzarina greeted Thoren. He admitted he knew nothing of the whereabouts of the fourth key and offered to help the guild if they could secure his wife and child and reunite them. Izzarina agreed and became frustrated with Thoren’s lack of knowledge knowing the full extent of the resources they put into getting him out. As Izzarina’s frustration peaked, Thoren admitted there was a 5th key that was needed to open the vault and that key was locked in him. As he revealed this secret, the tattoos on his body, resembling a tree with branches on his face, trunk down his arm and 5 roots running down his fingers began to glow a brilliant soft green.

## Guild Dispatches

The following are messages from the guild members who participated in the mission. They contain valuable information the guild can use to piece together clues.

> *Kereg’s ~~Diary~~ Report*
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> *Today Mira and I went on our first adventure for the Vanguard. It was a lot of fun. We got to practice being sneaky, fought some big baddies, and learned some interesting new things. I hope we get to do it again soon. Oh, and thank you Mira for writing this for me, I don't know what I would do without you.*
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> *We started out in Waterdeep, where the weather was horrible with lots and lots of freezing cold rain drenching us to the bones. Luckily, the rundown building the Vanguard call home was nice and warm, and I enjoyed the smells coming from the kitchen while one of the leaders was talking. I got a bit distracted when two of them, a rabbit person Mira tells me are called Harengon and a little ahtomoatar, handed me some shiny rocks. They was saying something about getting someone out of prison, and we had to go on an airship there and back, which sounded like a really good time.*
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> *Mira and the others seemed upset when I tried to figure out how the stones worked and accidentally used them or something. They didn't tell us how they worked, so I think that was on them. I could have easily crushed them like pebbles, but I was just tapping ‘em and accidentally turned them on. Next time I will ask first, but I know everything there is to know about spending stones now.*
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> *Anyway. We made our way to the prison onboard this wicked amazing airship. I forget what it was called, but Captain Xandis was really friendly as we flew to Luskan and I liked talking to him a lot.*
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> *When we got to the prison we was supposed to be guards and cooks, and I found our prisoner almost immediately after getting something to eat! I just walked right past his cell and one of the guards told him to stay back, and I heard them clear as day and spotted some squiggly lines on his uniform. When I told my new friends Chase and Thale, though, Thale left for a little while and then we just sat around waiting in the barracks until the alarm sounded!*
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> *Mira and her two friends had apparently also found our target, but I think I found him first. On the other hand, the others had managed to talk to him as well, so that was good. We all gathered in his cell, which smelled like sick and a very upset stomach if I'm honest, and Thorin, that's our target, asked me to break down the wall. Behind a picture of a lovely lass was the beginning of a tunnel, and I knocked the hell out of it in one mighty swing!*
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> *Everyone looked real impressed as I jumped into the tunnel and landed below. I looked into the dark cave as the others jumped down, but then a troll attacked us after Ari (she has a longer name but I can't ‘member it, she's a cleric) lit her hand on fire so they could see. I guess not everyone can see in the dark like me and Mira, because right after Mira set her pretty faerie lights dancing all around the troll which made it real easy to hit it.*
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> *Anyways. Thale and I got right up in the trolls ugly face and smacked ‘im around good, and then Chase came out of nowhere and stabbed it right in the knee! That looked like it hurt, and the troll hit Chase back and that looked like it hurt even more, but Ari was good enough to heal Chase a bit. Jul, another sneaky git like Chase, switched place with Chase, which was good, and the rest of us kept hitting the troll until Ari hit it with a brilliant flash of light that almost split the thing in half!*
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> *Thorin cut out the troll's heart and didn't want any help, so I took the troll's head for myself instead. We rested for a bit as there was a lot of commotion still up top, and then called Xandis on the spending stone to come pick us up.*
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> *But on the way out this big ugly dragon-like thing landed in front of us, and the mean lady ridiing the beast seemed to be flirting with me, talking about killing me last. I promised she could just leave instead of having to kill ‘er, but she didn't want that so I rushed forward again, this time using my rage to grow as big as the creature, which Mira tells me was a wyvern, and I hit it square in the face.*
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> *I thought I had gotten it’s attention, but instead the big dumb lizard went after our friend Thale, and he is a dragonborn so maybe it was like a distant cousin or something. Who knows how dragon families get along, but if they're anything like mine it's about as well as a barrel full of starving rats going over the edge of a waterfall…*
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> *Anyway, Thale looked like he got really badly injured by the poisoned stinger this wyvern had, and Mira, Ari, Jul, Chase, and I did everything we could to kill it but we were just too slow. Since Thale looked real rough I roared as loud as I could at the beast, and then jumped in and grabbed it by its wings!*
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> *I only managed to hold it for a brief moment, and the creature rider stabbed me right in the leg as i did, but I stopped it from hurting anyone else I did.*
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> *Sadly, I did not catch the lady's name as she left without talking to me. She even offered to take me on a date, which sounded like it could have been fun, even though she did stab me in the leg.*
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> *Anyway. We took Thorin back to the guild and because we had promised to protect his wife and kid he gave the leaders some important information about a key or something. I wasn't really listening at that point as no one fed us anything after all that work and I was starving, and I eventually had to go get my own food from the kitchen. But it sounds like we did good, and Mira says I did a good job so I'm happy.*
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> *- Kereg*
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> *(Original Source)*
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1. ↑ Be aware that this is told from the player’s perspective of the adventure. Details and happenings may have been presented with some liberties taken to fill in the blanks from poor memory and scribbled notes. Other players should be asked about their views of what happened, and are also welcome to type their stories to share.