Amulet of the Mad King

## Overview

The first story arc completed by The Unbearables.

* Primary quest giver: Barrio Babius
* Objective: Recover the Amulet of the Mad King
* Primary Antagonist: Malum and gang

## Summary

### Meeting Barrio

In the city of Boulderton, rumors spread fast. It wasn't long before news of a traveling scholar in search of security reached the ears of all the members of The Unbearables. In a library, they met with Barrio Babius, an archeologist from the Aronian Society of Scholars. He explained to them that he was looking for a relic called the Amulet of the Mad King. It was owned by a powerful and crazed self-proclaimed king of the CPGAC.

To prove themselves in combat, Barrio had the party accept a bounty to slay a rock golem in the mines, which they completed successfully. The next step was to find clues about the Amulet's location. Lucky for them, Boulderton is a city rich with historical knowledge in the form of engravings. After some searching, they found an engraving depicting what they assumed to be the tomb of the Mad King. And so they set off for the CPGAC to find it.

## Locating the Tomb

The party journeyed east for a couple days, encountering some wild beasts and friendly traders, to the city of Madellow. There, they rested for a week so that they would be in town for the Summer Festival.

### Summer Festival

This yearly event attracts visitors from all across the land. It is full of street vendors, games, food, and drink. Artemisia and Smokey participated in Halfing Tossing, where they won candy, a couple small goblin ragdolls, and a gold dragon plush. The party also went to The Treasure Chest brothel for the first time. The biggest part of the Summer Festival, however, is the Grand Tournament. This tournament features a different competition every year. This year, it was basketball.

They signed up for the basketball tournament with the team name "The Unbearables." Next, they went to the tailor and got purple basketball uniforms. Then, it was time to compete. First round against The Watermelons was an easy victory. Second round against the Ball-Stars was a normal victory. The last round against The Monarchs was tough, but after some performance enhancing drugs and a couple incapacitations of enemy players, The Unbearables achieved victory. They won some fancy armor and a gun.

### A Quick Stop Before Heading Out

After a night of celebration, the party awoke the next morning to a couple looking for their missing son. They agreed to help find him, and asked around for clues. His name was Apricot Persimmon, and the party found him walking north of town. Apricot explained that he was going to visit a friend, but his parents wouldn't very much approve of it so he had to keep it secret. The party decided to escort him. Apricot lead them to a cave, where an ancient brass dragon rested. The dragon introduced himself as Namulon. Much like other dragons, he liked to hoard treasure. But instead of gold, he collected knowledge and stories, and he was always willing to trade. Apricot read a children's book to him, and then Namulon interrogated the party just a little bit.

### Ok We Can Go Now

After returning Apricot to his parents, the party continued their journey onward towards Seabreeze Port, where Barrio road ahead to find them a boat. On the way they ran into Edgar, a rather creepy man who enjoyed sitting on the floor and talking about his cursed sword. Smokey ate his sandwich.

They made it to the port, where Barrio had arranged for Captain Boblin and his crew to take them over to the CPGAC.

### Ok We Are There Now

The party arrived at the CPGAC, and went straight for the rumored location of the tomb. They found it in some stairs hidden in a hollowed out rock. They descended into the room of trials, where they defeated the trials and proceeded into the tomb room. In the tomb room, a skeleton sat on a throne surrounded by statues of warriors. On him was no amulet, but rather a note. "I'll be taking this -Shadow Clyde."

## Tracking Down the Amulet Thieves

### What is a Shadow Clyde?

The party sailed back to Seabreeze Port to ask about Shadow Clyde. They went to seedy bars, less seedy bars, a library, and a retirement home to find some clues. They heard:

* He's the best thief ever
* He's an ordinary thief
* He can move between shadows
* He's never failed a heist
* He's never succeeded a heist
* He went into that abandoned warehouse over there just a few minutes ago.

After that last one, the party decided to check that abandoned warehouse. Inside they ran into a group composed of a very tall dark knight, a young half-elf lady in expensive clothes, a stereotypical rogue, and Edgar. Timeo recognized the lady as Andromeda, also known as The Emerald Princess, and the rogue introduced himself as Shadow Clyde. Combat ensued. The dark knight picked up Clyde by the face and walked through the wall out of the building. The young lady summoned a sabertooth tiger (Lucy) and followed, leaving it and Edgar to fight the party. The party killed them. Outside, Barrio was keeping an eye on the escaping people, and saw them hire a taxi to Madellow.

### Taking to the Skies

The party stole two horses, Wendy and Neigh, and road to Madellow to catch up to them. Luckily, the people they were tracking stood out, so witnesses saw them enter Workshop 17, a big and famous lab/workshop in the middle of town. The party decided to stay in an inn across the street and stake it out. In the middle of the night, the metal roof of the hanger-shaped Worhshop 17 opened up, and a airship started taking off from within. Immeral shat before waking up the rest of the party. By the time they got outside, it was already flying away. They ran to Namulon's cave, finding Apricot on the way, and offered him some of the secrets of life and death from Penelope's book in exchange for letting them ride on his back.

They caught up to the airship and killed the crew along with Andromeda's griffon Lily. The dark knight, the lady, and the rogue all escaped by jumping off. On the ship, they found a chartaphone, a device than can record sounds into holes and bumps on strips of paper and can play them back later. They found a recorded log from the dark knight, revealing that his name is Malum, and that they have a camp at the Sandstone Ruins in The Dry. Nixx figured out the controls enough to land the ship by town. However, Namulon was quite upset that they put Apricot in danger.

### Wet Trouble

Next, they flew to The Wet, a very small oasis town that's pretty close to the Sandstone Ruins. There, they encountered Viktor, an inquisitor for the Church of Lumin. They chat over drinks with him, and as night fell they heard a loud howl. After looking around for the source, they found a werewolf chained up in the tavern's basement. The tavern keeper explained that the werewolf is his son, who chains himself up every month so he doesn't hurt anyone. Viktor catches up to them, and draws his warhammer to smite the "foul creature of the night." The party was now stuck between a member of Artemisia's church trying to do his job, and a man trying to keep his son alive. They decide to dunk Viktor in a barrel of low quality wine, before allowing him to beat the werewolf to death. As Viktor walked out, a quick cast of Spare the Dying and a bit more healing magic kept the werewolf stable.

### Dry Trouble

Under the cover of night, the party then went to find Malum and gang's camp. Upon approaching it, they saw the group fighting with bandits. The party jumped into the fray, fighting against both sides. Andromeda fought with her unicorn, Layla, but Smokey caused it to explode.

When the tides turned in the party's favor and both Andromeda and Shadow Clyde were incapacitated, Malum put on the Amulet of the Mad King. Darkness emanated from him and he began casting powerful magic. They beat him anyway. With more healing magic, all of their foes were kept alive and brought back onto the ship. After questioning, Malum and gang revealed that an old man claiming to be an oracle approached them in taverns, offering them a quest. He predicted that the dragons of the north were preparing to declare war. Malum and gang were to recover the amulet and offer it to a gold dragon as a peace offering.

### Wrap-up

The party brought that information to Namulon, who explained to them that gold dragons are staunchly committed to wiping out evil, so offering one such an evil artifact as a gift would be seen as a great insult. He then revealed that he was looking into the assassination of Artemisia's mentor, Alithea. He tells the party to investigate the Ferrymen, a rumored group of assassins. Lastly, Namulon says that he will be leaving his cave to explore new areas and learn new things.

With the amulet recovered, Barrio's quest was completed. He decides to join the party for one more night on the town. The Unbearables, Malum, Andromeda, Clyde, and Barrio all decide to hit The Treasure Chest.