A Crimson Night to Remember

On the road south to Bravado, Tue is sick and overheating; Mama is tending to her. The party vote to approach Bravado under a ruse: Rah-Cerves will disguise as the dead half-dragon and pretend to have hired everyone else as mercs. The place is an overgrown ruin, but clearly used to be a bustling town. They spy darting red shapes up in the canopy, and Rah-Cerves announces himself. He talks to disembodied voices in the growth, skeptical of the newcomers, who call him Drang'Poth. Two figures emerge from the canopy and stand before the cart - two additional red half-dragons, winged, very formidable-looking. It appears the Crimson Night was not the one individual already killed, but a larger group. Rah says one of their party is ill, Tue, and that part of their agreement is that Tue's ailment will be addressed. They pass off Tue to the older half-dragon, who examines him and says he is not sick; he asks about the "scout's report", which identified the party, as well as a human that is now missing (Rah). They successfully lie their way through the encounter until suspicion is allayed. The dragons suggest spies are working for them in Grace and Mod. A kobold is summoned from one of the homes, scolded for lying, and incinerated by the half-dragon's breath. They ask "Drang'Poth" about the missing shipment, and sends him out to follow up with the tavernkeeper, their contact in Grace. They walk deeper into town with the party and reveal a passage into the earth under a ruined blacksmith. As the half-dragons descend, they transform into their human glamour forms, similar to Drang'Poth, with big masks. They come to a central room in the underground lair, some kobolds running around, empty sacks stacked up, a small armory of shitty weapons, and finally a large finely appointed room. Another figure with a mask and red robe stands there and looks up at them, named Visage, squinting in suspicion. Rah-Cerves' disguise holds firm, and Visage recognizes the party as the Acquisitions Incorporated franchise. He asks about their missing human, and Aurelia says he fell behind and was left behind. Rah-Cerves peaks at the paperwork on Visage's desk, and sees a lot of complicated information about a ritual that is being planned. Visage asks the party to help them acquire magic scrolls and tells them about a tower NW of Grace, guarded by hostile wildlife, and asks for the magical scrolls hidden within, and will be paid by the Crimson Night if they retrieve them. Visage asks Drang'Poth as well for one more thing, for the leader in town of the Church of Waukeen, who has strayed from the path, to be taken care of and replaced. He says that once the ritual is complete, the Queen (Queen of Asha?) will be able to pay him in full. The two other half-dragons escort the party out while Rah-Cerves stays behind to talk to Visage. He asks about the delivery and wonders if the tavernkeeper is to be trusted, he wants "Drang'Poth" to investigate. Rah asks about the bowstring, what Visage calls part of the Oathbow. He says they will not be giving it away, and asks Rah to see that Team Ivy sees a swift death after their usefulness is over. Rah inspects the last part of the base, which appears to be a forge with kobolds working on putting sacks of material in a forge and a figure with a large hammer and anvil working on a sword and melting down gold coins and hammering them into the sword. It's a bearded blacksmith, who says his smithing isn't "for you, you know that". On his way out, one of the first half-dragons confronts him and shoves him to the ground, taunting him, but he doesn't see through his disguise.

The party roll off down the road and discuss things. They vote not to disclose anything to AI Home Office yet and gather more information. They mush on to Mod and reach it just as night falls. Mod sits in a valley, with a large stone fortress in the middle and a large mansion. Mod is known for poverty and masonry. They roll up on the rough and tumble tavern and stay the night. Bivouac asks about Sir Clevin, and it appears 40% of the room is named Clevin. He hears that Sir Clevin the Maul, the great hero of Mod, saved Mod from the creeping dead skeleton menace blight, and lives up in the mansion. Bivouac meets Bauros Tourjar, leader of the rocksmiths, who says the union and the corpos are having some trouble with each other, issues at the main town quarry that ownership doesn't want to fix. If they go down to quarry to fix some things, the union could get them some cart/horse, masonry work for the base, and gold. He wants us to capture one of some sort of underground creatures that has been harassing the miners. They go to bed and V has nightmares once again, a voice ringing out again, asking for her name. V doesn't give an inch, and sees herself as a centipede as she thrashes around. Aurelia watches and believes that the centipede within V is being used as a focus to spy on her. Aurelia induces vomiting and shoves her hand down V's throat, yanking a fully-formed centipede out. Rah-Cerves bottles it up.

Previous Episode: V for Vendetta

Next Episode: Make the Undead Dead Again