Session 23

Session 23

Session Begins

Langar returns from the treasury, Qo is not with him.

Ulfred is talking to Vjenga when he returns

She compliments both of his children’s brawlin’ ‘bilities, though Kare was a pain.

Ulfred says that he was always a weird kid

He asks about how the party met

Vjenga recounts the raid from Boundless Stronghold, into being rescued by the Group of The Phantom Queen, and helping them with the Fang of Fenrir

Venphira is with Jinx, and moving toward the castle. They are in the middle of town.

Venphira is familiar with the layout of the town. A few noteworthy places that are not the castle are The Iron Tavern in a large town square, home complexes, and a large farm. Next to The Iron Tavern is a recently refurbished temple to Tyr.

Venphira sees a familiar face, she has seen them before because they worked for her parents. Lothtr (Loth-tar) Weillardson(?) is opening his tavern when he spots Venphira and quickly goes inside.

Venphira says to wait she needs to stop, and Jinx says “No”. She goes ahead to scout the castle.

Jinx stealths ahead.

Venphira enters the tavern, she sees a few patrons but not Lothtr.

She asks about Lothtr, but they are CONKED OUT. Food coma level. This guy is hibernating.

Venphira will leave and approach another straggler, they are still drunk but not incapacitated like the other one. They say that Lothtr is either in the back or upstairs, probably.

Venphira first goes upstairs, there are tables and a sort of casino-layout.

There is an employee upstairs cleaning table, he appears to be 1/4th elvish. He has one nubbed ear.

Venphira asks him to bring her to Lothtr, rolls a natural 1.

Venphira goes rude mode, this is much more successful. She slams her fist on the table and demands to be brought to Lothtr.

He caves and leads her back downstairs to the trapdoor to the kitchen.

Lothtr has a large beard, a bit of a beer belly, and is missing a hand. He has a hook in the place of the hand. He has amber pupils.

Venphira enters the kitchen followed by the ¼ elvish boy.

Venphira’s favorite food is smoked salmon with lemon, and she smells it as she enters the kitchen.

Lothtr is suspicious of Venphira when she reveals her face. He has a hard time believing that she is alive. She says that she’s also surprised he is alive.

Lothtr moves around the table and bearhugs Venphira, she reciprocates the hug. He is teary. He says that he has served the Vidal family for centuries (?!) and is glad to see the dynasty isn’t gone.

She tells him that it’s good to see him, but she is concerned that the Lumleys family has taken over.

Lothtr asks if she is by herself, Venphira says no. She tells him that her friends are dining with the Lumleys.

Lothtr tells her that they should stay at The Iron Tavern, and to tell the Lumleys that he wants to extend his service to the guests of the family.

Venphira asks if he knows that Nanna is alive also, he says he can’t talk about it yet and to return later.

Lothtr suggests that she reunite with the rest of the party to keep suspicions low. Venphira leaves without eatin’ her tasty-af-sounding-salmon :(

As she walks through the city, she sees a few people whose amber eyes are emitting wisps in the same way that The Phantom Queen’s did.

Back at the castle, Ulfred turns to Solla and asks how they wound up traveling with the party.

Solla says that they are in the service of Langar. ???

Ulfred will come back to him.

Ulfred turns to Ymna instead, and asks how they crossed paths with the group.

Ymna says that they were rescued by the group

Ymna says they also recognized the description of Langar and decided to stay.

Ulfred connects the two, and turns to Langar. He says that Queen Queen Bergljot was upset when he left the army. She has expressed “fervent passion” in seeing him. YO???

Ulfred asks Langar about his armor. Langar says it was his father’s, and the two discuss the value of family.

He also brings up his excitement to see Sylvi and Kare(bummer) again.

Ulfred asks about Langar’s armor, and how he acquired it. He apologizes for Langar’s loss.

Vjenga asks Ulfred why Sylvi and Kare were far from home for so long

Sylvi seems immediately uncomfortable with the conversation.

They weren’t sure how to raise their twins, so they sent their children away where they thought they would be safe and educated.

He says that Eikthyr is an engineered creature, given Ulfred and Morgana’s blood so that he can connect Sylvi and Kare to their parents.

Solla asks if Eikthyr understands Common, and the response from Eikthyr is the most horrifying eldritch scooby-doo laughter that the party has ever heard.

Sylvi seems shocked.

Vjenga says that most dogs understand Common.

Solla asks if she’s seen many dogs, Venphira and Ulfred are both confused.

Ulfred turns their focus back to Solla

They say that they were following a friend, and met the rest of the party at a fortress.

Ulfred says that Solla must be excited, there is a “big thing” happening with dragonborns recently.

Ulfred doesn’t seem to know much about that and Solla ain’t sharing.

Solla asks if dragonborns are born from eggs.

Ulfred Does Not Know. OBvs.

Solla was a live birth but doesn’t know about how other dragonborn are dragon-born.

Solla asks if they’ve had other pets. Ulfred says that after Eikthyr they adopted maaaany additional pets. They are not engineered as Eikthyr is.

Vjenga asks about Ulfred after he mentions that vampires can change shape.

She asks if all vampires can turn into beasts, Ulfred says no - not those who have recently changed.

Solla asks if Morgana is giantkin, she says no. They don’t have giants in Arkadia, they have titans. She explains the myth of Typhon and is very passionate about it.

Morgana gestures to one of the vases in the room, it is a depiction of Typhon.

Solla asks if she got her knowledge from a monastery. She says no, though there are monasteries in Arkadia. It helps to be so well lived.

Vjenga asks if they have lived in this house for as many generations, and they say that they have not. They took over the tragic death of the Vidal family.

Vjenga is aware that there is some “wordplay” around their ignorance of the Vidal family’s passing.

While Vjenga is processing this, Langar leans over to her and asks if he hatched from an egg.

Vjenga gets into the nitty gritty of how mammal eggs and menstruation works and apologizes to the Lumleys when she gets a lil too into it.

Ulfred says that this dinner is just an informal greeting and a chance to see their children, there will be a proper party later that Queen Bergljot wants to throw. The party can expect to see the council there, including Sihinion. (yaaay)

Venphira arrives at the gates without Jinx, she is greeted at the door by Nanna. She notices her new features as Nanna urges her to follow into the Lumleys castle.

Venphira asks if it’s really her and grabs her wrist.

Nanna says yes, and repeats the request to follow her inside.

Venphira seems content with the response that there will be time to talk later. There’s something underneath? Detect thoughts would be needed to know more.

Venphira walks into the room where everyone else is seated around the table. The Lumleys tear up as they see Venphira, they seem surprised. They say that they’ve heard from Leonidas that she was alive, but are still shocked.

Venphira moves to sit beside Sylvi.

The Lumleys stand and seem to consider hugging her but think better of it.

They say that they found Nanna in the rubble, and are glad that there’s another survivor.

They say that Lothtr found Nanna. They also claim that they were in Arkadia at the time of the murder and the fire.

They offer the party their hospitality, and ask if they will stay in the castle. Venphira quickly declines and says that she has already made arrangements to stay with Lothr at The Iron Tavern.

They ask how Venphira survived.

She doesn’t mention the sErvant that helped her, she says that she got lucky.

Vjenga asks Sylvi if she’ll come with the party, she says yes.

Vjenga asks Venphira where Jinx is, she becomes very concerned when she is absent, presumably gettin’ into trouble.

Solla asks about the locations of the Valkyrie items, and the Lumleys show the party. One is in the mountain’s near Martin, another is in Hannon Forest, and the last is by Oakwatch.

There is a plague in the area near Hannon Forest, Ulfred says it has something to do with the curse of a madman. It’s one of the main reasons Jongar avoids that area.

The one in Oakwatch is already laid-claim-to by Rösk. They are familiar to Solla and the leader of this dragonborn Troupe. They have not found it but have told the Lumleys that they want it.

They say that they aren’t sure about the situation in Boundless Stronghold, news travels slowly from there. (shoulda rolled insight on this but whatever brrooooo insight got a lot of mileage that session)

The rest of the party is led out of the building, Langar hangs back to talk to Ulfred about Johannes Goldenheart

Ulfred says that he has made “quite a name for himself” and they should see him at the party.

The rest of the party is outside. Venphira gets Vjenga’s attention and says that Jinx is somewhere scouting around outside.

Vjenga is peeved and gives Venphira a hard time for not keeping a closer eye on her. Vjenga says she’ll hold Venphira accountable if Jinx has gotten into trouble.

Moments later, Jinx HURTLES down into Vjenga from somewhere up on the wall. Like a fuzzy cannonball.

Vjenga catches her (with her face). After realizing who it is, she asks where Jinx was. Jinx says that she was doing some “window shopping”

Vjenga asks if she took anything, Jinx says no. Both Jinx and Vjenga roll natural 1s in persuasion and insight.

Jinx says she was unable to get in. Vjenga is upset that she tried and cites the Lumleys as a bad group to be caught by.

“I don’t get caught.”

Jinx says that they’ll probably need to break in anyway.

Leonidas walks all the way back to The Iron Tavern and then turns around to go back to the castle. Langar gets a few more vials of blood from him before he leaves.

Lothtr is with a halfling who is BODYING several trays of beer and carrying them through the tavern.

Venphira approaches them and introduces the party. They get four rooms, 5 7 8 9. Room six is taken.

There is a great variety of people in the tavern, including a trold playing cards.

Langar is still carrying his javelin. As he holds it, clouds and thunder crackle around his arm. Vjenga helps him put it on his back, and offers him her shield. He accepts it but tells her to hold onto it.

Venphira asks if now is a good time to talk, Lothtr says not yet. He invites the party to enjoy the tavern, and says that there’s also a temple of Tyr next door which he’s been fixing up recently.

He says that he’s been renovating it, but has had problems with ghosts. Vjenga offers to try to clear them out.

Langar asks about his missing hand in relation to Tyr. Lothtr says that it was lost in a gambling match with angry cheaters, not in anything in relation to Tyr. He expresses interest in finding an artificer to make him a new hand.

Ymna shakes the hand hook (?)

The party agrees to help clear out the ghosts, Langar will stay back to avoid being affected by Vjenga’s ghost-be-gone. The party is not sure how that would affect him. Vjenga says she’ll shout for him if they need his help.

Langar asks Ymna about how he’d heard of him. He says that a  family (human, yellow armor, with blue tattoos under his face) friend told him about a stubborn dickhead soldier who wouldn’t take off his armor. Ymna’s group, The Erfi, gradually split up.

Langar makes a joke, Vjenga is very proud of him. He says he’s still struggling with knock knock jokes.

Langar tries to gamble. He loses 3 gold and gains 5. Big winner.

Venphira, Jinx, Ymna, and Vjenga all go ghost hunting; they are pointed in the direction of the church of Tyr. Outside there are rose bushes. Inside, there are flipped pews and benches, and the church is lit by torches.

Vjenga reminds the party that possession happens and can be BAd Bad.

Venphira casts Protection from Evil and Good on Vjenga.

The church is overrun by vines, it seems peaceful and serene - unusual for Tyr who is a war god.

Vjenga investigates some papers on the podium. They are stories of Tyr. It tells how he sacrificed his arm to contain Fenrir. His abilities are beyond most other gods. People who follow Tyr tend to have high honor and dignity, and will avoid trickery. Some cut off their hands in his honor, but that’s not on the papers.

Ymna walks around the church, off to a hallway on the right. He sees statues and awards on the wall down the hallway. One statuette is faceless, holding a sword in one arm and missing the other. Ymna sees the statue’s face move before the ghost moves through him, he resists the possession. The ghost passes into the cupboard behind Ymna.

Ymna summons the rest of the ghostbusters, and Vjenga investigates the area where the ghost vanished.

She doesn’t detect anything, but when she calls for the ghost and tries to reassure it, it pokes out from the cupboard. The ghost is similar in appearance to that which possessed Angelina, but it is missing a hand.

Vjenga continues to try to talk to the ghost, though she doesn’t know if it is capable of replying. She tells it that it’s time to move on and that it can’t stay.

The ghost reacts by moving to grab its sword. As Vjenga and Ymna move back, it swipes at him. After it misses, it sinks into the floor and leaves the realm.

The lights in the corridor flicker and die. In the darkness, Ymna can see two wispy amber eyes glowing.

The wraith asks what time Ryan wants to go bowling tomorrow. The ghost’s name is PETERGRIFFIN2005

The lights move down, and Ymna can detect arms moving down the hallway at it launches itself at him. It hits him for 24 hp and reduces his max by the same amount. It bits his neck and siphons off energy.

Jinx sees this happen to Ymna and casts a chromatic orb, she chooses fire damage, it hits, but the wraith does not take as much damage as she’d expect. (resistant)

Venphira casts mage armor on Ymna and summons her sword.

Ymna casts blight, the wraith is not affected (immune). Blight has no effect on undead.

The wraith tries to attack Jinx, and vanishes into the wall behind her, next to Vjenga.

Vjenga uses sacred flame, and casts spiritual weapon at lvl 4 (Claude). She screams for Langar, who dips from the table where he’s sitting. Langar jumps out the window to take a shortcut and get there in fewer turns.

We conclude that Jinx’s chromatic orb can count as sneak attack because it’s a ranged weapon. She tries to hit it with thunder damage this time. It is resistant. The wraith is bloodied.

Venphira attacks with her sword and misses.

Ymna casts moonbeam over where the ghost is at that moment, though it escapes the area before it can start taking damage. Ymna’s magic resembles the pokemon moonbeam.

The wraith suxx Vjenga as it did Ymna and reduces her max HP.

Venphira swings as it moves, but misses.

Another wraith appears next to Venphira, attacks her, but does not reduce her maximum hp.

Claude unhinges his jaw and swallows the wraith closest to Jinx, and Vjenga turns undead. The sole surviving wraith is turned.

Langar enters the church on initiative 20.

Jinx shoots the wraith twice, though it is resistant as these are not magical arrows.

Venphira hits the wraith with her draconic sword, and uses hexblade’s curse. Shadowy tendrils form a draconic claw that keeps the wraith in place.

Venphira is attacked by the wraith, and uses hellish rebuke. An icy draconic fist reaches out of her to strike the wraith as she is attacked.

Langar dashes to get up to the rest of the party, action surges, and attacks the wraith twice. It has resistance to his non magical greatsword.

Vjenga flanks with Langar on the wraith, with Claude, who crits. He inhales/vacuums another wraith, and is showered with Vjengapraise. Langar seems disturbed by this.

After it is established that everyone seems safe, Langar says he won two gold but might be down a little money after breaking a window.

While the party continues to explore, they see the same frost spirit eating that Angelina did when it stole her mushroom, but it quickly vanishes.

Venphira approaches and enters the confessional booth, Jinx breaks into the other side and enters as well.

Venphira is not very religious, but spends the time in the booth talking through her thoughts.

The Midgard serpent makes a brief appearance.

Venphira says that she may not be able to help her companions, and may have to turn her back on them, but she asks that anything or anyone listening protects them.

Jinx uses minor illusion to create the voice of an old man from above Venphira’s head. It says “you are forgiven.”

Venphira believes that this is the voice of the Allfather forgiving her, and has a touching experience. As a warlock who previously had no faith, this is c r a z a y and deeply moving.

Jinx does not get caught

All of the ghostbusters except Langar return to Lothtr, who thanks them for their help. He says that he’ll have a look over it and pay them if it’s clear. Langar pays him 25 GP for the broken window.

Langar gives Lothtr an additional two gold when he enters, and pays him the additional two GP he won.

The party goes to bed. Cuddle puddle time.

Session ends.

Enjoy the lovely festive ferret