Founder's Day Eve

The party rest at home, where they have a half day until their Founder's Day obligations with the Virture of Grace. Bivouac crafts a makeshift mask and hunts centipedes while Rah-Cerves experiments with his collection of centipede goo. V creates an elemental to watch for centipedes. They discuss what to do about the Crimson Night information they have, and decide to investigate the turncoat that may be present in the Church of Waukeem. Heading to the Church of Torm to investigate who that might be, they ask Father Ruscolda, who professes ignorance but seems to be holding something back. Rah-Cerves disguises himself and stalks the Father, entering the church and discovering he is missing. A book is open to the page on the Sundering, and the pedastel is askew - he reveals a passage with stairs down. He enters, his facade of disguise magically falling away as he discovers a grand library with two chairs and a fireplace. Father Ruscolda speaks, "it's good that you finally joined me, Rah-Cerves". They sit together and Ruscolda closes the door with a snap of his fingers. He says he knew more about Zerude than he let on, and he knew Rah-Cerves was disguised from the beginning. He says the Crimson Night look to make moves on Founders Day, to take down this individual (the crimson night defector, possibly the Follower of the Coin (the church leader)). Father Ruscolda puts his trust in Rah-Cerves and AI, and welcomes him back to the library any time.

Meanwhile, Bivouac and V go shopping for magical ingredients for their wizard friend Cormass - mandrake and aceribaka. While they shop, they hear rumors - people are excited about Founder's Day, it's a new thing though, there will be a whole slew of speakers, in order: welcoming from Malpinegrove (warden), kickoff by Virtue, memoriam from Cora Ashglade (hunter), reading from Father Ruscolda, reading from Follower of the Coin, celebretory drinks from Ulric at the Rotating Tap inn, closing remarks from Virtue. V and Biv decide to check out the Rotating Tap, as they haven't met Ulric Fancywater yet. This week at the Tap is "Tomb of Inebriation". The Inn is touristy, with cutouts of zombies and mummies along the current theme of the Tomb. The drink for Founders Day is "Harlan's Everlasting Spring", but it's not available to customers. Ulric is flamboyantly dressed up as a lich, and they convince him to offer a preview of the drink, claiming to be health inspectors for the Founder's Day tomorrow. He toasts to potential future partnership with AI. The drink is fizzy and they toast and drink to Wade Harlan, the Founder of Grace. V doesn't drink, and plays it off without drinking the beverage. Bivouac downs it, it's enchanted from a magical spring, fae or other magical source. Ulric lets on that AI is scheduled to give a speech as well, which Bivouac and V were not aware of.

Meanwhile, Aurelia takes her Vector deck, disguises herself as a cool teen, and goes to the Church of Waukeem to snoop around. She encounters the other teen acolytes and plays cards. In contrast to the stark, impoverished Church of Torm, the Church of Waukeem is expansive and well-appointed. She loses a couple games to a teen, Stoth Blacksoar, who hints that there's a tunnel system down below the church, with monsters. He offers to show her the tunnels that night. Aurelia arrives at the Church of Waukeen later to meet Stoth, while the rest of the party lurk outside in case shit goes down. She meets him, while V's fractal eel familiar follows behind. Stoth locates a tile on the floor of the church, clicks it, and the pews open up to reveal a passage. He's nervous, and Aurelia realizes he's never been down there before. He hits a dead end, just a small storage area, but the fractal eel triggers the second mechanism, opening up a deep winding cave. The eel then unlocks the front door for the rest of the party. They sneak in and follow behind. Stoth  says the dead roam these tunnels. They head down and hear a groaning sound, and then two eyes, fangs, and a scaled head and a puff of smoke.

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Next Episode: Founder's Day