DND Blog

A place to keep DND session recaps, from various campaigns.

The Sixtieth Session

February 5, 2022, Campaign: As the ground quakes, evil wakes

The Party arrives in Setton, and visits a hunters' guild. The Party learns of a quest to to save an artist, missing in a mansion. Ryltar makes friends with the Half-Orc scroll-scribe Guleva. Salris changes patrons. Jerry ponders our next steps.

Table of Contents

  1. Last session
  2. Aboard the Flying Banshee
  3. The Hunter's Table
  4. Winifold and A.R.N.
  5. Guleva's Scrolls and self
  6. Salris' meditation
  7. Next session

Last session

Aboard the Flying Banshee

We continue to discuss the terms of the offer we're making to Xander. He thinks it over, too.

After a week, we arrive in the outer waters of Setton. Fishing vessels are thick, pulling up fish and crab pots and kelp, and all other manner of sea life. They wave us on, towards shore, towards a massive landmass where we make landing.

The breaking waters at the join of the freshwater river and the salt sea greet us with a sprawling river delta. Sprawling sandbars and rocky outcrops jut from the seafloor and the river. A sprawling city covers the northwest of the delta, built on giant stone arches that reach above the city, joining the river delta. The city continues inland, rising with the plain, now founded on solid rock instead of stone arches. Somewhere between Baton Rouge and Venice. Music reaches our ear, which to a Terran ear might sound like Creole: horns and fiddles and singing.

The Flying Banshee limps into port.

Captain Wilton Grace stands at the railing and breathes, "Well, I didn't think I'd make it. But I'm glad to be back."

Ryltar asks him if the payments from the passengers will cover the broken mast. The captain says that the cargo will cover it.

The ship docks at one of the outskirt arches, and we discuss next steps:

The captain pulls Ryltar to the side, and asks if he smokes. Ryltar says yes, and the captain pulls out a pipe with a stone at one end. They share a smoko. The captain tells him to keep it, as Ryltar needs it more than he. The smoke and the calm it brings lingers. The smoke forms moving shapes that reenact the bearer's "most impressive and heroic" achievements.

Salris asks Xander if he's had time to think it over. "It's a tremendous offer," says a hesitant Xander. Salris promises he won't be offended, no matter what Xander answers. Xander says, "yes." Salris dives straight into the budget breakdown: 150 to get to Quadroads, from passage to guards to wagons. 150 gold for stocking the tavern. Instructions for travel. Jerry's letter of introduction to Fenross. Our uncertain timetable for return. A healing potion for his travels. A patch from the vest of patches, which turns out to be 100 extra gold.

Ryltar watches the smoke, seeing how he saved Moon's life when she was trying to steal the Ice Heart of Winter. The smoke fades, and the pipe whistles. It's the Pipe of Remembrance.

Ryltar wobbles, as his sea legs get the better of him now that we're on land.

As we're leaving, the captain says: "You don't do a good job of listening to warnings. Don't go to the Hunter's Table." We reply to his sarcasm by asking where to find it, since we wouldn't go there. "Follow the main trail until you hit the crest of the road, and it should be on your right. Tell them of your exploits." Tell them, not don't tell. "They saved my life, and they like a good tale."

He wishes us safe travel. Salris tells him of Seamus, asking his patience with Seamus.

The Hunter's Table

So we go to the Hunter's Table. The giant stone arch rises out of the water, and we walk along it inland to a bustling, lively city, full of spices and music and sweet smells. A tower on the eastern side of the city overlooks everything, like a lighthouse and watchtower combined. The city rises to a crest, and there, to our right, clad in antlers and horns and bones, is the Hunter's Table. The oaken doors are heavily riveted, with devil-horn handles.

Ryltar whether there's a table for us. The bouncers ask whether we have spoils. Jerry pulls out the 26 Sea Dragon quills, one by one. The bouncer keeps one, and opens the door.

Inside is a giant firepit, with multiple spits. Oaken balconies. Antler chandeliers. Bone furniture. Pictures and dioramas and models of hunts and encounters. On the far wall, in the triangle beneath the rafters, is a painting of someone running away from a twelve-headed hydra. The ceiling is bordered by taxidermied heads of all matter of huntable, thrill-of-the-hunt animals. Owlbear and bear pelts on the floor, thick under foot, and may paintings of things that we don't recognize.

Salris thinks it's Jerry's sort of place. Jerry disagrees, too gauche. It's not the sort of place where we would be able to sell a trophy.

And behind the bar, above the casks, is a giant owlbear.

Other skeletons, which we don't recognize:

So Ryltar and Salris go to get a drink, and Jerry and Vurguron go to find a table and food.

The bar sells meat as well as booze, which you cook to your own tastes. The bartender is a scarred male Goliath - scarification scars, not just wounds. "You're new here, but you got in. Sup?" "It's an interesting place," says Ryltar. "Oh Yes. The Hunter's Table is known far and wide to get you what you need from all sorts of creatures. You might want to look at the board," and he points us to that.

The board is covered in postings, and next to it is a greatsword, sticking point-first up through a table, upon which are spiked completed bounties. Are they a guild, asks Ryltar? "Some might call us that, but we mostly keep to ourselves. So what brings you here? Glory? Bounties? A good drink?"

"A good drink," says Ryltar.

"What's the strongest thing you got?" asks Salris.

"The last time you asked that, I woke up in a pool of blood," says Ryltar.

"How strong can you take?" asks the bartender, and offers his arm for arm wrestling. Ryltar says no; physical strenght isn't his forte. Salris rolls his sleeve up and takes his hand: a 15 versus the bartender's 10. 13, now the bartender's winning. 15 vs 6, back to center, 5 and Salris' arm is forced down.

Vurguron tries his hand and on the second roll gets the bartender's arm right back up, and then is slammed almost to the bar with a 1, and with a 14 fights his arm back to center, and holds it there with a 10, gains a little with a 15. On a 1 performance, Vurguron yelps childishly, and the crowd laughs. "Salris!" he squeaks, and Jerry wanders back. The bartender gains a d4 of inspiration from the crowd's encouragement, but with a 25 versus the bartender's 20 Vurguron pushes the bartender's hand back to the bar, and lands it with a 17. The Party cheers and the bar groans. Vurguron congratulates the bartender on his strength.

So for the four of us, the bartender pours us all a deep, dark ale, that leaves shadows in our vision as the glasses move. The first round is on him.

For food, there are many options: gator, insects. Next to us, a Kenku gets a beetle the size of his wing. We get gator tail, and Jerry cooks it, eerily knowing how to handle this scaly tail. Salris asks after shellfish, and orders claw. The bartender reaches into the fridge and pulls a two-foot-long crab claw, and a smaller live crab. Salris pulls the celestial dagger out and kills the crab; the knife's effect seeps into the crab; searing it somehow. "What the fuck" says everyone. Salris sheathes the dagger and goes to the pit.

The firepit is giant, with rods and spit-holders all over the edges.

Jerry's expertise with preparing scaly tails — like she got really practised at eating Yuan-ti tail during the wars — makes a very good gator roast. Vurguron averts his gaze. We stand at the high tables near the firepit and eat our platter of meat.

Ryltar examines the bounty board. 6' tall, 3' wide, covered in papers: sometimes an image and a location, or a demand and a price. Notable:

Ryltar asks about "Brennor", and the bartender says that he's the next town over. There's multiple giants rattling around, and the giants are fine, but the pet causes problems when it gets out of hand. "That sounds terrifying," says Ryltar. "And that's why they called us," says the bartender. "Is the mission to get rid of the pet or to knock it down?" The bartender points to the notice. "That's what it says. 'See Brennor.'"

The immediate center of the hall is taken up by a group of hunters, almost holding court at a banquet table, talking about their exploits.

Salris' crab claw meat is delicious; he offers it around the table. But the meat of the crab shell stabbed with the dagger is weird; it's almost rotten in appearance, and tastes … on the brink of going bad. It was fresh moments ago, but now it tastes like it's been in the fridge too long.

Ryltar gets curious about the dagger, and borrows it from Salris. He pricks his finger with the dagger, and with a 12 constitution roll he takes 1 point piercing damage, and 21 points poison. "Holy fuck", says Ryltar, as he watches a bead of silvery blood jump onto the dagger. Salris hits Ryltar with Remove Curse. Where before the blade couldn't be cleaned of its blood, now it only holds a third of the blade covered in blood. Maybe it has three charges per day? Ryltar asks him how he got the dagger, and Salris talks about getting knockout drunk at the Regular Inn, which seems … uncharacteristic for Salris. Upon further questioning, Ryltar says that it's probably a good idea to ask around at temples for which celestials bleed quicksilver.

We check to see if this lodge is a place we can sleep for the night. Yep.

What do we know about where Majorie is, and who she's with? Not much at all. Jerry says that we should ask around about the conditions of the Kulahar Wilds, and what tribes may be active in the region. The Party asks her about tribes, and they refresh themselves on what Majorie looks at. Jerry hmms, and studies the painting on the wall beside them. A dragon rears above a warrior, holding a shield. The longer she stares at the painting, the more it looks like the warrior is raising the shield, and the dragon is stooping down to bite. She doesn't mention this to the others; she thinks it's paranoia about Kerjes.

Ryltar is not liking the idea of another boat ride; we decide to trek up by foot. But what will we see around? Ryltar decides to schmooze.

The Kulahar Wilds are from the south side of the river, all the way to the desert. "Not a lot of people go there, and fewer come back," says a grizzled old fighter, who laughs when Ryltar says we'll be going deep, and sobers when he learns that we're dead serious on going deep. "Look out for Girallon," says the hunter. "Alone they're bad, but in packs, that's baaaad. Also look out for the large insects. They fly, they crawl, they swim. Anything that shits in the woods can kill you there. They're all poisonous; I haven't found one that wasn't. Now, I haven't encountered a carnivorous plant, but I wouldn't doubt it."

Ryltar asks after the tribes. "Those who come back are twisted, not like yourself." He recommends we bring rope and fresh socks, and something to keep us high and dry. "Like a collapsible boat," asks Jerry, and the hunter nods in response. There's not much good to getting around in the wild jungle, but you could skirt the southern edge, where there's desert. The hunter is an old grizzled Dwarf.

Jerry spends some time looking at the art. It's not just the one painting that moves; many of the paintings in the Hunter's Table are slowly-moving action shots, quietly trickling from one position to the next. She moves closer to one, and she sees a flash of an artist's signature: A/R/N/. She goes back to the board, and finds the posting that says; "Missing artist: A.R.N.. Recovery, 200 gold."

She asks the bartender who did the art, and gets told that it's A.R.N.. She asks about the posting, which says A.R.N. is missing. The bartender says that he can ask the person who posted it, but the Hunter's Table hasn't ever seen A.R.N. himself; they only deal with the middleman/dealer, Winifold, who'll be around in the morning, as they often are, since A.R.N. is missing. "I'll ask around," says the bartender, "and maybe next time your friends will be deserving of the bloodwine."

The evening passes into night, and the energy of the table begins to come to a drowsy level. Some stumble upstairs; some make more sure-footed directions. The beds are rugged wood frames, covered in furs and goose-down pillows.

Over breakfast (a giant egg, baked over the fire), Salris drops the Pearl of Power and attunes to his dagger, Angel's Grace.

First three hits, target makes a DC 15 Constitution save or take 3d8 poison damage, or if they are a fiend, undead, or fey, take radiant instead of poison damage.

As he reaches out to it, it feels like something is clawing, raking him back away from the dagger, towards something else. As he attunes to it, there's a comfort to it, like an idea of acceptance. A promise, a weight. A memory of him pulling it out of a body when the blood was fresh. "Greater things are in store," says a voice, and Salris feels an anger. The dagger is trying to draw him back.

He thinks he can't use it as he wants to. Something in him was trying to stop him from using it.

So he deattunes from it, and there's a feeling of a chill embrace. He reattunes to the Pearl of Power.

Salris comes to a realization about what's going on here, and talks with Ryltar, who's cracking the egg with a spoon. "Ryltar, we need to talk."

"What 'bout?"

"Uuuuuuuuh. This is gonna be really weird, sound crazy."

"You learned something about the dagger."

"Yeah," he explains the dagger, "So, while I was attuning to it, its name by the way is Angel's Grace," "a name befitting a nimble weapon," "mmhm, but while I was attuning to it, there was another force at play, inside of myself, which was trying to get me to not attune to it. And then when I attuned to it, I heard a voice, and felt anger. Then when I unattuned just now, there was this chill, it felt like a hug from my father."

"So why did you unattune from it?"

"I wanted to see what would happen. I think I know what's going on here. That choice is: which patron do I choose, to give me my magic?"

"Interesting."

"That's what it felt like: like parents fighting over custody."

"And here I thought it was because you were a Tiefling holding a holy weapon."

"Common misconception, understandable, but what to do?"

"Well, in practical uses, you've got a flaming sword, and a dagger that does a lot of damage. But the practical choice to be made is —"

"Which patron? Which do I attune to? This could have dire consequences, and do we want to deal with that in the forest? What if I lose my magic? I mean, I'd kill my own father again, but"

"I'm not the most moral person here, but did Thalia see something in you that you didn't see before? You've talked a long time about your moral compass."

"I'm gonna go think about this; I just need to go someplace and think about it. If I come back and give you your Pearl of Power, it's obvious what I've chosen."

"Salris, when you're making the decision: not everything in life is something tangible. Not everything is perfectly black-and-white. Not everything is money. I think you are being afforded a great opportunity."

"I have a choice to make." Salris takes a plateful of the egg and walks back to the room.

Winifold and A.R.N.

Jerry is waved down by the bartender, who is accompanied by a well-dressed middle-aged Half-Elf gentleman, of sleek black suit and fine haircomb and long face, looking down his nose at everything through a tiny pair of pince-nez. The bartender introduces her to A.R.N.'s dealer, Winifold.

Winifold explains that A.R.N. never leaves their mansion, and has not been seen in many days, breaking their usual pattern of daily correspondence with Winifold. The mission is to send someone into the mansion to find A.R.N. and look after them. This will be the second time. The first time was within a year of Winifold's hiring.

A.R.N. is a single humanoid, and their creations are "a great many things" which we should take care not to damage. Paintings, sculptures, pottery, glass. A.R.N. delves into the arts deeply and with breadth.

Jerry thanks Winifold for the information, and accepts the admonition to keep it quiet. If we are willing to take the mission, we should find Winifold on the plateau, the third house on the right-hand street. "Please, if you would, sooner rather than later. If they were to get lost in themselves, it would be worse than being lost in their own mansion. Good day."

Jerry decides to wait until a private moment to talk about this with the Party. But there's no one here, so we talk about it. Whether to do it when going or coming back from finding Majorie. We know she would've gone by the Water Line, a series of wells that run through the center of the desert, from Zennar north.

Jerry spends some time thinking about it; she likes what Ryltar said about using the artist's connections to find more information, in the hopes that it would help us get to Majorie faster. But it's also a good idea to talk to Majorie, and we need a spell scroll of Sending for that. The bartender points us in the direction of a reputable seller, and we go off to buy one.

Guleva's Scrolls and self

Guleva's Scrolls is positioned atop a stone arch, far from water, and is reliable. Chirula's has lots of possibility, but is down at the waterfront, looking up from under the boardwalk. We head to Guleva's, leaving Salris behind to think.

Up the road, northeast and inland, there's a squat tower with a square base, wider than it is tall, with a scrollwork sign saying Guleva's Scrolls. The interior walls are covered in square slots, and the counter is tended by an adolescent Half-Orc girl, just a few years older than Majorie. She twiddles a quill idly. "How can I help you?"

"We're looking for a spell scroll of Sending."

"Who are you looking to contact?"

"Is that important?"

"It always helps." She takes out a ledger and walks through the shelves.

Ryltar replies, "No better use for a sending spell than to check on someone."

"Ah, here it is. Sending. I've got a few," and she unrolls a couple, with delicate penmanship.

Ryltar asks if there's a discount for bulk purchase, with a 29 persuasion. She asks what sort of discount; Ryltar suggests a 1/8 discount for 350 gold for the pair. She suggests 375 for a third, to check up on her, sometime.

"Are you hitting on me," asks Ryltar.

Jerry smiles bemusedly.

Ryltar blushes for the first time, his purple skin turning blue. "Yes, absolutely," he says, agreeing to the deal.

Guleva brushes the paper she was doodling with her hand, and the ink jumps off the scroll and rearranges it from the doodle to a spell scroll of Sending, with her name already written in.

Jerry asks after spells for locating someone; between Scry and Locate Creature and Augury, we take Augury as it's more useful for knowing which direction to go.

Ryltar asks if there's a Teleportation Circle nearby; it just so happens that Guleva has just had hers refinished. But every time he comes her way, she'll ask something of him. Nothing much, really.

"Deal," says Ryltar, and shakes on it. She kisses his hand, and he blushes quite hard.

"Careful," warns Jerry, "You'll make the boy overheat."

"What do you think I'm trying to do?" Guleva leads him up the stairs by hand, to her spell circle, and she leans against the doorframe to watch him memorize the spell circle in ten minutes. It takes longer because he's flustered. She helps with that.

Fifteen minutes after they went up the stairs, they return.

Jerry asks one last question: whether Guleva's seen another Half-Orc girl, about Guleva's height and age, but Guleva hasn't.

So we leave Guleva's, with the poleaxed Ryltar, and Jerry alternately smiling and frowning. We go back to the Hunter's Table. Salris is still in the room; so Ryltar goes to knock.

Salris hears a knock at the door.

Salris' meditation

So Salris spends some time doing some thinking about his path in life, and the mechanics of his weapons. And he comes to a decision.

Salris hears a knock at the door, and gets up. It's weird, but he hears a knock on the door. He answers the door, and holds up a hand. "Are we ready?"

"We're still finding the final destination for our trip."

"Need any gold?"

"Okay." At his hip is the normal Flametongue. "I suppose I wasted eight grand on this."

"It served you well." Salris has unattuned from the Flametongue and reattuned to the Whip of Wounding, and his summoned weapon is now the Angel's Grace.

The second attunement was not as daunting as the first time around, not as surprising. He pushed through; it felt like daggers scraping across his entirety, inside and out, but he reaches out and grabs hold. Flashes of memory, the tavern, drinking, stabbing, blood, wine. A resonant male voice, saying, "You were protecting someone. You would have sacrificed much, not for yourself." Memory floods back, and he grabs hold of some item, the power and connection and warmth seeps into him, binding him. Blood crosses the blade, mercurial, extending the natural curve of the blade, twisting and bulging into a large sickle, drawing into a burst of white feathers, and then it rushes back to the hilt, in a wavy khopesh shape, with damascened metal along the blade in the pattern of a wing, covered in white feathers.

Inside, Salris feels a parasitic bond snapped and broken. In his hands he holds the +2 Beautiful Khopesh (longsword, light). In the spines of each feather that makes the blade looks like a thin vial of metal.

Salris turns to Ryltar. "It's more capital to trade away, when the devil comes a-calling. I suppose you want to know what I've replaced it with?"

"The dagger?"

Salris summons the khopesh. "It was not the most pleasant internal fight. I've cast whomever wants to reclaim me for … I don't know what I've cast it aside for. But it's got to be better than what I had before. Time will tell what I have gotten myself into, but that's the business we're in."

"We're in it together; that's what really matters."

Salris has a lot of magic items as trade goods right now.

He's named the weapon "Thalia's Grace." The name appears in words graved in red around the white hilt.

Ryltar thinks to himself: The fourth star is white.

Next session

Jerry's message to Majorie:

Glad tidings of your safety. Would like to meet tribe. In Setton. Shall we visit? Employment options in Quadroads, ¿desired? 'ware dragons, Guleva, Hunter's Table.