Undead, Bar Fights, Scribes, and Beholders - 10th Session

A quick return to Rock Hammer, and just in time!

The Brigade, on their way to Sundabar, made a quick stop in Rock Hammer before catching a boat in Everlund to sail the River Rauvin to Sundabar. And it was a good thing they did as they approached the city gates the guards shouting that there were undead in the Lower Wards. The Brigade ran to the location and found a good deal of undead that apparently burst out of a warehouse and onto the streets of Rock Hammer.

A good amount of citizens (eight) lost their lives on the streets to the undead, but the Brigade overcame the attack and slew the undead. Inside the nearby warehouse the group found an Undead Gateway. An evil, necromantic portal that gates in undead. The Brigade learned that what mostly likely happened was that these undead that were kept in check by the nearby Temple of Bane in preparation for their attack. With no one to monitor them, the undead burst out of the warehouse and attacked the city.

C’Nedra later gave her assessment of the situation:

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“This is exactly what we at the Temple are working against. Once the Standards of Sehanine are ready to plant in Rock Hammer, this will never happen. We are so close to finishing them. But, perhaps we should wait a bit and install them when Baern is crowned King?”

Baern, with the help of The Kingdom Society member Logan the Huge, reluctantly agreed to this idea to further convince the populace that Baern as King of Rock Hammer would be in the best interest for all.


A Fight at the Gates of Ascalhorn

The bartender and owner of the tavern (Der Terpeck) informed the Brigade the Deylsina would join them in the morning. When she did, and after introductions were made, she informed them of some bad news:

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“We have hit another snag. You have been pinned as Netherese agents in Sundabar and the guards will be on the lookout for you if you try to enter the city.”

Deylsina was about to elaborate, but a tavern patron who had just stepped out, fell back into the Gates of Ascalhorn with three arrows protruding from his chest. Seconds later a raging fire burst into flames just feet from the PCs table. From this fire emerged four lava elementals. From outside the tavern, fey-ri bowman and a tiefling occultist attacked from a distance.

The fight got off to a bad start as the ever expanding fire and the auras of the lava elementals (along with some difficult terrain) bottlenecked the heroes. At one point Xune made an observation on Deylsina’s attacks that would prove eerily true later.

Eventually Logan and Baern made it outside to start to work on “Nenra” the tiefling occultist. Once the lava elementals inside were dealt with, the tiefling and fey-ri bowmen surrendered. Other members of the Brigade quickly organized a bucket brigade to quell the fire inside the Gates of Ascalhorn.

Der Terpeck warned them that the authorities would be here soon (delaying them a great deal), so the Brigade had to act quickly. They grabbed Nenra and with Deylsina, they followed the tracks left by the tiefling and her fey-ri bowmen back to their camp. Here is what the group learned:

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From Deylsina: A fellow scribe (Reynis) in Sundabar approached her saying that he works for a merchant who is known to work with Netherese agents, with details on how he is ordered to copy documents that deal with defenses of Silverymoon. Deylsina informed Blaynden Darhunson in Silverymoon and had planned to meet Reynis but he never showed up for this meeting. The next day, Deylsina’s house was burnt down and she believes the same people had done something with Reynis. Deylsina proposes that the group sneak/coerce/climb their way into Sundabar and find Reynis’s house.

From Nenra: A dwarf named Karbean hired her and her group to kill Deylsina for 200 go. Nenra first burnt down her house, but she got away and they followed her here. She does not know why Deylsina must die. Karbean can be found in the Red Rooster, a low-quality tavern on Dalt Street in Sundabar.

From the Campsite: Inside one of the saddlebags was a notebook. The book lists Deylsina’s name and her description, as well as the names of the members of the Brigade. It also mentioned the name “Karbean” along with “Red Rooster, Dalt Street”.

These are not the Netherese Agents you are looking for

Plans were made to gain entrance into Sundabar. Xune went the sneaky sneak route and easily made it in (4-for-4 on her skill checks). Baern and Logan smooth talked the guards and also easily got in (combined 8-for-8 on their skill checks). Dokanor, carrying Homba, scaled the wall and got into the city with relative ease (combined 8-for-10 on their skill checks).

Once inside they met up with Delysina and began looking for Reynis’s house. They quickly found it, found a way to sneak in, and discovered a strange looking stone wall where the cellar should be. Logan bashed through it and they found a near dead Reynis in the half-flooded basement with a crossbow in his hands. Once revived, he had this to relate to the group:

Initially Reynis though his boss, Kal Clewsoro (who deals with Nethrese agents), hired these attackers who just imprisoned him in the cellar. Reynis was asked by his boss to copy the documents that dealt with the defenses of Silverymoon. He informed Deylsina of this and was set to meet her the following day with evidence from the book. When Reynis went back to the scribe shop it was closed. A strange thin man, that smelled of the sewers, sent him away. Later that night he was attacked and retreated to the cellar to make his final stand, when he was sealed in. The more Reynis thought of it, the more he thinks his boss, Kal Clewsoro, got in over his head and drew some unwanted attention to himself and his endeavor.

The Brigade skipped the Red Rooster and went straight to the Scribe shop. Since Homba so deftly picked the lock (incredible roll considering the Halfling isn’t even trained in thievery), the Brigade was able to slip in unnoticed.

From a back room they overheard two human men arguing over a dagger. A bellowing voice, which seems to come from much deeper, shouted “Keep it down or I will have you for lunch!”

Xune slipped into the back room of the scribe shop and saw the two humans arguing. Tried as she may, she couldn’t take out the two minions. A warning shout went up, and seconds later both henchmen were dead.

The booming voice returned telling the guards to shut up for the last time as he was busy interrogating the prisoner. Logan and Baern kept up the ruse and escalated the argument over the dagger in hopes of pulling the boss up from the sewers below.

They did, and discovered the Xxorthas the boss was a beholder.

The battle was a little rough; Dokanor got dominated twice, and Xune once. Homba was dropped and Baern and Logan, at different times, were nearly dropped as well. During the battle, Deylsina ducked down the ladder under the trapdoor to rescue the tortured prisoner Kal Clewsoro.

Towards the end of the battle, just as Deylsina returned upstairs, Dokanor was knocked into the hole and to the sewer level. There he found two guards dead and the prisoner Kal Clewsoro had bled out.

As the battle with the beholder was wrapping up, Deylsina had slipped out of the scribe shop. The Septasigilurue was nowhere to be found. The Brigade is sure that “Deylsina” had taken it.


A disappointing return to Silverymoon

The Brigade returned to Silverymoon to a distressed Blaynden. While he is glad that the documents did not fall into the hands of the Netherese, he is concerned about who did in fact, receive them.

Two weeks later Blaynden himself arrived in Rock Hammer to speak to the Brigade privately. It turns out that the real Deylsina died one day before the Brigade arrived at the Gates of Ascalhorn.

When the Harper agent Deylsina started inquiring about Kal Clewsoro (who was having Reynis copy the Septasigilurue), Xxorthas the beholder (who was exacting revenge on the Nethrese agent Kal Clewsoro for being past slights) sent out his mercenary band led by Nenra the tiefling to eliminate this threat.

Nenra burnt down here house and thought Deylsina dead, but a man named Metzuk managed to drag her out of the house. Before dying, she gave Metzuk the name of the clerk that gave her information on Kal, and the name of the PCs sent to help her.

Metzuk was not an innocent bystander. He was a drow infiltrator from House Tlabbar (which makes Xune observation earlier pretty funny, and this is why Blaine got a mysterious 25 XP chip towards the end of the session). Metzuk knew he couldn’t act against the Netherese by himself, so he assumed the role of Deylsina to gain the help of the Brigade to gain the Septasigilurue for himself and his house.