Recap: 5th Avengers, 2-9-20
By Tucker
Back at Trollskull Manor, the party found themselves inside with four armed guards on the street. The constables left after conducting their interviews, and Culdock and Geth were itching to conduct an investigation of their own when Culdock and Jarry swore they could see a rodent scurry by. Geth, not want to miss the significance in anything, checked the back room where the rat was likely to have scurried back to but did not find anything of significance.
The group headed over to Steam and Steel, a local blacksmith shop. Geth asked the proprietor if he knew anything about the explosion, or if he had seen anything preceding it. He hadn’t seen anything, but assured us that we would be safe. He pointed us toward Correllon’s Crown, an herbalist’s shop. On the way there, the group decided to check for people on the street. Jarry spoke to a halfling on the street who, through sobs, explained that the fireball had vaporized some of her friends while they were playing. She had been hiding behind a rain barrel. The child, when asked if she had seen anything strange around the time of the blast, said she had seen a strange creature leap up onto a rooftop after the fireball. When asked to describe it, the child said that it was humanoid but it was so wily that it seemed strange. Jarry decided to try to bribe the child with a necklace. The child offered to trade one that she had found, that had fallen into the rain barrel after the explosion, that appeared worn and had two beads and looked like it was missing a third. Jarry accepts the trade and tells the girl to come to him with any more information.
The group walked toward Correllon’s Crown, and met a wood elf, Falah, who greeted us. Geth introduced the party as her neighbors and asked Falah if she had seen anything related to the fireball earlier. Culdock pushed past Geth and Lauris to make it to Falah, who he attempts to woo in broken Elvish. Falah, charmed, replied, also in Elvish, and Culdock could only make out “we… speak… again.”Turning to Geth, Falah says that she saw a cloaked man take something off the corpse at the scene of the explosion, then limp off toward the Bent Nail. Out on the street, Jarry shares his insights from speaking to the child.
Over at the Bent Nail, Geth smiled and threw open the door and greets the half-elf woodworker and asked if he had seen a man meeting the description Falah gave us. He said that yes, he had seen a man walk to the southeast just after the explosion.Just then, a woman burst out and interrupted, saying that he was telling it all wrong, and that there was a creature on the rooftop, more of a puppet than a creature really, that hurled something at the crowd and ran away. The half-elf rolled his eyes, saying that he stood corrected, but that now that it had been mentioned, there was something odd about the man, as though that the man was made of paper. Culdock made the connection between the paper people and the folded paper invitation he had found several days earlier.
Jarry looked for the halfling girl, and when he found her, all she said was that the bodies had been moved to the City Watch tower in the North Ward.
The group hatched a plan to find the object. Lauris would forge a document from the Blackstaff, which the group would use as a way to access the corpse of the gnome at the watch tower, with which they would communicate with the aid of a cleric skilled in Speak with the Dead. The gnome would then give up the information related to the object it had been carrying at the time of his death.
Lauris emerged from his room, triumphant, and presented his forgery to the group, who summarily rejected it as the worst they had ever seen.
Lauris retired to his room to craft the forged document, the others milled about the house. While he was working, Jarry noticed a scratching sound at the door. He saw a rat run away when he opened it, but couldn’t follow it. Culdock went to his room to pray to his god and contemplate the elf down the street. Geth roamed about the house and encountered a wererat in the basement. He transformed into panther form and fought the wererat bravely, killing it by ripping its throat out and transformed back into human form, checking the corpse and confirming that it was dead. He transformed back into panther form, picked up the halfling in his jaw and carried it upstairs to deposit it in front of Jarry. Jarry, upon viewing the halfling with the nearly severed neck, began to scream, and screamed until the rest of everyone except Lauris came in, and the constable came in to check on everyone. When we explained the situation, the constable expressed that this situation was becoming more and more perplexing. The group talked him into taking them to the rest of the corpses the next day, so that they could get a cleric to speak to the dead gnome.
Jarry, remembering the necklace, checked it out for magical properties and determined that each bead was a fireball spell. Lauris gets to work on his forgery again, and spends most of the night creating a respectable one.
The next morning, en route to the morgue, the group stops at a Temple of Corellon, and Culdock inquired about services related to speaking to the dead, but the cleric on duty said that the dead do often seem to want to keep their secrets. Jarry noticed a Greyhand symbol out of the corner of his eye and asked if the temple was associated with the faction. The cleric responded that the temple often did works for the Force Grey. After speaking with her supervisor, the cleric came back, performing the Greyhand secret signal, which Jarry returned. The group was informed that the cost would be 25 gold each time a Speak with the Dead spell needed to be cast, and that each casting would allow us to ask five questions.
The cleric cast the spell on the rock gnome, and the interrogation proceeded
What is your name?
Nalakar
What object were you delivering when you died?
I was delivering an artifact known as the Stone of Golor
Why were you bringing the Stone of Golor to us?
I had heard of a group of adventurers who had helped Renear Neverember reunite with his friend. I figured that adventurers who had performed such a deed would be able to keep it safe. I was about to deliver the stone when all turned white-hot.
Who was pursuing you?
I don’t know
How did you get the Stone of Golor?
I stole the artifact from the lair of a Beholder known as Xanathar in a dungeon deep beneath Waterdeep.
The party debated whether to ask the Zenterem corpse questions as well.
The corpse became animated as the cleric.
Who were you with when you died?
I was with Ren Malkirhir.
What do you know about the Stone of Golor?
It was some kind of artifact that would make us rich as kings.
Who sent you to get the Stone of Golor?
My boss Urstool Floxon, who resides at Grolhund Villa.
Who else would have wanted the Stone of Golor?
I can’t imagine any faction or person not wanting something that would make them as rich as kings.
Where were you to take the Stone of Golor once you had it?
Back to Urstool Floxon at Grailhun Villa.
Treasury:
30 silver bars worth 50g apiece
Gems (page 45 blast)
3 paintings worth 75gp each
250 gold
