RECAP: 5th Avengers, 3-29-20

by Tucker

Looking around outside of the House of Inspired Hands, and wondering how we could find a single Nimblewright in a city so large, Jarry and Culdock noticed a few members of the Gryphon Cavalry flying overhead. Jarry recalled that the cavalry typically resides at the aerie atop Mount Waterdeep. The group decided to head there, walking there in about a few hours. Along the way, we didn’t see any Gryphon cavalry or city watch until reaching our destination. As we walk along, we see what is clearly an entrance into the aerie, flanked by guards. With the guards thinking nothing of us initially, Lauris approached the guards at the gate, informing the guards that we are assisting in the investigation into the explosion at Trollskull Alley and that we had spoken to Seth Crowley and Barnabus Blastwind. The guard perked up at the mention of the names, and Lauris mentioned further that we had a method of tracking a person of interest and the guard motions to another guard to cover him and brings Lauris to a small office and begins writing in a scroll, taking notes. The rest of the party witnesses the plan proceeding without a hitch, and Lauris being pulled away. We wait off to the side and remain at the scene.

Back in the office, the guard asked Lauris what he needed. Lauris explained we are looking for a particular construct, and we had a means of detecting said construct, and that we wanted to enlist the help of the Gryphon Guard to use the detector faster.

After ten minutes or so, as the guard finishes taking his notes, rolls up his scroll, and instructs Lauris to wait for him, that he needed to check on some things and would get back to him.

After about ten minutes, the rest of the group sees the guard who had been with Lauris walking away with a scroll towards a younger individual with clothing light for the season, handing him the scroll, and the individual took off running into the east.

Back in the office, Lauris took a scouring look at his surroundings but did not find anything of interest. He took a visit to the privy and did not attract notice, but did see that he was behind a wooden fence and that the rest of the party could not see him. He went to a younger-looking guard and asked if Culdock, Geth and Jarry could come in to fill in any gaps in their story. Out of the corner of his eye, Geth, who had been picking a fight with Culdock while Jarry made jewelry, caught out of the corner of his eye Lauris motioning for them to come near. Geth and the others run up to the gate. The guard takes some notes, and eventually Lauris mentions that we would likely just return the next day and that we would be off to search for a nimblewright.

We walked quickly to Gralhund Villa. After about forty-five minutes, the Nimblewright Detector begins to twitch a little. As we approach the Villa, the detector begins to move a great deal more quickly.

At the Villa, we notice a number of entrances, and that it is in a higher-end neighborhood. The streets have a variety of pedestrians and some coaches, and it is around 5 o’clock and the day is winding down. The estate is enclosed by 12-foot high stone walls, and it is unlikely that we can make it around them. Above the wall, we can see an elevated balcony but we can’t see what’s on it. The main entrance is through a pair of ornate iron gates, with several large trees and some footpaths leading to a two-story brick mansion and a detached coachhouse lying beyond. The gates are locked. We cannot see a sewer entrance nearby.

Geth transforms into a cat and slips through the gate. On the other side, he can see that the balcony is enclosed by iron bars on all sides, and is about twenty feet tall, nearly impossible to scale.

About ten paces in the yard, Geth notices that something else is in the yard. He sees a rather large individual, a humanoid, an orc, going about his business. With him are two very large mastiff dogs. Geth climbed a tree, hopped back over the fence and reported his findings to the group.

Lauris snuck over to the gate and stealthily unlocked it. Culdock turned the corner and cast Silence. The orc perks up and begins to look around as everything goes silent. Jarry then followed up with a fireball and a huge, silent explosion followed by a plume of smoke. As the smoke cleared, we see the charred forms of the orc and his mastiffs huddled and smoldering in the corner. As Jarry approaches the corpses, the orc and the mastiffs fade away and become incorporeal, leaving no evidence that they were ever there. Jarry never would have seen one this close, but what started out as a couple of very big dogs and an orc turned out to be a few shadows, which would certainly be in the domain of necromancy. Closing the gate behind us, we inspect the grounds. The detached house smells of horse manure. Lauris snuck into the carriage house but did not find anything of interest. We entered the quarters of the house guard and found unlocked footlockers, bare armor stands and weapon racks. We went out and into the laundry room and found several corpses. Culdock picked up a ring of keys off one of the dead and handed it to Lauris, who moved through the door to the north, which leads to a pantry, which also contains a staircase. Two more dead in this room, one older male human and one younger male halfling, dressed as a butler and a cook. The maids and house staff were apparently killed by the Zenterem.