RECAP: 5th Avengers, 5-2-20

By Tucker

We head towards the City of the Dead. It is illuminated by a security system of glowing orbs and guards posted at the main entrances. The city calls these drift globes. During the day, they can be found in the inhabited part of the city and at night they migrate toward the City of the Dead. No one knows why. There is also a wandering guard that patrols the whole city at night. We spend some time discussing the situation and decide to check out the alleyway between the city and the wall. We head south along the wall and find nothing. We double back, head over and continue along the wall, again attempting to find a way through. We come to what appears to be a service entrance in the wall, with an iron gate securely locked. Lauris attempted to pick the lock, succeeding easily against the basic lock. Lauris sneaks through the other side, holding up the hinges on the gate to prevent the gate from squeaking. Looking around, he saw no guards and the area before him looks eerie, with fog on the ground.

As soon as Culdock passed through the gate, he felt a mysterious presence on his hand, and removing his glove he noticed that written in green ichor the word “Garloth.” He tells the group this once they all pass through, and Jarry informs the group that that is the name of a reputable family here in Waterdeep. Geth casts Pass without Trace on the group and they head to the first mausoleum, and Geth examines it, saying that the name is not Garloth, the same with the second. Culdock notices that his hand begins to burn. Looking at it, he sees that the word is fading away, and he reports his findings to the group. He suggests to Lauris that he scout out the crossroads ahead. Lauris does so and finds nothing of interest.

Moving on to the next group of buildings, Geth notices movement to the north. None of the three buildings in the area are the Garloth building. Geth tells the group that he saw something to the north and they all head there. Having spent a total of eighty minutes in the City of the Dead so far, Geth casts Pass without Trace again and the group heads up once more to check out the mausoleums and to investigate the movement. Geth notices movement again to the east, and head that way, checking the mausoleum along the way. None so far have borne the Garloth name.

Suddenly, from the south came a man with a longsword, steel shield and full plate armor, charging toward us and yelling about why we were here. Geth, flabbergasted, failed to respond, and Jarry convinced him we were part of the city guard and asked that we needed him to direct us to the Garloth mausoleum. The knight, unconvinced, went to tell the city guard and began to march away. Jarry, casting Charm Person, tells the guard that we are his relief and he can go home tonight. Geth can perceive that he nearly cries at this. Calling after the knight as he walks away dejected, Jarry asks him if he could point to the Garloth mausoleum, and the aging knight motions with his sword and says “Look to the south.”

We find the Garloth mausoleum. Also engraved above the entrance is the name Casselanter. Jarry and Lauris can tell that the door has recently been opened despite being locked. Human footprints and smudges are all over the entrance. Lauris picks the lock and the door swings open. Entering the mausoleum, Lauris sees some sarcophagi and human footprints surrounding, and Geth can tell that there were multiple humans at the scene. There is a staircase leading down. Walking down the staircase, we see sarcophagi, human footprints all over the place, and two dead bodies wearing the same insignias as we saw on the Gralhund Villa guards. These cultists are individuals have dedicated their lives to the worship of Asmodeus. Rounding the corner, we see a badly injured young woman who is not dead yet. Culdock noticed that there are many dagger wounds and many of them appeared to have been caused by the spell “inflict wounds.” Before healing her, Culdock checks for weapons. He finds none, nor anything of value. She responds immediately after healing, and all her wounds vanish. She sits straight up and raises her arms in defense, asking us not to hurt her anymore. She looks at us with a puzzled look and says “You are not of Asmodeus.” Culdock answers that he is a powerful and wise cleric of Moran. She asks if we have seen her boyfriend. Geth says that we have not, and what happened here? She said that she and the others were to hide the Stone of Golor in the mausoleum when the leaders of their cult, Arn Xandolar and Seffia Naelrkie came in and betrayed us, taking the Stone of Golor.

She becomes angry and said that she knows exactly where they would have taken it, to a dilapidated windmill in the Southern Ward. She says she can tell us exactly where to go and that she will take us there herself.
Jarry asks what her people were planning to do with the Stone of Golor, which, as it happens, is the same as what everyone else has said, that the Stone provides direction to a huge cache of gold somewhere beneath Waterdeep. When asked why they might betray her, she says that she could see that she may be seen as a liability. She could not see them acting on the orders of Lord Cassellanter, using his family’s own property as a hiding spot.

Vallee Lurval, a thirty-year-old florist, is not a fighter. She and her boyfriend were conscripted into the cult, and she agrees to lead us to the windmill. She rips off her cultist garb and walks around the corner, seeing her boyfriend and collapses in a heap on top of him. She pats him down, and says that they even took their special pendant.

Heading out, we head to the windmill. It takes us about two hours, and the city guard we pass pay us no mind. It is three in the morning.

We arrive at the windmill. The crumbling stone structure was there before the city rose around it. The door is about the only new thing about the building, which has openings where windows once were. Vallee wishes us well and parts ways, and responds to Lauris’s offer of employment at our tavern, saying that she would be in touch.

Quests active:

Harpers: There’s a woman selling books out of a narrow three story building who swears something bad has happened to her family, but she is known to tell untruths.

Emerald Enclave: Some farms in the outlying villages are being terrorized by scarecrows.

Force Gray: Reports of a bronze dragon in the harbor.