Session #6: The Ally You Don't Know

As the party stood on the platform waiting for the lightning rail to come, a vast crowd of people was walking by. One person in this crowd was a tall human male. He glanced casually at the party as he walked past - and then he did a double-take and stopped in his tracks. His mouth fell open in shock as he stared at Akta. He then drew his sword, shouting, "How the hell did you get out of there?!" and attacked!

The party moved quickly to defend their wizard. Edge bellowed a challenge, and the man practically skidded to halt. His attacks went wildly off course as he tried to avoid the warforged. The party pummeled the man to the platform, while the people around them fled, giving the fight a wide berth. Within seconds the man had been rendered unconscious. The party tied him up and then revived him. He was so thoroughly beaten, physically and mentally, that everything just tumbled out of him. He said he is a prison guard, and his prisoner, for nearly a decade, has been Akta! He says he departed the prison just that morning, and Akta was in her cell! The party was stunned to hear this news, and Akta was initially quite defensive. Everyone demanded some answers.

In response, Akta changed shape. It was instantly clear that Akta is not in fact a tielfing woman, but a changeling male! He revealed that his name is Tselem. He grew up on the streets of Varna in the Eldeen Reaches, using his shape-changing abilities to help him rob unwary people. The only person who knew of his true identity was Akta, a young tiefling woman who worked at a local inn; she sometimes let him sleep (hidden) in the kitchen and gave him food. The two struck up a wary friendship. One night a mysterious wizard came to the inn; the next morning, most of the occupants were dead (clearly killed by magic), and the rest (including Akta) had disappeared. Since that time, he's worn Akta's form and gone by her name.

The attacker, who revealed his name to be Regdar, was exasperated and suspicious. Taumir was surprised and unhappy by this turn of events. Azeri felt betrayed. Edge wasn't sure he could actually tell the difference.

Tselem said they had to rescue the real Akta. Taumir said he would rather keep going on to the Whisper Woods, but his curiosity was piqued enough to help out. Azeri and Edge agreed to help out too. They all dragged Regdar into an alley to avoid the Sentinel Marshalls that had come to investigate the fight, and initially planned to have Tselem pretend to be Regdar to get them into the prison at Korth where Akta was being kept. Regdar was actually pretty cooperative, and said a number of times that it would be easier to just let him take care of things. The party eventually decided to try a different feint - Tselem (posing as Akta once more) would pretend to be captured, while the rest kept a close eye on Regdar (Edge bluffed him into thinking they don't trust Tselem anymore).

Regdar came to Korrenberg in an airship, so the group made their way to the airship port across town, where they boarded a House Deneith vessel. The captain and Regdar appeared to know each other well, and the captain was surprised to see him back from his R&R after only an hour. Regdar said he found an escaped prisoner that he has to bring back. He asked the captain if they can get going back to Korth right away, and the captain agreed. The party and Regdar then retired to some cabins. The party had healed Regdar to make him think they're on his side, but they all needed rest, so they all fell into bed almost as soon as the ship lifted off about an hour later.

In the wee hours of the morning on 15th Eyre, Regdar emerged from his room. Edge had been resting in the hall, and when he saw Regdar going up on deck, he and Azeri followed. (Azeri did not like being up so high, and was more than a little airsick.) Regdar approached the captain and told him to take "the faster route," meaning over the Mournland. The captain said that's crazy; Regdar said it was worth the risk. The airship changed course, and an hour or so later, an ominous looking light could be seen in the distance. (By this point Tselem and Taumir had awakened and come up on deck.) The captain said that it is the light of the Glowing Chasm. He seemed both furious and terrified that they were going anywhere near it.

Thankfully, after a few hours, the Glowing Chasm began to fade behind them, and in the pre-dawn light they passed over a river and began their final approach into Korth. Regdar then took them to a camp of some sort outside of town. They asked what they were doing there, and he said the prison is under the training camp. They descended a long flight of stairs into a chamber.

By this point the party was growing suspicious, so Edge and Taumir elected to stay put and guard the exit while Tselem and Azeri took Regdar to get Akta. Regdar led them into another chamber about 30 feet away, at which point they were attacked by two fire bats while two burning skeletons attacked Edge and Taumir! The men struggled to face the onslaught, while Azeri wailed on Regdar, causing him to actually flee into the midst of the meele. Taumir and Edge dispatched one of the skeletons, then rushed to help their friends, leaving the other skeleton shambling behind them. At this point, Regdar activated a hidden trap, and the entrances crumbled in, trapping all of them in one chamber (with the remaining skeleton outside). The party knocked Regdar unconscious and killed the two bats.

Rewards

• 1,800 XP. You're up to Level 5!
• found a Shield of Defiance (Level 8) (p. 245 PHB)
• found a Belt of Sacrifice (p. 252 PHB)
• looted 470 GP

Session #5: The Debts Owed

It was late in the evening on the 12th day of Eyre when the party arrived in Korranberg. The Library was closed for the evening, so the party decided to head to a local Sentinel Marshall outpost to collect the bounty of 500 GP on the gnome criminal they had apprehended two days before. The bored clerk at the outpost processed the payment in relatively short order, and the party used some of their well-gotten gains to buy rooms in an inn for the night.

The next morning, they made their way to the Library, where Akta and Azeri were eager to do research. The Library is a huge complex of colleges, but they were able to find out where the materials they needed were pretty quickly. As they approached this particular repository, though, they were met by a gnome female librarian, who asked to see a library card before allowing them in. The party was stymied and annoyed. They tried intimating and cajoling her, but she didn't budge (thought she was a little apprehensive). She mentioned that there might be special passes for clerics, so they tried the administration office, but not being worshipers of Ioun, the gnomes weren't inclined to give Azeri any special consideration.

The party decided to track down Lon Visis and cash in the favor he owed them from helping out his people at the lightning rail wreck. After finding the neighborhood that is his 'base', they met the crime boss as he was eating his lunch. He seemed agreeable to their request, but said it would take him a little time, and told them to come back at dinner. The party was grateful, but also a little wary: this invitation smacked of a trap. In the intervening time, Taumir decided to track down an old contact from back in his days with the Royal Eyes, a dwarf named Mordrin. Mordrin was retired, but welcomed the party into his small apartment cheerfully. He was a little concerned to hear they were involved with Lon Visis. He told them that Lon Visis is generally honorable and humane, but still a crook, and is not the kind of person you want owing you anything. He will resent it deeply, and make you pay for it.

With this in mind, the party apprehensively made their way back to Lon Visis' territory for dinner. They were expecting to be ambushed or attacked, but also couldn't risk insulting Lon Visis by refusing or being too defensive. Lon Visis' people, a large group of hired muscle, invited them in to a resturant, and set some food in front of them. Lon Visis emerged from a back room, and presented them with the library card, good for one year and allowing one person to take in 3 guests. Akta nervously expressed their geneorsity, which Lon Visis accepted, and then made it very clear that he never wanted to see or owe them anything ever again. On this tense note, he left the room. The party ate their meal as quickly as was polite, and then were shooed out of the neighborhood.

Somewhat to their surprise, they were able to exit the neighborhood without incident. Almost immediately after leaving it though, they were confronted by two of Lon Horviv's minions (Lon Visis' rival, and the boss of the gnome they collected the bounty on). These two gnomes unleashed ochre jellies on the party, then ran for their halfling lives. The party was able to dispatch these new enemies pretty handily, and Taumir then gave chase to the gnomes, but they had disappeared.

By this time it was getting on toward dusk. The party returned to the Library, was now granted entry, and spent the next hour researching. They weren't able to get to their exact answers, but they made good progress in the hour the Library remained open that evening. When the Library closed, they made their way back to the inn for the night.

The next morning, the 14th day of Eyre, they returned to the Library, and made some startling revelations. It turns out that the Whisper Wood elves, whom Taumir had been affiliated with and who had been seeking the Thirteenth Moon, had been wiped out by a human of House Deneith who believed they were about to discover something about Dragonmarks that would undermine their power and position in the world. This threw the party for quite a loop. They wondered if maybe they should have gone to Karrnath with Zaigot, and if they should go there now to investigate further. In the end though they decided to return to the Whisper Woods and continue their investigation there. They were a little wary of the lightning rail, having had such great luck with it up till now. But an Elemental Galleon would have cost too much, and the Whisper Woods were even farther away than Passage, so travel by carriage would take way too long. So they decided to grit their teeth and get back on board.

At this point an idea came to them - they were worried about the security of the lightning rail, and in need of more cash. They decided to ask the officials at House Orien if they could serve as guards on the rail train they would board. It took a little patience and paperwork, but the officials agreed (though the pay they offered was pretty miserly). So around mid-afternoon, on the 14th day of Eyre, the party was at the major lightning rail station in Korranberg, waiting to board a coach that would take them back to the north and the Whisper Woods.

Rewards

• 600 XP each. This will bring up to Level 4! Have fun upgrading your ability scores and picking a new feat!
• You have found a pair of Shadowfell Gloves (PHB p. 247)
• (I believe you all already divided up the 500 GP from the bounty.)

Session #4: The Slowest Lightning

A half hour later, the lightning rail coach arrived at Hatheril, a small but important cross-roads in this agricultural region of Breland. As they all disembarked (this particular coach wasn't going any further), Zaigot asked the party for their answer. After getting some more details, particularly about the length of the commitment they'd have to make, the party decided against it. Edge didn't really want to work for the Houses again, Akta still had some beefs with House Deneith itself, and while Taumir was interested, Azeri didn't want to be tied down at this point. So they politely declined, and Zaigot accepted their answer.

The party had about an hour to kill before the next coach arrived so they could continue their journey to Korrenberg. They decided to get some lunch in a local tavern. Akta got a little lost looking for the bathroom, but other than that it was a uneventful stay. A little under an hour later, they made their way to the station, and boarded the lightning rail again. A long, boring coach ride ensued, and late that evening they arrived at the city of Starilaskur.

The coach was to remain parked for the next 6 hours, so the party decided to stay put and sleep on the train, and didn't end up seeing any of the city. Bright and early the next morning (now the 11th day of Eyre) the coach started up again. It was afternoon before they made another stop, this time near the fort Sterngate. Here the coach joined a larger train, and the party noticed several individuals of obvious wealth boarding a first-class coach.

Not too long after the train got going again, it passed over the border into Zilargo, the nation with a high population of gnomes. They had now entered a wide, dry valley flanked by two large mountain ranges. There were much fewer trees, and farms were giving way to ranches. The area was still sparsely populated though.

Only minutes after crossing the border, there was a flash and a bang and the coaches derailed! The party's coach flew off the tracks, flipped on its side, and landed with a crash. Taumir was able to stay upright, but everyone else was knocked to the ground (now the right wall of the coach.) Everyone on board was banged up, but the train had slowed down to take a sharp curve, and this reduced speed meant the crash was relatively soft.

The party climbed out of the wreck, only to see a group of three gnomes running out of the woods to attack a group of gnomes climbing out of another wrecked coach! The party was unsure whether to get involved at first, but when their queries as to what the fight was about were met with dismissive, hostile replies, Edge and Azeri felt it was time to knock some heads in. Plus Azeri realized she'd seen one of the gnomes who'd been on the train on a wanted poster some time ago. The gnomes were more interested in attacking each other, but when they party waded into the fray, blows were exchanged between all three factions. The gnomes used their invisibility and teleportation skills to try to get the upper hand, but the party was able to knock four of the six gnomes unconscious. At this point, the leader of the first band of gnomes realized they were out-matched, and in response to a shout from Edge, called off the fighting.

This gnome explained that he and his compatriots worked for Lon Visis, whom the party knew was a somewhat notorious black market dealer. This second group of gnomes (who were all unconscious now, and the party was working to keep from dying) worked for a different black marker dealer that had stolen some of Lon Visis' property, and they were trying to get it back. Edge berated them for bringing down a whole lightning rail train for this; their feeble excuse was that they thought their enemies had brought a lot more muscle. Edge made them offer they didn't refuse: we'll help you look for your property, heal your people, and not attack you, if you'll let us take the bounty on this one guy, and Lon Visis owes us a favor. The gnomes readily agreed.

A search of the coaches though turned up nothing, and after a while they had to admit defeat. At this point, an elemental wagon was pulling up with Sentinel Marshalls, so Lon Visis' gnomes fled the scene. The party was able to bluff some of the witnesses and then the Marshalls themselves into believing that the fleeing gnomes were responsible for the attack on the train. Of the three gnomes who'd been on the train, one had been too badly injured in the fight, and died around the time the Marshalls arrived. One was the person Azeri knew had a bounty on his head, and the party now turned this person over to the Marshalls and demanded the reward. The Marshalls gave them an affidavit stating they could collect the bounty, but told them they'd had to go to Dragonroost to collect it. (The last gnome recovered, and didn't cause any trouble.)

The Marshalls took charge of the scene, and not long after a disaster team from House Orien (the lightning rail owners) arrived. After these authorities evaluated the situation, the Marshalls left with their fugitive in tow, while the House Orien responders informed everyone that a new train could arrive tomorrow morning, and that food and tents would be provided for all passengers tonight. The party sat down to decide what to do. If they traveled to Dragonroost, they wouldn't make it back in time to catch the train, and would have to buy new tickets to make the rest of the way to Korrenberg. There were a little skeptical of the safety of using the lightning rail at this point though. After asking around a little bit, they realized they could collect the bounty in Korrenberg too, the Marshalls had just been blase about the whole thing. They decided to wait it out, and make their way to Korrenberg tomorrow morning.

The evening passed uneventfully, and on the morning of the 12th day of Eyre, a new lightning rail train arrived - this time with heavily armed guards in each coach! Everyone re-boarded, and after a long, boring trip, the party finally arrived that evening in the mighty city of Korrenberg!

Rewards

• 800 XP for everyone!
• From the wreckage of the lightning rail, you found a Resounding Staff (+2) (p. 236 Player's Handbook) and 380 GP.