Estarion, Games 15 and 16

Game 15

After several weeks of hiatus (I moved across town and some other life events), we returned to the table with a simple dungeon crawl.

Jarrett began reading the Book of Ebon Bindings, and investigated a trapped magical box that held bits of pinkish fleshy substance, still apparently alive. Since it was alive, it wasn’t really in his wheelhouse, but a journal in the box tied the vials to a stronghold of “the enemy” of the cult of Orcus.

The PCs pursued a map to some caves north of town, where they encountered many strange creatures, including a full pinkish, fleshy gibbering mouther and some oozes, some gricks and carrion crawlers. They are beginning to think that maybe the Hags are in league with Aberrations or some such from outside of reality, which creeps them out.

In the end, they are ambushed by a flameskull and a bunch of skeletons. Timoneus is flummoxed by the first thing he hasn’t been able to burn to death, but they still manage to persevere.

The group ends up unsure whether this adventure was a set up by the Orcus cult to try to kill them, a clue about the relationship of the Hags to Very Bad Things, or both.

Game 16

The group is down two members, so they decide to look for work. They are sent on a mission to investigate the behavior of a wayward merchant and Poseidon worshipper who seems to have gone on a bender. Instead, they find that he is involved in something shady that is earning him a lot of money.

The party splits up. Team one (Jarret and Timoneus) learns the merchant is selling stolen religious artifacts to Astarte to investors out of town. Team two (Meadow and Arturius) end up seeing the merchant attacked by an assassin. They chase the assassin down and Arturius tries to capture the assassin peacefully while Meadow tries to kill him with her imp familiar. The Assassin kills the imp and leaves Arthur for dead after Arthur is unable to convince the Assassin that he had no idea where that imp came from. Arthur barely survives.

In the end, they save the merchant from death, realize he was going to stiff his crime lord partner, and end up profiting from it all, after they release the criminal (after letting the crime lord know of the release.) However, in the midst of all this, Arturius learns that Meadow has an oath binding her to a devil for her power, and Arturius decides that this is the straw that broke the camel’s back and decides he has to leave.

By the end of the game, the group is richer, but Arthur (and Carver) have climbed into the Apparatus of Kwalish and decided to wander the earth like Jules Winnfield so that Arthur can make sense of his situation. In real life, this is a chance for Arthur’s player to try out something different, for Carver’s character to take a break and spend some time taking care of stuff. Also, Anakis the tiefling bard, is missing (her player is out to focus on school) and will return when her player can, leaving me with a mystery to fit back into the game later.