Session 8

Side-Questing in the Siri Desert - Potion Ingredients
The adventurers wrapped things up with Azus. The potions Fausto had found earlier in the temple were identified to be Stormclaw Scorpion venom and Deathjump Spider venom, both useful weapon-coating poisons. The group then made their way back to the newly-rebuild Sardis City, where they visiting some shops. First on their list was The Black Crow, home of the poison-making former assassin Samuel Crow. They reminded Samuel of their earlier agreement, and he told them that they could each receive one free poison from him at any time, along with a discount on any purchase in the future. Caraga, Fausto, and Taargus chose to wait to pick their free poison, while Cora picked out Carrion Crawler brain juice, and Twitch got some thassil root powder, an ingestible poison. Samuel told the group that he would give them each an additional vial of Stormclaw Scorpion venom if they would go out and collect the stingers from five scorpions for him. At the scorpion breeding grounds, the arthropods turned out to be tougher opponents than expected - Caraga, Fausto, and Twitch were all grabbed by massive scorpion claws. Fausto made use of his acrobatic skills and deftly maneuvered out of the scorpion's grasp, while Cora stepped in to free Caraga and Twitch. Eventually, the scorpions were defeated, and the group removed their stingers to bring back to Samuel. As promised, he brewed them each a vial of poison made from the scorpions' venom, and gave them each 50gp as thanks for their troubles.

Side-Questing in the Siri Desert - Digging for Gold
The group next headed over to Mahdi's, a shop owned by the husband and wife team of Niam and Ilona Mahdi. After doing some shopping (and attempting to barter - Fausto refused to pay full price for a crossbow), the group spoke with Ilona, a jewelry enthusiast. She asked them to search the yuan-ti ruins for any old jewelry or other valuables, and promised to give them a better deal for their findings than they'd get elsewhere. They headed back to the ruins, where they encountered three deathrattle vipers. The group made short work of the giant snakes, and soon they were combing the ruins for treasure. Twitch and Taargus came up empty handed, but everyone else found something and was rewarded handsomely. Caraga received 300gp for the gold ring she found, while Cora and Fausto both found items worth 2,550gp (Fausto received 2,525gp and a crossbow). Before leaving the desert, they stopped in Manna from Harvin, a local bakery, and chatted with its owner, Rikki Harvin. Twitch bought a healthy cookie and Fausto bought a magic muffin before criticizing her weight and leaving the baker in tears.

Returning to Rowen, the rangers again got the eerie feeling that they were being watched. Cora poked around until she found their stalker - Hernok Whitehelm, Elric's youngest son. The nervous man apologized profusely, and needed very little prompting to confess that his older brother Aldric had ordered him to spy on the adventurers. He admitted he had been following them from the start, and witnessed their deeds in Mali and Siri, but said that they did not have the item Aldric was looking for. The group asked him about the pieces of metal they had found, and he explained that they were pieces of an amulet his father used to wear around his neck - he knew the pieces were in some way connected to Elric's secret fortress, but did not know more than that. When the group attempted to interrogate him further, he got extremely scared, claiming that Aldric would be angry if he knew that he had been discovered, and he ran off.

Caraga's Quest
Further into town, they were stopped by a messenger who had a sealed note addressed to Lady Caraga. The note, from the distant island kingdom of Lilloet, was written by Caraga's mother, and requested that Caraga come home immediately. Her father, Duke Petric Pegason, had been recently kidnapped, presumably by the dreaded Dead Marsh Pirates, and Caraga's assistance was needed in rescuing him. Caraga and the gang left for Lilloet, and on the way there Caraga told the others about her family. It had been some time since she had last seen them, as they were not quite on speaking terms. When she became a paladin, she forfeited her rights to the throne, and her parents did not approve of that decision.

They arrived at the Pegason manor, where they were introduced to Duchess Delfine Pegason, Caraga's mother, and Lord Calder Pegason, her brother. The two updated the adventurers on the situation, leading them into Petric's office. Delfine explained that the Duke was last seen working late in his office three nights ago. The Duchess heard a commotion, but by the time the guards were alerted, Petric was gone. The office was in disarray, nobody having touched anything for fear of disturbing the evidence. A cryptic note had been left by the kidnappers, but the Pegasons had yet to find anyone in the kingdom who could decode it. Caraga and friends set to work on their first clue immediately, and soon discovered what the Dead Marsh Pirates had written: "The Duke is held at the dock by many tentacled arms. Find the entrance password at the cove."

Their next stop was the cove, where they found another clue to solve. Hidden in a block of letters were the names of aquatic monsters. The leftover letters spelled out the entrance password: "The Dead Marsh Pirates rule the Silver Sea." Knowing the Duke's location and the password to get to him, they made their way to the docks. However, the names of each of the five ships there were hidden, and they had to determine the name of each ship by solving a picture puzzle. They deduced that the Duke was on board the boat represented by the picture of the octopus, so they spoke the password at the door and entered the main floor of the ship. They began to investigate, but were thwarted by a spear gauntlet trap. Taargus received minor injuries from a spear suddenly piercing upward from the floor. The others managed to avoid injury by stepping carefully as to not activate a trigger plate. Twitch began to attack the spears before Fausto found the trap's control panel, and Taargus was able to destroy it. While the men were working on the trap, the ladies explored the storage room on the main floor. Cora broke open a crate and discovered a pearl and 250sp, while Caraga found a piece of turquoise. Twitch was the first to make his way downstairs to the lower deck, where he was met by a group of four pirates. They asked him where the paladin was, but he played dumb, and they gagged him and made him stand in the corner. Fausto, hearing the commotion downstairs, stealthily hid behind the stairs to observe the encounter from a distance. Caraga then went down to confront the pirates, who had her father tied to the mast near where they were standing, but the main pirate actually seemed pleased to see her. He introduced himself as Cale D'Haveral (though he claimed they had met before), and explained that at one point in time, both of their parents were hoping they would marry, joining their two ruling households. Regretfully, however, since that time the D'Haverals had lost the throne of the Owyn Islands, and Caraga was now Cale's only chance to rule a kingdom. "I know you relinquished the throne to your brother upon becoming a paladin," he said, "but you could change your mind. In fact, if you don't, I'll not only kill your father, I'll kill the rest of your family as well!"

Caraga and the others formed a quick huddle and hatched a plan - stage a fake wedding and poison Cale with a thassil root-laced magic muffin. Caraga agreed to marry Cale right then and there, so long as Twitch could minister the wedding. Twitch explained that traditionally, the groom must eat a muffin during the ceremony, and Cale did so without hesitation. He began to feel sluggish and suspected treachery, but fell unconscious before he could do anything about it. Cora took the opportunity to finish him off and stole his wavestrider boots, angering his pirate friends, who then attacked the group. The battle was bloody but the adventurers came out on top, and Caraga untied her father. Later, the Pegasons threw a banquet in Caraga and her friends' honor. The recovering Duke and Duchess thanked the group, and apologized to Caraga for ever doubting her decisions. She was rewarded with a Shield of Protection, and promised her family she would keep in touch from now on.

Previous Next