Session 9 – Bee-gator Do Crimes
Campaign I, session 9. Previous: Session 8. Next: Session 10.
Party loads up with nets, saps, manacles, chains, locks. Except Pashlatine, who refuses to go into the sewers (despite being 1 XP from level 3). She sends a hench (Thranator the dwarven vaultguard) in her place (I ruled that, if desired, he could be treated as a full PC for this outing).
They are told: the creature is normally slow, but surprised its original captors with a burst of speed. Also, it emits a loud buzzing sound.
Once they were set, the party went into the sewers. They were directed to a particular pier on the docks, beneath which a tunnel opened up into the sewer system where trackers employed by Mr. Furlan believed the beast to hang out. Having spent a brief stint in the sewers before, the party knew to cover their faces in an effort to keep out the noxious fumes, nevertheless a few party members were struggling with the horrid sulfuric smell.
Before long, they came to a wider cesspool. As they approached, an ominous buzzing sound alerted them to the presence of their prey – a horrific cross between a giant killer bee and a giant crocodile!
Casino (spellcarved soldier) got off a solid shot with his short-bow, landing an arrow in the beasts shoulder, while Tassi (gnomish elementalist hench) conjured a quartet of berserkers in its path. The beast chomped through three of them in rapid succession, but the fourth was too quick for its jaws. The remainder of the party closed slowly, careful to avoid falling into the sewer sludge.
Nevu (orcblooded warlock hench) muttered an incantation of her own (I find your lack of faith disturbing, find your lack of faith disturbing…) and from the back of the party’s ranks manages to hold the great beast in a choking grip. From here on out, the party was attempting to deal non-lethal damage. Most of the individual strikes were ineffective, but eventually Singil (orcblooded shaman) managed to catch the beast on the side of the head with a sap.
While the beast was stunned, the party quickly manacled its legs before Singil checked its injuries. While the beast survived, one of its wings was mangled and it will be unable to fly again. Also, the beast would need a month of recovery time to return to fighting shape – severely lessening its immediate value.
Meanwhile, Pashlateen prepared Vason’s corpse for transport to her parents’ estate. The corpse is changing colors and those familiar with such things are certain he’s been dead for 8 to 10 days – a few days longer than Pashlateen has been in town!
She brought with her Meathead (kobold warrior hench). She ended up meeting the parents on the road. Mama Levonday cradles the body weeping over her “baby boy”, while Papa sternly chides Pashlateen: “I guess your brother-in-law will inherit the shop now, unless you’ve decided to stop this foolishness and marry one of your suitors.”
Of course, Pash would have none of it, and made the error of saying “I’m not even sure this is Vason.” “WHY WOULD YOU EVEN SAY THAT! GET OUT OF OUR SIGHT!”
After thoroughly bathing and resting, everyone regroups for some R&R. Alwyn (thief) levels to 3. Singil levels to 2 and starts learning her first ceremony. A few henches add spells to their repertoires. Travain (bard) gets some info from hired sage returns with some basic information on the anatomy and feeding habits of the chimera. Pash begins implementing a steady trade route, buying up all the dyes she can in Vedycaer.
Singil also finally used her 1/day divination to try to find out more about the Vason they talked to, and received this message: “Beware the false face that pretends of the spider. He wipes his blades with the morning dew after delivering blessings for the wolf who wears mink.” along with a vision of a red wolf on a black banner
When she described the vision aloud, Alwyn was able to immediately identify the red-wolf sigil used by the “Old Family” crime syndicate, allegedly run by the same Lucius Furlan who hired them to recover the bee-gator (and who runs “The Mink Inn”).
After about a week of this downtime, a messenger arrived from Teryk. Count Roland requested the party return and help with some brewing troubles. The mission he sent to recover the grain from the dome met with a terrible storm, and Captain Lynara Miralen perished saving some of her men from a mudslide. A few days after the storm cleared, Malyn the mage disappeared. Some days after that, a monster wearing his face betrayed and trapped many of the remaining troops within the dome. Could the adventurers please come help?
After a bit of discussion and broad agreement that the party will return to Teryk next time, the session closed.