Summary
After snagging a handful of bounties from the Vel Rau’dan job board, the party earned a “free” night at The Iron Wake Mug by courageously euthanizing a toilet mimic and surviving a round of the aptly named “Fuck Me Up” ale served by the 900-year-old Diana. The following morning’s pest control job quickly spiraled from slaying mutated Giant Toads to tracking a trail of fey magic and toxic runoff to a crystalline lair, where we witnessed the escaped B-tier Young Blue Dragon being dragged into the depths. Unable to leave due to The Hag’s magic, we had no choice but to walk directly into her sanctum to confront her face-to-face, at which point she admitted to poisoning the water (causing the mutated frogs), stealing the Young Blue Dragon, and killing Maryln. The tension hit a breaking point as The Hag began manipulating Theratina with the promise of her deceased parents, shedding her disguise to reveal her true monstrous form just as the session ended on a cliffhanger.
Events
At the Park
- Begins in the park in Vel Rau’dan
- We are going to check out the job board in the center of the city before turning in for the night
- We are unsure where to go. There are two other inns we know of:
- The Dragon’s Fang
- The Iron Wake Mug, too (almost seems from afar it is covered in trees)
- We decide on this one because it is more quiet and far away
At The Citadel’s Job Board
- 4 jobs available:
- “Deal with a domestic situation: two friendly competitors of bakeries seem to have it out for each other and it’= bad for this district of the city. resolve the matter and each person gets 100g”
- Quest created: Resolve the Bake-Off
- “Rodents outside the city ruining farms. Massive, unnatural looking monsters, creatures, and critters are seen in the farmlands of Vel Rau’dan. 50g for each body brought back”
- The farms are south of the city
- Quest created: Need an Exterminator
- “Monster escaped: a B-tier monster has escaped the arena and is hiding somewhere outside of Vel Rau’dan. Elimination is 1000g person. to bring it in alive, each person gets 5000g”
- Last known sighting was SE (more East) of the city, but there’s no guarantee it is still there, or what it is
- A B-tier monster is a CR 8-11
- We fought the B-tier Behir to free Theratina
- Quest Created: Monster Escaped the Arena
- “Eliminate the head leader of The Hoods Faction; 10,000 gold pieces per person”
- Quest Created: Kill The Hoods Leader
- “Deal with a domestic situation: two friendly competitors of bakeries seem to have it out for each other and it’= bad for this district of the city. resolve the matter and each person gets 100g”
- NOTE: In this world, any job taken from a quest board is considered a guild board. at the bottom of the note, we can hand it in anywhere there is a guild or citadel and get paid for it
At the Iron Wake Mug
- Two floors: one for dining and one with a lounge area (including a gambling table) and places to sleep
- We see a women when we enter
- We ask her for a room
- We all order lamb (the other option was chicken)
- 2 C for everything
- They have “Fuck Me Up” ale
- We each order one
- Diana mentions the bathroom is extremely dirty and would let us “sleep here for free as long as you’d like if you clean it”
- However, she says to “watch out” for the toilet that is clean
- Perhaps its a mimic
- We go to the bathroom to clean it via Prestidigitation
- The left and right stall are beyond comprehension dirty, but the middle is pristine and spotless
- Roz casts Moonbeam on the middle toilet
- The toilet begins to grow teeth, a tongue, and two arms
- Prestidigitation was not enough to clean it; we end up doing so by hand
- The food, drink, and room are all free
- However, she says to “watch out” for the toilet that is clean
- As we drink, we must all make CON saves
- We go to bed
The next day
- Avenj and Theodore put the Diamond of 20 Monsters into the notebook with a sleeping face on its cover
- Diana tells Raelor about how she really wants to find an old book she liked: Crown of Thorns, Crown of Ash
- She offers 1 G if we can find it
- Diana casually mentions how she is 900 years old
- We all eat breakfast
- We decide we will go after the rodents first (it is guaranteed money), then the monster
- We leave
On the road
- Roz tells us the story of how he came up with the name for Jimmothy
- It was the name of a friend of his that protected him on the streets
- We make our way to one of the farms south of Vel Rau’dan
At the farm
- The buildings are empty due to the giant rodents
- Raelor looks for tracks
- He sees some wet, slimy footprints
- Strangely, there is a huge gap in between each footprint
- They are originating from the water
- We go to the water and notice there is some sort of toxin in the water
- There is a vial next to it with a skull and crossbones on its label
- When we pull the vial out of the water, it ripples in rather than out as one would expect
- He sees some wet, slimy footprints
- Cal hears some frog noises coming from a distance behind us
- Theodore looks ahead through Hoots eyes and sees a Giant Toad camouflaged
- Several others un-camouflage themselves
- There are 4 in total
- After an intense battle, we kill all the toads
- We can tell that these Giant Toads are not natural; something in the water caused them to mutate
- Roz catches Detect Magic
- He notices weird half-humanoid half-fey footsteps
- He also notices flowers from the feywild that seem to be growing from the imprint of the footsteps
- We feel the air change as we start to follow the footprints
- It give us a dreadful feeling, increasing as we follow them
- We hear a huge monster’s screech in the far distance
- The screech was one of pain
- Roz catches Detect Magic
The Hag’s Lair
- Following the footprints, we find a big blue diamond lair
- We see a Young Blue Dragon being dragged into the lair
- It is being dragged by some magical blue diamond
- This beast is almost certainly the B tier monster
- Bruce told us The Hag lives to the South; perhaps this is her lai
- From rolling, we know that:
- Almost certainly this is The Hag’s lair
- We decide to sneak away and take a short rest before going further
- Despite one of us casting a 20, we all fail a wisdom check
- Despite walking away, we end up right back where we started
- The door opens and we enter it
In the Lair
- Theodore tries casting Fire Bolt into the doorway to burn the building down, but it gets Counterspelled
- Cal tries talking to The Hag
- It says, “Come in”
- We all go in
- It is somewhat dark inside
- Sitting at the table with its back arched up against it is the Genasi (Water) we met at The Starlight Inn
- She asks how we found her lair and casts Zone of Truth
- She implies she intentionally let the beast out and baited it here using the Giant Toads
- She probably was the one who poisoned the water
- She says “it is mine”
- She begins talking about Maryln (another body she took)
- “When she couldn’t find true love, I offered her a way to get rid of the pain. And I did. I ended her life.”
- She also supposedly had a wonderful voice
- She begins to say “I would train her better than you ever could” regarding Theratina
- When we try to stop the charmed Theratina from walking to her, The Hag shifts into some sort of monster creature
- The session ends presumably right before we begin combat
- She implies she intentionally let the beast out and baited it here using the Giant Toads