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gaeleth:campaigns:campaign_ix:ix-7-22

Campaign IX, Chapter 7, Episode 22

The Merchant's Treehouse, Part 2

Location: Kashin

Date: Winter, 1332 Avard

Characters: Yurok, Kragma, Ethana, Nyssa, Allie

While the rest of the team ran interference, Nyssa made a daytime sortie into the hidden tunnel of the burned out manor's cellars. Kragma noticed details about the watcher that made no attempt to hide himself. He wore a hooded cloak with red trim. He had tattoos that were reminiscent of the Church of Dakis – evil God of the Undead. Such peoples were gang members and thugs whom had sold their services to powerful undead, such as vampires and liches.

Inside the hidden tunnel, Nyssa found riches and items – and a worn, beaten shield bearing the inscription of Dakis.

Once outside again, Nyssa took a circuitous route to link back up with the rest of the team and met them near the cafe that overlooked the trivia. Nyssa's report of the shield, as well as the other items she found, led the team to suspect a link between Asari es Sauwinni and the undead. The team decided to speak with the Guard.

The Guard had upped their numbers above and beyond normal in an attempt to catch an undead in the area. The team noticing a gang member for Dakis helped them considerably, and they brought the watcher in. In addition to more Guard, they had with them one of the chaplains and coroners for the city, a woman named Cassandra. Cassandra had not been in the city in over a year, but had returned to help with that particular operation, and had resumed her status as a member of the Guard temporarily. Cassandra told the team that a saltus had infiltrated Kashin and was leaving a trail of bodies. A saltus was an undead spirit that could possess a body by jumping into it, slowly necrotizing it over time, and then jumping to a new host once the old one died. The death of the host fed the saltus, but the saltus was acting very intelligently and seemed to have additional agendas in the merchant district of Kashin.

The Procurators realized that blunt force would be next to useless in infiltrating Asari's manor, especially with so many Guard about. On the way out of the Guard station, as they reevaluated their plans, Yurok managed to obtain several vials of holy water that Cassandra was distributing to the Guard. The vials might protect them against the saltus.

They talked for a bit about their new plan, and then agreed that infiltration was the best tactic. They waited until just after sunset to put the plan into place.

The team used Allie to fly Nyssa up into the tree under cover of darkness. The others prepared to storm Asari's manor by force if Nyssa and Allie needed help. Otherwise, Nyssa would see if she could find the remaining books and the glass obelisk.

While Nyssa was cautiously sneaking into the treehouse, Ethana saw someone on the street she recognized. That someone was a woman with red hair and fiery red steel pins holding her odd clothing together. The monk from the Kranky Dwarf in Firland that had so kicked the Procurators' collective butts, with her dozen war dogs wearing armor, knocked on Asari's front door – and then was admitted.

Ethana and Kragma moved out from the cafe, moving closer to the manor. Ethana had not been seen, but the red monk was trouble.

Allie, meanwhile, talked to the khulvey tree – and it answered. It was a simple soul, but it was alive, and it spoke in druidic tones to Allie. It promised to warn her if 'the flower' were to go up to the tree house, and it promised to speak of her to the druid as 'the angel bird'.

Nyssa finished looting the treehouse, finding a number of arcane items, the rest of the books – and the glass obelisk. Her mission complete, she sent out an arcane ball of acid that ignited once it was clear of the tree. It fell directly onto servants quarters' roof and looked like the dribbling of a fire god out of the clear night's sky. Yurok released a flaming arrow across the back way, unseen by the increased Guard presence.

The combination of mortal and arcane fire quickly caught the servants' quarters, and chaos ensued. Nyssa leapt into Allie's arms, and the two flew out of the tree in the shadow of its great bulk, hidden by the night.

The Guard stormed Asari's manor to put out the fire, precipitating a fight of a different sort. One of Asari's mercenaries – a fresh batch for the evening – was a saltus. The steely-armed Cassandra fought the saltus in the city streets, finally subduing it with prayers to her patron god Curiss.

From there, the team fled the attention and the potential for other saltuses to possess them.

Behind the Scenes

Date: THU08MAY2014

DM's Notes: Saige had opted to visit with her grandmother that evening, and so Sommer was playing three characters: Ethana, Nyssa, and Allie. Luckily she didn't have to deal with mounts, as well. There were several tense moments when the situation could have turned into a frightening battle, and I'm sure everyone would've stepped up to plate – but I'm not so sure everyone would have been free afterwards.

Reference: Campaign IX

Sommer (Nyssa and Ethana)

No comment.

Paul (Kragma)

No comment.

Ross (Yurok)

No comment.

Saige (Allie)

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gaeleth/campaigns/campaign_ix/ix-7-22.txt · Last modified: 2021/09/28 15:51 (external edit)