29 - Save a dying man

Mid-afternoon in Port Nyanzaru the party debates how to save Omala who has fallen afoul of Kwayothé and received a notice of displeasure in the form of a black triceratops. But when the group goes to pick up Omala they notice a couple watching the building from a nearby allyway where they are making out. The couple put Lindal at Ill ease, something he can not place about them screams danger so the party come up with an elaborate plan. They walk up with an Illusionary Chultan man in their group. They then convince Omala to let them in by insinuating they are her to talk about his affront which makes him fall back from the door. But upon getting inside they revel themselves to be allies and quickly disguise hm to look like the illusion and Eddie (DeVeers) makes the he illusion look like Omala and see them off in clear view of the couple watching from outside. The ruse buys the party enough time to get across the city to golden throne which they soon learn is difficult to approach. Eddie leaves his familiar watching the only bridge up to Goldenthrone and the party plead their case with the guards and are told that the Prince will see them when t is convenient to her and makes them wait.

While they are waiting there is some back and forth with the guards but it seems like bribery and flattery will get them nowhere and it is around this time that the owl sees the couple form before making their way to Goldenthrone. Eddie turns his attention to new plans so he misses the couple changing their appearance and Lindal goes out to intercept the couple to buy the group time but since he is looking for the wrong group he completely misses the fact that the regal couple dressed in gold cloth are the same couple form before since their entire bodies and faces are different. These two are ungodly beautiful.

The couple come to goldenthrone and the gates are opened for them even as they walk up. Celadon notices the them as he can not take his eyes off of the pair. In all his travels he has seen no one ever as lovely. The party is summoned in a bit later to a room where there are several armed guards as well as the two attendants sitting at the foot of a throne on which Kwayothé sits. She stirs and asks the party what their business are and Celadon steps forth and begins to shower her in flattery which seems to amuse her enough to hear their petition. Meanwhile Kyorin eyes teh prince and her attendents and notices that the two stunning attendants are infernal beings of great power. Celadon continues with his sweet talking and does a good enough job flattering Kwayothé bthat the others don't even introduce themselves.

She eventually grants that she might be willing to give Omala a pardon but she is interested n the party providing a service fr her and asks them to first prove themselves worth f her honor by clearing her basement of vermin that have recently invaded. The party agree ot check out these "rats" and are told that her servent will be expecting them. They make some plans on way to her manor across another even better guarded bridge but once they are out of earshot of anyone else Kylorin calls the party to a stop and warn the others that the beautiful pair were actually infernal creations and the princess Kwayothé has participated in unholy rituals with them. Armed with the knowledge they decide to stop and rest on the bridge pretending to sightsee while they regain some magic and health before continuing on the the manor whereteh servents are waiting for them.

"Ah, some hearty souls not afraid of dirty work. Most ex- cellent. My master's problem is fairly minor: other servants tell us the basement storage area has been overrun by vermin. Vermin in Port Nyanzaru, however, can be dangerous. Could you please go into the basement and clear out the infestation? As a reward, we will give you each a vial of our special insect repellant. Plus you will have my thanks. It should only take you a few minutes.”

Nestique tells them her mistress is working on a rat repellent to sell. She sprays them (with or without their permission) with a compound that Kwayothé hopes will acts as undead repellent. She does not know if it will work, so the characters are there to be unwitting test subjects. The spray smells like a cross between skunk spray, rotten cabbage, and burning corpses. It would not only keep vermin away, but would keep away any creature with semi-functioning olfactory senses.

The basement is 10 feet below the first floor above. Roughly 50 feet on a side, the square room hosts an array of boxes, chests, cabinets, and shelves along the walls, and the center also contain some stacked boxes. Supports spaced out throughout the room hold up the ceiling. But soon after entering the vault the Group is ambushed by two dozen crawling claws while the princess's servant takes notes on the effectiveness or lack thereof provided by the new undead repellant. The claws do some serious work on Kylorin. Eddie manages to set a good half dozen on fire and everyone get mobbed and has to chop and hack at claw after claw getting viscera everywhere. Freya smashes several in quick succession and Lindal spears one and deftly launches it through the bars and down the attendant's dress in revenge for the setup. The attendant has to slice open her own dress to get at the claw and then struggles to destroy it while the party finishes off the remaining claws. The party then come out and block off the attendants retreat and yet manage to kill the claw she was struggling with in passing. The party is debating what to do with her when the princess's rings out from upstairs, "Well how did it go? Was the basement cleared?"

Coming upstairs the party find themselves once again face to face with the lady and her two attendants as well as some more guards. Lindal come sup last and quietly pockets a metal oil lamp that seemed decorative and one of the few valuable things they saw in the building. (While there was much incense and perfume in the house there was not much of value anywhere the party had been led perhaps by design.

Celadon again does the lion share of the talking flirting with death literally. Kwayothé says they have proven themselves worth of her attention and is willing to forgive Omala’s lapse in judgment provided the characters agree to send a message that true Chultans do not work with the Foreign Interlopers and send this message by killing a man named Shago who acts as a guide for the Warden's order within the next 10 days—no questions asked—and speak of the deed to no one. Kwayothé tells them that Shago works as a guide out of Fort Beluarian. If the characters fail in this task, Kwayothé has Omala sentenced to Executioner’s Run.

Eddie staying in the background turns out to be a very good thing as Kwayothé failed to recognize him s dressed as a member of the Warden's order. Eddie does speak up once to save Celadon's life after he is invited to spend the night by insinuating that he has an "infection" that needs treatment. Celadon manages to shake off a charm spell as one of the Succubi winks at him but seems to sulk all the way home as this was the type of relationship that a man could die for quite literally. All the way back to the inn Celadon is in a foul mood and only upon arriving exhausted and covered in ichor do they notice that the inn is packed full of guides waiting to meet them.

The group is exhausted, reeking of skunk, and with bit of viscera in their hair and covering their clothes. They open drinks for the guides at the bar and go upstairs to get changed and cleaned up. Lindal lingers to talk a bit with Bonnie who is just bouncing with energy having eagerly been waiting to speak with him all evening. Eddie goes upstairs first to clean up in the room he shares with Lindal and hes strips and cleans himself as well as he can only to feel something land on his shoulder. An imp has its stinger poised right at his eye and says, "Oh now I get why all the other devils laughed and let me go first in line for the pact, its you"

Eddie: "What?"

Imp: "Look, your family has an arrangement. When you get a familiar you get an imp from our order in return for your help with our cause here on earth. You shoudl have already been briefed on it if you have gotten to summoning a familiar"

Eddie: "But I have a familiar. I am not a warlock I am a wizard"

Imp: "What? Well this is certainly outside the normal agreement. I guess I could go to one of my superiors here in the city and see about amending the agreements."

Eddie: "That is not what I said, I am interested in talking but not tonight I need to prepare a bit first. And lets not bring your superior into it. I am mostly concerned as I think we might need a more distanced agreement"

Imp: "Well I guess I should just go on my way and find something else to do"

Lindal: (bursting into room) Hey Eddie I need you to cantrip this junk off... Wait a second.."

Imp: "I know you! You chased me through that frigging doggie door. You take a step closer and I give your friend teh worst ocular migrane of his very soon to be short life. Wait a second if you are still with this guy you might still have that paladin..."

Eddie: "That is why I said we might need a bit more of a long range relationship. She is still with me"

Imp: "Oh god, no wonder no one wanted to have you. She smote the crap out of me last time. I should just go one my way and be out of your hair."

Eddie: "That is not what I said, I said we need some distance and time. How about you find me three interesting pieces of information about the city and prepare a contract suitable for a wizard and then return here tomorrow night so we can talk at more length"

Imp: "Ok but I see one scale of that paladin and I am out of here all deals are off."

Eddie: "Ok but you come in through this window and do not attempt to approach or look for the paladin in the meanwhile. We keep this down low and just between the three of us."

Imp: "So you trust this fellah?" (looking over at Linal)

Eddie: "Implicitly" (Casting a spell to clean Lindal off)

Imp: ""Ok I will go see what I can find in my free time and come back here tomorrow night"

Eddie: "No I said you would learn three pieces of valuable information and keep a low profile so only I and my buddy here know you are in the city"

Imp: *sighs*. "Yeah, yeah, I heard you the first time spoilsport"

Advantage

Celadon - for flirting with death

Kylorin - for protecting researcher when she really didn't want to.

Defeated

• Ambush bypassed 50

• 20 crawling claws 2x10 200

• Imp (avoided fight) 100

The party earned 350 xp with 0+ allies (70 each => 827 cumulative)

Treasure

• case of insect repellent (400 doses)

• strange brazier (5 gp)

Companions (not present):

• Captain and Crew of the Brazen pegasus

  • Captain Ortimay

  • First Mate Grigg

  • Bonnie "Sky Turtle" Skytle

• Seraph - a Psuedodragon traveling companion and his horde of 3 gp and 3 sp

• Undril Silvertusk - A Lightbringer and member of the Order of the Gauntlet bringing relief supplies to Camp Righteousness.

• Derrick - former pirate now sworn to Kasisi

• Lenny - imp with a troubled history with the party