The Man with the Ebony Skull, Part 1

The Party: Kona, Dacien, Lagûn, Centurion

Still stationed in the Underdark, the party has spent the last couple of months supporting Aurora Force in their battle against the Communion of the First Flame.

Kona missed the open air of the surface world, but spent more time connecting with the Spindrift Rangers, learning about the climate and seasons of the Underdark. Razler, the Rangers’ blacksmith and quartermaster, helped Kona develop a lightweight suit of half-plate armor, fashioned from mycelium matter, giant spider silk, and Underdark metals. Kona called the armor Spindrift Half-Plate, just as strong as conventional armor, but a fraction of the weight and much more flexible. He also spent time training with Lagûn, hoping to build up the young apprentice’s confidence after his disappointments in battle last adventure.

Dacien took to going on long scouting excursions throughout the Underdark. He would make short covert trips into Orkfal and other clockwork ruins (avoiding detection by the First Flame), curious to understand more about what happened to his old Empire. He was able to discern that Orkfal was likely once a large resource development outpost settlement belonging to House Dulcathan, an old Empire house with whom Dacien’s house had some trade relationships. In his spare time, Dacien crafted an attachment to his gun that would allow him to shoot at long distances more accurately. He also offered to help Lagûn in his martial training, but the locathah declined for now, feeling a certain sense of loyalty to Kona’s teachings. Meanwhile, back on Lanternwurm, the initial investment Dacien had made in developing an Academy proceeded, ushered forward by Ord, an ex-ruffian and the lone convert to the Caliber that Dacien had made before he left.

During this time, Sister Goldfinch, representative of Master Crow, and Tongar Sureclaw, leader of the Spindrift Rangers, had been working with the party to find a weakness in the First Flame’s headquarters, Cinder Castle. As it was, the fortress was still unassailable with Aurora Force’s current strength. Goldfinch called a meeting to discuss the latest developments.

A promising lead had been in the works from a spy that the Aurora Force had embedded in Orkfal named Song Li. Song was one of Tongar’s people, a skilled Spindrift Ranger, trained for more covert work. His last communications seemed to indicate that he had made a break in the search for a way into Cinder Castle. Information was still vague, but it seemed like he had made a contact within the city that may be able to help them.

Unfortunately, Song had gone dark after this communication, missing his last expected dead drop communication. Goldfinch worried that the mole that had escaped the camp in the last adventure, a halfling woman named Marian, had revealed the identity of Aurora Force’s secret agents to the First Flame. Song may have been captured or worse.

She proposed that the lead that Song was developing was valuable enough to send the party into Orkfal and attempt to recover the spy. The group agreed, and Goldfinch made preparations to setup a very small forward camp eight hours outside of the city as a base of operations. She would be stationed at the camp to act as central communications, and provided magic crystals through which the party could make contact with her.

Tongar decided to go into the city with them to seek out his agent, and offered a few leads. From Song’s communications, they knew that he had been staying in a large building in the center of the city, a structure that used to be some kind of city hall or administrative building, but was now transformed into a kind of boarding house. They also knew Song’s typical dead drop location in one of Orkfal’s busy markets where they might be able to find signs of what happened to the spy. Finally, the party could always lean on the few informants that Aurora Force had in the city, though that may be more of a shot in the dark.

Before leaving, Tongar offered a set of equipment in preparation for the mission. The myconids that the party spoke with in the last adventure had supplied them with special spore pods that had the power to charm or frighten people. The party received two of each type. Additionally, Tongar was able to secure two special potions from the supply train that the party had defended, a potion of gaseous form and a potion of frost giant strength.

Recognizing the need to keep a low profile, the party did their best to disguise themselves in appropriate cloaks and disguises. Centurion applied some of her mechanical alterations to pass as a typical humanoid. Dacien decided to pose as a merchant, figuring he could leverage his previous appearances in the city.

The party decided to split up to pursue more leads. Kona, Tongar, and Lagûn would go to the apartments, while Dacien and Centurion would scope out the market. The party made their way into Orkfal.

At the market, Dacien led Centurion through the stalls of a busy, the construct acting in bodyguard-mode. A pack of young orcs and humans playing a game of kickball with the husk of a large insect passed by them. Dacien ignored the children, but noted how a thriving community had grown up in the ruins of his past. He found the dead drop location, an inconspicuous alleyway, and purchased a bowl of ooze soup from a street vendor to eat as the pair monitored the area.

After some time had passed, nobody had approached the dead drop, but he soon caught sight of a small procession of First Flame priests making its way down the streets. They were handing out pamphlets and attempting to convert passers-by to join the organization. Apparently a common sight in Orkfal, most of the people in the market politely ignored them, but a few seemed to be interested. As the priests approached Dacien, he recognized an opportunity to learn more about the enemy.

He feigned interest in the First Flame, questioning the priest about the organization’s operations and “rumors” about its ill dealings. The friendly priest seemed eager to speak with Dacien, thinking they had found a potential convert. He introduced himself as Viktor and eventually invited Dacien to the First Flame’s temple in Orkfal, where a “rebirth” ceremony was to take place to welcome new members to the First Flame. Keeping up the ruse, Dacien agreed.

Meanwhile, Kona, Lagûn, and Tongar found their way to the center of town where the apartments where Song had been hiding out were located. The building was a multi-story, ornate structure, signs of its past importance in the Old Empire outpost. The entrance led to a large open area with rooms all along the edges of the building, ancient offices and meeting rooms now converted into living quarters. Tongar led the way to the second floor where he suspected Song’s apartment was based on his communications.

Just as the group was walking up a flight of stairs, Kona and Lagûn caught sight of a small goblin child about to steal some food from an inattentive woman in conversation with another tenant. Both were about to let it pass, but the child was caught just as they had grabbed the food and the woman threatened to lead the small child to the enforcers for punishment. At this point, Kona was still not quite willing to get involved, but Lagûn intervened. Hoping to defuse the situation, the locathah offered to pay for whatever goods the child was about to steal. Sensing an opportunity, the woman demanded a payment of two gold pieces, an outrageous price for what was stolen.

With a sigh, Kona granted Lagûn the necessary money, and the woman greedily agreed to let the child go. The party proceeded forward, now with the small goblin in tow. She said her name was Kirsi and that she lived in the apartments. As they reached Song’s apartment, Kona asked if Kirsi knew the man who lived there. After some thinking, she nodded and said it was a man named Lucas, matching Song’s description. She described him as nice, but said she hadn’t seen him for a number of weeks.

The party found the door to the apartment locked. Tongar offered to break the door down, but Kona, hoping to avoid making a scene, decided a more discreet approach was needed here. After sending Kirsi on her way, they moved back outside and surveyed the outside of the building. They soon located a window that corresponded with Song’s apartment. While the walls were scalable, Kona had no need to climb and used his teleporting magic to quickly jump up into the interior of the room.

After unlocking the door to allow Tongar and Lagûn in, they began searching the apartment. It was an austere room (too austere, according to Tongar, who seemed to think it gave away that a spy lived here), and it didn’t take long for the group to find a hidden compartment under the floorboards. Inside, they found a bundle of notes and what appeared to be Song’s journal. The notes detailed a location labelled on a map of the city as “Lotho’s Compound.” Apparently, Song had been conducting reconnaissance of the location.

The name was familiar to the group. Lotho, the Ebony Skull, was the grey dwarf who acted as a kind of spokesman for the First Flame, a charismatic mouthpiece who had been instrumental in the campaign of propaganda and recruitment in Orkfal. Tongar mentioned that part of Song’s work here was also to assess threats like Lotho. It was possible that Lotho was responsible for Song’s disappearance.

The journal that accompanied the notes was sealed by a magic rune, a trick that Aurora Force agents used to protect information. Tongar said they would be able to disable the rune, but it would take time and would require bringing it back to Sister Goldfinch. They agreed that Tongar would make an aurora jump back to base to deliver the journal, while Kona and Lagûn would check out Lotho’s compound. Tongar would return as soon as he could.

Meanwhile, Dacien had followed Viktor back to the First Flame’s temple. Along the way, Viktor had explained that he had been with the group for about two months. He joined after the First Flame had helped heal his ailing sister. He was hesitant to reveal the details of how they had helped her, understanding that it wasn’t his place to delve into the rituals of the First Flame. Instead, he encouraged Dacien to learn more at the temple. Despite Dacien’s knowledge of the First Flame’s suspicious nature, he found Viktor to be an earnest and honest individual.

As they reached the temple, a number of people seemed to be filing in for the ceremony. The pair was stopped at the door by another, much more brutish, priest. Viktor recognized him as “Brother Marko” and explained that Dacien was a potential new convert. Marko was far less welcoming than Viktor. Dacien noted that he and a couple of other priests in the temple wore hidden weapons under their cloaks, spiked chains much like the ones wielded by the cultists the party had fought in their last adventure.

After some convincing by Viktor, Marko let them pass. Viktor was immediately apologetic for Marko’s attitude, explaining that Marko was part of a group of his brothers that worked with Lotho and some of them could be somewhat brusque, but he promised that the First Flame was truly helping people find their way. Sensing a chance for more intimate intel, Dacien expressed sympathy and began asking about conflict within the First Flame, still feigning interest in joining. Eventually, Viktor admitted to occasional disagreements. With some more cajoling, he even admitted to participating in the capture of an individual in the market at the behest of Lotho. While he had only acted as a lookout, Viktor still felt uneasy about it. Dacien quickly surmised that Song had been the target of the abduction.

The ceremony proceeded. A few people stood on a platform at the head of the temple beside a burning brazier as a priest entreated them to toss a possession into the fire. In turn, each threw an item into the fire, one a letter, another a child’s toy. The priest explained how each convert was burning away burdens of their past life as they entered into a rebirth as a member of the First Flame. As the ceremony concluded, Dacien decided it would be wise to check in with Sister Goldfinch and parted ways with Viktor, after suggesting that they might meet again for a meal together with Viktor’s sister. Viktor gladly agreed.

As information filtered in from both parties, it became clear that Song was likely being held at Lotho’s compound. With Song’s life potentially in danger, Goldfinch told Dacien and Centurion to join up with Kona and Lagûn to see if they could infiltrate the compound and recover the spy.

Lotho had converted what used to be some kind of large amphitheatre into his base. Song’s notes indicated that there was an extensive set of underground chambers, a troop of grey dwarves, and a possible secret entryway that he wasn’t able to locate.

From a distance, the adventurers saw that the perimeter of the compound was patrolled by grey dwarves on steeders, giant spider mounts. Centurion used her wartime instincts to detect the most opportune time to try and bypass the patrols. Lagûn cast a spell to hide the passage of the group, shadowy fish shapes obscuring them as they approached the compound from the north. For a moment, it seemed like the party would be detected, when two of the mounted guards deviated from their patrol routes. But with some quick thinking, Dacien drank the potion of gaseous form and drifted through the cracks around the door, before quickly transforming back and letting the rest of the party quietly into the compound.

They quickly discovered a trap door nearby that led deeper into the compound. Peeking down below, they saw a soldierly grey dwarf who seemed to be standing guard in front of a wall. Dacien and Centurion led the way first. Dacien momentarily distracted the guard by claiming to be part of the First Flame, before crushing one of the myconid spore pods to charm him. The gas was effective and soon the guard viewed Dacien as an old acquaintance, surprised to find him there.

Looking at his surroundings, Dacien found himself in a small room that adjoined a much larger, long warehouse area with a number of grey dwarves who seemed to be sorting various crates and goods. A couple of the grey dwarves sat in small mechanical suits that allowed them to lift large objects with mechanical claws. Deciding to push his luck, Dacien asked his new “friend” to introduce him to the others as a First Flame there to help with the work.

Meanwhile, Kona and Lagûn secured the area above the trapdoor. They peeked into a nearby room where they saw another grey dwarf, this one doing some kind of accounting at a desk. Kona carefully crept into the room undetected before attempting to use another spore pod to charm the dwarf. However, this one was able to resist and the paladin was left with no choice but to disable the dwarf with more conventional means. A quick fight ensued, in which the grey dwarf drew upon their innate ability to change their size, growing twice their size. Despite this, Kona and Lagûn made quick work of their opponent, with Kona making a leaping pommel strike to knock the dwarf out. After hiding the unconscious body away from sight, Kona searched the office, discovering some gold, a magic scroll of lesser restoration, and records of the operations within Lotho’s compound. Aside from the purchase of arms and supplies, Kona could see a number of more suspicious dealings that seemed to indicate that Lotho was running a number of criminal enterprises within the city.

Back in the basement, Dacien’s charmed friend had introduced Dacien and Centurion to the others as new help. Unfortunately, the rest of the grey dwarves were not so easily convinced. Wondering what was wrong with their friend, they immediately threatened Dacien and demanded that he surrender his weapons so that they could take him to Lotho for questioning. Dacien decided it was best to go along with their demands for now.

They pushed Dacien through a secret door that led further into the compound. As they walked, Dacien caught sight of a shrine for the First Flame populated by a few cultists, a mess hall where a few grey dwarves looked on curiously, and some kind of gambling room where more grey dwarves were boisterously playing games. Finally, his captors locked him into a small empty room, something that could have been some kind of dressing room previously. He took this opportunity to call Sister Goldfinch with his magic crystal which he had managed to hide from the grey dwarves searching.

Worried that Dacien and Centurion had not yet returned, Kona and Lagûn entered into the trapdoor themselves and were surprised to find their friends missing. There was only a long warehouse with a lone grey dwarf in a mechanical suit, sorting crates. Unaware of the secret door leading into the compound, the pair decided it would be best to disable the dwarf so they could search more freely.

Sneaking through the shadows of the warehouse, they were able to surprise the armored dwarf with a coordinated attack. Lagûn was struck as the mechanical claw of the suit lashed out, but Kona was able to land a final strike, again choosing to knock out rather than kill the dwarf. Searching through the warehouse, they found some more gold as well as a curious black cloak in the shape of bat wings. But they still found no sign of Dacien and Centurion. Luckily, it was at that moment that Sister Goldfinch was able to reach out with information on Dacien and Centurion's situation. With a little more effort, Kona was able to discover the mechanism of the secret door.

After a wait, a guard finally opened the cell and led Dacien and Centurion to another room, this one slightly larger and more lavishly furnished. A number of menacing grey dwarves stood around the room, and at a couch set against one of the walls sat an imposing grey dwarf in a blacked mask shaped like a skull.

To be continued...

Loot:

Preparations for the mission from Tongar:

• 2 myconid spore pods that allow the user to attempt to charm someone within 5 ft.

• 2 myconid spore pods that allow the user to attempt to frighten someone within 5 ft.

• Potion of gaseous form

• Potion of frost giant strength

13 gp and a scroll of lesser restoration found in the office

120 gp and a cloak of the bat found in the warehouse

-2 charm spore pods

-Potion of gaseous form