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Campaign Journal 74 - A Plan of Attack
PREVIOUSLY - CAMPAIGN DIARIES 73 - CACKLE IN THE DARKNESS
The Owlbear League walks the streets of Skullport, collecting more information about The Eye, their chief lieutenants, and The Xanathar - a beholder crime lord, in order to disrupt or destroy their operation and save their wards, the three urchins, Squiddly, Nat and Jenks.
"We should just do a frontal assault." says Nowhere as they wander the streets.
Immeral adds "That would be incredibly foolish, a Beholder has eye beams that have powerful effects like disintigration and an anti-magic field."
"Maybe if we had the sphere of annihilation" adds K'ronk
Dain and Atlas nod to each other.
They walk into an area known as Skull's Square. This square looks to serve as Skullport's arena for justice, such as it is in this city. Troublemakers, brawlers, and petty thieves are placed here in stocks and crow's cages to be pelted with trash, rotten fish, and other close-at-hand debris.
There looks to be some sort of trial going on, as a shabby skulker is standing with his hands tied behind his back and held by two rough-and-tumble characters. In front of the man floats a green glowing skull which is speaking...
"...that is no excuse, excuses are not law, law is not order, but order must be maintained or there will chaos, and we cannot have commerce in chaos. That would be chaos-merse so you are guilty. Your punishment is goat!"
A beam of purple light erupts from the skull's mouth and the man is transformed into a goat. The crowd cheers.
One of toughs that were restraining the man looks at his companion and asks "can we eat him?" The other shrugs, and they look to the skull. "Goat may be eaten. Goats are consumed otherwise they would not be goat." The thugs look like they might argue over who owns the goat, but one grabs at the rope, ties the goat up and leads it away as the crowd disperses. The second man follows hungrily and the crowd disburses.
As the flaming skull floats away, it cries out "Nightbell soon. Away to your beds! You must be well rested for commerce tomorrow!"
The League heads back to the Deepfires Inn to rest overnight.
"What about this lich at the Dizzy Drake?" Immeral asks, somewhat nervously.
"We take it on tomorrow." says Nowhere. Immeral nods and they hurry back to the Inn.
Noticing it for the first time, K'ronk points up to a giant spider on the roof of Skullport's cavern, but it is not a natural spider, it is a construct of some sort, maybe even a residence, as there seems to be stairs leading to it from a building below. The gong sounds, and they don't spend time to observe as the streets are clearing.
As they approach the Deepfires they hear a roaring and bellowing from human-size prison cages hanging from the ceiling. A lone minotaur sits in the cage, howling incomprehensible speech, rattling the cage, foaming at the mouth. Passers by tell him to shut up as they hurry on, ignoring him as a nuisance. As they pass, the minotaur takes a crap in the cage, and it falls onto a small pile of dung directly beneath. A few moments later a pair of male goblins with shovels rush over and scoop up the poo and rush north, glancing at some more of The Skulls floating above.
Immeral says "Maybe we cut him loose in the morning."
They get inside and move to their rooms for a good rest. They start thinking about what they know and their plan. Going after Ahmaergo, finding N'arl, taking out the mind flayer, avoiding the Beholder. Maybe go after Sundeth on Skull Island, or the Kenku assassin Cackle. Perhaps even get more info from Ott and the fish. But they need allies, and in Skullport they seem to be few and far between.
Several of The League talked long into the night about next steps and priorities. Taking out the Mind Flayer, and moving quickly to the others so they don't have a lot of time to retaliate. They need the intel from N'arl, and they certainly want to know why there is a goldfish keeper, Ott. Maybe using Syldan as a spy by turning him into a goldfish. Immeral adds "if we help with this lich, we may gain some allies and some more information.
They leave the Deepfires inn after some breakfast and today there is a devotee of some sort praying beneath the crazed Minotaur hanging nearby.
The praying man has prayer beads and is chanting, and he is praying to Loviatar, god of pain. He is taking in the agonized pain and suffering of the minotaur and reveling in the misery. He sees The League noticing his devotations...
CAPTURE 36:50
"Are you impressed?" he asks.
"By you or the minotaur?" responds Nowhere.
"My worship to Loviatar. This holy place, a place of unmatched suffering. Do you have any idea what glory is happening here?"
Seraphina says "Illuminate us." with barely constrained annoyance in her voice.
He responds "The raging bull in that cage has been a prisoner for over twenty years."
The eyes of The League light up.
"He wears a ring of sustenance which keeps him alive. He is starved except for whatever bugs may be unfortunate enough to crawl by. Each week he nearly dies, but the ring recharges and he is sustained, only to suffer again endlessly and repeatedly. He is mad beyond measure."
"That is sick." says K'ronk.
"His madness is beautiful. He cannot be released, for he would kill any he could get his hands on." says the worshipper.
"I think it's divine." says Atlas.
"Come pray with me." the man says longingly and Atlas joins him (but prays to Mizar).
He whispers a prayer to Loviatar, something about madness wrapped in chains.
K'ronk whispers to her "Pray for destruction of this whole city."
After his prayer he stands and introduces himself as Quinnan Vameed. "You must help watch the raging bull. His minotaur kind are constantly trying to save him, but he is beyond saving, he would kill any whom he could get his hands on."
Atlas says "I would fight for this." and the others groan at her propensity for faking interest in her opposites.
"Maintain! Maintain the pain." he says excitedly. "The minotaurs sometime congregate in The Black Tankard, you can find them there. Bring them and force them to watch his agony, and become part of it! Make them suffer!" He starts crying, prostrating himself before the raging bull and diving into prayer again.
Immeral whispers to K'ronk, "maybe we knock him out of there if we have some minotaurs to help."
They leave the demented priest to his worship and move on, dragging Atlas and her twisted sense of humor along.
BENEATH THE WEIGHT
Beneath the weight of unseen chains,
Where silence screams and sorrow reigns,
I walk through halls of shadowed stone,
Each echo carved from flesh and bone.
No lantern burns, no compass guides,
Just hollow winds and broken tides—
Each step a prayer, each breath a flame,
That brands my soul with grief’s own name.
The sun forgets to touch my face,
The moon recoils from this disgrace.
What once was hope is now decayed,
A wilted rose in ashen gray.
I drink the hours thick with ache,
Each one a blade, each dream a stake.
No lullabies in this domain,
Just lull of madness wrapped in chain.
Yet still I rise, though bent and torn,
A ghost of all I was before.
For even in this cursed terrain—
There’s beauty in surviving pain.
The League casually strolls the busy Trade Lanes, noticing some shops they had not investigated previously.
There is a festhall, the Tawdry Nymph, and an eatery call The Skupperden where skulkers seem to be skooping some sort of soup or stew out of a trough. It almost smells like food.
There is a small butcher shop called "The Bin" which seems to have many unlabelled scraps of perhaps meat. It does not smell like food.
There is a shop with holy symbols of dark gods called "The Enlightened Mind" - icons that would not be permitted to operate openly in polite society.
Asking locals directions, The League makes there way to the Black Tankard (Area 23).
One word comes to mind when one first sets eyes on the ominous black stone and rotting wood one-level tavern: dive. Hanging over the door is a huge fire-blackened mug overflowing with bones -- presumably of those who died inside. A female half-elf drunk erupts from the tavern doors, tossed out onto the cobbles by a minotaur dressed in worn leather. The beast shouts a phrase in a guttural language, but its meaning is universal: "...and stay the hell out!" as it turns back inside.
The drunk meekly raises a fist and shouts a slurred phrase of protest before vomiting on the street. Her ramshackle condition reveals a Harper tattoo on her shoulder.
CAPTURE 49:45
The League steps over and recognizes her from the pet shop The Feathered Rat - Ulvira Snowveins. The League moves to help her to her feet, but she has no strength in her legs, and as they raise her, her dress is pulled off her shoulder where they notice the tattoo of The Harpers - a semi-secret society devoted to preserving the rule of law. What Ulvira's relationship to the Harpers is currently is not clear, but they cover her shoulder as Atlas picks her up and carries her back towards the pet shop. Few eyes linger on them as they walk along.
K'ronk and Immeral discuss the use of a lesser restoration spell to remove Ulvira's drunkeness, and Seraphina remarks she can cast that, but they pass on casting it for now.
They arrive back at The Feathered Rat where her partner Salmarin Bearfriend is watching the shop, and his head drops in sadness as he sees her condition. He expresses curt thanks, maybe embarrassed.
"Where can we lay her down?" asks Atlas.
"We have a room at the Guts and Garters across the street." says Salmarin
LEFT OFF - 48:20
Salmarin Bearfriend and Ulvira Snowveins. They lived with a pair of blink dogs, named Yapp and Yuff.
LEFT OFF - 48:20
RECAP:
The Black Tankard
Minotaur
Page to call Ahmaergo for an "encounter"
Helping Ulvira
The Feather Rat
The Guts & Garters
Following Cackle
Guard Station?
Bossy Kenku
The Dizzy Drake
The Yuan-ti Lich
LEFT OFF - 15:20
From 3:22:00
The visible essence of the lich flows into a crack in the wall of it's lair. The snakes slither off into their own cracks. The Owlbear League starts searching for secret passages.
Immeral finds a loose stone, and pushing on it, reveals a secret niche as the wall pivots outward. K'ronk and Immeral use their detect magic to ensure there is no glyph of warding, but they see there is a glow of magic within, as well as behind it, where there is a 4' tall mirror. They are still shy about the chest, so Nowhere offers to open it. There is treasure within the chest and an ornate brass and glass vial glowing with the moving essence of the lich. It's phylactery - the object that hold the soul of a lich.
Nowhere bashes the phylactery against the wall, and it bounces off, unharmed.
Dain asks "Can I drink it?"
Atlas replies "You have a problem."
Immeral says "I think we have to identify the way to destroy this particular phylactory."
K'ronk says - let's put it in the bag of holding until later.
Seraphina starts a Prayer of Healing, and heals several of the party, restoring much of their vitality
Nowhere quickly looks through the remainder of the treasure. There is about 3,000 gold.
Seraphina asks "Are we giving the tavern-keeper some of the gold?"
Nowhere scoffs "He was luring people to their death to save his own hide."
K'ronk adds "Maybe a copper."
They also find:
A potion of greater healing
A potion of cold resistance
Cloak of the Manta Ray
A potion of supreme healing
A potion of storm giant strength
K'ronk casts identify on the mirror, and learns it is a mirror of life trapping.
NEXT - Campaign Journal 75 - ????
This adventure used material from the D&D Module "Waterdeep: Dragon Heist".
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