Campaign Journal: Ocean's Five

I've got about six play reports to fire off. I've been negligent, on top of extra sessions. More incoming.

First, more Shenanigans in Chirath:

Jax - Barbarian
Fulvus - Halfling
Rondel - Elf
Frederick - Thief
Orzu - Gnome

(Slick was absent due to spoiled hydra)

First of all, the party was approached by members of the City Guard, in a friendly fashion, at least. They were invited to speak with Legate Mildiani, the city's military commander, as well as Velthur Lecne, a sage researching the Chaos mutations. The party (e.g. Jax and Fulvus/Wene) had drawn attention for their defeats of the Chaos creatures in the arena, as well as other rumors of the party's exploits in the wilderness.

The two officials questioned the party as to their explorations and findings with respect to the Chaos forces. The party recounted general information, and discussed their experiences in Acroria. Mildiani was aware of Acroria's position, partially from the city's intelligence personnel in the town. He was curious if their may be other internal contacts, and the party suggested that the two remaining expedition survivors may be amenable to contact.

The party further shared some information on the presence of the fortifications, although they withheld some information on the Barrier, and mentioned a few allies, such as the druids and community at Cobalt Lake. The Keepers of the Light were also discussed in their past role guarding the frontier.

Lecne was quite interested in the creation of the Chaos mutations, and his research and autopsies indicated that the beings had been changed by some combination of alchemical means and a form of magic he wasn't familiar with. Perhaps this knowledge could be used to create soldiers of their own (members of party shudder).

Satisfied, the two officials bid them adieu, and the party departed. 

Since Rondel was back, it was time for a library visit. Zahira Gandega was excited to see them again, and they nerded out for a bit. Most importantly, Zahira had recovered a few old scrolls. These showed figures and possibly even specifications of the Barrier lenses. Quite a boon. Rondel agreed to trade copies for copies of his own notes, once his elven peers had completed their duplication.

Ok Jax is bored - Any fights at the Bear Garden? Indeed, a last minute cancellation (again, bad hydra meat) left an opening in the schedule. Time to fight something. More bets were placed. The crowd cheered as the familiar blue mohawk appeared in the arena. Arkeos worked them up with some Michael Buffer level announcing, and the gate opened. 

Of course it was a bear. Spiky, with carapace. Must have gotten into some bad water. Jax and Goober closed. Each of them critted sometime in the fight. My dice, on the other hand, sucked. Fulvus hoped for a trophy, but one of Jax's hits split its skull. Some bets were won, some were lost.

Hey Boo-Boo!

Whew. Time to rest up a bit for the night's excursion. Based on intelligence gathered, the party chose to go subterranean. Somewhere in the prep, they remembered that they had a wand of knock. Yornick of the Sewer Patrol was contacted. 

Night fell and several individuals with picks and crowbars heading to a sewer entrance was in no way suspicious.

Yornick led on, and again, a Gobbling Grout was found. It ate Fulvus' spear, then was dispatched with prejudice. Fulvus was sad to lost his spear, which he had silvered early in the campaign. 

More turns and they were near the jeweler's cellar. But as they approached a t-junction, lights and sounds were detected. Someone else was also heisting! The sound died, as the competitors heard the party. 

Quick bluff. Yornick was handed some coin to walk out, announcing himself as sewer patrol. Orzu crafted a sufficient illusion of a few more patrol members to throw the opponents off. It worked for enough time for the party to gain a surprise. A quick and dirty sewer fight occurred. Fortunately, the illusion soaked some damage, and most of the opponents were done in, with a couple of survivors fleeing. Pockets were gone through...

Yornick and a couple of henches set up watch, while the party silenced themselves and went to work. The bricks were yanked down, until the party was showered in bones. Apparently many people had been bricked into that wall, possible from the jeweler's side... Eegh.

A few more bricks removed, and the cellar was exposed. Wait. Henry has a scroll of find traps (it's so nice when the players actually look through their inventories). Sure enough, the floor was magically trapped. Interesting. More discussion. Finally, the body of one of the dead opponents was tossed in, which successfully set it off. The entire floor webbed. That would have been inconvenient.

The webs were cleared with fire, and Frederick attempted to pick the three vault locks. One succumbed, but the other two were resistance. Time to use a couple of wand charges. Oh, look at that chest over there in the corner? Why isn't it in a vault?

Of Course Its A Mimic. Beladon had a couple of layers of security. It got ahold of Orzu, but was generally unsuccessful in eating him because my dice suck. The vaults were cleared of a significant amount of gems and jewelry, Yornick was paid off, and it was time to go have breakfast.

Hi there

DM Notes:

I'm sorry that Slick's player was out this session. He really wanted to break in... 

Overall, a fun session, with a few more contacts, a couple of resources, and a decent haul. Which should be enough to buy the party access to the Smoking Isles.