Session 03 (2024-07-21) - Greg

Next Steps

We headed out to the The Big Tree at midnight to meet Delridge and go to the boat. Rowan will not join us.

Arriving at [[The Big Tree]]

From The Big Tree, the road slopes down to the shore. The portion of the harbor near the halfling quarter is not as developed as the rest of the harbor. It’s the evening of 24-Eliant.

We meet Delridge outside. He’s wearing a sexy dad leather jacket and beckons us to follow him promptly down the road to the harbor. Delridge has booked us a ride with Dander, the best river navigator for folks our unusual size. Dander’s boat also has a cover, so we won’t be obvious on the river as we cross.

Dander’s boat is about 20’ x 8’, more a large rowboat than a fishing boat. We see Dander on the boat wearing some cutoffs and preparing to embark. Dandy is not an attractive man, but clearly competent if a bit dim. Delridge mentions that Dander “spends a lot of time in the sun and sea, so take what he says with a grain of salt.”

Hugh sits in the center of the boat to keep it balanced, Kira turns into a fox that Bikke can carry. Dander is initially confused when he notices Kira-as-fox, but no major incident past that in the initial embarkation. We departed from the southeastern edge of the city, near the forest in the Port Maraisa map.

Crossing the River

The initial part of the journey is uninteresting, but there are clearly strong currents and eddies suggesting a rough subsurface. Dander is rowing us east into the river to let the current bring us down.

Conversation with Dander

• “You all wizards or cripples?”
  • “Both”
• Dander mentions that ships aren’t coming in because Port Maraisa is the last stop on the route and nobody’s coming up through the drought.
• Gavin betrayed some lack of insight around geography and boats.
• Dander mentioned “Wizards” heading to the south bank.
• Barrick asked why wizards are going to the south bank
  • Dander mentioned Tethyr has no laws against wizardry and that wizards find plants/reagents on the south shore of the river.
  • Barrick asked about whether specific plants are sought
  • Dander is an expert in vines and ferns, clams mollusks, and snails. Others know other plants or creatures. Dander does not go inland. Don’t touch plants that are pointy, moving, or aren’t green.
  • Dander has never been sick and hasn’t met a halfling that was sick.
  • Dander says the fog is unpleasant: easy to get lost, smells bad, and very cold.
• Bikke asks whether Dander’s been fired because Delridge told Dander not to call him boss.
  • Dander says Delridge isn’t really his boss, but he sometimes does work for Delridge and Delridge pays him for it.
  • Bikke asks what the sausage guy has to do with it.
  • Dander laughs and refuses to answer.
• Gavin asks why the halflings are watching us.
  • Dander answers that coming in with halflings is weirdif we were merchants we’d have left the kids on the road.
  • We shouldn’t be surprised that people are interested when we do weird shit.
• Dander points to the dock as the lantern comes closer and says we have just the one proper dock on the south bank.
• Dander will not wait for us, but he’ll return for us in one day. We must be back on the dock by midnight tomorrow, Dander will leave at midnight if we aren’t there.
• To get to the beacon, follow the road. We’ll come to a fork. Keep going south at the first fork to go to the lazaretto. Take the other branch to go to the beacon. Stay on the road, stay out of the mist. Watch out for the shortthe water will pull you down and shred you on the rocks.
• Bikke asked if Dander could come back a second night
  • Dander is willing to come back a second night if we miss the first night at the cost of making sure Dander has a whole weekend with Port at The Vintner’s. Boblin watches.
  • Bikke tossed Dander a silver coin as a tip and thanks.

Arriving at the Dock

As we approach the dock, we see the fog in the distance with twisted trees. It is not a welcoming environment. There is a 5’ wide muddy trail leading south into the swamp, away from the dock. We disembark from the boat and see Dander push off to head back north. His boat disappears in the darkness of the river strangely quickly. We cannot see the lights of the city across the river.

Pause for Dessert

• Bikke asked Kira whether we’re likely to get this disease.
  • Kira is aware of other diseases that can affect the skin and that can come from swampy environments, but she’s not familiar with any diseases that start with a fever and become a skin lesion from any source.

On the Trail

We head onto the trail, Kira leading the way as our best survivalist. A quarter mile inland, we hear a raspy voice tell us to stop. The voice tells us they are the Lazaretto night watch.

Hugh lights a torch, but then is told to light no fire because the mist may ignite. Hugh immediately quenched the torch again.

We asked the watch to give Mother Verduna our regards. The voice says the fork is just ahead of us.

The fork is quite narrow, more an animal trail than even a wood trail. We find and follow the fork with Kira’s help. About a mile along the trail, the fog grows much thicker and colder. The path widens and we reach the lighthouse.

At the Southern Beacon

The Southern Beacon is on some flattened ground. Worn through centuries of service. The house is more of a bunker than the house on the Northern Beacon. The southern beacon is 6 stories, about 60’ tall. It sits at an angle, a lean caused perhaps by a shifted foundation. The light house is dark, there’re no lanterns or illumination.

There’s a boat tied to the shore, but it doesn’t seem capable of bringing us across the river.

EXTENDED CONVERSATION ABOUT CHEKOV’S GUN

We see the open front door with steps loading up to it.

Gavin searched for footprints, but didn’t discover anything useful. Bikke started walking up to the door and Hugh followed with the rest of the party. Divine sense did not detect anything at the threshold of the building, inside or outside.

The main floor of the lighthouse is a single room with a small bedroom to the side. The scent of stale alcohol is strong in the room. More attention suggests a story of descent into self destructive alcoholism and depression. The room is damaged and neglected. Someone tried and failed.

Kira notices that Bikke’s shouts are muffled or falling flat, no echoes from the stairs or walls.

Barrick discovers handwritten letters near the fireplace. He picks one up to read it and it’s a letter from Augustino to Juliette, never sent. Barrick grabs the papers and shoves them into his pack before following Bikke and Hugh up the stairs.

As we reach the top of the stairs at the height of the beacon, we hear the mechanism of the lighthouse behind the wall grinding unhappily.

There are rope barriers on the perimeter of the southern beacon and the mechanical machinery that makes the lighthouse function. The mirrors are dark and the gears are stationary. The machinery is still making a grinding noise. There are tools and bottles scattered about, suggesting Augustino was working on this at some point. The apparatus occasionally ticks as though it was about to move, but clicks back.

Gavin realizes that the tick of the machinery trying to click forward comes about 1.5 seconds after a large crash of waves against the shore, suggesting the mechanism is driven by the currents or the water.

Barrick examines one of the control wheels. The wheels work with the contraption of the ring of gears driving the lighthouse mechanism. After some investigation, Barrick realizes that the southernmost control wheel connecting to the gear would pivot the lighthouse. The eastern wheel would allow the lighthouse to be tilted. Together, the controls would allow adjusting the angle and direction of the beam. There is a broken pipe and spring mechanism on the roof as well.

Hugh spotted a trap door in the bedroom and called out for Barrick to check it out. When he does, a bottle of liquor falls off the shelf and rolls to his feet. Hugh’s Divine Sense picks up that there’s a presence of some spirit here. He feels a coldness and a muted sense of apathy.

Barrick steps into the room and throws back the blanket covering the hatch. The hatch was once intended for access, but at some point the hatch was clamped and and nailed shut, closing the hatch off. It would be trivial to open it, but it seems shut for a reason.

Bikke and Kira scouted around the path on the outside of the beacon. At the end of the southern path, they found more tools and a cave that the tide enters beneath the lighthouse. There are chains across the cave opening, most likely to keep large debris from impacting mechanisms in the cave.

Bikke lights a torch and steps into the river cave. Kira follows.

The water in the cave is shallow and the cave is curiously thick with mist. There are mushrooms and lichen as Bikke and Kira explore the cave. They find a rusted, well-built grate set in the wall that’s functioning as a filter for debris. There is no clear way to move through the grate. Kira becomes a mouse to get through the grate and returns immediately to elf shape to avoid drowning. Kira pounds on the hatch she discovered.

Hugh, Barrick, and Gavin break open the hatch after hearing Kira pounding on the other side. The party is reunited at the base of the ladder under the hatchway once Bikke comes back around the outside.

There is a body floating in the water near the water clock mechanism that drives the lighthouse. It seems to be about the right age to line up with the beacon going out.

Hugh and Barrick are working on the machinery while Kira, Gavin, and Bikke are upstairs when the hatch slams shut and a rush of water sounds in the chamber. Bikke, Hugh, and Barrick immediately start smashing the hatch to escape as the hatch slams itself shut again and again.

Hugh uses his rope to loosely attach himself to the ladder to make it harder to be swept away from the ladder.

Bikke swings his sword at the space where a creature who is stomping on the hatch would be standing. The bottles start moving toward Bikke when he swings.

Kira heats the rim of the hatch, charring the floorboards and damaging the hatch. Then the water hits.

The water hits like a hammer and fills the chamber floor to ceiling, flooding the room. Hugh and Barrick’s ears pop under the pressure change and are trapped in the water.

Gavin finds a fireplace poker and starts attacking the hatch. After breaking a hole, Kira was able to control water and create room for Barrick to breathe. Barrick yanked Hugh up to grab a breath before the water rushed out again, breaking the ladder away from the wall. Barrick grabbed onto the hole in the hatch, but Hugh was swept away and slammed into the grate, taking some damage before the water in the lower chamber subsided.

After the water subsided, bottles were thrown at Bicke, but that’s the last poltergesity behavior for the moment. Hugh and Barrick used the ladder to climb out of the lower chamber. The corpse, presumably Augustino, was badly damaged in the water attack.

We discussed what might be the source of these events. Kira reviewed the notes and book to learn more. The book was incomplete, but flipping through the pages, Kira believes she is holding the diary of [[Julietta]] from The Lazaretto. Julietta is upset that she had to leave everything behind when she went to the colony. Julietta mentioned missing her sister, corresponding with her sister, mention of her sister Karina’s return and working for the Vintner (!!!). There is also mention that Mother Verduna told Julietta that Augustino was working at the southern beacon, which Julietta apparently did not know. It also mentions Mother Verduna said she should not visit her father, though she wants to see him.

The last entry of the diary is Julietta pondering following the path to the lighthouse and observing him unnoticed.

The letters are correspondence from Julietta and written in Julietta’s hand, and addressed to Augustino. It appears to be half of an ongoing correspondence between them. The letters are viciously cruel to Augustino, accusing his drunken behavior of driving one of his daughters to be a whore and killing their mother.

Discussion:

• Did Mother Verduna send letters as Julietta?
• Did Augustino go down below to die intentionally or was he killed unintentionally
• How did Julietta’s diary get to the light house?
• Theory: Augustino kills himself by trapping himself in the basement, Julietta goes to the lighthouse and waits for him to appear, doesn’t see him, and goes inside, leaving the journal

Hugh knocks back some liquor and sees an apparent glimpse of an old man. Barrick and Bikke see him too.

There are barrels that held ale which we move aside. They cover freshly plastered wall.

Barrick and Hugh start drinking to observe the ghost of Agostino Barlucci while Gavin and Bikke break through the newly plantered wall behind the barrels. When the way is opened and the bricks come down, the mechanism is revealed and a human corpse with a waterlogged mattress damaged and blocking the mechanism. The face of the body is like rough fingernails, thick and calcified keratin, disfigured on a teenaged girl, Julietta. Guilt, shame, or misery related to Julietta’s death is what’s keeping Augustino here.

Theory: Julietta hid in the mechanism room and was killed by the mechanism, possibly after leaving the journal to let Augustino know she did not hate him.

When Barrick touches the body to cover it, the angry spirit explodes the fuel in the guage, spraying the interior mechanism with burning oil and fire.

The windows and doors slam shut and we see smoke take motion as invisible arms and feet dipped in burning oil, then an invisible person covers its arms and legs in fire. Probably the ghost of the dead wife.

We attack the Banshee.

The fight is close, but we emerge victorious after Gavin, Barrick, and Hugh being incapacitated by the Banshee’s scream. Kira uses medicine to stabilize those of us who were hurt, we evacuated the firey lighthouse room in a hurry.

From outside the beacon, we see the lighthouse starting to slowly ramp up again.

It seems that Karina returned from Riatavin to work at the Vintner’s, but we don’t know much more. Many questions remain:

1. What happened to Karina?
2. How did Julietta die?
3. etc

We’ll conclude with a short rest and heading back towards the dock and/or Mother Verduna to have a conversation.

• Gregnotes
• Session