Session 10: The Reveal

Last time

Radovan rejoined us, and we crossed the big bridge with Nadia. We fought and defeated the orcs on the surface and freed the prisoners. The surface goblins gave us information about the tower and left.

We entered the lower levels of the tower, noting the elemental magic in the water. After fighting and defeating the Laguna-kin, we faced Mother Viola Laguna and the trapped shadow elemental. We managed to win the fight by placing artifacts on the statues, though Bikke, Hugh, and Kira were knocked out in the process.

Gavin allowed a shadow elemental to read his memory to find Bad Doric.

We witnessed Kira make a bargain with the shadow elemental to “release our third”.

We looted the temple, recovered the head of Mother Laguna as evidence (after about a 3 day search) and leveled up to 5.

The White Skull Fortress

We discussed our next steps.

Bikke suggested we return to The Lazaretto to confront and eliminate Mother Verduna, collect our reward from Dominico, and demand more from Armitage del Veign. Hugh asked Kira about her plans given the strange bargain she seems to have made with the shadow elemental and she agreed. We believed Mother Verduna was the hag the shadow elemental had warned us about and needed to be handled.

Return to Bad Doric

We decided to stop at Bad Doric on the way back to Port Maraisa so Kira could meet the shadow elemental trapped there. We encountered Pocket, Nadia, Mickmuck (the released orc adolescent), and the freed human slaves. They chose to travel with us despite their unfamiliarity with the lands further west, finding comfort in the strength of numbers.

The journey took two days and, upon arrival, we found the ruins as we had left them, though the orc corpses were a bit worse for the wear. Barrick, Bikke, Gavin, and Hugh occupied themselves recovering white skull scalps from the orcs and goblins we fought here. In total, 20 more scalps were salvaged for purposes of the contract with Dominico.

Kira wildshaped into a fish and returned to the shadow elemental she had encountered before. Through an emotional telepathic exchange, the elemental revealed its plight: it was being drained and violated by the binding that held it to the plane. Rage surged when Kira mentioned Verduna, affirming our suspicions that she was to blame.

Radovan revealed that he belongs to the Order of Hospitalers and is on a mission to learn what happened at Bad Doric, purify its spring, and restore the order’s presence there. We shared our notes on the journals of the Hospitalers to assist him in his mission.

A Cleansed Lazaretto

We continued through the Mirefen Swamp toward Port Maraisa and The Lazaretto, noticing a significant change—the emotional drain was gone! Arriving at the Lazaretto two days later, we were greeted by unusually energized and optimistic activity: the fog had lifted, the skies were clear, and both the people and the place seemed to be healing after a long, dire illness.

Sister Nightsong, unmasked and joyful, greeted us, calling us miracle workers. She informed us that Mother Verduna had left for Port Maraisa with Albrecht Moray and Lepett. Hailed as heroes by the recovering infirm, we headed to the duck to take a boat back to Port Maraisa.

On the way to the boat, Kira asked Sister Nightsong when she started feeling overjoyed. Nightsong explained that the fog and malaise had started to clear from the Lazaretto 4 days prior. Verduna then crafted a poultice to first arrest the disease’s progress, then push it into remission.

Hugh found this timing ominous because we defeated Mother Laguna 7 days ago, 3 days before the malaise in the Mirefen cleared. Rather, the malaise cleared on the day that we found the corpse of Mother Laguna, recovered her Mace of Terror and Demon Skin, and identified the Lute of Calm Winds, Sword of Delphinius, Hospitalers Shield, and Hospitaler’s Atlas. Hugh’s best guess for the timing is that Verduna knew it would take us 4 days to return and she wanted to do whatever she does until the last moment before we returned, but he can’t be sure.

We parted company with the freed slaves, Pocket, Nadia, and MickMuck because the boat was not large enough to carry everyone. They presumably crossed in a later trip and moved to start finding their way to new lives or safe travels back home.

Port Maraisa City Hall

Port Maraisa welcomed us with open arms, showering us with sausages and beer. Magistrato Dominico Falcone, apparently thrilled to see us, led us to the Port Maraisa City Hall, where he offered us fine scotch. Recognizing the importance of our efforts, Falcone explained that he and the rest of the town’s power brokers (including Elena Delphino, Lorenzo Varisi, and Mother Verduna) planned to celebrate our achievements publicly at the Night market. Pretty clear political gamemanship.

Hugh received the party’s letter from Armitage. The response was direct:

• I (Armitage) am traveling incognito to Riatavin
• Meet me there at The Pewter Shield
• I have news, won’t share by bird.
• I want to meet with Falcone if he can be flipped. Discretely.

Barrick asked Dominico for a letter of credit and for the city to cover our existing debts (such as the 100 gp from Bartolo). Dominico was evasive and refused to make a promise in the moment. When Dominico left the room, Barrick swiped some official letterhead and tried to forge a letter of credit, but his forgery wasn’t great.

We noted the presence of an Auttencourt family stamp for sealing letters on the desk, but we did not choose to take it in the moment. Seemed like it would have been much too obvious.

Big Trees and Small Brothers

Wary of the sudden shift in behavior and alliances, we visited the Big Tree Tavern to speak with Delridge Berryroot. He noted Verduna’s suspicious actions and the unusual harmony among even the River Guild and the Merchant Consortium. Berryroot, a practical halfling, expressed his doubts about the situation, hinting at possible ulterior motives from the power players.

Delridge Berryroot said, “Roses grow in bullshit, and I smell a lot of bullshit.”

Gavin asked, “From us or from Verduna?”

Berryroot replied, “I’m not accusing anybody of anything, but it seems a little convenient to me how things have gone the last few days and a few folks have been acting out of character. Elena Delphino would rip off her own nipples to save herself a copper, but her guild is opening their purse. The river guild and merchant consortium have longstanding beef, but suddenly everything’s fine? I’m thrilled that the rot is gone. I don’t even like humans, but the disease going away is a wonderful thing. I just can’t yet figure out the angles.”

Before leaving, Gavin offered to periodically perform a Sending before resting if he has the ability to do so to check in on Delridge, Port Maraisa, and The Orphaned Halflings. Berryroot agreed.

Albrecht’s Bath

At Merchant Consortium, Barrick knocked assertively on the door with his mace and was greeted by Lepett, who looked healthier than ever. Lepett told us that Verduna was not there, but Albrecht was at the Gold Coin. Suspecting deeper intrigue, we headed to the inn.

Gavin played some stirring music on the Lute of Calm Winds. The song went something like:

Today is gonna be the day that I weave a spell for your heart

By now, you should’ve somehow sensed all the magic in my art

I don’t believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now

Hugh thinks Gavin called it Wizendraw or something like that. The name didn’t make sense and it only had one chord, but it was a hell of an earworm. Bards are strange.

Bikke chose to be disruptive, he looked exhausted for his trouble.

In Albrecht’s room, we revealed our mission and our shared distaste of Etienne Auttencort. Albrecht disclosed his plan to disrupt the Auttencourt’s influence by enraging Etienne with poisoned blood, leading him to kill his fiancée, Ottillie Rhindaun. We were confused about the mechanics until Albrecht revealed that Etienne is a vampire and he isn’t running a slaving ring, he’s drinking the victims’ blood. In Albrecht’s estimation, tainting the halfling children with the rage potion and sacrificing them to enrage Etienne, kill Ottillie, reveal himself as a vampire, and destroy a potential alliance between Tethyr and the Auttencort is the lesser of two evils.

Our primary concern was Verduna, whom we believed to be a night hag, but this new information about Etienne was also concerning..

“… Eldred, Humboldt, every duke of Aureltaran is over a hundred years old and needs to die.” —Albrecht Moray

Albrecht also revealed that Elena Delphino, the head of the Merchant Consortium, gave him the rot. We also suspect that Verduna claimed sanctuary with Elena Delphino in town today because we were held at the door and not allowed inside. A potential connection between Verduna and Elena is concerning, but the power dynamic between the two remains quite muddy: Verduna could have extorted Elena with the disease, or they may have been colluding all along.

Albrecht agreed to assist us in exchange for our help against Etienne when we revealed that we were there on behalf of Richard of Corsi, not Eldred of Corsi. Now aligned with Albrecht, we prepared for the evening’s festivities.

Convocation for the Heroes

As night fell, Port Maraisa transformed into a beautiful and hospitable town. Paper lanterns lit up the market, and the stars shone brightly in the sky. A small stage was set up, and the town’s power brokers, including Elena Delphino, Dominico, Lorenzo Varisi, and Mother Verduna were seated on the dais. Hugh noticed that Delridge was not present, but his friends were moving around the periphery of the crowd.

Lepett led us to the stage, where Dominico greeted us and addressed the crowd. He praised us for our invaluable assistance to Port Maraisa. Everyone else on stage took turns expressing their gratitude and claiming undue credit for our achievements.

Mother Verduna then stood and, with projected humility, thanked us personally. She expressed her readiness to lay down her burden and leave The Lazaretto, confident that the town would thrive without her.

Gavin asked Radovan to say a prayer for Verduna’s travels, during which Radovan cast Detect Good and Evil. Hugh also used Divine Sense. Both saw Verduna’s physical body as an old woman, but Radovan also saw a vortex of evil tendrils branching off from her while Hugh saw elements of Fae, the Hells, and Shadow, indicating her dark and profoundly evil nature.

As Radovan finished his prayer, Verduna looked up with a glint in her eye, knowing we had discovered her true nature. Gavin hugged her, and she whispered a chilling threat into his ear:

“Fuck with me and you will die screaming.” —Mother Isabel Verduna

Falcone then stepped forward to reward us. He announced that our contracted payment would be doubled, and we would receive an additional bonus of 3000 gold. We were also given the title “Guaritore del Port Maraisa”, Healers of Port Maraisa and each presented with ceremonial gold daggers worth about 200gp each.

Night Has Fallen

Kira glowered at Verduna as the celebration began and after Hugh and Radovan shared what they saw, Bikke whispered to Albrecht that the crowd needed to disperse. Albrecht acknowledged Bikke’s request, but rejected the practicality because the crowd was too large and would take too long to disperse. We found ourselves in a quandary:

1. We could seek to execute Verduna immediately. That would likely kill many innocent civilians and wreak devastation throughout the town in the process, certainly also losing any hope we have of a reward for the contracted work we’d done and giving us a wider reputation for unjustified slaughter, no matter how much Verduna may deserve it. Additional brainstorming can be found in Session 10 - Brian.
2. We could bide our time and hunt Verduna down later. The risk of not finding her again is substantial, however, and Kira has a strong motivation to take Verduna down.

Award Notes

5314 GP / 6 shares = 885 GP, 6 SP, 7 CP per share

Every party member also received a single 200GP ceremonial dagger.