(A quick note here, I've added these synopsis for people to go back and remind themselves about what happened or if people come in later and don't want to start at the beginning, they can read these really fast, but they are not a replacement for watching our videos as they are not full descriptions. If you don't want to video, you will miss most of the comedy and all of the fighting as I am not going to do a play by play of each attack. So, please check out our videos)
Day 17 11/30/2022
Frontline Fort
We step inside the barrier. Upon doing so, we feel clean and we look at ourselves to find that we are pristinely clean. Next, we notice the smell of smoke. As we look up, we see that there are fires all over the fort, though it doesn’t look like the fort itself is on fire. Things are being burned in and around it. The fort is a couple hundred yards away across a field. It would barrack maybe a couple hundred. As the wing shifts, we see the flag of Delet flying over the fort. It smells like there might be burning flesh along with other scents.
We approach the fort. As we get closer, we hear sounds from inside, probably some sort of life, like voices. We can’t tell what is being said though. When we get about half the distance, we see a couple of people in Delet colors draw bows from up on the wall. They tell us not to approach, so we all stop. They say they are quarantined so we should not approach. They aren’t sure what’s happening, but it’s infectious and they’ve already lost half their men. The symptoms are ted boils and then death. You get about three hours to live. They say it was a trap that was set. When they took the fortress and got inside, there was a small explosion and dust went everywhere. It doesn’t seem to have affected everyone at once, and it seems to come in waves. When they realized what was happening, they erected a sterilization bubble. Gwyneira knows that this is pretty potent stuff. Not something the run of the mill apothecary would have. She doesn’t know of any notable apothecaries that are Sypetian and it would take a notable apothecary. We would likely recognize their name if we were able to find out who made the powder. Idham knows of some people who could have manufactured this, but as far as he knows, none of them live in Sypet. The closest one that he knows of is in Bouhmomia and would likely be reluctant to trade this to Sypet as they are at war with them. None of them are from Delet. The Diocese of Wacheslia would have some as well, but everyone else is further away.
Az asks if they’ve been able to determine anything about it. The guy says no, but there are scout reports about an abandoned building to the east. They said it looked to be in good condition, but that’s the only other thing in the area. It’s a few miles away. We decided to head east to check out this abandoned hut. We tell him good luck and he hopes he’s still there.
On the Road
We head back to the border and as we step through, feeling a powerful burning sensation and take fire damage from it. After healing the damage, we head east, finding a little trail to follow along. The amount of birds in the area has increased. There is a large bird of prey circling above. They do not seem to be circling the fort and there are more and more as we head east. Felix walks over to Xander to talk with him. Felix apologizes to Xander and says he is sorry for being mean when he was asked about his past, and wants Xander to wait until he’s ready to talk. Felix hands his harmonica to Xander to hold on to for him.
Gwyn asks Valira about her Master. She says he came to her when she was a child and helped her to accept how terrible parents can be. They were poor and didn’t let her have the things that other kids have, and expected her to work. She killed her parents. Gwyneira asks if Valira were to teach her how to contract with someone, if she would have to contract with her Master? She says no, but he is powerful and won’t use it against them. He’s more of a benefactor. Maybe benevolent. He’s never tried to take over her body. She doesn’t know what his morals are as she doesn’t care. Gwyneira wants to talk with the Master before she decides to contract with him.
Felix knows there are more small birds, and the big one has gotten closer. We heal from the damage we took from the fire. We see the hut in the distance. The ground is still flat with scattered bushes. The birds have doubled, the large one is getting closer. We arrive outside of the hut, though that isn’t quite accurate. It is 85 ft wide, about 75 ft long and it’s two stories. A solid door and a handful of windows are all around. Felix checks the building with shadow magic, and Gwyneira looks into the second window. She sees a long hallway, with a set of stairs leading up at the end. It appears relatively lit. We check the door for traps. There appear to be 60 birds above us now but the big bird doesn’t appear closer than it had been before. The door is unlocked and there are no traps.
The “Hut”
Looking through the door, we see a well. We step inside. The first room only has the well, so we step through to the door at the top. Inside there are numerous bird cages. It smells really bad of old dead birds. In the middle is a staircase going down. We check the other door. It’s a small kitchen area. There is food in there and it is kind of fresh. Xander casts light on a ladle. We go into the kitchen. Nothing is valuable, but the food has only been here for days at the most. It’s not rotten or moldy. We check the doorway to the hall. Nothing is trapped so Felix opens the door. We head upstairs and we find an altar. On that altar we see a symbol for Erakus, the Lawful Evil deity of Assassins. In the corner is a brazier still smoldering. There is nothing at the altar. The door on the wall appears a little hazy. Idham steps closer, seeing the hazy room slightly obscured. Inside he sees wooden floor, wooden walls. Idham sees a couple of books shelves, and a desk. Idham and Gwyneira can tell that the smoke is from something burning and not from a spell. The smoke is not magical. Az steps in.
Inside the room is a dead Lizardfolk man that is smoldering in the bed. Xander goes to check out the desk and Gwyneira looks at the bookshelves. Xander, just looking, sees that the desk is a solid wooden writing desk. There is a book with hand scribbled words in it and it is written in primordial. It appears to be notes, likely of some kind of experiment, that stopped mid thought. “I’ve shown it to them…” is the last sentence. There doesn’t seem to be any magic on the book so Xander picks it up to start checking through it. As he looks, he can tell it is a notebook of somebody well versed in chemicals, potions, herbs, etc. far above Xander’s understanding.
Idham checks the smoldering lizard man. He is dead. Idham tries to put out the fire on the Lizardfolk, using cloth to try to put it out. As he brings it down, a puff of red powder, spreading 15 ft away. It hits Idham and Xander. Xander backs up and thumbs through the books to see if he can find anything about red powder. Gwyneira, on the shelves, sees them filled with notebooks, about 100 of them. All handwritten in primordial. Felix finds a chest and finds that there is a tripline attached to it. Xander pulls out the thieves tools and gives them to Felix who is able to, just barely, disengage it. Felix opens the chest, finding a lockbox. This one is made of steel. There are two trip lines on the lockbox and the keyhole has a failsafe that if it’s jimmied too much, the lock will break.
Idham, at the dresser, finds nice traveling clothes. Gwyneira starts checking some of the cupboards. The first has lots of glass vials, some with things and some without. All of the cupboards are all similar, holding the same kinds of things. Felix checks the other chest on the other side of the room. It is not trapped, but it is empty. Gwyneira goes to check the body, just looking at it. There is a little chain around his neck, tucked under his body. She tells the group and steps back. Felix tries to use shadow reach to use the staff to poke through to get the key. He pokes the chain and sees the key. He tries to pull it and it’s jerking the head some, with little puffs of powder coming out. Idham looks at the chain, seeing that it is gold with a simple clasp. He uses mage hand to pick it and grab the key to bring it over. Felix holds up the box and Idham opens it. Inside are documents not written in the same handwriting, written in Abyssal. It looks to be a contract of some kind. Gwyneira reads it, seeing that it looks like it is lining out terms between Grushlan, who seems to be an alchemist and is safe to assume is the person in charge of this house, likely the Lizardfolk man, and the Hex organization. It is signed by Rashakk. The contract is outlining the specifications of some alchemical reagents as well as some enchantments that they would like done. One of them is a bomb of red powder that has a high transmission rate, and causes death within 24 hours. We head downstairs.
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