After another round of shopping and things, we decided on a long rest back at the Flaming Fist headquarters, before assaulting the scion of a noble house. Our captain was easy to convince that the investigation was on track. Rheia left us to talk to her own people, but Mortlock accompanied us to the Low Tavern, a ship converted into a, well, tavern, the usual haunt of Amrik Vanthampur.
We got there in broad daylight, with few patrons in attendance. However, we noticed dead seagulls on the deck, with unidentifiable wounds. Only the ravens were around, so I shot one, revealing a fiendish form for a second. Oh well, nothing unexpected.
On the tavern deck, we left Mortlock to enjoy a beer - he was no longer on friendly terms with Amrik after the assassination attempt. We also met a fellow Fist, Skadrik, suspended for misbehavior. I convinced him to help us in case of a fight, promising to put in a word for him with the captain.
Finally, on the lounge deck, there was Amrik and two bodyguards: one burly man and one lithe tiefling, who, according to Daramin's senses, was an actual fiend. We tried talking some sense into him, asking for help to save the city, but all we got was a roll for initiative.
The tiefling did turn out to be a spined devil. My Command spell failed on the bodyguard. Combat was joined. I screamed for Skadrik and Mortlock.
With all the help, the fight turned out to be easier than expected. The devil was no match for a Chromatic Orb and Sacred Weapon combo, and the bodyguard went down under all the attacks. Amrik decided to produce a smoke bomb and run away.
Benny Hill music as we run after the rogue...
...finally catching up to him on the upper deck. Daramin knocked him out, at which point the ravens morphed into imps and attacked to protect their master. Our combined might prevailed.
We took possession of the unconscious Amrik and his things, including some gold and a couple of letters.
Now, for phase 2 of the plan: use Amrik as a hostage and talk to his mom. Silka used his disguise kit to make him look just drunk instead of beaten up, and we marched towards the noble quarters. Our fellow Fists guarding the gate were easy to convince that we're just bringing a noble home after getting drunk, and so were the gate guards at the Vanthampur villa. However, the butler did not give in to our insistence of seeing Lord Vanthampur... we stalled and argued, while Silka pulled out a bean and buried it in the soil. Several brightly colored toads crawled out of the ground...
*************
A new session, a new occasion for mischief. We started off strong, with Silka touching one of the toads, which turned into a night hag. I screamed, the guards screamed, the butler screamed, we carried the unconscious Amrik inside, Barbossa dragged me in, and the hag charged the guards.
Note the décor: during this dungeon-crawly episode, the DM surprised us with 3d printed environs. We decided to crawl through the entire mansion, to take advantage of the props.
We slammed the door shut, and the butler was giving us what-for[1] , when imps assaulted us from the four corners of the room.
We beat the imps, and on the butler's instructions, we took Amrik to the neighboring room. In the meantime, I peaked out, and touched toads with mage hand. First a giant constrictor snake, then a mastiff, then a four armed white gorilla appeared, and went after the guards - all good. But then: a vampire spawn. It burned in the sunlight and ran for the door. Against all odds I held the door shut for a turn. The butler trying locking it, but the spawn barged in. Barbossa turned him, and we locked the door.
During the commotion, Amrik escaped through a window. As we investigated the dining room, more imps jumped us. We cleared them out, and looted whatever wasn't nailed down. The Vanthampurs are filthy devil worshippers after all!
We looked through the kitchens and intimidated the cook, made friends with a tressym and gave it food.
The next challenge: talking to the guards upstairs. We guessed it was Thursten hiding up there, so Daramin and I intimidated the guards into leaving, then ran upstairs.
We guessed right. The sickly young man was a pathetic opponent, and we intimidated and tortured him into cooperating. We looted treasure, as well as Zariel's puzzle box.
We crawled through the upper floor, defeating an animated armor.
And explored the tower, where we found two captives inside cages guarded by imps.
Level-up and prepare to assault the cellar!
*************
I honestly expected a single, perhaps a couple of underground chambers; however, this looked like the final level of our dungeon crawl. Starting with the actual cellar containing food and drinks, and of course, barbed devils. They didn't really do much, but they were annoying to kill with flyby and resistance.
We set out to explore the undeground environs. Apparently, the Vanthampurs expanded their cellars by digging into the sewers. And building holding cells for prisoners guarded by another devil.
At least these prisoners were more important folk: one noble family's matriarch who had also suspected the Vanthampurs of mischief, and one paranormal investigator hunting for Tavius, the former (?) leader of Elturel. We entrusted Thurstwell to their care, and went back to our crawl.
We saw a big door surrounded by evil runes and decided to leave it for last. Instead, we explored a room for storing meats, a dining room and bedroom, another bedroom with a discarded holy symbol of Torm...
And a barracks for cultists! Shatter instantly killed 4 of them, and then we beat down the rest. We looted their strange golden masks and cloaks.
We donned cloaks and masks, but of course we fooled nobody. Two more cultists on the other side of the doors were ready for us.
A secret door led to a ritual chamber, which we left undisturbed.
And finally, we found Tavius. The villain was sitting comfortably in a room, talking to a polished shield. This led to an interrogation scene. He proved fearful and cooperative. We found out that the "divine companion" he summoned to protect Elturel from vampires a while ago was actually a deal with the devil Zariel. On collection day, Elturel was swallowed by the Hells. And now he's here, in the custody/protection/imprisoned by the Vanthampurs. As we were deciding his fate, the shield started talking to us. Apparently a sentient artefact, housing an imprisoned entity and able to unleash fireballs after attunement. We took it for later use, and tied up Tavius to a table.
Finally: prepare to assault the main chamber!
*************
The final session of this fun romp was split into two parts. First: Cowabunga it is! Actually, the devil Odius guarding the ritual chamber and supervising the cultists tried talking to us, but it was just stalling for time. There was no real chance of either party joining the other. With the statue of Zariel being just that, a statue, but with a secret opening behind it, we swung into action. A well placed Shatter killed two cultists and shattered[2] the benches they were intent on using as cover.
Amrik came out of the secret door and threw his signature smoke bomb at the entrance. We had no intention of rushing in, so we just waited them out...
Duke Talandra herself joined the fight and who'd have thought that she'd be a warlock. At least, with the cultists retreating into ambush positions, the lady herself presented a rather soft target for Silka's arrows and my Chromatic Orb. As Barbosa continuously rose and fell due to being the main target of the attacks, we hammered both attackers down.
Talandra, feeling her life in danger, retreated and sent in her minions. Perfect! We quickly executed the cultists. Silka rushed forward to summon his skeleton minion to tie up Amrik. Although the skeleton died quickly, Amrik soon followed. The devil gave us trouble with his resistances and my lack of an appropriate cantrip, but he wasn't that great all alone, and we killed him after several rounds of fighting. As Silka shot off his barbed tail and the monster disappeared in a splash of green blood and smoke, he dropped an unknown coin. Upon picking it up, Barbosa heard a faint scream.
We quickly scanned the room and discovered a hidden exit into the stables. The statue of Zariel, already damaged by several Shatter spells, kept giving off an eerie glow. We smashed it to pieces and discovered a magic mace inside.
The secret door behind the statue led into a small sanctum, where Talandra awaited us with a choice few final words and an act of defiance: cutting her own throat. We weren't terribly impressed. We looted everything and destroyed another altar to Zariel, extinguishing the small flame in the shape of the devil.
Finally, we went back for Tavius and escorted him out, making sure he saw the death and destruction. Upon seeing the destroyed shrine of Zariel, he despaired and gave up, giving us no further trouble.
We tied Tavius, as well as all our ill-gotten gains and/or fairly acquired loot to the horses in the stables, and rode out. Captain Zodge[3] and a detachment of Flaming Fists awaited us at the gates. He wasn't terribly happy with all the developments. We threw Tavius into a cart to avoid any questions by onlookers, and rode to the Fists' barracks.
This led into the second part of the session: winding down and getting some info to tie the happenings of the last days all together.
At the barracks, we first explained the situation to Captain Zodge, who complained about all the paperwork he'll need to fill out. With all the info provided by the rescued prisoners, as well as the evidence we had gathered, the Vanthampurs were finished. Not that there was much of them left: with Talandra and Amrik dead, and Mortlock out of the city for good, Thurstwell was the only one to take the blame. We promised the good captain a hefty donation to the veterans' fund to avoid any inquiry into us looting the villa - 5% was a fair price.
The second person to deal with was Rheia. The Hellrider, seeing her beloved leader in chains, tried to free Tavius. It took my persuasion roll and a heroic inspiration reroll to make her stand down. As she slowly accepted the facts, she decided to further accompany us on our quest for truth and justice.[4]
Third, we put in a good word for Skadrik who had helped us out in the bar fight.
Fourth, just as Zodge said: "I sure hope nothing else happens", the new Flaming Fist high captain stepped in. Liara Portyr took charge and dragged Zodge away for a status report.
We took that as our cue to leave. Along with Falaster Fisk and Rheia, we took refuge in the Griffin Inn - mostly to guard our loot until the morning.
In the morning, we got a final info dump from Falaster. As a recap, he works for Sylvina Savikas, the resident wizard of Candlekeep. He was investigating Tavius, and all traces led here. With the Vanthampurs liquidated, we still had Zariel's puzzlebox and the soul coin on our hands. The best place to find out more about them is Candlekeep, so that was to be our next destination.
The final part of the session[5] consisted of travel preparations.
We dumped some money on Rheia to prepare with all things mundane, along with some help going towards the Elturel refugees. Adding the stolen horses to our own, the baggage train was ready.
The party then spent the day doing shopping for magical items. The total loot, after Zodge's tax and Rheia's handouts, amount to over 5000 gold pieces. We made sure we were ready for the coming fights!
[1] Only verbally, he being an elderly man.
[2] Hue hue hue
[3] Our hitherto unnamed superior.
[4] If that's how she sees us, that's fine with me.
[5] That's 3 out of 2.
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