Session 34

PCs (lvl 8): Flynn, Tuarninn, Udo, Ulrich

MR 674 - Spring

From the notes of Tuarninn:

We meet Ulrich, who gets alerted to the situation with the Ratcatchers (half of them being missing) and we seek ways to get more defenders for the city with the impending siege. 

Flynn visits the Chapel of Haelyn and gets Hugo to train younglings. 

I seek out Dordean at the guild of Culters to inquire about his knowledge of demons in the area. He has no personal knowledge so to speak of, but he knows they thrive on madness and live in an "Abyss" that lies beyond the Realm of Shadows. After I request aid for our defensive cause, he passes me a beautiful dagger (which I pass to Udo later) and the request for a specific silver. 

I reach out to my family and make them aware of the situation in Ubersreich, hoping they will either provide aid or at least can take precautions to protect themselves from the demonic issues that plague this land

Meanwhile, Udo upgrades his kit with studded leather armour and a light crossbow. Once he has done so, he goes searching for our friend Molly (the halfling cleric who worships the Goddess of Trickery). Dangling the prospect of an impossible lock in Blackrock, he gains her interest for our cause, while also putting his hooks into the cult of Eloele - building his network: "The Hand".

A strategy meeting takes place and I pass some coin to Molly for the risk she is about to take for us: storming a meeting of cultists once we figure out when it takes place. She takes a look at the pamphlet Udo found in the Brauninger House, but she cannot read it. 

Ulrich and Udo talk through the plan, including a layered security perimeter around the Theatre and infiltration under the guise of cultists themselves.

We bring the pamphlet to lady Nacht, who deciphers it for us. Upon being appraised of the situation, she is shocked at how deep the corruption runs within the city and begins to suspect that the Duke had foreseen this. She tells us the 'Performance' will be in two days at midnight.

We also learn that a lot of her motivation for helping the city is but a way to catch the Duke's attention and wedding band.  She has a small force of guards and will hold the Brauninger House while the 'Performance' goes down. We inform general Von Dabbernick of the sewer issue to distract him from our own plans. Having used it to the fullest, and after Udo copies it, we return the invite to the Brauninger House so as to not raise suspicions. 

Ulrich goes to see the living ancestor Negrini, who again directs his attentions to the mural of a human holding a cat. The human has a symbol of Sera on a necklace. We know that Lady Nacht has not been allowed to cast her ritual in the Church of Sera, so it could be that the Cat Statue's Head will be found there.

We divide our group into three parts. Molly and Ulrich will enter the Theatre ten minutes after midnight's stroke, Flynn and Udo masquerade as guests and I sneak in.

We are met with growing scenes of a sexual nature, which is accompanied by a chorus of children singing in the upper wings of the Theatre. Luckily for them, these children are blindfolded. They all have a guardian who stands near them. I carefully take these guardians out while a figure on the stage (the Master of Ceremonies) starts ranting and raving, extolling the virtues of unbridled eroticism to the gathered throngs, while his attendants seek to sate their every desire. 

As the events unfold, the Master turns into a horned demonic being, while the attendants are revealed to be succubi. We fight them and I cannot initially keep my senses when faced with this unnatural beauty. The sharp sting of her kiss awakens me to battle, while Flynn and Udo are joined in combat with the Master-Demon. Ulrich and Molly burst in and the city guard attempts to clear the way to the stage for them. After exchanging a lot of blows with the Master-Demon, Flynn slays it, causing the remainder of the cultists to forfeit the fight and allowing the city guard to break arrest those that still live. 

The corpses of the Brauninger family are found. One member (definitely not two) of the City Council was also among the arrested. [The head of the Carpenter's Guild will be laying low for a while, but the master of the Carters is brought to justice.] We find a lot of gold and some items, which we divide among the five of us.