Session 31: 4/28/2024
Terry’s player is back, for now! He says he’s a bit distracted, but seemed to follow along fine. They recap things for him, and decide to go to the Copper Coronet to hire Korgan. Why? They’ve worked with him before and seem to like him. They pick the CE Murderdwarf over the fallen Paladin or the good barbarian… oh well.

They wait around and eat, and sure enough, around dinnertime, the guard Khellor shows up. He tips them off that he thinks Isaea is corrupt and has some shipping ventures that are far too successful. He drops the name of Barg in the docks, as well as suggesting that if Isaea is involved in such things, he’s likely to have documents at his house. In theory, someone with the right skills could break in and steal them, but once stolen, they’d have to act quickly to present evidence to Coreig Axehand as Isaea would probably notice the theft.

The group then heads on to the graveyard for their after-dark meeting. They head in, with me describing a few things, like Wellyn’s grave (“Oh, we were going to curse the guy who killed him later, right?” “Hey, do you guys have a list of people to come back and kill later?” “Not a written list, but yes.”). There was a bit more banter, and suddenly a female voice speaks up from just behind Ludwig agreeing with what he said. They turn, and in the moonlight see a short female elf in dark armor, with slightly frizzy dark hair, dark lips, and very pale skin.

She introduces herself is Bodhi, and that she’s glad Valen’s message did indeed reach the right people. She’s up-front: She will help them get to Irenicus for 5,000 gold pieces less than the Shadow Thieves (she nearly spits that phrase) offer, and unlike them, she’ll be up-front. It takes time, a week or so, to arrange a captain and ship to take them to Spellhold. The Shadow Thieves would take their money and then no doubt ask them to do some tasks while they wait. She will ask them to do things, but she will also get them to Spellhold without any BS.

They get interested. Conversation flows back and forth, and she admits to interest in Irenicus, sometimes helpful, sometimes harmful, and some prior experience with him. Someone says something particularly bloodthirst, and she smiles. I note that they can see her fangs.

Terry has a few misgivings, but working with the vampire gets him what he thinks he wants – a route to Irenicus so he can become normal again and go home to his family. Mergand is also in favor of this, Ludwig the Harper is apparently pragmatic about working with the vampire instead of the STs, and Cormak later mentioned playing the long game and hoping Bodhi can help them kill Firkraag. And so, in the service of saving gold and working with someone who is charming and up-front about her intentions, they agree to work with Bodhi.

HOLY COW I DID NOT EXPECT THIS!! The party has been mostly good, but unless there are some major changes, I know what alignment Mergand is going to end up with in the Bhaal trials!

This also closes off the possible paladin background for the new player when he joins.

Bodhi leads them to a specific crypt and shows them where to place a hand. It opens for her, and she escorts them down a long staircase and through a few halls to a room with a large table. A cabinet to the side opens, revealing some glowing runes on the wall and a needle. Each must prick their finger with the needle to be keyed into the wards. It just takes a drop of blood.

A couple of them express misgivings, but go ahead with it. Now they can open the door to the hold – but they cannot bring guests. She explicitly says that this keeps anyone from betraying them and showing up with a large force of paladins… anyone trying to get in would cause a lot of noise and take time.

A couple of other vampires wander in. One comes over and starts sniffing, asking if these were fresh meat, and Bodhi says they’re working for her and to leave them alone. They have the freedom to wander around and talk to people; Bodhi mentions that the servants aren’t good for much conversation outside of their assigned roles. They totally miss or overlook that this would mean non-undead servants who are enslaved… She tells them that the first thing they need to do is intercept a weapons shipment in the docks area.

They were going there anyway to look for Barg… so they head out. Along the way, Terry is pulled aside for a short conversation – I’ll handle it over Discord later. I had already picked out Tanova as the one who got him halfway to vampirism, and Tanova’s magic specialty is going to be Osteomancy (I have a whole set of bone manipulation spells). She’s going to have a brief chat with him – nothing harmful.

They head to the docks and start looking around for Barg. I ask what areas they check. Cromwell’s smithy is closed (it’s 9 o’clock at night), they don’t want to go near the Shadow Thief building, the Temple of Oghma is closed, and they don’t jump on the tavern that I specifically mention. They do swing by the Galvarey estate. The Harper on guard there isn’t super helpful, not knowing much about slavers in the city and who’s funding them. They mention the recent destruction of the slaver base in the ship (the party), and that they think the Twisted Rune is involved (“but you don’t want to mess with them.”) I do pass a message on to Ludwig’s player that they want him to return alone the next day.

I’ll handle that over Discord as well. Their recent choice will bear more fruit, and I need to come up with a list of questions. We’re getting to the point where the fake Harpers may not be entirely wrong.

Leaving the Galvarey estate area, they decide to check out their ambush area.

The dock proper is about a small, isolated dock away from the main part of the port. It’s 30’x15’, and 2’ above water level. The rest of the area is above the seawall, about 20’ higher. A steep ladder/stair leads down to the dock, and there’s also a small cargo hoist. There are a few crates sitting around upstairs, and I ask what else they’re interested in. Cormak finds a building and climbs up onto the roof and gets around a 20 with disadvantage for his stealth.

Korgan hides in a corner between some crates and gets a total of 3 on his stealth. Ludwig hides on the dock near the cargo elevator, Mergand uses ropes to sling himself under the ladder, and Terry uses his Spider Climb ability to hang out on the seawall just around the curve.

Time passes…over an hour. Two figures approach. One stops at the top of the steps and goes back, mentioning forgetting something, before returning. In actuality, this was a consequence of Korgan’s failed stealth check, and he was getting reinforcements. Mergand uses Subtle Spell to turn invisible. They both go down and wait, and soon a rowboat with padded oars arrives. They start unloading crates. Cormak (and Cormak only) sees one figure sneaking towards Korgan’s crate.

Once they’re about done, Ludwig shoots the rower on the boat and kills him with around 30 damage thanks to sneak attack. Initiative is rolled, and we end up with side initiative. Mergand goes last after the enemies.

This was a four to six round fight. In the first round, Korgan dashes towards the ladder, Ludwig engages with his sword, and Terry runs along the wall, then leaps onto the dock and attacks. Mergand fires a cantrip or something through the stairs. Cormak blinds the sneaking rogue.

Four more enemies show up, having already approached stealthily and hidden nearby. The total opposition is:
Arkanis Gath, Rogue 2/Fighter 11 (AC 19, 96hp, +10 to hit for 1d6+6 with the Rifthome Returning Handaxe +2)
4x Rogue 7s
1x Rogue 5
1x 6th level Priest of Mask

Most of them work to get closer, but the priest uses Lesser Restoration to clear the Blindness spell. The next round, the party mostly finishes off the rogues on the docks. Cormak casts Sleet Storm, enveloping most of the Shadow Thieves on the main area in sleet and icy ground… unfortunately, the Priest of Mask just Dispels it on his turn after not falling over. One rogue shoots at Cormak (no sneak attack; damage reduced by Belt of Piercing). Two move over and shoot, and Arkanis gains a vantage point on the lower dock, hurling his axe repeatedly and striking Korgan twice for 14 damage.

The next round, the fight moves upstairs. Korgan attacks Arkanis a couple of times and misses. Ludwig tries to climb the wall but fails (Athletics: 8) and I don’t recall what he does instead. Terry Spider-climbs up the wall and attacks, then action surges and attacks two more times, missing with all of them due to terrible dice. The Priest of Mask casts Hold Person; Korgan succeeds and Terry fails. Arkanis is next to a paralyzed opponent he can auto-crit, so he attacks 3 times, missing twice, then action surges to attack 3 more times. Out of a total of 4 auto-crits, he does 80 damage, which happens to be exactly Terry’s hit point total. I think this points me towards how to play the Shadow Thieves – anyone who is disabled or downed will be attacked with extreme prejudice, trying for cheap and easy kills wherever they can get them.

Mergand, out from under the ladder by this point, shoots his second volley of Scorching Rays and badly injures one of the rogues, while Ludwig engages another.
Cormak uses the Staff of Lightning to lightning bolt Arkanis, who makes his save but doesn’t have Evasion, and maximizes it with a CD. Somewhere in here he gets shot by a sneak attack thanks to steady aim. Mergand drops a 4th level Scorching Ray for quite the volley of fire.

I think the next round Cormak tries to Banish the priest of Mask, who saves. It’s OK, because Ludwig gets a critical hit with steady aim sneak attack and does 50-something damage to the priest, one-shotting him. Arkanis disengages and drinks a potion of greater healing while moving next to Ludwig to facilitate sneak attacks, but it’s not enough. By the end of the battle, one rogue has stealthed away. Ludwig tries to pursue the other, but Move-Dash-Hide (16) beats Move-Dash-“My passive Perception is only 13 so I can try to find him but can’t attack.”

They loot the bodies (Rifthome Axe +2, Potion Greater Healing, Mace +1 from the priest). The axe later goes to Terry. Then they go deal with the cargo…crates full of wooden stakes and holy water. They start taking stakes. Mergand says he’s going to put 50 flasks of holy water in the Bag of Holding. Foreseeing an issue, I decide to figure out what his character knows, and Nat20 his insight check for a 23. I point out that
“Your character knows that Bodhi may ask if you destroyed everything. What will her response be if instead of destroying it, you’ve saved the anti-vampire weapons and are carrying them into her home?”

This sparks some discussion back and forth, and the idea of bandoliers of wooden stakes is dropped. They do keep about 50 empty flasks from the holy water, and I think some full flasks and a few stakes.

I’ll need to figure out what Bodhi should do as “punishment” if she sniffs this out, as I think she is likely to do. I am open to suggestions.

I ask how they’re leaving the Docks – are they sneaking out, walking out openly after their fire-fight that included lightning bolts and multiple spells, etc. They decide to steal the rowboat, and row it around to the Bridge district, where they tie it up and go to the house they’ve appropriated.

They never did find Barg. If I don’t bring it up, will they forget?

We had a brief discussion afterwards about how surprised I was that they signed on with the vampires. Nobody really seems to regret it.

They have put themselves right back on the main plot without me having to do anything…and from the discussion with Bodhi, they only have about a week left in Athkatla. I guess they’ll be level 9 when they hit Spellhold (beating Aran) unless they suddenly take on a major sidequest. That puts them at 10 exiting Spellhold, and 11-12 in the Underdark.