15
Dzaan's Fiery Entrance. White Lady of the Lake.
A scuffle exposes Shandar Froth's hidden past in Good Mead, while the Red Wizard Dzaan meets a fiery end in Easthaven. The group dives into a tangled mystery, digging for secrets about the death of Azgul's mentor and learning of the enigmatic hag and treasure near Lac Dinneshere. Amidst pickpockets, eerie seances, and a chilling battle against the vengeful White Lady's spirit, they navigate a perilous path toward the Cauldron of Plenty.
Good Mead
- #TheMeadMustFlow As the party was preparing to leave town, a scuffle broke out at the Good Mead hall. Several thugs were running away, licking their wounds as Shandar Froth and his loggers hollered at them to get lost. Oona grappled a thug.Crank clotheslined another, picking him up with an arm for questioning. Crank recognized the Zhentarim flunky, and it was soon revealed that these thugs lost on purpose by the orders of Naerth Maxildannar to make Shandar look good. With onlookers watching the scene, Shandar was exposed. He admitted to the deception but said he did have the town's interest in heart and that, in truth, the Zhentarim had been blackmailing him to keep his past from catching up. He was a man wanted for murder in Mirabar. With Shandar outed, it seems Olivessa Untapoor will become speaker.
Easthaven
- #ToilAndTrouble The party entered Easthaven around dusk after hearing about missing sailors on Lac Dinneshire. Crank recalled that it'd be wise to watch your pockets: pick-pocketing is legal in the town, unless you're caught red-handed. The settlement honors the tradition of sacrifice since its frontier days, but only offers convicts to the goddess of cold.
- #DzaanIsDead An execution was taking place in the town square. Throngs of Easthaven residents were gathering near a wood pile just set ablaze, relishing in not just its heat but the death of the Red Wizard Dzaan, who the party caught sight of as he went up in flame. Dzaan's eyes frantically scanned through the crowd, glazing over his Arcane Brotherhood colleagues, Vellynne Harpell and another, soon to be introduced as Avarice, before locking on Azgul's. Perceptive party members saw Azgul's eyes widen and pupils dilate ever so slightly.
- #DzaanIsDead #ToilAndTrouble The elvish Captain Imdra Arlaggath and human town speaker Danneth Waylen were overseeing Dzaan's execution. Waylen left soon after the fire was lit, but Imdra remained with her town guard. Azgul approached the captain with Hazel surreptitiously shadowing him. Azgul learned from Captain Arlaggath that Dzaan was executed, using wood no less, as a warning against evil in the realms. The red wizard had been convicted of murdering four Easthaven adventurers, who he had reportedly hired several weeks ago for expeditions into the tundra. His belonging were confiscated from his lodging at the White Lady Inn and taken to the Town Hall, though Arlaggath kept two magic items for herself as a prize for his arrest. Arlaggath was willing to part with an item as a reward for investigating the missing sailors of Lac Dinneshere.
- #DzaanIsDead Azgul approached Vellynne and Avarice, searching for answers about his former tutor's death, and specifically, about the whereabouts of his books. How Dzaan had been arrested seemed to make Vellynne uneasy. She had come to town to parley for a mitigated sentencing and to speak with Dzaan about his findings, both of which attempts had been denied. Avarice laughed that the well-read illusionist must have been a fool for meeting such a fate, and seeing that the event had ended, took her leave. Azgul thought her an asshole, and Vellynne admitted she was a haughty but powerful prodigy. Vellynne was staying at the White Lady Inn.
- #DzaanIsDead Hanging in the back of the crowd, Oona, Crank, and Tetro minded their wallets. Crank did notice several black cloaked figures in the crowd with silver necklaces. He didn't recognize them.
- #DzaanIsDead At the White Lady Inn, the party secured rooms and supper from the innkeeper Bartaban for 2gp a head. Dzaan's former room had been completely tossed and searched. Upon investigation, a note with four names was found under a dresser: Hank Berylbore, Meryl Diane, Gurth Miodal, and Faith. Fern believed the last name was typical of a tiefling. No, not Astrix.
- #WhiteLadySeance A bard named Rinaldo was reciting a campy, spoopy poem about the White Lady, Lac Dinneshere's resident cryptid ghost. He was holding a seance this evening and invited the party to join, for the White Lady knows much. After haggling him down to 4gp a head, they accompanied three townsfolk to the back to watch the seance unfold.
- #battle #WhiteLadySeance #ToilAndTrouble Rinaldo's seance could have gone better, but I guess it could have gone worse. The spirit of the White Lady attacked the crowd, its wails literally aging one poor commoner by forty years. The party fought it off, after which it answered questions pertaining to happenings around the lake. She noted that a hag lived in the south eastern cliffs bordering Lac Dinneshere and that she had a magic cauldron capable of feeding an entire town. When asked about the treasure of the lake, she said the hag knows best. When asked about Dzaan, it seemed her knowledge outside the lake was minimal.
- #battle #ToilAndTrouble Heading out the next day to find this hag, who seems to be preying on sailors, the party found a capsized fishing boat. The boat was named "Bunch o Knuckleheads" and was filled with empty booze bottles. Humanoid tracks headed away along a frozen river into a cliffside cave. Further up the cliff, the party saw other stone carved entrances. As the party investigated, four emaciated harpies and a confused axebeak attacked and were quickly dispatched.
XP
- 100 ~ #WhiteLadySeance COMPLETE
Total XP: 4700
Loot
- None
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