WLB Ep. 2

WLB Ep. 2 Recap
The party went back and forth discussing plans for some time, and eventually went into the bar to contract a local to lead them to the spot marked "Lobal" on the map (the one Asteppo had not heard of before.) First, Jon warmed up the barkeep with a melodic song that made a quick cut into heavy metal, which was favorably received. The Mohrg turned out to be proficient on thrash guitar and played credible backup till Jon got too handsy with the undead warrior's intestines (no kidding, that happened!) and became paralyzed. Suitably pleased with the performance, the Abyssal barkeep hooked you up with a wrathdemon guide who did not try to kill you but instead used his magical sight to guide you through the swirling sands to Lobal, which turned out to be a trading post in neutral territory between Chavalk's domain and his sister Imilla's.

Entering Lobal, the party stopped at a fabric merchant's stall where a demon noticed Tanya and tried to sell her some silvered cloth in broken Fey. The party bought several bolts of this cloth and learned the name of a tiefling tomb-robber in the vicinity named Redjeck. Deciding he might be able to help them get into Chavalk's stronghold, the group approached Redjeck who was selling some looted potions to another merchant, took him out for drinks and asked him about Chavalk's stronghold, learning he had been there once delivering a message to Chavalk from Shyra as part of an expedition he'd been in the Fey lands. The party asked to meet him again in the morning and withdrew to discuss extensively among themselves whether to involve Redjeck and how best to proceed.

Eventually they decided to level with Redjeck about Chavalk's death and their desire to find valuable documents in his stronghold while he was not there to object. Redjeck agreed to go with them in exchange for a promise from Zadkiel to bring Redjeck back out of the stronghold alive and give him 1/7 share of the gold value looted from the place.

On the way to the stronghold, the group slept in the Walking Hut, except for Shoshana, who stayed up all night making Vanima Kaimelar a jacket from the silvered cloth. Shoshana and Mirin realized they both had proficiency in Weaving, coincidentally enough. Redjeck told the party that bringing Angara with them was going to be a problem since the Abyssal guards would immediately open fire on a giant glowing Holy Avenger tiger coming towards the stronghold. After discussing leaving Angara behind and transmuting her into a statue, the group finally decided to use magic to alter her Holy aura and disguise her as a Hellcat. Shoshana had a troubling prophecy about something terrible befalling Bay if she entered the stronghold. Bay decided to stay behind and work with Kit on her thief skills.

At long last, the party headed into Chavalk's stronghold, guided by a castle worker they kidnapped by means of Redjeck luring him outside and Shoshana using a cyst to dominate him into wanting to help the party deliver a message from Shyra to Chavalk. Led by Redjeck and the castle worker and with the more out of place PCs disguised, the group made it across the courtyard without incident. They were challenged by a Keep guard who was suspicious of the drugged-looking castle worker and his story, but Jon used Diplomacy to talk the party past him to the upper chambers.

Arriving in Chavalk's quarters, the party encountered a group of Fey, who summoned a mana golem. The party attacked and slew the golem, as well as two pixies, and the ghaele in charge of the group them surrendered.

Mirin however refused to accept their surrender, shouting "No extraplanars should be suffered to live," and attempted to kill the surrendering fairies, but desisted when Zadkiel bade him stop. A harsh interrogation yielded little information-- the Fey claimed not to know anything about Chavalk or the League of Snakes, but instead part of Lann Lasanta's retinue come to collect some of her belongings. When they would not budge from this position, Jon said to kill them, but Zadkiel blew up and said he refused to associate with anyone who would kill surrendered prisoners, and Jon backed down. Shoshana successfully negotiated the ghaele to show her the notes of Chavalk and Shyra in exchange for her party's release, hoping to find information about Morgana there. The ghaele accepted and gave Shoshana Chavalk's magical black book, which I've already posted excerpts from. Aler suggested that perhaps the book could be used to seed disinformation among Chavalk's allies or get information from them, by writing them messages purportedly from Chavalk.

Shyra's "things" which the fairies had come to fetch turned out to be clothes, jewelry, etc. to which the light bulb went on over Zadkiel's head and he said "Ohhhh, they had THAT kind of relationship!"

And there we broke for the night. :-D

Onward!

Chavalk's little black book
Here's the most relevant passages Tisha is able to extract from the book. This is difficult information for her to mine for data because none of the entries (except those by Ker Eleni) are dated, not all are relevant, and most are unelaborated and elliptical since they were written as notes between two people who already know what they're referring to. These are equivalent to someone finding and reading the Discord PM's we exchange with other players during a session--without the context of the session it probably wouldn't make a ton of sense, but there are still some secrets that could be revealed in there...

So, if you have any specific questions about the book's contents, ask Tisha and she can try to do a search for it. Here is the information you've received so far:

* The entries seem to alternate between two different hands each chapter except for the third chapter, which alternates between five. The party quickly identified Chavalk's handwriting because it recurred in all five chapters.

* CHAPTER ONE: many entries by Chavalk and somebody he calls "Arowan," which the party deduced based on references to Tenarr must be the Serpent King. Mirin confirmed.

* CHAPTER TWO: few entries, Chavalk and the other writer refer to each other as "Tiarna," which is a term of affection in Abyssal. The group guessed this was Shyra/Lann Lasanta based on her apparent presence in Chavalk's bedroom.

* CHAPTER THREE: entries in multiple hands. Chavalk's interlocutor is not named but the party deduces one or more of them must be Harasket based on his references to Ennessiet, Aglan, etc.

* CHAPTER FOUR: entries by Chavalk and Dayant Arakin (who he names.)

* CHAPTER FIVE: few entries, by Chavalk and Ker Eleni (who signed her entries.)

Here are the excerpts Tisha has been able to get for you so far:

[Chapter 1, in Chavalk's hand, presumably to the Serpent King] "We have no confirmation either group will be there during the attack, it is true, but in light of circumstances we really have to prepare as if they will. There are too many ways for the date to be divined, and too many ways to portal allies into the region once the fight commences regardless whether the date is learned or not. If they are NOT in attendance, then this will simply be an easy victory. But assuming that would be foolish, and risking our main objective to divert troops to Tenarr might lose us both. First and foremost we secure the Chaos Hound. Your destiny cannot be fulfilled without him, Arowan, Do not jeopardize that with impatience."

[Chapter 2, in Chavalk's hand, possibly to Shyra] "Once you get the cavalry to the field I want you going directly after the Returners. They are the most dangerous to our plans. The Hastenport group is more formidable than they look—Kanieza reports they combine their abilities exceptionally well, and they have a celestial healer so it's hard to keep any of them down. But the Returners have wild magic and psionics, and Shanatai is especially dangerous to Eleni or myself. Take her out in preference to all else. Dayant and I have another plan for dealing with the Hastenporters."

[Chapter 5, in Eleni's hand] "Please confirm chaos-touched rogue Bay Morrissey NOT to be killed. Ker Eleni 30 April."

[Reply in Chavalk's:] "Correct. Feel free to kill anyone else in her group, but not her. Will explain Monday."

[Chapter 5, in Chavalk's hand] "We've got intel that there's a squadron of angels deploying to protect Fort Overthorn. Have you got any way to divert them somewhere else? Dayant is concerned they might be able to turn the dracolich."[Reply in Eleni's] "I'll send a special forces unit to engage them inside the fort. Hrin'seg says he can use his psionic powers to teleport in there despite the planar lock. Ker Eleni 27 May"

[Chavalk's] "How long will that keep them out of the action?"

[Eleni's] "Good half-hour if it's just the angels. The archmage or the Fey might be able to dispel my AM field though. Ker Eleni 27 May "

[Chavalk's] "If they're down there doing that, they won't be able to stop Marek from reaching the second Hand. Win-win, make it happen."

[Chapter 4, in Chavalk's hand, to Dayant Arakin] "Shyra and the Serpent King can handle the Returners, I want the dracolich to find and kill the half-celestial cleric. The Hastenport group won't hold up long without him."

[Chapter 3, in hand C, presumably Harasket] "Heads up, Chavalk—the Druidic heroes (I have a hard time taking a stupid name like "The Weasels" seriously) were sighted by some of my colleagues casing out a shrine of Vecna in the Shadowlands near Dayant's tower." [Reply in Chavalk's]: "Ennessiet is an ally of Vecna, is she not?" [In hand C] "Ennessiet doesn't really 'do' alliances. I count her as a friend, but that doesn't mean she isn't their friend too. Shadowlords in general are not big on favoring one side over another." [In Chavalk's] "Just see to it that Aglan stays out of this, at least for a few more weeks. Win or lose, there should be plenty of opportunity for him to put whatever schemes you're not telling me about into play after the Invasion." [In hand C] "You wound me, Chavalk. Not by considering me untrustworthy, mind you; but by implying me to be dull-minded enough to believe anything Aglan told me about his plans."

[Chapter 3, in hand D, final entry] "Chavalk, once you get yourself reformed, contact me ASAP. The Serpent King's gone missing and none of my magics are reaching him."