Session 58: The Box

General Summary

The party has made it home and gets a few hours rest before meeting at the Eschbach Shields. Everyone is noshing down on chicken, cheese and mushrooms when Baldwin approaches.

He has a message from a person staying in one of the rooms and is looking for a person or persons to deliver a package.

They go up to the room and meet a strange elderly man with a long beard & hair though bald on top. The room is a mess and he wants the party to deliver an item to Orleans where they will get paid. It is a box 3" by 3" by 3" in shape. It is wrapped up in grease / waterproof paper and tied with strong string. He warns not to damage it, fiddle with it, or do anything to mess with it. And to keep it quiet as it's not being sent by standard messenger and the man cannot go himself as he "has business to attend to" somewhere in the north.

He warns them that the box needs a specific key to open and nothing good will come of it if tampered with.

He tells them the client is Gabrielle de Rais with them getting paid in the thousands if they deliver it, and they start to get suspicious.

They decide to take up the job, but Magnar & Arne have a "bad feeling" about it. Timble asks Baldwin about the man saying he just appeared during the night looking a room, and Gabrielle de Rais is not one to mess with. She is dangerous and hated in Eschbach, especially by Duke Grimmaz Fyrwin. They were creeped out by the old man bringing out a small snuff box like object, taking a grub out and eating.

Outside Timble who still has the box after carrying it down on a wheel of cheese, has suspicions too, and wants to go to the town council to see what they say.

When they go to the council, they all decide to find a safe space in a building while the box is replicated by Arne and the fake took instead. Timble casts Detect Magic on it, and finds a very small trace from the centre on it. He also uses Detect Poison & Disease on it discovering a highly dangerous poison is present in the middle off it.

Timble also casts a Non-detection on it while it is copied expertly by Arne with only are few could spot the fake on a once-over.

They do this at the fort and keep it in the underground vault before getting one of the Burgeaters to go get Reolus, Anselma and Grimmaz to come later to take a look at it.

They travel into the Central Massif and find it slow going due to the roughness of the terrain & roads there. While camping for the night they get word about the box. Arne had copied the designs on it of birdmen and what looks like gusts of clouds and fog on it. The key looks as if its slid in perpendicular.

When Reolus opens it he sets off the trap that's built in. It pretty much explodes outwards within a couple of seconds filling the vault with a highly toxic gas. Reolus and Grimmaz is able to shrug off some of the damage but Anselma is hit full blast while having her long bow & arrow ready.

Grimmaz grabs them, throws both over each shoulder and carries them out. Unfortunately, Anselma releases the arrow and shoots him right through the left butt cheek.

Outside, he screams "Damn you Gabrielle!!".

At the same time a small shard of Amber with a smoky 'thing' inside also explodes and the smoky thing escapes out in the direction of the Central Massif.

They go to sleep and those sitting guard hears the usual odd noises from the Massif. Waking up in the morning they start out and see two things. The first is three crucified goblins, meant to terrifying the goblin slaves used in the local mines not to rebel. The second is a cave bear ripped apart and fed on by something. Timble admits that its scary due to the strength & aggression of a bear, and for this to happen to one.

Afterwards they make it to a good road and arrive in the east end of Orleans. There they get looks from the guards and let in.

Making their way through to the west end where the de Rais has their main residence. The city goes from the poorest district to the most expensive one.

Timble hops out and beckons for them to start slowly moving their cart slowly off.

He goes to the two guards at the gate and tells them they have a package for Gabrielle and 'accidentally' drops it. It's picked up and one of the guards tells him to wait there so the package is took in and the payment got.

The guard eventually comes back and say that they're not getting paid, and to come with him as the box is a fake. They now want Timble to come with them. Timble runs off and hides in some trees, bushes, and plants at the opposing side of the road, and they try to find him.

Not finding him they go back to the de Rais grounds to get more help to find him and the cart. By that stage Timble has ran and jumped on the back of the cart. They then take off as quickly as possible.

They are harassed & followed the next day or two until they make it back to Eschbach territory.

Eventually, they go back to the council and are given 500 gold for services rendered. Then, on to the Eschbach Shields. There they find Josef van Richten & Alcuin van Helsing coming in. They seem to avoid Keller and give him strange looks.

They are also told by Baldwin an hour or two after leaving the old man & his possessions had completely vanished somehow without anyone noticing. Baldwin gives a note to 'the Gnome' that reads "So you escaped then".

Keller goes up to Joseph & Alcuin and informed that they met an old man on the road coming back into town. He told them what Keller was being a Dhampir and he lets them know that he isn't generally dangerous unless threatened and in danger. They mention that the old man talked to them for two hours, and said that he had been in the Underdark dealing with a cult that needed punished for loosing a couple of items he gave them long long ago. They look at a map and he was encountered a few miles north close to where the Cult of the Deep Ones would have been in the Underdark. The old man opened a box in front of them and took a grub out and ate it in front of them. Afterwards when they moved off they looked back and he had vanished.

Going back to the party, Keller & Timble share stories and it's obviously the same old man. Timble gets the sneaking suspicion that the old man was the Star Spawn Seer, and the group suspect he was trying to stir up trouble within & for the group.

Rewards Granted

500 gold