Session 14: The Pavillion of Whispers and Wonderment Report

General Summary

Kiria Evensong's life was at risk. She was dying from the rare disease known as The Itis. She offered 4,000GP to any group of adventurers who could find the cure for her. While many sane adventurers turned her down, the Rat pack was just the right kind of crazy to take on the job.

Picking Fights in Space

  The Rat Pack left the Rock of Bral in search of The Maestro. While in Realmspace, they approached an indifferent hammerhead ship and manned their weapons. This led to the warship changing course, heading directly for the Hard Nut! Azid immediately gave the order to change course and retreat. However, Glebnor maintained his course and said that they didn't want. Azid again gave the order and prepared to take countermeasures if needed. Glebnor reluctantly obeyed the order after the second time and turned around.
In the Astral Sea, the Hard Nut was boarded by a patrol of githyanki led by Sir Cognatio. He was friendly and told them he was on a routine patrol for illithids. He requested permission to search the vessel, which Azid allowed. His search turned up nothing, but he did take a particular interest in Glebnor. He asked the ooze if he served a mind flayer. Confused by the question, Glebnor told him that they were not. Cognatio explained that a mind flayer at large created gray oozes to serve him. He believed Glebnor and thanked Azid for his cooperation before flying away.

The Fire

Nearing their destination, a fire broke out in the kitchen of the Hard Nut! The meatloaf surprise that Scraps had been preparing went wrong; soon, the entire galley was ablaze!
The crew panicked and handled this test poorly at first. Frillo was badly burned in the conflagration, but they finally managed to control the blaze. The hull took some serious damage and the ballista was completely lost.

The Pavillion of Whispers and Wonderment

Arriving at the location, Glebnor landed the Hard Nut in a beautiful field surrounded by a serene lake. The party approached the bridge leading to the entrance of the citadel. They were greeted by Quince, an awakened shrub wearing an orange bow around his highest branch. He politely introduced himself before informing them that his master was not taking any company. Azid let him know they were here on important business, which was enough to convince the shrubbery to let them pass.
Inside the lounge, the party was attacked by The Butler, a larger-than-average lemur with large ear lobes and wearing a suit jacket. Stinkbreath introduced himself to the creature and informed him that they were there on business. This was enough for The Butler to swing down and lead them through the citadel to his master. He left them in an enchanted library with spinning shelves.
Azid tried to look at the shelves, but they were spinning far too quickly. He was surprised when one of the shelves began talking to him and the rest of the party. At the same time, a few members of the party refused to talk to the bookshelf, those that did satisfy him enough to open the passage into the office of The Maestro.
The office was a large dome made of eternal ice. On a high pedestal was a stone desk and large chair where The Maestro sat staring at a book. He was polite at first but very short with them. He grew increasingly agitated as the conversation went on and soon he was convinced that they were there only to steal his knowledge. He revealed that others from Evensong had come, and he already knew what they had to say. He trapped them in the room and attacked them alongside his swarm of penguins. Stinkbreath knocked him unconscious while the rest of the party dealt with the blood-thirsty birds.
Azid looked at the book The Maestro was reading and determined that it was a cursed tome. He destroyed it with fire. After that, the entire party looked at the information that was traded and learned that Morgan Kullek was a high-ranking member of The Tenth Pit on the Rock of Bral. None of them knew who that was or what the Tenth Pit was.

Learning All Sorts of Secrets

When The Maestro came about, he was most grateful for Azid destroying the cursed tome. He wrote down the cure for The Itis and sealed it in an envelope for them to return to Kiria Evensong. Before being done with their business, however, Kouvian had questions that he wanted to be answered. He started by asking what the Tenth Pit was. Of course, The Maestro was not about giving up that information for free. Eventually, Kouvian revealed to him that Quranis was hired by someone called Zagar to retrieve the Doom Croaker.
That information genuinely surprised The Maestro. He had been tracking Quranis' activity for a while but did not know who she had worked for. The name Zagar meant something to him, but again, he was not about to give up that information. Keeping to his original bargain, he told Kouvian that the Tenth Pit was a cult seeking power by controlling all of Wildspace. Certain groups stood in their way of ultimate conquest, and in the case of Bral, it was Prince Andru. He also revealed that members have a small X branded behind their ear and that, according to rumors, they were based in Herospace. As far as enemies went, The Pragmatic Order of Thought and The Watchers unknowingly worked against the Tenth Pit.
With no more information to share, Kouvian made a deal to exchange future information regarding the Tenth Pit or Zagar with The Maestro. With that handled, they left his citadel and returned to the Rock of Bral.

Rewards Granted

572 XP each

Character(s) interacted with

The Maestro