DIDx7

TL;DR

The highlights of the session were:

• The group managed to kill the Fomorian, but not before being poisoned.
• A note was found suggesting the dead captain, a woman named Tysha, was lying in wait to ambush several groups of unsuspecting amateur Delvers being sent out on bogus contracts by someone in the Delver's Guild.
• The Sending Stone on Tysha's body spoke, indicating reinforcements would arrive soon. The group decided to set up an ambush, piling mushrooms by the entrance to the cavern, before igniting them when Captain Loni arrived.
• After picking off the squad and interrogating Captain Loni, the group learned that she worked for a mercenary group called Holis Ditani led by a Vesperkin woman named Pasha Ravani, and Loni reported to a "Lieutenant Ethel". They had been paid by a powerful person to post false contracts at the Delver's Guild to lure amateur Delvers to their deaths where they would implicate the Deepfolk in the attacks, though she did not know why. She said they had a mole in the Delver's Guild.

Full Summary

As the Fomorian charged forward, Scarf and Shein got off a couple attacks; however, the Fomorian ran headlong toward Rainer and Zero, knocking them aside and trampling a patch of brown mushrooms, which ruptured and created a cloud of spores which caused Rainer to begin laughing uncontrollably, incapacitating him momentarily. The other party members and the amateur Delvers began to throw and shoot at him. Zero conjured forth a sphere of twilight, which bolstered their allies. The Fomorian then did something unexpected, picking up a handful of green mushrooms and chewing them up before spitting the spores out towards a cluster of the party members, poisoning Shein, Scarf, and Toban, causing them to vomit. It then swung its club wildly at Rainer, nearly crushing him, but Rainer was quick and raised his Shield spell to deflect it. As Pera, one of the amateur Delvers, fired off a Fire Bolt at the Fomorian, she missed and hit a patch of red mushrooms, which burst and begin to emit a large cloud of dense fog, blinding Shein and Scarf. Scarf emerged from the fog and took a shot at the Fomorian, but missed badly before dashing and jumping across the nearby stream. After a few more volleys of projectiles, Rainer took a glancing blow to the shoulder before he rushed in and infused his quarterstaff with thunder and divine radiance before cracking the Fomorian across the knee, blowing it out entirely. As the Fomorian fell to the ground, dead, the party took a brief breather.

Rainer moved to cure Shein of the poison inflicting him with his remaining healing magic while Zero moved to search the body of the captain they had chased into the cavern. On the body, they found another Sending Stone along with a note which seemed to indicate this woman, named Captain Tysha, had received orders to camp out in Panebrenthen Crevice with her squad and await a group of Delvers who had been given a contract to investigate some creatures in the area. The note made mention of another captain that would be joining her, suggesting the note they found on the auctioneer in Obscurus is the one who had planned to join her. The note seemed to indicate that other contracts would be posted, suggesting that this group was somehow posting bogus contracts at the Delver's Guild to lure unsuspecting amateurs to their deaths, as with Pera, Ravi, and Athira. As Rainer began to fiddle with the Sending Stone, hoping to identify whether it was linked with the one they had found on the woman at the entrance to Ludranna Grotto, it began to speak -- informing them that Captain Tysha's call for reinforcements was being responded to, with someone named Captain Loni moving to her position to join her. Figuring that whoever was on the other side would not personally know the voices of each individual member of Captain Tysha's squad, Rainer replied to the messenger, saying that Captain Tysha had died in an attack by a Fomorian and the rest of the squad would await their arrival. Over on the other side of the river, Scarf moved to take a nap behind a rock to sleep off the poison, where she found a skeleton. Too tired to care, Scarf dragged the skeleton out into the open, and then went back behind the rock to sleep. Curious, Rainer checked the body where he found its skull smashed and wearing severely weathered armor, with what appeared to be some sort of mask over the corpse's face. He handed the mask over to Pera, asking her to identify it. After performing the ritual, she identified it as a "Vaporguard", which had the ability to protect from airborne particulates, spores, and other such hazards for a short time each day.

The group took a short rest -- however, Zero decided to prepare an ambush for Captain Loni and her squad. After conferring with Toban, they began to collect the mushrooms around the cavern and pile them around the entrance to the cavern. After observing that heat and flame could blister away the outer layer of the mushroom caps and rupture them, Zero asked Pera to await their signal to launch a Fire Bolt at the pile. Four hours later, they could hear voices coming from the tunnel that lead to the cavern's entrance. When a woman emerged, the group moved into position. She was startled and put off-guard by the bodies of the Fomorian and Captain Tysha. The woman seemed to be confused, wondering where the squad was, and called out for them. At that moment, Zero gave the signal and Pera launched a Fire Bolt which caused the entire pile to go off at once. The mushrooms erupted, and inside the thick fog coming from the red mushrooms, they could hear Captain Loni's squad vomiting uncontrollably in between fits of hysterical laughter. As Captain Loni emerged from the fog, Zero cast Hold Person, rooting Captain Loni in place. Then, as the rest of the squad began to come out, the group picked them off one-by-one, with Shein using his Hail of Thorns to skewer several groups of them with thorny branches. Rainer moved in and tied up Captain Loni while she was paralyzed, though it took him a couple tries. After finishing off the remainder of the squad, Rainer quickly searched Captain Loni, relieving her of her Sending Stone, before tossing her to the ground and waiting for the spell to release before beginning to interrogate her. However, Rainer's knots did not hold, and she quickly broke free, trying to dart away; but Scarf quickly tripped her, after which Rainer and Zero tackled her to the ground, and Zero sat on her with their heavy metal chassis.

Zero and Rainer began to interrogate Captain Loni, wanting to know who she worked for and why they were doing what they were doing. Captain Loni predictably told them to fuck off, not seeing any reason why she should tell them what they wanted to know. After some back and forth trying to convince her, telling her that if her group was going to kill her if she talked, and they would kill her if she didn't, then she should talk and at least then she'd have a chance to escape to make a different life elsewhere. She seemed steadfast in her stubbornness though, at which point Scarf said something so profoundly stupid that she broke -- he tried to convince her that he was actually a secret member of her group and that he was part of a different faction within, and that she should join him. She laughed at this, but seemed to not relish the idea of being killed by a moron, and decided she didn't really have any other options at this point, so she began to talk. She said that she worked for a mercenary group called Holis Ditani, operated by a woman named Pasha Ravani whom she suspected was a Vesperkin based on her voice, saying she had not ever met her in person, as the group communicated solely through Sending Stones and dead drops. Asked about the Sending Stones, she said that she reported personally to one of Pasha's lieutenants, Lieutenant Ethel. She admitted that the group had a mole in the Delver's Guild who they would feed false contracts to lure unsuspecting Delvers into the Deephollow pursuing bogus jobs, where Holis Ditani would ambush them and leave evidence of Deepfolk involvement, such as weapons taken from Deepfolk victims. She said that they would auction off the victims' belongings in Obscurus, clearly referring to the auction the group witnessed there, and that up until a month or so ago, they were just normal mercenaries. She said that some powerful person had approached Pasha with an offer she couldn't refuse and they were acting on their behalf. She said she hadn't signed up for this, and at that, Rainer and Zero released her. She seemed suspicious or not willing to believe they would just let her go, but quickly turned and bolted back toward Panebrenthen Crevice. Toban commented, saying that was a mistake, but then switched gears to talking about the Guild Wardens at the Delver's Guild, not wanting to believe Siran could be involved, saying he had known her for a while now and she was a good person. He commented that she only worked the day shift, so the group suggested investigating whoever was working the night shifts.