Session 33 - Plans Made, Plans Foiled

While the rest of the party was taken to Aegaeon fortress, John Dungeons surfaced from the water and snuck towards the last remaining guard at the docks. Unnoticed, he grabbed the guards legs and dragged them into the water, where after a short struggle he managed to slit his throat. When he silently resurfaced beneath the dock, he found that more guards had come over to investigate the missing person and strange sounds. He waited for them to leave, but they instead stayed to keep watch.   Inside the fortress, the old dragonborn introduced himself as Starseer Frederick, a member of the Gravekeepers for over 50 years, and said he had seen the fall of Thay. Adam asked what happened close to the fall of Thay. Frederick explained he used to be part of a druid circle in the Pale Forest, where they foresaw in the future Thay unleashing creatures of horror on the world. He was sent to Westport as part of the Gravediggers to find information and try to sabotage them.   They uncovered the Egonomus, the unstable living batteries used by the higher circles of Thay to cast powerful magic, while their souls were used as another power source. Various other experiments using magical creatures were also found. Soon after, the barrier around Thay formed and they had no clue what was going on inside. They tried to send more people in, but no one was able to get out, so they hid the information about how to enter Thay.   Jurgen took out the maps he had found and drawn while inside the barrier to show the dragonborn. He explained the movement of the floating islands. The next map he took out was the facility underneath the Pholtus temple. Adam hesitated slightly before explaining what happened inside the facility, the creatures they encountered, and the items they took. Frederick recoiled at the egg, but otherwise didn't insist on taking it.   Frederick then asked how they managed to get into Thay in the first place, to which Finn blurted out about the teleportation circle they found in Overbridge. Jurgen explained the arms trade further and how they had been forced into the circle. As Finn spoke, he noticed an irritated look cross Frederick's face, he knew about the circle. He explained it had been one of the first actions in the war, opened by Thay to try and destory Overbridge. After the barrier descended, Overbridge had refused to acknowledge the issue.   Finn suddenly suggested they could topple the Overbridgian government, to the horror of Adam and Jurgen who tried to shut him up and get the talk back on track. They then explained their separate journeys after leaving the temple, with Adam talking about the bird monster, and Jurgen talking about the Bound King of Thay. Frederick seemed to recognise the name and explained that he wasn't a real lich. The throne was more of a punishment, someone would be bound, their magic drained while they were forced to control the city defences.   Once again, the dragonborn asked if they took anything from the city. Jurgen brought out the books he took, including Recollections from the Cataclysm. Frederick also semeed concerned about it, surprised that he had managed to read it while staying sane.   With the talks seeming to be finished, Yaldranth asked what happened to the girl they found, learning her full name was Alpates Zaychik. It seemed they were staying in the tower. Jurgen then asked if he could share the Thay maps with the cartographers guild, to which Frederick said he could provided they were not released to the town. He then said that he and Finn could help fix up the ballistae around the town. Finn however was currently fighting with Yaldranth. Finally tired of them, Frederick threatened to blast a fireball through the ship if they didn't stop. Finn argued with them about how it was university property, ending in asking for a private talk. Adam, Jurgen, and Yaldranth went in search of Alpates to learn more about the tensions in Overbridge before sending word to Underbridge about their situation.   After they left, Finn apologised to the dragonborn, and asked if he could help with the ballistae. Frederick begrudginly accepted the apology, telling him to be more careful with his words in the future.   Meanwhile, John Dungeons grew tired of waiting for the guards to leave. He swum over to the other boat in the port, and tried to set it ablaze. As he brought out a bottle of oil, it smashed on the deck and drew the attention of the guards. He dove back into the water to avoid being seen, then threw in a match to set it alight.   As the guards raced towards the boat, John swam to Finn's ship. He ran to the engine and tried to turn it on, but accidentaly activated the horn, as well as every system on board except getting the boat to lift up. In this cacaphony of noise, he heard a voice behind him yell to stop, and turned to see a figure wielding a stick berating him for intruding on hallowed ground. Dungeons looked around and saw a big red button. He pressed it.   The button activated the ships attitude control system, causing it to roll 90 degrees on its side. As the ship lurched, the figure ran towards him to try and stop him. Dungeons kept pressing buttons trying to do something, only managed to open a cargo hold and sending a bunch of barrels rolling towards him. He then started running towards the helm. The person chased after him, throwing ball bearings and hitting him with a stick, getting him to drop his rifle and throwing him overboard. Very much not expecting this turn of events, Dungeons hid under the water. He emerged at the other end of the dock and tried to hide. Somehow the person saw him and continued to attack. Dungeons kept hiding and running towards the town.   He managed to lose them in the town, finding it to be sparsely populated with many cast, and a missing persons poster of himself. It was dated a few days after he had been teleported away from Marcia, and asked for any information to be given to the Harpers. Looking around, he saw some kind of Harper meeting area with a person at the desk. He decided to leave it for the time being and looked around to get his bearings. As he did so, he spotted someone else stealthing through the town.   Inside the tower, the rest of the party walked through long corridors towards Alpates' room. As they debated how to start the conversation, the doors in front of them opened and Ben asked if they were done and invited them in. Inside, they saw Crick having some kind of breakdown in the corner as Alpates was fashioning a rope from bedsheets. Adam went to try and calm Crick down so he could interpret for them. Finn tried to give Alpates a real rope, to which Yaldranth quickly threw him out of the way and went to talk to her. Jurgen showed Ben the books on magic he found, and out of jealousy Finn also gave him a cookbook.   Ben started to leave, and was quickly chased by Yaldranth who wanted information on the tall dragon-eyed person he had seen. The remaining party began their talks about the situation in Overbridge.