Session 9: The Cloistered Scholar

Pendeghast introduces himself. He used to be the bookshop owner. Technically he still is, but he's gone into hiding since he first saw Cranium Rats arriving in town. Rightly guessing that he was in danger, he found the crawlspace he currently lives in on the opposite side of the city. He notes that folks have been acting oddly recently, and that the last two groups of traders that stopped by never rode back out. If the party presses on figuring out when people started acting strange, after some hemming and hawing, he figures that they had passed close to the foot of the mountain. There were some strange flashing lights one night, that he could see from the tower.
  He may not have noticed, but Thywicket has been sticking relatively close to the Coral Forest since then. He has noticed that the worm has been moving a bit more slowly lately, and has started producing silk. Pastor Vormic was noted to have said that the metamorphosis was supposed to be occurring within the next few years, not the next few weeks.
  Pendeghast has a paranoid suspicion that people have been having sinister secret meetings somewhere in the city. The people that have been infested with mindflayer larvae are building a replica of the cocoon in the temple. When it is finished, they plan to break the original in an “accident”, and “fix” it, replacing the old one with a sarcophagus for the illithid, where he can wait out the metamorphosis in relative luxury.
  Pendeghast will agree to tell them what he's learned about the book in exchange for smuggling him out of the city.
  What Pendeghast knows about the book: the book is a blueprint for a pylon, which is to be placed along a ley line. With the proper web of them, the Correspondent from Cindalia believed that they could permanently purge the corruption afflicting the plant life. Folgorath was creating plans for a location of a druid starmap site to help with the project. However, Folgorath suddenly changed his mind on the project after one of the other apprentices accidentally intercepted the book, and frantically called for his colleagues to halt their work. Pendeghast never got a chance to hear the reasoning: whatever it was, Folgorath had left to consult with the mystics of Spindlewick within hours of visiting Thywicket. He borrowed several books from Pendeghast, and rushed out the same day. Ruminating on this, Pendeghast may recall that the other apprentices were gone, investigating something near the mountain (secretly: the mindflayer lair), and that Folgorath was specifically looking for the one who mistakenly received the book, a druid named Thephani. Orlock, Wren
  The books Folgorath borrowed: if the party investigates the abandoned bookshop, they can search for this clue. With an Investigation Check (DC 14), the party finds the receipt from Folgorath's transaction in a drawer at the counter.
  If the Cranium Rats see the party heading to the bookstore, they will attempt to mind control them. Send this to players who are dominated:
  Congratulations, you are under the effects of the Dominate Person spell! Rather than taking away control from you, I'd like you to play out your character with these new goals, in order of priority: 1. Find a big green book and a book that is no longer a book. 2. Make a mess while doing so, the others have competing goals from their commanders. 3. Get to the top of the tower. While under the effect of this spell, think of food, dark spaces, and cozy nooks and crannies, and think verminous thoughts. Have fun with it!
  One of the books in this shop has been hollowed out to hold a Thywicket Pearl, much more pure than the one Visayan bought.
  Books Folgorath borrowed: Fey Sightings Vol. VIII Anatomographia Ornithicus Collected Folklore of Myrmidus Royal Bloodlines of Regenne Dealings With the Fey [a couple trashy titles about outlandish retellings of the deeds of the Last Heroes] History of Draconic Territories Migration in Dragons Orodromicon Churches of Hespral
  Other books that can be found while searching with value Ballista Maintenance- blueprints for building a ballista Mounts From the Age of Myth- details routines for taming exotic mounts. Musings of Mithral Pete- prototype plans for a switchaxe Dressage Routines for the Modern Gentleman- allows you to train in a mounted combat skill Mysteries of the Coral Forest- tells a bit about the history of the Coral Forest, and some of its lurking denizens.
  The Cranium Rats will try to get the party stuck in inconvenient places, and then chew through the stilts holding up the tower. Everyone in the tower must make a Dexterity Saving Throw (DC 13) as it topples. On the first floor, failure results in taking 4d10 bludgeoning damage. Second floor 5d10, top of the tower or in the air/on a wall 6d10, or half as much on a save.
  Church Organ Flute Trumpet Fiddle Bass Drum or those japanese drums Gregorian Chanting
  Mount Ararak, the site where the heroes of old slew the Trumpeter, delaying the apocalypse The Last Heroes drove the Piper out of Regenne, but didn't slay it
  The other apprentices' names: Orlock- Wren- Thephani- _________________________________________________________________
  The party got all of the information out of Pendeghast, and then some. Steps Upon Green Hills rejoined the party, and the party saved him from a swarm of Cranium Rats. They spent the night learning about the blueprints, the Heralds, and Folgorath's involvement in the construction/planning of the pylon. The party decided to go investigate the Mindflayer lair as well, in order to find the missing apprentices. Before heading out, the group decided to investigate the bruise. Distracting a gaggle of shoppers with the Rimewing Moth, Khashayar and Visayan helped sneak themselves with Kestrel and steps down the side of the city, to crawl through the spiracles. They were secretly spotted from the Observatory. They came upon the bruised and battered first ganglion, where the session ended.
  Things Pendeghast hasn't had a chance to mention: the Heralds are different in nature than the entities created by the corruption. He doesn't yet know that the Chapel of Light took over the first Herald.