05 - 6/29/21 : Ghost of a Chance
In-game date: 3rd of Freymond, 3521
In her restless sleep, Megumi dreamed of the origin of her dire situation; of how she and her love, the knight Eula, resided in the Wandering Emporium of Avernus, where they sold magic items to the odd travelers in the Nine Hells of Baator. Eula announced that she was leaving to investigate rumors of a legendary blade known as the Sword of Zariel, which she believed would aid her in a personal quest. Megumi offered to come with her, but Eula declined, saying that it was a mere scouting mission to find out if the rumors were true, and that she would travel faster alone. With a kiss and a promise to return, Eula departed across the blasted plains of Avernus.
Megumi waited for days in the Wandering Emporium with no sign of Eula. Eventually despair began to set in, and she exited her shop only to be greeted by an Avernus that had been frozen in time, with nothing but a simple desk and chair before her. After calling out into the grey nothingness, Megumi reluctantly sat in the chair and waited. Before her appeared none other than Asmodeus, Demon Prince of the Nine Hells and Dread Tyrant of all Nine Layers of Baator, who offered Megumi a deal.
Asmodeus informed Megumi that what she feared worst had come to pass; Eula ran into trouble and was slain during her mission, and because she fell in the Nine Hells her soul was to be claimed for service in the eternal Blood War. Asmodeus offered a way out; he would return Eula to life in exchange for the rights to Megumi’s soul in one year’s time. During this time, Megumi would be tasked to garner half a million gold coins and sacrifice one innocent soul as an alternative for giving up her own. After signing the contract in blood, Megumi and a newly resurrected Eula were thrown to the Prime Material Plane, and the timer on Megumi’s soul began to count down.
With her dream coming to a close, Megumi awoke in a cold sweat. On her nightstand rested a warm letter, stabbed into the wood with a dagger made of Baatorian green steel.
The party all awoke rather early in the morning thanks to Reilly’s loud tinkering upstairs. Yilani made a point to complain about it, but Reilly assured her that she had found inspiration and needed to act on it. Reilly continued to put the finishing touches on the scale armor she had purchased from Embric, while Yilani and Lacky made their way to the Balladeer’s Eclipse to meet with the Doom Raiders out of interest in joining their band of scoundrels.
Raeziel, Davil, and the other Doom Raiders met the pair outside of the Balladeer’s Eclipse, which was being swarmed by patrons on account of the tavern’s bicentennial celebration. Davil bade the two of them follow the rest of the Doom Raiders into the tavern while Yagra Stonefist grabbed someone sitting on a windowsill and dragged them out, giving the group an entryway into the packed tavern. After Raeziel begrudgingly paid for passage, the group descended into the first level of the Undermountain, where Davil wished to show their two new recruits “what they were up against”.
On the way down the two-hundred foot descent, Davil explained that the Undermountain was ruled by a mad mage known as Halaster Blackcloak, and that it was the insane wizard’s phenomenal command over the forces of magic that gave the Undermountain its unique properties; namely, the fact that teleportation magic could not take one into or out of the Undermountain, nor could divination magic penetrate the powerful magics that shielded it from outside influence. It was this reason that the group needed to descend into the Undermountain before using a scroll of teleportation circle to reach their destination further in.
On the third level of the Undermountain, in the subterranean city known as Ramrider’s Retreat, Raeziel introduced her ancestral home and explained that the city used to be her family’s seat of powerful before they capitulated to the Xanathar Guild. From their point of arrival, the Doom Raiders led their new recruits to a dilapidated warehouse that had once been their outpost in the subterranean city and broke in to show them the realities of the guild war. Davil identified three corpses as those of members of the Doom Raiders, having been mercilessly slain by the Xanathar Guild.
As Davil explained the meaning of the Black Network, and how their sense of found family and their hatred of betrayal was more important than money, the group was suddenly ambushed by Xanathar thugs that had laid in wait for their arrival. They were able to defeat their assailants, only for another cadre of crossbowmen to arrive with two duergar at their command. Zemk Ramrider apologized to Yilani and revealed that he had double-crossed her and her other companions after they spared his life, while Bonziel Ramrider greeted her sister with contempt and pity alike.
Bonziel offered the group one chance to submit to the Xanathar Guild, but Raeziel angrily took a shot at her sister and brought the standoff to a boiling point. The Doom Raiders and their new recruits were able to narrowly escape the ambush, and returned to the Balladeer’s Eclipse with few scrapes and bruises. Davil bade Yilani and Lacky welcome, and Skeemo took samples of their blood to mix with magical ink with which he applied their tattoos, making them official members of the Black Network.
Meanwhile, the trio of Brooke, Reilly, and Megumi arrived at the Lightsinger Theater in the opulent Sea Ward, and were shocked to find it mostly abandoned and run-down after years of disrepair. Outside of the ramshackle theater, the familiar halfling Mattrim “Threestring” Merreg was spotted, loudly playing on his poorly tuned and broken lute. The party guessed correctly that Threestrings was the ‘ticket counter’ that they were meant to see and spoke to him the Masquerade’s passphrase. In response, Threestrings marked each of them with a stamp, allowing them entry to the warded theater.
Within the theater, the trio was surprised to see Anintari Starsong, daughter of the owner of the Balladeer’s Eclipse. At first she assumed that they were the ones that were initiating her, but quickly figured out that they were in fact fellow initiates of the Masquerade. As she spoke to the others, the gathered initiates found that a selection of masquerade masks had been laid out on a table near them. Each of the initiates chose masks that provided a level of anonymity that they were comfortable with, and as they donned their new disguises, six similarly masked figures entered the theater.
The lead of the masked individuals explained the goals and ideals of the Masquerade, and bade that each initiate who felt the call in their heart to stand and step forward to receive magical pins as proof of their initiation. One of the masked figures removed his mask and revealed himself to be Arathir Starsong, owner of the Balladeer’s Eclipse. After pinning his daughter, Arathir brought her into a warm hug. Reilly was able to deduce that the masked individual pinning Megumi was Renaer Ambermantle, and Brooke’s pinner was quite obviously a masked Threestrings. Reilly’s sponsor, however, remained unknown to her.
As sunset approached, Brooke and Lacky traveled to the House of Wonder in the Sea Ward to follow up on Solauvaire’s offer. After being greeted by Rydia Margaster, the High Priestess of Jamboor, the duo was led to the third floor of the temple where a swirling portal laid behind a locked door. Rydia bade the two enter, and the portal transported them directly to Solauvaire’s study.
Solauvaire greeted the two in surprise and apologized for not being prepared to receive guests, as well as not having a grand speech prepared for the creation of their new adventuring fellowship. To apologize for coming up short, Solauvaire presented them with gifts; a magic rod for Lacky, an enchanted lyre for Brooke, and a clockwork amulet to be presented later to Reilly as an apology for causing her undue stress. With the spirits of former High Dragons before him as witnesses, Solauvaire proclaimed their new adventuring fellowship to be formed, and promised to come up with a better name later. He bade Brooke and Lacky to live their own lives and pursue their own goals, and asked only for them to be ready when Revelmoore put out the call.
As the party gathered back at Trollskull Manor, Yilani flaunted her new tattoo and association with the Black Network. Just then, an excited knock at the door was heard, and the Rat Catchers proclaimed a return from their quest. It turned out that they had followed their instructions a little too well, and managed to trap a giant rat all on their own. Yilani expressed disappointment and awe in equal measure, and instructed the rat catchers to take their new capture and unleash it on the newly opened Emmek Frewn taphouse; but not before they got to accompany Reilly on her outing to show off her new invention to Embric and Avi at the Steam and Steel Forgeworks.
Reilly demonstrated that she used Avi’s fine armor as a basis for her own suit of magically powered armor, which granted her advanced protection and allowed her to strike with magically charged punches. Avi, Embric, and the Rat Catchers both watched this with delight and amazement. Avi and Embric then offered to ‘babysit’ the Rat Catchers while the party made their way to the Dock Ward to investigate the Sea Maiden’s Faire.
The Sea Maiden’s Faire had arrived on a trio of beautiful ships hewn of black wood and golden accents: the gambling ship The Dead Man’s Hand, the theater ship The Ambassador’s Delight, and a third ship of unknown purpose named The House. Upon the bowsprit of The Ambassador’s Delight, a woman appeared in a shower of magic lights and proclaimed herself as Rosie the Riveting, the master of ceremonies for the Sea Maiden’s Faire.
With style and aplomb, Rosie bade passers-by to sample the games and libations aboard their state-of-the-art gambling boat, and to also enjoy the upcoming play; I Want to be Your Canary, a popular tragedy from the far-off land of Xha’en, which would be performing in an hour. This gave the party ample time to peruse the attractions aboard The Dead Man’s Hand.
With the per-diem given to them before by Castor Pollux, the party was each given a few tokens to partake in the games. Their first stop was a racetrack of small racing lizards imported from the land of Khemit, featuring five furiously fast ferocious lizards; Halfwit Ashen Beast, The Flaming Salamander, Privy Gentleman, Pogona Justicia, and Sir Wuzzy II. The party wagered tokens on their own chosen lizard champions, but only one could be crowned the victor; in a close race, Halfwit Ashen Beast pulled ahead and won Reilly twice her bet.
The party then seated themselves at a cards table and played a round of cards among themselves, as well as with a masked gentleman at the head of the table. With a large pot of tokens on the table, the cards were laid out, and the masked gentleman revealed himself to be Piece of the Puzzle as he revealed his hand; a Royal Flush, easily winning the pot.
The party greeted Puzzle with a mix of warmth and wariness, given that he had absconded without paying them days ago. According to Puzzle, his (shockingly short) book tour had gone extraordinarily well, and after a bit of convincing he paid out his original promised fee of 100 gold apiece for the rescue of Floon and Renaer. Puzzle then offered to buy his friends drinks before the show began outside.
In another part of the city, within one of a trio of black towers standing ominously over the south ward, Skeemo Weirdbottle ascended to the top level into a wizard’s study. Within a room lit with ominous purple light, a dark elven man wearing a brass helmet sat at a study, inking the last touches of a letter. Skeemo approached and addressed the drow as “my lord” and handed over the vials containing Yilani and Lacky’s blood samples used in the inking of their tattoos. The dark elf accepted the vials with a hand made of brass and merely smiled.
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