Shadow Walkers

Revision as of 02:44, 16 August 2017

One year before the Titan Breakers started their adventures in the Neutral Zone, other heroes encountered planewalkers.

Ep. 1-1: The Lost Beastmen

Friday, Summerset 12, 1126 SF (Jul 2, 2017)
Party: Perfidy (Aslene), Danja (Danana)

At the confluence of the Red Rock and Green Rock Rivers, the Shangon city of Diyun rested atop and within many towering islands. The cosmopolitan city bustled with fishing, lumber, food processing, and trade. The city was also home to the renowned Diyun College, a center of research and scholarship in the natural sciences (e.g., biology, herbalism, alchemy).

Perfidy was a female forest gnome rogue from the deep north. She was sent by her village to Diyun to study law enforcement. She had apprenticed for years with Dalla Teman, a Senior Inspector in the City Watch. As Perfidy neared the end of her training, Dalla decided that Perfidy was ready to work a case on her own.

Perfidy was ordered to investigate a series of burglaries in the market ward. First, per Dalla's instructions, Perfidy recruited a nature expert from the college: the female dragonborn Danja. Together, they questioned Garem the grocer and his son Jarem, as well as Pemil the chicken farmer, her son Athan. They determined that beastly humanoids were raiding the shops at night.

Ep. 1-2: Those Left Behind

Friday, Summerset 12, 1126 SF (Jul 4, 2017)
Party: Perfidy (Aslene), Danja (Danana)

Perfidy acquired some slow poison from a fisherman, and the heroes staked out Garem's shop. Three beastmen emerged from the sewer and started to enter the shop. The heroes killed one and drugged another. Perfidy summoned the City Watch, and ordered three watchmen to help purse the beastmen (Ister, Kerry, and Karn). Underground, the heroes were ambushed by a giant bat, before following the beastmen to their lair.

More beastmen attacked. A fierce, close-quarters battle ensued, in which both Kerry and Karn were almost killed. The beastman alpha was particularly dangerous. But the heroes triumphed.

They found many of the stolen goods from the shops, as well as two partly-eaten human men. On their bodies, Perfdy found notes that revealed that the beastman had been brought to Diyun to assist a band of planewalkers.

Note 1:

Here's the chant on this operation. Lijan says this portal is good for at least ten trips or a week. The key is to hum. The portal leads to a juicy trade burg on some dumb prime world called Tessera. We're going to get in, get the goods as usual, and get out. Berna is bringing the muscle: a pack of beastmen she controls with her new belt. Easy job, easy jink.

Note 2:

Frak Berna! If that leatherhead was going to up and flee, she could at least have left the belt. We're staying peery, but I don't know how long these furry bashers are going to stay obedient. I think they smell our fear. Lijan got the dark of this portal wrong. It started going wonky after just six trips. The Tannon Boys got nervous and turned stag. They just dropped their loads and bounced back through to the Cage. Now we gotta hope Lijan can be arsed to find a way to rescue us. If they get here too late, maybe this note will at least set the record straight. Frak Berna to the Nine Hells! -Cale

Ep. 1-3: Missing Exterminator

Monday, Summerset 15, 1126 SF (July, 2017)
Party: Perfidy (Aslene), Danja (Danana), Haelra (Basil)

Perfidy was briefed by Dalla on a new case involving an infestation. Perfidy stopped by Diyun College to collect Danja. Haelra eavesdropped and contrived a way to join the party.

The heroes met Tabit Jalid, a dwarf male and senior foreman of a Six Rings Trading Company warehouse. Tabit explained that his workers reported a minor infestation of wharlfings in the undercity below the warehouse. Tabit hired an exterminator, Bruna Cotter, who went down last night with her dogmole Rocky, but hadn't returned. Also, a Six Rings worker hadn't shown up for work: Bagulf Banks.

The heroes learned more by visiting the Exterminators Guild and talking with the senior clerk. They also obtained samples of Bruna, Rocky, and Bagulf. Danja borrowed a magical Located Creature dowsing rod from the College.

Ep. 1-4: Wharflings and a Gnoll

Monday, Summerset 15, 1126 SF (July, 2017)
Party: Perfidy (Aslene), Danja (Danana), Haelra (Basil)

The heroes descended into undercity. They found some dead wharflings, and fought some live ones. The heroes found Rocky guarding his unconscious mistress, Bruna. The heroes partly healed Bruna. The exterminator explained that she and Rocky had narrowly escaped from a gnoll, which was trapped deeper in.

The heroes sent Bruna and Rocky for treatment. They recruited three other exterminators to help fight the gnoll. After a fierce battle they defeated the gnoll. The heroes found two human bodies. Haelra used her magic to reconstruct and analyze the scene. The bodies seemed to have been slaves.

Perfidy sensed someone nearby. She sent the exterminators back, and discovered a group of nine runaway former slaves from an eastern province of the Empire. The runaways explained that they were supposed to meet a member of the Veiled Path here in Diyun. But instead two strangers met them. The runaways were suspicious, and one of the strangers summoned the gnoll to threaten them. She lost control of the monster and fled, collapsing a tunnel behind her and her accomplice. Two of the runaways fled from the gnoll (only to become the corpses the heroes found), while the rest barricaded themselves in a dead-end room.

The runaways had been hiding for days. The heroes gave the runaways food and planned their next steps.

Ep. 1-5: A Desperate Villain

Monday, Summerset 15, 1126 SF (July, 2017)
Party: Perfidy (Aslene), Danja (Danana), Haelra (Basil)

While Danja and Haelra guarded the runaways, Perfidy made contact with the Veiled Path through Darde, an experienced criminal. Darde connected Perfidy to Fridu, a human female longshoreman. The two women met in the Brass Needle mens' apparel shop and made a plan to relocate the runaways somewhere else in the city, until further passage could be arranged. Perfidy returned to the party.

An hour later, back in the undercity, two men approached on the underground river, rowing a skiff. The boatmen were ambushed by a garroter crab but the heroes defeated it. The heroes got the runaways safely on the skiff and sent them on their way.

Perfidy recruited two guardsmen, Nathe and Ryker. The heroes explored the sealed area of the undercity, tracking Bagulf's signal. Beyond a locked door, they were attacked a desperate woman. The villain disabled two guardsmen and attempted to escape. But Perfidy struck her down. The heroes found an incriminating note on her body, as well as the corpse of Bagulf Banks. They stabilized and healed their guardsmen allies, and wrapped up the case.

The note read:

Major Takhar,

My report follows. All glory to the Burning Masks!

Summerset 7, 1126 SF
Your intel was accurate: I have discovered signs of a Pather waystation here in the city. Or should I say, somewhere under it. I've found a contact who claims to know the precise location. I'm negotiating.

Summerset 8
We've agreed on a price. Tomorrow night, the contact will lead me to the waystation.

Summerset 9
Tonight, I shall spy on the waystation. I am prepared with stealth magics. If things go sour, I have a new scroll of summoning that should aid my escape!

Ep. 1-6: Rats & Kobolds

Tuesday, Summerset 16, 1126 SF (August 10 & 15, 2017)
Party: Danja (Danana), Haelra (Basil)

While Perfidy was attending to other matters, Danja and Haelra were contacted by the Diyun City Watch. The Watch needed experienced campaigners to investigate a report of giant rats in the sewer. Danja and Haelra took the job. The heroes searched the area of sewers using Haelra's familiar, Ellison, and Danja in giant rat form (via Wild Shape). They found a nest of rats, including a swarm and several giant rats. They also found a sleeping kobold sentry in a nearby tunnel.

Danja used Speak with Animals and her rat form to deceive the giant rats, one by one, and lure them away for Haelra to kill. Finally, the heroes dispatched the swarm. But during that fight they alerted the kobold. He retreated to alert a small group of other kobolds. The kobolds all had black mask-shaped burns around their featureless black eyes, and they fought with feral fierceness. However, Danja and Haelra ultimately triumphed. The heroes searched the kobolds' crude camp and found a troubling note:

(Draconic) My Brave and Loyal Soldiers,
Sneak into the city. Breed giant rats. Trust only those with the sign of the Mask.
When the time comes, you will use the rats to cause mayhem and distraction.
Wait for my instructions.
-V