Session 55: BENNY SINGH WILL DIE IN TWO DAYS!

Or, The Plot Thickens

 * Interrogation time! Retcon: Vanesse and Sarienne are watching the boat outside; the rest of us are in Vikrit's Land Womb.
 * Thranean Interrogation Log
 * Vikrit casts Dawn to awaken Lenore and cast Zone of Truth; Tork and Vikrit are the only Ghost Sharks who fail. Lenore starts freaking out in the darkness.
 * She asks who we are; Mogen says she's among friends, and Vesun is pretending to be a generic half-elf Stargazer and shows her the Stargazer amulet; there's a clear glimmer of recognition but she's confused and distressed--not relieved.
 * Vesun makes her take a deep breath to calm down and says we aren't Thraneans; Vesun confirms via her reaction that he knows she's a Stargazer. She says something about working solo except for recruiting members of the Silver Fist. Mogen says we're friends of Jana's, but she doesn't seem to recognize the name. It seems like there are certain words she can't say and concepts she can't think about. Vesun says she works for "the squid" and she says she's fully loyal to Queen Aurala.
 * Mogen detects magic on Vesun with the Geiger counter to show Lenore it's harmless; she doesn't detect anything magic on Lenore.
 * Vesun says the goal is to bring her back into the Aundarian quarter, and she says 'but the Exaltation isn't complete!'
 * She says she came here like she was told, took a boat to the quarter, looked for the Legion of Perpetual Adoration and was able to find others like them, but they thought she was a spy and wouldn't believe her. They apparently caught her and were going to burn her, and then the other Thraneans (who we encountered) took her and tortured her. Vesun says when she was trying to convince the Legion and it didn't work, why did she ask? She said they're all criminals and thought the Exaltation (read: assassination) would appeal to that violent nature, she says she did exactly what she did to do by 'whoever told her' and to bring those godless people together to follow their own wickedness. She says that she assumed they hated Aundarians and wanted to kill them but they took exception to that and only the ones she paid worked for her (and they still have her gold).
 * We ask re: what they tried for The Exaltation: one of them had a poison and would spread it on a dagger, and she was supposed to use it on the Queen, which she seems ashamed or conflicted about. She says she was just doing what she was told, and the others were very mean to her. She says "The Lord" (Darro?) told her to do something that needed to be done and asks for her hands to be untied, but Mogen says we're just taking extra precautions.
 * She says she wants to do what needs to be done for the Queen to live in "perpetual adoration". She says what sounds like a scripted line that the Queen is supposed to arrive in a week with her loyal contingent, and there will be a parade to celebrate her. (Then after the Exaltation, the Queen would be 'absolved' and known to be necessary for peace.)
 * Mogen rolls a 32 (natural 20) on her arcana check, thinking about Lenore's oddly rote responses; magical spells of compulsion don't usually do this kind of thing, like someone edited her thoughts… maybe someone like a mindflayer.
 * She says there's a secret base (and it's not really a secret, nor a base--just someone's house) in the Thranean quarter. She says the others she convinced were an angry gnomish woman (Anna), Bartholomas, and Sivan (who said she would make the poison). She says she saw Bartholomas run out of the room when she went to the Legion--and says the others are not dedicated. The Legion were going to kill her and the other Thraneans grabbed her. She says Thraneans are godless killers so she thought they would go along with the assassination.
 * Vesun says word has gone out that she was in the Thranean quarter and got captured, so she can't return to the Queen's retinue, and it looks like she can't comprehend it fully. She begs not to be dismissed and says she has to help exalt the Queen, and Mogen says she can do 'remote exaltation'. She says she can't stop thinking about doing this.
 * Mogen says "What of Konstadin?" and she isn't really able to respond. Vesun says we're going to get this back on track and she's free of the Thraneans, but we need to confer. She says she's cold and Mogen gives her her cloak. Mogen tells Sarienne over the Messenger App and to make interfering sound for a period of time (Sarienne responds sarcastically and Vanesse is excited and throws the Messenger App the river), and puts the other 2 Messenger Apps in Lenore's ears.
 * We discuss: it sounds like there's an assassination attempt going on, with Konstadin messing with Lenore's mind. We talk about potentially having Yanger watch her to figure out what's wrong with her/maybe help her and imprison her with magic, maybe on the ship.
 * MEANWHILE…
 * Cornerio takes half of his money out of the bank and decides to head to Freeport using his Benny Singh papers. There's a long line and he has to wait an hour until a bored elven House Lyrander clerk calls him up. He says he's headed to Korth, and the clerk says all the shipments between here and Korth have been booked up; he suggests Cornerio sign up as a deckhand on the Sundowner.
 * Cornerio: "Well there's nothing I love more than good honest work…" (the entire table laughs uproariously)
 * He says to find Captain Philip of Rekkenmark, an elf who wears a green cloak. He asks his name and he says Benny; he asks if he's from Thronehold and he says he's 'a traveler'.
 * He comes back to the docks at night and finds the boat. Philip of Rekkenmark is there, and his son Johan is with him; he seems pretty distracted. There's also a portly halfling named Shaw who is overdressed for the gig, wearing a fedora, and is clearly trying to seem younger.
 * The Captain nods at Cornerio and he nods back. Cornerio says he's here to help; Shaw and Johan are struggling to carry a crate. Cornerio introduces himself as Benny; Philip calls them over to introduce him.
 * "You're not afraid of hard work, are you?" "Hard work is afraid of me!"
 * Shaw (who has quite an accent) asks where he's from and Cornerio helpfully says "Khorvaire"; Shaw is a little confused but says he's originally from the Talenta Plains.
 * They're nearly ready to go and a bunch of Karrnathi soldiers come over and talk forcefully with Philip. They make him take on huge grey crate for their journey. The crew points out the 2 beds to Cornerio and Shaw says he can be 'roving' once he's had some drinks in him but he's happy to share the bed while the elves share the other; Cornerio opts to sleep on the floor.
 * Back in the land womb:
 * Mogen asks for some more river-sounds time. The plan: find a relatively secure hotel room for Yanger and Kalti to watch Lenore. We heal and mend her to fix her up; Vesun tells her there is an alternate way to do the Exaltation with runes; she needs to concentrate really well on copying them. She asks if 'the Lord' knows about this, and Mogen says he told us to do it. She asks if he's also responsible for something unclear, and Mogen says yes; she looks haunted.
 * We decide to take the boat down to Freeport. Vikrit dismisses the Land Womb and the earth spits everyone out. She asks to be untied; Vesun notices that there seems to be something unpredictable about her. She asks about the Silver Fist and we tell her we'll make contact; she gives us a passphrase. Vesun reiterates that she's got to remain cool and we untie her. She asks again about when we're going to exalt the queen and when we mention the runes she repeats the word over and over like there's some mental degradation going on.
 * We get on the boat and take her to Freeport with no trouble. Vesun moves her in front of him and says to close her eyes and concentrate on looking like the half-elf from the boat (Sarienne). He moves the Hat of Disguise onto her and then does 'an incantation' (casting Disguise Self on himself to look like the pseudo-Stargazer half-elf again). Vesun, Tork, and Lenore go into a House Golandra inn to get a room, and Vesun says their 'manservant' is large so they need a big room; the sleepy and definitely drunk night clerk ('George') says there one in the attic, 1 silver a night. We ask for 10 days… and he says there's no lock on the door upstairs. We decide to head elsewhere.
 * We find another hotel that's better, and check in. Lenore is twitchy and isn't talking… something weird is going on with her. Vesun and Tork take Lenore in; Mogen and Vikrit go to prep Yanger and Kalti.
 * We head back to the ship.
 * Kalti is looking dejected sitting on the gangplank. He jumps up and is excited to see us, he is very concerned that 'discipline has degraded on the Great Wight'. On the deck, Yanger has set up a giant tent and is trying to sleep on a sad cot. Dax is playing cards with a goblin with odd goggles who we don't know (who has been awfully mean to Kalti, apparently). There's also a a halfling woman we've never seen who is wearing lots of jewelry, who is braiding Getafix's hair (he has 'some kind of cigarette' in his mouth) and chatting with Orielle.
 * Kalti says he has no idea who these people are. Mogen says we'll deal with it and goes over to Dax and the goblin and says "HEY! …Deal me in." The goblin (Knock) is suspicious but Dax of course goes along with it. The goblin says he wants her to throw Shimmer in; instead she throws in the remaining stapler shell from the death plane. Dax wins the round.
 * Orielle asks if we brought beer; Vikrit asks to be introduced to Esmerelda (goes by Esme to Orielle); she's an import-export merchant who Orielle knows from her hometown Valkrek. Getafix offers the joint but Vikrit declines. Esme says we could sell a bunch of stuff on the ship for pretty good gold. Vikrit says he needs to go talk to 'the Professor'. They say Yanger has been an asshole since he came back--no fun--and that they've nearly exhausted the ship's supplies partying. Vikrit says maybe the kitchen staff can deal with that tomorrow morning… or more likely, noon.
 * Mogen takes a toke of Fantasy Weed (but doesn't inhale) from Gettafix then heads over to Yanger too. The goblin starts getting ready to leave and Esme says goodbye to Orielle. Vikrit gently wakes Yanger, who is happy to see him.
 * Yanger gets up and agrees with Vikrit that he's been pretty uncomfortable. Vikrit says we've got him a room for him but there are strings attached (Carlos: "Hey, be sensitive mentioning strings around a minotaur."). Kalti is delighted that we're going to leave. Sarienne and Vanesse stay behind on the boat to guard since Orielle and Gettafix are completely blasted.
 * We tell Yanger that we've found someone who has Konstadin's thrall over her, and her condition is deteriorating. We want him to figure out what's going on.
 * Back on the Sundowner:
 * Cornerio's awakened by a kick from Shaw, who tells him it's his turn to get on deck. Over the lapping of the water, he hears a faint, rhythmic tapping from the giant container. It doesn’t respond to his shave-and-a-haircut-2-bits. It does pause when he says, "Stop if you're alive." for about a minute, then resumes. Cornerio looks over the container; some of the nails have been hammered in hastily. He starts inconspicuously removing them, then stops when one of the elves relieves his watch.
 * The next day, there's no tapping from the crate during the day. Shaw asks where he's really from (and whether he's a spy, criminal, or adventurer); he implies Zilargo. Shaw asks what he thinks is going to happen with the war, and he is noncommittal. Shaw says they're getting paid too little given the Karrnathi military contract, and after some more chatting about the crew, heads to bed.
 * Cornerio removes the second-to-last nail. He can now peek into the box; he sees shapes that look like gnarled wood, oblong metal, and then a glowing green eye staring back at him. It's a green circle with a large, dead spot in the middle, not a normal living eye… and it's initiative time.
 * Suddenly there's a loud bang as the board splits and the last nail goes flying. A fully built Warforged, Provocation, emerges; it's enormous and the wood splits around it. It has a giant clamp on one hand, and its eyes are carved out of green crystals, framed by a gold faceplate.
 * It asks, "FRIEND… OR FOE?" and Cornerio says, "Depends on you, really." It does not like this and it grabs at him with the claw and squishes him, and he zaps it back, making it drop him. He tries to run past it and it grabs him, throwing him back against the ship's small ballista.
 * The other 3 crew members come running. They are very freaked out; Philip makes his son go back inside. Shaw hits the Warforged with a big metal hook to distract it. Cornerio wrenches the ballista around to fire at its back; he does hit but its metal is super hard.
 * It advances on the captain and Cornerio takes the opportunity to run up its back and punch it; it hurts his fists. It whirls around and snaps at Cornerio again but misses. Cornerio yells at Shaw to try to knock Provocation off the deck with the boom. Meanwhile, Cornerio uses his fists… AGAIN??? to do flurry of blows; he smashes its jaw with his last hit.
 * "BENNY, DUCK!" The boom comes swinging around and smashes Provocation, knocking it face-down on the deck. Philip says, "Please, stop, we won't kill you!" to the Warforged, which slams its claw into the deck to start getting up. Cornerio yells, "I DON'T THINK IT'S VERY FRIENDLY, PHILIP!" and punches it more, rolling a crit on his final blow; as it slowly gets up and turns toward him, Cornerio uppercuts it off the side of the boat, making the boat off-balance with the loss of weight and sending the others flying.
 * They get up and run over to Cornerio in complete awe. Philip goes to check on Johan and Shaw starts patching him up. Cornerio (who is at half health) gets in the bed to rest; the others start opening the crates and find Warforged pieces.
 * Back at the hotel, Lenore has been singing an Aundarian folk song (a story of a prince and princess in 2 towers) to herself a bit eerily.
 * Vesun has begun 'teaching her' the runes. Eventually it's clear that what he's teaching her isn't really sinking in.
 * Vesun starts experimenting (using Tork's rod of silence): he casts Dispel Magic on her with a very high result. Nothing obviously changes in her appearance. He talks with her and says she has a nice singing voice; she says any of her skills to help exalt the queen. He asks if there's nothing she does for herself and she actually responds differently; she seems to actually be thinking instead of responding in a childlike way.
 * He asks how long she's known Aurala; she says she's known her since she was a young princess. She seems very guilty as she says she thinks it's why it had to be her doing the Exaltation, because Aurala would always welcome her home, even if she hadn't seen her in months. Then, suddenly she remembers: she was with the Queen, Darro, and Adal (the Queen's brother) in the Eldeen Reaches on a hunting trip about 1.5 months ago, and Darro called her into his tent; there might have been someone else there (likely Konstadin); she remembers him going on and on, then her memory is gone and suddenly she was back in Fairhaven. This would have been while we were in the Eldeen Reaches and saw the Stargazers there.
 * He probes a little more into what she believes, and asks whether those are her own thoughts. She says she's not sure and is getting increasingly agitated. She says that she dreams every night that the queen hugs her and she stabs her, and there are people around them on the street; she tries different things but it's always the same. It always ends with her having to show people the dagger.
 * Vesun asks about the street in her dream: it's definitely the giant boulevard outside the palace in the Central District. He asks who else is there; it's hundreds of regular people, and Adal, but Darro is definitely absent. He asks about the dagger, and she says it's just a normal dagger and feels for it, but it isn't on her. She seems more lucid than she ever has.
 * Vesun asks where the dreams may come from; she asks him back; he says he's no theologian (ha) and doesn't know; she thinks maybe they're from the host. He implies that someone is sending them to her because they're happening over and over. She starts regressing and repeating things about needing to exalt the queen again.
 * He asks if love ballads are her favorites, disrupting her. She says yes and has always wanted to fall in love. She mentions the Lucian Lawless books, and they keep chatting, and she slowly regresses back. It seems like Dispel Magic only lasted about 20 minutes.
 * Mogen, Vikrit, Yanger and Kalti arrive at the hotel in Freeport.
 * Vesun is disguised and Yanger is confused upon seeing Lenore, who is very out of it.
 * Vesun casts False Vision to protect us from scrying. We discuss with Yanger. He says mindflayers don't come from this timeline--they just appear in the historical record. He says there is a series of scrolls written by aboleths (a codex from their racial memory--The Deep Codex) that one of his colleagues studies. He says there is fear from the aboleths because they do not remember mindflayers.
 * Vesun asks about the cyclical coterminuses with Xoriat and Yanger mentions the Stargazers saying we will be sent back in time to the Age of Demons. Yanger says stopping the flow of time vs. reversing the flow are very different. He mentions the Draconic Prophecy and likens time to blood flowing through the veins of the elder dragons.
 * He says he's really worried about the balance of the gates and what will happen if more are closed improperly than properly. We ask if there's advice he has for getting us into the Mror Holds; he says it has to be from high up enough; Vikrit suggests maybe we can get that from the Queen instead of Darro. (We also may be able to get it from the Brelish or Karrnathi.)
 * He says Darro is bloodthirsty and his desire to reconquer Thaloist is not an affectation. Vikrit mentions he's involved with the thing with Lenore, and thinks the assassination would be enough of a catalyst to push public opinion in Darro's direction even though the Queen's brother is against invading Thaloist.
 * We ask Yanger to keep watch here and make sure no one working for Darro/Konstadin shows up to take her out, and see what he can do for her/figure out.
 * SIDE NOTE: We remember that apparently Burhan is staying somewhere in the Karrnathi quarter, and we should probably look into that tomorrow.
 * We go back to the Reichministry.
 * Von Pappen seems irritated (for obvious reasons) but appears pleasantly surprised that we got things done and brought back the boat unharmed. He credits Tork.
 * He apparently has a suspect for destroying the records because of which ones they were; he says he thinks it was a Karrnathi "rival"--likely another vampire who could turn into a gas and creep in. Vikrit asks if he can do that and he says yes but it's uncomfortable and sometimes things end up in the wrong spots when re-materializing.
 * He apologizes to us and says we're back in his good graces. He then says the peace conference is happening soon and he's responsible for the sister of the Karrnathi King (Princess), and he needs to provide her with some support, so he will be otherwise occupied for about 10 days, and Sam will have a way to contact him.
 * There will be a team sent to "take care of him" (move his coffin during the day) that doesn't know anyone's here in about 3 hours; he wants us to hide upstairs, which Tork helpfully orders us to do. We go to bed.
 * When we wake up, Von Pappen's coffin is gone. Sam comes over and Mogen thanks him for saving our asses re: Cornerio burning the records. He mentions that we still need to tell Central Control about Cornerio taking off.
 * Vesun suggests Sam take a day off and he heads upstairs… then we hear a loud knock at the front door.
 * Before opening it, Vesun recognizes Charlene Ashta's voice yelling, "HEY BIG BOYS!" He disguises himself as an old manservant and then hears Peng saying, "I don't think anyone's home."
 * Vesun opens the door as Charlene yells, "BENNY SINGH--oh. Are you working for the Big Boys?" As he tries to close the door, Charlene says, "Benny Singh is going to die!" Peng asks who the primary resident is and Vesun says there's just recordkeeping done here.
 * Charlene says they're here to do some archival recording and he says they don't have the proper permits. Peng says they'll come back with a warrant. Vesun says, "I don't know who put you up to this, but it seems to me as if someone's been having their fun with you." Peng agrees.
 * As he closes the door, Charlene yells, "JUST IN CASE, BENNY SINGH IS GOING TO DIE IN TWO DAYS AND IT WOULD BE GREAT IF YOU COULD TELL PEOPLE." Vesun's sigh is appropriately exasperated.