Session 40: Vesun: Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow


 * Vesun's lackey from The Broken Mirror, Zaard, is an orc; he got a message from his dad is a reasonably well-to-do merchant in Droaam (monster nation; main base of power is 3 sister hags in Greywall.
 * They head to Vralkek where Zaaard's family is from, run by orcs. He's part of the "five civilized tribes" - became middle merchants during Braelish occupation. His father is the elected dictator of Vralkek. He's part of House Nanther that his father is in charge of; other houses are Marsk, Bruil, and Calaudral.
 * He tells Vesun his dad is a strict guy; he seems both in awe and annoyed with his dad as he talks about him. He gets more and more on edge as they get closer. Apparently his sister is the one who is supposed to succeed him.
 * They get to the house and go to the sitting room. Everything is a bit larger here -- made for orcs. Zaard says his dad must be napping and goes to get him. Vesun notices a portrait of an older-looking orc with a scar on his left cheek with 2 orc kids (Zaard looks like he doesn't want to be there).
 * Zaard returns with his father, Lord Nanther. [[file:Lord_Nanther.png|thumb|Pictured: Lord Nanther]] He asks if Vesun is good in battle, and if they all oppose the sisters, Vesun says yes (very diplomatically; he approves). He says he will pay Vesun to help find his daughter Orielle, who has been gone 5-6 days, and the other noble scions are missing as well: Kara Calaudral, Kalman Marsk, and Argens Bruil. The guards have been preoccupied with raids of hill orcs, who slaughter indiscriminately.
 * He says he thinks people will try to undermine his authority. He wants Vesun to bring back his daughter safe and forcibly if need be; ideally also bring back the others, because he'll be blamed if they die.
 * Vesun asks about the use of "forcibly" and he says she's strong-headed and feels that she needs to strike out on her own. He suspects it's childish revenge and slightly insults Zaard, saying they prefer using words to their fists.
 * He says not to trust House Marsk; they have it out for him, are brutal cutthroats, and always blame him for things.
 * He says the young folk are too idealistic and have learned too much from humans, want to unite the houses.
 * Lord Nanther says his daughter is close friends with House Calaudral, Kara. He says the town used to be much richer. Also says beware Helmuth, Lord of the Keys (head of the guard); he 'jokes' to "leave Zaard outside if need be".
 * As he goes to leave, he struggles to get up and leans on his cane; Zaard helps him up.
 * Zaard and Vesun discuss. Vesun asks if she could be working with the hill orcs, he says that's not possible--they aren't civilized, couldn’t be political allies. They're disorganized, have no central leader.
 * They decide to start with House Calaudrel. Zaard says they're known for magic, Kara has "a stupid bird" like Tork's weasel.
 * Vesun asks about Zaard's relationship with his dad, he says he "doesn't really like other orcs" and that he was never gonna be the son his dad wanted.
 * Apparently Zaard was sent to Sharn a few years ago with a bunch of money to "track down some ogre mage" -- Cavallah.
 * They head over, and meet Andruss Calaudral--she is essentially the seneschal of the house.
 * She is resistant to talking, won't admit that Kara is missing at first.
 * Vesun mentions that Orielle is missing, which she apparently didn't know. Eventually she admits that Kara has been withdrawing small sums of money from the bank for weird things -- horses, camping supplies… starting about a month or two ago.
 * She asks Vesun to look for Kara as well, says once the head of house is back it will be a big problem if she's missing. Apparently Kara has been done for about a week. Vesun asks if they can offer aid, she closes the door in their faces and goes and gets a bag of gold.
 * She mentions not trusting House Marsk. There were 5 civilized tribes and only 4 houses because House Marsk killed them House Natari off then came up with govt system for electing despot etc., she thinks to solidify their power.
 * As they're walking away, Zaard says the stuff she's saying about Marsk is overblown. He doesn't think their scion is a cutthroat murderer--he's a goofy person, Zaard thinks they're all dumb rich spoiled kids (which he, an enlightened traveler, is not).
 * House Bruil - Helmuth, the head of the guard, and his dad fell out ~10 years ago and he was disinherited (choosing Helmuth's bastard son), has been a dick since then. Apparently dad is brutal in his treatment of his watchmen.
 * Argens Bruil, Helmund's bastard son, was training to be a paladin of Tyr (orcish aspect of shadow).
 * They head to the temple of Tyr (an aspect of The Shadow).
 * They meet the cleric there; he's a huge orc named Galt knelt over doing something as they enter. He is friendly with and welcoming to Vesun. Vesun mentions he has a friend studying the Shadow in Sharn, he's surprised as he hasn't heard of a temple in Sharn. He picks up on Vesun's knowledge and asks if he's a devotee of the Host or "what some call the Dark Six", Vesun says the latter and he follows the Traveler.
 * They tell him they're looking for Argens; he says he's out on an adventure. He mentions something about treating his wounds from combat. Vesun asks if combat practice usually requires that much healing, but he rolls a 1 and Galt is cagey, and says he meant bruises. He says he'll send Argens to Zaard's house once he's back, and gives Vesun a blessing.
 * As they leave, Zaard mentions he doesn't think the story adds up. Vesun agrees, points out he must be getting into combat somewhere, and it's possible that he and Orielle were training together.
 * Next they go to the guards' training grounds (guardhouse and barracks nearby).
 * Vesun asks Zaard to start off the conversation with the 2 guards there. One of them recognizes Zaard and punches him in a friendly way on the arm and calls him "that idiot Nanther heir". They say they haven't seen Argens around, then Helmuth sees and yells at them. He's a big orc, though not as big as Galt.
 * He comes over and is very short with them, asking why they're there. Vesun makes sure to butter him up by calling him Lord of the Keys, and asks about the hill orc raids. Helmuth says the hill orc raids have indeed increased starting a month or two ago, but he is concerned that this rumor has already gotten out. He says he hasn't seen Orielle or any of the other brats, but 5-6 nights ago there was a party of heavily cloaked people heading out of the city--only 1 of them spoke, and it wasn't one of the kids. Vesun plays along with his racist comments about hill orcs essentially being animals.
 * They leave; Zaard mentions after his son, Helmund may be next in line for Marsk. They discuss him as a possible culprit.
 * They go to the Rusty Bucket, a rowdy bar. Vesun disguises himself as an orc, Zaard says he doesn't smell quite right but it's probably good enough.
 * The bartender confirms that Kalman Marsk had been hanging out there, and wants Vesun to buy something nice in order to tell him more about Kalman. Vesun goes for the priciest one, so he leads them to the back room.
 * He says Kalman came here a while ago, hadn't come in before. For a couple weeks, he wanted to stay in the room in the back, then he wanted to keep some horses in the stable. He says he was having "parties" in the back where people were wearing heavy cloaks.
 * Vesun asks why he'd want to stay there, he says he doesn't have any evidence but thinks they may have been doing drugs. Vesun says the wine is so good (it actually is!) he wants to pay a bit more, so he adds that the kid was drunk when he came here a week ago, not with his hooded friends--said he'd purchased a secret map or something for "Xul-Jarak", maybe from Old Tom. Zaard's eyes go wide when he hears that but Vesun doesn't recognize it. He also says that they can talk to the lady over at the stables and to say he sent them. Vesun gives him the rest of the bottle and he downs it in one go.
 * As they walk over, Zaard says it's an orc ruin up in the bogs/mountains north of here, maybe for an old hill kingdom.
 * The stablemaster is a greasy half-elf woman. Vesun asks about Kalman keeping horses here; she says it was a woman with a weird pet bird, not Kalman; they bought 5 big draft horses and a pony--she was happy to pay twice as much as normal. Sometimes her alone, sometimes with a couple of hooded figures. Vesun asks where they were headed, she says she doesn't know--out of town.
 * Vesun asks if she has mounts, she says there are 2 sickly, shitty horses they could buy, or some pricey ones (50 g).
 * Then he asks how much of a cut she's getting for the bottle of wine, she's reluctant to say but Vesun says she might want to know he's charging 10 gold for it now, planting another little seed of chaos.
 * Zaard is surprised Vesun wants to head out and seems unsure, says "there are a lot of hill orcs out there…"
 * Vesun and Zaard head to the gatehouse as they leave the city. Vesun looks like he's a human in a thick cloak.
 * There's a female orc there dozing off standing with a halberd. She wakes up as they approach and nods to Zaard. Vesun asks her, "We're trying to catch up with some friends a week or so ago, doing merc work, wearing cloaks like this…" She asks if he's heading up to Glister, and she says they were heading north and said they were going there.
 * The two of them head out of the city. The next day, as they're traveling, they see a path going off the road, which Zaard notices has hoofprints and wagon marks. Zaard leads down the path…
 * In the early morning, the mist of the marsh begins to part and they find what looks like the remains of a battle: crashed carts, corpses, dead horse, and an owlbear rooting around. They go to look at the corpses, trying to avoid alerting the owlbear. It sniffs the air but returns to munching on horse bits.
 * All the corpses are orcs; they're dressed in more "rustic" clothing - probably hill orcs. They look like they were slain in battle -- sword wounds, arrows, etc. -- not the owlbear. They don't find much on them.
 * Vesun says "I think you're supposed to look big and loud with a bear… boy I wish my friend Vikrit was here." Zaard waves his arms and yells OWL BEAR! OWL BEAR! And the owlbear is confused, just standing there as they pass.
 * They continue for another couple of days, when they find a foggy, bleak citadel towering in front of them. They hear the faint sounds of some kind of celebration coming from it.
 * They approach, now seeing the two towers ahead of them with figures up on the ramparts. Vesun disguises himself as an orc in a cloak and gives Zaard the hat to use. The idea is to ride up as if they know what the deal is.
 * The archers don't appear to react to them. They pass between the towers and one of the orcs there calls out to them and asks what they're doing here. Vesun says "we're here for the celebration" and that they're a few days behind, traveling with Orielle and can go talk to her themselves. They're slightly suspicious, but he says to leave the horses here and to go ahead to the ruins of the citadel.
 * There aren't any guards; they get to the entrance and can see a large, winged reptilian creature sleeping on the rubble that looks a bit like a dragon; it has a stinger and a saddle on it. It's a wyvern.
 * They walk into the courtyard. Zaard is a bit freaked out by the wyvern: "I can't kill dragons, you know that!" "Good thing that's not a dragon!"
 * Vesun casts Silence on himself and Zaard, and they head up to a large door. They sneak around the wall so that they don't silence anyone inside.
 * J: "Is Zaard a sneaky type?" C: "Zaard is holding a dagger like he's never held a dagger before." J: "So he just hangs around in bars and drinks?" C:" "Yeah, that appears to be what his deal is."
 * Vesun drops Silence and gets closer to a crumbled wall; he hears people cheering and celebrating inside. Zaard says they all seem to have hill orc accents. Vesun notices an orc carrying wine coming down the hallway they're approaching and they hide; they're lucky that he doesn't notice Vesun's clanking as he passes.
 * They go in the direction he came from; there are some stairs and bedrolls that look like they could have been bought in town (unlikely to have been made by hill orcs). They head down the stairs.
 * There are motifs on the walls of orcs in battle, but they don't have time to check them out. They hear something barrel-sized being dragged inside a small building; an orc rolls a barrel across away from them. They sneak around so he doesn't see them.
 * They head deeper inside, down a long pathway. Zaard stops Vesun and says he smells "something normal" off to the side -- he thinks there are other city orcs there.
 * Vesun peeks around the corner and sees two male orcs chained up against pillars, and someone saying in guttural hill orc--"Soon I will get to taste each of you!" and says something about a ceremony. As they peer around the next door, they see 2 female orcs chained up against other ones. All of them are breathing but aren't responding to the voice. The voice keeps talking about eating them.
 * V: "And now I miss Sarienne!"
 * Vesun creeps toward the voice and pulls out his Wand of Hold Person. Orielle and Kara see him but don't react. Vesun sees that it's a hill orc talking and tries to cast Hold Person on him, but makes a noise and he doesn't make the save. He charges Vesun with a scimitar but can't get enough force to do anything given his armor. [[file:Orielle Nanther.png|thumb|Orielle]]
 * "I am really missing Vanesse right about now!" Vesun manages to pull off the Hold Person this time, and he falls over, stiff.
 * Zaard runs up to his sister and tries to cut the chains off him with the dagger ineffectually. Vesun coup de graces the hill orc and helps the others out of their chains. Orielle demands from Zaard what he's doing here, if their father sent him, who Vesun is… Vesun lifts his hat and introduces himself.
 * Orielle looks displeased that her father sent for Zaard all the way from Sharn for her. Kara seems grateful for the rescue. Orielle explains that they saw a map with a secret labyrinth under the citadel and that they wanted to go adventuring. She says after they were ambushed, they got captured--the hill orcs were more organized in combat than they've ever seen.
 * She says they were tied there because there's something down there claiming to be the return of Thrall, one of the orcish paragons, the "primordial orc" (James: "A primorc(h)"). They say that whatever the thing is it's big, and supposedly needs to cut their heads off as part of some ceremony.
 * The rest of them want to get out of there, but Orielle says she can't leave without killing it. They look wounded; Orielle is doing the best. Vesun heals them with a wand.
 * Vesun points out that the thing would have what it needs if they fail, rolls a 20 on convincing her and a 2 on sense motive. "Very diplomatic, not so interested in other people's feelings." "That's Vesun!" She agrees to follow as long as they come back and kill it.
 * Vesun leads them into the hallway. They start heading out
 * Arlens is up at the top of the stairs and bends down to fix his shoe, and Kalman is behind him, there's a flash of silver… Vesun calls out--Kalman drags the knife across his throat and it's so sharp it beheads him. Kalman stares with cold, glazed-over eyes. The others are shocked. Vesun casts Protection from Evil on himself and tries to push past them. Kalman takes off with the head.
 * Vesun casts Longstrider on himself and follows with Orielle.
 * Vesun keeps pace with him and follows Kalman as he ducks into a room, then skids in front of him. Orielle blocks the other door. He waves the dagger at Vesun and says "You're next", and stabs at him. Somehow it magically penetrates the armor a bit and does a little damage; he looks confused as to why it didn't cut Vesun in half. Vesun says he can surrender as long as they can bind and gag him, he says no. Orielle tries to come up behind him to say "you don't have to do this" and he tries to elbow her in the face.
 * Vesun isn't able to hit him hard enough with his mace; Kalman doesn't manage to hit Orielle and he gets past. Vesun pulls out his Wand of Hold Person and gets him. Vesun jumps on top of him and knocks the dagger away. When he comes to, his eyes look different--he sees Arlens's head and freaks out. He doesn't seem to be aware of what happened--he seems to have been possessed.
 * Kalman says he picked up the dagger off the hill orc that Vesun killed. He seems traumatized.
 * Orielle says "I think we need to kill Thrall." Vesun reluctantly agrees and asks if she knows where their gear is; she says they divided their stuff and their rooms are down the hall. They get the others and recover some of their stuff.
 * Orielle leads the group, with Vesun behind her.
 * Vesun buffs everyone. Without them having to ask. 😠
 * As they go further and further down, the rough passage opens into a more finished-looking one. Orielle sniffs and says, "there are more of them up there," hearing at least 3 and "something else".
 * Vesun summons a celestial lion and has it go around the corner first. They hear someone confused--an orc warrior without weapons. The lion knocks him unconscious and sits on him.
 * The smells came from the circular room in the center of this chamber. Vesun peeks in and is able to see a dais in the center with three orcs in thick, heavy robes doing sort of magical ritual over a massive boiling cauldron. On the other side is a troll-sized orc with a huge staff in its hands, and it also appears to be taking part in the ritual.
 * Vesun casts Detect Magic: 3 orcs have abjuration magic affecting, there is some kind of conjuration in the vat, and the mace has some other kind of magic on it. Vesun tells the others what's going on and the plan: get rid of the 3 hill orcs first, then go after the thrall.
 * Everyone rushes in at once. The lion bounds in and bowls over one of the orcs, mauling his face. Vesun moves up toward Thrall. It has a skull mask on and slowly raises the cudgel into an armed position. Vesun casts Dispel Magic on his weapon and rolls a 20 on his CL check. The glowing energy around it dissipates; it looks at the cudgel and starts to swing. The other 3 take down another, with Kara casting Magic Missile. Thrall fails at hurting Vesun. The lion misses its leap at the remaining orc.
 * Orielle flanks Thrall using two-weapon fighting and Vesun hits it with his mace. The others start attacking it and the last hill orc. Orielle gets some good slashes in on its back.
 * Thrall's weapon starts to glow again, but it doesn't happen in time for another hit. Vesun gets a nasty hit in on its knee and it buckles, Orielle nearly killing it.
 * "Anything you have to say for yourself?" "DAZLAAAG." "Translation?" Orielle has no idea. Vesun smashes it with his mace and it slumps.
 * Orielle motions Vesun away.
 * She says "Once Kalman did that thing, the ritual had already started. She thanks him for trusting her.
 * Vesun asks what she thinks of the adventuring life. She is a fan. Vesun takes the magic cudgel.
 * They head out, Zaard worrying about how his dad is going to take this result.
 * They return. Lord Nanther is overjoyed to see Orielle (much more than Zaard). He gives Vesun his reward and says to take anything he wants from the house.
 * After Vesun compliments Orielle's fighting, Orielle says, "Dad, I was thinking…" She asks if Zaard and her can take a little break--she says she could look into the Sisters instead of Zaard. Lord Nanther says that it appears he can't keep both of his kids at home… and says Vesun can choose one to take with him. Zaard avoids his gaze.
 * Vesun says Orielle should come look at what Zaard set up in Sharn. Lord Nanther agrees and says Zaard will stay with him. Zaard storms off. Vesun promises to "keep Orielle safe". He says Vesun will always have a home here.
 * "So what kind of adventures do you go on?" "First of all, you'll have to meet the people I work with…" Vesun tells her they will be going on an airship on spying mission and she's excited.
 * "Vesun and Orielle, heroes! Against the world. And their friends." "Wait, against the world or against your friends?!" (noncommittal response)