DivineDetritusWhatHappensInMardens
Contents
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Story
April 21, 1236 AD
Nidri inspects the ring Lord Carfen wore. She deduces that the ring allows an outsider to dominate its wearer, similar to a Demon. And yet it transforms the wearer into a Div. Curious, she takes the ring to Micel Verdantflame. Micel notes the ring is slowly crumbling into dust (Divs are usually associated with this,) and he also notes specs of Black Sendrine. He suspects this ring was an attempt to carry a Div into the Material Plane. He starts drawing lines across his hemispherical ceiling, and the party realizes he has drawn a planar map. Micel asks them to keep him updated, and he provides a very basic chemistry lesson to help them identify any Black Sendrine they may have located.
After much discussion, the team decides to go to Mardens City. Not only will they help fulfill the Company’s task, but they may be able to find the Pairaka Div who helped Lord Carfen and Team Magmere bomb the Palace of the Old Queens. Marjorie is pleased to hear they will go, so she gives them more specifics.
Merki had visited the Draugh Empire a few months before his death. He found some artifacts from his journey there, and asked the Empire to ship it back. He came back early, long before the artifacts set sail. When they arrived, Lord Carfen was in control of the warehouse they arrived in, and at least 2 crates are now missing. A merchant who lives in Mardens City named Lillikur claims he saw a crate bearing the East Ferren Trading Company logo arrive. He wants a reward for spotting it. The team’s mission is to find out what the contents were and what happened to them. Marjorie gives an advance payment to help them with the reward. Soon after giving orders, Marjorie begins to cough and Abraxinal (who can speak Common) offers her medicines. Before leaving the room, Marjorie warns the party not to speak too loudly about where they are from and who they are working for- Mardens City is still quite bitter about their loss during the Fifty Years War. As Marjorie abruptly leaves, they do note she has had health problems.
Before going to bed, Hawk decides to have a date with Lady Terria.
April 22, 1236 AD
The party leaves and travels towards Mardens City. They spend the night camping not too far off from Terria Swamp. Overnight, Claire and Hawk notice a swarm of Giant Flies buzzing over from the swamp! By the end of the battle Nidri, Claire and two of the horses caught a virulent disease from the fly bites; Filth Fever.
April 23, 1236 AD
The party continues moving to Mardens City on my birthday :) Claire feels a little sick, but she pulls through without trouble.
April 24, 1236 AD
By the evening, the team starts to see farmlands outside of Mardens City. It is a much poorer town than Harvest Wharf, and reminds Vegeta of the slums of his kingdom. Houses stacked on high seem to glow with the amount of light coming from them.
The party sleeps at the Morning’s Dawn, an alright inn. Stacked on the fifth level of a building-tower means not many visitors go there.
April 25, 1236 AD
Claire fights off her disease. At the crack of dawn, the many residents of the inn and the downstairs neighbors begin their morning prayer to Nirsi. The party climbs down and finds Lillkur’s herbs and spices shop. Luckily it is lunchtime and most of the business is at lunch. He recognizes the party as outsiders, noting they are too clean.
His eyes light up as they mention the crate. He saw a crate pass by in the night, heading straight for Lord Trout’s mansion. This man’s home hosts all sorts of entertainment, but it has been barricaded as of a few days ago. He knows just the person to get you inside…
She is a thief who goes by the moniker “The Maiden of Gold.” She stole a small figurine from Lillkur and his crops haven’t been the same. He wants it back, and he figures she can get you inside.
The party spends the afternoon looking for the thief, but the thief finds them. She can give them access through the roof, at which point they will have to work their way to the basement. Lillikur will have his stuff the next day.
That night, the party enters Trout’s mansion through a rooftop entrance and navigate the premises. They manage to reach the basement, where they can feel the heat emanating from the basement door.
They break it down and run into the basement bordello, already on fire. Demons lurch and laugh at the party before attacking. They also set the basement on fire, but the party was able to defeat the demons and douse the flames, nullifying the immediate threat. When they investigated the basement, Vegeta and Fi noticed a prisoner, chained to the wall on top of a pile of Black Sendrine. The prisoner was Lord Trout, and they escorted him out of the building.
By the time they rescued Lord Trout, the building was quite damaged by the flames. Ilgen Zavos, priest of Hiras, quickly claimed him and told the party to meet him the next day. He’s sure they had plenty of questions to ask.
Overnight, Nidri’s Filth Fever acted up, but she was able to fight off most of the disease. The horses were surprisingly robust and fended off their infections.
April 26, 1236 AD
In the morning, the party visited the Temple of Hiras. It seemed more like a shelter for those down on their luck, rather than a place of worship. Navigating past some of the needy and the clergy, they were led to a room in the basement. Lord Trout had been washed and fed a bit, and he was able to answer some questions for the party.
A redheaded human who went by the name C.F. was hired as an entertainer a few months ago. She earned great reviews from her many customers. She also paid Lord Trout directly, asking him to warn her whenever Inspectors from the Temple of Hiras were en route. They take their job seriously and inspect the mind, body and soul of all of Lord Trout’s employees. In exchange he directly sponsors the temple and their humanitarian efforts.
Not too long ago, C.F. asked him to hold onto a crate from the East Ferren Trading Company. It had artifacts from the Draugh Empire, and she let him keep some of the art and gold from the crate. When he agreed, she knocked him out, forced a ring on him and tied him to the basement wall. Lord Trout says he heard some giggling (possibly one of the demons the party fought) who promised to burn the building down.
Ilgen Zavos managed to break the curse on the ring, getting it off of him. Nidri observed the ring and determined it was similar to the one that turned Lord Carfen into a div. One major difference is that it had demonic aspects instead of div aspects. Also, instead of crumbling into dust, the ring seems to be getting hotter and hotter. Thankful for their aid, Ilgen warns the party that the Agents of Virton will be looking for them for questioning.
Before the party leaves, Lord Trout pulls out a small lens from his pocket. One of the items from the crate he had held onto it when he was captured. Nidri senses it has something to do with detection, but she’s not immediately sure.
April 27, 1236 AD
The next day, Nidri starts to feel Filth Fever kicking in. Still, the party visits Lord Trout’s home to see if he knows more, now that he has recovered. He dug a little more into CF’s clients, and discovered an Orc client from the Redtooth Lands. He’s been frequenting the city and visiting her in secret. With that information, Trout throws a celebration (well, really he does this almost every day.) The party spends one more day in Mardens City before heading home.
April 28, 1236 AD
Nidri’s Filth Fever rages on for the next few days. Even with the party’s help she can’t manage to fight it off. The party takes a longer detour around Terria Swamp to avoid another Giant Fly attack.
April 30, 1236 AD
In the evening, the team reaches Harvest Wharf and they practically drag Nidri to a temple of Laniss. Laniss is the goddess of Birth, Life and Death, and these aspects hold an uneasy alliance. Nidri seems crankier than usual, but Hawk personally pays to have her cured of disease.
Post Mortem
Chat Log(Text Only)
What went well
Skill Challenges in Trout's Mansion
That was a lot of fun. A good way to let skill monkeys shine, your speed determined how difficult the battle in the basement would be. More reinforcements would show up based on how long you took. But then you guys started prepping. And prepping. Aaaaand prepping.
By the way, here were your skill checks (bolded = success)
Fi
- Climb 26
- Will 6
- Perception 18
- Stealth 13
- Str 8
Fleir
- Acrobatics 22
- Will 5
- Reflex 20
- Stealth 13
- Str 7
Claire
- Acrobatics 13
- Spellcraft 5
- Reflex 6
- Bluff 16
- Str 17
Nidri
- Acrobatics 13
- Spellcraft 23
- Reflex 20
- Intimidate 22 (or Stealth 14)
- Disable Device 22 (auto succeeds anyway)
Vegeta
- Acrobatics 13
- Will 13
- Perception 23
- Stealth 15
- Str 8
Hannelore
- Acrobatics 22
- Will Save 9
- Reflex 23
- Stealth 13
- Strength 18
Hawk
- Acrobatics 16
- Will 10
- Reflex 16
- Bluff 18
- Str 2
Do you guys have a rival?
I noticed my build for CF, and realized she is way out of your league (CR 7). I could nerf her, but it was a better idea to just say she wasn't there.
Welcome to Mardens City
I got to introduce some of the gods here, a couple of NPCs, and hopefully show a different society. Fun, huh?
What could be improved
Amateur Firefighters
Oh, PCs. Always trying to get off the railroad. You were supposed to rescue Lord Trout and flee. Not stick around and put out the flames! I even nerfed the fire rate because I was worried I would burn you to a crisp. Luckily it didn't affect the story too much.
I forgot an NPC!
I think you guys forgot about them, too.
