Centrum Glacies Session 74: Intrigue
Week 74 Dungeons and Dragons Campaign in Centrum Glacies continues with the party still split up. Even more intrigue abounds at the Noble Meetup with danger on all sides.
Like my other campaign, I’m turning this one into a book series. You can check out the first one here.
Anyway, just like my other campaign, there is a whole lot going on and I don’t want to elaborate on every moving piece in the story. You can see the whole thing in the book series.
!!!Trigger Warning!!!
This story deals with a cruel world with some horrific twists. So far, this campaign has featured: Animals getting killed, Genocide, lots of body horror, evil cults, brainwashing, torture, psychological warfare, child abuse, slavery.
One of the party members had an eye gouged out and lost an arm. Not exactly the way it happens in Berserk, but that might have been the inspiration for it. The group was incinerated in lava. But rather than die, they were transformed into Demons. They might be free from these transformations for now, but only time will tell what this means for them.
!!!Final Trigger Warning!!!
In the meeting hall trying to still solve the Noble murder case, Jyona pruned through several books in her general vicinity. While one book had drawn her eye, she ultimately dismissed the book on the Lost Continent as fiction and tossed it aside. This left nothing that she hadn’t read.
Trent was not as well read as Jyona. So he picked up the book she had casually discarded decided to read it. He wondered if perhaps he could find hints of the strange happenings of late.
Obrom reminded the party that his rune reacted to another noble. They couldn’t ignore the fact that said noble had likely had a run in with the Cult of Obsidian and Jak-Rath.
Jyona once more was interested in checking his rune. Perhaps that strange interaction would give hints on how to remove it. Or at least explain what it was. Unfortunately she got no reaction and quickly grew bored as a result.
Poison
Trent suggested party turn in for the night and sleep in shifts. Obrom obliged and took a rest on a musty chair in the corner of the room.
Jyona took the first watch. An easy task for her since she didn’t sleep being Half Elf. And her meditative time could wait.
After a few hours passed Obrom woke up in a coughing fit. He got out of the chair to lie down on the floor instead. He fell back asleep almost immediately.
Trent however was restless and the situation with Obrom bothered him. He moved to inspect the chair and noticed something strange. It had been poisoned with spores!
Realizing that a poisoned chair might hide some secrets, the party tried several methods that didn’t involve touching the chair so that they could inspect the desk that it blocked. Their search was not fruitless. They found a note inside a drawer that pointed to Adriel as the prime suspect.
Elanth Visits
Later that morning, Elanth stopped by to check in to see if the group had discovered anything. They told her about the note. And in exchange she provided them with some missing information that she had gathered.
She was staying with Kurlus, the Merfolk Noble He had asked her to stay with him so that he would be safe from assassins and other trouble makers. And she had gotten a chance to see all four rooms in this mansion. Elanth explained that these rooms were designed to accommodate various types of guests.
For example, the room the party was in now was a library filled with a wide variety of books. But there were a garden room, which Obrom had already been to, a fetish room accross the hall, which was where Adriel had gone, and a room filled with water tunnels where she had just come from,
Elanth looked over the note herself. She actually thought it made Adriel too obvious of a culprit. Given that someone appeared to be trying to frame her, the Gnome pointed out that this left Simon as the next most likely culprit. She didn’t like the vibe he gave off. Something that the party agreed on.
There was one issue though. The Bard was listening to Elanth carefully, and Obrom noticed that she seemed to be hiding something. Her words were dancing around certain topics.
Suspicions
Obrom and Trent waited for Elanth to leave before discussing their observations. After that conversation, the two found Elanth herself to be the most suspicious one in this building. But that didn’t excuse Simon who was a suspicious character in all of his behaviors.
Unfortunately, they hadn’t kept their voices down. And it was likely that the Dwarf they had been talking about had overheard them. Simon himself knocked on the door. After asking in a borderline threatening way if he could come in, the Guard Captain asked why they were discussing him.
Trent went out to invite Simon into the room so that the party could question him. After the party apologized, they explained to him the topic of their conversation. He also looked at the note and shook his head. The Captain pointed out that despite being an obvious attempt to frame, that he truly believed that Adriel was the murderer.
Simon Questions
Jyona unlike the other two began to suspect Simon. He was trying very hard to make Adriel the target of the investigation. Quite suspicious behavior. Simon didn’t know there was poison on the chair. So either he was a fantastic liar, or the chair at worst wasn’t the method used to murder in this room.
Again Simon pointed his finger at Adriel. He mentioned that she was capable of using such poisons like the ones on the chair.
He further implicated her by saying she had been arrested before for breaking and entering, and again for killing someone. When the party asked him who she had killed and why, he mentioned it was a dishonored and corrupt guard. Simon shook his head and muttered about vigilantes and their misplaced sense of justice.
He went on to explain that Cedric was unsavory and that the main purpose of the meetings here was for the nobles to exclude him from trade deals. He had few friends and countless enemies. Figuring out who was the most likely killer and more importantly who might have hired them would be quite a challenge.
Simon was confused and worried when the party told him there was more than one victim. It had crossed his mind, but when the group told him about the signs of blood and crushed bones it upset him. He muttered about how it was such a waste.
Obrom noticed that Simon didn’t seem too worried about the potential for the killer to be Demonic in nature. It wasn’t simply due to being on the Abyssal Continent since the Bard also lived there and was used to Demonic problems.
Simon inspected the dried blood and ground bone marrow the party found. After looking at it for a bit and thinking about something, he stated that he was going to go and make sure all the guards were accounted for. Better to eliminate the possibility that one of the soldiers had gone rogue now.
Planning for the Future
After Simon left, Trent asked Jyona if she could check for any weird magic with her Demon Eye when the meeting would take place later in the day. She agreed to watch over and intended to cast Alter Self to not draw attention to her Demon Eye.
Next, the party deliberated how to approach the meeting. Before the meeting itself though the group decided to question Karlus. They knew the least about him thus far.
As they approached the water room, they found the door unlocked this time. Jyona took off her scale mail armor and left it at the door. Just as Elanth had told them. Just beyond the door, the party would have to swim and the armor would make that impossible. The others were not wearing heavy armor.
The Water Room
Jyona blurted out immediately upon surfacing from the water that Karlus was covered in illusion magic. The illusion vanished to reveal Elanth alone in the room.
When they asked her where the Merman was, she said he was out swimming in Lightsong Lake. Obrom noticed she was lying. And on top of that, they knew he couldn’t be there without getting killed. Persephine and Engelique had been fighting that Whale monstrosity and there was no reason to believe that the lake was safe yet.
He whispered to Jyona about his suspicious thoughts on her words Trent then confronted her about the lie and she admitted she didn’t actually know where Karlus went. That didn’t absolve her of his worries.
Trent tried to inspect Elanth’s hands, but she noticed. Asking him what he was doing, she understood shortly after what he was getting at. She deflected by claiming that she was more convinced than before that the Elf did it.
And she had more information to offer them. Elanth told the party that Simon is wearing an amulet that blocks detection from paladins and other magical means of scrying. She stated that Simon was probably not the killer, but that he was dangerous. In fact she suspected that he was a vampire.
Unfortunately, there was one issue. Elanth had seen Simon go out in the sun. The one truefire way to identify a Vampire was through this method. But she had an idea of what might explain that.
Vampires
Before she said anything else, Elanth’s voice dropped to a whisper. She demanded that what she was about to talk about could not be repeated outside this room. The Monk had heard rumors that there’s a Vampire Lord that does not get killed in the sun. And there was a very real possibility that they had taught other vampires this trick.
Trent asked Elanth how long she had known about Karlus illusion trick. She admitted that as she had just taken this quest from the Adventurer’s Guild recently states just since she’s taken the mission.
Jyona then dared a question of her own. She asked if Kurlus had any reason to kill Cedric. The only thing Elanth could think of is that Kurlus has a big mouth and Cedric was secretive. Instead of finding any hints, there seemed to be many reasons for Cedric to want to kill the others instead of what actually happened
The party left the water room and Elanth to go back to their own room and reconvene. As they stepped out the door, Adriel was outside waiting for them. She asked if Elanth also suspects her as the killer.
Obrom ignored her question and instead mentioned that there was a very high chance that a vampire was in their midst. Hearing that statement, Adriel grew quiet looking like she was lost in thought. Eventually she asked the group to come to her and Quinn’s room to talk further. That way no other listeners might overhear them.
Meeting Quinn
As the group entered the final Noble’s room, they looked around at a morbid sight. The fetish room lived up to its name. It was painted to look like a torture chamber with what appeared to be blood and gore all over the ground.
Trent stated that the room reminded him of the Southern Continent. Not in a good way either. After all he along with Jyona had been held in a prison there. One where they had been broken in body and spirit.
Quinn, the one noble they had not properly spoken to, explained that this sort of room does take after a certain cultural norm from Southerners. Odd introduction statements out of the way. Quinn introduced himself politely.
He is surprised there was more than one murder despite Adriel telling him there were more than one; And then states that Adriel could not be the killer saying that she was with him at time of death for Cedric and possibly the others.
Spore Druid
Trent asked Quinn if he was in the manor the night of the murder. And if he was what he had been up to. The party needed to eliminate any and all other suspects. Especially since this manor was filled with them.
He stated that he and Adriel were both here and that it was silent. No one realized there had been a murder till the next morning. There hadn’t been any signs of a struggle either. Obrom informed him of the poison. This did give an explanation.
Unfortunately Adriel implicated herself by revealing she was a Spore Druid and aware of the toxins. This explained how she could sense Trent’s condition. But it also meant she was connected to Zinbella since the Psychic Vampire was the Arch Spore Druid.
With her secret exposed, She told the party that she cast speak with dead on Cedric’s corpse. Unfortunately he didn’t know who killed him or how he died. Allegedly when asked he answered that he went to bed in his chair and never woke up.
Quinn hadn’t known she was a spore druid. She reminded them all that everyone present had secrets. She had told them this, and Quinn too in confidence. A veiled promise that they trust one another.
Red Herrings
Adriel stated that Simon and Elanth were both TOO obvious of culprits. It couldn’t be either of them. Simon was up to something. He was clearly a corrupt soldier, but he was actually doing his job here. It wasn’t in his interests to kill nobles.
Trent brought up a counterpoint about why he thought Elanth was the killer. She was trained in hand to hand combat. The woman would have had no trouble grinding bones up to dust. She was a Gold Ranked Adventurer and most likely a capable fighter.
There were too many loose threads still. And even if Elanth was the killer, the group still didn’t have a motive to pin on her. Until they knew more, they couldn’t act.
To Hatch an Egg
Far away from the Jungle of Giants Teztcal and Vitality headed north from Zerruz to find cold conditions to help hatch the White Dragon Egg. At the city’s exit, Teztcal flagged down an Orc. “You! Green Person!” and asked where the best place to hatch an egg was in the frozen wastes.
The orc asked about what kind of egg he had. Especially given they were heading into Frozen wastes. Very few things lived there much less hatched from eggs.
Teztcal revealed his Dragon Egg all shady-like. The orc told him to climb to the highest point of the wastes. And once they arrived, he recommended not sticking around the egg so as to avoid freezing to death.
Instead the Orc explains that if Teztcal wants to be present when the Dragon hatches, he should return in a couple weeks to ensure that the baby see’s him as its parent.
Teztcal suspected that the Orcs might try to steal it if he does that. He declared that he wasn’t going to leave the egg by itself. Much to Vitality’s dismay, he vocalized his misguided suspicions.
The orcs just sighed and stated they have no interest in it. Not just the one the two had talked to either. All the other nearby soldiers had been listening in. And of course Teztcal couldn’t help but make lots of noise They even agreed not to attack the future baby Dragon if he can convince it to behave itself.
The Highest Point
As they left, Vitality asked Teztcal what he would do if the baby Dragon saw her as its mother. He laughed at the statement. Adrenne was the mother, not her. She in turn brushed his statement off with a laugh. Oh how ignorant of the world the deluded Dragon was.
Vitality lead Teztcal out into the frozen wastes to try and find the highest spot. She didn’t need to look long as their destination stood tall among the canyons and lower hilltops. One long cold climb later, and the two made it to the summit. Vitality took a look at their scenic view but Teztcal was distracted by the egg.
Eventually Vitality had no choice but to also focus on the egg. Her Ranger intuition told her that the egg would hatch soon. Very soon in fact. She even heard sounds of movement inside.
Teztcal began clawing a hole into the mountain to bury the egg. If it was going to hatch soon, he wanted to be prepared.
While waiting, Teztcal pulled out the bag of crows. Once they reluctantly appeared, he asked how long it would take for an egg to hatch.
The Egg Hatches
They were uncooperative as usual and even when they decided to be useful at all, they had no idea how long it would take for a Dragon egg to hatch. The birds only knew how long it took for Crow Eggs. Dragons were an entirely different species. For all the knew it could be years still.
Yet it did not take years for the egg to hatch. In fact, mere moments later, the egg cracked and shook. The air around Vitality and Teztcal grew even colder despite their location. And the crows fled refusing to be around in these conditions.
The hatchling immediately looked at Teztcal and starting asking about mama. The older Dragon laughed and said he was father. But as mother was not around, he got to choose the name. He chose “Mini Me”. Vitality suppressed a sigh. This child would experience hardship from the name alone, completely ignoring the father who was not at all ready for parenthood.
Wrap Up
The Dinner Party intrigue continues to befuddle the group. Meanwhile Teztcal now has a White Dragon hatchling present. What new chaos might this enable from him?