Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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Xanrym broadly approves of this plan: he definitely wants to secure the Forgotten King's bones first. Then we get try to get the letter from Warduke.
Stealing the letter from Warduke presents two challenges. Before they can even attempt it, they'll need to get access to Warduke. He seems to spend a lot of time alone in his own private room, and we'd need to get an audience with him again. Xanrym has some ideas about how to do that...
"Theldrin heard that Warduke wants to know what Nithrissa is transporting. Once we return from the cargo hold, we could let the Horned Society know that we learned something of interest, implying that we discovered what Nithrissa's cargo is and that we're interested in selling or sharing that information. One of us could sneak in, invisible again, to steal the letter while someone else talks to Warduke.
"Or maybe we enlist Nithrissa to help us against Warduke? If she could help us get access to Warduke, we could tell her that we're going to steal the letter for her. Of course, that plan would work better if we had a practiced forger so that we could deliver a fake message to Nithrissa.
"And then there's always my scroll of disguise. I imagine that the 'high priest' would have no problem getting into Warduke's room.
"Of course, none of that matters until we find and secure the relics. The disappearance of Prince Thrommel IV will seem like a small matter if the Vanguard unleashes Sertrous on the Flanaess!"
Xanrym laughs at that observation: "Indeed!" With all of the anxiety about whether Syllen and Coriana would be discovered while eavesdropping, it feels good to relax for a moment and just laugh. He asks her, "Do you want to check with Darci how this works? Do we just hand over the 3 crown tokens, and then they let us down into the cargo hold on our own?"
(OOC: @drumdigby - What time of day is it? Has 1 hour already passed since Xanrym cast Enhance Ability? If that spell has expired, then so has the bardic inspiration for Syllen and Coriana. But in that case, there's no urgency to try to get into the cargo hold right now.
@all - If it's still just mid-day, we could probably eat lunch and take a Short Rest before we attempt to get into the cargo hold. AFAIK, there's no immediate hurry. No one has any specific suspicions of The Company, and the Broken Crown isn't supposed to attack the Knights of the Hart until tonight / tomorrow morning. If we take a Short Rest now, Xanrym would recover his spent bardic inspiration, Coriana could save her Magical Cunning in case she needs it later, and Syllen would get back his use of Wild Shape.)
Xanrym smiles and says, "I'm certainly willing to try it, especially if, like Khessa suggests, I can do it while I'm invisible! If fact, if things go very badly and there's a fight to leave the ship, I may even try to get close to Warduke and steal the letter while he's distracted by the fight. But if Warduke is holed up in his room, and I'm needed just to get access to him, someone else may need to attempt it. In fact...maybe you should try it, Theldrin! I know that war wizards like to be flashy, raining fire and missiles of pure magic at the enemy, but you're quite nimble. Syllen and I could magically boost your natural skills, and I could try to keep Warduke distracted while you steal the letter."
"Agreed!"
Regarding the cargo hold, Xanrym points out that it's definitely sounding like the Forgotten King's bones are part of Nithrissa's cargo. That is, no one saw the bones in the Wegwiur's cabin, and if the bones were part of their cargo, they wouldn't have given relative strangers their Crown Token so easily. Lord Alaric or the Knights of the Hart certainly don't have the bones.
From what we have heard, it seems like Warduke's attempted alliance is just an attempt to use the letter about Prince Thrommel IV's disappearance to secure an alliance with Iuz. If the Horned Society were carrying the Forgotten King's bones, then Xanrym assumes that they would either have already spoken about them or -- more likely -- they would be taking the relics directly back to their own territory, and not into the Empire of Iuz.
As a trusted agent of Iuz, Nithrissa must know about the Vanguard of Sertrous and its mission. Xanrym thinks that it's unlikely that the Forgotten King's bones were delivered from Fadheela to someone else on the Malachite Hierarch without Nithrissa's knowledge.
"The only puzzling question is why Fadheela resisted giving the bones to Orinielle only to deliver them to Nithrissa." Xanrym originally assumed that Fadheela had betrayed Iuz to deliver the bones to some other faction. That's why he didn't immediately think that Nithrissa must have the bones when they discovered that she was on the ship.
Khessa shrugs at Fadheela's motives: "Perhaps she had a grudge against Orinielle—I imagine not all of Iuz's agents are champions of cooperation with one another."
"In any case, the important thing is that we become the final owners of the bones" the blonde arcane warrior seems ready for action, her blue eyes sparkling with anticipation.
(It is just after lunch. You can absolutely take a short rest and speak to Darci about getting access to the lower hold. With three Crown Tokens they must just let you in to retrieve ‘your goods’. The Broken Crown are under no obligation to tell the other factions on the ship who’s entered the hold or not. So if that’s the next part of the plan we can just go in there.)
(OOC: That works for me. That would definitely be Xanrym's plan. Short Rest. Then the entire Company of the Grey Chain uses the 3 Crown Tokens to descend into the cargo hold.)
Works for me! Short rest and let's go on
Theldrin is happy to take a short rest, then head to the cargo hold.
You all take a Short Rest, and head down into the Upper Cargo Hold. There Darci is surprised to see you pull out three Crown Tokens, and while the others step aside to give you access to the Lower Hold, Darci whispers to Coriana as you go down the stairs, "Careful here, whatever you're doing is going to piss people off. Don't make it the wrong people and end up with my sword in your gut, I would really hate that." You can tell she's being serious, about both being worried for you, and about the sword in the gut.
You arrive in the Lower Hold. This is noticeably danker and darker than the other parts of the ship, with a little bit of moss growing on the insides. You see arrayed around the hold all the other Faction's cargo. The biggest of which are The Horned Society's bags and chests near the front of the Ship, and a giant wooden box marked with Iuz' symbol toward the back, almost blocking the way to two doors on that part of the ship.
Syllen will have his familiar keep watch outside of the cargo hold as he does not fully trust the situation. As the party moves into the lower cargo hold Syllen will cast detect magic. Syllen will look around the area for anything dangerous.
Perception Check: 23
“Is it normal to have moss growing in a cargo hold? It might be best if we are careful yet move with haste.”
Khessa bets that the bones are in the giant wooden box marked with Iuz's symbol and was about to ritual-cast Detect Magic, but realizing that Syllen is handling it, she lets him do it.
The blonde arcane warrior only hopes that whoever loaded the bones didn't also have the time (and resources) to set magical traps... After all, the token system should have already provided a decent level of security.
Xanrym looks around to see whether he can identify the "empty chest" that Lord Alaric said that he put in the cargo hold. He assumes that it'll be a fancy or pretentious-looking box, possibly with Lord Alaric's name or crest on it.
Perception: 25
(OOC: @drumdigby - Is the 15x15 shaded area on the Owlbear Rodeo map the "Giant Wooden Box"?)
(OOC: As a reminder if anyone forgot, Xanrym told Hierarch Warduke that we would take Lord Alaric's cargo in lieu of a payment from the Horned Society for "killing" Lord Alaric. We just needed their Crown Token so that we could get into the cargo hold and find Lord Alaric's cargo. Therefore, he wants to ensure that we are carrying Lord Alaric's chest when we leave the cargo hold.
"If Lord Alaric's Chest can fit the bones, we got our strategy."
Coriana - Company of the Grey Chain
Wagner - Dragon Heist: Bards.
DM - The Old Keep
Theldrin looks around the cargo hold for anything that seems out of place or noteworthy.
Investigation: 21
Syllen definitely get's a strong sense of magic emanating from within the box. Xanrym indeed is able to find the luxuriously decorated box belonging to Alaric. Theldrin looks around the room, he will note that this room hasn't been touched since the goods were stowed here. The Broken Crown have been good to their word to keep the place clear until shown 3 Crown Tokens.
(OOC: Not that it matters much but can Syllen tell what school of magic it is? To clarify, can Syllen tell that the box is not magical but there is something magical inside the box. Also where would Darci be located on the map?)
Syllen quickly points to the magical box.
“Whatever is in that box emanates a strong magic.”
Xanrym will go check that box (e.g., open the lid, confirm that it's empty, see how big and heavy it is). He doesn't expect the box to be locked or trapped or anything: Lord Alaric said that it was just an empty chest. He asks Avery to move the box over to where the rest of the Company is so that they can put the Forgotten King's bones in it, assuming that we find the bones and that they'll fix in Alaric's box.
Thinking of Khessa's Alarm, he's careful not to touch or move anything else in the cargo hold yet.
Xanrym asks Syllen, "What about all of that cargo that belongs to the Horned Society? Is any of that magical?"
Khessa comments: "If the magic is inside... I assume it's the magic of the king's bones, not some magical trap. A trap would protect the chest—so it should be detected on it, not inside it."
The blonde arcane warrior waits for a nod of confirmation, however, once she's ready: "Shall I open?"
Theldrin walks along the perimiter of the box, scowling and muttering to himself as he studies the sides. Coming to a stop by the others, he muses quietly, "Very curious indeed... why such a large box?" He adds with a grin, "I have to assume given our history that it's for undead guardians. Or spiders.... or both."
He seems hesitant to try to open it just yet, "Should we check for traps?"