240130

We save Rizzeryl, ale in the Yawning Portal Inn

OPEN QUESTIONS

• What did the Drow do with Ilbratha?
• Were the Drow & the priest of Kossuth working with Xanathar?
• Who is Yek and how does he control the Goblin bazaar? Independent market, Xanathars to move on it later
• Is Yek with the Xanathar Thieves Guild? NO
• Is there a Drow fortress between us and Level Three? NO
• How did Harria capture a golem, the Gold Tiefling Heart?
• What is the Gold Tiefling Heart we found?

FOR THIS GAME

GAME NOTES

We start the game with a good old fashioned interrogaton of the Bugbear Prisoners

We kill the prisoners and arrange their bodies to look like a fight.

We return to Rizzeryl to find his wererat minions attacking him. We knock a few around and enter the room. They won't leave off the fight and seem intent on killing him, so we get in the mix and Rizzeryl runs.

We put the wererats down, but before the battle is over Arin & Ceol both contract lycanthropy from bites. While looting the rats' chest Jitters detects magic under the table, upsetting Rizzeryl. We play it off and pretend to have not noticed.

Rizzeryl seems uncommonly thankful and communicative:

• He tells Ceol that in a Drow_Fortress fortress on the 3rd level they are _

"...doing things that will interest you. Doing foul things, making Drow swords like the one Gimbal carries"

• He gives us a Zhentarim contact in Skullport: Vosskyn Gorrb tiefling in Keel Hall in midcity Skullport
• He also gives us a Driftwood Wand that will get us passage through Xanathar Thieves Guild territory, saying that as you enter 3rd Level turning left takes you to a Drow Fortress and turning right takes you to a Drow Town. (this accords with what the Goblin shopkeepers said and contradicts what the bugbear prisoners said)

Jitters confesses to the Gold Tiefling Heart whispering to him at night:

"I think it is evil. It whispers to me at night; promises of power... Godlike power..."

-but he is unable to drop it, making this the 3rd curse we need to deal with.

We SHORT REST after which Jitters turns Zilitsa and another corpse into zombies. Then we head up to 1st Level and on to Waterdeep planning to Long Rest and deal with our various issues.

At the head of the 1st Level stairs we hear combat and encounter two trolls destroying a Xanathar Thieves Guild patrol. We hatch a plan for Jitters to use his wererat zombies to pull the zombies north while we run south and dash across the manticore room. It works, and we are able to get to the bucket lift unscathed.

Back at the Yawning Portal Inn we engage our contacts:

1. Gimbal gives Lady Yafeera about Shunn Shurreth, Rizzeryl and the Xanathar Thieves Guild on Level Three (Scout_Undermountain)
2. Jitters talks to Volo about manticores and where to gild the skull of Shunn Shurreth: Marizella's Imports is the recommendation
3. Gimbal talks to Three Strings and asks him about removing curses and Speak with Dead; he recommends the temple of Lathlander, but then
4. Mira remembers Arin's priest friend and the Temple_of_Istishia in Waterdeep as an alternative
5. Ceol shows Durnan the body of Drow_Assassin-the and gets free ale.

We head to the Temple of Istishia in Waterdeep where we meet Peter Saltbottom high priest of Istishia. He removes our lycanthropy curses. When shown the Gold Tiefling Heart. He removes the curse, but when Jitters drops the accursed heart on the floor, and Gimbal promptly picks it up and falls under its sway.

TREASURE

• 83gp from Bugbear prisoners divided
• 30gp from Wererats divided
• silver scepter with Dwarven runes for sale later (Ceol)
• copper tankard (Ceol)
• books - Tiefling romance novels
• Driftwood Wand will get us into 3rd_Level (Jitters)
• 50gp from Lady Yafeera (Gimbal)

FOES

• 4 Bugbear prisoners
• 2 Intellect Devourers
• 8 Wererats + Zilitsa
• 2 Trolls (avoided)

SESSION MAP (same as 240123)

SYNOPSIS

• We interrogate and kill Bugbear prisoners then
• Return to Rizzeryl's place to find him being attacked by Zilitsa & his Wererats
• We kill them, but Arin & Ceol contract lycanthropy
• We go to Waterdeep to remove curses and take Rests
• Jitters gets rid of the Gold Tiefling Heart but it captures Gimbal

NEW QUESTIONS

• What should we make of the Drow poison blade manufactory on Level Three? (Yafeera?)
• What is a "Xanathar Spawn" (zombie beholder), and how do we defeat it? (Yafeera?)
• When did the Xanathar Thieves Guild start using Intellect Devourers? (Yafeera?)
• Is the House of Auvryndar in charge of a Drow Fortress on Level Three or Level Four? (Yafeera?)
• How does Yek manage to control the goblin market and remain independent? (Yafeera?)

FOR NEXT GAME

• Figure out how to safely get rid of that cursed heart
• Take a Long Rest
• Cast Speak with Dead on the dead Drow assassin
• Contact the Zhentarim about the New Questions above +
  • Were the Drow assassin & the priest of Kossuth working with Xanathar?
• Sell our excess Treasure, then Shop
• Make a plan (fire?) for those Trolls on Level One
• Use disguise kits to set up Xanathar brands

AI Transcript

• AI_240130