Coulerain Campaign - Session 2 Recap

The Party are bound and taken in custody by the men of Lady Wella Qa'sax, their belongings stripped and their young companion Valiar and Cammie's panther Satsumi sequestered away.

It is not long after that Lady Wella visits them, apologizing for the inconvenience. She shows the Party she has taken the necessary precautions for her own safety by blasting the adjacent empty cell with a fireball, showering the blindfolded and gagged party in its heat.

Lady Wella asks the Party about the fate of her beloved Amarthen and the Party speak the truth.

Wella then explains the precaution they are all in, seeming as fate has led them here. The Sons of Gozdor, the extreme wing of the Gozdorian Church and Sadwalian Government, have achieved a strangle-hold over the people of Qa'sax through some key high-ranking officials in the territory.

Wella seeks to bite the head of this proverbial snake with the help of the Party and gives them some time to think over her offer.

While the Party wait some of them manage to free themselves, Cammie's hands prove too small for the shackles to hold and Morrigan's acid-enhanced claws bite through the steel after some toying around.

A trapdoor opens in the cells and the Party are met again with Wel the guard, who heard two tieflings were arrested by Lady Qa'sax and came to check. He tells the party Wella is a person worthy of their trust and offers to aid the Party once they have accepted her terms.

Some minutes after Wel leaves, Lady Qa'sax returns to a Party pretending to be bound, but she hides around the corner of the corridor and sends them a sheet of paper. It is one of John Cardinal's writings Kai took from his ship.

Wella remarks that her father writes the same exact words, in the same hand-writing. The sheet reads "Those chained will be free" and Wella is reassured in the fact that fate leads the Party, as they have in fact unchained themselves.

The plan Wella offers is such, the Sons of Gozdor use local officials to communicate with their hidden members through items recently gifted. Wella has no knowledge of the exact amount of these gifts but knows four men who would have received them if anyone has at all.

Those are Tomir Sogannen a local tax collector, Melethor a city councilman, Adan Atani the captain of the city guards and Savindo Sav a local preacher.

The Party must gain the gifts of these men and then return them, once they are altered with the scratch of four magic crystals Wella gives them.

The Party accept this quest and head out to the city through the trapdoor Wel used, as to not rise needless suspicion.

They head for the Port District where Tomir Sogannen spends most his days in the famous Long Lion Pub.

Along the way Dio stops a few men ranting about the annoyance of Savindo Sav, who tell him he was last seen near the North Gate of the city. Dio then proceeds to steal the coin purse of one of them.

The Party reach the Long Lion Pub and are invited inside by a servant who after some persuasion offers them a better deal on the comission of a table.

The Party is then quickly met with Tomir Sogannen himself as he roars in victory over the man he just drank under the table and buys everyone another round.

Jotaro approaches Tomir's table and accepts his challenge. The two bet gold at first but eventually Kai convinces Tomir to bet his fancy golden pen, a gift he recently received.

Utilizing the golden ring, Jotaro manages to reach the Lethal Shot as Sogannen has coined it while Morrigan casts a spell over Sogannen that makes him feint.

Jotaro is named the Young Long Lion after he has defeated Sogannen and the crowd eyes him, expecting another free round from the new champion.

Dio takes this opportunity to steal Sogannen's fat coin purse. But after he is woken by Kai the pub erupts into violence as Sogannen tells them of a thief who would have them go without any more rounds.

Dio escapes the fight only to be recognized in the street by the man he robbed earlier and be chased away by guards. The rogue manages to hide in an alley and lose his pursuers.

While that is happening, Kai and Jotaro escort Soganen out of the pub and he names them all the Young Long Lions as they are friends of the man who beat him in what he could never be beaten.

Kai scratches the golden pen with the crystals and returns it to Sogannen who in a way of thanks offers him 0.4% of the tax revenue of the city he hoards away. Whether Sogannen will remember this deal after he is done drinking or honor it Kai is unsure.

The Party then split, as Kai refuses to go north to the Red Tiefling Brothel where Melethor is supposedly spending his day.

Jorian, Jotaro, Cammie and Dio head north to the Five Courts the ghetto of Rels.

Along the way Dio picks a fight with a local and draws a knife after the local calls out what he believes is perversion and degeneration.

Jotaro is dragged into the fight but the two sides manage to peace things out without violence spreading.

Cammie heads towards the Red Borthel and at the entrance is spotted by Melethor, who seems very keen on having her, as Tabaxi are rare in these parts.

Dio and Jotaro follow Cammie and agree to help her out if things go south but when the time comes to stand guard they both purchase the services of a female tiefling and gnome which they enjoy in the neighbouring room.

Melethor has Cammie tie him up and Cammie looks around for anything fitting the description of the gifts Wella sent them out to find. She rummages around and find what can only be described as a work of horror which Melethor seems very keen on using, going as far as claiming it is an extension of her hand for the remainder of the day, de facto giving ownership of it to Cammie.

Cammie utilizes this fact to scratch it with the crystals but morbid curiosity leads her to try it on Melethor... Which ends in injury and Cammie flees.

Outside she sees Jotaro and Dio face-down in the mud after being thrown out by the half-orc and more-than-half-orc guard because of an incident with a gnome's head being slammed into a wall.

Jotaro seems to be missing a tooth from the encounter with the more-than-half-orc's shovel-like palm.

Meanwhile, Kai and Morrigan search for Savindo Sav the preacher in Hotmill, the main disctirct of Rels. They encounter a crowd dispersing chaoticly and are again met with Wel who tells them what has supposedly happened.

When they reach the front of the crowd they see that Savindo Sav is intact, despite the claims of his dismemberment, but he is not breathing.

Morrigan attempts to revive him with a healing potion, but does not account for his position and clogs up his airways with it. If there was any hope for Sav to be brought back it was drowned in that healing potion.

Kai searches the body while Wel disperses the remaining onlookers and finds a religious symbol he realizes to be eastern which he scratches with the crystals just in case.

The Party then meet up again and discover Dio's tiefling whore has given him what is commonly known in Coulerain as "The Flaming Piss Curse" which makes his control over his bladder weaker and his urine highly flammable.

With three gifts found and scratched, the Party head south to Dawn Rock where Adan Atani the Half-orc captain of the guard is participating in the fighting pits.

In the fighting pits they witness Adan Atani take down a stone goliath half a head taller than himself with a devastating roundhouse kick to the chin.

Dio is up for the challenge of defeating Atani and winning the golden double ring he wears between fights.

Dio dons the ring for the strength it gives him and does not miss a single strike, landing devastating punches on the half-orc. But Atani is not 41-0 for no reason, the half-orc sweeps Dio from his feet and pummels him.

The ring begins digging into Dio's fabric of existence and the whispers promising success begin to fade, giving way to ever nearing whispers in a language unknown to him.

The pair exchange more blows, Dio falling in strength with each assist from the ring. Morrigan uses a spell to grant false life to Dio but the trickery is noticed by Atani who dons his own double ring and charges Dio.

Their struggle is decided by a single blow that brings Atani down but not out of the fight. The ring takes too great a toll on Dio and he sees the sky darken. There are now no good whispers, only those foreign and dark. He makes a last attempt to free himself of the ring and manages it but realizes that the thing has sunk its teeth deep into him and another close call might prove unsuccessful.

Atani allows Dio to kiss his ring in respect to the father he won it from after Dio is nursed back to consciousness. Dio notices that the ring is nothing but ordinary gold, not a gift from the Sons of Gozdor.

The Party's bets are either lost to the fallen goliath or rendered null and void and also lost after Dio loses even despite using trickery.

With their task complete the Party head north to the castle where they are met with Lady Wella. She offers them a seat in the gallery as she dethrones the Sons of Gozdor from influence. Wel escorts them to one of the entrances but stays behind as he is tired after digging a grave for the unusually tall Savindo Sav.

The Party sit through the complaints of Melethor who tries to hide his true intention of securing brothels after he was abandoned, tied to his bed by Cammie, as well as the complains to a couple of Savindo Sav supporters who seek justice for his death.

Wellion proves a man of justice when he orders Atani to find the guilty party, despite Savindo Sav's overwhelming unpopularity.

Wellion then sends the council into recess but they are met at the door by armed men, loyal to Wella Qa'sax who enters the hall and orders them to sit down.

As she now has control over the gifts the orders of the Sons of Gozdor are really her orders. She tells the council of Amarthen Lorr's death at the hands of John Cardinal which has happened outside their area of jurisdiction. A select few council members rise to agree and Wella marks them, these are the segments of the snake that is choking her realm.

Her father sees through her rouse though and looks up at the gallery to see the Party which he calls the Fated Few.

Wella orders her men to arrest the Sons of Gozdor agents and the hall quickly empties. Wellion asks the Party if they trust that Wella will indeed keep her word and let them go after she has used them, or will instead continue to try to influence fate through them.

Wella sends Hal Longreach up to arrest her father, but he refuses halfway through. Wellion is a man greatly respected in these parts and Hal refuses to harm him.

Wella then threatens the life of Valiar and orders the Party to take down her father after she fails to use her fireball wand on him.

Jotaro and Kai both strike at Governor Wellion but before he is struck down he recites the words of prophecy they have heard before.

"The blood of the youngest son is spilled."
"Those chained will be free."
"Fate has two hands and one grabs at the snake."

Kai misses. Jotaro strikes with his magic missiles, killing Wellion on the spot.

Wella is distraught and flings a fireball in the party's direction. Kai tries to fight back but is met with another too close for comfort fireball.

The Party make their escape due to Wel being outside and fighting back Wella's spearmen. He tells them to run and that the boy and the panther are waiting for them at the gates.

The Party cross the now empty festival streets of the city and notice that the Port District is in flames. In the distance they see a giant tentacle rise and slam into the buildings.

At the gates of Dawn Rock they meet Valiar and Satsumi. Valiar explains an old man freed him and gave him a small crystal used to send messages through great distances.

The Party look to their west and see the oncoming tide of the undeath horde of the Sunken. They look to their north and see Rels, a city now in chaos ruled by Wella Qa'sax. They look to their south and see dust rising from the hooves of an army approaching.

Valiar also has a parchment, one of Cardinal or Wellion's, which only has two words.
"East" and "Dun'Istar"

It might be fate guiding them, it might be them guiding fate. Whatever the case, east is the only direction they face and see no enemy in.