Session Forty-Nine

"This is all a big HR problem." - Fortuna

"The reward for toil had been more toil. If you dug the best ditches, they gave you a bigger shovel." 

- Terry Pratchett

• Wee-Walther Muzzy Wump: We’re going to need helms. For that we’re going to need market access to the Mercane. For that we are going  to need connections, with Dohwar or other merchants

• Popsicle the Dowhar: Dispatched to find the Kinori herd Dohwar village and secure access to a supply of helms (NO GIFTS, NO MESSAGES, NO OFFERS OF TRADE)

• Dancer the Illithid: Dispatched to meet with Jormun Goss and the Illihid Revolutionaries to ask for Psionic AMplifiers to help hide the Lumberstar and the hero's whereabouts (NO GIFTS, NO MESSAGES, NO OFFERS OF TRADE)

• Warrenfolk: Building their district and their Temple to Azael. Most get straight to work on the docks.

• Aartuk: Building their Temple to the Gods of Slaughter. Demand blood sacrifices. Alexis worries about the heroes ability to control them, now that they are out of their dormant state, and there are so many non-Aartuk to kill and fill with their spores.

• Obseshedyan the Beholder: drunk in the Sapsucker tavern. Frightening the patrons and irritating the staff. Hazel regenerates his severed eye stalks. Begins work as the "administrative arm" for Basile. 

• Telerann, the Neogi: A skilled Jammer pilot. Knows the Inordinate Amount by reputation. Won't board it. Believes it is cursed. Hiding a Secret: he's building his own spelldasher - he wants to go home because he thinks everyone hates him. He found a regular helm at a crash site of a small spelljammer in the Wilds of the Lumberstar. Begs forgiveness.

• Basile X7B1: Installed as Administrative Elder Brain for the Lumberstar. 

By the second week of building and planning, two warrenfolk go missing. Then a third turns up dead. There is evidence of foul play. Where are the bodies of the others? 

The Manzessine Bunch all seem suspicious... at first

Clues unfold. 

• Two worked as porters moving sap between the mill and the brewery and then sap mead onwards to the Sham-Rackle Tavern. 

• Another is a dock worker

• An animated body of one of the missing warrenfolk is moving barrels

• A gnome dockworker is implicated - he saw the Duergar kill a warrenfolk and was coerced into getting involved to save his life 

Markov the Duergar is the Culprit. He is a Barbarian but also a Cleric (Trickery, Death & Fire domains). Its hard to corner him to interview him. His goal is to strip as much as he can from the Inordinate Amount and hide stolen goods inside barrels that were used to transfer sap. He tries to appear as a slap-happy drunk. He stashes empty barrels in his quarters. Showdown on the Inordinate Amount.

SCAZZ: Something is here that wasn’t here before. Something that shouldn’t be here.

A skeletal grey cat sits in front of you. The way it looks at you is unnerving. And vaguely familiar. It turns and licks its side. That’s when you see all of the wounds and rotting flesh move beneath its scabby fur. It’s undead! Then you remember where you’ve seen it before. 

Braap! The vampiric toad slaver from the Obedient Thrall. This cat was curled around his neck, its eyes glowing from inside his cowl.

• "Yesyr is being used by the Ylfe as a massive prison camp for Braal. It had the right facilities.  Most of the slave trade is now completely controlled by the Imperyion.

• Braap is dead, well more dead, but I have other servants. However, none f them are as interesting.

TOTAL: 266 plus the heroes 4, that's 270. There were 35 yesterday. That's an overnight growth +235. There is not sufficient food or shelter.

9 goblins 

Charlotte - Brawler (bug face)

Alexis - Druid

Rodrigo - Expert

Paula - Ranger

Guadalupe - Fighter

Javier - Cleric

Eduardo - Rogue

Antonio - Fighter

Catalina - Sorcerer

(Blaine's body)

21 (surviving) gnomes (3 died in Aartuk attacks, 1 died in an industrial accident)

1 implicated in murder plot! 

214 (surviving) ratfolk refugees

169 dock labouerers

28 farmers

14 odd jobs

3 rangers, hunters

5 Manzessine refugees 

dowhar

neogi

beholder

Jormun Goss's liaison

Canto, Mreau Istorimancer, 

Coalman & Shilynn. 

The Sailor, the Diva

Crew of the Inordinate Amount 

Captain - Elder Blink Dog 

Drazda of Nix - Lizardman fighter and siege-weapon operator

Yoki Oshishan - Hedge Witch Tengu Level 5, spelljammer pilot

Campsis Grandifola - Leshy Monk Level 5, Spacehand (nickname Groot)

Cosine, Sine - Modron Monodrone #1, #2

Percival - Halfling - Spacehand

Maulatuff - a fire loving goblin, but is actually a Mongrelman

Boz - Gnome.

Dubloon McAnchor - Space Pirate!