FRC Session 29…Fees, Fines, and a Dinner Party

Our prior session was a challenging touch and go battle for the party but they prevailed. After spending an “evening” hiding beneath a large mushroom cap, they headed for the ogre guarded bridge. We ended as six ogres came onto the bridge in response to the party ringing a bell, presumably placed there to attract the attention of the ogres.

This recap is from Thomas. Muse was missing so Bridgett (making another guest appearance) played Meri while RJ played Skarr along with Adran. Jubi’s comments, again, are in [brackets and italics].

After a bit of time after ringing the bell on the bridge, six ogres stepped forward out of the darkness demanding to know the party’s business. Not knowing the fee for crossing, the largest ogre and Verrak began the “negotiation,” which largely resulted in various fines being levied against the party. Rory, as well, inserted herself into the process, only to accrue more fines but cultivate a reputation among the ogres as “the feisty one.” (This whole time, Jubi had snuck under the bridge and around the ogres. He informed the party that there were more ogres on the other side of the bridge but then went silent.)

[Ha ha! Avast matey! We pirates be a sneaky lot! The ogres never had a chance to spot me!]

Upon paying the finally negotiated price for passage over the bridge, the head ogre informed the party that the price would be cut in half if they agreed to have dinner with the proprietor of the bridge, Mistle, a human they had heard about from the Duergar earlier. The party agreed and after counting out the coins (accruing fines there as well), the party were escorted – with bags over their heads – into a dining room part of a larger complex that had been crafted from the side of the cave overlooking the bridge. The quality of the work was very peculiar, being rounded instead of squared, and one window overlooking the bridge even had glass. Once inside and the hoods were removed, the party also saw that the room itself had the rounded motif as well. Everything in the room was crafted from stone, including the wine goblets.

[Wait! What?!? We had dinner and no one invited me! Aren’t you guys still my friends? Is it because I’m a ninja now. Is someone allergic to parrots?]

Once seated, a human, early middle-aged and dressed in Drow silk, entered the room accompanied by two ogre bodyguards. He was missing one leg but walked carrying a staff with a large geode at the top. He introduced himself as Mistle and invite the party to eat – a spread of standard Underdark fare.

[Sounds delicious! Do you think someone made sushi out of his leg? Did you try any of it? Was it tasty?]

After eating, Mistle began inquiring as to their business. The party was mostly up front and honest, not being completely honest about their business with Es Sarch and completely lying about their use of the node to enter the Underdark. However, Mistle offered no indication that he knew they were lying or even that he cared all that much if they were. After a discussion about their business in Pedestal though, he offered the party an opportunity to do some business with him. Mistle was seeking three swords: The Shards of Day. These three swords were relics from Netheril and had since been separated and are now being held in three different locations by unrelated parties, if Mistle’s information was correct.

[Are you sure he didn’t say The Sushi of the Day? That sounds like a quest worth taking up!]

He believed one sword to be in a shrine to the Kuo-Toa Goddess in a shrine nearby, another to be in the dwarven city of Thalteketh (of which Migdhal Yar is the westernmost outpost), and the other to be held by the drow in the city of Menzoberranzan. He offered descriptions of each of the three swords and offered portions of his business profits for the swords.

[I hope that they’re keeping those rolls cool so they’ll still be good when we finally find them.]

During this, at one point, his hand shot out to his staff and he informed his ogre team that they had an intruder. Worried it was Jubi, Verrak attempted to explain that they had a follower, perhaps best understood as a semi-intelligent pet, that could most likely be corralled without harm to anyone if he were allowed to accompany the ogres. Mistle allowed this but not before tapping his staff on the floor sending ripples along the stone room, presumably some kind of warding spell. With a Jubi-appropriate amount of work, Verrak was able to get the ogres and Jubi on the same page and they all returned without any kind of violence.

[Avast! Ninjas can show mercy when called for but I totally would have come to your rescue and staged a daring escape full of bravado and buckling of swashes!]

Having accepted to attempt to find the swords, Mistle offered to allow the party to stay the night in some lodging and be on their way in the “morning” (as it is in the Underdark). However, the party still a week away from Pedestal inquired whether they could purchase some supplies from him, to which he agreed. Even with an appropriate up-charge due to his isolation from commerce, the party managed to acquire a few pearls (for identification of magic items) and some healing kits. As well, they were able to purchase a map from the bridge back to Pedestal, albeit a map made from human skin.

[Road trip! And the map is already ready to BBQ!]

The party retired to their rooms and began identifying the items they had acquired over the last few weeks, especially those they just recovered from the shrine to Demogorgoron. However, when the time came to identify the armor being worn by Meri, she refused even to the point of partially unsheathing her weapon. Taking the point, the party backed off and her armor remained unidentified.

[Boring! When do we get to eat?]

In the “morning,” the ogres once again hooded the party and led them to a passageway or tunnel that they indicated would be the way to Pedestal and the party believed to be the main artery indicated on the map. The tunnel was roughly hewn and natural, changing its height and width periodically. Jubi decided to scout ahead at times and, at some point, came back to report that there was an unfriendly lady ahead on the ceiling; she had burned him in response to his advances.

[Oh yeah, Rory was a feisty one!]

The party approached cautiously, but Verrak was unable to see the goo in time as it fell from the ceiling and covered his whole body. The goo burned him as well and was extremely sticky. After some quick experimenting on how to remove it and/or destroy it, Dench figured out it was susceptible to fire. In a somewhat slow process, the party was eventually able to peel all the goo off of Verrak and burn it with a torch. After this, the party continued forward, all the while contemplating how they would attempt to deal with the first stop on their trek, a known Drow outpost managed by House Malarn.

After several hours of traveling, the party began to see lights ahead. The lights were moving along wall back and forth without any recognizable pattern. Scouting seemed risky so the party elected to continue along cautiously. As the party came closer and closer, they finally realized that the lights were coming from large beetles that were crawling along the walls. As they realized what they were, a beholder in the middle of the tunnel turned toward them.

[Beholder? Don’t you mean BBeholderQ? Jiggle…Giggle…Jiggle.