Savage Tide Session 50

The party left the fleeing arenae sorcerors and hurried to the basement door. Mendel bellowed a few stark words of warning to intimidate any remaining pirates as Dacien released his arcane lock and the party headed down the rickety stairs. The basement was deserted however, as the elven party members secret doors that Faldak confirmed a group of at least ten had fled through. The basement contained a small forge for melting metal down, coins skimming and stamping - Mendel promptly swept the tools into his bag. They also found a jail cell holding a red skinned pirate, with a strange scaly crab-like claw for a right hand. He was unconscious, badly beaten, and in some distress, so the part patched him up and carried him along. They also found a hidden shrine to Demogorgon, with a grotesque statue leering at them as they emerged through the secret door. Amongst the pirate belongings they found a silk bag with a bird embroidered on its front. each time the party put their hand in a yellow canary emerged and fluttered about their heads. They decided to keep this away from Felix for now.

Questioning the captives, it appeared the human knew little of the existence of aranae in the Minting House. The aranae captive was more sullen and offered little more of use. It seemed the coin-skimmers Dacien trapped in the basement had fled through a hidden underground passage, full with sulphurous fumes. The narrow passage seemed a natural fissure, a rarely used escape tunnel. This lead to a trap door in the ceiling, which opened up into an abandoned butchers shop, where a band or aranae and forgers waited in ambush. After a bit of a fraught battle, the party captured two rogues who found themselves hidden and invisible behind Dacien's wall of force. They gave in to questioning but knew little else of importance, seemingly dupes  in the aranae's plan. The party stripped them of their belongings and sent them back to their lives as forgers, neglecting to mention they'd taken all of their equipment and their livelihood.

The party made their way through town, not spotting the cache of magical weapons hidden in the bottom of a traders wheelbarrow, and leaving a squabble between a priest of Thanatos and the gnomish golem maker over a body lying in the gutter. Dacien picked a spot to erect his magnificent mansion as a base of operations for the party. The party entered and explored their new home, other than the host's spacious locked quarters, and shut their prisoners away. After an expansive banquet, Harliss was scryed and found in the Rattlebox, gambling and drunk, so Felix and Antony went to retrieve her.

The others interrogated the prisoners, Dacien ready with an ESP spell to check their thoughts

• The aranea was stubborn and ready to die for his secrets - although was willing to share information if they sent him home to the Savage Baronies (which Felix felt was a test to assess the party's magical prowess). He wanted the party to die in a battle with the Crimson Fleet, and also baited them to debase themselves and torture him. In the end, he was killed with hte Cymric Dirk
• The red skinned prisoner called himself Jerome LeShiv, with a brother Longshanks also in the fleeet, He was weak, and ravaged by the 'red curse' the party had seen afflict the pirates of the Sea Reavers  in the Crimson Fleet. His right hand was becoming increasingly crablike. He begged for cinnabryl jewellery, so Anthony handed some over, and it seemed to ease his condition from worsening. He then explained he was also a mutineer from the Fleet (Harliss vouched for him), and stopped in town before making his way home. He mutinied when Cold Captain Wyther was humiliated in front of his (already unsettled) men - by captain Vanthus returning, now a changed dark creature, and beating him into submission and stealing his ship. His ship 'Up the Nooga' was in port. The Eighth Coil captured him for Cold Captain Wyther and were due to take him back. He described the pirate base and its location - 'The Wreck' as it was known is hidden on the north west shore by powerful illusions and magicks that block teleportation. The base was a collection of outbuildings around a strange structure - a series of captured prize ships stacked in a column around a large tree trunk. There were maybe 40-50 pirates still in the base and loyal to the captain, who also had some 'monsters' he kept hidden and at his disposal. One was a demonic creature that his in  a hut near the entrance that used telekinesis to move a boom from the harbour entrance.

Jerome LeShiv

Jerome and Harliss were willing to help the party in their assault on the Wreck. A small group went to check on Jerome's ship which they found abandoned in port. However they were followed back by an invisible aranea who tried to stop them as they re-entered the mansion.This drew a crowd who raised an alarm. Knowing the party would be in trouble leaving the mansion if they waited too long, they resolved to leave as soon as possible. A leaping demon was waiting outside for them, with the aranea. Dacien tried to leave a trap for them as a delayed blast fireball but the aranea caught the party in a web around the deadly gem. Not realising the significance of the gem, Felix tried to burn the web away from the trapped party with a potion of fiery breath - which triggered the fireball and engulfed the party. With several members barely alive, they party limped away and hid at Red Foam Whaling. hoping they would not be found. 

The next morning, Mendel convinced the others to visit Rhemus Caldakar, the golem maker, as a source of potential aid against the pirates.

Savage Tide Session 49

In their hovel, the party further questioned Harliss and discussed what to do next. When talk turned to paying a visit to Tyrlandi, Mendel felt the presence in his mind again as Tyrlandi spoke to him through her greater scrying spell. She informed the party that she had a visit from both the monks and the harpies, looking to cement alliances and unite against the parties efforts in the town - and wondered what had happened next. She did not respond to any further questions.

The city was still bustling an on alert, so, fearing reprisals, the party set to sneak out of the city. They went in the direction of the north gate, but saw a swarm of thugs and leaping demons, so veered across the river. They scanned the eastern perimeter wall for possible exits, and found a gang of street kids gathered round a makeshift exit. Throwing a liberal amount of copper coins in their direction, the party left through the wall and stayed overnight in the shrubland outside using Dacien's rope trick.

The next day, the party looked for another way back into the city. Heading south, they found a path leading from a hatch in the wall toward the rocky shoreline. There, they spotted several bloated corpses, mostly human, but some animal too. The party examined the bodies from afar and saw signs of surgery on the discoloured cadavers - but unwilling to get too close, they left well alone.

Antony snuck through the hatch at the wall and past a priest that was sweeping grime and gore away from the back of a dark stone building and cellar hatch. He passed by and circled round to the front of the building. Two guards with rheumy eyes and blackened eyelids stood staring out to the harbour - around their necks hung black scythe and skull pendants, dark symbols of Thanatos, the entropic Grim Reaper. Antony engaged them in small talk and found out they were waiting for the infirm and injured to be brought to them by those in the city, and were willing to pay for the privilege. Heading back, Antony caught the eye of the priest on cleaning duties and found out that, for a bribe, he was willing to bring out belongings from the bodies that were brought to the temple. Hearing that a pirate of the Crimson Fleet was brought in recently, and wanting a diversion to allow the party to enter, he made the transaction, and acquired a cinnabryl bracelet for Harliss to use.

In the city, the party dodged several patrols to make their way to Porphyry House to speak with Tyrlandi. Her guard, a burly human, and her madam, a gnomish woman, led the party up a secret flight of stairs to the top floor. Tyrlandi, the beautiful exotic woman, was sprawled on a chaise-longe, sucking on lollipop as she waited for them. Her heritage seemed to be part nymph but tainted by entropic fiendish blood. The faint sound of a child crying could be heard. The party recognised the symbol at her neck as that of Talitha, the Queen of Treachery. Tyrlandi greeted them curiously, eager to learn about their aims in the city and seeking to get information from them about their various goals and the information they had learnt about the palace. She answered the parties questions, but demanded locks of hair in return, gaining them from Felix, Antony and Mendel. She explained that she wanted to rule the city, unrivalled, and saw Kedward as her biggest rival once the Crimson Fleet were dealt with. She wanted the harpies in her pocket too. She did share information with the party if they chose to go after Kedward - that Rhemus Caldakar, his gnomish travelling companion of old who was now running a golem making business, was friends on the surface but secretly desired Kedward's imp familiar Matylda, and was plotting to kidnap her. Kedward was also a diabolist and could call upon demons to aid him. She also let the party know that the Eighth Coil wer einfiltrated by araenae, and we paying the harpies to torture and interrogate Harliss - but she had been intercepting the payments to try and keep Harliss alive.

The party left with their information and set about taking on the eighth coil hideout. They tried to sneak round the back of the building but were spotted and a prolonged spellcasting battle ensued, involving pirate thugs and araene sorcerers. Fireballs and lightning bolts rattled the building as the party drove into the ranks, locking several others in the basement. In the end, several aranae escaped via fly, but the party did have one unconscious foe alive for interrogation.