Old Men and the Sea¶

2023-Jan-15

• The party splits up to avoid drawing attention, while continuing their conversation via rings
  • Kleb tries to disguise himself a bit by donning his old Redbrand cloak, swapping his helmet for a hat, and trying to turn his strict military gait for a more carefree jaunt
• Rulkorf knows a paladin in the city, Tauros, who is a public defender, so they decide to give him a visit and see if he can put some pressure on Wickwire in a way that they can’t do alone
  • Tauros has an office in the Trades Ward, and the undercover guards meet Kleb there
• The group meets the minotaur, Tauros, and his diminutive secretary Regina
  • After magically establishing attorney-client privilege, the party explains the situation to their new lawyer and give him the journal, as well as the names of the Oremaster’s crew who could provide testimony or affidavits (including Mezzos and Tesia, the members of the Merchant Arcane)
  • He assures them that he can nail Wickwire, and once the magistrate is out of the picture, he is confident that the records will be corrected and they can clear their names and recover the Thunderbird
  • Tauros will send word to the Oremaster in the morning
  • Kleb arm-wrestles Tauros and loses handily. They all offer amicable farewells
• In the evening rain, the party finds a quiet inn in the Castle Ward where they can discreetly lodge for the night
  • At dinner, Rowan shares some of the circumstances around how he left his village
• Out on the town, Rulkorf notices they’re being followed, and alerts the others
  • Rulkorf becomes a dog, tries to tail the tail
  • Rowan and Kleb continue on their way, searching for a bar with Sad Girls (TM) in sufficient quantity
  • The stalker vanishes into thin air, which Kleb notices, but neither he nor Dogkorf can discern exactly what happened
• Stumbling upon a small group of partiers (Aszchleeighy, Connor, and Keightlynn), Kleb flirts aggressively by showing off his cute “seeing-eye dog” (Rulkorf)
  • They all head towards Jordan’s Hammer, the coolest warehouse club of Waterdeep
  • Before they can reach the club, 6 hooded figures surround the party and their companions
    • The ambush team is obviously well-prepared, and the party find themselves silenced, with even the falling rain muted around them
• Combat time
  • Rowan takes a large amount of damage from the opening onslaught of a hostile trio, armed with jitte and hand crossbows. He is forced back and takes a moment to heal himself
    • Kleb comes to Rowan’s aid and unloads on the nearest enemy with a flurry of blows
  • The second trio approach Rulkorf and the civilians. One of the hitmen murders all three of the party’s companions
    • Rulkorf goes after the least-armored enemy but he is incredibly deft and dodges the blows
  • Rowan falls to another series of attacks, but Kleb does what Rulkorf could not, bloodying one of the hostiles
  • At Kleb’s behest, Bearkorf grabs Rowan and flees, but gets knocked back into dwarf form before he can escape
  • Kleb hops on his broom, chases after his companions, and whips out the magic scroll that he bought in Neverwinter
    • A necrotic blast annihilates two enemies and rapidly ages two more
  • Blessed by the Goddess, Rowan crits on his death save, and returns to consciousness
  • Rulkorf harness the torrential rain, sculpting it into a tidal wave to buffet the now-elderly assassins
  • Rowan finishes one enemy off before getting downed and Kleb kills another
  • The last assassin escapes, but the adventurers have managed to survive this ambush