Session 026 - Where In The World Is Wu Tang

Captured and Out Cold

Wu found himself in the middle of Casino Cillian being bound at the wrists before the Masked Man from the previous day knocked him unconscious and he was dragged away.

Noises at Night

Fill decided to sleep for 4 hours while Illsaiim and Mike stayed up and paid attention to anything outside their room. At some point in the early hours of the morning, Mike heard footsteps walking down the hallway after which Illsaiim heard a door open and close quickly.

They both investigated the hallway and found Darren Brigg in a confused state, walking around the hall and seemingly struggling to see. Darren Brigg explained he was lost and in need of the bathroom but can’t see very well in the dark anymore. Mike escorted him to the bathroom while Illsaiim searched around the hallway for further clues as he was suspicious of Darren’s behaviour. He finds the room that Darren had attempted to enter mostly empty despite a sleeping Dwarf male and Human woman. Illsaiim checked the door to the left of that room and found it was the chambers of Rowland Cillian and carefully entered it - finding Marsha Corn taking watch as Rowland slept. Marsha alleviated some of Illsaiim’s concerns and explained that Darren is quite a good shot.

Mike Hawk helped Darren back to his room, after he’d been sick in the toilet, before regrouping with Illsaiim in their own room just as Fill woke up. The three Elves conversed about the event before Illsaiim and Mike headed to sleep.

Just after sunrise - Fill noticed Marsha hurriedly walking past their door and towards the central chamber of the Alagondar Trust hideout at the same time that Lucius headed down the other direction towards the same room Marsha had come from.

Breakfast

The Bussy Knights awoke on the 30th of Sapphirus, 802 Ag and enjoyed a well cooked and hearty breakfast including meats, cheeses, breads, and other delights.

At breakfast; Illsaiim confronted Darren about the previous night and eventually challenged him to a shooting contest to the delight of a lot of the tavern.

Shooting Contest

Darren shot first and managed to miss his target entirely and Illsaiim hit the 2nd inner ring on his. Darren returned shooting two arrows simultaneously; with one splitting Illsaiim’s first arrow and the other also hitting the 2nd innermost ring of his own target, and Illsaiim managed to hit the 2nd innermost ring again. The Shadar-Kai male was annoyed by Darren’s showy act and asked to keep the final round clean. The final round ended in two bullseyes for each contestant. After deliberation and a judge ruling - the crowd sentiment awarded the win to Illsaiim by a very narrow margin.

To The Library!

After the party returned to the central chamber - the Firbolg bartender informed them that Marsha had hastily asked to speak with them at the Starling Library.

They gathered their things and headed towards the Starling Library passing by Kurrud on the way there.

The party entered via the main entrance and were greeted by the long corridor chamber adorned with bookshelves on either side. It was a lively place and had been retrofit to function as a refugee camp for those displaced by the ongoing civil unrest.

Meeting Teresa Rose

Graxious healed some injured kids in the library and introduced himself to Teresa Rose; a Cleric of The Brightmother.

Getting up to speed

The Bussy Knights found Alison Starling moving at a breakneck pace as she attended to the various needs of those in the care of her library. She directed them towards the hideout they’d use the previous day to talk with Marsha.

Marsha Corn formally introduced herself to The Bussy Knights and inquired a bit about their brief history before filling them in on the events that directly followed Dagult’s death 8 days ago.

”Rowland wanted me to get you up to speed with what has happened in the past week or so.

8 days ago this afternoon - we all got word via our usual channels that Dagult was a wanted man in Amylthas and that was shortly followed up confirming he’d been killed by some mob called ‘The Bussy Knights’. That was all Oskar had been waiting for before he stormed Castle Neverwinter with what remnants of Ember’s Rule we could rally to his side in the confusion.

Thankfully for us; Oskar was just as unprepared to take the castle as we were to defend it and we managed to push him back at the cost of giving him control over Casino Cillian and a lot of The Column.

We’ve gotten guards from the Wolf-Pelt Watchtower defending the castle, whilst some of our guards watch all the known entrances from The Column, but we can’t rely on those pacifists to fight back when the time calls. We know Oskar will strike again and soon.

What help can we expect from you and your lot… Illsaiim?” - Marsha Corn explains the situation

She spoke with the party a bit longer and explained that the Alagondar Trust would appreciate any additional information that they could provide before the next assault on Castle Neverwinter happened.

Marsha’s gift

Marsha also gave Fill a diamond suitable to be used for a casting of Revivify on behalf of Rowland.

Marsha left to attend some commotion at the Northern gates of the city whilst The Bussy Knights returned to the main chamber to speak with Alison.

Alison’s Request

”Oh good! You’re all back! I was worried throughout the night that you had maybe been attacked or worse!

Your friend; Wu I think his name was, he was here for a bit before heading out in the night and he hasn’t returned - I thought he’d gone to find you lot.

Look - don’t judge my character but he’s technically overdue to return a book he borrowed and its going to be difficult and expensive to replace at this type of notice. I’ll pay you 25 gold to find the book.” - Allison Starling to The Bussy Knights

Alison was found finally taking a well-deserved break as she asked if the party could look for Wu and return the book he’d borrowed the night prior. She had seen him leave the night before but wasn’t sure where he decided to head. She also let Fill know that Valda Faye had left him and urgent calling card asking to talk at the Sect as soon as possible.

Interrogation

Wu awoke to a sudden thonk on the head by the barrel of Samira Farrow’s cold hand cannon and bruised him a little before the Masked Man entered the room and introduced himself as Brick.

Wu resisted questioning and answered only with witty comebacks - frustrating Brick exponentially over time. Brick attempted to break Wu’s resolve with intimidation but failed to get the Human Monk to provide meaningful answers.

Brick released his frustration in a single blow that Wu fully expected to be knocked out by. Wu closed his eyes as his entire vision went white and to experience time around him to come to an apparent stop.

Don’t test a monk’s moral code

Wu Tang was met with a familiar grating voice as The Grinch made it’s presence known to him.

”WELL HELLO HELLO! I’m back! It’s so not good to see you again!

Yes yes, I alsooooo hate you as much as you hate me - you’re still a mortal after all and I must hate all mortals. It’s actually one of my core principles!

But I like your spunk kid and enemies can still have mutual interests and work together when the time calls for it. If you’d taken my offer previously maybe you wouldn’t be in this mess would you!

So how’s abouts it - let’s make a deal quickly! I can only hold him still for so long before he’ll notice!” - Grinch to Wu Tang

Wu Tang quite snappily refused the offer as his moral code forbid any and all dealings with the Divine Beings.

Unwanted help

The Grinch was scorned by this immediate refusal and decided to spite the Human Monk and rescue him anyway. Wu Tang noticed time resume to its regular speed as Brick pulled his punch at the final moment as Samira whispered something in his ear.

Wu Tang felt a burning sensation on his left forearm as the word HahAHahaHAHAhA appeared down the length of it and he fell narrowly short of falling unconscious from the pain. A man wearing elegant clothes who was clearly of import to both Samira and Brick entered the room afterwards and escorted Wu from the room he was detained in to the Southern entrance of Casino Cillian. Whilst walking - Wu noticed the hand of the man was actually green and hairy.

Wu took notice of a Black Dragonborn shouting “royal flush!” at one of the tables in the back of the Casino before the man threw Wu out of the Southern entrance doors and shot 3 specifically placed warning shots to scare him off. Wu Tang sprinted towards the South Western quadrant of the city.

Looking for Wu

Fill headed to the Starling Family Sect to speak with Valda whilst the others searched for clues regarding Wu’s location outside the Southern walls of Castle Neverwinter.

”Castle Neverwinter is a glorious sight even in its slightly rundown and battle-damaged appearance right now. You see the off-white marble base adorned with red and gold accents alongside a dark oak wood for structure. These are the same colours you grew accustomed to seeing around Dagult.

The short stairs to the central chamber marked with a handful of guards sporting the Alagondar Trust or Wolf-Pelt Watchtower attire.

The East and Western wings are sealed off from the inside in an attempt to reduce the attackable area to defend.”

Graxious noticed some commotion coming from Casino Cillian and they all went forward to examine.

”You count at least 12 guards watching the Northern and Western walls of the Casino - there are no visible entrances on the Northern wall and the Western wall has a glass window on the bottom floor and a flight of stairs that head up two flights. There are at least 4 guards armed with the same long barrelled weapons you’d encountered the previous day and its likely the rest are armed as well.” - The view of Casino Cillian, as narrated

The Bussy Knights were surprised to see a Black Dragonborn woman be thrown through the glass window and land face first on the cobbled streets before making a full sprint for the buildings on the Western side of the city.

Wu had scaled the side of building with some difficult after managing to break his bindings and from this vantage point - he managed to catch the sight of the Black Dragonborn woman run towards his general direction.

By sheer coincidence; Illsaiim, Graxious, Mike, and Salvador ran into Wu first - with Illsaiim and Wu both expertly avoiding a collision at the sudden appearance of the other. They only had a moment to regroup however before the Black Dragonborn woman ran past them and nearly tripped before Illsaiim caught them by their collar.

Speaking to Valda

Meanwhile, Fill arrived as an expected guest at the Sect and was greeted with the doors opening for him automatically. He noticed many of the same people from the previous day still here and briefly spoke with Elizabeth; who introduced her to Mr. Solomon - the Cleric of The Dutycaller, before finding Valda in her chambers on the third floor of the Sect.

”Thanks darling - with this blessing, I’m one step closer to finding The Heart Of Christmas!” - The Grinch speaking to Valda in her nightmare.

Valda appeared panicked as she frantically searched the room for something whilst failing to form a coherent sentence. Eventually Fill managed to calm her down long enough to gather than Valda had had a nightmare where The Grinch had stolen her powers. She has not been able to find her Arcane Focus either and is unable to cast Spells any longer.

Valda was concerned she would be the reason Santa Claus would fall and their religion would die because of it. Fill managed to provide her some relief that that wouldn’t happen and offered to look around the city for her Arcane Focus. Fill left to discuss the mysterious phrase “The Heart Of Christmas” that The Grinch had used in Valda’s nightmare with Elizabeth.

Elizabeth was in the middle of prayer when Fill arrived but stopped to discuss with the Elven Cleric. She admitted she was pretty clueless about the term herself but suggested Alison Starling might have a book on it in her library. Alison would later confirmed the book that Wu had borrowed was likely the only chance of any reference to that term.

Fill promptly left to find the rest of The Bussy Knights and that book.

Making the Grinch grouchy

At the same time - The Grinch once again appeared to Wu during a temporal slowdown and attempted to make another deal with the Human Monk. Wu Tang stuck to his moral code and actually struck The Grinch with his blade and dealing some physical pain to it. The Grinch flew into a rage and breathed it’s foul breath directly into Wu Tang’s face; dealing a small amount of damage, and shouting “I’m done with you!“.

As the temporal slowdown resolved; Wu felt his legs give out underneath him as he once again heard the maniacal laughter of The Grinch.

The Dragonborn Woman

Illsaiim and the Black Dragonborn woman both recognised each other from their pasts and everyone gathered their bearings. Many of the long-term memories of The Bussy Knights had an inkling of recognition towards this woman, seeing similarities to their friend Leodel. She introduced herself as Delilah Nabal as Mike chimed in to ask if she knew a young man named Leodel - of which the Elven Barbarian noticed a slightly elevated breath after the mention of their former party member’s name.

Delilah Nabal appreciated the medical attention and healing provided by Illsaiim and Graxious respectively before asking them to follow her to speak in a more private space.

Fill caught up to the group - seeing Mike from about 100 or so feet away and barely made it through the passageway his friends had entered.

Another hideout

The nearby buildings were new to each of The Bussy Knights - including Illsaiim - and seemingly were built in response to the recent civil unrest, with the interior being quite ramshackle and hacked together to make do. Delilah Nabal led the party through a crowd of people wearing similar emerald green cloaks to her own and down two flights of stairs to a dusty room within the first layers of The Column.

In the back of the room, the party noticed a taller Black Dragonborn man who at first reminded them even more so of Leodel before he stepped forwards into the light and his age was very apparently much more senior than that of their friends.

Leo’kan and Delilah

”This is my Husband; Leo’kan Nabal” - Delilah Nabal introducing her Husband to the party.

The session closed with Delilah Nabal kissing the Black Dragonborn man and introducing him as her Husband; Leo’kan Nabal.

”They asked me about him - Leodel… He’s alive after all!” - Delilah informing her husband about Leodel