Storm King’s Thunder: Session 16. A rebrand and sponsorship

2^nd-3rd Alturiak 1458DR

As the Kuo Toa and cultists advanced on Carlan, a cultist called out and demanded to know why she was here. She replied that she had been called their by their god and wanted to join their religion. The cultists balked, refusing to believe her and drew their weapons. Carlan hurriedly cast Blink and disappeared from view 10ft underwater. She swam back to the others and told them she had found a tied up dwarf and Kuo Toa in the adjacent chamber. After discussing this they all swam through the tunnel to find that Skittles had been removed and the area was swarming with more cultists, a giant crab and a woman who appeared to be a priestess.

When asked, the Priestess told the Works In Progress of Tomorrow that Skittles had been caught snooping in their sanctum and refused to release him. They had broke into their temple, slaughtered her neophytes and desecrated their sacred place and needed to die. Darius charged forward as Carlan cast Hypnotic Pattern, rendering most of the cultists dazed and hypnotised. They made short work of the cultists and the giant crab, with Maganose in particular deciding to take a knife to one of them. In the chaos the priestess dived into one of the pools and escaped.

Once the cultists and crab were dead, they patched up their wounds and decided what to do. They chose to pursue the priestess and headed into the pool, finding it linked up with the stream that head into the central chamber, while also heading further south into another chamber. They swam through into the next chamber to find Skittles but also a horde of Kuo Toa. Their leader demanded they leave. Being the only person who could speak Primordial, Fenris tried to persuade them to hand over Skittles but they refused and demanded that they leave. Amadeous, however decided to wave his pact sword (dripping with blood) and threaten them, stating that they would die if they did not hand over the dwarf. Intimidated, they agreed to hand over Skittles if they then all left.

Skittles was handed over and they all left the cultist temple. Skittles said he was relieved to see them, as they planned on sacrificing him soon. He had found the cult lair by following the trail of runes in the nearby buildings and he was sure Remallia would be grateful for clearing out the cult. Upstairs they found some guards investigating the smouldering shop and dead Doppelgangers. Fenris told them that there was an evil temple below and some Kuo Toa and the guards let them go, deciding that they would need reinforcements to dead with the remaining Kuo Toa.

They head back to the Gentle Rest Inn. Remallia was relieved to see Skittles and he appraised her of what had happened, including that the priestess was called Kertuu showed a letter he had found. Remallia was shocked to hear that there was a temple to the Society of the Kraken below the city and thanked the party. She followed up by saying that she had something that may help them journeying forward, reaching into her bag and gifting them a miniature magical tower: Daern's Instant Fortress.

They thanked her and decided to visit Chazlauth in North Ward and prove to him that chickens do, in fact exist. He had been researching further on Old Gnawbone and said that they could gift her something to gain her favour: maybe a rare grimoire or old knowledge but magical trinkets would just be insulting. They should also appeal to her vanity and ensure that they flatter and praise her but be warned: green dragons are incredibly manipulative and Old Gnawbone has been around for an incredibly long time and would have her own schemes as well. They presented him with their chicken from the Bag of Holding and he was not convinced: surely this was just a common beaked and feathered ground squirrel. However Fenris and Carlan managed to convince him to take it as a pet as the house was a bit lonely. He gave them a few gifts to help with Old Gnawbone: 3 potions of poison resistance and the crocheted clothing he had made for them. They bid goodbye to Chazlauth and decided to go shopping.

A few streets away they found an adventuring shop called “The Gilded Griffon”. The heroes had a spirited discussion with the owner Marra “Goldfeather” Thann about a discount that eventually resulted in the agreement of a 20% discount, in exchange for the party changing their name to “The Gilded Griffons” and wearing a tabard representing the store. With this they went on a shopping spree, selling off their unwanted items but also equipping themselves well with the 20% discount.

Wearing their new tabards (in Korrak’s case a crop-top version) they went in search of an Inn in the North ward to rest at and eventually settled on “Greenglade Tower”. This appeared to be a local wizard haunt with towers built off the main structure. Darius declared that he used to come here all the time as a youth. Inside the taproom they found elderly men playing dragonchess and dominoes and sipping tea. The landlord greeted them, recognising Darius somewhat and they asked for the cheapest room. For 1 silver he offered a room in upstairs that was due to be renovated soon so was unfurnished (and almost condemned). Carlan sang to the room about their recent adventure and earned free drinks (they found that this inn only served either tea or Absinthe, leading Darius to question his memories of the place). With that they all head off to bed.