Session 0049 - Seeking Invisible Prey

Roster

List of characters who's player was in attendance

Player characters who's player is attending the game start with 1 Hero Point, and can get more during the session.

Absent

List of characters who's player was absent

Player characters for missing players do not start the session with a hero point, and can not get any more during the session.

001-Alicia Silvermane: Matt

Session Log

The session resumes with the party attempting to chase down the spellcaster who became Invisible. The spellcaster clearly has trouble navigating down the ziggurat. Eriana could hear the spellcaster stumble and fall attempting to navigate down to the last tier, so she is confident where they are though the invisibility keeps them hidden.
Eriana takes a short run and a Long Jump in an attempt to land of the spellcaster. She has no problem making the necessary 15-foot jump, but ends up landing on the hard stone and misses her target.
Meanwhile, Ferdinand, Hrovard and Muroni all move towards the open archway to the north to block it off. Hrovard and Ferdinand get there first and use their bodies to try and block the exit.
Alicia and Harbek remain holding the double doors they entered the room from. Rebar decides to join the others, running to get around the ziggurat on the way to the open archway.
On the ziggurat, Eriana senses that their invisible quarry is on the move. Once again the person struggles to get down the last level of the ziggurat, clearly falling down to the main floor.
Once again Eriana thinks she knows where the spellcaster is so she makes another Long Jump to try and land on them. She makes the 15-foot jump from a standing position but once again misses, falling 10-feet to the main floor and injuring herself again (at this point Eriana is down to single digit hit points).
Muroni scans the area and is convinced she hears the spellcaster just a few feet from Eriana to the west.
Both Ferdinand and Hrovard decide to hold the open archway. Ferdinand drops his weapons and quickly pulls out two pieces of chalk from his backpack and scatters the dust around the archway. The majority of the chalk dust falls on the north side of the door, but he does seem to be successful in covering the area.
Moments later the spellcaster is on the move again and Hrovard feels them bump up against him.
Rebar gets to the party bringing his Everlight Crystal to make this dimly lit part of the room much brighter. Eriana realizes the spellcaster is on the move again and she scans the area trying to detect them - both by sound and by the smell of the sulphur splashed on them (i.e. via imprecise senses). Unfortunately she does not succeed, though the party feel it is likely they are near Hrovard.
Muroni is nearby and she seeks the target and is convinced they are right in front of Hrovard. She uses her bow and shoots at the target and hits them! The arrow breaks and briefly confirms that the spellcaster is indeed standing right before Hrovard, still within the giant chamber.
Hrovard drops his weapons and attempts to grapple the invisible target and suceeds. He calls out to everyone that he has the person held. On hearing this Alicia and Harbek begin to run over to join the rest of the party.
Once the person is held the rest of the group move over in an attempt to help out. Ferdinand grabs his spare rapier and attempt to run them through but misses. He tries a second time but fumbles and ends up falling prone.
Rebar also runs into melee with a dagger and tries to hit the invisible target but misses.
Muroni drops her bow and runs in with a Shortsword, but does not have the time to swing yet. At the same time Eriana runs in and also attempts to grapple but misses.
The invisible person makes no attempt to escape, but is clearly squirming under the grapple of Hrovard. He attempts to maintain the grapple but fails, and the person slips free.
It becomes clear after this that the person has managed to tumble past Hrovard and Ferdinand and is likely now on the other side of the archway.
Rebar moves through the archway and scans the area and notices that the chalk has been disturbed and it looks like it is leaving a trail down a passage to the east. He runs in that direction calling out to the party that their quarry has gone that way.
Eriana quickly runs up and into the hallway, stopping to scan the area but does not succeed in locating the invisible spellcaster.
All the others begin to move into the hallway seeking this person. Meanwhile, Alicia is just managing to reach the party. Harbek is much slower than everyone else and lags behind.
From the hallway, Eriana can see a closed massive stone door at the end of it with her darkvision. As she is stopped trying to listen for the spellcaster the door opens, clearly revealing where they are.
The party all rush to the door and once again locate the person where they had just opened the door but not yet steps through. These doors are massive, like the double doors they recently went through. They are well balanced, but heavy and a bit slow to move.
It isn't long before Eriana gets next to the invisible person and attempts to grapple them, but she fails. It takes a moment for Hrovard and Ferdinand to catch up because they both spend a moment to collect the weapons they dropped.
Beyond the door is a large chamber 60 feet across and 80 feet wide. There is an archway to the south and the room is empty.
Rebar rushes into the room and is convinced the spellcaster went through the archway. This room and the one beyond the archway are not lit, so Rebar can not see far beyond the archway.
In response, Eriana runs into the room and through the archway. There is another large chamber on the other side of it, 40 feet across and 80 feet wide. There is another closed large stone door on the opposite (south) wall. She runs right up to the door and blocks it, noticing that it appears the door should open inwards into the room.
At this point the party all begin to move into the room. Muroni suggests they close the door as it appears there are no other exits other than the two doors. It takes a moment for Ferdinand and Hrovard to get into the room, but Alicia and Harbek still trail behind.
It becomes clear that it is still going to take a while for Harbek to reach them, so Alicia closes the door with herself and the dwarf on the other side while the rest of the party try to track the trapped invisible spellcaster. The hallway is dark, so Alicia spends some time fishing out the lantern from her backpack and lighting it.
Those in the room all work to scan the room trying to sense where the caster is by sound, the smell of sulphur and traces of chalk they walked through. This proves to be difficult, and they are unable to nail down the location of this person.
Muroni calls out in the common tongue and says "Look, the doors are blocked and there is no way out. Your invisibility will expire soon so you might as well give yourself up."
There is a long pause and then a response, in a dry raspy masculine voice - "True. If I reveal myself can we all agree to stop trying to kill each other and have a civil conversation?"
This is a bit surprising, and some are reluctant to agree but the party does agree to talk and not just kill them outright.
Moments later there is a loud slap and the person appears near the archway.
They are dressed in tight-fitting clothes and a cloak that covers their head an face. Magic still surrounds them as their body appears quite blurry.
The initial exchange starts with the person saying "May I ask who you are and why you are here?"
Everyone is quick to respond that they are here chasing down the Emerald Claw because they are about to do something very dangerous. Eriana adds that the cultists are enemies and if this person is allied with them then it makes them complicit.
During this exchange, Alicia and Harbek rejoin the group.
This person takes a moment to pause, bow and say "Where are my manners? Allow me to introduce myself - I am Arkaban. I am not will the Emerald Claw. Their leader, Garrow, hired me."
After a bit of an exchange it seems he might be for hire, so Ferdinand asks if he'd work for them, wondering if their employer in Sharn would pay the fee. Muroni speaks up and offers to compensate them immediately if Arkaban agrees to switch allegiances.
This seems to lighten up Arkaban considerably, and he agrees.
Arkaban asks if he may tell them more and is encouraged to do so. He relates that his "previous" employer is Garrow, who he admits used a disguise to claim to be Provost Maisy Beckett to fool Rebar. He does not know what that is all about, nor why they decided to keep the warforged with them.
He also claims not to know much about the cult and only realized how nasty they were when they mercilessly killed all the drow in this complex. Arkaban claims to be from Karrnath.
Apparently Garrow is at the top of this complex with the largest contingent of soldiers. There is a massive stone chair or throne there, sized for a giant, that is on a big movable platform with many symbols. His job was to use his knowledge to decipher runes to understand more about this place.
Arkaban was sent to study the ziggurat because it also has runes on it they hoped with give them clues about the chair, which seems to be the focus of Garrow's attention right now.
He was still in the process of trying to decipher them when the party barged into the chamber and slew the guards and began to chase him. In a panic he tried to flee, obviously.
Unfortunately he has been unable to decipher the runes. However, Arkaban is now convinced that the runes are in code and require a cypher to decode properly. He takes a moment to explain that he essentially needs a key to unlock the meaning of the runes, much like a locked door or chest needs a specific key to open it.
This is something he was going to go and tell his former employer, but he has not been able to relay that information yet. He suspects that the cypher is likely hidden somewhere in this complex. The next place he was going to check was up the other set of stairs on the west side of the complex (this is the set of stairs on the gallery level opposite the stairs the party went up before encountering the Emerald Claw soldiers here).
Apparently there is a small contingent of Emerald Claw solders where were exploring that part of the complex that were having trouble getting past a door. They are likely still there.
With Arkaban clearly now on their side and happily telling them all this, everyone in the group is convinced he is being truthful.
Getting a closer look at Arkaban the party notice that his face, arms and hands - all the parts they can see not covered in clothing are wrapped in cloth. He claims to have a terrible condition that affects his skin and voice, but is otherwise just fine.
At this point the party feel quite worn out. It is late and they are hurt and have expended quite a few resources. It is decided they should check out the soldiers to see if any of them have survived then find a good place to rest up and recover.