A scream is heard from Victor’s room in the middle of the night.
Tim and Fecus respond to the attack on Victor.
Victor’s room is filled with poison gas and a pale, dark-veined
woman is trying to escape through the window.
Tim casts Telekinesis on the figure and pulls her into melee
range of himself and Fecus. A quick skirmish ends with Tim
casting Sleep on her.
The Abbot responds during the conflict to remove Victor by
flying him out the window of the bedroom.
Dmitri arrives at the conflict as the assassin is subdued by
Tim’s magic. Tim and Fecus want to interrogate her; Dmitri
suggests the oubliette under the wine cellar in the basement
of the house.
Dmitri leads Tim and Fecus and their prisoner downstairs
through the wine cellar and shows them the hidden trapdoor
in the floor and the key to it that hangs on a peg nearby.
Dmitri emphasizes the importance of staying quiet and
keeping the area clean to minimize the possibility of
upsetting Vera, who is focused on preparing the household
for its upcoming Summer Garden Party Series event. He
then returns upstairs.
Tim and Fecus wait for the assassin to wake up. When she
does, she tries to poison them from her position in the
oubliette, but Tim and Fecus were expecting her to do
something like that and they are able to step away from the
locked grate in the floor and avoid her poison gas cloud.
They have a strange conversation with her, trying to ascertain
her motives to injure Victor. She tells them that she was
following their group and picked Victor to target, because she
saw him as the weakest link in the party. Tim casts ESP on
her while Fecus continues questioning her. They learn she is
not motivated by gold, but a different currency that is not
available to them. Tim is able to get a visual of immense
gardens and a veiled figure who appears to control the
gardens and adjacent perfumery. From what they have
learned about the Darklords of Borca in their brief time in
the domain, they suspect that the figure and gardens are
related to Vana Boritsi. Tim Wizard Locks the oubliette and
he and Fecus return to the main floor of the house.
When they return to the main floor, they realize that it is
breakfast time. A servant approaches them with letters on a
silver platter. They have received 2 letters, one of them is an
invitation to Darklord Ivan Dilisniya’s estate and the other is
from Franco Ritter, inviting them to come investigate something
at his estate before the Summer Garden Party Series event he
is hosting within the week.
Anya, the youngest sister, tells Team Rams that Vera, Aurek,
and Natalia have left the estate to complete administrative tasks
in the city of Sturben. She gives them a warning that
Lord Ivan Dilisniya is so very boring. Dmitri offers to accompany
Team Rams to either the Ritter Estate or the Dilisniya Estate;
he's eager to get out of the party planning and social stress of his
own household.
Team Rams and Dmitri have breakfast and then pack up and
leave Esecklae. Their trip is uneventful as they travel through
the Founder’s Forest.
They cross the bridge over the Vasha River and begin
approaching the hunting cabin they were instructed to meet an
employee at as per the letter’s instructions. Dmitri is familiar with
its location; he used to hunt with his brother-in-law Charlie Ritter
when Charlie was still alive.
Arriving at the hunting cabin, Dmitri knocks and calls out for Mario,
the Ritter Estate employee they are supposed to contact.
No response at first, then the door quickly opens and Dmitri is
pulled inside and the door is slammed shut in the rest of the
Team’s faces.
Team Rams immediately break into a weird scene going on in
the cabin. There is a summoning circle with a demonic ooze
(Adult Oblex) sitting in it. It is wearing the face of a skeleton and
it says “You shouldn’t be here”. The other weird part is there is a tall,
gaunt man standing in the corner over the limp figure of Dmitri,
who was chloroformed or otherwise made unconscious.
The ooze begins to move outside the circle, inching towards Tim.
Tim casts Faerie Fire on the creature and Team Rams quickly kill it.
The man in the corner seems sad that the creature is deceased,
saying that it was helping him remove painful memories from his mind.
He allows Team Rams to collect Dmitri and revive him from his
unconscious state.
Dmitri suggests that they go talk to Franco Ritter directly, to find
out what is really going on here.
They leave the hunting cabin, and arrive at the golden arch marking
the entrance to the garden of Vetistiqua, the Ritter Estate proper.
Waiting at the arch is Franco Ritter who explains that his daughter,
Mimsy, has gone missing and he needs her found before the
Summer Garden Party Series event in less than a week. This is
the year of her debut. He is also concerned that the estate needs
some slimes and oozes cleaned up before the party. Team Rams
agree to help Franco Ritter find Mimsy and if they have time after that,
they will help eradicate the menaces corrupting the estate.
Ermordenung (Nostalia Romaine) imprisoned and interrogated =
1800 XP
Adult Oblex killed = 1800 XP
Total XP = 3600 XP
Tim and Fecus each receive 1200 XP
Gugula and Shelby each receive 600 XP
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