Wednesday, October 11th, 2017
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With the citizens of Sandpoint reveling in the banishment of Theophilus, since something like this hasn’t happened recently, Fobias and Barnaby are instead focused on bringing the ex-Professor on their quest to defeat Nualia. They gather some information from Vorvashali Voon, as Theophilus would occasionally peruse the trinkets on display at The Feathered Serpent.
Barnaby instantly strikes up a rapport with the quirky merchant, and mentions his desire to hunt the Sandpoint Devil with his good friend, Aldern Foxglove. Unfortunately, Aldern left Sandpoint a week ago, heading back to Magnimar. Finding himself suddenly inundated with free time, Barnaby is excited by the beck-and-call of adventure promised to him by his half-orc friend.
Before heading to the Turandarok Academy to find Theophilus, the newly acquainted pair decide to sneak Krask into the city; he has the most information and experience, after all.
The party discovers Theophilus (henceforth ‘Theo’) packing up his belongings in his office. Suspecting that the group are with the Sandpoint Herald, Theo coldly dismisses them from his presence. It isn’t until Krask brings up Nualia’s transformative ritual into the conversation that Theo begins to listen. He is intrigued by furthering his studies by witnessing a commune with Lamashtu firsthand.
Ilsoari Gandethus, Headmaster of the Academy, bursts into the room while the conversation is taking place, and the animosity between him and Theo is abundantly clear. He pulls a copy of ‘The Compendium of the Converging Confluence’ from Theo’s belongings, so that the ex-Professor doesn’t leave town with one of the Academy’s possessions. When Theo snidely mentions that he wrote part of the book, Ilsoari rips Theo’s chapter from the binding, tosses the pages to the floor, and storms out. A black centipede skitters up Theo’s leg, disappearing beneath the folds of his robes.
They plan to meet up the following morning, which allows Krask and Fobias the time they need to tend to their wounds and receive some much-needed healing from the Cathedral. Morning comes, and the party swells to four.
Back at Thistletop, things aren’t quite as Krask and Fobias left them. A small goblin is nailed to the front door, with a note pinned to his mouth, marked with a single word – Weak. Orik, the mercenary knocked unconscious by Silas, is nowhere to be found. A brief reconnaissance into the living quarters reveals little about Thistletop’s inhabitants. The party presses on to the second basement level, ready for their confrontation with Nualia and her loyal yeth hound.
Fobias, having remembered the trouble that the portcullis trap had given them in their previous visit, pries a plank from the stockade wall and creates a makeshift bridge to avoid triggering the deadly glaives. They turn the corner and open the door to the circular chamber where Nualia had presented them with visions of their possible futures.
She is gone.
The burnt papers and smashed artifacts serve as evidence that someone left in a hurry and they also provide context for the grisly scene sprawled out in front of the party: Niko’s half-eaten body is nearly unrecognizable, and Silas’s belly has been cut open with the Mark of Lamashtu. Anything of substantial use has been stripped from their bodies. Krask sets them ablaze in a rudimentary cremation. That is the extent of the party’s mourning.
They venture through a short hallway to the south, revealing an L-shaped chamber with a massive column of oversized, golden coins stretching from the floor to the ceiling. Theo reads the spiky Thassilonian etched into the sides of the coins – “Pay the way and the gold shall guide you.” Krask notices seven thin slots in the columns and notices that there is a hollow space behind the pillar. They eagerly place coins into the slots, each one clattering to the stone floor on the other side with a metallic ring.
Surprisingly, however, the seventh coin doesn’t make a sound as it hits the ground. Instead, the sides of the stack rotate outwards and recess into the wall, revealing a secret chamber filled with stale air.
Three doors beckon.
What is hiding behind this lavish stack of golden coins? Has Nualia been reunited with her well-paid mercenary, Orik? What’s behind door number three?