If You Think Your Family’s Crazy, You Should See Mine!
The Saturday game, recapping 8/22/20 – The man we rescued introduces himself as Mordlock Vanthampur and is from a noble family in Waterdeep. We tell him we have found evidence that his two brothers, Amrik and Thurstwell, hired these cultists to kill him which does not surprise him. He tells us more about his family. His mother is the Duke Vanthampur and is protecting a cult leader from Elturel hidden in the basement of Vanthampur Manor through a secret door in the wine cellar. He also explains his family are worshippers of Zariel, Archduke of Avernus.
We tell Mordlock that we have discovered an order from Amrik to Vaaz, the cultist, to kill our friend Mirt, rumored to be one of the Lords of Waterdeep. Mordlock urges us to raid the treasury upstairs and then go save Mirt while warning us that his brother Thurstwell uses imps as spies everywhere. In the treasury, we find four locked chests containing four artifacts related to the dragon goddess Tiamat.
We hurry to the statue of the Beloved Ranger where Mirt is to speak at an event held by the Cassalanter’s Confraternity of Refugee Relief. Before we can intervene, an arrow soars through the crowd hitting Mirt. Mirt’s body explodes releasing four bearded devils and eight Nupperibo demons. Our party and the guards destroy the demons and one assassin. Unfortunately, the other assassins fled. In the aftermath, Force Grey approaches us and asks us to meet with the Greystaff.
In Mirt’s office at the Opera House, we meet with the Greystaff and Vittorio Casstalanter. They ask us to get to the bottom of the Vanthampur situation by any means necessary, but to do so discreetly. We agree to do so and leave to return to Trolllskull Manor where we take a long rest, identify some items, and feel as though we have achieved a milestone.
The next evening, we venture to the Castle Ward to the Vanthampur Manor. After the Archer scouts for guards, we devise our plan. Except the Rogue, we all jump into the portable hole which the Rogue then takes. After turning invisible, the Rogue opens the unlocked gate and main door. The first room is filled with vases. To the east is an empty room that appears to be servants’ quarters. Here, the team pops out of the portable hole.
To the west is a gallery containing the statue of a woman holding a tressym cat. The room has two doors west, one door east and a staircase leading up. The Rogue sneaks through the east door to discover the kitchen where a cook is preparing a meal. A tressym cat approaches the Rogue and gets treats as a reward. The Rogue casts sleep on the cook which succeeds! In part of the kitchen, the Rogue sees stairs leading down to the wine cellar and the secret area that Mordlock told us about.
Casting speak with animals; we have a discussion with the cat whose name is Slobberchops. Slobberchops is not too fond of someone in the house and he leads the party out of the kitchen and upstairs. The Rogue charms a guard named Frank who assists us in killing all the other guards who attack us. Frank tells us the layout of the rooms leading from this hall which are the bedrooms of the three sons, the Duke’s bedroom, and the Duke’s study. Currently only Thurstwell is at home and Slobberchops hisses in the direction of his door. We thank Frank for his service by tying him up and gagging him.
The Paladin throws open the door to Thurstwell’s room and demands his head! On a table in the room, we see an iron box and a draconic bronze mask. Thurstwell cast a spell causing necrotic damage on the Paladin. Slobberchops hisses in a direction high on a wall. Casting see invisibility, the Archer tells the party we have three imps and four helmed horrors also in the fight. Through a combination of whacking on them and the Cleric’s spirit guardians, we kill Thurtwell and his nasties. The iron box contains an infernal puzzle box which we will not attempt to solve at this time since it would be quite dangerous to do so.
On Thurstwell, we find a letter from Amrik asking him to identify any heirs to the Majerus family from Elturgard (of which Elturel is the main city) from among the refugees. This may be the motivation for all the deaths of the refugees pouring into Waterdeep
The rest is just clean up. We get a signet ring from a box in Amrik’s room. From a bookcase, we find a book “Last Charge of the Hellriders,” which contains a cavity with two keys. From the Duke’s bedroom, we take various items. Up a staircase, we find and free two prisoners using the keys.
Doubling back, we go back down through the kitchen to the wine cellar. In an undercellar, we come upon more demons; the slaying of which must await until next time.
