3. Plot - Homecoming: Kith and Kin

Plot - Homecoming: Kith and Kin


  • Homecoming: Kith and Kin

    [OOC: This thread documents the major developments and public information concerning this plotline. For all player character actions and discussions concerning this plot, please refer to the ancillary thread dedicated to player character actions and discussions.]

    The Letter

    It has been some time since your absence. You've been gone. Traveling, in faraway lands. Sailing, across harsh seas. Sojourning, through the cold dark. Or perhaps, simply laying low, somewhere else, depending on who you are...

    One way or another, you've been gone from Peltarch.

    Wreathed in as much intrigue as wealth, the City of Peltarch has almost forgotten who you are. Almost, but not quite. It is home to guilds, nobles, and kings. Home to your kith and kin, as well as your enemies.

    It is at this point during your absence that you receive a letter. It is addressed to you personally. You recognize the wax seal. Whoever it is from, you are invited to return home. Home, to Peltarch, for a new matter that beckons your attention...

    ... and you opened it.

    [DM Xanatos Gambit]


  • Proximus Gradus

    The Golden Geese have reportedly been busy. According to rumor, they:

    Following the raid on the doppelganger hive, they found memory crystals containing doppelganger studies on those individuals the hive intended to abduct, impersonate, and replace. Using these materials, the party has confirmed the identity of arcanist who has behind the curse spell that was cast upon King Thalaman Fisher.

    It appears to be that the King's brother, Prince Kasimir Fisher, hired the dark visage, imported the black knives weaponry, and cast the curse upon the King - apparently, it seems, as a step in a broader ritual requiring royal blood for the revivification of an ancient lich.

    Meanwhile, during the doppelganger raid, General Gom squared off against Prince Kasimir in City Hall. Upon further investigation of the battle site, George Longcloak found a speck of the Prince's blood, a necessary ingredient for the spell to reverse the curse cast upon the King. That is, the blood of the original caster.

    Salin Ashald, who correctly identified the spell, further intuited that a powerful Siamorphan's assistance would be the best way to minimize the risks of spell failure - considering the party only has one chance to use the current ingredients.

    During this time, Reyhenna Jorino beheaded Alaric Glades, a Siamorphan delegate, and then imprisoned the remainder of the Siamorphan clergy and diplomats in the city. Consequently, Temperance of Gulderhorn and her Silver Chalice battalion approach the Jewel of the Icelace.

    In view of the need for a powerful Siamorphan priest, Reyhenna Jorino, George Longcloak, and General Gom have agreed to offer Temperance an armistice and request her assistance.

    Gulderhorn's battalion is poised to siege the city as initially promised to purge it of its alleged military usurpers. Only time will tell whether she chooses to accept the offer of Peltarch's military.

    [DM Xanatos Gambit]


  • Aoth Sepret, while flying overhead in the docks, spotted an unknown trespasser sneaking into the Daedalus compound. She followed him inside in the form of a small rodent, and observed him as he stealthily raided the offices of a high-ranking Daedalus officer. There, he found and began to transcribe the officer's journal.

    She was, however, spotted by the rogue after shape-changing into a human and trying to open a certain door. An armed conflict between her and the rogue ensued. The battle eventually drew the attention of the Daedalus guards.

    When Aoth flew through a window to take the battle outside, Isolde Garibaldi and Reyhenna Jorino took notice of the battle and joined in, forcing the rogue to use a teleportation crystal and escape -- leaving behind the transcribed journal, which contained private details and accounts concerning the guild leader Cobin Daedalus.

    The party handed the transcription to the Daedalus guild, along with a warning.

    . . .

    This same trespasser also ambushed the party during their second investigation into the laboratory beneath Richard Gale's house. The party intended to make sure the shaft leading underground remained properly sealed. It was not, and it was again re-opened using magic.

    In his ambush, the rogue used a magical scroll that pushed everyone in the party down the open shaft, except for Ivette Aimery, a nearly-mute and highly strange newcomer, who is not quite yet a fully fledged member of the Golden Geese.

    The rogue tried to reason with Ivette, and seemed to know about her more than anyone the party has encountered so far. He invited her to abandon the party, and escape on her own stealthily upstairs. "They're your allies, is that it? You think that'll stay true once they know what you are?"

    Ivette refused his offer, and instead helped the party by calling for help from the guard and defenders the party brought along with them and stationed upstairs.

    Nearly surrounded, the rogue once again used a teleportation crystal to escape.

    Aoth, once again, used druidic magic to seal the tunnel to the Underdark, and Defenders and Guards were posted in Richard Gale's basement to keep watch.

    [DM Xanatos Gambit]


  • Whisperers in the city spoke of Enenan Snydders allegedly launching an indirect attack against a Lolthite drow camp in the Underdark. Apparently, Snydders was motivated in a search for a certain arcane artefact, and sent arcane golems to uncover the foregoing.

    When the Drow counter-attacked the City of Peltarch, word of Snydders' involvement reached the Royal Council. Snydders was (and remains) removed as Master of Coin, thus losing his seat on the Royal Council.

    In a quiet conversation with Enenan Snydders, he denied the account and all involvement. Someone else, he insists, attacked the Drow. He asked the party to uncover evidence exonerating him from all involvement.

    . . .

    During an investigation, your party uncovered an observation laboratory beneath the home of Richard Gale. The laboratory contained a scrying orb, along with numerous blank notes and parchments. Some notes and parchments, however, contained textual descriptions of certain figures, notably King Thalaman Fisher, Kasimir Fisher, and Enenan Snydders. Your party ascertained it was highly likely other notes and observations were taken in the laboratory, but were removed prior to your arrival.

    The observation laboratory also contained a downward shaft with numerous platforms, ladders, and makeshift stairs. After a long descent, the party realized that the shaft reached beneath the sewers and catacombs, and eventually to the Underdark.

    There the party traveled and reached a drow patrol. Following an altercation, the party killed two drow, and left the third alive. The party allowed the third drow to live on the condition he inform his masters that Enenan Snydders and the City of Peltarch was not involved in any golem attacks.

    Aoth Sepret then used druidic magic to seal the tunnel shaft leading to the underdark.

    [DM Xanatos Gambit]


  • Following the revelation of doppelganger activity in Peltarch -- the extent and purpose of which still remains unclear to your party -- Reyhenna Jorino, accomanied by George Longcloak, Aoth Sepret, Isolde Garibaldi, and Asha Jonnisdottir attempted to lock down City Hall and conduct inspections of personnel and security members.

    The initial efforts revealed that Sir Richard Gale, one of the Kingsguard, was in fact a doppelganger. This is the Kingsguard assigned to guard Prince Kasimir Fisher. Who or where the original Richard Gale is now remains a mystery, but a conflict broke loose in the throne room.

    During the fight, word and screams spread fast of the conflict and of the allegations.

    Following the defeat of Richard Gale's doppelganger, Prince Kasimir Fisher approved your party's request for permission to lock down City Hall and conduct further inspections.

    This expensive process involved the casting of "True Seeing," both from your party's spellcasters as well as the use from magical scrolls and rods which were on hand.

    Three personnel in City Hall -- two clerks, and one Cerulean Knight -- went missing prior to the inspection. That is in addition to two other Kingsguard (assigned to protect King Thalaman Fisher himself) who also went missing prior to the inspection.

    [DM Xanatos Gambit]


  • The Faceless Ones

    Representatives of your party, that is, George Longcloak, Reyhenna Jorino, Aoth Sepret, and Isolde Garibaldi, made inquiries into rumors surrounding the young nobleman Cedric Kildarn.

    Allegedly, Cedric Kildarn was pursuing the noblewoman Anastasia Snydders, niece to the enigmatic Enenan Snydders. That is despite her apparently betrothal to another noble, from some for-now unidentified family from Hoarsgate.

    Cedric Kildarn denies the allegations. That is despite the fact that the allegations of the affair were corroborated by multiple eye-witness accounts of the nobleman pressing the woman in public.

    When Cedric Kildarn's denials were confirmed via a "Zone of Truth" spell, it was determined that the nobleman was mad or moon-touched and simply did not remember his attempts at the Snydders woman. He was subsequently admitted to the Temple Lighthouse for rest and healing.

    When your party spoke with the man, he did not recall many details, and could only call his accusers liars.

    Reyhenna Jorino decided to eat the man's meal, served to him by an elderly nurse. When Jorino became quietly ill, and began to lose memories, your party determined that she was poisoned and that the source of the poison was in fact the meal served by the elderly nurse.

    It was later revealed that the elderly nurse was actually a patient at the Temple Lighthouse, and had taken the poisoned Kildarn away from the treatment area.

    Following a pursuit and confrontation, the elderly woman was revealed to be a doppelganger. This entity was attempting to poison and influence Cedric Kildarn into forgetting what he had seen -- apparently, the doppelganger's true face. The circumstances of this revelation for now remain unclear, but the doppelganger was slain by your party.

    Unfortunately, this was not before the doppelganger murdered Cedric Kildarn during altercation.

    [DM Xanatos Gambit]


  • The Mob

    Not everyone is happy to see you return to Peltarch.

    And not everyone is interested in a detailed or even truthful account of your motivations and interests.

    Word on the street is that George Longcloak is in the pocket of Queen Martha Fisher, whom nobles and commonfolk both suggest secretly seeks to claim the throne for herself. Her inability to birth children for the late and former King has made her bitter and resentful, so they say. Perhaps she is the one who took the stolen weaponry, to finally begin her maneuvers against her ungrateful in-laws, the King and is brother?

    Rumors abound now that Aoth Sepret has agreed to help House Bravickus clear its name from involvement in the hijacked weaponry. The House is already guilty in the eyes of the public, and now Aoth is guilty by association. The druid has found herself accosted by strangers when walking down the streets. Could it be that she secretly longs for a city thrown into chaos, and is helping Bravickus to that end?

    Reyhenna Jorino's reputation remains in tatters, both among the noble and commonfolk. She is called a "pretender," for her alleged fraudulent assumption of the identity of Elizabeth Fisher, the Crown Princes and daughter of Damian Fisher. Perhaps she stole the weapons, as part of her pattern of aggression and disloyalty to the Crown?

    Isolde Garibaldi, whose reputation is a mixed bag, has faced more trouble of late from commonfolk and nobles who remember the allegations against her from her involvement with demons and devils. Indeed, she allegedly carried a cursed sword that attracts fiends, and many believe her to still be carrying it and to be involved in the missing weaponry.

    Vernadetta Di Alva Dolcexicio is in league with a known criminal, the Mercenary Harlow. She is a known sympathizer for the mercenary's plans. Perhaps she has conspired with him to waylay the weaponry and hold the city hostage for funds or other selfish demands?

    People claim that Cormac Randolph is apparently a warlock or occultist, involved in shadowy magic to summon forth ancient monstrosities. Many claim that the man brings a curse to the city, darkening rooms simply by even entering them, or bringing misfortune to all who come into contact with him. Maybe his bad luck is the reason the weapons were stolen?

    Others believe Asha Jonnisdottir is responsible for the stolen weaponry, in the name of her father, the Baron Jonni Aelthasson, who lost a significant fraction of his fortune funding the King's many parties and vices. Perhaps she has stowed them away in the Witch and Seer Inn, her father's headquarters, and known bastion of republicans and other traitors?

    The elven spellcaster Myrcella reputedly stole the "Black Arrow" from Guard Captain Oscar Halbrook's care, apparently to run experiments on the arrow. How else could she have acquired it? Now people wonder if the reason she is conducting such experiments is to prepare for or advise upon the use of the actual stolen shipment of weapons.

    [DM Xanatos Gambit]


  • The Weapons

    Each of you received a letter from someone, seeking to meet and discuss a certain matter concerning missing weaponry.

    Specifically, a coach has been waylaid, hijacked, looted, and abandoned by the road in the Nars. The coachman, employed by House Bravickus, was found injured, with no recollection of the event. Cerulean investigation into the matter, however, revealed traces of magic comparable to the necromancy used to enchant the so-called "Black Arrow." That is, the arrow used by the assassin Meadow to permanently slay Lorrin Wilkes'. Weaponry that prevents resurrection, and causes true death.

    Everyone who knows in Peltarch is concerned. The general consensus is that House Bravickus is involved in a plot against the Crown, the nobles, or the city at large. After all, why else would the house import such dangerous materials into the city?

    If not Bravickus, then who would bring such materials? Who stole them? And where are they, now?

    Each of you has been contacted, one way or another, by one of the factions in Peltarch. They each want to answer these questions, and put an end to the threat of potential true death. Neither, however, trusts the other.

    You, on the other hand, have been pooling information from the various sources, and likely have a clearer picture than any other force in the city. That is because you have met with old friends, who, like you, have been contacted by former or new benefactors.

    [DM Xanatos Gambit]