Session 12 - Where Do Demons Dwell?

This is the 12th session of the game Ashes.

Bullet Points

 * 1) The party spent the night sleeping at the Sour Root.
 * 2) They had discovered a hidden compartment with gems, a pistol, and a note saying "Conjure the Cord". A mysterious drow man later arrived saying he wanted to sleep in the communal room, spoke with Acaelus, revealed he was here for the hidden compartment, took it, and left.
 * 3) The next morning Beatrice told the group the story of Sybil and Finny.
 * 4) Emeran, alone, stayed behind and asked Beatrice about three former companions, while Acaelus spied on him with Shawn.
 * 5) The party bought a couple of magic items from Marsh.
 * 6) They picked up another quest in the same direction, finding carpet merchants.
 * 7) The party decided to head to the bridge after seeing the climb they would have to do instead.
 * 8) At the bridge, the group was attacked by four Bulezaus.
 * 9) Descending further the group found cultists and a Barlgura.

Summary
The Patrons arrived in the Sour Root Tavern and spoke briefly with Beatrice about why they were visiting her and that they wanted to rent a room. Seeing how haggard the party looked Beatrice told them that she would speak with them in the morning and that they could rent one of the rooms. The party tried some of the sour ale and headed up to their rooms to sleep. With a quick investigation around the party discovered a hidden hatch in the center of the room containing a lockbox, a flintlock pistol, five gold pieces, and a note that read "Conjure the Cord". Opening the lockbox revealed close to 5000 gold pieces worth of gems. The gems seemed to be those used in the creation of magic items. The party debated for a time whether or not to take the contents of the box, and tried to figure out why it was there, and what the note meant.

The party decided to sleep on their decisions and during the first watch, Emeran heard a knock on the door. A drow man was at the door with a key to the room asking if he could take one of the beds. Apparently the Sour Root had multiple keys and a communal bedchamber. Emeran declined to let the drow man in, seeing if he could find another place instead, and the drow left. During Acaelus's watch, the drow man returned and was allowed in by Acaelus after a brief talk. The two of them chatted for a time once the man was inside and eventually the drow man revealed that he was a killer of some kind, and his reward was in the hidden compartment. He said that he didn't want to wait until morning to get it out, and asked if he could take care of it now. Acaelus said he could, but asked him what the note means. The man replied that he would need to give up once to the darkness and that she would be there for him. During the last watch, Astraea encountered some orphans who were asking for food, and she gave them some rations and gold.

In the morning the group discussed the encounter with the drow man, and after Acaelus revealed some of the specifics of what he said it recalled information about the Matron from both Themus and Autumn who are followers. Conjure the Cord had something to do with the salvation within the divinity of the Matron. That if you leave the Cage or the Gate, you will see the ever-expanding chords that bind and tie all things, fates interlocking with fates, people to people. The context of "conjure the cord" has something to do with that, but the party wasn't able to glean more.

The party spoke with Beatrice the next morning, and she told them the story of Sybil and Finny:
 * 1) Sybil arrived in Honeybridge around a year ago.
 * 2) She was accosted by people but was able to defend herself with magic
 * 3) She stayed in town for around a month, making friends with Beatrice and Marsh, maybe a few others but not as close as those two
 * 4) She was running away because she had just escaped from an experiment club in Kronstrad because she was an Aasimar
 * 5) She used an old tunnel to get her here. The old tunnel was made by a halfling bar owner named Finny Copperfeet. Over the course of a few years, Finny built a tunnel beneath his bar, eventually having to sell the bar himself, while sneaking inside to continue working on the tunnel. He eventually went mad digging, kept going, built a workable elevator, got to Sybil who was trapped in the earth.
 * 6) They ended up leaving the Jaunt, but Sybil doesn’t talk about what happened after that, just that she ended up in an experiment club, she thought Finny was involved, escaped, fled back to her old tunnel and made her way here looking for shelter.
 * 7) While she was here she did some investigating and left northward saying that she could sense a “Little piece of home” in that direction. And she left
 * 8) Eventually, Finny himself came looking for Sybil and the whole town receded to him, nobody who knew Sybil told him anything for fear he was involved in the experiment clubs. He had to be kicked out of the Sour Root almost every night for his drunken behavior, Beatrice was convinced that his suicide was brought on by his excessive drinking, either he had an accident, or it fueled his depression.
 * 9) Finny would say that he was owed something from Sybil and that they were in love.

Emeran decided to stay back while the party left to speak with Beatrice privately. Acaelus was suspicious of this and decided to have Shawn sneak into the room so he could observe the conversation. Emeran asked her if she had seen an Albino Tiefling, a gnome woman, or a Tabaxi woman, and she had seen a Tabaxi approximately how Emeran described heading downward.

The party now had a lead, go north and find in Sybil's words "a little piece of home". Beatrice told the party about two potential pathways heading northward. Either way, they would need to pass the Northern Falls, but it would lead to an impasse, left would take them to the abandoned bridge which was attacked by monsters recently, and right would take them to a sheer cliff that they would need to climb down. Both paths eventually lead back to the main hub of tunnels, which is where most likely Sybil was heading.

The group stopped twice to first visit Marsh's shop and buy some magic items, and second to see if they could pick up a quest in the same direction. At Marsh's shop, they bought an Ioun Stone of Mind Reading, and a wand called the Pestilent Thorn. They then stopped at a carpet store and met a man named Degdin, he was willing to pay the party 2000 gold pieces if they could find two of his workers who had gone missing northward. They accepted.

The party ventured northward for a time deciding to climb down the cliffside, but after arriving and thinking on the logistics found it unlikely to work well, and headed down the abandoned bridge instead. There the party found a group of Bulezau's near the upturned bridge and a fight began. During the fight Astraea and Autumn were both infected with the disease carried by the Bulezau's. After beating them and taking over the bridge the party took a short rest. During this time they discovered that each of the demons had a number tattooed behind their ears, and had wrist and ankle injuries indicative of binding or torture.

The party continued ahead near a large chamber, they see people in cages, a burning cauldron of fire, and a man wearing black firey-looking robes. A large sound comes from one of the hallways and they see a large Barlgura and three other cultist leading it on chains enter the room. The Barlgura starts to sniff the air.