Looting the Amabel Villa

Ondar Thundercaller had been on Commerce an entire 9 days, and had yet to take a mission from Damakaios.  The large quinametzin had been occupied, trying every last drink in the Ripa Daneo Freelancers Tavern, both the public and the Freelancers-only rooms.  Then he'd started on the nearby taverns.  Somewhere in there, he'd found a supplier of magical weapons and had replaced the Nightside scimitar at his hip with a new magical rapier..

This morning he was having breakfast with Nix, who had returned the prior day having battled some clockwork owlbears that had been sent to raid goods from a komodo town in the west of the crater.  She was describing the battle to Ondar and it roused his curiosity.

Dryali was listening from a nearby table.  He didn't know Ondar, who had joined Freelancers in Cliffshadow after he'd left, and barely knew Nix, from a mission and the last Freelancer Arena.  Also those constructs sounded interesting and he made a mental note to ask Alvyn about it.

Ondar decided he should take a mission before trying any more drinks, and he and Nix rose to visit Damakaios.  Dryali stood up next to them.  "Mind if I join you?" he asked in a neutral tone, and was met with a come with us gesture.  They went up the stairs, Dryali musing how Ondar was almost 3' taller than he.

Once in Damakaios' office, Ondar looked around at all the edged small weapons Damakaios had on display, noting the better ones were behind the hanyou's desk for easy access.  He noted the maps on the wall, then found an Ondar-sized chair and sat, with intention.  Nix stood behind the chairs with her arms crossed in front of her, observing how this would play out.  Dryali ignored the tension and sprawled in a chair in the darkest part of the room.

Damakaios looked at the three of them, his expression plainly saying So that's how it is, then, and opened a thin drawer on the left side of his desk.  He reached deep into the drawer and pulled out some neat pieces of paper.  Then without preamble, he launched into the list of available missions.

First – track the clockwork owlbears from yesterday for the Mayor of Bati Kasabasi.  Try to figure out what it was doing?  …don't get lost.  250gp/person.

After that – Amabel Villa.

Also – House Hadid is looking for phase spider venom and silk.

Ondar:  "phase spider"?
Damakaios:  yes
Ondar:  that sounds like it could be interesting.
Dryali:  depends on if you want to ride it.
Nix:  there are two words there, and neither one would be something Nix is interested in having as an opponent

Next – investigation into Teontra stable.  They want the stable cleared of whatever is scaring the mounts.  It's … probably better to wait for more people.  I do not know what really is there; we hear cackling.

Lastly – the Most Serene Boundary monastery, Tranquil Crossing, wants Freelancers to investigate whatever has been killing the monks.

Dryali:  how many monks die?
Damakaios:  I think there is two.
Ondar:  Ondar is more interested in missions where combat is likely.
Nix:  want to check out the haunted house.  Am also interested in the stable, but will respect Damakaios' judgement.
Dryali:  am really interested in the stables, but perhaps chasing artificer creations through dark tunnels is a thing I could help with.
Damakaios:  I really don't think the stables is good for three.
Nix:  Dryali, what you want?
Dryali:  I'm less interested in spiders  - wait.  Where are they?
Damakaios:  I sent two people scouting, and out west in the mountains.
Ondar:  prefer haunted mansion, phase spiders, and the inadvisable mission.
Dryali:  okay, the haunted mission.
Damakaios:  you'll get paid for clearing out a room.  The last group to go went in through the balcony on which there'd been harpies, and found spectres and wraiths, which they'd dispatched.  They confirmed the next room over had magic items in an abandoned harpy nest, but also more wraiths.
Dryali:  how much is the pay again?
Damakaios:  250gp/person.  The Amabels acquired the deed; they did not do due diligence.  They don't care about the building's contents, but don't destroy the building.
Dryali:  you take all the fun out of this!
Damakaios <sternly>:  "fun removal" means "still getting paid".  <to the others>  the balcony there is not the only entrance, you do not have to go into that balcony again.
Dryali <astounded>:  why wouldn't we go where we know there are magic items?!
Nix:  let's rush the nest and get the items, then explore further.
Ondar:  Ondar is very interested in magical items.  Only now has replaced rapier taken by crew of the Osprey.

Damakaios raised an eyebrow at this audacious statement.  So did Dryali.  Ondar cast a side eye at his shield, but said nothing further.

The Amabel Villa was a fairly short distance east of the Freelancers Villa; perhaps half an hour if one strolls.  So it was in short order that Ondar, Nix, and Dryali found themselves on the balcony leading into the second-floor  room with the empty harpy nests, Frostclaw and Snowbolt left to guard in the atrium.  The Freelancers entered the building, looking to the far right door, which was the room with the aforementioned magic items.

They'd spoken with Ana, Cathance, and Quelenna before leaving, and learned what to expect, including that the wraiths resisted any magical damage short of pure force, and can drain your health if they physically struck you.  So Dryali created a protector eldritch cannon to bolster their own protection, and used his all-purpose tool to learn eldritch blast.

Then the artificer had a second thought, unsure about the interaction between the protector cannon and the health drain.  He cast aid on the three Freelancers.  Thus he was ready.

Dryali:  get stuff and run?
Nix:  get stuff, run, clear out another room.
Ondar:  if wraiths appear, let's kill them.

The Freelancers came up with a plan:  Dryali and Nix would grab the stuff with mage hand whilst Ondar would be ready for whatever happened.  Ondar did his best to look intimidating.  <Narrator's voice:  no, really, Matt rolled a nat 20 on intimidation.>

Ondar stood in the nearby corner, and Dryali and Nix stood as far back as they could; then they used their mage hand to grab what looked like weapon handles.  Nix was expecting a bone-handled daggar, but it turned out to be a femur that wasn't nearly old enough, and smelled bad.  Dryali pulled a nice-looking scimitar.

Two wraiths and a spectre materialized in the center of the room.

Ondar hadn't really believed there were wraiths, and his first reaction was to exclaim "Really?!"  He stepped into the doorway of the room, which was tall enough for him to get large, which he did.  Large Ondar then stabbed the nearest thing twice with his magical rapier.  The spectre dissipated into wispy shreds of ethereal, uh, stuff.  Large Ondar flexed – at the wraiths, at his fellow Freelancers – and then stepped back to the corner.

• The two remaining wraiths, exhaling in anger, floated out of the room to attack Large Ondar.  One stayed in the doorway.  They both missed, and the Freelancers all heard their breathy haaaaaahhhhhhh of frustration and failed intimidation.
• Dryali stowed the scimitar in his backpack, which was actually a handy haversack, as the protector cannon pulsed. Then he drew his arcane firearm and cast eldritch blast, sending a blast at the nearest wraith, the rippling air slamming it with force.  He tried that with a second blast, but critfailed and managed to drop the arcane firearm instead.
• Nix cast an uplevel'd chromatic orb, which settled on poison before it fizzled out entirely because she critfailed.
  • To everyone's surprise, especially Nix's, the wild magic surged and she grew a bushy beard … of silver-and-blue feathers.
    Dryali:  wow.
    Large Ondar:  something got you down?
  • Nix and her beard moved behind Large Ondar.
• Mercury flew up to the ceiling, ready to dodge any wraith action there.

Large Ondar pivoted to stab at the wraith Dryali had blasted.  He missed the first time but pierced the wraith on the second strike.

• The wraith in the doorway struck at Large Ondar with a bony-looking hand.  A gossamer wing reached out from Nix and blocked the wraith, which hissed at both Large Ondar and Nix.
• The damaged wraith rotated around Large Ondar to strike Nix.  Necrosis spread from where the wraith's bony hand touched the witch, somewhat offset by the protector cannon.  She felt like spectral claws were digging into her soul, but shrugged it off.
• As he picked up his arcane firearm, Dryali had the protector cannon pulse again, bolstering Nix.  Then he cast eldritch blast and sent two blasts at her attacker.  The first one missed, but the second one slammed the wraith with force.
• Nix cast mind sliver at the attacking wraith, but it avoided the effects.
• Mercury swooped down and Nix cast dragon's breath on her familiar, who flew to an appropriate angle and breathed poison on the two wraiths.  To no avail; wraiths are immune to poison.
  • Mercury flew back up to the ceiling, dismayed.

Large Ondar stabbied at the same wraith again with his magical rapier.  The first strike left it visibly tattered, but the quinametzin missed with his second strike.

• The wraith in the doorway swiped at Large Ondar and missed.
• The injured wraith let out a long haaaaaahhhhhhh and swiped at Nix, but also missed.  Its shoulders visibly slumped in disappointment.
• Dryali did not miss noticing it.  The protector cannon bolstered Nix further, but the Dark elf tried to learn something and shifted to speaking Primordial.
  • Dryali:  can you talk?!
    Wraith:  yes, now die.
    Large Ondar <in Trade>:  hospitality here leaves something to be desired.
    Dryali:  why are you here?
    Wraith:  to kill you!  Now die and get out!
  • Dryali cast eldritch blast again, sending the first blast at the wraith.  It disintegrated into wisps, still exclaiming "Get out!  Die!" in Primordial.
  • The artillerist turned his attention to the remaining wraith in the doorway.
    Dryali:  how about you?
    Wraith:  get out!  Die!
  • Dryali sent the second blast at it.  The rippling air slammed into it with force.
• Nix tried mind sliver on this other wraith, but it avoided the effects.  She moved slightly to be in line of sight of the doorway.
• Mercury stayed where he was.

Large Ondar missed the wraith in the doorway, then stabbed it with his magical rapier.

• The wraith hissed, the screeched in Primordial, "Die interlopers!"  It swiped dramatically at Large Ondar, missing.
• The protector cannon bolstered everyone, including Mercury, and Dryali was content to cast eldritch blast again and send the blasts at the remaining wraith.  The first one shot past its head, but the second one slammed into the wraith with force.
• Nix cast a twice uplevel'd magic missile at the wraith, the 5 darts slamming into it with force.
• Mercury flew down and breathed poison from dragon's breath again.
  • The wraith flinched, then cursed at the Freelancers in Primordial.  "Get out!  Your invading poison doesn't work on me, you fool!"

Large Ondar, watching the wraith hiss and snarl in a language unknown to him, hissed and snarled back at it, then stabbed it with his magical rapier.  The wraith wailed as it dissipated.

Dryali, reflecting on the conversation he'd had with the wraith, wasn't sure if they weren't there because of a trap summoning them.  He held up a hand.  "I want to see if three more materialize," he told the others.

The Dark elf cast mage hand again, and pulled something out of the nest.  Nothing materialized.  The item was the rib of a dog.

Large Ondar:  does the rib speak that hissing language too?
Dryali <smiled>:  primordial rib.
<Dryali used firebolt on the rib.>
Dryali:  cooked primordial rib!

The Freelancers entered the room and started thoroughly investigating.  Dryali and Nix were looking for items, but Large Ondar, with his new shiny rapier, was looking for things to stab.

Dryali embiggened his arcane firearm into a 10' pole, and invoked flash of genius, and thus found two weapons:  a finely-made daggar with a garnet on the hilt, and a javelin with a steel blade and gold chasing.  He showed them to the others before stowing them in his backpack.

Nix, who still had the feathered beard, found a ring in the opposite corner, with kind of a feather motif.  "Clearly, the ring should go to Nix," Large Ondar declared, trying to be jocular.

Then he asked, "Can we do detect magic without costing slots?"  Nix replied, "Yes, we can," and Dryali made a face.  He then said, "I can ritual cast it."  But, Nix ritual cast detect magic.  Perhaps she wondered why Dryali made a face, but she didn't ask.

Ten minutes later, Ondar was no longer large, Nix's feather "beard" had dissipated, and she had detect magic going.  Nix picked up a background "hum" of abjurative magic, which seemed to be protecting the entire structure.  She picked up a few hits of magic from the floor below, too.

Still running detect magic, Nix walked across to the unexplored room at the other end of the room with the harpy nests.  She got a hit on illusion magic, and a weird combination of transmutation and conjuration, similar to Dryali's backpack.  Dryali collapsed his 10' pole back into an arcane firearm, and walked with Ondar over to Nix.

The three Freelancers peered into the door.  It looked like a bedroom; there was a decayed bed, collapsing wardrobe and dresser, and what used to be a rug on the floor.  Nix's detect magic told her there were items in the dresser and on the far side of the bed.

Dryali:  I bet things will materialize again, if we grab with the mage hand.
Nix:  Ondar, there are magic items in there.
Ondar:  let's try it [the mage hand]

Dryali still had the protector cannon, and it pulsed out its highest possible bolstering.  Nix and Dryali positioned themselves, and used mage hand again.  Dryali pulled a bracelet out from behind the bed, but I guess Nix didn't use mage hand a lot, because this time she pulled the remains of a sock, which smelled bad.
 

Immediately upon doing this, they all heard a slurping sound, and looked up to see a reddish thing on the ceiling coming down around the door frame.  It sort of looked like congealed blood.  Dryali put the bracelet in his belt pouch for later as Ondar drew his rapier.

Ondar became large again, and stabbed at the bloody thing with his magical rapier.  He pierced it, then invoked his fire rune.  Fiery chains formed around it, then fell through and dissipated on the floor.  That was not the outcome Large Ondar was looking for, but the thing was burned a little at least.  He stabbed it again, then stepped back.  It tried to strike him with a gross glorping and missed, so he stepped back up to it.

• The ooze glorped right on over to Nix, and dropped to the ground in front of her.  Nothing happened to her, so unclear what that was supposed to do.
• Nix stepped back from it, and cast an uplevel'd chromatic orb, but it came back at her as a critfail and she had to extend a gossamer wing to avoid being hit.  She backed up another 10'.
• Dryali looked up to see if there were any other unpleasant experiences waiting for them on the ceiling, but there were not.  He also backed up 10', then shot a firebolt at the bloddy ooze, and missed.
• Mercury really did not approve of this place, and dodged.

Large Ondar did not like this thing.  He stabbed it again and again with his magical rapier, not even aware he was saying "Die!  Die!  Die!  Die!" as he did so.  He kept stabbing it as his adrenaline surged, and it died.  He looked at the others.  "What is that thing?"

Dryali and Nix looked at it.  Nix said, "I've heard about weird oozes, but this is too weird."  Dryali curled his lip, and said, "I've heard about undead ooze creatures.  Maybe it 'fits' this house."  He peered in the doorway again, looking for remains of any kind of person.  The others did too.  Nothing moved, so Dryali and Nix went into the room while Large Ondar waited in the doorway.

Nix checked the dresser, and easily found jewelry in the top drawer:  a silver necklace, a gold & garnet brooch, and a pearl&jet ring in a skull pattern.  This last thing was magical.

Dryali checked the wardrobe, and found a parasol.  It was whole, but everything else had disintegrated into dust.  He examined it closely.  It was mostly made of wood, the cloth part was nice silk.  Fascinated, he opened it, to find the silk was painted with flowers in an old style.  He closed it carefully, but clearly it was magic.

The Freelancers looked at each other, and decided to leave.  Dryali handed Nix the parasol, and she smiled.  Then they flew back to Freelancers Tavern.

Before walking back in, they briefly looked over the items they had:  a scimitar, a javelin, the charm bracelet, and two rings - all magical.  Nix realized the bracelet was a bracelet of holding, since it had the same "signature" on detect magic as Dryali's backpack, so she took that.  Ondar took the magical weapons, and realized the scimitar was another Nightside scimitar.  He affixed it to his back, crossing the one he already had.

That left the rings, so Dryali took those.  Then they went into the tavern.  Ondar sauntered in, scimitars glowing on his back, and Naranjos was impressed.

Nix entered, parasol twirling.  "Hey Ondar, can I buy you a drink?" she said.  Estarai looked at her, and exclaimed, "That is super old!  It's very out of fashion."  She got up and walked around Nix, appraising the parasol.  "That belongs in a museum!"

Dryali got an ice wine at the bar, then sat next to Damakaios, who was drinking a dark stout at a table with Naranjos.  They said nothing, but once Damakaios finished his beverage, they all went up to his office and he dispensed the mission fee.

• Dryali → lvl 8!