Return to the Rissolio residence

Year: 1491, Month: Tarsakh, Date: 23rd

Chello checks how Celery is doing.  Her skin has gone translucent and slimy, just like poor Arten's.  Chello says we need to keep her moist or she will die.  She has been poisoned by the Aboleth, and just to compound a little more, has also contracted sewer plague.  Chello says her ailments are beyond her skills to heal and we will need to get help.

We let a little water back in the chamber so it is deep enough that she won't drown, but will keep her moist.  Chello stays by Celery's side to keep her alive, although she doesn't seem impressed to be in water.

In the meantime Enya and I go and investigate the door at the end of the platform.  It is a solid wooden door with banded iron hinges that open towards us.   Although it was undoubtedly stout once, the door is now swollen from exposure to water and won't budge.  

Enya summons a fire bolt, but trips as she finishes the invocation, and it slams into the wall above the door.

I think a more physical solution will work here. I reach into my pack and take the Giant's divining rod that I have been lugging about, and use it as a pry bar to force the door open.

The doorway leads into a small windowless room.  Inside, there are two tables with many neat stacks of papers, with a few spread over the table as if someone had had to leave in a hurry and left them where they lay.  To the side are a few piles of folded clothes, as well as a very gaudy, oversized hat.

The hat is floppy with a large brim and made of velvet.  It is bright purple, banded in orange, and with a gaudy feather sticking from the side.  Although not fashionable in Neverwinter, may be it would be suited to a carnival in Silverymoon.  I toss it to Enya.  If she does turn out to be a bard, then I'm sure she will find a use for it.  

On one of the tables is an aged piece of paper, with "Harshnag continues to cause problems in the North.  Please advise", written in flowing script and signed with a flamboyant 'A'. 

On the reverse is a sketch of a Kraken.

 

Treasure

We search the clothes, and are rewarded with finding a number of pouches which are full of platinum, gold, and silver coins, and a small number of gems.  In one of the drawers under the tables we find a resplendent pendent with an R engraved in emeralds on an onyx disk.  There are also ten golden goose tokens.  There doesn't seem to be anything else of interest in the room, nor anything further that will help with Celery's predicament, so we return back outside.  Hopefully Chello will have come up with a plan!

Escaping the Sewers

Unfortunately, Chello has been too busy keeping Celery moist to come up with a master plan.  I feel I need to get her help fast.  I leap down to the sewer floor and gently pick her up.  I try leaping up the 15ft to the platform, but even with the aid provided by my boots, I can't, and land back in the water.  I fail! I gently lower Celery back into the water.  

"I can get out myself." 

"How would you do that?  There's no ladder and its 15 feet."

Enya shouts down that she can block off the outlets and then let more water in.  As the water level rises we can float up with it and then climb out when the level reaches the platform.  

While we wait for the water level to rise, we debate what we can do to help Celery.  I suggest we find a Cleric, if there's none in town, then we can take the Harper's portal to Waterdeep and seek aid from the High Radiance.  We may need to leave Celery in the care of someone in Yartar, and as we need to return to the Rissolio residence, then we resolve to see if Celery can be cared for there whilst we race to find a Cleric who can heal her afflictions.

It doesn't take long for the water to rise to the level of the platform, and we haul ourselves, and much more carefully, Celery, out of the water.  We make our way back to the ladder which is sealed shut, but Enya climbs up, and pushes on the hatch, which opens.  Thanks to Tyr, at least one thing has gone our way today, and we are not trapped in this chamber.

We make our way back out of the sewers and emerge into the dim light of evening.  We hurry as fast as we can back to the Rissolio residence.

Return to the Rissolio residence

As we approach the Rissolio mansion, we see a man waiting at the door wearing robes inscribed on which is a sigil of a waterfall plunging into a pool.  He carries with him a nondescript bag.  He looks like a man of religion, but just as we reach him,the door is opened by the majordomo, who ushers both us and the man inside.  He bids us to wait, as he ushers the stranger quickly upstairs.  A few moments later he returns and we explain Celery is afflicted much like Arten.  I ask if the man is here to help Arten.  Khemed nods, and goes on to say he is a Cleric of Eldath.  I know from the little I retained of my classes that Eldath is the Goddess of Peace.  We ask if we could place Celery in a bath, as we have returned with news of what is happening to the young men of Yartar.  We follow Khemed upstairs to a bathroom, where he has water drawn, so that Celery can remain submerged and moist.  As well as an audience with Lady Rissolio, we also ask Khemed if perhaps we could also speak to the Cleric after he has finished with Arten.  Khemed says he will leave us here while he speaks to the lady of the house and enters Artens bedroom along the corridor. 

Enya suggests we should listen at the door.  I look at her sharply, " You can do as you will! But eavesdropping on good people is wrong, and I won't be doing that".  I move to wait by the balcony.  Neither Enya nor Chello move to the door to listen.

A little time later the door opens and the Cleric emerges and heads down the stairs.  Enya bolts after him and asks how Arten is.  "He is healed now, although hes an idiot and Lady Rissolio is not happy with him".  Enya briefly recounts the encounter with the Aboleth in the Sewers, but although the danger has passed for now, unfortunately, one of our party has also been afflicted by the same disease, and asks whether he would heal Celery.  After a moments thought, he says of course, however healing always comes with a price.  He says the price is 700gp, or half if we are faithful to Eldath.  We look at each other, and consider. He sees we want to discuss and says he can stay a while while we make our minds up and goes to wait in the anteroom downstairs.

We confer and decide if we can convince Lady Rissolio to pay this for us, as a reward.  I hand Enya the pendant engraved with an R in emeralds, and money in the eventuality we will have to pay the good Cleric.  Enya knocks on the door to Arten's room, and is bidden to enter.  Enya explains we've discovered and vanquished the creature that afflicted Arten, and also found the families' missing pendant.  Lady Rissolio smiles and says will get us the reward, but before she has time to signal Khemed, Enya asks a boon in-lieu of the reward, and whether she could have the Cleric heal Celery, like he did for Arten.  She smirks (a strange reaction), then says of course, bids us wait a moment, and then leaves.  A little later we are shown through back to the bathroom where Celery is now cured of all afflictions.  Enya reluctantly hands back the money.  I look up to the sky and implore Tyr, "Oh why, do you send me these people to test me?" 

We bid farewell, and make our way back to the Harper's safe house.  Leo is up and about, and seems in better health.

True nature of the Hat

As we enter, Leo notices the gaudy hat Enya is wearing.  He says it looks interesting, if a bit ostentatious, and after we recount what happened in the sewers, and where we found it, he suggests it may be more than it seems.   Leo asks if he can borrow the hat, and after spending many minutes incanting over the hat, he puts it down.  He says the hat allows the wearer to change their appearance which ends when the hat is removed.   

"How dishonourable that is! Hiding one's appearance, it should be destroyed, I won't touch it, nor do I want anything to do with it." say I.  There is a then a protracted and heated debate between the others about who should use the Hat, but eventually Enya wins out and takes the wretched thing.

We stay the night in the protection of the Harper's garden, inside a 10-foot-radius dome conjured by Leo.  The inside is dimly lit, the outside is opaque, but transparent from the inside.  We explain to Leo whats happened since he got drunk the previous night.  Leo says he doesn't think he got drunk, he only remembers having a single drink, and he's drank much more in the past and been unaffected.After the drink, he went on deck and doesn't remember anything until he woke up back here.  We come to the conclusion that Leo may well have been Atallia's next victim.

We show Leo the letter we found in the Aboleth's lair.  Leo says he knows of Harshnag, Celery also as he is famous in Waterdeep. He is a member of the Greyhands or Force Grey who are very well known elite Waterdhavian group of adventurers. They protect Waterdeep when the guard and militia cannot.  It was well known in Waterdeep that he is a frost giant who had been exiled for being too soft.  He didn't live in waterdeep,  but lived in the mountains, although it is rumoured there is a portal he uses in the Black Tower.