Here’s the write up for our 23rd Scarlet Citadel session as the PCs continued their river trip to Triolo with a mysterious crate on board their boat.
You can read earlier posts here. This post contains spoilers for Scarlet Citadel.
It’s the characters’ fifth day on board the Bright Drifter, and the party decide to investigate a cave they have spotted in the riverbank beneath an ancient willow tree. Clairmont casts water walk so they don’t need to swim but the narrow entrance means they need to go inside crouching in single file. This proves to be less than ideal when they are attacked from below by an angry river troll which doesn’t want to stay dead. Eventually they are able to burn the monster and steal its treasure, which includes a magical skipstone (from Vault of Magic).
Later that day Tunde notices Sandor is chewing raw garlic. He claims it is good for his heart but Tunde is suspcious.
A couple of days later, Clairmont transforms his familiar into first a frog, then an octopus, so it can keep an eye on the crate from the bilges. There are noises from the crate again the next night but the familiar sees nothing.
On the ninth day of the voyage, the characters on deck come under attack from an undine and her water elemental ally. Everyone except Clairmont falls under the effect of the fey’s hypnotic pattern, forcing the priest to take drastic measures and cast word of radiance to snap them all out of it. Unfortunately, this knocks both of Sandor’s sons unconscious.
Tunde is cursed by the undine’s kiss, Farthrum is whelmed and goes unconscious, then Tunde and Cauldvyr go down, making me think we were heading for a second TPK of the campaign. Finally, though, the characters manage to drive off the elemental and kill the undine.
The next morning, Clairmont removes Tunde’s curse, and later that day the Bright Drifter arrives in Triolo.
Once the crate is unloaded at the docks, Tunde’s bat familiar follows the wagon it’s on to the Caerot Brothers’ warehouse. Flying inside, he watches as the crate is open and a very pale man gets out of a coffin. Meanwhile, back at the docks, the rest of the party put their loot into a warehouse and get rooms at Seabed Inn.
That evening, they ask around town about who might want to purchase their loot from Level 2 of the Scarlet Citadel and learn the name of a merchant – Donaldo Valle. They also discover that the Ferenc family of Morgau (whose symbol was on the crate) have mercantile interests in Triolo.
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Main image by David Auden Nash
Richard Green | Game Designer 