Chapter XX

TLDR:
Zoraya, Senft, Orimine and Brom make their way to the auction while Vamiko and Argan bead
toward the Blackthrons.

At the Blackthrons, Vamiko is asked if he’s like to stay and he agrees, sending Argan back to
the group after biting him and putting him in a trance.

At the auction, Nexus, the one-eyed half-elf from the Shadow Hand, joins the group. Argan
buys a new scimitar and Ori and Zoraya pool the funds to purchase the grimoire o ered at the
VIP auction on the second oor. Their competition just happened to be the rogue who attacked
Zoe in the black market.

Senft, Nexus and Argan spot Derek in the crowd and after rejoining the group downstairs,
Zoraya talks to Derek and they make plans to meet up later. Meanwhile, Brom also comes
downstairs and after a bit of a shock, tells the group he just saw them upstairs, meaning
vampires are here.

The group also runs into Balthazar and gives him the crystal, which Senft tries to pickpocket
back but fails.

The groups leaves, heading to the Heart the meet up with Balthazar and after explaining about
the doppelgängers, Balthazar agrees to help them nd the elixir they need to change Vamiko
back into Emiko.

The group then heads out to get a few things they need for their trip and then decide to visit
Derek at the House of Pyroth. He gives Zoraya some insight into what has happened to her
and agrees to help her nd a teacher she recently had who may be able to shed even more
light on her situation.

After this, the group makes their way to the Tower of Arfactum to meet up with Balthazar and
on the way, one of Nexus’ men, badly injured, runs up to them and explains that the
Blackthrons have destroyed the Shadow Hand keep and killed nearly everyone.

Once at the Arfactum, Balthazar leads the group to the top of the tower were they board an
airship. On board, Zoe asks him about the grimoire which he wants to take from her, explaining
that a dragon named Eyndor may be looking for his and he is quite powerful, enough so to
control people’s minds.

Zoraya gives the grimoire to Senft for safe-keeping.

:
fi
fl
fi
ff
 When last we left our adventurous heroes…

The party is back at the tavern, making plans for the day ahead. Senft asks Brom what kind of
things are going to be up for bid at the auction and Brom states he’d be surprised if Senft
could a ord anything. Since Argan is heading to the Blackthrons with Vamiko, he asks the
others to try to get him a cool book if they see one. Senft also speaks up and says the group
has been involved in a lot of unnecessary killing as of late and he really doesn’t want to be a
part of that anymore.

With that, the group heads o . Argan starts reading his new book on Vampires while they
travel, Vamiko repeatedly trying to snatching it away but failing. Eventually the group splits with
Vamiko and Argan heading to talk with the Blackthrons and Senft, Orimine, Zoraya and Brom
headed to the auction.

Vamiko and Argan make it to the Blackthron Manor and are taken to Draven Blackthron.
Vamiko tells him they are there to provide the information they gathered and they want to get
their crystal. He also asks if Draven can tell him more about being a vampire now that Draven
has turned him. Draven says he will tell him everything he wants to know but business rst.

Argan begins telling Draven about the incident on the cargo ship. Vamiko added that the group
knows about the base, and Argan agrees to draw a map. Vamiko also advises that the Shadow
Hand is planning an attack in the next day or so.

As Vamiko and Argan are waiting for the crystal to be delivered, Draven makes Vamiko an o er
to join the Blackthrons and Vamiko accepts. Draven then suggests Vamiko send Argan back
with a message that Vam has joined leagues with the Blackthrons and Argan becomes upset.
Vamiko then bites Argan who uses Stone’s Endurance to lower the damage to 10 points of
damage. Vamiko then casts Dominate Person, he puts the crystal in his hands and then sends
him back to the auction and to tell them Vamiko is not coming back.

Meanwhile, at the auction, Brom, Senft, Zoraya and Orimine enter the guild hall where the
auction is set to take place and are approached by an Orc who asks to temporarily hold on to
any weapons or items of magic while inside. Senft is able to hold on to his viobow but Orimine
reluctantly hands over Cupcake, and Zoraya hands over her sword and after failing a Stealth
check she is also asked to give up her daggers as well. The orc also advises there will be an
antimagic barrier. He then allows them in and wishes them luck.

Zoe here asks out of game for what she is supposed to be looking for, DM advises she is
looking for a Grimoire.

On this oor, it seems the general auction is taking place with people milling about and items
being moved onto the stage. Nearby are a set up stairs and it appears that more wealthy
people are heading up the stairs, probably for the VIP auction. Everyone is asked to make a
Perception check, Senft gets a N20 and is the only person who is able to notice the foggy
eyed hipster from the Shadow Hand. Nexus approaches the group and introduces himself.
Orimine now recognizes him from Sylus’ o ce and the bookstall and chats with him a bit about
what he’s doing at the auction. He tells the group he’s been shadowing them for a while. Nexus
hints that something might be happening soon and the party is going to be more involved than
the Shadow Hand might want and now he’s going to be tagging along. Orimine also notices he
has a snake and he allows her to hold the snake around her neck for a while. He tells her the
snake’s name is Valiris.
ff
fl
ff
ffi
fi
ff
 Suddenly Argan enters. Orimine spots him and Zoraya waves him over. The trance begins to
fade and he is able to relay that Vamiko gave the Blackthrons the location of Shadow Hand
base and how he’s joined their ranks. He also shows them the mark on his neck and tells them
Vamiko bit him. The group decides to put o deciding what to do about Vamiko until after the
auction. Argan also notices that Nexus is with them and Nexus tells Argan about the book
series he just read and lends Argan The False Prince series.

Brom had gone in ahead of the group and found a table so as the group walks further inside,
he waves them over to the table. He then asks what they are at the auction to nd and Zoraya
mentions she needs Grimoire. She doesn’t know anything about it but she will know it when
she sees it. Brom suggests they head upstairs and Zoraya and Orimine follow him, but only
after Argan casts Talk with Animals and chats with Valiris and gives him his holy amulet, which
the snake eats.

A man then makes his way on stage, introducing himself and he starts with the auction with the
Ring of the Phoenix. Argan succeeds on an Insight check and discovers this ring is truly
authentic.

Meanwhile, Brom with Zoe and Ori approaches the stairs. Brom talks to the Orc bouncer and
Zoe and Ori do their best to act posh and wealthy and the Orc allows all three of them up the
stairs. Brom leads them into a smaller, more crowded room to await the VIP auction. Orimine
and Zoraya make Perception checks to see if there is anything posted in the room that lists
what is going to be sold at the auction. Zoraya passes her check and is notices a knight in
front of her that has a list in his hands and he allows her to check the list over his shoulder. She
then whispers to Ori that the item they are looking for is the third item up for auction.

Downstairs, Senft, Argan, and Nexus are just waiting and watching the items that come up
downstairs. Ring of the Phoenix sells and the next item up is the Orc’s Bane, a saber. Argan
bids on and wins the saber. Everyone downstairs makes a Perception check, and with 19
each, both Senft and Argan notice someone in the crowd that they recognize as Derek. They
decide to leave him alone and wait to see if he does anything.

Upstairs, Ori and Zoe have passed on the rst two items and the Grimoire is now brought out.
The woman auctioning it o describes it brie y, explaining there is a dragon curse on it.
Orimine and Zoraya begin bidding, as well as another man who Zoraya goes up and sits down
next to. She succeeds a History check, recognizing this is the rogue that attacked her in the
black market. Passing an Intimidation check, the rogue stops bidding and Orimine is able to
win the Grimoire for Zoraya.

Orimine then walks over to Zoraya and the rogue and asks the rogue what he wanted the book
for. He explains that he needed it for his client, the Black family, the family the hired him to take
Zoraya down. Zoraya then tells the rogue that is he sees the blacks again he’s to tell them he
failed and to tell them Zoraya is watching. She then threatens to kill him if he ever tries to take
something from her again and the rogue runs o to change his pants.

Downstairs again. Senft writes a message on a piece of paper and gives it to Olga and asks
Olga to nd Zoraya. The note reads “Your brother is here.” The two head back downstairs,
Zoraya searching for the rogue but not nding him. After the party joins back up, Balthazar
appears, asking feverishly for Vamiko. Argan tells him that Vamiko joins up with the
Blackthrons. The group also explains that they haven’t decided what to do about Vamiko yet
and Argan says they should give Balthazar the crystal, which causes the group to get a little
touchy as they weren’t ready to tell Balthazar about the crystal yet. Zoraya suggests meeting
up with Balthazar at the heart and he insists he have the crystal rst. Senft gives him the crystal
fi
ff
fi
fi
ff
fl
ff
fi
fi
 but as Balthazar turns to leave, he attempts to pick-pocket it back, but fails. Balthazar slaps
Senft across the face. He then storms out in a rage.

The group then notices Brom walking down the stairs and as soon as he spots the group, he
looks shocked. With a successful Insight check, Senft gets the impression Brom is asking
surprised because he just saw the party all upstairs. Orimine says it’s the Blackthrons as they
can shapeshift. Senft sends Olga upstairs and sees through her eyes that the entire party is
upstairs, including Vamiko. It appears they are searching around for the vault. Senft relays this
to the entire group.

Zoraya approaches the orc guarding the stairs and advises him there are some vampires
posing as the group upstairs. He tells a few other orcs and they head upstairs. Zoraya rejoins
the group and they decide what to do next. Zoraya decides to have a quick chat with Derek
before the group leaves.

Zoraya sits down next to Derek and introduces herself. He states it’s impossible for her to be
his sister because his sister is dead. Zoraya then asks if the two of them can discuss that
situation further and Derek suggests meeting at their family house. And she agrees.

She again joins the group and says she’s pretty convinced that he is her brother and states
they agreed to meet up at their family house. Ori asks how the conversation went, Zoe explains
that everyone in her family thinks she’s dead and that Derek wants her to visit their family
house so they can chat and asks if the group will come along, and everyone agrees to go with
her when she’s ready.

The group leaves and decides to head back to the Roaring Heart to meet up with Balthazar.

As the group enters the Heart, Balthazar looks pretty pissed. He demands an explanation
about why Senft tried to steal the crystal from him. Senft explains that that wasn’t him, that
there were doppelgängers at the auction and it was they who tried to thieve from him and with
a successful Deception check, Balthazar seems moderately convinced.

The party then asks why they can do about Vamiko and Balthazar asks if they are intending to
save him, saying that at this time, the vampirism would be completely reversible. Senft
mentions that he doesn’t think Emiko does actually want to be a vampire because his current
behavior could all be linked back to being a vampire. Nexus, being well read in this, states that
often when a person turns their behavior is the vampire coming out, rather than the person.
Senft argues that if the group turns him back into Emiko and he still wants to be a vampire after
that, we can just let him return to the Blackthrons. Balthazar then asks everyone to shut up and
listen to him for a second, so Senft gets out his Viobow and start playing very loudly, but very
well! Balthazar casts silence on him. He then proceeds to tell them that the party may need to
ght Vamiko in order to make this happen. They, including Balthazar, will need to travel to an
island to visit Veritus, a wizard who has absconded from the Order and in that wizards tower is
an elixir that will be needed to change Vamiko back into Emiko. Nexus agrees to help the group
as well, because of his own motivations for killing vamps.

The group agrees to go to the island and Balthazar leaves to get a ship prepared for their
journey. Senft sends a message to the kind elf shopkeeper asking about his potions book, but
the book is not nished yet. The party decides to make preparations as well for their journey
and head out to go shopping for potions and an amulet for Argan.

After the potions and amulet have been procured (And Argan was blessed for one in-game day
and given a holy javelin), the party then heads o to visit Derek.
fi
fi
ff
 The group nds the House of Pyroth. As Zoraya approaches the door, it automatically opens
and with a successful Arcana check, she realizes it’s truly just because it recognizes her. Nexus
casts Augury, but discovers nothing good nor bad will happen here.

Zoraya leads the way inside, and the rst thing everyone notices is the shear amount of
mercenaries around. Zoraya asks where Derek might be and is pointed to the main room.
Argan succeeds with History check to see if he knows about the House of Pyroth and
remembers they are one of the main mercenary factions in the kingdom.

Zoraya nds Derek in a large room among many people looking over a war table. She waves to
Derek and he invites her and the group into his o ce and they talk about what happened with
Zoe after she supposedly died. She talks about waking up on an island with Emiko and Senft
but she can’t remember anything before that. She has only been told of being part of this
family and what her real name was. Derek explains that she had been expelled from the family
because of a new teacher she had become friends with and a new god she was praying to.
Zoraya asks if he has more information about the teacher and Derek agrees to help her nd the
teacher. She explains she’s currently trying to get somewhere, but asks if she can accept his
o er when the party gets back. Derek also says he’ll talk to their mother and father about her
family situation for her and hopefully they will accept her back.

Zoraya then asks Ori for the grimoire and asks Derek if he knows anything about it. He doesn’t
have any idea what it is. Zoraya explains that a voice in her head told her to go to the auction
to buy it and Derek then says this voice thing has happened before and she’s been checked by
professionals, that there is no voice in her head. Argan asks him if he was at the auction for the
book and Derek says no, just for the auction. With a successful Insight check, Argan learns
that Derek was lying about only being there for the auction, he may have heard his sister would
be there, but he was telling the truth about not wanting the book. Zoraya defends herself and
hearing the voice in her head and asks if that had happened before and Derek says it had when
she was a child. She also asks Derek why he was in the goblin camp and he says it was for
mercenary stu . Zoraya ends by inviting Derek to have a drink with her sometime at the Heart
and says she’ll reach out when she’s ready to nd her teacher. She then awkwardly hugs him.

Argan then asks if he can look over Derek’s book collection but Derek says no.

On the way out, Orimine starts stu ng her pockets and her face with some of the snacks
laying around on trays in this posh place.

Outside, in the courtyard, Zoraya notices a shrine to her and goes to stand in front of it for a
moment, waving at a few onlookers.

Senft messages Balthazar and asks where he is and if he’s ready, which he says he is at the
tower of Arfactum and he’s ready. So the group heads out that direction. On the way, Nexus
casts Identify on the grimoire but discovers the tome contains spells and has magic properties
but is not made of magic. Argan casts Divine Sense but discovers nothing.

During the walk, someone approaches Nexus, and Nexus recognizes him as a member of the
Shadow Hand who works under him. The person known as Axil, states Sylus is dead, the
Blackthrons attacked the Shadow Hand’s keep and he barely made it out alive. Argan heals
Axil for 10 points of healing.

Zoraya sends a message to Derek that the vampires are on the move and he replies that they
don’t typically mess with the mercenary group so they should be ne.
ff
fi
fi
ff
ffi
fi
fi
ffi
fi
fi
Argan fails Perception check and doesn’t believe Axil was followed but Orimine succeeds and
knows for sure he wasn’t followed. They send Axil to the church of Cthulhu for safety and
continue on their way.

The group tells Balthazar about the Blackthrons attack on the Shadow Hand and discuss for a
moment whether or not Vamiko would be after them which they eventually agree he probably
isn’t.

Balthazar then leads the group up to the top of the Arfactum tower to board a airship. WHAT?!
The group boards the airship and it takes o .

Zoraya then asks Balthazar about the grimoire and he suggests he hold onto the book. With a
successful Insight check, Senft discovers that Balthazar doesn’t trust the group with the book.
Balthazar explains that the book is evil and there is no safe way to use the book. Balthazar
says there is a dragon named Eyndor that is after the book, and he is able to control others,
potentially mind control powers. He then suggests destroying the book. Zoraya tries opening
the book, but fails. Senft attaches the keychain he received from Dawn to his viobow (which
transforms into a Mickey Mouse shaped viobow) and casts Knock on the grimoire, it vibrates
but it is still unable to be opened. Balthazar reiterates that no one should allow Zoraya to use
the book. Zoraya decides to give the book to Senft to hold.

The conversation turns back to Vamiko and Nexus asks about his ghting style and the group
gives him all the information they can come up with.

Nexus takes his snek back from Ori and casts Rope Trick on his snek, which he tosses into the
air and then climbs it into an extra-dimensional space.

Orimine practices Search with Sif.

Senft then starts teaching Olga to search for gold in his pockets.

Zoraya messages Brom to take care of Spotted Chief.

Argan succeeds with a Perception check to see if there is a critter on the ship that he could
adopt but there are none.

Balthazar then walks up to Ori and asks her to put Sif below decks because she sheds.
Orimine calls him an asshole and storms o below deck.

Zoraya tries to hang her hammock on the ship but Balthazar stops her. Nexus invites her up to
his pocket dimension and had Ori been around to see this, she would have been quite jealous.

The entire group gets a Long Rest.

ff
ff
fi