After composing themselves, the Durangos were flooded with all of the memories they had forgotten. They remembered they had come to this town to find Sir Ponli and Roks. Searching the area, they recovered Sir Ponli’s chewed up helmet. :(
Returning to the town square, the siblings found that a mob had formed outside of the city hall. The remaining townspeople expressed a mixture of grief and anger and appeared to be directing it all at the mayor. The Acolyte, Jodie, explained that the killings began a month prior and that the mayor was the only one who had not lost any family members to the monster. As the mob began to escalate, Dorian and Stavros interrupted by getting everyone’s attention and tossing one of the False Hydra’s heads to the ground.
The mayor immediately tried to claim that he had sent a letter to the city of Ortollas for help, which the Durangos had provided at his request. The siblings, immediately suspicious, noted that they had only come to town for groceries and not in response to any summons. They questioned further, catching the mayor in more lies. The Innkeeper revealed that the mayor had been embezzling and that he was going to be held accountable before the killings started. The Durangos muscled their way into the city hall to investigate these embezzlement claims. After a bit of searching in the mayor’s desk, they uncovered an item that Markos instantly recognized as a hag totem. The mayor had made a deal with a hag to get rid of his political opponents to avoid being held accountable, resulting in the summoning of the False Hydra.
The mayor tried to make a run for it but was easily apprehended by Stavros. He was handed over to a Knight of House Kettle to face trial. Claudia turned her attention to the other needs of the townspeople and decided to send word to her Church to request support–provide funeral rites, recovery funds, etc.
As everything was wrapping up, Dottie appeared with Roks im tow behind her. Roks admitted that he had gone back to camp on the first night and never realized he was in any danger. Dorian scooped both of the kobolds up in a big hug, overwhelmed with relief. Everyone returned to camp and Dottie was finally able to make her stew.
The next morning, the Durangos continued their journey to Carthage. On the road, Dorian admitted that he did not remember his burst of violence at the end of the False Hydra fight and blacked out for a little bit. Concerned, Stavros asked that Dorian inform them if his head felt fuzzy again. Markos asked Claudia how she was doing, as this was not the sort of adventure she could have been expecting when she introduced herself to them. Claudia said that she felt alive for the first time, which was both good and bad.
After two more days of travel, with the city of Carthage within sight, they encountered an imp on the road. The imp stated that it was going to let Lady Salmathon know she had visitors coming and flew away.
Entering the city, the Durangos found all of the guards on high alert and run absolutely ragged. The Captain of the Ward, Bellisarius Thrawl, explained that three weeks prior there was a commotion within the Keep. Shortly after, the Keep went up in flames and then demons began pouring out of it. The Earl Lomassal and his young son, Haldir, went missing during the chaos. Since then, the guards had been holding a perimeter around the Keep, and anyone that had tried to go in to investigate had not come back out.
Additionally, soldiers from House D'Antheus, The Grand Dukedom of Lodross, had arrived in the city just days after the problems began and were offering only tertiary support. The City Ward seemed frustrated they were not doing more to directly assist with the demon issue.
The Durangos decided to gather a bit more information before attempting to approach the Keep (due to the whole ‘people going in and never coming back out’ bit). They were directed to speak to the Seneschal of House Lomassal, Baylee Thomas, as she had been inside the Keep when the fire broke out. Baylee recounted that on the evening of the fire, she had heard raised voices between the Earl and an unknown woman. After some urging from Dorian, she admitted it was not the first time she had heard the unknown voice. She also revealed that Earl Lomassal had never taken a wife and the appearance of his heir, Prince Haldir, was an unexplained mystery.
#HouseDurango Session 9 🗡️🩸🌙🌹🥚
So the False Hydra was summoned by the mayor of the town who made a deal with a fuckin HAG and it ate like half the town. Don't deal with hags! Especially not to cover up your embezzlement!!!
#DnD #art
Synopsis by @cautiousamber.bsky.social 🙏