The Wunderfauna Arkiv is a one-shot adventure set in the city of Hollin. When the party investigates an attack on the Admiralty brig, they discover an alarming threat to Hollin.
Thanks to the players, James, Karen, Nick, and Rob!
Beale the Goldenpiper, Kazola, Melek Valentooth, and Vesper Cotton investigate an attack on the Admiralty brig, and they're attacked by scorpionflies there themselves. They discover that Hollin's 7-year stink bug, 13-year scorpionfly, and 17-year silvermote broods have all emerged this year. Under Lofton, they find the sanctum of the stink bug, lanternfly, and scorpionfly queens - human manifestations of the broods; discover that the three queens destroyed Lofton 1,001 years ago; and that the queens are attacking Braddock now. They enlist the gentler silvermote king Barleycorn, and defeat the queens and their bug minions in Braddock's square.
James, Karen, and Rob reprised their characters from the Far Shore and the Master of Revels - Beale the Goldenpiper, Kazola, and Vesper Cotton respectively. Nick's previous character Modalye had been captured by the lich Ishild at the end of the Far Shore, and he introduced a new character, Melek Valentooth.
The players introduced their characters briefly. My notes:
Karen: Kazola is a bodyguard for Vesper, has worked at his company and become friendly, and hangs out with him to protect him since he's the leader of Cotton house. Has known Vesper for many years so he trusts her.
Rob: Name is Vesper Cotton. From an old noble family that eventually became a merchant house in Hollin, basically the second son. So, the Cottons packed him off to the seminary, bad fit, then packed off to the navy. Served as a ship's doctor in the navy. So clerical training, became enamored of the storm, became a tempest domain cleric. Came back, was stationed as one of the medical doctors on the dock, noble background gave standing among the merchants and community. Visiting his brother Christopher, Vesper found he'd fallen into traps, sleeping with maids, not really taking advantage of his status enough. Basically decided for best interests of the family, not to do his brother any harm, just to fix things up and run right, ended up discrediting him and got him removed from the merchant council and was installed in his place during the Far Shore. So, right now have just supplanted Christopher, expecting some fallout. Have contracted Kazola, knew she was part of the group of smithies and forges that we contracted with. So trusts her, hired her on as a bodyguard.
Nick: Melek Valentooth is mystical warrior from distant lands, and has come to investigate the secrets and powerful creatures in this place. What's that? This is Grave, a halberd that speaks to him, who also wants to investigate secrets.
James: Beale the Goldenpiper pulls out his pipe and plays a few notes. I don't want to brag but I do turn the ladies' eyes, let's be honest. Grew up in the outskirts of Hollin, in the City of the Dead, where he was an urchin, but has come a long way since then. Grew up and was very saddened but intrigued by all the gravestones forgotten there. So, he gathers information on lost stories and unsung heroes and their tales. In the Far Shore, he came across a tomb dedicated to the deity / god Ulm, who had pierced a whale in the sea and his harpoon is still there. Uses that to pierce the truth. Bested Cankerblossom in a Performance contest. His pan flute is named Hosingen. He is a College of Lore bard.
When I asked what the characters might be doing in Hollin on a summer morning, the players said they would be at the Mooncalf tavern. They said Beale would be performing there, Vesper and Kazola would be enjoying some coffee and watching Beale, and Melek would have gone there to learn more about Hollin, his new home town.
An Admiralty messenger arrived looking for Vesper. The messenger asked Vesper to come help with an emergency at the Admiralty brig, and suggested the other party members also come.
They went to the brig, in the basement of Admiralty's largest complex in the Shipyards, just called "The Admiralty." Going down the stairs to the basement, they immediately saw that the brig's steel door had been torn off its hinges and thrown into the stairwell's corner. They went through the empty door frame into a guard room, where they saw several brig officers dead on the floor, and a few other brig officers crouching over them and examining them.
An officer quickly came over to them, introduced himself as Omar, and thanked them for coming. Omar said that when he came to the brig for his shift an hour ago, he found all of the officers from the previous shift dead, along with all of the prisoners, except one escaped prisoner, Unger. He asked them to investigate the attack and recapture Unger.
They asked when the attack had happened. Omar said the previous shift had started nine hours ago and finished one hour ago. The party asked when the current shift's other officers had arrived, and Omar said the others had each arrived a little late for the shift, so about half an hour ago. The players thought that this cast a little suspicion on Omar.
They noticed more dead officers in the adjacent records and keys rooms, and noted that they were dead even though the doors to those rooms weren't open. Examining some dead officers in a records room, Vesper rolled a 23 Medicine check, and found that they had bug bites on their exposed face and hands, but had actually died of suffocation or asphyxiation. The party also found a few brown stink bugs throughout the room.
They asked Omar about Unger. Omar said that Unger was imprisoned before he was assigned to the brig, and Unger never spoke, so he didn't know exactly why Unger was there. Omar said the brig's records showed Unger had been arrested on the orders of an Admiralty medic Aisha, stemming from a complaint at Gregor the Naturalist's house. He said that a few people did visit Unger and advocated for his release - Gregor, a middle aged woman Hiral, and a younger woman Mirabelle. He said that Hiral was the most regular and recent visitor, and that she'd last visited two months ago.
They asked to see Unger's cell and Omar took them further into the brig. They walked down a curved hallway past several cells, which contained dead prisoners even though the cells were still locked. Vesper suggested they'd been killed by a poison cloud. They also saw that three more steel doors on the way had been torn from their hinges and discarded nearby, including the door to Unger's cell.
They arrived at Unger's empty cell. They saw large markings, "▢⭘⭘▢", in chalk on the wall. They discussed what the markings could mean, and Melek tried to read them with Comprehend Languages, but concluded the symbols weren't part of any language.
As they were discussing the markings, a messenger arrived with a package for Omar, and the players immediately said "What's in the box? What's in the box?" Omar opened the box and looked inside, and turning pale, handed the box to Kazola. Kazola indeed found a human head inside, and Omar said the head was Aisha the medic's. Kazola also found a note inside, which she read aloud:
doubletap, verb: to attack (for example, bomb) a facility, wait briefly for rescue workers to arrive, then attack again to kill the rescuers.
▢⭘⭘▢
Rob instantly said "Get out of the brig!" but the brig shook and there was a flash of light, and the party found themselves under attack by four scorpionfly swarms and two giant scorpionflies.
The party received a surprise round because of Vesper's alarm, and in addition to that surprise round, Vesper also received an extra round of his own up front.
The party finished the attackers quickly. During the surprise round, Kazola took down one giant scorpionfly, Melek destroyed a swarm with his Booming Blade, and Vesper scored sixteen damage with Thunderwave, saying "A thunderous roar deafens everything in front of me, and their wings shatter." They beat the remaining attackers in the first regular round, with Kazola scoring a critical on one of the swarms.
Scorpionflies "doubletap" attack the Admiralty brig
After the fight they asked to question the messenger who'd brought the box, but he'd been killed in the attack. They decided to go to Gregor's house and bring specimens. They already had stink bugs, and they collected some scorpionflies. Melek cut two claws from the giant scorpionflies, but the party decided to take an entire giant scorpionfly instead. Vesper gave it to Kazola to carry, with Rob saying "I give it to Kazola to carry, because I'm Vesper Cotton."
James, Nick, and Rob also discussed how they'd encountered swarms of bugs in Lofton in the Far Shore, which was only a few days ago in Hollin game time, but almost two years ago in real time. I clarified that those were the seventeen-year silvermote brood, which were not stink bugs or scorpionflies, but James and Rob each received an inspiration point for remembering. (Nick didn't receive one because his previous character Modalye had encountered the silvermotes, not Melek, but I should have given him one.)
They party wanted to ask Gregor about the stink bugs and scorpionflies, Unger, and the curious markings in Unger's cell. They went to his house across from the Braddock docks, where they found him drinking with a friend to celebrate the summer solstice.
They asked Gregor about stink bugs and scorpionflies and showed him the specimens from the brig. Gregor was thrilled to see them, and he'd never seen a giant scorpionfly before, and asked to have them for his Marvelous Wunderfauna Arkiv. They agreed and he took them to the Arkiv in his basement, which was a library and natural history museum. They saw one of Gregor's assistants working to add hydraulics to a taxidermied armored rhino, to see how it might have moved in life, and Gregor said he would try the same with the giant scorpionfly.
The Arkiv had movable shelves on rails, and Gregor moved two shelves apart by turning a giant wheel crank. Going in and looking up stink bugs, he found a watercolor drawing and told the party that the stink bugs were a brood that appeared every seven years in Lofton, and noted the brood would emerge this year. Similarly, he looked up scorpionflies, and said they were a thirteen-year brood, which would also emerge this year. Karen said that seven, thirteen, and seventeen were all prime, and received an inspiration point, and we calculated how often the seven-year stink bugs, thirteen-year scorpionflies, and seventeen-year silvermote would all appear in the same year.
They asked Gregor about Unger, and he told them about Unger, Mirabelle, and Aisha.
Gregor says that as a naturalist, he's in Lofton Forest a few times a week looking for specimens, usually plants. He often talks with Admiralty lumberjacks there, and some of them are amateur naturalists themselves. They keep each other abreast of what's happening in the forest as the seasons change, and he's learned a lot from them.
But Gregor says his best leads don't come from the lumberjacks, but from Mirabelle, a friend who lives in the forest. He first met Mirabelle when she was a young girl, and he was alarmed that she was wandering the wood without any apparent supervision. But Mirabelle said had family in both the forest and Braddock, and she actually seemed to be safer and healthier than the street urchins in Braddock. So he slowly stopped worrying, but he'd still visit her haunts to check up on her, and she knew to come to his house across the bridge if she ever needed anything.
Over the years Mirabelle grew up, and two years ago she did come to Gregor's house, with some bruises and a hurt arm. Gregor says he stepped out onto Quay Street and scanned the docks for an Admiralty medic, who wear distinctive uniforms. He spotted one, Aisha, and waved her over to the house.
Aisha looked at Mirabelle's arm and said it was strained. She put ice on it for a little while, then tied it up and told Mirabelle to go easy on it.
Gregor thought that would be it, but Aisha insisted on knowing how Mirabelle was hurt. Mirabelle said for the last few months she'd had her eye on a young man who also lived in the forest, the trapper Unger. One day she found him alone and lured him to a secluded spot. They became amorous, and Unger became too passionate and hurt her arm.
Mirabelle said that as soon as he hurt her, Unger backed off and left, but Aisha wouldn't have it. Aisha had Admiralty marines and lumberjacks find Unger and bring him to the brig in the shipyards.
Gregor asked them to find Mirabelle, saying she was often in the Glade in Lofton, on a hill near the intersection of Market and Oak, which were the two main streets that could still be discerned among the overgrowth. He gave them a simple necklace that Mirabelle had given him, a thumb-size piece of jade on a loop of string, so she could recognize that they were with Gregor; Beale claimed it.
They asked Gregor about the symbols they'd seen in Unger's cell and on the doubletap note, "▢⭘⭘▢". They didn't explicitly re-read the note or symbols because they speculated that reading them would summon scorpionflies again. Gregor didn't recognize the symbols, but a mathematician working in the archive suggested they might be a number; the players named him Cuthbert. The players briefly discussed what number it could be but didn't hit on anything definitive. Karen noted there were ten strokes in the symbols and someone said the circles could be zeroes.
The party wanted to buy bug repellent before continuing, and they went to Chambers the Apothecary, who sold them his own Bug and Troll Repellent.
Chambers's Bug and Troll Repellent
A blue atomizer, which smells of bog-myrtle, catnip, and garlic. The tag reads:
"Chambers's Bug and Troll Repellent is not a substitute for following proper avoidance safety techniques. Chambers's Bug and Troll Repellent should be used as a deterrent only in an aggressive or attacking confrontation. Chambers's Bug and Troll Repellent may attract brownies.”
The bearer can cast Sanctuary against insects or troll attacks. The Repellent can be used as a free action or as a reaction to an attack, which brings up Sanctuary before the triggering attack.
We briefly discussed how garlic was one of the ingredients, and how that might have been helpful during the Master of Revels.
The party also Short Rested for an hour in the bar room at the Mooncalf. Beale sang a Song of Rest about Bessie the Cow, who always kicked her owner ("Bessie the Cow, why do you kick me now?"), because she wanted to be milked to make a custard pie. Besides the party, a few hungover Mooncalf patrons benefitted from the song's healing, and they thanked Beale and bought him drinks.
During the short rest Beale was also able to examine the necklace that Gregor had given them.
Gregor's (Mirabelle's) necklace
They visited Hiral, who lived in an opulent room at the Mooncalf. They told her (a) that Unger had escaped the brig, (b) that stink bug swarms had attacked the brig and killed everyone there, and (c) that the party themselves had been attacked by scorpionflies there.
The party made Insight checks, and saw that Hiral was genuinely surprised by (a), but poorly feigned surprise to (b) and (c).
The party asked Hiral about Unger and Mirabelle, and Hiral said she was a half-relative of each, on the two different sides of her family. She told them that Unger lived in a cave that had a stream flowing out of the mouth, near Market and Oak in Lofton, near the Glade.
While the party was talking with Hiral, Beale subtly went to one corner of the room looking for a place where he could cast Detect Thoughts without Hiral seeing. He didn't cast the spell, but in the corner he did see a crafting table with a simple necklace and ring, reminiscent of the necklace that Gregor had given them.
They went to the Glade in Lofton to look for Mirabelle. There they found two lumberjacks having lunch and an old man enjoying some peace on a bench. The lumberjacks said they hadn't seen Mirabelle, and when the party reminded them that the silvermote brood was out in Lofton, they became alarmed and left as quickly as they could.
They talked with the old man, who was portly with long white hair and a long white beard, and he introduced himself as Barleycorn. They asked him if he knew Mirabelle or had seen her, and he said that he had never met her, but knew of her, and was looking forward to meeting her.
Beale cast Detect Thoughts on him, to read his "surface thoughts," and determined that he was genuinely enjoying the summer solstice, not concerned about the silvermotes, and was indeed looking forward to meeting Mirabelle.
They smelled the old man, and Beale and Vesper thought he smelled like silvermotes.
The party found Unger's cave, with a river running out of the mouth. Beale cast Invisibility and went inside, where he found a large cavern filled with green trees.
Unger's cave
They asked if the cave seemed active and I said yes, the mouth of the cave was flooded by the stream, and many wet footprints could be seen around the cave entrance.
They made a disturbance that caused the trees' leaves to shimmer, and they commented that trees wouldn't shiver because of a noise, that there must be bugs in the trees. They looked more closely, and realized that the "leaves" were actually a mass of leaf insects. They disturbed a few of the leaf insects, who started to swarm, and the swarm eventually grew to all of the leaf insects in the cave, who flew out of the cave entrance in a mass. When the cave emptied, they spied a man looking out at them from an opening on the far side of the cave.
They went to where the man was. Going into that opening, they found a nicely finished hall (room 1), structured as a honeycomb.
The party explores brood queens' sanctuary
They explored further in. At room 3, they again they found the "▢⭘⭘▢" marks on the floor. Above the doorways to 4 and 5, they saw stylized carvings of a stink bug and scorpionfly, and above the doorway to 6, they saw a stylized carving of a lanternfly.
They heard talking in 5. Going in, they saw a young woman (Mirabelle) in a cage, and next to it, Hiral and the man they'd seen in the cave. Hiral told them that in addition to the 7-year stink bugs, 13-year scorpionflies, and 17-year silvermotes, the 11-year lanternflies had also emerged this year. She said that the honeycomb complex was the sanctuary of Mamba, Sable, and Raven, humanoid queens who were personifications of the stink bug, lanternfly, and scorpionfly broods. She said the appeared together every 1,001 years (▢⭘⭘▢), and that 1,001 years ago they had destroyed Lofton.
She said Unger was the grandson of two of them, Mamba and Raven, and Mamba and Raven had attacked the brig in revenge for Unger's unfair imprisonment, and that the queens had gone to Braddock to destroy Hollin; she urged them to hurry there and stop them.
Hiral said that Barleycorn was the personification of the 17-year silvermote brood, and that Mirabelle was his daughter. Hiral said that they could recruit him to help fight the queens.
She also gave the party the two pieces of jewelry that Beale had spied in her apartment; she gave the copper ring to Kazola and the clay necklace necklace to (TODO(dennis): to who?)
Hiral's clay necklace
Hiral's copper ring
The party wanted to free Mirabelle from the cage, but none of the party members had thieves' tools or proficiency with thieves' tools. We decided they could use (I think) Kazola's Smith's Tools as improvised thieves' tools, which would let them try to pick the lock with disadvantage, but they failed the DEX check. They would have to free Mirabelle after they beat the queens.
The party collected Barleycorn at the Glade and hurried north. Crossing Lofton Bridge into Braddock, they found the three queens, a giant lanternfly, and a giant stink bug in the market square by the Mooncalf, attacking merchants and customers and generally causing chaos. Their three broods were also spreading out to attack Hollin, creating a dark cloud over the city.
The party engaged the queens, with Kazola attacking Raven, Beale attacking Mamba, Melek attacking Sable, Barleycorn attacking the giant stink bug, and Vesper attacking at will. Raven fought back by grappling Kazola with her scorpion claws and stinging her, Sable attacked with her sting and Luminescent Goo spray, and Mamba attacked with Beale and Kazola with her bite and stink cloud, although the stink cloud missed both.
On the first round, Nick cast Hunger of Hadar in the square, capturing Sable and the giant lightning bug in it, and kept Sable corralled inside it with Repelling Blast. Within a few rounds his Eldritch Blast and Booming Blade had beaten both. When Raven grappled Kazola, Kazola immediately answered with a great sword critical that cut Raven's claw off, and Vesper hit Raven with a cruel Channel Divinity Call Lightning; in two more rounds Kazola had finished her. Beale repeatedly hit Mamba with Dissonant Whispers, damaging her and sending her fleeing through the square, and Kazola ultimately beating Mamba with a critical.
The three broods dissipated when their queens were beaten, and Kazola found Mamba's Brood Staff.
Mamba's Brood Staff
A polished hardwood staff with a stylized stink bug carved into the end.
Once per day, the bearer can do one of:
In addition:
The bearer can use the abilities without necessarily wielding the staff.