Episode 140

This is Episode 140 of Dice, Camera, Action.

The Party
(Holly) Strix - Tiefling Sorcerer

(ProJared) Diath - Human Rogue

(Nathan) Paultin - Human Bard

(Anna) Evelyn - Human Paladin of Lathander

After killing Manshoon, the group obtained a black robe of the archmagi. They made a deal to sell it for 50,000 gold pieces. Last time, Walnut brought the paperwork to seal the deal. The group was able to rescue their owlbear, Waffles, from the clutches of Jarlaxle. The group frees her from the magic ring she is trapped in.

Group Meeting
The group has a letter they can bring to a particular bank run by the Earlingstars, one of the more prominent families in Waterdeep. The heroes discuss what to do next. At one point, Diath notes that Laeral Silverhand is putting her faith in him. He thinks she wants to do the right thing with the stone of golorr. Evelyn points out that Talastin was Laeral in disguise.

They discuss Jarlaxle and whether they should try to kill him. The group agrees that they underestimated him. The adventurers agree that their priorities should be to fix the house, keep the kids safe, and wait to see if Laeral contacts them. The heroes take a long rest and heal up.

Then, they decide to go to the bank. Strix assumes rat form and hides in Evelyn's pouch. Diath goes upstairs and puts on a nice shirt. He rolls a natural 20 on a perception check and sees a dead, partially-eaten rat lying on the floor by the dresser. It is bloated. Diath thinks it was poisoned to death and then fed on. Diath thinks this might be the work of imps. The adventurers realize that invisible imps may have been spying on them when they had their meeting on what to do next.

Evelyn reaches out with her divine sense and realizes that there is an invisible imp about 3 feet away from her. She reaches to grab it, but it avoids her grasp. It flees up the stairs, through a broken window and into the sky. Evelyn senses there are more imps in the building and tries to sneaky flutter her way toward the others. She destroys one with a moonbeam spell. The others scatter and she eventually clears the house. The group notes that maybe it is time to find a new house.

The Bank
The waffle crew heads to the bank. It looks like an old mansion with moss-covered steps. Inside, there is a cellist playing a somber tune. Incense is burning, as are scented candles. There is carved wood everywhere, banisters, tables and padded chair. There are a lot of older people lounging as if they were in a library. There are an abundance of paintings, all of which seem to be moving. One is of a ship on a storm-tossed sea with lightning flashing behind it.

As the group enters the bank, their weapons become ghost-like. Their hands pass right through them.

Strix wants to fix up Trollskull Manor and add a turret that looks like Blackstaff Tower. Paultin wants to upgrade the bar. Evelyn wants a sun room.

Paultin approaches a teller and is informed that the account is empty. No money has been deposited into it yet. The group is told that the account was open this morning by Walnut Dankgrass. Walnut told the heroes that the money was there.

After a bit of confusion and investigation, the heroes decide to head to the Acquisitions, Inc. headquarters, which isn't far from the bank.

Acquisitions, Inc.
When they arrive, they see that the building is being repaired by levitating wizards. They spot a female gnome looking at some papers and a well-dressed but clearly undead man who is staring stupidly at the same papers. They also see a donkey barking orders in common at a cloud of darkness that hangs in the air. Sparks of lightning leap from the darkness.

A man is sitting on the street holding a box, weeping. Evelyn consoles them. He says, "...victim of a titan belt." He explains that he lost his job because of the titan belts. Evelyn says they should go talk to Omin, but he is terrified and says he doesn't want to talk to him. The man explains that he was a clerk, and 10 of them were let go today. The weeping clerk, whose named is Corald, explains that one of his fellow clerks misfiled something and was demoted and flogged. Paultin gives him his card from Seppa & Seppa.

The adventurers notice that the donkey and a few others are wearing a tabard with a modified version of the Acquisitions, Inc. logo: A hexagon with a dot in the middle and a tail in the shape of a P. Corald explains that that logo is the symbol of the P-Team.

Corald says that the 50,000 gp contract was started. Flabbergast was in charge of the deal, but the paperwork was not completed because of the magical catastrophe inside of the building that did a tremendous amount of damage. Now some of them are having their memories magically altered, as per their contract.

Diath hands Corald the contract and has him look it over. He says it's not right - the contract was never finished as far as he knows. Then he sees a level 3 documancer finished it and signed it - Walnut. Corald realizes that what was done was illegal, and the Waffle Crew can sue them. Evelyn thinks the group should hire Corald. Corald looks at Evelyn, and he seems to be quite enamored with her.

Flabbergast's Confession
The group finds Flabbergast in the headquarters. His cat is lurking nearby, wearing a viking hat and a monocle. Paultin is taking extensive notes on a notepad. The group starts to talk about the contract. Flabbergast tries to snatch it from Diath but fails. Flabbergast looks at Walnut's signature on the contract. He goes pale and faints. His cat begins licking his nose. Flabbergast awakens and mutters that he is going to lose his job.

Flabbergast has a confession: "We lost a clone. One of our clones escaped during the magical calamity." Key employees have clones of themselves stored in the HQ. Walnut's clone escaped. Apparently, Walnut stole the robe as well. Flabbergast is certain he'll be banished to the Far Realm for this.

Omin was wounded during the incident. He was healed at the Tower of Luck, and then returned to the HQ and fired some people, and then clocked out.Flabbergast panics, grabs Mr. Snibley, and flies away.

The group names the clone "Walnot". They want to see the place where the clones are kept. The cloud of darkness approaches them, as does the donkey (who is wearing hoof-wraps). The zombie and the gnome stroking a clockwork rat come forward as well, telling the group to leave now.

Out of a pile of debris comes Repecca, a kenku wearing trash armor, comes over to inspect the group's contract. The cloud is Zefiria, a moon elf warlock of the Queen of Air and Darkness. She tells the group to leave, or they will be destroyed. "Leave or suffer the wrath of the P-Team."

The gnome is Biggie Plotz. The bard is Vanlancer Eagle Tan the 7th. The donkey's name is Skyler.

The heroes keeps asking question. They want to know what the deal is with the P-Team. Skyler says that their job involves "Keeping the peace."

Paultin tries to deceive Zefiria into thinking this is all a test by Omin. Nate rolls a 29. Zefiria buys it and explains that classified files have been moved to a safe location.

The group heads home with Corald. The P-team watches them leave, suspicious.

As the group walks home, they ponder what they've learned. they note that the employees really fear Omin Dran. They are also fairly sure that the employees don't know anything about the clones. Diath realizes that Walnut would not be happy to find out that she has a clone. The clone wouldn't be happy about being a clone either.

Strix knows that the clone was probably created with a clone spell, which is a very high-level spell. She knows that clones can be temperamental and that a clone can normally not abide whatever it is a copy of.

Evelyn wants to write a letter, delivered via Strix's hat, which can send messages to Omin and, apparently, Walnut.

The note:

"Dear Walnut, our real friend. We are concerned that we met your clone and you might not know she exists. Also, she completed a contract on behalf of Acq, Inc. and took our magical cloak so now Acq, Inc. so you owe us 50,000 gp and we don't have it and our house is broken and our kids don't have a roof over their head.

''We love you tons and we are generally sorry about all this. Yikes!''

Love,

The Waffle Crew

''P.S. Please write back or come help soon. K Bye."''

The message is sent.

Paultin wants to sue. Strix points out that he is not a lawyer.

End of Session.