Session 22 -- The One Where The Party Takes A Shortcut And Avoids 90% Of The Adventure

When the party returned to Catsby after delivering the portal to Daisey, Catsby was able to tell them that he had located an item that likely contains the ugallium that should allow the sailors of the Eldridge to return home.

The ugallium is set as a glowing green gemstone in a necklace that is one of the prized possessions of a gangster named Wolfsheim. He has a two-storey mansion with a compound underground. The thing is, Wolfsheim is a lycanthrope. All his henchmen and servants are lycanthropes (although many or most of the servants were infected with lycanthropy by Wolfsheim as a way to trap them in his service). Anyone who loses half his hit points in a fight with a lycanthrope contracts a progressive lycanthrope themselves. In BECMI D&D, any PC that becomes a lycanthrope becomes an NPC and is no longer controlled by the player. The danger of death is real!

The weird thing is that Wolfsheim is an elf, and elves can't get lycanthropy (lycanthropy kills demihumans), so it's thought that his lycanthropy is actually an effect of an item like Catsby's magic ring.

The party approached the mansion, Tiv donned her cloak of elven hijinks, and those with rings of invisibility activated them, leaving Jack and Ceangal visible. Murchad began to investigate the front of the M-shaped mansion, while Vedica snuck up the east side. They peered into windows, seeing in many of the rooms werewolves, wereravens, and werefoxes who were obviously henchmen or servants. Most seemed to be relaxing or "slacking off," but a few seemed to be doing some kind of work...discussing strategy or going over sensitive papers.

Rounding one corner, Murchad saw a hellhound loungin on the grass. There was enough distace that the hellhound did not perceive his presence, giving Murchad time to quietly back away and retreat to the rest of the party. Vedica, however, rounded the corner around the back of the mansion and encountered a hellhound who did pick up her scent. It followed her back around the side of the mansion as she retreated and eventually caught her and attacked.

Seeing the hellhound and assuming what was happening, Jack activated his invisibility pendant and rushed in to help. The two quickly and quietly killed the hellhound.

Rethinking their strategy, the party decided that Ceangal should use wizard eye to scope out the terrain. He was able to see most of the way around the building, looking in several windows, spotting more henchmen inside, and seeing more hellounds outside.

They decided that the best course of action was to sneak through a window in a room they knew was empty. After two tries, Vedica found one she could unlock, and the party entered Wolfsheim's pantry. A quick search revealed five faintly glowing bottles of magical absinthe (works as a healing potion with 3x power, but makes someone who drinks it drunk, leading to -2 penalties to all saving throws, ability checks, attack rolls, and skill checks (-10% for thieves' skills) for one hour (a successful saving throw vs poison will result in half penalties) and a 25% chance of experiencing hallucinations. Basically, it's a stronger version of the leprechauns' magical wines and poteens.

Unbeknownst to them, they tripped a spectral alarm when they entered the pantry, alerting Wolfsheim to the presence of intruders.

Cracking the door to peek into the next room revealed two wereboars preparing food. They were obviously in a foul humor as they bustled around the kitchen. Ceangal tried to cast sleep, but only succeeded in putting one of the two to sleep. The other one attacked Ceangal (who was the only one he could see) and was promptly destroyed by the rest of the party. They tied up the sleeping wereboar and dragged him and the dead one into the pantry.

In the kitchen, they found food being prepared, a hearth, a dumbwaiter, and shelves of jars and dry goods.

The party proceeded into the hallway, with the invisible members taking the lead. They started counting doors and whatnot before Tiv entered the main foyer only to have Ratford, Wolfsheim's wererat butler notice the shimmering of her cloak. He approached her to demand to know who she was and what she was doing there, and in doing so, he also saw Ceangal.

As Tiv started trying to talk her way out of the situation with Ratford by rambling in Basque (which he did not know), Jack stepped foward and threw a bunch of wolfsbane right in his face, causing him to flee upstairs in disgust and fear.

The party knew that time was short, so they started listening at doors in order to figure out how to get at the necklace most efficiently. Tiv listened at one door from which piano music was flowing. It was beautiful.

Vedica tried listening at another door. She couldn't hear anything on the other side. Jack, having exhausted his patience, simply barged into the room. There, he found a wererat named Mickey sitting behind a large desk strewn with papers and ledgers amidst dark wood paneling and plush leather furniture. Wolfsheim's accountant looked up from his work over the spectacles perched on the bridge of his snout, and, in a very annoyed tone of voice, addressed Jack.

"What is it now? Who are you?"

"I'm looking for a green, glowing gem" blurted out Jack.

"Excuse me?"

"Yeah, I'm looking for a green, glowing gem. That's what I'm looking for, to send some sailors back to where they belong."

"And...and you are...?"

"M'name's Jack Flynn. I'm here to see the boss."

"Well, then you'd better talk to Ratford if you've got an appointment because nobody gets into the treasury downstairs without the boss's say-so."

"Alright, alright," replied Jack, a little deflated.

"How did you get in here without talking to Ratford first?"

"We did talk to Ratford, but he ran upstairs real quick."

"Whatever. Close the door on your way out. Go find Ratford if you have or need an appointment."

"I'll give you 100 gold pieces if you take me to the boss."

"Yeah, I'm just an accountant. I don't handle his calendar, and what he'd do to me is not worth 100 gold pieces. I've got too much actual work to do, so go find Ratford and close the door."

With that, the invisible hand of Dwårfy grabbed Jack's clothes at the small of his back and firmly pulled him backwards through the doorway. Invisible Murchad shut the door.

Rethinking their strategy, the party decided to see if they couldn't make use of the dumbwaiter. The alternative was to explore the mansion and find the primary way down to the basement.

First, they sent Dwårfy down while invisible. There, he found he was in a small storage room for rations. The shelves were full of foodstuffs, and the faint smell of mildew filled the air. The door was locked.

Next, they send Vedica who did not manage to pick the lock.

Finally, the entire party went down, and Murchad forced the door.

Rounding the corner of a short hallway, they found a large room set up with tapestries and a throne. There, a fat elf sat on the throne, flanked by a werelion and weretiger, berating two werebears. Apparently, the werebears were in trouble for failing to guard the pantry.

The party did some quick math and decided to have Ceangal lob a fireball into the middle of the group.

Which he did.

All were still standing and proceeded to attack the party. As they did, Wolfsheim transformed into a werewolf.

The party fought for awhile before Ceangal cast a second fireball in such a way as to catch their enemies again.

A little more actual fighting was still necessary, but the party made quick work of Wolfsheim and his remaning henchmen.

They searched the bodies, and Tiv took a ring of lesser polymorph off of Wolfsheim.

They did not find the pendant with the ugallium, though, so now they need a plan to find it down here in Wolfsheim's compound...