Sessione 8 -- Calling an Old Flame

The party returned from their perilous encounter with papers clutched in their hands, dragging a pair of captives to Francesco Dandolo. The documents, torn from the lifeless grasp of Orsini, revealed a web far more intricate than they had imagined, hinting at a wealthy Genoese merchant bankrolling The Byzantine scheme to undermine Venice...or it would appear that it was the Byzantine Empire bankrolling a Genoese scheme. Whispers of a red scarf underground, the Carbonari, lingered in the air, guiding the party to a secret lair hidden within a warehouse.

The group stood at the entrance to this clandestine den, their resolve steeled. Fancy, with her sharp intuition, declared forward as their only path, her voice cutting through the tension. They had pieced together clues from the papers, leading them to this shadowed passageway. As they ventured in, Nico, ever the daring scout, volunteered to slip ahead invisibly. The narrow corridor tested their caution when Nico triggered a pendulum blade trap, the swing grazing him with a faint nick. Fancy followed, only to suffer a more severe cut as the blade swept again, her gasp echoing softly. “I thought since Nico tripped the trap, it couldn't be triggered again” she muttered, her wit shining through the pain.

The hallway bore faint charcoal graffiti of a flame encircled by a scarf, a mark of the Carbonari’s presence seemingly marking the place where a tripwire lay across the stone. The rest of the party was able to pass the trap without further incident.

Nico pressed on, spotting scratched flame etchings in the stone down one hallway, while Fancy, catching muffled male voices down a different corridor ahead, shouted a warning in her thick accent. The unintended humor drew a chorus of shushes from her companions. She retreated toward Nico, signaling silence as they planned their next move. Gianna suggested an ambush, and Nico proposed a sleep spell, her idea met with approval. Guido agreed, the group nodding in unison.

Nico crept forward, his cloak aiding his stealth until a guard spotted him. Undeterred, he cast his sleep spell enveloping the area. Three red-scarved figures slumped to the ground with a satisfying thud, though a blue-robed figure, obviously their leader, remained awake. Fancy moved up behind Gianna, marveling at the success, while Nico, wielding dual blades, sought to dispatch two sleeping foes with swift, precise strikes. “I got two daggers and two hands, so I can cut two people at once. You do the math,” he quipped, his humor dark yet effective.

The battle escalated as the awake blue-clad figure kicked a sleeping ally awake, and the guard attacked Volpeo, missing narrowly. Guido, playing defense, watched the flanks, while Fancy targeted the leader with a crossbow bolt, striking true. Suddenly, soft chanting drifted from beyond, an unexpected turn that heightened their alertness. Nico closed in, slashing at the blue figure with his dagger, only to miss with his offhand throw, the blade clattering uselessly into a corner. “You’ll have to pick it up later,” came the dry remark from the group.

The fight grew chaotic as the blue figure hit Nico with a dagger, and another red figure tackled him, missing with a sword. The chanting grew louder, signaling trouble. Gianna’s next bolt felled the blue figure, and Guido’s sling stone dropped the last foe thunderous blow, his “Holy mackerel!” ringing out in triumph.

Yet the reprieve was short-lived. Nico, peering into the next room while picking up his dagger, saw a chilling scene: a small chamber with a blood-smeared altar, charcoal drawings, and a circle of candles casting eerie shadows. The ritualists’ chanting ceased, and a burst of flame birthed a fire elemental, flanked by fiery minions.

The elemental struck Nico hard, felling him instantly with a fiery blow, while a minion singed Fancy and Volpeo. The three ritualists loosed magic missiles at Volpeo, Gianna, and Guido. The party's enemies managed to do a lot of damage with their opening attacks, particularly on NIco.

Taking a big risk by not drinking a healing potion immediately, Nico threw a grenade at the ritualists in the doorway of the ritual chamber, its explosion taking down one ritualist, but the fire creatures pressed on. Guido’s protection from evil shielded him as the elemental’s flames failed to touch him, eliciting a surprised reaction. Fancy unleashed a magic missile, damaging a minion, and Nico, revived by a potion and a brief breather out of the line of fire (literally), rejoined the fray by sneaking in for a devastating backstab attack. Volpeo and Gianna dispatched the minions, their coordinated strikes a dance of steel and magic.

The tide turned as Fancy’s magic arrow and Volpeo’s blade brought down the elemental, Guido’s sling missing but the cultists’ daggers failing against his protected form. Nico, cloaked in stealth, took down a ritualist, and Volpeo finished another. The room fell silent, the combat ended. The party searched the altar and walls, finding no secret compartments or documents, only daggers on the fallen. “Hey, Nico, you might need some more daggers,” Gianna teased, tossing him one. With no further noise, they paused, and Nico was restored to full health by a couple more potions.  

The party looked uneasily at each other. This lair was far more dangerous than the other Red Scarf hideouts they had encountered, and they knew not how much more danger awaited them before they would be able to find the information about the Genoese merchant that they came for.