This is a writeup of Session 5 of Miranda Elkins’ Cuccagnat campaign, where we exploring and plundering the mysteriously abandoned manse of the famous wizard Prospero the Blue. It was hastily written up for record keeping purposes during play and may make for poor reading. If this campaign sounds like fun to you, there are still spots available. Consider joining in!

Legend

  • Bold text: NPC or monster
  • Italics: Location or feature
  • Underline: Treasure

Characters

Player Characters

PC Class and level Player
Prospero the Violet Magic-User 1 A.
Wren the Weird & Purple Changeling 1 M.
Kain Fighter 1 K.
Graciela the Good Cleric 1 B.
Petra Dwarf 1 KC
Antonio Anfibio Frogling 1 D

Hirelings

Hireling Class / Type Employer
Dame Losaneta Fighter Prospero the Violet
2 porters   Wren

We spent 40 fucking minutes talking about Dune or something

But the real news was that we had been rather forcefully “invited” to report to the Viridian Palace of Prospero the Green in The Great Wenn and hand over our petrified thief. Our invitation came with a guard detail of Viridian Knights.

The Palace is well kept and well guarded. We see guards and nobles. There is ample evidence of service but the servants seem… unseen. We are led to the doors to the main hall through which we hear raucous applause. Someone speaks, their voice amplified across the distance: “Wonderful, wonderful.”

The room is lined with tables and nobles. On a dais at the far end presides Prospero the Green. Before him kneels a man with the head of a starling, presenting several cages filled with naked humans. He is also attended by a servant knight. Prospero the Green raises his wand and begins to conduct as the caged persons break out in an uncanny simulation of birdsong. Seeing his guests have arrived, he calls the festivities to an end and points us to our guest quarters in the courtyard.

Upon closer inspection we see the birdsound-making people have frightful scars on their faces and throats. This is cool and normal.

Graciela tried to head them off and ask the starling-person why he looks like that. It tells her in so many words to fuck off.

We chat up Prospero the Green for a while and offer up the petrified thief. Prospero the Green calls servants to take it away and bring “the scroll”. Prospero the Violet shamelessly tries to get in his good graces but honestly he doesn’t seem moved. The scroll is brought and read and the petrified man is returned to life.

“Ah, shit!” he cries.

Graciela informs him she has saved him by the Grace of Sphere-God and turns the thief over to his new master.

Miranda: He makes this face.

sirwint.png

We find out the thief’s name is Sir Wint of Dril and he was sent as a spy to Prospero the Blue’s manse but was captured. We infer that the other statues were spies sent by other Prosperos.

Graciela asks if our efforts can be gratified with a contribution to the Church. Prospero the Green produces a coffer.

Wren points out that we have been much more successful than Sir Wint at infiltrating Prospero the Blue’s manse and asks if there is anything we can retrieve for him. Prospero the Green answers that he seeks to master the art of takwin, the art of imbuing matter with life.1 Wren asks how we can get back in touch, and Prospero the Green presents Prospero the Violet with a Scroll of Sending. Prospero the Violet asks if he could also spare a scroll of Speak with Monster to expedite retrieving the book. He answers that charms are more his sister, Prospera the Indigo’s wheelhouse.

Prospero the Green: She’s going by “Indigo” now, a bit late to be having a midlife crisis if you ask me… Prospero the Violet, not yet having introduced himself: What colour did she go by before? Prospero the Green: Violet.

Prospero the Violet goes silent.

Prospero the Green informs us that Prospera the Indigo on an island quite far away. Welp.

Antonio spits in his webbed hand and puts it out for a shake. Prospero the Green meets it with a Shocking Grasp(!!!!!), reducing Antonio to 1 hp by dint of a lucky roll.

P the G: And perhaps let this be a lesson in humility to you. Antonio: It’s a sign of respect among froglings… P the G: Do I look like a frogling?

We leave. He gives us a condescending finger-wave goodbye.

We open the box. It contains 250 gp!

That guy was an asshole

We head back into town and try to plan out our next delve into the manse. We’re reminded that Petra bought a bunch of meat pies for the King of the Monopods. We also buy them a cake, as well as some dog treats for the dog-heads, and a bouquet of flowers for Caliban.

We also hire some new retainers. Graciela recruits a fighter named Açittus and Prospero the Violet takes on a thief called Dragonus. He has a tattoo which is “of his name as a dragon”.

We get on with the Worminger and return the manse. Our first stop is the Kingdom of the Monopods. We leave gifts not meant for them outside the room with one of the porters and Dame Losaneta so their king doesn’t get mad. Our generous gifts get us an audience. Antonio spits in his webbed hand and tells the king to put ‘er there. The king shouts “no!” and a guard slaps his wrist away.

We manage to flatter him with gifts and groveling. He instructs the guards to take the pies to “the women”. The guards seem surprised by the notion that there are women but uneasily comply.

King: Let it be known that you are friends of the monopods!

Things are going great so far

Heading southward to deliver gifts to the dog-heads, we spy Nessuno heading towards the dog-heads, followed by a sound of vicious barking. After a moment they are silenced, and we hear Nessuno resume his singing. He disappears into the darkness with a dog-head in hand.

We ask the remaining dog-heads if they want to leave the dungeon. They pantomime that they are waiting for Prospero and wish to see him return.

That was fun and a little sad

Next stop: Caliban.

We are surprised to discover the secret door to Caliban’s workshop is already open.

The far door inside the workshop is ajar and we hear the burbling of Blemmyes coming from beyond. The workshop looks a little trashed.

Finally some wizard action

Wren leans through the doorway to cast Sleep. This works and we clean up. Turns out it is a storeroom containing the following:

  • Treasure map
  • 2 illustrated histories of Cuccagna by Parco Molo wrapped in Scitalis leather (750 gp each)
  • 2 chests that will required at least 2 people to hold each. (750gp + 1750 sp)
  • A jeweled orb like a king would have. (175 gp)
  • A scroll with 2 spells on it. (fly and sleep)
  • 3 moonstone cabuchons. (75 ch.)

No sign of the journal or Caliban! A mystery for another session as we were all getting very sleepy and needed to drag out our ridiculous haul.

I’m tired

496 XP each 248 for retainers.

434 gp, 6 sp, 1 cp each 217 gp for retainers

  1. We found a journal in Caliban’s cell that seemed to cover this very subject… ↩