Aperitiflings For The Demon Lord

Aperitiflings For The Demon Lord is an arc of the Sailor Doom campaign. It begins after Xanathar's / Nihiloor's slave shipment was intercepted and takes place in Waterport.

Garreth fiddles while Rome burns
The gang is on their way to The Lucky 8, where Lady Blackwater is currently hiding. Suddenly, there is a strong smell of smoke coming from the South Ward where The Blackwater Estate is located. The team splits up: It turns out that the smoke is coming from The Blackwater Estate - it's on fire, the gates are smashed in and firefighters are everywhere. Garreth Blackwater is also there and walks up to the group. He claims that some enemies of the family started the fire while Garreth was preparing to aid Sailor Doom with the shipment. The statues in the garden were apparently destroyed and Lady Blackwater is presumed to be missing. Although some staff members died, the fire is now under control. Garreth refuses to let the heroes investigate the mansion for themselves. Shawn casts "locate object" on the statue of Fynn Blackwater but it's nowhere to be found.
 * Jacques, Shawn, Telrys, Shanjan and Donnabella are going to investigate the smoke.
 * Danai, Valentina, Galandro and Ruby will go ahead to make sure that Lady Blackwater is safe.

The Order of the Sceptre
Lady Blackwater seems to be well, she is hanging out with Anan and Perrath. The crew tells her what happened at the docks. She is bewildered that Garreth turned out to be bad - he's not a fighter, more interested in athletics and magic. Now, she can't go back to her mansion but Anan offers her a place to stay. She decides to stay at secret locations and to let us know when she moves. Team #housefire calls and explains the situation back at the estate. Anan listens in and provides them with a room for scheming purposes. The groups are reunited and discuss the topic of demon summoning.

Telrys mentions The Order of the Sceptre and fears it might be involved in the situation. The Order is seeking to summon the demon lord Orcus but is battling against opposing factions, all serving different lords. The Sceptre has a history of kidnapping and recruiting tieflings, with a focus on their ancestry. They need two tieflings, descendants of the same demon: a vessel to house Orcus (soul sacrificed, body remains possessed) and a blood source (soul alive, body sacrificed) for the summoning ritual. Shawn remarks that he is no stranger to the group and that it was most likely involved with the change of nature of Shawn's mysterious friend.

Since we happen to have not only one, but two tieflings in our group, things are getting a bit personal. Danai opens up about her family: She is not quite sure who her father is but her mother claimed it was Mask. However, Danai is not sure if her mother is a trustworthy source since she is a bit of a con woman. Her mother was using her to make money by showing off her special ancestry and letting her be adopted by cults. Danai has been betrothed, but she doesn't want to get married since she's only interested in Lucas Merrikson. Shawn has no clue about his ancestry either, he just got sent off to boarding school at some point.

Telrys asks Sailor Doom for help with the Sceptre. Valentina faintly remembers that Sébastien is still imprisoned by Xanathar. Telrys offers to help rescuing him but isn't as strong as she looks.

We should give this guy, like, all the power
After the meeting, Anan offers the group some friendly help: He promises to pay off Sébastien's debt with Xanathar, if the Sailor Doom manages to convince Lady Blackwater to help him out. She is part of the city's council and has a lot of influence. Anan wishes for looser laws regarding the gambling business and betting on cage fighting. He would be willing to donate 25000 GP to the Save Sébastien Fund if the group talked Lady Blackwater into advocating for this change and an additional 25000 GP if the council just allowed him to do whatever. Sailor Doom isn't sure if they should help him and think about talking to another casino owner, maybe Turk the Orc, instead. They leave without a clear answer for Anan.

Let's go grave robbing! Part I
Yeah, we still need to find the Ring of Winter. Lady Blackwater is already in bed, reading, but the gang still crashes into her room to ask her more questions. She once promised us to help with finding the ring - we were supposed to figure out who the traitor is in return. She now relates to us that Suzail's father, the man we were trying to find, is dead and that she knew this the entire time. She mislead the crew since she needed help and they seemed like her best option. Also, she's one of the few people who actually know where he is buried at Waterport's graveyard. While he wasn't buried with the Ring of Winter, his body might offer some helpful clues. Lady Blackwater will help the gang with finding the grave so they can dig him up - prior to his death, the man asked her to lead worthy people to his body, if anyone ever asked for him. And oh! There's a slight zombie problem at the graveyard.

Next up, Valentina tries to convince her to help with Anan's request but the lady isn't too fond of gambling and refuses. Valentina proceeds to tell a sob story about how much she loves and fears for her brother which moves Lady Blackwater to tears. Danai supports Valentina's persuasion attempt by saying there's already illegal fights going on and the city should be able to regulate them by making them legal. Lady Blackwater promises to think about it and gives Valentina a slip of paper saying "I'll think about it".

Anan gives Valentina 25000 GP for the piece of paper but she makes sure that Jacques carries the check. Gang goes to bed. Shenanigans with spinning beds, Elvis, etc, etc. Shawn and Telrys stay up late to talk about what happened. Danai overhears them talking about one of Shawn's friend from bard school, Vixlior, who might know something about the Order of the Sceptre. They consider reaching out to them, even though Shawn seems upset with them.

BTS World: DND Edition
The next day, the crew is off to meet Nimh, who's also a tiefling and might be in danger - or might have helpful information. On their way there, they see a group of people (with X insignia on their arms) harassing a busker, the tabaxi they saw outside The Open Purse. They rescue him and learn his name, Gi Yoon. He explains that the crowd was after him because he wasn't able to pay them protection money. Danai gives Gi enough money to signed up with the Acquisitions Incorporated Agency (10GP). After thanking them, he leaves.

Garreth pays a friendly visit (Gone Wrong)
Nimh doesn't seem to be home so the friends stop by their own mansion. Something demonic is going on, Shawn can feel it, so they arm themselves with holy water. Turns out: Garreth and a bunch of his people are inside. He makes up an excuse and tells them that he's just gathering some items that his brother left behind. Valentina isn't pleased and convinces him to hand her his keys for the house. They shortly speak about his lost brother and Garreth states that he has come to terms with the pain. His men seem to be removing some crates from the mansion and Shawn does some magic - he finds out that all demon-related books are in the containers. Garreth mentions that he's grateful for Sailor Doom's help and makes some shady comments: "The time of the old has passed. It's time for the new generation." Furthermore, he implies that he might need their help again in the future but doesn't give any details. He bids the heroes goodbye and takes his leave. Shawn takes some of his hair before he can do so.

Danai follows the wagon with the crates. She overhears two of Garreth's men talking about capturing two people. The wagon rides back to The Blackwater Estate, where other coaches are being unloaded. There are 7 barrels in total, 4 are already empty. She decides to infiltrate the mansion by turning herself into Garreth. Bob brings her the hair, that Shawn collected earlier, and she uses it with her vial. (A/N: Or not. Not sure. Different Author: This doesn't happen. the vial works by blood, not hair. Danai stays Danai. I don't know how to work that into the article though. First author: thanks, I don't remember anything about this at all for some reason. Did the DM just let us... do all that stuff until he stopped us?)

Danai climbs up the building and breaks into the team's old rooms. She takes a pillow, throws it in the middle of the room and casts darkness on it. The room is pitch black and she puts her back next to the door to hide. A guard opens the door and tells his comrades to notify Garreth. Danai leaves the room and sees a human guard standing there, while the darkness goes out through the door. She sneaks past the guard, pillow in her hands, so nobody can see her in the shadows. There are 20 guards around and they aim their crossbows but cannot make out anyone due to the spell. The guards don't know what to do and just follow the dark cloud through the hallway and down the stairs. Suddenly, someone dispels Danai's magic - Garreth shows up, together with Fynn. Danai uses the teleportation bracelets to get out of there.

Pigeon post! (and tiefling blood)
Meanwhile, the rest of the gang stayed behind in the Dockside Mansion. The demon rooms are empty, just the furniture was left behind. Suddenly, there are pigeon noises coming from upstairs - it's Lambo. He's at the front door, collapsed and bleeding, with one broken wing. Jacques heals him while Valentina starts freaking out, concerned about Sébastien. Valentina is now able to speak Pigeon (thanks Miku!). Lambo informs her that Sébastien was captured and is being prepared for cage fights. The bird was able to escape but got hurt on the way. Sébastien has little time left and is somewhere near the docks.

After hearing about the barrels via the sending stones, Shawn, Jacques and Valentina decide to check on Nimh next door. The house is empty but there is a lot of blood in the kitchen. Sailor Doom suspect that Garreth's men have kidnapped Nimh and her father. The bedrooms are also empty. Shawn finds a notebook in Nimh's room that has info of amounts of pain connected to certain points of the body. Otherwise, it's a very tidy room. Nobody is in the cellar, either. It has a lot of cadavers and looks like a butcher's place. Valentina borrows a few things from around the house and finally, Danai reunites with the group.

Everybody decides that they should warn the tieflings of Waterport. Danai, with the help of her friends, composes a letter to the local newspaper to spread the word.

Goat > our combined brain cells
Lambo tells the group that Sébastien knew more about Xanathar than they thought. Prior to arriving in Waterport, Sébastien had personally begged Xanathar for money, promising him big money with the expedition to the underwater temple but brought nothing back. Xanathar also has a weakness: his goldfish, Goldie. Sailor Doom leaves the house and walks towards the docks. There, they see a huge ship with a nyan cat-flag. They hurry past it.

Before entering the mindflayer's warehouse, they send Team Bee back to intercept Ka'le so that he doesn't enter the house, which might be dangerous. Telrys is told to stay behind as well. They will meet her again at the Lucky 8, maybe she can come up with a plan to track down the demonic things.

Sailor Doom walks down the stairs - it smells like a sewer and there are magic lights all round. Downstairs is a cellar with crates, the air is damp and there is a manhole in the middle of the room, which Shawn gently opens. Further down, the smell of sewer gets stronger. At this point, a thick fog obscures the team's vision. Insert infamous goat puzzle here (find the midpoint of the corridor and walk backwards; solved by unleashing a goat from the bag of tricks, solves the issue for us).

The gang ends up at a t-section. There are some goblins around but they haven't noticed us yet. Danai is sent as a scout, finds a toilet, more guard goblins and a dead end which might be slightly magical. Finally, she finds a study door which seems to lead to the prisoner's cells. The rest of the group joins her and Valentina picks the lock of the door with a little help from her good friend Shawn. Behind the door, they see 40 unbound people, staring in front of them mindlessly, as well as 10 prisoners in chains. Sébastien is there, looking like he's been through hell but with his beautiful hair intact. In the distance, there are some goblin guards.

Sexual Education for Mindflayers 101
At first, Sébastien refuses to leave the group since he's worried about putting them in danger. Nihiloor installed a tadpole in his brain, which limits him in certain ways and makes him obey Nihiloor's command. Apparently, that's how mindflayers create new creatures of their kind. Danai knows that the larvae of mindflayers first enter a body via the eye, then nestle themselves in the brain and spread out tentacles within it. There are various larvae stages, ones is used to turn people into slaves, rarer ones can turn victims into mindflayers.

One of the prisoners approaches the group - it's Virginia Rage, former captain and slavery enthusiast. She shows no remorse for her actions and is an unpleasant companion but Sailor Doom agrees to save her as well, just to keep her from alerting the guards. They put Sébastien into the bag of holding and let Virginia walk on her own. Danai collects some of her blood in her vial.

Sébastien is o-fish-ally back
They manage to escape but just before exiting the sewers, Xanathar appears, followed by someone carrying his goldfish. Danai saves the group's life by remembering enough about goldfish to impress Xanathar. Once they're finally back outside, Sébastien is released from the bag and Virginia finds her death by Danai's hand. She dies in Jacques' arms - Jacques is shocked and frozen in place but gently dragged along as the gang makes their way downtown, walking fast, in the direction of The Dragon Shop. Valentina stops briefly to pick up Virginia's silver ring (inscription: dax ♥ Virginia).

Of course, Razyl has some advice for the group because her IQ is very high and her brain very big. To remove the larvae, the gang has to find a high-level cleric. They do not know a high-level cleric and Razyl tells them to seek out temples outside of Waterport. During the conversation, Sébastien starts acting up and is knocked out by Shawn. Danai realises that they should leave the city soon, too many of Xanathar's men are around. Before that, they have to do some grave robbing, of course. The crew returns to the Lucky 8 to catch some sleep. Danai disguises Sébastien as the dead pirate captain, for his own safety. Everyone is alive.

Let's go grave robbing! Part II
When Shawn wakes up, he finds a small box in front of his room, addressed to him. Together with Danai, he carefully opens it and finds an ebony coloured Shawm inside. He tries to find out who sent it by studying the handwriting on the note.

The entire gang meets up with Lady Blackwater who informs them that she will leave the city for a while since she doesn’t feel safe in Waterport. She also receives the news about Fynn and isn’t quite that shocked. According to her, it would be best for her to avoid him for now. Perrath will stay and lead an underground resistance against the enemies of Lady Blackwater.

It is grave robbing time, the target: the grave of Artus of Suzail, located in the hall of heroes in City of the Dead. Artus used to be a colleague of the lady but she wasn’t there to attend his funeral. The funeral itself was done in quite a hurry and the resting place is unmarked – yet Lady Blackwater knows where it is.

The gang leaves Sébastien in Telrys’ capable hands. Telrys tells Shawn that she is going to leave soon – she wants to travel to Kaelbaek to find out more about the demon cults. Shanjan has read some reviews about the City of the Dead and promises that it’s a great place. Galandro has an idea regarding the Sébastien situation and advises Valentina to seek out The Rat’s Alley, a place where people offer unusual solutions.

We go to the graveyard. It’s a nice place. In the Hall of Heroes, Lady Blackwater stops to

pray at a grave. The inscription says: HESK. Here lies a friend, fearless warrior, loyal brother in arms. Written by Marigold, Emilio and Ora. Lady Blackwater tells the group that this is the grave of an old friend, a great mentor who died heroically. They finally find Artus’ grave and Valentina blows it up. The blast of her bomb destroys a few of the nearby graves but Jacques fixes them. We find out that Ruby is a paladin. She feels bad about the entire situation. Oh, baby. The casket turns out to be empty, except for a letter which taunts the group for being slow. It is signed by Artus and also mentions that he sailed off with the Ring of Winter, trying to keep it from falling into the wrong hands.

The Order of the Chicken
Danai thinks this is the right time to ask for some of Lady Blackwater’s blood and receives it in the end. After investigating the casket more closely, Valentina finds some platinum coins hidden in the fabric. They bear Umberlee’s mark. This is worrisome and Jacques is having a bit of a crisis. Sailor Doom remembers that they saw a Nyan Pirate ship back at the docks and want to take a closer look at it. We leave and didn’t even see 1 (one) zombie. I’m giving this place a bad review on Yelp.

The gang walks towards the docks to check out the Nyan Pirate ship. Long story short: Valentina burns it down, doesn't really find anything useful (but has a new fanclub as the Harbinger of Umberlee). Shawn gets some pamphlets. The gang runs into Quinn Hightopple, now a newspaper boy. After reading the news, they notice an advertisement for 5 fluffy chickens and decide to buy them for Fennel. Emotional support chickens, you know. The chickens' owner, Mary Cleargarden, lives outside of town on the Barley Farm. We buy them. She scams us. At least we found new friends: Chicken 1-5.

Fennel is still at the Blackwater Estate. On the way there, Jacques tells her friends that Umberlee has a weakness: She has to take a physical form while she's creating a child. Time to do some planning while we're at it!
 * Give Fennel the Chickens (in disguise) and pick up the Umberlee books


 * Go to the Ironwoods (for godly assistance re Sebastien and Umberlee)


 * On the way, figure out demon stuff (look out for Vixlior?)

At the mansion, Shawn disguises himself as his friend. The guards won't let him in and get suspicious as he mentions Frupert's name - nobody had mentioned his name during the conversation. They decide to beat him up. Shawn makes a run for it, casting darkness on one of the chickens. Shawn doesn't have dark vision. Things look pretty bad. The gang decides to beat up the guards. Danai kills Dilbert. After a brief fight, the rest of the guards are knocked out and Frupert is taking hostage. Onlookers called the police in the meanwhile so we have to act fast: Danai turns Valentina into Frupert with the use of her magic vial. The rest are returning to Nimh's house with the unconscious Frupert.

The Gang Leaves Valentina Unsupervised
Frupertina enters the mansion. Two guards inform her that the Blackwater Brothers are waiting for her in the cellar. Valentina checks out the hospital wing first, trying to find Fennel. She finds a bunch of unconscious tieflings instead, including Doctor Shuu. His eyes are pitch black and he doesn't react to anything. After telling the gang about her findings, Valentina decides to go to talk to Garreth and Fynn. She leaves the chickens in the hospital but opens a window for them - just in case they need to escape.

Garreth and Fynn have remodelled the cellar. Upon entering, Valentina notices a chained up Nimh, surrounded by evil demon stuff. The Blackwater Brothers do not realise that she's not actually Frupert and tell her about her wicked plans: Kidnapping tieflings, sacrificing them. Exciting! They also have a deal with Xanathar. Since they're really impressed with... Frupert's work, they allow him to spend some time alone with the prisoner, Nimh, to let him whisper evil stuff into her ear because that's his hobby, duh. Nimh doesn't recognise Valentina but trusts her when she says that she can free her. Nimh doesn't want to leave without her dad so Val gives her the teleportation bracelet and asks her to yeet away while she stays behind to grab Doctor Shuu. Val sets the room on fire before going back upstairs. Back at Nimh's house, the rest of Sailor Doom is restraining Frupert to question him later. Suddenly, Nimh appears. She gives out some awkward hugs and tells them what happened. Shawn summons a war horse that Val could use as a getaway horse. The horse is called Pinkie Pie and he's a big boy. He understands common and has a bonding moment with Shawn. In the meantime, the Blackwater Brothers still haven't figured out Valentina's true identity. Deacon McCloud arrives at the mansion, following the distressed call of a citizen who watched the gang beat up the guards earlier. Frupertina manages to convince him to leave her alone in the hospital. She grabs Dr. Uush and escapes with him. She finds Pinkie Pie and returns to Nimh's house.

Frupert claims he's only in the mess for the money and he's willing to answer a few questions. He tells them about an undead army who's chilling at the graveyard (400-500 zombies). The tieflings in the hospital wing are demon captains (20) - bad news for Nimh's dad but his daughter is kinda chill with letting him go. However, the demon takes over a body slowly and a priest could stop the process. The Blackwater Brothers want to use the army and their deal with Xanathar to take over the city council and eventually, all of Waterport and maybe even the world. Xanathar provides them with tieflings and lets them use his underground facilities to transport goods.

Next Arc: Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder