Session 20
From 4th Edition
God Dammit, Jim!
As you disembark from the airship, you feel as though you are finally home. The November air is crisp and invigorating as you look out over the City of Splendors with its familiar buildings and streets. Adding icing on the cake, you find yourselves being given a heroes welcome, as the primary agents to have foiled the assassination plot against Mr. Amadeus Sol. High ranking officials belonging to the Continental Trading Company are waiting at the landing trestle to thank you and the other adventurers for their service, and Mr. Sol himself, a notoriously private individual, singles you out to be thanked personally, giving you your first glimpse of the man himself, so to speak. As slaads go, he's remarkably well kept, with a specially tailored suit covering his green mottled skin. He's very fat and well over ten feet tall, but he projects a warm smile and has a very grandfatherly appearance, so far as a frog is able to appear grandfatherly. He croaks his thanks before waddling off with his advisers, leaving you to be awarded medals of bravery by the company, which you are told is a great honor.
As the festivities die down, you find yourselves once again in your familiar stomping grounds. The Five Coins Adventuring Club used to be based in Waterdeep before their dealings with Henderson, and you are known in the region as adventurers of heroism and merit. You are free to do whatever you want.
Having arrived, the party began a campaign of investigative journalism:
- There are few paragon-level adventures available in Waterdeep right now. The region is fairly peaceful.
- Drowstar Moonleaf is sitting drunk in Baldur's Gate looking for a cure for his parents, who are sick with a mysterious illness.
- Lord Wimpington III apparantly lives in Wimpington Manor and is active in the region's social circles.
- Candlekeep is intact and functioning normally. They say that nothing unusual has happened lately.
- There is a new mayor in Beregost, and people say the old one died of pneumonia.
- Morgan is alive and eager to talk with the PCs about their knowledge concerning the ancient daggers.
- The demon is not at his home.
Eventually, the party went to investigate Wimpington Manor to check up on Wimpington 4.0 and on Edwin's sick parents:
| Wimpington Manor |
|---|
| Striding regally in your direction is the last person you were expecting to see when you arrived back in the North. Lord Wimpington is well dressed and as healthy as you've ever seen him. Healthier even than your impersonated version of Wimpington, which was modeled on the wan pallor possessed by Wimpington while he was in possession of the dagger. This Wimpington even has a healthy paunch to him. Nevertheless, he's clearly the same person, and you imagine that this is what Wimpington would have looked like if the whole dagger episode had never happened.
As he approaches, you can see that he still holds a copy of today's newspaper in his hands."What an honor! To think that I should entertain the Five Coins Adventuring Club this very afternoon! And Edwin! You've finally returned. I'm afraid that we have much to discuss. But where are my manners: My name is Lord Wimpington III. Welcome to my home," he says with a bow. As he introduces himself, you find a couple of things disconcerting. He shows no signs of recognizing the Five Coins Adventuring Club, which makes sense, since you've never met him. He also shows no sign of recognizing Quang, though it's conceivable that he merely forgot. He does, however, recognize Edwin, which makes the least sense, since you're sure that you've never met him outside of Dick Tracy's impersonation. "Edwin, I'm afraid that your parents are terribly ill. They simply collapsed some time after you disappeared… about a month ago, I believe… and have been in a coma ever since. I've had doctors from all over the region here to diagnose their condition, but they could discover no more than clues about their condition. My hope lies in a particular artifact that can be found nearby to the north. There exists a certain chalice that could hold the cure for your parents. Water poured from it is said to have remarkable restorative effects. According to my sources, it was last seen in a dwarven ruin in the Underdark, which can be accessed by a cave several miles to the north. The search will almost certainly be dangerous, but your adventuring prowess is well known, and I have complete faith in your abilities." |
| They also made a really important discovery about Wimpington Jr. |
|---|
| Across the room you spot something that sends shivers down your spine. A huge portrait has been hung up on the wall of a middle-aged man, who's face is hauntingly familiar. He's decades younger, but is otherwise the spitting image of the mysterious searching man who keeps disappearing, and as this recognition dawns on you, the portrait itself seems to call out to you for a moment, pleading for help, but a moment later, the feeling vanishes. The painting is engraved with the name 'Thomas Wimpington Jr.' |
Eventually, the party set out into the Underdark to search for a magical chalice. This turned into a fiasco after three of them had to be raised from the dead. They continue their quest with embarrassing death penalties.
