Episode 27: High Stakes

"'The Fated go on a hunt for a particular blood sucker.'"

Episode Events
The party are nearing the end of their travel, and they discuss their plans for how to kill the vampire. The party arrive at Oaklite, as Mountain informs the party they are at Oaklite to kill Elias Towerfall, the hero of Oaklite who is a vampire in disguise. The party decide to ask around for Elias to try to gather information about him and his location. Br'aad walks off from the party to begin looking for people to ask after disguising himself with a grey beard and mustache. Taxi begins to look for signs of withering plants along the edge of the forest to locate Elias, while Sylnan attempts to find people to eavesdrop on. Mountain and Velrisa wander through the town, investigating the town in general.

Taxi moves to the nearby woods, following the signs and trail of decay.

Br'aad moves into town square in search of people to question, when he passes by a notice board with a few flyers on it. He notices one, a missing poster for a 5 year old child named Balor, who was suspected to be kidnapped from his home. Moving down the street, Br'aad finds a mother and child arguing, yelling to each other about "where the other boys [from Oaklite] have gone". Br'aad approaches, and the mother denies that she has ever heard of Elias. Getting no information, Br'aad moves on to the home next door. He knocks on the door, and speaks to a man through the door. He too denies of knowing Elias. Br'aad moves to a third house, immediately demanding to know where Elias Towerfall is. A tall woman opens the door, who seems out of place in a place like Oaklite. She too knows nothing of Elias. Br'aad questions if this woman has noticed anything of vampires in the area. She nods, and invites him in.

The woman introduces herself as Saka, and that she too is searching for the vampire. She reveals her suspicion that the townspeople are harboring Elias, even though Elias is feeding off them. Saka invites him to join her at nightfall along the edge of the forest.

Velrisa and Mountain step into the tavern, Velrisa taking lookout for any bite marks on townsfolk. The tavern is completely vacant, except for the distant call of the barkeep. Mountain orders drinks, noticing the nervousness of the barkeep. When they ask about Elias, the barkeep lies and denies knowing about him. Velrisa offers him 10 gold to inform them about Elias, but the barkeep does not take it, though he seems tempted. Mountain steps into the kitchen where the barkeep is.

Now from Sylnan's perspective, he moves up the road keeping near walls and alleys. He sees two men chatting at a table, and decides to eavesdrop. Sylnan overhears one of the men talking about how they plan to leave, and that "holding up the bargain is no longer worth it", while the other man is hesitant to allow him too, talking about how "'he' already took the children". Sylnan approaches the men, sitting down at the table with them and asking to play cards. After some arguing and hesitation, they allow him to join. He places a bet of 3 gold, asking for information in exchange. Both men quickly deny knowing of Elias, but Sylnan pulls out another 3 gold to persuade the men. When they decline, Sylnan informs them that he overheard the mans plan to move, and that they best tell him where Elias is. The men begin to panic, telling Sylnan to cease talking, since Elias "always listens". They tell him that if anyone acts up, child, livestock, or gold go missing, or people die. They inform Sylnan that each night, Elias comes and makes demands of food, children, prostitutes, or whatever else he may desire, but they do not know where he lives.

Taxi moves further into the woods, noticing the increasing decay. He stops when he discovers a small hole at the center of the decay, and returns to the town to find the others.

Mountain sees the barkeep in the kitchen, writing into a journal. Mountain trips him to the ground, covers his mouth, and demands to know information on Elias. The barkeep continues to refuse, so Mountain bashes him in the leg with a hammer, shattering his kneecap. Mountain continues to threaten him until Velrisa tells him to stop. She heals his kneecap, and asks again for information. The barkeep gives them the information.

Sylnan and Br'aad run into each other, and go to meet up with the rest of the party. They share information, and proceed to go back to the hole in the forest.

Crawling down the hole, Taxi and Sylnan in rat form,the party reach the end of the tunnel, revealing a chamber room with a coffin in the middle, and a bathtub on the side. Inside the bathtub they see Elias alongside four other women that look vampiric. Taxi signals to Sylnan, both still in rat form, and runs into the coffin. Shortly after, the women leave, and Elias goes into the coffin, shutting it with Taxi still inside as a rat. Sylnan whittles a short bow into a wooden stake, while Br'aad casts major image to make the large iron doors appear to only be a wall. As Mountain and Sylnan go to stab Elias, Mountain's armor clanks loudly, echoing in the chamber. They both resort to running up and blindly stabbing Elias. As they do so, Taxi transforms back into normal form, stabbing Elias in the back with the wooden stake he whittled earlier. Since Elias was not asleep, he does not get paralyzed, and combat ensues.

Elias turns into a smoke, and moves around, reappearing standing in the bath, this time wearing armor with a long red cloak. Slynan moves to stab him with his rapier, landing the hit, although Elias seems unaffected. Br'aad casts heat metal on his armor, but nothing happens, so he casts Bardic Inspiration on Slynan. Elias elbows Sylnan's head hard, causing him to stumble back, and Elias goes for a punch in the face on Sylnan. Elias goes for a bite on Slynan's neck, but Sylnan dodges. Mountain uses Flametongue, and goes to hit him, missing twice. Taxi conjures four giant wasps, and magically imbues his stake-quarterstaff. Elias takes a legendary action, lunching forward and biting Mountain. All four wasps go to hit Elias, all four succeeding. Velrisa moves forward and casts Sacred Flame, but the spell misses. Elias swats at the wasps. Sylnan goes to stab with both returning daggers, missing with one, and landing a strong hit with the other. Br'aad casts Command, but it has no effect, so he uses Charm Person, which also fails. Elias hits one of the wasp, and kills it, then goes to attack Slynan, but Velrisa cancels out the critical hit on Sylnan, causing Sylnan to only be grappled by headlock. Mountain stabs again with Flametongue, landing the attack but missing the second attack. Mountain uses Action Surge, missing two more attacks. Taxi moves out of the coffin and goes over towards Mountain, casting Cure Wounds. Sylnan uses Uncanny Dodge to avoid some of the damage from Elias' bite. The three remaining wasps go to hit Elias, two of them landing the hits then all three moving back towards Taxi. Velrisa attacks with the warhammer, hitting. She then heals Slynan. Elias makes an attack on Velrisa, missing. Sylnan tries to escape the headlock, headbutting him and going free. Sylnan swings at Elias and misses. Br'aad polymorphs one of the wasps into a giant ape, causing the room to begin to cave in by the large ape. Br'aad casts Bardic Inspiration on the bee-ape creature. Elias turns into a mist, moving up the tunnel that the party entered from. Taxi Wildshapes into a mole and starts burrowing back up towards the surface, meanwhile Mountain is crawling back through the entrance tunnel as the room they were previously in continues to collapse. Velrisa, Slynan, and Br'aad also begin to crawl up the hole. Climbing out of the tunnel, Sylnan throws a dagger at the mist, dealing some damage. Br'aad climbs out of the tunnel, and sends the Dancing Rapier to hit the mist, seemingly ripping the mist. Br'aad casts heat metal on the sword, dealing additional damage. Elias transforms back, floating above the party. He moves down, hovering only 5 feet above the ground. Mountain uses Commander Strike on Taxi, telling him to call lightning, hitting. Mountain goes to hit, dealing a heavy blow. Taxi calls lightning once again, hitting once again. Taxi punches Elias, causing him to go unconscious. Combat Ends.

Taxi stabs the stake into his heart. Saka approaches the party. Mountain beheads Elias, and allows Saka to take the head. Saka tells them that Elias' soul will always be on the planet, but physically he is dead.

A white door appears, and a lot of objects are thrown out. A skeleton walks out. it is Quinn. He looks down at Elias, and kicks him. Quinn excitedly thanks Mountain for killing Elias, and grants him the quarterstaff. He also gives Mountain a bell, and tells him that ringing the bell would call for Quinn. Quinn collects the items back into the doorway and leaves.

Mountain gives Taxi the magical quarterstaff. Taxi revives the nearby nature that had died due to Elias.

The party goes back to Oaklite, and finds many people gathered in the townsquare. Br'aad announces to the town that they are freed of Elias' reign. The residents of Oaklite cheer, and one of the card playing men from earlier pay the party in a small bag of gold. An adventurer by the name of Andres steps forward, requesting to interview the party members. They follow Andres to the tavern.