The Black Card, Assassins, and the Liberation of Thornyside

As the group wakes up, they try to make a plan on how to clear the vampires from Thornyside and find Elaine to release James from the arranged marriage. They realize they need money and also an army, so they make a plan to ask James for money and rent some assassins from the Torre D’Or as back up as well as ask the rangers.
They found James leaving his home.
C: i wish we found you with the ease of a tranquil day, but with the issues in Thornyside and your betrothal, we have some things we need to discuss.
J: I was on my way to town, tell me what is going on.
C: We found Elaine, but when we got there things were waylaid as vampires had taken over the city and things were weird with creepy water everywhere.
J: that is horrifying, how can I help?
C: We need to get a group together and save the town. I think this can work in your favor if you save her and her city, maybe she can be convinced to let you go?
J: Of course. I can help, I can go with you.
N: NO! Do you want him to die and have his fey girlfriend mad at aus?
A: Well, James with a newborn, you should stay here.
J: Of course I can fund you. He hands them a thick piece of black vellum, telling them it will allow them to get access to the Torre D’Or and their armory. The code is 7435539. He says they are free to take a look at Stoneblood manor, but it is mostly ancient weapons.
Furus and Carindrina stay to look at the armory and the rest go to the Torre D’Or. They find a large whip /flail with a bell on the end that Furus accidentally whips too hard and beans himself in the head and a large shield that Carindrina picks up.
The Torre D’Or is one of the oldest in the world. The gold tower glints and spears towards the sky. The single narrow door forces them to enter one at a time. The man behind the counter is a very tall, buff yellow tiefling with large gold horns. He smiles at them and seems surprised that they are here at this early of an hour.
N: We need to buy things and speak to someone in charge. She flashes the black card.
Malick Vornvale: I am in charge. And that isn’t how that card works. He looks at it closer, what did James send you for?
N: What does anyone come here for? We need assassins.
MV: Ok, what do you need? Where are you going? What are the defenses?
Carindrina explains that they are mostly worried about Vampires and the city has a large stone wall for defenses, but there are several wrought iron gates they can breech.
MV: Ok, you can check out whatever you want, but this isn’t a store, it is more of a library. You can check things out but you need to return things. The card will track what you take, and no one will know you used the card unless I need to send someone after you to retrieve things.
N:I’m not going to discuss this with a secretary.
He reaches out, grabs her wrist with a rope and slams her onto the counter.
Belladonna throws her hands up, “I know I need to tell you Fey are dangerous, but I shouldn’t have to tell you that the assassins are dangerous.”
Furus calls out, “I’m going to get James. He should be here.”
MV: You can check out the armory upstairs, if you want get your own card, you can always apply for one. Give me an hour, I will send out a call and find some people. He let the rope slacken and Nira pulled herself up. And if you think you can hide any of these things, you severely underestimate us.
N: I don’t underestimate anything at this point.
They go upstairs and the armory is immaculately organized and well stocked. They find a sunrod, and grab that as well as arrows (incendiary), raven bracers, cloak of fangs, knives, and some other basic weapons.
They go back and are introduced to Uden Voegel (a goliath barbarian), Grimset Purlot (a dwarf artificer), and Idriana Bleddington (a high elf assassin). They briefly explain the goal and go back to the Abbot house to try to use the riddles to transport to Thornyside. The rocks laugh as they approach and tell them they aren’t interested in riddles today, just a choice, and give them these choices:
- Here is the church, here is the steeple, open it up and see all the people. Here is the parson going up the stairs, here is is saying his prayers.
-Monday's child is fair of face/ Tuesday's child is full of grace/Wednesday's child is full of woe/ Thursday's child has far to go/Friday's child is loving and giving/ Saturday's child works hard for his living/And the child that is born on the Sabbath day/Is bonny and blithe, and good and gay.]
-I hear thunder, I hear thunder, Hark don’t you Hark don’t you? Pitter patter raindrops pitter patter raindrops i’m wet through and so are you.

They are stuck between the church and the Monday’s child choice. The stones are very smug and enjoy their suffering immensely. They eventually choose the raindrops. The world shimmers and shifts and they end up on a path leading up to the back of Thornyside, they are at a fork, they can choose to go Lowtown or HIghtown. The road is a soupy mess. They decide to go up to Lowtown. As they approach, there is a torrent coming from the gates of Lowtown, and the closer they get the deeper it is, it is about 1-2 feet deep. Adalia uses her magic to help get the group to the gates, though they cannot see any people through them. Carindrina passed the immovable rod to Uden and lifts the gate, ready for him to shove the pole underneath. Belladonna, Galia, and Carindrina have to mostly submerge themselves underwater to get through. Adalia pauses to check the water and while it isn’t as concentrated as the evil water was, it is still very evil. The town is eerily empty. There are barrels and debris floating down the street, but no noise and no people. Galia told the group that this really reminded her of her vision from the seer. Adalia waded through the town and tried to peer inside the church. It looked as though no one had been there in a while and the church was also flooded. The group also stopped at Alora’s house, but found much of the same. They made their way to Hightown and it was getting dark. Then the rain started. They opened the gate the same way as before with the immovable rod. The darkness that surrounded them as they crossed into Hightown was magical in nature, it is a spell some in Nira’s order enjoyed, but Nira warned could also be used to shield those creatures with light aversion. Adalia cast detect undead and told them that there are several in a 60 ft radius

Venus offered to cast fireball for light. The group tried to stop her. Juniper casts dancing lights and the group tries to walk closely. Adalia sees thrashing in the water and goes to investigate. The drowned maiden is swimming back and forth in the water, She carefully touches her fingertips to the water and tries to speak to her telepathically, “ Are you ok?” She hears back in her mind, “I’ll be ok once I have justice.” Adalia quickly pulls back and as she does, she sees a leg bob to the surface. Furus says he was going to offer to give her the shawl and give her legs, but they explain she has legs, she is only stuck here because she was murdered. Venus goes, “Same.”

Belladonna and Galia try to pull Adalia back to the group. They try to decide if they should turn to the castle or if they should go to the main square and find Leonara and Henley’s house in the main square. They decide to head to the castle first. There are lots of footprints, it looks like there has been a ton of traffic. The market has been raided. Stalls are tossd, someone has smashed things, it is very disorganized. The castle looks the same as it did before. Large, a bit ominous, but not too bad.