I know a bitch when I see one
The group uses Prophet as bait to gain entry into Fort Venture. They meet many people there, but not the secretive Inquisitor Pellinost yet. Maltheo makes a power play.
Session 3
Our group debates on where to go next. Finding Bol'bara is certainly at the top of what we need to do. We choose the fort due to the prisoner most likely being in danger. Maltheo gets a point of exhaustion (and for what we're not sure) and we end up under a hammock/tarp about 10 feet above us, enough to cover all of us. Maltheo climbs up to check it out on one of the trees it’s attached to. It’s just sort of “there”. There are some animal bones; maybe it could even be a place for the group to sleep, off of the wet, marshy ground. Maltheo cuts it down and investigates the hammock with Prophet. Sadly, they didn’t really find anything of note so we moved on. We come across a skeleton of a Dwendalian person, but find nothing of it.
Realizing that the hammock area is our best bet for a long rest, we go back there to do so, and thankfully nothing happens. However, we realize that Maltheo is suffering from some swamp disease, as he takes another point of exhaustion. We finally emerge from the Brokenveil Marsh into the foothills of the mountains to the west. It's there that we find the outline of the Fort in the distance. It appears to be an ancient stone building surrounded by a newer set of armaments. It’s populated and busy.
The group goes into full reconnaissance mode and makes a lot of checks to see what we could possibly discern and do. There’s a gryphon, and an enemy for Mint, and possibly something magical. We also see a pale, frail man being kept in a cage. Briya wildshapes publicly in front of the group for the first time into a spider for some sunset reconnaissance. A man with blood on his hands walks into a tent near the gryphon and then walks back out and is holding some sort of gemstone. (We get a sense of perhaps death and then resurrection is going on; it's a diamond)
Briya goes and checks out the tent of the man, who turns out to be Inquisitor Pellinost. It’s spartan, but has a locked desk drawer. She then goes to investigate the forge tent. There's one person inside, who is obviously an elderly blacksmith. We decide that it's time for a long rest again, because Maltheo is just too weakened for any sort of confrontations. He gains back a point of exhaustion. As a "decoy plan", we decide to tie up the Prophet (since he is obviously Kryn and part Drow) and see what happens when we bring him as a "prisoner" to the fort.
Commander Felmont greets us. He's a handsome, and well decorated man. We’re offering a Prophet from Rosohna. It works and we’re led, minus the Prophet who has now been caged, into the mess hall. We don't seem to be able to find Bol'bara anywhere. Prophet tries to make friends with Alonne Frith, the other caged man. He is very strange, and very pale. Also, he breathes but like… not nearly enough to seem normal. He could be a “hollow one”... not much is known about them. They're like a person who dies, but the body lives on. He says he's been a prisoner for 3 to 4 days and that he's fed the gryphon scraps.
Maltheo goes to the blacksmith with a guard as the “infirmary”. The rest of the group watches Felmont go through the second door and he closes it behind him. The blacksmith has a conversation with Maltheo and knows he doesn’t look too good. But, he flashes a piece of paper with the Augen Trust symbol. It’s kingly business; definitely something only relegated to the higher-ups. There's a back and forth conversation, but it seems to go nowhere. Maltheo is given a space to lie down.