Shademurk: Familiar Specters

Session: Iskren / Rollo / Vultha / Taurio / Zantaroth / Sorval
Xivaskir 10

"I don't know what's going on, but what the hell is going on?" - Rollo 2020

Rollo wakes up at the Snapping Line, somewhat of a higher end establishment compared to the one where he dropped Vultha off previously. As he has his breakfast, he overhears two Gruul clansmen (from clan Smash Smash) talking about a contract they had gotten. Realizing the target of their contract is actually his Orzhovian charge, Rollo hears them out and then heads to rejoin his friends, where ever they might be.
Exiting the Snapping Line, he spots a disturbed looking Orzhovian fellow. Trailing him for a while, the man takes notice of the dragonborn and urges him to join in a small task, the removal of four corpses. Rollo negotiates his reward, which includes a swanky dagger set with a six-legged, one-eyed spider signet.
Arriving at the place the individual set as destination, Rollo sees a magical circle, in which appear four bodies, each of them holding a dagger in their chest with their right hand. They are all naked, but are otherwise unremarkable. Turning to question his companion, Rollo gets handed the money and the dagger after which the man rushes off, calling the guard on a murderer. Some quick thinking, bribing two Gruul to solve the corpse problem and some subterfuge later, Rollo heads to the Primeground estate, talks to some guards posted there and manages to catch up to his friends as they exit the Sharpened Utensil.

"Even I am smart enough" - Taurio
"Iskren, do you have any enemies in murkshade?" -Rollo

The group, once caught up with their respective tales, decides to head straight for the Standing Stones, in order to lay their claim to the airship Vultha saw while in trance. Sorval does take some time to send a small Boros patrol to the Snapping Line in order to detain the members of clan Smash Smash. Iskren pokes everyone to divest themselves of the items carrying the six-legged spider logo.
Everyone does so, though Rollo keeps the dagger he received earlier and throws away a different dagger.
Once they enter the Murk though, they are again beset by the unearthly whispers and find themselves ambushed by specters as they dispatch a lone Krasis near the Wanderer's Chapel.
The battle takes a heavy toll on the party, so they decide to rest in there before continuing on.
Once inside the Chapel, Iskren spies a small Orzhovian signet suspended above the altar, showing to the party that at the very least someone is trying to bring the Chapel back into the fold.
This leads to a discussion between Iskren and Sorval on the nature of worship and veneration.

"Click-click-ZAP" - Izzet contraption

Taurio, enjoying some grass on the Chapel's hill, spies a lone old minotaur, white of pelt. The being speaks to him, cautions him and blesses the party, so as to keep the spirits of the Murk at bay.
They use this to make excellent time to the Standing Stones, where they are confronted by a group of mechanical beasts keeping watch over a tower. From the tower, a pack of besieged goblins asks for their aid. As the party unmakes the machines, they discover them to be crafted by Izzet. The goblins head off, thankful for the deliverance.

"Sploosh" - Iskren's Flask of Boarding

In the tower, a disarmed trap on a locked trapdoor lead to Vultha making himself useful. Then the group descends from a long, winding into a massive docking space, with mysterious patches of darkness the party cannot see into, discovering a familiar shark-prowed airship stationed there.
The crew that notices the arrival appears to be largely Rakdos in inclination, and moderately aggressive at that. After sonically obliterating a ladder, getting over the 20 foot barrier of entry to the ship and dispatching of the direct opposition, the party successfully gains control of the first level underneath the deck, where they find a group of three lizardmen in the ship's prison.