The party finds themselves in the Tolaran trade city of Saethar'Kori on a brisk morning. Here, whenever Guards are sparse and can't be spared for a task, the city is known to post contracts open for any volunteers of the public to take instead. Some are temporary Guardsman positions- others simply transport contracts. Even more are calls for surveyors or archivers.
In the three days before, each party member has decided to take such a contract from the City Post. Their mission, according to the contract, is to investigate a string of strange murders occurring in the Granite District; today, each is making their way in turn to a Tavern known as The Fine Flagon to meet with Duyal Gurovic, their assigned Contract Broker, for more details.
Edric e'Teasam, entering first, attempts to spot the Gnome they're set to meet. Having no luck, however, he approaches the bar and orders some Wine before retiring to a booth of his choosing.
Echo Houlegate arrives a few minutes later. She asks the barkeep Berta Melik about a patron fitting Duyal's description and is pointed to the Gnomish man wearing a purple suit, sitting in the booth behind Edric. Ordering two light Ales, Echo approaches the booth and takes a seat- passing off the second to Doyal. They sit in an uncomfortable silence, waiting awkwardly for the rest of the party.
Atholos Korrigan, being a patron of the Fine Flagon, emerges from his room in the back and approaches the bar. Ordering a breakfast platter and Coffee, he attempts to look for the Contract Broker. Giving up, he asks after the man he's to meet and is pointed to the same booth.
Aglaomilia Hithe, last to arrive, enters the tavern and immediately spots Duyal as she's removing he gloves. She approaches the bar and orders Wine for herself as well- unintentionally offending Berta in the process with her disgust at the low class nature of the establishment; after getting the Wine, she makes her way to the booth as well and sits with the party members who have gathered so far.
Edric, none the wiser, still hasn't realized the party is gathering just behind him. Eventually Duyal leans out and shouts at Berta, asking if she's see the 4th member. Hearing this, finally, he realizes that the Contract Broker is there, and attempts to smoothly get up and approach the booth- pretending he's just arrived to the tavern.
Once everyone's seated, Duyal begins explaining what City Contracts are and how they work, and informs the party of the specific nature of their contract. The party asks a number of questions about the victims before accepting the offered price of 600 CP per person (plus a 10 GP to split)- signing the contract to make it official. Duyal then excuses himself to turn in the contract with the Lawbearer's hall then "go on a date" (which Edric recognizes easily as a man clearly off to the Pleasure Market for some afternoon fun).
The party remains at the Fine Flagon for a while longer, discussing details of the case. Several members attempt to recall whether or not they've heard of a creature matching the description provided thusfar. Eventually they decide to visit the Lawbearer's Hall to get information about the location each victim was found, and head out.
Once there, the party decides to split up; Edric and Echo enter the Lawbearer's Hall to get the information they need- while Atholos and Aggie attempt to find a magnifying glass in the Obsidian Market.
Edric spends more time in the Lawbearer's Hall spying on Aggie through the eyes of his familiar, Shujonk, who's currently disguised as a stray cat (which Aggie's taken a fondness to, and calls "Sir Fluffington")- leaving Echo to ask for the information herself. Still, they exit the hall successful, with a secondary map showing the locations of the bodies in order. Meanwhile, Atholos purchases a Tinkerer's Toolset from one Merchant that Echo had pointed out to him, before he and Aggie head off to find another which that merchant had recommended. Realizing he's old and blind, Aggie successfully swindles him out of a free magnifying glass by pretending to be his Granddaughter. Atholos quietly leaves payment on the booth counter anyways, and they return to the Lawbearer's Hall to meet up with the others.
Having the information they need, the party regroups outside the hall. Discussing what to do next, they decide to visit the Slaver's Grounds in the Marble District, with the intent of inquiring after Radek Kostra- the first victim. On the way there, Aggie succeeds in using her magical comb to turn Shujonk a bright blue without Edric noticing. Eventually Edric sees the change, and a staredown ensues between him and Aggie over the blue nature of "the stray cat that keeps following him" as Edric has thusfar refused to admit that Shujonk is his. They eventually decide to continue, and Shujonk slowly fades back to his normal color over the time it takes to walk across the bridge.
When they arrive, there's an auction currently going. Spotting two Sirens (one of which is a slave up for auction) Aggie takes an immediate interest and attempts to gauge when she would come up for auction- making an offhand comment about buying her. Changing her focus, she attempts to get the attention of the Auction's bookkeep, but fails to do so- getting mistaken as a bidder in the auction a couple times in the process.
Edric, still on task, spots several individuals near the waterfront who look to be a group of Ship Captains, as well as a number of market workers shepherding slaves around the market itself. Echo and Edric both also spot an individual that appears to be in charge near the back of the corrals.
Echo approaches him- recognizing him as an Orc. She spots several bands on his left arm, establishing him as being equivalent to a Captain's rank in the Castrillian military. He gruffly brushes her off at first, but quickly redacts his rebuff after she says she's investigating Radek's death. He tells her he died 2 weeks ago, but that it's a bad time to talk at the moment. He suggests meeting him after the auction ends in about 30 minutes, at the "break room" at the corner of the market.
Atholos and Edric decide to head to the Immortal Wizard close by to wait, while Echo and Aggie stay at the market; Aggie, still interested in the Sireni slave, waits for her to come up for auction. When she does, she quickly outbids the other competition, gaining rights to her paperwork; the female reveals that her family name's "Chloe", and that she's from the same village as Aggie's originally from in the Bramala Icelands. The three of them decide to meet up with the others at the Immortal Wizard, at that point- stopping to buy the girl some nicer clothing on the way.
