Session 1: Ruffians & a Rakdos inn

General Summary

After a well deserved good night's sleep, the party gathers in front of an Orzhov bank to retrieve their rewards for the accomplished mission. Once inside they quickly realize that they are far from being the only adventurers in this district. but even more astounding to them is how well organized the whole process is. They easily find the queue they need to join and after only a few minutes of waiting they are greeted by a teller. In exchange for their promise of reward they each get a pouch containing 30gp as well as a potion of healing.   Now a little bit richer they decide to get back to the Office of the Guildpact to learn about their new mission. Once they arrive in Nassius' office they see not only the familiar face of Lydia but also one they do not recognize. The female elf presents herself as Cevraya, an envoy to the Selesnya Conclave.    Having heard about the strange weapons the party has found she came to inform the Office that quite a few of her fellow guild members have been attacked by ruffians possessing the same kind of weapons. She is persuaded that her guild is being targeted but Nassius and Lydia both assure her that they have witnessed the weapons being used against members of other guilds. Noticing a pattern that the attackers are always guildless and the victims always members of a guild, Nassius suggests that maybe this is the work of a group opposed to the Guildpact itself. The group decides to go investigating a forge where they might find information about the weapons but are provoked by 4 young hoodlums on their way there. First trying the diplomatic route, they quickly abandon that idea when the youngsters draw their weapons. Despite the surprise attack, the party quickly gains the upper hand and forces their opponents to surrender.   Once they bring them back to an Azorius garrison, they interrogate them and learn that the youngsters got their weapons from a masked figure urging them to "claim their freedom" in the basement of an inn called the Grand Circus. Deciding to first investigate the force they find it completely empty but the neatness of it makes the party think it was used until recently. Breaking into a small office they find an order for "50 swords", without any more information, which is even stranger since every single other order was filled with all the usual information (name of the patron, quantity, description, etc.). The party pockets that order after having forged a new one to make it look like it wasn't stolen and leave the room a mess to lure any investigator into thinking this was a petty theft attempt for some tools.   Before they deliver the suspicious order to the Office they decide to drop by the Grand Circus. Once inside, they quickly learn that, like almost every evening, there will be some kind of entertainment offered. And indeed after a while two goblins appear. Juggling, acrobatics, their show satisfies every customer at the inn. Taking advantage of the fact that everybody is watching the show, Varis decides to sneak downstairs but is met three closed doors. He manages to open one of them but the room offers nothing of interest. Deciding not to push his luck, he goes back up just in time for the end of the show. Not having found anything, he decides to use his Azorius authority to question the bar owner. Behind closed doors, the owner clearrly tells him that he is sick of the authorities sniffing around him just because he is a member of the Cult of Rakdos. Since the Azorius Senate likes their regulation so much, he invites Varis to come back with the proper paperwork should he wish to inspect this establishment.   Shortly after the end of the interview it looks like the owner has decided to close the bar earlier than usual and the patrons, as well as the party, all leave. Finding his actions suspicious the four adventurers decide to hide in an alley and observe the inn from afar. Once everybody (including the owner) has left they decide to wait a moment to see if anything would happen, in vain. having decided that probably nobody would come back, they sneak into the inn. Once in the basement, Varis notices a ribbon of thought floating in the air, invisible to the rest of his companions, that instructs him to take the right door. As soon as they open the room they hear the faint sound of air moving. They quickly close the door to stop whatever is trying to escape but soon find out that what's inside was not interested in escaping at all, a fact that is made clear when Favole gets attacked and they finally see their assailant.   A flying horror.

Missions/Quests Completed

The party has discovered that the illegal weapons are most likely used to fuel some kind of anti-Guildpact rebellion.

Character(s) interacted with

Nassius Ven  Lydia Kos  Cevraya