Session 15 - "A Day in Belamaria" Report

General Summary

Kona 34, 1246

The party travels on to Belamaria, arriving in the late afternoon. There is immediately a sense of difference from the other places they've visited. There is a large park just as they enter into the city, fenced in on all sides. Several horses roam free, grazing, while a gnomish family has a picnic beneath a tree.

Thais comments that Belamaria is known for it's horses, and it makes sense that there would be a focus on the care and consideration for the animals. What is odd is the lack of stables or hitching posts - though this is soon explained by a nearby hay vendor, a dwarf named Lorenzo Barker. He explains that it's seen as disrespectful to the animals, and as such they are allowed to free graze in the park (known as Crowberry Moor) and are only ridden or used as beasts of burden outside the city walls.

The horses here, Thais knows, are quite wonderful animals, and so the conversation goes to (perhaps) picking a few of them up. But she warns that these animals are quite hard to break. Based on the fact no one is particularly good at dealing with animals, the idea is abandoned quite quickly.

Seeing as how dragging the cart without their draft horses (Patricia and Mattias - Patty and Matty for short) is going to be quite an inconvenience, Barker offers to watch the cart for two gold pieces. The party tosses him an extra two gold to keep him extra vigilant before heading towards The Wolf and Crossbow in the residential district of Tyleo's Well.

As they walk, Foenix keeps an eye out for thieves' marks - innocuous carvings or drawings to communicate amongst the underworld. And while he does see them, they are old. At least two weeks old, if not more than that. There is no sign of newer messages - and so he discards most of them as outdated information. Except for one: a note beneath a window that, when translated, stated that this first-floor window was unlocked.

The party eventually makes their way to The Wolf and Crossbow, where three rooms are rented. Foenix and Jacob, Olena and Thais, and Micaiah on his own.

The atmosphere is raucous, with a band playing in the corner that the bartender - an attractive, slightly chubby elf - says are known as The Roans. Micaiah, highly interested, approaches the band. He introduces himself to the tiefling member of the troupe, who in turn introduces himself as Motif.

He explains that he wants to learn a few of the songs that they have in their repertoire, as he is a musician himself. Motif seems amenable to it, though Micaiah catches a slight guarded nature to the tiefling.

As the Roans continue to play, Foenix pulls Thais up to dance - though this is a cover to pickpocket someone in the audience. It is a complete success, though Thais is startled by Foenix's sudden frivolity.

After dinner and when everyone has headed to bed, Thais checks in on Olena. Her illness is continuing to worsen, and Thais pushes that it's time to tell the party, before it gets worse. Olena agrees, though she doesn't know just quite how to tell them. But she does tell Thais about a possible cure in a Dopplefen swamp. Thais is relieved by this, and determines that they should perhaps seek out this cure before returning Ali's body to their family.

Meanwhile, Foenix has taken a look at his prize. It's an ornately decorated hand mirror, which would fit neatly into a woman's pocket. Though highly polished, the surface is concave and distorts the reflection. The gilded edge of it is carved with the phases of the moon.

He lays it down on the floor next to him, taking out the other items that had been collected over the past few days: the healing potions, the star ruby, and the mirror. Casting identify on all of them, the healing potions are the only magical items in the collection, and they are as they appear to be.

The rogue then takes a small walkaround, slipping out the window onto the streets and dodging the Sorrel Watch (the guards that Barker had assured he was in good with and therefore could protect the party's wagon without trouble) to head back to the window he had previously noted, only stopping to toss the mirror he had nicked along the way. Unfortunately, it is a fruitless journey, as the window is indeed locked. He returns to the inn and slips back inside, no one the wiser.

The next morning, Micaiah approaches the Roans. Motif gives him a stack of sheet music, and Micaiah, surprised, admits that he was planning on teaching them by ear and hadn't prepared any written notation. Thankfully, his playing is incredible (critical success) and the Roans are able to pick up on the songs just fine.

Motif finally puts a name to the strange stand-offishness that he's been giving off the entire time. He asks Micaiah why he still uses his birthname and hasn't taken a virtue name yet. It is a custom that Micaiah was unaware of, but apparently in tiefling communities it is common to name and rename yourself after traits that you strive for or embody. Motif himself has had three name changes already. Micaiah, who was not raised amongst his kind, had no idea of this cultural quirk. Motif suggests he think about it, which Micaiah agrees to.

The party decides to pick up some supplies. As they go, Olena mentions that she smelled something strange when she got up: another canine smell besides her own. She had followed it downstairs to the dining area, only to lose it in the throngs of people. She suggests that perhaps it is another shifter like herself - or, more sinisterly, "invisible dogs." Foenix recalls the mirror he found, and the phases of the moon around the outside, and suggests perhaps a werewolf is in their midst. It's a loose connection - circumstantial at best - and so the matter is put on the back burner.

Thais heads off to pick up some scale mail barding for Arkeo, and by trading some labor with the blacksmith Harmony Rose, is able to purchase it.

Meanwhile, the others go to The Charger's Course, Belamaria's magic shop. But along the way Foenix stops to check out Outlaw's Pass, the narrow underground tunnel that should be crawling with unsavory sorts (his people). But it is completely empty.

A Sorrel Watch guard stops him, but because it is clear that Foenix is a visitor and not only of the residents that could be up to any number of tricks, he is let go with nothing but a warning to be safe.

Heading into The Charger's Course, the party is able to bargain with the gnomish proprietor, a snappish woman with a shock of cobalt blue hair. For the star ruby, they are able to pick up the following: a +1 lance, a +1 shield, a sun blade, a horn of Urðr, and a figurine of wonderous power. She also has a grey bag of tricks and a circlet of blasting available, but the party passes on it.

It is also discovered during this time that Belamaria's treasury was recently raided and emptied, and the thieves have yet to be caught. The scandal causes a snap election that led to the current captain of the Sorrel Watch and mayor to be elected. Their names are Mayor Nettle Captain Flintminer ("Flint" for short). The Sorrel Watch emptied Outlaw's Pass and have continued their zealous crusade, which Elise admits has made her rather regret voting for them. But not it's what they must deal with.

The trades completed, the party heads out, planning to leave Belamaria and continue their journey south.

Rewards Granted

• +1 Weapon (lance)
• +1 Shield
• Sun blade
• Horn of Urðr (silver)
• Figurine of wonderous power (ebony fly)