Chapter 3 Session 2: Dueling and Downtime
General Summary
Persicorum, still recovering from the shot competition between Amrys Falanae, Mimsi and Olympia, were just approached by Eb, Mary and Sue who invited them to take part in the drink duelling. A drinking competition this evening where the winners receive 350gp and the gold medals of the drink dueling champions. Though, they would require a fifth member to take part as Kodo did not drink. As the party discussed how they could take part, Thordak finally came to after two days of fighting The Chaos. During his battle with the entity, Thordak repeatedly reached out to his god Pelor for strength and, after battling endlessly, he felt the Chaos fully focus on him and one other individual, Archania Weave, in the process of this Thordak drew the entity's eyes away from Olympia and freed her from the curse placed upon her when she was watched by the entity. Thordak finally came to in Lyren Killian's cabin where he angrily asked for food from the tiefling before asking what happened as the last thing he remembered doing was diving into the ocean after Baralas. Lyren become uncomfortable then and pointed Thordak to where Persicorum currently were so that they could explain to him what became of The Mistwalker and it's crew. When Thordak found the rest of the party in The Frosted Tankard they were overjoyed to see him, with Mimsi jumping up to hug him and Kodo smiling before preparing him some tea. Thordak enjoyed this before addressing the two new individuals in the room; Fenbalar and Amrys. He addressed them with hostility at first, to which Fen explained that he was Baralas' brother and the one who saved Thordak before Amrys introduced himself as Mimsi and Olympias new drinking buddy. The party talked for a short time about what happened aboard the Mistwalker and about Archania's betrayal, this prompted Amrys to ask the party if they collected the hair of their dead friends in case they found a cleric, like he did, the party didn't and Thordak became nervous as he realised Amrys was freely talking about necromancy without fear. After this, Mimsi revealed she was cursed by Archania's dagger and Thordak warned the party against become obsessed with wanting revenge about Archania... seeing it as a dangerous thing to be driven by. (Fen notably scoffed at this). And so, the party turned to what was important, the drinking competition. Kodo did not wish to take part as he did not consume alcohol, the rest of the party were up for it apart from Fen who didn't seem sure and went to visit Lyren. At this point, the party split up for a few hours to run errands. Fen visited Lyren and made an interesting deal with the tiefling, he knew Lyren was an Aist Mage and also he realised Lyren could use Masked Magicka because of this, Fen asked Lyren to make him a temporary mask and consider teaching him to make masks in the future as Fen wanted more knowledge and knew that to do that he would need to become an Aist Mage. Lyren said he would do this for Fen but that the mask would not be comfortable and would not last a very long time. He also advised Fen to consider if aist magic is a thing he really wants as there is no coming back once someone learns. He also explained that if they can find The Spectre then Fen could learn Aist Magic and Masked Magicka from them. Mimsi and Thordak searched for a library when, following Fen and Olympia's suggestions, they visited the home of a local Grinner. When they went inside Mimsi was shocked to see another goblin sitting in a chair. The goblin introduced himself as Bazzle Strum-Strum and he seemed equally surprised by Mimsi. As soon as they walked up to eachother Bazzle impulsively hugged her, remarking that 'he'd never got to hug another goblin before'. The two of them talked for a while and Mimsi learned that Bazzle's life was uncannily similar to hers. He'd been orphaned and abandoned as a child and was raised by a grinner, though, mid-drinking Bazzle revealed he'd never been accepted as he never seemed to be enough for the grinners. They talked about this for a while before Bazzle told Mimsi he'd met two other goblins like them, abandoned and now belonging to factions, Bazzle had been doing research his whole life on goblin clans and had learned that he and the other abandoned goblins may have come from the Hook'n'Knives clan. Bazzle told Mimsi the rough direction of these goblins and asked her to 'If you find the clan... ask them if they know someone called Bazzle' Mimsi agreed and Bazzle hugged her once more. At that point, Mimsi told Bazzle she'd like to learn to read better as she didn't know goblins could read well. Bazzle gave her three books as presents: One book on tailoring, one on mead making and one book on the origins of Drahz Grymhook in manga form. Bazzle then gave Thordak a book on the history of the Grinners and The Silver Pipes. After that, Thordak said he'd keep Mimsi safe for Bazzle, something that the goblin took very seriously and told Thordak to make a grinner promise to do. He made Thordak pinki promise and, as the half-orc said the words 'I will protect Mimsi' they pulled from the promise and Thordak now had those words tattooed around his pinkie finger. Bazzle told them they were welcome back anytime and he'd always have space for them both, especially Mimsi. After that, Olympia and Amrys decided to visit Curious Curiousity's where they yet again saw Curious and Taren publicly arguing, to which Olympia took Curious' side before going into the tiefling's shop. In the shop, Olympia asked Curious if she would join Persicorum for the drink dueling. To which Curious responded that she supplied some materials for the competitions and didn't want to take part as she didn't know the group very well and was afraid that her taking part would seem like a conflict of interest. At that, Olympia left and Amrys stuck behind to speak to Curious in private where he flirted with the tiefling potion seller and acted as wingman for Olympia, claiming that the bard was interested in Curious and wanted to get to know her. Curious relented and said that she would be there to cheer them on for the tournament but would only take part if Persicorum had no other option. Satisfied, Amrys bought several potions from Curious and left with Olympia to join Kodo in The Mage-Slayer's Garb. Olympia expressed her frustration that she couldn't get close enough to Curious to sneak a friendship bracelet on her wrist. Kodo visited the Mage-Slayer's Garb on his own at first. Where upon walking in Kodo found the space was dark and clean but also cluttered with weapons and mannequins of armour scattered across the space with little organisation involved. As he stepped in, he heard the sound of traps clicking into place... it seems the owner was the paranoid type. As he walked in, Kodo saw an elderly woman who owned the store and introduced herself as Ellena Swarov, she asked him what he was looking for and Kodo told the elderly woman he just wanted an upgrade to his staff, his Jo staff was sentimental to him and so he'd rather improve his weapon rather than buy a new one. Ellena agreed and carved Kodo's staff into a +1 weapon whilst chatting with the Firbolg, Kodo learned that Ellena was a mage slayer in Edmonton who despised Aist Mages and made a point of killing any from Freyfrost who come too close to the town. She also advised Kodo that, if he was an adventurer passing through, he should buy cold weather gear from The Silken Coat but avoid mentioning Ellena had sent him. She discounted Kodo 150gp for the work on his weapon due to the 'enjoyable conversation'. After that point Olympia and Amrys joined the store, Olympia had her Inquisitor's blade upgraded to +1 whilst also convincing Ellena that she was an Inquisitor... which seemed to deeply impress the store owner, at this point Ellena also openly flirted with Amrys and told him she had a couple of mage hunting jobs coming up if he was interested. She charged Olympia a little more than Kodo before rejecting the bard's offer of a friendship bracelet... leaving Olympia in tears. After that, Fen came in and shopped for a time. Asking Ellena to show him her tricked out daggers. A pair of dagger that can be clicked together to become a spell destroying weapon or, alternatively, could be used as separate daggers that will always return to the users hand when thrown. Fen was interested but, upon hearing the price, agreed that he'd come back later. After that point the party all got back together in the Frosted Tankard and, with Fen agreeing to take part, told Eb that they would be joining the drinking competition. At which point, Eb led them downstairs where the party found a massive underground arena... the venue for their drinking competition.
Rewards Granted
This session had plenty of rewards: Kodo: Ellena Swarov upgraded his staff so it was now a +1 Jo Staff that glowed with blue runes when wielded by Kodo. Thordak: Thordak borrowed another book, this time borrowing 'The History of the Grinners and The Silver Pipes' from Bazzle Strum-Strum Amrys: Amrys purchased several potions and perfumes from Curious Curiousity's including:
- A +1 blade oil- applying this oil to a weapon turns it into a +1 magic weapon for an hour.
- Magical improvised flamethrower- Pressing the button on this flamethrower allows you to cast Burning Hands as a 1st level spell. Recharges on a long rest.
- Potion of Lightning Breath- drinking this potion allows you to cast the dragon's breath spell on yourself though it is set to the element of lightning.
- Dagger body spray
- Taylor's Tales of Tailoring- A guide to tailoring clothes.
- Mead-making with Allea- A comprehensive guide on making mead, written by the True Hero Allea
- The origin story of Drahz Grymhook with editing and foreword by Gwynithar Daybloom.
Missions/Quests Completed
The party began their five days of downtime by giving Lyren space to build his new masks, allowing Olond Talthanryl to rest and buying important weapon enchantments for themselves.
Character(s) interacted with
- Ellena Swarov- The party commissioned the owner of The Mage-Slayer's Garb to make them several weapon enchantments. Amrys also discussed the possibility of doing some work with her in the near future and Kodo revealed that his group were a part of the recent ship wreck and were intending on heading to The Mammoth Peaks.
- Curious- Olympia attempted to convince Curious to join Persicorum in the drinking competition that evening but she rejected her until Amrys turned on the charm by acting as Olympia's Wingman. Convincing Curious to visit and see Olympia after the competition as well as stepping in if needs be.
- Taren-too-Deep- Olympia called her a 'bitch' and 'boring' before siding with Curious in a very public argument. Solid cameo.
- Eb, Mary and Sue- The owners of The Frosted Tankard convinced the party to take part in the competition whilst the party also learned that Mary and Sue don't actually know each others names and have a similar view on naming to Kodo. They also speak and move at identical times which the party found creepy but they insisted it was part of the their brand in the tavern.
- Lyren Killian- Fen realised Lyren was an Aist Mage and convinced the tiefling to make him a temporary mask to hide his magic in the future.
- Bazzle Strum-Strum- Mimsi finally met the goblin grinner who told her about his past and what he'd learned about The Hook'n'Knives and their link to the abandoned goblins, he also forced Thordak to make a grinners promise.
