Safehouse

Researcher: Dīca Dux
 
Research: Sentient Medusozoa, "An-Core"
 
Report: I have come into contact with what appears to be a cuttlefish-class sentient Medusozoa that piolets a dolphin class, seemingly Izzet "suit". The subject, "AN-Core", claims to be created in a similar manor as golems, but they were adamant about being able to control it's own destiny. I was able to converse and rationalize with it, and was even able to convince it to share a sample of the fluid it fills itself with. It seems to be in a similar classification as warforged. More will come upon examination of the sample.

Journal Cont.: Kar'El surprised me with the capability of staying underwater for an extended amount of time while maintaining the ship. I should have to reconsider my plans and safety should the need arise. He then flew up and offered me gathered items from the ship of which I declined. I have little to no use for a majority of it even if some of them were tempting. After they had finished their work we raised anchor and continued along the coast of Cresaro. There was the large mountain with an active cityscape of Lightning Point around the base. We arrived in the harbor at sunset but the city was still very much active. Lightning was continuously hitting a point in the mountain and seemed to power all manor of gadgets and lights around the city.
Carme talked to a deckhand and told us it was safe to go to tavern while they appraised the ship. I stuck to the group to hopefully disperse suspicions as so far no one seems to know. While crossing the harbor I noticed a large dolphin animal with what looked like a ship upon it's back and various aquatic races working on and around it. It reminded me of some of our transports for underwater travel. Perhaps this city is neutral? Across the city, I saw Roc riders sitting on a large tower with spotlights and 4 large propellers that made it seem more mobile than would be expected. Carme made mention that the NW of town is having trouble spreading their power system due to some creatures. This might be an investigatory opp. He also made mention of the locals weary of strangers and I started too get nervous on land without an easy escape. He knew the local tavern owner of Thunder Catch, Lord Sirdaze and led us to a trolley that led up and around the mountain. It was a very Izzet looking contraption right down to the brass clockwork warforged manning the vehicle. Up to this point I still haven't seen any guild alliances good or bad. We rode the trolley and K'dren played some music as I spotted more Roc riders. Kar'El also started to play with his guns. I suppose they are likely a entertainer and tinkerer respectively. From the new vantage point I could see the east part of the island had been covered in farmland.
 
After an agonizing 30 minute ride up the mountain, we arrived to the fancy tavern with a smith off to the side. Carme walked over to the smith and talks while the smith simply reached in the forge and pulled out a red hot ingot by hand! The smith was a gnoll with a metal arm of Izzet make and bandages wrapping around his upper body. He then dripped some bright blue liquid into a vial with an infant in his other arm. A kitsune woman appeared behind him with more children and took the infant from him. She then guided the other children back inside with several tails guiding the children. The gnoll proceeded to invite us all into the tavern as he pocketed the vial. IT was then I noticed the considerable drrop in temperature and wished to be indoors myself.
In the tavern was a very diverse crowd. at one point when the gnoll came out of the back I saw a large shelf with lots of growing plants and bees? in the kitchen. Carme "convinced" another patron to vacate a table for our group and I took the seat farthest from the group and closest to the exit. A gust of honor was in tonight, a skeletal bard took a small stage with 3 skulls and offered a tribute to the Sordaze clan and sang some pleasant tunes. A round was poured for us and the aarakocra went through several of his own and An-Core's before Snowball offered theirs. He was just hanging in when I offered the majority of mine. I wanted to keep my wits and only drank a little. Turned out to be the knockout punch for Kar'El and one potential loose end down temporarily. Guffy also passed out although after considerably less alcohol. Carme's fence met us after a bit and gathers information about what to sell and what to pass along to the next ship. They discuss various material before asking my opinion. Thankfully, the warforged seemed to understand primordial of which I am more fluent in. I stated that the hull should at least stand a standard kraken class threat. I mean you'd have to have a warship for a leviathan class, and if it can't survive a whale class it was never meant to sail the deeps. My opinion was to have a livingwood hull so that anything that doesn't outright kill us will not have us limping along to the next dock. The fence seemed to understand my...predicament when I slipped and made mention of the threat class. K'den had wanted the ship to be of shadowwood. The material would compulsively repel outsiders. I pointed out the exotic nature of the wood and maintenance expense. But I also though that the repulsive aura could be alluring if it was too big. It would almost be a giveaway to those with enough will to overcome the compulsion. Kar'El woke up just enough to voice an opinion of magically self-riven sails and got so excited of them being yellow that he flew into a wall. I think the compromise was to have a hull of livingwood to keep us afloat with the self-driven sails, and if we could make the difference in price, a shadowwood deck to repel boarders. That settled, the gnoll offered his arm in exchange to examine AN-Core. They conversed a little and he offered us shots of his new drink that glows a vibrant blue. He offered some warning of discharge after drinking so I stepped away of Snowball that took one of the vials with K'dren. They downed it and I saw blue lightning spread out under their skin. Snowball then went and touched Kar'El and zapped him. K'dren zapped herself for half a minute during which AN-Core said something about himself being functionally immoral. I will have to look into his makeup more.
Having us settled, the gnoll offered us an opportunity to make the monetary difference for our ship. The issue to the West that Carme told us earlier were a band of kobolds that were held up in ruins of a lost world. They had been causing trouble with the electrical expansion as they maliciously guarded the area with their lives. He wanted us to deal with the den mother and retrieve what he called a transformer, some electrical device. He also offered us a 25% discount for his smiting skills. He pulled out a map and pointed out the area. Also he made mention of being the regent of the island.
Before everyone left for the evening, he turned back to me and in our tongue "you seem uneasy friend, you are safe here" and I thanked him and told him of my need of a contact. He said that he would have Zanna called back and Carme's fence showed back up after a bit. In the mean time K'dren said that she needed some sort of translator and pulled out a book from within a book and the gnoll said that Zanna could help. An-Core asked permission to people watch instead of having a room that Carme payed for for us of which the gnoll agreed to. The gnoll offered us other various services should we need and I went to look at the wanted posters in the mean time. You can learn a lot of an area by looking at what jobs they post.
 
Later, Zanna reappeared and we conversed in fluent Vedalkin. He was surprised to see me, a hybrid, so far from the guild. I try to stay vague and confirm my standing until that I realized that he was a chapter master. He is a local business man and typically a busy as such. Turns out that Lightning Point is a semi-safe place for the Simic, even going so far as to how an outpost in an alchemical/apothecary shop, The Crystal Tear. If I need guild resources I should talk to the octopus. I thank him and pass the notes of the intelligent cephalopod with a piece of gold for his troubles in delivering the research to the hall. I don't believe that I should be around town by myself yet. I also included a request for instructions as to what I should do as I am already out of my usual territory. He said that I should have a reply before they finish the group's ship. He also game me a few tasks of seeing if the new group would be okay with shipping a specimen off coast a day to a rendezvous, and if they were okay with the greater guild. The specimen would be under heavy sedation and illusionary magics and in exchange offer us a heavy discount in this group's ship. I requested more notes to gain a better understanding of the specimen's abilities. In departing he handed me a card that has a one time use of message attached to it in case I should need him for anything.
 
Much later in the night I came to research the being know as AN-Core. We conversed in Primordial and in a corner of an mostly empty bar. The sentient Medusozoa noticed me come upon it and we had a surprisingly pleasant conversation bar some lingual barriers. They are some sort of golem without binding to a master, but I am not so sure that they aren't some sort of piolet to an Izzet suit. They appeared to be given life in a fishing village with knowledge of how to fish and then told to fish. When I asked for a sample, they claimed that the whole "suit" was in the same properties as a body, an inorganic one, but a body. They said that the only sample I could have would be one of their physical representation of their soul, the Medusoza. My logic led to obtaining a sample of his "blood" as he described, the water the Medusoza was in. I figured if it truly was a physical representation it should leave physical waste of some kind within the fluid. I shared a similar feeling of being "made" and told him of my guild association after determining that they weren't part of one themselves. They determined that they would need to change their worldview when I told them of our goal of research, but he did warn me not to cause trouble due to the recent trauma the others of this group had gone through. I assured him I wouldn't as I was only after research, but could offer a job to the group. I then let him in for the information of a specimen move, but I didn't have the holodisk of the creature yet. Come morning I would find it at my door though.
 
 
Researcher: Dīca Dux
 
Research: Whalewolf
 
Report: Information provided via holodisk from chapter master Zanna.
Whalewolf is a land based wolf with an orca tail.
Class: Whale
Identity: Whalewolf Alpha
Habitat: Shallow Coastal + Beach Dens
Behavior: Aggressive pack hunter, lung capacity of 2 hours
Diet: Carnivore
Adaptations: Lightning Concussive breathe for hunting sea life