Session 9: Home, or something like it

General Summary

53rd of Varmalev 21 2E
The Crew of the Vestige plus Alaric took breakfast at Between Two Streams. Before their meal was complete, "Baron" Clambock Levut entered and joined the party at the table. Malcolm handed over the letters from Lilith Smios's study that proved the Lord Mayor of Anexa Lord Mayor Abram Auer was using the band of assassins for political assassinations. Clambock was amazed and seemed unable to express his full appreciation, noting that the moment Emperor Jarle Nordheim dies, he will be in Palhas City to convince Jarl Rupert Wasser to declare him the new Lord Mayor of Anexa.
Malcolm acknowledged that they didn't need anything from him immediately in exchange for the documents, but he hoped they could call on him in the future, when Clambock has reached his aspirations. Clambock happily agreed, saying he could scarcely imagine anything they could ask for that he wouldn't feel obligated to grant for all their help. Malcolm gave Clambock a piece of the Scroll of Message.
The party then proceeded to to The Winged Stag and met with Marcus Sheppard. He informed them that the news about the assassins being killed and run out of Fort Anexa was already all over town. He was so happy with the results, he agreed to an even lower fare for their ride of Palhas, even with the addition of Alaric. The party was instructed to meet at the Spire in the early afternoon. Zuko and Malcolm spent the rest of the day studying; Zuko studying Infernal, and Malcolm studying blueprints for his next pistol.
When the Party arrived at the Spire, Malcolm took the opportunity to antagonize the grumpy ticket clerk, with Alaric's unsolicited assistance, resulting in the clerk throwing his sandwich and telling Malcolm, "Go fuck yourself." AT the lift, Alaric exchanged some witty banter with a member of the crew of The Solia who was more prepared and aggressive than Alaric expected.
Once on board, the party witnessed the the crew unmoor the ship and were seemingly impressed. Alaric offered to help with the animals on board and found the return to the work of his former life a cathartic experience. Malcolm and Zukko returned to studying and Meara explored the ship. She had a brief conversation with 53rd of Varmalev 21 2E
The Crew of the Vestige plus Alaric took breakfast at Between Two Streams. Before their meal was complete, "Baron" Clambock Levut entered and joined the party at the table. Malcolm handed over the letters from Lilith Smios's study that proved the Lord Mayor of Anexa Lord Mayor Abram Auer was using the band of assassins for political assassinations. Clambock was amazed and seemed unable to express his full appreciation, noting that the moment Emperor Jarle Nordheim dies, he will be in Palhas City to convince Jarl Rupert Wasser to declare him the new Lord Mayor of Anexa.
Malcolm acknowledged that they didn't need anything from him immediately in exchange for the documents, but he hoped they could call on him in the future, when Clambock has reached his aspirations. Clambock happily agreed, saying he could scarcely imagine anything they could ask for that he wouldn't feel obligated to grant for all their help. Malcolm gave Clambock a piece of the Scroll of Message.
The party then proceeded to to The Winged Stag and met with Marcus Sheppard. He informed them that the news about the assassins being killed and run out of Fort Anexa was already all over town. He was so happy with the results, he agreed to an even lower fare for their ride of Palhas, even with the addition of Alaric. The party was instructed to meet at the Spire in the early afternoon. Zuko and Malcolm spent the rest of the day studying; Zuko studying Infernal, and Malcolm studying blueprints for his next pistol.
When the Party arrived at the Spire, Malcolm took the opportunity to antagonize the grumpy ticket clerk, with Alaric's unsolicited assistance, resulting in the clerk throwing his sandwich and telling Malcolm, "Go fuck yourself." AT the lift, Alaric exchanged some witty banter with a member of the crew of The Solia who was more prepared and aggressive than Alaric expected.
Once on board, the party witnessed the the crew unmoor the ship and were seemingly impressed. Alaric offered to help with the animals on board and found the return to the work of his former life a cathartic experience. Malcolm and Zukko returned to studying and Meara explored the ship. She had a brief conversation with Lara Jennings, the navigator, where she personally thanked Meara and the party for the danger they put themselves in to allow her and her girlfriend to escape Anexa. THey bonded over their mutual love of travel and lack of any place to call home.
When the ship docked in Palhas City, Marcus offered to drop off their cart and horses at Lucky Hawk Inn and informed them that he would be reachable at the White Raven Tavern for the next few days. As the party proceeded towards Lucky Hawk, they were snuck up on by a group of cloaked figures. The leader greeted Malcolm by name and instructed them to enter the nearest alley on the right. Malcolm signaled the group to cooperate until they entered they alley and tried to turn on their captors. Alaric attempted to grab the man behind him and failed. The party heard the sounds ocf cocking flintlock pistols and realized they they were surrounded by not four, but six of these people armed with guns.
The leader, Sebastian Braun told Malcolm not to do anything stupid. Saying that he was an old friend and didn't want to have shoot him. Malcolm asked why an old friend is pointing a gun at his face. Sebastian explained that his boss, Miles Gray was told nearly a week ago that they successfully completed their job, and Octavia was spotted in Kartonok. This lead Miles to believe the crew took the object of the mission to another buyer.
Malcolm let his guard down and assured Sebastian that they were delayed because their ship crashed and they had walk a great distance to get here. Sebastian seemed relieved and insisted on bringing them to the Nightshifters' hideout. They made their way through the sewers and arrived at the hideout. When Miles saw them he repeated his suspicions, and Malcolm again explained the delay and demanded to know who it was that paid for this job. Miles scoffed and reminded him that it was a "no questions asked" kind of situation. Malcolm pushed harder, accidentally slipping out with a clue that their memories had been wiped. Miles explained that all he knew about the clients was that they gave him the creeps and he wanted the job to be over with. Malcolm reluctantly handed over the tablet while asking if he knew anything about Emmet (Jesper Forsyth). Miles seemed to recognize Jesper's name, believing he worked for the nightshifters years prior. Miles handed over the payment for the job as well as the collateral; the key to their Wizard's Door. Then he handed the tablet to one of his higher ranking employees, and offered the party an upcoming job since they would no longer be able to freelance as easily without The Vestige. Malcolm said they would consider it and the party tried to leave the way they came.
Mile's called them out and demanded they follow the rules of "one way in, another way out." Alaric responded aggressively and the party quickly realized that while Miles isn't widely respected, he still had at least 20 loyal high ranking employees surrounding him. Sebastian covered for him and played it off as a bad joke before leading the party out the back entrance. Once in the hallway, Sebastian warned them that Alaric should be more careful or he will get the party killed, and chastised Malcolm for letting a man like Miles know that he is without his memories. Malcolm admitted it as a mistake and that he hopes Miles didn't catch on. Sebastian recommending going to a nearby Wizard's tower where Malcolm and Octavia had gotten help with previous endeavors, to see if the wizard could do anything about their memories. He also agreed to look into Jesper, as he too remembered him working with the Nightshifters years before.
The party exited into cemetery and realized they were in the Fathens Road district. They tried to leave the cemetery but were blocked off by two figures in high quality dark blue hooded cloaks. Their cloak pins had a pyramid with an eye in it which Malcolm realized he recognized. The figures fired strange looking pistols at them which hit them with electric arcs and rendered them unconscious. When the crew woke up, they were tied to chairs in a dilapidated building. One of their assailants, Ardun Aaryanfar was searching through their bags, while the other, Darya Mountwala was just exiting their Wizard's Door declaring that she could not fing "it."
When they noticed the party was awake, Ardun demanded to know where the tablet is. Malcolm explained that they had already delivered it to their boss. Darya asked if they should go and find it, but Ardun explained in frustration that "the cult" would already have it by now. When Malcolm asked what the tablet is, Ardun only said that it is one of 4 things standing between the world and the apocalypse, and they [the crew of the vestige] have now handed over 3. He warned them that they would be watching. "The four of you are the only ones who can access the last piece, so if you are told to retrieve the last piece, don't!" With that, they left through their own wizard's door. The crew checked their bags to ensure nothing was missing, and then entered their wizard's door for the first time since their memory wipe. Inside the 20 square foot room was four chests for each of the original crew. Each contained a substantial sum of silver, as well as items relevant to the individual that owned it. Malcolm's chest contained ammo and gun powder. Zuko's contained a set of Adamantine arrows. Meara's chest contained a rare artifact called Ivorr's Mantle. Octavia's chest contained a Quill of Baalzebul .
Malcolm asked Alaric about his seeming unease with the group and asked for a commitment to stick with them, using both a share of the tablet job payment, and the contents of Octavia's chest as a gesture proving their willingness to embrace his presence. Alaric accepted. Malcolm also identified the mask that was dropped by Lilith Smios as a Mask of Many Faces, and the dagger he stole from one of the dead assassins as a Doomed Man's Knife.
The party crossed back across town to reach the Lucky Hawk. Crossing through the Divine Square district where most of the temples and shrines are located. While walking through, Malcolm finally recognized the symbol on their most recent assailants as that of The Serapis. He pondered why a guild known for wanton destruction would be concerned about preventing an apocalypse. Outside the Temple of Udal a cleric was announcing the news and the party overheard several interesting pieces of news:
-The Freeflow Festival will take place on the 6th of Endhoste.

The contact with the town of White Bluff has been lost. The Lord Mayor of Anexa has sent a detachment of the Earrenian Imperial Vanguard to investigate.

Jarle Nordheim has passed away and the Week of Mourning(Earrenia) has begun.

-The new Empress to be, Alexandra Nordheim, has made her traditional first decree; That the Temple of the Black Star will no longer be the Royal Family's official religion, and worship of Allir is henceforth banned. -Unexplained deaths and disappearances in Red Valley continue. The Lord Mayor of Palhas City and the Jarl of Palhas Province are unable to send the Vanguard to assist.
Returning to the Lucky Hawk, The party settled in for dinner and decided to proceed to the wizard's tower the next day. Alaric decided to test his mettle against Dwarven Ale and lost, blacking out and stripping before trying to walk out of the inn. Malcolm knocked him unconscious and stuck him in the room he remembered to be Octavia's regular room here. Stealing Alaric's Mask of Many Faces, Malcolm decided to play a prank on him by disguising himself as a large naked woman for Alaric to wake up to.
To be continued... @sess

Campaign

Winds of Earrenia

Protagonists

Meara

Zuko

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Malcolm

Report Date

15 Aug 2019