Session 10 – Regime Change

Written by KoshcheiBessmertnyi

General Summary

The party awakens back in Kasmyr’s loft. Enkidu is recovering from the previous night’s travails, and wishes to remain in bed undisturbed. The rest of the group makes plans to visit the arsenal, and perhaps to return to the goblin encampment. But first, it is time to examine the books, particularly the Manual of Clarity. The elvish-language tome is read by Miletus, though he is at first a little unclear as to the subject matter. The book is divided into three parts. The first section – “The Clarity of Sight” – contains an apologia of elvish traditionalism. Elves, in the view of the White Hand, were the bringers of civilization and defenders of humans, rather than their oppressors. The second part – “Clarity of Thought” – contains a series of “spiritual exercises” to prepare the Order’s militants for spiritual, intellectual and physical warfare. Initiates are taught to clear their mind, to debate, and to resist torture. The final section – “Clarity of Action” – contains instructions on how to prosecute the war – through instructing followers, finding converts, extracting information, and creating dissension among their enemies. Theobald is aware of the Order – it operated in his homeland, and sometimes appropriated authority that belonged to its de jure rulers. After his review, Miletus, too, remembers that its members planned strategy and discusses ideological matters with his officers in the wars of the Great Cleansing. Theobald also draws the connection between the White Hand symbol displayed in the frontpiece of the tome and the Firehand’s symbol – the two look very similar. Finally, the group examines the sketch book, and discovers competent drawings of parts of the town (including the arsenal tower) as well as of various people – including, apparently, the dwarf Mim, Elst, Balint Vossberg, and quite possibly, themselves).
After a briefing visit with Kasmyr downstairs, Theobald, Miletus and Glitterstem proceed to the arsenal. The Harper protesters are still encamped on the square – cold, tired, but apparently still determined. Inside, they meet with Beyert, and fill him in on last night’s confrontation. He is a little surprised at the connection between Elias Amando and the White Hand – Amando had the reputation of a hothead, and even got into barroom brawls with dwarves at the Beaver (which cost him several teeth). He is intrigued by the fact that the apothecary appeared as Bester, though he thinks Bester’s capacity to play two roles in the town simultaneously is unlikely (though not impossible). He then accompanies the party to the apothecary’s shop. The apothecary seems not to have returned, and the conditions inside the store are unchanged. Beyert’s men conduct their own search, and find nothing else of import. Beyert requests the temporary turnover of all extracted books (two are still back in the loft, under Enkidu’s pillow) for the official investigation. Glitterstem, who has been perusing the herbalism manual, finds marginalia written in elvish characters next to some of the entries – notably camphor, headache remedies, gum arabic, and honeycomb. Some of the marginalia indicates elvish terms for particular plants, some – people’s names – such as Mim, Bester, and Pansy Sandyman-Neerbos (the wife of Mels, and the Harper’s officiant), as well as medicinal and/or magical properties of these herbs. Especially owing to the description of honeycomb as an aphrodisiac, and marginalia referring to viper’s tongue next to that entry, the group decides that the references are to potion-making materials.
A return to the loft (to collect the remaining books) is followed by a return to the arsenal, armed with new information. Inside, Elst is meeting with Orin Vess – director of the Amt Bank of Exchange. The subject of the meeting, as Vess informs the group, is the dire state of the Zhentarim Company’s finances owing to burgeoning debt (construction, Bester’s spending habits) and political instability which is likely adding a fear premium to the price of fur, and therefore, lowering demand. Vess voices skepticism regarding Theobald’s defense of treating with the goblins, and suggests that the only way to maintain profitability at this point is to establish direct control over the sources of fur, and by loaning funds to homesteaders (including the Harpers) to expand settlement up to Neverwinter Wood. Elst, for his part, agrees that the group’s investigation is sufficient to release Balint due to lack of evidence against him, and strong evidence against the apothecary (and possibly Bester). He announces his release to the crowd outside, and Balint emerges to its jubilant cries. The crowd is not wholly mollified, and believes it must maintain the pressure to get Bester to explain his conduct. Elst is also persuaded to return the books to the party’s care, agreeing that it can make better use of them than the guards at the arsenal. Balint, for his part, promises the party he will scour the town and use magical means to try to track down the apothecary.
Glitterstem, Theobald, and Miletus proceed to the rectory of the Harper’s temple to speak with Pansy, who is under a form of house arrest by her own parishioners. Theobald prompts her to agree that she was manipulated by Amando. Although she does not deny his involvement, and provisioning of Bester with love potions and potions of invisibility (that aided him on their trysts), she states that after a while, she was a willing participant in the affair.
The party returns to the square, thinking of ways to get inside the Company headquarters to meet with Meerlinda and Bester. Lhyr the gnoll is still guarding the front door, and responds to their entreaties by patting the shaft of his axe. Searching for another way in, Miletus fires an arrow with a message at what he takes to be Meerlinda’s window on the side of the building. The arrow lodges in the window frame, but a hand reaches out to collect it, and soon, a rock wrapped in a message is tossed out onto the street. The message says there is a back door to the building in a back alley. Though the door is locked, Meerlinda’s secretary soon opens it, and escorts the party to his master’s office. Inside, a nervous and frightened Meerlinda is planning his next move. Though he confirms that the town, and Bester himself, are deeply in debt, he worries that Vess and Elst are on the verge of taking over the town and restarting the war, and he has sent a message to the elder Bester in Neverwinter informing him of the latest happenings. He is also afraid of the mob outside, and asks whether the party will aid him in escaping Claymore, if need be. Bester is inside the building, as far as he knows, but seems unamenable to reason, though he is willing to try to talk to him yet again given what the party has learned from Pansy and from its encounter at the apothecary’s. Pursuant to the latter, Meerlinda looks at the herbalism guide, and wonders about the elvish marginalia. An inspection of the elvish dictionary reveals a letter to Amando in a very strange elvish dialect enquiring about the nail shipment. It is signed with a spider symbol.
Armed with what seems a clear implication of the apothecary, the group, along with Meerlinda, proceeds to Bester’s quarters. He is still unwilling to see anyone, but responds to the party’s claims to have received the full low-down from Pansy, and opens the door to them. He has been drinking through the night. He claims to have become involved in the affair not as a result of manipulation by Amando, but simply small-town boredom. But Amando did facilitate the affair by providing him with love potions and potions of invisibility, and because of his knowledge of the affair, Bester protected him from the investigation. Meerlinda is concerned about a possible confrontation with Bester’s father, and has a private chat with his nominal boss before the party leaves for the arsenal. Believing now that Bester bears much of the blame for the affair and the cover-up, Vess and Elst are ready to move to repossess the Company, and to issue loans to the homesteaders. They are willing to compromise, however, by allowing Bester to escape (thus possibly avoiding armed conflict with Neverwinter) and appointing Meerlinda as the de jure head of the Company in Claymore, if he is amenable. The party, meanwhile, is to leave for Neverwinter to make sure that Alferd Bester accepts the transition (the goblins’ nails can wait). An offer of a loan to buy Amando’s shop (on good terms) is also advanced by Vess, and Balint suggests that he has detected traces of magic in the full cauldrons of Amando’s shop, and that he will help the party complete the brewing of invisibility potions while it is away at Neverwinter.
A return to the Company headquarters leads to a private negotiation between Meerlinda, Elst and Vess, and then another private conversation between Meerlinda and Bester. Bester is given time to consume a remaining invisibility potion and to leave, after which Elst addresses the crowd, and informs them of Bester’s complicity and departure, the repossession of the Company, and the availability of loans. The crowd roars its approval. But unexpectedly, crossbowmen emerge from the arsenal, and Elst asks the crowd to clear a path to the Company’s entryway, after which they proceed to murder Lhyr.

Report Date

12 Jun 2015