The Autumn Harvest Festival, Chapter 2

General Summary

evening event, in order to travel there, a designated area in Zhayeria inside a gov't building has a teleportation circle with permission (which invitations allowed). Royal person waiting for them took them to area outside of castle where there is a carriage waiting to head in.
faelan is fascinated with his surroundings. The city of Eremnil is set up with autumn themed goodness, pumpkins and hay rides and outdoor games among commoners mingling with middle class and some local nobles, food and drink and laughter, stands with cider and sales and booths
everyone except medericus takes anti-inebriation measures. Everyone gets a stick of gum with stat boosts built in that Relentless invented
they get to the Foxbard Palace outer gate, where guards stop them and take their weapons. Guard wearing red and gold armor asks for weapons. The guard is already deadpan and exasperated, resulting in hilarity as the players try to weasel weapons past.
Jasttor hands everything over. Heshan hands everything over, as well. Faelan never had a real weapon so he gives nothing. Tally hides her dagger, Cayman's Demise. Kitrick attempts to hide his Dagger of Warning and fails, keeping no weapons. Medericus tries to lie about the weapons he has and slowly and reluctantly gives all of his weapons, hiding his hand crossbow and a dagger and allowed to take his instruments. Relentless hands over all his regular weapons, keeping his focus and other "non-weapon" items (like the rod). Crawler tries to argue that her dragon claw shortsword is decorative, but fails.
Relentless asks Tally how her wings work with her bow, and Medericus makes a comment about happy thoughts and grabbing boobs--referring to when they switched bodies during the time the Ring of Exponential Value adventure. Medericus also clarifies that he's brought Gnawdy along as his plus one--the giant spider eyeballs a horse at one point and reaches out a pedipalp towards it that is slapped back by Kitrick.
the inside of the palace is decorated with lavish Autumnal themed leaves and colors and banners, with food on every square inch of the great hall tables. Heshan is able to ignore the lavish decor to keep an eye out for people, while Faelan is staring at everything in wonder. The party is escorted to the Great Hall. People are standing and socializing, laughing and sizing other nobility up as they watch people filter through and enter the hall. The party is stopped by someone working at the palace for their titles.
They see a fancy halfling, a married pair of older humans, a lady and dude chillin'. The king and queen stand, causing the entire hall to stand. They are announced "Introducing his royal majesty/her majesty". Near the king/queen is someone standing with a line waiting to be introduced, where the party is escorted. People are announced, knights and mistresses, and barons.
Crawler is very nervous and trying to hide in the back. Master Relentless, the Mecurial Minded of the Metalhearts Guild, Heshan Bernhardt, Trusted Trainer of the Metalhearts Guild. Mistress Elinoa Taldel, Heart of Gold of the Metalhearts Guild. Master Jasttor Bloodmaw, Bronze Shield and High Paladin of the Metalhearts Guild. Master Medericus Silverfang--(Med casts major image and sets his own stage and music, does Michael Jordan entrance from Space Jam, the crowd does the 'surprised but proper about it' sound. Jasttor lets out a long suffering sigh). Master Kitrick Fallowfield, Metalheart Adventurer with Nerves of Steel, with guest Faelan Evenstar, Priest of Selûne. Mistress Crawler of the Metalhearts, the Olivine Archer, with trusted companion Little. (Crawler is stock-straight and nervous, eyes wide)
King and Queen say "welcome guests to the Autumn Harvest Festival here at the Foxbard Palace. We are here to enjoy each others' company and the plentiful feast from the amazing harvest we've had. Feel free to enter the ballroom, it is open for your enjoyment. We have entertainment and a feast for you all. Let us give thanks to the ones who have provided this for us. (gestures to servants waiting to help and wait on guests) Welcome to our palace."
huge display of food. Ham, turkey, exotic coffee and tea, berries. apple pie, cranberry scones, pumpkin nutmeg rolls, shortcake, strawberries, hot cocoa, butterscotch pie, blackberry sauce, lamb stew, roast beef... all kinds of stuff, plus exotic fruits
crawler piles up her plate, sits next to the hearth and eats with her hands. Nobles comment on how uncouth it is, "oh maybe it's just how their people eat" when medericus joins. Medericus intimidates them by saying "MM THIS SURE TASTES LIKE HUMAN" Lady goes "oh, goodness!" scampers away
rooms: garden, courtyard, servant's quarters, salon/parlor, library, ballroom, great hall
Crawler goes to the garden with Heshan. Relentless goes to the library. Kitrick follows Faelan around, going to the courtyard. Medericus goes to the servants' quarters. Tally asks Jasttor where they should go and Jasttor is nudged by Medericus, telling him "take her dancing", so they go to the ballroom. Gnawdy hangs out on the ceilings of the great hall.
Gardens are beautiful, starting to get dark out. Scent of jasmine and flowers. Crawler sees a half-elf male regarding her after quietly pondering the water in the fountains, enjoying the quiet. Heshan tells Crawler that now is a good time to get to know the guests, reassuring her to "be herself" when she seems nervous. A woman flirts with Heshan, who handles it graciously and talks more about history and interesting things. Crawler awkwardly scoots closer to the half-elf and notices that he is wearing muted colors, and next to him a large female wolf appears from the shadows. Crawler relaxes and greets the wolf, sparking conversation between her and the half-elf who bemoans the large amount of *people* inside and how much quieter it is out in the gardens. After some successful conversation about the laws of nature and the natural order, he reveals he's part of the Emerald Enclave, and asks Crawler if she'd ever be interested in trying to join. The Emerald Enclave is dedicated to keeping the natural balance of the world and stopping anything that threatens that balance. Most members are solitary, protecting their own areas of territory outside of civilization. She declines politely, but says she'll keep the ranger faction in mind for the future.
Faelan wanders around the courtyard, gently touching things in wonderment. A young dwarven woman and an armored woman in nice silver filigree are here, eventually joined by an older woman dressed in woman. Kitrick determines that the dwarven woman is wearing a symbol of an old dwarven kingdom that no longer has a monarch or royalty. The Mithral Hall was a fallen empire that is being rebuilt--her symbol. Neither allies nor enemies, invited perhaps because of her importance to the rebuilding of the kingdom of the Mithral Hall. The armored woman is human, Kitrick doesn't recognize her armor, so is therefore foreign, but she seems to be a decorated knight. Faelan breaks something and tries to put it back to normal. Kitrick speaks to the lady knight and asks where she's from, and she speaks in a somewhat French accent that she's from the Theyterian kingdom, quite far away. She's well spoken and polite, asking where Kitrick is from and recognizing Zhayeria as a port city. The dwarven woman is watching Faelan with her arms crossed, trying not to laugh. She fixes what Faelan broke and chats with him.
Relentless investigates the shelves for books, but is overwhelmed by the sheer number of books. A woman, very familiar with the library, starts organizing shelves and maintaining the library. A dragonborn man looks dressed in decorative armor, a strange mix of dragonborn colors (probably metallic). A woman looks very finely dressed, seems to be in the library looking at books to make themselves look smart. Relentless speaks to the high wizard and asks for the history of the library, to which she gives an enthusiastic answer, talking about when the castle was build, how the library got started and kept adding to the collection. She reveals that she is the court wizard, and they have a librarian but she acts more like a librarian than they do. She shows Relentless several of her favorite books and asks about Relentless, saying she recognizes the Metalhearts name and comments on the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Zhayeria. Relentless asks her what her favorite book is, and she waffles before choosing an original copy of a childrens' fairy tale book--the dark version of stories of fae stealing children away etc. Relentless spends his time reading the book until the other woman begins flirting with him and bothering him to go dancing with her.
Jasttor and Tally see a live band, one of which is a man wearing an elaborate monarch butterfly-patterned cloak and the other being Seraphina, a former member of the adventuring party before they became the New Dawn. She gives Tally a grin and thumbs-up before continuing playing. A woman dances with a lesser noble man. Another man in decorative armor with a big bushy moustache, with a woman with salt-and-pepper hair dancing together, entirely enveloped in one another. Tally notices a woman off to the side, young and watching the dancers. She sips a drink while keeping an eye out carefully. Jasttor takes Tally out to dance with the music playing, giving Seraphina a smile out of recognition. He says "we need to look out for people who may be good to talk to" while dancing. Tally points the woman in the corner out, and Jasttor tries to be subtle about looking over. The woman watches them as they dance and steps up to ask Tally to allow her to dance with Jasttor. Confused, Tally and Jasttor comply, the woman having a conversation with Jasttor further away where Tally can't hear--but not before giving a significant glance at the amulet Tally wears. The lesser noble dances (badly) with Tally, slightly drunk. Tally steers the pair of them over to Jasttor and the mysterious woman, noticing that Jasttor and the woman have a sort of rhythm together, moving like they can predict one another, and Jasttor looks very thoughtful as she speaks. The song ends and the woman steps away, passing by Tally and saying "put that away where no one can see it" glancing at Lily's Amulet. Tally notices as her hand touches her shoulder that they have claws--not human. The woman gives Jasttor an odd look before leaving. Tally tucks the amulet away. Jasttor tells Tally that he feels like he knows the woman from somewhere, but knows he's never met her. He says she knew his name without his telling her. Tally tells him she isn't human, and that she isn't what she looks like.
Medericus surprises a chambermaid in the servant's quarters, asking if he's sure where he is. Med says he needed to get out of the "rich" area, and she laughs nervously and glances around. She nervously leaves him alone and does her job. He meets Jamna Gleamsilver, who starts dying of laughter after watching that exchange. Medericus says he doesn't recognize her and she sighs and says she's Zhentarim, and tells him to be ready for their word. Medericus starts shit and Jamna gets pissy with him before leaving to do her surveillance. A half-elf is hovering between the servants' quarters and the rest of the castle. Medericus startles him and the elf awkwardly shifts and talks, wanting Medericus to leave, but the dragonborn refuses to do so. Medericus calls him "shady" and he gets irritated. Medericus recognizes a symbol on his clothing as the sign of the Harpers. The half-elf recognizes him as an adventurer, but Medericus remains obstinately astute and annoys the half-elf, who tries to leave, but Medericus keeps following him and irritating him. He sits down and does nothing while Medericus suggests playing cards and begins shuffling a deck to play while the half-elf stubbornly sits in silence.
Jasttor and Tally make their way into the garden, disrupting the woman flirting with Heshan. She leaves.
In the courtyard, the woman in purple appears. Young, somewhat stern, as she looks at her surroundings, and has an air of authority. The knight lady tells Kitrick how much fancier her festivals are in her country. Faelan leaves the courtyard to go into the Great Hall to eat the fancy foods. Kitrick parts from the knight and inspects the woman in purple but can't discern anything from her, while making friendly with the dwarven woman. Historically, Kitrick knows that purple means either nobility or royalty, and could be Shar or of another deity (purple usually is of an unsavory god). Kitrick leaves the courtyard and stealths to the great hall, eavesdropping where he can. Kitrick eavesdrops on another halfling and the woman who commented on Crawler's eating habits. The halfling talks about where he came from in Truegreen (Kitrick has heard of the place, in halfling country). His clothes look nice, but not over-the-top like it was the best he had. He is baron of Truegreen. The woman giggles and says "did you know every castle has a secret tunnel? I wonder if this place has one" "I don't know, one way to find out, right?" Kitrick is aware that castles tend to have secret entrances/exits built into them. Gnawdy is up on the ceiling, occasionally snatching up a whole chicken and popping back up. Kitrick calls her down to climb on her, but her stealth isn't great. People look up and see a giant spider and think they're going crazy.
In the library, the woman who was pretending to look at books and things tries to flirt with Relentless. She asks what he's reading and he explains but she seems far more interested in speaking with him, introducing herself as Zelina. She laughs at everything he says and flatters him, asking about his guild, and talks about how her parents won't let her join a guild. She then specifically asks what Relentless is responsible for, and he answers that he's an alchemist. Relentless starts to realize that she is actively trying to charm him with her body language and words, and he notices that her eyes shimmer oddly for a split second. He realizes she isn't what she appears to be. Using his own amulet of thought detection, he asks where she's from while checking her thoughts. Aloud, she answers that she's from near Eremnil as a noble kept in a cage by her father. Her thoughts are "play to his need to explain things", "talk about how intelligent he is", like she wants something and is trying to play him. Relentless asks what he can help her with and she says she finds him interesting, but Relentless sees through her ruse and knows she wants something from him. She asks him to dance and he agrees, though he parts from her for a moment to tell the others on the Stone of Far Speech that someone who isn't who she says is trying to lead him away from people and mentions that he thinks it feels vaguely "trappish". The others begin heading towards the ballroom, extricating themselves from their conversations with NPCs.
On the way down the hall, Jamna tells Medericus that they have their target--the woman in purple. Medericus argues about going with her because he wants to help Relentless. Arietta, the twin to Zelina, comes to Relentless's other side and Relentless catches the thought "one target down". Kitrick is closest and rushes in as the twins pull Relentless over to an outer balcony and attack, revealing their doppelganger form. They circle Relentless and taunt him, wondering if they should ask him to join his side, and mention Ashwing as a pawn that was "toyed with" (assumedly on the side of the Cult of the Dragon, though they never outright answer Relentless's questioning). Relentless banishes them with a spell and they call the guards, and Kitrick summons an ankheg to keep the twins busy before running with Jamna who is yelling at the group to help as they promised.
Medericus is first into the courtyard, who sees the lady knight murdered dead on the ground with a knife in her back. It's the only thing in the room. The guards are in motion, a flurry of activity nearby in other rooms. The team comes in and finds a blood trail while Jasttor makes sure the lady is truly dead and not able to be healed. Relentless asks the woman if she saw who murdered her and she seems confused, like she's not aware she's dead or who killed her. The last person she saw was the dwarf woman ambassador, speaking to her. The drop of blood leads out to the gardens, and they begin a chase where they see the purple woman running, eventually finding a secret entrance in the floor down below.

Rewards Granted

A book on fae knowledge (Relentless)

Character(s) interacted with

Delaan Winterhound Zelina Innevar Ilya (wolf) Lady Marian Coltswood Ambassador Ovina Brawnanvil Lady High Wizard Ming Seraphina Mistress Vafenire Fuirosuvaf Cataline Jamna Gleamsilver Leosin Erlanthar Baclari Montoquesqargo, Lord Baron of Truegreen Arietta Innevar

Report Date

11 Feb 2018