Session 12. - At Loose Ends
General Summary
31st of Last Light, 1439 A.P.
After a glorious night of well deserved rest on clean sheets and as far from the sewers as they could imagine, the party awoke to a new day, fresh with possibilities.
They briefly discussed their next moves as they were at loose ends until after Samhain concluded in four days. Angrar and Deadeye wanted to go back down into the sewers to solve the puzzle of the valves and make sure that they stopped The Hand but Oorr was vehemently opposed to going back down anytime soon. Suljurn, Arbor and Urith agreed that they didn't want to go back down anytime soon, but they did agree that they should go back down on the last night of the year to ensure that The Hand couldn't sneak back and enact their plans. Since that was still three days away, they tried to figure out what to do with themselves in the meantime. Now that they were clean, somewhat well-rested and flush with coin, they decided to go shopping. Suljurn remembered that he still had to pick up the chainmail he'd ordered almost a week ago now and Urith expressed an interest in finding some reagents for his newly acquired spells. Oorr randomly spouted off about needing to get to a temple because his brand new sword was broken. The others boggled at his outburst, chalked this up to Oorr's eccentric personality and ultimately ignored him. They headed over the bay again and while they were entertained by the rival ferry crews verbally fencing with each other, they briefly discussed whether their employer, Hamsa al Rakeen, was on the up and up and had actually ensured that the City Watch was no longer on their trail. The general consensus was that he had done as he said but Angrar still made a note to himself to swing by the the dockyards later and see if he could learn anything from his friends there. Once they made landfall they headed through the market area to pick up Suljurn's armour. They noted that there was a different vibe in the air today. More people were laughing and smiling and there was no sign of The Hand's agents anywhere in the market. After seeing a small child run by giggling while eating a rapidly melting cone of coloured ice, Urith made an idle comment about not believing that it was almost mid-winter and the temperature was well above freezing. He was so far from home and everything he knew. The others agreed. They'd come a long way in the past few months. At the smithy, they picked up Suljurn's armour and Deadeye and Urith refilled their quivers. Arbor suggested to Oorr that the smith could fix his "broken" sword but Oorr was aghast at the very thought and vehemently stated that it could only be fixed at a temple. He refused to elaborate any further and his behaviour only continued to solidify the others' belief that he wasn't playing with a full deck of cards. From the armourer they moved through the market, picking up various sundries that they'd run out of since they left Palebank Village oh so long ago. Eventually they made their way to a jeweller where Urith had said he was looking for a large-ish pearl to use with his spell-work. Angrar (and Arbor) assisted in bartering with the jeweller on behalf of Urith due to the language barrier, and eventually they managed to sell off several of the stones they'd found in exchange for a pair of pearl earrings that, while very feminine in looks, would suit Urith's needs. The others kept the jibes regarding the earrings femininity to a dull roar as they continued about their errands. As they were in the area, Angrar suggested that they check on the abandoned house that led back to the sewers, just to ensure they could still get back down easily when the time came. After a "stealthy" approach, they didn’t meet any visible resistance or notice any surveillance on either the building itself or the nearby Velvet Glove tavern. Like the market, the area was noticeably devoid of any suspicious activity that could be attributed to The Hand and everything seemed unusually quiet and calm. When they got to the abandoned house, they spent thirty or so minutes ensuring no one was watching and another thirty or so inside ensuring that the stairs were still accessible. Once they were satisfied, they realised the day was mostly gone and they were getting hungry. They started making their way back to the Inn but Oorr piped up that they still hadn't stopped at the temple yet. Angrar pointed out that it was getting late and from their location it would take most of the evening to walk to the temple district and they'd likely be closed for the night by the time they got there. Oorr sulked a bit at this, but Angrar reminded him that the Inn was a much closer walk to the Temple district and in the morning, the traffic would be less. Oorr was mollified and they quickly returned across the bay. Even in the tropics, it got dark early this close to mid-winter, and they made the trek back to their inn in Seaside in the gathering gloom. The pleasure houses, dens of chance and iniquity were all filling up with the usual crowds and the constables walking the streets ignored them (Arbor guessed al Rakeen had been telling the truth after all) as they focused on keeping the rowdies from getting out of hand. As the party passed through one of the quieter areas between the larger establishments, they heard a piercing feminine scream. After a brief glance to ensure the scream hadn't come from Urith, the party looked around to determine where it had come from. It wasn't until they heard a second scream coming from a nearby alleyway, that they were able to pinpoint the source. Oorr and Suljurn charged down the alleyway, while Angrar and the others followed half-heartedly, muttering "... but it could be a trap." When they got to the end of the alley, some eighty feet from the street, they found it to be a dead end with several crates and barrels lining the walls. The source of the scream seemed to be the young, well-dressed elven woman and her chaperone being accosted by several thugs. Oorr, seeing a damsel in distress, dove into action and charged the thugs, bellowing a challenge as he ran. This was what happened in the storybooks after all. As he charged, one of the thugs laid a heavy blow on the chaperone's head who crumpled soundlessly. A couple of the thugs turned to face Oorr while the leader cornered the girl behind one of the stacks of crates, which prevented Urith and Deadeye from getting a clean shot. Oorr dove into the fight with his new blade gleaming (and visibly NOT broken as Angrar accurately pointed out later) and found that he seemed to be far more prone to being hit than before. He took several hard blows from the thugs that were enough to take the wind out of his sails for a bit. Angrar didn't seem to suffer the same fate and plowed through the first thug like a scythe through wheat. Not having a clear shot, Urith focused on sniping from the back while Deadeye moved up for a better shot. Suljurn moved up with him with Arbor close behind. Suljurn's inexperience with weapons showed through when his next several swings consistently missed the mark. Arbor fared somewhat better, managing to unleash one of his spells on the leader. Despite Oorr's and Suljurn's setbacks, they soon outnumbered and outclassed the thugs. When Urith finally moved up close enough to lay his hunter's mark on the leader, he did something unexpected in response. The leader punched the girl in the face, laying her low in a single blow, and then he disappeared in a flash, reappearing magically back down the alley behind Urith. With his hunter's mark still active, Urith chased after the leader hoping to get a clear shot. At first, he saw him disappear into the crowd ahead and with the mark active, was able to sense him getting further and further away. The chase went on for some time before Urith's mark suddenly disappeared. With no visible tracks or ways to find him, Urith gave up and headed back to the alley. When Urith got back to the alley, the young elven girl was praising her rescuers. Or maybe she was a princess now that he got a better look at her. She had pale skin like porcelain and fine silver-white hair that sparkled in the dark. Her eyes were the frozen blue of a winter sky and when she smiled it sent a shiver down your spine. She showered them all with praise and thanks, but focused an inordinate amount of praise on Arbor, much to Oorr's discontent. She introduced herself as Leann and answered their questions as best she could. She didn't know the men, Her and her chaperone were new to the city and had thought to take a shortcut through this alley to their destination, unfortunately they had not known it was a dead end and when they turned to leave, they'd discovered the ruffians had followed them down the alley and had proceeded to lay claim to her personage. Much to her distress. Sadly her chaperone lay unresponsive from the attack and Leann pointedly refused to look at him. Leann deftly asked Arbor, referring to him as her champion (again, much to Oorr's consternation) if he (they) would accompany her to her destination to prevent further harm to her person, and she would reward them handsomely. Arbor hesitantly accepted and she adroitly led them from the alleyway, though not before she not so daintily kicked the body of one of the thugs as she passed. They proceeded down the street, turning a fair few heads as they went and soon Arbor and the others realised that their destination was in fact The Sinspire. The line outside was longer than usual but Leann ignored them all as if they were beneath her and walked directly to the front with the others trailing along nervously behind. Even Oorr, with his usual bravado, was left hesitant in her wake. She gave the doorman the briefest of acknowledgements as she approached and yet as soon as she was at the front of the line, the velvet rope had been moved and she walked in unimpeded. The others sputtered awkwardly behind her "we're, uh... with her" and ruined the pacing of her entrance. Deadeye caught the briefest flash of irritability in her eyes when she glanced back at the the delay but it was soon gone, replaced with a golden smile. Once they were inside, she turned and thanked them all, graciously thanking each of them individually while doting on Arbor, showering praise after praise upon him for his deeds and even when Oorr gathered up the courage to "correct" her, she didn't stop. Soon, a tall, rail thin man with raven hair appeared, waiting to escort her away. She thanked them all once again and enquired as to where they were staying as she would have a suitable gift delivered to them as soon as was convenient. Arbor gave her the name of their inn and as she turned to once again face them all, her tone shifted from light-hearted joy, to serious and formal. She said with all seriousness as she caught each of their eyes.Tis a gift, freely given. Without let, lien or obligation.She then leaned forward and whispered something in each of their ears. It was something private and personal to each of them and afterwards none of them felt like sharing what she had told them, though they couldn't make sense out of what she'd said. Leann then said her farewells and said twice as many to Arbor (again much to Oorr's consternation) before bowing and disappearing into the crowd. The party sat stunned for a bit as the whirlwind of what just happened passed over them. They felt somewhat as if they had just woken up after being asleep for many days. Groggy and out of sorts. Suljurn even asked if they were drunk? Once the fog had cleared, they looked around, hoping to see their former employer and perhaps get a chance to ask ask a few more questions about what he had found out about the goings on in the sewers but had no luck spotting either him or his majordomo, Selendari. They did see someone else they recognised as she approached their table, Ezari Damiselle, the first mate of The Frostmaiden and their former crewmate. She was dressed in a long dark skirt that flattered her figure, and looked little like she did when they'd last saw her on board her ship. Ezari wasted no time once she sat at their table, sparing only the briefest of moments to be introduced to Angrar. She told them she'd been looking for them for a week now for two reasons. Firstly, to give them a warning and secondly because she needed their help. She'd heard about their spat with The Hand and how they'd fallen in with al-Rakeen (her tone made it obvious she did not trust the man) and was curious as to why they hadn't come to her or the others for help because that's what crewmates do. They tried to explain that they had no idea that she was still alive and assumed that everyone had gone up in flames with the ship. Ezari nodded sagely, and said, "that's fair". She told them she was glad that they'd survived escaping the ship. Sadly many of the others had not. She listed off several names of crewmates that had not survived and they all nodded politely, privately trying to put a face to a name and wondering if they'd known them well, or at all. When they inquired as to the warning, she told them that the City Watch was still looking for them for their part in the burning of the ship. They scoffed and told her that al-Rakeen had taken care of that for them. She planted a seed of doubt and asked if they were sure, because a man with a Captain's rank had been asking for them by description that very morning. This didn't sit well with the group but they'd follow up on it later. They asked what the job was and Ezari looked around furtively before telling them that she needed them to help break their old Captain, Baranas Lyle out of the prison known as The Windward Rock before he was to be executed this coming All Soul's Day. She played on their bond as crewmates, trying hard to guilt them into helping her. They were nonplussed and when they pressed for details on the hows and the rewards she was somewhat elusive and said she didn't want to talk here and told them to meet her at The Shrieking Eel tomorrow evening. When the party questioned why they all didn't just leave here now and discuss things, she told them that she had other plans in the works and even though time was pressing, it was the earliest they could meet. She then left them and disappeared back into the crowd. After sharing an unspoken look, the group headed towards the bar and spoke to a bartender they recognised from their previous visit, asking him to get word to his boss, that they needed to speak. They slipped the barkeep a couple of shiny coins for his trouble and waited patiently as he disappeared. They were left waiting for almost a full hour before, al Rakeen's majordomo, Selendari appeared, displeased, at their shoulders. She stated that the master was out and would not be back for some time. She bluntly told them to run along, and Hamsa would contact them in the new year. They took the hint and returned to the inn well past midnight. Initially, they all wanted to stay up late and plan but the adventures of the last few days caught up with them and and sleep became far more enticing. They promised to pick up where they left off in the morning and retired for the night. The next morning came late, their bodies still paying for the time in the sewers, but they did start to discuss their situation over breakfast. Immediately Oorr, Suljurn and Urith voiced their suspicions about Ezari's behaviour. They didn't trust her and felt that she was going to betray them. No one particularly disagreed, though Arbor and Deadeye felt some loyalty to the crew and were willing to at least hear her out. Angrar stayed neutral as he'd never spent time on the Frostmaiden. He was more concerned at the news that al Rakeen had not done as he said and stated they should look into that before making any decisions. They made no permanent decisions until they had further information, but they did start to come up with at least twelve percent of a plan. Oorr was still extremely emphatic that his sword was broken and he needed to take it to a temple. The others continued to be irritated by his self-interest in the face of larger concerns, especially when they asked him to explain how it was broken and all he would do is draw it from it's scabbard, point at it and say "See! Broken.". Eventually he convinced them by saying that they would need his sword fixed if they were all going to survive the next few days. They eventually relented and Angrar, Suljurn and Oorr went in search of a Temple that could cure Oorr's broken sword while Deadeye, Arbor and Urith decided to wait in the Inn. As Arbor and the other two waited, the same tall, raven-haired man from the night before appeared in the inn doorway. He approached Arbor, bowed and presented him with a large golden chest. He said it was a gift from Lady Leann, and repeated the same formal phrasing she had spoken the night before.
This is for you with her thanks. Tis a gift, freely given. Without let, lien or obligation.He then disappeared out the door before Arbor could question him. Before Arbor could open the chest however, he was interupted by a cloaked female figure sitting on the far side of the common room. She turned and pulled back her hood, revealing Ezari. She came over to their table, ignoring the chest, even though Deadeye attempted to awkwardly cover it with his cloak and instead pushed them for an answer regarding their help. Arbor, Urith and Deadeye were all extremely affronted by her pushiness and her behaviour did nothing to dissuade them of her honesty. When she told them that if she could find them this easily, then the guard likely could too, they took it as a veiled threat and told her the conversation was over. They'd meet her at the appointed time later and not before. After she left, the three of them discussed what they were going to do. Urith wanted to either wait for the others or go and find them. Deadeye suggested that maybe they should see where the Captain was being held. Arbor suggested that they do both, but first he wanted to see what the gift from the Lady Leann was. When he removed the roughspun wrap, it revealed an ornately gilded, small, golden chest. it felt like a decorative strongbox from a more civilized age where people openly displayed their wealth instead of locking it away. Inside, the chest was packed full with heavy golden coins and several large sapphires. Arbor quickly set about counting it while the other two looked on. In short order he tallied 600 gold coins and 4 sapphires the size of hen's eggs. He quickly divided the gold into equal shares for everyone and kept the sapphires for himself. He then took the chest up to his room and left the gems and his share inside. When he went back down he gave the other two their shares and they set off, first to check out the Windward Rock prison where the Captain was being held and then to meet up with the others (hopefully before the actual meeting with Ezari). They made their way through the market towards the area of Cìrdan that housed most of the protectorate's military and navy. Feeling every bit out of place as they looked around. They were only able to see the place from a distance but the fortress was formidable and seemed fairly impregnable. Deadeye attempted to gather some information from one of the locals about the fortress but the local scoffed at his attempt and the three of them moved on before they attracted any more attention. They were additionally cautious whenever they spotted one of the City Watch on patrol, but none seemed to take more than a passing interest in them. Feeling that they wouldn't be able to gather much more information, they headed to the tavern Ezari had named, hoping that the others were also on their way. On the way there, Urith expressed something that they were all starting to feel, that Cìrdan was becoming an uncomfortable place to live at the moment. He suggested that they find a way off the island in case things went sideways during the meeting later. Urith said he'd see what he could find and would catch up with them for the meeting. Urith headed to the commercial docks and after struggling with the language, he managed to find a harbourmaster who spoke enough goblinese to understand his needs and was ultimately given two options. There was the daily ferry that would take a lazy's day journey to the mainland that would leave tomorrow morning or if he was in a hurry, there was a ship leaving on the evening's tide, that would get there by sunrise but cost nearly five times as much. Urith thanked the man and hurried to catch up with the others.
While Urith, Arbor and Deadeye were being chastised by Ezari, the other three were exploring the small temple district of the island . Oorr was lamenting the lack of selection amongst Cìrdan's temples. Most of the Gods were only represented by a simple statue or small untended shrine with the Elven quadrumvirate having the most prominence. The only gods that had substantial temples beyond a shrine were Helos, The All-Father, An-Teth, The Mistress of Trade, Calis, The God of Luck and Dhara, The Earthmother.
Oorr was sorely disappointed that Rayah's temple amounted to a poorly tended shrine and so first went into Helos' temple, hoping they'd have the resources he needed. The temple was surprisingly small for the Father of all the Gods and Angrar had to translate Oorr's request to the priest on duty. Unfortunately the priest was unable to provide Oorr's request , stating that neither he nor his fellow priest knew the remove curse spell. Angrar and Suljurn were somewhat surprised at Oorr's request as he'd been overly cryptic as to his needs up until this point. The kindly elven priest of Helos suggested that they try Dhara's temple as it was the largest at the moment. Angrar and Oorr followed the advise while Suljurn took the time to wander the shrines, pausing briefly at Ogham's before shaking his head and moving on. He lingered overly long by both Rayah's and Mithras' shrines but did not stop at either and found no answers on his journey. Oorr and Angrar repeated their request at Dhara's temple and were pleased when the priests there agreed to the request, though through some misinterpretation of Oorr's desires, the priests thought he was donating the sword to them. After unsuccessfully trying to clear things up, Oorr became frustrated and paid the priests a small fortune of coin just to take the sword. He was glad to be rid of it and felt it well worth the price. They concluded their business, collected Suljurn from his contemplative musings and as it was still early, headed back to the inn. When they got back, they found the others had left, leaving a vague message with the innkeep about checking "the details" and to meet at The Shrieking Eel for lunch, (well before their evening meeting with Ezari) With nothing else planned, they headed to meet up. On the way over the bay, Angrar said he'd catch up with the others later. Stating that he wanted to investigate whether the watch was still looking for them. Oorr and Suljurn didn't think that was a bad idea at all. Especially as Cìrdan was starting to feel unwelcoming, even with The Hand gone. Oorr and Suljurn headed to meet the others and Angrar made his way back to the dockyards where he'd seen the guard captain asking about the others previously. Before he got there though, he had a bright idea and decided to stop at the local chapter house of the bounty hunter's guild first. When he arrived, he gained entry under the pretence of joining them. They were fairly taciturn about giving information on any active bounties to non-guild members. The man Angrar spoke to said that if he wanted to become part of the guild, he'd have to bring in a recent bounty... like the one on the crazy druid who'd been running amok in the market recently. Angrar thanked him and said he'd be back, hopefully with the bounty. Once outside, he headed to the docks and started asking questions to those he was familiar with to see if anyone had been asking for his friends. Most of the answers seemed to be no, though a few did seem to say yes. The yes's led him to a tall, (Tall for an elf at any rate. Angrar still stood a head and shoulders above him), bald dark skinned elf in a captain's uniform. The captain seemed a tad worse for wear and there was a faint aroma of soot or smoke lingering around him. When Angrar approached, the Captain pointedly asked him about 5 miscreants who'd committed arson within the city limits and gave fairly accurate descriptions of his friends. Angrar played the role of the big dumb brute and lied (hopefully convincingly) that he'd seen them at the floating market a few days back talking to a bunch of nobles. The captain perked up at this and started squeezing him for information. Angrar, played into his role, and asked a few innocent questions about why the Watch were looking for them. The captain, seemed to be somewhat unhinged at the thought of a wild pack of arsonists roaming the city, lamented in passing that the watch was no longer looking for them, but he would not rest until they were brought to justice for their crimes. While the captain ranted distractedly, Angrar took the opportunity to slip away as unobtrusively as his seven and a half foot frame would allow. He made for the nearest side street and did his best to walk casually down the street, hoping that the captain didn't follow him. To be certain he wasn't followed, he took a very roundabout route to the Shrieking Eel tavern and ended up being a little late for the meeting. Arbor and Deadeye arrived first, and sat at the fountain in the center of the square outside of the tavern they were meeting at later. Oorr and Suljurn arrived shortly thereafter (Surprising, as Oorr had apparently gotten them lost twice along the way). While they waited for Urith and Angrar to return from their errands, Arbor handed out the gifts from Lady Leann and shared the conversation they'd had earlier with Ezari and how pushy she was. Deadeye also piped up and gave a brief tactical summation about the fortress. In short: Not a good idea at this time. Angrar arrived as Deadeye was finishing and also brought the others up to speed as to what was going on with the guard. Apparently al Rakeen had called the watch off. It was only one man with a personal vendetta and the watch itself were not actively looking for them. To Angrar's knowledge, none of them had bounties on their heads either. Urith showed up last and let the others know about the ships leaving port. With everyone finally together, they discussed what information they had and then decided to vote on whether to help Ezari with her prison break. Ultimately, they decided that while a prison break was theoretically possible, three days was nowhere near enough time to be successful and that they were pretty certain that Ezari was playing them, and likely to turn them over to the watch. Urith also stated that he felt al Rakeen was also likely to betray them at the earliest opportunity and his promise of future work was just smoke. The general consensus was that the meeting that afternoon was likely a trap and they'd have to fight their way out of town. And with The Hand likely still lurking and al Rakeen's impending betrayal, Cìrdan had become far too uncomfortable for them to stay. When the time came, they headed into the Shrieking Eel a little before they were supposed to in hopes of catching any ambush flat footed only to find Ezari already there, waiting for them. She wasted no time with pleasantries and simply asked what their answer was. Until that moment, they hadn't really decided. When put to the question however, all their paranoia, doubts and uncertainties came to the surface and they ended up siding against helping her. She was visibly disappointed and took a deep breath, looking like she was going to start chastising them into helping but instead she paused, said she was sorry that was the decision they'd come to and then she got up and left without another word. The party wasted no time waiting to see if the guards burst through the door after her. The group decided to get out of town... now as they realised they had little time before the tides changed and they felt that waiting till morning and they might end up dead, or worse, imprisoned. Deadeye went to pay for the drinks with the money Leann had given them, only to find that the bag of gold coins Arbor had given him, was now copper. Arbor looked shocked and protested any wrongdoing. The others checked their bags and they too had turned to copper. Arbor wanted to check on his, but it was back at the inn. After paying for the drinks, everyone except Angrar started to head back to the inn to gather their belongs quickly. Angrar told the others he had a quick errand to run and disappeared into the city without further explanation. As out of character as that was, the others didn't have time to question it. They raced back to the inn and gathered up everything they needed quickly. Arbor checked on the loot from Leann and his too had changed. Not only that, but the chest wasn't even a chest any more, just a rickety wooden crate filled with copper coins and acorns where the sapphires were.When they got on board, Arbor didn't even attempt to negotiate a better price for passage and was just happy to be leaving. They all paid and were shown to their cabins to stow their gear. They then went back up on deck and watched (with some degree of knowledge) the crew make preparation to leave. They idly wondered if Angrar would be joining them and Urith briefly suggested taking bets. Before anyone could take him up on that offer though, Angrar pushed his way through the crowd and boarded, visibly winded, just as the crew were unmooring the ship. As the sun set, they slipped through the elderglass reef that surrounded the island and made for open waters... and new adventures.
Rewards Granted
- 175 xp (+ various individual RP amounts)
Character(s) interacted with
Notes
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Deadeye Cliffhanger
Oorr Rosetta del Hilltopple
Chaotic Good [Tar] Faun (City Watch / Investigator)
Rogue 4
Sorcerer 1
Rogue 4
Sorcerer 1
37 / 37 HP
STR
10
10
DEX
18
18
CON
12
12
INT
8
8
WIS
12
12
CHA
16
16
Urith Thane
Suljurn sah-Ghad
Arbor Nox
Angrar Ironbrow
Report Date
05 Aug 2023
Primary Location
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