Session 4 - How to Hide a Body
Carrying on from last session, the group were stuck for leads. Tera suggested using her noble background to try and discover where one might get an exotic pet such as an ooze, in the hopes of finding a way to trace back to Mujina. She decided to speak to her family, who lived in the Tenshi ancestral estate along the Saffron Road district, a very old-money sort of area. She took Yunhu with her as the least offensive among her companions and explained to him that her parents saw her as something of a trophy or bargaining chip in the world of nobility due to her aasimar heritage. Subsequently, she distanced herself from them and got a job as a painter in the Porcelain Guild.
The Tenshi estate was grand but in disrepair, a sign of a family that was old money but didn't have much literal money to go around. None of the servants recognised Tera; the staff had been changed since her last visit due to not being paid.
Tera's parents were delighted to see her but had few leads on oozes apart from visiting the Salt Exchange market district to find a broker. They mentioned that there was a current market shortage of pseudodragons, an expensive pet much coveted by the nobility.
Her brother Leo was absent, and when asked her parents dismissively said that he was 'out and about'; the implication was they had little interest in their human son with an aasimar daughter to fuss over. They were more interested in discussing whether Tera was going to go to the summer ball at the end of the month, a notable event among nobility and chance for Tera to find a good suitor. They stated they had gone so far as to have a dress made for her, another frivolous expense, but mentioned it was purple (her least favourite colour) and adorned with butterflies (altogether too girly for our practical aasimar). In her frustration over her parents marital meddling, she hinted that she was seeing Yunhu romantically.
While Tera spoke with her family the rest of the group accompanied Kyto, who wanted to investigate the attempted assassination of Tsun-Riu; as a gold dragonborn, could it perhaps be scale-related? Kyto stated he knew of a contact who might be able to tell them more. He took them to the East Star district and a hidden little place called Azza's Bar. It's run by the titular Azza, a beautiful but stern-talking tiefling woman. Also present was her younger sister Uzza, and the two sisters seemed fond of Kyto. The bar seemed unusually empty to be doing decent business, and a sign on the bar stated 'This is NOT a brothel', leading the group to speculate that it probably was, in fact, a brothel - though Kyto insisted that it wasn't. Azza helped Kyto catch up on recent events, though her evasive turn of phrase in front of other party members suggested there was more to Kyto's background than he'd shared with the group. She stated that Tsun-Riu was reportedly still alive but had withdrawn from public view, citing the reasons as 'illness' - assumed to mean he was injured in the attempt, or lying low for his own safety. House Dawnsworn were looking into the assassination and are blocking off anyone else who inquires into it. However she knows of the morgue where the assassin's body is supposedly being stored, and gave Kyto the details with the warning that it would likely be guarded. She warns him to be careful, as some 'old friends' are looking for him. Kyto also asked about a former contact of his, though he never mentioned them by name; Azza stated that they had vanished recently 'possibly for the same reasons you did'. This meant something to Kyto, but not so much to the rest of the group who were left feeling largely puzzled.
The group reconvened at Tera's house, but noticed that the place had been broken into in their absence. Tera worriedly searched her belongings and found everything intact, but one of her dresses was missing. It was a plain blue dress, not especially expensive or fancy, so she was left unsure as to why it would have been taken except as a warning. They agreed to rest in tera's house but take turns keeping watch, just to be safe. During her watch Shinzu spotted a red kobold watching the house, but it slipped away before she could discover where it went. They party looked again in the morning but there was no trail to follow. It was clear that the house was being watched.
The next day party headed to the Salt Exchange to follow up on leads regarding oozes and the shortage of pseudodragons. As the largest trade post in Thousand, the Salt Exchange was uncomfortably busy even first thing on a morning, and was protected by the imperial guard as well as various mercenary guards hired by different businesses. Faced with waiting in a queue for ages, Sekket took out his holy symbol and used his priest status to barge his way to the front, which was rude but effective. They came face to face with a clerk, whose headwear and magnificent beard signified he was from Umbral Key territory, near to the Frost. Sekket asked about getting hold of a jelly or pseudodragon and was told that one would need an exotic pet license; the clerk also tiredly stated that Sekket was the 26th person just this morning to ask about pseudodragons. He was obtuse towards the group, so to help Lun disguised himself as Nishigi and convinced the clerk that they were looking into the matter for the imperial guard (which is strictly speaking true, but still). This worked and the clerk was more forthcoming, explaining that he hadn't sold any ooze creatures lately, therefore bringing an end to that lead. However he did discuss the shortage of dragon-kin scales on the market - and the lack of pseudodragons, but stated that pseudodragons were carefully protected as a semi-sentient species, and there had been no reports of pseudodragons being bought only to be killed for their scales. He stated that the lack of scales on the market at the moment was due to demand by a circle of artists called the Blue Orchid Society; rooted in nobility they had the monopoly on buying any scales. Supposedly this was for an art project they were working on to show at the summer ball at the end of the month. A woman called Meimi Soone, a servant to the nobles of the Blue Orchid, was the chief person buying up scales for her masters. With investigating the Blue Orchid as their next lead, the group prepared to leave the Salt Exchange. On the way out however Sekket was accosted by a middle-aged high elf called Gisita. He greeted Sekket with surprise but great warmth, stating that he hadn't seen the hobgoblin for over 20 years, but still had the sword Sekket made for him. The group were interested at this figure from the reserved Sekket's past - plus one on friendly terms with the prickly cleric - and so Sekket introduced him to the group as an old customer of Sekket's weapon shop. Gisita also spotted that Shinzu was a fellow elf - relations between wood elves and high elves are sometimes strained, but Gisita was notably courteous. He recognised her name to mean 'Silent Path', and that she was from Lockbox. They had a brief conversation, mostly because Shinzu was suddenly uncharacteristically shy, which did not go unnoticed by Tera and the others. Gisita bid them farewell but asked Sekket to come and visit him in the Green Spires district sometime.
The party reconvened at the tavern. Tera was reluctant at leaving her house unguarded, though realised she couldn't be present to keep an eye on it at all times, and probably needed to invest in a better lock.
Shinzu talked more about her past as a Lockbox wood elf, and showed Tera her armour, made of almost living leaves and wood. This was her uniform of the Tora-Gun, the warriors of her tribe. She revealed that something had been stolen from her tribe and taken to Thousand Houses, and she had come here trying to get it back. She hadn't worn the armour so she could blend in better with Thousand, but now she was travelling with a ragtag party she wasn't exactly being stealthy anymore - as such, she donned her old armour again. The group began making plans for how to approach the artists of the Blue Orchid Society. But that was to be done next time, as the session ended there...
While Tera spoke with her family the rest of the group accompanied Kyto, who wanted to investigate the attempted assassination of Tsun-Riu; as a gold dragonborn, could it perhaps be scale-related? Kyto stated he knew of a contact who might be able to tell them more. He took them to the East Star district and a hidden little place called Azza's Bar. It's run by the titular Azza, a beautiful but stern-talking tiefling woman. Also present was her younger sister Uzza, and the two sisters seemed fond of Kyto. The bar seemed unusually empty to be doing decent business, and a sign on the bar stated 'This is NOT a brothel', leading the group to speculate that it probably was, in fact, a brothel - though Kyto insisted that it wasn't. Azza helped Kyto catch up on recent events, though her evasive turn of phrase in front of other party members suggested there was more to Kyto's background than he'd shared with the group. She stated that Tsun-Riu was reportedly still alive but had withdrawn from public view, citing the reasons as 'illness' - assumed to mean he was injured in the attempt, or lying low for his own safety. House Dawnsworn were looking into the assassination and are blocking off anyone else who inquires into it. However she knows of the morgue where the assassin's body is supposedly being stored, and gave Kyto the details with the warning that it would likely be guarded. She warns him to be careful, as some 'old friends' are looking for him. Kyto also asked about a former contact of his, though he never mentioned them by name; Azza stated that they had vanished recently 'possibly for the same reasons you did'. This meant something to Kyto, but not so much to the rest of the group who were left feeling largely puzzled.
The group reconvened at Tera's house, but noticed that the place had been broken into in their absence. Tera worriedly searched her belongings and found everything intact, but one of her dresses was missing. It was a plain blue dress, not especially expensive or fancy, so she was left unsure as to why it would have been taken except as a warning. They agreed to rest in tera's house but take turns keeping watch, just to be safe. During her watch Shinzu spotted a red kobold watching the house, but it slipped away before she could discover where it went. They party looked again in the morning but there was no trail to follow. It was clear that the house was being watched.
The next day party headed to the Salt Exchange to follow up on leads regarding oozes and the shortage of pseudodragons. As the largest trade post in Thousand, the Salt Exchange was uncomfortably busy even first thing on a morning, and was protected by the imperial guard as well as various mercenary guards hired by different businesses. Faced with waiting in a queue for ages, Sekket took out his holy symbol and used his priest status to barge his way to the front, which was rude but effective. They came face to face with a clerk, whose headwear and magnificent beard signified he was from Umbral Key territory, near to the Frost. Sekket asked about getting hold of a jelly or pseudodragon and was told that one would need an exotic pet license; the clerk also tiredly stated that Sekket was the 26th person just this morning to ask about pseudodragons. He was obtuse towards the group, so to help Lun disguised himself as Nishigi and convinced the clerk that they were looking into the matter for the imperial guard (which is strictly speaking true, but still). This worked and the clerk was more forthcoming, explaining that he hadn't sold any ooze creatures lately, therefore bringing an end to that lead. However he did discuss the shortage of dragon-kin scales on the market - and the lack of pseudodragons, but stated that pseudodragons were carefully protected as a semi-sentient species, and there had been no reports of pseudodragons being bought only to be killed for their scales. He stated that the lack of scales on the market at the moment was due to demand by a circle of artists called the Blue Orchid Society; rooted in nobility they had the monopoly on buying any scales. Supposedly this was for an art project they were working on to show at the summer ball at the end of the month. A woman called Meimi Soone, a servant to the nobles of the Blue Orchid, was the chief person buying up scales for her masters. With investigating the Blue Orchid as their next lead, the group prepared to leave the Salt Exchange. On the way out however Sekket was accosted by a middle-aged high elf called Gisita. He greeted Sekket with surprise but great warmth, stating that he hadn't seen the hobgoblin for over 20 years, but still had the sword Sekket made for him. The group were interested at this figure from the reserved Sekket's past - plus one on friendly terms with the prickly cleric - and so Sekket introduced him to the group as an old customer of Sekket's weapon shop. Gisita also spotted that Shinzu was a fellow elf - relations between wood elves and high elves are sometimes strained, but Gisita was notably courteous. He recognised her name to mean 'Silent Path', and that she was from Lockbox. They had a brief conversation, mostly because Shinzu was suddenly uncharacteristically shy, which did not go unnoticed by Tera and the others. Gisita bid them farewell but asked Sekket to come and visit him in the Green Spires district sometime.
The party reconvened at the tavern. Tera was reluctant at leaving her house unguarded, though realised she couldn't be present to keep an eye on it at all times, and probably needed to invest in a better lock.
Shinzu talked more about her past as a Lockbox wood elf, and showed Tera her armour, made of almost living leaves and wood. This was her uniform of the Tora-Gun, the warriors of her tribe. She revealed that something had been stolen from her tribe and taken to Thousand Houses, and she had come here trying to get it back. She hadn't worn the armour so she could blend in better with Thousand, but now she was travelling with a ragtag party she wasn't exactly being stealthy anymore - as such, she donned her old armour again. The group began making plans for how to approach the artists of the Blue Orchid Society. But that was to be done next time, as the session ended there...
Tenshi ancestral estate
Azza
The Salt Exchange
Gisita, who Shinzu definitely doesn't have a crush on
Tora-Gun armour
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