Session 1 - When You Give a Kid a Knife...

Arc 2 Session Notes are kindly provided by Copper.

PCs

• Buxton-Clive (he/him) - Earth Genasi Path of the Totem Warrior (4) & College of Swords Bard (3) - played by Darrell
• Cora Sol (he/they) - Heart Genasi Way of the Sun Soul Monk (7) - played by Zebra
• Enna of Blythe (she/her) - Air Genasi Rune Knight Fighter (7) - played by Copper
• Etyo (they/he) – Kenku Fey Wanderer Ranger (3) & Scout Rogue (4) - played by Aoife
• Reese Ven Strinka (they/she) - (Ex-Fire Genasi) Dhampir Oath of the Brotherhood Paladin (6) & Pact of the Undead Warlock (1) - played by Mars

Important PC Info

• PCs met through The Guild of Genasi Adventurers and started working together as a party consistently 1 yr before start of campaign
• PCs are connected by a blood bond (courtesy of Reese). They know each other's locations when within 200 ft and know if one of them has been disintegrated.
• PCs speak Primordial as a way to talk openly when unsure of who’s listening

NPCs

The Disappearing Act NPCs

Opening Monologue

Kauvet’s most powerful people do what they can to keep their legacy alive, sometimes even to the detriment of those they claim to love. The high elves of The Presch Family are no different. Wracked with tragedy after tragedy, this family has done and will continue to do whatever they can to make sure their family name stays reputable and their power stays consolidated under it. When the heir of the Presch estate went missing under concerning circumstances, they hired investigators to find him. After a few months, they got no response from the first wave, and they enlisted the helps of higher level adventurers to take their place. Our story picks up in the city of Glimmerbrook, sprawling and decadent, the glittering Olanot River cutting through its center, with a new party of adventurers.

Events of Session

The session opened with our heroes, the Force of Nature, riding through the city of Glimmerbrook’s upper side. That they were meeting their new clients here was most fitting, as they were arriving to secure a contract looking for the Presch family heir. A contract that promised both incredible amounts of gold and a favor from the Presch family, both contingent on the return of the heir, Azriel Presch, alive and well to the Presch estate.
The Force of Nature carriage was driven by Etyo, with Buxton accompanying them on the front bench. Reese and Enna rode in the body of the carriage with the roof down, and Cora lounged on the rear bench. As they pulled into the peace of the estate, the city life faded around them. It’s a haven with a very long driveway, and walkway, as they soon learned.
They were greeted by Eloise Moonwalker, and she led them down a winding front walk, through countless water features and luscious plants. As they walked and talked, Eloise alluded to a tragedy the Presch family suffered a few decades prior, while her body language suggested that she may be unaccostomed to typical servant duties.
Once they reached the door of the mansion, Eloise passed the adventurers to Cormac Wildock, who seemed similarly unaccostomed to his servant duties. Cormac led the Force of Nature through rich- people parephanalia covered walls to a sitting room. As they walked, Cormac revealed that Mr. Presch would not be meeting with them, just his wife. Once they reached the room, he offered to get refreshments.
“Do you have soda water?” Cora Sol asked. “It’s like if you blew bubbles into water and it’s tingly when you drink it? Maybe it’s a monastery thing.”
Buxton confirmed the existence of soda water, saying it comes from glaciers, Cormac asked if they mean sparkling water, which is water filled with glitter and gems that rich people drink, Cora confirmed no, it’s soda water, which is tingly.
Cormac then left to fetch the refreshments (and food that Buxton requested). Reese took the opportunity to investigate the paintings on the wall. She paid most attention to a portrait of an old elvish man, whose name she was fairly confident was Nakir. Many of the other portraits featured a trio of elves: Nakir, (presumably) his wife, and a child. Most of the portraits in this configuration seemed to be a decade apart, but the most recent ones both featured a different boy and were commissioned less frequently.
While Reese was being competent, Etyo made their own tea, which Cora joined him in drinking. Buxton and Enna competed in arm wrestling.
Of course, right as Buxton won, Suriel Presch, Force of Nature’s potential employer, entered the room (followed closely by Cormac). Enna tried, unsuccessfully, to play this off as a preparatory tradition for the adventure. The party was served glittery water.
Suriel briefed the team on the job, highlighting that the previous investigators were led to the ghost town of Leeside. She displayed discomfort when talking about the prior investigators and about Leeside – specifically implying displeasure that Azriel was connected in any way to Leeside and being generally sketchy about the investigators. Specific quotes from her during this brief and q&a are, “There’s nothing there in Leeside,” and “Azriel could not have left the estate of his own free will.”
Between the conversation with Suriel and the following conversation with Cormac, more was revealed about the Presch family dynamic. Suriel didn’t know much about Azriel’s early education and claimed he primarily spends his time studying politics and subjects that benefit an heir. Cormac said that there “was” five Presch children. It’s also revealed that Cormac and Eloise filled the typical Presch staff role of tutor, protector, and servant in rote (the most recent bodyguard of Azriel being Eloise).
After officially hiring Force of Nature, Suriel left the party with Cormac to be brought to Azriel’s room. As they traveled through the excess of halls, Cormac used an arcane pinpad at intervals to grant access to the next section of the mansion. Through Enna’s air sight, Reese’s heat sense, and teamwork, the team learned the pins to be as follows:

• Pin 1: used in the general mansion: 7-777-33-7777-222-44 (Presch)
• Pin 2: used closer to the children’s bedrooms: 222-6-9-666 (CMWO)
• Pin 3: used for Azriel’s door: 33-555-6-9-88 (ELMWU)

As they walked into the bedroom wing, Etyo stole a small hand mirror, since it was the most stealable shiny thing they saw.
Once Cormac let Force of Nature into Azriel’s room, Eloise arrived to pull Cormac away due to a request from Suriel, leaving the team alone to investigate.
Azriel’s bedroom was large and decorated with a white, navy, and silver color scheme. There was a big bed, a wardrobe, a desk, some bookshelves, and dying plants near the window. This room doesn’t feel lived in, more like a rich person showroom.
Once alone, the team learned: 1) the door didn’t lock them in automatically, 2) the windows were made of clean glass and didn’t open, 3) the desk was occupied by dry political texts, and 4) there were scratches on the floor near a bookshelf. It was Cora who spotted this last clue, and he enlisted Enna’s help to try and pull the bookshelf away from the wall. Enna quietly suggested they ask Buxton for help since he’s a bit stronger than her, but they were interrupted before doing so.
Kalmiya Presch (though the party never learned her name, it will be used for ease) entered the room, asking who the adventurers were and why they were in her brother’s room. After hearing they were looking into his disappearance, she left, only to return a few minutes later with a piece of paper. She walked up to Bux and asked, “What do you do?” She was not impressed by his answer, so moved on to Etyo with the same question. Once they revealed that they steal on occasion, she began to tell him her tale.
She was holding a piece on paper that seemed to house some math equations and writing in two sets of handwriting, though both seemed to be from children. Kalmiya said that she stole this paper from her brothers Kryast and Azriel because they were always so close, and she wanted to be friends with them too. But they wrote notes in their own secret language and had a secret hideout that she could never find. After saying what she had to say, Kalmiya pick-pocketed a dagger from Etyo. They noticed, and the rest of the party noticed as she tried to hide it during her goodbyes, but no one commented on it.
On the paper, there were only two phrases not in the secret language, but in Sylvan which Etyo could read. In one handwriting, “Kryast is my lock & I am his key.” In the other, “Azriel is my lock & I am his key.”
Force of Nature returned to their search by methodically moving every book on the bookshelf with the scuff marks. Cora and Reese took a nap, on the bed and ceiling respectively. Eventually, by moving a book on the fourth shelf, a pinpad was revealed. They typed 55-777-999-2-7777-8 (Kryast) and the bookshelf swung open, revealing a room filled with books, papers, and some weapons, with an identical door on the opposite wall.
The session ends with Enna shaking Cora awake in time for them to get hit by the book Buxton threw to wake him. They all entered the room with Reese following on the ceiling.

Quotes

"We can't have this conversation everywhere we go, we're all buff."

Notes for Next Time

• The servant/guards know more than they’re saying – Eloise might talk.
• Azriel’s trail leads to Leeside.
• Need to buy Etyo a replacement dagger.