Session 2 - The Skeleton Assassin

Morning Shenanigans

As the session begins, Azriel Presch is journaling for the remainder of the time that he’s resting and Eman (SKLE, see: Shalis Kerny Laurence Emanuel) is thinking over the consequences of their actions from the end of the last session.
As Kharli (see: Jhertalli) awakens, she realizes that the person who she met the day before, Azriel, was actually Azriel Presch, a member of the The Presch Family from Glimmerbrook. She recalls that the Presch family is rich from their underwater cave mining in Glimmerbrook and that there’s an heir to the Presch fortune that is missing, presumably Azriel. She also realizes as she awakens that she doesn’t feel well, having a nauseous feeling in her stomach.
Kharli attributes the night’s prior break-in by way of Eman and is set on a mission to have Eman arrested for the attempted assassination. She is the first up and out of her room this morning, going to tell Harlowe to get the guards. Harlowe attempts to find the guards, but cannot leave her station to go out and search for them. It’s the changing of the guards currently, this early in the morning, and despite her worry, it’s likely she wouldn’t be able to find them. Kharli remains at the top of the stairs with her crossbow, awaiting Eman.
A crowd of people begins to emerge from their rooms downstairs, stirring for early breakfast, and Eman slips into the crowd among them. As they head up the stairs, Kharli tells them to duck because there’s an assassin among them. Eman ducks with the crowd, but notably a very large very obvious straw-and-dunce-cap wizard hat pokes above the crowd. Kharli casts mage hand and ties Eman up, claiming once again that Eman tried to kill her and that he’s an assassin. Azriel and Cadence Loch are watching this happen from the hallway downstairs, and as Kharli is tying up Eman, Harlowe is ushering everyone upstairs. Kharli offers a quick explanation of what she thinks has occurred (and what definitely occurred last night) to Azriel and Cadence as well, and then the group sets off to go find the guards to deal with the accused. It’s worth noting that as they leave, Azriel has a conversation with Harlowe where he apologizes and Harlowe tells him that they will not be allowed back into the Swirly Snail. Uuowouu is offering a look of the same variety from behind the bar.
As they leave the tavern in search of guards, Eman who’s walking in front while tied up bumps into an air genasi person outside of the tavern that looks to be unsure of whether to come in or not. This person surveys the situation, hesitantly asks and receives information about the situation occurring, and turns to leave. They’re quick to leave, heading up the northern road. Eman, not realizing that they’re not leading the group to the guards, follows the genasi. The genasi is eventually stopped by the group again and asked what their name is and why they seem so uncertain of being in Fletcher.
They introduce themself as Sigh, and they’re from a neighboring town. They reveal that they were there the day the dead man passed and they had to pass through Fletcher because there’s no other way around the town. They reveal that the man had cuts on his body and had two arrows sticking out of his shoulder. They also reveal that the man was claiming that something had happened in the forest by the butcher shop in Fletcher. Sigh doesn’t want to stay in town for long, says they had just been considering getting some food at the tavern. They’re convinced to go back to the tavern and eat, and they do so.
The group, not seeing any guards, sets up shop in the center of town waiting to see or find one. As they do so, they’re gathering quite a crowd and, eventually, a guard does appear, being led to the scene. It’s Geo Rowan, the earth genasi woman who was on guard the night prior and looks both tired and very, very irritable. She appears even more irritable when she catches sight of Eman and Kharli in the center of town, recognizing them as the man (Eman) who was loud and with the people questioning about the dead man and the girl who was sitting at the table with the three of them. Azriel and Cadence peel off from the group and go to browse the stalls when they see Geo heading that way.
They all three have an exchange where Kharli accuses Eman of being an assassin, Geo doesn’t believe that to be true (and clearly not being trained to deal with something like this), and Eman’s belongings are emptied out to prove there’s no poison on them. Geo wants this all over with and generally dismisses the whole situation as a misunderstanding, with Eman being banned from entering the Swirly Snail ever again (although they’ve already been banned by Uuowouu and Harlowe).
There are also a couple of visual indications that she expects them to die in The Redwillow Forest when they indicate they’re investigating the situation, and both of them reveal that they’ve been in it before. It’s worth noting that further south, it’s more common for people to enter the fringes of the forest, but it’s less common the further north you go because of superstitions. Only adventuring parties have ever entered the forest near Fletcher and to her knowledge, none have ever returned.

The Butcher Shop

Once the situation is “resolved,” they decide they might as well head to the butcher since that’s where all the leads seem to be pointing. As Azriel and Cadence heard the declaration Kharli made about Eman being a skeleton, they reroll their perception on figuring this out. Neither of them realizes it as they’re reunited.
After that, as they’re about to enter The Butcher Shop, Eman powers ahead as is usually and is stopped by Cadence, who grabs ahold of his shirt. Two things happen at this moment: one, Cadence’s hand scrapes against the ribcage through the shirt and she realizes he’s a skeleton; and two, Azriel realizes at the moment that he’s a skeleton when Eman’s shirt rips as it’s caught on the sharp edges of his front ribs. Cadence assures him that it’s not an issue that he’s a skeleton, but that he needs to stop acting like such a fool.
At that moment, as Eman is buttoning up his priest coast, they’re interrupted by the butcher who’s heard some commotion outside of his shop. He introduces himself as Phus Rodah and invites them inside. When inside, they have a conversation about the dead man and it’s clear Phus is hiding something. Eman tries to get him to tell him more, and Phus is unnerved by the close proximity and the line of questioning that he reveals all of his secrets.
Phus reveals that there’s someone (likely in the forest) with whom he trades coin for meat. He doesn’t know who they are as they only interact in letters and leave their respective trades on the back porch. The meat is cheaper that way and more plentiful than if he simply slaughtered livestock. He’s been doing the trade for a while now, upwards of 2 years. He points them towards the backyard where they go to investigate.
Upon investigation, they find the back patio to be small, a path out to the Redwillow Forest that seems to have been walked recently (an implication that they’ve made their exchange recently), and Eman charges forward down the path without hesitation. Cadence follows hesitantly after about 30-40 feet behind Eman, and although even more hesitant than Cadence, Azriel and Kharli follow behind as they enter the Redwillow Forest (see: Redwillow Forest Path.
See Whispers of Redwillow NPCs for any NPCs introduced.
See Session 3 - Mysteries of the Forest for the next session notes.