Recap Time! I
What have you been up to
It was just a regular evening, as far as anyone knew. Unbeknownst to them, two creatures lurked in the shadows ready to slip poison into Alfred’s wine. The assassins were able to do all that without being noticed by the many wards and protections around the castle.
The castle had been bustling with people for many days already. Gossamer was getting near and all the servants needed to have everything ready for one of the most important festivals of the year. No one even had the time to see anything weird!
Because the castle is mostly protected by magical means, the need for guards wasn’t high. There were only a few servants and guards up in the middle of the night when the servant polymorphed into a draken attacked Alfred’s tower abducting him, and to his own dismay destroyed some of his important manuscripts. The realization that the draken was just a human servant polymorphed was a great relief for everyone. The last thing anyone needs right now is the return of the monsters who once enslaved the whole humanity.
Thankfully with your help, Alfred was saved and could return to his very important research about very important, obscure things that no one excluding him really cares about. As thank you, the young Queen, Alana Vargas, gifted you with a sizeable sum of gold and a promise for more if you find out who was behind this atrocious attack. Later you overheard that something else happened that night as well. It seems that Alfred wasn’t the only thing missing for a while. Something big has been stolen from the Vault but you have no idea what.
With the help of Gustav Sharpe’s case journal, you were able to go interrogate the servants up that night. They weren’t as useful as you had hoped for them to be. Were you just bad at reading people or was no one seriously doing nothing odd that night?
There were five guards up that night. You were able to interview three of them right at the beginning: Abraham Tofte, Michael, and Rafael. None of them seemed to be useful.
Abraham was drunkenly lamenting the end of his relationship. He had drunken so much that he couldn’t even see straight anymore. Maybe there was weird magic happening on the front courtyard or maybe he was just seeing things. He couldn’t really say.
You gave him nice advice and moved on. He wasn’t really helpful.
Next, you interviewed Michael and Rafael, two skirt-chasers who were neck-deep in trouble with their supervisor Johann Loch, the Chief of Training in a dire need of a beach holiday with a cocktail. Michael and Rafael were more than willing to tell you all about their night if it just meant getting away from running laps for a few seconds.
Unfortunately, they had almost nothing useful to say. Unless it is about booze and women, they couldn’t really say. It is a regular occurrence with them to disappear at night to go gallivanting around the Side. You found out that they were raised by Dilly, or Maman as they call her.
Xander Fletcher, the guard in charge of the Vault that night had gotten so badly injured that night that he was still unconscious as you went to find him from the Royal Healer, Rowan's office. After unsuccessfully trying to wake him up, Rowan promised to send you a message when he woke up.
Finding Johanna Flitting took you a bit more time. She had vacation time for a few weeks to enjoy her wife's company. You finally found her home at a clothing shoppe where her wife works as a promising apprentice. She didn't have much useful information but attest to Judith and Bellinor's alibis. She was making sure that they wouldn't get caught.
You didn’t have much luck with the guards but maybe the ladies and servants knew more. It seemed that your interviews couldn’t have come at a worse time. Everyone was busy preparing for Gossamer. As the saying goes: the show must go on. No matter that someone just tried to kill the queen’s younger brother. At least Alfred won’t have too high opinions about himself.
Most of the servants were deeply asleep but a couple of them were still oddly awake. No one up at that hour could really be up for anything good.
You found out that Hildegarde Manne, a bitter servant was actually stealing jewelry from the ladies that night. Under pressure, she told you about the Iron Glove, the secretive thieves’ guild that operates in Syrilis. She knew only to tell you about the bar where she does most of her illicit transactions: The One-Eyed Lizard, run by a one-eyed lizard named Saul Yoxl.
Dora Hurst, the angry housekeeper, didn’t have anything more than rumors to tell you after you got her to speak. She is quite the gossip. She told you about Marissa Juvellac’s major crush on prince Alfred, and about the secret relationship between a knight and a lady. Scandalous!
With a lot of gold and a promise of helping the scandalous lovebirds out of the country, you found out that they were Bellinor Arroway, an honorable but a bit simple knight from Valaria, and Hillevi who would rather be called Judith Harmaja, the cursed youngster from an elusive family.
You had time to ask Marissa and her lady’s maid Lottie about the rumor regarding her but got some mixed signals. There is seriously something odd about that crush. No matter, you also found that Marissa loves plants more than anything and could have technically grown all the ingredients needed in the poison. While interviewing them, you had afternoon tea with Mortimer Juvellac, Marissa’s older brother, and the fiancé to the queen.
When the castle didn’t seem to help your case, you turned your attention to the Iron Glove and started searching for a way in. From Saul, you found out that you need a special coin to get in. How the coin helps you, he wasn’t sure, but you definitely needed to get one. Thankfully, you had gotten closer acquainted with Maman, the keeper of Mermaid’s Gift and an adoptive mother to many.
You made a deal with Maman. In exchange for the coin, you needed to do something for her. She didn’t specify but owe her one. You can just hope that the coin is worth it in the end. Now with a coin in the hand, you are ready to go to the Iron Glove but before that Alfred had the great idea to go let out some steam. The night is yours.
During your night of shenanigans, you drank a lot of alcohol, sang perfectly karaoke and were amazed by the skills of your party members, took a part in a weekly pub trivia that you could have done better in if the smartest members hadn't been so inebriated, blessed chickens, and skinny-dipped in river Lance. All in all, it seemed like a quite nice evening that ended horribly.
On your way back to the castle, you were suddenly shot at! Serana was shot right to the rib and Eine got a one new poison arrow. The assassin escaped from you, for the time being, as you were attacked by a Bodak, a haunted soul of something long dead.
The fight with the Bodak was a tough one as your cleric dropped on the first round leaving the rest of you panicked. Through some clever use of magic, you were able to best the terrible creature and escape the haunted forest with your lives but none the wiser. Matters not, there's always tomorrow!
In the morning, after some lesser restoration tinctures and cure-alls, you were ready to face the day and found out where the Iron Glove actually resides. Saeyra had the location clear in her mind as she pressed the Iron Coin tight in her palm.
You traveled through the Side to the Red Light District to a high-end brothel named Ladies' Grace where a sweet young woman named Esmeralda showed how to get to the teleportation door. Through the door, you went and a beautiful estate awaited you.
You were greeted by a butler who showed you to a room filled with curiosities and books of all kinds to wait for Cassandra von Kassiopeya the owner of the estate.
While you were waiting for Cassandra to have time for you, you talked with a group of redheaded half-elves and their leader, Fiona Gardener, who offered you a job if you were ever interested in gold and adventure of an illegal type. Possibly having something to do with a bit of smuggling.
Cassandra directed you to Glark Rotten, who knows more about the person who commissioned this poison from him. It turned out to be Vera Dunlop, Eine's friend and a kitchen maid at the Castle. Glark promised to teach you the mysteries of his poisons if you only became his apprentices.
As you were exiting the Iron Glove, Rowan sent you a message that Xander had finally woken up after an unnamed monk had skillfully healed him from whatever had bothered him.
During the talks that you had with Cassandra, Theodore, and Alfred, you are aware that there is something happening in the north but you aren't quite sure what. The relationship between other countries and Wildermoore is strained and the assassins paid in Kahalanian gold.
You confronted Vera Dunlop about her assassination attempt and dragged her to the queen, who commanded you to find the other assassin/kidnapper/thief who, according to Vera under the Zone of Truth, was in charge of stealing Lance Varga's Blessed Sword from the Vault.
Vera gave you an amulet of her cult that worships The One with the Key before committing suicide believing that her god would bring her to Evermoore.
You decided to take the rest of the day off and go out with Alfred and your new friend Zashana, who joined the group today, eager to help you track down the evil cultist and perhaps find out more about the poisons used by the cult.
Your night out was joyful, as usual. Otso suggested playing football after dinner and the whole lot of you decided to go kick a ball in the garden of the castle before heading in for the night.
During the day you also noticed how quiet the Harmaja's luxurious quarters were. Most of the time Judith stayed inside the quarter but she wasn't seen all day. You also looted Vera's body, finding Poison Dagger and the Boots of Speed.
Vera told you about the One With the Key, a deity who the Cult of the Key follows. After showing you her symbol and telling you that three years ago the deity came to her dreams, she committed suicide with poison. You were able to acquire one pill of this green poison that worked almost unnaturally fast. You gave the poison to Rowan for examination.
Vera told you about a man she was working with and next you tried to find the magic-user who had cast polymorph on the servant and stolen the Sword of Lance, a blessed weapon that had been used during the Restless Years.
Your search for the man ended in a battle in the middle of the city. You accidentally killed the mage and exposed yourselves as unregistered magic users causing your banishment from Syrilis.
Before you continued your journey elsewhere, Alfred came to meet with you for the last time and gave a couple of gifts. You were given 2 sending stones, a bag of holding, and 2 pairs of darkvision goggles.
Equipment acquired during the adventure
- pair of Boots of Speed
- Poison Dagger
- 2 Sending Stones
- 2 pairs of Darkvision Goggles
- Bag of Holding
- Where is the Sword of Lance
- What exactly is the Cult of the Key
- What does the paper you found on the mage mean
- you owe Dilly a favor
- Lempo has commanded Otso to kill knight Bellinor on sight and deliver Hillevi back home
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