3D. Opposition Research

Brynn would like you talk to some people in town and try to figure out Nisalisse's backstory (and whether she has any skeletons in the closet)

Structure

Exposition

Brynn has asked the party to talk to some of the people who used to live in Nisalisse's town and find out what they can.
Brynn doesn't want the party to make it too obvious that they're trying to find dirt so maybe they'll have more time before Nisalisse tries to bury it. She's got a list of people who used to live in Nisa's former town of Sutton and she knows the name of the friend who's giving Nisa a place to stay.

Rising Action

Climax

Things to find out about Nisalisse:

1. Nisalisse owned a tavern in her old town (Sutton) that was called The Third Candle. It was a bar and an inn and very successful.
2. Nisalisse also purchased a failing pie shop in the town. There were rumors that she underpaid the old couple that owned it, but the owners left town shortly after that, so no one could ask them.
3. Nisalisse is a member of the Merchant's Guild because of her (prior) business and is staying at Quinn Orina's house in town
4. She is apparently doing administrative work at the Merchant's Guild and there are rumors she's going to purchase another business in town, but nothing concrete yet. They don't even know what business it might be
5. She employed quite a few people in the town and they didn't have any complaints, really. She had a bad case of "cool boss," but otherwise she was fine.
6. In terms of how much she paid her people, it was pretty average for the town. The wages did go down when she bought the pie shop with the justification that the pie shop wasn't making enough profits.
7. Nisalisse has never been married or even in a romantic relationship as far as anyone knows. She doesn't have a lot of tolerance for flirting.
8. She wasn't born in Sutton. Apparently she was born in an elven-only community and spent her childhood there. For elves, that probably means that she left the community when she was 45. People think she's about 90 years old now; she didn't spend all that time in Sutton, but she spent about 30 years in Sutton.
9. As far as skeletons in her closet, she's pretty squeaky clean. She didn't make a lot of friends, but no one was her enemy.
10. There was a town council in Sutton that she was a member of, but there weren't elections; she was just appointed by a representative from Neverwinter.
11. On the town council, she often advocated for measures that would support or increase business in the town. She was a big proponent of "job creators" and wanted to make sure everyone had a job.
12. She's never expressed any xenophobic beliefs before as far anyone knows. But she was obviously hard hit when the dragons took over the town and she had to flee.
13. She doesn't really have any hobbies; she seemed to just work, eat, and sleep. No one really thinks of her as charismatic. Her biggest strength is being completely bland and appearing basically competent.
14. She decided to run for mayor of Rockport because she sees the struggles of the business people around her and wants to help. She also doesn't want what happened to Sutton to happen to Rockport.
15. She has pretty much all the most influential people in town on her side, especially people in the Merchant's and Craftsmen's guild
16. She's awkward with casual interactions, but seems to be more awkward around poor people. She would try to volunteer at the soup kitchen and I swear I saw her flinch when one of the homeless people accidentally touched her

Falling Action

Unfortunately, the party has found things to make them suspicious, but nothing concrete that could be used to harm Nisa's campaign right now. However, the party might come up with a plan to put Nisa in uncomfortable positions where she might tell on herself.
If Nisa gets wind of them asking questions about her, she will reference this in the next part and be on her guard. She expected this and has already started digging into Brilies' past, too. Brilies has a lot more "skeletons," though a lot of them will only work to harm her in the eyes of people who were already against her.
This will be very frustrating to Nisa later.

Resolution

Latrans talked to Asher Drake (and his lady, Martha) and found out that Nisalisse is not a charismatic person and has never gone through an election despite being on the town council (she was appointed).

Ulo talked to Gluri at the dock and discovered that Nisalisse wasn't a great boss but wasn't terrible. Just had a bad case of "cool boss" and cut wages.

Latrans and Marco talked to Bart and found out that Nisa used to live in an elves-only community before coming to Sutton. She also flinched when she touched a homeless person while volunteering at a soup kitchen.

Zinyra talked to Quinn Orina and found out that he convinced Nisa to run and she is going to make a new standard currency. Zinyra also said that she'd think about helping Quinn with enchanting his jewelry since his craftspeople are all locked up in Neverwinter.

Brynn was very excited about this information and started planning all the volunteer events with the unwashed masses she was going to set up just for Nisalisse.

Marco's Journal Entry

Parent Plot

3. Everybody Wants Something