Session 7 – Poisoned Vintage
Campaign I, session 7. Previous: Session 6. Next: Session 8.
Fort Talon
Pash bathed and gathered gossip about:
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Day of Mourning for Exalted Disciple of Talavosh
- Apparently slain by a chimera guarding a stash of dragonshards
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2 adventuring parties, one of which was looking for recruits after having lost several members
Casino had his masterwork spear repaired and rested a bit for the dog (Deuce) to recover.
Singil and Abiyir went to report about the manifest zone and fearful despoiling to the temple of the Binding Flame. The head priestess was a Shulassakar Transcendent, tall (6’6”) with multicolored scales, shimmering silver wings, and violet eyes. They agreed that on their next trip north they would escort one of her acolytes to create a shrine to the silver flame on the site of the old tomb, which should help seal away Mabar’s power. After leaving her presence, the duo found fog lifting from their brains, and realized that she had used some kind of charming presence on them.
Once the dog had recovered, the party moved on to Vedycaer. A few miles out from the city, they spotted a flock of what looked like sizable roosters with lizard-tails. Recognizing these as dangerous magical hybrids, the party swiftly took cover and allowed the monsters to fly past.
Vedycaer
In Vedycaer, the party met up with Pash’s mentor, Damonos, proprietor of the House of Curiosities. He was able to confirm the provenance of their magical sword and offered to help them find a collector willing to pay extra (though it would take a few days). Damonos also recognized the trade markings on the sealed jar they found in the Caernathi tomb as belonging to a long-defunct tea company. After some discussion, the party broke the seal to brew up what tea had not long-since withered to dust – and discovered that there was also an ancient map scrawled on a piece of Vellum.
With Casino’s mapping knowledge and Ardingle’s knowledge of Astrology, they were able to conclude that the geography on this map must pre-date the Year of Trembling, and describes the constellation and moon phases that once dictated the appearance of the Wandering Inn, a fabled travelling circus, fair, and trading post that once migrated around the Talenta Plains. Such a thing hasn’t been seen in some time, but if their calculations are correct they can visit the place where it *should* be about six months from now.
Damonos also pulled Pash aside and mentioned that her brother, Vason, had apparently shuttered their family’s local Vinery and instead was selling their best vintages down by the river late at night, supposedly to avoid tax collectors.
The party spends most of the next day selling all the loot they had been unable to liquidate in smaller markets, before Pash asks the entire party to accompany her to confront Vason. Vason splutters, exchanges insults with Pash, and finally runs off down an alley and disappears. Alwyn, the only party member quick enough to potentially chase after Vason, decides instead to secure the cart of expensive wines Vason left behind. Pash shrugs, and they start pushing the cart back towards the Vinery.
During the trek back, a drunken vagrant lurches towards the party shouting “You killed my friends! You bastard! Kill me too!” The vagrant just as soon faceplants into the street, shattering his bottle. Singil fails a healing check to notice anything out of the ordinary and decides he’s just had too much to drink. The party props him back up on the wall and leaves him with a wine bottle from the cart.
It is growing quite late as they return to the Vinery, but Pash wants to check it out before finding a bed. Her parents never entrusted her with a key, so Alwyn picks the lock. Inside, layers of dust have been building up. There are a few old footprints in the back, where deliveries have been piling up. Behind the front desk, there is a well-kept ledger that shows no evidence of any odd debts, withdrawals, etc. The final total exactly matches the remaining coin in the petty-cash drawer – and it’s not much.
Pash and Alwyn are able to search the area to find a hidden compartment with an older ledger, written with a shakier hand. The two ledgers appear to be irreconcilable; the older one is riddled with mistakes, unlabeled deductions or losses, etc. The party breaks to seek accommodation for the night.
The next day, Pash re-opens the shop, under the assumption that whomever Vason was hiding from would soon find her and her friends. With Travain’s strong jaw charming the locals, by mid-day business is booming. In the mid-afternoon, Pash gets her wish. A squad of guards march up to the vinery and ask for the proprietor. When Pash steps forward, they place her under arrest for selling poisoned wines. As evidence, they present the bottle Singil had left with the drunk, and state that he had died of poisoning. Pash accepts the charges and asks to send a message to Damonos, which the guards allow. Half the guards remain behind to take notes on the crime scene and prevent the party from leaving.
Eventually, Damonos shows up and vouches for the remainder of the party – “these guys won’t skip town without their friend; I know where they are staying.” The guards agree, but not before the guard captain returns and claims both ledgers as evidence. The guards lock down the crime scene (with their own locks) as they turn everyone else out.
The party plans to keep a watch on the warehouse overnight. Alwyn scouts out the best ways for them to stake out the joint. Casino and Deuce are patrolling the rear, and Thranator! and Meathead watch from a market stall out front. Around midnight, Casino spots a shadowed figure unlocking the rear door and walking inside. He waits outside, crouched down and ready to trip the figure when they exit.
Casino’s maneuver is a success, and he shouts for Meathead and Thranator! to come help interrogate their prisoner. She plays mute at first, but after some mild threatening bursts into tears. “Vason did it! He made me do it! He has my family! I think he’s hiding them in the sewers somewhere…” The small crew escorts Ashera to the Watch HQ, where her confession to planting evidence has Pash released for now.
The next morning, the gang checks out Ashera’s apartment in the Festival District and finds nobody home. They pry open the nearest sewer grate and make a short exploratory jaunt, finding mostly dead-ends. They do hear some noise from a nearby inn/entertainment establishment, but find no entrance from the sewer-side.
At this point, we decided to break for the night. I rolled to determine whether Damonos found a buyer for the sword (natural 20, he did), so the party was able to earn a bucket of cash and a lot of XP – Alwyn, Travain, and Pash all reached level 2, with Alwyn and Pash hitting the “no double-leveling” rule. Sad trombone. The party will try to figure out their best moves.