Present Party: Keviks, Lupan, Nana, and Wren
Setting: The capital city of Kystad, Midtia and the mountains to the northwest.
The party rested for the night in their new rooms at the royal palace. The next day, they took some time for themselves.
Keviks went hunting with Kindred, his wolf, and managed to get a few extra rations for their travels.
Wren performed at the Old Fashioned Teacup Bar - the local adventurers' tavern - for some extra coin.
Lupan decided to look for some extra work for while they were still in the city. He investigated the Horizon Walker Rangers' Guild, which typically had quests available to other adventurers. However, they were a bit strapped for quests for their own members at the moment. Instead, they sent him to the Hero's Way Adventuring Guild, where he met with the tired and overworked receptionist. The Rangers with the Horizon Walkers had informed Lupan of a quest from that guild that had been attempted by several adventurers, but that appeared to have no merit to it. It was rumored to be a "false possession." The receptionist granted Lupan the quest with the information that caused so many people to doubt the validity of the possession. It was claimed that a local actor was possessed by the spirit of a Dragon Lancer.
Lupan decided to do some extra research and really read the book he found in his room about the Dragon Lancers. During this session, he managed to get through all of the information on Variel Calshadir, the sun elf. They were an Oath of the Crown Paladin and leader of the Dragon Lancers. He also learned a bit about Axel, the changeling Way of Mercy Monk - the verifiable heart of the group.
Nana made sure that she got permission from the king and crown prince to pursue the mission Eli gave her and her party last session. However, she lied about the nature of the mission on Eli's request. Upon receiving that approval, she waited until the rest of the party was available and they started into the mountains to speak to them about the quest she received. It was a delicate matter, and she wanted no one else to overhear.
Eli had asked her to meet up with two informants that he believed were in danger. They were meant to return a few days ago and hadn't yet. The information they were carrying was about a potential threat to the crown, though Eli and Ego both didn't know anything about how credible the threat actually was. They didn't want to startle anyone, not over nothing, so they asked Nana not to tell the royal family. The credibility of the threat was the information these informants were meant to bring. Nana was shown a sketch of each of these informants, who were both adventurers and members of the Riot Guard. The informants were referred to as "Alaion" and "Akig" and they were a half-elven man and a dwarven woman. They were also specifically instructed not to ask them questions about the assignment.
The party managed to find these two informants a few hours into the mountains, sheltering in a hidden Riot Guard safehouse. (Both are pictured here, made using Heroforge.) Alaion introduced both of them, stating that Akig could not speak. They started to walk, and his claim appeared to be true since he and Akig spoke to each other using a kind of sign language.
On the way, Keviks noted something strange about Alaion. He bore a crest of the Erdian Army at his hip. Still, the party kept going until they reached the palace. Once there, they asked the two adventurers to remove their gear and be searched. They obliged (although Alaion was rather unwilling.) Nothing of suspicion was found, although Nana also noticed Alaion's crest. For the moment, she said nothing. They left the informants to meet with Eli.
Wren, Lupan, and Kevicks decided to take some time for themselves at a tavern. Wren and Lupan, both musically skilled with their lutes, decided to play together for a few hours. Keviks watched, and then all three of them had dinner, toasting to what seemed like it would be a very interesting job. The characters, despite Keviks's occasionally brusque attitude, actually came to get to know each other quite a bit.
Nana, however, couldn't shake the awful feeling that something might go wrong. She didn't trust Alaion especially. She sent her raven familiar, Mond, to see if he could spy on their meeting with Eli, but no luck. Instead, she went to Spymaster Ego. He offered to lend her a hand. Nana used Mond to search the town for the rest of her party in case something was to go wrong, but the raven was shot down in the night.
She went back to Ego who exclaimed, "Shooting down a raven at night? Well... that would indicated someone who's quite good with a bow."
She asked where Eli and the informants went. Ego didn't know of Eli's whereabouts after the meeting finished, but he did see Alaion and Akig leaving the castle to go home. The only issue with that was that the raven was shot down at the opposite end of town. Nana then asked about the results of the meeting.
Ego informed her, "There is not currently a credible threat against the royal family."
Before she left, Nana used the spell Detect Thoughts, asking Ego to trust her. According to the spell, he believed what he was saying was true. He did as she asked and was present at the meeting to listen. When she tried to probe deeper, hoping that he would willingly fail the save, he didn't. In fact, he succeeded.
"Nana, dear girl," he said gently, "I hope you realize that some of those deeper thoughts are... quite a bit above your pay grade. They're not something I can just give you."
She apologized, and went to finish her nightly duties as paranoia slowly settled in. The other three party members returned later that night, ready to see what the next day had to bring.
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