Present Party: Keviks, Lupan, Nana, and Wren.
Setting: The city of Lanti, in the kingdom of Midtia.
DM's Note:
The party has, as of this session, finished their two-weeks of downtime.
Much of the first section of this session summary occurs in no particular or necessarily chronological order. It is simply a record of tasks completed during downtime.
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| Alaion Eleneth Half Elf Spy on the party's behalf, against the Erdians (Art by bchart on DeviantArt) |
He did tell them that he was instructed to take a ship from Melvale to Joinam, rather than go up through Kystad. He suspected that was because the Erdians knew his family was gone. They didn't want him to know that they no longer had leverage against him. The party had already arranged for the safety of Alaion's pregnant wife and young daughter; they were in Hugo's care for the time being. This also meant that the Erdians had yet to suspect that Alaion had betrayed them, which was good.
Alaion told the party he'd update them if anything changed.
~~~~~
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| Axel Silver Dragon Demigod |
Before he left, he wanted to formally speak to Lupan. When Axel's soul had been trapped in his staff, he'd found it difficult to communicate, because he could only speak through visual illusions. Now though, they could speak much easier. Axel was born in and grew up in Alfheim - the Feywild - and Lupan's tribe had a strong connection to the plane. And now, it seemed Lupan was also on a redemption quest, granted to him by archfey. He wanted to speak with Axel more about Alfheim, to learn and also... to feel closer to the home he'd fled.
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| Dragon Lancer Axel Changeling Form Way of Mercy Monk |
Lupan learned that the reason why Axel had left Alfheim in favor of the material plane was because as a child, he'd accidentally stumbled across a tricky fey. The creature had tricked Axel into forgetting everyone he'd ever loved, and Axel grew up alone. He gave himself that name - "Axel" - because he didn't know how he got the name he was born with. Axel was afraid of Alfheim, afraid of the creatures in it. So, when he could, he left.
"When I joined the monastery in Bervuo, I remember everyone used to ask me about Alfheim - 'my home,' they'd call it. And that upset me, and I couldn't figure out why. Until I talked to my teacher about it, and he gave me a saying he said was popular on this plane: 'Home is where the heart is.'" Axel shrugged. "My heart was not in Alfheim. It never would be. It was... in that monastery, and it was... with my adventuring party. That was home to me."
He also warned Lupan of the other archfey, specifically the Winter Queen, at Lupan's request. In his childhood, he'd heard frightening stories, and being a summer eladrin... he wasn't sure their meeting would go well.
Axel confessed, "You're not the first person to take on these trials. They've done this before, and all of Alfheim knows about it. They're slightly different for each person, and they have their reasons for happening... but it is rare that someone completes all of the trials. The Winter Queen is Summer Queen's opposite. Where Summer is all emotion and fighting, Winter is... logical. She's bitter, mostly indifferent, cold, and... honestly very sad. It is her trials that people often don't pass... because they're not so straightforward. They're puzzles, and failure to complete or solve them can be detrimental. The Summer Queen plays strength games. The Winter Queen plays mind games."
The information worried Lupan, but at least now he knew a little about what to expect.
~~~~~
Keviks asked Wren if she would be able to set up a meeting between him and Orion. He also asked if Lupan would come along, just in case. There was something he wanted to talk to him about.
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| Orion Mulcaster Human, age 25 Wren's Older Brother (Art by Tina Yeh on Art Station) |
Once inside the room, alone with Orion, Wren, and Lupan, Keviks removed the Amulet of Disguise from his neck, revealing his true form.
Keviks's death had been faked in the city of Lanti, for his own protection. The party claimed that Keviks was an Erdian spy, sent to frame the Selection party for the death of Nithea and Vekea Keenstalker, a prominant Erdian general and knight. As such, Orion was very surprised to see Keviks alive... and also, it seemed, quite disturbed in some way.
Keviks wanted to assure Orion. He, too, had been hurt gravely by Erdia. He would stop at nothing to end this invasion, and he wanted Orion to know that.
Orion did not seem to find any comfort in this statement. He did take the opportunity to ask about the order Erdian knights that Vekea - his abusive, Erdian ex-fiancee - was part of. Keviks was able to give him some basic information, but Orion didn't seem necessarily dissatisfied with it.
When they finished the conversation, it didn't seem helpful to Orion, in the way Keviks hoped it would be, which was unfortunate. But at least now Orion had the knowledge that he wasn't alone in experiencing abuse at the hands of Erdia.
The Mulcaster Family also had a meeting, before Wren was due to leave and continue with the Royal Selection. It seemed that Baron and Lady Mulcaster, Wren's parents, had some questions and concerns about their children.
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| Cassandra Mulcaster Human, age 18 Wren's younger sister (Art by NibelArt on DeviantArt) |
"Mother, I've done all I can," she insisted again. "I think I'd actually like to spend some time thinking about myself rather than him. I'd like to... build my confidence."
The baron also questioned why some of Orion's work wasn't getting done. While he acknowledged that Orion had been through a difficult ordeal, he had expected that Orion would still get his work done as he always did.
Orion sighed, and said, "If I may be quite honest, Father, my work is getting done, just not in the timely manner that you might like or expect from me because there are days when getting out of bed seems to be the hardest thing I've ever done. The only reason I'm here today is because I thought this might be important, and I wanted to say goodbye to Wren. Today, my biggest accomplishment is that I ate breakfast. I will climb back into my bed after this because I'm exhausted and really don't feel like putting up with work today." He shrugged, unconcerned. "And you'll have to trust me that I will get the work done... just not today."
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| Sebastian Mulcaster Human, age 18 Wren's younger brother (Art by Charlie Bowater) |
"I told you two weeks in advance," he reminded them flatly. "And at dinner the night before." He sighed. "I personally think it's very funny that you speak to Cassandra, and then Orion, and then, likely, you would have gone to Wren to talk about the Dragon's Day ball, but... me? Nothing, probably. Just here for you to ignore me as always."
The baron did speak to Wren briefly about her going up to speak with Obsidian Pyros, the son of a prominant baron in Siham, who'd taken a male date to the recent ball. He didn't approve.
Wren was unconcerned and spun the whole thing as her making new connections, for the betterment of their family. Her siblings rushed to her aid.
Sebastian added, "The Pyros family has a better reputation than ours does, certainly. So it might benefit us to make friends in higher places as Wren is doing. She's also doing a great job maintaining good relations with the Pomeroy family of Rockland."
Sebastian made sure to exclude the part where Wren and Finch, otherwise known as Finnegan Pomeroy, had gone on a date to his concert.
Orion also chimed in that their stay at the Cromdor Estate had given them better friendships with Mirabelle and Admiral Cromdor. Cassandra claimed to have gotten quite close to the other Selection bachelorettes, which certainly couldn't hurt relations with their families in the future.
Without many other words, the Mulcaster children dismissed themselves. Sebastian did so, being sure to remind his father, "The next time I hear that I'm being talked about as part of some marriage for political gain, you're going to find that as much of a terror as Wren can be for you, I'll be a hundred times worse."
~~~~~
Nana spent nearly all of her downtime by herself, with the exception of a short visit from Lupan. Last session, she'd accomplished quite a lot, including the subjugation of Cornelius - a greater fire elemental who'd previously lived trapped in a jar around her neck.
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| Cornelius Greater Fire Elemental Disguised as a fire genasi (Art by @nelmdraws on Twitter) |
Nana wanted to look into a rumor that had recently come up in the city, regarding four missing adventurers. She spoke with Lindsey Woods, the secretary at the Hero's Way Guild, and discovered that these adventurers were local heroes and fairly well-known. They'd taken what should have been a very easy job: looking into a new drug that had been brought into the Lanti slums that was killing many local addicts. This drug is called "Dragon's Sugar." The guild wanted to know where it was coming from, so the city could make proper arrests. One of the missing people, Jason Kelleran, had a younger brother in town, Alistair. Alistair was offering a reward to anyone who could return the adventurers, his brother and friends, back safely. Or, if they could at least find him something he could bury. He heard that they'd begun their investigation at The House of Small Death.
She asked Quest, their Copper Dragon Demigod, to case the area around it, to find anywhere else shady and note if there were many drug deals going on. He reported seeing a few people who were likely addicted to something or other. He also noted a bar that was still there from two hundred years ago, when he was alive.
"It's called Olde Ale Bar, and back in my day, they had three drinks. They still have the same three drinks."
They were definitely some kind of fence for something else.
Nana decided to cast Divination, and she did so with the intent to speak to Loki, the god of trickery and chaos. She asked who was responsible for the drug that was killing people in Lanti, wondering if it might be Captain Leo Bluffs - a notorious pirate and drug dealer in the city.
Her answer came in the form of a poem:
The missings' woes lie in city's seas
Chasing dragons, eating sugar
Pirate King, deaf to addicts' pleas
Pirate King in a picture frame
A Storm on the horizon
In the underbellies is to blame
The Storm is not the end
Remember fiendish things, now dead
Hear The Prince's Song, descend
Beneath the waves, cats don't drown
As long as kisses can be found
The storm out west rages strong
The Tyrant pushes the ship along
Armed with this information and a riddle to decipher, she sent Cornelius to the Olde Ale Bar first, to see if he could acquire Dragon's Sugar. She sent her raven familiar Mond along too, just to keep an eye on him. The bar knew what Cornelius wanted but only knew the name of the fellow who dealt it: Warryn. They, themselves, didn't deal with Dragon's Sugar because of how dangerous and addictive it can be. The owner told Cornelius that Asmodel, at The House of Small Death, could hook him up with Warryn.
Nana instructed Cornelius to head back, but he noticed he was being trailed by someone out of the bar. He saw Lupan in town that day, as Lupan was looking for the item described to him by The Summer Queen. Cornelius pulled Lupan into the problem, specifically hoping that a second person might scare away his pursuer. It didn't and the two of them ended up having to hide from her. She was human, with long dark hair, dressed much like a pirate: white shirt, black pants, corset, etc. She left when she couldn't find them.
The whole party was introduced to Cornelius and his new form after that, and collectively decided to look into this drug, if it was so dangerous. Wren knew of The House of Small Death; it was Lanti's largest and most popular brothel. She also knew the name "Asmodel." He was a high-end escort who worked there, typically seen at noble balls with ladies from out of town. Recently, however, he was seen on the arm of Obsidian Pyros.
The prince opted to stay behind, for the sake of his own reputation. They also wondered if maybe this was connected with the human traffickers that their adventuring friends Finch, Kressa, Arcta, and Boomer were looking for. They asked the four of them if they'd like to come along, and they were interested in pursuing a lead.
The party broke into pairs: Keviks and Nana, Boomer and Arcta, and Finch and Kressa. Those three pairs would keep watch for danger, so the last pair could get the information without being noticed as part of a large adventuring gruop. Lupan and Wren were the pair who went undercover as new prostitutes at this bordello, and found Asmodel. After some convincing, they managed to speak with him about Dragon's Sugar. He offered to set them up a deal tomorrow morning. He said to meet him outside of this building after sunrise.
Wren left the establishment to report that she and Lupan were likely going to stay the night in a room they'd gotten together, just to keep up appearances, and that they had gotten Asmodel to agree to bring them to Warryn. She went to Finch and Kressa, who were nearby, but they were not there. Upon some investigation, Wren found only one thing.
Finch's glasses were left on the ground, shattered and twisted.
~~~~~
ART LINKS
https://www.deviantart.com/bchart/art/C-Gander-Ravenholm-Half-elf-Ranger-634164424
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/4blGw4
https://www.deviantart.com/nibelart/art/Olivia-FFXIV-Com-792159212
https://www.instagram.com/charliebowater/
https://twitter.com/nelmdraws/status/1383549226529955841
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