Session 004 - 09.06.25

We started the session by rolling a d6 (can’t remember what we all rolled).

Recap

Circus performance. It is evening, late. Probably around 11:30/Midnight. Late show and we hung out a little bit. Grounds of people have dispersed and it’s pretty vacant. A few people still lurking around, guys trying to hit on girls, some drunk circus goers here and there.

Session

We see a gryphon rider slowly fly over top the circus. In our eyesight, ew see sitting on top of a building, this large black bird. Looks like a raven but much bigger; very chunky, double the size. Considered a dire raven. It’s silhouette against the dark, night sky. Piercing beady eye starting at us.

After a few moments it flies away, it flies out in the direction out of the city.

The inn doesn’t have a tavern/bar attached. And we are bad up for a while, considering we have work to do.

We head to the inn to go to bed. Martok plays his ribs. Shamoiah roots in the lantern shitter trying to get nutrients.

We sleep. The morning comes, but it’s sunny with city smog. Kinda chilly. It is getting later in the year, but we know tomorrow is the harvest festival.

Lazlo spent much of his time in our room. The spirit got got by the spirits. Lol.

Martok and Oona-Lynn go to explore the city, looking for things.

Martok gets a cookbook.

Oona-Lynn looks for a staff. There are several choices. I missed the explanation for most of them. She picks up: Staff of the Dream Shepard.

Theo sets out looking for a place to get the collar crafted. He finds a shop, but they are out of town for a week. Female elf: Elrazi. So, he needs to return in a week to talk to her about crafting the device.

Martok has a sign on the front of him, “Can I ask you a question?” as he walks around town. Someone eventually approaches him. He looks like “Tom Hiddleston Loki”, an elf, fancy armor, black hair which is odd. He approaches Martok, Martok asks, “What’s the most evil thing?” They converse. He mentions we don’t look like the average people who walk into town. The man’s name is Devvic.

He asks what we do. Devvic “runs a thing” around town. He says he is the boss. He hasn’t taken his hands out of his pockets, the sleeves go all the way down and we can’t see the skin on his arms. People have been stealing who shouldn’t be stealing. Some of his “ex-employees” have tried to create a coup. Martok asks about fatalities and Devvic mentions “Blood is no” and Martok feels he’s being sincere. He senses our concern and offers us back to his office, to answer any questions we have. He mentions something about a code. Shamoiah feels he has no ill intentions.

We decide to go with him. It takes a half hour or so to get back to his base of operations. Deeper into the city. During the walk, he is about 5’-10’ ahead of us, he just moves a little bit faster, naturally. His hands in his pockets the entire time. Energy about him that is all ego, but we feel like he can back it up. His attitude is cocky but intentional.

We slip throw some allies and buildings and we come this archway that blocks a sewer opening. He puts his hand on the wall and Sasha can see there is a small carving on the wall. He basically pushes a button and pops the gate open to swing open. The large roots and debris on the gate is a facade, it’s used to deter people from approaching. It doesn’t smell bad, more just like standing water. Less sewer more water reservoir.

We make our way down into the Aquaducts.

Shamoiah casts Find Familiar. From behind us we hear pitter patter through the water. There is a little screech. There is a little rat, but if has tiny bat wings. Shamoiah puts out his hand and scoops him up and rides with him.

We walk a little bit longer after pulling out light gems, lanterns, etc. He leads us through a series of corridors but nothing too difficult to navigate, one left, one right, through another archway into an area with very little water coming in. He takes us into this big circular chamber room. Pool of flowing water. There is a thing, spiral staircase that runs through a pit that leads to a stream of water. It is not fast flowing, but there is a current. This staircase is single file, no railing. It leads to a small person sized tunnel that is a long corridor with a door. It seems like a highly traveled path: No detritus or bugs, etc.

Martok can see Devvic’s raven buddy spirit bird. It is the same raven we saw over the city. It has a shimmer about it, as it’s invisible. He opens the door and inside is a torch/candle lit mini-chamber with a very fine gutter of flowing water around the edges of the room. The walls are adorned with maps of the city, maps of the underground tunnel systems, tables and bookcases and a couple beds, footlockers, tables with food and drink. It is a headquarters. As we are panning the room we also see we are not alone. There are 3 other people: One kinda tall and slender female, tabaxi, stereotypical rouge, face mask, daggers, short swords; she is laying on her bed reading a book.

Sitting at the table with food: A big, fucking jacked orc; he is eating his food, gorging. Shirtless, all muscles. He is bald, shiny bald. Green skin. He has a bandanna/doorag, black, covering the top of his head a little bit.

Teenage boy, but he seems to be half-elf. Looks very much like Devvic. He is sitting a smaller desk, writing and looking at a book. Like he is doing homework. Looks about 12-13, but hard to tell as he is half-elf. There is a lot of humanness to the boy.

Theo darts for the food table. He can see sitting, leaned against the table an axe. Long handle, small head.

Orc is Borne. Tabaxi is Reeky. Half-elf is Tomny.

Borne tells us the bandits are murderers. His brother was killed. Devvic hired us. He forged a letter from the governor.

These guys are paid by the locals to keep criminal activity to a minimum. They are the “good thieves guild”. The government is why all the things went missing. Someone paid his people to rob those places. The owner of the library is “no longer with us”, he attempted to defend his stock and paid his life. He was one of the oldest elves in the city.

One of them is a lizard, named Skee. Him and his little underlings, the ones he did his jobs with, were paid by someone in the middle city (Bastion), where the politicians live, to procure some items and whatever they could fit in their pockets from these specific locations by any means necessary.

Reeki walks to the table and sets her book down. We see the book is like a wizards tome. It is thin with arcane sigils. She brought Skee here. They have a hunch who is in charge. A new politician came in about 2 months ago, replacing someone who died of old age. He seems ok, but he comes a family that has a bit of a past. He is an elf. Lord Carish, some of his relatives have been executed for their practices.

One of the items from the library was from the restricted section, unsure what the tome is, but it is bound in chains with a padlock. Books on: strange languages, ciphers, deep speech, abyssal, mythological books on ancient beings. Archeological copies from digs in the Dwarven mountains: relic descriptions and such. Relics that semi-shaped like cakes pieces with blunt edges with alien symbols on them; highly detailed 3D drawings of the items.

Magic Shop: The items had to do with powerful teleportations or ritual ingredients. Some items restore magical power. A couple items that allow you to store more items than a normal bag can hold.

Hospital: Lots of pain killers, blood stock (transfusions), sedatives.

General Shop: Basic building supplies and living supplies, stuff you would use for doomsday prep.

From what they can gather, all of the stuff seems preparing a base of operations.

Tomney is doing wizard homework.

Oona-Lynn goes to shake on the deal and Devvis has fingerless gloves, but his fingertips are black and his hands are ice cold.

Best course of action :Camp outside the city, bait out the bandits. And this group will be nearby to assist if needed.

Show of good faith, Reeky walks up with a sack and sets it on the table, the sound of metallic coins. Oona-Lynn takes the sack full of 1,000GP.

A sound emits from him and Tomney reaches into a draw of the desk and pulls out, something that looks like an ink pen and hands it out to us. Martok takes it. It is a magic pen. The Emerald Pen - You can choose to send a 10 word message to Devvic once a day.

Tomney is like the brother Devvic never had. Devvic’s father wasn’t faithful. Reeky tells us it will start snowing in the next few days. So be prepared.

We roll persuasion to get a canopy and outside rigging to the cart and a tent that will fit all of us. Cooking supplies: spit, pots, tinderbox. Big waterproof tarp for the canopy. The rigging system is foldable and can be taken down. 20GP

Theo 160gp, everyone else 164gp.

Shopping ensues!

We finish up and head out of the city to camp, about an hour out. We find a nice little clearing to set up camp. We move into evening. Evening turns tonight and we sleep. Martok and Sasha keep watch. Martok hears a whole bush being stepped on and bent down. A voice in the darkness laughs and says, “I wondered when I would meet you motherfuckers, you owe me some pants.”

He has: A metal post with a big hunk on the end. He does a high pitched whistle, we all wake up and we see more shadowy figures come out of the darkness.

Theo sleeps holding Shamoiah’s rat/bat familiar. He is will be sad when he wakes up and the rat/bat is gone. :(

We will roll for combat next session.