Coworkers: Session 35 - The Concert

General Summary

Brymroz Flower

Stomping down the creaky wooden floors of the brothel, Gerda is heading back to the group room with Brymroz a step behind. An aurora of perfume gusts into the room as Gerda opens the door. She looks over the remainder of the group, and with a loud sigh, she rolls her eyes. Brymroz closes the door behind them to make sure their conversation stays private. Gerda explains that Brymroz has contracted a disease and will undergo changes on the next full moon.   Abendlied curiously looks at Gerda and comments, ‘I really hope that it isn’t a venereal disease, and don't all you mortals go through changes during the full moon?’ Gerda has a bewildered look on her face and continues to explain that it isn’t a venereal disease and not everyone changes during the full moon. She continues that Brymroz had suffered a bite that would transform him into a creature of the night known as a lycan. Lycanthropy is a type of magical disease, and there are different types of illness. We don’t know the type and must find out so that we can cure him.   ‘So, it is kind of a venereal disease. But, what do you mean not all humanoids change during the full moon? Don’t you all bleed then?’ Abendlied mentions.   Gerda’s face turns to the color of a blooming red rose. ‘Only females bleed around then,’ she remarks. But, Abendlied still has a confused look on her face. Finally, Gerda beckons for Abendlied to follow her to another room, so she explains the menstruation cycle of most humanoids.

Lainmundicia

A light spray of salty sea air travels through the streets of southern Merperro. The musky streets are bustling with commerce and sailors. Three party members casually walk into the shipping district, looking for medical advice. There is a clinic near his apprenticeship, but he wants to keep his sickness on the down-low. Moreover, he doesn’t want it to affect his current training.   Brymroz leads the group to a local pub near the area known as Lainmundicia. A small group of patrons is inside the New Moon*. There is a local celebrity playing a slow funky tune on stage. The bartender is in a zone listening to the curly blonde hair minx on stage. Brymroz walks straight up to the bartender. The clean-cut half-orc with an imperial handlebar mustache casually looks towards the sickly leonine. Salty cold grey eyes pierce through Brymroz. There is a slight exchange of gold, followed by information. The bartender mentioned to Brymroz, ‘there is a symbol of a bell with many eyes in the southeast section of the city. Near the water’s edge.’   The light slowly dims as the church of Lloth has a radius of shadow darkness. They are keeping the area around it lowly lit with a dark lavender hue. Mold and fungus fill the cracks of the ill-repaired stucco buildings. The selune holy symbol violently vibrates, and she grasps it tight to stop the rattling. There are a whole lot of lycans around. They need to be careful moving forward. A litter of humanoid waste runs down the streets and towards the ocean. Various people lay or sit in the waste smoking a strange-smelling herb. They have a daze dumb look on their faces. Street urchins run around the alleyways, giving the area some form of a pleasant life. One of them tried running up to Brymroz with the intent to steal, but Gerda gave the child a stern look. Then, Gerda spots a ghostly figure down the street heading in their direction. But, that figure quickly changes direction. The short dwarven legs speed up towards the ally. She looks down the small corridor to only see the silhouette of that exact figure further down. Frustrated, she looks around. Some strange green lights casting on some walls nearby catch her attention. Unfortunately, it is in the wrong direction.   Waves crash into polluted foam-covered rocks. The banks of the bay have sticky sludge covering the stone walkways. The area smells of salty human waste. The party cringes as they begin searching the southeast banks of the city. Everyone scatters along the slick rocky shores looking for the simple symbol. Finally, Brymroz found the eyes with a bell.   The abandoned weather building has an old sign on the front door. Brymroz raps on the damp door. A moment of silence goes by, and he knocks harder on the rotten door. This time around, the door opens slightly. Unsure, Brymroz opens the door wide and looks around. A build-up of mold and mud falls off the door as it opens. The room is empty, and time hasn’t been kind to the interior of this structure. It smells like something had died in this room, or the body could still be festering. It has splintered and bowing wood concaves from the second floor. The flat surfaces have a build-up of moldy dust and ash. Brymroz is unable to see anything of interest in this building.   Gerda looks around this unpleasant area and tightly holds on to her holy symbol. She spies a pair of reddish eyes in a back alley. She turns away to get the others and grabs a confused Brymroz and a casual Xopali. Gerda now sees a pair of six more eyes staring down at them. Hurriedly, she pushes herself into the doorway and gives the dead room one look around. There is a sliver of a gap in the floor tiles underneath the table. Not wanting to waste more time in this unholy area, she pushes the table aside and reveals a trap door.   A gust of still air blows up Gerda’s nostrils. The silky dust nearly causes her to sneeze aloud. Then, opening her eyes, she looks down the trap door and sees a steep, small step going downwards. Impatiently, she motions for Brymroz to follow. Xopali volunteers to stay in the building to keep watch.   They walk a dark, aired corridor. Gerda is short enough to miss the majority of the cobwebs, but Brymroz is not so lucky. Blooms of dust, stringy webs wrap around him, and various long-legged creeps are dancing on his ragged robe, and he breaths more rapidly. Brymroz begins to panic, strips off the webs and spiders. Finally, Gerda ushers him to push through the corridor to the light at the end. Brymroz, still unnerved by the spiders, knocks on the door at the end of the hallway. The door opens by itself.   A quick rasping noise of flame coupled with the sound of boiling liquids enters their ears. Walking through the open door, they see a series of alchemical beakers and burners. However, the boiling liquid is unidentifiable. Through the glassy lens of chemical glasses, Brymroz and Gerda notice a tall, lanky woman in red. The threadlike hair is oily black and pepper with white stands. The twiggy lady raises her head from her notes and looks through her coke bottle glasses. Then, in a petite elderly voice, ‘Please take a seat by the fireplace.’   An array of glassy eyes stare at Brymroz and Gerda as they take a seat by the fire. Attached to those eyes are the stuffed heads of a variety of creatures. Some of those heads are humanoid. A little bit of fear and anger enters Brymroz’s body. The creepy old lady notices his uncomfortableness as she sits with them. A conversation starts between the guests and the hostess. They explain the situation and how it came about. The elderly lady motions for Brymroz to the examination table and makes a sly joke about the trophies on the wall. She attempts to protect Brymroz’s privacy by stopping Gerda from moving forward. But, Brymroz agreed to have Gerda there for the examination.   After a quick and thorough investigation, she agrees with the initial assumption. Lycanthropy is the curse that plagues Brymroz. The only way to cure the magical disease is to kill or have some genetic material of lycan that bit him. They also need to cast the spell remove curse on the night of a full moon. If you cast remove curse without the material components will in quell the scourge for the night. Brymroz and Gerda thanks the older woman and take their leave.

The Roaring Concert

Leaving the Charming Nymph, Abendlied heads to the open market to set up the concert. A well-dressed kobold stands in the courtyard next to the construction workers setting the stage. He quickly taps his foot, waiting for the hostess to show up. Abendlied scurries past the kobold and barks orders at the construction crew. Walking to Abendlied is the kobold. She is the one he has been looking for in the square. The kobold introduces himself as Knockloc Buggin, and he would like to talk to Abendlied about insurance. Insurance is offered to her so that she doesn’t have to pay for additional costs. Abendlied would be responsible for any damage in the public area. The insurance coverage would cover any damage done by the crowds attending the show. Abendlied is confused and angry by this additional charge. She tries to make her case, but the money-grubbing kobold wouldn’t hear it. Frustrated, she orders everyone to move to a spot outside the city gates.   Abendlied orders the construction workers to build the stage in the new spot. There are a few street urchins that helped advertise the show. Then, she turns her attention to the musical guests. They begin to do a quick rehearsal before the performance. The perfect musicality of the musical group made the construction workers work faster.   A small crowd ends up showing for the evening performance. First, Abendlied gives a speech of inspiration to the performers. Then, they all take the stage.   The first hour of the performance was nearly flawless. One of the band members had difficulty keeping up for the show’s first half-hour. Then, he corrected himself after a stern look from Abendlied. The crowd did fill up a little bit more in the second half.   At the town square, the remainder of the party wanders around the area. They knew the show would be here, but there was no evidence of the concert. Gerda asks some of the street vendors. Knockloc Buggin forced that poor little girl to move the show, mentioning another vendor. The money-grubbing kobold in charge ordered her to move it or pay a fine. Other vendors say she stubbornly moved the show because the kobold shrank down her venue. Then a donut vendor noted that the show was moved a bit outside the northern gates. She wasn’t sure why Abendlied moved it, but Abendlied looked frustrated.   The party travels down the road leading to the northern gate. Gerda begins to hear the lovely music dance through the streets. It is a soft tune that was able to penetrate the noisy streets. She rushes a forwarder and waves for the others to keep up. The other members kept their regular pace. It was enough to keep up with Gerda.   They entered the run-down fields a little bit outside the northern gates. The concert has just barely started the second half of the performance. Outside the concert stage, the lighting isn’t that great. There are a few lanterns casting light from nearby buildings. Brymroz hastens his step and begins to weave through the crowd. He was laser-focused on his comrade and friend Abendlied. It didn’t take him long to lose track of his surroundings. Brymroz makes a soft collision. Then, a young lady lands face-first into the ground. Two visibly angry-looking men prevent Brymroz from reaching the stage. Unsure what he did wrong and threatened by the two men verbally assaulting him.   The band on stage is really in the groove of things. Abendlied is pleasantly surprised at how the group of strangers is performing. Unfortunately, she hears something in the crowd that conflicts with the beautiful noise from the band. Looking around for the source of this familiar roar, she finds Brymroz standing menacing over a little girl and her parents. The crowd around him breaks out in fear. Finally, Brymroz shoves past the two adults and resumes towards the stage. The mass of onlookers makes way for this brute. Abendlied is not missing a beat with her bandmates but stares daggers at Brymroz. The leonine reaches the stage, and the angry bard attempts to kick him in the face. But, he sidesteps her on stage theatrics to cast guidance. The boot heel gets tapped as the spell is transferred to her.   A couple of footprints are heard on the soft fields and heading towards Brymroz. He stands there in the front all alone. Nobody except for Gerda and Xopali would stand next to him. Gerda is the first to notice the two guards. They are walking with purpose and to Brymroz. The city watch walks past Gerda and taps Brymroz on the shoulder. They ask him to come with them to discuss the earlier incident. Gerda and Xopali watch him go peacefully. They stay to continue watching the performance.   Brymroz casually walks with two guards flanking him. He sees the two adult men and the little girl at the gate. The guards write a report of the incident, and the two men point to Brymroz. Nervously, he looks around and halts in his tracks. Finally, the two guards turn and ask politely to come with them. Their hands hover over the hilts of their weapons. The eye slits narrow, and his ears go backward. Brymroz launches himself at the guards.   Listening to the music near the front, Gerda begins to relax. But, something catches her attention. The way Abendlied's eyes are burning. There is intense hate in them. She follows Abendlied’s eye line and notices the guards whistle aloud as Brymroz begins his assault. She quickly springs to action and dashes to the fight.   Abendlied whispers to the other performers to start playing the final song. She casts her illusionary spectacle. It was a valiant attempt to stop the crowd from watching the street brawl. Unfortunately, the fight had its light show as Brymroz cast various spells at the guards.   The guards managed to get off several blows of a whistle. They were alerting the other town guards nearby. Brymroz dodged a few of the longsword strikes, but a few made purchases. The blades cut deep into the pelt and muscles. No blood or wound is visible after the swords leave the skin. One of the guards noticed the instant healing and did a code whistle. Brymroz scans in the direction of the gates. There is a small army of guards en route. Brymroz takes a chance and begins running into the night. The guards tried to give chase but couldn’t keep up.   A clean-cut half-elf is wearing red robes, and a chain shirt heads to the stage. Abendlied observes the initial two guards speaking to this man during the last song. At last, the guard gives her the hand signal to stop the performance. She gives him a quick nod and finishes the final piece of music. The captain walks on stage and apologizes to Abendlied for shortening the show. He continues to inform the crowd about the attack on the citizens and guards. That everyone will need to stay for a series of questions.   The captain of the watch begins to question Abendlied. She gave him all the available information that she had on Brymroz. Brymroz ruined her performance in her eyes.   Xopali, trying to get in good favor with her newfound group, refused to answer the questions truthfully. The guard questioning her noticed that the tortle wasn’t telling him everything. So he respectfully asks her to come with him to the guard station. Despite the request, she refuses to go with the guard.   Gerda and Abendlied watch several guards heading to Xopali. They quickly intervene on her behalf. The captain of the guard eventually walked over there to deescalate the situation. All three were allowed to leave but maybe questioned later on.

Character(s) interacted with

• Unnamed: Bartender, New Moon
• Unnamed: Creepy Medical Lady
• Knockloc Buggin
• Unnamed: Little Girl
• Unnamed: Adult Male
• Unnamed: Adult Male
• Unnamed: Captain of the Guards

Created Content

• Organization Symbol: Bells with eyes

Notes

• Unusual lighting in the ghetto
• Lycans in the ghetto