Lover's Request

General Summary

Following an inconclusive negotiation with Granrim Saphirebraid, the group heads towards the Earth's Bounty, seeking to pawn the pair of trophies they had acquired in the previous night. Upon reaching the establishment, they meet Kushala, who was inquiring the shopkeeper, Nyslil, about the fate of his mentor. The rival apprentice reveals Kushana was abandoned by her escort, the Felslayers, after the mercenaries lost their leader to a monstrous ambush: the surviving soldiers did not take the harvesting of their deceased leader's intestines in kind. Just as conversation was wrapping up, Nyslil notices her new customers and buys the deformed ogre's head, after little to no haggling. Content with their deal, the group decide to escape from the Earth's Bounty, fearing for their lives as dozens of vials shake in the shop's unbalanced and dangerous shelfs.   Despite the creeping fatigue and late hours, our heroes decide to make one last stop at the Inns and Outs, hoping to sell their last trophy. In the rowdy tavern, they are surprised to see a full-blown bar fight between a dwarf and a halfling. Drunken patrons disorderly toss coins into two distinct piles, with Corvino and Kushala throwing in their lot. The dwarven combatant eventually emerges victorious, only to collapse short after, triggering the bystanders to dive into the pile of coins that had formed. Kushala is one of the first to dive into one of the piles, eventually escaping with an handful of copper pieces, while Fionna attempts a more subtle approach, sneakily snatching a single gold crown with the use of magic. Meanwhile, Trygve succeeds in auctioning the remaining ogre's head to the establishment's owner, Solnip, only to notice an uncomfortable and scared Hallie, who steps outside, trying to escape from the chaos of the inn. The kind giant decides to keep the faun company, while Fionna, Amelia and Kushala take a look at the various job offerings posted in the saloon's billboard.   Most of the posted requests are written in dwarfish, a language none of the protagonists can read, but three jobs prove to be the exception to this rule: the investigation of the source of recent attacks on Bern Badur, posted by his Lordship Amdal Frostbeard, employment in the mines of Varn Lodhir, posted by her Ladyship Brannora Stonecleaver and an anonymous crime investigation request. Despite the first job being well-paid, the poster for the last job was currently lodged in the inn, so Fionna and Amelia figure the very least they can do is get some information on the task, before deciding whether to accept it.   At the seventh room in the inn, the girls meet the author of the note, a gorgeous if somewhat fatigued woman named Clarissa Zoeller. Inside the luxurious suite, Clarissa explains how her boyfriend, Aire, was unjustly accused of conspiring with darklings. She describes how the couple was in town to ask Harkham Hardhelm, an old friend of Aire, to repair the elf's violin. During their stay, the couple had stayed mostly inside their room ,with Aire leaving only on two different occasions: the first, nearly one week ago, to buy a bottle of fine wine from the Silver District. The second during the day he was arrested, the same day were he went out to retrieve his violin from Harkham. To make matters worse, the Blackguard caught Aire in the act of the crime, as he was captured in a house lodging two Darkling children while carrying several incantations capable of altering a person's appearance. Fionna and Amelia quickly realize they have their work cut out for them, but promise the woman they will nevertheless try their best.   Making their way back to The Large Tankard, the girls describe the details of the request to the other members of the group. Trygve expresses his suspicions, as the would-be employer did not name a reward. Fionna assures the orc the woman would have no problem paying, as she did seem somewhat wealthy. With the exception of Trygve (who believes they should escort Lyssele to Novaria), every other member of the group shows some interest in Amdal Frostbeard's request, especially Kushala, who's curious on his master's whereabouts.   Eventually, our heroes reach their rooms. Yet, for some, the night proves to be not so quiet: several hours into the night, Fionna and Amelia are startled by the sound of a quill writing on a piece of paper. As they investigate, they find a cryptic message written in the scroll Corvino had found in Thalnar's secret stash. A few minutes later, the runes slowly fade and both girls go back to an unsettling sleep.   With the dawn of a new day, the group decides to split up, to make the most out of their day. While Fionna and Amelia head out towards the Black Sanctum in the Iron District, the rest of the group - and Hallie - head to the Silver District, meaning to do some shopping. First, they revisit Diamond in the Rough, hoping to once again pawn the golden signet Corvino was carrying. To this end, they send Kushala, the only person Heida had not before seen. Despite the groups' attempts at masking the object's origin, the shopkeeper sees through the ruse, but still accepts to buy the ring, as Kushala's magic managed to hide the noble family's crest from the ring.   With a few gold coins lined in their pockets, our quartet heads to The Bent Hammer, but upon seeing the nearly crumbling edifice, Kushala immediately fears for his life, forcing Hallie to escort the fearful naga outside, shortly after making their way in. On the other hand, Trygve and Corvino engage in a difficult and incoherent conversation with Luts. While Corvino seems to enjoy the goblin's insanity, eventually buying a suit of mail from the creature, Trygve seems to dislike the goblin after it repeatedly suggests the orc should wear a cow, rather than armor. The two engage in a screaming competition of sorts and Corvino heads outside, meeting the faun and naga.   The ever-dwindling group now seeks a seamstress and are eventually directed to Keliana Fairgrass, a halfling woman who owns a small commercial establishment in the very same district. After choosing the fabric and accessories (crow feathers) for a new cloak, Keliana makes very obvious advances upon Corvino, under the pretense of taking his measurements. The boy gladly accepts, leaving an embarrassed Hallie alone with Kushala, who offers to buy the faun the paints the group had promised for her birthday.   As these events unfold, the second half of our group reaches the Black Sanctum, where they are allowed to meet with the Blackguard's leader, Hubrim Shieldbreaker. In his office, they learn the dwarf himself led the operation to capture Aire: for roughly one month, the Blackguard followed a tip given by the Iron Eyes, members of the Nine Houses, hoping to find the tunnel which was being used to smuggle darklings into the city proper. Eventually, they caught the elf red-handed, within a building where two darkling children were hidden and in the possession of several magical incantations capable of changing a person's appearance, incriminating evidence.   Perhaps due to the treatment she had received in Kor Doguhm, Fionna was wary during the report, eventually stating the situation seemed awfully convenient, as if someone was attempting to frame the elf. Hubrim wholeheartedly agrees, but believes that the Black Sanctum would probably be the safer place for the elf to be if he was proved innocent. In fact, Hubrim did not wish for Aire to go immediately on trial, but Clan Feldspark insisted on the affair, a demand to which the Blackguard had to comply. In spite of the developments, Hubrim confesses the elf seems to be too stupid to pull off such an elaborate scheme, and allows the two girls to meet with the prisoner.   In the dungeon cells, the nice-looking elf provides the investigators with an alibi which matches that given by Clarissa. Aire does mention a plain-looking halfling woman entering in contact with him before he was able to retrieve his violin from Harkham's Strings. The halfling told Aire one of his old associates, Tasryn, wanted to meet up with the elf near the Great Waterworks, in the Iron District. Oblivious, the elf took the bait and he was promptly captured by the guard. Despite his situation, Aire seems awfully calm and not at all bothered by the prospect of being charged guilty, leading the girls to believe Hubrim had some merit when he described the elf as being an idiot.   With nothing more to ask of the man, the two detectives head to the Silver District, where they first meet with the halfling who had sold Aire the bottle of wine Clarissa had mentioned. While Amelia talks to the man, Fionna searches the crowd for a halfling woman who matched Aire's description, but soon finds the description too vague to actually make something out of it. The conversation proves mostly unfruitful, as the man does not offer any useful insights other than the fact he had been approached by three different organizations over the last few days: the town guard, the Blackguard and Feldspark agents.   The two girls then head to Harkham's Strings where Aire's alibi once again seems to match the report given by the shopkeeper. Much like the wine merchant, Harkham too was visited by the same three investigating parties. However, Amelia and Fionna do find that Aire is a womanizer: he comes into Vog Thurum every few months and each time he's in town, he brings a new gorgeous girl along. As the girls prepare themselves to leave, Harkham too does believe that Aire is too stupid to actually be guilty: after all, the only thing the elf has in his mind are his dumb songs and pretty girls.   As Fionna and Amelia comment on their findings, Amelia becomes ever more uneasy, constantly looking back in search of would-be stalkers. As they pass through the market, they meet Kushala and Hallie, who had just purchased three small bottles of paints. The girls bring Kushala up to date with their findings and then head towards the Bent Hammer, where they find Trygve and Luts still taunting one another. Trygve storms off and Hallie follows the giant, while Fionna tries her luck at negotiating with the goblin, giving up shortly after being handed a hammer.   Now followed by the innocent faun, Trygve tries his luck at a different smith, The Bodkin and Scale, where he manages to schedule his armor for repairs. In doing so, he hands the armor to the smith, who urges him to find something to wear, as he was standing practically naked in the middle of the street. He's given instructions to a well-known seamstress, but quickly notices Hallie has gone missing. Hoping for the best, Trygve heads towards Keliana's shop, knocking and shouting loudly at the shop's doorstep, interrupting Corvino's sexual affair. Recognizing the voice, Corvino leaves the bed and rushes towards the shop's front door, attempting to quickly dismiss his companion, but Keliana ends up following him. She lets the orc in and provides simple, if loose, clothing to Corvino's companion. Satisfied, Trygve leaves the building and Keliana finding herself alone with Corvino suggests he could help her with a few more stitches.   With nothing else to do until lunch, Trygve decides to search for Hallie, crossing paths with Amelia, Fionna and Kushala, who were headed towards the Great Waterworks. Figuring they too were searching for Hallie, Trygve shouts "I will search that way!" before dashing in the opposite direction. In his search for the little faun, the orc stumbles upon Lyssele, who he hadn't seen since the previous night. Lyssele was a mess, her makeup ruined and teary eyes, but when Trygve attempted be considerate with her, she told the orc "Trygve, go fuck yourself!", eventually going as far as to say she didn't care "about the fucking goat". Figuring he couldn't do anything, Trygve heads to The Large Tankard.   At the waterworks, our protagonists investigate the scene of the crime under the watchful gaze of Thuldus, a guard stationed at the place. At first, the search proves unfruitful: the place had been picked clean by the investigating authorities and the tunnel from which the darklings were supposedly smuggled had been collapsed after Aire's imprisonment. With the investigation on the brink of collapsing, Kushala decides to investigate the building's fireplace, where his ability in alchemy allows him to quickly find pieces of paper that had been burned a few days before Aire's imprisonment. Emboldened by the discovery, Amelia decides to search the many open drawers for some sort of hidden compartment, which she actually does find. Stored within, a large tome written in dwarvish, a ledger of sorts. They ask Thuldus to read the contents of the book for them, and they are shocked to find that the tome lists all darklings who had been presumably smuggled into Vog Thurum over the last few years - more than sixty. The registry also described the sum each darkling had to pay to enter the city, a sum who was paid to none other than Ebdam Feldspark, headmaster of Clan Feldspark and member of the Nine Houses. Realizing the importance of their finding, the group rushes to Black Sanctum as an ever-growing paranoia of pursuit filled their minds.   At the Blackguard's headquarters, they show their findings to Hubrim, who is shocked to find the xenophobic Ebdam capable of helping darklings, especially after attempting to convince the Nine Houses to wage war on the darklings one week earlier. Various theories are discussed: the Feldsparks might be attempting to use the sixty darklings to cause mayhem in Vog Thurum. Or, perhaps, they simply seek war to fill their pockets? And who warned the Feldsparks of the eventual Blackguard raid on their smuggling outpost?   Eventually, Hubrim asks all present in his study to stay keep their findings a secret, for the time being. He'd enlist the help of the Iron Eyes and get hold of a warrant to search the Feldsparks ' manor, but he had to make sure the mole within the Blackguard's did not leak this information to Ebdam Feldspark. In any case, Hubrim would be expecting the protagonists on the following day, in order for the raid to proceed.   Exhausted, the group heads to The Large Tankard, where they find a lonely Hallie. A few minutes later, Corvino meets up with them, followed by Trygve shortly after. As they are ordering lunch, Fionna and Amelia ask to speak with the group in private after having their meal, as they had a serious topic to discuss.   Trygve decides to bring lunch to Lyssele, but is surprised to find her missing from where he last saw her. After a brief search, the orc finds the grieving woman in a different alleyway and leaves her a small meal at her feet, before sitting a few meters away from her, while eating in silence. Despite this, Lyssele refuses to tell Trygve what happened, resorting to uncharacteristic insults.   Back at the inn, Kushala babysits Hallie in his room, while Amelia and Fionna show their findings to Corvino and Trygve. The orc is still not happy with the job they had chosen, as no monetary reward had yet been set. Fionna assures Trygve this job could make them heroes of the city and heroes have some leeway with rewards. Finally, the group expresses their interest in visiting the Tome Keepers, Corvino in particular showed some interesting in knowing who's Tesla, while Amelia mentions Kushala wanted to go there during the afternoon.   While the rest of the group is discussing, Hallie hangs out with Kushala, expressing that, while she really likes Lyssele, she'd really love to keep traveling with the group. She then shows a gorgeous painting she was working on, a drawing of the of the group sitting around a campfire: an orc making a meal, a woman playing the harp with a cat on her lap, a man laughing heartily near a naga and a small faun sitting on a tree trunk while watching the happy group. Kushala is moved by Hallie, but she then admits she feels like she's a burden, but was willing to to try to learn whatever they asked of her so she could prove useful to them! In an attempt to help her, Kushala tries to explain the basics of alchemy, under the pretense of teaching her how to make her own paints, but is astonished at how quickly the faun grasps the what many would consider relatively complex topics. Kushala is intrigued by her talent, spending the next half an hour mentoring the faun.

Character(s) interacted with

Aire, Clarissa Zoeller, Hubrim Shieldbreaker, Luts, Hallie, Lyssele, Keliana Fairgrass, Magmir Aleheart, Harkham Hardhelm