In search of hidden knowledge Report

General Summary

Calvin meets up with Willie at the docks. Willie is a sort of distributor of illicit goods, making sure the the right people in the black market are connected to one another. Willie tells Calvin that a lot of high dollar stolen goods are being smuggled in from Kellador. He also tells them that several of his shipments have been taken by Pirates, which pisses him off because he pays them to leave his shipments alone. Willie tells them about the cultists’ bodies being found at the docks, and the rumor of a devil man or demon having done it. Kiril meets with Mr. Sherry, the head of the occult dept at the Museum. He’ll tell Kiril that he’s a limited licensed magical practicioner and can’t teach magic, but can help Kiril get into a day-long course to learn a spell or two. (Downtime activity) (50gp per spell level fee) Kiril & Calvin meet back at Tristan’s the next evening after their individual activities. Calvin tells Kiril that he met a fence contact. She told him that Ferdinand Valetta helps connect black-market dealers to the noble families in Aendrim so is useful if someone has high-end items to sell. He tells him about what he learned about the grain shortage and how other smugglers have tried to capitalize and are struggling to move product because there aren’t many black-market buyers for grain. Jewel smuggling seems to be moving product to Trathon lately- his contact was uncertain why. Calvin tells Kiril that his fence has rings that shield your mind from intrusion by others, rings that teleport wearers back to a location of their choosing if they die, lamps enchanted so that the rooms that they’re in are always perfectly clean, plus a lot of enchanted clothing (stays clean, always smells nice, etc) Tristan says that he’d be willing to take on smuggled grain during the crisis so that he can keep his customers happy. The party heads to the library from Tristan’s. They find a tiefling arguing with Marsilia there about letting him go down into the catacombs. She’s insisting that he needs the required escort from a Royal guard and a Priest. The librarian doesn’t give in, and the tiefling storms off to rifle through a stack of books at a library table. She will explain that there is a form that must be filled out requesting access and an escort. The waiting period for approval is a few months long. The process is required because the catacombs can be dangerous because they used to be used as crypts , and that there have been incidents. She agrees to let them in, but only if they convince the angry tiefling to join them so that there are more than just the two of them venturing into the catacombs. They meet Drakar, the tiefling warlock. Kiril and Drakar have a little bit of a war of words at first before Calvin steps in and mediates. They end up agreeing to go down into the catacombs together. They find the crypt of house valetta, but don’t discover anything useful They find a room full of public records. Calvin studies many of these official records. Calvin is very interested in who Drakar is and who his enemies are. Drakar doesn’t share many details beyond wanting vengeance for a fallen family member. The party encounters and defeats an undead creature in one of the catacomb’s rooms. Kiril recognizes it as a librarian- a ward placed to protect ancient tomes that manifests in the form of a humanoid spirit. They find a book full of Sibelius Warhammer designs, including the design for the magical hammer the Hammer of Duke Sibelius. The party leaves off mid-adventure before leaving the crypt of House Sibelius.

Stronghold: The Establishment

An establishment is a legitimate business which hides some of the party's covert operations. An establishment serves two purposes: to make money and gather information. An establishment can be a shop, a tavern, an inn, or any other manner of seemingly mundane local business.

Revenue

Each season, your establishment generates 1,000gp per establishment level.

Rumors

During an adventure or in the lead-up to one, you can spend some money and collect some rumors about the quest you're about to go on. The cost is 100gp per establishment level.
On a successful Gather Intel check (see below), you learn the name of one kind of creature you'll likely encounter and roughly how many of the creature there are likely to be. During the adventure, these creatures will be vulnerable to damage from your attacks for a number of attacks equal to your establishment level.
In addition, you have a chance of gathering additional information, including:

The location of a secret door or hidden entrance or exit

The location and nature of a trap

A hidden secret or personal motivations of an NPC or organization you'll interact with

The location and description of one magical item

Gathering Intel

Those who run your establishment for you are trained (and paid) to keep their eyes and ears alert for bits of information that could prove useful. At lower levels, this intel includes bits of gossip overheard by your staff. At higher levels, your staff may have a handful of informants who they rely on for information. At the highest levels, your establishment's informants may have infiltrated other organizations in the surrounding area!

Making a Gather Intel Check

A Gather Intel check is resolved in the same manner as other checks, with the following modifier rules: Add your proficiency bonus to the roll, plus +1 per 100gp you are willing to spend. A minimum of 100gp (and the associated +1) is required to make the check. You may make a number of gather intel checks per season equal to your establishment level, but can never make multiple gather intel checks focused on the same adventure, organization, or individual during the same season. The DC for the check is set by the DM, who takes into account the target's size, complexity, and secrecy.

Favors

Once per season, you can spend 1,000gp to call in a favor from a nearby allied establishment of another type that you do not own as follows:

Nearby Keep: You gain 500 points per level of your ally's keep to spend on units for one battle. These units cost you no gold, have no upkeep costs, and disband immediately after the battle. The units may only come from ancestries that you and the keep's owner have access to.

Nearby Tower: Choose a modified spell researched by an NPC ally or other party member. You can cast that modified spell a number of times equal to your establishment level before you forget it. Once you forget it, you'll need to pay for another favor to use it again. Modified spells are spells that you may already be familiar with, but the magical experts working at the tower have advanced it somehow via experimentation and research.

Nearby Temple: You can petition the temple's deity and use their concordance once. If you summon a servitor, it remains for a number of rounds equal to your establishment level.