Chapter 8, Session 7: Blackstone, Balls and... well... balls
General Summary
I think they took the lessons of the one's before them... but only the ones that involved killing. There's nothing but evil and chaos with that group.The party found themselves on the now abandoned skyship after escaping the storm summoned by the Utrunks clan below.
- Dullgar Deep-Diver tells Mimsi/Lady Green about the rumours he had heard of Persicorum in the north of Alturis.
In their moment of safety, and after acquainting themselves fully with their new ally Ez, the party decided to search the ship and try to understand exactly what stocks they had... to which the party found very little food or practical equipment but they did locate a truly insane amount of drugs and poisons that Ez recognised as stimulants and painkillers from the days of fighting The Dread King and, in the quantities the party found there seemed to be enough to stock a military.
After some members of the party took small quantities of these drugs and potions for themselves, they decided to dump the rest of the substances or burn them aboard the ships in case they were discovered later on and, with that issue resolved, the party then sat tight and moved towards the city of Blackstone.
Upon arriving, Kodo took control and used a sending system on the skyship to request aid with landing, to which a variety of emergency Skyships flew up and began to guide the group skyship into docking in... as they did so, a group of The Inquisitors and The Crownsguard boarded the ship and searched it whilst Head Crownsguard Silva Xarish questioned the group (specifically Kodo due to his amiable nature) and the group told the truth- The Utrunk clan summoned a storm that killed the crew of the skyship and the party were lucky enough to navigate their way out of it and get to Blackstone. The crownsguard requested that the party stay in Spoon's Brewery Company in case they had any follow up questions for the group. To which the party agreed... they were also amenable to the skyship being taken and impounded by the Crownsguard due to it's history as a smuggling vehicle.
Landing in Blackstone, the party were immediately struck by the size, loudness and magnitude of the city of Blackstone with it's steampunk aesthetic, skyrails running throughout and the general population and masses moving across the space. Some members of the party were overwhelmed by the noise and even had some of their funds pickpocketed, though some others found the space deeply satisfying and fascinating to view.
The party decided their first order of business would be to avoid going to the Spoon breweries at all costs and instead they followed Fen's lead in finding a magic shop in the sketchier parts of town. Going down the rough alleyways and quieter sections of the city, the party soon found a strange magic shop named Xatannah's Gifts and saw it as a perfect place to buy the materials Fen needed.
Upon arriving, the party saw it was more like a living cottage than a formal shop and they were served by a girl with an eye patch who claimed to be Xatannah's assistant. The party learned Xatannah was a spellcaster of considerable skill but was more well known for their ability to read tarot and prophecy. The party still wished to meet and barter with her and so the serving girl moved upstairs and brought her down.
Xatannah was a rather imperious looking middle aged woman with a mystique about her being. She offered each party member a chance for a tarot reading and Kodo, Mimsi, Fen, Anastasia and Ez all agreed. Receiving a draw from her left hand tarot deck that offered a strangely symbolic reading to them (but one the rest of the party could not see the details of on the card) and then they drew from the deck on the right, a deck of many things that offered the party key information and boons to make use of. Including the ability to ask a question of the universe, a single wish, a necklace of fireballs and the knowledge that Archania Weave was actively hunting Fen due to his connection to The Chaos.
However, during their readings, in conversation with Xatannah, Kodo figured out that the act of the maid girl and the witch was, in fact, old allies of Persicorum; Mary and Sue. With this statement, Xatannah dropped her guise and the changelings revealed themselves for a reunion... revealing that they left Edmonton after the feral Gnome assault and, whilst Eb travelled to Aria to check out The Monkey's Paw the two of them set up the identity of Xatannah and have made a living as saleswomen of spells ever since.
With the reunion completed Mary and Sue offered the party the chance to stay in their home as long as they needed and so, whilst Kodo cooked a meal, they resolved their spell purchasing business with Fen (with the wizard purchasing the spell scroll 'Summon Lesser Demon') before leaving the party to prepare themselves for a long rest and allow them to reflect on their fortunes and boons.
Importantly, Anastasia came to the conclusion that, due to her deal with The Unwaking witches that allowed her to save Nash, she lost her soul and realised that had some critical issues for her including her running the risk of being unable to return if she were to die and, more importantly, the chance she may never get the chance to live in The Feywild due to her soul being lost... something Ez grimly confirmed was a possibility. With those realisations in place, and the knowledge that their work in Blackstone started when Fen contacted Temptation and checked in, the party took their long rest scattered across Mary and Sue's limited space.
The next morning, the party had significantly reduced numbers with Thordak and Olympia both exploring the city of Blackstone whilst Fen and Anastasia took off to the nearby Blackstone Peaks and so the remainders of the party woke up with reduced numbers as a hammering on the front door of Xatannah's Gifts drew their attention.
Kodo, Ez and Mimsi snuck to watch the main room as Mary and Sue (in their disguises) invited in an arch-inquisitor and a masked mage who started asking them if they have sighted Persicorum. AFter watching Mary and Sue get questioned for a time, the group realised that it was, in fact, Temptation and, after scaring the life out of her by appearing from their hidden positions, Kodo prepared breakfast and she explained the opportunity she had found for the party.
Xan Prayerkeep was hosting a ball for MAGUS alumni and major businessmen and lords in Blackstone and wider Alturis. Temptation gifted the party with invites and advised them to take the opportunity that, in disguise, they could infiltrate the ball and get into Xan Prayerkeep's personal quarters to find out as much as they possibly could about him and find some dirt to ruin his reputation in The Inquisitors... Temptation would also be at the ball but could not act out against Prayerkeep due to her political position and so instead she also set up the group with an old ally, Hayili Flickermask to support them in preparing for the ball and infiltrating the event itself.
With that, the party prepared for their ball infiltration mission with Hayili as Kodo, Mimsi and Ez had masks made and went out to purchase wigs and design their costumes for the ball by the evening. Mimsi purchased a well designed wig to cover her ears and many of her goblin features whilst Kodo received a haircut... entirely shaving his hair and beard in an attempt to offset any suspicion about his appearance.
During the ball A LOT of stuff happened, as a result I will be bullet pointing the key events below for the sake of my own sanity:
- The party played Crick Queen's Call with a pair of teens looking to run away together and a pair of investor business partners named Eliora and Gruumph Sinhalf... Kodo spoke to the pair of them and learned they were the inventors of Skyhooks and were looking for interesting endeavours to invest in... notably they seemed interested in Kodo's history as a restauranteur.
- Many, MANY famous and influential figures attended the ball including Hook and Knife who were sitting secluded in the corner, a variety of inquisitors, Temptation, Lyren Killian who seemed to be acting as a guard of Xan Prayerkeep and Queen Frey who caused a storm by entering the ball and seems to be working on asserting herself over the event.
- In the ball, the centre event is the dance, an event that involves people dancing with individuals on their dance spheres in a method of network and forming friendships and alliances.
- An individual named Lord Alastair placed himself on Ez's dance sphere and the party realised he was the man that invented Skyrails.
- Mimsi took on the persona of Lady Green and, using a high class tone and method, she managed to learn of rumours of something called a 'Dumping Ground' associated with Xan Prayerkeep and she also built a rapport with Reporter Kovir including implying to him she may be able to get him an interview with members of Persicorum so The Silver Sparrows can run an exclusive on the group.
- Mimsi also learned that Dullgar Deep-Diver, the foremost supplier of Gloom Metal in Blackstone needs a mercenary groups assistance with a recent mine collapse as he described a creature burrowing within that is causing a danger to his miners. Mimsi (again posing as Lady Green) claimed she could be of assistance to him after the ball as a possible mission for the party... though she then learned he had a hatred and distrust of Persicorum due to the party ruining his Gloom Metal company in Wakefield.
- Ez made contact with Head Crownsguard Sylvia Poirot after being tricked into challenging her to a duel and, after clearing up that disagreement, she placed herself on his dance sphere for a dance.
- Xan Prayerkeep welcomed the members of the ball and made a show of trying to speak to everyone he could. Notably he mentioned that after the dance his 'menagerie and cirque' would play. He also stated that his private quarters outside of the ballroom were off limits.
- The party learned there were guards dotted around the party but most of the focus seemed to be on stopping guests from getting through to Xan Prayerkeep's private quarters.
- Kodo approached Queen Frey and convinced her to be placed on his dance sphere for them to speak later as fellow Giant-Kin.
- Just as the dance was about to begin, Ez watched Prayerkeep make a beeline for Mimsi but he could not get her away in time and Mimsi was forced onto Xan Prayerkeeps' dance sphere as he expressed a desire to get to know her.
Report Date
29 Apr 2023
Primary Location
Comments