Session 8: The Night Shift

General Summary

The sun had long since set, and the dinner crowd filed out.  Fenir's staff were quickly dismantling the sets for the stage, and most remaining clients were crowded around the bar.  

11 pm

• Anakami met Terrence, the dragonborn, who had a great time and was looking to come back tomorrow.
• Ola got ready in the fighting pit.  Glowie dragged Gargg out to the pit and they sparred ... in a manner that was uncomfortable to watch
• Flip found himself bored, talking to the cats.  
• Bert was cornered by a lone patron at the bar who kept pulling him back into conversation each time he tried to leave.  And barely paying!  He nursed that one ale the whole time.
• Bronte was downstairs in the Tempest Weaver, all by herself.  It was so quiet ... not a single sound filtered in from upstairs.  It was so quiet that she began to imagine hear the faintest buzzing sound, like a mosquito trapped down here with her.  She looked around the room with a look of concern.
• Ros paced back and forth, her nervousness growing after each minute.  After about half an hour, a terrifying thought sunk in: What if nobody comes for the after party?  You've still not made enough money to cover the tax bill.  She ran outside to go drum up some business.  She heard a moaning from one of the outhouses that was set up, and stopped to see what was going on.  She listened as whoever was inside moaned and groaned for a few minutes, then suddenly went silent.  She finally opened the door only to find a loxodon passed out with his head in the toilet hole.  She tried to drag him out, and went for help, but when she came back, he was gone.  
• Fenir finally came out of the back and his crew ordered the finest wine available.  When Bert asked for payment, Fenir grew tense - is this any way to treat an artist who just put on a tremendous play?  Bert eventually relented, but limited them to no more than that without paying. 
• Henri did not seem to notice.  He was head down playing his lute as fast as his fingers would allow.  

12 am

• Down the street, Ros heart a faint sound that grew louder and louder - a throng of people came down the western street singing:

You think you're mean

You think you're tough

Then come on down and drink with us

We're headed to the Stoutheart Inn

For Food and Fisticuffs!  

• Almost 50 Honoran dockworkers came into sight, headed for the inn.  As everyone rushed to their stations, a heavy loxodon came up to Ros and introduced himself as Marad.  He flipped Ros a 5 gold to take care of his gals and fellas.  
• Another song soon joined the fray, coming from the east side of the inn:

We will drink any ale

Served in a mug or in a pail

We're here to drink it all

Cheapest Ale in the Caldera

At the Stoutheart Inn!

• Another 50 or so dockworkers, dragonborn and vedalken this time, came around the corner and headed straight for the inn doors.  A silver dragonborn woman named Danyra came up to Bert and flipped him 5 gold to treat the Dracaryx contingent right!
• A MAD RUSH ensued as dockworkers lined up to get food and drink, and began a night of heavy carousing!  They milled around the fighting pit, egging each other on.  They made loud noises at the companions, who handled them deftly.  And they shouted for more of the cheapest ale in the Caldera!
• Lloryl, seeing Bert overwhelmed by demanding patrons, slammed his fist into the wall and shouted "SHOW SOME DAMN RESPECT!   THIS MAN IS BUSTING HIS ASS FOR YOU!  SHOW SOME DAMN RESPECT!"  The dockworkers settled down ... for a few minutes.  Bert shot Lloryl a look of thanks.
• A male half-elf named Ciara headed downstairs to visit the Tempest Weaver.  He looked nervous, and was hoping for a reading.  Things haven't gone well for him, and he was wondering when things would get better.  Bronte communed with the man and Charlotte, and saw a vision of a grungy room, with stacks of papers.  She heard a rhythmic thumping sound, and saw ink stained fingers, and a stamp on his belt.  The office vision became clearer, and it was a hovel - not the nice offices one would expect of Speaker's Forum.  Bronte cast guidance on him and helped him relax.  He settled into one of the beds for the experience.
• Fenir came back for more, but Bert held firm.   Eventually, Fenir threw his nose up and invited everyone over to the his friend's inn at the Rose and Lily where they know how to treat artists!  As he left, he shouted something over his shoulder that nobody heard.
• The Shield bouncers set themselves up even more spread out as Enkala, the female tabaxi guard, positioned herself right next to the fighting pit, and Cheff positioned herself in the open area.  Eeyok moved to the midway point at the stage, and Lloryl stayed by the door.

1 am

• A group of dockworkers crowded around Bert, listening intently to his tales of the Ramshackle Coast.  Dragonborn and beastfolk alike oohed and ahhed at his stories of chasing down pirates among the treacherous waterways.  The crowd grew.
• A dragonborn sailor climbed onstage with Henri to "help" the satyr sing.  Henri looked uncomfortable and tried to shoo him off.  Ros jumped onto the stage to dance with the man, and brought him back down without any more issues.
• A few cats came by to warn Flip - there were people where they shouldn't be!  Flip sprang into action only to catch a couple of people in a compromising position.  Shielding his eyes, he encouraged them to go back to the main area or hire a companion.
• Anakami relaxed into the bed they had set up for the erotic massage, with sounds of soft sighs surrounding her.  She picked a companion who was not done up like one of the characters in the play, and sighed contentedly.
• A series of consecutive wins establishes the first champion of the pit!  Kohnethra, a huge golden dragonbon with arms like tree trunks and a chest like a barrel of ale, bellows in success.  A small but stout dwarf jumped into the ring to challenge him, and Kohnethra and his entourage laughed loudly.  But the battle did not go the way he thought!  Kohnethra fell to the ground, and Ola noticed a huge amount of bets on that one - but couldn't piece it together.  
• The door to the companions room was almost knocked down as Glowie dragged Gargg into the room.  Companions scattered as they decided to ... express their love ... right there in the middle of the room!  
• A female org named Balogog limped downstairs into the Dream Den.  She favored her right leg, and was wondering if the healer could do anything for her.  She is in constant pain, and it is hard for her to keep a steady job.  She wants to be a smith.  Bronte communed with Balogog and Charlotte, and saw a vision of battle.  Cries and screams, and felt a sharp pain in her hip.  The drums of battle eventually faded away into a rhythmic thumping of the same timing - the clack of a cane on the cobblestones.  Bronte cast cure wounds on her and put her into a deep sleep.  Balogog did not have the money to pay for that kind of spellwork, but Bronte did it anyway.  
• The companion dressed as the elf maid came running into the main area, looking for Ros.  A leonin man needed to be dealt with - he was making them all feel unsafe!  Ros tried to finesse the man but eventually had to just sock him in the jaw. 
• A third song enveloped the inn and then overwlehmed in the doorway as a large group of Reborn muscled into the room:

We like to drink!

We like to drink!

We like to drink!

We like to drink!

• The song was so loud that Henri stopped and looked up, which only added to the silence in the crowd.  Someone said: "Shit I didn't know this was a monster bar," followed by someone else shouting "Hide the women and children!" followed by raucous laughter.  Bert grabbed his trident and jumped up onto the bar, shouting at everyone to shut up and enjoy themselves before there was a problem.  Everyone settled down real fast, and a bugbear named Donk came up to thank Bert for his actions.
• The Stouthearts looked at each other, realizing that there were three separate factions of dockworkers in their bar, and that there was tension between them.  They had not planned for this - this place could turn into a powder keg if they weren't careful.
• Bert jumped down and went back to pulling ale, only to realize that their cheap ale had run dry.  He and Ros shouted the news to everyone, and tried to move everyone to the more expensive but higher quality ale - they even dropped its price to 4c!  They were met with some grumbling, and some people left.  But the majority stayed, and the party continued!  Anakami noticed that the tension in the inn seemed to have gone up a notch above what it was when the Reborn entered.

2 am

• A sudden wave of tiredness came over the Stouthearts.  Most of them had been up since 6 am - 20 hours now, and working very hard almost the whole time!  Ros and Anakami failed their exhaustion checks (DC 11).
• The crowd surged in size yet again - and tensions between the different groups were high.
• Patrons crowded around Bert such that it was hard to get to the bar.  Bert revelled in the attention, but balanced it with the slinging of ale.
• Anakami got caught in apushing match and was knocked to the ground.  Luckily, Eeyok was nearby and managed to grab the culprit to throw him outside (but not before smashing his head into the wall multiple times on the way out. 
• A loud cheer rose from the crowd and the press at the bar suddenly got worse.  Henri has bought everyone a round on him!  Bert tried to catch Henri's gaze but the satyr was already deep into his song.  Bert sighed and started slinging out free ale - almost 100 of them!  He did keep an eye open for people trying to get more than one, and did a good job of it.
• A tabaxi woman climbed onto one of the tables and started singing loudly ... and badly.  Ros again danced her way out of this one, and her friends pulled her down to dance with them.
• The fighting pit grew more popular as the night continued and as people became more inebriated.  Ola gave a resounding speech to drum up more betting, and it was very successful!  Aykreth, a female hobgoblin, was the reigning champion.  A tabaxi woman named Xhea challenged her and really leaned into the "no rules" aspect of things.  She threw mud in Aykreth's face and smashed her over the head with a piece of lumber that she'd gotten from somewhere just as another tabaxi jumped into the ring to hold Aykreth still!  The group tried to stop it but were too slow, and had to bring people down to the Tempest Weaver for healing instead.  Anakami made some goodberries to heal people and Bronte made a soothing tea, and cast another cure wounds to heal people.  Ola couldn't help but grin at the chaos. 
• A mug went sailing across the room and smashed into the wall, but nobody saw who threw it.  
• Bronte was tending to Aykreth when Falanariel, the homeless elven woman, came downstairs and smiled at her.  Falanariel indicated that she didn't want to impose, she was just curious where Bronte went.  Bronte touched her, and suddenly had a vision of long, flowing gauzy curtains blowing in a cool summer breeze, with the smell of flowers in the air.  A beautiful archway, engraved with leaves.  A bed covered in a dozen pillows.  Bronte smiled and laid her down on one of the beds for a deep sleep.  
• It wasn't long before a rhythmic thumping was heard, and suddenly disembodied voices began to coalesce into the singing of a sea shanty.  Misty figures started to appear within the inn, coiling rope, hauling cargo, rolling barrels ... The crowd grew silent as the center of the inn was filled with the voices and the ghosts of dwarven sailors.  A ghostly ship shimmered into existence and the dwarven ghosts began to load it.  They all climbed aboard and the ship sailed upwards through the roof.  The dwarven ghost ship was seen from all around outside, and ascended into the sky.  The voices faded out as the ghosts disappeared.  The crowd was silent, then roared its approval!  The party began to rage even harder! 
• The song was Bones in the Ocean by the Longest Johns: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcGoqa3yLg8
• Someone rushed into the inn and shouted: "There's a riot in Bloodbottom!  They're looting stores!"  A small number of people ran out, but most laughed uproariously and the party continued.  
• A small group of dragonborn wearing purple and black striped cloaks appeared in the doorway, and a shout of recognition exploded from the dragonborn and vedalken in the room.  A voice was heard: "The dragonguard has arrived!"  One of the dragonguard walking in shouted back: "Cheapest ale in the Caldera, eh?  Let's hope you've got something better than that!"  The Dracaryx faction laughed loudly.  It was not hard to tell that the Reborn and the beastfolk were not happy with this development.  The tension in the room grew once again.

3 am

• A sudden wave of tiredness came over the Stouthearts. Most of them had been up since 6 am - 21 hours now, and working very hard almost the whole time!  Anakami, Ola, and Bronte all had one level of exhaustion, and Ros had 2.  Bert, feeding off the energy of the crowd, felt like he could go forever.
• Bert announces that the price of ale has dropped to 3c!  A cheer goes out for the Stouthearts and another run on the kegs takes place.  People are incredibly inebriated at this point in time.  
• The lights started bouncing around the walls, and the Stouthearts looked up to find a dragonborn LITERALLY hanging from the chandelier.  They shouted at the dragonborn to get down, but he refused.  A cracking noise was heard and the dragonborn fell to the ground, holding a piece of the chandelier in his hands.  He shrugged and threw it to the side.  Eeyok threw this one out too.  
• The fighting pit crowd roars in appreciation as the new champion - Gargg, the ogre - pummeled another into submission!  Glowie was cheering him on from the sidelines, and someone - Ola couldn't see who - told Glowie to shut up.  A fist fight broke out *outside* of the fighting pit!  Ola flew up above everyone and actually had to get a bit physical (and spellcasty) to stop everyone.  Once the fight was under control, she sent the injured folk to the Tempest Weaver.  Ola shut down the fighting pit, and sent the bloodthirsty fighters back inside.  The tension ratched up once again.
• Another voice shouts from the doorway: "Fire!  Fire at the warehouses!"  Some of the dragonguard rush out, but almost all of the dockworkers stay.  The party took on a dark, almost fatalistic edge.  The energy in the room was almost beyond control.
• A loud cry explodes from one corner of the inn, and the crowd between the cry and the door parts.  The Stouthearts see through the window that a leonin was being thrown out - but a quick glimpse shows it was none of them who did the throwing!  A number of the Stouthearts sprang into action, only to realize that it was the dragonguard who threw the leonin out.  They confronted the dragonguard and learned that there was a fistfight that broke out and the dragonguard were trying to keep the peace!  The Stouthearts felt undermined in front of everyone, and the party raged on, ignoring them.
• Another mug went sailing across the room, but this time it smashed into the back of the head of a dragonguard!  A shout of "STEADY ON" rose up through the crowd, and a tense silence fell over the crowd.  The mug came from a group of Reborn, but they all looked around like it wasn't them.  The dragonguard surged towards the Reborn, and the Stouthearts rushed in to stop a fight from happening.  A few people were thrown out, but it was too late.  The Stouthearts had lost control of the party.
• Lloryl rushed up to Bert and asked him if he wanted to shut this down.  It would be tough, the Shield are spread thin, but we should probably start now.  Bert agreed, but mostly because they were almost entirely out of ale, and the only thing worse than drinking dockworkers are drunk workers without any more ale!  Lloryl told him it would take an hour or more to shut it all down.

4 am

• Another wave of exhaustion went over our tavernkeepers.  Most of them had been up since 6 am - 22 hours now, and working very hard almost the whole time!  Anakami & Ola had one level of exhaustion, Bronte had 2, and Ros had 3.  They sighed, knowing that it would not be ending soon either.
• Bronte, tending to her patrons down in the Tempest Weaver, was struck with a sudden vision: a pair of wolf eyes, which receded in front of her eyes, and other pairs of eyes lit up.  The wolves had come.  
• A voice from the doorway shouted: "The stable is on fire!  Help!  The horses!"  Ola and Anakami sprang into action, running for the stable.  
• At that same moment, the interfaction tension exploded.  A dragonguard slugged a rhinofolk and suddenly a full out tavern brawl began.  Lloryl and Bert did their best to shepherd people outside.
• Bert heard a loud thump upstairs where Flip was keeping the money.  He grabbed his trident and ran upstairs to see what was going on.  Ros followed soon after with the hopes of getting suited up for battle.  
• Bronte, hearing the explosion of sound upstairs, ran out of the Tempest Weaver and into the tavern's main floor.  
• The companions barred themselves into their room, as did the kitchen staff.  All sane people hunkered down.  

ALL HELL BROKE LOOSE

• Anakami rushed around the corner of the stable to let the horses out, only to find herself surrounded by dirty, unkempt human men.  They attacked her all at once, and almost before Ola could react, she fell beneath their blades.  That didn't stop the gang - one of them jammed a sword into Anakami even as she lay dying on the ground.  Ola, flying overhead,  realized the severity of the situation and flew down to cure wounds on Anakami.  This surely saved Anakami's life.  Anakami cast web on the gang and fled.  The fire from the stable raged on, fully consuming the stable and spreading out through the webbing to burn the assailants alive.  She and Ola fled towards the safety of the inn.  
• Bert rushed upstairs only to see Flip laying unconscious on the ground in front of the trio of Shadow Blades who had been giving you so much of a hassle.  Johno, the human leader, Top, the halfling, and the unnamed hobgoblin stood over him, their swords unsheated.  Bert rushed into the room only to be tripped up as soon as he crossed the threshold, falling prone on the ground.  A tabaxi foot stepped on his back and Hshht looked over him, shaking his head with a finger to his lips and whispered "Shhh."  Ros came through the doorway and ran headlong into the room, coming face to face with Johno.  "Now, look," Johno said, "You've had your chance.  You didn't leave.  We'll be taking back our inn now."  
• Bert summoned the power of Umberlee to cast Misty Step and teleport alongside Ros.  The familiar sense of anxiety rose in him as he imagined a tidal wave approaching the shore on which he stood, and in his mind he raised his hand in supplication and awe to Umberlee, that she might spare him.  This time, however, the tidal wave did not stop.  It instead crashed upon him, knocking him senseless drowning him underwater.  A voice echoed in his mind: "Nobody betrays the bitch queen."  Umberlee had abandoned Bert in his moment of need.
• Bert turned to plead to Hshht instead.  "You don't need to do this, we can protect you.  You can stay with us.  In the bed there, look!"  Hshht's eyes darted to the bed, then to Bert, then to Ros, then to Johno.  He was torn.  Johno swore at Hshht: "Do as you're fucking told you fucking piece of shit!"  Bert swore that he would help Hshht - it needed to end.  Hshht sighed - and instantly teleported behind Ros.  His twin blades flashed out from him towards Ros ... only to pass by her ears on either side. They found their home in the chests of Top and the hobgoblin, who both slumped to the ground, dead.  Ros took advantage of the distraction to pull her rapier and, despite her extreme exhaustion, plunge it into Johno's heart.  Johno fell to the ground, dead in one blow.  Hshht looked at them and whispered: "run".  They ran downstairs.  
• Bronte, meanwhile, helped Lloryl control the bar fight by pushing them outside. She cast gust of wind to encourage them even further. When the bar fight finally merged into a single mass out behind the inn, Bronte saw that this was more than just a brawl.  A few people lay on the ground, blood staining their clothes.  People were being killed.  Bronte cast fog cloud over top of the teeming mass of dockworkers, obscuring all vision.  Many cries arose from the mist, and the sounds of fighting dimmed - replaced instead by sounds of confusion.  Bronte had defused the massive brawl.  But she had also obscured herself from her friends.

The Tenants

• Just as Bronte cast her fog cloud, a pair of horse-led wagons came racing up the drive to the shed.  The riders leapt off the horses and quickly unbuckled them via some sort of quick release mechanism.  A hooded figure leapt off the front wagon and raced to the shed, key in hand, to open the lock.  
• Lloryl sighed deeply and his shoulders slumped, resigned.  He pulled his sword from its sheathe, and whispered: "Not this, too."  Bronte saw in him that he recognized these people, and that his biggest fear had happened.  
• Bronte looked around and realized she was the only one who could stop this.  Everyone else was too far away.  Bert and Ros were still upstairs, and Ola and Anakami were by the stable, with the fog cloud between them and the shed.  People were stumbling out of the fog cloud, but were disoriented.  She was only thirty yards from them.  She watched as the horse riders began to roll the wagons towards the shed.  She could finally confront them and stop whatever was going on in the shed.   She raced past Lloryl to confront them - and Lloryl, seeing the same thing, stabbed her in the back as she passed him.  A poison coursed through Bronte's body and petrified her where she stood.  Lloryl stabbed her again, but the blade bounced off the chainmail that Bronte had been wearing under her robes this whole time.  The fog cloud dissipated, and suddenly everyone could see everyone again.  Lloryl, realizing the situation, began to run for the shed.  Cheff, his tabaxi colleague, was closer than everyone else and saw the blood his Lloryl's sword.  Cheff shouted "I KNEW IT!" and began to race after him.  The wagons were pushed into the shed and the doors closed. 
• A bright white light pulsed from inside the shed.  Once.  Twice.  Three times.  
• Bronte reached out with her mind link to tell everyone what had happened.  They all rushed Lloryl.  By the time they reached Bronte, the hooded figure and her gang had jumped on their horses and began to ride off.  A loud BWOMP and a bright light exploded out of the shed.  The doors blew open, revealing an empty shed inside.  
• The Stouthearts raced after Lloryl, who did not catch the riders before they fled.  Ros was in hot pursuit and closing the gap between her and Lloryl - but slowly.  Anakami managed to get into just enough reach to cast web and catch the very edge of Lloryl's back leg.  The dwarf stopped suddenly, screaming and slashing at the web.  But it was too late.  The others may have escaped, but Lloryl was caught.

The Aftermath

• Cheff and Eeyok bound Lloryl and took him away to Shield HQ for questioning.  Cheff was livid. 
• The Stouthearts returned back to their inn only to see devastation everywhere.  So many broken chairs, tables, mugs, plates, even the stage was damaged, and the light from the chandelier bounced around the room haphazardly.  The companions and the other staff were long gone.  How would they clean up and get to sleep?  
• The dockworkers had fled the scene, and a few bodies lay motionless on the property.  Enkala stayed behind to wait for Shield reinforcements.   She indicated to the Stouthearts that they'll be needed for questioning, too.  

The night had gotten away from you all, indeed!

Campaign

The Inn at the Crossroads of the World

Protagonists

Anakami of Tree Home

Report Date

13 Nov 2022