There Goes Another Love Song

General Summary

While in Crimsonhold, the party each attended to personal errands. Lethe stayed at the Golden Schooner to decode more spells from the Book of Misspells, while Erevan headed out into the woods to test out his new Shatter spell. Ciana also remained at the Schooner, summoning her celestial familiar for the first time in the form of a golden pseudodragon called Skylon. Precision headed into town to find an armorer who could outfit Pancake with some protection. She visited Hammer & Tongs and hired the gnomish blacksmith Bombin Pinehill to craft a set of leather barding for the baby griffin.
After placing the order, she began to head back to the Golden Schooner, when she bumped into a young, excitable elf named Cheldric who recognized her from her fight against Bashir Baztab in Derokesh. He asked for her help in wooing a girl named Tourmaline he pined after by faking a fight against him in sight of her and taking a fall. Precision, ever the romantic, agreed with this idea and was led to an elven bar named the Witch's Bosom. The only human in sight, she drew the attention of the bar's patronage. Looking around, she realized that Tourmaline was not one of the wait staff but instead a courtesan posted in the bar's corner. Attempting to make the fight believable, Precision started loudly berating elves until Cheldric stepped in. The two faked a fight but the performance turned out not to be very convincing. As Precision left the bar she noticed Tourmaline and the other courtesans giggling, and confronted them about it. They were dismissive and in response Precision scissor kicked Tourmaline into the ground before being thrown out. She headed back to the Golden Schooner to wait until Pancake's barding was complete. In the meantime, Skylon and Pancake met each other and began playing together while the Arch-Hoot watched them.
After waiting three hours she left the bar to go back to Hammer & Tongs, this time accompanied by Ciana. Not long after leaving did they run into a group of thugs demanding to speak to John Foote. Their leader claimed that Foote had swindled him and owed him a ship. They forced the two back into the Schooner to wait for Foote, where a fight soon broke out that left the thugs dead. Arriving moments after the fight, John Foote thanked the party for dispatching the thug that he identified as Bartleby Rousecopper, and bought them a round of drinks. He sat down and drank with them, revealing that he had once worked with the Order of the Doleful Aspect until life experiences caused him to stop believing in their hopeful ideals. He also revealed that they had knighted him twice (they had actually forgotten they knighted him the first time), and since he had a spare Order sword he gave one of them to Erevan. Foote also gave the party a dagger and asked them that, if things were to go south in the Great Arcaneum, to leave it at the crime scene. Foote then retired to his quarters and, after finally picking up Pancake's armor, so did the party.
The next morning, they boarded Foote's ship the Amity and set sail. On the way, they saw a ship destroyed and sinking in open ocean, but decided to continue going forward. An uneventful sail followed until the ship arrived at the great capital city of Alcaster. Heading to an unmarked dock in the Cotton Ward, the party headed to the bar Fourthbend's to meet John Foote's contact Saestril Boecelin. She informed them that after Lethe's break-in, security had been increased at the Arcaneum. Guards had been posted inside and out, and the only set of keys was now in the possession of Viniza Valenti, the captain of the Crownsguard. She told them that she doesn't know any details about the library's layout but mentioned two people who might: Ronaldo Belloc, a master thief with a proclivity for gambling operating out of the Ruby Quarter, and Percival Fould, the scatterbrained Eloqui groundskeeper of the Eliosan Plaza known to have a weakness for vintage wines. She also mentioned that in two days, the majority of the Crownsguard would be diverted to a birthday ball held for King-Consort Jorah Hellbourne.
At the mention of Viniza Precision noticed looks being given between Saestril and Foote, and at her prompting Foote revealed their history. They had fallen in love years ago, when he was first mate for a corsair captain named Tomcat Jack. When Tomcat Jack kidnapped the teenage prince Distran Hellbourne, Foote helped Viniza to free him. They carried on a secret love affair until the disastrous Alvoro Bay Invasion. Foote attempted to rally the corsair captains to uphold the Old Oath and come to the Hildonian's defense, but was only able to muster three ships. Arriving late to the battle due to a storm, by the time he showed up it was clear the battle could not be won even with his aid and so made the choice to save his own men. The two had not been in contact since. Foote then told the party that the dagger he gave them earlier belonged to Valenti, and he wanted to return it.

Characters Interacted With

• Precision attempted to help a lovestruck elf named Cheldric but wound up doing more harm than good, and nearly starting a race riot in the process
• The party met Saestril Boecelin, an information broker in the Cotton Ward of Alcaster
• John Foote revealed to the party his romantic history with Viniza Valenti

Chapter Seven

"There Goes Another Love Song"

---

Previous Chapter: Welcome to the Jungle

Next Chapter: A Night on the Town

---

Ingame Date: 29^th of First Bloom-2^nd of Rainseed, 1855
Real-Life Date: May 9, 2020
Protagonists:

• Precision
• Lethe Argie
• Erevan
• Ciana

Featured NPCs:

• John Foote
• Bombin Pinehill
• Cheldric Rumplebend
• Bartleby Rousecopper
• Saestril Boecelin

Locations:

• Crimsonhold
• Alcaster