Session 12 Report

General Summary

As the party is deciding on their next move, Jett decides to part ways and return to her homeland of Ikea. She shares a good chunk of her gold with the others, reveals some details of what the mysterious orc had asked of her, and walks off into the sunset-- a goodbye forever or just for now? After lamenting Jett's departure, the party refocuses and heads to the city square to try finding a job from the posting board. They notice many postings are for missing people, some lost in goblin raids, others with whereabouts unknown. One posting seems to have more detail and offers a reward, but a strange masked man is blocking the party's view. The man's outfit resembles that of a jester, though much more sinister, and he only responds to the party non-verbally through tilts of his head and prolonged stares. Eventually the man leaves, allowing them to examine the posting. The posting is written by a merchant named Brennon Hulsey, who has lost his son Ayden. It gives directions to his shop near the Temple Ward where he can be contacted for more details. As the party heads northward towards Hulsey's shop, Big Richard, who is suspicious of the masked man, sends Lil D to follow him in secret. The duck follows the man to the Innocent Doe but is stopped at the entrance by the doorman, who will not allow a wild animal inside the prestigious establishment. Lil D bides his time until a group of guests arrives, distracting the doorman long enough to slip inside. Not seeing the masked man downstairs, the duck heads to the lodging rooms up the stairway. After much waiting for someone to leave a room, eventually the duck begins trying to budge open doors. On the fifth, the door opens and it is the masked man's room. Lil D squeezes inside just long enough to catch a glimpse of dozens of knives and blades arrayed on a large cloth on the floor and various vials of liquid on the desk before the door latches shut behind. The masked man kneels down to face Lil D, placing a finger in front of his mask in a shushing gesture, before swiftly killing the duck with a single stroke of a hidden blade. In the northern reaches of Cressen's streets, Big Richard feels his psychic connection to Lil D severed, knowing that his bird companion has died, but unable to discern the details. The party meets with Brennon Hulsey, who offers them some oysters as he explains the situation. He says that his son Ayden is an independent sort of 16 years, and has been known to leave the house for long stretches but he usually comes back home within a day or two. What is unusual is that Ayden has been missing now for nearly a week and Brennon fears for the worst. He says Ayden liked going to the docks often, as Brennon himself was formerly a sailor and now as a merchant still does a lot of business there. Ayden has been known to hang around the crews of three big ships of late-- the Magpie, the Marianne, and the Grand Folly. Brennon suggests looking to the docks might lead somewhere, and he is willing to provide some reward for any information, even if Ayden is truly lost. Knowing that they'll have to deal with sailors again, the party heads to their halfling informant Corbin for tips and advice. Corbin tells them that these types can be rude and pushy but they respond well to firm confidence-- backed by a display of coin, of course. While they should not bring too much attention to themselves, if they're looking for magic items, they should just go up and say so, rather than this "carp" business they've been on about. He also explains that the Marianne does sell some magic items, though he would not be able to accompany the party as he is certainly no longer welcome on that ship. The Magpie sells illicit drugs and the Grand Folly is a passenger ship. As they had previously hired him to look out for any interesting persons entering the city, Corbin tells them that Keldon Margrave, Lord Fallon's nephew and part of the royal family, has come to town. Supposedly, he is looking for his brother, who was last seen in Cressen's territory and is now missing. Corbin notes that Keldon also hates Genosians with a passion and nearly killed one on arrival. With so many Genosians in the city, Keldon might be a walking diplomatic incident waiting to happen. Apparently Keldon is staying at the manor of Lady Kiva, a local noblewoman who has ties to Ostra. Before the group departs, Big Richard asks Corbin if he could tail the strange masked man for them. Corbin, upon hearing the description of the man, is horrified and refuses-- saying that it fits the description of a Genosian Jester, who are famed assassins. After a bonus amount of gold from the party, Corbin begrudgingly agrees to look into it. At the docks, the party heads to the Marianne in search of magic items. They are met by an intense looking half-orc lounging against sacks on the deck who makes them give up their weapons at the door before heading down. When they party warily complies, he tells them to go down and meet the captain. Below deck, they find the crew drinking and gambling and are met by the reasonably friendly Captain Essie Tides, an older human woman who wields a massive magical harpoon. The captain laughs hearing that Sarver, the half-orc upstairs and her first mate made them relinquish their weapons, as that's not a mandatory procedure but just an appreciated one. Apparently, this was Sarver's version of a prank. They ask the captain about Ayden, who says that the boy always wanted to join one of the ship crews and her men liked the boy, but he was not very skilled at anything useful for the crew. Unfortunately, she has not seen him in several days. When the matter of magic items comes up, the captain takes them to a backroom where she pulls out a few drawers. She says they regularly go on excursions to find items to sell, but unfortunately only have slim pickings today and offers a pair of boots and a ring for sale. Lephnut buys the boots of elvenkind to become even sneakier. Though the ring of mindshielding seems like it would be useful, they do not have enough money and conclude their business-- after buying some freshly roasted carp from the ship's cook. As they leave, the half-orc Sarver asks them about the white-haired one that was with them, referring to Jett, and seems annoyed when the party says she's gone. Sarver seems annoyed at this but says no more. The party heads off to investigate the Magpie...