False Fronts
The Gods finally made it to the home of the Zeruan Plague Engine - to Kreniko. They rode from Arnadba bloodied but undettered, and so far undetected. Their enemy Prince Mazaru Eramzir awaited. But first, they had to undermine his regime and gather information to prepare their attack.
The party rode in quietly on Captain Yarzin's companion's stolen horses (named Small Moments and Important Moments by the party) to his house in the city. They sent Zofara, their warlock companion horribly traumatized by his encounter with Kasmir, the Rot, to the tavern contact they had gotten from Arnadba to rest and recover.
They were greeted by Captain Yarzin's sister, Lady Taihosha Torizir, and their servant, Wenaldo. The party introduced themselves as friends of Yarzin, eccentric merchants and businesspeople from another city that were seeking shelter from the storm. Their affable smiles and reasonable wealth got them through the door, and they could name-drop enough from the letters to plausibly know Yarzin. Taihosha offered them guest rooms, a warm meal, and a nice stable for the Moa bird and horses to stay. The Torizir house was not a manor by any means (these were clearly lesser gentry), but it was large, well-stocked, and in the nice and secure Ritesway district.
Between Taihosha and their conversations back in Arnadba, the party finally got a decent idea of what had recently happened in this town. A local lord named Kelka Akuzir had, just a week ago, rebelled against Prince Mazaru Eramzir - claiming that the Prince was a dangerous witch that had unleashed the plague. Kelika was caught and imprisoned, and his coup failed. Supporters of the Prince had purged Kelika's allies and claimed that it was this Usurper, and not the Prince, that was dabbling in witchcraft and releasing plague. In four days, Kelika was slated for execution.
The Gods began prying to see if they could use Taihosha as an entrypoint to high society. They found out that Taihosha was not particularly popular among the upper nobility, and was pining to get an invitation to a major gala in two days that most of the city elites would be attending. The party conspired with their host to get invitations, and found a glaring need that might get them invites: the recent storm had disrupted shipping and jacked up the price of alcohol. If the Gods were able to bring the right gifts, they could probably snag some last-minute invites. And if they could get into the party, they could effectively access the Prince's most important supporters.
The next day, Lady Taihosha began getting her wine cellar together to contribute her best vintages and spirits, and the party began to prepare to have the right gifts and clothes - and to survey the city while they shopped. Arzet and Kipilu agreed to sign on as servants to be part of Taihosha's gift (some extra staffing contractors), while Potha and Makar would seek full invitations.
Arzet talked with Wenaldo about being a good servant, and found out that he was involved in some great intrigues conducted by Taihosha and Yarzin's parents in the royal palace back in the 1980s ME. Wenaldo agreed to help Arzet navigate the palace eventually, and gave him some general tips for the party. Wenaldo also sent Arzet to Mowetha's Emporium, a large general store where the best servants get their clothing for reasonable prices. Mowetha turned out to be an extremely aggressive personality, verbally haranguing Arzet until he said Wenaldo sent him. Mowetha's attitude instantly shifted to a friendly one, and Arzet got the right clothes for the right price. However, the Gods did find Mowetha's insulting marketing style amusing, and vowed to return there to haze other people via her.
While Arzet was getting servant's clothes, Potha decided to get some nice performatively-foreign formalwear to play up her outsider status (according to Taihosha, the host of the big gala really liked Nafenans). To get something cheaper and more genuinely foreign, Potha went to the Selkie Admiralty to find some nice foreign imports. What she found was a travesty: city guards heckling the selkies while local teenagers and foreign teenagers fought. The selkie admiralty was surrounded by a nest of recent immigrants, foreign visitors, and refugees from Esedeta , and the people there seemed to be hunkering down for a siege. Potha rode into the nieghborhood and found her tailor, Samail, who got a nice Nafenan outfit ready. Samail explained that all selkie ships that had not agreed to evacuate had been seized by the port authority after the quarantine had locked the port, and all who remained here had been increasingly attacked and harassed by townsfolk and city officials alike. Potha told Samail that she would try and get support for them, and Samail told her that he hoped the Far Harbor Club might help.
From Samail's shop, Potha met back up with Lady Taihosha and found a nice boutique to get her outfit together and her and Makar's presences known to the local gentry. This boutique tied everything together in her outfit with a little magic, officially got Potha's presence known to high society, and clued Potha into some recent gossip: that the Usurper's adopted daughter, Malwa, and former companion Idala were in a bitter feud. These two might know more about the failed coup. Potha had the boutique send letters to both parties introducing herself and asking them to attend the gala. All in all, the boutique visit was expensive, but useful in becoming the right kind of outsiders.
Makar went to Zaltaba, their innkeeper contact, to arrange more alcohol and staff for the gift. They found that Zaltaba was currently a little under the weather, as her inn (The Dancing Crab) was in debt, given the number of people seeking shelter without having much cash on them. One debt collector and mercenary, who the locals called Feliskos, the Cat man, was known to make any business deal hell for his debtors. And the Cat Man seemed to be on Zaltaba's case. It would be impossible for Zaltaba to make a big flashy deal with the gentry while Feliskos was involved. When Makar inquired about the Cat Man, they were shocked to find that Feliskos was a Haltia with cat-like features accompanied by cats - was this some kind of shadow Kipilu? Makar called on Kipilu to race over and help investigate, just in case.
Makar used some more of the Haru money to pay off Zaltaba's debts, and arranged a meeting with the Cat Man. The Hatia mercenary was not, in fact, a mirror-Kipilu, but a foul-mouted and cynical washed-up Desmian mercenary named Ivek. Ivek's cats were Desmian cats that hoped to also make some coin, who were using Ivek as an intermediary. Ivek bullied Kipilu and pressured him to go drinking with the mercenaries. Makar decided to haze Ivek back by inviting him to meet with the group at Mowetha's Emporium, the shop owned by the insulting and weird owner. The payoff of the debt also took Makar and Kipilu into the worse parts of town, where large numbers of debtors were being processed in large jails. Predatory loans, intended to bind people to the wills of specific loan companies, were clearly making a killing in this disaster - and the Prince was gathering mercenaries to his banner to station in the city.
Wearing their various outfits, Arzet, Makar, and Kipilu visited the manor of Lady Nozari - the host of the gala. Bearing wine, beer, and spirits, and with Zaltaba in tow, they met with Nozari's Seneschal, who would be in charge of party planning. The Seneschal was happy to make sure that they were invited, along with the two scandalous relatives of the Usurper - as long as the party made sure to get a high quality gift for the host herself. He recommended elderflower liquor, Lady Nozari's favorite spirit and a luxury in short supply recently. Arzet also signed on as a server while Kipilu signed on as kitchen staff for the gala.
While this deal was going on, Potha was visiting the Far Harbor Club. She spoke with a officer of the Club, a musician named Percy, who offered her potential membership but seemed unwilling to support the selkies or foreigners in the Port. Potha investigated the Vetevic group in the Club, but found that their leader, Mipora, was not really a Choir member - just someone trying to use Vetevic ideas to find their own truth. Regardless, the Club seemed to be working some political agenda of its own. Potha nonetheless urged them to help the Admiralty community, though it was clearly something that would take a little more to manifest.
Potha also visited Malwa Akuzir, the adopted daughter of the Usurper. Malwa was bitter, clinging to grief while the property was transferred to her father's former companion, Idala. Malwa believed that Idala had betrayed her father - and hoped to kill her for it. Malwa seemed willing to draw her sword against the Prince, but lacked the belief that she realistically could.
Afterwards, the group met up to haze Ivek. That did not go especially well, since the mercenary proved extremely willing to escalate things into violence. Finally, during the night, the group sought out the special spirits for Lady Nozari's gift. Asking Samail, they were able to pinpoint the most reliable cache of niche liquor to an eccentric gourmand named Bexi, who was once friends with the selkies but had recently rejected them. Bexi was apparently always a bit odd and abrasive, but was now downright cruel and mean. They got Bexi's address and headed on down.
Bexi's house was a little delapidated, downright ominous, and covered in cats. It was fenced off, with spikes and unpleasantness attached to the most climbable parts. Crossbow bolts were lodged in the ground, and traces of old blood were left uncleaned around the property. The gourmand obviously did not want visitors. Kipilu approached as cats, while Makar approached disguised as a timid courier. The cats turned out to be a distant outpost of the Zeruan Cat Scourge, who had sent them as an invading force to cleanse the city of corruption. These fierce and ruthless cats had taken down one of the major corrupted Jellicle courts, but were waging a war on all cats currently - and were bogged down. They had accepted Bexi as a pet-vassal and supplier. They were also interested in his plague-fighting research.
Bexi, meanwhile, proved to have his own deal. A very sharp man with gigantism, Bexi had always been drawn to the unusual and the cutting-edge. He had discovered the Apocalypse, likely first the The False Chimera, when he had been a member of the Rosy Lodge, the local occult society. He had killed one of the other occultists who had embraced the apocalypse, and had fallen into an extended mental breakdown. When the Rot Plague had broken out in the city a few months ago, he had identified it as what it was. He had also become wildly xenophobic, terrified of the strange and the new and convinced that any kind of change was signs of eldritch forces approaching him. He became convinced that the city was soon going to die, and embraced a cruel calloussness laced with narcissism. He was going to survive when all the sheeple died, in his survivalist bunker! He would rule like a God with his superior alchemical skills and preparation! The wretched survivors of the world would crawl to him like dogs and beg to serve him!
While Bexi was, in many ways, a mean and wicked man that was all-too willing to injure or kill anyone who scared him, Makar and the Scourge saw his alchemical research as promising. Bexi's entire heart and soul was devoted to figuring out how to treat food and drink to remove all forms of plague. This had been his pet project, a little occult food experiment, for decades, but it was now everything to him - and he was making significant progress. Makar and the group got a lot of poison from the black market to trade to Bexi for his specialty liquor, and were on their way.
With the liquor in hand and the city surveyed, the group finally got back to their host to rest and prepare for the party. Resting, cleaning, and the like would take all of tomorrow - the party was at hand!
Getting Established
Shop-and-Spy
Little Games
Cats and Men
Components
Goals
QUEST:
- Kill or stop Prince Mazaru Eramzir
- Destroy the nascent Zeruan Plague Engine, to prevent a new Plague Variant
- Scout out the powers and weaknesses of the Nemeses
- Make connections and allies
- Marshal resources
Relations
Protagonists
Makar: The Masked One reborn, from Etekamo . Divine Soul Sorcerer, Courtier Background
Potha: Halcyon reborn, from the Sarana Tribe . Beastmaster Ranger, Outlander Background
- Coco: a friendly moa with a sweet tooth, Potha's bonded companion
- Cobi: a determined falcon loyal to Potha
- The Prison Rat: a rat with a sense of style, loyal to Potha
- Darana, a Nefkan Vesper priest who can speak with dead and resist fear, but requires burial of the dead
- Kiji, a Calazan Kobold explorer who can help Arzet super-leap, returns thrown weapons, but requires curiosity
- Sarwen, an Inasan dryad scholar who can see disease auras and helps with research, but requires everything to be recorded
- Siru, a Bilgazan Healing Church alchemist who can help Arzet make healing potions and increases Arzet's speed by 10 ft/round, but requires that the secrets of alchemy be kept guarded
- Thuma, a Nafenan squiddle blackguard who can help Arzet turn invisible underwater (when not attacking or casting) and increases swim speed by 30 ft/round, but requires Arzet to take no quarter against any foes
Allies
Zofara: A fatalistic warlock who presents as hyper-goth. Sworn to the Scarred One.
Neutrals/Bystanders
Taihosha Torizir: A young woman in Kreniko, the youngest in a family of landlords, businessmen, and minor nobles. Taihosha is not particularly aware of the greater state of the world, and is more concerned with elevating her house and supporting her brother. She considers herself a loyal supporter of Prince Mazaru Eramzir but isn't zealously supportive.
Wenaldo: The Torizir family servant, currently occupied with trying to care for Yarzin and Taihosha. An old man who was the loyal butler of their mother, Wenaldo was once a capable court actor - but he mostly deals with staff hiring and advising the children now. He is a friendly, toddering old man.
Ivek the Desmian: A brutal, cynical, foul-mouthed Haltia mercenary from the distant Kingdom of Inara. Ivek has little sympathy or care for this foreign land and just wants to make money. He revels in turning people's "cheery little gnome" expectations on their head, and in shocking people with his vulgar violence.
Zaltaba Harbeja: A friendly innkeep and businesswoman. She is ambitious and deeply values her reputation as a trustworthy business owner - she sees kindness, goodwill, and direct business as key paths to success.
Samail Yepahep: An old and esteemed Selkie tailor, who considers himself a protector and community leader of the Admiralty community. Extremely polite and rather formal.
Mowetha: A loud, bullying shopkeep who owns a large general store. She thinks that putting the customer on the defensive is an essential part of salesmanship. She offers great prices to those in the community she likes, and absolutely overcharges total outsiders. An odd character.
Mipora the Nafenan: A bard who sees Vetevism as a philosophy of personal liberation. An open-minded and compassionate member of the Far Harbor Club
Bexi the Gourmand: A rude, paranoid, xenophobic, and weird alchemist and gourmand.
Plot type
QUEST
Parent Plot
Subplots
Related Characters
Related Organizations
Related Locations
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