Session 3: Frog Games - Help Wanted

General Summary

The companions crossed back over the Bridge stopping temporarily in the middle to look at the 'Help Wanted' board. Various possible quests and help requests caught their eye including one about a missing girl from the Hill District:

"Bandit Kidnappers! Our beloved daughter has been captured by Bandits! They have not made any demands, but we want her back. She was last seen near Tent City — a reward of 1000gp for our daughter (alive), plus a bonus for the head of each bandit. - Lord Arrail Brandant - Meinhardt Row, Upper Ring"

"‘Wanted Dead or Alive – Bonecrusher, Orc Chieftain to the south! Warning: very heavily armed and dangerous. Has many henchmen. Reward: 500gp’. High Sheriff Posterno, Keep Quarter"

"Need strong men to form a small honour garrison for the banquet I am holding in my manor. Important people are involved, so discretion is mandatory. 1000GP per person, payment upfront. No questions asked. Enquire at Lord Lugosi's Residence, The Hill"

"Strong Swimmer Needed! My simpleton apprentice left my wood cart unattended on the bridge and the blasted thing tumbled into the river! Hopefully the ore is still in there somewhere, I’ll pay gold to anyone who can get me my ore! Ask for Wallus Farbin, most often found in the Felled Ogre, Market District."

"Goblin encampment: A goblin encampment has appeared south of the Southern Gate. They’ve been there for days and don’t seem to be aggressive, but we can’t be so sure. Find out what they’re doing — if they’re a threat, please dispatch with them, you will be well rewarded by the city. Sheriff Donworthy, Southern Gate"

"Wandering Skeleton: Wandering Skeleton seen on the outskirts of our village at night. It appears armed with a sword, shield and horned helmet. Dispatch this skeleton and we’ll offer you 10% off anything in town. Mayor Smith, Fairhill"

It was whilst looking at the board that the party became aware of crowd-noise to the south-east on the bridge.... On investigating they find a large crowd gathered around a walled building. On the walls were posters for 'The Maiden's Kiss', a play being shown at the 'Motley Theatre' that evening. A man stood on the stage pleading with the mob to disperse but no one was listening. A few of the companions decided to get a closer look and attempted to make their way through the crowd and towards the stage. A swarthy, older gentleman attempted to sell a few tickets to party but before a deal could be reached Snakehead grabbed one of the tickets and disappeared back into the crowd, this ticket in fact turned out to be a crude fake. Zaloros headed towards the front of the crowd near the ticket area where he was spotted by Braldo and the stage hands who stood near him ready to fight off the crowd if the attempted to storm the Motley. He shouted for help and Zaloras threatened the crowd. A quick cantrip from Brother Tomas gave extra power to his voice, along with his years of hard-living and fighting and Zaloras cut an imposing presence in the eyes and ears of the fevered crowd. They reluctantly began to disperse under threat from the fierce-looking and sounding human warrior. The ticket office manager was very grateful and gave Zaloras a handful of tickets for the show later that night.

The companions then returned to the Hanging Rose Inn after a tiring day. It was a busy night in the Inn and a fair cross-section of the Bard's Gate population could be found in there on this particular evening. Turlin's Well is considered one of the more cosmopolitan districts of the city and on this evening it was easy to see why.

The adventurers spread throughout the Inn listening in to cheerful conversations, quiet whispers, making friends and finding out rumours about the city. One particular figure caught Snakehead's eye, a small hooded humanoid sat near the fire, listening to the sounds of the Inn as he himself was doing, Snakehead sidled across the Inn to get a better look at the figure. Brother Tomas spotted a familiar face, Zedicha the coffin-maker was sitting with some friends. Brother Tomas enquired about Zedicha's troubles and she spoke to him at the bar, remembering a few more details about the man who commissioned her to make the expensive coffins, she recalled that he had a limp, a refined accent and was pretty tall for a human. Shortly after this Brother Tomas found himself accosted by a large and rather drunk merchant, Romulus Peverell who gave some hints about the missing girls telling Brother Tomas of rumours about the girls all being...

"blonde-haired and blue-eyed young Heldring girls".

Some of the companions also overheard a loud gentleman talking with his friends, he was telling of a young chap he had heard about over in Fairhill who had apparently been...

"Looking for adventurers"

The slightly inebriated gentleman could not exactly remember the young fella's name thinking it was 'Corrun', 'Corlian' or something similar. While most of the companions retired, Snakehead stayed downstairs shadowing the strange small figure who he had been watching for several hours. The Inn owner retired to bed, taking the days earning with him, rather disturbed by the two odd figures sleeping in his common room! The next morning the party set off into the city once more, heading off towards the Temple of Vanitthu to take Toothfairy to his final resting place. High Guardian Perinor advised that unless the party had access to a private vault, Toothfairy would have to be interred in the City of Ashes. This is the communal graveyard for the common people of Bard's Gate and sits about two miles north-west of Bard's Gate. As the part approached and the mists partially cleared they saw a huge graveyard spreading out across the landscape to the west between the hills. The party met up with Erlend, Burgher of the Caretaker’s Guild and arranged for Toothfairy's internment. The companions said their farewells and headed back to Bard's Gate. They quickly forgot about Toothfairy on the journey back to Bard's Gate. Although almost Lammastide, it was a glorious Mithrond day and they passed much traffic coming and going along the north road to the city. The companions entered the city and crossed over the bridge heading towards the Outer Quarter. On entering the district it became clear that not all areas within Bard's gate were the same, the Outer Quarter had many burnt out and destroyed buildings, many of those is better condition were ramshackle however, looking as though they had been built only fairly recently and pretty quickly. As they turned north in the district they came upon a man putting up posters, he announced himself as Hanly Grouse, father of Uelle Grouse, one of the missing girls and seen on the front page of this week's Lyre Valley Beholder. he implored the party to aid him and find his missing daughter. He had little helpful information to impart but informed the party that Uelle had been down near the Docks when she went missing.

The party continued up towards the northern part of the district and popped into the Constable's Station opposite Founders Park to make enquiries. However they received short-shrift from the sergeant on duty who made it clear to the party that he did not need help finding the girls and that they 'were bound to turn up at some point'! When pressed, he did tell the party that all of the missing girls had disappeared near the docks and that someone heard music playing during this time, also that a gondola may have been seen around the same time. Having found various quests and lines of enquiry throughout the city, the party headed back towards Turlin's Well to plan their next move.

Character(s) interacted with

Hanly Grouse, father of Uelle Grouse,
Zedicha,
Erlend, Burgher of the Caretaker’s Guild,
High Guardian Perinor,
Romulus Peverell, portly, red-faced merchant,
Fern Proudfoot, halfling female, grim-faced but wearing colourful clothes,
Beedle Runcorn, human male townsfolk,
Mysterious small hooded figure.