Session 12 - A Morning About Town
General Summary
When last we left our heroes...
The Crying Mermaid was quiet save for the occasional sounds of munching as our heroes sat down to eat breakfast together. A mere 48 hours had passed since they had sat here before - but that first breakfast at the mermaid felt like a lifetime ago. So much had happened since then, and in the forge of battle, death cults, and a daring dragonborn rescue, a new adventuring party began to take its first steps. After a bunch of discussion (and some sick Lute of Chaos shredding by Slappa) the group decided to split up so they could accomplish everything they needed to do, and made plans to meet up again at the tavern for lunch.Arindorf
Arindorf made his way down to the market and commercial district to try and find buyers for his herbs and the fancy music box the group had found in the high priest quarters of the death cult temple. While he didn't do well with the herbs, he did manage to get about 2100 gold pieces for the music box. With a giant bag jangling over his shoulder, the ranger carefully made his way back to The Crying Mermaid to split up the loot with the rest of the gang.Flaar
The Tiefling, awash in new magical items and books, holed himself up in his tavern room for the morning to try and see what he could learn. After several hours of study, he was able to identify all the magic items, and sifted through massive amounts of text to find a couple necromancy spells he thought he would be able to learn given the right time and materials. As he was reading through the books he found, Flaar began to notice that a lot of them seemed to be devoted to something called "The Eye of the Kraken." A great item of possibly necromatic power, it was said to be hidden in an unknown secure location, some sort of tower in the middle of the ocean.Glitz & Slappa
Glitz had taken a moment at The Crying Mermaid to find Diana and ask her about Ariel. Diana wasn't sure when the proprietor would be back at the inn, as she was out looking for her missing son Eric Jr. Slappa decided to tag along with Glitz and the two of them set out to find a place where they might be able to find more information about Eric Jr. A place bustling with all kinds of activities and goings-on. A place where the youths of Runswick might congregate. A place like Düv & Büsters. Upon arriving at the magical arcade, they talked briefly with Viram, one of the staff members, who couldn't give them much information beyond the fact that he hadn't seen Eric around in well over a month. "You know who may know, though, is his friend over there. Pilac! Come here a second." "What do you want?" Pilac began, clomping over from an arcade game. "Wait, Slappa, is that you?" After some conversation with Pilac, Glitz and Slappa learned that Eric had gotten in a huge fight with his mom, borrowed 10gp from Pilac, saying he needed it to buy his way into some "new group" in town. "I don't know anything about it, just that he said he was heading to some caves at the end of town. Said something about a religious group. If you find him, tell him he owes me 10 gold coins."Marcel & Trickles
Marcel and Trickles offered to be the group representatives to check in with King Elrin and give him an update. They made their way to Runswick Castle, where a guard started to go into the spiel about how busy the king was before Korinn appeared and cut him off. "Shut your gob, Heath! This is not your concern. Come in, come in. Let me get you to the king! Glad to see you both alive." Once in the throne room, Trickles and Marcel explained to the king what had happened in the caves far beneath the castle. Elrin, though grateful that the nightly noises had stopped and he was able to sleep again, was disappointed that the entire group had not come to report and seemed uninterested in offers of the party's continued help. Elrin and Korrin quickly made plans to dispatch a group of the Monarch's Guard to go down and find the treasure and finish clearing things out. It became fairly obvious that the king considered his business with the adventurers concluded. As Marcel and Trickles turned to leave, a guard approached Marcel and handed him a tin with a note sealed to the top. "This was left here for you." The wax seal immediately identified it as coming from Athene Whitroar, and Marcel quickly opened it to reveal a batch of Athene's famous shortbread cookies - "She must be stress baking again." - and a missive from his mother with an important request for the adventuring party.Together Again
As everyone re-convened at The Crying Mermaid for lunch, they were shocked to find Ariel and Eric Jr back in the tavern safe and sound! They learned from Eric that when they cleared out the temple, everyone just kind of left. Eric didn't know anything about Janhara or any more about what the cult had been working on. Semi-suspiciously, the kid didn't have his family ring on him that Glitz had been told would identify him (he mentioned that it had been taken from him when he joined the cult). But Ariel was certain this was her son and thanked the party profusely for anything they might have done that helped bring him back to her, and offered them free room and board at the Mermaid any time they needed it. Back at their corner both, the group caught each other up on what happened during each of their excursions, distributed the gold from the music box sale, munched on some cookies shared by Marcel, and discussed what they should do next. The Dragon's Tear, even tucked away in Flaar's pockets, continued to make everyone feel slightly uneasy. Trickles made the case that they set off on a new adventure. "That warlock is still running around, but we have the Dragon's Tear, so he can't raise the great gold dragon as long as we have that. I vote we see if we can get to that tower and grab this Eye of the Kraken thing, get another powerful item out from under his radar." "Well, if we want to go to sea," Marcel continued, "I have something that could help with that." He shared the details of his mother's letter and explained that she potentially had a job for them. They would just need to meet up with her at The Siren's Call merchant fleet headquarters in Dockside as soon as they could. Everyone thought this was a great idea and began to make plans to head that way. "We really should do something about that gem," Glitz remarked. "It didn't do this whole 'feeling weird' thing when it was inside Boner - or in that magic bag, come to think of it." "Yeah, didn't we leave that bag behind in the castle treasury room?" asked Flaar. So, after making a brief plan on how to get that bag back, the group moved together back to Runswick Castle, where Trickles masterfully distracted Korinn in the courtyard for a minute so Glitz's owl, Gig, could quietly fly into the castle and grab the bag. Moving back to the mainland, the group found a secluded spot where they could look at the bag. Everyone could tell it was a Bag of Holding, but it gave everyone a sense of unease, like there was something not quite right about its magic. Flaar took all the gemstones he had been carrying and put them into the bag. As soon as The Dragon's Tear went back into the bag, that nauseous, uneasy feeling everyone had been experiencing went away. Their mission accomplished, the group stopped by the commercial district to spend some of their money. Slappa and Glitz got swashbuckler-style rapiers for their ocean adventure, Flaar grabbed some spell ingredients, and Trickles tried to give his last 100 gold pieces to Ariel, who insisted that she couldn't take it and eventually insisted she would just hold it for the halfling until he needed it. "I owe YOU for finding my son, you know. This is now your home away from home, Trickles. You and all your friends." After swinging by Düv & Büsters so Glitz could give Pilac the 10gp Eric owed him, the party continued eastward to Dockside, walking through the busy narrow streets as buildings began to stick closer and closer together and the smell of salt and fish began to permeate the air. Finally, they stood in front of the largest building in the district, looking up at a gilded sign with the figure of a merfolk holding a conch shell. They had arrived at The Siren's Call.Rewards Granted
- 2100gp
- Free Room & Board at The Crying Mermaid
- Flaar - up to 3 necromancy spells, the total levels of which must be equal to or less than 5
Missions/Quests Completed
Clearing out Runswick Castle for King Elrin
Created Content
My Dear Marcel: Hopefully this note finds you well and your friends have not gotten into too much trouble. I heard rumors that you were on an errand for King Elrin...something abotu that nice tribe of Dragonborn outside the city. I have sent this message to request that you and your new friends come meet me at our offices at the docks at your earliest convenience. It occurred to me when hearing that you had assembled a band of "adventurers" that I may also have an opportunity for you and your friends. As you know, we have been having considerable issues lately with a mysterious new group of pirates and I believe I may finally have a lead on their base of operations. I look forward to speaking with you and presenting your band of adventurers my proposal. I think it will be well worth their time! With love, your mother,
Athene
Characters Interacted with:
Diana Gaunt
Viram, staff member at Düv & Büsters
Pilac, Eric Jr's friend
Korinn Firhound
King Elrin
Ariel Sebastian
Eric Sebastian Jr
Athene Whitroar (via letter)
Viram, staff member at Düv & Büsters
Pilac, Eric Jr's friend
Korinn Firhound
King Elrin
Ariel Sebastian
Eric Sebastian Jr
Athene Whitroar (via letter)