Session 19: Selune Stirrings and Hitting the Shops

General Summary

Summary: 3 pts, plus a bonus point for tracking effects in R20.

On the way back to Stonebridge

Leucis and Maya

• Review of Domains and Pantheons, notably the story of the Death of Celestian and how gods are formed
• Sending spells to Nock got no response
• A Sending to Harridra Flintchip about the recent divine visit
• A Sending to an Ironmere refugee near Grayhill to check in
• Leucis now casts Leomund's Tiny Hut during long rests.

Harb

• Harb completes his drawings of the Sun Carving for Kolvonnin during the journey.

Woodday, 1st of Leafbreak

Upon returning to town

Leucis

Leucis heads to the Temple of Selune and turns in early as there's the First Light of the New Moon service in the morning.

Maya

Maya has made arrangements to stay at the moon temple. But before he beds down for the evening, he swings by the Stonebridge Docks in case there is a potential source for new map information. There's not a ship in at the moment and the dock workers are friendly enough, but there's not a lot of cartography information to be had.

Saf

Saf heads to The Crossed Arms and offloads the non-magical goods. The dwarf behind the counter (Brock Ironfist) gives fair value for the goods.
Saf then makes arrangements to stay at The Spotted Cap in the nicest available room, an upstairs suite of three rooms that includes a balcony and solar (for 4 gp). She takes some time to clean up, then changes into finer clothing and heads down to the common room.

Sunny

Sunny strolls to the Spotted Cap to get a room and arrange a performance. At his approach, one of the shroomfolk guards at the door ducks inside. The guard has returned by the time Sunny gets to the door, and the pair wave him inside excitedly.
Inside the inn, there's a few folks gambling and chatting, standard evening traffic. At the bar, Sunny indicates he's available to perform in return for lodging and fare - the barkeep indicates they got Sunny a gift from Roger's Bargain Basement as a sign of their appreciation.
Three shroomfolk come out of the back carrying a theorbo (effectively a bass lute) between them. The offer it up to Sunny, and when he gives it a test strum he can feel there's some portion of the sound that he can't actually hear. The bard takes a few moments to check the tune on the instrument, and while it wasn't fully tuned, there's still some subsonic sensation to it when it's played, as well as the sensation of magic present. The myconids express their hope that Sunny will use it in his performances as it seems like his sort of instrument - the tabaxi gratefully accepts their magnanimous gift.
Sunny carries it up to his room to Identify the theorbo.

Harb

Harb starts off at the sun temple, but gets a little bored and decides to find a card game at the Spotted Cap. He spends some time getting a feel for the townspeople through the course of the game. One of the dockworkers at the table seems a bit more skilled than his pile of cash would indicate; conversation tends towards how much better life in town is (even with its problems) than trying to scrape by in a less safe place.

Kolvonnin

Kolvonnin starts putting together a list of things that will need fixed in the structure of the Temple of Pelor so he can hire some laborers to put the place to rights. While he's at it, he pushes aside some of the ruined furniture and detritus.

The common room at the Cap

During his card game, Harb buys a few rounds, and the server asks if he's looking for cap or stem beer. Sensing his confusion, the shroomfolk server explains that they brew a few different shroomfolk beers, and since it's the start of fall, the "stem" beer is available. Harb elects to try the new stuff, and the town guard at the table in particular seems excited at having the stem beer. Harb takes a pull of the new beer, and determines it's got a bit more kick than the usual and a lot of body to it, like a meal almost.
Saf comes downstairs and makes something of an entrance, attracting no small amount of attention. She enjoys a meal with some wine, then gets a table going for a dice game. She uses her significant skills to bluff her opponents, winning but not humiliating them. One of Harb's opponents leaves his table to play at Saf's.
More people show up at the inn over the course of these proceedings, as though word has gotten out that there's a good time to be had.
Sunny pulls out his new theorbo and puts on a performance; the deeper nature of the instrument means the crowd sings along a bit more. The bard pulls in 11g, 7s, 4c in his faded top hat.
Saf locates a companion for the evening and retires to her suite.
Harb, a little the worse for wear, heads back to the sun temple and takes a flask of the stem beer for Kolvonnin (the myconids did warn him that it doesn't keep well unless it's cold, so he should drink it soon). Kolvonnin is only too happy to get a cold drink after his exertions. He takes a long pull, then inquires about what it was as it was quite odd ("a unique experience for which I am grateful").

The next morning (Moonday, 2nd of Leafbreak)

The Light of the New Moon, at the Temple of Selune

Gathering for the service

• Leucis is present, naturally. He's aware of a sliver of the presence of Selune, similar in sensation but much smaller in scope than his prior experience of the goddess's aura.
• Saf parts ways with her companion, washes up a bit and heads to the service. Upon entering the temple, she gets a strange sensation of there being some unseen presence.
• Maya leaves his cell at the temple to attend the ceremony.
• Sunny drags himself, marginally conscious, to the temple.
• Kolvonnin and Harb cross the bridge and join.

During the ceremony

Harridra enters from the back of temple, gives Leucis an acknowledging nod, and starts a formal prayer to Selune as part of the ceremony. The roof of the temple becomes transparent, allowing in the early daylight and the sky outside to be viewed uninterrupted by the nearby buildings.
Leucis drifts a bit during the ceremony, feeling like he's underwater and the surroundings become somewhat distant. As Harridra mentions something about protection and guidance, the cleric can feel the presence of Selune but doesn't feel like the focus of her attention. Harridra's tone changes from long familiarity and practice to something akin to surprise.
As Harridra continues, mentioning something about Selune empowering people to do her will, Leucis feels the holy symbol at his chest grow cool and intensely heavy. He feels time slow to a halt, and it feels like the amulet is being driven into his body. After a moment he snaps back to attention, Harridra completes the ceremony and is ushered into the back of the temple by an acolyte. Leucis considers this, in its similarity to his prior experience with Selune's direct attention, and it seems both similar and different, as though he were not the object of her interest.
Leucis heads into the back to talk to Harridra. Kolvonnin excuses himself to go have a chat with the town guard captain. The rest of the party waits respectfully in the main temple.

Catchup with Harridra

Harridra is in her quarters, looking pretty worn out. She mentions having had weird dreams lately, and she felt supported by deep, cool water during the ceremony, as though her age wasn't weighing on her as it has done for some time. When the ceremony ended, that senation seemed to drop her, and she nearly collapsed under the renewed weight of the years.
Leucis mentions that his holy symbol got cold and heavy during the ceremony, and Harridra points out that it looks different than it previously did. It's more polished and seems to have changed slightly in materials, now including small silver stars. Leucis looks over Harridra, but doesn't perceive any lasting ailment or damage.
Leucis relates the story of what happened during the prior visitation. Harridra asks to see the Potion of Lunar Communion as it's a holy relic, and explains that in all her years as a follower of Selune, she's never heard of a visitation from the goddess like this. The magic that flows from her works, and legends speak of a time when very powerful people were able to interact directly with the gods, but it was never clear that these were real events as opposed to stories. This sort of thing hasn't happened in a long time if it's happened to anyone.
Leucis and Harridra consdier if there are any other major focus points for Selune's worship or moon energy, but the Llyrian Moon Facility and the Temple of Selune are the only ones they can think of. There are shrines to the moon goddess all over, but this temple is the largest and most elaborate one as far as either of them knows.
Leucis inquires about Celestian - Harridra doesn't seem especially familiar with him. If he still has worshippers, she doesn't know of a centralized church for them.
Taking his leave, Leucis indicates he's likely to be in town for a few days yet. Harridra requests that she be informed if he leaves town.

Running errands and shopping

Kolvonnin's chat with Esmarl
Kolvonnin hires a crew to clean up the sun temple
The bulk of the party waits for Kolvonnin outside Roger's Bargain Basement, and note that there's an empty wagon out in front of the shop.

Chatting with Roger and shopping at the Bargain Basement

The main part of the shop has a table with goods for sale on it, which is far more organized than is usually the case in this place. Roger limps out from the back and inquires about Nock . Leucis explains that they don't know what exactly happened to him, and that he's not been contactable via magic, either.
Leucis further inquires about why Roger told Saf what the party was up to. Roger explains that she was asking about what had been happening that was interesting, and by far the most interesting thing in recent history in his opinion was that a warforged had come into town, and then some more warforged parts turned up, and the magic moon lens, and the scrolls full of research notes about making warforged. He didn't think of anything wrong about relating this information to someone who came asking.
Leucis replies that the group didn't appreciate being snuck up on. Roger seems surprised by this, saying Saf didn't mention wanting to sneak up on anyone. The cleric suggests a little more discretion in the future, or giving people a note. Harb throws in that while Saf isn't an issue, and that they trust Roger, there's concern about him being too trusting of other people, especially since Nock has been kidnapped.
Roger seems a bit abashed by the possibility that his openness about the group might have brought misfortune on them. Harb indicates that the thing to do now is to work out how to locate and recover Nock.
Changing the subject, Saf inquires if anyone else has asked about her or the rest of the party. Roger considers for a bit, explains that several folks in town have had a few questions (since they knew Nock stayed at Roger's shop for some time). There was someone else that came by a few weeks back, asking about Nock. She was notable because she seemed to have bodyguards or mercenaries; usually people with that kind of protection survive.
Roger gets a little sidetracked mentioning that some items in the shop have been sold to him multiple times. Maya requests clarification on this point, and Roger explains that one person will sell it to him, he then sells it to a new person, and some months later that same item gets sold to him by yet another person, who found the other purchaser dead somewhere. Saf asks if these items are discounted, and Roger says they often are if only because there's an air of bad luck about them. Maya seems to think that this should weird Roger out in a way it doesn't seem to; he counters that bad things happen to people all the time, it's not necessarily something nefarious at play.
Speaking of things turning up, Roger mentions that he's been reorganizing the shop. Since Leucis left with the Llyrian Charm he didn't have a relable way to read the research scrolls, so he spoke to Harridra and had the Moonlit Lens relocated to the temple with the documents (since the temple can make the ceiling clear to allow in moonlight). He's also committed to finding his collection of ledgers (as requested by Kolvonnin) but hasn't had a lot of luck in that regard. He decided he needed some storage space, so he cut a deal with the shroomfolk: they come remove/store a wagonload of items he's inventoried, and he uses the extra space to organize the shop. As a result, he has some items on that front table that aren't buried under anything else.
Roger knows those items seem well made or magical, but not their specifics, so if the group has a way of making those determinations, they'd be better off using it than his guesses. Saf suggests that they could Identify the items for a 10% discount on the ones they purchase, and Roger accepts that suggestion. He also agrees to purchase the scrolls the party is offloading (4000gp for the Fabricate and 250gp for the Dragon's Breath).
While the group starts eying the goods and Sunny gears up to Identify them, Saf steers their attention back around to the mystery woman who was looking into the party's activities. The only recollection that the party has was that one of the farmers from the town's outskirts mentioned her (see Interlude: Leucis Downtime, but it might be useful to make further inquiries later on.
Leucis asks Roger for some spell components, Kolvonnin looks for a pair of sconces, and the rest of the party heads on to the arms shop to check their inventory.

Shopping at The Crossed Arms

There's a different dwarf behind the counter today. Saf makes a deal with him about Identify-ing for a 10% discount.

Chasing old leads

Saf decides to ask around a bit about this person who was looking for the party, posing as a big fan of theirs. The trail is pretty cold, but Saf is able to turn up a few potentially interesting points:

• She stayed in town a day or two, at the nicest room in the Spotted Cap.
• No one saw her leave town, so they don't know where she went.
• Someone said they saw her at the graveyard.
• One of the myconids at the Cap recalls she checked in under the name Sefra. She had guards or hired muscle, but they didn't stay at the inn.
• She gave off the feeling that she didn't have any concerns about money, seemed friendly and personable. The shroomfolk relaying the story does recall that she asked if they cooked with mushrooms, which stuck out in his mind as a bit weird.

Saf then taps a contact of hers (via owl), offering 10g reward for information matching the name/description she has. They don't have anything immediately but say they will get back to her. Saf returns to the rest of the group and relays her findings and that she's tapped some resources for potentially more information.
Leucis siezes on the fact that she visited the cemetary - maybe she knows someone from here and was visiting a grave, or was from here originally? Saf muses about which religious order runs the local graveyard, and Leucis explains that it's largely handled more by the town guard than anyone else (while the Church of Selune is willing to provide services when requested and does some minimal maintenance, but they don't want to come across as the only game in town).

OOC discussion: Party War Chest

Three options presented:

1. Even shares among players with an additional share for the party fund.
2. Party fund gets 50%, the rest split evenly among the party members.
3. Donations to the party fund.

Combinations of these approaches would be possible. The general consensus ends up around a split between #1 and #3; the full details are posted in Splitting Loot. A few party members throw in some base cash and use the funds to acquire diamonds for the Revivify spell.

Next steps:

1. Consider that Sefra may be looking for the party.
2. Hear back from Saf's contact about Sefra.
3. Ask the town guard and/or the temple acolytes about Sefra in the graveyard.
4. Share theories on what the Domains and Pantheons information may mean.
5. Read up on Deep Rumble for background story things and any mechanics questions (Heather).
6. Distribute feather tokens?
7. Discuss where to go next.

Session Feedback

Eddy: Wheeling and dealing could happen off camera. Nice not having to fight stuff, going from combat/danger to civilian life. Seeing people get hooked up with stuff is nice.
Heather: The Kabong-er is nice.
James: Out of the session for half. Inquiry about item upgrades. May need to think of some mundane equipment to snag.
Jeremy: First time goods were on offer and so on, so it being a bit cumbersome and/or long is reasonable. Another magic weapon in the party is good. Party war chest is likely to smooth the journey some.
Matt: Too much spotlight, and I don't feel good about it.
Meg: Shiny holy symbol. Celestian thing is interesting, especially since the holy symbol shows stars now.
John: Shopping trip sessions are always fun.

Rewards Granted

Loot (purchased or otherwise acquired):

Harb:

• Boots of Gyromight
• Signal flares (red, blue, green)
• Ring of protection

Kolvonnin:

• A pair of everburning torches
• Adamantine plate armor

Leucis:

• An ornate upgrade of the Order of the Rising Twilight - Holy Symbol
• Gossip's Mirror
• Diamonds for Revivify

Maya:

• Amulet of the Beastmaster
• Feather tokens
• Potion of WaterBreathing

Saf:

• Immovable Rod
• Potion of Water Breathing

Sunny:

• Deep Rumble
• Silver Horn of Valhallans