Session 25: Grayhill Investigations Part 3

General Summary

Summary: 2 points

In and around Grayhill

The party settles in for the night at the Old Manor.

Ironday, 9th of Leafbreak

After a hearty breakfast, the group decides to tangle with freeing the boarochs first. So they head to the circus and meet up with Sunny.

Friendly angry pig goes for a swim

The group discusses how they're going to get the beast across the river, since it originally hails from west and south of Grayhill. There's some discussion on whether the boarochs needs to breathe, whether it could be walked through town without an issue, or if it may be able to swim. The preliminary plan is to see how it acts once Maya casts Animal Friendship and adjust the plan from there.
The group meets up with Sunny and Drazhan and requests that the beastmaster be on hand to assist in case things go sideways. Maya casts Speak with Animals as a ritual, and confers with the boarochs (dubbed "James" for his foul attitude). It seems enthused about returning to the hunt. Maya explains that they will free the boarochs, but it can't murder its way through town or the party. The beast doesn't seems to have a solid understanding of this. It does verify that it can cross water, though.
Maya engages the Animal Friendship spell, and lets the creature gather his scent. The druid gets a few other party members to do the same; Kolvonnin is declared a "hunt mate" and the boarochs accepts this. Reasoning that the others will likely be fine, Maya calls Ol'Harb over. The boarochs gives the oldster's hand a sniff, and seems confused at how he smells, declaring "This one seems dead. But it does not rot?" Maya makes a mental note of this but doesn't follow up on it immediately.
Maya explains to the boarochs that they will be walking through an area of many animals and people. The boarochs inquires (somewhat hopefully) if these are prey, and the druid explains that no, they are not. It takes an effort to convice the boarochs that this is a good idea; Sunny backs up the druid with a bardic inspiration. The beast is confused but relatively compliant.
The party makes an entourage for the beast as it leaves - Kol and Harb walking ahead to make way, Saf toward the back to keep stragglers and the curious away. The boarochs itself scares off a few looky-loos and the druid has to keep it focused on leaving rather than chowing down. The group is able to leave the circus without incident and bids a farewell to Drazhan.
Turning west, the party herds the creature further outside of town. A few travelers spot the group but keep their distance. Maya convinces the boarochs to cross the river (with a hog-paddle) and the druid shifts into a two-headed crocodile to go along.
Once across the river, the beast and the druid move further from town before parting ways. The boarochs confirms that Maya is no longer leading, then heads off at high speed. Maya shifts to dire wolf form and heads back to the river. He can see Kolvonnin across the river, so he signals his intention to return to town to the paladin. Rather than traveling the significant extra distance to a gate or entering through the gate, Maya shifts into a small lizard to climb. Kolvonnin instead heaves his bulk over the wall with relative ease.
The party reconvenes at the Old Manor and enjoys lunch after their endeavors. After lunch they head to the Frosted Library.

Conferring with the librarian

Entering through the frosted metal door of the library, the group notes the chill of the air inside, significantly colder and drier than the air outside. Mia introduces herself to Maya, and seems to recognize the surname Bandersnatch (though she can't place where she read it). Maya is somewhat taken aback by Mia's apparent knowledge of Hearthstone and makes a note to look into what information is available about his home town.
There's a short discussion about stirge soup (see Session 22) and Maya demonstrates the size of toad required to feed on stirges using wild shape and speaks to Mia telepathically. The druid is confused to discover Mia can respond in kind, but she indicates that speaking in that way is rude in company.
At the behest of the party, Mia sets a bell above the door to ring upon opening and relocates the group to a more private room intended for study. It's got a table, a few shelves, and book wheel. Strewn about the place in various states of open are several books. Mia indicates that the library in general is pretty quiet, and this room in particular is about as private as it gets.
Leucis inquires if Mia can be trusted with knowledge of dangerous secrets and if she is comfortable being party to potentially hazardous knowledge. The librarian takes on a solemn look and responds:

I believe strongly in the power of knowledge. If I didn't, I wouldn't spend my life here with the accumulated writings of a thousand other minds. But understand this: there are great and terrible things possible in this world, and we only understand a few of them. Spreading what you know without thinking carefully can be extremely dangerous.

She hesitates for a moment. Several people get the impression that there's something specific she's not elaborating on. She continues:

I can't know what the consequences of sharing this knowledge with me will be. I've learned a few things that may have been better kept hidden. But there's no putting the djinn back in the bottle.

Having established that Mia is on board and trustworthy, the group fields a few of the questions to see if she has any outright knowledge.

Reviewing the list of questions

• Maps:
  • Mia admits that many of the books in the library (and in the world in general) have names that don't seem to refer to any actual place, and that many of the names of places that she knows aren't in the books. She has a theory that there are two sets of names: the names from before (when the books were written) and the names in use now. Many maps don't match up to any known place, and some that seem to have different names on them than the ones in use.
  • Grayhill has a name that Mia can't read, despite claiming "generally speaking, if it's written I can read it."
• Incomplete records:
  
  • Like the experience the party has had, Mia explains that words, paragraphs, passages and sometimes single characters are missing from the various records she's seen.
  • Leucis used the Llyrian Charm to produce moonglow, but it doesn't produce any additional text. Mia remarks on the unusual sigil and its properties.
• Llyrians: They were into unusual forms of magic, but Mia doesn't know much about this organization from memory.
• Warforged:
  • When the Llyrian Moon Facility experiences are relayed to Mia, she takes an immediate interest in a living warforged, a facility that was apparently making warforged, and a kidnapped person. She doesn't immediately react to scriptsilver or wolfsbane. She then gets distracted by the idea that they had a library where there are still books that might be recovered.
• Herbalism: A Compendium:
  • Mia considers this an impressive volume with a lot of potentially useful knowledge, but it's poorly organized.
  • Mia indicates that since the book originates in the Llyrian facility and their knowledge of magic is considerable, it's possible the herbalism information may be similarly high quality.
  • Mia offers to have it collated, transcribed and bound so it can be more easily used, but it will take some time - weeks at least.
• Sunhaven:
  • Mia is aware that there was an order of Pelor paladins who were influential here.
  • They were known for being fantasic craftsmen of unusual magic, not unlike the Llyrians in that regard.
• The Order of the Sacred Crystal: Mia doesn't recognize this group name.
• Sons of Dawn: Mia doesn't recognize this group name.
• Alchemy:
  • Mia indicates she doesn't have much working knowledge of the field, largely because the discoveries made by individuals were often closely guarded and not distributed.
  • She suggests finding an interested person to see if they have ideas that they're willing to share.
  • Mia suggests a visit to the Glaciery, but warns that the gnomes there (the Swizzlebop clan) are a little "weird."
  • Most likely the group will run into Chaswyck, who is a little "brusque."
  • Breslyn is the tinkerer of the group.

Saf decides her efforts might be put to better use at the library than with the tinkerers, so she assists Mia in pulling volumes for review in line with the party's list of questions.

Down at the not-quite-ice house

Set at the base of the town's eponymous hill, a cluster of slapdash-looking buildings huddle together. It's a noisy environment, and it's crowded with various (well-organized) goods, materials and substances. Toward the back is a low counter with a gnome on a stool, who looks up briefly, taps the sign behind him (about the 2 gold deposit to rent a cold bar) and goes back to his reading. The more observant party members realize that the high deposit causes most people to simply leave.
The group has a quick back and forth with the gnome behind the counter, who verifies that he is indeed Chaswyck but has no interest in them unless they're looking to rent a cold bar. Harb inquires if there's anything else they sell. Chaswyck fires back that if they had anything else, they'd tell people they were selling it, they'd have a price posted, and so on. Leucis asks if he is skilled in alchemy - Chasqyck mutters briefly into a small, wide horn he pulls from behind the counter. He waves the group off to one side of the room.

WHIRRRR KA-CHUNK

A gnome drops from the ceiling on something spongy atop a pile of junk, dismounts expertly and inquires "Someone asked about alchemy?" Maya responds in shock "Gnomes fall from the skies? What the hell! I didn't know it rained gnomes!" The gnome waves a hand dismissively. "Walking places takes a while, no one has time for that." This gnome seems less grouchy, but definitely has an air about her of being busy. When her busyness is remarked upon and the possilibity of speaking to someone else comes up, she declares that no one will know more about alchemy than her. Leucis introduces himself and starts to explain that the group has been to what seemed to be an alchemy facility, and the gnome cuts in to ask if they retrieved anything. Leucis produces the schematic for sunrods and she takes an immediate interest. After a few moments inspection, she decides it might actually work. She demands, "Where did you find this? Was there anything else? How much do you want for it?"
There's some back and forth about how much she knows about alchemy. She admits that much of it is still mysterious

"Alchemy is kind of a lost art. I know some things about it, I figured out a few things about it, I can do some things with it, but I can't claim to understand it. But I understand it better than most."

Harb inquires if she is Breslyn. "That's what people call me, yeah. Breslyn von Swizzlebop." Sunny remarks that it's an interesting name, and Breslyn starts to explain the long and storied history of the Swizzlebop clan, causing several people nearby to lose focus trying to keep track of the complex story. Harb is undeterred and starts to roll up the schematic.
Breslyn stops blathering her family history to stop him, explaining that she thought they were going to make a deal. Harb counters that they have shared quite a bit, but she hasn't shown she's the person to give this kind of knowledge to. Speaking rapidly, Breslyn outlines that alchemy is an art of many disciplines, most of the stuff done with alchemy was kept secret, so rediscovering it is difficult. But if you have stuff made with alchemy it is likely possible to re-engineer the process of creating alchemical items. The schematic, though, is a rare find - usually that sort of thing is hidden well and not found - she's very interested in where it came from.
Harb laments that it's unlikely that the place the schematic came from will have anything else in it. He further inquires if Breslyn is in a position to make a deal on these rare and unusual items and materials - she indicates that the family at large functions as a unit that allows her to run her lab, so a deal can likely be made but it wouldn't be with her. She's willing to look at anything and potentially replicas of whatever she can work out how to produce, pretty cheap but not strictly pro bono.
Harb warns Breslyn that the return of alchemy and the things it produces to common availability may draw the ire of powerful people. Breslyn seems unfazed by this possibility, since useful services are always in demand and new capabilities allow for amazing things to happen. She expands:

Just because there's a dangerous use of something doesn't mean there's not a not dangerous use of it. Like, those cold bars could really hurt people, but you can't swing them around really easy, so most people don't use them for that.

Harb muses about the potential for weapons made of cold bar material, and Breslyn brainstorms on how to make that work, some sort of carrying mechanism for the trip through the hill. Maya seems confused by the mention of the hill, so Breslyn clarifies that the bars are run through a slot in the hill, and come out the other end very, very cold.
Harb asks what sort of deal could be made to provide interesting items to research. Breslyn admits her primary motive is curiosity, but her brother Alvyn von Swizzlebop is the deal maker of the family so she will defer to his judgment on the money side of things. The group figures that Saf and Alvyn should have a conversation about how the money and goods would change hands.
Several people give Breslyn items to inspect.

Alchemical possibilities analysis:

• Signal flare: Breslyn sniffs the flare closely, nods and says "I've got most of the materials for this. You need more of these?"
• Potion of Stinking Cloud:
  • Breslyn remarks on the thinness of the glass; Maya explains that it is thrown and breaks, produces a thick cloud of stench.
  • The gnome says she's likely to be able to make something very similar, but it will take a while because she can't open it without spoiling it, so she needs to be pretty sure she's close to the right formula before she opens it.
• Tiefling horn polish:
  • Breslyn pops the lid on the tin, sniffs it gingerly, then dabs a little on her finger and puts it in her mouth.
  • "Weird flavor. What are you supposed to do with it?" Leucis explains that it's a horn polish.
  • Breslyn indicates that would explain all the wax. Metal filings, wax, wood gum... she says it would need to cure for a while.
• Sunrods:
  • Kolvonnin produces a sunrod to go with the schematic that the tinkerer has already seen.
  • "Oh, you have a working model of that. That's cool."
  • Breslyn inquires about a spent sunrod, and Kolvonnin provides a description.
  • With a working model, some lifecycle data, and the schematic, Breslyn is very confident she can produce these, she just doesn't know the details of the time or cost involved.

The group decides to come back later with Saf to make arrangements for how the deals will work. Breslyn seems disappointed, but doesn't linger on it very long before grabbing a rope in a corner and shooting upward into the ceiling through a hatch.
The party decides to regroup at the library to collect Saf. Saf has noted that Mia is using a spectral hand in addition to fetching things for herself, the movements of the hand seem to match up with the glove she's wearing. Saf also notes that the library's cold atmosphere would probably have gotten uncomfortable after the amount of time she's been there if she hadn't been moving around.
Mia, hearing the bell ring at the door, comes out from the shelves to inquire what has happened. When Maya indicates they're there for Saf, Mia closes her eyes, motions with her gloved hand, and the spectral hand guides Saf out of the aisle she's on towards the front. Maya explains that the gnomes are looking to make a deal with the group about producing alchemical items; Saf seems intrigued by the possibilities.

OOC discussion about priorities among listed questions

This discussion produced the prioritized list for Mia's Library Research.

Next steps:

1. Scheduling adjustment means there another session next week (November 27).
2. Delivery of cold weather gear.
3. Work out the details of the deal between Alvyn and Saf.
4. Kolvonnin needs to arrange some Sendings with Leucis.
5. DM homework:
   • Generate "priority" answers from Mia for the list of questions.
   • Figure out what Maya finds from the cartographers.
   • Add alternate names for places to articles.

Session Feedback

Eddy: If people want to wallflower, no big deal. Beginning was a little slow, but we had a big break. Once we hit the groove it picked up nicely.
Heather: Fine. Not as much for Sunny this time, but that's fine.
James: Fun releasing the boarochs. Interesting problem to solve with some fun choices. Two to three people discussing is about normal.
Jeremy: Boarochs had some good layered tones with the plot, likely to come up again later in another context. Almost like going to a new place opens new shops.
Matt: Mayhem would have been fun, but it wasn't profitable this time. Saf didn't have a lot invested in the freeing. Mia stuff felt like it should have been sooner. Pity you can't be in more places at once. Figure out what to leave and do the deals.
Meg: Pulling teeth to get people involved in planning what to do.
John: