S2E7 Session Report

small neighborhood. 15ish cottages. one of the three mainways off of that leads to a dark, hard to notice turn. looks like a maintenance tunnel. it ends with a little fountain paved in stones, a moonroof, and a few doors. it looks like a small group of people live here. haku leads us into one of the doors: a dingy series of chambers bigger than an apartment. mostly open floor plan. feels like an old office or hiedout. doesn't seemed like it's currently being used or inhabited. haku says that this has been his secret location. only he has access in, except us now too. says there's only one way in/out. he's known about it for years, but never told theo about it. she asks how he knew about the statue. he says the dimir sent out as close as they have to an APB to be on the lookout for Essan and the staff. mathius benzani ran into us at the palace. benzani reported to the dimir that he had a lead on Essan, and the information was trickled down. Haku pieced it together and came to help. essan thanks haku for taking us to the safehouse. asks if she can stay there indefinitely. haku says that we all can, and not to bring anyone else here. the way the spell works: if someone walks into the alleyway, they don't see the door. the door is only visible if you're brought to it by someone who knows about it. if someone follows us in here and watches us go in the door, they can now get in. theo and da'har discuss his control of the tentacles. she starts teaching him tai chi. dream asks essan about peren and the triskelion. he got a hold of it because he was a hobbiest into puzzles. essan was trailing him for info on the artifact, and then found out that he actually had the artifact. she found him at his home in broboros and just wanted to talk. when she got there, he had already solved the puzzle. he seemed to be manic and was too excited to listen to her about the gravity of the situation. when we finished the puzzled, it caused his transformation. she says that each of the signets were created by high level mages and artisans in the guilds, and reportidly tapped directly into the magics of the guild leaders at the time. the guild leader of the rakdos was and in the demon lord rakdos who lives underground in the 10th district. he's still alive and may be a good source of information. he's at the rakdos guildhall of rixmadi. deep underneath the gordos nightclub. theo brings up how to fool the freespars into thinking we've returned the staff. dream says she can fake it's magical aura. essan wants her to teach her that spell. so the tentative plan is to create a fake and then turn that in to the freespars. dream stays with essan. sylas goes to the office to report in and then home. da'har reports to arafen. theo and haku talk as she heads to the freespar mansion to speak with madame opharris.
da'har goes to speak with arafen. theo thanks haku after a long, quiet walk together. then she goes to the freespar manor and long rests. at 11pm when she wakes up, she asks for reports from a lacky. the freespar daughter had some friends over in the evening, guards watched over them. the family is in the manor and don't have any planned guests. she goes to speak with madame opharris. says she spoke with great uncle rhizeris in the graveyard, and mentioned the staff. rhizeris says that he didn't even remember the staff, which is suppsoed to be a family heirloom. so she asks nuemeror, who says that he bought it in a rare item auction because a rival wanted it. jacarhy took an interest in it. nuemeror says that da'har may still be useful though, and that they want to keep him under their contract. she tells theo to break the staff in half when she finds it. theo tells the security staff that she'll do regular check-ins and to leave reports in her room, but that she won't be staying there as much. theo picks up some non-perishables and blankets and such on her way back to the hideout.
sylas goes to the guild pact and to gordy's. gordy isn't home. he leaves a note that says he wants to fight for money and a shopping list (with dossier items). wants to talk to the man that gave him the scar. then goes back to his office. talks to filock, his boss. tells him a vague version of the story, but leaves out essan and the party. says that he's working with the azorius. asks for equipment, which he's granted. filock says that sylas needs to figure out how the thieves got nassius' credentials to steal the staff. sylas rests and then goes to fight. wins 1/3 fights. then goes to talk to gordy. asks if he's heard any rumors about items matching the signets' descriptions. someone high up in the rakdos heard something about the triskelion, and now people are asking around about peren.
theo doesn't know how orzhov debts work exactly, but there are some rules. she updates the party and da'har about their intrest in da'har and the life debt he may owe. they need to look into how to get out of an orzhovian debt. she knows that da'har was manipulated into responsibility for jacarys' death, and that's why he was trying to make up that "debt" by returning the staff. But he isn't actually at fault. So there may be a loophole.
da'har still feels like the task at hand is avoiding the dimir taking hold of all of the signets.
dream asks haku about his stance on justice. feels like he has to be brought in. tells him about the signets and the dimir's plans. they discuss whats on the line. after theo was out of the dimir, haku abandoned her. she didn't expect him to defect, kill assassins, give them a safehouse, etc. he looks defeated, and like he really doesn't want to be on board with this. she doesn't even know what he's talking about when he says that he owes her one. but after hearing that theo's soul is on the line, he asks what he can do to help. sylas asks for leads.
essan asks to bring in mizzix for help, but sylas warns that he may be watched by the dimir. essan asks for research on the history of the signets. theo asks about common magical pacts and who they work. the azorius have pact magic, takes high level mages. sylas explains how pact magic works. theo wants some sort of magical assurance that no one can betray each other. da'har draws all of us on a piece of paper and says that that can be our pact. theo pulls out her dagger, slices her hand open, and swears to not betray or harm anyone and to protect the dimir from getting all 10 signets. da'har pulls out his sword and slices his hand open. sylas uses his javelin. dream uses a letter opener. essan slices herself behind her ear, and comments that she is glad that she's not alone in this. haku says ya sure, and does the bare minimum. but we seem to have a team now.
theo asks haku what the fuck he's talking about
plan: bring in mizzix. research the history of the signets. dream wants to check on the book requests she made (history/whereabouts of the gauntlet and the ring), and she wants to pull some azorius strings to get some of the books back to essan. theo wants to look at the details of how orzhov life debts work, and how her and de'har could be freed. she also wants to look into pact magic. sylas wants all info that essan has about nassius ven. gustavo was nassius ven's contact in the dimir and was paying him off so that nassius could get more clout and power within the guild pact.
the party also wants to look into how to talk to the leader of rakdos, and theo wants to see if there are any old freespars that may have been around for the guild pact's creation.