S3E1 Shark Bait Zu'ah Ha Ha

General Summary

To Do:

Party needs to travel to Mercadia. Level up. Downtime. We still need to find the signet Guild Signet #8: The Necklace that we now know is worn by Mirax.

Following the Battle

In the cave, after the battle, we decide how to move forward. Kakerlake, Brocknar, and Ziljin will return to the settlement to update the council. The rak and Fire Fist Silmar Caz will take the party and Kraterellin to Mercadia. Terry doesn't want to endanger Kakerlake and the Kraul.
There is guild pact magic and necromantic magic inside of the mass on Kraterellin. They're like corticeps.
Theo tells Da'Har that she was worried about him in this fight, and he agrees that he may be getting too old for this. She suggests that he returns to the district to help Mizzix and Essan, but he says he would prefer to stay in Mercadia. Dream says that he is so friendly, no one else would be more fit to foster a relationship between the refugees and Mercadia.
We take fragments of the red gem, and Kakerlake is takign the fake signet back as proof.
Sil'mar takes us to Marisca. Dream and the Duke are on the first convoy. They land in an emergency response center. There is no apparent damage from the ooze, but there is an obvious refugee crisis as a huge population of Mercadian refugees try to settle. Da'Har, Theo, and Kraterellin are on the second trip. Lt Spern shouts for medics when he sees Terry, and Theo tells him to relax. He shoos the medics away, and Terry agrees that medics probably can't do anything for him.
Spern:

We are led in to speak with the King of Mercadia, King Zu'ah Ha. He is a figure head mainly, and is very rich, but he is by no means a tyrant. They have significant relations with the guilds, even though they aren't technically part of a guild.
The room is full with generals and politicians. They go quiet as we enter. Spern introduces us as the heroes who destroyed the blight. The Duke, Archmage Callum, and Dream exposit our travels and what we had done since leaving Mercadia. Da'Har and Kraterellin are seated at the table but are mostly just listening. Theo is leaning against the wall, keeping an eye on everyone's reactions. Everyone seems genuinely surprised by their tale.
The Duke emphasizes how wrongful Jhalros' treatment of the refugees was, and paints them as victims who need assistance. He tells them about how dangerous Mirax is. He leaves out anything about the signets, and says that we were traveling north on our own expedition. We just stopped to help. They give the King a fragment of the red jewel and show them the mark of Miraxos.
One of the people at the table gets up and whispers in the kings ear. He tells the king that it wouldn't be good to send help elsewhere when the Mercadian refugees are already struggling so much. Their biggest hurdle is that they can't easily distribute their supplies. So they need to help their own people before they can help anyone else. The Duke says that Miraxos has workers who can help them rebuild. The king is hesitant, but we ensure him that they don't need help, they just need to not be hurt. The king concedes that they will send the an envoy. We tell him that Serotine, the dryad from the Celesnian outpost, will show them to the caves.
He dismisses us to rest before we continue to talk tomorrow. Lt. Spern escorts us out, scientists collect the samples that we've brought, and then we're taken to a residential wing in the gov't facility. It's NOICE. We have attendants to help us get any medical attention, food, drinks, etc. We each have our own huge rooms with four post beds.
Kraterellin slices off the growth on his head, and since its hardened, he uses it as a shield. He settles while he sleeps, he's a swarmkeeper ranger, with fungus being his swarm.
Theo doesn't want to sleep in a huge room after that last mission, so she goes to stay in Dream's room. When she knocks on the door, Dream answers, "You're late," and welcomes her into her room. Theo makes a hamoc out of the drapes and sleeps in that.
The Duke feels right at home, asking the attendants to clean and tailor his clothes.

Later that evening:

We wake up for dinner, which is more of a feast. Before we head to the meal, Dream sends a Sending to Kakerlake to inform her about updates with the King, and that they've agreed to peace.
At dinner. there are about 200 people present in a banquet hall. There's a big cornucopia on a large center table that is full of meats and seafood and vegetables.
Da'Har and the Duke go to schmooze people at the dinner. The Duke goes to find the academics to learn about the valley where the city of Vulturi was. They say that it's like a bermuda triangle to them. No one really goes up there. The Simic Combine and the Mercadians do ecological research with the Selesnya Conclave dryads to see the biome out there. No new species, plant nor animal, have come from that area in the last 500 years, which is a bit odd. Nothing has made it a home/habitat. Da'Har goes to chat with the King's advisor that was most opposed to helping the Miraxos refugees.
Theo takes in all of the relationships in the room, to take note of dynamics between people. Big things that she picks up: The King and his advisors are on a raised platform. They have a bunch of hot women and courtesans around them. There are cliques. The military. The academics. The capitalists/merchants/tradesman (they take longer to identify). There's also an intersection of leaders, who are the top members of each cliques. She overhears many people talking about weapons manufacturing. But the Mercadian military isn't overly strong. They're a modest people with more of a national guard. But some of the most powerful people in the room seem to be weapons contractors. Sil'mar is up at the leadership table and seems tobe close to the King and his powerful advisors. When the weapons manufacturers comme to the leadership table, they always talk to Sil'mar, who is of the Boros. There are Simic and Selesnyan people present as well.
The Duke and Theo walk over to the leadership table. On our way over, we hear Da'Har talking with Lt. Spern. We are waved over by the king before we make it to Sil'mar. The table's conversation comes to a halt as we approach. The Duke asks him about Pearlhaven. He introduces him to Prof. Callum, and tells him that he's been through Mercadia a couple times before during the guild war. They excuse themselves to go speak to Sil'mar, and Theo sneaks around to eavesdrop on the King and his advisors. They're talking about the Miraxos problem more candidly than they were in front of us. They talk about Kraterellin like he's a terrifying monster. She hears that the envoy is being sent there to gain info and scout, not to create peace. The ambassador being sent is kind of an asshole. After she eavesdrops, Theo goes to join Kraterellin to show that he's not a big scary monster.
Kraterellin is hanging back along the walls, trying to test his new senses. He eavesdrop on conversations as well, catching additional discussions about the weapons manufacturing.
Dream is working to try to change public opinion about the Miraxos refugees. She is pulling on heartstrings, and trying to find the caretakers to talk to. The conversations create understanding and sympathy, but convincing the public may still be the main issue.

Next time:

Downtime: Tell Anthony what we want to do in the week. RP with the team about where we come from and what Terry's plan is. We level up. Theo gets a second attack and stunning strike. The Duke gets a second attack, gains counter charm ability, and mass healing word. Dream gains expert divination ability and another third level spell lot, and learns more spells. At the end of the week, there is an awards ceremony to honor us and send us off. The king gives us all magic items. That's where we'll start next session.

Report Date

09 Apr 2024