s3e8 - Three Shawties and the Bug From Men in Black Walk Into a Bar

General Summary

We hire a group of 4 tieflings for the security detail around The Duke's lab. 4 security guards that wanted to be cops but couldn't pass the background check, who take their jobs way too seriously. They cover the lab 24/7. When not otherwise occupied, Terry watches the lab.
We approach the Wounded Road, the bar where the assisstant Lassandra told us to meet her. The bar seems pretty seedy and dirty. The bartender has a toothless smile. It looks like an old diner. It's pretty empty. There's a couple of old broads playing some sort of card game. There's someone drunk and passed out. There's a hallyway in the back towards the kitchen. The Duke
Theo asks the bartender if they can get a round of drinks, and says in thieves cant that she's looking for Lassandra. The party orders soup and ale, for real cheap, "but both taste overpaid." Terry eats all of ours, and gets poisoned.
On the back wall, there's a scrap of paper. It says compliments to the chef in common and in theives cant it says that there's welcome respite for the weary below. half-orc chef butchering an animal. theo compliments him and says in theives cant that she's looking for a meeting space. he opens a trap door and we head downstairs, where there is a criminal speakeasy.
older woman in a VIP area, raised, on a long couch. she has a security guard near her. she radiates importance.
the party grabs a table, and theo grab a drink from a turquise tielfing in a surprisingly elegant uniform. she over pays and asks if the bartender recognizes lassandra, and she says no.
there's a board posted behind the bartender. It looks like a job board.
Dream sends a message to the VIP that lassandra sent us, and that we need an audience with Him (aka Jace) and she responds saying, "Very well."
The security guard comes over to us and says that Madame Lyra aka Mama Lyra would like to meet with us.
She introduces us, and asks what brought us down there. We tell her that Lassandra sent us. We're looking for Jace. She has a look of recognition at the name, but denies that she knows him. We say that we need to get a message to him, and hope that they may have the right channels. She says to give our message to the security guard.
We stay until Terry is no longer poisoned, in the hopes that we see Lassandra. Play cards and have a laugh with each other.
The security guard asks us where we could be reached, and we tell him The Duke's office at the University. We leave and head back to the University: Terry sticks with The Duke, Dream flies, and Theo sneaks. The guards have nothing to report. Mizzix is taking apart the mech.
Theo goes back to the safehouse to try to sneak a letter onto Haku so that her old boss could receive it. However, he seems to have moved out.
Terry explores around the university, and looks for a mycologist to learn more about his fungus. Frank Ungus Neville Goosberry aka The FUNG.
Zedd is burning through Mizianite faster here than in Valtara (which Essan has been procuring).
The Duke receives a message from Madame Lyra to return to the Wounded Road tomorrow and says to not be late.
We head downstairs and the place is empty except for Mama Lyra and her security. She says, "He wanted to talk to you quickly." A hidden door appears in the stone behind her. 15 seat boardroom table. Blue light radiates from flames in the corners.

Meeting with Jace

Jace is there. His blue hood covers most of his face, but his eyes are so piercingly blue that they catch the light. He's wearing tight black clothing with a cape over his back.
We introduce ourselves as the expedition party who went to Valtara.
Dream talks about the investigation with the staff. But he cuts her off and asks what a signet is. She pulls out the dociers of the guentlet, his cape, and the staff. She explains the purpose of the guild signets.
When we walk in, we notice Jace seems...defeated. He seems tired and shaken him up. As Dream explains the nature of the signets, we sense deep worry and fear in his reaction.
"The Guild Pact is what protects us from what is outside. Nobody knew until I became the living guild pact. I have travelled to worlds beyond ours. I have seen worlds where many others travel betwene worlds. Worlds very different than ours. There is a war for the survival of those who can travel between the worlds. They call us the planes walkers. I happen to be one, but because of the Guild Pact, no one can reach Ravnica.
There's an interdimentional dragon trying to take over the multiverse. Nicol Bolas. He wants to rule over all reality. When I encountered him, he knew that I was different. He didn't come from Ravnica. He and his followers are destroying every world they encounter. Ravnica was off his radar. He tried hunting and tracking me down and almost killed me, but I was able to find a way back here. Now that he knows we exist, he won't give up until he finds us."
The Duke says that it seems that powers are shifting, as Kreterellin and Sylas had Guild Pact Magic. We talk about Valtara, and Jace says that it must be another world. The Guild Pact seems to be impenetrable.
Bolas is hunting planes walkers so that he be unchallenged.
Are we planews walkers? No. There may be potent sorcerers in Ravnica who could but the Guild Pact stops them from doing so. Those with the spark [of magic] would be obvious. Jace has a short list of people to access. He wants to create a source of planes walkers to help defend against Bolas. Here and across realms.
We clarify that we have 2 signets but that the gauntlet is in use. We fill him in on Zedd and his race.
There are materials like Mizianite in other worlds, so Ravnica may not be Zedd's only hope.
Jace asks how we found Valtara. The Duke explains the ALUR and the dispel magic mishap.
After he hears the story, he says that he thinks its more of a pochet than another world. He thinks it could be a backdoor into Ravnica that needs to be secured.
"Lazav has been busy." The name of the Dimir leader.
What do we do now? Keep the signets out of the wrong hands. Jace doesn't think they should be used at all, as any change to the Guild Pact could render it's defenses void. He also doesn't know how it would effect him.
He says that if we collected the signets, what would we do with them? We admit that we hadn't agreed. We wanted to act before our enemies. The chamber of the guild pact cannot be informed.
What does it mean to be the living guild pact? He's still figuring it out. He can travel and seems to be a caster, not a fighter. He seems to be far less powerful than we expected. He's probably between 9th and 14th level, but some guild leaders overpower him.
He wants to create a black ops taskforce to find the signets and gather them. It will be discretionary and the rest of the chamber of the guild pact won't know. He speed reads our files on the signets. Emmara Tandris is an ally. She will be accessed for planes walking. We should bring her onboard. We welcome the help.
Dream fills him in that the Dimir know our identities. He tells him about Essan and her past with the Dimir.
Jace wants to visit Valtara before the Gala, so it may need to be postponed. The documents need to be classified as they hold government secrets. They University will be paid heavily, and there will be a show of it so that the Duke looks good still, but we can't publish. He wants to take a couple of days to read over our notes, set up the task force, and plan a solo expedition back to Valtara.
We'll come back in 2 days and we can bring Zedd so that they can chat.
He says it's an honor to meet us, and that we're better Ravnicans than most he meets with. That's also where we'll hand over the notes. We assure him that he's not alone anymore.
Next session: We'll have a new HQ and more resources. We'll meet Emmara and the team.

Report Date

27 Aug 2024