The Spice Merchants Of Sel-kai: Part Two

General Summary

Regrouping in the Crock & Bull, Sharna, Ugnan and Cran are joined by their friend Sylke and after a relatively inexpensive breakfast, they decide to investigate the North Delta's docks and attempt to find out more about "Deltar of Urgon". The ship that he bought his goods in on (the "Wave Sprinter") is a surprisingly sleek vessel and stands out from the other more disreputable merchantmen that slump in the waters. The crew are busy and professional but offer little in the way of information and suggest that the party find "Captain Cutter" if they want to know shipping details. The wharves are busy at this hour and Cran employs a scruffy urchin ("Mikyn") to keep an eye on the vessel.
The warehouse ruins that once housed Deltar's goods are being picked over by some feral street children who are led by a youth named "Andresin". He proves more useful than the sailors and confirms that crates were removed hours before the fire and that a vicious thug called "Olvar One-Thumb" was present. Olvar, it seems, is very much a "gun-for-hire" (read "cannon") and was in the employ of Sel-kai's "Red Dragons", a notorious underworld gang. However, Olvar has moved up in the world and has found a better and more rewarding employer. Who that is, Andresin cannot tell you. Andresin agrees (once money is exchanged) to try and find Olvar's current lair.
Back at the Old Sword, the party prepare for the worst, expecting a less than pleasant visit by Olvar (they assume he will be tipped off by Andresin) and hire the entire upstairs common room; a palatial suite with 6 beds but windows that open onto the front and back streets and offering access to the roof. Olvar does not visit but the party do manage (aided by an enchantment cast by Sylke) to talk to "Sherl", a member of the Gargoyles and the object of the hapless Thuro's devotions. Sherl has little extra to add to the information the party already have but happily opens a padlocked hatch in the ceiling of the common room for her "best friend" Sylke. Suspicious of the strange discrepancy between the internal and external dimensions of the inn the party think there is hidden end to the Sword, long walled off.
The roof void is small but allows (via some loose planks) access to the walled off end of the inn and the party find an ancient and enchanted mirror. Suspecting it to be some form of "leaving" device Sylk is only prevented from stepping into it by Cran's quick grab! "There is no knowing where it leads!" Sleeping in the common room that evening all of the party are bothered by the unearthly windows of the Sword. They are unusual in their shape (arched) and the glass used (multi-coloured) and react in a very unsettling manner when moonlight strikes them. However, with clues aplenty, the party decide to leave the mystery of the inn aside and venture to the offices of the warehouse owner, Braern Fenvyre.
Warned by an encounter with a disgruntled merchant outside the office that Braern is "not to be trusted" the party enter the shabby office led by Ugnan who poses as a merchant dealing in "culinary spices of a most exotic nature". The merchant outside, it seems, had one of his most expensive handcarts damaged by a spill of green wax that Braern then refused to compensate him for. Braern lays the blame for his burned warehouse on a business rival and is clearly not amiss to indulging in one of Sel-kai's more popular past-times of avoiding tax. The seedy business man is clearly lying about the fire and is decidedly uncomfortable when Olvar One-Thumb's name is mentioned. Braern's "business rival" denies setting the fire and is convinced that Braern fired the place himself for insurance reasons and points out that Braern lost a lot of money on a trade deal (timber) not too long ago and is in need of money to keep up the rent and tax he pays on his tenement buildings in the North Delta.
With everything leading to the Twelve Bridges district of the city, the party have a late lunch and head across "Maiden's Bridge" into one of Sel-kai's more eclectic shopping centres.

Report Date

26 Apr 2018

Primary Location

Sel-kai