Chapter 4: All the Magister's Men | Session XVI: Brachii or Bust! - Report

General Summary

Awakening to a noticeably absent Brachii, the team quickly sleuths out what might have happened. Though most of Brachii's things are gone, there are hints that the orc might have been kidnapped! Leslie notes a familiar rag smelling of Crawler mucus, which had paralyzed the team in the swamp. They trace Brachii's steps the previous day, attempting to find the animal dealer he had bought Elliot the Weasel from.
Eventually, Leslie, Belladonna, and Scratch find No, the animal dealer, right off of the main Center Island market. Belladonna, pretending to be a potential buyer, smooshez with the man, who soon recognizes her as a fellow thief. He points her in the direction of the local Thieves Guild. Belladonna and company follow his clues, heading into Old Town.
Despite appearing wildly out of place in the run down quarters of Old Town, the team eventually make their way to the abandoned warehouse where the Thieves Guild makes their home. They infiltrate the compound, and Belladonna, using her thievish know-how, gets them a meeting with Tommy One-Eye, a half orc who appears to be in command.
After dancing around each other for some time, Tommy casts a Zone of Truth spell on them, and demands to know the facts. After explaining what they were doing in the city, Tommy tells them that they had in fact kidnapped someone they believed to be a city guard who had been skulking around the previous day, and that they needed help finding the leader of the Thieves Guild, Janica. They speak at length for awhile before Tommy beckons for Brachii to be brought out.
The Dungeon Bois are reunited finally, and Tommy explains that things started to go downhill after Sir Desmond came to Bridgetown a few years ago. The thief explains that Sir Desmond was a Paladin turned away from the Church of Astor who now followed the war god Tempus. Months ago, they started rounding up refugees, criminals, and political outsiders and quarantining them in the Isles. They appeared to be building large warships, and no one was really sure why. Tommy suggested that the Dungeon Bois might also have luck investigate the College of Engineers.
Brachii rescued, the Dungeon Bois decided to split up: Brachii and Leslie would go to the College of Engineers to investigate what they knew of the warships, while Belladonna and Scratch would attempt to infiltrate the internment camps in the Isles.
Brachii and Leslies make their way to the College, infiltrating with relative ease. They make their way to the top of the tower to see the Chairman of the College. Using a small amount of magical trickery, they convince the Chairman and his secretary Deborah that the two adventurers had a meeting planned out before. Leslie and Brachii attempt to eek whatever information they can out of him before intimidating him into signing a resignation letter. Ultimately, they gather that the College had been commissioned to produce the schematics for the warships at the behest of the Magister some time ago. He also insinuates that it had been sometime since the Magister had been seen in public.
Meanwhile, Belladonna and Scratch sneak into the internment camps on the Isles to the east of the city. While Belladonna hides in a crate, Scratch pretends to be a dock worker, convincing the guards to let him pass. What they see is a hectic scene of starvation, abuse, and work. After helping an ailing mother and her child, a gnomish woman attacks them, demanding to know what the two are doing sneaking around the camp. Eventually, the gnome names herself as Janica Downbridge, the leader of the Bridgetown Thieves Guild, who had been kidnapped and trapped here. Bringing Janica with them, Belladonna and Scratch narrowly escape the camp.