Mission 009.5: The Book Hunt
Contracted by Estefan to hunt down a rare book, this plucky crew is off to Rexxentrum to meet with a contact who might be able to set them on the right path...
Mission Log
Commissioned by Estefan to obtain four books - Interplanar Travel via Circle by Caelynn Amastacia, The Extraplanar Travel Guide by Caelynn Amastacia, Teleportation via Proxy by Caelynn Amastacia, and an untitled fiction book that was the first in a trilogy by Azael Stonefist. Armed with 300 gold and instructions to speak with Anissina von Karbelnikoff at her apothecary in Rexxentrum, Anaya, Rarity, Rhuck, Wild Yarn, and Ye head off to the capital of the Empire. Upon arrival, discussion ensued about the necessity of gold, and how favors ought to be considered currency, before they made their way to a nearby book store to see if they could find any of the books before going to see their contact.
Entering the book shop, the clerk gave them a cursory glance before returning to his book. Rhuck, Wild Yarn, and Ye went to engage with the clerk whilst Anaya and Rarity made a beeline towards a case that seemed to contain expensive and rare tomes. Rarity did a cursory search for anything that might be about them, finding a book that had RAR on the binding (although closer inspection proved to show that it curled onto the cover to continue E CEREMONIES). They also found a book on ki as well as a book on vicious insults. Meanwhile, Wild Yarn convinced the clerk to help with the promise that, as soon as they finished their transaction, they would leave. It turned out in her favor as the book shop did have The Extraplanar Travel Guide, and she was told that the other two Amastacia books were rare and the Stonefist book was extremely rare and out of print, but that they could try Anissina.
Ye, once Yarn had finished, took over the conversation, asking if the clerk recognized her. The clerk flushed, and nodded as he had indeed read the smut books that Ye had posed for in another life. At this point, Rarity asked about the price of the RAR book, only to discover it was 22,000 gold. Rhuck had to explain the zeros to Rarity, who blanched at the price. This prompted Ye to try to get some discounts in exchange for her signature, but the clerk declined until Ye charmed him with her charming personality. This netted them the book on ki and vicious mockery in exchange for a (fake) signature, and an even exchange for the RAR book if they picked up an already won book from the auction house. The group agreed and headed out to Anissina's.
The scene at Anissina's was chaos. The group entered to find Anissina chasing an elven man with a robot, and the elven man crying that he didn't want to be experimented on and the last time he touched one of her inventions he turned into a doll with laser eyes. A dark haired man was furiously knitting in the corner with a blob of moss on his shoulder. Much like the shop itself, Anissina herself turned out to be extremely chaotic. In the course of conversation, Anissina confirmed she did, indeed have the books, and that she'd give them to the group for a discount if they did three tasks for her: alphabetize her archaeomancy books, drop off five books at the Cobalt Soul, and go to the auction and win a rare doll for her. She is so desperate to get this doll that she gives them a (cursed) pouched of 300,000 gold. She also mentioned that the doll was Orina and Orina was her sister, but that was neither here nor there. This did, of course, cause alarm, but Anissina assures them Orina is lovely.
Ye and Rarity checked in with Gunther the elf to see if he needed help, and he explained that no, he just wanted to stop being experimented on. He was instructed to find the eight ways to say no by Rarity.
Upon agreeing to the tasks, Wild Yarn went to talk to Gwendal, who was enamored by her cute, fluffy appearance. They chatted for a little bit until the moss on his shoulder moved, revealing itself to be a moss kitten. Gwendal told her he had five that he was trying to find homes for, and Wild Yarn immediately said she'll take them. He said he'd round them up while they were doing their tasks and she could take them afterwards. Until then, Moss 1 rode on Yarn's head as Gwendal led everyone to the room of books to alphabetize.
They found another moss kitten being attacked by five dust bunnies and a book wurm. Wild Yarn immediately leaped to attack, with Ye and Rarity joining her. Anaya sent Bhoot to help and started alphabetizing with Rhuck until Bhoot was tragically struck down. Anaya entered the fray while Rhuck determinedly continued alphabetizing. By the time the group triumphed, Rhuck had done 90% of the work. Rarity commented how lucky they were that there were so few books to alphabetize. Rhuck rolled his eyes, muttering about how he was going to have a talk with Bhoot about not getting involved in shit that wasn't their problem, only to find another book wurm that he effectively shredded. And then he noticed a doll.
Once the rest of the group notices the doll, Wild Yarn has a staring contest with it until Gwendal picks it up by its hair and says he needs to put it back in its room. Curious, everyone follows, but Gwendal quickly shuts the door before they can properly see inside. Before they can leave though, they hear scratching coming from inside. Wild Yarn asks if it could be kittens, and Gwendal curses. They enter the room to find a shit ton of dolls - some practicing knife throwing, others having a tea party, many just sitting still. Two moss kittens come to Yarn, who immediately snuggles them, but is also accosted by a doll named Carol. Carol is polite, and Yarn asks if it wants to accompany them. Carol agrees enthusiastically.
Re-entering the shop proper, Anissina is surprised to see Carol and informs the group that those who hang around Carol for too long have bad things happen to them because she's cursed. Yarn asks Carol if it's on purpose, and Carol says it's not, but it's a feature, not a bug. Yarn promises to return and take her on a solo adventure later.
They get the books to deliver to the Cobalt Soul and drop it off without any issue, which makes Rarity nervous. They go to the auction hall and are greeted by a nice woman who asks them which hall they're going to: Rare Objects and Items of Interest, or Magical Tomes and Items. They inquire about Orina, and are told that she's in the Rare Objects hall. Yarn gets the book that the shop keep asked them to get and they all head into the hall, getting paddles and taking a seat.
The auction begins, and several items precede the one they're there for, although Rarity won a bag of magical candy, and Wild Yarn won a magical pot with a dancing plant. Eventually, Orina appears. Once she spots Rarity, however, she hops off the stage and heads to them, declaring she wants to go with them. Conversation happens while the rest of the auction hall watches. Rhuck thinks Orina is swell and advocates for her. Eventually, a deal is struck where Orina will go with them for 1gp to speak with Anissina, with her end goal leaving with her new best friend Rarity...
They leave the hall and walk towards the exit, but Yarn hears a description of a deck of cards up for auction in the other hall and sticks her head in. Once she and Anaya see the Deck of Many Bees and what it does, they begin bidding, with Yarn ultimately being victorious. Cards acquired, they finally leave and make a pit stop at the book shop to deliver the book.
Conrad, the clerk, sees them (not recognizing Ye, who has shapeshifted into an elven Jason Momoa), and immediately starts in on them about not liking being charmed. With some quick thinking, Yarn convinces the clerk that he's losing it and that he was never charmed. They leave (sans RAR book since Conrad had adamantly refused to honor his part of the deal as he'd been coerced) and start to leave the shop. Outside, they realize Orina had detached her arm and was waiting for them with a book in hand. When she refused to tell them what the book was, Yarn moved to grab it, and Orina let loose a Sacred Flame. After a few tense moments, they make their way back to Anissina's.
When no one opened the door for Orina, she firebolted it and strode inside. Her and Anissina have a reunion where Orina is chided about her cavalier attitude towards losing limbs and is fitted with a prosthetic that shoots lasers. Anissina gives the group the books they'd been looking for, and before anything else could happen, they activated their bracers of recall and disappeared back to HQ. Upon arriving, Yarn realized she only had four of the five moss kittens.
SUMMARY
DM Sherri
PLAYERS Cairo (Rarity), Katie (Wild Yarn), Mimi (Ye), Puja (Anaya), Sarah (Rhuck)
RESULT Mission Complete
TOTAL XP 412 xp each
TOTAL GP 40 gp each