at halftime: there's a lot going on in here
General Summary
Roll call
Lorenzo , Oska, Orian, and Virik are all present. Oska's friend servant henchperson accompanist Madhu isn't around today, having apparently quarrelled with Oska. The others still don't get their relationship.
NPCS from the opera company are Savonne the first soprano, Addiana the special effects department, and Fettucine and Cinder, who are of little use. Erling Sattr popped in, wished you all a good time hunting possible monsters, and popped right back out again.
The basic situation
The opera company has been given use of the warehouse as is—they didn't even get a key to the lock on the door. The warehouse has been sitting empty long enough that
- It’s being used as a base by smugglers of shoddy magic items;
- It’s been invaded by creatures, and not just any creatures—everything you’ve encountered so far is from another plane of existence.
The relationship between smuggler gang and otherworldly monsters, if any, is still a mystery. Currently you’re in the cave adjoining the warehouse’s basement room, contemplating 4 dead smugglers and a couple of mostly-empty storerooms. The rooms show signs of having been cleared out recently and hastily. There are a couple of rough passageways leading out of the cave; in general it seems like someone expanded a natural cave with some tunnels etc. long ago, and the smugglers are just using the space as they found it. Between the empty rooms you've found 15sp found by Oska, 12gp found by Lorenzo, and the gloves and amulet Oska took. The gloves seem to have the magical power of letting you know that they would prefer not to be worn.
What you've deduced
About the monsters: Orian as monster-hunter will have clocked that so far you’ve encountered 2 elementals, and 3 aberrations (completely alien beings). It’s pretty weird to see this many otherworldly monsters at once, as opposed to your basic rat infestation. None of them are fey except the captured sprite.About the smugglers: Virik, as a Malfa native and a criminal, will know that the shoddy, mostly useless magic items have been mocked up to look like Hewellen artefacts, which are famously the best magic items in the world. This will make some Hewellen out there very angry. Also, this means that this smuggler gang is probably operating without the knowledge of the Gentles, the newly-established criminal organisation that wants to control all dockside crime in Malfa.
Encounters
Ground level
- A dust mephit (a sapient creature made of dust) and a water elemental (non-sapient, basically mean water). They seemed to be lying dormant until disturbed; they also seemed to be malevolent from the get-go.
Upper level
- 3 grues were locked in the upstairs storage room, with the sprite they’d captured. Completely alien, eldritch creatures; their bite seemed to cause mental confusion or something.
Underground
- 4 bandits so far
- Something dog-shaped bounded out of the side room and escaped down the shallow crevasse that runs the length of the cave.
The story | character moments
(see the next section below for NPC descriptions)
Part 1: Pre-combat
1. Oska showed interest in learning about Addiana’s shadow theatre, and Addiana was flattered and embarrassed. Savonne made encouraging “go on, talk about it” motions at her, but to no avail. 2. Tillie has terrible dust and mold allergies, but decided to hope that somehow they wouldn’t kick in this time, because there’s so much to do. This didn’t work out for her. 3. Savonne took charge when Tillie had an allergy attack, saw her off to the healer, then came back and wandered into danger without telling anybody. 4. Cinder and Fettucine just messed about, encouraging each other and being no help. They started an impromptu bowls game in part of the warehouse.
5. While Oska, Orian, and Virik poked around, Lorenzo snapped into quartermaster mode, making lists and assigning tasks. Fettucine turned out to be pretty biddable when given clear instructions (Cinder did not).Part 2: Monsters in the warehouse
6. When combat started with the elemental creatures, Addiana looked apprehensive, but hovered in the background as though wondering whether she should help somehow. She did save Oska’s bacon with a healing potion, which Oska may or may not have thanked her for at the time. She continued to hover through further encounters. 7. I think you’ve figured out that there was a smuggler lookout on the upper floor. When the party came in, they snuck down the stairs to tell their crime pals underground; Virik heard their footsteps on the stairs, but was distracted by the elementals. 8. The storeroom on the upper floor was barred from the outside. I’ve retroactively decided that it was an improvised bar—a board jammed under the handle and a heavy crate against the door. Didn’t strike you as unusual at the time. 9. The grues on the other side of the barred door didn’t look unusually starved or anything, so who knows how long they’d been there. The sprite they’d captured, whose name is Orange Blossom, said he hadn’t been there that long, but people from the Feywild notoriously have a terrible sense of time.
Part 3: Criminals Underground
10. Meanwhile, Savonne had decided to explore the basement without telling anyone. The smuggler lookout caught her down there, and forced her into the cave adjoining the basement, where apparently two of the smugglers had fun forcing her to sing an aria. Why they thought this was a good idea with other people in the building has yet to be determined. 11. Orian and Oska had a brief moment of agreement in which they both thought Savonne was being extremely sus and possibly in league with the criminals. In fact, Savonne seems moderately traumatised, and was last seen being comforted by Addiana. 12. Orange Blossom appreciates being freed but doesn’t seem to feel any need to participate in events. He’s just hanging out and watching the party’s encounters like it’s his new favourite Netflix series.
People you’ve met
the opera company
The company has been together for two or three years, travelling from port to port through the Sealands. Most of them knew each other in Vacena, where the company formed. Tillie – halfling, she/her. The director of the company, and also sings contralto. She projects a kind of frantic calm at all times, as befits someone in charge of actors. Her ambition to set up a permanent home for the company clearly come out of a desire to look out for her people, who in turn obviously adore and respect her. Savonne – human, she/her. The company’s first soprano. Cheerful and energetic, possibly easily distracted. She and Addiana are obviously close. Addiana – tiefling, she/her. The company’s entire set design and special effects department. Shy, practical; the kind of person who always knows where the fuse box and the first-aid kit are. If Savonne is the one who rushes in to take care of someone, Addiana is the one who actually has a healing potion on her. Apparently she is a practitioner of a traditional storytelling form called shadow theatre, or would like to be; the opera company is her day job. Cinder and Tam – human, he/him, brothers. They’re two out of four brothers who sing all the male parts for the company. If you leave them alone for 2 seconds they’ll be improvising a song about turnip farmers and using furniture as props. Fettucine – mountain dwarf, he/him. A local hire, though he’s not a Malfa native; the company met him in a dockside inn. He’s the company’s stagehand and bouncer: strong, amiable, lazy, not too bright.