Ep 48: "Trading Places"

A lot happened during the two weeks that followed the death of the King.

Seldanna had spent the first couple of days after the Leviathan attack at Primeheart’s camp. She only returned to the city in disguise. With Juveha’s assistance, Seldanna managed to keep a low profile as she walked around. She had left the Arasys signet ring in the wood near Primeheart’s camp, but created a small memorial for the royal signet ring.

She sought out her father, Rydell, at the Arasys estate. Upon arriving, she managed to sneak into the manor, with Juveha’s assistance in distracting Stokes, and headed to her father’s office. She could hear crying in his office, and she quickly entered as she removed her disguise. They tearfully embraced, and she apologized for her absence since the attack. He told her that he was just grateful that she was safe.

Seldanna stated that she had some things to accomplish. Rydell assumed that she meant city governance, but she denied the claim. She never wanted to be in the public eye. She promised that she would stay in contact and stay safe. He asked whether or not she knew her mother’s whereabouts and whether or not she was safe too. Seldanna answered that she did not, but knew that Jastra had run into the castle before it was destroyed by the Leviathan. They embraced again and Seldanna departed.

While she hid and made plans to contact Aldion, he instead arrived unexpectedly. They discussed her responsibility for her actions leading to the king’s demise, and Seldanna returned the Tome of Transcription to Aldion. She said that she couldn’t be in the city anymore and planned on departing. She wanted to see how the King’s death was affecting the rest of the kingdom.  Aldion told her that he had made preparations for her to leave with a caravan bound for Highwater and beyond, should she wish that. They continued to discuss her feelings of responsibility, and Seldanna stated that while she could see the potential for good to be wrought from the city’s situation, she couldn’t see her place in it.

Aldion countered that she was foolish to not be able to see the unique position she was in to do good. He never wanted his position of leadership, and he was also conflicted about having spent so long blaming the wrong person. They continued their discussion until Aldion chose to depart. On his way out the door, he mentioned that Jastra was still alive. He left a scroll of Sending on the table, in case she wanted to contact her mother.

Seldanna and Juveha continued their preparations for departure, and the next day left the city with the caravan.

NONE OF THESE EVENTS WERE PLACED IN THE TOME.

With the recent events, including Pesk and Seldanna leaving town, Finkoo had thrown himself into work at the workshop. Tirah had been checking in on him from time to time, and one morning found him asleep at his workbench.

She slid a mug of coffee across the workbench, he pushed it aside and sleepily began working. She took the project away and mentioned that he needed a new hobby. She brought up his lackluster talents as a cutpurse, and that she wanted him to audition for a new project she had in mind. She would instruct him and help hone his latent talent. He agreed to it, chugged the coffee, picked up his tools, and they departed.

Tirah led him to the lower-levels of the Barrel Run district, where the connection to the sewers could be found. They entered a structure, and a ruckus could be heard within. Several people occupied the various rooms.

Several individuals were introduced, and Tirah introduced Finkoo as “Kookoo.” While on the premises, she was to be referred to as “Titi” (tee-tee). On inspection, it seemed that Finkoo had found his way into a den of thieves. Several training stations were held within the compound for various skills to be honed. Tirah put Finkoo through the paces, evaluated his skill level, and got him ready for the mission he would be sent on to prove himself to the group.

Later that evening, in the Pearl District, Titi and Kookoo spent their evening breaking into a “random” house and robbing it. Kookoo intuited that nobody lived in the house and that it was likely a staged house to test his skill. He didn’t tell Titi that he had figured out the truth, and they completed their mission.

Everyone celebrated Finkoo/Kookoo’s successful audition into the initiate tier of the Inverted Cup, an organization dedicated to graft, robbery, espionage, assassination, and other roguish endeavors. Titi laid out the most basic rule of working for the Inverted Cup: a 20% tithe to the guild for any guild job performed. Moral objections were frowned upon, but were unlikely to occur as requests typically go to those skilled enough and willing to perform the task.

Titi informed Kookoo that should he ever need to speak to someone within the guild, he should go to a busy bar, have a drink, and leave the cup inverted on the table. Someone would reach out shortly. Additionally, someone would be contacting him shortly about working with him and his friends. The person was coming to stand in for Pesk’s departure. She also revealed that some of the Inverted Cup’s competitors included The Timekeepers and The Violet Iris.

Nyx, who appeared as the persona Bridget, 5’6” shoulder length dirty blonde curly hair, when in the Greaser’s Union was ready to meet and work with Finkoo and his friends. They had been working with Tirah and the Inverted Cup for quite some time.

On Renaris 11, Tirah sat Finkoo and Nyx, in their Bridget persona, down together to talk with them. Finkoo and Bridget were acquainted at work, but hadn’t interacted much. Tirah approached with two coffees and slid one to Finkoo. Then slid one to Bridget, and introduced the latter as “Shift”, evidently also a member of the Inverted Cup. Bridget was to be introduced to the rest of the gang later, along with an introduction to Aldion. Other personas that Nyx used were also introduced, Thomas was a slender young man with curly black hair and Nyx was an androgynous individual with white hair and silver eyes. Finkoo was told not to let the group know about Nyx’s abilities yet and he agreed to introduce them as Bridget.

Meanwhile, other group members prepared for the lunch meeting. Saxi had been hard at work. Pip had been doing work as a Pet Detective, finding pets that had run away from home. Saxi had been spinning a Lark-designed sign for Pip’s business. Kali went to Bilgeport for some urban exploration. Lark went to Green Irion Village to ask the goblins for a device that would hold a torch above his head.

Everyone met at the Beer Forge and introductions were made with the new individuals. Mr. Binx showed up, claiming that Nathan was busy doing things, and he’d come to them to escape. They decided to go see Pinbòl and  have him look at Kali’s book. They also wanted to know if Mo had been found.

As they began to leave, Daisy the gnome showed up dressed to the nines. A date was quickly set up for the following night between her and Finkoo. After she left, it was also determined that Finkoo would need new attire for a date.

They got to the tower and found that Mo still had not returned. Pip and Saxi went to the basement to head upstairs to Pinbòl. The wizard was dressed well, be-glittered as per usual. He hadn’t seen Mo, but was aware of the newcomers due to conversations with Aldion. They obtained two new bracelets to allow Kali and Nyx past Pinbòl’s defenses and went back down to bring everyone upstairs. Pip decided to stay downstairs as the rest went to meet with the wizard. He hoped to find food in the kitchen as the group had not finished eating before leaving the Beer Forge.

Kali was appraised of the purpose of Pinbòl’s research and was shocked to hear about Blightshale, Cyl’s infection, and the fact that the boat lift was made out of transmuted eirshale. Kali handed Pinbòl the book she wanted him to look at after telling him that it came from the Temple of the Mother. The creation myth was discussed. Kali also wandered around the lab looking at various implements and seeing if she could spot any eirshale.

Everyone decided to head to the Hooded Cobra to help Finkoo with his outfit for the date. Pinbòl was going to be awhile with the book, so the group left the wizard in his tower with the tome.

They arrived at the Hooded Cobra to find the gith proprietor was engaged in conversation with a figure dressed as a “charlie brown-esque” ghost at the glitter counter. He finished and approached the group, and Finkoo asked for one blue and one gold Executive glitter. Bridget bought a bowtie. The group also finally learned the proprietor’s name-- Rinth.

The cloaked figure, seeming to purposely avoid the group, began to leave and managed to slip past the gang. They suspected it to be Mo, but could not confirm it. They left, and most of the party followed. The walk down the streets was mostly unimpeded by foot traffic, as many citizens had left the city by that point. The figure was confronted with emotional confessions of appreciation for Mo, but did not react in any way. Every time they tried to speak with the figure it would turn to face the wall and ignore them. They also notice that it seemed to be wearing some sort of garment made of black cloth.

Shortly after leaving the figure behind, they spotted Mo buying bananas on the river. The banana vendor confirmed that the modron had been there for quite some time. Mo said that he would be returning home soon.

Lark invited everyone to come to his camp to trade stories with the newbies and welcome Mo back into the fold. Pip went with Mo in his canoe, and the rest of the party departed for camp.

NOT INCLUDED IN THE TOME

While they made their way to the camp in Mo’s boat, Mo asked Pip to keep a secret and Pip agreed. Mo revealed that the reason for his departure and “going crazy” was due to the length of time that he had spent apart from the rest of his people. If he did not return from time to time, bad things would happen. He called it the “Dron-farr”