Ep 51: "Tongue Tied"

As usual, the group spent their mornings getting things done before the lunch meeting. Owen checked in on the guard and then on the hospital. Kali went to Lark and got rid of the disease she had contracted when bitten in the caves the day before. She also looked into joining the guard. Primeheart went to the Dawn District and used Create Food and Water  to help those who were starving. He then provided lessons on gardening to those that were interested. Mari, after the exhausting events of the previous day, allowed herself to sleep in for once. Rosie went to get Mari and surprised her by taking Mari to her new shop, “Sunflower Dreams.” Nathan was inside when they got there, cleaning and painting.

Mari looked around Sunflower Dreams, and took in the wide row of windows in the front, the back room, and the space for a garden in the back. Rosie went outside and was approached by a blue tiefling and a goliath.

The tiefling had bluish skin, white hair, a mischievous grin, pauldrons and belts, hand wrappings, and a staff with a bird on the top. He told Rosie that he was looking for a place where something bad had happened. His sister had died a few weeks back, along with four of her friends. Heavy thudding behind her revealed the 8 ½ ft tall goliath, with a full head of black hair and a beard. He had gauntlets as big as Rosie on his massive hands. They were traveling companions.

When asked, the tiefling said he was looking for information while the goliath was only looking for revenge. Rosie intimidated the goliath by threatening jail time for his violence. She offered information to the tiefling at first, for the cost of the city and a lunch, but then lowered it to 300gp. As they began to walk away, Rosie noticed a red-haired, half-elf woman in a red dress who was well within earshot, so she held her tongue. She knew they were likely looking for information on what had happened to the tiefling woman that had killed to defend Mari and the others.

Owen got to the Beer Forge first and ordered a coffee before sitting at the table. Primeheart walked Kali to the Beer Forge, talking candidly about nothing in particular. The only other patrons were a man with a decorated hat, clothing of blues and golds, and a rifle and pistol laid nearby, and a cloaked figure with an obscured face.

Getting their drinks, Kali and Primeheart sat with Owen. Kali discussed her fight the previous day and Owen offered a reprieve in the form of a piece of jerky. Rosie, Nathan, and Mari entered the Forge and informed the party of the three people Rosie had seen. Owen Messaged Rosie and got the finer details, including that the duo was pursuing Haley. Rosie introduced herself to the gunman and offered a song, for which the man paid a gold in kind.

Primeheart shared with Owen and Mari what he had been doing and Owen discussed coordinating the acts of charity in accordance with the local buildings. While Rosie played a beautiful song about love, Nathan drew the guns and the men at the table. Primeheart brought up the potential adventuring guilds of which the strange people might be a part, which piqued Nathan’s interest.

Owen suggested splitting the party to pursue various ventures. Rosie went to check in on Daisy. They talked and planned on having dinner that day. However, the outcome of the date with Finkoo was still a mystery.

Owen, Kali, and Primeheart went to check in on Haley. She answered the door in a towel and invited the group in, then changed into her uniform. She telepathically spoke to Owen about the men while the others kept watch. She suggested Owen might be a good leader for the guard. Owen suggested to Primeheart that he would be a good leader, Primeheart agreed, but not for the guard. The goliath was a lover, not a fighter. Before they left, Kali inquired about a potential date with Haley, who agreed.

Nathan and Mari went gather information on the adventuring guilds. They went to the Chalice and asked around. Eventually they found a tabaxi with a tortie pattern in dark orange and greys. Her name was Patch.

She said that one of the guilds was more strict and organized, didn’t give its name. The other was a more “loosey-goosey” one called the Steel Syndicate, which was made up of many smaller parties. The Softpaws, of which Patch was a member, was also part of the Steel Syndicate. Her group consisted of tabaxi, bugbear, aarakocra, and kenku.  She also told them about the other groups.

Bad Company was a not very nice strong-arm type of group. Beastmasters was made up of rangers and druids. Vengeance Falls was a very brutal group. The Club was made up of simple, brutish people. Fishmongers was a group of tritons and water genasi. There were also groups like the Grave Makers, Pest Control, Shovel Tusk, and Don’t Argue With Miss Fennec.

The group met up at a crossroads in Barrel Run. Primeheart saw the tiefling and goliath, then followed Rosie as she dashed toward them. He asked the goliath about his hair and the goliath showed him a Belt of Dwarvenkind, which allowed him to keep the hair as long as he wore it. Rosie threatened them because they walked away from her by saying she would eat their fingers.

Owen saw the same red woman and he ducked into an alleyway, where he disguised himself as an elf. The duo walked away again and Owen, using his disguised appearance, told Kali to keep a beat on the red woman. Kali scaled a building and began to follow. Owen began to busk as Primeheart started getting impatient and admitted that he liked ‘doing’, not standing around and waiting.

The red woman began to move away and the party gave chase stealthily. Owen was in the lead and he ran headfirst into an invisible wall after a few minutes of cat-and-mouse. He climbed up the building as Mari got to the wall and she attempted to Dispel Magic, but it didn’t work. He then leapt across just as Kali noticed that the person they had been following was really an illusion.

The rest of the party got fed up with the game just as the woman appeared across the rooftops from Owen. She silently Misty Stepped across and Counterspelled the Hold Person that Owen tried to cast on her. She then used Feather Fall to glide down and mimed to the party, making no sound. She showed that she was able to cast spells without a verbal component. Eventually, the group figured out she was called Red and then went with her to the Tea Garden.

At the Tea Garden, using prestidigitation and gestures, she revealed to the party that she was with the gunman and cloaked figure, as well as the tiefling and goliath. She also revealed that she was good at disappearing into crowds, listening, and watching expertly. She gestured to Rosie and was able to convey that the gold piece Rosie got as payment was being tracked and Red traded for an untracked one. She then left the Garden.

The party decided to split up again for the evening and Primeheart offered to have a large bonfire that night, as he seemed to do every night. Kali and Primeheart went  straight to his camp, but not before seeing Red kiss the Gunman and give him the gold. The Cloaked Man was holding the guns for the Gunman.

Owen had a heart-to-heart with Rosie about what it meant to be a bard. Owen didn’t have musical talent like she did. He couldn’t make people happy like her, but with words he was able to motivate them. Rosie disagreed that he wasn’t a ‘true bard’ and said they’d have another chat in the future.

Mari asked Kurt if he’d seen Jastra in the past few weeks, and found out that he had not. Then she kissed Nathan fully as the chatted. Binxie complained about being left out and she kissed Binxie too, much to his delight.