Ep 68: "We're Sorry Rosie"

The night before, Oisin and Cyl went to drop off the Demon’s Tooth with Pinból. They found Pinból passed out next to a ritual he’d been performing. They weren’t able to wake him. Oisin put him to bed and Saxi came over to help.

In the morning, GB put on a puppet show for some local kids and their parents to earn a bit of change. Finkoo went to speak with Daisy to ask her if she had given information to the Five. She denied having any contact with them. Lark constructed a fence around his tree with a sign “Not for sale by owner.” Lark then talked with Boss. He suggested that they could expand the paintball games into the city, and then get the contract to clean up after it. He asked Boss not to create anything else for Yoth. He offered to pay him to not do jobs for him. Lark explained that he did not like Yoth’s decision making. Boss agreed to give him a head’s up before actually giving Yoth any of the items he commissions. Lark helped Boss build fence.

Oisin found Cyl to tell her that Pinból seemed ok and wanted to see her sometime that day. Later, Cyl went to the tower to try to see Pinból. Failing to get a response at the back door to her knocking and having no dust to get Upstairs, Cyl sought help from Mo. He was wearing home-made tights. Mo told her to just go through the back door, so she did.

Saxi spent her morning at Pinból’s after helping Oisin heal Pinból. Cyl and Saxi met as Saxi was packing up her things to leave. Pinból was feeling rough. He revealed he had intervened to temporarily remove a guardian around the portal to the Shadowfell. It wasn’t incredibly dangerous, just taxing on him. Pinból began alchemical testing using tiny amounts of the Demon’s Tooth.  Cyl realized that it would likely be slow, tedious work. Eiress Kyne had dropped off some eirshale for Pinból to do tests with.

At the Beer Forge, Kali ordered the biggest beer; Ivy gave her the Cicily special mug with an iron. The party discussed their families, spurred on by Cyl discussing her mother. GB got on a tear about maybe visiting people’s homelands. Cyl said that the Goa city was not open for visitors. Saxi was conflicted about going to Lamina Island, because she didn’t remember her life there before—did she leave for good reasons or bad? Did she really want to remember?

Cyl wondered whether the Goa did something to deserve the eirshale blight. She also questioned how the makers died and why her mother did not want to tell her until she returned home. The party decided to try to find a scroll of waterbreathing in order to go investigate the sunken castle.

The party walked the main thoroughfare through Barrel Run and noticed a sign and a door that they’d all never seen before, despite walking this path hundreds of times. It was a pouch with spell components spilling out of it. The party felt compelled to enter. They walked through a space between two buildings that they’d previously thought did not exist. They went up a stairwell and through another door.

A brass birdcage with a brass bird chirped at them as they entered. Ointments,oils, and herbs gave the shop an earthy aroma. Bins of spell components covered the walls. Crystals, balls, spheres, and gems covered tables in the center. Holy symbols and spell focuses filled an alcove in the corner. Every god’s symbols were represented in multiple materials and even the old gods were represented. Ungents, ointments, and oils were held in small bowls and lidded containers. Ursali’s Touch was held in a large jar on the counter, a little more than half full.

A gnome with wrinkles and blue dyed hair with grey streaking through it stood behind the counter. A bell and a fez sat next to an old till. A half-open door to the back did not quite cover a tub from view.

The gnome, Arland introduced himself and welcomed the group to Arland’s Alchemical Oddities. He came to Cinderhaven because the Steel Syndicate were coming to town. GB asked about employment, but Arland wasn’t hiring. GB asked about volunteering at the shop and Arland told him to return tomorrow.

Saxi and Finkoo bought the party the waterbreathing scroll and the party picked up various potions and doses of Ursali’s touch. Kali also bought a couple bone holy symbols of Uhn (Nature’s Bounty), and one for each of the other elder gods. Finkoo bought a blue arcane focus.

The party took their purchases and headed to Bilgeport to get to the water. Saxi said that Jinroth knew that she was involved in taking a cargo and expected to be paid for it. She was on high alert as the group walked through the area. GB cast Waterbreathing on the party and they headed to the sunken castle.

As the party got to the rubble, they found people submerged with air tubes connecting them to a ship above them. The party chose to say hello. The other group was armed, but waved back. Kali swam up to the ship, which appeared very mechanical and was named Black Steel One, and had a chat with Rando Smith. He said that they were the first of a large number of ships. They were not torn up about the party wanting to scavenge on the same castle-corpse. One of their goals was to remove the bodies for the city.

After a couple hours, the party came up with mixed results: Kali found a ruined fur-lined glove. Saxi found a soapstone vase that had been pulverized, the only salvageable pieces of which were several tiger-eyes. Lark found a gross fur scarf and discarded it. Cyl found a small wooden holy symbol to the god that the King worshipped. GB found a set of 4 wooden bowls,inlaid with beryl, worth 5 gold a bowl. Finkoo found a piece of art by the Maestro worth 35gp.

As the party continued to explore, Kali and Cyl saw something piled into an opening. They found a sword and a hilt covered in barnacles. They appeared to be much older than they should be if they were from the castle. They connected to a treasure, and barnacle, covered giant squid monster. It attacked the party. As they fought, the crew of the Black Steel One began converging on the fight to help. They got the killing blow as soon as they got into range. The party pulled their spears out. The crew and the party agreed to share the corpse up on their ship to make it easier to harvest. The ship was part of the Black Steel Corporation, which was the other adventurer’s guild coming into Cinderhaven. The party made friends and some money.