Ep 74: "It Rings a Bell"

Wearis 21, 1199

Prologue

Nyx had been investigating Bezel during the morning and discovered that he was the head of a small crime family. They didn’t consider themselves a crime family. They felt that their business was to trade and sell goods. They called themselves the Timekeepers.
Bridget worked at the Greaser’s Union in the morning. Nathan trained with Owen again. Saxi went to work and then joined the others at the Beer Forge. Mari worked in her shop. Rosie stole two of Nathan’s left shoes and put one of the shoes in one of Mari’s vases at Sunflower Dreams. Then she ate with Daisy and went to perform at the Beer Forge.
Tybalt visited Owen, and let him know that decisions about the military and government were being discussed. Tybalt said that the Council needed to establish that they were a nation, and not a kingdom, before the war along northern border started. He also let Owen know that the Council was considering Owen for an advisor position. He said more talks would be coming soon and they would have a decision on the guard soon.

The Beer Forge

Rosie was already at the Beer Forge, then Mari and Nyx joined her. Nyx informed them that Thomas had done some info gathering for the group and looked into Bezel. Saxi joined them and Rosie secretly slid Nathan’s shoe onto the middle of the table. Nathan and Owen arrived to discover his shoe on the table. The group discussed what to do that day and decided to investigate the castle more. Mari ritual cast Water Breathing as the group made plans to use Owen’s boat.
On the way to Owen’s boat, the group chatted and Nathan kept poking at people. Saxi and Owen tried to change the subject to Owen’s boat needing a name, while Nyx made some innuendos. Rosie climbed up Nathan and slid down his arm to rest on his and Mari’s joined hands. Mari swung her back and forth.

Underwater Castle Ruins

The group took the boat lift to go down to the ocean and rowed the boat out to the castle rubble. They saw the huge metal boat, but now it said “Birchfield Seekers” instead of “Black Steel One.” The group dropped anchor and secured the boat before jumping into the water.
They saw that half of the larger bricks had been moved off to the side and three workers from the Seekers were dealing with a large section of wall. The group started near the center of the building, but not right next to Birchfield Seekers.
They spent two hours searching through the rubble and then noticed that the Seekers also found an entrance into the dungeon areas. The Seekers had also started uncovering bits of the throne and then one of them pulled a ripcord that made a green, leather ball inflate and float to the surface. The Seekers all started working on one area together, then another came down from the ship and looked down at the ground with the others. It was an older woman who appeared to carry some authority.
Mari and Nyx went over to look as well and looked down to see a large metal tube with a window. Someone was inside. A gnome looked up at them from the tube filled with green gel. He looked tired, emaciated, and starved. It was Earl Goodsbury.
The Seekers started to dig him out, so Saxi got their attention and told them it was the king. She also wrote in the sand to tell them that he had been a vampire. They started digging faster and Owen used Message to explain to the Seekers that Earl had been a vampire, but apparently had a back-up body.
The Seekers lifted it up the capsule and another body was revealed. Saxi and Nyx dug it out, revealing that it was Heliya’s body. There was a religious text next to her that looked pristine and Nyx grabbed it. It was to the Light Pantheon
The Seekers took everything up on their ship and the group followed. They let the group on board to be there when they opened it. They were helped on board by one of the men, a half-elf named Chibs.

Birchfield Seekers' Ship

The older woman from the rubble came over and asked about the man in the tube. She introduced herself as Maerryl de la Vez, named after her grandmother. She was the captain of the ship. She lead everyone over to the King so that Saxi could check if he was undead or not.
The room where the king had been taken was near the bottom of the ship. The crew had started assembling a cage around the metal tube, just in case he was still a vampire. Maerryl went into the cage, gave Chibs the key, then looked for a natural opening and slammed a crowbar into the crack. She got it open and a musty, unwashed smell came out as everyone heard coughing from within. Maerryl reached in, grabbed Earl’s leg, and pulled him out.
Saxi immediatley used Divine Sense and knew that Earl wasn’t undead. She sensed something evil down a nearby set of stairs, but Earl was just a gnome. They immediately took him out of the cage and to the infirmary of the ship.
Owen and the Maerryl worked on Earl, realizing that the green goo was some kind of sustenance gel. He was uninjured, but starved and seemed perfectly mortal. He ate and drank a small amount, then passed out.
Saxi told Maerryl about the smell of evil coming from up the stairs and they went downstairs with Rosie to investigate. Saxi sensed evil coming from a leather tool pack and opened it to reveal lots of different small tools that appeared to be meant for smithing small things. Saxi had concerns that it was possibly tools leftover from the Keysmith, but said nothing in front of Maerryl. No magic was detected from it. When Owen expressed interest in it, Maerryl told the group that Bezel had been working with the Seekers to sell their finds. Owen offered to take it to Bezel for her.
The Seekers left the group with Earl in the infirmary and went back to work. Nyx wanted to know more about who killed Earl, but the rest of the group insisted they would need to tell them more later. Owen cast a Healing Word on Earl, which caused him to move slightly and whisper, “Seldanna.” He was fully healed, but had severe levels of exhaustion and would be asleep for quite a while.
The group discussed carefully what to do with Earl. Owen suggested giving Earl an out by maybe claiming he didn’t remember anything, maybe he wasn’t really Earl. Nyx recommended letting “the Boss” know and they decided to get word to Aldion first.
Rosie used Sending to tell him that another group had discovered Earl alive and the party didn’t know what to do. He asked where Earl was and where the group was, so Rosie replied that Earl was in a safe place and that Aldion could meet with people at the estate. He replied via a Sending and asked who she was with as well as who he was meeting with.
Everyone but Rosie left and talked with Maerryl. She said that she was fine having Earl on her ship for now and Rosie stayed behind to keep him healed. Owen said the group had a meeting and then he would be back. Then they left to meet Aldion at the Brell Estate.

The Brell Estate

They found him sitting out front and leaning against the door of Nathan’s estate. He asked what the group wanted to meet him for and they asked what to do about the former King. He suggested handing Earl over to the Council and the group expressed their concern that Earl would not be treated fairly.
They discussed what to do with the King and noticed that Aldion seemed a little off. He was stressed by the King returning. The group decided to possibly get Earl out of town and send him on his way. Nyx would disguise themselves and go in to get the king. They would change to a form they’d never used and would go to the ship to get the king out. They would leave behind money and a note asking Maerryl to drop it.

Birchfield Seekers' Ship

Nyx, as Other-Bridget, met with Chibs and said she really only knew Lou from the group on the ship earlier. He gave her a tour of the ship and even showed her the infirmary. Rosie was having tea with the captain and Maerryl noticed that Rosie twitched when Other-Bridget introduced themselves. She asked Rosie if her friends were going to do anything on the ship, Rosie honestly didn’t know but said she did not think so. Maerryl left and announced over the speakers that they were going to Security One, calling an ‘all hands on deck.’ All guests needed to leave and Nyx was escorted off the ship, though Rosie was allowed to stay.
Later that evening Owen went back to act as a doctor and was asked about Other-Bridget and said he did not know Lou’s friend Bridget. He met with Rosie and used Message to tell her what had happened with Aldion. They discussed probably having to just make a deal with the captain and settled in to keep an eye on Earl.
Back in town, Mari changed herself into a rat and started tracking Aldion. She was suspicious, since he had been acting off. Aldion just went home to an apartment in the temple district, got undressed, and went to bed.
Rosie used Sending to say goodnight to Haley and got a partial limerick as a reply:

“There once was a man from Nantucket,
Who poked a large hole in his bucket,
I like the way it feels, but not…”

Full Episode

Broadcast Date

November 27, 2018

Party

Mari, Nathan, Nyx, Owen, Rosie, Saxi

NPCs

• Chibs
• Captain Maerryl de la Vez III
• Aldion
• Ivy Gilgrim
• Earl Goodsbury

Locations

• Cinderhaven
• The Beer Forge
• Bilgeport
• Underwater Castle Ruins
• Ship of the Birchfield Seekers
• The Brell Estate