Session 21: 1/21/2024

The party proceeds with looting the bodies (Greataxe +1, <100gp). I include a pineapple on the sideboard in my description (recent Alexandrian post) but nobody does anything with it. Checking upstairs, they find a bound and gagged woman in upper-class clothes. They release her after checking both bedrooms to make sure there were no enemies, and escort her to her home on the edge of the government district. They did find a written but un-sent ransom note for 3,000gp (“about all we have” she mutters).

They ask what her family does, so that’s now the Spicer family, owning shares in ships trading spices with far-away lands. The group returns to the house to search it more thoroughly, and finds a strongbox with 5,000gp inside. They also find a key to the house, and are talking about making it “their” house. Deciding to get a nice lock for it, they head to Waukeen’s promenade. On the way, two of them hear raised voices down an alley. Mergand turns himself invisible to check it out, while Ludwig just sneaks down the alley (both of them roll well on stealth). They see a confrontation in progress between four armored men and six lighter-armored rogue types, with the armored leader talking about honor and agreements and protection, and the other side talking about turf and payments.

Ludwig’s high insight score tells him that it looks like they’re just seconds away from blades being drawn. The general consensus in the party is “Look, a gangland turf war. Let’s just watch.” They ask if they can tell what gang either side belongs to, but the group really hasn’t done anything with the Shadow Thieves, so they can’t tell. The armored leader’s wife? Mother? Girlfriend? Is insulted, and his greatsword comes out. The fight ensues. Mergand Misty Steps up to the roof, still invisible, to watch.

A brief description and a few tokens off the map covers some of the fighting, and then one of the two rogues moving along the roof to join in and shoot the Fallen Paladins in the back literally steps on Mergand (their stealth roll beat his perception roll, and he was right where they needed to move to). The rogue kicks Mergand (2 damage), and Mergand makes a grapple check to grab him (done) and throws him off the roof (success). Some initiative is rolled. Mergand gets up and shoots the other archer with a crossbow bolt of biting (+3d6 poison damage on failed save), doing 27 damage with a critical hit to a 32-hp thug. Cormak uses his psionic Jump to get onto the roof, while Ludwig rolls a decent Athletics check and uses his bonus action to move further to get on the roof. He grabs (grapples) the other archer and shushes him. The guy stabs him twice. Mergand Fire Bolts the thug with another crit, doing 30 damage. We have some byplay about how easy it is to murder someone… and Mergand heals 3hp. Murdering is quite a way to get success and treasure, isn’t it?

They again discuss letting the rest of the fight play out – the thrown-down rogue has joined it… but Mergand decides to move to the edge of the roof and places a fireball where it hits 3 rogues (all fail their save). He does nothing else, but this is enough to tip the scales of the fight. The leader of the armored figures, Reynald, calls him down and they talk briefly. Reynald offers his thanks, and says he may have something that the group can help with, as they are resourceful. The group agrees to meet him at the Copper Coronet around sunset. The Fallen Paladins are giving a healing potion to their fallen member. Mergand drops his 3rd level Cure Wounds (Bhaal Power) and heals him further.

They head on to Waukeen’s Promenade. Talking with a locksmith, they settle on a vey nice magically-enhanced lock (needs to be enchanted by Terrance, could take a week) for 300gp. Terrance is the same wizard-for-hire who shows up in the Baron Ployer sidequest that I will do sometime soon-ish. They never go to any inn except the Copper Coronet.

I sent a message via Discord PM to Ludwig the Harper’s player, as a “This is delivered when you get back to the Copper Coronet.” It’s a warning that Xzar is dangerous, and an encouragement to go along with the plan to infiltrate the Harper compound, or to just kill Xzar.

Reynald de Chatillon shows up first. We end up in a 15 minute side discussion about alcohol and soups, and he sets forth his quest: Anarg, his captain (who he’s mentioned a few times and who handles all the finances and details) would like a ceremonial cup from the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart. It has no inherent power, but is a symbol and a memento. He and his men are known and would not be able to go there without being captured or chased off at sword-point. They agree, and ask Reynald to potentially help them fight against a wizard. The plan was to kill Xzar.

Xzar shows up. There’s some weird power-plays around sitting properly in a chair (“With Monty gone, I thought I could go a few days without being told to sit normally and stop slurping my soup and not be weird.”) Mergand reports no success and that they may have a way in but it’ll take days (Xzar: “But what if they pull out his toenails and he talks?”). Ultimately they insult each other back and forth and Xzar leaves in a huff. I don’t know what happened to their plan. I thought they’d attack him and he’d Dimension Door out and then get tracked to the house where he and his apprentices and stuff are. I think they bailed on that plan due to not having all their spell slots.

They head back to the Bridge district so they can dump the bodies from the ransom house into the water at night. On the way, two of the party hear voices from an alleyway. Ludwig sneaks closer and hears a man standing in the shadows giving instructions to three people about leaving the Shadow Thieves of their own will (“Of our own will” they repeat), and how to report to their new posts to serve. They depart, and he goes “Oh, a witness. Come over here, why don’t you?” Ludwig fails his save vs. charm to approach. Mergand follows to the entrance of the alley and passes his save against charm. Ludwig answers a few questions, and Mergand starts whittling the head off a crossbow bolt to make a stake. When Mergand’s name is brought up, the vampire backs off and charm-tells Ludwig that maybe they should work together soon. It’d be a good idea. It turns into a bat and flies off.

Around midnight, the bodies of the kidnappers are heaved into the river, where they wash downstream to the ocean to feed the sharks (“This will never come back to bite us,” says Ludwig).

The next morning, they decide they need a plan to find Xzar. They travel around to visit Tirdir, the Spicers, the Copper Coronet, and put a message in to the Harpers to try to see if anyone can spot Xzar’s lair. Of course the Harpers know where it is….. but it’ll be a bit before they get a message back.

The party then heads to the Hall of the Most Noble Order of the Radiant Heart (that’s a really long name!). They say they have business they can’t publicly discuss and are admitted, and end up talking to Sir Ryan Trawl. Ludwig opens with a “So, what can you tell us about this guy Anarg?” that gets shot down with a “We don’t gossip.” More discussion follows, including revealing that they’ve had dealing with the Fallen Paladins. Sir Trawl admits that Anarg has been a magnet for those who have failed to uphold their vows and have left the Order. He’s involved in human trafficking and drug dealing (close enough) and they want him dead, but it’s hard to ask people to fight against their old friends. After some false starts where Mergand’s player starts coming up with an off-the-wall “we’re sent by the temple of Mars to help the servants of Tyr guard the cup” Ludwig takes over the discussion and swears as a Harper that he will stop Anarg and will do the best he possibly can to return the cup.

Sir Trawl gets the cup, and they depart. Mergand gets some scrap and uses Disguise Self to change his appearance to himself but with the scrap looking like the cup carried openly, then drinks tea out of it. He’s lining up to make Anarg mad on purpose.

They return to the house; Reynald had been asked to meet them there at noon, so he does. Mergand is drinking from the fake cup, but Ludwig shows him the real one (inspection passed). He leads them to a derelict ship docked near the Bridge district, and we leave off from the night… we all know that next session is going to have “roll initiative” pretty early on.

We’ll see if they manage to keep enough on the “honorable” path to make Reynald side with them. I have him statted out as a 7th level Cavalier and possible party member. During their discussions, he’s made comments about valuing honor and loyalty, but hasn’t mentioned anything about “good” or any other virtues. He’s also made it clear that his ejection from the order was “earned,” and that he regrets it.