The adventure begins in Eleder, in the smoky office of Venture-Captain Finze Bellaugh .
Bellaugh welcomes the PCs, asks them to close the door, and motions you to join him around a table at the western end of the room. With a gruff voice he starts ”you all come highly recommended for this mission, take a seat and we will get started."
He shuffles through some papers and then waves dismissively, "gimme a second to collect my notes and maps. You all know me, but you might as well introduce yourselves to each other and maybe figure out who is good at what."
Books, scrolls, and maps are now spread haphazardly over the table that Venture-Captain Finze Bellaugh currently leans upon. His brow furrows in thought as he surveys one of the maps that lie before him. He begins with the briefing, “over the last few months, the Aspis Consortium has devoted a surprisingly large number of resources to a mining operation somewhere in the Kaava Lands, beyond Bloodcove.” He circles a general area on the map with his finger before continuing, “Since the operation started, we’ve heard quite a few reports from locals in the Kaava Lands of strange and foreboding occurrences, with many pointing the blame towards to the Consortium’s mysterious operation.”
The venture-captain crosses one arm over his chest, stroking his beard with the other. “Several other Pathfinders are already out in the field investigating. Juliet Diaz has traveled towards Bloodcove on a fact-finding mission of sorts. Meanwhile, Fola Barun has gone out into the Kaava Lands to dig deeper into the locals’ troubling reports. Still, their investigations face a major obstacle. The Aspis Consortium wields considerable influence in Bloodcove, and this influence extends far beyond the city’s borders. If we want to be able to investigate in earnest, we’ll need allies. Fortunately, the Consortium has dropped an opportunity into our laps.”
Bellaugh smiles. He points to Bloodcove on the map and then traces his finger south along the coast. “The port of Senghor lies about two hundred miles to the south of Bloodcove. The Aspis Consortium doesn’t have a strong presence in Senghor—after all, the city has strong independent merchants and no tolerance for slavery. Now, just a little ways north of Senghor is a ruined city called Boali. The mere mention of Boali is taboo in Senghor, as it is widely seen to be an accursed and haunted place. We’ve heard credible reports that Aspis agents have begun excavating for relics in Boali, and this expedition would surely sour their reputation in Senghor. However, the city’s leaders would not take mere rumors as cause for action without solid evidence. They also are unlikely to send their own people to Boali unless they must. That’s where you come in.”
Bellaugh excitedly continues. “If you can find evidence of Aspis activities in Boali, the Society will have a case to gain support from Senghor’s leaders for our future operation against the Consortium. The more you can find about the Consortium’s activities and objectives, the stronger your case will be.” He moves towards a desk at the end of the chamber, opens a drawer, and produces a sealed envelope. He holds it forward and speaks, “This is a letter of introduction from myself to the Senghor Council of Elders, bearing the seal of the Society. It will get you a meeting with some of their representatives in a reasonable amount of time. A fellow Pathfinder and old friend of mine, Mirian Raas, will be dropping you off at the port in Senghor.”
He holds a hand forward as though motioning to stop and then adds, “Before you get too excited about exploring an accursed city filled with all manner of unknown riches and relics, keep in mind that local taboo makes it difficult to discern just how dangerous Boali really is. Be ready to leave the city immediately if you find yourselves in over your heads.”
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A petite halfling girl is squirming excitedly in her chair. She seems to be acting normally, if overly exuberant, but looks a little odd. Her skin seems almost too pale and smooth, and her eyes are much bigger and glassier than usual. She's dressed in an ornate light red dress that seems a little out of date, like it was in the style of about 10 years ago with some pieces of leather mixed in for protection. Not really fitting in with her appearance, a scythe is leaning against the side of her chair.
She cheerfully giggles. "Hi everybody, I'm Dolora. This sounds like it's gonna be fun! Looking for Aspis evidence for the Society is one thing, but we get to go explore a new place!! I hope it's as interesting as I've been led to believe."
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A gnome with vibrant green hair pops into the room. His belly is almost as big as his smile, and his personality. "Hiya! My name's Gack. Gack Blooth." He hops around the room, introducing himself before listening in rapture to the Venture Captain.
"Seems easy enough! Go to the scary city, shoot Aspis baddies with Betsy here," He pats a small lump beneath his cloak, "And run when the going gets tough! A grand old time." He pauses to unveil his most prized possession from his hip. "Betsy? Oh, that's my fun name for my pistol here!" He pulls out a small pistol with gold inlays, that looks like it was just pulled from the forges of Alkenstar. "It makes loud noises and shoots all sorts of fun stuff! I wasn't one for the magic books, so I turned to technology instead!" He shrugs and puts the weapon away. "Speaking of boring stuff, anybody know anything about this town's history?"
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Dark stands over the map looking at it. He is wearing an exceptionally well made suit of leather armor and has a sword strapped to his waist. He has black hair and is clean shaven.
He finally looks up from the map to the others, "I am Dark Schnyder. Don't mind the name too much, it was a runny joke with my parents. As for historically knowledge. I'm afraid my expertise lies in the arcana and other planes of existence."
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Now that it seems the briefing is over, Dolora starts bouncing around the table chatting with everyone and ooh-ing and ahh-ing at their equipment. "I'm also not too great with the history stuff. I can tell ya all about plants, or current stuff, or that other weird stuff Dark's talking about...but nothing back farther than maybe last month. Maybe I should do some reading when this is over..."
She's excited to run into someone she doesn't need to look up at, and gives Gack a big hug. "Silly, there's something fun about just about anything. No reason to find things boring." ...and with a rather odd expression..."And I'm not sure I'm with you on the running thing...sometimes it's better to stay no matter how hard. Leaving things behind can be rough." then almost immediately snaps back into her usual sense of excitement and childlike optimism.
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Danicka Raburnus was a meek, waif of a woman, slender and scrawny, with bony limbs and freckled cheeks. Her hair was mousy brown, worn long and loose, messy more often than not. She wore simple spectacles over her dull brown eyes and clutched a fancy looking broom in her ink-stained fingers. She wore an odd, floppy hat on her head and her clothes were plain and poor-quality. The poor thing obviously had no head for fashion.
It felt like ages since she had been on a mission, and even longer since she had been on one with... strangers. For the longest time she had been a part of a team. They had become like family -- or, she thought they had, anyway. One of them she had never been on a mission without! But now, here she was, in a strange place with strange people. Only her beloved dog Prickles was familiar to her.
She was clearly nervous. Her body shook like a leaf in the wind, and her eyes looked at her own feet more often than at anything.
Danicka stuttered nervously in Finze's presence, "D-d-Dan-icka Raburnus reporting in... Sir," she squeaked.
Oh, how embarrassing! She was an experienced agent! She had to make a good impression. How could he trust her if she couldn't even speak to him? Working up her courage as he explained the situation, she thought of what she knew of Baoli...
After having received the mission details, Danicka squeaked out a meek "Thank you." Realizing she was whispering again, Danicka screws up her courage and exclaims loudly: "THANK YOU!" Realizing she's yelling now, which is just as mortifying, she raises a hand to her mouth and covers it. She blushes furiously, looks at the floor and finishes: "Sir..." in a quivering voice.
How embarrassing! I've really messed up now!
Beside Danicka is a massive, vicious looking Thuvian desert dog -- a ferocious beast as big as a wolf. He grumbles deeply as he enters the room, and looks around with blood-red eyes. At the sight of people he bares his teeth and lets out a snarl. His brown fur is thick, but well groomed, his teeth look sharp, and around his neck is a puffy, purple bow.
The dog places himself between the meek woman and the rest of the room, clearly prepared to lash out at anyone or anything that comes near his mistress. As she moves to take a seat he follows her, alert for danger.
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As her dog snarls at her new companions her eyes widen. She wraps her arms around his neck as if to hold him back and says, "Eeek! Don't eat them!" She looks honestly terrified that he might. "No killing anyone today. Pleeeeease?" she asks.
After a few tense moments she gives her vicious dog a kiss on the head and stands up.
"S-s-sorry about that." she squeaks in embarrassment. "He's very protective of me."
She takes a seat and nods her head. "Yes, I know something about the Baoli. They're..."
Realizing everyone is staring at her she blushes brightly. "Uh... that is..." She clears her throat.
Be brave!
"All of Boalisi culture, including the ruined city of Boali, either vanished or was destroyed 2,000 years ago due to an unknown catastrophe. Before the collapse of their culture Boalisi explorers ventured far into the Kaava Lands. The few scraps of history that remain speak of them claiming various ruins, but few other sites in the Kaava Lands have been definitively connected to this exploration. However, recent excavations have shown that the Boalisi frequently built their settlements with materials pulled from ancient ruins and claimed all manner of relics from the sites as their own. This seems to support the exploration hypothesis, although it could of course be..." she trails off, and blushes even brighter.
Stick to the mission, Danicka!
She shakes her head. "Never mind..." she squeaks.
As Delora bounces around cheerily Danicka's eyes widen, and the poor girl seems practically overwhelmed. But when Delora -- and Gack -- get to close...
Prickle snarls viciously and looks ready to lunge!
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DOGGY!!!
"Hi Danicka. Can I pet your doggy?...or maybe from the way he's acting I should ask him if I can say hi to you"
Dolora giggles but doesn't approach the pair. Her eyes betray the fact that despite her childish antics her mind is working very seriously.
Wow this one is nervous. I wonder...is it just anxiety or something else? I'll have to find a way to bring her out of her shell.
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Danicka pales, and throws up her hands defensively. "NO! STAY BACK!" she shouts in terror."Don't come any closer!" She glances down at Prickles and continues in a calm voice. "For... Uh... Safety's sake..." She smiles nervously. She makes sure everyone stays a safe distance away, then pats Prickles until he calms down.
Crisis averted!
Danicka listens to the conversations of her new comrades swirling around her.
"Oh, my... Magic and history aren't boring at all. They're fascinating! Why, did you know that..." Seeing that Gack is bored already, her voice trails off into silence.
"Oh, no. Not another gun. They're terrifying. And they always misfire...." Danicka's face suddenly looks a little sad. The thought of gun brings up memories of a missed friend. She lets out a wistful sigh. A moment later she blushes brightly, shifts nervously in her seat, and turns her attention back to her new companions.
When Dark introduces himself Danicka blushes. "Oh! I'm sorry. It's a pleasure to meet all of you. I'm Danicka. Danicka Raburnus. And this is Prickles. He's really quite sweet. ...Sometimes.... To me..." Her voice trails off into silence.
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Dolora smiles sweetly, and a little sadly, at Prickles
"Prickles, was it? Don't worry. Noone here is going to hurt your friend, but feel free to be as scary as you want. I understand how important it can be to need to protect someone. I had a little brother once..." Dolora's voice starts to trail off and she becomes lost in thought for a while, then quickly snaps back out of it.
"And Danicka, thank you for the information. I don't find history boring at all and have a lot to learn about the past. Maybe you can tell me more as we travel"
She then grins, spins around, and bounces back towards Gack, hoping he'll let her check out his guns.
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I know a bit of history. In fact, one notable legend of lore from my wizardry schooling involved the old-mage Jatembe and his Ten Magic Warriors. Its said he founded the first formal arcane school in the known lands, here in the Mwangi.
However, I don't seem to recall any knowledge about this particular locale we're visiting. I'm glad to see Danicka is armed with some history.
The elf looks back and forth at the members of the group.
Pleased to meet all of you. I am Avasir. It's refreshing to see so many wielders of the arcane here! Just don't go getting eaten by this vicious beast! He looks towards Dolora and Prickles, smirking after he was already beaming at the party's makeup.
Really though, the Mwangi is such a fascinating region filled with raw mystery. I don't think you're going to find it so boring after we delve into it.
He hasn't been this excited about a mission in... forever?
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As Danicka introduces herself, Gack beams. He sticks his hand out, only to quickly pull it back and retreat a few steps from Prickles' gnarly teeth. "Hi there, I'm Gack Bloo- - - AGH!!!!" He composes himself and continues. "My friend Forrest told me about you and your troupe! He said you were very brave, even if you didn't look it!" He nods, as if it is a fact. "I look forward to working with you, even if you like all that boring stuff."
When Dolora eyes his sidearm, he happily pulls it out again. "Here, want to look? Just don't touch that little flimsy piece there, it makes a loud noise and a small hole. We don't want that, yet." He smirks and hands the fully loaded weapon to her. "It's an Alkenstar 360, top-of-the-line! Well, top of my price range, at least! It's super special, though. You see, I spent a lot of time around the foundries and figured out how to put my spell components into capsules for firing! It takes a lot of practice, though." He points to a rather nasty looking burn on his forearm as evidence of this fact. With a smirk he adds, "And this bad boy has NEVER misfired. NEVER! Can you believe it? Pretty amazing, I say."
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Danicka smiles brightly at Gack. "You're friends with Forrest? How is he? It's been so long! I miss him." Realizing what she's just said she blushes brightly.
How embarrassing!
"Never misfired?" she asks, changing the topic. "Really? Hmm... I wonder if Brock knew how to use his... Well, I will endeavour not to scream when you fire it."
I hope.
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Dolora oohs and aahs over the Alkenstar, being very careful not to touch the part Gack indicated. "I hope you don't have to use it, but then again I can't wait to see how loud it is!" After handing it back, she wanders back to her seat and flops down.
"I can't wait to get started. I'm ready as soon as you guys are. I'm just gonna check a few things while everyone else gets ready" She does a quick check of her gear, and then quiets down, pulling out her fortune deck. She begins laying out cards in a 3x3 pattern, zoning out as she gazes at them mumbling quietly to herself.
Venture Captain Finze Bellaugh watches your interactions with a passing interest, when Danicka rattles off all her thoughts he appears impressed and surprised at the same time, maybe she's got one o' them special brain things?
When everyone seems finished with the briefing he shoes them on their way, "you got a boat to catch, don't dally here." He hands the letter of introduction to Dark Schnyder with a nod and sits back down at his desk, looking over some other paperwork.
The group leaves the small office and makes their way to the port with the name of a captain and ship to look for. Locating the vessel, Daughter of the Mist, they are greeted by a shiphand and taken to the Captain as she oversees loading of cargo.
An intense look greets you coming from a dark skinned woman who looks well equipped for a fight. A large bastard sword is slung across her back with a nasty curved dagger at her belt. Two bandoliers cross her chest and waist and you notice her callused feet are unclad. She greets you without fanfare, ”welcome aboard my ship, I am Captain Mirian Ross. Get your gear stowed quickly, we leave within the hour.”
The shiphand shows you to the general sleeping quarters, hammocks for all! He points out straps under the hammocks used to secure any loose gear and adds, ”Captain is a bit brisk, but she loosens up once out to sea. She'll probably invite you to dinner tonight.”
He mutters under his breath while leaving, "never invites me to dinner."
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"Already new things! I've never been on a boat before." Dolora picks out a hammock and straps her gear in underneath. "Huh"
looking up at the hammock a bit suspiciously "I hope I can get into this thing...or maybe I could climb up using my bag." She rearranges the straps to create a step with her backpack.
She decides the spend the rest of the prep time dashing around the ship, cheerfully greeting all of the sailors and asking about their preparations, trying not to get too much in the way.
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Securing the 'Letter of Introduction' on himself, he joins the others as they make their way to the ship. He is quiet though, seemingly deep in thought until they reach the ship.
He greets the Captain before being led to their quarters. Once there he secures his pack. "Been awhile since I have been on a ship voyage."
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On the docks Danicka looks at the ship, then looks down at her beloved dog. She looks worried. She crouches down, places her hands on his big face and looks him in the eyes.
"Remember boats? Tight quarters. Right? You can't bite everyone who comes near me. Got it? DOWN. No eating people. Okay? PLEEEEEEASE."
Prickles looks at his meek, whining pet. She was begging him for something. Again. Perhaps this time he'd listen.
Perhaps not.
At the word cats Prickles tummy grumbles. He wags his tail.
That evening word comes of that specific invite. The Captain's quarters are small, and even more cramped with seating for 6 now in place. A simple fare of food is presented, fresh fruits and vegetables, some sort of meat and rice casserole and bread with butter. For dessert a delicious cream pastry. She looks at you and motions to have a seat as she takes her place, ”so, you all look at least to be a little bit experienced. Sit, eat and enjoy. The meals after this won’t come close to comparing.”
She asks as you start eating, ”do you all have a plan or would you like my thoughts?”
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"Don't even think it." Danicka scolds her big dog. But it's clear he already is. "Uh oh..."
Danicka straightens herself, clutches her broom tightly in her hands, and heads aboard. She greets the captain with a meek, squeaky "Hello," before hurrying aboard and tracking down the most secluded corder of the ship for she and her dog to rest.
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Dolora finishes up exploring the ship and heads back to their quarters, where she gets word of the dinner invitation. Before dinner, she shares all of her adventures with the rest of the group. "..and you should have seen him climbing all the ropes...then they carried so many boxes into the hold, you'd be amazed how many can fit...and the lookout is so high...and you can't believe what they have on board! To help keep rats from eating the food they have CATS!!!"
After sharing all of her newfound, and probably completely useless, information she heads to the Captain's dinner.
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At dinner, Dolora is much less bouncy and more respectful.
I have a feeling this Captain Mirian won't take to my shenanigans very well. I'll have to take a completely different tone if we're going to be sure to get much information from her
"Thank you very much for the invitation Captain. In my experience, a good journey usually starts with a good meal." She smiles sweetly "We have not had much of a chance to discuss our plans, so I think it would be beneficial to hear your thoughts before we begin. Do you know anything of our destination? From what I understand the residents of Senghor won't be very likely to talk about it with us." Dolora daintily eats her food, being very careful with her table manners. This isn't the first time she's been to a formal dinner, although she's not sure how "formal" a Captain's dinner is supposed to be.
I should be careful not to mention the Aspis at first. If their influence has really spread so far from Bloodcove then who knows what alliances this Captain might have.
Dolora watches carefully throughout dinner to see if she notices anything unusual about Captain Mirian's demeanor or responses.
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There's a great ruckus belowdecks. A ferocious barking, and a chorus of hisses.
"Eeeek!" Danicka shrieks.
Suddenly the noise falls silent.
Danicka looks around the hold in a daze. Despite looking pale and more than a little traumatized, she does not look surprised. There was blood and tufts of fur everywhere. Prickles sat nearby, happy as a fox in a hen-house, eating the remains of the ship-cats.
She sighs. "Oh, shoot."
She waves her hands around, magically cleaning away all evidence of the bloody cat-massacre. When she's done Prickles is still eating, so she sweeps the floor idly with her overly decorative broom.
Eventually Prickles is done, so she aims some magical cleaning at him, being sure to remove the blood from his coat, and freshen his breath.
"Well, it's not the worst thing I've cleaned up..." she squeaks at her dog. "Come on. It's time to go to dinner."
Full and content, Prickles follows his pet around the ship without complaint.
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Danicka enters the Captain's quarters looking pale and very, very nervous. She takes a seat as far away as she can from everyone else, and then smiles. "Th-thank you for the invitation," she squeaks shyly. "You have a... lovely ship."
She barely eats at dinner, despite how delicious the food tastes. Luckily, she only spills her drink twice...
"Eek! I am SO sorry!" she apologizes. She quickly uses her magic to clean up the spill and her damp clothes.
How embarrassing!
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Dark joins the others at the Captain's dinner table. He is not 'gentle' as he eats, but still remains clean.
Joining in the conversation, "My companion is correct. We have not had much time to discuss how we will approach our mission. But any suggestion and knowledge you can give us will be much appreciated."
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Avasir spends most of the first part of the voyage up on deck, getting his bearings and pointing out elven-defined constellations in the late-evening sky. Typically he's fairly perceptive in groups of people, but when he gets lost in his "facts", he tends to not notice who may or may not be concerned with what he's talking about.
...and over there is the sphinx, and the sorcerer...
When he arrives at dinner, sits back and listens as others around the table engage the captain. The elf picks lightly at his food like a bird eats. Academic-type elves often keep very odd eating habits.
Mirian Ross takes a swig of wine and then responds, ”well I honestly don’t know much about Boali (she pronounces it ‘Bow-Ahh-Lee’), but it is a really strong taboo to even talk about it in Senghor. I’d guess a superstition that strong has a bit to do with both something in the city’s past as well as current dangers, or at least recent dangers. But as to specifics, I know not.”
She pulls a little chunk of meat off her plate and flips it to Prickles.
“Senghor is a port city on the Bay of Senghor. It was founded 2,000 years ago and was built like no other city of its age. Its harbor is strong enough to protect it from storms coming from the Eye of Abendego, and it could hold off a naval assault by a fleet far stronger than any that has ever been in the area. As far as anyone knows, anyways. The people of Senghor rely heavily on ocean trade, and they will not for any reason deal with slavers, even suspected slavers. The ruling class is also heavily focused on expansion as of late, which may soon put them at odds with Bloodcove and the Aspis Consortium.”
She pauses briefly to move her plate to the side and pull the dessert in front of her, ”you’ll have to deal with the council when you make your case. But I’d suggest collecting your evidence first. The council won’t even give you the time of day unless you have something good to present. They are comprised of representatives from the nobility, the priesthood of Gozreh, the merchants’ compact, and the military. While it would be highly doubtful you would be able to speak to the leaders of each faction, you could certainly speak with representatives from each. So long as you have a unanimous decision from at least one representative from each ruling faction during your meeting, you will have the full support of the council on whatever matters you are discussing. Either during the day or in the early evening, head over to the council hall and show them the letter of introduction that I expect the venture-captain gave you. That should be enough to get you a meeting; however, then it’s up to you to present your case. I doubt you’ll get a second chance.”
She tucks into her dessert, enjoying it immensely.
Prickles lets out a suspicious growl at the Captain.... He looks at the meat.... and gobbles it up!
He gives her another suspicious look and lets out a deep rumbling growl.
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Gack spends much of the day oiling his gun and muttering under his breath. "Stupid salty air, getting in and ruining everything..."
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At dinner, he sits up straight and is visibly trying to contain his natural excitement. Why do I always get sent on the fancy dinner missions? It's like the Venture Captains know something I don't! He allows the captain to speak without interruption, enjoying her perspective. "Merchant's guild, you say? I'm pretty good at talking, but especially to merchants." He smiles and adjusts his shirt. "Do any of these factions have any rivalries or inner tussles?"
The Captain looks oddly at the lady after her question, then spears another small hunk of meat with her fork. "Did you even pay attention to the briefing? Maybe there was some confusion?" Looking at the growling dog-wolf-beast she flips the second bite to him and clarifies, "well no matter, Finze can be a little scatterbrained. I'll be dropping you in Senghor to give you a chance to get a feel for the town for a couple hours. While there, dig up anything you can use and I'll get you transport to Boali. Then you head to Boali, try to recover concrete evidence of Aspis activity there and return to Senghor. Once you have a solid case to make against the Aspis, take it to the council and convince them. It'll stop whatever those snakes are planning and weaken their organization."
She obviously has a dislike for the Aspis as she adds with a cruel smile, "and if they get in your way... well I'm sure you all know how to defend yourselves."
Turning to Gack she gives an honest smile, "excellent, the merchants do have a strong influence in town. As for rivalries, I don't know of any. But you might have some luck gaining some intel at City Hall, they seemed chatty there the one time I had to go get a permit."
She shrugs and looks at Prickles holding an empty fork, "I'm sorry, I don't have any more. Maybe see if your master has food left?"
Turning back to the elf she adds, "no clue, they don't even talk about it in Senghor and I learned luckily not to even mention the ruins." She looks a bit surprised, "did Finzi not fill you in about anything?"
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Dark nods, "Makes sense. We go to Boali and discover what we can and dig up anything on Aspis' actions there. Return to Senghor with our proof. Try to see the representative of each faction to get a feel and possible support of them. Then show our letter to see the council. I guess that is when the real party will start."
The several day travel goes uneventfully. As promised, the food is not nearly as good for the remaining meals. Salted meats, seeded breads, cheeses, citrus fruits and water to drink. On the last day, the bread and cheese stop showing in the meal and the sailor who brings the food grumbles about the no good cats that didn’t do their one job. The crew seem friendly enough and only get annoyed if you interfere with their duties. The ship is kept clean and orderly and you pull into the bay early in the morning.
The sunrise illuminates the deep waters of Senghor’s harbor with shades of orange and red, as the enormous, centuries-old defenses rise against the horizon. Massive towers built with immense stone blocks flank the harbor’s entrance, showcasing the city’s architectural marvels.
Soon enough you disembark with the Captain who guides the group to the grand market, located in the city center. ”Resupply as needed and meet me back at the Daughter of the Mist by midday. I need to go track down transport for you to use to get to... you know. If you get a chance, you can ask around and maybe get an advantage over those snakes.” She slips through the crowd and heads back the way you came.
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Gack tries to remember his studies on Senghor, but doesn't remember anything of interest. Stupid boring books. Then, he goes to chat with people, his signature grin alive and well. But, everyone he talks to is all shook up, not wanting to say anything! "So curious. What a fearful people, " Gack muses.
What he doesn't realize is that he has been following Pickles around all day, in the swath left behind by the frightening hound.