Dripping Dagger Inn, Room 418 - Ash
Knowing he likely had little time, Ash shifted and jammed a chair under the doorknob, then took a quick look at the book on the box.
The book turned out to be Barvette: Walking with Destiny, a popular recent biography of Queen Barvette, the mother of current Queen of Aundair, Aurala ir'Wynarn. It was near the top of most non-fiction best seller lists, with most reviewers saying it was sophisticated and satisfying, and the exploration of experience and reflection on painful failures, while less glamorous than a fate written in the stars, turned out to be the key ingredients in Barvette's legacy.
The box underneath was not locked, only kept shut with a small latch. Inside was a small stack of papers that looked like proposed orders, fulfillment invoices, and notes about clients. At a glance, the merchant seemed to be a middleman between larger businesses and small entities or individual clients. Most of the orders contained some combination of weapons, field equipment, and medical magic and gear. Perhaps he was an outfitter for adventurer or small mercenary groups?
Absorbed as he was in the papers, Ash didn't hear any footsteps approaching in the hallway.
Dripping Dagger Inn, Room 418 - Ash
Less than a minute after Ash opened the box someone bumped into the door. "Excuse me," he heard Zander say in the hallway.
"Move, clanker," said a voice Ash hadn't heard before. "What are you doing standing out here, anyway?"
"Apologies. I am encountering mechanical difficulties with my knee. It will be only a few minutes before I am mobile again." Zander's voice was its usual unruffled self.
"Hold him! Get him out of the way!" The other voice, on the other hand, was quite upset.
"There is no need for hostilities, I am not threatening you," said Zander.
"You broke into my room!"
"I have not entered this room," said the warforged on the other side of the door.
Fireball clues:
1) Martem's necklace.
2) Note and key on the dead gnome (Dalakhar) -> note from Kalain of the Nine Waters
3) Death mark from House Tarkanan
Supposition:
A) Zander's observations on the roof.
B) Declan's encounter with Floxin.
C) Renaer's father's stolen half million galifars.
Assigned missions:
Investigate elf murders in Dock Ward- House Phiarlan (no results on Night 1)
Investigate explosion in Trollskull Manor- self-assigned
Personal hooks:
Ash wants to help the shifters and owes Blaze a favor
Idrassa can be as involved or uninvolved with the arbitrage trade you set up in Field Ward as you want
Illendur agreed to go to dinner at his sister Fientia's- they're having a dinner party and she mentioned that Lillian from accounting will be there and she just broke up with her boyfriend
-we can play that out or just say it happens offscreen, up to you :D
Zander was interested in a clockwork bird he noticed flying east-west and back over the neighborhood and tracked it to a neighboring villa in North Ward
Running a tavern?
Background points of interest PCs have noticed:
There's a low level street war going on between Daask and House Tarkanan
There's a sea-faring circus that just got to town called the Sea Maiden's Faire
Completed:
Find Red Susie- street urchins
Find Maxeene/return Maxeene's familiar- Remallia Haventree/Maxeene
Protect clinic in Field Ward- ir'Cassalanters
Rescue Floon- Vordik Gaebler/Renaer ir'Nelview
Take noble handkerchief to contact in Dock Ward- Boromar Clan (or the Tyrants?)
Also! Hit me up with personal goals! This is a huge metropolis! If there was ever a game where you thought 'I want my PC to accomplish X,' this is the one to do it in. Does your PC want to do something? Let's make it a hook!
Illendur walks about to Trollskull with the others, thinking about what they've learned, and realizing there are more mysteries than answers in today.
Absorbed in his own thoughts, Illendur keeps walking.
Idrassa fished in her pocket and pulled out the necklace she had liberated earlier. "This is the murder weapon," she observed. "According to the boy, Martem, the assassin dropped it in a water barrel after the deed. Does anyone know enough about these things to know where it came from?"
Disappointed in his search, Ash quickly put the papers and chair back the way he'd found them, shifted, and hopped out the window. Once on the ground, he re-entered the inn with the intent of fetching Zander - and keeping away from the merchant and his bodyguards.
Dripping Dagger Inn - Ash/Zander
Ash circled back inside the Inn's front door and walked up the steps, hearing the merchant yell at Zander as he reached the third floor stairs. Once on the 4th floor, he immediately saw one of the bodyguards (the unarmored one; a curious choice) with his sword drawn as the other went through the pockets of Zander's red leather trenchcoat.
"Keep it here while I search the room," their boss was saying as Ash came around the corner.
Trollskull Manor - All
Idrassa fished in her pocket and pulled out the necklace she had liberated earlier. "This is the murder weapon," she observed. "According to the boy, Martem, the assassin dropped it in a water barrel after the deed. Does anyone know enough about these things to know where it came from?"
Goggh grunted as he looked over from the pile of papers and the ledger he had open on the bar. "Explosives like that are regulated- licensed mercenaries operating outside the city, tracked sales. Even the Watch and Guard don't use stuff like that. So it's either legit mercs or black market." He glanced at Illendur. "At least for mere mortals. Could be someone connected. The rules are different for the Houses."
Idrassa frowned at this. "So, Renaer was planning to meet someone from House Phiarlan, and was scared enough he was looking to lie low with an old contact. And he was right to be hiding, because someone with access to military grade pyromancy was after him." She looked at Illendur. "Do you think we could find out who Renaer has been working for since he left his old job?"
I'm sure we could, a few well-placed questions in the right ears.... the half-elf thinks a moment, who would we like to start with? Floon? Gaebler?
"Excuse me," Zander said, as the guard began attempting to go through his pockets, "but I have the same rights of personal property as do any other sentient beings under the laws. The Treaty of Thronehold expressly granted such rights." Much as he was objecting verbally, the golden-hued Warforged wasn't actually physically resisting the attempted search.
The fact that there was little in his pockets, beyond some coins and his ID papers probably had something to do with that. (His lockpicks, wrapped in a small red-leather tube that matched his coat, were secreted in a small depression in his back, hidden under the coat.)
When he saw Ash standing behind the guard with his weapon out, Zander realized it was time for the game to end.
With no outward indication that it was about to happen, Zander's body was suddenly coated in a translucent blue liquid that hardened almost immediately in to a thin crystal coating. Leaving him looking for all the world as though he had become encased in a crystalline suit of armored plate.
While he made no offensive movements, the primary effect of the transition was that his pockets were no longer accessible.
"Ah! That's done it. My knee seems to be operating within acceptable parameters again. Further testing will be required, but I believe it should function well enough for me to perambulate freely."
He turned an armor-encased head to the guard that had been searching him, the pale blue light behind the crystal-and-gold eye slits in the armor brightening as he did so.
"I will be leaving now." The words were as hard as Zander's metallic skin.
Dripping Dagger Inn - Ash/Zander
The armored guard flinched away when Zander's crystal armor appeared out of nowhere. He turned to shake his head at his unarmored companion. "He's not carrying anything. Boss?"
The merchant came out of the room, still looking upset but (to Ash's eye more familiar with human facial expressions, at least) perhaps a shade less so than when he had gone inside. "Nothing's missing. You can go. But be more careful about where you break down next time, clanker!"
The guard with the drawn sword slipped his weapon back into its scabbard while the one in armor took a few steps back from the warforged. The merchant glanced down the hallway, seeming to notice Ash, but didn't immediately say anything to a stranger coming up the inn's stairs.
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The merchant came out of the room, still looking upset but (to Ash's eye more familiar with human facial expressions, at least) perhaps a shade less so than when he had gone inside. "Nothing's missing. You can go. But be more careful about where you break down next time, clanker!"
The guard with the drawn sword slipped his weapon back into its scabbard while the one in armor took a few steps back from the warforged. The merchant glanced down the hallway, seeming to notice Ash, but didn't immediately say anything to a stranger coming up the inn's stairs.
"I do not 'clank,'" Zander said, though his tone was more of one making an observation, rather than one critiquing or arguing with the point.
"Perhaps," he observed, his tone friendly, "you had best consider more carefully where you choose to keep your possessions. If the mere discovery of a sentient being standing alone in a hallway outside of your quarters is enough to trigger concerns about security, perhaps the location of those quarters is not secure enough."
Then he gave a small, awkward wave of one hand, and with a polite "good day," he headed toward the stairs, limping slightly as he walked.
Trollskull Manor - All
I'm sure we could, a few well-placed questions in the right ears.... the half-elf thinks a moment, who would we like to start with? Floon? Gaebler?
Goggh grunted. "You could try from the other side, too. Try to track down the source of that necklace or whoever threw it and see what they might know." The minotaur bar manager shrugged his enormous shoulders. "Couldn't hurt to come at it from two directions."
Idrassa nodded at Goggh's advice. "That might be a good approach," she observed. "I can see what I can run down there."
I'm happy to bar hop and ask around with some friends before venturing into more respectable folks.... Let's divide and conquer Illendur responds to Idrassa's idea.
You keep seeing him at different places around Trollskull Alley throughout the day- across the street reading the menu board at the Balanced Dish, talking to Fala at Corellon's Crown, looking at the flowers at Daisy's- and he's always within line of sight to the Manor.
Ebinor's Baubles, Sea Ward, afternoon - Declan, Idrassa
Idrassa knew weapon merchants of all sorts- blacksmiths, swordsmiths, fletchers, wandwrights, general shops with a reputation for having good hardware, specialists in sophisticated dueling weapons or robust military type weapons, mercenary outfitters, places that supplied thugs and cut-throats with stealthy blades, salons that catered to the wealthy dilettante- but places to get illegal military-grade explosives were few and far between. Since the murderer had chosen a Necklace of Fireballs instead of Last War-surplus blast disks, she chose a jeweler in Sea Ward instead of the guy she knew in Southern Ward.
After making their way through the thorough screening at the edge of Sea Ward and past multiple checkpoints at various intersections within the Ward, Idrassa and Declan finally entered the cool, stained-glass lit Ebinor's Baubles. Rainbows filtered through beautiful stained glass windows reflected off dozens if not hundreds of rings, bracelets, necklaces, torcs, diadems, armlets, piercings, chains, and other, more obscure types of jewelry on display within their clear glass cases. Given the store's particular niche- enchanted jewelry- the items would probably shine even brighter if one perused them with Detect Magic.
While she'd never had reason to test it, Idrassa had heard the cases were made of glassteel instead of mere glass, and it gave her a headache to try to calculate how much it had cost to enchant that much of the material to outfit this store. And that was just for the most overlooked piece of furniture. However much they brought in here must be astronomical.
Four salespeople turned to look at Declan and Idrassa as they entered, though as far as the pair could tell there had been no audible chime. The quartet of staff were all smartly dressed and well turned out, their outfits and grooming clearly meant to put wealthy shoppers at ease. There were two humans, a half-elf, and a gnome, and Idrassa knew none of them were the person she was looking for. She wanted Gersi herself, the gnome jeweler-enchanter and the Ebinor in Ebinor's Baubles.
Tarley Free Clinic, Fishgut Court, Dock Ward, afternoon - Ash, Illendur, Zander
It had been a frustrating afternoon. Primarily for Illendur, since he was leading the effort while Ash and Zander were just along for the ride, but just walking through Throneport's crowded streets was stressful enough without striking out at salon after bar after foyer after tea room after bathhouse. Eventually the Trollskull trio found themselves in Dock Ward after hearing Renaer had been heading to the Blushing Mermaid, the upscale festhall where merfolk staff waited on patrons in luxurious pool-filled suites.
Unfortunately either they were too early or Renaer was running late, because when they asked the doorman (and slipped him a galifar) it turned out their noble friend was not there even though he had a suite reserved. So where to go when in Dock Ward when you wanted to hear the latest gossip? Dok Tarley always seemed to have his ear to the ground, whether it was listening for the latest in the underground war between Tarkanan and Daask or looking out for "lost" shipments of drugs bound for a Jorasco warehouse.
The trio found themselves in Fishgut Court, surprisingly devoid of the smell of fish guts now that Dok's free clinic had taken over and fixed up half of the square's decrepit buildings. In an effort to keep down infections, with ir'Cassalanter money Dok had hired people to keep the square clean, dramatically reducing the Court's once-everpresent scent.
An elf, a shifter, and a warforged walk into a clinic. Sounds like the start of a joke.
In this case, the clinic was no joke. Dok Tarley had taken the nobles' largesse to create and outfit a house of healing larger than the one the group had helped out in Field Ward. The inside was spic and span, with wooden floorboards and whitewashed walls and ceiling freshly cleaned, neat rows of chairs half full of prospective patients, and a trio of nurses behind an opening in a wall that blocked passage from the lobby to the emergency treatment area. They looked busy but not harried, just another day treating those who couldn't afford to go to anywhere else.
Tarley Free Clinic, Fishgut Court, Dock Ward, afternoon - Ash, Illendur, Zander
An elf, a shifter, and a warforged walk into a clinic. Sounds like the start of a joke.
In this case, the clinic was no joke. Dok Tarley had taken the nobles' largesse to create and outfit a house of healing larger than the one the group had helped out in Field Ward. The inside was spic and span, with wooden floorboards and whitewashed walls and ceiling freshly cleaned, neat rows of chairs half full of prospective patients, and a trio of nurses behind an opening in a wall that blocked passage from the lobby to the emergency treatment area. They looked busy but not harried, just another day treating those who couldn't afford to go to anywhere else.
Zander, impressed with the speed and extent of the improvements to Dok's neighborhood and clinic, could not help himself but to look around broadly as the group entered.
He did not have his crystalline armor engaged, and his halberd was folded and secured on his back, but Zander was still a relatively imposing figure even so. 6'3", 290lbs of golden-hued metal and faintly glowing blue eye slits, with J'r-V'zz a glowing blue-white triangle in the center of his chest, under a red leather tabbard.
He had become aware of the effect his appearance could have on non-combatant humanoids (and not a few combative ones), so Zander exercised significant restraint, and did not immediately begin introducing himself to the humanoids on the various chairs and asking them about their respective symptoms.
Instead, he merely waited, one pace behind and to the left of Illendur, head in semi-constant motion as he took in all that he could see.
Or is that taking things too much risk?