Session 38
Fact Sheet: When did Ezra sign up to be the dad to a bunch of teenagers and chaos gremlins?
Players present: Ecchima, Marty, Meinhart, Tuur and Vinnie. Dins was our GM.
Date: 14-02-2024
Date in-universe: it’s Thursday around 11 a.m. when the session ended
Major developments
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Previously: session 37 Mr. Mountainverse, mother Mari-El-le and Ms. Maya
Up next: session 39
Notes
As we're walking back to the inn, Ezra realizes they never returned the jacket to their father, Jacob Saree. They use the earring to send a message to make sure Jacob attends Ophelia's performance after dinner. He's startled by this magic message & his magical reply is pretty garbled!
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In the taproom, Wendy is eager to see us: guests have been trickling in steadily, Wendy's word-of-mouth campaign was clearly successful. There are more people attending than there have been in a long time, so Wendy is confident in offering us free drinks for the evening.
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El goes to brush Madonna and greets Deception the goat, Lapis, Chalcedony and Reva's horse. Chalcedony nods at El: she didn't want to accompany Gladiola on her visit underground to contact the dwarves & she's staying away from the taproom where Hali is going to blast her bagpipes soon!
Slowly walking up the road to the inn, Maya greets El. El warns her she should be careful she doesn't lose her hearing & invites her to stay with them, they can brush the animals together. Maya demurs and prefers to head inside, despite El insisting Madonna is a friend. Maya hesitates: is Madonna a druid? No, this animal is both an animal and a friend!
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Looking around the room, we see Lucerne and Pandolf among the guests. Especially Lucerne is waving eagerly at Ophelia. Other notable guests arrive as dusk slowly deepens:
- Sastruga brought a taller Elvish man with red berries in his hair, it's his husband Loh'sa
- Kekoa strolls in, eager to hear Hali
- Reva and her father Osgar
- the bureaucratic guy who issued the permit has decided to take Hali’s advice about relaxing from time to time & came over to check if his permit is being put to good use
Notably absent are captain Io Halloran and any of her crew, as well as guild master Trojen Rilke.
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Ophelia and Hali quickly brainstorm a playlist: what about a song for the bureaucratic guy who feels overworked, some classic Eladrin songs like the wild satyr (set to the tune of wild rover), something to tease Lucerne about her obsession with her son's love life, some sea shanties...
Ophelia gives Hali bardic inspiration.
Just before they start, a middle-aged man with a glorious moustache hustles in: Jacob Saree has arrived! He tries to hush his ragged breathing, he clearly hurried here as soon as he got Ezra's magical message.
A server sushes the room & Ophelia and Hali step onto the small stage. They see their audience ready for them: Reva is sitting properly next to her father rather than loitering on the stairs as she was before, Lucerne is already star-struck at the table she shares with her husband and Sastruga and his husband, Maya has her porcelain prosthetic propped up on a chair… Sastruga seems distracted and pretty tense.
Ophelia opens the show with a rousing rendition of “the ring of trust”
Trust is no easy thing
and it makes my elf ears ring
Honest words are only just
we are in the ring of trust
We are in the golden ring of trustThat sometimes leads to raging lust
and it busts, justs, lust
The ring of trust
The ring of trust
Lucerne leaps to her feet to cheer, and everyone is clapping and chair-dancing along (thanks to Tuur’s 28). This will clearly be the hit of the summer in The Vale.
Together, Ophelia and Hali work through the rest of the playlist, a mix of classics and improvisations:
- the wild satyr, set to the tune of the wild rover, one of Ophelia’s hits riffing on the bond between Fyllion and Ifykon
- what shall we do with the drunken sailor, a classic sea shanty
- the short rest best, improvised for the nameless bureaucrat who granted them their permit
- it’s always Saturday somewhere, a cheeky adaptation of the lyrics in order to justify Hali’s use of bagpipes on a Wednesday (although Storm prods Ezra that they’re now our captain, does our charter even still apply?)
- drinks for everyone, another classic, this time a drinking song, signaling people should order another drink at the bar, to thank Wendy for hosting this show.
Hali also scores pretty well with the bagpipes! While they’re accepting their applause, Hali toasts to the guild guy, who grins back that he's satisfied with his decision to give the permit.
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During the encore, Ophelia sneaks in the spell enthralling performance, aimed at Lucerne, Pandolf, Jacob, Sastruga and Maya. With a NATURAL TWENTY on perception, Ophelia is very aware of the magic streaming in the room : she notices that Sastruga is mumbling a counter-chant for himself, his companions Lucerne, Pandolf and the unknown man with the berries in his hair.
Jacob is enthralled & excitedly grills Ezra about this fabulous music: "are these the shanties you sing aboard your ship"? Ezra hushes him that he should listen to the songs.
Maya resists the spell but enjoys the evening with wine and song. The others resist as well & Sastruga sneaks out before the end of the show.
They make about 30 gold pieces, which Ophelia hands over to Hali to repay her debt for the lyre.
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Sastruga nods curtly at El outside the stables & starts walking away.
El sees guild master Rilke walk up circumspectly with a big hood obscuring her face: she asks for a special meeting with all of us, it's a matter of some urgency. Eventually she convinces El & decides to wait in the stables, hidden among the horses.
Right then, Ophelia sends El a message: “El, can you follow Sastruga”? El replies: “I was talking to someone else, but I can see if I can follow him”. El manages to spot Sastruga in the distance & follow him unobtrusively. Sastruga is just walking home, it seems. El can't see him do anything strange or suspicious, so as soon as Sastruga enters his cottage, El returns to the inn to report.
When they return, El checks on Trojen Rilke in the stables, who looks exasperated that El just took a random walk instead of planning the meeting she requested. El nods they'll head inside now.
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Inside the inn, people are ordering drinks and complimenting the artists, Lucerne is gushing excitedly. Pandolf is very quiet. The tall Eladrin introduces himself as Sastruga's husband.
Storm convinces Aqueel to test his common by asking another kid to deliver a note to Solace aboard the Surya. At first Aqueel is a bit hesitant to approach the unattended kid Storm points him at, but soon enough he has a rapport with the kid & he hands over the note
hey Solace,
sorry to see you missed the performance at the Iron Oar Inn. Perhaps we can hang out another time?
Warm regards, Storm
Ezra hands over the jacket to Jacob, who gushes about their handiwork, both displaying technical skill and a solid sense of style. Ezra grits their teeth, unsure how to respond or even how to interpret this.
When El calls Ezra away from their father for the parley with Trojen Rilke, Ezra is relieved. Storm lingers for a moment with Jacob to check on the bag of holding & the messaging paper. Jacob explains he's commissioned one from Maya, so he'll soon be ready for the exchange.
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We follow El and Ezra to the stables to meet with Trojen Rilke. She's huddled between the horses, with her hood up. She insists we head up to Ophelia's room where we can talk in private.
Trojen Rilke: "I have something very sensitive to talk to you about"
El: "is it infected?"
Ezra: "Please… Ignore El, please"
Trojen: "You have demonstrated 2 characteristics of the 3 I need: what you did with the blockade in the Grove shows me you’re competent and effective, and obviously, you’re not from The Vale. If you guarantee discretion, you’ll have the third characteristic for a mission I need carried out. I hope to ask for your help, which I'll reward handsomely from my own funds. I need to resolve a threat I personally received. Can you deal with it, in the permanent sense?"
Ezra blinks a few times & then nods that we can totally be discreet. They proceed to ask Rilke if they can ask one question. Before either of them can react, El interjects: "what is your favourite colour"? After some more blinking, Ezra continues: "no not that, although it's always fun to know that - my question is why would anyone threaten you & want to kill you".
Rilke tries to roll with our chaos: "my favourite colour is orange. And I believe the threat was brought to my office by a single individual working for a group. That's the group’s MO. I would prefer to interrogate this person, but if it's more expedient for you to kill them, that's fine with me".
When Storm asks if she has any leads on how to find a mysterious secretive agent in a town of 40 000 inhabitants, Rilke hedges that we haven’t guaranteed discretion yet. Ezra assures her we can probably help her out, but we’d need to discuss it first among ourselves.
Rilke agrees to step outside into the corridor. Hali creates the smell of horse shit right outside the door so she can't listen in.
Our different positions are:
- Ophelia doesn't want anything to do with Simeon
- Ezra and Hali would prefer to find Simeon himself rather than leave him free reign, or having Rilke send another group or even a militia after him
- Storm argues that the Gilded Blade is partially our responsibility, since we let them go... Storm also mentions Simeon already went to Maya and Lucerne, looking for poison. They refused to sell to him, what if he doesn't take no for an answer next time. Will we give him another free pass to hurt innocents? Sure, he helped a little in Nawa, but look how short-lived that was
- El mentions that Rilke loves orange, which is a colour they and Storm hate, do we want to work with her? Ezra pats their dyed hair with a slight pout
Rilke knocks, are you still debating, it's been a few minutes. Ezra spins a tale of El tracking camel doodoo into the room after they stepped in it in the stables & we had to clean it up. Rilke agrees to wait some longer.
Ophelia proposes that we deliver her to Rilke in the shape of Simeon, after which she can just misty-step out of the prison.
We let Rilke back in, with the message that we need more information before we can decide. Upon our promise of discretion, she starts
- the Gilded Blade used to work in many ports as smugglers
- they are now wanted for treason
- I dealt with them swiftly and harshly, leading to my promotion to youngest guild master in The Vale's history
- they sent me a threat through a person, who uses poison... different from their usual methods which focused on exotic animals
She shows us the envelope, explaining that blood seems accidental & not part of the original message, since it was only on the envelope and not on the letter itself.
Ezra asks what "dealt with" means: Rilke explains she sank their ship & sent the authorities after them. She repeats that she's willing to pay 500 gold pieces if we bring the agent in dead, or 600 if the agent can be interrogated first. Ophelia proposes we get 800 if we get the agent before noon tomorrow, and Rilke promises to imprison rather than kill them. In the end we agree:
- we'll bring the agent before noon tomorrow, uninterrogated & unobserved by civilians or officials
- she'll pay us 700 gold pieces
When she starts to leave, she mentions she'll look into some potions to make the agent tell the truth, and maybe check in with the cleric she knows who can talk to the dead, just in case.
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Hali dismisses the camel smell & replaces it with the scent of roses. We're all thankful.
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We're kind of stumped as to what to do.
- Ezra tries to send a message with the earring, but gets no reply
- Storm offers to let Bella Swan scout through the city. Maybe she could carry a simple sign, say of the emblem of the Sable Serpent? Or something else only Simeon would recognize and want to explore...? Or what if Storm carves a message with druidcraft in the cliff face, like “come to the Iron Oar Inn if you still ship Simeon and Fyllion” - after all, to most people Simeon is just a random name
- should we ask Reva's help? The Sable Serpent was a competitor to the Gilded Blade (although the Serpents worked in the desert & the Blade tended to keep to the coast), so maybe she has some contacts we could exploit?
Hali is hit with a brainwave: when the police tries to track someone down, they sometimes use animals. We have a letter with Simeon's blood, so we could ask Chalcedony's help... or Hali could turn into a dog!
With our plan settled, we decide to head to bed.
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It's Thursday morning.
El had a very nice rest. When they put the mask on, what they see, is not the room as they expected it:
they see air, as if they're soaring miles above ground, high above the clouds. Another person is flying next to them, diving into the clouds with wide white wings with gold flecks. El hears themselves gasp "wait, don't leave me here" and they also plummet through the clouds to the ground.
El snatches off the mask, feeling nauseous and shocked. When they put it on again, everything is normal again. They feel like the mask is bonding to them, as if it has a vague sort of sentience, more nebulous than El's sword but still leaking fragments of memories...
Ezra has noticed and checks in with El, but El reassures our captain with a NATURAL TWENTY at deception, so Ezra doesn't pry any further.
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We prepare to set out. after El’s shenanigans of rewarding a good girl, Hali gives El goodberries. With a sigh she indicates those can work as a dog treat, should the need arise. Storm wonders if there are leash laws, we can't subject Hali to that, right? With a stern nod, Ezra reminds him that we've seen other dogs without leashes, so it should be okay. Ophelia boasts about Fyllion's manacles, but none of us want to hear about that.
Ophelia stalks off in a strop to pout a bit.
As we're having breakfast, we spot Mi'Kal walking in! His hair is cut in a more traditionally Eladrin style and he appears to be growing tiny orange flowers in his hair. Ezra quickly briefs him: “Ophelia is Fyllion, just play along. Your mom thinks you'll be a couple”.
Mi'Kal is flustered: “Who's Ophelia? Why does my mom think we're dating? Is Fyllion into me like that? What did you tell her? I only told my mom we're friends, nothing more! Why is Fyllion disguised as a woman? I had no idea he liked that. Do I like that”?
Ophelia struts back in & greets Mi'Kal. She explains we're in the circle of trust & convinces Fyllion is too much in the spotlight, so he shifted into Ophelia to be more low-profile. Mi'Kal had hoped he could show off his friendship with Fyllion, but having a pretty girlfriend is also not entirely bad for him, so he agrees to play along.
Mi'Kal doesn't want to make a big production of the meal with his parents, so he'll convince his mother to make it a lunch, tomorrow maybe? Ophelia points to our captain, the captain of our circle of trust. Mi'Kal is completely overwhelmed and just nods along. Since that fits with our plans about Garald Mountainverse’s performance tonight, Ezra doesn’t object to Mi’Kal’s suggestion.
Maya slept over in the inn, having drunk too much to get home with her leg. She waves over Mi'Kal, eager to discuss her commissions. As he takes his leave, Mi'Kal mentions he didn't bring any of his supplies. Hali reminds us she has a bunch of ingredients, both for antidotes and for poisons.
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We decide to start our investigation near the guild hall. It’s where Garald and Mari-El-le caught a glimpse of Simeon retreating, after all. El gives Hali guidance, and Ophelia gives her bardic inspiration. We find the spot where Simeon climbed up the wall, there's some dried blood specks. Hali shifts into a dog & starts sniffing. She deduces where he would have gotten out of the water, given the surroundings and his wounds he couldn’t have swam very far.
We follow her to the little island with several buildings on it. Hali finds a little shed near the back. The smell of fresh blood emanates from the shed. Ezra and Storm are delighted to see a picknick bench nearby, but El notices scratches on the lock, where someone forced it open.
Hali hurries to the back of the shed and starts barking loudly. We hear someone startle awake & throw over some tools or canisters inside. We form a half circle around the door. When no one comes outside, El starts calling "where is that dog, Blackie come here". When no reaction comes, El stage whispers to Ezra that they should try the earring again & Ezra complies.
After a beat of disgusted silence, Ezra hears "what the fuck is wrong with you people"? The door creaks open, so we head inside. Hali looks around to make sure we weren't followed. She can't spot anything concrete, but she does feel like someone is paying attention to us. El tries to distract the inhabitants of this tiny island by playing with a stick for their "dog" Hali. Ophelia remains outside.
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We see Simeon hunched over, lurking in the shadows, cowering under a great cloak with a big hood. He’s trying to keep out of sight in the gloomiest corner of this rundown shed. He clearly states that he doesn't want Fyllion to see him like this. In a sweaty fury, he snaps that he wants to know who sold him out for Saatia's death to Reva. Ezra refuses to engage with that. With a despairing grin, he shrugs it off: he’s lost everything, and he's only working for the Gilded Blade because that's the only reason he didn't die.
In the course of the discussion,
- we reveal that Reva is staying in the same inn, with his horse; we could probably get the animal back to him
- we reveal Fyllion negotiated a price of 700 gold for him, although Ophelia quickly adds from outside that to her, Simeon is worth much less
- Simeon reveals his tattoo was cut out of his arm, he's seriously deformed & given the horrid rancid infection raging in his arm, he’s at serious risk of losing the limb entirely
Ezra goes to ask Hali and El to come in to help heal Simeon. El follows Hali inside. Simeon is startled when Hali shifts & his hood shifts backwards. Hali asks El to hand over the goodberries, but El rubs them under their armpits first. We see one of his eyes is cut out as well. Simeon realizes that El was the one who told on him to Reva, but remembering their shared sense of loss and being lost at Saatia’s grave, and feeling his wounds and his exhaustion, all the fight leaks out of Simeon and he just eats the defiled goodberries.
We start our ministrations:
- we feed him some goodberries & he groans when his hunger finally abates
- El grabs his face rather brusquely and the touch hurts, it also heals him. His missing eye remains gone
- Hali tries lesser restauration on his infected arm : the arm heals & Simeon can move his fingers again
- Ezra and Hali use prestidigitation on Simeon’s clothes
- Ezra donates a sliver of soap, and Hali fills a bucket with sweet clear water, so Storm can start dabbing at Simeon’s ratty hair and rinsing off the fever sweat
- Ezra hands over some rations, for when the goodberries are digested
Sotto voce, Ezra thanks him for his help to their girlfriend in Nawa. Simeon is happy to hear Enza is doing well, he was worried that Reva and Danzig would restart the Sable Serpent and continue terrorizing the desert. Simeon sighs he might as well tell us why he broke up so coldly with Fyllion :
- he's ashamed of his disfigurement
- he had to beg for his life, first from Reva and then from the Gilded Blade who found him bleeding out; he’s feeling emasculated
In the subsequent conversation about why we completely disregarded his request in his (rude!) breakup note, Simeon reveals that Trojen is Sahir's niece. Initially she was planted in The Vale to seek out some guy, but when the authorities put on the heat, she flipped and betrayed her own family.
Storm suggests he could work for Rilke, but Simeon doesn't seem enthused. He was planning to head to the north, looking for a firbolg who can give him a new tattoo. Since we need to check with Rilke anyway, we run roughshod over Simeon’s objections. Storm send Rilke a message carried by Bella Swan: “Would you like a new employee for intimidation purposes. Please circle your answer: YES WE CAN or no, I’m boring”.
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While Bella Swan returns, Rilke stares after her and soon we make eye contact over the short distance between the guild hall and the tiny island where we are. Rilke has written a lot of questions on the scrap of paper Bella Swan is carrying, so Ezra writes an actual letter to propose a meeting at night in order to interview a guy who's good at intimidation and who's very efficient. As Bella Swan is flying back, we see Rilke disappear from the window.
Ezra sighs and prepares to look as intimidating as possible. Simeon isn't pleased to hear that Rilke is coming over.
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Ophelia walked away when the conversation became too real, so she's the first to see Rilke approach: "what is going on, are you passing on the mission? How is that discreet?" She's furious. Ophelia starts fibbing as ever, because she missed like two thirds of everything that happened in the shed: "we gave the agent a real fright, so he ran off never to return. But we found someone else. I do suggest you hear our captain out" and Ophelia casts suggestion on her.
Under the magic's influence, Rilke calms down & walks inside to find Ezra. Ezra channels all their years of Saree sales experience & makes a fantastical pitch! Rilke is furious when she realizes we're proposing she hires the guy who was sent to kill her, but because of our different arguments, she's eventually willing to mull it over: she knows he knows stuff about her (aka her family relationship) but he knows what the Gilded Blade is up to right now. Eventually they reach an agreement, but Rilke warns us she can no longer pay us. After all, we didn't hold up our part of the bargain & she’ll now have to pay her new right-hand person.
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When she leaves, Storm hugs her goodbye. Rilke freezes up in discomfort, but Storm looms over her & can’t be stopped. Storm uses the opportunity to pick her pockets. He's disappointed to only find a small money pouch, and when Ezra gives him a disapproving glare, Storm gingerly pulls back his hand, letting Rilke keep her money. He further distracts her by babbling about everyone starting a redemption arc: Reva with her internship with her dad, Trojen as a an independent woman starting her own shadow empire, Simeon using the last of his connections to repurpose his skills and build the start of a civilian life here, Ophelia with her celebrations tour kicking off… even Gladiola started cooking lessons, isn’t that charming?
When she's gone, Simeon also slinks out of the shed. He's planning to find better accommodation till he can meet up with Rilke again. To Ezra he explains his short-term goals: help Rilke sort out this situation with the Gilded Blade, get paid and then get out of town, preferably to the north. He wonders if he could travel with us if we're still around, we're also headed north, right? Ezra mentions that he should talk about that with Ophelia.
With a sigh that he was hoping to avoid that, he turns to the stunning blonde elf he's never seen before...
Storyline
Previously: session 37 Mr. Mountainverse, mother Mari-El-le and Ms. Maya
Up next: session 39
