Session 42

Fact Sheet: Not Yu again?!

Players present: Ecchima, Marty, Meinhart, Tuur and Vinnie. Dins was our GM.

Date: 24-04-2024

Date in-universe: Thursday afternoon for Hali’s awkward date with Kekoa and Thursday night for Garald's concert

Major developments

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Previously: session 41 Do you know Yu

Up next: session 43 When lovers meet…

Notes

Kekoa offers a slightly awkward "we could go as friends, I guess" & Ophelia and Storm offer to third-wheel: Ophelia doesn’t want anyone to be alone, so Yu doesn’t get a chance to impersonate anyone, Storm remembers Hali’s painful story about Muir and wants to help Hali avoid unwanted romantic overtures. Kekoa walks along with us, trying to stick to Hali's side.

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Ezra and Ophelia decide to check on Aqueel (with detect thoughts) to be sure he's safe & not a changeling. Before they leave, Storm reminds Ophelia: Simeon-who-must-not-be-named asked if Ophelia could reach out to Garald Mountainverse, so Garald can invite Grewishka’s foreman Flint to his concert. That would allow Simeon to interrogate Flint in order to find the werewolf dwarf and solve Rilke’s troubles with the oar delivery and the Rosarian meddling in running her city.

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In the harbour, we see that the Rosarian military has blocked off the docks near the Surya and a new vessel. As pirates, we quickly suss out that this ship, The Lady Stormbreaker helmed by captain Marsten, has a few cannons too many to be just a regular commercial ship.

We agree to pass by Osgar's smithy so El can have their sword augmented with a voidstone.

Kekoa uses his connections to get us a nice view from one of the pontons. People are standing on barrels and crates, so we can observe without being too obvious. Pretty soon we see a formation move from the Lady Stormbreaker towards the Surya: captain Halloran and her first mate Vane lead a group of guards surrounded by several of her sailors… and in the middle, we spot Nasser Mustafavi. He's wearing simple linen robes, and all his jewellery has been removed, except for his earrings. He's clearly been brought down a peg, but he's still glaring haughtily and puffed up with pride. Everyone around him seems very scared of him, only Halloran's crew doesn't seem intimidated by him. The crowd whispers about him.

Kekoa asks "this is a famous evil guy, right?" Storm pokes Hali "he's talking to you, girl", trying to gauge how much help Hali needs. Hali doesn't respond. Kekoa continues his one-sided conversation: he explains captain Marsten is reliable, as soon as he’s wrapped up his business with this transport for the military, we can talk to him about purchasing passage on his ship. Kekoa hints that the night's still young, so what would Hali or the rest of us like to do after this? Having picked up on Hali’s discomfort, Storm decides to meddle: “I heard this Nasser guy loves coral for jewellery and for mysterious nefarious purposes, what could that be? Kekoa, you know about coral farming, right? Did you ever grow anything that could work as a jewel? Are you aware of the rituals it could be used in?”. Kekoa is distracted by the subject, and as he starts giving Storm a detailed explanation, Storm shoves Hali towards El, away from Kekoa's clingy attentions.

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Hali and El discuss the feasibility of contacting captain Marsten about transporting Aqueel towards his home. Hali stresses it should be discreet. El offers to turn her invisible tomorrow morning.

Storm keeps chattering "oh so interesting, I never knew coral is actually the housing of tiny animals", while El and Hali sneak away towards the smithy. Storm is now alone with Kekoa.

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El and Hali walk into the smithy. Osgar is at work & Reva is sitting on the counter watching him work. When they walk in, she welcomes them eagerly.

Hali and El present the sword and 2 voidstones. Osgar asks "both? what do you mean? how many of those stones do you want to insert, and how did you get them anyway?"

R: it's a magical weapon, isn't it exciting to put in some stones

O: these stones are sentient but I'm probably better off not asking why you're walking around with such grim loot

E: yes, listen to your feelings, that's important for your mental health. It helps you hear the gods when they talk to you

O: the last time I heard a god, I tried hard not to listen

At Reva's impatient sigh, they end the conversation & start analysing the sword. Osgar indicates that there's one stone in the pommel & he has identified a spot where he can add a second one on the cross guard. Adding a third voidstone would change the physical and magical properties of the sword, which is something a mage should do. It’s above Osgar’s skills, especially now that everyone is contributing to the war preparations. Osgar knows 2 people who can work with this black blade:

• a drow who used to live under the mountain. They might be a great choice as all drow are typically loyal to Lunaire... but it's neigh on 30 years that The Vale hasn't had any contact with the drow anymore
• a sword master who lives in a tower under a lake up north

The blade seems to resist the manipulations from a non-magical smith. As soon as the stone is set, a surge of magic courses through the sword and into the room. El feels the power and the curse take hold.

Osgar seems proud but also nervous. He explains that the sword has a personality & El will have to work to control it, sort of like with a girlfriend. El nods that they're aware, that's why they didn't want to leave it out of their sight. After the embarrassing analogy of “sword = girlfriend” and because we provided all materials, Osgar decides to not charge El for the work.

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Meanwhile, Storm can feel Kekoa’s wistfulness about being displaced by the unrest in the seas. Kekoa is also really passionate about his craft, so that’s an easy opening for Storm:

Storm: I can feel your passion and I appreciate you sharing it, since I asked. You know I'm not talking just about coral, right?

Kekoa: you mean Hali, I guess

Storm: yes, I do. I don’t want to be blunt, but she’s not feeling it, you know? You seem like a cool guy, it’s just bad timing.

Kekoa looks a little glum, but mainly resigned. With a NATURAL TWENTY Storm manages to slip 14 gold pieces into Kekoa’s loincloth without him noticing.

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We meet up in the Iron Oar Inn. No one really notices that Storm is not there, breaking our strategy of never being alone so we can avoid Yu impersonating any one of us.

Chalcedony is wagging her tail in the taproom, waiting for Gladiola to bring over a tray of food to her table. Gladiola lets us know she’s deposited her spell books with the dwarves as planned. She points out that Aqueel is still playing with the other kids in the daycare corner. He's drawing on paper, something he hasn't seen a lot.

Ophelia squints her eyes at Aqueel, is this really our baby? She activates detect thoughts at 3rd level:

Ezra: omg Aqueel's drawings of the crew are so cute, I hope I can keep one

Wendy: so, if our next happy hour goes as well as yesterday’s happy hour, I’ll rotate out those beer kegs

other guests: I should go to this concert

Aqueel: should I use blue here? I like drawing, I'll miss this if I go back under water

Gladiola: wow, what is Ophelia wearing? It's kind of flashy for the middle of the day, is she going on a date

Chalcedony: Gladiola is pretty busy, I bet I could get that tofurkey if I go for it

Ophelia nods at Chalcedony to encourage her to steal Gladiola's lunch.

Gladiola asks what's going on, have we found a ship? Ezra points out that we're still planning a few concerts & we do like to help people and investigate things, so we can't leave just yet. Gladiola advises us to let sleeping dragons lie: if she could figure out we're involved, who knows who else will notice the strange happenings around us, and from there it’s only a small step to figure out we’re responsible.

Nodding at Gladiola’s sage advice and then completely disregarding it, Ezra asks if Gladiola was able to pick up anything about the werewolf incident. Gladiola replies that the main suspect Grewishka used to work in another mine, competitors from the mine where Gladiola has her family’s contacts. Ezra also asks about the old drow mine. Gladiola muses that she’s always heard it's more a settlement with some mining on the side, but she doesn’t really know a lot more about it’

Ophelia reveals everything about Fyllion's assassination: “right now I'm looking for Yu, well not you, Yu is an assassin”.

Gladiola: does this assassin know we're friends? Should I be worried?

Ophelia: yes, but I already checked. You're not Yu, you are just you.

Gladiola: I noticed you sleep 8 hours every night, what about when you sleep?

Ophelia: I'll practise meditation like normal elves, so I only need to rest for 4 hours, and I'll be aware all the time

Gladiola: normal elves don't need to practise to accomplish that

Ophelia: that’s awkward

Gladiola: well, if you want, you can sleep in my carriage. I’ll teach you the arcane lock I use, because I trust you. Hey, do you think we should involve Chalcedony? Can a doubleganger even copy a scent?

Ophelia (still distracting Gladiola from Chalcedony stealing her tofurkey filet): you know what, I bet they can’t!

Gladiola repeats we should all be careful, because clearly, we can't do anything the normal way!

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Ezra makes arrangements with Wendy so Aqueel can stay a little longer in her daycare corner. Wendy will then bring him to the concert in the Spoon and Fork, since she’s planning to attend anyway.

Meanwhile, up in our room, Ophelia shifts into Garald Mountainverse. When he comes down, he mounts Deception the goat, ready to head to the mine to try and lure Grewishka’s foreman Flint out of the mine and/or interview him about Grewishka and/or the werewolf incident.

Ezra prepares to stand behind him not too awkwardly as they talk to foreman Flint. They hope no one asks why the dwarf Garald Mountainverse doesn't speak dwarvish.

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As Ezra and Garald travel to the mine, people close to and in the mine are excited to see Garald's instruments. They point and whisper about the upcoming concert. They arrive at the entrance of the mine. When Garald asks to see Flint, the guards are excited and reckon Flint will appreciate this! Garald must put on some safety gear but is then allowed into the mine, without Deception of course.

At the bottom of a deep shaft, there's a sort of office-slash-breakroom. The foreman Flint is doing paperwork there: it's an older dwarf who looks like he could punch a boulder in half. Contrary to most dwarves who have braids and beads in their hair and beard, this one is pretty short-shorn.

Garald starts his spiel about celebrating Flint as foreman of the year. Flint is pretty short & grumbles if his workers want to cheer him up after the thing with Grewishka. Garald explains he only cares about the arts and remains unconcerned with the rest of stuff, like mining or gossiping.

Thanks to Garald's charisma, Flint is convinced. He offers Garald a tour, but that might not be for the faint of heart. Flint accepts the invitation & when Garald learns to put on his safety helmet correctly, that's when he'll get that tour. Garald may be a surfacer, but Flint is eager to hear his music.

Garald picks up that Flint is pretty amused by Garald's antics. He hurries out of the oppressive mines.

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On the way out, they run into Simeon. He's got a pathetic looking letter, written in clumsy handwriting, as if the author had hurt his hand and arm and doesn’t have his full mobility back yet.

Putting on a thick accent, Fyllion pretends to be a random dwarf named Timothy Mountaintop. He starts talking to Simeon. When Simeon reveals he’s unable to infiltrate the mine because they won’t let any non-dwarves in & now, they won’t even take his written invitation, “Timothy Mountaintop” reassures him: “I heard Garald Mountainverse personally invited Flint, so you’re all set. I'm sure it was Garald! I even had my arse cheek signed! You want to see?!”. Simeon is glad that his mission is completed, albeit by someone else.

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Having sent Kekoa on his way, Storm hurries to the inn, uneasy because he's unexpectedly alone.

As he passes by Ghorann's shop, Maya waves him closer. She explains she saw Lucerne, looking stressed, worried and unhappy. Storm tries to tell her that Lucerne's matchmaking between Ophelia and Mi'Kal didn't work out, and we should probably give Lucerne and Mi'Kal some time.

Storm checks if Hali passed on the request for a recipe for a glow-up potion for Bella Swan. Maya mulls it over for a second and figures she can find something. She agrees to incorporate it in Hali’s expansion pack for her herbalism kit.

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El brushes Madonna, Ezra plays with Aqueel for some extra quality time before we have to say goodbye. Hali and El talk strategy for tomorrow: how to turn Hali invisible, how to sneak to captain Marsten aboard the ship The Lady Stormbreaker. Garald mentions that Hali can't be part of the act, it might arouse suspicion. They agree that Hali will sit in the audience & get invited up on stage by Garald. Aqueel overhears our plans & wonders if we've decided how to send him home, because he wants to make a drawing for all his friends before he leaves.

When Storm returns, no one thinks to verify he’s not Yu and Storm doesn’t think to prove he’s Storm. Together, we head over to the Fork and Spoon, with Aqueel and Gladiola who's agreed to keep an eye on the child.

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When we arrive, we see that several dwarves are already hanging around on the terrace, or in the taproom with a drink in their hand. They're excited to see Garald with his instruments!

The waitress Helena is unhappily wringing her hands: she's explaining to the crowd that she’s not aware of any plans for a performance, so she doesn't know why all these people showed up! Garald greets her cheerily with a cheeky “Garald always appears by surprise, and now I’m here, so be surprised”. An older matronly dwarf bustles over & they make an agreement: one free drink for Garald and for Deception, and if Garald is gauche or says anything untoward, she'll kick him out.

We take stock of the attendees:

• The dwarves Sulf and Brennan from Grewishka’s crew seem to recognize our group minus Garald & nod in repeated thanks for the drink we offered
• Guild master Rilke is there & Simeon is also there lurking in the shadows. On his face we see the understanding dawn - Timothy Mountaintop is Garald Mountainverse, and Garald Mountainverse being friends with all of us means that Garald is Ophelia who is Fyllion
• Vane the dwarf from the Surya is also present
• Flint shuffles in with the next wave of dwarves filing in
• Maya also made it here despite her porcelain prosthetic & quietly sits down in a corner for some cultural enrichment

Garald pretends he notices Hali in the crowd: one of his biggest fans, who also happens to be a great bagpipe player! He invites her onto the stage to play with him! They play some punky tectonica, sort of stone grind or new wave stone grind, kind of like double W boulder beats, but kind of soulful, like drum’n’basey but more broken, like break-beat broken drum’n’base songs together:

• Mine, mine, mine
• Drunken dwarves
• Diggy, diggy hole

Then Garald shifts the mood with a powerful mining shanty “The Black Bruised Band”

In a neat little town they call, the Vale

Apprenticed to trade I was bound

and many an hour of sweet happiness

I spent in the mines of that town

'til sad misfortune came over me

as on my head a large rock did land

stars and colours were all I could see

then I formed the black bruised band

The rest of the lyrics explain how all the dwarves in the band have a black bruise.

Garald is playing on his simple lute, Deception is dancing, Hali is bagpiping, everyone is singing along merrily: the raucous energy is drawing a lot of people in, even bringing more people in from the street! They're tossing a lot of coins into the ice bucket Garald set up for the donation fund to rebuild The Spoon and Fork.

Rilke notices we're also there & draws her conclusions. She leans closer to Ezra: I'm guessing you're not taking my little werewolf quest. Ezra explains we're still following some leads. Rilke snarks that we should hurry, or she'll have to send her new mutt to hunt down an old mutt. She shares that Grewishka used to work in the mine right up the road here. There are 2 people of interest present tonight:

• Flint was his foreman, who's probably holding out where his team member (next to Sulf and Brennan) is
• Tori is Grewishka’s old flame here on the surface - Rilke has her home under watch, even though the rumour is that they broke up as Grewishka got more involved in the mine (Rilke suspects he wanted to hide his murderous curse)

She wants to know what our terms are: Ezra explains we prefer a peaceful resolution, that doesn't end in a summary execution. We'll try to get him away from The Vale. Rilke reminds them that Grewishka did kill a waitress and 2 of his friends. They agree to disagree & Ezra asks how Simeon is working out for Rilke. Rilke's wary about his loyalty, but for now, he's a good enough dog. Ezra works really hard to keep the thought "you really are a bitch" off their face. Rilke gets up and goes to sit in her own corner, from where she can see every part of the crowd.

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Random surface thoughts check:

• El: omg these fucking bagpipes are fucking loud and it's not even a fucking Saturday
• Hali: don't fuck this up, don't fuck this up, don't fuck this up, don't fuck this up
• Garald: I'm so proud of myself for not using enthralling performance, and people are still enjoying my music
• Storm: this goat is dancing with a NATURAL ONE, I'll have to train him
• Ezra: I'm stressed about Aqueel… I'll miss him, and we still don't have a good plan

During the break, we see Lucerne enter. She'd heard that we'd be here and brought the wine over that she'd promised. She waves a greeting to us & goes to sit with Maya. Lucerne is still looking stressed and fatigued.

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During the break, Hali and Garald are chatting to their fans. Storm drags El over to make sure the possibly fake Lucerne doesn't have a straight line to Garald. Ezra starts talking to Flint:

Ezra: Can I join you

Flint: it's a free country, isn’t it?

Ezra: are you enjoying the concert

Flint: yeah, surfacers don't usually understand, but that song about getting a rock on your head, man, that's how it is, that's our life, man

Ezra: I was there when he wrote it

Flint: wow yeah, I recognize you know, you were in the mine, sort of like his goat handler, right

Ezra: well, goat handler, bodyguard, friend, what's the difference ... anyway a completely unrelated question: the guild master is harassing me about this werewolf guy

Flint: you're forward to bring it up with me, many people hold me responsible because he worked for me

Ezra: well, I don't want to “deal” with him on her terms

Flint: she's a bitch isn't she, I already told her she can do what she wants, as long as she doesn’t expect my help, nor my ore neither if she executes a dwarf without due process just to get a political advantage.

Flint gestures at the other guys at the table, they get up and create some more privacy for Flint and Ezra to have a serious discussion. Ezra explains that Grewishka didn't choose this curse, so we'd like to give him a way out of The Vale, maybe through the drow mines. Flint doesn't think that's feasible - he was a good worker, but a mean person. The few friends he had, saw him kill other friends so no one wants to shelter him right now.

Ezra isn't very persuasive, and Garald's bardic inspiration is a NATURAL ONE so Flint doesn't feel confident we can do anything beyond getting ripped to shreds. Ezra shows their silvered arrows and mentions shifting is in their bloodline, so they feel a sort of kinship with other shifters, even ones as feral as a werewolf. It helps persuade Flint: he's already accepted that Grewishka is lost to him. But he can tell Ezra that Tori is here: it’s that dwarven girl with ginger hair, freckles, sad grey eyes and a muted green dress. She's a miller's daughter and if anyone on the surface knows where Grewishka is hiding, she'll be the one.

Ezra nods in thanks, apologizes for darkening the mood and pays everyone at the table a drink. They pick up that Flint is genuinely concerned for his crewmember and is relieved to have unburdened himself.

Looking around, Ezra spots Tori with some other young women at a table. With the earring, Ezra informs Garald, El and Storm. El responds "ON IT"! Storm splits his attention between possibly Lucerne and El on their solo mission.

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Garald and Hali are about to start playing again. Tori startles a little to see a half-elf with a big sword coming over to her. El offers her a drink. Tori tries very hard to not encourage this stranger to flirt with her: El can pick for her, something warm and exotic, because El just seems like the type to like those drinks to her.

El goes and orders a coffee with sweet liqueur for her & makes sure she can see they don't roofie it. When she thanks them, they reply "everyone needs a friend". She smiles politely and doesn't want to ramble about her lack of friends, we're here for the music, right?

El: I can handle the sadness, I'm an orphan myself Tori: oh... my troubles don't rise to that level

El rolls a NATURAL ONE and adds another NATURAL ONE with bardic inspiration. It's just barely enough that Tori finds their clumsiness cute. She confides that someone dear to her murdered 3 people right here. She's only here because she received an invitation.

Tori: I don’t even understand why I came; I don't know what I was expecting

El: what you were expecting, was a miracle: someone to offer you their assistance. My name is El and I'm part of a crew of misfits

Tori: I figured that

El: we try to help people when we can. One of my superiors ordered me to talk to you. We're here to ask you if we can help you specifically.

Tori leans back, closing herself off: You're here for Grewishka, aren't you? You're asking the wrong person. I don't know where he is & I wouldn't tell you if I did. Besides, he's a monster now, you know?

El beams all their good-person-vibes at her, but it barely helps. Tori sighs that she doesn't want to send El to a messy end.

El: don't let my weirdness be the factor that destroys all our hope Tori: I believe your intentions are good, and I'm willing to talk to your group in private outside

El offers to pray for a good resolution and for Grewishka too. They agree to meet after the performance. Leaving Tori, El nods emphatically towards Ezra. Ezra tries to ask more details, but El just returns to the doorway, where the noise is tolerable, and the heat of the crowd is less oppressive.

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Storm notices Lucerne goes to the loo. Strangely enough, Maya uses the opportunity to rummage in Lucerne's bag.

Garald observes the entire audience:

• Simeon is glaring in embarrassment & tries to overhear Ezra and Flint
• some dwarves including Flint are pleased to have a distraction from the recent tragedy, but remain on edge
• Flint is keeping an eye on Ezra and is pleased that El appears to have gotten somewhere with Tori
• Maya is having fun but she seems to be very focused on Garald, despite Hali being her friend
• Lucerne looks stressed and worried, but is making an effort to chit-chat with Maya and enjoy the music
• Rilke looks peeved but is also picking up we're making moves and following leads. She's still impatient though
• Tori seems calmer but also fretful

Hali saunters over to Maya to say hi.

Maya: one of my friends invited me, why didn't you tell me you'd be here

Hali: oh well it just happened. I wasn’t planning to play, but dear sweet Garald called me on stage

Maya: if I'd known I'd have brought your papers. Anyway, this wine is for you, from Lucerne, I think.

Hali: please thank Lucerne for us

Maya: you can thank her after the show

Hali: Will do! I have to get back on stage

Maya (knocking on her porcelain leg): break a leg, haha

Garald sends a message to all of us: “be careful, Maya could be Yu, well not you, but Yu, you know what I mean”. Garald and Ezra observe Maya closely and notice a small smirk on her face - has she heard the message or is she appreciating a well-crafted magical item. Hali reports that Maya knows about the recipes so she should be good. Garald whispers back that Yu can read your mind and use that information to improve her impersonations.

El inconspicuously heads over to our young captain, reporting that we can talk to Tori after the show.

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During the second part of the performance, Maya gets up to go to the bathroom and doesn't come back.

Hali is carrying Garald now he's distracted by Maya. The drunk crowd doesn't really notice & keeps throwing coins and spoons and even a bra.

Storyline

Previously: session 41 Do you know Yu

Up next: session 43 When lovers meet…