Narrative

Day 46 began as the party moved mattresses into the map room to rest at 2:00. Geldrin checked whether the power-armour suit was still there with Dothral and brought it back to the map room. The party slept. Platinum last knew Cardonal’s location about two days earlier in Tradesmalls; she had been hard to recall, and in the last few days she had become obsessed with the idea of Dothral.

Six people dropped down the hole. They included a gnoll, probably Longfang, who thought the dragon in Lake Azure might be dead; a sparrow aarakocra called Mercy; and a pesky elf connected to the bellow men. Mercy stopped Longfang from opening the trapped door, saying they were on reconnaissance and the boss had said one was here, with quick mystic listening. The party tried to rip out the blade and opened the door. A bubble surrounded the elf, and Mercy pulled through the blade.

Invar brought Garadule out of Feeble Mind. Garadule looked shocked as he now remembered everything. He needed to find his brothers and teleported away. Morgana tried to reincarnate the baby sphinx. She could feel where some light spirit had been and also felt someone else pulling at the spirit. She blacked out and was drawn before Kasha, who said the spirit was hers and Morgana could not have it. Kasha was taking it as alternative payment. Morgana argued that the original payment would be made as promised. She asked Igraine to help, and flowers and light came at Morgana’s feet. This followed her while she wafted toward Kasha. A strange warmth came, and Invar blacked out and appeared next to Morgana. Kasha said this had not happened for many years, saw why the party had been chosen, but warned she could not be fooled like the others and would not be taken like them. She allowed them to have the goliath child. The spell completed too quickly, as if someone else had cast it. The baby felt hot and unwell, apparently reflecting the state of goliath civilisation. The Sphinx aspect of the altered memory creature was what reincarnated as Bynx.

The party went back up the hole. Invar’s robes now showed his surname; it had supposedly been there the whole time, and he now recognised it. They exited by the main entrance. The tents were abandoned and empty of people and belongings, though furniture remained. It was 11:00. They went into the town, which was bustling.

At the council offices in the middle of the bridge, two guards stood outside. They said Lady Yadreya Egrine had gone away that morning on official or family business toward Grand Towers. The party was allowed to see the Exchequer and skip the queue. He said they had been at the mage school, noted that many animals had been sighted recently and that a wounded dragon had flown off. Morgana heard him think that he wished they would leave and that guards should follow them. Morgana also had a new bird on her shoulder, Bartholomew, who said Betty, Morgana’s familiar, was pretty and that he had been there since they arrived in town.

The party went to And Pool. Eliana slipped away to spy on the guards. A half-elf in clothing over leather armour came in soon after the party and began writing on paper. He left with a sending stone. The party grappled him and Geldrin intimidated him into surrendering the stone. The Exchequer wanted to know where they were. The party changed the message to point to a different pub, “I’m the Drink.” The Exchequer had said the party looked shifty and had stolen the baby. The spy said the Exchequer had no name, that the seneschal was usually in charge when Lady Yadreya Egrine was away, and that no aarakocra was important in town, although the spy insisted one existed and that he had worked for him for years. Guards were going to take the party to Lady Yadreya Egrine.

The guards took the party across the bridge to another door but stopped them entering, saying Lady Yadreya Egrine did not want to be disturbed. Morgana became a bee and found the room empty; Lady Yadreya Egrine had been there six hours earlier. The party returned to the Exchequer’s office and burst in. A half-elven man was speaking to traders, but he was not the same person. The receptionist said he had been there all day and had not seen the party before. Morgana went to the toilet and cast Locate Creature on the bird. Bartholomew turned into the “Exchequer” with two small daggers. Morgana became a bear and roared. People in the waiting room ran while others drew daggers, and chairs moved strangely, possibly due to lamias. Eliana was on her way to question the guards about why they had mentioned an Exchequer who did not exist. The waiting-room people transformed into a lamia, rats, and more outside the room. The notes preserve the quote, “We don’t fireball babies.” Bartholomew became a massive vulture-like thing with lightning crackling at his fingers. He seemed to recognise Eliana and said, “I’m doing your bidding.” The party killed the rats, lamia, and vulture. A guard who had told them about the Exchequer was confused and could not really remember, except that the Exchequer had told him the party was coming and that Lady Yadreya Egrine was away on family business. The loot notes record two lamias including daggers, eighty hexagon coins, a dark grey rose, and Bartholomew’s silver chain with a green pendant.

The seneschal ordered people to search for townsfolk and any remaining infiltrators in the town hall. The guards had altered memories. In Lady Yadreya Egrine’s room there were no obvious signs of struggle except an earring on the floor, and the party realised a rat had run away. Clerical officers Williams and Terrance received deputy badges. Williams was a man in his mid-thirties; Terrance was a man in his forties.

At Williams’s house on Wayshrill Bridge, whose address came from an accountant, the party found it abandoned for a few weeks with no signs of struggle. Some post in the office connected only to a purchase of 500 gold worth of jade; the client name was not known, and the purchase was addressed to “I’m the Drink” three weeks earlier. At Terrance’s house on the outskirts, Officer Biggs and another person were already present. Terrance had been there that morning and had recently become more attentive while smelling musty. He had chopped the heads off the neighbours’ sunflowers, left for work at 7:30, and usually got home around 14:00. His wife thought he would be at “I’m the Drink,” though he did not usually go there. He had remembered her birthday, which he usually did not, and she had recently heard a cat-sized rat in the garden. She wore jade earrings her husband had given her for her birthday.

The party went to “I’m the Drink,” a dingy pub on the outskirts of the bridges. A medfolk bartender was there; Alana had been his Pact leader. A human man, about eighteen, came over and asked whether the party needed him to do anything. There was no sign of him being Underbelly. The party told him to find Terrance and bring him to them. He implied he was part of the disguised crew. Geldrin disguised his staff as jade and propped it up obviously.

A half-elf entered, interrupted, and headed straight to Geldrin. He said there had been a setback to the plans: they had had a good working in the town hall, but less so after the scuffle. It was taking a lot of power, and someone might go there herself. There were many forgotten passages; people had gone missing using them. They needed reinforcement and thought the artifact had been hidden somewhere. They could not risk another abduction and had not found it when he was abducted. Mind magic had not been working properly since something happened at the school. He would get the town hall back under control and get others to look for the artifact, though they had no suspected location. He also reported the brothers were loose, perhaps with an undead sphinx. He was sixth in charge; numbers one through five were unaccounted for. He would speak to Garrick in another town. Lady Yadreya Egrine had not been taken again.

The half-elf spoke to Garrick through a mirror and told him to get it for them. An hour later, a fifteen-year-old and an unknown man ran off, and the party chased them. They found him at the races, probably trying to get a new identity. The leads gained were that the Hartwall artifact had been put in one of the prisons; Hartwall was meant to be looking after mind effects and may have stopped her remembering; it was somewhere near Snowsorrow; no team was currently checking it; some people near Pinesprings had been killed by adventurers; and of the brothers, one had disappeared while the other controlled an undead sphinx.

The party learned that Lady Yadreya Egrine had returned that morning, had two guards on her door, and was now missing. Terrance was fourth in charge and did not know the party had killed everything else in town. He thought they should leave town and reinforce the prisons. The mirror was in the seneschal’s office. The fifth in charge, a greasy halfling, returned with “the mirror” and said they were all going to get on a boat and sail off. The party made him first in command. He took them to the quay, where people were loading things onto the boat. Moonbeam killed the greasy halfling, and Fireball struck the boat and incinerated everything. Diving into the water, the party found 50,000 gp worth of jade. No one seemed to come investigate. Morgana saw a white rabbit out of the corner of her eye. It had arrived on the back of the protector from the snowy area on the lectern and seemed to remember the party.

Militia rewards were distributed at “I’m the Drink” and “The Olde Clay Jug.” The party got the other half of the sending stone from the pub man connected to the Exchequer and gave it to the seneschal. At The Olde Clay Jug, they spotted a waitress carrying a tray. Eliana used Thieves’ Cant to ask her to see Highgate as she passed. She went through the “Earth hath no” door. The dwarf the party had been speaking to left, and another dwarf sat in his place.

Highgate told the party the Dollemen were looking for them. He agreed to help the militia and find the missing townsfolk. Friends back home, including an ice dwarf, said a mutual friend sent out of the Barrier had taken the opportunity to do something before trying to get back in, had not found a way back, and had visited Lord Bleakstorm. A mirror hummed, and the back of a female lady’s hair appeared. A cold voice said she could take the party there and was a friend. She wished for the same thing they sought and said any debts she perceived would be repaid. The party recognised the “end of all things” as Valentinhide. She would let them use her pathways, wanted the artifact, and said the cost would be some identities, some eyes, and some pride. The party shut her off and decided to go to Hartwall’s lab after resting and eating chicken.

People, Factions, and Places Mentioned

People and name-like figures mentioned include Geldrin, Dothral, Platinum, Cardonal, Longfang, Mercy, Garadule, Morgana, Invar, Kasha / Kashe, Igraine, Bynx, Lady Yadreya Egrine, the Exchequer, Bartholomew, Betty as Morgana’s familiar, the seneschal, Williams, Terrance, Officer Biggs, Alana, the young human man at “I’m the Drink”, Garrick, Highgate, Lord Bleakstorm, and the cold female mirror voice identified as Valentinhide.

Groups and factions mentioned include the party, bellow men, medfolk, the Pact, Underbelly by absence, militia, town hall infiltrators, guards with altered memories, lamias, rats, Dollemen, an undead sphinx thread, adventurers near Pinesprings, and ice dwarf friends.

Places mentioned include the map room, Tradesmalls, Lake Azure, Riversmeet town, council offices on the bridge, Grand Towers, And Pool, “I’m the Drink,” Lady Yadreya Egrine’s room, Wayshrill Bridge, Terrance’s house, The Olde Clay Jug, “Earth hath no” door, Pinesprings, Hartwall’s lab, the prisons near Snowsorrow, and Lord Bleakstorm’s location.

Creatures and creature-like beings mentioned include the baby sphinx / goliath child Bynx, possible undead sphinx, Bartholomew’s vulture-like form, a cat-sized rat, lamias, rats, and a white rabbit.

Items, Rewards, and Resources

Items and resources mentioned include the power-armour suit, Invar’s robe surname, deputy badges, sending stones, 500 gp jade purchase, jade earrings, jade-disguised staff, mirror, eighty hexagon coins, dark grey rose, Bartholomew’s silver chain with green pendant, 50,000 gp worth of jade, militia rewards, the waitress’s tray, and the mirror through which Valentinhide offered pathways.

Spells, visions, and magical effects included Garadule’s restoration from Feeble Mind, baby sphinx reincarnation and divine dispute, mind magic failing after the school event, altered guard memories, Locate Creature on Bartholomew, Moonbeam, Fireball on the boat, and Valentinhide’s proposed pathway magic.

Strategic resources and plans included Cardonal becoming obsessed with Dothral, Garadule leaving to find his brothers, town hall infiltrators using passages and identities, the militia search for missing townsfolk, the recovered sending-stone half, Eliana’s Thieves’ Cant request to reach Highgate through the “Earth hath no” door, Highgate’s warning that the Dollemen were looking for the party, the mutual friend outside the Barrier who visited Lord Bleakstorm, and Valentinhide’s offer of pathways at the price of identities, eyes, and pride.

Clues, Mysteries, and Open Threads

The baby sphinx / goliath child was reincarnated too quickly by someone else and became hot and unwell, reflecting the state of goliath civilisation. Its identity, soul source, and condition remain unresolved.

Riversmeet town hall was infiltrated through false officials, altered memories, rats, lamias, Bartholomew, Terrance, Williams, and unknown chains of command. The missing Lady Yadreya Egrine, missing townsfolk, and remaining infiltrators are unresolved.

The Hartwall artifact is said to be hidden in one of the prisons near Snowsorrow, tied to Hartwall’s work on mind effects. Which prison holds it, and why it matters to the infiltrators, remains unresolved.

The huge jade cache on the boat, the 500 gp jade purchase, jade earrings, and jade disguise point to a coordinated resource or control mechanism.

The “Earth hath no” door, Highgate contact, Eliana’s Thieves’ Cant request, dwarf replacement, and Dollemen warning are unresolved leads at The Olde Clay Jug.

Valentinhide offered pathways to Hartwall’s lab or the party’s goal but demanded the artifact and warned of costs in identities, eyes, and pride. The party rejected the immediate offer and planned to rest, eat chicken, and go to Hartwall’s lab.