Ghost Tea Party

an adventure starring Firebreathing Kittens Percy Flanigan, Tobias Ginn, and Olive Muhdo. 
Tweet Length Description: 
Boat shopping, evil hunting, cake eating. Percy, Tobias and Olive do it all! Check it out in the latest episode of the Firebreathing Kittens podcast. 
Setting: Gardyloo
Non Player Characters: 
* Myrrh Goodfellow
*Susi
*Ember
*Barley Perrie
*Maizie Flout
*Maddy Flout
*
*Lilly Bean
*Jin Leaf
*Gerald McGrugg
*Liam Fisher
*Lorlai Fisher
*JJ Fisher
*Piney
*Adoette Tane
*Whale god
*Whale god's child
* 
Plot Summary: 
As Olive, Percy, and Tobias enjoyed breakfast in the FBK Guild Hall, a flash of fire brought a posting to the quest board: It asked for adventurers to look into an uptick in Necrotic energy in Gardyloo, signed by "R. O." 
The three decided to head out and find a train to Gardyloo, but before they got to the station ran into Ember who requested some help for a friend. The group took a detour to see what they could do. Ember led them to a repair garage and introduced them to Barley Perrie. As Tobias cast mending to repair Barley's chair wheel, they discovered that she could make great improvements to her cart with some Ruby Maple. She only required a cutting, which she could grow and harvest herself. It just so happened that Ruby Maple grew in Gardyloo, and so the adventurers agreed to fetch a cutting for her. 
One swift train ride later, Olive, Percy, and Tobias arrived in Gardyloo. They first visited the bakery Cakes N More, where they met Lilly Bean and each bought some cake to-go. As they shared their cake outside, they noticed that the Mayor was nearby having tea with a group of visitors or friends. Not the type to listen in without reason, our FBK heroes focused instead on their cake; by the end of it all, they all ended up with tongues magically coated to look shiny and colorful like beautiful fish scales. 
A mournful whale song pierced the air, catching each of our adventurers off-guard and causing them to take psychic damage. They set off immediately toward the docks to investigate, keeping a lookout for a boat to purchase. They took some time to chat with the Fishers, who seemed eager to deny the idea of a sea monster, while also managing to confirm that there was definitely a sea monster problem. The Fishers continually deflected further questions and redirected the group towards the Mayor, Maize Flout. 
And so they went boat shopping. They visited Myrrh Goodfellow at her flower shop, where Olive purchased a boat Myrrh had inherited but was not using. She named it the "Jack Sparrow". This is also where Percy found a world coin. 
As the group confronted Maizie about a "sea monster", the people around her excused themselves. The mayor forcefully denied any issues due to sea monsters or necromancy. (At this time, Tobias cast "Detect Magic" in front of her, and got spooked by some hints of necromantic magic emanating from her.) Maizie ended the conversation by inviting the group to join her for tea later in the afternoon at her mansion, and leaving to prepare for the "Sea Whale and the Stars Ball". 
Clearly suspicious, the group decided to try and do some recon before tea. Percy summoned two hawks and had them scope out the mansion, who reported back that the mansion was definitely well-kept and the occupants were clearly well-off, and that the tea room appeared to be currently getting set for guests. Percy dismissed them to catch the mouse they had seen while scouting. 
Killing time until their meeting with the Mayor, the group went shopping/information gathering: The notice board didn't appear to have much of anything recent on it, but the birth notices did seem to stop about two years' prior, which seemed important. They visited the leather shop Tan Yer Hide and spoke with Gerald McGrugg; who also seemed loath to discuss the town's sea monster problem. Olive bought a leather rug to use as an exercise mat... or something (to be determined!). 
Last was the tea shop Gin & Tea. Tobias and Olive enjoyed high-quality tea, but Percy got the star treatment by partaking of Jin's "ghost tea". Jin was free to offer advice on where and how to harvest a cutting from the Ruby Maple, and gave the party a bucket full of tea leaves to offer to Piney, the skeletal minotaur who guarded the tree. As they spoke with Jin, the "ghost tea" became more and more of a played-up reference that left everyone smiling as they left the tea shop. 
At the Mayor's home for tea, the party hardly had time to sample the tea or to make requests (such as ghost tea, or very very rare steaks) before Percy and Tobias were whiffed off by some spell to the start of a maze. Olive stayed behind, sharing awkward conversation as she offered to help with party preparations. 
Percy and Tobias stood before a hedge maze, and as Tobias approached it Percy shifted into a Giant Eagle using his Wild Shapes ability. He picked up the armor man and flew high, some 70 feet high over the maze. Harsh winds battered the two as they flew over the middle of the maze, forcing them to land. After taking a minute to consider their options, they began navigating their way through the maze and soon found the exit. 
Exiting the maze brought them to the Ruby Maple, guarded by Piney. Before a confrontation could start, they offered him Jin's bucket full of tea leaves. "Jin Friend" declared Piney, allowing the two to approach the tree as he picked through the tea leaves. Percy skillfully took a cutting and the two enjoyed a gift of prepared tea from Piney, before being teleported back to Jin's shop. "Ghost tea" he smiled knowingly. 
The party met up, following Mayor Maizie Flout down toward the docks where the "Sea Whale and the Stars" ball was to take place. She handed Olive a large disco ball to carry, which Percy realized was a whale skull. After it was clear that Olive saw a disco ball, and Percy saw a skull, Tobias cast Remove Curse on the skull. Then the mayor freaked out. Her plan came out in bits during her rant: Saving the town tonight using necromancy? Resurrecting the child of a whale god? 
The party needed to make sense of all this, and so they went tried-and-true FBK style: a couple raps on the noggin to knock the mayor unconscious, and then a quick revival in the bathroom for a quiet interrogation. This put the mayor's plan in a little better context: a few years ago, the town hired someone to kill a sea monster that was eating all the fish and depriving the town of their main business. They killed the child of a whale god, who in retribution made a deal with the mayor that it would not outright destroy the town so long as they offered one child per month to it. The town had used orphans at first, and then their own children. The curse on the skull had been one to help the townspeople forget their horror and shame. 
Next came deliberations. The group had to talk over what to do, and who to trust. Eventually it became clear that all paths led to reviving the whale god's child, trying for the best possible option, while watching the mayor closely for shenanigans. 
There were none. As the long ritual came to a close, the whale skull was replaced with a beautiful large orca whale, with stars on its tail. It swam out in the ocean, and the mournful whale song was replaced by a joyful one, as the mother and child: both whale gods flew into the stars. 
32 children then walked out of the ocean, alive and well: one of them the Mayor's daughter. 
Memorable Quotes: 
Tobias: "So let's assume your plan went off without a hitch and you had a large whale, were you going to just let it flutter around on the dance floor?"
Maizie: "Well no, I would have taken the skull down to the beach. Really you must think I'm an idiot."
Percy: "You do paint a room with yellow and green...."
---
Child: "Before we dissapeared into the water, I remember this really good cake. I think it was called... Red Velvet Orange?"
Category:Episodes