Session 103

The party attempts to rescue an old woman kidnapped by a mob in Oceanside. It simultaneously goes worse and better than expected.
== Summary ==
While waiting for her party to arrive, Kiono panicked and decided to head in early. She cast Dimension Door to appear in the room and grabbed the old woman, then teleported back out to the place she intended to meet up with the group. Upon arriving in the alley, she quickly discovered that the person she grabbed was in fact a member of the mob. He commented that there was a bet about whether or not she would do something like that, then gave her a piece of paper from his boss. Upon opening it, it exploded into fire and a visage of the man in the wide-brimmed hat appeared. It said that he was glad she didn't blindly follow orders, and told her were to meet him so they could have a discussion about what was going to happen next. While they waited, the two played checkers in the dirt. 
The rest of the party followed Kiono's tressym to the spot, and then the fake old lady led them to the warehouse in question. The sat at a table set up in the middle of the room, and the man in the hat stepped out of the shadows. He explained that he represented a mob who was upset with the work that Kiono had been doing in town. However, rather than simply make her disappear or otherwise retire, as vigilantes before her, he offered an alternative route. He was displeased with some of the hired muscle his bosses had hired, and wanted Kiono to take them out instead of just anyone she happened upon. She would still be allowed to do her vigilante thing, but he would have control over his business. Either way, he would return the old woman to the party. Indeed, he gave them his business card, baring the name Flamespeaker Randy, Esq, and allowed the woman to be free. 
Upon returning the woman home, they looked around to ensure that the mob members had indeed left. They discovered instead, however, that the woman had once been a vigilante herself, complete with a costume and magical items. Kiono said that she was unlikely to continue her work in the city. While that was what they wanted, it also meant that they had no reason to target the woman again. They contemplated the fact that Sylmore Burnett also ran a group of organized crime in Wolis, and that it might be worth talking to him as he seemed like a good man; it was possible that Randy was too, given the deal they had been offered. The old woman gave the party cookies, which everyone consumed happily. Kiono apologized for getting the woman caught up in the situation, but the old woman had no problem. She had in fact been working on a plan to escape to warn her, but Kiono had arrived before she had been able to enact it. Their business concluded, they prepared to leave. Teer asked in private if the woman would be willing to make soup for Kiono's birthday, which she thought was strange but agreed to. 
The next morning, the group finally dealt with Chirak's sapphire shard, using Magic Circle and the plentiful access to clerics available at the Disc. Teer secretly had Dort sign a birthday card for Kiono. He then used Teleportation Circle to take the party to the Fortune Theatre's circle, finding the theatre to be empty on that day. While Kiono, Ephemera, and Belle went to speak to the Burnetts, Esteem and Teer went to charter a ship to Sunholme. As Sunholme was a major port city and Wolis was also a very important city in the country, there were ships that departed daily, making acquiring passage incredibly simple. 
At the Burnett estate, they found that only Sylmore was present, as Azaria had business in Sunholme, and Izora was on an expedition of her own working on a project. When asked, he explained that though he was not active in Oceanside, he was aware that their primary mob was led by five noblemen who spent most of their time bickering with each other. The only times they would come together was if a common enemy arose, which seemed to include Kiono. Because Randy had not roughed anybody up and had indeed offered them a rather decent deal, he thought perhaps the man wasn't horribly evil, but that he would have some of his people look into him. Inspired by this, Kiono and Belle loudly lamented that they were not allowed to help Prince Haziz with the demons in his war council. 
Kiono requested that the others leave so she could ask Sylmore a personal question. She then proceeded to ask a long string of confused non-questions about the fact that he was married and his definition of love. Rather than attempt to sort out what she asked, he instead told her of things he wished he had known when he was younger. Most importantly was that the things that Azaria loved about him were the things he did not like about himself, and he suspected that the reverse was also true. He also told her that you aren't required to love someone in the same way they love you in order to have a relationship. He and Azaria had decided that life together was better than life apart. Ultimately, the question of "what is love?" was one she would have to create the answer for herself. 
Her conversation completed, she returned to the others. Ephemera was in the hallway badly losing to Belle at I Spy. They regrouped with the rest of the party, and boarded the ship to Sunholme. 
== NPCs ==
=== Returning ===
* Flamespeaker Randy, Esq
* Soup Lady
*Esteban
* Sylmore Burnett
=== Mentioned ===
* Izora Burnett
* The Devoured
* Julien Ghesquiere
* Cecily Cardew
* Pronza
* Azaria Burnett