Everything is Fine and Nothing Bad Happens

The party had a day off to relax and celebrate. It was the Harvest Festival, and there were drinking contests, fighting contests, fireworks, singing, dancing, music, pickpockets, and street fights.

### PART ONE: The Dwarf​

Ripley hired a new party member: Mormiir, a dwarf. Dwarves have not been seen in decades. Mormiir—an orphan raised by a barbarian human tribe—is searching for his dwarven people.

The party found Mormiir having an impromptu wrestling death-match with a guy who insulted his beard. After Mormiir was done kicking the man’s ass (and the party was done collecting bets), they went to talk to Ripley.

Ripley told them their next mission. The ancient Dwarven city of Whitehelm has been uncovered. Deep inside lie the old blueprints to dwarven airships. Airships are a long-forgotten technology; the blueprints are a priceless artifact, and whoever gets to them first could become rich beyond their wildest dreams. The dwarven ruins, however, are completely unexplored and insanely dangerous.

Their mission: Get inside. Find the blueprints. Get out.

Tomorrow, the party will leave at dawn to travel to the dwarven ruins. Today... they celebrate their last night in town.

### PART TWO: Mishka​

The party spent the night reveling, drinking, and robbing people. Hansel, Raef, Larkin, and Ripley got into a drinking contest, but tragically, Ripley and Raef immediately passed out, and Hansel won. While the bartender was distracted, Larkin snuck behind the bar, found his secret stash, and stole all the bet money from the bar, then slipped out.

Hansel left the bar. But before he could get far— he ran into Mishka, his conniving ex-husband. Mishka lured him into private and made him a deal.

“I want you to steal the airship blueprints... and bring them to me,” Mishka said.

“I don’t know how much you’ve told these new little friends of yours about your past. But I know you have a foster son named Jonn—and I know Jonn is a thief and a whore. I paid him to spend an hour with me—and I gave him a glass of wine laced with Red Jermaine poison. Over the next few days, the poison will slowly cut off the oxygen supply to his brain. In about three weeks, he will be brain dead— but that’s okay, because in about *five* weeks, he’ll be dead. So this is what I want you to do, dear Hansel. Steal the blueprints and bring them to me, and I will *graciously* give you the cure. I don’t give a fuck what you do afterwards. I imagine Ripley will be furious you stole from her. You’d probably better leave Skyport and run once you give me the blueprints... but personally, Hansel, I hope she fucking hangs you.”

Hansel left without a word.

And instead of doing what Mishka asked, he went straight to Ripley instead.

He told her everything. Ripley (still pretty drunk) went silent for a while. Then she gave her opinion. Red Jermaine was an exotic poison. It could not be healed with magic. There was a cure, but it was in Calimport, a city across the sea— two weeks away. Mishka had the only vialable cure in the city. But... they **couldn't**give Mishka the blueprints. Too important. Ripley gave her opinion: they had to let Hansel’s foster son die and get the blueprints as normal, as if nothing was wrong.

Seething, Hansel turned to go. Fine. He’d go to the fucking dwarven city himself, get the blueprints, and give them to Mishka. Screw Ripley.

But Goro stopped him. The very first mission the group went on, there was a scrying pool full of blue mushrooms. Using the pool—which they still have access to—they could figure out where Mishka stashed the cure and steal it. The group could rob Mishka, get the cure, and save Hansel’s son **without** handing over the blueprints.

Hansel agreed. And they set out to prepare. Mishka is a brilliant sorcerer and a cunning manipulator. Robbing him won’t be easy.

They used the scrying pool to locate the cure. Using scrying magic, Hansel saw Mishka take ten numbered vials full of different liquids and hide them inside a wine cask. The room appeared to be an underground wine cellar. Tomorrow, the party will break into Mishka's home-- a successful vineyard outside the city. But first, tonight... they prepare.

### PART THREE: Goro Fucks Up​

The party went to visit the local magic items merchant.

Diva the Deals Queen has a creepy reputation. Her shop sits in a tiny, cramped corner of a building, but as soon as the heroes stepped inside, they found themselves in an enormous (and heavily perfumed) store. Diva is a gorgeous woman with pitch-black eyes. Her voice drips with honey. She wants to make a deal. She’ll trade magic items... for body parts.

Hansel agreed to trade his pinky finger for a chime of sleep, a magic item that incapacitates low-level creatures. The other party members tried to make deals, but pansied out when Diva asked for body parts and souls . Mormiir (the wise but still drunk dwarf) objected to ALL of this and refused to interact with her.

And then Goro made a deal.

She gave him a magic wand called The Leech, an item that allowed him to cast healing spells—but drained his hitpoints. The wand can also bring people back to life... but it has a chance of instantly killing the user (at which point their soul belongs to Diva). But Goro wanted more. He spied a powerful magic ring called a Ring of Mind-Shielding.

Diva made him a *very* special offer.

* She’ll give him the ring for free.
* In exchange for one tiny thing... one minute of his life. At some point in the future, Diva will take complete control of Goro’s body and use him however she wants for sixty seconds.

Goro bargained her down. Intrigued and delighted, Diva agreed to the following restrictions:

* She will not cause Goro to hurt himself.
* She will not cause Goro to hurt anyone currently inside the room at the time of the deal (including herself, Goro, Raef, Larkin, Hansel, Roddy, Mormiir, or the cat, Pumpkin).
* She will not cause Goro to hurt anyone currently employed by Guildmaster Joan Ripley at the time of the deal, not including future hires.
* All of this includes both magical and physical harm.

Seemed iron-tight. Diva cut her palm. Goro shook her hand and sealed the deal. Diva’s black, boiling blood burnt Goro’s palm, leaving a black streak there.

And then—

To his complete horror—

Goro suddenly realized what Diva had done. Diva left a loophole in the deal. The deal protected *everyone in the guild who worked for Joan Ripley.*

It didn’t include Ripley.

Diva deliberately left a loophole so that she could use Goro’s body to attack Guildmaster Ripley at some unknown point in the future.

“**Fuck**,” Goro said.