Session 05 "Love and Sleuthing in The City of Coin"

**Session 5 recap: *“Love and Sleuthing in The City of Coin”***

The morning after the sleep
over at Dorn’s saw Rensig so hung over he could barely function, Dorn was also
rather in a bad way, and Rhys did not seem himself, but the two young women of
the group seemed pretty okay, especially Muffy who showed no signs of the
effects of heavy drinking.

Since parting ways with the
group after going to Haylee’s Bath House, Kohlam had gone to do some research
at The Arbalest’s House—the monastery outside the city walls where he was
raised. Looking into possible sources for the sightings of seemingly unnatural
beasts in the city, he found three possible sources. 1) The carnival in
Waukeen’s Promonade houses a variety of unusual creatures—he wondered if any
may have escaped 2) that they may be from the local region outside the city,
perhaps if he found a ranger guide he could get some answers 3) that they had
been brought in to the city through the very active seaport, a possibility that
may also provide more information on smuggling in the city.

The next morning he went back
to Muggy’s to try to meet up with his new allies just as the five that had
slept over at Dorn’s were making their way back there. They shared notes and
formulated a plan. After Rensig spoke of Hazim’s interest in rare creatures,
and with the information that he had also gone missing, Kohlam saw the
smuggling angle as the obvious choice, and would check the docks for
information and see if he could get any leads. Dorn would both see about
getting into the Scepter District to check out Nadir Kravandros’ place and also
follow up on his criminal contact leads, and Muffy would go on her date with
Sedgewick the guard… along with Rhys, Rensig, and Bucket Girl. So a very
reasonable split of the party ;).

When the 4 arrived at Josh’s
Bakery, there was, as there always is, a very long line made longer by the
demand for Josh’s High Harvest Tide Pies, but Sedgewick was already in the
line. Muffy went up to him while the others got in line behind them. Muffy
tried plying info from Sedgewick, but he only knew what she had already found
out, that the sovereign, Hazim Alibikkar had gone missing. Rensig seeing Muffy
getting pulled into a whole day that would next take her and Sedgewick to
Azalea Street Park on the other side of the city attempted to get her out of
there with a little classic gnome illusion magic, but several people saw and a
commotion quickly picked up. The still very hung over Rensig tried to appease
the crowd with his music only to make a ghastly sound that only further angered
the crowd and drew more attention to them with cries that they had been doing
magic! Unregulated Magic! The worst crime in all of Athkatmon.

Sedgewick began to blow his
signaling horn as he had the night before, but Muffy snatched it from his hand,
convincing him that they should investigate themselves. All the while Bucket
Girl had grabbed Rensig and ran off with him, so stealthily that no one really
had a bead on which direction she had run. Muffy eventually extricated herself
from Sedgewick as Sedgewick had to investigate this crime scene, but not before
he tried going in for a kiss in front of Rhys which she shot down. They then
made plans to meet at noon on Wed at Azalea Street Park for their second date
(day after high harvest time, so the 22nd …Rhys wig will be ready
Thurs the 23rd). So Resnig’s plan to get Muffy out of her date did
work…in a way.

Bucket Girl and Rensig shared
some tender moments in the ally while hiding, Bucket Girl seeming to let down
her guard a little to Rensig, and even gave him two to three hugs. Eventually
they found Muffy and Rhys again and collectively shot down Bucket Girl’s idea
to go back to the bakery to get more bread. Rensig said he needed to find a
little music after all that, and so they all went with him to quench his audio
thirst.

While all this had been going
on, Kohlam had been at the docks where he met Darvin, along with a rather
cheery bunch of maritime folk who were singing and drinking out on the docks in
celebration of High Harvest Tide which would be the day after tomorrow. Kohlam
volunteered to help prepare the ships which would be heading out at dawn after
High Harvest Tide and astounded Darvin with his strength and ability to load
sacks of rice onto a ship. Darvin became rather taken with Kohlam who said he
was fond of Darvin as well but did not share those feelings. Thus, Darvin’s
feelings were spared, and he even very happily answered some of Kohlam’s
questions about the events at the Promenade. Though Darvin didn’t know what had
happened, he did know what Kohlam was describing, those large wolf like
creatures were Worgs. Often associated with goblins, “narsty” creatures he
assured Kohlam, but not usually found in any city proper to his knowledge.

When Kohlam saw some kind of
deal go down between a fellow on the docks and someone below the docks he asked
Darvin about that as well. Darvin told him of the Okiti, or Ratfolk that were
often involved in petty crime in this area. They then went back to working, and
eventually singing and drinking on into the evening. That very singing had
drawn Rensig and co, Rensig joining in as the sun set and the torch on the 400
foot tall colossal statue of the legendary general and prince, Amnur that stood
out like a beacon before the city into the sea began to glow. Kohlam got up on
a barrel and made a rousing toast to the prince, citing how the prince had
helped overthrow a number of evil and controlling nobles which stirred some
unrest in the crowd. He then introduced the party to Darvin, Bucket girl as
Elizabeth, before saying goodbye. Wondering where Dorn was, Bucket Girl said
she had one idea, and so they left to see if she indeed did know of his
whereabouts.

Meanwhile, Dorn’s day had not
gone well. First he recalled that his plan to enter the Sceptor District via
the sewers would not work too well given that the territory below the district
was in the part of the underground that the Sewer King had always told him was
off limits. The parts where no one came back from. Knowing the schedule of his
criminal contacts, he also knew he wouldn’t have much luck pursing that avenue
until the sun had set so he proceeded to spend his day buying a BEAUTIFUL map
of the region outside the city and smoking cigarettes all day, eventually
winding up in Low Town where he saw his dog Begbee. He told Begbee to go away,
that he was in no mood, but Begbee stayed with him, and after just sitting with
the dog for hours, the first time he’d really done that, just connecting with
the one being that had been by his side as long as he could recall, something
seemed to occur—his vision and other senses went blank for a second and when he
was again aware, it was not through his own senses but from the dog’s. He was
seeing himself from the outside, something that disgusted and disoriented him
to the point of vomiting, watching all of this happen he willed himself back into
his own body. Unsure of what had just occurred.

Once night fell and he had
gotten his bearings, he went back to the Black Horse for the second night in a
row. Unusual for him as he hadn’t been in several months. There he saw Alderin
(this time as a male) and Galena Bayle, though he seemed to be interrupting.
Alderin told him to give up on looking for Korag and Marteen. That they had
been working with the Giant’s Legion now, and that Marteen in particular had
seemed different according to various accounts, but that if he still wanted to
find him, the best place to look would be at the High Harvest Tide Festival the
day after tomorrow. Confused and lost, he stumbled back out into the streets
where the rest of the party was just showing up. They all went back to Dorn’s
place, this was Kohlam’s first time there.

The next day they decided to
try to see if the Okiti, the Ratfolk, might have seen anything unusual at the
docks, and they were not especially hard to find in the sewers just below the
docks, however neither were they very helpful. Tension seemed to build and a
fight appeared emanate, but the group gathered that they were sorely
outnumbered by Okiti, and on their home turf, and realized that this was
perhaps a fight they did not want to pick, heading back up to the surface where
the city seemed abuzz for High Harvest Tide Preparations.

Again they decided to check
out the home of Nadir Kravandros, this time with their two rogues along with
them, but when they got to the gates to the Sceptor District, the atmosphere
showed no signs of festivity preparations, and they were informed the district
had been locked down. Muffy did manage to get them through the gate, but the
guards insisted on walking her home. So she gave them the address of her
father, and again she was overcome with terror at the sight of the house. One
of the guards stationed outside, not with the Arm was overwhelmed at the sight
of her, saying that they must alert her father immediately, that she hadn’t
been seen in over a year…since that terrible night…but Muffy convinced him not
to… at least not yet. She needed to get a handle on the situation and so the
guard, Sted, agreed to help, letting them just inside the gates to the St.
Claire estate to formulate a plan and convince the city guards that they were
home and safe.

The Sceptor District tightly
locked down and swarming with guards, how in the world are they going to get
through the neighborhood, let alone into the house of Nadir Kravandros?