Session 38

## Session 38 - Elsewhere, Part 1: The Pelican's Last Grin

\*\*For an alternate in-character Recap, Check here.

*[This session was run with pre-generated NPC’s given out to the players. They each had an idea of who they were, what their npc’s goals were and what skills and resources they had. None of the Player-Characters were involved.]*

### Player Characters:

* **‘Kara’** (Played by Pol) -The Waitress. Was actually Lady Bellia Sephone using a magical scarf to disguise her appearance. She was trying to make enough money to board a ship to Al-Kalim, and not get caught by any of the bounty hunters looking to capture her. She is wanted for the murder of her Wife, The Baroness Katrin Sephone.
* **‘Lyridnal’** (Played by Jonasu) - Bounty Hunter, elf. Tracking a good lead to Lady Bellia Sephone. He suspected she was using some sort of disguise, but didn’t consider a magical one.
* **‘Clive’** (Played by Ronnie) - Bouncer, Human. A down-on-his-luck man who found a home and a family at the inn and was very protective of it and it’s staff. He had 1 eye and a pet Badger called ‘Barkey’.
* **‘Selphany’** (Played by Ali) - Innkeeper/Bar Service, Human. A ‘Big Aunty’ figure to the staff and patrons. She suspected Kara was on the run, but mistook her for an abused wife. Selphany was ready to fight to protect the New waitress.
* **'Is it, ...Ken’?** (Played by Seag) - Gambler, Drunk. For the last week-or-so this sorry drunk has been getting drunk and gambling at the inn every night. It’s not clear what he wanted, but he was certainly good at stirring trouble up.
* **'Lola'** (Played by Scott) - The Cook. Usually a force to be reckoned with in the kitchen, Lola was however very concerned over a ominous feeling she had. Something bad was going to happen, and she had to be ready for anything.

### Location:

Somewhere in Western Terrinoth, at a small town along a river. Only a few hours ride from the coast and a port town.

* Pelican’s Grin Inn. A moderately sized inn with a dozen private rooms for rent and plenty of bar-room for drinking, eating and socialising. An old stuffed pelican was mounted over the back of the bar.

### NPCs:

* Mysterious Vagrant (A disguised bounty hunter, seeking Lady Sephone)
* Lady in Pink (A member of a local religious order. They wear pink robes, including a face mask)
* The Tall Man (A mysterious, menacing figure, a vampire. Seeking Lady Sephone for his own purposes)
* The Gnome (The Tall Man's assistant. Cruel and vicious)

## Events

   Night has fallen, but the evening is still early, and The Pelican's Last Grin is slightly busier than is usual for this time of year. Half of the rooms are rented out, and there are a number of people in the common room. The Chef had prepared a sampler menu for the evening and the bar was serving watered-down sweet cider.

Lyridnal was trying to make nice with Lola and Selphany, but was not getting very far. He retreated to observing the patrons.

‘Ken’ was playing cards with two other patrons, and uncovered a cheat. There was a scuffle, and Clive's Badger got involved. Not only had the patron cheated, he had been stealing from the bar. His ill-gotten goods were set aside.

A vagrant, who had been seen about town for the last few nights, came wondering in. Clive considered barring him, but he had coin to spend So he was admitted.

Rain and thunder had started.

After spending some time talking to various staff and patrons and acting suspicious, the vagrant made a move to ‘unmask’ a cloaked individual in pink-coloured religious vestments. Lyridnal attempted to intervene (suspecting 'The Pink Lady' of being his bounty in disguise) and they tussled over getting to her first. Clive, Lola and Ken tried to separate the three, and the Lady in Pink made to leave. Before she could get to the door, however, she was tackled by one of the bounty hunters (the vagrant was a hunter in disguise).

The lady was questioned but seemed legitimately attached to a local cult.

Once it was clear the lady in pink was not a person of interest, everyone wandered back to their own affairs. Kara obtained the stolen goods (stolen by the gambler) and hid them, so she could later retrieve and claim them, thinking they might be enough to pay her way home. As she seemed rattled, Lola brought the pink lady into the kitchen to ‘safety’. Selphany went upstairs after Lyridnel who was barging into private rooms to look for his bounty. She caught him by surprise and was able to get enough leverage to bind him up (after a protracted struggle).

Approaching the inn through the gathering gloom, Clive could make out two figures approach. One was a gnome/child-sized man and the other a talli, narrow-shouldered ‘human’, both heavily cloaked in black. They gave Clive a bad feeling, so he tried to bar them entry. When they insisted, a short fight broke out. During the engagement, the Tall Man took an axe to the back with no visual sign of it bothering him, but the same, alas, could not be said for Clive. He was frozen in horror as the Tall Man plucked the axe from his back and returned it to Clive - knocking out/killing him in the process (unclear). Fortunately, his badger was able to escape, finding a small hidey hole and giving the Gnome a nasty nip before the Tall Man commanded his companion to leave it be.

Few inside the bar noticed the commotion outside between the darkness and the increasing storm. but when the two strangers entered, a chill anxiety settled over everyone. The small one muttered out a spell, his eyes glowing a sickly yellow-green as he examined each patron in turn.

A minute or so later, those in the kitchen or upstairs began to hear the blood-curdling screams started from the Common Room. Those in the kitchen (Ken, Lola, Kara and The Pink Lady) peeked into the bar to see the tall man ‘feeding’ from the patrons. Seeing this, they decided to flee via the back door. Just outside the kitchen door, they could see a small group of sailors, and they managed to catch their attention, ushering them into the kitchen as well. Kara recovered the stolen goods, and everyone crept out the back exit. Some of them suspected that the Pink Lady was the one the strangers were searching for.

Having concluded her business with Lyrindel, Selphany came downstairs to see what was going on to findthe men coming up the stairs. Thinking quickly, she rolled a rolling pin down the stairs to trip them up. It managed to cause the gnome to trip and fall back down the stairs, but the tall man stepped on it and continued walking with supernatural balance. He reached Selphany and asked where ‘The Girl’ was. Selphany wouldn’t tell him, to which he responded, "No bother. If you won't surrender the information. I shall take it from your blood", and her tore her throat open with his wolf-like fangs.

Hearing the footsteps approaching, Lyrindel, still partially bound, managed to crawl over to the prone gnome and get a single hand around it’s throat. Just as he was about to pass out, the gnome, in desperation, smashed an acid vial into Lyridnel's face. The tall man caught up to them and broke the hunters strangling arm. The gnome was free from his attacker, but may still have suffered lasting damage from the brutal choking.

The survivors (Ken, Kara and Lola) made it away from the inn with the sailors and the lady in pink. They headed towards the coast, with Kara asking where the sailors' ships had docked She indicated she was hoping to make it to the port where they could sail away and the others, in the absence of any other options, agreed. The people remaining at the inn are presumed dead... or maybe worse.

*[The point of this session was to illustrate some of the other events going on in Terrinoth without relying on a exposition dump. Also players actions while playing these NPC’s has impacted future important campaign events]*

*-Did I award XP - I don’t even remember.*