10/11/2020 - Temple talk, ioun investigation and return to the Rosewood

## Temple talk: part 1

After an excellent night’s sleep, most of the group woke up early to pursue the various leads they had discovered at the Rosewood. The exception to this was Elyan, who after spending all night entertaining to earn back his lost dolla was still asleep.

The group decided to start at the temple of Ilmater to see (and maybe speak to) Kyris’s body. Blagden decided for no reason to run as fast as he could to the temple, arriving a good 20 minutes before everyone else. He spent this extra time trying to climb the temple, but it was too slippery. This made him grumpy. After leaving a note for Elyan, the others took a more relaxed route to the temple, discovering that it was “wood day” at the markets. The sight of the market led to Kunai being questioned about what he actually spends his money on? And why he was actually called Kunai? Surprisingly, Kunai seemed willing to explain the story of his name, but not in public. Galdor suggested that he could tell it after the temple trip. Kunai agreed that he certainly wouldn’t be telling it at the temple, as you can never trust a priest.

Eventually the others caught up with Blagden, who was still futilely trying to climb the temple for no discernible reason. Ever helpful, Ash gave him a lift up, but not wanting to be left behind, Blagden immediately backflipped off.  As they entered the temple, Bayul warned Blagden not to steal anything. Blagden said he wouldn’t, adding that he had only stolen from one priest, and that was OK because Elyan had said he could…

The temple was quite empty inside. Galdor asked a priestess where Kyris’ body was, whilst the others loudly discussed the fact that Kunai had killed priests before. Bayul agreed with Blagden that killing a priest was probably worse than stealing from one, and that they should probably avoid this entire conversation whilst in an actual temple. After Galdor explained that he was a colleague of Kyris and would like to see the body, a priestess led them to the room where the body was lain. Blagden asked if anyone could speak to the dead like happened to Steve. They couldn’t, though Galdor helpfully (?) added that he could make a mage hand out of his swarm.  At this point Elyan arrived and, after getting mocked for his failed gambling and subsequent late night, told Blagden that he could speak to dead bodies, but that he couldn’t make them speak back. Elyan then investigated the body. It was dead.

Whilst Elyan was investigating, talk turned to the Gods. Blagden said that he was angry with Rilifane because Leo said he couldn’t bring back his friend, and that he thought the “dragon God” was cooler. Elyan agreed. Bayul said that he thought it was all nonsense, prompting Galdor to accuse him of being a conspiracy theorist.

Elyan and Ash went off to find a priest who looked competent enough to speak to a corpse, but not so senior as to be afraid of breaking temple rules. They approached a young-ish looking priest and explained that they’d lost a friend, who had been murdered, and wanted to commune with the body to find out what happened to him. The man looked nervously at the high priestess before explaining that whilst it’s not something they’re technically allowed to do he would if they promised not to tell anyone. After some in-group discussion about what questions to ask, Elyan (via the priest) had the following discussion with Kyris’ body:

*Elyan*: Could you describe who it was that killed you?

**Kyris**: A man, tall, dark hair, wearing a cloak.

*Elyan*: Why were you meeting Leticia?

**Kyris**: She asked to meet.

*Elyan*: How do you know Leticia?

**Kyris**: She wrote to me, had heard of my exploits with the guild and wanted to know more.

*Elyan*: Do you know why someone would kill you?

**Kyris**: He told me he liked it. And he wanted it. But I didn’t want to give it to him.

*Elyan*: What did he want?

**Kyris**: It was precious to me. It helped me know what was coming in the future. Helped me to see further. I kept it with me always.

Intrigued by the description of the murderer, the group tried to work out if it fit the descriptions of anyone they suspected. They knew that Goltorah was a half-elf with long brown hair, so not particularly similar. Likewise, they knew that Krieg was human, a bit portly, in his late 40s, with average length greyish hair and a few scars, so it didn’t fit his description either.

The next topic of discussion was whether this murderer was actually Leticia? Perhaps Leticia was just a pseudonym? They concluded it could be literally anyone who was magically disguised, or a hired hand that anyone could have sent.  However, they now knew for sure that Kyris was murdered for the ioun stone, so if they found that then perhaps they would find the murderer. On the way out, much to Blagden and Bayul’s disgust, Elyan offered a donation to the church. Galdor also put in some coin (5GP), but Kunai sneakily took out Galdor’s 5GP as he placed in his own solitary GP.

The group then discussed their next steps, with Blagden suggesting that perhaps they could pretend to be illegal item buyers in order to get invited to this auction in Araelot, which seemed to be the most likely place that the murder would take Kyris’ stolen ioun stone. Tossing a GP to Blagden, Kunai agreed that this was a good idea, suggesting that they could go back to the Rosewood to both speak to Elisia and ask Artur/Alan about getting into the auction.

## Ioun investigation

On the way to the Rosewood, Ash and Elyan looked for a magic shop to ask about the ioun stone. Eventually they found a curio shop called The Menagerie. It was a strange nook of a building with protection stones around the door, various rod-like items and a deadlocked man behind a counter reading a book. Ash pretended to window shop, badly. Elyan commended the owner for having such a lovely shop whilst showing off his billowing cloak. The owner was impressed with the cloak and explained to Elyan how the stones “reduced negative energy” and that the rods did minor magic. The owner tried to use a smiling wand on Elyan, but he was unaffected. Elyan decided he liked the smiling wand, so offered the owner 70 GP for the wand and a fancy sapphire stone. The owner accepted. Elyan then asked about auctions and whether there were any that sell ioun stones. The owner explained that normally the council of Eastshore advertise the official auctions, and that most ioun stone owners keep them firmly locked away. He also outlined what some of the ioun stones did: the purple ones helped casters, the white ones were used for foreseeing, and marble ones were generally the most expensive. He also added that there was a small temple to Ioun in the north of the city near the graveyard. Elyan also asked if he knew anything about the devil child.  The owner actually knew the family and expressed his sadness for the mum, Holly. But he knew nothing else.

Leaving the shop, Elyan immediately used the wand of smiles on Kunai. It didn’t work. He immediately tried again on Bayul, causing him to break out into a beaming grin. Bayul was not impressed and threated to snap the want if it was used on him again. Seeing Elyan’s new purchases, Kunai made more jokes about Elyan’s money management.

Armed with the knowledge of the temple of Ioun, the group decided to split.  Kunai, Elyan and Blagden would go to the Rosewood to talk to Elisia and Artur/Alan, whilst Bayul, Galdor and Ash would go to the temple. Before they split, Elyan handed the fake ioun stone to Bayul, who was still furious with him for making him smile. Everyone agreed to meet back at the city centre.

## Temple talk: part 2

On the way to the temple, Bayul whacked out his veterans’ cane. Galdor commended him for his excellent swagger. Bayul explained that the cane turned into a sword when he said “trunk”, and that it was useful to have in places where weapons weren’t allowed – surely no one would part an old man from his walking stick?

Iouns’ temple was in a very quiet portion of the city. The inside of the temple was more like someone’s house, with books everywhere and a staircase leading upward. An elderly gnome woman was knelt on the floor praying as they entered. They waited for her to notice them. She didn’t. After several minutes Galdor started fake coughing. The gnome sassily offered him a cough drop before welcoming them into the temple. Galdor explained that they were researching a particular ioun stone and showed them the fake one they had.  The gnome was impressed that they had such a relic, they must surely be great believers in Ioun. Galdor explained that the relic before her was actually a fake, and had belonged to a friend before he was murdered.  Ash tried to explain that they thought a dodgy person had murdered their friend and stolen the real stone, so they were looking for it and were wondering if she knew of anywhere that traded (legally or illegally) in such artefacts. The gnome woman was a bit confused by all this. Bayul, who had been stood at the back crouched over his cane, asked her to help restore an old man’s faith in Ioun. Moved by Bayul’s apparent sincerity, the gnome explained that ioun stones were popular amongst all people, even non followers. The white stone that they were looking for allowed the wearer to commune with Ioun once per in order to ask one question and get an answer. As far as she knew there was nowhere to purchase ioun stones in Eastshore and had no idea where they could find a missing one. Satisfied that the gnome had told them all she could, the group left. For no apparent reason, Galdor kicked Bayul’s cane as they left. The gnome went to admonish him for being so rude to an “old man”, but Bayul had already stood up straight, suddenly looking younger, in preparation to retaliate. As the gnome woman looked on in confusion, Galdor said that Bayul could beat him any time. Bayul sighed and asked why Galdor always had to make things weird?

Exiting the temple, Galdor noticed a sign for the Sea Horse. Remembering what the dockworker had said about it being an “adult establishment”, Galdor wanted to go in. Ash immediately made himself scarce, but Bayul agreed that they could poke their heads in.  Inside, the Sea Horse was pretty quiet, with a just a few people setting up in preparation for the evening. It looked like a pretty standard tavern, but with a small door at the back leading somewhere…. Bayul thought the place looked very shady so stayed at the door, but Galdor approached a cleaner and asked what the place was? The cleaner said that the establishment provided “night-time entertainment”, and that through the door was where certain people “put on a show”.  Looking very excited, Galdor shouted back to Bayul that it was a “naughty bar”. Now armed with the knowledge of where the Sea Horse was, Bayul and Galdor headed back to find the others.

## Return to the Rosewood

As the other half of the party made their way back to the Rosewood, Kunai explained that silent auctions, such as the one they were trying to get invited too, worked using secret bids.  It was a tactical game, with a need to avoid showing too much interest in the items you intended to bid on. Kunai admitted that he had never done one before, so had no idea if he was any good at it. Blagden suggested that they could use magical shenanigans to spy on people / look at items whilst invisible, but Kunai was concerned that if they got caught it could be very bad. Elyan reckoned he preferred haggling. Blagden preferred stealing. Kunai preferred murdering previous owners…

They also used the walk to re-do Kunai’s now very sad looking disguise. Kunai also applied a disguise to Elyan, who was very keen to impress Elisia. Blagden cast disguise self to look like Beatrice the old halfling again.

## Heck yes Alan is back

At the Rosewood, Elyan asked the receptionist if they could speak to Alan (yaaasss Alan).  Kunai said to tell him that “The Count” wanted to tell him that we attended last night’s dance. Looking slightly confused by the cryptic message, the receptionist went to find Alan, who arrived a few moments later. After being led to Alan’s office, Kunai asked if Alan knew any more details about the auction in Aerlot, which they thought might be somewhere near where Goltorah lived, as they wanted to get an invite. Alan replied that the auction was almost certainly at Goltorah’s mansion, and that he would ask around to see if he could get them an invite. Kunai requested that the invite be for a black dragonborn with 3 – 6 companions, adding that Alan should send word to them at the Candle when he had got it. Kunai then asked if Alan knew more about Kyris murder, but Alan hadn’t heard anything about this. Blagden secretly messaged Kunai to suggest he ask Alan about Leticia. He did, but Alan was not familiar with the name. Satisfied that they had got all the could out of Alan, they went upstairs to speak to Elisia.

## Elyan and Elisia

After Elyan explained that Alan had sent them and they needed to speak to her, Elisia let them into her room. She was a very beautiful red-hair blue-eyes elf. Elyan immediately turned on his charm and introduced her to “the colonel” (Kunai face palms) and Beatrice – who croaked that Elyan was her Grandson. Elyan asked if she knew anything about Krieg Venusto, offering her his talents in return for information. Elisia joked that surely he needed her talents, so Elyan was really asking her for two favours! She went on to state that she had discerning clients, who spoke to her in the expectation of absolute confidence. Elyan assured her that they would keep whatever she told them secret. Slightly threateningly, Kunai added that Krieg and Goltorah may have been responsible for the murder of a friend and the theft of many items, so he would do whatever it took to make sure the information they needed was given. Elisia asked if it was a good friend of theirs who was murdered? Kunai replied that it was a close colleague. Seemingly moved by this, Elisia explained that she didn’t speak much with Venusto, as he was not a pleasant man. He was always angry, drank heavily, gambled, and had no taste for the arts. He was particularly furious about losing some shipment (the half-ship that the group found after returning from Cypropa?). She was, however, much better acquainted with Goltorah, a proud man, who usually came into the Rosewood with Krieg.  Goltorah would always ensure that he and Krieg sat near to her when she performed, so she would often hear their conversations during breaks in her performances. Apparently Venusto wanted to know about Goltorah’s plans for the items he was moving for him. They were clearly selling stuff and Venusto wanted his share. Goltorah explained that he was setting up an auction in a week (or a bit less now), and that Venusto would get his proceeds after that. She added that Goltorah had once been a rising politician in Eastshore and many thought he’d be the new commandant. However, three or four years ago there had been a major scandal when it was discovered that he had been conducting rituals with dead bodies, which was a bad look for a future politician. No one knew exactly what he had been trying to do, but necromancy was just generally unacceptable, so he was forced out of his various official positions.

Elyan then asked Elisia about the devil child, but she hadn’t heard about this. Satisfied that Elisia had told them all the important stuff, Elyan attempted some flirting. Elisia was unimpressed with Elyan’s chat up lines, which was not helped by the fact that Kunai loudly explained that Elyan had been practicing his lines all night. Elyan looked embarrassed, but Elisia smiled.  Emboldened by this, Elyan offered to buy her dinner as a thank you for the information. She agreed, as Elyan had amused her, adding that they would have dinner and then dance and sing. Elyan kissed her hand like a proper charmer and bowed low before leaving. As they left Elisia also bade farewell to Beatrice and “the colonel”, much to Kunai’s disgust.

## The group reunited

Back at the city centre, the group caught each other up on their respective discoveries. Most of the chat focused on the “naughty bar” and the fact that Elyan had got himself a date through a “battle of attrition”. Bayul was very impressed with this battle analogy, but not impressed enough to give Elyan a high-five – he was still angry about the smiling thing – elephants never forget.  With all of their leads now exhausted, the group decided to wing-man Elyan at his date that evening whilst waiting to see if Alan had got them an invite to the auction…