Session 05

## Red Right Hand

> Didn't manage to get this summary done this week - Sorry!
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## Summary

### 5th of June, 352

We open our session in the personal living quarters of missing Treasurer Thori Black, with Drizella, Nik, Merida, Mordred, Bigby, and Sibylla investigating the ransacked apartment.

The party’s further investigation into Thori Black's residence revealed a burned scroll of *invisibility*, signs that whoever ransacked the room was coerced, and a supply of sleeping pills for a month. Investigating the window ledge, they noticed signs that a grappling hook could have been used to access the room from the building across the street.

### The Fool’s House

The group visited the building across the street, the dilapidated Raggedy \_\_\_\_ of the \_\_\_\_ Fool (known as the "Mouthful" or the "Fool's House" to locals), where they were greeted by an "acolyte" of the Fool. The painted acolyte, Fool Seller Out (no, really, was that their name???) informed them that the staircase to the upper levels was broken and could not show them upstairs. Suspicious, Bigby and Nik inspected the staircases and quickly realised that the structure had deliberately and recently been destroyed. Sibylla decided to send Shan upstairs to investigate. When Shan reached the top floor, they communicated to Sibylla that there were crowbars, building plans, grappling hooks in the room, and two armoured figures attempting to hide themselves.

As the cat explored, Fool Seller Out became increasingly agitated, and a bead of sweat began to run down the priest’s face, smudging their makeup. Drizella, familiar with the more permanent, high-quality makeup of followers of the Fool, began to suspect Seller Out was an imposter and asked whether the “quality of the Fool’s adornments [had] gone down in recent times”. Their act seemed to break for a moment, and they began to invite the group inside. That is until Bigby soured the mood by directly asking where Thori Black was. The Fool closed the church doors behind them, presented an alibi, and politely asked them to leave.

Drizella tried to intimidate the Fool with a glare, but they responded by throwing a smoke bomb on the ground beneath them, and disappearing through a window above the party.

[...]

The party then headed to the lumber yard to secure the keys for the safe, allowing them to open the Big Box vault. They approached Orson Burton, a short human and the head of the lumber yard. Burton handed Bigby the key without much persuading and lamented the lack of tourism in the region due to the Northern War.

After obtaining the final key, the party returned to Lewis Short and informed him about their plan to open the vault. Lewis, along with a few guards, accompanied the party to the Big Box. Cautious about being followed after their encounter with the criminals at the Fool’s House, Bigby kept vigilant for any threats. He saw a dishevelled dwarf who approached the investigator and claimed to be a fan of Bigby’s work with the Hogson Brothers. Shaking Bigby’s hand, they stabbed and attempted to assassinate the investigator before fleeing down the street. As Nik chased after the dwarf, Mordred attempted to cast *forced mercy* and stay his hand, but he failed. The dwarf was fast and quickly disappeared out of view.

When the party finally reached the vault, they opened the door to reveal a largely empty treasury, the body of Thori Black, and a strange cocoon. The treasurer had died as a result of severe psychic trauma, but his body was malnourished. On a table next to the body, they found a note forged in a hand similar to Thori’s own, confessing to stealing from the Crooked Men.