Favor, Episode 13: Soul Music

## Starring

Sage Stafford as Aoife Flannery
Naseem Etemad as Fittonia 'Toni' Silvertail
Katie Budabin as Lluvyras 'Lu' Ssath
Celeste Conowitch as Dungeon Master

**Episode 13: Soul Music** *(2x13)* is the thirteenth episode of the first arc of the the second Venture Maidens campaign.

## Synopsis

*It really is such a pity*

*To have one day to explore a city*

*But the last stop is worth the rush*

*For a night sure to make our heroes blush*

### Part of the Family

The group sits peacefully for the first time in a while, nestled in the comfort of Lu’s family living room. They huddle around a dining table, designing hats for their night out in Chasiana, and inevitable venture to Club Soul. Lu attempts to keep everything organized, but the whirlwind of creation has taken Aoife over.

Toni brooches the subject of how someone becomes part of the “Family”, but Lu sidesteps the question by explaining that she was adopted. She glazes over the conversation, but Toni is suspicious. In a final attempt to steer the conversation away, she shovels two giant meatballs in front of the half-orc and insists that she try Mom’s famous balls. Toni indulges and then turns her attention to crafting hats and collars for Larry, who has plopped himself in the middle of the table to chew on a meatball.

Frida comes back upstairs, covered in various sauces and pesto, and looks at the mess across her dining room. She brushes it off and tells Lu that she heard back from a few of her friends. She signals for Lu’s permission to speak openly in front of her friends and Lu nods. Frida explains that she wasn’t able to get ahold of the usual healer, but an ex-Sister of Caer Leona she knows owes her a favor. She wasn’t able to find out much on Whistler, but is determined to keep digging. Lu interjects that if someone’s record is too clean, it means its been scrubbed and Frida agrees. She also sent a quick message to Lu’s sister and assures the drow that Mr. B will be able to aid them in getting the required ingredients for their ritual.

Aoife fauns over Frida’s cooking, and tell her that she reminds the bard of her own grandmother. Frida insists that Lu bring Aoife back to see her anytime. Toni compliments Frida, much to the woman’s joy. The halfling tells Lu that they are all more than welcome to stay and to make themselves at home before heading downstairs to continue cooking.

They let their meal settle in and begin to get ready for the evening. Toni decides to wear a basic crop top with high waisted, wide legged pants. Lu hides her armor under a purple turtleneck dress with draped sleeves and practical boots, determined to follow her mother’s advice on always being prepared. Aoife whips up a shimmering gold dress that is more thin cascading layers of metallic shifts. She pulls a silver shawl over her shoulders as they all don their handmade hats.

### Charity

As they are in the midst of getting ready, they hear a soft knock at the door nearest the stairs. Lu puts her knife in her boots and makes her way downstairs to crack the door open. An eldrin woman with pale lavender hair and pale green skin wearing rough spun austere black clothing similar to the sisters of Caer Leona. She meekly greets Lu, asking if she lives there. She introduces herself as Charity and is looking for Frida. Lu lets her in and escorts her to see Rook. She sizes the Eldrin up and she seems like a typical healer, but she notices that the woman’s clothing is frayed.

The woman steps into Rook’s room and inhales sharply. She asks how long she has been unconscious and Lu guesses about half a day. She pushes Aoife, who had been sitting with the girl, out of the way and begins to poke and prod at Rook. She asks what shattered Rook’s shoulder and Lu responds that she isn’t sure, but Rook had gone to deal with some hags. She asks if there are any bites, scratches, or marks that she should be aware of or if Rook is missing any hair, teeth, eyelashes, or anything similar. Lu did not notice anything missing, but she reveals that Rook has been aging rapidly over the last several days.

Charity admits that she is no where near as powerful as she used to be before everything happened, and she lost her faith for a while, but she is trying. The healer thinks that Rook is suffering from a curse far beyond her current magical abilities. She believes she can heal Rook’s arm, but is curious when the aging transition happens. They all assume that it is sometime during the night, and Charity sets to work setting the bone in the hopes of it healing properly when she magically ages next.

Aoife positions herself outside of the door and can hear Charity saying prayers and litanies to the Mother. She eventually returns to the living room and makes herself comfy.

> The Eldrin, at large, have done away with a lot of the other gods, and have simplified their deities into the Father and the Mother.
>
>

Toni grabs a guitar off of a wall and tunes it, and can’t help the thoughts she has of the dreams of the Wyrd Sister. She has not had an intimate moment with very many people, and it is stuck in her mind.

Lu admires Toni’s playing, and inquires if she is self taught. Toni admits that her dad collected instruments and they were always around camp so she likes pulling the strings, but she has no idea what she is doing. Lu thinks that she and Lark should have a duet later, for the family.

### A Night Out

Lu offers to show them around Chasiana before the club opens and her friends eagerly agree. She takes them to a gilded weapon shop where every hilt is custom designed and ostentatious.

She tells Toni that she picked the place for her because she doesn’t know her all that well yet aside from the half-orc liking music. Toni admires the swords closely, lifting them to test their balance. A shopkeeper comments on Toni’s knowledge of the blade and Toni admits that she was raised around them. The shopkeeper tells Toni that not only are the blades beautifully designed, but that they are also wieldable weapons, and offers to allow her into the back room where he has a training room for those that were serious about swordplay.

Toni takes him up on the offer and tests the blades and cuts through the training dummies like butter. She inquires to the price of the blades and the shopkeeper doesn’t want to lie to her. He asks her what her budget is, pointing out that their lowest range of blades runs 500 gp to 1000 gp each. The fighter pivots the conversation to sharpening blades and asks if the man provides such services. He tells her that he sharpens and even enchants weapons, and provides her a bejeweled business card.

Toni mentions that Frida recommended his store and the shopkeeper is surprised that the fighter knows Frida. He tells Toni that he owes Frida a favor, so if she wants to call that favor in she would need to ask Frida to let him know. Toni asks his name and he responds that he is Reginald, of Reginald’s Rarities.

He offers to spruce up and enchant Toni’s current weapon, especially if she was going to be on the front lines, even offering to gild the edges with Cold Steel to tear through fey flesh. Toni produces Clyde, her sword, and he handles it gently, complimenting the workmanship of the blade. Toni agrees to bring her blade by the following day and they shake hands before departing.

Upon exiting, they all note that Lu looks extremely pissed off. The drow turns on Toni, telling her that she is not allowed to go around invoking her mother’s name, informing the half orc that her mother needs those favors for more important things than a sword. Toni agrees to talk to Frida before coming back to the shop.

Lu tells Aoife that she picked out a place for her as well and leads them to a storefront full of extravagant dresses. She tells the satyr that the Sarina herself bought a dress from this store once. Aoife is astonished and amazed by the dresses, gushing and drooling at the window. She steps inside and is greeted by a high end fashion store scented with jasmine perfume.

An Eldrin woman in a prim outfit greets them and asks if they have an appointment. Aoife admits that they don’t have an appointment, but she is visiting and was admiring the designs in the window. The clerk asks if Aoife is studying locally, but Aoife says that she is from the valley up north. The clerk asks if she studied fashion in the valley, but Aoife admits that she was taught by her grandma, who invented the doily.

The clerk happily informs Aoife that they offer an internship program to a few local universities and hands Aoife a pamphlet. She tells the satyr that she won’t be allowed in the fitting rooms since she does not have an appointment, but says that they can go through the books of designs and sketches of the past fashion lines. Aoife tells the others that they can leave if they want because she is gonna be here a while. Lu suggests that Aoife enroll in the program after they get Whistler at their back and she promises that they will come back once that is taken care of. Aoife agrees and they head out into the balmy perfect evening. People have changed into their eveningwear that sparkles under the arcane lights that hang above them.

Lu leads them down an alley to one of her favorite spots. A tiny shop rests in the alley between the buildings and serve the best coffee-based drinks in town. She always comes here before going out for the evenings to get coffee and lists off the menu for her friends. Aoife orders an oat milk white hot chocolate with extra whip cream and Toni, shocked by the luxuries of coffee and chocolate being sold in an alleyway, begins to decline, but Lu assures her that it is her treat. Toni agrees to try whatever is Lu’s favorite drink. Lu immediately orders a double shot of espresso with a sugar wand on the side. Toni, never having espresso before, finds it to be bitter and unpleasant, but immediately begins shaking with energy. Lu tells them they will come back in the morning for breakfast and begins to lead them to Club Soul.

### Club Soul

They wander onto a street full of clubs and prestidigitated lines of light curl and weave into neon signs, advertising drink specials. People line up to get into various clubs, and Club Soul is no different. It sits on the end, in a corner spot that overlooks one of the main causeways. They can see big merchant ships moving in the distance and the streets are draped in twinkling lights. Stretched around the block of the black brick building of Club Soul, which is hard to identify from its unassuming sign.

Lu sidesteps the line and walks up to the Eldrin bouncer, asking him to let Lark know that her family is here to see her. She notes something odd about the man’s movements, as if he is uncomfortable in his own skin. He leans in and looks at the drow for a moment before lifting the velvet rope for them to pass. It takes a moment for their eyes to adjust when they get inside, and they are greeted by the jazzy tunes of an upscale club. Red beams of light stream down from overhead, and everything is cast in a devilish glow. A stage is set in the corner, full of instrument ready to be wielded. The place is packed leading up to the stacked bone bar that sweeps along one wall. It takes them a moment to realize that everyone in the area that wears a black uniform are Tiefling.

Lu grabs a central table near the stage and waits for Lark to bring the house down. Toni offers to buy drinks and is immediately greeted by a red skinned Tiefling ready to take their drink order. Aoife trusts the man’s judgement in her order, Lu orders a house red, and Toni tops the order off with a whiskey. The excitement of the evening mounts as people file in and the space is filled with the sounds of conversations and anticipation for the upcoming performance. Aoife can see the crowd’s obsessive hunger for the performance. The more Lu looks at the staff, the less like Tiefling they seem. As she watches them, she sees horns grow longer, and some of their skin appears scaly, and one has wings. Nobody seems to notice it or becomes concerned at being served drinks by a large man with flaming shoulders. She brings it up to her friends and Aoife says that it looks like the crowd is under the effects of some kind of spell. Lu assumes that if Lark is here, no harm will come to them, so they decide to wait and see.

### What a Lark!

The lights dim and the band filters in to the applause of the crowd. A hush settles over them when a gorgeous Tiefling woman draped in red satin steps from behind the curtains. Arcane fire hems the sweeping skirt and she peers out from behind her bangs, swept to one side to hide one of her eyes. Lark walks up to the central mic and flips her hair back. The light catches a flash of green as her hidden eye is revealed to be some sort of arcane object that spins within the socket. She brings forth a deep throaty melody far beyond her years, as if she has seen every heartache the world has to offer. Lu has seen her perform before, but she notes that Lark is in her prime tonight. After the song ends, Lark draws attention to the fact that her sister is in the crowd and a spotlight pivots to illuminate the drow. Lark infroms the crowd that her sister is single before winking her good eye at Lu. Lu retaliates with a middle finger in the air as Lark breaks into another song. The crowd mellows after the initial song and begin to meander about as Lark continues her set.

### Mr. B

Lu suggests they all grab a drink and wait for Lark backstage and away from the oggling eyes of horny people. Toni asks Lu how long it has been since her last daliance and Lu admits that it has been ten years. Lu feels stupid sitting there after everyone in the room had stared at her, but motions to order another wine. The same red skinned Tiefling from before appears immediately and Lu swears she felt a tail slide passed her thigh. The man flirts with Aoife for a moment before being cut off by Lu, who informs him that she is only seventeen before sending him off for more wine and whiskey. He returns, carrying their drinks and a folded note on a tray. He admits that they must be something special because the boss wants to talk to them and he doesn’t meet with many people.

Toni asks if Lark has said much about Mr. B, and Lu isn’t sure what to expect because Lark hasn’t spoken of him, but her mom thinks it would be good to talk to him and Frida said they could call in her favor to get the supplies they need for their chicken shit ritual. Lu leads them to the back to meet with the boss after reading the note. Their table is immediately occupied when they leave, and nobody attempts to stop them from heading into the back. They find their way into a back hallway and a gigantic blue skinned fiendish creature, with barbs of ice hanging from his face and a nametag that reads Alfred, guards the door. He tells them that the bathroom is the other way, but Lu produces the note and they are allowed in to meet the boss.

They step into a room that is the antithesis of the club they were just in. The room is brightly lit, optimal for reading the books that line the large shelves spanning the walls. They tread across marble floors and antiques towards a large oak desk. An unclothed fiend sits behind the desk, his leathery blue-grey skin on full display with long ears and a pointed nose that he pushes tiny spectacles up. He introduces himself as Bartleby, the owner of the club. He gestures for them to sit, and they all take seats in front of his desk. Bartleby tells Lu that Lark is a gem and he is lucky to have her, and Lu agrees with the understanding that he will never tell Lark she said that. Lu tells him that they are there for some components for a ritual and then stops herself, confused how a fiend could operate in the middle of Chasiana. Bartleby tells Lu that he is a demon of knowledge and provides answers to questions, but there is a fee if he answers. Toni steps in, introducing herself and complimenting his club.

Bartleby lays the situation out, explaining that the Maidens arrived in a strange traveling vehicle, parked two hours outside of the city. He knows that it is invisible to mortal eyes, and knows the ingredients and recipe they need. He is willing to provide it to them if they agree to a job that they are uniquely qualified for. As an act of good faith, he informs them that mortals refuse to see what is right under their noses, and the fey work far outside of their bounds, even here in Chasiana. Below them such a group exists and they have something of Bartleby’s that he wants back. He has made a deal to exchange something they want, and in return they will give him the object he seeks. He is expressly forbidden from bringing immortal help, but the fey had a tendency to underestimate the mortals. He wants the Maidens to be his bodyguards, because he is sure that the fey intend to betray him.

Lu clarifies that Bartleby just needs them to fight it out and the fiend explains that one of the Slithering Court Courtiers has made a space for himself within the city, and due to Bartleby’s line of work they took something precious from him, so he does want them to fight it out. Toni questions what caused them to take the fiend’s valuable, and he tells her it was simply political. They discuss amongst themselves for a moment, discussing what Rook might do. Toni notices Bartleby’s expression when he overhears the name Rook and asks if he knows her. Bartleby agrees that he does and offers another deal in exchange for more information on the mysterious girl. They decline his offer but agree to be his bodyguards. He tells them that they should meet him a little later at Bucatini’s when they have had time to gear up for their venture to meet the Duke of Pudding. He opens a drawer and produces a scroll and bag of ingredients, indicating that this is all they will need for the ritual to bond with their hut. He offers one final free piece of information, and tells them to watch their backs around Rook.

### It Starts With A Sound

They head back to Lu’s house to change into something more appropriate for a fight. As they enter the stairwell, they can hear a thump from Lu’s bedroom, like someone had thrown something at the door. Lu opens the door to see a sweaty Rook lying in bed. One of Jada’s leather boots rests to the side, having been thrown. Rook appears to be conscious and putting weight on her arm. She still appears to be coming out of sedation, and she asks a string of questions at a rapid pace. Lu calls for Aoife to hold Rook’s hand while she heads to get a wet rag. Aoife explains to Rook what happened the previous night and how they wound up in Chasiana. She also tells Rook that they got the ingredients for the ritual, they just have to play bodyguard to a devil.

Rook laments her broken body and asks how Aoife lives like this. Aoife admits that its hard, and aging rapidly certainly doesn’t help. Rook says that she can feel her body dying every second and she doesn’t understand how they live before she collapses back onto the bed. Aoife files her questions away for later and tells Lu what Rook said when she arrives with wet rags. They continue getting ready and donning their armor. Toni asks if they could have a pot of coffee and Lu tells her where the good stuff is hidden in the kitchen. Toni heads downstairs and is pointed in the right direction by a few staff members.

She begins the process of making coffee and becomes suddenly faint. She leans against the counter and blacks out.

*It starts with a sound, like a glass marble rolling along a long empty hallway. She can hear a familiar voice in triplicate as the Weird Sisters inform her that it is time to come back. They need to call in a favor and tell her to come back and to bring her friends.*

Toni wakes up to wait staff huddling over her and she realizes that her dreams are no longer limited to when she sleeps. This is where our journey comes to an end, until next time! -Venture Away!

## Featured Characters

### Player Characters

* Aoife
* Fittonia 'Toni' Silvertail
* Lu

### Non-Player Characters

* Charity
* Frida
* Lark
* Jada
* Larry
* Mr. B
* Reginald
* Rook

### Mentioned

* Duke of Pudding
* Whistler

## Locations

* Eldrin Empire
	+ Chasiana
		- Bucatini
		- Club Soul
		- Reginald's Rarities

## Inventory

They received the bonding ritual and ritual ingredients from Bartleby.

## Quotes

“How was the food? Finally! You have some color in your face!” -Frieda

“Oh, you fibbers! You fibbers!” -Frieda

“Loopy!” -Frieda

“Okay, I’mma put my foot down right now. You’re gonna cut that shit out.” -Lu

“Thank you. Seriously. It’s good to have friends that pick up where you left off when you have nothing left to offer.” -Lu

“I hate this stupid body. It’s so broken.” -Rook

## Trivia

Bartleby is a returning NPC from Campaign 1.