Mowenites Unite - Episode Eight

## Summary:

Mowen had granted individuals the experience needed to hone their skills. In exchange, these people were called to begin their charge. Whether the agents attended the once secret but prestigious academy or were in service to the empire or owed them, six people were sought out and called into service to work the lines of diplomacy, sometimes within the shadows, getting done what needed to be done. Safety was not guaranteed. Mowen was working on a new defensive construction that the world had not seen since the Golden Age of Magic. The six were required to engage in skullduggery, cloak and dagger diplomacy, and questionable missions in service to the empire, all in an effort to build something important.

## Agents:

* Asher "Whiffle-Tongue" - Lizardfolk Wizard
* Gobin Glowstep - Halfling Druid
* Krixx Sharptooth - Kobold Artificer
* Merdaer - Drow Rogue
* Tar'ren r'Eehp r'Eehp - Frogfolk Warlock
* Xilon Harkus Starrati - Half-Elf Wizard

## Adventure:

Derrick looked outside in the morning and saw fog. He grumbled. With the coming of the everfog, everyone's mood was diminished. Derrick finished breakfast and went out to work.

The party got up from their rest. They had a large breakfast and set out to negotiate a wood deal. As the crew stepped out of Derrick's home, they noticed that the sky, grass, and ground seemed dull and dreary. It was a damp fog that stuck to their skins.

The pig that Gobin called Bacon Grease started following the group around the village. Gobin fed it scraps and apple cores.

The crew went to the place where Derrick worked. They found Derrick at the lumberyard. He recognized the party and gave a defeated-looking wave. Gobin hated the sounds of the trees screaming in death throes and went further away.

Krixx approached Derrick and told him about their wood predicament. Derrick said he could point them in the right direction if they knew what kind of wood they wanted. Krixx said they needed lightwood, enough to built a ship, though they weren't building a ship.

Derrick was confused about the logistics of using lightwood for a ship. Krixx reiterated that they were not building a ship, but it was still confusing.

45% of what the crew could pay for was available from Derrick. The group agreed to the price and directed Derrick's logging crew to their ship.

Krixx asked Derrick who else would be a good supplier for wood. Derrick liked Sandra a lot. Ackley had the most wood, however.

The group went to Sandra next. Sandra was working on a fishing lure, using a large magnifying glass and threads. Gobin nudged Krixx forward. Krixx greeted Sandra, startling her from her work.

Krixx said his business was to buy wood. Sandra wondered where the group was from. Krixx noted that Asher was from Ilsum, which didn't have lightwood. Sandra thought it was weird that people who weren't merchants were looking into buying wood, but Gobin said that they were merchants. Krixx corrected that they were the people who did the dirty work for merchants.

Sandra looked over the credit document that Xilon had and was amazed. She wondered how they got to town. She asked if they were wayfinders and decided that her limited stock was "bought out." She didn't deal with wayfinders. She said wayfinders were friendly until they weren't and that the party should watch their backs.

Xilon and Gobin were rude to Sandra. After the majority of the party left, Tar'ren put a gold piece on the counter and apologized for the rudeness, then put another gold piece and asked if she knew any other way into Aabar besides wayfinders. Sandra said that the land roads were the other ways.

On the way to talk to Ackley, Krixx said that they needed to decide who would talk and who would not. He was upset with Gobin for being rude. Gobin said Sandra was asking too many questions, but Tar'ren said that diplomacy required a give and take of questions and answers. Gobin went to the beach to not annoy Ackley.

Merdaer took the lead. Ackley's lumberyard was quite impressive. Merdaer was greeted on the way in.  Merdaer said he was in the market to purchase lightwood through a creditor.

Ackley did calculations and said he had enough in stock, but when he looked at the paperwork from Xilon, he saw how much wood was gotten from Derrick and tutted. He asked if they haggled at all.

Xilon said they hadn't haggled because Derrick let them stay in his house.

Ackley said Derrick overcharged them and told them to cancel that transaction. They would get a 7 and a half percent discount if they did all their business with Ackley.

Asher was disgusted by the business practice and didn't want to go back on their deal with Derrick, but Krixx said that they should get the best deal possible. Krixx pulled the group aside and told them that Ackley was good at business, but he was definitely trying to get them to give him all the business. But now it was the best deal. Tar'ren, however, suggested diversifying the portfolio.

Merdaer told Ackley that he would only work with him for the 55%. Ackley drove a real hard bargain and said that they could only get the discount if they went with the full 100%. Merdaer held his ground, however. Ackley grumbled but eventually gave them the 55% not at a discount.

The lightwood was ordered and loaded onto the ship. It would take a day of hard labor to accomplish.

Gobin foraged on the beach. He found a belan nut which could stop bleeding, including internal bleeding, within two hours. The recipient must not move for an hour afterwards or the bleeding would restart.

He also found sabito, a bluish plant that could be turned into pills. The pills could let the recipient breathe underwater for ten minutes.

Finally, he found a black rose. Its hollow thorns could absorb liquid. The roots could be used under the tongue to reduce intoxication or could be used to remove poison.

The next day, the group went back on the ship to head to Abishot. Krixx put Steelsong away and instead boosted his armor.

The ship plunged into the everfog.

Krixx took Asher aside and talked with him about his doubts towards Mowen. He said that Mowen planned to create a flying ship and might use it to wage war on other nations. If they decided that it was necessary, Krixx would take the items and run away, preventing Mowen from enacting their plan.

Asher was disturbed by the knowledge. He assured Krixx that he would do all in his power to prevent Krixx needing to commit treason, but he appreciated knowing Krixx's plan. He gave Krixx a hug.

Gobin gambled with some of the sailors.

Xilon brooded, wondering why the information in Nightseer's library wasn't spread throughout Mowen.

Tar'ren was curious about the everfog and looked around, seeing if there was anything at all visible around them.

Merdaer skulked around the entirety of the ship eavesdropping. He heard random sailor conversations and monk conversations. But one phrase that kept coming back was, "Easy as pie." His ears became attuned to it. He passed one of the party members and said, "The pie is a lie."

Merdaer heard someone shout, "Tea time." At that moment, the ship hit something under the water. Everyone got rocked a little bit.

Asher wasn't sure who the foe was, so he cast Greater Invisibility and prepared to attack anything that looked a threat.

Merdaer heard a screaming sound from the bottom of the boat. He braced against the wall and pulled out his daggers.

A sailor who was actually a bandit attacked another sailor. Pandemonium erupted as bandits started attacking sailors across the ship.

Krixx was not in the mood. He jumped down from the front of the ship and attacked a bandit with his warhammer. Tourmaline joined the fray as well.

Xilon thought Krixx had a handle on the bandit up top and decided to head below deck since the ship had hit something. He kept an eye on the people he passed, just in case they tried to attack him. No one he passed attacked him.

Tar'ren Hexed himself and told his golems to defend themselves. Then he tried to look around to see which sailors seemed to be bandits. He saw the scuffle up above and that Gobin was in front of the helm.

A bandit attacked the captain, but missed. A sailor started patching a hole in the ship.

The captain was not impressed by the insubordination. He slashed a bandit.

Gobin yelled, "What does tea time mean? Why isn't there any black pekoe?" He cast Entangle on the bandit who attacked the captain.

Asher sniped the bandit near Krixx with a Fire Bolt, incinerating him. Krixx said, "Hey, that was my guy!" Merdaer attacked a bandit in front of him, slashing his throat. He then attacked another bandit and repositioned himself to the middle of the lower deck. A sailor finished off that bandit and ran to help fix the hole.

Krixx dashed below deck with Tourmaline in tow, looking to see what else was going on.

Xilon went to the hole in the ship and started to cast Mending to repair the hole.

Tar'ren attacked the entangled bandit and annihilated him.

Gobin cast Gust of Wind to try to blow away some of the everfog. It didn't reduce the fog, but it did blow into the sails, causing the ship to lurch upward and crash back down. There was a crunching noise below deck.

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