They need to get to Sharn. They had basically 3 choices;
1. Go overland.
2. Sneak back into Passage to take the Lightning Rail.
3. Try to develop a third option. What Kaloei, the Aundairian native suggested was; go to Arcanix.
(OOC Note: This is also the route strongly endorsed by the GM, since we needed to introduce a new player tonight, and Arcanix made the most sense as a place for him to be).
Also, Arcanix provides many advantages; the Dragonmarked Houses are not, as a rule, welcomed there, and do not wield much influence, so the likelihood of House Deneith and House Orien coming after them there were slim. Now, granted, a Sentinel Marshal has power wherever he goes, but if they have a Sentinel Marshal after them, there isn't much they can do about it.
So, Arcanix it was; for those not in the know, Arcanix is the site of the Arcane Congress, a gathering of Aundair's most powerful mages (as well as those of other countries) and the primary rival of the Twelve (the most powerful wizards of the Dragonmarked Houses). Arcanix is famous for its floating towers, and I think of it as the Eberron equivalent of a luxury condominium building, with super-expensive condos above a group of exclusive shops. You can buy anything magical in Arcanix, and many non-magical goods.
Knowing this, among the first things the party decided to do was find a shop where they could convert their recently found treasure to some cash money.
The first sign they spotted was a magically animated one, of a backpack being upended and all sorts of adventuring gear pouring out, over glowing letters that said:
The Bottomless Bag
Catering to those in the rough trades
of Adventuring and Exploring
All Needs Met! All Orders Filled!
Holden Cannear, Prop.
Catering to those in the rough trades
of Adventuring and Exploring
All Needs Met! All Orders Filled!
Holden Cannear, Prop.
They figured that was as good a place as any to start, so in they went.
It was quite the emporium, with separate counters for arms, armor, miscellaneous items, and jewelry. The most prominent customer was a rather lean looking human fellow negotiating over the price of a hat. It must have been quite the hat, given that the haggling was over the lack of a feather, and centered on 100 gp of the whole price. The human insisted that there must be a feather, while the halfling he haggled with demonstrated that the hat in question could appear to have any kind of feather the wearer wished once its properties were activated. The human countered that, if he were caught in an anti-magic zone, his hat would not have a feather, at which point the halfling called for his assistant to procure a selection of feathers.
Cirya, the druid, sidled up and offered the fellow an eagle feather, while Kaloei began negotiating the sale of their goods. For the exotic harp, she managed to wrangle 600 gp. Meanwhile, Sol was showing the set of the warhammer, shield, and breastplate, all with the arms of a Cyran noble family, likely made by Cannith Smiths in Metrol. In other words, the kind of work that you just don't see anymore.
This, unfortunately, was not being accurately conveyed by Sol, who isn't up on his haggling etiquette. The human fellow, though, noticed this, and appearing to know something about Cyran work, helpfully pointed out that the set ought to be worth some serious gold, especially considering the fact that no one will ever make something quite like it again. The set fetched around 1400 gp. In thanks for his help, Cirya promised to buy him a beer at the inn later.
But then, the real cash-money items came out; the ring and the fire-opal pendant. Upon seeing the ring, the halfling at the jewelry counter said he need to introduce them to his boss. So into the back study they went with the boss, Holdren Cannear, halfling provisioner, who told them he never wanted it said that an adventurer was treated unfairly at his store.
The ring was serious money. Around 4,000 gp. Then Kaloei remembered the bag of rubies they've been carrying around, and those fetched 900 apiece.
(To all DMs: beware rolling random treasure. Then you wind up putting 10,000+gps into the hands of players. But sometimes random treasure is fun- but that's a whole other blog post).
At any rate, all the haggling and selling and buying resulted in Kaloei getting her rapier enchanted to +1, and a masterwork lute, Soledyn getting a +1 mithral chain shirt and 2 braces of masterwork handaxes, and Cirya getting herself a traveling alchemist's kit and a masterwork darkwood breastplate.
Thence to the Inn and meeting with the human fellow, Adan, who had a business proposition for them; one of the professors at Arcanix, Magana Corleis, an enchantress, was in need of some particularly hard to acquire spell components; redcap teeth.
Redcaps, for those not in the know, are particularly vicious, psychotic, cannibal fey. Their caps stay red by being dipped in the blood of those they devour. When slain, they leave behind a single tooth, one with faint magical properties the enchantress believes she can exploit.
Adan's proposal was simple. Enter the forest outside Arcanix, find some redcaps, slay them, get their teeth, and be paid 1200 apiece. Redcaps are not easily slain, as Adan was told, but cold iron could help do the job, and there are places to acquire cold-iron alchemical capsules (there are silvering capsules, so why not cold iron?), one application each, lasts for 1 minute, at 100 gp per. The party acquired some, along with some much needed healing potions, and set off.
It wasn't hard to find redcap sign, but it took the better part of a day to track them. Eventually, of course, the party was ambushed by a group of five of the little beasts, and it was quite the fight. Though no PCs were killed, it was quite taxing on their resources and teamwork. Five redcaps were brought down (redcaps are not the sort to retreat from a fight) with significant damage being done to Cirya and Sol.
OOC Note: I kept rolling absolute stink for these little bastards. I think in total they landed 4 blows with melee weapons, and maybe 3 with slings. Not good.
Adan voted for staying to find more redcaps, pointing out that one doesn't abandon a precious metal mine after getting the first load. Mines, however, don't actively bite back.
The party set back off for Arcanix, but after a few hours travel the next day, heard the voice of a young woman calling for help. Sol and Kal rushed forward, and there was a slight cloaked figure upon a hunter's path, claiming her horse had thrown her and broken her leg, and she needed any aid they could render.
When Sol approached the damsel in distress was revealed to be a slight avian figure brandishing a crossbow, ordering the party to stand down.
More combat!
Turns out a squad of Kenku assassins were after the party, and Kenku assassins mean business. One rogue, two thugs (rogue/fighters) and one wizard assaulted the party.
The wizard proved to be the toughest foe, disabling Adan with Tasha's Hideous Laughter, and severely limiting Sol with a Ray of Enfeeblement. Much damage was dealt, with Sol once again barely scraping through. When things turned against the kenku, the wizard went invisible and disappeared.
When one of the thugs was brought down alive, however, the wizard appeared again in order to silence him with a Magic Missile, as he had offered to spill all he knew. The wizard was then captured in his stead; interesting information was brought to light.
Namely, that this was a directed hit/capture attempt. The leader had a sheet of parchment with detailed descriptions of Sol, Kaloei, and Cirya. Under duress (not quite torture, mind you...just some good cop/bad cop/leave him tied up for the redcaps cop act by Kal, Sol, and Adan) he said he didn't know why they were hired, or the client's name. That they came out of Stariluskar in Breland (several hundred miles away) four days ago, with the client, who was a large, soft, rather rotund kind of man, with teleportation magic at his command, since he took them quickly to Passage and then set them on the trail.
The party concludes that Joreth d'Orien put a hit out on them, but that House Deneith (given some info on Deneith practices by Adan) wouldn't be sending assassins; that's not their way.
Edit: I forgot to mention this important moment; they could not decide what to do with the captive. There was brief talk of buying him off and having him try to dig up information for them; they concluded he wasn't likely to stay bought. The wizard himself said that if they just let him go, he'd disappear into Sharn. Kaloei couldn't bring herself to execute him, while Adan and Cirya were both perfectly willing to let it happen, it seemed neither wanted to do the deed. The decision was left to Sol (who seems, in some ways, to be evolving into a 'party leader' role- they also left it to him to decide whether to go out into the wild with Adan). Sol's weighed the decision heavily, but ultimately drew his longsword and pierced the bound kenku wizard's throat.
Back to Arcanix, with more loot. Interestingly enough, once they returned to town, everyone in sight was reading a special issue of The Korranberg Chronicle, with the headline and lead story:
Five redcap teeth were turned over for the promised gold, and finally (after a little prompting) Kal remembered that one of the names on the list way back from session I was Agate Corleis...similar to Magana Corleis, the professor they were working for. The list was produced. Magana was a bit put off. Asked who they were working for. Disappeared for a few minutes, then came back and was all help, no fuss. Turns out the missing Agate Corleis is her niece, and a student from Arcanix who vanished 4 months ago.
The plot thickens. Magana has promised help in getting them quickly to Sharn, and they await learning the form that help might take.
Another Edit: Since when did Kenku not have wings? Second edition depictions of Kenku always did. They were also telepathic, weren't they? Now they're just sneaky evil little bird men, with no level adjustment as a PC race. How far would wings and projective telepathy take them up? +2? I don't remember if they could actually fly or not, though.
It was quite the emporium, with separate counters for arms, armor, miscellaneous items, and jewelry. The most prominent customer was a rather lean looking human fellow negotiating over the price of a hat. It must have been quite the hat, given that the haggling was over the lack of a feather, and centered on 100 gp of the whole price. The human insisted that there must be a feather, while the halfling he haggled with demonstrated that the hat in question could appear to have any kind of feather the wearer wished once its properties were activated. The human countered that, if he were caught in an anti-magic zone, his hat would not have a feather, at which point the halfling called for his assistant to procure a selection of feathers.
Cirya, the druid, sidled up and offered the fellow an eagle feather, while Kaloei began negotiating the sale of their goods. For the exotic harp, she managed to wrangle 600 gp. Meanwhile, Sol was showing the set of the warhammer, shield, and breastplate, all with the arms of a Cyran noble family, likely made by Cannith Smiths in Metrol. In other words, the kind of work that you just don't see anymore.
This, unfortunately, was not being accurately conveyed by Sol, who isn't up on his haggling etiquette. The human fellow, though, noticed this, and appearing to know something about Cyran work, helpfully pointed out that the set ought to be worth some serious gold, especially considering the fact that no one will ever make something quite like it again. The set fetched around 1400 gp. In thanks for his help, Cirya promised to buy him a beer at the inn later.
But then, the real cash-money items came out; the ring and the fire-opal pendant. Upon seeing the ring, the halfling at the jewelry counter said he need to introduce them to his boss. So into the back study they went with the boss, Holdren Cannear, halfling provisioner, who told them he never wanted it said that an adventurer was treated unfairly at his store.
The ring was serious money. Around 4,000 gp. Then Kaloei remembered the bag of rubies they've been carrying around, and those fetched 900 apiece.
(To all DMs: beware rolling random treasure. Then you wind up putting 10,000+gps into the hands of players. But sometimes random treasure is fun- but that's a whole other blog post).
At any rate, all the haggling and selling and buying resulted in Kaloei getting her rapier enchanted to +1, and a masterwork lute, Soledyn getting a +1 mithral chain shirt and 2 braces of masterwork handaxes, and Cirya getting herself a traveling alchemist's kit and a masterwork darkwood breastplate.
Thence to the Inn and meeting with the human fellow, Adan, who had a business proposition for them; one of the professors at Arcanix, Magana Corleis, an enchantress, was in need of some particularly hard to acquire spell components; redcap teeth.
Redcaps, for those not in the know, are particularly vicious, psychotic, cannibal fey. Their caps stay red by being dipped in the blood of those they devour. When slain, they leave behind a single tooth, one with faint magical properties the enchantress believes she can exploit.
Adan's proposal was simple. Enter the forest outside Arcanix, find some redcaps, slay them, get their teeth, and be paid 1200 apiece. Redcaps are not easily slain, as Adan was told, but cold iron could help do the job, and there are places to acquire cold-iron alchemical capsules (there are silvering capsules, so why not cold iron?), one application each, lasts for 1 minute, at 100 gp per. The party acquired some, along with some much needed healing potions, and set off.
It wasn't hard to find redcap sign, but it took the better part of a day to track them. Eventually, of course, the party was ambushed by a group of five of the little beasts, and it was quite the fight. Though no PCs were killed, it was quite taxing on their resources and teamwork. Five redcaps were brought down (redcaps are not the sort to retreat from a fight) with significant damage being done to Cirya and Sol.
OOC Note: I kept rolling absolute stink for these little bastards. I think in total they landed 4 blows with melee weapons, and maybe 3 with slings. Not good.
Adan voted for staying to find more redcaps, pointing out that one doesn't abandon a precious metal mine after getting the first load. Mines, however, don't actively bite back.
The party set back off for Arcanix, but after a few hours travel the next day, heard the voice of a young woman calling for help. Sol and Kal rushed forward, and there was a slight cloaked figure upon a hunter's path, claiming her horse had thrown her and broken her leg, and she needed any aid they could render.
When Sol approached the damsel in distress was revealed to be a slight avian figure brandishing a crossbow, ordering the party to stand down.
More combat!
Turns out a squad of Kenku assassins were after the party, and Kenku assassins mean business. One rogue, two thugs (rogue/fighters) and one wizard assaulted the party.
The wizard proved to be the toughest foe, disabling Adan with Tasha's Hideous Laughter, and severely limiting Sol with a Ray of Enfeeblement. Much damage was dealt, with Sol once again barely scraping through. When things turned against the kenku, the wizard went invisible and disappeared.
When one of the thugs was brought down alive, however, the wizard appeared again in order to silence him with a Magic Missile, as he had offered to spill all he knew. The wizard was then captured in his stead; interesting information was brought to light.
Namely, that this was a directed hit/capture attempt. The leader had a sheet of parchment with detailed descriptions of Sol, Kaloei, and Cirya. Under duress (not quite torture, mind you...just some good cop/bad cop/leave him tied up for the redcaps cop act by Kal, Sol, and Adan) he said he didn't know why they were hired, or the client's name. That they came out of Stariluskar in Breland (several hundred miles away) four days ago, with the client, who was a large, soft, rather rotund kind of man, with teleportation magic at his command, since he took them quickly to Passage and then set them on the trail.
The party concludes that Joreth d'Orien put a hit out on them, but that House Deneith (given some info on Deneith practices by Adan) wouldn't be sending assassins; that's not their way.
Edit: I forgot to mention this important moment; they could not decide what to do with the captive. There was brief talk of buying him off and having him try to dig up information for them; they concluded he wasn't likely to stay bought. The wizard himself said that if they just let him go, he'd disappear into Sharn. Kaloei couldn't bring herself to execute him, while Adan and Cirya were both perfectly willing to let it happen, it seemed neither wanted to do the deed. The decision was left to Sol (who seems, in some ways, to be evolving into a 'party leader' role- they also left it to him to decide whether to go out into the wild with Adan). Sol's weighed the decision heavily, but ultimately drew his longsword and pierced the bound kenku wizard's throat.
Back to Arcanix, with more loot. Interestingly enough, once they returned to town, everyone in sight was reading a special issue of The Korranberg Chronicle, with the headline and lead story:
WAR!
In the Lhazar Principalities
In the Lhazar Principalities
"Prince Ryger ir'Wynarn of the Seadragons, self-styled heir to the throne of Galifar, appears to have been betrayed by his own fleet and deposed as de facto leader of the island territories. The ships in his fleet that have not turned against him have been forced into a siege at his seat of Regalport, where he is besieged by the Diresharks and the Cloudreavers, two of his larger and stronger opponents, have united to destroy him. Prince Lorrister of the Heavenly Fleet intends to aid him, but the blockade keeps his smaller fleet at bay. Given that fact, Prince Lorrister, a dashing figure you will no doubt recall having been written up in this very Chronicle when he set off to "sweep clean the Lhazar Principalities of pirates and make the seas safe for honest men," is even now making a tour, at great expense (with aid of House Orien's magic) of the great cities of Khorvaire, pleading for aid and allies. Though the Prince is a rousing speaker, he has yet to gain any allies of note. He is expected in the City of Towers within the week. When asked for comment, Lord Admiral Lyrien, consul of the Lhazar Principalities in Sharn, stated that the people Khorvaire needn't be worried, that it was all a purely internal matter, a squabble over succession, and that order should be restored in the Lhazar Principalities within a matter of weeks. The Lord Admiral would not comment upon the imminent arrival of Prince Lorrister."
The party bought and read a copy, and in Kaloei's words, "we must get to Sharn quickly."
The party bought and read a copy, and in Kaloei's words, "we must get to Sharn quickly."
Five redcap teeth were turned over for the promised gold, and finally (after a little prompting) Kal remembered that one of the names on the list way back from session I was Agate Corleis...similar to Magana Corleis, the professor they were working for. The list was produced. Magana was a bit put off. Asked who they were working for. Disappeared for a few minutes, then came back and was all help, no fuss. Turns out the missing Agate Corleis is her niece, and a student from Arcanix who vanished 4 months ago.
The plot thickens. Magana has promised help in getting them quickly to Sharn, and they await learning the form that help might take.
Another Edit: Since when did Kenku not have wings? Second edition depictions of Kenku always did. They were also telepathic, weren't they? Now they're just sneaky evil little bird men, with no level adjustment as a PC race. How far would wings and projective telepathy take them up? +2? I don't remember if they could actually fly or not, though.
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