Date: Lapin 8th-9th
Weather: Overcast
Party:
Cedar (Warrior / Beastmaster)
Celica (Necromancer / Skinshifter)
Cloud Nine (Invoker)
Laguna (Elementalist / Healer)
Cohorts:
Raymond (Axebeak)
Rex (Wolf)
Zord (Zard)
Summary:
The players wake up to see more of the Unyielding Fist troops amassing near Chlemsfordshire. They keep with their decision to Denethix, stopping by Retennis as Aria has other business to tend to. At Denethix, most of the party is appalled by the state of the city and its slums, but it's there they find a new party member, Cloud Nine.
She takes them to a convenient spot where the party can stable their animals and get a run-down of the city. They learn about the wizard Feretha, the vizier, and the Unyielding Fist. As they figure everyone else is distracted with the mountain, they decide to go rumormongering to see if anyone needs anything done in the city.
The party finds a majordomo of a petty noble's estate lamenting about his mistress' paranoia. They question him, finding out that a man with no shadow has been slaughtering nobles in their estates, and after a few negotiations they agree to see the noble in her estate about the issue. There they find out that petty nobles that meet to determine various taxes levied have been targeted for assassination.
 |
| Madame Valerie Von Verrona, heir to the Verrona fortune. |
The party splits up, one half goes to research magical beings while the other goes to find information on the last person killed. The research team finds that there are shadow entities people pact with, and that they have hungers that must be sated with regular sacrifices. The investigation team manages to worm their way into the crime scene, finding that the killer had no other way into the room aside from being able to warp between shadows. They put two and two together and investigate the Bazaar Incomparable, as the recent taxes affected merchants from outside the city.
There, they find a gang of goblin merchants who dealt in recreational goblin substances and inevitably discover that their target is both a repeat customer and that he didn't seem to happy that the merchants had to raise their prices due to the new taxes. With all the facts gathered, all that's left is to lay a trap that can capture the man with no shadow, and hope that any creatures he made a dark bargain with aren't too much for them to handle...
Treasure:
None, so far.
Experience:
Aria (lv 3, 7 xp)
Cedar (lv 3, 8 xp)
Celica (lv 2, 3 xp)
Cloud Nine (lv 1, 1 xp)
Laguna (lv 3, 8 xp)
My
Current Thoughts: This session was entirely off-the-cuff. I had to call for a 15 minute break for the hook they chose to pursue, as they had a choice between three rumors to investigate into and the man without a shadow was the most pertinent to them. I used the time to generate a few details from the Investigation Challenges and NPC chapters of the Worlds Without Number book and found myself impressed with how coherent the resulting investigation turned out. Even though I'd rather be running dungeon crawls, the advice for running other kinds of adventures is very welcome, even to a veteran referee such as myself.
The players are also making backup characters, I'm excited to see who they'll bring into the fold.
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