Session 2

Session 02 (2024-06-30)

The session beings on the morning of Eliant 24 (similar to September).

Last time: Session 01 (2024-05-24)

Potential next steps:

Port Maraisa

We were sent to the city to purchase wine from Ankhapur, to the east. The wine would be poor quality, but that’s ok because it’s our cover. We woke up in The Gold Coin and went downstairs to get some breakfast.

At breakfast, Hugh suggested introducing ourselves to Dominico. Bikke recommended establishing contact with the market to learn about wine coming in from Ankhapur and establish our cover. We decided to talk to the merchant first.

Asked Talmadge, the innkeeper of The Gold Coin, about where we might purchase the Ankhapur wine. He said The Vintner might have it, or it might be in Caravan Row, the line of caravans near the entrance of the city that’s north of the Night market and west of The Gold Coin. Traders that come from the east enter there.

We found a caravan in Caravan Row that was willing to purchase the wine on our behalf. Gavin closed the deal at 30 gp down, 100 gp total. This left us with 120 gp on hand for delivery in about 4-6 weeks. The caravaner’s name is Kingsley.

We decide to visit Mayor Dominico Falcone, representing Del Veign. We have his letter of introduction and it is a token of respect to visit.

The city hall is a decent stone building across the square from the Northern Beacon. The city hall is tidy and well-kept. As we approach, we notice that the Northern Beacon once had an estate house attached to it, but the house has clearly burned down. We found out later from Dominico that it burned down about 3 years ago. The beacon is clearly operational while the attached house is not, and has been gone for a while.

Port Maraisa City Hall

When we enter the city hall, we see Dominico Falcone on a ladder repairing a rafter wearing yellow and blue, the colors of The Auttencourt family.

Conversation with Dominico Falcone, driven initially by Gavin:

  • Gavin presents the letter of introduction from Armitage del Veign to Dominico.
  • Dominico appreciates the introduction
  • Gavin states we’re here for the wine shipment, but will be in town for a few weeks waiting for the caravan. Offers our services while we wait for the shipment.
  • Dominico states Talmadge is a capable innkeeper, the Night market has pleasures in the evenings, the halfling quarter is a bit rougher.
  • Gavin mentioned that we found The Orphaned Halflings and dropped them off at The Big Tree.
    • Dominico reacted favorably to our rescue of the halflings.
  • [[Pedestrian Wolves/PCs/Kira Fe’lorin|Kira]] asked whether orc raids are common. Dominico shared that orc and kobold raids are rare, but not unheard of.
  • [[Pedestrian Wolves/PCs/Kira Fe’lorin|Kira]] asked whether the gnoll war was significiant. Dominico shared that it affected trade, but not as much as the drought.
  • Hugh suggested increased patrols in case of additional raiding parties. Dominico Falcone agreed.
  • Dominico shared that the prior lighthouse keeper Agostino Barlucci had a fire, lost his wife in the fire, and it was very tragic. Augustino moved to the Southern Beacon which has since gone out. Augustino had a drinking problem, started the fire while drunk, killed his wife, fell deeper into the bottle, one of his 2 daughters (youngest, Julietta Barlucci) got sick and is in The Lazaretto, and he’s now in an unknown state (but presumably not well). The disposition of his elder daughter, Corina Barlucci, isn’t clear. She went to Riatavin to live with her uncle and visited a couple times, but that’s it. This was about 3 years ago.
  • Bikke expressed shock that nobody’s checked on the Southern Beacon for a week. Dominico replied that folks are scared of the Rotting Disease which may be communicated by the mist.
    • Dominico refers to the southern beacon as important, but not urgent.
    • Dominico would like to know Augustino’s fate and whether he’s well. The southern beacon should operate on its own for a time if we repair it, which would give the city time to find a new lighthouse keeper.
    • Augustino is a bearded, sad, old man with wild eyes.
  • The disease starts with a fever and results in disfigurement. About a third die, the remaining are contagious but survive with significant scarring and disfigurement.
  • If we travel to the southern shore, we must do so discretely because most townspeople would not allow us back. We should also talk with Mother Verduna to ensure a clean bill of health before returning to town.
  • Dominico would be grateful and indebted to anyone who addresses the problem of the Southern Beacon and the Rotting Disease.

Future topics of discussion with Dominico:

  • The labor dispute between the [[Merchant Consortium]] and the River Guild
  • Tensions betwen halflings and humans
  • The rotting disease
  • Further information about raiders near the city (after a few days of patrols)

The Big Tree

We travelled to The Big Tree to ask Delridge where Mother Verduna is.

We noticed three halfling men hanging out near the sausage vendor. We also noticed humans being very polite to the vendor.

We knock on the door and Delridge is willing to come out to chat. This is Bikke’s first time meeting with Delridge.

  • Gavin asked how the halfling orphans are doing. Delridge gave them a room together and claimed to be sure they had full bellies and warm beds, but they’re struggling with the events of the last few days.
  • Mother Verduna is at The Lazaretto right now, she only comes to town every week or two for resupply and that sort of thing.
  • Bikke asks to find Waukeen temple
  • [[Pedestrian Wolves/PCs/Kira Fe’lorin|Kira]] asked how folks feel about Mother Verduna coming back to town. She asked how the humans and halflings feel about her visits to town. Delridge states that there’s mutual respect between Mother Verduna and the Halflings and nobody’s been sick from being around her, so the halflings are generally respectful of Verduna’s presence. Delridge isn’t sure that the humans even know she comes and goes and he suspects that they wouldn’t like it. ^mother-verduna-supply-runs
  • Delridge can probably find someone to take us over in the dark if we’re willing to pay.
  • Delridge has never known a halfling to survive the first few weeks of the rotting disease. Halflings don’t get sick often, but when they do, they die.
  • Delridge said that Verduna says the disease is an infection from the plants. Others say it’s an infection that comes from the swamp. ^infection-source
  • We agreed to meet Delridge by the Big Tree at about midnight tonight to cross the river. Cost is 15 gp.

The Sausage Vendor

We meet up with Rowan during the day where we show him the delish sausages from the halfling sausage vendor and have a great time hanging out at The Gold Coin. Kira realized in the time spent with Rowan that there’s zero indication he’s targeting us, but his demeanor is such that he’s a great listener and folks are likely to open up to him. Inside his cardigan are at least three bottles of some high quality whiskey.

  • Bikke asked Rowan about The Vintner’s. Rowan hasn’t been, he’s tried, and there are serious little people there preventing him from getting inside. Rowan gathers that a token is required for entry, and Gavin has such a token.
  • Gavin expressed reservations about visiting The Vintner’s tonight because we need to be at the boat by midnight, but Bikke and Hugh applied some peer pressure, suggesting we just earn our way back for a proper party the next night.
  • Rowan is a generally composed drunk, though perhaps less intentional when he’s feeling good.

There was extensive meta speculation about Rowan actually being Albrecht Moray.

[[Pedestrian Wolves/PCs/Kira Fe’lorin|Kira]] detected magic on Rowan and saw something on his belt and something on his fingers: Enchantment on his hand and Evocation on his belt.

The Vintner’s Frolic

We head to The Vintner’s Frolic with Rowan. It’s in the rougher edge of the human neighborhood with some halflings around the entrance. The building is scaled for human occupancy. We are greeted by the Frolic’s doorman and bouncer, Ergzett Rukk.

The Vintner’s Frolic exhudes faded grandeur. It’s well worn, but a large bar and a lot of effort went into it. We see a pair of halflings having a serious conversation with The Vintner, Ergzett Rukk, a bartender, and a number of women around the place. Lothario is being nice to the two halfling mafiosos in the corner.

We are led to a table by the doorman and told to sit. Everyone takes a seat at the table.

When the halflings leave the conversation and walk through the door into the theater room, Lothario seems exhausted. He’s The Vintner himself and he walks over to our table to introduce himself. We do not see another sign of the halflings, so they went somewhere from the theater room, but they didn’t leave through the front door.

The Vintner, Lothario Manhandle, offers a variety of vintages for every taste.

  • Bikke asks for a wine from Ankhapur. The vintner asks what sort of taste is being satisfied.
    • The vintner gestures toward the bar, well-stocked with wines and the women also line up at the bar. (The frolic is a bar and brothel)
    • Bikke asks for a round of the Ankhapor wine while we discuss. Gavin moves over to Ms. Syrah.
    • The cask of wine is spongy and rather gross.
    • Hugh slides his glass over for a glass of the wine. The wine is golden and unfiltered, a tarnished gold with a bit of haze. The wine smells of asparagus piss.
    • Hugh prompts the drink with Bikke, Barrick, and Rowan. The wine is warm, but should rather be cold. The flavor is yeasty
    • Kira mentioned that we spent 100gp on this swill, Hugh noted that Armitage did.
    • The Vintner left the table and came back with a honey mead and a burnt mead from Cormyr. Both are delicious.
    • Gavin spends time with Syrah.
    • Barrick and Hugh people watch
      • Ergzett Rukk is miserable.
      • Lothario gets back in the groove after the meeting with the halflings.
      • The women are working.
    • When Bikke is at the bar, Port pushes out her jaw at him, then looks at Ergzett Rukk with contempt. Boblin does not like the interaction and doesn’t like Bikke as a result.
    • [[Pedestrian Wolves/PCs/Kira Fe’lorin|Kira]] talked with Lothario
      • Lothario is good about keeping glasses full
      • Lothario offered Kira a job.
      • Kira mentions “dealing with a halfling problem” and asks Lothario for some help: “We run into groups of halflings staring us down, but we’re not sure why.”
      • Lothario guesses: “You’re not traders, merchants, or guards, you have money and you’re not particularly interested in the commercial side of the business. You’re here for an uncommon reason. If the Small Brothers have taken an interest, you’ve either made yourself interesting or you’re visiting places they’re interested in. With the guilds at odds, the small brothers are moving goods and the small brothers prefer that arrangement.” ^small-brothers-scabs
      • Kira: “Our presence here purchasing Ankhapur wine must go through the small brothers?”
      • Lothario: “They’ll get their cut when it goes through.”
      • Why are the small brothers in charge of the movement of goods? The city seems split, so why are the small brothers helping?
        • Deltridge is a smart guy and good at playing people off each other. Since his interest, the relationships between the city’s powers have soured.
      • Kira offered to “help” with the halfings ^kira-offers-help
      • Lothario asked what kind of help she could offer.
      • Kira tries to leverage her background with House Owens to earn a little cache with Lothario
      • Lothario once had a wonderful relationship with The Savelli family. He thinks they’ve lost interest in Port Maraisa. He’d like to get to know The Del Veign family and Kira offers to establish contact. Lothario offered property in the town, a house.
      • Kira asks about Port and Ergzett Rukk
      • Lothario answers that The White Skull, a raiding and slaving goblin band just northeast of Port Maraisa, found themselves pitted against some orcs, humans, kobolds that beat them down. Ergzett Rukk, the son of the white skull leader, and his wife Port found themselves hungry and alone on the road. They came to work for The Vintner in Port Maraisa to work of debt for acquiring new identities. Port is no longer Ergzett Rukk’s property in the human culture and Boblin ain’t thrilled about it. In either case, this is indentured servitude and Lothario is getting away with, suggesting he’s above the local law.^whiteskull
      • Syrah is into Rowan and Gavin pays for her to be with Rowan.
      • Kira asks how we can gain re-entry to this establishment (e.g., to come back the next day)
      • Lothario says that normally it’s a membership fee. He’ll offer us a gratis probationary membership because of the potential for a partnership with The Del Veign family.

After some Frolic, we head out to the boat to make our midnight appointment by The Big Tree. Rowan will not join us.