The day begins with the unveiling of the new clock tower that has been built on top of Duskmire's Town Hall. The mayor gives a speech to a decent sized crowd of people to commemorate the occasion. The clock's face is made of an pale and iridescent material known as Shellrock. The numbers, frame, and hands are all made out of a dark wrought iron. A silhouette carving of a Deep One holds the hour hand above its head, likewise the minute hand is held by the silhouette of a human. Which Mayor Blorth says it "Signifies that despite the vast differences in lifespans of the citizens of Duskmire, we all work together to keep moving forward to a bright future."
As the formalities wrap up and the mayor makes their leave, there’s more business to attend to. At long last someone has arrived to revive the detective agency. Who mayor Blorth gladly meets by the entrance of the old building.
Detective Miguel David Arrubal is the man inheriting the building. After meeting outside briefly, the mayor gives him a short tour of the small building. And gives him his first case to look into.
Some folks have been acting strange lately, lots of ruckus at night around the town square. Now it might just be some hooligans from Heartmoon Hall partaking in their “special leafy greens” but they’d still appreciate the newly minted Detective looking into it anyways.
Elsewhere, Lasthiel Ciryalun, or “Arie” as some know her, missed the festivities as she was in deep prayer over in the Temple of the Trinity. Using the temple's amplifier room to better reach the spirits. Treading the endless sea of Solor's domain, she holds conversation directly with the massive water spirit. Trying to strengthen her connection with it as well as searching for answers and guidance. The responses from Solor are vague, but essentially urge the high elf to get out of the temple and live by its name and seek adventure, rather than sit in a stuffy temple. To which Arie responds with an iconic "OK Bet" and takes her leave.
Back in the town square, Ross Mry, a curious selkie had been watching the crowd of people from today's unveiling. At which point a free tour of the new tower catches his interest. As he's ushered inside however and sees that he has to climb stairs to get up to the tower, he immediately changes his mind and heads back out to the town square, crossing paths unknowingly with both Miguel and Arie. He's been around Duskmire enough to know that no one's ever entered that building, so seeing action around it peaks his interest and he goes to investigate what's going on for himself.
Ross comes upon Miguel currently reading over old articles strewn about the agency, familiarizing himself more with the goings-on of the town. A confused conversation between the two of them takes place, before Ross eventually takes his leave, and Miguel locks the door.
Ross then literally bumps into Arie, his selkie fur coat slumping off in the process. Knowing not to pick it up, Arie leaves Ross with some cryptic wisdom instead.
"The best fighter is always angry"
Rather than parting ways, Ross follows Arie.
Jumping to our next new friend, Edenberry the Small, an awakened fox, bangs on the door of the Detective Agency, curious about the recent activity she's spotted around it. It's a short conversation between her and Miguel, before she decides not to be in company with the Detective and makes her way off, catching the last bit of the odd scene between strangers Arie and Ross. Looking for prime folks to bother, she makes her way after the two of them. Edenberry immediately recognizes that Ross is a selkie, and goes to ask him a few questions, to Arie's bewilderment, she sticks around to listen, wondering why the fox needs their information. To which Edenberry denies answering. The conversation then turns into a game of questions between this trio of strangers. The fox divulging that she's a student at a magic school, and the apprentice of a reclusive wizard. Arie answers questions about herself vaguely, and seems concerned when the topic of weapons and the lack of them that the fox has comes into question. The rounds of questions continue for a bit.
At which point, Arie drops another one of her strange wisdoms.
"To know nature is to be in opposition at all times."
with little effort put into trying to process what that meant exactly, it was back to the town hall, Edenberry excitedly wanting to check out the tour. Ross and Arie however opted to stay outside while the little fox went up to explore. All the while, Miguel watches from the windows of his office.
Miguel deciding after a drink of strong brewed coffee, to finally go out and get started on his case. Grabbing his trusted notebook and heading out to the town and start interviewing people.
Over at the clocktower, is a faeladrin, a small fairy type creature by the name of Caira Daisybell. It's barely even noon and she's already drunk, lounging on the stairs on the way up to the tour spot and is met by Edenberry. After a bit of conversation, the two do not complete the clocktower tour, and head back outside to meet up once more with Arie and Ross. As introductions begin once more between them all, it's revealed that Caira and Arie evidentially have a history, one that Arie remembers vividly, but Caira can't recall whatsoever.
Miguel watches from a short distance, sipping on his coffee as the odd group gradually sucks him in to their nonsense. Arie suggests Miguel get away from this growing gaggle of oddballs why he still can. He agrees and tries to walk away, but Caira manages to pull him right back in. Caira also promptly decides to get drinks for people, and prances off to the tavern. Arie attempts to leave because she's trying to find her destiny. And leaves another bit of advice with Ross once more.
"Sometimes a stranger known to us for moments, can spark our souls to kinship for eternity."
This leaves Ross to question if him and Arie were now friends, but doesn't get much of an answer as the elf paladin walks away. The rest of the group promptly splits up and takes separate ways. Caira and Edenberry to The Weary Traveller Inn & Bar, Arie and Miguel on their own paths...and lastly leaving Ross standing alone in the town square. After looking about his options, he decides to switch gears and follow Miguel this time.
Inside the Weary Traveller, Caira orders two bottles of white wine, stressing the importance that it's a bottle all to herself, and the other for the rest of her new acquaintances.
While waiting for someone to get them for her, she and Edenberry spot a colourful trio of pirates dining in at the tavern A large orc, a short goblin, and a triton who among them seems to be not having a good time. The feyladrin and fox jumping in and interrupting their meal, Caira immediately tries to flirt with Murphy, the triton of the group. But is shot down faster than buck in autumn.
The goblin and orc entertain the surprise guests, much to Murphy's dismay. Caira proceeds to trauma dump about a displacer beast back at the carnival she comes from.
Edenberry tries to interview Murphy, who's reluctant to answer, and their deckhands, Babs the goblin and Yak the orc, fill in some of the blanks the captain is throwing. Revealing the name of the ship is "The Siren's Song" amongst the questions. Also mentioning it was an inside joke they might share some time. Insinuating that they'll meet these folks again. Murphy tells their crew to shut it and stop sharing secrets.
At this point is when the wine that Caira ordered is brought to the counter, the feyladrin paying for them and as well as a glass for Murphy, who overhears and promptly denies, telling her crew that one of them has to drink the wine for them, they don't feel like getting drunk so early in the day. (or at all) Babs happily volunteers to drink it, not caring what time it is, a free drink is a free drink after all!
With that, rough introductions come to a close, and strange conjoining paths await this unlikely group in the adventures to come.
SESSION TWO - Honorary Detectives
[Tulistar, 17th day of Sigen]
With enough dilly-dallying about the town and new acquaintances, Miguel seeks to get down to business and start tackling his job for the day - interviewing people and trying to get information about the strange happenings the mayor was concerned about.
Though perhaps to his dismay, he wasn't getting to work alone, as Ross had decided to follow him as everyone parted ways. Ross deciding it was important to follow Miguel, from his understanding, Miguel was a hunter, so Ross should stay close to ensure he didn't kill anyone. Miguel tries to explain he's a detective, not a hunter, with much frustration on his part. Eventually resigning when efforts to clarify and also push Ross away are met with a hard wall, and letting the selkie tail him while he works.
Coming across the first interviewee of the day, it is a tall dark skinned human dressed in common street clothes, with buzzed-short hair, and dark brown eyes by the name of Rodney Copperbottom, who is excited when Miguel introduces himself as the new detective in town, and is happy to help out where he can. Miguel cuts right to it, asking about the strange happenings going on. Rodney divulges that he was a construction worker responsible for the resurrecting of the clock tower that was unveiled this morning, and while he can partly confirm the rumours of hallucinations occurring during construction, he notes that it didn't happen to him personally, but he knows someone that it apparently happened to, and that they frequent the nearby tavern. Someone by the name of Dale.
Ross is dumbfounded by the conversation, how could someone share their name and information so easily? He knows there's faefolk around these parts, and that name magic can be very tricksy to deal with. Both Rodney and Miguel pass off this concern however, as Miguel is not fae, and Rodney's never had a problem with faefolk, and in fact his half-uncle is half-fae, so he's got a decent connection with them.
The interview concludes, Miguel offering that should Rodney ever have the need for his services, that the agency is open. Rodney wishes the man luck, and the detective heads off to the tavern, begrudgingly with Ross in tow.
On their way down to the tavern, they come across Caira, with Edenberry tucked away in her pocket. Miguel wavers on his better judgement for a moment, before asking "Is that a fox in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?" To which Caira admits its both, then offers one of the bottles of wine to them, handing the bottle specifically to Ross.
Grouping up together once more, they all head to the tavern. It's fairly quiet, being mid-afternoon, the usual crowd that frequents the place hasn't quite started trickling in, likely still at whatever work or errands they need to tend to. Most notably is the colourful trio of pirates having lunch together, and a few folks playing at the pool tables towards the back of the common area in the tavern. Humans, two men and a woman, one of the men in peak focus as he lines up a shot with his cue, lining up several angles before finally committing to one and shooting, nearly landing the white ball in the hole. The other two around him cheer, mentioning his name to be Dale - the next lead.
Ross recognizes pool as "the ball and stick game" out loud, and Caira is delighted, deciding to adopt the name for it into her own vocabulary. Miguel is perplexed, there's lots of games with balls and sticks, how would that name work to differentiate between different ones? Ross doesn't know those other games though, so he's not bothered.
Trying to refocus on the task at hand, Miguel sets off to talk to this Dale fellow, but not before passing the colourful pirates and their luncheon. Yak, the large orc with dark dull green skin, and lighter coloured branding scars along his face and arms, recognizes Caira as "the little one from earlier" and happily greets her. Caira greets back, and with awkward flair, so does Ross. Caira tells the pirates that Ross needs more friends, and that Ross needs to believe in himself a little more. Ross isn't opposed to it.
Back to the pool tables, Miguel introduces himself to Dale, a tanned skin man with dark brown hair that's tied back into a tight man-bun, wearing construction worker's clothing. A well-worn shirt with half-sleeves, pants made from a thick denim, with leaher patches on the knees for reinforcement and protection. Along with clucky steel-toes boots.
Miguel wastes no time in asking to interview him. Dale is hesitant at first, a little awkward, but ends up agreeing to talk to him. Miguel mentions Rodney was the one to lead him over here, saying that Dale had some first hand experience with the strange hallucinations that were being reported.
Dale awkwardly tries to explain what all he can remember, one minute he was working on the tower, the next he had lost track of time, staring at the clock's face. He recalls that at one point the face of the clock turned to a hazy vision of the moon hanging low in the sky. He then calls over his buddy Briar for more input.
Briar is a short and very pale/fair skinned man with bright orange ginger hair and covered in freckles. Wearing very simple, cozy clothing. The man goes on to add to Dale's story, coming from the outside perspective of that night. Apparently Dale was ranting and raving about how the moon was too low in the sky and looked as if it was about to crash into the earth. It took the other workers a lot of effort to get him to snap out of it, to the extent of holding him down and dumping cold water on his head before he finally came back to his senses.
Miguel asks the man if he's okay after such an experience, Dale replies that he still feels shaken up about it, but he's just counting his blessings that it hasn't happened again. He seems to think maybe someone slipped something into his drink, or maybe it was just some weird happenstance, he's trying best not to dwell on it too much and move forward from it. He also gives Miguel the next possible lead, a triton apparently was reported to be under the influence of some hallucinations about 2 or 3 days prior to today. He didn't catch a name or a face however, so he is unable to confirm if Murphy, the triton sitting across the tavern, is the triton in question or not. As they part ways, Dale wishes Miguel luck as the new detective, and issues a warning to just be careful, the last detectives in town met quite the gruesome end.
Miguel then decides to interview the colourful pirates next, inviting himself, Ross, and Caira over to have a chat. Murphy mentions that they do mind if the others sit there, but is quickly out voted by their more hospitable crew. Miguel eases his intrusion with a round of drinks. A few of the folks at the table partaking in the house special a 'Rainy Day Drink'. As the group converses, and their drinks are brought, Ross perplexes the group once more, as he pours salt into his water. Rather than asking Ross directly if that works, the group looks at Murphy who suggests it probably doesn't work like that with table salt, from experience, it doesn't taste the same. The conversation derails further as Ross proclaims he's old enough to think for himself, and also to get kicked out of the sea, leading to further questions on if there's actually an age limit to living in the ocean. Murphy clears up that there's not an age clause to living in the water that they know of. Ross confirms it's just something personal to him.
Miguel and Ross renew the questions game. Though Ross keeps adding conditions for Miguel to try and weave around. Eventually leading Miguel to dismiss things and get to the proper reason he sat down in the first place.
Murphy is a triton, and he's looking for a triton! Murphy quickly answers that they are not the triton he's looking for however, which puts him back a bit in his search for clues. Murphy asks him and the others to leave, and when they get a no, they ask their crew to leave, who decide nah, they're gonna hang around and be detectives for a day.
After a brief stint of flirting with the bar keep, and finding out he's a proud Loxodon father of three. (It was very important for Caira to know this) along with finishing their drinks and playing a round of 'ball and stick' it's decided to head to the docks to try and find the triton they're looking for.
On the way across town on the way to the docks, they pass by another construction worker that seems to be headed off on a break towards the tavern. His name is Robert, he's a dwarf, with tanned skin, many tattoos up his arms, a short scruffy bear, and long fabio-styled hair with tight ringlet curls, along with his working uniform he wears a gold chain necklace with a pendant of the symbol of the moon spirit. In a brief interview with Miguel, Robert (or Robby, as both Caira and Miguel decide to call him) explains that he was part of the early phase construction crew, and while he wasn't present for anything, he did hear that another person from his phase of construction came down with some of the wigginess people had been describing, and they were currently hiding out in Heartmoon Hall trying to heal from the experience, a half elf by the name of Rat. Caira adopts the name Rat for herself and instructs Robby to call her that.
As Miguel is distracted, further interviewing some others, Ross decides to talk to Caira, divulging why he's here in Duskmire, since he trusted her more with that information than he did Miguel. He explains he's been traveling and living with a Siren who became an adoptive mother figure to him.
Ross' siren mother told him to go out and find his place in life, a soft 'kicking out' and Caira finds this very interesting as her situation feels similar but also different. She's trying to find her parents, she's not sure if their missing or dead, or if they abandoned her, but wants to find out. Ross has never known his true parents either, and the two of them make a pact to help each other out in their search for answers. Murphy meanwhile is very busy pretending like they didn't hear the word 'siren' several times, while glaring at Babs and Yak to keep quite. Babs is snickering to himself about it, while Yak is very invested in watching Miguel do his detective work.
Ross and Caira notice the symbol on Robert's necklace and begin asking more spiritual questions and if the moon is okay. Robert confusedly replies that he thinks the moon is fine? Ross then gets annoyed as Miguel tries to ditch him once more, having a short argument with Robert as the dwarf tries to leave. While Ross tries to catch up with Miguel, still bitching out loud to Caira about how Miguel doesn't come off as a good detective, because he's being rude and ditching him so much. A passer-by chimes in and drops the tea about the last detectives, how they were gruesomely spread between heartmoon hall to silverspire, it was a terrible sight to see. Ross is suddenly concerned about Miguel's fighting ability, asking if Caira thinks he seems any kind of capable. Ross waffles over asking the stranger for a name, because he's fae, the stranger smiles and reveals that he too is fae, and gives him his name anyways, Feather. After Caira introduces herself as Rat, Feather confirms that he knows another person by the name of Rat, who's hanging out in Heartmoon Hall. Having not realized this was a piece of information that Miguel already has, Ross and Caira get excited, thinking they have a one-up on him, and carry on to catch up with the detective.
Having finally reached the docks, Miguel and Murphy find two fisherwomen pulling in their latest catch, a female Locathah and a human woman who happen to know the triton Miguel is looking for, they mention his name is Lorenzini, he lives and sells out of the building next to their dock, a tradesperson and magic weaver who specializes in magical wares. The two fishers haven't seen him in a while though, so they're a little concerned.
Miguel uses the information to go and check the building, it's hard to see inside, but he hears what sounds like some kind of talking. Ross and Caira catch up this time, and decide to lockpick the door, trying a couple times before successfully opening it. Inside the source of the voice is revealed to be a parrot named Benny, likely a pet to this Lorenzini. Ross' intentions turn directly to making sure the parrot has food and water.
Meanwhile Miguel has a look around, finding footsteps, shifted carpet, hand-shaped burn marks on the table and doorframe and a scroll of 'burning hands' that looks to have recently been used. Ross tells Miguel to pay for the scroll, and so does the parrot, Miguel pays, and then Ross decides to buy something too, a small stone of Shellrock. He's not sure what the price is and places down a silver. The bird can't tell between coin pieces, just that there was a payment, so it seems satisfied.
They say goodbye to the parrot and close up the shop once more, and make their way back through town to try and find this Lorenzini.
SESSION THREE - Chaos at Heartmoon
[Tulistar, 17th day of Sigen]
After taking a moment to collect their thoughts and break for a quick cookie snack, Edenberry, Caira, Ross, Miguel, Murphy, Babs, and Yak decide to take on their next lead - someone by the name of Rat that was hiding out in Heartmoon Hall.
Already on the scene, is Arie, the high elf paladin that most of the group had met previously. Not on detective business, but on holy matters - kind of. A half elven woman by the name of Rathnir, and her brother Tathiel had sought a blessing from the Temple of the Trinity, after Rathnir's involvement with the clock tower, and the subsequent hallucinations experienced afterwards, hoping to stave off whatever energies caused the issue.
Arie was sent as the representative of the temple...
It goes...okay. Arie admitting her blessings aren't great, and neither are her gods. Nevertheless, she casts her blessing with another interesting idiom.
"It is the enemy who can truly teach us to practice the virtues of ignorance and bliss."
After awkwardly placing the blessing, Arie takes her leave, thinking she can get on with searching for her supposed destiny as laid out by her connection with Solor earlier in the day.
But that is suddenly cut short when Arie and the detective party collide.
A confusing set of events takes place during this. Ross looks for confirmation of his new friendship with Arie, And the motives of Miguel are brought in to question. Next, Arie, reveals her controversial opinions and thoughts about the local government. There's a confrontation when Arie tries to purposely mislead the group in a very obvious manner. Miguel withholding the gold he tried to bargain for information. Meanwhile, Edenberry, Ross, and Caira duck into the tent to get away from the crazy (Arie), however Arie is quick to follow them in and bar the trio from asking Rathnir or Tathiel any questions, she was charged to look after them, and that includes keeping away riffraff like these goobers.
Ross and Caira create a diversion while Edenberry tries to quietly ask some questions for Rathnir. Arie catches wind and threatens to take whatever action necessary. The trio make a break for it and circle back out to leave Heartmoon Hall. Ross and Caira catch Babs, Yak, and Murphy on their way out, and decide to join the pirates aboard their ship for a little bit to get away from Arie.
Edenberry and Miguel hide elsewhere and in a brief moment they share what notes they have, Miguel's usually tough facade fading briefly to make way for genuine excitement as he speaks with the fox.
Despite trying to get away, Arie ends up following and climbing aboard the Siren's Song. There's a minor attempt to stage a mutiny, to which the small crew simply laugh in response. They've got it good, there ain't no reason for mutiny here.
Arie questions Murphy for a bit, and some of the crew intervenes and makes a mess of the conversation. During Arie's distraction with the crew, Murphy dives off the side of the ship and into the water for no known reason.
With the Captain gone, Arie makes their way back to shore, a tickle of magic effecting their brain as she hears a whisper of a strange song, but is nonetheless unphased.
It's at this point, that, as Miguel and Edenberry hide by the back of the town hall and clock tower, and Arie about to pass them once more, a loud explosion goes off on the other side of the building.
Tune in soon to figure out what the big boom was!
SESSION FOUR - Town Square Tussle
[Tulistar, 17th day of Sigen]
A loud explosion sounds off on the other side of the town hall from where Edenberry and Miguel are exchanging notes. To Edenberry's trained ear, it sounds a lot like someone casting Burning Hands.
The two go to investigate, and find a triton blasting the spell at the clock tower. Miguel calls out to him, assuming it's Lorenzini, the triton suspect he's been looking for.
it is in fact him, and Lorenzini responds with a "Not now, I'm busy"
Edenberry is quick to move in and surprise Lorenzini with a quick slash at the back of his leg, forcing him to stop casting and to kneel in front of her. With her dagger bloodied and now pointing at the triton's throat - she strongly suggests cooperating.
Lorenzini is in a crazed state however, and though he complies, a lot of what he says is hard to make out. But this intrepid info gathering duo manage to find out there's a cult lurking about Duskmire, that worships a mysterious entity. But that's about all they get before said entity possesses Lorenzini's body and begins attacking.
Seeing the smoke rising from town hall, Ross (with Caira in tow), Yak, and Murphy book it to go help, hopping off the ship and paddling as fast as Yak's arms can go to get to land.
As the fight breaks out, Edenberry and Miguel are quickly overpowered and knocked down as help arrives. Ross steps into the fray and manages to keep Lorenzini away from them. Murphy manages to summon a gust of wind to literally blow Lorenzini away, and gives Yak the opportunity to step in and grab our two fallen friends and get them to a safer spot where they both come to once more.
Yak and Murphy then ditch the party and run towards the ship once more to look for healing potions, leaving Ross, and a weakened Edenberry and Miguel to fend off this crazy warlock. Ross progressively pushes the triton back, further from Miguel and Edenberry, while the fox takes aim with some of her magic and helps to knock Lorenzini prone, meanwhile Miguel yeets one of Yak's javelins to further pin down the enemy.
Its not long before Murphy and Yak return with a couple potions in hand and hand them out between the two injured, and with forces reunited - they're ready to finish the fight.
Tune in soon to find out how the fight ends!
SESSION FIVE - Sanctuary
[Tulistar, 17th day of Sigen]
Caira comes sprinting into the fight at town hall last minute, and using a cleverly shot enlarge/reduce, she manages to shrink Lorenzini down to a harmless size.
Picked up by Ross, and unable to free himself from the grip, he succumbs to the damage dealt when Yak delivers the final blow, (Edenberry first telling him not to use lethal force - but the Caira reveals she can stabilize someone who's dead and try to revive them, so it's fine if he uses lethal force) bonking one of his big mits over the shrunken triton's head and knocking him unconscious.
Miguel utters appreciation for Caira, hearing her statement out loud, entertained by by her tenacity.
Once he's out cold, Miguel picks up little Lorenzini like a rat as the group heads back to his office to interrogate the man. Murphy meanwhile, is feeling particularly drained, and heads back to the ship, leaving Yak to keep playing Detective on his own.
On the way over, Caira and Edenberry bond over Caira's collection of bells on her dress, and the fey gives the fox a little bell of her own to ring. Then also offers a round of healing to those who need it. The conversation divulges into Caira, Edenberry, and Ross making grand plans to rewrite magic by changing a bunch of spell names. Miguel is bemused by it all, and more focused on getting his little suspect inside. Meanwhile, Yak just quietly follows, taking everything in and having fun with his new friends, oh won't the Captain and Babs just love to hear all these stories when he gets back.
Caira offers to carry Lorenzini, pulling off a whole dance number with him after Edenberry pranks her by saying when she went down during the fight, the gods told her that Caira would die in five days if she didn't do a dance in front of everyone right now.
It takes a bit, but they all get into the detective agency building and look around, exploring it like excited children exploring their first hotel room stay with fervor.
During their antics, Caira gives a lil smooch to Edenberry, who responds by ringing the little bell she was given by her, much to Caira's enjoyment, and Ross continues exploring on his own.
Miguel meanwhile got the still shrunken and conked out Lorenzini into one of the jail cells. Caira decides to wake him up, splashing a cup of water on him, and then proceeding to slap him awake, in his smaller state, the backhand from the fey sends him tumbling across the cot Miguel placed him on. It's at this moment he comes to, and it's shortly after that the spell eventually expires and he regrows to to his proper height.
Within the confines of the cell, the interrogation begins, Caira and Edenberry pushing the blame of their actions onto made up strangers. But Lorenzini quickly catches on when the two won't stop giggling about it.
Miguel steps in, getting down to business, asking Lorenzini what the fuck was everything they just went through, why was he floating, why was he attacking the clocktower, just, why?
Lorenzini informs that he was fueling the clock face with magic, burning hands just happened to be one of the most convenient spells for him to do so with, given its range. He goes on to explain that he was present and responsible for the clock face's construction. Rather than using the correct oils to render its magical properties inert, the triton instead fortified it to absorb and release magical build up. He fueled the material with his magic, and it expelled it as visions and dreams of his patron entity to those within range of it. While some of the more adverse reactions he's been hearing about were not intentional, it certainly served to get more word out, have this entity dwelling in the minds and on the tongues of the commonfolk.
Ross is intrigued, announcing that he too had a piece of shellrock, which leads Lorenzini discovers that his shop had been broken into by this group. As frustrated as he was, the deed of taking care of his dear Benjamin, and circumstances around his current predicament seemed to outweigh need for a proper reprimanding.
When Miguel asks for the name of this entity, Lorenzini denies bringing it forward in any capacity, to use its name, envokes its presence, and should the detective wish Lorenzini to stay compliant, he urges not to ask further for this name. Caira tries to get some sort of clue, by asking if the triton can reveal where the entity is from, and if it has a classification by any sense. To which Lorenzini is able to reply that it is an aberration from the outer spheres, deep within the astral sea, beyond any known worlds.
Jumping back for a moment to the land immediately surrounding them, both Edenberry and Miguel question if there will be any more attacks, anyone who will pick up where Lorenzini left off, and this turns out to be exactly the case as the triton reveals where the cult he belongs to is hidden, turns out it's completely in plain sight! Invisible to the common eye, an invisible tower built around and above the light house residing on the edge of the Duskmire Community College's campus.
The plan of getting into this tower starts to sprout, but Lorenzini quickly advises against it, for the whole thing is heavily guarded, even back entrances would be difficult for someone to slip through. Caira asks about how easy they'd be to bribe, or seduce. Lorenzini hesitates to say anything, for if his order finds out about his betrayal, he is a dead man. He pleads to Miguel for sanctuary first, before proceeding with any more information.
Ross then books it back to Lorenzini's shop to re-break in and procure Benny, bringing him back to the agency so pet and master can be reunited once more.
Edenberry jumps in asking the triton what the end goal is for all of this, Lorenzini explains that the entity he follows demands of it, that his order wishes to enable this entity entrance to this world. When asked what would happen when it arrives, he guesses for those who follow it, they're blessed with life in the new world this entity seeks to create, but for everyone else - well he's not even sure he could imagine what horrors they might be subjected to.
Miguel then asks about the college, if anyone can gain access, Lorenzini answers that visitors passes can be procured by most, but it's much easier if you are student or scholar of some sort.
That's when a plan starts hatching, Edenberry offers to go into the college, get what information she can, and try to break the rest of the party in during the night, since she's a student of a magical school, it would be easier for her to gain access to the campus grounds.
Caira then laments about how it'd be so much easier if Lorenzini was still small, and Miguel remarks it would've been nice to keep him in their pockets. Against better judgement, the triton can't help but share some of his own magical knowledge. He goes on to explain the properties of shellrock, and how in its raw state, it can replace the need for various magical components, but when refined and mixed with other ingredients, the shellrock can absorb and amplify magic, like he had done with the face of the clock tower. He informs the party that he paired the shellrock with Moth Resin, collected from Mothwing Sanctum.
Wanting to prepare for the possible shitshow they might be walking into at the college, the party convinces Lorenzini to use his current stock of shellrock to create amplifiers for them. After getting a bit more information, including the identity of Lorenzini's supplier for shellrock, a Minotaur by the name of Brenvis Orina, and where to get the other materials he'd need, and Edenberry striking a deal to run the shop in Lorenzini's stead, the party splits up. Ross and Edenberry heading for the college, but make a quick stop to gather Edenberry's things from the hotel she had been staying at. Caira and Yak head for Mothwing Sanctum, and lastly Miguel escorts Lorenzini back to his shop and house to gather materials, some of the triton's belongings, and Miguel also strikes a deal on a pair of magic daggers, one to keep for himself and one to give to Edenberry upon regrouping later.
Caira and Yak talk each other's ears off about anything and everything on the way over to the sanctum, a massive library containing journals, books, and records, down several huge corridors, and in the middle of it all is an indoor garden with large trees that shade a group of horse-sized moth like creatures known as the Eldermoths, beings with immense knowledge that the sanctum has dedicated to procuring the stories from, and continue doing so after talking with one of the monks that work there, and procuring a jar of moth resin. Caira gets attached to a book she discovers, and after receiving the resin, she also gets a library note to take it out. Finding out that there's a week allowance for borrowed books, and the consequence for bringing them back late are a nominal fee, and mental threats from the Eldermoths, wanting their books returned.
Meanwhile Ross and Edenberry have made it to the college after taking a short rest detour to grab Eden's belongings from the Wayward Hotel she had been staying in. They arrive at the visitor's center first, talking to the lady at the desk and procuring a tourist map, Edenberry then inquires about enrolling, and they're directed to the main office. Where they come face to face with the minotaur that Lorenzini had mentioned earlier as his supplier of Shellrock, working the front desk.
Edenberry is very flustered at first upon talking to him, but gets some information about the campus. Brenvis asks to see Edenberry's student ID, and the clever fox uses a minor illusion spell to make her ID look like it's from Duskmire Community College, rather than the magical institute she studied at. The minotaur falls for it, and welcomes Edenberry in as he would any usual student, and Ross as her assistant. The duo make it to the campus, observing where the light house is, not seeing but knowing the invisible structure that surrounds it, then proceed to the campus library. Looking for books on aberrations to see if she can't try and pinpoint what this thing is, she skims through the more minor creatures, through the various sections until she gets to the section on aberrations of the astral sea, when it appears the page she would've been looking for has been ripped out.
SESSION SIX - New Identities
[Tulistar, 17th day of Sigen]
We start off with Murphy, and their curious crew of pirates. As the light of day is beginning to dim, it becomes time to check on whereabouts Yak had gone to.
After a round of pleading to the crew for someone to go look for them, the crew promptly ignores said pleas shoo the captain off on their own, they lost Yak, they can go find them. Plus it's some exposure therapy for the terribly reluctant triton. Murphy leaves unceremoniously off the gangplank of the ship, awkwardly shuffling in hopes for either Yak to return before they get to the end, or one of the crewmates taking pitty on them and taking over.
Yak doesn't show, and the crew knows the captain's games, so Murphy is left to their own devices, and promptly falls flat on their front upon a single step off the gangplank. Whether it was deliberate or not is a secret only they know.
Eventually Murphy ends up at the detective agency, confirming Yak is there.
Meanwhile, back at the college, Edenberry catches sight of one of the robes to the cult Lorenzini is part of, tucked away in the laundry bag of another college student. With quick paws, the little fox secures the laundry bag and steals it. Pointing out to Ross her plan with it. Rather than taking just the robe however, Edenberry decides to take the full bag, and the two of them proceed to sneak out of the library. - Well, Edenberry successfully sneaks out, while Ross manages to trip on his own two feet. Causing a distraction at least for Edenberry.
The two regroup outside once Ross gets back up, Edenberry tries to tell him he made a good distraction at least, but Ross is thoroughly embarrassed and doesn't want to talk about it.
They return to the agency and divvy up the clothes amongst each other, and after the captain joins them and is convinced of joining their cause, Edenberry goes on to explain how she can use the robes to help out with the heist.
Miguel mentions that he knows a guy who can forge documents, and can get everyone a set of fake Student IDs, and this divulges into a game of coming up with fake names.
Caira takes on the name Feather Great Buttram Edenberry takes on the name Juniper Manix Miguel takes on the name Alexander Holmes Ross becomes Arctic Pearl Murphy and Yak trade names.
Once that's in order, Miguel and Caira head off to Merriweather Corner, the vampire district, to find the man in question that Miguel is looking for. (With a brief detour to stare at Brenvis from afar) Their search takes them to the infamous Lestat Rosé, where the two are flirted up by the various staff, revealing that Miguel is a return patron. After brief distractions, they get to the head honcho, Vincent Merriweather. The grand lord himself, who happens to run a side gig of forgery for those who might need it. It takes him a short while to fashion the fake IDs, Caira watching all the while to try and learn how forging works.
The two make their way back with the student cards to the detective agency and hand them out. Additionally with Lorenzini's amplifiers.
As the night comes in, and a steady rain begins to pour down, the group settles in for the night. Yak and Murphy return to the ship for the evening, and makeshift beds are made for Ross, Caira, and Edenberry. Eventually everyone settles in, and the day draws to a close. Everyone getting a well deserved long night's rest before they get back to planning this cult heist.
SESSION SEVEN - Laundry Heist
[Mubistar, 18th day of Sigen]
Morning comes and after the impromptu sleepover at the detective agency, the gang begins slowly waking up to share a very hashed together breakfast. There's tea and coffee packets available for drinks, and Ross goes out to grab some fish for some protein. Meanwhile, Yak makes a return, with Murphy in one arm, and a basket of breads and fruits in the other. Compliments of the ship's chef, Bruno.
It's during this together breakfast that people notice that Caira's changed, both in demeanor and in colour, her feyladrin ancestry taking on a more wintery appearance. Furthermore adopting the moniker, Cairi.
After further discussing plans further, the team decides to go check out the college, and see if they can't snag any more of those cultist robes, and get some more information.
Meeting the (beefcake) minotaur running the front desk, Brenvis Orina, who, as they'd come to learn recently, is also the secret supplier of shellrock for Lorenzini. After having him check the IDs and a bit of failed flirting, the party is invited onto the campus, and they immediately get to searching. Ross recalling that when he and Edenberry stole the laundry yesterday, it smelled fresh, so there might be cleaning facilities on campus.
Following his nose, Ross leads the group to the common house among the dormitories on the upper levels of the college. There, among various amenities, is a laundry room, where students can drop off their bags of soiled clothes, and a dutiful team of cleaners spend their day washing and drying them. It's a tedious job, but someone's gotta do it!
A quick bit of snooping, and they're able to spot two robes currently making their rounds through the different stations, one just dropped off and placed on a low hanger, and one currently getting a good scrubbing in one of the washing tubs to the back. The individual doing their best not to pull the submerged cloth into view too often for the sake of privacy.
Miguel promptly throws a monkey wrench into the system and steps in to talk to the man washing the clothes to ask a couple questions. Startling him and earning quick usherings out of the room in response, Miguel pleads ignorance, having just arrived at the school and not knowing how everything works yet.
Upon being pushed out by the man, Ross quickly uses the chance to sneak by and grab the soaking cloak. Aided by a smartly placed 'Pass Without Trace' from Cairi.
To cause further distraction for herself to grab the other cloak, and to give Ross a chance to escape, Cairi uses thaumaturgy to swing the windows open, Ross wasting no time to yeet himself through them and dive into the water below, somehow not drawing any attention in the process.
As Miguel drags the man for further, dizzying questions going around in circles, Cairi uses the chance to sneak in and grab the cloak for herself, stepping out with only the tired man giving a passing glance and a brief question on if Cairi picking up or dropping off. But quickly goes back in to get away from the party before he gets even more behind on his work.
Rushing off to regroup, they find Ross near the beaches by the lower levels of the campus, soaking wet with sopped cloak in hand. The time for cheers of success is cut when a panicked student happens upon them, quickly casting a darkness spell around the lot of them, and scolding Ross to be more careful with his cloak, not to have it out so willy nilly.
Miguel manages to get the young elven man to share where to get replacement cloaks, posing as asking for a friend. The elf warns them not to be so careless once more, and the group splits ways after catching his name, Nikhir Burnabby.
With new information, the party heads towards the seamstress over by the study hall and wait to figure out what to do, when the student that Ross and Edenberry has robbed the previous day came strolling down the hall and into the Seamstress' room with two copper coins that were green with oxidation. A quick plan was hatched to jump the kid after he was done getting a new cloak and take that one too.
Will they succeed in robbing this kid a second time? Find out in the next session!
SESSION EIGHT - Hidden in plain sight
[Mubistar, 18th day of Sigen]
As the unsuspecting student leaves the seamstress office with his replacement cloak, he awkwardly converses with the group for a moment, before turning to head off. His new duds packed away in his dufflebag.
Cairi putting on a flirtatious act to try and seduce him before immediately regretting it and whispering amongst the party that she didn't want to do that anymore.
Thinking quickly, to not let their target get away, Miguel puts on the student act once more, claiming he's late for class as he makes his way past the actual student. Bumping into him on purpose and apologizing, all while quickly pulling out the cloak from his dufflebag, and replacing it with the used burning hands scroll as a means to not tip the man off with the change in the weight hanging off his shoulder.
Quickly shuffling the cloak behind his back, Miguel signals discreetly to the group that he's about to make a run for it now that he has the cloak. To which Cairi responds promptly with a cast of thaumaturgy, making a gust of wind lift the back of the student's shirt up and over his head as he begins to cuss and complain over what's happening to him.
The group scatters, Ross grabs the man, keeping his shirt pulled down over his face to muffle him and bringing the man down to the ground before sprinting down the hall too, buying the group more time because he's gotta get up.
The bullied student manages to get up after the group rounds the corner, yelling obscenities and complaining about the terrible time he's been having - first his laundry got stolen, now he's getting pushed around - well at least he's got his cloak right?
Wrong
The student gets a glimmer of excitement though as he sees his cloak has been replaced with a magic scroll. But upon further inspection, he finds the uses of the scroll have been exhausted. So he tosses it on the ground angrily in retaliation. He then begins digging in his pockets for more tokens to exchange for another.
The seamstress shouts at him to go after whoever just stole his cloak rather than get a replacement.
He attempts to do so and is thwarted by another casting of thaumaturgy by Cairi, as he begins flailing to pull his shirt back down after the wind picks it up over his head once more.
Cairi runs away with a giggle to join the others.
After a brief regrouping to go over the next phase of a plan, (and a lengthy conversation about one of the nearby fountains that is a massive tentacle spewing water out its tip) which is to find a way in to the cult compound. The group splits up once more to scout around the lighthouse and the surrounding area to look for ways in to the hidden sanctum.
Cairi and Miguel take one section of the campus, looking for anyone that just looks a little too shifty, and land their sights on two persons exchanging a curious object. With quick thinking, sneaky feet, and a clever use of disguise self, the two manage to secure the object for themselves, it's an emblem of sorts that's meant to be used in a meeting the next day.
They make a plan to show up to the meeting tomorrow, claiming someone else stole the emblem, and they were coming to return it as heroes to the meeting.
Meanwhile, Edenberry, Yak, and Murphy head up over by the lighthouse, and while Edenberry tries to tap into what kind of magic is surrounding the place, she can't quite make it out. The trio gets distracted as Edenberry then begins to teach Yak how to cast magic, and Murphy - being the anti-magic sort that they are, slinks off quietly, before the professor of magic here at the college approaches the two playing with magic. A brief conversation leads to Edenberry wondering if she should actually enroll in the local classes or not.
Elsewhere, Ross is on his ownsome swimming about in his seal form, looking for possible underwater entrances to the cult. Using a very methodical search technique which involves bobbing back and forth along the underwater supports of the city, hoping to bump into something he otherwise can't see. This particular method remains unfruitful but he does discover an underwater mining operation with carts full of shellrock mysteriously disappearing into nothing. He antagonizes a few aquatic kobolds around the operation, and gets chased around by manta rays before escaping into the space the mine carts that are disappearing to. He's quickly caught however and rather than go back and contend with the rays in the water, Ross makes the choice to wildshape into a rat and book it past the bugbear and kobolds that are now on his tail, he takes a full sprint through more of the cult's strange compound, getting chased by the bugbear, kobolds, and soon a gaggle of potent spell casters. Having to dodge and weave between lightning bolts and other various spells being hurled at him. With no clear way through deeper into the sanctuary, Ross has to back track the way he came and dive back into the water to contend once more with the manta rays that manage to catch up with him. Attacking him and flinging him out of the water - thankfully however, Edenberry and Yak are there to catch him and pull him up.
Its shortly after this that the group meets up again, with Ross looking the most worse for ware, he very much does not want to talk about it, and they head back to the detective's office to recoup and go over plans for tomorrow.
It's during this, that Murphy is nowhere to be seen... A strange force has pulled them away to the clock tower, and they've been conducting their own investigation, one that takes quite the supernatural turn for the triton...
what's the plan and what's gonna happen to Murphy? find out next session!
SESSION NINE - It came from the clocktower
[Mubistar, 18th day of Sigen]
Having gone to launch their own investigation, Murphy finds themself drawn to the town's new clocktower, its strange, illuminated face calling to them, pulling them in.
The salty sea dog stumbles their way up the stairs to begin their search for...something, anything, being lured closer unbeknownst to their own consciousness.
As they near the shellrock face of the clocktower, there's a blinding flash of light that appears to shunt their consciousness to another plane. It is dark, dreary and akin to the ocean floor. Bones of whales and other leviathans scantly scattered about, sparse patches of corals sharing the only other landmarks within sight.
A voice echoes through, what Murphy assumes to be the entity the cult is trying to bring forth, there's a short conversation, the entity trying to convince Murphy to side with it, to sail under its name. Murphy declines, but the entity hangs on just slightly, thinking it might be able to convince them yet.
Murphy takes this information back down the stairs and across the street from the clocktower to the detective agency, belaying what they'd learned. How this entity wants people to spread its influence, and it can be reached by going up to the inner workings of the clocktower.
Lorenzini can't help but speak up at this point, somewhat proudly that his earlier actions at the clocktower had worked, he informs the party that there's an enchantment on the clock's face - when fueled by magic, this entity can use the material the face is made of to reach out and make contact in ways it otherwise can't.
The emblem that Daisybell grabbed from the college is then put under question, Lorenzini revealing that it's a very valuable item of the cult. It's used in meetings directly between the entity and the elites of the order. Lorenzini also mentions he's only ever been to one such meeting, and doubts that he'll ever be able to do so again.
Further questioning goes in to Lorenzini's motivations - what did he intend to gain from the cult. He explains regretfully that he was promised power, and ultimately promised life after the entity's takeover. Both promises of which he's squandered from being caught, and aiding the party against the cult. He shares his information freely now because he is a coward, in hopes that his knowledge will earn him protection from the current party.
Further more, the only reason why the emblem would be out and travelling is because the meeting of the cult's elites would be very soon. To which Miguel confirms its tomorrow.
They learn that the emblem is a tool required for summoning brief portals to commune with the entity. Miguel theorizes maybe they can just break it? And tries to break it with a hammer, instead nearly breaking his arm and a few other things in the process as his attempt sends out a shockwave of eldritch energy throughout the building.
The party then makes a plan to hide the emblem inside a frozen fish inside the freezer where totally no one would look. It'll likely postpone the meeting - but will trigger a search for it.
And as a side note, they try to determine if Benny is a druid in disguise - he's not, but there's something weird with him, maybe due to that shellrock he ate once?
The group then heads out on the town - planning to check the clock tower first, and then hitting up one of the local eateries for dinner. (Huck's Waffle House) and Murphy decides to stay behind.
Going into the town hall to get to the clock tower, they stop and talk for a moment to the mayor's wife, Kralsh. Finding out that she's been hearing some odd things from the tower, and asks them to inform her quietly in case something is of concern up there.
Once the crew heads up the tower, (Or rather, Yak carries them up to the tower) everything looks mostly normal, but its when Cairi goes to observe the clock's face as it emanates a humming glow, that she suffers the same instance as Murphy had earlier.
There's a blinding flash once more, and Cairi goes into a trance-like state to those around them. From above there's the same voice, beckoning information from Daisybell and taunting them, offering promises of anything in exchange for obedience. Scaring them out of the trance and back into Duskmire. Warning the others not to try what she just did.
It's after this brush with freaky that they decide to tell the mayor's wife to block off access to the clock tower, and go on their way to get those waffles.
It's a bit of a walk but they eventually make it down to Huck's Waffle House, they're welcomed in and given menus, and their orders eventually come by, they take their dinners to go and head back to the detective building, planning to enjoy their food and then figure out what's next.
What'll happen? What did Murphy get up to while they stayed back? Find out next session!
SESSION TEN - Foodies
[Mubistar, 18th day of Sigen]
While the foodies are off getting meals to bring back to the detective agency, Captain Murphy is left alone in the building, with only Lorenzini to talk to. In an attempt to make some conversation, Lorenzini tries to talk about their shared species, both being tritons. Trying to paint a picture of where Murphy in specific might come from, and why they seem so averse to using the magic they were born with, but with not a whole lot of luck. He offers to craft something to syphon off the magic they refuse to utilize, but Murphy shows little interest in accepting any sort of help, and leaves little else to converse about until everyone gets back.
Everyone has their dinner from Huck's Waffle House, and things wind down for the night, including (but not limited to) childhood trauma from both Edenberry and Ross, Edenberry being on their own with nowhere to go. How Edenberry's age works, Ross talking about under-sea abortion, how some species of fish just, ejaculate into the sea, and sperm whales. As well as how writing underwater works.
Once things die down from the strange conversations, and everyone spreads out to their respective sleeping spots. Miguel takes a moment to talk to Edenberry privately, letting her know she's more than welcome to stay with him. Edenberry is absolutely delighted, and promises to be clean, and offers to pay rent, to which Miguel turns down, her help in his current case, and her company alone has been plenty enough payment as-is.
[Latastar, 19th day of Sigen]
Night falls upon Duskmire and soon morning follows, bringing with it a dark stormfront and a knock at the door of the Detective Agency.
Its another client! Seems word about the new detective has been travelling fast around town. A middle-aged woman by the name of Zofia Fil dressed very modestly has entered the agency, claiming to have lost an important item, an heirloom of sorts that she had let a friend at the college borrow, but it seems it got lost on his watch. So she's come to report it as either missing or stolen, and needs it back as soon as possible.
Upon describing the emblem, the group realizes - oh shit, its the thing they have hidden inside the fish!
It's shortly after the woman leaves, that Murphy and Yak arrive to the scene, the group then begins trying to formulate a plan to try and get all the information possible within the week timeframe they were given.
Lorenzini also interjects, his best guess by the sound of the woman's voice, and his detection of magic trailing from her, has lead him to believe that they were visited by one of the leader figures of the cult, and that she likely now knows that Lorenzini is here.
Wanting to keep their informant out of harm's way, part of the plan they devise is to escort Lorenzini to Captain Murphy's ship, let the crew keep him occupied and keep him hidden from potential danger.
Meeting the pirates proves very entertaining, much to Lorenzini's dismay. But especially exciting for Edenberry and the first mate, Stormcloud. As the two get the chance to hype about being awakened animals.
Once Lorenzini is dropped off and everyone's had their fun hanging out with the pirates, the group decides to head back to the college, but they decide to stop by another restaurant before hand to get breakfast.
What will happen when our foodies get to the college? How worn out will Lorenzini be after his day of cleaning a pirate ship? Find out next session!
SESSION ELEVEN - School Days
[Latastar, 19th day of Sigen]
After grabbing food and going over their plans for what to do, deciding that since Daisybell had gone off on their own task, trying to go with the plan of kidnapping the art teacher and posing as her during the cult meeting, would have to wait. For now, they'd gain what other information they could.
This meant that Ross and Edenberry would attend the class, meanwhile Murphy and Miguel would do their own thing. Before splitting up, the group makes sure Edenberry and Ross have a bit of art supplies - parchment, and a (very chewed) pen. Then they set off to the classroom to do their infiltration.
Miguel, in an effort of figuring out where to start, asked Murphy if they had any experience in dealing with aberrations and eldritch creatures such as the one the cult is worshipping. Murphy has an unfortunate flashback of their youth, abandoned and on their own at the bottom of the ocean, dodging all sorts of strange monstrosities in an effort to survive. They snap out of it to confirm that they know how to not die around these things, which is very good knowledge to have right now.
The detective goes to talk to Brenvis at the front gate, to be allowed through. Mentioning the keyword 'family reunion' changes the minotaur's disposition, and becomes a bit more responsive towards him. He informs them of the last known person who had it, and sees them on their way.
Upon making their way to the maths professor, they learn his name is Feabog, the locathah that Daisybell had happened to trick the other day into giving them the amulet.
The professor tells them to check with the cartography professor - since he was part of the curfuffle.
Miguel and Murphy make their way to the next professor and are able to find out this 'family reunion' is being held near the lighthouse, and they're able to locate a hidden door of sorts - most likely an entrance into the cult!
Professor Rosamund is quite flabbergasted when he speaks to Miguel and Murphy. Making accusations of shape-shifters, or perhaps even being subjected to a spell or charm of some sort. He would never of done something so preposterous of his own accord!
He places another professor as a suspect. Professor Clover from the sciences department. He's been reluctant to join the 'family', perhaps he's trying to ruin things.
Miguel rests the man assured he will do what he can to find this emblem, and clear the his name. Then the detective and captain part ways from the professor. Deciding to check out the possibly only sane professor on campus.
Meanwhile back in art class, its time to make golems! Edenberry and Ross are given a lesson on how to take shellrock-infused clay, and shape it into a golem that they'll be able to animate and control at a later date. At first the two struggle a little bit, doing their best to make their models work.
A stringy spider and a lumpy doughboy is what they produce. Though upon looking around and seeing one student who's quite masterfully putting theirs together, Ross tries again out of spite, and pours in all his focus and skill to make the most perfect looking doughboy golem this college has ever seen.
SESSION TWELVE - The Scrying Eye
[Latastar, 19th day of Sigen]
We tune in as Cairi is flexing his theatrical skills, wowing the crowd of students, and even moreso the theatre professor, a robust Aaracokra that praises the small fae up and down for his wonderful performance. Somewhat to the chagrin of other students.
Meanwhile Ross and Edenberry continue to pick a fight and establish dominance in the art class as they finish making their golems.
Elsewhere, Miguel, Murphy, and Yak are following the next lead. The sciences professor, Mr. Clover, during a private conversation, reveals that he is part of an organization known as the Scrying Eye, who's been working this case for a long time now. Miguel manages to hold his composure, and arranges a meeting with Clover at the Mothwing Sanctum to exchange information about this case. Once that's settled, Miguel goes up and picks up his kids from art and theatre class.
He assures the art professor, who is the woman who came to him about the 'missing' emblem, that he's still working on the case. He as clues, but no big lead yet, he's doing what he can.
The group wander back to home base at the detective agency, and Miguel informs them of who he met and the meeting coming up later tonight. Likewise, Edenberry and Ross talk about the clay they picked up and the golems they're planning on building.
They decide that in order to get ready for the meeting this evening with the Scrying Eye, they need to pick up Lorenzini from his time aboard the Siren's Song - and of course stop at Huck's Waffle House along the way.
They eventually get to Murphy's ship - finding out it has moved docks since the last time they visited. The crew glosses over it and gets to releasing Lorenzini, who is looking rather awful from his full day of cleaning.
Once they give Lorenzini the rundown (and get him some proper clothes - as well as do a bit of shopping on the side) they head to the Mothwing Sanctum, home of the Elder Moths and their order of knowledge keeping monks.
They find the meeting spot with Clover, and the meeting begins, and the group is told what information there is on the cult, and are given a way in, but they would have to find their own way out.
SESSION THIRTEEN - Ichor and Stone
[Zalistar, 20th day of Sigen]
After conferring with Professor Clover, and after a (mostly) sound sleep for the night, save for Miguel, who's idea to hide the emblem used to contact Thoth, under his bed... gave him quite the meeting. This entity practically egging him on to put the cult on blast - using power gifted to him by Thoth itself. Miguel denied, not wanting to do the entity's bidding in any way, not wanting to get involved in the conflict between eldritch beings that Thoth hinted at, and the man was left to sleep. (or try to)
After a very early morning head-start, (like stupid early, we're talking 4am LOL) the group decided it was time to get serious on planning how to deal with the cult. With a way in secured, disguises at the ready, and figuring out a few clever tricks up their sleeves, Caira, Edenberry, Miguel, and Ross put their noggins together.
They'd bring Lorenzini, he knew the cult's layout - and if anything, maybe he can draw fire away from the others. They'd enter, find a way to seal off Thoth's line of communication with the world, and from there, hopefully dismantling the cult.
After gathering everyone and getting ready to go, they began their infiltration. Miguel casting the teleportation spell to get them inside. Landing them within the hidden sanctum proper, at the bottom of a tall tower, where there are no stairs or elevators - instead, Lorenzini almost gleefully instructs that one simply uses their mind to move about the space. Thinking of the direction to go, and letting gravity cease to hold you.
Heading up through the tower, nothing is out of the ordinary at first. But Miguel's keen eye picks out that the group is being watched. When he points this out, rather than treading carefully, Daisybell decides to plant a big ol smooch on one of the gargoyle statues watching them.
This awakens the gargoyle and seems to sound an alarm, as it and three other statues break from their statue-like stances and attack the intruders.
The trio of gargoyles are quickly dispatched by the party however. Each falling down several floors upon their last gasps, smashing onto the floor far below into piles of stone and a sticky black ichor.
Allowing everyone to continue forward. What happens next for our intrepid crew? Find out in the next write-up!
