Between the Town Centre, Notice board and the Slums – Anatole and I are closest to the Town Centre.
I ask Fester and Anatole if we should explore first, resupply, then check out the notice boards and meet back with Kon at lunch.
“Should we look for anything in particular, new alchemy schematics and such?”
“I’m always interested in seeing what is new in each town.”
We have a discussion about what we should keep a look out for, items, crafting recipes, bags of holding. We digress from the bag of holding and discuss why its called “holding” and not “bag of lots of stuff” and other silly names. Kon is still off with Felicia, so we have left a message with Balthazar to let him know where we’ll be toward lunch.
As we arrive at the Town Centre, we can see some Taverns right next to each other, directly to our left and a leather worker to the north. There are some districts with specialties, but this seems to be the main district. We are in Cottonborough’s centre, but it is the most packed centre due to the pair of Taverns.
As we travel through the centre towards the general stores, the town feels positive, they haven’t been attacked in a while. There’s a bit of a buzz, happy, upbeat, the settlement is spilling passed their defensive walls. The general vibe is upbeat, several people are talking about the hole – the more adventurous looking people, looking to sell wares to those coming back from or going out to the hole for the high prices that they command. Walking on up to the general store, we see it is “King Goods Company”. There are 4 people inside, one is guard’s attire, perusing during their break, a laborer carting goods in, and two merchants. One is a young male human, and the other is a young human as well. The laborer is a halfling.
The man greets us excitedly, “Oh how lovely to see you both!” He narrows his eyes as we walk in.
“Yes, we are here for potions and reagents, looking to peruse the wares you have available.” Anatole says.
“Challum my dear, these fine folks are hunting out finest alchemical wares.”
“Yes dear, it is my specialty after all.”
The man is apparently obsessed with bird watching, and pulls out goggles to ogle Anatole as his wife/partner steps forward to assist us.
They have a brief exchange about how that man is a weird little freak, then she offers us a selection of goods.
She tells us about the imports from Bastion, and how most of their goods are being exported.
I would like to buy a crate of 6 Lesser healing potions for 96g, then ask if they have any random esoteric bullshit. She calls to her husband and as he comes forward I look for weird shit in the shelves. I see a bizarre signet ring with a sign not from the lords, some dubious quality tools for professions and a bar of soap shaped like birds in a gift basket.
As we buy our things, Fester arrives at the Consortium.
He enters, and as he does so, he is met by a gnome named Drimfast Dapplebadge. His skin is tanned from moss-light exposure. Fester approaches and introduces himself, “I am Fester Rrat. A humble courier.” And hands him a business card.
Mr Dapplebadge is deaf. He has to say it again before the gnome hears him.
“I want to see if I am able to be recognized within the Consortium…”
“You want me to check your account?” The gnome opens a giant drawer marked with the letter “R”. It extends passed 2 meters.
“Fester? Says you’re cleared for minor duties. You’ve done a couple of deliveries for us. Are you looking for work now?”
“I’m looking for information but I could do some work.”
“Information??? You’re not even a Consortium member!”
“Oh, can I be one now?”
“No!”
The gnome explains how Fester can earn a recommendation. I go clear my dishes IRL. The person he has to see is apparently a lizard woman, anatomically correct, with no reptile titties.
“Oh, you approach me? One without even a badge on your chest… You seek recommendation little rat?”
“I was told you were the one to see…”
“Yes, you’d be right.” They continue their exchange a bit, and Fester explains his need for a badge and how it relates to his need to acquire information.
It comes about that he delivered Felicia back to her father (along with us) and if she can verify it is true, she will one) give him a badge that entitles him to be part of the consortium and two) can come back and fuck her sideways. For some reason! She is Horny.
Meanwhile, Kon finished fucking Felicia and the guards pass along our message to him, we manage to all link up just as we are leaving.
He did manage to ask her if she knows how she was captured and she says she doesn’t know why, but she knows she was his with a net and clubbed to unconsciousness. As before, I put my nose in the map to lead us to Fleavale, I grant Kon Guidance for keeping us safe, greet Fester, and distract Anatole thoroughly by not being able to see, so only Kon can see anything.
He notices that the people of South End are concerned about something, general murmurings of unease. “The Scarlet Man” is a common topic, in hushed tones when they think no one is noticing. Between Fester and Kon, they can assemble a picture of someone referred to as the Crimson Man, who seems to have appeared about three days ago, causing problems for people. South End and into Fleavale seem to be the key areas affected. The final piece of info comes to them as a gnome and elf come out of a Notary building, hushed talking “I can’t believe Husrig’s gone. They’re saying the Crimson Man took him. Such a shame, so young.”
“The old gambling den’s not gonna be the same without him. He really ran a good place.”
“I can’t even imagine the Serene Guard without him.”
That is all they hear.
We arrive in Fleavale properly, with Kon and Fester not telling us anything, I see the notice board and attempt to search it for etchings whilst the team searches for notices. The notice board does seem quite well-worn, used, nails from prior notices stuck everywhere. The board does seem like it is beginning to succumb to dampness as it is not maintained well enough. As I examine it for etchings, I notice a very a divot, and upon incredibly close examination it has the 4 swords of Atreia. I immediately touch it and cast Read Aura. It is a normal etching, but it does feel slightly springy, like a mechanical button.
Kon is doing similarly to me, and Anatole is looking through the notices; but he’s an opportunist, looking for weird shit happening, or other fun things for him. Work, hints, tidbits. He finds that there is a livestock stable, not far from the notice board, “The Void Carts” they have several sick animals that are being tended to by some very useless apprentices. From the look of the note it seems that Haremlen the half-elf is looking for anyone who knows anything about livestock curatives to come help. A 9yo and 17yo are the apprentices and they suck. He finds that there is an Inn here, called the Serpent’s Envy, as well as a tailor who is looking for someone to help them teach the apprentices – to be handsomely rewarded. A poor district’s handsome reward could be anything though. Kon finds something relevant to the investigation – who finds a quiet, low-key bar called the Imp’s Falcon, southward, right on the city’s edge. It instructs readers to speak to Raelemir Aleavirrea, the half-elf who is a server there, if we are interested in partaking of cleansing the world of witches. It is originally layed out as if it is a book club meeting at the Bright Leopard, but the way it is written is that the Imp’s Falcon is where the real action is.
Fester didn’t roll to notice the board, but instead notices a different thing. As I am fiddling with the post and Kon is reading the note, Fester notices shadows flickering around us, movement catches his eyes. As he sees the people Fester goes right up to them to see what’s up. He sees people, “Oi! Who are you!”
The people are holding swords and clubs, “What are you two doing there, why are you armed?” He calls out to them. The one at the front looks at him and yells, “FUCK!” and the pair of them run away down the alley. Fester tries to notice what they looked like, and instead checks to see if they drop anything. There are no windows in poor houses, they have doors. Fester is wandering about. He tells us what he found.
We all roll hidden perception checks and hear nothing. This is possibly bad. I tell everyone I found a button and will press it, then do so. I immediately schlorp up the robe and the torch that come out, and fiddle around for some more goodies, some rolled up parchment sealed in wax, a furled crimson robe and a torch that looks similar to the torches I’ve seen on Nightdeep.
“I can read that without breaking the seal.” Fester let’s us know, and I tell us that we need to leave. The mercenaries appear to be ignoring us as we dip, but maybe they think we’re just classist. Fester rolls a 19 for reading the letter without breaking the seal, he can read all but the most bottom line of the letter. He knows he can read the entirety of the letter, then a gap and who signed the letter. Otherwise, he knows we have acquired orders from the Inquisition.
Orders from the Lord High Chaplin Arctus, commanding a gentleman who is not named – the letter is likely a dead drop for a particular person, saying to continue their rampage in South End and move towards Mythrdlues, continuing capturing and burning civilians under the guise of the Crimson Man. It clearly stipulates civilians in the letter. “Your goals are to do this semi-publicly, you are not to be captured by the guards, and are to eliminate yourself before you let that happens. Sow chaos and disorder, draw the gaze away.”
I describe the notices and the understanding we should draw from the messages, that the Crimson Man is a distraction from the real threat the Inquisition is planning, I ask if anyone found anything else, Kon tells us he found a hidden message on the notice board talking about the recruitment for Witch Hunting. I ask if there’s a time on Kon’s note, but no, it just says the bar’s hours. So we should be good to go back to report our findings, turn in the robes and note to Rex, then hit up the Church to dispose of the Rovagugg Torch.
We all agree that we’ve achieved something useful, so hopefully the good Lord agrees. Then we should have some time to prepare Kon for going undercover… I suggested it be him as I am… a Witch… and quite distinguishable. As are Anatole and Fester, but Alpinlight has not met Kris at Felicia’s request. So, we may be able to use that to our advantage.
