Party: Declan the human barbarian, Gileas the human bard, and Ilidan Hunzrin the drow rogue.
Ilidan, Declan, and Gileas start the day at Troll Skull Manor. After hearing scratching in the ceiling and walls, a swarm of rats breaks its way through a crawl space. The party disperses the rats and finds an old teddy bear in the now open crawl space. The teddy bear makes creepy comments as Declan, and later Gileas, carries it around the house. Eventually they are led to the basement where they discover some child’s bones buried. The party takes the bones to Holyhands house in search of a priest to help. After learning that the high priest is not present and will not be back for two weeks, the group heads over to a local mortuary, but the mortician wants to charge them 50gp for discretion so they opt to keep the bones and the bear and return to Troll Skull.
At Troll Skull, the players are approached by JB Nevercott, an eccentric haberdasher, based on the reputation they have earned. He asks the party to retrieve a handkerchief from one of his rivals, a young noble called Regnet Amcathra, and deliver it to a deformed tiefling girl in the dock ward. The party accepts the challenge (and 50gp) and, after asking around for more information on his family, crest, etc, heads to the Gentle Mermaid in North Ward. Gileas engages in a successful game of Eight Bluffs with Regnet while Declan and Ilidan observe. During a distraction where a patron is decapitated and then revived, Ilidan uses slight of hand to take the target’s handkerchief. With handkerchief in hand, the group sets out to the Dock Ward. The party believes they are followed by one of Regnet’s bodyguards, but do not force an encounter.
At the Dock Ward, the party comes across the tiefling, Advertence, while she is getting roughed up by some mariners. Declan intervenes and a fight ensues. The party attempts to talk their way out of the encounter, but are forced to respond with force when more mariners arrive. A summoned goat and boar quickly dispatch the reinforcements, while Declan takes out the initial pair. Ilidan grabs the girl and escorts her away from the scene for safety. After defeating the sailors, the Declan and Ilidan administer first aid to prevent the sailors from dying.
Ilidan engages with Advertence, who seems to provide glimpses of the future:
“He’s not who you think he is.” She points out towards the harbor. “The dark man lives out there”.
“You’ll be inside when it happens, but others will die. Too bad the wood man strayed from Gond”.
After their night out, the party returns to Troll Skull. Gileas dreams of drowning and is awakened by something trying to strangle him and a whisper…”closing time”. Gileas quickly escapes, but finds no one. The party bring Advertence the children’s bones and teddy bear to read:
“Mama’s coming.”
The group delivers the bones to the Starry Cradles Orphanage in the Dock Ward to bury. Based on the story the party provides, the acolyte there believes that the bones could be connected to an scandalous orphanage setup in Troll Skull alley before her time.
A Spot of Payback
The party asks JB Nevercott for more work, but he refers them to Mr. Porter, a human that is known for putting jobs together for people who need things done without getting caught. Porter asks the group to collect an outstanding debt of 500 gp from a friend (who turns out to be infamous underground bare knuckle fighter Anoni Jurphi) from Lailana’s House of Repose. Porter will pay the group 10% of what they collect. Upon arrival they find Captain Johnson of the City Guard having a bachelor party in the lobby. Ilidan and Declan proceed upstairs to confront Jurphi while Gileas distracts the city guard group downstairs with a powerful flute performance. Upstairs, Jurphi offers to pay half of the debt if Declan can go 10 rounds with him in a fight. While Declan and Jurphi wrestle, Ilidan finds and still the 500gp, along with another 50gp of Jurphi’s personal stash. After the fight, Jurphi goes to pay up and discovers the money is missing, but he assumes it was take by some of the people who were in the room previously. Ilidan offers to take care of Jurphi’s debt himself if Jurphi agrees to promote and perform at Troll Skull Manor when they open.
Awards
Renown: +1 JB Nevercott; +1 Mr Porter
XP: 600 each
Treasure: 200gp (total group)
