Perrinor

Session 10: The one where the party meets Jesus Christ (January 25, 2023)

Last session, our heroes arrived at the wealthy city of Arkos, where they hoped to find information pertaining to the [Bands of Loyalty][Band of Loyalty] worn by the burglars. Before they disembarked, however, Elias was approached by Captain Nanda del Becco about an item he left behind when he had previously stowed away on the Bright Horizon. He pretended not to recognize the small brass cylinder she handed him, but looked on edge as soon as he received it. Pretending it was trash he would dispose of, he took it and walked away.

Thom, the merchant they befriended during the voyage, showed them around Arkos a bit. They learned that the island was formed by volcanic activity some time ago and that most of it had since been manually flattened, leaving only the mountainous Heights with so much as a hill. Heph inspected the tracks of some trolleys they saw pass and learned that a massive enchantment enables these automated vehicles to ferry passengers throughout the city. Once they arrived in the area of the commercial district the party was looking for, Thom said his farewells and headed off to the Aqua Vita Bar & Inn.

The party entered a shop by the name of Euxine Wares which bore the same hawk logo as the rings. There they met Henry Randall, the proprietor and artisan. Through some deception, they learned that the rings were purchased from him in quantities over five hundred, and that he had sold them through a contact in the city. They also learned that he knew nothing of the masks which the burglars also wore.

With the beginnings of a lead towards this mysterious contact, the party headed off to Aqua Vita, where they reserved two suites for the night at a total of 10gp. While settling in, they spied Henry out the window walking purposefully down the street.

• The party sees Henry walking purposefully down the street past Aqua Vita
• They decide Elias will go break into Euxine Wares while he’s gone
  • Heph and Rormir will follow Henry
• Heph casts Disguise Self to make himself look like an ordinary, nondescript gnome
• Henry is taking main roads and doesn’t appear to be trying to hide at all
• He heads towards a massive colosseum-like building
• He approaches an entrance at the base and walks in, then turns left to go down a hallway
  • On the opposite end of the hallway are rooms that look like they’re used by food vendors, but currently unoccupied
• Rormir follows through the side rooms
  • There’s fresh food sitting out, and he eats some good-looking sandwiches, chicken feet, and blooming onions
  • He heals 3hp
• The hallway ends at a staircase which spirals up to the top of the building
  • Two women wearing armor and carrying spears are guarding the archway leading to the stairs
  • They are wearing lavender livery with the symbol of a dove’s head dripping blood
  • This symbol can also be seen on posters on the walls, which advertise tonight’s “Labyrinth of Death”, featuring (among others) the Helions
• Henry briefly speaks with the guards, then heads upstairs
• Heph approaches the guards pretending to be a tourist just looking around
  • They don’t want to let him past, and explain that the Circle is currently empty in preparation for a show tonight
• The one Heph isn’t talking to grumbles that she’s not working tonight so she won’t get to see the “Labyrinth of Death”
  • Heph asks why she can’t buy a ticket, and she says the shows are intended mostly for residents of Arkos-proper
  • Since she lives in the Heights she won’t get a discount, and tickets are 7gp
• Heph offers 7gp to her in exchange for letting him past
  • He ends up bribing them each 10gp in addition to the 7gp ticket price and they let him go
• Rormir tries to sneak past them but is caught
  • He goes back to grab a plate of food and claims that he’s trying to bring it upstairs, and they let him pass
• While walking up the stairs Heph says “Nice sneaking” and rolls his eyes at Rormir
• Meanwhile, Elias heads towards Euxine Wares
  • The doorman is still there
• He sneaks around one street over and enters the alley next to the shop from that side
• He looks through the window into the back room and sees again that it’s full of shelves covered in boxes and paper
  • There’s also a dormant enchantment on the window, probably some kind of security spell
• He looks through the window into the main room and sees there’s a lanky teenage boy with acne behind the desk reading a book
• Elias Misty Steps into the back room
• The shelves in the room are organized alphabetically, but it’s unclear what key they’re organized on
• On a nat 1 investigation he makes enough noise that the teenager pokes his head back to see what’s going on, but Elias successfully hides in a corner
• He finds a paper listing the sale of 2,000 [Bands of Loyalty][Band of Loyalty] on Budbreak 10, 6528 with the sale handled by a “B. Mary” and address listed as “the Circle”
  • “Warehouse B” in the Heights is also mentioned as the location the transaction took place at
• He also finds a box listing a variety of items being sold to “NSI government”
  • There isn’t a lot of any particular item being sold, just a lot of different ones
• This box also contains a note which says “Client requested information on additional suppliers. Referral made for L.D.”
• Elias leaves out the window and relocks it using a string he tied to the latch, then begins making his way to the Circle
• Back at the Circle, Heph and Rormir ascend the stairs, which wind straight up
  • Rormir can tell from an earlier survival check that Henry went all the way to the top
• They are now on the fourth floor, which is similar to the first except the arches on the left open to open space and the right side of the hallway houses closed doors
• Near the bend in the hallway they see Henry talking with an elvish woman
  • She has spiky red and pink hair and irises of her eyes seem to be bright pink as well
  • She’s wearing black leather and studded bracelets
• Heph asks Rormir to sneak ahead to see if he can listen in on their conversation
• Rormir pops out the nearest window and tries to climb around the outside of the building
  • He gets close enough to hear snippets of conversation
  • Henry seems to be telling the woman about his meeting with the party earlier, and she is expressing that she doesn’t believe the party was actual a contact for her client
• Rormir falls to the ground for 7 damage and lets out a yelp
  • Henry and the woman hear and run towards the window
  • Henry recognizes Rormir as one of the people who came in before
• From an arched entrance at the ground level a muscular dwarf wearing only a loincloth and covered in oil gestures Rormir over and says he has a place for him to hide
  • Rormir follows
• Henry and the woman begin running to the stairs
  • Heph tries to quickly pick a lock into a room, but can’t do it quick enough so goes back to pretending to be a tourist
  • The woman says he’s not supposed to be there and picks him up, carrying him downstairs with them
  • She also says she’ll need to speak to the guards, to which Heph responds “what guards?”
• Elias arrives at the Circle and sees Rormir follow the dwarf into the building
  • He goes after them
• The woman puts Heph down at the bottom floor, and tells the guards not to let him upstairs
  • She and Henry run outside but can’t see Rormir anywhere
  • At this point Henry is apologizing to the woman and calling her “Mary”
• Mary calls over more guards to search for Rormir
• The dwarf leads Rormir down to a basement area
  • He introduces himself as “Joshy”
• Elias steps out of the shadows and introduces himself as “Elias”
• Heph attempts to message Rormir but can’t get through
• Joshy turns to Rormir and asks where his friend (Heph) is
  • Rormir explains that they were investigating and searching the food
  • Elias perks up at the mention of food
• Joshy says he has good relations with the guards and that they should be safe down here
• Joshy runs up and brings Heph down
• Elias explains how Jeremias gave him information that allowed him to get to the Circle (he’s referring to himself as “Elias” again)
• Rormir asks why Joshy is helping them, since in his experience people usually want something in return for good deeds
  • Joshy says Rormir does seem like the kind of person who cares about balance, and that he does as well
  • He does say he could use some help with something, though
• Elias asks Joshy why he’s so shiny
  • He explains it’s one of his gimmicks, then says he should maybe introduce himself again
• He says he’s Joshy of Dalamis, a gladiator at the Circle
  • But he’s maybe better known by his ring name “Jesus Christ”

https://www.dndbeyond.com/magic-items/215546-band-of-loyalty

Referenced in

• Calendar