Out of game, in real life, Jim has started a timer! 3 hours and counting…
Dorian has overheard Nacellus speech and subsequent fine from the previous game.
Vani nabs a halfling, drags him into an alley, “I don’t want to hurt you, I just want to ask you a few questions,” in her best Batman voice. The halfling is very confused about what’s going on, since Vani has a dagger drawn. When Vani makes it clear that she is looking for the blocky monk who escaped, the halfling grows very afraid and becomes completely uncooperative.
Dorian slides into this interaction and suggests Vani leave. Dorian eventually succeeds in persuading the halfling that Dorian and company are going to do their best to eliminate the monk. Only then does the halfling decide to give him what little information he can. It amounts to nothing useful: everyone is terrified of this monk because he can be incredibly cruel and ruthless with the littlest provocation.
Team brothel
Dorian and Ren decide to go see if they can learn anything at the brothel. Dorian checks for theives cant: unlike the stoop where the monk sat, the brothel door is covered in it. The brothel tells you that they fence goods inside the brothel and they will hide you for a price.
Ren knows that the ring isn’t within a thousand feet of the building. They decide they aren’t far enough away from where the fight happened to be near the monk.
“The ring’s not here”.
Dorian goes, ‘Fine, let’s find Vani”.
They reunite. They decide that Vani will follow the boy courier, Dorian will stake out Lucien.
More discussion: perhaps not very useful to follow the boy, since the ring-keeper’s stoop wasn’t marked by Bird Girl. Vani suggests instead that she talk to her Tong contacts about hiring an assassin that can make a messy impression: hopefully it will be the monk.
Ren: “the Tong are all slime.”
Vani: “Colin’s not slime, he’s my friend.”
Dorian: “We don’t have time for your opinions. Vani, go talk to your contacts.”
Vani leaves word with her contacts that she wants to talk with Colin.
Dorian cracks the code of Lucien’s book. It contains details of some of his contacts. There are THREE different people who are supposed to see him at lunch! Not all for blackmail. A note about the ring: it is supposed to go to a specific unnamed shabby inn down by the docks, to The Chosen. Dorian leaves thieves cant telling Vani he and Ren are going to stake out said inn.
Leaving the Tong tavern, Vani bumps headlong into J. She fills J in as fast as possible. They rush back to the square.
Also in Lucien’s book was information about 3 emergency caches of supplies. Dorian & Ren open a false bottom on the trash, and find money, a brace of daggers, a small key and at the bottom a note: “I’ll find you”.
Dorian carefully cleans the area before moving on. 3 daggers and a key and the money were taken. The key is a plain brass key that looks like it’s for a door for a closet. The key is placed with the money. Daggers looks plain and disposable. Dorian quietly pockets it and he and ren head onto the boarding house.
Vani & J arrive breathless at the square. Lucien is there, looking serene. Vani finds Dorian’s note, tries to figure out the location of the inn.
Dorian & Ren arrive at the inn, realize they don’t know what the monk looks like. Fuck. They step into an alley to consider options.
J suddenly says, “oh shit.”
Vani: “What?”
J: “She did it. Narcel’Uss has that ring. And they’re looking for her. Because she did it.”
The party has been with her a long time, so The Chosen would probably want to hurt the rest of the party too? Probably.
Vani & J find Dorian & Ren and share this revelation.
Vani dashes off to find Colin.
D: “Where are you going?!”
J: “To talk to Colin!”
D: “Well, this changes nothing.”
J spots a grue standing watch.
J: “Let’s… just go to ye olde Subway.”
D: “All right, we’ll go get sandwiches.”
R: “Ok, I’m still hungry.”
They go.
Vani is talking to Colin. She asks about the monk. No luck. She asks about an assassin, specifically with a boat hook. He says he knows many killers. “I get you family discount.” He is trying to get her to hire a different killer. Vani tries to persuade him to tell her about the killer monk: she tells him about needing to get rid of this killer.
Colin finally relents, telling her the she can hire this killer by going to a certain outhouse. One places a deposit of 700 gold and a note stating who you want killed, who you are, and where you can be found. Then the killer comes to you.
Vani relays this to the rest of the party. They decide to collect all of Lucien’s money and use it as a deposit to get the killer to come to them. They split up to get the remaining caches. Long legs go together.
Team Long Legs
They find a sewer. There is another of Lucien’s caches in the muck. not clear where. Dorian grimanes as he tries to find the loose stone or cache in the muck. With a jump, they wade in the shiiiiiit. They dive into the filth that drains into the sea to pull out a strong box that is wrapped in oil skin. they pull themselves out and clean up with prestidigitation. They crack open the strongbox, find a pouch of gold, a brace of eight throwing darts and a key. The key is a different size that might open something very small. there is also a note: “I will find you.” Dorian glances at it, before flipping it and the box back into the water.
Team Short Stuff
Vani and J rush over to the north end of town to an aristocrat’s house. The directions from the book say “ask for the lady of the house, and tell her you’re here for the laundry”. Vani does a quick and dirty disguise using her kit. The butler answers, and they ask for the lady of the house. They get the small box, but notice that Lucien’s small boy sees them get the box.
He heads for the center of town, Vani & J follow. J turns into a huge slobbery St. Bernard and attempts to pounce on the boy. She hits a small girl instead. The boy takes off running. J leaps off the girl and pounces on the running boy. He is pinned under her until Vani arrives.
Vani says, “oh, you found my dog!” and proceeds to drag him into an alley. His resistance is futile. Her efforts to persuade him to become a TIP student are unsuccessful. So she knocks him out and bribes the innkeeper of a nearby inn to hold on to the boy for at least a day. They return to Ye Olde Subway.
The box contains another pouch of gold, another key, and a bottle of alchemist’s fire. There is a note. This one says, “this is the third box. I know.” Great.
But they now have enough money to pay the killer monk 700 gold in advance. So who do they put down as the target? And now that they stop to think about, would the killer monk even come and see them before going to see the grue? There doesn’t seem to be a safe way to stake out the grue and wait for the monk. So the group elects to go stake out Lucien in case the killer monk goes back to see him.
Dorian dons an illusionary disguise. Vani disguises J. Ren checks the back of the shop. Lucien still seems undisturbed.
Then the killer appears out of the crowd, walking across the square towards Lucien’s shop. Vani runs up and attempts to pick his pockets. She grabs a random small pouch and attempts to dash away. But there is a boat hook in her ribs, pinning her in place. He is staring into her eyes, memorizing her face. “That was a very bad idea.” She smiles at him through the pain.
He moves to turn away from her. J charges him in lion form. The monk pushes J off, acquiring defensive wounds. Dorian fires an arrow at him, but the monk blocks most of the damage by taking the arrow through the hand.
He slams Vani into J, dropping Vani off the hook and knocking J prone. Then he steps over and knocks on the door of Lucien’s shop. Lucien looks up from packing up his shop for the night and spots Vani.
Ren steps around the corner of the shop and chops of the monk’s head. Lucien locks eyes with Ren.
Vani begins to loot the body. But the watch is arriving just then. J grabs Vani in her leonine maw and bolts. So does Ren. The cops give chase. They lose sight of J and Vani. So they chase Ren. Ren makes her way to the Crimson Sail, the cops in close pursuit.
Ren runs up to the two bouncers, a tiny goblin and huge ogre. She says, “Let me in. I’m yours.”
The tiny goblin says, “what was that? I didn’t hear you.”
“Let me in. I’m yours,” repeats Ren.
The cops arrive, breathless, and draw up short. They have no desire to cross the Tong.
“I’ve never seen this woman before in my life. You should take her away.” Then the goblin pauses as if listening to a message from somewhere else.
“Just a moment, officers,” says the tiny goblin. A huge deep red tiefling comes out and says, “say that again.”
“I’m yours. Let me in,” says Ren.
“Three times and bound,” says the tiefling.
“She killed a man in cold blood in the town square!” shouts one of the officers.
“Why did you do it?” asks the tiefling.
“He hurt a friend of mine,” says Ren.
“Officers, I’m sure you’ll find you were mistaken. The culprit was someone else. The officers’ retirement fund will be compensated appropriately.” The tiefling ushers Ren into the Crimson Sail.
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