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--- coins_end:session_19_-_where_is_halaan [2024/05/11 16:01] – created davidm
+++ coins_end:session_19_-_where_is_halaan [2024/05/11 16:02] (current) – davidm
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 ==== Detail ====
+They started this session having finished with gathering the blood and Brandy giving out the reward of a kiss to Gonathan. Gonathan was very excited and wanted to know what they were going to do next. Brandy told him to go home for the night and write a song about it. They told him and that they would meet him at the tavern the next day. He was very excited and left to return to his home. The party left immediately for Calimport, obviously intending to be gone in the morning and no longer dealing with Gonathan. Oglesby drank a single dose of Extra Healing. They headed south west to the main road. It was a two day walk. On night one, Brandy and Kipp took watches and it passed uneventfully.
+The next morning, Pyreece cast a round of healing spells. Brandy drank one dose of extra healing as well. They continued on, crossing the desert and by nightfall, they reached the main road. They set up camp and another watch. The three watches passed without incident. It took six or seven hours more to finally reach the Dalabad Oasis. They shopped for some potions and were able to purchase some extra healing potions from a non-denominational temple. They offered to provide healing for 50 gold. The healing potions cost 120 gold while the extra healing potions cost 300 gold. They pulled together the funds to buy an extra healing potion. Brandy carried that. They spent the night there, ate breakfast in the morning and set out for Calimport.
+They made there way to Calimport and were approached by the guards. They seemed a little more careful and asked some questions about why they were coming into the city, where they were coming from, what was their business. They passed them through and they separated into three groups of two and made their way to the forge. Oglesby donned his magical hat so as to appear as Barry. They reached the forge and found it very quiet. Oglesby and Brandy made it there first and found it quiet and dark. There was a note on the door. It said, "By issue of the great counsel of Calimport, no trespassing. This land has been seized by the city, pending trial for the seditious acts performed by the occupant. Keep out!". Brandy became very upset. As the others arrived, she pointed out the note and they all read it.
+As they read the sign, they heard movement and the crunch of gravel behind them. They turned to find twelve thugs come into the area from the street. Some had crossbows ready and pointed at them. The lead one sneered and said, "Ay…Why don't you come with us!". He lifted his crossbow and said, "Or don't, I prefer it that way!". Brandy said, "Well, I prefer you kiss my little ass! How does that sound?". They seven or so of these thugs were in front of them but 5 or so  came from their right. They were caught between the two groups. The thug asked again, "So what is it going to be?". Brandy said, "We're not going any damn where with you!". Audra asked, "What gives you the right to ask us to do anything? I'm sorry, you aren't asking, you are demanding!". The thug answered, "Who I am is not important! Got a little somebody for you to see. But, if you'd rather fight, we can do that too.". Audra added, "If somebody wants to see us, they are welcome to come talk to us. We have other things to do and we don't have time for the likes of you.". The thug answered, "Well, that’s just a mighty shame, isn't it fellas.". By the sound of their answer, they seemed to want a fight. A fight is what they got.
+Seeing all the cross bows, Elenor quickly threw up a shield spell. Oglesby fired with his sling and hit one of the crossbowmen. Kipp went to the group to the side and engaged one of the more seasoned, stouter thugs. A couple of the crossbowmen fired back hitting Audra. A man ran up with a sword and attacked Audra and hit her. Another crossbowman fired on Brandy and hit. Another man ran up and hit Brandy with his short sword. The shield spell did it's job protecting Elenor. Kipp got hit by a crossbowman. Audra killed the guy who ran up on her in one swipe. Pyreece pulled out her shield and flail and ran up to attacked one but missed. Brandy fired on one and missed. Oglesby fired again and missed. Brandy fired again and hit.
+The fight continued with the party prevailing in the end. Elenor was able to get off a Magic Missile hitting on of them. The thug who originally addressed them went down in the second round thanks to Brandy. At the end, there were four remaining thugs. Three attempted to flee. Audra cut one down. Two managed to escape. Pyreece and Kipp finished off the last one. They had gathered a bit of a crowd during the fight. Elenor was still invisible. They quickly searched the bodies and found about 27 gold total and multiple weapons to possibly sell. There were no messages on any of them. The murmuring began to included something about guards coming. It was time to leave so they did. They headed to Geolain's residence. They gate was locked when they got there. Oglesby picked the gate lock. They moved through and closed it heading to the front door. Oglesby knocked first and received no response. The door was locked. It took two tries but Oglesby got that lock picked and they moved inside.
+Once inside and the door locked again, they moved into the main room. They found Joah on the couch. He'd apparently taken a hit to the head. He was a little out of it. They roused him and at first he struggle against them but once he recognized them, he calmed down. He began explaining that he'd failed. They asked him what had happened. He told them that shortly after the party had left, Geolain had been called away. He, Joah, had tried to think of some people to help with watching the forge. One night, there was noise outside the forge much like had happened before. There was someone out there so he went out to confront them. It wasn't just one person, there were four or five of them. They clubbed him over the head and left him in the alley behind the forge. Later, he got up and made his way into the forge. Halaan was gone. He didn't know how he did it but he'd managed to make it back to Geolain's. Geolain had already gone leaving a note that he'd been called away to Castle Tethyr for an emergency counsel about the rising power in southern Tethyr, the Sturrguard. That's an old term that means "the second rise of the sovereign guard".  He believed it's this Daresh person.
+Oglesby asked Joah if he knew what happened to the coin. Audra explained that they'd gone by earlier and were attacked by twelve people. They didn't make it inside and they had to clear out of the area after they'd fought them off, killing all but two of them. Joah suggested that someone go there and see if the coin was still there. Audra wasn't sure if they could go back there now. There were guards coming when they left. Hopefully the people that were their when they left were telling the guard that these thugs had attacked them and they only defended themselves. Pyreece healed Kipp and Brandy some. Brandy asked if Joah had any idea who was behind it. Joah suggested the Sentinels of the True Way. Audra added that it could be Daresh's people but they would have likely come for the coin and taken it. "We don't know if it's still there or not.", Brandy added that the forge had a notice that it had been seized and closed by order of the City Council. Does that mean these idiots are on the city council now?
+Joah stopped them and asked about the notice they'd seen. They told him what they'd seen on the door. Joah seemed suspicious about that. He wanted to see it. He asked if it had a seal on it. Oglesby thought back and now thought that it didn't look official after all. He thought it looked hastily written. Elenor was invisible and Oglesby could change his appearance easily enough. They decided that they could return to the area and try so check it out. It was only when Elenor spoke up that Joah realized that she was present. Oglesby put on his hat and changed his appearance to that of a regular looking human female dressed like the local. Joah thought about becoming invisible and going with them but felt a little unsteady. Pyreece cast a Cure Light Wounds spell on him and cleared that right up. He joined them and they headed back to the forge.
+As they arrive back at the forge, there was a crowd gathered around and also many guards. There was a guard captain amongst them. The guards were looking at the forge, especially at the parchment on the door. Oglesby leaned in to one of the onlookers and said, "Oh dear, what happened!". The person told her that he'd seen everything, "It was crazy. There were spells flying, oh it was just crazy. fireballs, energy bolt, lightning. These guys were like just getting slaughtered. I don't know what they'd done but whoever…perhaps they lived in that building that the guards are looking at.". Another lady said, "Yeah, they're just common thugs, probably tried to rob them and got the butts handed to em.". The other man said, "Well maybe, those cats were something else though.". Oglesby said, "I'm glad I didn't come here earlier! I wouldn't have wanted to see all of that.".
+Oglesby watched the guards a little and then slowly moved in close enough to be able to hear some of what they were saying. The parchment was rolled up in the Captain's hand. He sent guards into the house. Under his breath Oglesby said, "Oh shit!". Elenor snuck into the building behind the guards and moved to the far side of the room. The first thing she noticed was that the coin was still there. That was a relief but the guards presence was still concerning. The coals of the forge were cooled but the coin was still very hot and even had glowing runes on it. There was no sign of a disturbance. That was a good sign. She watched as the guards continued looking through the room. Pretty soon, the guards discover the coin. They seemed concerned with it and called for the Captain. His response, "Damn wizards! I don't know what that thing is!". One of the guards said, "It's a coin!". The Captain gave him the "you are a moron" look and said, "Thanks for that righteous input. That really helped quite a bit.". Then he calmed and told them it was clearly a magical thing. There was some movement as if the coin was alive or something. One of the guards said, "I'm not touching it!". The captain told them to keep searching. He said, "Nothing so far was giving us a clue as to who did this. That's what we're looking for!".
+The crowd was making some more noise than usual. They were obviously concerned about what had happened. The Captain came back out of the building and called out, "What's going on?". There was discussion between some of the crowd and the guards. Oglesby, still in his female disguise, went to a small group of the onlookers and said, "I think it's the guards that did it! They are the ones that are doing this stuff!". The guy next to him gave him a look like, "who the hell are you?", but then he actually changed his expression and said, "Hey, I hadn't thought about that! If there's no trouble, they got no job, right?". Oglesby said, "That's exactly right! How are we supposed to stay safe when they start doing this kind of stuff to people?". The man responded, "Those guys that were doing the fighting were probably just guards off duty!". He turned and started talking to the guy on the other side of him. That man said, "Yeah, I hadn't thought of it that way!". The people started getting riled up again.
+Elenor moved up to about six feet behind one of the guards in the building, lowered her voice, and with a haunting whisper said, "It's e v i l!". She quickly but quietly backed away. The guard turned quickly lowering his halberd and then forcefully said, "WHO'S THERE!". She continued to back away well out of reach. The other guard turned around and looked at him and ask, "What, what do ya see?". The other guard said, "Well first of all, that fucking thing was talking to me and then I heard a voice behind me!". The other guard asked, "What do you mean, it's talking to you?". The other guard said, "It fucking talked to me!". The other guard said, "It's a fucking coin! It doesn't fucking talk to you!". The guard hearing things invited the other guard to come over and listen to it. The other guard came over and looked at it and after a moment turned to the other guard and said, "It's a fucking coin. It's a really fucking hot fucking coin!". The other guard still looking behind him said, "There is somebody else in here!". The other guard said, "You've been on duty too long! I don't see anything do you?". The other guard said, "No, this place is pretty well kept, except for that coin.". They finally left the building and went back to the street listening to the crowd getting more riled up.
+Oglesby, from the center of the crowd yelled, "Their the one's that did it! The guards did it!". Elenor heard the voice and thought it sounded like the voice of his female alter ego. Then she started hearing chants like "Yeah!" and more shouts from the crowd saying things like, "Did you guys do this? Is this something you…you were on the street like punks and got called on it and had to kill a bunch of people?". The guard closest to them called out, "What the hell are you talking about?". The crowd started shouting them down and the whole scene turned a little riotous like. Oglesby slowly backed away from the crowd and made his way back to where he'd left everyone else, waited and watched. Joah, behind him whispered, "You're an evil bastard!". Oglesby said, "Just being practical lad!". Joah added, "Very good play!". Elenor moved over to the coin and found some tongs. She thought about possibly placing the coin in the bag of holding and decided that looking at it, it looked as if it was still in a liquid form. There would be nothing to grasp. She turned and snuck back out and back to the others and whispered, "I'm here!".
+The scene outside had turned more to that of crowd control. There were a few minor struggles as they started disbursing the crowd. Over the next hour or so, they had finally succeeded in doing that. While that was happening Joah and Oglesby learned from Elenor that the coin was still there. She told them it was still very hot and in liquid form. She wondered if they should just pour the blood on top of it. Oglesby wasn't sure. He asked if there was something they could put it inside of. She thought about it and realized it was in a stone mold but then she also realized that the mold was actually part of a very large stone that would be very difficult, if not impossible, to carry. Joah said, "I think Brandy would say this is a fine howdy do!". They tried to figure out if there was some place they could hide it in there but the stone it is on, and in it's liquid state, it would be impossible to move it. Joah suggested using an illusory spell to hide it. The spell Phantasmal Force could hide it but it required concentration. Plus, she'd have to learn the spell to use it.
+Oglesby snuck into the building, Elenor and Joah followed. Oglesby hid while the other two stayed in view to watch the activity outside. Then Joah went back outside and went around the side of the building and dropped his invisibility spell. Then he returned to the group the guards were dealing with and performed some sort of subtle movement. Then he spoke to the Captain. Elenor couldn't hear the discussion but the Captain was nodding his head a lot. They spoke for a couple of minutes and then the Captain told the guards to gather up the bodies and load them on the wagons. Then he spoke up and said, "All done here! We'll finish up the investigation tomorrow! Joah is going to check it out, he's Geolain's apprentice!". The guards seemed fine with that. The people disbursed and Joah walked in to the forge and closed the door. He told them that he probably bought them a little bit of time.
+Elenor went to get the others. They returned and Brandy commented on Oglesby sitting in the chair not doing anything at the moment. Joah let her know that Oglesby cause a bit of a riot outside earlier. Audra asked Joah if he knew what happened to Halaan or about where he might be now? Elenor started searching for any sign of a scuffle or a hiding place for him. She found nothing. The only disturbance seemed to have been from where the guards were looking around. The thugs that they'd encountered earlier only said that somebody wanted to see them. Joah looked through the papers on the table and others. Then he found the notebook on how to do the coin. He couldn't make heads or tales from it, except that it was obviously the process for making the coin. Joah said, "This is some crazy high level shit!". They knew what to do with the blood now but the incantation, that was the hard part. There were also some things that had to be mixed together in advance. Joah felt he could handle that but the incantation was clearly some high-level stuff.
+Pyreece stated the obvious, I guess we are back to finding Halaan. Is he hiding or did they take him? It was almost certainly these Sentinels of the True Way people. Joah agreed! She asked if he knew of any other hideaway's other than the house of Driskel, the owner of The Blind Beggar Inn. She suggested that if they have him, he might be in Driskel's cellar. That seemed like a great place to start. They snuck out and made their way back to Driskel's house. It was about 7 or 8:00 . Pyreece noted that he is probably still at work. They searched the cellar and found nothing of interest. Kipp and Audra stayed outside and kept watch. After the cellar, they went into the house. Kipp and Audra joined them.
+They searched the home thoroughly, even all of his chests and papers. There was nothing to indicate someone had been held here or anything about other places that might be used for that. They did find some gems, about 150 gold worth, manifests, charter, and documents about the Sentinels of the True Way, no members names. They also found a hastily written letter that had been sent to Driskel, that spoke about activity at the address of Halaan's forge. They were awaiting orders. It was signed with the letter "M". Oglesby kept the letter and the gem pouch. They also found some condolences cards about the death of Kibbet with people recounting how sweet she was and what a good person she was. There was something about her being killed by murderous thugs. Then they realized that she was the chick that Brandy killed just outside here back some weeks ago.
+They also found some writings about concerns about what was happening in southern Tethyr. There was some kind of witch, warlock, or some kind of magic wielding person that was starting to dominate the area up there. They called it a Devil Witch in southern Tethyr. And it said that this was somebody to watched, it was escalating. It mentioned they should be on their guard for any servants of hers and it mentioned the infinity symbol that they'd seen on the gnolls and stuff that they seem to wear with pride. They are usually dressed in black and have warriors in all sorts of species, from humans to orcs to gnolls, all different sorts of creatures. She seemed to be bringing all of these people that normally fight amongst themselves, uniting them under her banner. She was starting to take over territories and was moving in the direction of Calimport. That would be something, because Calimport is a really major city in the realm. There was more fear porn regarding Daresh.
+While opening one of the chests, Oggie, as Brandy affectionately called Oglesby, didn't check for a trap and set one off. He was poked by a needle. He seemed to manage to keep the needle from getting in too far avoiding the poison coating it. He was lucky. There was some clothing folded up in the chest and a note on top that read, "Die you thieving bastard!". Oglesby laughed at the note but Brandy wasn't as amused. She wrote a note back that said, "Not today bastard!". They did find a couple of vials of extra healing at the bottom of that chest. They left the house and headed back to the forge. Audra suggested that Invisible girl, Elenor, and maybe Oglesby go to the Tavern and wait outside for Driskel to close up and leave and follow him, possibly to where ever they are holding Halaan. Oglesby suggested that they might should check and see if Geolain was back. Thinking on that some more, they decided that the distance he'd have to travel to get to Castle Tethyr, he may only now be getting there. It will likely be some time before he gets back. Elenor thought that maybe Daresh came and got him but Pyreece thought that if Daresh came and got him, she'd likely have taken the coin. They decided to wait at the forge and rest up. Since two of the thugs got away, more will likely come to get them later.
+They returned to the forge. Joah was still there. They rested and waited for the Sentinals to make contact again. They suggested that Joah leave as he didn't need to be caught up in this. Joah felt a burden to make up for his failure. Even though he was an apprentice, he felt there was something he could do. He told them he'd never done it but he'd sat in on times that Geolain had used scrying. He thought he could perhaps locate Halaan that way. He wasn't sure he could successfully cast it. They would have to be back at Geolain's house to do it. He was hesitant to do it if they'd thought the Sentinals would show up here. Audra suggested we give it the night here and a good portion of the day tomorrow and then try the scrying if no one showed up. They tried to get their normal rest in. Pyreece used the rest of her healing spells before they rested. She healed herself and Audra.
+They did the normal watch rotation. Brandy started the watch and nothing happened. Kipp was next and while he was walking about, one of the windows smashed as a rock came flying into the rook with a note attached. He remove the note and opened it to read it. It was written using pretty shitty writing and spelling. It said, "Sooloe demands that you return the books that were stolen. In exchange, Sooloe will assist in locating your missing friend. You are to meet him three miles down the east road from Calimport. Bring the books with you.". Brandy and Kipp seemed perplexed as to what books the letter was talking about. Pyreece reminded them of the books they liberated from the little thieves and returned to Geolain. Brandy was like, "We don't know what Geolain did with those books!". Audra suggested that we don't need those books, just a bunch of books that they could see from a distance. Brandy suggested the books in the forge. Pyreece said, make sure there is nothing important in those. Brandy said, someone else needs to check them. Joah said, "I know where the books are!". He suggested that we should take the real books.
+Joah sat back and contemplated "Sooloe". They decided to rest and gather the books in the morning and head out.
+That is where this session ended.
+Start the recorder.
+They received 408 + 41 = 449 experience points. As a result Brandy and Audra changed to level 4.