Kay’s Journal, 6/25
- 340 XP
- 25GP
- Gem of Elemental Water Control (CornCob)
We are waiting in line to go through the city gates. As the
line moves forward, there’s a beggar who’s making his way down the line away from
the gate, asking for money. Pujol gives him a gold, and learns that he certainly
smells like a legit beggar. Gooseneck gives the guy a silver. I use the distraction
to move to the front of the line.
There are a couple of guards along with a guy wearing
glasses who’s giving everybody a once-over. I claim my bow and rapier. Mr.
Glasses takes a really close look; I think those glasses let him spot
externally visible magic items. He seems to take note of my cloak, but not my
backup cloak that’s in my pack.
CornCob goes next, and tells the gate minders that he’s
looking for work, and also for food. He says he expects to be here for a week
or two, and goes through. This set of events is largely repeated by everyone.
Pujol and Fathom not only have to register their crossbows, but have to pay a
copper for them. Abran has to come up with a story for his weird space rifle,
and tells them it’s a cane his grandfather made. The guards buy it. As we all
go through, we get the idea that this is a new process, and neither the guys
manning the gate nor the people travelling through are used to it yet.
We go to the port to see if the Silver Swan is here. It isn’t,
but is expected sometime in the next couple weeks. The port is very busy; there
are lots of boats of various sizes, but very much more small ships than very
large ones.
We go check out the Mud Worm. It’s on a side of the bay that
is all mud flats; the tavern itself is right on the edge of the high tide line,
and up on a large rock. It still stinks. There’s a large red dragon head hung over
the door, but it’s probably not real.
We head in. It seems to be mostly working folk here. We’re
told it’s a silver for a meal and a drink. The food is set up buffet style – go
through the line, fill your plate, then go find someplace to sit. Gooseneck
asks about rooms, and learns they are 5 silver/night for a room and a meal. The
rooms are free standing bungalows at the high tide line. We rent 2 bungalows
for a total of 1 gp/night.
We head out on to the deck to eat. There are a couple of
guys already at a table here, apparently having a private conversation in this
public space, given how quickly they shut up and the looks they give us when we
come out. Gooseneck asks if we are interrupting and they say no, they’ll just
talk quieter. They are not sporting funky tattoos on their forearms, so that’s
good. Abran and I listen, trying to overhear whatever they’re on about. They
are talking about roughing up some dude down by the docks. They may have been
hired to do this, or they may be doing it on their own. It sounds like their
target is some kind of business man. They leave shortly after we sit down.
We discuss, and decide to try watching them tonight and
seeing what they get up to, and decide then whether or not to interfere.
We head to The Tiny Pearl, a jewelry store, for Pujol, so he
can get his dragon rock set into a necklace. It’s a wee building, maybe not
quite completely straight and plumb. Shells tinkle when we go through the door.
There’s a gnome in there, wearing glasses. He asks if we all have business
there, and CornCob says no, we’re just co-dependent.
Pujol negotiates for what he wants. The cost is 15 gold, 7
to be paid up front, and it will be ready for Pujol to come back and have the
stone set in 2 days. Pujol gives the gnome 10 gold instead of 7 and tells him
to do an extra good job.
We mosey our way to the docks. On the way, we come across a
bounty board. There are many ‘capture alive’ contracts posted, almost all
sponsored by the temple of Ronda. There are a few other temples that have put
up bounties as well, including a Lawful Evil one. Even the bounties that are
sponsored by other churches are approved by the temple of Ronda.
There are a few good paying contracts. The best two are
sponsored by the temple of Layeel, a lawful evil goddess. The targets are all
inside the city, and will be aware there is a bounty out for them. There are no
otter poachers, but there are a few small contracts for people who’ve been
stealing crab pots or such.
There is a contract for someone who has been encroaching on
someone else’s abalone grounds. It sounds like the guys who were going to beat
the business man were hired to discourage the guy who put out this contract.
We get to the docks after dark. This are a is not well-lit,
which turns out is a good thing because Gooseneck is not wearing any pants. I’m
not sure why this is suddenly important.
The businessman who’s the target is named Jin, and he’s a
crabber. A passer-by points us to where he is bringing in his day’s catch. We warn
him that a couple guys are coming for him. CornCob and Fathom go into his
office to make sure they aren’t already there (they’re not).
We set a trap. Pujol casts an illusion to make himself look
like Jin. Abran and CornCob hang out by the corner of the building, pretending
to be drunk. Fathom, Gooseneck, and I get up on the roof.
I hear the would-be attackers approaching; whoever hired them
gave them a stone that might help them, whatever that means. One of them wants
to use it right away; the other says it’s not necessary. Both seem a little
afraid of it. They head toward Pujol-as-Jin, who jumps into the boat and becomes
invisible. Abran and CornCob ‘drunkenly’ come up behind the two men, cutting
off their escape.
The two attackers jump into the boat and look around for ‘Jin’.
Gooseneck tries to jump down from the roof to go after them, but lands badly
and can’t make it any farther right away. CornCob rushes the boat and swings at
one of them with his quarterstaff. That guy draws a rapier. Abran jumps in the
boat and kicks one right into the water. He points his sword at the other one,
and then Pujol levitates the second attacker who Abran just threatened into the
air.
Levitating Guy pulls the magic stone out of his pocket and
activates it. It summons a very large water elemental.
Gooseneck dives into the water to catch the one Abran kicked
off the boat. Fathom calls forth a gust of wind, which shoves both the elemental
and the levitating guy back away from the boat. CornCob casts a bolt at the
elemental, and seems to hit it pretty well. From what we can tell anyway, given
that the thing is…well…water.
Abran gets out of the boat, takes out his bow, and shoots at
the elemental. Pujol moves the levitating guy into the body of the elemental.
The elemental comes back to the boat and attacks CornCob, pulling him into the
water. Gooseneck comes back to try to get CornCob out of the water and back
into the boat.Fathom, CornCob, and Pujol all cast spells at the elemental, and
between them manage to make it dissipate. Abran goes to the next down over to
fish the swimming guy out of the water. CornCob walks out on the water to get
the levitating guy, who has since fallen in. CornCob takes the elemental
summoning stone from him.
We question them. They do not want to name who hired them,
but when Jin mentions the name ‘Seth’, that gets a reaction. We ask Jin about
Seth – he’s a guy who makes his business by stealing other people’s business.
After Jin notes that these two would not be missed if they
were to disappear, they become more cooperative. One of them admits that it was
Seth who hired them. They’d have met him at the Mud Crab to get paid when the
complaint against Seth is rescinded.
We turn these two in in the morning to get paid for the
contract.
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