Kay's Journal - 10/15 - Reaper Errant

 Kay’s Journal – 10/15

• Quiver of Ehlonna (Abran)

• Goggles of a bunch of things (night vision, detect magic, see invisible, see true form) (Kay)

• Necklace of Breathing in Anything (CornCob)

• Puffy Shirt of Spell Storing (Fathom)

• Bag of Holding

• 26600 gold, of which we have spent 2750 on the above

We are chilling by a farmer’s field after the fight in the tower. A kid runs up through the vegetables, carrying a letter to deliver. Gooseneck asks who sent him, and he says it was a guy at the docks who says there’s a possible buyer for our wagon. Gooseneck gives the kid a copper for his trouble.

The letter says there’s an interested party for the wagon, but they want it delivered to the cliffs, where the wealthy folk live. The Broken Bell, the shop where Kit suggested we might be able to fence stuff, is also in that area. We are to meet our agent at the home of Margaret Fairweather. The boy says the Fairweathers sell plants and do a good business at it. He says he thinks there’s a big tree and apples out front.

We go up to the house. It’s a nice place, very well kept. The broker is there with the wagon. Fathom looks around for magic; sees that Margaret is wearing a pair of earrings and one of them is magical. The fruit from the trees is also slightly magical.

Our broker bows to Margaret; she looks at him, and then at us. She asks about the wagon, and we tell her it is enchanted. To demonstrate, Pujol throws some mud on Abran and has him go through the wagon door. She is suitably impressed when it cleans the mud off him. Pujol puts some dirt on her, sends her into the wagon. It still works. She heads into the house for a moment, and there’s some shouting. After a few seconds, a boy with a stack of dirty dishes comes out and goes into the wagon. It cleans the dishes. She is definitely interested, but hopes the horses aren’t included in the deal. We tell her no, as they are the rental horses. 

She asks the broker about his fee, and he says he’s taking 10%. She offers us 600gp + his 10%. The broker looks happy. Pujol wants some of the magic apples in addition – why, oh why, does everybody insist on looking for trouble. She agrees, though. And, it is kind of interesting that the apples are being produced so prolifically while they are out of season. Margaret says they have always had good luck with plants and took steps to keep the apple tree warm.

Gooseneck asks if she’d be interested in the ship. She says the broker already mentioned it, but she’s turned off by its reputation. She asks more about it, and we tell her that while there were monsters, they weren’t there long. Gooseneck asks if we had it cleansed, would that help? After all, we have an in with some clerics. She says she sent someone to look at it and is concerned that it might not be big enough to suit her needs. She also thinks the broker might be under selling the boat. She offers an extra 1000 gp if we have the priests cleanse it, offering us a total of 26000gp. The broker says that’s high – it’s the cost of a brand new ship.

Pujol goes to talk to the apple tree. He says ‘hi’ and asks why it’s bearing fruit so late in the season. The tree says it always feels good this time of year. Pujol asks why, It is happy about the wonderful, fair weather. The tree says that its mistress sang to it just this morning. Pujol asks about the song, but the tree can’t sing so it can’t really demonstrate. Instead, it kind of waves its branches. They are moving counter to the wind. Pujol asks if the song has a story, which it does, something about a boy and a tree growing together. Pujol asks where the boy is, and the tree says it’s just in the song. Pujol says the trees he knows grow from sun and soil…what does a boy do in this? The tree says the song itself also provides sustenance. If Pujol wants to learn the song, he has to ask Margaret. Pujol asks the tree why it gets special treatment, the tree says she sings to all the trees, not just it. She sings just before the sun rises. Pujol asks how the song affects the fruit, and the tree says the song helps him grow. Pujol asks the tree how old it is, and not being big on counting (because it’s a tree), the tree says ‘many’. It was there before the building across the street was built, and that building looks 50 or 60 years old.

They want to wait a day to sign the boat deal. I ask the broker about standard contracts for this kind of deal; there definitely are some, and they have coverage for non-payment. It’s cool.

Gooseneck eats an apple and feels pretty good about it.

We take the deal. She has people bring out a lock box and key with 26,000gp. The broker brings over a contract. There is nothing magical about the lock box. The contract looks fine, so I sign. We’re still on the hook to get the boat cleansed.

We head directly to a nearby bank with our very heavy gold. For now, we get a ledger from the bank which will get used to track our spends; when we leave, we can come back to the bank, get the accounting done, and take whatever remains in gems or whatever currency seems appropriate at the time.

Next stop: The Broken Bell. From the outside, it looks like a wealthy pawn shop. It will also fence things. Someone comes out to greet us who is wearing bright purple silks. He waves us into the shop. Inside, there are rich carpets, art on the walls, lots of trinkets….and everything has a price tag on it.

The proprietor brings out a tea set (also for sale) and asks what we are interested in. Abran asks if he’s be interested in some saffron, and Fathom brings up the silk. He thinks we could get 150gp for the saffron with the right buyer, but he’d only offer 75gp. 

We start asking after what he’s got in the way of magic items. No wand of fireballs for Abran, to our vast relief. He brings out a quiver from the back and demonstrates its use; it is a quiver of holding.  He wants 800gp for it.

I ask about things that would improve night vision. He brings back a set of ornate goggles. They have night vision for sure, but also allow the wearer to see magic and get a sense of what kind of magic it is. They can also see invisible things and see true form. They’re expensive – 10,000gp – but the group feels we really, really need those goggles. 

Abran asks about something useful for defense for Gooseneck. While he’s looking in the back, we notice three bags hanging on the wall. They are bags of holding, costing 1000gp each. Then the fellow brings out an amulet – it sets the wearer’s CON to 19. It’s expensive – another 10,000gp. Gooseneck is not impressed.

Pujol asks about water breathing for CornCob. He has a puka shell necklace that, if you put the shell in your mouth, will let you breathe in any environment. At 1000gp, this one seems like a good purchase.

Fathom asks about things that can help her access more spells. He brings out a duelists’ shirt in cerulean silk with lace on the cuffs and collar. Very flamboyant. You can cast up to 5 levels of spells into it in advance. 2500gp for the shirt of spell storing.

It’s time to start dealing in earnest. He offers us 6000 for the undamaged silk, 3000gp for the damaged silk, and 4750gp for the artwork. That’s 13750. We want the quiver (800gp), the goggles (10000gp), one bag of holding (1000gp), the necklace (1000gp), and the shirt (2500gp), for a total of 15300gp. 

The Pujol asks about weapons. The proprietor offers a necklace of fireballs for 3000gp, 3 +1 darts for 700 gp, and a pearl necklace that gives the wearer an additional 3rd level spell slot once/day for 1200gp. Pujol likes that one, so we add the 1200gp to our total for a total purchase of 16500. Minus the 13750 he’s giving us for the silk and art, we’d paying him 2750 gp from our ledger. Not bad.

He offers us the other items – if we do some work for him. Apparently he sold an item to a sailor without vetting it properly first, and now he’s concerned that it’s causing problems. The deck hand bought a wand that corrupts plants and gives them a demented sentience. The corrupted plants might also birth spawn from another realm. None of that sounds good.

He thinks the sailor is at his ship. He wants us to get the wand back; he will refund the man his money. The deck hand is a dwarf with armor, very matter of fact and business-like. The ship he’s on is the Maiden.

We go to the docks, and sure enough, we see some highly suspect plants. My shiny new goggles show they are kind of like demons bound in the plants. Yup, those definitely have to go.

Kay's Journal - 10/1 - Reaper Errant

The party has won a wagon full of art stuff. We make plans to sell most of it, keeping a signet ring with a stylized ‘MC’. No idea who that is.

Pujol and Gooseneck go looking for draft animals to pulls the wagon back to town. They find a stable with a wide variety of animals, including some horses that should do the job. Pujol asks about renting 2 horses and appropriate harness for pulling the wagon. The fellow running the stable asks for 150gp, which seems a little steep, considering that we just want them for a day. The stable keeper also asks for collateral, considering that it would be easy to abscond with the horses. Gooseneck suggests the stable keeper comes along with the horses; then he can look after them and make sure we don’t take off with them. He’s amenable, and under that arrangement only charges us 5gp.

CornCob and I head to the place that’s selling the ship for us. The guy says there’s been some interest in the ship and that it might sell in a couple days. CornCob asks about where we could sell a wagon. Our friend says he could probably sell it. We give him a gold to reserve some warehouse space to store the rest of the stuff before we sell it, and he agrees to sell the wagon for us on commission.

Abran and Fathom stay with the wagon to keep an eye on it. Abran very much wants to set stuff on fire. While they are debating if there’s a reasonable way to do that there, an older halfling man walks by with a younger person following him. Fathom looks for magic, but neither of them is carrying any. The younger person’s clothes are clearly built to blend in, but they are high quality and in good repair. The older man looks like he is alone. The older man goes into a building, and the person following him disappears into an alley.

CornCob, Pujol, Gooseneck, and I get back to the wagon after our respective errands. We learn the wagon has a spell on it – it will clean your clothes when you enter.

The man at the docks is pleasantly surprised by the quality of the wagon, definitely thinks it will sell for 500gp or so. CornCob wants to be there when the wagon is sold, and the dock guy says he’ll send a runner to the Mud Worm.

Abran & I sneak in to the alley and see the younger person who’d been following the older halfling looking in a window of the building the halfling went into. I sneak up behind them, ask what’s going on in there. They double-take and almost fall off the little platform outside the window…I was expecting that and grab them by the collar, and then pull them back to safety.

It turns out she is a young girl named Kit. She says the old man is buying stuff on her behalf in an auction that’s going on in the building, as she’s not allowed to do it herself. She asks if I’m part of the thieves’ guild, and seems pleased when I say I’m not part of it (just passing through). We trade names and where we can be found. She also says we might be able to unload the art stuff at the Broken Bell, up by the cliff docks. It’s basically a place for fencing stuff.

We head to the new site for the conference to check on the preparations there. Timothy sees us, and ushers us in to Riverside Park. He tells us they found a druid willing to help regrow the tree we killed at the old site. Timothy also thinks it’s odd that a vampire would be in this town; certainly, none live here.

Timothy tells us that some representatives of the various churches will be allowed in. Each must show the seal of their church to get in, and someone is actually checking them. Fathom wants to look at the list of dignitaries and maybe see the speaker himself to make sure he’s not compromised. Timothy thinks that’s unlikely; also, the speaker has a bodyguard who looks pretty butch.

We go to Patrick to see the list of dignitaries. Timothy goes to cast wards along the walls; the wards are meant to discourage people from jumping the walls to get in.

We look for high points, and see the top of the gazebo itself and a nearby bridge over a river. The river is maybe 4-5 feet deep and isn’t very fast. The speaker’s guard is giving us the stink eye and CornCob goes to confront her. He learns her name is Lairdethian.

Fathom looks around for magic. She sees the wards Timothy is putting up and Lairdethian’s maul. She doesn’t see anything that looks like it doesn’t belong.  

We see the list of dignitaries, and note that the signet ring we took from the vampires is not on it. Fathom makes a wax impression of the signet to show Lairdethian.

There’s a tallish building across the street from the site. CornCob asks Patrick and Timothy if they’ve done anything about the building. They say the building is closed for the day, but we still think we should go sweep it. We get the key from Patrick and head over.

The first floor is storage. We hear some sounds from upstairs, like someone moving around, and then quiet. CornCob, Gooseneck, and Abran storm upstairs. Pujol goes outside to tell a guard to warn Lairdethian.

Inside, CornCob and Gooseneck go up the stairs first. Someone jumps at them and casts a spell, which does some damage to Gooseneck. A second attacker jumps out and casts another spell. Abran fires arrows at one of them, hits. CornCob casts a spell that damages one, and casts another spell that causes some vines to grow in the corner and try to grab one of the guys. Pujol comes up the outside stairs, trying to flank them. Gooseneck attacks one of them, then I do. I hit him hard and tell him to yield or die. He’s intimidated and casts a spell at me, and I go…elsewhere. The other one casts a spell at CornCOb and does a bunch of damage to him. Fathom and Abran attack the wounded one, and take him out. When he goes down, his spell ends and I come back.

We all pile on the second one and taken him down before long. We search the bodies. They have spell components, but no other magic, no papers or coin, nothing that will identify them, except the Fall tattoos on their arms.