Hepisod Date IRL 09/21/2024

Dates Spanned On Ilia Khah: M04W2D12, Year Restriction 446

Events Summary

The party has their first little meet up over VSL's book. Introductions are cold and short but awesome, muddied only slightly by a weird lady in the corner who stole one of the world tomes. Then the unbread rise and fall, though the city guard captain is called in to handle the larger situation. Instead, the party splits. One team does a quick shopping spree. The other heads straight to Kelzyr's IFL popularizing fight. During the fight, there is an assassination attempt on Kelzyr, though it is luckily thwarted. The assassin is chased, bullied by restraining magics, and in a strange twist of attempted, failed enchantment is freed from a magic hold to be given a chance to end his own life. The Hepisod ends with the party figuring out how to move on and interpret the fact he did so.

The Hepisod Anatomy, in Detail, by 'Stage'

Stage No. 1 ~ Bazaar Book Club

• Violetta gathers everyone with a copy of her book around a table, though a Bard of gnomish descent seems keen to lag in the corner.
• Names are shared (with at most one exception) and everyone discusses their invitations. Most were just passers by. Vaelin received a letter and all the money needed to make the journey to Mountport for this crew.
• VSL returns to Thee Rotted Eggplante and inquires about the Bard. She is advised it might be wise to confront her, and she does so, supported by Haneastacia and Kelzyr.
• The Bard rather plainly admits to stealing the book, is welcomed to join the party, but declines and makes for the door on some variety of business.
• Somewhere in there, there is lots and lots of racism.

Stage No. 2 ~ Rise of the Unbread

• From the kitchen, there is chaos. Hubbard, the cook, runs out, followed by celebrity chef Roderick Irvane (fleeing) and a kobold chronicler. The kobold is killed by one of four necromancy-enhanced loaves of soda bread, which have risen and threaten the safety of everyone in the tavern.
• Initiative and combat ensue. The party absolutely crushes this one unscathed. Well done.
• Somewhere in there, players are sorted by D4 rolls. We had a 1 and a 4, and twin 2's and 3's. That might just mean something someday. Hehehehehe.

Stage No. 3 ~ Loose Ends

• Hubbard is chewed out for being complicit in the death of three innocents. He tells his sob story but basically admits fault in the end.
• Haneastacia tracks down Roderick and other TKP representatives, who seem uninterested in her concerns. So she goes and finds guard captain Brock Toadwalker to report the happenings. He will follow her back to Thee Rotted Eggplante to deal with things somehow. Sort of left out of party's hands.
• Party decides what to do. VSL gives the rundown on her Expanse quest ideals. Is not met with outright rejection.
• Kelzyr has a fight to attend, and most everyone follows him there.
• Meanwhile, VSL and Fisk go on a shopping trip to appease him. He ends up with some new clothes, worn leather armor, a damaged chain shirt, but passes up on the Amulet of Disappointing Light.

Stage No. 4 ~ League Responsibilities

• The city and other IFL folk took care of getting the right set up. Everything is basically in its place.
• Party minus two shows up. Louis is given a chance to greet his father, Victor, in a pleasant moment.
• Louis excuses his father to get back to Kelzyr, who needs a bit of hype before the fight, but is assured everything will go as needed.
• The party is seated. Fisk wishes to get involved in fight gambling, but everyone seems content to be boring in that respect, to his dismay. Firnas will convince him to remove his chain shirt so it may be repaired. As the fight goes on, Firnas will be occupied with this mending task.
• Kelzyr gets off to a decent start before completely kicking some ass and pinning Kurg the Relentless. He is seconds from victory, but life isn't that simple on this day.
• Haneastacia notices a strange person pushing through the spectators to get closer down. She alerts their Bard friend, apparently an honest enough fan, who turns back just in time to see this mystery individual preparing to throw a knife. He shouts, 'Die, you foul project!' as he does so. The meaning of this is completely unclear.
• Haneastacia reacts with astral Druidic magic, enough to knock the would-be assassin's aim off and potentially save Kelzyr. The assassin moves to flee.

Stage No. 5 ~ The Chase

• Party uses hold person and other techniques that effectively constitute bullying to prevent the mystery figure from reaching the forest and escaping. Despite its high hp and myriad of other quirks and powers we did not get to see explored. Kudos. You make my job fun in doing so. Please keep that nonsense up!
• Fisk attempts to use suggestion charms. His instructions are clear and the mystery figure hears him, contemplates the words, but believes it will not comply with the magic effects of the spell. A few more hits reach him.
• He is in critical condition but still standing when he gets the chance to pry an igneous looking pendant from his neck. Contemplating it, he turns it into a dust that glitters, swirls, and glows the green of bioluminescent foam. Inhaling it into his gaping maw, he is able to perform a strange sort of death ritual on himself. Immediately thereafter, he is dead, and our party's medical knowhow and healing magics have no effect.
• Vaelin notices that something about the death magic from the pendant is Vaer'thalas in nature, connecting to his past. He does not share this information directly. Curious.
• The party gathers around the body to discuss next steps. This will, mechanically speaking, mark the start of a short rest. Firnas will report that the chain shirt is mostly back to normal, using this as leverage to learn that Fisk is called Fisk by some.
• Louis suggests trying the nearby temple. There are lots of ideas and conflicted feelings. How truly baffling an event to play witness to.
• While everyone speculates and generally agrees that action is required, the Bard will try to discourage the party from doing so. They gleam she does not have any malicious intent but judge her uninformed and with suspicious priorities regardless. She offers to take over so they can get to VSL's business faster, but is declined.
• Ranting, raving, and rambling with so much i-told-you-so energy, the Bard storms off. Apparently, she is rather upset the party cares to investigate this further. She seems certain it will only lead to unpleasantness in information and circumstance.
• Back to planning once she is gone, it is agreed that the temple on the way to the Copperpacker Auction is a good way to end their evening. They agree this will come before finding lodging among those who can host for those in need of a place to stay and then following a lead Fisk introduces them to, concerning a cavern dungeon that hosts promises of magic and treasure.