Refresher
We finished season 2 of our adventures by escaping from the unknown wizard's island sanctuary. We had a ship and a crew, we were reasonably wealthy (for level 3 adventurers), and we had laid our hands on powerful artefacts. Of course, there was a catch: to unlock the power of the artefacts, we had to give up XP. In fact, we would already be level 4 if we hadn't unlocked the first level of each...
Prelude
Valeria had left the crew to attend her business in Daerim, while Athosian, Biznard and Shamil did minor tasks for their organization around the city. After all, a ship makes transportation easy, and their bosses did not refuse the opportunity. While in a neighboring village, they did receive a letter from the sorceress, asking for their immediate help in the city.
A not so pleasant arrival
Daerim is the only city on the southern shore of the Quiron Sea to have close ties to the Northern Alliance (the good guys). Thus it irked the adventurers that the dockmaster greeted them with contempt, the soldiers called them names and even the beggars spat in their general direction.
They made their way to the inn called the Cheeky Empress, as instructed, only to find Valeria in a state of distress - unslept and unkempt. The sorceress, happy to see her friends, explained that she had incurred the wrath of her superiors and was now drowning in thankless jobs as a result. This is what you get for bugging the bosses about your prophetic dream involving a tide of blood... Obviously, she could not leave her post to join the party, but she did locate a magic user to replace her: Felgrin, the gnome wizard*. The gnome also had a rough start, with Athosian immediately reaching into his pockets while pretending a hug, and the barbarian not managing to retain his name.
The investigation begins
Valeria laid out 3 possible routes of investigation: finding out why the city is becoming hostile to northernerns; convincing the council of the organizations they belong to take the emerging threat seriously; and finally, looking into the dealings of Telicanthus: a renegade from Gorvik (a country with a bad reputation) living in the city as a wealthy merchant and socialite.
First of all, the adventurers asked around the tavern for how and why have local conditions changed. With neither of them properly charismatic, they managed to lose coins at gambling and getting insulted without any headway.
Realizing they were not adept at this thing, Shamil decided to ask for help; after all, his headhunter clan had a small outpost in the city. A man of rank, he had no trouble getting an audience with the leader of the expedition (while the rest of the party waited at the entrance to the safe house). Already aware of the "hysterical harridan rambling about mad dreams", but trusting Shamil's word, the "strategos" gave him a week to use the resources commanded by the outpost as he saw fit.
With the spies and informers dispatched, the adventurers decided to pay a visit to Telicanthus. Shamil dressed as a minor noble, with a gnome scribe and two bodyguards. At first glance, the butler invited them to a tea party held in 5 days - even after they insisted that his master's life is in grave peril. Unsatisfied, they wrote up a letter emphasizing the same thing, then the gnome teleported across the courtyard and into the imposing mansion. A servant, scared witless, fetched the master of the villa. Telicanthus appeared accompanied by his personal secretary a couple of guards. Felgrin left him the letter and got out. Surely, someone penetrating his home with such ease would attract some attention? And indeed it did. Barely had the gnome rejoined his fellows, when the secretary walked out and invited them to a tea party held in 2 days. Not that this pleased them greatly, but it was better than nothing.
On the scent
The night after, the spies turned in their report. Nothing out of the ordinary for Telicanthus, but they located another anomaly in the city. Far away from the merchant district and the appropriate street, bordering the district of the poor, stood an abandoned spice warehouse. This was the only real tie-in to Valeria's dream, which featured a constantly shifting building giving off a strong scent of spice.
Not wanting to waste any time, the party gathered themselves and visited the warehouse in the night. Visibility was awful, but they managed to sneak there undetected by the city watch.
Upon arrival, Felgrin (who had shared memories of the dream with Valeria through the use of psychics) recognized the vivid impressions left by the stench of old spice. They were on the right trail.
The warehouse was all boarded up - but the main entrance had in fact a hidden lock, revealed by the psychic sight of the gnome.
While circling the building, the party was approached by a beggar child from an alleyway. They gave him some money, and in return found out that the beggars in the city used this warehouse as a hideout.
To be continued...
* The player behind Armatio decided to try a new build based on a complete lack of offensive spells, but plenty of space-time manipulation.
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