Session 23 Notes

Warning: Emily has no chill and can't summarize, so this is a long one As the party enters the Mirabar district, they immediately notice two things: 1. There are considerably fewer armbands being sported here, and 2. They haven’t eaten all day and are starving. Dungar asks a few dwarves on the street where the gang might find some good eats and cold drinks, and they say that they’ll be heading to The Cutlass later. Thorne mentions to Val that she was flirting with the sleazy DMV guy (Mordicai) which really surprises her, she didn’t mean to flirt with him! The Drill is already missing D.E.B.I. and believes that their separation is also teaching D.E.B.I. how to miss.

The party begins to discuss how they’re going to extract their money from Bruenor once they find him and decide to go for the classic good cop/ bad cop/ fire cop/ beat cop/ hammer cop routine. They continue winding their way through the district, passing longhouses and warehouses and eventually come to a tower. Looking up, they see bodies hanging from posts in various stages of decay and decomposition. Each of them has a placard around their necks (no armbands in sight). Thorne cautiously moves forward, with Dr. Yglesia behind her, and can see that the placards have different crimes written on them (“thief” “cheat” etc.). A fresh body catches Thorne’s eye that looks familiar; upon closer examination Thorne recognizes it as Finley, the asshat that stole Val’s bell.

While Thorne and Dr. Yglesia are examining the bodies, the others realize that perhaps this is not a spot they should linger. They notice some security officers posted in the general vicinity, wearing an emblem of a hammer over a set of scales. They carry cudgels. The Drill recognizes the symbol as that of merchant marines, a warrior sub-cast which can be found in Dwarven enclaves in major cities.

While Thorne and Dr. Yglesia are examining the bodies, the others realize that perhaps this is not a spot they should linger. They notice some security officers posted in the general vicinity, wearing an emblem of a hammer over a set of scales. They carry cudgels. The Drill recognizes the symbol as that of merchant marines, a warrior sub-cast which can be found in Dwarven enclaves in major cities.

Thorne and Dr. Yglesia tell Val that they’ve found Finley, and after the crew decides not to cut him down, she casts a quick detect magic to see if her bell happens to still be on his person. A bloom of magic appears on Finley, then a trail comes down from the body and disappears behind the tower. Val takes off at a jog to follow it, yelling to the gang “Follow me!” Dr. Yglesia applauds her leadership and encourages the others to follow. Dungar sends a quick message to Finley before chasing the magic trail (“hey sucker, u up?”) but gets no response (Finley is real dead).

The trail leads them to a fountain behind the trading post. They don’t see anyone and begin looking around the square. Thorne gropes the fountain while Val explores the bushes and finds a pile of rocks, placed to look like a bell. Thorne and Val identify some recently disturbed earth and begin their excavation process (Thorne starts strong with a BLAST of mold earth, but reigns it in and delicately wipes away dirt with one of her low-quality leaves). Dungar helps them out by casting Enhance Ability for INT, then goes over to the fountain to start busking and create a distraction. The Drill also gets in on the distraction game and he and Dr. Yglesia walk over to a nearby group of three merchant marines (Yorik, Heinegar, and Gavin) and introduces himself and his wife, Oprah (Dr. Y). The Drill chat them up, explaining they came into the city with Bruenor (the guards gave their deepest sympathies), while Oprah feeds her bird, starting an old-married-couple bickering session. They ask if they can be escorted to The Cutlass to find Bruenor and are reminded that it’s in South Luskan, not Mirabar. The guards notice Dungar and inform him that he can’t perform in that spot without a permit and should get the approvals to perform at a pre-approved venue, because everyone in Mirabar hates joy and fun. The guards ask if Dungar is with The Drill and Oprah and inform Dungar he needs to leave, poking him with their cudgels. The situation quickly escalates, and the guards begin to arrest Dungar, telling him that they will be taking him to The Pens so he can put his labors to better use. Dungar points out he has soft, delicate musician hands and says he’s no good for hard, manual labor (clearly the guards haven’t seen his popstar abs). The guards say instead they can sell him as a performer to one of the fancy Houses. Oprah tries to bribe the guards to release Dungar and the guards tell The Drill that the only reason his “wife” hasn’t been arrested is because he’s a dwarf, and that they need to leave asap. He probably should have married a nice Dwarven girl instead. They ask for more information about The Drill’s family, to which he says “If you need to know more, you’re plum out of luck” While this is going on, Val and Thorne continue digging. Thorne points out the dirt on Val’s face has given her a healthy color and makes her face look contoured. Eventually they dig up a scroll case (not trapped) and inside is a note that says “Your bell is in safe hands. You will be contacted soon. - A friend.” Thorne, who is less distracted than Val, realizes Dungar is being arrested and creates her own distraction, popping out of the bushes and yelling about a thief stealing her purse. Dungar seizes the moment to become invisible and escape the guards. Thorne writes a comment card while The Drill and Dr. Yglesia Scooby-gang it up to watch the guards disappear after the imagined thief.

The party reconvenes, agreeing that they need to come up with a word to indicate that they’re in trouble (they don’t). Thorne makes sure to highlight Val’s contours for the party, with special attention toward Dungar. Discuss what they’ve seen (should they go learn more about Finley’s crimes from public records in case it leads them to the bell?) and ultimately decide to refocus on their #1 priority for the day: finding Bruenor (by way of dinner). Val demonstrates another display of leadership and follows her nose to find something delicious. On the way, they notice that this part of the district seems to be like Bourbon Street (open containers!), confusing the hell out of the group given the previous opposition to artistic self-expression demonstrated by the guards. They see all kinds of wild displays - singers, jugglers, contortionists, gambling (The Drill doesn’t recognize what game they are playing). Thorne asks Dr. Yglesia how she feels about being married and if she’s jealous of D.E.B.I. She also speaks to a half-elven man (“excuse me, kind man with drinks…”) who tries to drag her off but is no match for her evasive maneuvers. Val’s high-born elven nose leads them to the fanciest establishment in the neighborhood. A willowy elven woman asks if they want to dine with them. Realizing that they perhaps shouldn’t have let Val pick the restaurant and this may be too expensive for them, Thorne tries to get the gang in to eat for free due to the presence of the famous Oprah, whose Scroll of the Month club is legendary and explains that if they win the coveted Eatery of the Month Club award, they will see a huge increase in business. Oprah tries to act annoyed and turns her back on the woman, which is actually just a ploy to scope out some food trucks. The party leaves when the elven woman doesn’t take the Oprah bait, but before Thorne can walk away, the elven woman hands her something and tells her to read it later.

The party finds a food truck operated by a halfling man named Regis and he has a lot of meat. On sticks (because it’s illegal to serve meat without sticks). Or in ball form (this is apparently ok). Dr. Yglesia introduces herself as Kathy Lee and asks for one of everything for everyone. Dungar, who is no longer invisible but now looks like Judith Crossbowman, asks a lot of questions about Regis’ permit (he assures them that he is current on all of his permits and regulations) and spends a good deal of time studying it. The Drill thinks Judith is part of the party now, not realizing it’s Dungar. Dr. Yglesia praises Regis for his delicious meats, and Regis asks her to tell all her friends, to which Dr. Yglesia very seriously replies: “I have.” Val and Thorne slip away discreetly during the meat discussion to seek out some vegetables instead and find a hippie druid human woman who smells strongly of patchouli. After some discussion about what to do next, the party decides to go back to the meat cart to ask Regis if he knows Bruenor. Renley, who works with Regis at the meat stick cart, subtly indicates that we will need to purchase more meat in order to get a response to their inquiry (but of course it’s not a bribe! That would be illegal!). Renley says that he’s heard tell of a suspicious dwarf running about the district who is being accused of watering down his liquor. He’s known for being VERY loud and braggadocious. Renley says he’s been seen at one of the longhouses. Val asks which one, but Renley indicates that Val really looks in need of a meat stick before that information will be divulged. She purchases one and shoves it in the middle of Dungar/Judith’s two meatballs. Renley tells them which longhouse it is, and Thorne gives him a gift/sample (value of less than 10 GP of course) of a leaf to spice up his life. Val asks some follow-up questions about permits in Mirabar before they depart (you need to register to trade or to live there, visiting is a bit unclear). The meat sticks are delicious, and the party tells Regis he needs to rename his cart (“Ball stick meat pouch). Dungar/Judith expresses his/her deep appreciation for Regis’ balls.

As the crew approaches the longhouse where they’re told they can find Bruenor, the doors burst open and they see Bruenor being held between two guardsmen, yelling “I didn’t do anything!” to which the party replies “We’re cops! We’ll take it from here!” the doc version has some hyperlinks