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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cypherblade" data-source="post: 9888957" data-attributes="member: 7048389">Session 34: First signs of disagreement in the group?[spoiler] We rescued the young lady Ella. She lives a bit further away and works as a courtesan. We pay her hush money and send her home. Ayleen happily takes possession of the fine pistol with the goat motif.Before transporting Boone’s corpse with Floating Disk, Kane uses Speak with Dead on his body. However, the moment Kane establishes contact with Boone’s soul, it seems to cease to exist with a scream. Has a devil claimed his soul? We strip Boone (his body is not particularly recognizable) and decapitate him. We burn his clothes in a brazier and try to dispose of the head, but find no opportunity, so we will take it with us on the train.We return to The Sea King to pick up Staf. Staf tries to keep Versubak there, but Versubak slips away with Staf in pursuit. We meet Staf again in the foyer of our hotel. Damata approaches us and wants to confess something. He has been swindled by a Risurian entrepreneur, for which he had borrowed 30,000 gold from the Family. Damata Griento still possesses several magical heirlooms (stolen from his clan, as he openly admits). He wants to hire us to eliminate the gang he owes money to tomorrow in Nalaam. Opinions about this entire situation differ. Greatly. Very greatly. For the moment, we have to disappoint Damata: we will not help him.In our room(s) we try to make plans. However, we don’t really reach a conclusion, so we go to sleep. 14 Winter 500 AOVWe receive “aid” from Nick. After breakfast we notice that Cardiff, the man with the briefcase, is also missing, in addition to Boone’s absence of course. Boone’s ensemble does not seem very concerned about his disappearance.On the train Bree briefly checks whether we have seen Boone."No, no, haven’t seen him."Bree and Boone sometimes worked together as bodyguards. Their client would never have disembarked. Uh-huh.We then head toward the dining car. Tantalovich is in the corridor taking dice samples. Cassius briefly speaks with him about the influence of the positions of stars and planets.Elanor approaches Staf to invite him to tonight’s auction where, among others, Isobel will be sold. Nick discreetly casts Lesser Restoration on Isobel, who slowly begins to resist. But Elanor is not easily deterred and drags Isobel back to their cabin, where she receives new pills. A bit later Elanor returns to invite Cassius as well to the games in the Arena. She has reserved no fewer than three private boxes.Malia comes to take our menu choices: Luc Jierre wants to treat us to dinner. We are skeptical. Why is he inviting us—does he want to poison us?Kane suddenly hears the voice of Kaea (RHC B-team) in his head: if we can kidnap Jierre, the RHC can arrange an extraction, either at Sid Minos (the penultimate stop) or Vendricce (the final station). Kane asks them to “call back” tomorrow for confirmation, but to already prepare the extraction at Sid Minos.We try to plan how to proceed over the coming days. The hour of lunch approaches. Jierre and Octavia themselves are not present. The Grientos are. Strange that the host himself is absent… Nick enters later with Detect Poison active. He finds nothing in the kitchen or the dining car.Versubak invites Cassius to explore the casinos together tonight.Lunch proceeds smoothly, without any signs of poisoning. Nick and Staf join Cassius, Barbara, and Sarïa. Cassius asks Sarïa—oooooops, Mel—whether she has seen Boone. Versubak chokes on his cigar. He quickly makes himself scarce and heads back to his compartment.Staf tries to lure Elanor toward the dining car, but she overpowers Staf into consuming a cigarillo and cognac in her compartment. Staf gets Isobel pushed onto his lap. When the glass of cognac is delivered, Nick convinces Staf to escape the compartment after all.Malia confirms to Nick that a lantern has been mounted on the locomotive. Strange. That will be removed.Nick considers opening the rear door of the wagon and dumping Boone’s head somewhere in the mountains on the way to Nalaam.We arrive in Nalaam, the large casino looming on the mountainside.Cassius and Barbara approach Damata Griento, and Cassius manages to convince him to survive tonight so that we can “extract” him to Risur tomorrow. So we will help him with his appointment with the Family at 20:00.Staf, Nick, and Sarïa trail Jierre and Octavia. Staf is very conspicuous, but Nick and Sarïa manage to remain incognito. Staf returns to the hotel. At that moment Elanor leaves with Isobel—and four new bodyguards. Andrei attacks them in a futile attempt to free Isobel, but he is overpowered and taken away. Staf tries to intervene, but he becomes the target of Hold Person.A little later Griento departs. Cassius and Barbara go with him, and Staf joins them as well. Griento leads us to a cave. There we find about ten Famiglia members. Griento makes it clear he will not pay. The leader of the Family draws his dagger and the fight begins. Barbara throws a well-aimed grenade, Griento calls upon his Orcish Rage, and Cassius launches a powerful Chromatic Orb that strikes among four targets, after which Wild Magic makes him resistant to all damage for the next minute. Cassius and Barbara also fall back into the narrow tunnel entrance.Staf responds to the aggression of one of the mafiosi. Barbara shoots the leader and one of his companions. Cassius again hurls a Chromatic Orb among four mafiosi, after which a soft tune becomes audible around the halfling. Staf mercilessly beats down his immediate opponents and, once they are on the ground, hammers down on them even harder. When Barbara shoots down another opponent, she feels the irresistible urge from her pistol to bathe its grip in blood, which turns pink. Cassius fires a third Chromatic Orb, but is then overcome by fear of the last surviving enemy.Barbara shoots the final opponent, after which they try to save Griento. Staf attempts to sabotage the rescue effort, upon which Barbara gives him three seconds to withdraw. When he refuses, she fires her pistol next to his ear…[/spoiler][spoiler][/spoiler]</blockquote>

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