Session 31
When we last left our intrepid heroes, they had just arrived in Skullport, the city under Waterdeep, home to monsters and criminals, where vices were performed openly and the black market thrived. In front of the stretched a vast market, booths, stalls, and storefronts showing an array of goods, some of them no different than what’d they see in Waterdeep, others much more local. There were places to buy deadly poisons (in a booth festooned by fangs), blasphemous spell ingredients, unsavory knowledge, sentient beings, or illegal contracts. The place was populated by shady characters – clever and stealthy thieves (Garden recognized a few), dangerous-looking warriors sporting gruesome trophies, hard-eyed merchants with formidable bodyguards, and fierce pirates and sly smugglers looking to ply their trade at the nearby wharf.
Monstrous races walked heer openly, ogres, trolls, creatures with demonic features, less-identifiable beings you most likely did not want to identify. Looking around, the group even spotted a dark creeper amongst the crowd. Garden was fairly sure he saw one or two pieces of jewelry for sale which had been on the Guards’ fencing list (sent to all reputable dealers, of which Garden took pains to present openly). William was sure he saw humanoid hearts in one stall.
Creeped out, the group proceeded along the market, loosely surrounded by the Faith sisters. While they walked, Garden noticed a halfling about to cut Steven’s purse. A word of warning and the man had weapons pointed at him by most of the group. The halfling let go of the purse, smiled tightly, and backed away with his hands out and open. Delia Faith smiled slightly as they walked on; Garden got the impression she had let the halfling inside their circle to be sure she wasn’t guarding total idiots.
The group had barely gotten going again when the call of, “Longshanks!” came roaring out of the crowd, directed at Charissa. Walking up to them was a gnome with a pack taller than he was, hung with all sorts of interesting things, a bushy beard, and a fairly mad grin. Both Charissa and Garden grimaced, because they knew this gnome: Crazy Uncle Larry.
Every family has a crazy relative or two, and in the Origami clan, there was Crazy Uncle Larry. He chatted to the two of them as if he’d just planned to see them there (unlikely), that they’d likely be seeing more of him (unfortunately), and that he’d been checking out new bargains here in Skullport (probably had too, the crazy fool). They managed to extricate themselves before he could delay them too much, and felt relieved for having gotten off so lightly.
Eventually the group came to the Temple of Beshaba, a tall building covered in broken mirrors, a few black cats lounging on the steps. One of them crossed in front of the party’s path and looked at them smugly, as if daring them to cross. The doors to the temple were open, and the sanctuary beyond was dark, lit just by a very distant flame upon the altar. All aside from Shandri could see in such low light, and what they could see was that the narrow entryway was lined with blackened antlers. With great care, the group walked inside. (The Faith sisters stayed outside, as daring the temple of Lady Doom was not part of their contract.)
The church proper had a very high ceiling, and the walls here were also lined with antlers. An acolyte met them and listened to their request, and later a full priest came out to speak to them, all smiles and slick manners. There was a great deal of things not said, inference, end-runs, double-talk, and reading between the lines, but what was learned and said during the “polite” conversation was thus – the group wanted to know if Geb was here, and if the church backed his potentially city-shaking plots openly. It seemed the church supported Geb and felt he was channeling Beshaba’s power strongly. He was (very likely) staying at the Skullport temple, and may or may not have been there right at that moment. No, they weren’t going to bring him out if he might have been there. As Geb was very ambitious, wouldn’t likely support him openly to avoid backlash if the goddess abandoned him for overweening pride. So, if the group ended up fighting Geb (while he wasn’t in Skullport), there wouldn’t be open warfare with Beshaba’s faithful, but Geb would have potential allies and boltholes.
The priest would even pledge against open warfare, and offered his blessing in the form of cutting their palms with an antler tine and smearing their wounds with ash and burned wine. This was a Beshaban blessing. He said he’d be watching them. All but Shandri and Steven decided to take the man’s blessing. At no time did the priest give his name. At no time did anyone ask for it.
While this conversation was going on, a couple of the group noticed a very large bat was hanging from the high ceiling, quite carefully concealed.
The group finally left and walked a short ways away, wanting to watch the back entrances to see if the priests warned Geb, and he might come out. As they were watching, they saw the bat fly out very quickly, and alight on one of the stalactites in the great cavern ceiling over the city. Wondering who the bat was working for, Shandri sent up Drip, one of her mephit underlings, to investigate.
Drip returned later, not dead or wounded, and said the bat would like to speak to them, and said it would meet them atop the spire of a tower down the road. The tower in question was an abandoned-looking rickety wooden affair that looked to be an accident waiting to happen. Very curious, the group decided to investigate. They checked the door of the tower carefully, and discovered that the door was not just trapped, it was alive! And hungry. They fed it, and then also got it drunk. It finally sagged a bit to the side, lolled out its tongue, and let them pass. The journey up was somewhat hair-raising, with few railings and the whole tower feeling like it might collapse at any moment. The Faith sisters also stayed outside the tower, as that had not been part of their bargain either.
At the platform at the top, they realized that the bat had a rider, a gnome woman wearing bright red boots. She introduced herself as Mirna (Sergeant Red Boots would also do in a pinch) and her bat as Yash. She handed both Garden and Charissa an origami bat, and they realized she was one of the clan. Garden turned the bat into a swan, and Charissa into a crane (but not a good one; there was much good-natured ribbing about her over-large fingers). Mirna said since Garden had sent out messages about Geb before, she had included watching for him in her general gathering of information about Origami clan rivals down here. Fighting Geb in Skullport would be very bad, all agreed, and Mirna said she could watch the temple more unobtrusively than they, and send word when Geb finally left the temple and went to the surface.
Grateful that Garden’s postings to the clan about Geb had born fruit, and feeling the danger of Skullport pressing in around them as the hour grew late, the group finally left.
It was full dark by the time the group returned to the surface, and carefully the group went to the Busty Wench to allow time for a group of urchins to go to the House of Violette to summon a carriage for Evelyn and Steven. Walking home, even in pairs, would be dangerous in Dock Ward at this time of night.
Shandri took great care to keep William occupied and away from the temptations of the ladies of the Busty Wench because…well… some things even William wasn’t ready for. “Old Granther” was a known figure, as the man who had (with Charissa’s help) supplied many bodice daggers and blade-shoes to the ladies. They fussed over him quite a bit, while Charissa and Steven decided to try a bit of their luck and show a picture of Geb’s face around. (Evelyn was exchanging fashion tips and inadvertently helping sell more blade-shoes by showing off some of her own.)
And for a wonder, one woman did remember seeing Geb! She said he’d been talking to Carla, the devotee of Loviatar the group had spoken to a while back about another matter. Charissa went to speak to her. She was currently using one client as a footstool, but if Charissa would pay for her time, she didn’t mind making double wages.
She said she knew Geb, but under the name “Dravin,” an alias the group had heard before. She asked closely as to Geb’s supposed crimes and what exactly they were going to do to him when they caught him. She wanted every gory detail, not just of exactly where Charissa was going to shoot him and how Steven would smite him, but also the destruction of his dreams and idea of revenge. It was clear she was trying to see if the pain of letting the group at him was more than the pain he was intending to inflict.
Apparently she thought it was enough, and after “Old Granther” had been pried from the bosom of the ladies to give her a rather large payment in the form of an expensive gem, said he could be found at the estate of Marfor Lequay, across from the Blue Mushroom tavern (attached to the Green Fairy festhall), at seven bells on Sixthday a week hence.
The group had fifteen days to prepare for Geb. Just fifteen days…
When we last left our intrepid heroes, they had just arrived in Skullport, the city under Waterdeep, home to monsters and criminals, where vices were performed openly and the black market thrived. In front of the stretched a vast market, booths, stalls, and storefronts showing an array of goods, some of them no different than what’d they see in Waterdeep, others much more local. There were places to buy deadly poisons (in a booth festooned by fangs), blasphemous spell ingredients, unsavory knowledge, sentient beings, or illegal contracts. The place was populated by shady characters – clever and stealthy thieves (Garden recognized a few), dangerous-looking warriors sporting gruesome trophies, hard-eyed merchants with formidable bodyguards, and fierce pirates and sly smugglers looking to ply their trade at the nearby wharf.
Monstrous races walked heer openly, ogres, trolls, creatures with demonic features, less-identifiable beings you most likely did not want to identify. Looking around, the group even spotted a dark creeper amongst the crowd. Garden was fairly sure he saw one or two pieces of jewelry for sale which had been on the Guards’ fencing list (sent to all reputable dealers, of which Garden took pains to present openly). William was sure he saw humanoid hearts in one stall.
Creeped out, the group proceeded along the market, loosely surrounded by the Faith sisters. While they walked, Garden noticed a halfling about to cut Steven’s purse. A word of warning and the man had weapons pointed at him by most of the group. The halfling let go of the purse, smiled tightly, and backed away with his hands out and open. Delia Faith smiled slightly as they walked on; Garden got the impression she had let the halfling inside their circle to be sure she wasn’t guarding total idiots.
The group had barely gotten going again when the call of, “Longshanks!” came roaring out of the crowd, directed at Charissa. Walking up to them was a gnome with a pack taller than he was, hung with all sorts of interesting things, a bushy beard, and a fairly mad grin. Both Charissa and Garden grimaced, because they knew this gnome: Crazy Uncle Larry.
Every family has a crazy relative or two, and in the Origami clan, there was Crazy Uncle Larry. He chatted to the two of them as if he’d just planned to see them there (unlikely), that they’d likely be seeing more of him (unfortunately), and that he’d been checking out new bargains here in Skullport (probably had too, the crazy fool). They managed to extricate themselves before he could delay them too much, and felt relieved for having gotten off so lightly.
Eventually the group came to the Temple of Beshaba, a tall building covered in broken mirrors, a few black cats lounging on the steps. One of them crossed in front of the party’s path and looked at them smugly, as if daring them to cross. The doors to the temple were open, and the sanctuary beyond was dark, lit just by a very distant flame upon the altar. All aside from Shandri could see in such low light, and what they could see was that the narrow entryway was lined with blackened antlers. With great care, the group walked inside. (The Faith sisters stayed outside, as daring the temple of Lady Doom was not part of their contract.)
The church proper had a very high ceiling, and the walls here were also lined with antlers. An acolyte met them and listened to their request, and later a full priest came out to speak to them, all smiles and slick manners. There was a great deal of things not said, inference, end-runs, double-talk, and reading between the lines, but what was learned and said during the “polite” conversation was thus – the group wanted to know if Geb was here, and if the church backed his potentially city-shaking plots openly. It seemed the church supported Geb and felt he was channeling Beshaba’s power strongly. He was (very likely) staying at the Skullport temple, and may or may not have been there right at that moment. No, they weren’t going to bring him out if he might have been there. As Geb was very ambitious, wouldn’t likely support him openly to avoid backlash if the goddess abandoned him for overweening pride. So, if the group ended up fighting Geb (while he wasn’t in Skullport), there wouldn’t be open warfare with Beshaba’s faithful, but Geb would have potential allies and boltholes.
The priest would even pledge against open warfare, and offered his blessing in the form of cutting their palms with an antler tine and smearing their wounds with ash and burned wine. This was a Beshaban blessing. He said he’d be watching them. All but Shandri and Steven decided to take the man’s blessing. At no time did the priest give his name. At no time did anyone ask for it.
While this conversation was going on, a couple of the group noticed a very large bat was hanging from the high ceiling, quite carefully concealed.
The group finally left and walked a short ways away, wanting to watch the back entrances to see if the priests warned Geb, and he might come out. As they were watching, they saw the bat fly out very quickly, and alight on one of the stalactites in the great cavern ceiling over the city. Wondering who the bat was working for, Shandri sent up Drip, one of her mephit underlings, to investigate.
Drip returned later, not dead or wounded, and said the bat would like to speak to them, and said it would meet them atop the spire of a tower down the road. The tower in question was an abandoned-looking rickety wooden affair that looked to be an accident waiting to happen. Very curious, the group decided to investigate. They checked the door of the tower carefully, and discovered that the door was not just trapped, it was alive! And hungry. They fed it, and then also got it drunk. It finally sagged a bit to the side, lolled out its tongue, and let them pass. The journey up was somewhat hair-raising, with few railings and the whole tower feeling like it might collapse at any moment. The Faith sisters also stayed outside the tower, as that had not been part of their bargain either.
At the platform at the top, they realized that the bat had a rider, a gnome woman wearing bright red boots. She introduced herself as Mirna (Sergeant Red Boots would also do in a pinch) and her bat as Yash. She handed both Garden and Charissa an origami bat, and they realized she was one of the clan. Garden turned the bat into a swan, and Charissa into a crane (but not a good one; there was much good-natured ribbing about her over-large fingers). Mirna said since Garden had sent out messages about Geb before, she had included watching for him in her general gathering of information about Origami clan rivals down here. Fighting Geb in Skullport would be very bad, all agreed, and Mirna said she could watch the temple more unobtrusively than they, and send word when Geb finally left the temple and went to the surface.
Grateful that Garden’s postings to the clan about Geb had born fruit, and feeling the danger of Skullport pressing in around them as the hour grew late, the group finally left.
It was full dark by the time the group returned to the surface, and carefully the group went to the Busty Wench to allow time for a group of urchins to go to the House of Violette to summon a carriage for Evelyn and Steven. Walking home, even in pairs, would be dangerous in Dock Ward at this time of night.
Shandri took great care to keep William occupied and away from the temptations of the ladies of the Busty Wench because…well… some things even William wasn’t ready for. “Old Granther” was a known figure, as the man who had (with Charissa’s help) supplied many bodice daggers and blade-shoes to the ladies. They fussed over him quite a bit, while Charissa and Steven decided to try a bit of their luck and show a picture of Geb’s face around. (Evelyn was exchanging fashion tips and inadvertently helping sell more blade-shoes by showing off some of her own.)
And for a wonder, one woman did remember seeing Geb! She said he’d been talking to Carla, the devotee of Loviatar the group had spoken to a while back about another matter. Charissa went to speak to her. She was currently using one client as a footstool, but if Charissa would pay for her time, she didn’t mind making double wages.
She said she knew Geb, but under the name “Dravin,” an alias the group had heard before. She asked closely as to Geb’s supposed crimes and what exactly they were going to do to him when they caught him. She wanted every gory detail, not just of exactly where Charissa was going to shoot him and how Steven would smite him, but also the destruction of his dreams and idea of revenge. It was clear she was trying to see if the pain of letting the group at him was more than the pain he was intending to inflict.
Apparently she thought it was enough, and after “Old Granther” had been pried from the bosom of the ladies to give her a rather large payment in the form of an expensive gem, said he could be found at the estate of Marfor Lequay, across from the Blue Mushroom tavern (attached to the Green Fairy festhall), at seven bells on Sixthday a week hence.
The group had fifteen days to prepare for Geb. Just fifteen days…
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