Session 10: Badgers, Piranhas, and Smugglers - Oh my!
(A detailed description written by Lisandra's player)
Our last episode commenced with Ella and Lisandra just having read a message from their Ugen Sisk, alerting them to a lead on the House Elf’s whereabouts in the Pine Island District. Quick to get to work, the pair arrive at their office to the scent of coffee and fresh pastries. Accompanying said morning sustenance was their superior, Inspector Delft awaiting their morning report. Despite apparently little-to-no-sleep, Angharad arrived a surprisingly five minutes late, and even more surprisingly, he arrived completely chipper and full of energy… and possibly as high as a kite.
The report continued on a little shakily, as the team had yet to have a solid lead on exactly where or when this smuggling operation was intending to take that evening.
Partway through Ella’s delivery of the previous days findings, Pete bursts through their door, and after a lecture from Delft on the importance of such meetings being confidential, Pete offered a shrug and announced that Saxby wanted to see Angharad in her office. Quietly, Angharad slipped a piece of wood into his desk draw and took his leave.
Secretly shitting himself, the inebriated constable headed into Saxby’s office as Delft wished the team good luck, emphasising reminding them they should not be afraid to ask for help, as the people of Flint owe them for the prior actions.
Arriving at Saxby’s office, Angharad was greeted by the usual cheery demeanour of the boss of their boss. You know, the kind that leaves you (a fully fledged adult) standing awkwardly in front of her desk like a reprimanded schoolkid before she has barely opened her mouth. Turned out the Inspectress was curious about their meeting with Nervard Serchim, the Skyseer in the Cloudwood and asked for Angharad’s opinion of the man. With a little consideration, the Cipith decided ‘dying’ was his strongest impression of Nevard and the Inspectress replied with a steely sense of concern, pointing out that the dying skyseer seemed to be their only tangible lead on finding Gale. With a prompt dismissal, and a very quick exit, Angharad left to rejoin his fellow constables.
Ready to get stuck into their day, the trio followed Ella’s lead to visit Dima, one of Carlao’s team to inquire if she had the means to be able to cast some divination magic on the oily rag they had found in Recklinhausen’s hostel room linked to the Not-Officer Porter. Taking the group aside, Dima joined them with a scroll of Blood Biography and cast it on said rag. The results caused some confusion, as the casting was successful, but did not display the information the group was expecting. Ella deduced that whatever the rag lead to was protected by a ward that prevented divination magic from working.
On their way out to follow their lead on the House Elf, Lisandra made a quick stop in to see Uncle Ivan, the new Quartermaster, in search of a potion that might help with improving one’s reflexes and dexterity for a time. Ella followed along, and they found Uncle Ivan busy at work mixing some kind of alchemical substance and pouring it into a large gun. With a puff of smoke, the reagents started expelling a pungent gas that caused the goblin to begin coughing. A startled Ella and confused Lisandra watched as he threw the gun into the evidence room, and promptly slammed the door shut before small tendrils of the poison seeped out from beneath the door. With casual assurance, Uncle Ivan scolded Ella on worrying too much and pointed at the dissipating substance before changing the subject and dealing with Lisandra’s request.
“You need a potion of bouncy body!” he declared, pulling a few vials from a draw as Lisandra hesitated. “Come, I show you!”
Uncle Ivan raced off to their office on their second floor, followed closely by Ella and a less urgent, and still dubious Lisandra. They met with Angharad, who had remained to retrieve the previously mentioned piece of wood from his desk, because that’s not weird, and Uncle Ivan sprang into a demonstration. Despite assurances that such a display wasn’t required, the goblin downed one of the potions, and flung himself out the second story window without a care. To the horror of Lisandra and Ella, Uncle Ivan landed on the sidewalk on his back, not a single bounce witnessed. Or a scratch to be seen, apparently, as he dismissed Lisandra’s concerns before climbing back into the window via way of gun-propelled grappling hook. After this grand display, Lisandra expressed she was a little unsure that was the kind of potion she was after, to which Uncle Ivan held up another potion and simply claimed he knew, and offered her Cat’s Grace instead.
With their office business completed, the group set out to make a hasty trip to the Lower Flint Bay, headed to the Central docks to utilize their newly constructed ship, the Mist Runner, for the task. Concerned with the proper protocol, Ella attempted to wake their ever-napping colleague, Ugen, to inform him that they were taking the ship out for work. Deep in his slumber, Angharad summoned Geriad to dump some water on the poor man as Lisandra mumbled anxiously about the unnecessary nature of such things. After a rude awakening, Ugen let them know they can simply take the boat whenever suits them and bid them on their way. Before the trio departed, much to Ella’s delight, both she and Angharad found pebbles sitting on the hammock nearby. All three constable were now in possession of one, which piqued Ella’s curiosity as she began to diligently take notes on new variables to keep track of.
Despite being one man short, Team BAD sailed off to the Lower Flint Bay, the Mist Runner docks on the southerned side of the district and asks around about the House Elf, hoping to find out seek out this mysterious figure for questioning. They are each regaled with many varying accounts of the man… eladrin… half-elf… uh, orc? And his mystifying show that included tricks such as turning someone inside out, and right-side in, turning people various colours and such. The trio find themselves up north near the coast, at the House Elf’s studio. Inside, they met a gnome gentleman who, upon seeing Ella’s badge, quickly began attempting to sell his services to contract his services to the RHC. Introducing himself as Blander Wearyeye, Ella let her curiosity derail her and insisted that she must see a demonstration, to which the gnome turns around with a flourish, his cap changing into a tophat from which he pulls out a honey badger. Completely taken in by the display of such legitimate spell casting, Ella watches with awe as he theatrically dunks the excitable badger back into the hat several times turning it red, then blue, then bring it out again weary a tiny tophat much like his own. Lisandra begins a line of gentle questioning, small talk almost, as she asks the gnome how long he has been doing this kind of work. They discover he has been doing it for decades, and has always been in Flint and is very attached to his clutch of honey badgers, which sat in comfortable looking enclosures around the stage area. Discussions took a turn south when the name Nilasa was brought up and the direct questions began. Blander began to get a little nervous and rambling, Lisandra could tell he was clutching at straws to avoid answering the question. After further direct questioning from Ella, the gnome turned red and squeaked out he did not know the woman in question, before anxiously spouting off the list which animals could be summoned by the Summon Nature’s Ally spell. It was at this point that Lisandra stepped in, with a terse reminder at how appreciative they would be if he took a moment to rethink the question and answer a little more honestly this time. His nervous rambling devolved into an accidental mention that did not in fact know Nisala or about her smuggling operation that he was certainly not involved with in such great detail that it could not be further denied. The gnome promptly dropped the honey badger named Bartholemew from his grasp and begged it to protect him, as he turned invisible and attempted to escape.
The constables defended themselves against the ornery badger, attempting to talk Wearyeye down. Angharad managed to knock Bartholemew unconscious as Ella and Lisandra finally assured the nervous gnome that they were here for information, not to make arrests or to harm. Once the House Elf agreed to cooperate, Ella used a bit of magic to rouse the badger back to consciousness and the team were able to get some useful leads on the operation at last. It turns out that Blander and Nilasa were friends and he was in need of money to keep to the high standard of care for his badgers so he took a job to help her with a smuggling operation to buy wander from a Cryssili organization called The Family. The pair were to meet with their Family contact, Deorn, and his crew at the Family warf. After sharing a meal, they were to sail with Deorn on his ship the Silvo to meet with another ship in the Ayres called the Li Grifoni Grinyande (The Grinning Griffin) where the exchange would take place. He wrote down the address of the wharf, which was only about 15 minutes away.
Heading offstage, the trio took to a side room to speak privately about consolidating their information and conducting a plan. A little nervous about their options, they decided to head over toward the Family warf to scope the place out. After thanking Wearyeye for his assistance, Ella tentatively let him know that, if this meeting wasn’t too offputting, that the RHC may actually have a legitimate job for him in future.
After arriving in the cover of the pine forest, Angharad summoned his little firey companion, Geriad, to send him off to scout out the area and see if he could find out any further information about the wharf and its occupants. He saw people working, preparing food and standing guard, one in particular with an incredibly large gun. The team spent some time agonizing over the best approach, more underhanded methods of evening odds or trying to avoid combat. But in the end, they decided to cover their bases by having Blander write them a letter, explaining their presence as replacements, and to approach stealthily, leaving perhaps the option to to talk their way out of a sticky situation should they be noticed.
Unfortunately, not a word could be shared before the man with the gun spotted the group and shouted an order to kill, and for the deckhands to get the ship ready to sail. Darting out of the dock that sat above piranha infested waters, Ella darts out to oppose a woman with a dagger who is blocking the way forward, backed up closely by Lisandra and Angharad. Despite taking injury, Ella holds her own with both rapier and claw against her target, and Lisandra slips in to flank and try to get an advantage in the fray, agile in her approach, but still a little unpracticed with her rapier. In his frustration at seeing his friends get hurt, Angharad lets loose torrents of flame, taking some damage as they haphazard blaze right past the woman.
Deorn, the gunman, joins the fray as his compatriot is surrounded by constables, and the piranha approach, hoping for a meal to fall from the rickety walkway during the fray. Lisandra takes a bullet to the shoulder, and as Deorn’s companion began to slip into unconsciousness towards the water, she turned on the man, clutching her shoulder, and approached him with her weapon ready. The unconscious woman slipped from the wharf before Ella was able to grab out at her, and was devoured by the hungry swarm below. The sight horrified Ella who stood aghast with a front row seat to the event, and it enraged Deorn, who turned his vengeance toward Lisandra.
The encounter took a turn for the worse as Deorn’s skill with a weapon was more reliable than Lisandra’s ability with a curative wand. Ella managed to rejoin the fray, anxiously taking up her shortbow. Angharad rushed in to place himself between Lisandra and Deorn, attempting to divert his rage by insulting his family… which unfortunately worked and Deorn was all too happy to oblige. Cutting Angharad down, he turned on Lisandra, wounding her severely before Ella ran with her curative wand with aid.
With the Silvo nearing a state to sail, Deorn turned and left the wounded constables on the walkway, heading off to set sail. Desperate to not fail, Lisandra took stock of the situation, anxiously searching for a way to gain the upper hand. As Ella brought Angharad to consciousness and ran ahead, the Cipith let off a torrent of flame, attempting to light the sails and stop the ship from getting away. The flame missed and desperation set in as Lisandra steeled herself for a grizzly idea that the bloody haze of water by the dockside prompted. As Deorn was delayed to retrieve his precious gun, she reached her hand out toward the feasting piranha’s and drew on the departed spirit, conjuring the woman’s ethereal form into being in front of her kin, much to Ella’s distress as it appeared at her side.
It was enough to keep his interest on land. For a moment, the Deorn’s face slackened, looking shocked and almost relieved… before the spectral woman lashed out, plunging a ghostly arm through him and causing pain… and potentially lasting psychological damage. Deorn’s vengeance is once again honed in on Lisandra as he moves with purpose through the combat towards her. Putting some distance between them, she lifts her chin with as much authority as she can muster and shouts, “Killing me will not bring her rest! Stand down or I will make sure her soul lingers and suffers.”
The bluff paid off. Deorn reluctantly raises his hands above his head, nodding to Lisandra with a grin and admitting defeat. And with that, the horrific encounter was to an end. The woman’s spectre dissipated and from the shore, they noticed local police gathering to inspect the commotion. Leaving her colleagues to tend to their prisoners, Lisandra met with police to ensure their jurisdiction was not interfered with. As Lisandra verified their credentials, Deorn shoved a few papers to Ella and quietly urged her to stop the wands from entering into anyone’s hand claiming that if the Family couldn’t have them, nobody should.
The police carted off the arrested men and with the conflict over, Ella was left to ponder the red-stained ocean beneath them as Angharad assisted in tending to Lisandra’s injuries. Still in care-taker mode, it was Angharad who approached Ella, pensively perched at the edge of the walkway and promptly lifted her up and began to walk her away. She protested, asuring she was fine and that he should put her down and continue with their work. The little tiefling made her way to secure the Silvo as Lissandra quietly wandered off to inspect the main building.
The session came to a sombre close, as Ella handed over Deorn’s note to Angharad, for once not interested in paperwork in the slightest. A map, conveniently marked with times and places by the Ayres and labeled, The Grinning Griffin.
How will our motley crew of constables move forward and prevent the impending smuggling operation? Stay tuned, for the next adventure of Team BAD.
Post-session notes
The party was shaken by disappointing Delft. They seem to really admire him, and were taken aback when their boss scolded them for not knowing the time, location, or nature of the smuggling operation.
Nothing much else to say, other than that the party heard Blander desperately call out for Danisca, and just assumed it was another honey badger. The combat was resolved before she had a chance to appear, and watched the rest of the discussion from the rafters above.
