I'm putting the two sessions at once, so that we're all caught up. Session 16 was the last one before the holidays, and 17 was the most recent.
Session 16
The party prepares to be boarded by the elven ship, and Diashan hides her armor. A detachment of five elves boards and immediately begin searching the ship and the party for items. They seem intent on searching half-orcs especially. Soon however, a flotilla of fishing boats and rowboats arrive, filled with dwarves and humans armed to the teeth. General Xava, a Dasseni general, tells the elves to piss off, and guides the Penrose into port. There, the players find out that The small city of Seaquen has tripled in size thanks to the refugees from Ragesia pouring in. Xava agrees that there are likely spies among them, but that you can't turn them all away. Torrent leads the group to her master, Lee Sidoneth, a hydromancer who has a small island home off of the port. There, they relay all of their information, and Lee takes them to the Lyceum Council.
There, they meet, Simeon, an aging wizard who warns the council to steer conversation away from the minutiae of the war effort, as they are still working on defensive measures to ensure their secrets remain secret. Once the professors immediately break that rule, he sends them off, and receives the intelligence from Eluriah. He announces that the code changes as you observe it, and will take some time to crack. He also accepts Crystin into the academy, when he sees the magic residing within her. As thanks, though the Lyceum is short on funds, he gives them medallions that will allow them to see Madame Xendros, a tiefling broker who deals in magic items. The party sets off to see what's for sale, and discuss raiding a dragon's hoard for all the magic items they want to have.
Session 17
The group hems and haws over prices at Xendros’ but doesn’t buy anything. When they leave, they run into Han, a sailor who says that a woman from the Auyang family was offering a reward for anyone who brings them to the mansion. Mishka notices that the man’s eyes are a little glassy. He seems sincere, but there’s something off about him. Orwin recognizes the signs of someone who has been charmed, but with far less artistry than Haddin. They leave him behind as they enter the Tattoomancy shop, but Eluriah notices that he’s hanging around outside.
Inside the shop, they meet Tenga, an elven tattoo artist with a wide array of selections, from normal black tattoos to luminescent, and even animated. The party spends a long time talking about different designs they’d like. They think as a group they’ll get the Sword of Innenotdar. Torrent seems wary of a tattoo. Aripos wants to get an animated tattoo of Fern dancing. Orwin wants a copy of Mechanicles’ mechanical core on his hand. Eventually, Orwin goes out,a nd enchants Han’s shirt to glow bright blue, and they sneak out the back of Tattoomancy. The alleys are filled with refugees who are camping out.
The party splits up, with most of the party looking for an inn, and Orwin and Aripos go to the Auyang estate to find out why they’re wanted. Orwin turns Aripos invisible, and he goes sneaking about. He discovers the Auyang seem largely uninterested in the Party, as they refer to a woman by the name of Jess who wants to see them. The servants are gossiping about Jess as well, theorizing that she is sleeping with Master Auyang, as she has been placed in one of the lesser Auyang’s rooms. When Aripos investigates the room, he finds a distinct lack of personal items, almost as if no one is staying there.
Eventually, the group meets up, and they decide that while they will camp long-term, they will celebrate their first night at Seaquen in a real bed. They pay the money, and say goodbye to Torrent, despite Mishka’s insistence that she stay with the party. Aripos offers his assassination and thievery skills if she needs any help, and Torrent says she’ll pray for him. The night ends, and the party goes to rest. Before they’ve slept even an hour, a hand touches the door outside. Orwin’s Alarm spell goes off, and Eluriah awakes at the sound. They alert the group, and come rushing out in time to see a red-haired woman rushing down the stairs.
Post-Session(s) Thoughts
Both of these were more RP heavy sessions, and they were fun, though I am getting antsy for some action to get rolling now that they're in Seaquen. Thankfully last session ended with some excitement to get moving.
The encounter on the ship was essentially the elf detachment they were supposed to meet just outside Seaquen. Because they arrived a week earlier than they would have, the blockade is not quite assembled, so I think a few brave or quick ships could rush through. The group is suitably disgusted by the casual racism of the elves, and I was happy with how it was handled. Normally, I steer away from fantasy racism, but it's pretty impossible to separate the Shahalesti from the racism that's going to happen throughout the adventure. I played Xava as a rough and tumble general. She'd have to be to leave her homeland behind to throw in her lot with a bunch of independent mages.
Most of Session 16 was just delivering information, so not a lot of information was gained by the group besides meeting a few big NPCs. Lee was a perfect gentleman, and Simeon is a tired man. They were sad to see Crystin go. They didn't give a hoot about Haddin, which sounds about right. They really enjoyed the magic brokerage. I read somewhere on reddit that the best way to stop people from stealing from magic shops is to hide the items, and this seemed to work. I wouldn't be surprised if Aripos still tries eventually.
Session 17 was a bit more eventful, but dear god, everyone wants a tattoo. I assumed they would talk to Tenga for a bit, but I think they were there for an hour, half in character talking about what they want, half asking me the prices. So I'm going to start working up a price-list. I'll probably use
something like this as a starting point, and then add some multipliers for luminescent and animated tattoos. Critical role attribute tattoos and Tasha's tattoos will also be available later, but that's quite a ways out of their price range at the moment.
I was really happy they picked up on the weirdness of Han so quick (partially thanks to a lucky roll), and I was glad they decided to investigate, but I did not have anything planned for a reconnaissance mission. I also don't like focusing on one character like that for long. I trickled information, but like with the shrine in Innenotdar, Ifelt like I gave too little information. But on the fly, they were all things that made sense for a devil with unnatural means of communication. They definitely know something is up with this Jess character, but don't really know why. I was kind of hoping htey would just go to the mansion, because the inn isn't exactly the most exciting place for this encounter. I think I'll set it up as a half chase/half fight for next session.
Changes to the module
Besides the elf encounter moving to the sea, I liked giving the Dasseni army a bit to do. General Xava and her motley crüe are essentially a militia that have been arguing with the elves, saying they don't have the right to stop anyone from coming through. For now, they're able to keep the elves away, but that won't last long. General Xava was originally Xavious, and I renamed and regendered him simply because the group hadn't met any dwarven women, and Xavious sounded more like a Ragesian name than Dasseni.
I began the Lyceum meeting, and then halfway through realized that it sets a few things off, so I prematurely ended the scene and set up another meeting when Simeon decodes the intelligence.
Madame Xendros is straight up Captain Xendros from Ghosts of Saltmarsh. I wanted a nice gold sink if they start doing some real adventuring.
Next week, a chase, and a trap.