The Long Road - Game Thread

Quote from DirtyDogP >>

“I apologize for my presumption. I should have known your motives would be purely academic. Of course we will help you!”

"Excellent, excellent... Quietude, some more food and a round of drinks for this table, for my fine friends." The sullen tiefling behind the bar pulls out a tray and starts organizing glasses.

"You just need to search Skullport until the key is found. I've traced its last appearance to Thimblewine’s Pawn Shop. I'll give you a slip of paper with a drawing of the key, and the route to that shop. You should either find the key there, or be able to follow the trail to where it went next... If this errand takes some time, I have already arranged rooms for you to stay overnight at this inn. Once we have the key, we can arrange a boat to leave Skullport."

Drusk scratches his head. "That seems straightforward, but there are a few details I'm confused about. How did you get this key, and how was it stolen from you?"

Volo hems a bit. "When I say stolen, what I meant to say is that I really, really want it. Like, more than anybody else wants it. I haven't actually touched it, yet. But everything else is just as I said."

Pascal and Jorin only:

Quillary and Hildigrim only:

Pascal throws an arm around Volo, “Volo, friend, mon amie, buddy. You wanna know a fun fact? Remember that manor you gave me? Great place, real nice. Haunted. See, I made friends with him, thankfully. But! The fella’s got some real specific tastes when it comes to my cooking. So, if we don’t get some advanced payment for me to persuade him to give me some time off, I’m afraid we just won’t get that key? You follow what I’m saying, mon amie?”

Jorin moves next to Pascal and looms a bit over Volo, "Aye, the last payment you gave also came with a generous amount of work needed to make it useful.  Our treatment at the hands of the bugbears has put me, and my firends (He casts a glance to Quillary) in a mind to crack some heads.  A little up front would go a long way in reigning in that desire.  You know us northman can act rashly at times."

Quillary looks up from where she is slurping something that might be soup. "Altho, hed nob tellib ub sumthinb."

Pascal looks to Quillary and then squints as he slowly looks to Volo, “Now Volo, she ain’t right, now is she? I know you wouldn’t send us into an incredibly dangerous situation without all the facts, now would ya?”

(OOC: I will keep the rewards similar to what is awarded for Adventurer's League. But you might be able to get more loot as the module progresses.)

Volo sweats a bit under the glare of Pascal and Jorin. (Hildigrim sounds apologetic, but reaches for a fresh bread roll instead of stopping them.) Volo hems and haws... After all, he just gave what money he had to the bugbears (and the payment for the inn rooms for the party this night). After a bit, he includes this for his payment:

• Everyone in the party gets a Potion of Healing. (Do not add this to your inventory.) It only works up to the next day, so use it sometime during this module.
• Volo writes a note to one of his patrons in Waterdeep, who will pay some of Volo's expenses. When presented to the nobleman's estate, the party will get a total of 400 GP. (This requires the party to try to get the key. If you just run away, the bank will be notified to stop the payment.) The collective party funds are almost empty, and Hildi's wizardry has expenses, so this is a welcome amount of funds.

Quote from Mingofaust >>

Quillary: "Altho, hed nob tellib ub sumthinb."

Drusk nods at Quillary. "Well spoken!" And shakes his head in agreement with Pascal's words.

Volo: "Incredibly dangerous situation? I don't know what you mean. Visiting a pawn shop shouldn't make anyone worry."

Quietude (tiefling bartender) puts down a tray of (full) beer mugs at your table. "Nothing out of the ordinary about that gnome's pawn shop. On the other hand, all those people turning up dead and gruesomely murdered around Skull Square, that is something different. Even those bugbears won't travel at night, unless they are all together." The bartender returns to the bar, and continues washing/drying dishes.

Volo tries to brush off this "oversight". "It is only 3 murder victims, so Quietude was exaggerating... And certainly not enough to frighten a strong band of adventurers, like your party!"

Pascal turns to listen to the tiefling, squints, and then pushes his flat forehead and nose up to Volo’s face, “Volo... if we promise to take the job and get you the key, you gonna tell us what’s been murdering these folks? So far...” Pascal holds up three fingers, “We killed a necromancer, some werewolf gris gris, and a dragon-shaped bed that breathed splinters! YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT SPLINTER BREATH FEELS LIKE VOLO!? SPLINTERS! I AIN’T BEIN’ SURPRISED THIS TIME!” Pascal shakes Volo comically.

Quillary wipes her mouth and stands up. "Death is not a thing to be afraid of. Nor splinters. You lot have been kind to take me in, and it sounds like this will help the Road's End, so I am in. The sooner we get this done, the sooner we can let Hildi's family know he is safe."

Jorin busts out a laugh, "Oh yes, the splinter breath!"

Hildi accepts the potions, handing them out, and puts the IOU in a pouch. "Let's get going," he says, sounding less than cheerful. Volo owl flies over and lands on his narrow shoulder.

As the party leaves the inn (after putting on your equipment), you take a glance at the room with the gambling bugbears. They are in the company of quite a few other humanoids/creatures, so this may not be the best time to teach them some manners...

Heading out to the street, the party reviews what you've heard about Skullport:

The party heads back the way you came. Thimblewine's Pawnshop is to the west, north of where your ship docked.

The trip is uneventful. Your party, while not stealthing, is trying to avoid attention, but still look tough enough to discourage anyone bugging you. The only lights are the occasional torch carried by a townsperson, Jorin's moon blade, and the occasional green flame of a Fireskull streaking overhead.

You arrive outside the pawnshop. It is a 30' by 20' shop, squeezed between other small buildings. It is a 2 story building, but not very tall. (Plenty of room for a gnome, but Jorin and Drusk have to duck a bit when entering.) The entrance door is on the east wall, and dim candlelight leaking around the door indicates that someone is inside.

(You can walk in, but I wanted to check if you had anything else in mind.)

Quillary has no other plan in mind.

Might as well!

Lacking darkvision, Jorin will keep the moonblade drawn, but held low, as the group enters the shop.

A U-shaped counter dominates the west side of the store. A variety of shelves (3' high, along the walls) and bins (2' high, scattered in the middle of the shop) contain an impressive variety of junk, antiques, and collectables. A large decaying chess pawn painted in peeling black paint hangs above the front door. Two clockwork mobiles are hanging from the ceiling, in the NW and SW corners.

A female rock gnome is behind the counter, writing in a ledger. She slaps it closed when the party enters, sliding it by a cashbox to her left (northern side of the counter). She has long pointy ears, dark eyes, short black hair with bangs in her eyes, and golden skin. She gives the party a (figurative) megawatt smile. "I am Krystaleen (kris TA leen), owner of Thimblewine's Pawnshop. Are you here to sell or to buy? We have a special today, these decorative hand-crafted tins for 1 GP each. Each one contains a mystery set of trinkets." (The trinkets would be from the PHB table on pages 160-161, at the end of chapter 5.)

Quillary, moth that she is, immediately heads over to the tins and begins to open one, clearly set on resolving the ‘mystery’ aspect of their contents.

Krystaleen puts out a hand to halt Quillary. "Each tin has different contents. I'm open to letting you do a little bit of mix-and-match, if you had your heart set on something specific, but not if you are going to open *all* of them... Especially before paying." (Bright smile, then K withdraws her hand.)

(Krystaleen has that look, like a mother whose kids just opened and dumped out boxes of cereal in the supermarket, to check what prize was at the bottom of the box.)

I was going to say Hildi could bring his glowing orbs into being to light their way, but they might draw too much attention. Just know that they are available when needed.

"Selling," Hildigrim says quickly. He draws out the silk dress he's been carrying around in his pack. "How much would you give me for this?" he asks.

Quillary raises her hands in retreat, and just smiles at the gnome. “Curiosity is a failing,” she says. 

Krystaleen looks over the dress. "I'll give you 1 GP for that." Before Hildigrim can respond, Quillary discreetly points to a shelf some distance away. Hildigrim carefully glances that way (without making it seem like he is looking that way). There is a similar dress; different color, better stitching maybe, but not significantly different. The price tag reads 10 GP. (If Hildigrim sells, consider it a 1 GP loss.)

Drusk looks at Hildigrim oddly. "Do I want to know why you are carrying that thing around with you, while you are adventuring?"

Drusk puts a gold piece on the counter. To Quillary: "Pick a tin that pleases you." (The tins have different exteriors, like kid's lunchboxes. You can describe what you want, within reason... Unless Quillary had her heart set on a particular trinket, roll 6 separate d100, re-roll duplicates, to determine what is inside.)