In-Game Date: Mansday, Grimander 10
After breakfast the next morning, the party heads into the center of the city to the Royal Temple for their reward from DuVrok. A priest shows them to the chambers of the high priestess, the Marchioness Dalatris Silvenrede. With her is DuVrok, who presents them with a tidy sum of gold. Dalatris kisses them all, telling them that they have her undying gratitude for saving her daughter. Furthermore, the royal family itself wishes to thank the adventurers as well, and a banquet is being given in their honor tomorrow night.
DuVrok and Kitala show the party around the temple, explaining that the Royal Church was created as a religious institution that favored no one deity over another, but merely venerated good in and of itself. Outwardly this was done to eliminate religious tension within the kingdom, but also served to weaken the royal power base, as the King would no longer have any paladins or other holy warriors to command.
After the tour, the party heads to the nearest station of the City Watch on the advice of DuVrok. The desk sergeant there doesn’t know Colwyn Daystar by name, but it does sound familiar to him. He tells the party that he will look through the missing persons lists from a month and a half ago and let the party know if they find anything.
Disgruntled, the party visits the Adventuring Guild next, where they hope to find a possible lead on Colwyn Daystar. Aiden and Caspian are interested in joining after hearing the pitch given by one of the Guild overseers, a one-handed half-orc bard named Karak (mostly due to the discounts at certain establishments that sell magical arms and armor). Karak asks the two to return later in the day for some evaluation exercises. Unfortunately, Karak has neither heard of Colwyn Daystar, nor does the guild have anyone by that name on their rolls.
Their next stop is the Sleeping Dragon Arms and Armor, a locally famous seller and trader of magical items. Rowan bristles at the store’s policy that no items with offensive capabilities are allowed in the store itself, and remains in the anteroom with Althea and the party’s gear while Caspian, Aiden and Lumi head inside.
After selling their spoils for a tidy sum of gold, the party takes a working lunch in the Elven quarter of the city. After getting their food, Rowan approaches the bartender and asks about Colwyn Daystar.
“Sure I’ve heard of him,” says the bartender. “Anytime an elf is arrested for a capital crime, it’s bad news for all of us with Elven blood in the city.”
Rowan asks for further details. The bartender tells her that an elf male named Colwyn Daystar was arrested for the murder of a minor nobleman. If convicted, he would be executed, but the bartender hasn't heard much of anything since.
Rowan returns to the table and informs the rest of the group what she's just learned. The group decides to split up and dig for more information. Althea heads to the Performer's Guild, Caspian and Aiden want to return to the Adventurer's Guild, leaving Rowan and Lumi to explore on their own.
Aiden and Caspian are walking past a tavern when they hear a scream and a crash. A man tumbles out of the doorway, blood streaming from his shattered nose. He crashes into Aiden and grabs hold of him. Looking at the two, he pulls out a sizeable money purse and tells then that it's theirs if they protect him.
When Aiden and Caspian ask who he needs protecting from, a low, rumbling voice comes from the dark awning of the tavern. “From me.”
Out steps a minotaur clad in chain mail. He demands the two soldiers step back from the bleeding man. Things get tense for a moment, but Caspian and Aiden are told that the minotaur is actually the Captain of the City watch, and the bleeding man is wanted for murdering children. Aiden keeps the man from escaping as he tries to shove past the warlock, and the minotaur “subdues” his quarry by slamming the man into the tavern wall with one hand. Aiden asks the minotaur, Brovann, about Colwyn Daystar. Brovann remembers the arrest, there was no direct evidence linking Colwyn to the crime, but there was a significant amount of circumstantial evidence. The butler of the nobleman heard Colwyn and the noble arguing bitterly and loudly. Colwyn left in a rage, and then the butler found his master dead, having been stabbed in the chest an hour later. A tip from an unnamed citizen led the watch to Colwyn's apartment, where they found him packing as if to leave. They found a knife that matched up with the wounds from the noble's body in his apartment, and arrested him. Three days later, the jail wardens came to Colwyn's cell to find him dead, having bitten through his tongue and bled to death. It was assumed that committing suicide was an admission of guilt, albeit of an extreme sort. Brovann is very helpful, even giving the two the address of the apartment Colwyn was living in when he was arrested.
Disheartened, Aiden and Caspian continue to the Adventurer's Guild. Karak puts the two through a battery of tests and challenges, assessing their power levels and abilities. He seems fairly impressed by their prowess. After paying the entry fee, the two are indicted into the guild.
Althea arrives at the performer's guild, where they have not heard of Colwn Daystar either. Althea presents her letter of recommendation from Bruge, and it granted honerary guild member status for a period of one month, or for the duration of her stay in the city, whichever is shorter. She attends a master class, and signs up to be part of the entertainment at the banquet being held by the High Priestess.
Rowan and Lumi meander through the city. They visit another elven establishment, and find a woman who claims she was romantically involved with Colwyn. She was crushed to find of his arrest, and insists that Colwyn couldn't have murdered anyone. He was seeking to purchase a rare book from the private collection of the nobleman he was accused of murdering. They are accosted by a fortune teller, an older human gypsy. She and her clan were driven out of the Vaniri Empire and have made their home here. She reads the two women's palms, and gives frighteningly accurate readings of their pasts. For their futures, she reads a deck of intricate cards. She tells them that the man they seek is to the South. She also tells them that their employer is more than she appears to be. Lastly, she says the cards tell her that their actions and this mission may plunge the nations into war.
The party regroups at the inn and shares what they've learned. They decide to check out the apartment before it gets any later in the day, figuring they have time to give the place a quick once over before heading to the dinner at The Baroness Tarmikos' manor.
At the apartments, they gain access to the apartment from the landlord by claiming to be interested in the property. Rowan uses her magic goggles to try and detect any hidden doors, while Lumi and Althea try and detect magic.
On the top floor, where the master bedroom is, they find a faint magical aura coming from a plain old painting of the King. They ask the confused landlord if they can buy the painting from him. (Confusing since almost every dwelling in the city has a cheap painting or woodcut like this one in the bedroom. It used to be a law to have one, but now it's just a tradition.)
The landlord goes downstairs as the party “talks about the property among themselves” (I.e., tries to figure out what the hell is up with the painting).
There is a yell from downstairs. Rushing to the stairwell, the party meets Lanarg and several more of his evil rangers. Lanarg seems desperate to get the painting, and charges recklessly up the stairs at the party. He deals a few solid blows, mostly to Caspian, but Caspian finally stabs Lanarg through the heart. The other two rangers are taken alive, but unconscious.
The party interrogates first one ranger, then the other. They finally cast zone of truth on the ranger, and trick him into revealing at least the name of his society: the Jeredrakes. He hints about a powerful “Master” that will kill him for his failure, but will kill the party for their interference. He also lets slip that the Jeredrakes were the ones who framed Colwyn for the murder of the noble. Finally, the ranger refuses to say anything more, and Aiden knocks him senseless again.
Now at least the party can put a name to their foes, but the mystery of the painting and why the Jeredrakes want it so badly remains...
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