Session 46 - Together Again

'"Don't pussy out Elias." - The Stonespeaker'

Summary
For one week in Kronstrad the party decided to settle their affairs before leaving the city in pursuit of the next adventure. Their next adventure being the various things that draw them to the North, and towards Dagger's End, from the prophetic vision of a great calamity, to the mysterious villain from Emeran's past, and in pursuit of the man who is aiding in the return of a Medusa God.

Each character had some time to settle things:

Acaelus: Throughout the week Acaelus attempted to make contact with Delphine Gerhart. Themus tested Acaelus's stealth and asked him to try and steal the Message Rock off of him, he was successful, but only because Themus allowed him to take it. It was discovered through Sir Jamie Nightdane that Delphine was in critical condition due to the experimentation done to her. Acaelus visited her at the Third Circle before he set off, but she was still comatose.

Autumn: Spoke with Joleen about how he was leaving the city. Joleen asked how Joni would send money if Autumn were out of the city for an extended time, and Autumn lied, stating that while the Suits were looking into Autumn's whereabouts that they would all have to be careful about revealing themselves, continuing the belief that Joni was still alive out there.

Elias: Paid a visit to his Community Center in the Gullies, giving a large sum of gold to ensure that peace is maintained in the Gullies, and that should a revolution occur, they will protect the helpless. The money would go to members of the homeless community whose knowledge of the streets would make them helpful guardians within the city. Elias also had to give up his bid to become an Emerald Eye, potentially ending his political career, and said Builder Brightwood would take his place.

Emeran: Acquired a pair of Sending Stones, keeping one and giving the other to Guest to update him on anything going wrong in the city, and asking her to potentially find Lillin within Kronstrad. He asked Acaelus about Eva Dreifuss and what sort of creature could be influencing her. Elias offered to use the Scry spell on some specific people for Emeran, and an unsuccessful Scry was attempted on Eva. Another Scry was successful when Emeran inquired about his old traveling companion Van "Unity" Avery. Elias learned that Van was looking healthy and muscular, attempting to catch fish somewhere to the North. Elias then used Sending to send a message to Van, lying to Emeran and used Emeran's name. Van seemed angry, and didn't want anything to do with Emeran.

Themus: Spoke with Enos about leaving the city, with Enos mentioning it being his turn to pick up the "mantle". They discussed keeping an eye on Joleen, and Enos promised he would. They also discussed keeping up his nightly work and investigating Charity.

The party then met up at the Padlock Tome where Mable was setting up the Teleportation Circle to help send Acaelus's family and Erhard Frey to Buyway. The party was going to follow them through since a teleport to Buyway would considerably cut down the trip to Coldport. They eventually all made their way through and met with Acaelus's childhood friend Hal. They agreed with Hal to a drinking contest and were told to meet with him at the Wry Saloon, as there would also be a show tonight there.

The party then visited Aela Hornsby the elderly librarian of the Craysin Estate. She helped the party find books and read things about various topics. Emeran spent some time learning about what Eva could possibly be and learned that there are various monsters who feed off of the suffering of others, and also learned that outside of her being a Rakshasa, it is more likely that Eva herself isn't a creature but being influenced by one. Elias learned more about the Stonespeaker and that the Gods had forced the Primordial into the Elemental Planes upon their discovery of Del. So the Stonespeaker is likely a living Primordial who contacts Elias from the Earth Elemental Plane. Autumn acquired but didn't read several books about the history of Dagger's End, and a historical book about Bards, opting to read them on the train between Buyway and Coldport. At some point a History check was made by someone who inquired about Coldport and what they would know, and got a dump of info.

Eventually the party made their way into the city of Buyway stopping by a familiar face, Heath Hardrow the food merchant who sells food in cans, and bought a couple. They also stopped at a magic shop called Bookwyrm where they bought a few potions. They finally went to the Wry Saloon and saw that the show tonight was actually Themus's friend Grant's traveling dueling show. They spoke with Grant while he was mid routine and learned that he changed his stage name to "Grant, Son of Dalton, Guardian of the Greypeak, and Protector of the Feywild". They met his boss Delpara the Daring, the purported best Duelist in the lands, but learned that she cheats from Grant.

Before the show proper could start the party decided to put on a show of their own. In short, they blew the lid off the place. They gave the city of Buyway a musical experience and night that they will never forget, playing a couple of old standards, and ending with a song that Autumn created on the spot "The Buyway Girl". Their playing upstaged the Dueling Show, and the owner of the bar thanked them for bringing in the clientele, and told them that a musician was going to play after the dueling show, but encouraged them to play through the night.

The dueling show then took place and several historical fights were portrayed in an "accurate" though amusing way, from Lear vs Rael, to Pegasin vs Lanik and other famous duels. Then the real fighting began with Grant winning his bout, and Delpara beating-by-cheating the best swordsman in town.

After the show the party partook the drinking contest proposed by Hal. Before the drinking began Elias successfully used Divine Intervention and the Stonespeaker vowed to aid Elias. Elias, Themus, Emeran, and Hal participated. Emeran fell in the first round, Themus was bested in the second round. And in the third round, taking shots of Buyway Fireball Whiskey, Elias was teetering on the edge of losing, but due to the Divine Intervention was able to survive the round, while Hal was sundered, barfing and losing. He gave Elias his entire coinpurse as victory, 3500gp. Elias kept 500, the original bet, and told Hal to send the other 3000 back to Kronstrad and to help Builder Brightwood and the others in the Gullies.

As the night was winding down the Patrons and the patrons of the bar saw that the musical group slated to play for the night arrived. They scrawled their name on the board behind them, "Maylin and the Magnificents". Emeran realized this was his mom, and the group she was said to be seen with. Emeran immediately went to the stage, and stopped by one of Maylin's other bandmates. He pushed past and Maylin and Emeran locked eyes. They embraced.