TTTB 01 - To Presh We Go!

With loose threads tied up and goodbyes said, the party leaves towards Presh. On the road at night, Zurick decides to borrow the Staff of Communion from Henk to communicate with Bahamut, his draconic god. As Zurick feels his energy coalescing and traveling towards Bahamut, he looks around and sees dozens of other balls of energy all heading the same direction. The balls are radiating various emotions such as fear and uncertainty, rage and anger etc.

Realizing that he is in a sort of spirit zone, he reaches out in search of Durick and his parents, but does not find anything of interest. Zurick decides to touch one of the other balls, and quickly realizes that he was about to enter the mind of another person praying to Bahamut. Taking some psychic damage, Zurick is rewarded with the knowledge that this individual, and old woman, was praying with fear, uncertainty, and desperation to Bahamut to protect her from her oppressors, who were hunting her kind down.

This individual was not on this continent, and instead somewhere further up north. 

Red also tries to draw on her new abilities, but finds Alberus resistant to lending her his power. Communing with Alberus, Red finds out that he is disappointed with her indecisiveness and performance at the Ashmouth, and that he now wants his fees paid upfront before using his power. Red and Alberus argue for a bit, and he suggests that he can be a mentor for Red, and has lessons for her when she is ready. 

The party also spends some time getting to know their newfound ally Peregrin. They find out that Peregrim worships a goddess of beauty and music known as Lyra. They also discover more about the reason behind his hatred for Dragonborns - Peregrin’s family was attacked on a trade route by some Dragonborns, with most of his cousins slaughtered on the spot.

He was lucky enough to have been kept alive as a pet in a cage, and only escaped thanks to the kindness of a jailor, who had owned musical equipment made by Peregrin’s mother. Yevgenia, Peregrin’s magic violin, was gifted to him by this guard that helped him escaped, and allowed him to use the Song of Creation to aid his escape.

Though Peregrin was able to escape, he was not able to help his friends and father, who remained kidnapped by the Cult of the Dragon. Peregrin shared that his friends and father was guarded by Dragonborn mages, and hence sending and scrying spells may not work on them. 

On the way to Presh, the party decides to stop at Illonia to look for Lil Tony, who had earlier sent a letter to Red asking to meet. Arriving at Illonia, the party sees a small village - smattering of buildings, farmlands, livestock and farmers idly milling around. The temperature in the town also seems to have dropped, and the town feels chilly. Red asks around if anyone knows an Idiot Tony, but no one seems to have heard of the name before.

A farmer, Woodchip, tells Red that nothing much happens around the town. Even though it is within walking distance from the Western Somberwalds, the town is well protected. Red gets the feeling that Woodchip is hiding something, but does not press for information yet. 

The party makes more conversation with Woodchip, finding out that the town’s main export was livestock, and that business had been thriving. Smooth-talking Peregrin eventually managed to convince Woodchip to allow the party to stay the night in his homestead. The party shares their cask of Silbern’s Finest with Woodchip, and eventually manages to get him drunk. Inebriated and with his guard lowered, Woodchip lets slip that the town is protected by werewolves, and in turn, they give them livestock. However, the werewolves are having a crisis at the moment, and are not accepting visitors.

Woodchip also confirms that the town Illonia was named after one of the werewolf guardians. 

With this new information, the party treks into the Somberwalds early in the morning, leaving their new hungover friend behind. With Red leading the way, the party quickly carves a path, coming across various signs (some literal) about danger in the woods. Within 4 hours, the party comes across 2 werewolves, Logan Frostfang and another female werewolf. The party is eventually spotted, and after a tense moment, the werewolves tell them that a very important member of the community has gone missing, and they need to find her. She is about 6ft tall, has silver hair, and carries herself with an air of authority. She was last seen going off on a mission out of the forest, and despite searching high and low all over the continent, they have not managed to find her. The party agrees to come back another time, and assist in the search for who they presume to be Illonia. 

Returning to town disappointed, the party decides to stay the night in town. Red and Ara head off for a late night walk across town, and find a windowsill that had figurines of what seemed to be the werewolves. The next morning, the party seeks out the boy that owned these figurines, who was at soccer practice. The party managed to obtain some information after some cajoling by Peregrin despite Henk and Red’s best efforts. The boy and his father were made to believe that the party was joined by soccer legend Bele, and that his boy was being scouted. 

The figurines were made by the boy’s father, who had not actually met them in person, but had made them based on stories passed down generations. He said that the Group was called the Frost Maw, and that he did see someone looking like Tony and Anton pass through a month ago. Apparently Idiot Tony had run out of the forest, saying that he had no time to explain, and went and ran aimlessly towards the north of Illonia.

The party continues onward to Presh, where the elite rule over the rest of the populace with an iron fist. A decade ago, Lord Presh tried to right the wrongs of the system he helped to create, and it all came to a head in a bloody civil war. Unfortunately, Lord Presh lost, and the caste system based on wealth remains to this day. The party comes across a wanted poster of Ara, and reminded of his criminal status, Ara wisely chose to disguise himself. 

Having actually landed in Presh after stowing away on a boat in Iritai, Henk knew of a tavern within the slums - the Spotty Kobold. The tavern was not fancy in the slightest, however they accepted all sorts, and were home to the downtrodden, lesser races. This was a far cry from the tavern for the more privileged, the Slayer’s Shanty. The party head over to the Spotted Kobold, and meet the barkeep Wigan, a female halfling with an eye patch over one eye. At the bulletin board, Henk spots a scrap of paper addressed to him - a message from Deus Bloodrune to speak to the bartender. Wigan passed Henk a letter left behind for him by Deus, sealed with a wax seal. 

At the same bulletin board, Ara saw more wanted posters of himself, for the crime of scamming someone from one of the noble houses. He finds out that his doppelganger could usually be found skulking around the slums, and he may be able to find them there. There are also recruitment flyers for harbor workers, as well as security personnel. In the tavern, Red catches some conversation between two servants, who are talking about the Blue Death. It seems that many people have been lost to the Blue Death, but the city is trying to cover it up, and no one has dared to speak up about it so far. 

The party then heads to the Spotted Kobold, where they can register themselves as an adventuring party. The Boiling Sea is very crowded, filled with adventurers that have just disembarked and come in from the harbor, mostly humans and elves. The receptionist, Leese Hadley, is a half-elf, and seems to be overworked. The party find out from Leese that there are already adventuring parties listed under Zurick’s Norixius Clan, and the Birel name, presumably by Red’s grandmother in her youth. The party could pay 500gp to reinstate the adventuring party under either name. The party decides to tag themselves under the Norixius clan. Unfortunately, they did not have the official documentation to do so. Leese proposes a compromise - the party would do Leese a favor, to help her friend Halra Rylan at the Sandy Satchel with a task. In return, Leese would let the lack of documentation slide. The party quickly agrees. 

The party also obtains some information on the city from Leese. There are a few sections of the city - the Ivy Ridge where the slums are, the Old Ward commonly recognized the adventurer’s district, as well as the Wine Crown which is the nobles’ district. The party also learns that there are 4 noble houses in the city namely, House Tychon, House Yukko, House Oswin, and House Creu. There was originally also House Westwind, but it had been destroyed in the civil unrest.

The party arrives at the Sandy Satchel which turns out to be a general store, and speak to Halra. She needed our help to find someone, and deliver a package to them. The target was a 12 year old kid by the name of Dorian, who lives further up in the slums. Dorian can usually be found hanging around the prison, the Obsidian Grinder, and wears a metal knight’s helmet. The kid usually came by weekly to pick up the package, but has not showed up in a few weeks. With the discussion over, Halra retires to the back of the shop. Nosy as always the party peeks in with the help of a gust of wind conjured by Red. In the backroom, there are a few beds, and a female figure was standing and focusing on someone lying on the bed. 

The party heads off to find the boy, walking towards the Obsidian Grinder. Along the way, the party is accosted by a young boy, who introduces himself as Diggory Thorton. After some conversation, he claims to know where Dorian is, and would tell the party more about it if they purchased his tour package. Diggory was part of a group doing tours of the city for a small fee, and the party quickly agreed.

Diggory leads the party out of the slums, and starts the tour first in the Old Ward. At the Boiling Sea, he advises the party not to piss off the annoying receptionist, and that recruitment drives typically happen here. In the old ward, he brings the party by the Slayer’s Shanty, which is a double-storied tavern with mahogany doors, elaborate furniture, and frequented largely by elves and humans. It also happens to be a weapons store. Diggory then leads them to the Fate and Sentinel, a central barracks where the city guards were housed. It had a recently repaved large empty training field, and was ominously quiet and empty. 

Next, the party was brought to the gates to the Winecrown District, where they saw a contingent of guards on duty. Diggory could not bring the party in, but mentioned there was a particularly scandalous place inside called the Dark Pleasures. There was also a magic shop called theBound Poker.

Back towards the slums, the party is brought back to the Sandy Satchel, the general store. They also go by the Spotted Kobold, which Diggory explains is the place for every shady need and other adventuring business. A stone tower loomed in the distant mist, which Diggory pointed out to be the Obsidian Grinder. Dorian hangs out in that area, and the party should be able to find him eventually if they stayed around that area. The boy apparently liked to talk to the inmates through the windows of the prison. 

Just as the tour was ending, the party was suddenly ambushed by a group of armed bandits. They are quickly and brutally taken down by the party, with their leader killed in the battle. The remaining cowering bandits tell the party that they were part of the Street Kings, a huge gang that had hundreds of members operating at different levels. The man killed by the party, Cedric Langsley, was their project leader. Diggory would bring unsuspecting tourists to them to rob, but it seemed they bit off more than they could chew this time. The bandits have never met their boss before, but knows that they were located in the noble district, and went by the name Winsor Spriggley. 

The party subsumes control of the bandits, and one of the survivors, Braun Sparrow, was set on a mission to find information about fake Ara. They also give some information about the last sighted location of Dorian, as well as the fact that he was part of the Tunnel Snakes, a congregation of kids whose parents died in the revolt. There was some story about the helmet that he always wore, but they were not sure what it was. As always, the party loots Cedric’s body, finding 75gp, a device with a lens and button in a hidden pocket with an insignia that the party does not recognize. There is also an astonishingly lifelike drawing of a city guard surreptitiously taking a bribe from someone out of frame. In the drawing, the party recognizes the wall that separates the Winecrown from the rest of the city.