Smoke and Loss
Enya Anahita, Aeliana, Mortimer Blackwell, and Darlock Flintberg, accompanied by his donkey, Dorothy, meet up in a tavern in Hammerton in the morning.
Darlock had travelled all the way on foot with his donkey. As he explained, it was cheaper that way.
On their way to Cromsuns Blacknose shop, Enya notices a little more smoke than usual coming from their destination. Darlock, however, is too focused on the stones along the road. He talks Mortimer Blackwell and Aeliana’s ears off about the different types of stones found in the area.
As they arrive, they find a large crowd gathered around Cromsuns, who is shouting and expressing his frustration. All his wares are gone, and his shop has been destroyed.
Enya spots some tracks and realises that they all look identical. However, there are far too many for them to have been made by a single person. They are all the same too, shape and size.
Cromsun offers a reward of 10 GP per box. In total, six boxes have been stolen + the original Reward of 60 GP.After questioning him, he told them what was in the boxes. Two boxes were full of arrowheads, two were full of bolt heads, and the last two were full of musket balls.
Aeliana and Mortimer search the shop for clues. They discover a rough drawing of a ball engulfed in flames. Mortimer sadly does not recognise the symbol.
Meanwhile, Darlock begins repairing the shop, but Cromsun is not pleased with his efforts and stops him.
A gnome beggar approaches the group and offers to answer one question in exchange for one silver piece.
The beggar tells them that he saw the thieves heading towards the Harbour. They were a group of hooded figures wearing red clothing, all bearing the symbol of a flaming ball. Most of them were goblins, but two much larger figures accompanied them. At the end the beggar is pleased, he never made so much Silver in this short of time.
The Harbour and the Burning Blisters
At the harbour, Enya recognises a shipyard worker named Harven Thurs, a contact from her previous job.
Harven is half-naked and sweaty while loading boxes from a ship. He tells them that he has heard rumours about a Boomtown gang called the Burning Blisters. He did not see the gang members himself, but he suggests that his superior might know more. His superior had seen them arrive on their own vessel.
Mortimer suggests travelling to Boomtown. He knows some people there, and it is his home turf.
The group initially decides to take a boat up through the Bubble, but unfortunately, animals are not allowed on board. This greatly displeases Darlock.
They therefore decide to take the train instead, as it is faster than walking. Darlock has to pay extra to bring Dorothy along. Whether the ticket inspector made up the additional fee to get some extra money or whether it was a legitimate charge remains unclear.
Boomtown Struggles
Upon arriving in Boomtown, Mortimer leads the group to a bar. Unfortunately, he cannot find any of his contacts. Frustrated by his lack of success, he starts drinking beer.
It seems that he has no friends in Boomtown.
Darlock and Dorothy join him for a drink. However, the beer is far too watery for Dorothy’s taste. She has had better.
Aeliana is the only one who makes any progress. She strikes up a conversation with an elven woman dressed in heavy leather armour.
The woman tells her about a gang that operates exclusively in Boomtown and knows where to find its hideout. The gang is a small group that runs protection rackets, demanding insurance payments from local businesses and smashing up the shops of those who refuse to pay.
The woman also offers Aeliana a job, mentioning that she has a pretty face and voice.
The Glowing Flask
The group eventually arrives at a shop called the Glowing Flask.
Enya and Aeliana remain outside and discover the symbol of the Burning Blisters painted on a wall in an alley beside the building.
Meanwhile, Mortimer and Darlock attempt to obtain information from the shopkeeper. Their efforts are unsuccessful. The shopkeeper maintains an excellent poker face, lies to them, and claims to know nothing.
He introduces himself as Mimmsy the Claw. As his name suggests, his left hand is a claw.
Mortimer purchases some suspicious powder, believing it to be smoke powder. He has no idea that it is fake.
The group reunites outside and decides to enter the building through a window on the roof of the neighbouring building during the night.
Mortimer finds a small shop further down the street from which he can keep an eye on their target. Unfortunately, he spends most of his time drinking and fails to notice anything of importance.
Meanwhile, Darlock and the others visit the local Metalworker's & Steamfitter's Guildto find a place where Dorothy can stay. It seems to get dangerous.
Breaking In
Later that night, the group successfully enters the neighbouring building and makes its way onto the roof of the Glowing Flask.
Darlock attempts to pick the lock on the rooftop door but fails. The reason becomes clear: the door is not locked at all. Instead, its handle is a mimic!
The group quickly deals with the creature. Darlock grabs it and smashes it hard against the floor until it stops moving.
With the mimic out of the way, they carefully make their way downstairs.
On the first floor, Mortimer discovers a pair of boots and gives them to Darlock. They turn out to be Boots of False Tracks.
The boots appear to explain how the group that robbed Cromsun managed to conceal its tracks. However, the party wonders where the rest of the stolen equipment might be.
Darlock attempts to open a locked door leading to the ground floor but fails. Mortimer quickly loses patience and punches a hole straight through the wooden door.
The gang members fall silent for a moment at the strange noise but soon resume their conversations.
The group opens the door, passes through another one, and eventually reaches a storage room on the ground floor.
Darlock casts Detect Magic, and they discover several heavily diluted potions. Some of these are later handed over to the guards.
Unfortunately, the gang members have heard the strange noises and head upstairs to investigate.
A fight breaks out.
The Fight
Enya is terrified. She has never been in a fight before.
However, when the battle begins, she unleashes a Thunderwave that sends two goblins crashing into a wall. They leave bloody impressions where their bodies strike the stone.
Mortimer demonstrates the fighting skills he learned in the pits. He brutally stomps on the head of a sleeping goblin whom Aeliana had put to sleep earlier.
Later, Aeliana uses her vicious words to break the gang leader’s spirit, leaving only one opponent standing.
His name is Bosky, a human initiate hoping to join the Burning Blisters.
Bosky throws several potions at the party, although he has no idea what they do. One of them unexpectedly heals Mortimer.
Realising that he is outmatched, Bosky surrenders.
He reveals the location of the stolen goods: a storage facility at the harbour in the city centre. The facility is unmarked, making it difficult to identify from the outside.
Bosky also explains that the gang supplied him with the Boots of False Tracks. Darlock, however, decides to keep the boots for himself. He likes them.
Mortimer wants Bosky to burn down the Glowing Flask, but the others convince him that handing the prisoner over to the City Watch is the better option.
The Missing Boxes
The group makes its way to the storage facility.
Several birds are flying around the building, but the party fails to pay them any attention.
Darlock picks the lock on the door, and the group enters a warehouse filled with boxes.
They spend two hours searching through the stacks until they finally locate Cromsuns stolen boxes.
Enya leaves the group to fetch Cromsuns so that they can arrange to transport the goods. The others remain behind to guard the boxes.
Then, without warning, everything goes black.
When they regain consciousness, Enya and Cromsuns are standing over them.
The group has been knocked out, and all the boxes are gone.
The warehouse is completely empty, and there are no traces of the thieves.
Despite the mysterious disappearance of the stolen goods, the group receives its reward.
Each member receives 60 GP.
And so, the adventure ends with the party richer than before, the stolen goods missing once again, and a mystery that remains unsolved.