Splitting the party.
In the dungeon it happens and there is tension. In a town it happens and I have to make damned sure that everyone gets enough face time. It is too easy to get lost town adventuring and some poor schmuck is left sitting there most of the evening.
However I don't have to "make adventure" happen for this group - they are doing just fine making up their own intrigue and already we have in Meeting 5: death threats and untrustworthiness and thievery and all the good stuff that is the heart of older style gaming.
I'm enjoying the hell out of it.
Write up follows:
The party reconvened at the Waywocket home and proceeded to fill Flimflam with despair as they talked about their successes as well as their failures regarding what they had set out to do. Device came last and reported that the two homeless squatters were badly hurt and were currently on the Temple Grounds at the Hospice where they were resting up and tended to.
There was much arguing with Ironboar again about his actions but it went nowhere slowly. Bandages were handed out and the group got themselves ready after a short lunch to go out into the town once again.
Enthir and Marcus would go to the Broman home, Flimflam would go to the Herbalist, and Device, Fist’al, Tempi, and Ironboar would head back to Tanner’s Way.
The wheels fell off the cart quickly as the mob was abound the Broman home and Enthir and Marcus were identified as members of the adventurer’s guild. There was talk of spells and hexes and maybe evil spirits and curses from the Broman family and it would be laid to rest. Enthir mistakenly mentioned Brandone in jail and a mob of 70 or so started marching on the militia house to take Brandone out and have his blood somehow lay the evil spirits to rest. Marcus bled into the crowd and Enthir was carried along with it.
Meanwhile Flimflam had met with the Herbalist and they talked about rose scents and what not. Then she was going to go back to the militia house and check on Brandone to not only check his wound, but also to rouse him. The two of them met with the Captain of the guard, Thragriel, and then visited Brandone. He was breathing shallowly but alive.
The herbalist was surprised at how slight his wound appeared and remarked that Flimflam’s healing spell was more effective than he thought. It seemed suspicious to the druid and he watched carefully as Brandone was given some herbs under his nose and he woke up alert. There was a brief conversation between him and Flimflam and we heard the mob approaching. The militia drew themselves up ready and the Captain was ordering the group to disperse.
Then Brandone grew “nuts” and the smell of roses was heavy off of him. He charged the wall in an attempt to break it down with his face but the wall held. Plus the wounds he had on him seemed to fall off. Then the herbalist and Feril in the next cell grew tired and slumped a bit. After a few more hits Brandone seemed to sag, the smell of roses faded, and he fell over unconscious.
Meanwhile the rest of the group was back at Tanner’s Way, looking over Lirea and Brandone’s squatting home for a bit. Tempi was positioning himself at Sutor’s forge to look over the place, but he did talk to Fist’al first and confided in him that Ironboar had found some more of the rose water stuff and he had it. This bothered Fist’al as Ironboar and he were at odds with one another. So he wanted to go back to the squatter home and look over Ironboar’s backpack.
The gnome barbarian was getting bandaged again by Device who was watching the elf come in and creep up to Ironboar’s backpack. This alerted the gnome who whirled around just in time to stop the elf from taking it. There was some yelling and accusations and Fist’al ran outside. Tempi got involved, the half-orc was furious with Fist’al for betraying his trust and some more punches were thrown but Fist’al was like, “screw this” and was high tailing it to the Militia to talk to Flimflam and let them know what was going on.
Meanwhile Ironboar took the vials he had hidden in his backpack OUT and hid them in the house in a pillow before rejoining the others and also making his way to speak to his father.
At the militia we discovered that most of the mob had been dispersed and there was to be no lynching of Brandone to end the dreaded sleeping curse that was affecting those who traveled too near the Broman home. We learned about Brandone’s seeming superhuman feat and healing and then his knocking out. Ironboar had convinced Tempi to give up his vial of rose-water spice to Flimflam who gave it to the herbalist who said she would do what she could to identify the ingredients and let us know what we were dealing with. We then all went back to the Waywocket home for a nice after noon argument.
Enthir and Marcus wanted nothing to do with this so they went to the Broman home to stake out Exotic Transportation and see if Lirea showed up.
There was talk of Fist’al being a traitor and Ironboar being a liar and hiding and stealing and overall just douchbaggery. Flimflam tried to set it all to right but there was no easy way out of the argument so it just ended on its own when Enthir and Marcus came up and let us know that Lirea had bought a mule from Eherego and was riding out of Westgate out of town towards Orland.
We needed to follow and do it soon. Fist’al went out the gate and then began running/jogging in order to close the distance and catch up. The rest of the group went to the guildhalls, met with Zarik, asked to borrow his cart and horses (which he agreed to reluctantly) and then climbed on. Meanwhile Ironboar snuck BACK to the squatter home and took his vials once again out of the pillow and hid them deep in his bedroll before rejoining everyone.
Fist’al kept pace and eventually got to with a few hundred yards of Lirea and her slow moving mule. When she trundled off the road and went south past the last homestead marking he sped up and left a series of arrows in the road pointing the direction she was riding and then followed.
The group rode off and almost rode past Fist’al’s markings but did turn at length and went south as well. They caught up with Fist’al, helped the thief aboard, and then rode on until they were able to hail and stop Lirea.
We spoke with her for some time and learned a few things. Her brother was a fuck up. He fell in with the drug users maybe 3 months ago and had been using ever since. They hadn’t lived in her parent’s house because they were not a noble family and the home was not theirs. However, Baron Taugis had told them that he would hold the home for them for 1 year, allowing them to get the 115 crowns needed to once more buy into it.
Their younger sister Edan was not going to live with them during this time so they had indentured her to a nice family in Ferron where she would act as a house maid and eventually learn seamstrissing skills. They were given 60 crowns up front and would have to return 40 of it after 2 years when they would get their sister back. Lirea had been very against this entire thing but Brandone had convinced her of the possibilities of turning the 60 crowns into the 115 they needed.
His plans never worked. They were always just barely making it one step above the last. Eventually the last one was to have a homestead and turn one hard planting and harvesting season into enough coin to buy Edan out of her indentured servitude and then pay off the Baron for the home. But there was all this talk of stealing what they needed and Lirea wanted zero to do with it. And now he was arrested and she was done. The drugs he was taking was something that he and the other guys had called Goblinwater and it did make him high, unfocused, and crazy.
She was going to Mahr’s Tower, to the southwest of Shakun. It was a little known old mage’s tower that Brandone’s friends had been using as a base of operations for a time now. Between Brandone and her that was over 60 crowns that was there that was theirs that she was going to use to buy her sister out and then go revisit the Baron and try to talk him down on the price.
She agreed to come back to Shakun with us and we would all talk to her boyfriend Verim on the 4th and then go to the tower together on the 5th.
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