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Old 09-24-2020, 10:16 AM   #193
coronatiger
 
Join Date: Apr 2018
Location: Trondheim, Norway
Default Session 44 (2020-09-13)

Thoughts on January 26th

Ilzo was still locked up this morning, so he didn’t join the rest of us for breakfast. Master Surre arranged to meet with us after the meal, in a storage building, and asked Va’lyndra who would be joining the meeting. She said it would only be her, Leopold, Olivia and me.

We fetched our artifacts and met up at the storage building. Leopold brought Walter, the talking skull. Actually, Zalek had performed a ritual over the head before we left here three months ago, giving Walter muscles, tendons, skin and hair. When I looked at him now, he was slightly discolored, and I imagined that he was starting to smell.

Varian Snarr was at the meeting, in addition to the guild master, and I asked if he was going to identify the artifacts for us – he had done so before. He promised to do an initial identification, at least. We put everything on the table, except for the one that Va’lyndra had sealed up because it was too dangerous. That would be identified later, at a safer location.

Varian looked over the artifacts. Olivia and I stood at a safe distance, fondling each other’s bottoms while pretending nothing of the sort was going on. When Varian finished, he whispered something to Master Surre, who proposed to make an approximate valuation of the relics. Va’lyndra told him there were a few artifacts that we wished to keep, maybe as many as seven, but there were a couple that we didn’t know whether would be useful for us yet. Master Surre said that if we sold all the relics to the guild, we’d get three hundred thousand, but if we were keeping some … he said something mathematical that I didn’t comprehend. He added that he was skeptical about letting us keep so many artifacts.

However, before we agreed to a price, Master Surre wanted to raise another topic. He asked Va’lyndra if she wanted a promotion. She said she did. The two of them went outside to talk. My hand found its way back to Olivia’s backside. When they returned, Master Surre said that he wanted to give Va’lyndra a task. He asked Varian to leave, and Va’lyndra dismissed Leopold. Olivia and I stood in our corner being inconspicuous, so maybe she failed to recall our presence.

Master Surre explained that he suspected one of the guild members, a dwarf named Anita, of being a spy. She had taken a lot of time off from guild activities, sometimes disappearing for weeks before returning. After one such disappearance, she had come back with a wounded leg. The guild had observed her in the company of several unidentified persons, and we got detailed descriptions for all three of them.

Va’lyndra needed to find out if Anita was a danger to the guild, and received permission to deal with her as she wished. This being a knowledge guild, everything needed to be documented. We got Anita’s description as well, and learned that she was an educated woman. She often took rooms at the Hammer and the Hen in Urdon, an inn of decent enough quality, if not something I usually frequented.

I let Va’lyndra know that if she wanted my help for this mission, I expected her to take care of the paperwork. Master Surre asked if Va’lyndra had any objections to the guild watching over the artifacts while we performed this investigation. She didn’t mind. Master Surre wished us good luck and said that we could retrieve Ilzo from the lockup.

We fetched Leopold and Ilzo. I told the orc that the next time he sabotaged one of my performances, I would make sure he rotted in jail. We went to Va’lyndra’s room and discussed how much to pay our companions from the trip to Landfall. Kalle had an agreement with us already. He had helped out with the break-in at the relic vault, which was far more dangerous than what he originally signed up for with the knowledge guild. For his assistance, we owed him one hundred and fifty gold, which was five percent of the value of the loot. Leopold suggested that we share the treasure from the ruined village equally among everyone who was there. That would be three gold pieces for each of us. We also decided to give Toril a ten gold bonus, since she had done such a wonderful job with setting up my performances. In addition, the guild would pay whatever salaries and bonuses each of the members was due.

I asked Va’lyndra if she intended to include Ilzo and Leopold in her quest to catch the spy. She gave me one of her stares, before turning to Ilzo and telling him that he wasn’t allowed to learn who the spy was, because he wasn’t going to ruin everything by talking to her. Turning back to me, Va’lyndra said that we were going to solve this by me performing. That sounded sensible. We should all play to our strengths. I didn’t see quite how acrobatic shows could unveil a spy, but I trusted Va’lyndra to have a plan.

We paid off Klara, Kalle, Trond, Toril and Petter, and said our goodbyes. We fetched our horses and rode off towards Urdon. The guard post outside town waved us by as soon as I took off my helmet and said that I was going to perform.

We checked into the Golden Swan, the best inn in town, and I asked if they had missed me. Everyone was happy to see me, and the innkeeper sent someone outside to hang up my sign. I got a free room, of course, with the understanding that I drew customers to the inn. That shouldn’t prove too difficult.

Once everyone had gotten settled, we gathered in Va’lyndra’s room to talk. I suggested holding such an amazing show that when everyone in town came to see me, the others could break into the spy’s room at her inn and snoop around. Va’lyndra nodded and smiled. Contrary to what she had said at the knowledge guild, she described the spy and her contacts to Leopold and Ilzo. She explained that our goal was to ascertain whether the spy was actually a spy.

Va’lyndra and Leopold left to check out the Hammer and the Hen, while I took Olivia and Ilzo along to promote my show. I had Ilzo throw me up in the air, so people far up the street could see me somersaulting.

While we were having dinner, a parcel arrived for Ilzo from the knowledge guild. It was his bone armor, which they had repaired for him! After the meal, Va’lyndra returned to the Hammer and the Hen, but Leopold remained. I asked if they had found out anything. He admitted to having insulted the innkeeper there. That explained why Va’lyndra left alone. “Look on the bright side,” I told the gnome. “You can watch my show tonight!”
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You don't need to spend 100 CP on Status 5 [25] and Multimillionaire [75] to feel like a princess, when Delusion [-10] will do.

Character sheet: Google Drive link (See this thread for details.)

Campaign logs: Chaotic Pioneering / Confessions of a Forked Tongue
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