Well...Shit Report
General Summary
Arriving back at the Red Wave, drifting after the events of the heist, Gwen and Raro spent some time conferring between themselves and Threri about next steps. Deciding that they couldn't return to the Obsidian Laurel without conclusive proof of the Count's involvement in the Hidden Hand, the team made the decision to stop in Timere despite the potential risks of pursuing law enforcement, hoping to resupply, sell the treasures acquired from the vault, and find some information about the Hand. At the advisement of Threri, Gwen and Raro returned to the Snapping Line, a dive-ish bar where they met the Contact from the Obsidian Laurel previously, to stash the items they were carrying under the protection of a Glyph of Warding before heading to look into the Tusk and Timber Shipping Company, a local business that, according to Threri, had been doing far too well for itself and some suspected foul play. Hannah Rist, the young human barkeep and daughter of the owner, recognized Raro from the previous visit and seemed amicable despite the fact that two customers walked into a dive bar at 7 in the morning. With the room rented, Gwen set up her Glyph of Warding on the duffle bags in a wardrobe while Raro spent some time studying the concertina he picked up from the blue and red street performer in Navarre using one of the Identify scrolls from the vault. He saw a vision of the minstrel performing in a tavern somewhere, not gaining much traction from the crowd. The minstrel appears to use the concertina to cast a spell causing one of the patrons to begin a dance, not of his own volition. The rest of the crowd joined in, seeming to think that the one individual is just having a good time, but the enchanted patron seemed to be not in control of his own movements. Filing this away for later, the two left their unit and headed downstairs, Gwen taking the form of a large muscular man (Brian Shaw) in order to not resemble Lady Kendall Greenbottle any longer, only to discover that a pair of Timere's guard force were speaking to Hannah. Taking note of the presence, the two guards stopped speaking to Hannah and began moving towards the pair of adventurers. The encounter started relatively cordial with one guard leaving the building and the other inquiring to "Brian Shaw" about the pair's activities last night, stating that a man and woman matching the description of Raro and "Lady Kendall" were to be arrested due to a number of mostly-legitimate crimes against Count Blackwood and the realm. With the cover story of two passionately entangled individuals, the pair attempted to pass off as not the people the guard was looking for. After some attempts at negotiations followed by Raro hoping to channel the magical energies inside the concertina (unsuccessfully), the other guard returned from his trip outwards with a pair of newer guards who began dispersing across the bar. Negotiations broke down and combat ensued. Over the course of the combat, Gwen was taken to the ground, netted, and manacled before the remaining guards turned their attention to Raro. Despite the 2:1 ratio, the party were successful in dispatching three of the four guards, with the last one escaping out of the bar and into the city. Deciding that they'd be better off gone and to return for their supplies later, the pair compensated Hannah for her troubles and left the Snapping Line through the balcony just as they heard the armored footsteps of at least half a dozen more people downstairs. Finding a section of town full of old abandoned buildings, Gwen and Raro hunkered down for the day and waited until after nightfall, when Gwen (disguised as Melody Lindenshield) returned to the Snapping Line and retrieved the valuables, spotting a pair of plainclothes guards watching the door for a return of the troublemakers from earlier. Navigating the winding alleys of the dock district, the pair ended up behind a hooded figure who was also heading to the Midnight Market. Once at the entry to the Market, its colorful rays and bountiful smells, not passing beyond the street where it crosses, the figure tossed their hood off to reveal a mass of orange-gold hair and fiery red skin as a woman makes her way into the eternally-crowded building right at the entrance to the market. Deciding that their first steps were to figure out how to liquidate their assets, Gwen and Raro inquired where the best place would be to Ingrane Shadebeak, an owlkin woman selling fine handcrafted jewelry. Ingrane was more than helpful after "Melody" purchased a set of braided golden hoops for her horns and pointed out Gideon Gale's Exotic Emporium on the second story of the busy store. Approaching, the party noticed that the busy line led to a store known as "The Dreamweaver," which appeared to be an ornate arcane clothing boutique. The other attached unit seemed mostly empty, with a slightly ajar door and creaky stairs. Passing by a large, furry other patron heading down the stairs, the pair stepped into Gideon Gale's Exotic Emporium, which seemed to resemble a loosely-organized pawn shop instead of an ornate emporium. After perusing some of the shelves, Raro spying a cestus with leather cordage wrapped around granite and forged steel chunks that caught his eye, Gideon Gale made himself known. A slight, shorter individual with pale blue skin and slivery flowing hair, Gale was amicable and knowledgeable of all the wares that Gwen and Raro spotted. When he heard that they were interested in selling, he seemed very excited to strike a deal and begin inspecting all the treasures, and Gwen's personal insight suggested that he was above-board in terms of trade and honest dealings, and he'd do his best to strike a balance between profit and fair pricing. Starting with the gemstones, Gideon Gale and Gwen worked out a fair pricing for all of the goods in her bag before moving to Raro's. Despite the efforts of the team, Gideon spied the dragon statuette in the duffle. Contrary to expectations, Gideon seemed to potentially recognize the statue and provided some insight into it. Even more oddly, Gideon noticed the icon on the statue's tag and closed up the shop's door via a spell before going to find a mailing envelope. Pulling out two sheets of parchment (one invoice listing trade goods and other bulk supplies and the other being a letter from Hawthorne Kern to Count Ciarti Blackwood), he showed them to the party before explaining, prefacing that everything he said was rumors and stories. According to Gideon, the statue is an artifact belonging to a circle of old and powerful druids that went missing a few months ago. Deciding that it would be better to show them rather than try to retell, Gideon found an old book that appeared to be partially written in ancient Elvish and later translated into common. [What follows is a short retelling of the significant chapter, written in the tone of a mythological historian recounting stories that once were true but are now no longer believed:] The first peoples on the archipelago were not the Elves, as modern history states, but the Draoi. Ancient beyond living or most written legends, more powerful than the most legendary archdruids, they shaped the very topology of the archipelago to their whims, creating the massive Eiroling ("bright, shining, place of life") Wood and the Spine Mountains surrounding it while the Elementals still walked the face of Melia. They have existed primarily in hushed whispers and reverent tones by those more in-tune with nature (such as the few remaining native Elves descended from the Vanear tribes), only being sighted during cataclysmic activities or times when a threat greater that mankind could ever face was present, including the suggestion that the Draoi are why Navarog never made his presence known. The legend is that they continue to watch over the archipelago, keeping all the primeval forces that once ran amok in check. [End the retelling] Gideon's conclusion was that if the statue was really an artifact from the Draoi and had fallen into Count Blackwood's hands, something terrible must have happened to the Draoi. Gwen and Raro, after hearing this, began questioning the Obsidian Laurel and why they wanted the statue in the first place if it was so important. Raro's connection to the land prompted a bit of memory within himself, and he had a vision not unlike how Gwen felt when Thalia entered her mind. Raro began making connections: between the stiltwalkers, their banishment by the Wild Spirits, Vondal and Gwen's stories of an antlered phantom hunting them in the lumber yard, and the Draoi themselves. coming to the realization that the only way Vondal and Gwen could be telling the truth is if the Draoi have given up or died, either option being disastrous. Gideon, after locking the book inside his personal safe behind the counter, asked them if they believed whoever contracted them would give the statue back. When Raro answered definitively "no," he advised that they keep the statue secret, only showing it to whoever needs to see it without letting it leave the party's sight. Raro removed his old longbow from his backpack, peering into the dark-red shard embedded within the wood as a living daydream began to take over his mind. [What follows occurred purely in Raro's mind] A vision of a gargantuan red-black dragon, scales alight with a sickly dark red fire reminiscent of the shard in the bow. A small cohort of individuals, the details impossible to make out. The dragon, falling to earth and being taken up by the soil before a roiling shuddering feeling across all of Melia. Enormous deposits of the gems sprouting. Gems being broken down and sold, fought over, crushed. A single shard, about the size of a large eggplant, powering a metallic cylinder big enough for people to walk abord rushing through mountains on parallel rails. The shard being worn down until it's too small to be used for power, being traded by humans to Luandis, first of Raro's tribe. Raro's mother, deeply pregnant, and his father, singing a longbow from a tree before embedding the crystal into it. A vision of Raro himself as a young child, being given the bow by his father. A sudden sense of connection between himself, the crystal, the Swelling, and the Draoi, like a river starting at a spring and rushing to the sea. [End Raro's drug trip] Gideon again stressed the fact that they should hold on tight to the statue but advised against offending whoever hired them to find it, stating that they were likely not one to be trifled with, and gave them the invoice and letter as he felt they'd be able to put it to better use as well as the cestus for free. Dusting his hands off, he put back on the air of an excited salesman as he magically reopened the shop and told them to have a nice day. As they left the emporium now flush with cash, the pair decided to head to Thalia's first in order to pick up some more ink work. They made it into the shop, unlit and empty save for the artist working at her desk, and Thalia's blind face turned towards them with a smile, recognizing them before they even entered. Looking over the design she was working on, there was a moment where it almost resembled the monument that Vondal made for Kadrogi, but as soon as Gwen focused to look at the art, that feeling went away. After a short discussion, Thalia set a piece of parchment and quill in front of Gwen, saying she might as well give it a try. Gwen, first focusing on Raro and then herself, crafted a pair of designs for Thalia to tattoo. Raro noticed that as Gwen drew, she seemed to drift almost into a sleep-like trance, the hand guiding itself even as her eyes were closed. Thalia, speaking to Raro, referred to both him and Gwen as "special", saying he needed to remember that in other contexts, "special" has lost its meaning, but she meant it in the truest sense. Gwen, still drawing and believing she was drawing it herself, began to trace out first the patterns of Kadrogi's tattoos, then the fractal lightning pattern contained in the memorial Vondal made, weaving in Raro's own tribal ink. Thalia and Raro continued to talk about Vondal's passing as Gwen finished up the design before Thalia acknowledged Gwen's work with pride, reassuring her in the confusion that it's understandable she had no clue how she did it. [Morgan's PC crashed here and almost died lmao] As Raro took his seat in the chair and Thalia began working on a full-back piece from Gwen's design, Gwen resumed work with the ink and quill on her own tattoo. The tattoo took the form of a fractal, expanding polygonal shapes and spirals all linking into each other as if they were chainmail. For a moment, Raro saw a shimmering effect towards the end of the design phase where the art almost had a shimmering and began to look like the scales of a snake or fish. As Thalia continued to work, Raro began to see himself completing his vengeance, crushing Blackwood into the dirt with a deep, primal catharsis before he felt a presence gently pushing at the back of his mind. [In Raro's head] Much in the same way as Gwen experienced, Raro suddenly had a moment where he saw his own memories moving backwards, dwelling on the ancient Elvish pages of that book far longer than he remembers Gideon doing. He felt his mind drift again, following the path of the shard from himself back to Luandis, dwelling a bit on Luandis' image in memory before floating once more to a nothing space, feeling a warm smile and a chuckle rather than hearing or seeing them. A soft voice, Thalia's voice, resonated in his mind saying "that's gift enough. Your debt's clear" before warning him against becoming like the "creatures" he's run from, cautioning against letting that anger that exists in him overtake him. [Out of Raro's head] Back in reality, Gwen watched as Raro gradually slackened, releasing tension held since before she was born. It appears that he fell truly asleep and peaceful for the first time. As Thalia finished her work, Raro awoke from the trance to see her inspecting the design with an approving smile. After Raro stands and adjusts to the new feeling of relaxation, Thalia floats the sheet of paper up and into the top of the wall, where a carved relief extending across one wall resided. Pressing the paper into the wall, the wood seemed to grow around the paper matching the design and integrating it into the long tapestry before Thalia, after a short joke about Gwen's disguised form, began to work on the second tattoo of the evening. The night passed in a rare sort of peace. Raro spent the night keeping a watch over the store as Thalia took the rest of the evening to finish Gwen's tattoo. In this space, the monotonous tapping of Thalia's needles and her occasional soft hums being the only sound, the two of them were able to take some time to process and decompress from the whirlwind of the past few days. As Thalia finished her work and the time for the Market to close was near, they said their goodbyes for now and paid for the services in gold, Thalia accepting the mental freedom from Raro and Gwen's contributions to the wall as the "gifts" she requests. The pair left the Market, now more certain than ever that there are dire things in play, and they're intertwined with them one way or another.
Rewards Granted
Raro: Absorbing Tattoo (Thalia the Blind, purchased) Gwen: Barrier Tattoo (Thalia the Blind, purchased)
Missions/Quests Completed
Elanis: Located and acquired the statuette, broach, and ring for the Obsidian Laurel. Located evidence that could link Ciarti to the Hidden Hand (an invoice from one Hawthorne Kern to the Count, given by Gideon Gale)
Character(s) interacted with
Hanna Rist: bartender at the Snapping Line in Timere. Human, mid-20s, shoulder-length straight black hair, light skin, thinner build. Used to dealing with sailors and dockworkers with a smile. Family owns the Snapping line. New Information Hannah was willing to conceal the location of Raro from agents of the Count and did not seem overly bothered by Gwen (in disguise) and Raro dispactching guards under his employ in her bar. Whether or not this was because she hates the Count, likes Raro, or just disagrees with authority is unclear. Ingrane Shadebeak: stall owner in the Midnight Market. Owlfolk (tawny barn owl) woman, shorter with a few grey feathers. Kind and willing to provide information about the Market. Makes and sells traditional gold, leather, and gemstone jewelry using techniques from her people. Gideon Gale: owner of Gideon Gale's Exotic Emporium. Elven in appearance, but with flowing silvery hair and pale bluish skin, so hard to place age and exact race. Willing to entertain all buyers and sellers, tries to split the difference between profit for himself and a fair price for buyers. Thalia the Blind: magical tattoo artist. Human, appears mid-40s. Raven-black hair with streaks of grey, pale skin. Wears a grey shawl over her eyes, doesn't seem inconvenienced by blindness at all. Speaks with a tone of quiet certainty. Shared memories with Guinevere suggesting that Thalia is much older than she appears. Currently working at the Midnight Market.
