Campaign Log 2: Opening Salvo

The morning after defeating Taigem’s Violets and ending their Stardust distribution, we begin preparing ourselves for Bard’s campaign rally. Though most of the other candidates would hold such events at their headquarters, Bard currently has no such location and is instead giving a speech at Turtle Fountain, a popular gathering spot on the intersection of Janus and Wagon Street.   Tucson, having sustained several injuries in last night’s violence, takes some time this morning to recover further. Ayduin remains in our rooms at the Copper Cup to analyze the Stardust samples we took from the flower shop, hoping to make some sort of detection device that can trace the depleted manacite it is largely made from. Nyssa goes straight to the fountain to secure the area for Bard’s safety, while I travel to the Crowcoil GPCD office to speak with Grandlerock about our tip into Taigem’s operations.   Nyssa arrives at Turtle Fountain. The weather is miserable this morning, with heavy rain pelting the pavement. Still, there is already a crowd forming, taking shelter from the rain near any available building cover. Nyssa can see that the intersection is rife with openings for attack on someone in the fountain square, with the surrounding buildings in particular holding many spots with windows facing where Bard is speaking. She does note three well-armed, veteran constables patrolling the square. Considering the low number of active constables assigned to Crowcoil, this is rather indicative of the expectation of potential trouble.   I arrive at the Crowcoil Constabulary Office and locate Grandelrock at his desk. He fills me in on the arrest of the surviving Violets last night, as well as the seizure of the large quantities of Stardust they were packing and readying for delivery there. He’s grateful for our “tip off”, presuming this to be a gang war-related incident of some kind. Though he presses for more information, I keep to our story about having contacts on the streets and not having directly involved ourselves in this conflict, more or less telling him they had been attacked by a rival group. Gran accepts this for now, hoping we continue to help them out with more tip-offs. I ask about Taigem and the other arrested Violets, and he confirms they will be transported to the central prison later this afternoon.   Gran fills us in on the nature of Stardust; the depleted manacite it is made from makes it especially volatile, as it could cause those who overdose on it to fall into fits of violent rage, or even cause spells having been cast through the spent dust to explode into reality again. There have not been noted incidents of this in Crowcoil yet, but its growing popularity means the likelihood increases with each shipment. Fortunately, Taigem’s distribution scheme has been stopped, and the supply into Crowcoil has been halted until another “entrepreneur” makes the attempt at flooding the streets with it. I thank him and promise to keep in touch.   Back at the Copper Cup, Ayduin works with the samples of Stardust we took from the flower shop and succeeds in imbuing a stick with a concoction that causes it to glow when in the presence of the drug. Testing it out, he is able to make the dowsing effect last for most of the day, and, pleased with the outcome, readies his new invention to use at Bard’s rally. There has been a rumor that there will be an attempt to push Stardust (or what remained of their supply after the seizure) on the people gathered at the fountain, and we aimed to keep that from happening.   We meet with Bard at Turtle Fountain right before he gives his speech. We let him know that we would be watching out for him while he is up there, and he lets on that he is aware of our hand in the raid on the flower shop last night, to which he is pleased to see the drug trafficking take a blow. Bard then mentions Ravette’s soup kitchen is open this morning, and that it was also a prime target for Stardust pushing. Taking heed of that, we disperse into the crowd, who, despite the rain, seem enthusiastic to be here. We immediately spy Gandalise Odecker, the muckraker whose Odecker Report is notably on Torbane’s side of the election. His brand of journalism leaves much to be desired, but any hint of trouble here could be blown out of proportion by him.   More happily, I spot Professor Olukyn Altari, one of the anthropology professors at the university I have had the pleasure of being taught by. That he supports Bard’s candidacy is heartening, given his open nature. Less happily, Tucson, over the crowd, sees Tomalin Teague under an umbrella. The unscrupulous personal lawyer of Dukar, it was surprising to see him here personally attending Bard’s speech when a servant could just as easily watch and report back.   Our patrolling pays off; Ayduin spots three people amidst the crowd, a halfling and two humans, pushing what can only be the remaining Stardust in their supply. He is able to overhear from their dealings with a few buyers that they were selling doses for eight aurins. After he communicates with us that they are moving through the crowd, Nyssa and I stake out the edges of the square while Tucson and Ayduin approach the pushers. The halfling has been the one handing out the Stardust while the other two collect payment and so far, they’ve managed to sell four doses of the poison. A quick conversation with them and the two of them are able to convince them that they are from a rival gang and they were selling on their turf. The halfling dealer puts up a brave front, but their act is effective and they eventually agree to leave the neighborhood.   While this is going on Nyssa takes the opportunity to sneak in and, while Bard is giving his speech, picks the Stardust from the pockets of those who had bought it. I spy a woman leaving through an alleyway as Nyssa returns, and we move quickly to remove the final shot of Stardust from the square. She is at first very reluctant to part with it, but after paying what she spent to buy it back and convincing her that the negative effects were not worth the trouble it would bring to herself and to Bard, whom she supports, she parts with it.   When the four of us meet back up to discuss our progress, Bard is wrapping up his speech, to a very positive reaction. No Stardust had spread during the event and, as I had been keeping an eye on him, Teague leaves with a disappointed look on his face. It was as if he was expecting something more damaging to happen. We approach Bard to congratulate him on his successful rally.   After explaining to him the attempts to sell Stardust here, he thanks us for having kept it away from the people gathered here. He also mentions that the drug had shown up before at Ravette’s soup kitchen, which she runs out of Wilkas' property. We decided to pay her a visit as Stardust was dangerous no matter where it was being done. Bard also said he had an opportunity for us, handing us a deed. A friend of his at the counting house had agreed to give Bard ownership of the derelict Holly House, saying it would be a perfect place for us to make an abode out of, as well as a potential campaign headquarters. It just needed to be cleared of vermin and any possible ghosts that dwelled there. Apparently, its fearsome reputation as a haunted building had kept it from being sold to anyone for years now, so it was no loss to the realtors. We promised to check in on it, and departed Turtle Fountain.   We traveled to Ravette’s soup kitchen as there was an event for her campaign that same day. It seemed that she regularly passed out food to hungry Crowcoil residents, which has made her popular. Even if she was one of Bard’s rivals, we could hardly let a friend of ours suffer from the Stardust dealers at her event. When we arrive we find just one constable patrolling the area, and not even one quite as well armed as the three at Turtle Fountain. I suppose they must not expect much trouble around the Wilkas estate.   Ravette is at the table with a few helpers, ladling and passing out generous helpings of a hot soup from a large pot. Near her is old Tayte Wilkas, who despite his advanced age is happily helping his granddaughter with her charity work. Very conspicuously at a cafe across the street from the event are the Dukar siblings, Hades, Panella, and Zhuraek. This is the first time we have seen them but they matched their descriptions perfectly and took no effort to hide their presence. They sat at a table openly mocking Ravette’s rally while they ate. It was an uncouth display.   As before we spread out amongst the crowd of her soup kitchen, keeping beyond Ravette’s gaze for the time being. Nyssa herself kept watch from further away, not wanting to complicate matters by making an awkward meeting with the woman. We discover four more dealers here slinging Stardust, having made four sales as we spy on the group. All humans, though one is clearly Rylander, having several obvious mechanical augmentations. Though based on no currently available evidence, I wondered if this one was in any way connected to Bellaluna’s network of agents.   We step away from the soup kitchen and confer with Nyssa. She volunteers to steal the already sold Stardust once again while we confront the dealers with the same rival gang routine Tucson and Ayduin had successfully utilized at Turtle Fountain. We take a moment to disguise ourselves with Tucson's kit, as we surmised that with Teague and the Dukar children out at their rivals' events, it would be best if we did our counteractions anonymously. While the others could hide their identities more readily (even given Tucson's unusually large stature), I stood out quite a bit more. I decided to wear a helm that would at least cover my face, and made sure none of my skin was exposed.   After this preparation, we went to cut off the four dealers in the crowd, while Nyssa melted once again into the throng to pickpocket the Stardust out from the buyers. This time, Tucson and myself go in to deal with the Stardust peddlers while Ayduin decides to approach Ravette to distract her from anything we were doing.   Ravette is surprised to see Ayduin again after so long a time, asking about the rest of us including Nyssa. He deflects a lot of her questions, remaining noncommittal to his answers and vaguely saying we were here on business that was in no way helping Bard’s campaign. To her credit, she does attempt to recruit us for her own candidacy, dismissing Bard’s entry into the election as ill thought out considering his outsider status and lack of resources even as his messaging was resonating. I felt bad for Ravette. In her wilder days she was definitely rebellious to a degree that, looking at her now, was unrecognizable. Her intentions were likely pure but she lacked even the harsh experiences we had as adventurers to navigate the dangers of politics. Ayduin changes the subject to the soup she is serving, which he calls lake chowder as the ingredients come fresh from Lake Tairos, moving to her side to help serve it.   Nyssa just as deftly removes the Stardust from those that had made purchases as she had previously, and silently avoids any detection as the soup kitchen is bustling with activity and conversation. Tucson and I make our move and approach the four dealers. The Rylander, a much more confident person than the halfling from this morning, Galesco, is defiant in the face of our threats to back off our territory. Galesco meets our threats with equally strong words, not willing to budge from their spot. Tucson decides to randomly drop that we are with the Ghosts of Trellaun Row, a gang that we knew only rumors about, and frightening ones at that. It was a bold move considering what trouble we’d face if the Ghosts, purported to be brutal, cruel and possessing necromantic powers, were to hear of people impersonating them.   Galesco and the other three, hearing this name drop, have an immediate change of attitude and agree to back off for now, though they would be back to sell another day. They disappear from the soup kitchen, and we find Nyssa to let her know what had happened. We knew that they had a case of Stardust that contained likely the majority of the remaining doses that Taigem had been funneling in before we ruined his operation, and so followed them into the alleyway they left to to take the rest. Nyssa, confident in her abilities, claimed she could lift the case from the pack of Galesco if we distracted them long enough.   Tucson and I call out to the four of them and, taking aggressive postures, demand the rest of their Stardust. Galesco and the others predictably pull weapons and do not fall for our bluff. Fortunately for our less than effective acting skills, Nyssa successfully steals the Stardust while they are focused on our threats, and circles out of the alleyway. Tucson and I, getting the signal from her, “let” Galesco and the others off the hook and retreated back to the rally.   Out of sight of the crowd, Nyssa reveals that the case held ten more doses of Stardust and, combined with the others she had confiscated, had seventeen. She was rightfully worried about holding on to so much of the stuff, so resolved to destroy most of it save for a handful that Ayduin might be able to do something with should the need arise.   Nyssa leaves to do just that while Tucson sends a magical message to Ayduin, who replies back that he had, during his conversation, used his dowsing stick on the soup and Ravette, finding that she herself had a dose of Stardust on her. We approach and greet her in the line, and have a conversation with her, offhandedly bringing up the Stardust problem. She reveals that she hated what the drug was doing to the neighborhood, as one of her goals was to make magic more accessible to the commoners of Crowcoil and that this poison was an affront to that. She takes out the dose that Ayduin detected, saying she had pulled this from one of the people lined up for soup, convincing them to relinquish it. Relieved that she wasn’t using, pushing or, from Ayduin’s odd idea, putting it in the food, we told her we would see her again later and leave, not yet revealing that we were helping Bard’s campaign. I did feel some guilt at that.   The rain had let up by this point, and we decided to take a carriage to Tabernacle Street, to see to the Holly House. The area was once prosperous and bustling but had become a dangerous and largely abandoned neighborhood. There is the Holly House, a large building once owned by Leon Holly, the candy magnate. Rumor has it that the family ran afoul of some terrible tragedy and everyone avoided the house from then on. Details were sketchy. Tucson uses some of his magic to see if anything arcane in nature permeated the property, approaching the gate. We searched around the perimeter and were surprised to find signs beyond just the vermin; someone was inside the Holly House, as there was faint light and potential activity on the upper level. An off-putting clicking, as well, could be heard. Not wanting to do anything rash, our desire to reclaim and fix the house aside, we decide to gather more intel on this derelict before trying to clear it out.   Ayduin decides to return to the Copper Cup to do some more experimenting. Nyssa leaves to see if her contacts had anything to say about activity going on with any of Bard’s rivals. We knew that the Stardust was just the beginning. Ayduin had revealed that Ravette spoke of food shortages and Bard’s intel had revealed some evidence that Dukar had connections that pirated the food that was coming in from lake shipments and used that to his advantage to appear charitable at his own food disbursement. Nyssa decided to find out more as we looked to take him down a peg or two. Tucson has a wonderful idea on how to hide our identities as we went about our difficult tasks, going to Baldo to request that he summon his past skills as a customer to craft some masks for us. I took a carriage to the university to catch up with Professor Altari to see if he had any insight on the Holly House. At the music shop, Tucson makes a request of Baldo, and he agrees under the condition that we help him with something. A valuable violin once belonging to someone he knows is in possession of a wealthy collector in Echo March named Hencil Spash under dubious and questionable circumstances, and he wanted us to retrieve it for him. Baldo was not taken to contracting thieves to steal something wantonly, so Tucson believes the account and agrees to his terms, commissioning the creation of four magical masks using his prodigious skills. They would be ready in three days, and would give them over in exchange for this violin.   At the university, I find Professor Altari in his office, fresh from attending the Bard rally, going on about goblin ritual practices. Normally I would be interested in his findings, but I knew that I was on limited time so I asked him about what he knew about Leon Holly and his house, revealing that we now were its owners. As to anything concrete, there was little about the threats within, but the professor did inform me that Holly had been working on an edible spell candy. Similar to scrolls but in candy form that could be eaten and activated that way. It was apparently never completed though rumor has it that the only existing formula to this miraculous invention could be found at the house. He does mention that rumor has it that someone had been going in and out of the house and was conducting strange experiments within, which would explain the lights we saw through the windows on the 2nd floor. I thank him before leaving to meet back up with the others.   On his way back to the Copper Cup, Tucson spots an old man hammering away at a brick on an alleyway. It is beginning to get dark at this point so, worried for his wellbeing, he approaches him and speaks to the old man. He is alarmed to find him emaciated and seemingly malnourished. He keeps going on about getting out, and that Tucson was one of the good ones that could get out as well, before lighting a stick of dynamite he pulls from his pocket and, before Tucson can stop him, blows himself up, dying in the blast. Standing so near to him, Tucson takes some of it as well. Investigating the area before anyone comes to investigate, he finds the brick that he had been hammering and finds it is made of pure marble. It is also of fine craftsmanship, and does not at all fit into the surrounding environment. There was something magical about it, in addition to its opulence. He decides to hold onto it for now. What did this bizarre meeting mean, and what possible danger to Crowcoil could it represent?   At the Copper Cup, Nyssa reports to us that her connections have revealed that there is a pirate on the lake named Seranada who, under the guise of a fishing boat, has been pirating legitimate fishing vessels, taking their catches and any other cargo of food. Though there was no direct evidence at the time, it is strongly hinted that Dukar was doing business with this criminal in preventing the flow of regular food shipments into Crowcoil. She even had the dock number where her ship was last seen.   We raced over to the docks to find that her ship had already set sail. While we try to figure out a solution to how we can catch her tonight, not wanting another raid to happen, Ayduin, after some pacing about and silently mouthing words to himself, approaches a smaller sail boat and fires his magic into it, creating a hole that causes it to sink. Appalled for a moment at this seemingly random vandalism, we do not get the chance to voice our concern before a ghostly ship, in the form of what he just sank, rises from the depths of the lake. Ayduin cryptically mentions that it is a gift from the spirits and jumps aboard as if it is solid wood.   Thinking it madness but running out of time, the three of us reluctantly leap aboard, and the ship begins swiftly sailing out to the center of the lake, towards Seranada’s boat so Ayudin claimed. In about half an hour we spot her ship and, though we are hidden in the darkness for sometime, they eventually spot us and prepare to evade us. Ayduin is able to teleport us to the deck of Seranada’s ship, while Nyssa leaps to the hull and makes her way up stealthily to catch them off guard. Shocked at our sudden appearance, they murmur fearfully that we are apparitions given the ghostly nature of our ship, but Seranada tries to stop such nonsense and orders her men to kill us. Tucson gives his best ghost pirate impersonation, but to no avail; they had numbers on us, eight swords to three, not counting their helmsman, who even now was trying frantically to avoid collision with our ghost ship, which was still coming in hot from the port side.   Seranada’s commands win over and their rush to attack us. At that moment Nyssa swings up and attacks Seranada, keeping her busy while the rest of us fight her men. Several are armed with bows and we fare poorly at first. I try to keep as many busy as possible but the chaotic melee overwhelms Tucson and he is sent to the deck bleeding. Ayudin almost faces a similar fate before I use the boon Bard gave us the other day and accept the wounds that would have my friend similarly laid out. This gave him the opportunity to strike back viciously with his magic, successfully knocking a few of them out. I make it to Tucson and bring him back to his feet, empowering us with Vale’s glory before throwing myself at the group of pirates.   The helmsman fails several times to outrun the ghost ship, and his maneuvers sends everyone aboard hard to the deck. Nyssa’s battle with Serenada had been a back and forth affair, and she had put several wounds on the captain as she spilled to the ground from her rocking boat. Lashing out, Seranda strikes a vicious blow at Nyssa which sends her bleeding. Ayudin retreats a few steps and assists Nyssa with his magic, causing much damage to the woman. Tucson fires a bolt at Serenada and bravely rushes through several pirates while I cover him so he can give Nyssa a potion of healing that brings her back to her feet. Nyssa leaps up and pins Seranada’s leg to the deck with one of her daggers, wounding her grievously. The tide of battle, once desperate, had started to turn, as the pirates found themselves off balance, literally.   The final nail to this vessel was struck as the ghost ship collided with us and passed through like the specter it was, continuing on before disappearing in the distance. The timbers creaked for a beat and then we could feel the effects of the necromantic energy of the ghost ship taking hold of this boat and beginning to rot away its structure. By this point we had defeated most of the pirates and had prevented the survivors from escaping into their lifeboats by knocking them out as they fled. We saved a couple of them but most had fallen victim either to our blades or, in the case of Serenada and a few of her men, killed horribly as the ghost ship passed through her boat AND through her, pinned as she was to the deck and unable to avoid its lethal touch. She was reduced to a dried husk in seconds.   Knowing we had but moments, we burst through the doors of the captain’s quarters and, finding some potentially useful items and a wealth of navigation charts, logs and notes, we gathered up what we could and lowered the surviving life boat into the water, where we steadily made our way back to the docks.   Exhausted by this dangerous mission and the absurdity of Ayduin’s deathly sacrifice of someone else’s boat to get us there, we were nonetheless pleased with the outcome. Seranada’s crew of pirates and her ship had been dealt with, food shipments could resume once again and the information we gathered from her quarters, while not directly implicating any employers, did mark routes she had taken, locations of ships she had plundered, and other such details that we could use and then turn over to put a permanent end to any more raids in the immediate future. We had dealt a blow to Dukar’s campaign in the process as well, which would help me sleep at night while we planned our next move.   Near death battles against pirates aside, if only the mysteries we had discovered regarding the Millstone Angels and the Holly House could be so easily resolved.   117 days remained until the election.   ~A.Z.