04 - 01/29/22 : Inside Information

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  The party began their fight against the feral mind flayer, which Makoto quickly deduced was vampiric. As it attacked, several zombies began to pour into the temple, heeding the mind flayer's call. While Makoto peppered the illithid with her shotgun, Vesper moved to engage the zombies. As she took hits in the fighting, she flew into a bloodthirsty, murderous rage at any creature that struck her, a fury that was accompanied with glowing runes on her blade, and which only subsided when her attacker perished.   Makoto was gravely wounded by the mind flayer and fell, but was restored to a fighting state by Connie as Elemmírë attempted to re-sanctify the temple. Connie eventually struck down the mind flayer with a shatter spell, and Elemmírë's efforts paid off in an eruption of holy energy that obliterated most of the zombies.   The party took stock of their situation, and agreed with Elemmírë that it was necessary to do more research to get a lead on the missing gemstone. They headed topside, stopping by the Fairhill Four's camp where they gave the other adventurers a rundown on their fight with the mind flayer. The Fairhill Four thanked them for eliminating the creature that had been stalking them, and wished them well. Once they made their way up the well, Elemmírë parted from them to spend some time with her daughter and ex-husband. Connie narrowly avoided the tiefling at the well once again, and the party rested for the night in their rooms at the Eclipse.   The following morning, the party spoke with the Fairhill Four, who also survived their trip below. They had not seen the gemstone in question, but wished them look in finding it. The party decided to return to the Odessiron Athenaeum to seek out who checked out the drow-related books before them, and departed the Eclipse.   As they left, Edea quickly and excitedly told other tavern-goers about the daring exploits of her new acquaintances. Already the name 'The Moonlighters' began to dance on the tongues of rumormongers and tale-tellers...   The party crossed the Castle Ward to get to the Odessiron Athenaeum, only to be briefly stopped by a large crowd gathered to watch an ongoing gryphon race. They took the long way around, making their way to the library.   At the Athenaeum, Lorekeeper Il-Khan stated that he made it a habit not to divulge researcher information, but made an exception for the particularly troublesome individual that was researching the drow before the party; Piece of the Puzzle, world famous author, who recently acquired a bookstore in the North Ward. Connie was very excited to meet the author, while Makoto grumpily remarked that Puzzle owed her money for a bungled job in the past.   The trio made their way towards the North Ward, passing through a quiet alley known as Black Cat Way in the meantime. They stopped, however, when Makoto's keen senses tipped her off to the smell of death. After a search, the party uncovered the exsanguinated corpse of a halfling woman hidden behind a stack of crates. They were immediately taken aback, as this was a sure sign of a vampire attack; such a thing was very rare in Revelmoore, as it was a poor choice of lair for a vampire between its active population, many canals of running water, and large adventuring population.   The party debated what to do about the body, as well as the possibility of a vampire being nearby. During this, Connie realized that his family would almost certainly be on this case once word got out, and this realization prompted him to make a confession to the party.   He explained that his real name was Legault Sundever, and that he was currently at odds with his family for refusing their hereditary legacy as a clan of monster slayers. He knew that his family was almost certain to pick up the vampire's scent, as his mother Vaida slew the last vampire loose in the city almost 20 years prior. For this reason and his current distance from his family, he was reluctant to get involved with a vampire attack. He also revealed that the tiefling wizard at the Balladeer's Eclipse was the youngest of his elder siblings, Marisa Sundever.   Makoto remarked that the family must have had plenty of work considering the presence of the many terrors in the Undermountain. As this statement was made, Connie noticed an eye open up on her jacket and then close; he realized that Halaster's interest in his companion had left a permanent mark on her, as evidenced by this and other strange occurrences, such as her now-glowing golden eyes. While Connie was alarmed, Makoto was quite taken with the idea of Halaster bestowing her with power. Vesper merely took the revelation in stride, taking the time to tease Connie about his disposition in spite of his monster-slaying heritage.   The party decided to take the halfling's body to the nearby temple of Freya, the goddess of love and fertility. The priestess on duty was alarmed, but accepted the body with respect. Connie, not wanting to be tied to the report knowing his family's likely future involvement, insisted that their report be an anonymous tip, to which the priestess agreed. She promised the victim's family would be notified, and that a proper burial would be carried out.   The party then finally arrived at the sleepy Troll Skull Alley, where the famous Red Spirits once resided. The place made Vesper uncomfortable given the Scions of Black Hearts' conflicts with the Spirits, but she pressed on. The party made their way to the Book Wyrm's Treasure, which they soon realized had been renamed to "Puzzle's Fine Feline Folios".   Within the bookstore, Puzzle responded to the ringing of the door's entry bell with a warm greeting, only to yelp with fear and try to make a hasty getaway when he realized Makoto was one of the entrants. Connie managed to prevent Makoto from flaying the tabaxi alive (albeit barely), and the party had a chat with the author.   Scared of Makoto's retribution, Puzzle bared his entire story to the party. He stated that he had been blackmailed by the Melshimber noble family over past debts, and had been instructed to research some sort of connection between the drow and the goddess Desna. However, his research came up inconclusive, with his only discovery being the discovery of writings talking about an obscure settlement known Irrastin - "The Hidden House" in the drow language - which had been founded by surfacer drow commoner refugees who fled Veszaltyrr Oussndar's destruction of Olath Luth'ol some centuries ago.   Puzzle attempted to draw the theoretical path of the refugees from Olath Luth'ol, although Vesper had to correct his placement on his model globe of Lloegyr, as Olath Luth'ol was actually located beneath the Dragon's Teeth Mountains just south of the entrance of Frostgale Taiga. From there, he traced a southern trek to the western side of the Barrier Hills, opposite of the Vast Desert. In the shade of the Howling Fortress lay the Hidden House, at least according to Puzzle's findings. Puzzle purported that refugees fleeing from an oppressive society might be the type of people to follow Desna, the goddess of freedom.   The party accepted this as a potential lead, since speaking to House Melshimber was almost certainly an impossibility given the house's reclusiveness. Before leaving to figure out a plan, Connie requested for Puzzle to sign his copy of Crossed Swords. This novel, Puzzle's sole foray into the romance fiction genre, was among the less of Puzzle's popular works, but had apparently captured Connie's attention quite thoroughly. Within its pages was told the story of two men who had fallen in love despite their vastly different lives; one a member of the Revelmoore City Watch, and the other a member of the City Guard.   Puzzle was convinced to give the autograph, even though it wasn't one of his 'proudest' works. As an additional gift, Puzzle threw in a free first edition copy of the newly-printed Revelmoore: Dragon Heist, complete with fancy gold leaf outlining on the book's pages.   The party gathered and discussed the journey to Irrastin, surmising that getting there would take approximately 12 days at a good pace, covering just under 850 miles by both sea and land. The sea route was vastly preferable to crossing or circumventing the deadly Vast Desert to Revelmoore's north. Expenses were tallied, and the party figured that between horses, boat faire, supplies, and other trappings would total up to about 250 gold pieces; money they did not have to spend at the moment.   As they discussed possible options for funding the trip, Vesper pointed out that if a vampire was on the loose, there would likely be a reward for its head. This suggestion immediately sickened Connie, but after some convincing, he reluctantly agreed. He suggested that a good place to start would be with one of his more agreeable siblings; Lewyn in particular, one of his older brothers and a deft hand at handling firearms.   Given his fascination with guns, Vesper reluctantly suggested that the Spring of Creation may be a good place to find Lewyn. Edea Lockehart was also possibly going to be there, meaning Makoto could possibly get her gun looked at and modified. With their destination decided, the party set out for the base of the Swordmaiden, near which the Spring was located.