Campaign Journal: Wherein Slick Goes Poking About

 Full house, keeping their heads down at the Chalice and Cock inn:

• Slick: Thief
• Fred: Thief
• Fulvus: Halfling
• Jax: Barbarian
• Orzu: Gnome
• Rondel: Elf

The city just felt different. More troops billeted in the bivouac areas outside of the walls. Fiery speeches from the steps of the temple extolling the City's and Theocracy's right to the western lands and duty to push back both Chaos and the forces of Chirath and the Hougan Duchy. Just the good ol' general beating of the drums of war.

Yo, listen up!

Ideas were bandied about as to how to seek out old contacts, possible allies. Brother Sigeric was known to have been incarcerated by the Council, but perhaps some of his 'orphans' were still about. The military commander, Alonso Ngom, had seemed amicable during their last sojourn in town, but now? The surviving rescued patrol members had shared info in the past, and Petre Gagua had shared a copy of the patrol's journal with the party. The Council was a no-go, after the last interactions. And those Paragons of the Comet were a bunch of assholes.

Frederick questioned Burga, the establishment's owner. She knew that St. Vivinna's Home for the Wayward was under new management, but a couple of the 'orphans' happened to work in her kitchen. She sent out word, and a few made themselves available to get a feeling of the word on the street.

It was confirmed that Sigeric was still at the temple's dungeon, getting 'reeducated.' Time for some recon. Does this city have sewers? Most certainly. Anyone who might be a guide? I know someone, but she's an odd duck. We're used to that.

Off to a market, where members of the party found Sane Ammer, just getting off her night shift of sewer scraping and fatberg clearing. She was, as warned, a bit socially awkward, as may be expected of someone in her role. Rondel offered her a pouch of coin that she had 'dropped' and caught her interest. Yes, she had an encyclopedic knowledge of the sewers. And was happy to share.

"Oh, you want to get under the Temple, well we'll go into manhole A-8, then trunkline 16-North (that just got repaired) to junction B6 then left to..."

The party left her with a meeting time and place...

Others wandered the streets on their own, getting a sense of things. Fulvus checked out a couple of brewers to talk shop with, then was alerted to some commotion in front of the temple. Sure enough, priests and soldiers had gathered. A wagon containing captured Chirath soldiers was rolled up, and after more speechifying, the soldiers were summarily executed. Not a very welcome wagon.

Jax was wandering, the usual string of children following her and the dog. A tap on the shoulder - 'what are you doing back here?' It was Petre Gagua of the lost patrol. He confided that things were becoming more martial, but that the city Council seemed to be more interested in solidifying their grasp on the area then pushing outward in light of the patrol's findings. He wasn't happy with it, but wasn't in a place to argue. He agreed to meet the party at a later time.

Back to the Chalice and Cock, and the party put on their sewer-delving duds. Meeting Sane, they descended into the sewers and murk. True to form, she unerringly led them toward the temple. A heavy, locked grate blocked the way. But not for long. Below the temple, they paused at another junction up into the structure. Frederick went left, Slick went right. Left led up into the temple. Not where the party needed to go at the moment. Right, sure enough, Slick popped up into the dungeon. Going invisible and carefully lifting a manhole cover, he crept past a dozing guard, finally finding Sigeric in his cell. As expected, the Brother looked much the worse for wear, and was certainly less well-fed than when last seen. Slick warned him to remain silent, then picked his way into the cell. He let the Brother know that the party was back to collect a few things, himself included. The Brother looked at Slick with sad eyes and told him that it was best if he was left where he was. This didn't seem in the Brother's character, and after some more questioning, it seemed that he had been brainwashed in some way. Slick left Sigeric with some extra food and asked him to do the favor of making some noise so that Slick could steal out. Sigeric complied, and Slick made his way out, but not before vandalizing the guard's dinner.

Reconvening, the party decided that a trip to the Paragon's barracks was in order. They weren't far away after all. Sane finished repairing some cracked mortar she had noticed. "Yes, back to junction B6 then north via trunk J-13, did I tell you about the fatberg there? to..." Just lead us there, ok?

source

As they party approached, something brushed Slick's leg. He lashed out with his sword, but missed. Durkan Dildran slashed with his two swords, and a very large, very dead, water viper revealed itself. +1 head for Fulvus. 

Hi!

Reaching the Paragon's barracks, Slick once again infiltrated, invisible. Perhaps there were some comet bits for pilfer. He made it through the ground floor barracks, then to the second floor, where officers' quarters appeared to be concentrated. He wasn't sure of the sigils on the doors, but guessed that the fanciest one represented the leader.  

Creeping in, he prepared to snoop. A candle flared. Oops. "Care to reveal yourself?" Sitting in the corner in the dark was Serafina Rissanen, leader of the Paragons of the Comet. There was some back-and-forth, and Slick agreed to become visible. She recognized him. We kicked you out of town. I came back to check on some things, look for an old friend, the usual. Why are you really here? No bullshit? No bullshit. Ok, we're looking for comet bits, thought you might have some. Rebuilding the Barrier and all that. 

Serafina sighed. Yes, we had a relic of the Comet. But it was commandeered by the Council. We've been frozen out of discussions ever since the merchants have gotten onto the Council. They are making their own Barrier, from old towers and new, ringing our territory. Interesting. Serafina listed off the locations: Ha'tak, they had captured (bummer!), Gaerborin previously. The next one south had been invested by some adventurers and their mercenaries (old allies of the party), the Council was waiting until spring to dig them out. Then there were a couple new ones built to the south. 

Well, the party and their allies have a bigger view - both to rebuild the complete Barrier and to stop the Chaos mutants. Maybe we can help on another. Reluctant, Rissanen agreed. As a gesture of goodwill, she produced a necklace with a fragment of comet metal. Here you go. More might be with the artificer, I think that's where they took the material. Slick, recognizing the value of this gesture, left her with his favorite pilfered hat.

It's a start...

On the way out he stole a helmet (conical with tassel, scarlet).

Checking in with the party and Sane, they decided to explore the artificer's residence and workshop the following night. After all, they would need to enter via another route. 

"Oh, that's the West Branch. We'll access through Manhole W-11, then up Channel NW-13, then..." 

DM Notes:

A bit more data-dump of a session, with the party trying to make a plan on gathering suspected resources, finding out what's up with the leadership, and rescuing an old compatriot. Who apparently doesn't want to be rescued.

This turned into a bit of a one-man show, with Slick and his ring of invisibility doing the heavy lifting. The party is already making plans for various group invisibility and silence spells for mass assault. Due to their sewer delvings, there was also interest in an unscented, 15' radius, but no one has that in their spellbook. Plus with a fragment of comet, Rondel can locate object to help narrow the search.

I'll make sure more people get a role next time. Sometimes things just lean to one or two players/characters. 

Sane was a fun NPC. I just channeled my cousin, who has an encyclopedic knowledge of vehicles, engine displacements, local history, family relationships, trains, and such. You know the type.