PCs

  • Youte Haire (he/him) - human - rogue - Ron
  • Nerali (she/her) - tiefling - bard - Kae
  • Vaeris (he/him) - elf - warlock - Aaron
  • Torrin (he/him) - half-elf - rogue - Sammy
  • Tala (they/them) - half-elf - wizard - Nick
    • Tisk - rat familiar

Names / places / gangs

  • Jalester - runs the Yawning Portal - tall, lanky, sad
  • Yagra - half-orc - Zhentarum (snake mercenary) who got assaulted
  • Volo - foppish man who gave us first mission
  • Floon - red-haired man who was kidnapped
  • Ranaer Neverember - son of former open lord, was there during the kidnapping
  • Berca - bartender @ the Skewered Dragon
  • Lif - ghost haunting Trollskull Manor
  • Grabinor - gold trader
  • Loxely Faircandle - records-office halfling
  • Lorelo Harsard - Blackstaff apprentice
  • Places
    • Yawning Portal - our initial hangout
    • Skewered Dragon - last place Floon was seen
  • Gangs:
    • Zhentarim - snake mercenary company (aka Black Network)
    • Xanathar - thieves’ guild with eye symbology (bad)

Session 2

The Manor

Apparently Volo was serious about giving us Trollskull Manor, because he marched us down to the records office and we signed the deed! He said that he wants to write a story about a haunted manor and this would be perfect.

After signing, we walked over. Surprisingly absolutely nobody, it’s rundown and haunted. Torrin tried - and failed - to kick down the unlocked front door - still drunk?

Quick notes about the house:

  • It’s haunted by a ghost named Lif that Torrin is trying to make friends with - apparently they used to work here and made nude drawings
  • Torrin ran from room to room claiming each one
  • The main area is dusty and rundown
  • The basement was locked, and has some intact brewing supplies
  • We have two libraries, several bedrooms, a kitchen, and hearths
  • The beds are in various states of disrepair, including a centipede living in one of the beds and ravens living in the attic (actually, the ravens are kinda cool)
  • One of the bathrooms has serious water damage and is in danger of collapsing - we stopped up the leak and prevented Vaeris from fireballing the bathtub

Once we finished reconnoitering, we split up into different groups. Me and Nerali went to the goldtrader to sell some of our bars - got 40gp/each. Then we went to the Guild of Innkeepers, where we registered with the city. The lady who helped us was a cute little halfling with dimples - she gave us some advice and hooked us up with contractors.

The others stayed back to fix stuff, but apparently Torrin went off and met some neighbours. He said there’s a bookstore nearby that also sells scrolls, as well as a greenhouse tended by a half-elf. She also said there’s a spooky building with eyes on the front - maybe the private investigator we heard about?

Torrin got a message from his sister J.B., though the message was a little vague - a bit suspicious of that one.

Floon and Ranaer came by, they didn’t seem to shaky after all that happened. Ranaer asked if we’re interested in being part of the Hapers, and gave us a mission to talk to Maxine - a talking horse. The Harpers sound interesting, I’m going to push to pursue that one!

Floon also invited us - more specifically, I think, Vaeris - to the Twin Parade the next day. Ranaer re-iterated that he doesn’t know why he was kidnapped, just that there’s rumors his father stole something.

Later, a winged snake dropped off a note from the Zhentarum that Davil Starsong would like to meet us @ the Yawning Portal

The next morning, we found a publication from Volo going around town, where he called us “The Bumbling Breakthroughs”. This will be interesting!

Day 2

We split the party up again:

  • I stayed behind to meet with contractors - I managed to get us a pretty good deal on fixing the bathroom
  • Narali and Ta-La went to meet Black Staff, after Narali received a telepathic message
  • Vaeris and Torrin went back to the Yawning Portal to meet Davil - I sort of assumed they’d scare them off, which is fine - I don’t trust the Zhentarum anyways…

Narali and Ta-La seemingly had a good conversation with Black Staff. Apparently we’re basically deniable assets - she wants to hire us under the table, so to speak. We’re supposed to make contact with a hermit on the mountain, but “don’t bother him”. So we won’t be spending Vaeris / Torrin on that one.

Vaeris and Torrin actually got some good information, though! It sounds like Davil is from a small faction of the Zhentarum called “The Doom Raiders”, and they generally do legal mercenary work (not that I can totally trust their recollection of the conversations).

According to them, somebody has been murdering folks with Elvish ancestry in the Dock District, and would like us to go find out what’s going on.

The Parade

Floon took Vaeris to the big Twin Days Parade. Floon walked in at an awkward time, when Vaeris was talking about ditching him - Vaeris was apologetic, but I don’t think he realized (at the time) that Floon was basically a paid escort? He figured that out eventually…

The parade had:

  • City watch
  • Sea maidens
  • Pirates
  • Mechanical beholder
  • Caged owlbear - that upset Vaeris a lot

After the parade the sun was starting to set, so we went to the dock district to look for the elf killer.

After a couple hours, Vaeris got back. At some point, I went to the privy, and when I returned, I saw a drow creeping up behind Torrin that nobody else could see!

I secretly alerted Torrin, he turned around, and………….