Last time on the mystery campaign, the party spoke with spy Sippikup Magee at the speakeasy the Icy Stare and discussed the magic involved in both the mind control spells the the spell used to communicate with Sippikup. This time, the party got more invested in their plans to build a natural healing business. Because the players only needed to gather a few specific pieces of information to complete this bit of the story, I planned the next session as well, but because the players focused on their healing center plan, none of my planning notes prepared me for this session. Here's how it all went down:
The players had ended last session with Portia, who had awarded them with both a piece of property for their business and some magical items to help them in their work. As this session began, Beor pulled Portia aside and offered her a percentage of the real estate--she would get a 5% portion of the healing business for procuring the real estate. This caused some debate, however, as Montana was opposed to rewarding Portia for pressing them into a murder investigation which seemed unlikely to end any time soon. The discussion was animated; Beor wanted Portia to understand that he ultimately approved of the way that she works as a guard, but Montana could not deal with paying someone who had effectively imprisoned the entire group.
I roleplayed Portia as being pretty silent during this moment. In my estimation, Portia recognizes (and has spoken about) the fact that 99% of the investigations by citizens end after about a day; all they have to do is find out who hurt someone and bring guards to the guilty party. On the other hand, this investigation is much more involved, and she doesn't really like forcing the party to follow the twisted web of this mystery. Her hands are tied. So when the party describes their negative feelings about the situation or the guards or Portia in particular, Portia accepts that letting the party lash out is the most practical thing to do. Let them get it out and don't disagree since she does ultimately identify with the party, and hopefully the party will accept that they must carry on. Besides, Portia is not extremely ambitious financially, so although she did want the 5%, she wasn't prepared to fight for it. I provide this explanation because it likely seemed a bit strange to my players that Portia didn't seem interested in defending herself. But in fact, Portia has become calmer and more patient with the murder case as it has progressed; she is now of the opinion that the party might be able to solve the case, but she is keeping in the back of her mind that the party may need to be granted an exception and released if the case goes on too much longer.
The debate resolved, the party decided to investigate the piece of property Portia had given them for the business plan. A chaos storm struck as they walked--most of Montana's teeth turned to gold, Beor became unable to eat meat he hadn't killed personally, and Ais was attacked by a swarm of bees, which she ably dispatched with an acid splash. Montana used "Speak with Animals" to talk to a specific bee who introduced himself as Barry and asked for directions to the nearest meadow. On the way to the property, they stopped at Cogswagon's lab and asked Cogswagon to change her priorities: rather than completing the biometric scanner they had asked for, they wanted her to repair the liquid multiplier. Their reason was simple. For their healing business, they would need a great amount of healing potions. The liquid multiplier could turn a single healing potion into a 8 gallons of healing potion. Their business would be able to begin on a strong first step if they could boast an endless supply of healing potions. Cogswagon agreed to work on the liquid multiplier and spoke briefly about magic users in the Above when the party asked (she recommended speaking with Polly Bridgerman, Headmaster of Yamseth College of Magic). Cogswagon promised the liquid multiplier by midnight, and got to work as the party headed for the property.
Arriving at the property, the party found three buildings: two smaller buildings which had partially fallen into ruin and one sizable building which bore the faded sign of a brothel. Inside the biggest building, they found a front desk area, six private rooms, and a considerable storage space (which they isolated as a good spot for making potions). Content that the building seemed actually quite well-suited to their needs for a healing shop, the party began inspecting every inch of the building, and during this process, Ais found a thin, dirty elf asleep in one of the private rooms. He identified himself as Nyrill, and after ascertaining that he meant no harm, the party offered him a job cleaning up the building. He agreed to take the job and requested a gold piece to pay for the improvements. Suspicious that Nyrill was trying to take advantage, Beor cast "Charm Person" on him, and Nyrill immediately lowered the cost of the repairs by nearly half. He ultimately agreed to procure supplies, paint the building inside and out, un-shuttering the windows, and installing new quality beds in the private rooms. Nyrill took the money he requested and set off to work.
The party decided to set out for Loom Tower, and so they changed into their costumes as Sam, Marshall, and Dr. Miranda. On the way, the party encountered Davil Analeth, the father of Hildy, the murder victim. Beor and Ais tried to slip by stealthily, but Montana waved at Davil, who stopped and spoke to them. He asked how the investigation was going and mentioned he was on his way to apply for a manual labor job to support his family now that Hildy could not. Sympathetic to Davil, Beor offered him a job helping prepare the property for being a healing center. Davil was a bit confused--he asked why the party was starting a business rather than investigating his daughter's murder, and he ultimately resigned himself to hoping that their convoluted plan for getting information would pay off. He accepted the job with a mixture of satisfaction and concern. And when this interaction had ended, Montana's player asked a question: how did Davil recognize the party in their disguises?
This meant taking a few out-of-game minutes to address the oversight. We all discussed this in story terms, which is how I recommend you deal with similar issues. Notably, this mistake really doesn't radically change the story or make the world inconsistent; it just seems to defy reason to a certain extent. If I didn't have a suitable reason for this inconsistency, I could retcon it--the conversation never happened and Davil walked right past the party with their disguises. But ultimately, I stood by my mistake for two reasons. First, I really wanted that conversation to happen. Beor's player said both in- and out-of-game that hearing Davil's confusion and frustration over his daughter being lost in the mystery jarred something in Beor which reminded him why they were doing what they were doing. He almost felt silly wearing a costume to start a business with someone in order to get information that Loom may or may not have. I didn't want to shame my players or their characters, but I did want a reminder of what was happening and why, and to retcon this moment out of existence did not suit the kind of story I wanted to tell. Second, I could rationally explain why Davil stopped and recognized them. Montana saw Davil and waved him down, so Davil would at least be paying close attention to Montana, whether or not he recognized the disguise. Further, once Davil had stopped and paid attention to Montana, he would also be looking at Beor and Ais in costume, which would jar his memory. Further still, the players had described their disguises not as completely new identities, but as significant features like changed hair color or a distinctive set of clothing. Someone who (1) knows you already and has been waved down, (2) would recognize you in a group, and (3) is only complicated by cosmetic tweaks can probably recognize you, especially if you're the people investigating his child's murder. I don't think this is a stretch. So in addition to getting to further define Davil's relationship with the party and his situation, I got to further define the limits of the costumes, which creates storytelling situations for the party to contend with (like what happens if Loom sees the party out of costume?).
The party arrived at Loom Tower, took the elevator up to Clover's suite, and discussed business with her. She happily provided 200 gold pieces (in the form of platinum from a hidden safe she opened in front of the party) to pay for building improvements, expansion, and necessary equipment. To celebrate, she opened a fine bottle of elven wine and described for a while the traits that made that particular bottle special. Slightly inebriated, Clover suddenly added that Edgar Hillerman was not in attendance at the big Above party which had happened the night of the murder; she didn't know why he was missing, and recommended the party speak with him. The party enjoyed the wine and took their leave, thanking Clover for her help.
Back outside, the party noticed how close to sundown it was and headed for the Briscoe Inn. To hurry and not leave Beor outside when the moon rose, Beor turned into a moose and provided a ride for Ais and Montana. At the Inn, Montana played a short show; he performed a 25-minute song he called "Grieving," a song which had slow, ponderously sad parts and fast, painful parts. The audience hung on every note, and they leapt to their feet for a standing ovation, except for one person. Inspecting that person, Montana saw that they required crutches and forgave them for not standing as well. Trusty barkeep Carl served drinks and food that suited the mood, and suddenly, into the tavern walked Dirk St. Patrick. He approached the party and explained that in his investigations, he had learned that Beor's wife and Montana's son were distantly related, which gave them two things in common. Infuriated, Beor threw a heavy punch at Dirk, who dodged the blow and left. Montana and Beor drank heavily, and the session ended as Beor howled a furious scream into the air.
If you're a regular reader of the mystery campaign updates, you'll notice that I included no information on what I had planned for this session. That's because this was all off-book. I wrote information about the investigation into the mind control spells, but the business plan is something I can't really anticipate. Last session's notes include the first half of the planning I had done, and you'll see the second half when the players address it, but none of that happened this session. I tried with Davil and Clover to nudge the party back toward investigating the murder, but you can't make a horse drink. And let there be no confusion: it's not that I want my players to get clinging to the story without getting involved in side ventures. I'm happy to run business development sessions until the business is fully functional. Remember that when it comes to keeping players on the story, you're always meeting them halfway. So for now, some nudges will do. I don't want to force my players to follow the story if it's not how they want to handle it, so I'll keep planning story chapters and improvising business details, and eventually, it will all work out.
Next time on the mystery campaign, the players will likely shore up their new business with the help of Cogswagon's liquid multiplier and find ways to investigate members of the Above. Until then, happy gaming!
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