Last time on the mystery campaign, the party's plans to investigate George Turnbuckle were stymied by a chaos storm, which made Ais and Montana unable to communicate normally. They changed their plans, took advantage of the changes from the storm, and hired a team of healers for their business. This time, the party works to shore up their business and prepares for investigating Turnbuckle.
The previous session had ended at night at Ais' house, so we picked up in the morning. Beor was the first to rise, and he used his solo time to pray to Ehlonna. Ehlonna did not directly respond to Beor, but did instill him with a sense of accomplishment and peace. Shortly after this, Ais and Montana rose. Ais made coffee, and the group set to planning and discussing the details of their investigation. They addressed the possibilities they would face with looking into Turnbuckle's affairs, decisions for their business, the loose end of the powerful spellcaster involved in the case, and other details.
After the discussion, the party decided to tend to their business in the morning hours and then speak to Turnbuckle in the afternoon--they felt that this was a more considerate approach which would improve their chances of success with Turnbuckle. So they donned their alter egos' disguises and headed to the site of the business, where Davil was working on the third of four apartment homes, and Nyrill was tending to a visitor after having finished painting the business's main building inside and out. Meanwhile, a group of three people stood nearby, discussing the building.
The players first addressed Davil. He was working away on the apartments and seemed tired. He said he wasn't as young as he once was, but he still knew how to do the job right. After the party had checked in with Davil, they turned to Nyrill and the visitor. It turned out that the visitor was a dwarf named Peyton Copperminer, the painter that Nyrill had spoken of contracting to paint the vistas in the healing center. Copperminer took some directions from the party, ultimately agreeing to paint a different natural scene in each of the healing center's six rooms as well as a mural for the lobby and an elaborate hanging sign to display outside.
Having addressed all of their employees, the party turned their attention to the people observing the healing center. As they turned to these people, the new employees of the healing center--Nicole, Josephine, and Grat--approached, and Grat began animatedly calling out to them. From a distance, the party was only able to discern that she was explaining the new healing center to the people, and that she was leading them to the business.
The party prepared to greet the visitors, including Montana casting "Prestidigitation" on Beor so that his hands radiated natural green energy. This big welcome impressed the visitors, who seemed excited that their neighborhood had gained a few nicer buildings. One of the visitors stepped forward with interest about natural healing. Sunburned halfling Quinn Goodbarrel complained of a broken piece of metal that was lodged in his back; further, he had issues with the gods and did not want divine magic to be involved in healing him.
Beor called Josephine and Nicole in to observe as he inspected Quinn. Quinn showed him the spot on his back where the broken blade still was. Beor administered a healing potion from the first batch of Ais' multiplied potion, and the results were quick and dramatic: Quinn seemed disoriented for a moment, and then the blade tip, having been pushed by accelerated healing out of his body, clattered to the ground. Quinn was ecstatic, thanking Beor for the solution to his chronic pain and promising to spread the word of the new healing center to anyone he could.
In the meantime, Ais was training Grat on how to use the liquid multiplier. Grat seemed to learn quickly, not only asking specific questions, but even anticipating things about the invention that Lyssbetonk had not discussed in her descriptions of the device. During the training, Ais became passionate about the machine and accidentally slipped in her character voice as Dr. Miranda (as the players were in disguise this whole time) in her instructions for a moment here and there. Grat sympathetically told Ais that she could tell that Ais, Montana, and Beor were in disguises, and that she didn't want to ruin their plans, but that Ais could drop the act around her if she so chose. Ais was very tentative about all this, but seemed ultimately grateful that Grat was both a good employee and a considerate person.
Soon afterward, Marietta (the street food restaurant owner who the party asked to expand into their outbuilding) arrived to check out the new site of the restaurant. She was pleasantly surprised by the size and quality of the building; she was only minor alterations would be necessary for her purposes. The party discussed with her the detail of rent for the building and settled on 3 silver pieces per week, which is just a touch more than she pays for her other location. Out-of-game, I thought this price was a little step--you could save money on rent by buying the location outright for only one month's rent charges--but given how much Marietta will be able to make with a more upscale menu and wealthier clientele, the tradeoff seemed fair.
Having been able to only illustrate the power of the healing potions while tending to Quinn, Beor decided to offer a little more training to Nicole and Josephine. They took in Beor's words carefully, and they indicated that they would be comfortable establishing a routine between the two of them to tend to the business when the party couldn't be there. The training was quick, but the party came away with the sense that their business was almost completely formed; it would just be tending to the final details over the next three days to prepare for opening.
At this point, the party was gearing up to head to Turnbuckle's tower, having done everything they could at the business for the day. But first, they checked in with Davil one more time, now with an agenda. They had heard from Baldwin Weams, tavernkeeper who kept Hildy and her family fed, that Hildy was a prolific and beautiful writer, not least because it was her only way of communicating. The party asked Davil for access to her writings, specifically journals that might reveal what was happening in her life before the murder. Davil was uncertain at first, wanting to protect the memory of his daughter. But after a bit more discussion, he relented and agreed to a compromise: he would bring the party her most recent journal only. Satisfied that it would be the most helpful of her writings, the party agreed and granted Davil the rest of the day off to spend with him family and gave him a small bonus to provide a nice dinner for the Analeths.
Out-of-game, this now means that I'm going to write the most recent edition of Hildy's journal. I'm imagining a combination of recording her everyday life, a collection of illustrations and poems, and a few clues/secrets that apply to the campaign. I'll be writing it soon and posting it here so that you can follow along. I'll be using this method to create the journal, and I think it will be a fun changeup to have the players pore over some documents to get their next information.
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| The first page (out of ten) in Hildy's journal. |
That's all for now. Next time on the mystery campaign, the players will confront George Turnbuckle, try to learn his place in the mystery, and face an unexpected foe. Until next time, happy gaming!
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