Life's Bazaar 2 - Subtlety and Class
In session 2 a new character is introduced as the player wasn't able to attend the first session. This will happen occasionally unfortunately so here's hoping I can come up with a plausible reason for vanishings and reappearances each time n_n;
After accepting the job to investigate the orphanage the party is introduced to the son of a local minor noble who had previously agreed to take on the task.
He and his enormous soft-spoken housecat introduce themselves to the party and then the group makes plans to meet up at the church the next day to begin their investigations. Azan takes the opportunity to request a list of all of the kidnapped from Jenya, who assures him it will be ready in the morning.
The following day at dawn the party decides to follow up on the Lock theory. Questioning local workmen they quickly deduce that the most popular locksmith in the city is a gnome called Keygan Ghelve.
Luckily the Gnome keeps long business hours and the shop is open in the wee hours of the morning. The party enters and is greeted by the tallest gnome they have ever seen at 6 feet tall.
After a small amount of business chit-chat, Ghelve quickly turns sour when the line of question begeins to include things like "Did you supply locks to all the kidnap victims?" and "is it possible the kidnappers got hold of the keys from you?"
Subtle this party is not, this is a theme that reoccurs at a later point.
At this point Azan notices that the gnome appears to be trying to communicate with him through the universal language of eyebrow waggling.
Azan doesn't swing that way, but decides to let the gnome down gently in a more private setting and agrees to return that evening.
Having exhausted one lead for now, the party decides to head for the orphanage browse the seedy end of town and search for the last laugh guild. While loudly announcing they are searching for the last laugh guild.
Many dark alleyways later, Enra goes to relive himself in the dunny of a rather filthy bar and is surprised to find, after sitting down, that a note has been pinned to the back of the door reading simply "stop it - Last Laugh"
The party decides to go and check out the orphanage.
Once there Devlin stoops to examine the lock and, sure enough, discovers Ghelves mark engraved below the keyhole.
He is interrupted however when the letterbox rattles open and a pair of suspicious eyes demand to know what he's doing.
After a small amount of negotiation, the party shows the owner of the eyes some of the documentation received from the church and is allowed inside by the venerable halfling headmistress of the orphanage who agrees to let them nose around and speak with the staff.
As the party gather the staff one by one in the dining hall, the headmistress escorts Devlin upstairs to examine the security of the childrens rooms.
Downstairs, the party adopt the tried and true Sergeant Detritus method of suspect interrogation.
Namely, yelling "DID YOU DO IT?!" and "IT WAS YOU WOT DUNNIT, WASN'T IT?!" as people entered the room.
This tactic proves surprisingly effective as:-
the elven nurse breaks down and confesses to her affair with the gardener
the dwarven gardener begins to show off his wallet of lewd photographs
the cook denies any wrongdoing while handing out cookies and sharing his philosophy on the four food groups of school cooking (Beans, bacon, whisky & lard)
the schoolteacher shares her surprisingly paranoid philosophy about how the kidnappings were performed by the yuan-ti of shatterhorn
and finally, Patches the half-orc janitor breaks down and confesses that he had been hired by the Last Laugh to watch one of the kidnapped orphans, Terrem.
Job done the party promises not to tell the headmistress of Patches wrongdoings under the condition that he quits finds another career. They also are given the address of the last place his guild contact met with him.
Sadly the drained lizard turns out to be a red herring and several hours of traditional dwarven trance music and too many pink cocktails later the party stumbles out into the soothing dark of night and heads back to Ghelves.
Ghelve promptly leans out of the window and tells them to go away do you know what time it is? Garl Glittergold some of us are trying to sleep.
Taking this as the universal sign of "Help, I am being held against my will" the party decides to break into the house.
Devlin goes to work on the locksmiths front door and discovered a helpful feature of his Gnomish army-knife when it unlocks not only the lock he was working on, but every lock within a three block radius.
Simultaneously.
As the echoes die down, the party heads inside, all apart from Shakul who decides to sidle down a nearby alleyway while Alphonse stays with the party.
Meanwhile a few onlookers head out into the street to see what's going on and the neighbours begin calling for the guard. Shakul decides to join in, as much to warn the party of the approaching lawmen as anything else.
As the party is nosing around inside, Enra, Azan and Alphonse head into the back room and come face to face with an enraged Ghelve (now mysteriously at the usual gnomish height) who decides to defend his home from these burglars with his arcane prowess of the mightly spell... colour spray!
Azan promply hits the deck screaming as the magic spray-paint-meets-pepper-spray gets him full blast in the face.
At this point a would-be assassin descends from the second floor by way of balcony and ineffectually stabs Alphonse in the back.
He lasts just long enough to regret this mistake as Havor appears at the curtain and bisects the dark figure with a mighty swing of his greataxe.
Ghelve promptly wets himself and begins cowering in the corner.
Thus the party begins getting out of dodge.
Devlin and Enra slip quietly out of the front door and into the night after stripping the assassin of all of his possessions.
Alphonse takes Azan's dropped gear and exits the property.
Havor attempts to pick up his downed comrade but finds the man too heavy. Tapping into his rage he manages to lift the cavalier above his head and sprints, screaming profanities, into the night.
Horg decides that nonchalance is the way to go and continues to investigate the property. Finding a secret doorway under the stairs, he takes the corpse of the strange figure and descends the stairway it reveals into the inky blackness, closing the door behind him.
Shakul, watching outside from the crowd notices that one of his new comrades is unaccounted for. He is understandably worried when the guard arrive and begin questioning witnesses and securing the scene.
Worry changes to puzzlement when the half-orc is not dragged in chains from the house.
Giving his (false) statement to the guard, Shakul makes his way from the scene, meeting up with the rest of the party who have looped around and returned to Ghelve's.
Azan, having recovered from the spell decided to question the guards regarding the condition of Keygan, and after some negotiating and assurances they he knows the gnome, is allowed to speak with him.
Ghelve gives him obviously false assurances that he is fine and tells him to drop by his sisters the next day, where he will be staying.
The party decides to reconvene in the morning at the lake and see what comes of the new day.
During the night Horg ventures into the house and quietly searches, deciding it is for the greater good not to be thrown in jail for the moment. He finds nothing however and returns to the secret basement to sleep.
In the morning the party heads to the address given to Azan and arrive in time to see representatives of the guard leaving and overhear Ghelve's assurances that pushing for an investigation would harm his business much more than allowing the thieves to get away would.
This and the vague headlines in the newspaper (ORC HORDES KIDNAP LOCAL CITIZEN!) ensure that the party is more or less in the clear. Considering how uncooperative Ghelve had been, this development is puzzling.
Azan knocks on the door and is greeted by the surly gnome, who assures him once more, that HE is alright. Closing the door and kicking something into the gutter as he does.
Azan retrieves the item, which turns out to be a key, and heads back to the waiting party. Telling them of his suspicions that one of Ghelve's family has been kidnapped.
The party once more, head back to the shop, unlock the door and slink inside.
Azan sets about roaming the house and yelling Horg's name. Horg however, does not hear and remains hidden.
The rest of the party begins searching the house for "clues"
While Alphonse, Havor, Azan and Enra begin valuing the stock in the back room, Shakul and Devlin both wait politely in the shop front, idly waiting for the other to leave.
A realisation occurs.
A gentleman's agreement is reached.
A cash box is divided equally.
Devlin head upstairs and begins searching unlocked drawers. He quickly discoverers writing implements and lock schematics as well as an old leather map of some sort of stronghold or small city.
In the third drawer he discovers an exceedingly well made trap, which proceeds to carve slices out of his forearms, spraying the room and a surprised Shakul with blood.
The party bandages him up and around this time as Shakul pores through the spellbook found beyond the trap and begins feeding pages from the tome into his grimoire, Horg is discovered.
The party cobbles together rations from the contents of the gnomish kitchen and heads down into the darkness.
The first room they come to is some sort of antechamber. Smiling brass masks line the walls and the sound of laughter echoes throughout the room.
Doors constructed from huge gears and marked with strange runes appear to the south and a passageway stretches to the east.
One of the gears is propped open with stone and light spills through the gap. Eager to discover what is present Havor becomes the victim of a sneak attack prepared for the noisy intruders.
Two more of the strange dark figures flank the doorway, and after lashing out at the barbarian, flee to strange crude tunnels that are unmarked on the map. Havor and Alphonse give chase, but the winding tunnels prove to be just distracting enough to allow the attackers to escape.
The party returns to the mask room and heads west.
Havor begins documenting the doors and their runes, while Devlin picks one and begins searching for traps. He fins none. Enra however, almost falls prey to a particularly nasty one, as the floor itself flips up in an attempt to drop him into a pit.
((the session ended there as we were out of time))