Session 21 Log - Cenorias

Topic: Arc 2 - Dual Fronts
Session: Session 21 - Cenorias
Session Date: 2023-07-22
In-Game Date: (this all takes place in 1 day)
Prev | Next

Synopsis

Strix Nebulosa and Nilkas Lavigne arrive in Cenorias with Nathaniel Fawkesmoore in hot pursuit
Telling Harlow about what they've learned from the documents
Exploring Silversmith Lane, meeting Rosalind Honory, and accepting a quest
Learning about a string of suspicious animal kills
Finding a Sapphire Torch hideout on Oakwood Terrace
Entering the Silver Spire, meeting Midas, and entering The Infinite Library
Getting dinner with Jade, and discussing morals
Nathaniel Fawkesmoore finally makes it to Cenorias, and an alarm is sounded

Detailed Notes

Entering Cenorias

The party stables Charlie the Horse right inside the gates, hauling a wagon loaded with provisions, then pass by a pair of churches and are greeted with a second huge wall shielding the Silver Spire, seemingly stretching into the clouds above the city.

They weave their way through crowds of people trying to hawk souvenirs, and a sector of the city built to hopefully suit the needs of any passing adventurers, nobility, or creatives. Intending to contact Harlow using the wand of Sending, they knew they needed to find a place where they could cast a spell for a few minutes without attracting too much attention, and settle on a tavern called The King's Other Castle - settling into a corner far away from the active bar fight in the middle of the entryway. They then send Harlow the message:

Found Documents.
In Cenorias. What do?
Baron following close behind.
Deal made with Aurelia Stormrune.

Harlow's response was:

Uh. |Aurelia is a foreign dignitary. Might be able to use.
Might want to avoid showing your face in Kaledorei for a while.

They discuss their future plan, and where they might want to lie low for a bit. None of Bremoor, Kaledorei, or Cenorias seem like attractive options, all for their own reasons.

Honory Glassblowers

They leave The King's Other Castle, looking for lodging at a Wayfarer's Inn. As they explore, they get deeper into the city and the number of street merchants drops. They spend [4] hours, and find Silversmith Lane, with the Wayfarer's Inn at the head of the road, along with a building labelled Elysium, another Gloom's Shrooms location, and another that they can sense the heat emanating from before they notice it - with a posted sign, Honory Blowers.

They look through the glass windows of the building, seeing a woman holding a warm orange light, and many items made from glass hanging on the walls and stands. A lute catches Nilkas' eyes, glittering with pearlescent blues and pinks, and Strix's eyes are drawn to a pair of daggers hanging over the counter, reflecting just about every color of the rainbow.

The party enters the shop (with Strix taking 5 points of fire damage as the wall of heat blasts her), and unintentionally scare the shop owner, Rosalind Honory, who drops the bowl they were blowing as they turn, holding a (magical) blowtorch. After introductions, Strix mentions they're interested in the daggers, but balks at the price. Nilkas purchases the lute. After offering to help out as an apology for breaking her bowl, Rosalind tells them about a place with the best glass (and nerds out a little bit), and shows them a place just south of The Shelf where it comes from. Strix and Nilkas make plans for how they'd be able to get to the sandbar ([Touch of the Sea] or [Sea Steed] and [Waterbreathing])

The Wayfarer's Inn

Also on the way to the Wayfarer's Inn they catch a quest board, with one catching Nils' eye (in broken Common) talking about a mountain pass northwest of here where they'd discovered animals (and other 'creatures') killed with hard slashing wounds.

Seen managing the Wayfarer's Inn here is a dwarf standing on a step-stool named Garrick Stoneheart with a well-used blunderbuss hanging behind the counter. After reserving a pair of rooms, a round of drinks, and a pair of meals, they leave a tip for Garrick and head to their rooms.

On the way to their rooms, Nilkas receives an additional sending from Astrid:

Harlow says- oh, I wasn't supposed to say that?
(long pause)
Oakwood Terrace. Torch hideout. Walk under the arch, say "Under sapphire stars, a new dawn awaits."

They don't send a response, but do contact Jade with their wand, and don't receive a response:

Hey Jade, we're in Cenorias.
We're in the Wayfarer's Inn, taken a couple jobs.
We have the contracts. Want to meet?

20 minutes later, he receives a response from Jade:

Sorry, was sparring.
You have the documents you were talking about? How did you get them?
Did something happen in Kaledorei?
Meet at Wayfarer's.

With the response:

Job went bad in Kaledorei.
Got the documents some other way, not planning on staying in Cenorias for too long.

"Laying Low"

They head back down to the main bar area and wait about an hour before Jade rushes through the door, clearly coming from training and dressed in her Cerule Guard armor still, in about the least stealthy fashion imaginable. Without being able to recognize the disguised Nilkas and Strix in the room, she looks around until they wave at her, and she grips her sword then walks over to sit next to them. Her eyes flash blue for a moment before recognizing the characters in disguise, and connecting the dots that she very much isn't.

Jade followed them to their room as Strix and Nilkas caught her up on the past few days, and after showing her the contracts, Jade clearly wrestled with what her position called her to do, and what her friends had revealed to her, and tentatively sided with the party. She suggested using magic to alter the documents in such a way that it was difficult to tell that they were the originals, and turn them in to the proper authorities, to have Nathaniel dealt with through official channels now that he's been caught in dealing with a foreign power. She suggests casting [Secret Page] on the documents to make them more apparently a copy of the documents, not the originals.

After discussing their plans, Strix and Nilkas leave the inn to track down scrolls of [Secret Page], [Scrivener's Chant], [Water Breathing], and [Sea Steed], and return to the Inn. They make two copies of the documents [Linguistics check: 26], then use [Secret Page] to erase the signatures off the original documents.

Oakwood Terrace

From there, and with Jade's guidance, the party locates the location Harlow told them about in his [Sending] - a private dead end with a community garden, small fountain, and an arbor that's been built around a ancient-looking stone arch. Nilkas stands under the arbor and (after looking around for any sort of hidden gates or traps), speaks the command phrase:

Under sapphire stars, a new dawn awaits.

After a brief pause, they hear a low rumbling from behind them as the wall of one of these buildings pulls outward and rolls to the side slightly. They leave Jade on the terrace and head inside.

[Paused video at 3h:27m]

The Silver Spire

Secrets

Jade's last name is [Regulus]. The characters saw it on her Library card, but failed the [DC 5 Knowledge] check to identify that as the last name of the royal family.
Is [Sea Steed] a suppository?
Strix has seen Old Runes out of the corner of her eye and in mirrored surfaces, identifies them as some sort of protective rune.
[Secret Page] is permanent, but can be reversed by the caster (Strix)
Nilkas also ends up casting Detect Magic on the contracts, and also on Jade. He catches a bunch of [Transmutation] effects, a [Divination] effect, and an [Illusion] effect (head area), with the strongest effect being moderate.

Questions

Do scrolls cast at the user's caster level?
- No, they go off the creator's CL
What The Fuck™️ is in the vault?