02 - Helping the resistance
Previous session: 01 - Arrival at Saltspocket
The adventure resumes a couple of days later, where the party laid low after the attack on the warehouse. Razzo came to see the party to enquire us to go to see Chef Cook.
Once there, Chef led us to a secret door™ behind Chef's Shop, like a secret Inn room. We met many traders and merchants upset with the Collars, which is the current "resistance" against the gang.
They asked us to take down the Collars, to which we agreed to do.
We have now access to a safehouse, and they gave a map of Saltspocket.
From this meeting, we still need to convince merchants to help us:
↪The Brothel
↪The Temple
↪The Forges
Along that, we noticed a place on the map called Grove of Summer. We heard many reactions from the merchants, as it seems to be an ancient Giants ruin, with a fortune teller living there (along many words as witch, sorceress and less nicer ones).
The party decided to investigate this place first.
Heading to the Grove of Summer...
When arriving, we notice that this place seems to be worn down from old age.
[History Check][Archeologist - Pass ✔] Nesvalyn recognizes the building to be an ancient Immortal structure.
We notice a sign on the door, where it's written "Closed".
Willum decides to knock on the door. Upon that, the sign text switches to "Open". The party enters the building.
The whole building feels like a day in Summer, it feels and looks like a whole jungle. Upon exploring a bit, we arrive in a room where a tea table is present with 5 chairs, with a tall woman with an eye-patch greets us, and presents herself as Raina, a fortune-teller who can help us.
As good faith, she proposes to do a free Tarot Reading for us:
| Past | Present | Future |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
| The Hanged Man | Seven of Wands | Death |
| Strangers between ourselves. Brought by circumstances. | Shining above the others. Find own's power. | (Raina was pretty implicit that it was what it meant.) |
She also explained that she was the only mage in tow who doesn't work with the Collars currently. Raina proposes a deal to the party, but cannot say what it is as long you didn't agreed upon it.
Reylynn and Persy accept to hear about the deal on their side, while the rest of the group waits in the main room.
Waiting for the end of the deal...
(Graath, Nesvalyn and Willum only)
In the meantime, the trio bounded and shared some personal information:
↪Willum mentioned being in the North to look up for his son.
↪Nesvalyn revealed looking for his lover in the North.
The trio heard animals while waiting, and were looking for them, to finally find a pink frog, to which Graath discussed with it.
(It is a poisonous frog, so no touchy ❌✋)
Return from the deal...
Reylynn and Persy return from the room with a waterskin.
Before leaving the grove, Graath mentions the frog, which seems to be Raina's pet, who handles it without any issue. Nesvalyn asks if she knows about the Giants' exodus, to which she proposes to discuss about that another time around a cup of tea. From this, the party leaves the grove.
Outside the grove, the party analyzes the content of the waterskins, which are filled with blood and organs. Reylynn and Persy mentions they have to drink the content fully within the next 24 hours to accept the contract, which they would agree to do some work for her. They insisted of the content of the work being pretty vague.
Reylynn starts to sip and drink the waterskin.
From this, the party decides to go onwards their next step.
Going to the brothel...
On the way, the party notices a young gnome with a wooden leg going through various food stalls with signs. Upon approaching, we can read the following:
MISSING: JIL
If found, please return to [ADDRESS]
The party deduces that it could her daughter, and also it is the first time we see her.
However the timing seems strange, as Jil was held for a while.
The party still decides to go see the address.
Going to the address of the missing sign...
The party finds a small little shack at the given address. Graath, Persy and Willum enters the shack, while Nesvalyn and Reylynn waits outside.
[Passive Arcana] Persy and Willum notices that the building seems smaller from the outside, concluding that the walls are in fact illusions.
Persy sends Ozzy outside to warn the duo outside.
When trying to leave, the illusion drops and reveals some Collars and the Sorceress from the other day, the fight is inevitable.
After a long combat, we managed to emerge victorious.
After that, we notice that the gnome revealed to be a goblin jester, who introduces himself as Grappi.
He is working for the Collars, as he got hired by the college of performance for a feast originally, but got stuck at the Collars' HQ.
He proposes to spy the Collars for us in exchange of us retrieving Jil, his lover. She's being held hostage at the Collars' HQ.
Along that, Grappi reveals who is the Leader of the Collars: a gnome named Lord Wringer.
The sorceress we killed was the trusted advisor of the Collars.
[Arcana check] The bearded devil seems to be a consequence from a wild magic surge.
We notice that not everything burnt from the explosion.
Robe of Alter Self
Collars' Lieutenant badge
After that, we parted way with Grappi. In the meantime, Reylynn finished her waterskin, and Persy started to drink it unconsciously.
Next session: 03 - Gathering allies