After returning to Floivin Keep, and a few brief stopovers to sell or exchange some of the excess goods they found on their journey eastward, Ginkwrench and Lord Ballyhoo decide to spend some quality time in the most expensive joint they can find. They arrive at the Seven Flood Inn, and after some bribery, the smelly and filthy gnome is permitted access. Ballyhoo seems to have a natural rapport with the staff here, and not only purchases their most expensive in-house import (a 500gp bottle of Mitruul firewine that comes wrapped in jungle leaves and a hay-packed crate), but decides to spot a round for everyone in the Inn. A lutist and dancing girl are fetched to perform for them, and a lavish meal prepared. Ginkwrench is pretty sure he can get used to this new friend...
Meanwhile, Mudgol and Rumpridge have finally gotten the Arkana Arkiva instructors settled back into their quarters at the Flabbergast Manor. Most of the rescued wizards petition Schnoo immediately for the half-orc to be reinstated to the guild, and Mistlethroe is also forced to agree. Schnoo begrudgingly exempts all the PCs from their debt of the magic items they purchased from the school stores, and cursing, tells Mudgol he will 'consider' his reintegration to the Arkana Arkiva. Which is more or less an 'affirmative' coming from that guy. Mistlethroe offers condolences on the loss of Private Longjohns, citing him a brave hero who deserves public recognition. He also agrees to write up a scroll of protection from normal missiles for Mudgol the following night. Rumpridge, still mourning his fellow soldier Lunus, decides to break off from Mudgol and head to an expensive drinking hole, the Seven Flood Inn. Mudgol goes for a drink at the Fiery Rat, where Commander Hoary and Odd Jon are quite happy to see him (the latter having recently returned from Tretcher). So happy, in fact, that the wizard is ordered to go round up his friends for a late night feast on Odd Jon and Flake.
Gruulsh is getting 'accustomed' to his...er, her magical gender change, but Baro remains curious, and dispatches the warmage Roost (also recently back from Tretcher) to Toul Tabor with the next trade caravan in order to inquire with the Wizards Elite about possible causes and solutions. For a few nights, Gruulsh has wandered the city streets, seeing if her newfound femininity places her at any great risk. Perhaps it is due to the low rate of crime recently, or just her size, but the cowled bugbear comes out unscathed. Word arrives that Connif has also cured the blindness of Hagel Ossted's daughter, which Gruulsh is relieve to heard. The two set out to the Fiery Rat tavern, where they wish to take a meal with Odd Jon, when en route they encounter the most strange of persons...some fop wearing a red dragon outfit! I.e, Mudgol. Baro decides to play a prank on the diviner, by hurling a thunderstone. Unfortunately, it doesn't work, and Mudgol dodges off into an alley...they 'reconcile' and Mudgol informs them they were just the two he sought. Knowing that Rumpridge was earlier bound for the Seven Flood Inn, the three head off there...
...and arrive to a scene of drunken euphoria. Ginkwrench, the dancing girl Levone, and the lutist Ninch (an effeminate boy in the 'guise of a woman) are all making merry on the balcony table, while Lord Ballyhoo performs to the applause of a myriad of nobles that are also dining on the second floor. Even Rumpridge, after some words with the bartender, is up there drinking, though he's still quite solemn over the loss of his comrade. The staff is so smitten that Gruulsh, Baro and Mudgol are able to walk right in without trouble, and thus the six PCs are reunited. After some further foolery, with Ninch's gender being revealed to Ginkwrench (after a quick ball grab), and Gruulsh's identity shocking just about everyone besides Baro, they all head out to the Fiery Rat for the improvised feast in their honor. Odd Jon, Hoary, and Flake embrace their friends and set them up at their tables (though Cannon is nowhere to be seen). A trio of serving girls bring out goblets of ale for the exhausted heroes, and all but Gruulsh partake...
...unfortunately, someone has decided to poison a half dozen of the goblets! Rumpridge, Ballyhoo and Mudgol all begin convulsing from the ale, feeling their strength and vitality slip away in great swaths! Seeing that he's been poison, Ballyhoo quickly dispenses antitoxin vials which he claimed from his adventure haul, to the the other two PCs and several of the random soldiers that also seem to have been poisoned. One of the soldiers dies instantly, while Rumpridge and Mudgol go unconscious (and nearly perish) from the secondary damage! Gruulsh dashes into the Fiery Rat's unfinished kitchen to question the serving girls, ordering them to empty all the ale casks onto the ground immediately. They comply, frightened at what's happening! Outside, Baro orders a baffled soldier to make haste to the Cathedral of Blades and bring back clerics of Eleste. The PCs are healed back to consciousness, and then Mudgol uses true seeing to scan the crowd for anything unusual...turning up nothing of interest! Ginkwrench watches over the crowd, but soon it is dispensed by Commander Hoary. Odd Jon is in tears...not understanding how this could have happened. Other soldiers are sent to the gates of the Keep, to inform the watch of what happened and to stop anyone trying to leave the place in haste.
Baro discovers the Score's signature scratch marks etched onto the goblets of all who were poisoned, and realizes that they were probably intended for not only Mudgol and Rumpridge, but himself, Ginkwrench, Gruulsh and likely Odd Jon. Meanwhile, the bugbear learns that one serving girl, a 'Besse', has left the tavern earlier to her family's home. She takes directions and then scurries off, followed by Rumpridge and Baro. Meanwhile, Lt. Ginkwrench, Hoary and Odd Jon help control the remaining chaos. The commander, quite frustrated, mentions to Mudgol that he was going to tell them all that the new Regent had requested an audience with them the following evening at 4pm, Floivin Castle. The half-orc says he will check up on and inform his companions the following morning. He, Ginkwrench and Ballyhoo all head back to their various quarters in the city. The others find Besse's house, where her grandmother is still awake. It turns out that the girl is there...in the house...dead in her bed, having returned earlier in her work clothes, feeling ill. The PCs swear revenge for Besse, and head back to the barracks.
Gruulsh stays out late, helping the soldiers at the gates to look for anyone suspicious...they still seem suspicious of the bugbear, but cowled up under Hoary's orders, they don't start trouble with her. She inevitably returns to the barracks for a few hours of shuteye, and finds that most soldiers have cleared up the bunks surrounding hers. One disgruntled private mouths off to her, but then goes to take Longjohns' bunk, only to trigger a half dozen leathered whoopie bladders that caused all the soldiers in surrounding barracks to laugh into the night...
Verne, Martenin 15th, 838 ID
Mudgol, Rumpridge and Ballyhoo all awaken to Cathedral acolytes that have been sent out to the Seven Flood Inn and the guard barracks to use what magic they have to restore the effects of the potentially deadly poison the night before. Though they do their best, it might still take days for their full recovery. Mudgol then informs his party members of their evening appointment at Castle Floivin, and a few of the PCs decide to go do some shopping for the morning. Baro picks up some pearls of power from Teven's Tomes, while a few others purchase potions at the Cathedral of Blades. After hours of getting their bearings and accounts in order, the PCs (and Odd Jon) converge upon the gates of Floivin Castle in the Armory district. They are met at the door by some dour looking guards, who express some concern over the poisoning the previous evening.
Led inside, the PCs find that there are well over a hundred local officers, nobles, and dignitaries awaiting them at the first floor banquet hall, including Regent Velvedine herself! All look deathly serious, as if they just heard rumors of a war approaching...but then, at a nod, the entire chamber breaks out into applause and cheers for our heroes! Many old friends, like Attican Vlad, Monch & Ymurf Gnarlbottom, Blake Bauerkroft and others are in attendance, and many approach the heroes to congratulate them personally (except for the bugbear Gruulsh, who has a shorter 'line' of admirers limited to just a handful of soldiers that have gotten over their fear and hatred of her). The Regent instructs them to stand at their seats, near the head of the front table, surrounding her, and then servants come forth with some slim boxes. From each, she withdraws an amethyst longsword brooch, the violet espadon, a symbol of Imperial valor which can be commanded to radiate a purplish continual flame spell, and pins it the PCs. Ballyhoo tries to turn it down, but Hoary insists he take Luz' brooch, since he was instrumental in helping free up the Westermarch from the bandit raids. A seventh brooch is put aside for Major Grizzlebeard, who is not present.
A five course meal of fish plates, honeyed duck, spiced and stuff boar and other hearty dishes is brought before the PCs and other guests, and Ginkwrench pigs the fuck out! Several of the recently poisoned PCs eat a bit less than normal, since they are still well under the weather. While getting to know the heroes, the Regent's conversation turns next to what their future plans might include. Will they chase after the surviving criminals in the Score? Head back to Wintersbreath to find the missing Regent-General and archmage of the Arkana Arkiva? Put together an expedition into the depths of the massive and deadly Crowslode, where the head of the Axe of Dwarven Lords is purported to lie? Or perhaps attempt to cut off agents of the realm's nemesis who are reclaiming the other missing components of the petrified death titan Ulan Vhor (the right arm is suspected to dwell in Stavewulf, an independent city of the North run by the Coldcrumb dwarves; the head was sent south centuries past to the safekeeping of the God-bards of Alkinarre)? Monch and Connif join in the chat.
Conversation turns a bit rowdy, Commander Hoary quite unimpressed with the behavior of Mudgol and Lt. Ginkwrench at this fabulous celebration prepared for them. A number of foreign minstrels perform, a few quite skilled, including the renowned singer 'The Yellow Hen', who croons like a sweet bird. His sexual tastes are called into question by some of the PCs, but he seems quite proud of them, and sets his sights charmingly on one Lord Ballyhoo. 'I like older men.' Sadly, the Hen becomes too confident, placing his boot astride the dining table, only to have it nearly hacked off by a Last Eidolorn halberdier. He is removed from the dining hall, but the feast doesn't really hit its nadir until Mudgol produces the pickled phallus of the long missing Lt. Banghorn, to the dismay of both Ballyhoo (a former friend of Banghorn) and Rumpridge (the lieutenant's nephew). Not to mention the disgusted Regent, and Commander Hoary, who becomes so red and angered by the half-orc that he nearly belches fire onto him. Needless to say, after hours of revelry and congratulations, the feast has come to its end...
Before turning in, Mudgol decides to return the severed organ to its owner with a quick 'port and grab' attempt. He manages to successfully scry an unconscious Banghorn, still in a cramped rocky cell, and now missing a left leg below the kneecap, in addition to his teeth and manhood. Though he's still not aware of the cell's exact location, he is successful in teleporting alone to the spot (since the smell is tiny and cannot fit his other companions), which sets off an alarm spell immediately! He is quick to react, grabs a hold of the catatonic lieutenant and then 'ports back to the Cathedral of Blades, narrowly avoiding an incendiary blast that would not only have harmed him in his drugged state, but also likely finished off Banghorn! The two arrive at the Cathedral seconds later, Mudgol howling for assistance...
PCs: Ballyhoo, Baro, Ginkwrench, Gruulsh, Mudgol, Rumpridge
NPCs
Besse (human female): A plump, homely woman who was working at the Fiery Rat until assassinated by an unknown member of The Score, who, obviously in disguise, assumed her duties in order to poison the PCs during their homecoming party. Gruulsh, Rumpridge and Baro get the directions to her home, where they find her dead in bed, her senile grandmother unaware of her fate.
Levone (human female): A wiry dancing girl with a firm abdomen, she has grayish-dyed hair which she hangs down her back in curls. She dresses in purple and pink sashes and linens, which whirl around as she 'takes the stage'. She is quite flirtatious, but also taken heavily to drinking, which has brought her much trouble in the past with her employers. Nonetheless, after being heavily tipped by Lord Ballyhoo, she gets sloshed while table grinding with Ginkwrench, and passes out soon after.
Ninch (human male): A cross dressing lutist who performs with the dancer Levone at the Seven Flood Inn. Hard to discern his normal appearance, since he's smeared in powdered makeups and wearing a fancy, dirty blond wig. Ninch was quite apparent from the start to Lord Ballyhoo and Baro (who didn't care), but for poor Ginkwrench, who thought he might be 'getting lucky', it came as quite a surprise when he grabbed the lutist's equipment to confirm his masculinity.
Regent Velvedine (human female): A slim woman in her 30s, she wears ornamental garments and hairpins of some distant land, though she has the long lashed eyes and fragile cheekbones of her native Carbadian upbringing. Dark auburn hair is tied neatly back into a pair of buns, and her glittering green eyes possess the depth of someone twice her age. She carries a sash into which are slung numerous pricey looking map and scroll tubes and quill pens. In addition, a jewel hilted rapier of outrageous quality hangs by her side. Velvedine was an Imperial Architect who won favor with Emperor Borth, who designated her the new Regent of Floivin Province in hopes that she could put her ambitions into motion. On the other hand, no one knows what the rapier is for...
The 'Yellow Hen' (human male): A bright, golden haired, well traveled minstrel in his early 20s, with a beautiful voice. Seems smitten with Lord Ballyhoo. He is one of the performers at Floivin Castle during the celebration of the PCs' accomplishments, but soon gets into a verbal battle with several of the PCs, who anger him into gloating about his sexual preferences (which granted him his effeminate stage name) and proudly placing a boot on the feast table near Regent Velvedine. A scowling halberdier removes the Hen from the premises.
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