The Collective - Session 16

This is the sixteenth session in The Collective campaign and the first in the Stray Cat Strut storyline of the The Dwarven Sword arc. Player feedback ranks this session at a 9.33.

Notable Events

 * Rosanhi identified the magic teapot.
 * The party brought Evangeline (and the sword) back to her father in Edgemouth.
 * Roscoe and Badger devised a plan to damage Sir Sheer's reputation with Duke Davenport to call off Evangeline's betrothal.
 * Rosanhi and Evangeline bonded for a time on the shared difficulties of their lives.
 * Cool John, during the Duke's celebration, made away with the sword into the night.

Summary
SUNDAY, AUGUST 6, 1000: After rescuing Evangeline from her captors, the party rested in the shack while waiting for the storm to die down. During this time, the party learned more about Evangeline, such as further details regarding her fleeing from home and her overbearing relationship with her father, the Duke. Rosanhi also learned that the teapot was a receptacle for imbuing its contents with magic, an interesting magic item that the party believed would be useful in the future. As the clouds cleared from the sky, the group rode back to Edgemouth, where they met with the Duke, who was so ecstatic that they had returned both his sword and his daughter that he decided to throw them a grand celebration that night. Roscoe and Badger, intending to ruin Sheer's reputation in the Duke's court, left to find a tavern in the city to discuss, eventually settling on the Dancing King. While there, they met a farmer named Gendry who suggested that they prey on Sticky’s attraction towards Evangeline by drugging him and convincing him to humiliate himself, Due to their low Wisdom (I hope), the two decided that was a great idea. Badger purchased a set of fancy clothing from a shady street-vendor and both Roscoe and Badger headed back towards the castle.

While the others prepared for the party, Rosanhi decided to try to speak with Evangeline. Finding Eva in one of the many lavish bedrooms of the castle, Rosanhi was ushered in and Eva's servants sent away so the two could speak. They bonded rather quickly, as Evangeline continued to lament about her imprisonment as a marquess, requesting Rosanhi's advice on the matter. Rosanhi shared some stories with Evangeline about her travels to the marquess' delight, and afterwards they spent the next few hours trying on regal dresses for the celebration, with Rosanhi being lent a wonderful blue dress to wear for the night.

That night Rosanhi, Roscoe, and Badger met up to exchange items before heading down to the main hall. Vega, led around by Rosanhi, spent plenty of time learning about social interaction and dancing, surprising the nobles at the party at her existence. During this time, Vega even managed to learn how to float. Baby’s first steps! Hooray. Badger, ready to dismantle Sticky, feigned intoxication after interacting with Astrid and managed to convince Sticky to consume a cup of enchanted tea from Roscoe. Sticky spent the rest of the night awkwardly coming onto Evangeline, much to her dismay and to the Duke's attention. Roscoe, meeting up with Frederick, joked around with the Duke and was eventually convinced to give a performance for the party, with Frederick's help.

After the performance, the Duke brought the party up to his throne to present them with their reward for a job well done. Wondering where "the bald fellow that was working with them" had gone, the group realized that Cool John was both not an associate of the Duke and was also nowhere to be found. In a sequence of unfortunate events, the group realized that John had likely stolen the sword (and their reward) as the Duke pulled out a swapped-out Papier-mâché replica of the sword and sacks full of corn and bits of metal instead of gold pieces.

Running up to John’s room, the party did some investigation and confirmed that he had stolen the reward money and the sword, and escaped through a nearby window. They discovered a hastily written note from John, apologizing for his theft and beginning to explain his motives before the letter abruptly stopped. Cool John, while writing the letter, had been intercepted by a guard who had been stuffed inside a nearby wardrobe, before he descended from the tower with sheet rope. Unfortunately for everyone, the Duke refused to give them the reward money with the sword missing, but did renegotiate the deal: if the party could retrieve the sword, and bring them Cool John’s head, he would reward them with a total of 10,000 gold pieces.

The party begrudgingly accepted the new deal and requested that Astrid help them find Cool John. Harnessing her magical gift, Astrid glimpsed a premonition of Cool John heading south towards the Crimson Mountains and entering into Fort Wayne, an old stronghold near the cusp of the Plains' borders and the old seat of Humanity's war effort against the Orcs. With this information their only lead on Cool John, the group prepared to depart in the morning.