During the final evening of the Thunder Moon Festival in the trading port of The Locks, Arcturius-9, Dacien, Khonshu, and Mule wandered the stalls and kiosks. There were performances of dancers, musicians, and surprisingly violent puppet shows, as well as games of darts, balls, hoops, cards, and arm wrestling. Dacien did a quick scan around detecting for magical auras, finding only possessions of others. Khonshu saw Jarsen their genasi contact with his family and exchanged knowing nods as the children ran from Arcturius-9’s glare.
Arcturius-9 zeroed in on the arm wrestling contest, putting down some coin. A barker introduced him as the Black Dreadnought to go against the champion named Golden Panther, an older man with huge arms and a blond handlebar mustache. Dacien quietly put down a bet on Arcturius-9 as Khonshu observed. As people cheered on, the contest was close, but Golden Panther eventually won out surprisingly. The man stood up and posed and the cyborg fighter punched him down. Golden Panther nodded in approval and offered his hand. The two went to get drinks. The older man put a red headband marked with his name on Arcturius-9, who promptly took it off when he was out of sight.
Khonshu found a ball target game and managed to get a toss into the bowl. The worker was surprised and offered a choice of prizes. Khonshu took the largest stuffed dragon doll to the worker’s dismay. He didn’t seem too talkative after that. Khonshu placed the doll into Mule and walked it around, attracting some kids. Khonshu eventually gave the dragon to the children.
At an antiques stall, an elderly halfling woman welcomed them as Dacien and Khonshu looked through the wares, not finding anything too interesting. Arcturius-9 discovered an old clock with a mechanical griffon in it. Showing it to Dacien, he recognized it as from the old Empire and immediately purchased it while inquiring about the trader who brought it. As he examined it, a flashblack overtook him of his younger days, ending with darker shadow visions of giant black orbs overtaking the landscape.
The group saw a beer stand with the Firebrand Brewery logo, setting off Dacien and Khonshu’s alertness from their previous encounter. Talking to the girl selling beer, they did not get much further information on the brewery operation except that they had a warehouse in the Locks. Arcturius-9 tried some of the beer, finding it good quality. Wary of being recognized, Dacien left Arcturius as a contact name, saying they’d be interested in learning more about buying.
At a miner’s guild table, two dwarves had materials, raw and processed ores and some sculptures, for the party to look at. After talking with them, Dacien and Khonshu offered up their plans for firearm modifications and energy sources, and they learned they had some rare bronze-golf metal called orichalcum. It was supposed to bear enchantments and possible planar energy well, but also may be poisonous if treated improperly.
Dacien did some negotiating for obtaining the metal and perhaps working together on forging projects. The lead dwarf named Karn told them how they had some conjurers working with them, using elementals to aid the process. Dacien offered Arcturius-9’s strength in their dealings, and Arcturius-9 placed a firm hand on his shoulder in warning.
Golden Panther showed up to pal around with Arcturius-9, who reluctantly tolerated him. After finishing his beer, the wrestler crushed his wooden cup on his head and tossed it into the fire, knocking over a tripod and brazier. With this, a fiery portal opened and two dwarf-shaped creatures emerged, bodies of burning coals, beards of fire. The party engaged the elementals in close-quarter combat. Golden Panther also tried to get involved unsuccessfully. Every time they struck the burning foes, gouts of flame shot back.
One of the creatures spewed a fan of fire that singed the party, including Golden Panther, who kept trying to tag team with Arcturius-9. Eventually, the group battered the creatures back, causing their forms to melt to lumps of coal. The guards arrived and checked on the dwarves. Dacien tried to browbeat the dwarves into a better deal. Though they were apologetic, they didn’t have any concession. Until Golden Panther broke into the conversation, as the dwarves were fans, and got a discount for his new friends. Meanwhile, Khonshu mulled over how Lanternwurm was experimenting with binding elemental spirits, and how it may be getting a little too close to slavery with much unknown.
At night, the ritual book reading took place in a spectacle. The reader’s voice was amplified and the crowd read or sung along in places. Illusions were cast to enact some scenes as music played. The finale was marked by fireworks, and the crowd went home happy.