The Thunder Moon Festival

The Party: Arcturius-9, Corwen, Farrow, Khonshu

The four members of Lanternwurm thought back to their meeting with Agent, the warforged in the signal room. She had told them Lanternwurm would be stopping at a river port settlement called The Locks. Though run by warlords and bandits, The Locks kept a neutral space for trade. There would be a three day celebration for the Thunder Moon Festival. They were told to disembark to take in the festivities, but also to take on three objectives.

The first was to make a trade. Another sanctuary engine would be in town, a ship called Sirenshell. On the second day at noon, they would meet a group at the Portmaster Citadel and exchange a spellbook for another. Their book containing research for a spell to generate breathable air, the other with a spell for mass cloaking. The party was warned to not open or read either book, as they contained high-level magic, and they couldn’t put it past the other group to trap their book, but a detect magic spell should reveal an aura of illusion. The contacts would wear ribbons of red, orange, blue, and purple, and the party was asked to do the same.

The second objective was to rescue a scouting party. The Overseer had sent the scouts ahead of their arrival. Two halflings named Osmo and Belbin were now in prison in The Locks. Osmo was known to Corwen through scout work. The clan did not want this traced back to Lanternwurm, so the group would be disavowed if caught.

The third goal was to foil a plot. Agent believed some group was planning to sabotage the closing ceremony on the third night. There was usually a good luck ritual reading of a story from a book called The Handbook of Burdens. The ceremony would be in the colosseum, putting many people in danger. If the party could find the source of the sabotage, they should take it out, otherwise the Overseer would pull their people from the final night and warn the others. This could, however, lead to a tricky situation politically.

The night before arriving, Khonshu procured a map of The Locks from a trader he knew.

Corwen met up with a contact who provided some information on The Locks. There were at least three competing gangs in the settlement, the river ways divided up their territories.

Arcturius-9 was interrupted by one of his contacts, who was headed into town and asked if there was any message the cyborg wanted sent out into the streets.

Meanwhile, Farrow was approached by her adopted father Einkhorn who presented her with a dwarven dagger as an early coming of age present. They also spoke about going to the greenhouse cabin later to ask about a fungal specimen Farrrow had collected.

Meanwhile, Arcturius-9 and Farrow went past the Temple Mount into the Nobility Quarter. They found a magic component shop where Farrow befriended the dwarf shop keep and asked him if he could decipher the rune rubbing she had. She was told it was some protective magic possibly for structural support. Walking onto the palace grounds and into Lockwood Palace, they saw many people at work and one man seemingly jumping between stories, light as air as he spoke to different people. Arcturius-9 was barred from going up the stairs but caught a glimpse of a crystal security screen. Farrow surprised the flying man by climbing up to meet him. He was Master Crow, a leader of the locks. The mohawk-wearing elf they saw earlier was also a leader named Elwindil. And a third leader named Johnny Rooks was absent, probably in the Artisan Quarter. Each represented one of the gangs that governed the settlement. After getting some tourist information, the two checked out the prison before meeting the others at a tavern called the Cracked Mug.

Outside, a group of street kids ran around the group, but were caught trying to pickpocket Arcturius-9, who simply tossed one of the thieves away, and they ran. With Master Crow’s contact, the party got choice lodgings and food and drink. They found some guards off duty from the jail and plied them with drinks. Khonshu convinced one to not show up for his morning shift while the other guard failed a drinking contest with Arcturius-9. In the commotion, Farrow and Corwen stole the ring of keys off the passed out man. Back at their table, fresh food revitalized the party. A girl passed out flyers advertising the festivities at the colosseum. She told them of the ritual reading at the end of the third night and possible fireworks. The story was a favoured read along, telling a fairy tale about a well-dressed man stealing children away and standing them in circle facing outward as he transformed them into dolls until a brave girl broke the spell and revealed the bull-headed demon.

That night they made their jail break plan. Early in the morning, rain started to fall. At the prison, they watched a lone guard come to relief the late shift. Using disguise magic, Khonshu brought Corwen in as one of the guards, deceiving the two men inside. The night guard left, leaving one guard who stood at this post at the back. Downstairs, the two infiltrators found an ogre in one cell, and two pairs of the halflings in two other cells. Calling in the rest of the group with Khonshu’s sending devices, they sorted out the issue as Farrow’s drone watched outside. Through questions and divination, they discovered one pair of halflings were actually kenku in disguise. Speaking only in mimicked words and sounds, the two were released and went with the party. The ogre was convinced to cover their escape by creating a mess. The party got away as the guard chased after the ogre until he disappeared into the mountains.

Dropping off the halflings and kenku, named Para Para and Uki Uki, at the Cracked Mug, the party went on to make their trade appointment. They were met by four tortles in coloured ribbons as promised. After some magical inspection, all groups were satisfied. Some small talk revealed rumors of a new sanctuary engine rising from the badlands, a fortress that could walk on two legs.

The group headed back to the tavern, with one objective left and a day and a half before the closing ceremony.