Dust Extraction

The party (Huilam [Jamie], Greywacke [Jeff], El Cid [Shane], Tylin [Ian], Lammy [Kevin], Moonlight [Chris], and Burrito [Darryl]) were in the Scabport graveyard, on a mission for the Panadine temple to find some magical sand (which was suspected to be used in the recent plague poison). 

Mausoleum 5 & 6

They left the fifth mausoleum, afraid to enter a narrow passage, and went into the sixth one. There was a chamber here with four passages leading down, so they chose one and fought their way into another chamber (some skeletons). There was a skeletal statue here with two precious stones in its eye sockets (jet). Then into another chamber, where they met some ghouls. These were destroyed, but Greywacke was clawed and was paralyzed. But, good news, Huilam used the eye dropper and the dust here turned blue. The group filled up many containers with the dust. Then they hurriedly left the graveyard and went back to the Panadine temple.

Priestess Greta was glad to have the sample so she authorized the payment with a note for the Wizards' Guild, and then she began to work on the samples. 

Daisy Crown,
acting WG Liaison

The group went to the Wizards' Guild. Daisy Crown was on the reception desk and she was happy to pay them with an 8 COIN promissory note. This was eight COIN's worth of magical services and it meant that they didn't need a cart to carry the reward around, nor did they need a large vault to store it.

 

Daisy mentioned the murder of the two Kliban priests (Brandon Stapleton and Slimy Douche), and of course the group denied all knowledge. The dreaded council meeting was tomorrow, and so Daisy expressed a worry about that. Without any Kliban presence, then the problematic motion would likely get its two-thirds majority.

But the significant news was that the Panadines were planning to cast a Raise Dead on Kliban Priestess Slimy Douche (Priest Brandon, the other assassination victim, was elderly, so he was deemed less useful). The Panadines needed to get some fresh elder flowers from Lake Placid for the spell. Someone else had that job; "You lot know all about that, don't you?" But Priestess Slimy would not be alive in time for the meeting.

The other interesting news was that the Wizards' Guild would like to find out who murdered the Kliban Priests. They did think that the Klibans should bear the lion's share of the cost of this, but they were willing to contribute two COIN towards it.

[ Party did a Downtime. ]

El Cid went to the marmalade room and Ampersand crawled out [Shane changed character].

"Assassin's Knife"

The party went to the Kliban temple and spoke to the Head Priest, Walden Snell. They asked if he was willing to hire them to track down the killer of both Brandon and Slimy. He had been told by the Wizards that they would contribute, so he was interested. He offered 6 COIN, which was boosted by the 2 from the Wizards' Guild. The party agreed. 

The only useful witness was young Priestess Sabra Villareal. Noone witnessed the murder of Priest Brandon, but Sabra was in the chapel with Priestess Slimy, and saw her murdered by a black-clad woman "who just appeared". After the act, the assassin ran off. She used a strange wavy-bladed knife, and it glowed.

The group then did some sleuthing. First, to the Funken Wagnall's Temple. But, contrary to their expectations, [ and despite some good rolls ], the library had no "famous assassins of Scabport" books, nor "who's who of Scabport assassins" books; well, not living ones nor contemporary ones. 

But it wasn't a wasted trip. The wavy knife was quite distinctive. The library had a catalogue of magical weapons, and in it was a picture of a wavy bladed knife called an "Assassin's Knife". It was magical, glowed on use, and there was a footnote that said it "guarantees a kill". 

So, they went wandering in the Downtown district, and ended up in the Grapefruit and Corselette. There, they found their old mate Sonny Bowens of the Bronze Studs.

"I lost track of you guys when you last shifted base," he grumbled. "You needed to keep in touch." He had a sheaf of now-expired jobs.

They asked him about expert assassins

"Hmm," he said. "You want to try the Grey Wraiths, Jolly Jokers, Insular Rogues, or the TGP.  Oh, and those Budgie Smugglers are pretty good too, so I hear."

The Grey Wraiths were based in Downtown. The Jolly Jokers, in the docks. Both had hidden bases.

_______________________________

When they got back to base, Esme reminded them that they had a lot of messages from the Luscious Pixie notice board. These were messages sent from the graveyard, and asked the party to use the blue-tooth skull, after dark.

So, that night they contacted Magda on the skull. She quizzed them about their recent trip into the graveyard. She was not very pleased. A bunch more skeletons and ghouls had been destroyed, of course, so the group could not claim innocence.

"Zere vill be trouble," she said.