Chapter 1 - Session 5

Cellar Battles and Inn Secrets

Events and Actions

The session began with the party receiving some additional equipment from Randolph the Chronicler; notably, Noddy received a pair of fine leather riding boots, a bit too large for him but wearable once stuffed with rags. Werner De Rendal wrote a letter intended for his father's factor, Lawrence de Rabia, in case he was delayed returning from the investigation below, but with no runner available he did not get a chance to send it.

The party, accompanied by Burlyman, returned to the cellar room with the large, sealed double door. Trying not to draw attention, Noddy tapped the door with his medallion, but nothing happened. The group then tried to push the door open, bolstered by Mani's strength, but it wouldn't budge; something clearly held it shut from the far side. Cosimo began chiseling at the stone around a presumed hinge, while Mani started chopping at the center of the door with a hatchet. Werner searched the room thoroughly but found no new clues, confirming the previously noted strange writing in the alcove with the desiccated corpse. He also fashioned a makeshift spear from a discarded broom handle found in the cellar. Pocket flew up near the ceiling to watch for trouble while the others worked, but found nothing amiss.

While Riu worked to block the hole from which water and rats had previously emerged, piling loose bricks and rubble into it, the activity provoked an attack: two normal-sized rats emerged right beside him, followed shortly by a large rat, and then a second large rat. A fierce battle ensued. Noddy quickly dispatched one normal rat with a kick. Knick Nab injured the second normal rat. Werner threw his spear at the first large rat but missed, the broom handle clattering harmlessly against the far wall. Riu drew his pistol and fired at the large rat as it emerged from the hole; he missed, but the flash and noise startled it back inside for a moment. Mani tripped the first large rat with a kick, staggering it, then finished it with a follow-up kick that broke its collarbone. Knick Nab then kicked the wounded normal rat back into the hole it came from. Werner, throwing Noddy's dagger, struck the second large rat and wounded it. Cosimo, meanwhile, retrieved a cask of brandy from the cellar's supplies and knocked out its bung. The second rat proved stubborn, shrugging off further attacks from Noddy and Riu and several more thrown knives from Werner, until Cosimo finally finished it with his hand axe. The party doused its body in brandy, stuffed it into the rat hole, and Riu set it alight. During the fight, a lunging bite from the first large rat sent Noddy throwing himself aside to dodge it; he cracked his head against one of the pillars instead, and the blow left him with no memory of the combat afterward, recalling only that he had been examining the water stream before finding himself with the others once it was over. Once his wits returned, he spotted his dropped dagger on the floor and gathered it up along with the other thrown knives and Werner's broom handle.

With the immediate rat threat dealt with, the party more thoroughly blocked the rat hole with bricks and debris. They then resumed their efforts on the large double door. Mani continued chopping, and Cosimo chiseled. Eventually, they widened the gap enough to check for a locking bar on the far side; finding none, they widened it further still and confirmed the other side of the door was choked with rubble, suggesting a collapse. Deciding that chopping through would be too arduous, the party opted to burn the door down using oil scavenged from the cellar supplies. Before lighting it, Mani asked Cosimo to lead them in a short prayer.

While the door burned, Cosimo investigated a crack in the wall where water had been seeping. He found nothing of note there but observed that the stone pillars in the room were constructed in a style reminiscent of the Divinity of Two's temple and found a brick with an unfamiliar maker's mark, which he kept.

The smoke drove the party upstairs, where Burlyman met them with bread and weak beer; he pressed some silver on them to buy proper mortar and seal the hole for good, but the party set the errand aside to deal with a more pressing matter first. A discussion ensued about the mysterious medallions they all possessed: how they initially couldn't see each other, how the medallions allowed them to, how the medallions become invisible once worn, and the apparent difficulty or inability to remove one's own medallion (often resulting in the wearer becoming distracted or finding themselves doing something else). Unable to inspect their own medallion directly, they pressed each one onto a shared sheet of parchment to make etchings for comparison; the outlines showed no markings beyond a single small notch or cut, whose position differed slightly from medallion to medallion.

They also discussed their strange, near-simultaneous arrival at the inn, with several members recalling being led or directed there by an old woman or women — Cosimo recalled two separate old women, a cart driver who brought him to the inn and, later, an unrelated tinker he sought out for tools, though he did not believe them to be the same person. Knick Nab said he had needed a roof over his head after fleeing his crime boss, and that an old woman had given him directions to the inn. Noddy alone had no old woman in his story: having made his way out of the ruins of Cliff Town, where being caught would have gone badly for him, he came upon Burlyman dumping dishwater over the cliff and was taken in before the guards found him. Comparing notes against the calendar, they confirmed they had all arrived on the same date, though the exact order in which they had turned up remained unclear. They also wondered whether they were all around the same age — roughly fourteen — though none could say for certain; Noddy, notably taller than the rest, had no idea of his own age, and not everyone's remembered birthdays matched. An experiment was conducted: Werner, Mani, and Cosimo went outside. With Mani's help, Werner's medallion was removed (becoming visible to the others). They could all still see each other. Upon returning inside, the others could also see them and the visible medallion. When Werner went outside again, put the medallion back on (it became invisible), and returned, the situation was as before. Attempts to learn more about the medallions through Riu's spell lore (he sensed active magic present) and Attunement attempts by Werner, Mani, Cosimo, Noddy, and Knick Nab all failed to yield further information; Knick Nab spent two Coins of Fate on repeated attempts, and his second attempt failed badly enough that it would have stripped any existing attunements he held — fortunately he had none to lose.

The party decided to question the inn's occupants. Noddy and Werner spoke with Randolph the Chronicler in his quarters — a curtained-off corner of the common room fitted out like a private lounge, with cages of pigeons and a skylight overhead. He listened intently to their account of the medallions and the strange occurrences, taking copious notes and mentioning he might report this to The Academy via his carrier pigeons. As they talked he kept flipping back through an older notebook, correcting and annotating past entries, and admitted that some of what they described sounded uncannily like things he had already written down — he believed he had met one or two of them before, though the timing in his own records was confusingly inconsistent. He advised them to be cautious and to pursue the mysteries of the medallions and the old women, and, from the construction of the bricked-up doorway, judged that the wall had been sealed from their side rather than the far one. He identified the writing in the cellar alcove as common Divinity of Two prayers, and noted he had lived at the inn for six months without anything like this happening before — other young men had stayed at the inn in that time, visited the ladies upstairs, and moved on without incident. He remarked that trade at the inn had grown quiet since Cliff Town's fall, though he'd enjoyed an unusually good meal the previous night thanks to the supplies the party had hauled up from the cellar. When he moved to return the knife he had lent Noddy, the party decided it was too soon to give back any of the borrowed gear — by their reckoning, the rat problem wasn't truly finished until the hole was properly mortared shut. Riu and Knick Nab went upstairs to speak with Mistress Mary and Mistress Clara, after an initial magical resistance at the stairs — which Mary explained as a simple protective ward against unwanted guests from below — was lifted by Clara's invitation; Riu tried to divine the ward's nature with his spell lore but learned nothing beyond confirming it was indeed magic. The women expressed concern about the rats and the hole in the cellar, as it apparently affected their supply route. They warned the party against venturing into what they believed to be part of the Temple of the Two, calling it dangerous and cautioning that trespassers could end up in manacles in the temple's own basement. Mary revealed she had studied within the Divinity of Two from around age ten and left the priesthood in her early twenties, unable to match its demands for selflessness; she grew flustered and called it heresy when Riu wondered aloud whether magic could come from anywhere other than the Two, insisting her own healing gifts came specifically from the Mother, one of several ways the Two bless the faithful. Pressed on whether the church's fearsome reputation was deserved, she declined to answer. She judged the medallion to be powerful magic from deep within the temple and advised the party to return it and never go back. Riu expressed an interest in learning healing, and Mary agreed to call on him once the party had sealed up Burlyman's wall for good. Cosimo and Mani questioned Burlyman, the innkeeper, about a corner of the cellar he had shown particular interest in before. He confessed that The Crow's Nest was a hub for smuggling goods into the city on behalf of his family, cloth merchants from the south, using a secret passage from the cellar to the ruins of Cliff Town; the route had only recently reopened after the Cliff Town disaster disrupted the port authorities' watch over that stretch of shore, allowing small boats to land there unnoticed again. His usual helpers had recently been arrested during a handoff gone wrong, and he was looking for assistance, offering payment and his trust in exchange for their discretion. He warned the party to be very careful about discussing their medallions with anyone, reasoning that people who don't understand a strange thing tend to grow frightened of it, and then frightened of whoever carries it — he was particularly wary of what Randolph and The Academy might make of such knowledge, though he judged Randolph's infrequent reports to the Academy bought them some time. Several of the party admitted they could use a reason to leave the city for a while, which suited Burlyman's purposes well.

The party agreed to help Burlyman, who asked them to gather the rest of the group by the cellar door so he could speak to everyone together. The session concluded with the party regrouping downstairs by the still-smoldering door to discuss these new developments.

NPCs & Creatures

• Randolph the Chronicler
• Burlyman (Innkeeper)
• Burlyman's wife (mentioned)
• Rats (2 normal-sized, 2 large)
• Mistress Mary
• Mistress Clara
• Pocket (Noddy's bird, mentioned)

Locations

• The Crow’s Nest (Inn)
  • Common Room
  • Randolph the Chronicler's Room (a curtained-off lounge with pigeon cages and a skylight, partially seen)
  • Upstairs rooms (occupied by Mistress Mary and Mistress Clara)
  • Cellar
  • Hidden chamber/alcove (beneath the Temple of the Two, accessed from the cellar) — furnished with two sets of manacles, each chained to a separate pillar

Conflicts

• The party fought and defeated a group of rats in the hidden chamber: two normal-sized rats and two large rats. Noddy and Knick Nab dealt with the normal rats; the first large rat was brought down by Mani, and the second, after resisting several other attacks, was finished off by Cosimo's hand axe.
• Noddy took 10 hits from bashing his head against a pillar while dodging a large rat's bite, resulting in temporary amnesia of the fight.

Learnings and Discussions

• The medallions are magical:
  • They render themselves invisible when worn.
  • They enabled the wearers (who initially couldn't see each other) to see one another.
  • Wearers seem unable to remove their own medallion; attempts to do so often lead to distraction or a shift in focus to another task.
  • However, it appears another person can remove a medallion for someone else (as Mani did for Werner). When removed, the medallion becomes physically visible.
  • Paper etchings of each medallion showed no markings beyond a single small notch or cut, positioned slightly differently on each one.
• Attempts to attune to the medallions or learn more through basic lore skills were unsuccessful, though Riu sensed active magic. Knick Nab's second attempt, using a Coin of Fate, failed badly enough that it would have stripped any existing attunements — he had none to lose.
• Several party members (Werner, Mani, Cosimo, Knick Nab) were guided to The Crow's Nest by an old woman or women. Cosimo in particular recalled two distinct old women: a cart driver and, separately, a tinker sought for tools. Knick Nab, fleeing his crime boss, was likewise directed there by an old woman. Noddy found his own way out of the ruins of Cliff Town and was taken in by Burlyman, with no old woman involved. Riu was directed there as the only place with rooms. Checked against the calendar, all of their arrivals fell on the same date, though the exact order remained unclear, and they could not confirm they were all truly the same age despite appearing to be around fourteen.
• Randolph the Chronicler is gathering information for The Academy and uses carrier pigeons. He advised the party to investigate the medallions and the old women further. His own journal already held confusing, half-matching references to some of the party and similar events, and he judged from the doorway's construction that it had been bricked up from the party's side rather than the far one. The party chose to hang on to the weapons and gear he had lent them until the cellar hole was properly sealed.
• The stonework (red pillars, maker's mark on a brick) in the hidden chamber suggests a connection to the Divinity of Two. The writing found there consists of common prayers.
• Mistress Mary is a former priestess of the Divinity of Two and possesses healing abilities; she studied with the church from around age ten and left in her early twenties, unable to meet its demands for selflessness, and says her own healing gifts come specifically from the Mother, one of several ways the Two bless the faithful. She offered to involve Riu in her healing work once the cellar hole was sealed, but warned the party to return the medallion and never go back to the temple, growing defensive and calling it heresy when asked whether magic could come from anywhere but the Two. She declined to say whether the church's fearsome reputation was deserved.
• A magical barrier of sorts protects the stairway to the upstairs rooms, requiring an invitation to pass freely; Mary described it as a simple ward against unwanted guests from below. Riu's attempt to divine its nature with spell lore confirmed only that it was magic.
• Burlyman revealed that The Crow's Nest is used for smuggling goods into The Capitol via a secret passage from the cellar to Cliff Town, on behalf of his family's cloth-merchant business. The route had only recently reopened after the Cliff Town disaster disrupted the port authorities' watch over that stretch of shore. He asked the party for help with these operations, offering payment and his trust in exchange for their discretion, and they agreed. He warned that people who don't understand a strange thing tend to grow frightened of it, and then of whoever carries it, so counselled caution about mentioning the medallions to anyone — Randolph and The Academy especially, though his infrequent reports bought them some time.
• The large double door in the hidden chamber appears to be blocked by a collapse/rubble on the other side. The party resorted to burning it down.
• Noddy suffered a head injury resulting in amnesia of the rat combat.

Items Gained

• Noddy: A pair of leather riding boots (gift from Randolph the Chronicler).
• Cosimo:
  • A brick with an unusual maker's mark from the hidden chamber.
  • A cask of Brandy (scavenged from cellar supplies).
• Party:
  • Oil (scavenged from cellar supplies).

Items Lost

• Party Supplies (scavenged this session): Oil and most of the cask of Brandy (used to douse a rat and to burn the door).
• Knick Nab: Two Coins of Fate (spent on failed Attunement attempts).