Chapter 2-3

Walking the Streets of Port Revelry

The party follows the directions they were given to the Goose & Gander tavern. Recognizing the dangerous nature of the city, Jasiri attempts to look intimidating without much success. Excalibur notes that he has seen no other Warforged in the city, making him nervous. Hazel and Vaelyn look for anyone suspicious along the way, but most people don’t seem to be paying attention to them except from the odd tracking eye.

This city is large despite a seemling low population. Similar to Geprusar, it’s organized into different wards. Port Revelry was originally a city that acted as a shipping hub for water-based ships, but the advent of sky ships and the attacks from titans has caused the city to waste away.

The party heads towards the edge of the Dock Ward where the Goose & Gander is located. When the party approaches the tavern it’s very lively, in stark contrast to the remainder of the city. People seem to be able to forget their worries here, but are reminded of reality the moment they leave and the high of the tavern wears off.

The party made a plan to start asking around and began with finding the tavern owner, Nona. Vaelyn separated himself from the group as to not draw attention to himself or to be seen as associated with the group. [Author Note: Doesn’t want to be seen with “THESE PEOPLE.”]

In the Goose & Gander

Jasiri approaches the bar and asks to talk with the bartender, Nona, when she gets a free moment. She warmly greets the group and agrees, saying she’ll be with the group shortly and they should all feel free to order something off the menu and her daughter, Vicki, will bring it to them. Hazel orders the vegan meal - a delicious Mushroom Pilaf, while Jasiri and Torren order the pork chops (or 3).

Vaelyn enters the tavern, orders an ale, and attempts to sit at another table, finding a group of very drunk individuals. Trying to work his way into the conversation, Vaelyn fails horribly to persuade them to allow him in. Vaelyn bribes the man to let him sit with them for an ale. The drunk man agrees and Vaelyn eventually returns with another ale in which the man responds: “HIMAH MAGE IT BHAK”. When asked his name, the drunk man responds with a slurred “Buh”. While sitting at the table, Vaelyn overhears nearby chatter that a Crow member has been captured and put in jail. He also overhears discussion that the smell in the town is getting really bad.

Vicki approaches the table with the party’s orders and the party learns that they get their food mostly shipped into town. This place managed to survive the titan attack and Nona wanted it to be a safe place for people to find comfort. This place is important to the people as it is one of the few positive places left in the city. [Author Note: <3 NO FUNNY BUSINESS HERE!!] Vicki notices Jasiri’s size and offers him a job as a bouncer if he’s ever looking.

While waiting for Nona to finish with her current customers, the party inquires about Excalibur’s ability to consume drink and food and what other related capabilities he has:

• Excalibur speaks using a sort of sound box.
  • Excalibur can also play music.
  • Torren claims Vaelyn can sing but he doesn’t like to do it.
• Does Excalibur breathe?
  • No.
• Does Excalibur smell?
  • Sort of. He can perceive scents.
• How often does he swiffer his mouth?
  • Hilda has cleaned him in the past.

As an experiment, Excalibur takes a sip of the ale but doesn’t swallow. It just settles in his mouth and there is a small sense of taste for the alcohol and yeast. Water tastes clean and Excalibur prefers it to ale.

Schmead says Excalibur may like fruit. They explain that they come from a place where they used to cut open coconuts and put a mix of mashed fruit inside. The fruit mentioned, like bananas, are kinds the party has never heard of before. Schmead doesn’t know the name of the islands where they came from but they remember they come from the Sun Dancers Tribe. They describe how people would sail from island to island to trade. They have a talisman that contains two people standing in a silver ring while holding a star crystal - representative of the deity known as “The Big Man”. The talisman means “We should Always Share.”

Schmead describes that others went missing - similar to them. One night a friend came to him and said they were going but Schmead didn’t want to answer the door. They then went to sleep and woke up in a completely different place…

Nona doesn’t know of a Hermann Voltz. She suggests going to the docks and to ask around there. She mentions that the Protectorate might be good people to ask as well, since they make their way around town and solve various problems. She leads Jasiri and Torren over to introduce them to a few members that are in the tavern. She introduces them to three people: Conrad, a human man seemingly the leader of the present group, Lirael, an elven woman with a prosthetic arm, and Thrain, a dwarven man in clerics garb.

Torren asks about Hermann Voltz and they initially lie about knowing who he is. Jasiri pushes the gold coin towards him but Conrad pushes it back stating that “These are dangerous questions…”. Jasiri responds with “These are important answers.” Lirael asks if the party is willing to trade and mentions a job that needs to be done that the Protectorate has been reluctant to tackle. The smell in the city has gotten really bad due to sewage bloackages and the party would have to go into the sewers and see what’s causing them. Conrad reluctantly suggests the source is in the Vale Garden neighborhood and mentions there have been other individuals that have tried to do this job but never return. Lirael offers the party the full 100g reward for the job, and to help them with their problem if they complete it and return to find them at their guild hall.

Torren: “Sounds like shit…”

Everyone unfortunately agrees.

Torren goes to get Vaelyn and approaches the table with the drunken men, he asks Vaelyn to get going and tells the other man to say “hey” to his mother for him. The man begins to fall into hysteria and sob. When returning back to the Protectorate, Lirael notices Torren and Vaelyn (truly) for the first time but doesn’t say anything. They say the drunken man is Joseph and he lost his mother in the Titan attack a few years prior. He comes here often and drinks a lot. Torren requests they help him get home safely.

Meanwhile, Excalibur and Hazel remain at the table to guard Jasiri’s pork chop. While Jasiri and Torren go to introduce themselves to the Protectorate, they’re able to get a little alone time to interact. They talk about themselves a bit and Excalibur inquires if Hazel is Vegan/Vegetarian. She would choose the option over meat if it’s available but unfortunately, she’s had to eat meat as a means to survive. But she does pay her respects to the animal and thanks the “Mother.” Excalibur reveals he only has memories of the last 25 years and when Hazel asks to learn how old he truly is, he responds that “there is a lot more weight to that question than she knows.“ When Excalibur inquires about the mother, she tells him about Mother A’Keeta. She mentions something called “The Cursed Coven” though Excalibur has not heard of it before. He asks if she’s a witch and Hazel smiles and responds, “there is a lot more weight to that question than he knows.” Excalibur and Hazel continue to chat and bond a little more until the others return to the table with information on the job.

A Shitty job

They party fashions a few face masks and nose plugs to aid with the scent of the sewer. Seeing Jasiri not using anything, Hazel walks up to him and offers some more flowers to him and says if he breathes in the toxic fumes, he could get very sick and she doesn’t want to see that happen. Jasiri thanks her for looking out for him and then the party starts to head down into the sewers.

Hazel is nervous seeing the darkness inside and realizing the glow from Excalibur, she stays by his side. After entering the sewer, the party is immediately attacked by a swarm of plagued rats and plagued giant rats. The party manages to easily defeat them, but their appearance and condition is heavily concerning to the group. Hazel suggests this isn’t normal for creatures of their nature to be affected like this.

As the group continues onward, they discover a dissolving and rotting Goblin corpse. Around the corner is a small group of goblins and kobolds have set up camp down here. Hazel offers to the party to reason with them and transforms into a goblin. She manages to convince them that the party means no harm and they are just trying to figure out what the issue is down here. They agree and say they will give them a favor for helping them get their home back as they have been run out of their old home deeper in the sewers.

Jasiri and Torren are heavily concerned about Hazel’s transformation and they discover she is a “shifter”. They’ve never met one before. Excalibur asks what’s so different from a “shifter” and the magic that allows people to shift? They aren’t bothered by who she is - she’s still Hazel. The party agrees and are happy to have her. Schmead agrees they are glad to have her too even though sometimes she can be scary. Hazel tells Schmead to come find her on the ship when they get back. She will have a gift for them if they want it.

Continuing on while the rest of the party speaks with the goblins and kobolds, Vaelyn discovers a room filled with toxic fumes and a valve that can help adjust the fumes. He is unable to close the valve on his own and returns to the group, letting them know of his findings. Jasiri goes in and succeeds in closing the valve and the party continues to venture through the strange waterways.

Eventually, they find a room with a massive spider in it. The party suggests Hazel uses speak with animals to try and convince the spider to just let them pass. She offers to shift again and this time transforms into a spider herself - now revealing not only is she a shapeshifter but she’s a wild shape druid.

As a spider, Hazel approaches and starts to inquire about the spider’s home. The spider is very intrigued by little spider Hazel and is obliged to talk with her. The large spider reveals her mate is also within the sewers and Hazel questions if she’s in the way of the door, how do they feed each other. The large spider answers that she’s not in the way… Eventually after one too many questions, the spider inquires why she asks so many questions. Hazel responds with: “I’m a curious spider?”

Realizing the spider cannot be reasoned with, they start blastin’.

During the fight, Jasiri obliterates the spider in one hit, not knowing at the time that the spider’s mate was actually on the ceiling the entire time. It jumps down, biting Hazel. Clamping down on her and injecting its venom she takes a great deal of damage [Author Note: 1HP remaining]. Excalibur runs towards Hazel, putting himself between the spider and her to protect her. Jasiri finishes off the spider and Excalibur offers a healing hand. Hazel grips it, pulling him into a tight embrace - clearly terrified that she was almost killed. She holds him, almost in tears.

Jasiri and Torren cut down the webbed bodies to free them of their bindings. Vaelyn approaches the door on the other side of the room. Opening it, there is a large hallway of blockage and shit-taki mushrooms lining the walls. He manages to collect samples for Hazel and himself.The properties of these mushrooms can be used for medicinal purposes along with relaxation.

Vaelyn proceeds through the remainder of the tunnel and finds another valve that opens up a flow to remove the blockage. Successful in their task, the party begins to trudge back through the sludge. Hazel is still extremely hurt and is ready to go back to the ship to rest but as they are about to leave a strange bubbling form within the sewer’s waterway starts to form and a large sludge creature emerges into view - blocking their path…