Ptolus:Episode1
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Episode 1: Deja Vu
Part 1: Fancy Meeting You Here
Our heroes have all been having oddly vivid dreams, starting gradually at first and recently increasing in duration and regularity. These dreams involve a huge city between and ocean and a massive spire of rock. In the dreams, each person meets a like-minded group of companions and has adventures with them, exploring the city, getting into fights, chasing or being chased, and delving into forgotten depths beneath the city. Even though it is unfamiliar, this place can only be Ptolus.
The sole exception is Reqqast, the doomsayer turned apprentice wizard. His dreams have taken the form of prophecies from Phoeboul. The god of dreams, for which he once spake of prophecy himself, indicated that Reqqast should seek out five others who will be strangers to the city, for they are important in events to come.
Each of our other heroes makes their way to Ptolus. Cheval and Otto travel together, after Cheval rescued Otto from a sticky situation. At the Market Gate, our heroes queue up awaiting admittance to the city. The city of their dreams looms over them, and the Spire looms even higher. Waiting in line, Cheval and Otto recognize some of their dream-companions! Some resist being acknowledged, but eventually all become introduced.
After paperwork is filled out, the five make their way into the city.
Part 2: Show Me The Way
As our heroes enter the bustling city, the midmorning traffic in the South Market district is picking up. Shops and stalls are opening everywhere. People are moving back and forth. Sights, sounds, and smells emanate from all quarters. Off to the north, a hot air balloon begins to rise into the air.
At the market circle, Reqqast runs into the rest of the band, summoned by their dreams to this city. They agree to join forces to work together on each other's goals. The first goal is to find a Church of Lothian for Kekitat. Reqqast knows of St. Gustav's Chapel next to Delver's Square, so our group heads there.
At the chapel, they meet Brother Fabitor Thisk. He asks Kekitat to perform a service for the order: watch a girl named Phon Quartermain, who works at Saches clothiers. She is pregnant, and Brother Fabitor's auguries foretell that her child will be crucial to the future of the city. Kekitat and his new friends agree to check on her but be discreet.
Part 3: The Kindness Of Strangers
Quickly all discretion is dropped, as Kekitat approaches Phon and tells her flat out that she is pregnant, her child is prophecied, and he is here to protect her.
Meanwhile, Mulwrit locates the Ghostly Minstrel Inn and begins drinking. Grundric checks out Myraeth's Oddities shop, looking for carveable raw materials. Cheval locates the Temple of Teun, a bit off the beaten path in the Temple district.
Kekitat, Otto, and Reqqast corner Phon in the back room and convince her to accept their company, at least from afar. Afterward, the group meets at the Ghostly Minstrel. Otto follows the local musician on stage and comports himself well. The rest of the band investigate the board of job postings and are intrigued by a mission to find a lost daughter.
Later that evening, Kekitat goes by himself to bring Phon dinner and escort her home. He finds the door to the shop ajar and checks it out. The door to the back room, the sewing room, is shut, but some muffled thumping noises are heard behind the door. Lightning fast, Kekitat throws open the door and finds two thugs roughing up poor Phon. One pulls two knives, the other hefts his big club, and they advance on Phon's chivalrous savior.
The fight is bloody but quick. The knife-armed thug takes a slash across the chest and falls away. The thug with the club leaps onto a table, to be more at Kekitat's height, and lands two crushing blows to the litorian's armored chest and shoulder. Kekitat takes a few moments to land a near-fatal hit, and both thugs surrender.
They inform Kekitat that they were hired by Daful to kill the lady; they were just having a little fun with her first. One hands over a note with information on where to meet the next day to receive payment. Kekitat tells them to get lost and carries Phon to the chapel for critical care. There, he is able to confirm the thugs as members of the Pale Dogs.
In the morning, the group locates the Black Swan bar, around the corner from Delver's Square, a dive bar frequented by dwarves. They have a quick conversation with the bartender, who has arranged to be the go-between for the concerned father. He can offer a bag of small gemstones, which he says is worth about 200 gold crowns. He says she was last seen south of Longbottom.
The group then hits the spice market. Overhearing some conversations and spreading some money around leads the group to the information that two guys were overheard at the Cock Pit gambling house bragging about the young girl they snatched two nights ago.
Having made a possible connection, our heroes make for the warehouse specified in the Pale Dogs' note, to case the joint for the later meeting. Grundric checks the locks, but he notices someone watching from the next rooftop and backs off.
After another visit to the chapel to check on Phon, the group ponders what to do next.
Journals
Awards
- 100 XP each
- 1 AP for Kekitat for journal
