May 30, 2009

Hook

Group needed for surveilance and maybe a snatch. Meet at Big Earls in Prall

Plot Synopsis

Big Earl's bar is in a moderate part of Prall. It looks recently remodeled (i.e. new paint and floors have been swept). Inside is a large man behind a solid, old looking bar. A middle aged barmaid is serving a few locals. Since the party wasn't told when or who to meet they wander in at various times. Earl tells Tanis (who is first to arrive) that a table has been reserved in toward the back of the bar. People arriving later, sit with Tanis. The party all arrives including a man who calls himself Sil who claims to be from Port Haven and that his brother has done some work for the D'taliano family there. Claude attempts to order a lager but is told their full stock hasn't arrived yet and all they have is beer. Claude thought that an odd response but took his ale.

A bit later a thin, fastidious man enters and comes to the table. He introduces him self as Toemas of the Barst Foundation. The Barst foundation, he announces, does contract work for the Lordship usually involving negotiations or intelligence gathering. Tanis acknowledges that he's heard of the Barst. Toemas explains to the party that that recent information has revealed a Hegemony growing world. He didn't elaborate on what was grown there. The party mission is to get a feel for the governor to determine if he is a good candidate for "replacement". A good candidate would be one that visits a Hegemony homeworld often and meet with upper command personnel. If the governor is a good candidate then they are to contact Toemas for extraction and/or further instructions. There exists the possibility that the party made need to make the snatch themselves in which case they will receive a bonus. They are also asked to evaluate the governors advisor on the same criteria.

The party asks some questions about their destination. They are going to a city of perhaps 15,000 people. Whenever they request materials Toemas says he'll get it for them. He gets them maps and, for three of the party, a ring that will disguise them to look human and local like. For language Toemas says they have a witch on retainer who has a pill they can take that will let them speak and understand the language as well as acclimating them to the local environment. The party requests local garb (which isn't provided but no one calls Toemas out on it). When the party has no further questions or concerns Toemas asks the party to follow him to his office.

He leads them into the men's room. Inside is a 5' diameter otherworld. He hands everyone a pill which the party takes (except Erica who swallows but doesn't digest). The party goes through the portal.

Through the portal the party find themselves in a well manicured field of some plant that is tall, thin but has broad leaves, sort of bamboo-like. Erica stops being visible and flys upward to spot the city they are going to. She sees it not far in the distance. She also sees several tall creatures walking over the plants with its feet in a row on either side. It seems to be nibbling the plants down to a consistent height and, occasionally, dropping a bit of fertilizer. A quick consult with the map and the party heads out through the field to the closest road leading into the city so that they approach on the road instead of out of the fields.

As they near the city is becomes pretty obvious that the city isn't large enough to hold 15,000. 4-5 thousand is a better estimate. The party splits up to explore the city a bit. Erica heads off to find the governor, Claude goes to check out realtors, Von Darwin heads off to check out the local eateries and bar scense and the rest of the party (Tanis, Yehuth, Raz-Hasun, Greyson and Sil) go to find the local underworld at Raz's urging. Everyone notices that the sun hasn't moved perceiptably since they've been on this world. It is still mid-afternoon and looks like its going to stay that way.

Claude finds the only realtor in town and lets her drag his cover story out of him. He turns up the charm while touring locations and makes arrangements to take her to dinner when she closes up shops. He selects an apartment at random and pays with coinage (copper, bronze, iron) that he got from accidentally bumping into other people on the street. He tells the party where their new house is, then picks up the woman... does food, drink, dancing, more drink, back to her place.

Von-Darwin find the bar scene to his liking and hooks up pretty easily. At one point he smells a woman wearing perfume that he knows is only sold at a shop in Little Karfelon.

Erica finds the governors place of business and takes up a position on a roof acrost the street to watch guard changes and such. After a few hours she becomes aware that this world occasionally ticks... that is a ticking noise happens every hour or so that seems to come from the world itself. Once she is aware of it she starts noticing a correlation between the ticks and other activities (changing of the guard, people going to dinner, people going to sleep, etc...).

The party looking for the underworld finds it easily enough and in the most typical of places. They follow a guy into an alley and find a man sitting on a small chest. The party starts some clumsy discussion of contreband or black market goods. The man points, with a smirk, out that such would be illegal. The party shows they already have some and the guy gives in and asks what they are looking for. He says he has 3 boxes of cigars and two bottles of perfume for trade. Raz-Hasun offers a steel crowbar. The man is pretty impressed and says they can take 1 box of cigars and a bottle of perfume. The party agrees. They notice that the labels on all of the cigars is not only written in paroli but are from Jaernian makers including La Cigarrera Traviesa of Centralia.

They offer the man a hit of brandy which causes the man to start raving about demons and tells them to go away. The party departs but determines they are being followed. They corner one of their followers outside a coffee house. Brief struggle later two are down. Greyson puts a bottle to their lips sending them to Tanis' dungeon. There he does a quick bit of interrogating and returns to the party with some answers about this world. They seem to know that there are other worlds and are even aware that they trade with them. They aren't sure how the goods they sell are smuggled in.

Erica rejoins this group. When she hears about the warehouse she decides to take a quick look. Being invisible and immaterial she pokes her head into the warehouse. There is a small table with 4 guys sitting at it. One is the governor, one is the advisor, the third is the smuggler the party met with and the 4th is unknown. On the table in front of them is a steel crowbar. Behind them is a dark blue glowing area of stacked timestops. To the left is a 10' diamater otherworld portal. Erica decides she's seen enough and heads to the house to report to the party. Claude sends her to the Centralia Guild of Wizards to talk with a botanist about the plant. She learns that its leaves are a powerful narcotic and the stems are tasty eating. They also warn not to handle it too much or you will get sick or killed. Erica reports back.

Meanwhile Claude's nap is interrupted by a knock at his lady friends door. He instantly takes a position above the doorway. When the door is opened two men come in. They are looking for the realtor on the governors orders. Claude quickly knocks both unconscious. He then tells the woman that if anyone else comes she should tell them the exact truth, there is no reason to get herself in trouble. He asks her some quick questions and learns that this city has the highest crop yield, because they have the best governor. She doesn't know what the plant is for but does know that growing it is the sacred duty of every person on the planet, the goddess likes it that way. In fact the only death penalty crime is interfering with growing or harvesting and that'll get you dumped into the Ditch (which is where their garbage goes, downwind of the city). She also says the governor does go offworld often, sometimes going away for weeks at a time (or at least she assumes he's gone since he goes into the warehouse and doesn't come back out).

Claude does a multi-stage hop through wonderland to get his prisoners back to the house for interrogation. He brings the rest of the party up to date.

Von Darwin decides the mission is a screw and heads back to the portal. Arriving at the site he finds the portal gone and knows its a screw. He hides himself in darkness (in a sack) and teleports back to Centralia. Upon arriving he goes to Lord Archer's house to check in. He finds that Archer isn't there but Archer's majordomo is there and running things. Turns out he's a fan of Von Darwin's work and offers Von Darwin a room to stay for a while. Von Darwin agrees to ponder doing some "work" for the majordomo in exchange the majordomo sends out feelers to find out about the Barst. Von then goes into hibernation to wait for the results.

Between Claude, Tanis and Greyson the new prisoners get interrogated. They were sent by the governor to talk to the realtor to find out if any new visitors had rented property and if so where were the visitors located. They were looking for offworlder spies who, in all likelyhood, where here to screw up the harvest. The party decides to take this conversation to the warehouse. The decide on the frontal assault plan. The governor and his assistant are subdued easily. The assistant takes a bit more effort. At one point he is thrown through the portal and some members of the party follow him. They give the password on the other side (Albatross) and are left undistrubed to fight it out with the assistant, who just goes back through the portal.

The world on the othersie of the portal is a gigantic warehouse. There are other portals nearby in various states of use. Creatures are being used to load/unload/transport cargoes. The party follows the assitant back through the portal where they finally manage to subdue him. Quick interrogation reveals that he firmly believes that the party is screwed. He is a member of the castle guard and no one has ever screwed with the guard and lived. They party asks about the castle which turns out to be a whole world and is part of the Kingdom. He also knows about Jaern but says no one has been there in a while which is why "contraband" shipments are down and commanding such a high price. Seems contraband is actually sanctioned by the government to fulfill the populaces need to rebel and be naughty.

The party decides to call this mission quits. They remove the memories of themselves from the governor and his assistant and head for the portal, discussing how they were supposed to contact Toemas when he didn't provide them with a method of doing so. They arrive at the portal site to find the portal gone, but a large sack laying on the ground. Tanis Gates to the Centralia Guild of Wizards. There they explain how the Barst hired them to check out that world through the portal at Big Earls. The CGoW claims not to know of the Barst and is suprised to find an unsanctioned portal operating in Prall. Sil decides that someone owes him money and hends to Prall to find the Barst. Several members of the party join him.

In Prall they find that Big Earl's has been destroyed by fire. No sign of the portal. Neighbors said its been unoccupied for weeks so no one was hurt.

Von Darwin learns that there is a Barst Foundation in Pregada. He goes there and finds one little old man sitting at a desk in a small office. He doesn't know anything about working for Lords. His company finances trade ventures. [The Barst Foundation in Pregada burns down the next day, one body is found inside, identified as the friendly old man who worked there]

Claude arranges for the governors assistant to be replaced, outside the knwoledge of the Lordship, CGoW or The Barst.

Noteworthy Postgame Events