Session Date: 11/13/2023
I was sick for session 17. The first section will be a portion with Faylen while he was “absent” from session 17, and the session thereafter where Faylen interacts with the party will include a bit of a recap of what was missed in session 17.
After the bar, Faylen goes to his room because he has a splitting headache. He tries to go to sleep and falls into his mattress and seems to be propelled forward through the mattress and has either fallen asleep immediately or is being transported to another area. He moves his head and it’s like tiny bells ringing and his clothes are change: he’s wearing something akin to a jester’s outfit.
Challender - the shadow dragon (Kaymanth’s) butler. Faylen recognizes this name as one of the deans of the academy; he vanished in mysterious circumstance but it is not completely unusual given he was a wizard. He’s seen the face and realizes he’s seen it as a statue in the academy in Jewel. He was very fiery and didn’t like taking orders and he made his name as an adventurer and made him a dean so he would stop causing trouble.
Challender explains that the dragon is aware that we’ve arrived in Brex Grana and he is impatient about the situation that is developing in the city. The problem is with the creature that has the other slivers of the Seal. It is currently in the employ of a colorful gentleman named Boss Garm Clapperclaw.
The room is basically a cell with a mattress and not much more. Challender explains that the dragon doesn’t like to give out information for free so the next piece of info will likely bind Faylen here more.
Faylen asks how Challender got here and he explains that Kaymanth fancied making him his butler and he had to ask for help too many times. That is: this is a very real threat.
Faylen wakes at a knocking on his door as Bosch is banging on the door. There is a silver bell on the pillow in front of his nose that does not ring when picked up. Bosch explains they saved Axamonar and then Faylen pokes his head out and sees that they did indeed save him.
Once drinks are poured, Bosch starts: they go to the park at Mary’s idea and they find people guarding the tree. They got past and went down the tree and went through a big dark cave with dinosaurs, and then they found Axamonar being guarded by trees, and we need to be his lawyer for something. Tabby volunteered the group to get the trees to leave him alone and then Bosch frees Axamonar from prison. We need to figure out how to get out of being lawyers. Mary explains that they wouldn’t tell the group wouldn’t explain the charges against Axamonar. It would be at least a month before the people they sent for to discuss charges would be found and brought, so she feels the Seal would take precedence.
The people are called Arboreals and he feels whoever let Axamonar get kidnapped was very close in Jewel, possibly even a part of his new body creation. He was snatched from transit. The problem is that he honestly feels we are the only people he can trust right now. This is not a small feat of power, and whoever has done it is on the level of another Sage, or is an actual Sage themself. Ephiny Lunt, an agent of the Ministry of Divination (Misconduct Department), could possibly be related: maybe her boss is who did this.
Aside — Elias wants to play the game of one guard always tells the truth, the other always lies.
Faylen explores his experience with Kaymanth and the team explains there’s a werewolf gang called the Blue Fangs and together we figure out that Boss Clapperclaw is the leader of them. They are in the lower market area.
- Upper Market — the nicer area, asking about and being fascists about Changelings
- The Duke — Oldtown — succession crisis
- Changelings — Outskirts of town — tent city situation
- Bone Boys — Eastern Area — Dino poachers
- Blue Fang — Lower Markets — werewolf clans
We head to the lower market and there’s an awful lot of scoundrels — more than the normal amount. Bosch suddenly recalls that he’s met Clapperclaw before — he punched the guy on a street corner, and he realizes he should make himself not look like himself. He dresses up like a miniature Faylen — a magus from the academy — and does a good enough jobs that we pass under the radar. We head on over to the area that Bosch was last aware of the Blue Fang operating in.
We head that way and while we are noticed, we are definitely not cops. Mary notices that an older gentleman following us. Faylen can tell this man isn’t trying to kill us or harbors ill intentions with us, but he is angry and going straight to Mary. Bosch can see that there is something about this man that has a righteous anger, which is not the shady that Bosch was looking for. He looks to be acting in an official capacity. Mary asks if he needs anything, and he asks what the hell we’re doing, and she replies she’s following her friends. The man asks what the hell we’re doing angering the trees in his city.
The man is clearly a druid. He explains that the trees are angry and Tabby asks what trees are angry, and the man explains all of them. He says the trees are slowly growing angry. Bosch speaks up and says that we may (emphasis on may) have interacted with some trees and done something that may (emphasis on may) not have met their full approval, which we had to do because we weren’t offered any better options. We explain we are a group of adventuring diplomats that like to solve problems and we were not allowed to talk to the proper authority. The druid sighs and explains that he’s worried about his town and that he came out swinging.
Bosch and the others speak about how we would love to get into contact with the proper person to speak to and he doesn’t like going to Arboreals. We ask for advice on how to talk to and deal with the Arboreals and he explains he’s not sure what is going on the make them angry, but something has happened down there in the hollow world that has deeply upset them which has, in turn, upset the trees of the city. His name is Joe Bullheart. Joe has a rat familiar named Kevin.
We make it to the area we expect the gang to be operating out of and there are some Changelings here that have clearly lived for a while here. Everyone here seems to feel secure and safe in this area, which is not true for the rest of the city. We speak to a shopkeep and get the impression that there is someone above Clapperclaw called Grandfather Walker — Tabby feels that Clapperclaw is going to try to usurp Grandfather Walker’s position. We also realize that Clapperclaw runs a nightclub called The Night between the lower and upper markets.
We decide to split the party.
Tabby and Mary go to The Night — it’s easy to find, a building that is stone and new. It is not open to guests yet but there are workers there for sure. Most of the people here are not werewolves, just people with jobs and trying to get as close to stardom as they can. Tabby gets the direction toward the boss and the manager asks who Tabby is and Tabby explains that he’s a wandering performer and he is hoping to do a show. The manager isn’t thrilled at Tabby but he feels he can get Tabby worked in as a 5-10 minute comedy improv.
Talitha is told, by Mary, to go into the rafters to listen to conversations and she steals away to do so while Tabby does a performance to distract everyone. Talitha runs through the ceiling further and doesn’t find anyone further on. She goes down through the kitchen to the cellar and down below she sees a man in very rich clothing. He’s past just putting on gold and fancy clothes — he’s toned everything down. He’s smiling and has a patchy beard, there’s a servant nervously trying to shave him without cutting him. The man being shaved is clearly Clapperclaw, who is speaking to someone Talitha can’t see.
Clapperclaw says that this is going well and they are ready to go and deal with the old man, that his family is not much of an issue. He feels that after that they’ll give the stranger prizes — he’s not sure who has the sliver, but he’s trying to hunt down the actual agent. Once they get her they’ll give it over to the stranger, who will then do their end of the deal. Talitha can’t hear their response, but the servant trying to shave Clapperclaw starts bleeding from one ear, which Talitha doesn’t understand. She starts to feel sick, so she leaves and returns to Mary.
Faylen and Bosch do some canvassing around and aren’t making much headway. Faylen eventually decides to reveal that he’s a changeling and quit hiding his true self and approaches another changeling to ask them for some help. When they ask what he’s looking for, Faylen explains that with all of the political unrest here, he is looking for where to go to purchase protection, if you know what he means. The changeling explains that there is a soup kitchen not too far away with solid food and the type of people he’s looking for. Bosch and Faylen thank the changeling after some more conversation, and then head to the soup kitchen.
We arrive there and there are a lot of people. There’s a younger woman with short hair that seems to be too large for this place: she’s very tall and very muscular. She’s clearly the one in charge, and she is also a changeling: heterochromia with the colors slowly changing between both eyes (red and yellow). Her name is Bobbi and she is a fixture of the community. Her family’s been living here for generations and they are people of means who have actual money but she specifically wants to give back to the community, so this is one of the things she does with her time. Faylen doesn’t really get anything more than that.
We make it up to Bobbi and she gives us both a huge helping of the soup as she starts hitting the bottom of it. Bosch speaks up and explains that we’re new around here and we haven’t had the most friendly experience on arrival and we were hoping to find a nicer place for those who don’t fit in out there. She looks us up and down, then calls over someone named Frank to take over and she motions for us to follow. We follow her to the back of the soup kitchen and she asks us to follow her to the back.
We let drop about Clapperclaw and the plot again Grandfather Walker. Bobbi is visibly pissed at this, and Faylen realizes that she’s a family member of Grandfather Walker.