Episode 82

The party does their own things for the day before being teleported to a lyceum close to their jobsite, with Scorch being brought along for the ride. Upon arrival, they find themselves in a pavilion with a mage sitting in a little hut nearby. He looks at the party and watches Anthos get sick, much to his distaste. He sends them along their way after confirming their identities. After exiting the outpost the party heads west to the town of Sessul.

They decide to take a straighter route through the forest to save time travelling. The party is led by Ingred and Anthos, who both share the horse, followed by Lily, Seipora, and Marisol on the magic carpet. The journey is quick and the party manages to avoid animal traps and a wolf den with Ingred’s expertise. The days are lovely and cool, but the nights get colder. They arrive in Sessul earlier than expected and are greeted by two guards. Outside the stone walls, Lily introduces the party to them and they notice other guards watching with crossbows strapped to their backs. They sorta blend into the surrounding environment.

Lily informs the guards that they are in town to meet a guide and that they were contracted to hunt something in the forest by the Duke. They check the party’s items and mark off the carpet as a class B magical item. One of the guards compliments Anthos on his horse and asks before giving Scorch a pat. The two have a lengthy conversation about horses before the party is led inside. The city itself is smaller than Gaoli and filled with well-crafted stone and wood buildings. Many tieflings can be seen walking among the streets, all with various skin colors and horn styles. They are watched by the common folk as they follow traffic to the northeastern side of the city.

Seipora gets directions for their meeting point and the party is led to the more “proper” end of the city. They pass by quite a few different taverns before reaching their destination: The Drunken Rat. The sign above displays a rat with rosy cheeks and bubbles coming out of its mouth holding a bottle of some kind. Scorch is hitched and they all step into an irish-themed pub. The interior is nice and well-maintained unlike some of the taverns they have stayed at before. Everyone inside glances at the party as they enter, but quickly go back to their own business. The bartender waves them over to the bar.

He offers them a deal: if they all put their signatures up on the wall, they will all receive drinks and room at half price. The wall is absolutely covered in plaques, some of which the party recognizes as the autographs of other adventuring groups. They all agree without hesitation (due to lack of funds) and use a metal stylus to inscribe their names onto a metal plaque. For 400 gold, the bartender agrees to make the metal iridescent to match their adventuring name.

He also offers up a contract book that is filled with local jobs. The party discusses possibly accepting a small job after the Duke’s is completed and they all move to a corner booth to flip through it. He tells them to take it to the contract office if they find one that they like. Some take turns looking through the book as the party talks amongst themselves. Anthos finds two jobs: one for shooing away a group of giants (which may actually be cyclops due to the strange use of words) and another for clearing out a bandit camp. They both pay well, and Marisol looks through the book as well. She finds two jobs as well: one for solving a mystery that involves a treant and another mystery involving unsettling screaming that has been occurring in a forgotten graveyard. Some have been sharing reports of screaming, dark shadows, and a disappearing maiden within the grounds.

Flipping to the back of the book, Marisol finds something else. Tucked between the pages of older jobs regarding thieves and murderers is a wanted poster of Ingred Phifforn. The picture shows a tidy/put-together and super adrogynous looking Ingred, under it reads: ''“Wanted for murder, identity theft, and fraud. Dead or Alive 150 gp. Alias: Marcus Sancren”''. Ingred tries to reach for it before the party gets a good look, but Marisol grabs it and slides it over to Lily before she can. She goes pale and attempts to back away, but is stopped by Anthos. The bartender approaches them and asks if they would like to order drinks. Lily gets the party a round, and Anthos requests for them to be sent to their room. He rests a hand on Ingred’s shoulder and tells the bartender that she isn’t feeling well.

The party waits in one of their rooms. They wait to discuss the poster until after the drinks are delivered. Marisol sets the bubble up and Lily starts off by saying that they won’t ever go to Aima. There are mixed reactions within the group. Anthos stays on guard, Marisol questions her angrily, Seipora and Lily try and get some answers. Lily offers the very stiff Ingred a drink, which she doesn’t touch at first and stays quiet until they assure her that she is safe with them. After some time, Ingred shares her story behind the poster.

She tells the group that it is lying to some degree. She had indeed murdered someone, but in self defense. It was a professor of hers named Dr. Hanz. She tried to uncover some of his work and saw too much. According to her, She witnessed him experimenting on students. She didn’t understand it, but the magic she read about in his notes was similar to Marisol’s. Due to this incident, she never actually finished medical school. She is no doctor. She tells the party that the identity fraud was due to her having to pretend to be a man named Marcus Sancren. She had purchased his acceptance letter with her life’s savings at the time. She doesn’t mention her reason for doing so.

Anthos relaxes after listening to Ingred. He also assures her that they will not harm her, including himself. Marisol asks Ingred how she knows if her professor is actually dead. She takes a minute to compose herself, but shows Marisol the scar on her hand. She tells them that she had used acid to defend herself. She was lucky, but had witnessed the professor’s face melt off in the process. He was very much dead. She finally drinks and ends the conversation, seemingly deflated from the afternoon’s event.

Anthos cases the joint before the party settles down for the rest of their stay. Some go about and do their own things for the rest of the day. Anthos and Ingred eventually return from a foraging session in the forest, only to encounter an old classmate of hers, Agnar Andel. Anthos is defensive and warns the party over the stone that someone had recognized Ingred, however as luck would have it the man only knows her as Marcus. As the rest of the party arrives downstairs, they see Ingred and Anthos sharing drinks with Agnar.

They learn that the Dean told students that Dr. Hanz had gone on vacation to the Sidross region, but he never returned. He invites Ingred to join him and some of the boys in Aima to go drinking “like the good old days”. Anthos eventually gets him blackout drunk to forget the night, but not before some shenanigans go down. Angar insists that she must have not been at graduation because she got some chick pregnant. Ingred gets tired of him commenting on his theories of her romantic life and lies about being in a polyamorous relationship with Anthos and Lily. Soon after the dude is dragged to a private corner of the bar to sleep off his drunkenness.

The party splits into two rooms for the night, Anthos and Ingred taking one and the girls taking the other. Lily sets up a blanket fort for Marisol. Seipora writes. Marisol prays. They quickly find sleep and in the morning Lily finds a note in the room telling the party to order breakfast. Their guide has arrived.