April 27 recap

Our story begins, as many D&D games do, in a tavern. Professor Burch, a gnome scholar of quori and the plane of Dal Quor at Morgrave University in Sharn, has sent missives to each member of the party saying he has lucrative work for them that will require their precise skills. They all meet at the Gilded Griffon, a tavern in Port Verge, a rough-and-tumble harbor town on the island of Questor in the Lhazaar Principalities. The party consists of Alyosha Guran, a portly human warlock who had been a noble and art dealer in Cyre before the Mourning; Amahndar Kashkin, a kalashtar paladin of the Silver Flame who is mostly unaware of his true heritage; Laharal, a strange shardmind possessing strong telepathic power; Mevakri, a kalashtar ardent who has been working as a merchant in the Lhazaar Principalities while on the run from the Inspired; and Mika, a human thief from Sharn who is very intimidating with her mace and shuriken.

Professor Burch explains that he is pursuing an artifact called the Siberys Pandect, a large dragonshard that contains ancient knowledge of a war between the giants and the quori 40,000 years ago. [I originally said 4,000 in the game; forgot a 0.] As a scholar of Dal Quor, he thinks the Pandect would contain knowledge long thought lost: histories, weapons, spells, who knows what else. He explains that he and his kalashtar servant, Nevitash, found that the Pandect was taken from the giant ruins on Xen'drik about 10 years ago by an explorer named Breyten. Breyten became extremely paranoid about the Pandect falling into the wrong hands, and he hid it. When Breyten met Burch and Nevitash, he recognized Nevitash as a kalashtar and told them he'd written down in his journal (also hidden) where he hid the Pandect, and died shortly thereafter. Burch paid House Tharaskh for a spell to locate the journal, which reveals it was hidden in Port Verge. Burch sent Nevitash to retrieve it, but he hasn't been heard from in a week. (Burch also explains that he had Nevitash do the legwork on hiring all the party members, hence how he knew that Mekavri was a kalashtar despite her persistent attempts to hide herself.)

Burch offers to pay the party 50 gold apiece per day, plus room and board, to keep them on retainer and help him find the Pandect. Amahndar senses that Burch is on the level, so each member of the party agrees (although Mika is weirded out by the telepathic powers of half the party), and Meva begins asking around Port Verge to find if anybody has seen Nevitash. A few report having seen him a week ago hanging around a tavern and the marketplace about a week ago, but not since then. He never returned to his inn room about 5-6 days ago. At the same time, Mika decides to get a pet and seeks out a dog merchant. She finds an orc who is selling the dogs as food; patiently, she waits until he shuts down for the night and hauls his crated dogs into storage, then takes one for herself. Meanwhile, Amahndar meditates on the Silver Flame, while Laharal, attracting some odd looks, goes to a bookseller and buys books on Khorvaire history and an account of the Last War. Alyosha, unsurprisingly, orders a large meal for himself, especially as he's now on Burch's tab.

The next day (50 gp richer apiece, and having spent the night at a House Ghallanda hotel), they begin investigating in earnest. Nevitash was last seen at the Tavern of Good Hope, so they go there first, but it's still early in the day and there's not really anybody there. After some sitting around, the owner, a well-dressed halfling woman, approaches them and asks if they need anything. The owner directs them to an auction house down the street — Nevitash went down there one night and bought something from them, then was seen the same night drinking it up with some of the human guards from that business. One of them, Saal, has been back a few times, but no Nevitash.

On the way down to the auction house, a passing merchant offers to buy Laharal, a "strange crystal golem," from Alyosha, but decides against it when Laharal proves too "disobedient" to Alyosha's orders.

The party goes down to the auction house, where a small crowd is perusing the merchandise and a few humans stand guard. The auctioneer, a human on stage, denies having seen Nevitash, but tries to sell Meva an amulet that he guarantees will help find him. Laharal senses that the amulet isn't nearly as powerful as the auctioneer is claiming and advises her not to buy it. Amahndar senses that the auctioneer isn't telling the truth — and is, in fact, a changeling, not a human.

Mika grows impatient, draws her shuriken, and threatens the auctioneer as Amahndar tries to sweet-talk a deal. The auctioneer calls for guards, and a melee breaks out. The guards bash Mika a bit with their maces, but Meva and Amahndar help her recover. Alyosha quietly tries to grab some loot and make his escape, before they attract the wrong kind of attention. Finally, after most of the guards are knocked unconscious, Mika grabs the auctioneer and holds a shuriken to his neck, forcing a surrender.

The auctioneer admits that he's a changeling named Kif, and the auction house is a scam — they sell the same loot to adventurers, then get them drunk and shanghai them (getting their merchandise back and then some). Unlucky adventurers are sent to a ship docked in the thick fog around Trebaz Sinara, a large nearby island, where other ships come by to pick them up. Kif also corrects that it's not merely slavery — he works for the Bloodsails, a group of elf pirates who specialize in necromancy. They don't care if they get their victims alive or dead — they use the body for their dark rituals, and use necromancy to raise the bodies into undead. Amahndar perks up at this and declares that they must stop the Bloodsails at all costs, as he is an avowed foe of the undead.

The party decides to tie up Kif, and to use him to procure a ship to rendezvous with the Bloodsail vessel and find Nevitash.