Something on the Wind Adventure 2 Session 5
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The party met Brynja in one of the wealthier neighborhoods of Bellaverdis, outside of a posh restaurant and shops. He explained that above the restaurant and shops is where the merchant Mancarlo Bonvierre lived, and that's where the compass was kept. Using their wild forms of rat and spider, Acantha and Yemoja scouted out the second-story estate. They learned the layout of the place, located the compass in a trophy gallery, and found the butler's ledgers of household affairs. Meanwhile, Nyx and Gellardia dined in the restaurant downstairs to learn more about the merchant above. They learned that Mancarlo married into his station, and it was his wife who truly owned their family's wealth, including the restaurant. She spent most of her time attending to matters of trade, while Mancarlo spent most of his time at the estate. They also learned that Mancarlo would be hosting a party at the restaurant for Carnivale in a few days.
After reviewing their information, the party devised a plan to gain an invitation to the celebration and steal the compass there. With the information Acantha and Yemoja found, Daro was able to craft a very convincing clockwork replica of the magical compass in short order, and Nyx was able to insinuate the druids onto the staff that would be helping cater the party. Mancarlo was only too happy to invite someone as important as Nyx to his party, so the plan was in motion.
While at the party, Nyx spotted Kira, whose own plots seemed to overlap at the party. The party mingled and considered a few different plans for stealing the compass. Eventually the party felt the simplest approach might be best: Nyx used her skills of thievery to pick the lock on the display case and swap the fake compass for the real one. This seemed to go off without a hitch, until a loud alarm sounded in the gallery - a magical sentry disguised as a statue of a dog began making a thunderously loud sound and started approaching Nyx. Thinking quickly, she dumped the compass into one of the catering servants, drawing the dog construct's attention there instead.
Guards poured into gallery and there was a great deal of commotion. Mancarlo had his guards seize the servant that the dog construct was barking at and begin searching him. The party demanded that the racket be silenced, and Mancarlo deactivated the dog with a command word. The party then scrambled for a plan to secure the compass before Mancarlo's guards could recover it. Using sign language, the party executed a daring plan. Yemoja cast a fog cloud blinding everyone in the room. Daro shoved people out of the way, while Nyx quickly snatched the compass from the servant where she stashed it and passed it to Acantha. Acantha and Yemoja slipped outside, along with most of the guests during the chaos.
In the aftermath, Mancarlo summoned the city guard. While they were investigating, Nyx pickpocketed the keys from the butler and entered the locked study. There she found a safe with a combination lock and a note that read "trees east, paintings west, birds east". Foiled, she returned to the investigation.
The guard dispelled the fog cloud but could find nothing of value on the servant. When the guards asked what was stolen, Mancarlo searched the gallery and did not notice the replica compass. The guards said that Mancarlo's magical sentry must have been defective, causing Mancarlo intense embarrassment for the entire scene that ruined his Carnivale celebration. Nyx offered Mancarlo a face-saving opportunity, hoping to engratiate him for future access to the estate.
When the party reunited outside of the estate, Brynja found the party and congratulated them on recovering the compass. Apparently he could sense that they'd retrieved the item. He excitedly told them to book passage on a ship as soon as possible, and then he would use the compass to guide the party to treasures beyond imagination. Still quite skeptical, the party tried to gain any kind of leverage they could over the crazy, homeless, old man, but there wasn't much leverage to be gained. The best they could do was to bring Brynja to a clerk's office and draw up a contract that legally compelled Brynja to guide the party to the buried treasure, and give them an agreed-upon share. The clerks were visibly shocked to be drawing up a contract for someone as obviously dispossessed as Brynja, but they did so.