JTRC - Summaries

[Daos]

Chapter One:
My Favorite Store on the Citadel

It was another day on the Radiant Citadel, and in the Palace of Exile the Shieldbearers were meeting for their new assignments. Among them were a group of rookies hoping for a chance to prove themselves. The veteran Shieldbearers spoke to each other, while they all waited for Arayat, their leader, to arrive.

Among the rookies, there's the elf, Vulpi, who keeps to themselves for the most part. There's Livana the halfling, who only seems interested in discussing the jeli flower from her homeworld. There's Zencho the tiefling, who tried to engage conversation with the veterans with... mixed success. And then there's Ha-Yun, a human who arrived a bit late.

Arayat arrived and gave out assignments, until only the rookies remained. He seemed to have forgotten them, until Ha-Yun reminded him. Not having any other assignments and uncertain if they were ready for an off-world mission yet, he assigned them to patrol the Trade Discal. Just to keep an eye out for trouble or anyone who needed help; and if they did well, he'd see about finding them an assignment the next day.

The party introduced themselves to each other and headed off to the Discal. As they were passing by some residences, however, Ha-Yun seemed to see someone she knew. Calling out for 'Unnie' she ran off alone into an alleyway. Some of the others followed her, but there was nothing there. Vulpi chastised her for running off on her own, feeling that the Citadel was a dangerous place and that it's reputation as being crime free was only a facade.

At that point, they were joined by another, a Shieldbearer who was running late and missed the meeting. She was a dwarven woman named Chispa. She asked to join their patrol. The party then headed to the Elemental Plate, a family restaurant with a distinctly elemental theme. Despite technically being on the clock (so to speak), they all sat down and ordered quite a bit of food. Livana wanted to order something with jeli flower in it, but all they had was a very expensive wine. Since the plant can only grow in one place, it's very expensive to import it. The party waited for their food and looks around at the other customers and patrons in the restaurant.

Vulpi suggested the party interview some of the patrons and try to get an idea of what the common folk think of the Shieldbearers, and whether they resent them or not. Livana stayed at the table with Vulpi, but Ha-Yun, Chispa and Zencho all got up and went separate ways. Chispa spoke to a drunken gnome sitting at the bar alone, Ha-Yun approached a complaining red dragonborn at the bar, and Zencho approached a beautiful aasimar woman surrounded by would-be suitors.

Chispa asked the gnome, Gowon, what was bothering him. He drunkenly explained that his wife of 20 years abandoned him for a man half his age. Chispa asked him about his job, assuming that as a gnome he was an engineer or craftsman of some kind. But it turned out he was a clavinger--he pilots the Djaynian Concord Jewel, the 'Water Opal.' Chispa got distracted by this news, and started peppering him with questions about how the jewel worked and if she could see the controls herself. At first, Gowon thought she was asking him on a date. Chispa quickly cleared up she was only interested in studying the Concord Jewel. Gowon said the mechanics of how it worked were state secrets and he'd be fired for telling non-approved outsiders about it. She would need to seek approval from the Speakers of the Ancestors first.

Ha-Yun noticed the dragonborn had a half-eaten Fire Plate (the same thing she ordered) and was complaining that for a dish called a Fire Plate, it was not nearly spicy enough to the bartender, who seemed rather nonplussed. Ha-Yun interrupted and got the dragonborn, named Shin Habin, to talk a bit. They were both from Yeonido, it turned out. Shin's family had a dakbul (basically spicy chicken feet) restaurant back home. When Ha-Yun introduced herself, Shin seemed to recognize her family name and wondered if she knew the Waif Girls. Ha-Yun admitted to actually being one of them. She gave him an autograph for his sister and asked him about lumber (something Vulpi had wanted to know) and if he had seen anything suspicious of late. Shin suggested she try the Iron Bones Construction company for the former. As for the latter, he had heard a rumor that something was going down at Sangsorn's Sorcerous Sundries. Thanking him, Ha-Yun reported all of this back to Vulpi.

Zencho quietly joined the other male suitors and just listened to the aasimar talk. She explained that she came to the Citadel to think. Her father had threatened to cut her out of her inheritance completely and give it all to her brother instead if she did not get married by the end of the year. But she wasn't interested in marrying and wasn't sure how to choose a husband anyway. Zencho spoke up, suggesting she marry all of her suitors or just one and take the rest as concubines. The aasimar pointed out that wasn't allowed in her culture, and she didn't want to get married at all, much less to many people. Zencho asked her name, which was Yasamin Kordfaimi, daughter of Emir Bahram Kordfaimi, then rejoined the others.

Reunited, the party paid their bill and on Ha-Yun's suggestion, headed toward Sangsorn's Sorcerous Sundries. Once arriving, they found the tiefling store owner being arrested by the Citadel Guard. As they were dragging the tiefling away, they begged for the party to help. They say they were Suree Sangsorn, the owner. They were commissioned to make a shipment of beads of refreshment for a humanitarian mission, but the shipment for some reason never arrived. The Speakers were accusing Suree of defrauding them. They asked the party to meet them at the amphitheater in the Preserve for the trial. They were then dragged off.

The party was divided on whether they should help. Some thought they should ignore or at least delay the matter, while others thought they should head to the amphitheater and help. Eventually the latter group won over, and the party headed to the Preserve.

Once there, they arrived just as the trial was beginning. Suree explained the situation to them. They sent their apprentices, Mila and Treg, to the Passage of Respite to find the missing beads. They needed someone to check on them, and also someone to help stall the proceedings. Ha-Yun asked for a key to their shop, so they can search that, too. The party tried to stall a bit, claiming the trial was unfair. But it turned out Suree was given plenty of warning weeks ago, but never responded. Suree claimed to have never received any, though.

The party decided to split up. Ha-Yun remained with Suree to act as counsel and to try and stall the trial. Livana and Vulpi hailed a taxi carriage to the Passage of Respite to find Suree's apprentices and, if possible, learn what became of the missing crate. And Chispa and Zencho returned to Suree's shop to search it for clues.

Things didn't go so well at first. Ha-Yun failed to stall the trial any, nor could Zencho or Chispa find any clues at the shop. Livana and Vulpi, however, managed to find Treg and Mila arguing at the bridge to the Passage of Respite. Treg wanted to find the crate, but Mila was attempting to persuade him to give it up. Mila tried to physically stop Vulpi from interfering, but they brushed past her to search for the crate. Annoyed, Mila ran off. Vulpi managed to find the crate and carry it back to the carriage, where they, along with Treg and Livana, returned to the trial. They arrived just before the sentence was read. It turned out that the crate had been mislabeled and so never was shipped.

The lead Speaker, Sholeh, opened the crate (with her bare hands) and revealed it was filled with the missing beads. She ruled Suree was not guilty and had them released, and ordered the beads quickly sent to their real destination.

Relieved, Suree thanked the party for their help and invited them back to the store to give them a reward. On the way, Treg speculated that Mila must have mislabeled the shipment by mistake, and was trying to cover it up. He also revealed she hasn't been happy with Suree's mentorship. Suree wasn't sure what to do about Mila and asked the party for their advice. They suggested they try and be a better mentor and give their apprentices more of a stake in how things are run.

Suree agreed and paid the party 120 gold pieces and gave them a fire elemental gem. Vulpi also asked them to sell some of their wood carvings for them. Suree admitted their shop is only for enchanted items, but considered they might be able to enchant them first.

Vulpi then wanted the party to head to Iron Bones Construction to buy more wood. Chispa wondered if the two of them might collaborate, with metal and wood, to create something more complex. Vulpi seemed amendable to the idea. Once at Iron Bones, they met with Melchor Banaag, a tiefling with iridescent feathers, which seemed to fascinate Ha-Yun. He sold Vulpi two blocks of wood for a copper each, but Vulpi paid two silver instead, asking that Melchor let them know if any good lumber comes in.

After that, the party returned to Arayat to report and call it a night.

[Daos]

Chapter Two:
Salted Legacy

The next day, the party returned to the dining hall to meet with Arayat. However, Livana was not with them. Instead, they found Arayat, a gnomish man and a kobold woman in a wheelchair whom they recognized from Suree Sangsorn's trial as one of the Speakers of the Ancestors.

Vulpi immediately recognized the gnome as Seeboe, an old friend from Atagua. As they catch up, Arayat explained that Livana had been sent on a special mission to Zinda, so Seeboe had been assigned to their team in her place. He also told them their first mission would be to Siabsungkoh. When the party asked why, he turned things over to the kobold, Speaker Aom Myahkoom.

Speaker Aom explained that on Siabsungkoh was a large night market known as the Dyn Singh Night Market. Every year they had a night of games called the Market Games where people from all over could participate. The Shieldbearers participate each year, so the party will be their representatives. It created goodwill and diplomacy between the Shieldbearers and the Siabsungkohians, who tend to be wary of outsiders and strangers.

The party seemed excited by the prospect. They were told the Concord Jewel to Siabsungkoh was leaving in the hour, so they grabbed their gear and left immediately. Once at the Passage of Respite, they saw the massive ruby structure had docked and the bottom section had become transparent and intangible, allowing people to just walk through it and board the vessel.

Once on board, the party recognized a few faces, including Suree Sangsorn, Treg and Arthit Suwan--all people of Siabsungkoh. Chispa was quick to criticize Suree for not inviting Mira, as well, but the tiefling explained that Mira is not from Siabsungkoh so wasn't interested in the Market Games. They closed up shop for the day to visit home, see friends and family, and participate in the Games.

Once everyone was aboard, the intangible parts of the Jewel solidified, and it began to lift into the air. When the Jewel had reached a certain altitude, it planeshifted, then landed on Siabsungkoh. The party disembarked and headed for the bright and colorful Dyn Singh Night Market, and were amazed by the sights and sounds.

The party decided to seek out one of the Market Games right away, except for Zencho who broke away from the group to find some alcohol. He found a stall selling something called a Sabai Sabai Cocktail. Meanwhile, the others joined the next round of the Aroon Family Pepper Challenge, which was sponsored by the Spicy Brothers, twin pepper merchants. The twin manning this game, Vi Aroon, explained the rules to the others.

There were pitchers of milk and baskets of random peppers on a table. For three rounds, each of them would randomly choose a pepper and eat it. If they could do so without touching the milk or leaving the table, they would win. The four sat down and began. After three rounds, all four of them managed to reach the end of the game and so won. Their reward was a bowl of cool yogurt and the respect of the locals.

After the party left the tent, they heard a commotion and saw a kobold youth clutching a handful of green onions being chased by a frantic gnomish woman. The kobold accidentally ran into Zencho, and the gnome caught up, and the two began to argue. The kobold's mother showed up and the argument continued between them. Upon the party's intervention, they revealed themselves to be Lamai Tyenmo of Tyenmo Noodles and Kusa Xungoon of Xungoon Family Seafood. There seemed to be an old rivalry between these families, and both believed that one stole from the other.

Both women hired the party to prove their innocence and then left. Not sure where to start, the party was approached by a man that looked startlingly like Vi Aroon. But it was, in fact, Kasem Aroon, his twin brother. He encouraged the party to stay out of local politics and instead enjoy themselves; and he offered them a tour of the place. The party accepted.

After the tour, Kasem bid them farewell and returned to his own tent. Ha-Yun led the group to the next golden tent, a Hide and Seek game led by Madam Kulp, a wizened old gnome who sold silks made from kitten-sized blue tut-krogh caterpillars. She explained that in the basement were four hidden caterpillars. If the party found and caught all four (without harming them in any way) and returned them within one minute, they would win. This time the whole group participated.

They immediately scattered, searching places at random, often searching rooms that were already thoroughly searched by others. In the end, they were only able to find three of the caterpillars, and so lost the challenge. Madam Kulp told them not to feel discouraged, as it was a difficult challenge. Just then, they heard a commotion outside from the Tyenmo Noodles stall. They discovered a plume of smoke as it appeared someone had set one of the stall's legs on fire, but it had been put out now. Investigating, Seeboe discovered a burnt out match nearby. Tynemo was certain it was the Xungoons responsible, but there was no proof.

The party headed over to the Xungoon stand and found there were smashed persimmons everywhere, their juice covering the whole thing. Kusa claimed the persimmons fell from the sky. Nobody had seen where they came from, but Kusa strongly suspected it was the Tyenmos responsible. Chispa got angry and started yelling at Kusa for not working together with Tyenmo to find the real culprit; but Kusa pointed out that there is zero evidence that anyone else is involved--that's what she hired the party to do, to look into it and find actual evidence.

The party then argued on what to do. Chispa thought they should seek out the Merchant Collective and ask them for help. Vulpi wanted to do a stake out on both stalls and wait to see if they could catch someone in the act. Ha-Yun wanted to continue the Night Games, hoping to earn enough prestige to get more information out of the locals.

Eventually, the party went with Ha-Yun's idea, so headed to the final golden tent, Battle Prawns: The Shrimpening, hosted by Sid Squid of the Trusty Leek. Sid explained the rules. At least four of them (Seeboe sat it out) must prepare some prawns and green beans to make prawncakes in record time. They could use any weapons and magic for the challenge.

Chispa came up with several ideas, including boiling the water in the tank, thus killing all of the prawns, or breaking the tank and letting them all out at once. Instead, Zencho leaped into the tank and one-shot one of the creatures easily. Ha-Yun focused on the green beans. The others then rushed back to aid Ha-Yun with the beans, and they finished in record time, earning applause from the audience.

Afterward, they questioned Sid about the feuding families and learned that some families have a stake in seeing the Xungoons and Tyenmos feud, and he also mentioned Kasem was overheard talking about buying another family's business, which is against market tradition. Just then, they heard a commotion over at Vada's Otherworldly Goods and rushed over there.

Vada, the shopkeep, was upset. She had baked two dozen sweet rolls and turned her back for a second, and somehow, all of them were stolen, right off the tray. Nobody seemed to see anyone take them, either. Seeboe did find a trail of powdered sugar, though. He and Vulpi followed it. Meanwhile, the others went to speak with Madam Kulp.

The powdered sugar trail led to the Tyenmo stall, specifically to an old wok. Vulpi accidentally knocked it over, alerting everyone around. Lamai had never seen it before, but Gammon showed up and claimed it belonged to his mother and ran off with it.

Back at Madam Kulp's, they learned that her caterpillars get nervous whenever she walks by either Tyenmo's or Xungoon's stalls for some reason, as if they sensed something her old eyes couldn't see. She also commented that she didn't believe either of them would start up the rivalry again. At least, not intentionally.

The party then returned to see Vi Aroon, who was preparing for a new contest. He revealed he was getting married soon, and moving away with the family business (but not with his twin brother, Kasem).

The party then went to speak to Kasem, but he refused to get involved with market politics, as usual. He seemed quite bitter about Vi leaving, though. The party wasn't able to get much else out of him. They moved away, and Ha-Yun confessed she felt Kasem was responsible for reigniting the feud. While Chispa went to seek out the merchant's collective (which ultimately turned out to be fruitless), Ha-Yun went to speak to Vada. Vada mentioned a rumor that both the Xungoon and Tyenmo stalls were haunted, as people had reported bumping into or tripping over things that were not there. The party speculated that maybe Kasem was a magic user of some kind. They spoke with Kusa and Lamai, learning that Kasem had previously offered to buy both of their businesses at some point.

The party headed to the golden tent to speak with Vi, warning him of what his brother was up to. However, he didn't seem to care. He also didn't believe Kasem could do magic. Meanwhile, Ha-Yun broke away and returned to the Spicy Brothers stall, sneaking in the back to snoop around while Kasem was distracted. She discovered a box of persimmons and three small cages hidden inside a crate marked 'peppers.' Examining the persimmons, one was snatched from her hand by some invisible creature. She tried to catch it, but it flew away.

Ha-Yun met with the rest of the group and filled them in on what she discovered. She then lead the group back to Kasem where she revealed to him she knew his plan. Kasem confessed, recognizing that the jig was up and there was no way his plan would work now. He was escorted to Kusa and Lamai and told the truth, and was summarily arrested to be banished from the market. But Ha-Yun stepped in, calling for clemency. Moved by her words, Lamai agreed to formally adopt Kasem into her own family, and business. With that settled, Kusa and Lamai made amends, and then paid 100 GP each to the party, as promised.

[Daos]

Chapter Three:
Fraud Wars

After their excursion to Siabsungkoh, Arayat had been pleased with the group of rookies. Feeling they seemed to work well together, he decided to keep them together in the same squad, at least for now. Promising to look into finding them a new assignment off-world, for now, he ordered them to patrol the Citadel again, keeping an eye out for any one who needed help and making sure the peace was kept. The party met in the Trade Discal to plan their first move.

Vulpi wanted to return to Sangsorn's Sorcerous Sundries to check on their wooden figurines. So the party made their way there. While Ha-Yun perused the stock, Vulpi asked about their figurines. Ha-Yun noticed a pair of boots that would let one walk on water, but would cause them to sink into land. Vulpi was immediately interested, despite them being far out of their price range, and started inquiring about them, including whether they could take the boots outside or even on the roof.

Vulpi believed the boots could be used to break into a place by 'sinking' through the roof, and wanted to set up an elaborate test, where a harness and rope were set up to lower them into the roof, and with Seboe partially flooding the floor below so they don't sink through the floor. Mila vetoed that idea hard, pointing out that this was a place of business and wet floors could be a hazard.

The party moved on, eager to find something to eat. Vulpi suggested San Citlán food. They came upon a food cart and ordered some food and sat down at a nearby table with benches to eat. Vulpi tried to eavesdrop on some San Citlán customers nearby, but could not understand their language. Vulpi admitted to Seeboe in Gnomish that they feared Atagua was about to be invaded again, and hoped to learn more about it from San Citlán gossip, figuring they would be invaded soon, too. However, the language barrier was getting in the way.

Chispa overheard and asked why Vulpi thought an invasion was coming when Atagua has been at peace for two centuries. Vulpi claimed it was just a hunch. Zencho wondered if they should tell Arayat or someone, but Vulpi insisted otherwise. When asked why Vulpi was only speaking to Seeboe and was trying to keep this theory from the rest of the party, they changed the subject. Vulpi also revealed they were over five hundred years old.

Vulpi asked Chispa to translate what the pair of San Citlánians were speaking about, and she replied they were discussing the Night of the Remembered Festival which is coming up soon.

The party prepared to continue on their patrol, when a middle-aged nonbinary dwarf with platinum blonde hair and long sideburns approached them. They introduced themselves as Oko Icemane from the Trade Disputes Council. They recognized the party from their recent exploits in Siabsungkoh and wondered if they would be willing to help them with a problem.

It turned out there were two companies in the Discal each accusing the other of fraud. They were Minhas Alchemicals and Suwan Earthmolders. Oko is over their head and cannot figure out which one is telling the truth and which is lying. The party agrees and asks a hundred different questions of Oko, but the dwarf eventually urges the party to actually talk to the two potentially fraudulent merchants instead.

Ha-Yun chose Minhas Alcehmicals first, on a whim, so the party headed there, where they met Sidra Minhas herself, a Tayyib half-elven woman. Zencho explained who they were and why they were there. Sidra told them her side of the story: She needed some impressive pottery to impress the empress of the Tayyib Empire so commissioned some from Suwan. However, the pieces were clearly inferior in craftsmanship, and the 'magic' on them was just a Light cantrip that faded after an hour.

Inspecting the pottery, Vulpi noticed a small message written on them that read 'HGNG.' Vulpi decided this meant a third party was attempting to fool both sides, but they couldn't figure out what the initials stood for.

The party then went to Suwan Earthmolders, where they met Arthit Suwan. He made a similar claim as Minhas did; that he needed potions for an expedition but they turned out to be faulty. Zencho tried hitting on the half-orc woman, Cinder, behind the counter, but she was too anxious to say anything. Suwan also claimed he had no idea what 'HGNG' stood for. Ha-Yun asked to see the room where the potions were stored. She and Chispa searched it, but found nothing amiss. Vulpi couldn't find anything, either.

The party questioned Arthit extensively, sometimes asking the same question more than once. Having already decided there must be a third party involved, they could not understand why they were finding zero evidence to support this theory. They tried interrogating Cinder, but likewise came up empty.

Finally, they decided to return to Oko and ask what HGNG meant. The dwearf recognized it as an abbreviation for Hiccup's Generally Nice Goods, a general store in the Discal known for having cheap (both in the sense of low cost but also poorly made) goods. The party also told Oko their theory of a third party setting the two up, but when Oko asked for evidence, the party could not provide any.

The party went to Hiccup's Generally Nice Goods where a halfling named Bostwick spoke with them. He did not recognize Arthit or Sidra, but he did confirm the pottery the party showed him came from Hiccup's. He would not let them search through their receipts, though, as that was against store policy.

The party then returned to Minhas and asked about the potions. It was only then that someone considered inspecting them, so Chispa cast Identify and realized they were severely watered down with other potions. However, the party could not fathom why anyone would do that. Sidra claimed Arthit must have done so to make her look bad. The party inspected the backroom where the potions were made and stored, but could find nothing amiss.

So next the party returned to Suwan's and searched his office again, but found nothing further. At this point, they began to discuss what to do. Vulpi felt they should report back to Oko and claim both companies were not guilty, as they could not find any strong evidence to suggest either was. Ha-Yun felt the solution was that both companies were guilty of fraud, and they should report that.  Seeboe suggested that not only were both sides guilty, they were somehow in cahoots with each other.

The party returned to Oko and both Vulpi and Ha-Yun made their respective reports.  Oko thanked them, paid them, and said they would bring the information to the council, who would make a decision.