A Drink...

The First Mate opens the shutter of a few everbright lanterns, lightening up the loungue. (FOr him, anyway, Kaspar can see in the dark just fine. "Kind of nice to be here when it's quiet," the First Mate says, gesturing to the floor-to-ceiling hardened glass facing. "Gorgeous out there, isn't it? It's only better topside."

The half-elf goes around the bar and begins to root around. "Got to find the right key for this cabinet. You're fromt he Shadow Marches originally, right? I heard that your capital city is on stilts above the swamps."

(Make a Spot and a Listen check)

Synopsis Impudicius

The person with the knife turned out to be the First Mate, and the knife was a corkscrew.

Seeing Kaspar (and not the invisible Castille), the jovial half-elf invited Kaspar to join him in the lounge for a drink. (As First Officer he had the key to the cupboard and intended to crack opena new bottle fo wine now that he was off-shift.) The bottle in question was a Shadow Marches brand of top quality that was Kaspar's favorite.

Kaspar followed the first mate past the curtain into the lounge while they made small talk. Castille stayed in the main hallway of Deck Two while they did.

That's when Castille saw Clippy, the warforged busienss agent, silently exit his cabin holding a loaded and cocked light crossbow while keeping an eye on the curtain that led to the lounge (from which the voices of the First Mate and Kaspar could be easily heard). After a pause, the warforged turned and started walking towards the invisible Castille...

(This is the end of the synopsis of out tabletop session.)

Synopsis Leading to Mystery and Action

Once in the cargo hold of the lower level, our heros split their resources. Castille remained on watch by the entranceway while Kaspar snuck past an open hatch leading the the upper levels. Guards had been posted up above, but Kaspar rolled well. Then again, after searching through whatever crates were in the open, he found only a locked door on the opposite wall. The door was magically guarded, and so Castille joined Kaspar. A few close calls finally prompted Castille to cast invisibility; but in the end the locks posed little threat.

Once inside the heavily trapped room, Kaspar and Castille were amazed to find, literally, a wall of dragonshards worth well over any amount they could imagine. Opposite the dragonshards were other treasures of great value, none of which either hero so much as touched -- for fear of alarm and retribution.

And so they snuck back outside the cargo hold. Castille managed to close the magically guarded door. He was unable to replace the locks, but made it look as if a legitimate guard had used his key and left it unattended.

Travelling upstairs, Kaspar snuck ahead undetected. But as Castille climbed the stairs, still under the cover of invisibility, he noticed a cabin door opening. And then a knife...

Synopsis Part 5 - The Phantom Dennis

Scotty confirmed Kaspar's deductions, and added that such anti-personnel mines were often sold in packs of 10 in the arms bazaars.

Captain Hughal told the PCs that they would be reaching Passage in about 2 hours, and that he was worried about docking. He had to dock to get supplies, but he couldn't let word fo this spread. Castille asked him to search all of the cabins thoroughly, by Hughal didn't want to offend good customers. Torn between commerce and security, Hughal asked Castille and Kaspar to investigate for him. He knew that they didn't do it because their whereabouts had been seen the whole time they were on the ship. Hughal dismissed the idea that any of the crew could or would have done this.

The PCs went out to look around, and decided to start from the bottom deck and work their way up. Their investigations led to different results.

-Brumhilde was snippy to Castille, but she let him in and spoke to him, and finally said that she itnended to get out at Passage whether the Captain let her or not, as she had to pick up something to deliver to Varda. And what that was was House Kundarak business, not his. She had heard from the crew whispering that something had happened to Vollo but Castille did not share details.
-Silas didn't want to talk, but Kaspar slammed the door in, and then Castille tried honeyed words. It turns out that Malinzar is fleeing from Wroat University with a painting that may not be legally his, but he knew nothing about Vollo, or at least seemed to know nothing.
-Gurr spoke to the PCs, and the Diplomacy check went well. A Warden of the Wood, he had been in Flamekeep on a secret mission of diplomacy with the Keepers of the Silver Flame. He was plain-spoken and honorable, and knew nothing of Vollo.
-The hobgoblin adept, Derch Sarg (and hsi bat familiar) spoke to Kaspar alone. Kaspar got him to talk, and Derch gave his opinion that everyone was lying about something. Derch chatted with Kaspar for a bit, and after a bribe of a painting (Derch likes artwork) revealed that he was originally from Cyre, but got out on The Day Of Mourning and went to Darguun, which is why he does nto ahve the Darguun accent. He does not like to share this information due to anti-Cyre prejudices, but he does not want suspicion on himself. His keen hearing had already picked up news of Vollo's death from crew chatter (or maybe his familiar did). Derch denies any connection to the activities, insisting that his mystic order has sent him around Khorvaire to investigate old religious places and texts. Derch gets Kaspar to reveal that the half-orc rogue hails from the Shadow Marshes. Derch says that the corporation that Clippy claims to represent does not exist.

After a brief consultation in the corridor, Castille casts a Sleep spell on a human porter, and our heros take the porter's key and enter the ship's vast cargo area...

Synopsis Part IV

The Captain declared general quarters, but did not tell anyone why. After a brief investigation on his own part, he found that the only persons who physically never had the opportunity to do anything were Castille and Kaspar, so he brought them in. Kaspar assisted him in examining Vollo's cabin, given the half-orc's familiarity with traps and devices.

Kaspar found an artificer-created anti-personnel mine, one left over from the Last War, pressure-rigged to launch shrapnel, acid flasks, or other flasks, or in this case, an unknown and deadly poisonous cloud of powder. (Within a few rounds of exposure to air the poison was rendered inert, but by then it had been on Vollo's skin, and it was a contact poison with a very high Fort DC.)

The Captain brought Castille and Kaspar to the crew area of the ship, where they discovered the ship's secret. The engineer of the airship The High Stakes was a warforged artificer named Scotty (original, yes) who had been adopted into House Lyrandar.

To be continued...

Synopsis, Is It Part 3 Already?

I'm not going to do the bar scene justice, my notes were too thin.

Clippy was a supply overseer during the war, and in civillian life found a job with an incorporated merchant group in Thrane. he is overseeing shipment to Varda in the Eldeen Reaches, and is a chirpy, talkative sort of fellow.

Kaspar drinks Q'Barran Tea, exotic but tasty.

Malinzar does nto leave his room.

Different passengers come in the bar/recreation area (with a gorgeous view of the sky, as it is before a huge meispherical pane of hardened glass) at different times, for pre-dinner drinks and dinner. (Except for Malinzar.)

Vollo joins the PCs and Clippy, chats a lot. Already he found out where everyone is staying. Vollo is taking mroe notes.

A besthide Shifter Barbarian named Gurr who works for the Wardens of the Wood, a ranger policing organization in the Eldeen Reaches comes in, but says little.

Derch Sarg, a hobgoblin adept, sits and talks with the PCs. Derc does not like elves, but gets along with Kaspar well enough.

A timid man by the name of Silas comes in to eat hurriedly with a long package, then leaves. Someone remarks that all the human passengers seem to be paranoid types with packages.

Derch Sarg claims to be from Darguun, but the PCs later find hsi accent isn't Darguun. Derch says everyone on this boat lies about something.

Brumhilde comes in, snubs Catille, especially as Castille has hooked up with Peorossa, who I shall get to in a minute.

Kaspar is revealed to hail from the Shadow Marches, but he belongs to no organization there, although he has worked for several.

Peorossa is a magnificent elven woman from Valenar, an ambassdor and representative for an anonymous noble. She is haughty and prone to duels with her double scimitar. She has 3 levels in Ranger and some in Expert. Castille hits on her and rolls a high Diplomacy check, so he joins her for dinner. This is despite the fact that it is revealed that Castille ahils from Valenar, a place where those who are not full elves are second-class citizens. He declines to speak of more of his past to the beautiful Peorossa, and merely gives her a thin smile when she declares that he is still a Valenar subject.

It is important to note that due to comings and goings, Kaspar and Castille are the only ones who were in the lounge the entire time. Everyone else left before them or came in after them or both.

Castille offers to escort Peorossa back to the first deck, as she has a VIP cabin. (There are two cabins on that deck and Vollo has, or rather had, the other one.)

They find Vollo's door partly open, the gnomes notes ruffled through and perhaps some taken, and Vollo the cartographer dead on the floor lying amidst a powdered poison that erupted from his lavoratory door. (It is later learned that it was indeed a poison cloud puff created by an anti-personnel mine from the Last War, more details on that coming.)

The crew is called, and the Captain comes hurrying...

Synopsis Continuing

Kaspar made fast friends with the gnome, one Vollo, a cartographer in the employ of House Sivis. Vollo was proud to show off his maps and had a desire to map all of the Eldeen Reaches. Kaspar ntoed that Vollo had a way of saying a lot without telling very much about himself. Vollo was even more inquisitive than the average gnome and took a lot of notes.

Castille got along with the bartender, them both being half-elves, and the bartender having read about Castille in the Korranberg Chronicle. The bartender gave Castille a copy of the paper, then filled him in on House Lyrandar gossip.

Castille then met Brumhilde the dwarf, securties courier for House Kundarak, as she played darts. They played for money, she beat him twice, but then he used Mage Hand to cheat. She didn't think it was funny.

The old man was named Malinzar, but didn't say anything, just clutched his box.

The High Stakes came sailing in, and the passengers went forward, meeting the cpatain, who wore his shirts open to show off his Lesser Dragonmark, the First Mate, who wore a coat with nothing covering his left shoulder so the Least Dragonmark could be seen, and the purser. All were half-elves and house members. The ship contained other half-elves, human porters who were hired by House Lyrandar, and two halfling employees from the Dragonmark House of Hospitality who ran the kitchen and bar area, repsectively. They were told the cargo area was off-limits, and that dinner would be served in an hour.

The PCs put their things in their cabin, on Deck 2, and immediately met a warforged named Clippy.

To be continued...

More Synopsis

The PCs answered the questions wisely, and the Duke came in with Shield, the warforged bodyguard. The Duke gave some things to the PCs, but not willingly, only because of a Prophecy that Balladeer had told him of. She said that in a time to come soon, the PCs will be "pivotal."

Castille received a ring of regenration, 2/hp a round

Kaspar got a mithril chain shirt +1 with Hide and Silent Moves (+5 enhancement to each)

Kaspar also got a Weapon of Legacy, an adamantine bastard sword +1 with Sabotaging ability, an ability to give sneak damage to constructs. See details on page 93 of Dragon magazine issue #326. The sabotaging effect is a +1 marketplace modifier. Essentially the bastard sword finds the most minute flaws in objects and hits their most vulnerable points.

Then they were dismissed from the palace, and an honor guard escorted them to the docking tower for the airship. Details on the airship are here. A Knowledge Local Eldeen Reaches also revealed that the airship captain ahd fought off privateers 3 times, and that the airship, The High Stakes, did not go to Karrn anymore due ot troubles with a crew member, and that they flew very far west into the Eldeen Reaches with cargo, but that they only took passengers so far.

The PCs went into the docking tower, opening scene is detailed here.