1. Journals

Session 2 - 2022-10-18 - Overall

Session
2022-10-18

Journal Entry 1 - After The Fight

“That’s very helpful, sir”, said the warforged to the tavernkeeper. “But I think we should check upstairs before we head out. Two of them ran up there in the fight, and they might be able to ‘assist us’ if they’re still up there.” His voice had that uncanny timbre of his kind, but somehow, it managed to convey concern and excitement at the same time. 

“Sure, sure,”, Thane replied, and waved the youngsters on. The whole group of them trooped up the stairs, even though he knew it was futile already. He bent to grab the booted feet of one of the bodies - one Daniel Elesson, who’d owed Thane 7 silver pieces on his bar tab - and started dragging him back to the entrance to the basement. 

Bursting up the stairs, Thistle took the lead - waving for the others to hold back while he tried to figure out where the two gang members had gotten to. He looked over the lounge at the top of the stairs. There was a fireplace on one side of the room, and a door at the opposite wall. On the far wall was another door, but there was no sign of the two gang members. Thistle stood, trying to figure out which of the two doors they’d gone through, but couldn’t see any particular signs. One of the two had been severely wounded, and neither door showed any signs of blood.

“I got no idea where they went, guys. We’ll have to check both rooms. Gnorth - you and Kairn check that room, and Steveigh and I will check the other.”, he said. 

“Sounds good to me,”, replied the half-orc, heading over to the door on the eastern wall. The two of them walked across to the door and tried to open it, with no success.

Turning to the warforged, Gnorth made a suggestion. “Why don’t you use that metal bulk of yours and break down this door.” The mechanick nodded, and backed up a bit, before slamming into the door with his right shoulder. The sound of the impact echoed throughout the lounge, and dust came down from the ceiling - but the door held fast. 

While this was going on, Steveigh and Thistle similarly tried the southern door. It, too, was firmly locked, and resisted their efforts to open it. Ourgal bent to examine the floor of the lounge while D’ral looked out the windows that pierced the curved western wall. After a moment, the sound of angry footsteps was heard, and the tavernkeeper stomped up the stairs into the lounge. Looking over at the half-orc and the mechanick, his face clouded as they prepared to ram the door again.

“OI!!!!”, he shouted - freezing the two in their tracks. “You can back off and leave that door alone. They’re not in there, or I would know by now.” The tavern keeper stalked up the stairs, and into the lounge, walking over to the door that Kairn and Gnorth had been investigating, and shooing them away from it.

“What do you mean?”, asked Gnorth, a little aggressively. Kairn tilted his head to the side as he looked at the man.

“Because those are my quarters - and they’re firmly locked. If anyone had opened this door, I’d know - and no one has, so back the hell off.”, growled Thane in response, glaring at the half-orc. Gnorth’s expression turned sheepish, and he pulled the mechanick with him into the middle of the lounge. 

Ourgal cleared his throat to get their attention. 

“Looks like the men we were fighting went out that window.”, he said, pointing to the open windows on the southeast wall. There were two, and both were open to the evening air. Thistle glanced at the open windows, and scoffed. 

“How could you know that?”, he asked, walking over to the windows.

“Because that’s where the bloody footprints go.”, replied the tiefling, pointing to the floor. Thistle, and the rest of them, looked down at the floor, and, sure enough, there were bloody footprints leading from the top of the stairway across the lounge, right to the open windows. 

“Oh - yeah - I didn’t notice that.”, came the sheepish reply from the young Bostian.  Obviously embarrassed, he walked over to the windows and looked out at the roof of the tavern’s stables. The roof was shingled, and looked sturdy enough to hold his weight. “I’m going out to follow them. Who’s with me?”

The rest of the awakened sleepers looked at each other. Kairn shook his head, Gnorth snorted, and Steveigh went over to look out the window with Thistle. 

“Wouldn’t it be easier to just go back down the stairs and around back to see if we can pick up their trail in the street?”, he asked. Ourgal grunted his agreement, and headed down to the main floor again. One by one, the rest of the group followed the young dragonborn, until it was just Thistle and Thane left.

“Well, out you go then, lad. I’ll shut the windows behind you. Don’t know what’ll come in if we leave it open at night.”, he said. Thistle, feeling a little uncertain, nodded, and crawled through the window, and out onto the rooftop. As he examined the shingles in the late summer evening light, he heard Thane close the windows behind him.

There was a few bloody footprints leading across the rooftop. Thistle followed them, and found himself looking at a 15’ drop down to the alleyway behind the tavern. The alleyway was strewn with refuse, but it looked like something that he could manage. He eased his form over the edge of the roof, lowered himself down while holding onto the gutters, and dropped. As he landed, the garbage shifted, and he twisted his ankle a little, but ended up in the alleyway relatively undamaged.

Unfortunately, it was darker at street level, as the fading light didn’t penetrate all the way to ground level in between the buildings. The smell was unpleasant, and in the gloom, he couldn’t see anything. After a few moments of searching, he gave up and headed out to the street.

The rest of the group emerged from the front of the tavern, along with Thane. The man was telling Kairn again about where the Hawkblood Gang could be found, and told them that all three of the men that had fled from the fight were likely headed there. 

“One street up, two streets over, and then head upstream a bit. You can’t miss it.”, he said.

“Thank you again, Thane, and I’m sorry that we were trying to break into your quarters.”, he said, his artificial voice somehow managing to convey realistic contrition.

“Yeah, sorry man.”, chimed in Gnorth, with more embarrassment than contrition. The rest of the group expressed their thanks as well. Thane shook it off and shooed them on their way. But before he returned to the tavern, he added one last thing.

“Look guys, I get it - you’re trying to figure out what’s going on and you’re going to keep looking for Gianno. Just in case he’s not over at the gang house, for a small... donation, I’ll keep my ears open for anything about Gianno. Where can I send a message to you if you don’t find him on Algin’s Lane?”, he said. 

The group looked at each other, and nodded their agreement. D’Ral gave Thane some gold, and told him to send a messenger to the Temple of Lossounelyn and it’d get back to them.  Shaking the tavernkeeper’s hand, they headed out into the evening twilight, heading deeper into Nighthorn. Somehow, after the excitement in the bar, the neighbourhood didn’t seem quite so dangerous. 


As they left, Thane headed back into the tavern, locking the door as he did so, and started cleaning up the barroom, whistling a Dryian marching song to himself. 

“At least the evening’s not been boring.”, he thought to himself as he hauled the first of the gang members down the stairs to the basement. 

As the sky darkened, the group could see dim lights coming on in the ramshackle buildings on either side of the street. Most of the lights were the flickering glow of candles, but here and there they could see the steady, warm yellow light of glows. Most Autiersians used glows - the magical light sources turned out by the hundreds by magical craftsmen throughout the country, but the very poor could never scrape together enough money to purchase them - so instead, they purchased mundane candles, and burned those instead. The irony, of course, is that the candles ended up costing the folk that bought them more, over time, than a glow would. Unfortunately, when all you have is copper, you’re not likely to be able to scrape together the 5 silver it cost for a glow.


“Should we hurry?”, asked Thistle as they walked through the streets. The street traffic was starting to change as they walked. There were fewer people on the streets, but more people hanging around outside of the taverns, inns, brothels, and gambling houses. Thistle’s hair seemed to be thicker, almost like it was puffed up like in a thunderstorm.


“I don’t see that it matters. We know where he’s likely to be going, and by now, his friends have caught up to him, so he knows that we’re going to continue to chase him. When we get there isn’t nearly as important as just ensuring that we get there.”, replied Steveigh. The dwarf was still sounding - and looking - tense and angry, but he was focused more on the shadowy areas in the darkening street than on what Thistle was asking. 


“I agree.”, chimed in Ourgal. The tiefling’s long stride carried him through the streets at a steady pace - his height, and his horns made him look relaxed and intimidating at the same time. Passers by mostly ignored him, but Steveigh could see people peeking at his companion from time to time. Not all the peeks were mere curiosity - some of them were more predatory in nature. Ourgal seemed not to pay attention, however. “Our quarry is, no doubt, heading to where he can get either reinforcements, or protection. We have no idea what we will be walking into, so better that we arrive ready for anything than in any particular hurry.”


"Hey, look over there”, Thistle said, gesturing across the street at an Autiersian walking down the street. The group stopped and watched through the twilight. The Autiersian came out of a tailor’s shop, walked three doors down, and entered a cobbler’s. Gnorth looked confused, and Thistle continued. “Watch what happens next…”


Again, after a short period, the man came out of the shop, and walked into the next shop on the street, a grocer’s. 


“Did you notice his armband?”, asked Thistle. Gnorth shook his head and the Bostian explained what he meant. “He’s wearing a blue armband, with a black hawk and a red droplet sewn onto it. I think he’s a member of the Hawkblood Gang, shaking down shop owners. I say we go confront him and ask him about Johnny Twothumbs.”


“It’s ‘Gianno’, not ‘Johnny’”, said Steveigh with a skeptical look on his face. He continued, saying, “I don’t see what good that would do, honestly. I mean, he’s not the thief, and we already know where Gianno is likely headed. Why don’t we just head over there and not stop on the way.”


He was, unfortunately, talking to the Bostian’s back, as Thistle, Gnorth and Kairn crossed the street, and headed into the grocer’s. With a sigh, Steveigh followed, but waited outside, watching the street for more trouble. Ourgal, bemused, joined the dwarf, along with D’Ral. The three waited, listening for signs of trouble, and looking for incoming complications.




Journal Entry 2 - Marco

I heard the door open behind me, and ignored it. I was catching up with Hector, who ran the grocery, and he was telling me about his supply problems. Seems that farmers were taking most of their produce to the other parts of Neuville, as they usually did at harvest time, and he was forced to deal with middlemen that bought the produce from the markets in Raven’s Run and Windbrook, and then tried to bring it to Nighthorn to sell at a markup. 

It was then that I felt the telltale tug on my coinpurse. Reaching down, I was surprised to find myself holding, not flesh, but metal. Surprised, I looked down at my purse, then up a the owner of the hand I had a grip on. The mechanick had the typical neutral expression of its kind, but its body language radiated surprise, embarrassment and, somehow, reluctance.

“You don’t want to do that, friend.”, I said, tightening my grip on it’s wrist. “Take your hand out off my purse, or you’ll be losing it.” My left hand loosened the knife on my belt, and I waited to see how it would respond. You see, this wasn’t the first time that I’d caught someone trying to pickpocket me. Living in Nighthorn, that’s pretty much a daily ritual. Usually, the ones doing it were young, dumb, and unskilled - and easy to intimidate. It helps that I’m over 6’ tall, and that I wear leather armour. That adds to the intimidation factor - a lot. There’s a reason by Big Theo sends me out into the neighbourhood like he does. Having someone try to lift my purse, while I was talking to Hector, was a little unusual. Most cutpurses were smart enough to try to do it in the street, where I was more likely to be distracted.

The mechanick turned to look at it’s companions - a young human, and a young half-orc with a lyre strpped to his back. They both looked at it, then at me, and then back at it. It turned back to face me.

“Sorry”, it mumbled, for all the world just like a novice cutpurse. The hand was withdrawn from my purse, and I let go and faced the three of them.

“Where is Johnny Twothumbs!”, growled the human. From his accent, I could tell he was from Bost, and very very young. Skinny kid - but I had to give him credit for continuing to try. I snorted in response, and glared down at him.

“I don’t know anything about any ‘Johnny’”, I responded. I subtly patted a few places on my body before continuing. “But I do know that if you try to pickpocket me again, I’ll take your whole arm. Now why don’t you all run along, and let me get back to what I was doing before I was so rudely interrupted. 

Now, there’s two ways that this can go in circumstances like this. The wise youngsters realize that they’re being given a free pass, more or less, and take their loss and go back out of the store and into the street. They avoid me for a while, and things settle down. The other way is that someone pulls a weapon, and a fight breaks out, and I have to hurt them until they realize they cannot win. Usually, that comes at the cost of a few scars (for them) and a bit of exertion (for me). 

They did not choose to leave. The Bostian pulled out his sword, holding it in a manner that was supposed to be threatening to me, and shouted at me.

“Tell us where to find Johnny Twothumbs! He stole from us and I intend to get my stuff back!”, he said. I have to admit, for a kid, he managed to pull off the whole “I’m going to look threatening” thing pretty well. If I didn’t know any better - or if I hadn’t been trained by Big Theo and Matthew personally - I’d have actually been worried. 

“Gianno”, I heard. I turned to the half-orc, and he was looking at the kid with his sword out.

“What?”, he asked.

“It’s ‘Gianno Twothumbs’, not ‘Johnny’,”, he said. He wandered away and headed over to where Hector was standing behind the counter. “Do you have any sandwiches?”, he asked.

Hector looked surprised, and glanced over to me. I raised my eyebrows and shrugged.

“I can make you a ham and cheese, if you want. It’ll be two copper.”, he responded. That’s what I liked about Hector. He was dedicated to his calling, and never passed up a chance to make a copper - even in the middle of an impending brawl. The kid, though, was thrown just a little off. 

“Listen kid,”, I started, “It’s a Wednesday night, and it’s early. I got a lot to do, and you don’t want any of this.” I stood up to my full height - a good 4 or 5 inches taller than the kid. I looked at him and at the mechanick, and continued.

“If you’re looking for a thief, I recommend that you go talk to the manager at the casino down the street, and ask there. They’ll probably be able to tell you where you can find whoever it was that stole from you - if you can convince them not to kill you. In fact, when you get there, tell them that Marco sent you.” I smiled at them, amused at the thought of what their welcome was likely to be.

Uncertainty washed across the kid’s face. He looked over at the mech, and at the back of the half-orc, who was paying Hector and looking hungrily at his sandwich. I could see that he was wavering, so I pushed a little harder.

“It’s not far from here. You can’t miss it - walk upriver from here, and you’ll see it. Talk to them there, and if they know where this ‘Gianno’ is, you might be able to get them to tell you.”

The tension held for a moment or two more, and then I could see him deflate. His shoulders relaxed, and he seemed to get, I dunno, smaller, as he put his sword away. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Hector relax too. I let out the breath that I didn’t realize I was holding, and waved the trio out the door. 

Once they had left, Hector and I talked for a bit, and he thanked me for *not* having a knock-down, drag-out fight in the middle of his store. 

“It’s nice to know that the ‘protection’ that I’m paying is actually worth it.”, he told me with a chuckle. I laughed with him, and, after collecting the week’s fee, headed back out into the street. I had a lot more to get done before I was done for the night. I made a mental note to talk to Big Theo about this one, though. I had a feeling that those three weren’t going to leave things alone. 

Journal Entry 3 - Little Henry

So, like, the weirdest thing just happened. I was following Marco, right? Like I’ve been told to do. He’s walking down Algin’s Lane, like usual, and doing his “visit the shops and check in” thing that Big Theo has him doing every week. And he heads into Hector’s place - that grocery store that sells sketchy produce and meat? You know the one - the store with the chicken on the sign outside? Yeah, that’s the one. So, Marco heads in, and these three dudes follow him in - one skinny little dude who’s just COVERED in blood, a mechanick, and a half-orc carrying around a lyre, I kid you not. Maybe they’re just goin’ in for a snack, I think, but just in case, I better be ready to back Marco up. So I sneaks around to the side of the store, climb up on an empty produce crate, and listen at the window. 

I can hear Marco and Hector talking, just shooting the shit, right? Normal conversation for them, and not anything that I haven’t heard dozens of times before. You know how it goes. Marco asks how the week’s been, Hector tells him that it’s been slow, Marco asks about strangers, or trouble, and so on and so forth. I’m bored listening to this, ya know, but then something changes. Suddenly, I can hear Marco doing his whole “shit’s about to go down if you don’t listen” thing - you know how it goes - his voice gets deeper, and rougher, and then he starts challenging people? 

Yeah, that thing. And usually, it works right off. I mean, have you SEEN Marco? He’s big, and he looks dangerous, and you KNOW how well he can take care of himself. I peek through the window quick, like Duane’s been teaching me, and I get a glimpse of Marco - I kid you not - holding the mech’s fucking wrist, with the mech’s hand on Marco’s purse. Are you fucking kidding me? First, the GALL of that machine, trying to steal from Marco when he’s working for Big Theo, but then - Marco’s facing off against a MECH??? Dude, I don’t even like to think about that. I mean - how do those things even work? I know - they think like you and me, but really, what do we know about them. I was talking to Gina over in Ironsprawl, and she told me that no one knows why they aren’t just like fucking golems - where they do what they are told, and nothing else. At least if it’s made of meat, you KNOW it can be killed, but where can you stab one of those and do damage?

I get back out of sight and keep listening, and it’s obvious that Marco’s whole routine isn’t working this time. The dudes that are hassling him just keep talking. Then, I hear a sword being drawn. And that’s when I remember that I’m not just listening for my own sake. I may be only 11, but I still gotta job to do, and it sounds like Marco is gonna need some help. So, I hop down from the crate I’m standing, and leg it off down the alleyway and out into the street. 

As I do, I pass by this group of three other dudes just waiting outside the shop, but they don’t do nothin’, so I just hightail it to the Golden Hoard instead. I get there, and soon as I get into the office, I get hassled. You remember the guy that caught me wandering off from the last job I had, the one that dragged me back and spent the next two hours “disciplining me”? Yeah, Travis. He’s in the office today, and he sees me and gets all pissy with me.

He’s all like “I thought you had a job to do - what are you doing back here?” And I’m trying to catch my breath - because I hightailed it. Marco’s a good dude, right? And I want to get him backup as soon as I can, so I went all out. Unfortunately, I get there, and before I can catch my breath enough to talk, Travis is trying to shoo me back out the door. We go back and forth a bit, till I get out the message that Marco’s in trouble, and THEN Travis pays attention.

I lay the sitch out to him quickly - Marco, Hector’s, three guys hassling him - and Travis starts cursing the fucking Ravens. They must be there to lift Marco’s take and embarrass the Hawkbloods in front of the munds. This is not good. So Travis sends Archie - that little weaselly kid that he always has around - running upstairs, to tell Louie, and when Archie comes back down, there’s six big guys with him.

Travis looks at them, and then at me, and then tells me to take these guys to where Marco was. I nod and one of the dudes opens the door, and waves me out. I head out again, running a little slower, cuz these dudes look strong and tough, but not fast, you know? Anyways, we head down Algin’s Lane again, towards Hector’s place, and I can see the three dudes that were talking to Marco, with the three dudes that were outside of Hector’s, walking towards us. I point them out to the big guy, and he tells me to bugger off into an alleyway.

So I do that, and, then, the weirdest thing happens. As I’m standing here, talking to you, I still cannot believe it. The six weird dudes get up to where the six Hawkbloods are, and they talk. They just fucking talk. Like, on top of the human, mech and half-orc, there’s also a tiefling, a dragonborn, and a dwarf. It’s like someone went to a pastry shop, got one of each, and bundled them all together. One of them says something to the Hawkbloods, and I can see him get confused. He talks with them for a couple of minutes, and then … he just points up the street, and waves them on.

It was SO fucking lame - I was sure that they were gonna lay a beating on the sixpack of weirdos, but then they just… let them go? So I waited, watching them walk up the street, and came out after they were gone to ask the big guy “what the fuck?”

“They asked me how to get to the casino”, he told me. 

“That’s it?”

“Yeah - that’s it. They were real polite about it, and I figgered that if sommat bad happened w Marco, at least we’d know where they were.”, he said, shrugging his shoulders. “Let’s go check on Marco and see if there’s more to this than it seems.”


Journal Entry 4 - Guy

Working at the Unknown is a pretty sweet gig. I stand inside the doors, answer when people want to come in and gamble. Usually, we don’t get no trouble - after all, who’s gonna try to start trouble when there’s so many Hawkbloods around. People that come to the Golden Hoard don’t tend to wanna get their heads bashed in, and I’m pretty good at spotting the ones that’ll cause a ruckus. But when these six showed up, I gotta admit, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

They knocked on the door, and I went through and took a look through the window. There was five of them that I could see - a mixed bag if ever I saw one. The skinny kid did most of the talking, and said that they wanted to come in and gamble, and that Marco had sent them. Now, he *was* covered in blood, but since Marco sent them, I decided to ignore that. I figgered that they was tourists from The Green, or Windbrook, out for a night of slumming it down with us riverside folk. Those kinds of gamblers always leave more than they take, so I shrugged to myself and told them to hold on and closed the cover on the window. I waved to one of the security guys, and told him to get Louie and tell him that we had a bunch of newbies at the door. 

Once Louie was set up in the foyer (along with three of the security guys), he waved for me to let them in, and I went and closed the inside gates, and unlocked the outer doors. You know, I’m so glad that they installed the inner gates after that bunch of freelancers tried to rush in for the nights receipts. That was a bad scene man - we were cleaning their blood out of the carpet for ages. Big Theo eventually had to give in, and get a fucking wizard to come out here and do his thing to clean the rugs. And you KNOW how much Big Theo hates magic.

Anyway, turns out that there’s SIX of them after I open the door. I couldn’t see the dwarf that was with them on accounta he was so short. After they come in to the entryway, I give them the usual rundown, and find out that they’s newbies, indeed.

I tell them that they gotta get the lowdown on bein’ in the casino, and lead them inta the “foyer” - where Louie was setup behind that big ass desk, in that sweet chair. The three security guys are all standing there, doing their best statue impressions, but tryin’ ta be menacing at the same time. And Louie is just smiling at these guys, asking them how long they’ve been in town, ek cetera, ek cetera, ek cetera. It’s a good ten minutes of “Hi, how ya doin’” from Louie, and I’m standing behind them, my hands on my belt, where I can reach my knife real fast, waitin’ to see how this all goes. 

But then, Louie gives them the rules. No causing a fight or they’ll be kicked out. No bothering the staff or the other patrons, or they’ll be banned. And no cheating, or they’d be “dealt with”. (I hate the way that he says that - it’s scary as fuck.) And, finally, that they had ta leave all their weapons with us, here and now, before they could go in. That last rule is always a test - some of the folks get real pissy about it - and then we have to “encourage them to leave”. But this bunch? They just didn’t seem to give a shit. I wasn’t sure if I should be impressed, or just amused by their reaction. It was like watching a six year old play with a loaded crossbow - they just didn’t seem to think it was dangerous. They agree to the rules, and start divesting themselves of all their weapons onto the desk, and then Louie gives me the look that tells me let ‘em in, but to keep an eye on them.

Goodie for me.

After I get the nod, I escort them over to the Green Room. There’s a bit of a crowd in there already, even tho it was early on a Wednesday night, and I tell them that they can order food from the kitchen at the bar, and that, being new customers,  they’re limited to the Green Room, but they’re welcome to play any of the games there. And I give them the traditional one-chip comp that we give to all new fish. 

They head into the room and immediately split up. I set myself up by the exit, and settle in to watch what happens. The pit boss is over at the bar, talking to Kenneth, and he notices us come in, and gives me the side eye. I signal him that these guys are to be watched, and go back to paying attention to the new guys. The dwarf heads over to the bar, first thing, and hauls himself up on the stool and talks to Kenneth. I guess he ordered a beer, cuz Kenneth gets him one, and opens the order window behind the bar to tell the kitchen something.

The mech and the skinny dude head over to the roulette wheel, while the half-orc tries to join the members’ only blackjack table. I brace myself for shit to start flying, cuz you know how hotheaded these half-orcs can be. But, thankfully, when Gilles intercepts him tells him that he’s not allowed to play at that table, he just shrugs, and heads over to be with his two buddies at the roulette wheel. 

They all play for a couple of spins, and then wander off. I noticed that they came away from the table with a few more chips than they started with, and the skinny one heads over to where the dwarf is sitting at the bar. Kenneth is giving him his look - you know the one that I mean? - and talking to him. The kid shakes his head, and orders something. The half-orc and the mech both wander over to join him, and both the kid and the half-orc take their drinks over to the craps table. 

(I asked Kenneth what he was talking to them about, and he told me that the dwarf wanted a good beer, cuz he’d been without any for over a month, and he was thirsty. The kid, though, he offered to have his clothes cleaned, and the kid refused. Kenneth thought about making a stink about it, but figured that if Louie was okay with someone covered in blood in the room, then he wasn’t about to make a fuss. Smart guy, that Kenneth.) 

At this point, the dwarf gets a steak dinner from the kitchen soon after that, (which makes my mouth water - I was due to have my dinner break soon, but it would have to wait till we dealt with these six), and sits there, talking to Kenneth. The tiefling sits at the bar with the dwarf, and the dragonborn heads over to watch the other three play craps. 

Now, the craps table is already crowded - there’s a bunch of the regulars playing there, and that Norman guy - the one that gets so fucking intense about his “systems”? (I think he’s had 11 different systems so far this year, and he’s still in the hole. Ever since he had that one night where he made twelve passes in a row, he’s convinced that there’s some way that he can get an advantage over the house. He should know better - the house ALWAYS wins.)

Anyway, I’m close enuff to hear Norman tell them not to sit next to him, and,  after they look at each other, they just ignore him and sit down anyways. The security dude across the room from me and I wait for the explosion, and I can see Norman get angry - that vein in his temple pops out and his face goes white, like it does when he starts losing - and then he just shakes it off and gets back to gambling.

They gamble for the next while, and the half-orc tries to push his way into the Blue Room - but once again backs off when security tells him to shove off. (They do it way more politely, but it still boils down to “Shove off bub”.) They gamble for a while, and talk to some of the other gamblers, but then they cash in, collect their weapons from security, and bugger off into the night. In Nighthorn. In the dark. I’m still shaking my head at that - I guess it’s not just the mech that has brass balls. 

After they left, I asked Kenneth what he’d been talking about with them. Turns out that they were looking for that kid, Gianno. You know the one - the guy that was working over in Windbrook today? Apparently, they wanted some stuff that he’d stolen, and figured out that they might find him here. Louie was confused by this, but he told me that he figures that these guys won’t be much trouble. They didn’t seem that dangerous, and they definitely weren’t “determined” to get their stuff back, he says. 

Course, that was before he got the story from Gianno himself, and confirmed it with Bobby and Amos. 

Journal Entry 5 - Little Henry Again

So, after we caught up with Marco, and confirmed that he still had all the take for the week, and that he hadn’t had to fight those three assholes, he sent me back to the club, and told me to let Travis know what’s going on. So, one more time, I leg it back up the street, taking it easier this time. I get there, and let myself in, and Travis asks what happened.

“I dunno - they just asked for directions to here”, I told him. Travis was surprised - and he got up from his desk, and took me upstairs to the room over the Green Room. He pulled me over to one of the observation sites, and asked me to point out the ones that I’d seen. I pointed out the six, and he nodded and went over to Louie’s office, knocking on the closed door. I heard Louie’s voice from inside, and Travis asked him if he could talk for a minute.

Louie must have said yes, cuz Travis opened the door and went in. I saw that Gianno, Bobby and Amos were all in there, and Bobby and Amos looked bad. A few minutes later, Travis comes out and tells me that I got another job.

So, a little while later, I’m standing outside of the club when these six come out, all nice and polite. They stand in the middle of the street, like a buncha tourists, and I can hear them tryin’ ta figger out what to do next. The skinny kid is pushing for them to go to the shipwrights’ guild, across the river, and after arguing (in plain sight, in the middle of the dark street) they start heading for the bridge. It’s obvious that they don’t know what they’re doing, or where they are, cuz they just fucking blunder their way past and through several different dangerous situations before they get to the bridge. I watch them just … wander across the bridge. Now, I can’t go over there - that’s Raven’s territory, and I ain’t gonna be the one that breaks the truce, you know? But I watch them, and once they’re out of sight on the other side, I hightail it back to the club, to let Travis know where they’re headed. 


Journal Entry 6 - Joseph

It was almost nine when the bell rang. A little late for travellers, but not that unusual. I answered the door, and a motley crew of six greeted me. The mech and the tiefling were tallest, but the dwarf balanced that out. The one that did all the talking, though, was a young Bostian lad, covered in blood, claiming to be a shipwright looking for work, and for a place to stay.

I considered it seriously for a few moments. As I looked over the group, I was struck that - other than the usual agelessness of the warforged - they all looked so… young. I asked them some questions, and they spun quite a tale. But, they were polite, and respectful, and the young Bostian - despite his gory appearance - showed me a valid seal from the Bostian Shipwright’s Guild. 

I explained the rules - and told them that the only accommodation available tonight was the currently unoccupied apprentice dormitory. They were welcome to stay there, and avail themselves of the amenities - breakfast is available in the morning, and there are facilities where they - and their clothes - can get clean. They would have to leave their weapons with me, of course, but that they’d be quite safe. 

They agreed, and paid in advance for their stay, and handed over their weapons. I gave them each a receipt for their weapons, and they all headed in to the dormitory. I made note of the names they’d given, and left instructions for the morning staff to be aware of our guests, so that they wouldn’t be shocked after shift change. 

“Whatever is this world coming to?”, I thought to myself. “That’s the first time ever seen such a motley group working together.” Most of the time, you see half-orcs working together, with no one else. Dwarves and Bostians? Sure - that happens sometimes. But six people, of six different races, all traveling, and - from the sounds of it - working together? That was almost unheard of. I shook my head, made my notes, and returned to my newspaper. 

You see, every night, I get a copy of the Neuville Record, and the Autiersian Examiner delivered to the guildhouse. I love working the night shift, because it tends to be quiet, and I can catch up on my reading. I had been part way through a story in the evening’s Record, recounting news about the Sleepers. Ever since the start of the year, when that unfortunate halfling was found, I’ve been fascinated and horrified by the steady discovery of more and more Sleepers. Last I heard, there were dozens of folks, completely non-responsive, found here and there throughout the city. The Record called it The Sleeping Plague, while the Examiner was calling it The Absence - because the victims’ minds seemed to be absent. Today, according to , one reporter’s story - Andrea Miller, her name was - six of the Sleepers woke up. The Cleric of Lossounelyn over in Windbrook, said that they’d woken up for no apparent reason, seemed to be suffering from no ill effects, other than having no memory from a couple of days before they were found, and had left the temple hospital wing. 

The Examiner had a similar story, but it was a little more alarmist - too alarmist for my taste, but that’s the Examiner for you. Never ones to keep calm, and more invested in whipping up interest in events than in getting things right the first time. I guess that they think that they sell more papers that way. My Daphne says that the Examiner gets it first, but the Record gets it right. 

I shook my head, reading the story, and thanked the gods that I hadn’t been struck down like those poor Sleepers. I couldn’t imagine what it must be like for them, waking up and getting told that months had passed.

"What would that feel like?", I wondered. "What would I do if I woke up with months missing?" I shook my head again, and settled down to read.