Something Wrong in Fargate
A group of yours helped me in a pinch before and I am hoping you can do so again. My girlfriend and I have received a cryptic, threatening letter stabbed into our door with a bloodied, night-black knife. We could use some help figuring out what to do… we are afraid things will only escalate from here.
May the gods grant you speed.
- Viv Steelwright
Recap
Viv Steelwright calls again to Luck for help with a problem. Malnus, Drung, Pippin, Tangle, and Rosie answer, finding themselves in the city of Fargate. This time, it’s her new girlfriend Aria in trouble, having received a death threat pinned to the door with an intimidating black tactical knife. The party spends a good amount of time asking questions and mulling over possibilities. They learn the knife used to hold some kind of magic, and the paper the note is written on is high quality, that used by officials. They also learn that Aria has been helping a secret Order of the Peace, the tasks involved mostly dropping off letters and small packages between assigned places. The only direct contact she had was at the beginning, a Ravenfolk approached her at her bakery. Meanwhile outside, a crowd of children gather to play with Lenora the Giant Goat.
Rosie leaves behind Piggy and Tangle leaves behind Nephy as they all head off to ask the Ravenfolk questions. Once at the Raven’s Roost, Drung uses his city savvy to figure out where to find the right Ravenfolk to speak with based on the information they got from Aria. Rosie hangs back to investigate the perimeter, Tangle becomes invisible to start snooping, while Malnus, Pippin, and Drung ask their questions. He seems very suspicious and doesn’t give a lot of information out, but seems more than fine with accepting all the information the party can provide. He does indicate that the Order of the Peace is a bit of a Robin Hood organization to get around bureaucracy and help those in need, the police in particular seem to be corrupt and Ravenfolk want to balance the scales. Rosie finds a trap door outside and Tangle collects papers as evidence.
As they leave, Malnus can see they’ve been being watched. They walk a little ways to discuss options. While they talk, they suddenly hear the sounds of a beating including yelling, defense, and stomps. They take off running! When they arrive, there is only one Ravenfolk looking worse for wear and no one else. Drung asks which way they went and sprints off. The others stay and in asking questions, recognize that the Ravenfolk lied, though it insists that it’s the kind of thing that would happen anyways and they are just exposing the corruption.
Drung is very fast and takes on three guards by himself until Malnus and Rosie eventually arrive, but Drung is already knocked out, shackled, and being carried away. Pippin and Tangle hang back to intimidate the Ravenfolk into making things right. It’s a tense situation, so far the police force hasn’t come out looking good in any of this, but the Ravenfolk are also clearly up to something. There are brief bouts of fighting, negotiation, and tough decision making but eventually Pippin knocks out the Ravenfolk to bring them out as a trade for Drung. It is clear the cops are a little too excited to get their hands on a Ravenfolk for custody. Everything after that happens in a blur – Pippin uses Vortex Warp to snatch Drung, starts retreating the unconscious Ravenfolk, Tangle is ready for action as necessary but wishes to remain invisible, and Malnus and Rosie stand against the cops trying to get at Drung or the Ravenfolk. However once it is clear they are defeated, all three cops retreat. There is some conversation with a single brave Ravenfolk who comes forward to collect their friend. The Chief of Police is definitely caught up in this somehow according to them.
Everyone ends up back at the house with Viv and Aria for a night of recovery and study. Pippin takes a level of Exhaustion to study publicly available papers and finds evidence of financial fraud in the records, implicating the Chief of Police. Tangle keeps the clients safe and keeps an eye out for suspicious activity. The rest keep watch. A note in Ravenfolk handwriting is left under the door implicating that this is where the Chief of Police’s illegal militia can be found.
In the morning, the crew heads to the Mayor to sort things out. The Mayor is surprised at these revelations but the paperwork is proof enough to convince him. Tangle uses Detect Thoughts and hears him think for just a moment that this might have to do with the Ravenfolk’s prophetic powers, and in follow up questions they find out that the Chief of Police used to be obsessed with them for that reason, raving about the possibilities of power one would have if you could channel and control that.
Then… two dark knights arrive to initiate a coup and take the Mayor. Our party stands strong, keeping them in the office door and resisting their powers, Malnus, Rosie, and Drung wear them down in the front with mighty blows while Tangle and Pippin work their magic from the back, and once they are both injured enough, Tangle knocks them out with Sleep spells.
In short… the issue at hand is much larger than anyone could have predicted. The Ravenfolk were clearly trying to take matters into their own hands, lying and who knows what else to get the job done. The Chief of Police is clearly guilty of appropriating funds to then build his own militia and build up resources to oppress the Ravenfolk… one can only assume to eventually bend them to his will to use their prophetic powers for his own gain.
The party stays with the Mayor for a while to ensure that nothing immediately escalates. Viv and Aria retreat to Viv’s old workshop in the remote woods. Viv being a former artificer, leaves behind some helpful items as a thank you for their efforts. The Mayor arranges to ensure they all get a gold reward, as well.
With the (former) Chief of Police still at large, it seems more work is left to be done, but what can be done to help now is well underway.