# April 13, 2026 | Beautiful Night, Isn't It > [!Summary]+ meta > **Role Call**: [[Boldran Evans|Boldran]] • [[Cyran Forge-Acolyte Unit 10-D|Tendy]] • [[Kouneli]] • [[Brian d'Orien|Brian]] • [[Cheeto]] • [[Styx]] > **Where We Are**: [[The Drunken Dragon]] (Clifftop) → Clifftop alleys → the Grateful Crane (Ghallanda safe house) → Dolan's Span > **Tagline**: "Beautiful night, isn't it, friends?" [[E13 - Close Enough|↶ Last Session]] | [[The Bleeding Veil| Campaign Home ↝]] | [[E15 - Noisy Toys|Next Session ↝]] ## This Session The session picks up where E13 ended — in [[The Drunken Dragon]], with [[Hascal d'Ghallanda|Hascal]]'s handprint still cooling [[Styx]]'s pocket. He gives them a route to Morgrave, marks two House Ghallanda safe houses along the way, and sends them off with a cryptic warning: *"Go carefully. That's what they said to tell you."* [[Brian d'Orien|Brian]] holds the map upside down. The party gets lost, dodges three city watch guards with a mage hand distraction, discovers their faces are on broadsheets, and shelters at the Grateful Crane until nightfall. When they finally reach Dolan's Span, rats flee past them in the dark and Captain Blinton steps out of the lamplight — changed, cold, carrying a crossbow. Combat starts fast and ends on a cliffhanger: [[Styx]]'s rapier vibrating out of his hand and skittering across the bridge toward the Emerald Claw. ^session-summary ## Session Log ### Hascal Knows More Than He's Saying (Still) The common room is cool. The Idol is stable. [[Hascal d'Ghallanda|Hascal]] is polishing a glass like he's been polishing it for six hours. - [[Hascal d'Ghallanda|Hascal]]: "House Ghallanda does hospitality. I have tools that keep a room comfortable, keep the soup warm, and occasionally" — he nods at [[Styx]] — "keep unwanted guests from burning all my worldly possessions." - He taps the bar. "I don't know what any of this is or where it's going, but I do know it's not supposed to be in my tavern." - [[Styx]]: "Yeah, we got a little mixed up. We have not slept a lot, to be honest with you." - The party moves to leave but [[Brian d'Orien|Brian]] accepts the drink. Under the glass: a slip of paper — a route to Morgrave with two buildings marked with X's. - Insight check from [[Styx]]: Hascal seems genuine. He's trying to help. - [[Boldran Evans|Boldran]], unprompted: "Well, he's definitely trying to deceive us, and we should go a different way." *(The table: this is why we don't let Boldran do the talking.)* - Hascal's parting shot as they head for the door: "Just a reminder. You want to go carefully. That's what *they* said to tell you." - Who's "they"? Hascal does not elaborate. - [[Styx]] shifts into an unremarkable man in his mid-thirties. "You should always have something weird. Like giant ears or horns sticking out of your elbows." "I don't think I'm trying to draw attention to myself right now." ### Six Suspects and an Accosted Child Clifftop streets, mid-morning. The Idol is already warming back up. - A kid on a crate, horse from shouting: *"Elemental fire in the Bazaar! Six suspects! Watch asks for witnesses!"* - [[Brian d'Orien|Brian]]: "Should we split into two parties of three?" "Just to make more work for Runner?" - [[Kouneli]] pays for a broadsheet by whipping a copper coin at the kid's head. "I paid him. I just paid him a little too hard." [[Cyran Forge-Acolyte Unit 10-D|Tendy]]: "Usually you hand it to the person." - The broadsheet has a hurried illustration of [[Cheeto]] on page two. It is a bad likeness. It is enough. - [[Cheeto]] wraps cloth around his head "like Piccolo does." Suspect number one in a turban. ### The Part Where Brian Gets Lost Three city watch guards round a corner 20 feet ahead. Stealth rolls are bad across the board. - [[Kouneli]] casts Mage Hand and starts slapping pots at a street vendor behind the guards. They're startled. They turn. - [[Styx]] attempts to deception-walk past them. Rolls a 7. Bumps into one. The temperature in the immediate vicinity jumps 10 degrees. - Guard: "Wait a second. Where are you going?" [[Styx]]: "I'm just on my way back home." "And where is home?" "Lower Sharn." "...Lower Sharn's *that* way." - [[Styx]] deploys the wife joke. It lands. Two of three guards chuckle. The third is counting heads. - [[Brian d'Orien|Brian]] swoops in with a performance check — grabs [[Kouneli]] and [[Cyran Forge-Acolyte Unit 10-D|Tendy]], mutters about getting to a doctor at the university. The guards let them pass. - [[Styx]] doubles down on the wife joke. It lands *again*. They lose interest. - [[Brian d'Orien|Brian]], now responsible for navigation, rolls a 3 on nature. He has lost the group in tighter and tighter alleyways. The sky is gone. The map doesn't make sense. - "I think I'm lost." "The first time in a while." *(It has been constantly.)* - [[Cyran Forge-Acolyte Unit 10-D|Tendy]] rolls survival. He knows exactly what turns they took. He cannot read the map. - The map was upside down. Nobody says it. Everyone knows it. ### The Grateful Crane The two X's on Hascal's route are House Ghallanda establishments — safe houses with cooling sigils. - [[Brian d'Orien|Brian]] walks forward and sees a halfling behind a bar, polishing something. He beckons Brian toward a sigil inlaid in the floor. "Two more steps." - As [[Brian d'Orien|Brian]] steps over the House Ghallanda sigil, it's like passing through something physical. On the other side: cool. Quiet. - [[Styx]], watching from outside: "I just watched you disappear." "He didn't disappear. He just walked over to a safe sigil." - [[Styx]]: "Okay, I'll take the steps. But wary. Wary as." - Brogan the halfling bartender gets them oriented, feeds them tea, and lets them rest until nightfall. - The party takes a short rest. [[Kouneli]] uses Arcane Recovery. [[Cheeto]] rolls hit dice. [[Boldran Evans|Boldran]] is just tired. - Brogan traces the remaining route: out the door, left, straight to Dolan's Span. Once across, Menthis Plateau. Not far. - He cracks a window, seems to speak to someone outside, comes back: "I think it's about time for you guys to hit the road." ### Dolan's Span It's dark. Cloud cover. The party can see the base of the bridge but not across it. - [[Brian d'Orien|Brian]] rolls a 16 history — this bridge should be busy, even at this hour. It's not. Something's wrong. - One-third of the way across: four small furry shapes squeak past them in the opposite direction. Rats. Not a swarm — four individuals. Loud and purposeful. - [[Kouneli]]: "Can I comprehend mouse squeaks?" *(He cannot.)* But the insight check says these rats are trying to tell them something. - The table: "Follow the rats." "The rats have been Bros up until now." - They turn around. The clouds part. Four figures at the far end of the bridge, standing in a loose line. Not moving. - "They're blocking the way we don't need to go, guys." "Beautiful night, isn't it, friends?" - The four figures do not respond. The party turns back toward Morgrave. Two-thirds of the way across, the clouds part again. - Captain Blinton. Heavier now. Carrying a crossbow. Completely changed — the joviality is gone. Cold eyes. - He doesn't raise his voice: "You can set that pack down and head the other way. Or you cannot set the pack down, and I can tell you how I feel about the last time we saw each other." ### You Should Have Just Enjoyed the Beautiful Night [[Kouneli]] opens by casting Sleep on the two figures at the far end. One agent slumps. Blinton is unmoved. Roll initiative. - [[Styx]] moves forward, pulls out a shortbow, puts an arrow into Blinton. He glances down at his breastplate. Seems largely unworried. - Then Styx fails a constitution save. The Idol is *hot*. Fire damage ticking. - Blinton throws a javelin at [[Styx]]. It connects center mass and pushes him back five feet. Meanwhile the four agents at the south end step out — one chucks a javelin at [[Cheeto]]. - [[Boldran Evans|Boldran]] takes out his guandao: "You should have just enjoyed the beautiful night." Spears his target. Follows up with a martial arts side kick. - "Is for Cheeto." *(The defense of the small.)* - [[Brian d'Orien|Brian]] Misty Steps behind the Emerald Claw and attempts an eldritch blast. Miss. "You gotta floppy e-blast, man." "This never really happens to me, though." - [[Cheeto]] engages in the back lines. [[Cyran Forge-Acolyte Unit 10-D|Tendy]] moves forward and feels something strange — a soft thrumming, almost like a resonance passing through his entire body. Not unpleasant. *Like a massage chair in space.* - Two of the agents at the south end disengage and walk off the bridge. The party doesn't like that at all. - [[Styx]] moves within five feet of Blinton. Pulls the rapier. It hums. The dark metal inlay in the hilt pulses with white-blue light. As he swings, the rapier reaches proximity with Blinton's armor — same light, same pulse along the seams — and vibrates out of his hand. Skitters across the stone. Stops halfway between the emerald claw agent and Blinton. - *And that's where we leave it.* - "We'll get something accomplished someday as a party." "No we won't."