Beale the Goldenpiper, Casca, Hughe Lane, and Rowan Hashin discover two babies have been kidnapped in Dunham, and they stop harpies from stealing a third. Gregor the Naturalist and Barley tell them that all three babies are fairy changelings. Investigating the theft of the Penance Stone at the Chapel of Ajana, they’re attacked by a conspicuously beautiful woman - one of three - who turns out to be a harpy disguised by the Ring of Greater Pulchritude.
The players introduced their characters. My notes:
James: Beale the Goldenpiper, bard level 3. Poetry, song, grew up outside of Hollin in the graveyard, urchin kid, finds out graves of the people in the City of the Dead and recreates their stories. Likes to have a good time. Main instrument is pan flute, golden. Human, flamboyant clothes, blond hair, 6 foot-ish.
Keith: Hughe Lane, very big 6 foot 200 pounds. Thuggy earring common clothing. Grew up in the streets of Braddock, conflict with Hobnails left him for dead in an alley. Saved by a monument keeper, became very loyal to the monument keeper, has been helping keep up the place. That person has moved on...not sure if he’s alive or not. Has been keeping the monument, using the money to support an orphanage where he’s from. Maybe he met James from the street when they both were urchins. Named Hughe Lane because that’s where he was found.
Wendy: Human, plain dressed but decent quality. You can be out in the elements and she’d be fine. Has quarterstaff. Not super-flashy, wearing browns. Not super-big. Short brown hair, blue eyes. Nice boots. Class: warlock. Sex: female.
Carrie: Rowan Hashin. Noble-born bastard, identifies with the help. Third in line to any kind of money, befriended the help. Rogue, 3rd level since has to make a living. Chaotic Neutral.
I asked what the characters might be doing in Dunham, the upscale administrative district, around dusk. They said:
Beale: Looking to expand his clientele, audience. Trying to research an address there.
Hughe: He could be there looking for ways to make a score...with urchin background, might be traveling from one place to another.
Casca: Refilling herbalism kit.
Rowan: Visiting family in this area.
Then we jumped right in.
You’re striding up a busy street in an upscale part of town. The street is lined with beautiful 2- and 3-story townhomes; their fine marble facades border the sidewalk and their wrought iron balconies overlook the street. Ahead, there’s a hectic intersection the locals just call “the roundabout,” which is a English-style roundabout where horsemen, horse-drawn carriages, and horse-drawn carts enter at speed and then negotiate inside the circle to exit. It looks hectic and potentially dangerous.
As you reach the roundabout, you suddenly hear frightened shouting from one of the townhome balconies above you - the shouting is “Luna! Luna!” You see a young woman come to the balcony and frantically look out every which way, then she runs downstairs and into the street where you are. She’s shouting: “Luna! Luna!”
Casca made an Intelligence check and realized the young woman was frantic and not really aware of where she was, and that she was going to run into the roundabout and be hit. Beale made an Athletics check and was able to safely stop her.
Once she calmed down:
The woman tells them she is Mia Hollinshed and that Luna is her baby. She was watching Luna, but she fell asleep and when she woke up Luna was gone.
Mia didn't immediately say anything else. The party investigated her house, and found that the lock on the second-floor balcony door was broken. They didn't find any other clues; Hughe searched for signs that someone might have rappelled down to the balcony from the roof, but he didn't find any.
Mia said that she was being vigilant because the neighbors, the Shaws, had a baby Flora stolen a few days ago, but she still somehow fell asleep. Wendy observed that both babies had nature names. The party went two doors down to the Shaws' house, which was on the Roundabout. The mother there, Zoe, told a story similar to Mia's. The party searched the Shaws' house and found a very large, bad smelling feather there.
Talking more with Mia and Zoe, the party discovered that both the Hollinsheds and the Shaws were on the Anhault Charter Company board, and asked if there are any other board families nearby with a baby, maybe one with a nature name. Mia and Zoe told them that Yorvick and Leona Volstead were on the Board and had a baby named Violet.
The Volsteads' house was just across the Roundabout from the Shaw House. Beale, Casca, and Rowan rushed there, while Hughe stayed on the Shaws' balcony to watch the Volstead balcony. They busted down the Volsteads' door and found Yorvick and Leona asleep inside. Yorvick looked like he might be good in a fight, so they woke him and rushed upstairs. Upstairs they found three harpies stealing Violet from her crib, and killed them.
Yorvick thanked them profusely and wanted to give them something for saving Violet. The party questioned Yorvick and found he knew a suspicious amount about harpies. Yorvick told them that harpies come from hell, were rarely seen in Hollin, and were more like animals than humans in some ways. Suspicious, Beale probed Yorvick's mind with Detect Thoughts, and concluded that Yorvick was hiding something but was benign.
Looking across the street from the Volsteads' balcony, the party noticed two men looking at the Volsteads' house. One was old and had steampunk-style goggles pushed up on his forehead, while the other looked younger. In the first of several itchy-trigger-finger incidents, Casca concluded that the men were with the harpies and Eldritch Blasted the old man.
The old man shook off the Eldritch Blast and rushed to the Volsteads' door to see why he was being attacked. He said he was Gregor the Naturalist and that his young friend was Barley. He said they were nearby investigating the theft of the Penance Stone at the Chapel of Ajana, when a little bird told them that there was trouble at the Volsteads'.
The party found that Gregor and particularly Barley were a motherlode of information. Barley told them that he was a fairy changeling living in Hollin, and that the fairy Circle in the old Lofton Castle could tell them more. They convinced Barley to go with them to the Circle.
But, the Chapel of Ajana was closer and they decided to investigate there first.
When they come in the front door of the chapel, the first thing they see is a wooden pedestal standing near the door with nothing on it. If they look closely, they might note that there’s a dark spot on the floor nearby that looks like the pedestal used to be there.
They see a series of pews and several people (say 10) are sitting in the pews in contemplation. A few people are quietly talking between themselves.
They meet Merrick, the keeper here. He tells them the Penance Stone was stolen a couple days ago and the story of the stone. For many centuries, there’s been a large obsidian stone, the Penance Stone, at the front of the church interior. When people came in, it was conventional to touch the stone to dispel guilt or do a silent confession.
I believe the players speculated that the stone might store the evil the touches dispelled.
They investigated, and Merrick took them upstairs to see the room where he was sleeping the night the Stone was stolen. In another part of the upstairs, they found that a window had been broken open. Merrick told them that the first floor door had been locked before and after the theft.
When the party came back downstairs to leave, they noticed that three of the people in the pews were beautiful women in white lace dresses, and the women got up as the party approached. Two of the women left the Chapel, while the third summoned a devil and two imps to attack the party.
The party killed the woman, the devil, and the imps. Searching the woman's body, they found she was wearing the beautiful Ring of Greater Pulchritude, which Casca claimed. When Casca took it off of the woman's finger, she transformed from a beautiful woman to a grotesque harpy.
Ring of Greater Pulchritude: +1 to your CHA bonus; can cast Charm Person or Dominate Person once a day.