Sableside

"Sableside" is episode 9 of SuperQuest Saga. Carter, Persephone, and Sebastian have been hired to investigate a missing person's report in the slums of Outlaw's Horizon. But something mysterious is afoot in Sableside.

Introduction

 * Will Stark will be your belligerent dungeon master for this evening
 * Josh Freeland is playing Sebastian Crenshaw, half-orc paladin
 * Your Special Guest Jake is playing Persephone Goldpetal the firbolg druid
 * Brian is playing Carter Huttenburg

Recap
Last we left some big things happened. There were changes to their characters and hot reveals.

This is the Night
Carter, Persephone, Primina, and Sebastian are returning to The Brunhilde from a night on the town celebrating their recent developments. Carter drank an immature amount of wine or other spirits, he’s been drinking a little harder lately. At one point in the evening Primina asked Sebastian if Carter is okay since he just never stopped. Carter claims he’s never been better.

They decide to get tattoos. Sebastian gets the symbol of Dominion, a sword and crown, on his right shoulder. Persephone worked with Yuma to choose some constellation tattoos that represent her beast shapes. Yuma will bless them with starlight so they will glow even when Percy Wild Shapes. Carter got a big back piece of a ship at sea like a Spanish Galleon that looks creepy and haunted. Primina seems pensive about the idea but the three of them persuade her and she decides to get a pair of angel wings on her back.

As they approach The Brunhilde they spy Victoria up in a harness with a blowtorch working on her ship. As she sees them passing she yells out that Dag has a job for them tomorrow, Prim can join them if she’s ready. Persephone asks Victoria what she’s working on and Victoria lifts her mask to say she is still working to repair the damages they did. Carter calls up and asks if she needs help but walks away before she can answer. She doesn’t bother looking.

Carter is reading fervently about illithids in his downtime and learns that they used to be a big power until the Elven Empire beat them back. They have a bad reputation throughout the galaxy. He’s even asked Fred Luo about them and Fred confirmed everyone knows who “the squids” are but no one has heard anything lately. Carter told Fred he’s been reading up on them and asked if Fred reads. He learned that Fred reads bar menus.

On the ship Dag is asleep, Primina heads off to bed, Watt is in the kitchen teaching Artax how to cook, and Dirk is playing a video game called Mega Mash Companions. Carter is in his room, a little sweaty, and reading databases fervently. Persephone asks about Dirk’s game, Dirk mains Lonk and Percy chooses a dinosaur named Yashi. Sebastian watches them play.

Sebastian has been reading up on orc lore, trying to piece together what happened, and learning what he can about the elves. He’s been spending his time doing his duties at The Iron Legion and hanging out with the jokesters of the group, Iron Legion Jake and Brian.

Taking the B-Train
Carter shows up to the briefing five minutes early, Sebastian arrives on time, and Persephone rolls in ten minutes late. Dag seems to be in an upbeat mood, he’s sporting a brand new cyborg leg to replace the one he lost on Meridar 3. He starts the meeting by forwarding them their pay and launches into explanation about the job. There’s been a string of missing persons cases in Sableside. Law enforcement doesn’t really have presence in Sableside, crime is high but the city doesn’t seem to care. Missing persons are not uncommon, but something about this is different because the community has come together and pooled funds to hire private investigators. That’s where Carter, Persephone, and Sebastian come in. They’re expected to meet their contact in Sableside later this morning. Dag forwards them some information about the victims and a map of Sableside. They will be meeting Vander, a male halfling with a very particular facial scar, a burn mark on the left side of his face. Dag gives them passes for the B-Train to Sableside.

The party preps for departure, Sebastian and Persephone drink some coffee while Carter packs some alcohol. Percy pops into Yuma’s shop to get some tea and flower seeds.

They get on the B-Train that travels on rails over the city. Primina seems to be deep in thought and asks the group if they miss their home. Carter looks up from the book he is reading and waits for someone to say something. Sebastian says he misses it every day. Persephone misses the trees, and the wolf she used to turn into, but home is wherever she is. Primina is asking because she didn’t really have a home, she remembers her creators and the tests they ran on her but this is the first time she’s felt like she has a home.

Carter asks about her parents or her creators. Primina remembers there were illithids and Dr. Zahn. Carter starts taking notes. She dealt with Dr. Zahn the most, he wasn’t an illithid. Carter asks if he was a kind man. Primina doesn’t think so, he was in charge of running the tests on her and gave her the name Primina. Carter asks if he was a human, Primina thinks he was a gnome but he had a lot of robot parts, he was a cyborg. There were strange, short men with thick beards that ran the machinery. Once she saw a really tall gentleman with long silver hair, pointy ears, and glowing eyes. This man frightened her. No one talked to her aside from Dr. Zahn and the illithids. The illithids would only give her commands, Dr. Zahn tried to teach her things about where she was from, a thing called The Source. He claimed she had a part of everything in her but she doesn’t know what he meant by that.

The train pulls into the Sableside station, and it’s pretty obviously the slums of District Four. The roads are not made of the steel and concrete they’re used to seeing, most of them are raw asteroid rock. There are lots of boarded up windows and out of business signs. The first thing they notice is how dark it is, there aren’t many lights, so the blue glow from the shield around the city stands out more. Where they saw restaurants, banks, and retail stores they now see street food vendors, short term loan vendors, and pawn shops. The streets are busy but the people walking around are disheveled, ill-dressed, and kind of dirty. The dragonborn population is way down and the human population is way up. Most people get around on foot, there are no taxi services in Sableside.

You're Really Ruining the Gravitas of this Reveal
Carter takes in the slums and is disgusted, he’s distracted by a steaming pile of green sludge oozing down the staircase. Persephone and Sebastian spot the contact pretty easily; he’s a middle-aged halfling with black hair and a burn mark over his left eye. He’s leaned against a light pole smoking and hasn’t noticed them yet. Persephone points him out to Carter and they approach.

The halfling puts out his cigarette and asks if they’re Victoria’s men. Carter clarifies they’re Victoria’s people, Persephone is a woman. The halfling apologizes and introduces himself as Vander. He asks if they have the lowdown on the situation. People have been going missing left and right, vanished without a trace. No discernable pattern either, full grown men and women of all races, even children. Everyone’s frightened and the city isn’t providing assistance. Rumors are getting crazy; some say the government is kidnapping people for experiments, some say there is a monster roaming the streets in the dark, some are blaming the gangs like The Dreadstars, they’ve been active lately and not saying why. Most people aren’t willing to come forth but a good portion of the neighborhood pooled resources to bring the party here and Vander has convinced two families to talk to them.

Carter believes it’s all of those reasons and he intends to prove it. Vander hopes he will solve the mystery because his daughter Zoey is missing. Carter says he can prove it, not fix it, he’s not sure if fixing it is their job. Persephone thinks that’s mean but tells Vander they will do their best to try to get Zoey back. Vander doesn’t want to be out in the open too long and invites them back to his place so they can talk more.

Vander takes them through the city to his one-bedroom apartment on the border of Sableside and the Stallern Quarter. It’s a messy apartment, there are toys scattered in the living room. Persephone asks how many are missing from the two families they will talk to. The Walker family’s father-figure, Thomas, is missing, and two brothers from the kobold Bloodclaw Clan are missing from their den.

Vander works in the mines and sometimes he needs to leave Zoey alone in their apartment. It’s not a great option, but she knows better than to open the door. When he came home from work the door was unlocked and she was gone, no sign of a break in. No one saw her leave. She was acting funny the week prior to her disappearance, he noticed her sleepwalking in the middle of the night to stare out the dining room window. She started talking to herself a lot when playing, which is not unusual for a kid but Zoey never did that before. Carter asks what she would say and Vander tells him that when he asked about it Zoey would say it was nothing. Persephone asks how old Zoey is, Vander informs them she is 8 and has been missing for a week and a half. Vander has a bit of an emotional breakdown and turns away from the party. He just wants to find her.

Investigation Time: Go!
Sebastian goes to look out the dining room window to take everything in and see if there is anything unusual. Outside is an empty lot with a liquor store in it and it is surrounded by abandoned buildings. The buildings in Sableside are a little smaller than the rest of the city, most buildings are one to five stories tall. Nothing really sticks out. Carter checks out the toys and thinks about how stupid toys are, he never understood dolls, and these toys reek of childhood wonder and joy. He doesn’t find anything. Persephone asks if there is a place Zoey likes to play outside the house. As a general rule Vander doesn’t let Zoey play outside since it’s not safe. Sometimes she has play-dates with the neighbors but it has been a long time since they had one. They would also go to the park sometimes, but Vander has been busy with work lately. Sebastian asks for a picture of her and Vander pulls out a picture of a little halfling girl about 6 or 7 with long black hair pulled back in a ponytail and dressed in a simple dress.

Carter asks how long Zoey had been acting strange and if Vander remembers meeting anyone suspicious or seeing anything around the time it started. Vander mentions that the disappearances had been happening already, hundreds of people have gone missing in the past few weeks. Carter asks if Vander personally knows other people who have had family members go missing. Vander knows the Walker family quite well, and some people at work have people who have disappeared. It’s all over the local news, everyone knows that it is not safe to be out. The group decides to head to the Walker’s.

Vander leads the party towards the center of Sableside and they end up in an area that is a huge shanty-town of huts made of tin sprawled out like a maze. Vander says this is Tin Town, the slum of the slums. He takes them to a two-story shanty made of scrap metal and brick with concrete on its edge with five human children playing outside. When the children see the party they run inside in fear. Carter looks pointedly at Sebastian, and Percy asks if Sebastian scared them. She calls after the children to tell them that Sebastian is just a big, old teddy bear in a suit of armor and that it’s okay. Vander knocks on the door and calls for Ms. Walker, and she invites them in.

The inside is a mess and Vander takes them back towards the kitchen area and they see Ms. Walker sewing a huge pile of clothes. She is human, middle-aged with glasses and short mousy brown hair and dressed in grey, rough cloth. She asks if they are the investigators. Carter steps up to shake her hand and says it is a pleasure to meet her. She blushes and takes his hand as he introduces himself. He tells her he has heard there have been some disappearances. She tells him that Thomas went missing three weeks ago. Carter offers his condolences because this must be so difficult for her. He asks if she has any information from the time Thomas went missing.

Ms. Walker recalls they were in the bedroom because it was really late at night. They heard a ruckus out back so Thomas grabbed his pistol and went out to see what was going on. He thought it might be some hoodlums that mess around in their garden sometimes. Thomas likes to grow food for the neighborhood. Thomas went out and it was silent for a while, then she heard him yell. Five more minutes of silence went by before she gathered up the bravery to go investigate. Carter comforts her and says she must have been petrified. She confirms she was, and that when she got out there Thomas was gone and his pistol was lying on the ground. The garden was completely destroyed, ravaged, and all the vegetables were strewn about. The only thing that survived was one of his flowers. Carter asks if he was fond of flowers. Ms. Walker informs them that she didn’t know he grew flowers, but their anniversary is coming up so she thinks he could have been trying to surprise her. Carter hopes they can get him back in time for their anniversary. She asks if they want to investigate the garden area and tells Vander to take them. Before they go Persephone goes to introduce herself to Ms. Walker, she is excited to check out the garden.

This Flower is Kind of an Asshole
The garden is a lot that was carved out of the alleyway with strings and posts gating it off. It looks like it has been ravaged by a giant monster, there are huge chunks of dirt and everything has been killed except for a single orange-red flower. Its blossom is in the shape of a star and its stalk is thick and dark green, it is very sturdy looking. As soon as Percy sees this flower she rushes to it and talks to it, asking if it is okay and what happened. At first she gets a feeling of fear and uncertainty from the plant as she eagerly speaks with it, but as she asks her questions the feelings change. Persephone gets the feeling that the flower is healthy, it is thriving here alone, and she feels some smugness. It is prideful that it survived.

Carter pulls out a small shovel and a tiny plastic baggie and hands them to Sebastian, asking him to collect some dirt samples. Sebastian asks if Carter has a bigger shovel but he does as he is asked. Carter investigates the area and concludes that something really big destroyed the garden, a large creature or someone in heavy armor. He moves on to check the surrounding area for tracks and concludes that whatever did this may have gone up to the right and down the alley. Persephone also investigates and thinks that it is an animal and not a person in armor. Carter points out the way the perpetrator may have gone.

Sebastian asks Persephone what the plant said, and she reports that the plant was a bit of a dick. It was very smug that it survived, it is a pretty flower, but it had an attitude. Sebastian asks if they should try to put it in a pot and take it with them as an eye witness. Persephone feels fear and anger from the flower as they discuss taking it away. Sebastian holds up his tiny shovel but Persephone is hesitant to take the flower since it seems that Thomas planted it for his wife. Carter snaps some photos of the scene and Persephone sends a text to Watt and Yuma asking if they are familiar with either the flower or a creature that could have destroyed the garden. Both respond that they will look into it.

Primina sneezes very violently. She’s leaned over the flower and she exclaims that it smells horrible. Persephone is confused because she thinks the flower smells good. Carter sniffs the flower and he thinks it smells really sweet. Carter is interested in Primina’s reaction and Persephone asks if she is allergic. This is the first flower Primina has seen so it is possible she could be allergic. Carter asks if it is a familiar smell and Primina says it just smells rancid. Sebastian pokes the flower with his axe and nothing happens. Carter asks Vander to smell it as well and he thinks it smells fine. Vander asks what the plan is, are they following the tracks or do they want to check in with the Bloodclaw clan. They decide to make note of where the tracks lead to investigate later.

Splitting the Party
Vander leads them into an area with wider streets. On their way out of the alley the party sees a group of four Dreadstars. They all wear three-piece suits, all black, with a red pentagram on the pocket, and they are all armed with a katana and a pistol. They are strutting down the street and they don’t look pleasant. They see the party, glare, but keep on walking. Sebastian stares them down as they pass. It seems like the Dreadstars are trying to look tough but they’re also looking for something as they wander off.

Sebastian asks Carter what he makes of their behavior, it was kind of odd, and Carter agrees. Carter tells Persephone to tail them. He and Sebastian will meet with the Bloodclaw’s, she should tail the Dreadstars, keeping close but not too close with her locator on, and let him and Sebastian know what’s going on when they rendezvous at a safer location later. After he gives her the instructions he starts to walk away. Persephone and Sebastian look at each other in confusion and she guesses she will text them later. Sebastian tells her to be careful as she slips into an alleyway to Wild Shape into the lizard-chicken before pursuing the Dreadstars.

Ice Cream
Carter and Sebastian continue towards the Bloodclaw Clan and as they navigate the streets they notice that there is a huge crowd of people down one street forming a weird line at a food cart. Carter asks Sebastian what he makes of it. Sebastian thinks they should go check it out and see what they’re serving. Sebastian gets in line and strikes up a conversation with the person in front of him trying to find out what the line is for. The rotund, middle-aged human turns around and he looks very mad as he complains that whatever is in this ice cream is not natural and it’s running him out of business. He points to a deserted ice cream stall across the street and declares he is going to find out what is going on over here. The line they are in is very long, about an hour wait from where they are standing. Carter decides to try to make his way up to the front to talk to the stall owner. As he goes he hears Primina telling Sebastian that she has never had ice cream before so she is excited.

Carter makes it clear that he’s not trying to cut in line as he wades his way through the crowd. Some glare at him but most let him pass so he can ask his question. At the front he finds the vendor, a human dude scooping vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream as quickly as he can. Carter hears everyone saying it is the best ice cream they’ve ever had and notices nothing in the stall looks out of place except for a potted flower, the same flower that was in the garden. Carter snaps a photo of it. He starts asking the folks around the front of the line how long they’ve been coming to this ice cream cart and if anything has recently changed. The general consensus is that people have been coming the past week and nobody can remember coming here before that. They heard the word that there was really delicious ice cream so they came to try it and it was delicious so now it is popular.

The vendor asks Carter if he is going to buy something since he’s heckling the customers. Carter asks his name and the man introduces himself as Bray. Carter asks who he works for, Bray is self employed and makes the ice cream. Carter notes that he’s selling a lot of ice cream and Bray says he’s been selling a lot since he got his good luck charm, and points to the flower. Carter asks where he got the flower and Bray tells him a little halfling girl gave it to him. Carter presses for details but it seems like the girl disappeared up the road before Bray could ask questions. Carter asks if he can buy some ice cream and the crowd cries out that he cut in line. Bray serves him anyway and Carter buys a triple scoop, one of each flavor.

Sebastian and Primina watch as Carter makes his way back to them and tries to persuade them to leave. Primina protests because she wanted ice cream, Carter tells her that they will get some when the man in front of them opens his stall for business. The man is very intent on getting to the bottom of this ice cream mystery so he will be closed for a while. They make plans to return in an hour as Carter takes some samples of the ice cream and puts them in bags. Primina sighs and stalks off and Sebastian promises they will get her some. Carter sells the ice cream to the last person in line. Vander thinks that was a waste of time and asks if they’re ready to go to the Bloodclaw’s.

The Slums are Fucking Weird
Persephone stealthily follows the four gang members for thirty minutes as they stalk up and down the streets. It is clear that they are scouring the city for something. When Carter pings her phone with the next location, her ambient nature ringtone goes off from her lizard chicken body and the gang members turn around in confusion. She stares at them and awkwardly shuffles off into the nearest alley. She hears one of them ask what the fuck that was and another reply that the slums are fucking weird.

Persephone heads over to meet Carter, Primina, and Sebastian at the Bloodclaw den. Carter pulls out a hackey sack to play as they wait. Carter informs Vander that the ice cream vendor had a flower on his stall identical to the one in the yard at the Walker’s. Vander notes that is interesting. Carter tells him that a little halfling girl around age 8 gave it to him. Vander asks what she looked like and demands to know why Carter is telling him now instead of when they were near the guy so Vander could ask more questions. Carter states that they need to talk to the Bloodclaw clan now. Vander tells him to bugger off and angrily starts knocking on the Bloodclaw’s door, built into a mound of dirt and rocks in this empty lot. Primina shakes her head. Carter states he couldn’t make the assumption that it was his little girl.

No one is answering Vander’s knocking. Sebastian walks around the back to see, but it’s just a large lump with no features aside from the door. Vander explains that the kobolds don’t need to rent an apartment, they can just dig right into the asteroid to make their home. He finds it odd that no one is answering, there are like thirty of them so someone is always home. Sebastian suggests they just go in. Vander tries the door but it is locked, he suggests Sebastian could rip off the door. Sebastian cracks his knuckles and rips the hinges of the door right out of the stone. Persephone arrives and is shocked that they’re breaking in. Sebastian tries to say that he knocked and the door just fell over, but Percy saw him break it. Primina does not understand any of the decisions made today. Vander tries to calm Persephone by saying that something could be wrong since no one answered the door and someone is usually home.

Vander peeks into the mound and calls out to see if anyone is inside. Carter casts Dancing Lights to improve visibility. Vander doesn’t see anything, Carter can see there are makeshift stone stairs going deep into the earth leading to a tunnel network. It’s built for small kobolds so it will be a tight squeeze for them to venture inside. Carter enters, his Dancing Lights combining into a humanoid form that imitates his movement ahead of him, and Vander follows. Vander comments that it’s weird because the kobolds knew to expect them today.

The bottom of the stairs opens up into a tunnel and Carter realizes the tunnel is full of vines, all adjacent rooms are covered in vines and flowers. They do not hear or see anyone so far. Persephone blows up the group chat asking for updates as Carter investigates. In the deepest room he sees a huge crack in the wall and a thick stalk of green vine is growing out and branching out into the smaller vines. Carter suggests they might need Persephone and texts her to come down. She Wild Shapes into the lizard-chicken and joins him to investigate the thick stalk.

Persephone has never heard or seen of a plant like this and it is the same as the plant in the lot, so either there are multiple plants or they are all part of one humongous plant. Percy also notes there is no rain in this city so it has to be getting water from somewhere. She takes a violent peck at the plant and she feels a psionic influence on her brain, but she steels herself against it. It is pretty clear that the plant made a psionic attack on her when she hurt it. Percy turns and indicates to her companions that they should go back upstairs. When she returns to her firbolg form she reports that the plant psychically hit her when she pecked it.

The Party

 * Sebastian Crenshaw: A half-orc paladin. Getting the scoop and breaking down doors.
 * Persephone Goldpetal: A firbolg druid. Bock Bock Bitch.
 * Carter Huttenburg: A human warlock. Line cutter extrarodinaire.

NPCS

 * Primina: A young woman of mysterious origins. The MacGuffin.
 * Yuma: A female wilden. Shop owner and Persephone's new mentor.
 * Victoria: A tiefling woman. Captain of The Brunhilde and fixer of messes.
 * Fred Luo: A criminal contact.
 * Dirk: A male tiefling. Mega Mashing as Lonk.
 * Watt: A male gnome. Teaching robots to cook.
 * Artax: A robot.
 * Dag: A male tiefling. Now a cyborg.
 * Vander: A halfling male. A single dad in the slums looking for his daughter.
 * Ms. Walker: A human woman. Hoping her husband comes home in time for their anniversary.
 * Some Dreadstars: Miscellaneous gang members stalking the streets.
 * Disgruntled Ice Cream Vendor: A rotund man. An ice cream vendor trying to figure out his competitor's secret.
 * Bray: An ice cream vendor. Has all the business because of his lucky flower.

Music

 * SuperQuest Saga Theme - by Brian

World Building

 * Futuristic space tattoos are done with lasers and they are instant and painless. Removal is just as easy.
 * Private owned vehicles are not allowed in Outlaw’s Horizon so taxi services or trains are used to get around.

Out of Character

 * Dag lost his leg due to bone mite infection.

Nat 1's (1 total)

 * Brian (Investigation)