The Merchant of Selvos

[Lord Ewen]

Having enjoyed his pound of flesh in the form of the delectable Imarë, Master Tanaar must be squeezed for all he's worth, lest the comely elf's sacrifice go for nought. The eccentric merchant did, after all, promise Ewen any favor he should name, should the assignation be arranged.

Thus, perhaps we should plan how to proceed. We know nothing of Tanaar's relationship to the odiferous alleged-Morgathian scarface dude, so it is unclear how complacently he would respond should Ewen simply ask Tanaar to fulfill his bargain by betraying the guest at the guild hall, tell all he knows about him, help set him up, etc.

I seem to be unclear as to where Tanaar and Imarë had their assignation. Surely the merchant does not keep a room at the White Gold Inn; I assume he simply dines there, using it as a "club" of sorts, perhaps being unmarried and in the habit of habitually eating out. So did the elf and Tanaar go somewhere, or did they borrow Bevan's bed at the Inn? (Sorry if I simply missed this detail during the session.)

Ewen and Tanaar had agreed that the harper would play at the guild hall on the upcoming evening. If Tanaar is at breakfast in the morning, Ewen can touch base, assure that the tete-a-tete went to his liking, and perhaps finagle a visit to the guildhall that morning in order to check out the evening's venue. It would be interesting to see if the Morgathian guy is evident, but also to get a feel for how the other denizens of the guild are responding to his perfume, attitude, etc. Might also get a sense of Tanaar's feelings about the guy, to help guide whether we just overtly ask Tanaar to betray the guy based upon his agreement with Ewen.

But what is our plan for this Morgathian, assuming he is what he seems? Might he be one element in a larger pattern of Morgathian activity, and if so how do we proceed? Do we take him out, spy on him, attempt to cultivate an association with him, or what? Or do we simply scamper off to Sir Auram and report our present findings?

[Matt]

I seem to be unclear as to where Tanaar and Imarë had their assignation. Surely the merchant does not keep a room at the White Gold Inn; I assume he simply dines there, using it as a "club" of sorts, perhaps being unmarried and in the habit of habitually eating out. So did the elf and Tanaar go somewhere, or did they borrow Bevan's bed at the Inn? (Sorry if I simply missed this detail during the session.)

Err, no. Tanaar is a good enough customer to have been discreetly given one of the better rooms for the evening.

Of course, there is always tomorrow night at the merchants' guildhall ...

[Imarë]

I think I need to sip more slowly next time...

[Lord Ewen]

I suppose you could claim date rape and retain the assistance of the local Selvos chapter of NOW (I think it's a Laranian fighting order).

[Imarë]

Imare stayed safely with ale. If she has a problem, she carries a big knife...

[Matt]

If she has a problem, she carries a big knife...

And yet, she seems to have a weakness for the bigger knives ...

[Imarë]

I think we need to look for links with Peten Valgari and Stavron. This is our mission. Activity about the Morgathians would only be of interest in how it effects Golotha in my opinion. The only possibility of evil-doing we have are the multiple missing small men. Do we think we could get someone in this group? I have no idea how Imare (the smallest of the group I belive) would look disguised as a man. Anybody think this would be a good idea?

[Matt]

I think we need to look for links with Peten Valgari and Stavron. This is our mission. Activity about the Morgathians would only be of interest in how it effects Golotha in my opinion.

To be precise, both are part of the mission, which has several parts:

1 - Look into Sir Peten Valgari

2 - Investigate Morgathian rumors

3 - Ongoing monitoring of Golotha

[Lord Ewen]

Now on general principle, I'm all for seeing Imarë move on directly to crossdressing, but perhaps the elf has already done her share for the time being by tickling Tanaar's fancy. To my mind, the next step is to determine Tanaar's status with our lead suspect Ferjan, who is staying at his guildhall, as a means of gauging whether Ewen can simply co-opt the guildmaster's assistance in exchange for Ewen's remarkably successful foray into pimping (I wonder, has our harper transgressed the Lia-Kavair's concept of guild perogative in this? Is another close shave with the barber in store? ).

If Tanaar is amenable (in other words, if he is not in close cahoots with Ferjan), then a number of options present themselves which might be productive in terms of gaining information. It would be nice to find out what Ferjan is up to in Selvos, whether he has any associates elsewhere, etc. Tanaar might have info about his activities or habits while staying at the guildhall, or get us access to other guild members who have such info. Has Ferjan left the confines of the town proper since his arrival (if so, our two hunters might put their tracking skills to use if we can monitor the guy and he leaves again)? Surely Ferjan is not using the guildhall for whatever he does with these skinny guys. Perhaps he has frequented other places in town.

Seizing Ferjan, or entrapping him with a thin person as bait (whether Imarë, or someone we enlist or coerce into this role) seems a line of action we should only consider if more circumspect information gathering fails, because such a course of action seems likely to culminate in our having to kill the guy, which might be a lost opportunity. Unless we manage to capture him, truss him up somehow, and sail him back home to Golotha, where we might interview him at leisure in our little playroom in the basement of Palliser house.

Finally, I suspect it would need to be a professional disguise job to preclude Imarë being identified, given the size of the town and our general degree of circulation thus far. "I leaned my head all against the block, and there I cut my lovely locks..."

[Imarë]

First, is there anything that we think would connect Tanaar with Ferjan? Then we need to think about if the local branch of the LK is associated with the Morgathians. The myterious disapearance of people would seem to be associated with the Morgathians (nobody else uses bodies to my knowlege). The fact that the missing people are of similar size brings to mind two ideas: 1: they need the specific size for some reason (can fit through a hole, pass under a fence, whatever). 2: they are looking for someone in particular and only have a vague notion of what this person might look like (for example, "small, black haired man"). I was advocating attacking the barber more for something to do rather than as a belief that he was doing anything other than the LK usually does. Maybe keeping an eye on small men we see (ie following them etc) will get us the same place as we want to be. The problem is that for Imare and Bevans skills to be useful we need to have at least the ballpark. It would be interesting to find out if the two toughs that Ewen talked to are still around the morning after he sent them to watch the barber or if they are off somewhere napping with the fishes.

[Matt]

First, is there anything that we think would connect Tanaar with Ferjan?

They must know each other since Tanaar is the Guildmaster, and one doesn't stay at the Guildhall without being a member of the guild. Apart from that, you'd have to dig further.

The myterious disapearance of people would seem to be associated with the Morgathians (nobody else uses bodies to my knowlege).

Missing does not necessarily mean used.

I was advocating attacking the barber more for something to do rather than as a belief that he was doing anything other than the LK usually does.

Not to put too fine a point on this, but I hope you realize that such an attack (in which Bevan and Dascomb would not have participated) would have resulted in PC casualties and very likely death(s). You've seen how gruesome the combat system is: it does not forgive mistakes. You were outnumbered and ignorant of the terrain. Sounds like Custer to me ...

It would be interesting to find out if the two toughs that Ewen talked to

Sir Baris did the talking here. Or "Karl," if you prefer.

[Imarë]

1- We have no evidence of wrongdoing or complicity between the two. Tanaar might be an eccentric nut who just happens to like to eat where we are staying.

2- So I'm a pessimist. The body is half dead rather than half alive... Matt is quite correct however, we do not know that anybody is dead or even injured, but I will make the guess that people are not missing for a good reason (especially when there are rumors that a death religion is plotting something in the region).

3- Imare is not sure that she would have either but why take away all the fun of imagining doing something that foolhardy? When have we not been outnumbered and ignorant (remember this is the party who sailed right up to a beseiging force which had not left anybody at all alive in several attacks we had seen). I think it was more as a goal of something to work toward rather than an action which would have happened (but who knows, stupid is as stupid does...).

4- My apologies to the ubiquitous Karl. I don't know why I associated Ewen with this (maybe it's because he is usually the one who goes up and actually talks to strangers in bars) but I did for some reason.

[Matt]

1- We have no evidence of wrongdoing or complicity between the two. Tanaar might be an eccentric nut who just happens to like to eat where we are staying.

I didn't say there was - just that they must be acquainted.

3- Imare is not sure that she would have either but why take away all the fun of imagining doing something that foolhardy? When have we not been outnumbered and ignorant (remember this is the party who sailed right up to a beseiging force which had not left anybody at all alive in several attacks we had seen).

Oh, I don't know - I took it seriously, and was more than a little bewildered by it in session. And you may have sailed right up, but you didn't attack him - we'd have a whole new set of PCs if that had been the case.

[Imarë]

As I recall, Imare and somebody else (I forget who) were duped into a ship and taken to where the rest of the party sailed up and announced themselves.

Every now and then you just have to do something unexpected. I claim the same malady that Sir Arlen and Ardeth have, every once in a while you at least contemplate doing something stupid and dangerous which will probably get you killed. I am not backing away from having done it, but it did make things interesting there for awhile (and got people moving in other directions too). Would it have been stupid? Yes, dangerous folly in the extreme. Was the contemplation of it exhilerating? Once again I must say yes. The rush that comes with action was there without really resorting to action. If I ever actually do something like this I have had too many martinis on the battlefield. If I just contemplate it, I have had just under too many martinis on the battlefield. If I don't even contemplate it, it must be before the sun is over the yardarm... (I am not sure of the spelling but "en vino veritas" I think is the proper term).

[Matt]

If I ever actually do something like this I have had too many martinis on the battlefield. If I just contemplate it, I have had just under too many martinis on the battlefield. If I don't even contemplate it, it must be before the sun is over the yardarm...

This GM is not above the Martini ...

Forewarned is forearmed ...

[Imarë]

Does anybody have anything they would like to add (discuss) before we get together tomorrow? Do we know what we are going to do? Imare can't sleep with the entire male population of the town you know.

[Matt]

Imare can't sleep with the entire male population of the town you know.

Why not? A Roman Empress tried it with a much larger population base ...