With the help of a gnome spy named Alicia Lund, the party tries to decrypt the mysterious letter that began their adventure. But a magic trap upon the letter causes Alicia to become unable to speak intelligibly. The party must infiltrate a potion factory and recover an expensive antidote to cure her of the curse.
Player Characters: Balkris, Mickey Bishop, R. Sativus, Reckoner
After beating back the Boromar thugs outside the Cannith research facility, the party had captured their leader, a halfling bard named Larni working for Big Mondo. At the behest of Tamior d’Phiarlan, Balkris and R. Sativus interrogated Larni with the help of Mickey Bishop, a kalashtar rogue from a rival Boromar gang challenging Big Mondo within their criminal organization.
Together, they learned that the encrypted letter had been sent by a mysterious group called the “Swords of Liberty” to a member of House Cannith. The Boromars had been enlisted by a rival faction within House Cannith to intercept the letter. Since the end of the Last War, the dragonmarked house of artifice, responsible for the creation of the warforged, was left without a leader after the death of its powerful patriarch, Baron Starrin d’Cannith. The house was split into three factions vying for power: Cannith East led by Zorlan d’Cannith in Karrnath, Cannith South led by Merrix d’Cannith in Breland, and Cannith West led by Jorlanna d’Cannith in Aundair.
Meanwhile, Alicia Lund had been working to decode the encrypted letter, but she found herself cursed by a magic trap upon the message, causing her to speak and write only gibberish. The only way to cure her was by acquiring a potion of greater restoration, which cost an exorbitant sum. To cure the gnome of the curse, the party hatched a daring plan to sneak into the Courage Potion Laboratory in Lower Dura and steal a potion of greater restoration.
Balkris and R. Sativus would join a tour of the facility for a merchant named Erol Potellas, whose wife was a major shareholder of the potion factory and a member of the city council. Mickey Bishop would disguise himself as a janitor and infiltrate the factory ahead of them. However, R. Sativus learned through her criminal contact in the Tyrants that Erol Potellas was being targeted for assassination by a hired gang of martial arts enthusiasts.
Mickey Bishop cased the facility and trailed one of the janitors back to his home, intent on stealing his uniform. But he found that the janitor was a Cyran survivor living in the refugee slums of High Walls in Lower Tavick’s Landing. The man’s name was Jebediah Givens, and he lived with his wife and daughter in a shanty town alongside others who had escaped the destruction of Cyre on the Day of Mourning. Taking pity on the man, Mickey gave him 10 silver sovereigns and several days worth of food in exchange for his uniform.
On the day of the tour, Mickey entered the factory through the freight warehouse. Shortly after, Erol Potellas’ tour arrived, and so did the martial arts gang who were able to enter when one of their members infiltrated the facility in disguise and opened the freight warehouse doors. Mickey Bishop used a distraction caused by R. Sativus’ rat to grab a potion of greater restoration from the laboratory. Moments after, the martial arts gang launched their attack on Erol Potellas.
A fierce battle ensued in which Balkris and R. Sativus defended Erol from the gang of assassins. Reckoner arrived to help them in the nick of time after seeing a message left by Balkris to meet the party at the potion factory. Together, the party narrowly saved Erol from the assassination attempt. R. Sativus suspected the hit had been ordered by Erol’s wife because he had been cheating on her.
As the party left with Erol and the potion of greater restoration in their hands, Reckoner noticed the name tag on Mickey’s uniform which read “J. GIVENS” – an initial followed by the surname belonging to his former commander Raylan Givens whom he was searching for.