Sapphire:Sessions:20151121

The group (Chalker, Ahn-Lee, Yasser, Branamin, Dash) clambers aboard their carriage. Outside the arena, Bajeeter leads a squadron that is moving in on the arena to do the cleanup work. Dash gives Bajeeter a thumbs-up as the carriage speeds away toward Sapphire.

Somewhere in midtown Sapphire, Dash jumps out of the carriage and scurries away through the dark streets. The carriage continues to the Green Lantern, and Chalker tells the driver to wait.

Yasser slings the sleeping merchant, Dan Renz, over his shoulder and carries him into the tavern. From behind the bar Little Sal calls out, "Got a problem?" "No more than usual," Yasser replies. Little Sal shows them to a storeroom. Yasser ties Renz to a chair, hand a foot, while Chalker checks the merchant's aura ("greedy SOB"). Once Renz is secured, Chalker slaps him awake.

Dan Renz offers little resistance to Chalker's interrogation. The mage Inair had offered a "private venue" for the arena scheme. Renz gives Chalker several other names of those involved. Chalker: "How did you get your participants?" Renz: "We put out word to the thieves guild and they used some of their contacts." "What about the slaves?" "Inair handled most of that. We also had contacts with certain merchant ship captains." "Is Malprin involved?" "You know Malprin isn't allowed to do business in Sapphire, but their ships may have come here under false flags. Frankly, I didn't want to know." Inair had owned the jasper club statuette; Renz doesn't know where it came from.

Chalker: "The thieves guild snitched on you." He gives Renz several options, including "work for us." "We'll cut you lose, then you're going to go to the guards and confess. You'll be the first liar, so whatever story you tell them will be believed." Yasser threatens to break every bone in Renz' body if he tries a double-cross.

Ahn-Lee is approached by a young man who says he is an apprentice of Kalid. "Kalid wants to meet with you tomorrow." Ahn-Lee shadows the young man until he slips through the back door of a house. Ahn-Lee glimpses a burly thug dressed in workman's clothes.

Next morning, Chalker explains to Rory that he has a new "apprentice." Chalker and Rory will split 40% of the take. At Chalker's request, Rory supplies him with several gate locations in the Troubled Lands. Mallow Bay is where a woman bought two jasper figurines. Rory will have copies made of his maps of the Troubled Lands.

At mid-morning, Ahn-Lee is at the docks looking for Kalid.

Renz's business is called Timberline Mercantile. Yasser introduces himself to the warehouse manager as "a close personal friend of Merchant Renz." The dwarf demands to be taken out to the ship, as he wants to know exactly what's on it (and he can't read the manifest). Right about then Chalker and Shawna walk up, after paying a couple of Rory's kids to watch their horses and tell Ahn-Lee to meet them on the docks. The nervous manager stalls as long as he can, but finally a boat is brought in to take the four out to the ship.

Shawna finds that according to the captain's logs, the ship had visited a number of ports including Moedia, Zondell, Dolyena, Lesmallin, and Mallow Bay. Some "embargoed trade goods" had been offloaded in Sapphire. There had been a few passengers, including two factors from Timberline and a couple of petty "kings" from the Troubled Lands. Chalker asks the manager if they had brought a mage, and the man gets twitchy, as if some external force is keeping him from remembering. He does say that there were some "disturbing artifacts" from the Troubled Lands and from Wicera, some of which were brought to Sapphire. The ship's captain, Samuel Brand, had previously served in Sapphire's imperial navy for fifteen years and had received commendations for his service.

The group returns to shore and is moving away from the docks toward a busy plaza when Yasser feels his ring turn very hot. He gets a momentary vision of twelve longshoremen, two handlers, and up to eight other thugs, along with archers aiming their longbows at the group. Yasser warns the others that danger is imminent. In the middle of the plaza is a gray-haired merchant and an old woman. No one other than the group seems to notice them.

Shawna knocks out the old woman who falls to the ground and turns into a man. The old man disappears; Shawna realizes he has teleported and calls out, "Behind you, Chalker!" The mage shreds Chalker's back pocket and the eagle icon falls to the ground. Chalker whirls around and the mage Blinks away from his attack. Chalker's front pocket disintegrates and his journey book and the spiked club icon fall out. The mage casts a spell that pulls the club into his grasp; he closes his fist around it and blood drips from his hand. Shawna rushes up to attack him and he Blinks away. Shawna casts Glue, but the mage somehow disintegrates his boots and Blinks again. Shawna swings again and the mage Blinks, then Chalker swings and hits hard. The mage holds on to the icon, pulls out a silver knife, then tries to Teleport away but the spell fails. He manages to dodge Chalker's swing at his neck, but Shawna strikes him in the vitals and the mage falls. Chalker pulls the icon out of the mage's hand, then finishes him off. A search of the body verifies that this is Inair.

Shawna checks the "old woman" and finds a man in his 20s; Ahn-Lee recognizes the man's thieves guild tattoo.

Ahn-Lee leads the others to the Nedson's Gang's hideout and gives the secret knock. Chalker: "You guys owe me for some pants! Do you remember my friend The Destroyer?" Nedson says Inair came from the Troubled Lands and had been in Sapphire for a month and a half. Eventually Nedson agrees to pay for a new set of clothes for Chalker.