The Thirteenth Session

After accepting a job from the Thieves' Guild in the Cemetery District of Akanax that they would begin the following afternoon, Halrek and Shag decided to find a local fighting ring for Yief to partake in. Before leaving the group, they saw a light in the sky and realized it was a phoenix flying overhead. It was gone from sight in under a minute, making Yief sad. He revealed that his only way to end the exile from his orc clan in Etten was to bring them a phoenix feather. Vissella commented that the only way to get a phoenix feather would be to kill one, or save its life, both very unlikely scenarios to find oneself in, though hinting that the feather in hair was a result of the latter. Nul and Aoth comforted Yief, telling him he had already found his clan, though he didn't understand the metaphor of non-blood family, and confidently educated them that they weren't orcs and therefore weren't his clan. Returning to their search for a fight club, they were directed to the ruins on the upper side of the district, finding a group of about 20 peasants starting a pit, and entered Yief with some bets. Surprisingly, Halrek bet against Yief upon seeing his opponent was taller. Yief's punches were much quicker and lander harder, and he quickly knocked his enemy out, losing Halrek 10 gold but winning the group 150. Yief then put a gold piece on the unconscious fighter, saying "you did good," despite the man not being able to hear him due to being out cold.

In a rush from the fight, Yief decided to enlist as a gladiator in the arena. Making their way back to the royal district, they were instructed by guards to sign up at the combatant door of the coliseum. Upon entry, Yief had to sign a death waiver, though not knowing how to write, he drew a very detailed picture of a cardinal in just under 2 minutes. The guards were confused as they'd only given him an ink pen and had no idea how he colored the cardinal red, and were surprised he was such a prodigy with art. The gamesmaster was an old gladiator named Siidrek, known as "The Entertainer," a man in incredible shape for being in his 60s. He showed Yief around the gladiator training area, explaining that for his first match, the Greenhorns would engage in a 5 man free-for-all, with the last man standing being on their way to rising in rank, which meant rising in pay, as patrons bet more on higher ranked gladiators. While getting his blades sharpened, Yief saw the champion, Maverick, training. Seeing how he swung and aimed with agility, but struck with aggressiveness and ferocity, made Yief decide to start learning to expand his combat prowess. He also noticed another greenhorn training with a flail, and took note. Upon starting the match, it was him, 3 unnamed gladiators, and the flail guy, named Brian (with an I). When the announcer said their names, the crowd all unanimously thought that Yief was a good name, and started cheering for him. Somewhat flustered, he simply yelled "My nama Yief" and the crowd went fucking wild, energizing him. The battle started sporadically, with different combatants charging different targets, but quickly turned to Yief's favor as he was a more experienced fighter with more raw strength and speed. He quickly killed the gladiator that Brian with an I was fighting, and then killed Brian with one mighty swing of his axe, chopping Brian with an I's head in half vertically. He then stunned a third combatant, who was then killed by the fourth, and hit the fourth with enough force that he was brought to his knees. Deciding to let the man live, the crowd applauded Yief's mercy and how efficiently he defeated the man. Becoming the new greenhorn champion, he won 500 gold, and Shag, who had bet much more than a patron normally would on a newcomer, won 600 gold.

They decided to go to the Upper Residential District to stay at a fancy inn rather than the run down ones they were used to, since they just won a lot of money. They found one called "Lorelei's Veil" that also had a fancy restaurant on the first floor, where they ate a multi course dinner and had pint after pint of fine mead. While they were eating, they were approached by a high elf nobleman who complimented Yief on his victory. He introduced himself as Jacquerie, and explained that he lived in the district, and saw them come to the inn from the arena. He knew they were travelers, and said while travelers in the capital are common, not all of them have arena victories, and he could use the help of warriors of a certain stature. He offered payment to investigate a local politician who he said he saw "seemingly change form in the night" and suspected to be an impostor. He didn't trust word getting around if he informed the local guard, and didn't want to confront the man himself in fear of being wrong in what he thought he saw. A group of outsiders were perfect for the job. He gave the man's name, Derrack, and his address, as well as the branch of parliament he worked at in the royal district. He said he would stay at Lorelei's Veil for a couple days until they came back with their findings. They accepted, and went to their rooms for the night. Yief once again got lucky with Bashak, who very much enjoyed his performance in the arena.

The following morning, Yief, Shag, and Halrek visited Derrack's house, sneaking in through the back door after picking the lock with Yief standing watch. Entering, they saw the house still lived in, with a recently used tea cup and books off the shelf on tables. Going up the stairs from the hallway, they saw 2 paintings of Derrack, one being a self portrait. The one painted by someone else was better, but they admired the pride he took in his art to hang both anyway. Coming up the stairs, they found his office, where they found a journal. After investigating, they discovered that there was a date gap of 3 days, and the first entry after had different handwriting, that over 5 days slowly started to match the handwriting from the first part of the journal, with the most recent entry being a near perfect replication. They also noticed a difference in tone, with the new entries speaking of excitement over being able to help people in a way he previously didn't have the power to do, as well a difference in context, with the older entries being written at night as a daily reflection, and the new entries being written in the morning with his hopes for the day. They realized they would need to find him at work, and left, with Halrek using the better painting of him to copy his form, which was resemblant of Breaking Bad era Brian Cranston.

Finding the building he worked at, they eventually found his office, where he was just about to leave. Caught quite off guard by another version of him, he asked who him, Shag, and Yief were, which Yief immediately answered, prompting Derrack to say "oh, good name!" before Shag said "no we aren't supposed to tell him who we are, he's supposed to tell us who he is" which made Yief panic a little. Shag then used a spell to paralyze Derrack, while Halrek changed back to his scarred wood elf form to seem intimidating. Upon seeing the shift, Derrack told them he was also a changeling, and that he had been in the city a week. He initially copied peasant faces, but decided to try and live better by copying noble's faces in the Upper Residential District. He initially meant to sneak into Derrack's house to copy his face while he slept and add it to his options, but found him dead in his bed with all his blood drained. Realizing no one knew he was dead, he covered up the murder by burning the body and took his form and his job, deciding to use his platform in parliament to enact policies to help bring refugees from the northern invasion into the city. He said he would continue living as Derrack moving forward, having found purpose in his newfound position. He suggested that the murder may have been vampires, and said he was likely to start investigating that once the hearings regarding his policies were over. He then left to begin the hearing.

The group decided to let him be, and went back to Lorelei's Veil to tell Jacquerie that his eyes had decieved him, and Derrack was okay. However, after relaying the information, Halrek and Shag grew suspicious of him, thinking he may have been involved with the original Derrack's death, and wanted to know why there was another Derrack walking around. They couldn't figure out if he was lying, but then Yief asked if Jacquerie could help him find something he dropped outside, and Jacquerie politely refused, getting up to leave. Yief began loudly speaking in the bar, drawing attention, allowing Halrek to shapeshift into Chariz to follow Jacquerie. Ending up in a cellar, he saw Jacquerie remove a stone from the wall, but was caught, playing it off like he was a lost old man looking for the bathroom. Hurrying back to the group, he told them what he saw, but when they all went to the cellar, Jacquerie was gone and the stone was replaced. Shag found and removed the stone, seeing a dirt tunnel on the other side, but it was only big enough for him to fit through, and Halrek who took Shag's form. Yief then went to deliver a note to Derrack's house and then go to parliament to warn him in case Jacquerie was going to come after him again. Shag and Halrek followed the tunnel, realizing they would need to run and give up their sneaking position if they wanted to catch him. Doing so, they heard him start to run further down the tunnel, and followed until they came to a sewer room with a ladder leading up to a trapdoor. Halrek climbed first with Shag behind him, opening the door with the blade Vicious, before climbing through. He was immediately met by Jacquerie and 6 city guards with weapons drawn, and dropped back down the ladder, knocking Shag off and landing on him. Halrek began to sprint back down the tunnel, while Shag turned invisible and hid in a corner until the soldiers all came down the ladder and ran into the tunnel after Halrek. He then climbed up, realizing he was inside the guard tower near the gates to the Royal District. Running up the spiral staircase, he caught up to Jacquerie at the top floor, as he was telling 6 more guards that they had been discovered. Shag then jumped on the table in the middle of the room and cast Thunderwave, knocking all 7 men backwards and destroying the boarding on the windows, letting sunlight into the room and beginning to burn the men. Shag then sprinted back down the stairs, leaving through the main entrance to the street.

Meanwhile, Halrek shifted back into Shag to fit back through the hole in the cellar wall at the end of the tunnel, just as the guards reached the wall. He then sprinted up the stairs and changed back into Chariz, seconds before the guards burst up the stairs. He was surprised that 6 normal sized men in heavy armor could fit through the small hole in the wall so quickly, but stayed quiet and ordered a drink. The guards all lowered their visors and exited the inn out the front door, at which point Halrek ran upstairs to inform Aoth and the pirates of the situtation. They stationed Haldes with Darkwind and Applaudicus to keep them safe, and sent Ragnar to the basement with Aoth and Nul. Shag, upon leaving the guard tower, used a disguise spell to appear as a peasant girl, who was almost immediately told to get back to the Cemetery District by the guards who had just left the inn and were passing on their way back to the guard tower. Shag began to leave, and then saw Yief, who was on his way back from Derrack's house. As he made it to him, Halrek and the remaining group all came out of the inn, and decided that Vissella and Lyn would keep an eye on the guard towers while the group left to go fulfill their promise to the Thieves' Guild, and began to make their way to the Market District.