Session Capture: Varens Session 10, Our Heroes Almost get poisoned

Yup, buying books was a highlight.

First session in three weeks!

The Cast

• Sophie - A young artificer girl, the opposite of self-aware, but wants to be recognized as a genius of her time. Her poor social graces put a damper on the possibility of that ever happening. She doesn't care. Results should speak for themselves.
• Stuart ("Corduroy") - an Innkeeper saddled with the family business, but would much rather travel the world. He can't part outright with the family tavern out of respect for his family, but he needs to find and hire people that he can trust to take care of it in his absence. Additionally, he will need to gather enough money to pay them in advance; he doesn't know how profitable the inn will be in his absence, nor how long he'll be gone.
• Wynter - a Scholar who has just wandered into the town of Wood's Edge, she is just going along with whatever Sophie and Stuart are doing. She's not from around there and doesn't know what's what, and as a result, is unfortunately using Sophie as a barometer for "normal".
• Michelle (NPC) - A high ranking Merchant Guild member. She is a coleopteran, so she has a few unique mannerisms that are unfamiliar to the party, but is shy about her voice, so she speaks mostly through her partner Vincent, to whom she communicates using a complicated form of sign language. She is both an excellent artisan using rare techniques known only to coleopterans, and a master of business. Her shell, however has been cracked, and has been repaired in a kintsukuroi shell.
• Vincent (NPC) - Although technically her assistant, and in terms of profession, subordinate, Michelle calls him her partner out of respect, appreciation and genuine mutual friendship. Vincent is a Xenophile gnome extremely fascinated with Coleopteran culture. Coleopterans are a rare sight in this setting because they have very exclusionary policies, and they live atop a giant tree inaccessible to most but those races gifted with flight. Besides his extreme fascination with Coleopteran culture, he holds etiquette in very high regard and hates when people snub the rules or interrupt him.

Summary

The party spends a night in lodgings controlled by the guild in Fuheka, and thus begins the tenth day of the campaign.

There is not much to do in the town, and the party decides to go back home as fast as possible.

Michelle and Vincent plot a course that goes in a straight line.

While on the path, and making good time, the party decided to take a lunch before entering the forest. Somehow, Corduroy realized this was a dangerous place [using wild talent for naturalist] because the flowers were poisonous. Wynter spoke to the horses whose feet were slightly itchy and irritated from the plants, so Sophie created an antidote to soothe the itching once they got out of the field.

New safer/cheaper proposed path.
A compromise of both paths.

The party was attacked once they reached the forest, by two unusually powerful dinomen that seemed stronger than usual. The sneak attack failed, so the dinomen retreated when they felt the battle had become hopeless. This was an unusually high level of strategy and tactics which unsettled the party so they refused to follow the retreating two man group as they fled South.

Staying the course, the party completed the trip in one day.

Hombrea took the party's report and paid each $1000, subtracting $100 for the damage to the vehicle rented.

Wynter wanted to buy books, so Sophie and Corduroy introduced her to an NPC, Percy, a merchant who manages a warehouse for books [and introduced in session 1, which is not online.] Wynter decided to buy a fine quality textbook on Armoury (Missile Weapons) Titled "Aerologic."

After Action Report

• Wynter wants to know if her crossbow can be converted into a wrist mounted one. I think there are rules for this in Martial Arts and/or Low-Tech Companion 2. Found it on p. 218 of Martial Arts.
• The session felt a little light, but I forgot to ask for feedback. I sent out an inquiry to the party for feedback just a bit ago.