September 13, 2020

We skip ahead a few days...

While hanging out in Rusty Dragon, George the underling provides info to Laudius about a new bookseller in Magnimar, Leysa, who also worships Nephys. Laudius and Dionaea ride out to Magnamar to learn more. We reach the gates and learn there have been a series of murders and are not allowed in. Laudius reasons with the guards and they arrange a meeting for us and Justice Eyenbreyer. His mansion is lavish and he dismisses our offer to help solve the murders, but gives us a hall pass enabling us to stay. We go to the welcome center, get a huge map, and learn from a chatty worker that the murders are ritualistic and occuring in the northwest region of the city. We go down to Leysa's bookstore and she welcomes us in upon seeing Laudius. She shows him her many books and one in particular jumps out, which she says she cannot read. Laudius opens the book and sees in disappearing text that he has been chosen. Laudius borrows the book in exchange for lending Laysa his mockup of the Nethys statue. The book is Nethys' Tome of Duality, which would be great to use on a murderer... As we leave the bookstore to head to the Garden Lion Inn, three men wearing strange bird-like hoods ambush us for Nualia's necklace. Laudius blasts two of them with his newly attuned fireball powers and leaves one incapacitated. Laudius claims we caught the murderer, the guards arrive and take him away for questioning, and the Justice is annoyed but thanks us. We stay at the Garden Lion and are bought drinks by the local folks who somehow believe we actually caught the murderer. Dionaea commiserates with the innkeeper Sally about the lack of gardens, then spends the extra 4 hours she doesn't need to sleep planting seeds in the cracks in front of the inn. Before we leave, we buy souvenirs: seeds, beer ingredients, a dragon skull, and a trashy romance novel. As we leave, we feel we are being watched but that whoever is watching doesn't follow us...