Not Today, Death!

It's yet another day in the grimy city of Eastport. It's a foggy late morning in early spring and the overcast sky portends rain soon. The smell of salt water, fish heads, kerosene, and human waste is constantly shifting on the stiff wind blowing in from the sea.

Wherever you are and whatever you happen to be doing, a halfling man approaches you. He is nondescript, brown hair with a brown goatee, loose shirt and wide trousers of undyed cloth, and a single bright green scarf as his only affectation. He gives a quick bob of his head for a salute and says simply, "Pardon the interruption but I have come to deliver a message. You have been invited to a meeting with Master Goverbandy at his residence in the Gold Crescent to a discuss a matter of some delicacy. He will reward your attention and all due haste."

Salvia, the halfling gives a simple shrug. "A man of wealth but solitary. Much is rumored but little proved. He pays decently for my services when needed so I have little bad to say. You can find his home in the Gold Crescent. It is the only one with jade-colored roofing tiles. I have been requested to recruit several others so please wait at the bottom of the road leading to the Gold Crescent and I shall lead you all together."

Winter, the halfling bows and says, "As you wish. I have been instructed to contact a few others first. Please wait at the bottom of the road leading to the Gold Crescent and I shall lead you all together."

Hermann, the halfling bows and says, "The sooner the better. I have requested the help of others who will be waiting at the bottom of the road leading to the Gold Crescent in one hour. If you are late you will have to find the way by yourself."

Upon everyone arriving, the messenger leads you up a steep road to a neighborhood called the Gold Crescent. It overlooks the harbor from a bluff, removed from the piratic riffraff that so infests this place. He stops in front of a three-story house near the center of the Gold Crescent. The house—built from brick and covered in ivy—features a four-gabled roof with a tower out front, roofed in jade-green tiles. Shutters cover the glass windows on the ground floor, while the windows of the upper floors remain un-shuttered. The house stands on a half-acre property surrounded by neglected, overgrown gardens and a stone wall beyond them, 4 yards high and crowned with spikes and broken glass. A wrought iron gate stands closed with an old ringing bell bolted to the stone next to it.

"There should be one more of you who will hopefully arrive soon..."

The messenger pulls the bell's cord and it begins to ring. The front door opens and a tall, thin man with a mop of greasy gray hair, he wears a black suit emerges. He pulls out a key from his breast pocket and unlocks the iron gate. It swings open with a creak.

"Thank you, Phillip. I will take it from here," the man says with an equally creaky voice. The messenger bows and departs back the way you all came. He turns to you all. "I am Mr. Goverbandy's butler, Gregory. Please come this way."

The house interior is old but cozy and well-kept. You don't get to see much of it as Gregory leads you to one of the first rooms off the foyer. It is a library. Curtains cover the room’s window. Shelves lining the walls from floor to ceiling A writing desk and chair occupy the room’s center, with leather couches and wingback chairs nearby. A hookah stands on the desk next to a box of matches and several charcoal medallions.

"Mr. Goverbandy is indisposed at the moment but will be with you shortly. I will bring refreshments. Please make yourselves comfortable." With a bow he exits the room, shutting the door behind him.

The shelves hold books on a variety of subjects, from the occult and demon-ology to histories, geographies and travelogues, philosophy, science, and pseudoscience. Some of the books lack proper titles and seem to be personal notebooks or unpublished books. Others are very rare and expensive.

Salvia reads through some journals of Goverbandy's, one seems to be a chronical of his apprenticeship to a young wizard in the city many years ago. She, and Hermann, notice that the largest collection (and easiest to access at eye level) are books on alchemy.

Gregory comes and leaves a tray of drinks and local snacks while you wait before he exits the library again.

A quarter hour after you have settled into the library, Kytemnesis Goverbandy barges into the room with a woman following at his heels. The woman is tall, thin, fit and with plain, rugged features. Goverbandy has the appearance of one who has never worked: Short, doughy, and pale, he dresses in embroidered purple robes and wears a fez on his head. His bright red hair has all but given up on his scalp, evidently more comfortable hanging from the sides of his head. Thick, curly hair covers his cheeks, but he keeps his moist lips free from beard and mustache. He settles into a leather chair and begins smoking his hookah before he begins talking.

In a high-pitched, trilling voice he begins. "I have been robbed! Despite the large security force I employ to protect myself and my valuables, someone has entered my abode and pilfered from me. While the theft has not unduly affected me financially, certain items were taken that could prove dangerous in the wrong hands. I would like to hire you to recover the three stolen items. I am offering five gold coins each up front. If you can return all of the items by the end of the week, I'll pay you an additional twenty gold coins as a bonus. As part of this employment, you must keep the fact of my robbery a secret, both as a matter of social pride and to delay any who would seek to purchase my items from the thief who stole them. If you accept, I can share further details with you." He sucks on his hookah as he waits for a reply.