Gangs of New Argot

• Hespero and the heroes are detained at the docks for kidnapping The Ambassador from Mineos
• Hespero is arrested

From the deck of Hespero’s ship, you can see the docks district of Argot outside the city walls. Rather than returning through the Undercity, under Merrows Falls, Hespero wishes to make a triumphant return, wielding the Duergar contract.

Hespero’s slave Baltsaros awaits your arrival. He looks upon you all with grave concern and tells Hespero, “Much has happened, Master. We must get to the manor with haste.”

Unloading from the docks, however, you sense a strange air among the dockworkers and sailors all around. As you make your way off the dock, you see a crowd of people amassing.

There are cries out from the crowd. “You’ve doomed us all!” and “To the cells with you!” Hespero approaches the ringleader, a man leading a group of brawny fighters wielding clubs. As residents of Argot, you would understand that the gangsters are hirelings of a prominent citizen. They wear yellow armbands with a stylized gardenia painted on.

This citizen is Calantha Aran. She is a prominent figure and currently on the Council. She is running for treasurer.

Hespero tells the ringleader while fixing his eyes upon him, “I suggest you tell your people to calm down.”

The ringleader immediately obeys and attempt to calm the mob down, telling them to let you and your friends through. After a long time, he manages to and a path opens up to let you through the city.

Along the way, people stare at the lot of you as Baltsaros explains the situation.

“The Mineosi Ambassador has come to the courts to demand that there be an investigation into their own disappearance. Yesterday, before the judge, Damfina Colodrise was in tears, testifying that Livius Anastasius Cratius, Abraham Washington, and the ‘foreigners Sora Nemmonis and Casimir Flüf’ conspired to kidnap, torture, and murder one of the ambassadors to obtain information. Now the Ambassador is demanding justice and an investigation, or risking the Empire’s wrath. The lots for judge were yesterday. Polos Devenir is hearing the case.”

Election Eve

After a whirlwind day wherein Livius was served, Hespero was arrested, Casimir Flüf stole a magic earpiece, and you met a mind flayer, you all retired to Abraham’s home on the edge of town.

Abe went a-fishin’, Malbec Riesling went a-fulfillin’ his demon contract (please note that even though Aaron will likely not play for a very long time, you will for sure experience the consequences of his decision), and you awoke to a knock at the door. Baltsaros, Abe’s will-they-won’t-they and Hespero’s slave, requests that you come meet with Hespero in jail.

You entered Old Town which is surrounded by an anti-magic field.

The following happened in an order I am unsure about:

Armand on the outs

You arrive at Hespero’s manor. A knock at the door:

Noticeably agitated, Armand Colodrise cries out, “The vultures cannot give us one moment’s peace!”

Hespero hurries to the door and after confirming with the people on the other side that they were not there to conduct a search, he allows them in.

At the door, you see a familiar face: the Ambassador, flanked by two Argotian court officials. They are brand-new. They would have been rotated in with the latest crop of judges.

“This unorthodox approach to governance has left me at the mercy of these incompetents, I am afraid.” The new court officials look noticeably annoyed but do not dare say anything to contradict the Ambassador. “We heard that you had all returned to Argot. Pleased to see you made the voyage back. I wanted to introduce you to my counsel.”

Wearing what some might describe as a power toga (bright red diagonal stripes), a lean creature glides into the room. At first glance, it looks as though an octopus has landed on its head. Its strange head pulses as a voice echoes in your head, saying, in common, “Pleased to meet you.” The creature inclines its head. “I am Pinot Merlot of the interdimensional law firm Sauvignon, Sangiovese, and Merlot. I am the counsel for the Mineosi Ambassador.”

Hovering around it and the Ambassador are strange floating creatures with tall eye stalks, noodle-y appendages, and round bodies. There are about eight of these, all taking notes with their appendages on glowing tablets. One of the creatures points its eyes at Sora curiously before returning to its note-taking.

“Pardon, they are my paralegals. I trust we will be able to get this resolved with justice prevailing. I have just been studying your state’s legal code and history of cases, and in particular, motions enacted by your counsel, Mister Hespero. I came here as well merely to see if anyone would just like to have a chat, they are welcome to. We will be at the Embassy outside of city limits.”

“Thank you again for your time,” says the Ambassador. “Go ahead.” He gestures to the court officials and they pounce and begin searching the house.

Hyper-god forbid

After fooling Damfina Colodrise into thinking that Allegra Damaskenos wants to meet with them at the Mineosi Embassy, the gang went to the embassy disguised as Allegra and a slave.

The gang visited the embassy and talked to Pinot Merlot, the Mineosi counsel / mind flayer. Merlot suggested that the gang turn on Hespero and provide evidence that he was the mastermind behind the kidnapping.

We want more than anything to avoid an international incident. The Mineosi Ambassador does not wish to recommend to the Deathless Emperor responding with extreme economic measures or, hyper-god forbid, military action. The Mineosi are a civilized people, they assure me. I can’t tell the difference. If you can get something on Hespero that proves that he assaulted and kidnapped an Ambassador, then we will drop our case against you and accuse Hespero of it, or of something else.

Sora’s blackmail quest

Sora went to General Leandro’s manor and spotted Allegra. She applied pressure on Leandro to, I believe, support siding with the Werriadi after he is re-elected general. Please remind me on this one.

Livius’s hearing (with ole Polos)

You discovered that Polos Devenir, from episode one, Bumpkos Island, is your judge.

Livius went to his hearing for possession of magical items. He was let off by selected judge Polos Devenir, dinosaur hunter, since there was already a charge of kidnapping against him and because he made him a sandwich and because he remembered how they got along on Bumpkos.

Jailhouse crock

You discovered that the Hespero in jail is a doppelgänger who works for Hespero.

The gang returned to the jail and talked to Hespero’s doppelgänger again. The doppelgänger told them that they were able to get out, but only after dropping the dime on Malbec. Malbec had found a statute to turn Polos’s property in the city into public land, and Hespero agreed to buy the land at auction and hand it over to Polos in exchange for the charges being dropped.

Hespero approaches Malbec with a sad gaze. “I am free of the magic charges. Polos Devenir agreed to throw the case out.” He looks at you sheepishly. “I could only do it if I confessed that you were responsible for turning his land into public property. I must now purchase his land at auction and return it to him free of charge. I apologize, Malbec, old chum, but Çaina assured me it was the only way I could get out of the charges. And unfortunately, I could not stop him from disbarring you. He was just so livid. But don’t worry, as you know, that is a blatant abuse of power. And once he is out of office and loses immunity, he’ll be sued by the city attorney. Foolish of him to do so since it’s a death sentence and he’ll almost certainly lose,” Hespero adds, looking away, almost wistfully, “but it’s only a year, Malbec. You’ll get back on your feet.”

Additionally Polos disbarred Malbec. The gang later sees Polos, seemingly shocked by his own actions. The gang learns that Polos would be subject to abuse of power charges (which carries a possible death sentence) after his term as judge expires.

You returned to Hespero’s manor, only to find him unconcerned with your case and dismissive of your worries.

Cone of Cold, first of many

For reasons I cannot recall, the gang goes grave digging (for zombie fodder I believe). Unbeknownst to them, they were tailed by Allegra, who attacks them. Sora falls unconscious after a cone of cold strikes the team. Thanks to Livius’s zomboys, however, Allegra is soon turned into zombie fodder herself.

That is where we will return, at night, in the graveyard, with General Leandro’s wife dead in your arms and ready to be turned into a zombie.

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