Episode 4: Dinner in Claykeep

Dinner in Claykeep is the most recent adventure of the Harlowe Traveling Adventure Brokerage.

Plot
Two weeks following the conclusion of the incident in High Ostberg, an invitation arrives for Phillipe Marienburg, requesting his presence (+1) at the Fouceud Estate in Claykeep for a dinner party and gala ball on the night of the new moon. At roughly the same time, a message is sent to Brecca Sylen from a mysterious Z, requesting his presence at the Thieves' Guild headquarters in Claykeep on the Night of the Waning Crescent, three days before. The party has also been notified by Marla Harlowe (via a letter to Phillipe) that they should come to the Pick and Swing tavern in the Claykeep mining district around the same time to discuss some of the potential new contracts Marla has been receiving after word of the party's surviving the dreadful machinations of Thibault de Luxe of the Elder Consortium has gotten around.

1. Day/Night of the Waning Crescent
Susuru arrives in Claykeep to make contact with Alois, an employee of the Hearts of Claykeep mining company who has promised (in exchange for a minor artifact, the rod of illusory pornography) to give Susuru access to the company's Warehouse 23. According to Susuru's research, the mining company has been preparing an extremely large shipment of mining equipment for export north along the road to the Far Reaches, and Susuru suspects this may have something to do with the Research Division D letter.and/or the Elder Consortium. Foiling a brief attempt on the part of Alois to mug him for the magic item, Susuru makes it into the warehouse to confirm the shipment's presence, but is unable to find any records relating to the transaction.

The next morning, the party as a whole (accompanied by Richard von Heidelberg) arrives in town and travels to the Pick and Swing, where they rendezvous with Susuru. After this, Marla Harlowe arrives to reveal that their next assignment will be to enter the Claykeep Iron Mine at the request of Lucius Hackfleisch from the Hearts of Claykeep, in order to investigate rumors that the mine is "haunted." A meeting with Eulalie Vignefille, head of the Hearts of Claykeep company and a member of the Establishmentarian party, reveals that although the company thinks the rumors of the haunting are bogus, the miners won't actually work the section of the mine in question. The party's job will be simply to investigate the mine, prove that there are in fact no ghosts, and return to the surface.

Brecca slips away from the rest of the party (aided by Ern, who whips the miners into a frenzy of drunken song) to meet with Zacharias at the Thieves' Guild office. After briefly sending two assassins, Flips and Rosebud, after Brecca to ensure that his "skills have not become rusty" (and to entertain Zacharias), the guildmaster takes Brecca's copy of the Research Division D letter, intending to give it to the original client for whom Zacharias had attempted to steal it. Brecca is then given a new assignment: on behalf of the governor, Achim Zeidersee, Brecca must investigate Lord Barrabas Fouceud and attempt to determine why he's stopped supporting the governor and the Discretionist Party the governor represents. In exchange, Zacharias will give Brecca an unnamed sum of gold, as well as advancement in the guild and the personal favor of killing someone Brecca requests to be killed.

The party also visits the Fighters' Guild, investigates rumors of a man with no memory at the Shrine of Ceres hospital, and experiences a tense exchange between Philippe and Richard at the Pick and Swing.

2. The Iron Mine and Investigations
The next day, the party descends into the Claykeep Iron Mine to investigate the hauntings. They find no ghosts, but do find a small encampment of orc raiders who've gained access to the mine from the valley outside, along with the missing and presumed dead miner Walder Kohl. Kohl, now a vampire, attacks the party, draining blood from Katoki before being dispatched. Another vampire, a missing orc scout named Avdotia, is also encountered and defeated (although not before biting Arden and inflicting energy drain on Wren), along with a pair of undead horses. Clearly something is amiss at the mine, and the clue to solving the mystery may lie in the business card found in Walder Kohl's ersatz coffin: a business card for a mysterious "Club Nightshade."

After a conversation with Eulalie Vignefille at Warehouse 23, during which the party is commissioned to discover the source of the vampires and to shut down the infestation, the party sets out to investigate Club Nightshade, along with the Fouceud family. Through research by Susuru and Arden at the League of Mundane Governors archives, it's discovered that the Fouceuds are the owners of the Pick and Swing, the land granted to Claykeep for the town cemetery, and a small house bordering the cemetery. A visit to the house reveals an elderly married couple, Alain and Thierry, who seem suspicious when questioned by Philippe and Brecca. Meanwhile, Susuru attempts to chase down the shipment of mining equipment that he suspects is intended for the Elder Consortium, pursuing it and its Fighters' Guild escort down the road, but the trail seems to lead to an empty clearing with no sign of the equipment. A magical investigation reveals that a dimension door spell may have teleported the mining gear elsewhere, once out of sight of Claykeep.

Frustrated with the tedious work of investigating, the party decides to infiltrate the supposed stronghold of the vampires by main force, sending Susuru and Brecca to break into Alain and Thierry's basement while the rest of the party assaults the Fouceud mausoleum within the cemetery. An increasingly erratic Katoki tries to break down the slab of the mausoleum, triggering a magical alarm, while Susuru and Brecca encounter an angry bouncer and a terrifying, circling trio of bats. In the confusion, Lyra escapes the cemetery while the rest of the party subdue and abduct the head of the Undertaker's Guild, Brom Bones. After interrogating Brom Bones, it's revealed that the undertaker works for "the vampires," but only through agents. According to him, the vampires have been in Claykeep for "centuries," and there's some implication that Alain and Thierry may be working for them as well.

Upon the party's departure from the cemetery, it's discovered that Lyra is missing. An attempt to track the wolf leads to Alain and Thierry's door. Lyra was wagging her tail shortly before disappearing into the house.

Throughout all of these doings, Brecca has been repeatedly making secret visits to Zacharias, both at the head thief's request and seeking help with the investigation. Katoki, Arden, and Ern also made a visit to Zacharias in an attempt to procure magical scrolls. Zacharias managed to elicit the names of the members of the Harlowe company, as well as Katoki's signature on a business card. Gretchen von Heidelberg also arrives in town, intending to keep her date with Philippe to the ball. Philippe, a man of honor, chooses to attend the ball with Brecca as promised, prompting Gretchen to say that she could "hardly expect a man such as Philippe von Marienburg simply to be given to her," and promising to attend the ball on her own terms in order to "win" Philippe.

3. Club Nightshade
Following a clue found on the Club Nightshade business card, the party investigates Sars Dunpater, bartender at the Pick and Swing. Sars gives Katoki and Wren, as half-elves, access to the brothel beneath the bar, where they encounter a mysterious prostitute named Lilith. Lilith, after asking the adventurers "what they live for" and whether they would want to pursue that activity "forever," offers each of them a pass to Club Nightshade, which is revealed to be beneath Alain and Thierry's house. With the rest of the party attempting to scry from the neighboring rooftop, Katoki and Wren descend into Club Nightshade, a subterranean bar with live music performed by Eva and her Weird Sisters, the possibly vampiric songstresses Eva, Pentagelle, and Madonna. The two offer a blood pledge to the club and the "big people" who run it by way of the vampiress Tessa, and are informed that a recruited for the "big people" will be at the club the next night--coincidentally, the night of the ball at the Fouceud Estate. Wren, asking after Lyra, is informed that the wolf was taken to wherever the "big people" are. The two are able to leave the club peacefully, albeit with somewhat weaker constitutions.

The day before the ball at the Fouceud estate dawns, with the party making preparations to infiltrate the Fouceud mausoleum, to find and speak to the recruiter at Club Nightshade, and of course to investigate the Fouceud Estate itself, and perhaps finally to meet its enigmatic master, Barrabas.

4. The Ball
At the ball, Brecca, disguised as Lord Cavalcanti, is surprised to encounter the long-presumed-dead Emir Kovalgo wearing the Fouceud livery. Assuming (correctly) that Emir is now a vampire in the Fouceud family's service, Brecca attempts to interrogate Emir at the ball, only to be hypnotized by Emir's vampiric gaze and knocked out.

At the same time, Katoki and Wren attempt to infiltrate Club Nightshade in order to meet this recruiter, a situation that quickly turns problematic when the recruiter recognized Wren as somehow already being a member of the vampire organization. Although Katoki attempts an armed standoff with the inhabitants of the club, Wren convinces her to surrender, and the two are taken captive.

Susuru, Arden, and Ern are able to infiltrate the Fouceud mausoleum, where they find a stable dimension door within the coffin of Barrabas Fouceud, Senior that transports them deep beneath the earth of Claykeep to the Undercity, a strange fortress populated by vampires and half-elf servants and children. After penetrating deep within the facility, the group finds the missing Lyra, accompanied by the duplicate of Wren from the mirror in the cathedral. The Wren duplicate has now become a vampire and entered the Fouceud service. Despite Susuru's attempt to communicate with Lyra using a speak with animals potion, Lyra is unable to comprehend the notion that Vampire Wren is not her Wren, and she attacks the party. Although the party is able to put her and Vampire Wren to sleep, they are overcome by Emir Kovalgo, now openly commanding a group of vampiric guards.

At the ball, Philippe dances with Gretchen von Heidelberg and is confronted by Barrabas Fouceud, Junior, the seemingly middle-aged heir to the Fouceud estate.

5. An Alliance is Proposed
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6. The Fall of Zacharias
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