Sister Talk/Wizard's Message

Summary
Flamerule 5

The party arrives in Ordulin after fleeing from Yhaunn. They find an inn, the Six Candles Inn and do some equipment shopping, mainly looking for potions. Akari and Aria perform at the inn for a free night. They listen to rumors from the crowd. They hear talk that Sembia's leader needs to spend more money at home and less on foreign aid. Also, piracy is supposed to be up, so shipping companies are raising prices, but some merchants think they're spreading false stories to justify raising their rates. In the morning, they are having breakfast in the common room, and a female wood elf dressed as a mage spots them and approaches. Aria looks up and realizes it's her missing sister, Levina, and jumps up to hug her. Aria sits her down and explains some of her past and how first she thought Levina was dead in the circus big tent fire, then found out later she was alive.
Levina explains that the night of the fire, Torin was stopped by a group of Red Wizards from Thay. He fought them with magic and also seem to transform into a taller, gaunter figure. In the magical battle, the tent was set on fire. Levina was saved by a group of Harpers who were following the Red Wizards. When Levina awoke, she had amnesia and it was a few days before the Harpers could get her to a priest to be healed. Afterwards, she joined the Harpers. They decided to follow the circus because they had lost their lead when Torin killed the red Wizards and now they're curious as to what he is and why the Red Wizards were after him. Levina agreed so she could check on her siblings. When they caught up, Aria and Ezra had already left the circus, so Levina knew they had survived and escaped. The Harpers and Levina continued to follow the circus, using her inside knowledge to spy on them. There were some strange deaths and disappearances in towns the circus passed through. Levina lost her patience, and one night when she was supposed to be watching Torin, she turned invisible and broke into his wagon. The only thing odd she found was a chest containing a black skull. When she touched it, there was a pulse of magic and her invisibility was gone and Torin was behind her. His hand and fingers doubled in size, growing claws. He slashed at her, cutting her clothes and belt and ripping away the pouch with her diary in it. She used Misty Step to get away, then turned invisible again and fled. She reported back to the Harpers, they decided they needed to report in to higher authority and figure out what to do next. Levina left them and has spent the spring searching for her siblings. She has heard rumors of a wood elf necromancer and believes that is Ezra. Aria shows Levina her diary with the missing pages, Levina says those are the pages she wrote after seeing Torin's monster form and joining the Harpers.
While Levina has been talking, Furath casts Detect Magic to see if she is an illusion or some such, but she appears normal, with just a protective Mage Armor spell active. But he also notices that he cannot see any of the magic items Akari has and that Aria has a magic ring on her finger that is invisible and covered by some kind of illusion spell. he mentions it to Aria and she realizes no one else can see the ring. She tries to take it off, but can't. She starts to pull and worry at it. Furath discusses using Dispel Magic on it, maybe it is cursed.
Suddenly a winter pixie appears in midair in front of Dolomoth and squeaks out a warning of danger and disappears again. Fog fills the common room. Prim jumps up and draws her sword in case of attack, but she is facing the wrong way. A hag appears behind Levina and grabs her in a bear hug, breaking her back and killing her instantly. Akari hits the hag with Vicious Mockery and Aria follows up with Toll the Dead and Joan slams an overcharged Guiding Bolt into the hag. The people in the tavern flee for safety. Furath hits it with Fire Bolt and prepares a Dragon's Breath. Prim moves behind the hag and stabs it deeply with Hope's End and Dolomoth finishes it with a Hex/Eldritch Blast combo.
Aria checks her sister, but it's too late, she's gone. The rest of the party check the hag and take her items, some coins and gems and a potion. People from the inn are outside in the street screaming for help and a detachment of the town guard arrives. They assess the situation and Joan steps in. The guard agrees to remove the hag's body for destruction and Joan orders Levina's body taken to Lathander's local temple. The party gathers around Aria and decides to go someplace else to talk. Furath approaches her and speaks to her about the ring. Aria still can't remove it and is getting frantic, will she have to cut off her finger or even her hand? They finally decide to try Dispel Magic. The spell works, sweeping aside the invisibility, but revealing a deeper horror. Aria's finger starts to hurt and she looks down. The ring, which was given to Aria by Torin and appeared to have eye-like gem, is actually a one eyed, centipede-like creature! Its legs and mouth are embedded in her flesh. Now Aria really begins to panic and is trying to figure out how to get it off. Joan steps in and casts Sacred Flame on the centipede. It dies and falls away, Joan takes Aria's hand and heals it. Furath retrieves the dead centipede and they get off the street and find a table in another inn.
Aria tries to put all that she knows and what Levina told them together. Their parents were given a prophecy when Levina came of age that one of their children would raise an army of darkness and bring destruction to their realm. One of their children would face the dark one and another would be sacrificed. They assumed Levina was the hero and either Aria or Ezra the evil one. They decided to abandon the two younger children, but Levina ran away with them and after a few years, they ended up working for Torin's circus. The seer who gave them the prophecy had a ring like the one Torin gave Aria and now she wonders if the seer was really Torin. Was the prophecy true or has he manipulated their family all along? He knew Levina was alive after the battle in the big top, but he lied and manipulated Ezra into becoming a necromancer. He gave Aria the "ring" when she left the circus, was he using it to spy on her? When Levina appeared and told her the truth, a fey appeared and killed Levina, was it sent by Torin to stop her from helping Aria? And he sent Aria Levina's diary after their fight, was he trying to get Aria to find Levina for him? What is Torin's goal? Why did he set Ezra on the path to necromancy? Aria is unsure whether to pursue Ezra or Torin, but if Torin is a supernatural creature that defeated a group of Red Wizards, he may be beyond their power. Also the circus is heading north and away from them, Ezra is somewhere to the south west and closer to them. The party needs to decide which way they go to find Ezra. He is somewhere to the south west, do they go west or south first? Furath and Joan both want to go south to Saerloon where their father was reported to have moved, and Akari is looking for the last of her parents' adventuring companions, a wizard who also lives in Saerloon. They decide they are too close to turn aside, so they decide to depart the next day. Aria is concerned about Levina's body, now that she is truly dead, could Ezra try something? Aria decides to have Levina cremated, Joan makes arrangements for the church to send her ashes home, but Aria keeps a small vial of her ashes as proof of her death.
the party departs the next day for Saerloon. It should be an easy five day trip, but a couple days of heavy summer rains slow them and they arrive on Flamerule 13th and find rooms at the Black Viper Inn. Akari leads the party to the wizard's house, it is locked up tight, all the windows are drawn and they spot two people pretending to be locals who are watching the house. They decide to come back after midnight. Again they play in the inn and listen for rumors. They hear about a local member of the ruling merchant council who died, originally it was thought to be an accident, she choked while eating. But the rumors now say she may have been poisoned or killed by death magic. Late at night, they return to the wizard's house, there are no lights on inside, only magical lights above the front and back doors. And they spot three people watching the house. Dolomoth, Furath and Prim are turned invisible. Furath and Prim watch the bad guys out front, the rest of the party approaches the back door. Akari casts Unseen Servant and has it knock on the door, a Magic Mouth spell replies that the house is closed, go to the front door. A second knock delivers a warning that the house has magical defenses. Akari has the Servant pick up a rock and try to throw it through a window. The rock bounces off and a bolt of lightning arcs from the window, blinding most of them. Two of the watchers out front heard something and head down an alley, Furath follows them, but accidentally leaves Prim behind because they're both invisible. One of the watchers is also blinded by the lightning flash. The last watcher starts moving and Prim attacks him, but misses and loses her invisibility. The rest of the party heads back out front as the other two watchers circle around the back. Prim drops the third watcher with an assist from Aria, and they head to the front door, dragging the dead guy. The front door asks them their name and Akari answers and the doors open. They all head inside with the dead body. Another Magic Mouth tells Akari to go to a moneylender on Coin street and ask him for Green Box Six. They leave the dead body behind and escape into the night.
The next morning, they listen to rumors over breakfast. The wood elf necromancer has been spotted again, digging up all battlefield corpses at Peldan's Helm. Akari leads them to the moneylender and asks for the box. One of the staff brings here a wood box with not lock, he demonstrates he cannot open it. He hands it to Akari and she is able to lift the lid. She is shown to a private room and she goes through the box and finds an amulet and two letters. The amulet has two gemstones, but one is cracked. the first letter is a letter of credit for 500 gold for Akari, she can present it to the moneylender. The other is a letter from her family's wizard friend Adril Hascabaran. In the letter, he says he knows her father is dead and her mother is missing. The amulet was made long ago, the cracked stone means her father is dead, but the intact stone means her mother is alive. If she puts her finger on the stone and concentrates, it will give her the direction to her mother as long as she's on the same plane. If she dies, the gem will crack. If Akari needs more help, she can travel to the city of Baldur's Gate and seek out the wizard Lexie Ravenwing for help. To speed her journey, Adril tells her how to use a clerical teleportation portal in Cormyr that will take her most of the way.
Flamerule 13

Silly Quotes and Smart Remarks
We were discussing feeding cats and having to say "That's all you get" to cats on a diet
Jim put out bowls of chips, salsa and mexican chili-cheese dip
Jack "That's all you get"

The party is staying at the Six Candles Inn
Evan "We were going to celebrate Hanukhah, but we're short"

Browsing the potion shop, they had Protection from Acid
Katya "Also known as Tums"

Katya's bard Akari has fabulous persuasion skills
Katya "I just want to put on a fake moustache and use my Persuasion to convince people I'm a man"
Jim "So people will be like 'You look like a sexy woman, but you're really a man?' "
Jack "My moustache is up here"

The party is under attack by a hag
Brittany "Danger Will Robinson! Fuck!"
Akari uses Vicious Mockery
Evan "Are you from Tennessee? You look inbred"
Aria hits the hag with Toll the Dead
Jack "Ring her bell"
Discussing hags can change their appearance
Katya "And she chose that?

Discussing the secrets Levina revealed to Aria, which are based on the backstory Brittany wrote
Brittany "I'm rereading what I wrote and… oh, fuck"
Jim "You're really fucked"

Talking about upcoming revelations
Katya (about Akari's family) "We are the assassins' guild"
Jim "That would be a good plot twist; your parents were the heads of the guild, but they wanted to retire quietly but the guild wouldn't let them"
The party knows Furath and Joan's father slept with a dwarf and an elf, who else might he have slept with?
Jim "I really wanted to give Joan and Furath a half-orc sibling. I wonder if they could have any human siblings?"
Katya "That's too mainstream"

Discussing Torin sent the hag after Levina
Jack "The hag is like a tactical airstrike; 'We've got the greenlight, drop the hag'. If she turned into a rug, it's the definition of carpet bombing"
Jim <groans> "Give me a chip"
Jack "Worth it"

Taking about choosing or bidding for warlock patrons
Brittany "I'd like the patron of forgetfulness, or dwarven fire whiskey"