🏙️ Setting: High Forge#
The party is in the dwarven city of High Forge, a place with strict rules. Foreigners are generally restricted to the Market Ward unless they have paperwork or sponsorship. The Market Ward is full of inns, traders, bars, and entertainment venues—and hosts the city’s underground racing scene.
🎸 Act I: The Rock Show & Social Hub#
- Location: A raucous rock venue in the Market Ward.
- Hellasana has picked up a late-night performance slot. The crowd is small but energetic, and she becomes a local sensation for the night, gathering an impromptu fan club.
- Bru assists with technical support, tearing down gear and lamenting poor-quality stage setup by the prior act.
- Silas negotiates a lucrative performance contract with the venue while holding a mysterious briefcase full of gold.
🏁 Act II: Elspeth’s Underground Racing Comeback#
- Elspeth, a former professional racer, is navigating her return to the underground scene after a controversial disqualification.
- At the bar, she meets her former associate Thelvult, now sponsored by a major team.
- She reveals to Thelvult that she believes she was framed for race cheating (overpowering her vehicle), and that her car had been tampered with.
- Thelvult encourages her to join the upcoming underground race, providing her with contact info for Miss Talks, the punk-rock headhunter managing race entries.
- Elspeth signs up under the name Team Cooper, aware this might draw attention.
🏎️ Race Structure and Team Roles#
The underground race on Sunday is large-scale (rumored 100 participants) and chaotic. Teams typically include:
- Racer
- Mechanic
- Spotter
- Saboteur (to disrupt other teams)
- Law Influencer (to manipulate legal consequences mid-race) Elspeth contemplates assembling her allies for these roles but hasn’t made formal asks yet.
🧳 Act III: The Briefcase Heist#
- Silas, Red, and Elspeth leave the club with a briefcase full of gold.
- Red carries Silas and the case through the city like a bodyguard.
- They attempt to reach Olivia’s apartment in the residential area, but are stopped by city guards. Visitors need special papers.
- Silas decides to forge the necessary documents using his charlatan skills, which will take at least an hour.
- The group detours back to a rented garage, where Elspeth discovers someone has tampered with her race car.
🛠️ Act IV: Investigation and Sabotage#
- While inspecting her vehicle, Elspeth confirms sabotage—someone who understands car mechanics tried to subtly damage her rig.
- Olivia joins the garage group early the next morning and sets up coffee and food.
- A Warforged named Racecar arrives with a cryptic warning: “You should not race. You are being targeted.”
- Racecar gives a clear description of the saboteur: a short, green-skinned goblin wearing black (turtleneck, gloves, pants). The team now has a suspect.
- Olivia, suspicious, interrogates Racecar and confirms the sabotage warning is real, but Racecar cannot name the culprit.
🍷 Act V: Hellasana & Bru’s Drunken Adventure#
- Hellasana and Bru, basking in post-show fame, party hard at the bar.
- Hellasana handles adoring fans while Bru gets blackout drunk.
- Bru eventually falls into a pool on the way to the motel and wanders lost before finally finding his room around 7 a.m.
- Hellasana secures her room with a fraction more dignity.
🔍 Act VI: Olivia’s Side Story – George & Finnegan#
- Olivia spends her night alone investigating the disappearance of her grand-nephew George.
- She stops by a local bodega (owned by “Bo Dega”) and chats with a shopkeeper.
- She learns George was seen with a suspicious halfling named Finnegan—charming, young, blonde, and always around shady people.
- Back at her apartment, Olivia finds a surprise note on her conspiracy board:
“If I go missing, find my lockbox under Olivia Cooper. – George”
- She adds “Finnegan” to her growing board of suspects and notes to install a security system.
☀️ Act VII: Morning of the Guild Job#
- As dawn breaks, the garage group wakes to coffee and muffins thanks to Olivia.
- They prepare for their 6 a.m. meeting with the Steven Guild, who had hired them to protect a caravan.
- The team shares intel about the upcoming race, Racecar’s warning, and the need to find out who sabotaged Elspeth’s car.
- Silas warns Red about a local Twilight Company branch operating near the venue—possibly dangerous or relevant to the race.
- The group now juggles multiple threads:
- A risky underground race
- A mysterious goblin saboteur
- A missing family member
- A performance tonight
- And a morning caravan job for the Steven Guild
🎭 Party Dynamics & Emerging Themes#
- Elspeth: Driven, betrayed racer seeking justice.
- Silas: Schemer with connections and charm, navigating danger with subtlety.
- Red: Loyal and strong, but possibly in over his head.
- Bru: Technical genius and chaos goblin—unpredictable but valuable.
- Hellasana: Rising star torn between fame and duty.
- Olivia: Savvy and deeply invested in both family and justice.