Cobblar Languid on Tour

When they arrive at the inn in the evening it immediately becomes clear that word of the musician's presence has gone around, the street in front of the Mifora Way is filled with fans who oscillate between yelling her name and singing her songs. Kieran can't resist and grabs his lute to play one of her songs as well, unfortunately his performance of it isn't up to his usual standards.

A man in a rather rumpled sports jacket ambles over to the party as they enter Cobblar's suite. “You are the adventurers? Good to meet you, I’m Vic Danny, I’m the manager.” His handshake is clammy. “Best keep out of the way of Cobblar and that new boyfriend of hers, she doesn’t need any distractions, it’s going to be a long, long night. We do a thirty-minute set, including the encore, at each of the taverns, and need to get in and out of there as quickly as possible, without any hassle, but I’m sure mister Dannark has explained all this to you.”

He explains that he and the musicians will go to the venues in their own wagon, and the rest of the entourage go with Cobblar's wagon, he leaves it up to the party who, if anyone, they want to travel with. He then fields the party's questions before going back to a desk and taking up some paperwork.

Mimosa

As Vic leaves, a halfling woman with very smooth skin, shiny lips, her hair done up in four orbs on her head, and wearing something akin to a tracksuit comes over. “I’m Mimosa, Ms. Languid’s personal cosmetician, nice to meet you”. She looks Izzy up and down; “my, you’re quite unique, aren’t you? I love your sense of style, why don’t we go over to my table and we can exchange some tips.”

Reading on the couch is a large half-orc with a grayish skin and bright eyes. He gets up, straightens his dress suit and comes over. “Fenton Flow, publicist, pleasure to make your acquaintance, I’m sure. I hope it has been impressed upon you that you are not to speak about anything you might see or hear tonight, hmm?”

The assembled band members then introduce themselves; there's the intense shawm player, the laidback drummer, the pompous dulcimer player, the finicky lutist, and the timid violist. It immediately becomes clear they are just hired guns; they haven’t been with Cobblar before tonight.

Both Boldrek and Kieran go over to Mimosa. The barbarian wants her to spray some of the perfume he brought on Cobblar so he can track her more easily. The stylist asks why she can't use the singer's usual fragrance and once the dwarf has had a sniff of it, he's fine with her using it. The paladin wants to see an ear ring or something like that that the singer will be wearing tonight so he can locate it with a spell, Mimosa shows him one.

Eclek Sivart

Eventually a buff dwarf with a short beard, wearing an expensive suit comes over. “So you guys are the security for tonight? I’m Eclek Sivart, you might have heard of me? Recipient of the Kallfem Trophy and won the Banak Open four times. There’s really no need for you, if anything happens I’ll be there, Cob is safe as houses with me around. But I guess you guys can be of some use.”

This rankles Boldrek and he stares the other dwarf down; "I’m not impressed, I will protect her, that’s what I was hired for." Tensions rise but eventually Eclek just walks away. Somewhat later Cobblar finally makes an appearance. She's a short, raven-haired half-elf with purple eyes, dressed in a suit made of velvet with shimmering colors, almost like an oil puddle.

Our friends introduce themselves to the singer and Kieran tries to be playfully flirty, succeeding at it quite well, making Eclek frown rather unhappily but Cobblar smiles. Vic and the musicians leave, the party decides they will all stick with Cobblar. As they get downstairs Zayn casts a Silent Image of Cobblar to appear in the lobby. The fans outside that can see her go crazy and start yelling and push inside, overcoming the hired security people.

At this time everyone else goes out the back entrance where a wagon stands waiting; it is a shiny dark blue with large, silver letters on the side proclaiming: “Cobblar Languid on Tour”. There's still plenty of fans at this side of the inn and when they see the star their reaction is immediate. “I love you, Cobblar!”, the yelling is deafening as they come running. Izzy notices a slight man, maybe late twenties or early thirties, with a small mustache, reach into his jacket. He takes something out, his autograph book.

It takes a lot of strength to keep the rabid Languids, as her fans call themselves, away but eventually everyone is in the wagon and they are away. Kieran also got a seat inside, the other three party members walk along the wagon or hop on it. Eclek is all over his girlfriend as they make their way to the first venue, he's talking about their upcoming holiday to Mifora, saying they could cancel the last part of the tour, "Martell is a dump anyway". Kieran inserts himself into the conversation and tries to subtly say that Cobblar, being the consummate professional she is, would never disappoint her fans like that.

Good for What Ales Ya

They arrive at the first tavern, a large crowd is gathered outside and as they make their way into the alley behind it, the fans follow. It takes a lot to keep the fans away as they make their way to the backdoor. They arrive in a storage room, "rather smells of stale beer," Fenton Flows complains. It takes a lot to keep the backdoor shut, with the Languids pushing up against it. There are tiny windows high up on wall, but the first one breaks within a minute.

Mimosa does last minute touch-ups as musicians get ready on stage, the roar of the crowd almost deafening even in the storage room. The tavern is packed tighter than fish in a barrel, no one can move an inch. The band starts playing Go, Go, Go, and Cobblar bounds onto the stage with a lot of energy and the fans yell in ecstasy.

At the end of the first song a fan manages to get on stage. Eclek, standing in the wings, is the first to respond. He rushes out and tackles the fan to the floor. Unfortunately the dwarf lands badly and breaks his leg. He's in a lot of pain but hides it well, "I need to be brought to a temple and get healing," he tells our friends. “You can crawl that way,” one of them replies rather callously. Kieran asks Cobblar if she wants her boyfriend to be brought to a temple or if he should heal him, but the way he phrases it, he steers her towards the first option, which she picks. One of the tavern staff get the unenviable task of bringing the dwarf there.

All of this fortunately only takes a minute and then the concert is back on. The rest of the set goes without any further incidents though the place is quite rowdy and after the encore: You!, they don’t get away without a second encore: Transmuted.

After that everyone rushes off the stage and back into the storage room. From there it's quite the gauntlet to get back to the wagon. Izzy suggests she could disguise herself as Cobblar but the singer won't have it; "there is only one Cobblar!" However, without asking the star, Zayn uses another Silent Image spell to create a double of her down the street. Many Languids rush that way and that relieves the pressure in the alley and they make it into the wagon and are off to the second venue of the night.

Ales Well That Ends Well

As they approach their second destination the road is packed with fans and in the jostling a young fan gets pushed right in front of the carriage. There's no time to stop and the horses run her over. Some of our friends saw it happen and the immediately tell Kieran to come out of the wagon to take care of the victim. Much of the crowd hasn't seen the accident and now all rush towards the carriage. Zayn climbs on top of the conveyance and casts a Arms of Hadar spell, intimidating the crowd and keeping them at a distance.

The paladin meanwhile has pulled the girl, maybe around six or seven years old from under the carriage and used a healing spell to save her life. He gets back inside with her and the group continues the journey down the street, though it is quite bumpy as the horses were also quite spooked by the warlock's spell.

The tavern is not very big and the back entrance can't be reached by the wagon as the alley is too narrow for it. Instead they park the carriage so that it blocks the alley and get out into it. The fans already in there are pushed back by Boldrek and Kieran and slowly they move towards the tavern's backyard. It has stone wall and a wooden door, not much to keep the fans at bay.

The backyard is full with empty kegs and the contents of the pantry; shelves, boxes of glassware, food, etc. The backdoor leads to small kitchen, from there they can get to a tiny pantry, that has been emptied completely, explaining all the items in the backyard. It still can only hold four people uncomfortably. Vic is waiting there and suggests at least some of party come with musicians from now on, they are having a really tough time getting in as well, and setting up is also nearly impossible. Case in point: an improvised stage has been created near the bar, cordoned off with just rope, but it is filled with fans.

It looks rather difficult to play here; the tavern is packed tighter than a drum of sardines and still there are throngs of people outside, trying to get in, it's quite unsafe. But then our friends have an idea; why not play on the roof? As luck would have it the place is just one-story high and the roof is flat. So they get a ladder and help all the musicians and Cobblar get up there. The little girl gets to go up as well.

Cobblar moves back and forth on the roof so people both in the alley and on the street out front get to see her as she sings. Zayn uses a Silent Image to enhance the performance. They start off by playing Scared for the injured fan. And they change the encore to Compassionate Winter as it’s a slower song, hoping to calm people down a little.

To leave they tell the carriage driver to park right in front of the front door, there is space there now with the people on the street standing further back to be able to look onto the roof. Cobblar comes down the ladder into the backyard, goes through a much more empty tavern now, and gets into the wagon. Our friends all leave with her, ignoring Vic Danny's request for help.

Dead Men Sell No Ales

Again the streets are filled with fans but they make it to their destination after taking the scenic route so the musicians have arrived already. This tavern is on second and third floor of a stone building, the ground floor is a sculptor’s workshop. There are wooden stairs attached to building that lead to entrances on both sides. There is also pulley lifted platform used for bringing up kegs and things like that.

Kieran and Boldrek empty stairs by one blocking the bottom and the other working his way to the top. Cobblar can now get in with not too much trouble and inside there is a small green room for her and her entourage, it's quite the step up from the previous tavern. The place has as a second floor that is open in the middle with a balustrade, allowing for viewing of the stage, which is usually used for comedians. The décor is skeletons on the walls, skulls with candles on them on the tables, and that kind of stuff.

It's very full in here, of course. There is a lot of jostling; it looks unlikely that people might get pushed over balustrade. Izzy uses a Prestidigitation cantrip to make it look the wood is cracking in multiple locations, this dampens the enthusiasm enough that not accidents happen. The set goes well and a new song is played: Blood Drops on my Lute.

To exit the place the party decides on something a little harder but fortunately Cobblar is pretty athletic. They get on the pulley platform, go from there to the top of the carriage and then into it. Without any problems they leave and take the scenic route to the next place.

An Arm and a Keg

On the way, Kieran asks the singer if he can play the next encore with her. She isn't convinced but the paladin performs a piece on his lute and is quite impressive, so she accedes. When they get to the next tavern things look quite difficult, to say the least. The place is inside a former warehouse now divided into a number of businesses. There’s a tattooist, a pawn shop, a cabinet maker, a barber, and a paint maker. Large doors on either of the warehouse side form a thoroughfare, there are three places of business on either side. There is no other entrance to tavern than its front door.

This is also a much rowdier place and the regulars aren’t happy with the all the fans that have arrived. A few fights have already occurred, there is blood on the cobbles. As before, Boldrek and Kieran try to form a wedge and push their way through the crowd. But these are belligerent dock workers who don't shy away from a good brawl, especially when feeling attacked. And thus the barbarian and paladin get into a (fist-)fight.

Inside the tavern things aren't any better. There is a bar at the back of the place, spanning three quarter-width, next to it a smallish pantry, which is quite full with supplies. A stage has been cordoned off with rope but it’s filled with regulars who are willing to defend their real estate tooth and nail. All things considered everyone soon comes to the conclusion that playing here would be unsafe, their contract be damned.

And so they leave again, there's one big upshot; they are no longer over thirty minutes behind schedule but right on it. Cobblar remarks that had they gone on, they should have opened with her song Dirty. As they drive away Izzy thinks she hears a voice shouting "wait for me!" It might have been Eclek, but she decides not to mention it.

The Bard Rock Café

The final tavern of the night is actually built for music performances, it has a dressing room and everything. Outside there's a statue of a bard, hewn from rock. The back entrance has a reinforced door and the backyard has a gate about as wide as a wagon, allowing for an easy delivery of the talent. Inside there's a high stage, and good lighting and acoustics. Eclek arrives just before Cobblar is about to get on stage, he finally found them, it turns out he didn’t have a list of the venues.

As out friends take up positions in the wings and in front of the stage they start to recognize some people who were at all the other venues as well; these Languids are quite the fans. After the first song a burly half-orc with a large facial tattoo manages to jump unto the stage and rushes up to Cobblar, our friends can't quite react in time. He takes something from inside his jacket! It’s a ring, he goes down on one knee and proposes to the singer. Izzy then casts Dissonant Whispers on the man and Kieran grapples him to the ground before pulling him away together with Boldrek. Meanwhile Zayn uses Mage Hand to grab the ring that rolled away. During all this, her boyfriend did not move from his place in the wings.

Cobblar is a consummate professional and continue her set smoothly, the incident is soon forgotten and the rest of it goes without a hitch. Then they get to the encore and she invites Kieran on stage. Instead of Filled Earth he suggest they play We Found Wonderland. He performs it quite well and the crowd loves it.

Mifora Way

All that's left to do is to escort the singer back to her inn and as they get there they find that the streets in front and at the back of the place are filled with fans again, don't these people ever sleep? Fortunately a new spell has come to Zayn just now; Dimension Door. He can take Cobblar to her room straight from the carriage. He casts the spell and almost immediately they arrive in the penthouse suite.

It is unclear what exactly happened but in those brief moments traveling through another dimension the warlock developed some kind of madness; “I keep whatever I find,” his mind whispers to himself repeatedly. His Tome of Sedar now contains a new power. Fortunately Cobblar seems perfectly fine and she makes her apologies and retires to her bedroom.

Zayn starts grabbing just about anything in the room; candle sticks, the fruit platter, the saucer of chocolates, etc. He stuffs all of it into the Tea Cosy of Holding he happened to be carrying. The others eventually make it up to the suite and discover an almost fully looted room and a warlock acting quite strange, well stranger than normal. Kieran comes over and tries to pull the tea cosy away from the half-orc and they come to blows, the paladin smacking Zayn in the face.

This seems to have an effect; the new madness leaves the warlock's mind, leaving him quite surprised at his actions. They quickly empty the cosy and try and return all the items to their rightful place, getting it not quite right. Our friends apologize for what just occurred and then say their goodbyes to Vic Danny, Mimosa, and Fenton. Cobblar and Eclek stay in the bedroom.