Group 2: Vertange "One-shot" - Jim 2

Party: Claudia De La Quinne, The Captain, Wenceslas, Vholanthus Sumquaes, Daisy Dandeigh Deveraux

We rejoin our friends at the Abbeverato, where they unwind in their own way until Vholanthus sees a group of city guards arrive, accompanied by an indignant Rusko who proclaims the party stole from the Varangians.
Sergeant Gerardo Pallacino seems to recognize the Captain as he comes out, due to a shield-related incident during a duel in their shared past, and the two share some choice words, before Gerardo notices the females of the party and promptly realigns his focus.
He then proceeds into the bar and settles in to build up a tab with his men, while the party discusses with Jim what they can do to get him off the hook. They learn from the downcast dwarf that his judge would be Iulius Sumquaes, a man known mainly as a hardline pro-Vertangian member of the Parlementari. 
Once their course is decided, they split up with him and agree to meet him at the Rusted Cartwheel, a merchant's inn near the Outer Wall.

The group then heads back in and proceeds to use female charms to pump Gerardo for information on the legal system. They learn that Jim's been hoodwinked and bamboozled into giving up what would amount to the proof of his innocence, which was taken to the court to be filed away.
They then resolve to head to the Inner City and speak to both the young lady Duree and the clerks at the Courthouse.

The journey is rather uneventful, with the party avoiding most trouble along the way, and they pull up to the Maison Duree, which is an elaborate affaire with a cold-iron fence surrounding the building.
The Captain spends some time thoroughly intimidating both of the young guards as the party waits to be shown to Lady Abdelaide. The young Lady herself appears in a frills-forward mantua, ushering the group to a discrete pavilion within the estate's bounds.
She listens with fascination and mild worry as the trouble is related that the charming scion of the House of the Three Beams finds himself entrapped in. 
She then pledges her help to the cause of the party, provides them with a carrier pidgeon (which goes by Roel, as Daisy discovers) and suggests she will provide the assistance of the Duree family at court. She also suspects that the chief instigator behind the trouble would be Francois Du Treve, due to his family's deeper understanding of the law.

Taking their leave from the Lady Adele and avoiding issues with a different group of (loudly commenting) adventurers, the party heads to the Courthouse, where they have an unfortunate encounter with a halfling clerk that provides more insight into the ordeal awaiting Jim. During the talk, a young barrister comes up to seek the confiscated paperwork and prepare the defense for Jim.

Group 1: Vertange "One-shot": Louix

Party: Fir, Egil, Detho and Vholantus Sumquaes.

The City of Vertange - AFB 97

In a city where secrets are a currency more dear than coin,
what you know can get you into trouble easier than what you don't know.

It all starts with a letter. A noble seeking assistance, offering to meet the party in the Area Vulgaris. 
The party decides to head over to a tavern known as the Abbeverato, where they arrive before their meet is due.
They seek out a table and are seen by the locals as... unusual. A group of Galetto swordsmen have been sizing up the fighters at the table and stake their claim on the party's coin.
A brutal fight later leaves all the attackers in the clutches of whichever deity would take their souls in the afterlife.

Conto Abbeva, the tavernkeeper, tries to restore order best he can but fails to do so before... "Don Inconnue", the alias used by monsieur Louix du Pleur de Nicheries, enters and seats himself at the party's table.
The group discusses the issues with Louix (and frankly, interrogates him), before discovering there are men who want to see him dead, because he is to bring testimony at the court of Scales tomorrow at noon.
What he asks from the party is protection so he can stand witness and he promises coin for their efforts.

The group takes him up on the offer, and after debating which location would serve best to keep him safe, head out for the Temple of the Order of the Scorched Oath, where Fir knows enough folks to ensure sanctuary and where Rachel, another friend, currently studies the deep Mysteries.

As the group makes their way there, they walk into an ambush and fight their way free, to arrive at the Temple for the evening.     

Group 2: Vertange "One-shot" - Jim

 Party: Claudia De La Quinne, The Captain, Wenceslas, Vholanthus Sumquaes, Daisy Dandeigh Deveraux

The city of Vertange - AFB 97

Idleness rarely pays, a lapse in devotion to duty brings trouble to a foreign noble.

It all starts with a letter. A noble seeking assistance, offering to meet the party in the Area Vulgaris. 
We meet our heroes as they head there and into a wonderful bar known as the Abbeverato, run by the scrawny but reliable Conto Abbeva.
They are the center of attention for a bit as Vholanthus apparently has a bit of a reputation in this bar, leading to a group of men dressed in various offcuts of wild animals approaching the table that the party chose for seating.
As it turns out, these men introduce themselves as Rusko and the Varangian guardsmen, the elite defenders of the Imperial family but they have malevolent motivations, as they seek to deprive the party of coin. A brawl breaks out, leaving two of the attackers dead and the party chasing off the remainder after the Captain lightens their coin purse instead.
 
After the commotion dies down, a young dwarf arrives to speak to the party.
Jim of the House of the Three Crossed Beams is a traveling representative for his family's bourbon business, and he arrived in Vertange just as the Season of Celebrations hit the garden of the Fleurs Nobles. Having attended a ball of seven, Jim has grown close with a young lady, the debutante miss Abdelaide Duree (dite Adele), and found himself so entranced by her grace and beauty that he considered requesting her hand in marriage, after she suggested such a thing would be well in the cards.
This, in turn, rubbed some other noble contenders the wrong way. Before long, charges were brought against Jim, casting the cloud of smuggling suspicions on the young dwarf.
Jim, at the end of his wits with the court appointment looming on the next noon, now turns to the party to help him build a defense against the harsh punishment that may ensue should he be convicted as a smuggler. He knows of three rivals for the hand of miss Duree, at least three with the political savvy to create a case against him: Francois Du Tréve, Ignacius De Bouchee and Azure Tesodi.

The party sits back and recovers from the recent battle while they mull over the options.