The DM's Official Log
(May 14, 2004; Little Gracie)
Veluna City, 18 Readying, 594 CY – As the dust settled and their minds cleared, the party surveyed the carnage and havoc around them. Blood spattered everywhere, furniture overturned and broken, walls charred where alchemist's fire had burned, longswords and crossbows scattered about the dead...guess it's time to loot the bodies. They collected few magic items and some documents of note, and then Fish released the girl, Vialla. She was quite nervous about this stranger walking in--what would he do with her--but screamed in terror and nearly fainted at the chaos of dead bodies lying all about.
One of those dead bodies was Jake, with a hole in his chest. With some deliberation, they determined that they would quickly become wanted men if they didn't contact the Law of the City and set the record straight. Fortunately they had legitimate papers from Lt. Blakely of Verbobonc to verify their mission. Capt. Downing of the Hall of Justice sent a 12-man patrol to investigate the Guild, while also giving the party clearance to leave the city with a dead body. Vialla was assigned to stay in an undisclosed safehouse. Jake's body received a gentle repose spell to preserve it until he could be taken home.
Just before leaving Veluna City, Fish decided to check out the two orphanages in town to look for his lost daughter, Thorn. (A little character development on the side...)
The trip back to Verbobonc was was uneventful, but Lt. Blakely very glad to hear of their success. He agreed to have Jake's body delivered to him home with Jake's share of the party treasure and funds obtained from selling Jake's armor. Not the most personal way for a mother to hear of her son's death, but given the upcoming events and the fact that six other girls were still missing, little else could be done.
They struck out immediately on the word that there was another lead on a girl somewhere to the south in the Kron Hills. But en route, the party thought how futile it would be to rescue girl after girl--if they could--just to find out that the evil cultists were replacing them as fast as they were rescued.
Hommlett, 23 Readying, 594 CY – So...they went to the moathouse outside of Hommlett. And there they met a young blue dragon, who had recently made the moathouse his new home. So recently, in fact, that no one in Hommlett knew the creature had moved in. The party, having discovered the great lizard, told Sgt. Elmo, who just had to see for himself. Then the dragon awoke, and the conflict began.
The dragon took to the skies, hovering 20 feet off the ground and stirring up a blinding dust storm, and allowing him to get into position to blast the party with his lightning breath. Half of the men Capt. Elmo brought died instantly; everyone else but Blaznar took damage enough that they nearly died. Blaznar escaped with nary a scratch. Then, with that behind them, Newton cast web from a scroll, entrapping the dragon's hindquarters, and the party engaged it in melee.
For a while, it looked like this would be the party's end, and each had a difficult time striking true, but over a couple rounds they had whittle the dragon down enough that it tried to escape. But it was stuck in the web. And so, the dragon fought to the death, knowing it had another breath attack charging up in seconds. Before it could blast them again, though, Krog dealt the finishing blow. However, took a beating and nearly died. In the end, Sgt. Elmo is now among the few who can claim to have battled a dragon and lived to tell of it...even if it was a pretty dang small one.
(April 30, 2004; Drew’s house)
Veluna City, 15 Readying, 594 CY – Fish dug the knife in a little deeper, hoping the party’s captive would lead them straight, either to the captive girl, or to “The Boss” as he called him. The captured rogue warned them that they would surely meet with great resistance from other lackeys should they try to rescue the girl, and they would certainly die trying to reach The Boss. Did that dissuade them? Do PCs live for a challenge?
They opened a door to a long hallway with two pairs of doors to either side and one at the end. The girl, he said, was at the end (the door was trapped) and a dozen warrior/rogues would come out those doors at any moment to stop them. Blaznar grabbed some rope and quickly dashed up to the first set of doors facing across the hallway, tying their doorknobs together so that neither could be opened from the inside. When the captured rogue saw what he was doing, he yelled out for his brothers to come to action. The pair of doors farther down the hall sprang open and resistance poured out.
Blaznar and Krog met them head on—neither needing much space for their peculiar fighting styles. Newton entered the hallway with the fear-box, and frightened two of the on-coming rogues back into their rooms. Blaznar killed one as he fled. Krog bum-rushed a pair of rogues, slamming them against the trapped door. The party waited with grim expectation for terrible things to happen, but it appeared that the door itself was not the trigger. With his immense strength, Krog pinned them long enough for Blaznar to push one back into the room, but he paid for his actions by receiving several shots that he could not defend against.
Meanwhile, the rope Blaznar used to tie up the first pair of doors was slipping. Newton, standing ready, noticed this and called for Fish to quit fixating on the featureless door out front and tend to these knots before they gave out. Sidron guarded the rear, watching all doors in the front of the building, knowing that his double-sword would be difficult to manage in a hallway.
Krog felt his days being numbered again, so in a fit of barbaric rage, he released his pin and slammed both fists into the nearest rogue, killing him instantly. The other shat his drawers, and then shat them again when Krog gouged him with his spiked gauntlet and made him a human shield. Blaznar finally killed the one he battled…and then the rope holding closed the doors finally gave. (Fish’s knots proved no better since he was under pressure.)
Krog continued his killing spree, making mince meat of the remaining rogues in their room, including one who had run in fear and was now cowering on his bed in the corner. This one Krog picked up and threw through the wall into the adjoining room where he could attack the last few from behind.
As the rope fell away and the doors opened, Blaznar, Newton and Fish made ready. Fish began twirling his spiked chain, and as the first rogue ran out to attack Blaznar, Fish wrapped up his longsword and yanked it from his hand. Weaponless, Blaznar and Newton pummeled him to death. And so it went that the warrior/rogues could not stand against the assault of this party.
Krog nearly fell from exhaustion and wounds when his rage subsided, and stayed back to find healing potions among the personal effects of the rogues. As he was searching (with Newton’s aid), Sidron yelled out that others were coming up fast from the opposite direction…bigger, badder fighter-types. He braced for impact with his double-sword ready.
Fish assured their entry would be at least as perilous as the fight to come by hurling burning oil onto the floor before the doorway they emerged from, wounding two and nearly catching them on fire. Then the fight exploded. Blaznar, Sidron and Fish were forced to deal with four hulking brutes until Newton was finished dealing with a severely wounded Krog.
Fish immediately disarmed another with his spiked chain, catching him completely by surprise. And when he pulled his back-up weapon, Fish attempted to disarm his again. But the man was ready this time and pulled the chain from Fish’s grip. So Fish rushed in to grab the man’s knees and upend him. The fighter attacked but missed, breaking his mace on the floor. Quickly he broke free of Fish’s grapple, and dashed aside to grab up a loose sword. This gave Fish just enough time to recover his chain, and in the next split second he lashed out and disarmed the fighter yet again. Thus far, the fighter had taken no damage, but clearly this was the most exasperating battle he’d ever fought.
Meanwhile, Blaznar was holding his own against one of the fighters, but Sidron was toed up against two of them, and the fierceness of the battle caused him to break his double-sword in half. They would have overwhelmed him, but Krog finally had drunk enough healing potions and came running in to Sidron’s side. But a massive attack against the half-orc nearly killed him with one blow. The shot was reminiscent of one the ogre had delivered, but this was a mere man. And Krog fell back, staggered and unable to fight, but still conscious. Sidron grabbed up a loose longsword and he and Blaznar finished off three of the four fighters.
The only one remaining was the one Fish had pestered unto total frustration. Seeing that his comrades were fallen, he ran off toward The Boss’ chambers, but not before Newton had hit him with a flask of oil and Blaznar had torched him with his flaming siangham. Afire, the beleaguered man rolled screaming into The Boss’ room where Blaznar killed him quickly and then turned to grin at The Boss sitting behind his large cherry wood desk.
Blaznar sensed the battle nearly over and ran toward The Boss, executing a perfect flying kick over the desk, but The Boss was quick enough to evade it, and dashed out a side exit. The rest of the party entered the lush room and began looting. Fish took particular interest in a fish tank full of saltwater specimens he had not seen in some years. Newton used the side exit, discovering that it came to a dead end in small room occupied by nothing but a podium topped by a shallow box of finely ground white sand. A plaque read a lengthy riddle about time and eternity, kings and queens, but he could make nothing of it. Fish later found a secret door in that room, uncovering The Boss’ means of escape.
Finally, the party turned its attention to freeing the girl. After Fish found and accidentally set off the trap in the lock, they were able to release Vialla Darussalam, and it was a complete surprise to find her here, deposited by her own father. He MUST be insane…or thoroughly evil. Or both.
Now they must decide what to do with Vialla, Jake’s dead body, the unsolved riddle, and all the loot. And to think they’ve only been in Veluna City less than six hours…
(April 16, 2004; Little Gracie)
TEMPLE OF ELEMENTAL EVIL, 11 READYING, 594 CY – By the time Fish returned from his healing visit to the druids of the Gnarley, a young man had ridden down from Verbobonc to speak with the party. This man was Sidron Halek, sent by Lt. Blakely to deliver urgent news: they had a lead on one of the missing girls.
However, once the party was reassembled and Sidron had officially joined it, they decided instead to rout the ruined Temple of Elemental Evil, hoping to kill off a few hobgoblins and scrounge together more funds for the mission. (Primarily, Fish needed more gold for his "transaction.") They stormed in, fought off the hobgoblin guards, killed some defenseless hobgoblins children, were about out of healing potions and clerical spells and had nearly lost one of their own when Sidron spoke up. "Why are we here?"
Realizing they had strayed significantly from the mission, and had gotten nothing more for it than about 25 gold pieces, the party returned to Hommlet. Besides, it was getting dark, and an evil temple, ruined or no, is not a good place to be at night.
The next morning, they struck out for Verbobonc City to answer Sidron's summons. Lt. Blakely gave them the news that their witness in the hospital of Zodal had been murdered in his sickbed--likely poisoned--and there was still no sign of Victor Darussalam, the apparent mastermind behind this whole kidnapping scheme. BUT...a reliable piece of intelligence said that one of the missing girls was being kept in Veluna City, a full four days ride to the northwest.
The party prepared for the trip and set off that day. (Fish also completed his "transaction" will a little good bargaining, coming away with a nice set of magical leather armor.) Once in Veluna City, they found and reconned the address they were given...a boarded-up and abandoned furniture store. Hours ticked by as Fish tried every possible means of egress but to no avail. The only apparent way inside was a side door that opened into a well-lit cubical room lined with wood paneling.
Initially, they wanted no part of that room as it screamed "trap." But with quarter-hour patrols in the streets making their reconnaissance more difficult, they finally opted to go in and try their luck. The door locked behind them, and a man appeared in a second-floor interior window to gloat over his seeming capture. Struggle as they might, they could not get out; try as they might, they could not harm the man smiling down at them. He knew they wanted the girl--which he did in fact have--and would give her up only if they would 1) pay twice what he was given to keep her, 2) surrender to be his captives (except one who would take the girl home), or 3) send two of the party through his "labyrinth."
They tried fighting their way out again, and distracted the talking head enough that Fish could pick the lock on the exit...but he fell to arrows launched from slits in the walls. The party ran and dragged Fish with them, then formulated a plan to infiltrate the compound. Between guard patrols, Fish (once healed) would pick the lock, while someone hurled jars of alchemist's fire into the wooden room, followed by a lit torch. This strategy succeeded in pulling several lackeys out the interior doors to douse the fires. On the second such attempt, the party dashed in to attack the swarming firefighters, hoping for a chance to breach the interior.
Jake died from a particularly nasty series of attacks, but the party won the battle and captured a lackey to use as a guide into the interior. Now, at knifepoint, the party has decided to force the captive to show them to his leader, the imprisoned girl, and a decent exit. Here's hoping...
(April 2, 2004; Wadley Hospital)
NULB, 10 READYING, 594 CY – Early in the morning, Blaznar set out to retrieve the siangham they found in the guarded treasure, and returned to the Inn of the Welcome Wench jubilant. It was a +3 flaming defending siangham of ki focus, the perfect weapon for an arcane monk. By the time he returned, the atmosphere at the Welcome Wench was changing, growing more active and festive. Vesta explained that they were preparing for the Snowdrop Festival, and heartily invited the party to attend. But first, they had to check out Nulb.
Nulb gave them the creeps at night, but during the middle of the day it looked little more than a deserted village. Upon crossing the Imeryds Run, they discovered the true meaning of "ghost town." They sauntered into an abandoned, overgrown tavern, and were surprised by the presence of a true ghost. Jake, bless his heart, fell over paralyzed with fear when the ghost attacked him. The others were unshaken by its frightful presence, but they could do battle with it. They ran back out into the street. But, Blaznar was determined to beat it, and with his newfound siangham and a good strategy, he eventually did just that. Even a wandering band of ferral dogs couldn't break his persistence.
Once the ghost was taken down, Fish ventured upstairs to check out the rooms. Most were empty, but behind the one locked door was a frightening sight, an insane woman crouched in one corner, mumbling and moaning and rocking back and forth. The bed rattle against the floor, and all other items in the room floated about randomly. One word quietly escaped Blaznar's lips: poltergeists. Fish braved the room to rescue the woman, but she instantly stood up and showed her true form, a dark-cloaked being of death, faceless and reeking of pure evil. It struck out and tagged Fish, draining some of his life-force away. He blanched and quickly exited the room, tavern, and town, and he didn't stop running until he had gotten back to Hommlet.
For the rest of the day and on into the night, Fish stood in the Imeryds Run in Hommlet, petitioning his god, Procan for help, healing and answers. Nothing. Nothing but numbness from the freezing cold water. Finally, one in the party suggested he seek out the druids of the Gnarley Forest, and quickly he ran off to find them.
The rest of the party participated in the Snowdrop Festival, exchanging clothes with women and parading about to the general merriment of the gathered crowd. Except Krog, who was purposefully made to drink until he passed out. Blaznar let his hair down and impressed the crowd with his long flowing blonde locks, winning the award for prettiest "female." And they had a good time.
Fish sat up in a tree for two hours before woodsmen finally found him and escorted him to a druidic circle, where he pleaded his case and gained their aid. By noon of 11 Readying, he was a good as new, and ready to reunite with his party. Perhaps this was more educational than rewarding, but Fish certainly has a new respect for his life...and Nulb.
(March 19, 2004; Drew’s house)
Gnarley Forest, 7 Readying, 594 CY – As the party inspected Jake’s fearful trembling, Blaznar took a closer look at the small chest he was holding. Something rattled inside it, and upon opening a small drawer in the bottom, he found a skeleton key. The head of the key was Nerull’s unholy symbol, and this was just further proof of The Scarlet Brotherhood’s involvement in something. Meanwhile, Fish began searching around inside the temple for scattered treasure, clues, or…aha!…a door. He called for the key Blaznar had found, and it was a perfect fit.
With everyone now healed up from the recent fight (as much as Newton was capable of doing), Fish made sure the door was clear, unlocked it, and opened it up to a small room with only a spiral staircase. Going down. Krog quickly and excitedly ventured down with Fish and Newton (with his lantern) close behind. At the bottom of the stairs was another door, and Fish checked it over thoroughly. It opened into a room, sparsely furnished, that led to a hallway. Close to the end of the hall was another door.
As Fish, Krog and Newton sneaked down the hallway to what they suspected was “the leader’s” quarters, they became suddenly aware that Blaznar and Jake were not with them. Blaznar was having a hard time convincing Jake that the fighter really needed to re-enter the temple and go downstairs with everyone else. Jake flatly refused and visibly trembled when Blaznar seemed inclined to force him. Trembled so much that his plate mail rattled. Newton handed Krog a coin infused with light and took his lantern back up to fetch the others. Even with his coaching, he and Blaznar could not convince Jake to enter the closet and go downstairs. In the end, they gave up on his chicken livered-ness and went without him, leaving Jake to “guard” the top of the stairs.
With the party reunited below, they commented on a horrible smell wafting up from the end of the hallway. Close inspection revealed no source for the foul odor, so they cleared the nearby door, picked the lock, and entered. It was indeed a headquarters of sorts, very nicely furnished and clean. Ransacking the desk turned up some gold coins, parchment, pen & ink, and a signet ring for the Scarlet Brotherhood and sealing wax. Blaznar’s countenance turned dark. The party asked the meaning of this, and he gave a piece of his history, exposing the Brotherhood as an evil organization that he emphatically is not a part of. Couldn’t stress that loudly enough. Scarlet Brotherhood evil; Blaznar good. And Krog smash!
If they needed evidence of the S.B.’s ignoble intents, the desk also contained a notebook describing plans to overthrow the Viscounty of Verbobonc by assassinating the Lord Mayor Langard and replacing him with an imposter, an agent of the S.B. Given that the notebook contained no dates, it is difficult to ascertain whether the plans are slated for the future, or—gasp!—already carried out.
A moderately well stocked bookcase turned up a set of scrolls giving the history of Verbobonc, a manual on the monsters of the Gnarley Forest, and two potions.
The party searched the room completely for a secret way out or passages leading to deeper levels, but they found nothing. So, with their work here apparently finished, they gathered up the loot and prepared to return to Hommlet. But as the others headed back down the hallway, Fish turned to give the smelly end of the hall one more thorough inspection. His persistence paid off, and he found a lever…but not before he set off a trap. In the blink of an eye, a barrage of needles whistled past, ejecting from numerous tiny holes in the left-hand wall and lodging in the wall on the right. Amazingly, not a single one of them stabbed into Fish. He stood there frozen for a moment and considered his good fortune, smiled, and then flicked the level he had found. Sure enough, a secret door slid sideways into the wall and opened to a tunnel sloping downward into darkness…utterly putrid stench and absence of light.
Krog was thrust to the fore because of his darkvision, and the others followed closely behind. More than once someone commented that they sure could use Jake down here. Blaznar knew that he’d never enter this passage even if he had made this far. The farther they went the worse was the smell, until Krog reached the end and looked up to see the source of that stench, a 9-foot, 600-pound ogre, wrapped in the decaying skins of countless men and beasts he had killed already. It bellowed something in a language no one understood, and began an attack.
Newton rounded the corner with his light just in time for Blaznar to step up and accept the challenge. Unfortunately, the ogre pulled a club the size of a man’s leg from behind its back and swung around on Blaznar with a solid hit. No sooner had Newton seen the ogre’s full size in his light than he was seeing Blaznar sprawling backwards and landing at his feet, a look of pain and horror on his face and blood trickling out all orifices.
Krog rushed forward to attack even as Newt slipped off his pack beside Blaznar. “Dig out the cure light potions!” he hollered, and sprung forward with his quarterstaff. Somewhere during all this, Fish had disappeared. Little did anyone know he was skulking about in the shadows of the cave, wetting his dagger with some of the giant wasp venom he had obtained from Jezreel.
Krog met a similar fate as Blaznar, careening backwards for several feet and seeing stars, but not before he had landed a significant blow to the ogre himself. Newton engaged the monster, and Fish found a good opportunity to throw in his poisoned dagger for critical damage. Soon, the ogre had taken one too many hits, and he fell. Krog immediately bashed in its face to assure its death, and Fish “cleaned” his dagger off via multiple stabbings in the creature’s torso. Newton and Blaznar both cringed at this hideous display, both neither had the heart to decry it.
With the danger put down, a treasure chest came into focus, and Fish quickly inspected it for traps. Finding none, he opened it to reveal more coinage, an assortment of gems and a weapon that looked completely useless to everyone but Blaznar. He beamed upon seeing the siangham, and no one cared that he kept it.
The party finally left the temple, grabbing Jake as they exited, and returned the way they came. They met the druids near the Forest’s edge, and parleyed with them for a moment, divulging what they accomplished. The druids seemed pleased, and offered to heal their wounds. They also gave each man a cure light wounds potion for later use and thanked them for honoring the sanctity of their forest.
The return trip past Nulb gave the party another round of the heebie-jeebies, but they pushed on to Hommlet anyway. There they met Sgt. Elmo, who had a warrant for their arrest. Someone had tipped him off that the party was a group of “escapees” from the prison in Verbobonc. As his guards surrounded them, he questioned them on this charge, but they were easily able to explain things. They presented their own warrant for the arrest of Victor Darussalam, signed by Lt. Hoss Blakely of Verbobonc, which document seemed to impress Sgt. Elmo immensely. The party then asked for an escort back to the city, where they had unfinished business, and Elmo gladly agreed to supply it.
Now they will rest for a short period before returning to Verbobonc City—they were told to wait a week. Perhaps Hommlet is a good place for a little R&R before they pursue continue this adventure. Perhaps they could use the “downtime” for a little training, or research, or baths. Of course, there is the moat house just an hour away, where the dastardly deed supposedly will take place in about one month. But Vesta at the Inn of the Welcome Wench does treat them well…a man could practically retire under her care. Why hasn’t she married in thirty-something years?
Blaznar discovered that his siangham is magically endowed, so he paid for its identification. Jake may have his plate mail, but he doesn’t have a +3 flaming defending siangham of ki focus!! No wonder it was kept under the ogre’s guard. Ooo, they’ll be ticked when they find that missing.
(March 12, 2004…James Pate’s house)
Verbobonc City, 20 Fireseek – 7 Readying, 594 CY – Many questions and few answers tumbled about through the party’s mind after visiting the sage. But while most of the party are mulling over their options, Fish goes about his own way, visiting the docks, where the nights are long and dark, where the ale is cheap and flows freely for those with loose tongues, and where the slightest misstep can cost you your life. Home, for Fish. He accosted a bartender at a sleazy tavern and obtained the inside scoop on Verbobonc’s underground. Then, with funds gained by pawning the jewels he swiped from Darussalam’s home, he bought some extract of giant wasp venom, some much-needed equipment, and made a down payment on exquisite armor.
The next morning (21st), the party had their breakfast interrupted by the city guard. Lieutenant Hoss Blakely and his men surrounded their table and place them under arrest for the murder of Malcolm Stokes and the attempted murder of Percival Donn, both merchants in Verbobonc. The evidence thus far gained pointed to their activities on the night of the 18th, and there was a key witness, Victor Darussalam.
Off to prison they went. But as they were only suspects, and not convicted criminals, they were giving fair treatment and kept under minimum security. Not much different from the inn where they were staying, except that they couldn’t leave. Lt. Blakely interrogated them for most of two days, mounting all sorts of accurate details about their involvement. It seemed they were going to keep quiet about their mission to find the girls and let Fate determine the outcome.
But Blakely’s men found a list of names in the cloak Fish was wearing (and not the alexandrite ring…imagine that). The names were seven girls of Verbobonc and vicinity, five of which were known missing. One other was Vialla Darussalam, Victor’s daughter, and the seventh was unknown. Blakely thought he had actually found the kidnappers/murderers of these girls, and beamed at his good fortune. But this evidence forced the party to tell of their mission, and shed some gristly light on what they suspected was happening. Blakely didn’t believe a word of it, but when the party named the sage and Capt. Mandrake of Lorenvale as witnesses, the Lieutenant checked it out. When the words rang true, he changed his stance toward the party and listened to their story.
After two weeks of incarceration while all this was being cleared up, and after it became clear that Victor Darussalam was nowhere to be found, Lt. Blakely let them go. But he warned them to stay out of the city for about a week, as it would take some time to spread the word to all the guard that they were rightly freed.
They took a day to make final preparations (Fish sadly could not finish his “underground” business.) and left Verbobonc for Hommlet on the 8th of Readying.
Hommlet, 8 – 9 Readying, 594 CY – On the road southwest to Hommlet, as they began to ascend the lower Kron Hills, they met several travelers heading toward Verbobonc. A normal day of traffic, no doubt. But one man on a horse-drawn wagon met their gaze with intent to harm. It was an ambush! (Why anyone would attack a group of even numbers with a 7-foot tall half-orc in the front seat is beyond me.) They made quick work of the attackers, and Blaznar’s flare assured that the driver didn’t run off. In their wagon they found a suit of full plate, which Jake quickly grabbed up, and a few coins and things of lesser value. They took the driver captive and hauled him to Hommlet, where they met Elmo, the captain of the guard in that village. (No, he’s not covered with red fur, nor does he have a big orange nose or a high-pitched voice.)
They took rooms at the only inn, the Inn of the Welcome Wench, where they spoke with Vesta, the daughter of the inn’s owner, a twenty-something pleasant (and single) woman who actually ran the inn for her ailing father. She treated them kindly and fed them a wonderful breakfast the next morning, but she seemed frustrated by her barkeep, a dour woman named Mari, who hadn’t anything nice to say that the party could tell.
Eager for some action, the party set off that morning northwest to Nulb and beyond into the eastern edge of the Gnarley Forest where their map showed a ruined temple of Suel origin. As they approached Nulb (what they thought might be a sleepy little riverside hamlet) chills ran up and down their spines and the hairs on their necks stood out. Fortunately they hadn’t brought horses, or they might have had some problems keeping them still. Nulb was eerily quiet…void almost, like a ghost town. How much of the ghost-ness was real or imagined?
Pushing past Nulb, they entered the Gnarley Forest and set off a net trap, which snagged three of them. Druids approached them shortly afterwards and snarled at them for ruining the trap that they said was set for a purplish cat-like creature with appendages growing from its back, a creature that seemed to come and go in an instant. After helping the druids reset the trap, they were allowed entrance to visit the Suel temple ruins.
Close to noon, they found the ruined temple, not much more than a small stone structure atop a low hill. It appeared to be hundreds of years old. Inside it was dark, and Newton lit his lantern. Just as the lantern illuminated a small chest atop the crumbling stone altar in the back, they were attacked by goblins and orcs. The skirmish seemed a draw for some time as the rubble in the floor and dim lighting made maneuvering difficult. The lead orc grabbed up the small chest instead of fighting and ran off into a side room, with Krog and Jake on his heels.
Once in the small side room, the orc opened the chest and pushed to toward his pursuers. Jake felt a sudden and overpowering surge of fear sweep over him as he sensed the walls closing in about him. He freaked out, stricken with claustrophobia, and ran from the room with soiled armor. Krog was able to shake the fear, and stepped up to bash in the orc’s face. (He certainly has no love for these creatures!)
The fight soon ended, and the party began to clean up. Newton was able to partially heal some of the party’s wounds, and they reconvened outside the temple. Blaznar took up the small chest and began to inspect it; his interest in this ruinous site obvious, given his racial background.
Now they clean weapons and shake their heads sadly at Jake’s trembling against a tree. You’d think full plate mail would make a man fearless…or maybe there’s some power hidden in that chest.
(March 5, 2004…Drew’s house.)
Verbobonc City, 15-19 Fireseek 594 CY – Captain Mandrake was pleased enough that the items belonging to Mayor Cantrell (and several other townsfolk) were returned, but he grew even more concerned that the party hadn’t yet found Jasmine. The lone prisoner they brought, a seedy man called Blade, turned out to be a recent acquaintance of Fish’s, and the two exchanged glares and threatening words.
A short night and quick preparations later, the party set off for the address they had found in Blade’s pockets: #3 Manor Way, Verbobonc City. On the evening of the 18th, they arrived, bought a map and quickly got their bearings of the city. After Newton failed to find a temple or even a shrine to Wee Jas, they launched out on their mission immediately, hardly stopping to see the wonderful sights of the capitol city.
The address belonged to a wealthy merchant named Victor Darussalam, and he was home. The party nervously loitered in the street, trying to decide how to approach this, when Krog marched up and knocked on the door. There went plans A, B and C. A tall man with dark hair and shifting eyes met him at the door, and after some strained introductions, shifted his demeanor and cordially bid them enter.
The house was
magnificently furnished and well kept. A servant stood to the side and Victor
had her bring hot spiced tea. The party admired their surroundings and grew
increasingly unsure of how to proceed. They knew nothing about this man. He
could have been Blade’s uncle as easily as his criminal contact. The address
could have been a random note pulled from the pockets of any of Blade’s
victims. This address might be his next “hit.” All they knew was that Victor
knew Mayor Cantrell, and that mutual acquaintance had to mean something.
Then Blaznar and Newton noticed something, a silver goblet with a rather intriguing symbol on it. Neither knew what the symbol meant, but Blaznar remembered seeing that marking before in years long past. However, Victor saw them focusing on the goblet, and scowled slightly as he ushered the party into the conservatory for their tea. His scowl immediately sent fear and trepidation through Blaznar, who worried that the symbol was somehow actually tied to his past.
Before anything else was said, Victor surprised the party by asking, “Has the opossum had her baby yet?” All stared at him quizzically, so he moved on to another subject: his family. He saw the party looking at the family portrait hanging above him, and mentioned that his wife had been killed in a boating accident two years past, and only he and Vialla remained. Vialla, they learned, was his sixteen-year-old virgin daughter, and a friend of Jasmine’s. She was supposed to be visiting her best friend in Verbobonc, Mirella. The servant, standing behind Victor, seemed to be having a hard time with nearly everything the man said. Then, he abruptly ended the conversation in a rather eccentric way, and quickly ushered them out the door. As they left, Newton noticed the silver goblet was gone.
They talked it over in an alleyway, and were approached in the shadows by the servant, who claimed that Victor was lying, that his wife did not die in a boating accident, and that Vialla had never been away this long before. She was worried mostly for the girl’s safety, but also concerned that her master was behaving strangely.
The party checked in with Mirella and learned that Vialla had never visited her; she hadn’t seen her best friend in two weeks. They then went to a sage to inquire about the symbol, which they learned was the unholy symbol of “The Dark God” or “The Elder Elemental Eye,” two names for an otherwise unmentionable horridly evil deity.
With their fears confirmed, the party went back to #3 Manor Way to watch Victor’s movements. After several hours watching, and deep into the night, Victor exited by the back door and skulked through the darkness toward an out-of-the-way shack that covered for an underground meeting room for the cultists. There the party fought three attendees and killed one. The two stronger ones escaped and ran in opposite directions. Krog chased down and battered the one not Victor. A roaming night patrol prevented them from inflicting further harm, so they took the man to the hospital of Zodal.
The next morning (the 19th), they returned to the hospital to interrogate the injured man. He offered no resistance but answered all their questions with surprising willingness and clarity. The story began to piece together: Victor has been overseeing the abduction of seven beautiful virgin teenage girls of wealthy families (including his own Vialla) for a ritualistic sacrifice, which will take place on 11 Coldeven at a “moat house” outside of the Village of Hommlet. Could it really be that easy to get all the information they needed? Was this man throwing them a believable story that was completely false, or was he totally insane for divulging all their secrets with nary a second thought?
Further searching for Victor turned up nothing, and they surmised that he is going about his terrible plans. But for what reason? Why the ritualistic sacrifices? What connection is there, if any, to this “moat house” and the history of Hommlet, which has had a few run-ins with some “Temple of Elemental Evil”? (Supposedly, this temple has been three times destroyed and sealed, and for sixteen years there has been quiet and peace around the quaint village.)
There are questions yet unanswered, and an evil man on the loose. And now the list of missing girls has suddenly grown from one to seven. If the cultist in the hospital was telling the truth, there will be seven murders on the night of 11 Coldeven, during the Festival of the Bloodmoon (a sacred night for followers of Nerull and other LE deities), and who knows what will be the result of that? But, that isn’t for another 50 days…plenty of time to get to the bottom of this, intervene and save those girls’ lives…
(February 20, 2004…Jake’s Apt.)
Lorenvale, 14 Fireseek 594 CY – At The Roundhouse, a lively tavern in Lorenvale, “Big” Bertha the owner/barkeep dried up a few freshly washed mugs and grumbled out the window at yet another wave of snow flurries. The few remaining in the tavern at 10:00pm would soon be leaving as well, and by the looks of some of them, they’d be staying in an inn. They weren’t from around here.
Of note was the blonde fellow with his brutish friend sitting furtively in one corner. The brute, more human than orc, just pointed and grunted, trying desperately to communicate and failing miserably. At the bar sat a humble man in plain brown woolens, and pleasant smile on his face. A little round wooden disk dangled from a leather strap around his neck, two grooves cut into the disk like a crescent moon over the horizon.
Moments later, a woman in her late twenties straggled in, clutching her nightgown about her stomach. She was freezing cold and foolish enough to be out in this weather without proper covering. But the shaking in her bones and her pallid skin tones spoke of something worse than cold—her eyes were wide with fright. The woman spoke feebly, but the words were clear. “Jasmine is gone.” With that, the woman fell to her knees and then fell forward to her face with no attempt to catch her fall.
A young man alone at a table jumped to his feet, his face registering shock and his mouth silently speaking the name, “Jasmine.” Simultaneously, several people in the room rushed to the woman’s side, including the strangers. Big Bertha ran up also, and demanded that folks give her room. She turned the dead woman over to reveal a pool of blood that had formed under the woman’s body from multiple stab wounds in her belly, and her nightgown was now noticeably stained. Bertha recognized her as Marissa, one of the mayor’s servants. With quickness of mind, she commanded two of her “regulars” to alert the city guard, and they were off in an instant.
Bertha turned to Jake, the young man who sat alone, “Perhaps this is the opportunity you’ve been looking for. You had best seize this chance to use your skills. The mayor would honor the man who risked his life for his daughter.” Jake declared that he would find Jasmine and bring whoever did this to justice. Of course, it helped considerably that he had an enormous “crush” on Jasmine—along with every other red-blooded man in Lorenvale. Jasmine was a purely beautiful 17-year-old with wavy black hair and olive skin, a near pureblood Oeridian, brillilant and wealthy to boot. Blaznar, the wary blonde announced that there might be safety in numbers, and that he and his friend Krog, the half-orc, would gladly lend support. Newton, the cleric of Fharlanghn who sat at the bar, also offered his assistance.
They set off immediately for the mayor’s house, and found it already crawling with city guard. What they didn’t see was the figure of a man creeping along in the darkness behind them, watching. Fish had seen the woman go by earlier and the hubbub created shortly thereafter. Now, with this group of four speeding out of the tavern, he knew something was up, and a good piece of action was not going to pass him by.
After brief negotiations with the guard, Jake and his comrades were let into the mayor’s house. Mayor Cantrell and his wife, Sonja, were in Verbobonc City for the week, and were not expected back for another three days—four, if it snowed again. Their two young sons were still asleep in their rooms, but Jasmine’s room had been ransacked, and she was gone. Newton noticed some blood drops on the floor—someone had been wounded. He scanned the bed for poisonous residue, and then scanned the entire room for magical auras, evidence perhaps that the arcane arts were at work. Nothing. However, he did detect two magical items in the room. Why hadn’t they been taken along with the music box, pendant necklace and silver goblets?
From the closet came a sound, and the party found a frightened maid, shaking with fear. She had witnessed the whole thing and gave a description of the two men who took Jasmine. One was tall and lanky, the other short and stocky. A lieutenant standing with the party mentioned that he had seen those very men earlier in the night while on patrol and though nothing of them. But, he noticed that they had come into to town from the seldom-used southern trail into the Gnarley Forest.
They passed all this info to Captain Mandrake, who charged them to trek off after the kidnappers, even suggesting a monetary reward of 2,000 gp would be available from the mayor’s coffers for their success. The dark figure who had shadowed the party earlier now stepped forward to offer his assistance. Doubtless he was only interested in the reward, but his roguish skills could certainly prove valuable on this mission.
And thus did Fish join the party of Jake, Blaznar, Krog & Newton.
They stocked up—a general store had to re-open at this late hour especially for them—and set off southward into the Gnarley Forest. The tracks those two men had left were easily followed in the six inches of snow on the ground. A couple of miles into the forest, they were stopped by a band of druids—guardians of the forest from intrusions such as this—and called to account. After explaining the mission they were on, the druids let them pass but warned them against doing any harm to the forest. “Just find the girl and go home.” And they passed in peace.
A mile or so further in, the party came upon a cabin along the trail, and the tracks led right to its front door. Krog, with his darkvision, did some initial surveillance, and later the rest of the party surrounded the cabin. Fish went inside and snooped around in the utter darkness inside, but found no one. It was “lived in,” but no one was there. Krog inspected a shed in the back, and like a half-orc brawler would do, he smashed in a layer of crates covering the front door of the shed, toppling them inward, and revealing that it was nothing more than a façade. Of course, any measure of surprise they enjoyed was now gone.
The party reassembled at the shed and lit a torch. The light revealed to all a door in the floor of the shed leading to an underground shaft and tunnel. Bingo. Krog led the way down a ladder in the shaft and Fish followed. Halfway down, Krog triggered a trap that collapsed all the ladder’s rungs, hurtling Krog and Fish to the floor below. Krog crashed through fake flooring at the bottom and fell another 20 feet into a pit, but Fish was able to avoid a similar fate. The others more or less slid/fell their way down the collapsed ladder to the tunnel below. Krog crawled out of the pit a little shaken up and determined to get someone for that.
Fish spotted a trip wire halfway down the tunnel and marked its location with a torch. At the end of the tunnel was the bandits’ hideout. Krog positioned himself at a door near this end of the tunnel, and the rest of the group went farther in, finding other doors to deal with. Just as they were about to sneak into a room, Krog smashed in the door beside him with a warhammer and a very orcish yell. He found the stolen loot, a pile of assorted coins, and four weapons. And now their element of surprise was gone again, much to Blaznar’s ire.
Two guards came running from the room the party was positioned at, but they met a quick end. Blaznar flashed a flare spell in their face and blinded them…but he also blinded Jake in the process. Jake forgot to close his eyes. Blaznar began the attack on the blinded guards, and Fish snuck past them to flank their rear. He scored a critical hit on one that ended his career instantly, and Blaznar finished the second.
With their cover of surprise now gone completely, they quickly checked out the other rooms. In the last room, they met the tall lanky bandit and the short stocky one, plus one other, and another man who obviously was their leader. Their initial volley of crossbow bolts barely nicked Krog, and he rushed forward to upend a table onto the first pair. His work with the table was so laughably dismal that in his frustration he jabbed his spiked gauntlet deep into the tall one’s skull.
Full fighting broke out as Fish and Newton joined the foray, but Blaznar ran off to the room Krog had earlier broke into. Fish nearly went down, but the cleric placed a well-timed cure light wounds upon him. Poor blinded Jake could only grope his way toward the battle, hoping that his eyesight would return in time to assist those who were here because of him. Finally, the leader watched his last man fall, and he threw down his sword, unwilling to die to the rage of the half-orc, with a cleric and rogue beside him.
It was only then that Fish noticed who this man was. His name was Blade, and he had helped Fish out of a destitute condition, giving him food, clothing and shelter. And now it turns out that this same Blade is the mastermind behind a ring of banditry, thievery and kidnapping. They bound Blade’s hands and put him to the question. He gave up information willingly, for he valued his life.
The party discovered that Blade was paid 300 gold to deliver Jasmine to a pair of men on a wagon just an hour ago in a pre-arranged rendezvous. The items they were going to take to Verbobonc City to sell…in the morning. He claimed to know nothing of the men who took Jasmine, only that he was specifically told to get the mayor’s daughter. He didn’t know what they were going to do with her, but he was specifically told not to molest her; she had to be a virgin. If she was defiled in any way, Blade would pay with his life.
Now the party has Blade in custody, and a growing tension develops between him and Fish. They are taking him back to Lorenvale, where they will collect a reward for finding the stolen goods and delivering the ringleader, but Jasmine is still missing. After a good night’s rest, the party will set out again in search of the mayor’s daughter.
