Adventure 20: Eat
Without delay the party travels to eat. They enter the Were Swamps and find the road to be well guarded, finding
manned outpost towers every 5 miles. The trip is a relatively peaceful one, and with a few days they arrive at
Ardondale, more commonly referred to as “Eat.” The city is surrounded by a huge wall which travelers and
merchants can be seen passing through. A large red sign lit with an ever-burning fire lights the way to the city. It
reads, quite simply, “Eat.” The group enters the city and quickly discovers the inn that the sign is connected to,
which looks to likely be the oldest building within the city. Also easily seen is the city market (which the party is
now standing in), the city’s keep, and the arena which is attached to it. Wynter opts to head to the inn with
Tar-Nak to get some food. Luthien decides to look about for a guide and soon discovers one among the beggar
children/thieves hiding by an apple cart. The boy calls himself “Ant” and quickly agrees (after receiving some
silver) to aid Luthien.
Veblen wanders into the market and spots a hooded figure whose arms have stripes, much like those of Fuzzy. He
taps her on the shoulder only to find that he has made a mistake. While the person who turns around does appear
to be at least part feline, she does not have a the dark striping, fur, or tail that Fuzzy had. She does have green
cat-like eyes, long flowing orange hair, and pointy teeth, but she is definitely not Veblen’s former traveling
companion. She smiles and asks if she can help Veblen, who looks somewhat confused. He tells her quickly of his
mistake and that he is has recently come from Bane, which she looks interested in. She asks him if he has any
news of Bane and Veblen quickly changes the subject.
He asks her to point him in the direction of an inn, which she does. He then apologizes and makes his way back to
the others. Luthien also heads toward the inn.
The group eats, and then baths and rests. Then they make their way to the keep to hopefully trade the information
they have about Bane for some money. They soon find that the majority of the city is at the games in the arena.
Tickets are purchased, and the party watches two matches. The first is between a dwarf and a large man, whom
the dwarf eventually defeats. The second is between a black smith and some sort of martial artist, and in this
match it is the martial artist who comes out victorious. The group notes that after the match the Princess (feline)
and the Lord leave their balcony and head into the keep., and so they follow.
Inside they inform the Chamberlain that the have information concerning Bane, and they are quickly escorted into
the throne room. There they meet Princess Tygra and her husband, Lord Thundrack, who appears to be asleep. He wears a royal
blue robe and hold a staff in his hand. It is topped by a winged bird and a crystal which glows faintly. The bird
matches the giant stained glass bird’s head which rises out of the floor up to the ceiling and glows with the light of
the sun above.
The party explains their exploits and the Princess takes special interest in the parts concerning the necromancer
and the fact that body parts were often taken from the victims. She takes the group into a cell in the bowels of the
keep where the corpse of a victim from Bane lies. The victim is similar to those which the group described.
Luthien, whose back is to the corpse feels a cold chill and then hears a hollow voice which says “Yooouuu!” The
startled party turns to see that the corpse has risen and is pointing and staring directly at Luthien. It then attacks.
Combat ensues and Luthien flees up the stairs while the rest of the party dispatches the creature. It is killed, and
the blue light fades from its eyes. It is quickly set on fire.
Out of the corner of one eye Veblen notices a moth fly into the flame and burn. It hits the ground next to the body,
and a blue light jumps from the corpse to it. Veblen makes a grab for the moth, but it quickly flies up the stairs.
He warns the party of what he has seen. The group sets off to light the rest of the corpses in the morgue on fire.
Luthien opts to stay upstairs. He is listening to the party when he suddenly realizes that he is not alone. A guard
approaches him and asks him what is happening. Luthien starts to tell him when, without warning the guard,
whose visor is down, attacks him. It is then that Luthien notices that there is a spade planted in the guard’s side
and that his red tunic is stained with blood.
Luthien combats the guard and is nearly killed, when suddenly there is a blast of electricity, and the guard falls
dead. The blue light flickers away, and the Lord approaches Luthien, staff in hand, crackling with white
light.
The party burns the rest of the bodies, and orders are given to the guards to burn any new bodies that turn up. Just
as the guards are sent out and Thundrack heads back to his throne to rest, a huge shadow passes over the glass above...
