In-Game Date: Mansday, Disander 13, mid-morning – late night.
The week of Horfang.
Leaving the two paladins in the back room of the Reality Wrinkle, the party heads up the stairs to the second floor. The floor, essentially one big room, shows signs of having been occupied recently, though no one can be seen. Doors to small, cell-like bedrooms line the walls of one side of the main room. Each room is empty, containing nothing but a small cot, desk, and chest full of various personal effects. Several of these chests carry robes worn by students of the University.
The last door along the wall stands slightly ajar, and is pitch black within. The light from the room does not seem to penetrate it. Rowan, Nialia and Badger, with their low-light vision, can make out the shape of what appears to be a caved in tunnel. A figure appears to be trapped in the tons of collapsed rock. Grumble, with his darkvision, can make out the face of his dead sister as she reaches out to him, her eyes pleading. Before anyone can move, the trapped figure becomes wreathed in flames. The party can feel the heat, and is appalled as, seconds later, the rocks themselves ignite. The party stumbles backwards just in time to miss a massive fireball exploding out the door at them.
Picking themselves up off the ground, they peer at the doorway once more. This time, the room contains a larger version of the other bedrooms. Obviously this room belonged to the leader of the cult. A search of the room reveals nothing but a book that might be a diary of the cult leader. Written in at least twelve different languages, often switching languages in mid-phrase, the text is difficult to interpret. A few discernable passages deal with prophecies of coming doom and insane, rambling nonsense. The party pockets the book and moves on to the stairs leading up to the top level. Badger leads the way, checking carefully for traps.
As soon as Badgers foot touches the steps leading up to a closed door at the top of the stairs, an inhuman eye opens in the wooden door above them. Blinking, it looks around and focuses on the party as they charge up the stairs at it. They attack the eye, but it disappears back into the wood of the door. Opening the door, they find the room filled with a heavy mist that obscures their view of the room’s interior. Standing in the doorway, the group considers their next move.
Suddenly a glowing dot appears on Audrics’ chest. Half a second later, a fireball comes hurtling out of the mist and detonates on the poor gnome. Nialia summons a wolf and sends it into the narrow tube burned in the fog by the fireball’s passage. It gets perhaps fifteen feet in when something large and unseen grabs the wolf. There is a sharp yelp and a crunching sound, then nothing. Burned and angry, Grumble charges into the mist in the general direction of the noise, brandishing his axe.
Meanwhile, spell after spell hammers the group. Nialia and Badger notice that the eye in the door is back, and is still watching them. They attack it as Grumble runs into something in the fog. Something with large, powerful claws and a stinger. He can barely make out it’s shape in the mist, but images of a giant scorpion come to mind. Grumble has his hands full fighting blindly against a monster that seems to have no trouble telling where he is when he smells and hears something terrifyingly familiar from behind him. He turns as claw-tipped tentacles stab out of the mist at him, tearing into his armor and flesh. Grumble cries out as he is jerked off his feet and up into the air. Audric hears the cry and fires a spell blindly in that direction. Miraculously, the bolt of magical energy hits, and Grumble breaks free of the worm creature’s grip.
By this point, Rowan has crept along the wall of the room, and is now engaged with the scorpion. Badger and Nialia finally succeed in destroying the eye. There is a curse from the far end of the room, and the fog suddenly clears. Three figures, all clad in identical robes, stand at the end of the room. The one in the middle is a woman, and the light of madness practically burns in her eyes. The fighters charge the magic users, who fire off spells in a panic as the warriors converge on them. Grumble finishes the worm creature, and Nialia activates her Python Rod, sending the giant constrictor snake to attack the giant scorpion. The scorpion fights, but is no match for the crushing coils of the massive python, and soon there is a horribly final sound of chitin cracking. Though the sorcerers are practiced in the art of offensive magic, they are soon cut down. The leader fights to the death as well, hitting Audric with a particularly vile spell as he tries to do the same with less success. But she, too, finally falls under the blades of the party (technically, she’s mortally wounded by the blades of the party. The killing blow takes the form of a bolt of lightning that incinerates her, courtesy of Nialia).
A search of the room reveals a false wall with some treasure, but nothing providing any real answers as to what the cult was up to. It seems a reasonable assumption that this is the woman who “smells like parchment,” as the grimlock leader said.
Audric suggests that tomorrow, he can cast a spell allowing him to communicate with the corpse, and literally pick its brain for the knowledge it held. So they stuff the still-smoking corpse in the bag of holding and head out of the building.
The paladins thank the party once more, and then head off for some healing and rest. The party is about to head back to the inn when they are accosted by a nondescript human man. He looks at all the party, then focuses on Audric.
“Mother wants to talk to you,” he says in a monotone, his face blank of emotion.
Audric goes very, very still. “I’m out,” he says.
The man does not react at all to this statement. “Mother wants to talk to you,” he repeats.
“Fine,” says Audric.
“Do you know where the door is?”
“Yes,” replies Audric. At that, the man wanders off into the crowd. Audric turns to the party. “I’m sorry, everyone, but I have to take care of this. I shouldn’t be away long, no more than a few hours at most. If I’m not back by sundown… well, I shouldn’t be long. See you back at the inn.”
“Hey, Audric,” calls Rowan, “you got a gold piece I can borrow?” Audric flips one to her, and then sets off without a backward glance.
The party splits up, Grumble wanting to sell off some of the spoils of recent battles. Rowan and Nialia head to Amrauthlen’s grove, and Badger returns alone to the Shield and Shingle to wait for Audric… and maybe have a drink or two.
Grumble, having sold off most of the gear he’d obtained recently, is accosted by a shady-looking man who notes that he seems like the kind of dwarf who’d be interested more in bargain prices on magical weapons than in where the weapons came from. Wary but eager, Grumble follows the man into an alley, where, hidden from view, another man waits with several large, open crates. Within them, all kinds of weapons lay loosely packed. They appear to be as high-quality as promised. Grumble looks them over with a practiced eye and tries not to drool. Then he notices that a huge rat has crept silently up by one of the men, who reaches idly down and strokes his head. Then a blade crashed down, slicing into grumble from behind. Grumble, howling in pain, whips out his anti-shapechanger axe and cuts both his assailants down in a matter of just a few strokes. Rolling his eyes at the temerity of his now-dismembered opponents, he gleefully sets about stuffing as much of their weaponry as can fit into the bag of holding.
Rowan and Nialia spend a few pleasant hours at Amrauthlen’s grove. On their way back, they notice two lanky, greasy looking men following them. Nialia remembers suddenly the men who followed her the day before! The two women slip into an alley, letting themselves be seen doing so. Nialia shifts into a wolf form and hides in a pile of rubbish, while Rowan ducks back behind a corner. They don’t have to wait long before the two men come literally sniffing into the alley. One carries a crossbow, the other has drawn a rapier. They come closer, and get between Rowan and Nialia before the two women spring their ambush. The two men quickly change into wererats, but are still cut down by Rowan’s silver sword and Nialia’s fangs (enhanced by a silver spell of her own). Worried, the two women head back to the Shield and Shingle, where other things have been happening in the meantime…
Badger is on her fourth drink (give or take), staring forlornly at the door, when a handsome young human man asks if he can sit beside her and buy her a drink. She waves expansively, and the man sits down beside her. He flirts, but respectably, and backs off a bit when she tells him about Audric. Still, he’s pleasant company, and Badger finds the man easy to talk to, despite his obvious disappointment over her being spoken for. After he buys her a second drink, they toast, and Badger begins to really feel her booze. The room seems to spin and dip for a few minutes, and Badger wonders if she’s going to keep it all down. The young man politely offers to render aid if she wants, but Badger declines. After a few more minutes, the man tells her, “Hey, isn’t that your friend right there?” Badger looks over, eager to see Audric, but the man coming through the door is no gnome. She turns back just in time to barely dodge the knife that slashes at her throat. She whips out her sword and begins fencing with the assassin. Even drunk and half-drugged, her skills are more than a match for him, and the man turns into the hybrid form of a wererat to best her. It makes no real difference, and Badger presses her attack even harder. She takes a few cuts and one nasty bite from the wererats’ jaws. Finally, bleeding from multiple cuts, the were-rat would-be killer scrambles for the door. A tall, swarthy man blocks his exit and punches the were-rat in the face. Staggering backwards, he is run through and killed by a final thrust of Badger’s sword.
Breathing heavily, Badger turns to thank the tall man. To her surprise and delight, the man shrinks in height, taking on the familiar features of Audric. Hugging him, she asks what happened.
Audric tells her that he went to the “house” the secret organization that maintains the legend of the Shadowspawn. He learned, to his surprise, that he is not the only Shadowspawn, although only one Shadowspawn is ever active at any given time. He argued that the contract on Badger and Grumble’s life was violated due to misrepresentation on behalf of the client. While normally such an act would result in the client’s termination, the von Hawkmoor family is powerful enough that even the Mother does not wish to antagonize them unnecessarily. Audric tells Badger that he is in a kind of “holding” status as Shadowspawn while his fate is decided. However, he assures her that neither the Shadowspawn nor any of their agents will be taking a contract with the von Hawkmoors ever again.
On his way back to the inn, Audric noticed that he was being followed. He too, lured his followers into a trap, identified them as wererats, and finished them off without undue fuss. Realizing that the others could be in similar danger, he hurried back to the Shield and Shingle, which is where he found Badger kicking ass.
The two wait anxiously for an hour or so, but finally Grumble arrives back at the inn about the same time as Rowan and Nialia. They share stories of being attacked, and Grumble gleefully brings them upstairs to one of their rooms to show the party the cache of weapons he obtained.
Spreading them all out across the bed and floor, the party is astounded. All of them look to be at least masterwork quality, and most appear to be magical. However, Audric turns to Grumble with a look of extreme nervousness and apprehension on his face. Having just cast detect magic on the weapons, he has realized that they’re all glamored to look more valuable then they really are. As if on cue, the spell ends, and the weapons are revealed to be a collection of useless metal scrap.
The party looks at Grumble worriedly as the dwarf stands there, one eye twitching. Finally, he growls, “All right. I can forgive a lot, but this is going too far! Let’s get to that bell tower and kill those rat bastards.”
Well, that makes sense to everyone, but the party does grab a quick evening meal before heading out. The sun is setting over the city walls as they knock on the door to the 150-foot tall bell tower.
A viewing slot in the door slides open, revealing a pair of eyes set in an old, wrinkled face. The keeper of the tower will not let them in so late, and haughtily refutes the rumors of a rat infestation in the bell tower. He bids them goodnight and slams the view slot closed. Grumble takes rejection badly, but the party stops him before he can open the door his way. Instead, they open the door Badger’s way. Within the first set of doors is a small antechamber and then another set of doors. These get opened the same as the first, and the group steps cautiously into a large open chamber. Wooden stairs wind up the inside of the wall and disappear into the ceiling some 45 feet above them. Ropes dangle from a central shaft, no doubt attached to the bells. In one corner of the chamber, a small living area is set up where the old man who maintains the tower is eating a scanty meal. Grumble charges. The man drops his food, screams and changes into a dire rat. The rat scampers up the wall towards the safety of the stairs. Grumble slides to a halt, hefts a javelin and throws. There is a brief, final squeak as the javelin pins the rat neatly to the wall for a moment. Then the javelin returns to Grumbles hand, and the rat tumbles back to the ground, turning back into his human form before hitting the ground.
Unsure as to whether or not the commotion was heard by the other tower-dwellers, the party heads cautiously but quickly up the stairs. Grumble takes point over the protestations of Badger, who warns him of traps.
Grumble turns to the gnome and assures her that the were-rats are too stupid to set traps in their own house when a glowing rune appears on the boards under his feet. Before the warrior can react, a strength-sapping cold shoots through his body and leaves him weakened and gasping for breath. Audric shrugs, remarking that tomorrow he can use his spells to remove the negative energy that has weakened Grumble. Grumble mutters barely audible words that might have been something like “Badger, why don’t you go first and check for traps.”
The next floor is comprised of a series of interconnected rooms. The rooms house a few were-rats, but the party cuts them down quickly and easily. The next level teems with swarms and swarms of dire rats. Things look bad for a moment, but Audric just laughs and casts repel vermin. The rats are forced away from him, and Audric, along with Rowan and Nialia help him push the seething mass of rodents through the rooms and back against a wall. With a series of concerted pushes, the group crushes the rats against the thick stone walls of the bell tower. With that floor clear, the party heads up to the top floor.
Here is the bell room, a chamber almost as tall as the ground level. Wooden beams run at varying heights along the room, supporting the weight of the massive bells. Ropes and pulleys weave around the upper parts of the room like a cat’s cradle. Amidst the beams and ropes stand a group of were-rat warriors, all in hybrid form. The leader snarls at them and his troops begin firing arrows and crossbow bolts down at the adventurers from their strategically advantageous position. Grumble makes for the closest ladder, trying to get up to where he can swing his shifter-bane axe. The were-rats swing from position to position, keeping up a steady stream of missile fire. Nialia fires charge after charge from her wand of magic missiles, and Rowan shoots silvered, poisoned arrows at the wererats hiding in the rafters. The battle is fierce, but the heroes manage to bring down one were-rat, then another, then another. Finally, the leader falls, though Audric is quick to stabilize him. The group ends up with a few survivors to turn over to the city militia, and they rouse the leader after tying him upside down from one of the ropes suspended over the central shaft of the tower. He answers most of the questions to the best of his ability, but the party learns little that they did not already know. They learn that the were-rats, like the grimlocks, were under the orders of a mad sorceress who called herself the Blessed. The were-rat leader believes that the Blessed was getting orders from another, but has no idea who that could be. Lastly, he smiles, telling that the party that they may have killed most of his clan, but that one rat always escapes. And that rat will make more rats. And those rats will be back to have their revenge…
Shrugging, Grumble slaps the leader in the head with the flat of the shifter-bane axe, sending the thug back into unconsciousness. The party searches the bodies for anything else useful. Finding very little, they take the survivors down to the base of the tower, where the milita is waiting for them.
Shella arrives on the scene with the Baron’s sister Eriana. Seeing the wererat hybrids captured, both women are impressed. Eriana tells the party that for their efforts a feast is being held in their honor later tonight at the Stony Gaze Tavern. It won’t begin until after Bruge’s play is over, so the party agrees to attend.
The heroes do the best they can to clean themselves up before the play. Badger puts on her newly-repaired kirtle, and Nialia wears her nicest robes. Grumble wipes most of the blood and hunks of fur off his armor. Audric finds a clean tabard and Rowan puts on something nice as well.
The play is as good as expected, with the added surprise of the Baron himself showing up! The group gets a halfway decent look at the man as he sits in his own box to the right of the stage. The baron is tall, resplendently clad, but with deep worry lines etched into his commanding features. Behind him sits a robed figure. Halfway through the play, the figure bends forward and whispers something in the Baron’s ear. The Baron gets up and makes to leave. The players onstage stop the scene awkwardly, but the baron waves them to go on irritably before leaving.
After the play, Bruge and Chylra greet them warmly. He makes mention of a surprise coming to Rowan in a day or two, but will say nothing other than perhaps she won’t need it after all, now that the primary threats to the city have been dealt with. He promises to try and get to the feast later on, but will be busy at the theatre for quite some time.
The party takes a coach from the theatre to the Stony Gaze Tavern, which lies nearly at the other end of the city. They arrive, and almost every merchant and proprietor they have interacted with or assisted in some way is there to celebrate the group’s exploits. Ample food and drink is provided, handshakes and cheers seem to go on for hours, and there is even a decently competent bard that has put their exploits to song, even if some of the deeds are a bit exaggerated.
The Baron does not attend, to no-one’s great surprise, but Eriana is there and presents each member of the part with a cunningly wrought brooch made of silver and adorned with precious stones. Eriana confides later to Audric and Badger that the Baron’s new advisor seems to be wise in his counsel, but gives her the creeps. It doesn’t help that she has never seen his face. Her brother seems different of late… colder, more aloof. But Eriana admits that the past week has been incredibly trying, and she des not think the city would have survived as well as it did without the aid of the party.
Boxar and Grumble have a “friendly” drinking game, while Shella loosens up after a few drinks and admits to Rowan that the new militia members they’ve gotten to replace those slain in the recent attacks are a bunch of “scary bashtards.” And she should know, because she’s a scary bastard herself.
Despite these few forebodings and changes in affairs of state, the party is enjoyed by all. Eventually, well after midninght, things begin to wind down. Feeling fat, drunk and happy, the party stumbles out the door of the inn and into the crisp night air. Exhausted, they make their way back towards the Shield and Shingle Inn, and towards the promise of soft beds after a very, very long day.
No comments:
Post a Comment