Two party members down, the remaining group, with their three tag-along adventurers (I actually don't remember how many died, and again I had no material to reference - aka my computer wasn't set up yet - so there are three alive adventurers)m and the perserved corpses of Elenya Lindale and two of the adventurers set off to find a healer of sufficient ability to bring back the dead. They sail along and encounter a merchant vessel that tells them there is a temple to the High God a few days journey from their location. They set off, hoping the temple will have a powerful enough healer.
They arrive at the temple, and there is instantly some mistrust as they prepare to disembark. Distrust, that is, with their tag-alongs. It is decided that one member of each party would stay on the ship. Silvertooth Dreadwind, whom has declared himself captain, stayed with one adventurer, the boar-man. The rest, V2Z4, Thourin Stonefist, Sibyll Demier, Bayson Mogul, and the other two adventurers, left for the temple.
They are greeted warmly at the temple, but they were on a mission. V2Z4 asks if they have a healer that could raise the dead. One of the monks tells him that, regrettably, they do not, however they know of one. On a large island a day or so away, there was a hermit with extraordinary healing powers. Thourin has them draw up a map for their navigator (Silvertooth) to follow, and they return to their ship.
When they reach the large island, their hopes of finding the hermit living on the shore proved in vain. They find a large river flowing from the mountains at the center, and they take their ship, the Dread Mist, up it. By now, the elephant Infant has grow very hungry. They consider stopping to let him graze, when suddenly the ship strikes something and coms to a stop. Silvertooth drops anchor and they investigate. They find a large, man-made dam made up of sticks and logs has stopped the ship dead in its wake. Fortunately, the ship suffered no damage. Silvertooth spots a split in the river up ahead, that creates a small island, and determines they could use it to turn the ship around. The two dwarves, Thourin and Bayson, with the elephant, disembark while the rest remove the blockage. Bayson watches his elephant eat, while Thourin casts a spell to allow him to speak with the foliage. The trees tell him, after one is regrettably brought down by Infant, that the hermit lives west of the small island.
The blockage is cleared, and they all board. Silvertooth spins the ship around the island and drops anchor. The same group disembarks as did at the temple. Bayson fails to find any tracks, and remorses at not having Elenya, whom was a ranger of the woodland, with them. They take the corpses with them, and eventually find the hermit's cave.
After some convincing, the hermit is finally convinced to come out. He is a remarkably short green gremlin, old and with a cane, by the name of Doya. Doya says he can indeed heal the three back to life, but not for free. He asks the party to retrieve an item that was taken from him by his nemesis, a Merchant Prince named Sindice, who rules over the city of Consortium. V2Z4 is wary, and asks that Doya demonstrate his power before they set off on a quest for him. Doya lays his hands over one of the adventurer's corpses. His hands glow, and he mutters, and the man breaths in and is restored to life. This thoroughly convinces the party, and they agree. Doya draws a map for them, and they leave Elenya and the other's bodies with him so he could perserve them further if they go beyond the two week time limit set upon them by the destruction of the sacred cloth. Doya tells them they are seeking a rod made of truesilver, that appeared like a handle for a sword. He tells them Sindice has its twin and his.
Meanwhile, in the continent to the west, a black dragonkin named Kirin (whose last name escapes me) waits at his father's bedside, whom is very ill. He is the man's second son. Kirin's father was an adventurer in his earlier days, and gave most of his tools to his eldest son, who has continued the line of adventuring. Kirin (gosh, I hope Kirin is correct... I don't want to go downstairs and dig out his sheet...) has since stayed at home, but has mastered the use of the two-handed sword, and trained as a military scientist, preparing to join a guard, but secretly looking for an excuse to become an adventurer. His father regrets that he has almost nothing to give his second son, save for some coin, but tells him that a dark mind mage once took an item of power from his: a magical cloak. He gives his son a ring that lets him turn invisible at the expense of fatigue, and tells him to journey to Consortium, and take back the cloak from the man named Sindice.
Once more, the party sets off, and arrive at Consortium. Bayson decides not to spend sixty silver a day to stable Infant, and begins to take him to the wild to graze, and hopefully be safe. Kirin arrives at around the same time, and spots his elephant. He has never seen one before, and approaches Bayson. He asks if he could purchase it, hoping to use it as a mount. Bayson replies, "He's not for sale, and you couldn't afford it." Regardless, the two hit it off, and Kirin tells him about his quest. Bayson says they might have more to discuss, and they agree to meet at the best tavern in town to talk further.
Once Bayson finishes finding a safe place for Infant, he and the party head to the best tavern in town, which happens to be named "The Best Tavern in Town," remarkably. This time, the entire group, tag-alongs included, go. There, they meet Kirin, and discuss their mutual plans against Sindice, after V2Z4 challenges, and is declined, to duel Kirin. The tag-along adventurers continue to be quite rude and insult Kirin, who draws his sword and begins a bar brawl!
Everyone clears out, save for the party, the adventurers, and four others who all draw arms. In the flash of steel, Silvertooth, Sibyll, and Bayson see a chance to rid themselves of the damned adventurers once and for all. Thourin, whom had recently visited an enchanter to learn the magical words for his dagger of quickness he had found in Silverfin One-eye's booty, used the dagger to give him incredible speed. V2Z4, an honorable construct, chooses to abstain from fighting, and he and the recently revived adventurer stare each other down, both not attacking, but preparing in case of attack. The boar-man and the crocodile-man of the adventurers are beaten in to submission, but when Kirin turns on the recently revived human adventurer, he makes a lucky swing that lops off his head. As the head rolls down V2Z4's back, things get ugly. V2Z4 turns his steel on Kirin, and the remaining adventurers are out for blood. All this time, Silvertooth had been wiggling through the brawl to find the blue gremlin adventurer, and he and anther patron cry, "Never trust a blue!" and begin to beat him down. When V2Z4 turned on the dragonkin, Bayson decided to back down. Kirin stopped fighing, and sort only to evade as he tries to explain that he didn't mean to kill anyone, as he was just so in the rush of the bar brawl. Sibyll decides the fight had gone too far, and whips out her sap and knocks the crocodile-man unconscious. Thourin, who had been helping her, rushes over to fend off the boar-man who was ready to pummel Kirin. With a swift strike, he knocks the boar-man unconscious, and almost kills him with a lightning fast second attack, but was able to stop himself. Silvertooth refused to back down until the blue gremlin was dead. Suddenly, the door burst open and the centaur adventurer, whom had been waiting outside, emerged, ready to fight. Before he could attack the nearest foe, which was Silvertooth, Thourin's earth elemental sprung up and dragged him outside and began to beat him to a pulp. The patron aiding Silvertooth was shot in the back of the head with an arrow fired by another patron, and that patron, plus another were knocked unconscious by the bartender, Todd. Sibyll drew her daggers and slipped behind the blue gremlin, stabbing him dead in the back. Silvertooth swung his sabre, and thought he had killed him, which Sibyll was alright with letting him believe. Silvertooth grabbed the blue gremlin's corpse and began to drag him outside, coming alongside the earth elemental which had killed the centaur. Standing outside were a dozen guards.
The party tried to blame the adventurers on the brawl, but the bartender declared them in a poor light. They finally decide to bribe the guards, paying them a total of sixty gold shillings. The guards arrest all the unconscious patrons and adventurers, claiming they were the sole perpetrators, and let the party go.
With the adventurers out of the way, the party decided to ask around for information about Sindice. The information was troubling, at best. Lord Sindice, as he was called, owned the entire city of Consortium. He ran all imports and exports coming from the southern continent to Consortium, and ran the elephant trade, which only came from the south. He employed a hundred city guards, plus at least a dozen at his manor, built on a plateau in the middle of town. He also had the entire local Assassin's Guild under the payroll, and their leader was his brother. There was a rumor that his brother met the most skilled assassin in the world, and the man had cut Sindice's brother's left ear off before they parted ways. They also said his brother had killed a hundred men, and never used poison, always the blade. They are also reminded that Sindice is a powerful mind mage. Things were looking bleak.
Using his magic, Thourin communicated with a pack of city rats and convinced them to spy on the manor for him, in exchange for a huge feast. The rats returned the next day, and told him that there were two guards in additional to the dozen, that were always with Sindice, and that he conducted business in his manor. They also learned that every entrance, and the pedestal where the rod sat, were all lined with wards, and that Sindice had the power to disintegrate people with his mind, using a spell called Molecular Disruption. All of this was, of course, through the eyes of rats, but they were able to extrapolate this information. As promises, he provided the feast. Sibyll asked Thourin if he could get her a baby rat to train. He asked one of the rats for a baby rat, and the rat was glad to give one up.
Thus they began to plan their heist. After point and counterpoint, it was at last V2Z4 that suggested they simply ask for it. They set up a meeting with Sindice, and Bayson volunteered to be the face-man. He arrived at the manor the next day, and tried to pitch an idea to Sindice about having him train elephants for him. Sindice was a bit interested, and asked to see his work. Bayson convinced him to meet him at the docks the next morning for a demonstration. Bayson inquired about the truesilver rod Sindice carried at his waist, but was unable to coerce him to perhaps exchange his second one, the one that originally belonged to Doya.
Bayson returns, and the party hatches a plan to steal the rod and the cape while Sindice is away. The next morning, Bayson prepares for his demonstration while Sibyll and Thourin lay in wait at the foot of the plateau to the manor. Sindice rides out, and instead of taking his guard, he meets up with ten city guards, and they mount horses and begin to ride towards the docks. Thourin uses his earth elemental to scale the plateau, and then uses a spell to create a tunnel straight in to the room with the rod, which the rats had explained to him. Bayson makes a show with his Infant for Sindice when he arrives. Thourin casts Hand of Earth spell to knock the rod from the pedestal. The wards trigger, and the hand of earth is obliterated, but Thourin is safe. He jumps out and grabs the rod and finds the cape. A guard rushes in and shoots a crossbow at him, but misses. The earth elemental distracts the guard and Thourin makes his escape. At the docks, Sindice appears to be mentally aware of what was happening at his manor, and signals his men to fall back. He sounds the alarm throughout the city, and the ships are blockaded by his fleet. Thourin manages to create a cave for himself to hide in, while Sibyll slips away.
The guards are ordered to search every vessel, and Silvertooth volunteers to be searched first. Their ship is clean of the items stolen, but Bayson is asked to come in for questioning. Sindice tries to read his mind, but Bayson resists. Frustrated, he has him thrown in the dungeon, believing him to be involved. His brother pays Bayson a visit, and tries to torture him for information. After two failed attempts, he decides Bayson is either unbreakable or knows nothing. Sindice agrees to set him free, and pays him for the inconvenience. Bayson arrives just as Thourin using a ritual to bind the earth and allow him to travel back to the ship. He cats a spell to conceal himself as the ship is searched again.
Finally, they set off back to Doya and return the item to him. Doya revives the last adventurer and Elenya. Hearing the fate of his group, the last adventurer agrees to join the party.
(GMC: And now, for a comic of last week's game.)
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| What was he thinking? |
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