June 25th
The party decided to stay at Fong's house for the night, having escorted him home safely. He agreed to escort them through the castle in the morning to give them a list of other known Werbergians over the age of 60 to aid in the party's investigations. The night was uneventful, and everyone survived without acquiring a black hand print. Vocifera cast comprehend languages on some papers Fong had lying about his house, but it turned out to be bad poetry. Brog did not believe that the documents were bad poetry, so Vocifera recited it to him. All agreed that the poetry was bad.
Later in the morning, the group of bold adventurers made their way to the long stone walkway which was the only approach to Castle Freidvale. After much discussion on what they should say at the front gates, the guardsman said to them, "You the ones here about the murders? I'll get Fong." And in they got.
Fong escorted them through the courtyard to the Alchemist's tower, the lower levels of which constituted the dungeon and a laboratory. As they made their way down three levels they saw many strange sights. First they saw the usual assortment of drunks and disorderlies making up the first level of the dungeon. On the second level they saw a gnome in prison grey rags, his cell door wide open, working on a pile of assorted locks at his feet. Though Fallister the Bard attempted to engage the gnome in conversation, the prisoner was too enthralled to look up from his work. Fong explained, "That's Gnosh, the master locksmith. He has something of an... unusual arrangement with the guards. He was arrested when a lock he crafted failed to keep thieves out of the city payroll.... While the guards have to acknowledge that no cell can hold him, really, Gnosh had to concede he had no where to go even if he could outrun the guards (which he can't). So Gnosh stays in his cell and works at improving the locks on the other cells all day. We've had far fewer escapes since he arrived!"
The third level of the dungeon consisted of cells filled with what could only be described as 5' tall eggs with arms and legs and anthropomorphic features. Someone from the party identified them as 'Eggmen', the offspring of an enormous 10' tall chicken-like creature called a bandersnatch. The eggmen all looked quite miserable and listless, and they gibbered nonsense in a despondent tone. The last cell held a bandersnatch, which certain members of the party who had the foresight to take Knowledge: Arcana knew were an endangered and protected species within the Empire, and possession of them was highly illegal. Certain environmental rights activists groups would go crazy trying to liberate these creatures if they knew of their existence in the Freidvale Castle dungeon. The party filed this information away for another time.
Lastly they came to the laboratory of Dr. James Jessup, the Chief Alchemist and Medical Officer for the castle. There were many test tubes, beakers and smoking vials of liquid present, but by far the saddest sight they had seen that day was a horribly scared female humanoid lying on a lab table. "Ah, fresh subjects! And human, too! You've done well, Fong." "Oh no!" said Fong, "These people are here regarding the murders in town." Fong and Dr. Jessup disappeared through a door in the back of the lab for a moment.
During the good doctor's absence, the team quickly went to work. Fallister attempted to read several documents on the table where the doctor had been working, while Tannis attempted to speak with the woman on the table. "Are you alright?" she said. "Mss...mss...mss.." was all the figure could manage to say. She did not appear conscious. Brog listened at the door where Fong and the Doctor were talking and heard, "You know how difficult finding live subjects is right now, particularly humans... Oh, very well."
Just then, Fong and Jessup returned to the room. Fong escorted the group into a room filled with cadavers and gave them the list of the remaining Werbergians over 60 believed to be still living in the city limits. I won't repeat the entire list here since I was told the names I generated might be construed as a touch insensitive. Two of the people on the list, Why Mi and Why Not, could be found on the docks. One was a monk who meditated while standing on a pylon and the other was a 60 year old prostitute. While this raised eyebrows among the party, they were reminded that everyone had to make a living somehow.
On the way out of the castle, the group noticed several imperial ships in the harbor and a pair of underwater explosions. Fallister and Karsh had Knowledge: Engineering and were quite sure the explosions were submerged and not the result of cannon fire. Filing this under 'Odd situations to be ignored since we've got too many other things to do,' the group continued on.
They found Why Not meditating whilst standing on a pylon. He wrote a note telling the group that he had taken a vow of silence. They asked him where Why Mi was, and he pointed to a bundle of rags further up the street.
A rather uncomfortable bargaining session broke out over drugs for information with Why Mi. Fallister used his skill at gathering local information to quickly procure the drug Harlot's Sweets. He was also informed that he could get anything he liked at the Skinny Puppy Tavern. The aged harlot said the killer wears red. Why Mi also told the group that she knew the person the killer was looking for: a retired monk named Oberon who fed street urchins what scraps he could. He had a kitchen on Division Street where he also taught children martial arts to help them defend themselves.
Just as Why Mi said this, the elderly monk on the pylon ran in the direction of Division St. The party mercilessly beat the hapless old monk within an inch of his life, but failed to stop him. Well, okay, they beat him with the flats of their swords and tried to knock him out, but this is still tantamount to beating an old man. A very fast old man, but an old man nonetheless. Fortunately the DM has not yet rolled a successful check for local law enforcement to notice these things.
Brog tracked the blood back to Oberon's kitchen. Oberon and Why Not prepared for their inevitable end....
It may have gone even worse, but the Bard managed to roll a natural 20 on a diplomacy check, and further violence was averted. Oberon would agree to give the treasure the killer was looking for to the PC's. In exchange, they would find Leif's sister Lithe, last seen in Freidvale's sewers, and grant them safety... somewhere. Oberon did not fear for his own life, and cared nothing for treasure at his point in his life, but did not want the children to suffer should something happen to him.
The party resolved to find Lithe. They reluctantly entered the sewer. The ranger Brog was a wealth of information about dangers of the sewer, specifically filth fever, a disease which was common among sewer dwellers and could be contracted by the bite of many animals and could also be had by dunking one's head in sewage.
While the group successfully navigated the sewers without contracting disease, Fallister, the rather sickly bard, did get bitten by a rat. Vocifera tried to cure disease with her skill at healing, but Fallister was not diseased. It seemed the rat who bit him was a wererat, and so, too, would be Fallister in a few days time if he could not find a cure or cleric of sufficient level to cast remove curse on him. The group resolved to settle the matter at hand and help poor Fallister later.
They did not proceed much further before several other wererats, in hybrid form, came a calling. Their leader, a chainmail wearing wererat who identified himself as Jenner, offered to make the whole group wererats, showing them the dubious benefits of membership. The group declined, but did pay a fee of 500gp for passing through the wererat's area of influence in the sewers. The rats led the party to the edge of elven territory. The plight of the sewer elves was truly pitiful, but Lithe was located and brought back to Oberon, poste haste. Oberon gave the party a map to show his gratitude. It was the location of the treasure sought by the Black Hand Killer.
On the road to the treasure, clever Brog found wolfsbane, the cure for the curse of lycanthropy. Vocifera successfully administered doses of the cure a number of times, but Fallister could not make a Fortitude save to save his life. Many ones, threes an fours were rolled, to the vast amusement of all but Fallister, who lost his breakfast, his lunch, and the caramel skinny latte he had had earlier that day, many times over.
Mighty Brog swam underwater and found the entrance to the treasure, 20,000 GP and a mysterious deck of cards. Fallister identified the cards as a Deck of Many Things, which had disastrous or beneficial effects depending on which card was drawn at random. Wisely, no one drew from the deck. The coins all bore the mark of a scorpion on them, and though none could pass a Knowledge History check, it was agreed that the coins were 'not from around here.' The group agreed that the strange coins ought not be spent until more information on them could be gathered.
The group returned to Oberon with the plan to remove his disguise, parade him around the wharf a bit, and then lure the killer into a trap back at Oberon's kitchen. Tanglefoot bags were purchased, plots were hatched, yawns were yawned, and the group adjourned until next session.
Each character gained 1250 xp, bringing their running total to 1750 each. 250 further xp is needed to reach level 2.
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