Fear! Fire! Foes! (Feb 2012 recap)
We found our heroes safely once more at Mayor MacBannin’s manor at the end of their flight down Cauldron Hill. A squad of Royal Marines had turned out under the command of Lt. Dale. With the mayor’s help, you were able to convince him that you had been authorized to be on the mountain, and weren’t up to evil things. He wanted to take his squad up the hill and look for the mysterious sunrod-throwing figure, but you convinced him to watch the path down instead. You also convinced him to detail one member of his squad, Pvt. Jackson, to assist you in checking out your vision of Sechim’s Alkahest Factory.
Mayor MacBannin spent about 10 minutes on each of you cleansing you of any dark energies remaining from your time on the Hill. Ash went first, and then left with Pvt. Jackson to head in to RHC HQ to report and ask for further backup. She checked in with the overnight duty officer (it was about 2:45AM on the morning of the 3rd) and was able to requisition/commandeer the help of two Central District PD officers who were on patrol nearby.
The now-cleansed Team Six met up with Ash & her three companions at the end of Lakeshore Row in Parity Lake, where Sechim’s factory was located. As the team advanced on the factory, Slate and Sam peeled off to try to request help from the off-duty police officers guarding the firedust factory next door. They looked by turns skeptical and nervous as the Constables explained the visions you had received on top off Cauldron Hill. But when Ash, who had walked a bit further on, suddenly shouted at someone in the alley, “Halt! By order of the RHC!” – the erstwhile guards decided they had someplace else they’d much rather be, and took off down the road.
Team Six and their allies made short work of the humans setting firegems around the factory. Unfortunately, you were unable to stop a dragonborn mage (who you later learned was named Valando) from engulfing their wagon of supplies in flame, catching Ash in the conflagration. Singed and enraged, Ash shifted form and clambered quickly to the roof of the firedust factory. Sam barreled through the flames after her to encourage her. Meanwhile, Ben and Pvt. Jackson tried to circle around the alkahest factory to catch the retreating Eberardo (Ash, being from Ber herself, and understanding Draconic, had caught the brothers’ shouted conversation). Pieter and one of the CDPD officers ran for the front door of the alkahest factory to warn Heward, while Slate (in the company of the other CDPD officer) busied himself shooting the locks from the chains of the firedust factory in order to free the workers trapped inside.
Ash got knocked down a couple of times by Valando, but Sam was right there to get her on her feet again. Pieter burts through one of the upstairs windows to join them on the roof. Valando was more concerned with escaping before the full might of Team Six could be brought to bear on him and his brother – he teleported to the ladder and quickly slid down. Eberardo knocked out Bendaren in the alleyway, and Valando covered their escape with more bursts of flame.
After the brothers’ escape, Sam, Ash, Pieter, and a CDPD officer worked together to topple the water tank on the roof of the alkahest factory, putting out the flames before disaster could strike.
Exhausted, the Constables returned to HQ about 4:30 in the morning to get some sleep in their office. Assistant Inspector Delft woke the team at 10:30 to get a report. While Sam reported the encounter with the dragonborn arsonists and the visions on Cauldron Hill that had led to their thwarting, Ash stepped out and brought the team brunch from her favorite Berian tapas restaurant down the street.
By 1 PM, the Constables had finished filling out their paperwork and headed towards the Cloudwood to see how Nevard was getting on. On the way, a bright yellow canary flittered about them, and suddenly the voice of Gale spoke to you from the air. You agreed to meet her at once, and the canary led them deeper into the Cloudwood, stopping at the Bridal Veil. After verifying that you came alone, and did not make any threatening moves, Gale flew across the river to meet you. She thanked you for investigating Nilasa’s death, and warned you of dark happenings in the Bleak Gate. She gave you a ritual book containing the Detect Planar Energy ritual, and a messenger wind to allow you to contact her or each other across large distances. Finally, Gale asked Team Six to keep an eye on Nevard, who had scheduled a rally in Dawn Square for the afternoon of the 5th, and gone into hiding for protection until then.
Pieter took the book back to HQ to spend the necessary time to master the ritual. He stopped off at Pardwright to check in with Prof. Kindleton. She related that she had received another letter from Dr. von Recklinghausen and had passed the Team’s letter back with the runner. Dr. von R asked Prof Kindleton to get with Dr. Camp and arrange transport for him out of Risur, preferably to Ber.
While Pieter was studying, the rest of the Team went back to Sechim’s to see if daylight revealed anything further. Heward came out and thanked you profusely for saving his factory. The owner of the firegem factory came out and complained bitterly that you had freed his workforce. “There’s more simpletons where the last lot came from, but you’ve cost me a day’s production! Lady Saxby will hear of this!” You shrugged him off and starting poking around the remains of the arsonists’ wagon. A search turned up a singed, waterlogged scrap of paper which read simply:
SECHIM’S ALKAHEST AND ETCHINGS
Lakeshore Row, Parity Lake
-CC
Stymied for the nonce, the Team decided to go back through the clues you’d uncovered so far. Going back over your notes, you remembered the copy of the deed to the canal barge you found in the alleyway outside the Danoran Consulate. You decided to try to track down the barge, which likely runs on Stanfield Canal. Several hours of searching later, Slate spotted it making a run towards Parity Lake. He also noticed something odd – several of the crates on the barge seemed almost transparent. You watched as the barge went under the fourth bridge along the canal – the crates seemed even thinner. Sam called out for the barge to pull over, but was greeted by a rude gesture from the pilot. The team ran ahead to the fifth bridge, and jumped from the upstream side onto the barge. Sam once again ordered the pilot to pull to shore. Instead, the pilot stopped the barge in the middle of the stream. He claimed diplomatic immunity from a search of the vessel, since it was owned by the Danoran Consulate. There was a standoff as the pilot refused to move and refused to answer questions. After about 10 minutes, the crates snapped back to full solidity. Ben noticed that each of them was marked with the same sigil. He tried to shift one and found it was heavy. When threatened with arrest for impeding canal traffic, the pilot started moving again, sailing under the 6th & final bridge and coming to rest a couple of feet from the shore of Parity Lake. The team noticed a ring of rusted iron on the underside of the bridge as you passed under it. The pilot invited you to leave and to come back with both a warrant and signed permission from the Consular if you actually want to search his vessel.
Leaving the barge, you secured passage on another boat heading back towards the bay. Now that you knew what to look for, it was easy to pick out similar rings of rusted iron on the undersides of each bridge over the canal. Ben also noticed sigils, similar to those he saw on the crates on the barge, carved into the edges of the rings.
Team Six headed back to HQ to check on Pieter’s progress and also consult with an RHC mage about your findings. You learned that rusted iron was traditionally used in plane-shifting magic – that a rusted iron portal ring could potentially send travelers to the Bleak Gate. You also made another report to Assistant Inspector Delft. Somehow, you managed to leave out that you had met Gale, and you claimed in your report that the ritual book had come from Nevard.
About 11:30 in the evening, Pieter at last emerged from his studies. The team decided to try searching for Bleak Gate energies in various places connected with their investigation. You turned up a hit on the bridges, a slight trace on the paper from ‘CC’, but nothing fresh anywhere else you looked – the Consulate, Sechim’s Factory, the University, or Pine Island. Once more, the team got to bed quite late.
At 11AM the next morning (Summer 4), the team reassembled at HQ. The plan at first was to take RHCS Tardis out to Pine Island to scout the location of the smuggler meetup scheduled for that night. On your way to the docks, however, you were accosted by an associate of Lorcan Kell. He asks you to meet him at 1PM on Broad St. in east Parity Lake, and from there he will guide you to where the Doctor is being held.
At the appointed hour, you meet your contact (“Mr. Smith”) on Broad St. He starts to lead you through the warrens of Parity Lake, when a disturbance attracts your attention. A woman knelt over an apparently injured man, yelling, “Somebody stop them!”, and gesticulating at two youths wearing red scarves running down the street. Every instinct yelled “trap”, but you decided to play along for the moment, and followed the thieves into a darkened theater. Once on stage, the house lights came up, revealing Lorcan Kell surrounded by dozens of thugs aiming various weapons at you. Kell invited you up to his box and offered the doctor for the low, low price of 1000GP. Sam tried to bargain with him, but Kell stood firm at 1000. He further put on a “show” involving a docker Pieter recognized from his younger days, going so far as to have one of his minions cut off one of the docker’s fingers. At that you agreed to pay up, offering Sam’s crossbow as surety until you could return with the additional 600-odd gold needed. A quick trip back to your lockers at HQ later, you met “Mr. Smith” back at the Theater and handed over the money. At that, Smith sent a guide with you to take you to an abandoned church in the Nettles.
There, you met Dr. von Recklinghausen and convinced him that you would help him on his way to Ber if only he would hand over the documents he’d taken. You also admired the canary pendant he was wearing .. he was just explaining how it turned black when danger approached when suddenly it darkened… and that’s where we’ll pick up next month.
--
Wow, that took me a while to write today.
I'll try to get back on tonight and follow up with thoughts on how things are going.
We found our heroes safely once more at Mayor MacBannin’s manor at the end of their flight down Cauldron Hill. A squad of Royal Marines had turned out under the command of Lt. Dale. With the mayor’s help, you were able to convince him that you had been authorized to be on the mountain, and weren’t up to evil things. He wanted to take his squad up the hill and look for the mysterious sunrod-throwing figure, but you convinced him to watch the path down instead. You also convinced him to detail one member of his squad, Pvt. Jackson, to assist you in checking out your vision of Sechim’s Alkahest Factory.
Mayor MacBannin spent about 10 minutes on each of you cleansing you of any dark energies remaining from your time on the Hill. Ash went first, and then left with Pvt. Jackson to head in to RHC HQ to report and ask for further backup. She checked in with the overnight duty officer (it was about 2:45AM on the morning of the 3rd) and was able to requisition/commandeer the help of two Central District PD officers who were on patrol nearby.
The now-cleansed Team Six met up with Ash & her three companions at the end of Lakeshore Row in Parity Lake, where Sechim’s factory was located. As the team advanced on the factory, Slate and Sam peeled off to try to request help from the off-duty police officers guarding the firedust factory next door. They looked by turns skeptical and nervous as the Constables explained the visions you had received on top off Cauldron Hill. But when Ash, who had walked a bit further on, suddenly shouted at someone in the alley, “Halt! By order of the RHC!” – the erstwhile guards decided they had someplace else they’d much rather be, and took off down the road.
Team Six and their allies made short work of the humans setting firegems around the factory. Unfortunately, you were unable to stop a dragonborn mage (who you later learned was named Valando) from engulfing their wagon of supplies in flame, catching Ash in the conflagration. Singed and enraged, Ash shifted form and clambered quickly to the roof of the firedust factory. Sam barreled through the flames after her to encourage her. Meanwhile, Ben and Pvt. Jackson tried to circle around the alkahest factory to catch the retreating Eberardo (Ash, being from Ber herself, and understanding Draconic, had caught the brothers’ shouted conversation). Pieter and one of the CDPD officers ran for the front door of the alkahest factory to warn Heward, while Slate (in the company of the other CDPD officer) busied himself shooting the locks from the chains of the firedust factory in order to free the workers trapped inside.
Ash got knocked down a couple of times by Valando, but Sam was right there to get her on her feet again. Pieter burts through one of the upstairs windows to join them on the roof. Valando was more concerned with escaping before the full might of Team Six could be brought to bear on him and his brother – he teleported to the ladder and quickly slid down. Eberardo knocked out Bendaren in the alleyway, and Valando covered their escape with more bursts of flame.
After the brothers’ escape, Sam, Ash, Pieter, and a CDPD officer worked together to topple the water tank on the roof of the alkahest factory, putting out the flames before disaster could strike.
Exhausted, the Constables returned to HQ about 4:30 in the morning to get some sleep in their office. Assistant Inspector Delft woke the team at 10:30 to get a report. While Sam reported the encounter with the dragonborn arsonists and the visions on Cauldron Hill that had led to their thwarting, Ash stepped out and brought the team brunch from her favorite Berian tapas restaurant down the street.
By 1 PM, the Constables had finished filling out their paperwork and headed towards the Cloudwood to see how Nevard was getting on. On the way, a bright yellow canary flittered about them, and suddenly the voice of Gale spoke to you from the air. You agreed to meet her at once, and the canary led them deeper into the Cloudwood, stopping at the Bridal Veil. After verifying that you came alone, and did not make any threatening moves, Gale flew across the river to meet you. She thanked you for investigating Nilasa’s death, and warned you of dark happenings in the Bleak Gate. She gave you a ritual book containing the Detect Planar Energy ritual, and a messenger wind to allow you to contact her or each other across large distances. Finally, Gale asked Team Six to keep an eye on Nevard, who had scheduled a rally in Dawn Square for the afternoon of the 5th, and gone into hiding for protection until then.
Pieter took the book back to HQ to spend the necessary time to master the ritual. He stopped off at Pardwright to check in with Prof. Kindleton. She related that she had received another letter from Dr. von Recklinghausen and had passed the Team’s letter back with the runner. Dr. von R asked Prof Kindleton to get with Dr. Camp and arrange transport for him out of Risur, preferably to Ber.
While Pieter was studying, the rest of the Team went back to Sechim’s to see if daylight revealed anything further. Heward came out and thanked you profusely for saving his factory. The owner of the firegem factory came out and complained bitterly that you had freed his workforce. “There’s more simpletons where the last lot came from, but you’ve cost me a day’s production! Lady Saxby will hear of this!” You shrugged him off and starting poking around the remains of the arsonists’ wagon. A search turned up a singed, waterlogged scrap of paper which read simply:
SECHIM’S ALKAHEST AND ETCHINGS
Lakeshore Row, Parity Lake
-CC
Stymied for the nonce, the Team decided to go back through the clues you’d uncovered so far. Going back over your notes, you remembered the copy of the deed to the canal barge you found in the alleyway outside the Danoran Consulate. You decided to try to track down the barge, which likely runs on Stanfield Canal. Several hours of searching later, Slate spotted it making a run towards Parity Lake. He also noticed something odd – several of the crates on the barge seemed almost transparent. You watched as the barge went under the fourth bridge along the canal – the crates seemed even thinner. Sam called out for the barge to pull over, but was greeted by a rude gesture from the pilot. The team ran ahead to the fifth bridge, and jumped from the upstream side onto the barge. Sam once again ordered the pilot to pull to shore. Instead, the pilot stopped the barge in the middle of the stream. He claimed diplomatic immunity from a search of the vessel, since it was owned by the Danoran Consulate. There was a standoff as the pilot refused to move and refused to answer questions. After about 10 minutes, the crates snapped back to full solidity. Ben noticed that each of them was marked with the same sigil. He tried to shift one and found it was heavy. When threatened with arrest for impeding canal traffic, the pilot started moving again, sailing under the 6th & final bridge and coming to rest a couple of feet from the shore of Parity Lake. The team noticed a ring of rusted iron on the underside of the bridge as you passed under it. The pilot invited you to leave and to come back with both a warrant and signed permission from the Consular if you actually want to search his vessel.
Leaving the barge, you secured passage on another boat heading back towards the bay. Now that you knew what to look for, it was easy to pick out similar rings of rusted iron on the undersides of each bridge over the canal. Ben also noticed sigils, similar to those he saw on the crates on the barge, carved into the edges of the rings.
Team Six headed back to HQ to check on Pieter’s progress and also consult with an RHC mage about your findings. You learned that rusted iron was traditionally used in plane-shifting magic – that a rusted iron portal ring could potentially send travelers to the Bleak Gate. You also made another report to Assistant Inspector Delft. Somehow, you managed to leave out that you had met Gale, and you claimed in your report that the ritual book had come from Nevard.
About 11:30 in the evening, Pieter at last emerged from his studies. The team decided to try searching for Bleak Gate energies in various places connected with their investigation. You turned up a hit on the bridges, a slight trace on the paper from ‘CC’, but nothing fresh anywhere else you looked – the Consulate, Sechim’s Factory, the University, or Pine Island. Once more, the team got to bed quite late.
At 11AM the next morning (Summer 4), the team reassembled at HQ. The plan at first was to take RHCS Tardis out to Pine Island to scout the location of the smuggler meetup scheduled for that night. On your way to the docks, however, you were accosted by an associate of Lorcan Kell. He asks you to meet him at 1PM on Broad St. in east Parity Lake, and from there he will guide you to where the Doctor is being held.
At the appointed hour, you meet your contact (“Mr. Smith”) on Broad St. He starts to lead you through the warrens of Parity Lake, when a disturbance attracts your attention. A woman knelt over an apparently injured man, yelling, “Somebody stop them!”, and gesticulating at two youths wearing red scarves running down the street. Every instinct yelled “trap”, but you decided to play along for the moment, and followed the thieves into a darkened theater. Once on stage, the house lights came up, revealing Lorcan Kell surrounded by dozens of thugs aiming various weapons at you. Kell invited you up to his box and offered the doctor for the low, low price of 1000GP. Sam tried to bargain with him, but Kell stood firm at 1000. He further put on a “show” involving a docker Pieter recognized from his younger days, going so far as to have one of his minions cut off one of the docker’s fingers. At that you agreed to pay up, offering Sam’s crossbow as surety until you could return with the additional 600-odd gold needed. A quick trip back to your lockers at HQ later, you met “Mr. Smith” back at the Theater and handed over the money. At that, Smith sent a guide with you to take you to an abandoned church in the Nettles.
There, you met Dr. von Recklinghausen and convinced him that you would help him on his way to Ber if only he would hand over the documents he’d taken. You also admired the canary pendant he was wearing .. he was just explaining how it turned black when danger approached when suddenly it darkened… and that’s where we’ll pick up next month.
--
Wow, that took me a while to write today.
I'll try to get back on tonight and follow up with thoughts on how things are going.
Anyway, Danisca opened up (briefly) - but was just talking long enough for Blander and his badgers to make their way over. As soon as he showed up, she disappeared and the fight was on. The badgers were pretty ineffective. I like the concept of a potential two-hit minion, but the 5 damage threshold is just too low for 4e. About the only thing that's going to do less than 5 are some auto-hit wizard effects (like Magic Missile) or some AoE splash damage (sometimes).
(Actually, reading ahead, I'm really looking forward to (Adventure 3 spoiler)[sblock]killing one or more of them in the Ziggurat of Apet and having the Voice of Rot play with them.. 
)[/sblock] On the other hand, it was partially my fault, since I missed the part about the aspect of death going for Nevard, which would have mitigated his damage output somewhat. The party ended up scaring off Creed, and at Nevard's suggestion, beating a hasty retreat down the mountain after defeating only two of the monsters. Death & the Crawler were still near full HP.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
