League of Assassins - Conclusion

Chapter 61, “Information from the Brondani Elves”, July 13th, 1019, 10:30 P.M.

Greidawl Llyr gestures to an empty chair at the adjacent table, and says “First I would like to introduce you to our primary bodyguard, Rhee Birchwood. She was instrumental in protecting us from multiple assassination attempts during the past few days.”

A human female suddenly appears in the chair. She appears to be at least six feet tall, with dark eyes and jet black hair with a few streaks of gray, tied in a tight bun on the back of her hair. She is wearing a long black cloth dress and black boots. A black leather vest with intricate patterns is buttoned tightly across her chest. The only thing that breaks up the somber tones is the bright multi-colored parrot sitting on her shoulder. Narg and Mojo mutter comments about how she has the appearance of a stern librarian.

The woman states “I have been accompanying the Llyr’s during the past week. When it was announced earlier this evening that the Royals were under attack I went to investigate. She then looks toward Serita, Mojo and Narg, and comments “I was very impressed at the way you handled that situation. After you left I checked out the carriage. It appears that some type of magical cutting tool was used to cut the axle. Based upon the small amount of oxidation around the break it appears to have occurred a few days ago, probably during the bidders dinner, and the wheels were kept on since then by magical means. That would have only required a Dispel Magic to make them come off at just the right moment.

After I returned here I investigated then investigated the other carriages outside, finding the exact same damage to the carriage that the Llyr’s arrived here in. I imagine that the assassins are planning another assault during our ride back to the Sleeping Raven Inn.” The Silver Moon Adventurers get excited about hearing this. Serita exclaims, “Same M.O., same assassins, that means Annie, the other Serita and whoever they are working with. Let’s get’em!” Mojo points to the Llyrs and suggests “Okay, so we just need to disguise us to look like these guys, so it will look like them entering the carriage.” Greidawl says “No need for anything that elaborate. We didn’t win anything in the auction there is no need for us to remain in this city. Whether we teleport away from here, from inside the carriage or back at the Inn makes no difference.”

Serita says “Oh yeah, I’m sorry you weren’t able to get your Grandfather’s artifact.” Greidawl states “Yes, it was quite a disappointment for us. We came really close to an agreement about sharing it too.” His Granddaughter Andowen then speaks up. “The leaders of both Mengale and Silvanost refused to even meet with each other and Grandfather, so three of us lower ranked decided to meet instead. Princess Iseldere of Silvanost, the Mengale High Lady’s bodyguard Ross, and I negotiated well into the evening, coming up with a workable plan. Both Grandfather and the High Lady Arwen agreed to the terms, but Silvanost’s Queen Vanya would not go along with what her younger sister had agreed to.”

Greidawl says “Yes, and it was obvious that we weren’t going to get it, as I only had around a quarter of a million gold to spend.” Serita interjects “Hold on, you bid more than three times that amount!” He gestures back to Rhee and says, “Yes, because my friend here was able to find out exactly how much Silvanost had to spend. Once they killed the sharing agreement I was determined that if they were going to get the artifact they weren’t going to get it cheap. That extra half million gold will do far more good at your hospital than sitting in Silvanost’s vaults.” “Thank you” Serita answers.

Greidwal’s son Bradwen then speaks up, stating “And there is one other area where I think we can be of some assistance to you. During the item hearing the people from the desert kingdom spoke of the sphinx housing part of a deity, and of a god war that took place ten weeks ago. We were intrigued by that and decided to investigate it further.”

Netralitor, the Elder of the Engwahilien Family, then speaks up, stating “I am a high priest of the elvan god Corellon Larethian. I contacted servants of my deity regarding this, and what I discovered was very interesting. They confirmed that the physical body of the god Set was shattered during the god war, and the pieces scattered throughout eternity.” “Set, he’s their god of evil!” Serita exclaims. Netralitor answers “Yes he is. That helps explain why those followers of his were unwilling to take ‘No’ for an answer.”

“They also told me another very interesting element of this god war, in that a team from your group were participants, and you actually met my god. Fiona says, “Yes, Aradyn, Vincenzo and I were all part of that team.” Netralitor continues “I was told you assisted the evil god Nerull in order to get a piece of the fabled Rod of the Seven Parts.” (Module #105, “20th Year Anniversary Module”, Game #5) Vincenzo says “Yes, but also in exchange for that and a subsequent mission Nerull agreed to cease all contact with our planet, which benefits us all.” (Module #109, “Leave it to Nerull”)

Bradwen speaks up again “I assume that you were successful in obtaining the Rod of the Seven Parts.” A long silence follows, with none of the party either confirming or denying it. Bradwen continues, “I read an account written by the Zalparian Scholar’s Guild, which indicated that you possessed the artifact briefly some 14 years ago. It indicated that you had only used one of the two prime powers, the ability to turn a victim’s bones to jelly. Did you ever discover what the other prime power was?” “No,” several party members state in unison. The elvan bard says “Well, it is cited in an ancient ballad about the Rod, if that knowledge would be of use to you?”

The party indicates that would be helpful to know. (Several players then request that the DM not actually sing the passage, knowing that the players would probably suffer physical damage if he did.) Bradwen supplies the information of the power being the equivalent of the 9th level Wizard spell Imprisonment.

The Llyr’s decide that it is time for them to depart. The carriage is brought around to beside the doors. Narg again cautions against too large a group going, needing a sufficient force to remain behind to still guard both the items and the target Melito, but adds “I’m going this time.” “Me too,” Mojo chimes in. It is pointed out that anyone in the carriage will be making himself or herself a target. “I’ve got my Ring of Invisibility” Mojo states. Rhee offers to cast an invisibility spell onto Narg.

Blip says “I’ll ride along invisibly on my broom.” Cassie decides that an air contingent sounds good, and says that she will ride her wyvern. The archer Aradyn volunteers to join her, saying “You drive, I’ll shoot.” Timothy says he will go as well, on his pegasus. Lastly, they decide to replace the driver with one of their party. Furynick volunteers, putting the driver’s clothes and hat over his armor and pocketing his eye patch. Mojo comments “Is it really a good idea to have a driver with no peripheral vision to lead us into an ambush?” Narg whispers to Mojo “Not really, but do you see anyone other than Furynick who is stupid enough to volunteer to be a visible target?” “Good point,” Mojo replies.

Rhee becomes invisible again, and heads out to the carriage with the group from Brondani. Narg and Mojo accompany them. The carriage is momentarily crowded, as the curtains on the carriage are all lowered. The wizard and her charges then teleport away. Narg says “We’d better brace ourselves. The attack could come at any time.” Mojo replies “Well, this is hardly the first time that we’ve been inside a carriage that tipped over.” Narg answers “Yes, but for a change, this time it won’t be us that cause it to crash.”

Chapter 62, “Ambushing the Assassins”, July 13th, 1019, 11:00 P.M.

The carriage safely makes it to the end of the warehouse district, and turns north onto one of the main roads of the city. Blip had stayed well ahead of them, having already checked out the windows of the Magical Stone Inn, across from the intersection. Being one of the main thoroughfares, it has stone posts with Continual Light spells cast upon them on alternating sides of the wide street. Most of the buildings for the next half-mile are aristocratic residences that are set far back from the street. Blip flies above the fences, walls and shrubbery surrounding these estates, looking for any assassins. The next building near the street is the Mage’s Guild.

Blip casts her Detect Invisibility spell, and sees a number of objects on the building that are indeed cloaked in invisibility, but nothing that appears to be a threat. She then passes two more aristocratic residencies before reaching the Cloak and Spellbook Inn. The inn has three main stories, and a fourth floor attic level with several rooms as well. She sees a number of windows open on all levels, but that in and of itself is not unusual as it is a warm summer night. Dormer windows of three attic rooms face the street, and as she approaches she makes out three invisible men holding crossbows lying on the first two dormer roofs and facing the street.

With maneuvers similar to that from a Harry Potter Quiddage game, Blip rapidly falls back and descends alongside the carriage to pass this information on to her allies. She falls further back and ascends to a point between the wyvern and pegasus, informing them as well. Next she accelerates at the broom’s fastest speed, to return to the inn and investigate the open windows. Four windows are open on the third floor and one on the fourth. She zips up past the first third floor windows, seeing people inside but nothing that indicates they are assassination participants. Nothing is the fourth floor room either, and she concludes that is where the crossbowmen got onto the roof. She descends back to the third floor, and finds her objective, the assassin Lady Annette a.k.a. Annie, in the very last room on the third floor.

The carriage is now almost to the building, and there is not enough time for Blip to communicate this to her allies. Annie is sitting in a chair set back a few feet from the window, with an elaborate weapon in front of her that is the medieval equivalent of a high-powered repeating sniper rifle. The weapon consists of an oversized heavy crossbow resting on two suspended metal hoops, one horizontal the other vertical. A short metal tipped spear is loaded inside the weapon, and directly above the spear housing is a wooden vertical bin holding five more spears. One of her hands rests near the crossbow trigger the other is holding a handle attached to a wire and pulley mechanism used to quickly reload the device. Blip flies over to the inn’s wall beside the window and carefully unhitches the wooden shutter.

The carriage has now reached the road near end of the building. A wizard with a long white beard wearing a red robe is walking alongside the building reading a book. Without taking his eyes off of the book he casually waves his hand and the carriage and casts a spell. Both wheels on the right side of the carriage fall off. Since Furynick had been expecting this he had begun to slow the horses down and now pulls the reigns to have them stop. Narg and Mojo had moved outside of the carriage, invisibly standing on the left side railing and adding their weight to that side. As a result, the side of the carriage digs into the ground but it does not tip over. Mojo and Narg jump down onto the ground, as does Furynick. The three crossbowmen on the roof fire down at Furynick, who moves behind the carriage for cover.

Cassie and Aradyn observe this from their seats on the wyvern, 80 feet up and 120 feet back. Aradyn lets loose his first arrow, saying, “Get the wizard.” Cassie comments, “Yes, he’s got a book that I don’t have yet,” and she then casts Magic Missile as Aradyn lets a second arrow fly. The wizard gets struck for a total of 42 points of damage from the combined assault, falling to the ground. Meanwhile, Timothy has looped his pegasus around to come in at the roof from behind and casts a Hold Person spell onto the crossbowmen once he is in range. Blip notices that Annie is busy repositioning her crossbow, targeting the carriage.

Much to everyone’s surprise, the wizard lying on the street gets up and rushes towards the door to the Inn. Aradyn lets another arrow fly, now from point black range as the wyvern Maynard is making a beeline for the carriage. The arrow bounces off of the man’s back. Mojo lets his Hammer of Throwing fly, striking the man and wizard full force and knocking him into the side of the inn. Mojo sees that the man is wearing a suit of armor beneath his now ripped robe. Another arrow from Aradyn strikes the man’s leg, causing him to fall to the ground. Cassie instructs Maynard to use his tail to grab the man. Narg is now along the rear of the carriage and is moving towards the man. At the vest last instant Narg sees something moving rapidly towards him from behind, and ducks just as the wyvern’s barbed tail as it swings down and impales the fallen spellcaster, killing him.

Up inside the third floor window, Annie depresses the trigger as the wyvern flies into her target zone. At the first sign of hand movement Blip swings the shutter around, the spear striking it full force. The velocity that the spear is traveling at far exceeds the strength of the flimsy wooden shutter, and the shutter explodes into a shower of wood fragments that fall to the street below. It is however, enough to slightly deflect the spear’s path so that it misses the wyvern, striking the top of the carriage instead. The exploding shutter, with now visible Blip beside it, signals Cassie as to where the assassin is. She has Maynard fly in that direction, the wyvern’s tail still imbedded in the spellcaster’s body, which rises up into the air behind them.

Timothy notes that two of the crossbowmen are no longer moving, but the third fires down at Mojo. The bolt glances off of Mojo’s armor for no damage, but does remind the fighter that he is now visible, so he moves back behind the carriage and reactivates his ring. Furynick yells “Into the Inn,” and Mojo and Narg both head that way. Timothy puts his pegasus into a dive and sideways swoop, pulling out his mace. He takes a swipe into the crossbowman, who is taken totally by surprise, getting struck for 10 points of damage.

As the wyvern flies upward and back to within Annie’s target zone she fires the crossbow again. The spear grazes along the wyvern’s scales before deflecting harmlessly across the street. Blip sticks her fist into the window, and calls up an Insect Plague spell from her Ring of Spell Storing. The room fills with an angry swarm of bees, hornets, yellowjackets and wasps which all attack the assassin. “Got Her” Blip yells. Cassie has Maynard stop and hover by the window. Cassie extracts the Wand of Force from her belt and creates a Wall of Force around Annie, trapping her inside with the majority of the insect swarm.

Meanwhile, the crossbowman on the roof decides to leave, and unfastens himself from his anchoring spikes. He climbs down and around to go through the dormer window, making himself Aradyn’s new target in the process. Two well-placed arrows strike the man, and he falls thirty feet to the ground, landing behind Narg and Mojo who are nearing the door to the Inn.

The man falling to the ground causes Blip to glance in that direction, and as since her Detect Invisibility Spell is still running, she notices a pair of invisible armed men approaching the carriage’s side door. She kicks the broom into top speed in that direction as she throws a Dispel Magic on the two foes. Narg and Mojo had also both turned at the sound of the falling body, and now see these two men materialize before them. Mojo lets his hammer fly into one, as Narg draws his Nargblade and charges. Timothy has also seen this, and since his diving pegasus was already heading that direction anyway, pivots around and strikes one of the men with his mace.

Mojo’s hammer strikes the first one again, who begins to run, only to be then struck in the side by the rapidly moving gnome, as Blip holds and uses her shortsword as a knight would a lance. The speed that she was traveling at adds to the impact, with the sword driving deep into the man. Blip releases her sword to prevent being flown into the ground, and pulls back up. Mojo charges up to the man and draws his sword, but before he can use it the man is dispatched by one of Aradyn’s arrows from above. “Fine, I’ll help Narg,” Mojo exclaims. Furynick has already come to Narg’s assistance, and the two quickly finish off the other opponent.

Blip and Timothy fly up to restrain the two held crossbowmen, as the three fighters charge into the Inn. They identify themselves to the proprietor, telling him he has assassins for guests, and they charge upstairs. Mojo kicks the door to Annie’s room open, only to be attacked by angry insects. They decide to shut the door, and wait for the insect plague to cease. Cassie and Aradyn help to get the two prisoners down from the roof. The rest of the Inn is checked, finding no more opponents. When the room is finally clear of insects the party enters, and Cassie ends the Wall of Force. They check Annie’s unmoving body, finding that she has been stung to death.

Game #21 - 6/22/03

Chapter 63, “It’s midnight, let’s head back”, July 14th, 1019, 12:00 A.M.

A squadron from the Jawlt Army has now arrived at the Cloak and Spellbook Inn. Narg and Mojo are able to coerce a confession from the prisoners, determining that they are low-level members of the Halla Thief and Assassins Guild. Cassie uses Speak with Dead spells, identifying the other crossbowmen and two by the carriage as members of the same Guild, who had partnered with Annie for the two assassinations, one for her and one for them. The spellcaster turns out to have been working with Annie, and is a cleric of Loviatar. The prisoners are turned over to the Army, Cassie putting the other bodies and their possessions into a Bag of Holding.

Mojo orders troops to stand guard over Annie’s room, commenting “Our ship’s artillerist Lloyd will be very excited when he sees that weapon. “We should mount it on our ship,” Narg comments. Cassie says “No, we should have analyzed, taken apart and duplicated, and then mount several of them on all of our ships, as well as those of Kindor.”

Narg commandeers a wagon from the Army and they ride back to the auction house. They give Kindor and Melito a report on what happened. Melito says that the Queen will not be very pleased to hear that an Assassins Guild from a city within her own Lordholding attempted to assassinate her. Kindor comments “I think it is safe to say that the Halla Guild will soon be permanently out of business.”

Melito says “We have identified the prisoner that Serita captured earlier. Her name is Lady Winn, and she was an aristocrat from the city of Autzvourg. She is also a high-level assassin who goes by the name of “The Autumn Death”. She had terrorized the city of Autzvourg for many years, causing a pair of assassinations every September and October.” Vallessa interjects “If you tell Matthan that was who was trying to kill him he will probably wet his pants. His fear of being killed by the Autumn Death was the main reason that he moved from his capital from Autzvourg to Pirna eight years ago.” “Let me be the one to tell him,” Mojo states.

Melito continues “Her identity was secret for a great many years, and only discovered a few years back. Like many aristocratic women, she would go away on vacation for the summer months. Apparently that the spa she summered at was actually an assassin school. She would return each autumn, and then put to work what she had learned over the summer. She would do one contract job and one for her own personal pleasure. Her own husband was one of her victims during her fourth year of operation. It took several more years before the connection to Winn was made, as her contract jobs helped to make the assassins appear the work of a random serial killer.

She was finally identified three years ago but managed to disappear before she could be brought to trial. She was tried in abstention and sentenced to be executed. As most of her victims had been decapitated by scissors cuts from her sabers of sharpness is was ruled that if she was ever caught she was to be returned to Autzvourg for a beheading.” “Fine. It looks like we have a road trip to do, I claim the body,” Serita states. Kindor replies “You can have all of the bodies, including those two from the Halla Guild that you turned just over to my troops.”

It is suggested that Melito and Tenbar find a room inside the Inter-dimensional castle for the night. “Yeah, we should get all targets there to safety. Where is little Hiroshi?” Narg asks. “Already there, it was past his bedtime,” Lono interjects. Narg replies “I would have been past his bedtime at his other age too. The guy is now two-thirds of a century younger, but still needs the same amount of nap time.” “Actually sleep sounds like a good idea. It has been a very long day,” Lannon interjects.

Serita suggests to Kindor that they could go use one of the fancy rooms in the Castle as well. Narg decides that is a good idea, and heads there with his wife Vallessa. Mojo comments, “Maybe some of the party should go there who are actually interested in guarding the stuff!” “Ebony’s watching the items,” Vincenzo comments. “How about someone who doesn’t shed and sharpen her claws” Mojo adds. Timothy, Blip and Charen head there as well, with Blip making the comment “I hope the walls in that place are soundproof.” The others head into the side rooms in the auction houserooms. Aradyn and Cassie take the room that the dimensional doorway is inside.

Dennismore begins to patrol invisibly in the main room. The five dwarf construction workers and five of the ship’s crew are on guard duty in the main room, guarding the doors and at the bottom of the staircase. An hour passes by. Nobody has been posted in the second floor hallway, and the party is therefore unaware when gaseous forms begin to solidify, letting off an aroma of almonds with a slight hint of fall foliage. A total of twenty forms silently appear, filling the hallway from one end to the other. They are all Oriental humans, including the three who had attacked Serita and Melito the night before. Half of this group are armored fighters, the other half being monks in traditional martial arts attire.

The leader, a giant of man standing well over six feet in height and wearing a full suit of oriental plate mail and magical katana, gestures to a quartet of archers to head towards the staircase landing. He follows, accompanied by a wizard. The other fifteen split into groups of three, and each head toward the doors of the second floor rooms. A monk with each trio begins to pick the lock on each of the five doors. At this point everyone is still in a deep state of sleep, unaware that the security of the building has been breached.

Chapter 64, “Still more things that go bump in the night”, July 14th, 1019, 1:30 A.M.

The four enemy archers charge out onto the landing, and a pair each take up positions on the top two steps, surveying the room below. The enemy leader stands on the landing and announces to the room below “Do not move. Anybody who moves will get shot. The dwarven construction worker Harback at the bottom of the staircase makes a subtle move, lightly kicking the door to Aradyn and Cassie’s room. The invisible Dennismore comes up behind Harback and whispers “Careful. Do as they say.” Dennis then very lightly taps a code on the door that Aradyn would recognize as a danger signal. The enemy leader continues to speak to those below, telling them to stay still and nobody will be harmed. The enemy wizard behind him stands ready to throw spells below. The talking causes the dozen or so other guards to awaken.

When the construction workers had refurbished the building one modification was the installation of the best and most secure locks they could find on all doors within the building. This results in the monks who are now attempting to unlock the doors having considerable difficulty, with the process taking much longer than expected. Jamie, being the mother of nine young children, is not a very sound sleeper, and awakens at the first sound of the lock being picked. She wakes up her husband Vincenzo, who puts on his armor as she watches the door, crossbow in hand. The door opens, and a pair of oriental men with swords charge in, the first receiving crossbow bolt into his chest. Vincenzo strikes the other one with his mace.

In the room directly below theirs, the sound of combat above awakes Mojo. He activates his ring of invisibility and goes to the door. The enemies don’t see the door open, this being the room below the stairs. Mojo heads out into the room, and looks up to see the leader on the landing. Mojo unfastens his Hammer of Throwing from his belt. Dennis has no difficulty with the lock to Aradyn’s room, and slowly opens it a crack, allowing Aradyn and Cassie to hear what is going on outside. Cassie heads towards the door and begins a spell.

Further down the second floor hallway, the door to Lannon’s room is opened and the three enemies enter, with the dwarven thief blissfully unaware. The leader of this trio is an assassin, who gestures for one of his swordsmen companions to guard the doorway while the other takes up a position at the foot of the bed. The assassin then draws his dagger and moves towards Lannon’s throat. A trio opens the door to Kharole’s room, the leader of which receives four Magic Missiles into him. Another trio opens the door to Marks room, the ranger awakening at the sound of the door being opened. He grabs his sword and waits for them to enter the room. Two armored fighters with longswords enter the room.

Cassie pokes out from the doorway and tosses a 39-point Fireball spell up onto he landing. The landing itself and top stair erupt in raging fury, the front of the fireball fanning out into the room, and the back part shooting down the second floor hallway and into the first two second floor rooms. The leader survives the impact of the blast, but his wizard companion is less fortunate, his robes and beard igniting in flames, the Fireball blast throwing him backwards to the second floor wall. Three of the four archers are also slain by the Fireball, one falling over the landing into the room and another tumbling down the stairs. The two closest crewmembers to the landing also get struck by the outer edge of the blast, one seriously.

The five occupants of Jamie and Vincenzo’s room are stuck by the fireball. This surprises none of the players, as Vinnie has a long history of getting in the way of that particular spell. Vinnie is dazed and looses 80% of his hit points, but Jamie fares better. Her crossbow is damaged, so she then draws her sword, to take on the only one of the three enemies that is still standing. Mark is even more fortunate, as the two men in his doorway are engulfed and killed by the blast, which stops just prior to reaching him. Two other foes in the hallway also drop.

The sound of the fireball awakes everyone still sleeping within the building, including Lannon, who is quick to notice that he is about to be killed. The dwarf rolls to his side, and into his attacker, fall down and onto the floor. He rolls under the bed, and then barely dodges as a katana blade strikes through the mattress towards him below. A second sword thrust hit him for 6 points of damage, as Lannon notices the feet of three enemies in this room. “I could use some help in here” he yells out.

Kharole hears Lannon’s cry and decides that the fastest way to deal with her opponent would be a Fear spell. The spell works, with all three foes charging out the door. The terrified men rush into the hallway, and each consume another Gaseous Form potion and then disappear.

Dennis has hurried up the stairs, climbing over the pair of bodies and slipping around the remaining archer, who is now changing weapons to his sword. Dennis makes his way up to the landing, planning to backstab the leader, but then notices the enemy spellcaster to the right of him. The man has now extinguished the fire on him, and looks to be preparing to cast a spell, unaware that an invisible enemy of his in just a few feet away. Dennis totally surprises the man by sticking a sword into his chest. In the room nearby, Jamie continues to fight her remaining opponent as Vincenzo casts a Cure Serious Wounds spell onto himself.

While this is going on Mojo hits the Leader with the Hammer of Throwing and Cassie hits the same opponent with a Magic Missile spell. The crew have hall drawn their bows and are firing up at the leader. Several arrows reach their target, but bounce harmlessly off of his armor. Aradyn places a few well-fired shots, which also bounce off of the plate armor. Cassie prepares to throw a second Magic Missile spell into the leader, but decides to change targets once the other fighter starts to charge down the stairs at her boyfriend. The missiles drop the foe, which tumbles down the stairs, stopping alongside the body of his former ally.

The trio of foes who are outside of Fiona’s door are having no success with the lock, and at the sight of the men charging out of Kharole’s room the leader heads that direction to investigate. Before he reaches her room he sees Mark exiting the next room, and charges at the ranger. Fiona yells, “What’s going on out there.” Kharole has just entered the hallway and yells “Men are trying to break into your room.” “First time for everything,” one of the player’s comments. Kharole steps around the battle between Mark and his opponent, and a Hold Person spell on the two men by Fiona’s door. One is held by it, the other is not.

Downstairs, Ailsheir and Lono have joined in with firing arrows up at the enemy leader. Cassie has now seen around two-dozen arrows, including three of Aradyn’s, bounce off of the leader’s armor, with only a few having penetrated for minimal damage. She decides that his armor must be exception, and that the best course of action would be casting a Dispel Magic up onto him, to negate the armor’s magic during the next round of battle. Her strategy is successful, as the leader the becomes an instant pincushion. Twelve arrows strike the man, as does another hammer blow from Mojo, reducing him down to single digit hit points.

The man retreats into the second floor hallway, and runs directly into Dennismore’s path. Dennis thrusts his sword upward at the huge man, the man’s own momentum causing far more damage than the elf’s meager swordsmanship. The sword goes though the armor, and the man falls dead at Dennis’s feet. The man near Fiona’s room sees this, and yells out “Retreat” in their native tongue. The three enemies still in Lannon’s room pull out potion vials from the belts. Lannon swings his sword around, hitting one in the hand, and causing the potion to spill onto the floor. The other two turn gaseous, as does the one by Fiona’s room. Mark and Kharole come to Lannon’s aid with the remaining foe, who is soon unconscious from the combined assault.

Game #22 - 6/29/03 - FINAL GAME

Chapter 65, “Three nights in a row!”, July 14th, 1019, 2:00 A.M.

The army is notified to send in ten caskets to box up the corpses of the dead attackers. The party strips them of useful items, finding that they now have an interesting collection of magical katanas (Japanese longswords) and wakazashi (Japanese shortswords). The four surviving prisoners are captured and brought into one of the side rooms for questioning. Melito is sought to assist with the interrogation, that being one of his specialties. Upon hearing that the auction house has been attacked yet again he exclaims “Three nights in a row! What is it with you guys?” Jamie also assists, having learned the Heian Empire language from the girls under her tutelage. They are identified as working for a provincial warlord in the Heian Empire, who also participates as an ILA member. The four prisoners are also identified as being fighters between 5th and 7th level in ability. They are turned over to the army.

Whereas the prior two days attacks occurred shortly before dawn the party just stayed up, but this being the middle of the night they post guards and then go back to sleep. They sleep late the next morning, but a sufficient number of party members are awake when the first guests arrive to pay for and collect their auction items. The day continues with a steady stream of guests, which is surprisingly uneventful, with no trouble or any assassination attempts.

Midway through the afternoon the party is surprised by the arrival of young Jeremiah Q. Wildwanderer III, the son of the gnome aristocrat. He is standing at the doorstep, holding a pair of bags. “Hi, I’m here for you to take me to go see Grandpa” the gnome child exclaims. Mojo replies, “Guess again kid. I hope you like living the life of a street urchin in Jawltorn.” Serita hurries out to the wagon with the gnome who dropped the boy off, saying “Hold on, who are you and what is going on?” The gnome says that he is the proprietor of the One-eyed Gnome Inn, and that the guests from Kalephornyah checked out early that morning. They paid the Innkeeper to keep the boy until after lunch, and then deliver him here.” Serita heads back inside and tells this to the others, yelling out, “What kind of parents in their right mind would abandon a six-year-old child?” “Someone who is related to Jerry,” Mojo exclaims.

The gnome boy says “My folks said you’d introduce me to my Grandpa. I’ve never met him.” “And you’re not going to now either!” Serita exclaims. She fills a basin for a Reflecting Pool spell and scrys for the gnome Knevadah. She sees him and his wife relaxing in deck chairs aboard a ship at see. Serita grabs the kid and teleports away, appearing before the surprised gnome couple. “I think you forgot something!” Serita angrily states, tossing the child into his father’s lap. She then teleports back before the child’s parents have an opportunity to speak. “All done,” Serita states as she arrives back at the auction house. Mojo comments, “Do you realize how close we came to Jamie knowing the kid was here. She would have insisted that we keep him.” Narg mutters “Too bad actually, that little kid might have made a good shortstop.”

Melito tells the party that Kindor’s wizard Mahjorn has located Baron Donnelly, the proprietor of the Baron’s Arcane Lodge, and returned him to the city. “Why exactly do we want to go there?” Narg asks. “To rescue Cheveyo” Serita comments. “Why do we want that four-armed freak back?” Mojo asks. “We paid over 100,000 gold pieces for him last year in that slave auction,” Lannon states. “So just look at it as a bad investment, let’s just cut our losses now,” Mojo comments. “He’s my assistant!” Vincenzo states, adding “And he helps with the kids.” Serita comments “Narg, if we do this you get to kill some minotaurs.” “I’m in!” he exclaims. Mojo reluctantly agrees to go along, still complaining all the while.

The group of Lannon, Narg, Mojo, Serita, Timothy and Vincenzo head over to Kindor’s Castle to speak with this baron. The man tells them that he rented the establishment for a four-month period beginning in early May to a gentleman named Southby. The man said he would bring his own servants, and paid Donnelly enough to give his staff paid time off. Donnelly and his wife then left on a long journey to the continent to the west, where his wife originally came from.

Next Melito directs them to head over to the Monastery of Isaac, who he had hired two days earlier to provide surveillance on the lodge. They arrive at the walled in area, and are admitted inside. The monks are not attired in traditional robes, but are instead wearing armor and clothing similar to that of the Roman Empire. They meet with the Order’s leader, a human named Marmank, who explains that the Monestary was founded centuries ago by escaped gladiator slaves from a Romanesque land, this Lawful Neutral monastery is dedicated to physical fitness. He tells them how he and his monks have been finalists in the athletic competitions of the Lordholding’s annual fair every year for the past decade. He also explains that they are one of the few monasteries in the land that will admit non-human students.

He tells them of his surveillance of the Baron’s Arcane Lodge. He then explains how one of his non-human students is actually of the minotaur race, a Lawful Neutral individual named Nimon. Nimon does not like the reputation that the less intelligent members of his race have fostered, and certainly is not fond of them causing trouble in his adopted city. Nimon is summoned to the room. This minotaur is attired in a Roman skirt, with a pair of bracers on his wrists. He says that he has been participating with the surveillance, using his distinct sense of smell, adding “I first bathed thoroughly with magical oils to mask my own scent.” He says that he has made out distinct scents of a total of 27 occupants. Mileto had provided Cheveyo’s blanket, and Nimon isolated that. He says that there appears to be another one who is not a full minotaur either, with a scent almost identical to Cheveyo’s. The other occupants appear to be 18 minotaur, 6 beast-men, and 2 humans. He warns the party that their scents will probably be detected as soon as they get within 100 feet of the building.

The group returns to the auction house and again discuss strategies. Mojo again suggests skipping the whole thing. When he is overruled he says “Okay, how about this. We go in and kill all of the minotaurs, and then let Cheveyo stay there, since the place will be safe.” Melito warns the party that one of the humans there is probably an ILA leader. He tells them “If you see him, don’t even try to fight him. Just arrange for me to meet with him privately for negotiations.” “I’m not a big fan of negotiations,” Narg states. Fiona comments to Narg “Just because you’ve never tried it doesn’t mean it won’t work.”

Serita casts another Reflecting Pool, which shows Cheveyo to be tied up in a side banquet room of the Inn (room #22 on the map in Dungeon Magazine #98, page 32). In the room with him are five minotaur and two beast men. One minotaur is 20-feet high. Another has rams horns on its head, which the party concludes is probably Cheveyo’s brother. Serita wants to launch an assault now, while the spell is running and they know exactly where he is, but the party cannot reach agreement on who will go and how, and the spell eventually ends. She says she has one more Reflecting Pool, to cast if and when the party can reach a decision.

They decide that a Druidic Pass Without Trace spell should be used on whoever leads the assault, to mask their scents. Serita does not have the spell, but Melito says that is not a problem. He speaks to an army officer, and within minutes the 12th level druid Glaukirk, druidic leader of the Jawltorn area and former mentor of Serita, arrives at the door. He appears to be already up to speed about the Baron’s Arcane Lodge, and he has two studied Pass Without Trace spells. The group comes up with a rough plan to send in a team of six, three fighters and three spellcasters with the ability to get them out fast. They decide to use Wister Wobblewick’s Portable Window and the Wand of Force as key components of the attack. Team members are chosen, and Serita begins her Reflecting Pool.

Chapter 66, “The Final Battle” July 14th, 1019, 5:00 P.M.

The scry reveals that Chevyo is still in the banquet room, alongside a wall. The 20-foot tall minotaur is still seated in the large picture window beside him. The large minotaur with the ram’s horns is still sitting across from him, and the same two other large well-armed minotuars are in the room’s other two picture windows. The other occupants have changed, as the two beast-men and a fat minotaur have left, with two other large minotaurs having taken their place. There is no sign of either of the humans.

The druid Glaukirk casts the Pass Without Trace spells onto Fiona and Serita. Serita says, “Okay, here’s the plan. Mojo and Mark in one Bag of Holding. Narg and Cassie into the other. We pop in and get into position, then each let one of you out of the bag and have you let out the other while we activate the Portable Window and erect the Wall of Force. You four then hit them hard while Fiona and I get Chevyo. When I say, “helicopter” it means we have him. Each spellcaster then grabs the closest fighter and we get out of there.” Vincenzo comments to Furynick “Gee, no plan as to who exits with who. I can see it now, ‘Fiona, didn’t you get Mojo’ ‘No Serita, I thought you got Mojo’. Furynick comments back “Wishful thinking.”

The four get into the bags, the women grab the bags, and Fiona climbs onto Serita’s back. She takes one last look into the Reflecting Pool, and teleports off. They arrive at the corner outside of the room, letting Mojo and Cassie out of the bags. Serita activates the Portable Window. Fiona moves towards the picture window and uses the Wand of Force to create an invisible barrier bisecting the room lengthwise, and thereby separating Chevyo from all but one minotaur in the room. The enemies immediately become aware of this because the wall actually catches one of the minotaurs inside of it, his arm, shoulder and right side caught within the barrier. The force wall does not cause the monster any physical harm, but traps him. Meanwhile, Serita opens the portable window.

“It’s up, Chevyo he’s protected” Fiona says to Cassie. Cassie steps towards the picture window and toss a 12-dice Fireball into the side of the room that Chevyo is not in. The massive explosion blows out the picture windows on both ends of the room, as well as the minotaurs that were sitting in each. The blast was centered between the minotaur with the ram’s horns and the one stuck in the wall of force. The ram’s horns one appears to now be dead, and the other one is now free of the wall, as the arm, shoulder and upper side that had protruded from the fireball side of the wall no longer exist. One other minotaur on the fireball side of the blast is charred but still standing.

[DM’s Note: The party lucked out in that Chevyo’s brother had also been part-demon, with some unique powers, but he failed his saving throw and died in the fireball. However, all other occupants within the lodge had heard the explosion. It was determined that the high-level wizard/assassin would now arrive on the scene within a fixed amount of time, regardless of the party’s actions. Similarly, the remaining beast men and minotaurs would also arrive shortly after him. The party now had only a very limited amount of time to get their friend and get away before falling under an attack from overwhelming forces.]

Serita pulls Mark from the Bag of Holding as Mojo pulls Narg out from the other one. Cassie heads over to the portable window, telling Chevyo “We’re rescuing you. Don’t resist.” Cassie reaches her hands through the window, grabs the 9-foot tall four-armed part-minotaur, and casts a Reduce spell. Inside, the one untouched minotaur charges towards Chevyo. Back at the other window Fiona tosses a Lightning Bolt back into the banquet room, dropping the remaining charred minotaur.

The 20-foot tall minotaur who had been blown out the picture window begins to stand up, making himself into a target for both Narg and Mojo. Mojo releases his hammer of throwing up into the beast’s face as Narg draws his longsword and charges forward. The giant monster has no weapon, but with his size and strength does not need one, as he balls up his fist and bats Narg aside. Narg does manage to slice into the creature’s arm before flying 15 feet through the air and landing in an ungracious heap on the ground. Mojo hammer has returned to him, and he throws it again into the monster. Fiona turns and tosses a Magic Missile spell into the giant minotaur. Serita casts an Entangle spell onto the grass and shrubbery to slow the beast down.

Back at the other window, Cassie is now pulling the doll-sized Chevyo out, only to have the minotaur inside reach out and grab at him. Cassie jumps backwards, pulling Chevyo away from the grasping hands. Mark starts to move to assist her, but then sees a charred and angry minotaur holding a sword charging at them (the one who had been blown out the far picture window). The minotaur has a longer reach, and strikes Mark first, but the ranger keeps his footing and counters, neatly slicing into the monsters heart for a fatal strike. Unfortunately the beast falls directly on top of Mark, pinning him to the ground. Cassie hands Chevyo to her owl Deanna, who flies him away.

Narg gets up, determined to slay the giant minotaur, and charges towards it again. Mojo again strikes the beast with his hammer, but despite all of the damage sustained so far, the creature remains undeterred, and starts to charge towards them. Fiona tosses up a Wall of Ice between it and them, with Mojo barely stopping his next hammer throw in time. Narg similarly has to come to an abrupt halt in order to avoid crashing into the wall. Narg yells profanities at Fiona for keeping him from the enemy. The giant minotaur moves to get around the wall.

Mark is having no success at getting the minotaur’s body off of him, and yells for assistance. Mojo grabs Mark’s arm and yanks him out. Once it appears that Deanna has flow a safe distance away Cassie yells out “Helicopter”. She sees that the minotaur inside has realized he is too big to climb out the window, and has run back inside, presumably towards the remaining picture window. She transforms into a White Dragon and tells Mark and Mojo to get on. Mojo tosses the two of them onto her back, each getting a handhold on her scales. She begins to take flight, as she hears the sounds of the minotaur breaking the window behind her.

Meanwhile, Narg is moving to intercept the giant minotaur once he gets around the ice wall. Fiona and Serita exchange glances, the druid saying “I’ll get him. Go.” Fiona uses the Helm of Teleportation to bring herself back to the auction house. Serita uses her Boots of Speed to cover the distance between her and Narg, catching up with him when he and the minotaur are almost upon each other. She grabs Narg and uses her Ring of Teleportation to bring the two of them back to the auction house. Narg then berates her with a string of profanities for keeping him from his foe. She attempts to tell him that wasn’t why they were there, but then just gives up and lets him vent.

Meanwhile, the dragon is now about 80 feet away from the lodge, flying above the grove of trees behind it. The have mistakenly thought they had escaped, with the air surrounding them fills with a fireball. (And the players then have the most incredible luck, as the vast majority of the D6 damage die land on “1” or “2”. The result is a meager 33 points of damage, which is even substantially less for all of them due to fire protection magic and/or saving throws.)

Cassie drops towards the trees, but is still within the enemy wizard’s sight for a second attack. Seeing that the Fireball was rather ineffective, he switches to Lightning Bolt. (And once again, luck is with the players as most of the damage die once again rolling up very low numbers.) The 34-point bolt hits all of them, having more effect than the fireball. She drops beneath the tree canopy and out of the enemy’s direct sight. He still knows approximately where in the forest they are, and tosses up another Fireball into that area-of-effect. They are on the outer edge of it, and only take minimal damage.

She rapidly lands, saying, “He’s still after us. Use the potions”. The three each consume a Gaseous Form potion taken from the bodies of the prior night’s attackers, and individually float away from the area and back into the city.

Back at the auction house, the owl arrives with little Chevyo, who is immediately ushered into Kulp’s Comfortable Castle. “Where are the others?” Timothy asks. “Cassie has them, they should be along soon,” Fiona states. Cassie arrives not long after that, having healed herself of all damage. The next to arrive is Mojo, his clothing charred, hair singed, with third-degree burns over all his exposed skin. “What the hell happened to you?” Narg asks. Mojo blurts out “New Rule. We don’t need any more part-monsters as party members. Ever! That four-armed (expletive) owes us big!”

Cassie tells Narg “We got hit on our way out.” Mark staggers in shortly thereafter, looking in even worse shape than Mojo. Vincenzo and Timothy heal the two of them. Narg tells Mojo “From now on decisions on new people joining the group will be left to me.” “Only you?” Fiona interjects. Narg replies “Okay, fine, I’ll chair a five-person committee about it, just so the other four are people who will not overrule me!” Vincenzo thanks them for rescuing his assistant. Narg answers “Don’t mention it, Pasta Head.” Mojo adds, “Yeah, seriously, don’t mention it. Ever!”

Next: The Conclusion

Chapter 67, “The Conclusion”, July 14th, 1019, 6:00 P.M.

The druid Glaukirk is still hanging around the auction house. Melito says that is because he needs to ask questions of some of the party members, specifically the members of the party who resided in the City of Halla during the years 1005 to 1008 (prior to obtaining Silver Moon Island). The group consisting of Aradyn, Blake, Cassie, Fiona, Furynick, Jamie, Kharole, Lannon, Mark, Narg, Timothy, Serita and Vincenzo head into a side room with Glaukirk and Melito.

Melito reminds the party about of the six prisoners captured during the assault on their island ten months earlier (Module #98: “Retake the Island”). These six had been tried and found guilty of an unprovoked attack on a Jawlt Township. They were sentenced to a choice of 30 years in prison or 3 years of involuntary servitude, to which they all picked the latter despite the higher risk involved. The servitude consists of working as part of an adventuring team lead by two chosen guards, who will receive 25% of any treasure found as payment, with 50% being paid back to the Silver Moon Adventurers as restitution for damages to the island. The remaining 25% the six are allowed to keep for themselves, in order to give them the incentive to actually look for treasure.

Melito then states that Glaukirk is the head guard and leader of that team, and that a high-level thief named Athena who formerly worked for Melito is his assistant. “And what has this group been doing for the past ten months?” Vincenzo asks. Glaukirk replies “Mostly training and learning to work together as a team. A few training exercises in the field is the most that we have done so far. That is now going to change.” “How?” Fiona inquires. Melito says “Glaukirk and I have met with the Queen.” Mojo pouts “Everyone gets to spend time with the Queen except me.” “Shut up Mojo,” several people say in unison.

Melito continues “Anyway, Queen Jennifer is less than pleased that a thief and assassins guild from a city within her own Lordholding conspired to kill her and the King. She has decided that it is time for that guild to end, and we thought that Glaukirk’s team could best accomplish that task. Glaukirk and Athena are not known outside of this Lordholding, and the other six are totally unknown. This team’s anonymity will also give both Jennifer and Kindor plausible deniability in case things don’t go as planned.” Glaukirk says “What I need from you is any and all information that you can give me about the city.” The party spends the next hour doing so, and the druid then departs.

It is beginning to get dark outside. Melito comments “Well, the ILA convention ends tomorrow. They’ve attacked here three nights in a row. What precautions do you want to set for this evening.” The group begins tossing out ideas of where to set watches and who should go into the Inter-dimensional Castle, until Mojo blurts out “Why don’t we just leave.” “Huh?” Furynick comments. Mojo says “Leave, as in go home. The auction is over, the items have all been paid for. Why sit around and wait to be attacked. Let’s just go.”

Serita comments “But the ILA is still after Melito and Chevyo, and we should also keep Hiroshi and Tenbar protected, just in case. You want to bring them back to the Island with us?” Narg comments “yeah, we’ll take on these assassins in our own turf.” Jamie interjects “No! Absolutely not! I will not have people attacking our home, ever again!” “I agree with her,” Serita states. Mojo then provides yet another simple but brilliant suggestion, saying “Why don’t we just have them go into the castle, and shut it down like the gnome did. Nobody would be able to get in there until after it is recharged, by which time the ILA convention will be over.”

The idea is unanimously approved. They decide to first get the Twin Gods High Priest to consecrate one of the temple rooms inside, so that Chevyo can still pray to his gods. They also bring back with them the hengeyokai girls, who had been staying at the Twin Gods Cathedral. Vinnie, Jamie and the girls decide to join the four targets within Kulp’s Castle. The magical doorway is then closed down. The Orb of Kulp is then given to Cassie and Aradyn to fly to Derieki in Gelorynth to recharge. They climb onto her wyvern Maynard, and fly away west.

The group finally releases Wister Wobblewick and his apprentice Florine. As promised, they return all of their possessions to them. “Hey, where is my Portable Window!” he exclaims. Serita tells him “We had to leave it behind on the west outside wall of the Baron’s Arcane Lodge. The lodge was filled with minotaurs, beast men, demons, evil mages and assassins who didn’t want to let us stick around long enough to retrieve it. You’re free to get it if you want.” The gnome and his human apprentice depart.

Serita says she will remain in the city a while longer, as the groundbreaking ceremonies for the hospital will be in another two days. She says she will talk to Kindor about getting the rest of them transportation back to Silver Moon Island. She departs. An hour later Captain Waller arrives, telling the party that the Jawlt Naval Ship Curigull is preparing to set sail from the Military Docks just as soon as they are ready. Timothy flies his Pegasus to that location, while the others, including their crewmembers and construction workers, travel there via carriages. The army brings wagons with the assorted caskets and other items obtained by the party during the past few weeks. The ship sets sail at around 10:00 P.M.

July 15th, 1019:

Realizing that their own ship is probably already in route to Jawltorn to pick them up on the 16th, Timothy and his pegasus make periodic flights aloft to look for it. By mid-morning he spots the ship Silver Moon twenty miles in the distance, and then co-ordinates a rendezvous. The party, their employees and the cargo are transferred. Both ships then set sail back towards their respective homeports.

The Silver Moon pulls into the harbor and docks at around 10:00 P.M. Narg immediately leads the group straight to Jerry’s Tavern to celebrate a successful mission. The gnome proprietor Jerry is delighted to hear that he now has a grandson, and that the boy is named after him. To celebrate this news Jerry offers to cover all costs of the evening’s festivities. Mojo tells Jerry, “That son of yours, Knevadah, abandoned your grandson with an innkeeper. But Serita brought him back.” Jerry comments “Well, I’ve always found that innkeepers are general honest and respectable. The boy would have probably been better of with him.” Narg comments “From what I saw of your kid there Jerry, I’d agree.”

END OF MODULE

well done adventure, it was fun to read! I might have to steal this idea one day and implement it myself.

kkoie said:

well done adventure, it was fun to read!

Click to expand...

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it.

The module didn't quite go the way I expected, as the original plan was for the Silver Moon Adventurers to team up with the Llyr family against the ILA leaders, but I always give my players a lot of leeway, so they took the module in different directions.

I have two other Story Hour threads here on ENWorld that you might enjoy. One is titled "Chinese Take-out", and tracks the Silver Moon Adventurers visit to the orient the prior year.

The other is titled "Promise City, Arizona", and is the log of a 5-game campaign set on an AD&D/Boot Hill hybrid world.

You can also check out the "Silver Moon: The Early Years" thread over on the Campaign Journals forum of the www.dragonsfoot.org message board, where I am logging the Silver Moon Adventurers early modules. I am currently up to Module #11, which was the first two modules of the TSR Slaver Series (A1 & A1)

Following up the League of Assassins module from 12 years back. Bumping the thread for quick reference.