shilsen
Adventurer
The next day, the Korranberg Chronicle's front-page article is about the Angels' expedition to Xen'drik. It goes into a fair amount of detail about the claims made at the presentation in Morgrave University, including the group's battles with the dragon and the daelkyr, as well as the destruction of the island. There is also a smaller linked article regarding the group's fight with the Children of Winter, the addition of Korm'akhan, his claim about helping dealing with the epidemic and its cause, and the corroboration from Cedric Galan. There is a passing mention of the Angels being taken to the Menthis Watch building by members of the Blackened Book, and says they are supposedly helping the Watch with some investigation. The article ends with a promise to keep the public posted about the Angels' future activities.
The Angels discuss the article while looking at the rest of the newspaper. They read about a sorcerous battle between a Riedran and an unknown spellcaster in the Lhazaar principalities in Regalport. There is another one about the supposed entrance by a dread beholder, reputedly from the Demon Wastes, and its minions into the Whisper Woods in Aundair, which presumably has something to do with the magical Whisper Rock. There is also one about a failed attempt by a band of Aereni elves to steal a Xen'drik artifact from Rekkenmark Academy in Karrnath. Rumor says that they were members of the Aereni Deathguard and the artifact - now moved to the Royal vaults in Korth - was stolen from Aerenal itself. The KC also includes an announcement by House Lyrandar of major plans to increase their fleet, followed by comments from some of the other Houses that the plans are not feasible and are badly designed.
As for Sharn news, the KC mentions the impending Skysedge gala, a big social party that is to occur at Skysedge Park on 25 Barrakas. There is also a short reference to a cultural exhibition of shifter artifacts at Morgrave University. The exhibition title, "Artifacts of a Primitive Culture", draws a disgusted snort from Luna.
In the early evening, Luna heads down to the Citadel in bird shape to await Ras. He emerges in his normal form and then wanders into a nearby shop, where he slips behind a set of shelves and emerges in the scarred human shape he seems to commonly wear. Ras then walks down to the tavern district of Olladra's Kitchen, where he enters a small restaurant called Ellfate's Eatery and settles down to an early dinner.
Luna changes into a dog and slips in the restaurant. Once inside, she hears Ras talking to a few people who look like merchants. The others refer to him as Tars and seem to be blustering about wanting the monarchy to be overthrown and replaced by a consortium of merchant princes. Unfortunately, she is very quickly shooed out of the restaurant and cannot hear any more.
Ras has a leisurely meal and then heads across to the Dragoneyes district and the casino Chance. The rest of the Angels have already made it there by the time he arrives. On the way, they find that Dragoneyes is a red light district, full of establishments and people catering to the more carnal of pleasures. The eastern section is louder and rougher, catering to teamsters and Cog workers, whereas the western part is clearly designed with the more wealthy in mind, providing more sophisticated pleasures.
Chance is such an establishment, an evidently very popular casino, both larger and better appointed than the Lucky Nines. Besides the regular gaming tables, a large section is devoted to covering sporting events around the city. Ras, when he enters, heads straight for the former. Luna enters a little later, to inform the others about what she saw. Once she has arrived, the adventurers split up into two smaller groups, so that they can keep an eye on Ras more easily and less obviously.
While moving around, they learn a little more about Chance from the people around them. The casino takes its name from the eponymous owner, a changeling who is well known for never wearing the same appearance two days in a row. He - or she - is only recognizable by a distinctive amulet that he wears, which bears the symbol of the Traveler. When hearing about this, the reference to the Traveler reminds Nameless of their erstwhile foe Desro and he asks some people whether they ever saw someone fitting his description. A couple of people do mention seeing such a man at Chance about a month ago, which would place it during the time the Angels were in Xen'drik. Nobody mentions seeing him any time recently.
The Angels also hear that one of the well-known, but less overtly advertised, specialities of Chance is the casino's willingness to arrange and cover a bet on literally anything, including unusual things like an adventurer's chance of seducing the Valenar ambassador in 24 hours or a fugitive's chances of evading a Tharashk inquisitive for a week.
While picking up these bits of information, the Angels keep a careful eye on Ras. He is chatting with people he knows as much as actually gambling, and has clearly been here often. He is also using the same name as at Ellfate's, since people refer to him as Tars.
Interestingly, the bearded, blue-eyed man is here too, already present in the casino before Ras arrives. He ends up gambling at the same table right next to Ras, but never actually talking to him. With neither doing anything suspicious, Nameless gets the idea that they might be communicating in some way through their bets. He spends some time studying the numbers and amounts they bet, trying to see a pattern. What he quickly discovers is that they are placing bets that, though seemingly different, are such as to ensure that the amount one bets is regularly the amount the other one wins. And the chips one gets are often placed close enough to the others that they are being exchanged in the shuffle.
The bearded man cashes in and leaves half an hour after Ras enters, with Luna heading out after him a few seconds later. When she enters the foyer, she almost bumps into him as he returns to the main floor area, patting his pockets as if he lost something. Not wanting to get his attention, she continues past him and into the street outside, where she heads down an alley and changes form into an eagle and flies to a shadowy perch. The others see the man re-enter the floor area, look around and then exit again. Once he emerges into the street, Luna follows him again.
Ras continues to gamble for half and hour before leaving too, followed at a distance by the Angels. He walks up to Middle Tavick’s and the Deathsgate district, stopping at a tavern called Redblade’s. The place probably caters to adventurers, considering the number of well-armed individuals drinking within, none of whom have any Watch or military uniforms on. Six uses his hat of disguise and enters too, getting an ale and settling down in a corner.
He sees that Ras is talking across the counter to a middle-aged half-orc, who bears a very impressive collection of scars and some impressive muscles, though he is running a little to fat. Ras, still being called Tars, refers to the other as Rraac and seems to know him quite well. Rraac is presumably the owner, since he makes no motion to serve anyone, letting the other two bartenders handle the work.
The tavern is too busy and loud for Six to work out the details of what Ras is saying, but he gathers that Rraac and he are simply exchanging gossip and pleasantries. Six times it to get out of the door a short while before Ras and has rejoined the others when he emerges. They follow Ras to a skycoach dock and back to Ambassador Towers. There, he goes straight back to the Citadel, only ducking into some shadows on the way to switch to half-orc form.
After seeing him head in, the Angels head up to Carosten Park, where they find Luna waiting for them. She says that it was a very similar experience to last time's. The bearded man proceeded into the eastern section of Dragoneyes, with Luna shadowing him. He ignored propositions from a few of the prostitutes and once again slipped into a dark and empty alley. This time, Luna didn't wait but followed quickly, but by the time she was inside the alley, he was gone again.
This time, she says, she's quite sure he did not enter any buildings. She also used a detect magic at the spot and picked up no lingering magic. Nameless points out that if he used minor enough magic, the auras would only linger for a few seconds. What that means, he theorizes, is that either the person hid himself from Luna using mundane methods or used magic to conceal himself and move away, though evidently without using teleportation magic like a dimension door, since that would leave an aura that would linger for a few minutes. Luna is quite positive that she would have detected the man if he was just hiding, especially since she would have smelt him out.
The Angels discuss a couple of the things they discovered and then split up as usual. Nameless and Six travel back to Deathsgate and head toward Trillia's. People still surround them even though it is after 9 pm, the area's nature as an adventurer's district tending to create later and more traffic than in some other sections of Sharn.
As they are walking across a skybridge and talking about the day's experiences, Six sees a blur of motion as the person walking behind Nameless (a nondescript-looking human) swings a fist at the back of his head. With a startled cry, he shoves Nameless sideways, causing the unexpected blow to miss*.
Even as Nameless whirls around and Six grabs at his spiked chain, more attackers appear from the crowd nearby. A tall mustachioed man in banded mail armor hurls a tanglefoot bag at Six at point-blank range, but the adroit warforged spins away**. A stout dwarven woman with a series of braids in her beard hurls a similar bag at Nameless, which hits his chest and explodes into a mass of sticky goo, hampering his movements.
As the crowd around them shouts in panic and runs, a fourth assailant is revealed. This one, a slender man wearing a chain shirt, doesn't actually move to attack but simply yells a series of commands to the others. "Bracket them! Focus on the mage! Don't let him cast a spell!"
Unfortunately for Nameless and Six, the three other attackers follow the instructions to the letter. Even as Nameless tries to both dodge away and cast a spell, with the sticky goo making it difficult to move fluidly, the first attacker strikes again. He smashes a balled fist into the alienist's side, causing Nameless to see stars and momentarily be unable to act. The armored man, having quickly produced a two-handed flail, smashes the spiked ball into Nameless' head, sending him to his knees in agony. The dwarf steps in, putting all her strength behind a punch with the spiked gauntlet on her right hand***. It smashes into Nameless' jaw, knocking him down and out.
Even as he collapses, the apparent leader yells, "Careful - we're not supposed to kill them!" Turning towards Six he casts a spell, causing a layer of grease to coat the spiked chain. Six manages to hold onto it and manages to roll out of his position between the assailants, but he slips on the goo that still coats the ground**** and takes a nasty punch from the dwarf.
Recovering his balance, Six lashes out at the armored man and trips him, but the target rolls away from the follow-up blow*****. That momentary success is the last for him, as the other two rush him, the dwarf focusing on roundhouse swings while her companion, an unarmored human, unleashes a series of punches and kicks at the warforged. The armored man quickly climbs back to his feet and wades in too.
Even as Six wards of the first couple of blows and takes a hit or two, the leader casts another spell. This one attacks Six's mind and he feels a wave of unusual mirth overtake him******. Laughing maniacally, he collapses to the ground and is promptly beaten into unconsciousness.
A little later, Nameless opens his eyes to see a few concerned faces looking down at him, one of which he recognizes as Glauster, Trillia's steward. "Master Nameless," he says worriedly - and inanely, "Are you all right?"
"Do I look all right?" growls Nameless weakly, feeling the blood running down his face. As they move him to an upright position, he sees a recumbent Six a few steps away. Glauster keeps speaking - "I was returning home when I heard a commotion. I came over to see what happened and saw you and Six and some people run off. The Watch should be coming soon and ..."
A gesture from Nameless cuts him off. "Get me to Six," he says, and the men holding him up gingerly do so. Despite the pain in his head, Nameless manages to cast a spell to repair Six's wounds. The big warforged opens his eyes and then sits up with a muffled groan.
As Six levers himself to his feet, Nameless reaches around to his bag of holding for a potion, only to find it missing. With all of its contents. Including the Key.
"Six?" he says, drawing the warforged's attention, who has already discovered that his own handy haversack is missing too. Nameless simply says, "They stole my bag. With everything in it."
* Also known as a 2 on the attack roll
** Another 2! Both 2's were rolled by Gareth's player, who was evidently on his allies' side.
*** This is when I got to say, "She's 4th lvl, so she only has a +18 to hit right now!" Pity I didn't have a camera for some of the expressions on the players' faces.
**** Natural 1 on the tumble check
***** Natural 1 on the attack
****** Another natural 1. Six would have gone down soon enough, but he made it really easy by rolling five 1's in six rolls, including 4 in a row! I've never seen that happen before.
The Angels discuss the article while looking at the rest of the newspaper. They read about a sorcerous battle between a Riedran and an unknown spellcaster in the Lhazaar principalities in Regalport. There is another one about the supposed entrance by a dread beholder, reputedly from the Demon Wastes, and its minions into the Whisper Woods in Aundair, which presumably has something to do with the magical Whisper Rock. There is also one about a failed attempt by a band of Aereni elves to steal a Xen'drik artifact from Rekkenmark Academy in Karrnath. Rumor says that they were members of the Aereni Deathguard and the artifact - now moved to the Royal vaults in Korth - was stolen from Aerenal itself. The KC also includes an announcement by House Lyrandar of major plans to increase their fleet, followed by comments from some of the other Houses that the plans are not feasible and are badly designed.
As for Sharn news, the KC mentions the impending Skysedge gala, a big social party that is to occur at Skysedge Park on 25 Barrakas. There is also a short reference to a cultural exhibition of shifter artifacts at Morgrave University. The exhibition title, "Artifacts of a Primitive Culture", draws a disgusted snort from Luna.
In the early evening, Luna heads down to the Citadel in bird shape to await Ras. He emerges in his normal form and then wanders into a nearby shop, where he slips behind a set of shelves and emerges in the scarred human shape he seems to commonly wear. Ras then walks down to the tavern district of Olladra's Kitchen, where he enters a small restaurant called Ellfate's Eatery and settles down to an early dinner.
Luna changes into a dog and slips in the restaurant. Once inside, she hears Ras talking to a few people who look like merchants. The others refer to him as Tars and seem to be blustering about wanting the monarchy to be overthrown and replaced by a consortium of merchant princes. Unfortunately, she is very quickly shooed out of the restaurant and cannot hear any more.
Ras has a leisurely meal and then heads across to the Dragoneyes district and the casino Chance. The rest of the Angels have already made it there by the time he arrives. On the way, they find that Dragoneyes is a red light district, full of establishments and people catering to the more carnal of pleasures. The eastern section is louder and rougher, catering to teamsters and Cog workers, whereas the western part is clearly designed with the more wealthy in mind, providing more sophisticated pleasures.
Chance is such an establishment, an evidently very popular casino, both larger and better appointed than the Lucky Nines. Besides the regular gaming tables, a large section is devoted to covering sporting events around the city. Ras, when he enters, heads straight for the former. Luna enters a little later, to inform the others about what she saw. Once she has arrived, the adventurers split up into two smaller groups, so that they can keep an eye on Ras more easily and less obviously.
While moving around, they learn a little more about Chance from the people around them. The casino takes its name from the eponymous owner, a changeling who is well known for never wearing the same appearance two days in a row. He - or she - is only recognizable by a distinctive amulet that he wears, which bears the symbol of the Traveler. When hearing about this, the reference to the Traveler reminds Nameless of their erstwhile foe Desro and he asks some people whether they ever saw someone fitting his description. A couple of people do mention seeing such a man at Chance about a month ago, which would place it during the time the Angels were in Xen'drik. Nobody mentions seeing him any time recently.
The Angels also hear that one of the well-known, but less overtly advertised, specialities of Chance is the casino's willingness to arrange and cover a bet on literally anything, including unusual things like an adventurer's chance of seducing the Valenar ambassador in 24 hours or a fugitive's chances of evading a Tharashk inquisitive for a week.
While picking up these bits of information, the Angels keep a careful eye on Ras. He is chatting with people he knows as much as actually gambling, and has clearly been here often. He is also using the same name as at Ellfate's, since people refer to him as Tars.
Interestingly, the bearded, blue-eyed man is here too, already present in the casino before Ras arrives. He ends up gambling at the same table right next to Ras, but never actually talking to him. With neither doing anything suspicious, Nameless gets the idea that they might be communicating in some way through their bets. He spends some time studying the numbers and amounts they bet, trying to see a pattern. What he quickly discovers is that they are placing bets that, though seemingly different, are such as to ensure that the amount one bets is regularly the amount the other one wins. And the chips one gets are often placed close enough to the others that they are being exchanged in the shuffle.
The bearded man cashes in and leaves half an hour after Ras enters, with Luna heading out after him a few seconds later. When she enters the foyer, she almost bumps into him as he returns to the main floor area, patting his pockets as if he lost something. Not wanting to get his attention, she continues past him and into the street outside, where she heads down an alley and changes form into an eagle and flies to a shadowy perch. The others see the man re-enter the floor area, look around and then exit again. Once he emerges into the street, Luna follows him again.
Ras continues to gamble for half and hour before leaving too, followed at a distance by the Angels. He walks up to Middle Tavick’s and the Deathsgate district, stopping at a tavern called Redblade’s. The place probably caters to adventurers, considering the number of well-armed individuals drinking within, none of whom have any Watch or military uniforms on. Six uses his hat of disguise and enters too, getting an ale and settling down in a corner.
He sees that Ras is talking across the counter to a middle-aged half-orc, who bears a very impressive collection of scars and some impressive muscles, though he is running a little to fat. Ras, still being called Tars, refers to the other as Rraac and seems to know him quite well. Rraac is presumably the owner, since he makes no motion to serve anyone, letting the other two bartenders handle the work.
The tavern is too busy and loud for Six to work out the details of what Ras is saying, but he gathers that Rraac and he are simply exchanging gossip and pleasantries. Six times it to get out of the door a short while before Ras and has rejoined the others when he emerges. They follow Ras to a skycoach dock and back to Ambassador Towers. There, he goes straight back to the Citadel, only ducking into some shadows on the way to switch to half-orc form.
After seeing him head in, the Angels head up to Carosten Park, where they find Luna waiting for them. She says that it was a very similar experience to last time's. The bearded man proceeded into the eastern section of Dragoneyes, with Luna shadowing him. He ignored propositions from a few of the prostitutes and once again slipped into a dark and empty alley. This time, Luna didn't wait but followed quickly, but by the time she was inside the alley, he was gone again.
This time, she says, she's quite sure he did not enter any buildings. She also used a detect magic at the spot and picked up no lingering magic. Nameless points out that if he used minor enough magic, the auras would only linger for a few seconds. What that means, he theorizes, is that either the person hid himself from Luna using mundane methods or used magic to conceal himself and move away, though evidently without using teleportation magic like a dimension door, since that would leave an aura that would linger for a few minutes. Luna is quite positive that she would have detected the man if he was just hiding, especially since she would have smelt him out.
The Angels discuss a couple of the things they discovered and then split up as usual. Nameless and Six travel back to Deathsgate and head toward Trillia's. People still surround them even though it is after 9 pm, the area's nature as an adventurer's district tending to create later and more traffic than in some other sections of Sharn.
As they are walking across a skybridge and talking about the day's experiences, Six sees a blur of motion as the person walking behind Nameless (a nondescript-looking human) swings a fist at the back of his head. With a startled cry, he shoves Nameless sideways, causing the unexpected blow to miss*.
Even as Nameless whirls around and Six grabs at his spiked chain, more attackers appear from the crowd nearby. A tall mustachioed man in banded mail armor hurls a tanglefoot bag at Six at point-blank range, but the adroit warforged spins away**. A stout dwarven woman with a series of braids in her beard hurls a similar bag at Nameless, which hits his chest and explodes into a mass of sticky goo, hampering his movements.
As the crowd around them shouts in panic and runs, a fourth assailant is revealed. This one, a slender man wearing a chain shirt, doesn't actually move to attack but simply yells a series of commands to the others. "Bracket them! Focus on the mage! Don't let him cast a spell!"
Unfortunately for Nameless and Six, the three other attackers follow the instructions to the letter. Even as Nameless tries to both dodge away and cast a spell, with the sticky goo making it difficult to move fluidly, the first attacker strikes again. He smashes a balled fist into the alienist's side, causing Nameless to see stars and momentarily be unable to act. The armored man, having quickly produced a two-handed flail, smashes the spiked ball into Nameless' head, sending him to his knees in agony. The dwarf steps in, putting all her strength behind a punch with the spiked gauntlet on her right hand***. It smashes into Nameless' jaw, knocking him down and out.
Even as he collapses, the apparent leader yells, "Careful - we're not supposed to kill them!" Turning towards Six he casts a spell, causing a layer of grease to coat the spiked chain. Six manages to hold onto it and manages to roll out of his position between the assailants, but he slips on the goo that still coats the ground**** and takes a nasty punch from the dwarf.
Recovering his balance, Six lashes out at the armored man and trips him, but the target rolls away from the follow-up blow*****. That momentary success is the last for him, as the other two rush him, the dwarf focusing on roundhouse swings while her companion, an unarmored human, unleashes a series of punches and kicks at the warforged. The armored man quickly climbs back to his feet and wades in too.
Even as Six wards of the first couple of blows and takes a hit or two, the leader casts another spell. This one attacks Six's mind and he feels a wave of unusual mirth overtake him******. Laughing maniacally, he collapses to the ground and is promptly beaten into unconsciousness.
A little later, Nameless opens his eyes to see a few concerned faces looking down at him, one of which he recognizes as Glauster, Trillia's steward. "Master Nameless," he says worriedly - and inanely, "Are you all right?"
"Do I look all right?" growls Nameless weakly, feeling the blood running down his face. As they move him to an upright position, he sees a recumbent Six a few steps away. Glauster keeps speaking - "I was returning home when I heard a commotion. I came over to see what happened and saw you and Six and some people run off. The Watch should be coming soon and ..."
A gesture from Nameless cuts him off. "Get me to Six," he says, and the men holding him up gingerly do so. Despite the pain in his head, Nameless manages to cast a spell to repair Six's wounds. The big warforged opens his eyes and then sits up with a muffled groan.
As Six levers himself to his feet, Nameless reaches around to his bag of holding for a potion, only to find it missing. With all of its contents. Including the Key.
"Six?" he says, drawing the warforged's attention, who has already discovered that his own handy haversack is missing too. Nameless simply says, "They stole my bag. With everything in it."
* Also known as a 2 on the attack roll
** Another 2! Both 2's were rolled by Gareth's player, who was evidently on his allies' side.
*** This is when I got to say, "She's 4th lvl, so she only has a +18 to hit right now!" Pity I didn't have a camera for some of the expressions on the players' faces.
**** Natural 1 on the tumble check
***** Natural 1 on the attack
****** Another natural 1. Six would have gone down soon enough, but he made it really easy by rolling five 1's in six rolls, including 4 in a row! I've never seen that happen before.