Story HourPost your ongoing tales from your campaigns, and read those from others for inspiration. Lots of other RPG boards post "Story Hours", but this is where it started!
This Story Hour is set on a homebrew world, known as Aelfenn. It's a world still very much in development, so this campaign has been a real journey of discovery for all of us, including our DM. I don't want to bore you all with a lengthy exposition, so where appropriate I'll include footnotes to explain campaign elements. For now, suffice it to say that Aelfenn would likely be described as a "high-magic" world, similar to the Forgotten Realms (in fact the campaign does use some FR material). Our campaign begins with a familiar concept - the 'adventuring school'. This school, known simply as "The Tower", lies in the middle of Trageon, which is the capital city of the human empire of Targeth. Our characters started the campaign at 2nd level, advancing to 4th by the time we were out of school.
Though you'll have to wait a bit for the first installment ("What? He starts a Story Hour and doesn't include any content? What a load of..."), I can at least start with introducing the PCs.
Kyle Goodson - Male human wizard. Kyle was born a farmer's son and was trained as a carpenter. His latent talent for magic was discovered after he was hired on by the Tower as a handyman. Generally good-natured, he has a tendency to stick his foot in his mouth frequently.
Ariadne "Arrie" Verahannen - Female human exoticist (a fighter variant; basically trades in the Martial Weapon Proficiencies for 4 Exotic Weapon Proficiencies). Arrie hails from the kingdom of Merlion, a tiny human barony in the midst of the elven nation of Tlaxan. Arrie is part of one of the ruling noble families of that nation, but for some reason has been allowed to roam free of her lands and attend classes at the Tower. Strong-willed and implusive, she sometimes leaps before she looks.
Autumn Verahannen - Female aasimar sentinel (a NG paladin variant focused on preventing incursions from evil outsiders). Autumn was adopted by the Verahannen family, and she and Arrie refer to each other as sisters. In many ways Autumn is the opposite of Arrie; refined where she is rough, reserved where she is impulsive.
Lanara Rahila - Female cansin bard (cansin are like tieflings or aasimar, but are descended from a chaotically-aligned outsider). The epitome of the wandering minstrel, Lanara calls nowhere home for long. Lanara prides herself on her ability to subtly manipulate others for a bit of fun.
Osborn Greenbottle - Male hin fighter/rogue (hin is this world's term for halfling; I think it's actually in the PHB race description, too). Osborn grew up as part of a travelling hin circus, where his father performed as a knife-thrower. Osborn went on the trail of a pair of thieves that had stolen the troupe's money, not giving up until he'd secured the stolen funds nearly two years later. He was sent to the Tower by his troupe as a reward.
Tolly Nightsleaving - Male human cleric. An orphan raised by the church, Tolly naturally entered their service. He was sent to the Tower by his superiors in order to make him a bit more world-savvy. He is dedicated, but a bit naive to the way the world works.
(Tolly eventually picks up a cohort, Crystal, a female axani cleric/rogue.)
Baobab Ghurka - Male human druid. Ghurka was a druid obsessed with fire. He only lasted through our first adventure, as his player decided that the character didn't appeal to him. He was replaced by Tolly.
Xu Dhii Ngao - Female human monk. A young girl who ran away from an arranged marriage, Xu (and the name is pronounced "You Die Now" ) took shelter in a monastery and learned their ways. Usually quiet, she expresses herself on the battlefield.
Kavan - Male elf cleric. Kavan (he has never given a family name) had originally followed in the footsteps of his father, becoming a professional escort. But an encounter with an angry spouse led to a questioning of his life, and a discovery of his faith.
Madrone - Female elf favored soul. Maddie comes into the tale much further along to replace another character, the circumstances of which I won't reveal here.
Razael Fletcher - Male elf tracker (non-spellcasting ranger variant from Complete Warrior). Razael is a very old, and very cynical elf, who has a tendency to get the wrong people upset. He was a replacement for another character (which one? You'll have to stay tuned to find out...)
Yuri Fanchon - Female human dragoon (a nation-specific prestige class that emphasizes leaping, acrobatic combat with reach weapons). Joining the party late in the campaign, Yuri is a professional soldier who was recruited after her unit was wiped out in a war (which war? Read on...)
That's it for now. The first real post will hopefully come tomorrow, or late today if I can manage it.
Our campaign begins with a familiar concept - the 'adventuring school'. This school, known simply as "The Tower", lies in the middle of Trageon, which is the capital city of the human empire of Targeth.
I've never run or played in a game that featured one, so this isn't familiar to me -- and it sounds interesting. Are you running this campaign, or are you one of the players (your post suggests the latter, to me at least)?
This is a big party (thank you, Counselor Troi...)! I'm curious to see how this pans out in the story -- and in play, as the party for my current campaign has been pretty large at times.
I've never run or played in a game that featured one, so this isn't familiar to me -- and it sounds interesting. Are you running this campaign, or are you one of the players (your post suggests the latter, to me at least)?
The concept's something I've run across a couple of times - the party starts out in some sort of formal training program. It's meant to allow characters to bond and get comfortable working together in a relatively "safe" environment (ie, less chance of a TPK at low levels just as the characters get to know each other). It's a method for starting a campaign that, like any other element, can be done well or done poorly. Generally you have to be careful how long you run 'school' adventures, because after a while players want to start doing things that are actually real instead of simulated. One advantage is that you can string a variety of different types of adventures (dungeon crawl, investigation, city-based, etc) together without having to worry about tying them together.
And yes, I am a player. My character is the wizard, Kyle. I've been keeping the logs for our campaign since the beginning, mostly I think because I'm the only one willing to do it every week.
Quote:
Originally Posted by haiiro
This is a big party (thank you, Counselor Troi...)! I'm curious to see how this pans out in the story -- and in play, as the party for my current campaign has been pretty large at times.
In any case, I liked your introduction.
The party size was a bit of a concern for us in the beginning, especially since a lot of the players are roleplay intensive and like to have their own personal subplots. So far, it's gone all right, though we've learned the hard way that 'solve the mystery' adventures don't flow very smoothly for us (because inevitably with those kind of adventures splitting the party ends up the most efficient way to deal with the investigation, which means you end up with 3-4 separate groups... it took us 4 sessions to finish a relatively simple adventure).
The large double doors creaked slightly as Kavan pushed his way into the chamber, looking around at the rows of empty tables and chairs. Even the circular instructor’s dais in the center of the room stood unoccupied. At first, Kavan thought he was the first to arrive, but his keen elven ears picked up a slight scuffling from the lowest row of tables. Moving to the side to get a better look, he saw a large figure crouched on the floor, apparently fiddling with one of the chairs. The scene was almost comical as the broad-shouldered man tried to squeeze himself under the long table to get a better angle at his work.
Nothing but a common laborer, Kavan thought at first, but caught himself. Whoever this man was, he was one of Erito’s* children, just like himself, and worthy of respect as such. Kavan fingered the holy symbol around his neck, and said a silent prayer asking for forgiveness from his goddess.
The man rose from his work as Kavan let his symbol fall back to his chest, and for a moment the elf’s usual poise and reserve was nearly broken. The man had somehow managed to fit his broad shoulders into a set of mustard-colored robes, which Kavan swore were the same kind the school issued to students of magic. The man brushed a few wood shavings from his black scruffy hair, then flashed a toothy grin as he put away his dagger.
“Howdy,” he called out in a leisurely drawl. “You here for Interdisciplinary Tactics?”
Kavan nodded as he set his pack down on the table in front of him, far up on the back row. He’d felt a little silly hauling all his worldly possessions up to the 267th floor of the Tower, but the directions given were specific.
“Me too,” said the man, sitting down in the chair he’d just been working on. He shifted his weight back and forth, then slapped his hand on the arm of the chair in satisfaction. “I hate a wobbly chair,” he said. “It’s why I always show up early – I swear there weren’t four chair legs of equal length in this whole tower before I got here.” He put his feet up on the table, then looked back up at the elf in the top row. “Name’s Kyle,” he said. “What’s yours?”
“My name is Kavan.” He studied the man below him for a moment. “You are… a student here?”
“Yup,” said Kyle, grinning. “And let me tell you, no one was more surprised by that than me.”
Their conversation was interrupted by a commotion across the room, as two women in heavy armor came into the room through a door across from Kavan and Kyle. The first was a blonde-haired woman in half-plate, with a longsword on her hip and a shield strapped to her back. She had one hand wrapped around the arm of her companion, and seemed to be pulling her along. The second woman wore chainmail armor, and wrapped across her chest and waist was a length of spiked chain. Strands of brown hair drooped into her face as the two of them found seats in the midst of the room. As the crash of metal and wood echoed through the room, no one noticed as a small figure slipped in through the door Kavan had used, and stood in the shadows observing.
“Okay, Autumn, you can let go now.” The woman shrugged out of the other’s grasp, then looked around. Across from her she saw an elf with short, dark brown hair, wearing simple white robes. There was some sort of holy symbol around his neck, but she couldn’t make out the details. Erito, probably, she thought. Below him sat another man, human like herself. Even though he was as large and muscular as some of her fellow students in her combat training courses, he wore wizards’ robes. The man looked up and grinned.
“Howdy, ma’am,” he said to her, “Name’s Kyle. What’s yours?”
“I’m Arrie,” she replied, “and this is my sister Autumn.” Arrie gestured at the woman with strawberry blonde hair, who nodded in reply. “She can’t talk today,” Arrie continued, “she got sick after last week’s outdoor survival course and lost her voice.”**
Kyle nodded at the introductions, though he was having a hard time seeing the family resemblance. Autumn seemed to have an inner glow, a subtle quality that suggested she was one of the Touched***, an aasimar. Arrie, on the other hand, seemed as human as he was. Still, the style of etching on their armor suggested noble heritage, and nobility sometimes had a strange definition of ‘family’.
Arrie and Autumn’s glance turned up toward the elf in the top row. “My name is Kavan,” he said to the implied question.
The doors opened again, and a slender woman dressed in an unadorned outfit made of green silk stepped quietly into the room and sat down. Her black hair trailed down her back in a long braid, which curled loosely around the end of a long pole strapped to her back. She sat quietly, eyes nearly closed, until Kyle spoke.
“Howdy, my name’s Kyle. What’s yours, ma’am?”
“Xu Dhii Ngao,” she replied.
Kyle’s eyebrows arched in surprise. “You know, it was just a simple question. No need to threaten me.”
Xu’s brow furrowed. “I do not understand,” she said, perplexed.
“Well, all I asked was your name, and you tell me I’m going to die now. What am I supposed to think?”
Xu shook her head, a tiny smile on her face. “No, no, you misunderstand. My name is Xu… Dhii… Ngao. You may call me simply ‘Xu’.”
Satisfied, Kyle relaxed. “All right then. Well, this is Kavan, and that’s Arrie and Autumn.”
Another figure entered as the chimes signaling the beginning of class began to sound. This person, also a human like Kyle, Xu, and Arrie, wore deep green robes that were frayed and singed at the edges. He wore a full beard, and his blonde hair was long and starting to turn gray. His eyebrows were missing, and the skin on his face seemed unusually pink, which only highlighted the criss-cross scarring on his cheeks that was typical of someone who has survived wyrmrage fever as a child. He appeared several years older than the others, and at first it was assumed he was their teacher. But he sat down quickly at a table without comment.
Everyone in the room turned toward the central podium, expecting their instructor to appear. After a minute had passed, Kyle looked up at Arrie and Autumn. “Um, are we sure this is the right room?”
Just then the door closest to the two armored women flew open, and another female dashed in. This one had a wild shock of hair that seemed dyed in a garish mix of pink and orange, and wore clothes in various shades of violet that, although seemingly thrown together from several different styles, somehow managed to look good together, especially considering the amount of skin they revealed. As she collapsed in a chair, the others could see that her left eye was emerald green, the other sky blue. She let out a muffled greeting, her voice blocked by the wedge of flatbread still in her teeth.
Arrie elbowed Autumn. “See, I wouldn’t have been the last one here,” she quipped.
“Well, now that everyone else is here…”
They all turned at the sound of the strange voice. Stepping out of the shadows in the corner came a diminutive figure, just barely over three feet tall. The young hin wore a black vest over dark studded leather, and his long black hair was pulled back. A set of pearly white teeth flashed in the middle of a neatly trimmed goatee and mustache, and everyone could see the hilts of several daggers protruding from his vest, belt, boots, and his wrists. He jumped up on top of the table near Kavan and sat cross-legged, still grinning.
“Impressive entrance, Osborn,” said another voice, this one high above them. Looking up, they saw a large man in leathers clinging to the ceiling, observing them. He let go, and spun in midair, landing gracefully on his feet in the center of the instructor’s dais. “I was wondering how long you would remain hidden. At least I know you weren’t late for class.” The instructor’s eyes wandered meaningfully over to the wild-haired woman. “Isn’t that right, Lanara?”
The woman called Lanara merely shrugged. “Long lines at the kitchen,” she said, wiping crumbs off the table.
The instructor turned back to the class without comment. “Welcome to Interdisciplinary Tactics. My name is Shilsen Brandovich. Up until now, your instruction at the Tower has been focused on improving your individual skills; thus you have been working primarily with those of your own profession. Now, you will learn to work with those of different talents and abilities. You will learn each other’s strengths and weaknesses, and in so doing learn to create a more effective whole.”
Shilsen circled slowly, taking in each person in turn. “I’ve observed that most of you have already begun introducing yourselves. This is good, as you will be working closely with the other students in this room for the remainder of your term here at the Tower, and quite possibly beyond. However, this course is supposed to be about risks and how you handle them as a group. Therefore, your first simulation will begin immediately.”
The students looked around at each other. Simulation?
“In one hour, you will be taken to a simulated scenario very much like what you would encounter in the outside world as professional adventurers. This is a simple pass or fail test; complete the assignment, and you pass. But if you don’t complete the assignment, or you die, then you fail.
“You have in front of you all of your equipment that you either brought to the Tower yourself or has been given to you as reward for your studies up until now. This is what you will have to complete your mission. Other items that can aid you may be found within the scenario itself, but don’t rely on that. You have the next hour to talk amongst yourselves, to figure out what your capabilities are and what you lack, and make any plans.” With that, Shilsen stepped off the instructor’s platform, went up the stairs, and exited the room.
----------------
* Erito is the head goddess of the Aelfenn pantheon. She is the patron deity of the elves, and also the goddess of life, death, and magic.
** Translation: after making the character, her player was unable to attend the first few sessions. Thus we needed some explanation for why she wasn't able to participate in the conversation.
*** The various races in Aelfenn that are humans with mixed blood are known as the Touched. There are the Planetouched (classic aasimar and tiefling, as well as the chaotic cansin and the lawful axani), the Element-Touched (the same as the genasi in FR), and the Elf-Touched (half-elves) and Orc-Touched (half-orcs).
An awkward silence drifted through the chamber. Finally, Kyle cleared his throat. “Well, for starters, I don’t think we ever got your name, sir.” He looked at the bearded man in green robes.
“Baobab Ghurka,” he replied, “but I prefer to be called by my family name, if you don’t mind.” Introductions were made all the way around, including the hin Osborn and Lanara.
“Pardon me for asking,” said Kyle to Lanara, “but you’re a cansin, aren’t you? One of the Chaos-Touched?”
Lanara nodded, even as she leaned back in her chair. “Why do you ask?”
“Just wanted to make sure. We don’t get many cansin in the school of wizardry.”
Lanara stuck out her tongue in disdain. “Wizardry? Books and studying? No thanks. I prefer the natural route myself.” She waved a hand and tiny sparkles of colored light appeared over her head.
“Wait,” said Kavan, “you’re a wizard?” He studied Kyle for a moment; with his broad shoulders and large arms, he looked more like a lumberjack than a mage. He’d seen the robes, of course, but Kavan had half-convinced himself it was a fluke.
“Well, trying to be, anyway. But how about you? What do you do?”
“I have many skills. I can fight with bow and blade.”
“From the look of that pendant around your neck, I would have guessed that you’re a priest.” Kyle squinted at the symbol around Kavan’s neck. “Erito, I think?”
Kavan nodded. “Yes, I serve the goddess Erito as her priest.”
“So you can command divine magic, including healing, and have power over the undead?”
“Yes.”
“Good to know. As for me, even though my own grimoire is a bit thin right now, I’m willing to help out any way I can. Offense, defense, information; I try to cover it all. I looked into specializing – conjuration, divination, and all that – but in the end everything I saw meant giving up something else that seemed real interesting, you know?”
Arrie watched the exchange with interest, then piped up when Kyle finished. “Well, I’ll have to speak for both of us today,” she said, pointing at both herself and Autumn. “My sister here is a Sentinel – a holy warrior devoted to righting wrongs, especially when they involve outsiders.”
“Outside where?” asked Lanara.
“Beings from one of the planetary realms besides our own,” explained Kyle. “Demons, devils, that sort of thing. It would technically include celestials too, though I get the feeling that Autumn’s not so opposed to them.”
“Right,” agreed Arrie. “As for me, I’m a warrior as well, though not as picky as my sister about whose head I bash in. I’ve trained in a few unusual weapons, such as this.” She unwrapped the heavy spiked chain from around her torso, showing to everyone. “It’s effective, and it’s great for knocking down those annoying, stick-figure wizards.” She gave an apologetic half-smile to Kyle. “I also have these.” She reached into a large sack at her hip and produced a ball of iron about the size of a grapefruit. “It’s an orcish shotput. Deadly, if a bit clumsy.”
Osborn’s eyes widened. “That thing’s almost as big as my mother!” he exclaimed.
“Yeah, I think that we used something like that to kill pigs back on the farm,” mused Kyle.
“So did I,” commented Ghurka.
“You were a farmer too?” asked Kyle.
“I was a farmhand,” Ghurka replied, “until my boss’ farm burned down one year. He had to let me go, since he had no crops to tend. Work was hard to come by then, so I ended up staying in the woods near the farm, living off the land. Over the next four years I watched the earth reclaim the land than humans had taken from it, and I gained a great respect for nature. I was especially intrigued by how the whole process had started with fire. I came to understand the important role fire plays in the cycle of life, and began to play my part to help that cycle along, setting blazes in the forest to clear out old growth so that new growth could prosper. In time, members of the Druidic Order sought me out, and inducted me into their mysteries.”
Kavan’s eyes narrowed. “You set fires in the forest? On purpose?”
“Yes.”
“That isn’t natural,” the elf said.
“Untrue,” replied Ghurka. “I am a part of the world, just as you are. How can any action I take be unnatural? It’s not as though I laid waste to the entire forest. Creation and destruction exist in a cycle; both must exist in equal measure.”
Kavan was silent, clearly still not approving.
“Say,” asked Lanara, who had produced a fiddle and was tuning it, “are you the one responsible for the scorch marks on the floor on the 82nd level?”
Ghurka looked around the room for a moment before replying, “I don’t know anything about that.”
“Right.” She began playing a soft tune.
“So then what do you do?” asked Ghurka.
“Oh, a little of this, a little of that. Not much of a fighter, but that looks to be the job of the Tin Twins here. I’ll just immortalize you in song… or write a moving eulogy, as the case may be.”
“Okay, then,” said Kyle, looking around, “that leaves only two of us who haven’t spoken up yet.” He turned toward Xu, still sitting quietly in her chair. “What about you? I’ll admit I don’t have a good guess. Usually you can get a good idea from what a person’s wearing or carrying around, but you don’t have much of anything on you except that pole. What is it you do?”
Xu looked over at Kyle calmly. “I, like the others of my order, train our bodies and minds to act as one… no, to be nothingness.”
“Um, run that by me again?” said Osborn, who was trimming a loose thread off his vest with the point of a dagger. “What exactly is your gimmick?”
“My ‘gimmick’?” asked Xu, momentarily confused. Then understanding dawned on her face. “Ah, you mean my style of combat. My style is that I have no style. When the opponent expands, I contract. When he contracts, I expand. And when the opportunity presents itself, I do not hit.” She held up one fist in the air. “It hits all by itself.”
They all were silent for a moment, considering Xu’s words. Then Arrie clapped one hand on the table in front of her. “Down and dirty, fists and feet. My kind of woman.” She looked up as Osborn. “Well, I’d have to guess you’re good with knives.”
“That I am,” Osborn beamed. “I’m also skilled in reconnaissance, and the circumvention of security devices… I guess you could say I’m an ‘acquirer’, if you will.”
“Well,” said Ghurka, “we seem to be rather well-rounded in terms of talent. That’s a good thing.”
The eight students spent the remainder of their hour discussing details of their individual capabilities. They dug through their packs to see what kinds of potions, devices, and other useful items they had accumulated during their first eighteen months at the Tower. They all had a chance to meet Rupert, the great dane that served as Osborn’s faithful companion and mount. They also were introduced to Ghurka’s animal companion, a hawk named Cawn. Just as their conversations were beginning to wind down, Shilsen Brandovich re-entered the room.
“Everyone, gather your belongings and make your way to the northwest transport,” he ordered. The students followed him down the long hallway, gathering on the hovering steel disc that moved students through the various levels of the two-mile-high building*. Shilsen moved to the small pedestal in the middle of the platform, which held a crystalline orb at about a human’s waist height. He rested his right hand on the orb, and fished a smaller copy of the orb out of his pocket, holding it up to his forehead. The platform was instantly surrounded by a bubble of magical force, and began descending rapidly. Shilsen put his instructor’s key back into his pocket, and stood patiently next to the control orb.
In less than a minute they were in one of the underground levels, where students were normally barred from entering. They exited the platform and stepped into a rather ordinary chamber. At the far end was a plain wooden door.
“Your scenario lies beyond that door,” Shilsen explained. “Once inside, you will meet people who will explain your objective. Remember that this is designed to be a realistic simulation of the real world. Your opposition, whatever form it takes, will be employing deadly force, and you may respond with the same. Death of all members of the group will result in failure of the scenario, though of course the Tower’s policy of using resurrection magic on fallen students is still in effect. Now, are there any questions?”
A couple of hands went into the air. Shilsen smiled. “Good. I sincerely hope you discover the answers at some point.” With that he turned and got back on the transport platform, ascending rapidly.
The eight of them (plus Rupert and Cawn) milled about uncertainly. “So, who wants to go first?” asked Osborne.
“We have no idea what’s beyond that door,” said Ghurka. “We could be walking into the middle of a battle for all we know.”
“Good point,” said Kyle. “Maybe we should make a plan? Decide who’s going first, that sort of thing?”
Arrie yawned. “Well, why don’t we just open the door and see what’s on the other side before we decide?” Before anyone could stop her, she walked over and put her hand on the doorknob.
The door seemed to swell in size, arching over their heads. The door opened, and the frame seemed to rush toward them, enveloping the group. There was a flash of bright light, and suddenly the group was standing on a well-worn road, surrounded by trees. It was late in the day, with the first stars glimmering in the sky. A few hundred yards down the road, they saw a small village, with smoke from cooking fires curling into the sky. They could see a few people walking toward the large inn at the center of town.
“Well,” said Arrie, seeing that everyone was staring at her, “at least it wasn’t a battle, right?”
---------------
* Yes, two miles. The Tower is built upon an elemental Node, sort of a natural font of magical power, that supports the structure as well as the rest of the city. The city of Trageon itself consists of three levels; an underground portion, the main city on the surface, and the upper levels which rest on a gigantic floating platform. The Tower extends through all three levels throught the middle. The best visualization is the city of Sigil from Planescape, but imagine Sigil as a disk rather than a donut.
After getting their bearings, the group agreed to head into the small town, assuming that their ‘scenario’ would start from there. As they approached the inn, which was constructed of rough-hewn stone, a voice called out to them.
“Hail, strangers! Are you the ones sent by the king?”
They turned to regard the speaker, a heavy-set man in his forties. After looking at each other uncertainly, Ghurka stepped forward. “Err… yes?”
“Thank the heavens,” said the man, coming up quickly and grasping Ghurka’s hand. He went around and shook the hands of each of the students as he talked.
“We’d just about given up hope – it’s been nearly two months since we sent word to the capital. Everyone inside will be thrilled to see you here at last. You’ve come at a good time – we’re holding a town meeting tonight. How much have you been told?”
“Umm, not much I’m afraid,” Osborn said quickly. “When we found out how… desperate your situation was, and how much time had passed, we left immediately. I’m sure you can fill us in on the details.”
“Of course, of course!” said the townsperson, who rushed to the door of the inn and pushed it open. “Come in, we’ll explain everything!”
The group made their way into the inn, a dimly-lit, smoky building whose ambiance was not enhanced by the throngs of men of various ages packed inside. Their presence was noted almost immediately, and no introductions were needed. After several minutes, the students found seats, their arms numb from unending handshakes and friendly shoulder-slaps.
A grizzled man of sixty years stood up, raising his arms to signal quiet. As the room settled, he walked up to a spot near the bar, standing up on one of the long wooden benches to address the crowd.
“Friends,” he said in a voice rough with age and hard labor, “Clevin has asked that I go over our situation from the beginning for the benefit of the adventurers sent by the king. So bear with me for a spell. For you young folks from the capital, I’m Parthus, and I’m as close as we get to any kind of authority around here.”
While Parthus was talking, Kavan leaned over and whispered to Kyle, “I see only men in this inn. Where are the women of the town?”
“Home, probably,” replied Kyle quietly, “you know, making dinner, watching the kids.”
Kavan frowned. “That is not right. In elven communities, women have an equal say in such matters. They have as much right to attend this meeting as the men.”
Kyle shrugged. “I wouldn’t disagree with you in principle, Kavan. But I know these folks – they’re simple people of the land, set in their ways. And now ain’t the time to educate them.”
Kavan let the discussion lapse as Parthus began explaining the problem. “This town was built up around a copper mine that was discovered below some old ruins just a little ways to the east. For years we’ve been mining the copper and selling it to the capital – the soil around here’s too poor to grow anything, so the mine’s all we’ve got to keep us going.
“About two months ago was when the invaders came. Actually, there were two invaders; goblins and kobolds. They came up from below, overrunning the mines and chasing us out. It seemed like there were thousands of them. They’ve settled into the mines, and they have been raiding the town regularly ever since. Some nights it’s the kobolds, other nights it’s the goblins, and sometimes it’s both one after the other. We tried to send in a group of our own to root them out – fifty good men went in; barely a dozen made their way out. We tried to set some traps in the upper levels of the ruins, but we haven’t seen the raids slow down – we think they may have another way out of the mines. Our town once numbered over three hundred, and we’re down to what you see in this room, plus the women in children.”
An uneasy silence settled over the room. Arrie was the first to break it. “How many goblins and kobolds are there?”
Parthus shrugged. “Not sure, really. Few dozen of each, maybe. They’ve settled into the lowest part of the mines, each in their own area. We’ve seen enough to know that they aren’t working together, and they fight each other as much as us. Probably the only reason we haven’t been wiped out already.”
“Seen any with any unusual abilities?” asked Kyle. From his studies he knew that kobolds in particular had a tendency to manifest sorcerous powers.
“Nothing more unusual than them coming up and killing us,” Parthus said dryly. He spat on the stone floor. “Course, not bein’ high-up wizard types like yourself, we ain’t been all that interested in studying them.”
Kyle dropped into silence as the students leaned together, whispering. Then Arrie stuck her head up. “We’ll do our best to aid you and your town, Parthus. We’ll go into the mines and root out those filth.”
Cheers erupted around the room. As the noise died down, Parthus addressed Arrie with a grin. “We’ve got rooms here at the inn you can sleep in till morning,” he said. “Then tomorrow…”
“Tomorrow?” Arrie interrupted. “I figure there’s no time like the present.”
Parthus’ smile faded a bit. “Tonight? Are you sure about that? Those critters are likely just getting ready to go about now.”
“They won’t expect an attack now,” she said confidently. “We’ll catch them off guard. Besides, I’m not afraid of anything a bunch of goblins and kobolds can throw at us.”
The room was filled with the sound of cheering voices again at Arrie’s bold pronouncement. Next to her, Autumn just rolled her eyes, her illness-ravaged voice too weak to make further protest. As things quieted down again, they heard Osborn let out a large cough, which sounded remarkably like the word “reward?”
Parthus nodded. “Well, of course you can keep anything you find down there, except for our mining tools, of course. Other than that, well…” Parthus looked down at the floor, and the room fell silent.
Kyle spoke up. “Hey, the only thing we need is to know your town is safe again, and for you to save us a couple of those rooms in case this takes a couple of days. Deal?”
Parthus looked up and nodded. “Deal.” He spit into his palm and extended it. Kyle did likewise, and they clasped hands in agreement. This time it was Osborn’s turn to roll his eyes.
They were out the door within the hour. They would have departed immediately, except that the townsfolk insisted on treating the companions to a round or two of cheap ale. They’d escaped a third round by pointing out they needed to be at their best to do their job.
They decided to scout out the surrounding hillside first, to see if there was truth to the rumor that the kobolds and goblins had exits out of the mines other than the ruins. Sure enough, after only a couple of hours they stumbled across a small hole with a few kobold tracks going in and out. The hole was so small that only Osborn could have fit inside, an idea he didn’t relish. Instead, the students sealed off the hole with several large rocks, capped off with a large boulder rolled over by Kyle and Arrie.
They searched for another hour or so, but couldn’t find a similar passage for the goblin tribe. Finally, with the night wearing on, the group decided to head for the ruins and descend into the mines.
They approached cautiously, and soon found the entrance, a single doorway in the hillside. Parthus had told them that the building had once been a monastery of some sort, but decades ago a mudslide had buried it, and it was abandoned despite the fact that it was mostly intact inside. The early settlers of the town had used the ruins as a communal root cellar until the day they were digging out a section and discovered a vein of copper ore just below the surface.
The group lit torches and went inside. There were no signs of activity in the upper levels, and dust hung thick on the floor. Osborn waved his torch at the ceiling to point out a rather obvious deadfall to the rest of the party.
“I think a wooden sign in the ground saying “Pretend there’s a trap here” would have been just as effective,” the hin said sarcastically.
“They’re miners, not trapsmiths,” pointed out Ghurka. “They did the best they could.”
As they moved on through the ruins, they spotted a few more crudely designed traps. Conspicuously absent were signs of goblins or kobolds – no tracks, no broken weapons, no shed scales or hairs. The group concluded that the tribes must have decided to avoid the upper level entirely rather than deal with the traps, since they had other means of getting to the surface.
The group turned and stopped just short of a large square chamber that was thick with cobwebs. Just as Osborn was about to proceed in, Kavan’s keen eyes spotted something, and he grabbed the hin by the shoulder and pointed. In the corner, the silhouette of a spider crouched, it’s body as large around as Osborn was tall.
They stepped back to inform the others. “What do we do?” asked Osborn.
“Spider webs burn very well,” said Ghurka, a gleam in his eye.
“You’d kill a defenseless creature without provocation?” said Kavan.
“I’d hardly call a three foot wide spider with deadly poisonous fangs ‘defenseless’,” quipped Lanara.
“Look, this is pointless,” said Kyle. “We’re here looking for goblins and kobolds, right? Well, I don’t see signs that either has gone near that spider. So why sit here trying to figure out how to get past it when we can just avoid it altogether?”
The rest of the group agreed that dealing with the spider now was pointless. They moved along down the corridor, eventually coming to a larger room. A strange, square structure was visible just inside their light; Kavan and Lanara, who could see better in the dark, told the others that there was a similar small building just past it. Cautiously, they moved into the room, spreading out slightly.
Osborn crept around the edge of the small building, coming to a half-rotted wooden door. Gingerly, he reached out with the tip of one of his many daggers and flicked the door open.
He jumped back in alarm as a human-sized skeleton came crashing out of the room toward him. The others rushed over, weapons drawn, but by the time they arrived they could see that the skeleton had collapsed in a broken pile of bones.
Osborn poked at the skull with his dagger while Xu looked around inside the room. “Who do you suppose this was? A prisoner left here to die?”
“Unlikely,” answered Xu. “This was a meditation cell; the door has no lock. Perhaps it was one of the monks who inhabited this monastery, who chose to remain here after the slide that buried this place.”
“Well, let’s keep looking around,” said Arrie. “There’s a few of these cells, and I think we should check them all; there could be sentries hiding in them.”
The group spread out through the room. There were a dozen of the cells in total, with one or two near the far wall partially ruined by the hardened mud. Each student took a door, and opened them in unison. Most found nothing but simple cots and wooden bowls, but in the far corner they all heard the sound of Arrie’s spiked chain unfurling, followed by a high-pitched squeal. Xu, who was closest, ran over to her side. There was another squeak, and then the two women walked out to join their companions. Both Arrie’s chain and the edge of Xu’s foot were stained with blood and bits of gray fur.
“Rats,” said Arrie simply, as she re-wrapped her chain around her torso.
There were two exits at the near wall; a door and a simple open archway. Osborn checked the door, and finding no traps he pushed open the door. A pair of stairs led downward into the earth.
“Well, at least we know how to get down from here,” he said, pulling the door closed.
The group chose to explore the archway, not wanting to leave anything dangerous at the top of the stairs. They proceeded along a narrow, winding hallway a short distance, with Osborn scouting ahead slightly. As he turned a corner, he stopped short and let out a slight yelp. This time it was no dead body that had startled him.
Arrie, Autumn, and Kavan rushed forward to see a huge centipede uncurl from its resting place on the floor in front of them. As they drew weapons, the centipede lashed out, far quicker than it seemed for an insect of its size, its mandibles skittering off Autumn’s shield.
Kavan was the first to react, drawing his sword and slicing at the centipede. He stepped back, seeing ichor running from the tip of his sword, when the centipede struck back, sinking its jaws into Kavan’s forearm. He immediately felt a flush of heat, and his muscles went slack as the centipede’s poison took hold. Kavan tried to step back, but his legs weren’t responding, and he was unable to avoid another bite from the centipede.
Ghurka stepped forward, seeing that the elf was in trouble. He summoned up healing energies from the earth, and with a touch sent them into Kavan, closing his wounds. But for his trouble the druid drew the centipede’s attention, and it lashed out with a vicious bite, poisoning Ghurka as well. The two of them barely managed to drag themselves out of the combat, leaning on each other’s shoulders.
Arrie and Autumn pressed in on the centipede, hacking away at it, and were shortly joined by Xu. The corridor was too narrow for anyone else to contribute to the fight; Kyle tried to fire a crossbow bolt but it went past Arrie’s shoulder, missing entirely. But the three trained fighters were more than capable, and after a few seconds the centipede began crawling away toward a small crack in the wall.
“Oh, no you don’t!” shouted Arrie. She dropped her chain and pulled out her orcish shotput, heaving the massive iron ball at the retreating centipede. It connected solidly in the middle of the creature, and yellow-green ichor splashed in a wide ring across the hallway. The centipede thrashed and quivered, practically torn in half. When the death throes faded, Arrie walked up and retrieved her shotput, wiping the gore off before dropping it back in its sack with a satisfied smile on her face.
As the three fighters cleaned their weapons, Kyle handed Kavan and Ghurka each a small vial. “Antitoxin,” he explained. “Made it myself. It should help counteract the remaining effects of the poison.”
They both drank, and felt the effects immediately. They thanked Kyle and then stood up on legs that were not as shaky now.
Seeing that there was nowhere left to go on the upper level, the group decided to head down the stairs. Once again Osborn took the lead, who went silently down the stairs to a moderately-sized chamber of rough stone. Scattered about were a few odd picks and other mining tools. At the far wall stood a door.
The group quickly surveyed the room, finding nothing of interest. They gathered near the door, waiting as Osborn inspected it.
“It’s trapped,” he whispered, “and not by miners.” Osborn fiddled with the door for a few minutes, at first seeming frustrated but then at last smiling. “There. I’ve disabled the trigger for the darts that shoot out from the wall.” Osborn pointed out two tiny holes in the stone near the doorway. As Osborn set to work on the lock, Arrie stepped up and placed a hand over one of the holes. She called upon her Talent*, but she felt no telltale tingling in her mind informing her of the presence of poison within the darts.
Osborn signaled for quiet as he pushed the door open a crack. He peered inside, and immediately saw a single kobold sentry, sleeping in a chair. Osborn suppressed a smile, and motioned for the others to remain where they were. The hin slipped into the room, quietly drawing a dagger.
He emerged a moment later, wiping blood off his blade. “Well, there’s one kobold down.”
“What else did you see?” asked Xu.
“The one I got was sitting on a chair next to an open archway. There’s another sentry in there, off in a side chamber. I couldn’t see where he was, but I could hear him.” Osborn wrinkled his nose. “I think he was relieving himself.”
“What now?” asked Kyle.
“I say we let Osborn take care of that one the same way he got the first,” offered Ghurka.
“No,” said Kavan. “We should capture him.”
“Good idea,” agreed Arrie. “We could get information about how many there are.”
“Okay then,” said Osborn. “We go in, grab him, and haul him back up the stairs to question him. Ready?”
“Hold on.” Arrie dug into her pack and produced a set of bolas. “Another of my specialties,” she said. “I can trip him up without hurting him.”
Osborn, Xu, Arrie, and Kavan readied themselves to rush into the room; the others held back, knowing that the other four could easily handle one kobold. They moved in quickly. From outside the room, Kyle, Lanara, Ghurka and Autumn listened as they heard weapons slashing through the air. They heard the whir of Arrie’s bolas winding up and flying through the air. There were grunts, and shrieks. Ghurka dashed into the room, leaving the other three outside. There was a crash, and they a high-pitched shout in a language unfamiliar to most of them.
“Intruder alert,” Kyle translated, sighing.
The other three moved into the room as they heard a larger commotion. Arrie, Xu, and Kavan were engaged with a small pack of kobolds, perhaps half a dozen. Osborn was throwing knives at one off to the side, and dodging sling bullets being shot back. Autumn immediately moved to her sister’s side, while Kyle began to circle around the outside of the room, looking for a better angle. Lanara stood by the door, waiting to see what happened. Ghurka was tossing flasks of oil at the kobolds.
The fight was vicious, but brief. Soon all seven kobolds lay in pools of their own blood. The students took stock of their situation. The room wasn’t large, and in the center was another of the meditation cells like those above. The stench emanating from a small opening in the stone wall marked the location of the kobold latrine. On the opposite wall, an archway marked the beginning of a hallway that stretched into darkness beyond the range of anyone’s vision.
“So much for one kobold, eh?” Lanara quipped.
“Little bugger was fast,” complained Arrie. “I’ve never seen anything wiggle out of a bola that quickly.”
While the rest of the group discussed what to do next, Kavan began walking down the hallway slowly, trying to make out enough detail to get a layout of the area. He picked up a small pebble and imbued it with a light spell, tossing it a short distance down the hall. His elven eyes picked out the walls; the hallway stretched on into darkness, and there was a corridor to the left about thirty feet past the archway. Kavan moved forward, trying to see further down the hall. As he moved, he became so intent on the hallway before him that he didn’t realize he’d stepped out in front of the side corridor.
The rest of the group was alerted when they heard a sound like hailstones. They turned to see Kavan under a barrage of tiny stones. Several bounced off his armor, but a few had struck home, opening gashes in his head and legs.
The group rushed forward into a wall of kobolds. The front lines were armed with spears, while another rank behind them were reloading slings. Arrie, Autumn, and Xu rushed into the mass of small lizard-like creatures, whirling and slashing. Kavan stumbled back long enough to call upon Erito for healing magic, closing his grievous wounds. Ghurka and Osborn were the next to charge in, the latter riding atop Rupert. From behind them they all heard the clear notes of Lanara’s fiddle as she launched into an inspiring battle-chant. Kyle attempted to move around to fire off a spell, but once again found himself cut off by the press of his companions. Cursing himself for choosing to prepare ray spells that day, Kyle cast mage armor on himself and waited for an opening, keeping an eye on the long corridor in case reinforcements came from that direction.
The battle was going well. Ghurka had called upon the spirits of the nearby plant life, and their roots had vines had erupted from the ground below the kobolds, wrapping them up and preventing them from firing more sling stones. He was now back to throwing oil flasks at his opponents. Arrie, Xu, and Autumn were making good progress on the front rank of kobolds, and soon Xu was able to break free and begin assailing the back rank, who switched to their spears to defend themselves. Kavan rejoined the fray, slashing at kobolds when he could but keeping an eye on his companion’s injuries. Osborn, who was unable to move through the tight ranks, decided to pull back. He guided Rupert back to the sentry chamber, where Lanara was still singing, and decided to investigate the meditation chamber while he waited.
Then, from far back behind the second rank of kobolds, they heard an odd sound, and then instantly the entire intersection was filled with sticky webs. Everyone except Osborn and Lanara were trapped in the webs, and they were too far away to help. Arrie was stuck fast, unable to move at all. Kyle managed to pull himself free slowly, but he emerged in the empty hallway, cut off from everyone else.
Xu twisted and pulled her way out of the webs, all the while trying to avoid the spears of the kobolds. But fortune was not with her, and she became stuck for a few seconds – long enough for the kobolds to take advantage and jab her. Bleeding from several serious wounds, Xu finally pulled free, and tumbled past the knot of kobolds before her, hoping to get at the spell-using kobold despite her injuries.
Behind her, Arrie and Autumn managed to pull free enough to begin attacking the kobolds again. Behind them, Ghurka shouted in triumph as he managed to call upon the power of a produce flame spell. Using the flames to burn himself free, the druid hardly seemed to notice the self-inflicted burns as he turned his attention to a nearby cluster of oil-soaked kobolds. Grinning, he tossed a handful of flame at them, and watched them erupt in a foul-smelling conflagration. Then he turned his attention to burning a path out of the webs.
Xu found a small side corridor and darted down it a moment to catch her breath. She’d seen no sign of the kobold sorcerer; it must have escaped. Before returning to the fight, however, she heard a strange sound further down. Curious, she moved on, moving agilely through Ghurka’s field of entangling roots. She turned a corner, and had to suppress a laugh. A band of four goblins was struggling underneath a heavy net, apparently rigged up to prevent just this sort of sneak attack.
“Opportunity knocks but once,” she said to herself. She cracked her knuckles, and moved up to the first helpless goblin…
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* Every sentient being in Aelfenn has a Talent, which is essentially a low-level spell they can use once per day. The Talent is usually something suited for the person's profession or personality. Arrie's Talent is detect poison.
It took the group several minutes to collect themselves, burning away the last remnants of the web spell and finishing off the last dying kobolds. Xu returned to the party, her hands stained with goblin blood. The others could plainly see how badly hurt she was, and turned to Kavan. The elven priest shook his head sadly.
“My strength has almost entirely been depleted from this battle. I have only one minor orison left to me today.”
“I have the same problem,” said Ghurka. “Healing does not come as easily to me as it does to Kavan, and what little ability I had has already been used.”
“No problem,” said Kyle. He pulled a potion vial out of his belt and handed it to Xu. “This should help.”
Xu accepted the potion and drank it. It took another dose from Osborn’s supply before Xu’s injuries were healed enough to continue on. Others busied themselves with cleaning their weapons or binding minor cuts. Ghurka gleefully went about piling up kobold bodies and burning them. Kyle began gathering up the kobold’s equipment and tossing it into the single meditation cell near the stairway.
“What’s the point?” Arrie asked him. “That stuff isn’t really worth enough to bother with.”
“Not to us,” said Kyle. “But it occurs to me that even if we succeed in clearing this mine, it’ll still take a while for those townsfolk up there to get things going again, especially since they’ve lost so many. I figure they can sell some of this stuff off to bring in some money for food and supplies.”
Arrie nodded. “Or keep the weapons to use for their own defense. You have a good point.”
The party proceeded to explore the remainder of the second level. They found the bolt-hole that the mysterious kobold sorcerer had used to escape, and blocked it off using a barrel of foul-smelling spirits that Lanara identified as Thudrud. Ghurka desperately wanted to light the barrel and try to smoke out the kobold, but the rest of the party convinced him not to. Kyle ended up using a smokestick to try rooting out the kobold, but when nothing happened, the party assumed the sorcerer had escaped to the surface, and just plugged the hole again to keep it from sneaking up behind them. A quick count of the sleeping mats in the barracks told them that at most, only one or two kobolds had evaded them.
In the chambers reserved for the kobold’s leader, they found a stack of twenty silver ingots under a pile of rags, as well as two unmarked vials. Kyle attempted to determine what they were, but without proper alchemical equipment he didn’t get far. The party agreed to donate a few of the ingots to the town to help them recover.
In another side chamber they found a shrine, which Kavan said was dedicated to Qin-Chu, the demigod of lies and deception. After a brief debate, the party decided that the picks and shovels of the miners would best deal with this evil god’s shrine once they’d finished their job. Autumn seemed disappointed that she couldn’t personally tear it down, but understood that her efforts were better placed elsewhere.
They proceeded down the hallway from which the failed goblin ambush had come, with Xu carefully gathering the net the kobolds had set up. They easily found the door through which the goblins had come, and inside a small room they found two things of interest; a set of stairs going down, and a lone goblin corpse, lying in the middle of the floor. There were no signs of injury on the goblin, but one hand was stretched out rigidly.
Ghurka went to examine the goblin, and to his surprise found that it was still alive, but apparently unable to move. Kavan noted a circular black patch of the palm of the goblin’s outstretched hand. Lanara and Osborn, who were the only ones who could speak the goblin tongue, tried to get information from the goblin using a simple method of ‘one blink for yes, two blinks for no’. However, after a few minutes it became clear that this was not a prize example of goblinoid intellect. All the rogue and bard were able to glean was that there were more goblins downstairs, and that the item that had poisoned him was in the same room. A quick check revealed that the doorknob for the room was coated with a contact poison, placed by the kobolds to prevent goblin raids. This particular goblin had apparently been the sacrificial lamb.
The group debated briefly over what to do with the goblin. “We could burn it,” offered Ghurka.
Autumn’s stare informed the group that she did not approve of that idea, evil creature or no. “Well, we could tie it up and take it back to town later,” said Lanara. “Let the townsfolk do what they want. Give it a trial, or whatever.”
“Trial?” said Kyle incredulously. “Let me tell you, I know exactly what they’ll do with this goblin. They’ll use what they call ‘frontier justice’. Namely, they’ll just cut its throat as soon as they get the chance.”
“Oh, well, then if that’s the case…” Ghurka pulled out a dagger, and before anyone could stop him, he opened the goblin’s throat from ear to ear. It kicked for only a few seconds before going still. Then, while everyone was still trying to figure out what had just happened, Ghurka proceeded to saw off the head entirely and shove it onto the doorknob of the room. Everyone gaped at the druid.
“What?” he asked, wiping blood off his dagger. “It’ll keep us from accidentally touching the poison on the knob later.”
“Ghurka,” said Lanara after a moment, “one of these days I’ll have to explain to you what a handkerchief is for.”
The students decided to continue on down to the goblin’s level before things became heated. Osborn proceeded down the stairs carefully, and stopped at a wooden door. Listening at the door, the hin indicated that he heard nothing.
The group crept slowly through the door. At first it seemed to open into a long hallway of sorts, but the echoes of their footsteps indicated that it was a much larger room than it appeared in the darkness. They realized that the wall to their left was actually a pile of rubble that went from floor to ceiling, blocking off their view of most of the room. The rubble seemed to end about forty feet ahead of them. Osborn and Rupert took the lead, watching for signs of goblins.
Just as they reached the end of the rubble, there was a loud rumble, and a pile of rough bricks fell from the ceiling. Rupert managed to jump out of the way, but Osborn was struck by a few of the bricks and was nearly knocked to the ground. As a cloud of dust rose from the pile, they heard a shrill voice call out in a strange language. The party didn’t need Lanara or Osborn to translate the alarm the goblins had just raised.
Moving forward as Osborn pulled back to drink his last potion, the party could barely make out two figures huddled behind a smaller pile of rocks nearby. The figures threw javelins at the party even as Kavan tossed a pebble he’d cast light upon earlier toward them. The javelins skittered off Arrie’s armor as the goblin sentries were brought into sharp focus by the light.
Most of the group pulled out missile weapons. Kavan did well, hitting one goblin with his longbow. Next to him Kyle also fired, but though accurate his bolt barely seemed to penetrate flesh. Ghurka enchanted a dart with his own light spell and threw it, missing a goblin but giving more light to his allies. Even Autumn tried to shoot at the goblins, but her arrows skittered harmlessly off the rock pile.
Arrie pulled out her orcish shotput, and with a mighty heave launched it at the closest goblin. Her aim was true, and the sickening crunch of bone echoed through the large room as the goblin’s brains spilled out of its skull. Just as Arrie was about to go retrieve her shotput, she saw a group of five more goblins running up. Grinning, she uncurled her spiked chain and waited for them to come.
Most of them never got the chance. Raising his arms, Kyle uttered words of arcane power, and beneath the feet of the largest group of goblins a layer of slick, fatty grease appeared. Three of the five goblins slipped and fell. The other two charged toward Arrie, receiving a lash with her spiked chain for their trouble.
Unfortunately for the goblins, they seemed unable to mount a capable defense. Another shot from Kavan’s bow felled the last of the two original sentries, while Kyle blinded the grease-covered ones with a flash pellet. Xu and Autumn moved up to help Arrie, but then Xu noticed two more figures approaching. These were much larger than the others, and carried longswords instead of morningstars. “Hobgoblins,” muttered Xu, and she quickly leapt over the rubble pile to meet this new threat head-on.
Kavan and Kyle contented themselves with firing on the greased goblins. While Kavan continued to do well, Kyle once again found his bolts barely effective. “Something must need tightening on this thing,” he said to himself, putting away his crossbow. He was about to prepare a spell when he saw Ghurka walk up calmly to the cluster of goblins, a flask of oil in hand. After dousing the pile of struggling goblins, Ghurka called upon his Talent, and suddenly his entire body was engulfed in flame*. Though the flames seemed not to hurt him, the same could not be said for the goblins, who squealed in pain. Two of them died instantly, while a third managed to extinguish the flames and ran for the far end of the room, disappearing in the darkness. Arrie picked up one of the nearby light stones and threw it all the way across the room, striking the far wall but not spotting the fleeing goblin. Kyle tried to do the same with his own light stone, but his aim was off, and the pebble bounced off Autumn’s helmet. Kyle looked at her sheepishly.
Nearby, Xu was keeping the hobgoblins busy, their two on one combat coming up a stalemate. But then one of the hobgoblins was struck by a beam of pure blackness shot from Kyle’s hand, and then Ghurka, who was still aflame, came running up toward them, the flames shooting out in all directions and scorching the hobgoblins. Enraged, one of them slashed at this new combatant, and the strike hit true. Blood spurted across the floor, and Ghurka fell, trying to hold his own entrails in place.
The others rushed in to finish off the hobgoblins. Kyle cast another negative energy ray at them, while Xu and Arrie pelted them from both sides. Kavan rushed to Ghurka and used the last of his divine power to stabilize the druid before he bled to death. In a few bloody moments, it was over.
The party rushed in unison toward the area the lone goblin had run, with Ghurka and Kavan trailing behind after pouring one of Ghurka’s healing potions down his throat. The group hoped to be able to catch any counter-attack before it had time to organize. As it turned out, no counter-attack was coming. The goblins’ numbers were far fewer than the kobolds, and only a handful were remaining. They were scattered about the remainder of the third level of the monastery, hiding, and were easily rooted out and eliminated. Another shrine to Qin-Chu was discovered, almost identical to the one in the kobold’s stronghold. Within the hobgoblin chieftains’ chambers they found yet another stack of silver ingots, as well as a few gems and platinum coins. The hobgoblins also held a store of healing potions, which were happily parceled out among the party. The entrance to the mine was found, and the reason for the interest of the goblins and kobolds became apparent; though the mines did hold a few meager veins of copper, they came upon new work that had revealed a rich vein of silver ore.
“Well, that explains where the ingots came from,” commented Lanara.
“I think we should go deliver the good news,” said Kyle.
The party returned to the surface and reached town just as dawn was breaking. They were greeted at the inn by Parthus, who had obviously waited up all night for them. “What news?” he asked hopefully.
“Well, we managed to eliminate about fifty or so, but there’s still a good couple of hundred left,” quipped Ghurka. As Parthus’ face went white, Kyle elbowed Ghurka sharply in the ribs, aggravating his wound.
“Our druid friend is making a joke,” said Lanara quickly. “We’ve cleared out the ruins and the mines for you.”
“That’s wonderful!” Parthus exclaimed.
“Yes, and we have both very good news, and slightly bad news,” said Arrie. “The slightly bad news is that you’ll probably have to hire some guards for your mine. The good news is that the reason you’ll need guards is that a vein of silver has been unearthed down there.”
“Silver?” gasped Parthus. “Truly? This is better than I could have expected! Our town will be back on its feet in no time at all! Oh, brave adventurers, how can I…”
Parthus’ words suddenly became very faint, and his features blurred. Soon the entire in was a haze of colors, which quickly melted away to reveal a very bare room. Shilsen, their instructor, was standing where Parthus had been just moments before.
“Congratulations,” he said. “You’ve all passed. Granted, it wasn’t perfect, but overall very well done for the most part. There were, however, some glaring issues.” Shilsen looked directly at Ghurka. “Baobab Ghurka, I will need to speak with you in my office privately.”
The druid looked up, his hand resting gently on the spot where he’d received the terrible wound in his gut. “That… hurt,” he said, mostly to himself. “I don’t think I want to do this any more.” With that, Ghurka turned and walked out the door without saying another word to anyone, including Shilsen.
“Well, it seems as though he’s already made a decision,” Shilsen commented.
“Hope he can find his way out,” said Lanara.
“Well, he can always burn his way out,” added Kyle.
“Students,” Shilsen interrupted, “if you’ll follow me, you can receive your rewards for completing this exam, and we can discuss the details of your scenario.”
They followed Shilsen back to the classroom they had started in. Arranged on the tables were seven wooden chests of various sizes. A neatly written sheet of parchment on the table in front of the chest identified who it belonged to. As the students entered the room, they saw an eighth chest being carried out the back by two large figures.
“You may claim the contents of your chest as a reward for a job well done. You will also receive time to rest and prepare for your next exam. You will be joined by another student in a day or two. You will, of course, still receive instruction in your individual professions as needed, but from this moment on you are expected to spend the majority of your time with your classmates. How you choose to spend that time is up to you – the Tower neither condones nor discourages any type of social activities among students. Just bear in mind that the normal school rules still apply, and that you are still expected to perform at your best during exams.”
The students looked around at each other, not quite sure what to make of the situation. Kyle was the first to react, walking over and standing next to Autumn.
“Well, I for one sure would like to get a chance to have an actual conversation with you after all this. Let me tell you about an old home remedy I learned from my pa to treat a case of sore throat…”
First of all, thanks to Parlan for being my first commenter. Always nice to have someone break the ice.
This installment was one of our first roleplay only sessions, mostly a 'getting to know you' scenario.
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Kyle yawned loudly as he walked down the hall toward class. Despite his enthusiasm yesterday for getting to know his new classmates, the effort was short-lived, as they’d all discovered that they were too exhausted from their ordeal to socialize. They’d gone their separate ways, promising each other they rendezvous another day. For Kyle, the rest had been short-lived; that evening he learned of a last-minute opening in the student alchemy lab, and decided to take advantage. Kyle had always found it difficult to schedule time in the lab, though he’d heard no similar complaints from his fellow students of wizardry.
Kyle pushed open the door to the classroom, and was slightly surprised to see the chamber was occupied. Sitting nearly dead center in the class was a large man with light brown hair, as broad as Kyle in the shoulder if not quite as tall. He wore a simple brown and gray tunic underneath a polished steel breastplate, and a marble disk carved with the likeness of a bear hung from his neck. The man regarded Kyle with bright blue eyes.
“Hello,” said the man. “My name is Tolly Nightsleaving.”
“Howdy, Tolly,” replied Kyle, shaking the hand that was offered. “Kyle Goodson. You must be the new guy we heard would be joining us.”
“Yes, I received the news yesterday afternoon that I was going to be advanced into Interdisciplinary Tactics a few months ahead of schedule. I must admit I’m not sure what to expect.”
“Aw, I’m sure you’ll fit in fine,” said Kyle. “Besides, the rest of us have only been together a day, so you don’t have much catching up to do.”
“A day?” Tolly frowned. “I was told I would be joining an advanced group.”
“Well,” Kyle shrugged, “I guess that’s technically true. It was quite a first day!”
“I see.” Tolly studied Kyle for a moment before speaking again. “So, you are a wizard, then?”
“Yup, sure am, believe it or not. I like it, though I wish they made clothes in my size.” Kyle strained his arms against the tight fabric of his yellow robes.
“Perhaps you should take up sewing,” commented Tolly.
“Well, how about you? I’d wager that you’re a priest of Ardara*.” Kyle gestured at the bear symbol around Tolly’s neck.
“Yes, in fact I was raised by the Church.”
“Huh. Well, we’ve already got an Eritan priest in our group, so you two should get along fine.”
“I look forward to meeting them. Do you have other skills besides wizardry?”
“Well, I’d been working as a carpenter and general handyman for the Tower for a while before I enrolled.”
Tolly nodded approvingly. “Carpentry is a worthwhile trade. I’m also a blacksmith by trade.”
“A smith, eh? That’s great. I’ve pounded the anvil a few times myself.” Kyle’s speech slowed as he uttered this last statement, as he became aware of the unintended double meaning. If Tolly recognized it, he showed no outward sign, and Kyle decided it was best to just press on rather than backtrack.
The potential awkwardness was broken when the door opened and Xu walked in, quietly taking a seat. Soon others followed; Kavan was next, and then Autumn and Arrie appeared just as the chimes rang to indicate the start of classes. Lanara had slipped in just behind the two sisters. As the chimes finished ringing, they realized that Osborn was there as well, having come in unobserved. Tolly introduced himself as he got the chance.
They waited quietly for the next minute, expecting their instructor Shilsen to appear. When he did not arrive, the students began to look at each other nervously. Then they heard a strange noise coming from the large wooden desk in the center of the room. Xu stood up to investigate, and she heard noise coming from one of the desk’s deep lower drawers. Cautiously, she used the end of her long pole to open the drawer.
Shilsen was inside, contorted into what seemed an impossibly small space. “Thank you,” he said to Xu, as he began to extricate himself from the tiny space.
“Showoff,” muttered Lanara to herself.
“Welcome, class,” Shilsen said as he finally stood up and slid the drawer closed. “I see that some of you have had a chance to meet Tolly Nightsleaving, your new classmate. The rest of you will have that opportunity later. For now, however…”
And thus began a grueling course of book study. They covered every conceivable subject, from history to religious theory to etiquette. Between this and their normal courses of study in their individual area of focus, the group barely had time to breathe, let alone spend any time together. Each of them looked forward to the upcoming Earthturning Festival**, when they would be given a break from class work.
Their patience paid off. After two weeks, Shilsen announced that all students enrolled in Interdisciplinary Tactics were to be given a full tenday off in addition to the two days of the Festival. Thus on the morning of the 25th of Lupan, the group found themselves standing outside the Tower for the first time in nearly two years, blinking in the bright sunlight. All around them they say the hustle and bustle of Trageon, the tri-leveled city that surrounded the Tower and served as the capital of the kingdom of Targeth. Only two of them were missing; Autumn had decided to spend her time off in prayer and meditation, while Osborn had excused himself, saying he had some “personal matters” to attend to. They’d also had to send Tolly back into the Tower to change clothes, convincing him that walking about in full armor would give off the wrong impression.
“Well, now what?” asked Kavan.
“Obviously, we explore the city,” said Arrie. “I have a few things I’d like to look into, and that’s where all the fun is going to be anyway.”
They all agreed on this plan, as each of them had things to buy or investigate.
“So,” asked Kyle, “do we split up, or stick together?”
“I say stick together,” said Arrie. Suddenly her face brightened. “Ooh! We should have dinner together!”
“Excellent,” said Lanara. “I’m looking forward to getting Tolly here drunk.”
Tolly looked confused. “Are we not going to spend the Holy Days sequestered in prayer and observance? I thought that was what one did during Earthturning.”
Lanara rolled her eyes. “Oh, honey, have we got a lot to teach you.”
“I know that I’d like to see the Upper City,” commented Kavan. They all cast their eyes upward to the floating upper level of Trageon, where the wealthiest citizens lived and did business. They saw the morning light reflecting off the inverted crystalline prism upon which the Upper City sat. At mid-day, the light from the sun would filter down through the city and into the prism, sending rainbows of light down to the surface so that the main city would not be obscured in their shadow. Only the Undercity, far under their feet, remained in perpetual gloom.
“I dunno,” said Kyle, scratching his head, “I’m just in the market for some good tools. The Upper City looks… pricey.”
“Hey, we can do our shopping down here another day,” said Arrie. “After all, we have twelve days. We’re just going up to look around.”
Eventually they agreed on a plan, and a few minutes later were on a transport platform headed for Upper Trageon. They spent a few hours browsing the high-priced shops; Kyle looked wistfully at a business specializing in magical goods, while Lanara studied high-quality instruments. As the sun came close to dipping below the edge of the Upper City, they decided it was time to get their meal. After asking around a bit, they were referred to a ‘restaurant’ – an odd type of business that was like an inn, but without rooms to rent, only food. The group gathered in front of the cozy, elegant building – a sign out front read “Gio’s”.
Everyone had brought along their best clothes for the occasion, and had changed into them before arriving. They sat in the lobby of Gio’s for about fifteen minutes or so before being escorted to a large, oval-shaped table. Glittering silver candelabras decorated the center of the table, surrounded by fresh flowers. Somewhere in the background, an unseen harpist could be heard playing soft, comforting music. Each person at the table was handed something called a ‘menu’ – a very thin book listing the dozens of dishes and spirits served by the restaurant. It was a bit unsettling for those who were used to more common inns and taverns, where the selection for a given evening could usually be counted easily on the fingers of one hand.
“You know,” commented Kyle, looking down the listings, “I know that this is written in Common, but it still doesn’t make sense.”
A well-dressed servant came by and took drink orders. Kavan ordered a bottle of Fire Wine, while Arrie opted for a more refined elven wine. Lanara’s only criteria for a beverage was that it be ‘something blue’; however, after receiving a sapphire blue concoction that had the taste and aroma of spring water, her next request was for something with ‘a bit more character’. The servant also had them place their food orders. Tolly, wanting to try something different, ordered elven cuisine; Kaven in contrast, wanted something bold and spicy, and ended up with an orcish dish. Xu ordered a vegetarian dish to go with her tea, while Kyle ended up pointing at the menu at an essentially random selection. Lanara ordered seafood, and Arrie chose a dish inspired by the four elements.
“So anyway,” said Kyle, as they sat around enjoying their drinks, “I had a question for you, Arrie.” He continued when Arrie’s gaze met his. “A few weeks ago, during our first exam, I remember making a comment to you that you seemed to be some sort of nobility, because of the etching that was done on your armor. Now, it seems to me that you weren’t too comfortable with that comment. Did I get it wrong?”
“Well, no,” she said. “It’s true that my family does have land and titles. But I came to the Tower of my own free will, and I don’t want anyone to think that I’m here because Daddy sent me to get a piece of paper telling everyone I’m smart.”
Each of them nodded in understanding. The Tower did not cater exclusively to adventurers; wealthy families sending their heirs off to get training in etiquette, heraldry, diplomacy, and other ‘noble’ pursuits generated most of its business. Each of them had had multiple run-ins with young, arrogant men and women in silk blouses who acted as if they personally owned the Tower and everything in it.
“Yeah, I can understand that.” Kyle grinned at her. “Well, if it means anything, I sure think you’ve proven you have what it takes.”
Arrie nodded at the compliment. “So, what about you, Kyle? You spend so much time asking everyone else about themselves, I don’t know much about you.”
“Ah, well, that comes from my Pa. He always told me the best way to start a conversation is to ask people to talk about themselves, ‘cause it’s the one topic most folks are best at.”
“Was your father a wizard too, or a carpenter?” asked Tolly.
“Farmer, actually. My folks raised two things well; barley and kids. I have four siblings, two on each side of me age-wise. Well, things were good until about the time I turned eleven. That was when Ma caught the fever and passed on. That same year was the big drought, and Pa lost the crop. He couldn’t manage the farm with five mouths to feed, so he sold the land and became a sharecropper. He sent all us kids off – the young’uns he sent to live with old relatives, and me and my older brother and sister were apprenticed. I went to work for a carpenter, and that’s where I learned my trade. After a few years, I left Master Silas and came here to Trageon. I got myself hired as a laborer in the Tower, but then a couple of years later I discovered I had what the instructors here called ‘magical aptitude’. So I took out a loan for tuition, and here I am.”
“Any idea where your father is, or your siblings?” asked Kavan.
Kyle shook his head. “It’s been years since I’ve seen them. Pa did what he had to do to make sure we all survived.”
“I hope you find your family again someday, Kyle,” said Tolly.
“Speaking of family,” Kyle replied, “I thought you mentioned that you were raised by the church of Ardara? What’s your story?”
“There is little to tell,” Tolly said quietly. “I was found on the doorstep of the church as a young child. I was fostered by the Church, and raised in their tradition. Becoming a priest was a natural progression for me. I have spent little time outside the Church, and have known few people besides Ardara’s priests and her dwarven patrons. Thus it was felt that I would benefit from an education at the Tower, in order to give me… experience.”
“Probably a good thing,” commented Lanara. “I can’t imagine a life locked up in a temple worshipping rocks.”
Tolly’s response was interrupted by the arrival of their meals. Distracted by the delicious smells, they ate quietly for several minutes. Kyle wasn’t sure what he’d received, but noticed that Lanara had the same thing, so assumed it was seafood of some sort. Whatever it was, he decided, it was delicious.
“So, Kavan,” said Kyle between bites, “you have a story to tell? What made you end up here?”
Kavan was silent for a minute before answering. “I don’t think I’m ready to discuss my past with all of you yet,” he said. “Suffice it to say I have done things I regret, and I am trying to live a better life in service to Erito. Coming here to the Tower is a part of that.” Kavan smiled slightly. “Don’t worry, friends. I know that secrets and half-truths are no way to win trust. When I am ready, I will share my story with you.”
“Fair enough,” answered Kyle.
“Thank you,” Kaven looked across the table at Xu, who was quietly eating crispy vegetables in sauce. “Though maybe it’s unfair to keep my own past shrouded in mystery and then ask another to reveal theirs, I find myself curious to know about Xu.”
Xu gently put her utensils aside before speaking. “My tale is a simple one,” she began. “My parents are merchants from a land far from here, and like many merchants they wished to rise to a better station in life. Thus I was betrothed to a nobleman. Upon meeting him for the first time, I knew I could not marry him; his wealth was the only quality he possessed of any merit. I wished to marry for love, not status. So I ran from my family and this noble, and was taken in by an order of monks. They taught me their ways, their philosophies. Upon leaving the monastery, I came to this city to educate myself in the local ways, and in the hope that my family and my intended fiancé would never find me.”
Everyone at the table nodded in sympathy. “It’s a terrible thing to be forced to into such a position when there is no love,” Kavan said, his eyes strangely distant.
Almost in unison, everyone turned to look at Lanara, who was the only one who hadn’t spoken yet. She looked back at them, a few loose tentacles dangling from her lips. She slurped them up and grinned.
“Oh, my story’s not that interesting,” she said, still chewing. “You’ll hear it soon enough, I’m sure.” Suddenly she pointed at the doorway. “Ooh, look! Dessert!”
Lanara’s tale was forgotten as the dessert cart came around. Several minutes later, over plates of pastries and custards, the conversation turned to plans for the following days. At one point a glittering ring on Arrie’s finger caught Kavan’s eye, and he commented on it.
“Thank you,” she replied, without offering further explanation.
Kavan was about to press the issue, when he felt a strange touch on his back just below the neckline. He looked up to see someone behind him.
“Good evening, Kavan,” said the stranger. The others looked up to see a dark, slickly attractive stranger standing behind their elven friend. Looks of puzzlement and curiosity crossed the faces of much of the party as they looked upon the stunning and androgynous being standing before them. Kavan held this look as well, although it was not the first time this being had crossed his sight. The stranger, dressed in elegant green robes that shimmered like scales moving across the water, wore a symbol of a serpent about the neck. A few of the party recognized the pendant as a symbol of Qin-Chu, remembering the symbol from their first exam a few weeks ago.
The stranger’s eyes had not moved from Kavan. “It is quite a pleasure to see you again,” the stranger said, still holding the stare.
Kavan, his face turning instantly red, replied coldly – but unconvincingly – “Perhaps a pleasure for you.”
“My! What manners! Don’t they teach you etiquette?” The stranger finally broke the stare, looking around the table at Kavan’s companions. “Then again, it looks like they’ll let just about anyone in there, won’t they?” he said, flashing them a sweet smile that didn’t quite reach the eyes. “Well, have fun, then!” The stranger looked back down at Kavan, who was now slightly shaking, “and I’ll see you later.”
“Not if grace finds itself my way,” muttered Kavan, as he watched the dark being walk away. The being looked back a couple of times, catching Kavan as he quickly tried to look away and go unnoticed.
Kyle’s eyes followed the stranger’s progress as well. “Is… that… a ‘friend’ of yours?” he asked.
“I wouldn’t say a friend, dear Kyle,” replied Kavan, as he firmly patted Kyle’s shoulder, attempting to avert Kyle’s gaze without showing any jealousy or desire for the stranger.
While the tension of the situation was alleviated by the arrival of the bill, Kavan would remain transfixed, thoughts about the stranger swarming. He would need to seek counsel about this entity, as it was pulling him back to old patterns of thought, dangerous patterns of thought. Kavan was not sure that he was strong enough yet to resist such a delicious temptation.
So delicious.
Arrie scooped up the parchment that listed their bill and looked it over. “Not bad,” she said. “Only two hundred thirty gold. Well, since this was my idea, I’ll cover half.” She brought out a small pouch and began counting out coins.
The rest of the table nodded approvingly and began doing the same. Unseen by the others, Kyle was growing pale. Two hundred and thirty gold coins on one meal? He’d had no idea it would be that expensive; the menu had not listed prices. That was a year’s income on his parent’s farm. Kyle looked sheepishly at his coin purse. He’d received a share of the treasure from the first exam like everyone else, but he’d very carefully set aside the majority of it to buy a few good sets of tools. He didn’t have nearly enough left to cover his share of dinner, let alone have any money left for the rest of the vacation. He started to consider what purchases he could do without.
Kavan caught him looking into his coin purse. “What’s the matter, Kyle? Someone swipe your money before you left?”
“Um, err… no…”
Kavan smiled at him. “You didn’t bring enough, did you?”
“Well, um…”
Kavan waved at him dismissively. “I’ll cover you, Kyle. I’ve had times myself where I didn’t bring as much coin as I should have.”
Kyle’s face reddened. “Um, thanks, Kavan.” He was too embarrassed to point out the flaw in Kavan’s assumption.
With the bill taken care of, the party went out into the streets. However, they found that Upper Trageon after dark was… dull. Almost all the businesses were closed, and the residents had retreated to their manses for private celebrations of the upcoming festival. Thus they decided to drop back down to the main city, and made their way to the Temple District. Lanara had suggested it, saying that Tolly needed to see how other religions besides Ardara observed Earthturning. Not surprisingly, the cansin led them to the temple of Feesha, goddess of chaos***, and Ladta, goddess of good fortune, where the celebrations were decidedly more… liberal.
The next afternoon, the party gathered to begin their shopping. Many of them had bought a room in the city, although Tolly had stayed at the Temple of Ardara and Kyle had insisted on sleeping back in his room at the Tower. After meeting for a quick breakfast, the party spent their day going back and forth among the shops of Trageon, either as a large group or in smaller clusters. Kavan inquired into the possibility of enchanting his longsword to create flame, but soon learned that such an enchantment was well beyond his means. Others looked into more reasonable items; Kyle acquired his tools with the help of Tolly, Arrie did some investigation into makers of exotic weaponry, and Lanara priced new instruments.
Late in the day, Kyle sought out Kavan. “I have something for you,” he said, presenting a small package to the elf.
Kavan unwrapped the brown paper to reveal a beaten copper vial. “What is it?”
“Bladefire,” Kyle said. “An alchemical liquid similar to alchemist’s fire. You can coat a weapon with it and it will burn. It only lasts a short time, and it’s not quite as potent as a magical flaming sword, but it’ll do the trick until you can get the real thing.”
Kavan turned the vial over in his hand. “Thank you.”
Kyle smiled. “Thanks for dinner.”
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* Ardara is the goddess of Earth, Law, and the patron deity of the dwarves. She is one of a quartet of primary deities known as The Four, which are the world's primary deities under Erito.
** Earthturning is one of five mahor festivals in Aelfenn, dedicated to Ardara (somewhat appropriate, since we had just acquired an Ardaran priest). As it falls in the spring, Earthturning is primarily a planting/fertility celebration.
*** As a side note, Feesha is one of The Four as well, and in addition to being the patron of Chaos, she is the goddess of Air and the patron of the Hin.
Very well done! I just wanted to be the second to say that I'm enjoying the gameplay, the characters, their interactions, the gaming world, and even the set-up. I admit that I was a little leary at first (and tend to stay away from the somewhat cliche opening set-ups) but I was definately wrong this time around. Also, the writing is smooth and easy to follow.
One question: how far ahead in terms of game time and level is the group currently?
Very well done! I just wanted to be the second to say that I'm enjoying the gameplay, the characters, their interactions, the gaming world, and even the set-up. I admit that I was a little leary at first (and tend to stay away from the somewhat cliche opening set-ups) but I was definately wrong this time around. Also, the writing is smooth and easy to follow.
One question: how far ahead in terms of game time and level is the group currently?
Admittedly, even I was a little leery when our DM said that he'd be using the school - like you, I've seen it done poorly. I think what he did right in this case was remembering that the school was merely a pretext to get our group together, and didn't keep us there too long. I usually see the school concept overdone in the sense that the PCs stay there far too long, and the players quickly get bored of everything being a 'test' and not really involving any risk or real change.
I appreciate the comment on the writing - one of my primary motivators is improving my style. I'm hoping that the characters and interactions will only improve as I go, as it's one of the things I'm working on. One of the problems with writing a Story Hour as a player is the strong tendency to overemphasize your own character - after all, that's the one you're most familiar with. My goal is to make all the PC's seem like they get their time in the spotlight, and not to make the story turn into "Kyle and his Amazing Friends".
We're about 5-6 months ahead of this point in game time, and currently we're about midway through 6th level. The DM promises that his metaplot will sustain us through 20th level and beyond. I wanted to build up a sizeable lead between my postings here and the actual game, not only to give myself a buffer but also to allow me to continue posting updates regularly even if our group skips a week or two.
The spring festival came and went all too quickly, and the students found themselves trudging slowly back to the Tower to resume their studies. Shilsen started with another week of book study, and then switched gears unexpectedly. He told the students to come to one of the simulation rooms with all their gear, and for the next week put them through endurance training, having them travel from dawn to dusk in a variety of simulated terrains.
On the evening of the fifth day, as the group sat around soaking their feet in a small mountain stream, Shilsen suddenly walked out from behind a large elm tree.
“I’m here to inform you that your next exam will be held tomorrow,” he said. “Tomorrow evening, at the end of your day’s march,” Shilsen paused long enough to let them groan at the thought of another day of hiking, “you will come into a small town. You are to go to the inn there, and your next scenario will begin there.”
“Excuse me, sir,” asked Tolly, raising his hand, “but what is the purpose of beginning the exam after the endurance training?”
Shilsen almost smiled. “One of the facts noted during this group’s first exam was that despite the fact that the scenario began at dusk, and it had been implied during the exam that the group had been traveling from a considerable distance, the group immediately launched into activity. While such initiative must be commended, it was felt that fatigue would have to be added in as a factor in order to give the students the opportunity to see how it might affect their decision making.”
The next day they group gathered at the simulation chamber, and as it faded into a worn dirt road cutting through a sparse forest, they began walking. They were surprised to see that today Osborn had been allowed to bring his dog, Rupert, which eased the hin’s burden considerably. Arrie was leading a large white horse, which she called ‘Ghost’, and had filled its saddlebags with extra equipment.
As they walked, Tolly kept his eyes open, trying to get a sense of how the party members related. He saw that Autumn and Arrie stuck close together, conversing in low voices. He couldn’t help but admire the workmanship on Autumn’s full plate armor, which had apparently been a reward she’d earned after the first exam. She’d been a bit awkward in it at first, but quickly adapted.
These two, however, seemed to be the only ones that engaged in any consistent conversation. The others milled about, occasionally asking questions or commenting on a bit of passing scenery, but little else. Tolly saw that Arrie would occasionally speak with other group members, but Autumn was less likely to do so. Lanara had developed the habit of playing what she called “traveling music” on her flute, the mellow tones of the simple reed instrument echoing through the hills. While he couldn’t deny that the tunes were pleasant, they also kept the cansin from conversing much. Osborn seemed far more connected to his riding dog than anyone else, but opportunity for conversation was limited in that relationship. Xu was quiet as well, but seemed to be at ease with this, contenting herself with observing the world around her. The elf Kavan was strangely unreadable, making it difficult to tell how he related to the others. Kyle seemed the most uncomfortable at the lack of communication, but also seemed to be at a loss on what to do about it. Tolly assumed that this lack of communication and camaraderie was due to the group’s relatively short time together as well as underlying tension regarding the upcoming exam. Nevertheless, Tolly had trouble relating to this phenomenon. He’d never had difficulty in finding common interest among his brethren at the Church. Perhaps the lack of a common faith was the missing ingredient. Tolly mulled this over as a topic for future discussion.
Just as the afternoon sun touched the tops of the trees, the group came upon a cluster of small buildings on the bank of a small river. A large, dagger-shaped stone outcropping jutted from the center of the river. They guessed that the town was occupied no more than three hundred souls at best. Beyond the town they saw several fields stretching out into the hills, freshly furrowed after the recent spring planting. At the near edge of town, they saw a large, two-storied building whose windows glowed with firelight. The party moved into town, assuming this building was their destination. Just outside of town, a wooden sign read “Welcome to Dagger Rock”.
The party proceeded toward the large building. They began to hear the shouts of laughter and merrymaking from several yards away. A wooden sign above the door read “The Happy Half-Ogre” and just below it, the phrase “Touched welcome”. There had been a crude attempt to carve the letters “UN” just before the word ‘welcome’, but it had been mostly obscured. The party looked at one another, then walked in.
They were immediately greeted by the sight of a glowering, eight-foot tall figure at the door. The massive brute had flame-yellow hair, and dark eyes. The brute regarded the group coldly for a minute, then broke into a wide grin, showing teeth as yellow as his hair.
“Welcome to the Happy Half-Ogre,” he said. “Name’s Grog, the owner of this fine establishment. Sorry about that bit before, but we needs to keep out the riff-raff, ‘specially those adventurer types.” Grog guffawed loudly, slapping a meaty hand against his thigh. “Ah, I’m just havin’ fun with ye! Everyone’s welcome here. There’s still a table or two at the back, the music’s lively, the food’s hot, and the mugs are as bottomless as yer coin purse.”
The group shuffled through the crowded inn, finding a circular table in the far corner. The building looked capable of holding nearly a hundred people at a time, and it seemed as though that many were in here. As they moved past the locals, they saw with some surprise that a table full of orcs sat at another corner, huddled over drinks*. Kavan eyed the group suspiciously, inspecting their gleaming scimitars and wondering what sinister surprises lay within the folds of their white desert robes.
A few minutes after settling in, a tired but still friendly-looking serving girl made her way to the table. “Good evening, my name’s Mary,” said the human woman. “I’ll be happy to take your orders now. Fair warning, we’re fairly busy tonight, so it may take me a while to get back to you. I’d recommend ordering a lot now.” She gave Tolly a sly wink, to which he did not react.
“Bring meals for everyone, as well as dwarven ale,” said Autumn unexpectedly, tossing Mary a small sack of coins.
“Tea for me,” interrupted Xu, “and no meat, if you please.”
“I’ll see what I can do,” Mary said. “Anything else?”
Autumn turned to her sister. “Ariadne, do you require anything else?”
Mary left as soon as Arrie shook her head ‘no’. It took a moment for the rest of them to wrap their heads around the name ‘Ariadne’, as they’d never heard her full name used before. Autumn stood up as soon as Mary left.
“I will go see Grog about getting rooms,” she said, walking away.
Kavan stood up as well. “I’m going to go see if I can hear what those orcs are discussing. Something about them makes me nervous.” He crossed through the busy room and took up a position near the orc’s table, trying to look as if he were watching the stage. A young, pretty elven woman was singing and dancing up there, accompanied by the shouts of the inn’s patrons. The girl had a fair amount of talent, though much of the crowd’s reaction was probably based on the fact that her dancing could best be described as ‘bouncy’ and her clothing did little to hide that.
Autumn returned to the table and announced that she’d acquired a common room for them to sleep in. “I have also obtained a separate room for you, milady,” she said, nodding to Arrie. Again, the others looked at each other uncertainly. While this would be the first time they had had to make sleeping arrangements as a group, and so really couldn’t say that Arrie having her own separate room was unusual, it didn’t seem to fit the exotic warrior’s demeanor. For her part, Arrie said nothing either way.
Most of the group ended up wandering around in the Happy Half-Ogre while waiting for their food to arrive. Tolly and Osborn went to examine an enormous double-headed battleaxe hanging over the bar, flanked by two equally large shields.
“Think they belong to Grog?” Osborn asked.
Tolly shook his head. “Far too large, even for him. There are runes carved on the weapon, but I don’t recognize them.”
Osborn squinted at the faint lines. “I think I’ve seen similar writing before,” the hin said. “Giantish – probably a frost giant dialect. No idea what it says, thought it’s probably just the name of the weapon; ‘Icepick’ or something like that.”
Kavan spent several minutes trying to eavesdrop on the orcs, but after a few minutes they seemed to quiet down, as if they knew they were being observed. Sullenly, Kavan went back to the table to sit. Lanara, meanwhile, had gone to speak with the elven performer, whose name was Salae, and ask permission to play for a short while. Salae agreed, and Lanara ended up playing twice that evening for the rowdy crowd.
Kyle attempted to engage Autumn in conversation. “So, anyway, thanks for getting the food and rooms.”
“You’re welcome,” she replied. “It was surprisingly inexpensive, really. Grog’s prices are much lower than most places like this I’ve been to.”
“Well, I’m sorry you missed us during Earthturning. We had a good time that first night.” Kyle took a long draw from his mug. Mary had brought several tankards over in order to keep the table happy, and with most of their companions wandering about, there were plenty for the taking. “We all had a good talk.” He blinked, then leaned in closer to the sentinel. “So, how come you came to the school?”
“I follow my lady,” Autumn replied.
“Yeah, but you’re enrolled in the classes too. So you must have something personal you’re after from the Tower.”
She paused before answering. “I seek… experience.”
Kyle blinked again, then shrugged. “Okay, then. So, what exactly is a sentinel? I’ve heard you’re kind of like a paladin, but different.”
“Yes, that is fairly accurate. My order devotes itself to combating outsiders, specifically demons and devils.”
“Well, I’ve never met a demon or a devil before, but I’m sure they need fighting,” Kyle said. “So, you get much of a chance to smite demons following your sister around?”
Autumn smiled slightly. “My sister is very adventurous.”
By this time Tolly and Osborn had returned to the table. Kyle’s attention had been diverted by Lanara’s performance. Tolly looked over at Autumn, and smiled sympathetically. “He did the same thing to all of us the other night,” the priest explained.
The others migrated back to the table as the food finally arrived. Lanara descended from the stage to shouts and applause. Her performance was praised by all her companions.
“Ah, it wasn’t my best work,” she said. “Just a little diversion from the local favorite.”
“Nonsense,” said Kyle loudly. “I thought you were much better than that other woman. You’re dancing was bouncier.” Kyle stopped himself short, looking straight at the cansin bard. He looked down into the mug in his hands, then back at Lanara. “Okay, I think I’ve had enough ale,” he said quietly. Lanara tried to look offended, but cracked a smile when Kyle looked away.
They ate with gusto, not realizing how famished they were after a day’s long journey. The meal was only interrupted once, when a young man who’d snuck in for a few free ales got drunk and nearly fell from the second-story balcony. He was rescued by the bouncer, a Fire-Touched man with wild flame-colored hair and coal-black skin named Fist, who sent the inebriated lad off to wash dishes with Matilda, the cook, who was an orc.
“I’ve noticed that a lot of Grog’s help seems to be made up of orcs and Fire-Touched,” commented Osborn. “Except for the serving girls and that bard Salae.”
“Maybe that explains the presence of those orcs in the corner,” said Arrie.
“Or maybe more,” said Lanara. “While I was working the crowd before my first performance, I heard some of the graybeards talking. Apparently there’s been a crime wave in the town – burglaries and muggings, mostly –and it seems some are putting the blame on Grog’s crew.”
“Odd,” said Autumn, “Grog seems a decent sort, despite his heritage**.”
“Yeah, worst he’s done is sell good ale cheap,” said Kyle.
“Well, that may be the problem,” commented Osborn. “Turns out there are two taverns in this little town. Grog’s only been around for a year or so. Before that some guy named Yuri had the only game in town. Sounds like it was never the best place to begin with – you paid a little too much silver for your ale-flavored water, if you know what I mean – and with Grog selling everything extremely cheap, Yuri’s not doing so well. Sounds like motivation for framing someone with a fake crime spree to me.”
“Or, Grog’s prices could be low because his criminal activities are profitable enough to make up for the loss,” Tolly added. “We should not jump to conclusions.”
“Well, someone should look into it,” said Kyle. “Maybe we could do some checking around while we wait for our exam to begin.” When he noticed the stares, Kyle thought for a moment, then looked back down at his mug, shaking his head as he realized his mistake. “Okay, I really need to stop drinking ale.”
---------------------
* It should be noted that orcs in this campaign are considered a humanoid race just like elves and dwarves, and not just rampaging monsters to kill. Orcs in Aelfenn have a nomadic desert culture. However, they are still generally evil in nature, as their patron deity is Grabâkh, god of evil and fire (he is also one of The Four). Thus their presence in and of itself in the tavern would not be cause for alarm, though it would usually raise the kind of suspicion that Kavan is experiencing here.
** Grog, like a few of his staff, is a Fire-Touched, a being with some trace of ancestry from an elemental outsider. Because the element of fire is associated with Grabâkh, Fire-Touched tend toward evil, and thus generate the same levels of suspicion as orcs.
A couple of hours later the group retired for the night. Most of the group bunked together in a large room with several bunk beds, a large table, and several chairs, obviously meant to cater to adventuring groups. Autumn and Arrie went to a separate room, right next to the large room. After a bit of awkwardness in deciding on sleeping arrangements, the group settled down for a long sleep.
Their slumber was short-lived. Osborn had decided to go out to take a walk around the Happy Half-Ogre that evening, to see if there was anything unusual going on. As he came around the corner, he smelled the pungent odor of burning straw, and saw a flickering orange light coming from the stables. He quickly ran up and saw the building was aflame. Inside, terrified horses screamed, and Rupert was barking wildly. Osborn dimly made out a figure inside, trying to pull one of the horses out. The hin whistled, and Rupert came dashing out of the burning stables just as the figure managed to pull a horse out. Osborn saw that it was one of the orcs from the inn. The orc had been surprisingly adept at handling the spooked animal. The orc spotted Osborn, and quickly gestured – making a motion near his own throat, then pointing at the inn. Osborn understood the pantomimed message immediately; I’m mute, you go tell the others.
Osborn dashed into the inn, “Fire! Fire!”
A bleary-eyed Matilda emerged from the kitchen door. “What you going on about, little one!”
“Fire! In the stables!”
Matilda snapped awake, and immediately began bellowing. Grog and his other staff soon came barreling down the stairs. Osborn, meanwhile, had dashed up to his companions to rouse them. All of them went down to help, except for Lanara, who wouldn’t wake up, and Autumn, who chose to remain back and watch over their belongings.
The party arrived and began to help form a bucket brigade from the river. By this time other townspeople had begun to gather, and were standing around watching. The party noticed with disgust that most of them were not helping. Despite this, they managed to get the blaze under control with relatively little damage and minimal injury to the horses.
Osborn caught sight of the mute orc, whose name he’d caught as ‘Shod’ while fighting the fire, tending to one of the horses. The orc passed his hands over the horse’s flank, and the burn wounds seemed to shrink and disappear of their own accord. There’s more to Shod than he lets on, thought Osborn to himself.
Several of the party had started poking around the stable once the smoke cleared. “This fire was deliberately set,” said Tolly.
“Don’t suppose Ghurka followed us, do you?” asked Arrie.
“Look here,” said Kavan, pointing at a spot on the ground. They gathered around a clear footprint in the earth, a boot mark left by someone with small feet. The print was close to the stable, heading away toward the river.
“There was no one over here fighting the fire,” said Kavan. “I think this is our arsonist.”
“Should we follow the trail?” asked Xu.
“In the middle of the night, in unfamiliar country, with only one print to guide us?” asked Kyle. “Sounds like an invitation to get lost.”
“Or worse,” said Osborn. “Besides, we’re still tired from our march, and in no condition to chase this person.”
By this time the head of the town watch had arrived, a man named Captain Bearclaw. As he approached the scene, several of the party noted that he bore a strong resemblance to Mary, one of Grog’s serving girls. He examined the burnt stables, spoke with Grog and a few others briefly, then came over to the party.
“I understand you found something of interest,” said Captain Bearclaw. He knelt down to examine the boot print, then walked slowly in a crouch in an attempt to follow the trail. “There are a few more boot prints further on, but they start to get obscured after a few yards.” He sighed and straightened up.
“Captain,” Tolly said, “we’ve been hearing rumors about recent criminal activity in your town, and that some suspect Grog and his employees. What are your thoughts on this?”
Captain Bearclaw regarded Tolly and the others. “Grog is a decent person, and I don’t believe for a minute he’s guilty. Unfortunately, I have no proof either way, and most folks” - he jerked his head back to indicate the crowd of townspeople, who were still watching impassively, “have already made up their minds.”
“They honestly believe that Grog would burn down his own stables?” asked Arrie.
“Sure would,” said the captain. “They’ll say he’s just trying to distract the town, or build up sympathy. Some will probably say he was destroying evidence before the meeting.”
Tolly’s eyebrows arched in curiosity. “Meeting? What meeting?”
“Town council’s meeting in six days to ‘resolve’ the issue with Grog.”
“So, like a trial, then?”
Captain Bearclaw shook his head. “Not so much. They’ll just decide whether or not Grog can stay in town or not. That way you don’t have to fuss with things like a trial, or evidence.” The captain shook his head sadly. “Look, folks, I’m going to go send these people off home. Why don’t you get some rest?”
The party went back upstairs to their room and went back to sleep. The next morning, there was a knock at Autumn and Arrie’s door; the kind of knock that was made by a very large person trying to be gentle. Autumn opened the door cautiously, he sword ready behind the door. Grog’s faced peeked through the crack.
“Begging your pardon, ladies,” he said. “But I wanted to invite you and your friends to breakfast – on the house, to thank you for your help last night. And I wanted to talk to you about a private matter.”
“We will join you shortly,” Autumn said. She closed the door, and then finished getting dressed. She sat down on the edge of Arrie’s bed, and began massaging the small of her back gently to wake her sister.
“Ooh, that feels good,” Arrie moaned, sore from their days of long marches. “Don’t stop.”
After a minute or so, Autumn stood up and left to let Arrie change while she went to wake up the others. She opened the door to find that Kavan was already awake, as were Xu and Lanara. Osborn and Tolly were sound asleep. Kyle was also awake, but still lying in bed with the blanket over his head.
“We’ve been invited to breakfast,” said Autumn. “Grog wishes to talk to us.”
“Great! I’m starved.” Lanara dove under her blanket, one hand reaching out and grabbing her clothes from the floor. After a moment of frantic movement under the covers, Lanara emerged fully dressed.
“Shall I wake the others?” asked Xu.
“They will wake up and join us soon enough,” said Autumn. She held the door open while Kavan, Xu, and Lanara walked out. Then she looked back and saw that Kyle hadn’t moved. “Kyle? Are you coming?”
Kyle’s head poked out from the blankets. His face seemed unusually flush, and he was having trouble making eye contact with Autumn. “Umm… I’ll be down in a couple of minutes.”
“Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. I just… need a minute, okay?”
Shrugging, Autumn closed the door. Kyle sighed heavily and fell back into bed. His bunk was on the wall closest to Arrie and Autumn’s room, and he’d been awakened when Grog had knocked. He’d continued to listen, and had overheard Autumn waking her sister. Unfortunately, the effects of a night of excessive drinking had caused his imagination to wander, and both Autumn and Arrie were attractive women. When Autumn had come into their shared room, he’d caught himself in the midst of some very unprofessional thoughts about his fellow classmates. Kyle wasn’t certain he’d be able to look either of them in the eye for the rest of the day.
“I swear, I’ve got to be careful around dwarven ale,” he muttered to himself.
* * *
“So, anyway, there’s my situation,” Grog said.
They’d finished off their breakfast some time ago. Kyle, Osborn, and Tolly had joined the others only a few minutes late, and had eaten heartily after last night’s excitement. Then Grog had invited them back to his personal room in the back, a spacious room with an enormous bed and a dire wolf pelt rug on the floor.
Grog had explained how he and his fellow adventuring companions had retired here at Dagger Rock after making their fortunes. The Happy Half-Ogre was Grog’s dream, and he’d come here on the recommendation of Captain Bearclaw, who was himself a former adventurer who’d worked with Grog briefly in the past. Things had been fine until recently, when the muggings and break-ins began. Now the people of town blamed Grog, since his inn was open to anyone and he charged less than cost for his wares.
“I don’t need the money,” he explained. “I’d rather use it to run a place where everyone can feel welcome.” Grog looked forlornly across the room. “I don’t know what I’d do without it.”
“You think that Yuri’s behind this?” asked Osborn.
Grog shrugged. “Maybe. He’s never liked me for opening up competition. Not that his place would be much competition, even if I did charge full price.”
“What about this meeting?” asked Arrie.
“Well, it’s in six days. Unless I can prove I’m not behind the crimes being committed, I think they’ll vote to shut me down and run us all out of town.”
“Who’s on the council?” asked Kyle.
“Well, there’s Captain Bearclaw…” Grog said.
“Hey!” exclaimed Lanara, “there’s one on your side!”
“…and Yuri…”
Her face fell. “Never mind.”
“… then there’s Barak, and the town smith Logan Ironhand, and of course the mayor, Winston Jacob.”
“Have you tried looking into this yourself?” asked Tolly.
Grog shook his head. “Been too busy to spare the time. Besides, me and my mates sort of stand out,” he ran a thick hand through his flame-yellow hair, “and I don’t think we’d get far. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’d like to ask you to look into this, see if you can find out who’s behind this crime wave. If you can find something out before the meeting in six days, I can reward you for your time.”
“Starting with free room and board?” asked Osborn hopefully. He dodged an elbow from Autumn.
Grog grinned at the comment, however. “Smart little man. Always start with the free room and board; that was the first thing me and my mates learned in our day.”
The party emerged from the Happy Half-Ogre into the morning sunlight. The sun was most of the way over the eastern mountains, and the forest at the edge of town threw long, jagged shadows across the newly plowed fields. They could hear the wheel of the mill churning off to the west. The group turned and began walking up the main road of Dagger Rock.
Soon they arrived at the door of one of the few stone buildings in town; Bearclaw Manor. Grog had suggested speaking with him first this morning. After knocking, the door opened and a young lad of perhaps fourteen answered. He led them into a small foyer to wait. Five minutes later, Captain Sidon Bearclaw came down to greet them.
“Good morning,” said Captain Bearclaw, “have you had breakfast?” When they indicated that Grog had already prepared breakfast, he nodded. “Then I hope you’ll forgive me while I eat.” He led them down a long hallway running the length of the building, and invited them into a simple dining hall. He sat at the end of the long table and invited the group to take seats as well, even as he was served a plate of plain bread with butter and honey.
“We wanted to talk to you more about the fire last night, and the crimes that have been happening over the last month,” said Kyle.
“They’ve stumped me, that’s for sure,” admitted the captain. “This whole mess has been keeping Raymond, Leif, and I busy. The three of us are all this town has for a watch.”
“Has there been trouble like this before?” asked Tolly.
Captain Bearclaw shook his head while chewing. “This town’s been pretty peaceful. No bandits, no humanoid raiding, no violent crimes. Most we ever dealt with was the occasional fistfight at Yuri’s place, and of course Jim the town drunk. Then the muggings start, and then the break-ins.”
“Have you seen any kind of pattern in the attacks?” Tolly asked, “Or have there been certain individuals that haven’t been victimized that should have been?”
“Nope. They only hit the locals, and not the wealthy ones either – like they know they’re more likely to have bodyguards. Sure has got the town riled up, though; the mayor won’t go out into town alone any more, and now there’s this meeting.”
“Do you think Grog is behind this?” Kavan asked.
“No, I don’t. Grog and his band are a decent sort. Maybe not the most upstanding of citizens when they were on the adventuring trail, but they’re not the sort to engage in petty theft. I’ve tried to convince people of that, but a lot of them have gone past the listening stage.”
“What exactly would happen if the town meeting went against Grog?” Autumn asked.
“Well, he and his crew would be run out of town. His holdings and accounts at the bank would be forfeit.”
Tolly scratched at his chin. “Who would benefit from this?”
The captain thought for a moment. “Well, Yuri probably would. He runs the Dagger Rock Tavern, but he’s been close to going broke ever since Grog’s place opened up. Tough to say, other than that. He and his crew certainly have brought a lot more business to town.”
“Has he employed anyone in town,” asked Tolly, “or do his own people do all the work at the inn?”
“No, he’s hired a few folks. My daughter Mary works for him as a serving girl, and so does young Julia. And he hired Esmerelda as a maid right after Yuri let her go – Yuri accused her of stealing, though there was never any proof. And even if he hasn’t provided a lot of jobs, the coin they spend in town makes up for it. Their bouncer, Fist, is a clothes horse, and has probably doubled the tailor’s income since they came here six months ago.”
“I saw another inn on the way here,” commented Lanara. “The Hearthfire Inn? What about them?”
“Oh, the Hearthfire’s been around forever, even since before Yuri. The Withams own that inn, and their business has been the same ever since I can remember. Most of the older folks in town go there, the ones who aren’t keen on the wild atmosphere at Grog’s or the seedy reputation of Yuri’s.”
“How do you think the vote will go?” asked Kyle.
“Well, I know I’ll vote to let Grog stay, and I know Yuri will vote for him to leave. Mayor Winston doesn’t have anything personal against Grog, but he’s a ‘man of the people’, if you catch my drift, and right now most of the vocal town members are against Grog, so I figure that’s two against him. Logan Ironhand, the town smith… I’m pretty sure he’s okay with Grog staying.”
“That’s two votes each way,” said Kyle, “what about the fifth?”
“That would be Barak, who runs the general store,” said Captain Bearclaw. “To be honest, I have no idea where he stands on the issue.”
“If we were to look into this matter,” said Kyle, “who would you suggest we speak to?”
The captain shrugged. “Pretty much anyone you want.” Sidon waved over his servant and muttered a few words in his ear. The servant left and returned a minute later with a large parchment roll. The captain spread it out on the table, and the party saw it was a map of Dagger Rock. He began pointing out buildings to them. “The stonemason, Mexalo Stonethumb, lives here behind me. Good dwarven craftman, and a friend of mine. Tell him I sent you. The bank is here, and the jail here – Leif Delaryn should be on duty now. Here’s Logan’s smithy – he should be at work by now with his son Raymond, my other watchman. The church is up here, you might try talking to the priest, Hiram Veril.”
“What denomination?” asked Tolly.
“Paccë… I mean Krûsh.* Sorry… the church used to be dedicated to Paccë, but six years ago it burned down and the town’s priest was killed. Hiram’s his son, but he follows Krûsh.”
Captain Bearclaw continued to point out where various people lived and did business; the mayor, the baker, the tanner, the tailor. Once finished, he rolled up the map and excused himself, stating he needed to get to work that morning. The young boy, who turned out to be Sidon’s son, escorted the party to the door.
“Well, now where to?” asked Kyle.
“We should split up,” offered Arrie. “We’ll cover more ground that way.”
“Agreed,” said Tolly. “I can visit the stonemason and the blacksmith. Since I have a background in craftsmanship, I may be able to establish a common bond.”
“Autumn and I can visit some of the other businesses.”
“Kyle, do you wish to accompany us?” asked Autumn.
Kyle looked at both Arrie and Autumn, standing next to each other, and an odd look crossed his face. His gaze dropped to a point right around Autumn’s feet. “Um, thanks,” he said, “maybe another time. I think I should, uh, go with Tolly. You know, the whole manual laborer camaraderie thing.”
“Very well,” Autumn shrugged, not sure why the wizard was still acting strangely, “We’ll take Xu with us. Perhaps we three can visit some of the more ‘feminine’ businesses, such as the tailor and the baker.”
“That leaves Lanara, Kavan, and Osborn,” said Kyle.
“Someone should stay at the Happy Half-Ogre, just in case something happens, or to listen for any news or gossip there,” offered Lanara. “I nominate myself.” She raised her left arm into the air. “Seconded?” her right arm shot up. “Then it’s settled.” She dropped her arms, and waggling her fingers in farewell, began flouncing down the path toward the inn.
“How about Kavan and I tackle the bank,” said Osborn, watching the bard walk away. When he caught the gaze of the others, he sighed. “I meant talk to the banker about Grog and the robberies.”
“We can go visit the town church as well,” offered Kavan. “As a courtesy for a fellow man of faith.”
“All right, then,” Arrie said, “Back at the inn for mid-day meal?”
* * *
It was a very busy morning for the group. Tolly and Kyle approached Stonethumb’s house, a squat stone structure just behind Bearclaw Manor.
“You don’t have to worry about translating for me,” said Kyle casually as they approached the heavy oak door.
“Excuse me?”
“I just mean that you don’t have to worry about whether or not I’ll be able to follow you. I’ve learned to speak Dwarven.”
Tolly looked perplexed. “Why is that important?”
Now Kyle was beginning to look confused. “Well, given your background with the church of Ardara, I’d assumed you’d take the lead in the conversation with Stonethumb. And sine you’ll probably be talking in Dwarven, I wanted you to know ahead of time that you don’t have to interrupt your talk to fill me in.”
Tolly blinked calmly. “I don’t speak Dwarven.” He knocked firmly on the door.
“You don’t… but I thought… you talked about spending all that time in the church with dwarves…”
He shrugged. “My education focused on extraplanar languages, primarily.”
Kyle was still staring at Tolly incredulously when the door opened and Mexalo Stonethumb appeared in the entry. He was a brown-haired dwarf with a few streaks of gray, and looked up at them with bright blue eyes. His beard and clothes were covered in a fine layer of stone dust, and his hands were large and knobby.
“Hello, strangers,” Stonethumb said, “what can I do for you this morning?”
“My name is Tolly Nightsleaving. Your friend Captain Bearclaw said we should come speak to you.”
“Sidon sent you? Well, come in, then! Hope you don’t mind if I work while we talk.”
“Not at all.” Tolly followed the dwarf into the back, where Stonethumb picked up a hammer and chisel and set to work on a block of granite. “Who’s your big friend?” Mexalo asked.
“Oh, forgive me,” said Tolly. “This is Kyle Goodson.”
“Pleasure,” said Kyle. Seeing that Tolly had been distracted by a carving on the wall, Kyle pressed on. “So, I hear you’ve done most of the stone work in town.”
“Most of it? Ardara’s left teat, son, I’ve done all of it.”
“And excellent work, I must say. It looks like no one’s getting into that bank – and if they try, they sure aren’t getting out of that jail.”
Stonethumb seemed not to pay attention to the complement. “Too bad there’s not more work to be done around here,” Kyle continued.
“Oh, there’s plenty of work,” Stonethumb said. “I’ve done all of the foundations and basements in town. This close to the river, you need a solid foundation.”
“Well, sure, of course you do.” Kyle glanced over at his shoulder to see if Tolly was going to pick up the conversation, but the priest was now looking over the dwarf’s tools.
“Well, you must’ve done the basement at the Happy Half-Ogre, then,” Kyle said.
Stonethumb paused for a moment before grunting in the affirmative.
“Well, it so happens we’re kind of looking into those burglaries that’ve been happening round here.”
“I don’t know nothing about that,” said Mexalo, a little too quickly.
“Well, of course not. I just meant that since Grog is sort of the prime suspect, and since you probably spent a lot of time around him and his men while building the basement, you might have gotten a sense of the man… er, ogre.”
At first it seemed Stonethumb was ignoring the question, but then his hammer slipped and hit the back of his knuckles. Stopping work long enough to flex his fingers, he looked up at Kyle. “Look, Sidon says Grog’s okay, and I believe him. Sidon’s not the sort to hang around with disreputable sorts. All I do is build basements for people around here.”
Kyle regarded the dwarven mason curiously. He was acting as if he’d accidentally mentioned something he shouldn’t have, and rather than backpedaling had decided to push forward. “Well, sure, I’m sure you spend a lot of time on basement work. You probably know more about most people’s homes than the owners.”
Stonethumb sighed and set down his tools. “Look, son, I can’t really say much, you know?” The dwarf began heading back toward the front door. Kyle and Tolly followed, curious as to what they’d stumbled upon. Stonethumb opened the door and pointed west toward the river. “You see those two buildings over by the river?” he said in a low voice, pointing. “The southern one’s the tanner, and the northern one’s the cobbler. All I’m going to say is that you should check out the cobbler’s fields.”
Kyle nodded. “Well, I appreciate the directions, Stonethumb,” he said in a loud voice. “I probably do need to look into a new pair of boots before I leave town.”
Tolly and Kyle began to walk away as Stonethumb closed his door. “We should still head for the blacksmith’s first,” Tolly said.
“Sure, but before we go, I have to ask you something.” Kyle barely suppressed his smile. “You do speak Common, right?”
---------------------------
* Paccë is the goddess of community and harmony. Krûsh is one of The Four; he is the god of Water, and Good, and is the patron of the gnomes.
Arrie, Xu, and Autumn walked up to the tailor’s shop, chewing on hunks of warm bread. They had started their morning at the shop of Aram Gahn, the baker, asking about the crimes in town and his opinion of Grog. Aram had been reluctant to talk at first, but Arrie had wooed him with a combination of flattery and attentiveness that eventually loosened his tongue. Though he didn’t hold a very high opinion of the Happy Half-Ogre, he didn’t seem to hold any specific malice or regard for Grog himself. Aram indicated that he’d noticed a trend in his conversations with customers; most of the older citizens of Dagger Rock were against Grog and the changes he’d brought to town, while the younger populace generally supported him.
The three women walked into the tailor’s store. A tall, thin woman with a narrow face greeted them. Just inside the door were two mannequins, featuring stylish, if not extravagant outfits for a man and woman.
“Welcome!” said the woman. “My name is Jessica Merriweather. How may I assist you three lovely ladies today?”
“Oh, we just had a few questions,” said Autumn.
Jessica’s face fell. “Oh, dear, I had hoped you would be looking to purchase something. I’m afraid I’m very busy right now, and don’t really have time to socialize.”
The three women looked at each other. “I think we have not made ourselves understood,” Xu said quickly. “While my companion does not wish to purchase anything, I am in fact looking for a new set of clothing.”
“Oh, indeed?” Jessica’s face lit up, and she quickly approached Xu, unfurling a long piece of marked twine. “Well, in that case, I’ll be more than happy to take a few measurements. I’m assuming you’re not in town for long, so if you’d like I can place a rush on your outfit… with a deposit, of course.”
“Of course.” Xu dropped a few coins into the tailor’s palm, then stood patiently while Jessica measured her from every angle.
“Do you have anything in mind?” she asked.
“I defer to your wisdom,” Xu replied, “though I would prefer something that conforms to the shape of my body, rather than a garment that flows loosely.”
While Jessica continued to measure and write down numbers on a slate pad, Arrie cleared her throat. “So, we were referred to you by the bouncer down at the Happy Half-Ogre. We were admiring the clothes he wears.”
“Oh, you mean Fist,” Jessica said, her voice brightening. “Yes, I must admit he’s been quite a boon to my little shop here. There aren’t many farmers who have need of fine clothing.”
“You seem to not share the low opinion others have of Fist and his employer,” Autumn commented.
“Well, I suppose I can tell you three, seeing as you won’t be around much,” she looked around the shop as if expecting someone to be listening in. “But if you ask me, things have been a lot better in this town ever since they arrived.”
“They seem to run a respectable place,” said Arrie.
“Oh, I quite agree. But lately there’s been a lot of nasty stuff going around – people assaulted in the streets, homes broken into, that sort of thing. Some of the other townsfolk are convinced that Grog is behind it all – laughing at us from his inn while he becomes the crime lord of Dagger Rock.” Jessica rolled her eyes. “Ridiculous.”
It took a bit of willpower for Arrie to keep from laughing out loud at the notion of ‘Grog, Crime Lord of Dagger Rock’. “That does sound bad. Isn’t there anything that can be done?”
“I wish,” said Jessica, sighing. “There’s no proof of their ‘crimes’, of course, so thankfully Sidon Bearclaw hasn’t been forced to do anything rash. But there’s going to be a town meeting in a week, and I’m afraid the council is sure to vote to kick him and his friends out of town.”
“Are they so certain that things will improve if Grog leaves?” Autumn asked. “It seems they generate quite a bit of income for your town.”
“I’ll miss their coin, and I’ll bet others will too. But people will believe anything as long as they thing the troubles will stop.”
“So, how much do you think has taken from the town?” Arrie asked.
“Pardon me?” the tailor asked, as she did some calculations on his slate pad.
“Whoever’s behind all this. How much do you think they’ve stolen?”
Jessica snorted derisively. “Well, that just goes to show. Whoever they are, they aren’t very bright. The only people who have been robbed are the less affluent in town – the farmers and herders who barely have two silvers to rub together. Anyone in town with real money – the mayor, the banker…”
“Yourself,” Autumn observed.
Jessica nodded, acknowledging the truth of the holy warrior’s statement. “Well, none of us have been victimized. I would think that as long as you’re going to the trouble of robbing someone, you’d want to get as much money as possible while you’re at it.”
“It would make sense,” Arrie mused. “But I’m sure that before you know it the whole problem will be resolved.”
“We’ll see,” Jessica said.
With the measurements finished, Jessica showed Xu a few fabric swatches, then wrote up her order on a sheet of parchment. She bid them farewell and told them to return the next day. As they left, Xu frowned in displeasure.
“Perhaps I am succumbing to the weakness of vanity,” she said, “but I find myself disappointed that my new clothing will not be ready by this evening. I had planned to attempt to lure the robbers into the open by walking alone in the town at night, and a new garment might have done more to entice these men than the simple robes I wear now.”
“Well, don’t worry, Xu,” said Arrie. “I’m sure between Autumn and myself we can fix you up with something for tonight.”
Xu looked at the two warriors and shook her head. “I thank you for your generosity, but I am afraid that your own wardrobes would be inappropriate.”
As Xu walked on, Arrie fell back a step. “Were we just insulted?” she whispered in Autumn’s ear.
Autumn thought for a moment before answering. “You know, the problem is that I’m not exactly sure.”
* * *
Meanwhile, Osborn and Kavan were sitting in the priest’s chambers, waiting for Hiram Veril to arrive. They’d started their morning investigations at the bank. Though the banker was tight-lipped about the accounts of the town members, it was no great effort to learn that Grog had a large sum of money in the bank. The banker had also mentioned that fact that due to the recent robberies, many other townsfolk had been putting their own valuables in the vaults.
“You know,” Osborn said to Kavan as they waited, “there’s one theory we haven’t discussed. Maybe whoever’s behind this is trying to create a panic, to get people to put their money in the vault. Grog’s just a handy scapegoat because he’s big, ugly, and new in town. Then someone comes along and steals the whole town right out form under them.”
“Who could pull that off?” asked Kavan.
“Someone who had access to the bank vault, or knew another way in. He mentioned the vaults were underground – maybe someone dug a tunnel.” Osborn listened for a moment to see if anyone was nearby before continuing. “Maybe we ought to try and deposit some valuables of our own so that we can sneak a peek at the vaults.”
“Assuming that we’re allowed inside, of course,” Kavan said. “The banker may just take our valuables to the vaults himself.”
Osborn frowned. “That’s true. But it would also be interesting to see who would get Grog’s money if he were run out of town.”
Just then the door opened, and a young, sandy-haired man wearing simple robes and the dolphin totem of Krûsh came in. “Good morning, gentlemen. I am Hiram Veril. I was told you wish to see me?”
“Good morning, Hiram. I am Kavan, of the church of Erito, and my companion Osborn Greenbottle.” Kavan settled back into the simple chair as best he could. “We wanted to speak to you about the fire last night, as well as the other problems in town recently.”
“Ah, yes, the fire in Grog’s stables,” Hiram said. “A shame that had to happen. I’m thankful that no one was seriously hurt. I did what I could to help, but by the time I arrived the fire was mostly under control.”
“I’m sure Grog appreciates your help,” said Osborn. “He seems like he could use more friends around here.”
“Yes, I’m afraid he’s not very popular right now,” sighed Hiram. “It’s too bad – I’ve spoken to him on several occasions, and he strikes me as a decent fellow, even if he is a bit more boisterous than our little town is used to.”
“You’ve visited the Happy Half-Ogre?” Kavan asked.
“Yes, on occasion. Mostly I go to visit with Mary Bearclaw, his serving girl, though I admit I also have a fondness for Matilda’s spicy sausage.”
“How do you know Mary?”
“Well, her family and mine go back…” he trailed off, a sudden sad look passing over his face.
“Is something wrong?” Kavan asked, extending his hand and placing it on Hiram’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I was thinking of my father. He was the priest here before me, though he served a different god. He died six years ago.”
Osborn nodded. “We’d heard something about that. There was a fire, wasn’t there?”
“Yes. Like the fire last night, no one knows who set it or why. But unlike last night, two people lost their lives in that fire – my father, and Sidon Bearclaw’s wife.”
Kavan and Osborn looked at each other. “May I ask why Sidon’s wife was at the church?” Kavan asked.
“My understanding was that she may have been receiving advice from my father around some marital problems. I don’t know much about it; my father was careful to respect the privacy of his parishioners.”
“Would anyone else in town know?” Osborn asked.
“Sidon would certainly know, though I wouldn’t advise asking him. Perhaps Mary may know something. Why do you ask?”
“We’re looking into the recent crime spree in town,” Kavan explained. “We believe, as you apparently do, that Grog is not to blame. The only reason we ask is that last night would be the second unexplained fire in this town, and perhaps knowing more would help us identify the person who did it.”
Hiram nodded. “Well, the fire six years ago was blamed on someone passing through town. I’m not sure whether the two events are related. However, if you wish to approach Mary and ask about her family, that is up to you. I only ask that you respect her wishes if she doesn’t wish to talk about it.”
“Of course,” Kavan said, standing up. “Thank you for your time.”
* * *
The group slowly congregated back at the Happy Half-Ogre that afternoon, meeting up with Lanara. They sat at a table in the far corner, discussing what they’d learned. They had been joined by Mary, Grog’s barmaid and Captain Bearclaw’s daughter. She’d caught up to Osborn and Kavan on their way back from the church, and asked if she could show them around town. Kavan had asked her to join them for lunch first, hoping to be able to ask about her parents. As they walked, Kavan noticed that Mary’s gaze kept wandering to him, but he chose to ignore it.
“So,” said Tolly, after they’d all said their piece, “where do we look next?”
“Well, I think we have enough to at least suspect someone else is behind this,” said Osborn. “Whether Yuri’s involved remains to be seen. That connection almost seems too easy now that other possibilities have been raised.”
“True,” said Kyle. “Your thoughts about someone trying to get all the town’s money in the vault so they can grab it is interesting, especially with what Stonethumb was hinting at.”
“I agree. I think I should check that cobbler’s field out tonight.”
“Perhaps you should go in the day, so as to become familiar with the landscape,” offered Tolly. “Someone could accompany you and distract the cobbler by pretending to be interested in buying shoes.”
As they spoke, one of the orcs from out of town came down the stairs, and approached the table. “Does one of you own the gray horse in the stables?” he asked.
“I do,” replied Arrie in Orcish. The two then began a conversation in the orcish tongue. As none of the others could follow the conversation, they turned back to their own affairs. Only Lanara, who did speak the language, bothered to pay any attention. The orc was apparently trying to buy Arrie’s warhorse Ghost.
“Mary,” said Kavan, “perhaps you could tell us what you know about Hiram? I understand your mother was being counseled by his father at one point.”
She looked away. “I’d rather not discuss it publicly,” she said.
Kavan nodded. “I don’t wish to cause you discomfort.” He turned back to the group. “Mary has invited me on a tour of the town. Lanara, would you like to come with us?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, sure.” Lanara was too busy listening to Arrie talk to the orcs to notice the disappointed look on Mary’s face.
“And I’d like to visit the school,” said Kyle.
“Why?” asked Tolly.
“Because it’s like Osborn was saying when we first got here. In a town like this if you want to know what’s really going on, you talk to kids. See, adults don’t pay much attention to them, so they don’t realize how much they really see and hear.”
“I can come with you, if you like,” said Autumn.
“Sure,” Kyle agreed. A morning full of investigation and interviewing had put his morning’s embarrassment out of his mind, so he felt more at ease around the two warriors.
“I could go and check the town’s land records at the mayor’s office,” Tolly said. “Knowing who owns the land under this inn, or who will own it if he leaves, might be an important clue.”
“I think we should also talk to Jim,” offered Arrie, who had concluded her conversation with the orc.
“The town drunk?” Lanara asked. “Why? I thought Bearclaw described him as a worthless bigot.”
“Yes, but like Kyle’s children, he’s someone who might have been around to see things other people weren’t because nobody cares what he sees. And perhaps there’s something behind that racism that’s useful. Regardless, I think that whoever approaches him should be ‘pure’, if you’ll pardon the expression.” She nodded toward Kavan, Osborn, Lanara, and Autumn.
“I also think you’ll need this.” Kyle picked up a clay jug at his feet and slid it across the table to Tolly. “Tolly and I had the same thought, and picked that up at the wine and spirits shop across the road. Figured it would make introductions easier.”
“We’re still planning on checking out the Dagger Rock Tavern tonight, right?” said Lanara.
“Tonight or tomorrow night,” said Osborn, “and I think we should look into the Hearthfire Inn as well. I keep hearing what a nice little place it is and how it hasn’t been affected by all this trouble around Grog and his inn. Maybe it’s the cynic in me, but that raises alarms in my head. Surely they’d benefit somehow from removing their main competition. However, I’m planning on resting this afternoon. I’m going to go check out that cobbler’s field tonight.”
“I will rest as well,” said Xu. “I have my own plans this evening.” She looked over at Autumn and Arrie, who nodded knowingly.
“So, it seems we have a busy afternoon ahead,” commented Tolly. “We should finish up our meal and get started.”
The group separated and went about their business in the town. Autumn and Kyle walked toward the schoolhouse, where several children could be seen playing.
“What exactly are we doing here?” Autumn asked.
“We see if any of the kids have seen or heard anything unusual,” explained Kyle. “Sometimes kids’ll tell you things that adults want to hush up.”
They approached a group of four young girls, no more than ten years old. “Hi there,” Kyle said, kneeling down so he was closer to their height.
“Hi,” said one of the girls, looking at the two strangers. “Who are you?”
“My name is Autumn,” said the holy warrior, also kneeling, “and this is Kyle. Do you mind if we ask you some questions about the town?”
“What kind of questions?”
“Just about stuff going on around here,” Kyle said. “You see, we’re adventurers, and we like to help fix problems. We’ve heard there’s been problems here in Dagger Rock.”
The little girl glanced at her friends uncertainly. “Then why don’t you talk to the grownups?”
Kyle smiled. “Because we know who really knows what’s going on in any town.”
The girls nodded to each other confidently. Unfortunately, their attempts to glean any news from the children proved less satisfying than expected. One girl talked about seeing ghosts in the graveyard. Another talked about how the orcs staying at Grog’s tavern were here to buy horses, although they hadn’t bought many. Several of the kids described Grog as a “monster who eats children”, obviously influenced by their parent’s warning about the fire-touched man. After speaking with several of the children, Kyle and Autumn took their leave of the school. They decided to take a walk around town, strolling past the cobbler’s field on their way so they could tell Osborn of any unusual features they saw.
“Kyle,” Autumn said suddenly as they walked, “may I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
“Yesterday, at the inn, when you were asking all those questions – are you always so direct and inquisitive?”
Kyle thought for a moment. “Well, I suppose part of it comes from my Pa. He always taught me that the best way to start a conversation is to ask someone about themselves. See, most people don’t have a problem talking about themselves – not that they’re conceited, or anything, just that it’s the subject they’re most familiar with. I hope I didn’t offend you.”
“Not at all,” Autumn replied, “it was just… abrupt, that’s all.”
“Well, I never was very good at social graces,” he grinned. “Probably comes from my upbringing. I worked on the family farm mostly growing up, and then was a carpenter’s apprentice. Neither profession allows for much socializing. Once I was hired on by the Tower as a handyman, I mostly kept to myself, since the students didn’t talk to me and the staff only would when they needed something. Once I became a student, it didn’t help matters – most wizards are good folks, but pretty intent on what they’re doing. At least, that’s how I see it. I had the hardest time striking up conversations unless I was pretty blunt about it.”
Autumn looked at the broad-shouldered wizard. “How did you come to be a student?” she asked.
“Well,” he replied, “like I said, I was hired on by the school for general maintenance – mostly carpentry, of course, but I also picked up a bit of blacksmithing, stonework, whatever was needed. So one day one of the professors in the wizardry school needs a new set of bookshelves. Well, she lets me borrow a few of her introductory magical theory tomes, so I can get the size right. One night I just picked one up out of curiosity. Though some of it didn’t make sense, I found a lot of it did, and I could follow what they were talking about. I read some of the other books, but didn’t think much about it until the professor asked me why they hadn’t been returned. Well, I fessed up to reading them, but instead of getting mad she was intrigued. She gave me a couple more books, and did a couple of tests. After a while she was giving me private lessons at night – said I was a regular prodigy. She taught me enough wizardry to get by, then encouraged me to apply to the school. Well, several thousand gold worth of debt later, here I am.”
“An interesting story, Kyle,” said Autumn. “Thank you for sharing it with me.”
“You’re welcome,” said Kyle, blushing slightly. “Though I’d appreciate a little discretion. See, the instructors in the wizardry school aren’t supposed to take on apprentices or private students. I’d hate to get Professor Vorsha in trouble.”
“I understand.” They walked for a little longer, past the cobbler’s fields. Seeing nothing that stood out as obviously unusual, they decided to go to the general store to talk to the owner, Barak Andovan, who was the fifth council member and the only one whose vote on the Grog issue was unknown.
“So, Kyle,” asked Autumn. “What do you think of our companions?”
“Oh, well, they seem a good bunch of folks to me,” he said. “Some of them have their quirks, but who doesn’t?”
“Like what?”
“Oh, well, nothing serious. I noticed that Kavan and Lanara seem real tight-lipped about their pasts – I suppose there’s nothing wrong with that, and they’ll probably talk when they’re ready. I guess I just figure that we’re supposed to be learning to work together as a group, and the best way to do that is to get to know each other.” He grinned again. “Maybe that’s another reason I’m so pushy with my questions.”
“Anyone else?” Autumn prompted.
“Nah, not really. Everyone else is pretty straightforward; your sister really seems to be the ‘what you see is what you get’ type.”
Autumn smiled slightly. “Ariadne is not really my sister,” she said.
“Well, I knew that,” said Kyle. “I mean, obviously you two don’t have the same parents. But Arrie calls you her sister, and I wasn’t going to say much about it because I didn’t know if there was some sort of family secret you two were hiding.”
“No, no secrets,” said Autumn. “We are related, but not true sisters. But Ariadne and I were raised together.”
“I see.” Kyle stopped for a moment to get his bearing before they proceeded to the general store. “So, how about you? What’s your opinion of our classmates?”
“I think I share the same general opinion as you,” she said. “They are a diverse group of people, but each has their own unique skills, all of which I believe will be useful in accomplishing our goals. On a more personal level… I suppose that I’m still trying to figure that out.”
“That’s because you don’t nag people with personal questions the way I do,” Kyle joked.
Autumn laughed, then was silent for a minute. “You know, I could teach you if you like,” she said.
“Teach me what?”
“Social graces, as you put it earlier. Perhaps help you not to come off quite so… abrupt.”
“Well, I’ve never turned down a chance for self-improvement,” said Kyle. “And I’ll be sure to return the favor, though I don’t suppose you’re much interested in the finer points of carpentry.”
* * *
Tolly and Arrie had spent the last two hours in the town’s records, deep inside Mayor Jacob’s home. Arrie had donned her family’s signet ring, and used the Verahannen name to convince the mayor that she was interested in acquiring land in town and wished to research available plots. While Tolly has stuck steadfastly to reading land ownership records, Arrie’s search was much broader in scope, thanks to several tomes that ‘accidentally’ fell open on the table.
They had discovered several interesting facts. It appeared that Yuri was the primary landowner in town, and leased to several townspeople. Grog’s inn was owned outright by the fire-touched; he had placed the highest bid on the land when it came up for auction. They also noted that the mayor and the other council members owned their own land. The financial records indicated that for the most part Yuri had recouped his costs for buying land within two years of leasing it out, which meant he was either buying it cheap or overcharging his tenants (or both). They noted that Yuri had first come to town about ten years ago. Interestingly, Arrie noted that two of the people named on the original town charter from seventy years ago were Yuri’s grandparents. There was no mention of Yuri’s parents in any town records.
They left the mayor’s house and began searching for Jim Aransee, the town drunk. They didn’t have to look far, as they spotted him stumbling out of the Green Grape Wine and Spirits shop, a jug in hand. Tolly looked ruefully at the jug he was carrying; they’d originally planned to lure him into conversation with the wine in that jug, assuming he didn’t have the resources to buy his own.
Arrie looked at Jim, then at Tolly. “Just follow me, and play along,” she said. As they got closer to Jim, Arrie clutched the priest’s arm, and began to shuffle and stumble a bit. When they neared the wine shop, she pulled up short.
“Come on, give me some money,” she called out loudly. Jim stopped his progress, and stood, wobbling, watching them.
“Money for what?” Tolly still wasn’t sure what Arrie had up her sleeve.
“You know what,” she said. “Come on, I need a drink.”
Tolly caught on. “Oh, no. Do you think I’m just going to hand over good coin for you to squander? I remember what happened last time.”
“I’ll be good this time, I promise,” Arrie said. “I just need a little.”
“I have my doubts,” said Tolly. Then he looked up at Jim. “Maybe you could convince this gentleman to share with you.”
Arrie looked up at Jim and grinned wildly. “How about it buddy? He won’t give me any money. You want to share your wine with me?”
“Nuh uh,” Jim replied, wobbling as he shook his head back and forth. He staggered off and leaned against the side of the blacksmith’s shop, seeking refuge from the afternoon sun.
“Look,” said Tolly, “why don’t you wait here, and I’ll go inside and get something for you.” He let Arrie’s arm go, and went inside the Green Grape. Arrie stumbled over and sat next to Jim, trying to pretend she didn’t notice the stench.
“I knew he’d see things my way,” she said. She tried to lead the conversation around to various subjects; Grog, the town, the recent muggings. Jim’s answers were mostly long, rambling tirades against Grog and other ‘impure’ races. He seemed to admire Yuri, mostly because Yuri never cut him off. But it seemed that despite their hopes, Jim hadn’t been witness to any unusual activity in the town.
Tolly returned after several minutes; he’d delayed by striking up conversation with the shop owner, Gretchen. She indicated she was fairly neutral toward the issue of Grog staying or leaving; she said that when Grog had arrived, Yuri’s orders from her shop had dropped, but Grog’s had replaced them. She assumed that if Grog left, Yuri’s orders would rise again. Gretchen was apparently happy with her lease from Yuri, and said she’d almost saved enough to buy the land from him outright. Tolly presented Arrie with the jug of wine he and Kyle had bought earlier; she took the jug and pulled the cork with her teeth, filling her mouth with as much as she could. She stood up, and began to stagger away; Jim called out loudly that she should come drink with him again, as soon as she “lost the a**hole”.
Once around the corner our of earshot, Arrie spit out the wine. “What is this stuff?” she asked, disgust on her face.
“What Kyle referred to as ‘the cheap stuff.’ He saw no reason to waste money on something that was being used as bait for a drunk.” Tolly took the bottle from Arrie and replaced the cork he’d picked up before they left. “Should I get rid of it?”
“No, keep it,” she said. “We may need to clean a wound or something one day.”
Kavan and Mary the barmaid strolled through the town, arm in arm. Lanara lagged a few feet behind, trying to look as if she weren’t paying attention. It was fairly obvious that Mary desperately wanted to lose the bard and be alone with Kavan, and it was equally obvious that Kavan wanted to make sure that didn’t happen. Lanara had been in enough taverns in her life to know that it was usually the men who had to chase the barmaids, not the other way around. She wasn’t sure why Kavan was so keen to avoid what she’d consider a ‘sure thing’, but figured that it would be entertaining to watch.
“So,” said Kavan, after looking behind himself for the hundredth time to make sure Lanara was still behind them, “what can you tell me about the town? Any mysteries or strange things happen here?”
“Well, there’s the forest outside of town,” she answered. “Tristan lives out there – he’s the local ranger. He’s kind of mysterious, I guess. And of course there’s Dagger Rock. Say, would you like to swim out and see it?”
“Perhaps… another time,” said Kavan hastily. “I’m just hoping we can do something to help out Grog. I’d hate for all of you to lose your jobs.”
“Yes, it would be sad,” she said. “I could probably find something else, but Esmerelda would have a tough time – Yuri fired her because he said she was stealing. I don’t believe it, but a lot of people in this town listen to what Yuri has to say. And I’m sure Sevem and Julia would have trouble.”
“Why?”
“Well, they used to work for Yuri too. But it got rough for them, especially after they got married. Of course Yuri didn’t like Sevem because he’s orc-touched. Well, when Grog came to town six months ago, he offered them a job with better pay and fewer dirty looks. You know, I could show you the spot up by the church where Sevem proposed.”
“Thank you, but I’ve already visited the church this morning. I’d asked you about your mother and the old town priest, remember?”
“Oh, yes.” Mary’s smile faded just a little. “You know, I really don’t want to talk about my parents. All of that was… in the past.”
“I understand.” Inwardly, Kavan scowled. Though he respected her decision, much of the reason he’d agreed to this tour was in hopes Mary might confide in him about what problems her mother and father had had before the fire six years ago. Though it seemed a remote chance, the current priest Hiram had thought there were similarities between the church fire and the one in Grog’s stables last night. Now he would have to focus on remaining cordial to Mary while at the same time avoiding the possibility of a more intimate encounter with her. It all reminded him too much of his past life for his own comfort.
They let the conversation lapse for a moment, listening to the sound of the nearby river. “I’m curious, Mary,” said Kavan after a while, “those orcs staying at the inn. What are they here for?”
“They’re horse traders,” said Mary. “They’ve been in town since winter.”
“Horse traders?” Kavan thought that Dagger Rock seemed a poor place to trade horses. Then a thought sprang into his mind. “Mary, when did the problems with the burglaries and muggings start?”
“A few months ago, I’d say.”
“Was it before or after the orcs came?”
“After, I suppose.”
“And has no one thought to suspect these orcs are behind the crimes?”
Mary thought for a moment. “Well, I suppose it’s been suggested. But they actually do seem to be horse traders – I mean, they haven’t really bought many, because most people won’t sell their horses around her. But even if they are, it doesn’t help Grog much to point it out. They’ve been staying at his inn all this time, after all, and some of the others would just say that Grog was bringing in outside help. It’s no secret that Grog has no trouble associating with those of orc blood.”
“That’s true,” admitted Kavan, “but perhaps if we…”
Their conversation was cut off by a loud yelp from Lanara. They turned to see her being assaulted by an enormous pig. The swine had a glazed look in its eye and foam dribbling from it’s mouth as it slammed into the cansin, nearly knocking her over. They heard a shout, and saw a farmer rushing over to them, waving his arms wildly. The farmer attempted to pull the pig off Lanara, but for his trouble the animal turned on him and began biting and stomping him.
“Do something!” Mary cried.
Kavan pushed Mary behind him and took a defensive stance. He attempted to move in, hoping to subdue the animal with the flat of his blade. But in its frenzy it lashed out at anyone who came near before turning its attention back to assaulting both Lanara and its terrified owner. Kavan saw that the massive pig could seriously injure or even kill one of them in its rabid state. Quickly, he focused his will and muttered a brief prayer.
“Blessed Goddess, she who fills the Chalice of Life, I pray you now take your measure from this creature.”
Kavan extended a hand and touched the pig on the back. Divine power coursed through the animal, and its eyes went wide. Blood spurted from the pig’s mouth, spraying Lanara’s skirts, and the beast fell lifeless to the ground.
Kavan helped the shaken farmer to his feet while Mary went to aid Lanara. “I’m sorry I had to do that,” he said. “I will compensate you for the loss…”
“Nonsense,” said the farmer, “if anything, I should be compensating you. I’m the one who let Hildy here bust loose before I could take the mallet to her skull.” He pointed over to his house, where a heavy wooden mallet leaned against the wall next to a broken section of fencing. “You probably saved my life,” he added.
“I’m only glad no one was seriously hurt,” Kavan said. Behind him, Lanara cleared her throat loudly. She was limping after twisting her knee in the fall, and her arm bled where she’d been bitten. Kavan stepped over and healed her injuries before returning to the farmer. “What’s your name, good sir?”
“Elmo,” he said, extending a hand. “Say, if I could ask you folks to help me haul Hildy back over to the shed and get her on the hooks, then I’d like to invite you back to my place this evening for a pig roast. Bring your friends.”
“We wouldn’t want to impose,” said Kavan.
“Yes we would,” said Lanara, her wounded pride forgotten at the thought of roast pork.
“Please, I insist. It’s not like I’m going to be able to eat the whole thing myself. Besides, it tastes better fresh.”
“Very well,” said Kavan. “My friends and I will come back this evening. Thank you for the invitation.”
When they had finished, the three decided to head back to the Happy Half-Ogre so that Lanara could change clothes. Mary and Kavan sat downstairs while Lanara headed up to their room. While waiting, Kavan began rubbing his right shoulder.
“What’s wrong?” asked Mary.
“I may have strained my shoulder while trying to subdue that pig,” he said. “Having to carry it back to Elmo’s house didn’t help matters.” He sighed. “Well, it’s nothing a back massage wouldn’t cure,” he said casually.
“Oh, well, then you just sit there and relax!” Mary said, jumping up. She began massaging Kavan’s shoulders, leaning in close enough that he could feel her bosom brushing up against the back of his head. Kavan closed his eyes and groaned. He’d walked right into that one. Old habits, he thought wearily to himself.
Upstairs, unseen by both of them, Lanara leaned over the railing and watched them, smiling. Barmaid one, elven priest zero, she thought.
* * *
On the way back from the general store, Kyle and Autumn ran into Arrie. “Any news?” she asked.
“Not really,” Kyle said glumly. “The kids weren’t as observant as we’d hoped, and Barak was pretty tight-lipped about his opinion on Grog. Even with Autumn there to help smooth over my, well, directness,” he flashed a small smile at Autumn, “he wasn’t about to talk to us about it.” He sighed heavily. “Well, at least I got a good set of waterskins while I was there.”
“Speaking of water,” said Arrie, “I’m thinking of going swimming. I asked Tolly, but apparently clerics of Ardara the Earth Goddess aren’t too keen on water. Of course, since he never takes that breastplate off it’s probably a good thing. Want to come with me?”
“That sounds good,” said Autumn. She and Arrie turned and began walking toward the river, but stopped after a few paces. They turned to see Kyle standing there.
“Well, are you coming or not?” Arrie asked.
“Me? Oh, well, I sort of assumed that you were only talking to your sister.”
“No, of course you can come with us. You can swim, right?”
“Well, sure, well enough I suppose.” Kyle fell in behind them.
The three of them walked toward Dagger Rock, Arrie talking about what she and Tolly had learned. Once they reached the river, they found a small ledge near the bank where they could pile their belongings. The river itself was perhaps a hundred feet wide; they could see a small set of docks extending into the water just south of the Rock.
“I’m going to go out and take a look at that thing,” Arrie said, pointing at Dagger Rock. “It just seems so odd, stuck there in the middle of the river like that.”
“Just be careful,” said Autumn. “Kyle and I will stay nearby.”
“Hey, I’m a better swimmer than you, Autumn,” said Arrie. “How about you, Kyle?”
Kyle looked up as he folded his yellow robes. He’d been thanking his lucky stars that he’d decided to wear his breeches under his robe today. Had it been the hot summer months instead of spring, he might have had a potentially embarrassing situation to explain to these two young women. “Oh, I’m sure you could swim circles around me, Arrie. But we’ll hang close just in case.”
The three dove into the water and began to make their way to Dagger Rock. Arrie reached it well ahead of the others, and began exploring the strange obelisk. A lip of stone protruded from the dagger a few feet under the surface, allowing her to walk around it. She circled the stone twice, then dove under to explore the surface. She came up with a quizzical look on her face.
“What is it?” asked Autumn.
“I’m not sure,” said Arrie. “I’m not an expert in geology or anything, but the base just seems odd. I mean, it looks and feels natural, but it’s a very… square kind of natural, you know what I mean?”
“Like it was man-made?” asked Kyle.
“Sort of, but not really. I mean, it doesn’t seem like it was carved.” She looked up at the top of the dagger-shaped stone, thirty feet over her head. “I think I’ll see what’s up there.”
Arrie tried to climb the stone dagger, but the obelisk’s sheer surfaces made the task difficult, and the fact that Arrie was dripping wet didn’t help. After a few minutes, she gave up. She, Autumn, and Kyle spent a few minutes casually swimming around Dagger Rock, then returned to shore. As they pulled their outer clothes back on, Arrie looked back at the rock protrusion.
“That’s just going to keep bugging me,” she said to herself.
* * *
The group waited nervously for Osborn to return. The hin had gone out nearly an hour ago to check out the cobbler’s fields. The rest of them sat quietly, drinking slowly. Elmo’s feast wasn’t due to start for another hour at least, and the minutes dragged interminably. They all breathed a sigh of relief when they saw Osborne enter the Happy Half-Ogre. But the look on his face as he approached the table was serious.
“We need to talk,” he said, “but not here.”
After a moment of whispered conversation, the group began to slowly filter out of the inn in ones and twos so as not to attract attention. They met up down at the mill. They all leaned in close to hear Osborn over the sound of the water wheel. Osborn had insisted they meet here so they would not be overheard.
“So I went to the field to look around,” he said, “and I notice a wheelbarrow leaning up against the tool shed. But the dirt in the wheelbarrow didn’t match the topsoil – it came from much deeper. I followed the wheel rut to the stables, where I found a trapdoor covering a tunnel.”
“Just as we suspected when Stonethumb pointed us that way,” Kyle said.
“So I follow the tunnels,” Osborn continued. “And there are a few branches. One of them still seems to be a work in progress, but near as I can tell it’s heading in the general direction of the bank vault.”
“That would seem to support our theory of scaring people into putting their money into the bank so it can be robbed,” commented Tolly.
“Well, let me keep going. One of the other tunnels leads up into a basement. I’m not sure exactly where, but all I saw was a wine rack and a couple of guard dogs. I didn’t stick around to let the dogs get my scent. Another tunnel had human bones in it; kind of spooked me, until I saw there were more bones in the walls, and I realized I was under the graveyard.”
Kyle and Autumn looked at each other. “Ghosts in the graveyard.” Autumn said.
“Yeah, yeah, so anyway I try another tunnel. This one goes up through a well or something, and ends in a little room that I can’t figure out how to get out of. But I figure something’s got to be there, because whoever dug the tunnels set up a tripwire. The best I could guess was that it was somewhere near the center of town.”
“Yuri’s tavern is near the center of town,” Xu observed.
“Yeah, and so’s that other inn, the Hearthfire,” Osborn sighed at the constant interruptions. “Well, I haven’t got to the worst part yet. I finally get to the last tunnel. It kind of narrows down a bit – I was okay, but most of you would have to crawl – which ended in a wooden door with a ring. I open it up, and I’m in a basement. There’s a lot of noise upstairs; people singing, laughing, that sort of thing. It doesn’t take me long to figure out where I am – the Happy Half-Ogre.”
The faces of the party members fell. “That doesn’t look good for Grog,” said Arrie.
“What about those orcs staying here?” asked Lanara. “Kavan had some suspicions about them not really being horse traders.”
“No,” said Kyle, shaking his head. “The tunnels that Osborn described would take months to dig. The orcs have only been here since winter. It’s possible to have dug them in that amount of time, but everyone in town would know about it. For it to stay a secret, they would have had to start last summer at the absolute latest.”
“So, that means that it’s someone in the town,” said Arrie. “Grog’s only been here six months, so he couldn’t have dug those tunnels. Besides, Osborn said they got smaller just before going into Grog’s basement. Most of his crew are pretty big people.”
“So now what?” asked Kavan.
“Tonight Xu will try going out and acting as bait as planned,” said Osborn. “I’ll follow her to make sure she’s all right.”
“I’m meeting one of the orcs out at the stables later,” Arrie said. “They wanted to buy Ghost. I’ll see how much they really know about horse trading, and see what else I can get out of them.”
“Tomorrow we should go back and have a longer talk with the mason Stonethumb,” Tolly said, “and find out exactly how much he knows about those tunnels.”
“There’s still a lot to look into,” Osborn agreed, “but right now we have a date with a pig.”
* * *
The feast did much to lift their somber moods. They laughed and talked as grease dripped from their chins. Lanara played, sang, and danced for the group, and even the normally reserved Xu was inspired to play a tune on a small reed pipe. Arrie and Autumn came dressed in their best clothing; after their trip to Dagger Rock they’d changed clothes and attempted to bluff their way into the bank vault in order to see if it was vulnerable, but they were rebuffed by the banker. As the evening wore on and the fire began to die, Elmo stood up and addressed the party.
“Thank you for coming out tonight,” he said. “What with all the trouble in town it’s been hard to get folks together like we used to. You’ve eased my burden some, and that’s no small thing at my age. I’d like you all to have something.” He reached behind the stone he’d been sitting on and pulled out a dagger, handing it to Kavan. The dagger was made of iron, and was roughly made at best. Obviously not meant to hold an edge, the dagger seemed little better than an oddly shaped metal stick. Mounted in the pommel was an oddly shaped yellowish stone of poor quality. Kavan could tell it was a diamond, though not a very good one, worth no more than a few gold at best.
“I found that, years ago, while plowing my field. I always meant to ask someone about it, but never did. It’s just sat on my mantel collecting dust. I know it’s not much, but consider it a token of my appreciation for your help today.”
Each of the party members said their thanks as they passed the dagger around. Tolly examined it closely, frowning. The workmaship was odd, almost as if it was meant to appear as crude as it did. Then a thought occurred to him, and he held the blade up, silhouetting it against the moonlight reflecting off the river. He moved the dagger until it was even with the dark shape of Dagger Rock. The resemblance was uncanny.
“Arrie,” he said, handing her the dagger, “I think your instinct about Dagger Rock being unusual may be correct.” He pointed out the comparison he’d just made to her.
Arrie contemplated the dagger, a gleam in her eye. “I may have to go swimming again tomorrow,” she said.
Soon the moon was high overhead, though it was barely visible through the clouds. The party helped extinguish the bonfire and cart the meat they’d been unable to finish into Elmo’s home. Sleepily, they returned to the Happy Half-Ogre. When they got in, Arrie began changing out of her noblewoman’s clothing and into her armor.
“Aren’t you going to sleep?” asked Autumn.
She shook her head. “I’m meeting that orc horse-trader at midnight,” she said. “I’ll be back shortly.”
Arrie went outside about a half-hour later and walked around to the stables. The smell of burnt wood and straw still permeated the air as she stepped inside. Patting Ghost on the flank, she saw the trader, Barok, standing at the far end of the building.
“So, Barok,” she asked in Orcish, “I’m here as we arranged. Tell me, what made you decide to buy my horse?”
A toothy grin was his only reply. Suddenly Arrie saw stars as something heavy hit her on the back of the head. Turning wobbily, she saw a second orc standing behind her, a cudgel in hand. He seemed rather surprised that his blow had not dropped the human woman.
Arrie’s chain was out in a flash, whipping out and raking across the thug’s chest. The orc yelped and tried to make his exit, but with another lash of the chain he was on his feet, dazed. Arrie ran up and kicked him right under the jaw with her heavy boot, knocking him cold.
She turned to deal with Barok, but found him splayed out on the ground. Standing over him, a heavy saddle clutched in his hands, the mute orc stablehand Shod glowered at the unconscious Barok. Arrie could see the imprint of Barok’s teeth embedded in the leather of the saddle.
“Nice work, Shod,” said Arrie.
Shod bowed slightly, then pointed toward the inn, and made gestures framing out a very large person.
“Right, go get Grog. Wait here.”
Just then Osborn came running into the stable. “I was out giving Rupert a walk when I heard a commotion,” he gasped. Then he saw the two unconscious orcs on the ground.
“Go get Grog, and the others,” Arrie said, “we have a couple of horse thieves here.”
Within minutes the party was gathered in the stables, where Arrie and Shod had trussed up Barok and his friend. Grog came in soon afterward, carrying a bastard sword and wearing a chainmail shirt draped over his barrel chest.
“So, shall we wake them?” Arrie asked, as Kavan used a small amount of divine power to heal the injury to her head.
“Allow me.” Tolly summoned up his own divine power, and a moment later the orcs were drenched with gallons of water that appeared over their heads. Sputtering, they looked around angrily.
“Allow me,” said Grog, stepping forward. He walked within an arm’s length of the two orcs, looking down at them. His eyes glowed red, and his hair appeared to literally burst into flames. The orcs fell silent as Grog spoke to them in Orcish.
“I am very, very upset right now,” he told them. “I suggest you talk. Now.”
Twenty minutes later the door to the Dagger Rock jail opened, and Grog walked in, dragging one of the two orcs behind him by the feet. The second was brought in by Arrie and Autumn.
“I have here two criminals,” Grog said to Leif, the young guard. “They’ve admitted to trying to steal her horse, and to setting the fire in my stable last night.”
The group watched as Grog and Leif hauled the two terrified orcs into cells. They looked at each other apprehensively; the orcs had also admitted to being paid by someone in town to run them out, but no amount of coercion had convinced the orcs to disclose the name of their employer.
“Well, at least we know for sure someone else is behind all this,” Lanara said.
“Yes, but our adversary remains hidden, while we are vulnerable,” said Xu.
Arrie watched the two orcs as they were locked up. She rubbed the bump on the back of her skull. “Then we just make sure we find out who it is and get to that bastard first,” she said.
The group talked quietly amongst themselves as they walked from the jail back to the Happy Half-Ogre. Most of them were exhausted from a long day walking about town, and Arrie in particular was nursing a lump on her head after the attack by the orcs. The idea of going down into the tunnels that evening was discussed, but quickly dismissed.
Osborn, Xu, and Lanara, who had spent the day resting in anticipation of a late night, decided to proceed with their plans. Xu walked around the streets of Dagger Rock alone, shadowed by Lanara and Osborne. Though at first Xu had difficulty remembering that she was trying to be conspicuous, eventually she broke the habit of walking in the shadows and went out into the open. Despite their best efforts, however, Xu was not the victim of an assault by the town’s mysterious muggers. In fact, a stray cat was the only living thing they saw.
The three heroes met up at the end of the town, and decided to check out the graveyard, as one of the tunnels Osborn had found came up somewhere inside the cemetery. Xu took up a position in the branches of an elm tree overlooking the graveyard, while Lanara circled around the perimeter. Osborn went inside, exploring the many gravestones. Most of the graves were marked with flat stone rectangles, though several had more traditional standing tombstones. There were two mausoleums as well, jutting into the night sky.
As he walked around, Osborn’s sensitive ears picked up a very faint sound; a dull, rhythmic chunk.
“Digging,” Osborn whispered to himself. He managed to locate the source of the noise; it came from a simple grave with a flat marker. Osborn read the inscription; Jack Kineron – He Deserved Better. A quick inspection revealed a well-hidden seam in the grass, and Osborn couls see that it concealed a wooden trapdoor with sod nailed on top of it.
Osborn went to get Xu and Lanara. “What is it?” asked Xu, after leaping out of the tree and turning a somersault in midair.
“I’ve found where the tunnel comes out in the graveyard,” the hin explained. “And I can hear digging.”
The three walked out to the graveyard and cautiously opened the trapdoor. It was pitch black below, and they could now all hear the digging sound; it seemed far away, though it was difficult to tell with the echoes coming from the tunnel. Lanara indicated that she could see nothing in the tunnel to the limit of her darkvision.
They decided to go down to investigate. Osborn led the way, as he had already been in the tunnels and knew where they led. Xu and Lanara followed, the monk holding a tiny oil lamp in her palm to provide just enough light for she and Osborn to see. They came close to a four-way intersection of tunnels, and Osborn held up his hand so that his friends would stop. He quietly crept back to speak with them.
“I can hear the digging coming from the tunnel to the left,” he whispered. “That’s the unfinished one leading to the bank. There’s also a bit of light coming from there. I’m going to peek around the corner and see what I can; you wait here and come quickly if I yell.”
Osborn moved forward again, disappearing from view as he left the radius of Xu’s dim light. After only a few minutes, he returned. Motioning for Lanara and Xu to turn around and walk back the way they came, he stopped them once they were well out of earshot.
“There are three of them,” said Osborn. “There are two elves doing the digging; one male and one female. There’s a short, balding human supervising them, holding the wheelbarrow I saw out by the cobbler’s field.”
“Anyone you recognize?” asked Lanara.
Osborn shook his head. “But there are plenty of people in town I haven’t seen yet. Yuri, for one.”
“Do you think the short human is Yuri?” Xu asked.
“Maybe,” he shrugged, “I don’t know for sure. I didn’t think Yuri would be hanging around with elves, though; I thought he didn’t like non-humans.”
“Should we try and stop them?” asked Xu.
Osborn thought about it for a moment. “Probably not. We have no idea of their capabilities, and it’s three against three right now. Neither Lanara or I are much good in a close-quarters fight, and these tunnels won’t let me get enough distance to throw daggers. I say we wait and come back tomorrow night with everyone.”
* * *
The next morning Osborn filled in the rest of the group on their discoveries. They agreed to go down to the tunnels together that evening. In the meantime, there were several people that the group wanted to speak with, mostly about Yuri. They agreed that since whoever was behind the crimes in town was obviously on to their investigation, they should all travel together to avoid any more surprises like Arrie had.
“I want to take some time to investigate Dagger Rock,” Arrie said, as she pulled on her boots. “I want to see if that dagger Elmo gave us has something to do with it.”
“Sure,” said Osborn. “Sounds like something we can do this afternoon. We’ll all swim out and have a look.”
With everyone busy getting ready to leave, no one noticed both Tolly and Lanara looking uncomfortable at the mention of swimming.
Their first stop was very close. Arrie walked down the hall and knocked on the door to the room that until recently was occupied by the orc “horse traders”. Pushing on the door, she saw Grog’s elderly maid, Esmerelda, busy cleaning up.
“Oh, hello dear,” said Esmerelda. “What can I do for you?”
“I just wanted to ask you something, if you don’t mind,” Arrie said. The rest of the party waited outside in the hallway, not wanting to mob the poor old woman.
“Well, come inside then,” Esmerelda said. “You don’t mind if I sit a spell while we talk?” She lowered herself to the edge of the bed, groaning slightly as her knees bent.
“Esmerelda,” Arrie began, “you’ve probably heard by now that we’re looking into the recent trouble in town in the hopes of clearing Grog’s name.”
“Yes, and bless you for it, dearie.”
“Well, don’t say anything to anyone yet, because we’re not sure, but some of us suspect that Yuri might be behind it. I wanted to ask you about the problems between you and him. We’ve heard the rumors, of course, about you being accused of stealing.”
“I never stole anything from him,” Esmerelda said testily.
“I know you didn’t,” said Arrie, patting the elderly woman’s hand. “I was wondering if there was some other reason Yuri let you go – something maybe you don’t talk about much?”
Esmerelda shook her head. “Near as I can figure, Yuri was looking for an excuse to let some staff go, seeing as his business weren’t too good. Fortunately Grog was there to pick us up after Yuri kicked us out. He’s hired a lot of Yuri’s old employees – besides me, there’s Sevem and Julia, and not too long ago he hired that girl Jenya to help out Matilda in the kitchen.”
Arrie nodded. “Do you know what happened to Yuri’s parents? I noticed that the Kinerons were some of the town founders, but there’s no mention of his parents, and Yuri himself only came into town a few years ago.”
Esmerelda shook her head. “Afraid I don’t know, dearie. Never met then as far as I can recall.”
“Well, did you know Jack Kineron?”
“Jack Kineron?” Esmerelda repeated. “I’m sorry, but I don’t know a Jack Kineron.”
“There’s a marker for him in the graveyard. It doesn’t say when he died, though.”
Esmerelda shook her head. “No dearie, I’ve known a lot of people in this town, but none named Jack Kineron.”
Arrie smiled, though a bit disappointed. “Thank you for talking to me. I’ll let you get back to work.”
“Oh, that’s all right, dearie. I needed the rest anyway. These old bones don’t move like they used to.”
Arrie left the room, and the party went downstairs. They proceeded to Bearclaw Manor to speak with Sidon, but his butler informed them that he was at the town jail. They stopped by in time to see him delivering food to the orc prisoners. Kyle knocked at the jail door, and they were let inside by Sidon.
“Good morning,” he said. “And good work catching these two.”
“Well, the credit really goes to Arrie and Shod,” Kyle said.
“What can I do for you?” Sidon asked. “Have you found out who’s behind these crimes?”
“Not yet,” said Osborn, “but we think we’re close. We wanted to ask you what you know about Yuri.”
Sidon scratched at the beard stubble on his chin. “Well, not much. He came into town just shortly after I did. He built the Dagger Rock Tavern across from the Hearthfire, and then started buying up land around here. He leases a lot of the land to people in town around here. Then Grog came and built his place, and since then Yuri’s been stirring up the town against him.”
“Probably burned him up to see a person not of pure human blood being successful,” commented Osborn.
“Huh? Oh, Yuri’s not racist,” Sidon paused for a moment. “Well, I suppose he doesn’t care much for orcs or folks with orc blood, which is probably why he had a problem with Sevem, but he’s not nearly as bad as that drunkard Jim. No, I think his beef with Grog is just that he’s losing customers.”
“Do you know anything about Yuri’s parents?”
Sidon shook his head. “Like I said, Yuri came here from Vharnath just after me. I’d heard he had roots here, but I have no idea about his parents.”
“What about a Jack Kineron? Is he like an uncle, or cousin or something?”
Sidon looked confused. “Who?”
“Jack Kineron,” Osborn repeated. “There’s a marker for him in the graveyard.”
“You must be mistaken,” said Sidon. “The only Kinerons up there are Yuri’s grandparents, Piter and Hannah. Until Yuri came back those were the only Kinerons that ever lived here.”
“Interesting,” Osborn muttered to himself. “Well, we’d best be getting on our way.”
“Okay, then,” Sidon said. “Just remember that whatever you find out, we need evidence. Either some physical proof, or something that either myself or one of the other councilmen can witness.”
Osborn smiled, thinking of the network of tunnels that lay under Captain Bearclaw’s feet. “Oh, I’m sure we can find something.”
As they were about to leave, Kavan spoke up. “Captain, I was wondering if there are any elves living nearby. I’ve not seen any, and I long for the company of my own people.”
“Well, there’s Tristan the ranger, who lives out in the forest,” said Sidon. “But he’s elf-touched, so not quite what you’re looking for. Oh, and of course there’s Rinlin and Aeoli.”
“Who are they?” Kavan asked.
“Oh, I think they’re siblings or something. They came to town a few months ago, and they’re working for Yuri now. They’ll probably be at the tavern.”
The group looked at each other knowingly. “Thank you,” said Kavan.
The group hurried through the rest of their morning. They attempted to confront the dwarven mason Mexalo Stonethumb about the tunnels and what he knew, but Stonethumb refused to speak with them, slamming the door in Kyle’s face. Convinced he was somehow involved but not wanting to break down the door in the middle of the day, they moved on. On the way to the river Tolly stopped by the wine shop on a hunch and spoke with Gretchen again. He learned that she did, indeed, keep two guard dogs named Buttercup and Cream Puff in the basement to guard her wine, confirming their suspicion that one of the tunnels emerged under her shop.
The group arrived at the riverbank close to Dagger Rock. Several of the group began stripping down in preparation for the swim to the obelisk. Tolly tugged at his breastplate near the neckline, and Lanara almost looked green.
“I’m not going swimming,” she said flatly.
“I have no wish to enter the water myself,” agreed Tolly.
Arrie, who was already wading out, turned around, water lapping at her knees. “Well,” she said, looking at Lanara, “if you want you can stay here with Autumn,” she pointed toward her sister, who was sitting on a nearby boulder watching. “But you have to come, Tolly. You’re the only one who knows about stonework.”
“Be that as it may, I cannot and will not swim,” he repeated.
Arrie sighed and climbed out of the water. She walked a short distance downstream, toward a cluster of small boats in the middle of the river. “Hey!” she shouted to the fishermen, “we want to hire a boat!”
One of the fishermen, who didn’t seem to be having much luck anyway, pulled in his nets and began rowing to shore. The keel ground to a halt in the sandy shoreline.
“A little bird tells me you’re looking to hire a boat,” he said.
“Yeah, a little bird with a fifteen-foot-long chain,” said Lanara quietly to herself.
“Yes, we would, sir, if you don’t mind,” said Arrie.
The fisherman looked at the assembled group. “I can’t take all of you,” he said.
“Not all of us, just him.” Arrie jerked her thumb over her shoulder to indicate the Ardaran priest.
The fisherman eyed Tolly. “He planning on wearing that armor out there?”
“Yup,” answered Kyle. “Actually, I don’t think he can take it off.”
With a quick exchange of coin the group was once more on its way to Dagger Rock. Once they reached the lip surrounding the obelisk, they began walking around, studying it. Osborn was especially diligent, feeling around in the muck with his bare toes for anything unusual even as he studied the sheer stone surface. Tolly, safe in his boat, cast detect magic.
“The entire thing is faintly magical,” he said. “Perhaps some mild preservative enchantment, or the lingering aura from a more powerful spell. The dagger that Elmo gave us doesn’t radiate any magic.”
After a few minutes, Osborn suddenly stopped. “Wait a minute…” he knelt down and felt the stone surface under his feet, the water coming up to his chin. “There’s some sort of hole here, covered in slime… it’s deep, but narrow…” Osborn looked up at Tolly. “Hand me that dagger.”
Tolly tossed the dagger-shaped lump of metal to the hin, who immediately plunged it under the water. A moment later, those standing on the obelisk felt a slight shudder, and there was a sudden swirl of water just in front of Osborn. As the group gathered, they saw that a secret compartment had opened up in the stone just under the water. The fisherman’s eyes got large.
Osborn reached into the boat, where he’d stashed some of his gear in case he’d needed to climb the rock itself, and pulled out a small sack of coins. Pressing it into the fisherman’s hand, he said quietly, “We’d appreciate it if you kept this to yourself for a while.”
The fisherman nodded and pocketed the money, likely more than he’d see from an entire season of fishing.
Meanwhile, Ari had already dove down into the chamber. She came up a moment later. “Looks like an old stash,” she said. “Most of it’s rotten, but there a few items left, including an iron chest. It’ll take a few trips, but I can get it all out.”
“Let me help,” Kyle said. He concentrated for a moment on his inner power, and called up his innate Talent. A translucent form appeared next to Kyle. “Go down into the chamber there,” Kyle said, pointing, “retrieve any item you can carry and bring it up to this boat.” The unseen servant immediately disappeared into the chamber, appearing as an amorphous bubble under the water.
It only took a few minutes to clear out the chamber. They quickly rowed back to shore, thanking the fisherman for his assistance and discretion. Osborn tried to jimmy the lock on the chest, but it was rusted shut. Autumn handed her sister a crowbar, and Arrie immediately put the “warrior’s lockpick” to good use, breaking open the chest. Inside they found a well-preserved book, three sealed vials, a gold ring fastened to a leather necklace, and a scimitar, the blade engraved with images of basilisks, displacer beasts, manticores, and hydras.
“Well,” said Lanara, looking over everyone’s shoulder, “either this’ll be our bonus for a job well done, or Grog’s farewell present.”
* * *
Flush with excitement from their unexpected find, the group decided to have lunch at the Heathfire Inn. They’d hoped to try the Dagger Rock Tavern to see what Yuri and his elven helpers looked like, but it wasn’t open yet. The group ate a pleasant, if unremarkable meal at the Hearthfire. Most of the customers looked as if they’d been going there for many, many years. They talked with the locals as they ate, and learned a few interesting facts – the first was that no one had ever heard of someone named Jack Kineron in town. The story of Yuri’s parents was finally revealed; the original Kinerons had always been infected with wanderlust and a need to expand their horizons; so while Yuri’s grandparents had been part of the town’s founding, their children found Dagger Rock too settled for their taste, and simply left. The most important thing they learned was that Yuri was a short, balding man, and his workers Rinlin and Aeoli matched the description of the two elves Osborn had seen the previous night.
On the way back to the Happy Half-Ogre to rest, Osborn swung by the jail. “We’re coming by your place at midnight tonight,” he whispered to Sidon when he opened the door, “be ready, and you’ll have your answers.”
Sidon nodded. “Then I’d better get some rest,” he said.
That evening, Sidon was waiting for the party outside his home, dressed in his armor and carrying a sword. He followed the group into the graveyard, and his eyebrows arched in surprise when they lifted the secret trapdoor on Jack Kineron’s grave. Osborn put a finger to his lips, then cupped a hand to his ear. Sidon listened intently, and heard the same thing they’d heard the night before – digging.
“There’s a whole network of tunnels under the town,” Osborn said, lowering the trapdoor temporarily. “One branch connects to the cobbler’s stables, another comes out here, another in the basement of the winemaker’s shop, and another one in Grog’s basement. There’s one tunnel which ends in a small room that I couldn’t figure out how to get out of, but I think it comes up somewhere near the middle of town. The tunnel that you can hear them digging is headed toward the bank vault.”
Sidon’s eyes widened. “I think I need to see this for myself,” he said.
The group moved down the tunnels toward the sound of digging. Most of them stopped at the intersection to block any escape, while Osborn led Sidon forward to the bank tunnel. They came back a few minutes later.
“That’s Yuri, all right,” whispered Sidon, “and Rinlin and Aeoli too. I never would have expected anything this big.”
“We think that they have created an artificial panic in town with these robberies,” said Tolly. “Causing more people to place their valuables in the bank vaults. Yuri gets the money, Grog is voted out of town which eliminates the competition, and once the tunnel connecting the vault to Grog’s inn is discovered he would naturally be blamed for the robbery as well, leaving Yuri blameless.”
“Well, now what?” asked Arrie. “Do we jump them?”
“I think if we just confront them all together,” said Captain Bearclaw, “they should surrender without a fight.”
Indeed, as the group of nine seasoned adventurers rounded the corner and confronted the three diggers, they very quickly realized the odds were against them and gave up. The party helped bring the shackled prisoners up to the surface, where they were led into the jail by Sidon. Once secure, Sidon pulled out a pair of heavy leather gauntlets and began pulling them on.
“I’ll need some privacy to interrogate the prisoners,” he said. “I’ll send Raymond to go get Logan Ironhand up and join you. I think you ought to go take a look at the Dagger Rock Tavern.”
The group emerged from the jail, eager to put the final nail in Yuri’s coffin. “I think we should head back into the tunnels,” said Osborn. “I want to check out that dead-end tunnel one more time. If it leads into Yuri’s place, which I think it does, it’s going to be a lot easier to come up from below than it will be to find the entrance from the tavern.”
Sure enough, once Osborn crawled into the small alcove, he found what he was looking for. Perhaps Yuri and his crew had been less cautious tonight than before, but this time the hin easily spotted the hidden pull-ring that opened the secret door. The party emerged into a long room, containing nothing but a table with six chairs around it. On one wall was a map of the entire tunnel system, showing the intended path straight to the vaults. Autumn pulled the map off the wall and rolled it up. “Evidence,” she said.
Kyle looked at the table. “Six chairs,” he mused. “I think we’ve only caught half the conspirators here.”
Kavan’s head perked up suddenly. He’d caught the faint feel of a breeze where there shouldn’t have been as he walked toward the door. Stepping back, he examined the wall. “There’s another secret passage here,” Kavan said. He pushed on the wall, and it swung open.
“Wait here,” Tolly said, summoning a light. “I’ll check it out.”
The rest of the group sat patiently while Tolly went into the darkness. Osborn listened at the door at the far end of the room. “I hear something inside,” he said. “It sounds like a cat.”
They opened the door and found a small closet. Inside were two large chests, and perched atop one of them was a large cat. Osborn, Lanara, and Xu recognized it as the one they’d seen in the streets the night they’d tried to act as decoys. Kavan attempted to pick the cat up to pet it, but it clawed and hissed at him, then bolted out of the closet and down the hole they’d come in.
“I was just trying to be nice,” said Kavan sadly.
“Well, I’m sure it’s not your fault,” said Osborn, who was already working on the lock of one of the chests.
Tolly came back a minute later. “This leads into a large bedroom, I presume Yuri’s. There’s a hallway that leads into a hidden part of the tavern, where it looks like he’s set up some sort of gambling hall.”
“Is gambling legal here?” asked Arrie.
“I’m not certain. We’ll ask Captain Bearclaw when we get the chance.”
“I don’t think we’ll need to worry about it much,” Osborn said. He was working on the second chest, but pointed at the first one, which was open. “If I had to guess, I’d say that’s all the stuff that’s been stolen from the town.”
Within minutes Yuri’s tavern had let go all its secrets. Lanara found another hidden door while exploring Yuri’s closet, which led out into the main room of the tavern. She walked out just as Logan Ironhand and his son Raymond came in through the front door.
“Oh, you’re just in time,” she called out to them.
* * *
The party gathered around one of Grog’s large tables, enjoying the last remnants of a feast. Captain Bearclaw was with them, as was all of Grog’s staff, with one notable exception.
Between the diary kept by the elven wizard Aeoli (who was Rinlin’s wife, it turned out, not his sister) and Yuri’s confession, the whole story had come out. Yuri had known the elven couple back in Vharnath, and had recruited them for this job; in addition to digging, they had also been the burglars and muggers, using Aeoli’s magic to remain unidentified. Their accomplices were Jim Aransee, who turned out not to be quite the drunkard that everyone thought. He’d acted as the eyes and ears of the conspirators. Keeping an eye on Grog was Kayla, the cook’s assistant Grog had hired recently. A search of her apartment above the wine shop turned up a supply of debilitating poisons, which was apparently Yuri’s fallback plan should the bank heist go awry. The sixth conspirator turned out to be Mexalo Stonethumb, who turned himself in. Yuri had blackmailed him when the tavern owner found out that Mexalo had seriously overcharged the town for building the jail.
“So what’ll happen to them?” asked Arrie.
“Mexalo’s agreed to work off his debt. The others have been banished on pain of death. As for Yuri, everything he had – which turned out to be surprising little, thanks to his gambling debts – is forfeited to the town, and as for him… we’ll take care of his sentencing right here in town.”
As if Sidon’s meaning wasn’t clear enough, Grog grinned and drew his thumb across his neck.
“Well, if you’ll excuse me,” said Sidon, standing up, “I’m going home and getting some rest at last.” He walked out the door to the sound of hearty farewells.
“Well, yer as good as yer word, young’uns,” said Grog, grinning. “Ye saved my inn and my crew, and I thank ye for that. Now, I’ve promised ye a reward, and ye’ll get it – I’ve left it up in yer rooms, just to be discreet about it. Stay here as long as ye like before ye have to leave.”
Thanking their host profusely, the party soon went upstairs to collect their reward and turn in. But as they opened the door, they saw their instructor, Shilsen, sitting on the bed, holding the magical jambiya that Arrie had found on the orcs.
“So, it seems as though it’s been a job well done,” he said, looking at them. “You should be proud of yourselves.”
“Thank you,” said Tolly. “It was an interesting simulation, to be sure.”
“Simulation?” Shilsen smiled. “No, I think you’re mistaken. Dagger Rock is a real place, and you actually did walk here. It’s in the Farmer’s Circle, a group of villages that surrounds the city of Vharnath. No, you’ve actually been on a real mission, and helped real people.”
The party looked around at each other, not knowing what to say.
“The Tower feels that a final examination should take place ‘in the field’, so to speak, to give them a chance to see what it’s really like out there,” Shilsen explained.
“Wait,” Lanara said, “did you say ‘final exam’?”
“Why, yes, Lanara, I did. Aren’t you glad you came to class on time for this one?” Shilsen smiled as he stood up. “I’m pleased to say that you’ve all passed, and will graduate from the Tower. Speaking of which, the graduation ceremony’s in three days. If you set a good pace, you should just barely make it back to Trageon in time.” With that, Shilsen twisted a gem on a bracelet he wore, and vanished.
An audible groan filled the room.
-----------------------------
We learned some valuable things in this adventure. The main thing we learned is that a mystery-style adventure takes forever with eight players. THis is a relatively short published adventure, and it took us four sessions to finish. With a group as large as ours, there's no reason not to split up to investigate leads, which means the DM's dealing with four groups of two instead of one group of eight. We also ended up chasing a lot of red herrings and side plots (like Dagger Rock itself) that in a smaller group might have gone untouched. IN the end, we were all so weary of the adventure (including the DM) that the final confrontation was glossed over (though realistically Yuri and his flunkies had no chance against eight of us anyway). We've agreed to avoid these types of adventures in the future - though individually none of us has a problem with an investigative adventure, the group dynamics don't support this particular style.
So, from this point on no more school setting - it's for real now! (Cue ominous music)
) took shelter in a monastery and learned their ways. Usually quiet, she expresses herself on the battlefield.
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