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Story Hour
Dear Mom - Mishap Adventures of a Mommy's Elf
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<blockquote data-quote="Lwaxy" data-source="post: 5805708" data-attributes="member: 53286"><p>Letters from the 14th of Dhai</p><p></p><p></p><p>Dear Mom</p><p></p><p>I was so right not to go into the sewers. It would have been a trap. We are out, clean and, more importantly, alive. Flip has a concussion and needs a few days worth of bed rest. He says he is not going to let any magic get to him if he can avoid it. He explained it to me. Did you know you can be allergic to magic?I never suspected! Turns out he starts twitching when magic is worked on or to close by him. I'm tempted to make it an experiment but Nev insists it would be immoral. I will at least read up on it at the temple. </p><p></p><p>But I disgress. After we've considered all sides, we naturally went with what Nev and I suggested. Which means we decided to get into that councilors house, heavily guarded or not. After some hesitation, Uthas said he would probably be able to bring some allys, and Flip went of to get some supplies without telling us what he meant by that. We met a few streets from the mansion in the better area of the city. Flip was there with a bundle of key-like tools, which he assured me would get him into and out of anything. Uthas looked a bit nervous when he arrived, followed by a bunch of armed, dark cloaked figures. Before I could ask we heard a snarly voice from one of them uttering some sort of greeting and what passed for a ruffian's thanks for a welcome distraction. To make a long story short, it was the pirate orcs we had somewhat deal with earlier... whatever their ship was called again. Turns out they are so nervous because a wizard had paid them to steal something magical for him and not showed up yet to get it. Uthas promised we'd help find the wizard and, if we could not find him, would pay the other half of the money he was owing them and take it with us. They are not too happy with anything magical on their ship, especially not knowing what it does, which I can understand. </p><p></p><p>This seemed a bit above Uthas' usual line of thinking, so I looked at Flip, who sheepishly confessed to have had a hand in the negotiations before he ent to pick up his new toys. I would have chastized him, but it was really a good move. I got the idea we could use the orcs as a distraction to engage the guardsmen watching the mansion, and then slip inside with the help of a bit of magic. Nev has learned a new spell creating a zone where everyone would be hidden in plain sight as long as we would not draw direct attention to us. It would only last a minute or two, but that should do it as the door to the garden was, as last time we checked, wide open. Deliveries were still going in and out. </p><p></p><p>The whole scam worked quite well at first. The orcs pretended to be drunk and harassing Flip, so the guard did their duty and came to the halfling's rescue. The orcs really made a show of really being misunderstood and just wanting some property back, and while the guards had their hands full with them, Flip hurried over to us and Nev did his spell. We could slip inside without a problem, except that Uthas almost bumped into a servant, which would have somewhat killed the spell effect. </p><p></p><p>We were now in a big and well kept garden, well able to rival one of our lesser estates at home. The two guards on the roof were totally focussed on the scene with the orcs so we got close enough to the wall before they could see us. To our surprise, the front door stood slightly ajar. That got us all alert, because obviously it makes little sense to protect a place that well and then leave the door open. Not if you want to keep someone in there safe. To us, it looked more like the house was used as a go-through, to hide something else. </p><p></p><p>We sneaked in and checked out the ground floor. To our left, the living room was empty and undisturbed. The adjacent dining room had a wide variety of food and a place set up for the lord of the house to eat, but the food was all cold. Didn't stop Uthas and Flip from helping themselves, of course. In the kitchen, at the end of the hall, it looked like all was fine at first but then we found that the silverware was lying all about and a lot of it seemed missing. We had a bit of a discussion – well, a hand waving contest really, as we didn't want to make much sound – about where to go next, upstairs or downstairs. Nev and me were all for downstairs this time; after all it had all been about using the sewers before, and we had pretty much agreed that the marks on the sewer map would be somewhere around this mansion. But no, of course now, Flip and Uthas wanted to check upstairs first. Something about the situation being all weird and not wanting for anyone to fall into our backs. As if that could not nhappen the other way around as well, but they got Nev to agree with them so we went upstairs. Luckily, the stairs didn't make any sounds like in the horror stories of our childhood. </p><p></p><p>The doors upstairs were all closed, but we could hear the sounds of someone rumaging through one of the rooms. It turned out to be the study, and it looked like a storm had blown through. Torn papers everywhere and toppled over furniture. Before I could decide on anything, Nev used a hold person spell and Uthas quickly ran to hold the man's mouth shut before the surprise was gone. From the symbol on the man's shirt, he was a cultist. Why he would ransack the home of a councilor who seemed in league with them was curious, but right then we just wanted him secured. Unfortunately, he started to struggle and Uthas lost his patience and just broke the man's neck. Just like that. He terrifies me at times. </p><p></p><p>Flip searched the body and turned up several stolen goods including the missing silverware. There was also a very rough map of the Temple of Knowledge. We had to think twice about what it was supposed to be. </p><p></p><p>Uthas had sneaked out and was now returning with a second dead thief – he said he had heard him rumaging in the wardrobe. He, too, had all sorts of stolen goods with him. A note was among the loot in which Verlaine authorized an inflitration – more likely an attack – on the temple. By now, I was utterly confused. Flip didn't seem to be, he made 'that face' – you know, when he suddenly gets it all to click for some reason. </p><p></p><p>Nev and Uthas went to check out the bedroom, but Flip held me back. He said that we had to get out of there quick, that we were being set up. And that we hgad to hurry to the temple to warn the priests. But we had not yet checked out the basement. I was about to tell him that when Flip and Nev came back. They had found the body of Verlaine and some of his guards in the bedroom. Flip repeated his insistence on getting out of here and back to the Temple of Knowledge, but when we hurried downstairs, we could see the guards outside had finally turned away the orcs, and we would have a hard time explaining the situation. </p><p></p><p>Flip mumbled something about them having expected us to come through the sewers and left guards outside to lure them in once we were there. It did make sense to me finally, but the problem how to get out again remained. Uthas finally suggested the sewers again – he has a brain up there somewhere it seems – but that's really not something I wanted to consider. Flip then suggested getting up on the roof and let the guards there sleep for a bit, so Nev and me could fly off. He knew of course that Nev can do a fly spell lasting long enough to get us out of there. He said he and Uthas would take the sewers and get to the temple directly, suggesting that we would take somewhat longer. We agreed to that. </p><p></p><p>Flip had some darts with a sleeping drug on them he said he aquired earlier this morning. He really surprised me with that. The two guards went down almost silently, but some guards from below had heard something, so everyone but Nev and Uthas flopped to the shingles while the two of them waved back at them to signal all was fine. It was a tense moment, but it worked. </p><p></p><p>Nev and me waited a few minutes so we could be sure the others were back down and on their way into the basement, which worried me a bit because they were only two and there might be more of those mad men around. Nev suggested that with what we had seen from Uthas earlier, we would not need to worry. He put the spell on us and we flew out to the other side of the street, off from the gate.</p><p></p><p>The temple is, thank the gods, not that far away. Yet there was a fog creeping up from the sea reaching up to the merchant's district, and it made it hard enough to see anything, even with the well tended lights of Freeport. The only good thing about that was that the cult fools would be slowed down the same way, at least that was what we hoped. </p><p></p><p>Not too much later, about a corner or so away, Nev said we were followed. How he discerned that, I have no idea. But he pulled me over to a wall and into a doorway, away from any light, and when we stood still I could hear it, too – the muffled steps of several people behind us. And a moment later, some dark cloaked figures showed up. From the way some of them moved, they must have been elves. Nev did his hide in plain sight thing again, and from earlier situations similar to this one, I knew to put some shost sounds out into the fog and direct them away from us. But this changed everything. If they had followed us here, they were evne better organized. Nev says they were not cultists but who else would follow us? This was too much to be a coincidence. </p><p></p><p>They would probably notice they were fooled sooner than later, so I pointed at the temple behind us. We had been standing in the doorway, and as temples are always open in Freeport, Nev agreed to slip inside to get out of the reach of our pursuers. It happened to be the Temple of Nature, which was a good thing as we could just pray while there; we definitely could use some divine help by now. Also,. No one would wonder why we were there. Our worries about our companions had to be put aside for our own safety. After all, we are of royal blood and important to the Realm. </p><p></p><p>I'll give the others some paper now and let them add to the story so I do not hog all the spotlight. </p><p></p><p>Your loving son Orlath</p><p></p><p></p><p>Most High Lady Theka</p><p></p><p></p><p>I will tell the story of Uthas and me from when we left Verlaine's house. </p><p></p><p>We went downstairs and into the wine cellar undisturbed. After some search, I found a hidden door there, leading through a badly secured tunnel into the cult's reconstructed temple. It looked very bizzar, partly like a cave with stalactites all over, partly like something from another dimension as the stones seemed to bend very weirdly. Uthas hated the place but followed me in anyway. </p><p></p><p>We came out right behind a large of those grotesque statues of their unspeakable ugly god. Which was a good thing as on the altar, which was on a platform in front of the uglyness, we could see a bound figure. It turned out to be your friend Brother Egil. There was a brazier with hot coals holding a branding iron, and aq cloaked figure – what's it with those cloaks anyway? – walked around the prisoner, waving incense. The scent wasn't bad, good thing, and it sure masked the large fart Uthas let rip just then. I should probably not mention this to Your Highness but the echoing noise was why the cultist saw us before we could sneak up on him. </p><p></p><p>Lucky for us, the wretch was so baffled by our appearance, he just stared and allowed me to sink a knife right into his chest. Without your honored son present, I decided not to worry about possible redemption of anyone. We needed to warn the priests of the temple, after all. To that effect, because we were in a hurry, Uthas just grabbed the badly beat up Egil and threw him over his shoulder. I retrieved my knife and then we made way to the other end of the temple, where we saw an exit. We ran around a u-shaped corridor and passed two rooms, one looked like a library – of course – and the other was a storeroom. We had no time for either. </p><p></p><p>We came around a few bends and then there was a steep upward slope. Thanks to our burden, I had to use my grappling hook to allow us to move on, and even then it was difficult. Good thing Uthas is so strong! We finbally exited into the sewers, and, ignoring the stench, made to the next visible exit. The stairs we found were stepp, and again it was difficult to carry Egil up but we managed. Once out and in relative safety, we sat him down and removed his bounds. He was afraid of us for a moment. He thought we might be shapeshifted serpent people. We half carried him along while telling him of the planned attack, and he finally got we were really us. </p><p></p><p>When we got to the temple, thanks to Egil we were led right to the high priest, Thuron, while Egil was taken away to be treated. The old man was weary, he seemed to have expected this day to come. He said he would tell us what it was all about if we would manage to defend the temple and survive the night. That got me wondering just how many cultists he was expecting to show up. In any case, he had the alarm roused, and the priest were prepared. Uthas agreed to help in the defense of the temple without asking me. I decided to slip away once the attention was on preparing for a fight, because the priests really looked nothing like fighters. I knew where the orcs would wait for us not far away from there and decided to get them. </p><p></p><p>I was really hurrying up, by my legs arfe short and it also took a moment to convince those pirates to help again. When we came back, the fight was in full action. According to what Uthas told us later, a bunch of cultists had arrived disguised as ambushed priests after slaying the originals. Thus, they got inside temple before they were revealed to be fakes. Uthas and several priests were wounded, some unconscious. Captain Scarbelly and his crew dug right into them, happy to be able to do some legal slaughter. I have to give them that, it was easy to see why they were so successful as pirates. </p><p></p><p>The leader of the cultists, a female, decided to revert to snake form. Didn't make her any prettier. She went from normal fight to suddenly slinging spells around. Dark priests and their wound spells, that is never good. I think it was one of those spells that managed to kill an already wounded first mate of the pirate crew. This made the captain super angry though, and he went on a rampage. That was the end of that snake woman, who could not produce more spells by then I guess. The rest of the cultists tried to flee but the orcs cut them all down. With the carnage done, they laughed and left, telling us to meet them in the evening the next day. </p><p></p><p>That was when Nev and your son showed up. I let the others go from here. </p><p></p><p>Your humble servant Flip</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Bosslady, </p><p></p><p>fight was good, but hard. Not just like snaping the necks of some thief. No son of yours to protect so I better fighter! Pirates came to rescue when it show that priests all not know what end of a weapon is front. May is temple of knowing things but they lack the good knowing. Cultist folk fight with long knife with weird name and magic and them held me with some spell then knock me up good. But we win because as saying is, many orcs can cull a party </p><p></p><p>Then Nev and Orlath show up. I think now we done and they did some heal on us, but then boss priest says to talk to him. Lead us to the tombs, not good place for talk. I get suspes suspac didn't trust him but Nev said is all fine. Son of yours did some spell to see if was safe. But then boos priest turn out not to be boss priest but other snake man! He show us body of real boss who he says died when he first came to the temple when he folow Lucius from his trip to some village in the montins. He has made hidden bury place for old priest and then shape change to be him. I got a bit confuzzled here so Nev explain what is matter. </p><p></p><p>~U</p><p></p><p></p><p>Honored Lady Theka!</p><p></p><p></p><p>What has been said so far is already most of the story. Orlath and I decided to finally sneak out the backdoor of the temple and then lost our way in the foggy alleys. When the battle around the temple started, we followed the sounds, which turns out to be somewhat difficult in a fog, too. So, we came too late to be of help, but they managed without us very well. </p><p></p><p>Yes, the old priest was really a serpent guy, but a good one. He was so sorry he missed the intrusion of others by his race into the temple, as he was busy searching for new knowledge. He is a true priest of the God of Knowledge, though. His true name is K'Stallo, and he has intercepted a note in snake language, addressed to Drac. He had to translate it for us. He has come across a draft of a speech this wannabe city leader, Drac, is supposed to give tomorrow. I copy it here: </p><p></p><p>"This evening, Councilor Verlaine and the clergy of the God of Knowledge have been slain. Their murderers are the adventurers who of late discovered the caverns beneath our town. After an investigation by the Council and the City Watch, we have pieced together the truth.</p><p></p><p>Chief Councilor Verlaine, that great servant to the city of Freeport, heard rumors about town of unwholesome activities at the temple to the God of Knowledge. He hired the wandering mercenaries to investigate. They made a tremendous discovery: The temple and its priesthood were a cover for the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign, a grotesque cult of serpent people. The mercenaries joined the temple to gain its secrets, but they proved treacherous to both masters. They revealed the caves beneath the city and threatened to expose even more secrets unless the Brotherhood paid them a fortune in gold. </p><p></p><p>The Brotherhood agreed to their demands, on condition that the mercenaries accept one final task for their serpent masters—assassinating their erstwhile employer, Councilor Verlaine. The double-crossers carried out the grim job, but they quickly found themselves double-crossed. The Brotherhood refused to pay them their blood money. The mercenaries went mad with rage and slaughtered the cultists, but were killed themselves in the battle.We mourn the loss of Councilor Verlaine, but his efforts brought this menace to light—and rooted it out of town, once and for all."</p><p></p><p>Yes, quite, I'd say Drac or whoever sent him this didn't do his homework in regards to our heritage, or he would know Orlath and me to be royals of the highest standing, not prone to wanton violence and certainly not in need or wealth or inclined to conspire with stupid cultists. But this means the city ruler is a part of this dark cult. Maybe it is time to send Lhess now. We could certainly use a paladin. </p><p></p><p>We have agreed that K'stallo should keep up his disguise for now. There is no way Drac can use the speech in any case, as the temple still stands and the bodies of the cultists will be burned in secret as to not to alert the public yet. We cannot know who else is involved, so the temple is now our only base of security, and we will move quarters here, Orlath has decided. The guard is mostly corrupted as it seems so we'll not involve the officials in any way. </p><p></p><p>Ever in Your service</p><p></p><p>Nevukh</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Additional letter sent by Flip later on:</p><p></p><p></p><p>Most High Lady Theka! </p><p></p><p></p><p>I have to be direct here, Your Highness, but you have to do something about your son's, and partly Nev's, attitudes. At one time, he is reckless, and then he seems to want to hide from all responsibilities. He knows you have sent us here to see what is wrong with the city, despite this all being labeled as a study trip. Yet, he doesn't act on it and keeps mentioning that the city is, as the obvious name says, a free port. </p><p></p><p>He is, as you said when we left, treating life as a game. I am but a servant and am as loyal as possible as long as I am not faced with certain destruction. Forgive me, Milady, but my will to live is greater than my readiness to die for the stupid decisions of someone else. </p><p></p><p>Your humble servant Flip</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lwaxy, post: 5805708, member: 53286"] Letters from the 14th of Dhai Dear Mom I was so right not to go into the sewers. It would have been a trap. We are out, clean and, more importantly, alive. Flip has a concussion and needs a few days worth of bed rest. He says he is not going to let any magic get to him if he can avoid it. He explained it to me. Did you know you can be allergic to magic?I never suspected! Turns out he starts twitching when magic is worked on or to close by him. I'm tempted to make it an experiment but Nev insists it would be immoral. I will at least read up on it at the temple. But I disgress. After we've considered all sides, we naturally went with what Nev and I suggested. Which means we decided to get into that councilors house, heavily guarded or not. After some hesitation, Uthas said he would probably be able to bring some allys, and Flip went of to get some supplies without telling us what he meant by that. We met a few streets from the mansion in the better area of the city. Flip was there with a bundle of key-like tools, which he assured me would get him into and out of anything. Uthas looked a bit nervous when he arrived, followed by a bunch of armed, dark cloaked figures. Before I could ask we heard a snarly voice from one of them uttering some sort of greeting and what passed for a ruffian's thanks for a welcome distraction. To make a long story short, it was the pirate orcs we had somewhat deal with earlier... whatever their ship was called again. Turns out they are so nervous because a wizard had paid them to steal something magical for him and not showed up yet to get it. Uthas promised we'd help find the wizard and, if we could not find him, would pay the other half of the money he was owing them and take it with us. They are not too happy with anything magical on their ship, especially not knowing what it does, which I can understand. This seemed a bit above Uthas' usual line of thinking, so I looked at Flip, who sheepishly confessed to have had a hand in the negotiations before he ent to pick up his new toys. I would have chastized him, but it was really a good move. I got the idea we could use the orcs as a distraction to engage the guardsmen watching the mansion, and then slip inside with the help of a bit of magic. Nev has learned a new spell creating a zone where everyone would be hidden in plain sight as long as we would not draw direct attention to us. It would only last a minute or two, but that should do it as the door to the garden was, as last time we checked, wide open. Deliveries were still going in and out. The whole scam worked quite well at first. The orcs pretended to be drunk and harassing Flip, so the guard did their duty and came to the halfling's rescue. The orcs really made a show of really being misunderstood and just wanting some property back, and while the guards had their hands full with them, Flip hurried over to us and Nev did his spell. We could slip inside without a problem, except that Uthas almost bumped into a servant, which would have somewhat killed the spell effect. We were now in a big and well kept garden, well able to rival one of our lesser estates at home. The two guards on the roof were totally focussed on the scene with the orcs so we got close enough to the wall before they could see us. To our surprise, the front door stood slightly ajar. That got us all alert, because obviously it makes little sense to protect a place that well and then leave the door open. Not if you want to keep someone in there safe. To us, it looked more like the house was used as a go-through, to hide something else. We sneaked in and checked out the ground floor. To our left, the living room was empty and undisturbed. The adjacent dining room had a wide variety of food and a place set up for the lord of the house to eat, but the food was all cold. Didn't stop Uthas and Flip from helping themselves, of course. In the kitchen, at the end of the hall, it looked like all was fine at first but then we found that the silverware was lying all about and a lot of it seemed missing. We had a bit of a discussion – well, a hand waving contest really, as we didn't want to make much sound – about where to go next, upstairs or downstairs. Nev and me were all for downstairs this time; after all it had all been about using the sewers before, and we had pretty much agreed that the marks on the sewer map would be somewhere around this mansion. But no, of course now, Flip and Uthas wanted to check upstairs first. Something about the situation being all weird and not wanting for anyone to fall into our backs. As if that could not nhappen the other way around as well, but they got Nev to agree with them so we went upstairs. Luckily, the stairs didn't make any sounds like in the horror stories of our childhood. The doors upstairs were all closed, but we could hear the sounds of someone rumaging through one of the rooms. It turned out to be the study, and it looked like a storm had blown through. Torn papers everywhere and toppled over furniture. Before I could decide on anything, Nev used a hold person spell and Uthas quickly ran to hold the man's mouth shut before the surprise was gone. From the symbol on the man's shirt, he was a cultist. Why he would ransack the home of a councilor who seemed in league with them was curious, but right then we just wanted him secured. Unfortunately, he started to struggle and Uthas lost his patience and just broke the man's neck. Just like that. He terrifies me at times. Flip searched the body and turned up several stolen goods including the missing silverware. There was also a very rough map of the Temple of Knowledge. We had to think twice about what it was supposed to be. Uthas had sneaked out and was now returning with a second dead thief – he said he had heard him rumaging in the wardrobe. He, too, had all sorts of stolen goods with him. A note was among the loot in which Verlaine authorized an inflitration – more likely an attack – on the temple. By now, I was utterly confused. Flip didn't seem to be, he made 'that face' – you know, when he suddenly gets it all to click for some reason. Nev and Uthas went to check out the bedroom, but Flip held me back. He said that we had to get out of there quick, that we were being set up. And that we hgad to hurry to the temple to warn the priests. But we had not yet checked out the basement. I was about to tell him that when Flip and Nev came back. They had found the body of Verlaine and some of his guards in the bedroom. Flip repeated his insistence on getting out of here and back to the Temple of Knowledge, but when we hurried downstairs, we could see the guards outside had finally turned away the orcs, and we would have a hard time explaining the situation. Flip mumbled something about them having expected us to come through the sewers and left guards outside to lure them in once we were there. It did make sense to me finally, but the problem how to get out again remained. Uthas finally suggested the sewers again – he has a brain up there somewhere it seems – but that's really not something I wanted to consider. Flip then suggested getting up on the roof and let the guards there sleep for a bit, so Nev and me could fly off. He knew of course that Nev can do a fly spell lasting long enough to get us out of there. He said he and Uthas would take the sewers and get to the temple directly, suggesting that we would take somewhat longer. We agreed to that. Flip had some darts with a sleeping drug on them he said he aquired earlier this morning. He really surprised me with that. The two guards went down almost silently, but some guards from below had heard something, so everyone but Nev and Uthas flopped to the shingles while the two of them waved back at them to signal all was fine. It was a tense moment, but it worked. Nev and me waited a few minutes so we could be sure the others were back down and on their way into the basement, which worried me a bit because they were only two and there might be more of those mad men around. Nev suggested that with what we had seen from Uthas earlier, we would not need to worry. He put the spell on us and we flew out to the other side of the street, off from the gate. The temple is, thank the gods, not that far away. Yet there was a fog creeping up from the sea reaching up to the merchant's district, and it made it hard enough to see anything, even with the well tended lights of Freeport. The only good thing about that was that the cult fools would be slowed down the same way, at least that was what we hoped. Not too much later, about a corner or so away, Nev said we were followed. How he discerned that, I have no idea. But he pulled me over to a wall and into a doorway, away from any light, and when we stood still I could hear it, too – the muffled steps of several people behind us. And a moment later, some dark cloaked figures showed up. From the way some of them moved, they must have been elves. Nev did his hide in plain sight thing again, and from earlier situations similar to this one, I knew to put some shost sounds out into the fog and direct them away from us. But this changed everything. If they had followed us here, they were evne better organized. Nev says they were not cultists but who else would follow us? This was too much to be a coincidence. They would probably notice they were fooled sooner than later, so I pointed at the temple behind us. We had been standing in the doorway, and as temples are always open in Freeport, Nev agreed to slip inside to get out of the reach of our pursuers. It happened to be the Temple of Nature, which was a good thing as we could just pray while there; we definitely could use some divine help by now. Also,. No one would wonder why we were there. Our worries about our companions had to be put aside for our own safety. After all, we are of royal blood and important to the Realm. I'll give the others some paper now and let them add to the story so I do not hog all the spotlight. Your loving son Orlath Most High Lady Theka I will tell the story of Uthas and me from when we left Verlaine's house. We went downstairs and into the wine cellar undisturbed. After some search, I found a hidden door there, leading through a badly secured tunnel into the cult's reconstructed temple. It looked very bizzar, partly like a cave with stalactites all over, partly like something from another dimension as the stones seemed to bend very weirdly. Uthas hated the place but followed me in anyway. We came out right behind a large of those grotesque statues of their unspeakable ugly god. Which was a good thing as on the altar, which was on a platform in front of the uglyness, we could see a bound figure. It turned out to be your friend Brother Egil. There was a brazier with hot coals holding a branding iron, and aq cloaked figure – what's it with those cloaks anyway? – walked around the prisoner, waving incense. The scent wasn't bad, good thing, and it sure masked the large fart Uthas let rip just then. I should probably not mention this to Your Highness but the echoing noise was why the cultist saw us before we could sneak up on him. Lucky for us, the wretch was so baffled by our appearance, he just stared and allowed me to sink a knife right into his chest. Without your honored son present, I decided not to worry about possible redemption of anyone. We needed to warn the priests of the temple, after all. To that effect, because we were in a hurry, Uthas just grabbed the badly beat up Egil and threw him over his shoulder. I retrieved my knife and then we made way to the other end of the temple, where we saw an exit. We ran around a u-shaped corridor and passed two rooms, one looked like a library – of course – and the other was a storeroom. We had no time for either. We came around a few bends and then there was a steep upward slope. Thanks to our burden, I had to use my grappling hook to allow us to move on, and even then it was difficult. Good thing Uthas is so strong! We finbally exited into the sewers, and, ignoring the stench, made to the next visible exit. The stairs we found were stepp, and again it was difficult to carry Egil up but we managed. Once out and in relative safety, we sat him down and removed his bounds. He was afraid of us for a moment. He thought we might be shapeshifted serpent people. We half carried him along while telling him of the planned attack, and he finally got we were really us. When we got to the temple, thanks to Egil we were led right to the high priest, Thuron, while Egil was taken away to be treated. The old man was weary, he seemed to have expected this day to come. He said he would tell us what it was all about if we would manage to defend the temple and survive the night. That got me wondering just how many cultists he was expecting to show up. In any case, he had the alarm roused, and the priest were prepared. Uthas agreed to help in the defense of the temple without asking me. I decided to slip away once the attention was on preparing for a fight, because the priests really looked nothing like fighters. I knew where the orcs would wait for us not far away from there and decided to get them. I was really hurrying up, by my legs arfe short and it also took a moment to convince those pirates to help again. When we came back, the fight was in full action. According to what Uthas told us later, a bunch of cultists had arrived disguised as ambushed priests after slaying the originals. Thus, they got inside temple before they were revealed to be fakes. Uthas and several priests were wounded, some unconscious. Captain Scarbelly and his crew dug right into them, happy to be able to do some legal slaughter. I have to give them that, it was easy to see why they were so successful as pirates. The leader of the cultists, a female, decided to revert to snake form. Didn't make her any prettier. She went from normal fight to suddenly slinging spells around. Dark priests and their wound spells, that is never good. I think it was one of those spells that managed to kill an already wounded first mate of the pirate crew. This made the captain super angry though, and he went on a rampage. That was the end of that snake woman, who could not produce more spells by then I guess. The rest of the cultists tried to flee but the orcs cut them all down. With the carnage done, they laughed and left, telling us to meet them in the evening the next day. That was when Nev and your son showed up. I let the others go from here. Your humble servant Flip Bosslady, fight was good, but hard. Not just like snaping the necks of some thief. No son of yours to protect so I better fighter! Pirates came to rescue when it show that priests all not know what end of a weapon is front. May is temple of knowing things but they lack the good knowing. Cultist folk fight with long knife with weird name and magic and them held me with some spell then knock me up good. But we win because as saying is, many orcs can cull a party Then Nev and Orlath show up. I think now we done and they did some heal on us, but then boss priest says to talk to him. Lead us to the tombs, not good place for talk. I get suspes suspac didn't trust him but Nev said is all fine. Son of yours did some spell to see if was safe. But then boos priest turn out not to be boss priest but other snake man! He show us body of real boss who he says died when he first came to the temple when he folow Lucius from his trip to some village in the montins. He has made hidden bury place for old priest and then shape change to be him. I got a bit confuzzled here so Nev explain what is matter. ~U Honored Lady Theka! What has been said so far is already most of the story. Orlath and I decided to finally sneak out the backdoor of the temple and then lost our way in the foggy alleys. When the battle around the temple started, we followed the sounds, which turns out to be somewhat difficult in a fog, too. So, we came too late to be of help, but they managed without us very well. Yes, the old priest was really a serpent guy, but a good one. He was so sorry he missed the intrusion of others by his race into the temple, as he was busy searching for new knowledge. He is a true priest of the God of Knowledge, though. His true name is K'Stallo, and he has intercepted a note in snake language, addressed to Drac. He had to translate it for us. He has come across a draft of a speech this wannabe city leader, Drac, is supposed to give tomorrow. I copy it here: "This evening, Councilor Verlaine and the clergy of the God of Knowledge have been slain. Their murderers are the adventurers who of late discovered the caverns beneath our town. After an investigation by the Council and the City Watch, we have pieced together the truth. Chief Councilor Verlaine, that great servant to the city of Freeport, heard rumors about town of unwholesome activities at the temple to the God of Knowledge. He hired the wandering mercenaries to investigate. They made a tremendous discovery: The temple and its priesthood were a cover for the Brotherhood of the Yellow Sign, a grotesque cult of serpent people. The mercenaries joined the temple to gain its secrets, but they proved treacherous to both masters. They revealed the caves beneath the city and threatened to expose even more secrets unless the Brotherhood paid them a fortune in gold. The Brotherhood agreed to their demands, on condition that the mercenaries accept one final task for their serpent masters—assassinating their erstwhile employer, Councilor Verlaine. The double-crossers carried out the grim job, but they quickly found themselves double-crossed. The Brotherhood refused to pay them their blood money. The mercenaries went mad with rage and slaughtered the cultists, but were killed themselves in the battle.We mourn the loss of Councilor Verlaine, but his efforts brought this menace to light—and rooted it out of town, once and for all." Yes, quite, I'd say Drac or whoever sent him this didn't do his homework in regards to our heritage, or he would know Orlath and me to be royals of the highest standing, not prone to wanton violence and certainly not in need or wealth or inclined to conspire with stupid cultists. But this means the city ruler is a part of this dark cult. Maybe it is time to send Lhess now. We could certainly use a paladin. We have agreed that K'stallo should keep up his disguise for now. There is no way Drac can use the speech in any case, as the temple still stands and the bodies of the cultists will be burned in secret as to not to alert the public yet. We cannot know who else is involved, so the temple is now our only base of security, and we will move quarters here, Orlath has decided. The guard is mostly corrupted as it seems so we'll not involve the officials in any way. Ever in Your service Nevukh Additional letter sent by Flip later on: Most High Lady Theka! I have to be direct here, Your Highness, but you have to do something about your son's, and partly Nev's, attitudes. At one time, he is reckless, and then he seems to want to hide from all responsibilities. He knows you have sent us here to see what is wrong with the city, despite this all being labeled as a study trip. Yet, he doesn't act on it and keeps mentioning that the city is, as the obvious name says, a free port. He is, as you said when we left, treating life as a game. I am but a servant and am as loyal as possible as long as I am not faced with certain destruction. Forgive me, Milady, but my will to live is greater than my readiness to die for the stupid decisions of someone else. Your humble servant Flip [/QUOTE]
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