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Dungeon Crawl Classics - Vornheim
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<blockquote data-quote="Sammael99" data-source="post: 7039340" data-attributes="member: 1157"><p><strong>Session 4: Auction and Reaction</strong></p><p></p><p>On the morning of the auction, Dwimberg sends an invitation to Sabrina. The auction is to take place in a rented salon on the 10th level of the Tower of the Starred Ribbon. Sabrina, Jack, Wistul, Valya and Zeera will attend. Zeera decides to come in separately: neither Dwimberg nor the parties interested in the ophidoscope have seen him/her, so it seems like a wise course of action in case something happens (which is likely).</p><p></p><p>Sabrina also gets a message from Lord Brittleshins stating that the militia has advised him not to inform Dwimberg ahead of time of the wrongdoings of the Taxidermist guild. Instead, everything should proceed as normal, so as not to alert the criminal organisation that their game may be up. </p><p></p><p>At the appointed time, people flock into the auction room. The ophidoscope is not the only item on offer that morning, so there are about forty people seated in front of the low stage. Looking around, Valya notices several uneasy customers, and an old lady dressed in conservative attire which he realizes quickly is actually Rulius, the detective from the militia. The disguise is rather good, but he's seen through it (again). At the last minute, just before the auction is about to start, a man walks in escorted by the largest bodyguard anyone's ever seen. This giant of a man (he has to bow under the doorframe to get in) has two missing fingers on his left hand and so the group guesses this is Three-Knuckled Porlo. The gentleman he is escorting is well-dressed (but with muted colors) and sports an elaborate gray moustache. Our heroes assume that he is the head of the Taxidermist Guild. </p><p></p><p>The strategy devised ahead of time by Sabrina is for them not to bid and let Lord Brittleshins and the Taxidermists fight it out. The first few items go up for auction: an old artefact thought to be of Selenian origin, a statue of the Rusted Lady excavated from a dig site not far from Vornheim, a silvery sword said to originate from the now defunct Marbelle noble family. Then the time comes for the ophidoscope to be carried to the center of the stage. The velvet drape is taken off, and Dwimberg describes the item: </p><p></p><p>"One of the fabled Ophidoscopes, an item of great scholarly import to those who study the ancient Ophidian civilization. It is said to allow peering into the troves of knowledge inherited by these long dissappeared beings, although how that is achieved exactly, I cannot tell you. The asking price is Five Hundred crowns."</p><p></p><p>The crowd oohs and aahs. A hand goes up from the back, an old gentleman who Sabrina thinks may well be Head-Librarian in one of the city's libraries. </p><p></p><p>- "Six Hundred", Dwimberg intones. </p><p>- "One Thousand", the man from the Taxidermist Guild says sharply. </p><p>- "Fifteen Hundred", Lord Brittleshins responds.</p><p></p><p>The librarian at the back sits down dejectedly. </p><p></p><p>A hand shoots up from the left. It's Veera. </p><p></p><p>- "Two Thousand", Dwimberg yells excitedly. </p><p></p><p>Sabrina's eyes shoot darts at the priest/ess who smiles slyly in his/her corner of the room. But the auction keeps going. </p><p></p><p>- "Twenty Five Hundred", Lord Brittleshins attacks, more slowly than before. </p><p></p><p>The man from the Taxidermist guild shoots a dark glance at the nobleman, and after a quick hesitation, speaks up again: </p><p></p><p>- "Three Thousand!" he snaps with an air of finality. </p><p></p><p>Lord Brittleshins seems to hesitate, but backs down in the end. Dwimberg, looking very satisfied, points to the man from the Taxidermist Guild saying: "This fine item goes to the gentleman here."</p><p></p><p>Just at that moment, a portly woman dressed in faded crimson and black stands from the back of the room and, in a very deep voice says: "Not so fast! Gendall Tso, head of the Taxidermist Guild, you are hereby accused of wrongdoing, burglary and other assorted crimes. Men, arrest the accused!"</p><p></p><p>Four militia men dressed in various disguises take their hidden blackjacks out and run towards Gendall Tso. Three Knuckled Porlo stands up and grabs one of the men, throwing him swiftly against the wall. </p><p></p><p>Jack runs towards Porlo and stands between him and Gendall, allowing the militia men to chain Gendall's hands. Porlo swings at Jack but misses. Jack swings at Porlo and hits him square in the belly... doing not very much at all except hurting his own fist. Sabrina and Valya are weary of using their magic too blatently in public. Valya stands behind Jack and touches his shoulder, making him grow a little, but in front the immense Porlo it's hardly a noticeable change. </p><p></p><p>Veera stands and starts praying under his/her breath to the Lascivious Vorn, asking for Porlo to be paralysed by the divine will. Unfortunately, with all the excitement around him/her, he/she gets his/her prayer wrong and inadvertently insults his/her deity. Sensing the divine displeasure, he/she immediately falls to his/her knees and starts whipping his/her own back in contrition (1).</p><p></p><p>Porlo swings again at Jack and this time his fist connects with the warrior's face. Jack's nose cracks and he is catapulted to the other side of the room, smashes into one of the windows and falls outside unconscious. Thankfully, he lands on a ledge and not ten stories below.</p><p></p><p>Sabrina decides that things are getting out of hand and magic is now the only solution. She intones the formula for Ekim's Mystical Mask. She covers her face with a mask of terror and looks straight at Porlo who blanches and immediately runs to the window, climbing out onto the roof.</p><p></p><p>Most of the attendees have now fled the room. The disguised Rulius walks towards his men to congratulate them on having arrested Gendall Tso. On his way, he slides by Sabrina and in a low voice, says: </p><p></p><p>- "I saw what you did there. Don't go using such tricks willy nilly in my City..."</p><p>- "Of course", Sabrina responds. "But please pardon me for a minute, my companion seems to have taken a short trip out the window."</p><p></p><p>Valya hobbles to the window but Sabrina gets there before him and both of them drag Jack's unconscious body back inside before he slips off the ledge. The wizard slaps the warrior gently to bring him back to consciousness. </p><p></p><p>- "Ugh!" Jack grunts in a nasal whine. "That was some uppercut... Thank Vorn he was only using his fists..."</p><p></p><p>A few minutes later, Zeera having finished his/her acts of contrition, kneels in front of Jack and, laying his/her hands on his face, asks for the grace of Vorn in healing Jack's wounds. Sure enough, when he/she takes his/her hands off, Jacks's shattered nose is whole again.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Lord Brittleshins and Sabrina walk to a devastated Dwimberg and propose to pay to him the last bid that Brittleshins proposed, ie. Twenty-Five Hundred crowns. Dwimberg reluctantly agrees, not wanting to lose the opportunity to sell the ophidoscope (and also perhaps, secretly not wanting to be in possession of it if and when Gendall Tso leaves jail). </p><p></p><p>Sabrina hands 500 crowns to Lord Brittleshins, and she confirms the promise of Valya's collaboration that evening in deciphering the snake skin that the nobleman wants deciphered. </p><p></p><p>***</p><p></p><p>That night Jack goes on a bar crawl, getting drunker and drunker, telling everyone the story of how he fought off Three-Knuckled Porlo and made him flee out of the window. He also learns that Signor Rallentando's Halfling circus is soon coming to town! It will apparently feature the famous fortune teller Mme Sosostris.</p><p></p><p>Zeera, still disturbed about having angered the Lascivious Vorn decides to overcome, at least in part, one of his/her greatest fears. He/she heads out to the Bleak Beaver and goes to the top floor where the orgies are regularly held. Instead of fleeing the scene once things get serious, he/she forces him/herself to stay and watch, if not participate just yet. </p><p></p><p>Sabrina and Wistul spend some time with Dwimberg who has tried to understand the use of the phial filled with gas that they asked him to expertise. He tells them that the phial is undeniably magical, and that he has been able to ascertain that what appears to be a gas is a materialization of a human soul, or a fragment thereof. Unfortunately, he doesn't know how the phial is used and didn't dare open it. The wizardess and the elf spend the rest of the evening sorting through the remaining funds from the expedition in the Whitefish Catacombs and allocating it according to who participated. Sabrina, Wistul, Valya and Jack will each earn two hundred crowns from the operation, which will leave about one hundred to finance the group's needs for gear.</p><p></p><p>Back in his underground hovel, Wistul focuses his will on understanding the multiple brown scars he has that are starting to concern him. He casts Allaskobe's Wonder Identification formula to identify if the scars are magical. He sees that not only are they magical, but they seem to radiate magic into his blood stream. He goes to sleep deeply concerned.</p><p></p><p>Valya heads out to Lord Brittleshin's mansion. He is led to the nobleman's vast private library which has dozens of leatherbound books on display. The ophidoscope has been installed in the middle of the room. </p><p></p><p>Lord Brittleshins carefully closes the door of the library, then turns around to speak to Valya.</p><p></p><p>- "Before you start deciphering the skin that I have secured, I need to explain what I am after, and why. I trust that whatever I share will you will not leave this room, and should that happen, I'm sure you understand that I would have to retaliate. Let us make sure we remain friends."</p><p>- "Of course."</p><p>- "Excellent. I will proceed then. Nineteen years ago, I met the woman who was to become my wife. She was at the time a Vestal of the Rusted Lady. Our love was strong, and we were young. I suppose also that my upbringing led me to arrogance and the mistaken belief that nothing could stand in the way of what I wanted. That led us to consummate our love despite the vows of abstinence my wife had sworn. The Rusted Lady punished her for breaking those vows by changing her appearance. She gave her the head and lower limbs of a she-goat."</p><p>- "Ah..."</p><p>- "Now I pride myself in being a man of honor. Vorn knows it has cost me enough political capital in this city where corruption reigns, but that's besides the point. I had promised my eternal love to Cabrella, and despite the curse that afflicted her, I married her. It was complicated to live together, I had to secure charms from some of your colleagues to conceal her appearance from the staff. She dared not set foot out of the house and has not done so ever since we married. For a long time we dared not consummate our love again for fear of further divine retribution. But in the end, we wanted to start a family and I foolishly thought that having a child would cheer Cabrella up. Sadly for us, the curse was carried over through my wife's womb, or blood, I do not know. Our daughter was born with the head and legs of a goat as well. That is when I decided to find a solution. It has taken me all these years to finally trace down solid leads, and I have it on reliable authority that the snake skin that I procured at great cost from the ruins of an ancient Ophidian temple high in the Northern mountains holds clues to solving our predicament."</p><p>- "Let's see, shall we?" Valya answers with a cheerful tone. </p><p></p><p>The two men stretch the snakeskin carefully so as not to rip it apart, and clamp it down on the lower portion of the ophidoscope. Valya then scans through the lens at the top of the contraption, and sees that the scales form tiny interlaced sentences in written ophidian. Curbing his excitement, he starts to read: </p><p></p><p>"<em>Of late I have concerned myself with matters of divine retribution. The Gods are of a fickle nature and prompt to righteous anger when they feel they have been slighted. Of particular interest to me have been occurrences of Divine pardon and how they came about. Amongst the arcanally inclined, the legend of Vendel Re'Yune is well known, and his story, which I deem to be true, shows the extent at which the Gods will lash out against those who would offend them. But the Wrath of the Gods can also be unleashed on less puissant characters. I unearthed and confirmed (as far as historical and arcane means allowed me to) the story of Ssusson of Ch'ssoossch. Lord Ssusson was a notable of the third ring of our Second Empire. He became famous by affirming the preeminence of the people over the will of the Gods, arguing that while the existence of the Gods could not be denied, that did not in itself mean that mortals should follow their commands. He rose to prominence and was cast down by a Divine Curse. His body was bent out of shape and warped into an unnatural comingling of Ophidian and Hairless Ape. Over the next decades, he climbed the five Pillars of the Sky and on each of them sacrificed a hairless ape to show both his contrition and refusal of his adopted form. It is said that this act of humility combined with a genuine detestation of his hairless ape side led the gods to forgive him in his old age.</em>"</p><p></p><p>Once Valya has written the whole thing down and verified the translation, he reads it out to Lord Brittleshins who immediately gets very excited. He starts taking out atlases and ancient maps from the library, trying to locate the Five Pillars. </p><p></p><p>Valya returns to examining the snakeskin and notices an additional piece of information in the form of a magical formula to bind oneself to Vendel Re'Yune the Cursed Immortal. A Patron Bond spell that he promptly commits to memory. </p><p></p><p>At the end of the night, Valya takes his leave while Lord Brittleshins is still looking for information on where the Five Pillars of the Sky are located exactly.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Sammael99, post: 7039340, member: 1157"] [B]Session 4: Auction and Reaction[/B] On the morning of the auction, Dwimberg sends an invitation to Sabrina. The auction is to take place in a rented salon on the 10th level of the Tower of the Starred Ribbon. Sabrina, Jack, Wistul, Valya and Zeera will attend. Zeera decides to come in separately: neither Dwimberg nor the parties interested in the ophidoscope have seen him/her, so it seems like a wise course of action in case something happens (which is likely). Sabrina also gets a message from Lord Brittleshins stating that the militia has advised him not to inform Dwimberg ahead of time of the wrongdoings of the Taxidermist guild. Instead, everything should proceed as normal, so as not to alert the criminal organisation that their game may be up. At the appointed time, people flock into the auction room. The ophidoscope is not the only item on offer that morning, so there are about forty people seated in front of the low stage. Looking around, Valya notices several uneasy customers, and an old lady dressed in conservative attire which he realizes quickly is actually Rulius, the detective from the militia. The disguise is rather good, but he's seen through it (again). At the last minute, just before the auction is about to start, a man walks in escorted by the largest bodyguard anyone's ever seen. This giant of a man (he has to bow under the doorframe to get in) has two missing fingers on his left hand and so the group guesses this is Three-Knuckled Porlo. The gentleman he is escorting is well-dressed (but with muted colors) and sports an elaborate gray moustache. Our heroes assume that he is the head of the Taxidermist Guild. The strategy devised ahead of time by Sabrina is for them not to bid and let Lord Brittleshins and the Taxidermists fight it out. The first few items go up for auction: an old artefact thought to be of Selenian origin, a statue of the Rusted Lady excavated from a dig site not far from Vornheim, a silvery sword said to originate from the now defunct Marbelle noble family. Then the time comes for the ophidoscope to be carried to the center of the stage. The velvet drape is taken off, and Dwimberg describes the item: "One of the fabled Ophidoscopes, an item of great scholarly import to those who study the ancient Ophidian civilization. It is said to allow peering into the troves of knowledge inherited by these long dissappeared beings, although how that is achieved exactly, I cannot tell you. The asking price is Five Hundred crowns." The crowd oohs and aahs. A hand goes up from the back, an old gentleman who Sabrina thinks may well be Head-Librarian in one of the city's libraries. - "Six Hundred", Dwimberg intones. - "One Thousand", the man from the Taxidermist Guild says sharply. - "Fifteen Hundred", Lord Brittleshins responds. The librarian at the back sits down dejectedly. A hand shoots up from the left. It's Veera. - "Two Thousand", Dwimberg yells excitedly. Sabrina's eyes shoot darts at the priest/ess who smiles slyly in his/her corner of the room. But the auction keeps going. - "Twenty Five Hundred", Lord Brittleshins attacks, more slowly than before. The man from the Taxidermist guild shoots a dark glance at the nobleman, and after a quick hesitation, speaks up again: - "Three Thousand!" he snaps with an air of finality. Lord Brittleshins seems to hesitate, but backs down in the end. Dwimberg, looking very satisfied, points to the man from the Taxidermist Guild saying: "This fine item goes to the gentleman here." Just at that moment, a portly woman dressed in faded crimson and black stands from the back of the room and, in a very deep voice says: "Not so fast! Gendall Tso, head of the Taxidermist Guild, you are hereby accused of wrongdoing, burglary and other assorted crimes. Men, arrest the accused!" Four militia men dressed in various disguises take their hidden blackjacks out and run towards Gendall Tso. Three Knuckled Porlo stands up and grabs one of the men, throwing him swiftly against the wall. Jack runs towards Porlo and stands between him and Gendall, allowing the militia men to chain Gendall's hands. Porlo swings at Jack but misses. Jack swings at Porlo and hits him square in the belly... doing not very much at all except hurting his own fist. Sabrina and Valya are weary of using their magic too blatently in public. Valya stands behind Jack and touches his shoulder, making him grow a little, but in front the immense Porlo it's hardly a noticeable change. Veera stands and starts praying under his/her breath to the Lascivious Vorn, asking for Porlo to be paralysed by the divine will. Unfortunately, with all the excitement around him/her, he/she gets his/her prayer wrong and inadvertently insults his/her deity. Sensing the divine displeasure, he/she immediately falls to his/her knees and starts whipping his/her own back in contrition (1). Porlo swings again at Jack and this time his fist connects with the warrior's face. Jack's nose cracks and he is catapulted to the other side of the room, smashes into one of the windows and falls outside unconscious. Thankfully, he lands on a ledge and not ten stories below. Sabrina decides that things are getting out of hand and magic is now the only solution. She intones the formula for Ekim's Mystical Mask. She covers her face with a mask of terror and looks straight at Porlo who blanches and immediately runs to the window, climbing out onto the roof. Most of the attendees have now fled the room. The disguised Rulius walks towards his men to congratulate them on having arrested Gendall Tso. On his way, he slides by Sabrina and in a low voice, says: - "I saw what you did there. Don't go using such tricks willy nilly in my City..." - "Of course", Sabrina responds. "But please pardon me for a minute, my companion seems to have taken a short trip out the window." Valya hobbles to the window but Sabrina gets there before him and both of them drag Jack's unconscious body back inside before he slips off the ledge. The wizard slaps the warrior gently to bring him back to consciousness. - "Ugh!" Jack grunts in a nasal whine. "That was some uppercut... Thank Vorn he was only using his fists..." A few minutes later, Zeera having finished his/her acts of contrition, kneels in front of Jack and, laying his/her hands on his face, asks for the grace of Vorn in healing Jack's wounds. Sure enough, when he/she takes his/her hands off, Jacks's shattered nose is whole again. Meanwhile, Lord Brittleshins and Sabrina walk to a devastated Dwimberg and propose to pay to him the last bid that Brittleshins proposed, ie. Twenty-Five Hundred crowns. Dwimberg reluctantly agrees, not wanting to lose the opportunity to sell the ophidoscope (and also perhaps, secretly not wanting to be in possession of it if and when Gendall Tso leaves jail). Sabrina hands 500 crowns to Lord Brittleshins, and she confirms the promise of Valya's collaboration that evening in deciphering the snake skin that the nobleman wants deciphered. *** That night Jack goes on a bar crawl, getting drunker and drunker, telling everyone the story of how he fought off Three-Knuckled Porlo and made him flee out of the window. He also learns that Signor Rallentando's Halfling circus is soon coming to town! It will apparently feature the famous fortune teller Mme Sosostris. Zeera, still disturbed about having angered the Lascivious Vorn decides to overcome, at least in part, one of his/her greatest fears. He/she heads out to the Bleak Beaver and goes to the top floor where the orgies are regularly held. Instead of fleeing the scene once things get serious, he/she forces him/herself to stay and watch, if not participate just yet. Sabrina and Wistul spend some time with Dwimberg who has tried to understand the use of the phial filled with gas that they asked him to expertise. He tells them that the phial is undeniably magical, and that he has been able to ascertain that what appears to be a gas is a materialization of a human soul, or a fragment thereof. Unfortunately, he doesn't know how the phial is used and didn't dare open it. The wizardess and the elf spend the rest of the evening sorting through the remaining funds from the expedition in the Whitefish Catacombs and allocating it according to who participated. Sabrina, Wistul, Valya and Jack will each earn two hundred crowns from the operation, which will leave about one hundred to finance the group's needs for gear. Back in his underground hovel, Wistul focuses his will on understanding the multiple brown scars he has that are starting to concern him. He casts Allaskobe's Wonder Identification formula to identify if the scars are magical. He sees that not only are they magical, but they seem to radiate magic into his blood stream. He goes to sleep deeply concerned. Valya heads out to Lord Brittleshin's mansion. He is led to the nobleman's vast private library which has dozens of leatherbound books on display. The ophidoscope has been installed in the middle of the room. Lord Brittleshins carefully closes the door of the library, then turns around to speak to Valya. - "Before you start deciphering the skin that I have secured, I need to explain what I am after, and why. I trust that whatever I share will you will not leave this room, and should that happen, I'm sure you understand that I would have to retaliate. Let us make sure we remain friends." - "Of course." - "Excellent. I will proceed then. Nineteen years ago, I met the woman who was to become my wife. She was at the time a Vestal of the Rusted Lady. Our love was strong, and we were young. I suppose also that my upbringing led me to arrogance and the mistaken belief that nothing could stand in the way of what I wanted. That led us to consummate our love despite the vows of abstinence my wife had sworn. The Rusted Lady punished her for breaking those vows by changing her appearance. She gave her the head and lower limbs of a she-goat." - "Ah..." - "Now I pride myself in being a man of honor. Vorn knows it has cost me enough political capital in this city where corruption reigns, but that's besides the point. I had promised my eternal love to Cabrella, and despite the curse that afflicted her, I married her. It was complicated to live together, I had to secure charms from some of your colleagues to conceal her appearance from the staff. She dared not set foot out of the house and has not done so ever since we married. For a long time we dared not consummate our love again for fear of further divine retribution. But in the end, we wanted to start a family and I foolishly thought that having a child would cheer Cabrella up. Sadly for us, the curse was carried over through my wife's womb, or blood, I do not know. Our daughter was born with the head and legs of a goat as well. That is when I decided to find a solution. It has taken me all these years to finally trace down solid leads, and I have it on reliable authority that the snake skin that I procured at great cost from the ruins of an ancient Ophidian temple high in the Northern mountains holds clues to solving our predicament." - "Let's see, shall we?" Valya answers with a cheerful tone. The two men stretch the snakeskin carefully so as not to rip it apart, and clamp it down on the lower portion of the ophidoscope. Valya then scans through the lens at the top of the contraption, and sees that the scales form tiny interlaced sentences in written ophidian. Curbing his excitement, he starts to read: "[I]Of late I have concerned myself with matters of divine retribution. The Gods are of a fickle nature and prompt to righteous anger when they feel they have been slighted. Of particular interest to me have been occurrences of Divine pardon and how they came about. Amongst the arcanally inclined, the legend of Vendel Re'Yune is well known, and his story, which I deem to be true, shows the extent at which the Gods will lash out against those who would offend them. But the Wrath of the Gods can also be unleashed on less puissant characters. I unearthed and confirmed (as far as historical and arcane means allowed me to) the story of Ssusson of Ch'ssoossch. Lord Ssusson was a notable of the third ring of our Second Empire. He became famous by affirming the preeminence of the people over the will of the Gods, arguing that while the existence of the Gods could not be denied, that did not in itself mean that mortals should follow their commands. He rose to prominence and was cast down by a Divine Curse. His body was bent out of shape and warped into an unnatural comingling of Ophidian and Hairless Ape. Over the next decades, he climbed the five Pillars of the Sky and on each of them sacrificed a hairless ape to show both his contrition and refusal of his adopted form. It is said that this act of humility combined with a genuine detestation of his hairless ape side led the gods to forgive him in his old age.[/I]" Once Valya has written the whole thing down and verified the translation, he reads it out to Lord Brittleshins who immediately gets very excited. He starts taking out atlases and ancient maps from the library, trying to locate the Five Pillars. Valya returns to examining the snakeskin and notices an additional piece of information in the form of a magical formula to bind oneself to Vendel Re'Yune the Cursed Immortal. A Patron Bond spell that he promptly commits to memory. At the end of the night, Valya takes his leave while Lord Brittleshins is still looking for information on where the Five Pillars of the Sky are located exactly. [/QUOTE]
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