Freeport Trilogy with Toren Atkinson

[thickets]

CAST OF CHARACTERS:

All human except where noted.

Omar - bard/alchemist
John Smith - rogue
Lucky - swashbuckler
Tariq - ninja
Shimsin - monk
Coren - beguiler
Leckiiri - elf rogue
Mr Barbicane - cleric of the sea god
Greymane - cleric of the pirate god

That's right, NINE players.

 

[thickets]

Session 1

Tariq, Greymane, Mister Barbicane, Omar Al-Kouri & his henchman Baz, Coren and the mysterious Leck are all heading to Freeport on the galleon The Yellow Whore. While aboard, Leck spots a poor soul adrift on a raft one dark and stormy night, and braves the shark-infested tempestuous waves to save the life of "Lucky" who is an amnesiac. Later, Lucky overhears Partridge, the cruel first mate, plotting to murder Coren, who he believes may be a patron of the dark arts, or at the very least a source of bad luck. Lucky warns Coren, and Coren goes to confront Partridge one lonely night up on deck. Coren confirms Partridge's suspicions as the former does seem to cast some sort of a spell. A scuffle ensues and only by the grace of Omar's intervention is Partridge thrown overboard. Presently the two passengers contrive a cover story and become compatriots in their crime.

Finally the Whore reaches the docks of Freeport on a late afternoon. Mister Barbicane invites the passengers to join him for dinner at The Marquis Moon, an inn in the old city, but as the group twists and turns through the maze of cargo and warehouses on the docks, Shimsin and Greymane get separated from the main party. The rest are ambushed by a toothless sailor and his cronies, who try to shanghai the group right back onto another ship.

Old Toothless becomes hesitant as Coren and Barbicane parley, but the sailors around the back start to manhandle the others with saps and belaying pins, and so the flash of steel at last punctuates the balmy, misty twilight of the docks. In the melee, a dazed Old Toothless becomes entangled in some ropes, and Leck slits the throat of the helpless ringleader. A few more sword wounds and the rest of the sailors come to the harsh realization that this is no band of weaklings, and do their best to vacate the site. The last wounded sailor begs for mercy, but again Leck bloodthirstily puts him to the blade, to the admiration of Lucky. The one that got away, with a couple of stab wounds from Coren, is forced to jump into the drink. Nursing their lumps, the group continues on to the Marquis Moon.

At the inn, Mister Barbicane recognizes his old friend John Smith, and all present enjoy a round of ale. Smith and Leck notice an awkward looking priest spying on them, and Leck invites him over. Recognizing Barbicane, the stranger introduces himself as Brother Egil, and puts forth a job offer to the group: find his missing friend, Lucius.

 

[thickets]

Session 2

While on the ship The Yellow Whore a few nights ago, it was Mister Barbicane who suggested the group should celebrate the end of the long voyage at The Broken Mug tavern. However, once in port and on the wharf, and separated from the rest of the party, Greymane and Tariq forget the name of said tavern. Greymane hears someone calling out for help from Harrimast the god of pirates, and he sees a poor wounded sod clinging to a wharf post trying not to drown or die from loss of blood. Greymane pulls him out and he introduces himself as Ersatz. He pledges his allegiance to Greymane and the church of Harrimast and Greymane heals his wounds. He tells the cleric and the ninja that if they need anything he'll be around, and takes his leave. The two adventurers are then approached by a slippery teen urching by the name of Ratcatcher ("it's my job, but it's not what I do, if you catch my meaning") who offers to take them to the closest tavern, The Rusty Hook. Eventually after some misdirection they do end up at The Rusty Hook and get pleasantly drunk waiting for their friends, who never come.

DAY TWO:

The next morning, they go inn-hopping in search of the rest of the group. They find a message left by Mister Barbicane reading:

"If you get this message in time, meet us at The Temple of the God of Knowledge after breakfast."

The two men head into the temple district where they find John Smith, Lucky and Shimsin being led by Egil to the house of Lucius in the northern part of town known as Drac's End. Egil admits them with Lucius' spare key and the group searches. They find a display case that is empty, but looks and smells relatively new compared to the other contents of the basement (shelves, etc). In a hidden compartment they find Lucius' diary. (see handout B)

The group heads back to the Temple to meet with Thuron and Milos. They don't get past Milos, who more or less gives them the runaround, but does offer a few more hints. Afterwards, Greymane creates a distraction while the rogue, monk and ninja go back down to the lower levels to do some snooping around, trying to find Thuron or the mysterious books hinted at in their clues. All they end up doing is raising the alarm but after trouncing the one and only actual guard that they encounter they beat a hasty retreat, leaving the temple on alert and in confusion.

The party decides to squat in Lucius home so they break in and do another proper look 'round, finding Lucius' "To Do" list (see clues). This leads them to Capt Scarbelly back on the docks. They don't get past the gangplank guards but Greymane curries favour with them by blessing their boat, The Bloody Vengeance. The ninja watches the boat for a while but eventually returns to The Broken Mug to meet up with Greymane, Lucky and John Smith. The monk follows some of the Nubian pirates as they leave the Bloody Vengeance. As the ninja returns to the Broken Mug he notices some suspicious looking characters surrounding the place.

 

[thickets]

Session 3

Edit This Page
The swaddled warriors with wooden shields take up various attack positions around the tavern. As Smith wanders out, Ersatz stumbles in with a couple of friends. Ersatz misses Smith but sees Coren sitting at the bar and he blanches. He grabs one of his buddies and says "go get A.J and B.J. and C.J and Sanjay, and Joe!" but Greymane calls out to him with greetings. Put in this awkward position Ersatz begins backing out of the bar as most of the others get ready for a fight. They spill out into the street but it's not the fight they're expecting. As Ersatz and friends flee, the wooden shield bearers ambush the PCs.

They fight.

All the assassins are killed and the leader bears a dagger monogrammed with an "L" and a piece of parchment with the address for The Black Gull - a seedy dive on the docks. It is discovered under their masks that the assassins are of Al Qadim descent.

The three PCs who didn't hit the Temple of the God of Knowledge earlier in the day now barge in after dusk. Omar introduces himself as a scholar from Al Qadim and the other two as his bodyguards. They are admitted by Soozun, who is magically charmed by Coren into leading them down to Milos' office. They try a number of distractions to get in to see Milos but eventually they are forced to pick the lock while the guard is summoned. There is a bruhaha and it becomes clear that the bodyguards are a spellcaster and an elf. The PCs are driven out of the temple but in the fray Omar grabs one of Milos' books. The group is chased down the street by the temple guards but manage to give them the slip.

The group returns to Lucius home where they're squatting.

 

[thickets]

Session 4

Studying the stolen book, we learn that it's written using an antiquated version of the Draconic alphabet, but the language itself is a mystery. Hand drawn into the back of the book is a diagram of the Lighthouse of Drac with various arcane symbols scrawled on it. As Coren attempts to read magic on the page, he is interrupted by Brother Egil who enters the house to the surprise of all. Egil is shocked to find they've been squatting there and demands they leave. He also agrees to try to find out more about the books that Lucius donated to the temple.

The group leaves to get a room at The Rusty Hook and finds that someone is watching them. In trying to confront the culprit, they are led into a house and back out into an alley, where the fight begins in earnest. The PCs recognize a couple from the encounter earlier at The Broken Mug as buddies of Ersatz.

Coren gets separated by being misled by the Orientals at The Mermaid, an all-Oriental bar, and climbs onto the roof to see what's what. He falls off into a pile of sharp pointies.

Omar's inspiring song attracts the attention of the town watch, but Coren distracts the guard and all it costs him is all of his weapons, which become 'confiscated' before the beguiler bolts down a side street.

All but one of the thugs get away, scurrying like rats into the dark crevices of the Old City's cramped tenements.
Their home contains:

-a candelabra
-a stuffed rodent of unusual size
-four pewter mugs from The Black Gull
-a trophy from last year's Swagfest
-some mediocre paintings

The group reaches The Rusty Hook and beds down. The next morning they are awoken by the town crier:

"Let it be known that Commissioner Tillinghast hereby promises the reward of 25 gold crowns to any party with information leading to the arrest of Omar Al Kurry, scholar of Al Qadim, and his two bodyguards, an elf wench and a man answering to the description of [Coren], all under the charge of attempted arson and sedition.

"Captain Lydon has been named Grand Marshal of Swagfest. The merchant Guild will be sponsoring many events and word from the mainland promises that the Al Qadim circus is considering the guild's offer to visit Freeport for this most auspicious event.

"In protest of the coronation of King Kryos in Middenheim, Middenheim talents will be accepted at half the normal value beginning as of next week."

 

[thickets]

Session 5

Omar and Coren decide to disguise themselves. Coren also uses his arcane skills to glean some secrets from their stolen tome in ancient Draconic. He learns that the book has to do with metals and alloys, and there are notes regarding the construction of special bricks. There is also a spell in the book on opening some kind of magical portal.

The party, with the exception of the late sleepers, heads down for breakfast of oatmeal and fish. Afterwards, the group makes to the docks once again to Captain Scarbelly's ship The Bloody Vengeance, only to be told by the nubian on watch to come back in an hour.

While they wait back at the Rusty Hook, Greymane gets a message from a young lad, written in Ersatz' unintelligible hand. Something about pirates and 25 gold and Omar.

Mr Barbicane learns at the City Hall that Gareth has left the city and will return in one or two weeks.

Returning to the Bloody Vengeance, the guys learn from one of the pirates (whose name is unknown) that Lucius had booked passage on the ship during the 5 years that he was "not himself" and travelled around the world. He had a trunk that was never pried by the crew. His confidence may have been Aggro and Scarbelly. The last port was in the whispered, nigh fabled Orc Lands - Port Krom in the north.

Omar and Mr Barbicane learn through their own circles that the Lighthouse of Drac is almost done. Only three more months until it's ready. They say the Sea Lord is planning a big celebration. It took 10 years to build and now the city coffers are empty. The Sea Lord's Guard (the city watch) has been cut back so much that thieves are running wild. Only the Old City gets real protection.

Greymane receives another couriered message that reads:
"We have your friends. Return our property or they will be killed. You have until dusk."

They go upstairs to find that the girls are gone and the room has been tossed. All the swords etc that they got off of the Yellow Shields have been stolen. They ask the courier who gave them the message to send. He says it was a man with a handlebar moustache at The Black Gull. They send a note back to the moustached man saying they'll have the property ready at The Rusty Hook at dusk, and Tariq follows the boy. At the Black Gull he sees the moustached man who, upon receipt of their note, proceeds to quickly go to the Temple of the God of Knowledge and then back to The Black Gull.

Tariq returns to The Rusty Hook where he notices that the short man reading the paper from breakfast is still in the same spot reading the same paper. The group confronts the man - Turlock - and eventually beat out of him that he was hired by a man named Enzo to keep track of the group's comings and goings. The beat Turlock to unconsciousness after he tells them that he is supposed to meet Enzo about now. The group wait at The Rusty Hook.

Mr Barbicane learns that Aggro sometimes drinks at a bar in Scurvytown called The Dead Pelican.

About a half hour later, the moustached man shows up with a big picnic basket full of food for about 4 or 5, who has obviously come to look for Turlock. The group intimidates Enzo into revealing that he is trying to get into a cult known to him as The Brotherhood, whose base of operations seems to be underneath a bricked up house in the Eastern District. Coren disguises himself as Enzo and the group heads to the bricked up building.

They enter the building and find some tunnels carved out in finished stone. Tariq falls down a pit trap and shortly thereafter a secret door opens up in the hall to reveal a horrid swarm of half-men, half-snake creatures wielding spears and javelins! There is a dramatic melee and one of the snake-things runs its spear through Shimsin's gut. Mr Barbicane creates a magical fog just as the last surviving snake thing runs down through the caverns which lead to a great underground pool.

Some divine powers heal the wounded while Coren discovers an octagonal room of a menacing aspect, with a great divot in the center and various occult apparatus, which they take.

The next door in this warren of evil leads to a room with several chests and furthermore - skeletons of man and beast that have been animated to attack the group! The group cleverly bottlenecks the stupid blasphemies, and Omar chucks flasks of alchemist's fire at the skeletons until Barbicane manages to invoke the divine power of the God of the Sea and repel the unholy things. The heroes manage at last to pummel the skeletons to heaps of powdery bones.

 

[thickets]

Session 6

Now cast your thoughts to earlier in the morning, while the boys were out running their errands, Turlock calls the watch in to arrest the last three still in the room at the Rusty Hook and claim his 25 gold. Five of the Sea Lord's Guard bust down the door and take the suspects out bleary-eyed and kicking. As they're being frog-marched to the law courts, fate smiles on them, as there is an explosion at the alchemist's shop en route, and fighting and looting breaks out in the streets. Leckiiri takes the opportunity to lift her weapons back from the guard and helps Smith and Lucky break free, but they are separated and Leckiiri sneaks away back to the inn, where...

Greymane has come to the inn, leaving the rest of the group. Some strange smell was in the air...the smell of Harrimast's whim...and Greymane could do naught but to follow it. Was it divine inspiration or just a bad turnip? Regardless, this turn of events leads to him running into Leckiiri. They exchange information and while Greymane continues to search for Lucky and Smith, Leckiiri heads to the bricked-up house.

The others break open the chests to find some curative draughts and oodles and oodles of gold and silver coins, along with some weird glass grenade. With draughts draughted the adventurers continue on to the next door, which leads into a library/study. They find some progress reports on the Lighthouse of Drac and also a letter which reads:

"Our preparations are almost complete. We will arrive in Freeport on schedule. Make sure that all is ready for us. The Brotherhood is counting on you. -N'Tal."

Omar delves into a black leather tome titled The Book of the Unspeakable One and is somewhat worse for wear in doing so.

Shimsin gets bored and goes to the next set of double doors. He opens it to see that it is the heart of this black temple of the Unspeakable One, with a statue of the tentacled god and behind it the unbelievable yellow symbol of the cult. The hooded man behind the altar reveals himself to be Milos and begins casting black magic! Shimsin charges and leaps over the altar but his target seems magically protected. The two temple attendants fire crossbow bolts at the rest of the intruders.

Tariq and Omar dispatch the temple attendants and Leckiiri hurls the mystery grenade at Milos, causing much coughing and blindness and some obscurement too. The adventurers continue to pummel Milos into submission and they tie him up for questioning. As they search the room they find Lucius under the alter, hog-tied and gagged! When freed he tells of how Milos sent him on an errand to this house days ago where he was beaten and held captive, tortured by the cult for forbidden secrets that Lucius may have gleaned on his mysterious journeys across the seven seas with Captain Scarbelly and others, but of course Lucius has no memories of these journeys except perhaps for strange flitting glimpses in dreams.

When Milos comes to, the adventurers interrogate him and cut off a pinky finger which turns into a green scaled digit when separated. Milos spits at them and starts mumbling some dark tongue which begins to bring the darkness of doom into the room, so the interrogators are forced to knock him out again before doom arrives. Tariq runs off to find Egil and meets Yolanda the Paladin and her heavy flail, Paul, at the temple. They pack up the loot and they pull down the purple curtains (revealing a magical spear) and wrap up Milos, bringing everything to Lucius' house. When they see that passersbys are clearly interested in the weighted down, clinking baskets and body-in-drapes, they decide not to stay at Lucius'. Instead they head to the Temple of the God of Knowledge for an important meeting with High Priest Thuron.

Thuron listens intently at the tale of the group and Lucius, and then revives Milos, who of course says that he is innocent and taken advantage of by these wanted rogues who tried to burn down the church! So Yolanda, Thuron, Egil, Lucius, a temple guard and a priest all head down with a tied-up Milos and the adventurers to the evil temple. Thereat, Milos resumes his doom chanting and an over-zealous Yolanda yells "BLASPHEMER!" and clouts him upon the noggin with her flail, splitting his head open. Upon Milos' death, he reverts to his natural form - that of an unholy snake man!

Thuron thanks the group for exposing this cult and saving Lucius and promises to absolve them of the outstanding warrant implemented by Milos as well as rewarding them and offering the services of the temple for all of their maladies.