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Story Hour
Ghourmand Vale (3.5 campaign)
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<blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8719778" data-attributes="member: 508"><p><strong>ADVENTURE 6: WE'RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER MOAT</strong></p><p></p><p>PC Roster:</p><p style="margin-left: 20px">Ageratum Purslane, halfling rogue 3</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Alistair Mandelberen Pastlethwaite, human sorcerer 3</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Chaevaris Noarunal, elf archer 3</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"> Harlan Starblade, half-elf paladin 3</p><p></p><p>Game Session Date: 3 August 2022</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>Having arrived at the farmhouse recently purchased by the Stouts - who had offered to let the heroes stay as long as they might need as thanks for having rescued their daughter while part of the initial caravan taking them to Ghourmand Vale - and well tired of riding, the quartet opted to make a day of it. And while they'd only been gone three days, plenty had happened during that short span of time, as the Stouts filled them in over dinner.</p><p></p><p>"Those dwarven miners have been bad-mouthing you something fierce, for one thing," Mr. Stout informed them. "That leader of theirs - Kasselban, I think his name is? - refers to you as 'skeddadle-prone.' He seemed pretty miffed that you all disappeared from the mines without a trace."</p><p></p><p>"Not by any choice of ours!" argued Ageratum fiercely. "We ended up in another entire realm, facing duergar and grimlocks - which, if we hadn't taken them down, could easily have infiltrated their mines and done them considerable harm!"</p><p></p><p>"Indeed!" agreed Alistair, hot under the collar about the besmirching of his good name - and that of his friends. He noted Ageratum hadn't mentioned the numbers of the enemies they'd been up against - a sole duergar and merely two grimlocks - but also realized she hadn't actually given any hint at all of their relative numbers; if Mr. Stout opted to assume it was a much more fearsome horde than they'd actually been up against, that was on him, not them. He silently decided he'd use that very tactic against Kasselban Picksmart, as soon as they caught back up with him.</p><p></p><p>"We will be sure to disabuse him of any notion we were shirking at our duties," promised Harlan.</p><p></p><p>"In other news, the clerics of Saint Cuthbert - the ones who headed up our caravan - they've bought a stone keep and have moved into it from that old, converted barn they'd been using. It's about halfway between here and Ghourmand Vale - you'll pass right by it if you'll be heading into town in the morning," Mr. Stout said. He gave them directions on how to find the stone keep, and when asked what had prompted the purchase he told them what he'd heard from Father Barbados - the barn was too accessible to thieves, for the <em>Blood Mirror</em>, which had been stored there for safekeeping, had apparently been stolen from right out from beneath their noses.</p><p></p><p>"But we've got it back!" argued Ageratum. "It was that Maya Thorpe - her real name is Marjorie Mustaine, by the way, and she's not even Carlton's sister - she cast a <em>charm person</em> spell on Brother Scarborough and he just handed it right over! We met up with her in that other realm and took the <em>Blood Mirror</em> back from her." The little halfling explained what all had happened there in the land of Jasgun Singh.</p><p></p><p>"We'd best stop by the stone keep and fill in Father Barbados on what all has happened since we inadvertently left the mines," Chaevaris suggested.</p><p></p><p>"Agreed," said Harlan. "And then we'll return to the Slippery Shaft Mines and see if they've sealed off the svirfneblin tunnel we found on level six, and if they still need us to clear out level five for them."</p><p></p><p>"And we need to get paid," piped up Alistair. "Even if they got someone else to deal with level five, we still dealt with those two gnomes who killed that Greasy Thom fellow. And we'll want to return their two lanterns to them." Chaevaris and Harlan had left their borrowed bullseye lanterns back by the elevator on level six of the mines, but Alistair and Ageratum had still been carrying theirs when they breached the dimensions and ended up in Jasgun Singh's domain.</p><p></p><p>"Good idea - otherwise that dwarf will probably want to charge us for them," added Chaevaris.</p><p></p><p>The next morning they headed out, still riding bareback on their recently-purchased mounts, and Alistair and Chaevaris riding double since the four heroes only had three mounts between them. Mr. Stout's directions were easy enough to follow, and after a couple of hours on the road they found the stone keep right where the farmer had said it would be. It was singularly unimpressive, built for simplicity instead of ornamentation, a two-story stone structure surrounded by a low wall about 150 feet from the building. The wall was tall enough to keep out wandering animals, but wouldn't be much of a deterrence against determined enemy foes. Still, it was a step up from a converted barn.</p><p></p><p>There were five swineherds feeding their pigs outside the wall when the heroes rode up, but they scarcely paid them any attention. Father Barbados was outside the keep with a hoe in his hands, viciously attacking weeds in the yard around the keep. He looked up at the heroes' approach, squinted in the mid-morning sun, and grunted in recognition. "Well, I'll be," he said. "Kasselban's been lookin' fer ye."</p><p></p><p>"We are well aware," replied Harlan. "In fact, we're on our way to go see him now." He gave the elderly cleric an abbreviated version of how they spent their last four days. When Father Barbados explained about their having lost the <em>Blood Mirror</em>, the half-elf paladin removed it from his belt pouch and showed the cleric they had managed to get it back. Ageratum then filled him in on Marjorie's treachery, and how she'd used arcane spellcraft on Brother Scarborough to get her hands on it in the first place. Harlan then explained how the ruby had helped them find their way back to Oerth (Alistair noted the half-elf left out the part about traveling through Faerieland, but decided he was just giving the cleric the condensed version and said nothing) and why this Jasgund Singh likely wanted to get his hands upon it.</p><p></p><p>"That weak-minded simpleton!" exploded Father Barbados. "He could've said somefing t' me about that!" He looked about him, seeing Brother Scrimshaw over on the other side of the keep with a hoe of his own and an ever-growing pile of weeds. "An' I notice 'e's stickin' t' cleanin' inside o' th' keep, 'stead of workin' out 'ere in th' hot sun like th' two o' us!" Ageratum tried calming the cleric down, suggesting it was entirely possible Marjorie had used magic to make Brother Scarborough forget about handing her the <em>Blood Mirror</em>. But then Harlan suggested they'd best be moving on to go see Kasselban, not wanting to get into the middle of an argument between the three clerics of Saint Cuthbert. He bid the elderly man good day and swung his new horse, Law, back down the road. Ageratum followed on her pony Munson and Alistair steered Chaevaris's horse Talkacha behind them, the archer hanging on to the nobleman and not very pleased about it. Fortunately, Alistair had promised when they got into town he'd see about the purchase of a horse of his own, and in fact he'd been giving Chaevaris riding lessons during the last three days, as the elf's training had been solely on foot-based archery, not riding upon a mount.</p><p></p><p>Another two hours of riding and the group finally returned to Ghourmand Vale, after a four-day absence. As Alistair had promised Chaevaris, they went to a horse salesman where the young nobleman purchased a healthy-looking light horse he named <strong>Zephyr</strong>. All four heroes picked up saddles and bits and bridles for their mounts, for they'd been forced to ride bareback from Bloodbag's place, the halfling rancher not having branched out into such accoutrements for the animals he raised. And then, well into the afternoon, the four rode up to the Slippery Shaft Mines; as they neared the place Alistair felt a familiar sensation in the back of his mind and soon thereafter Ambrose alit upon his shoulder, cawing in irritation. "Believe me, I had no intention of being gone this long," Alistair promised his familiar, and the grackle eventually dropped into a silent acceptance.</p><p></p><p>"What ho - it be those skeddadle-prone heroes I hired half a week ago!" roared Kasselban when the heroes rode up to the entrance of his mines. "I thought ye'd had enough of th' dangers of a hero's lifestyle an' decided t' high-tail it wif me lanterns!" He frowned upon seeing the two lanterns still in the heroes' possession and apparently being returned to him, for he'd planned on charging them for their loss if he ever met up with them again. "An' what brings ye back t' th' job, then? Overwhelmin' sense o' guilt, were it?"</p><p></p><p>"I believe that's just about enough of your accusations," replied Harlan, and the dwarven miner decided it might not be a good idea to rile up a paladin of Pelor. He listened silently while the half-elf filled him in on what had transpired and then had to admit the miners hadn't done anything about level five but ignore it for the past four days. In his defense, he argued, they'd been busy on level six, where a vein of mithril had been discovered.</p><p></p><p>"Well, we're here for our pay for having cleared out level six for you - and preventing a duergar and grimlock incursion on top of everything else," Alistair said, "so you can either pay us half of what we agreed upon, or we'll take the full pay upon clearing out level five. Your call." Kasselban tried a few perfunctory arguments about why he shouldn't have to pay or why he should at least be given a discount, but he eventually had to admit they'd agreed to a price to be paid for a job to be done, and no time limit specified in which the heroes were to clear out both levels five and six.</p><p></p><p>"Very well, then," Kasselban grumbled. "Let's be off, then - I'll be comin' wif ye t' level five." He gave no reason for insisting on accompanying the heroes, but Harlan got the distinct impression it was to make sure they didn't "sneak out" again somehow to avoid doing the full job. Still, if the distrustful dwarf insisted on sharing the danger, who was the half-elf paladin to say no? The five entered the elevator car and a group of dwarven miners lowered them down to the fifth level, Ambrose once again being left behind topside for fear of the sorcerer losing his familiar on a more permanent basis than a four-day hiatus.</p><p></p><p>"You don't have a weapon," Harlan noted, looking over at the dwarven miner. "Don't you at least want a pick or something?"</p><p></p><p>"<em>I'm</em> not th' one gonna be doin' th' fightin'," argued Kasselban. "If'n I wanted t' clear out th' mines by meself, I coulda done it while ye all were buggerin' off elsewheres!" But then the elevator car landed with a bump on the stone floor of level five and the dwarf pushed open the door, leading the way into level five. The heroes followed, then spread out before the miner. "Best if you stay behind us," Ageratum suggested.</p><p></p><p>"Yes, by all means - leave this in the hands of Trained Professional Adventurers," added Alistair, for that was how he had started to think of his little group, capital letters and all.</p><p></p><p>Level five started out as a large cavern with a stone column in the middle left in place as a means of support. Harlan and Chaevaris took the right side of the column while Alistair and Ageratum went left, the paladin casting forth his senses ahead and seeking out auras of evil. There was no doubting it: there was evil directly ahead, at a spot where wooden braces had been installed to help prevent the tunnel from collapsing. He warned the others of his findings and moved forward, concentrating on pinpointing the source of evil. Alistair summoned his <em>unseen servant</em> Ogilvy and had him train the light from one of the bullseye lanterns up at the ceiling of the wooden brace, where Harlan said the evil was coming from. Chaevaris had an arrow nocked and ready to fire, the archer's keen vision focused along the shaft of the arrow and seeking a target.</p><p></p><p>Harlan stepped forward with his <em>flaming burst longsword</em> drawn and ablaze, acting as both readied weapon and torch. As he moved underneath the brace the choker reached down and grabbed at him with a wide, five fingered hand completely devoid of any bones. The creature's spiny hand raked across the half-elf's neck, but the nimble paladin avoided getting caught up in the choker's embrace and he swung at the beast with his full strength, the flame-covered blade slicing into the choker's side. Chaevaris's arrow went crashing up by its head, the arrowhead shattering against the stone ceiling. Alistair did a bit better with his crossbow, at least hitting the choker although his bolt didn't seem to faze the beast much. Kasselban, who had moved closer to watch the action, backed up upon seeing the fearsome monster infesting his mines; perhaps it was best to leave this job to the Trained Professional Adventurers after all!</p><p></p><p>Alistair quickly reloaded his light crossbow and shot at the choker again, the bolt catching the beast in its rubbery, boneless arm. Ageratum threw a kobold shortspear at it but it dodged the incoming missile. However, it was not able to evade Harlan Starblade's flaming sword and the paladin skewered it upon his blade, the flames burning the horrid beast from within. It fell to the mine floor, dead. Ogilvy continued shining the bullseye lantern on the corpse, allowing the heroes to see the choker carried nothing of value on it.</p><p></p><p>Continuing on down the passageway, Harlan heard the sound of running water ahead and around a corner. There, at the end of the shaft, there was a loose pile of rocks with a gap large enough for a svirfneblin - or the thin, rubbery body of a choker - to squeeze through the hole. "I think we've found your entryway," the half-elf informed the dwarven miner. "This, no doubt, was how the svirfneblin and the choker got into your mines."</p><p></p><p>"Wait," interrupted Alistair. "I thought they got in through that side tunnel on the lower level. Remember? When we were chasing the last svirfneblin, that's the way he ran."</p><p></p><p>"That passageway dead-ended about twenny feet in," replied Kasselban.</p><p></p><p>"Really? I say - how strange." Then the young nobleman realized they had never made it to the end of that passageway, for somewhere along its length had been the temporary <em>planar gate</em> that had shunted them to Jasgun Singh's realm.</p><p></p><p>Upon Harlan's instruction, Chaevaris gave the entirety of the fifth level a once over, the elf reporting back having unearthed no signs of any secret passageways leading into the mine. "The gap in the rocks leading down to the underground stream - that's the only other way in," the archer affirmed.</p><p></p><p>"Then we have complied with the terms of our agreement," Alistair said. "Your miners will be able to seal off this gap and then you need have no further fears of infiltration by undesirable creatures."</p><p></p><p>"Ye killed but one wee choker on th' whole level," Kasselban argued. "That hardly seems worth doublin' yer fee."</p><p></p><p>"The only thing being doubled is the half-fee we earned by clearing out one of two levels as specified by you," Alistair countered. "Now that we have cleared out both levels, we return to the full price agreed upon by both parties. Unless you wish to break an oath sworn before, and to, a paladin of Pelor?" Kasselban seemed to be dredging about in his miserly mind for any way to wriggle out of the deal, when there was the sound of pounding feet behind them. As one, the four heroes spun about, weapons ready to face this new threat.</p><p></p><p>But the "threat" turned out to be nothing but a pair of dwarven miners. "Boss!" one cried, blanching at the realization he had an elven archer aiming an arrow right between his eyes. "Whoa! Stop! It's just us - we got a message!"</p><p></p><p>Chaevaris lowered the bow and let out the string, which had been ready to send the arrow flying across the mine tunnel - it was only the archer's long experience at bowhunting that had prevented the dwarf from having been shot at. "What's th' message?" demanded Kasselban. "Who wants me?"</p><p></p><p>"Not you, boss - them heroes. A boy came running up, says they're needed back at th' keep. Some feller name o' Thorpe's causing problems."</p><p></p><p>The mine boss looked over to the heroes. "Sounds important," he said. "Imagine ye'll prolly wanna head right over there, quick-like."</p><p></p><p>"We will pass by your office on the way out," Harlan pointed out. "You can pay us our wages and then we'll be on our way. Kasselban scowled at this but saw no way out of it, and indeed he had paid them in full before they mounted up on their horses and headed back to the Keep of Saint Cuthbert, two hours away to the southeast. It was closing in on dusk as they rode up to the place they'd just visited that very morning.</p><p></p><p>As they rode their mounts through the opened gate in the wall surrounding the keep, they saw a robed figure just stepping inside the front door - possibly Brother Scrimshaw, but they were still too far away to tell for sure. The swineherds had apparently moved on since they'd seen them that morning, no doubt back at their farms and tending to their crops and animals.</p><p></p><p>Ageratum was the first one into the front door, as the others tied their horses' bridles to the hitching post out front. The front room was empty and triangular in shape, basically a choke-hold to ensure a single person could fight off those trying to enter, if need be. At the back of the room was a pair of double doors and the halfling swung them wide open, stepping into the main structure of the keep itself - a rectangle with a smaller rectangle in the center of the larger one, with "L-shaped" rooms in each corner of the keep. "Hello?" she called out, looking along the hallways that surrounded the central room. She could see a door on the east and west sides of this central room, as well as a few doors leading into the smaller sides of the "L-shaped" rooms.</p><p></p><p>"We're back 'ere!" called a voice with the brogue used by Father Barbados. Ageratum, having no reason to think otherwise, assumed it was the elderly cleric and took heart in the fact he didn't seem to be panicked or upset or anything; apparently they must have gotten the situation with Carlton - or actually, Garabond - Thorpe well in hand since sending word to the heroes to come to their assistance. Ageratum started heading along the western side of the central rectangle, given it sounded like Father Barbados was way in the rear of the keep. Alistair soon caught up with her, the nobleman's strides being much longer than those of the little halfling. Unseen by either, Ogilvy followed his master. They heard the sound of a door open and close, then silence.</p><p></p><p>Chaevaris and Harlan entered the keep, the archer going along the eastern hallway and the paladin trailing Ageratum and Alistair. Harlan sensed no evil in the area directly ahead.</p><p></p><p>"Where are you?" Ageratum called out again.</p><p></p><p>"We're in th' very back o' th' keep!" came the answer. Alistair turned the corner and saw Father Barbados standing beside a large fireplace. On the floor before him, looking very bruised and bloody, lay the unconscious form of Garaband Thorpe, the swindler who had hired the heroes to fetch the <em>Blood Mirror</em> from a tomb he claimed belonged to his grandfather, but it had recently become apparent all of that had been a lie - he'd been hired by Jasgun Singh to fetch the ruby so he could put it to his own nefarious use.</p><p></p><p>"I say!" declared Alistair. "Is everything all right?"</p><p></p><p>"Well, this one needs some healin' somethin' fierce, I can tell ye, but I'm afraid I'm all tuckered out - no more spells left t' me, ye see. Y'might want t' bring the paladin forth t' heal 'im, an' if ye've got th' <em>Blood Mirror</em> ye might want t' put it t' good use."</p><p></p><p>Alistair looked down at the beaten man. "Did you do this?" he asked.</p><p></p><p>"Naw, 'tweren't me, lad - he showed up here all beaten an' bloody." By this time, Chaevaris had rounded the opposite corner and saw the two in the back of the room, the cleric chatting with Alistair. Something seemed off to the elf, but despite multiple attempts at pinning down the wrongness of the situation, it continued to evade every effort. Chaevaris frowned, making eye contact with Alistair and trying to determine what was wrong with the scene being played out before them. Harlan had heard the cleric's suggestion and was surprised at the man's insistence he bring forth the <em>Blood Mirror</em>. Trusting his instincts, he passed the ruby over to Ageratum before turning the corner, and as he concentrated on reading auras (not surprisingly, the only emanations of evil were coming from Thorpe) the halfling stuffed the gem deep into the bottom of a belt pouch, out of view.</p><p></p><p>But Alistair had picked up on Chaevaris's suspicions and cast a <em>detect magic</em> spell, looking at the back of the keep as he did so. And as a result, a strange thing occurred: it was if he was now viewing Barbados from the other side of a body of water, whose ripples altered the man's face, such that sometimes he appeared to be the elderly cleric who'd traveled with them on the caravan to Ghourmand Vale - and at other times he looked like one of the men they'd seen in Jasgun Singh's village, extolling the virtues of studying under the great master's leadership. It took a moment for the young sorcerer to make sense of it, but he suddenly realized-- "That's not Father Barbados! It's an illusion! He's one of those turbaned men from that village!"</p><p></p><p>Seeing the man this close up, Alistair noted a few other things that hadn't been visible when they were spying on him from a cave in a hilltop. The man's eyes glowed slightly, and his pupils were vertical, like a cat's. Furthermore, his fingernails seemed to end in short claws.</p><p></p><p>"So," remarked Kana Singh, dropping the fake "Father Barbados" brogue accent and speaking in his own, slightly sing-song cadence, "the boy sorcerer finally comes through." The jig now well and truly up, Kana Singh found himself being targeted by Chaevaris - the archer had an arrow notched and ready to shoot, and was currently eyeing the foreign man to line up the shot for maximum damage potential - and Alistair was directing Ogilvy to the fireplace, where the <em>unseen servant</em> picked up a burning log and started bringing it closer to the imposter. Then Kana Singh struck, with all of the quickness of his assassin's training behind him. He darted at Harlan, swinging a scimitar at the half-elf, but taking a cut to the knee from Ageratum's short sword as a result. In addition, Chaevaris's shot hit the imposter in the upper back (instead of in the throat as the archer had intended, but Kana Singh moved much faster than anticipated). Kana Singh grunted in pain from his wounds but called out, "Serve now <strong>Bhadup Cheé</strong>!"</p><p></p><p>Kana Singh's servants wasted no time in heeding their master's orders. A door opened from the "L-shaped" room in the northeastern corner of the keep and a rogue stepped out, stabbing at Alistair. Fortunately for the sorcerer, he saw the movement out of the corner of his eye at the last moment and managed to duck out of range of the scimitar's slashing swing. But Harlan made a swing of his own, with his <em>flaming burst longsword</em>, and Kana Singh fell to the ground alongside the body of Garabond Thorpe. It looked like it might come down to a race to see which of the two would bleed out the fastest, but healing either of them was the least of any of the heroes' concerns. (In fact, Ageratum's short sword severed the impostor's head at the neck, almost as if she had put money down on Kana Singh dying first.)</p><p></p><p>Alistair took an instinctive step back, away from the rogue and then just as instinctively thrust a hand out in his direction. A pair of glowing darts shot out from the sorcerer's fingertips, striking the startled killer in the chest but failing to drop him. Ogilvy held the flaming log aloft above the rogue's head and released it, but it failed to hit its target.</p><p></p><p>Then another combatant entered the fray, stepping out from the other door to the same room the first rogue had exited. This man had the same swarthy skin as both Kana Singh and the rogue serving him but wore a much better type of armor: half-plate, by the looks of it, and very well made at that. But he also wielded a scimitar, apparently a very common weapon in the realm of Jasgund Singh. Alistair leaped back just in time to avoid getting disemboweled, and realized he preferred it a bit farther back from the front lines of combat, especially now that he could apparently cast <em>magic missile</em> spells. Fortunately, Chaevaris had the foolish sorcerer's back and shot an arrow at the rogue threatening him, hitting him in the arm and nearly causing him to drop his own weapon.</p><p></p><p>While all of this was happening over at the northeast corner, a door opened from the northwestern "L-shaped" room and out stepped another fighter, armed and armored in the same manner as his brother. His scimitar came slashing down at Harlan, but the paladin caught the blade on his shield and deflected it aside, stabbing the foe with his own flame-covered blade and pushing the sword's tip deep into the man's side. From the other door to that same room came another rogue, this one targeting Ageratum. But the halfling easily ducked beneath his swing; it was often a fairly simple task to tell which enemies had never fought a halfling before, for it was easy to forget how short they really were and the swings were often far too high to be much of a threat to a nimble halfling with her wits about her. But her counterstrike also missed, causing her to frown in frustration.</p><p></p><p>The first rogue was not one to disobey his master, but a quick glimpse showed his master - for this mission, at least - now had his head and body separated from each other and wouldn't see his cowardice. With a bleat of terror at his own impending mortality, he backed off from combat and ran screaming down the eastern hallway, heading to the front of the keep and hopefully to freedom to fight again another day. But Alistair was having none of that; with a few sprinted paces off to the side, he caught sight of the fleeing rogue and a second <em>magic missile</em> spell, cast straight into the coward's back, sent him sprawling lifelessly to the keep's stone floor. Ogilvy, in the meantime, picked the flaming log back up and tried again against one of the fighters, with no better luck.</p><p></p><p>The first fighter moved up to engage Chaevaris now that Alistair was out of range, but had no luck against the nimble archer. The elf took a step back, notched another arrow to the composite longbow, pulled it back as far as it could go, and released it all in a matter of seconds; the startled fighter got the shock of his life when the arrow grazed the area between his shoulder and his neck and was turned away by the barest of margins; another half-inch and it would have been buried deep into his unprotected neck.</p><p></p><p>Harlan and the other fighter were exchanging a series of blows but not having much success in making contact. The paladin risked taking an extra hit from his foe to position himself to better advantage, lining himself on the exact other side of the fighter such that Ageratum was now directly behind him. But she was too busy fighting off the other rogue to take immediate advantage of the situation, for it was all she could do to keep herself away from the rogue's deadly scimitar blade.</p><p></p><p>Alistair sent another two magical darts flying into the man going after Chaevaris, which was enough to convince the fighter to switch targets - maybe he'd have better luck if he helped gang up on the little halfling woman? But his swing missed Ageratum, and gave Chaevaris enough time to line up a really good shot against him. Harlan brought down the other fighter with a successful strike with his burning blade, then pivoted to face the rogue going after Ageratum. That was enough to break the rogue's will, and he dashed past Ageratum - too fast for the halfling to tag him with her own blade - and ran for the side door to the center room in the keep. The door opened and slammed shut as he ran inside, desperately seeking safety.</p><p></p><p>Ageratum faced the remaining fighter, stabbing out at his leg while Alistair cast another <em>magic missile</em> spell at the same foe. Then the sorcerer passed his waterskin to Ogilvy, mentally commanding his servant to pour the contents down the fighter's back. It wasn't much of an attack as far as damage went, but for the surprise factor it was a great success, for the fighter flinched at the sudden dousing. Just after he had struck Ageratum with his blade he writhed in surprise at the stream of water flooding down his back, which allowed Chaevaris to take him down with another well-placed arrow. And just that quickly, there were no longer any active combatants in the keep attacking the heroes.</p><p></p><p>But Harlan Starblade hadn't lost track of how many there had been here. Using a burst of positive energy to heal the worst of his wounds, he raced over to the door the fleeing rogue had run through and pulled it open. "There's one more, trying to get away!" he called to the others as he followed a narrow corridor to a set of stairs leading down. Chaevaris, on the other side of the central room, entered via the opposite door and also followed a set of stairs leading down. The stairs circled a central shaft leading down even further below the lowest level of the keep, to an underground river whose waters filled the well the central shaft bounded off. There were access points on each side of the central rectangular well-shaft, with buckets on ropes allowing water to be raised up to any of the three levels of the keep, the two above ground and the one below.</p><p></p><p>Ageratum wasn't particularly concerned about chasing down a rogue, knowing full well she'd never catch up to him with her own smaller stride. So instead, she satisfied herself by ensuring each of the other foes was in fact dead, using decapitation as her foolproof method.</p><p></p><p>Alistair followed Chaevaris to the stairs, seeing the elf holding a rope leading down into the water that was taut for a moment, then loosened as whatever had been pulling on the bucket released it. "I think he's gone down into the water!" the elven archer explained as Harlan pulled on the rope, raising a bucket now filled with water.</p><p></p><p>Alistair divested himself of the crossbow on his back and the rapier, potion pouch, and spell scroll tubes buckled at his hip. "With me, Ogilvy!" he called, pulling a handkerchief from his sleeve and passing it over to the <em>unseen servant</em>. "If I run into trouble, I'll send Ogilvy up with the handkerchief," the sorcerer explained.</p><p></p><p>"Here, you'll need this," Ageratum offered, activating a sunrod from her pack and passing it over to Alistair. She'd wandered down the stairs after having completed her own self-appointed, bloody task. Alistair took the sunrod, thanked her (as is only befitting for a nobleman having been granted a favor by a young lady, no matter her size), and leaped over the edge into the water, submerging himself completely. Beside him, his white handkerchief took the plunge as well.</p><p></p><p>From the light of the sunrod, Alistair could see the bottom of the well - that is, the space from the water's top to the bottom of the well-shaft's sides, for there was no "floor" to the shaft - was about five feet, with another good five feet of underground river or stream below it, stretching out in opposite directions. There was a definite current, but not one so strong the sorcerer couldn't keep himself in place with little effort. And that was good, for he could see, in the light of the sunrod's illumination, that the waters filling the underground tunnel went all the way up to the ceiling; there was no air above with which to grab the occasional breath. The rogue had made good his escape, for Alistair was certainly not going to chase after him with naught but a lungful of air and no idea how much further down the underwater passageway the next available breath of air would be. He returned to the well, popping his head back up above the water and using the bucket rope to help pull himself up onto the solid stone floor of the keep. As he dripped onto the stone, he realized he really hadn't had much of a plan on what to do if he had found the rogue there underwater, for he'd left his weapons behind and wasn't sure if he could even cast spells underwater. (He imagined he probably could, being a naturally gifted wizard and all, but one never knew.) Still he at least prided himself that even if he hadn't had much in the way of a plan, he at least had the natural instincts of a Trained Professional Adventurer - and that had to count for something. Elfy Danger Silverleaf, Alistair was quite sure, would have jumped into the well under similar circumstances, and that was good enough for him.</p><p></p><p>While the sorcerer had been exploring underneath the water, Ageratum had fished out the <em>Blood Mirror</em> and spent a few minutes peeking through it, but she didn't see any arrows like Harlan had. She passed it to the dripping-wet sorcerer and he gave it a go, but other than turning everything red, looking through the <em>Blood Mirror</em> didn't do anything for Alistair, either. He gave it back to Harlan for safe keeping and started buckling his equipment back on.</p><p></p><p>After that, they explored the rest of the keep and sure enough, they found Father Barbados and Brothers Scrimshaw and Scarborough tied up in the northwestern "L-shaped" room on the ground floor. After releasing them, Father Barbados explained he'd been stabbed in the back with something that caused his whole body to freeze up, then conked on the head and he lost consciousness. The other two hadn't been paralyzed, but each had been hit on the head and knocked out. Neither of the three had seen their attackers.</p><p></p><p>"Well, we sure have," explained Chaevaris, taking the three clerics out to see the corpses of the men they'd fought - corpses which now, with the exception of Garabond Thorpe, had been separated from their heads. "I thought you might want to interrogate Thorpe," Ageratum explained.</p><p></p><p>"That might be a bit difficult, given he's dead," Chaevaris answered. Brother Scrimshaw just shook his head and sighed.</p><p></p><p>Father Barbados spoke for them all when he said, "Well, no great loss, that one."</p><p></p><p> - - -</p><p></p><p>We ended up with a fair amount of loot from this adventure: Harlan took a suit of masterwork half-plate armor and Dan said a human-sized <em>+1 dagger</em> (taken from Kana Singh) was the functional equivalent of a halfling-sized <em>+1 short sword</em>, so Ageratum took that for her own use, but if we sell all of the other masterwork armor, masterwork scimitars, standard daggers, and the <em>+2 scimitar</em> we will have each earned 2,975 gp! Not bad!</p><p></p><p>Dan was rolling like crap most of the night; his two rogues and two fighters hardly ever rolled double digits on their d20 attack rolls. He also let us know that those five "swineherds" were in fact a disguised Kana Singh and his four henchmen, who'd been looking for Harlan since he'd last been sighted holding the <em>Blood Mirror</em> (either by the cook in the village or possibly by Marjorie Mustaine, if she found a way to report back to Jasgund Singh; none of us are under the delusion we've seen the last of her). And Dan had "Father Barbados" (the assassin Kana Singh under the effects of a <em>disguise self</em> spell) really foot-stomp his wanting Harlan to use the <em>Blood Mirror</em>, to the point we were all suspicious that something was up.</p><p></p><p>Next adventure, we'll be hauling the loot to Ghourmand Vale to sell it and we'll no doubt run into some sort of complications either there or on the way. But we've suggested to the clerics they have some grates or something put in the underground river on either side of their well, so they don't have a secret way into their fortified keep.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Richards, post: 8719778, member: 508"] [B]ADVENTURE 6: WE'RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER MOAT[/B] PC Roster: [INDENT]Ageratum Purslane, halfling rogue 3[/INDENT] [INDENT] Alistair Mandelberen Pastlethwaite, human sorcerer 3[/INDENT] [INDENT] Chaevaris Noarunal, elf archer 3[/INDENT] [INDENT] Harlan Starblade, half-elf paladin 3[/INDENT] Game Session Date: 3 August 2022 - - - Having arrived at the farmhouse recently purchased by the Stouts - who had offered to let the heroes stay as long as they might need as thanks for having rescued their daughter while part of the initial caravan taking them to Ghourmand Vale - and well tired of riding, the quartet opted to make a day of it. And while they'd only been gone three days, plenty had happened during that short span of time, as the Stouts filled them in over dinner. "Those dwarven miners have been bad-mouthing you something fierce, for one thing," Mr. Stout informed them. "That leader of theirs - Kasselban, I think his name is? - refers to you as 'skeddadle-prone.' He seemed pretty miffed that you all disappeared from the mines without a trace." "Not by any choice of ours!" argued Ageratum fiercely. "We ended up in another entire realm, facing duergar and grimlocks - which, if we hadn't taken them down, could easily have infiltrated their mines and done them considerable harm!" "Indeed!" agreed Alistair, hot under the collar about the besmirching of his good name - and that of his friends. He noted Ageratum hadn't mentioned the numbers of the enemies they'd been up against - a sole duergar and merely two grimlocks - but also realized she hadn't actually given any hint at all of their relative numbers; if Mr. Stout opted to assume it was a much more fearsome horde than they'd actually been up against, that was on him, not them. He silently decided he'd use that very tactic against Kasselban Picksmart, as soon as they caught back up with him. "We will be sure to disabuse him of any notion we were shirking at our duties," promised Harlan. "In other news, the clerics of Saint Cuthbert - the ones who headed up our caravan - they've bought a stone keep and have moved into it from that old, converted barn they'd been using. It's about halfway between here and Ghourmand Vale - you'll pass right by it if you'll be heading into town in the morning," Mr. Stout said. He gave them directions on how to find the stone keep, and when asked what had prompted the purchase he told them what he'd heard from Father Barbados - the barn was too accessible to thieves, for the [I]Blood Mirror[/I], which had been stored there for safekeeping, had apparently been stolen from right out from beneath their noses. "But we've got it back!" argued Ageratum. "It was that Maya Thorpe - her real name is Marjorie Mustaine, by the way, and she's not even Carlton's sister - she cast a [I]charm person[/I] spell on Brother Scarborough and he just handed it right over! We met up with her in that other realm and took the [I]Blood Mirror[/I] back from her." The little halfling explained what all had happened there in the land of Jasgun Singh. "We'd best stop by the stone keep and fill in Father Barbados on what all has happened since we inadvertently left the mines," Chaevaris suggested. "Agreed," said Harlan. "And then we'll return to the Slippery Shaft Mines and see if they've sealed off the svirfneblin tunnel we found on level six, and if they still need us to clear out level five for them." "And we need to get paid," piped up Alistair. "Even if they got someone else to deal with level five, we still dealt with those two gnomes who killed that Greasy Thom fellow. And we'll want to return their two lanterns to them." Chaevaris and Harlan had left their borrowed bullseye lanterns back by the elevator on level six of the mines, but Alistair and Ageratum had still been carrying theirs when they breached the dimensions and ended up in Jasgun Singh's domain. "Good idea - otherwise that dwarf will probably want to charge us for them," added Chaevaris. The next morning they headed out, still riding bareback on their recently-purchased mounts, and Alistair and Chaevaris riding double since the four heroes only had three mounts between them. Mr. Stout's directions were easy enough to follow, and after a couple of hours on the road they found the stone keep right where the farmer had said it would be. It was singularly unimpressive, built for simplicity instead of ornamentation, a two-story stone structure surrounded by a low wall about 150 feet from the building. The wall was tall enough to keep out wandering animals, but wouldn't be much of a deterrence against determined enemy foes. Still, it was a step up from a converted barn. There were five swineherds feeding their pigs outside the wall when the heroes rode up, but they scarcely paid them any attention. Father Barbados was outside the keep with a hoe in his hands, viciously attacking weeds in the yard around the keep. He looked up at the heroes' approach, squinted in the mid-morning sun, and grunted in recognition. "Well, I'll be," he said. "Kasselban's been lookin' fer ye." "We are well aware," replied Harlan. "In fact, we're on our way to go see him now." He gave the elderly cleric an abbreviated version of how they spent their last four days. When Father Barbados explained about their having lost the [I]Blood Mirror[/I], the half-elf paladin removed it from his belt pouch and showed the cleric they had managed to get it back. Ageratum then filled him in on Marjorie's treachery, and how she'd used arcane spellcraft on Brother Scarborough to get her hands on it in the first place. Harlan then explained how the ruby had helped them find their way back to Oerth (Alistair noted the half-elf left out the part about traveling through Faerieland, but decided he was just giving the cleric the condensed version and said nothing) and why this Jasgund Singh likely wanted to get his hands upon it. "That weak-minded simpleton!" exploded Father Barbados. "He could've said somefing t' me about that!" He looked about him, seeing Brother Scrimshaw over on the other side of the keep with a hoe of his own and an ever-growing pile of weeds. "An' I notice 'e's stickin' t' cleanin' inside o' th' keep, 'stead of workin' out 'ere in th' hot sun like th' two o' us!" Ageratum tried calming the cleric down, suggesting it was entirely possible Marjorie had used magic to make Brother Scarborough forget about handing her the [I]Blood Mirror[/I]. But then Harlan suggested they'd best be moving on to go see Kasselban, not wanting to get into the middle of an argument between the three clerics of Saint Cuthbert. He bid the elderly man good day and swung his new horse, Law, back down the road. Ageratum followed on her pony Munson and Alistair steered Chaevaris's horse Talkacha behind them, the archer hanging on to the nobleman and not very pleased about it. Fortunately, Alistair had promised when they got into town he'd see about the purchase of a horse of his own, and in fact he'd been giving Chaevaris riding lessons during the last three days, as the elf's training had been solely on foot-based archery, not riding upon a mount. Another two hours of riding and the group finally returned to Ghourmand Vale, after a four-day absence. As Alistair had promised Chaevaris, they went to a horse salesman where the young nobleman purchased a healthy-looking light horse he named [B]Zephyr[/B]. All four heroes picked up saddles and bits and bridles for their mounts, for they'd been forced to ride bareback from Bloodbag's place, the halfling rancher not having branched out into such accoutrements for the animals he raised. And then, well into the afternoon, the four rode up to the Slippery Shaft Mines; as they neared the place Alistair felt a familiar sensation in the back of his mind and soon thereafter Ambrose alit upon his shoulder, cawing in irritation. "Believe me, I had no intention of being gone this long," Alistair promised his familiar, and the grackle eventually dropped into a silent acceptance. "What ho - it be those skeddadle-prone heroes I hired half a week ago!" roared Kasselban when the heroes rode up to the entrance of his mines. "I thought ye'd had enough of th' dangers of a hero's lifestyle an' decided t' high-tail it wif me lanterns!" He frowned upon seeing the two lanterns still in the heroes' possession and apparently being returned to him, for he'd planned on charging them for their loss if he ever met up with them again. "An' what brings ye back t' th' job, then? Overwhelmin' sense o' guilt, were it?" "I believe that's just about enough of your accusations," replied Harlan, and the dwarven miner decided it might not be a good idea to rile up a paladin of Pelor. He listened silently while the half-elf filled him in on what had transpired and then had to admit the miners hadn't done anything about level five but ignore it for the past four days. In his defense, he argued, they'd been busy on level six, where a vein of mithril had been discovered. "Well, we're here for our pay for having cleared out level six for you - and preventing a duergar and grimlock incursion on top of everything else," Alistair said, "so you can either pay us half of what we agreed upon, or we'll take the full pay upon clearing out level five. Your call." Kasselban tried a few perfunctory arguments about why he shouldn't have to pay or why he should at least be given a discount, but he eventually had to admit they'd agreed to a price to be paid for a job to be done, and no time limit specified in which the heroes were to clear out both levels five and six. "Very well, then," Kasselban grumbled. "Let's be off, then - I'll be comin' wif ye t' level five." He gave no reason for insisting on accompanying the heroes, but Harlan got the distinct impression it was to make sure they didn't "sneak out" again somehow to avoid doing the full job. Still, if the distrustful dwarf insisted on sharing the danger, who was the half-elf paladin to say no? The five entered the elevator car and a group of dwarven miners lowered them down to the fifth level, Ambrose once again being left behind topside for fear of the sorcerer losing his familiar on a more permanent basis than a four-day hiatus. "You don't have a weapon," Harlan noted, looking over at the dwarven miner. "Don't you at least want a pick or something?" "[I]I'm[/I] not th' one gonna be doin' th' fightin'," argued Kasselban. "If'n I wanted t' clear out th' mines by meself, I coulda done it while ye all were buggerin' off elsewheres!" But then the elevator car landed with a bump on the stone floor of level five and the dwarf pushed open the door, leading the way into level five. The heroes followed, then spread out before the miner. "Best if you stay behind us," Ageratum suggested. "Yes, by all means - leave this in the hands of Trained Professional Adventurers," added Alistair, for that was how he had started to think of his little group, capital letters and all. Level five started out as a large cavern with a stone column in the middle left in place as a means of support. Harlan and Chaevaris took the right side of the column while Alistair and Ageratum went left, the paladin casting forth his senses ahead and seeking out auras of evil. There was no doubting it: there was evil directly ahead, at a spot where wooden braces had been installed to help prevent the tunnel from collapsing. He warned the others of his findings and moved forward, concentrating on pinpointing the source of evil. Alistair summoned his [I]unseen servant[/I] Ogilvy and had him train the light from one of the bullseye lanterns up at the ceiling of the wooden brace, where Harlan said the evil was coming from. Chaevaris had an arrow nocked and ready to fire, the archer's keen vision focused along the shaft of the arrow and seeking a target. Harlan stepped forward with his [I]flaming burst longsword[/I] drawn and ablaze, acting as both readied weapon and torch. As he moved underneath the brace the choker reached down and grabbed at him with a wide, five fingered hand completely devoid of any bones. The creature's spiny hand raked across the half-elf's neck, but the nimble paladin avoided getting caught up in the choker's embrace and he swung at the beast with his full strength, the flame-covered blade slicing into the choker's side. Chaevaris's arrow went crashing up by its head, the arrowhead shattering against the stone ceiling. Alistair did a bit better with his crossbow, at least hitting the choker although his bolt didn't seem to faze the beast much. Kasselban, who had moved closer to watch the action, backed up upon seeing the fearsome monster infesting his mines; perhaps it was best to leave this job to the Trained Professional Adventurers after all! Alistair quickly reloaded his light crossbow and shot at the choker again, the bolt catching the beast in its rubbery, boneless arm. Ageratum threw a kobold shortspear at it but it dodged the incoming missile. However, it was not able to evade Harlan Starblade's flaming sword and the paladin skewered it upon his blade, the flames burning the horrid beast from within. It fell to the mine floor, dead. Ogilvy continued shining the bullseye lantern on the corpse, allowing the heroes to see the choker carried nothing of value on it. Continuing on down the passageway, Harlan heard the sound of running water ahead and around a corner. There, at the end of the shaft, there was a loose pile of rocks with a gap large enough for a svirfneblin - or the thin, rubbery body of a choker - to squeeze through the hole. "I think we've found your entryway," the half-elf informed the dwarven miner. "This, no doubt, was how the svirfneblin and the choker got into your mines." "Wait," interrupted Alistair. "I thought they got in through that side tunnel on the lower level. Remember? When we were chasing the last svirfneblin, that's the way he ran." "That passageway dead-ended about twenny feet in," replied Kasselban. "Really? I say - how strange." Then the young nobleman realized they had never made it to the end of that passageway, for somewhere along its length had been the temporary [I]planar gate[/I] that had shunted them to Jasgun Singh's realm. Upon Harlan's instruction, Chaevaris gave the entirety of the fifth level a once over, the elf reporting back having unearthed no signs of any secret passageways leading into the mine. "The gap in the rocks leading down to the underground stream - that's the only other way in," the archer affirmed. "Then we have complied with the terms of our agreement," Alistair said. "Your miners will be able to seal off this gap and then you need have no further fears of infiltration by undesirable creatures." "Ye killed but one wee choker on th' whole level," Kasselban argued. "That hardly seems worth doublin' yer fee." "The only thing being doubled is the half-fee we earned by clearing out one of two levels as specified by you," Alistair countered. "Now that we have cleared out both levels, we return to the full price agreed upon by both parties. Unless you wish to break an oath sworn before, and to, a paladin of Pelor?" Kasselban seemed to be dredging about in his miserly mind for any way to wriggle out of the deal, when there was the sound of pounding feet behind them. As one, the four heroes spun about, weapons ready to face this new threat. But the "threat" turned out to be nothing but a pair of dwarven miners. "Boss!" one cried, blanching at the realization he had an elven archer aiming an arrow right between his eyes. "Whoa! Stop! It's just us - we got a message!" Chaevaris lowered the bow and let out the string, which had been ready to send the arrow flying across the mine tunnel - it was only the archer's long experience at bowhunting that had prevented the dwarf from having been shot at. "What's th' message?" demanded Kasselban. "Who wants me?" "Not you, boss - them heroes. A boy came running up, says they're needed back at th' keep. Some feller name o' Thorpe's causing problems." The mine boss looked over to the heroes. "Sounds important," he said. "Imagine ye'll prolly wanna head right over there, quick-like." "We will pass by your office on the way out," Harlan pointed out. "You can pay us our wages and then we'll be on our way. Kasselban scowled at this but saw no way out of it, and indeed he had paid them in full before they mounted up on their horses and headed back to the Keep of Saint Cuthbert, two hours away to the southeast. It was closing in on dusk as they rode up to the place they'd just visited that very morning. As they rode their mounts through the opened gate in the wall surrounding the keep, they saw a robed figure just stepping inside the front door - possibly Brother Scrimshaw, but they were still too far away to tell for sure. The swineherds had apparently moved on since they'd seen them that morning, no doubt back at their farms and tending to their crops and animals. Ageratum was the first one into the front door, as the others tied their horses' bridles to the hitching post out front. The front room was empty and triangular in shape, basically a choke-hold to ensure a single person could fight off those trying to enter, if need be. At the back of the room was a pair of double doors and the halfling swung them wide open, stepping into the main structure of the keep itself - a rectangle with a smaller rectangle in the center of the larger one, with "L-shaped" rooms in each corner of the keep. "Hello?" she called out, looking along the hallways that surrounded the central room. She could see a door on the east and west sides of this central room, as well as a few doors leading into the smaller sides of the "L-shaped" rooms. "We're back 'ere!" called a voice with the brogue used by Father Barbados. Ageratum, having no reason to think otherwise, assumed it was the elderly cleric and took heart in the fact he didn't seem to be panicked or upset or anything; apparently they must have gotten the situation with Carlton - or actually, Garabond - Thorpe well in hand since sending word to the heroes to come to their assistance. Ageratum started heading along the western side of the central rectangle, given it sounded like Father Barbados was way in the rear of the keep. Alistair soon caught up with her, the nobleman's strides being much longer than those of the little halfling. Unseen by either, Ogilvy followed his master. They heard the sound of a door open and close, then silence. Chaevaris and Harlan entered the keep, the archer going along the eastern hallway and the paladin trailing Ageratum and Alistair. Harlan sensed no evil in the area directly ahead. "Where are you?" Ageratum called out again. "We're in th' very back o' th' keep!" came the answer. Alistair turned the corner and saw Father Barbados standing beside a large fireplace. On the floor before him, looking very bruised and bloody, lay the unconscious form of Garaband Thorpe, the swindler who had hired the heroes to fetch the [I]Blood Mirror[/I] from a tomb he claimed belonged to his grandfather, but it had recently become apparent all of that had been a lie - he'd been hired by Jasgun Singh to fetch the ruby so he could put it to his own nefarious use. "I say!" declared Alistair. "Is everything all right?" "Well, this one needs some healin' somethin' fierce, I can tell ye, but I'm afraid I'm all tuckered out - no more spells left t' me, ye see. Y'might want t' bring the paladin forth t' heal 'im, an' if ye've got th' [I]Blood Mirror[/I] ye might want t' put it t' good use." Alistair looked down at the beaten man. "Did you do this?" he asked. "Naw, 'tweren't me, lad - he showed up here all beaten an' bloody." By this time, Chaevaris had rounded the opposite corner and saw the two in the back of the room, the cleric chatting with Alistair. Something seemed off to the elf, but despite multiple attempts at pinning down the wrongness of the situation, it continued to evade every effort. Chaevaris frowned, making eye contact with Alistair and trying to determine what was wrong with the scene being played out before them. Harlan had heard the cleric's suggestion and was surprised at the man's insistence he bring forth the [I]Blood Mirror[/I]. Trusting his instincts, he passed the ruby over to Ageratum before turning the corner, and as he concentrated on reading auras (not surprisingly, the only emanations of evil were coming from Thorpe) the halfling stuffed the gem deep into the bottom of a belt pouch, out of view. But Alistair had picked up on Chaevaris's suspicions and cast a [I]detect magic[/I] spell, looking at the back of the keep as he did so. And as a result, a strange thing occurred: it was if he was now viewing Barbados from the other side of a body of water, whose ripples altered the man's face, such that sometimes he appeared to be the elderly cleric who'd traveled with them on the caravan to Ghourmand Vale - and at other times he looked like one of the men they'd seen in Jasgun Singh's village, extolling the virtues of studying under the great master's leadership. It took a moment for the young sorcerer to make sense of it, but he suddenly realized-- "That's not Father Barbados! It's an illusion! He's one of those turbaned men from that village!" Seeing the man this close up, Alistair noted a few other things that hadn't been visible when they were spying on him from a cave in a hilltop. The man's eyes glowed slightly, and his pupils were vertical, like a cat's. Furthermore, his fingernails seemed to end in short claws. "So," remarked Kana Singh, dropping the fake "Father Barbados" brogue accent and speaking in his own, slightly sing-song cadence, "the boy sorcerer finally comes through." The jig now well and truly up, Kana Singh found himself being targeted by Chaevaris - the archer had an arrow notched and ready to shoot, and was currently eyeing the foreign man to line up the shot for maximum damage potential - and Alistair was directing Ogilvy to the fireplace, where the [I]unseen servant[/I] picked up a burning log and started bringing it closer to the imposter. Then Kana Singh struck, with all of the quickness of his assassin's training behind him. He darted at Harlan, swinging a scimitar at the half-elf, but taking a cut to the knee from Ageratum's short sword as a result. In addition, Chaevaris's shot hit the imposter in the upper back (instead of in the throat as the archer had intended, but Kana Singh moved much faster than anticipated). Kana Singh grunted in pain from his wounds but called out, "Serve now [B]Bhadup Cheé[/B]!" Kana Singh's servants wasted no time in heeding their master's orders. A door opened from the "L-shaped" room in the northeastern corner of the keep and a rogue stepped out, stabbing at Alistair. Fortunately for the sorcerer, he saw the movement out of the corner of his eye at the last moment and managed to duck out of range of the scimitar's slashing swing. But Harlan made a swing of his own, with his [I]flaming burst longsword[/I], and Kana Singh fell to the ground alongside the body of Garabond Thorpe. It looked like it might come down to a race to see which of the two would bleed out the fastest, but healing either of them was the least of any of the heroes' concerns. (In fact, Ageratum's short sword severed the impostor's head at the neck, almost as if she had put money down on Kana Singh dying first.) Alistair took an instinctive step back, away from the rogue and then just as instinctively thrust a hand out in his direction. A pair of glowing darts shot out from the sorcerer's fingertips, striking the startled killer in the chest but failing to drop him. Ogilvy held the flaming log aloft above the rogue's head and released it, but it failed to hit its target. Then another combatant entered the fray, stepping out from the other door to the same room the first rogue had exited. This man had the same swarthy skin as both Kana Singh and the rogue serving him but wore a much better type of armor: half-plate, by the looks of it, and very well made at that. But he also wielded a scimitar, apparently a very common weapon in the realm of Jasgund Singh. Alistair leaped back just in time to avoid getting disemboweled, and realized he preferred it a bit farther back from the front lines of combat, especially now that he could apparently cast [I]magic missile[/I] spells. Fortunately, Chaevaris had the foolish sorcerer's back and shot an arrow at the rogue threatening him, hitting him in the arm and nearly causing him to drop his own weapon. While all of this was happening over at the northeast corner, a door opened from the northwestern "L-shaped" room and out stepped another fighter, armed and armored in the same manner as his brother. His scimitar came slashing down at Harlan, but the paladin caught the blade on his shield and deflected it aside, stabbing the foe with his own flame-covered blade and pushing the sword's tip deep into the man's side. From the other door to that same room came another rogue, this one targeting Ageratum. But the halfling easily ducked beneath his swing; it was often a fairly simple task to tell which enemies had never fought a halfling before, for it was easy to forget how short they really were and the swings were often far too high to be much of a threat to a nimble halfling with her wits about her. But her counterstrike also missed, causing her to frown in frustration. The first rogue was not one to disobey his master, but a quick glimpse showed his master - for this mission, at least - now had his head and body separated from each other and wouldn't see his cowardice. With a bleat of terror at his own impending mortality, he backed off from combat and ran screaming down the eastern hallway, heading to the front of the keep and hopefully to freedom to fight again another day. But Alistair was having none of that; with a few sprinted paces off to the side, he caught sight of the fleeing rogue and a second [I]magic missile[/I] spell, cast straight into the coward's back, sent him sprawling lifelessly to the keep's stone floor. Ogilvy, in the meantime, picked the flaming log back up and tried again against one of the fighters, with no better luck. The first fighter moved up to engage Chaevaris now that Alistair was out of range, but had no luck against the nimble archer. The elf took a step back, notched another arrow to the composite longbow, pulled it back as far as it could go, and released it all in a matter of seconds; the startled fighter got the shock of his life when the arrow grazed the area between his shoulder and his neck and was turned away by the barest of margins; another half-inch and it would have been buried deep into his unprotected neck. Harlan and the other fighter were exchanging a series of blows but not having much success in making contact. The paladin risked taking an extra hit from his foe to position himself to better advantage, lining himself on the exact other side of the fighter such that Ageratum was now directly behind him. But she was too busy fighting off the other rogue to take immediate advantage of the situation, for it was all she could do to keep herself away from the rogue's deadly scimitar blade. Alistair sent another two magical darts flying into the man going after Chaevaris, which was enough to convince the fighter to switch targets - maybe he'd have better luck if he helped gang up on the little halfling woman? But his swing missed Ageratum, and gave Chaevaris enough time to line up a really good shot against him. Harlan brought down the other fighter with a successful strike with his burning blade, then pivoted to face the rogue going after Ageratum. That was enough to break the rogue's will, and he dashed past Ageratum - too fast for the halfling to tag him with her own blade - and ran for the side door to the center room in the keep. The door opened and slammed shut as he ran inside, desperately seeking safety. Ageratum faced the remaining fighter, stabbing out at his leg while Alistair cast another [I]magic missile[/I] spell at the same foe. Then the sorcerer passed his waterskin to Ogilvy, mentally commanding his servant to pour the contents down the fighter's back. It wasn't much of an attack as far as damage went, but for the surprise factor it was a great success, for the fighter flinched at the sudden dousing. Just after he had struck Ageratum with his blade he writhed in surprise at the stream of water flooding down his back, which allowed Chaevaris to take him down with another well-placed arrow. And just that quickly, there were no longer any active combatants in the keep attacking the heroes. But Harlan Starblade hadn't lost track of how many there had been here. Using a burst of positive energy to heal the worst of his wounds, he raced over to the door the fleeing rogue had run through and pulled it open. "There's one more, trying to get away!" he called to the others as he followed a narrow corridor to a set of stairs leading down. Chaevaris, on the other side of the central room, entered via the opposite door and also followed a set of stairs leading down. The stairs circled a central shaft leading down even further below the lowest level of the keep, to an underground river whose waters filled the well the central shaft bounded off. There were access points on each side of the central rectangular well-shaft, with buckets on ropes allowing water to be raised up to any of the three levels of the keep, the two above ground and the one below. Ageratum wasn't particularly concerned about chasing down a rogue, knowing full well she'd never catch up to him with her own smaller stride. So instead, she satisfied herself by ensuring each of the other foes was in fact dead, using decapitation as her foolproof method. Alistair followed Chaevaris to the stairs, seeing the elf holding a rope leading down into the water that was taut for a moment, then loosened as whatever had been pulling on the bucket released it. "I think he's gone down into the water!" the elven archer explained as Harlan pulled on the rope, raising a bucket now filled with water. Alistair divested himself of the crossbow on his back and the rapier, potion pouch, and spell scroll tubes buckled at his hip. "With me, Ogilvy!" he called, pulling a handkerchief from his sleeve and passing it over to the [I]unseen servant[/I]. "If I run into trouble, I'll send Ogilvy up with the handkerchief," the sorcerer explained. "Here, you'll need this," Ageratum offered, activating a sunrod from her pack and passing it over to Alistair. She'd wandered down the stairs after having completed her own self-appointed, bloody task. Alistair took the sunrod, thanked her (as is only befitting for a nobleman having been granted a favor by a young lady, no matter her size), and leaped over the edge into the water, submerging himself completely. Beside him, his white handkerchief took the plunge as well. From the light of the sunrod, Alistair could see the bottom of the well - that is, the space from the water's top to the bottom of the well-shaft's sides, for there was no "floor" to the shaft - was about five feet, with another good five feet of underground river or stream below it, stretching out in opposite directions. There was a definite current, but not one so strong the sorcerer couldn't keep himself in place with little effort. And that was good, for he could see, in the light of the sunrod's illumination, that the waters filling the underground tunnel went all the way up to the ceiling; there was no air above with which to grab the occasional breath. The rogue had made good his escape, for Alistair was certainly not going to chase after him with naught but a lungful of air and no idea how much further down the underwater passageway the next available breath of air would be. He returned to the well, popping his head back up above the water and using the bucket rope to help pull himself up onto the solid stone floor of the keep. As he dripped onto the stone, he realized he really hadn't had much of a plan on what to do if he had found the rogue there underwater, for he'd left his weapons behind and wasn't sure if he could even cast spells underwater. (He imagined he probably could, being a naturally gifted wizard and all, but one never knew.) Still he at least prided himself that even if he hadn't had much in the way of a plan, he at least had the natural instincts of a Trained Professional Adventurer - and that had to count for something. Elfy Danger Silverleaf, Alistair was quite sure, would have jumped into the well under similar circumstances, and that was good enough for him. While the sorcerer had been exploring underneath the water, Ageratum had fished out the [I]Blood Mirror[/I] and spent a few minutes peeking through it, but she didn't see any arrows like Harlan had. She passed it to the dripping-wet sorcerer and he gave it a go, but other than turning everything red, looking through the [I]Blood Mirror[/I] didn't do anything for Alistair, either. He gave it back to Harlan for safe keeping and started buckling his equipment back on. After that, they explored the rest of the keep and sure enough, they found Father Barbados and Brothers Scrimshaw and Scarborough tied up in the northwestern "L-shaped" room on the ground floor. After releasing them, Father Barbados explained he'd been stabbed in the back with something that caused his whole body to freeze up, then conked on the head and he lost consciousness. The other two hadn't been paralyzed, but each had been hit on the head and knocked out. Neither of the three had seen their attackers. "Well, we sure have," explained Chaevaris, taking the three clerics out to see the corpses of the men they'd fought - corpses which now, with the exception of Garabond Thorpe, had been separated from their heads. "I thought you might want to interrogate Thorpe," Ageratum explained. "That might be a bit difficult, given he's dead," Chaevaris answered. Brother Scrimshaw just shook his head and sighed. Father Barbados spoke for them all when he said, "Well, no great loss, that one." - - - We ended up with a fair amount of loot from this adventure: Harlan took a suit of masterwork half-plate armor and Dan said a human-sized [I]+1 dagger[/I] (taken from Kana Singh) was the functional equivalent of a halfling-sized [I]+1 short sword[/I], so Ageratum took that for her own use, but if we sell all of the other masterwork armor, masterwork scimitars, standard daggers, and the [I]+2 scimitar[/I] we will have each earned 2,975 gp! Not bad! Dan was rolling like crap most of the night; his two rogues and two fighters hardly ever rolled double digits on their d20 attack rolls. He also let us know that those five "swineherds" were in fact a disguised Kana Singh and his four henchmen, who'd been looking for Harlan since he'd last been sighted holding the [I]Blood Mirror[/I] (either by the cook in the village or possibly by Marjorie Mustaine, if she found a way to report back to Jasgund Singh; none of us are under the delusion we've seen the last of her). And Dan had "Father Barbados" (the assassin Kana Singh under the effects of a [I]disguise self[/I] spell) really foot-stomp his wanting Harlan to use the [I]Blood Mirror[/I], to the point we were all suspicious that something was up. Next adventure, we'll be hauling the loot to Ghourmand Vale to sell it and we'll no doubt run into some sort of complications either there or on the way. But we've suggested to the clerics they have some grates or something put in the underground river on either side of their well, so they don't have a secret way into their fortified keep. [/QUOTE]
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