Dr Simon
Explorer
So, helping airwalkrr (and any of the rest of you who may feel at a loose end), here's a summary of the plot so far.
The initial trigger for adventure was a notice from Crown Prince Hals von Tasseninck calling for brave souls (but not dwarves) to join him on an expedition to the Gray Mountains. Whether to join the Crown Prince, or to remonstrate with his racist hiring policies, the adventurers were on their way to Altdorf.
En route they came upon chaos mutants attacking a coach, and discovered that one of the coach passengers not only looked just like one of their number, but that this identical twin was also apparently heir to a fortune. Some less scrupulous members elected to try to fraudulently claim this fortune from the named lawyers (Lock, Stock and Barl) in Bogenhafen.
In Altdorf, several things happened. The party found that they were too late to meet the Crown Prince, but they met with Josef Quartjin, a boatman and old friend of Garold, who was heading to Bogenhafen and offered them passage. Somebody also seemed to be keeping an eye on them, possibly trying to make contact via secret signs.
They were attacked twice. The first, in an inn, by drunk nobles and a paid thug out for some fun. Aaryn's magic saved the day with a minimum of violence. Later, they were followed by the same men who were signalling earlier, but these men were cut down by a mysterious assailant with a crossbow. In the morning it transpired that one of the drunken nobles had also gone on to get himself killed that night and, perhaps due to being mainly non-humans, the authorities were looking for the party as suspects. Time to leave Altdorf.
On the way to Bogenhafen, the party noticed a red-bearded man with a crossbow tailing them, who managed to lose them when the tables were turned. Later that night he attacked Josef's barge with a group of ruffians but, when fought to an impasse, revealed that he had mistaken one of the party for the dead look-alike, one Kastor Leiberung who, rather than being an upstanding citizen of the Empire was in fact a member of a chaos cult, the Purple Hand. The whole inheritance was a ploy by the red-bearded man, a bounty hunter named Adolphus, who was seeking Leiberung and members of the Purple Hand. On the basis that the Purple Hand might try to contact "Leiberung" in Bogenhafen, Adolphus charged the party with continuing to Bogenhafen whilst he went back to Altdorf to pursue leads there.
In Bogenhafen the party enjoyed that entertainments on offer at the Schaffenfest fair whilst Josef sold his cargo of wine. Aaryn won a wrestling match with the aid of magic, the dwarves freed a dwarf derelict from the stocks but got little gratitude for it, and then a three-legged goblin escaped from Dr. Malthusius's Zoocopaeia freak show. The party were offered money to go into the sewers and retrieve the creature.
What they found instead was a hidden temple and a demonic gaurdian, which had apparently also destroyed the goblin judging by the remains (a three-socketed pelvis) that were left. The demon was bound within a summoning circle which featured the name "Ordo Septinarius". The party removed a locked cabinet (which ultimately was ultimately shown to contain ritual implements for summoning and binding the demon) and a handkerchief, bearing the monogram "FS".
Scant clues indeed, but signs pointed towards the Merchants Guild of Bogenhafen. The Ordo Septinarius was, apparently, a charitable society run by the Guild members, a Guild run by the Teugen, Steinhager, Ruggbroder and Haagen families, a Guild with great influence on the Town Council. Coincidentally (?), the drunken dwarf from the stocks had last been seen in the company of a servant wearing the red-rose livery of the Teugen family, as the fair closed. The priestess directed further enquiries to the Merchants Guild Hall, over the road from the temple.
Hans, meanwhile, had determined that the inn where the party was staying, the Crossed Pikes, was in fact a safe house for the Thieves Guild, so far a useful resource for providing goods like a magical scroll for opening things.
Borrowing a map of the sewers from the Town Hall revealed that the temple, not marked on the official plans, seemed to lie beneath the offices of the Steinhager family. Although no way out of the temple had been seen the previous night, perhaps there was a connection between the two?
Questions That Need Answers:
-What does the Ordo Septinarius have to do with a chaos temple in the sewers, and is the Merchants Guild implicated?
-Is this related to the Purple Hand Cult and if not, does the Purple Hand have a presence in Bogenhafen?
-Who is FS, and how did his or her handkerchief end up in a chaos temple?
-Do the sewers hide any other secrets?
-Is it too late to catch up with Crown Prince Hals von Tasseninck?
-Where's the nearest bar?
The initial trigger for adventure was a notice from Crown Prince Hals von Tasseninck calling for brave souls (but not dwarves) to join him on an expedition to the Gray Mountains. Whether to join the Crown Prince, or to remonstrate with his racist hiring policies, the adventurers were on their way to Altdorf.
En route they came upon chaos mutants attacking a coach, and discovered that one of the coach passengers not only looked just like one of their number, but that this identical twin was also apparently heir to a fortune. Some less scrupulous members elected to try to fraudulently claim this fortune from the named lawyers (Lock, Stock and Barl) in Bogenhafen.
In Altdorf, several things happened. The party found that they were too late to meet the Crown Prince, but they met with Josef Quartjin, a boatman and old friend of Garold, who was heading to Bogenhafen and offered them passage. Somebody also seemed to be keeping an eye on them, possibly trying to make contact via secret signs.
They were attacked twice. The first, in an inn, by drunk nobles and a paid thug out for some fun. Aaryn's magic saved the day with a minimum of violence. Later, they were followed by the same men who were signalling earlier, but these men were cut down by a mysterious assailant with a crossbow. In the morning it transpired that one of the drunken nobles had also gone on to get himself killed that night and, perhaps due to being mainly non-humans, the authorities were looking for the party as suspects. Time to leave Altdorf.
On the way to Bogenhafen, the party noticed a red-bearded man with a crossbow tailing them, who managed to lose them when the tables were turned. Later that night he attacked Josef's barge with a group of ruffians but, when fought to an impasse, revealed that he had mistaken one of the party for the dead look-alike, one Kastor Leiberung who, rather than being an upstanding citizen of the Empire was in fact a member of a chaos cult, the Purple Hand. The whole inheritance was a ploy by the red-bearded man, a bounty hunter named Adolphus, who was seeking Leiberung and members of the Purple Hand. On the basis that the Purple Hand might try to contact "Leiberung" in Bogenhafen, Adolphus charged the party with continuing to Bogenhafen whilst he went back to Altdorf to pursue leads there.
In Bogenhafen the party enjoyed that entertainments on offer at the Schaffenfest fair whilst Josef sold his cargo of wine. Aaryn won a wrestling match with the aid of magic, the dwarves freed a dwarf derelict from the stocks but got little gratitude for it, and then a three-legged goblin escaped from Dr. Malthusius's Zoocopaeia freak show. The party were offered money to go into the sewers and retrieve the creature.
What they found instead was a hidden temple and a demonic gaurdian, which had apparently also destroyed the goblin judging by the remains (a three-socketed pelvis) that were left. The demon was bound within a summoning circle which featured the name "Ordo Septinarius". The party removed a locked cabinet (which ultimately was ultimately shown to contain ritual implements for summoning and binding the demon) and a handkerchief, bearing the monogram "FS".
Scant clues indeed, but signs pointed towards the Merchants Guild of Bogenhafen. The Ordo Septinarius was, apparently, a charitable society run by the Guild members, a Guild run by the Teugen, Steinhager, Ruggbroder and Haagen families, a Guild with great influence on the Town Council. Coincidentally (?), the drunken dwarf from the stocks had last been seen in the company of a servant wearing the red-rose livery of the Teugen family, as the fair closed. The priestess directed further enquiries to the Merchants Guild Hall, over the road from the temple.
Hans, meanwhile, had determined that the inn where the party was staying, the Crossed Pikes, was in fact a safe house for the Thieves Guild, so far a useful resource for providing goods like a magical scroll for opening things.
Borrowing a map of the sewers from the Town Hall revealed that the temple, not marked on the official plans, seemed to lie beneath the offices of the Steinhager family. Although no way out of the temple had been seen the previous night, perhaps there was a connection between the two?
Questions That Need Answers:
-What does the Ordo Septinarius have to do with a chaos temple in the sewers, and is the Merchants Guild implicated?
-Is this related to the Purple Hand Cult and if not, does the Purple Hand have a presence in Bogenhafen?
-Who is FS, and how did his or her handkerchief end up in a chaos temple?
-Do the sewers hide any other secrets?
-Is it too late to catch up with Crown Prince Hals von Tasseninck?
-Where's the nearest bar?
