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The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="Cafu" data-source="post: 6076984" data-attributes="member: 6692807"><p>The next day dawned crisp and clear. Even though it was early, we could already hear noise outside. The Tournament participants must have been setting up stalls the previous evening. Felix, John and I put our heads together and studied various spells which we discussed yesterday. Today was going to be a long and potentially interesting day.</p><p> </p><p>Thus prepared, we met with Lord Gallo and together with his entourage, we walked to the castle fields where the Tournament was to be held.</p><p> </p><p>The whole place was already a riot of colour. A collection of stalls, tents, and wagons which sold everything you could possibly want was laid out in neat squares; besides those, there were also various shows of magic and games of chance, skill and dexterity. Here was a stall which had several targets set up; knocking them off their stands with the rocks provided for a fee would win prizes; or so the owner of the stall claimed; in a very loud voice. Other tents offered to let you see fabled mermaids, the temptresses of the oceans; I wasn’t quite sure why that was so unusual but when John saw that tent, he nearly fell over laughing:</p><p> </p><p>“The person who owns that tent has no idea what he is doing; he would be laughed out of any fairground in Gate Pass. Mermaids? In Dassen? That just screams fake,” he said, between gulps of air as he recovered from his amusement.</p><p> </p><p>There were tents where one could see bearded ladies for a fee of course; personally I snorted at this but John assured me that they were human bearded ladies; apparently, they were very rare; if they were real that is.</p><p> </p><p>“Surely any self-respecting magician could cast a little cantrip and put a beard on a woman for a few hours?” I asked John.</p><p> </p><p>He replied: “You know that; I know that; but that bunch going into the tent to gawp has no idea. Look at the owner by the door; he’s coining it with that stall,” John said, enviously.</p><p> </p><p>There were other stalls selling food, carvings, cheap jewellery, clothing, sweetmeats, and it went on and on; business seemed to be brisk as there were people everywhere; children were running around, shouting and screaming; elderly couples strolled slowly and younger couples moved a little more purposefully; it looked as if the whole of Bresk had turned up and they were determined to have a good time.</p><p>We had become separated from Gallo but we slowly made our way to the central field. This was the main jousting arena. There were less people selling around here and more spectators. There was also some very fervent gambling going on.</p><p> </p><p>Several grand tents had been erected around the jousting field and in one of those, we could see that Gallo had already established himself and his people. As we approached him, he turned around and spoke to us:</p><p> </p><p>“Ah; the invitations to the banquet are here. Now, I trust some of you will register for the joust? The tents to do so are over there,” he said, pointing.</p><p> </p><p>“Do the land of Gallo proud!”</p><p> </p><p>Slowly and still looking around we made our way to the aforementioned tents. John and Victor led the way:</p><p> </p><p>“We’d like to register for the joust please,” Longhelim said to the seated man who was annotating names on a ledger.</p><p> </p><p>“Looking at you and your decorations gentlemen, I believe you will enter into the nobles’ competition? If so, the entry fee is one hundred gold pieces each.”</p><p> </p><p>Goodness, this jousting was expensive business. I wasn’t sure but bearing in mind that the prize was only five hundred gold pieces and some magical armour for a horse, then someone, somewhere was making a handsome profit on this competition. Longhelim and Victor seemed to take it in their stride and paid up. Then Drudge stepped up:</p><p> </p><p>The same man looked him up and down and said: “You’ll be for the commoners I take it? You know there is no magical protection in that competition don’t you?”</p><p> </p><p>Drudge frowned: “Magical protection?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes,” the man explained, “there’s magical protection in place in the noble’s joust; no matter how badly they are knocked out or how hard they cut each other with swords, it is all magically protected; no one will actually get hurt.”</p><p> </p><p>Suddenly, I realised where all that money was going. I was also incredibly curious as to what sort of magic that entailed. I made a mental note to try to find out as soon as I could.</p><p> </p><p>The man continued: “That protection is not present in the commoner’s tourney. Just warning you before you enter. The fee is much lower; as is the prize. Do you still wish to participate?”</p><p> </p><p>Drudge just nodded and the man said: “One gold piece,” which Drudge duly paid.</p><p> </p><p>Then, we milled around with the rest of the contestants, waiting for the draw. The first result which affected us was a sturdy lad who faced Drudge. He looked to be young and obviously very nervous. He was finding it difficult to handle a lance on horseback. Drudge handled his horse quietly and calmly and as the two opponents raced towards each other, I looked on with interest. Then the lad’s horse seemed to suddenly lurch and shy, and I watched in dismay as Drudge’s lance took the poor boy straight in the face; the crunch of his nose being driven into his face was audible even from my position as a spectator and he went flying backwards. Drudge rode by and as he turned around, his opponent was flat on the ground with several priests already next to him. One was shaking his head. Drudge slowly rode back to his starting point and there were a few boos from the crowd as he did so.</p><p> </p><p>Next to ride was Longhelim who was up against Quincy Pell, or so the announcer said. Pell was wearing the colours of Lord Rago. Both riders cantered towards each other at huge speed and both of them knocked each other off the horse. This time, they rose unharmed due to the magical protection. The rules stated that if that happened, then the combat would continue on foot. So Longhelim duly drew his sword and was able to defeat Pell quite quickly and easily. Much cheering followed such an intense early bout.</p><p> </p><p>Finally, Victor was riding against Woodbar Earthis, who represented Bresk. In this case, Victor was able to knock the man off his horse on the first pass. The cheering was more muted in this case, as it had been such a quick confrontation.</p><p> </p><p>That was round one.</p><p> </p><p>There was a certain amount of time until the next round so we amused ourselves by sightseeing. I even found a small ring where mages were doing some spell dueling. They were very good. I wasn’t able to tell at all when they released their spells.</p><p> </p><p>After looking around some more, it was time for the next round of the joust. This time Victor was up against Grim Morgentsen, a military refugee from Ragesia, who promptly proceeded to knock Victor on his backside. Victor picked himself up and saluted his opponent. Then he joined us and grinned ruefully, muttering:</p><p> </p><p>“I hope that’s visible enough for Gallo since that’s me out of the competition.”</p><p> </p><p>Drudge came up against another rider from the commoner’s joust and this one actually survived the bout; Drudge did win though.</p><p> </p><p>Finally, Longhelim’s opponent was Zwervenkarsh Hectonoff, a Dagobashian knight whose level of expertise was completely unknown to us; the paladin knocked him off on the first pass. Again, there was cheering; people were beginning to recognize Longhelim and give him their support; they continued their applause and acclamation as the paladin reached us. I suspected that wearing Gallo’s colours did help his popularity, if our reception of yesterday was any indicator.</p><p> </p><p>Again, there was a break between Longhelim and Drudge’s next rounds and we wondered in a different direction this time; as we mingled with the crowd, our attention was taken by a ludicrously dressed individual; he wore a robe with stars, moons and comets. He also wore a pointed hat in the same ridiculous design. His wagon bore the legend: “Whizbang Fireworks” and he was trying to convince people to come and see his firework display. He wasn’t getting a great deal of attention so in the end he sat down on the steps and muttered to himself.</p><p> </p><p>We stared at him curiously.</p><p> </p><p>“Sorry friend, but you are unlikely to attract anyone to your display if you don’t give them at least a little demonstration,” I said to him.</p><p> </p><p>He looked back at me:”I would but I have almost no fireworks left. I was going to buy some here but all the alchemists have shut up shop. I asked around and they are all at the palace; and have been for the last three days.”</p><p> </p><p>“All the alchemists in the city? Gone to the palace?”</p><p> </p><p>“Yes,” he answered, “every single one that I know of.”</p><p> </p><p>I stowed that piece of information away and looked at Longhelim and John.</p><p> </p><p>“Now, why would the palace need all the alchemists in the city?” I asked the others but no one gave me an answer.</p><p> </p><p>After that, it was time for another round of the tourney. This time Drudge and his opponent knocked each other off their saddles; whereupon Drudge decapitated his opponent in the fencing match which followed. The booing was appreciable and loud this time.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim in the meantime came up against Jareth Butchaven, a soldier serving the King. These two also knocked each other off their saddles and Longhelim won the ground combat, this time to even greater acclaim than previously. Amazingly, that only left Longhelim and one opponent; quite extraordinary bearing in mind that neither he nor Victor were trained jousters, nor were they taking this very seriously. They were only doing it to be visible, as per Gallo’s instructions. Having said that, I think the most visible of us at the moment was Drudge, but not in a good way.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim’s final opponent was to be the tournament favourite, a lady knight who was an experienced jouster: her name was Lady Sylvia Cassola, and she wore the colours of Lady Namin. As usual, there was going to be a break between the rounds and as previously, we were going to go for a stroll through the crowds, being as visible as possible.</p><p> </p><p>We mingled and did come across a curious scene. A wagon had been set up as a kitchen, presided over by a halfling. A man with a plate, a customer, was being berated by the chef, who spoke with a heavy accent:</p><p> </p><p>“You don’t like it? You barbarian; you…Ragesian. I have cooked for nobles, for Knights, for Dukes; I cook for the King. If it wasn’t for those imbeciles taking away my kitchen tonight………special duties they said……not needed tonight they said……..bringing in their own staff for the banquet…….bah, just go; you are accustomed to gruel; you have the palate of a troll!”</p><p> </p><p>With that, the halfling stomped into his wagon and closed it with a bang.</p><p> </p><p>A little crowd were staring at the whole thing in bemusement but I was thinking: First all the alchemists are employed at the palace for three days and now it looked as if their head chef had been given the evening off on the day that a major banquet was being prepared; by a different set of staff. Really, this didn’t look good at all.</p><p> </p><p>Then it was time for the final joust. It was a little anti climatic. Lady Sylvia was obviously a very skilled jouster and she carefully and precisely knocked Longhelim out of the saddle on her first pass. Despite this, she was an honourable knight and complimented the paladin, finding it difficult to believe that it was his first tournament.</p><p> </p><p>Drudge, in the meantime, had gone a step further and had bought a black cloak and mask; he was planning to unnerve his opponents he said. I really didn’t think that they needed any more unnerving, considering that he had killed two and left two others badly unconscious. His last opponent was a young girl; talented and raw. She didn’t stand chance. Drudge was the winner among the commoners.</p><p> </p><p>At this point, we decided to get in touch with Gallo. There were too many coincidences about the alchemists, the cooks and the timing in the palace. We were admitted immediately:</p><p> </p><p>“So, did anyone make contact?”</p><p> </p><p>He looked disappointed when we replied in the negative. He listened to what we had found out and what we surmised and replied:</p><p> </p><p>“It is certainly suspicious but it is circumstantial and not proof. We should of course be very careful but without actual proof, we cannot go to the rest of the Lords saying that the usual chef is not working in the kitchen tonight and that all the alchemists are in the palace. That’s meaningless.”</p><p> </p><p>Frustrated, I acknowledged his point. We thanked him for his time and left.</p><p> </p><p>As we were walking back, we stopped at one of the stalls and then we heard a voice. It was coming from someone who was part of the crowd by the same stall and it was whisper, yet one we could all hear:</p><p> </p><p>“Don’t move, don’t look at me; I recognize you! You ride with Duke Gallo; I am a guard at the castle but I don’t like what is going on there now. Things have changed. I was part of a detachment watching a sewer outlet from the castle in a graveyard. Several days ago, we were ordered to leave our post and so far as I know, it is now unwatched; this leaves an unguarded entrance into the castle! Something is going on. I heard that priests have been seen going into the sewer. I have even heard that the guard detail from the Royal Vault itself has been dismissed. The Book of the Eight Lands could be defenceless! It must be protected!”</p><p> </p><p>The talking then stopped and when I glanced again, there was no one there.</p><p> </p><p>Quickly, we grouped together.</p><p> </p><p>“A sewer outlet that comes out in a cemetery? Doesn’t that sound familiar?” I asked the others.</p><p> </p><p>“Yes,” Longhelim replied. “But if it’s true, it’s also our way into the palace. By the looks of things, all the regular staff and guards are being kicked out and being replaced by others; and something is obviously being planned. We need to get in there and find out what.”</p><p> </p><p>“I just knew you were going to say that,” I muttered.</p><p> </p><p>“Your mind reading skills never cease to amaze me Faden; now let’s go and see Gallo and tell him what we plan to do.”</p><p> </p><p>“It could be a trap,” I said.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim replied: “Yes, it could be; but it may not be. We need to go over there and at least find out if that is the case. It may be our only opportunity to infiltrate the castle.”</p><p> </p><p>The Duke greeted us as we witnessed the parade of the victorious Lady Sylvia. As soon as he heard about the sewer outlet and the information that the guard relayed, he stepped into a more private section of his tent, and motioned us to follow him. Then he reached into his jacket and took out a piece paper:</p><p> </p><p>“This is a plan of the castle. The information this guard provided may be our best chance to get in there and find out what is going on. There are only a few hours before the banquet so if you are going to go, you have to do it now. I realize that this is a lot to ask of you, especially after your last experiences in those dungeons, but somehow, I feel that Dassen is facing one of the greatest threats to its existence; I can only appeal to your sense of honour and your desire to thwart the Ragesians.”</p><p> </p><p>Well, the man certainly knew which buttons to push. Longhelim just nodded and we all left.</p><p> </p><p>“There is no time to lose. Considering where the cemetery is, we have to go now.” This was a comment from Drudge. He knew the fastest route to the cemetery and soon we were out of the city walls and walking rapidly towards the dilapidated graveyard.</p><p> </p><p>Entering, it looked as it had when we had left it; badly kept and shabby, with several of the head stones knocked over. As we slowed down and approached, suddenly, a dreadful cry filled the air. It sounded like a myriad of voices screaming in pain and misery. This cry came from a diaphanous, transparent figure that had just emerged from the wall and was flying at great speed towards us, emitting this dreadful cry!</p><p> </p><p>We braced ourselves for the coming onslaught but strangely, the creature wailed again and then retreated back into the wall. We all looked at each other.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim said: “Felix, any idea of what that was?”</p><p> </p><p>“Some sort of undead, judging from the fact that it walks through walls, but I don’t know exactly what type. Possibly a particularly nasty one; a spectre but I have never heard of it wailing like that; with so many voices.”</p><p> </p><p>The paladin looked thoughtfully at the wall: “Well, I don’t know why it ran away but it’s still lurking around somewhere so we’d better be on our toes.”</p><p> </p><p>After that, we arranged ourselves in single file and with everyone bar me ducking their heads, we made our way into the sewer entrance. We were familiar with this tunnel and quickly reached the main sewer which ran through a larger cave. It was as charming as ever, with frozen sewage providing a solid if slippery floor. Thankfully, the temperature also nullified the smell. We could see the shaft going up at the far end when there was a yell from behind me. I turned around and saw that the incorporeal figure had made another appearance, just in front of Drudge who had the rearguard as usual. It took a clumsy swipe at the ranger but didn’t make any contact; then before it recovered its momentum, Drudge stepped back and blazed at it with three of his arrows. One of them sped straight through its chest but the other two seemed to meet more resistance on their passage through its body. They seemed to leave punctures in its flesh.</p><p> </p><p>Everyone else had turned around and were getting ready to rush to Drudge’s aid, when another yell drew our attention to another of these creatures appearing out of the wall, this time in front of Victor. This one laid its hand squarely on Victor’s head and I could see the warrior recoil, as if struck by a mighty wind. Then he swung his sword wildly into the undead’s torso and in this case, both of his strikes seemed to go through it and leave rents. The undead were wailing in a hundred voices, ranting, screaming, pleading, crying; all seemingly terrified of being cursed to this unnatural existence forever. The cacophony was unsettling to put it mildly.</p><p> </p><p>The undead facing Drudge pursued the ranger and swiped again; and missed again when I decided to cast my spell of force missiles. These were particularly effective on incorporeal creatures as the nature of the spell also made it effective on the ethereal plane, which acted as a part refuge for beings such as these. It visibly recoiled as my missiles struck its chest. Then it was hit by another set of arrows from Drudge and seemed badly hurt.</p><p> </p><p>The creature facing Victor was having much greater success in touching the warrior and Victor was looking increasingly pale; nevertheless, he swiped determinedly at the enemy and was rewarded with several strikes. These left visible marks on the undead and at the last set of these, the creature dissipated around the Living Blade of Innenotdar.</p><p> </p><p>Seeing this, I cast my last spell of force missiles at the enemy facing Drudge and as it struck it, the creature broke off its attack on the ranger and flew to confront me with an outspread hand. As it touched my chest, I felt a coldness and type of weakness I had never felt before. It was as if part of my energy had been sucked out of my body; I also felt that I had lost access to one of my most powerful spells; it was dreadful. Then there was a thunderous cry:</p><p> </p><p>“Back from whence you came, you foul creature of darkness!”</p><p> </p><p>This utterance came from Felix, who was brandishing his holy symbol at it. The effect was immediate. It cowered briefly and then sped through the wall.</p><p> </p><p>We were all shaken after this fight; these were the very worst of undead. They preyed on the life force of the living and attempted to convert their victims into their undead state; it was a living death, not least as the victim turned was then completely under the thrall of its new master.</p><p> </p><p>Victor grunted: “I am badly weakened. The enemy hit me several times and I will not be as effective. I feel weakened.”</p><p> </p><p>John added: “We have to go on. We can’t afford to stop.”</p><p> </p><p>“Felix, is there anything you can do?”</p><p> </p><p>The priest thought: “Not at this time, but I will be able to once we rest. It will involve spell cramming, but there is a spell which will aid you to recover to your usual self.”</p><p> </p><p>“And I as well?” I added.</p><p> </p><p>“Were you struck?” asked the priest.</p><p> </p><p>“Oh, yes.”</p><p> </p><p>“Bloody undead! These things have really exacted a heavy toll on us and we’re not even in the palace yet!”</p><p> </p><p>“Well, not much we can do about it now. Let’s go,” this from Longhelim.</p><p> </p><p>With nothing else left to say, we moved forward and entered the shaft. The rope ladder we had left dangling was not there anymore but since we had been told that the passage had been in active use, this was not a great surprise.</p><p> </p><p>I looked up: “Longhelim, let me cast some magic on you which will allow you to fly. Then you can take a quick look up there.”</p><p> </p><p>I quickly cast the spell on the paladin, who flew up there and then came down.</p><p> </p><p>“Nothing up there,” he grunted. “That grate looks solid now though.”</p><p> </p><p>John stepped up: “Take me up there. I’ll have a look at the catch.”</p><p> </p><p>So the paladin picked up the rogue and as soon as he was up there, John began to do something to the catch. It was obviously a little more difficult than he expected as it took longer than usual but finally, he said to Longhelim:</p><p> </p><p>“Take me down and then fly up and try to open it.”</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim did as asked and then flew up. Again, it took him a little longer but he finally leveraged the grate open and quickly after that, a rope ladder unrolled at our feet. Everyone quickly ascended. The last person below had been Felix and as we looked down we heard another thunderous imprecation:</p><p> </p><p>“Back into your kennel, you undead scum!”</p><p> </p><p>Then Felix appeared from the pit and he muttered:</p><p> </p><p>“Well, you can add me to the list of victims of those things, whatever they are!”</p><p> </p><p>Rapidly, we recovered and then looked at the door leading into the corridor. John manifested his invisible friend and attempted to open the door. It was locked but fortunately, John remembered that he still had his set of keys which had been looted from the body of our jailer in this delightful place.</p><p> </p><p>The door was opened and we filed out in single line again. We were making our way to the quarters of the main jailer for this section of the dungeons. Victor was obviously still suffering as he staggered and scraped his plate armour against the wall several times; it was very noisy.</p><p> </p><p>Victor reached the door and this time it was open. As he opened it, he let out a shout:</p><p> </p><p>“The Ragesians! Serimus and the Inquisitor!”</p><p> </p><p>Then he stopped and seemed to shake his head briefly. Then, suddenly, a wall of fire sped along the right wall of the corridor, cutting us off from the Ragesians. I cursed myself for not casting my fire protective spells previously, but it was too late now. Foolishly, I had not thought that we would meet the enemy so quickly.</p><p> </p><p>Well, there was no help for it; we burned; it hurt. After the initial burn, we also had to quickly jump through the wall, one by one, being burnt yet again. I let various others go by me as I felt that it was far more important for the warriors to reach the enemy in this case but once I was ready, I did run along the corridor and, jumping through the wall, I saw that Serimus and the Inquisitor were penned to the far wall. Victor was next to the ambassador, but strangely, he seemed to be wielding a burning brand instead of his usual wooden sword. Serimus was looking at his bloody side and shouting:</p><p> </p><p>“I surrender! I surrender!”</p><p> </p><p>The inquisitor, sweating and with a snarl on his face twisted towards his companion: “Surrender is not an option!” he screeched and then incanted a spell.</p><p> </p><p>This was a column of flame which came down from the ceiling and engulfed everyone in the room; including himself and his companion. The orc was obviously a fanatic! This was too much for Serimus. There was little more than a burnt smear left on the floor where he had been standing. The rest of us were little better off. One or two of us managed to react quickly enough to this suicidal tactic, managing to dodge the worst of the flame; namely Longhelim, Drudge and Felix, but the rest of us got the full blast. I was barely on my feet and Victor and John were little better off.</p><p> </p><p>Then the orc stepped through the wall of flames, disappearing from view. Longhelim was about to step after him when I shouted:</p><p> </p><p>“Hold!”</p><p> </p><p>Then I stepped forward and cast my spell of fire protection on the paladin; better late than never and it would allow him to chase that bloody orc.</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim stepped through the wall and we lost sight of him.</p><p> </p><p>The wall of flame died shortly afterwards and we could see Longhelim in a corner, standing over a crumpled body.</p><p> </p><p>We were all blackened, bloody and badly burnt. John, Felix and Longhelim immediately began to heal everyone, mostly with their wands. As they were doing this, I cast a small cantrip, trying to determine if our two former enemies had any worthy spoils of war, which indeed they did.</p><p> </p><p>Then, we also searched the room and found one thing of interest. A note which stated two results for the Ragesian plan, code named Madness. One which claimed categorical success, leaving Dassen ripe for the picking of the Ragesians and the other result which was a complete failure and would someone come and pick them up now please as things were very difficult. Felix looked at these notes and said that they were of exactly the correct length for a magical message. It looked as if the Ragesians were preparing for all contingencies.</p><p> </p><p>Once everyone had been healed, the note found and stored, we all sat down to discuss our next move.</p><p> </p><p>Concerned that someone would decide to visit the Ragesians, we vacated their quarters and stepped into one the store rooms; the small one initially. There, we found that it looked very different from our previous visit. Now, all of the stores had been neatly piled to the walls and the centre contained a large table on which stood a collection of alchemical equipment. Sitting on the table was a note book. It contained the recipe and description of a poison named the Red Madness. A cursory reading through the notes revealed that it was an ingested substance which produced confusion, disorientation and finally overwhelming rage. It looked as if we had found one of the laboratories used for the manufacture of the poison.</p><p> </p><p>It was a difficult situation. On the one hand, we had yet more highly circumstantial evidence in the form of the note found on the Ragesians and now the notebook. Yet, it was not truly solid evidence; but then I asked:</p><p> </p><p>“Just what is this solid evidence?”</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim answered: “A piece of poisoned food from the kitchens on a plate to be given to Gallo; a set of orders from Steppengaard detailing plans to take over the Kingdom on his own; a group of assassins hiding in a cellar, waiting to jump into the banqueting hall as they did on the King’s family previously.”</p><p> </p><p>I looked at him: “In all honesty, just what do you think the chances are of us accomplishing that with the one single sweep of the castle we are going to be allowed before someone starts to question us?”</p><p> </p><p>The others looked at me. They were just as aware of the enormity of what we needed to do.</p><p> </p><p>Then Longhelim said: “We need to get to the kitchens. If anything is happening, it will be happening in the kitchens.”</p><p> </p><p>John replied: “The kitchens are on the ground floor. We are three floors below that. That means negotiating through three floors of heavily patrolled corridors. We are good, but we are not that good.”</p><p> </p><p>“Could we bluff our way through? Maybe saying that we have been invited and that we are inspecting security in the name of the Duke?” I asked.</p><p> </p><p>For once, it was Victor who replied: “No one will believe that; especially if we begin down here, near the dungeons. We were too visible anyway; Longhelim nearly won the joust and Drudge did win his section; they’ll know who we are; and once they start asking, then it won’t take them long to work out that we didn’t come in through the front door. I suspect that security up there is pretty stringent right now. That’s not going to work.”</p><p> </p><p>Longhelim was deep in thought: “So, realistically, the kitchens are out of reach; but……the guard was also concerned about the vault; with the Book of Eight Lands. That’s only on the floor above this one; John, you could slip up there if you were invisible and just confirm that the Book is still there; and that it hasn’t been tampered with.”</p><p> </p><p>John was looking a little dubious: “My invisibility doesn’t last that long; but I agree, it’s worth a look. What are you going to be doing?”</p><p> </p><p>The paladin answered: “I think we need to cram spells. Victor, Felix and Faden are all affected by that undead. After that, we need to get to the banquet. If we do that, we won’t have time to do anything else.”</p><p> </p><p>John smiled: “Well, we will have given it our best. Now, I have an interesting idea about my little jaunt to the Vault.”</p><p> </p><p>With that, he cast a spell and all of a sudden, his features changed, rippled and moulded themselves; suddenly, we had someone next to us who looked like the late, unlamented Ambassador Serimus.</p><p> </p><p>“Now that’s a good trick. I hope that ambassador Serimus really threw his weight around; that will greatly ease your passage through the castle,” I said admiringly.</p><p> </p><p>He winked at me and scurried out of the door. We sat down and began to cram.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Cafu, post: 6076984, member: 6692807"] The next day dawned crisp and clear. Even though it was early, we could already hear noise outside. The Tournament participants must have been setting up stalls the previous evening. Felix, John and I put our heads together and studied various spells which we discussed yesterday. Today was going to be a long and potentially interesting day. Thus prepared, we met with Lord Gallo and together with his entourage, we walked to the castle fields where the Tournament was to be held. The whole place was already a riot of colour. A collection of stalls, tents, and wagons which sold everything you could possibly want was laid out in neat squares; besides those, there were also various shows of magic and games of chance, skill and dexterity. Here was a stall which had several targets set up; knocking them off their stands with the rocks provided for a fee would win prizes; or so the owner of the stall claimed; in a very loud voice. Other tents offered to let you see fabled mermaids, the temptresses of the oceans; I wasn’t quite sure why that was so unusual but when John saw that tent, he nearly fell over laughing: “The person who owns that tent has no idea what he is doing; he would be laughed out of any fairground in Gate Pass. Mermaids? In Dassen? That just screams fake,” he said, between gulps of air as he recovered from his amusement. There were tents where one could see bearded ladies for a fee of course; personally I snorted at this but John assured me that they were human bearded ladies; apparently, they were very rare; if they were real that is. “Surely any self-respecting magician could cast a little cantrip and put a beard on a woman for a few hours?” I asked John. He replied: “You know that; I know that; but that bunch going into the tent to gawp has no idea. Look at the owner by the door; he’s coining it with that stall,” John said, enviously. There were other stalls selling food, carvings, cheap jewellery, clothing, sweetmeats, and it went on and on; business seemed to be brisk as there were people everywhere; children were running around, shouting and screaming; elderly couples strolled slowly and younger couples moved a little more purposefully; it looked as if the whole of Bresk had turned up and they were determined to have a good time. We had become separated from Gallo but we slowly made our way to the central field. This was the main jousting arena. There were less people selling around here and more spectators. There was also some very fervent gambling going on. Several grand tents had been erected around the jousting field and in one of those, we could see that Gallo had already established himself and his people. As we approached him, he turned around and spoke to us: “Ah; the invitations to the banquet are here. Now, I trust some of you will register for the joust? The tents to do so are over there,” he said, pointing. “Do the land of Gallo proud!” Slowly and still looking around we made our way to the aforementioned tents. John and Victor led the way: “We’d like to register for the joust please,” Longhelim said to the seated man who was annotating names on a ledger. “Looking at you and your decorations gentlemen, I believe you will enter into the nobles’ competition? If so, the entry fee is one hundred gold pieces each.” Goodness, this jousting was expensive business. I wasn’t sure but bearing in mind that the prize was only five hundred gold pieces and some magical armour for a horse, then someone, somewhere was making a handsome profit on this competition. Longhelim and Victor seemed to take it in their stride and paid up. Then Drudge stepped up: The same man looked him up and down and said: “You’ll be for the commoners I take it? You know there is no magical protection in that competition don’t you?” Drudge frowned: “Magical protection?” “Yes,” the man explained, “there’s magical protection in place in the noble’s joust; no matter how badly they are knocked out or how hard they cut each other with swords, it is all magically protected; no one will actually get hurt.” Suddenly, I realised where all that money was going. I was also incredibly curious as to what sort of magic that entailed. I made a mental note to try to find out as soon as I could. The man continued: “That protection is not present in the commoner’s tourney. Just warning you before you enter. The fee is much lower; as is the prize. Do you still wish to participate?” Drudge just nodded and the man said: “One gold piece,” which Drudge duly paid. Then, we milled around with the rest of the contestants, waiting for the draw. The first result which affected us was a sturdy lad who faced Drudge. He looked to be young and obviously very nervous. He was finding it difficult to handle a lance on horseback. Drudge handled his horse quietly and calmly and as the two opponents raced towards each other, I looked on with interest. Then the lad’s horse seemed to suddenly lurch and shy, and I watched in dismay as Drudge’s lance took the poor boy straight in the face; the crunch of his nose being driven into his face was audible even from my position as a spectator and he went flying backwards. Drudge rode by and as he turned around, his opponent was flat on the ground with several priests already next to him. One was shaking his head. Drudge slowly rode back to his starting point and there were a few boos from the crowd as he did so. Next to ride was Longhelim who was up against Quincy Pell, or so the announcer said. Pell was wearing the colours of Lord Rago. Both riders cantered towards each other at huge speed and both of them knocked each other off the horse. This time, they rose unharmed due to the magical protection. The rules stated that if that happened, then the combat would continue on foot. So Longhelim duly drew his sword and was able to defeat Pell quite quickly and easily. Much cheering followed such an intense early bout. Finally, Victor was riding against Woodbar Earthis, who represented Bresk. In this case, Victor was able to knock the man off his horse on the first pass. The cheering was more muted in this case, as it had been such a quick confrontation. That was round one. There was a certain amount of time until the next round so we amused ourselves by sightseeing. I even found a small ring where mages were doing some spell dueling. They were very good. I wasn’t able to tell at all when they released their spells. After looking around some more, it was time for the next round of the joust. This time Victor was up against Grim Morgentsen, a military refugee from Ragesia, who promptly proceeded to knock Victor on his backside. Victor picked himself up and saluted his opponent. Then he joined us and grinned ruefully, muttering: “I hope that’s visible enough for Gallo since that’s me out of the competition.” Drudge came up against another rider from the commoner’s joust and this one actually survived the bout; Drudge did win though. Finally, Longhelim’s opponent was Zwervenkarsh Hectonoff, a Dagobashian knight whose level of expertise was completely unknown to us; the paladin knocked him off on the first pass. Again, there was cheering; people were beginning to recognize Longhelim and give him their support; they continued their applause and acclamation as the paladin reached us. I suspected that wearing Gallo’s colours did help his popularity, if our reception of yesterday was any indicator. Again, there was a break between Longhelim and Drudge’s next rounds and we wondered in a different direction this time; as we mingled with the crowd, our attention was taken by a ludicrously dressed individual; he wore a robe with stars, moons and comets. He also wore a pointed hat in the same ridiculous design. His wagon bore the legend: “Whizbang Fireworks” and he was trying to convince people to come and see his firework display. He wasn’t getting a great deal of attention so in the end he sat down on the steps and muttered to himself. We stared at him curiously. “Sorry friend, but you are unlikely to attract anyone to your display if you don’t give them at least a little demonstration,” I said to him. He looked back at me:”I would but I have almost no fireworks left. I was going to buy some here but all the alchemists have shut up shop. I asked around and they are all at the palace; and have been for the last three days.” “All the alchemists in the city? Gone to the palace?” “Yes,” he answered, “every single one that I know of.” I stowed that piece of information away and looked at Longhelim and John. “Now, why would the palace need all the alchemists in the city?” I asked the others but no one gave me an answer. After that, it was time for another round of the tourney. This time Drudge and his opponent knocked each other off their saddles; whereupon Drudge decapitated his opponent in the fencing match which followed. The booing was appreciable and loud this time. Longhelim in the meantime came up against Jareth Butchaven, a soldier serving the King. These two also knocked each other off their saddles and Longhelim won the ground combat, this time to even greater acclaim than previously. Amazingly, that only left Longhelim and one opponent; quite extraordinary bearing in mind that neither he nor Victor were trained jousters, nor were they taking this very seriously. They were only doing it to be visible, as per Gallo’s instructions. Having said that, I think the most visible of us at the moment was Drudge, but not in a good way. Longhelim’s final opponent was to be the tournament favourite, a lady knight who was an experienced jouster: her name was Lady Sylvia Cassola, and she wore the colours of Lady Namin. As usual, there was going to be a break between the rounds and as previously, we were going to go for a stroll through the crowds, being as visible as possible. We mingled and did come across a curious scene. A wagon had been set up as a kitchen, presided over by a halfling. A man with a plate, a customer, was being berated by the chef, who spoke with a heavy accent: “You don’t like it? You barbarian; you…Ragesian. I have cooked for nobles, for Knights, for Dukes; I cook for the King. If it wasn’t for those imbeciles taking away my kitchen tonight………special duties they said……not needed tonight they said……..bringing in their own staff for the banquet…….bah, just go; you are accustomed to gruel; you have the palate of a troll!” With that, the halfling stomped into his wagon and closed it with a bang. A little crowd were staring at the whole thing in bemusement but I was thinking: First all the alchemists are employed at the palace for three days and now it looked as if their head chef had been given the evening off on the day that a major banquet was being prepared; by a different set of staff. Really, this didn’t look good at all. Then it was time for the final joust. It was a little anti climatic. Lady Sylvia was obviously a very skilled jouster and she carefully and precisely knocked Longhelim out of the saddle on her first pass. Despite this, she was an honourable knight and complimented the paladin, finding it difficult to believe that it was his first tournament. Drudge, in the meantime, had gone a step further and had bought a black cloak and mask; he was planning to unnerve his opponents he said. I really didn’t think that they needed any more unnerving, considering that he had killed two and left two others badly unconscious. His last opponent was a young girl; talented and raw. She didn’t stand chance. Drudge was the winner among the commoners. At this point, we decided to get in touch with Gallo. There were too many coincidences about the alchemists, the cooks and the timing in the palace. We were admitted immediately: “So, did anyone make contact?” He looked disappointed when we replied in the negative. He listened to what we had found out and what we surmised and replied: “It is certainly suspicious but it is circumstantial and not proof. We should of course be very careful but without actual proof, we cannot go to the rest of the Lords saying that the usual chef is not working in the kitchen tonight and that all the alchemists are in the palace. That’s meaningless.” Frustrated, I acknowledged his point. We thanked him for his time and left. As we were walking back, we stopped at one of the stalls and then we heard a voice. It was coming from someone who was part of the crowd by the same stall and it was whisper, yet one we could all hear: “Don’t move, don’t look at me; I recognize you! You ride with Duke Gallo; I am a guard at the castle but I don’t like what is going on there now. Things have changed. I was part of a detachment watching a sewer outlet from the castle in a graveyard. Several days ago, we were ordered to leave our post and so far as I know, it is now unwatched; this leaves an unguarded entrance into the castle! Something is going on. I heard that priests have been seen going into the sewer. I have even heard that the guard detail from the Royal Vault itself has been dismissed. The Book of the Eight Lands could be defenceless! It must be protected!” The talking then stopped and when I glanced again, there was no one there. Quickly, we grouped together. “A sewer outlet that comes out in a cemetery? Doesn’t that sound familiar?” I asked the others. “Yes,” Longhelim replied. “But if it’s true, it’s also our way into the palace. By the looks of things, all the regular staff and guards are being kicked out and being replaced by others; and something is obviously being planned. We need to get in there and find out what.” “I just knew you were going to say that,” I muttered. “Your mind reading skills never cease to amaze me Faden; now let’s go and see Gallo and tell him what we plan to do.” “It could be a trap,” I said. Longhelim replied: “Yes, it could be; but it may not be. We need to go over there and at least find out if that is the case. It may be our only opportunity to infiltrate the castle.” The Duke greeted us as we witnessed the parade of the victorious Lady Sylvia. As soon as he heard about the sewer outlet and the information that the guard relayed, he stepped into a more private section of his tent, and motioned us to follow him. Then he reached into his jacket and took out a piece paper: “This is a plan of the castle. The information this guard provided may be our best chance to get in there and find out what is going on. There are only a few hours before the banquet so if you are going to go, you have to do it now. I realize that this is a lot to ask of you, especially after your last experiences in those dungeons, but somehow, I feel that Dassen is facing one of the greatest threats to its existence; I can only appeal to your sense of honour and your desire to thwart the Ragesians.” Well, the man certainly knew which buttons to push. Longhelim just nodded and we all left. “There is no time to lose. Considering where the cemetery is, we have to go now.” This was a comment from Drudge. He knew the fastest route to the cemetery and soon we were out of the city walls and walking rapidly towards the dilapidated graveyard. Entering, it looked as it had when we had left it; badly kept and shabby, with several of the head stones knocked over. As we slowed down and approached, suddenly, a dreadful cry filled the air. It sounded like a myriad of voices screaming in pain and misery. This cry came from a diaphanous, transparent figure that had just emerged from the wall and was flying at great speed towards us, emitting this dreadful cry! We braced ourselves for the coming onslaught but strangely, the creature wailed again and then retreated back into the wall. We all looked at each other. Longhelim said: “Felix, any idea of what that was?” “Some sort of undead, judging from the fact that it walks through walls, but I don’t know exactly what type. Possibly a particularly nasty one; a spectre but I have never heard of it wailing like that; with so many voices.” The paladin looked thoughtfully at the wall: “Well, I don’t know why it ran away but it’s still lurking around somewhere so we’d better be on our toes.” After that, we arranged ourselves in single file and with everyone bar me ducking their heads, we made our way into the sewer entrance. We were familiar with this tunnel and quickly reached the main sewer which ran through a larger cave. It was as charming as ever, with frozen sewage providing a solid if slippery floor. Thankfully, the temperature also nullified the smell. We could see the shaft going up at the far end when there was a yell from behind me. I turned around and saw that the incorporeal figure had made another appearance, just in front of Drudge who had the rearguard as usual. It took a clumsy swipe at the ranger but didn’t make any contact; then before it recovered its momentum, Drudge stepped back and blazed at it with three of his arrows. One of them sped straight through its chest but the other two seemed to meet more resistance on their passage through its body. They seemed to leave punctures in its flesh. Everyone else had turned around and were getting ready to rush to Drudge’s aid, when another yell drew our attention to another of these creatures appearing out of the wall, this time in front of Victor. This one laid its hand squarely on Victor’s head and I could see the warrior recoil, as if struck by a mighty wind. Then he swung his sword wildly into the undead’s torso and in this case, both of his strikes seemed to go through it and leave rents. The undead were wailing in a hundred voices, ranting, screaming, pleading, crying; all seemingly terrified of being cursed to this unnatural existence forever. The cacophony was unsettling to put it mildly. The undead facing Drudge pursued the ranger and swiped again; and missed again when I decided to cast my spell of force missiles. These were particularly effective on incorporeal creatures as the nature of the spell also made it effective on the ethereal plane, which acted as a part refuge for beings such as these. It visibly recoiled as my missiles struck its chest. Then it was hit by another set of arrows from Drudge and seemed badly hurt. The creature facing Victor was having much greater success in touching the warrior and Victor was looking increasingly pale; nevertheless, he swiped determinedly at the enemy and was rewarded with several strikes. These left visible marks on the undead and at the last set of these, the creature dissipated around the Living Blade of Innenotdar. Seeing this, I cast my last spell of force missiles at the enemy facing Drudge and as it struck it, the creature broke off its attack on the ranger and flew to confront me with an outspread hand. As it touched my chest, I felt a coldness and type of weakness I had never felt before. It was as if part of my energy had been sucked out of my body; I also felt that I had lost access to one of my most powerful spells; it was dreadful. Then there was a thunderous cry: “Back from whence you came, you foul creature of darkness!” This utterance came from Felix, who was brandishing his holy symbol at it. The effect was immediate. It cowered briefly and then sped through the wall. We were all shaken after this fight; these were the very worst of undead. They preyed on the life force of the living and attempted to convert their victims into their undead state; it was a living death, not least as the victim turned was then completely under the thrall of its new master. Victor grunted: “I am badly weakened. The enemy hit me several times and I will not be as effective. I feel weakened.” John added: “We have to go on. We can’t afford to stop.” “Felix, is there anything you can do?” The priest thought: “Not at this time, but I will be able to once we rest. It will involve spell cramming, but there is a spell which will aid you to recover to your usual self.” “And I as well?” I added. “Were you struck?” asked the priest. “Oh, yes.” “Bloody undead! These things have really exacted a heavy toll on us and we’re not even in the palace yet!” “Well, not much we can do about it now. Let’s go,” this from Longhelim. With nothing else left to say, we moved forward and entered the shaft. The rope ladder we had left dangling was not there anymore but since we had been told that the passage had been in active use, this was not a great surprise. I looked up: “Longhelim, let me cast some magic on you which will allow you to fly. Then you can take a quick look up there.” I quickly cast the spell on the paladin, who flew up there and then came down. “Nothing up there,” he grunted. “That grate looks solid now though.” John stepped up: “Take me up there. I’ll have a look at the catch.” So the paladin picked up the rogue and as soon as he was up there, John began to do something to the catch. It was obviously a little more difficult than he expected as it took longer than usual but finally, he said to Longhelim: “Take me down and then fly up and try to open it.” Longhelim did as asked and then flew up. Again, it took him a little longer but he finally leveraged the grate open and quickly after that, a rope ladder unrolled at our feet. Everyone quickly ascended. The last person below had been Felix and as we looked down we heard another thunderous imprecation: “Back into your kennel, you undead scum!” Then Felix appeared from the pit and he muttered: “Well, you can add me to the list of victims of those things, whatever they are!” Rapidly, we recovered and then looked at the door leading into the corridor. John manifested his invisible friend and attempted to open the door. It was locked but fortunately, John remembered that he still had his set of keys which had been looted from the body of our jailer in this delightful place. The door was opened and we filed out in single line again. We were making our way to the quarters of the main jailer for this section of the dungeons. Victor was obviously still suffering as he staggered and scraped his plate armour against the wall several times; it was very noisy. Victor reached the door and this time it was open. As he opened it, he let out a shout: “The Ragesians! Serimus and the Inquisitor!” Then he stopped and seemed to shake his head briefly. Then, suddenly, a wall of fire sped along the right wall of the corridor, cutting us off from the Ragesians. I cursed myself for not casting my fire protective spells previously, but it was too late now. Foolishly, I had not thought that we would meet the enemy so quickly. Well, there was no help for it; we burned; it hurt. After the initial burn, we also had to quickly jump through the wall, one by one, being burnt yet again. I let various others go by me as I felt that it was far more important for the warriors to reach the enemy in this case but once I was ready, I did run along the corridor and, jumping through the wall, I saw that Serimus and the Inquisitor were penned to the far wall. Victor was next to the ambassador, but strangely, he seemed to be wielding a burning brand instead of his usual wooden sword. Serimus was looking at his bloody side and shouting: “I surrender! I surrender!” The inquisitor, sweating and with a snarl on his face twisted towards his companion: “Surrender is not an option!” he screeched and then incanted a spell. This was a column of flame which came down from the ceiling and engulfed everyone in the room; including himself and his companion. The orc was obviously a fanatic! This was too much for Serimus. There was little more than a burnt smear left on the floor where he had been standing. The rest of us were little better off. One or two of us managed to react quickly enough to this suicidal tactic, managing to dodge the worst of the flame; namely Longhelim, Drudge and Felix, but the rest of us got the full blast. I was barely on my feet and Victor and John were little better off. Then the orc stepped through the wall of flames, disappearing from view. Longhelim was about to step after him when I shouted: “Hold!” Then I stepped forward and cast my spell of fire protection on the paladin; better late than never and it would allow him to chase that bloody orc. Longhelim stepped through the wall and we lost sight of him. The wall of flame died shortly afterwards and we could see Longhelim in a corner, standing over a crumpled body. We were all blackened, bloody and badly burnt. John, Felix and Longhelim immediately began to heal everyone, mostly with their wands. As they were doing this, I cast a small cantrip, trying to determine if our two former enemies had any worthy spoils of war, which indeed they did. Then, we also searched the room and found one thing of interest. A note which stated two results for the Ragesian plan, code named Madness. One which claimed categorical success, leaving Dassen ripe for the picking of the Ragesians and the other result which was a complete failure and would someone come and pick them up now please as things were very difficult. Felix looked at these notes and said that they were of exactly the correct length for a magical message. It looked as if the Ragesians were preparing for all contingencies. Once everyone had been healed, the note found and stored, we all sat down to discuss our next move. Concerned that someone would decide to visit the Ragesians, we vacated their quarters and stepped into one the store rooms; the small one initially. There, we found that it looked very different from our previous visit. Now, all of the stores had been neatly piled to the walls and the centre contained a large table on which stood a collection of alchemical equipment. Sitting on the table was a note book. It contained the recipe and description of a poison named the Red Madness. A cursory reading through the notes revealed that it was an ingested substance which produced confusion, disorientation and finally overwhelming rage. It looked as if we had found one of the laboratories used for the manufacture of the poison. It was a difficult situation. On the one hand, we had yet more highly circumstantial evidence in the form of the note found on the Ragesians and now the notebook. Yet, it was not truly solid evidence; but then I asked: “Just what is this solid evidence?” Longhelim answered: “A piece of poisoned food from the kitchens on a plate to be given to Gallo; a set of orders from Steppengaard detailing plans to take over the Kingdom on his own; a group of assassins hiding in a cellar, waiting to jump into the banqueting hall as they did on the King’s family previously.” I looked at him: “In all honesty, just what do you think the chances are of us accomplishing that with the one single sweep of the castle we are going to be allowed before someone starts to question us?” The others looked at me. They were just as aware of the enormity of what we needed to do. Then Longhelim said: “We need to get to the kitchens. If anything is happening, it will be happening in the kitchens.” John replied: “The kitchens are on the ground floor. We are three floors below that. That means negotiating through three floors of heavily patrolled corridors. We are good, but we are not that good.” “Could we bluff our way through? Maybe saying that we have been invited and that we are inspecting security in the name of the Duke?” I asked. For once, it was Victor who replied: “No one will believe that; especially if we begin down here, near the dungeons. We were too visible anyway; Longhelim nearly won the joust and Drudge did win his section; they’ll know who we are; and once they start asking, then it won’t take them long to work out that we didn’t come in through the front door. I suspect that security up there is pretty stringent right now. That’s not going to work.” Longhelim was deep in thought: “So, realistically, the kitchens are out of reach; but……the guard was also concerned about the vault; with the Book of Eight Lands. That’s only on the floor above this one; John, you could slip up there if you were invisible and just confirm that the Book is still there; and that it hasn’t been tampered with.” John was looking a little dubious: “My invisibility doesn’t last that long; but I agree, it’s worth a look. What are you going to be doing?” The paladin answered: “I think we need to cram spells. Victor, Felix and Faden are all affected by that undead. After that, we need to get to the banquet. If we do that, we won’t have time to do anything else.” John smiled: “Well, we will have given it our best. Now, I have an interesting idea about my little jaunt to the Vault.” With that, he cast a spell and all of a sudden, his features changed, rippled and moulded themselves; suddenly, we had someone next to us who looked like the late, unlamented Ambassador Serimus. “Now that’s a good trick. I hope that ambassador Serimus really threw his weight around; that will greatly ease your passage through the castle,” I said admiringly. He winked at me and scurried out of the door. We sat down and began to cram. [/QUOTE]
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The Gate Pass Irregulars: A War of the Burning Sky Campaign
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