The Seventh Adventure – The Enemy of My Enemy…part 1
This is part 1 of the Act 1 Finale.
On the 23rd of Nightal the two remaining Harper agents, Alexi and Thanon, received word from Waevor, their Harper contact, that three more agents for an upcoming mission of great importance would join them.
The next day the three agents arrived. They were:
Dexaron "Ghost" Taramaskan – male human swashbuckler and troubleshooter
Moira Nelbalm – female human bard and longtime Harper agent
Brother Nathaniel – male human monk with sorcereous talents and a penchant for peace
The three new agents had been briefed on their predecessor’s missions as well as on the other agents they would be working with. After some time spent getting to know one another, they finally received word from Waevor to meet him the next day on the 25th of Nightal at the Purple Lady Tavern.
When the five agents arrived at the meeting in one of the private dining rooms of the Purple Lady, there stood Waevor Talaphin and Lord Baerfarnth Vhammos, head of the ruthless Vhammos family. This came as somewhat of a shock to the agents as they knew there was no love lost between the Harpers and the Vhammos family. Often they were at odds with each other.
After settling around the table and having some food and drink delivered, Waevor told the agents what exactly was going on and what needed to be done.
For months the Vhammos family has been the victim of caravan raids. The raids at first targeted small, less important caravans but over time grew to hit the important, expensive ones. Lord Vhammos, having already tried to set a trap for the bandits and failed to capture a single one, had finally gone to the Harpers for help. The problem with capturing the bandits had been two-fold. One, they seem to have inside information as to the movements of his caravans and forces which leads him to believe there may be a traitor in his organization, though he had no suspects. And two, the bandits have some never before seen magic that allows them to instantly travel to an attack and back to wherever they have their base. And this magic seems to be undetectable and untraceable.
The only lead Vhammos has came two days ago. An unknown man trying to sell a very rare and valuable gem, one of the exact gems that had been stolen from a Vhammos caravan several weeks ago, approached a local fence within Westgate who was also in the employ of Lord Vhammos as a spy. The fence was originally from Thay and noticed two important details about this man. First he was Thayan as well. And the second was that the man bore the subtle markings of the Grey Rogues, an elite mercenary company from Thay. The implication was that the Grey Rogues were behind the attacks, but why? And who would be able to hire them for such a long time as the attacks have been going on for months? Vhammos told the agents that he had never even heard of the Grey Rogues until now so he did not think the attacks were motivated by revenge. His personal opinion is that it was one of the other noble families of the Westgate.
However, since he still had no definite proof and knowing that if it was one of the other noble families it would be more prudent to have an impartial third party uncover the plot. Enter the Harpers.
Vhammos did have one of his most trusted agents, a man by the name of Richter, do some reconnaissance. He did so and was able to track the alleged Grey Rogue back to an abandoned sanatorium in the eastern section of the city near the river.
At the meeting, Richter was present but very well hidden in the shadows. At his lord’s command he revealed himself to the Harpers. Thanon and Alexi were shocked to discover that Richter was the same man that Nagrath had hired to capture Dari. This did not sit well to the two friends of Dari but they held their peace for the sake of the mission.
After Richter related what he had found, Waevor gave the agents their mission. In three days time, on the 28th of Nightal, a very important caravan of the Vhammos family would be heading out. If it were attacked, that would pretty much ruin the Vhammos family in turn leaving a huge financial vacuum in the city’s resources. The agent’s mission was to infiltrate the sanatorium and bring the head of the Grey Rogues to Waevor so they could learn who was behind the attacks. He suggested they take the next 12 hours to prepare before starting.
The agents heeded Waevor’s advice and began a serious of investigations to gather as much information as they could. After several hours, they all met back with various pieces of information. What they learned was that the sanatorium used to be a house of healing during the Templeban Edict many years ago but has since fallen into abandonment. All the doors and windows are boarded up with the exception of one small one at the back on the second floor. This was where the alleged Grey Rogue got into and out of the building. And even though the doors and windows were all boarded up, Moira did detect some strong abjuration magic on them as well. They also were able to find a map of the sanatorium, which showed three levels, 2 above ground and a basement. They were also able to learn of the strengths of the Grey Rogues from a newly arrived Red Wizard named Haldon. It turned out that Haldon was the brother of Hinnar (see the first adventure “The Color of Ambition”) and had been ordered here to make preparations to reopen the Red Wizard enclave that had been closed for the last several months. He also had a personal agenda in finding information about his sister’s killer. For his information, he demanded that the agents be ready to help in track his sister’s killer. Of course, Thanon and Alexi knew the killer’s name already but not where she had disappeared. The agents agreed to help Haldon in return for his information.
Haldon was able to tell the agents that the Grey Rogues used to be a highly successful mercenary company in Thay. They were run out of Thay several years ago after their leader was killed. At the time their numbers were fairly high for a mercenary company but after their leader was killed most of their members disappeared or were killed themselves. Now they number around six or seven. Their new leader was a woman called Alerra. And the last he had heard they were in the Sembia region. When the agents told him they thought that the Grey Rogues might now be in Westgate a flash of fear momentarily crossed his face. The agents, though, did not press this.
After some more investigating, including trying to find who actually owned the building, and scouting of the area around and under the sanatorium, the agents eventually infiltrated the abandoned building on the 27th of Nightal. Entering through the small second floor building the agents found it just as seemed from the outside – dark, rundown, abandoned and devoid of life. They were right though but only partially.
They had not been in the building for more than a minute before they were attacked by a feral looking human with pale skin and long fangs. Thanon was able to identify it has a vampire spawn. As they battled the creature another joined shortly afterwards. Though they took some damage, the agents were able to defeat the creatures rather quickly. The retreating gaseous forms of the vampire spawn fled down the wide stairs towards the first floor. Alexi, and Thanon a little later, were reminded by the gaseous forms of something that they had seen a couple of months ago in the ice caves beneath Azinth Tower (see the third adventure “The Ice Caves of Azinth Tower”).
Rushing headlong down the stairs, the agents met up with four more of the creatures and battle was joined quickly. The five agents were still able to best the unholy creatures and one by one their gaseous forms fled down the stairs to the basement. And once again the agents rushed down the stairs.
When they arrived they were met with a single vampire spawn and the battle was joined. Just then though from down a long hallway, a door opened that had not been on the map and out spilled a human with twin daggers and three more vampire spawn. The human was obviously fighting for his life. As the battle raged through the basement, the agents got a good look at the man and realized he was the one that had tried to sell the gems to the Thayan fence and the one Richter had tracked back here.
The agents tried to get to him and help him out but they were too late, he fell to the vampire spawn’s claws. The agents eventually dispatched the rest of the vampire spawn. They noticed that their retreating gaseous forms all fled through the unmarked door that they found led to an unknown cavern. The agents explored this area and found the coffins of the vampire spawn with the now comatose undead in them. Thanon directed the agents to cut the creature’s heads off and throw them out the upstairs window into the sunlight. With that the creatures were dead.
Exploring the cavern some more, the agents then found what appeared to be a portal. Using his knowledge of arcane writings, Nathanial was able to determine that it was a portal and the activation word was written there around the edge of the portal. They just had no idea where it went.
Still that did not cause them any pause. They all used the portal and found themselves in a medium sized room with the same kind of portal. They could not be sure but they felt as if they were underground very far away.
Making their way quickly through this new dungeon, the agents found that it must be the hidden base of the Grey Rogues. They discovered several supply rooms, an eating hall as well as a training room. Unfortunately, they themselves were also discovered by one of the Rogues – a human female wielding a two-handed scimitar with deadly ease and precision. They entered combat with her and right in the middle of it the woman disappeared in a flash of lightning only to reappear right beside Moira and nearly eviscerate the young bard. Ghost, leaping to his comrade’s defense, was able to deftly disarm the swordswoman. Though a moment later, the woman again disappeared into a flash of lightning and this time did not reappear.
The agents, not really knowing which way to go, chose a closed door as their next route. And this led them to the biggest shock so far.
A huge blue dragon.
However, the dragon was trapped in a strange looking mammoth device. Odd-looking chains held the great creature in place with 2 claw-like probes dug into the creature’s mouth and throat. The anguish in the creature’s eyes was apparent and immediately Ghost took pity on it. Even though blue dragons are normally evil, whatever put this creature into this artifact was even more vile.
Before the agents could figure out a way to extricate the poor creature, Nathaniel, knowing the reputation of such dragons, requested that the dragon swear an oath of peace to him. The dragon, whose name was Aberrannon, swore that if they freed him, he would owe them a life debt. They took this a good sign and began working to try and free the creature.
However, the chains holding the creature in place proved to be more difficult to cut than they had anticipated. Alexi then drew Reckoner and within minutes the dragon was freed though extremely weakened.
It was at this moment that the several figures appeared in the room with the agents and the newly freed blue dragon. The agent’s presence had finally become known to the current inhabitants and they were not happy about it. Battle with the Grey Rogues was quickly joined.
The fight was furious and deadly as the Rogues tried to kill the Harper agents. Their ability to instantly transport themselves around the field of battle proved to be an incredible advantage. The sound of spells and steel quickly filled the ancient dungeon. Aberannon, knowing he could do much to help as hurt as he was, spoke a word of power and vanished. The agents could only hope that the dragon would keep his word.
As the battle raged on, the advantage shifted between the agents and the Rogues constantly, as their transport ability started to wane. However, Ghost did succumb to the Rogue’s wizard’s magic and died. Eventually though, two of the Rogues were killed (both of the women including Alerra), two were captured and one was able to escape.
Once the battle was over, the agents swept thought the rest of the dungeon and found the evidence they needed. And what it said shook Alexi and Thanon to the core.
It came from an excerpt from Alerra’s journal. It read:
"We have been hired to attack the caravans of the Vhammos family. We are to leave no survivors and we are to take everything of value and hold it in the treasure room. The woman, she calls herself Thandie though I am sure that it is a false name, was very generous with the gold as well as providing us with this base and the device. As long as she keeps paying us well, I don’t mind the work. This job, the easiest one so far due to the details she provides on each of the caravans we raid, will hopefully continue for a bit longer. Once we have enough gold, we will head back to Thay and take our revenge on Haldon and the rest of his family."
Thandie.
Of course Alexi and Thanon knew her real name, as did the other agents. Lady Thistle Thalavar, ally to both Lady Imryth and the Harpers.
What were they going to do? And why would Lady Thalavar do such a thing? There was certainly no love lost between the Thalavar’s and the Vhammos’s. But it did not seem like this would be something Lady Thalavar would do.
At this point the agents took a moment to catch their breath and decide on their next course of action.
Unanswered Questions
·Is Lady Thalavar truly behind the plot to destroy the Vhammos family?
·Who was able to capture such a powerful and ancient dragon such as Aberrannon and trap him in an ancient artifact?
·Who was behind the vampire spawn in the sanatorium?
