Byzantium on the Shannon III

[CleverName]

Adventure 02

A Bad Day For Me isn’t a Bad Day For You
Malcom of the Vacomagi (Remi Truer)

My luck started going sour when I got caught off-guard by that Rogulkan Patrol and received an arrow in my ass for it. True, I then used that arrow to draw out the dire wolf guarding Wodlaw's Cave and set up a bunch of innocent orcs as patsies, but that's all in a day’s work.

So I'm in a tree, and Makar is doing his best impersonation of one of the Rogulkan's we killed, and we think this dire wolf's gonna’ come after us when Wodlaw himself strides out of the cave. I acted like just another branch, and it seemed like the giant has missed me. Makar darted back into the forest and caught sight of the Rogulkan party that was chasing us. Copoc and Theon were hidden in the underbrush, our surprise back-up. Wodlaw pulled the arrow out of the Direwolf, examined it, and a look of fury crossed his face. Our ruse had worked, now all we had to do was survive.

I decided to try and follow Makar from the canopy and took out my trusty grappling hook. I tossed it toward a promising looking branch. The hook went sailing past the branch, bounced off the trunk of another tree, and clanged to the ground. I noticed two things in quick order, the first being the dire wolf charging toward Makar, who was waving frantically at the Rogulkans and crying out to them in the scratchy, coughing Rogulkan language. The other is that Wodlaw was looking at me, with a rock in his hand! Needless to say, that rock quickly left his hand and almost knocked me out of the tree, perhaps being at his eye level was not the best idea I had ever had.

So I climbed down the tree, ribs aching, and heard a happy chorus of orcish bows being drawn and released in almost-perfect unison, with the dire wolf crying out in pain soon afterwards as a coda. A crack of thunder, and some Rogulkan cheers soon followed it. And Wodlaw entered the forest. He gazed at me as he strode past and snorted at me in Rogulkan. I may not know Rogulkan, but I know what he said, "Wait here, I'll be back when I'm done with these guys."

I ran after Wodlaw, towards Theon and Copoc, hoping to keep an eye on the battle. Another volley of Rogulkan arrows and the dire wolf was yapping back towards the Giant's Cave. Wodlaw lumbered forward, bellowing his displeasure. The bellow was cut short by an explosion of fire that engulfed Wodlaw, presumably from the hobgoblin, who appeared out of thin air. When the smoke cleared and revealed Wodlaw still standing, Makar, still in Orcish guise, let another lightning bolt go (Oh, how I would grow to hate that spell). Wodlaw was not his wolf, however, and shrugged off the might of our sorceror. The orcs with axes and spears seemed uncomfortable charging the Giant, and held their ground, and I saw one eyeing Makar suspiciously. The archers loosed their arrows again, to little avail, as they bounced off Wodlaw's tough hide.

I notched an arrow and let it fly against him, but, much to my surprise, it sailed past his head, just enough to get his attention. Theon followed my lead and fired, but his aim was true, and a crossbow bolt buried itself deep in the Giant's skin. He seemed suitably unhappy with this turn of events, and came howling toward us. His greatclub smashed through the air, but not Theon's helmet. We stood our ground. Wodlaw winced in pain as a volley of Magic Missiles burst against his back. Behind Wodlaw, the Hobgoblin grinned.

I believe this is when things went sour for Makar, as he took this chance to attack the Hobgoblin. Again, a stinging blast to the back, the Hobgoblin steadied himself, wincing in pain, but still focused on the Giant. Theon and I each took this chance to attack Wodlaw, I with my axe, he with his spear. My swing was wild, and hit nothing but a clump of brush that was around our feet. Theon, once again proving his worth, gave Wodlaw a terrible wound. Still bellowing, Wodlaw smashed his club into me, driving the breath from my lungs, and bringing me almost to my knees. He dealt a similar crushing blow to Theon. Copoc took this chance to mumble something under his breath, repeating 'Talik Kaax' interspersed with hissing and rumbles. For the first time, his terrible spirit powers activated, and the Rogulkans, almost to a man, were wrapped in thick, grasping vines. The Hobgoblin, still free, took this chance to bury an arrow deep in the back of Wodlaw's head, bringing him crashing down.

I ran toward the Hobgoblin, greataxe ready. Out of the blue, he asked to know whether I had a ship. I replied, that we did not, and that we had arrived here as a result of a teleportation spell gone horribly wrong. Again the Gods abandoned me! The hobgoblin snorted disdainfully, "Do not lie to me!" He gestured and loosed a terrible blast that sent me hurtling back through the trees, and behind the Giant's body, where I lay for the remainder of the battle, hoping to go unnoticed until I had a chance to heal.

I heard Theon and the Hobgoblin chatting. Theon admitted that we had a boat, and the Hobgoblin (introducing himself as Brone) said that he would help us if we would promise him a ride off the island on it. One of the Rogulkans did not like the sound of this and began to run, Brone took him down with a single arrow. Copoc killed the last Orc standing with a javelin, and then he and Makar finished off the remaining orcs still trapped in the vines.

Meanwhile, Theon had agreed to allow Brone to join our party, and the plunder of Wodlaw's lair. Copoc seemed upset at this, especially after Brone hissed something at him. Copoc got a little glassy eyed for a moment, and then replied. Brone's face fell at the reply, and he waved his hand in annoyance. I may be misreading this encounter, there's still so much that I don't understand about Copoc and his mysterious ways. I offered to let Brone take over for Boris as the replacement sailor, but he seemed more intent on simply leaving the island.

The less said about the attempt to kill the dire wolf, the better. Needless to say, I missed. Once the wolf was felled, we entered the cave and divvied up Wodlaw's impressive treasure stash, which consisted of:
· A non-magical platter, ring, obsidian satyr, miniature Cimbri war chariot
· 2900 GP
· 3 Potions (enlarge [5th level], levitate, spider climb)
· 1 Scroll (filter)
· 1 jar full of an indigo, fizzy oil with a fruity smell (Oil of Slipperiness)
· A metal disk with the Cimbri word for 'quiet' on one side and an icon that looked like a door on the other.

When the word 'quiet' was said, the disk would fly forward and then drop. We finally said the word while pressing the 'door' symbol up against a chest. The chest, which had previously been squeaking furiously, now made no sound. A useful object, especially for me, whose done more than his fair share of running away from guards alerted by a squeaky door.

We finished investigating Wodlaw's lair, and decided to check out the Orc's encampment and plan our strike. Brone informed us that the leader of the Orcs was named Miklos, and he had a Priestess with him named Fertha, whose dark powers scared even Brone. Brone went on to quickly sketch out what the defenses of the encampment were. It was never in contention that we would attempt to wipe out the Rogulkan's, but when we saw their outpost, we had to decide whether to take them immediately (with our spell caster's depleted) or at dawn. We had very little time to decide, as it was less than an hour to sunset. I was for going against them immediately, as it seemed that every hour we waited was an hour Abbashag might appear in, but the rest of the party seemed pretty happy to wait for Brone and Makar to recharge before attempting to storm the Rogulkan's camp.

Before I go on let me describe the camp. It was a loose spiral of wooden wall, it looked sort of like a nautilus shell from above. The human slaves were in a cage in the center, archers were on three raised platforms so they could look above the simple wooden wall, and Miklos . It was on a sandy beach, but still close to the forest. In the water near the camp, eight or nine Rogulkans were staked down in the shallow water. Crabs and gulls pecked at their corpses.

As our argument over the plan came to an end, Fertha went down to the corpses in the water and began chanting. The bones of the corpses rose out of their earthly shells and shambled into a loose circle around the camp. Theon grinned, I think it had been a while since he faced a shambling group of undead. So we decided to bed down, and wait until morning, when the Orcs would be half-blind and our magicians would be full-power.

It would have gone off great, but I was woken up near dawn by a frantic and shaken Makar. Apparently Abbashag had made a guest appearance on our boat. A few minutes after Theon and Makar had woken, Copoc came out of a light trance, and Theon's Gryphon flew out of the sky, holding Makar's black cat familiar in its jaws and with the Solvieg, the captain of our boat, on its back. The cat had apparently been zapped by the Sea Hag. Nasty business. I've heard tales of Sea Hags, but never met one. Now she had out boat, and was coming toward the island, pulling it. We had to act fast. I quaffed a potion of Bull's Strength, and felt my muscles grow and strengthen underneath my mithril shirt.

Brone turned me and Copoc invisible, and we snuck inside the wall. I was waiting for the Priestess to come out, Copoc for Miklos. A fireball blast to the Wall near the Priestess's tent took out six or seven Rogulkan's, and I plunged into melee with the Priestess -- burying my axe deep in her chest. She mumbled some words, and her skin healed. Theon flew in on the back of his gryphon, and I could hear Makar and Brone taking on the remaining skeletons. A few sharp blows and Fertha went down. Miklos barreled down on us, and I readied my axe. That's when the air began to tingle around me. I looked over my shoulder and saw Makar moving his hands wildly, two orcs attacking him. A flash and a boom later, and most of the skin on my left side was singed and burned, Miklos then smashed me in the head with his sword, and I went down.

When I awoke, Copoc was standing over me, and the orcs were all dead. We stripped off their armor, and tried to decide what to do next.

 

[Monkey Man]

Adventure 3

ADVENTURE 3: Spirits, Dragons, and Giant Hearts

By Copoc Kitzam

In the aftermath of the battle we were all weakened. Our bodies were battered and our various magical talents depleted. I called upon the great spirit Nak Te Kan who proved most cooperative and generous in dispensing his healing powers. We collected ten human slave women whose ages ranged from their mid-teens to early thirties. Most of them had tattoos or multiple body rings denoting there status as slaves. They seemed strangely drawn to Theon. Perhaps it was because he wielded a shield depicting the ever-popular devices of Logos. It is a mighty shield indeed, though to the best of my knowledge Theon has never bothered to awaken its spirit. Maybe if I show him how this can be accomplished he will enlighten me on why so many are enthralled by a god they can never see. Anyway, I digress.

The apparent leader of the slaves, named Katella, was unmarked by tattoos and such. She claimed that her brother had sold her into slavery. My companions and I debated what to do next. The debate went on until I began to fear that Abashag would be upon us before we could move. Solveig took the slaves to Wodlaw’s cave while we continued debating. Finally we decided to hide inland. Malcolm would stay close enough to watch the shore and see if Abashag approached the ghostly longship, while the rest of us waited back up at the giant’s cave preparing an ambush.

Soon a shaken Malcolm emerged from the underbrush, pale and emaciated. He babbled that Abashag had arrived and that the sight of her had put the whammy on him. She was angered by the burning orcs and was wielding a living chain weapon, and wearing a bandolier of potions. Apparently, the great ghost ship appeared in the sky and had dropped down to crush Abashag as well as the front of Solveig’s boat. Abashag had then surfaced, blasting an eye ray of sorts at some dead body on board. The ship quickly retaliated, hammering Abashag with a Cone of Cold. Finally, Abashag pummeled the longship until it sank.

Makar and Malcolm immediately moved to hide. I waited patiently in the cave’s entrance with Theon and Brone. Silently I blandished Yax Che Mal, the Fury of my great club. Soon I noticed that Theon had a strange look on his face. I strained to hear, but to no avail. Suddenly Theon fired a bolt from his crossbow. A cry of pain erupted from thin air and Theon urged us to attack the floating bolt. I charged and swung my club. Yax Che Mal made his presence felt and it was a resounding blow. Brone threw his sword in the general direction of our unseen foe and then turned, apparently to run. Theon attacked the beast and it retaliated, revealing itself. The hideous visage of the sea hag caused Brone to collapse, convulsing. Makar and Malcolm attacked from a distance. Abashag attacked Theon twice and then stabbed me with its living chain/spear thing. Wracked with pain and knowing I would be unable to withstand another such wound, I called upon Xit Balbac to grease this dread weapon and cause Abashag to lose her grip. The attempt failed miserably. Abashag then moved to Theon and impaled him like a fish as Malcolm rushed in. Theon bore the grievous wound in a manly, albeit bloody manner. Babbling something that we couldn’t make out due to the blood bubbling up in his throat, Theon grabbed the shaft of the spear, keeping Abashag from withdrawing it from his dying body for a second. With that split second given, Yax Che Mal allowed me to connect with another furious blow, and the sea hag toppled…but too late for Theon. Makar then blasted Abashag’s corpse, just for good measure. Abashag had three potions on her bandolier, two of Cure Critical Wounds, and one of Alter Self, which we quickly grabbed. Makar and Brone had both been weakened from looking at the sea hag, and were in bad shape.

We were all painfully aware that Solveig’s ship was sinking. Makar cast a spell of Water breathing on Malcolm and I, and we dove in to retrieve food and Solveig’s lock box from the doomed vessel. While diving we spotted the ghost ship. Incredibly it appeared undamaged after its scuffle with Abashag. Malcolm and I surfaced to confer with Makar, Solveig, and Brone. The ship appeared to be a Rolgulkan knockoff of an Alfar longship, with a dragon headed prow. Makar believed it to be the “White Dragon,” a legendary vessel captained by a seafaring rogue named Isolf. Isolf, along with his band of fellows could reputedly slip in and out of any port unseen. I determined to try and contact the ghost ship, but I needed more information. I slipped into a trance and contacted Kamul Yat Balam. Vaguely he answered me that indeed the ship was sentient. I dove back to the sea floor and tried twice unsuccessfully to contact White Dragon. I began to wonder if we were dealing with some sort of ghostly antics instead of a spirit proper. Cautiously I reached out and touched the boat, showing immense respect, and asking in Draconic if we could be of service to the great vessel. White Dragon began to rise!!! I followed it to the surface and climbed onboard, summoning my fellow castaways to join me.

Bolstered by my unexplained success, I attempted a third trance, and this time was rewarded with a vision. I saw White Dragon wavering in the heavens. It seemed to shift shapes briefly, but I was unable to discern the exact nature of the transformation. Soon it refocused and I could make out a middle-aged Alfar on deck conversing with his crew. “We have to travel to Wodlaw’s isle,” he said, “And make an offering of Wodlaw’s heart to break the first part of the curse on White Dragon…” The vision faded. Malcolm quickly offered to retrieve the giant’s heart, and ran off. He returned a little later with the black and putrid organ, and handed it to me. It must have weighed 30 pounds. I knelt and proffered the foul meat to White Dragon. The Dragonhead shaped prow promptly animated and gulped it down. The ship spoke! White Dragon gave thanks and explained that his friends had tried to break the curse before they were slaughtered by the hobgoblins. Disappointingly, she refused to elaborate on this curse, claiming to have waited eight years before telling her last owners about it. Quick introductions were made, and White Dragon learned that we polished off Abashag. She agreed to take us wherever we wished to travel.

Soon we found ourselves pondering the fate of the slaves. Brone ingeniously suggested that we use Theon’s share of the loot to set them up and asked Katella where they might wish to go. Katella agreed that Theon’s money could possibly buy their freedom and asked to be delivered to Jormunsteinn. Malcolm knew a contact in Jormunsteinn, a free lance Cimbri skilled in Tattoo magic, who could possibly help them out by removing their tattoos. We then voted to give Solveig a portion of the loot as partial compensation for the loss of her boat. Eventually we returned to the cave to pay our respects to Theon. I was very intrigued by the strange rituals that followed. I remember when my father died we fed him to the muck dwellers and there was much rejoicing among the swamp spirits. I wondered which spirits would profit from Theon’s demise. Katella asked that she be allowed to take his shield. Makar swapped boots with Theon, while Malcolm retrieved his gauntlets. Solveig took his massive plate mail. Makar spoke a few words after they had finished looting his body, and we proceeded to bury him. Although Logos never deigned to show himself, the earth spirit Teiragon seemed well sated, as did Annelik Mox Balas, animus of the worm.

After this bit of strangeness I called upon Nak Te Kan for some lesser restoration on Makar and Brone, and we returned to the White Dragon. Upon the ship asking us where we would like to travel, we informed her of our intentions to take the slaves to Jormunsteinn. We told her that we would like to stay on for future adventures. Brone mentioned that he required passage to Kostelna for sensitive business. White Dragon proceeded to inquire whom he worked for. Brone claimed to “Serve the best interests of the non-depraved races… that he was being sent to investigate Porphyry House in Kostelna.” At this point my curiosity and perhaps mistrust of Brone once again surfaced and I asked who he suspected me of serving when we first met. Brone didn’t seem to want to answer. He did reveal that he believed the slaves were to be sacrificed to the Yuan-ti, a reptilian race that could possibly be in league with the Three Mothers. He also hinted at a diabolical and sinister race of Kulkans that live only to serve the Yuan-ti. Could these be the black Kulkans my tribe has warred with for years, never able to ascertain the source of their dark and loathsome powers? I must consult soon with Kanul Yat Balam. Once again I digress.

When pressed, Brone somewhat explained his suspicions, alleging that the Yuan-ti have been over-paying for slaves with Demon’s Breath manufactured right there in Porphyry House. I for one am willing to join this “Investigation” if for no other reason than to determine the origin of these diabolical Kulkans. Makar says that he will help too, as long as the venture is profitable and Brone doesn’t prove to be full of horned mammal defecation. Malcolm is agreeable as well. I asked White Dragon if she believed Brone’s story. “Maybe, but I can tell you that he is no hobgoblin.” Replied the Spirit/Dragon/Ghost/Vessel. Reluctantly, Brone revealed himself to be human, although he looked different than other humans I have seen. His complexion was much darker than the humans I am familiar with. White Dragon asked for help from us to set her sails. Makar and Malcolm jumped up to assist Solveig in the needed tasks. I started making preparations to summon a new spirit ally. What will tomorrow bring, I wondered, as once more we pushed forth into the deep blue yonder…

 

[CleverName]

Shameless Plug

For those of you who have enjoyed my machinations as a GM, my first ebook is out: Patrons of Adventure. Please give it a look.

It has tons of adventure ideas based around 10 NPCs.

Thanks!

 

[Ancalagon]

great story! Too bad one of the PCs bit the dust so early, but it was a noble sacrifice.

I will check the e-book soon!

Ancalagon

 

[CleverName]

Thanks, Ancalagon. There is a free, 9-page preview of Patrons of Adventure available now.

 

[CleverName]

Gann MacManus

Here's the background info on Keith's new PC,Gann MacManus, a hobgoblin fighter.


Gann MacManus was born and grew up in Howth on Tir Nan Og, the son of simple fisherfolk. Even as a lad, he was remarkable both for his imposing figure as well as his inquisitive nature. More than once, his curiosity outstripped his judgment, and Gann spent much of his youth in trouble of one sort or another. His plainspoken manner (some would say tactlessness) did little to endear him to those he found himself in trouble with, and Gann eventually found himself in need of a hasty departure from the island and culture of his folk.

He managed to secure a working passage on the far-flung Rolgulkan tradeship "Lost Daughter" and made his way, port by port, to Jormunsteinn in the Skia Thalassa. Though he was by this time an able sailor, he worked for a while as a bouncer, then an enforcer for a local criminal concern, before going to sea again. He has visited every port on the Skia Thalassa, many more than once.

Before his current but unsteady employment in Jormunsteinn, a Rolgulkan named Arnuz hired him as a bouncer in her brothel in Kostelna. About three years ago a human woman opened up Porphyry House, a fancy brothel in the city, with beautiful and exceedingly depraved employees. Within a year Arnuz had to close up shop – and Gann was out on his warty, but well-muscled ass.

Lately he has been supplementing his meager income by working as a bodyguard and heavy for a reputable Dwarven merchant, Oiin, who makes frequent trips to Kostelna on the edge of Rolgulka. In that rough burg, one can never overestimate the usefulness of a 6 foot, 5 inch ass-ugly hobgoblin tough.

Gann is not a deft conversationalist or charmer, but his is freakishly strong and huge, even for a hobgoblin. Despite this, he is a canny fighter, as liable to outmaneuver or outwit an opponent, as he is to merely demolish them with sword and knife. When he was still a babe in arms, his father predicted that the giant babe would one day be a mighty warrior as of old, and that with the spear-feat and the feat of the shield rim he would inspire many warriors to his cause. A druid that overheard this said instead that Gann would never wear a shield or own a horse, and to this day he has managed to keep these bans.

 

[CleverName]

Adventure 4

An all-expense paid trip to a hive of scum and villany...
Gann’s story, as told to his erstwhile employer, Oinn, the dwarf...

So, I went to the Pheasant, like you suggested, and met with those outlanders that were looking for an able-bodied deckhand. Pretty odd group, a human wizard, a weird looking Hob, and half-elf and one of those lizard men, Kulkans or whatever they are called. They were hiding something, I guessed pretty quick, but I didn’t know what. Have to say, that cimbri runt, Malcom or whatever his name is, he sure has a mouth on him. But more about that later.

Yeah, they needed a sailor. Looking to hire a sword, as well. Figured I’d be a good enough fit, seein’ as how I can do both jobs. They were sort of evasive at first about what they were up to, until I made plain I already knew they wanted to go to Kostelna. I could tell right off none of them knew anything about the place, so I filled ‘em in. I told ‘em all about the old ruler, Borysko, how he was overthrown by the “Holy” Triad and put on public display. I told ‘em all about the city guard and their idea of what law enforcement meant, even mentioned that for a measly 100 gold they’d arrange to crucify someone for you. They seemed to get the idea that Kostelna was a sort of rough place, if you can imagine, heh heh. ‘Course later on when we got jumped in the street, they knew it for a fact, but that turned out all right, too.

They seemed interested in the Triad’s ban on worship services, and just like everyone else; they jumped right to the conclusion that the Holy Triad in Kostelna and the Three Mothers are one and the same. Maybe they are, I’m not all that interested in finding out, you know? But anyway, I eventually got through to them that Kostelna isn’t really all that great a place – the Rolgulkans don’t even claim it, for Loki’s sake – but they still wanted to go.

What’s that? Their ship? Uhh, yeah. About that, you were right, it’s, uh, it’s sort of unusual. Look, I can’t really say. I know I told you I’d find out all about it, but I pretty much swore an oath to keep it to myself. Yeah, sure, I know, it’s not like it would be the first promise I’ve broken, but this is – different. I can’t explain, at least not yet. Just trust me, boss, on this one.

So anyway, I signed on for a share o’ the take, if any. Not sure why I didn’t hold out for some hard coin, I guess they just seemed like the sort of folk that would make out alright in Kostelna. Sort of ruthless, you know? They had some caper in mind, I’d no doubt of that. Something to do with the Porphyry house – I thought when they hired me they meant to rob the place – risky, but we both know how much gold that place rakes in, so I figured it would be worth it. If I’d known then what I know now, I might not have been so eager, but anyway.

We shipped out the next tide. Made pretty good time, too – the human and that loudmouthed Cimbri weren’t bad hands, really, and that Dekkalfar woman they had on board was an old sea dog, or I’m the Kraken. I helped ‘em pick a path in through the harbor and we docked down at the end of the wharf nearest the Shunt. Took ‘em there first, got rooms, made sure they knew the rules. Old Lars asked about you, by the way.

Went on something of a walking tour after that, showed ‘em the Porphyry House, of course, but also the Bone Tower and the Skindancer Academy. What’s that? No, didn’t get to see the Bone Tower repairing itself, but I warned ‘em not to stray too near, unless they wanted to become part of the second floor or something. I tried to convince them it would be worth hanging around the skindancer area long enough to see if we might catch one of those crazy performance-torture things they do, but they didn’t seem to like the idea all that much. I just thought it would help them get a better idea of what Kostelna can be, you know?

Huh? Well, hell’s bells, of course I took them to the Ogre. How could I let them miss that? We went by the place later on, after the little fracas we got into by Kedward’s. They weren’t too wild about that scene, and I have to say, it’s gotten even more depraved than before, if you can imagine. I guess seeing him sliced open night after night wasn’t vile enough - now they’re trimming little pieces off Borysko and eating them raw.

But before that, we went by Kedward’s tower. This group, they knew about Demon’s Breath already, you know? So I thought maybe they might want a word with the man who controls everything else in the drug trade. That’s where Durzen and his goons jumped us. That little lick, he’s such a coward, brought damn near a score of his thugs along. That human sorcerer, though, he fried about half of ‘em right off, and after I tore a piece off Durzen he turned tail and ran. The kulkan priest or shaman or whatever he is, he’d glued a few of the other lads to the ground, so they couldn’t run themselves. We let ‘em go free, sent ‘em after (orc bandit leader), heh, they were none too happy about Durzan leaving them there to get killed.

As it turned out, old Kedward saw the whole thing from his tower. The human sorcerer fellow, he seemed to want a word with Kedward, so we went over. That’s when the Cimbri shot his mouth off about Matylda, Kedward’s familiar, being some sort of freak. I’d, uh, guess I’d neglected to mention to them about Kedward and Matylda making the beast with two backs. You can imagine how he reacted — I thought the old man was gonna’ turn Malcom into a goat, or a corpse, or something right then and there. He did hit him with some sort of magic, not sure what it was, and I thought that idiot Cimbri was gonna’ get us all killed, but then he backed down real fast and apologized.

Anyway, Kedward seemed real keen on finding out what was going on in the Porphyry house, which worked out well enough since that’s what we were there to do as well. He didn’t really offer any help, though, just promises of rewards if we could tell him anything.

We went by the House last of all. Went inside those purple walls, got a good look at the guards and the set up – as far as the main lobby, anyway. That place is built like a fortress. The human and the Cimbri, they hired some of the girls for a few hours, I went outside to case the joint a little bit better and see if we could maybe climb the walls from outside. They met up with me afterwards, and we thought up a plan on how to have the run of the place…

 

[blargney]

Good stuff!

I've been off the boards for a long while, but I'm really happy to see that this story's coming along! I can't wait to read some more!

Have you got any character sheets posted for these guys?

-blarg

 

[CleverName]

Thanks Blargney

Not yet, but I will put them up soon on the main Palaestra site. I'll post it when they are up.

 

[CleverName]

Adventure 5

The Cloaca* Monologues
An unsent letter to Malcolm the Cimbri's Half Brother Mallory (Remi Truer)

Mallory,

Remember that big purple whorehouse I told you we were trying to sneak into? Well, our group infiltrated it not once, not twice, but three times in the past day. First we wanted to send in a slightly more expendable guy to do some snooping and check if they any special magic detection set up. We didn't really know where to start, so we went back to that creep Kedward's place to see if he knew a junky or someone we could use. The little imp of his did another little nudie dance, but I swallowed my creep's and acted polite and what.

Kedward gave us the skinny on some poor addict named Forsetti, gave us a bag of whatever the poor schlub was hooked on, and sent us on our way. Nice and easy. Guy's way too nice to us, though, claims he just doesn't want his business taken over like the Porphyry House moved in on whoring. I don't really wanna’ hang around him if we do manage to bring the House down.

Anyway, Brone scraped Forsetti off the floor of the Ogre, put an invisibility spell on him, and sent him on his way. An hour later we met the puke in the Plaza of Hanging Ruins and got the general layout of the place, and a couple clues of where to look, some passages downstairs, a couple rooms upstairs, and Wolvera's (the proprietress of Porphyry) office. He also said the statues seemed to act as guards, and looked around when he entered a room, but could not see him. We gave him his bag of treats, and he ran off. Hope we never see that waste again.

We had to plan our next move, and it came down to me and Gann doing another search of the place, filling in the blanks of Forsetti's little description. I was a little worried, my luck hasn't been the best lately, and I might not have been a lot of good in a fight, but I just put on the game face, talked a little louder, and we were off.

We checked out the bottom level first, searching the smaller rooms, trying to keep quiet. We didn't see much, had a couple close shaves with the servants and madams almost bumping into us, until we got to the third or fourth door down one of the halls Forsetti hadn't scouted. Two of the male servants we’d seen came down the hall dragging this big guy, he was saying how sorry he was -- already looked like he had been worked over by them. Must have roughed a girl up or something. Anyway, they tie him to an upright bed or post, I couldn't really see that much through the keyhole, and one of the servants turns into a snake! The other one picks up the snake, which then bites the customer, and he just dies. Then the first guy reappears, and they're all laughing. I hadn't completely believed Brone, but there you go, transforming snakes.

So we head upstairs to look around, a little freaked out. Gann took the 'detect secret doors' potion, and we found one that lead behind the swank upstairs room, complete with hidden doors into each of the rooms! We also found a door that looked like it went down. I just managed to pick the lock, but our invisibility spell was almost over and we decided to head back out, confident that we had the elements of a plan in front of us. In hopes that it would help me pick the lock again, I poured a little oil of slipperiness into the lock and then closed the door. On the way out I must have tripped or something, because suddenly one of statues started following us down the stairs. Wolvera was down there, too, and said some words. All the plants in the lobby came to life and tried to grab us. We got through the door, I tapped Makar, who was waiting in the lobby, on the shoulder, and we were out.

Obviously, we needed to get into a room upstairs, sneak along the secret passages behind the room, and get back to the secret passage with the lock. Many jokes were made, but we finally settled on a ruse that revolved around watching Copoc… the less said the better. But we needed 2500 gold at a minimum to get a room up there, and our finances were sort of low at the moment. Another visit to Kedward was needed.

Kedward bought our remaining vials of Demon's Breath, giving us the money we needed and some antitoxin as well. We threw our weapons into Makar's magic bag, and set off for a third time to Porphyry House, keeping one or two out, so as not to arouse suspicion. We got into a room with a girl, no problem. Again, the girl ended up looking almost exactly as we described in our “fantasy” to the Madame. She was willing and passive — all of this just made us uneasier as to what was really going on in here. Brone cast Detect Magic on her and said there was a Transformation-type spell on her, but she wasn't a Yuan-Ti. Time was running out thought, so we tied her up, blocked the door into the room, got into the passage, and I managed to get the lock undone, and we were into the secret lair.

There were three chests in the room directly behind the locked secret door, but everyone else wanted to explore before looking into the chests, so we left them. Brone went first down the stairs, and I was behind him, the others followed behind me. At the bottom of the stairs, as Brone came off the staircase, there was a flash of light under his foot, and he was frozen. Almost immediately two lines of acid shot out at the frozen Brone and covered him. Copoc threw a Haste spell on me and we all moved into the room.

I'd like to say that the 5 Green Kulkans and 2 Black Kulkans were worthy adversaries, but we mopped them up with very little trouble. Brone was worse for wear because of the acid blasts the Black Kulkans hit him with, but Copoc healed him up pretty easily. I even got replaced the longspear I had given up at the weapon check required in the lobby of Porphyry house.

Now that I had a chance to look around, it looked like the room we were in was a holding area of some kind -- there are iron rings set into the walls. There are four doors in the room and two hallways leading out. One corridor heads north and is blocked by a portcullis with a locked wench. The second corridor, the one the Kulkans retreated into, suddenly stops in a dead end after about 25 feet. I can hear some muffled noises coming from beyond the wall…
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* clo·A·ca: The common cavity into which the intestinal, genital, and urinary tracts open in vertebrates such as fish, reptiles, birds, and some primitive mammals.


GM’s NOTE:
This is a prime example of the danger of combining high school biology and the base humor of gamers. Put lizard folk in the party and mix that with a lot of reptilian baddies and someone has to bring up the physiological differences between mammals and our reptile friends. You would be surprised how often cloacae can be worked into a conversation, pop culture references, and insults…okay, well, maybe you wouldn’t be surprised…