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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 3927409" data-attributes="member: 1210">Ahead of our heroes in the devastated city, a large building looms. It seems mostly intact, though it shows char marks and other signs of attack. The large doors are open, and even in the poor light provided by the sunless, maroon sky, our heroes perceive a sign on the awning out front that shows a stack of coins.“A bank!” exclaims Benito.“Maybe we can fund our tickets on the shadow train here,” Kyle suggests slyly.“That sounds like a fine idea,” Otis smiles. But when they enter the bank, the party finds that they are not the only ones who have had such an idea.The interior is 100’ square, with a large lobby that measures 100’x80’. Oddly enough, three small wheeled hand carts are in the lobby. On the extreme left of the back side of the room is an open door that leads behind the counter, and in the space behind the counter is a stairway heading downward. “The vault should be down below,” Adelle opines. The party heads towards the door leading behind the counter. Two stone statues rise up.“Hey wait!” exclaims Goer in surprise. Sir Colder just grimaces and thrusts his spear forward, over his friend’s shoulder, but it barely scratches the statue. Still, a concerted attack by our heroes swiftly overwhelms the statues, leaving them shattered on the ground.A figure starts to emerge from the stairwell. It starts upon spotting our heroes and quickly retreats back down the stairs.“Orc!” Me cries happily. Our heroes race down the stairs, but instead of a simple orc, they find themselves in a battle with a formidable orcish fighter, a sneaky halfling rogue and another four of the stone guardians! The battle is fierce, intense, harrowing; but our heroes seem blessed by good luck, and their enemies seem cursed by a malaise of bad luck. Add these together with a healthy dose of good strategy, and soon our heroes have taken the bank, slain most of the enemy and destroyed the statuary. The orc, rendered unconscious, is still alive.“Kyle,” Otis says gravely, “let me see your spellbook.”Reluctantly, the apprentice hands his tome over to his master. Otis scratches out Kyle’s grade- presently a D- and writes a C in its place. Kyle beams proudly. Then his practical side takes over, and he suggests a thorough search and inventory of the vault. It proves to measure about 50’ wide by 30’ deep and is lined with shelf after shelf of built-in, elaborately-sculpted boxes. Adelle explains that these are boxes that people would rent and keep valuable items hidden within. At one end, a thick door has been drilled through by the orc and halfling, but another, inner door still remains. It does not look like the robbers had had any luck with it whatsoever. It seems to be built from some kind of weird greenish, metallic-looking material that feels almost like cloth. Some fruitless moments trying to open us turn our heroes to more easily available loot.Of the most interest are the bags and bags of cash easily available. There is far more wealth than the heroes have ever seen before; there are literally thousands of gold pieces. Benito and Adelle, on the other hand, think that it’s a pretty petty amount of cash.Nonetheless, everyone is aware that having plenty of money might help ensure a successful train ride. Therefore, they gather up the loot and load themselves, the peasants and the mounts with all that they can find. A lengthy, strenuous effort finally pries open one of the secure, built-in boxes in the outer vault, only to find- papers. “Utheleth,” Lord Cedric says in disgust. The party revives the orc, whose name turns out to be Grulthug. At first he is defiant; but upon learning that his partner, the halfling, is dead, he nearly breaks down in tears. The party questions him, but he is just what he seems: an opportunist, taking advantage of the moment of chaos that he has found himself in. He and the halfling were burglars; in recent weeks, they had gained control of the stone guardians by means of a special ring, which- with the guardians now smashed to rubble- is now useless. Unless I can learn from it, Otis thinks hungrily. Visions of himself, at the head of a massive band of mobile statues, dance through his head. However, our heroes get the real payoff from the orc when they inquire about Sir Harth. They describe him and his band, and immediately, Grulthug replies, “Oh, I saw a beholder not long ago. Within the last week or twelve days. We didn’t dare approach, of course.”“Where?” demands Goer. “Where did you see them?”“Further towards the center of the city.”“They’re still ahead of us,” Dahlia laments.“We’re catching up,” Sheriff Jorgen answers grimly. “It won’t be long.”In the end, the party not only lets Grulthug live, they even return some of his gear to him. “Good luck,” Me rumbles to him with a smile as the party hurries along. Before long, a small branch of the canal just ahead of them runs into what appears to be a very large bath house. The scum-choked water must have once been clear and fresh, but now the bath house is filled with a disgusting mess of algae, mold and corpses and body parts, some of them floating in the water.“I bet there are ghouls in there,” Dahlia grimaces.“Forget them.” Sir Fwaigo shakes his head. “We need to stay focused on Harth.”“Yeah, I want to get home,” Kyle complains. “This era is horrible!”The party moves past the bath house, ignoring the ghouls feasting within. They move along for about another half hour, passing down shattered avenues replete with the remains of rich storefronts. The metal tracks in the ground that they are following continue inexorably forward. And suddenly, with a shout, a figure that several of our heroes recognize as one Sir Helios (one of Sir Harth’s men) rides forth, a longspear couched like a lance, and leads a handful of obviously haggard- and mutated- men-at-arms from Harth’s entourage in a surprise charge on our heroes.Next Time: Sir Helios comes with a big green surprise!</blockquote>

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