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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Hairy Minotaur" data-source="post: 2662939" data-attributes="member: 11574">The plot thickensWhat's been happening at Mirwood.Celeior - Elven elderHelion - Mirwood governorLuinphayl - Mage college headmasterValriand - Captain of the guardAllundril - High priestess of Belasarda"Ok, what do we know?" Celeior asks"One of our scouts found this body in a makeshift lean-to about four hours north of Mirwood." Valriand answers, pointing to the bloated body of a lizardman."He had this note with him." Helion pulls out a folded piece of parchment and hands it to Celeior. The elder elf unfolds it and studies the note.Here is requested man Taurranoussee how tribe of mists completes bargainwe friends now you no fight us anymorewe take good care of you guysyou take good care of my son"What do you think?" Helion asked"What killed this creature?" Celeior inquired"This was in it's back, but it's hard to say if it was the killing blow or not, the corpse is too far aged to tell us much." Valriand answers, showing off a still intact arrow."Is that one of ours?" Celeior points at the arrow"Yes, appears to be, although no scouting parties ever reported any incidents over the past two weeks, and I know of no elf that has gone north of town." Valriand answers"Perplexing, appears the lizardmen tried or did, broker a peace agreement with the minotaurs. Only their emissary was shot by an elf or by someone with access to the elven barracks." Celeior thought aloud"What if this ties in with Luinphayl's death?" Allundril finally chimes in"In what way?" Valriand questions her"Luinphayl allowed the rogue minotaur to enroll in the college for free and trained him as though he was his on son. Remember when we heard of Luinphayl's personal involvement with this rogue minotaur?" Allundril starts"But that Paquito ended the threat Taurranous posed to us." Helion interrupted"Let me finish. Luinphayl trains the minotaur who then goes and usurps control over Taurranous' clan. After that event Luinphayl's body is discovered, murdered and dumped near the holly bushes." "Yes, yes we already know all of this." Helion interjected again"Remember that letter the elf Benat gave us? The one that insinuated a doppelganger had infiltrated our town? We all thought it impossible that one of our own had been copied. I assert it was Luinphayl that was copied." "That's outrageous, Luinphayl has.... had more magic and power available to him than all the rest of this town combined." Celeior argued"Fine, then explain the missing scrolls from the college. Explain the sudden emergence of a great evil in the minotaur maze yesterday." Allundril counters"I do not believe those incidents are connected, I fail to see how you arrive at this accusation." Valriand asks"Fine, I'll go slower. Luinphayl tutors Paquito, the first pupil he's had since the town was built over fifty years ago, he tells us that this minotaur is unlike any we've had to deal with can be trusted to rid us of Taurranous. Paquito does just that and the town rejoices, Paquito supposedly leaves two days after his victory. Luinphayl's body is discovered the day after he left, decomposing at a rate that suggests it had been there for far longer than a day. Four days later in a routine inventory sweep, it is discovered that numerous scrolls have been stolen from the LOCKED ENSORCELLED vaults at the college. See where I'm going with this?""But, how does the lizardman fit in?" Valriand asks"Luinphayl leaves to meet his star pupil, and runs afoul of this lizardman. Luinphayl kills him and assumes his identity, then proceeds onto the maze." Allundril answers"How do you know he went there?" Helion inquires"Because the college was not the only place that had something stolen from it, we lost an item as well. We've traced it to the maze, we know it's there now, we've also detected an explosion of evil from there. Our scryers all agree it is very near the level of evil it housed during Taurranous' later days." Allundril explains"So the doppelganger trains Taurranous' replacement, steals valuable scrolls and religious artifacts, covers it's tracks just long enough to allow us to find them after a couple of days, and leads us to focus on the maze again? For what purpose?" Valriand asks"To complete the plan, they're entrenched in there now. They're taunting us with the level of duplicity required to pull this off. I think all we did was get rid of one evil only to replace it with a greater evil." Allundril answers"What item was stolen from the temple?" Celeior turns, shocked as this is the first he's heard of it.Allundril frets and wrings here hands nervously at the answer Celeior seeks."What was stolen?" Celeior demands"The egg." Allundril answers as she breaks down in tears"What?! How is that possible? One man just walked in and took it!" Celeior screams incensed at the complete and utter failure of the temple to guard this object."And now it's in the possession of a doppelganger that's holed up in a cyst of evil and he's thumbing his nose at all of us!" Valriand's scathes across Allundril's pride."Recall all your scouts, and have them watch that maze day and night. Nothing goes in or out of that place without us knowing about it." Celeior instructs Valriand who nods in agreement"Go to the college and insert a few mages with them as well, we're going to need to throw a blanket of detection over the whole area out there." Helion suggests "I shall pray for further guidance in this matter." Allundril announces"Start with your own ineptitude, and get back with your priest and have them report any movement of the egg or change in evil in the maze to me immediately." Celeior demands.***************************************************************The party reaches the bottom of the ladder, a vast hallway stretches out towards the west. The east is block by a cave in, the only light shines from the top of the ladder where the coal stove in the torture room above, gives off a violent reddish glow. With their greater eyesight, the giants peer into the darkness and announce that there is a huge door about one hundred and twenty feet down the western side of the hall. Gronar, Korg, Ratchet, Luciann, Finrod, and Omar head down the hall to investigate the door, leaving Paquito, Lothred, and Sillaqui at the base of the ladder."Want to play? I brought toys." Lothred asks as he opens his cloak to reveal all manner of handheld information extracting equipment.Sillaqui squeaks and shies away from Lothred, melting into the chest of Paquito. Confused by her reaction, Lothred closes his cloak. He is about to address the situation when a dull green light winks on between Lothred and Paquito, it hangs in midair about three feet from the floor."Oh why did this have to happen now? I was just getting ready to put my El' Toro moves on the lady. No?" Paquito laments, as he removes his clawed hands from soothing the arms of Sillaqui.Paquito moves Sillaqui off to his left and takes a defensive stance to the green light that has now formed itself in a small circular spinning shape.The shape stops spinning and a familiar voice emanates from the object."Paquito, thank Baphomet I found you. We are under siege from umber hulks and some kind of demonic figure that has the appearance of Taurranous. They've killed six of the minotrices thus far. The elves have surrounded us outside and are casting many magics about the surface, most are divination yet they have made us very paranoid of their intentions. You must return, I have procured this little device from an elemental spirit. It can transport up to twelve people back here but must be used within ten hours or the magic is wasted. Please hurry.""Friend of yours?" Lothred asks"My clan, my people. My home." Paquito lifts Sillaqui into his arms and turns to head down the hallway after the rest of the party.Lothred falls in line behind Paquito, swearing he saw the minotaur's eyes burn red with an infernal light. The thought brought a smile to Lothred's inhuman face as a realization set in, and he followed the not quite full-blooded minotaur into the darkness.</blockquote>

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