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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Droid101" data-source="post: 1745592" data-attributes="member: 942">Flitz enters the Heroes’ room.“You have called for me?” Flitz asks.“Yes, we found a note that has your name on it,” Bink hands him the assassination list.  Drolf Gritz was dead; Flitz is next in line.“This is grave news indeed.  Who would want me dead?  Most groups find my intelligence gathering a Godsend…” Flitz looks disturbed.  “At any rate, for your continued refuge, I ask that you passively seek information on who wants me dead.  A good start is the local wizard.  He casts divinations for money.  Take this list to him and he may be able to find out something.”Flitz gives them directions and they head out immediately.  Bink keeps his new amulet, the one that controls the large golem-like shield guardian, very close to himself.  On the way, when passing through an alleyway (they really should learn to avoid those…) two forms approach.  They are wearing splint armor that is heavily spiked.  They carry spiked shields which bear the Xvim symbol, the open hand with the eye, but it has spikes on it.  They also carry heavy blades.  Their faces are partially hidden by their closed helmets, but they look calm and collected.“You have stolen certain items that belong to Iyachtu Xvim or his most trusted generals.  Please provide us with the spellbooks belonging to The Necromancer.” They remain motionless, weapon and shield drawn.“Yeah, right, how about you…” Bink doesn’t have a chance to finish, as Jezda jumps out ahead of him, quickly maneuvers between the spiky soldiers, and spins his greatsword in a whirlwind pattern; his body twisting, and he lands a gruesome hit on each soldier.  They attack.Each one lands a shield spike into Jezda, his 6’10” frame bending down in pain, blood pouring from fresh wounds.  Grog flies in and stabs one deep in the gut.  Ogrim lets out an overhead chop of his Orc-Killer, piercing the armor and impaling into a shoulder.  Bink holds his tongue and doesn’t cast any spells, rather, draws his brilliant energy falchion and scores a small hit of his own, bringing one soldier down.  Eltharion’s whirling scimitar and sickle end the battle.“Impressive Jezda,” Eltharion congratulates.“Just trying to help like you said,” Jezda reasons.“Keep that up.” Ogrim grunts.  “Maybe you’ll be a good example for the other orc-scum.”“Don’t worry about him, he just doesn’t like orcs too much.” Bink reassures Jezda, and they continue to the wizard after Eltharion heals everyone injured.Everyone waits outside the small unmarked doorway except Bink.“Hello?” the inside is dark and many curtains hang, blocking off view of the entire room.“Why have you come?” a voice from behind a curtain.“I heard you cast spells for money.” Bink puts blatantly.“You heard correctly.  What spell do you wish cast?”“I have a piece of paper.  I need you to find out everything about it.  Who owned it last, who created it, and why, if possible.” Bink tells.“What do you have to offer me in exchange for this service?” “I have money…”“800 gold pieces, and knowledge.  Do you have any spells to give?  I would merely copy them and return them.”“Oh sure, I’ve got tons.” Bink produces the Necromancer’s two spellbooks.  A cloaked form emerges from the curtains and takes hold of the books, leafing through them slowly.  He takes two long steps backward.“These will do nicely.” The cloaked form throws off his robes, producing a fairly tall, gaunt and pale man with dreadlocks.  “Thank you.”  A one-syllable arcane utterance, and he is gone.“You mo… you damned… argh!” Bink storms out.  “When we find these generals, I don’t care what we told Senman, we’re killing that Necromancer.”“What happened?” Ogrim asks.“The wizard was the Necromancer in disguise.  He stole his spellbooks back.” Bink summarizes.“We’ll get ‘em…” Eltharion plots.They head back to their underground hidey-hole and await Flitz’s return.  When he does, he has news.“Listen, something has happened that I wish you to check out.  I have reason to believe that House Mestlani is the one out to kill me.  A while back, the sewer entrance to their compound was sealed off, most likely by magic too powerful for a Trade House to conjure up.  Today, my scouts report that the seal is gone, and there is access to the House’s underground entryway.  Please take Robert Flyn and check it out.” Flitz steps back and shows the Heroes a man standing behind them; a human wearing animal skins.“I am Robert.  I’ve been working for the past few months gaining the trust of the leader of House Mestlani so I could get close to him to find out who is actually pulling the strings.  I’ve figured out that there are close ties between them and the guild of assassins, the Black Hand, which is led by Dendybar Retari.  This may be the link.” Robert explains.“Good to meet you Robert.  This is Eltharion, Ogrim, Grog, Jezda, and myself, Bink.  Let’s get going.”Once again, Bink leaves his shield guardian at the hideout as they set out into the sewers.  They follow their instructions and find a passage that doesn’t smell so foul as all the others.  They go down it.  After twenty minutes of cautious approach, they hear some talking up ahead.  High-pitched voices speaking…“Draconic.  Sounds like kobolds.” Eltharion states.They continue forward, and a crossbow bolt flies by them.  They waste no more time, and charge.  Bink casts light on a rock and tosses it toward the kobolds.  They have a defensible position set up, with boulders and other places to hide behind while they fire on their opponents.  It does little to stop the Heroes, who easily leap/climb over the rubble and slay the kobolds quickly and cleanly.  Bink picks off two who attempt to run away with well placed, greenish energy magic missiles.“Too easy, keep your guard up.” Eltharion guesses, and they continue down the long corridor, weapons drawn.  The passage begins to slope downward, and up ahead on the side of the passage is a stairwell, leading up to a doorway that is blocked by a large slab of rock.  Talking can be heard from the other side, albeit muffled.  The talking is in…“Undercommon.  Undercommon?  Why would a trade house speak undercommon?” Eltharion asks himself.  The talking from behind the rock goes quiet, obviously they heard Eltharion.“Who, who is there?” a voice is heard from behind the rock.  This time, in the common tongue.“Master?  Is that you?” Robert goes up to the rock and asks.“Yes!  Robert!  Are you safe?”“It’s my master from House Mestlani,” Robert tells the Heroes.  “I am safe, what’s wrong?  Open the door so I can talk to you.”“No, that’s impossible.  The defense mechanism went off and we can’t get it open.” The master replies.“Why would you need a defense mechanism that doesn’t let anyone out?” Robert asks.“It’s because…” a slight pause, and some other, very faint voices can be heard in addition to the master’s.  Voices in undercommon.“I smell a rat…” Eltharion states.“Master, what is it?  Who is with you?” Robert asks, urgently.“Um…” the other voices say some more. “Nobody, it’s just my house guards, trying to help me open the door.”“Why are you hesitating master, what’s the matter?” Robert asks.  Almost a minute long pause, as the faint voices are heard some more.“You see the passage that leads down?  Well… RUN DOWN IT! Dendybar is…” a loud gurgle is heard, blood begins to spill out from underneath the rock slab.“MASTER, NO!” Robert exclaims, but doesn’t have time to mourn, as he is pulled by Eltharion and the others.  They run down the tunnel, away from the surface.They continue to jog for at least 30 minutes.  They are all out of breath when they slow down to a walk.  The tunnel has continued to slope downward.  The width of the tunnel has remained mostly the same.  The walls have become increasingly more rough. A crossbow bolt clangs into a nearby wall.  Bink creates light on a rock and tosses is ahead, but the light is quickly snuffed out by magical darkness.  Everyone else charges.Eltharion and Bink have trouble seeing, but Jezda, Grog and Ogrim don’t.  After they get past the magical darkness, they see two elves with black skin running and hiding behind a rock.  Grog charges one and separates his body from his head with a perfect slice of his katana.  Jezda pounds into the other one, while Ogrim finishes him by severing his leg.Eltharion spots a third, once Bink gets a new light up.  Gritting his teeth he charges, anger leads his strikes as he cuts it down.  The lifeless corpse takes a few more stabs from the scimitar before Eltharion rests.“I hate drow.” Eltharion reminds himself.They collect the miniature crossbows the dark elves wield and continue down the tunnel.  Another 20 minutes pass, and they get to a part of the tunnel that widens into a room.  There are a few rocks to rest on, and carved pegs in the walls, with sacks hanging from them.  The party takes the sacks, looking through them idly.  A necklace, a staff, a wand, and a potion, all radiating magic, according to Bink.  The final sack contains three gems and almost 15,000 silver pieces.  The party doubles up the sack on that one and they continue downward, carrying everything.  Eltharion hears faint footsteps coming from behind them.  They drop their bags and charge back.  Another two dark elves stop abruptly and draw swords.  The battle is quick.  One attempted to retreat, but Bink melted away the back of his head with an acid arrow.  They continue down the tunnel, the work of the walls getting more and more rough as they go.  Ogrim leads the way, followed by Eltharion, Jezda, Robert, Grog and Bink. “Where’s Bink?” Grog looks behind him and sees a form holding Bink, a dagger to his throat.  The party spins around, about 30 feet away.“Don’t move, or I’ll kill him, and then all of you.” The man states, Bink stays motionless.  “No doubt you’ve heard of me; my name is Dendybar Retari.”  The party inches closer and closer.Eltharion holds in a chuckle.  “Nice name buddy…”This draws a scowl from Dendybar.  Eltharion squints, and sees a shape coming up behind Dendybar.  He takes this as a cue to charge.Just as Eltharion charges, Bink pushes Dendybar’s arms away, which are summarily wrapped in a pair of bolas, flung from behind.  Eltharion and Robert close in.  Robert scores a deep cut on Dendybar’s flank, and Eltharion stabs him in the leg with his sickle.  Dendybar lets out a few curses, the last of which being the verbal component for a spell, and he vanishes from view.From behind Dendybar, Senman and Enzonito come running up.  Enzonito gave them advice about the ascension of Xvim before.“Just in time.” Enzonito states.  “Drat, lost a pair of bolas…”“Hey guys,” Senman states, the party greets him.“Bad news from Canticus.  I suggest we get back there as soon as possible.  I came to Tomaru looking for you guys, and luckily I ran into Senman here, who led me straight to you.  Had to talk to some rat-people to find you, however.” Enzonito explains.“Good thing you came,” Bink rubs his neck where the dagger was pressed.They head to the surface.  On the way, Enzonito explains what’s going on.“Anyway, we’ve found out that Canticus is where Xvim has been hiding out.” Enzo says.“You mean, that abandoned city that we found Drek and those goblins in?” Eltharion asks.“Yes, that’s the one.  They are in a hideout underneath the church.  They have a thing for abandoned churches.”“We should have known…” Bink adds.“And I didn’t even have to come out and tell you.” Senman puts.“Anyway, the storms around Canticus have gotten worse.  Two huge tornados are raging across the nearby lands.  It rains constantly.  The king of Brunswick, Wallace, has amassed a small militia force near Canticus, but they can’t proceed any further.  There is an electrical field coming from the place that would kill or incapacitate any normal person who goes through unprotected.  That’s why we needed you guys, a small force of elites who could get in.  I’d be going with you.” Enzonito pauses for a breath.“Wow, I guess maybe the ascension is happening soon, then?” Eltharion asks.“You guessed it.” Senman answers.  “I have just received a mental summons from Xvim to return to home base, Canticus.  I’ll do my best to keep the other generals off your back.  As much as I hate to say it, next time we meet, we’re most likely going to have to fight.”“We’ll take it easy on you.” Ogrim grunts.“Thanks.  Good luck.” Senman says, as he heads out of the sewers.Enzonito the Ancient, Grog, Jezda, Bink, Eltharion, Ogrim, Robert and the large shield guardian quickly exit the city to the south.  They head back to Canticus.  To ascension.Will the Heroes stop Xvim in time?  Will the Generals be too much for them?  How good is Enzonito, exactly?  Be here, next time.</blockquote>

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