Freeport Forever [3/6 - Company Of Heroes] FINAL UPDATE!

[peteyfrogboy]

That half-orc captain reminds me of someone.

About halfway through writing the exchange with the orcs, I realized that they did indeed sound like Cookie Monster. I spend all day watching a 1-year-old, so he's a powerful influence. It makes it easy to stay consistent with the speech pattern, though. I don't think I played them that way during the actual game. I know for certain that Aggro's word choice was quite a bit "saltier" than he appears here.

 

[peteyfrogboy]

Death In Freeport: Part 4

Parika sat on the bed in her room, sharpening a dagger. She'd been trying to figure out how to sneak into the temple and get a peek at those books, but it was useless. There were too many guards, and even if she could get past them she had no way to know where the books were kept or what exactly she was looking for. She got up and walked to the window. Swinging the thick glass upward, she leaned out to look down the street. Surely the others would be getting back soon.

Shading her eyes against the afternoon glare, she saw Nevroth and Rachel turn the corner. As she was about to call out to them, something moved on the edge of her vision. On the roof of the building across the street, someone else was watching the street.

***

The familiar sign outside the Goodhearth Inn was a welcome sight. Rachel saw Parika leaning out the window, but instead of waving the half-elf threw a dagger across the street. Her target dodged the missile, returning fire with a crossbow. Parika cried out as she was hit, falling back into the room.

Rachel and Nevroth reached for their weapons as men emerged ahead and behind them. Before Rachel's cutlass cleared its sheath, one of the men behind her pointed at her and uttered an arcane syllable. Suddenly filled with dread, she ran off down the street.

The armored man with the spellcaster shouted at the other two attackers, "Go after her!" He advanced on Nevroth with sword drawn.

Down the street, Rachel was being pursued by two more swordsmen. By the time they caught up with her at the end of the block her fear had passed. She yanked her cutlass free and turned to face them. The sniper on the rooftop tried to draw a bead on her, but he leaned out too far and fell to the street, breaking his neck.

Nevroth fell back to the door of the inn, defending himself with his longsword gripped in both hands. He was able to avoid being wounded, but he was unable to land a blow himself. The sorcerer followed them into the inn, harrying Nevroth with both frost and fire. He got too close, however, and the manhunter delivered a gash to his leg deep enough to leave the spellcaster writhing on the floor.

The bloodless duel continued for a few more moments. Rachel had dispatched both her attackers and came through the door. After taking a cut from her blade, the leader surrendered. Rachel ran up the stairs to check on Parika. Meanwhile, Nevroth disarmed the assassins' leader and sat him in a chair.

"Who are you, and why did you attack us?" asked the manhunter, tapping the point of his blade on the man's head.

"I'm not telling you anything," sneered the man. "Who would hire me again if I gave up my employers' names?"

The tip of Nevroth's sword whipped downward, coming to rest on the seat between the man's legs. "You can't take any contracts if you're dead."

"Ah, I see your point," said the man, glancing downward. "I'm Rittoro, captain of the Yellow Shields." He nodded his head toward the shield discarded on the floor, covered in yellow leather.

"How creative," said Nevroth. "Now, who hired you to kill us?"

Rittoro shrugged. "Scrawny little guy by the name of Enzo. And before you ask, He didn't say why. Just that he'd pay well to have you taken out."

"When did he contact you?"

"Just after lunch, I think. Pretty short notice, but sometimes that's how it goes."

Nevroth furrowed his brow as he did math in his head. "And how were you supposed to receive your payment."

Rittoro slowly reached for a leather pouch hanging around his neck. He removed it and handed it over. "There's an address in there. We were supposed to meet him there tonight after the job was done." He watched as Nevroth opened the pouch and removed a small piece of folded parchment. The manhunter shook the pouch, making the coins inside jingle cheerfully. "Ah," said Rittoro, "can I have the rest of that back?"

Nevroth raised an eyebrow. "I don't think so. In fact, we're going to be taking the rest of your gear, too."

"But that'll ruin me! What good is a mercenary with no weapons?"

Nevroth shrugged. "Don't know, don't care. Would you prefer we wait for the Guard and have them throw you in the Tombs?"

Rittoro rubbed his chin. "I suppose not. Ah well, I've been poor before."

As the mercenary began removing the rest of his equipment, Rachel came down the stairs supporting Parika. The half-elf had a large bloodstain on her shoulder but looked like she would survive. "I sent Delthic to fetch Brother Edwin. He should be able to get me patched up." She took in the rest of the scene quickly. "So what's the deal?" Nevroth filled her in on Rittoro and his mysterious employer. Parika nodded slowly. "I see. I think I have an idea of how to use this to our advantage." She began poking through Rittoro's gear. She stopped suddenly, pulling out an ivory handled dagger from the pile. "Where did you get this?" she demanded.

"It was a down payment for the job." He shrugged. "It's just a pretty dagger. Why, is it important?"

Parika turned the dagger over and held it out so the others could see the "L" engraved on the handle. "Lucius said in his last diary entry that he was taking his dagger with him, right?" Nevroth and Rachel nodded. "I'd bet my belt that whoever sent these guys has got Lucius as well."

***

"There's no way this is going to work," complained Rachel as she adjusted the ill fitting leather armor. "Nobody but an idiot would mistake me for Rittoro in this outfit."

Parika smiled. "Don't worry. We'll be fine. Besides, you were the only one tall enough to pass for him. That'll be more important than your figure, at least from a distance."

Nevroth stopped and checked the address again. "This is it."

Parika looked up at the building. A sign hung outside bearing the image of a raven. "Tavion's eyes, not this place again!"

"What?" asked Nevroth.

Rachel shook her head. "Oh, never mind. Let's just go in."

The Black Gull was at it's rowdiest at this hour. The three companions took a table near the center of the room, hanging their borrowed yellow shields over their chairs so they could be easily seen. "So," said Rachel, "you've got an idea who's behind all this?"

Nevroth nodded. "These guys got rushed out after us right after we had our meeting with Milos. He certainly wasn't eager to share any information about him with us. Also, Lucius wrote in his diary about some tension between them. Maybe he found out about something going on in the temple?"

"We won't know for sure until we get our hands on him," said Parika, not taking her eyes from the door. "And for that, we need to-- ah, I bet that's him."

The others turned to look at the man standing in the doorway. He was skinny and fidgety, obviously uncomfortable in a bar full of salty sailors. He quickly located the "Yellow Shields" and scurried over to the table.

"So the deed is done?" he asked.

Nevroth grabbed the man's arm. "Here, have a seat." The man was easily propelled into a chair.

"Oh, uh, thank you." He produced a sack, which he deposited on the table with a heavy chink. "I, um, I suppose this concludes our business then. Thirty crowns, as we agreed."

Rachel gaped. "Thirty crowns? That's all we're worth? Thirty stinking crowns?"

Enzo blinked, confused. "But we... uh... what?"

Removing the ill-fitting helm from her head, Rachel leaned across the table. "Do I look like the man you hired?"

"Uh, well, no, but..."

She sat back down with a disgusted sigh. "Idiot."

"Okay," said Nevroth, "in case you hadn't figured it out yet, we're the people you sent those fools to kill. I'm guessing you're not the brains of the operation, so who's your boss?"

Enzo tried to rise, but Nevroth's friendly hand on his shoulder prevented him. "I won't tell you." The hand became less friendly. "Ow! The Master won't stand for this!"

"Master?" asked Parika. "What Master?"

Enzo realized his mistake, but couldn't figure out how to correct it. "The Master. My Master."

The half-elf rolled her yes. "Obviously. But who is he?"

The thought apparently had never occurred to Enzo. "He is... the Master. That's all I need to know."

"Lovely. Where can we find him?"

"His ways are mysterious. He could be anywhe-- ow, ow! There is a meeting place in Scurvytown."

"Can you take us there?"

"The Master would surely slaughter you all."

"You just let us worry about that."


DM Notes:
* This was the end of the first session for this module.
* The party has an amazing talent for non-lethal battles. During the battle with the Yellow Shields, only two of them actually died, and one did it to himself by botching a roll and falling off a building. Another was disabled by Rachel and crawled away when she ran to help Nevroth. Even Belko the sorcerer was taken to exactly 0 and managed to survive. Every random encounter with ne'er-do-wells in Scurvytown has also ended with the gang leader being reduced to 0 and his cohorts dragging him away.

 

[peteyfrogboy]

Death In Freeport: Part 5

The "meeting place" was a nondescript one story building in the slum known as Scurvytown. The windows were bricked up and it looked uninhabited, but appearances were often deceiving.

Parika tried the door. "Locked. Open it up, Enzo."

Enzo shook his head. "Oh, I don't have a key yet."

"Well, knock and tell them to let us in or something."

"Do I have to?" A glare was his only answer. He timidly approached the door and knocked on it. After a few minutes it was clear there would be no answer. Enzo turned and shrugged. "Can I go now?"

Nevroth sighed. "Whatever. Go, get out of here." He didn't bother to watch as the scrawny man scampered away. "So how do we get through the door?"

"I can probably get it open," said Parika, "but first I'd like to take a look around, see if there's another way in."

"Good idea. You and Rachel go take a look around. I'll stay here and keep watch on the door." Nevroth hooked his thumbs in his belt and waited. Whatever Parika was doing, it seemed to take a long time. After a few minutes, he saw someone approaching . His hand went to his sword, but soon he saw that it was only Brother Edwin.

"Thank the Lord I found you," said the priest. "I waited for your friend like you asked, but when he got back to the inn he was in no shape to help you. He was asleep before I left the inn." He handed over backpack. "I figured you might need my help. I also brought some healing elixirs. If Lucius is being held here, there may be some danger."

Parika finally came back around the corner of the building, carefully checking every chink in the brickwork. "Doesn't look like there's any other way in," she announced. "I'll try the door." She kneeled in front of the door and began working at the lock.

Nevroth muttered to Rachel, "She's very... thorough, isn't she?" Rachel only shrugged. It turned out that thoroughness wasn't enough, however, as the half-elf ended up calling the others over to break the door in.

***

"What a dump," opined Parika. The inside of the house was littered with debris and trash. There was nothing of interest there except a trap door in the floor at the back of the room. "Let's have a look at this..."

Everyone else wandered around the room pretending to search through the junk on the floor. Eventually Parika declared the trap door safe and opened it. Stairs led down into a dark basement. Edwin said a brief prayer and his sunburst pendant began to glow with yellow light. The room below was cleaners, but almost as empty. Large casks were lined up along the walls. Some were empty, while others contained soured wine. Parika went around the room tapping the casks and examining their construction. "Either that idiot managed to fool us, or one of these is a -- aha!" She began examining one of the casks, muttering about hinges and catches.

Edwin wrung his hands. "Um, I don't mean to be a bother, but time is of the essence. Lucius may be in danger. Also, this light isn't going to last all night long."

Parika sighed and simply gave the suspect cask a quick inspection before swinging the front of it open. Beyond were a set of stairs leading into a dank stone passageway. "Now we're getting somewhere."

Rachel took the lead at this point, cutlass drawn. The foursome stepped into the hall, which extended off to their right toward an intersection. She led the way slowly forward, watching the shadows for enemies. It wasn't the shadows that held the danger, however; Rachel yelped as the floor suddenly swung out from under her, dropping her into a pit.

From the left-hand branch of the intersection came a bizarre hissing sound. A section of blank wall had slid aside, revealing a rough-hewn tunnel beyond. Through the door came five monstrous creatures resembling a cross between a man and a snake. They took up positions on the far side of the pit and launched javelins at the human intruders.

The javelins were ineffective, and the serpent men found themselves hindered by the pit as much as their enemies were. Rachel climbed out to defend the narrow section of floor between the pit and the wall. Between Parika's arrows and Nevroth and Rachel's swords, the serpent men went down without inflicting much damage.

With doors in front of them, doors to the right, and a mysterious tunnel to the left, the choice was simple. The narrow tunnel curved around, revealing no other dangers. Eventually, another door appeared on the right hand side of the tunnel. Parika opened the door, which revealed a room full of large chests. Even as her eyes brightened with greed, a horde of skeletons lifted themselves off the floor and started toward the door.

Parika slammed the door shut again, but clawed fingers began to pry it open again. "Uh oh," she said.

The battle at the doorway was cramped and confusing. Skeletons occasionally leaped through the doorway to wrestle with Rachel, who had taken the central position. Their fingers could find no purchase on her chain shirt, however, and the doorway foiled their attempts to rend Parika and Nevroth. The three of them systematically reduced the undead horrors to a pile of unmoving bones.

A brief search of the chests revealed several sacks of coins, more than enough reward for their trials so far. They left the heavy coinage be, though, taking with them only a round metal shield bearing a strange symbol: eight arrows radiating from a central point. Edwin thought it might be a symbol of Chaos, but Rachel was simply glad for the added defense.

The door opposite the tunnel led into another hallway. Parika scouted down the left hand side, returning to describe a large set of bronze double doors with a serpent design. "The temple, no doubt. I suggest we leave that for last."

Rachel nodded. "I'm surprised no one has come out to get us yet."

Parika checked the door across the hall from the treasure room. Satisfied that it was safe, she looked inside. "Books. Lots of books." The library was empty of people, so they proceeded to inspect its contents. Rachel and Edwin looked over the bookshelves. "I don't recognize any of these titles," said the priest, "but they sound dreadful. Cult of the Bloody Heart? Spawn of the Ages? Nothing I'd like to read. Nevroth and Parika checked out the large desk on the far side of the room. As Nevroth leafed through a pile of papers, Parika opened an ominous black tome entitled The Book Of the Unspeakable One.

Nevroth muttered as he read a letter, "Arrive in Freeport on schedule... The Brotherhood... N'Tal? That's a funny name. Parika, what do you make of this? Parika?" He looked over at the half-elf to see her staggering back from the black book, bleeding from her eyes and making strange gurgling noises. He slammed the book shut.

After a few minutes helping Parika gather what was left of her wits, the group decided to enter the temple before they ran across any other unexpected dangers. The others prepared for battle as Parika slowly pushed the door open.

Bright light streamed out, nearly blinding the thief. A familiar voice echoed forth: "Finally you have arrived. Prepare to meet your doom, interlopers!"

 

[peteyfrogboy]

Dufa: The Unauthorized Biography

Remember when I said there were four PCs? Well, one of the players hasn't yet made it to a single session. He is playing the cabin boy that Rachel's father sent along to keep her safe. Obviously, he hasn't been doing a very good job. At one point we were leaving messages on his answering machine and I let my one year old daughter have the phone. The only word I could make out from what she said was "Dufa", and so the unnamed cabin boy was christened.

I explained his early absences away by deciding that this was the first time he had had access to alcohol and was constantly drunk. He was going to join up with them at the bricked up house, but due to another absence I decreed that he came back to the inn and passed out. He has been subjected to various abuses since, and at this point is recovering from his trials at a temple run by a minor order of monks. He's three full levels behind at the current point in the campaign, so I foresee some forced leveling if he ever shows up.

 

[peteyfrogboy]

Death In Freeport: Part 6

Parika looked into the brightly lit temple. The vaulted ceiling was supported by six massive columns. A large basalt altar lay at the far end of the temple, some forty feet away. She recognized Milos standing behind the altar, though he now wore a black robe instead of priestly vestments. Another black-robed cultist stood behind each of the furthest pillars, holding crossbows at the ready. Carved on the back wall was a great gilded symbol that the thief didn't recognize, yet still it stirred a deep unease in her. She dashed into the room, unslinging her bow as she took cover behind one of the pillars. Her first arrow went wide of its mark, but at least she got the first shot off.

Nevroth and Rachel stormed the chamber, weapons drawn. Something in Nevroth's mind recoiled from the alien symbol behind the altar, but he pressed on nonetheless. Rachel barely got a chance to glimpse it, as Milos chilled her heart with fear. She was forced to retreat back down the hallway. Edwin entered quickly, taking cover next to Parika. Nevroth fired his bow from the doorway, though he was unable to hit the hiding cultist.

Parika made her way from pillar to pillar, exchanging fire with one of the acolytes. Milos smiled as he saw his colleague Edwin. "Ah, my brother, now you know my secret. A pity you will never share it with anyone." He spoke a blasphemous chant and extended a clawed hand toward the priest. Edwin felt as though the hand was closing around him, but he managed to resist the paralyzing effect. Milos scowled and moved next to one of the acolytes. Nevroth dropped his bow, charging across the temple toward the cult leader.

Parika finally landed an arrow in one of the cultists, sending him to the ground in a heap. She advanced to his position, drawing a bead on the other crossbowman. Edwin joined her, calling on Tavion's grace to heal a wound she had taken in the missile exchange. Nevroth reached Milos, ignoring the same incantation that had sent Rachel running. The manhunter struck at the unarmored cultist, but had a difficult time making solid contact with his sword. Meanwhile, Rachel had returned to the fight. She sprinted across the temple, eager to join the battle.

Edwin took up the fallen acolyte's crossbow. He and Parika quickly took down the other acolyte, leaving Milos alone. Milos grinned evilly. He chanted again, and his hand began to radiate a chilling darkness. "Now you die!" Unfortunately for him, Nevroth was able to dodge the necromantic attack. Rachel and Nevroth both slashed at him, drawing blood and sending him to the ground. After a moment they were shocked to see their enemy's form shift, reforming into that of another serpent man.

"Lucius!" cried Edwin as he found his friend lying behind the altar. He freed the librarian from his bonds and the two embraced happily.

Lucius explained how Milos had lured him to this place and captured him. The serpent man had proceeded to torture and interrogate the librarian, seeking details of the strange dreams he had been having. Lucius hadn't been able to recall much except bizarre alien landscapes and buildings, frustrating his captor. "If you hadn't found me, I fear that he would have killed me soon. Thank you all. I owe you my life!"

"I'll settle for gold," muttered Parika, heading back to the treasure room.

***

Parika examined the ash-shafted spear she had found hidden near the chests. "Not a bad haul for a bit of humanitarian work, eh?"

"Nope," grunted Nevroth. "Though I'll be happier when we get it home." They had loaded the sacks of coins and gems they had found into a single large chest, which he and Rachel were lugging back through the streets of Scurvytown. The gold and silver were a fine reward, though he was equally glad to have completed his first solo mission as a Manhunter. The accomplishment would earn him Journeyman status in the Guild. That wouldn't mean much in Freeport, as the Guild had no official presence in the city, but perhaps it would give a little extra leverage in his hunt for his parents' killers.

Rachel was simply pleased to get some excitement. Her father had taken her on raids before, but never let her get too near the action. Despite the disparaging comments her father had made about the city, Freeport seemed like a fine place. There always seemed to be something going on.

"What's this, then? A chest full of booty and a pair of wenches to boot?" A gang of brigands blocked the narrow street ahead, their clubs and daggers at the ready.

Rachel just smiled.

 

[pogre]

The sniper on the rooftop tried to draw a bead on her, but he leaned out too far and fell to the street, breaking his neck.

I hate it when that happens!

What was the botch? a Balance Check missed by more than 5?

 

[peteyfrogboy]

I hate it when that happens!

What was the botch? a Balance Check missed by more than 5?

It was a botched attack that forced a balance check, which he failed. He theoretically could have survived, but the damage dice were against him. *SPLAT*

 

[Smeege The Mighty]

As the one who played Gambumbo and is currently playing Nevroth, I've gotta say this is a very accurate portrayal of what we're going through. Except for one thing... Gambumbo wasn't so much done in by his evil ways as his ignorance of society and his lack of hit points. I believe that had a couple rolls gone differently, he'd still be introducing new menu items at the resturant.

 

[peteyfrogboy]

A Good Stopping Point

This brings us to the end of Death in Freeport, one session behind the current point in the campaign. I'll be on vacation next week, but we'll be playing again the weekend I get back. If I get the urge I may get the next installment of the story hour written while I'm gone.

I hope the few of you that are reading are enjoying the story so far. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to let me know.

 

[Greg Dickens]

Keep it up. Like the way it is going so are you going to list what each character's stats are?