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Message: <blockquote data-quote="peteyfrogboy" data-source="post: 1156542" data-attributes="member: 5677">Terror In Freeport: Part 4Rachel walked along between the ranks of Verlaine's guards, headed toward the wall surrounding the Old City. "This doesn't look good," she muttered.Nevroth shrugged. "Well, they didn't actually say we were under arrest.""Somehow that's not very comforting," grumbled Parika.On the far side of the Old City lay a walled complex containing, among other municipal buildings, the low granite building housing the Courts. It wasn't much to look at, with no architectural details of note save the large city seal carved above the doors, but it was ominous enough nonetheless.Soon the three detainees found themselves in a courtroom, empty save for the guards that had escorted them and a like number already arrayed around the room. They were asked to surrender their weapons, which they did, save for a couple of concealed daggers that the guards failed to find during their cursory inspection. Two small knives against a dozen armed guardsmen was more of a joke than a plan, but it made them feel better.It seemed like hours before the door finally opened again. The sour-faced man who entered was unfamiliar to them, but the rich robes he wore bore a familiar seal: this was undoubtedly Councillor Verlaine."Adventurers." He spat the word like a curse. "I know your type, I've certainly seen enough stomp their way through this city, looking under rocks for stray coins and kicking down doors." He shook his head. "I don't know who you are, and frankly I don't care. I don't deny that you have done some valuable work for the city, but that doesn't give you the right to go poking around where you're not welcome. No matter what flimsy excuses you come up with." He glared at Nevroth."I don't know what you were after down in that old cult hideout, but I'm sure it wasn't anything legal. I want you out of my city by dawn. I've got a fleet of ships in the harbor that can ferry you elsewhere; you can take your pick of them." He turned to the captain of his guard. "Lloyd, make sure they get on board without any... problems." Verlaine gave them a final sneer and walked out."Well, that could have gone worse," muttered Nevroth."Bah," grunted Parika. "Let's pack up our weapons and put this town behind us."Lloyd put his hand on his sword hilt. "I don't think you're going to be needing those. We'll keep you safe until you get on your boat."Rachel narrowed her eyes at the captain. "Hey, I paid good money for that sword!""Oh, I'm sure we'll find a good use for it. We can always use new weapons."Before any ill-advised violence could erupt, the courtroom doors burst open. A breathless Edwin trotted in, waving a rolled-up parchment. He showed it to Lloyd and the two exchanged a few words. The captain looked at the scroll distastefully, but eventually nodded and led his men back out the door, leaving the pile of weapons unguarded.Edwin approached the three companions as they retrieved their gear. "I'm glad I found you in time. I don't know what was going to happen to you, but I can only assume it was the same thing they had planned for poor Lucius. I'm afraid he's been taken again. I heard him cry out and found his room empty, but when I got out to the street there was no sign of him or his captors. I came looking for you but couldn't find you at the inn."Rachel hung her cutlass back in its proper place. "How did you know where we were?""I suspected that something might have happened to you, but I knew that you couldn't be taken purely by force. I knew the serpent cult must have used some human agency to snare you. I asked a member of the Guard and he confirmed that you had been taken here. Fortunately, I was able to get Monsignor Thuron to use his clout to convince a sympathetic Councillor to draw up a writ for your release. You were declared wards of the temple and under or protection. I can only hope that it buys us enough time to find poor Lucius."The group left the Courts, making their way out of the Old City and back to more familiar territory. "Where do you think they might have taken Lucius?""I don't know exactly how," said Parika, "but Verlaine is involved in all of this somehow. We found a map that his men had been using to find a route from the old cult temple through the sewers to the Merchant District. Maybe that's where they took him."***Rachel grunted as she lifted the manhole cover, revealing a dark hole leading into the bowels of Freeport. Nevroth pulled a lantern from his pack, and soon he had a bright beam of light shining down into the damp tunnel."I finally got around to buying a light after last time."Edwin smiled sheepishly. "I'm glad you did. I wasn't planning on going spelunking today, so I didn't prepare any light of my own."They descended into the sewer tunnel, slowly acclimating themselves to the foul stench. Edwin was handed the lantern as the others drew weapons. Parika checked her map, then led the way down the tunnel. They marched in single file along a narrow walkway. The arched tunnel had a channel of waste-filled water running through the center, with another walkway on the far side. Edwin brought up the rear, shining the light as best he could in the direction they were going.After they had gone a few hundred feet down the main sewer tunnel, Edwin called out, "I found something!" The others turned to look as the priest extracted a shoe from the muck on the floor. "This is one of Lucius's shoes. We must be on the right track."Parika continued leading the way, her keen eyes revealing details that the others could not see in the dim light. As she came around a small pillar she froze. high up on the wall was an opening leading back into the wall of the tunnel. She could see the glimmer of two pairs of eyes looking out from the hole, and the tips of rubbery black tentacles curling over the edge of the opening. She retreated quickly, leaping over to the other side of the tunnel and fitting an arrow to her bowstring. "Something up ahead," she said to the others. "Hiding in a hole in the wall."Rachel hung back with Edwin, watching for something to appear up ahead. Whatever it was didn't seem to be coming out, though. Nevroth tried to leap across to join Parika, but he lost his footing on the slick stone and fell into the filth running through the middle of the tunnel. Cursing, he climbed out the far side. Parika advanced slowly until she could see the hole again, though she could no longer make out anything inside. She fired an arrow  into the blackness and was rewarded with an angry hiss. A hunched humanoid form leaped out of the hole, waving its tentacles menacingly. One of them whipped across the tunnel, wrapping itself around Parika's throat and squeezing.Seeing a target at last, Rachel charged with her cutlass raised high. She brought it down in a wicked slash across the thing's torso, spraying black ichor on the wall and floor. Gasping for breath, Parika managed to fire another arrow into the creature's chest. She felt the tentacle around her throat loosen, and the creature slowly toppled into the water.Nevroth finally reached Parika's side and called for Edwin to heal her. The priest tried to cross the channel but fell in as well, finally scrabbling his way toward the battle. He kneeled next to Parika and chanted briefly, but for some reason her throat felt no better.Meanwhile, two more tentacles lashed out from the dark cleft, one wrapping itself around Rachel's throat. She was no weakling, however, and she flexed her neck muscles to avoid being throttled. She slashed at the creature, cutting a gash in its tentacle but not severing it. Nevroth tried to join her, but his already slick boots could get no purchase on the stone and he was forced to wade through the water once more.Edwin had moved further down the tunnel away from the battle, watching from a safe distance. Nevroth managed to get up onto the other walkway, only to find a tentacle around his neck as well. They heard Edwin chanting, and the tunnel was suddenly enveloped in a thick mist that boiled up from the stinking water."That's not helping, Edwin," growled Rachel through clenched teeth. She and Nevroth kept slashing at their attacker through the fog, and soon it lay unmoving. They unwrapped its tentacles from their throats and Rachel called out, "Edwin, it's dead. You can come back now." Instead of coming closer, however, the light quickly receded, leaving them in the darkness listening to the sound of running footsteps.Parika rubbed her throat. "This is not a good sign."</blockquote>

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