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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Richards" data-source="post: 8949510" data-attributes="member: 508">ADVENTURE 17: THE WAREHOUSEPC Roster:Ageratum Purslane, halfling rogue 6             Alistair Mandelberen Pastlethwaite, human sorcerer 6             Chaevaris Noarunal, elf archer 6             Harlan Starblade, half-elf paladin 6Game Session Date: 22 February 2023 - - -"There's Larson!" cried one of the frost barbarians as the haggard group finished their week-long trek and entered the city of Greyhawk for the first time.  As a group, the former slaves rushed over to greet their leader and his daughter Gundrun, who had been awaiting their arrival.  Behind them, the group of Trained Professional Adventurers brought their mounts to a halt and watched the barbarians' long-awaited reunion.  It had been slow going, these past days, but now their task had been completed to everyone's mutual satisfaction.  Harlan wasn't sure what their plans were now they'd been brought back together, but he wished them the best - they'd been through a lot."Tokens of our gratitude," said Larson Clearspike, reaching behind him to his daughter.  Gundrun dutifully handed over a quartet of amulets, which her father ceremonial draped around the heads of the four heroes who had rescued his men.  "These show the esteem by which you will be revered by members of my clan," he intoned.  Ageratum merely smiled in appreciation at the gesture, while mentally determining how much she could sell her amulet for on the open market - probably somewhere in the neighborhood of 350 pieces of gold, she estimated; not bad!  Still, she figured it would likely be best to wait until getting back to Ghourmand Vale before selling her amulet; no good would come of the frost barbarians finding the amulet they had bestowed upon her sitting in the window of a pawn shop here in Greyhawk City!"Gundrun will lead you to the house of your brother," Larson informed Alistair.  Then he and the men turned and blended into the crowds, off about whatever business a group of rough barbarians got up to in a bustling city.  Gundrun, having reached the city half a week before, had apparently learned her way about it fairly well, for she led the group directly to the townhouse of Atherton Pastlethwaite, nestled in the wealthier part of the city."Don't you already know the way to your brother's house?" asked Ageratum from the saddle of her pony, Munson."I fear not," the sorcerer replied.  "Atherton and I were still living with my parents when I was kicked out of the family last year."Atherton met them at the door, grinning widely.  "You made it!  Good show!" he beamed.  "You'll stay here with us tonight, I hope?  I'm planning a dinner party tomorrow to celebrate your success!"  The heroes readily agreed, as Atherton's townhouse was much fancier than the simple farmhouse where they made their headquarters back near Ghourmand Vale.  And it was good to sleep in a bed again after so many days on the road!The next morning, Alistair announced his intention to do some shopping.  "If we're going to go to a dinner party tonight, I shall need a new outfit!""What's wrong with the outfit you're wearing?" demanded Chaevaris.  "It's already fancier than anything we've got."Alistair's eyes goggled.  "This is slightly out of fashion and has signs of having been used in combat situations," he argued, pointing out where the ends of his cuffs were slightly worn.  "And surely you're planning on purchasing clothing appropriate to a dinner party at a nobleman's estate?" he gasped.  "Elfy, please tell me you weren't thinking of wearing your combat armor?"  Seeing the archer's expression, he turned upon Ageratum to talk some sense into her fellow female adventurer.  "My parents are going to be here!  I would like them to think highly of my new associates!""I thought you were kicked out of your family," the halfling mused.  "So why do you care what they think?""Because...they're my parents!" was all Alistair could think of as a reply.  "And I'd like to show them that we 'mere adventurers' can dress up just as nicely as they can."Harlan stepped forward.  "I will certainly pick up something more appropriate to wear than my plate mail armor," he said in a soothing voice to calm down the flustered sorcerer.  Somewhat mollified, Alistair led the group to the shops where they'd be best served in finding appropriate garments.  He purchased himself a full nobleman's outfit, while Harlan chose a courtier's outfit more fitting to his station.  The women each chose an evening gown, and seeing Chaevaris in  a woman's garb made the sorcerer wonder how he could have ever assumed she was a man, typical elven androgyny aside.That taken care of, Alistair also purchased a pair of nets and then used the shrink item spell to reduce each to the size of a handkerchief.  "I've been wanting to try this out," he admitted to the group.  Chaevaris also had a small quiver custom fitted with a second strap, so she could wear it upside down around both shoulders.  When asked whatever for, she admitted to wanting to try out an experiment of her own: the inverted quiver would be placed over the archer's immovable rod to provide a sturdy support while high up on a tree limb, over the edge of a cliff, or even while hanging freely in mid-air.That night, while dressing for dinner, Alistair was a bundle of nerves.  He made sure his tie was impeccably fastened and every crease in his clothes was in place.  Not only would his parents, Lord Ambrose and Lady Druzelda, be there, but also his mother's brother, Uncle Conrad Mandelberen, a rather roguish man with a bit of a dark side to his nature.  Alistair buckled on his finest masterwork rapier, completing the look of an elegant nobleman, before heading downstairs.  His grackle familiar remained in the bedroom; Alistair had no desire to introduce a bird of such common appearance as his familiar, and especially wanted to avoid explaining to his father why he had given the grackle his name.All four of the heroes were in place in the living area downstairs when Lord and Lady Pastlethwaite arrived, fashionably late.  Atherton was there to greet them in person, taking his father's hat and cloak and his mother's wrap and passing them off to Nanny Rogers to place in a room down the hall.  Fortunately, the twins, Alice Montjoie and Abelard Atherton were both sound asleep in their room, and Atherton's wife Julianna was there to greet her in-laws, wearing a stunning evening gown that showed off her post-pregnancy figure to best advantage.  She led them into the living room to meet the other guests, and to Lord Ambrose's credit he merely froze in place for a second or so upon seeing his outcast youngest son before continuing on as if nothing were out of the ordinary.  This was, after all, he mused, his eldest son's affair, and if he desired to invite his little brother there was bugger all Lord Ambrose could do about it without losing face.Not wanting to rub his father's face into the situation any worse than necessary, Alistair addressed his parents by their titles.  "Lord Ambrose, Lady Druzelda?  May I introduce my associates: Harlan Starblade, Miss Chaevaris Noarunal, and Miss Ageratum Purslane."  For the same reason, he had foregone wearing his Pastlethwaite signet ring - although he kept it in a pocket on the interior of his vest, close to his heart.  Lord Ambrose harrumphed and shook hands all around, clearly uncomfortable but not about to give his son the satisfaction of making a scene.Atherton poured drinks for the group, explaining, "I think we'll wait a bit to start dinner, to give Uncle Conrad time to arrive.  Please, make yourselves comfortable."Time passed slowly as the group waited for their final member to show, and Harlan took the opportunity to start the conversation going by mentioning he was a paladin in the service of Pelor - a topic he knew to be safe, as the Pastlethwaites had been raised as followers of the God of the Sun, according to Alistair.  But as the minutes ticked slowly on and it started to seem as if Conrad wouldn't show after all, there was a sudden knock on the door.  Nanny Rogers went to answer it, bringing inside a stranger holding a sealed envelope.  "I'm t' deliver this t' Lord Ambrose, if it please you, sirs," he explained.Lord Ambrose tipped the lad a silver coin and ripped open the envelope.  His shaggy eyebrows raised as he read the words on the sheet of folded parchment within, then grunted.  "Conrad's been kidnapped," he said, causing Lady Druzelda to gasp in astonishment and Julianna to take her by the hand.  "They want Atherton to bring the Pastlethwaite diamonds to Balstrode's Warehouse to effect his release."  Having read the note, he wordlessly passed it over to his older son and returned to his seat, focusing his attention on his brandy.Atherton nodded for Alistair to come read the note.  "I have several suspicions about this," he admitted in a low voice.  "First of all, I've been expecting something like this to happen - I think someone's trying to have me killed.  And...I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Uncle Conrad were actually in on the deal.  He's been suggesting I go along with some of my enemies' proposals, to the point I no longer think we can trust him.""I say!" declared Alistair.  "What should we do?""I'd like you and your team to go to the warehouse in my stead.  If everything's on the up and up, then by all means hand over the diamonds and see to getting Uncle Conrad back safely.  However, I want you to realize what you could be getting yourself into: this could very well be an assassination attempt, and whoever's trying to kill me will likely try to take you out instead.""You can count on us, Atherton - we won't let you down!""I know you won't," Atherton replied, slapping his brother good-naturedly on the side of the arm in a manly show of support.  He knew his little brother practically worshiped him and would do almost anything he'd ask of him; Atherton had full faith in his own combat abilities but now that he had a family to worry about...better to let Alistair and his team put themselves in danger.Alistair quickly explained the situation to his adventuring companions and they all went back upstairs to dress for combat.  Alistair stripped off his own new garments with remorse, putting back on the outfit he'd deemed inappropriate for dinner party wear.  It was still a nobleman's outfit, and with any luck it was fancy enough to allow him to pass himself off as his older brother, especially at night, and no doubt by a group of lowborn kidnapping thugs.  And if Uncle Conrad was there and alerted his "kidnappers" that Alistair was an imposter, well then that would be all the evidence they needed that Conrad Mandelberen was no longer to be considered an ally.Gathering back downstairs in full combat gear - with Ambrose the grackle perched proudly upon Alistair's shoulder - Atherton passed over a bag containing the diamonds and gave the group directions to Balstrode's Warehouse, and the quartet was off.  Ageratum hurried to keep up as Alistair stormed down the streets, heading to their destination with a fierce look of determination on his face.Arriving at the warehouse with only starlight by which to see, Alistair sent Ambrose on a reconnaissance run.  The grackle circled the warehouse twice and flew above it, then returned to his master's shoulder to give his report.  The warehouse was about 20 feet tall, in the shape of an "L," with a single door in the back and two sets of double doors on the two walls on the inside of the "L" - which had an 8-foot-tall fence surrounding it and blocking off the rest of the rectangular block.  There were no windows in the building, nor were there any noticeable holes in the roof."Three entrances," mused Ageratum, the group's expert on sneaking into places.  "Let's try the back door first."  They made their way to the north side of the warehouse, and while the halfling gave the door a thorough examination for any obvious traps, Alistair cast forth his unseen servant with the words, "Ogilvy, if you please!"  He then reached into his vest pocket and passed over to Ogilvy a small pouch containing four pebbles, each a boulder the sorcerer had shrunk in size using a shrink item spell in the last several days.  Ageratum had another such pouch, ready to be used as ammunition for her sling."No traps," she announced, then tried the door.  The knob turned, but she couldn't get the door open.  "It's stuck," she said.  "Give me a hand."  Harlan applied his own strength to the door, but it was no use.  "Something's blocking it," he decided.  "A stack of crates or something, most likely.  Very well, we'll have to try one of the other sets of doors."Chaevaris decided if they were going to be opening a set of doors from inside the fenced-off area, she wanted to be up on the rooftop, so she could shoot down upon anyone coming outside.  To that end, Alistair had Ogilvy scamper up a pile of crates in the bend of the "L," taking with him Chaevaris's immovable rod, tied around the center of which was a coil of rope.  Upon reaching the roof level, Ogilvy activated the rod and the elven archer started climbing up.  Ambrose sat perched on the southernmost corner of the roof, overlooking the events.  At Alistair's direction, Ogilvy moved over to just above the set of doors on the east wall of the warehouse, where Alistair would be soon announcing his presence.  "Remember," he told the others, "I'm Atherton.""Yeah, yeah, we got it," answered Ageratum, standing to the south of the doors, silver short sword out and ready.  She'd used a dose of stone salve to grant herself the protection of a stoneskin spell.  To the north of the doors stood an abandoned wagon, behind which Harlan crouched, his flaming burst longsword out but the flames currently inactive, so as not to give away his position.  He quickly said the words to a bless spell, encompassing the entire group."Okay, here goes!" whispered Alistair, casting a mage armor spell upon himself before hammering on the closed doors with his fist.  "Open up!" he demanded in a voice deeper than normal.  "It's Atherton - I've brought what you asked for!  Bring out my Uncle Conrad at once, you bounders!""Come on in!" called a voice from the back of the warehouse.  "Dark work is best done in dark places!"Alistair had no desire to enter the warehouse; they'd engineered a trap so they could all gang up on the kidnappers when they opened the doors.  He tried another tactic, calling out, "At least bring him out here so I can see he's okay!""Get in here, or we'll bring him out in chunks!" came the reply.  Alistair frowned; so much for their clever plans!  He kicked in the doors, seeing the warehouse inside was lit by a few meager torches in sconces along the wooden pillars supporting the roof; the place was filled with all manner of crates stacked haphazardly upon each other.  But despite the 20-foot ceiling, the warehouse was all one level - there was no upper story to the building.In the flickering torchlight, Alistair could make out a shadowy figure standing in the back of the warehouse.  He wore dark clothing, his form mostly obscured by the heavy cloak he wore, but the sorcerer thought he could make out the glint of a metal weapon held in his left hand - a mace, perhaps.  He addressed his comments to the figure, who he assumed had been the one doing the talking.  "Let me see he's safe!" Alistair demanded a second time, standing in the open doorway.  Ageratum took the opportunity to scoot inside, hiding in the shadows between a pile of crates.  From her vantage point, she couldn't see the man Alistair was talking to, but there was a second figure standing off to the side between piles of other crates and barrels, this one also wearing a dark cloak obscuring most of his features.  She glanced nervously at him, but it didn't appear he had noticed her scurrying inside the warehouse.  It looked like he had a short sword and a dagger strapped to his belt, but his hands were at his sides.As it was apparent their ambush plans had failed, Chaevaris noiselessly walked along the roofline to the corner of the "L," lowering herself down upon the small stack of crates and from there to the ground.  She readied an arrow, sliding over to the doorway until she could see inside the warehouse.  As soon as any of the kidnappers headed for the door, she'd have a shot all lined up for them.Harlan cast forth his senses and detected no evil emanations from inside the warehouse, but that was inconclusive, for he had no idea how many crates and barrels were piled up against the wall, likely blocking his divination attempts.  He rounded the wagon, standing to the side of the open doors, just out of view.Alistair, knowing full well they wanted him to enter the warehouse so they could kill him, took a tentative step forward.  "I'm here," he called.  "Now where's my uncle?""He's back here, in the office," came a wheedling voice from further north than the figure Alistair had assumed had been doing the talking.  "Bring your little friends on in and see for yourselves."Alistair froze where he stood.  So the kidnappers already knew he wasn't alone!  That did it; putting on an aggrieved tone, he announced, "Very well!  If you have no intention on carrying through with your end of the bargain, I shall not allow any more of my time to be wasted!"  And with that, he pivoted on his heels and made a big production out of storming back out of the warehouse, hoping to at least get one of the kidnappers to come out after him, where his friends could spring their trap.  But Ageratum, a bit more attentive than the sorcerer, noted neither of the two cloaked figures had so much as moved a muscle during this entire encounter.  Suspicions crossed her minds: were these merely mannequins, and if so, for what purpose?  On a whim, she tossed a thunderstone at the closest figure; it exploded at his feet but produced no reaction from him.With both Chaevaris and Harlan ready to spring into action, Alistair stormed over to the gate in the fence the group had used to enter the courtyard.  And there stood a human-sized figure, waiting to pounce upon the young nobleman.  "Hello, Atherton," it said in the same voice as the one in the back of the warehouse, as a set of wicked claws at the end of rather bony fingers came slashing out at Alistair, ripping through the front of his vest, shirt, and digging furrows in the flesh of his chest.  Alistair staggered backwards in shock, and the babau demon followed, swiping at his face but missing this time.  "Somebody's paid a lot of money to see you dead!" he chortled.Ageratum came charging out of the warehouse, her silver blade flashing in the moonlight.  She stabbed the babau in the leg, scraping her blade against its rough hide without any discernable effect.  However, at this range she could see the demon was covered in a sheen of reddish sweat, which was causing her blade to start to bubble.  With a shudder of disgust, she shook the droplets of acid off her blade, sending them shotgunning the ground at her feet.Chaevaris spun about in place, rapidly targeting the fiend with her readied arrow.  But then Harlan ran between her and the babau, detecting evil and confirming its existence as the paladin caused the flames to burst forth from his blade while swinging it in the fiend's direction.  He channeled Pelor's positive energy through his blade as an extra touch, and the babau screamed in outrage at the crippling attack.  Alistair brought up his wand of magic missile and fired a blast at his attacker, but the missiles merely spattered and sputtered harmlessly against the fiend's innate resistance against spells.Despite having been directed to slay Atherton Pastlethwaite above all else, the babau demon recognized Harlan Starblade as the hero most likely to be able to prevent the demon from accomplishing his goal.  With that in mind, he turned from Alistair and leaped at the paladin, clawing for his eyes and biting with his wicked teeth.  Harlan's shield managed to deflect some of the attacks, but the demon's claws ripped a set of parallel scars down the half-elf's cheek.  However, the fiend's intense focus upon Harlan allowed Ageratum to scoot up into position behind it, slamming the point of her blade deep into the back of its knee.  She remembered to fling her blade back upon pulling it out, to rid it of the acidic slime the demon exuded.Chaevaris found her shot and went for it, releasing an arrow that struck the babau in the head and seemed to send it reeling.  But now that she knew they were up against a demon, she could use arrows with cold iron tips against him, which she believed would deal him even more harm than usual.  Harlan continued his attack with his flaming sword, channeling a second burst of holy energy through his blade and dealing a considerable amount of pain to the demon.  Alistair got off a second blast from his wand, this time managing to penetrate the foul beast's spell resistance, possibly due to it being preoccupied with the paladin's righteous attacks.By now, the babau was looking fairly frazzled, blood dripping freely from numerous cuts on its armored hide.  It leaped off to Ageratum's side and the halfling got in another stab with her blade, not that it was likely to have done much damage.  But just that quickly, the babau was gone, having teleported somewhere to safety.  "Is that it?  Is he gone for good?" Ageratum asked, hoping that might very well be the case."Unlikely," Harlan replied grimly.  "If he was gated here to slay Atherton, then he'll continue on until his mission has been completed, or he's died trying.  Come on, we should go check out the warehouse, see if Conrad is in fact there at all."Together, the group returned to the warehouse, Alistair waving off Harlan's offer to heal his wounds.  "I'll be all right for now," he insisted.  "Let's just get this over with."With the light from Harlan's flaming sword, the group could see the closest figure - the one Ageratum had been eyeing - was the corpse of a human male with the blood drained from him.  Worse yet, he only had one leg, the other one missing all the way up from the hip; the man's cloak had hidden that fact from view, as well as the fact he was only standing upright by means of a wooden brace, much like a scarecrow.  The one in the back, to whom Alistair had thought he'd been conversing, was missing his right arm at the shoulder, the missing appendage obscured by the man's cloak.  Moving through the warehouse, they found a total of six such figures, each missing a different body part, one of them a head and the other his entire torso; his limbs had been impaled upon a wooden framework that held them all together.  "Creepy," Chaevaris admitted."Worse than that," Alistair informed them.  "It would seem someone has been assembling the parts to build himself a flesh golem."  There was a sudden crash behind them, and four boulders came spilling down from the roof.  Alistair had forgotten about Ogilvy up on the roof, and once he'd gotten out of range the unseen servant spell had flickered out, dropping the pouch of four shrunken boulders.  "I say!" declared Alistair, wincing at the pain in his chest as he had spun about, opening up the claw marks the babau had left in its initial attack."Listen!" hissed Harlan, straining his ears.  He and Chaevaris, the only two of the group with elven blood, could hear the wheedling voice of the babau from even further into the warehouse.  "You've got to help me!" he whined.  "Come on, I'll definitely owe you one!"  But whatever fiendish ally he was trying to bargain into summoning to the Material Plane to aid him was having none of it, much to the babau's chagrin.  He started cursing foully in his own demonic language.Chaevaris had started climbing silently up onto a stack of crates, hoping the higher view would allow her to sight her prey.  She helped Alistair climb up beside her; the sorcerer by this time wanted no more to do with fighting off a demon at melee range and hoped to put his wand to good use.  "There he is!" the archer hissed, nocking a cold iron arrow to her bow and letting fly.  The arrow went whizzing in a bee-line towards the demon, only to have him inadvertently turn at the last moment and narrowly avoid getting hit.  But he was now aware that he was being hunted by those he was supposed to kill!  He responded by casting forth a darkness spell that overpowered the flickering light given off from the torches in the area.  Chaevaris squinted and said she could still kind of make out his location; Alistair did the same but saw nothing.  Harlan advanced on the area of magical darkness, undeterred when the light from his flaming burst longsword seemed to extinguish, for he could hear the cracking of the flames as he approached his demonic prey."Wait - there he is!" cried Alistair, making out a darker silhouette in the gloom ahead and below him.  He fired off another blast from his wand, but once again the demon was able to suppress its power and it fizzled for a second time.  Alistair exploded with a string of curses rivalling those of the babau a few moments ago.Ageratum moved closer, spotting the babau in the darkness and thinking of how best to hurt him when her blade seemed to be insufficient to the task.  Then, smiling an evil smile, she resheathed her sword and took out her sling, as well as one of the shrunken boulders from the pouch Alistair had given her.  Had she targeted the babau directly from inside its bubble of darkness there was a good chance her shot would go astray, but by remaining outside the radius of darkness she could deduce his precise location: directly in the middle of the spell effect.  With that in mind, she targeted the ceiling directly above the babau demon, firing off the boulder-pebble with her sling.  Upon impact with the ceiling, it regained its normal size and then gravity took over, bringing it crashing down upon the demon's head.  He cried out in pain and the little halfling hoped the boulder had done enough to penetrate its unholy ability to shrug off most non-magical physical attacks.Whether the boulder had been effective or not Ageratum would never know, for the babau survived the attack but then was taken down by a final shot from Chaevaris's magic composite longbow.  The fact that the demon's body remained after death was a good indicator it had not merely been summoned here to the mortal world, but stepped through a magical gate to do its foul work.  With the babau slain, the heroes spread out and gave the warehouse a thorough search, but Conrad Mandelberen was nowhere to be found.  "Curse the fates!" snarled Alistair.  "I fear my brother was right, and Conrad is in league with Atherton's enemies!""Well, on the bright side, you've still got the diamonds," pointed out Ageratum.  Then, realizing that wasn't necessarily a given, she asked, "You do still have them, don't you?"Alistair patted down his pockets and found the pouch of diamonds intact.  "Indeed I do!" he declared.  Then, wincing in pain after having pulled the muscles of his wounded chest once again - such as they were - he turned to Harlan. "I say," he began, "if you were still up for a spot of healing....""But of course," the paladin responded, walking over to heal his friend. - - -So, with the whole adventure involving only one CR 6 monster, we ended up with a scant 450 XP each for the night's session.  At that rate, it'll be seven more sessions before we finally hit 7th level!  But Dan assured us that this adventure was somewhat of a fluke along those lines, and he's hinted it's very likely we'll meet up with those missing body parts from the six bloodless corpses in our very near future....I managed to roll a natural "1" not once but twice out of the three times total I fired off my wand of magic missile in this adventure.  Those curses Alistair let loose with after the second occurrence...well, let's just say I roleplayed that moment particularly well.</blockquote>

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