House Medani Detection Office:The Lady in Blue (Updated 12-03-05)

[Express]

Enter the Dragoneye (cont')

The cure wounds potion helped my pain; Bynara and Dorbo were revived. Neither looked to have been seriously wounded. The half orc opened the door and motioned us out. I could tell Bynara felt naked without any weapons; Dorbo missed his potion bag.

The other room was a bar; a better term would be saloon. It was large and packed with people hunched around small tables. A band played music off in the corner. The smell of booze, cheap perfume, and sweat filled the air. We negotiated our way around a pack of dancing couples and went up some stairs that were above the bar.

The place was rather garish, with red painted walls with fake gold gilt. There were no windows, and I noticed just one door made of iron; there a grumpy dwarf sat with a war hammer at his side. Whenever someone knocked at the door, the dwarf slid a small panel to reveal an eyeslit. Through this he communicated with the knocker. This set up looked familiar.

I soon realized the kind of set-up it was.We were sheparded down a corridor at the top of the stairs. Small rooms led off the corridor. Behind velvet beaded curtains I could see scantily dressed women of various races sitting in these rooms. Most of the women busy were entertaining men. Bynara turned back to me to scowl, Dorbo smirked. Despite our situation I had to chuckle too.

We stopped at a green door at the end of the corridor. Half orc knocked and a voice commanded us to enter.

Behind the desk sat The Boss: a thickly muscled dwarf, with dark hair a short beard and florid face. He had an eyepiece in his left eye and was inspecting a ring. A sombre looking gnome in grey stood next to him, holding a scale.

The dwarf squinted up at us and smiled. “Take a seat-be witcha ina moment.” He looked back down at the ring, finished his inspection and handed the ring to the gnome. “Tell him ok.” Bowing, the gnome left.

The dwarf got up and came to the front of the desk where he sat on the edge, like a kindly uncle.He was dressed in a black silk shirt, with a lurid purple waistcoat and pants. He even dressed like a pimp.

I also noticed he had well manicured, shiny fingernails. His pinkie nails were long and cut like a talon. I never understood that affectation.

The dwarf studied us.“Glad to see you're up. Sorry bout my boys, but they was just bein’, what you say, thorough. I’m Villovak Runek, ahh but everyone calls me Redblock, this is my joint.”

 

[Express]

Enter the Dragoneye (con't)

Bynara looked at him quizically. “ Ya I know girl,” he replied laughing,” I dunno how I got the nickname either.”

Bynara was getting impatient, “Why are we here, are we prisoners?”

Redblock laughed louder. He had a scratchy voice and rough laugh. “Prisoners, naw, not at all. In fact, I was hoping we could come to some sort of, you know, understanding.”

Understanding? I didnt even know what time it was.

Redblock got a bottle and poured us some drinks. He handed them out to us. “I see in your identification says you're out of the House Medani huh?”

It did and I was, so I nodded.

He nodded back. ”Ya I saw your mark too. Why wuz you hangin' round the Gobbos, hum? You aren't working for them ?” The dwarf waggled his head and answered his own question.” Naww Koba don't take anything but gobbos.”

I said we weren’t. I explained we had a case; it was confidential and I didn't feel I should discuss.

“See, now I was sure of that. Ya see?” Redblock turned to the half orc who was stationed in the corner. The half orc nodded his head like a dog. ”That's what I wanted to see- professionalism and confidence. Look, let me get to my point; tell me, you know anything about something called the Dragoneye?”

I shrugged, I was being truthful at least.

Redblock laughed loudly. “Ahah me either. Ya, see I got a problem. Koba that piece of..... (at this point Redblock grunted something in dwarven.)

Dorbo translated. “Excrement”

Redblock pointed and affirmed the translation,then continued “Rumor says he lookin' for something called the Dragoneye. He’ s crazy about gobbo history, Claims he's a from a line of goblin kings or whatever they have. He always looking for gobbo junk. So you don't know nuthin bout it?”

We shrugged.

Redblock continued; he talked fast and liked to talk, I could tell that already.“Look Ima businessman. Koba’s been a gnat I can’t swat. He’s popular withtha gobbos, and that makes him big in the Cogs and the docks. He’s gettin alot of power round there, ya get me? And now our businsess interests are, wahtcallit, overlappin’."

Redblock's face was getting red, his voice building in a creshendo at Koba's description. He didnt like Koba, that was obvious.

Byanra growled, “Thats too bad.”.

“Ya it is. “ He continued on barely taking a breath, his face getting redder.” In the old days I woulda already killed him and his gobbos, but now I got connections, and whatchcallit, responsibilities with some Houses, and they wounldna like it if I started a street war. Got me?”

Dorbo took a drink and leaned forward, “What exactly do you want?”

“What I want,” said Redblock, going back behind his desk, “is for you to look into the Dragoneye thing. Since you seem to be doing somethin’ confidential that involves the gobbos and Koba, I thought maybe our interests, could, ya know, dovetail. If this Dragonthing is some widget Koba wants, I don't want him ta get it, if its a scheme, I wanna know bout it. Ill pay good coin to aggravate and you know, thwart whatever he’s up to.”

I asked why he didn't use his own men.

“See, now, that's a problem, “the dwarf said, jabbing a thumb at the half orc,” I got lotsa boys on the payroll. But I got quantity, not, you know, quality.”

I considered the half orc. He looked at me through dull eyes, but viewed me like a piece of furniture. Maybe he didn't recognize me from Hennets, or maybe he never saw us. Maybe Redblock was testing us or just playing with us. If he was, he was taking the long way round. Redblock could have killed us already if he chose to. I decided to throw the dice.

“Do you know anything about a half elf named Hennet Onaan?”

Redblock squinted at me. “How you know Hennet?” For a second I thought I’d made a mistake, but he smiled.

“I know the kid." Redblock replied looking at me intently." Hes a good guy; drinks too much and he’s the most unlucky gambler I ever saw, but he’s ok. Whatchu want with him?”

I played along, not sure waht I had done..”Maybe hypotheticlly, we might be looking for him.”

Redblock’s smile got bigger. “Really? Then I think we might be able to do business there kid.”

 

[Broccli_Head]

Yeah, but what about poor Voren?

 

[Express]

Yeah, but what about poor Voren?

Hmm I wonder.....

 

[Express]

Enter the Dragoneye (con't)

Business?

I sat there trying to take a mental stock of the situation, now that I realized Runek wasn’t going to kill us. He knew Hennet, and it was his goons at Hennets place. I wondered where Voren was, and what happened to those goblins. I tried to figure Redblock’s angle on all this. His dislike of Koba seemed genuine. It didn’t seem like he was lying to us, but something didn't feel right about him. Maybe it was just his clothes- or that fact he talked so fast.

Redblock was still talking, he was a regular chatterbox. I turned my attention back to him.

“Like I said we might be able to help each other,” Redblock was looking at me “But, whatcha you want Hennet for? This bout money or revenge?”

I informed him it wasn’t anything like that.

Redblock poured another drink, and was actually quiet. He was thinking. “Doesn’t matter I suppose.” he mused. “If you agree to look into this Dragoneye thing , I can point you, how you say, in the right direction bout Hennet. Well?”

Dorbo answered, echoing my unspoken sentiments. “We don’t do anything illegal.”

The dwarf only guffawed. “Illegal? Stealin' from a thief or thwarting the plans of a murdererin goblin don’t really count as illegal, in my book. Its whatchacallit, poetic justice. I need some of that Medani quality work.” He pulled out a big velvet bag. It clinked. “We got a deal here?”

I didnt trust Redblock; I looked over at Bynara to gauge her. She looked skeptical. However, fact was, except for Voren we had nothing on this case so far. In the back of my mind I was wondering what would happen if we refused.

Bynara eyed the bag, “There was a man in the warehouse,” she asked, “the golbins had him. Where is he?”

Redblock frowned. “Oh him? I hope we wasnta friend of yours. ‘Fraid he’s dead girl, just like the goblins. Them gobbos didnt have the good sense to give up like you, and went down to my warforged. Stupid too, considerin how they were outnumbered. But one of them was able to stick him with a knife before it went. A poisoned one. My boys got rid of the bodies so the Watch wouldna have anything to find, but we kept what we found on em. But remember that bout the gobbos; Koba’s boys like poison. ” He winked at Bynara.

Well now we had no leads, and no Voren.

I stood up. May Dol Dorn protect us and The Keeper stay away. “Alright, we agree.We’ ll look into this Dragoneye business. Now what about Hennet?”

The Boss jumped up and leaned across the desk, nearly bursting the buttons on his waistcoat. He had a happy look on his face, clasped my hand and began pumping it vigorously. I guess he REALLY wanted to get even with Koba. I thought he was going to kiss me.

“Well I dont know his exact location, mind ya, but I can tell you this- he was headin for Trolanport.”

Dorbo got the velvet bag of gold. “How do you know?”

Redblock took a big swig from his glass. “Cuz I sent him there.”

 

[Heinrich_Uberlich]

Great stuff Express. But then why wouldn't it be..it's exactly how I was going to start my new Eberron campaign off - with an attractive woman.
Anyway just curious, who is writing this Story Hour, the DM or one of the players? Are you the DM? How do you keep track of dialogue?
I have always wanted to Story Hour my games but I can see that I would need to tape record the whole session to get all the great lines.
HU

 

[Express]

Great minds thinks alike- You cant go wrong with a beautiful woman.

Im actually Calib, which may or may not be normal; Im not sure if alot of story hours are DM affairs. But thats why there's mostly just Calib's point of view. He may not be the hero of our game, but he is the "fiilter" of the narrative, and why he is at the center of so much. Such a limited POV can be both good and bad, I guess, but I find a single point of view interesting.

Re dialogue: After games, I usually have access to the dialogue our DM had set down for NPCs, most of which he usually prepares ahead of time. Im a pretty compulsive note taker myself. Not all the dialogue may be exactly as its was in game but is prety close. To be sure I cant be as clever as Id like to be at the gaming table I do jazz it up a little since writing is different from the gaming tables.

So of course a little editing does take place to fit the story hour format. The tape recorders a pretty good idea, although I dont think itd be too popular with my group. But as the game goes on, that might be an option.

 

[Express]

4. Off On the Road to Zilargo

We returned to the Majestic. It turned out it was early in the morning, predawn and still dark out. Anvil was there. He looked concerned; but was happy to see us. We filled him in about everything.

Redblock had informed us that about a month ago, Hennet had come to him in trouble. Seems Hennet often hung around Redblock’s, he even did a few (as Runek put it ) “jobs” for him. Runek didn’t seem to know all the details of Hennet’s problem, but he attributed it his habitual unluckiness in gaming. Surpisingly, Redblock painted Hennet as a young, idle rich half elf; he seemed to know nothing of any connection to Morgrave University. At any rate, the dwarf had felt sorry for him and had sent him to Zilargo to run an errand to get him out of town.

Redblock was so enthused about our accepting the offer he even got the things his “boys” found on Voren and the goblins when we requested them. There were two daggers, presumbably poisoned; some silver and copper pieces, maybe 15 gold altogether; and a shrunken gnoll paw necklace from one of the gobs. There was a small notebook, mostly blank and a key-most likely Vorens door key.

The velevet bag contained about 200 gold. Redblock may have been enthused about us, but he was obviously cheap, even considering, as he said, it was a “downpayment”.

It was late; or depending on how you look at it early. Although we were tired, we put our heads together. Considering it was goblins that burgled our office, I didnt think we should return. We should alert the House superiors about that. A check of Voren’s place couldnt hurt. And I wanted to talk to Honora. But we should be quick about it. We had all agreed to head for Trolanport as soon as possible.

Anvil found all this quite interesting, but as we told our tale, he seemed distracted. Anvil is often hard to read, but he was clearly acting strangely. I thought maybe it was because of his familiar. He had summoned a raven, which surprised me, named Corvo. I thought he had a case of buyers remorse, or the wizard’s version of that. Maybe he was reticent about taking work from a gangster? Or maybe he felt a bit guilty for letting us go off while he stayed behind. But that was water under the bridge as far as I was concerned; wizards are a bit different, and sometimes you have to just treat them a little different.

“Don’t worry about what happened Anvil, And I’m sure Corvo will serve you well. I’m glad its still alive.” I laughed trying to lighten his mood.

Anvil looked at me. “I am satisfied with my choice,” he said in his Parliamentarian manner, “and I am sure it shall live to a ripe old age. I believe you should see this.” He handed me a copy of The Breland Ledger, the Far edition. Yesterday’s.

At the bottom of the front page I read the header of the story:

Chaos at Blackstone Towers!

Violence Shocker In Exclusive Sharn Lodging!

Exclusive Eyewitness Accounts.

City Watch round up the usual suspects,
as Blackstone officials deny safety concerns.​

If I knew any other languages, I would have uttered an oath in them. However Common worked just fine.

 

[Henry]

Uh-oh, looks like someone's little exploits at Hennet's place didn't go unnoticed...

 

[Sfounder]

Nicely Done

Excellently done. I second the idea about submitting to the novel idea. this is well done. I can't wait to see the rest of it. Good job and keep up the good work!