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"Second Son of a Second Son" - An Aquerra Story Hour (*finally* Updated 04/19)
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<blockquote data-quote="el-remmen" data-source="post: 4288457" data-attributes="member: 11"><p><strong>Session #23 – “Sleepless” (part 1 of 4)</strong>[sup]1[/sup]</p><p></p><p>Victoria Ostrander of Anhur was walking from the Dwarven Quarter towards the temple of Anhur when she noted Bleys the Aubergine and Markos Ackers pausing before the door of the gaol.</p><p></p><p>“What is happening?” she asked as she walked over.</p><p></p><p>“I have no idea,” Markos said. </p><p></p><p>“Why are you going into the jail?” she asked, frowning.</p><p></p><p>“Apparently there is some kind of disturbance,” Bleys said, pointing down at the dead guard. “Captain Firth!” he called in with all the authority he could muster. There was no answer. “Ready your weapons,” he told his companions, putting his hand on his saber hilt as he walked in.</p><p></p><p>Just beyond there was an office. There was a large desk, and a long rack along one wall bearing clubs, spears, a man-catcher, two heavy wooden shields, and five sets of manacles. A quick search of the rack and the desk revealed no keys, much to Markos’ disappointment. There was a wooden door around one narrow corner that seemed to go down to a lower level, but it was the large steel doors lined with bolts and reinforced at each corner that led into the main holding area. The door was open slightly, and they heard a frightened whimper from within.</p><p></p><p>Taking a lantern off the desk and lighting it, Markos held it up as Bleys pulled open the door and Victoria stood ready with her spear. Beyond was a hall, fifteen feet in length and twenty feet wide, at the end of which was another door similar to the open one, but it was sealed shut. Cowering in one corner was a man dressed in studded leather armor and clutching a spear, wearing the cream-colored tabard with the embroidered blue ship sigil common to the town watch. There were bruises on his face and neck that came into view as he raised his head to look at the three noble adventurers, but then he scurried back, trying to increase the distance between them and himself.</p><p></p><p>“What has happened here?” Markos demanded.</p><p></p><p>“Where’s Captain Firth?” asked Bleys coming forward.</p><p></p><p>“She’s… She’s still in there…” The man was clearly sincerely scared; his hand shook as he pointed to the large metal door.</p><p></p><p>“Who attacked you?” Victoria asked, the man turned and looked at her, his brown eyes growing large behind his long brown hair made slick with the sweat of his fear.</p><p></p><p>“It… It was my mother!” He let go of the spear and buried his hands in his face and wept, shivering as he did. He looked up at them suddenly. “Wait! Maybe you’re not really here… Maybe they got out! They come and go…” He began to shimmy back away from them again.</p><p></p><p>Markos walked over to the door and put his hand on the large handle and looked to Bleys. “Are you ready?”</p><p></p><p>“No…” the watch-mage replied.</p><p></p><p>“Well, tell me when you are because there may be people dying in there,” Markos frowned.</p><p></p><p>“They may also be dying out here if we let loose twenty or thirty bloodthirsty prisoners,” Bleys replied.</p><p></p><p>“The striking dockworkers are in there,” Markos protested. [sup]2[/sup] “Not exactly hardened criminals…”</p><p></p><p>“They broke the law, and while I have no desire to see them hurt, we must consider the welfare of the law-abiding citizens of Sluetelot first,” Bleys explained. “Something strange is happening here and I plan to learn more before hurrying into danger or risking releasing some danger on the town…”</p><p></p><p>“How many prisoners are there currently?” Victoria asked the man, not hiding her disdain for the man’s broken and emotional state.</p><p></p><p>“Uh… A few dozen…” the guard replied.</p><p></p><p>“Start from the beginning… Tell us what happened here,” Bleys the Aubergine said to the man with authority resonating in his deep voice.</p><p></p><p>“Well… The prisoners hadn’t slept in a couple of days,” the guard explained. “They are mostly the striking dockworkers… You’re right, they were just being held until the work situation was cleared up to keep anymore brawls from starting up in the meantime… But yeah… They couldn’t sleep or wouldn’t sleep and it was starting to get to them… They were growing irritable… Seeing things… Some of them fought among themselves and had to be moved to other cells… It was getting bad…”</p><p></p><p>The guard paused and let out a shuddering breath before continuing. “So the warden had the idea of having one of our watch-wizards…” </p><p></p><p>“Watch-mage?” Markos asked.</p><p></p><p>“Watch-wizard…” the man said. “Members of the watch who are wizards…”</p><p></p><p>“Let him finish,” Bleys said to Markos without looking at him.</p><p></p><p>“…of having one of them cast a <em>sleep</em> spell on one of the prisoners and see if that might help them… So Captain Firth was asked to bring one of the watch-wizards over here, and when it was tried the prisoner slumped over as if asleep and then suddenly leapt at the watch-wizard! His eyes were glowing red and his skin creased with scales, his limbs wiry and his mouth full of sharp teeth and hit bit he warden and he fell asleep, and that was when chaos broke loose!” He covered his face and shivered again.</p><p></p><p>“Go on…” Bleys insisted.</p><p></p><p>“Uh… I don’t know… Captain Firth was fighting it; the watch-wizard changed as well, and jumped on the warden, who I was trying to lead away. I felt something grab me around the neck and when I turned it was my mother!” He was weeping openly now. “I… I smashed her in the side of the face with my club and she slapped me hard, sent me flying… The prisoners were screaming and… and… I just ran and closed the door behind me…”</p><p></p><p>“What other way out from the cells are there? Can the lower level be reached from in there?” Victoria asked, always cognizant of the tactics of s given situation. The guard shook his head.</p><p></p><p>“Where are the keys to cells?” Markos asked.</p><p></p><p>“The warden had them…”</p><p></p><p>Markos’ head sunk. He looked to Bleys but the watch-mage was deep in thought. Victoria stood nearly at attention, waiting for Bleys’ command. The one-time sailor grew impatient. He got up on his toes as he slid open the narrow panel that served as a peephole to the area beyond. He held the lantern up, but still the view was not good. There was some dim light coming in, but the ceiling in the next area was much higher at its center, but some kind of walkway cast a shadow darkened by some kind of structure in the middle of the great room.</p><p></p><p>“Markos, be cautious…” Bleys warned.</p><p></p><p>“Hello? Is there someone there?” A voice came echoing from within. It was strained and frightened.</p><p></p><p>“Quiet!” Another voice hissed. “It’s gonna hears us!”</p><p></p><p>“Captain Firth? Are you in there?” Markos called in.</p><p></p><p>“She’s dead! It killed her!” came the first voice again, cracking.</p><p></p><p>“Shut up!” The second voice said. Markos strained to tell which direction it came from as the voices were bouncing around in there. The scream that followed confirmed that it was from the right. There was an uproar of voices from within, moving along what must have been cells on each side, but then a sudden silence again.</p><p></p><p>“Are we ready to go in?” Markos asked turning to his companions.</p><p> </p><p>“We need a plan…” Bleys replied.</p><p></p><p>“How can we make a plan when we don’t know exactly what is going on?” Markos asked. “It seems to me we just need to avoid being bitten…”</p><p></p><p>“Is that not always just a matter of course?” Victoria asked.</p><p></p><p>“Sure, but more than usual…” Markos pointed to the frightened guard. “He made it seem like the bite changed people, just as the <em>sleep</em> spell did.”</p><p></p><p>“Then we’ll keep them at bay at spear point,” Victoria said. “And if turns out they are mad and try to attack us anyway… Well, we have no means to stop their madness save the point of a spear…”</p><p></p><p>“No. We should not kill them, even if they are mad…” Bleys replied, he walked back out into the office and grabbed a spear and one of the wooden shields. “Markos, you should take one of those shields to help protect yourself…”</p><p></p><p>“Uh… I feel more comfortable with both my arms free,” Markos replied. “But I was thinking… If you plan to keep them at bay as we search for Captain Firth or a clue as to what is going on here… Perhaps you’d like more reach?”</p><p></p><p>“No,” replied Bleys.</p><p></p><p>“I mean, do you want to be larger?” Markos asked again.</p><p></p><p>“No,” replied Bleys.</p><p></p><p>Victoria called to Anhur for the strength to subdue those beyond the door, and cast <em>bull’s strength</em> on Bleys and <em>shield of faith</em> on Markos. She then went on and cast <em>light</em>, having it emanate from her helmet. Markos looked at the guard and said, “We’re going in there, so we need you to pull yourself together and guard this door and not open it unless one of us gives you the password.” </p><p></p><p>The guard agreed, nodding and then shaking his head clear it as he got to his feet. Marko pulled open the door staying behind it. Bleys stepped into the doorway. “I am Bleys the Aubergine, watch-mage of Sluetelot! I have come for Captain Firth and the warden.”</p><p></p><p>“Honored watch-mage, you bless us with your presence…” Bleys looked up to his right. Up on the walkway platform that reached the upper cells stood a figure holding up a lantern. It was a man with a tall bush of black curly hair and salt and pepper beard. He was rather frumpy in build and wore a wrinkled woolen suit. “I am Warden Pumdrove Sail…”</p><p></p><p>“Get down here, now!” Bleys the Aubergine commanded.</p><p></p><p>“Of course!” the warden stepped forward slowly and casually, his expression of amusement becoming clearer as he walked along the catwalk to the staircase down to the lower level on Bleys’ right. “Now, what seems to be the trouble?”</p><p></p><p>“Don’t believe him! Don’t!” One of the prisoners hissed from the darkness of one of the lower cells.</p><p></p><p>“Something is not right, don’t let him get too close,” Markos said to his companion, peeking his head out from behind the door.</p><p></p><p>“Stop on the stairs,” Bleys said to the approaching warden as the man got to the top of the stairs, and the he did stop, but at the very top, making it difficult to see him without stepping forward because of the angle.</p><p></p><p>As Victoria stepped into the large holding area to stand shoulder to shoulder with Bleys she was startled by a sound coming from the other side of the large cross-shaped structure in the middle of the chamber. The inner building seemed to have a door leading into its central enclosure from the end of each ‘tie’ of the cross, and was only slightly taller than the lower level. She thought she heard the feint laugh of a very young child, ending in a gurgle.</p><p></p><p>“What? Is there a child in here?” she asked aloud. Bleys looked at her with a confused frown and then turned back to the warden.</p><p></p><p>“We are here to ask <em>you</em> about the trouble,” Bleys said to the warden. “What has happened here? Where is Captain Firth, and why do the prisoners all seem frightened and too quiet?”</p><p></p><p>“Why… yes… Something strange has been going on… That’s certainly true… the lack of sleep was getting to people and some prisoners had to be moved around to keep the peace… but Captain Firth is not here…”</p><p></p><p>“How long has it been since you have slept?” Bleys asked.</p><p></p><p>“Me? Oh, I’ve slept fine… Like a baby…” Victoria stepped out into the room a few steps, gripping her spear tightly. She had thought she had heard the child’s voice again. The warden continued, coming down a few steps. “But some of the guards and prisoners have gone three straight nights without sleep.”</p><p></p><p>“That is longer than we observed at the inn,” Markos said, still listening in from behind the door. “Perhaps we are closer to the origin of this phenomenon…”</p><p></p><p>“Captain Firth is here,” Bleys told the warden with certainty. </p><p></p><p>“You are free to come up and check…” the warden half turned and gestured with an upturned thumb back up the stairs.</p><p></p><p>“Throw down the keys!” Markos commanded, still out of view.</p><p></p><p>“Whose voice is that?” The warden’s voice grew stern as he turned back around. “Is someone forgetting who the warden is here?”</p><p></p><p>“It is my companion, Markos Ackers,” Bleys replied.</p><p></p><p>“Wait a moment…” The warden stepped back up the steps a bit. “Are you here to break someone out?”</p><p></p><p>“No, sir… I am the acting watch-mage, as I am sure you know, and I was summoned here by Captain Angeleena Firth to secure the gaol, and you are acting in a manner that I would characterize as suspicious… Not the least reason being that you lie about the captain not being here, when I know she summoned me from here…”</p><p></p><p>“Oh! She was here… Sure! But she left! She’s not here now…” the warden replied. He was walking back a step at a time.</p><p></p><p>“Warden, stop!” Bleys commanded and the man obeyed.</p><p></p><p>“Ask him some questions to make sure it is really him,” Markos whispered to Bleys. He looked to the guard who was hiding in the corner on the other side of the door, shaking. “You! Tell me the names of a couple of the prisoners or guards… What’s your name?”</p><p></p><p>“Uh, I’m Alex… Alexander? Um… Elbert was in there, too…” the guard replied.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile Victoria of Anhur stepped over to the cells along the western side of the big room. </p><p></p><p>“Psst! Victoria!” The sing-song voice of a very young child called to the militant from the other side of the cross-shaped structure. She whirled around, but a voice from one of the cells caused her to whip around again.</p><p></p><p>“No! Don’t listen to it!” The prisoner warned. It was a young man with a few days of patchy growth on his otherwise fresh face. Another man in the cell was balled up behind a cot. He was older. “Something evil is in here… It started with the sleeplessness and then Jeroen kind of went mad…” The young dockworker explained. “You have to let us out of here before it gets us all… When the warden tried to do something about Jeroen, it got him too!”</p><p></p><p>“What do you mean by ‘got him’?” Victoria asked.</p><p></p><p>“Made him change… Go mad too, start whispering and changing… Don’t talk to them, that is how they lull you before they pounce!” The prisoner warned.</p><p></p><p>“I hear a child…” Victoria said.</p><p></p><p>“I heard it, too… Stay away from it!” And then as if suddenly realizing he had spoken too much, he stepped away from the bars of the cell.</p><p></p><p>The child’s laugh came again, and once again Victoria began to slowly and steadily walk in that direction.</p><p></p><p>“Whatever it is we have to get away from it!” the prisoner insisted, talking to her back more loudly. “It can change shape! It can read minds!”</p><p></p><p>“What are these games you are playing?” The warden finally asked with insult in his voice, when the questioning regarding the names of guards and prisoners, trying to trip him up were failing to work. “I have no idea why you are acting so suspicious of me…”</p><p></p><p>“Warden! You were standing here in the dark!” Bleys replied, growing tired of the tricks and banter.</p><p></p><p>“I have a lantern,” Pumdrove said.</p><p></p><p>“It was unlit when we arrived,” Bleys said.</p><p></p><p>“No… You just didn’t see it,” the warden insisted.</p><p></p><p>“As I have said, I was summoned here by the Captain of the watch to secure the jail and you should submit to her will,” Bleys said, holding up manacles handed to him by Markos around the door. “Agree to put these on peacefully…”</p><p></p><p>“Sure, that seems perfectly reasonable,” the warden sneered. He stepped back to the top of the steps and turned his lantern all the way down. He disappeared into the dark shadows.</p><p></p><p>“Turn the lamp up!” Bleys commanded. There was no response. Bleys asked Markos to hand him a torch and he threw it up to the top of the steps. The torch illuminated the area at the top of the stairs, but the warden was nowhere to be seen. It did reveal the closest cell in that upper corner.</p><p></p><p>“Warden! I do not seek conflict with you!” Bleys warned into the darkness, and suddenly a figure appeared behind the bars in that corner cell. It was Captain Angeleena Firth. She had bruises on her face and neck.</p><p></p><p>“Master Bleys! You have to let me out of here! The warden has gone mad!” she called.</p><p></p><p>“Don’t believe her!” came a chorus of prisoner’s voices.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, Victoria was still slowly making her way around the perimeter of the cellblock, holding her spear ahead of her. She noticed a metal ladder attached to the wall of the cross-shaped structure, near where she has heard the laughter and decided to climb up to get a better view of the whole area and the upper level. The top was clearly designed to allow guards to stand watch from up here and get a good view of all the cells. She was not up there long when suddenly a yellow robed figure came leaping out of the shadows of the upper level catwalk.</p><p></p><p>“Take this…” Bleys said, hefting his spear as tried to hand the shield to Markos, but the mage held his hands up, not wanting it. He finally came into the large room, pulling the door closed behind him.</p><p></p><p>The man’s yellow robes were covered in embroidered black and red snakes, and about his neck a silver holy symbol in the shape of a serpent. The Setite’s scimitar bounced off the militant of Anhur’s helmet.</p><p></p><p>“Setites!” Victoria called out as Bleys let loose his spear and the evil priest crumpled as it impaled him from the side. Her eyes widened as the foe was suddenly transformed into a man with the look and calloused hands of a common laborer.</p><p></p><p>“My thanks, Master Bleys,” Victoria said, admiring her companion’s martial skill and quick action. “But it looks like it was not a Setite after all… There is some kind of subterfuge here.” She kneeled beside the dying man and called to her god to stabilize him before he bled out. The sound of a child-like laugh drew her attention, and she looked to her left to notice the form of a toddler, not more than three years old climbing over the edge of roof of the cross-structure. The child looked at Victoria as she looked up from tending the dying commoner, and an expression of confusion and dismay formed on her face.</p><p></p><p>“Brother…?” She murmured. [sup]3[/sup] The child smiled revealing a distorted mouth of unnaturally sharp teeth. Laughing it leapt at her, biting at her neck. She barely had time throw her forearm up to keep the thing at bay.</p><p></p><p>“Alex, I am of sound mind,” Markos said to the frightened guard. “Lock this door behind me and don’t open it unless I say…”</p><p></p><p>“Yes! Sure! Will do!” Alex the guard hopped up and started to hurriedly push the door closed.</p><p></p><p>“…Outhouse… Remember, like we agreed…” Markos added.</p><p></p><p>“Yep! Yep! Sure!” The door was about to click shut, but Markos pushed back against it. “On second thought, keep it open and just close it if someone other than me, the watch-mage or the militant of Anhur tries to get out.”</p><p></p><p>“Are you sure?” Alex asked, but Markos did not get to reply, noticing movement on the steps out of the corner of his eye.</p><p></p><p>“Bleys! Look out!” The watch-mage turned at Markos’ warning as a ghoulish-looking version of Captain Firth came leaping down the steps and grabbing at him.</p><p></p><p>“<em>Sagitta Aquom!</em>” Markos chanted and two arrows of undulating watery light slammed into her.</p><p></p><p>“Surrenderrrrrr!” She grunted as Bleys withdrew, drawing his saber.</p><p></p><p><em>…to be continued…</em></p><p></p><p>----------------------------------------------------</p><p><strong>Notes:</strong></p><p></p><p>(1) Session #23 was played on Sunday, January 20th, 2008 in Brooklyn, NY.</p><p></p><p>(2) The party first heard about the striking dockworkers in Session #21 and Bleys and Markos questioned the Sluetelot Harbormaster about it in Session #22.</p><p></p><p>(3) Victoria Ostrander’s brother died when he was child, killed by <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Setite" target="_blank">Setites</a> during the infamous <a href="http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/The+Barhyte+Killings" target="_blank">Barhyte Killings</a>.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="el-remmen, post: 4288457, member: 11"] [b]Session #23 – “Sleepless” (part 1 of 4)[/b][sup]1[/sup] Victoria Ostrander of Anhur was walking from the Dwarven Quarter towards the temple of Anhur when she noted Bleys the Aubergine and Markos Ackers pausing before the door of the gaol. “What is happening?” she asked as she walked over. “I have no idea,” Markos said. “Why are you going into the jail?” she asked, frowning. “Apparently there is some kind of disturbance,” Bleys said, pointing down at the dead guard. “Captain Firth!” he called in with all the authority he could muster. There was no answer. “Ready your weapons,” he told his companions, putting his hand on his saber hilt as he walked in. Just beyond there was an office. There was a large desk, and a long rack along one wall bearing clubs, spears, a man-catcher, two heavy wooden shields, and five sets of manacles. A quick search of the rack and the desk revealed no keys, much to Markos’ disappointment. There was a wooden door around one narrow corner that seemed to go down to a lower level, but it was the large steel doors lined with bolts and reinforced at each corner that led into the main holding area. The door was open slightly, and they heard a frightened whimper from within. Taking a lantern off the desk and lighting it, Markos held it up as Bleys pulled open the door and Victoria stood ready with her spear. Beyond was a hall, fifteen feet in length and twenty feet wide, at the end of which was another door similar to the open one, but it was sealed shut. Cowering in one corner was a man dressed in studded leather armor and clutching a spear, wearing the cream-colored tabard with the embroidered blue ship sigil common to the town watch. There were bruises on his face and neck that came into view as he raised his head to look at the three noble adventurers, but then he scurried back, trying to increase the distance between them and himself. “What has happened here?” Markos demanded. “Where’s Captain Firth?” asked Bleys coming forward. “She’s… She’s still in there…” The man was clearly sincerely scared; his hand shook as he pointed to the large metal door. “Who attacked you?” Victoria asked, the man turned and looked at her, his brown eyes growing large behind his long brown hair made slick with the sweat of his fear. “It… It was my mother!” He let go of the spear and buried his hands in his face and wept, shivering as he did. He looked up at them suddenly. “Wait! Maybe you’re not really here… Maybe they got out! They come and go…” He began to shimmy back away from them again. Markos walked over to the door and put his hand on the large handle and looked to Bleys. “Are you ready?” “No…” the watch-mage replied. “Well, tell me when you are because there may be people dying in there,” Markos frowned. “They may also be dying out here if we let loose twenty or thirty bloodthirsty prisoners,” Bleys replied. “The striking dockworkers are in there,” Markos protested. [sup]2[/sup] “Not exactly hardened criminals…” “They broke the law, and while I have no desire to see them hurt, we must consider the welfare of the law-abiding citizens of Sluetelot first,” Bleys explained. “Something strange is happening here and I plan to learn more before hurrying into danger or risking releasing some danger on the town…” “How many prisoners are there currently?” Victoria asked the man, not hiding her disdain for the man’s broken and emotional state. “Uh… A few dozen…” the guard replied. “Start from the beginning… Tell us what happened here,” Bleys the Aubergine said to the man with authority resonating in his deep voice. “Well… The prisoners hadn’t slept in a couple of days,” the guard explained. “They are mostly the striking dockworkers… You’re right, they were just being held until the work situation was cleared up to keep anymore brawls from starting up in the meantime… But yeah… They couldn’t sleep or wouldn’t sleep and it was starting to get to them… They were growing irritable… Seeing things… Some of them fought among themselves and had to be moved to other cells… It was getting bad…” The guard paused and let out a shuddering breath before continuing. “So the warden had the idea of having one of our watch-wizards…” “Watch-mage?” Markos asked. “Watch-wizard…” the man said. “Members of the watch who are wizards…” “Let him finish,” Bleys said to Markos without looking at him. “…of having one of them cast a [I]sleep[/I] spell on one of the prisoners and see if that might help them… So Captain Firth was asked to bring one of the watch-wizards over here, and when it was tried the prisoner slumped over as if asleep and then suddenly leapt at the watch-wizard! His eyes were glowing red and his skin creased with scales, his limbs wiry and his mouth full of sharp teeth and hit bit he warden and he fell asleep, and that was when chaos broke loose!” He covered his face and shivered again. “Go on…” Bleys insisted. “Uh… I don’t know… Captain Firth was fighting it; the watch-wizard changed as well, and jumped on the warden, who I was trying to lead away. I felt something grab me around the neck and when I turned it was my mother!” He was weeping openly now. “I… I smashed her in the side of the face with my club and she slapped me hard, sent me flying… The prisoners were screaming and… and… I just ran and closed the door behind me…” “What other way out from the cells are there? Can the lower level be reached from in there?” Victoria asked, always cognizant of the tactics of s given situation. The guard shook his head. “Where are the keys to cells?” Markos asked. “The warden had them…” Markos’ head sunk. He looked to Bleys but the watch-mage was deep in thought. Victoria stood nearly at attention, waiting for Bleys’ command. The one-time sailor grew impatient. He got up on his toes as he slid open the narrow panel that served as a peephole to the area beyond. He held the lantern up, but still the view was not good. There was some dim light coming in, but the ceiling in the next area was much higher at its center, but some kind of walkway cast a shadow darkened by some kind of structure in the middle of the great room. “Markos, be cautious…” Bleys warned. “Hello? Is there someone there?” A voice came echoing from within. It was strained and frightened. “Quiet!” Another voice hissed. “It’s gonna hears us!” “Captain Firth? Are you in there?” Markos called in. “She’s dead! It killed her!” came the first voice again, cracking. “Shut up!” The second voice said. Markos strained to tell which direction it came from as the voices were bouncing around in there. The scream that followed confirmed that it was from the right. There was an uproar of voices from within, moving along what must have been cells on each side, but then a sudden silence again. “Are we ready to go in?” Markos asked turning to his companions. “We need a plan…” Bleys replied. “How can we make a plan when we don’t know exactly what is going on?” Markos asked. “It seems to me we just need to avoid being bitten…” “Is that not always just a matter of course?” Victoria asked. “Sure, but more than usual…” Markos pointed to the frightened guard. “He made it seem like the bite changed people, just as the [I]sleep[/I] spell did.” “Then we’ll keep them at bay at spear point,” Victoria said. “And if turns out they are mad and try to attack us anyway… Well, we have no means to stop their madness save the point of a spear…” “No. We should not kill them, even if they are mad…” Bleys replied, he walked back out into the office and grabbed a spear and one of the wooden shields. “Markos, you should take one of those shields to help protect yourself…” “Uh… I feel more comfortable with both my arms free,” Markos replied. “But I was thinking… If you plan to keep them at bay as we search for Captain Firth or a clue as to what is going on here… Perhaps you’d like more reach?” “No,” replied Bleys. “I mean, do you want to be larger?” Markos asked again. “No,” replied Bleys. Victoria called to Anhur for the strength to subdue those beyond the door, and cast [I]bull’s strength[/I] on Bleys and [I]shield of faith[/I] on Markos. She then went on and cast [I]light[/I], having it emanate from her helmet. Markos looked at the guard and said, “We’re going in there, so we need you to pull yourself together and guard this door and not open it unless one of us gives you the password.” The guard agreed, nodding and then shaking his head clear it as he got to his feet. Marko pulled open the door staying behind it. Bleys stepped into the doorway. “I am Bleys the Aubergine, watch-mage of Sluetelot! I have come for Captain Firth and the warden.” “Honored watch-mage, you bless us with your presence…” Bleys looked up to his right. Up on the walkway platform that reached the upper cells stood a figure holding up a lantern. It was a man with a tall bush of black curly hair and salt and pepper beard. He was rather frumpy in build and wore a wrinkled woolen suit. “I am Warden Pumdrove Sail…” “Get down here, now!” Bleys the Aubergine commanded. “Of course!” the warden stepped forward slowly and casually, his expression of amusement becoming clearer as he walked along the catwalk to the staircase down to the lower level on Bleys’ right. “Now, what seems to be the trouble?” “Don’t believe him! Don’t!” One of the prisoners hissed from the darkness of one of the lower cells. “Something is not right, don’t let him get too close,” Markos said to his companion, peeking his head out from behind the door. “Stop on the stairs,” Bleys said to the approaching warden as the man got to the top of the stairs, and the he did stop, but at the very top, making it difficult to see him without stepping forward because of the angle. As Victoria stepped into the large holding area to stand shoulder to shoulder with Bleys she was startled by a sound coming from the other side of the large cross-shaped structure in the middle of the chamber. The inner building seemed to have a door leading into its central enclosure from the end of each ‘tie’ of the cross, and was only slightly taller than the lower level. She thought she heard the feint laugh of a very young child, ending in a gurgle. “What? Is there a child in here?” she asked aloud. Bleys looked at her with a confused frown and then turned back to the warden. “We are here to ask [I]you[/I] about the trouble,” Bleys said to the warden. “What has happened here? Where is Captain Firth, and why do the prisoners all seem frightened and too quiet?” “Why… yes… Something strange has been going on… That’s certainly true… the lack of sleep was getting to people and some prisoners had to be moved around to keep the peace… but Captain Firth is not here…” “How long has it been since you have slept?” Bleys asked. “Me? Oh, I’ve slept fine… Like a baby…” Victoria stepped out into the room a few steps, gripping her spear tightly. She had thought she had heard the child’s voice again. The warden continued, coming down a few steps. “But some of the guards and prisoners have gone three straight nights without sleep.” “That is longer than we observed at the inn,” Markos said, still listening in from behind the door. “Perhaps we are closer to the origin of this phenomenon…” “Captain Firth is here,” Bleys told the warden with certainty. “You are free to come up and check…” the warden half turned and gestured with an upturned thumb back up the stairs. “Throw down the keys!” Markos commanded, still out of view. “Whose voice is that?” The warden’s voice grew stern as he turned back around. “Is someone forgetting who the warden is here?” “It is my companion, Markos Ackers,” Bleys replied. “Wait a moment…” The warden stepped back up the steps a bit. “Are you here to break someone out?” “No, sir… I am the acting watch-mage, as I am sure you know, and I was summoned here by Captain Angeleena Firth to secure the gaol, and you are acting in a manner that I would characterize as suspicious… Not the least reason being that you lie about the captain not being here, when I know she summoned me from here…” “Oh! She was here… Sure! But she left! She’s not here now…” the warden replied. He was walking back a step at a time. “Warden, stop!” Bleys commanded and the man obeyed. “Ask him some questions to make sure it is really him,” Markos whispered to Bleys. He looked to the guard who was hiding in the corner on the other side of the door, shaking. “You! Tell me the names of a couple of the prisoners or guards… What’s your name?” “Uh, I’m Alex… Alexander? Um… Elbert was in there, too…” the guard replied. Meanwhile Victoria of Anhur stepped over to the cells along the western side of the big room. “Psst! Victoria!” The sing-song voice of a very young child called to the militant from the other side of the cross-shaped structure. She whirled around, but a voice from one of the cells caused her to whip around again. “No! Don’t listen to it!” The prisoner warned. It was a young man with a few days of patchy growth on his otherwise fresh face. Another man in the cell was balled up behind a cot. He was older. “Something evil is in here… It started with the sleeplessness and then Jeroen kind of went mad…” The young dockworker explained. “You have to let us out of here before it gets us all… When the warden tried to do something about Jeroen, it got him too!” “What do you mean by ‘got him’?” Victoria asked. “Made him change… Go mad too, start whispering and changing… Don’t talk to them, that is how they lull you before they pounce!” The prisoner warned. “I hear a child…” Victoria said. “I heard it, too… Stay away from it!” And then as if suddenly realizing he had spoken too much, he stepped away from the bars of the cell. The child’s laugh came again, and once again Victoria began to slowly and steadily walk in that direction. “Whatever it is we have to get away from it!” the prisoner insisted, talking to her back more loudly. “It can change shape! It can read minds!” “What are these games you are playing?” The warden finally asked with insult in his voice, when the questioning regarding the names of guards and prisoners, trying to trip him up were failing to work. “I have no idea why you are acting so suspicious of me…” “Warden! You were standing here in the dark!” Bleys replied, growing tired of the tricks and banter. “I have a lantern,” Pumdrove said. “It was unlit when we arrived,” Bleys said. “No… You just didn’t see it,” the warden insisted. “As I have said, I was summoned here by the Captain of the watch to secure the jail and you should submit to her will,” Bleys said, holding up manacles handed to him by Markos around the door. “Agree to put these on peacefully…” “Sure, that seems perfectly reasonable,” the warden sneered. He stepped back to the top of the steps and turned his lantern all the way down. He disappeared into the dark shadows. “Turn the lamp up!” Bleys commanded. There was no response. Bleys asked Markos to hand him a torch and he threw it up to the top of the steps. The torch illuminated the area at the top of the stairs, but the warden was nowhere to be seen. It did reveal the closest cell in that upper corner. “Warden! I do not seek conflict with you!” Bleys warned into the darkness, and suddenly a figure appeared behind the bars in that corner cell. It was Captain Angeleena Firth. She had bruises on her face and neck. “Master Bleys! You have to let me out of here! The warden has gone mad!” she called. “Don’t believe her!” came a chorus of prisoner’s voices. Meanwhile, Victoria was still slowly making her way around the perimeter of the cellblock, holding her spear ahead of her. She noticed a metal ladder attached to the wall of the cross-shaped structure, near where she has heard the laughter and decided to climb up to get a better view of the whole area and the upper level. The top was clearly designed to allow guards to stand watch from up here and get a good view of all the cells. She was not up there long when suddenly a yellow robed figure came leaping out of the shadows of the upper level catwalk. “Take this…” Bleys said, hefting his spear as tried to hand the shield to Markos, but the mage held his hands up, not wanting it. He finally came into the large room, pulling the door closed behind him. The man’s yellow robes were covered in embroidered black and red snakes, and about his neck a silver holy symbol in the shape of a serpent. The Setite’s scimitar bounced off the militant of Anhur’s helmet. “Setites!” Victoria called out as Bleys let loose his spear and the evil priest crumpled as it impaled him from the side. Her eyes widened as the foe was suddenly transformed into a man with the look and calloused hands of a common laborer. “My thanks, Master Bleys,” Victoria said, admiring her companion’s martial skill and quick action. “But it looks like it was not a Setite after all… There is some kind of subterfuge here.” She kneeled beside the dying man and called to her god to stabilize him before he bled out. The sound of a child-like laugh drew her attention, and she looked to her left to notice the form of a toddler, not more than three years old climbing over the edge of roof of the cross-structure. The child looked at Victoria as she looked up from tending the dying commoner, and an expression of confusion and dismay formed on her face. “Brother…?” She murmured. [sup]3[/sup] The child smiled revealing a distorted mouth of unnaturally sharp teeth. Laughing it leapt at her, biting at her neck. She barely had time throw her forearm up to keep the thing at bay. “Alex, I am of sound mind,” Markos said to the frightened guard. “Lock this door behind me and don’t open it unless I say…” “Yes! Sure! Will do!” Alex the guard hopped up and started to hurriedly push the door closed. “…Outhouse… Remember, like we agreed…” Markos added. “Yep! Yep! Sure!” The door was about to click shut, but Markos pushed back against it. “On second thought, keep it open and just close it if someone other than me, the watch-mage or the militant of Anhur tries to get out.” “Are you sure?” Alex asked, but Markos did not get to reply, noticing movement on the steps out of the corner of his eye. “Bleys! Look out!” The watch-mage turned at Markos’ warning as a ghoulish-looking version of Captain Firth came leaping down the steps and grabbing at him. “[I]Sagitta Aquom![/I]” Markos chanted and two arrows of undulating watery light slammed into her. “Surrenderrrrrr!” She grunted as Bleys withdrew, drawing his saber. [I]…to be continued…[/I] ---------------------------------------------------- [b]Notes:[/b] (1) Session #23 was played on Sunday, January 20th, 2008 in Brooklyn, NY. (2) The party first heard about the striking dockworkers in Session #21 and Bleys and Markos questioned the Sluetelot Harbormaster about it in Session #22. (3) Victoria Ostrander’s brother died when he was child, killed by [url=http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/Setite]Setites[/url] during the infamous [url=http://aquerra.wikispaces.com/The+Barhyte+Killings]Barhyte Killings[/url]. [/QUOTE]
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