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The Furious Fated - The World of Low'verok (Updated 10-26-03)
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<blockquote data-quote="Isida Kep'Tukari" data-source="post: 1001510" data-attributes="member: 4441"><p>Hail and well met! It's been three weeks since our intrepid band of heroes defeated the kobold raiders, and now our story resumes. Our cast of characters remains the same:</p><p></p><p><strong>Annabelle:</strong> female gnome Sor2 with orange tabby cat familiar</p><p><strong>Rianna:</strong> female halfling Rog2</p><p><strong>Jon:</strong> male human Ftr2</p><p><strong>Jenna Seben:</strong> female human cleric of Fharlanghn2</p><p><strong>Gorf:</strong> male flumph Wiz1</p><p></p><p>(Jenna and Gorf are still NPCs)</p><p></p><p>The party had just finished defeating the kobolds, and decided to take as much of the stolen goods back to the town of Deepwater as possible. By a bit of creative work with blankets, ropes, and the five riding dogs they found, they got at least all of Keylaran's alchemy products back to Deepwater (in addition to their three kobold captives). They went directly to Teggis Tosscobble, the halfling Caravan Master, who was overjoyed at their return with both the goods and the captives. He was very annoyed that the raiders were kobolds, and remained quite mad at the caravan guards that had refused to guard further in the face of the raiders. He then proceeded to curse out the captive kobolds in three different languages, then tell the PCs to take them to the City Watch jail, with the mention that the mayor may want to see them to thank them. He also gives them their 500gp reward.</p><p></p><p>The PCs took the kobolds to jail, and then proceeded on to the house of Master Alchemist Keylaran. She threw open the door in their face (which was aptly dodged), but was happy to see the party. She was even happier when they had her products. She then let them pick out 500gp worth (in total) of alchemical products as a reward, and they only had to pay half-price. The party selected their items (Jon chose truth wine from Dragon #280 as part of his), and in the interim, asked her about the vials of poison and an unidentified potion. She identified the poison, and took it off their hands. The potion she identified as a <em>potion of expeditious retreat</em>. They also asked her about the names of Kish-mar Redclaw and J'jon. </p><p></p><p>Kish-mar rung no bells, though she thought it sounded draconic or origin. She did think of someone who might be able to help them. She knew a dwarf named Tegren Fireaxe, who was a trader that worked in a town called Quiet Dawn (just outside of the major trade city of Albon). Tegren heard a lot of things, and he might know something about Kish-mar. Also she mentioned that if they ever found a red-haired halfling with one blue eye and one green, that they could give him her name, and he might talk to them about... things. However, about J'jon she knew a lot.</p><p></p><p>J'jon is a <a href="http://users.erols.com/aburner/planescape/negative2.html newwindow" target="_blank">Negatai</a> necromancer, and an all around powerful wizard. He's also a powerful member of the Mage's Guild and somewhat feared. (Necromancy is not illegal in Low'verok, though most folk view it as creepy. Bodies of executed lawbreakers are given to necromancers so they can animate them for public service. They typically do things that would be hazardous to live folk, like cleaning out sewers. Some are also used as household servants). Keylaran isn't sure why his name is attached to the raids, but warns the party to tread carefully around him. </p><p></p><p>During this time Teggis Tosscobble comes to tell the party that the mayor will see them as soon as they're ready. Keylaran takes them to the building in the center of town, which is decorated with woodland scenes (carvings) of trees, animals, elves and humans, etc. She takes them to a meeting room with a large round table. The back wall has a huge tapestry of Low'verok on it. Across from the door is an elaborately and expensively dressed beautiful elven female. She's quite overdressed compared to the rest of the people in the room. She greets them with overly eloquent words and melodramatic gestures. I give the party the hint that she kind of seems... overbred. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge ("it's a bad idea when cousins marry in the royal family...")</p><p></p><p>She introduced herself as Yasmira D'hansi, the leader of the town. The other members of the council were Teggis Tosscobble (Caravan Master of the Traders Guild), Liam Greenleaf (male elf proprietor of the Two Swords Inn, the finest in town), Quinton Stonefist (older male dwarf, Master Miner of the Miner's Guild), Ursela Welfast (elderly female human Master Weaver of the Weaver's Guild), Haldora Pinscott (middle-aged female human Master Jeweler of the Jeweler's Guild), Winso Blagorn Opnorbit (male gnome priest of Pelor), Kit Walker (older male human priest of Fharlanghn), and Keylaran Fairweather (Master Alchemist of the Brotherhood of Alchemy). </p><p></p><p>Through careful questioning, the council learns of the kobolds, the underground river, Kenshar and J'jon. Also the party agrees to lead a group of the remaining caravan guards to the kobold caverns to get the rest of the goods. The council is dismissed, and Jon stops Haldora Pinscott and asks her if she can take a look at some treasure they had gotten and appraise it for them. She agrees to do it in the morning. The party spends the night at the Two Swords Inn, having excellent wine, food, beds, and baths. </p><p></p><p>Jon goes in the morning and has Haldora appraise several gems, a silver hand with ivory fingernails (an elaborate fake hand), a silver inkpot with moonstones, and an ivory scroll case. She identifies it all, and the party pays her for her trouble. Then the party goes to Teggis' store, where he has assembled a dozen former caravan guards, as well as a donkey and a fruit cart (the only pack animal and cart in town, as most were destroyed by the raiders). Teggis put the party in charge, claiming he'd be checking the chests against the manifest and he didn't want to see any "misplaced" stones or other such nonsense. He also had a few choice words for the guards as they had been frightened of kobolds.</p><p></p><p>The party had an uneventful trip to the kobold caverns, though they noticed the flail snail was still in the large cavern, happily playing in a pool of slime. The party helped load the cart (and backs of the guards) with the chests, as well as taking the unmarked chest for their own ("finders-keepers" as Teggis had told them). They also took the body of the iron cobra, as Annabelle thought that it might be worth something to a wizard. They went back to Deepwater, and had a note waiting for them at the Two Swords Inn from Ursela Welfast (the master weaver). </p><p></p><p>The party went there, and was slightly surprised to see both Ursela and Quinton Stonefist (the master miner). They had a joint proposition for the party. Since they were both masters in their guild, they had been entrusted with the percentages of profits due to their respective Guild headquarters in Albon, collected from the entirety of eastern Low'verok. However, the 'tithes' were usually in the form of coin, gems, or occasionally other things like magical items. For some reason, this year both guilds had sent the tithes in song pearls. They had gotten the pearls just after the raids started, and hadn't wanted to send them until they were absolutely certain that they would be safe. </p><p></p><p>Ursela and Quinton wanted the party to take the song pearls to Redhaven, and then from there to Albon. The party agreed to do this, and both masters were much obliged. They also stopped off to talk to Teggis Tosscobble again to see how he was doing. He said he had about a third of the goods here, which was more than he had expected. He also mentioned that since the party was going to Redhaven, they might as well get registered at the Adventurer's Guild. He'd happily give them a recommendation, as would Keylaran and Yasmira (the mayor). The party was much pleased by this.</p><p></p><p>Before they went back to the inn, they stopped off at Keylaran's and let her examine the body of the iron cobra. After careful inspection, she said it was worth a lot intact, but less so disabled as it was. However, she would still pay them a pretty penny for it. She offered to pay them in magic items instead of gold. They were able to get a pair of magical bracer decorated with crossed arms in white and red enamel, and two magical amulets, one made from a bronze dragon scale, and one made from a blue dragon scale. (game mechanics, bracers of armor +1, amulets of natural armor +1)</p><p></p><p>The party then set out to travel to Redhaven the next morning, with the song pearls, the extra riding dogs (to sell them, there was no market for them in Deepwater), as well as the letter they had picked off of Kaazzk. The first two days were uneventful, but just as dusk crawled up on the third day, they were attacked by a hungry mandragora (mobile, tiny, flesh-eating, slimy plant). None of the party noticed it until it ran up and tried to claw Jon's legs off. Gorf cast <em>burning hands</em> at it, but since it was covered with sticky sap, it wasn't hurt. Rianna threw a dagger at it, and Jon cut it in half. He determined that the sap could be sold, probably to an alchemist, and took the time to force it into a waterskin.</p><p></p><p>That evening, the party reached the city of Redhaven. The guards asked them if they had been attacked by the "little plant men." When the party said yes, the guards replied "the mandragora tree was spawning, hope it didn't hurt you." Jon asked if they could put up signs or something. The guards said the local druids had just told them today, and they hadn't had time to put up the usual warning signs. Regardless, the party got directions to the Miner and Weaver guildhalls, and the name of a good inn, the Roaring Lion. </p><p></p><p>The party went to the center of town, where there were several guilds, Miner, Tanner, Weaver, Jeweler, Mage, Adventurer, Gravecrawler (morticians), and the Brotherhood of Alchemy. They went to both the Miner and Weaver's guild and gave them the song pearls. Both were quite happy to hear that trade was now open again for Deepwater, though both were annoyed to discover the culprits were kobolds. But both were also willing to let the party take the song pearls to Albon, as they trusted Ursela and Quinton's judgment. They were both happy to hear that the party was registering at the Adventurer's Guild, and told the party to bring back a contract tomorrow so they could make the transaction all official. Both Guildmasters said they would keep the song pearls in the guild vaults until the party was ready to leave for Albon.</p><p></p><p>The party asked both if they new anything about Kish-mar Redclaw or J'jon. The master weaver knew nothing about Kish-mar, but warned them that J'jon was not to be crossed. However, the master miner was also a dwarf, and he said he recalled the name of Kish-mar as the apparent author of some "trouble" (raids and whatnot), northeast of Albon. He also warned them against J'jon. </p><p></p><p>The party then went to the Adventurer's Guild, which was wildly decorated in the skulls, bone, and body parts of various fantastical beasts, as well as drawings of heroic scenes and beautiful tapestries. The person behind the counter was a woman with deep red skin and flame-colored hair, whom Annabelle recognized as a fire genasi. She greeted them heartily, and had them fill out several forms, including their names, places of origin, last adventure, party name and symbol (they decided on a ring with five gems for the symbol) and references (they put down Teggis Tosscobble, Keylaran, and Yasmira. After they finished, she said she would get back to them in the morning after she had contacted their references. When they expressed astonishment that she could do it that fast, she simply responded, with flair, "magic!" The party told her they'd be staying at the Roaring Lion, then departed, after getting directions there.</p><p></p><p>Jon quickly stopped by the Brotherhood of Alchemy to try to sell the mandragora sap. The gnome proprietor seemed quite happy to take it off his hands, and offered fifty gold for it. Annabelle was able to talk him up to seventy-five. Thus pleased, the party left for the inn. </p><p></p><p>The Roaring Lion had an actual illusion of a roaring lion above the door, which fascinated Jon. Inside the place was roaring, with lots of ale flowing freely. A game of darts was going on in one corner, several guys were playing knucklebones in front of the fire, and near the stairs two guys were arm wrestling. The party could spot several genasi just from the door, some earth, some fire, and at least one salt. The party purchased rooms for the night, as well as some good ale. The arm wrestling contest ended with the earth genasi being the winner. He roared out if anyone else was going to challenge him. Jon took him up on the offer. Bets were placed and the wrestling match ensued. For the first bit, Jon thought he was going to fail, but eventually put the earth genasi's arm on the table. He grumbled mightily about losing, but after Jon bought him a beer, he raised a toast to Jon. His friends also raised a toast, "To Kenshar! To Jon!" and drank. </p><p></p><p>Gorf suddenly remembered, and pulled out the note they had gotten off of Kaazzk. He pointed to a name on it, indicating that one Kenshar was to guard the next shipment of goods. Thinking quickly, Jon invited Kenshar to talk in private. When in a back room with the party said they had proof of him being associated with a kobold by the name of Kaazzk, as well as J'jon. He denied both, and was getting angrier, demanding to see what evidence they had. Jon and Rianna knew he was lying, and refused to let him see the letter. Jon verbally backpedaled as Kenshar got angrier, and offered him some wine to mollify him (it was the truth wine). But Kenshar was so angry he just smacked it aside and stormed out.</p><p></p><p>Rianna followed him, tracking him through the dark city streets. He eventually got to the Saucy Wench, a tavern and a house of ill repute. Rianna snuck up to a window, and briefly saw Kenshar disappear into a room behind the bar before she was spotted and someone threw a mug at the window. She backtracked and tried to go around back, but first had to give some drunks the slip. But she did go back in time to see Kenshar lift open a manhole cover. She attempted to, but was too weak. So she returned to the Roaring Lion to get the rest of the party. </p><p></p><p>Between the party, they were able to get the cover off, and sent Gorf down to scout, because he could see in the dark. He said it was slimy down there and it stunk, but other than that, it was uneventful. The party descended, using a half-covered lantern for light. Jenna was able to determine some footprints near the edge of the slime going in one direction, so the party went that way. Annabelle spotted a small alcove in which they found a well-made shuttered lantern. They took that one and blew out their own. Eventually they got to a place where four sewer pipes converged, and Jenna had to cast around to find the trail again. As she was doing so, she was attacked by a slime crawler, which grabbed a hold of her and bit her. Jon cut both it and its made in twain, though he ended up somewhat slimy. Jenna was extremely slimy, and both Annabelle and Rianna couldn't keep their feet in the slimy sewer and fell, getting entirely slimed. Only Gorf, flying above it all, was clean, and he was quite smug about it.</p><p></p><p>Despite that setback, Jenna was able to find the trail. As they walked down it, a voice shouted a word, and they were all plunged into darkness. Gorf cried that he was blind, frightening to someone who can normally see in darkness. In the darkness, they heard an arrow shatter against the sewer wall, and a sword being draw. Jon was hit, and Annabelle tried to throw a dagger but missed. Jenna also missed in the dark, but Jon's return sword thrust connected, and they heard something hit the floor. A few minutes later, the darkness lifted and they saw the body of a human male that had been run through the heart. Further investigation found that he had been hiding in a false wall. Careful searching of the whole area found a hidden button on the wall. </p><p></p><p>The pushed it and found a small room with slimy boots on one side and clean boots on the other. One of the slimy boots was particularly fresh. Jon took a new fresh pair of boots, as did Jenna, then he chucked the rest of the clean boots out the door into the sewer. Rianna and Annabelle dried themselves off as best they could with their cloaks and empty sacks. Then they opened the door and proceeded down the hall.</p><p></p><p>The first door they found was to a mundane armory. Ahead, they could see the hall opened up into a room where at least three people were banging things around and moving them. Jon walked boldly into the room, startling them. One demanded to know who he was and asked where his papers were. Jon pulled out some papers... and then clocked the guy. He didn't go down, but then Gorf flamed him with <em>burning hands</em>. He still remained upright, and his two friends were coming toward them. Annabelle tried to <em>hypnotize</em> them, and got the two unhurt ones. She told them it was a good time to take a nap, which they did. Jon then proceeded to knock out other one, and they tied up all three. </p><p></p><p>They went to the door at the other end of the room and could hear someone thumping things around. They cracked the door and could see two half orcs putting boxes into a room, with the sounds of a river beyond (it was an underground dock, with two storage rooms on either side). Jon was able to create some mayhem, and cut down both half orcs. Both storage rooms were full of supplies from Deepwater, which confirmed these were the smugglers.</p><p></p><p>The party gave another thorough search of the place, and found two secret doors. One was extremely well hidden, and one less so. Through the well-hidden one, was a non-worked tunnel. As they went down there, Rianna got tangled up in some razor wire and was hurt, but Jenna healed her.</p><p></p><p>At the end of this tunnel, they found a spring and a large brown and white rat. Before Rianna could kill the rat (she detests them), the rat spoke. He claimed he was nothing less than the god of rats, trapped here by a powerful wizard belonging to a thieves' guild many years ago (he and his kind had been eating their food stores, as rats do). Also with him was the god of the spring, the rat indicated by pointing a paw at the spring. The party was skeptical, but how many times does one meet a talking rat? They believe him, and Jon gave him some food, which the rat ate eagerly. The rat god said he had sent his children after the thieves that had trapped him in here, and that eventually they had left, but he was still trapped. The party said they'd let him go, and in gratitude the rat god said that as long as he was alive (which would be long, him being a god and all) no rat would attack them. Then he scampered off down the passage.</p><p></p><p>Jon attempted to drink from the spring, but the water bent away from him. Jenna reminded him that often gods of water (springs, lakes, rivers, etc) required a sacrifice before you could take water. Jon flipped a couple gold into the spring, and the water opened up before the coins and closed in after it. He was then able to drink, and felt quite well.</p><p></p><p>The party then went to the second door, which was a short corridor with a door at the end. While going down the corridor, Jon inadvertently set off a trap, as a log swung down from the ceiling and knocked him back into the pit. As he was crawling out, the door at the end of the hall opened, and out came an extremely mad Kenshar. "You!" he howled, pointing his warhammer at Jon. A fierce battle ensued, in which Kenshar's dog, apparently also touched by the plane of earth, wreaked havoc alongside his master. Jenna, Rianna, and Annabelle used arrows and thrown daggers to help Jon with Kenshar and the dog, while Gorf flew above the dog and impaled him on his acidic spikes. Eventually, both lay dead, and the party was able to claim a great deal of treasure from both. Also they found a wadded-up note from no one less than J'jon, telling Kenshar about his task in guarding the kobold's next shipment, and other incriminating information.</p><p></p><p>What will the party do next time? Will they visit the house of J'jon? Will they go immediately to Albon? Will they ever find Kish-mar Redclaw? We'll see!</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Isida Kep'Tukari, post: 1001510, member: 4441"] Hail and well met! It's been three weeks since our intrepid band of heroes defeated the kobold raiders, and now our story resumes. Our cast of characters remains the same: [b]Annabelle:[/b] female gnome Sor2 with orange tabby cat familiar [b]Rianna:[/b] female halfling Rog2 [b]Jon:[/b] male human Ftr2 [b]Jenna Seben:[/b] female human cleric of Fharlanghn2 [b]Gorf:[/b] male flumph Wiz1 (Jenna and Gorf are still NPCs) The party had just finished defeating the kobolds, and decided to take as much of the stolen goods back to the town of Deepwater as possible. By a bit of creative work with blankets, ropes, and the five riding dogs they found, they got at least all of Keylaran's alchemy products back to Deepwater (in addition to their three kobold captives). They went directly to Teggis Tosscobble, the halfling Caravan Master, who was overjoyed at their return with both the goods and the captives. He was very annoyed that the raiders were kobolds, and remained quite mad at the caravan guards that had refused to guard further in the face of the raiders. He then proceeded to curse out the captive kobolds in three different languages, then tell the PCs to take them to the City Watch jail, with the mention that the mayor may want to see them to thank them. He also gives them their 500gp reward. The PCs took the kobolds to jail, and then proceeded on to the house of Master Alchemist Keylaran. She threw open the door in their face (which was aptly dodged), but was happy to see the party. She was even happier when they had her products. She then let them pick out 500gp worth (in total) of alchemical products as a reward, and they only had to pay half-price. The party selected their items (Jon chose truth wine from Dragon #280 as part of his), and in the interim, asked her about the vials of poison and an unidentified potion. She identified the poison, and took it off their hands. The potion she identified as a [i]potion of expeditious retreat[/i]. They also asked her about the names of Kish-mar Redclaw and J'jon. Kish-mar rung no bells, though she thought it sounded draconic or origin. She did think of someone who might be able to help them. She knew a dwarf named Tegren Fireaxe, who was a trader that worked in a town called Quiet Dawn (just outside of the major trade city of Albon). Tegren heard a lot of things, and he might know something about Kish-mar. Also she mentioned that if they ever found a red-haired halfling with one blue eye and one green, that they could give him her name, and he might talk to them about... things. However, about J'jon she knew a lot. J'jon is a [url=users.erols.com/aburner/planescape/negative2.html newwindow]Negatai[/url] necromancer, and an all around powerful wizard. He's also a powerful member of the Mage's Guild and somewhat feared. (Necromancy is not illegal in Low'verok, though most folk view it as creepy. Bodies of executed lawbreakers are given to necromancers so they can animate them for public service. They typically do things that would be hazardous to live folk, like cleaning out sewers. Some are also used as household servants). Keylaran isn't sure why his name is attached to the raids, but warns the party to tread carefully around him. During this time Teggis Tosscobble comes to tell the party that the mayor will see them as soon as they're ready. Keylaran takes them to the building in the center of town, which is decorated with woodland scenes (carvings) of trees, animals, elves and humans, etc. She takes them to a meeting room with a large round table. The back wall has a huge tapestry of Low'verok on it. Across from the door is an elaborately and expensively dressed beautiful elven female. She's quite overdressed compared to the rest of the people in the room. She greets them with overly eloquent words and melodramatic gestures. I give the party the hint that she kind of seems... overbred. Wink, wink, nudge, nudge ("it's a bad idea when cousins marry in the royal family...") She introduced herself as Yasmira D'hansi, the leader of the town. The other members of the council were Teggis Tosscobble (Caravan Master of the Traders Guild), Liam Greenleaf (male elf proprietor of the Two Swords Inn, the finest in town), Quinton Stonefist (older male dwarf, Master Miner of the Miner's Guild), Ursela Welfast (elderly female human Master Weaver of the Weaver's Guild), Haldora Pinscott (middle-aged female human Master Jeweler of the Jeweler's Guild), Winso Blagorn Opnorbit (male gnome priest of Pelor), Kit Walker (older male human priest of Fharlanghn), and Keylaran Fairweather (Master Alchemist of the Brotherhood of Alchemy). Through careful questioning, the council learns of the kobolds, the underground river, Kenshar and J'jon. Also the party agrees to lead a group of the remaining caravan guards to the kobold caverns to get the rest of the goods. The council is dismissed, and Jon stops Haldora Pinscott and asks her if she can take a look at some treasure they had gotten and appraise it for them. She agrees to do it in the morning. The party spends the night at the Two Swords Inn, having excellent wine, food, beds, and baths. Jon goes in the morning and has Haldora appraise several gems, a silver hand with ivory fingernails (an elaborate fake hand), a silver inkpot with moonstones, and an ivory scroll case. She identifies it all, and the party pays her for her trouble. Then the party goes to Teggis' store, where he has assembled a dozen former caravan guards, as well as a donkey and a fruit cart (the only pack animal and cart in town, as most were destroyed by the raiders). Teggis put the party in charge, claiming he'd be checking the chests against the manifest and he didn't want to see any "misplaced" stones or other such nonsense. He also had a few choice words for the guards as they had been frightened of kobolds. The party had an uneventful trip to the kobold caverns, though they noticed the flail snail was still in the large cavern, happily playing in a pool of slime. The party helped load the cart (and backs of the guards) with the chests, as well as taking the unmarked chest for their own ("finders-keepers" as Teggis had told them). They also took the body of the iron cobra, as Annabelle thought that it might be worth something to a wizard. They went back to Deepwater, and had a note waiting for them at the Two Swords Inn from Ursela Welfast (the master weaver). The party went there, and was slightly surprised to see both Ursela and Quinton Stonefist (the master miner). They had a joint proposition for the party. Since they were both masters in their guild, they had been entrusted with the percentages of profits due to their respective Guild headquarters in Albon, collected from the entirety of eastern Low'verok. However, the 'tithes' were usually in the form of coin, gems, or occasionally other things like magical items. For some reason, this year both guilds had sent the tithes in song pearls. They had gotten the pearls just after the raids started, and hadn't wanted to send them until they were absolutely certain that they would be safe. Ursela and Quinton wanted the party to take the song pearls to Redhaven, and then from there to Albon. The party agreed to do this, and both masters were much obliged. They also stopped off to talk to Teggis Tosscobble again to see how he was doing. He said he had about a third of the goods here, which was more than he had expected. He also mentioned that since the party was going to Redhaven, they might as well get registered at the Adventurer's Guild. He'd happily give them a recommendation, as would Keylaran and Yasmira (the mayor). The party was much pleased by this. Before they went back to the inn, they stopped off at Keylaran's and let her examine the body of the iron cobra. After careful inspection, she said it was worth a lot intact, but less so disabled as it was. However, she would still pay them a pretty penny for it. She offered to pay them in magic items instead of gold. They were able to get a pair of magical bracer decorated with crossed arms in white and red enamel, and two magical amulets, one made from a bronze dragon scale, and one made from a blue dragon scale. (game mechanics, bracers of armor +1, amulets of natural armor +1) The party then set out to travel to Redhaven the next morning, with the song pearls, the extra riding dogs (to sell them, there was no market for them in Deepwater), as well as the letter they had picked off of Kaazzk. The first two days were uneventful, but just as dusk crawled up on the third day, they were attacked by a hungry mandragora (mobile, tiny, flesh-eating, slimy plant). None of the party noticed it until it ran up and tried to claw Jon's legs off. Gorf cast [i]burning hands[/i] at it, but since it was covered with sticky sap, it wasn't hurt. Rianna threw a dagger at it, and Jon cut it in half. He determined that the sap could be sold, probably to an alchemist, and took the time to force it into a waterskin. That evening, the party reached the city of Redhaven. The guards asked them if they had been attacked by the "little plant men." When the party said yes, the guards replied "the mandragora tree was spawning, hope it didn't hurt you." Jon asked if they could put up signs or something. The guards said the local druids had just told them today, and they hadn't had time to put up the usual warning signs. Regardless, the party got directions to the Miner and Weaver guildhalls, and the name of a good inn, the Roaring Lion. The party went to the center of town, where there were several guilds, Miner, Tanner, Weaver, Jeweler, Mage, Adventurer, Gravecrawler (morticians), and the Brotherhood of Alchemy. They went to both the Miner and Weaver's guild and gave them the song pearls. Both were quite happy to hear that trade was now open again for Deepwater, though both were annoyed to discover the culprits were kobolds. But both were also willing to let the party take the song pearls to Albon, as they trusted Ursela and Quinton's judgment. They were both happy to hear that the party was registering at the Adventurer's Guild, and told the party to bring back a contract tomorrow so they could make the transaction all official. Both Guildmasters said they would keep the song pearls in the guild vaults until the party was ready to leave for Albon. The party asked both if they new anything about Kish-mar Redclaw or J'jon. The master weaver knew nothing about Kish-mar, but warned them that J'jon was not to be crossed. However, the master miner was also a dwarf, and he said he recalled the name of Kish-mar as the apparent author of some "trouble" (raids and whatnot), northeast of Albon. He also warned them against J'jon. The party then went to the Adventurer's Guild, which was wildly decorated in the skulls, bone, and body parts of various fantastical beasts, as well as drawings of heroic scenes and beautiful tapestries. The person behind the counter was a woman with deep red skin and flame-colored hair, whom Annabelle recognized as a fire genasi. She greeted them heartily, and had them fill out several forms, including their names, places of origin, last adventure, party name and symbol (they decided on a ring with five gems for the symbol) and references (they put down Teggis Tosscobble, Keylaran, and Yasmira. After they finished, she said she would get back to them in the morning after she had contacted their references. When they expressed astonishment that she could do it that fast, she simply responded, with flair, "magic!" The party told her they'd be staying at the Roaring Lion, then departed, after getting directions there. Jon quickly stopped by the Brotherhood of Alchemy to try to sell the mandragora sap. The gnome proprietor seemed quite happy to take it off his hands, and offered fifty gold for it. Annabelle was able to talk him up to seventy-five. Thus pleased, the party left for the inn. The Roaring Lion had an actual illusion of a roaring lion above the door, which fascinated Jon. Inside the place was roaring, with lots of ale flowing freely. A game of darts was going on in one corner, several guys were playing knucklebones in front of the fire, and near the stairs two guys were arm wrestling. The party could spot several genasi just from the door, some earth, some fire, and at least one salt. The party purchased rooms for the night, as well as some good ale. The arm wrestling contest ended with the earth genasi being the winner. He roared out if anyone else was going to challenge him. Jon took him up on the offer. Bets were placed and the wrestling match ensued. For the first bit, Jon thought he was going to fail, but eventually put the earth genasi's arm on the table. He grumbled mightily about losing, but after Jon bought him a beer, he raised a toast to Jon. His friends also raised a toast, "To Kenshar! To Jon!" and drank. Gorf suddenly remembered, and pulled out the note they had gotten off of Kaazzk. He pointed to a name on it, indicating that one Kenshar was to guard the next shipment of goods. Thinking quickly, Jon invited Kenshar to talk in private. When in a back room with the party said they had proof of him being associated with a kobold by the name of Kaazzk, as well as J'jon. He denied both, and was getting angrier, demanding to see what evidence they had. Jon and Rianna knew he was lying, and refused to let him see the letter. Jon verbally backpedaled as Kenshar got angrier, and offered him some wine to mollify him (it was the truth wine). But Kenshar was so angry he just smacked it aside and stormed out. Rianna followed him, tracking him through the dark city streets. He eventually got to the Saucy Wench, a tavern and a house of ill repute. Rianna snuck up to a window, and briefly saw Kenshar disappear into a room behind the bar before she was spotted and someone threw a mug at the window. She backtracked and tried to go around back, but first had to give some drunks the slip. But she did go back in time to see Kenshar lift open a manhole cover. She attempted to, but was too weak. So she returned to the Roaring Lion to get the rest of the party. Between the party, they were able to get the cover off, and sent Gorf down to scout, because he could see in the dark. He said it was slimy down there and it stunk, but other than that, it was uneventful. The party descended, using a half-covered lantern for light. Jenna was able to determine some footprints near the edge of the slime going in one direction, so the party went that way. Annabelle spotted a small alcove in which they found a well-made shuttered lantern. They took that one and blew out their own. Eventually they got to a place where four sewer pipes converged, and Jenna had to cast around to find the trail again. As she was doing so, she was attacked by a slime crawler, which grabbed a hold of her and bit her. Jon cut both it and its made in twain, though he ended up somewhat slimy. Jenna was extremely slimy, and both Annabelle and Rianna couldn't keep their feet in the slimy sewer and fell, getting entirely slimed. Only Gorf, flying above it all, was clean, and he was quite smug about it. Despite that setback, Jenna was able to find the trail. As they walked down it, a voice shouted a word, and they were all plunged into darkness. Gorf cried that he was blind, frightening to someone who can normally see in darkness. In the darkness, they heard an arrow shatter against the sewer wall, and a sword being draw. Jon was hit, and Annabelle tried to throw a dagger but missed. Jenna also missed in the dark, but Jon's return sword thrust connected, and they heard something hit the floor. A few minutes later, the darkness lifted and they saw the body of a human male that had been run through the heart. Further investigation found that he had been hiding in a false wall. Careful searching of the whole area found a hidden button on the wall. The pushed it and found a small room with slimy boots on one side and clean boots on the other. One of the slimy boots was particularly fresh. Jon took a new fresh pair of boots, as did Jenna, then he chucked the rest of the clean boots out the door into the sewer. Rianna and Annabelle dried themselves off as best they could with their cloaks and empty sacks. Then they opened the door and proceeded down the hall. The first door they found was to a mundane armory. Ahead, they could see the hall opened up into a room where at least three people were banging things around and moving them. Jon walked boldly into the room, startling them. One demanded to know who he was and asked where his papers were. Jon pulled out some papers... and then clocked the guy. He didn't go down, but then Gorf flamed him with [i]burning hands[/i]. He still remained upright, and his two friends were coming toward them. Annabelle tried to [i]hypnotize[/i] them, and got the two unhurt ones. She told them it was a good time to take a nap, which they did. Jon then proceeded to knock out other one, and they tied up all three. They went to the door at the other end of the room and could hear someone thumping things around. They cracked the door and could see two half orcs putting boxes into a room, with the sounds of a river beyond (it was an underground dock, with two storage rooms on either side). Jon was able to create some mayhem, and cut down both half orcs. Both storage rooms were full of supplies from Deepwater, which confirmed these were the smugglers. The party gave another thorough search of the place, and found two secret doors. One was extremely well hidden, and one less so. Through the well-hidden one, was a non-worked tunnel. As they went down there, Rianna got tangled up in some razor wire and was hurt, but Jenna healed her. At the end of this tunnel, they found a spring and a large brown and white rat. Before Rianna could kill the rat (she detests them), the rat spoke. He claimed he was nothing less than the god of rats, trapped here by a powerful wizard belonging to a thieves' guild many years ago (he and his kind had been eating their food stores, as rats do). Also with him was the god of the spring, the rat indicated by pointing a paw at the spring. The party was skeptical, but how many times does one meet a talking rat? They believe him, and Jon gave him some food, which the rat ate eagerly. The rat god said he had sent his children after the thieves that had trapped him in here, and that eventually they had left, but he was still trapped. The party said they'd let him go, and in gratitude the rat god said that as long as he was alive (which would be long, him being a god and all) no rat would attack them. Then he scampered off down the passage. Jon attempted to drink from the spring, but the water bent away from him. Jenna reminded him that often gods of water (springs, lakes, rivers, etc) required a sacrifice before you could take water. Jon flipped a couple gold into the spring, and the water opened up before the coins and closed in after it. He was then able to drink, and felt quite well. The party then went to the second door, which was a short corridor with a door at the end. While going down the corridor, Jon inadvertently set off a trap, as a log swung down from the ceiling and knocked him back into the pit. As he was crawling out, the door at the end of the hall opened, and out came an extremely mad Kenshar. "You!" he howled, pointing his warhammer at Jon. A fierce battle ensued, in which Kenshar's dog, apparently also touched by the plane of earth, wreaked havoc alongside his master. Jenna, Rianna, and Annabelle used arrows and thrown daggers to help Jon with Kenshar and the dog, while Gorf flew above the dog and impaled him on his acidic spikes. Eventually, both lay dead, and the party was able to claim a great deal of treasure from both. Also they found a wadded-up note from no one less than J'jon, telling Kenshar about his task in guarding the kobold's next shipment, and other incriminating information. What will the party do next time? Will they visit the house of J'jon? Will they go immediately to Albon? Will they ever find Kish-mar Redclaw? We'll see! [/QUOTE]
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The Furious Fated - The World of Low'verok (Updated 10-26-03)
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