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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 4255304" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter 33, “Leaving, What a good idea!”, Day Twenty-six (April 18th. 1006 / September 24th local) The Royal Army returns to the city. The somber procession moves through the streets, with a carriage with a flag-draped casket housing the Prince’s body. The party decides to head over to the place, but because of the scene he made there the night before choose not to take Klaaze with them, or his known associates Kharole and Narg. The group of Freyland, Mark, Serita and Phuddipeduzh arrive at the palace and ask for an audience with the King, stating that they may be able to resurrect the Prince. The four are soon ushered into the great hall of the palace into the presence of the very distraught King. The King tells them in anquished cries about the Prince dying at the hands of the dreaded Jabberwock, stating “I warned him to be careful. I told him ‘Beware the Jabberwock my son’.” The players all groan in unison at the reference to the line from the Lewis Carrol poem. The group tell the King that they have a resurrection device, which can be used to bring back the Prince. They agree to have his cleric use the rod in exchange for them being given the Prince’s new sword. The King agrees to these terms, and the resurrection is successful. The King then hands them the sword, which is broken in two with its magical properies gone. “What is this?” Freyland exclaims. “That is how the Jabberwock left it” the King replies. Phuddipeduzh protests “You tricked us. We helped you bring back the Prince in good faith. You owe us something of equivalent value to the sword.” The King replies “Get out!” When the party do not immediately move the King orders his guards to arrest them. A fight follows, with twenty guards converging on the party. The Captain of the Guard and four of his men are killed. The party manages to escape from the royal palace, wounding several more guards in the process. They quickly find their fellow party members and retrieve their possessions from their lodgings. They regroup at The Sisters Tavern. The city itself is now in a state of panic, as the Jabberwock is seen approaching from the distance. Thousands of people are fleeing the city in panic. One of the tavern owners suggests to the players that this sounds like a good opportunity to become local heroes, that slaying the Jabberwock will surely put them back in the King’s good graces. They party head away privately to discuss it. Phuddi asks “What do you think?” “After the way that King just treated you, I say forget it,” Phraakeese exclaims. “Yeah,” Klaaze adds “The Jabberwock can have both him and his city for all I care.” Serita interjects “I agree. Who’s to say that anything would make the King grateful. We saved his son, and he treated us like crap.” So the entire group decides to take advantage of the fleeing populace, and they manage to sneak out of the city disguised as commoners. [Chronicler’s Note #47: The DM clearly overplayed his hand with this one. He had been running this module for three-months, and a parallel module for six-months with his other group, anticipating a climax game with the combined gaming groups. His other group was delayed getting to Specularum, so he had been stalling for time during our previous two games. His plan this week was to give the party incentive to fight the Jabberwock, and use up another game night or two in the city, but the plan backfired on him with the party leaving the city instead.] Day Twenty-seven (April 19th, 1006 / September 25th local) The party joins up with a merchant wagon traveling north. The group soon discovers that these men are criminals who are wanted back in the city. The DM suggests that the party might want to consider taking these men into custody and returning them to the city. A player responds “Are you kidding? We’re now criminals wanted by the city too, we’ll fit right in with these guys.” The wagon continues north towards the mountain for the entire day. The DM tosses out several other meager excuses for the players to head back, none of which are consented to. The wagon stops for supper, during the meal it becomes known that one of the crimes the merchants are wanted for includes running a slavery and prostitution ring, and implies that they now wish to add both Kharole and Serita to their product line. Neither of the female players of these characters get overly upset by this, stating that they are more than capable of defending themselves against a pair of merchants, especially with the assistance of their friends. The merchants keep a distance from the party that evening. Day Twenty-eight (April 20th, 1006 / September 26th local): The party are now about 25 miles north of the city, travelling into the mountains. They see fires burning in a distant village, situated about 10 or so miles back towards the city. The DM suggests that they may want to head back to investigate, but it instead prompts the party to continue north at an even faster pace. They travel for another 10 miles, where they are now high up into the mountains are can see the city in the far distance. They decide to stop for lunch. A meal is cooked up, and Phuddipeduzh carries a plate of food over to the wagon for the merchants. “How does this look to you guys?” he asks. The merchants look in his direction, and then their jaws drop and all blood flows from their face. Phuddi hears a roaring sound, turning around to see a 40-foot tall Jabberwock standing before him.</blockquote>

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