(5/4/02) Session #1: Beginnings
Noise swelled from a crowded tavern near the western gate of Erendar. Those inside, a chaotic mix of laborers, merchants, and so-called "adventurers", had begun to cause trouble again. Suddenly, the door burst inward, followed rapidly by a squad of guards. They forced order by the simple expedient of arresting everyone and leading them off to the guard compound. The score of prisoners waited angrily in the holding cells all night, and then were unceremoniously dragged out to the parade ground at dawn.
A tall man in plate armor surveyed them briefly and then strode away, leaving a thin, sharp-featured man standing in front.
In a clear, precise voice he said, "Listen up, all of you. That was the Captain of the City Guard. I'm the Lieutenant. If you want to stay in town, you'll do what we say. We've weeded out the relatively decent citizens of Erendar who had the misfortune to be in a tavern with you scum. Those of you remaining are transients, mercenaries, thieves, and other worthless types. But in His Lordship's merciful wisdom, you have been given a second chance. We'll parcel you out into a few different groups and give you each a job to do. Succeed, and you can be counted as a citizen. At least for now. Fail, and we won't have to bother with you again.
"Fall in line to be counted off, now. And make it quick, I have better things to do than watch after you all day."
Slowly, the group shuffled into line. Several young men in ragged robes joined the line, and two elegantly dressed elves wearing holy symbols grudgingly joined them, urged on by the lieutenant. He counted off the groups, and ended up with four, each having between five and seven members.
One of the groups was composed of a half-orc, a halfling, three elves, and a half-elf. They began to introduce themselves, as they determined to make the best of whatever happened. The half-orc was named Splay, and he claimed to have skill with a greataxe, although this could not be proven until the soldiers returned each person's belongings. The halfling's name was Twitch, and this proved to be accurate, as he could rarely keep still. The half-elf was one of those in a robe, and introduced himself as Truls. None of the elves knew each other, not that this was surprising in such a diverse place. Their names were Bayne Galanodel, Lee-Fei, and Rain. Bayne clearly followed Corellon, while Lee-Fei carried no weapons, and Rain did not volunteer his trade.
The lieutenant finally went over to them, and briefly said, "The undertakers of Erendar are on strike. A lot have disappeared. Deal with it."
As the group filed over to receive their weapons and leave the guard compound, they wondered about the strange mission. It didn't seem to be that dangerous, or require this kind of attention. However, none of them wanted to be tossed out of Erendar, either. Fueled by mild determination, they headed toward the market square to inquire about undertakers and where they might be found.
After an afternoon of work, they had managed to gather the following pieces of information: 1) most of the undertakers had died recently, and 2) the remaining undertakers had retired suddenly with more wealth than suspected. They tracked down the largest undertaker's establishment in town and began to explore it. After a short search, a hidden cabinet was discovered behind one wall. The hidden cabinet was empty. A much longer search later, Rain found a trap door that led to a short stone tunnel. The group headed down the tunnel, and found that it led to the city sewer system.
Momentarily dismayed at more tunnels to explore, the group resolutely headed into the sewers, which were aligned with the streets of Erendar. They found piles of trash, the occasional grate up to city streets, and lots of large rats. The rats seemed to like hiding in the piles of trash, and soon the group began pelting any such pile from long distance, before any rats could emerge. Twitch displayed one of his unusual talents and started scouting ahead by climbing along the ceiling. The odd slime that covered him before he began climbing vanished quickly, and the other members of the group shrugged it off philosophically. Eventually, they finished walking through the sewers, and arrived at a small room connected to the last east-west tunnel. Two kobolds in light armor immediately attacked, but were overcome. In the center of the room was a shaft, roughly five feet across, that descended into blackness. The keen eyes of the elves spotted a dark ooze coating the shaft along one side. There was a general reluctance to descend into the dark. Even Splay's darkvision was only able to tell that the tunnel curved about ten feet straight down.
Finally, Twitch volunteered to climb down into the darkness. His eyes suddenly became lit by silver light, and he said that he could see in the dark. He climbed down into the shaft, carefully walking on the side that was not covered by ooze. After a few minutes, he returned and reported his findings. There was another tunnel system below, but this one looked much rougher and older.
More discussion ensued, and despite reservations, the party decided to proceed downwards. Twitch again avoided the ooze as he climbed downwards, but the rest of the party distastefully slid through it. They advanced through the rough-cut tunnels, and quickly found a pair of rooms branching off to either side. Splay bravely threw open the doors, and the half dozen unarmored kobolds inside launched an attack. While Splay and Bayne blocked the tunnel and fought kobolds, Twitch went across the hallway and investigated that door. Despite protests, he opened it to find six more kobolds inside. Lee-Fei and Rain dashed into this room to help Twitch, and soon both rooms were cleared of enemies. Moving forward, the group found yet another room, this one on their right. Splay and Lee-Fei opened the doors and began to fight the kobolds inside. Twitch, yet again, investigated further ahead. Unfortunately, this time he found a large meeting room filled with kobolds.
There were several unarmored and a few armored kobolds, all watching the doorway. They rushed Twitch, and before anyone farther back in the tunnels could react, he took heavy damage from their daggers. He tried to run, but ended up unconscious and bleeding on the floor. Splay and Lee-Fei were still dealing with the previous room, so Bayne and Rain moved up to protect Twitch. Despite some tricky moments, they managed to get Twitch back on his feet. Splay and Lee-Fei came up around this time and began to fight the rest of the kobolds. Truls helped out by firing magic missiles into the fray. Twitch suddenly noticed a tiny snake retreating into an alcove leading off of the main room, and went to check it out. He was met with a ray of frost shooting by his head. A kobold wearing a thin red robe was there, guarded by two other armored kobolds. Twitch and Bayne attempted to deal with this threat, Twitch by tumbling into the room and Bayne by rushing by the guards, but both took hits. Bayne was badly wounded and barely on his feet when Rain, finished with the other kobolds, tumbled through the guards and struck them down from behind. The robed kobold was an easy kill after that, and it was all over but the looting.
At this point, the group decided to rest for the evening. They were all damaged to some extent, so Bayne went through the remainder of his healing spells bringing everyone back up. The party retreated to the upper level, finding a previously unnoticed ladder up to the first level. The brief glimpses of the sky above, seen through grates, showed that night had fallen.
