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Message: <blockquote data-quote="amethal" data-source="post: 3674401" data-attributes="member: 22784">Act 2 – Retrieving the Case (continued)Scene 4 - The Streets, Free City of Gate PassJanuary 1st, 8 amThe others meet Caryk outside the Temple of Olladra, and are surprised to see he is accompanied by a creature looks something like a cross between a lioness and a human female. She is wearing a chain shirt, and a longsword hangs at her side. Another unlikely looking magic user.“This is Ambar,” said Caryk, making introductions. She has some information regarding the elves. She’ll share it with us if we help her escape from the city.”“What kind of information?” asks Jonathan.“I don’t know. I thought it would be easier if she told us all at the same time,” replies Caryk.Ambar seems a bit nervous at addressing such a disparate bunch of people. “Late yesterday evening, I saw a group of elves head towards the elf ghetto. They were carrying a heavy metal case.”“That’s all you know?” snorts Caryk. “We know more than that ourselves. We know they were heading for a carpenter’s shop in the ghetto. Still, a deal is a deal, so you can tag along with us. Once we get that case back we’ll be heading out of the city.”“Right, let’s head for the elves’ grotto,” says Gribron.“It’s a ghetto, not a grotto, you idiot!” says Jonathan.Our heroes head east along Emelk Way, through the gate and into the next district, bickering as they go. Even sharp eyed Caryk fails to spot that once again they are being followed by a suspicious looking bird.The elf ghetto is easy to spot, as it is surrounded by a twenty foot high wooden wall, decorated with carvings of mythical creatures. There do not appear to be any gates in the wall.Solsus flies up to see if there are any gates which are obvious from the inside. He notes that the ghetto has suffered some fire damage, but not much, and that there are elf children playing in the streets. Any gates are as well disguised on the inside as they are on the outside.“Did you see anything?” asks Agatha when he returns.“You can see him?” queries Gribron.“Yeah, he’s over there.”“I couldn’t find any gates,” says Solsus. “Of course, I can just fly in.”“I could climb over the wall easily enough,” says Agatha. “But the elves might take exception to that.”Gribron decides to ask passers by if they know of any entrances. The second person he asks is able to point out roughly where he’d sometimes seen elves come out, and Gribron is able to find the secret door, and the mechanism to open it. It appears this is not what the coded note they took from Shealis was referring to.Solsus flies up again, and notes a clear area the other side of the door. Then he comes back down.“There are children playing in the streets. They might see you as you go through the gate. Do you want me to distract them?”“I don’t think that will be necessary,” says Caryk. “Why don’t you fly up and see if anyone spots our entrance.”“Okay, I’ll wave if anything happens,” says Solsus, then stops himself. “No, that won’t work, as you can’t see me.”“I can see you,” says Agatha.Solsus blushes, and flies quickly away.“Can you really see him?” asks Gribron. “What’s he doing now?”“He’s putting his trousers on,” replies Agatha matter-of-factly. “Its just as well we didn’t get him to distract the children.”Scene 5 – The Elf Ghetto, Free City of Gate PassJanuary 1st, 9 amGribron eases open the secret door, then allows Caryk to go first into the ghetto. Per Shealis’s map, the carpenter’s shop is somewhere in the north east corner, so that’s where they head.They receive a few unfriendly stares, but no one challenges them. “These elves must be akin to wasps, or is it bees?” says Caryk. “Once you are inside their nest they assume you are supposed to be there, and they don’t bother you.”The carpenter’s shop, when they reach it, is bizarre. Its “front door” and “windows” have simply been painted on. However, it is more than just an empty box because smoke is rising from the chimney. Solsus spots the real entrance, a side door painted (of course!) to look like bricks. There is a rat rooting around in the alley way, but it scurries away when Ambar approaches it hungrily.This door has a carving of a winged woman with a trumpet, a muscular man with a lion’s head, and an armoured woman with a gleaming greatsword. Jonathan’s eyes turn blue for a second. “Archon, Leonal and Eladrin,” he says. “Per Shealis’s note, we need to press the Eladrin (Arborea), then the Leonal (Elysium) and finally the Archon (Celestia).” He sounds supremely confident in his knowledge, but for some reason allows Gribron the honour of testing out the theory. He may be influenced by Gribron’s discovery that the door comes complete with a poison needle trap.Gribron follows Jonathan’s advice, and opens the door without incident. The downstairs floor is just one room, with a staircase leading upwards. A trio of golden furred badgers look up as Gribron enters, and snarl at him. Unperturbed, Gribron pulls some coloured sand out of his pouch and gestures at the badges. A vivid cone of clashing colours springs forth from his hand, engulfing the creatures. Two of them collapse under the sensory assault, but the third shrugs it off and rushes forwards.Jonathan enters the room behind Gribron, and stops the badger in its tracks with a fiery burst of energy. An acrid, burning smell fouls the air.Agatha, Ambar and Solsus try to put the unconscious badgers out of their misery, but even in this helpless state the tough beasts are hard to kill. Meanwhile, Caryk clomps up the stairs to investigate the upper floor.He find three elves are waiting for him. Two of them fire arrows at him; one shot bounces off his tough hide, but the other buries itself in his shoulder. Then the third elf steps forward, and slashes Caryk’s other shoulder with his longsword.Seeing the tortle’s plight, Solsus flies up the stairs and tries to touch him with some healing magic. Unfortunately, just as he does so Caryk moves to attack the sword wielding elf, and Solsus fails to make enough contact to trigger the spell. Caryk’s attempt to punch the elf likewise ends in failure.Gribron moves up behind Caryk, and reproduces the spell he used to such good effect on the badgers. Caryk is within the spell’s area, but manages to close his eyes in time and suffers no ill effects. However, he elects to feign injury, and deliberately slumps to the floor. He is accompanied to the floor by the elf he was fighting, who has been knocked unconscious by Gribron’s potent magic. The two archers instinctively close their eyes during the extra second it takes the cone of colours to reach them, and the spell has no effect on them. Gribron has a fair bit of knowledge about the city, and recognises that these are Shahalesti elves, rather than locals.Jonathan is next up the stairs. Flinging back his hood, he glowers at the elves. “Cower, brief mortals,” he booms. One of the long-lived elves is amused by such a demand from what appears to be a human, but Jonathan’s words appear to strike a chord with his partner, who looks visibly shaken.The crowded stairway does not faze Agatha. She simply walks along the wall instead, and looses a blast of eldritch energy at one of the elves. It staggers, but remains standing. She hears the sound of Ambar casting a spell, and Ambar then climbs up the stairs to stand behind Gribron.One of the elves drops his bow, and draws his sword. His partner, still shaken, looses off an arrow at Gribron. It hits, more by luck than judgement. Gribron tries to cast an enchantment on the other elf, but elves are resistant to such magics and it has no effect. Deciding discretion is the better part of valour, Gribron squeezes back past Ambar. The elf with the sword sees his opportunity, but his swing goes wide.Jonathan moves past Ambar and Gribron, and strikes the elf with his staff. The blow connects, and the already wounded elf collapses. Caryk, seeing the immediate danger has passed, climbs to his feet and closes with the remaining elf.The sole surviving elf drops his bow, moves to draw his longsword, then thinks better of it. “I surrender,” he says.“We accept,” says Caryk. “Be merciful,” he says to his comrades. Solsus moves in and takes the elf’s remaining weapons.Surprisingly, the elf then collapses to the floor. Blood is flowing from his ears and nose, and he is clearly dead. Everyone turns to look at Jonathan. “He must have been more badly injured than it first appeared,” says Jonathan casually. “Anyway, the one Gribron floored with his spell is still alive. Let’s tie him up before he recovers consciousness.”The party search the room while they wait for their prisoner to come round. They find an unlocked chest containing exactly a hundred platinum pieces, but no other treasure. They also find a metal case. It has no obvious lock, but will not open. There’s clearly a spell of some sort on it, but none of the group are able to determine its nature.There is also a set of brand new carpenter’s tools. Jonathan claims them for himself, then looks them thoughtfully. Moving towards the nearest dead elf, he uses the tools to carry out a crude autopsy, while his companions look on with growing disquiet.“If you want to live forever, its important to find out as much as you can about the body’s workings,” says Jonathan. At some point during the second autopsy the remaining elf wakes up. Jonathan refuses to be hurried, and only moves on to questioning the prisoner when the operation is complete.“What’s in the case?” he asks casually.The elf seems willing to co-operate. “I’m not really sure. Plans for some sort of weapon, apparently.”“How do you open it?”“No idea.”“Why did you steal it from the resistance?”The elf looks at him in a condescending manner. “You do know where you are, right? This is Gate Pass, where the Empire, the Shining Land and the Resistance all meet. Everyone spies on everybody else. The case looked valuable, we saw a chance to take it, so we did. Its all part of the Great Game.”The party leave him tied up, and set off in search of the enchanter Diogenes. Perhaps he can help them open the case.Scene 6 – The College of War (again), Free City of Gate PassJanuary 1st, 11 amEarlier, Caryk had suggested to Diogenes that he take shelter in the Temple of Olladra. However, he is not there so the party head for the College of War.When they get there, they realise an angry crowd has gathered at the gates. The people are upset that the evokers of the “so-called College of War” have disappeared, abandoning the city in its hour of need. The party, none of whom look much like wizards, mingle with the crowd.Diogenes emerges from the College, sits down by the gates, and calmly lights a cigarette. “I understand your concerns,” he says conversationally. The crowd have to quieten down in order to hear what he is saying. “Gabal and the evokers are a bunch of cowards.” Then he spots the distinctive figure of Caryk. “I’ll speak to a delegation from the crowd,” he says. “How about you,” he points at Caryk, “and you others.” He points at the rest of the group.Once safely back indoors, Caryk shows Diogenes the case. “Its arcane locked,” says the enchanter.“That’s obvious,” retorts Gribron. “What we want to know if the name of the spell that’s locking it.”“Arcane lock is the name of the spell,” says Diogenes patiently. “And it was cast by a powerful mage.”“So is there any way of opening it?” asks Caryk.“Not unless you throw it off the top of a tall building a couple of times,” replies Diogenes.The party don’t think much of that plan. “Then I guess we’ve done as much as we can,” says Caryk, “and all that remains for us to do is to transport the case to the Resistance in Seaquen. Do you know of any way out of the city, Diogenes?”“Personally, I’m going to stay here and give the inquisitors something to worry about,” he replies. “I suggest you go and see Councillor Erdan Menash. He might be able to help.”“Good idea,” says Caryk. “Torrent mentioned him. He’s the Resistance’s contact on the council.”The Ragesians won’t have any trouble dealing with the Resistance members in Gate Pass, thinks Solsus, since everybody seems to know who they are.Act 3 – Escaping the CityScene 1 – Erdan’s Mansion, Free City of Gate PassJanuary 1st, 12 pmCouncillor Erdan’s mansion is east of the ghetto, not far from the 90 foot high statue of the Emperor. The outer walls are painted a delightful mix of green, yellow and purple, and the disgruntled gate guards are forced to wear tabards of the same colours.Erdan is at a council meeting when the party arrives, so the guards ask them to wait in the grounds. Erdan returns home soon afterwards, and is surprised to have guests. He quickly recovers his composure, and is soon showing them his collection of exotic and unlikely weaponry, whilst bemoaning the fact that the new year celebrations have been cancelled.“I have a massive bear mask I was going to put on the Emperor’s statue,” he complains, “but goodness knows what I am going to do with it now.”[Third session ends, and nobody asks about XP. I can’t decide if that’s a good sign or a bad sign. For what its worth, there were only supposed to be two elves in the carpenter’s shop, but since the party is now up to six(!) members, I added a third. This means that I’ll have to calculate the EL myself, and the whole point of using a published adventure was so I wouldn’t have to!]</blockquote>

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