Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Enchanted Trinkets Complete--a hardcover book containing over 500 magic items for your D&D games!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="amethal" data-source="post: 3894792" data-attributes="member: 22784">ContinuedScene 7 – Refugee CampJanuary 29thThe next morning, it is time to speak to Sonja, leader of the followers of Dol Dorn. The party impress on her their respect for her strength, and that they have come to see her last as they too wished to be in a position of strength before negotiating with such a powerful warrior.She appreciates the gesture and, as the position is currently five in favour and two against, she follows the position of strength and throws her lot in with the temple project.With six in favour, the party are able to use this to convince Clara and the dwarves to join as well, making it unanimous. The Temple of the Sovereign Host is a reality – or will be as soon as workers can be found to actually build it.It is at this point that the party decide they really ought to do something about the case they have carried from Gate Pass, and resolve to see Lee, the druid.Scene 8 – North HarbourJanuary 29thJudson knows that Lee lives somewhere in North Harbour, and it is easy enough to obtain directions to the druid’s distinctive lair. On the way he tells the party what little he knows about the druid. Apparently he has an affinity for water – which should be useful, since its still raining – and has close links with the local sailors. He has a squid as a companion.Lee turns out to live on a small rock, not really worthy of the name island, just off the north coast. A rickety wooden boardwalk connects the rock with the mainland. The party head cautiously across the boards, and are faced with heading down to a soggy dock area, or heading up to a cavern entrance. They decide to head up.The cavern contains some crude wooden furniture, and a bell. Jonathan rings the bell, and after a short while a man appears. He is bald, tanned and muscular, and is dressed as a fisherman. Somehow he gives the impression of great power barely contained, like a dam ready to burst.He examines the party carefully. “You must be the friends of Torrent I’ve been told to expect. I’m Lee. Please bear with me a moment. I have some other guests, who are just leaving.”Lee disappears, to emerge a few minutes later with three others. Two of them are half orcs; one is armed and equipped as a warrior, the other is wearing wizard’s robes. However, it is the third figure which captures the party’s attention. Nominally human, his body is adorned with numerous unnatural protrusions and alterations. His cheeks have teeth growing out of them. His arms have tentacles attached to them. His left hand has a half formed eye growing out of it that glows occasionally.(Later, Judson identifies him as Paradim Dogwood, an Ostaliner who runs a shop at the South Harbour called the Body Shop. He styles himself a biomancer, and sells all kinds of bodily alterations. He takes pride in the fact that he himself is a walking advertisement for his art.)“Any friends of Torrent are friends of mine,” says Lee once his guests have left. “What can I do for you?”“We have brought a certain item down from Gate Pass,” says Solsus, careful not to give too many details. “It is of interest to the Resistance, but we are not sure who to deliver it to.”Lee says nothing for a minute or so, as he weighs up various alternatives in his mind. Eventually he reaches a decision. “The best person would be Simeon, head of the Lyceum. He’s part of the resistance, and the de facto leader of Seaquen. I hesitate to suggest him because he has a great deal on his plate at the moment, but needs must; you will have to add to his troubles.“I will write you a letter of introduction.”The party wait for Lee to write the letter, thank him for his help, and leave.They are heading for the Lyceum when they spot a crowd has gathered around a badly burnt building. They hear mutterings from the crowd. “Another burning”, “damned refugees”, “never had these fires till they came”, “who else could it be?”The party head over. The building was of wooden construction, and has been pretty much burned to the ground. They shove their way through the angry crowd, and investigate the scene. Jonathan finds tiny tracks, possibly of rats, heading away from the building. Solsus confirms they look like rat tracks, but they both lack the skill to track creatures through a city.“I can find you a tracker,” says Judson. He returns soon afterwards with a grizzled woodsman, who seems somewhat amused at the prospect of tracking rats across a town. The trail leads past some more burnt buildings and ends at a sturdy, brick built house.Jonathan knocks on the door, which is eventually opened by a middle aged human woman. “Can I help you?” she asks.“Do you know anything about rats?” asks Jonathan.“Its about time!” declares the woman. “We’ve complained and complained to the council, and nothing has been done. Our cellar is overrun with rats. Nasty, vicious creatures. What are you going to do about them?”The party get the woman to lead them to the cellar. She throws open the trap door, and they peer inside. Keen eyes Solsus can see best in the gloom. The cellar floor is indeed awash with rats. They are entering and leaving via holes in the walls. However, what everyone notices is that the rats’ teeth are giving off fiery sparks.Solsus and Jonathan confer. There are tales of fiery monsters from Fernia, the Sea of Fire, which sometimes find their way into the world to wreak havoc. However, these creatures are reputed to consist largely of living flame, which is far more impressive than a few sparks.Meanwhile, Agatha has identified that the rats are confined largely to the floor of the cellar. She amuses herself by hurling bolts of eldritch energy at them. Many of them are slain; the few survivors disappear into their holes.The party decide to head back to their lodgings at Vett’s. Maybe the wizard can shed some light on the mystery.On the way, Jonathan notices that a member of the town watch was staring at them in an unusual way. He points this out to the others. Once they round a corner, Solsus disappears from sight and heads back to the guard to see if there is a clue to his strange behaviour. He notices that the guard is heading after the party, a puzzled expression on his face. He reports back to the others, who decide to confront the man.The guard turns the corner, and finds himself face to face with those he was following. He gives a start.“Can we help you?” asks Gribron.“No, I mean yes, I mean maybe,” says the guard. “What I mean is, I think someone is looking for you. A woman gave me your description, asked me to keep an eye out. Jess, her name was. She was really nice.”The party thank the guard, and decide to do a bit of information gathering. It turns out that a number of people had been asked by “that nice woman Jess” to watch out for the party. Jess is apparently staying with the Auyang family, a group of wealthy merchants. Gribron gets the impression there is something odd about some of their informants, but he can’t put his finger on it.Deciding it’s a problem for another day, they carry on to Vett’s house.Scene 9 – LyceumJanuary 29thVett is entertained by their tales of strange fires, and rats who generate sparks, but at first he can spread no light on the mystery.“Could it be the result of some concentration of magic?” asks Solsus. “Fire magic, for instance?”The wizard thinks for a moment. “Now you come to mention it, there are ancient tales of a wizard known as Pyromancer. He came to Seaquen, apparently because of a link to the Sea of Fire. He died here, and according to legend his tomb was built on that rift.“Nobody knows where his tomb is supposed to lie. I suppose if the rift did exist, it might be possible for rats living there to take on some fiery qualities. It would take a long time, and there have been no stories of such rats before.”“So maybe there’s been some activity in the tomb, which has driven out the rats?” suggests Solsus.“Its possible,” says Vett, “but I can’t think who or what would be digging around in the Pyromancer’s tomb after all these years.”</blockquote>

Verification