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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Zad" data-source="post: 2885039" data-attributes="member: 90">Life's Bazaar - Chapter 6Life’s Bazaar – Chapter 6OOC Notes:Experience is 875xp, and we earned every point.This Week’s Adventure:Everyone was breathing heavy and spattered in blood. Well, everyone but me that is – not as if I actually got *involved* or anything. But they couldn’t even stop to catch their breath or, as they desperately wanted, to retreat and rest. The cat was out of the bag, the alarm raised, and the children, if they were still here, were in danger of being lost.They formed ranks and moved off towards where the hobgoblin had run to raise the alarm, with Krisfallion casting healing spells with the wand as they ran. They came into a large central hall with several doors, including one open one. The hall had once been quite opulent and seemed intended to impress visitors. At one end were large ornamental doors made of carved malachite. They jogged up to the open door ready to fight, but the room – some kind of barracks, was empty. Once close to the barracks, they could hear the familiar ringing strikes of hammer on anvil. The thick stone doors did a lot to deaden sound but the commotion was recognizable even so.So loud was it that the hobgoblins and goblins in the forge didn’t even notice when the group opened the door and entered. Goblins worked at a large anvil with dwarf and halfling captives helping them, while a few hobgoblins stood about lazily guarding them.Astrid and Elizabeth moved in and set a line before they even noticed. The hobgoblins recklessly charged and were quickly cut down. The goblins met similar quick ends, whether from arrows or swords. Since the group was careful to block the exits, no one survived to raise an alarm.There were three captives – a female halfling named Maple, a dwarf named Sandor, and a male halfling who was terrified or tortured to the point of being nearly feral. Fortunately Maple was more rational, and better yet spoke goblin.“Kids? They brought in some human children a few days ago. They were kept separate from the other prisoners. I heard Kasmojen talking – he asked for the boy.”“Do you know where they are? Can you take us to them? And while we’re at it, can you tell us what Kasmojen is? What race?” Astrid asked.“I think they’re in the main hall with Kasmojen right now. I can take you there yes. As for Kasmojen, I have no idea. Part dwarf maybe? He’s huge though,” she said.Maple had tried to escape before and been caught, so she was not about to pass up a chance to get out now. She armed herself with weapons from the goblins and was ready to come along. The male halfling was practically paralyzed with fear, and Sandor hauled him over her shoulders and took him along bodily.Maple said that she could take us in via a secret door or through the main doors – the double doors in the hall. The group, foolishly I thought, opted for the double doors, hoping that an open area would favor them more.As they walked up to the doors, Bellsin caught sight of two peepholes being quickly shut. The doors were barred. The group threw their combined might at the doors trying to force them open but the dwarven stonework may as well have been a mountain for all the good it did.Then a voice. “Cease your attacking. We will open the door.”“This can’t be good,” said Elizabeth.No it can’t, I thought. It means either they have so much force that they’re unafraid of you, or they’re very dumb. The latter seems unlikely.There were sounds of several locks being disengaged, and then the huge portals swung silently open. Before them was a grand hall carved out of solid malachite. Four pillars held up the high ceiling, with cages of fire beetles hanging from above giving off an eerie red illumination. The back half of the room was a raised dais with broad stairs going up. In the far wall were five windows opening out onto darkness. In the center of the dais was a tall post and an iron chain was attached leading to the collar around the boy Tarem’s neck. Next to him was a… well… a… thing in full plate armor. In one hand it had a massive double-headed axe, and in the other the chain that held the boy. Nearby was a dwarf with strange yellow skin and eyes like a cat. The other children were there as well, off to the side, held by hobgoblin guards, several of which were scattered around the room. And then there was a strange four-legged creature with large quills bristling on its back. The voice boomed out from the armored figure “It is very rude of you to arrive unannounced. This is a place of business. Clearly you have business with me, so step in and we will discuss it.” Surely it was Kasmojen. And he was indeed big.The dwarf-thing objected. “This is most irregular. I am already in the midst of negotiations. There were not supposed to be other bidders. I was assured of this.”Kasmojen ignored him. “I take it from the distinct lack of sound behind you that you’ve slain a considerable number of my guards. Am I correct in this?”The group had said nothing so far. I could tell from the way they were shifting their grip that Elizabeth and Astrid were on the verge of just attacking. Kris seemed close as well.The dwarf however interrupted again. “I say… it looks like an illumien! Damaged, yes, but still it would be worth a good deal. I say Kasmojen, are they stock or are they other bidders? After we finish this negotiation for the boy, I might purchase the illumien. There is great call for his kind in the underdark.”Maris spoke. “You don’t want him. He has the Vanishing.”This brought the dwarf’s attention to her. “My you do look like a fair specimen dear. You would fetch a fine sum.”Now at this critical juncture, a rational being has to wonder what the right thing to do is. On one hand, the safety of the children was at stake, and these were slavers and should be destroyed. But at the same time, their mission was to free the children. One could easily negotiate for their release, and still likely make a profit from the adventure. I would have thought it would at least be worth exploring the latter idea, to see how much it would cost. But what I think didn’t matter much. The dwarf’s leer was enough to push Krisfallion over the edge, and the battle was on.As weapons came up, the dwarf disappeared with a pop. Kasmojen, who was faster than he looked, charged the fighters. He hit Elizabeth with a heavy blow that left a massive wound and her barely on her feet. If he could do that in one blow, it was no wonder he was willing to open the door. Kris moved behind Elizabeth and managed to heal her slightly using the magic wand, but it was nowhere near enough to protect her from dying from another blow. It was enough to keep her from sliding under though, and as the hobgoblin guards moved up on all sides, she slashed out and dropped one. Astrid swung hard at Kasmojen but the blow just bounced off his stout armor.The quill-dog charged in from the side, and bowled over Maris, leaving her bleeding an unconscious. On the other flank, hobgoblins charged in and overlooked Bellsin in the shadowy light, and the two of them went down in a tangle when he tripped over him. And then Glyph made a run across the battle trying to get to Terrem. My first thought was that he was insane. Which could be true, but was overridden by my second thought, which was that he believed he was so far gone with the Vanishing that he felt he would be dead soon regardless. By the grace of the gods, he somehow made it across the room. The dwarf appeared suddenly and tried to trip him up but couldn’t clearly see Glyph’s legs enough to make it work. Poor Terrem saw nothing more than a strange ghost coming for him and shrank away in fear.Kasmojen didn’t look at Elizabeth so much as a threat as an opportunity to build up momentum and cleave through her to Astrid. Fortunately his axe went high and he missed her – I’m quite sure that if he’d hit, it would have been the end of her life.Some of the hobgoblins were trying to get the other children out of the room. The ones that had joined the battle had found quick deaths at the hands of one sword or another. Kasmojen was unfazed and had the raw power to slaughter the entire group alone, but the quill-dog was more than pulling his own weight too as he lunged at Tzaddik and felled him too in one shot. Bellsin took a look at the scene and decided either from nobility or a sense of survival that his best hope lie in keeping the girls alive and fighting, and seeing how badly Elizabeth was still hurt, stepped in behind her with an open potion vial and managed to nearly hurl the liquid in her mouth. Her wound closed up and she was ready to fight again. He patted her on the shoulder twice and she only nodded in reply, fearing to turn away from Kasmojen for even a second.I’m definitely going to have to remember to do something nice for Bellsin someday.The girls moved in with a vengeance, but it didn’t help much. They continued to maneuver to keep Kasmojen between them and had the assistance of Maple trying to set him up, but Kasmojen was strong and well armored. Pressed as he was, Kasmojen was having difficulty making decisive attacks but he was still cutting into Astrid, who was starting to get the sense of his motions and wounding him in return.And then something odd happened. Now you must understand than when I say “something odd” it’s in the context of one walking down a city street and having a large troll fall out the sky, growl once, then turn into honey and ooze all over the sidewalk, and saying “Oh, that’s odd.”A beholder arrived. There you go. I said it. A beholder. The first thought I had was “Oh, hm, sorry, that’s just over the top. A bit too much. Should have tried for something more plausible.” I thought it was the dwarf, crafting an illusion. He’d been popping in and out of visibility and I thought this was his latest distraction. But it was just to wild to be believable.Then I looked at him. And he was terrified. The fighting stopped. The room practically froze. Guards fell. And the beholder spoke.“I have come for Terrem Kharatys. That boy should not have been taken from Cauldron. I intend to see that he is safely returned to his orphanage. You can keep the others – they are of no consequence. Come Terrem – you will be safe with me.”The hobgoblins who had been trying to take out the other children dropped what they were holding and ran in sheer panic. Kasmojen protested. “The boy is my property! You cannot take him.” Kasmojen speaking made Astrid take a swing at him, but he blocked it and riposted, wounding her again.The beholder, showing some degree of patience I would think, said “You will be compensated slavemaster. But I am taking him. He will not be harmed and will be returned to the orphanage.” From behind the beholder, a small pouch of coin flung into the room on it’s own and landed on the floor. “I said come with me, boy,” the beholder said to Terrem, still frozen in terror. A green ray lanced out from one of the eyestalks and Terrem staggered backwards a step, then he ran over to join the beholder. When he was near, the two of them disappeared.The fight was too far gone to stop now. More of the party started to circle and harass Kasmojen while the others tried to stall the quill-dog. Finally a feint drew Kasmojen out of position and Astrid landed a solid blow to his chest, denting the armor and breaking the slavemaster’s ribs. He dropped to his knees and a quick thrust ended his life.The group then swarmed over the quill-dog. The beast was tough, but it couldn’t stand alone. And unlike the hobgoblins, it hadn’t the sense to flee.They had survived, albeit just barely. The children, three of them at least, were safe. Everyone caught their breath for a few moments, and then Maple took them to the slave pens.An arched stone bridge went over a deep ravine and to the far side of a great cavern. Two statues guarded an alcove that held a door leading to an entire cell block. Maple warned them that there were two big machines that would attack anyone who did not satisfy them. As she described them, it was clear they were more gnomish digging devices. The group entered and Glyph addressed them in gnomish and told them to shut down. He quickly reached in and removed the power crystals for each and the group went into the slave pens.There were precious few captives left – most of the kidnap victims had been sold already. Only eight of the victims were still here, but as luck would have it one of them was Jasper Drundlesput, the old gnome who had been in Jazadirune when the Vanishing began.His memory was far more useful than Keygan’s. “The Spellmason – he cheated. Jazadirune is built atop a Spellweaver vault. It made it easier to make items using their ancient magic. The curse took a long time to come into play but it was quite effectie as you can see. If you can find a cleric of sufficient power, they can remove the curse – or disease. It is partly both, and can be removed by magics curing either.”“That’s it?” asked Glyph. “Why didn’t you cure yourselves then?”“We didn’t have a cleric who was that powerful you see,” Jasper mused. “And we kept getting re-infected. We didn’t understand how it was happening at the time. A cleric can most likely even purge the taint from magic items, but we didn’t know that at the time. Though I don’t think you’d find many people willing to buy them.”As the group freed the captives, Bellsin made a keen observation. “If these guys were slavers, where are the profits?”While the captives waited in a safe room, the group quickly explored the Malachite Fortress. Any remaining creature with half a brain had fled to the Underdark, so there was little danger left. Kasmojen’s quarters were easily discovered, and among the skulls and skins and other macabre items, a secret door was found leading to a large room filled with the spoils of slaving – chests full of coin, jewel encrusted horns, armor, an ornate gong, and more.Bellsin held out his arm preventing anyone from entering.“Which one of you is the mimic?”Remind me to do two nice things for Bellsin. I had completely forgotten. Judging from the Oh’s and Ah’s, I wasn’t the only one.The gong manifested a toothy mouth. “Well hello thayah. You gots the smell of mah cousin on yas.”“Yes we had the pleasure. We were able to work out an arrangement with him,” Bellsin said.“He’s a bit strange that one. Eats terrible, disgusting things, yah know.”“To each his own I suppose,” Bellsin answered. “Perhaps we can work out an arrangement with you?”“Ohhh no no no. I don’t be eatin’ no surface food. Deee-sgusting. But now, would I be correct in thinking that since you’z a-standin’ here, you must have a nice tasty dead half-troll somewhere?” The mimic’s tongue was out and slavering at the thought of Kasmojen’s body.“Why yes, yes we do,” Bellsin smiled. And a deal was made.The haul was substantial, and it took some effort to get it all out, but it was worth it. Kris suggested that they allow the freed captives to take all the copper pieces, to help them get back on their feet. It was a gesture for which the captives were most grateful.But among the treasure and belongings was a disturbing letter. It was dated six days ago, and addressed to Kasmojen in common. The tone was quite angry, and chastised him several times. The writer warned Kasmojen to ease off snatching slaves from the streets – it would be far too easy to become too successful at the job. Other people are watching and they may have to get involved. It could also attract the attention of neer-do-wells or do-gooders and that would be quite undesirable. The letter warned that if he did not slow down, the wrong sort of attention would be coming his way soon. It was signed with the logo of a flying kingfisher. Maris recognized it as the emblem of the Kingfisher Sendings messenger service.The group returned to the surface, and to the door in Keygan’s shop. Keygan was being difficult about opening it, fearing the Vanishing. Elizabeth was worn out from the whole ordeal, and whispered through the door “We have some of the people who were kidnapped with us. It would be a shame if they learned of your involve…”“Whoa whoa no need to be hasty!” Keygan said as the door opened. The victims were allowed to return to their homes, though surely the city watch would want to speak to them later. The group meanwhile took the children to the orphanage, where they were warmly welcomed. Gretchin was glad all the children were all safe, and said that Terrem had appeared some time ago. She inquired as to why he was returned in such an odd way, and alone.“Circumstances permitted his return at that time,” Elizabeth said, not giving any details about the beholder, who had apparently been true to his word.The group then went straight to the Temple of St. Cuthbert. Word had already reached the temple and Rufus was waiting for them, with Jenya joining them soon after they arrived. After thanking the group for their fine work, Jenya fixed on Glyph, who’s face was that of a man knowing his death was not long off. “Take heart, Glyphandar. I went to the Blue Crater Academy and learned of the Vanishing. I believe I can cure you of this affliction.”Jenya brought out the Star of Justice, and bade Glyph kneel to receive St. Cuthbert’s blessing. “This is going to hurt a little,” she warned. Then she hauled off and hit him in the head.The change was immediate. The power of the Saint washed over him as he lay on the floor, and the fading reversed and he was whole again. The bump on the head would take longer to heal but wasn’t likely to be fatal.“Jenya,” Elizabeth said “we would also request you meet with us and the city watch. They will surely want to know of these events, but would be far more likely to believe us if you spoke on our behalf.”“I will arrange a meeting with Captain Skellerang in the morning,” she agreed.“You should also know about the beholder,” Elizabeth said.Jenya was silent while the group told them of the circumstances of Terrem’s rescue and unusual rescuer. When they’d finished, she said “I’m not sure what to say. What you speak of is surely important, but we could not stop such a creature if we wanted to. I am not sure what to do.”“Neither are we,” Kris said. “But we thought you should know.”And with that it was over. Jenya paid the promised fee, and the group ate and drank their fill and had their remaining wounds tended to while the clerics listened in rapt attention to the tale of the adventure. The rescue was done, but there were bigger things afoot in Cauldron. Whatever it was, it wasn’t over. But that was for tomorrow.Loot:7 studded leather7 longswords7 light wood shields50 platmasterwork urgoshsuit of full plate, medium size180gpRing with three keys, malachite styleTwo pulvierizer power crystalsFrom room M-11:4 large iron keys, demon head style4225 silver450 goldsliver crescent moon pendanttwo potions darkvisionlots of glass beads (i.e. to trip someone with)2219 copper (given away)696 silver1450 copper (given away)522 gold900 silvermasterwork chain shirtmasterwork studded leathercomposite shortbow (+2 str bonus)silvered two-bladed sword180 silverdarkwood shieldlarge steel shield362 copper (given away)19 gems (M-11)ivory horn set with bloodstones2500 gold (fee from church)</blockquote>

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