Night, Kelehess 27th(29 days total, 16 days until the New Moon)
For a KissGiers, Hulda, Portia and Kaylan fled the flooded dungeon beneath Blackdelve. It was night when they surfaced, with only the distant lanterns of the watchmen roaming a darkened city. Taking to the shadowy streets, they made for the camp, but along the way Giers and Kaylan drew the attention of a wandering drunk. He stumbled out of an alley, even as the rest of the group held their breaths in anticipation of what might come of all this.
Kaylan greeted the man who, after giving her a good look, demanded a kiss. She resigned herself to giving him one after several overbearing comments, but never got the chance. Giers, who read the Norsman's body language more than understood the spoken language, leaned in and gave the man a peck on the lips. He fell to his ass, dumbfounded, as the pair fled giggling into the night. Angry and insecure, the drunk cried out for the guard, claiming he'd been attacked. As Hulda emerged from a tall hedge, she bonked him on the head and sent him into dreamland, even as the glow of guard lanterns swiftly approached.
ThamiorThe group reunited with their wayward companion Jeda, passed out face-first in the smoldering campfire after what looked like a very long day for her. Kaylan tried to rouse her with some amount of trouble.
Everyone was hardly settled before a disembodied voice asked if they were the missing children of Atha. Giers demanded this voice show himself. A feladrin slowly stepped out of the shadows of the woods with expert stealth, a surprising sight so far south, much less in the Kingdom. The elf insisted they give him their names, half-knowing already that they were the missing sons and daughters of Atha. And so they were, confirmed by Giers' offer of his title, though Portia despised being called a child and Kaylan didn't look too fond of the label, either. Jeda couldn't help poking a little fun at the newcomer (once she was up), remarking how she thought ice elves melted this far south. The elf, whose name was Thamior, hardly seemed perturbed. In fact he was very formal, even calling the girls "Lady" this and "Lady" that.
Thamior explained no one in the north had the slightest idea what had happened to the group. He had been sent south for any signs. Though relieved to find so many of the group, his main quarry was Takeshi, son of his organization's Shoto. Giers grimly informed him the elf had fallen.
The meet and greet was cut short then, as the drunk had apparently been roused and explained a giant had clocked him after a bird boy pecked him. Lanterns approached, along with barking dogs, and it was only a matter of time until the scent was picked up. Portia slipped off with sausages from the Screaming Caves storeroom.
The HoundsShe met the hounds and ten guards near the vacant farmer's market, using links to throw off their trail. It worked for the moment, though before Portia had a chance to lead them any further away from the camp, Kaylan, and then Jeda, decided to take care of things themselves. The loud tiefling issued a challenge from the roadside, one which drew the ire of all search party.
The boggart made a rash decision and revealed herself, attracting the four bloodhounds and their handlers. The lot of them flew off into the woods, followed by a concerned Kaylan who was then followed by a concerned Giers, who was then followed by a fleeing Jeda. Kaylan successfully distracted Portia's chasers, who wheeled back around for her, even as Jeda kited a stream of guards from her end. The cleric, warlord and paladin were sandwiched in the woods.
But not all of Jeda's pursuers made it through. Four were suddenly ambushed by Thamior and Hulda, both of whom had taken cover to launch an ambush.
Provian GuardThe watchmen were in fact House Guard loyal to Bertrum, as told by their crow standard tunics. They wielded halberds that doubled as lantern staves. And with alarming skill. During the initial battles both in the woods and on the road, the guard proved themselves a very real threat. Kaylan attempted to reason with them, even warning of the dangers of drow and dragon, but all of it fell on deaf ears. The Norsmen had found monsters and there was little that would sway them now, especially when these monsters were fighting back.
Fury of the NorthThamior and Hulda, having no stomach for mercy, fought back to back against the Kingdomites with growing ferocity. The ice elf with his arcane-licked sword and powers of teleportation moved his enemies like game pieces and overwhelmed them with carefully focused power. Hulda, on the other hand, released all focus and let the storm of her jotun heritage take hold. Together they destroyed the opposition, the last guard so terribly it sent his head flying off and all the way into the battle in the woods.
Scare tactics aside, the guards were already close to breaking, as Portia had swooped down from the trees with the last links of sausage and stuffed them in a guard's pants. The dogs went mad over it, leaping and tearing into their former master, eating him alive. Jeda pounced on one man and tore his throat out with her bare teeth. Giers killed another and reduced a sole surrenderer to tears, only to kick and beat him as the man curled into a ball. Even Kaylan, in her divine fury, burned men alive and sent them screaming like living bonfires into the dark of the wood.
The HorrorIn a moment of grizzly realization, the cleric shouted for everyone to stop. In the name of Kalinda they were acting the part of monsters, the fearful creatures the Nors were so certain non-humans were. She stumbled back, even as Jeda continues to gnaw on the pouring jugular of her guard, even as the paladin gave another kick to the man's face for good measure, even as Hulda hugged her gore-soaked maul and Portia watched the dogs rip the last of the guard's intestines from his belly.
Overwhelmed with a sudden urge to flee, Kaylan made for the eastern woods, but Hulda would have nothing of it, throwing the half-elf over her shoulder. To her credit, Kaylan did manage to make the giantess feel... a little sullied for what she'd done. After some debate, and the sight of more lantern lights streaming down from the city's central hill, the group decided to make for Jeda's discovered safe house: The Mummy's Hand.
Return to The Mummy's HandThey fled through the dark streets of Provia, narrowly dodging watchmen and onlookers alike. On the steps of The Mummy's Hand, Jeda frantically knocked to be allowed in. A slot opened in the door and Abum's dull voice asked the password. Jeda spoke it and the slot closed... Nothing.
Meanwhile, four guards with lanterns explored the street up ahead, checking alleys and doorsteps. They eventually caught sight of the group and began moving toward them, shouting to stay there. Portia began fiddling with the door, trying to unlock it, but just when it seemed the guards would reach them, Abum opened the door. The group flooded in, while he dealt with the curious guards with a pouch of coins.
Though old hat to Jeda, the others were struck by the potent gray fog that was the combined smoke of opium, herb and tobacco. So strong, it knocked most the group into a different state of mind, even as they trailed the tiefling in the haze. She led them past hookah coals like small suns, with faces like so many planets ringed around it, dozens and dozens, and to a bar. There a hunched, little woman named Ms. Beetle sat.
Beetle knew how desperate the group was to remain low key, and charged them accordingly for two rooms, some drinks and a promised meal. She seemed to enjoy making Jeda squirm a bit and pay through the nose. That is, until her boss arrived.
DieterDieter, just back from his meeting, welcomed the group with smooth refinery. He was a tall, dashing Norsman with an easy smile. Dieter wasted little time wrapping his arms around Jeda, who looked smitten with him. He set Ms. Beetle straight, sending her scurrying away to fix their meals personally. Taking stock of the group, he smiled, and kissed each woman's hand accordingly, offering his humble services if they required. He barely noticed Giers, however, and outright have the stink eye to Thamior. The two of them being high as they were, they didn't mind quite as much.
Dieter escorted the group to the upstairs rooms, accessed behind a bookcase. He promised their meals would come soon, then asked if any of them needed a whore, sex toy or mind-alterers. They by and large declined, where upon he asked the blushing Hulda if she was sure. This angered Giers enough to get between the pair and in Dieter's face. Before the paladin could say much, though, Dieter landed a steamy kiss on the ethrey. Then he laughed and walked downstairs, leaving everyone either laughing or dumbfounded.
Kaylan, having a bad feeling about all this, entered a room.
Room for TroubleBut rooms could never be easy for this collection. Giers at first slipped into Kaylan's room and, after finding he wasn't getting any tonight, decided it best to sleep with Hulda in case Dieter tried anything funny. Jeda flat out warned whoever was sleeping in her room would likely be kept up all night by the raucous sex she and Dieter would be having, which prompted a small fiasco as to who would bunk with her. The tiefling chuckled as she went downstairs. Eventually Kaylan poked her head out of her room and welcomed both Portia and Thamior into her room.
But it didn't end there. She wanted Portia and Thamior to each take the beds, while she slept in a bedroll on the floor. Thamior would hear nothing of it, deciding to "sleep" in a chair. Kaylan stubbornly unfurled her bedroll and slept on the floor anyway, all the while the confused Portia considering pushing both beds together and giving herself a queen-sized.
The half-elf couldn't help watching Thamior as he entered the trance that elves enter in lieu of sleep. Her mind began to wander toward... other things... and she eventually got up and went downstairs to walk it off. Portia slipped out of bed long enough to move Kaylan's bedroll onto one of the beds, baffled by some people.
Did He Say... The Hand of Doom?!?Dieter was sitting alone at the bar when Jeda joined him. After a little small talk, she revealed they were going to start a fire and hit the church tomorrow morning. He deadpanned and grabbed her by the shoulders, ordering her not to. Jeda got a little jaded and shrugged him off, asking why.
He reluctantly informed the tiefling that The Hand was taking advantage of a rare boon. Some great magical disturbance in the ruins of an inn outside the city had drawn the majority of the Provian Inquisition away to investigate. The Hand would strike at the heart of the government tomorrow night, Crowperch Estates, while its top mage killers and divine agents were gone, toppling House Bertrum and replacing it with Hand agents in disguise. When the majority of the Provian Inquisition returned, they would be killed quietly by the usurpers and also replaced, ensuring Hand control of the forest power center.
However, if Jeda and her friends started fires tomorrow and infiltrated the Church of Nor, it might alert authorities to something suspicious and jeopardize the Hand's attack. He forbade Jeda again from attacking the Church, but before she could muster much of a reply, Kaylan joined them.
She caught the tail end of the conversation, and what she heard alarmed her, specifically "Hand of Doom". As Dieter excused himself to check on their food, Kaylan and Jeda debated over Dieter and The Hand of Doom. Eventually it was decided they would simply ask Dieter about it and see just who knew what was really going on.
CuriosityKaylan and Jeda took the secret passage into the kitchen (because apparently everything in The Mummy's Hand is behind a secret door) and were startled to find goblins! The filthy crosses between hairless pygmies and frogs clattered pans, spat curses and flung ingredients. On seeing the two girls, they flung food and hit them square in the faces.
Kaylan was repulsed, but Jeda angrily compared the goblins to the two of them, non-humans, in Nors eyes the same type of "monster". Looking about, they found a cellar door, the only place Dieter could have gotten to. Peering down inside, Jeda called to her love...
Two violet eyes open in the darkness, looking eerie and disembodied. "Oh?"
Jeda sighs, "Oh, there you are." And crosses her arms. "Yeesh, what's with the disappearing act? It's like you're avoiding me now."
Kaylan frowns from the top of the stairs. "Yeah... Why don't you come up and we can talk about drow and The Hand of Doom."
Ispar's voice sharpens. "You're too clingy, Jeda, and your friends are too well-informed..."
His eyes narrow, just as another pair of eyes open, and another, and another, and another and another...
Experience: 250 each (
8,328 total)
Magic: None
Loot (unclaimed):- 10 medium chainmail suits,
- 10 halberds,
- 10 crossbows,
- 200 crossbow bolts,
- 10 Provian Guard finery (dark green and white tunics with a black raven standard on the breast),
- 10 whistles,
- 10 brass keys of exactly the same make,
- 1 pipe,
- 1 pouch of cherry tobacco,
- 1 pewter flask of Heathring Shine (moonshine)
Money: 450 gp off the guards (75 gp each)
PCs:
Thamior, Feladrin Swordmage: Sent to retrieve the missing group or aid them in any way he can with the hopes of eventually escorting them back
NPCs:Provian Guards, watchmen and halberdiers tasked with patrolling the city; loyal to the ruling House Bertrum, as marked by their crow standards
Provian Hounds, bloodhounds trained to track and attack... but apparently have a weakness for old sausage
Organizations: House Bertrum, The Hand of Doom
House Bertrum: The ruling family of Provia, House Bertrum is in control of all manner of leadership, government and large enterprise in the forest city. Lorded by Kasimir Bertrum, a cruel, bed-ridden old codger whose refusal to die has infuriated many, but whose sharp wit and merciless cunning has kept him alive and secure and, most importantly, undisputed master of his domain. He rules from on top Provia's central hill at the family's Crowperch Estates, where the city guard barracks are also located (for many reasons). In his eighty-five years of life, he's sired dozens of children, who in turn have sired dozens of grandchildren, and perhaps hundreds of great-grandchildren. His family is enormous and with the finite number of prominent positions in the small city, it's not hard to find a relative working even a local shop as cruel landlord or arrogant owner. Many are even guards. The House emblem is a crooked black crow, sometimes with dangling entrails in its beak, othertimes strangling a gnarled branch. Of the four most prominant Kingdom Houses, Bertrum is the least, but perhaps the most numerous, the captains of the timber industry.
