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Post by Dead Greyhawk on Sept 4, 2005 22:48:29 GMT -5
The Company of the Blue Sun takes it leave of Lord Morgan. They pay Diego and Pavel to continue traveling with them for the next month. The Company voyages to Saltmarsh with the excise men and charter a boatride to Longspear with Captain Smithson, Ben's uncle. Cedrus leaves the Company in Saltmarsh to train with Elowyna while Jasper is left to train with Serrin's order at the manor house. The Company learns that Serrin is somewhere in the southern Yeomanry on the business of his order. Winthrop recovers his wand from Chumley.
The trip to Longspear is without remark, though long. The remainder of the coinage is deposited at Gringold's. Tensions in the city are high between merchant houses, with street violence being common. Gringold will only let Dell see the books on Morningstar Inn. (Dell, check your personal messages.) This irritates the Company to no end.
Otto hears of the death of a famous personage in Farvale. Apparently a long wake and funeral is underway and all Farvalians are asked to come pay their respects.
Rumors of humanoids in the mountains and the hills to the west continue. Winthrop scries the Nerull painting and finds a diffuse increase in Nerullite activity to the west as well. No large temples like before, but possibly the presence of many priests and worshippers.
Morningstar Inn still stands and does a regular business with army patrols and caravans. Winthrop visits town for supplies for scrolls and to talk with the Silent One, who is interesting in seeing the Necton Fragments. The others go looking for trouble in the surrounding hills, but do not find it. Dell meets with the lord of Longspear and is delayed, to return the next day.
The night of Winthrop's return, two travelers in the Inn suddenly toss a table at the Innkeep. The Company, who are relaxing without their armor to hand, thinks the brawlers have picked the wrong place for a fight, especially when Max immediately holds both of them in place. The doors then blow open and the Company realizes they are being assaulted as a pack of spiders charge into the room, followed by an axe wielding, platemail clad man.
As the unarmored Company struggle to fight, archers join the battle. The spiders turn out to be poisonous and even a lightning bolt from Winthrop does not fell the warrior. Otto is quickly cut down, but a quick spell from Max holds an archer and the spider's master. The spiders quick scurrying plays havoc with the archers and they are remarkably resilient. Winthrop sleeps one of them. Pavel is able to slay the held archer while Otto is brought conscious. He and Pavel slay the spiders' master.
All seems well when Max's hold spell ends and the two ruffians that started the brawl are revealed to be very competent. Diego and Max are both slain and Pavel is knocked unconscious. Winthrop webs the entire area as Otto runs for his life. Raven kills the last active spider, but not before being bitten. As he falls unconscious, Winthrop dimension doors him to the corridor where Otto ran to.
Otto pours Raven's elixir of health into him and binds his wounds. Raven is brought conscious. After cladding in armor and having spells cast upon them, Winthrop uses Minor Globe to rip a tunnel to one of the webbed brawlers. With Foebiter and Raven's arrows, the man is quickly slain. Winthrop attempts to move through the top of the webbing and is confronted by the remaining spider. Winthrop strikes true several times, but Raven and Otto rip the spider through the webbing and slay it.
The remaining brawler surrenders and is bound. Pavel is found outside, hidden in the stables. He claims to have struggled up the chimney and out the hillside. He appears sorely wounded but refuses treatment. The innkeep and the stablehands are alive, though sorely beaten. Six horses, a heavy, two medium, and three light, are tied across the field from the entrance.
Karmuk, the captive, tells how he and his men were hired by Turrock the Spider to slay the Company of the Blue Sun. Turrock had directions to this place, apparently the same directions that had been left behind numerous places by the Company. Turrock had promised a large payment and provided half to them before leaving.
Karmuk and his men operated out of the Duchy of Geoff and he admits under duress to have worked for a slaver named Feetla, a fell river pirate. Turrock was an underling of Feetla's and a fearsome man.
Karmuk is willing to answer any questions in return for a guarantee of his life.
Turrock is carrying two letters, carefully folded and hidden.
Letter 1
Letter 2
All of the horses are brought within the Inn and Winthrop wizard-locks the doors. The Innkeeper and the hired help aid as they can in providing food and comfort while the Company recovers.
Winthrop also detects magic on the assassins' belongings. The following items are found to be magical. None of them are touched directly for fear of damage.
Platemail worn by Turrock
Ringmail worn by Karmuk
Ringmail worn by Marbreau (the other brawler)
Turrock's Battle Axe
Turrock's Longsword
Turrock's Boots
Turrock's Ring
Marbreau's Ring
Marbreau's Longsword
Karmuk's Battle Axe
Karmuk's Boots
Karmuk claims his axe is a fell and powerful weapon, enchanted beyond par, and that his boots allowed him to fly upwards. The ringmail was provided by Turrock as part of the deal. The equipment of the archers is all mundane, though of good quality. The spiders do, indeed, wear collars.
Diego's corpse contains a 1,000 GP Diamond, 5 500 GP Rubies, 8 300 GP Sapphires, 80 PP, and 10 GP. It also contains a potion (which one I'm not sure at this writing).
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Post by Dead Greyhawk on Sept 5, 2005 9:14:34 GMT -5
Max's corpse has no cash on it outside of a few silver coins. As I recall, his share so far has been his freedom.
There's 11,800 GP and a 200 GP gem at Gringold's. I believe this is what remains of the ton of gold that was given by Lord Morgan.
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Post by Wolfgar on Sept 5, 2005 9:37:53 GMT -5
Well Diego certainly has the money to pay for the raising. Max should have a discount from the fact that he is a priest of Pelor but we will have dip into the company funds for him. I think that it is worthwhile since we are unlikely to able to recruit another cleric quickly and who know when Cedrus will rejoin us.
We should hold up at the Inn until Dell returns. That will give time for Winthrop to memorize spells. We can store all of the assassins' stuff behind the secret door since we are not going to have time to identify any of it yet. When Dell arrives we can pack up the recently deceased and take them to Longspear. Even after raising Max and Diego we will need a couple of weeks for them to recuperate. Do we want to wait that long before heading to Flen and the Black Lotus? I would hate to miss a chance to take out SK (San?). The priests of Pelor can probably heal the rest of us immediately for a nominal donation - we are after all fighting slavers. If we can induce Pavel to join us in Flen for a little payback I say we head there immediately. Even without him the four of us should be able to take on whoever is there - now that we have armor.
While we are waiting for Dell we can also take care of some housecleaning - righting the inn to conceal most of the recent fighting and bloodshed, burying the dead assassins, burning the spiders (do we have anyone who uses spider's venom?). If possible I would like to do a little tracking to determine what direction they came from, see if there was a location where they were hiding while the brawlers cased the joint. I realize it was raining so that might be a little hard.
I guess if we are going to get information out of Karmuk we are going to have to release him. We want to make sure he doesn't alert anyone in Flen of the results of his mission. Maybe we can hold him in the cells until we have taken care of SK. I want to know if he knows who SK is. If he has been to the Black Lotus in Flen. Can he describe the Black Lotus? Draw a map? How soon were they supposed to alert SK about the results of the mission? Where does Feetla have his base? Where is the first half of the payment? How many men does SK have? How may men does Feetla have? Are they expecting reinforcements or has anyone else been hired to take out the Blue Sun? Who else does he know that is involved this slaving operation? Where are they located?
An aside - does anyone recall if Feetla was mentioned in the letter we got from Tenma that Dell decoded? I think it might have been signed by Markessa and Feetla.
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Post by Dead Greyhawk on Sept 5, 2005 14:38:47 GMT -5
An aside - does anyone recall if Feetla was mentioned in the letter we got from Tenma that Dell decoded? I think it might have been signed by Markessa and Feetla. The letter as translated by Dell: |
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Post by Dell on Sept 5, 2005 23:31:45 GMT -5
Just so you know... if you break any of the furniture in my inn, it comes out of your pay.
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Post by Mr. Trommer on Sept 6, 2005 8:12:31 GMT -5
I knew you would say that so I was very careful with my lightning bolt. No scorch marks this time. I didn't even burn the web.
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Post by Ginger on Sept 6, 2005 9:25:42 GMT -5
A magical Battleaxe, Al would be so pleased...if he weren't dead.
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Post by Wolfgar on Sept 6, 2005 11:24:37 GMT -5
Max's corpse has no cash on it outside of a few silver coins. As I recall, his share so far has been his freedom. There's 11,800 GP and a 200 GP gem at Gringold's. I believe this is what remains of the ton of gold that was given by Lord Morgan. I am going to donate my 2000 GP ruby to the expense of getting Max raised. He bravely healed me twice before being hacked down by one of the brawlers. It might have been smarter for him to hide and let me lie there unconscious. But it could easily have gone differently. Raven could have gone down quicker or they could have made some saving throws. |
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Post by Mr. Trommer on Sept 6, 2005 14:38:06 GMT -5
If we have to go after the Slave Lords I suggest that we might want to strart investing in some good Healing Potions or Scrolls. Give That we just faced some 8th level fighters we will take more of a beating than our two clerics can heal us up. We also probably won't have the ability to go hide someplace for a couple of days if we attack a stonghold.
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Post by Dell on Sept 6, 2005 15:07:31 GMT -5
If we have to go after the Slave Lords I suggest that we might want to strart investing in some good Healing Potions or Scrolls. Winthrop can get together with the Alchemist in Longspear and see what it would take to make potions of healing. And for scrolls, all we need is a 7th level cleric. |
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Post by Ginger on Sept 6, 2005 15:10:17 GMT -5
If we go try to re-invade the Pomarj, I suggest that we take the Priests of Tritherion up on their offer and bring along some of their guys.
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Post by Mr. Trommer on Sept 6, 2005 15:18:03 GMT -5
From the Feetla notes it seems the trail to the actual Slaves Lords is not in the Pomarj. I don't know where the gate would have taken us. Didn't we find another map at the Slaver's Stockade?
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Post by Wolfgar on Sept 6, 2005 15:51:09 GMT -5
I am pretty sure that map just led further into the mountains that run down the middle of the Pomarj - I think they are called the Drachengrab.
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Post by Wolfgar on Sept 6, 2005 15:53:36 GMT -5
If we have to go after the Slave Lords I suggest that we might want to strart investing in some good Healing Potions or Scrolls. Winthrop can get together with the Alchemist in Longspear and see what it would take to make potions of healing. And for scrolls, all we need is a 7th level cleric. Well if Cedrus ever rejoins us he isn't far from 7th level. Though of course he will need yet more training when he reachs that level. |
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Post by Wolfgar on Sept 6, 2005 15:58:55 GMT -5
I knew you would say that so I was very careful with my lightning bolt. No scorch marks this time. I didn't even burn the web. I knew there must have been a reason you wouldn't let me burn it other than worrying about killing Pavel. As a side note we did learn that minor globe is nice way to move through a web. We will have to remember that trick. If we had known about it beforehand you wouldn't have needed to use your dimension door to get Raven to me. |
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Post by Mr. Trommer on Sept 6, 2005 18:56:42 GMT -5
I will need to go train after two more sessions. That will take about 3-4 weeks and put me in debt again. Hopefully I can work out a deal with the Silent One.
It wasn't for concern about burning the inn that I didn't burn the web. I didn't want to let the two held fighters to get loose. They had full hit point and were 6th level fighters from what we we told. It was much easier killing them while stuck in the webs.
We need to come up with our list of questions we want to ask our pprisoner.
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Post by Dell on Sept 6, 2005 19:07:54 GMT -5
I will need to go train after two more sessions. So what I hear you saying is that it's time for us to fight the undead again? |
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Post by Wolfgar on Sept 6, 2005 20:44:56 GMT -5
It wasn't for concern about burning the inn that I didn't burn the web. I didn't want to let the two held fighters to get loose. They had full hit point and were 6th level fighters from what we we told. It was much easier killing them while stuck in the webs. We need to come up with our list of questions we want to ask our pprisoner. Sure. I was just kidding about burning the web. I think the stinking cloud would have worked well in combination with the web. There must be some sort of negative to your savings throw if you are unable to move out of a stinking cloud because you are held. If it weren't for that spider still on the loose I think you could have incapicated the two fighters with stinking cloud and then moved through the web with minor globe to tie them up. I have plenty questions from my first posting. Basically they boil down to what does he know about the slaver operations, who is SK and what is waiting for us in Flen? If he can identify any of the magic items with more detail other than the boots of levitation that would be nice as well. Does he know what any of the rings do? I am guessing Turrock's allows for some sort of animal (spider) control but maybe he raised them from tarantula size to the size of ottomans and they were his pets. Can he compare the protective power of the armor to equivalent non-magical armor? Do the weapons have any special abilities that he is aware of? Also any money he has to offset the cost of raising Max and Diego would be appreciated. |
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Post by Mr. Trommer on Sept 6, 2005 20:46:38 GMT -5
Oh yeah, there are still the spots of Gador's map that we never checked out. The nuerullite spot and the spiders. It's about time that I get a level or two drained again. It would also keep me from going in debt again. Max might want to try it for a couple levels. He would definately improve his hits points that way. If we go to that big city to get Al raised I could sign up with the Silent Ones and go off for my two years of training.
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Post by Mr. Trommer on Sept 6, 2005 20:49:44 GMT -5
The boots may be of Leaping and Striding. We also need to recover the spider venom. That is a main ingredient for Cure Poison potions and we are always in need of them.
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Post by Dead Greyhawk on Sept 6, 2005 20:57:14 GMT -5
Well, before I answer Otto's questions, I want to be clear that I understand the terms.
The Company agrees to not let Karmuk be killed or unduly harmed. He will accept being turned in to the authorities in Longspear or Loftwick or any other major city on the map, to perform hard labor and be imprisoned or branded or whatever they do to those that attack others. He seems to have quite a fear of being slain, for a yet to be disclosed reason.
Oh, by the way, there is no game this coming weekend. The next game is on September 18. Just wanted to make that clear.
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Post by Wolfgar on Sept 6, 2005 21:11:24 GMT -5
I am more than happy to turn him into the authorities. I just figured the authorities first thought would be to hang him and so that would be unacceptable to him. But if he is ok with whatever punishment the authorities decide so am I.
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Post by Ginger on Sept 7, 2005 9:25:56 GMT -5
Well, before I answer Otto's questions, I want to be clear that I understand the terms. The Company agrees to not let Karmuk be killed or unduly harmed. He will accept being turned in to the authorities in Longspear or Loftwick or any other major city on the map, to perform hard labor and be imprisoned or branded or whatever they do to those that attack others. He seems to have quite a fear of being slain, for a yet to be disclosed reason. Oh, by the way, there is no game this coming weekend. The next game is on September 18. Just wanted to make that clear. If I recall correctly, Karmuk didn't kill Diego or Max. Since he didn't actually kill anybody, hard labor should be fine. Hopefully he can direct us to where he and his buddies stashed the loot. |
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Post by Mr. Trommer on Sept 7, 2005 11:53:13 GMT -5
A Charm Person can work wonders. Between Dell and I we couuld give eleven tries per day. One would eventually work.
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Post by Wolfgar on Sept 7, 2005 12:22:16 GMT -5
Charm is a good idea but I don't want him becoming a follower like Addie. There is no telling when the spell would wear off and have him kill us in our sleep. Once he has answered the questions we turn him over to the authorities. But before we try charm let us hear what he has to say. He is already pretty amenable to tell us what we want to know.
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Post by Ginger on Sept 7, 2005 13:34:57 GMT -5
Maybe Pavel should disguise himself as the leader and go to that Inn for a meeting?
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Post by Dell on Sept 7, 2005 15:07:49 GMT -5
Why worry about it? Just wait for them to send more people with more magic items against us. I think that's the best strategy.
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Post by Ginger on Sept 7, 2005 15:58:33 GMT -5
Or, we do have a map to suderheim that we got from Blackthorne's room. We can just knock on the front door. However, that's likely Module 3 in the series, which leads to the party's capture...
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Post by Dell on Sept 8, 2005 8:31:33 GMT -5
Or, we do have a map to suderheim that we got from Blackthorne's room. We can just knock on the front door. However, that's likely Module 3 in the series, which leads to the party's capture... I'm sure that will never happen with our new party leadership. |
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Post by Dead Greyhawk on Sept 9, 2005 15:00:14 GMT -5
If possible I would like to do a little tracking to determine what direction they came from, see if there was a location where they were hiding while the brawlers cased the joint. I realize it was raining so that might be a little hard. Between the mass of tracks left by the Keoish patrol that left in the morning, the rain, and the dark, it's hard to make out anything. Even with Winthrop providing a floating lightsource, the trail is indistinct at best. You think that they rode up the trail to the Hall, but it's more an educated guess than anything else. The good news is that the number of horses found tied up outside matches up with the number of bodies and captives inside. One heavy and two medium warhorses are outside, along with three light riding horses. I want to know if he knows who SK is. If he has been to the Black Lotus in Flen. Can he describe the Black Lotus? Draw a map? How soon were they supposed to alert SK about the results of the mission? Where does Feetla have his base? Where is the first half of the payment? How many men does SK have? How may men does Feetla have? Are they expecting reinforcements or has anyone else been hired to take out the Blue Sun? Who else does he know that is involved this slaving operation? Where are they located? Karmuk doesn't know of any SK, but Turrock the Spider, in refering to their plans said that "Klim" had contacted him. Karmuk guesses that could be the K in SK. He doesn't know of anyone named San. The Black Lotus isn't a place in Flen; it's the guild of thieves. Flen's a rough-and-tumble sort of place, with nearby, active mines and a large transient population. It's a walled city, about two-thirds the size of Longspear (Longspear has a population of between fifteen and twenty thousand), and most of the underclass of miners and transients are left to police themselves. The Black Lotus is the de facto law and government for much of the city, with the city guard rarely venturing outside of the upper class areas except in force. Karmuk knows that the Black Lotus's leaders and men live in a large, five story building known as the Roost. He's never seen it personally, though he doesn't imagine it hard to find. Karmuk doesn't know if there was a particular time to meet anyone. Turrock the Spider had told him and Marbreau that he was going to decapitate you all with his longsword and send the heads off packed in salt. That would solve the problem. "Sorry about that," he mumbles abashedly. Captain Feetla hasn't been seen in years. His time as a Javan river pirate was easily a decade or more ago, but in that period he became very rich. Karmuk left his crew when Keoish pursuit was too great and Feetla was going to head south on the Javan. Turrock the Spider was Feetla's bosun and Karmuk's boss. Turrock the Spider has hired Karmuk and Marbreau to do "dirty work" for him in the past. Karmuk heard that Captain Feetla successfully took a Hold of the Sea Princes' vessel and was a commerce raider for a while. Captain Feetla's current location is unknown to Karmuk, but Karmuk thinks Captain Feetla's not near the Javan. Perhaps Turrock the Spider would have known. Since Turrock the Spider, who is a scary guy, took orders from Captain Feetla, Captain Feetla must still have a lot of power to be able to command him. The downpayment for Karmuk and Marbreau's work is located in their stronghold in southern Geoff, within the Stark Hills. Karmuk is willing to lead you to the stronghold and provide you with the downpayment for his complete freedom and an agreement to let, as he puts it "bygones be bygones." The stronghold is protected by things that require him or Marbreau to be there to bypass them. Some are magical and others are animals, he says. Turrock the Spider, Karmuk, Marbreau and the men they hired all traveled light, not carrying much coinage between them all, and, unfortunately, he has no coin to offer you immediately, a definite oversight on his part. Karmuk is uninformed about any other activities focused on the Company. Up until about eight months ago, Turrock the Spider would occasionally stop by with work for Karmuk and Marbreau. It was generally bully-boy jobs, like leading humanoids in raiding small hamlets along the Sterich/Geoff border. Those farmers captured were given to Turrock the Spider to be sent elsewhere. Karmuk presumed they were sold into slavery in the Hold of the Sea Princes, but they could have been sent anywhere. Karmuk is aware of several orc and hobgoblin tribes in edges of the Crystalmist mountains, as well as some ogres and giant-kind, that Turrock the Spider has had him lead. BTW, an online map of Greyhawk is available at www.greyhawkonline.com/canonfire/abyss_cy589_darlene_map_redo.jpg for reference to the above geographic locations. The Hall of the Blue Sun/Morningstar Inn is located west of Longspear. If he can identify any of the magic items with more detail other than the boots of levitation that would be nice as well. Does he know what any of the rings do? I am guessing Turrock's allows for some sort of animal (spider) control but maybe he raised them from tarantula size to the size of ottomans and they were his pets. Can he compare the protective power of the armor to equivalent non-magical armor? Do the weapons have any special abilities that he is aware of? Karmuk knows that Marbreau's longsword sometimes spoke to Marbreau in weird languages and that Marbreau saw things Karmuk didn't. Marbreau also always wore his ring, even asleep. The ringmail they were wearing was brought by Turrock the Spider. Normally Karmuk wears regular old platemail, but Turrock the Spider said the ringmail wasn't as obvious. Karmuk says the ringmail was lighter than normal, but that's about it. Turrock the Spider did actually raise his spider hounds from spiderlings. Karmuk thought Turrock the Spider was a crazy loon when he was on a ship with him, but apparently Turrock the Spider got crazier once he was on land. Karmuk confides after being provided some meager food that Turrock the Spider was a demon worshipper. Karmuk is afraid of Turrock the Spider's longsword. Part of what made Turrock the Spider so frightening is that, besides the hordes of spiders he commanded, no one killed by Turrock the Spider was ever raised from the dead. Karmuk overheard Marbreau talking with his sword at one point about souls and their destruction and Karmuk thinks that those struck with Turrock the Spider's sword die forever. Karmuk has seen Turrock wander a battlefield striking the dead with his sword while chanting to himself, and doesn't want to be hit by Turrock the Spider's sword. When Turrock the Spider plans on getting information from someone, he fights with his battle axe. You all remember that Turrock the Spider actually was fighting with his battle axe against the Company. |
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