Campaign1/session-13
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The Hunted
Session Date: April 15th, 2000
Assynt 25, 1022 continued
As the group climbed out of the underground, into the busy street at the bottom of Castle Hill, several human guards came over to direct the busy Merkatday traffic away from the hole and the party. One of the guards started questioning the group regarding their business in the underground and the circumstances of their current disposition (ie: Max unconscious and covered with wounds!). Both Charlis and Telovien indicate that they are working for the Regent and require a healer for their friend. The group is escorted to the gatehouse at the Royal Court and instructed to wait for a healer to arrive, along with someone from the court who will determine what is going on.
The party waits for a handful of minutes before an elven healer enters the room and applies her magical art, seemingly singing the wounds on Max and Smiley shut! Given the considerable amount of damage taken by both men, the elven healer is sapped when she is finished, and retires from the room after indicating that Kirtling (the captain of the human guard in Kalen) will be along shortly to speak with them about their altercation.
Alone again, Smiley looks at the others for a moment, then clears his throat. "I should go. There may be too many questions about my involvement with you for my employers liking. I will meet you back at Islay manor later." With no objections from the others, Smiley slips out.
A quarter-glass later, Kirtling finally arrives, his firm build and intelligent eyes command instant attention from the group. With him, a Sergeant of the guard with an equally impressive build surveys the group briefly before settling beside his superior. Before Kirtling can begin, he answers a knock at the door, allowing a tall woman in her mid-twenties to enter. "Ah, good. You will want to hear this as well." Kirtling nodded for the group to explain what has happened.
The group, sans the unconscious Max, explain their progress so far in unraveling the conspiracy against the Crown and the theft of the linking stone. They finish with the most recent altercation underground, and their failure to capture one of the Demarians for further questioning.
Kirtling nodded. "Well, I'm assigning Sergeant Black to assist you in your investigation. He is a highly skilled guard, and will be quite capable in providing you with..." Kirtling looked over the group again, briefly entertaining a kinder phrase but finally deciding against it. "much needed combat and capture experience."
"In addition, to assist in your inquiries, Inquisitor Hope will be joining you as well." Kirtling nodded to the woman sizing up the party, making her own assessments. "She will be invaluable in extracting whatever reliable information you require from your sources."
Turning to Rheanon, Kirtling indicated that her assistance has been requested by a Royal Court mage named Mazériyan who is currently assigned to a project of great importance to the King. Rheanon nods and bids farewell to Telovien and Charlis.
Both Sergeant Black and Hope asked numerous questions of the group, but finally decided that a more comfortable locale was required, given the volume of information to be conveyed. Kirtling, with more pressing matters to attend to, dismissed the party, and with the assistance of two guards to carry Max, the group returned to Islay Manor.
After Max is placed upstairs to rest, and the others clean up, Charlis, Telovien, Hope and Sergeant Black discuss the days events, catch up on background information and eat lunch. Max staggers into the room roughly half a glass later, in rougher looking clean clothes than the outfit purchased for dinner with the King (which he has been wearing ever since). Introductions are exchanged, but it is clear that Hope and Max are less than pleased to make each others acquaintance.
The meal is nearly complete when Smiley strolls in, and sits down at an empty seat. "Hey Max, good to see you're up and about." Smiley tucks into the lunch of beef stew, fruits, bread and cheese.
A puzzled look crawls across Hope's face. "And who might you be?"
Waiting to swallow some food with the fine ale on the table, Smiley turns to Hope and Sergeant Black. "You can call me Smiley. Who are you?"
Hope and Sergeant Black introduce themselves, and try to establish what official capacity Smiley enjoys within the group. It becomes clear, through the story of their capture and escape from the Demarian kidnappers, that Smiley's presence in the group has not been approved. Sergeant Black and Hope leave the dining room momentarily and send a request to the Royal Court asking if Smiley should be trusted, based on the nature of his introduction to the group.
When the party goes to the work-room above the library, Sergeant Black expresses his feelings for Smiley's presence. "I think it would be best if you kept out of this until your participation in this inquiry is approved by the Royal Court."
"I see." Smiley shifted his gaze between Black and the others. "All I'm interested in is information regarding Faegan Islay. Thats my business.... so I will go take care of some other leads while I wait for your 'Royal Court' to do your thinking for you." Making eye contact with Max, "I'll see to that little proposition we were discussing earlier as well. I'll find you later."
Without further discussion, Smiley stalked off. "I think that was a mistake. He could have been useful to us, especially if he is able to learn more about Faegan." Max spoke to Hope and Black, but it was clear that Hope was not interested in listening.
"It is proper procedure to clear member of a team before they are exposed to sensitive information." Sergeant Black spoke, as if quoting a passage from a rule book. Without waiting for further discussion, Black began making a thorough examination of the trunk and the rest of the contents of the room.
"These are the cloaks we found in the trunk. The Demarians we saw underground were wearing similar garments." Telovien handed the cloaks to Hope.
"One for Faegan, one for Dahlia...." Hope sifted through the pile. "But there are three here... to whom does the third belong?"
The others shrugged. "I may be able to find where the owners of these cloaks are." Hope felt the fabric between her fingers.
"I guess mages are good for something at least." Max folded his arms. "Well, do it!"
Hope brushed off Max's order, and addressed Charlis and Telovien. "If the owner is close by, I will be able to lead you to them if they stay put." Shifting her gaze to Sergeant Black, "But if they are too far away, I will only get a glimpse of their surroundings, which may or may not be useful."
"Understood."
Hope closed her eyes, and rubbed the fabric from the top cloak. "Show me." she spoke in an even voice. A moment passed, and she opened her eyes. "I didn't get anything from this one."
"Probably either Dahlia's or Faegan's, since they're both dead." Charlis shifted his weight to one foot.
Hope closed her eyes again, clutching the 2nd cloak in her hands. "Show me." Briefly, her eyes flickered, as if vividly dreaming. When she opened her eyes again, "This one was underground, and on the move. I saw a woman in a similar cloak, but the light was bad and I couldn't make out any distinguishing features. I could probably lead you to where she was if we had any confidence in navigating underground."
Charlis moaned. "Damn, our only lead and its useless."
Max cleared his throat. "There may be a way to reliably navigate underground. The merchant that loaned us the cart to return to Kalen with the King indicated that there is some sort of warding stone that keeps away the creatures that cause the confusion and disorientation."
Telovien looked at Max, "Did Aethra say she had one of these objects?"
"No, but she offered to try to find one for me." Max darted a glance at Hope and Black. "For the appropriate fee, of course."
"We should try to find her today and see if she can help us. Its clear that the Demarians have no trouble finding their way down there." Charlis does his best to sound like the voice of authority. "Clearly we are at a disadvantage until we can do the same."
"Lets try the final robe. Perhaps this one will be closer." Hope took the fabric in her hands.
"Whats the point, the last one is either Faegan or Dahlia, and both of them are dead. I don't need magic to tell you where THEY are." Charlis added sarcastically.
Hope chose to ignore Charlis, and closed her eyes again. "Show me." Again, her eyes fluttered, and then shot open. "Close, but not quite close enough." She bit her lip in frustration. "I saw a man sleeping in a shabby room, with little furniture. The spell indicates that the person is somewhere in Squawkerstown."
Max cringed as he heard the 'high folks' name for his home district within Kalen. "Ok, so we should go down there and you can do it again. Lets go!"
Hope shook her head. "Its not that simple. I can't cast the spell again to find the same person for roughly a week."
Max screwed up his face, obviously frustrated by some iniquity in the application of magic. "A week? Why a week? What good is magic if..."
Hope interrupted, holding up her hand to silence him. "I'm not the only mage who can do this. I will send word for one of the Royal Court mages to join us in Squawkerstown, where they will be able to lead us to the owner of this cloak."
Though Sergeant Black was keen on completing a search of the Library before departing, the others convinced him that time was essential in catching the individual seen through the mage's vision. Stepping outside Islay manor, a hawk landed on Hope's shoulder, and she fastened a note to its leg. A few seconds later, the hawk flew off in the direction of the Royal Hill complex.
The party made their way down to "The Horse's Barley", a rough establishment in Squawkerstown that Smiley (at lunch) indicated was the location where he was supposed to meet a woman friend of Dahlia's to get some information. The woman was described as having a very attractive appearance, with a rather prominent bust, black shoulder length hair and green eyes. After she failed to show, Smiley left the bar, only to be waylayed nearby and taken captive underground.
While trying to lurk unobtrusively near the tavern, Charlis spotted Aethra making her way through the Merkatday throng. "I'll be right back, I just spotted someone I know."
Aethra looked a bit surprised when Charlis overtook her. "Charlis, right?" Charlis nodded, a bit winded. "What can I do for you?" Aethra slowly led him to the side of the street, where they could converse with a bit more privacy.
"Max said that you may be able to provide a token that allows us to navigate the tunnels without becoming confused."
"I thought I also told Max not to spread that around too much." Aethra sighed.
"Don't worry, the secret is safe with us." Charlis assured her confidently.
"I don't have such an item now, but I may be able to get one for a short period of time." Aethra looked into the crowd for a moment. "Look, I need to take care of some business just now. Where can I find you later, perhaps tonight?"
"We're staying at Islay Manor. Do you know where that is?"
"Sounds ritzy, probably in Lordslee, up by the Royal Court?" Aethra looked around, perhaps to see if anyone was taking note of their meeting. "I can probably find it. I'll come by tonight." Aethra pulled away and back into the crowd "Until then, Charlis..."
Meanwhile, back at the Inn, Hope spotted her hawk circling above, as it was instructed to assist the mage sent from the Royal Court in finding her. She had been expecting Mazeriyan, since it was his window that the hawk first perched on. However, through her hawks eyes, she could see that Mazeriyan was not in, and another third tier mage named Seoras intercepted the message and was on his way.
Now in the milling crowd, Hope could see Seoras looking about, and then consulting the location of the circling bird. Telovien, Hope and Sergeant Black went out to meet Seoras and bring him back to the alley.
"Whew. I was becoming worried that perhaps I might not find you down in this Warren." Seoras was flush from the walk, and clearly agitated. "I don't like this section of Kalen much."
Hope produced the cloak, and offered it to Seoras. "Here is the object I need you to use to find its owner."
Seoras's face was a cloud of emotions. "Where did you get this item? What did you see when you cast the spell yourself? Did you see him, or just get a general feeling of where the person is."
Hope's face did not betray the confusion she felt over the 2nd question. He does not need that information to cast the spell... why did he ask that? And how does he know the owner is a man? "Never mind, we're in a hurry, so if you could please..." Hope gestured toward the cloak.
Seoras stiffened. "Very well, Inquisitor Hope." Seoras rubbed his fingers with the fabric and his eyes fluttered. "Where?"
When Seoras recovered, he pointed down the street in the direction Charlis disappeared after Aethra. "In The Water Barrel. I can take you." Seoras strode off in that direction without waiting for the others.
Sergeant Black caught up with him easily, and Hope hung back to speak with Telovien and then Max (as he caught up with them from the far side of a nearby alley). "There is something strange about Seoras. I think he may know something about the owner of the cloak! Keep an eye on him!"
Charlis caught up with the party as it passed by. Together, the group entered the inn called "The Water Barrel", and while Charlis and Telovien remained in the dining room with a handful of patrons, Seoras, Max, Erin Black and Hope made their way down the hall, Sergeant Black telling the barkeep as they passed the bar: "Official Business."
At the third door, Seoras hastily tried to bust the door in, making a rather noisy effort. "This is the room!" Both Black and Max caught Seoras before his full weight could fall against the door, so his body ineffectually banged against the door before being tossed to one side. Max quickly tried the door, and finding it locked, kicked it open to reveal a man rushing toward the window!
As both Max and Black rushed into the room, Hope cast a spell on the fleeing man and commanded him to halt, which he obeyed! Max quickly grappled the man, and Sergeant Black unloaded 2 heavy body blows and 2 uppercuts on the helpless man, rendering him unconscious. Meanwhile, in all the confusion, Seoras took off down the hall toward the rear of the building!
In front, Charlis does his best to distract and delay the inn-keeper from coming to investigate the commotion. "I say, Inn-keeper! What is going on up there? Isn't it official business?" The inn-keeper, clearly bewildered by such an inquiry, made several attempts to bypass Charlis and his questions before finally succeeding. Charlis followed after, and when he arrives at the room, Max tells him to go after Seoras!
While Charlis is trying to distract the inn-keeper, Telovien darts out the front door and around to the back of the building, just in time to spot Seoras making a run for it! He easily overtakes the bookish mage and pins him just short of the end of the alley!
As Seoras struggles and pleads for Telovien to release him, a crowd begins to form. Seoras, familiar with the recent allegations of elven guard brutality against the humans, screams "Help me! This elf is hurting me!" just before Telovien manages to cover Seoras' mouth. The plea is only partially effective, what with Telovien being only half-elven, but finally one stocky fellow with a thick brow-line steps forward and suggests that maybe Telovien should let him go.
With impeccable timing, Charlis arrives! "Thank you! Thank you! What you have just seen is a scene from a new play that will be performed this Liathsday!" Charlis pauses for a moment, to be sure he has the audience, then continues, "The play will explore the current tensions between the Elven guards and the people." Charlis is rewarded with a round of applause.
As Sergeant Black arrives and takes custody of Seoras, who all the while is making a muffled protest, Charlis continues his pitch "The play can be seen this Liathsday at The Roundhouse!" Charlis takes another bow to the applauding crowd. As they disperse, he can hear his name exchanged between onlookers.
Telovien, Erin and Charlis return to the room with Seoras, and proceed to tie up both captives. Once Seoras is ungagged, he begins pleading for them to let him go, entreating them with offers of money, and begging for mercy and compassion.
Hope immediately falls into her role as Inquisitor. "You are familiar with my work. You know what I do." She brings her face level with Seoras' whimpering visage. "So, you can tell us what you know, or I'll rip it from your mind!" Seoras begins to sob uncontrollably again.
"Tell me how you know his man. You knew who he was before we got here, before you even touched the cloak!" Hope plays up the intimidation factor, in an attempt to get Seoras to focus.
"Zorian is one of them." Seoras gets a tenuous grip, and adds. "She-ar-tyl."
"Are you one of them?"
Seoras shook his head. "They buy information from me, I get things from them. I've only met him a few times. You don't know what you're dealing with. THEY'RE VERY POWERFUL!"
"Did you steal the linking stone for them?"
Seoras shook his head. "No, they hired some grunt from down here to do the job."
Max came un-glued with the reference to his recently deceased friend Garrin. In his rage, he back-fisted Seoras, rendering him senseless.
"Oh, great." Hope stood up again. "Now how the hell am I supposed to ask him questions when he's like that!"
Telovien tapped Hope on the shoulder. "I think this one is coming around if you want to try him." Zorian shook his head, then looked at Hope, sneering to reveal sharpened teeth on his left side. This proved to be relatively ineffective, since the gag in his mouth made it plain that only a few teeth were in this state... the rest were normal.
"Mmm. Very impressive." Hope put on the intimidating persona on again. She ungagged him. "Let us be clear. I am an Inquisitor. You will tell me what I want to know. One way or another."
"You are all SO DEAD." Zorian spat. "THEY will come for you, and I shudder to think what exquisite pain you will all suffer when..."
Sergeant Black slapped him on the back of the head. "Shut up. Answer her questions, or you're going to be the one in exquisite pain."
"Go ahead. Look into my mind. You may not like what you see there...."
Hope prepared to do things the hard way, when a crossbow bolt appeared in Zorian's chest! A quick guess suggested that it came from the doorway! Telovien and Max rushed to the doorway, and spied an open door 2 rooms down towards the back of the building. Max rushed down to the open door, and through an open window on the far side of the room, he heard "I like your ring Max..."
Throwing caution to the wind, Max jumped out the 2nd story window, and into the alley below, chasing off in the direction that he thought the hidden assassin had fled. When Max reached the street, he realized his quarry had escaped. Again.
Meanwhile, Charlis leans close to Zorian to hear him trying to speak, while Hope uses all her healing prowess to keep him alive. Through the thick gurgling of blood in his throat, all Charlis can make out is 'desk' and 'letters'. After Zorian loses consciousness, Charlis spends a pence and summones 4 more guards, and Sergeant Black orders them to be stationed along the hall and both exits.
When Max returned, the guard at the rear and front entrances wouldn't let him in!!! Finally, he managed to sneak back into the Inn through the open window, and narrowly averted being skewered in the hallway by two overzealous guards.
Despite Hope's valiant efforts, Zorian dies from the wound and possible poison on the crossbow bolt. When Seoras awakens, he starts screaming from the shock of seeing Zorian dead with a crossbow bolt in his chest. Once he is calmed down, he begins sobbing again and lamenting that he is a dead man. Hope agrees and tells him that the best thing is for him to tell them what he knows, since it will not change the outcome of his death.
Searching the rooms, Max produces 2 slips of paper, each with a different unusual symbol on it. Hope shows them to Seoras, "What are these?"
Reluctantly, Seoras answers. "They are passes. They get you into places where they meet."
"Where do they meet?" Telovien asks, bypassing the Inquisitor.
"Different places. Sometimes in abandoned buildings, sometimes at The Roundhouse." Seoras sniffed, and glanced over at Zorian.
"Its not safe here. We should go someplace more secure to ask more questions." Charlis interrupts the line of questioning, obviously concerned over the loss of another source of information.
A short discussion on where is safe and who can be trusted, and it is decided that the best place is to return to Islay manor and secure one of the rooms from intruders, so that they can continue the inquisition. While two guards take care of the mess at 'The Water Barrel', the rest of the group, including two additional town guard, escort Seoras back to Islay manor, where they secure the Library (situated on the 2nd floor) by placing guards at the doors and closing the curtains.
By now, Seoras has regained most of his composure. Though still bound at the hands, Seoras is allowed to sit comfortably in a chair facing the others. He agrees to answer their questions as best he can, in exchange for them releasing him so he can flee (and hopefully prolong his life). Though his release is not assured, with Hope asserting that he must be turned over to the Mage Corps for punishment, Seoras decides to talk anyway.
"Was Mazeriyan part of your plan to steal the linking stone for the Demarians?" Charlis asked, hoping that his Goblin friend was not somehow entangled in this mess.
"Mazeriyan?!? That hack? He's the reason I told them about the linking stone in the first place!!" Seoras became very animated, "That research project should have been mine! I put in all that hard work to get the stone from the Elves, and then they turn it over to..." Seoras sputtered, "him?!?" Seoras shook his head. "No, Mazeriyan was not involved."
"How did you get involved with them in the first place?" Hope asked the question, praying his answer would make some sense, that it would explain why a third tier mage like Seoras would betray the Mage Corps.
"It was innocent enough." Seoras' eyes glazed over, as if fondly remembering, clutching to a happier moment, "A beautiful, intelligent woman bought me a drink." Judging from Seoras's less than magnetic appearance and personality, Hope judged that this was a relatively rare occurrence.
"What is her name?" Charlis shifted his weight on the desk so that he could watch Sergeant Black go through the contents of the desk.
"Nymvayas." Seoras sighed. He had it bad.
"And she is one of them as well?" Hope added, trying to take authoritative control over the questioning.
"If she was, she never showed me her true form. As you can tell from Zorian, they are not all Demarians." Seoras looked over to see Sergeant Black place a flat long box on the desktop.
"What did you find?" Telovien moved over to the desk to get a closer look.
Erin opens the flat box to reveal a stack of letters written in an foreign script, along with a smaller box measuring 8" x 4" x 1/2" (Length x Width x Height), made of a heavy blackwood with obviously different grains on the top and bottom halves, whose green felt-lined interior looks large enough to hold a folded letter.
"That was the last thing that Zorian was trying to say. Something about a desk and some letters" Charlis nodded, but remained seated, enjoying a glass of wine brought by one of the servants.
"I don't recognize the language, but I'd wager its Demarian." Telovien admired the fine penmanship of the letter.
"Aethra might be able to translate it when she comes by tonight." Charlis added, regarding Seoras sitting across from him. "But how did Zorian know about the letters?"
"He was a servant here at Islay Manor before the incident. As such, he may have been privy to such information." Seoras ceased to strain to see the contents of the box, and once more fell back into contemplating his fate.
"I wonder what this box is for." Sergeant Black examined the smaller box, admiring the neat and simple design. Hope held out her hand, and Erin handed the box to her.
"Its enchanted. Based on the size, and what it was stored with," Hope felt the heft of the wood, "I guess that it is a magical means of conveying letters from one place to another."
Previously: Payback
Followed by: The Nature of Truth
Campaign 1 Index
