Dalnor/Campaign1/session-27

Truancy

Session Date: January 2, 2010
I came to myself in darkness, in great pain, bound hand and foot, and deafened by many unfamiliar noises. There sounded in my ears a roaring of water as of a huge mill-dam, the thrashing of heavy sprays, the thundering of the sails, and the shrill cries of seamen. The whole world now heaved giddily up, and now rushed giddily downward; and so sick and hurt was I in body, and my mind so much confounded, that it took me a long while, chasing my thoughts up and down, and ever stunned again by a fresh stab of pain, to realise that I must be lying somewhere bound in the belly of that unlucky ship, and that the wind must have strengthened to a gale. With the clear perception of my plight, there fell upon me a blackness of despair, a horror of remorse at my own folly, and a passion of anger at my uncle, that once more bereft me of my senses. - Kidnapped, Robert Louis Stevenson

Dalin 30, 53

The party retires to the Turning Wheel Inn and engages in their usual diversions (drinking, darts, pin the tail on the dragonborn). After an hour or two, the party realizes that Safiria has not returned from her meeting with Rueben. The party decides that Safiria has been away to long and starts back tracking her trail.

The party starts by heading over to Rueben's house. They stop and talk to the guard who informs the party that Safiria had left an hour earlier and points the party in the direction that she had gone.

The party starts back trailing the shortest route from the house back to the bar. At one intersection they find evidence that a Tanglefoot bag had been used, along with a blinding agent of some sort. The party quickly interviews the merchants adjoining the intersection and all they can determine is that they all had had people in the shop who taken up the shop keeper's attention.

The party follows the stink of the tanglefoot and they end up outside the warehouse that the traders from Norn, the buried city had previously been using. The party performs a basic reconoiter of the site from both sides. Inside they see half a dozen mechanical guards and a large man sized sack. The party concludes that Safiria is in the bag and proceeds to assault the warehouse.

During the fight, Verian rushes the bag. Hoping to find Safiria he opens the bag. When the bag is opened he is blasted with a slick slime that blinds him and causes him to hallucinate. For the rest of the fight he clings to the walls in the hopes that they will stop swirling because everyone has bunny ears and whiskers.

The party finishes mopping up the guardians in the warehouse. During the fight Pilar proves handy with his bow, even though he seems to be firing trick arrows that confuse or trap the guardians rather than killing them. When Lucius is asked about getting some fancy arrows like Pilar he responds: "Mine do damage".

The party quickly leaves the warehouse in order to look for the carts. The party talks to a city guard. The guard says that 3 carts left earlier that evening.

The party decides to chase after the carts. The party heads out at high speed.
After several hours the party catches a cart that is tearing down the road. The party cuts off the cart, forcing it to start. The driver of the cart bails off, cuts the horses free and attempts to flee. Lucsius tracks down the driver.

As the driver flees, many mechancial beasts climb out of the cart, leading to a clown car comment. Party fights monsters and speculates as to whether the cart is a "cart of holding" similar to a bag of holding, since it can hold so many monsters. The speculation ends when the cart attempts to run down Crash, driving over him and backing up several times.

After the fight the party interviews driver. The driver is very cooperative. He relates:

That Norn is in bad shape from the sludge contamination.
The shipment captain took the initiative when grabbing Safiria, Thorlok decided to back his play afterwards.
One cart left before he did. That cart was heavily armored and towed by mechanical horses. It was expected that Safiria would make it to Norn in two days.
Two carts left after he did. Those carts were carrying smoke supplies and forge supplies taken from the Smoke hold. Those two carts were to take a circuitous route back to Norn.
His cart was left as a decoy. If his cart was attacked, he was to bail off the cart, take his hazard pay and leave.

Since the driver has been so cooperative, the party gives him back his hazard pay and lets him go.

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Previously: Report Cards

Continued in: Conference
Campaign 1 Index