Adventure 10: The Valtannarin Ennethdor
The party now had a lead on The Valtannarin Ennethdor - Cornelius Golundreth, who works as a special agent for the Kings Guard, had provided an address on Coopers Gate in Eversham, but he told them that this is only an administration office, it is not a guild facility building. The party decided this requires further investigation - if they can find anything that provides the location of the groups HQ, then they will have a potential location for the body of the Vampire that they seek.
The initial approach is to see if there is another way into the building than the main entrance. They took a low-key walk along Coopers Gate, trying the barrel makers premises next door trying to find if a simple way inside existed through there, or through the back. All day was spent watching the place. They even assigned Fax's eagle familiar to the job of casing the place out. They did not find what they were looking for, however; and were not really surprised that the Ennethdor took security quite seriously. They returned to their base at the hotel and devised a plan.
They returned under cover of darkness. Still expecting the building to be heavily guarded, they sought to sneak in, and take a good look through the documents in the office. Their plan was simple - to use Randy's Dimension Door spell to get as many of the team in as possible, especially Jim (who was to be the prime participant as a rogue) and Formil, to guard them if anything went wrong. As this was not formal assault, Insorce and Fax were to be left outside to cover any retreat. They took a risk on the location of the offices, attempting to Dimension Door into the area just behind the upstairs windows. At first the spell failed; the building seemed protected by a magic-dampening field, which made it hard to sneak in this way. But second time through they made it in. And they had guessed right. This area was filled with desks and filing cabinets, Formil moved to guard the door, while Jim, assisted by Randy, used his skills to start working through papers. The situation went horribly wrong, however, when Jim failed to spot a magical trap on one of the desks he tried to open. A Glyph of Warding belew up loudly, injuring him. The noise clearly alerted the guards downstairs; voices could now be heard, followed by footsteps. The party did not have much time.
The party then switched to plan B - grab as many papers as they could, and Dimension Door out again. Jim and Randy did this, they filled their bags with as much paper as they could carry, and the party regrouped. Formil still stood guard, as the guards approached the door, their silhouettes could be seen in the lamplight the other side through the small, dirty panes of glass set into the door. Randy tried to get everyone out, his spell fizzled as the guards came in. Formil stayed on guard, beyond the closing guards they could see several wizards emerging from what appeared to be a dormitory at the back of the building. Formil attacked and overpowered one of the guards while Randy tried again. This time, success; the party were in the street. They ran.
The remaining guards were flummoxed for a moment, but soon made their way outside, hoping to give chase, but they were too slow. Once they were outside, they could find no sign of the party, but the alarm was now raised with the Valtannarin Ennethdor.
Back at their base of operations, the party went through the papers. They found what they wanted; a delivery address. It was to a building in the Calund district of Eversham - a place normally associated with the well-to-do. They assumed that the Ennethdor knew what was going on, and decided they had to move quickly before they tried to move the body if it was there. They rested for the evening, and went to see Elberman first thing in the morning to let him know what they had discovered.