Adventure 7: The Hunt for More Books
Session 1
The party spent four days on the road, walking back to Eversham from Callenhall. They trudged along with a column of traders and merchants of all kinds making the same journey. Arriving back they headed straight for The Man and a Half inn where they booked their usual suite. Retiring to the bar for the evening, their arrival had clearly been noted, as a runner from the Church of Danethrae turned up with a message - they were requested to visit the church in Eversham first thing in the morning; a member of the senior clergy wanted to see them. They retired to bed, the following day, it seemed, was to be a busy one...
Early the next morning, they went to the church, and sought audience with the senior pastor. He was already there, and was waiting for them with a business proposition. He told them that he had heard of the party's exploits in recovering a wish magic book very recently, and that the church has learned of another such book headed down from the north-east of Ticetia to Cellam. The book was destined to pass through Ridstock in one weeks time, in the possession of a team from The Brundagia, who thought they'd been covert in carrying it. The church offered the party 10,000gp as a reward for recovering the book and handing it in to the Eversham church. The party quickly accepted the mission, asking a few questions about the group who are carrying the book. There were four wizards, they are told, posing as merchants with a guard of four fighters posing as regular waggon guards. They were expected to change their disguise as their journey progresses, so no details of their attire or cargo can be provided. The party left the church an began planning their journey.
They intended to spend the rest of the day researching their primary mission. Randy went up to the Pale Flame's library, and debriefed his senior wizards on the problems they've encountered on their last journey. He tells them about the tomb, about the fighting and the undead, and about the book of Wish Magic they found. As he was preparing to leave, he is met by an old, familiar wizard who introduces himself as Magnus Elberman. He tells them he is a vampire hunter and has been looking into the Charles Derren affair; he seemed to be working on the same problem as the party, and asks if they could help each other by sharing their combined knowledge. Randy sets up a lunchtime meeting with Magnus and the rest of the party, before spending a little more time in fruitless study of the library.
As planned, at lunch the following day, Elberman met the whole team. He is friendly and had some information that the party could use. He seemed knowledgable about who had taken Derren's body, he told them that the Valtannarin Ennethdor are responsible, and that they were based in the Nuneith area somewhere - but he didn't not know where. The party shared a little of the knowledge they have, and he asked them to keep him informed if they find anything new. He promised to do likewise. Specifically, he asks if the party could find where the sect was based, what symbols or other distinguishing markings they carried, and asked them to try and find where the body of Derren had been hidden. They agreed to help, and Elberman leaves, the party have other work to do in the mean time.
The journey to Ridstock was another quiet trudge with traders. Stopping overnight in Grigans Fen, the talk of the village was of a group of knights that headed north a couple of days before, riding at speed towards Eversham. Some said they bore the markings of Danethrae's paladins, others said they were from Suldurn. There were at least three of them. Maybe as many as eight.
Arriving in Ridstock, Jim, at the request of Randy, tried to infiltrate the Militia on the gate. He tried to find where the militia meet while off duty, in order to have them watch the east gate for the arrival of a large merchant contingent. This did not go to plan, and Jim managed to raise a few eyebrows with his poor approach to questioning the locals in taverns near the gate. Eventually it occured to the party that arrivals from towns along the road dont happen all day long - traders mostly arrive in a short spell during the late afternoon leading up to dusk, and anyone trying to travel incognito and posing as traders would do well to follow this pattern; the penny dropped and they realised that they could watch the gate themselves.
While waiting for the first watch to start, Randy and Jim did some research into the basis of the Brundagia sect. A visit to the library uncovers records of the discovery of the Wish Magic books, telling how the Brundagia were formed from those wizards who were involve in their discovery in 1375; how a sect from the former Empire, the Barnin Onaga, heard of the discovery and disputed the work that was published based on these books (they had been studying this branch of magic for many years). He also read how the Gelmhorst Verubin was formed sometime around 1400 by a splinter group from the Brundagia, who suffered infighting over their approach to magical study during those early years.
The first afternoon's watch on the gate was fruitless, and was dominated by the party trying to watch the gate without being seen. Jim even tried (foolishly) to watch from on top of the city wall, but fell foul of the guards who patrol there. Eventually they decided to use the public viewing points above the gate, and by waiting outside the gate on the road amid the suburbs of Ridstock (like everyone else who was waiting and watching for travellers was doing). Most of the traders travelled on their own or with a small guard or two. None were of the size of group that the party are looking for.
The next afternoons watch was much more useful. The party observed, just before the gates closed, the arrival of a group of traders, eight strong, including at least three guards and three others who were clearly merchants. They decide to follow them; randy went off to fetch the off-duty watchers, while Jim and Formil followed the group into one of the larger, more secure inns of the city.
Session 2
Watching from inside the busy inn, the party kept an eye on the travellers. After booking what seem to be the last two twin bedrooms in the inn, the party moved closer to their targets, sitting at a table nearby so they can listen-in on the table conversation. Most of this is quite dull, however; there is no mention of any book, and the tendency seems to be to discuss interesting terrain features that were passed during the day, or that they expect to encounter the following day.
Eventually, the travellers started to break up, some headed off to bed (followed nonchalantly by Mouse and Randy) while the others remain in the bar. Eventually they'd all headed off up to their suite, tailed by the PCs trying to look as inconspicuous as possible in plate mail armour.
The party knew which suite they need to enter, and they devise a plan. Jim was to enter - Randy does what he can with a hooded lantern to seal the light in better; the plan was to pick the lock and slip in while invisible. Randy's invisibility spell only lasted for 7 minutes so Jim had to hurry.
They began the process in the deep of night. The first time Jim went in he looked into all the rooms, doing a cursory check for the book using only a little light from the lantern; he checked all the rooms in turn until he reaches the last one, where he was not so quiet, and his clumsiness woke one of the sleeping men. He quickly backed out, and managed to lock the door to the suite after he exits. Randy and Jim hear the door rattle behind them as they run up the corridor back to their own rooms.
Waiting an hour for their targets to settle down again, Jim returns to the room, he quietly unlocked the door before Randy made him invisible. Now Jim knew where the leaders slept, so he moved quickly across the suite to their bedroom. He entered, but was not paying attention as he lets the door close loudly behind him. As the rooms two occupants stirred and sat up in the bed, Jim quickly slipped into the corner of the room - he's invisible, but the lantern he carried was giving off low glow. One of those from the bed gets up to check the door, and notices the glow. He started screaming, thinking the place was haunted. Now both of the men were out of their beds, and waking the others. Jim used the confusion as an opportunity to rummage through the beds and the belongings of those whoe were asleep here only a few minutes ago. There was no sign of any book, and this is where they would expect it to be. Jim opened the window in the room and slid through on to the ledge outside, closed the window behind him and jumped, landing awkwardly. He made his way back to the inn entrance and has to pick the lock before he could re-enter and return to his room.
The party decided that these were probably not the guys they were really looking for - all that screaming when they woke was not the response you'd have expected from a high level wizard. And the book not being with the same guy that was looking after the money supply was also very suspicious. The party decided to abandon the pursuit of these guys and resume their search from the gate during the next day. They sleep late.
Two days of waiting and looking were fruitless, but on the third day since breaking into the hotel room, the watch paid off. This time, a large waggon and several large guys arrive at town. Mouse and Jim were on duty when it turned up; Jim followed the waggon through the streets while Mouse went off to fetch the others. The waggon headed into the commercial district, and into a warehouse with a substantial yard area. The waggon was locked away behind some large gates and a high fence, more than twice the height of most men. It took the party a little while to locate Jim in the busy city streets - he'd already been following three of the traders as they moved off into the marketplace for supplies when they caught up with him - they used Insorce's Locate Object spell to find him. He pointed out the warehouse where the waggon went, the rest of the party went there to keep an eye on things while Jim followed the three traders as they bought basic food supplies in the market place.
Eventually, the traders all retired to the warehouse, and the party begin to formulate a plan to get inside. They hired rooms as the only inn nearby - quite an upmarket place where they pay a premium for the lodgings, but where they could watch the warehouse from their suite window. They returned in the middle of the night, armed with a large patch of leather and several invisibility spells, Jim made an entrance over the wall with some help from Mouse to get him that high. The leather proves invaluable as there was protective barbed wire aroud the top of the compound. Inside is the large waggon, still fully loaded, and the horses, both draft horses and riding horses that the group had used to journey here. Jim carried out some more snooping, before returning to the party with a plan for getting into the warehouse building.
Session 3
Silent and invisible, Jim sneaked intp the building. There are stairs down here, but he took a good look around the upper level first. This warehouse is full of boxes and there are food-making facilities here too. Finding nothing of value or interest upstairs, and he moved down the steps, lighting his way with the blacked-out bullseye lantern he used. The area at the bottom of the stairs has a single door, all is quiet beyond, and he can see no light from under the door. Softly trying the handle, he found the door was locked, so he backed off and returned to his friends outside.
The party figured there was only one solution here that they can use - whoever had the book they were looking for must be down those stairs and behind that door, and they must be intercepted before they have the chance to escape by whatever underground exists exist. Stealth is no longer a suitable approach - the party decides to march in and take the book they want.
Noisily, they marched across the wooden floor upstairs and down the steps. Jim struggled with the door - a magic lock, he believed, and gave up. The heavy attack began by trying to break in through the door. After even more noise, hammering and hacking, the door gave way, and Formil and Mouse entered the room. Glancing round, they saw a communal eating area at the end of the room where they had come in, and the long chamber extended to their left (out under the yard of the warehouse) into a sleeping area which was curtained off in places. Mouse went over to the food tables, while Formil headed off to the beds; there appeared to be nobody around, but they entered boldly regardless of the risks. The enemy appeared - they were waiting invisible around the food tables, preparing to defend themselves. One by one they appeared around Mouse, while their summoned wolf sprang after Formil. Spells begin to fly and blows rained in, the fight began in earnest.
While the party did well to contain four fighters and four wizards, they were tested severely. A Web spell in the doorway keept most of the party at bay, with only the two heavy fighters free to hold off the enemy. A Burning Hands spell was used to set fire to the web, clearing it in part and buring Insorce, Jim and Randy who were caught around the door. Then the enemy's senior wizard started to throw some more powerful magic around. Lightning bolts flew across the room, and Mouse struggled against his opponents, despite being Hasted by Randy. Free of the webs himself, Randy entered the room and targeted the senior enemy wizard, his Magic Missiles hit their target, and the enemy flinched but responded with a feeblemind spell. Randy succumbed to it, and the party's magical firepower was out of action. The fighters and wizards in the enemy's ranks were slowly falling to the efforts of Formil, Jim and Mouse, and Insorce now being free of the webs managed to heal Formil while he continued the fight. Mouse was not so lucky - one well placed blow and he crumpled; this time he was mortally wounded. Fortunately, the enemy were running low on heavy spells, and Formil finished off the enemy's leader, weakening them substantially. The fight was finally won, but at a high price.
Session 4
Clearing up around the room, the party got together all the magical equipment they could find from the bodies of their fallen opponents. They found the book they had been seeking, and left for the yard, taking Mouse's body with them. They packed all their treasure and their friend's body on the back of one of the riding horses tethered in the yard, and covered it all with a tarpaulin from the waggon. They headed out to their inn, taking the horse with them - Jim managed to talk the stable guard into letting them bring their horse inside, and they retired to their suite. Formil stays down in the stable, guarding both the book and the other treasure.
Early the next morning, the party went shopping. Insorce used his clerical spells to preserve Mouse's body until they decided what they were going to do, and they took a trip to the church of Danethrae to buy healing to cure Randy of his feeblemindedness. Next stop was the husbandry store for a new pony and a new riding horse, and to the cartwrights where they bought a cart large enough to take Mouse's body. By mid-morning they were packed and ready and they set off back towards Eversham, hurrying as much as they could to get to Grigans Fen by nightfall.
They arrived in the small stopover village shortly after dark, where the plan was to leave Formil guarding the horses and the cart in the stable again, while the others went up to the room to rest for the night and guard the book. They decided to set a watch this evening, despite there being just three in the suite. This proved to be a wise precaution, because on Randy's watch in the deep night the room was invaded. Someone sneaked in, and opened the door to the one bedroom where they had been resting. As soon as Randy was seen and started to shout, the sneaker shut the door and ran. Randy just has time to wake his companions before the sound of running boots across the wooden floor outside in the suite could be heard. They prepared themselves.
The door to the bedroom bursts open, and in ran two burly-looking fighters, with two more raiders behind them, who waited in the room beyond casting spells, before the rogue returned too, joining in the melee. Randy, Insorce, and Jim stand to fight, but Insorce is magically held. Randy cast a fireball spell out in the main room; blowing the windows out on the rooms, and setting fire to much of the corridor outside and burning up the soft furnishings inside the suite. Everyone is hurt in the blast. Insorce pulled himself free of the magic he's under, and summoned an owl to help them fight. Next he healed Randy who had been both burned and hit in the fighting. The fighting continued before Formil arrived - the blast woke him up, and he ran through screaming civilians running out of the burning inn to get to the room. He charged into a fight with the two wizards, he seriously hurts the first one, then they hit him with Magic Missile spells. This gets him really annoyed.
Session 5
The wizards resistance in the face of a 200lb dwarf in full battle armour charging towards them crumbled, as did they. Formil fought his way into the back room where his friends are - just in time to see Insorce fall. Jim was doing a sterling job holding the intruders at bay, and between him and Formil, they were finally defeated. Insorce was badly hurt; as the fight finished, Jim immediately went to his aid. With a little luck, and an old bandage kit, Insorce was stabilised, and the tidy up begins.
The inn's owners are not sure what had been going on, and the militia and Kings Guard had showed up to try and sort the mess out. Some smooth talking by Randy and Jim calmed the situation - they convince the authorities that they had been attacked by 'Wizardry', but that their strength as warriors helped them win a tough fight. The local cleric of Pendaroch showed up; he was more than willing to help the injured among the party. At first he was taken aback by the nearly dead cleric of Danethrae, but helped as much as he can.
The poor innkeeper didn't know how he could make amends to the party. This was supposed to be a secure inn, but the intruders seemed to get inside with no effort. He gave the party a new suite, more luxurious than their previous one, and lets them stay in the place for several days while they recover from their ordeal.
With the attackers defeated, the journey back to Eversham was pretty uneventful. The church of Danethrae was pleased to have recovered the book, and paid up their reward. They were sorry to hear about the events that led up to Mouse dying, and about the attack at Grigan's fen. But the job was a success. Next, the party return to their various guild's to commence training.