Warmshade 20 - Sunstrong 3
Characters:
Gorr, ranger 5
Suba-Jin the Three-Handed, cleric of Hextor 4
Robert the Swift, fighter 4
Xénos, spy 1
Lord Fesgate, fighter 4
Leaving the Mansion
The party emerged from the garden hedges to see a group of 10 mandragoras between them and the exit. With Lord Fesgate badly hurt, low on hit points and spells, drastic measures were required:
"That's it" Suba-Jin growled, brandishing a bottle of herbicide in one hand and his pistol in the other. "Every one of you get outta my way!" The short little plant-men were so baffled that they didn't even move. Hustling through the statue garden, he tossed a handful of the brown powder in one's face and it collapsed, shrieking in its vegetable-y way.
On the way out, Sesto's work crew wanted to know how things had gone. The party showed them a golden disk they had looted [last session]. They left Lord Fesgate to recuperate at the Dragon's Eye, then proceeded to Seven Visions for some much-needed R&R. They spotted a surly pimp and a few cruel-looking guards selling foreign dancing-girls in the Bazaar on the way.
They showed the golden disk to Zvezdana, who identified it as a type of odd-shaped trade bar used by rich families in the past. She took it off their hands for 2000 silver pieces!
The group spent a few days healing and partying at Seven Visions (and everyone failed their carousing saves) - Suba-Jin remembers destroying something in the night, but not what it was or where. Gorr recalls letting some important information slip while in his cups. Xénos got a nasty surprise when he awoke one morning with a dead elf in his bed! After some deliberation he brought this to management's attention, and Zvezdana agreed to handle it for him, saying only "You arr varry lucky you arr such goot cahstomers,,,"
The only clue to the elf woman's identity was a halved skull tattoo: the symbol of Galishma, a goddess of dark places & hidden things as well as protectress of women. The group had their suspicious but without much to go on they decided to drop the subject for now.
Disappeared!
The party met up with Sesto's crew, ready to brave the mansion again. But nobody had seen him for several days! The crew was getting worried, and the party decided to look into it.
 |
| Life in the Old City |
There was no information at the Dragon's Eye, so the party ventured into Old City to look for Sesto's neighbourhood. They stopped into Eternal Flame, the bar where they'd first met him [a few sessions ago]. A rose-gold metallic building sized for beings much taller than humans, it was kept quite warm by a cheery ever-burning fire, now used as an oven. The barkeep hadn't seen their quarry for almost a week which was unusual since Sesto stopped in for an after-work drink most days. The party managed to learn where he lived (amusingly, on the Street of Stones).
At the corner of the Street of Stones, Robert spoke to an old man selling pickles out of a barrel. The vendor had noticed a few cloaked, shady types asking around for Sesto and one of them had a strange tattoo on the back of his neck:
Then the old pickle-monger pointed out the Sesto family's residence on the second floor of a nearby brick & concrete apartment block, of the run-down style commonplace in the Old City.
The dwelling had been ransacked, and there didn't seem to be any clues to the perpetrators. Mattresses were slashed, boxes opened up, all the poor family's meagre possessions were thoroughly rifled.
Suba-Jin interviewed a frightened neighbour (who wouldn't even open her door) and got some interesting gossip. A few nights back, the woman had heard men's voices raised in anger, and the sounds of breaking furniture. "I thought it was a domestic. Common around here, you understand. Then one of the men said some funny things - 'Ah, you'll be fit for a coffin after this! We'll get the iron toads on it, you wait' and then 'By yurdle-murdle'... or maybe it was 'yer-doomlel'? Some funny word, anyway." With a sinking feeling, Suba-Jin thought he knew the word she had overheard...
They party headed to the Bridge district to find evidence of the Coffin Masters gang, thinking that was who had grabbed up Sesto and his family.
The run-down shacks on Bridge were usually covered in graffiti, most of it not relevant. Symbols of gangs & local crews. Occasionally the logo of a deity, like Galishma's half-skull. Occasionally a strangely clean and well-written message saying "THE SEQUENCE - ALL WELCOME - OTHERSIDE."
After an hour of searching they noticed a familiar horned logo in white paint. They made the acquaintance of a local salt vendor named Thando who was ready to leave the city and seek his fortune elsewhere. He was tired of paying protection money to the Coffin Masters. The party bought his entire stock for cheap and sent him off with a magic acorn in his pocket for good luck.
The party spread news among the locals that a new salt vendor was in business! Xénos posed as the vendor and the rest of the group hid in ambush. As the night wore on, the group awaited the Coffin Masters' arrival.
Just before midnight, a group of six thugs showed up and tried to shake down the "helpless merchant." Xénos played dumb and then ran off down an alley, leading the thugs a merry chase. Just as they cornered their "victim" Suba-Jin, Gorr and Robert fell upon them from behind and slayed five quickly. Their leader surrendered after he saw his crew cut down.
The group sweated him for information on Sesto and the location of the Coffin Masters' home base. "I can't tell you that. You know what they do to traitors? I'll get flayed alive!" Suba-Jin indicated the corpses of the underlings being tossed off the side of the Bridge, plummeting hundreds of feet to the Nereus Firth below. The man realized his predicament. He claimed to know nothing of Sesto but agreed to lead the group to the gang's hideout and teach them the 'secret knock' in exchange for his life and a small payout - 100 silver, enough to leave town. He led them deeper into the Bridge district, walking for almost an hour through winding alleys.
We left the group debating their next move - they are standing on a darkened corner, looking at a dead-end alley. According to their prisoner, the building at the end covers a passage downwards into the semi-mythical tunnels inside the Great Bridge!
Enemies Defeated:
1 mandragora (39 xp)
6 thugs (335 xp)
6 thugs (335 xp)
Treasure Obtained:
none
Treasure Sold:
golden disk
Money:
Gorr, Suba-Jin, Xénos, Robert, Lord Fesgate: noted during play
Young Joe Spruce: 333 silver, 33 copper
