The Troupe was ready to leave Restenford when Gelpas accused them of stealing from the warehouses. Though they quickly cleared their name, they agreed to remain behind and help find the real thief. In the sewers beneath the town they found organised thieves and otyughs, but are no closer to finding the missing black pearl.
14 Flamerule 1368
Clearing out the sewers was a task, but the map we found clearly labels two of the warehouses in the town. We return to Welcar with both the stolen items and the map.
Rose: We found the stolen items. Here they are.
Welcar: Really? Great! But where is the black pearl?
Rose: We couldn’t find it.
Welcar: Oh, that’s not good. The baron will have my head, and maybe yours too. You need to keep looking. The thief has got to be somewhere.
The baron can try and have our heads, but he will have a fight on his hands. We show Welcar the map that we found in the sewers.
Rose: We found this note. We think it is a map. Are these two boxes the warehouses that the thief took stuff from?
Welcar: Yes, this is definitely a map of Restenford. Those boxes match these warehouses. Look at this, that should be the West Wind. Zelmar told me that someone stole their money last week. There is a checkmark next to that building. You should check with Zelmar about this.
So the thieves are hitting more than just warehouses. The black pearl seems very important to Grellus and the baron, but I wonder what they are really after?
We go to the West Wind to see if Zelmar can help us figure this out.
Rose: I understand that someone stole your money last week?
Zelmar sighs.
Zelmar: Yes, lucky for me, we had stored most of it off site beforehand. So it was only a week’s earnings.
Rose: I assume you never saw the thief?
Zelmar: Ha! If I had, I would have put a few magic missiles into their ass. But no, none of us saw who did it.
Rose: Have any of the regular customers looked guilty since then? Or maybe very happy about this? A competitor, perhaps?
Zelmar: No, no. I went through all this with Gelpas. I don’t think it would be someone we know. We get new merchants all the time, so any one of them could have done it.
Rose: How much did they take?
Zelmar: 200 in gold and some small gems. About 250 gold in total.
Rose: Okay, we are looking into this. If I can find it for you, I will.
Zelmar: Oh, I just remembered. Smyth came in the other day. He runs the store next door. Anyway, he mentioned something weird about Bomarc. Bomarc runs the lighthouse. Normally, Bomarc picks up all his supplies from Smyth once a month.
Rose: So?
Zelmar: So, Bomarc had the supplies delivered to him instead. He never has anyone visit him. The guy is like a hermit. He is really grumpy and hates everyone. Typical for a gnome I guess, but with all the strange things happening around here, this just seemed stranger than normal. Bomarc always stops by here for a few beers before heading back to the lighthouse. I usually pack a few bottles for him to take. He hasn’t sent any word to me about delivering them.
Rose: If I have time, I guess I can stop by and check on him.
The lighthouse was locked last time we checked. Mur’Neth and Cat couldn’t break in with conventional thieving methods. Still, perhaps a firm knock on the door might get us inside. We go down to the lighthouse, finding it lock as last time. There is no answer to our rapping at the entrance.
We are at a dead end. The only other clue we have are the bandits to the north. We don’t know if they are related to these robberies, but it’s still worth out time finding them and taking them out.
15 Flamerule 1368
It is close to midnight after we travel back to the north. We are wary of encountering wyverns in the area, though we killed many the last time. It seems that after that minor cull, giant spiders have move in to replace them.
The battle doesn’t last long – these aren’t as hard to kill as the wyverns were.
We travel across the bridge to find more spiders lying in wait for us.
We kill them and move on. We encounter a few more spiders over here, but there are no wyverns or bandits in sight. Perhaps on the bridge to the north?
We make our way around to the north and learn that we didn’t get all of the wyverns last time. We put up a fight, but Viconia is seriously injured and poisoned by the wyvern’s barbed tail.
With the help of some summoned gibberlings, we kill the wyvern and Viconia tries to keep herself alive with Potions of Healing.
It isn’t enough. The poison consumes Viconia and she dies yet again. Oh well. Another trip to the temple.
I really need to stock up on antidotes.
We kill the baby wyvern and gather up Viconia’s corpse and equipment. We have a decision to make now. If we go back to the temple now any bandits in the area could move on. Rose tells us we should move quickly, Viconia’s raising can wait a short while.
We make it to the bridge and find a well-equipped human guarding it.
Rose: “Hold up boys?” I only see one of you. You don’t carry a small furry pet in your pocket do you?
Hand Bandit Leader: A small pet? No. However, since you now know about my henchmen we can all get acquainted.
One moment before you go. We are looking for some travellers from Restenford. I assume that is where you are from?
Rose: Not originally, but yes.
Hand Bandit Leader: We were told some travellers from Restenford have an important item we want. Oh, don’t worry about getting it out now. I will take it after you are dead. Get ’em boys! We must find the Hand!
What’s the Hand? No time for that now. We need to defend ourselves.
If they are anything like the thieves in the sewers they will have Potions of Invisibility. We respond quickly. I use my Wand to incite fear within their ranks. Fabio plays his Lute to induce confusion and chaos. Xan launches a column of fire from his Wand. Mur’Neth and Rose focus their attacks on the bandits flanking us.
Many of the bandits are terrified and confused, leading to a panic. The flanking bandit tries to keep themselves alive with a Potion of Healing.
They don’t survive the next volley of missiles. Xan’s Scorcher burns a second bandit to a crisp.
The confused bandit leader has no idea what is happening anymore, and is easy to kill.
We track the last of the bandits, but even in their confused state they almost kill Cat.
Cat flees from the bandit and Xan kills him with an Arrow of Flame.
Only one bandit left and they don’t stand a chance.
These bandits are well equipped. We were lucky to disable them before they could fight back. One of them carried an Army Scythe, a light crossbow that can reload rapidly.
The others carried short swords that were enchanted to hit more often and cut deeper.
The leader’s armour was enchanted, unlike the others.
They also had many potions, of Healing, of Speed, of Invisibility, and of Master Thievery. The leader had a scrap of paper on him that mentions the Hand.
Fabio takes the piece of paper and seems to recognise the text.
Aegon: And I assume you know that song?
Fabio: Kind of, yes. Let me think.
He clears his throat.
Fabio: dum de dum, don’t understand
tallow drips on withered hand
‘neath shadow of a gallows’ pole
I took (something something)
fingers dance and I stretch and yawn
Hand of Glory.
I don’t remember that middle part. The song is about making a magical item called the Hand of Glory. That is all I can remember though. We should probably check with Pelltar about this.
A gallows’ pole. Could the Hanging Tree be playing a larger part in all of this? Fabio is right. Perhaps Pelltar knows more about the Hand of Glory. But first we need to bring Viconia back to the material plane.
On our way to the temple we are ambushed by bandits yet again.
They are talkative, as all assassins have been thus far.
Aegon: I’m sure you’ll be about as much trouble as the rest of the rabble we’ve killed.
Molkar: You’ll be a feisty kill, little one. When you die, know that it was Melkar that killed you.
We draw our weapons and raise our wands. Their mage’s protections fly up. The Weave will be protecting him in this fight.
The mage summons Mirror Images from the Weave. Mur’Neth loads Bolts of Biting into its crossbow. A ball of fire launches from Xan’s Wand, and a ball of fear launches from mine.
Molkar drinks what looks like a Potion of Heroism. Our wands hit their target and flames consume our attackers as well as Rose, who moved in close in an attempt to Charm Molkar. One of the assassins resists the wands Horrors, charging toward Fabio.
Fabio switches to his Varscona to fight the assassin, who consumes a Potion of Strength. Rose starts drinking potions to reverse the burns caused by Xan’s Fireball. I summon a Spiritual Hammer and take aim at Fabio’s attacker.
Xan hits the assassin with his Wand of Magic Missiles.
The assassin strikes Fabio in the head and his skull cracks before his body falls to the ground. Damn it, another one for us to resurrect.
Corellon sends me my Spiritual Hammer just as the assassin turns toward me. Rose draws her spear and charges the assassin in an attempt to distract him.
Rose manages to put up a good fight while Xan asks the Weave to Hold the assassin in place.
The spell is effective, and the assassin is paralysed. We start hurling missiles at the now-defenseless dwarf.
The poison from Mur’Neth’s bolts seep into him and he slowly dies, still held in place until Xan’s magic wears off.
The effect from my Wand of Fear wears off, and the other assassins gain the confidence to avenge their lost comrade.
I use another charge and they flee once again, excepting their mage who manages to resist the wand’s influence.
The mage is protected from missiles so we draw our melee weapons and close in on the mage.
His magical defenses wear off and my Spiritual Hammer strikes the fatal blow.
We turn our attention to Molkar, with Cat leading the charge.
Xan uses his wand to Scorch the other assassin fleeing behind us.
The Wand of Fear wears off again so Cat, who is still weak, flees Molkar to avoid any attacks.
Xan’s Scorcher finishes off the penultimate assassin, leaving only Molkar behind.
As he chases Cat past me I get a lucky strike with my Spiritual Hammer and he joins his companions in the dirt.
After the fight I feel closer to Corellon.
He gets an increased Polymorph save, another Level 2 spell slot, access to 3rd level Priest spells, and one additional Hit Point.
With better piety, I can ask the Protector for more blessings, including the ability to Smite our opponents.
We start looting the corpses of our would-be assassins. One of them carries a Potion of Absorption amongst their effects.
Molkar himself was wearing some gauntlets that I cannot identify. Perhaps Fabio might be able to help identify them after we bring him back.
His armour is also enchanted, but we don’t know exactly how.
As is his Pole Axe.
I recognise his helmet, however. It is a Crystal Helm, providing protection from both warmth and cold alike. It fits Xan nicely.
Their mage carries a few spells. The first being a Scroll of Color Spray, which I copy to my spellbook.
He also has a Scroll of Sleep, which I save for Fabio.
Hanging around his neck is a Scroll of Detect Illusion, similar to the one Xan wears.
One of the assassins was wielding an enchanted long sword, and a cutlass that seems to have magical properties.
The assassin that killed Fabio was using an enchanted quarterstaff. We already have one or two in our Bag of Holding.
Two of our party dead, and we are running out of energy. We should return to the Temple then get some rest before we go to see Pelltar. Hopefully there are no more bandits in our way.
