The Troupe has found that the bandit group responsible for the robberies is looking for a magic item known as the Hand of Glory. However, it cost the lives of both Viconia and Fabio to do so. They now return to Restenford once again, to the temple where they can raise their lost friends.

15 Flamerule 1368

Almon asks for a donation of 1200 gold to bring back Fabio and Viconia. I give Fabio the Scroll of Sleep I was saving for him, but unfortunately he fails to copy it into his spellbook.

Fabio takes a look at the armour we pulled off the assassins that attacked us on the way back to Restenford. He says that the plate mail is actually made from dwarven crystal.

The chain mail was used to protect undead warriors in the past. Neither of these suits provide any of us with better protection than we already have, so we pack them into the Bag of Holding.

We are weary and still bloodied so we decide to rest a while before we see Pelltar. He won’t be at his mansion until later in the day anyway. When we arrive we have an interesting conversation with Falco.

Rose: I’d actually like to ask you a few questions, if I could.

Falco: Questions? Why, certainly, ask away, my friend.

Rose: Does Zahrdahl spend much time here?

Falco: What? Oh, the bait dealer. Heavens no. Thank Phaulkon too, he stinks of all that stuff he uses to make fish bait. He would stink this place out.

Rose: Really, he said he gossips here all the time. Maybe over at West Wind?

Falco: I doubt it, sir. The farmers and merchants usually hang out there, not the fishermen. Besides, too far for him to walk, you know he has that bum leg?

Rose: Interesting. Thank you. That does seem to be really suspicious, doesn’t it? Perhaps we should go back to Zahrdahl’s house, and look around more closely.

Something doesn’t feel right about Zahrdahl. It will have to wait for now. We ask Falco for a room and settle rest until the afternoon. Viconia and I heal everyone back to full strength as we rest.

I take a look at the gauntlets we pulled off one of the bandits corpses. I use the weave to Identify them. They are Brawling Hands, and fit Viconia’s wrists well.

She has -9 AC now with all the equipment she has on her. In theory she should be tough to hit by anyone using melee/ranged attacks.

After we are well rested we return to Zahrdahl’s home to see if we can learn anything new. Rose distracts him as Mur’Neth reverts to their more malleable form.

Rose: Nothing right now.

Mur’Neth slinks upstairs and searches around again. Cat follows him up to help them look around. They find a key hidden among the bookshelves this time.

They try the key on the bedside chest and it clicks open. Inside there is an emerald, some coins, and a couple of hand-written books.

The first book is a notebook containing a lot of information about Restenford. It’s less of a journal, and more of an informative document intended to be sent to Restenford’s enemies. It contains information we had given him. We didn’t know we were feeding information to a spy.

The other is a spellbook containing several spells that we could study from. Mur’Neth returns to us and shows us the books. Before we confront Zahrdahl, The bards and I study the spellbook. Rose learns how to conjure a Color Spray.

She also learns how to grant Invisibility to anyone she touches.

She also learns how to create glowing dust that can reveal enemies in hiding. This could have been useful against the thieves that raided the warehouses. Rose is becoming quite the illusionist.

I attempt to learn how to inspire fear, but I fumble the spell. I don’t really like necromancy anyway.

I do, however, learn how to Detect Invisible opponents.

Fabio attempts to learn how to Identify items using the Weave, but it isn’t his day.

Zahrdahl’s book has a few other spells, but we decide to leave them in the book for now. He has the ability to conjure illusory copies of himself.

He can also prevent foes from detecting him when he is hidden.

And he has access to a more powerful spell of Invisibility.

We go back to Zahrdahl to confront him about the notes Mur’Neth found in his home.

Rose: I’m afraid there is a BIG problem, Zahrdahl!

Zahrdahl: Oh yeah? Well, watcha got?

Rose: We found a journal with notes in it about information on Restenford. It included all the things we have been doing here. The Journal belongs to a spy for the Duke of Kroten.

Zahrdahl: Damn you! You won’t take me alive.

Then we will take him dead. Rose is quick to draw her spear.

Zahrdahl attempts to call into the Weave, but he is distracted by the pain we cause him.

I deliver the final blow, and the illusionist drops dead before he can cast a single spell.

Pelltar will want to hear about this. But first, we search the corpse for anything useful.

The mage carried a couple of Potions of Healing, a Potion of Speed, and 50 gold. He had on him some Bracers of Defense that seem better than my own, so I replace the ones I am wearing.

He carried with him dagger that looks almost like a miniature broadsword. Mur’Neth is still happy with their dagger, so we store it in our Bag for now.

We leave and make our way back to Pelltar’s house, where we find him teaching his students.

Rose: Pelltar! We must speak with you!

Pelltar: So, what did you find?

Rose: You may want this. It is the journal of Zahrdahl, the bait-dealer.

Pelltar: Uh, okay, I’ll bite. Why do I want this?

Rose: Because he was really a spy for the duke.

Pelltar: What! So the stories were true about a spy in the town. Brilliant detective work. The baron needs to know about this immediately. I assume you have taken care of this “bait-dealer”?

Rose: Oh yes. He was a mage of some sort. He had a really nice dagger but he won’t need it anymore.

Pelltar: That is a relief. We have enough problems with the elven overlords without them sending spies. Never a dull day around here. Thank you for your work here.

Fabio says that all this excitement and mystery has him itching for a fight.

He gets an increased Breath Weapon save, +1 to THAC0, and 4 more Hit Points.

However, before we can go out looking for one, we have more we need to discuss with Pelltar.

Rose: We killed the bandits. On one of them we found a note. It talks about a “Hand of Glory”, whatever that is. I think that is what they were looking for.

Pelltar: Hand of Glory? No, I can’t say that I have ever heard of such a thing.

Fabio: So my song is the only lead? Hmm. What about looking through all your books here? We may find more information.

Pelltar: Books? Yes! Good idea, it may take you awhile. Don’t bother my apprentices though. They have their own work to do.

I was born for this. Or raised for this, at least. Back at the Keep there was nothing to do but read books, and Pelltar’s library is so small in comparison. I start toward the books as Rose carries on her conversation with Pelltar.

Rose: We explored the old sewers and found the body of a wizard or someone dressed like one. We also found this note. We aren’t really sure what it is, but I think it might be a map. Does that make any sense to you?

Pelltar: It is very hard to read, but hmmm… It looks like a really badly drawn map of this town. Assuming this line is the river, these must be the houses and stores around here. Why would there be checkmarks?

Oh! I have it, by loving Mystra! The checkmarks are next to the buildings that someone stole from. See here, these two are the warehouses that Gelpas was talking about. While you were gone, I talked to him about the other thefts. They match this perfectly. Go talk to Welcar or Zelmar, I hear he was also robbed. These others would be the homes.

Strange. Why would the lighthouse be on here? Bomarc is almost a hermit. He wouldn’t have anything to steal. Well, it doesn’t have a checkmark, so maybe this is just a landmark or something.

Rose: Either way, maybe we should check out the lighthouse, too.

We research well into the night. I have ready many of the books here already, but I come across some journals explaining the history of the town. Most of it is uninteresting, tabulating trades and industry. But there is some interesting information about the history of the town guard, and a thieve’s guild they dismantled.

The hand of a thief. It still isn’t much to go on. We’re no closer to finding this hand, or the thief it came from. Perhaps we will have more luck at the lighthouse this time.

At the lighthouse we find a girl playing, but she isn’t very talkative. It’s late, she should be at home, safe in bed.

We are in luck this time. The door to the lighthouse is open. We go inside.

The ground floor is empty, but looks lived in. There is a fire roaring in the fireplace. Mur’Neth finds some locked cabinets and chests, but breaking into them we find only a few coins.

There are stairs leading to the top of the tower. We climb them and find, not a gnome, but a human who draws his dagger as soon as he sees us.

The man drinks a potion and disappears. We block the stairs while Rose asks the Weave to reveal him to us again.

Her Truth Perception works, and the man is revealed to us.

He tries to get past Viconia on the stairs, but she holds him back with her Mace of Disruption. I use Corellon’s blessing to Hold him in place.

Now stunned, he cannot put up any more of a fight.

We search his corpse. He was wearing the armour of a Shadow Thief, organised criminals based in Amn. Mur’Neth morphs their body into the suit.

For added protection he was wearing Bracers of Defense. These are better quality than my own, so I replace them. I pass my old Bracers to Xan.

The ring he is wearing looks like a simple jade ring, but Rose realises it has healing properties. She places the ring on her finger.

He was armed with a magical sword that has its origins in Athkatla. I’m beginning to think they may actually be Shadow Thieves.

He is also armed with a Light Crossbow of Speed. It isn’t any more accurate than Mur’Neth’s crossbow, but it is faster, so they replace their current weapon with this.

Hanging from his belt is a grisly dismembered hand. Xan and I can feel the enchantment coming off of it. It must be the Glorious Hand the thieves have been looking for.

We are even luckier when we realise the gem he is carrying is the missing Black Pearl!

He also carries a few bolts, another Potion of Invisibility, and a Potion of Speed. His journal is an interesting read. It looks like the elven overlords, my kin, are behind both the necromancer at Bone Hill and these Shadow Thief incursions.

Pelltar needs to know about this, but first we search the room for any more information. Mur’Neth determines that many of these chests and cabinets are trapped, but with the help of a Potion of Master Thievery, they are able to disarm the traps and unlock the chests.

One chest contains a Potion of Cloud Giant Strength, 2 Potions of Speed, 2 Antidotes, and a Potion of Superior Healing.

We find 20 enchanted bullets in a cabinet on the other side of the room.

In another chest we find a diamond, a star sapphire, and a couple of weapons. The first is an enchanted quarterstaff that could find good use in the hands of a mage.

The second weapon interests Rose. It is a spear with what looks like a unicorn horn used as a blade. We are unsure if the horn is real or not.

With her new spear, Rose leads us back to Pelltar’s home, but he isn’t anywhere to be seen.

He must be in his tower at this time. We go to the castle and find him getting ready to sleep.

Rose: Yes, we found the real thief. His name was Sirius and he was hired by the elven overlords to destroy the baron’s control here. Here is his journal.

Pelltar: So the overlords are at it again? This is the most extreme tactic they have used on us. I will notify Gelpas and the baron immediately. You have done a great service for this town.

Rose: Thank you. We would really like to find out what happened to Bomarc before we leave.

I say to Rose that we need to get back to the Coast. The bandits have already had enough time to rebuild their strength. She says that we need to know, and that this should only take an hour or two. There’s still a piece of the puzzle missing.

Bomarc was a thief. A guild thief. Their leader, in fact. In all likelihood he was punished for it. Perhaps by hanging. Rose leads us to the hanging tree and we find a guard wandering outside the town’s walls.

Rose: Yes, we are. What can you tell us?

Ravella: About the thefts? Nothing really. None of them have been to this part of town.

Rose: I am more curious about the recently hanged bandit you were guarding.

Ravella: You mean Reynard? Nothing special with his nasty self. Why do you ask?

Rose: Nothing happened while he hanged there?

Ravella: No. Should it?

Rose: Maybe. We have information that a group of bandits was looking for a magical item. That item is made from the hand of a dead thief or bandit.

Ravella: Well, nothing happened on my watch. So bugger off.

Rose: No, I can tell you are lying to me. Tell me what happened. I can always tell Gelpas that you are being uncooperative.

Ravella: Alright, alright. But you can’t tell anyone! One night I thought I saw someone near the body. I scared ’em off and didn’t think anything about it. The next morning I discovered that Reynard’s left hand was cut off. I didn’t want to get into trouble so I brought him down and buried him in the graveyard. I covered everything up by telling the sergeant that the body was starting to fall apart. Until now, no one has asked any questions.

Rose: Can you show us where you buried him? I want to examine the body.

Ravella: What?! Are you mad? Gelpas will lock me up for this if he finds out.

Rose: Then I suggest we do it now and don’t talk to him about it.

Ravella: Alright. I’ll take you to the grave.

She leads us back into town, up past the abbey into the graveyard. She points out a grave near the cave entrance to the sewers.

Rose: Now, we dig him up and confirm your story.

We dig up the grave and force open the coffin. There is the corpse, missing a hand as Ravella told us. But there is another body in the coffin. That of a gnome with his throat bruised.

Rose: Looks like someone killed him, see the marks on his neck? Someone crushed his throat. Didn’t you realise you had two bodies in there?

Ravella: No! I mean, well, the coffin was too heavy for me. So some of the guys helped me but we had a hard time carrying it over here. I nailed down the lid! I didn’t notice anything unusual.

Rose: It looks like someone pulled the lid off. See where some of the nails are bent and reused. There are marks on the bottom edge from a prybar or something.

Ravella: Well, someone killed Bomarc. He may have been a grumpy little gnome but murder is not acceptable in this town. Someone needs to be brought to justice.

Rose: We already went to the lighthouse and dispatched the thief. It looks like the bastard killed poor Bomarc. We’ll let Pelltar know what happened to him.

Ravella: Please do. I got to get back to my post. I will send someone here to rebury these two.

On our way back to Pelltar we realise that Welcar would probably like his pearl back, so we find him on patrol again.

Rose: We found the thief and the black pearl. Here, take it.

Welcar: I was afraid the baron would have my head for losing this. Thank you.

The mystery is solved, all tied up in a neat bow. Now we return to Pelltar for the last time.

Rose: We found poor Bomarc stuffed into a fresh grave along with the thief Reynard who was hanged just recently.

Pelltar: So the overlords are at it again? This is the most extreme tactic they have used on us. I will notify Gelpas and the baron immediately. You have done a great service for this town.

Rose: Good. I hope I am done here, I need to finish my own quest back on the mainlaind.

Pelltar: Indeed, we can never thank you enough. I will cast the spells to send you back. I will take the Glorious Hand, my students will find it worth studying. Since it only affects humanoids, I can’t imagine it being of much use to a powerful adventurer like yourself.

“Powerful adventurer”. I like how it sounds. Fabio decides to stay in Restenford and says his goodbyes.

Pelltar starts to chant words that open the Weave. The tower, along with the whole of Restenford, fades away…