Madraday, Vanger 2nd, 150 After Victory
A slow peaceful month has gone by since we slew the vampires in Nepenthil's Wood. The events of the previous 6 months were so hectic, that it's nice to have this Madriel blessed rest. Enjoying our new found wealth has not been too bad, either!
We have purchased a nice house not to far from the old clock tower, and with the exception of Goldpetal who has been spending most of his time out in the woods, we've all moved in. The rest of us have been tending to our various pursuits: Telryn has buried himself in his lab, while Madriel and Paks have been busy at Madriel's temple. Chuck has been training hard with the Vigilants. Stone, who no longer sleeps(!), does the work of 2 half-orcs, helping everywhere he can, all in the name of Hedrad.
Interestingly enough, Darmaon disappeared for about 3 weeks, saying he had to "take care of some business", and only recently returned, muttering darkly about "thrice damned birdmen".
Of Sym Greenpants and the Eye of the Green Dragon, we've heard no word, though both the Vigilants and Darmaons agents have been looking. I'm afraid she has gotten clean away.
The city itself has recovered quickly -- there are few remaining signs of the Titanspawn attack of late Autumn, and the cities Alchemists swear that the Old Clock Tower has been rendered inert. Much of the recovery must be attributed to Thorn's effective leadership. He has been managing the city and Vesh very efficiently since the election.
Speaking of Thorn, we received a summons from him today. He has requested our presence at the Hall of Command tomorrow. I wouldn't bet one of Darmaon's loaded dice that he has some task for his newest "Protectors". Winter is near over, and travel will be easier. Perhaps our peaceful idyl is coming to an end?
During the month, Telryn identified all the things we got from the vampires. We got a +1 silver falchion. +1 bracers of armor. +1 ring of protection. 15 azurite stones, which Darmaon had appraised at 10 gold each, which we used to pay for the identification. 4700 silver pieces, 790 gold pieces. The necklace with the obsidian carved hoof is the Fiendish Foot - Telryn discovered it in some research. Anyone using it can get a Fiendish Template for a certain period of time. Everyone who owns this item dies of a horrible end. Chuck says we should sell it.
Goldpetal takes the falchion. Chuck takes the ring and Miriel takes the bracers. Darmaon finds a locksmith who is willing to install a vault in the basement. Telryn tells us that his researches tell him that the Fiendish Foot can't be burnt or melted. Chuck goes shopping for a masterwork composite longbow.
Goldpetal seeks out the best alchemists in town, taking a swamp lotus leaf, and asks the alchemist to teach him how to make poison from it. Paks shops some and studies at the Cathedral. They don't know much about healing unicorns, but they suggest she check with the library at Hedrad, or the Knights of Mithril. Miriel goes back to her studies at the temple, focusing especially on fighthing. The martial master tells her she needs more armor, and marches her down to the armory for some chain mail and a small steel shield, recommending plate mail later on. Miriel explains that her armor is enchanted, but thanks her and takes the armor as backup, and for training to learn to work in mail. She also trains in plate. She starts to train to use her spear as a staff. She learns how to trip and disarm people with the spear. Goldpetal studies tattooing, wanders around healing animals belonging to the local peasants, and replaces his hawk.
We considering hiring a cook/housekeeper from among the people who show up asking if we want help. The three who show up, independently, asking for the job are an older woman, Calastian, Joanna, rather large. She says she used to help the people who used to live here. She offers to be the cook/housekeeper for 1 gold piece a week. Paks asks her for references. Everyone likes her except Chuck, who thinks there's something strange about her. Paks sends her away telling her we will let her know. She says she's staying at the inn down the road.
The second person who shows up is a big, shaggy dwarf, Gorgas One-eye, an ex-adventurer who heard about us from the dwarf down in Southport. He also is willing to work for one gold piece a week, saying he wasted all the money he earned adventuring in the bottom of an ale mug. Paks interviews him to see if he really has skills, and gets the feeling he might be good with an axe or blade. She asks him for a reference, but he doesn't have any; he says, though, that he is in the Silvershield clan. We all like him except Goldpetal, who hates him. Paks sends him away saying she'll get in touch as well.
The third person who shows up is a surly little half-orc named Scorzy, who blusters a bit and says he'll work for 8 silver a week. Paks asks for references, which confuses him. Miriel asks if he can cook. She likes his attitude and feels sorry for him and says we should hire him. Darmaon appears while we're interviewing him, and he really doesn't like him.
Miriel says if we want someone, we can just get her mother to recommend someone. Chuck suggests someone from the temple. We want someone who can protect the house. Darmaon doesn't want to talk about his adventures since we saw him except to say something about god-damned bird men.
Yesterday, Delian "Eagle-eye" Rukwald, known for being head spymaster, called for Chuck, who visited him in his office, which seemed completely bare, no papers anywhere. They sent interrogators to Kratys Freehold to talk to the slaves rescued from the swamp, and it turns out someone had messed with their memories, but they were able to recover some of the lost memories. Many of them were kidnapped from the slums of Hedrad, called the Styes. Delian wants to send some agents secretly to Hedrad to check this out. He says he's heard that Thorn might be sending us on a mission to Hedrad, and he would like Chuck to accept this secondary mission as well. He won't tell Chuck any more until he accepts the mission.
Darmaon tries to find out more about the applicants for the housekeeper job. Miriel asks her mother, who says she'll get back to her. The Home Commander calls us in the next day, Tanilday, the 3rd of Vanger. We join him in his study, where there is a roaring fire and a big jug of red wine, a nice vintage of Veshan Shiraz, which he offers us, asking us to be seated. He thanks us for our help in the election, and for getting the Book of Chains. He tells us that the researches have determined that it is the real Serpent Amphora, and that they don't know how to open it, but it does contain the essence of Mormo, and the Mormoites will be after it to resurrect Mormo. He says that the Book of Chains referenced something called Marluz' Spell of Unmaking. Marluz was a great wizard and priest of Chardun. He'd like to find more information about Marluz, either from the library at Hedrad or straight from the source, from the great temple of Chardun. Chuck says Hedrad sounds like a good bet, and the Commander agrees. We also comment that we might have to go to the temple after all. Chuck mentions the spymaster wanting him to go to Hedrad, and the Commander says he knows, and agrees that Chuck should take on the second mission as well. Chuck also wants to know more about the Asuras spy/poison ring. The Commander asks us to come back tomorrow with an answer.
Darmaon tries to see if Greenpants has left anything behind that will help him find her. Darmaon tracks down where she was staying in Lave. It appears very empty. Burned papers in the fireplace. There is an illustrated book on dangerous monsters entitled The Book of Rare and Dangerous Beasts. Darmaon picks up the book and looks at it. Thereafter, he studies it when he has a chance. He asks Goldpetal to scry for Greenpants, using the book as a reference. Goldpetal sees her at a campfire in the wilderness, with the little black rubbery imp that we fought. Darmaon asks him if he recognizes any of the trees in the area. Goldpetal says they are common trees in Vesh.
We decide to go off to Hedrad. Stone looks in briefly and says he might be able to find someone at the temple of Hedrada to do the housekeeping, too. Stone says he'll go ahead of us and meet us there. He takes off, stopping by the temple to get them to recommend someone as a housekeeper/caretaker.
We agree to the journey with Thorn, and he gives us official seals of Vesh, so we can enter as diplomats and stay at the Veshan embassy. He tells us that the laws are very strict in Hedrad, and different from those of Vesh, and we should be very careful. Stone gives us some advice on the laws, the main one of which is that weapons and armor cannot be worn in the city proper. Druids also are not allowed in the city, but he will send a special letter asking for permission for Goldpetal to come in with us.
Before we leave, Chuck goes back to Eagle-eye, who gives him the name of a contact and a map of Hedrad. The main city is up on the cliff while the lower city, where the slums are, are 2002 steps down the cliff. The Styes are on the eastern edge of the lower city. He refers Chuck to a scholar there, Refrum, a priest of Madriel who tends to the poor. This is only quasi-legal in Hedrad.
Miriel consults the priestesses at the temple about the trip, particularly those who have visions. One of them has in fact had a vision of Miriel; she senses a disturbance in Hedrad, and has a vision of a spiral when she thinks of Hedrad, and she sees people's faces screaming as they spiral in, as if it were a whirlpool. She thinks that a great force is building there, a force of madness. Miriel consults the scholarly priestesses about forces of madness, but they just laugh a bit at her and the priestess who had the vision.
Chuck asks Thorn about borrowing horses and where we could leave them when we take the trip on the lake. Thorn suggests that we could ferry the horses across from Lave, then again across the inlet to the lake. This will take us two weeks. Before we go, Goldpetal warps away the entrances to the house and the vault so no one can break in. Stone actually ends up leaving with us, as he could not wrap up his business before we left.
It is an uneventful trip. We pass a lot of farms, cross a few rivers, stop in a small town with an inn, where there is excellent fish and cheese. Stone picks up a wheel of cheese, and we get some salted fish for the trip. The town is not too far from the falls, so Darmon wakes up early and rides out to see the falls before we go. We continue to travel, passing farms and the occasional Veshan patrol. One patrol stops us, and Chuck asks them about rat men. Sometimes the disease rat men raid up here, but not lately. Later we are stopped by a patrol of Vigilants, who recognize Chuck and chat with him for a while. There's a big Vigilant outpost at the tip of the peninsula where the river meets the inlet of the sea, to the south of the river.
As we sight the town, we can see the sea sparkling pinkish in the distance, very clearly. There is a cold, clear wind coming off the ocean. Goldpetal suggests that he join us into the city in elf form. He rides with Miriel. We reach the city walls. Stone puts away his Ioun stone. We wait in line to get in, putting away our armor and weapons as we wait. We look at the city - it has a mishmash of architectures from all over. It's the biggest city any of us have ever seen, even Darmaon, who is widely travelled. Chuck tells us that the city we can see above is only part of the city; that there is another city lower down, reached by 2002 steps where four can walk abreast. The laws are less strict in this lower city. When we reach the head of the line, the guards question us, looking suspiciously at Goldpetal and Stone. They ask our business. Stone says he's an exemplar of Hedrad; they are a little confused by this, but in the end they believe him and let him in, but they reject the Druid. Chuck presents our credentials; they consult their captain, but keep shaking their heads. Goldpetal pulls out his Veshan seal, but they still won't let him in until they check with their superiors. Stone tells him to bring them here. We wait 5-6 hours. Finally a bureaucrat and a representative from the embassy show up and argue over us, but finally Goldpetal manages to negotiate his way in. Meanwhile Darmaon starts fast-talking them, shuffling papers, and they let us in, forgetting the gate fee. Stone refuses to come in without paying the fee. They refuse to accept the Veshan gold piece without a surcharge, and that no one in town will accept Veshan coins. Stone heads off to the exemplars' temple immediately. The rest of us go to the embassy. As we pass, the guards tell Miriel and Paks not to worship Madriel publically, as it is against the law to worship any other gods publically. They also tell Goldpetal they will keep a close eye on him.
As we pass through the city, we see the library to the east of the great temple. The courtyard to the south of the temple is full of golden statues, in all sorts of poses, some in fear, or anger, or resignation. These are the worst offenders, they get the "kiss of gold." We go a few more blocks to the embassy, and we can see that we were led a little out of the way so we could see that courtyard. Chuck shows the guardsmen his golden duck and says "This duck was really bad, too - you don't even want to know.
It is late, so we rest in the embassy. Dinner is Veshan, and we learn that Hedradan food is likely to be very plain. They like their bathhouses, however, and the one next door is very nice, extensive, with extra plumbing. Chuck and Darmaon go to the baths before bed.
In the bathhouse, men are talking about business. Darmaon listens in, but it's not very interesting. He's very impressed by the plumbing, and notes that most of the men are close-shaven, many with shaved heads and waxed bodies.
The next day, Telryn, Goldpetal, and Paks go to the library. Goldpetal does his rituals in his room in the morning. He has noticed that there are no parks in the city. When he walks through the city, he wears his seal very visibly, but people still stare at him. Miriel accompanies Chuck to the lower city to find the priest of Madriel. At the library, it is hard to pass the guards, but eventually they manage to get Goldpetal in. They provide an assistant who follows Goldpetal around.
We head to the Styes. Chuck has asked how much armor we can wear in the lower city without getting into trouble, and they tell us we could wear our leathers under our clothes, but we should not display it in the upper city. Similarly with our weapons. There's a Vigilant who gives us a re-bonding kit for our weapons and shows us how to hide them, though Chuck and Darmaon don't really need this. Miriel just brings a dagger. As we head south, first we go through the unseen district, where the merchants live and the artisans work. Then the houses thin out and we encounter a huge marketplace where almost everything we can imagine, except for armor and weapons, are for sale. Darmaon wants to shop for potions. After an hour of searching, he might have a lead on where the potion stalls are, on the far east side, but Chuck and Miriel tell him we'll come back later. Chuck buys himself a more concealing local-style cloak, as does Darmaon.
The marketplace is right on the edge of the cliff - there is a big open gate at the top that doesn't look like it will close anymore. There is a large group of soldiers just under the gate. As we get closer to the cliff, we can smell a nice ocean breeze most of the time, but occasionally we get a smoky, stinky whiff of the lower city. While Chuck and Darmaon are shopping, Miriel sees a young couple, about 18 years old, kissing behind a rug-sellers' stall. Suddenly some guards show up and break it up and start leading them off. The guards tell them that kissing in public is not allowed.
The guards look us over at the gate, but it's not as hard to leave as
it is to get in - there is a crowd waiting to come back up. As we
exit the gate, we see a huge flight of stairs. There are ramps for
carts as well, all cut directly into the cliff. We thought the city
we were in was big, but the second city below is much bigger, and much
more disorderly. The smell is dreadful. Chuck hesitates, but the
guards tell us to go, and people behind are pushing.
Miriel asks around after the priest of Madriel, as we walk east into the Styes. Miriel can see immediately that the city is full of disease. It takes a while, but eventually Miriel stops a workman who doesn't look too dirty or drunk, though he smells pretty bad, and he says he thinks Refrum is in the alchemists' quarter. Back up there, Chuck asks? No, no, the alchemists' quarter of the Styes! Just east of here, not too far. We head further east. We can smell the quarter as we see it, with iron chimneys belching smoke into the air. Instead of water underneath us, there is mud and filth from the plants. We see children searching for things in the filthy mud. Miriel goes up to the first alchemist's shop, which looks like it might once have been a nice shop, before the Titan's War. There are vials all over the walls, and the coughing alchemist asks what we want. He has a big red rash over half his face, which Miriel recognizes as a disease called "Red-face" which only occurs in Hedrad. Miriel offers to cure his diseases, but he refuses. She asks him about Refrum. He admits to knowing him, but is reluctant to tell us where. Chuck offers him some silver, increasing the amount. Miriel finally convinces him with three gold pieces, and he directs us to Refrum's place.
We go to find Refrum. Some of the rotted boards break beneath us as we go, but we manage to keep from falling in. The directions turn out to be good, and we find Refrum's hovel easily. It's a wood-and-brick building, surprisingly stable, perched above a large, almost circular canal, almost a little lake, filled with water instead of mud. Miriel knocks at the door. Refrum asks who it is. Miriel identifies herself as a priestess of Madriel, and he enthusiastically invites us in. We see a slight, stooped, scholarly man, wearing simple gray clothing. He tries to offer us someplace to sit, but all there are are books, covering the walls and floor. On his bed is a bag, which he seems to be packing. Chuck asks him if he is travelling soon. He says yes, he's decide to take a vacation to Mithril. Miriel asks if there is something wrong in the city, and he says yes. Chuck introduces himself. Miriel offers to help him, and asks what is going on in the city that is so wrong. He tells us that there has been a series of murders for the path month, with terrible mutilations. People have been disappearing for months, not just adults, but also women, children. Chuck asks him if he has any idea who is taking them. He says people say it was the "Lantern Man." No one ever saw his face, just a dark figure with a lantern. Just last week, his friend, Jarmay the fisherman, was found by one of the constables with a lantern in his hand and a bloody knife in the other hand, above a multilated body. He was executed yesterday. Darmaon asks if he thinks his friend could do something like that, but he says he can't figure it out, the man was so peaceful and a worshipper of Madriel. Miriel asks if he can tell us anything else. He says he doesn't think his friend did it. He heard a rumor that another body was found this morning, in the same condition, but they hushed it up.
Miriel asks if there are any non-human threats, but he says no, he just came here to help the poor, and now he thinks they're coming to get him, too. Miriel offers again to help him, and he says he thinks there's a conspiracy, and they're on to him. Miriel offers again to help him. Darmaon offers to buy a book on alchemy from him. Miriel gives him 10 gold pieces and a cautious letter of introduction. Chuck asks if it is only this area that people are disappearing from - he says yes, it's only in the Styes. Darmaon asks where he would start the investigation, and where his friend lived. He says his friend lived in the lower quarter, Flotsam. He says he tried to cast Speak with the Dead on his corpse, but the constables wouldn't let him. They've already sent the body to be cremated. Chuck asks if they are likely to have done it already, and he says know. Chuck asks to buy the scroll as well. He tells us to go check out Hopene'er asylum to talk to the warden, and also we should find Constable Jute, who found his friend.
Chuck thanks him and asks for the scroll again. He manages to dig it out of all his papers. He offers to sell it for 300 gold, but Chuck can't afford it. Darmaon offers him some magical aquamarine for it, and they make a deal. Then he says wait, these aquamarines are worth more than just the scroll - take this potion of Water Breathing too. He also gives us a map of the Styes. On the map, he shows us his place, his friend's place, the alchemists' section (SW), and the SE section, which is the Low district (merchants). Chuck asks if we can use his residence while we investigate, and he agrees, asking us to look after his books.
Back at the library, Paks, Telryn, and Goldpetal have been pursuing various researches. Goldpetal looks into restoring unicorns, the history of elven cities where the swamp is now, and anything they have on herbal medicines and strange plants. He finds a book on the history of the Mourning Marshes, in Elvish, and gets lost in reading about the thriving Elvish culture, which was very close to the humans, engaging in trade with them. He traces copies of maps from the book - the library provides parchment and ink, but charge him heavily for it. Paks reveals that she is carrying a waterproof bone paper case, and offers to take them for him. She gets bored because she can't read the book, though. Even Goldpetal has to ask for an Old Elvish dictionary. Paks searches for something on the restoration of unicorns, or at least general information. She's also interested in a general history of the world. She manages to find a lovely children's book on unicorns, but after reading a few pages, puts it back as useless. She searches again and finds a general Ledean history book.
The group in the Styes goes to investigate Jarmay's home. It takes us a while to get there, but as we're heading there, we see there are boats that will ferry us across, cutting off a large part of the trip. Chuck asks one of the boatmen how much to take us across. He has red-face as well, and Miriel offers to heal him. She finally convinces him. Darmaon gives him a copper tip, which he bites. Miriel gives him some salve to rub on, and while he is putting it on and not looking, she casts Cure Disease on him. He is amazed and grateful at the lack of itching. Miriel asks him to wait an hour for us after dropping us off, but he says he'll wait all day if need be. He poles us across, but as we get close, he realizes we're going to Jarmay's house and gets upset, but we pacify him by telling him we're looking for clues to see if anyone else was in it with him. Darmaon searches when we get to the house. The door is shut, and we hear someone crying inside. Miriel knocks on the door again, and calls out that we are friends of Refrum's. A woman tells us to come in. She has long stringy brown hair, dressed in homespun, in a simple fisherman's hut. She is crying on the bed.
We explain to her that we think Jarmay was just a victim, and we're trying to find out what really happened. She says Jarmay was her brother, and she doesn't believe he did it. We ask her help in finding information about the killing. She says he kept to himself, but that he couldn't sleep properly anymore, slumbering deeply, but waking up exhausted. He was barely able to fish. Darmaon asks if he can search. Miriel looks after the woman, casting Bread of Life on a loaf of bread. She says that they wouldn't even allow her to talk to him at the asylum and wouldn't let her see his body. In searching, Darmaon comes across some drawings filled with spirals. The drawings are very disturbing. Miriel and Darmaon look at them and puzzle them out. They seem to be crude pictures of a tentacled sea beast shackled and collared and led by a giant fish-thing. Another picture shows the tentacled sea-beast devouring a city. Chuck asks Eleanor if we can take the drawings, and she says sure, she doesn't care. He asks where she lives, and she says a couple of doors down. Chuck asks if we can come back. Miriel tells her to take the bread with her, and try to eat at least one piece a day. Darmaon leafs through his book of magical creatures, with Miriel and Chuck looking over his shoulders, but they can't find it. Miriel suggests going back to the library. Darmaon wants to stop in the market on the way back and pick up a potion of invisibility. He tries to haggle with the merchant, but is told the prices are fixed.