Session Notes for 2004-12-09
After several hours of travel we camp for the night.
March 28th
We travel without incident. After about eight hours of travel we bunk down next to a small hill.
Around midnight Eight notices a group approaching from the north, the direction we came from. There are eight horses and riders. He wakes us up. We gear up and set up for a fight on top of the hill.
The riders approach.
Suddenly we're surrounded by four skeletons and four soldiers with crossbows. The soldiers wear the insignia of an emerald claw. An ethereal male form floats up; his voice comes from the darkness at the bottom of the hill. The illusionary form looks like the man from the encampment. He demands the third schema in exchange for our lives. Third? Interesting.
I blast the skeletons into dust by the light of Councilor Eladrean. We hear the man run away into the darkness. Rorsa quickly drops one guard. More guards advance. The guards drop the two lesser wolves. A magical bolt strikes us from the darkness. A magical beam strikes Rorsa, knocking her out. We slowly fight back, facing volleys of crossbow bolts. Lin and I stablize the wolves. Red quickly strikes down two of the guards, then charges the female spellcaster using a wand of magic missiles on us. Red stabs the woman and slays her.
Lin, Eight, and I finish off another guard while Red continues her slaughter. The man is missing, but the rest are defeated. Only a single guard survives; I stablize him.
We loot the bodies. The six guards each had chainmail, light crossbows, a sunrod, a tabard. There are 64 bolts, 65 silver pieces, 40 gold pieces, Eight claims the wizard's wand. She also carried a potion marked with a plus, some platinum, and a fine quality dagger.
The tabard's logo is for the Emerald Claw. They're fanatics based out of Karnath. They are ex-Karnath soldiers bent on dominating the old Kingdom of Galifar.
900 4 skeletons, 6 humans, 1 wizard
We move on and camp at a nearby cave. As dawn approaches I heal the group and rememorize.
March 29th
Equiped with mounts, the day passes uneventfully.
March 30th
Before memorization, I heal the guard. He awakens. He refuses to identify himself, but says he works for Gallow. Red threatens him and he identifies himself as Kristopher.
We learn that Gallo was looking for a map to Whitehearth. He doesn't seem to know much else. Lin and I insinuate that we were sent to destroy the glass-a-polt and that must have been what Gallo wanted. He seems confused, but appears to believe us.
Kristopher thinks Gallo is a minor vampire mage.
We warn Kristopher that Red will kill him if he tries to flee, leave a signal, or anything else. We travel on.
March 31th
By late morning we're passing through faint mist. We arrive at the coast. We release Kristopher, he heads east. We follow the coast west river to Rhukaan Draal. We arrive at the outskirts near nightfall.
Rorsa indicates that she doesn't want to enter the city. She wants to head west to the border and mountains. We wish her luck and she heads off.
We head into the city. We crawl the market. Close to the central tower we find the Artificer's Lament, the tavern where we were meet Lady Elaydren D'Cannith.
We head in. It's mostly filled with hobgoblins, but there is a woman in a hooded cloak. We get a seat, order some wine, and examine the woman. She is human, in her late twenties, and wearing plain clothes. She wears a wand, a dagger, a pouch, a scroll case, and an amulet of the symbol of House Cannith. Looking under her hood, it's the Lady.
She looks over to us, nods, and tilts her head to indicate a stairwell. She heads up the stairs. A few moments later we follow her up. We join her in a room.
We give her one of the schema and mention the events in Rose Quarry and the ambushes. We reveal the existance of the glass-o-polt. She pays us 200 platinum. I explain our concern that the schema may be plans to a weapon. As such, I'm withholding information at this time. While we trust her, we don't know the ultimate purpose of her elders. She admits not knowing either. She offers us 100 more platinum to escort her home and provide all of the information. She'll then plead our case to her elders. We agree to escort her back to Sharn.
We rest for the night.
April 1st
We sell our horses, then take a ship back to Sharn. The trip goes uneventfully.
April 4th
We arrive in Sharn. Lady Elaydren offers us a pouch and leaves. It contains 100 platinum pieces and contains a note. The note explains that she'll seek an audience with her elders. If we need a place to stay, she suggests we head to the Upper Dura ward of Clifftop. We should see out Grimbar of the Adventurer's Guild at the Inn of the Purple Dragon.
We head up the city through the slums of Lower Dura, through the middle class of Middle Dura, then to Upper Dura.
The towers are plain grey. The streets are full of bustling crowds of all races and businesses. We quickly find the Purple Dragon and enter.
The walls are covered with trophies from Xen'drik, the Demon Wastes, and elsewhere. The bartending is halfling with a peg leg and an eye patch. A half-orc is waiting tables. He seats us. When I ask about Grimbar he introduces himself as Grimbar D'Moth. D'Moth, there is no house Moth. Odd. He takes drink orders and returns with them in a moment. He thinks Lady E wants him to sponsor us into the Clifftop Adventurer's Guild. We'll need to spend some time with a wizard to check that we are not evil and pay a regular fee. Membership provides discounts at local stores, access to a jobs board, we can incorporate the Clifftop crest into ours, store goods in their vaults, and generally be supported.
He asks if we have a group name. We don't have one.
The dues are 13 gold pieces each person each year. After our drinks he takes us over to the guildhall to sign up. The dwarf behind the desk pointedly looks us over with odd spectacles. Some sort of detection I'm guess. We pay up. Our papers are stamped with a rough shaped circle. In the middle is a symbolic cliff with towers on top.
Grimbar asks if we need a place to stay. They maintain several residences. He'll check if one is available. It'll be about 30 gold per month and will have plenty of space. He sets us up with a place. It's 35 gold pieces for the first month. We're led to a nearby tower. The central area is hallow, revealing the sky above. Ringed around are apartments. We're led to 502. We're given two keys.