Jarlyn’s place

We are still up and we hear a knock on the door. It’s the Innkeeper asking if we are okay and we say send them away. The rest of the night is unevenful. We eat breakfast and head to the Temple of Aladan. As we are getting close to the temple district, a crossbow bolt hits Perrol from behind in the vitals for 7 body, none gets through, and 56 stun; Perrol drops unconscious. Glaive moves over to Perrol, Kross climbs up to a rooftop, I grab Perrol and pull him under a nearby wagon. Glaive noticed that the crossbow bolt has an ichor on it. I do a quick paramedics check on Perrol and don’t see anything other than he’s unconscious. Kross and Glaive are looking around. We do some more searching, but never find anything. Appears to have been a hit and run. Perrol recovers, we grab the crossbow bolt (wrap it in a cloth), and we continue on.

We get to the temple of Aladan enter. We see a balding man sitting at a desk. We let him know we would like to speak to someone that might have knowledge of the Red Talons. He looks at a ledger, says that the expert is out of town but there is another person that has some knowledge. He comes back with a middle-aged lady. She agrees to tell us as much as she can. She gives us a history of how it started. Kelgar is the muscle, Arvaga provides the organization, Yanna has knowledge of slave markets, Valmerillion was brought in when they started to specialize in certain requests. A lot of customers are Orcs and Ogres willing to pay for human slaves. She says mind shields and dispel magic are the best defenses against Valmarillion. There is a secondary ring of lieutenants that are responsible for certain areas. She doesn’t have any special knowledge of their weaknesses. She assumes that Kelgar’s ability to teleport is item based. We thank her for the help and I give 2 sp offering on the way out. We head to the Temple of Varadon. We are on high combat alert as we walk. We notice a wizard walking in front of us that is going to the same place. It has a similar setup as the Temple of Aladan. As we enter, we notice that the person behind the desk’s head snaps up to look at us. A lady comes up to us and relaxes as she notices my Azure Banner outfit and boon. We tell her we are looking for information on combating mind control magic, particularly Valmarillion’s magic, if they are aware of him. A young lady, half elven, comes down and talks to us. She says her name is Coriries Gellantara and we will probably get more information from the wizards. She lets us know he considered a master of sorcery. She let’s us know that there may be an individual in town that has items that may be of use to us. She offers to set up a meeting in a day or two. I drop in 2 sp donation on the way out.

We head to the Wizard’s college but stop at the potion shop on the way. We ask the proprieter if he has more dust of imprisonment; he says yes. He has two doses for 25 sp each; it’s more expensive because we have an unhonorable person with us (Glaive). Perrol and Ghoral each buy one. Perrol also asks if he can analyze the bolt to determine what the ichor is and if there is a possible antedote. He offers to do it for 5 sp. We then go on to the Wizard’s college and head to meet Igor. He lets us know that for teleportation it’s mostly ritualistic magic or large items. General dispel/suppress magic items can be used sometimes but this is not readily made and usually not mobile. He says they did find some items in inventory for combating mind control. There are two pendants in the Wizard’s college inventory that help shield the mind; would need to talk to Aaron. There is also a headband that makes the mind invisible, but it’s doubtful that the college would part with this. He also says that the fact that we can’t read scrolls limits our options. He says there are several items that they have found described, but nothing they have on site. We thank them for the information and go to talk to Aaron. We talk to the receptionist and she says Aaron is not available and won’t be in until tomorrow. We ask if anyone else can help, but she lets us know in a subtle way that due to who we are, it’s best to go through Aaron. We decide to wait. We go back to the inn and there is an evelope with the Regeant Mother’s seal on it. It’s an invitation to the dinner, no weapons larger than a dagger or a stilleto. We kill time in the afternoon and then head to dinner with the Regeant Mother.

As we are heading to the dinner, Perrol, Kross, and I notice we are being tailed. We notice that it appears to be one of Julliene’s people. We get to the castle gates, not problem. We are led in by two privates; we notice no one else has escorts. We are led in through the servants entrance. As we are walking along, Julliene steps in. She lets us know there will be a dinner and then a private meeting afterwards for the delivering of the boons. We have a nice dinner. We as well as others are praised for their service over the last quarter or so. After dinner we go to the Regeant Mother’s study. She offers us boons that she hopes we will find usefule. To Ghoral she gives a necklace that should help against sight/sound attacks. To Perrol she gives a magic travel book that contains an atlas a language primer with automatic familiarity of known world. To Jarlyn she gives a large shield (+3 DCV) that has been magicked to ward off missiles four times/day; extremely light. To Glaive she gives a ring of gliding (feather falling). To cross, she gives him 4 arrows; three that  work against spectral entities and one that once/day explodes on impact. The pendant, ring and shield activate automatically.

Earn 1 xp

Perrol continues asking about the happenings in the castle since the Lord Marshall has been “outed”. Once done we decide to go to the Wizards to learn more about Valmarillion and also to see if there is a way to prevent teleportation. As we are leaving, Perrol realizes that small animals seem to have been following us.  We wonder if this could be the work of Valmarillion.

We get to the Mage Academy and ask the admin if we can see Aaron. After telling her what we are interested in, she takes us back. Aaron tells us that Valmarillion has been a thorn in their side for 50+ years. He specializes in mind control and he has a very dangerous magical wand. The wand shoots fire bolts that are powerful. He is not aware of him being able to control animals. I ask him what magic items would be the best defense against Valmarillion’s mind control magic. He said one of his junior associates, Igor, would be the one to ask; we can arrange with the admin. We ask him if there are ways to prevent teleportation. He says there are ways to suppress or disrupt teleportation, but need to ask junior associate for specifics. Perrol asks more about animal communication. He also asks if anything more has been discovered about the area we investigated for them where all the mages died. He says there is a committee that was put together to study this. As we are leaving, Aaron tells us to be wary of the mage in the palace; he may be in cahoots with the Lord Marshall. We ask the admin to talk to Igor, but he is not available because he is sequestered looking at some of the Lord Marshall’s things. She says an apprentice is available though to help answer questions. We agree and she calls a page to take us down to Igor’s area to talk to one of his apprentices. He takes us to another building and into the basement. We enter a small room that has four people at four desks looking over scrolls. One of the apprentices tells us there are ways to suppress, most of which aren’t practical for us. They offer to research combating mind control and supressing teleportation for us at 20 sp. We decide to head to the temple but as we are walking, Perrol notices a cat watching us (and hissing). We don’t detect magic or evil so we let it be.

When we arrive at the Skyfather’s temple, we ask to see Aldus Manus. Mathias comes out to greet us. We tell him that we have news on the family disappearances. He says the High Priestess of Hospin, Helen Gaius, will be interested in this. We relay the story of how the families are being kidnapped so they can be sold in to slavery. He has heard of the Red Talon. He thinks we might want to talk to someone at the Temple of Aladan about the Red Talons. He does know there are four main leaders of the Red Talons; Arvagh, Kelgar Coalbeard, Valmarillion, and Yanna Windhand. We also ask if there is anyone in the church that can talk to us about suppressing teleportation and combating mind control. He says we should speak with the Priest of Varidon. We thank him for his time and head to the Temple of Hospin. On the way Kross notices small animals that seem to be watching the group. When he gets close to a cat, he hisses and runs away. He also notices a crow that is watching us. We do a test. Perrol goes close and it continues to watch the rest of us. Same for Ghoral and Jarlyn, with same result. Before we can test Glaive and Kross, someone closes a shutter and it flies away. We continue to the Temple of Hospin. When we arrive we ask to see the High Priestess. After a little while, we are taken back to see her. We give here the story of what is happening to the families. She tells us she is interested in seeing Yanna strung up because she is an assassin that may be responsible for about a half dozen priests killed in a different town. She’s mainly a thief by trade. We asks about Arvagh and she knows that he is a disowned noble of the Vestrian house of Altonshar. He is considered the unofficial leader of the Red Talons. He had a couple “appetites” that his family did not approve, which is why he was disowned. It is rumored that Kalgar and him are the ones that founded the Red Talons. Perrol gives her the whole story of how we determined this. She tells us that she doubts there are more than two of them together. She lets us know that if we decide to go down to the city, they will be willing to provide help, e.g. healing potions, food, etc.

It’s evening, so we head for Inn. As we do Perrol notices a dog watching us. We do the final tests and it appears to be that Kross is the one the animals are watching. We eat, check our room for magic/evil, and set watches. On Jarlyn’s watch, Kross loses 4 body and 9 stun, and he whimpers and wakes up with a Spectral over him and it’s hand in his stomach. Glaive woke up immediately, sees the Spectral, and attacks. She misses with her first and second attacks. Segment 12 starts. The spectral reaches into it’s robe and pulls out a stick, strikes it on the ground, and a scythe pops out. It approaches Jarlyn and attacks but misses. Glaive moves in and attacks, hits it in the chest for 9 body, and it screeches. On her second attack, she hits it in the vitals for 4 body. It is leering at Glaive. Perrol attacks and misses. Jarlyn  casts Destroyer of the Unliving -Turn Undead and it shrieks. Ghoral attacks and misses. It turns away from me and books right through the wall. I look at him but can’t see anything wrong. I get ready to heal him but Kross starts feeling better and his color returns and he regains his body. Kross tells us that this was a Wraith.

We gain 2 xp.

The gnome is in shock and is mumbling, “They’re going to kill him…”. Perroll slaps the gnome and snaps him out of it. We start interrogating him. He says the “him” is his apprentice. “They” are people that were having him make master keys. We assume this was to get in to the houses where the people were kidnapped. He says there are usually others watching him from outside. I ask if the people watching him are all dwarves; Ghoral comments that this is a Dark (Deep) Dwarf not a regular dwarf. He says no, there are Goblins too, but they seem to be darker Goblins than normal. We ask how they are getting in to the city and he appears to be getting nervous. He says they are coming through his house. He says it’s a tunnel and we ask where. He goes over to the stairs and opens a secret panel. There is a hole that leads down with a ladder probably 50 feet. Ghoral says he hears someone approaching from outside, “chink, chink, chink…”. Ghoral goes to the door to see who is coming; it’s a dwarf…segment 12.

Glaive moves over by Ghoral. Perroll grabs the gnome; the gnome is mumbling, “Please don’t let it be the dwarf, please don’t let it be the dwarf, …”. Glaive notices that he has a tatoo (red mark, almost talon like) and it scares her, but she can’t remember why. Perrol recognizes the tatoo as a member of the Red Talon guild, which are slavers. Dwarf hits Ghoral with a war hammer in the hand for 12 body and 18 stun. As that happens there is a flash and a loud thunder. Everyone takes 20 stun; Gnorm the gnome collapses. Post segment 12 recoveries; Perroll, Kross, Ghoral, and I recover from being stunned. Glaive recovers from being stunned. The Dwarf goes to attack Ghoral again and Ghoral aborts to dodge; he misses. Kross moves to a window upstairs and he sees two dwarves outside with crossbows across the street; he opens the window. I move over by him near the counter and throw my dust of entanglement, using a hero point I hit for 20, i.e. 5 body; he is entangled. Glaive gets ready to attack; the dwarf looks around, mumbles I’ll be back, and then disappears with a red flash. Glaive waives her hand through where he was and also notices that a crossbowman is still out there so she goes out the door (and sees the second as well). They both fire at her and miss. Ghoral moves out towards this and says “Drop your crossbows and come with me if you want to live”. They answer and say “okay, okay”. Kross goes out the window and on to the roof.  I go to the door and look around; people are starting to take notice. The dwarves drop their crossbows.  

Glaive and Ghoral disarm them and bring them in to the store. Perrol asks them if there are any others in (or under) town. They say yes (under). There are 15+ under. I ask if they are abducting families and selling them in to slavery. They say they are just the muscle and mules. We ask the name of the leader dwarf; it’s Kelgar. Perrol remembers something about Kelgar and the Grayward Mountains. Perrol asks if there are any other lieutenants/leaders and they say there is an elf, Valmar…something or other. He seems to be a magic type.  Peroll remember there are stories of an elf called Valmarrellian that was born in elven home that left elvish society a century ago or so that was a cold-blooded, mercenary type that quested for power. He had studied sorcery, in particular the study of mind control. Peroll asks where the hole leads to. They say it leads to an underground, abandoned city, probably dwarven or gnomish. Gnorm is starting to wake up. I try to open the big door and its locked so we tell Gnorm to open it. He objects but he open it. It looks like a forge room with locks. Perrol does magesight and determines the gloves and forge are magical. Perrol and I go upstairs to check whats behind the other doors. In the first room there is a bed,wardrobe, and a chest and a door. Perrol does magesight and finds something in the bottom of the chest that’s magical but it’s locked. We go in the door and it’s a kitchen area with a door on the opposite side. We go through it and it’s another bedroom, but nothing remarkable. We go downstairs and we ask Gnorm to open the chest. He goes upstairs and we ask him to open all the drawers. When he gets to the bottom one he is opening it nervously and it’s a book. We ask him what it is and he says it’s his spell book for lock making. We tell Gnorm that we have to tell someone about this and he asks if we can save his apprentice. He gives us a map. He says his father told him a story of an old abandoned gnome city. There was a magical curse on the city that caused people to start fading away. We decide to take Gnorm with us and the dark dwarves to the city. We have Ghoral board up the secret door first. We get about 4 blocks away and one of the dwarves starts slowing down and looking around; the agrophobia is at work. We duck in to an inn for a little bit; Perrol and Kross get an ale. We leave after the dwarf calms down and we make it to a guard station. We tell the guards that these dwarfs are with the “abductors”. They take us to a holding area and they return with a middle-age man with robes comes in. We give him the information that we have and he takes notes.  He leans out the door for and whispers to the guard to get two more guards and an investigator from the major crimes division. We tell him more about Kelgar and he leans out and asks for more guards. The investigator thanks us and we leave. We tell Gnorm that he should stay with us until we can get him to the regeant mother. We go back to the inn, eat, and go to sleep with the normal watch rotation.

The next morning after breakfast, we go the castle first. We let them know that we would like to see the Regeant Mother or Julliene. They tell us to go on up. Two runners go out ahead of us. Julliene shows up. We ask about the Regeant Mother. We go to Julliene’s office and proceed to tell her the story of what we’ve learned and that we want to put Gnorm in her protection. She agrees to. We let her know that we would like to be involved in any action against the underground city, since we told Gnorm that we would help save his apprentice. She says the Regeant Mother will want to see us tomorrow evening for dinner; she should be well enough then. She lets us know that if we do go down in to the underground city, we’ll have to be quarantined when we come back up. She tells us to talk to Aldus Mannus or the High Priestess of Hospin (only) and Aaron (only) if we are going to the talk to the temples and wizards, respectively. She tells us to let her know if there are any requests of the lady, tomorrow would be a good time to ask it. She expects that she’ll want to give some type of boon.

We earn 1 xp.