Ulfgar's Enemies Part III
In The News
Sharn Inquisitive: Sul 8 Barrakas - Front Page
Famed Inquisitive, Varieny Knicknar Slain – Sharn’s sharpest and most trusted inquisitive was slain in the early hours of the morning last Zor. Her body was brought to a local watch station, along with that of her halfling assistant. Varieny was a gnome, and a very talented inquisitive.
Varieny accumulated powerful enemies during her years as an inquisitive, and any of these could have brought about here demise. Her cases had landed her on the bad side of many small-time thugs, and it was only a matter of time before she made the wrong people angry.
Both bodies were nearly torn apart - rent with gaping holes. There is no doubt that they were murdered brutally.
Knicknar's body was brought to a local watch station by three adventurers who had apparently witnessed the murder, but not participated in it. The watch was reluctant to release their names (most likely due to bribery) but it doesn't take much to loosen their tongue these days. The Inquisitive has learned that the three parties were none other than Thaspar Besathlae, Coralia Ollandra Amarylis (Cora), and their notorious ringleader Sadie Wolfchild (the shifter). These three make their home at the Lizard's Mantle, and if you recall they were intimately involved with the massacre at the Cathedral of the Cleansing Flame. Their shifter leader has also shown herself to be unstable and violent. It is the Inquisitive's opinion that these three might very well have been directly related to the gnome's death, but, as usual, the watch does nothing.
Knicknar is survived by her brother Triklenock, an arcane bookseller. Varieny is most famous for her crackdown on the Dusk Life gang, finding the missing child Toby d'Lyndarra, and the exposition of councilman Garrown's embezzlement scheme.
Breland Ledger: Mol 9 Barrakas - Front Page
Droaam Hordes Press Graywall Defenders - A horde of minotaurs, ogres, gnolls and other monsters from Droaam clashed on Mol with Breland Army units guarding the Graywall passes. More than 2,000 Droaam warriors, with gnolls and ogres dominating the raiding parties, attacked at dusk in a series of incursions covering some two-thirds of the Graywall theater.
Early situation reports indicate that the hordes are directed by the Daughters of Sora Kell, who seized power in the region after Brelish forces withdrew in 987. The current assault represents the most significant push this year by that organization.
Junior officers retreating from advance posts in the Graywalls reported the capture of at least three mountain citadels:
Retreating soldiers reported typical tactics on the part of the Droaam hordes, whose members gave no quarter and took few prisoners. Several retreating squads were turned to stone by medusas in the Daughters' pay, then smashed into rubble by the ogres and trolls in the advancing hordes.
Breland's 7th Army, still in winter quarters in Galethspyre, immediately began preparations for a forced march to bolster the Graywall defenders, Brelish Army officials said on Zol. Rumors that Borumel's War Council would redeploy the Argonth floating fortress to the Droaam border could not be confirmed at press time. Argonth last appeared in the Graywalls in 991 to stem a rising tide of gnoll incursions.
Critics of the crown's Droaam policy decried the Graywall defense plans even as they expressed support for the Brelish soldiers holding the remaining citadels against the monstrous assault. "When the king withdrew from western Breland eleven years ago, we all worried that a situation such as this one might be the consequence," said Baroness Avarulao, one of the Brelish citizens resettled in 987, now serving as Adjunct Minister for the Dispossessed of Western Breland. "What was once our beautiful homeland is now a breeding ground for endless waves of horrible monsters."
In a strongly worded speech before Parliament, Avarulao advocated the launching of a "cleansing crusade" to wipe out the Daughters of Sora Kell and reclaim western Breland. Provisions of the Unity Act of 988 prevent the Breland Ledger from reprinting her statement in detail.
Chronicle
The rainy Sharn evening was quickly lapsing into a dark, and surprisingly cool summer twilight. Thunder broke the sound of pouring rain as the skycoach came to a rest just inside of the city gates. Cora, Thaspar, and Sadie were going to the City of the Dead, which lay on the rugged cliffs just outside of the city. The Syranian manifest zone was not active there, which meant skycoaches could not function, so the rest of the journey would be on foot. As the trio passed through the city gates they thought they could just make out figures in the distance - also making the trek up the cliffs - obscured by the haze of falling rain.
The crypts were as ancient as the city. Great works of stone carved into the very face of the rock, providing a winding pathway past the tombs of the great leaders of old. Water poured over overhangs as they threaded their way through stone pillars.
Sadie decided that she would climb up the face of the cliffs - now a honeycomb of tomb entrances to try to catch whoever they had seen on the path earlier. While a climb up a sheer cliff in the pouring rain was within Sadie's considerable climbing ability, it was far beyond that of Thaspar or Cora. They continued on up the traditional path, while Sadie navigated her way up doorways and pillars. The slippery climb was more difficult than she had imagined, and at least once she was forced to quickly hide to avoid being spotted by her companions and revealing that she wasn't progressing any faster than they were. Perseverance won out, however, and eventually she made headway and reached the top before her friends.
The Dragon Crypts lay before her. Some of the tombs here were ancient, while others were clearly built less than a year prior. Everything was built and carved out of the rock of the large plateau that formed the City of the Dead. Tombs, crypts, and graves, all set at different heights and orientations formed an incomprehensible maze of stairs, bridges, courtyards, fences, drops, buildings, and walls. To Sadie's right the Watcher's Tower, a tall, white obelisk stood overlooking the crypts. As lightning flashed upon the scene Sadie saw at least two figures moving to the North. She hurried off into the labyrinth, leaving a trail of coppers for the others to follow.
The shifter soon caught up with here quarry, who were completely lost. The party consisted of three powerful looking warforged that were dragging the helpless Ulfgar along with them. Sadie watched as they used the keystone to open the door. They were about to go in, when the leader, a warforged covered in brilliant silver tracery suddenly turned.
"Someone is there"
Sadie had just enough time to fire an ice-arrow into the leader before she ran. One of the warforged remained behind to hold onto Ulfgar, while the other two raced after her. Sadie was faster, but the warforged were by no means slow. As Sadie came carening over a bridge she spotted Cora and Thaspar who had been following her trail. Silently signaling her intent, Sadie ran on past the courtyard they were in, while the other two readied an ambush.
It was not to be. Immediately the leader said, "Hold up! There is one hiding over there," she said, pointing to Thaspar. "Who are you, and why are you here?"
There were some tense moments. The warforged were powerful, probably more powerful than the trio - but neither side wanted a battle just now. After some negotiation a deal was reached. Thaspar and Sadie (Cora was still hidden) would help them retrieve the schema they wanted from the tomb, and at the end they would release Ulfgar to them. This seemed to be about the only reasonable choice and so it was agreed. Cora revealed herself as they entered the tomb.
The tomb carried the smell of stale air, but it was already being assualted by the rainy evening, and water was flowing down the steps which led deeper into the rock. After a reasonable descent they came out into a large, circular room. The room was supported by four pillars and heavy stone doors were set in the north and east walls. Everything in the room was ornately carved and exquisitely beautiful. Against the east wall stood a huge construct. Composed of metal, stone, and wood the behemoth was at least ten feet tall. For now it stood inert.
The parties first few attempts at exploration were less than successful. The first stone door led to another room, much like the first. This one contained a single pillar and doors in all four compass directions. Unfortunately, except for the door of entry, the doors in the room were all false. As soon as the first one was pulled the entrance door slammed shut. Slowly, imperceptibly, the large column in the center of the room began to emit grinding noises... and turn. Before anyone could react, the column was spinning faster and faster. Blades extended due to the force of the spinning column and locked into place. The blades soon reached the walls of the room. Trapped in a whirling storm of bladed death the room's occupants madly jumped, ducked and tumbled. Furiously Cora, then Sadie worked to open the entrance door. Once they realized all of the doors were fake the others in the room ran for the entrance. As the blades swung around her Sadie finally managed to trip the opening latch by sheer luck and everyone tumbled out of the maelstrom of death.
No one was left unscathed by the trap - it was not a particularly auspicious beginning.
The next attempt did not go any better.
This time it was a hallway ending in a false door. Soon all seven adventurers found themselves in a small hallway rapidly filling with water. While this was not much more than a mild annoyance to the warforged, it was life and death for the four flesh-and-blood members of the party. Once again Sadie dueled with the lock and managed to force it open, just as the water flowed over her head. Water and adventurers poured back into the circular room at the foot of the stairs. This left all of the obvious doors exhausted.
I didn't take long for Cora to find the latch hidden behind the large construct. It also didn't take a genius to guess that pulling the latch would probably end the construct's much more palatable inert phase. It was Sadie's idea to tie the large guardian up. Using her rope they wrapped and tied the construct completely. Then Cora pulled the latch.
In a blaze of motion the construct roared to life, twisted pathetically inside its bonds, and fell face first into the water which was now rapidly receding down the staircase which had appeared behind the secret door. Instead of heading down the stairs the entire party stopped to decide what to do about the struggling behemoth. This was a mistake. Suddenly the bonds were broken, and the ten foot man of stone and metal was rising before them.
What followed was a deadly battle. The guardian was definitely a match for its assailants. It took Cora, Sadie, Thaspar, and two powerful warforged to bring it down. (The third warforged merely watched and held on to Ulfgar).
The first thing that made the guardian difficult was the fact that it was nearly impossible to damage. All five opponents hacked, slashed, smashed, and kicked away at it, all the while barely making a dent.
The second thing that made the guardian difficult was its massive bulk and long arms. It threw its weight around. It smashed its arms down on the warforged. It delivered devastating blows to Sadie. It slammed its entire weight against Thaspar, crushing him into a pillar twice before he could stagger away.
The third thing that made the guardian difficult was that it was very big, and everyone else was very small. Early on in the combat the defender released some kind of spell which shrunk everyone to half their size. A three foot Thaspar and Sadie, and a 1 foot Cora were now facing off against a being of stone and metal over ten feet tall.
Both Sadie and Thaspar were nearly killed, and Cora was revived from the very brink of death, but eventually, under the relentless blows of five opponents the construct was finally defeated.
The warforged had not fared much better than the trio, but everyone continued on, down the stairs. The steps descended downwards for a long time, spiraling deep into the earth. The warforged insisted that the party go first - which proved the right decision as Cora discovered a particularly nasty trapped step.
Eventually the stairs reached an end at a long and wide hallway. The hallway was lined on either side with ornate pillars depicting constructs and House Cannith symbols. The walls were lined with crude stone statues, each holding two daggers menacingly. At the end of the hallway were three stone doors, set side by side.
Learning from experience everyone agreed that the brawny types should systematically smash every statue, while the rogues tried to determine which door (if any) was the real one. And so it was done. The real door was opened, and the smashed statues gave no signs of coming to life, so the group progressed.
The door led into a short hallway which led to a dead end. In the center of the hallway were two doors - one on either side. After searching for traps and clearing the immediate area the eastern door was opened. A huge blast of lightning shot out from the far end of the hall. Cora, Thaspar, and Sadie all instinctively jumped and found themselves braced in the upper corners of the hall as the bolt passed beneath them. The warforged were not as lucky. All three were hit hard by the electricity trap. By some miracle Ulfgar was not harmed.
The eastern door opened into a small room. The room was utterly bare except for a single altar, on which was a gorgeous jade eagle. Sadie had to pull Cora forcibly from the room, promising they would come back later. The whole thing was obviously a trap.
Nothing remained but to the try the opposite door. This time the hallway was cleared, but there was no need. The trap mechanism was sprung, but the charge was already depleted and nothing happened.
The door opened into a magnificent treasure room. The walls were lined with gold cases, gems, rich items and chests. In the center was a horizontal, raised sarcophagus which read "Aeren d'Cannith". The warforged tore hungrily into the room, and could barely be held off long enough for a cursory trap search. Soon everyone was turning the room upside down (Cora and Sadie pinched the most obviously expensive item in the room - a smith's hammer that appeared to be made of pure mithral, inset with electrum!)
The warforged leader finally opened the sarcophagus. There was no body within, but something more significant. It was the schema.
"Yes! This is it. Take the dwarf and whatever you want, but the schema is ours!"
"I'm afraid not," came a smarmy female voice, "everything here belongs to me as payment for finding Ulfgar - and you are all under arrest."
Varieny Knicknar strode into the room.
She proceeded to threaten everyone further and Thaspar was just beginning to descend into fisticuffs when a minotaur poked its head into the room. With his face covered in an expression of extreme confusion he said, "What in the name of Khyber is going on here?!" Suddenly the room was filled with a large minotaur, a goblin and a human.
A great deal of arguing and confusion ensued. Cora was able to ascertain that the minotaur was Takkani (who's establishment they had infiltrated earlier). Tempers were running high and violence looked inevitable - but then something unexpected happened.
Cora stole up behind the warforged leader and slowly began extracting the schema, which was now strapped to her back. Suddenly the warforged spun on the halfling - "You little thief!" Then pausing to collect herself - "Kill them all!!"
The room erupted. Cora found herself plunging her dagger into the warforged leader. She had given Cora nothing but contempt and arrogance, but now she had met her match. As she staggered back from the deadly blow she felt Sadie's rapier bursting through her body. Then she felt nothing.
The other warforged crashed into battle with Sadie and Thaspar. The Daask turned on Varieny and Helen. Blades sung. Spells were cast. Insults were hurled. Blood was spilled.
In the midst of the chaos no-one had time to notice two gourgeous, near identical, women climb in at the top of the doorframe. Young and beautiful, but with long white hair, they stole into the midst of the carnage. Spotting the schema now on Cora's back they quickly delivered a stunning blow, which left the halfling unconscious on the floor. Before anyone could react, they, and the schema were gone.
The battle did not go well for any faction. Once Takkani and his thugs had brutally slaughtered Varieny and Helen, then sized up the situation and made a retreat. Soon Sadie's dying body was lying next to Cora's, and all that remained was one severely wounded warforged, and one severely wounded elf.
"Die meatsack!" the construct growled as he brought his wicked axe down on Thaspar. The blow nearly knocked the life out of him, but he struggled to deliver a rebuttal - but the warforged dodged. "Now, weak flesh, you die!"
As the blade, glistening with the elf's own blood whistled towards him Thaspar pondered death, the afterlife, and his hope of becoming a deathless sage. Surrounded by his fallen comrades he made his final peace.
There was a shout of pain, and shock. Then all was still.
Thaspar opened his eyes. The warforged was dead, and standing over him, as shocked as anyone, was Ulfgar.
Sadie and Cora were revived, and the room's treasure was collected. Cora insisted on revisiting the jade eagle (which unsurprisingly was trapped). She easily survived the poison gas, however. The trio decided it would be a good a idea to return the bodies of Varieny and Helen to the proper authorities. Stowing them in their magic pack, they made their way out of the tomb, and out of the City of the Dead.
After answering the questions of the watch they returned Ulfgar to his estate (where they were paid double the promised amount) and they made their way back to The Lizard's Mantle. Some mysteries had been solved, but new ones had sprung up. Either way it was time for a bath, and at least a couple days of relaxation.
Timeline
- Wir 11 Barrakas - Head to Aeren's Tomb
- Zor 12 Barrakas - Return to Sharn in the middle of the night
People
Sam
An arrogant warforged who gave her name as Sam. Her real name was Fleshsaw. She was killed in Aaren's Tomb.
Heroic Actions
- Sadie was forced to hide to avoid revealing that her arduous climb had been just as fast as walking up the normal path
- Sadie decided to tie up the Shield Guardian (which would have worked if they hadn’t stood around long enough for it to break the ropes)
- Cora discovered a particularly nasty trap on the stairs of Aeren's Tomb
- Thaspar sensed an attack from behind and dodged without even looking at his assailant
- Sadie scored some major damage to the Shield Guardian's groin
Heroic Quotes
- "Ah! Here comes the Deus Ex Machina." -
- "I have no idea what you're talking about" - Sadie - "Thats because my intelligence is 7 and I'm in a lot of pain." - Thaspar/Robert
Adventure Names
- Robert - Pick on Someone Your Own Size
- Robyn - Next Time Sadie Can Pick the Pocket
Legends & Lore
Droaam is a land of fierce monsters - medusas, ogres, minotaurs, and trolls. Its military might is difficult to play down. It is also a land of chaos and uncertainty, however - which means a small band of adventurers might be able to slip in and do more than the mightiest army.
Statistics
Date Played: December 9
Session Length: 4 hours
Experience Gained: 3083/character
Foes Vanquished: 1 Shield Guardian, 5 Traps, 3 Warforged
Annoying Good Guys Killed By the Daask: Varieny, Helen
Escaped: Takkani, 2 Daask, 2 Ninja Chicks
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