Mysteries in the City of Towers
In The News
Sharn Inquisitive: Sul 15 Olarune - Front Page
Merrin Tox Released on Bail - Merrin Tox, paladin of the Silver Flame, who has been charged with the murder of two shifters has been released on bail. Merrin is known to be romantically involved with Sadie Wolfchild, the famous Sharn shifter. Details are sketchy at this point, as we was only released yesterday, but it appears that Sadie and companions were able to track down the real culprit behind the murders - a changeling by the name of Qwip. It appears that the crown plans to prosecute Qwip as the murderer, and Merrin's acquittal is merely a formality at this point, hence is release on bail.
The Inquisitive will provide more news as the case unfolds.
Chronicle
Rain fell in heavy sheets as The Flaming Rat docked in the Precarious District of Sharn. As the porters unloaded the hold full of pirate booty, the officers of the ship set out into the twisting alleyways to find the best ways to spend it.
Sadie, Cora, and Thaspar made their way back to The Lizard's Mantle. Garen, meanwhile had decided to begin some courses at the university, and make use of their dormitories. He had been considering attending
Cora's Diary
TODO
Recommendation of Arch Justice d’Simnyaerre in the Case of The Crown of Breland vs Merrin Tox
It has come to my attention that there is new and persuasive evidence of the innocence of Merrin Tox, in the case of the murder of two shifters and Arheirophant Ythanna Morr.
Sadie Wolfchild, Cora Amaryllis, Thaspar Besathlae and a warforged by the name of Garen were responsible for uncovering what appears to be the true murderer. According to their account, they tracked down the watch station where Merrin supposedly confessed, and was afterwards seen changing form.
After interviewing the woman who saw the incident they lay in wait for the changeling to return home. The believed that he was inhabiting a nearby house in the guise of a man known as “Old Mr. Rochabee”.
They trailed Rochabee throughout Sharn, and were eventually led to the Cathedral of the Cleansing Flame. There they witnessed Rochabee transform into an attractive female paladin. They claim that this paladin then retired to the new Archeirophant’s (Astar Kemlat) chambers where they copulated. Please note that the previous fact is NOT common knowledge and should not be disclosed.
The group then trailed the changeling to a popular night club where it transformed into Sadie Wolfchild herself. They confronted the changeling there and managed to grapple and subdue it.
The changeling, who they later learned was named Qwip was taken into custody at the local watch station. Qwip managed to murder a guard and escape, but the group had actually waited outside the watch station in expectation of this event!
In any case Qwip was brought to the main jail, where he was questioned. He revealed that he had murdered the two shifters and Ythanna Morr. He also revealed that he was doing so in order to further the will of Astar Kemlat.
For this reason I recommend that Merrin Tox be allowed bail until his hearing, where he will almost certainly be aquitted.
Merrin’s Letter Home
Hello mum,
I know its been a long time since I’ve written. You know how risky it is for me tying myself to my home.
Anyway, I just though you would want to know that I am engaged. For the past several months I have been dating a wonderful girl by the name of Sadie Wolfchild. She is a shifter of heroic character, who I very much enjoy the company of.
We are to be wed as quickly as possible.
I hope this letter finds you well.
- Tox
Sadie's Letter to Garen
Dear Garen,
How are your studies progressing? I hope you haven't been too distracted
by our recent demands on your crafting skills, if it helps let me assure
you that the items you've made for us have been invaluable of late.
I'm writing this letter because I felt it only proper that you know
something of the possible reasons why Daask assassins might pop out and
try to kill you in the near future. We're all a bit busy down here in
the lower levels of Sharn right now, keeping guard around the district
to make sure the Daask don't take another crack at destroying the
Lizard's Mantle or other such, so this will have to be couriered to you.
So anyway, I believe you're already aware of how while we were away from
the city on our recent pirate-fighting excursion the Daask moved in and
destroyed the local Halfling thief's guild, the Knights Wind. Cora was
pretty shook up by this, she had a lot of friends in there, and I
personally didn't appreciate their attempt to shake down the inn for
protection money so we decided to launch an assault on this group.
We started out with some very good intelligence; Cora drew us a detailed
map of the guild building's layout and on top of that the local Daask
didn't realize who we were so we were able to "join up" with them and
wander around doing a bit of scouting. The leader of the local Daask
chapter was a stone giant named Gluck and he had a pet gorgon who was
his constant companion (we stopped by the library and actually looked up
information about gorgons, you'd be proud). Since he was a 12 foot tall
giant trying to live in a facility originally designed for Halflings,
his accommodations were pretty limited. We knew exactly where he'd be.
So, we came up with a highly detailed and perfect plan of attack.
A gorgon's main threat is its breath, which can turn people to stone.
But from our reading we learned that gorgons can only do this five times
a day. We made our way to the large chamber Gluck called home (formerly
a training arena, Cora tells me) and Thaspar and I hid outside while
Cora snuck in invisibly. The plan was that she would use her wand of
summoning to summon various small monsters to attack the gorgon, using
up its allotment of petrifaction, while Thaspar and I held the doors to
make sure no reinforcements arrived. Once the gorgon was depleted we
would switch to a full assault and kill the both of them.
It worked great right up to the point where, instead of breathing on the
summoned animals, the gorgon simply trampled them to death. Gluck
started stomping around in search of the source of these summoned
beasties and started crawling out the door in search of assistance. Our
clever plan in complete disarray, we fell back on our default approach;
Thaspar and I laid in to Gluck while he was stuck halfway through the
door and Cora fell back to a safe position to turn visible and start
using her darts and other tricks.
To make a brief, brutal fight even briefer, we succeeded in killing both
of them with surprisingly little damage to ourselves - Thaspar got
breathed on but shook it off, and I got thoroughly pounded by Gluck (who
was wielding a training dummy as a makeshift club) but gave just as
thorough a pounding in return. Stone giant hide is quite tough but once
you've succeeded in stabbing a hole through it you can just keep
stabbing deeper, in case you ever find yourself fighting one with a dagger.
Fortunately reinforcements didn't break through the door before we
finished the fight and Cora knew of a secret room we could retreat to,
so we hid there for a while and licked our wounds while the commotion
passed outside. Fortunately the Daask hadn't made much progress in
finding all the secret doors in the place yet so we were undisturbed.
Once we were back to fighting trim again and the coast was clear, we
exited the secret room and started making our way through the halls
again. The Daask were on to us at this point, of course, so whenever we
encountered anyone it was a matter of seeing who was faster. None of
them managed to raise the alarm.
We headed for the chambers of the Knight Wind, former leader of the
Halflings - Cora apparently wanted to check if his possessions had been
looted, and she was the one who knew her way around best so she was the
leader. The place was thoroughly ransacked already but we still found a
few interesting tidbits along the way that I'll detail in a later
letter, no need to talk shop just yet. But one bit of information was
really important, which I'll pass along right now; the Daask are
apparently working with the three sisters of Droaam in some way. We
found a letter requesting that they send a captured Halfling to the
Crags for study. Perhaps they found out about spellthieving and are
interested in it. We also found an armory of mind boggling size, it
seems the Daask are planning a rather major offensive in Sharn at some
point soon.
Anyway, the Daask appear to move quite efficiently when one of their
leaders is killed; no more than an hour after we killed Gluck and while
we were still skulking around looting for clues to their plans, two more
of their high level members arrived with a contingent to investigate.
One was a goat man whose name I didn't catch, but the other was none
other than our old friend Takkani the minotaur. We tried sneaking past
them in disguise but the goat-man spotted Cora. The fight was on.
Surprisingly, it was even briefer and more brutal than the fight with
Gluck. We were really tightly squeezed in the Halfling-sized hallways,
so only Thaspar could fight head-on. Cora backed off and used ranged
attacks. I went looking for an alternate route, and thanks to my sandals
of speed I was able to make my way around through a door behind the
goat-man quite quickly. We cut him down in a matter of seconds. Then it
was just us and Takkani, the lesser Daask rabble having fled.
He was armed with a huge spiked chain that let him strike all the way
down the corridor, and had a huge magical shield for protection. I
figured it would be a hard fight. Instead, the coward took off running
as fast as his hooves would carry him in such a low-ceilinged place.
Thaspar and I were both hasted, though, so he didn't get far. I slipped
past him to block his escape and flank him, and Thaspar came in behind
me to close the trap. Cora arrived in time to deliver a dart or two too,
but really, I was quite disappointed in Takkani. He died very quickly. I
would have liked to ask him some questions, but I suppose we'll have
opportunity to meet some other high level Daask members soon so other
opportunities may arise.
After that, it was all over for the Daask in the neighborhood; the peons
were fleeing the guild hall in droves before most of them even caught
sight of us. So we looted the place thoroughly for clues, Cora sent word
to surviving Knights Wind members to return and start rebuilding, and we
headed back to the Mantle. I think Cora would like to move in to the
Knights Wind guild hall herself, but there's no way Thaspar and I would
handle the architecture in there so you can still find us at our usual
address at the Lizard's Mantle.
Not for the next few days, though. The next morning, after we had
recuperated and were down in the Mantle's common room having a meal and
discussing strategy, the Daask counterattacked. It was a cowardly strike
involving a lot of alchemist's fire hurled in through the windows, but
they also sent in an aberration the likes of which I've never seen
before. A huge spherical monster that hovered in mid air, with a crown
of writhing eyestalks around its head and one huge eye right in the
middle of its face. This thing was devastatingly powerful, let me tell you.
Its very first move was to kill half the patrons in the Mantle with
various horrendous magics. It disintegrated one man into a pile of dust,
petrified another, did something indescribable to a third that caused
him to simply drop dead (this particular effect was later focused on
Thaspar, and he told me it felt like his soul was being ripped out).
Molly got hit too, though fortunately with one of the lesser effects
that simply caused gaping wounds to form of their own accord. She
survived, barely.
Cora turned invisible and Thaspar and I moved up to flank the beast as
it came in through the door. We both got some solid hits in on it, but
then it turned its disintegrating gaze on me. Even when I was dying of
the mad slime-alchemist's poison in the airship over Sharn, I have never
felt such pain! I am amazed that I survived it at all, but for some
reason I resisted disintegration and fell unconscious. Cora revived me
almost immediately, using her healing wand from the safety of
invisibility, and I struggled back to my feet. The monster had moved
deeper into the Mantle and if I'd run to catch it I'd have got there
just in time for its next attack, so instead I decided to throw my
daggers and do what damage I could before then.
Did some, I think. Enough to convince it I was worth using that
disintegrating effect on a second time. I tell you, it hurt even _worse_
that time. Even though I once again avoided becoming dust, I am quite
sure my soul began its trip to Lammania then and there. It was only
Cora's nick-of-time healing that pulled me back yet again.
I staggered back to my feet. Thaspar was having some success with his
sword, and Cora turned visible to go on the offense too, so I felt
comfortable with throwing my last magical dagger and taking cover behind
the statue of one of the patrons to mend myself. The monster appeared
gravely wounded too, so I thought perhaps it would fall before I was
ready to face it again.
It turns out the monster's magical powers weren't entirely geared toward
brute destruction. It hit Cora with a charm that convinced her that it
was somehow her best friend, and Cora actually started using Thaspar's
wand of healing to heal the _monster_ of damage. It was a surprising
turnaround, I must say. But fortunately Thaspar's blade was quicker than
Cora's wand, and he took it down.
The Mantle wasn't destroyed, but it took a bit of fire damage and the
beast's missed shots disintegrated gaping holes in some of the walls.
Quite a mess all around. But we're going to rebuild, and we're going to
have the monster's carcass stuffed and mounted in the Mantle. Perhaps
the Daask will think twice before coming back to this neighborhood again.
So there is where we stand. I don't think the Daask know much about you
or your association with our merry little band, but should they make the
connection they may decide you're an easier target to go after on your
own. I'm hoping that since the university is in the upper city and the
city watch is actually in control up there it won't come to that, but
nevertheless be on your guard. And study well! It's looking like at some
point soon we may want to take the ship out for a little jaunt down to
Droaam again, we'll no doubt be in need of a skilled artificer on such
a trip to keep her in the air.
Your friend, Sadie Wolfchild.
Timeline
- Zol 10 Olarune - Found Lady d'Vown dead
- Wir 11 Olarune - Nightmare assassin attack, met Merrin in prison, fought Cardinal Quinn, psionic shifter attack
- Zor 12 Olarune - Investigating Merrin's case
- Zor 13 Olarune - Tracking the changeling
- Sar 14 Olarune - Interrogation of the changeling and cleared Merrin
- Mol 16 Olarune - Merrin Proposes
- Wir 18 Olarune - Clearing out the Daask from the Knight's Wind HQ
- Far 20 Olarune - Beholder Attack in the Lizard's Mantle
People
NPC1
Description
Heroic Actions
- Sadie stabbed Gluck a second time in the same stab-hole
Heroic Quotes
- "The ring gives -10 to Escape Artist" - Thaspar (referring to Sadie's engagement ring)
- "Why couldn't he have *disintegrated* Cora" - Thaspar (after the beholder charmed Cora and she healed him)
Adventure Names
Session 1
- Robyn - During Which the Sharn Watch Get to Know Us Well
Session 2
Session 3
Legends & Lore
During the last war Breland was forced to allow the lands of Droaam to fall under the control of monstrous forces, controlled by the three hags at Great Crag. Breland has long claimed the lands as its own, though much of the northern and western areas were wild and populated by monstrous inhabitants. When the hags managed to form the denizens of the land into organized fighting units and raiding parties, the meager Brelish defenses fell quickly. Embroiled in war with its neighbours Breland could not spare troops to defend the Graywall, lest invading armies see victories from another quarter.
Statistics
Session 1
Date Played:
Session Length: 8 hours
Experience Gained: 3492/character
Foes Vanquished: 15 Nightmare Assassins, Cardinal Quinn, Psionic Shifter
Session 2
Date Played:
Session Length: 6 hours
Experience Gained: 2530/character
Foes Vanquished: Strange Assassin
Session 3
Date Played:
Session Length: 4 hours
Experience Gained: 3038/character
Foes Vanquished: Gluck, Many Daask, Takkani, Beholder
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