Beneath the Sign of the Rose

The party of heroes settled in at the White Knight Inn and waited for their recently hired/befriended compatriots to arrive. Devdas and Ohtar got there first, shortly before dark, ready to go. Rogord arrived a little late and with some form of trouble on his heels. Their first clue was that he slammed into the front door of the inn rather than walked in. Gil went to investigate the sound and helped a stricken Rogord in. He was clearly wounded and, looking a little green, poisoned. Gil did what he could to draw the venom out of his wounds and took a brief look out the door but saw nobody responsible for Rogord's attack.

In the back room, plans were finalized and Rogord related that he was attacked by agents of the Scarlet Brotherhood. He did what he could to staunch his own wounds, but nothing could be done to fix all of the poison damage already taken. He was determined, however, to continue in the fight against the slavelords.

The adventurers set out to go to the Sign of the Rose brothel down the street, leaving by a back way at the inn. Looking about, they did discover that they were under observation by someone on the rooftops, but since he was making no overtly hostile moves, they continued on their way.
At the brothel, the madam greeted the party warmly and asked about what sort of services they'd be needing while Gil inquired about the party rooms on the ground floor. Under cover of the madam making the rounds of the seven adventurers, Gil and Tesrae both tried to slip away. Tesrae was initially noticed but made it appear she was just looking for the privvy. Gil, however, found the room indicated by Lees during his previous visit. He spent some time picking a relatively difficult lock but managed to open the portal.

Gil returned to the lobby/common room and mingled with his companions until the madam was called away to greet another set of guests. At that point, the whole party made their move to the unlocked room. Inside, they found a trap door in short order and piled in. Kendrick came last, moving the trap back into place.

They found they were in a disused set of tunnels that were most likey once part of the sewer. There were drain holes in the ceiling and water marks on the walls. Condensation covered the floors and walls.

The passage opened into a roughly hexagonal room with a statue in it. The light cast by Gil's enchanted sickles glinted off its metal exterior. Bob Arby checked the statue for enchantments from where he was and determined that there was an illusion at work. As Tesrae, Ohtar, and Gil moved into the room, the statue raised a hand and demanded that they leave or face its poisonous breath. Thinking the statue might just be backed by an illusion (though possibly an iron golem), the heroes pressed ahead, searching for a secret way out of this otherwise dead-end room.

As Tesrae started to look over the pedestal the statue stood on, it stepped down and tried to strike her with a heavy blow. Upon closer examination, the statue indeed appeared to be a golem of sorts, but a flesh golem with armor plates attached to it. Nevertheless, it put up a vigorous fight, flailing about as it was surrounded by the heroes. It managed to lay a particularly crushing blow on Rogord, laying him out on the floor. Gil acted quickly to set his injuries and save his life.

Eventually, the golem fell under many blows though not before it had inflicted a substantial amount of pain on most of the heroes. Gil brought out a wand of curing light wounds and returned everyone to fighting shape.

Another more detailed search later, and they found a secret door hidden in the wall. It led to more tunnels. Tesrae and Ohtar led the way. As they went down a long straight corridor, the floor opened under both of their feet. Tesrae managed to jump back but Ohtar fell in. The pit, however, was only about 7 feet deep and softened with sand at the bottom. She landed uninjured. But it seems the true trap was behind the party as a nozzle popped out of the wall and issue forth a gout of flame. Everyone behind Ohtar was singed by the flames except Kendrick and Gil, both of whom moved very quickly to avoid the burst of fire.

Again, Gil broke out the wand of curing light wounds and set everyone back to right. This was getting to be a more stoutly defended route than had been anticipated.

At the end of the corridor, the heroes found a room with a large chest in it, of the style you'd see in a guard post: a chest used to transport weaponry by an army and used in the stocking of an armory. Gil went to check it out, looking for traps, when it suddenly lashed out at him with an amorphous pseudopod. Fortunately for Gil, it missed. The rest of the heroes rushed into attack the mimic that had disguised itself as a chest.

The mimic managed to stick to Devdas and knock him about a bit before it was slain. After a few minutes of cutting it apart and peeling it off the floor, the adventurers found a few small piles of loose change, some nice topaz gems, and a ring that Bob Arby was able to determine was magical. He used his remaining scroll of identify and found that it was useful for resisting injuries from freezing spells.

Next week: Further into the Sewers and Toward a Date with the Slavelords.

Fireballs and Floozies

In the morning ,the party of heroes set out to Denhow's Pub and Grub to meet with Rogord. On the way, Gil heard the sound of a roaring whoosh, rather like the sound of a fireball, and screams down a street to the side. Tesrae reacted quickly, drawing her sword and pushing through the crowd (heading the opposite direction) toward the noise. Bob Arby followed in her wake, as did Gil.

They arrived at a scene of carnage. A market stall had been the center of a fireball that had not only killed the man running the stall, but also killed several bystanders and set fire to the awning of another stall. Three men remained in the area, unhurt, and talking like they were responsible for the damage. One was heard to remark that "He won't short change me again." as he grabbed up some produce and his friend picked up the cash box from behind the stall table. These men talked like bullies, but also with the speech of uneducated, rural laborers rather than learned wizards.

Tesrae and Gil both advanced while Bob hung back. One of the men said they had the power to do whatever they wanted now and the one in the back of the three pulled up his sleeves and made like he was about to cast a spell. Bob reacted first, however, and a volley of magical missiles struck the man down. Gil and Tesrae both attacked next, dropping their opponents to the ground (Gil in particularly bloody fashion as his sickles ripped through the man's throat).
A quick loot of the bodies as the sounds of the local militia's whistles approached turned up a bit of loose change and a scroll. Examining the scroll later, Bob believed that the spell written on it (magic missile) was made up of some fairly unique mnemonic devices to that point that just about anybody could prepare the spell for casting on their own, even a non-spellcaster. Further research, however, would be required.

The meeting with Rogord went as expected. He was sitting in the most remote corner of the room he could find as the adventurers joined him. He revealed that his sources said that Slavelords have been seen entering a brothel called the Sign of the Rose and not leaving. That would have to be the location of a secret entrance into their network and, ultimately, fortress. Facing increasing trouble with the Scarlet Brotherhood, Rogord volunteered to come along and help. He also asked that if he should fall, that the adventurers would keep his sword out of the hands of the Slavelords. It is apparently a blade with some lineage. Tesrae's cursory examination suggested it was worth a lot of money and was decorated in an old Aerdy style, dating from the times of the Great Kingdom at its height.

On the way back to the inn, Gil decided to check out the Sign of the Rose and got some of the local currency at the money changer to spend. He first got a tour of the place from the madam (it was early and there were few patrons yet) as he tried to wheedle from her which room gets used often by visiting dignitaries (slavelords) and thus might have the secret entrance. The madam was dogged enough in her focus on the business of sex and was not going to crack. Switching tactics, Gil asked to see the girls instead, hoping to pick a young and relatively inexperienced harlot who might give up information easier. He chose Lees, a 16-year old girl who had been working for about 7 months.

Back in Lees's room, rather than getting to the business she expected, Gil started asking leading questions while stacking money on her vanity. She caught on that he wasn't a regular customer and was angling for information on the slavelords. She resisted talking for a while, afraid of repercussions, but a substantial sum of money plus an emerald (and promise of more) were enough to get her to indicate that there was a particularly interesting room at the end of the hall on the ground floor *wink wink nudge nudge*. Gil told Lees that he would make sure she was rescued when the planned raid and toppling of the slavelords occurs.

Next episode: Beneath the Sign of the Rose.