Filmed in the Miracle of Skeletorama!
Kythorn 7, 1373, Silverymoon
I stumbled home after our celebration, to rest— I noticed that Tassar lives close by, in that house Lady Brenin occupies. I wonder if he knows about the… well, I suppose it doesn’t matter, it was a long time ago and no one ever was caught. Still, the town guard keeps an eye on things, so he’s undoubtedly safe. Of course, who’s protecting town guards?
Anyway, the night passed uneventfully and I left my small home in the old oak tree to head back to the Bright Blade Brandished, where we had all decided to meet before collecting our pay. Antonio was already there (he’s a human— don’t they need sleep?) and had ordered a huge breakfast for us all. I haven’t bought a meal since hooking up with this group! But, if it makes them happy to feed me, who am I to argue? We finished breakfast and headed off to visit Lord Greycastle.
He seemed pleased at our quick success clearing out his mines and paid us straight away. I mentioned the strange humanoid statues that we’d found in the mines, and explained that we didn’t ever come across any clues as to how they got there. I could see my friends had no idea why I was telling him all of this, until I offered our services to periodically go back through and clean out any new threats that may arise— for a fee, of course. After all, we know the mines now better than anyone, Greycastle included. I am pretty sure he will keep that in mind, but for now, the only work he had available was as caravan guards to Everlund. He had a merchant caravan leaving Silverymoon in two days’ time, and needed resourceful people such as ourselves. Already finding us trustworthy, he offered us each 100 gp right away, and 100 more to be provided when we return from Everlund. We readily accepted, and took our coin. Antonio disappeared into the nearest marketplace after we agreed to let him handle provisions for our trip. The rest of us headed back to the tavern. Areon and I sat down where we had a good view of the other patrons, while Deitricha and Tassar sat at another table, closer to where a steady supply of alcohol could be acquired. I wasn’t surprised to see Tassar drinking so early in the day, but I was astonished to see Deitricha throwing back drinks with equal enthusiasm.
Areon was quiet, studying the other people in the bar, no doubt looking for clues to whatever it is he searches for. I kept my ears open, hoping to hear something interesting, and get caught up on the local rumors. Two piqued my curiosity:
1: A ruined tower two days’ ride west in Upper Rauvin Vale is haunted. Ghostly lights have been seen, and moans have been heard at night. Travelers on the road won’t camp near it.
2: People are disappearing around the dock area here at night— so far it’s been the types that have “business” in the dock areas that go missing. The last one was two night’s ago, two blocks from this very tavern.
I heard both of these bits of conversation in the early afternoon, and though I realized that we couldn’t drop our caravan guarding job to check out the ruined tower (as exciting as it sounds!), we were free for the evening and could provide a few extra pairs of eyes for the town guard patrolling the dock areas. At least, that’s what I thought. Areon was more than willing to check it out, but we had to wait until Antonio came back from making purchases for our trip, so I made my way over to Tassar and Deitricha to let them know what I’d overheard.
I was surprised to discover that drunkenness is transmissible, or at least, somehow, Tassar had managed to get Deitricha drunk very quickly. Really drunk. I’m not sure how she was staying conscious. At any rate, I suggested that we plan to go to the docks later in the evening, and they both looked at me like I’d turned into a rock wyrm. Just then I saw Antonio stride past, obviously excited about something, and went to catch him before he wandered off to do more shopping. Apparently, Deitricha and Tassar left the tavern while I was talking to our sorcerer friend. I was a bit perplexed that they weren’t excited about the prospect of fighting off whatever it was that was causing citizens to disappear, but Antonio and Areon were up to the task, so we let Antonio finish up his shopping so we could head over at dusk. I was a little confused as to why a human and a halfling would even be doing what I suspected Deitricha and Tassar were doing, but Antonio pointed out that they are adults. I just hope when they sober up they are still willing to work together!
Later, Areon, Antonio and I walked down to the docks to check things out. I had already bumped into a town guard earlier and let him know we’d be helping them keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Our diligence was rewarded when I saw a shadowy humanoid form, carrying another person, duck into an a sewer entrance. Areon blew his signal whistle as we gave chase, and Antonio, knowing his most potent spells would not work within the mythal that protects Silverymoon, handed me his lantern and stayed above to wait for the town guard while Areon and I continued down into the sewers.
Areon is not used to tracking below ground, but we caught a blur of motion and followed it. I marked the sewer walls with chalk so that Antonio and the guards could catch up with us. I sensed something behind us and turned, crossbow ready, as the claws of a ghoul raked my side. I hit it with a crossbow bolt that embedded in the undead creature right up to the fletching, and Areon finished it off with one blow. I was lucky that elves aren’t susceptible to a ghoul’s attack, and luckier still that Areon had purchased a wand to provide curing—I needed it! Within moments, Antonio appeared with guards. Three continued to search for the victim with us and the other went back to their station after we gave them a description of what we were following.
Areon had no more luck tracking the figure we had been following before the ghoul attacked, but I noticed a few drops of blood near the wall further along, which we followed. Something else seemed wrong to me after we’d gone a few yards. I studied my surroundings then, and saw that we were standing beside what looked like the outline of a concealed door. After checking it for traps, I found the hidden catch and released it— we walked down a set of steps and found ourselves in a room filled with wooden crates and barrels. Sadly, we had no time to look through them. Another door was visible on the other side of the room and, seeing it was not trapped, we kicked it open and I was nearly hit with an arrow— I sent a retaliatory shot in the direction the attack came from and skewered a human thug. I must learn to watch my own back, as I suddenly felt a blade slice into me right about where the kobold spear had earlier in the week. This time I managed to stay up and fighting. My friends and the guards made it into the room, and though two guards fell during the ensuing battle, my assailant was killed. A third thug in the room was hiding behind a set of bunk beds (this was apparently makeshift barracks of a sort)— he went out another door and ran off while we grabbed the wounded guards and headed back to the street above. As much as we wanted to give chase, we felt undermanned— we’re not stupid!
We were fortunate that none of the guards were dead, and that there were healers available at the guards’ headquarters. We offered to go back out with more guards, but by the time we could, the hidden storage room had been cleared. I’ve found out since that it was a slaver ring, and though we didn’t get back the person we saw being carted into the sewers, we’ve at least ended their operations in this port. We called it a night.
This morning, we met again at the tavern for another generous meal paid for by Antonio. Everyone managed to be there, though it wasn’t too hard to tell that Tassar and Deitricha had spent the evening doing more than drinking. Antonio gave a rundown of his purchases for everyone, which included some horses, a wagon, barrels— we may need caravan guards of our own! We also related our adventures of the night before for Tassar and Deitricha, though they were rather quiet concerning their own activities. Deitricha eventually excused herself to go get some rest, and, almost as an afterthought, mentioned “at home.” We all wandered out then, agreeing that we could use the extra rest, rather than revelry, before embarking on tomorrow morning’s journey to Everlund.