Finnris, lvl 3 Dhari h-m Barbarian-3
Aeshma, lvl 3 Kalayan h-f Rogue-1>2/Fighter-1
Vorstag Iceslider, lvl 2 goliath-m Ice Reaver Rogue-1>2
Cassandra, lvl 2 Quodethi h-f Sorceress-1>2
Zérda “The Defier” of House Saväschu, lvl 2 Atlantean Noble of Katagia (h-m), Fighter-1>2
NPCs
Innkeep: Morgan of the Seal Inn
Deceased barmaid: Eiva
Lyanarus the Bard
Red Slavers of Marg - captain is hulking man with oiled black beard
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| Zérda |
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| The Lurker in the Dark |
The Lurker in the Dark - Aeshma
We spend the next day after returning from the sewers at “The Seal” to recover and try to wash away some of the filth. Around midday a message arrives for Pealias, Alethrion and Nadred and they are obliged to leave on some unknown business.
That evening Vorstag, Aeshma and Finnris gather in the tavern and speak with Morgan, the barman. We confirm we found no trace of any of the missing people, and let him know we plan a return trip into the sewer to see what else we can find. Morgan says that two adventurers recently arrived at the tavern looking for work and he introduces them to us: Zerda the Defier, an Atlantean Noble from Katagia; and the mysterious Cassandra, a sorceress clutching a strange black book as if it was a talisman.
With our new allies we return to the sewer and take a different route from that which took us to the Shanksters’ lair. Finnris lights a torch, but moments later Cassandra creates light on a small stone while at Zerda’s bidding one of his scimitars starts to glow with pale moonlight.
We disturb a large mound of giant cockroaches who scramble all over us as they pass – Cassandra seems to be particularly unnerved by the vermin. Finnris hurls the torch he has been carrying at the mound of rubbish the cockroaches had been eating – unfortunately it is tinder dry and easily catches light, filling the sewer with greasy, rancid smoke.
Not unsurprisingly we head in the opposite direction and find a large chamber with multiple inlets. The floor is swarming with rats including several of a prodigious size. Before anyone else can act, Vorstag leaps to the attack on one side of the main drain, while Zerda follows his example on the other.
Several rats attack Vorstag even as Finnris moves up to support him, but Zerda is mobbed, the target of the rat king: a giant rat covered with boney spines. The Atlantean is badly injured but maintains the presence of mind to force his way clear and extinguish his glowing scimitar as Aeshma and Cassandra move to support him.
The sorceress evokes a wall of thunderous sound that smashes into the rats and hurls the rat king against the far wall. Aeshma wades into the rats, her cutlass burning with a sickly green light. The rats are soon defeated with Cassandra using magic to burn the remainder in the warrens. Amongst the debris on the floor we find various trinkets: a glass chess Rook (Vorstag); a small brass orb etched with runes (Aeshma); an old fortune-telling card bearing Finnris’ likeness (Finnris); a book relating the rise and fall of a legendary hero – with the last chapter missing (Zerda); and a small idol depicting a nightmarish creature (Cassandra).
Leaving the rats’ lair we come to a junction where all the entrances have been trapped with jars of Katagian Fire. With the aid of the others, Aeshma is able to defuse the trap and we put the jars aside to collect later as Katagian Fire is very unstable.
We are passing through the next chamber when a nightmare creature erupts from beneath the filth and attacks Finnris who is in the lead. Tentacles lash out, ensnaring the barbarian and drawing him into a giant toothy maw which closes on his ankle. The rest of us move to attack, to try to distract it enabling Finnris to escape, but Finnris has never been one to retreat from a fight. At Zerda’s urging he strikes it a mighty blow but is caught again by its tentacles.
Both Aeshma and Cassandra attack it with magic, but it takes another mighty strike from Finnris to once again force the creature to release him. Zerda moves up to support the badly injured barbarian but instead becomes the creature’s next target. Once again the tentacles lash out and he too is dragged into its jaws, quickly losing consciousness from the blood loss.
Aeshma finally strikes the fatal blow and Cassandra pulls Zerda free, struggling to put sufficient pressure on his wounds to stem the bleeding. Eventually we get the Atlantean’s many wounds bandaged and move his ashen form to a dry part of the tunnel.
While Cassandra tends him we investigate the creature’s lair and find out what has happened to the missing Quodethi citizens as scattered all around are the skeletons of the creature’s victims. Aeshma finds a handful of tokens amongst the half-eaten corpses, perhaps sufficient for their relations to identify them.
With the mystery of the missing people solved we return to “The Seal” and tell Morgan the bad news. He is understandably saddened but offers us two weeks free lodging as payment for our efforts and promises to try to match the recovered tokens with bereaved families.
That evening the bard Lionarus performs at the tavern: the story of a great hero, but even though Vorstag has been keeping an eye on him, the bard slips out of the tavern after his performance and quickly avoids Vorstag in the surrounding alleys.
At the same time Aeshma has been travelling the docks sounding out potential buyers for the illicit Katagian Fire. No ships familiar to her are in port so she instead approaches the captain of a Marg slaver. After some negotiation he agrees to buy the pots at 80gp per pot. The business is duly transacted just before the slaver is due to sail at dawn. Aeshma takes 50gp from the proceeds to go to the Seven Knives – a courtesy transaction fee as she had been doing business in their territory, and it never pays to upset the most powerful Thieves Guild in Thule…
We spend the next day after returning from the sewers at “The Seal” to recover and try to wash away some of the filth. Around midday a message arrives for Pealias, Alethrion and Nadred and they are obliged to leave on some unknown business.
That evening Vorstag, Aeshma and Finnris gather in the tavern and speak with Morgan, the barman. We confirm we found no trace of any of the missing people, and let him know we plan a return trip into the sewer to see what else we can find. Morgan says that two adventurers recently arrived at the tavern looking for work and he introduces them to us: Zerda the Defier, an Atlantean Noble from Katagia; and the mysterious Cassandra, a sorceress clutching a strange black book as if it was a talisman.
With our new allies we return to the sewer and take a different route from that which took us to the Shanksters’ lair. Finnris lights a torch, but moments later Cassandra creates light on a small stone while at Zerda’s bidding one of his scimitars starts to glow with pale moonlight.
We disturb a large mound of giant cockroaches who scramble all over us as they pass – Cassandra seems to be particularly unnerved by the vermin. Finnris hurls the torch he has been carrying at the mound of rubbish the cockroaches had been eating – unfortunately it is tinder dry and easily catches light, filling the sewer with greasy, rancid smoke.
Not unsurprisingly we head in the opposite direction and find a large chamber with multiple inlets. The floor is swarming with rats including several of a prodigious size. Before anyone else can act, Vorstag leaps to the attack on one side of the main drain, while Zerda follows his example on the other.
Several rats attack Vorstag even as Finnris moves up to support him, but Zerda is mobbed, the target of the rat king: a giant rat covered with boney spines. The Atlantean is badly injured but maintains the presence of mind to force his way clear and extinguish his glowing scimitar as Aeshma and Cassandra move to support him.
The sorceress evokes a wall of thunderous sound that smashes into the rats and hurls the rat king against the far wall. Aeshma wades into the rats, her cutlass burning with a sickly green light. The rats are soon defeated with Cassandra using magic to burn the remainder in the warrens. Amongst the debris on the floor we find various trinkets: a glass chess Rook (Vorstag); a small brass orb etched with runes (Aeshma); an old fortune-telling card bearing Finnris’ likeness (Finnris); a book relating the rise and fall of a legendary hero – with the last chapter missing (Zerda); and a small idol depicting a nightmarish creature (Cassandra).
Leaving the rats’ lair we come to a junction where all the entrances have been trapped with jars of Katagian Fire. With the aid of the others, Aeshma is able to defuse the trap and we put the jars aside to collect later as Katagian Fire is very unstable.
We are passing through the next chamber when a nightmare creature erupts from beneath the filth and attacks Finnris who is in the lead. Tentacles lash out, ensnaring the barbarian and drawing him into a giant toothy maw which closes on his ankle. The rest of us move to attack, to try to distract it enabling Finnris to escape, but Finnris has never been one to retreat from a fight. At Zerda’s urging he strikes it a mighty blow but is caught again by its tentacles.
Both Aeshma and Cassandra attack it with magic, but it takes another mighty strike from Finnris to once again force the creature to release him. Zerda moves up to support the badly injured barbarian but instead becomes the creature’s next target. Once again the tentacles lash out and he too is dragged into its jaws, quickly losing consciousness from the blood loss.
Aeshma finally strikes the fatal blow and Cassandra pulls Zerda free, struggling to put sufficient pressure on his wounds to stem the bleeding. Eventually we get the Atlantean’s many wounds bandaged and move his ashen form to a dry part of the tunnel.
While Cassandra tends him we investigate the creature’s lair and find out what has happened to the missing Quodethi citizens as scattered all around are the skeletons of the creature’s victims. Aeshma finds a handful of tokens amongst the half-eaten corpses, perhaps sufficient for their relations to identify them.
With the mystery of the missing people solved we return to “The Seal” and tell Morgan the bad news. He is understandably saddened but offers us two weeks free lodging as payment for our efforts and promises to try to match the recovered tokens with bereaved families.
That evening the bard Lionarus performs at the tavern: the story of a great hero, but even though Vorstag has been keeping an eye on him, the bard slips out of the tavern after his performance and quickly avoids Vorstag in the surrounding alleys.
At the same time Aeshma has been travelling the docks sounding out potential buyers for the illicit Katagian Fire. No ships familiar to her are in port so she instead approaches the captain of a Marg slaver. After some negotiation he agrees to buy the pots at 80gp per pot. The business is duly transacted just before the slaver is due to sail at dawn. Aeshma takes 50gp from the proceeds to go to the Seven Knives – a courtesy transaction fee as she had been doing business in their territory, and it never pays to upset the most powerful Thieves Guild in Thule…
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