My husband is starting his Eberron campaign this weekend. We roled up characters three weeks ago, just before the two of us left for our vacation, which left plenty of time for me to work on developing a character history for my character, which I will post shortly. Since no one else has submitted character histories yet I only have a vague idea of what the party will look like at the moment. Also, I am rarely a player anymore, so I plan on enjoying the play as much as possible. Our group consists of five men and two women - every player at the table will be thirty or above (well, this is almost true, since the last holdout turns thirty in about two weeks).
We're adventuring in Eberron, and the first adventure will begin somewhere in Sharn. The characters are:
Solange - A female elven cleric of the Undying Court from Aerenal
Wik - A changling Rogue hailing from the Lhazaar Principalities
An as yet unnamed Shifter Ranger (probably from the Eldeen Reaches)
An as yet unnamed Warforged Fighter (the youngest character, only five years old)
Jotokantash, a kalashtar wizard
Solonovakhtash, a kalashtar monk.
I will be playing Solonovakhtash, the kalashtar monk. His character history (somewhat subject to change, since I may try to bring in elements of the other characters histories) will follow in the next post.
- Ashavan
"Going out again, my son?" The voice, so soft that Solon almost suspected the lightbringer of touching his mind, was enough to cause him to turn. Hanamelk sat, calm and still, on a cushioned pedestal in the great hall performing his primary function - for he was the passive voice of change, his meditations the relentless weapon of the kalashtar to bring down the Dreaming Dark. It had been more a statement than a question, but with the unearthly calm and patience that marked the race Hanamelk stood, gripping his walking stick, and waited for a response.
With piercing eyes reflecting a mix of crystal sky and emerald forest, scarcely visible in the shadow of the deeply cowled cloak Solon favored, he answered simply, "I have a client, lightbringer, would you have me stay?"
"My son, this is not a profession you have chosen. Selkatari has nothing but praise for your skills in combat, for your grace in the dance - only your meditations suffer. And for you, above all the others, the meditations must not fail. You were too long away from us, and we all walk a line of madness. This life you have chosen represents a legacy of pain from your past. You can be more. And I fear if you continue to abandon your meditations that you will fall into the abyss of the darkness."
The boy's eyes suddenly became hard and focused. "You do not understand, lightbringer. My past may have guided me to the door, but I choose to walk this path, I was not fated to it." Solon lowered his head, a sense of shame filling him for a moment, "My talents have never been with my mind. We have turned from the flesh and reflected within because we are more - but I have never felt that way. Artisans and performers - philosophers and priests - all of these for il-Yannah, to turn the age to light. But my memories are nightmares and madness, a reflection of my past. I do not forget. My meditations are not forgotten, lightbringer, they are with me in that moment. And maybe they are with my client too. You may not see me as one, but I too am an artist, a performer, and yes, my friend, even a priest." The boy turned back to the door and without waiting for a response fled the Gathering Light.
A woman, lithe and beautiful with a grace that bordered on supernatural, stepped from the shadows. "Will we lose him too?" she asked.
"I am a philosopher and a seer, Selkatari, but that I cannot see. The boy believes his words. But the trauma of his past is deep, and we will never know how much it has truly impacted him. He hates the Riedrans, and that was never our goal. Opposition, change - these things we need, but if he embraces that hate the madness could take him. As for his "profession" - the boy is a monk and priest of il-Yannah. That he sells his company is troubling, but remember - you found him because of it. We had long thought him dead."
"He could be a master, Hanamelk. And there are too few of those. The darkness that dreams doesn't have the same lack of soldiers and priests. I need him whole. Let him wander and whore if he must. As long as he comes home."
Hanamelk did not need to see to feel her leave the room. His mind was attuned to everything in this chamber, from the crystal mosaics on the walls to the comings and goings of every member of the community. Her troubled thoughts lingered hanging close to the floor at the edge of his perception, and he could not blame her for them. They had come so close already to losing Solonovakhtash - so dreadfully close.
The boy stopped only two bridges from the hall of Gathering Light. Briefly he considered hiring a courier to cancel his rendezvous and going to talk to Havakhad at the shrine, but, though he would never admit it to Hanamelk, he would never interrupt his devotions for just any client. He wished they would not invoke his past so much as an attack against him. Why did they attack his devotions? Why was ecstasy and sex not an appropriate offering to the Light? Why did they care so much about his past?
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Solonovakhtash witnessed tragedy from an early age. The son of an unknown kalashtar, Solon was raised by his mother in the Ship's Towers district of Cliffside in Sharn. They lived a simple life and spoke his mother's native Riedran at home. And then one day they came for his mother. He had heard the Riedran voices, the insistent "Where is he?" of the men. He peered through the porthole of the houseboat he shared with his mother just in time to see the men rape her, and then break her neck. A memory of holding her on fields of sunlight passed through him, and then he fled into the seedier districts of Cliffside.
Solon fled initially to the homes of friends. His friends in Ship's Towers had been mainly families of goblin servants who served in the many districts of Sharn. They could not keep him forever, he knew.
Solon did not wish to be a burden to anyone. Solon possessed the extraordinary good looks common to his race, but lacked the kalashtar height, and most on the street assumed him to be a golden child, a gorgeous young human child. Strong and muscular for a youth of twelve, his looks soon had him receiving offers of compensation for his companionship. Realizing quickly that these men did not realize just how young he was, Solon seized upon selling his body and companionship as a means for him to support himself, to rely upon his own talents. Solon left the homes of his goblin friends and adopted the name Sultesh to help obscure his origins. Diligent searching and careful inquiries soon led him to a "reputable" establishment led by Ilara, a halfling madame of House Ghallanda. A dragonmark heir, Ilara had deep affection for her charges, especially those who came to her young. She ensured that Solon had two sets of paperwork - one for him to keep safe and secret that revealed his kalashtar heritage, the other with his adopted name of Sultesh, naming him a servant of the house of Ghallanda. Ilara taught him many things about seduction, teaching him to use his special talents and grace to enhance his own pleasure, not just that of his client. She also enforced schooling for all her charges, teaching them to read and write both common and goblin. She quickly realized the fierce intellect Solon possessed and engaged special tutors to complete his education.
At twenty, Sultesh was chosen from Ilara's charges to attend a human soldier of the citadel - Selar, a young man of some rank. Acting as a body servant, and providing special services when requested, Sultesh spent five years in the field of the Last War, most of them away from actual battle. When the soldier returned to Sharn, the war finally over, Sultesh found that Ilara's establishment was gone. Unable to find any trace of her, or the establishment that he had called home and lacking any connection with the kalashtar community of Sharn, indeed unaware that they even existed, he took a final payment from Selar and established himself as an independent escort in the embassy district of Ambassador Towers. With his company in demand by both men and women, Sultesh's profile raised slightly too high, and he caught the notice of a malevolent Riedran guard from the embassy. Somehow, despite his usual precautions, the guard discovered his heritage. Brutally raped by the soldier in a dead-end alley, Sultesh was rescued by a small group of kalashtar, led by the head of the monastic community in Overlook, Selkatari. She looked upon the brutalized young man and immediately recognized both his heritage, and the spark that made an exemplary monk. She knew that spark well, having spent her life training the community at the Gathering Light.
Selkatari took the still young Sultesh in. For the past eighteen months Sultesh has excelled in the training she has provided, especially the early stages of the Path of Shadows. He has refused, however, to give up his chosen life. Taking clients only from outside Upper Dura, and avoiding his once favored haunts in the Ambassador's Towers district, Sultesh struggles to be part of a community that is still somewhat alien to him.
------
Now I just need to work in relations with the other characters.
- Ashavan
Just to avoid any spoilers... we are adventuring through the adventure in the back of the campaign setting book first.
My first campaign journal came in at close to 5000 words, so prepare for a long post to follow...
- Ashavan
Silence hung palpable in the room, like a dense fog. They had been brought here slowly, one by one. Their hostess had said nothing to them yet, just a nod and a smile as her butler brought each one in, gesturing for them to sit or partake of the rich spread of fruit, cheeses, and meats carefully arrayed on long tables along the sides of the spacious room. Sultesh had arrived first, in the company of Jotokantash. The assignment wearied him – like most of his race he found Joto strange. The kalashtar left arcane arts to others, remaining quiet, silent, secretly bringing light into the shadow. Joto’s aberrant lifestyle held little mystery for Sultesh, who found the time spent guarding the outsider to his community a hated assignment. Selkatari demanded much of him. Sharn held many dangers for his race, he knew only too well, but Sulesh still found Selkatari’s acceptance of their host’s request strange. Maybe she had sent him because he was as much an outsider, in his own way, as Jotokantash. Maybe she had sent him because they shared the memories of their quor. Sultesh sighed and watched the others.
The elf’s arrival had caused quite a stir. She must be an elf, as Sultesh had never heard of a cleric of the Undying Court who was not. Rare to see one in person, even in Sharn. The butler gave the elven woman wide berth. She never removed her deathmask and Sultesh wondered if she was permitted to. His religious studies with Havakhad at the shrine hadn’t covered much of Aerenal belief. The elf was thin and lithe with dark brown hair flowing around her shoulders and piercing green eyes clearly visible despite the mask. She was quiet and quickly settled, nibbling delicately on small pieces of fruit. Sultesh noticed with some surprise that the fruit was from Aerenal, and fresh. Their hostess wanted something, fresh fruit from another continent did not come cheap.
The human boy was next to arrive. Sultesh placed his age at about eighteen years. Slender with an effeminate air, his dark hair and green eyes would fetch a lovely price. The boy’s looks would give Sultesh a run on the street, but the boy, for all his youth, didn’t have the boyish glow of youth that Sultesh still possessed at twenty-seven. Kalashtar aged slowly. The boy moved hesitantly, his eyes darting everywhere. Sultesh glared at the boy, looking for the spark of quor within, but there was nothing. The boy’s looks were genuine, but his gait – this boy had shared the same sort of life on the street that Sultesh had, his movements were too cautious and protected to have lived a sheltered life. The boy went from one tray to the next at the tables, selecting carefully what Sultesh knew to be the most expensive items. Sultesh wished his own tastes had been so discerning in his youth.
The growl that erupted from the man who entered next would have startled anyone. The man’s tattoo was his most obvious feature... a beholder. Sultesh hoped never to face such a creature. About five and a half feet tall, stocky and muscular, his features, animal and primal, marked him as a shifter. His hair was long and thick, marked here and there with intricate braiding. A long sword hung openly on his belt, and he walked with the same quiet confidence Sultesh had seen in his favorite client, Selar. His hostess was certainly gathering an odd assortment. Sultesh had seen the like of this one before on the front. Fearful enemies and useful allies, this shifter – a razorclaw by the look of him – had all the hallmarks of a ranger from the Eldeen Reaches. He grunted at the gesture of the butler and found himself a platter of meats before sitting down.
The butler shrugged, turned, and walked away, leaving a faint scent of lilacs in his wake. Goblinoid servants were hardly unusual in Sharn, indeed Sultesh had grown up in Ship’s Towers surrounded by the families of such servants, but bugbear servants were unusual. This one was eight feet, taller even than the guard outside. Both had been groomed carefully, meticulously. The manners and lilac were too recognizable and Sultesh wondered if the beast had been a client. He had served bugbears in that capacity before, though only rarely.
The people around the room did not mingle. Each was conspicuously quiet, guarded. Joto was in his own world, but Sultesh was, regrettably, too used to that. The elf remained sitting quietly, peering at each of them from behind her mask. The boy, guarded and uptight, had found the chair with the clearest path to the door. The shifter calmly devoured the contents of the meat platter, but one hand remained within easy reach of his sword at all times. Sultesh thought idly that at least as a monk he was never far from his own weapons. He pulled the cowl of his cloak further over his face and remained ensconced in a corner, watching the entrance.
A warforged entered next, still dripping from the torrents of rain outside. Sultesh let a barely perceptible smile reach his lips, as the path he and Joto had shared had been largely within the various towers of the city and mercifully dry. The construct was large and had no obvious markings. Possibly Brelish, as so many of the other territories had marked the warforged that served them. It looked both ways, identifying each occupant of the room. Unlike the others it paid no attention to the food. Across its back the warforged carried its weapon, an axe easily as large as any of the assembled guests. This, then, was a soldier.
The bugbear cleared its throat loudly, an action sounding somewhere between a growl and a belch. Whatever the creature’s intent, the group immediately gave him their complete attention, though Sultesh felt sure that the boy was still keeping an eye on that door. The bugbear’s voice boomed, “Gentlemen, your hostess the lady Khisanth.”
The lady was human, as far as Sultesh could tell, and her features – round, flat face, blue-black hair, small rounded nose – were exotic, even in Sharn. The glammerweave robe of black with its constantly shifting silver sigils cost more than even Sultesh’s wealthy clients paid for his services, indeed everything about her spoke of wealth. Sultesh could only wonder why she had brought them here to Upper Menthis. The lady glided to an empty sofa, a feat of elegance not magic, and sat down.
The warforged took a look, pointedly, at the woman’s gown and said bluntly, “Lady, can I get that in a size 30?” The assembled group did their best to stifle their laughter... warforged were often quite serious with those blunt remarks, and the axe was sharp. But Sultesh took the clue he was given for what he could find useful from it, and vowed to somehow associate “she” with the massive creature.
The lady herself smiled, but did not answer directly. “I have gathered you all here together for a purpose. I am a wealthy woman, but I am not an explorer, not an adventurer. You all have talents that complement each other, though you do not yet know it. I have brought you here with the intention that you band together. Each of you has thought privately about adventure – either for its own sake or for a cause. I offer you an opportunity. Understand that my support in this endeavor is not an empty gesture. My patronage has many benefits. Firstly, I offer you a suite of apartments for your use in Highwater.”
Sultesh immediately paid attention. Upper Dura apartments were not the best in the city, but certainly improved on the monk’s cell he occupied now. He hadn’t had a space that was truly his since Ilara sent him to serve with Selar at the front.
“Adventuring you will find things – artifacts, items of magic, items that I might find of use. As your patron, I ask only that you provide me the first right to buy such items as you intend not to use yourself. And that, should you decide to dispose of any such items that you choose to keep for yourself, that you will give me the courtesy of the opportunity to take them off your hands. Know this – I know every dealer in antiquities in this city, and should I choose not to purchase these items myself, I can find someone who will give you a fair price... better, certainly, than any price you could get for them on your own. Consider my offer. Do not decide in haste, take an evening to go to the apartments I have secured for you. You may give your answer to my chamberlain, Gudruun.” At the mention of his name, the bugbear stiffened, as though standing at attention.
She dismissed the group then, to discuss the proposal amongst themselves. Sultesh looked the group over, pleased with his instincts... he had been largely correct in his assessments. The shifter, Caleb, was indeed a ranger from the Eldeen Reaches. The warforged had served Breland during the Last War, though she provided little of her history save her name, Ada. The elf’s name, Solange, was all that she would provide also, though her mask told much of her story for her. That left only the boy, who gave his name as Nicholas Chandler. His voice had a hint of the Lhazaar Principalities in it, though Sultesh couldn’t be sure - it had been a long time since he had lived with his mother in Ship’s Towers where that accent had been commonplace. As easily the boy could have been raised in the same dock as Sultesh himself had, as the Lhazaar accent shaded both his Goblin and Common, only the Riedran and Quor were pure.
Sultesh introduced himself to the group as well, giving them his priestly functions as an occupation. He was simply an iterant monk. The looks the group gave him made him suspect they had pegged him as kalashtar, and he silently cursed himself for not taking the precautions he usually did when traveling beyond the kalashtar communities in Dura – the disguise always made him feel like he looked dirty, though he knew most of his clients liked that. Somehow the grime of the city had a way of hiding the cheekbones and fire in his eyes, the flash of gold in his hair – but it still made him feel dirty. Sultesh gave a little inward sigh, it was too late now, in any case. This group would have to be trusted with his race, if not with his kalashtar name. Joto certainly wasn’t about to hide his race, and would have probably identified him as kalashtar in any event. Sometimes the wizard simply didn’t have common sense to keep quiet. But then, Joto had led a quiet and studious life, at least as Sultesh understood it – that was part of the reasoning for the Gathering Light sending someone with him whenever he left the community.
They decided to take a look at the apartments and promised Gudruun they would contact him with an answer in due course. This meant leaving the hospitality of Upper Menthis and heading into the driving rain outside. Passing quickly along the bridges and towers of the city was impossible in this rain, since every step must be made carefully. It was a long way down to the lower levels of the city, and the rain could make the edges of the bridges difficult to see. They had only crossed two bridges and were beginning to approach the edges of the district when Sultesh noted something odd. A flash of lightning illuminated a figure falling, struck down on the bridge ahead. Another flash saw briefly a figure going over the side of the bridge. Sultesh shouted to the others and rushed to investigate.
Struck down in the midst of the bridge was a human of middle years, neither young nor elderly. He wore simple and utilitarian clothes, and still carried a satchel. Sultesh patted him down quickly, finding identification papers noting his identity as Bonal Geldem, Provost of Pre-Galifar Studies at Morgrave University. They had arrived too late, the man was dead. Sultesh threw the satchel over a shoulder concealing it beneath his cloak and quickly looked for any sign of the attacker. Caleb had reached the body shortly after Sultesh, and both were suspicious… the attacker hadn’t simply jumped off the bridge – no attacker was that foolhardy.
The attack came from the opposite side of the bridge, a warforged, smaller than Ada and marked with Karnathi symbol on its forehead. Sultesh’s hands went immediately for the shuriken at his belt, deftly striking the warforged in between its composite plating and severing some of the fibrous bundles beneath. Caleb had also steeled himself for the attack and struck the creature with his ever-ready long sword. The creature winced from the attacks, but turned its attention immediately to Ada. Damaged, but unwilling to retreat, the creature continued its attack, hesitating for only a moment to hiss at Ada, “Flesh loving traitor!” Its hesitation doomed it, as Caleb got in another strike and the construct deactivated. Sultesh let out a sigh… he had been attacked before, and his training had prepared him well for battle, but he had to admit a certain queasiness when the warforged’s weapon had descended on him.
Caleb showed no sign of such a reaction – the rangers of the Eldeen Reaches commonly faced far more dangerous adversaries. In fact, Caleb quickly got down to the business of searching the body, jumping backwards in surprise as a tiny winged construct detached from the husk of the warforged and sped off into the rain. Sultesh made a quick grab for it, but constrained by the nearby edge of the bridge he was unable to grab the construct before it disappeared into the rain.
A whistle sounded in the distance. The fight hadn’t lasted very long, not even a minute, but someone had called on the watch. Sultesh sighed slightly - in all his years living in Sharn, he had never heard of the watch responding so quickly. Clearly there were benefits to being rich. Caleb looked at everyone and hissed, “The watch, we should flee while we can!”
“No. That is the worst thing we could do,” Sultesh said quietly, an old memory from his youth of a Sharn jail cell haunting him. “We must stay, and trust our new patron has no wish for secrecy. With legitimate business in the district, the watch will let us go.”
“I dislike this, dreamer.” Caleb’s reluctance showed clearly in his stance, seeming almost ready to go to all fours to escape.
“You must trust me, I have lived in this city my entire life. I know what to say to the watch.” He straightened, allowing his cloak to once again flow over his body, raising the hood to keep the driving rain out of his eyes. The others quietly sheathed their weapons and waited with him as the whistles got steadily closer.
Soon they were approached by a dwarven gentleman, well armed and armored and clearly displaying the livery of the watch. Two human guardsman flanked him, and an arcane light shone clearly from behind one shoulder. “You there, identify yourselves!”
Sultesh held both arms up, showing them both to be empty, “Good sir, I am Sultesh, we were leaving a private party of the Lady Khisanth when we stumbled upon this unfortunate man and were set upon by his attacker. I’m sure the lady’s chamberlain, Gudruun, can verify this, and I have my identification papers if you need them.”
“Where were you going in this weather? How do I know yer tellin’ the truth?”
“We were only heading to our residence in Highwater, sir. Again, I’m sure the lady’s ....”
“Oooh officers, “ an old woman ran up from one of the nearby buildings, brushing her hair, already soaked, from her eyes, “I saw the whole thing! These poor young people were attacked by that THING” she pointed at the fallen warforged, giving a quick nervous glance at Ada, who simply stood silently. “I can’t believe such things happen to good citizens. What is this city coming too! First we endure a war that lasts several lifetimes, and now our own city isn’t safe for passers by!”
Another man approached from a second nearby tower, “I saw it too officer, these folks simply protected themselves, quite ably, but I see a bit of season in them despite their age. I expect the warforged intended to strike this lone man, and never thought good citizens would try to intervene.”
The dwarf didn’t look happy. Sultesh knew too well what this sort of event meant for someone like the officer. Hours spent under an everburning torch writing up paperwork. The University would want an investigation, the residents too, especially in a place like this. The dwarf scowled and looked at the adventurers, “I’m Sergeant Dolom. Don’t forget it. If your story isn’t true, you can count on me finding you. We will check with the good lady’s chamberlain. For now you should clear out and go about your business. We have work to do here.”
Sultesh silently cursed himself, he could have handled that better. Perhaps he should have passed on his identification papers. His affiliation, however loose it may be now, with House Ghallanda could easily have helped smooth the way with Sergeant Dolom, who clearly partook of the House’s hospitality from time to time. He looked at his compatriots, who seemed relieved, and decided to just quietly continue on to what would be their new residence. The watch quickly restricted access to the area, and Sultesh softly patted the bulge beneath his cloak that the Sergeant had failed to notice.
Once they had gotten to Highwater and found the apartments they were pleasantly surprised. The suite contained a modest sizable living area and spacious individual rooms. Each had been specially prepared for a particular occupant, and Sultesh wondered how long the lady had been watching them. He looked at the kalashtar style mosaic adorning his bedchamber wall. The artist had never shared the memories of a quor, Sultesh was quite sure, but the facsimile’s detail had to be admired. Stone, not crystal, the mosaic could almost adorn a shrine of il-Yannah. The bed was meant for company, discreet company, as an exit led to a small courtyard shared by several apartments in the tower block. Looking from his private exit, Sultesh noted that Caleb’s quarters likewise had an exit into the garden area. In addition to the individual rooms the suite contained a spacious living area and even a substantial kitchen. The others in the group were likewise impressed by their new accommodations, and none had to speak to know that they all intended to agree to the Lady’s terms.
Sultesh sat down at the low table in the center of the living area and pulled out the satchel, letting its contents spill onto the table. A quill pen, several sheets of unused parchment (Karnathi paper, not the cheap stuff), a half-eaten apple wrapped in paper and a journal sporting a stylized design with a single thread of mithral. The journal appeared empty, and even Joto, who was eventually persuaded to cast minor spell to detect magic, couldn’t make any symbols appear, though it did, he assured them, radiate quite strongly of magic. It was Ada who finally spilled the beans on the symbol on the cover, after all the rest of them had studied it at length. She took a single focused look at it and identified it as a stylized version of the House Cannith seal. Sultesh had to chukle – a wizard, a cleric, a priest, and it was the common warforged fighter who identified the mysterious mark.
Solange retired to sleep for a while and just as the others were settling in as well the door knocked. The adventurers looked at each other, knowing full well that only their new patron and the Sergeant Dolom were currently aware of their location. Sultesh cautiously approached the door. “Who is it?” he shouted, but no one answered.
Ada lacked patience, he could tell by her straightforward manner as she simply opened the door and said to the mysterious cloaked figure, “Yes?”
If the figure was taken aback by Ada’s no-nonsense approach, they showed no sign of it. Instead the robed and hooded figure held out its hand, plainly adorned by a House Cannith signet ring and said simply, “If you would know the truth of Bonal Geldem come to the Black Anvil at dawn.” The figure gave the name of a respectable tavern administered by House Ghallanda and silently departed without imparting anything further.
Sultesh sighed, exhausted. Already up for half the night, meeting this stranger in the morning, and again the group needed no communication to know that they intended to meet the mysterious figure, meant staying up the rest of the night. Sultesh took some small comfort that as a monk, unlike Joto, he did not require eight hours of uninterrupted sleep night after night.
The group appeared promptly at the tavern and was quickly escorted to the table of an elegant lady. She introduced herself, the typical house born name ten miles long. Sultesh idly wished one of the psions in the Gathering Light would teach him the trick of recall that would allow him to remember such details. The woman quickly communicated that Bonal had been working to uncover some relics of House Cannith, specifically a schema – the ancient designs that allowed House Cannith to quickly model the success of a previous construction. The key, she said, was in the journal. She anxiously imparted to the adventurers that she would be willing to pay handsomely, to the tune of one thousand gold coins, the party that would find and return the relic. If, that is, someone had managed to salvage the journal, which she noted had not been found by the watch.
Without looking at the other members of the party, Sultesh produced the journal. “You would not have asked us to meet you if you were not sure we had it.”
“True, but you should be careful. The warforged who attacked Bonal worked for the Lord of Blades. He will not give up easily.”
She opened the journal and as she did so her ring began to glow in unison with the journal, which filled quickly with script punctuated by diagrams. Turning quickly to a specific page she looked at the group and relayed their destination. “Here is a map to guide you. Bonal expressed to me concern that he would need fire on this expedition, and I entreat you to take his concern seriously. The schema is the size of fist, an adamantine plate bearing the sign of a seven pointed star.”
Though still early in the morning when they left the tavern, the assembled group decided that a quick respite was called for. Indeed most of the group had not slept at all. Sultesh, who had himself not slept for almost two days, as he had spent the evening before meeting with Khisanth entertaining an energetic client, expressed great enthusiasm for the idea of getting some sleep. Ada, agreed to procure some alchemist’s fire while the rest of the party retired to their new apartments. Caleb and Sultesh went together to inform Gudruun of their acceptance of Khisanth’s terms. In the interests of full disclosure they acknowledged their new mission, though provided few details to the bugbear, despite his carefully worded questions.
Early in the afternoon the group plunged deep into the depths of the city. Sultesh looked at the surrounding goblins, destitute humans, and thought somehow fondly of his youth. A note on the map advised them to seek a guide to a particular sewer junction at the Rat Market. They proceeded to this destination, which was clearly marked. There they found a goblin surrounded by a blanket, covered by a thin layer of goods. He was actively hawking them to the destitute community, most of his prices in the low copper piece range.
“You sirs, some moldy bread, only a few days old - truly a delicacy, only 5 coppers, surely its worth some coppers for this bread sirs, you could almost just scrape the mold off. Rat skewers, I have rat skewers, 20 coppers for a nice spread of rat skewers,” he smiled as he spoke, broken and decaying teeth clearly visible as he carefully pronounced the words in Common, slowly turning his attention to the party, “Rat skewers, good sirs? Or can I perhaps interest you in a guide to a certain junction? Only 100 silvers.” He smiled broadly, showing off his rotten teeth.
Sultesh looked at him and in the gutter goblin he had learned in his youth spit, “50 silver you son of a kobold, and certainly no more.”
The goblin’s eyes narrowed, “Skakin will do it for 70 silver, for the foul mouthed one who feels so at home in the sewers.”
“Done. We’ll be leaving now, I trust.” Sultesh dropped a hefty pouch of coins into the goblin’s hand.
“Of course, only the best for paying customers.” Skakin turned and in a flash had rolled the contents of his blanket up and bound it across his back. “This way, exalted ones.”
The party followed the goblin cautiously through twists and turns and narrow halls. They were deep in the city now and could feel the oppressive heat that legend said was a lava pool under the city. The passages were narrow here, and they followed the Skakin in a line, single file. Ada was first, followed closely by Caleb and Sultesh. Behind them the spell-casters followed, with the boy taking up the rear. Sultesh still wondered what the boys skills were... with a background similar to his own, Sultesh had to suspect the less legal trades – there were only so many ways to make a living as a youth alone on the street. The boy was handsome, not pretty, and he didn’t walk like trade. Caleb had warned Sultesh to watch carefully. While he had bargained with the goblin, the others had observed a shifter watching them from the crowd. Certainly adventurers this deep in the underbelly of the city would attract notice, but something felt wrong to them, and Sultesh was inclined to trust the ranger’s instincts.
They could hear the water flow from the sewers and Sultesh took it as a sign that they were at least nearing their goal. They were just turning a corner when Caleb shouted to everyone, “Watch out, attack from above.”
His warning was just in time for Sultesh to avoid the heavy body of a warforged drop from the shadows of the ceiling, its rapier focused on Caleb. Solange, quiet but deadly, shot a crossbow bolt immediately at the creature, and despite having to aim around Sultesh, managed to strike the creature. It grunted as it attacked Caleb, who managed to deflect the warforged blows but seemed unable to make any of his own. Ada, anxious for a worthy opponent, pushed past Caleb, who managed to step down into the long passage of sewage rather than falling in. Her massive axe gave the warforged a new focus, dodging, at which it proved adept.
Caleb, thrown from the combat and into the water, wisely chose to watch for more danger approaching, and indeed spotted the remainder of the ambush... two shifters charging down the passage toward him. His sword drawn, Caleb bounded down the passage to meet their charge, shifting as he ran. A mighty swing of sword and claw silenced one of the attackers immediately, but the other’s claws – for the enemy had shifted as it charged as well – dug deeply into Caleb’s shoulder and side.
In the meanwhile, Ada’s strikes had managed to distract the warforged enemy from the other danger, Solange’s continuing barrage of crossbow bolts. A second bolt found a critical juncture in-between the warforged’s plating as it dodged another swing of Ada’s axe and it too deactivated. Sultesh tried desperately to catch the final messenger, expecting it this time, but the adroit construct slipped through his fingers yet again. Ada, in the meanwhile, turned and charged down the passage to aid the injured Caleb. She arrived just as Caleb’s sword slipped through the enemy’s defense. The second shifter slid from his sword dead, sinking into the water.
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Exciting night... we'll have to see what this weekend brings!
- Ashavan
Again, just to avoid spoilers, the adventurers are going through The Forgotten Forge, the adventure at the end of the Eberron Campaign Setting book.
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Caleb staggered backward from his wounds, as Solange rushed to his aid muttering words of power. Caleb grunted as her hands sank deep into his wounds, but as her hands withdrew the flesh closed, miraculously repaired. Caleb stammered his thanks, but Solange only nodded, a barely perceptible shift in her deathmask.
In the corner of the passage, shrunk as deeply into the ankle deep water as he could manage, their guide, the goblin, Skakin, screamed. His eyes wide with fright, the goblin shook in violent spasms. Sputtering as he regained some modicum of control the goblin hissed out directions to their destination, stumbling in a mix of goblin and common in his rush to get the words out. Then, darting quickly past Nicholas and Joto, the goblin fled into the darkness behind them.
Sultesh called out as the goblin departed, "Hey, Skakin, I want a 20 silver refund!" The others chuckled, as the goblin had retreated in haste and was long gone.
The group followed the directions the goblin had given them as best they could. They hoped desperately that no reinforcements followed, as their combat had echoed through the passageways, creating a cacophony certain to attract attention. Shortly they found their goal. Indeed there could be no mistaking it, as the passage the goblin had directed them to dead-ended at the hatch. A large circular affair, the hatch was illuminated by more than just the lanterns and torches of the adventurers, it glowed with its own light – a circle of mithral that echoed the symbol on Geldem's House Cannith journal.
Nicholas slipped from the rear of the party to the forefront, quickly inspecting the door. An imperious whisper, hissed now and then, directed the lantern bearers to shift the light so that he could see better as he ran his hands along the door, never quite touching it. Coming suddenly to a decision, he touched the door. Triggered by his ill-advised tampering, glowing balls of acid suddenly sprang from the door. Ada nimbly ducked out of the way, avoiding the attack, but Nicholas and Caleb failed to dodge completely out of the way, the acid hissing as it burned through their clothes and began to sear the flesh beneath. Caleb growled, and grimaced as he splashed the dirty sewer water at their feet over the wound, but it failed to help.
Nicholas, shaken, examined the door again, this time taking care to touch nothing. Shaking his head, as though something obvious had just occurred to him he asked Sultesh if he still had the journal. Sultesh nodded, producing it. The boy must have developed some roguish talent on the streets. He didn't approve, but having grown up on the streets himself he knew that those skills could be the difference between life and death. Certainly they weren't being used for illicit gain now. Nicholas took the book, presenting it with the symbol on the journal facing the hatch, and touched it lightly against the glowing mithral symbol. The effect was dramatic and immediate, the symbol on the hatch suddenly flaring brightly as smaller symbols along the hatch burst into life and the door creaked open.
Behind the hatch a shaft, dark and black as night, descended into the depths of the city. Sultesh asked quietly for Ada to pass him the lantern, quickly tying a length of silk rope to the ring of the handle. Balancing himself against the side of the hatch he lowered the lantern into the darkness. Insects, centipedes, and spiders crawled carpet-like along the sides, but the descent was only about twenty feet before sloping to a level where the group would be able to walk.
Sultesh grimaced, he hated bugs… having lived in the lower levels of the city for much of his young life bugs had been a fact of life, but they still made his stomach churn and sent shivers down the surface of his skin. Slowly they lowered themselves to the base of the passage where the curve in the shaft would allow them to walk on their own. They followed it until it opened onto a vast and cavernous chamber – indeed too large by far for their lanterns and torches to illuminate it. A constant sound grew steadily louder. The chittering and clacking of chitenous plates, the buzzing of insect wings, these sounds echoed through the chamber, somehow magnified by it rather than being lost in the darkness. Even Sultesh could identify the sounds, and the steadily growing volume terrified him.
The source of the buzzing became immediately evident to Sultesh, as a veritable carpet of insects approached the adventurers and flowed over Sultesh, enveloping him. The biting, stinging insects immediately set to attempting to completely devour him, and only long hours of training and meditation allowed him to avoid screaming in pain (and thus granting the insect army access to his internal organs).
Ada, alarmed, attempted to ignite the insects with some alchemist’s fire, heedless of the effect that might have on the buried Sultesh. Nicholas took his already lit torch and struck madly at the multitude of insects, but with little effect. In the meanwhile, Sultesh continued to suffer from the angry stinging insects. Trying desperately to do anything that might help destroy the bugs, Sultesh also lit a flask of alchemical fire and tossed it into the midst of the carpet in front of him. Caleb lit another flask and swiftly torched another segment of the mass of bugs.
The insects, clearly agitated by the flames, flowed towards the other members of the party, stinging bugs attacking Caleb and Ada. Sultesh could feel every bite as the vermin consumed his flesh. He looked towards Nicholas and the boy turned and fled as Sultesh fell unconscious into the flaming bugs surrounding him.
When Sultesh awoke from unconsciousness he faced a deathmask of Aerenal, the face of Solange. The acrid stink of burnt flesh and hair filled his nostrils as he slowly regained his full consciousness. Caleb was quietly binding Sultesh’s injured feet, which had suffered most from the attacks of the insects. Solange peered at him from behind her mask and said quietly, “I think it would be wise to find someplace to rest. The Undying Court will not bless my touch with healing again this day.”
Sultesh looked to Ada and Caleb, both of whom quickly nodded in agreement. They surveyed what little they could see of the vast chamber and slowly, carefully continued forward. They would need to find someplace they could at least attempt to secure before resting, even with Ada on guard. They proceeded forward and came to the remains of the wall, deciding to head along the waist high remains to the right, as the mass of vermin had approached from the left. That wall eventually turned at a square angle indicating that it might once have been a building some centuries past. The group continued down what might have once been an alley, or even a wide thoroughfare heading deep into the cavern. Unfortunately the remains of the walls didn’t offer sufficient shelter to rest, and the group slowly advanced further into the cavernous chamber.
Striking from the shadows two rats, almost like the dire rats that sometimes attacked in the lower levels of Sharn, at least to Sultesh’s eye, but also somehow different. Quickly coming to a defensive posture Sultesh watched the creatures carefully as they both attacked Caleb. Yes, these were like the dire rats he remembered from his youth, but they were also worse - these were covered in bony plates that served the rats as well as any armor. Sultesh had heard of these horrid creatures, created sometime in madness for the war. The rats attacking Caleb couldn’t seem to get through his armor, and Sultesh, satisfied with his assessment of the stinking rats, moved quickly to strike one of the rats from behind, flanking it. Caleb’s features shifted suddenly, becoming feral and animalistic and he struck out savagely with sword and claw, but his weapons failed to hit their targets. One of the rats turned from Caleb to attack Sultesh, tearing into his arm. Sultesh winced in pain as saliva from the wound dripped down his under his sleeve, leaving a trail of acidic burns.
Nicholas then joined the attack, whipping a stone into the fray with his sling, but the stone missed, clattering to the ground in the darkness somewhere beyond the light. Sultesh struck hard with his staff against the rats, but his glancing blows didn’t even slow the rats down. Caleb growled and struck hard in a swift downward thrust, skewering one of the rats against the ground. As he struck the other rat also went down suddenly, struck by a well aimed stone from Nicholas’ sling.
With the alley clearly not safe and still no way to rest for Solange to recover spells, the group decided to continue further. Soon the light of the lantern hit a large square building, seemingly intact after all of these years. As the large double door was clearly emblazoned with the symbol from Geldem’s journal, the group quickly deduced that the schema they were looking for was likely inside. Sultesh took the journal holding it up against the door in a futile hope that, like the hatch, the door might open. Nicholas struggled with the lock for several long minutes before turning to the others. His face said it all, the lock was beyond his ability to open.
The group searched painstakingly along the sides of the building, hoping to find windows, doors, or any other means to enter the 20 foot structure, but their diligent searching revealed nothing. Sultesh quietly consulted the others. Their approach had revealed another structure at the edge of their light, not as intact as this but certainly more so than the decayed walls of the other two structures. Hopefully that structure would have a key or some means that might help them enter the recalcitrant door. If nothing else, it had somewhat solid walls and could provide a safe place to rest.
Upon approaching the remaining building it quickly became clear that at one time it had served as a temple. Sultesh’s studies had focused on il-Yannah, but his religious training had left him with some recognition of other beliefs as well, and he noted to the others symbols that suggested the temple had been consecrated to Onatar, god of artifice and the forge.
The temple had no door, whether by design or the passage of years, and the adventurers, wounded and doubly cautious, entered slowly, eyes darting to every shadow. They immediately calmed upon entering, some minor magic or carefully designed artifice making them feel serene, quiet, and safe. While the walls and roof had crumbled somewhat over the ages, the structure as it stood did not seem in imminent danger of crumbling and the adventurers decided that they should rest rather than risk further damage in their investigation. Solange cast a final remaining healing spell, minor but effective, on the burns that covered Sultesh’s arms. He made a pious gesture of thanks, hoping her religious training would recognize it for what it was, and filed away a note in his memory that she would keep a spell in reserve. Someday he might need that information.
Caleb looked at Ada, the unspoken assumption being that she would guard the group as they slept. “Care to sharpen my sword?” Ada nodded her assent, but Caleb wasn’t through, “Oh, and if you don’t mind, my claws too!”
“I am NOT a full service warforged, and I don’t do manicures,” she said, her voice flat and level. Caleb grunted, but left his sword for her anyway.
The group awoke to the steady stroke of Ada sharpening Caleb’s sword. Solange found a quiet corner and began a series of morning prayers and meditation seeking divine aid and power for the day. Joto, whose spells had, as yet, not provided assistance, simply faded quietly and sullenly into a corner. Sultesh wondered for a moment if this was Joto’s own personality coming out, as their quor, Tash, had never seemed the melancholy type. Maybe Joto had shared some tragic memories of Tash that Sultesh hadn’t.
While Joto sulked and Solange prayed, the others began to investigate the small room that had served as shelter for the night. A quick but thorough investigation of the room revealed a partially buried font of what appeared to be holy water. Nicholas experimentally tasted it, and immediately the wounds from the acid orb that had struck him at the hatch the previous day disappeared as though they had never been there. Sultesh, easily the most damaged of the group from his experiences with both the rats and the insects (soon, he swore, he would develop a phobia of all sorts of vermin), managed to salvage enough of the liquid for one more drink and his wounds too began to heal. Sighing in relief that Solange wouldn’t need to immediately call on her ancestors for aid, the group formulated a plan.
Approaching the building again the group searched once more for other entrances but found none. Frustrated Nicholas declared his intention to check the roof. Undeterred by the lack of handholds, he scrambled quickly up the side of the building. Quickly surveying the roof, he shouted down to the group, “There’s a hole in the northwest corner, I think we might be able to get in there.”
Ada was the first to join him, quickly pulling her massive frame up the wall and lowering a rope for the others to scamper up to join them on the roof. They lowered Ada first, Sultesh and Caleb lending their formidable strength to the task. Caleb then held the rope for the others to descend, carefully jumping the distance himself once the others were down.
Sultesh glanced quickly over the contents of the room, shelves, many crushed but an entire set on the south wall completely intact, had once covered the north and south walls. The wall opposite the door had held a forge, which was surrounded by metal tiles. A strange construct in the shape of a dog had been crushed by the collapsed roof. Before they could investigate further, two pairs of glowing eyes surveyed them from the corner of the room, approaching cautiously.
In an instant their cautious approach became a sudden and vicious attack against Ada, strong iron jaws closing on her arm. Ada quickly struck with her great axe and gears flew from the force of her blow. Caleb struck the other with his longsword before it, too, could attack. Calling on his training Sultesh began to unleash a series of unrelenting blows upon the mechanical dog-like creatures. A sling bolt whizzed past Sultesh to strike the mechanical dog, sending more gears flying. The dogs struck at Ada and Sultesh, but Ada’s plating deflected the attack against her, and Sultesh proved too nimble on his feet for the dogs to catch him.
Caleb struck out at the dogs again, his blow bouncing off his target’s armored hide. Sultesh’s flurry of relentless attacks finally connected solidly against one of the dogs as he once again dodged out of the way of the vicious bite of the creature. Ada’s armored plating seemed to be virtually invulnerable against the attacks as her axe cleaved into the creature’s metal skin. As it deactivated a small panel in the forehead of the dog sprang open revealing an odd metal rod.
Sultesh struck the dog still attacking him again and again, but a well aimed bullet from Nicholas’ sling proved the final blow, and that dog too deactivated. Again a panel sprang open, revealing a metal rod.
Caleb and Ada began a thorough search of the shelves while Sultesh recovered the odd metal rods from the mechanical husks on the floor. Upon examination it became clear that depressions in the front of the forge matched the shapes of the rods. They clearly were going to need the third rod. With this deduction they persuaded Caleb and Ada to assist in recovering the buried husk of the third dog. It too had a metal rod, and on its recovery Ada, Sultesh and Nicholas each inserted one of the rods into the depression.
Electrical energy coursed through the floor and into their feet, the force blasting them to the floor some fifteen feet from the forge. Sultesh let forth a stream of curses that would have blistered the ears of his colleagues at the Gathering Light. He took one deep breath, released it, and collected the rods from the others. This time he slid he slid the rods into the depressions one at a time, in order of the number of sides each possessed. A vault within the forge slid open, revealing the 6 inch adamantine plate of the schema.
In addition to the schema the vault contained a substantial sum of both gold and silver, a small number of gold ingots, an old map, and several potion bottles. The coins were very old, a pre-Galifar mint, and though clearly more valuable than their weight would suggest, none of the group could be sure of their precise worth. Collecting a number of items from the shelves and the contents of the vault together, Ada removed the heavy adamantine beam that had prevented their entry from the outside. As she pulled the door open a flaming bolt shot past, narrowly missing her.
“Weak flesh! Now you face Saber. Throw down the schema.” Without doubt the voice of a warforged, the group could see the saber wielding creature make its declaration. Caleb gave the group’s attacker no time to speak, charging towards him, his features once again shifting into their feral state. With a final leap, Caleb pounced upon the warforged, his claws tearing through some of the fibrous bundles in Saber’s arm. Ada immediately followed Caleb into battle, her massive greataxe tearing into Saber’s plating. Sultesh also pursued the warforged, his staff making rapid strikes, but bouncing harmlessly off the warforged creature’s composite plating.
Saber, realizing he was facing a formidable group, made a series of careful thrusts, but to no avail. Ada swung her massive axe behind her and up over her head, cleaving off sizable chunks of his composite plating. Saber staggered backwards, clearly severely wounded, his strikes and movements suddenly hesitant – the gap Caleb had been waiting for. With deadly precision Caleb struck with both sword and claw, and Saber toppled.
Sultesh and Nicholas were both ready for the final messenger this time, but it was Sultesh who managed to snatch and hold the thing while Caleb tore the wings from its body.
That evening the adventurers, now clean and presentable and with the bulk of their treasure safely stowed away in their Upper Dura apartments, met with Elaydren Vown d’Cannith at the Broken Anvil. Dressed in a blue glammerweave gown and flanked by a rather large and formidable guard, she accepted the schema from the group, handing over a letter of credit for the remainder of their promised reward. Smiling as she looked at the schema the dragonmarked heir of House Cannith said simply, “I am pleased with your performance. I suggest you check in periodically with the House Sivis message station at Barmin Tower, as I may leave messages there for you.” Without looking up, she turned and left the tavern.
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There it is. More to come, we play again this Sunday :)
- Ashavan
Sorry... I've been a little behind schedule on entering these. This is from the continuing adventures... we were going through Queen with the Burning Eyes, and the text contains SPOILERS for that adventure....
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The group decided to return to their new apartments, rest, and recover. After a brief rest period they decided to go visit Lady Khisanth at Silvervine, to tell her of their adventure and assess her interest in the mysterious note. They also hoped that she might have some means to quickly identify the potions and sword, and also that she might find the ancient map of interest.
Gudruun quickly escorted them in to see the Lady, who was reclining in an opulent waiting room. Sultesh, noting that everyone else was being quiet, stepped forward. "We have come, Lady Khisanth, to tell you of our adventure in the lower levels of the city. I sincerely hope this is not an inconvenient time?"
Khisanth nodded an assent for him to continue, and Sultesh quickly wove a tale bearing only superficial resemblance to the actual happenings of the past several days. While not lying, Sultesh took pains to stress heroic actions of the party, making their enemies seem somewhat more capable than perhaps they had been. He reviewed the encounters with Saber and the swarm that had overcome him personally with particular detail. At the conclusion of the story, Sultesh noted a number of the items they had found. "Lady, I am not new to the city, and a common coin changer I can find, but these coins we found are quite old, and their value is as much in their age as their weight. Do you know of someone who might be able to give us a fair price, for I fear House Kundarak is going to be interested only in their weight?"
"Oh of course dear boy, I know many people. May I see one of the coins?" Taking a quick look at the coins, she said, "I haven't seen coins like this in a while. I definitely know the man to see. Take them to Laren Roole, Gudruun can provide the address. He will be interested in these, I know. Oh, and I see you have some magical items... you're keeping them, I take it? Pity. Well, you'll want them identified - you will bring them back if you change your mind? Don't forget, we have an agreement. Of course, now, those you'll want to take to Isti Perryn. Dear Isti. She will help you. Drop my name, dears, don't forget!"
"Is there anything else?"
"I fear to bring it up, but there was one other item." Sultesh pulled the beaten and wingless form of Saber's final messenger from his bag. "Saber carried this. A final messenger. And he was said to work for the Lord of Blades."
Khisanth's response was immediately cold. "No, I want nothing to do with that. Now, it's been a long afternoon and I'm certain you want to stop by and see the folks I recommended. No, I'm a busy woman and I'd love to entertain you for longer, but I must insist that you go now."
The group thanked her and decided to go see this Laren Roole fellow first. Potions were easy to hide, but bags filled with gold and silver made for a dangerous package in the city. They had to go to Platinum Heights to visit the shops. Sultesh knew of this section of the city, though he hadn't ever actually been here, not even with his most wealthy clients. The level of wealth and magic here made the rest of the city seem positively drab and mundane. Everywhere there was magic. Enchanted brooms swept the streets while people dressed in finery took long looks at the adventurers. Cautious, almost fearful looks.
Laren Roole turned out to be a sleight mousy little man who looked at the party over the rims of small spectacles. Giving them a once over he said coldly, "May I help you?" His tune changed at once when they mentioned their mission, or, rather, that they had been sent specifically to him by the Lady Khisanth. "Lady Khisanth?" He almost shouted the words, as he gushed so quickly that he almost stumbled over the words, "She is lovely, and very knowledgeable about coins, yes, yes, very knowledgeable. I'd be happy to look at whatever you have, yes, quite happy to do so. You know she came in here with coins, very old ones. Yes, I think that might be the root of her wealth, old coins. My, my, yes, these are very old. Quite nearly as old as the ones Lady Khisanth brought in. Must be coins at the root of her wealth. The ones she had were older than even these, and I'd be lying if I said these came from anything past the Pre-Galifar period. Quite old these, yes." He said the words so fast that they almost became one continuous sentence. "So, would you be interested in selling those coins to a good shopkeeper like myself. I can give you a fair price, surely I can, yes, quite good price. Oh my, very old those, I could offer you twice what they'd be worth by weight, that is if you'll accept a letter of credit, drawn on a Kundarak bank of course. We run an honest shop here."
The group looked at each other and quickly accepted Laren's letter of credit. The coins had been worth in the neighborhood of four hundred gold pieces. Sultesh, who had rarely seen more than a gold piece in a month until he went to serve Selar, could scarcely contain his excitement. They hadn't even made it to Isti's yet!
Isti turned out to be a very short, round woman, human, with dark hair. Kobolds in shop livery acted as attendants. She looked up at them "Vat do you vant?" Like Laren, once they had introduced themselves and dropped Lady Khisanth's name, her entire demeanor changed. "Daaahlings, velcome to my shop. I vas getting so I couldn't tell the customers from the riffraff, you know."
Isti took a look at the potions they wished to have identified. "Oh, dahlings, you must learn the trick to this." She picked up one of the green ones, and swirled it about, sniffing it experimentally. "Yes, this one is pure Dol Arrah, classic healing potion. And this one," she said picking up the lavender potion, "this one is Mage Armor. Yes, I am certain," she said, slamming one hand down on the table for emphasis.
"Do you have anything else, anything harder?" She asked with a gleam in her eye. When Caleb produced her sword her finger wiggled wildly in excitement over it, "Yes dahlings, this is the one, very old, very very old. Ooh, and yes, is magical." She tilted her head up from her position over the sword. "Yes, this one will take longer, much longer. The potions, they is for free, but this one, no, I cannot, I must charge you dahlings. Don't know how much, maybe two hundred, maybe one hundred. Come back tomorrow, I vill know then." She had turned and was striding into the back of the shop as she ended her sentence, waving the group out of the shop with a dismissive wave of her hand.
Ada did some food gathering for the group while the others slept, stopping at "Everything for a copper" for some groceries. Sultesh looked at the food and vowed to stop sometime soon at the Gathering Light for some Riedran fare. Some of the kalashtar still made the dishes of their homeland in Sarlona, and Sultesh missed the meals he remembered from his mother. Besides, since Ada herself didn't eat, she didn't really understand the food quality needs of her flesh and blood compatriots.
Reviewing the small haul from their adventure the group looked once again at the journal, only to find, inexplicably, a piece of paper they had somehow missed before. Not part of the journal itself, it appeared to be written by the late Provost Geldem to "E" - perhaps this was the d'Cannith dragonmark heir they had already encountered. The note appeared to discuss a rift in the lower levels that Bonal had decided was unrelated to the foundry itself, but noted due to the unusual appearance of a number of monstrous creatures from it. The group decided to leave Lady Elaydrin a note at the House Sivis message station, and the reply came promptly - "No bearing on current projects, pursue or not, as you desire."
Sultesh suggested that their former guide, Skakin, might manage to assist them in finding the location mentioned. Cowardly though he may be, Skakin clearly knew the underground passages fairly well. The group agreed and set off to purchase some items before heading into the dark. Sultesh arranged for a vial of oil of repair for Vala with Isti, who, upon their return to the shop the following day had concluded that the weapon was, for all its age, only endowed with a slight enhancement magic.
Descending into the rat market, Sultesh spotted Skakin peddling his rat kabobs. "Skakin you son of night hag! You owe me twenty silver!"
"I don't owe you anything... you found junction didn't you, found it. Almost killed me guiding you to that place. Won't do it again, and no refunds!"
"Listen to me, Skakin. You can redeem yourself. We'll give you some silver for it. But we need your expertise again."
"Oh, no, not me, I'm not going back into the depths. People are trying to kill you! Not safe. Nope, No way... I mean, well maybe if there was some silver in it... say seventy silver...."
"Fine, but only fifty. You still owe me twenty for running out on us last time"
Skakin grumbled a bit. "I suppose you'll be wanting to leave NOW then. Can't find me when I'm just layin' me blanket out, no." Skakin continued to grumble as he packed up his blanket, remarkably efficiently and said, "Right, now where's me silver?"
Sultesh produced the silver in a small pouch and handed it over to Skakin. “Right, this way then.”
Skakin led the group on a circuitous route through the depths of Sharn, up one of the city’s many lifts and then down a long spiraling ramp until the narrow passage became suddenly ornamental and wider. Finally they arrived at a doorway with a worn carving at the center. Joto entered the chamber, a large rectangular room with a hideous statue in the southeast corner. Caleb followed into the room as a goblin charged into the room, attacking Joto with its morning star.
Sultesh quickly slipped into the room, positioning himself to flank the goblin as more rushed from their hiding place behind the statue. Nicholas sent a sling bullet whizzing through the air and deep into the brains of the goblin that had attacked Joto. Meanwhile Sultesh unleashed a dizzying flurry of blows with his quarterstaff against one of the goblins, who was so distracted by the display that when the monk finally struck, the goblin fell quickly. Joto, apparently distressed at having been attacked, unleashed a bolt of pure magical force against the single remaining goblin, who quickly fell as Caleb disemboweled him from behind.
Searching the bodies the group discovered that one of the goblins was clearly the leader. In his belongings they discovered a large amethyst, two potions consistent with what they had learned was a healing potion, and a single potion vial containing an odorless, colorless liquid. A quick investigation of the room revealed that the large hole in the southwest corner, where the rubble was worst to be the only passable exit. The light of the lantern revealed a dark rubble strewn room with a drop down of only about eight feet, something easily achievable by even the ill-coordinated in the group. Jumping down into the room, they quickly shined the lantern around them to get a picture of what they might be up against. The chamber was older, clearly, than even the one above. A hub of sorts, the room seemed empty except for w statues of some sort of emaciated humanoid with tentacles coming from their shoulders, and six passages: one north, one south, and two each to the east and west. Caleb surveyed the room and the tracks, noting to the companions that several humanoids have traveled the area recently. He notes the northern passage on the east wall and the southern passage seem the most traveled, but that all the passages have seen use at some point recently.
Rising suddenly from behind the statues towards the voices came two humanoids with scaly grey skin. Their eye-sockets, deep and empty, seemed to hinder them not at all, as they rushed to attack both Nicholas and Caleb. Solange let loose a crossbow bolt at the attacking creature, but her aim was off and it clattered in the darkness against a wall. Sultesh spun quickly to attack with his staff, smashing the creature against the ribs. The grey creature, a nasty monster which was common enough for the group to recognize as a grimlock, attacked Nicholas again, this time dealing a horrific blow against the youth. Ada, seeing Nicholas in trouble, quickly attacked the creature with her axe, but found that for a blind creature it was remarkably nimble as it dodged out of the way. Caleb attacked the creature that had rushed him, striking it hard with his hand axe, which dug deep into the creature’s shoulder, splattering them both with blood. Nicholas, desperately trying to fend off the creature struck wildly with his short sword, but to no avail. Joto and Solange aimed carefully into the frantic combat, and their bolts both struck true, enraging the grey beasts.
Stuck by crossbow bolts and with deep bruising already becoming apparent from Sultesh’s vicious strike to the ribs, The grimlock struck with deadly accuracy at Ada – dealing a devastating blow against her that struck somehow in between her adamantine plates and tore into the fibrous bundles that made up her frame. Unfortunately his strike distracted him from Sultesh, who immediately took advantage of the opening and struck him down, even as Caleb struck a final blow against the other beast.
Solange went to the damaged Nicholas and healed him, Sultesh, also damaged during the combat, quickly quaffed a potion. The group quietly conferred and decided that their best option was to take the seemingly well traveled passage to the east. They quietly proceeded, and the passageway quickly turned north. At the edge of their light they could see a door on the eastern wall. Failing to find any traps, they quickly learned that they needed to check more thoroughly as scything blade struck Caleb. Together Caleb and Ada managed to sabotage the trap, rushing into the room. Another rectangular chamber, this one was filled with 3 small, scaled yipping creatures that were familiar to the group, kobolds. One, dressed in the robes of a sorcerer, spoke in Draconic, “Depart from here or taste our steel!”
Noting the statue of a tentacle-faced humanoid devouring a goblin’s brain, Sultesh struck out at one of the nearby kobolds. It ducked quickly under his blow, using its size to advantage and struck in return, skewering him in the side with its spear. As Sultesh struggled, Ada rushed into the room, striking and killing the other nearby kobold with her axe. The sorcerer at this point unleashed a magical bolt similar to the one Joto had used earlier, striking Ada. Caleb, seeing the sorcerer as the most dire threat, charged the kobold, striking deeply into the creature. Sultesh clutched his side where he now bled from the kobold spear wound. He gave the kobold a piercing look, communicating its certain death to it as he struck it down with a single blow that crushed its skull. Ada, in the meanwhile, unhappy at being hit by magical bolt, took her revenge upon the kobold’s body, cutting him in half with a single swipe of her great axe.
The group sighed in relief, only to hear Nicholas call out that more kobolds were approaching from the north. Joto, anxious to avoid getting hit himself, aimed and fired his crossbow, killing one of the six approaching creatures. Solange likewise aimed and fired, but missed her target. A charging kobold rushed Joto, pushing its spear almost entirely through his body. Joto screamed in pain, but for a wizard was quite hearty and survived the blow, though his screams as the kobold twisted the spear and yanked it from his body echoed through the complex. Sultesh rushed to the aid of the spell casters at the door, striking another kobold with a deadly blow. Joto, in a desperate attempt to protect himself, tried to cast a spell, but was hit by the kobold once again, and the spell fizzled into nothingness. Jumping to replace its fallen comrade, another kobold leapt forward, striking Sultesh. This time struck with a devastating blow, Sultesh fell. Ada, seeing her comrade fall, rushed through the door and into the hallway, dodging the blows of the kobolds and promptly chopping off the head of another of the yapping creatures. Caleb stepped over Sultesh, guarding his body.
The kobolds were not prepared or equipped to fight the two fighters, unable to get past their defenses. Even Solange was able to protect herself against their blows. Caleb struck a single kobold who had hoped to get a final killing stroke against the fallen Sultesh, killing it. Nicholas rushed to Calebs side, frantically attempting to stabalize the fallen monk, but to no avail. Ada found the remaining kobold a stubborn target as it seemed to concentrate more on avoiding the blows of her massive axe than striking on its own. Caleb, noting that he wasn’t threatened at the moment, and seeing Nicholas in his frantic attempts to aid their comrade, kneeled quickly and pulled a healing potion from the monk’s belt. Solange and Ada finished off the kobolds as Caleb and Nicholas force-fed Sultesh the potion. Sultesh awoke quickly, as the Dol Arrah healing potion filled his limbs with a rush of vitality.
Searching the room and the bodies revealed little. The kobold had a scattering of possessions, and was wearing a ring. Sultesh, searching the statue of the tentacle-faced creature, found a silver inlaid mahogany chest, which contained almost two hundred gold coins and a scroll. Claiming the chest as loot, the group decided to continue their exploration. The passage north revealed only another empty chamber, presumably the lair of the dead kobolds. Finding nothing further, the adventurers decided to return to the central chamber and head south. After a long rubble filled passageway, the group found another rectangular room. This one was dominated by two sarcophagi and had a large iron door on the east wall, as well as passages to the north and south. A second passage in the north wall, east of the one from which the group entered, continued north into darkness. A statue of an ooze with many mouths and bones protruding from it overlooked the two sarcophagi.
Two very nasty looking undead creatures emerged from behind the stone sarcophagi. Fetid, stinking, and from the looks of them diseased, Sultesh immediately acted, throwing two of his shuriken, which embedded themselves keep in the creatures flesh. Ada also struck at the nearer of the two creatures. Nicholas backed away from the creatures, but loaded and let fly a sling bullet as he did so, aiming for the one Sultesh had already hit. The creature was overcome by the strikes and fell to the ground, now truly dead. Caleb rushed the remaining creature and killing it with a single blow of his longsword.
Solange looked about the room, “This is a goblin burial chamber,” she said, “See that statue there is the goblin guardian of the underworld – the eater of the dead.” The sarcophagi both contained ancient goblinoids in plate armor, buried in state with their weapons.
“This must have been the original purpose of these chambers. Sharn is built on the foundation of one of the cities of the ancient goblin empire,” volunteered Sultesh, whose lifetime in the city made him the expert in the group.
As the group conferred on the history of the city and the chamber, Nicholas turned himself toward the iron door. Focusing intently on the lock, Nicholas heard the click that indicated his success and swung the door inward. “Hey guys, I got the door open!” he said, not noticing the three grimlocks lurking in the shadows behind the now open door.
Caleb, remembering only too vividly the damage done to the party by only two of the creatures charged into the room, shifting as he ran. His angry gamble paid off, as he was able to kill one of the creatures outright, and injured a second. Ada also charged past Nicholas into the room, almost slicing the sole undamaged grimlock in half. Joto also charged into the room, and felled the remaining grimlock with his staff. Sultesh could only look away, no wonder the Gathering Light wished him to accompany the wizard! Charging into combat with no training could easily get the eccentric kalashtar killed!
The room behind the door was in shambles, filled with rubble. The statue in this room seemed to a worm with a face full of tentacles that none of the party could identify. Sultesh, searching through the rubble found a large moonstone, a wand, and literally hundreds of silver pieces. Caleb searched the bodies, but found nothing. The group decided their best bet was to continue southward. Nicholas, despite prodding from some party members, followed the others into the tunnel. As they continued down the tunnel, Ada, who was going first, was struck by a scything blade! Jumping back, the party pushed Nicholas forward to examine the hallway. Nicholas stubbornly refused to acknowledge the trap’s existence, until prodding by Sultesh’s ten-foot pole triggered it again. Sultesh, whose training as a monk included a fair amount of tumbling work, dropped the pole to mark his best estimate of the trigger location, and made a running jump over where he suspected the triggering mechanism to be. Seeing Sultesh’s success, the group followed his example and they continued south. Ada, despite having been hit, seemed okay, the blow that hit her had been largely deflected by her adamantine plating.
The passage emptied into another rectangular room, this one lined with alcoves containing long dead goblins. Statues in two of the corners depict leering fiends with huge fangs and claws. An iron door stood in the center of the southern wall. Nicholas searched the door quickly, but finds it neither locked nor trapped. As Nicholas examined the door, a creature, small, halfling-like, and emaciated jumped from an alcove extending long tentacle like hands towards his throat. Recognizing a hated aberration immediately, Caleb jumped into action, felling it with a single viscous attack.
Opening the door, the group finds a disconcerting sight. Four magic circles surround a dark pit. In each corner is a statue of a creature molding an aberration out of clay. Joto cheerfully informs the others that the symbols of script in the circles are indicative of a summoning through sacrifice. There is a single door in the eastern wall.
The group heads east, through the door. The dark and crowded room reeks of blood. Pillars in the center of the room obscure much, but a glowing magic circle can be seen in the far corner. A statue in one of the southern corners depicts a serpent with a human head. An eerie sibilant voice calls out from the gloom, “Who dares disturb the queen with the burning eyes?”
A creature somewhat resembling that of the statue stretches out from behind the pillars in the center. An immense creature, the serpent-like tail extends near those by the door, while the voice comes from the far side of the room. Ada rushes forward to attack the tail, as does Sultesh, who manages a solid strike with his staff. Caleb rushes to the far side of the room to attack the head, and likewise hits, and Nicholas, trying desperately to manage a strike, lets a sling bullet fly, only for it to miss and hit the walls, clattering across the floor. Ada strikes at the tail again, but still cannot connect. Sultesh continues to unleash strike after strike against the creature, and though many strikes fail, he connects as often as he misses. Joto takes aim with a whispered spell, but a ray of freezing energy that shoots from his fingers also fails to hit the creature.
Raising up its human head the creatures eyes begin to glow and burn, shooting colorful light in all directions. Nicholas, unfortunately, is looking right at her and falls to the ground, unconscious. Caleb strikes again and hits the serpent with his sword, though his axe merely bounces off the creature’s scales. The creature, bleeding from many wounds, falls to the ground, dead.
The group can barely stand the smell, the reek of the caverns, and quickly searches the room. They find a single large chest containing some two hundred gold pieces and an odd looking gold amulet. Solange, fighting to breathe through the reek, asks the group to hurry and depart, something about the room, the feel and aura of it, disconcerts her greatly. Grabbing the chest the group returns quickly the way they came, taking care to jump to avoid the trap in the passage. In the room with the two sarcophagi they decide to take the eastern most of the two northern passages, but find that this brings them back into the central hub room, through the other eastern passage. They returned to the northern room where the kobolds had laired, hoping to rest and recover from their ordeal before continuing their explorations.
Their rest, unfortunately, proved not to be particularly restful. Awakened by an alert Ada during the night, the group found that they were being approached by four humans and a hobgoblin. One of the humans lurked behind all the others, most likely someone in charge. Seeing the approach of people clearly intending on sneaking up on the sleeping adventurers, they charged into the interlopers. Sultesh, Caleb, and Ada all rushed in, and each felled their target with a single well-placed blow. Overwhelmed with the strength of the adventurers’ response, the three remaining humanoids turned to flee. Caleb struck one of the fleeing creatures, a hobgoblin, from behind as it turned to run, and it too fell.
Sensing that it would be a dangerous move to let the fleeing humans get away, the adventurers chased their attackers down the passageway and into the central chamber. Looking at the many passages, Sultesh and Nicholas looked at each other, pointing in concert at the southern passage. The group rushed to catch up to the escaping villains and into the goblin burial chamber. Keen eared Nicholas points to the door where the grimlocks had lurked. Nicholas and Sultesh rushed into the room, striking furiously against their attackers. Nicholas finishes off one of the two remaining humans, and Joto rushes in to the chamber and fires his crossbow at the other. A crossbow bolt strikes deep, and the human screams as Ada severs his head from his body.
Nicholas looked at the attackers and their equipment. “Something is wrong. These are well outfitted. This club is no cast off weapon. These are organized and determined people. And they wanted us alive – that’s never a good sign.”
“How do you figure that?”
“They were armed with saps. We didn’t notice right away because we were trying to surprise them when they came in to attack us. They only pulled deadly weapons at the end, when they were sure they were going to die.”
Well written and entertaingin as always, Ashavan.
Your husband has some cool NPCs. . . I really like the potions dealer. I may end up stealing that one. Unfortunately, my old groups sometimes got impatient if I tried to spice up a merchant interaction.
They have to be good, like Laren or Isti, I guess. Anyway, keep posting.
Excellent storytelling! Keep up the posts!
Stillfoxx
"Live or die, you decide..."
What a great story. Your DM really got the feel of Eberron. I DMed the first quest a the end of the campaign book myself and can identify with your group. I too have been gaming for 18 years now and love the maturity of older players like myself.
You definenately have talent for story-telling, continue posting.