Dramatis Personæ

Brother Mendel (Herodian)
Dane Sardock (Winston)
Gabriel Auditore (Rigil Kent)
Gestlin the Unpredictable (CommJunkee)
Magnifico the Clown (Feste)
Merasiël Alethmist (Melissa)
Rainald North-Hammer (Gigermann)

Of Seekers and Strangers

1 June 2014

The Gleaming Endeavor berthed at the Cardien city quarter, the more familiar culture to the Heroes—though its cosmopolitan nature was unlike any place most had seen before. They discussed how they should find the Templars, and parted their company. Gestlin, Brother Mendel, Magnifico—and Merasiël, for protection—went to the Mages’ Guild Hall to see what they could find there, and returned more knowledgeable about its membership requirements but little else. Rainald, Dane and Gabriel went to the city square to see what notices might be posted there, and hear of any local rumors, and returned having learned nothing of use. Back at the ship, it was decided that Brother Mendel would cast a Seeker spell to locate Lord Wallace, but as before, the spell revealed nothing—perhaps concealed by a magical ward, as they had encountered before. Then it was decided that Magnifico would cast the same spell, instead to locate Auqui, who would certainly be with the Templars. Through a ritual casting, all that were present lent their energy to the spell, and Magnifico saw a vision of Auqui on a ship, on a river he believed to be the Blueshoal—though the ship was not within the city, and he could not say whether it was coming or going. Confident of the vision, the Heroes decided that some should search the river by air in each direction to find the ship bearing their enemy, while those that remained in the city would keep watch for the ship atop one of the many long bridges that spanned the river.

Auqui

Zabka

Gestlin, via his magical winged harness, and Dane and Magnifico, atop the dragons Primus and Secundus, sprang from the deck of the Gleaming Endeavor and swept quickly to the West, up-river. The three flew just over the trees at some distance beside the river, and scanned ahead for the Templars’ ship; as they reached a distance upriver, with no sign of their quarry, they wheeled about and searched likewise downriver, to the East. Then, at great distance, they spied the ship bearing Auqui and the Templars, as Magnifico had seen in his vision, and immediately turned back toward Tredroy to relay their findings, though Dane’s Eagle Vision clearly showed that Auqui, atop the deck of the enemy ship, had spotted them as well, and also the presence of another familiar visage, that of the Heroes’ foe from long ago, Bishop Zabka.

Meanwhile, the sudden flight of dragons leaving the Heroes’ ship had greatly disheartened those nearby at the docks, some of whom went and fetched the city guard. A troop of guardsmen arrived at the wharf soon afterward and demanded those aboard the Gleaming Endeavor stand forth, unarmed, and answer for the disturbance. Merasiël and Gabriel were loathe to leave behind their weapons, and instead hid themselves in the ship’s hold, while the rest did as bidden. The captain of the guard did not allow Brother Mendel to speak before he sent a few of his men aboard the ship to search it for any others; though expertly hidden beneath an Elvish Hunters’ Cloak, Merasiël was stumbled upon by chance by one of the men, and she stood and surrendered herself without apology, and was brought above to the deck. Brother Mendel explained that this Elvish woman is an ambassador for the Elvish peoples, and should not be treated so; Merasiël took his cue to act the part of the aloof aristocrat, and reluctantly agreed to leave her blades at the ship. The guard-captain apologized for his rudeness and declared that he must escort them all to his superior to sort out the matter there, and the Heroes followed without further resistance. At the headquarters, the guard-commander heard the Heroes’ explanation, and did not seem fully convinced of the truth until they produced their letters given them by Aamir Al-Rahmani inviting them to perform in Tredroy on his behalf; the commander then released the Heroes back to their ship, admonishing them to keep the dragons locked away except under his escort, and informing them that he would post guards at the docks for their (whose?) protection.

Upon the Heroes’ return to the docks, they readied themselves to go to the East Bridge and watch for the arrival of the Templars’ ship, when the dragons returned. Once again assembled (and the dragons locked away), the Heroes shared their findings. Suddenly a new commotion was raised amongst the folk at the docks, as a trio of slaves attempted to reach their freedom by running from the Al-Wazifi side of the river, across the miles-long bridge, to the Cardien side; the Cardiens cheered the runners on, but their Wazifi pursuers shot at them with arrows. One of the slaves was left of his fellows as he was struck by an arrow in the leg, and fell over the side of the bridge, clinging to the rail lest he should fall into the river from such a height. Without pausing, Gestlin took wing and hastened to the man’s aid, diving into the river after the man had fallen and was struck again, and laying hold of him there, Teleported him to safety aboard the ship, where Brother Mendel healed him. Then the Wazifis gave up their pursuit, and the other two slaves came to find their fellow at the ship; Brother Mendel bade them tarry a moment, and weaved a spell to remove their slave-brands, and gave them some money, and the former-slaves were greatly thankful.

Aurelius

Just then, a well-dressed stranger approached the ship and, in fluent Arabic, asked to speak with the former-slaves, and also in Anglish told the Heroes of his great admiration regarding their intervention on the slaves’ behalf, and wished to speak with them as well. He introduced himself as Aurelius, and the Heroes invited him aboard their ship to speak privately. Therein, he explained that he was a member of an abolitionist group in Tredroy who might be glad of the sort of help the Heroes had so demonstrated. Upon inquiry, he revealed that he had interacted with both Auqui on some occasions, as the Templars were of great help to the abolitionists here, and Zabka, though less frequently. The Heroes were eager to help in exchange for information from his network regarding the missing Lord Wallace, and he agreed, and arranged that they should discuss the matter later in the evening, at supper at a well-to-do inn in the city. Aurelius asked many details of the former-slaves, of their former captivity, and wrote them down. Then he bid the Heroes many thanks, and went on his way.

The Heroes kept an eye toward the river for the Templar ship as they prepared themselves to go to the inn. Not long after, Dane, in the ship’s tops, spotted Auqui’s ship approaching, Auqui himself glaring in their direction as they passed by; it continued upriver and turned South up the River Lorian, out of sight. Gestlin called upon Smil-Blam and made himself invisible, and took wing to pursue them, and observed them as they berthed at the Southern edge of the city, disembarking there and entering the city by waiting coaches. Then Gestlin returned and told the others what he had seen, though any action would have to wait, as their appointed hour approached.

Now evening, the Heroes went together to the inn, except Merasiël and Gestlin who would remain behind at the ship. Their patents of nobility were recognized by the dock-guards and they were allowed to enter the city under arms, though some were frowned upon at the upper-class inn, for the Heroes were loathe to leave behind their armor, for memory of the Elvish assassins at such an occasion over a decade past. They were met inside by Aurelius, and taken to a private room to dine with him, while he set forth the details of the mission he would ask of them: they must rescue one of the abolitionists’ members operating on the Al-Haz side of the river who had been caught by the authorities there, and was to be publicly beheaded within the week; the man’s family had been secreted away by his fellows and were safe from reprisal. The Heroes agreed to do the thing, though they would make their plans elsewhere, lest they be overheard. Just then, Brother Mendel spied a shadow under the closed door, no doubt, of someone listening thereat, and he quietly alerted the others to it. Gabriel sped to the door to open it, but the spy had fled through the crowd in the common room, passing coin to a stranger to delay his pursuers on his way out. Gabriel evaded the intended distractor with a sharp word of warning and quickly followed the spy out of the inn, catching him up outside just as the spy had whispered to two others waiting nearby, who then fled into the alleys in different directions. As Dane was catching him up, Gabriel confronted the spy, who upon seeing the dragon-marks on Gabriel’s arms, was greatly cowed, and begged for his life, though he dared not reveal his employer. Not wishing to shed blood in plain sight of the passers-by, Gabriel instead ushered the spy back inside the inn to the private room where the Heroes supped, and sat him down there. Then Magnifico cast Mind Search upon the spy, and learned that he was, as some had suspected, employed by the Assassins’ Guild, tasked to locate and murder the captured abolitionist’s family, as well as Aurelius himself. Aurelius was surprised to hear this, and feared for his life. The Heroes knew they must act quickly, for the spy’s fellows that had escaped would certainly tell of their rescue plans.

Notes

• Again, I have combined two sessions in one recap. This was not planned, just a product of the current situation, and I don’t intend to continue—but then I didn’t intend it in the first place. The second session was shortened by technical issues, so we didn’t accomplish much.
• Gabriel’s player was absent for the first session; Merasiël’s and Gestlin’s players were absent for the second
• Bishop Zabka was introduced to the campaign at the very beginning, before the current GM took it over from the previous GM, and has been featured in Gabriel’s side-stories as a villain, and mentor to his wayward apprentice, Auqui
• We were a bit surprised to hear from Aurelius that the Templars have actually been helpful here in Tredroy, and not thought villains, as we knew them to be
• It was fortunate for the city guards searching the ship’s hold that Gabriel’s player was not available, for they would certainly have perished at his hands for their discovery of Merasiël in hiding—and fortunate for the PCs that the resulting diplomatic incident did not occur
• The PCs got jumped by Elvish assassins at a dinner in Harkwood before the war, and it was one of the more embarrassing non-victories we’ve suffered; we’re very (understandably) paranoid about similar situations now. The GM made laid out a tactical map for this dinner, the very same map as before, undoubtedly to play against our expectations—well played, sir 😛
• Gabriel (finally) managed a very successful Intimidation attempt against the spy, but we didn’t want to torture a confession out of him in the street—but with Magnifico, he need not speak at all for us to get the info, so we agreed to “Feed him to the Clown”—the horror!