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 Prison-Cells and Safe-Houses

1 June 2014

The Heroes left the well-to-do inn, and Aurelius, and hasted straightaway for their ship, which departed for the far bank of the River Lorian and the Hazi quarter of Tredroy. As they sailed, they girded themselves for battle. Now evening, Gestlin took wing once again to spy out the city’s prison where Bashir, the captured abolitionist, was said to be held; using the Heroes’ magic ring that allowed one to see in darkness, he observed the movement of the guards for some time, and returned to tell the others that it was guarded by but a few. A half-bell later, the Gleaming Endeavor arrived in a secluded part of the Hazi quarter, and was secured to the dock. The captain was soon called forth to speak with the dockmaster at his office, and Magnifico and Gestlin went with him; through their translation, Captain Finn explained that he was here for trade, and expected to be no more than a day or two. Satisfied with the captain’s story, the dockmaster told him of their laws concerning the comings and goings of foreigners, and gave him white arm-bands to be worn by those who would enter the city, and released him back to his affairs.

The Heroes would not be allowed to carry their weapons openly, so all gave their weapons for Rainald to carry, and Brother Mendel cast an illusory disguise upon him, such that he appeared to be a (large) Hazi man carrying a bundle of sticks. So they entered the city, following the directions Aurelius had given them to one of the abolitionist safe-houses in the city nearest to the prison. They walked for many bells, for it was a long way through such a large city, patrolled here and there by the city watch, and they kept to the shadows and byways as they could. Even so, a pair of watchmen spotted Gestlin in the open, and demanded to know what he was up to. As Gestlin attempted to explain himself in their language, Magnifico stepped out of hiding (surprising the watchmen) and explained that this, his brother, was simple, and they were on their way back from the Mages’ Guild, but had lost their way. Gestlin tried to play the simpleton, but the watchmen were somehow not convinced by his performance. When one of the guards attempted to take Gestlin’s staff, Gestlin Blinked away; the use of magic caused the watchmen to become hostile, and draw their swords. Magnifico tried to calm them, or at least, draw their attention away from the stealthy approach of Gabriel from behind; as one of the watchmen began to strike at Gestlin, Gabriel slew the other, and then the first. The bodies were placed so they would appear to have slain each other over some grievance of coin; as they did so, a boy emerged in the upper window of a nearby residence, and Gestlin cast Sleep upon him, lest he cry out.

They continued, and arrived at the safe-house after midnight, and the master of the house allowed them to enter upon utterance of the pass-phrase given them by Aurelius. Dane, Gabriel and Merasiël left immediately to spy out the prison again, and found it still to be as Gestlin had reported before, guarded behind the gate by but one. Being the fleetest of foot, Gabriel ran back to the safe-house and fetched the others to the prison; during this time, Dane and Merasiël observed a number of armed men enter the prison to replace the same number who were leaving, all with a soldierly look about them—mercenaries, from the nearby guild.

Later, when the Heroes were all assembled nearby, Gabriel and Merasiël scaled the prison’s courtyard wall, as Dane watched, bow ready, from a nearby vantage; the two crept ’round the building and were upon the lone guard before he could cry out, killing him quickly, before opening the gate to allow the others in. The Heroes then positioned themselves at the prison’s only entrance and found it un-barred, so they crept into the barbican, to another heavy door having a barred window. At first, Gestlin attempted to Teleport the heavy door away, but his spell failed. Then Brother Mendel followed with a spell-weave to teleport them all into the room behind the door, but his spell only sent Gabriel and Rainald. The two guards on the other side, playing at dice, were surprised to find the two before them; Rainald quickly turned to un-bar the door and open it to the others, while Gabriel vaulted the tables and chairs to meet the guards as they drew their swords, followed soon by Merasiël through the now-open door. The guards were slain quickly and without mercy, but not before they could cry out. In the hall beyond, upon the walls, were lined a score of numbered, metal hooks, each bearing a set of keys; the Heroes collected them all, and began searching the rooms to the right and left, cells, finding some occupied, but none occupied by Bashir. Next they went upstairs, to a long hall lined with cells, and again, did not find Bashir.

Then, as they began to enter a large common room, Gabriel spotted a guard hiding ’round a far corner, and leapt forward to engage him, finding another there; Rainald sped toward the opposite corner, finding another two, while the rest followed. Merasiël joined Gabriel, and they slew one of the guards; Rainald was supported by Brother Mendel, who disarmed one of the guards with his staff. Then an unseen enemy shouted, and six mercenaries charged forth from side rooms and flanked the Heroes: Dane vaulted over a tub of water in the center of the room and loosed an arrow at one; Gestlin set one’s cloak ablaze; Magnifico was greatly wounded by one’s spear, but unleashed a magical satire that confused many of the mercenaries, causing them to hallucinate, such that they fought other imagined enemies besides the Heroes. Though the mercenaries were skilled warriors, they fell anyway, one by one, until none remained: disarmed by Brother Mendel’s staff; set aflame by Gestlin’s magic; throat slashed to the bone by Merasiël’s blade; skull smashed by a mighty swing of Rainald’s hammer; shot through the eye by Dane’s bow; run through the heart by Gabriel’s family sword.

The upstairs cleared of enemy, the Heroes found their way downstairs to the basement below, and found a number of rooms there, guarded, containing more prisoners, in chains, having been tortured in various ways. Rainald loudly commanded one guard to sit, who was greatly afraid, before Magnifico enthralled him, such that he became as an old friend to them. Within, they found Bashir hung by chains from the ceiling, and they released him, and Brother Mendel healed his wounds. The Heroes thought to release all the prisoners to cause chaos in which they might escape, but decided against it, lest they release truly evil men upon innocents. Instead, they took up Bashir and crept as quickly as they could out of the prison, and made their way back to the safe-house.

Notes

• So, another two-session combo report; I’m still not intending this to be a permanent change in procedure, it’s just the way things have worked out lately
• Apparently, according to the maps in the old 3e Tredroy book, that city is freaking huge; it ended up being several miles walking to the safe-house, and took most of the night. Even the river is huge: the Blueshoal is about 5-6 miles wide, and the Lorian is only a little smaller
• The dice were fairly hostile on the first session; Gestlin nearly crit-failed the teleporting of the door. The dice were schizophrenic on the second session; there were a number of critical failures and critical successes during the fight
• The second session started with the keys, and was dominated by one big fight—didn’t accomplish much, but it was still fun; the mercenaries were clearly not mooks, and were intended to be a bit tougher, but we’re expecting things to get tougher as the campaign inches toward its end