We start out our evening with our heroes, Biminey, Dra’kin, Elissa, Stak and Torel bound, gagged and hooded. They’re moved from the camp of their captors onto a boat where they sail without food and very little water for a couple of days, downstream by their reckoning. They’re unloaded and sealed into crates which are then loaded and lashed down onto a wagon. Or wagons as it turns out.
They can tell they’re traveling through town, their own obviously as there are none close enough for their travel time. Then the wagons stop moving and there are a couple of thuds, the wagons shake a bit and next thing they know they’re being released from their captivity by Meri (or is it Keri?) along with some of Shuk’s thugs. One of the thugs drops a bundle of weapons, maces, longswords and hand bows and the group arms itself. They’re weakened by their captivity and their first response is to go back to their inn where they raid the kitchen.
While they’re eating one of Shuk’s people comes looking for Shuk and passes on the information that “I seen four men go into the house where yer friend Torn is living with that girl of his. Shuk asked us to keep an eye on him. Three of them was sailors I think the other one had chain on…”
The group rushes off to help their friend. They get to the boarding house to find an elderly woman dead on the bottom floor, apparently in the middle of cooking breads for the day’s meals. They ease upstairs where they find several empty rooms, one body and then the room of their friend.
A warding of Silence has been chalked on the door as determined by Dra’kin. He broke the warding and it released its energies in a psychic blast that encompassed most of the group.
Inside there’s been a big battle, three men, sailors by their look lie dead, cut up on the floor. Torn is in a heap in one corner of the room, his left hand and part of his forearm missing. Left for dead he apparently managed to loop a thong over the stump before he bled out completely and is unconcious but alive. His head took a grevious blow though and it doesn’t look good for him.
Biminey healed him enough to stablize him and stop the bleeding. They noticed the bed sheets were missing and bloody handprints leading out the window.
Leaving by the window they followed the trail around the balcony that ran around the upper story and into an alley way behind. Signs indicate that someone dropped a body from the upper floor but that it was probably still alive at that time. The fourth attack is presumed wounded as he or she is leaving bloody hand prints and a blood trail.
The trail heads downhill through the town and the group heads for the docks, they believe they know who it is, someone from the trade ship, slavers they think at the docks.
They’re stopped by a strange figure, a unusually non-descript looking person but as he smiles he reveals a mouth of teeth filed into points. He let’s them know he’s glad he’s found them and whistles for reinforcements. Elisssa believes that he may be concealed by illusion as to his real appearance and several people note a goblin like cadence to his bad Common. Meri and Keri, show up at this time dropping from the roofs on either side, apparently they’d been tracking this gentleman. Â Meri tells the gentleman that they don’t approve of ‘outside contractors’ and tells the group to go on, they’ll deal with this one. The group is happy enough to bail, they’re trying to save Soozin. Â They catch a glimpse of the figure shimmer then vanish from sight as they’re taking a side street.
As they get to the docks they’re spotted and multiple figures leap off the ship and combat is initated. The overmage on the ship drops a capture net of magical energies over them as the ship’s forces charge to attack.
The battle is harsh and the group wins but the ship makes it escape. Part way through the fight they hear a large force of armed men approaching from the city, assuming correctly that it’s watch.
The watch shows up and Tanner, Lerik’s flunky appears from the shadows and speaks to the captain of the watch telling him that the group had killed several people in a nearby warehouse and when they were heard the ship had sent people to investigate andt he party had killed them as well as he can plainly see. It appeared to the group that Tanner was unusually convincing in his speech.
The party was arrested and tossed into the slam. The next day Shuk shows up to hear their side of the story. She arranges for better food and creature comforts with the jailor and leaves. Another day passes and she shows up again to inform the group that their accuser has ‘apparently left town.’Â *wink wink* and tosses Dra’kin an amulet on a braid of yellow hair. Tanner had yellow hair of the same hue…
The group is informed they’re going to be put to the question, a ritual of Truth and will be asked questions to either prove their innocence or guilt.
They’re moved to the Temple of Eris where they’re subjected to the ritual. Garon and Teagan ask their questions which prove their inocence more or less. Lerik though asks if they’ve ever ridden in an airship which they of course have to answer yes.
There’s a bit of an uproar as Lerik is deviating from the program but eventually the group is free’d and allowed to collect their belongings. They also claim right of victory over the trader ship crew for their gear which they do get.
Biminey agrees to the Ritual of Remembrance for the high priest of Eris and describes the tomb of Larkson and it’s immediate surroundings in vivid detail, every word and description taken down by scribes.
The high priest asks if the group would be ameniable to taking a group of scribes to the tomb. Biminey puts him off saying he’ll need to talk to the others.
They work out a plan to do so since they’re going that way anyway but by the time they get back to the high priest he’s unavailable. They wait a day, making preperations, then go back and he’s still unavailable. Biminey thinks to ask Sushanna and finds out the high priest left with several other priests.
They’ve arranged travel on a small coastal ship and also find out that another ship left that morning with some scribey types on it.
Travel down the coast is mostly uneventful but as they near Darkmouth they’re beset upon by a ship similar in build to the one at the docks only bigger. They turn to shore where they’re dropped off in boat and their ship beats a hasty retreat before the slave ship.
They work their way through the dangers of the fire swamps and make it to the city (failing my system for abstract combat horribly). They move inland following the maps that Biminey had uncovered from the scrolls that the little thieves had stolen for him from the forbidden scroll room. They’re heading for the Temple of Artifice as depicted on their map.
As they made their way they note that the airship is no longer near the top of the tower where they’d left it. Acting on the assumption there’s no point in going after it if they can’t drive it they continue on to the temple.
They find the temple in an area that’s otherwise mostly destroyed but the temple though is still in good repair. Dra’kin familiar is sent to investigate and is shot at by guardian constructs like the ones they fought back on the island where they got their airship to begin with. They attack it from extreme range and silver spearman come from the temple but as they stop attacking they don’t pursue the party. Screwing up his courage Biminey moves closer his mechanical hand out in front. As something seems to happen he then approaches the temple. As he’s looking for a way in the silver spearmen are recalled and he slips through the gate as it opens.
Inside he finds multiple buildings, some holding archives of knowledge, others workshops of artificing. Constructs roam the grounds, fixing, repairing and guarding the temple.
Through the complicated method of yelling they communicate with each other as to what’s going on and the other four of the group find a semi-sheltered location where they can watch the gate and have some concealment and protection from the elements.
