5/19/1150 – They achieve level 6 this morning. It is a cold but bright and sunny morning, the storm from the previous day past. They travel until they leave the forest and can see the city, and the great wall in the distance. They are relieved to see that the city looks as they left it. They travel through the fields until they are once again back in civilization and head straight to Wodemar’s house. There, Marta greets them at the door but instead of letting them in right away, makes them wait in the hallway. When she returns, she admits them to the study. They find that the study is not empty, but instead Wodemar has 4 visitors. Three of them stand and lounge against the wall at various places, looking like guards of some kind. The man seated looks like a noble. He wears full plate armor, with a cape bearing the colors of the Army of the Confederation. There is a shield on the floor beside his chair, bearing a rampant griffon above three upright spears. He stands when they enter and introductions are made. He is Sir Guyson, a captain of the Army of the Confederation, in charge of peacekeeping in the city of Wohlen. "You'll use your divinations then?" he says to Wodemar.
"Yes, I will look into it tomorrow, come back the day after." Then Sir Guyson will takes his leave. The party has questions for Wodemar about who he is. Wodemar won’t say much except that Sir Guyson occasionally has come to him for help, and this is one of those times. He is not at liberty to say what for, however.
The party then goes to reporting what they find. They dump the books that they brought from the tower, including the burned and destroyed journal. They recount their adventures getting to, exploring, and returning from the tower. They focus a lot on the minotaurs and the githyanki they encountered. They then show the map with the note. Wodemar visibly pales when he sees it. The insightful party is able to see that he has recognized it. He and Marta have a whispered exchange that Jak is able to overhear:
She says, “You can't tell them! They aren't ready. He says, "We have to. They are targets now"
"I had hoped he wouldn't come to this area." Wodemar said next to the party aloud. He then goes into a long speech:
"Did you think we were the only ones digging into the past? Not all those looking into the past are looking for knowledge. Some seek power to fuel their ambitions. And some ambitions are unending pits of darkness."
I first encountered his minions 7 years ago in the ruins of an old library in Arkhosia, sometimes called New Draconia. Yes, that's right. We aren't from the Confederation of Cities. We started our lives, our studies, far, far from here. It is possible to travel, but very, very dangerous. Your success with the tower proves that you might be ready to leave this area if you so wish. If you're willing, that might open up more possibilities for study.
Anyway, to return to my story. They were there ahead of us and hostile, mostly uneducated thugs that were easily dealt with. But over the months, when I, Marta, and our adventuring party would sometimes find a lead to a possible ancient site of knowledge (and usually by inference, power) we would find that it had already been hit somewhat recently, picked clean, and usually sloppily. Whoever was doing it had no care for the discovery and preservation of knowledge. All they seek is instruments of power.
Over the following few years, it became clear that a pattern was emerging and these groups were all working for a single person. Karzhad. We also learned of another pattern. He liked diversions when he was after something. Something big and flashy to take everyone's attention while he went after something completely different in a nearby area.
At first, we and our companions had no fear of this person. The people he hired were chumps, easily dealt with. Much like the Skullsmashers you fought. But more and more, they appeared to be getting more organized. Karzhad was becoming more and more aware of us, and was actively trying to thwart our efforts. Then, things changed. Suddenly, they were consistently getting ahead of or were arriving at these places at the same time as us. And they were well equipped. The last group before….well, the last group was a battle that nearly cost us all. By the way, none were these githyanki you have been dealing with. That is new.
They seemed to be getting inside information. And we later learned that they were. We were betrayed by one of our own, Rogin our rogue, had been bought out by Karzhad and was feeding him information. But we didn't learn that until that final…time. When we met Karzhad himself.
We had learned of a certain Baron's mansion, a dragonborn paladin, who rumor said had acquired certain Yrvillian artifacts and locked them up to keep them out of the hands of his enemies. A typical paladin thing to do. We set out immediately, not planning like I was wont to do. Marta urged speed to get ahead of Karzhad. But it did not matter really. Rogin had some means of communicating with him, and when we arrived and made our way to the vaults, Karzhad was there already. He had with him the dwarf twins Wenig and Vrenig Platehorn, who we had learned beforehand were his two most trusted companions. And others as well, like Zanaf the conjurer, and Brugin the warlock.. He was well prepared for us.
We thought we could handle him, like we handled all the others. And then…Rogin…turned on us, attacking Timmon, our gentle priest of Cecht who had been with us since the beginning, with complete surprise. The others, Karzhad, Wenig, Vrenig, and the rest all attacked Timmon at the same time. It was too much for him, and suddenly we were in disarray. Jason, our tracker was the next to fall, and then Yeardly, our chronicler, a bard who was cut down before she could help Timmon.
We managed to take down Brugin, and then Zanaf, but not before his conjured monsters wreaked havoc. My arm…my leg…it was the twins and Karzhad with his magical blade. Marta had to carry me away while Sir Edmond stood and protected our rear. I cannot describe his valor any better than this. Singlehandedly, he made it possible for Marta and I to be here today
We decided that that part of our lives was over, Marta and I. We would leave those lands that used to be New Draconia and head southwest. We would go to where the Coalition of Peace had its last bastion of defense and see what could be learned here. We could continue our quest for knowledge in honor of our fallen comrades. That was 2 years ago.
We ended up here, and you know what we have been doing to keep searching for the truth.
If Karzhad is working here, now, then we need to think and plan carefully.
Marta speaks low to Wodemar, "He must be here for…" And then she will glance meaningfully at the party and then back to Wodemar. He sighed and looks at her for a while, then back at the party.
The Vaults of Zell. He must be trying to get into them. (Marta will visibly tense and hiss at Wodemar). He shrugs, things have changed. They should know.
It is a legend, actually, but logic suggests that there is truth to the legends. You may recall Zell, and how I warned you to stay away from there. That warning still stands, but I will tell you more of why that is. Zell was once the capital city of the old country of Ap Wys, where we stand now. You have that old map that proves this. It is also well known that the High Temple of Duath was once in Zell. When the great ancient kingdom of Gwynyth Raius occupied all the land, this region was part of the province of Gwynyth Daius, the oldest and first of the great provinces of the kingdom. Besides the High Temple of Duath, both the great wizard schools of Abjuration and Mentalism (sometimes called Illusion) were also nearby in the cities of Gyswyl and Buchs, respectively. This provided a unique set of conditions and circumstances. What better place, some nobles and perhaps kings of Gwynyth Raius thought, could there be to build a bastion that could act as a sanctuary, or a prison, or a vault to protect valuables. Or even all three of these things. You have the entire priesthood of protection, the wizards who concern themselves with protection and wards, and the wizards who concern themselves with concealment and misdirection all in one place.
There is no one document proving that this is exactly what they thought, but you can infer from actions. The great wall was built for a reason. Imagine the resources it took to build such a thing. You've seen it. You've traveled along it. We don't know when the wall was built exactly, but logic suggests that something so massive would necessarily require massive organization and funding, and who else could accomplish that but the great kingdom of Gwynyth Raius? Was it finished when Gwynyth Daius fell? We don't know. We do know that Zell was the capital of the province. We do know that the priests and wizards stepped in to fill the power vacuum when the province disintegrated and the nobles were no more. And we certainly know that they built this place into an impenetrable bastion. Why did they do this? Because they could? Or were they obligated to protect something? Something hidden?
Legend has it that when the country of Ap Wys was intact that it was protected by unimaginable magics that kept everything and everyone out. Stories abound of how the priests and wizards somehow magically screened all who tried to enter, and refused entry to many. Probably those who had malice in their hearts. Stories also exist that tell of this great magical shield that none could penetrate. I think they might be exaggerated, those stories, but… The wall itself seems to have been quite sufficient by itself. Either way, this place was a fortress the likes of which have never been seen before.
Legend also has it that only once was that shielding ever penetrated. One time only in centuries. Well, we also know now of another, the Great Cataclysm. But back to that story. It goes that the king of Gwynyth Raius sent his eldest son here for protection when his remaining kingdom was riven by one of his Generals, Myrddin. An assassin managed to bypass all the screening and enter the country. Then she, it was verified to be a woman, tracked the son down and slew him and his protectors with great magical power. After that, when the alarm was sounded, she used great magics, perhaps contained in that strange rod witnesses say she carried, to penetrate the shield from the inside and rip a hole, perhaps an easier feat it was said than the other direction, and make her escape after transforming into a great flying bird.
After that, it was said that the leaders of Ap Wys were even more vigilant about protecting this place. Why? The public story was that this place was intended to be a sanctuary for any refugee who wished to escape whatever was troubling or threatening them. It was always about people, but there were skeptics of this story. I'm one of them.
In the last days of the Alliance of Peace, when the betrayer Butard reformed Yrvil with fiendish pacts, and the army of dragons invaded from the outer planes to form New Draconia, where did they come for their last refuge? Here. Here is where the Alliance came. Oh, certainly there were lots of practical reasons, not the least of which was the wall and its magical barrier. And also the fact that we are centrally located with New Draconia to the north and Yrvil to the south. But still, why did they abandon Arhus? Was it overrun? I'm not sure. The stories don't say, and I never made it up to that area to find out. Why not go to the mountain fortresses of Dun? Or hide in the concealment with the Elves? Legend has it that they lived in the realm for eons without anyone knowing it. Surely that could be an option. But they came here. I believe they were protecting something. Something they didn't want either of their foes to find.
I'm not the only one who has this theory, of course. That there exists such a thing as the Vaults of Zell where artifacts of great power are hidden and protected. I wouldn't be surprised if Karzhad believed it. There is no proof however. None. Nothing. For 12 years, I have searched for it. But I believe it. It just makes too much sense.
Getting in to Zell, of course, would be the natural thing to do to answer this once and for all. But I can't. No one can. You see, Zell is unreachable.
Let me back up a bit first. We know the Great Cataclysm occurred of course. We have evidence of it all around. It is an unquestionable fact of history. Something happened that destroyed almost all we know existed before it. But we don't know what that something was. What could do this? It is the question I have dedicated my life to answering. A quest you have joined me in, I believe. Whatever the cause, we know the effect. The Alliance of Peace is no more. New Draconia is no more. Yrvil is no more, as far as I know. Beyond the Confederation are savage lands with small pockets of struggling civilization, clawing for survival. We came from the northeast, lands that were once Gwynyth Raius and then New Draconia, descendants of the slaves they took when they invaded. There are dragons still, and dragonborn of course, but they have reverted to their solitary ways for the most part. At least that I have encountered and heard about. Similarly, there is no evidence that Yrvil exists still in any form. But I can't attest to that directly, never having gone further south than this.
What I also know for sure, is that here, in former Ap Wys, Civilization is the least disturbed by the Cataclysm. The great magics that were said to encompass this bastion protected the people and places from whatever the Great Cataclysm was. It is why the Confederation is as big and organized as it is. You people here don't know how good you have it. And it is all because of Ap Wys. Imagine the power it must have taken to protect this place like it was. Oh, you see the ruined walls and parts of the cities. You haven't seen the reality of it beyond this region. To know the incredible scale of the Cataclysm. What this tells me is that the powers employed the priests of Duath, and the wizards of Abjuration and Illusion were staggering. What were they doing with all that power?? Creating a shield for the fun of it?
Sorry, I get impassioned about this. Anyway, so back to Zell. You know there is no great magical power protecting the whole of Ap Wys. But there is something protecting the capital city. Is it the same power, just reduced in size? I think so. The city is there. But is it ruined or whole, I can't tell. All one sees is the shimmer of a magical wall complete and impenetrable. Does something live in there? I think so. If it is the priests of Duath and the aforementioned wizards. Perhaps. I hope so. I theorize that they survived and have taken their protection duties to the next logical step. They protect what they must with all their power still, but now just the city. Probably where the Vaults are. And since they no longer have to do this over such a large geographical area and just a city, it is even stronger than before. Still, imagine shielding a city so completely with magic. What that must take? I have no concept of magic that could do this. What knowledge has been lost to the Cataclysm that could include this. Perhaps it is a good thing. I don’t know.
I know of no way to get into that city. I worry that there is something. Some way. Some lost lore. I look for it whenever I find some new nugget of knowledge from the past, like you have been bringing me. I worry that Karzhad will find it and get in there and unleash whatever has been hidden for, what, a thousand years? Longer.
At the same time, logic also says to me that if there are people in there, and they are employing such imaginable magics that have been forgotten, that they are well equipped to deal with thugs like Karzhad. But…I wonder… and I worry.
After his long speech, the party talks a bit more about what they might do next. Baptiste and Torchon are all for traveling to Zell and making an attempt to get inside. The rest aren’t so sure. They make no decision now, but decide to allow Wodemar some time to look at the books that they brought. They finally takes his leave and spend the rest of the day selling all the things they acquired from the Tower. It takes most of the afternoon, and Sven just goes to the Lonely Pillow Tavern to drink while they do it.
As they return to the tavern and are about to enter, there is a sudden burst of black smoke rising into the air some distance away. After, the smoke will continue rising and getting larger.
Running to investigate, they come to a block of the city that is on fire. Bodies, charred, are scattered about. Walking the streets burning with impunity will be beings from the Plane of Fire. Elementals, azers, and mephits. They will see some guards trying to fight a group of azers and mephits, but as the party approaches, they will be clearly not enough. As they approach and lend their assistance guards start dropping from the fiery beings attacks. They try to order the last guard to retreat but he refuses, bravely dying in flames. They fight the azers and mephitis, but when the mephitis die they burst, some in smoke that blinds and some in fire that damages. And each fiery creature that is struck burns the attacker. This proves to be devastating to the party. Worse, when Brimstone Jak tries to run around and flank the battle, he antagonizes two fire elementals who were nearby. They attack, burning him. Also another group of guards joins the battle shortly after the elementals arrive.
They start taking down the creatures one-by-one. However, because of the smoke, Lughausen is unable to see Baptiste to exclude him from his spirit guardians spell, so Baptiste takes friendly fire. He is knocked unconscious at one point, and so is Sven. But the first wave of creatures is ultimately dealt with. They charge down the road, hearing more screams, and encounter two more elementals. Another two guards are slain, and the party must fight the elementals down to the wire. Baptiste, Sven, and Jak are on fire during much of the battle, and each time they touch the creatures they burn too. Potions and healing are used to keep people alive. Guards must take the actions to beat out the flames on unconscious heroes. Right before the last elemental falls, something happens to a nearby building, perhaps the one that was the most on fire.
They feel a sudden onrush of air and a great wooshing sound. The house completely disappears and is consumed by fire leaving only a smoking crater. There was a sense of reality rippling, much like what they felt at the Monchartan Manor. If there was a planar gate there, it has closed by some means, perhaps on its own.
They hear more screams from the next street over and rush over, scattered and separated, some on their last legs as they are near death. Lughausen heals as best as he can along the way.
Screams from around the corner lead them to a house with a few people outside. A man and a woman are restraining another woman who is desperate to get inside a burning house. The woman who is holding the other will see the party and recognize them (and vice versa). It is lady Sylvia Monchartan. She can be heard yelling to the other woman, "No, you can't. It's too dangerous, you'll die!" And the other will be screaming, "But I have to! We have to get her! No! No! My daughter! My daughter!"
Sylvia begs the party to help her friend Paulina Henley. Her daughter Lena is trapped in the building. Others have gone in to help but no one has returned. Can they go get her? Before they start to move in, Richard Henley will grabs the arm of Torchon as he passes by and mutters, "If it's at all possible, there is a chest under our bed. Please, I beg you retrieve that, or we will never be able to rebuild."
Brimstone Jak is the first in the burning house, diving through a window to arrive in a guest room. Torchon is next and he discovers that more azers are inside.
Also arriving at the same time is Sir Guyson with his retainers Olaf, Pyetr, and Lynda. Behind them are scores of guards and citizens carrying buckets, blankets, and pulling carts with water barrels. Sir Guyson is right behind Torchon, and when he sees the enemy he draws his weapons and shield as well. The rest stay outside, but the party arrives one by one.
Inside the house they fight the azers, seeing more bodies of guards and other good Samaritans who attempted to help the Henleys. Sir Guyson spends the first two rounds healing Sven and Baptiste as best as he can, in fact doing so with almost all of his spells more than swinging his sword. They make their way upstairs and start to face off with more smoke mephitis, magma mephitis and fire snakes. They search for the girl as fast as they can. Torchon dives through a burning door into the master bedroom, from which some of the mephitis had emerged, and looks beyond the next door into a hallway. He sees a salamander playing with the fire and more of the small fire creatures. He ducks back into the room closing the door. The heroes are on their last legs in terms of health and resources, and they expect to die. However, the battle does not turn out as badly as they feared. One by one, the mephitis and fire snakes are taken down. The smoke explosions when the smoke mephitis die are annoying, but cause little difficulty.
However, the salamander manages to grapple Sven with its tail and knock him unconscious. Torchon spends his time healing Sven so will live, but even when the salamander is slain, it dies with an unconscious Sven in its grasp. Jackson hurries past and finds the little girl hiding under her blankets in her bed. Meanwhile, Lydya has spotted the small chest under the bed in the master bedroom and dives under to recover it. The party then beats a hasty retreat, with Jak carrying Lena the girl down the stairs and out the back door.
The parents are relieved that they have succeeded, the mother with the daughter and the father with the chest. The father opens it revealing money, and rewards the party with an heirloom ring that used to belong to his grandfather exclaiming that the rest of the money will allow them to rebuild. While the party was in the building, more guards and townspeople have arrived with the bucket brigade and are fighting to get the rest of the fires under control. Sir Guyson thanks them for their heroism and returns to commanding the guards. The party is able to return to the tavern and relax for the rest of the day.
5/20/1150 – Spend a day resting. A little more shopping. Lydya gets a cloak with many pockets on it. Torchon frolicks in the forest. Lughausen visits his temple to do his duties.
5/21/1150 – They return Wodemar’s house and find him working at his desk with all the books and papers that they have recovered from the Tower. He tells them it is fascinating work, all the writings on the lost pre-cataclysmic magics. He says even more now he would wish to visit the school of Abjuration and Mentalism to see what has survived. They note that the school of Abjuration is in Gyswyl, not too far away. They tell him about the fire, which he has heard about, and it is then realized that they never learned who lived in the building that was consumed. So they take leave of Wodemar, who asks them to return after lunch, and go back to the area of the conflagration to search and ask around. They learn that Hastos Morvalur the cartographer was in the house that disappeared, along with his shop and all his belongings. They search the ashes and find that nothing remains.
Lughausen wonders if the maps that came from the githyanki were Hastos’ work. They want to compare them. He remembers then that the maps of the cities of Wohlen and Venlo that they already have are probably his work. They compare them to the maps of the Tower of Salinga Penne and see that it is not a match. They then consider whether something he was working on spurred this reprisal. They want to determine what his most recent work is. Lughausen again believes that he has heard that the Order of Coins worked with him, so they head over to the headquarters to the Order of Coins. They wait in line and a clerk attends to them in time. Jak does the talking, suggesting that they would like to see someone who has commissioned work from Hastos. The clerk, after some persuasion and a bribe, suggests that Mr. Wemeson might be available. He takes Jak, and only Jak, back to see another clerk who works directly for Mr. Wemeson. Jak has remembered that this person is a very influential member of the Order. While the Order has no leader, many consider him to be the de-facto head. The clerk is persuaded after Jak talks with him and he is brought back to the very fine offices of Idrik Wemeson, a very wealthy gold merchant.
Jak surreptitiously scans the cluttered desk and sees that they are notes on all the movements and transactions of all the major merchants and players in the Confederation. Mr. Wemeson likes to keep track. When he tells his story, Mr. Wemelson is persuaded to pull out the last map Hastos made for him about a month ago. It shows the entire Confederation, all three cities, but at a higher, less-detailed level than the maps the party has. The map shows up to date trade routes and transactions of all the major commodities. He looks for any ruins or anything along those lines and sees nothing that would suggest that this work was a threat to anyone. After some more talk, Jak asks about Hastos and Idrik says that this was the type of work that he did for the guild almost exclusively, but it wasn’t his true passion. Hastos loved maps of pre-cataclysm times and had a collection of such that he showed select items to Idrik, but not the entirety of it.
When he returns to the party, they realize that this is probably why he was slain and that it was indeed likely Karzhad who was behind it. They return to Wodemars and share this information, he agrees that it sounds like something he would do. However, the power it would take to cause a planar rift is something he didn’t see Karzhad having in the past. Something has changed. While they are talking, Sir Guyson enters. Wodemar explains that he worked on a problem that Sir Guyson asked him to help with and his divinations showed that Sir Guyson would be in grave danger if he didn’t take help. With the fire, all his forces are occupied so he would have to go alone if the party would not agree to help him at Wodemar’s suggestion. They are amenable so they explain further. There have been a series of robberies in the noble homes. Expensive works of art, jewelry, etc. It seems to be a cut above the normal thievery, and has been going on almost every night for two weeks. The perpetrator or perpetrators have been so good that there has not been a single clue or witness. Sir Guyson has nothing to go on, and he has been getting intense pressure from the Order of Coins, whose membership has been hit the hardest. Thus, he has come to Wodemar for magical help. Wodemar has divined the location of one of the items, since he personally saw and even held a priceless statue from Pre-Cataclysm days owned by the Lissondon family, which was taken a couple of days ago. But his divinations have shown that there is grave danger.
They all agree to accompany Sir Guyson, and his three retainers, to the warehouse right now. Some of the party suggest scouting it out or waiting until nightfall, but they are talked out of it. They go to the wine district right away. They find the warehouse easily and stop far enough away to see that it is closed up and no one is moving around in or out of it. Olaf, Sir Guyson’s scout and Torchon, go around back and see that there are two back doors. When they return and all confer it is decided that Sir Guyson and his aides will go in the front while the party divides and goes in the back. Once in position, Sven at one door and Baptiste at another, they hear Sir Guyson enter, followed by yelling and the sounds of battle. They enter and engage a number of thugs who had opened fire on Sir Guyson with crossbows. They come in from behind and start killing the thugs. There is also a master thief of some kind who does a bit of damage with sneak attacks. The only real damage to the party is done to one of Sir Guyson’s aides who is knocked unconscious several times and brought back to health by another of his aides. The thief manages to escape up the stairs which Torchon had already run up during the battle. He found the upper level had more guards, but he is able to deal with them somewhat easily.
The thief hurts Lughausen and Sir Guyson, but healing reverses all that. When the thief, Nayron, catches up to Torchon he does cut him up pretty bad with a shortsword, but it is not enough and he is eventually knocked unconscious when the rest of the party arrives.
Upstairs are some tight rooms which hold six guards and a mysterious leader who is off in a side room giving orders. Baptiste is the first in, and he is struck hard when the leader Hugh Di Magna reveals himself to be a blackguard with a glaive.
His guards do little, and the party is able to deal lots of damage to him. Sven rages and hits him with frenzied attacks. Baptiste is smitten by the dark power of Hugh’s, but recovers with his second wind. They want to capture him, but he is slain by the raging barbarian who is beyond sensible thinking. They recover a chest that contains all the stolen goods. Sir Guyson lets them keep half the coins and all the potions and scrolls therein. They begin to plan to identify these items but are reminded that the warehouse is not secure as there is a basement still to be explored. Sir Guyson secures Nayron as a prisoner. He should wake up shortly for interrogation.
In the meantime, they go investigate the downstairs. As they approach there is a horrendous smell that gets worse as they go down. Sven is first, ending up in a small room with stores of crates and another door across the way. Opening that reveals a much larger storeroom. The stench is horrible. They have some light but the back of the room is still in shadows. They see two large things moving. Those things come rushing out of the darkness to be horrific demons. They attack Sven through the doorway, giving no one else any chance to reach them. Baptiste fights through the side of the door and the rest do their best to shoot ranged weapons and spells through the fray. Sven is almost killed, but in the end the demons are taken down one at a time. They are identified as Hezrou, and to the best of Lughausen and Jak’s knowledge they are only ever summoned to wreak destruction.
They go up and decide that now is the time to interrogate Nayron. In the main room they tie him to a chair and splash water on him until he wakes. Sir Guyson proves to be rather poor at interrogation. While his charisma is very persuasive, he is not quite thinking of good questions to ask. Brimstone Jak steps in and turns on the charm. Unfortunately, Nayron is unable or maybe unwilling to reveal much of anything. He claims to just be a hired hand and merely followed what Hugh told him to do in terms of what houses to hit and what stuff to take. He has no idea what Hugh was up to in terms of the grand plan. He does say that Hugh left the warehouse occasionally and returned with orders. One those times, last week, was with the order not to go into the basement anymore. Of course, Nayron said, he snuck down to take a peek and therefore knew about the demons in the basement. But he had no idea how they got there or who summoned them.
Sir Guyson does not countenance any threats from the party since this prisoner is under his protection. So while some of them wanted to threaten to cut off his ears, that was not tolerated. In the end, this is pretty much all they get out of him and Sir Guyson takes him away into custody. He mentions to the party that they are welcome to ask more questions later if they want.
Torchon and Baptiste go to Wodemar’s to brief him on what they found. The rest stay and prepare the warehouse for a long stay. They theorize that someone may come to the warehouse to check in with the gang and they want to be there when they do. Otherwise, they have no trail to follow. At Wodemar’s, he wonders if his foe Karzhad is involved and asks Torchon if they asked their prisoner. They did not, and he believes they should follow up on that possibility.
They stay in the warehouse that night, some watching from the roof.
5/22/1150 – In the morning, Lughausen casts speak with dead on Hugh’s corpse. Unfortunately, they get no clear answers since he is hostile to Lughausen. They only learn that he was selling the goods on the black market and wanted to do all of this because it suited him.
5/23/1150 – 5/25/1150 – They spend these 3 days in the warehouse watching and waiting. Hoping that someone would come up and check on the gang. Sir Guyson also has Confederation Army at various points in the neighborhood also watching the warehouse. They check in occasionally. The time is fruitless. They do identify the potions and scrolls in the stash and distribute them.
5/26/1150 – They return to Wodemar’s, giving up on the warehouse. They discuss their next plan, and Wodemar has little to offer except to suggest that if Karzhad is involved then he has to be going for the Vaults. They discuss going to Zell and he says that it will probably not do them much good, but they won’t know for sure unless they look for themselves. He suggests that Gyswyl, where the former Wizard School of Abjuration was, is a promising destination. But that is far. They decide that Zell will be their first destination, and further decide that they will go straight as an arrow and avoid the road (which is far out of their way). They also contemplate trying to find someone adventuresome with a boat to go south but Wodemar thinks that would be difficult. No one has really come back from going down that route. Merchants want to protect their holdings.
They go to Sir Guyson’s, also at Wodemar’s suggestion, to talk to Nayron again. Torchon whispers, “Where is Karzhad?” and two of them see a slight reaction to Karzhad’s name. They interrogate further and Nayron is only able to spill that he heard the name mentioned by Hugh. He’s not sure when or under what circumstances. Maybe that’s his employer, maybe not. A talk with Sir Guyson about their next step has him looking thoughtful about their proposed destination outside the Confederation. He tells them this:
“I would make the request that you report anything you find out there to me, if you are so inclined. The Order of Coins, and therefore the Confederation, would be very keen to open up trade relations with other places. Also, any threats in the area would be of concern to me as well in my role of protecting the Confederation. Neither of the three cities have walls, and would be vulnerable to coordinated attack. Similar to what happened with the Gnoll wars back in the early days of the Confederation. But more than about threats, the Confederation is interested in expanding.”
“Of course, there have been previous attempts to explore the wilderness. There are always ambitious merchants in the Order of Coins hiring out people adventuresome enough to go out and see what is out there.”
“In almost all cases, that I know of at least, none have returned. Of those rare cases when some did return, they always had fantastical stories that were hard to believe. Rifts that opened up to other worlds, armies of devils, whole cities consumed by religious zealot cults and the like (that one came from the south).”
“I bid you good luck.”
They go back once again to talk to Wodemar. They waffle some more on where to go and finally decide that yes, Zell is the place to go. They will leave first thing in the morning. They then take the rest of the day to provision. This includes buying up a number of potions of healing and some diamond dust for Lughausen. Lydya buys a riding mastiff and names her Fluffy. She wants to get barding, but it will have to be custom made which will take time.