Session08

Summary --------- 5 April 216B The party spent the day following up on different items of interest in the hopes that someone would turn up information on CeeJay. Mel checked on the surrounding area and discovered that the taint was much weaker than last week. While searching on the southern side of town he found a clearing that might have been the epicenter. There are signs of a huge fire, but no ashes and trees nearby appear to be dying. Korvath spent the day with the city guard. He reports the city guard is in a lot of turmoil since the city guard captain disappeared during the fair and until a new one is appointed there is no real chain of command. Korvath finally lays claim to the 6000 remaining were-rat silver. (There was more but he donated some to the officer’s fund to expedite the process. From what Lieutenant Shella says, the captain disappeared while investigating the were-rat extortion ring. Shella also mentions that the guard had an unusual number of problems during the fair. Two patrols disappeared in Southspur, a guard was killed attempting to stop a Silver Hill robbery. One was hit by a wagon while directing traffic, etc. The net effect is that the guard is understaffed and without leadership right now. They are hoping that the Baron will act soon to improve the ranks of the guard and appoint a new captain. (probably promoting from within the ranks) Alex determines that the extortion ring has been present for 3-4 years. He also determined that the “Steel cat” tale turns out to have been a red herring. Two smiths disappeared, but one had previously gotten on the bad side of an extortion ring. The "iron-cat" tale started as a "steel-cat" which turned out to be a "stolen cat". Katie ran into a lady paladin of Heironeous named Alein. She thinks that some of the disappearances might be related to a "haunting" in the West Hill district. There are cries or screams at night and occasionally the guard discovers a puddle of ectoplasm. Last week Alein scared off someone or something looting a body covered with bite marks. The body had been bitten a dozen times (by different creatures?!?) and was drained of blood. Alein has been trying to track down more details, and feels she is really close to a major breakthrough. Tracking down reports on the were-rats Katie determines that until recently the rats have been keeping a low profile. Healers that helped after the Were-rat "Riot" reported that the rats had been wielding cudgels. The twelve casualties were from the crowd trampling people while fleeing. The public display was very unusual and makes little sense for a group that had spent the last 3 years hiding their lycanthropy. Essandri found no immediate leads on performers. Many of them left soon after the contest. Moge spent much of the day drinking. Having followed up on a number of leads within the city the party still lacked an obvious course of action. Thinking to follow up on the men treated in a local temple for were-rat bites, they decided to take a tour of the town’s religious establishments. It was already past dark when the party set out to visit the temple of Pelor. The temple of Pelor had been recently evacuated. A large crack in the dome of the roof had apparently rendered the temple unsafe for occupancy. Katie remembered some “building inspectors at the site when she had been there earlier) and the clerics had taken up residence elsewhere. The hour was late and the guard on duty was unsure where to seek the priests. Alex investigated the damage to the building and believed it to be the result of natural causes, perhaps being built on the unstable riverbed. With no Pelorites present, the party proceeded to the temple of Heironeous. Before their arrival, however, they were attacked by some truly grotesque creatures. Two huge, translucent, lamprey-like creatures wavered into existence in pools of ectoplasm. The first was rendered helpless by a mind blast from Alex, but the second proved more formidable. Mel dropped an obscuring mist in hopes of blinding the creature while its five tentacles failed out, injuring several people. Essandri fired a color spray into the mist cloud which seemed to briefly incapacitate the creature. Mel, having shifted to cat form, used the cover to retrieve his gear while Moge and Korvath dispatched the first worm as it lay stunned. After a few tense moments, Moge’s patience came to an end as he charged blindly into the cloud to slay the beast. Instead, it scooped up the raging barbarian trying to force him down its gullet. Hearing Moge’s cries for help, Essandri flung a second color spray into the cloud of fog in hopes of stunning the creature and making it drop Moge. Mel ventured in to retrieve the half-orc but found that the creature, far from stunned, was also perfectly capable of fighting blind. Avoiding its tentacles, he still managed to drag Moge to freedom. The party began to back slowly away but the worm pursued. It was fought to stand-still however, and Moge finally chopped of the creatures head sending it back to whatever dimension spawned it. They arrived none too soon as the cloister of the god of valor was found enshrouded by fog and was under attack by a band of sorcerers, psions, and sorcerer/psions. Mel was the first to enter the cloud and seconds later, the telltale shockwave of a mind blast was seen emanating from the center. Upon sighting this ill omen, Moge, Korvath, and Katie rushed in and a chaotic battle ensued in the midst of the murky fog cloud. The opponents were eventually overcome by the party’s efforts, their treasure liberated, and a young acolyte rescued. Some of the fallen psions babbled about the gate reopening and how their deaths were but temporary setbacks. Each wore a golden, gate-shaped amulet around his neck. The acolyte explained how she and her mentor had been minding the cloister when they heard a cry of distress out back. Her mentor had rushed to the rescue but after the fog cloud appeared the acolyte went to check on her mentor and was struck unconscious. She did recall something one of her assailants had said about needing to get rid of Alein the paladin before the gate could open. Since the paladin was nowhere to be seen, at least one cultist had managed to escape. No tracks were found, but Mel could at least scent out her general direction. At this point, however, the party was running low on magic and retired to the smithy for the rest of the night hoping to hit the cultists hard after resting. 6 April 216B The following morning, the party awoke and the sharp-eyed Korvath managed to spot a were-rat skulking across the street from the smithy. Essandri rendered Korvath and Mel invisible and they set out after their quarry. Unfortunately, the rat heard their approach with his animal like heightened senses and ran off down an ally. Mel and Korvath pursued but more were-rats and a female barbarian poured into the alley from behind revealing the set-up as a trap. Moge, spellbound by the female barbarian rushed into the fray eager to engage her. Katie, Alex, and Essandri followed Moge albeit more cautiously. Alex split the combat in half with a patch of grease and while Mel and Korvath dueled the original were-rat and barbarian, the other two were-rats engaged the rest of the party. The were-rats were soon slain although Katie was bitten and Alex needed to create a ladder so Moge could pursue a fleeing rat onto the rooftops. The last foe standing was the barbarian who offered to surrender but was hesitant to let herself be disarmed. She fled down the street only to have Moge jump from a roof and tackle her. Moge pinned her down while Korvath and Katie tried to subdue her with the hilts of their swords. Unfortunately Mel also tried to ‘subdue’ her with his claws but instead severed several of her more important arteries. Some of the party whistled casually and stepped back into the smithy while the rest looted their victims. Upon removal of the barbarian’s chain mail, she was discovered to posses bat-wings and thus fiendish blood, a fact which greatly assuaged everyone’s pangs of conscience. The town guard came to investigate but were smooth talked by Korvath and Alex, and became quite impressed by the deeds of the party. Later that day, everyone proceeded to Shoomma’s to discuss recent happenings. The venerable dwarf was familiar with the gate-cult and knew their hangout to be a bookstore called the ‘Reality Wrinkle’. One of the merchants Shoomma worked with had one of his children fall in with the cult for some time but was rehabilitated. The party was also directed to speak to a half-orc adept named Foora if they desired information on South Spur, a suspected hotbed of were-rat activity. Foora was known to keep track of events in the cities poorest quarters. Tracking down the former cultist, the party acquired a pass phrase that could get them in the door if they should so desire. This phrase also allowed Alex to access the stored power of a crystal capacitor taken from the cultists. Much discussion ensued upon whether or not to burn down the Reality Wrinkle although the general consensus was that it was more valuable in its un-oxidized state. ENDED (6th April 216B) NEXT TIME : Storming the Reality Wrinkle REWARDS ------- 1750 Experience to all Present. Experience Bonuses ------------------ +150 Alex (Summary) (experience for session was boosted a little all around)