Report-92 - The Wanted Posters

Everlund, Tanner's Row — August 1367. The fight at Grimble's Tannery continues from round 4 and winds down into a tense conversation.

Where we left off

The upper floor of the tannery was still thick with Rudi's fog. Of the four patrolmen, one was frozen into an ice statue, the crossbowman was down, and the other two were badly hurt by their own leader's Cone of Cold. The masked man had withdrawn to a corner. One patrolman was holding the bound Harl Grimble.

Round 4

The crossbowman was not out after all. Fighting blind in the fog but with his comrade at his side, he swung his longsword at the nearest shape — and landed a brutal critical blow on Myrbec's head. Myrbec's left ear was cut clean off. (Permanent: opponents approaching from that side now have the advantage.) At the table this was noted as carrying on a fine old tradition from Cain.

The patrolman was startled at the sight of an ear flying past and his next swing went wild into the fog. By then Myrbec was no longer in the same spot.

Myrbec cursed telepathically to the others, clutching the side of his head. He thought: "We've all seen a lot, but this — this has never been heard of before."

Myrbec's anger now had a clear target: this was the same man who had shot the sparrow. It became a matter of principle — an eye for an eye. After a long moment's thought, Myrbec called down a Moonbeam (4th level) on the crossbowman. A pale column of moonlight cut through the fog and burned him to the floor.

Rudi then stopped to think things through, and told the others telepathically:

• He had let himself be swept up in Myrbec's mood, but this was Rudi's home town.
• One sparrow for five human lives wasn't much of a balance.
• The masked man clearly didn't care about his own men, which undermined any claim that this patrol was acting legitimately.
• The fog also meant Harl had probably seen very little.

(Rudi had earlier joked that the bag of holding wouldn't hold that many bodies. It wouldn't.)

Rudi then teleported across the room. He chose the empty landing at the top of the stairs, right next to the upper door and behind the masked man. That door leads out onto the roof of the neighbouring building, not to a floor above. Rudi stayed visible.

The patrolman holding Harl pulled out a whistle and blew a loud, piercing blast. The party had never heard that kind of whistle in Everlund before, and Myrbec didn't like the sound of it at all. Reinforcements are likely on the way. The patrolman then disappeared deeper into the fog with his prisoner.

Lambert moved quietly through the murk to the vat in the upper right corner. His blindsight showed him ten feet ahead, and his Cloak of the Raven helped cover the noise of his armour. The masked man was still listening to his mind, so Lambert kept his thoughts plain: "I'm moving over there. This armour is probably making a racket." He tried to force the intruder out of his head, but failed even with his tactical training. Someone was still in there.

The masked man turned and looked straight at Lambert through the fog. He spoke:

"I still see something in you I can't quite place. It bothers me. But we will meet again soon. Try to stay alive until then."

He spoke a single word — no gestures, nothing else — and a portal opened. He vanished, and took the patrolman and Harl Grimble with him.

That was a blow: Harl was the reason the party came here. They had followed the trail of the artifact — the holy symbol — and the masked man had said he was looking for confiscated items. Harl, or something he knows, may be what the masked man wanted.

The last patrolman standing blew his own whistle hard and backed away toward the corner where the masked man had been. There was nobody there any more.

Round 5

Myrbec moved the Moonbeam to just inside the double doors, a wall of light ready for anyone who answers the whistles. Then Myrbec walked from corner to corner and found the last patrolman by feel. "Better stop blowing that whistle, if staying alive is still of interest."

Lambert told the others what he had seen: the masked man was gone. Rudi dropped the fog.

The conversation

Rudi took the lead with the remaining patrolman, keeping it reasonable: "Are you really here on the Grand Duke's business? Some people pretend to be what they're not. If we can sort that out, everyone gets off more lightly." (Persuasion 20.)

The patrolman answered that they serve the Watchful Order, and through it the Grand Duchy.

Lambert walked up openly and calmly to point out a fact for the record: the crossbowman wasn't dead, merely "temporarily in dreamland." With the masked man gone, the Detect Thoughts on Lambert finally ended.

The patrolman was hurt, mostly from his own leader's Cone of Cold, but not on death's door. He studied the party warily, then said that all of them were currently wanted, and that he was carrying posters drawn from their likenesses. Looking at Myrbec, he added that there were subtle differences: according to eyewitnesses, Myrbec should be much bigger.

He lowered his weapons without letting go of them. He wasn't ready to fight to the death, but he clearly knew the law was on his side — and that he was outnumbered.

Myrbec cast Mass Cure Wounds over the room, healing the party and the surviving patrolmen alike. The crossbowman was brought back from the brink. The frozen patrolman stays an ice statue; that would take at least a Revivify.

Myrbec then said:

"There must be some misunderstanding. I hope that whoever comes through those doors gets to see the light of their life — which may not be pleasant. You got to experience pain, which wasn't pleasant either. And it did not come from us, but from your own leader. You say we're on some poster. Who put it out, for what purpose, and where? We are on a good errand, in the service of the Grand Duke, saving this realm. We have travelled a long way, and our journey certainly doesn't end here, on these rafters."

The patrolman dug five rolled sheets out of his pocket: wanted posters with charcoal portraits.

The posters

Myrbec — titled "Bane of the Fomorians."

Wanted: dangerously powerful, unregistered magic user. According to eyewitnesses an old, bearded, hooded wizard of powerful presence. Accounts vary greatly; some claim he is smaller than described. True name uncertain; uses several different aliases. Believed to command wild, unpredictable powers.

Rudi

Magic user of unknown origin. Young man, possibly of noble birth. Believed to possess unnatural or hereditary magical traits beyond normal spellcasting. Reported to spend time in the company of other unregistered magic users. The Watchful Order is very interested in his whereabouts and his origins.

Lambert

Large, fair-haired man of warlike bearing. Known to use both steel and sorcery in combat. Seen in the company of other magic users. Believed responsible for opposing the Watchful Order's lawful operations.

Pip Longspire

Young gnome, Everlund. Reportedly an unregistered magic user. According to witnesses, has endangered the lives of bystanders with uncontrolled magical outbursts. Do not approach. Reward for a confirmed location.

The name caught Myrbec's attention because of the surname.

Eram

Wanted for his own safety, to be taken into custody. Resident of the Utrummin conservatory, Silverymoon. Left under suspicious circumstances. Believed to suffer from magical symptoms that require specialist help. Reward for information on his whereabouts. You will not be blamed if you have unknowingly given him help or shelter.

The posters for the party all end the same way: Use extreme caution or do not approach. Report sightings to the nearest Watchful Order office.

When Myrbec asked who had issued them, the patrolman said they had come from above — from the Night Watch.

Inwardly, Myrbec was rather tickled by the titles ("Bane of the Fomorians" and the like), and by the confusion over whether he is huge or tiny.

Telepathically, the group compared notes:

• Myrbec asked what this Watchful Order was again.
• Rudi recalled that Malekith had represented them, so this was probably a legitimate operation. "They're heavyweights. We don't want to end up in some interrogation room." The Watchful Order regulates the use of magic, which in principle makes it an arch-enemy for unregistered casters like Myrbec and Rudi.
• Myrbec pondered the contradiction. The party is clearly acting with some authority, on missions given to them, yet the realm now forbids the very means they use. Should they simply go back and register?
• The rules have tightened considerably compared with before; all this news about registration is new. The deadline hasn't passed yet, though.

Rudi asked the patrolman aloud whether he had any explanation for his superior vanishing. Not really. The masked man is an inquisitor, a hunter of magic users. He doesn't speak to them unless he is giving orders, and they don't even know his name.

Rudi pressed on: by his own conduct, as they had all witnessed today, the man was willing to sacrifice his own troops. Did the patrolman have an explanation for that? "This was new to us." Their mission here, he explained, was to search for spell components. The Watchful Order now controls their sale, and they know components are being smuggled. Their information pointed to this place as one where such components could be found.

Rudi pointed at the frozen patrolman. "We don't even use the kind of magic that does THAT."

Lambert backed him up: nobody here had actually been killed by the party. The masked man was the real culprit.

We stopped there.

State at the end of the session

Two whistles have been blown, so more patrolmen may be coming. The room is no longer obscured.

Open questions

• Keep the Moonbeam at the door or drop it? Keeping it is a deterrent against reinforcements; dropping it is a gesture of goodwill.
• Find it and leave, or stay and talk? Myrbec can still cast Locate Object on the items they came for and then slip away. The alternative is to stay and try to settle things with the patrolmen.
• Where did the masked man take Harl, and why? He promised they would "meet again soon." Rudi could try visiting his dreams (Dream).
• The sparrow: the table seems to treat it as Myrbec's familiar. Myrbec can recast Find Familiar, which would also cover his new blind side.
• Pip Longspire's surname and its link to Myrbec's family history.
• Next session: tentatively Thursday 8.10 at 20:00.