The Side Quest Session 7

For our last two and half sessions or so, our intrepid adventurers have been in the land beyond the Moon Door. They’ve narrowly survived a rat infested inn (and demon possessed beast of a queen rat). Their luck did not hold quite as well when they encountered a vampire residing on a ship docked at the village’s pier. Half the party was slain. Then the party were subjected to the hospitality of the townfolk of Tepes and narrowly escaped the mob and then the wolves of the wood and even the vampire again…not without the loss of one more comrade, however. As we ended the last session, the party…sans Bulwein…had just passed through (and slammed shut) the Moon Door before the vampire could thin their ranks even more.

In this session, both RJ and Theo were missing and so it was a “girls’ night” of D&D with just Muse and Rachel playing. We also got started about an hour or so later than normal so it was a short session. This meant that Callie, Grim, Morgraen, and the currently unconscious Riordan all found themselves in a dark corridor on the “right” side of the Moon Door. As Grim summoned up some magical light, they found that Aelwulf, Lavinia, and Rurik had not appeared through the door. Concerned about the goblins that had always been found in this compound before, the conscious trio decided to make all due haste for the exit and then for Hell’s Haven.

As usual, my GM comments are in [brackets and italics].

The hallway that the group found themselves had changed some since they had last traveled this way. The sign “advertising” the “kikten” and inviting the adventurers to “dinner” was no longer in the hallway. In addition, the hallway was nearly sparkling clean. Callie took a quick listen at the “kikten” door and heard voices beyond but she could not make out what was being said. Assuming there were goblins, they quickly headed for the other door in the corridor.

As they continued to pass through areas that they had fought through before, they found no sign of the goblins and, even strangely, no sign of really anything at all. Everything had been cleared out of the chambers and hallways and they had all been scrubbed clean. Even the welcome mat which had hidden a small pit in front of the first door encountered when having entered the complex was missing. Clearly something had changed in the couple of days that they had been gone.

Rounding a bend, they spotted daylight and the exit from the compound. Hustling forward, they came to a complete stop as a cloaked and hooded figure stepped in front of the entrance. The figure welcomed them back from their recent adventures and indicated that he knew of their mission on behalf of Rowena Grayraven. Lowering his hood, the figure revealed himself to be a drow elf! Expressing regret at his lack of manners, he introduced himself as Chakos of House Cadryenne and inquired as to whether or not the party would be interested in selling him the topaz instead of taking it to Rowena.

Chakos offered ever increasing sums of exchange for the gem, going as high as 2,000gp (or ten times what Rowena had agreed to pay) but the party declined each of his offers. Instead of being disappointed or upset, the party’s refusals seemed to please the drow and he indicated that he was happy to know that they would hold to any deals that they made and asked if they might be interested in doing some work for him. The party agreed to return and meet with him the following morning. Chakos stated that they could simply come back here and he would have some hobgoblins waiting to escort the party to him.

Hobgoblins? They party asked Chakos many questions. He suggested that Rowena was not exactly what she seemed and asked them in return if they had seen her without her veil hiding her face (the answer, of course, was no). He did not know what her faced looked like. Nor did he know what the topaz was beyond being magical. He simply wanted it because Rowena did. He bore them no ill will and would not attempt to take the topaz by force…he was civilized, after all. The hobgoblins work for him and had put the goblins in their proper place. Lastly, he was no threat to the party and they were free to go even if they did not wish to work for him…surface dwellers had so many prejudices towards his kind.

Chakos stepped aside and allowed the party to pass out into the valley. As they were leaving, he called for them and tossed them a small pouch containing a vial. He said it was for their unconscious companion and was a token of his goodwill. In exchange, he only asked that they be sure to tell their elven friend of who had provided them the potion (of healing). Riordan was revived after being administered the potion but news of its source wasn’t shared until later.

At Hell’s Haven, the party was subjected to the normal “search and seizure” of all the treasure and items that they brought back. The lead dwarf, apparently, had expected a different group’s return and was a bit surprised that it was the party returning. Nonetheless, he got down to business. Callie was a bit reluctant to let go of the topaz but the loaded crossbows pointed at everyone were quite persuasive. A new dwarf, named Raz, was in charge of this particular return. He let the party know what they had evaluated all of the items and offered to appraise everything…for a small fee of course…to help them decide how to give the dwarves their twenty-five percent cut as there were not enough coins to cover it. [The party had returned with nearly 2,000gp worth of treasure and goods and so Raz asked for 500gp…assuming his overall appraisal was legitimate.]

The party declined his offer and decided on their own. At first, they turned over both of the bejeweled robes and all of the coins they had brought back. Raz, however, questioned if they really thought they would cover their entry fee. This prompted the party to turn over the gold chain as well. Raz was quite grateful for the rather large “tip” that they gave, sharing that they had given about half again as much as was needed. With that, the party headed up to the common room for some food, rest, and a bath…not necessarily in that order.

They each purchased a new set of clothing, had their current clothing thoroughly washed, and bought five healing potions as well. As they were eating, Grim noticed that Rowena was standing just inside the door. There was a rather short interaction where Rowena’s utter lack of social skills and understanding of basic human interaction was quite apparent. She received the topaz and the party received the promised 200gp.

There was then another interaction that illustrated that Rowena is not the only “resident” of Hell’s Haven who lacks social skills. This time it was Kaplaw, the cook. He was so giddy that three of their companions had died that he could not contain his delight that he had prepared their last meals! [Actually, he hadn’t! Their last meal had been at the Silvery Eel.] He was so happy that he skipped back into the kitchen to prepare the survivors a special dessert!

Later, a rather disheveled and beaten up human came into the common room. [Perhaps he was from the other group that Raz had mentioned earlier.] He went off and sat by himself a distance away. When Callie attempted to start a conversation with him and invite him to join them, he leapt up and drew his sword–rather clumsily–and shouted for her to stay away from him and leave him alone. She did exactly that and was rather taken aback by this reaction.

The party spent the night in the common room (as did the lone human). In the morning, they enjoyed a specially prepared breakfast for them and Kaplaw wished them luck in dying with his meal being their last. They then set off for the goblin cave. As promised, they found some hobgoblins a short distance in. The hobgoblin leader was clearly hoping that the party was coming to fight and his grunts kept stating that they were being threatened but none really rose to that level…not even the threat of Callie’s dimples! The hobgoblins escorted the party back out into the valley and up to a higher cave. Within was a small chamber with double doors and, of course, a waiting Chakos.

The drow explained that he was seeking a set of books that belong to a wizard by the name of Castanamir. Chakos has access to the Archway…another of the magic doors in the valley…and it leads to a pocket dimension with an island. Upon that island is the home of Castanamir, a specialist in planar travel and teleportation. Beyond that, Chakos knows little more about the island. He had sent another group last season but they never returned. There are six books…he has a list of them…and Callie negotiated a fee of 150gp per book returned. Chakos also indicated that he would hold no ill will against the group if they failed in the mission, stating, again, that he was a civilized individual.

As far as Castanamir is concerned, outside of specializing in travel magics, Chakos did not know if he lived or not. He believed that the wizard was alive thousands of years ago but time does not work the same on the other side of every door. When asked if they would be able to read the title of the books to find the right ones, Chakos explained that when one passed through a door, they gained the ability to understand the most common language spoken in the place that they arrived.

Intrigued by this new information, Riordan retrieved the book that they had found in the temple below the Silvery Eel inn and showed it to Chakos. Like the party, he was unable to read it. He offered, however, to take the time to study it and see if he could figure out how to translate it if Riordan would leave it with him. The elf actually agreed. Riordan’s drive to learn new knowledge is even stronger than the enmity of his and the drow’s peoples.

With that, Chakos (and the hobgoblins) led the party to the Archway, deeper in the compound in this new “cave” of the valley. The Archway turned out to be just that…an archway. Set in a wall, it was filled with blackness and nothing more. There was no apparent lock and Chakos said that it was already open. He then handed Riordan the list of six books [which yours truly still needs to come up with.] Riordan stuck his arm through. It passed freely with no ill effect and so he walked through, disappearing into the blackness. The others quickly followed.

It felt no different than simply steeping through a normal archway but in one step, Riordan was in a different place. Strong winds whipped at him, nearly knocking him from his feet. Nearly vertical rain lashed at his face, nearly blinding him. He stumbled forward as the others came through the Archway. It was quite apparent that they needed to find shelter and quickly. No structures were within the limited view. The ground was rocky and muddy with no obvious vegetation. As there was nothing to indicate what direction to go, the party traveled directly away from the Archway after lashing themselves together with rope so they would not get separated in the storm.

After just a short distance, Grim spotted a depression in the ground. Investigating further, the group found a shaft, some ten feet across, leading directly down. Stone stairs circled down around the outer edge of the shaft. Water cascaded down them. As good an option as any, the party carefully started down the stairs. Some thirty or forty feet down, the stairs came to an end and a corridor led off. Splashing through the pooling water at the bottom, the short corridor ended in an archway that was very similar, if not nearly identical, to the one that had brought them to the island. With his curiosity and thirst for knowledge already piqued, Riordan barely hesitated before stepping through the archway’s inky blackness. The others, lashed to him, followed right behind.

[That is where we ended the session. This session was kind of a transition session with a good amount of housekeeping. Muse and Rachel had no problems with a session like that and, even though there was really very little action and no combat, there was a good bit of socializing. Oh, and roleplaying too, of course.

Lastly, at the risk of repeating myself from week to week, we still have room for another player at our table. If anyone in Tallahassee is interested in joining a relatively regular Saturday gaming group, just post a comment here.]