by Viper on Sat Oct 09, 2004 10:24 pm
OK here's the part 2 recap for those who missed...
Ebontigress, spurred by a vison of the gang being in trouble, arrived in the vault just minutes after the fight with Ald Morg ended, and assisted Mr Greaves in treating Jason's wound. Through a combination of medicine, magic, and painkillers, they were able to reduce his combat penalties a bit, though he's going to have to keep his head out of danger for a while.
As Igor was fiddling with the vault door, and Lawren was searching through the room for clues as to who took the treasure, the sounds of many footsteps on the stairs are heard, obviously the dead guards and open trapdoor have been discovered.
A few tinkering rolls and the vault door is closed, and Igor removes a few key bits from the locking mechanism to keep it that way. With little choice, the party heads into the newly excavated cave. Jason warns the rest of the group not to take any of the gold from the trail that leads down the corridor; he says that once they get back to Kryge and claim the treasure was stolen, he will have them searched, and if he finds the gold on them, he'll think they double-crossed him. Though Maggie was not present, I decided it was in Lethal Linda's character to pick up the gold anyway, just making sure that Jason didn't see.
The corridor went a short way vbefore opening up into a wider cavern with a number of basalt pillars in it. As the Jason advanced into the darkness, he noticed a small clicking sound. He looks up just in time to avoid being pounced upon by something. He runs off, and it is not until he enters the torchlight that the group gets a look at his pursuer. It is a giant spider, about the size of a rottweiller, made entirely of metal with gleaming crystals for eyes, and a sharp set of metallic pincers for a mouth. In addition, it's two foremost legs are as sharp as swords. Jason does a baseball slide near Igor, who blasts the thing with his shard gun. The blast glances off the armored skin, but dents it enough to make it weaker. Lawren draws a bead with his arrow, while Tigress retrieves the closest thing to a melee weapon she has in her bag, which turns out to be a cooking pot. Jason gets inside on the beastie, and tries to get it in a lock- unfortunately the spider is quicker, and locks it's own jaws around his arm. While it has him pinned, it sinks one of it's blades into his shoulder, causing a superficial wound.
Lawren lets fly an arrow, further damaging the armor, then drops his bow and draws his sword. As Igor reloads his gun, a cable flies out of the darkness- it's barbed end sticks on him, and he is yanked off his feet towards the darkness. He drops the gun and goes for his knives. Tigress takes a swing at the spider, but misses. Jason manages to score a midi wound on the beast, quickly followed by another from Lawren's sword. Gears and springs start to pop as the spider's delicate insides go haywire.
Igor is still being pulled, and tries to cut the cord to no avail. Tigress grabs onto him and tries to help him resist the tug. Meanwhile, Jason rushes off towards the source of the cable, which he believes to be a man, but turns out to be another spider. Not wasting any time, he dives into combat with the thing, landing two superb hits in succession. Lawren, meanwhile, takes out his aggression on the incapacitated spider, smashing it into bits, to Igor's dismay. As Igor recovers, Lawren gives the same treatment to the second spider, and Igor berates him further. One thing they notice befor the things are destroyed is that the abdomen is mostly empty space, as if it were made for storage. GOLD STORAGE, IGor conjectures. He salvages what he can from the wreckage, and the group moves on.
They come to a chasm, and Jason climbs to the ceiling and affixes a rope to a crag of rock, allowing the group to swing across in succession. They pick up the trail of coins no long after, and after scounting down some tunnels, follow it to it's end, where another spider, apparently with a leak, digs into a pile of rubble. They reach it just as it moves out of reach, in a tunnel to small for them to fit in, that is filling in with more debris in any case. Searching the other tunnels, They discover a mysterious stone door, and a room with a chimney vent that goes up, up, up. Possibly where the spiders entered?
In any case, there is one unexplored passage, which Jason and Lawren creep down, following a mysterious racket that is growing louder as they approach. They enter a chamber just in time to see the back end of a spider, this one roughly the size of a buick, dig it's way into the back wall. They back away slowly, and when it has gone, return to look at the hole, which seems to have been filled in by smaller spiders as the great one passed through.
Proceeding to the stone door, Igor figures out it's opening mechanism, but is unable to operate it. Jason pushes him out of the way and picks the lock handily. The door slides open, and Jason dcouts ahead, comint to a T intersection. Down the left path, he finds a water well, with intact bucket and crank- obviously maintained by someone. He drops a coin in and makes a wish, succeeding in a perception test that allows him to catch an echo of the fickle laughter of the gods.
Down the other fork are more stairs, leading down to a twisty set of passageways beset by traps, first arrows, then scythes, then crushing blocks. The arrows are avoided by Igor going first, as when he triggers them, they sail right over his head. He discovered the scythe pressure plate before triggering the mechanism, and marked it out with chalk for the others to avoid. He did miss the crushing block trigger, however, and it took some fancy acrobatics on Jason's part to get through and release the mechanism on the other side.
Having passed through the gauntlet, the group emerges into a gigantic chamber that stretches nearly a hundred feet across, and goes on as far as the eye can see in either direction. A pale light filters down, which turns out to be the moon shining through a series of grates hundreds of feet above their heads. There is a stone bridge leading to another tunnel ahead of them, and many more stone bridges and catwalks criscross the vast expanse, above and below. Beneath them is a rushing torrent of foul smelling water, and a streetwise check reveals this place to be Murkbottom, into which all of the city's sewers empty before being dumped into the river. Rumors persist of various groups operating down here, but nothing concrete.
As the group passes over the bridge, they spy a light in the far tunnel. As they approach, they see that it is a lantern, held by a rather old gentleman in a butler's uniform. He holds the lantern in one hand, and a walking stick in the other.
"Greetings, gentlemen, and ladies," he says "You are expected."
Letting this sink in for a moment, he then asks them to follow, which, being at a loss for other options, they do. As they pass into the tunnel, Jason notes from the corner of his eye that they have been covered by crossbowmen on the upper tiers the entire time they were on the bridge.
Th old man leads them through a series of twisting passageways to a set of doors, and then through a series of rooms to a dining hall where a great feast has been laid out. Exotic foods of all description, things only rich people eat, all is there for the taking. The butler instructs them to eat, that their host will join them shortly. Tigress checks the food for poison and finds none, and the characters begin to tuck in, except for Lawren, who paces the room and refuses to sit.
After a bit, the doors open, and their host enters the room, flanked by a servant. Tall, pale, and richly attired, his burning green eyes, shimmering black hair and pointed ears mark him as an elf. He smiles wickedly at their gasps and takes a sip of red wine. His face quickly turns to one of disgust, and he smashes the glass into the face of the servant, who collapses to the floor holding his mouth.
"I said the '77" the elf growls, before resuming his pleasant demeanor and sinking into chair at the head of the table. As he sits, all begin to grow uncomfortable. It is as if the room has grown dimmer, the air hotter and heavier. Their appetites wane, and all begin to feel uneasy. Igor lights a cigarette to calm his nerves. Lawren regards the elf with smoldeirng hatred, his violet eues burning as bright as candles. The elf regards him with a bemused grin, and asks, "Whatever is the matter?"
upon receiving no reply but a further glower, the elf continues, "Are you angry, perhaps, because you imagine it was me, or perhaps one of my men that ravaged whatever gods-forsaken village you come from and raped your grandmother, giving you those precious eyes?"
It is the last straw for Lawren, who leaps at the elf. Jason tries to restrain him, but Lawren is too quick. He barely takes two steps before the elf, moving with blinding speed has his hand around Lawren's neck. He squeezes but a bit, and advises Jason that his friend will either sit down, or lay down. Jason grabs Lawren and holds him back, ushering him to a seat and placing himself between the two. For the rest of the conversation, Lawren throws out insults and japes at the elf, which fail to faze the fey creature in the slightest.
The elf, whose name is Midvalley, has been aware of their activities for some time. He knows of their contract, and knows that they are now in a predicament, for they have nothing to give Black Mol for her share of the loot. He says he knows who stole it out from under them, and that they now have a common enemy.
He tells them of one Ar Kazem, a souk smuggler who has formed a partnership with the Redeyes, the most powerful gang in dockside. He supplies them with prodigous amounts of Skarm (a speed-like drug), and they provide him with protection. It turns out Midvalley is a smuggler as well, and the competition is threatening to flare up into open hostility. Jason's ears prick up at mention of the Redeyes- it is his life's mission to bring them down.
Midvalley says this can be accomplished by simply hijacking their monthly Skarm shipment. The Redeyes use so much of it, he doubts they have a sizable stockpile, and even a week without a steady supply will give their many enemies enough time to mobilize.
He tells them there are only two people who know when and where the shipments come in; Jhergal, who leads the gang, and Ar Kazem. Jhergal resides in the House of Shrouds, a dillapidated mansion in Dockside's center that is the Redeyes headquarters. Ar Kazem is a noted machinist, and a suspected sorceror. He is known to keep a laboratory at the house, but does not live there. No one knows where he lives- for he travels by coach, and all who try to follow inevitably wind up in the hands of Happy Jack, Ar Kazem's silent, hulking bodyguard, who never says a word and never leaves his master's side.
In any case, Ar Kazem will likely meet the shipment as it arrives. The key to finding out the shipment's arrival is in the House of Shrouds, where Jhergal undoubtedly keeps a ledger of some sort.
Midvalley wants them to hijack the shipment, and dispose of Ar Kazem. He knows he will never eliminate the Souk as competitors, but he wants their partnership with the Redeyes ended.
In return, he will allow them to keep anything of Ald Morg's hoard they can recover, and offers to buy the hijacked skarm from them for a tidy sum (Note: I think I forgot to mention this, sorry guys. Anyway, he makes it known that this is the case)
Igor asks how Midvalley knows it is Ar Kazem who stole the hoard, and Midvalley replies that he has a penchant for spiders, and a penchant for machines. In any case, he has been digging for weeks, plenty of time for Midvalley to discover the truth. Lawren asks why the mighty elf couldn't stop Kazem from stealing the gold, and Midvalley says he has no interest in such a small sum, and that in any case, he needed the services of some independent contractors more.
Jason says he has been trying to get into the house of shrouds for sometime with little success, and asks Midvalley if he can tell them anything useful. Midvalley says he may recall a way into their cellars, and will have a map drawn up and have Squib deliver it to them, along with any other pertinent information.
The deal struck, Midvalley summons his majordomo, who escorts the group out. As they leave, Lawren spits on the food in front of him. Midvalley gives a bit of a laugh, and calls after them, "Say hello to granny for me!"
The old man leads them up through an even more confusing series of passages, making sure they are thoroughly confused by the time they emerge into a cellar through a secret door. As he leads them to the street, Lawren asks "Why would you work for a filthy, rotten elf?"
The man looks him up and down and says "Why does anyone work for anyone?", and leaves.
They discover they are but a few blocks from the eel, and return there to make plans. They have a couple of weeks before the next shipment, and the remainder of the session was sent brainstorming ideas for Igor to invent, and Jason fighing a prize fight to pick up some extra cash.
