| Forgotten Realms Campaign 2001 1 October, 2001 |
Player Characters
The party arrived in Scornubel the evening of 17 Eleint. Fraugh took his leave of the party, and wandered off.
The next day, Mills checked in at the local of temple of Helm. There he was approached by a man named Visur who was hiring clerics of Helm. He represented a noble who was heading back to Waterdeep with a recently acquired item. The item had certain "superstitious rumors" attached to it, and the noble wanted to augment his normal bodyguards with clerics of Helm for the trip back. When Mills mentioned that he had companions he was travelling with, Visur included passage and board for his companions as part of Mills payment. So Mills accepted. Visur told Mills that the caravan would leave on the morning of 21 Eleint.
Thartok spent the day shopping, re-acquiring the items that had been destroyed by the dragon's fire. Sam and Hoshi did a bit of shopping also, but Hoshi was interested in some "less common" items that weren't generally available. So Sam took Hoshi "skulking" with him, looking for a contact with the local underworld.
A young man announced himself to Sam, indicating that he had recognized the halfling from a description he had overheard. With some coaxing, the young man told Sam that someone from Waterdeep had fingered Sam as "available for a job", indicating that Sam owed a "debt" back in Waterdeep that would make him willing.
The day before they were to leave, the young man again contacted Sam. This time, he told him that a woman had been asking about the halfling. Also about one of his companions, "the outdoorsy elf".
On the morning of the 21st, the caravan headed out. The party accompanied Viraad of Waterdeep's entourage of 4 wagons, which travelled with a much larger merchant caravan. Mills was assigned the midnight-to-6am shift.
During the day, both Sam and Thartok heard messages come as if from nowhere.
That night, after midnight, Sam was awakened by a woman with long hair and striking features. Her eyes were her most noticeable feature, even in the dark. She motioned that Sam should follow her, then lead him into the dark, away from Viraad's wagons.
Introducing herself as Deena, the woman told Sam that she needed him to steal what the nobleman was carrying: an ancient book. She described the book to Sam, and also described a gold ring that would be with the book. Sam could take the ring as payment for the job, but he had to turn over the stolen book to Deena.
Sam agreed to do the job, though he was getting tired of hearing about his "debt" back in Waterdeep. Deena told him that he would know when to steal the book, and then left him.
Heading back to his tent, Sam encountered some foul-smelling, rotting creatures among the wagons. The creatures attacked him while he retched, incapacitated. With assistance from one of the other clerics working for Viraad, the creatures were dispatched.
At the wagons, Mills saw a group of ghouls led by a ghast. He quickly destroyed them. Hoshi rushed to help other wagons that were being similarly attacked.
The next day, the 22nd, Viraad and Visur had an argument with the caravan master. They were allowed to remain with the caravan, but Viraad's wagons would have to be at the end of the train. And at night, when the caravan wagons parked, the nobleman's wagons would be on the outer perimeter.
Mills and the other clerics met with Viraad and Visur to discuss more ways to more thoroughly guard the book. Mills examined the book, and saw that it was magical, but mostly neutral in alignment, though there was a taint of evil. Mills argued that it was possible that the creatures were not drawn to the book so much as simply determined to steal it.
Throughout the day, Sam surreptiously examined Viraad's main wagon, looking for alternate ways to enter.
After dark, wolves began howling around the caravan wagons. Still waiting for word, Sam examined the main wagon under cover of night.
Thartok was awakened by a woman smiling down at him. She looked at him intensely for a few seconds. Then she told him to go back to sleep, and he did.
On the third day of the journey, wolves were spotted in the hills and woods on both sides of the road. And they would occassionally howl.
After dark, the wolves again took up howling all around the caravan. After midnight, the howling intensified, and then there was a rush of wolves and dire wolves attacking Viraad's guards. Sounds of attack could also be heard at other points around the parked wagons.
Mills, Thartok, and Hoshi rushed to attack the wolves, while Sam received the signal that he was to steal the book now.
Mills and Thartok stood side-by-side, defending the wagon--but then Thartok began attacking Mills. Mills was forced to deal with Thartok before he could do anything more. During his, Mills noticed a woman standing behind the wolves that were fighting with the other clerics. The woman disappeared seconds later. Hoshi stood with a couple of Viraad's guards as they were collectively shredded by a huge dire wolf.
Sam's signal was that he was suddenly invisible. Taking advantage of that, he went to the door of the wagon and began picking the lock as the battle raged and growled around him. He opened the door wide, and was nearly hit by a bolt from a crossbow. Viraad was sitting on a small stack of chests on the far wall, trying to reload his crossbow.
Sam visually checked the room, picked a small chest in the corner as a likely target and went to get it. Deena suddenly appeared in the wagon, standing in front of Viraad. She gazed at him intently, and then asked for the book. Viraad, a silly smile on his face, stood up and handed her one of the chests he had been sitting on. She thanked him, smiling, and disappeared again. When she smiled, Sam saw that she had prominent fangs. Viraad sat back down, still wearing that silly smile.
Since the nobleman didn't seem to notice him, Sam pushed the small chest he had picked into his bag of holding, then ran from the wagon. The battle was ending as the surviving wolves and dire wolves ran away. Sam stabbed at wolf corpse a couple of times with his dagger, then ran his head into a wagon.
Thartok and Viraad had to be bound to wait for the next morning when the clerics could attempt to disenchant them. And several of the guards were going to need to be raised from the dead.
Everyone who wasn't dead was healed up and then there was nothing to do but wait for morning.
Everyone received 4500 XP. Hoshi, Mills, and Sam all became Level 10. [an error occurred while processing this directive]