| Forgotten Realms Campaign 2001 22 October, 2001 |
Player Characters
On the morning of 7 Marpenoth, the party came down to breakfast to find a lean, young man, obviously from Amn, waiting for them. Addressing Hoshi, he introduced himself as Grireth. Grireth told Hoshi that he is needed by his order back in Amn. Hoshi departed with Grireth in short order.
During breakfast, Sam overheard another traveller asking the hotel's concierge the directions to the "Northern Imports Warehouse", which is the "front office" for Sam's guild. Curious, Sam introduced himself to the traveller and offered to take him there. The traveller, a young man in his mid- to late-twenties, told Sam he was Alamar, from Baldur's Gate, delivering a letter to "Artemas Harold of the Northern Imports Warehouse". Alamar accepted Sam's offer and introduced the halfling to his peculiar pet, Leaf, a pseudodragon nearly as tall as Sam.
Sam lead Alamar to the Northern Imports Warehouse. While waiting in the receiving area of the office, Chidia arrived and immediately jumped into Alamar's lap. Chidia took care of Alamar's "lizard-cat" when Harold called Alamar into his office.
Alamar delivered the letter he had been paid carry from Baldur's Gate. Harold read the letter, and dutifully signed a receipt for Alamar to receive the rest of his courrier fee. Then Harold sent Alamar out, asking him to send in Sam.
Harold told Sam he had a job for him. "Take Alamar and your friends tonight and check out Drew's Curios and Oddities. Don't take anything. Just case it out. Use your friends as a distraction." Sam was confused about why he should take anyone, least of all Alamar, but he shrugged and agreed to do it.
Back in the receiving area, Sam rounded up Chidia and Alamar, telling them he wanted to go shopping and curious if they wanted to go along. They agreed, and the group of them went back to the hotel to find Mills and Thartok.
After Sam had left the Noble Stag with Alamar and the man's odd pet, Mills and Thartok had headed over to the temple of Helm in the Northern Ward. Mills wanted to check in with the local temple, and Thartok had nothing better to do.
Mills met with Cadareb, an officer in the temple, while Thartok took a tour. Cadareb and Mills swapped information. Cadareb told Mills of increased vampire activity within the city, and Mills related his encounter with vampires on the trip to Waterdeep.
Thartok had finished his tour of the temple when Sam, Chidia, and Alamar showed up. A few minutes later Mills came out.
Sam re-iterated his desire to "go shopping" and convinced everyone to come along. So he lead the party back to the Trades Ward, to Drew's Curios & Oddities...which had a sign stating that it was open nightly from sunset to midnight.
With time to wait, Alamar offered to take everyone out to dinner. They let Chidia choose the restaurant, and she chose well.
After sunset, the party headed back to Drew's Curios & Oddities so that Sam could do some shopping. The store really was filled with curios and oddities. To the more martial-minded Mills and Thartok, the knick-knacks and paraphenalia lining the shelves were interesting, but hardly useful. Alamar found a magically scented brooch that he liked and purchased.
As the rest of the party milled around and occuppied the attention of Vali, the store owner, Sam and Chidia "cased the joint" as best they could in full sight and without drawing attention to themselves.
After leaving Drew's, the party stopped for a late supper and a couple of drinks on their way back to their hotel. Leaving the bar and heading back to the Noble Stag, the party soon found themselves on a short stretch of deserted street.
A man appeared in front of them, and then a man and woman appeared behind him. The two in the back looked feral, and exposed fangs in a hungry, unfriendly smiles.
The man yelled out, "Tell Harold to back off, Sam. Or to join us. There is nothing for him to gain by losing any more operatives."
Then the trio disappeared and a swarm of dire rats attacked the party from both sides.
The party made short work of the rats, though Alamar did get scratched slightly, and whined about that all the way back to the hotel. Chidia, Sam, and Alamar retired to their rooms as soon as they returned to the Noble Stag, but Mills and Thartok stayed up to have a few drinks.
A low-ranking officer of the Guard showed up to ask Mills and Thartok about the attack.
Close to midnight, Mills and Thartok went to bed.
Everyone received 3000 XP. [an error occurred while processing this directive]