Wiki of The Dungeoneering Crew

Session 13, Sir Evan and The Investigation

Paldegora

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Session 13 – 2023-03-04

= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =

Well, last telling had quite a lot of things happen. It ended with the death of Sir Charles, even though there were two priests on hand which could have saved him. He was so anti-magic that he wouldn’t allow them to try. He did at least, pass the reins of leadership on to Captain Evan Murdock. They also found the stiff and lifeless body of Rogard just inside the secret door to the tunnels the goblins and kobalds had built. This was a huge turn of events. Now I will tell you how this affected the Town of Frosthaven and what our adventurers learned from it all.

We started at the secret door to Sir Charles home from the underground tunnels. Rogard was laying there stiff as a tree and foam coming out of his mouth. Sir Evan had us stay back in the cellar while Lt. Wright joined him. They drew their swords and examined the room. They both turned and moved further down the tunnel, out of site. “Kobalds! Unbelievable, kobalds!”, is what they heard next as Sir Evan discovered the first set of kobald corpses we left there. Sir Evan said, “Come with me, let’s go back!”. They returned and Evan ordered Lt. Wright to go upstairs and get some blankets and sheets to wrap up the body and remove it to the jail and put it in a cell until he has time to get Father Nathanial to come and look at it. Also have one of the guards upstairs get Sergeant Harris to get every available man and bring them here. Lt. Wright took off and Evan approached Elmer and the party and asked them to go to the main dining room and wait for him there. Angelique said, “Hold on! We came to find you and Sir Charles to have a talk with you.”. Evan tried to push that conversation off but Angelique was pushy and told him that what she had to say involved this area and what we found. Eryn added that it had to do with the kobalds, goblins, other things you are going to find down here. Evan said, “So obviously you guys are much deeper in this than I realized!”. Eryn added that, only in the fact that we went looking for whoever was stealing the chickens and stumbled across this whole underground sewer system and while in there, we ran into goblins, kobalds, a couple of hobgoblins, and some giant rats. The goblins had a plan, Angelique pulled out the note and passed it to Evan. Eryn told him, we were bringing this to Sir Charles, once we’d cleared out this threat. Angelique and Symon mention that there are two goblins tied up down the hall a ways. We kept those two alive so they could be questioned. Evan said, “Obviously, we have a lot to talk about.”, and he asked the party to wait in the dining room. Symon also brought up that there were a lot of traps and to be careful.

Elmer and the party went to the dining room and waited. Evan and his staff kept working on the problem. After a few minutes, we could hear them in the foyer as Evan told Lt. Wright to send two men to the secret door in the cellar, don’t allow it to shut, and kill anything that comes through it, he was going to send a team in there. The party heard the front door open and a bunch of people pour in. More soldiers they’d guessed. Eryn cracked the door open attempted to get Evan’s attention. Sgt. Harris asked Captain Evan what was going on and was told that Sir Charles was killed, murdered. Sgt. Harris and the soldiers with him were stunned. He told the sergeant about the secret passage in the cellar. He told him to hand pick a team to go into the tunnels to explore it. He also ordered that two guards be sent to the Temple of Phi, and make sure that Lady Mary and Lady Anne are guarded, they may be a target for whatever is going on. Eryn approached Sir Evan, apologized for interrupting him but wanted to give him the map of the tunnels that they had made. Guards start dispersing as Lt Wright came back in and said, “The body has been taken to the jail.”. Sir Evan then invited Lt Wright to join him as he talked to Elmer and the party to find out what they knew. In the dining room, Angelique asked Elmer who Agatha Loraine was. He told her that they were his two daughters that went missing when all the people up north vanished. Sir Evan and Lt Wright made their way into the dining area. Evan then asked everyone to have a seat. At that time, he took a moment and told Lt Wright that he was promoted to Captain and would assume his former duties. He told him that they’d do the formal stuff later but for now, let us resume dealing with this current crisis.

Evan turned to the party and said, “Now, I’d like to know everything that’s been going on here and what everyone knows. Some of it I know myself. I know the book was taken from the crazy man, I paid for it!”, as he points to the scar on his face. He said, “So please tell me what the hell is going on.”. Eryn suggested that Symon explain it. Symon started with, “Well, when we were in court, you might recall that a report was delivered about the disappearing chickens, and the 500gps reward for information about these disappearing chickens. So, we went on the hunt for the disappearing chickens. That took us to searching the outer area around the town which led us to an entrance to a cave down by the river.”. Eryn laid out the map and he pointed to its location. He continued, “We found some chicken feathers near the entrance.”. Evan stopped him and said, “That’s the old sewer drain from the town and it’s got a portcullis and a padlock.”. Eryn said, “On that day, it was not locked or closed and there were footprints around the entrance going in and out of it.”. Evan said, “Okay, go one!”. Symon continued, “We entered, long story short, we ran into giant rats. There was no surprise there, but then we came across goblins. We managed to capture a goblin that told us some of the elements of what was going on. He told us that they were digging for a Grish-ta-nak. The leader in the sewer was a hobgoblin named Skull Cracker. They were the ones taking the chickens. They had special footwear that masked their tracks. You’ll find chicken bones everywhere. They were here to prepare for an attack from the north. Grish-ta-nak was readying for an attack on the city.”. Francesca had taken notes on the conversation with the captured goblin and Symon asked her to read through them. She read, “They were here to prepare for an attack on the city. Grish-ta-nak wants to kill everyone and take the gold. Pasha and the elite goblins were ahead. Pasha carries Skull Cracker, there are also kobalds. They take chickens and eat them, putting chickens in bags and leave some feathers so that they’d think animals did it. They wear things on their feet to hide their tracks which is why no one could find tracks. We asked him about the missing people but he knew nothing about them. He said that Pasha was a hobgoblin, big and mean.

We asked what they were doing down here. He told us that we’re digging to a humans house, the big man. We took that to be Sir Charles.”. Evan said, “That would be sir Charles then, they’d dug that tunnel and built that secret door in the cellar. Elmer, have you ever heard the name Grish-ta-nak?”. Elmer replied, “No, but I’ll tell you this much, if you’ve got kobalds, goblins, and hobgoblins working together, somebody is controlling them. They don’t normally associate together like this. That is not good!”. Sir Evan agree, “Not good sat all, plus they are planning an attack on our town. They must have been operating down there for some time to be able to dig that out.”. Turning to the party and asked for the map. Eryn pushed It across the table to him. He looked over the map and said, “Wow, this is not good!”. Elmer said, “Grish-ta-nak, do you have any other information that we gleaned on who or what that might be?”. Symon said, “There is also someone named Bloodfist. The letter that Skull Cracker had said.”, he read the letter, “Grish-ta-nak says stay, hide, watch, and count. Will send others, make haste. When the orders come, kill the man leader first and then all others. Take stone house first. Make them dig tunnels faster.” it was signed, Bloodfist”. Symon said it appeared that Skull Cracker answered to Bloodfist who answered to Grish-ta-nak. Evan asked if they’d learned where they might be. The party told him that north is all we got out of anybody. Elmer said, “This is bad! I’ve had my suspicions that something was moving through the woods, coming south, for some time. This bares it out in the worst way. I don’t recognize the language or the term for Grish-ta-nak. Whether it is a proper name or a title. “. Sir Evan said that he hadn’t heard of that either. Evan continued, “Seems odd that the murderers of Sir Charles apparently came into the house that way.”. Eryn told him they must have because when we found the secret entrance, one of the things we determined is that you couldn’t open it from the inside. To leave that way, meant they had to come in that way first. Elmer agreed, ”That is a typical kobald construction technique. I’ve seen it before. They are very good at doing that sort of thing.”. Sir Evan asked, “So they were going to kill everyone and take the gold, is that’s what they were after?”. “Yes”, replied Symon.

Elmer said, “I'm not liking this at all.”. Symon asked, “Are there enemies to the north who would invade, armies, tribes, other countries or areas”. Sir Evan replied, “No, it's a wasteland to the north. There is nothing there anymore. Just ruins!”. Eryn said, “on our way here, we kept running into indications that there is a larger thief guild presence to the north. Maybe they are trying to make some kind of move to grab some power.”. Evan said that the thieves operation would not use goblins and hobgoblins for that sort of thing. They would do that themselves. This is very disconcerting! Francesca asks Sir Evan and Captain Wright if Father Nathanial does find out what killed the man downstairs, she would like to know what it was because our party had run into a couple of people on the way here that died in a similar manor. Evan said, “You have? He asked her to fill him in on that.”. Symon said, “We were hired to escort this caravan for Elmer, through the guild. We were on our way to here and near the Misty Pond, we made camp. We had people on watch that night, that heard, not far from the camp, the muffled scream of someone. We investigated and found a thief who had been killed. She had made it into our camp, stolen a bag from Francesca's belongings, got back out of the camp and then somebody killed her. There was a message on her that said, “Jade, If you fail, it's the top floor for you!”. Her throat had been slashed with something sharp. There were no tracks around the body. Whoever did this, didn't appear to take anything of hers or the bag she had taken from Francesca. She just simply was killed in place by someone untraceable. We continued on to Munville and asked the barmaid if she had seen this Jade before, and she had. She remembered her traveling through there with two unsavory looking men. The next morning, as we gathered for breakfast, the same barmaid told us that she had just seen the two men near the stables. We decided to have a word with them and when they caught sight of us, they tore out of town on horses riding north toward Udenvale. We had breakfast and then continued on to Udenvale.

We made it there and spent the night at the “Ye Old Slaughtered Goblin” tavern. We left there the next morning and headed to Frosthaven. On the way, we found a man on horseback, frozen like a stump, just like the man downstairs. We took the horse with him on it and continued on. That night while we camped, we had two people on watch and still did not see when someone snuck into camp, and took the body off of the horse and carried it away. We never knew they had been there until they were long gone. We found the horse empty, followed some tracks south, and then the rain got heavy and washed out the tracks.”. Evan asked Captain Wright and Emler if either of them had heard of something that would do that. Neither of them had but both agreed it's some very nasty stuff. Francesca continued the story, “The next day, as we were getting close to Frosthaven, we ran into another man sitting on a stump in the middle of the road. He gave us the sign for parley. We approached him and it turned out to be an ambush. We got his name, it was Rawlin. He accused us of killing Jade and the other man on the horse. He and a large group ambush us and they paid the price. The few that lived, scattered to the south. Evan asked how many there were. We told him five to seven, Eryn thought more like nine or ten. Evan and Captain Wright agreed it sounded like Rawlin and his merry band. Eryn did let them know that Rawlin is no longer a problem for anybody. There was a note that they’d found on Rawlin and they showed that to Evan. It said, “Rawlin, you and your bunch quit fucking around and get on with it.”. It was signed Theo. Evan handed the note to Captain Wright. Then he said, “Theo!”. Symon asked if that name meant something to them and Evan told him it did. Evan, looking at Captain Wright said, “This just confirms more of my suspicions. Theo is a captain of the guards at the prison. He works for Warden Blackmore.”. Captain Wright said, ” I told you there was a stink about them. I've suspected it for a long time. But still, this is not proof of anything other than they were working with Theo and he was in charge.“.

Symon pointed out that the Warden had a couple of guests that he was dining with, at the Dogg Butt earlier, when Mary came to get us. He was going to give them some sort of tour of the prison. Seemed like a business thing. Evan told the party that Warden Blackmore had contacts all over, in other areas of Valdornost, over toward the west and the Emerald Cost. He's had people come in who have run prisons and stuff like that, to consult on methods and things, or there may be something more to it. He said, ”My bet is that there is something more to it. Again, I don't have concrete proof. Charles trusted him, I never did.”. Francesca handed him a letter she thought he needed to see. The letter to Jade about, if she failed it would be the top floor for her. It was signed Theo. Eryn wondered, with Theo being the captain of the prison guard, if that meant the top floor of the prison. Evan said, that’s what he was thinking as well. Captain Wright asked how this all fit into Charles's murder. We pointed out that there are some very good assassins running around out there because they killed off Jade and her crew, two of them with the same method used on the man downstairs. Evan said, “Obviously, whoever did that also attacked and killed Charles.”. Symon said, “At the time we were wondering, who would have the ability to do this. This is a skillset beyond anything I've ever seen. I've only heard in legends.”. Elmer said, “From what I'm hearing, the level of these people is something beyond what most of us can handle. And, that tells me, from my experience in the past, that somebody powerful is behind these people doing this. But, I don't necessarily think that Blackmore has anything to do with this. Why would he kill Charles. If Blackmore is running some kind of operation out of there, it sounds to me like he's had it made here. Why would he kill Charles, it's like he'd be cutting of the hand that feeds him.”. Eryn asked, “Isn't Blackmore, Theo's boss? If Theo is running something out of the prison, wouldn't Blackmore know about it?”. Evan didn't think so but Symon pointed out, that Rogard was in the prison. How he got out, Evan has no idea. Francesca asked, “Could Theo have been able to let him out?”. Symon said, “Sergeant Harris came in to the Dogg Butt, just after Mary showed up to get us, to tell Blackmore that this Rogard fellow had escaped the prison. Apparently that happened quite recently as well.”. Captain Wright said, “It sounds to me like the assassins got him out.”. Sir Evan said, “That's very likely, that’s probably what happened.”. Symon added, “Because of the book!”.

Francesca asked, “But how did they get in the prison?”. Evan said, “That's a good question. It's one I want an answer to!”. Eryn said, “If Theo is working with whatever group this is, he could have let them in.”. Symon added, “They seem to be able to go where ever the hell they want so far, without being discovered. Perhaps they just got themselves in.”. Evan said, “It still doesn't add up to me. Maybe the book will tell us some things. Sounds like we need to go find this book.”. Elmer said, “Sir Evan, you must forgive me but from what I'm hearing here, and what's going on, whats coming down from the north, I need to get home. I'm worried about my wife, I'm an old man now, I don't do this stuff anymore. If there is anything else that you need form me, I'm willing to help you out and to help all of you”, looking at the party, “as well but I'd like to take my wagon and head that way as-soon-as possible.”. Eryn said, “we need to get our equipment back from the jail and leave with him to fulfill our duty.”. Evan said, “I completely understand Elmer. I don't blame you either, I would be worried as well.” Elmer said, “I left her there alone! She's pretty smart, we've both lived a long time, we know the signs of trouble. In general, she can take care of herself, from what I'm hearing here though, I'm probably going to get her and go to my cousins home, south. I think it may be time for us to get out of here.”. Francesca suggested that we go ahead and get the book. Sir Evan turned to Angelique and asked, “what is your name again?”. She answered, “Francesca!”. He asked her, “Francesca, I'm curious, why did Charles say that you were in danger.”. She answered, “I don't know either. You heard me ask him from what, but he never answered me.”. He asked her, “What connection do you have to all of this? I'm not accusing you of anything, I just thought it was very odd.”. She told him that she had felt she was being watched many times on this trip but doesn't know why. Maybe he knew something she didn't know. She's a priest but she's not a priest of Ahn. She's a priest of Nah. Eryn asked, “Is there a spell by which you can be watched from a distance?”. Symon said, “Of course! There are scrying spells!”. Eryn wondered aloud, “Could that be what you are feeling, someone watching you through a scrying spell? That might explain why you did't see anything but you felt it.”. Angelique answered, “I don't know!”.

Angelique looked at Sir Evan and said, very respectfully, “With all of the danger you've got coming, I think you might want to rethink your laws. You are going to need all the help you can get. You've got people in that prison, for using magic. You've got fighters in there. You might need to release them and get them ready to go. If we need to, once we get Elmer home, if you want us to come back, we can. But I think you need to rethink what Sir Charles did.”. Evan said, “Fortunately, I'm in charge now! Before, Sir Charles was my Lord Commander, and I didn't question his orders. I followed the laws that he laid down to the best of my ability. Personally, I thought those laws were over the top, especially in the magic use. Hanging somebody for thievery or murder, I'm happy to do it, but the magic I didn't understand. It has something to do with this book. We need to get this book. Maybe it will explain some things. Elmer, do you have time to stay while we do that?”. Elmer answered, “Oh yeah, I want to see it too!'. Evan said, “Good, but first I'd like to go upstairs and look through his office that was torn up, to see if there is anything up there that might tell us something. Would you all want to come help me with that?”. Angelique answered, “We could come help!”. Eryn asked about splitting the group and letting a few go to the Court Room and either search for the book or make sure nobody is there searching for the book. Have you had guards put there to protect the room?”. Sir Evan said, “Not yet! Let's do this first because I want to talk with you about something else.”. They all followed him to the upstairs office. It was a total wreck, stuffing cut out of chairs, furniture smashed, books are scattered all about, and there was a bloody mess too. Eryn looked at the chest and it had been broken open. It looked like the bags were still in there. Symon asked, “Were there any witnesses to this, the wife and daughter were home when this attack occurred?”. Evan said, “They were home, they heard a commotion upstairs, they came up and found him lying there, like he was trying to get out of the room, covered in blood. They helped him onto the bed, but they did not see anybody.”. After some searching, they found nothing of interest in there. Eryn noticed that at one point, there were no guards in the room and there was an open chest full of gold and gems sitting right next to her. Again, it’s not what she is here for. Besides, Lady Anne and Lady Mary will need that to sustain their lives with Charles’s passing.

They left the room and headed down to the foyer where Sergeant Harris had gathered his men and waited. Sir Evan handed Sergeant Harris the map that Eryn made and told him to go through the place and see what he can find and report back to him. He told him he would be at the jail. Angelique told them about the two living goblins we had left tied up and pointed out where we left them. Eryn told them about the levers, where they were and what gates they operated. Again, the map dIdn’t show the two secret rooms. They also point out that the hatch that leads to the cell in the jail. Sergeant Harris was shocked to find out about that. He took his men and set out to explore the tunnels. Sir Evan, Captain Wright, Elmer, and the Company left for the courtroom. As they entered the courtroom, they found two guards, one on either door. Evan excused the guards while Eryn and Cal-El began systematically searching the room. It didn’t take long before Eryn found a secret compartment under Sir Charles chair on the dais. She carefully checked it for traps. Not finding any, she opened the compartment and within, found an object wrapped in a cloth, tied with a string. She pulled it out and put it up on the desk and waited for Sir Evan’s approval before untying it. He told her to go ahead. She untied it and opened it to reveal a very old book. Symon watched Captain Wright and Evan’s countenance, trying to see if one of them had a reaction to it or if one of them was a doppelgänger or something like that. He saw nothing of interest as the book was revealed. It looked like it might be made out of some sort of leather but it was not specifically apparent what kind of leather. There was no writing on the front of it. Evan said, ”That’s the book I took off of Rogard!”. Eryn noticed that Elmer wasn’t armed. She asked him what his favored weapon was. He told her the long sword. She passed him one, just in case all hell broke loose, as she said, “Someone is killing people, hold on to this, if nothing else, to defend yourself.”. Eryn also pointed out that there was concern that Francesca is being spied on or watched, and that because of that, they may be under threat of attack. Sir Evan agreed. They decided to take the book to Sir Charles’s office before reading it. He wrapped up the book and took it into the office, ordering guards to stand watch just outside the room, closing the door. Eryn suggested that we line up and make an impassable line and move across the room looking for invisible folk. They found none. She then thought to use the sand in her pouch, and with Sir Evan’s permission, swirled, slinging a thin spray of sand through the air to see if it stuck to anything that we couldn’t see. It revealed nothing. They appeared to be alone. Symon said, “You know, with magic, I could have done that with much less mess. Sir Evan said that he didn’t agree with that law and plans to resend it. He said that if we have any items here, we were welcome to get them back.

They opened the book and started reading through it. Symon was shocked as he figured out what it was. The name he read is legendary. He said, “Oh my! I can’t believe what this is! This is the personal diary of the Grandmaster Wizard who was the second in line from the founding of the wizards guild, Azar! It appears to be a chronicle of when he met the Arch Mage of all time, the first wizard of Paldegora after magic came into the world, and his name was Tim Montague.”. Symon continued, “I don’t know if any of you know who Tim Montague was, he was the younger child and brother of the Montague family who were the most notorious and ruthless pirates of all time”. Eryn asked, “and he was an Arch Mage?”, to which Symon responded, “Yes, he was an Arch Mage!”. Cal-El recognized the name Montague from a sea ditty he grew up knowing. Cal-El got some paper and pen and wrote this out, “This is a sea song that I know from my childhood! The Pirates of Montague did pillage and plunder tis true, all but young Tim, hung with rope and pen, lost was his treasure too“. They started looking through it and it seemed to be a chronicle his time from meeting Tim, becoming his apprentice and studying under him. Then it moved to where they spent a lot of time on Montague Island which was the operating base for all of the piracy going on. Montague Island had since been lost. No one knew where it was. It disappeared and know one knew where it went. As they read through the diary, they got to the part where Sir Charles and others appeared to linger, the important part.

Diary

End of Diary