Session #12 - “Bitch in a Bag”

[Nathan Sherman]

Upon returning from their trip into the countryside for sightseeing and grave robbing, Paragon, Torgren and Hugh regrouped with Aruzmathel and Oliff in their quarters of House Quagen. Aruzmathel and Oliff were updated about the tomb and most importantly, about Paragon claiming the magical eye in a way that will make it hard to dispute its ownership by other party members. In addition to the treasures already mentioned in the previous summary, the three adventurers also found the following in the tomb: a Mask of Disguise, three potions of regeneration and a "Scroll of Identification".

The Mask of Disguise is a simple magical mask that alters the appearance of the face and hair, but no other features such as height and weight.

The Scroll of Identification will, to the best of its ability, identify the name and nature of any enchanted object placed on the parchment. Only objects small enough to fit on the parchment can be identified. The identification appears as text written below the item. It is unknown if the scroll has a certain number of charges and if so, how many are remaining.

Aruzmathel spent his week selling captured spell books to the Drakkel Wizards guild and searching for a scholar that could teach him one of the few magical codes he has not yet learned. His obsession with deciphering Huridian has lead him to learn Inedka, Iretic, Iskren, Parueli, Thullic, Kartese and now the Goblin magical codes.

During the storytelling and Aruzmathel casting covetous glances at Paragons left eye, the Master Chamberlin comes to our quarters and summons us to a meeting next morning.

When the party meets with the Master Chamberlin and The Master of Arm the next morning they are informed that their services are needed as body guards.

Three days from now House Bresslar will be holding it's annual ball. Lord Jandosh, a guild member of House Quaigen, has arranged the engagement of his daughter Natalia to a noble son and heir of House Bresslar. Natalia has several other suitors that might take offense to the engagement, most notably a young man from Prad Ironworks, and one from House Winari. There are concerns from House Quaigen that there might be an attempt on her life after the announcement so we are to be her bodyguards. The ball is very formal and no weapons or heavy armor will be allowed. We are all to be in dress cloths and be on our best behavior.

It's estimated that there will be about 100-200 guests, 50 servants, many personal bodyguards and house guards from both Bresslar and Quagen. There will be a large mid-evening show and following that will be the announcement of the engagement, bringing the two houses closer together in alignment.

Paragon suggests that the best way to protect a target is to remove the target. We should just "bag the bitch" till the announcement, let her out for that moment and then bag her back up, all for her own protection of course. Unfortunately, her presence is expected at the ball and the party decides against Paragon's repeated recommendations. Instead, we will just keep a close watch on everything and everyone at the ball.

On the day of the ball the weather turns bad and it starts raining. The party takes three coaches from House Quaigen to pick up the Jandosh family and escort them to the ball.

Once we meet the family, Aruzmathel casts an Extended Protection from Arrows on Natalia.

We arrange to have the mother, Natalia and her younger sister, Cassindri ride in the first coach with Hugh. Torgren rides with the driver of the coach, out in the rain. The 16 year old Cassindri quickly develops a crush on Hugh. In the second coach we have the father, their servant and Hugh with Aruzmathel ridding with the driver. Paragon rides in the third coach.

Once we get to the social hall, Aruzmathel dries himself and Torgren with a cantrip. The coin from the Drakkel Festival of the Coin is on display in the art gallery and Oliff heads off to view it.

Cassindri asks Hugh to dance with her and he can't refuse. Every party member gets plenty of distractions from their job of guarding Natalia during the night.

An old man with a white beard by the name of Rynbura comes up and asks to talk with Aruzmathel aside from the crowd a while. Aruzmathel tells him that he is working and would love to talk to him tomorrow at House Quaigen. He lets Aruzmathel know that he has heard of his groups skills and wants to hire them through House Quaigen and accepts the offer to come and meet with them tomorrow morning.

Oliff notices a Grum dancing troupe and watches them for a while. Oliff sees someone in black and gray talking to himself while watching Natalia. He lets the rest of the party know through the house rings about this and we all look for him. Aruzmathel casts an Extended See Invisibility on himself and scans the room. While looking for him, Aruzmathel spots an old man dressed in nice robes with Huridian symbols around the collar. Another fighter type man is striding towards him but Aruzmathel looses sight of them in the crowd.

Oliff overhears that two waiters are distressed because they have run out of gray pepper sauce (an inside joke among the party) and then he sees the mysterious man in gray again. He is momentarily torn between his duty to to follow the mystery man in grey and his desire to run into the kitchen and save the day with his own batch of grey pepper sauce. After a moment's hesitation, he hurries after the man in grey.

Aruzmathel sees five men in Prad Ironwork colors, but they appear to just be a noble and his guards and servant.

The formal dance begins...  according to the rules of this dance, women choose their partners. Cassindri drags Hugh out on the dance floor and a young grum lady takes Oliff. A short woman takes Torgren out to the dance floor. Because of Paragon's ridiculously high Charisma and good looks, four women (actually, three women and an effeminate male elf) want to take Paragon out onto the dance floor and fight for the honor. After a minor scuffle between the four, the blonde wings and grabs Paragon, who can't refuse.

Torgren and Hugh do a terrible job of dancing, Oliff trips himself and almost flattens his partner. Paragon, however, dazzles everyone with some fancy footwork.

When the formal dance ends, a tall and well-built man wearing the green and black colors of House Amnithor approaches Aruzmathel. He introduces himself as Guarell of House Amnithor. His house would like to offer Aruzmathel's group a position with House Amnithor. They specialize in armored security, mercenary companies, siege engines and other related fields. Aruzmathel informs him that we are currently on assignment and he is unable to be distracted at this time, but will get back to him within a week with the response from his group.

Aruzmathel asks a house servant to find out the name and house of the man with the Huridian runes on his robes. He tips him a gold for the information. The servant quickly returns and tells Aruzmathel that the old man is named Crayston and that he is an independent scholar currently in the employ of House Winari and that he has a reputation for being something of a recluse.

Meanwhile, Oliff turns down the grum woman for another dance and instead grabs a full tray of crab puffs. Oliff asks a servant to keep an eye on the man in gray and tips him a crab puff for his services.

The main show starts with a wild array of dancing and jumping and minor magic tricks. Natalia and the girlfriends that she's been hanging out with start moving through the crowd. One of her friends drops back and tries to ask Aruzmathel a question. She attempts to position herself to block Aruzmathel and delay him. Aruzmathel steps around her and continues. Paragon sees Natalia do something with her ring and she fades out as she is walking between two people. Her friends don't seem phased by this. Paragon casts Invisibility Purge and it shows her moving through the door. All except for Hugh follow her into the backstage area. Aruzmathel, Torgren and Oliff run after he and Paragon goes back inside and informs the master Chamberlin that she is running and asks if there are any other potential targets.

Oliff casts Expeditious Retreat and ends up catching up to her. He tries to grab her but trips and falls spectacularly and drops both of the remaining crab puffs he was carrying. Aruzmathel casts Alter Self and turns into an Aswani for the greater speed and senses and continues running after her.

Oliff casts Sleep and drops her. A young man runs out of the bushes of a nearby building calling Natalia's name (apparently he can see her invisible body fall). The young man draws a sword and yells "She's not marrying that maggot!". Aruzmathel casts Sleep on the man but he resists the effects. Oliff cast Sleep on him and this time he drops. A dark beam of energy comes crackling out of the darkness and slams into Aruzmathel. He staggers a couple of feet under the impact of the spell, but he saves and resists the effects.

Three men burst forth from the bushes at a run and attack Aruzmathel and Oliff with swords and a wand of stunning, With a spell, the wielder of the wand summons ten  large spiders. The spiders quickly swarm over Aruzmathel and Oliff and begin trying to bite them through their clothing.

Torgren and Paragon soon arrive and join in the fray. Between Aruzmathels Web, Sculpted Burning Hands and Blindness, Oliffs Sleep spell, Torgren's cleaving attacks and finally Hugh joining in the battle, all three opponents are blinded and defeated. The large one with the sword is killed and the other two and the young man (Natalia's romance interest, apparently) are captured, bound and brought back by the house guards that came with Hugh.

We strip the magic wand, magic armor, Natalia's necklace and ring and take all the prisoners back to the social hall. We communicate through the House Quaigen rings that we have retrieved the running daughter and that it looks like she was trying to run off and elope. Her father asks if we can make her presentable in time for the planed announcement in a couple minutes. Once we get back to the hall, Aruzmathel uses spells to make all of us presentable and the father and guards from both houses march her up onto stage and make the announcement of her engagement.

Another mission accomplished by Team Forced Recon!