The Crystal Dominion - Session 03 Summary

[avisarr]

The Crystal Dominion - Session 3 Summary

Ebon and N'Sahd had just killed the orcish captain in the main office and were sneaking back through the hallways toward the midden (toilet room) where the rest of the party was hiding.

Before those two returned, the young man (whom they had passed in the hall) reached the midden and walked in. In actuality, this was the assistant warden – a quiet, bookish young man in civilian clothing who was little more than an accountant. He didn't put up much of a fight and was quickly and efficiently dispatched by the party.

The party now had two dead bodies with them in the midden. Fearing discovery, they decided to get going as quickly as possible. According to the "Monthly Ledger and Manifest" book that Redeye had taken from the office, the prisoner they sought was being held on Level 3 in Cell 17.

The party went back down through the midden shaft to Level 3. The party had a map of the layout of all the levels, but not marked or labeled. They had no idea which cell was which. They decided to split up and search the floor quietly looking for the right cell.

Each cell had a heavy iron door with a small barred window and a number written in faded paint. Redeye soon came across a door with 17 marked on it. Redeye peered in through the window and peered in at a figure asleep on a cot.

While searching the floor, N'sahd saw a guard on patrol and noticed that he was heading toward Redeye's position. N'sahd quietly followed the guard through the shadowy corridors, keeping a discreet distant behind him.

Just as the guard came upon Redeye standing in front of the cell door, N'sahd blasted him with a Color Spray spell. The guard crumpled. The two took his keys, unlocked the door to the cell and dragged him in. N'sahd then quickly slit the guard's throat.

The prisoner woke up and N'sahd and Redeye discovered that the man in the cell was NOT Baldorin... not the man they were after. The prisoner before them was a scruffy and wild haired human male in his mid-30s.

"Who are you?" they asked.

The startled prisoner blinked at the sudden visitors. "I'm Ferin".

They questioned him and quickly learned that the guards at the prison sometimes forced prisoners to fight each other for their amusement. The warden had ordered that all such "arena style fights" be stopped, but the guards were still doing it. They were having a fight that night in the main barracks hall, directly below where they stood now. Baldorin, the prisoner that normally occupied cell 17, had been chosen for tonight's fight.

The prisoner probably had more to say, critical and valuable information no doubt that would have saved the party much effort. However, Redeye, quite unexpectedly, chose that moment to whip out his blade and slash the poor prisoner's throat. With a shocked expression, the prisoner clutched his throat. The blade was wiped off and sheathed before Ferin's body even hit the ground. Redeye turned to N'sahd and said "let's go" as he walked out of the cell. A stunned N'sahd looked at the dead man in the cell, then closed and locked the door and followed after Redeye.

Meanwhile, the other group encountered a guard who had come to the midden in the middle of the night to relieve himself. They surprised him and Eiran fired an ice arrow into the guard's chest. With the arrow head protruding out through his back, his chest froze and a coating of ice wrapped around him. Despite being partially frozen, the guard staggered out of the midden chamber and down the hall. He was wheezing through partially frozen lungs, unable to get a good breath. This was good. Clearly, if he had been able to get a full breath, he would have bellowed an alarm and called for reinforcements.

The wounded guardsmen managed to make it another 20 yards before the group caught up to him and quickly and quietly killed him. The guard slumped to the floor. Lucky, he was so cold that he did not bleed. The body seemed to be continuing to freeze. They took the frozen corpse and hauled it back to the midden. By this time, the party was racking up a respectable body count with bodies hidden overall the prison.

Now that the party knew where Baldorin was, they had to figure out a way to rescue him before he died in some perverse arena combat.

The group snuck down to level two. While the others hid in the midden chamber on level 2, Redeye snuck close to the barracks where the arena fight was supposed to be going on and invoked his ethereal vision (a special ability of the darkwalker). He peered through the walls to see what he could.

Redeye could see a crowd in the large barracks room. Arranged in a large circle around the room were ten guards.  In the middle of the room were two prisoners. One was an old man with a white beard and Redeye was fairly sure it was Baldorin. The other prisoner was a large, fur-covered humanoid with two great horns. It was clear that the two prisoners were fighting and the old man was losing.

Redeye returned to the group hiding in the midden chamber on level 2 and the group discussed the situation and what to do.

While they were talking, Ebon (whose hearing was boosted from the magical earring he had gotten off of the body down in the caves) heard a guard coming. The group quickly took up positions. A guard, stinking of cheap ale and clearly intoxicated, staggered into the midden. The surprised guard was easy prey for the group.

N'sahd still wearing the robes of the assistant wizard, cast a spell to assume the likeness of the assistant wizard. N'sahd then walked past the large central guard room and to the barracks. He could hear rowdy cat calls and laughter.

N'sahd opened up the heavy oaken door and peered in.  Inside was a group of people and all eyes turned toward him. N'sahd saw a ring of guards around the room and the two prisoners fighting in the middle. The first was a large fur covered humanoid whose race N'sahd did not recognize. The other was an aging human male. Although the man was beaten, bruised and bloody, he was unmistakably Baldorin. He was a perfect match for the sketch they had been given. This man was their mission.

Gesturing to Baldorin, N'sahd said "I think he's had enough fun here," said N'sahd. "Let one of the others have a turn. And keep it down... you don't want to wake up the Warden". He then turned to the nearest guard, a hulking brute of a man, and said "You, help me get this man back to his cell", he said, indicating Baldorin.

As the guards grabbed another prisoner (from a small group waiting off to the side), the brute grabbed Baldorin, hauled him to his feet and brought him over to N'sahd. N'sahd, without saying a word, turned and left. The brute and Baldorin followed.

They marched up to level 3, passed by another guard station where two guards were playing a card game. N'sahd, continuing his bluff, ordered the brute back downstairs to rejoin the other guards and ordered one of the two guards sitting at the table to accompany him to take the prisoner back to his cell. N'sahd did this so that he would be dealing with a less physically intimidating guard but also to make sure that the guard with him would have a key to the cell.

The guard and N'sahd reached Cell 17. As the guard began to unlock the door, N'sahd cast a Color Spray cell. The guard fell backward from the blast. N'sahd then dragged the guard into the cell and slit his throat.

"I'm here with several others, we're here to rescue you," N'sahd said, seeing the stunned expression on Baldorin's face. He then led Baldorin through the dark hallways back to the midden room.

Peering down the main pipe (the same pipe through which they had crawled earlier), N'sahd called quietly down to the midden chamber on level 2. The party heard him and responded. Using a rope, they quickly and quietly crawled down to level 2. The party was, once again, reunited on level 2.

Having accomplished their goal and found and rescued Baldorin, it was now time to get out of the prison as quickly as possible without raising the alarm. They navigated the midden tube back down to the caverns below. They were getting quite good at moving through the tube and were getting used to the stench.

Eiran, the elven ranger, went first. He had the Normidian stun stick at the ready (this was the single shot stun staff that the arcanologist had modified to make it wide beam and quiet). Dangling from the room in the middle of the small midden cave, he looked around. He was quite surprised to see four figures in black leather armor with torches coming into the chamber from the narrow sea cave entrance. They were equally stunned to see an elf with a staff suddenly dangling there. Two of the black clad figures drew swords while a third leveled a crossbow at the elf.

Eiren quickly activated the stun stick. A tremendous cone of light erupted from the end and a muffled "whump!" sound shook the air. Three of the four dropped. A fifth figure could be seen beyond.

Eiren dropped down into the water below and discarded the now useless stun stick. Hearing the stun stick discharge, the other player characters quickly scrambled down the tube and dropped into the cave.

Very quickly, combat erupted in the cave. The fifth figure, who appeared to be a female wizard, cast a spell and vanished. Splashing through the knee deep water, the player characters quickly slit the throats of the stunned enemies and killed the fourth with a sword stroke.

The player characters saw splashing in the tunnel ahead and deduced that the wizard must have turned invisible. The player characters pursued. The water got deeper and it quickly became a swimming pursuit.

Outside, they saw a wooden long boat floating just a few feet from the cave entrance.  Aboard was another black clad figure, turning in surprise. They heard the sorceress yell "Franz, we are leaving!"

Judging by the splashing, the invisible wizard was hauling herself into the boat. Eiren fired an arrow at Franz, catching him in the throat. Franz fell overboard with a raspy gargling sound. The wizard began to cast another spell, but the player characters swarmed the boat.  Within seconds they had her captured her and the boat. A now visible woman was lying on the deck of the small boat and being held at swordpoint. The players noticed that the small boat had no oars or sails. They asked the sorceress how the boat traveled and she admitted that it was pushed by one of her spells.

They ordered her to cast the spell and soon the wooden boat was quickly gliding away from the island and out into the night. The group eventually rendezvoused with the Warthog.

Captain Sancho turned the ship back towards Drakkel. Halfway back to the city, Sancho spotted two large military ships heading out to sea, having come from the city. One of them altered course to intercept the Warthog. The party guessed that the prison had discovered one or more of the bodies, raised an alarm and sent word back to the city. The players scrambled below deck and Sancho hid them in some concealed cargo compartments.

Within minutes, the Warthog was boarded by Drakkellian soldiers from the military ship. Crowded in the dark and cramped compartment, the party could hear the pounding of booted feet on the deck. They heard Sancho arguing with officers above. After a brief inspection, the soldiers were satisfied and they departed.  The military ship continued on to the prison of Guldremor. Soon the Warthog was back under way and heading full sail to Drakkel.

And so ends Session 3.