(G165 26/04/2013 Fri via Roll20 - JF(GM) , AP)

 Game 165 (!) in the very long running D+D game I am in.
As always, the entire thing can be found here :

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8641303/1/Forgotten-Realms


(G165 26/04/2013 Fri via Roll20 - JF(GM) , AP)

DAY 199 (27 Eleint)(September) cont...

What they saw was a ruined tavern cellar that was inhabited by a group of people playing
cards at a table in one corner, lit by a lantern overhead, and some guard dogs.

The dogs leapt to attack them as the came down the stairs but were easily slain.

Fenrir then called, 'Ho! I am seeking the Blood Drinkers!'

The folk at the table looked nervous and one went down a corridor to raise the alarm
and the others waited.

As Fenrir, Veddic, Corum and Raya came all the way down the stairs too, the others fled
and more dogs came charging in. They too were slain, not being much of a challenge to
experienced adventurers.

They carefully went down the corridor and encountered a teenage human female who zapped
Corum and Veddic with a wand. Corum took pity on her though and knocked her out with the
flat of his sword.

A door, which Raya checked and unlocked, lead to another long corridor. From the other
end Vinet attacked, for it was him, and another Blood Drinker summoned a Flaming Sphere.
Vinet's eldritch blasts very nearly killed Raya, but she managed to scuttle back up the
corridor to be eventually healed by Veddic.

Meanwhile Corum, seeing no front line fighters to block him, charged headlong at Vinet
and cut him down with a few fatal strikes of his long sword. Now dead, it seemed unlikely
he would be able to learn the lesson of keeping a man with a shield between yourself and the
enemy to be an effective warlock.
He wouldn't be telling anyone what he had been up to also, come to that.

After this brief and bloody battle Fenrir flew around the corner and into the large room
Vinet had been using as a study, while invisible.
There were some of the Blood Drinker's inside as well as a young lady tied up and locked
in a large cage.

He then returned and talked to them from around the corner, trying to bluff them into
believing that Vinet was a mere illusionist and charlatan and that he, Fenrir, was the
real deal when it came to demons.

They were frightened of making a decision or leaving the room because Yarrowroot, their
leader, was not there. They also said that they had a knife to Anya's throat - revealing
that their captive was the one Fenrir and Veddic were after.

Fenrir went invisible and flew quietly in to check and saw that this was true.

They then went back to another, as yet, unopened door and knocked on it, asking to talk
to Yarrowroot. He refused to open up.

Fenrir returned to the study and eventually persuaded one of the women, called Dedra, to
come up and talk to Yarrowroot.
'What have you done to Vensa!' she cried when she saw the girl on the floor.
'She's only knocked out', growled Corum.

Dedra then talked to Yarrowroot and confirmed that Vinet was dead and that a Blood Drinker
called Shemrack had a knife to Anya's throat.
Yarrowroot then accepted the reality and said,
'Take the girl and go.'

This they did, taking Anya from the Blood Drinker's in the study once Dedra had relayed
their leader's orders.

So they to returned to the surface, but someone was one step ahead of them and they
were met by a squad of twenty or so sell-swords led by a tough looking dwarf.
He introduced himself as Boris Himmelhammer and then said 'Hand over the pretty lady.'

Fenrir said he would talk to him alone and being, apparently, in no hurry the dwarf
accepted.
'Who do you work for?' asked Fenrir.
The dwarf laughed.
'Is Anya safe with you?'
'I can guarantee you she will not be harmed' was the reply.
Fenrir didn't know what that was worth but talked to Anya and asked,
'Do you know Ellis Aderbrent?'.
She had not.

In the end they had no choice. Taking on such a large band of tough sell swords would
have been suicide so Anya was handed over.

They decided to go back down and finish looting the cellars and opening doors that were
still locked.

In one cell they found a Half-fiend Durzagon called Cavefoot who seemed quiet friendly
so they let him go.
Another cell had big scratch marks on the door so they decided to leave it alone.

They then went for the Barrack's door where Yarrowroot was.
'You oath breakers!' he cried as Veddic cast Briar Web on him and his minions once
Raya had opened the door.

One of the Blood Drinker's died and the rest surrendered. They had to wait seven
minutes for the spell to wear off, then once Fenrir had looted them, they went up to
the surface and ran away.

The Gang found more loot in the Barrack's and a couple more scared teenage Blood
Drinker's who they shook down and kicked out.

Returning to the study, along with assorted potions, scrolls and other treasure they
found Vinet's diary, an extract of which I present below :

''
Waterdeep Players

B - has given me 1000gp. Must get Ellis and Anya, then summon him.
- update - have Anya. Need Ellis. Not at shop any longer. Spy saw him go into villa with a guy
in clerical vestments. Need to find out who this guy is and what his agenda is.
Need to come up with a plan to extract Ellis.
- update - see page for Veddic

FT - Nincompoop. Now probably dead, leaving me in charge of the demon forces of WD, such as they are
update - been told by B he's alive, just not playing ball. Memo - send assassins at some point

Corum and OJB - bunch of fools that sweep dung. But don't provoke them .some of them
are tough. Will not get involved unless provoked i wager

Grey Hands - Maliantor was an ally of FT, but now mainly fighting the orc horde

GDR - loc? I think in city. No idea where. Problem for later

YP - useful tool. will do anything in the name of evil and chaos. Good

HB - powerful wizard that probably killed FT. Need to stay away from him

Maaril - Dragon-idiot. Think he is up north somewhere. Should send spies to locate
update - Neverwinter woods. Has a guardgoyle army. Scratch that - its Gargoyle, not GUARDgoyles.
update - B says if GDR becomes and issue, then visit M with 'proposition X'

Cavefoot - lucky find, captured him lurking around outside the FT villa. He's a
Half-fiend Durzagon. Agent of GDR. Won't talk, but a stretch on the wrack might do it

Binky - What a find! One of YP's idiots parents had this in a private menagerie so we stole it.
     This incredible beast is a Nethersight Mastiff - very useful guard dog against
     ethereal attacks. I need to tame it somehow, it has already bitten me twice.

Veddic - who the hell is this?? Cleric of Kossuth. What do they want? Send spies to HG villa
One problem - running out of spies! Note : take spies from TSV and put on HGV
update : located in Warm Beds with crew of Sea Wyvern. - what's the connection???
update : Spy followed Veddic to OJB. Are Fenrir and Veddic connected some how? Still don't see it.
update : spy following Veddic killed! memo - recruit more spies

Current Spy Locations :

1 squad watching OJB
1 squad watching Ad Villa
1 squad watching TSV (move to HGV)
''

With bags full of loot they returned to the OJB. On the way Fenrir checked the Splintering
Stair for messages but there were none.

At noon Veddic sent a copy of Vinet's diary to Deverreck and suggested that Anya had most
likely been taken to the Aderbrent Villa.

At two o'clock Fenrir and Corum went to Aunt Bitty's (Giselle's chaperone) house which took
a while to find as Fenrir couldn't remember where it was. The door man told them that no
one in the house wanted to see him though.

They then returned to the OJB and had a sleep before Corum's nightshift was due to start.
At nine o'clock they headed out to the muster point. At ten o'clock they were eventually
allocated a section of wall and wandered down to it.

On the way a civilar on horseback spotted them.
'You men! Blockade this street! Whatever comes down it, you must hold them back
at any cost! If we give them time to reinforce the breach then Waterdeep is
ruined!'

He then galloped off.

Fenrir, Corum and the other watchmen they were with then used carts and barrels to block
the street as well as they could.

Then a slow shuddering ominous tread sounded the approach of giants.