DAY 275 (10th Nightal)(December) cont ...
Durz, after some nagging, got up, put his breeches on and went to talk to Billi.
Billi then decided to have a group meeting and went and woke up Fenrir. Durz went and tried to wake Arahel. When she wouldn't arise after the door was given a hefty pounding he kicked it down. This still didn't wake her, but it did wake the rest of the inn.
In the end though, they all made their way down to the common room where Dwerry was eating. Billi lead the questioning and talked to Dwerry and Berum separately.
Dwerry seemed confused and concerned saying that she could only think that Berum must have been mistaken or deceived.
Fenrir also used his Detect Magic ability and noticed many magical aura's on Dwerry and none on Berum.
Billi decided one way to settle things was to go to the house Berum had trailed Dwerry to. The house in question was near the Bazaar and did not take long to find. Berum pointed at the door and Billi knocked on it. There was no answer.
Fenrir decided to fly around the two storey building but saw that all the windows were securely boarded up. Durz, impatient, used his 'key' and chopped down the front door in less than a minute. Fenrir landed and did his best to scare away the people that were watching from the street including a drow beggar who tried to convince them that this was his house.
Once they were in, they found a small front room and a kitchen downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs. As the poked about, nine dire rats came scampering in, but they were only interested in raiding the kitchen cupboards for food.
Billi, while upstairs, could smell the strong perfume he knew to be Erin Ja's in and around one of the beds and then came downstairs to question Dwerry further.
Dwerry could not explain what was going on, just that perhaps Berum had seen someone that looked like her, after all Erin could change her appearance to be anyone she liked.
Billi asked Fenrir to detect magic on Dwerry and he noticed, among other things, an illusion aura on her. She said, 'Oh, that must be my ring, it helps protect me from evil yuan-ti... magic.'
Billi was unconvinced and asked her to take it off, but she refused.
Fenrir tipped Dwerry a wink, he could perhaps see that her story was not stacking up very well, and came in on her side.
'Oh yes, this ring is giving off the aura. It is as she says.'
Billi accepted this, but was deep in thought as they walked back to the Dripstone Inn, tugging on his beard and pondering the evidence.
Dwerry talked to Arahel on the way back, 'You think I'm alright don't you?'
Arahel wasn't so sure, but then, she was just nine years old.
They all went to bed and woke in the morning, going downstairs to have an Underdark style breakfast of fungus and creepy crawlies.
The next task on the list given to them by Es Sarch was to kill Elessarwa Nledoor.
As the mysterious undead fellow had explained to them earlier:
"The disruption following Pedestal's fall lasts even unto this hour, though I must admit the vacuum provided by the fleeing drow has been to my advantage. Consider, though, that the reason this City did and does not completely collapse into chaos is due to my efforts. Nearly everyone here appreciates my influence. Bur gratitude doesn't last, and others seek to displace me."
Es Sarch's voice fell to a whisper. "The Assassins' Guild has decided to seek an alliance with House Dusklorn. If my agents were to disrupt this burgeoning accord, I fear I'd do more to cement the relationship than diffuse it. I ask you to eliminate or drive off Elessarwa Nledoor, matron of the house and a psychotic to boot. I have knowledge of a hidden route into her secret torture chamber, where she slinks away from her duties to the Dusklorn to apply her savage arts to hapless victims she takes from Pedestal's alleys. I have arranged matters so the Dusklorn will believe her death to be the work of the duplicitous Assassins' Guild.
That will be the end of that."
He gave them directions to a secret tunnel under the nearby tannery. The only person they found in the tannery was a crazy old beggar and once he'd shuffled off they located the secret tunnel and followed it to the lair of Elessarwa.
The tunnel lead to yet another secret door which when opened revealed the lair and torture chamber of the wicked drow matron. She was there, with her companion Muvaysil, a drow wizard.
They appeared to be about to sacrifice some poor wee svirfneblin female who was shackled to an altar before them.
Muvaysil cast a web spell at the door to try and hold them back, but with little success. Arahel changed into a rhino and charged in and Billi floated past it. Durz too, charged in and with a huge swoop of his axe killed the wizard. Elessarwa tried to flee as Fenrir's bolts found their target but she was finished off by a deadly psionically focused arrow from Billi's bow.
Billi cut of Elessarwa's ear to try and make it look like an assassination. They also discovered two more svirfneblin, a male and a female in a cell at the back of the chamber. (There names were Lorimila and Yoshik for the females and the male was called Qifyx)
Now, I am not a huge expert on the inter-gnome relationships of the various gnome species but I will say that Billi, when the got back to the Dripstone Inn, took them up to his room and indulged in what can only be described as an orgy. I assume gnomes have a similair view on these things as the bonobos I met in Chult.
The Buffalo Bunch had become famous in the Inn by now so this only added to their reputation
as bizarre surface dwellers and not to put a fine point on it - freaks.
More entertainment for the patrons was provided when Arahel, still in the shape of a rhino, tried to get up the stairs to see what the gnomes were doing and only succeeded in totally destroying the stairs.
This event very nearly made Es Sarch get up out of his chair, something I am lead to believe had last happened three years ago when the tavern had been attacked by an army of driders.
Arahel rolled out of the way and back into the common room as undead servers came to tidy up the mess and propped a ladder up as a temporary means of escalation.
Billi only came down to the common room again that night to take up as much booze as he could carry. He then shut the door on his room once more and treated the rest of the Dripstone to the sounds of a drunken gnomish sex party.
Meanwhile Durz retired to his room with Berum, to make his own racket and Fenrir, in a more genteel fashion, turned his charm of Dwerry.
They spent the rest of the day and night at the inn, in this fashion.
DAY 276 (11th Nightal)(December)
Fenrir succeeded in bedding Dwerry that night, although once the effects of the alcohol and his charm had worn off her she skuttled through to her own room so he awoke to find his bed empty again.
By mid morning, Durz was up and about and went to the shop near the bazaar to pick up his adjusted armour. Hrodyn had it ready for him and had also added a little extra magic to it. She seemed to have taken a shine to Durz, something that Berum picked up on and was not overly pleased about. Fenrir had gone with them and spent most of the day selling off the loot they had gathered so far in and around Pedestal.
Billi spend half the day still upstairs doing the god's only knew what and Arahel was in her normal form helping fix the stairs.
No one noticed then, that Dwerry had gone missing, despite all of them agreeing to watch her the day before. Fenrir and Durz were undone by avarice, Billi by lust and Arahel by naivety.
When they gathered that evening for dinner and compared notes they realised that Dwerry had been unaccounted for all day.
Fenrir went upstairs and checked her room and found her reading a book. He invited her down for dinner and to receive her split of the gold made from the selling of the loot.
This she did.
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