(G441 13/02/2021 via Roll20 - AP, KT, JF(GM)) WA80
[Fenrir, Raz, Veddic and Reinward are at the 70th Birthday Party of Lady Gwendeth Thalavar.]
DAY 494 (9th Flamerule)(July) cont ...
Scamps that they were, Fenrir and Raz found a plate of garlic bread and mushrooms then went to talk to Thistle and Dauntinghorn again. If the vampire knew he was being taunted though, he gave no indication of it.
Raz also tried to make polite conversation with Thistle, but after dropping a few clangers he decided to just keep quiet. Fenrir did his best to smooth things over.
The party went on to midnight, and after that they all went home.
DAY 495(10th Flamerule)(July)
Fenrir went to work this morning and Portia (his unofficial spymaster) told him that currently his next target, Blackthorn - Druid of Silvanus, was in Gulthmere Forest. This is a vast area about 700 miles to the south east of Westgate. Fenrir worked out that using Wind Walk it would take about 12 hours to get to the only city there, a place called Cedarsproke.
Meanwhile, young Reinward was up to some tricks. He borrowed (stole) a figurine from the house, then weakened and wrapped it to make something that he would use in a scam called a 'melon drop',
He found the perfect 'mark' in the Market Square, bumped into him, dropped and smashed the figurine then demanded 30 gold!
The man turned to face Reinward and he got a good look at him. This unusually ugly fellow had a tusk and a wall eye, with fiercely red hair sticking out from under his hat.
After some badinage, the man presented his card and said;
'I shall give you 10 gold now. Come to my apartment this evening and I shall give you the rest.'
Reinward agreed. When the man had left, he looked at the card. The man's name was Azazello, and the address was in a rich part of the city.
Reinward went home and returned the figurine. He tossed a gold coin to Gelly, presumably seeking to impress her with his wealth.
'Err, thanks I guess,' she said with a nod.
He then went for lunch at a street vendor's stall. Much to his surprise an enormous fat cat that was also getting his lunch there struck up a conversation.
'Don't go to Azazello's house tonight!' warned the cat. 'He is a dreadful rogue!'
Later in the evening though, Reinward did not heed the cat's advice, but he did take Fenrir with him to be on the safe side.
The old porter let them in and Ren tossed him a silver.
'Thank ye kindly young man. Number 13 is it? Strange lot up there, comings and goings at all hours. Loud noises, disturbances. You name it.'
When Ren knocked on the door it was answered by a tall naked lady with red hair. She ushered them in and they saw Azazello and the big black cat playing chess by the window, enjoying the warm evening breeze. Just then the cat dropped a playing piece and dove under the sofa to retrieve it.
'Ah and you bring a friend,' said Azazello after the greetings. 'Who are you, young man?'
Fenrir was in disguise and gave the name, 'Wilbur.'
'Wilburt? Wilburt? What sort of name is Wilburt? Did we know a Wilburt back home, Behemoth? Where is that stupid cat?'
Behemoth popped up from behind the sofa. 'Got it!' he exclaimed and put a knight back on the board. 'Hey! You've been moving then pieces!'
Before a fight could break out, the naked lady, Hella, entered and served tea.
'Got any sandwiches?' asked Ren, who was always chancing his arm.
Hella sniffed and went back into the kitchen.
Neither Fenrir or Ren drank the tea, or ate the sandwiches when they arrived.
Fenrir noticed he was being watched closely and asked, 'what are you looking at?'
'How rude!' said Azazello.
Reinward went to look at the chess set and saw that the pieces seemed to be real, but very small people. The knights were in armour and the bishops wore vestments. The white queen, lovely in a silver crown and pale gown looked up at him forlornly and whispered, 'Help us!'
Reinward tried to fake stumble into the board, but Azazello caught him and said, 'you seem to be a remarkably clumsy fellow!'
'Just give me my money and I'll leave!' replied Ren.
'Now now,' came the answer. 'We need to get down to brass tacks before you are permitted to leave.'
Reinward found the main door was locked so he went into the kitchen. Seeing Hella there he mumbled a chat up line, to which the answer was;
'Never mind all that, give us a kiss!'
Meanwhile, Fenrir was still in the day room. 'What do you mean "permitted"?'
'Just this,' replied Azazello. 'Stay until our friend Fagotto returns. He'll sort all this out. He's better with words than me or Behemoth.'
Fenrir had had enough though and went to get Ren. He searched the apartment but the young rogue had vanished. He detected all sorts of magic in every room.
'What's going on?' demanded Fenrir.
'Well, we need to talk about our future together,' replied Azazello.
'What are you talking about?'
'Did you meet the baker?'
At first Fenrir didn't know what he meant, but then he remembered one of the men he had killed recently, a baker called Erinod Bale, who was an agent of demons.
'Uhhhh,' groaned the young warlock. 'You're one of that bunch.'
Fenrir went on to demand that his friend be returned so that he could leave.
Azazello was evasive, so Fenrir threatened to start Blasting.
'Oooh, he's going to let rip, this will be good!' said Azazello gleefully to the cat.
Fenrir went into the dining room, noticing not for the first time how much larger the apartment was compared to the building it was in.
He Blasted the wall, searching for secret doors.
Azazello entered and said, 'this is all great fun, but if you start wrecking the place, then I'm going to try and stop you.'
'What is it you want?' asked Fenrir with a sigh.
'We simply want to be included in whatever scheme you are running here!'
answered Azazello. 'Westgate would be a new front in the Bloodwar for us.'
Fenrir decided to wait for Fagotto, to see what he had to say.
Meanwhile, the succubus and her victim had found themselves in a large dimly lit cave. She had drunk her fill of him and they were lying back on some furs together.
'How did you get those marks on your wrists?' she asked.
'I don't know,' Ren replied, noticing that he now only had nine.
'Huh, well, you can go now,' she said as she shut her eyes.
There was a door at the end of the cave and Ren went to it.
When he arrived back in the day room, Fenrir decided not to wait and they left together as quickly as they could.
DAY 496(11th Flamerule)(july)
Fenrir went to work today and his main task was to deal with a rich nobleman who had 'accidentally' killed his servant. His name was Ponza Athagdal, and he basically wanted to bribe Fenrir to make the problem go away.
Fenrir made him pay for the servants resurrection, making himself popular with the common people, but less so with the nobles.
At noon he met Reinward and together they went and picked up their armour that had been getting enchantments placed on them.
Fenrir also purchased some manacles and several pairs of old socks, for reasons that at the time could only be guessed at.
DAY 497(12th Flamerule)(july)
In the morning Fenrir and Ren went to the House of Ilmater to find that it had been burned to the ground and that Yatte and everyone else had disappeared.
They talked to the neighbours and found that this had happened two days ago.
Fenrir wasn't that interested though as he was in search of someone who could cast Hallow spells on his house. He talked to a cleric at the House of Talos and got a quote for 1500gp per casting and an extra 1000gp for extra spells added to the Hallows.
He estimated to get full coverage of the house would cost 24,000 gold.
He said he'd think about it, then tracked down a Civil engineer called Lindsey Juerez the Mason, a man in his twenties that headed up a small company of builders.
He agreed to dig a much deeper ditch, a moat really, that was five feet wide and three feet deep for 50 gold. This would take ten days.
'How you fill it with water though, I don't know, my lord,' he warned.
DAY 498(13th Flamerule)(july)
Today Fenrir, Raz, Veddic and their new friend Reinward set off for Cedarsproke. They arrived about eight in the evening.
I have only ever heard about this city, but as I understand it, it is run by druids. To be totally honest with you, I hate druids and I do my best to avoid them.
I find the younger ones are always pestering me for advice and the older ones are always telling me what to do. Druids do not, generally, get on with other druids, in my experience anyway and I prefer the company of rangers or barbarians, who revere nature and hold druids in great esteem.
Perhaps that sounds egotistical, but it is sadly true.
Still, I would like to visit one day. It is a city among the trees, with many houses built in them or up them, with leafy glades and pleasant meadows it is more a large inhabited and well forested park than anything else.
Six thousand or so people live there and it has a full compliment of taverns and shops.
They landed and walked into the city. It has no walls or gate, it uses its isolation as its primary defence. A friendly enough half-elf ranger met them as they came in and asked them their business.
They were disguised as merchants;
Fenrir - Eandhehrt Dige - merchant - mid 30s
Raz - Ephes Ringe Aerbed - also a merchant
Ved - Rarder Heny - spiritual advisor - mid 30s
Ren - Jim-Bob, the only one of them not using a Hat of Disguise
'We wish to open up trade between here and Westgate,' said Fenrir, making it all up on the spot.
'Oh really?' asked the ranger. 'What do you trade in?'
'Um, you know, stuff. Trade goods.'
'Very well my friends,' said the half-elf as he was clearly not interested, 'Carry on along this road and when you get to the main square the Guild of Merchants is opposite the Temple to Silvanus.'
They didn't go there though, they went to a tavern called the 'The Jugs of Plenty' and got good rooms, food and drink.
