(G503 10/12/2022 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) WA104

 
(G503 10/12/2022 via Roll20 - JF(GM), KT, AP) WA104

[Fenrir and Reinward have returned to Westgate, with the Crown of Baleforte. The Item of Prophecy. An item also crucial in their quest to wrest control of the city from the vampires.]

DAY 513 (29th Flamerule)(july)

Fenrir went into work today, back to his office in the main City Watch tower to see how things had been getting along while he'd been away.

He attempted to arrange an urgent meeting with the Croamarkh (the current ruler of  Westgate) but the messages returned were dismissive.

Next he sent a message to Werren Malavhan, the elven courtier regarding the ball invitation.

After a while he remembered that Merlock Tomes had given him the name of a local inn that he could find her in, way back when Reinward had first arrived in the city so he went off to find her after lunch.

The small traveller's inn (The Penny Cripple) was not far away and she was not hard  to find. In her room the conversation went something like this:

Fenrir: I have heard that you think I am the one that killed Katheera Urdo?
Tomes: Yes. I think that you did it under the preposterous alias of one 'Barry Shitknees'
Fenrir: What is your proof?
Tomes: Many things. I visited the house were you killed her, for instance. The killing was carried out by a warlock. Remember, I saw how you operated in Pedestal.
Fenrir: Well, assuming you are correct - I did it for the good of the city.
Tomes: I care not one jot for the fate of an overworld city. I only care about my reputation as a private detective - and my fee of course.

Fenrir could think of nothing else to say and left.

Back at home he sat and thought of what to do. Perhaps he could get her with a Painful Slumber of Ages spell? He talked to Gelly and Reinward about it, then sent Gelly to keep an eye on the Inn. Fenrir gave her one of his crystals so she could keep in touch.

He didn't know much about Jorkronas Urdo, only that he was a tough old soldier, seasoned from many battles and a complete bastard. The symbol of House Urdo was a Yellow Eye.

As he sat and schemed he got an urgent message from Gelly - Tomes had left the inn and was on her way to the docks! Fenrir and Reinward sprang into action.

They ran up Silverpiece Way (Fenrir was using his Hat of Disguise, Reinward his Chameleon Ring, disguised as 'Jim Bob') just as Gelly reported that Tomes was heading  towards an Urdo warehouse.

At this point Fenrir dug out a scroll of Baleful Polymorph and cast it on Tomes.

Tomes turned into a sloth, and although she had been wearing robes and leather armour, a suit of full plate armour clattered to the cobblestones. The nearby dockworkers and guards were greatly startled.

Fenrir ran up, stuffed the sloth into a Bag of Holding, turned invisible and flew off. One of the warehouse guards looked down at the breastplate of the armour. It had a yellow eye on it.

Reinward cast Deeper Darkness, and while everyone else fumbled around in the dark he gathered up the amour and three rings (a Tungsten Ring, an Emerald Ring and a Blue diamond ring) then ran around the corner and dispelled the Darkness.

Gelly stayed to watch for a while, then returned home.

Back at Fenrir's town house, the scene was most bizarre - as they interrogated the sloth.

They provided it with a pen and paper. It clumsily wrote: Fuck off!
Fenrir growled and slammed down the pen. 'Who are you?'
Merlock Tomes, wrote the sloth.
'Do you know my name?'
The sloth nodded.
'What are the initials of my alter ego?'
The sloth shrugged.
'When was the last time you met me?'
Two hours ago, wrote the sloth.

Fenrir sighed, found a basket, stuffed the sloth into it and cast Painful Slumber of Ages on the poor creature. He then gave it to Veddic.
'Could you do me a favour, old friend?' he asked. 'Take this to Spectre Island and get rid of it.'
'You know, if it dies, they (the baddies) can resurrect whoever that is?'
'Well, put it in the same place as Blackthorn then, well out of the way.'
Veddic sighed, took the basket and left.
'I owe you a pint!' called Fenrir after him.

At five o'clock Reinward went to visit the remains of the Temple of Ilmater.
Here were Sir Loric, Jane and a couple of low level clerics.
They were planning to rebuilt the temple, but as you would expect, raising funds was difficult for a religion that valued poverty.

They were ecstatic with religious joy to see Reinward wearing the Crown of Baleforte.
'Behold brethren!' cried one of the clerics. 'The Crown has been returned to us!'

Reinward asked about getting the first of the Crowns legacies unlocked, but  this would require a more powerful cleric than any available in Westgate.
'There is one in Arabel I think, gentle sir,' said the cleric. 'That's a city in Cormyr.'
'Fetch him here then,' demanded Reinward.
'I am so sorry, oh wise and noble Crownbearer, but it won't work that way.
It is a pilgrimage, that's the important bit. You must undertake the journey yourself - on foot ideally. Teleportation might work, but then it might not. Short cuts and half-measures are not the way of Ilmater oh blessed one. You will come to realise that in time.'

Reinward shrugged and went to get a few drinks before going home. I should imagine he was wondering what benefit he would get out of wearing a magical item that was dedicated to a God that was all about self-sacrifice.

Truly the Gods work in mysterious ways.


DAY 514 (30th Flamerule)(july)

Today Gelly told them:
'Might have a problem with this armour. It belongs to Jorkronas Kyletchi Urdo.
He's the head of House Urdo.'

Well he *was*, thought Fenrir to himself. He's a sloth in a barrel now.
He told Gelly to hide the armour in the house.

At work he got a message from the Croamarkh, hastily scrawled on a scrap of paper;
'Yes yes, lets meet, I have a gap in my schedule in two weeks. Lets meet then!'

Fenrir penned a reply;
'Important I meet with you sooner, regarding conspiracies.'

Perhaps hoping to pique Trant's curiosity.

At work he also learned that more and more bodies were being found on the streets each morning. It looked like the Nightmasks were clearing house, removing suspected traitors and informants.

Fenrir knew this was most likely because of his (and "Barry Shitknees") recent activity.

DAY 515 (Fest Lathander)(july)

Fest Lathander in Westgate is a time for drinking and making new business deals.

In the evening Fenrir, Reinward, Raz and Veddic went out to a Festival event. It the great and the good, hosted at one of the big halls in Westgate.

Fenrir was dressed in black fancy togs, Reinward used his Ring of the Chameleon to look well dressed and Raz did his best with what he had.

Initially Reinward hovered on the edges of crowds, earwigging on conversations.
He saw Lesa Ujum, the girl he had tried to rob at the last party he had attended and who had taken rather a shine to him.
He avoided her, but did hear this snippet:
'Oh dear! It turned out he was only after me for my massive inheritance! If only daddy hadn't got in with the Iron Crown and made all that money. Being so rich is such a curse!'

Reinward turned and walked away, perhaps thinking that tricking rich heiresses
out of their fortunes was not really his thing.

While that went on, an elven lady came to Fenrir and said hello. She requested a quite word and they went and talked in a corner.
It was Merlock Tomes, disguised as a high-elf.
'It appears you turned Kyletchi Urdo into a sloth,' she observed.
Fenrir said nothing.
'Well, it now means that I have no client to report back to regarding who the mysterious Barry Shitknees is. If you cover my expenses I can leave town. Shall  we say - 10,000 gold?'
Fenrir replied, 'Shall we dance?'
They danced and talked.
Fenrir agreed to pay her expenses and offered a further 10,000 gold if she could tell him the precise location of the Night King.
'Interesting,' she said. 'Very well, I'll see what I can do.'

Trystran Dauntinghorn came and talked to Reinward. You may remember this was (probably!) the alter ego of the Night King himself, the powerful vampire that ruled the Nightmasks and (so it was said) half of the city.
'I can see right through you,' said Dauntinghorn.
Reinward gulped. Under his disguise he was wearing the Crown and now he suddenly regretted it.
'You have something that belongs to me,' went on Dauntinghorn.
'Wots that?'
'The thing that's on your head!'
Reinward fumbled with his blindfold and prepared to defend himself, but Dauntinghorn only
said;
'You'd be better off giving it to me, I'll see you later!' before walking away.

Raz saw Thistle Thalavar (the lady he was supposed to marry if he wanted to be King of Westgate!) and went to talk to her, but as usual he blew it and had to be shuffled away by Fenrir.
'More work to be done here I think,' sighed the warlock.

Fenrir also spent a lot of his time spreading terrible lies about Dauntinghorn, hoping that they would find their way to Thistle's ears. I know from Waterdeep society though that  those that spread malicious gossip can sometimes find it rebounding on them.

Towards the end of the night Reinward saw a familiar figure, a big fat cat walked in on its hind legs. It was the demon known as Behemoth.
'Hello Mr B!' says Reinward.
'Give us a shot of the shinny thing on your head!' asked the demon.
'Back demon!' cried Reinward. 'Anyway, I'm not wearing it.'
'Quite right,' agreed Behemoth. 'You hold onto it me lad.'
'Should I give it, hic!... scuze me... To the Vampire King?' asked Reinward.
'No no!' cried the cat. 'No, you keep it, it suits you.'
'We are friends now? You know after last time...'
'All water under the bridge me lad!' declared the cat. 'And besides, we are just here
to play some jolly japes on the people at the party!'

Fenrir bumped into Azazello, the red-headed man with the single tusk and a wall eye (who was also a demon in disguise).
'Your lad got the crown,' congratulated the demon. 'Well done.'
'Can you help in any of this at all?'
'Sure, Fenrir, its always a good idea to make deals with demons. We are famously trustworthy.'
'Why don't you make yourself useful and go after Dauntinghorn?'
'What's in it for us?'
As this stage Fenrir lost his temper and gave a long speech about how Westgate was his 'patch' and that he had had enough of interfering demons.
'Gosh Fenrir, you're so boring!' sighed Azazello. 'Very well, if you want our help, then if you ever
do manage to take over Westgate then give us a seat at the table?'
'Ok well see!' growled Fenrir.
'Let's shake on it, like human men!'
Fenrir grudgingly shook the demon by the hand.

Later still, the demons put on their show. Behemoth, Fagotto, Azazello and Hella performed magic tricks that amused and delighted the (fairly drunk) crowd.
For the grande finale they offered to turn any gold coins given them into precious jewels and any dress given to them by the ladies into fantastical gowns of great value.

First one lady stepped up and into the magical wardrobe only to re-appear dressed in an amazing gown. Soon the ladies were queuing up to change, and the men were stepping up with gold coins to get their
stones.

Fenrir changed a platinum coin for an emerald, and when Werren went up to change her dress he did not stop her, although he knew fine well that Azazello and the others were far from your regular
type of stage magicians.

When it was time for home, as they stepped out into the night air, the women's dresses vanished and they were totally naked! Fenrir checked his pocket. The emerald was now just a pebble.

Werren screamed has he wonderful gown faded away. Fenrir gave her his jacket and Hat of Disguise so she looked decent again. He returned to the hall, but the demons had gone.

As he took Werren home in a carriage, she said;
'Take me home! What an awful trick to play on the nobles of Westgate! You are the Watch Commander. Get my dress back!'
Fenrir sighed and looked out the window.