Miss Take on Kindle

 

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Hi all! My crime thriller is now available for FREE on kindle!

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B08RD1VM51

'Miss Take', a famous cat-burglar, must find a killer to clear her name, while keeping the police and orgnised criminals at bay!

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Kindle blurb:

A thief discovers a dead body in the house they are robbing. This sets off a chain of events that  leads to a bloody gang war on the dark winter streets of Edinburgh. With crime lords and the police dogging her every step, Miss Take must user her skill and wits  to find the killer and prove her innocence.

(G430 14/11/2020 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR28

 (G430 14/11/2020 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR28


DAY 506 (22nd Flamerule) (July) cont ...

I will now jot down a few things before I retire for the night. The houses I've built are functional, but not comfortable, so we've usually slept on the boat. We cleared out all the pirate rubbish and gave it a good clean earlier so it is now perfectly habitable.

However, tonight I am back in Waterdeep, and how that came to pass now let me explain:

I have become frustrated, if not quite infuriated with Alfred. Now he tells me (after presumably ruminating about things in that glacier-speed brain of his) that Midpoint Island can be 'hidden' in a pocket dimension (like putting it in a gigantic Bag of Holding I suppose) while still being accessible to me. The process of hiding it would take about a week.

Technically, he informs me, the island would not move, it would be 'out of phase' which sounds like nonsense to me and contradicts his ideas on Pocket Dimensions.

Perhaps he means it moves to a different plane, but that is very close to ours, much like the Plane of Shadows?

He is an imprecise being. There is a difference between planes, dimensions and phases - as has been explained to me by Irritator on many occasion - which would affect how 'safe' the island is once 'hidden'.

For instance, any dingbat with a spellbook can go to another plane. Getting into what would effectively be the inside of a Bag of Holding would be a whole other kettle of interdimensional horrors.

'Which do you prefer?' I asked. Staying on the Material Plane or popping off to Alfred Land?

He told me he preferred the island to be hidden - and thereby threw all my plans into disarray! I let out a very long and loud sigh and told him to get on with it  then and I started making plans to leave.

He gave me an amulet and informed me that once the Island was hidden I could use it to gain access whenever I needed to.

Shortly after that I had my bags packed and myself, Molly and the animals teleported back to Waterdeep.

I met the others in the pub. Lavinia had not long arrived, but had already started buying up supplies.
'Well you may as well sell them again,' I told her sourly as I nursed my pint. 'Alfred  kiboshed the whole thing. The Island looks like a non-starter now.'
'Oh dear,' replied my wife soothingly. 'Well, how about checking back at the Lost Refuge?'
I smiled at her. I knew she was no great fan of the place, but was trying her best to cheer me up.
'Me and Irritator will go take a look in the morning,' I grumped into my drink.


DAY 507 (23rd Flamerule) (July)

Myself and Irritator teleported in to the Lost Refuge this morning. There was another tribe of lizardfolk there. Their leader was K's nephew!

He seemed like a nice chap and appeared to be happy that I had avenged his uncle, but I could see that I would have all the same work to do again to convince him that this was actually my place and he was effectively a trespasser, that in the end I just couldn't be bothered.

So enjoy the 'Hallowed' living chambers, K's nephew, and the re-enforced walls and  drainage ditches I put in before Captain Shit-heel came along and killed everyone.

I'm just not sure what to do now, to be honest. The Island is a lot better than the Swamp if truth be told. So if I'm going to have to do a lot of convincing of annoying co-habitants  to do, then why not do it with Alfred?

Anyway, more on that later, for now myself and Irritator wandered over to his houseto see how it was getting along. Well - there were two dead bodies in it, one male, one female, poorly dressed and nibbled on by critters. We took them out and buried them.

A tree had also fallen on his house (he'd not been gone that long! Very unlucky if you ask me), so we patched things up with Wood Shape.

We spend the night by the fire, talking, smoking and drinking.


DAY 508 (24th Flamerule) (July)

Spent the day helping to clean and sort Irritator's house.

Talked in the evening. I don't know what to do. Set up in the Swamp again? Try in some mad way to set up on the island (build a teleport pad out of the sea??). Try another third place? (There are plenty of ruined castles and things in Kryptgarden) or just give up entirely?


DAY 509 (25th Flamerule) (July)

With Irritator's house all nice and clean, I left him to relax for a while. Our last adventure has left him incredibly wealthy. I wonder what he'll spend it on?

I decided to fly back, a nice long trip to perhaps clear my head.

Tonight I arrived at Corm Orp and spend the night in a local inn.


DAY 510 (26th Flamerule) (July)

Flew west all day. Landed in the Misty Forest and camped out in a nice spot.


DAY 511 (27th Flamerule) (July)

Flew to Waterdeep and walked in through the gate.

Went to the OJB and had a late supper before going to bed. Chatted to Lavinia for a while before sleep. She is now six months pregnant, we should really decide where this baby is going to be born!

Not in a 'Brewery-turned-Dung Sweepers Guild' was something we both agreed on!


DAY 512 (28th Flamerule) (July)

Took it easy today.

Went to a shop and bought a map of Faerune.

Looking it over, we both decided we would like to go back to Sasserine for a while.

DAY 513 (29th Flamerule) (July)

Flew to the Island, with Lavinia, Molly and the critters on my back, then teleported to Sasserine.

My first port of call was Glittermain's Shop, where Raz had sold that magical flute.
I had always regretted that, and it also really belonged to Lavinia as it had come out of the old Vanderboren Vault.

The flute was still there! I purchased it and gave it a try. I cannot play the flute but eventually I did manage to summon Rhemera.
She talks the Common Tongue and she was once a harem girl in Calimshan, but now she was linked to the flute in much the same way a genie is to its bottle. She is bard, not a powerful one, but still useful to have around.

I grew most nostalgic, remember my early days of adventuring, arriving at the docks for the first time, wondering what could happen to me in such a faraway and interesting place. That had been late 1375DR. And now here we were again, halfway through 1377DR. Had it really only been two years?

So much had happened. Chult, all the dramas back at Waterdeep, then the Plane of Shadows, Barovia, then the Underdark and finally my latest dealings with the Unseen. Getting married, a baby on the way. Silvanus protect us.

Sad as I was of such bittersweet memories - I did not know at the time that my old pal Raz was alive and kicking back in Westgate! It would have been nice of him to tell me don't you think? I admit that he was busy though.

The magical shopkeeper pointed out another item to me - a ring this time - that behaved in a similar manner to the flute. This time though, a wizard would be summoned. I managed it on the second attempt and we met a young halfling called Wellby.
I purchased this item also.

Both Rhemera and Wellby could only be around for about an hour each day, but they could eat and drink while they were corporeal so we took them to the nearest pub for a slap up lunch and as many drinks as they could manage before their time was up!

(G429 31/10/2020 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM)) WA74

 (G429 31/10/2020 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM)) WA74

[To return to Fenrir and his dealings with Katheera of the Night Masks.]

DAY 485  (30th Kythorn)(June)

Katheera "The Succubus" Urdo had been kidnapped! Or so Degasus Tarensun told Fenrir when next he went to see him at the Purple Lady.

They had just that moment received news of her whereabouts - a house in an ancient ruined city some 50 miles southwest of Westgate. Fenrir decided to set off at once.

Meanwhile, Random had enlisted the help of Raz and Veddic. He gave them money for a night on the town and told them to leave some 'calling cards' here and there.
These were stylised pairs of pink ladies underwear - the calling card (apparently) of the 'Knip Tanps Banditos'.

[The very astute of you may trace the 'Banditos' back to the 'Pink Pants Bandit', which was a very elaborate trick that Cavu (back when he was known as Banjax) had once played on a fellow party member. It can be assumed that the 'Banditos' were a mere fiction,  a ruse to fool the Nightmasks into thinking they had new competition in the city.]

DAY 486  (1st Flamerule)(July)

Fenrir arrived at the ruined city just after midnight. It was an ancient place, now lost in the deep forest of the south-western area of the Dragon Coast. I have no idea, from Fenrir's description of what this place might be - I have found no history book that mentions it.

Be that as it may, Fenrir found the place easily enough from the directions he had been given and found the only house that still stood, situated as it was in the deepest and darkest part of the forest. He could see that there were lights on as he approached.

After flying around invisibly, to scout the place, he landed in a walled off area where there had once been a swimming pool of sorts. As he set foot on the ground a zombified beholder rose from the pool and attacked him! He flew up, firing as he went. The beholder did not trouble him overly much though and he soon killed it, its rotting corpse slipping once more into the fetid waters of the pool.

Fenrir landed again and decided to simply use the front door. He tried his Ring of Knock but much to his amazement this did not work. It was not until he finally walked away that the door swung open of its own accord - with a low ominous creak.

In the entrance hall were two gargoyles, which attacked him, but these days Fenrir is so powerful he eats gargoyles for breakfast and with one fell Cone of Eldritch Power he incinerated them and much of the soft furnishings.

The chamber beyond the hall contained a statue of a gryphon and a sofa with a creepy doll on it. The doll watched him with glowing blue eyes.

'Hello, are you an entity that resides in this house permanently?' asked Fenrir in a rather overly polite fashion considering the manner of his entrance.
The doll did not deign to reply.

He entered a tea room, where a chandelier crashed to the floor and nearly hit him. Next he entered a dining room where a ghostly scene of a lord talking to his guests played out before fading away.

Somewhat perplexed Fenrir returned to the room with the gryphon statue and looked it over. He worked out there was a mechanism that opened two secret doors and after a bit of pulling with a rope, he managed to get them both to open for him.

In the next room he was attacked by a cloaker, which he easily killed, then heading upstairs he found a room the contained another doll. He crept past it, heading for the master bedroom.

Here he was presented with the reason the house was the way it was. On the ceiling, covered in roots was the lord of the house, sort of alive - or at least moving slightly anyway.
At the dressing table was an old hag, a witch that had cursed the place countless years ago and still remained, feeding off its dark energy.

She attacked Fenrir as he entered, and summoned waves of ghasts to hold him off. Fenrir was beaten back, but they could not do much damage to him - armoured both physically and magically as he was - and he pushed them back with blasts of Eldritch Power, turning the room into a charnel mess. He chained shots from them onto the hag and soon wore her down. Finally he pushed through the undead and finished her off with one last powerful blast.

The main evil of the house defeated he headed out of the room, only to be attacked by the second knife wielding doll. He incinerated that too, as it leapt about, trying to stab him in the back. He then searched the rest of the house, taking whatever treasure he found,  and killing a couple of phase spiders, before finally finding the cellar, the last place in the house he had not visited.

Here he discovered a Flesh Golem, which attacked him and was blasted to bits in short  order. There were cells down here and in one of them he found Katheera Urdo.
'Finally!' she cried. 'The Night Masks have sent someone. Get me out of here!'

He didn't let her go though. He got a name out of her (Hrarnok Sharkchum) and then blasted her into pieces, Katheera cursing him savagely as she died.

He then set a few fires around the place and left the house to burn as he flew back to  Westgate.

He arrived around noon and went to get some sleep.

In the evening he returned to Degasus Tarensun and said;
'Sorry, but she was already dead when I got there.'
Degasus was convinced but did ask;
'Who are you Barry Shitknees?'
Fenrir did not give an answer, but simply finished his drink and left. He had his next
name and that was all he cared about.

(G428 24/10/2020 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR27

 (G428 24/10/2020 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR27


DAY 500 (16th Flamerule) (July)

I am starting to have my doubts about this sinister island. Molly says that she is feeling increasingly gloomy - the 'Haunted House Effect' I assume is getting to her. Rolanda and Jonathan feel it too, but to a lesser extent as they are mere animals.

It seems stronger within a four mile radius of the cave (situated as it is more or less at the centre of the island) and Molly reports that outside of that radius she doesn't  mind it so much. Out on the boat, it is 'fine'.

I hate talking to Alfred. It's not just that he talks in riddles, he appears to change his mind on things. I think it depends on how you phrase questions to him. He gives one answer on day, and another the next - I get the feeling it take his 'brain' (or whatever he uses for thinking) time to catch up with what I am talking to him about.

Initially he seemed to be fine with the idea of me making a small settlement here and forming diplomatic relationships with the nations of the Sword Coast. Now I get the feeling that while not exactly changing his mind, he is always pouring cold water on my plans.

I built another house today anyway. You never know.

DAY 501 (17th Flamerule) (July)

Built another house.

Scryed the halfling that threw down the caltrops the other day, when those eight fellows arrived on the island.

Saw him in a barracks. I saw a sigil that I did not recognise. I sketched it out for future reference.
I heard him talk to others and someone said;
'As soon as we landed on the island it all went to shit. We'd better be giving our report.'
They had Neverwinter accents.


DAY 502 (18th Flamerule) (July)

Built another house today. Now have seven in total.

Received a 'Sending' from Nissa - Ambassadors will be arriving tomorrow.


DAY 503 (19th Flamerule) (July)

Built another house today. Now have eight in total.

So, two boats did indeed arrive today. One from Neverwinter and another from Waterdeep. I Wood Shaped a shelter, table and chairs, and we talked.

We discussed what was going on, I gave them some carefully guarded information. I mentioned that the Blue Phage was now over with, which made everyone happy.

Still, they both said they would maintain their fleets for now.


DAY 504 (20th Flamerule) (July)

Built another house today. Now have nine in total.

I felt duty bound to inform my elders and betters of the Druid Council of what was going on, although I admit I think of them as a bunch of beardy old humbugs.

I teleported into the Ardeep Forest and went to talk to Sildair Tanpo and Chimal Luje, the heads of the Ardeep Council.

Instead I found Horehound Lungwort, a very grump old lady half-elf. Initially I don't quite think she was following what I was talking about, but when it finally dawned on her the gravity of the situation I was now in she frantically started to take notes.

After we had talked for some time, they arranged a teleport for me, back to Midpoint Island.

Well, I have at least done my (Druidic) duty - we shall see what comes of it, if anything.


DAY 505 (21th Flamerule) (July)

Built another house today. Now have ten in total.

Took a good tour of the island, paying particular attention to the flora of the place. There isn't much - is the short answer! Some trees yes, but apart from some sparse grasses not much else. This island has been 'somewhere' - somewhere apart form the world, where birds fly in to islands, seeds wash up on its shores etc.

Flew down to our closest neighbours - the Whale Bones - and gathered apple tree cuttings, nuts, berries, wheat - anything and everything that I could find, in short, with the hope that I could persuade it all to grow back on Mid Point.


DAY 506 (22nd Flamerule) (July)

Built another house today. Now have eleven in total.

Spent an enjoyable day planting orchards, shrubberies and wheat fields around the island. Some days I really love being a druid!

Molly helped, she seemed to have great fun. I hoped the 'Haunted House Effect' is  not bothering her too much.

(G427 03/10/2020 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM)) WA73

 (G427 03/10/2020 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM)) WA73

[To return to Fenrir and his cold war against the vampires of Westgate]

DAY 482  (27th Kythorn)(June)  cont ...

That night Fenrir had a nightmare. He dreamed of a cave in the forest. As he walked  towards it, he heard cackling from within. As he went in, walking past a campfire, he saw two women leaning over a third. There was a scream, then a baby was held aloft.
The baby had horns...

Fenrir woke with a start. He was sure he had dreamed of Nexelmode, and it probably wasn't a good omen. He did some sums on his fingers. If he had got her pregnant the baby wasn't due for another three months. Or was there sorcery and/or devilry at work? He tried to dimiss it from his mind and get back to sleep.

DAY 483  (28th Kythorn)(June)

Still, he had a spring in his step as he went to work. The sun was shining and the birds were singing. He helped himself to 500 gold from the Watch fund for 'expenses' and went on with his day.

He was getting fed up with stories of trouble at the Dock Ward. The death of Sweetpea was still an issue.

He put that to one side though when a nobleman called Salvis Ssemm came to him, demanding justice from a merchant that he said had cheated him.

In theory Fenrir was now the Supreme Justice of Westgate, but he had little idea of the law (usually being on the wrong side of it - hoho!) so he went to speak to one of his judges.

He had six and the most 'sensible' one (if there is such a thing as a sensible judgein Westgate) - Jenner Fields, a half-orc commoner who had risen to prominence due to her intellect and wisdom.

She looked over the paperwork. It was insurance for a caravan that had been lost.
'It's not been notarised,' she said. 'A technicality that renders these papers legally rubbish. Morally Ssemm is right, he paid for the caravan and the insurance I presume, but legally the merchant is in the right.'

The merchant in question was a halfling caravan leader called Ampy Dung and Fenrir went to see him. It was only a matter of 400 gold, so Fenrir got Ampy to hand over 200 gold and gave it to Ssemm.
So neither party happy, but neither party coming back round to Fenrir's door again so it was all to the good.

(For the record the 6 judges of Westgate are:

Rona Nylo - half-elf male - Good - Adept - Very wise
Duvamil 'Badger' the Proud - half-gnome - Aristocrat female - Lawful and Good - Not Wise and not clever
Darius Mendez - Paladin -  - Lawful and Good - not clever
Rotrick Parsemen - Aristocrat - Lawful - not clever and not wise
Gniess the Dancer - Aristocrat - Dwarf - Chaotic and Good - clever, but not wise
Jenner Fields - half-orc female - Commoner - Neutral in all things - clever and wise
)

Fenrir spent the rest of the day finding out about Katheera Urdo, the next name on his list. She lived at Castle Urdo but could often be found at the Purple Lady.
Fenrir remembered the place as Random (back when he was pretending to be a merchant called Nebulus) had been based there, as had Fenrir for a few days.
It was a house full of expensive tarts, just the sort of place he liked.

That night, he, Veddic and Raz went there, in disguise. They got a table and mingled for a while, keeping their spending low key.
She was not there that night, but they did talk to a man called Degasus Tarensun who said he could arrange a meeting. He need to know Fenrir's name and the name of the target.
Fenrir gave his name as 'Barry Shit-Knees' and the target as 'Veddic Carver'!

Veddic (in disguise) sat bolt upright as he had not been informed of this part of the plan!
'Not an easy target,' said Tarensun, who had heard of Veddic. 'But come here again tomorrow and we can see what happens.'


DAY 484  (29th Kythorn)(June)

There was a minor dispute between the Tavern Keepers Guild and the Watchmen about how much free beer was an acceptable amount to ask for. Fenrir came down on the side if the Watchmen.

The main thing though was the Dock Ward.
'It's total rubbish!' declared Portia. 'Watchmen are being harassed in the street. Getting stones thrown at them by kids and stuff. It's still all about  the death of Sweetpea.'

What Fenrir really wanted to do was go down there and burn it to the ground,
but he decided to think about it first.
He called in the three sheriffs and got three different opinions
"Crush them!", "Don't Crush Them!" and "I don't know!"

(For the record, the three sheriffs are:

    - Rebeca Thorngage - Chaotic and Evil Fighter - Human female - dumb but tough (city)
    - Eme the Stalwart - Lawful and Good human female - Athletic and wise (exterior)
    - Kirken Jenelet - Neutral in all things warrior Half-orc male - tough, not clever (dock)
)

Kirken, who was sheriff of the Dockward also said, 'these things pass...'
So far he had been wrong about that though.
'What about the guilds? Can they not control their workers?' asked Fenrir
'Down there, only about a third of them work in the city,' explained Eme. 'The others are just the dregs. There are some sailors that live there, but they are mainly pirates.'

Fenrir sighed. Blasting the place to oblivion was still sounding like a viable plan.
Still, that evening he went, in disguise, to a few of the Dock Side taverns to see what people were saying.
He got into a conversation with two locals. One was a clerk and the other a stevedore.
'While I agree all this unrest is counter-productive' said the clever young clerk. 'Citizens  of the city have rights. If someone is blown to bits, there should be questions asked. And now  the person that did it is in charge of the Watch. How will Sweetpea ever get justice?'
'He was attacked,' said the disguised Fenrir, 'Was he not meant to defend himself?'
'Pah!' put in the stevedore. 'She was just trying to earn a few bob, like the rest of us. Sure she made a mistake, but from wot I heard, there was hardly anything left of her to bury! Bunch of wankers. One rule for us and one rule for them innit? A nobleman falls off his 'orse and bursts his head open - dead - his family go down the Temple, pay the money and he's back in the land of the living again. What about people like us though eh? Once  we're dead we're dead and that's the end of it.'

Fenrir nodded along with the clerk. He was beginning to get the idea!

(G426 26/09/2020 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR26

 (G426 26/09/2020 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR26

[More of my notes from my time on Mid Point Island - where we had defeated the Unseen and had taken control of the island.]

DAY 494 (10th Flamerule) (July) cont ...

I think I've lost track of the days somewhere along the way. The beginning of my life as the 'Warden of Midpoint Island' is a bit of a blur. There was so much to take in and sometimes 'Alfred the Smoke Monster' as I called him would simply just insert information into my head if he thought it would save time.

So for the first few days I felt like I'd been finding and eating magic mushrooms in the Kryptgarden Forest.

For the rest of the day and night, my family and companions left me to talk to Alfred.

Here are my unstructured notes from these conversations:

- The 'One way teleporter' acts as the Greater Teleportation spell. I'm not sure if it is interplanar
- Alfred is 13ft tall, a solid shadow. He can pick up a rock and throw it.
- The nasties that the prison contains come from 'All Planes, All Realities and All Times'
- Mid Point Island has a temperate climate, much the same as Waterdeep. It is 12 miles wide from top to bottom.
- The Island 'appears in times of crisis', and always in the current location. It was last seen 1500 years ago, around lunchtime
- The Warden bestows the 'Mark of Welcome'. Any being with a conscious alignment is affected by the lack of it if they arrive on the island - so humanoids, monsters, undead etc. Animals are not generally affected.
- The last Warden was the creator of the island. A sort of 'White Wizard'. He channeled 'oceans of magical energy' in order to make the island. He lived thousands of years ago and now he is dead.
- The island 'surfaced' again after interference form an outside force - i.e. the Mindflayers
- The trees on the island appeared and grew quickly due to the presence of the strong nature magic of me and Sylvia channeled via Alfred somehow
- I do now know the island (via Intellicus) while not on the island
- The crystal ball in the Teleporter room acts as the Greater Scrying spell
- The Wardenship can be passed on to someone willing and worthy
- The Warden can leave the island whenever he likes. Alfred can send a message if the Warden is needed back

Well, anyway, tonight we are sleeping on the ships.
But while we ate our evening meal we talked of our plans and what to do next. Lavinia had great plans for turning the island into a colony like she did with Farshore.
I don't know what Alfred would think of that, but surely he won't expect us to be daring our own socks?
'What about the caves though?' I asked her.
'People do wander,' chimed in Irritator

I decided to seal off the caves for now (apart from a hole big enough for a druid to get through!).  We can cross that bridge when we came to it.


DAY 495 (11th Flamerule) (July)

Today Lavinia went off in the Black Cat with 2000 gold to go get supplies and try and persuade some people to come and live here.
She took Sylvia, Irritator, Giselle, father and Eno with her.
Corum and Gharlie teleported back, as advance scouts.

We reckoned she'd be gone about a month.

This left just me, Molly and Rolanda on the island, with one empty boat that we have taken to calling 'Sister'.

I've started experimenting with building houses. As a Huge Earth Elemental I have no problem moving rocks around. I can then Stone Shape them into rough dwellings and use Wood Shape to strengthen them.

In one day I can build a very small cabin. If I take two days I can build a small house with four small rooms.

After all that fun, in the afternoon, I flew over to both the Waterdeep and Neverwinter fleets to invite them to visit.
The message I left was this:
'The new Warden of Mid Point Island invites you to send an emissary as soon as you like.'

I then looked around for animals to awaken. Currently on the island there are no land animals except for three stray dogs. There are plenty of seagulls though.

As an extra pair of eyes in the sky might be useful I decided to awaken a seagull and began today.

DAY 496 (12th Flamerule) (July)

Finished awakening the seagull. Named him Jonathan.

Built another house.

DAY 497 (13th Flamerule) (July)

Two Jolly boats arrived today, with delegations from Waterdeep and Neverwinter. There were four men on each craft and as they stepped onto the beach the all looked sick and fearful. I remembered to put the 'Mark of Welcome' on them and they perked up after that.

Each side had sent a captain from one of their ships, rough sorts of fellows really. I had a prepared speech:
'I'm the Warden of Mid Point Island now. There is nothing of value here, but if you wish it then you may set up embassies here'

Long-John Arsehole (one of the captains, I forget which one) pipes up;
'What's to stop us from taking the island from you?'

Well, other than all the other things that had been stopping him up until now there was also Alfred, who I introduced them to. 'Meet the Smoke Monster!'

Obviously a 13 foot tall shadow monster made them a bit more polite.
'How?' they asked.
'I'll not go into details,' I answered politely. 'But I'm in charge now.'
They asked who I was and I saw no point in lying. The Temple of Mystra knew who I was, I'd talked to Starseer himself, and it would only be a matter of time before my name was known.
'Rollo Lavius,' I said.

'We need to report back,' they said as they went to leave.

I have the feeling they thought I was a mad man.


DAY 498 (14th Flamerule) (July)

I decided to have a wee tour of the Coffins today, but quickly gave up as it was too terrifying. There are things down on the lower levels that would turn someone's soul inside out and I can barely make it past the first floor.

So, instead I teleported back to the OJB in Waterdeep to see what was going on. Corum was a bit miffed because he had already had representatives of the Open Lord around asking about what his brother (i.e. me) was up to!

Corum was keeping his ear to the ground, but even so he had heard nothing of the Unseen in Waterdeep. They were hard to find, of course, so that did not mean they were not still here.

In disguise, we went to find Reasonable Bob of the Temple of Mystra and let him know that
a) the amulets had worked a treat
b) the island was now secure, and
c) we had stopped the Blue Phage

He was happy with that (particularly 'c') and we agreed that a top Mystran cleric could come over to the island some time to take a look.

Spend the night at the OJB. Lavinia and the Black Cat are not here yet, they will be about halfway.

DAY 499 (15th Flamerule) (July)

Filled my Bag of Holding full of pies, chips and bottles of beer and flew back to the island. Got there about six in the evening.

I gave some chips to Jonathan. He had nothing to report. Something was going on though, he'd not spotted that their were eight people on the island. I could sense them clearly, up on the north side, heading inland.

I flew up their straight away, dropped down beside them and introduced myself, much to their amazement and shock.

They were adventurers, by appearance, a collecting of armoured men, rogues, wizards and clerics.
There was a half orc, an elf and a halfling also in their party. They were heavily armed.
'What are you doing here?' I asked.
'We, ah, are here on a task.'
'That's hardly an answer,' I scoffed. 'This is my island. You are trespassing.'
The leader grunted and waved at me dismissively. 'Don't get in our way.'
'Let me introduce you to the Smoke Monster,' I replied as Alfred appeared beside me.

That put the wind right up them and they started backing off. One of them tried to cast a  spell and failed.
'Stop!' I demanded. 'Stop and talk. Who are you people?'
'Ah!' one yelped. 'We are not at liberty to say!'
At that point they started running back to the coast. I thought of stopping them, but could think of no way that would not end in a punch up.
Alfred could have stopped them and put them in Blue Coffins, but he had told me that this caused terrible agony and I had no desire to visit that on them, whoever they were. Those Blue Coffins give me the heebie-jeebies.

The little halfling threw down some caltrops as they ran. This was an aggressive action, but I let this also pass - even though in a brief flash of anger all I wanted to do was catch the little shit and shove all the caltrops down his throat.

They waded into the water and swam out far enough, beyond the Protection Barrier until one of them could cast Teleportation. And off they went.

I returned to the cave and used the crystal ball to Scrye them.

They were sitting on benches in a stone walled room.
'Oof!' said one of them. 'That island just aint right!'

(G425 19/09/2020 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM)) WA72

(G425 19/09/2020 via Roll20 - AP, JF(GM)) WA72

DAY 480  (25th Kythorn)(June)  cont...

The chair that Raz threw hit Whitey like a meteor, striking him in the chest and sending him flying backwards.

Mayhem erupted.

A rogue called 'Yellow Ferret' threw a chair at Raz, but accidentally hit Whitey's friend 'Sausage Face' in the back. Chairs and bottles flew, people that wanted to avoid the fight surged away and those that wanted part of it surged in.

Fenrir took his eyes off Whitey as a group of adventurers in the corner joined in, a fighter, a rogue and a wizard. He took them out one by one with Painful Slumber. It cost him time though and Raz was also getting swamped, fending off blows left and right.

He lashed out at a 'Mysterious Stranger' - his blow didn't seem to do any damage although it did connect.

The Stranger struck back, a much more powerful blow than Raz had expected from anyone in a dock side tavern. He staggered back.

'IS THIS WHAT THEY CALL A BAR FIGHT?' asked the stranger.

'I suppose so,' muttered Raz as he backed off.

The only sensible one out of the lot of them was Veddic. He avoided the fleeing tarts and the dwarven miners piling in and kept his eyes on Whitey. The rogue was fleeing and headed into the back rooms. Veddic followed, but lost him. He then went outside and saw five watchmen heading for the tavern.

Raz too, by now, had joined the pursuit and deduced that Whitey had escaped by going up the chimney in one of the back rooms. He rushed out and told Fenrir, who cursed and ran out past the fighters to take a look. He ran right into the arms of the watch.

'Look, a bear!' he bluffed, making them all turn, before going invisible and taking to the air.

He spotted a shadowy figure running from roof to roof and followed him. The figure then dropped down and started walking. He then jumped out of his skin as Fenrir appeared before him and said;

'Let's try that again shall we?'

Whitey turned and felt.

Fenrir blasted, but by rare chance the spell fizzled.

'Help! Help! Murder!' shouted Whitey as he reached the door of another pub.

Fenrir hit him with a Painful Slumber spell that made Whitey slump into the doorway.

People were looking out of the doors and windows, and a nosey human female cleric of Umberlee was on  hand and wanted to take a look.

Luckily for Fenrir though, she was as drunk as skunk and he easily ignored her.

By then Raz and Veddic had caught up and they took Whitey away, pretending he was just a drunken friend. They took him up onto a roof a Veddic prepared him to be re-awakened.

Now - dear reader - at this point Fenrir left them all and what happened next I am not at all sure about, but I think he went off to find and talk to the 'Mysterious Stranger'.

What they talked about when he found him I am also not sure about, but I think it simply involved what the stranger was doing in the city and how he was enjoying the food.

Now, I've head it said that Fenrir thought he had met the Personification of Death. But that's impossible as no such being exists!

Fenrir may even have tried to recruit 'Death' to help him in the fight against the Vampires, reasoning that 'Death' would be no friend of the undead.

Whoever this being was though, he was on a schedule and had to leave Westgate later that night. Who had Fenrir met then? I'm not sure, perhaps a powerful demon or angel, or maybe the avatar or servant of one of the gods? Or maybe Fenrir is just making the whole thing up, it's entirely possible.

In any event, he returned to the rooftop half an hour later.

They woke up Whitey and questioned him. He soon gave up the name: Katheera "The Succubus" Urdo

'Where is she?' asked Fenrir.

'In her bed probably,' answered Whitey. He honestly did not know much about her comings and goings, but did know she lived at Castle Urdo with the rest of her noble family.

Satisfied with a single name Fenrir stabbed Whitey in the back of the head and once he was dead

Veddic turned him into an undead skeleton and stuffed him into his Bag of Holding.

Thus was the end of Whitey 'the Kid'.

DAY 481  (26th Kythorn)(June) 

After a solid night's sleep (I should imagine none of the three of them were troubled one wink by the cold blooded murder they had committed the night before!) Fenrir went to work, while Veddic and Raz flew over to Spectre Island to see Random.

There were now nearly 200 people living on the island, mainly refugees from the Plane of Shadow and it was turning into a bustling hive of activity.

'It's all good,' said Random. 'Everything is coming on nicely. We are all ready here for the next step, when you've sorted out the Vampires. If you ever have the desire for a change of pace there are a few pirate and/or goblin infested island around here you could deal with, but there is no rush!'

DAY 482  (27th Kythorn)(June) 

Again this morning Fenrir went to work. He was 'laying low' for a while to see what the fallout was from the death of Whitey.

He talked to Portia about it who told him;

'I've heard about the ruckus of course, but so far it's being considered as just another wild night in the Dock Ward.'

Fenrir smiled, put his feet on the desk and steepled his fingers together. Now he had to come up with a way of getting his hands on Katheera Urdo.