Part II
The band returns to the inn in Wayward to find a pair of adventurers boasting about capturing the creature who has been eating farmer Praxon's goats. According to them, a minotaur, who is now chained up at the garrison, has been responsible for the killings. Incensed that someone would try to take credit for their hard work, Keen Bill confronts the pair, and tensions begin to rise. After calling in the set of guards (who help very little in this, or any, situation), Praxon himself helps facts get sorted, and the new pair, a goliath and a gnome, apologizes for the misunderstanding. Meanwhile, Nameless the Bard sings about painting red things black as Keen Bill and the goliath, Bosnun, who claims he was just following the orders of the gnome, Zandor, discuss the idea of teaming together on their adventures. Keen Bill would like to recruit the minotaur as well. However, Eli is wary of all the newcomers; of Bosnun for taking credit for their work and of the minotaur for being a minotaur. Wanting no part in these discussions, the halfling decides to do some shopping for daggers and bolts at Bess's general store.
"Thanks, Bess. It's been swell." She makes a concupiscent sound and chases after the halfling with a wink.
Once the halfling and leader's ammunition stocks have been re-filled, the party negotiates with the guards for the release of the minotaur. Nameless eloquently persuades the guards to let the beast go free, though Eli is unable to convince the dim pair to hand over the keys to unlock the chains themselves.
The party decides to re-convene at the bar. Unfortunately, the minotaur's expansive horns cause a bit of damage to Cairn's hand-made doorframe, and he decides to sit outside the window while the rest of the party assembles at a table inside. As a token of apology for the false accusations earlier, Bosnun generously buys the minotaur, Loci, a drink. Officially, the party of Keen Bill swells by three with the addition of Zandor, Bosnun, and Loci… yet, unnoticed by all, eight are drinking and making merry by the window's ledge. The party shows the new members the note they had found with Ariath's corpse, and Zulynn Ovensbane, a skilled wizard and narcissist, translates the strange script. The signature turns out to be that of the "Master of Shelbol." Unsure what that means, they inquire of the bartender if he is familiar with the word, Shelbol. "I ain't tellin' you nothin' until you pay for the damage to my door!" A quick exchange of gold pieces later, Cairn says the name is an old word for flower. He has no more information than that to provide. The party thinks that the only flower of significance that they are aware of is the Tower of the Lily and agrees to head back to the crumbling bastion, but should it be now, with the deep black of the evening setting in, or after a night's rest? The lure of a soft bed and warm walls eventually wins out against Bill's drive for adventure. As the minotaur and goliath would not fit in a shared room with the rest of the party, Bosnun pays to put up both in the stables that night, earning him enough respect to cancel out the hard feelings held by the minotaur from their previous misunderstanding.
The next day, the party approaches the bridge to the tower once again, this time with Eli riding on Loci's shoulder to save him some steps. A bit daunted by the imposing stone building with its large double doors, Zandor decides he wants to go fishing, and Bosnun dangles Eli over the bridge so the halfling can search for any clues. The gnome catches some shrimp for lunch later, but the halfling finds nothing useful. Drawing near the face of the stone entrance for the first time, the party notes that the engraved writing above the large stone double doors matches the signed glyphs of "Shelbol." After some debate on their options to gain ingress (Should they destroy the doors? Climb through a window? Look for hidden passages leading inside?) they ultimately decide to try the door handle. The door opens easily despite a deep rumble of stone dragging across stone.
Once they enter the tower, they see nothing except for columns and the back side of stairs leading to the second story. Loci hesitates by the entrance. Cautiously, the others sneak forward along both walls and notice a pair of hobgoblins guarding the ways up and down. As they prepare to ambush the hobgoblins, Zulynn clumsily alerts them to their presence. Keen Bill shoots a bolt at the first hobgoblin, killing it. Zulynn shoots firebolt and Nameless aims with his crossbow at the second hobgoblin. Both miss. The creature is surrounded and can't decide which way to go. Eventually it moves towards the nearest hero, running straight up to Zulynn and slashing her across the chest. Loci, who has been hanging back near the front door, moves up and shoots his longbow at the hobgoblin, missing it as the arrow clatters between Zulynn's legs. Bosnun swings his longsword at the hobgoblin, the blade bouncing off of its chainmail vest, but a second swing with his other hand takes down the hobgoblin with an axe. Eli seizes this opportunity to run up to the wounded enemy, chopping off its leg and slaying the creature.
The party takes a moment to loot the corpses. Eli is pleased with his hobgoblin ear, while Nameless finds tattered chainmail. Meanwhile, Bill hears movement coming from the stairs above. He calls a warning to the becalmed band, but a wild Hobgoblin lands with a rush in the midst of his dead company! It slashes Zandor with a scimitar then retreats a bit. It then takes a smashing firebolt to the face from Zulynn but survives. Bill and Loci both miss their ranged attacks. Zandor, in desperation to open space between the brute and himself, casts Entangle, pinning down the hobgoblin. Bosnun then makes applesauce of the creature with a mighty swing of his blade, taking two ears as trophies. Eli pulls a string from his pack and attaches his own trophy ear, making a nice necklace of it.
Walking up several flights of stairs, they find an antechamber with a set of double doors. Keen Bill kneels at the lock hoping to perceive any threats lurking in the tower room. A dry, rasping voice speaks out clearly in all of their minds, "Come in, children. It is rude to linger at my door." The heroes trade nervous glances but step boldly up to the doors, which open to reveal a bed-ridden, elderly man surrounded by ceremonial armor flanking an opening in the floor which descends forty feet to the lower levels. A sinister knife lays on a nightstand near the bed. The old man bids everyone enter the room, and they file inside, hesitant to enter too far. Loci tries not to stand too closely to one of the armors, so Zandor attempts to push the minotaur's impressive bulk up closer, but the gnome can't budge the minotaur even an inch. Clearly unbothered by the eerie suits, Bosnun casually leans his longsword against the other armor, thinking to remove its head if it were to so much as creak. The old man attempts to encourage the party to ask of him whatever they want. Bill quickly tells of their misfortune in Wayward, and the sickly form on the bed beckons him forward. Better to see the letter with its own eyes. Covered by Eli, Bill sets the letter on the bed then quickly steps back. After glancing at the letter, the man informs them that while he is the Master of Shelbol, he did not put this letter in their path. The party relays their experience with Ariath Solce, eliciting a strong reaction from the man at the mention of her name. He insists that the woman they had met was not Ariath Solce, and he appears to be telling the truth. When he claims that the tower has never been a school, however, they get the sense that he is being deceitful. As they challenge his honesty, he proclaims that he'll answer no more questions unless they retrieve a certain purple flower in a clay pot for him. To find his prize he tells Bill to seek out the Family Solce. Zandor conjures a small illusion of a blue lily in his palm, but before he can ask if this is the form that they should seek, the old man makes the barest flick of his hand, dispelling the illusion and shifting the features of his face from kindly to unhinged. "You would be wise never to attempt magic in this chamber again." A heartbeat later, his countenance shifts back to that of an old friend and mentor.
"Guess we're going flower hunting," drawled Eli.
Once they are gathered back on the main floor, they notice a trap door leading to the basement. After burning a simple acid trap, they open the door to reveal pristine, clean walls down below. This hallway looks all too familiar to most of Bill's regulars, and they decide they want no part of whatever may be down there. Bosnun, however, is adamant about finding some treasure, so he convinces Bill to accompany him into the tunnels with a torch. The pair finds a chest behind the ladder and calls down Zandor to check for traps. His search yields nothing but handfuls of splinters, and he grumpily declares the chest to be fine and returns upstairs. Eli drops down to open the chest with his crowbar, finding 40 gold pieces and a small stash of iron ingots forge-fired to high purity. Zulynn takes this opportunity to attempt to cast sleep inconspicuously on Eli but fails. She regretfully decides to let the party share the gold. Still feeling a bit greedy, Bosnun throws the torch down the hallway, revealing familiar surroundings of fresh, clean walls and four alcoves. Everyone agrees a retreat is in order, and so they return to Wayward.
Back in town, Eli buys Bosnun's goblin ears off of him, as a necklace with a single ear was just not very impressive. He also stops by Bess's shop once again to purchase a sling and some darts. She might not have many words but she manages her work with an efficient bobbing. By now, the afternoon is starting to get long, so they decide to venture south to Hilvada. It was in Hilvada, after all, where Bill and his band joined the supposed Ariath Solce on this misadventure. After trekking for several hours, they set up camp at sunset, taking turns keeping watch throughout the night. The next day is rainy as the party trudges through the muddy roads. They come across a traveler lying prone in the pooled ruts of the road. Bill approaches the man on the ground despite Loci urging Bill to be cautious. As Bill gets closer to the man, the traveler produces a dagger from his boot, lunging towards Bill. "Now, lads, spring the trap for these fish! We've been waiting for two days!" The blade swings just short of hamstringing Bill, and four bandits and a hound emerge from the woods. The party is surrounded!
Eli runs up and severely injures the deceiver who is still prone on the ground. Zandor hurries to hide far behind Loci, while Bill, overextended from the rest of the party, shoots a bolt at one of the bandits in cover behind the trees but narrowly misses. Loci charges at a bandit and his hound, piercing the bandit with his rapier, but the dog protects his master by biting a chunk out of Loci's leg. This hound is no normal dog but much more like a direwolf! Bosnun runs to aid his new friend Loci and engages the bandit facing off against the minotaur, cleaving the fool's head clean from his body. Unfortunately, he is a step too far to redouble his attack on the hound-wolf, so Zandor cautiously advances to charm the dog, turning it to a friendly, slobbery pupper. Meanwhile, Eli is hiding behind Bill. He chucks one of his daggers at a bandit, instantly killing him. Then Bill takes a shot at one of the two remaining bandits, hitting him. The other wounded bandit, who looks to be the leader, beats a hasty retreat into the woods. The deceiver in the road, after slinking through the mud, jumps up and tries to dash away. Loci looses an arrow at him, but the shot, once again, goes wide. The bandit in the trees shoots at the halfling who was abandoned in the road after Bill ran away, misses, then darts for cover behind the next tree. Bosnun runs up and throws his axe, which lodges between the bandit's shoulder blades. Amazingly, the bandit is still on his feet, running with all of his remaining energy. Bosnun's second axe misses, biting deep into a low hanging tree branch near the bandit's head. Loci readies his longbow, prays to the minotaur gods, and releases, hitting and killing the bandit! In the meantime, Eli has caught up to the fleeing deceiver and stuns him, taking him alive.
As the heroes interrogate the man on the road, they realize that he knows very little. He lets slip that he was hired by the man who fled, Gorsh, at the docks of Hilvada for some light knife work. He identifies Gorsh as the leader and the one with all of the gold, payable for each head the bandits could deliver. The party decides to release the beaten whelp, and he runs away northbound toward Wayward, grateful for his life.
Keen Bill dashes into the woods with his men beating a fast path towards him. Another chase is on, and the ranger's excitement is palpable. At the next clearing, they catch sight of Gorsh, and Bill entreats him with reason. Loud curses are thrown at Bill in rebuff as he escapes into another thicket. Again, behind the ranger's skill, the team closes easily on their quarry. Choosing action over words, Zandor casts Entangle on the bandit, but Gorsh breaks free as the vines begin to bite into his wrists. Bosnun throws his axe at him, injuring him enough to slow him down but not kill him. A hard stare in rebuke is delivered by Keen Bill, who had told all of the men that he wanted the bandit alive. Eli dashes up to deliver a knock-out blow. They tie him up and search his person, finding a hidden pocket that holds a map of the forest, a small letter, and two platinum uncomfortably sewn into the inner thigh of the brute's trousers. The extremely vulgar bandit leader continues to scream obscenities at the group hoping to draw a quick death while refusing to tell them anything. He begs for death to avoid an even worse fate at his failure to please his mistress. Eli threatens to let their very ferocious, monstrous, and hungry minotaur eat him alive and subsequently crap him out.
"Come over here, Loci."
"OK," he said, mustering every ounce of false bravado within his gentle fur.
Breaking, Gorsh screams,"Fine! I'll talk!"
As he begins to betray his employer, one of the platinum pieces in Bill's grasp starts to burn intently and suddenly melts into a strange, glowing aura that surrounds the bandit's head. His neck twists with a sickening snap, and he falls to the ground, dead. Stunned, the party has no choice but to forge onward to Hilvada once more.
Keen Bill, Hero of West Bend
Race: Human
Class: Ranger
While naturally quiet, Keen Bill takes some real joy in recounting his exploits in West Bend, where he slayed a monstrous boar and returned the mayor's son to his father. His brush with death has made him cautious, however money is the surest way to instill some courage. Bill will happily play up his hero story whenever possible to get handouts at inns. His taste of fame and glory convinced him to abandon the apprentice life in favor of a life as an adventuring hero.