Part III
Upon arriving in Hilvada, the party finds a small business district just outside of the walls surrounding the town proper. The gate through these walls is guarded by two men paying little attention to the people coming and going. They are not quite so oblivious to miss a giant minotaur attempting to enter the city, though. "No minotaurs allowed!"
The members decide to sort through their options at the Rusty Anchor Bar. Eli spots the thieves' cant etched on the inner door and lets the team know that the town possesses a thieves' guild and that all visitors are being watched. Aro-mon, heedless, shows some interest in checking out some of the gambling venues while they're there. He plans to carouse just for a bit. After all, how much could the party accomplish in less than a day?
Always eager to support the local economy, Bill and Eli decide to go shopping, guarded by Bosnun. They find Bauxul's Potion Store and head inside. Curious for more insight on the iron ingots in their possession, they ask the owner, as someone clearly knowledgeable on such things, if he can identify anything important about them. A small gleam in his eye, Bauxul informs them that the iron is of extremely high purity, very valuable. Pleased with this information, Eli asks Bauxul if he has any potions that could make a minotaur less conspicuous around town. Indeed, he does. Bauxul enthusiastically explains that he has a potion that will make a minotaur much smaller than normal. "A minia-taur potion, if you will," he cackles with mirth. Eli says he'll take them, along with a few healing potions. The shopkeeper generously offers to sell them the potions for half of an iron ingot and twenty gold pieces. Bauxul is unimpressed when Eli hands over five gold pieces instead. He is even less impressed when Bosnun grabs his hand in a brutish attempt to intimidate the shopkeeper. Shouting at the top of his lungs, "GUARDS, GUARDS, GUAAAAAARDS," Bauxul shoves at the goliath manhandling his arm. "Everybody out! And take that goliath with you!"
"Yes, right away, sir," says an embarrassed Eli, as he quickly ushers his compatriots out the door.
Now potionless, the band tries to figure out a way to get inside the gates with the still full-sized minotaur. Nameless takes the two oversized party members and attempts to charm the guards into letting them through. The two sentries are having none of it, however, so everyone re-convenes to discuss their options while Loci picks a few flowers by the side of the road. Loci soon notices the shopkeeper's apprentice working outside the back of the shop. Perhaps she might be willing to help the minotaur, to whom she seems to be paying special attention? Though he is loath to approach the girl, Loci is unable to come up with a decent excuse not to, and he really, really needs that potion. He shambles over to the girl and awkwardly initiates conversation. Presenting her with a flower, he asks if she might be willing to help him acquire something that would get him past the guards. She generously offers to sneak him a potion if he agrees to come visit her again. Left with no other choice, he quickly promises to see her on his way out of town, buying himself some time to decide whether or not to stick to his word. Hurrying back to his party, he quickly hides around the corner to quaff the potion and returns a few moments later, much smaller and less bull-like.
As soon as everyone passes through the gates, knowing that they don't have too much time before the minia-taur potion wears off, they search for a warehouse to hide the minotaur and plan their next steps. Since nobody has tried to arrest any of them yet for the murder of a Solce family member, they feel secure in going straight to the Solce manor. Keen Bill takes Eli and Bosnun, while the rest of the party wanders the town.
The small power team approaches boldly, albeit comically shortest to tallest, toward the Solce manor gates. The gates swing freely without challenge, and three guards demand to know their business. A short moment of explanation later and a runner heads into the heavily guarded manor house. Thirty long minutes pass until a noble lady gracefully comes to Eli. Younger than the Ariath imposter and more beautiful, she allows very little of the conversation to take place in the outer courtyard before she bids them enter the inner hold to allow the details to spill forth in a more private setting. Introductions are made, and Bill, Eli, and Bosnun are standing before Primet Solce, youngest of the Solce sisters and twin of Ariath. This confirms their suspicion that the lifeless body in Wayward Inn was not truly Ariath. More unsettling is that Primet describes the imposter in perfect detail. The team has been duped by Primet's eldest sister, Kaylah. The attitude of the noble lady is prim and to the point, almost disinterested until the adventure in the Tower of the Lily is regaled by Bill. Primet is dumbstruck that they were in the presence of the fabled Drexx, Master of Shelbol, and still draw breath. Believing there must be more to these men, she bids for their protection. Kaylah has not only been acting strangely for the last season but she has also turned almost the entirety of their private guardsmen to her power. There is darkness Primet can't hope to fight so she wants to flee as soon as possible from Hilvada. She secrets a small piece of parchment into Bill's hand and dismisses them with instruction in sotto voce to return late at night to rescue her from her peril.
Bill leads as they exit the manor, escorted by heavily armored guards, and they make their way back to their safehouse. Eli again is struck by the sheer amount of thieves' cant markers he notes in the noble square. One in particular was hidden on the Solce manor indicating that it was under the direct protection of "Top." If this didn't complicate their new charge to save the Lady Primet enough, Eli also noted they had picked up a shadow shortly after entering into the poorer quarters south by the warehouses. Without tipping their hand, the boys enter their home-away-from-home and let Elisha slip into the night to practice his skills. He needs to work a block west to come up behind their shadow but finds his prey with sure skill. "Bells" the shadow says his name is. "And it might be wise to lower the blade from me neck before 'Slice' makes things unpleasant." Eli completes a hasty interrogation, tempered by his age and wisdom, and comes to understand that nothing is going to get a free pass in Hilvada unless they pay tribute to "Top." They part without bloodshed, and Eli returns to find most of the team back from their personal errands in the city.
Bill starts to feel knives in every shadow and wants to get done and out as soon as possible, maybe even tonight! However, what was going to be a sleepy night spent exercising good fortunes for Aro-mon turns into a major obstacle to any coordinated efforts. Being the only reliable speaker of thieves' cant, Eli takes Zulynn and Bill to a meeting with the infamous Top. After a maze of sewers, the heroes emerge to a den of children, sneak-thieves, cutthroats, lieutenants and the head man himself. Zulynn and Bill are amazed as after three exchanges of the most banal and wildly formed sentences of common are spoken between Top and Eli. Not one minute has passed and the small team is again being led back out of the sewers by Bells, the deal struck and the price agreed. One night of free work for two hundred gold pieces.
In the safehouse once again, Bill, as ever, finds his motivation of riches and coin to be a stronger driver than his need to rescue damsels in distress. Skipping town is looking better and better. If only he could get a message to Aro-mon. The thieves' guild isn't providing people-finding services tonight. A glimmering prospect of extorting coin from Solce noble family coffers is an encouraging thought, and Bill is won over to the rescue plans. Bosnun reminds him of the palmed note and finds their prospects lifted by detailed guard schedules and a rough manor map. Given the pure stealth needed for the mission, Nameless, Loci, and Zandor stay to the city streets or safety of the warehouse. The others make for the city center and Primet.
The manor wall is breached with a grapple and rope. Three men clear the top before Zulynn makes her ascent. Her strength starts to fail her, and she is pulled to safety by Bill, Eli, and Bosnun. The next obstacle is a door sentry. There is no bypassing the threat so Zulynn slinks forward in the shadows and weaves a powerful sleep spell. The guard slumps against the crenelated outer wall in seconds. They make it to Primet's wing without alarm and even surprise the lady herself as they barge into her quarters. She packs in a flurry, annoyedly flicking a sack of coin to Bill after he makes plain his services tonight are in expectation of payment. A hearty jingle of forty platinum is inside, which will do nicely. They are desperate for information to aid in their search for the Master of Shelbol's flower, and Primet quickly writes out four locations around the city where Kaylah could have secreted the flower, if indeed she took it from Shelbol.
The dark streets to the private Solce family docks stretch in front of the party of five. There is ample opportunity for a double cross by the guild, but they are as true to the bargain as Bill was true to the payment. They find the dock guarded by an old watchman who embraces Primet with tears. This man is her sole remaining ally in the noble guard. Onto the ship without delay, Primet is already fast out into the Caliph Sea before the group finishes questioning the goodly watchman, Kaga. He knows Kaylah has driven a wedge between the twins and herself, a family drama that threatened violence on many occasions. Kaga, being intimately acquainted with the family holdings, also warns of Jenos, Kaylah's right hand man. Remembering well the hard man who drove the carriage north to Wayward at the birth of their journey, the party connects the unnamed brute with this Jenos, Captain of the Solce family guard.
After watching Primet sail off safely to the east, they take some time to inspect the various crates and barrels inside the dockhouse. Zulynn is disappointed to find an empty chest and even more disheartened when she realizes the barrels contain only manure. Disgusted with their findings, they disregard the rest of the building and leave.
They head back to the warehouse where Loci, back to his usual hulking self, is still hiding patiently and Aro-mon has finally returned after his gambling spree, many gold pieces richer. A watch is set, and they rest through the remainder of their first night in Hilvada. In the morning Loci agrees that he should probably get some more potions. Fortunately for him, he can't wander the town in his state, so Nameless agrees to go in his stead. Accompanied by Aro-mon and armed with more picked flowers, Nameless returns to Bauxul's potion shop, where the shopkeeper apprentice accidentally lets slip that the iron ingots may possibly have magical properties. When they make it back to the warehouse, potions in hand, they ask Zandor to see if he can detect any magic in the iron. He excitedly announces that the ingots contain evocation magic.
Aro-mon and Bosnun set off into the city flanking the disguised "Lord" Elisha to the threshold of master artisan Payter Coldbrush. He is renowned for his skills in metallurgy and the crafting of fine weaponry for noble lords. An eccentric man, he nearly begins to drool when the imbued iron is placed in his outstretched palms. "Come back in twenty days, no more, no less!" And the solid oaken door slams in the face of Eli. Frightfully bewildered at the exchange and now standing at the master's door without iron or price, the three slink back to the lower districts hoping they will see the iron again or perhaps dreading what the costs may be.
The crew discusses back and forth for a time what to do next, while Loci sits quietly contemplating the small green vials. The timing of their work in Hilvada might be tricky; using the potions at the right moment without wasting them weighs on his thoughts. Nameless has played prettily over the last twenty-four hours and is finding his hands drawn more to the string of his crossbow than the strings of his melodious "Shaum." Eventually it is agreed upon to check all the Solce family holdings in the hopes of finding any clues to this flower they seek for the Master of Shelbol.
Reunited and back to full fighting strength they run wildly around town, desperately searching each of the locations on Primet's list. Other than a few pieces of armor, they find nothing but shit. Literally. This town has a very healthy supply of manure. Completely discouraged, the party wonders if they missed something, somewhere. Perhaps, they should have searched the Solce dockhouse more thoroughly? Left with few other options, they trudge back to the docks. A more efficient search of the room reveals a set of stairs leading down into a tunnel. The space is far too small for a full-sized minotaur, so Loci is forced to take his final potion.
The tunnels are well-lit with lanterns along the walls, and Bosnun advances confidently down the first hallway. He blunders into a fire trap but miraculously takes no damage from the engulfing flames as he enters his stone's endurance. What a close one. Carefully checking the corner, they notice a guard making his rounds at the far end of the next hallway. He disappears around the far corner, and Eli sneaks up to pick his way into the first room. It's a tiny study with a bookshelf that contains seemingly typical arcane reading fare until Zulynn recognizes a few tomes that definitely do not fit in with the rest of the collection. She stashes these for future light reading and forges ahead, casting sleep on the patrolling guard. Carefully stepping over the snoozing body, the group opens the next room, finding a mound of corpses, blood, and guts. The sounds of the party's gasps and retching alert a second guard to their presence, and everyone prepares to fight.
The brave, or perhaps foolish, guard dashes up to the corner and is attacked by Zandor. A flurry of attacks from the guard takes Zandor in the shoulder and narrowly misses his neck. Then Zulynn maneuvers forward to unleash a firebolt. Still standing, the guard has little time to react to a charging goliath's towering form and is easily no match for Bosnun's raw strength. Down he goes. A blade follows him, and the fight is over. Aro-mon is in no mood to have a sleeping guard wake at their backs so he casually slits the first guard's throat as he delves deeper into the tunnels. The next room is lit especially well by a double mounted set of lanterns on the opposite wall, and the team is equally horrified and fascinated by the arcane symbols stretching out across the floor in deep relief. The esoteric sigil is made entirely of blood. The remaining twist to the tunnels has one remarkably secure door and one unlocked door leading to a small barracks of sorts. The poor pair of guardsmen sleeping inside never knew what caused them to wake suddenly clutching their throats as their lifesblood slipped through their fingers to patter on the floor. Eli did alright for unmoving targets.
A rumble overhead can be heard, and they quickly realize that Bosnun's trap from earlier has made their presence in the tunnels known to the manor guards. Elite soldiers begin to file into the tunnels blocking their only exit. Eli quickly sets a trap in the hallway, then retreats back, preparing for battle. Each room, other than the richly defended steel door, is searched again for some way out, but they appear to be caught with no way to leave except through the heavily armed guards. There seems to be nothing left to do but strategize their plan of defense. Bosnun is smashing lanterns in the hallway to impair the guards' vision when he notices some lantern oil leaking under the wall in the alcove across from the room with the sigil. A false wall leading to a real hope is revealed! Everyone files through the hidden door. Eli, after disabling a blade trap, finds a stash of three ceremonial daggers and an uncommon spear, and the group finally makes their way safely down this new set of stairs, trusting the navigation of their minotaur in the inky black passage. A short distance later takes them to a secret ladder which brings the group back up through a cleverly hidden trapdoor in the dockhouse and to freedom at last.
Elisha Tannin-Rodgers
Race: Lightfoot Halfling
Class: Rogue
As a retired operative for the Royal Magistrate, Eli spent most of his days puttering around the house and getting under his wife's heels. Since he was disinclined to write any books of his own about his old adventures (as they are still classified), he decided to go out on a new one. He's quick with a joke and just as quick with a threat. There's more intimidation and persuasion than you'd expect from someone so small, but all that comes naturally to someone who's such a good liar. That said, he's perfectly honest with those he trusts, though the list of people who qualify for that isn't very long.