TowerOfTheLastBaron

Tower Of The Last Baron

The players in our little escapade :

• Mark D - Pa Larin an Elfin cultist dude

• Alex - Mailitha a Human shadow caster dudette

• James H - Nym a changeling rogue dude or dudette

• Ben - Maranna a Human sword sage dudette

Scene One

Whereupon the characters visit Piren's Bluff.

The group (minus James' character) are asked by General Dakovya to take on a secret mission to remove the once neutral Baron Vendikon from the town he is in control of. They are offered a mighty reward and any loot that they can carry from the place. Having agreed these terms the players set forth with the merchant Gaskar Drolp to enter the town.

The merchant Gaskar drops the party off at the halfling run store called Forest Bounty. He tells the party that they are now on their own and having delivered his goods leaves town post haste.

Forest Bounty

The party then begin to chart out the town by visiting the shop and quizzing the Tuckets. Pa Larin starts his conversation with the immortal line "Got any poison?" The Tuckets are slightly surprised by such a question as they sell food mainly. The odd cask of ale as well.

This question also seems to put the wind up some of the other members of the party. After a prolonged bout of discussion the party leave Forest Bounty and enter the streets and avenues of Piren's Bluff.

The group then wandered around the town. They visited Shenk's Dogyard, Terron's Yard, The Black Candle, The First Light, The Conqueror's Blade, Terron's Yard, Almir Estate and Argith's Alchemy Shoppe. The last place they visited proved to be quite interesting location.

The Conqueror's Blade

The party decide that finding a place for the night would be a good idea. They are directed to this establishment where they are assured they can get a place to stay. The owner, Rhasper and his three barmaids, Elka, Treesia and Mairen all make the four players quite comfortable. The group sit and listen to the guards taking time out from their duties. Mailitha manages to join a group of guards and steers the conversation round to the schedules and responsibilities of the guards. Having managed to find out this and managing to win some money she buys the guys some drinks and rejoins her friends.

Shenk's Dogyard

This fenced off dog kennels holds several large mastiffs bread for hunting and attack duties. The owner, Tweiford Shenk breeds and trains his animals. He is helped by Bumbo, when he feels the need for assistance.

Terron's Yard

The owner Terron Redgrove buys and sells horses and ponies.

The Black Candle

The party entered this location and noticed dangling on the door chimes a small twig of mistletoe wrapped in yellow ribbon. The secret sign of a supporter of the Andorans. Viaren offers to help the players deal with the baron. She offers the players a selection of useful but non-fatal poisons. The players seem quite pleased with this and ask her about the state of the town. Vairen tells the players that agents of the baron have been buying herbs and things used to preserve dead bodies. She fears the baron may have some sort of undead force ready for use.

After leaving the Black Candle the group meet Bumbo. A rather strangely dressed man. His long cloak trails behind him like a super hero exposed to too much Kryptonite. Pa Larin strikes up a conversation with this dishevelled character. They discuss the town and the state of visitors to the town. After a time Pa Larin realises that Bumbo has a slightly mad outlook and may not be quite the sharpest knife in the drawer.

The First Light

The players view the dilapidated building and notice a small statue set atop the building. None of the group recognise the figure depicted. After going inside they find the figure of Tulrin Endessell trying to keep the place clean. An old Elf cleric bowed down with age and the loss of the mind that goes with it. He muttered various ramblings about the flowers and sunlight. His only coherent comments being about the dangers of the priestess of Asmodeus and the papers she holds over the people of the Bluff. He recommends that the papers be destroyed.

Almir Estate

The players knock on the door to this rather attractive old building. A servant greets the players but fails to allow them entry to talk to the current owner. They are told that Dreyxor Almir is a busy man and cannot be interrupted for every person who shows up on his doorstep.

Argith's Alchemy Shoppe

The party came into the shop and were amazed by the productive endeavours of the rather young Argith. He appeared to be spending his time making a large supply of Alchemist's fire. Mailitha also noticed a note pinned to the back wall of the shop and having stepped outside sent her little notice spell inside. The note on the wall detailed to Argith the times when the alchemical preperations would be collected. Having had a little discussion about the best way to cause a little mayhem the party split up. Mailitha and Maranna being sneaky sort of folks decided that they would hide not far from the alchemist's shop. Mailitha had a good idea that one of her darkness spells would cause the guard collecting the dangerous concoction to drop it.

Our two heroes lurk in hiding near the shop. At the appointed time the guards arrive and pickup the two large, fragile, ceramic pots with the alchemists fire inside. The spell is fired and one of the guards drops the pot which breaks releasing the dangerous contents onto the ground. In the confusion and shock, bang, the alchemists fire starts to burn. The next thing the fire has entered the shop and next thing, boom. The alchemist's shop is blown to bits.

Mailitha then beats a retreat from the area and heads back to the Conqueror's Blade to avoid any further trouble. Maranna however stays and watches to see what happens. The town alarm rings out and the guard arrive and having secured the area put out the fire. The captain Blacklock directs the men in a search of the area. They spread out and investigate thoroughly. The owner of the shop and the guards bodies are recovered from the wreckage. After having watched the guards for a while Maranna then leaves back to the Conqueror's Blade.

After The Fire

The players are awoken when the guards arrive at the Blade and take into custody Pa Larin. It seems that any suspicious strangers are being taken into the keep to answer some "questions" about what has just happened.

The players get some sleep and meet the next morning in the bar area to discuss what they should now do. The remainder of the town is to be investigated. To this end the players visit, The Dead Well, Graden's, Pact Hall and Bucket & Bellows.

The Dead Well

This is the other inn of Piren's Bluff. Run by "Lucky" Ben Willhuff this is a pleasant place to while away the hours eating and drinking.

Graden's

This shop has picks and axes outside. It is run by Jeb Graden and his wife and two sons. They help the local mining community with their digging equipment. A rather abrupt and decidedly unfriendly shopkeeper was only to grateful to help the party part with their money.

Pact Hall

The group view the softly glowing pentagrams inlaid into the doors of the building with some disquiet. Having gone inside the party are greeted by Shiyara the High Mediator of the temple. She tells the party of the wonders of having Asmodeus as the guardian of Piren's Bluff. She tells the players that they can become members and the procedure for this. "Simply sign, in blood, and Asmodeus will be your friend." This seems simple enough but none of the players seem too keen to do this. Shiyara does not seem to upset and the players leave.

Bucket & Bellows

The players enter this dark and smokey forge. Maranna spots some mistletoe tied with yellow ribbon tucked into one corner of the window. The two guards posted inside this building lounge and watch the players carefully. The owner Smaar Janderfut works the blacksmiths with his five sons. The players work to distract the guards and so manage to get to talk to the smith without being overheard. He says it is too risky to talk here and suggests one of the players comes to his home after closing and they can talk better there. The guards react badly when a sword is being shown to the smith for his opinion. After this the players leave.

The Plan

After having visited all of the important places in town the players (minus Pa Larin) meet to discuss how they should proceed. After much toing and froing an agreement is come to. Nym can disguise itself as anyone so is chosen to steal the identity of one of the guards. After that Nym can infiltrate the tower and get the rest of the players inside.

Action

The group split with Nym and Maranna posing as helpless females needing male help. Mailitha goes to speak to the smith and manages to enter his home without arousing any suspision. Our two fem fatal pose just outside of the Blade and drop their purse onto the ground just as the victims come past. After admonishing the girls to be inside after the curfew the guards are persuaded to come in for a quick drink. Even though this is breaking orders our hapless duo come into the Blade for a celebratory drink. The girls settle down to drugging the pair. The first thing is to spike the drinks. This goes off without a hitch. Then the first guard, Sem falls asleep. The second guard remains awake. Nym and Maranna then persuade the second guard, Loceadder, to move Sem upstairs to "finish" the reward. Having then taken Sem upstairs Maranna quickly dispatches Loceadder. Nym then takes on his appearance and lays down beside Sem to wait for him to wake and then return to guard duty.

Enter The Keep

Our brave fighters do something heroic. (I hope.)