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In this episode, we finally make it to Scarsdale. That's the short version of the story. Here's the long version.... As you might recall from our last episode, we were making some plans for our newly-purchased manor house. Gwaihir didn't find this too interesting so notes are scarce. We'll need to have guards, barracks for the guards. Miranda suggests ranger-types. We're hanging around for about two weeks to prepare for our trip: rest up, brew potions, etc. Beren shows up from his venture in the woods. Looking at the house, we see that the early layers of stone are starting to crumble and need to be replaced. All the old furniture needs burned. Most of the books are okay; they appear to be enchanted to resist aging. Miranda begins her Dwarven lessons from Olga. During this time, Corbin mkes some arrows that make light, some with alchemist's fire, some that whistle, and some little stones that he calls "thunder stones." Also, Corbin manages to find the antidote to the poison that was used by the Simbians, although it would be really hard to make in quantity, since it's made from the sap of a particular tree that only grows far in the south, and pollen and sap from something called "elephant's tongue." So, after all that, and leaving a nice sum of money with Olga for repairs and supplies, we travel to Ashenbinford to await Olga's brother and company. Not only are they dwarven stonemasons, but they might be looking for work and able to rebuild the bad parts of our manor house. We're hoping to talk them into helping us out for a good price. A little background for Scarsdale as we travel: Four main factions are currently vying for control of Scarsdale. There are about 50 Daleland troops there (some of which are suspected Harpers); about 25 "registered" men from Zhentil Keep (and many unregistered!); a fairly large Thayan group (Red Wizards of Thay); and finally, the Simbians. The "Silver Ravens" are the elite troops of the Simbians. Sir Thomas in Ashenbinford knows a bit about all this, so he gives us a mini-briefing while we're hanging about. Also, he and his church would be interested in purchasing some items from the RWoT, since they are known for having the best selection of magical items, and cheap too, although they are not very "scrupulous" in their methods). He gives Miranda a shopping list, mostly magic weapons, etc. A little political discussion follows about using "evil" groups to achieve "good" ends. So, after a day or two layover in the town, the dwarven contigent arrives and we meet Bzhorn (spelling?), Olga's brother. He seems to take to Dorn best, so Dorn does the negotiating. They usually get paid by the day, Bzhorn says, and he said they'll do it for room, board, drinks, and 100gp a day, plus materials of course. Dorn stops for a minute. Uh... drinks? For a band of dwarves? That could be expensive. So we think, maybe if we supply the ale ourselves. We buy three kegs of ale from the inn in Ashenbinford to send back to the house with them. Other than that, though, we don't really want to pay for unlimited drinks for these guys. What else could we do? Bzhorn has some armor that he would like to have enhanced. We check the price on that and decide that's way too much too. Instead, Dorn gives Bzhorn and the others his kewl full plate armor for the job, and we'll include room (but not drinks or board). Whew! So we head out by the safe (well, safer) road to Scarsdale. We'll have to pass by the Abbey of the Sword and the Abbey of the Just Hammer. It's about 150mi total trip, and we can go about 20mi/day, so it'll be awhile. Around Day 2, we come upon a manor house up on a hill, isolated from anything around it. Maybe it's one of the "ghost holds" you hear about in the Dalelands! Hey, come to think of it, that's what someone in Justford called the manor house that *we* bought! But I digress. We just passed through the town of Assambra maybe an hour ago. The walls to this house are large, carved out of white marble. There's a three-foot-wide stonewall behind. As we are walking around the walls toward the gate, we notice the marble is carved with all kinds of knights in battle, fighting a dragon that breathes fire. Inside, the grounds are very overgrown, but you can tell it used to be nice. The house is three stories tall, with a large tower at either side. It looks like there's a well-traveled trail to the door, and we spot some old campsites in the lawn. There are a couple of outbuildings, one has been burned and mostly caved in, but the debris has been cleared away. The front door is heavy oak, banded with brass. "Aha!" Miranda says. "That's it! I knew I'd heard of this place before." We look at her. "What is it?" asks Dorn. "This is Aenkar's manor," she replies. "He was once King of the Dalelands, back when it had a king." "What happened to him?" Phae asks. "Well, it's funny you should ask," says Miranda, "because as I remember, King Aenkar and his whole party were murdered by the cult of the dragon and a huge dragon lich that broke into the dining room through the ceiling and killed them all where they sat." There is a silence. "Great!" says Landroval after a minute. "Let's go in and look around." "No way!" says Dorn emphatically. "I am NOT going in that house. The dragon-lich is probably still there!" Beren nods in agreement. "I'm not going in either," he says. Landroval says, "You know, if the dragon-lich IS still in there, which it probably isn't, then we should go in and take care of it. It's just the kind of thing we're here for, and it would really help the people who live around here. Isn't that what we're all about? Helping people? We should definitely go in. Besides, there might be some cool magic spells I can learn." Dorn repeats to himself, "I am NOT going in there." Miranda turns to Landroval. "You're making a mockery of a belief you don't even hold. You have no feeling for the people who live around here; you're just trying to manipulate the words to get us to agree to go in. It would be foolhardy to think we could defeat a dragon-lich, and there certainly is no reason for us to go in, and that's that." Landroval answers her, "Why does it matter what I believe? The truth is, it *would* help the people around here. You're the one who wants to help the Drow by letting them live on our land. You should be the one who wants to help people here too." And she shoots back, "You said you wouldn't allow the Drow in our home! And now you're acting all goody-two-shoes! It's hypocritical. I'd go in the house if and only if you agree to allow the Drow refugees to stay with us." Landroval is silent for a moment, and in that moment, the front door swings open. "All right," he says at last. "I'll reconsider letting the Drow stay with us if you come in the house with me." She nods, and the two of them step into the doorway... The door opens into a large foyer, with shiny clean floors. It's a bit gloomy though, what with the lack of movement and semi-darkness. There is a hall leading off each side and a double-stairway curving majestically up to the second floor. We go to the right. Beren and Dorn are staying outside. The hallway is thick and velvety; very nice. At the end of the hallway, we come to arched double doors. Beren and Dorn give in and come after us. The handle to the door doesn't open, but after Miranda knocks, it opens by itself. On the other side is some kind of entertainment hall/bar. There are two other doors leading out. Miranda comes into her own describing the pottery techniques of the time, and those of us who listen are enriched by the history lesson :-). The door on the left leads to the kitchen, which opens up to the outdoors by way of the courtyard in the back of the house. Looks like signs of a large feast, say, 200 years ago. The other door off of the barroom leads down a hallway to a rounded wall -- looks like the tower! It looks as if the towers were added on after the house had already been built. Apparently, the two towers were occupied by the King's mages, Bob and Dweezle. The door leading into the towedr is locked. We wait, but it doesn't open by itself. We can't open it, either. Landroval with his mighty Spellcraft check looks it over and thinks that some kind of evocation spell was used here (read: Fire Trap!). Just at that moment, Beren and Dorn, who were bringing up the rear, notice a small thing moving behind the group. They investigate and find a small grasshopper floating along about three inches off the ground. They follow it all the way back to the front door, which promptly starts to close. Everyone makes a mad dash for the front, and Miranda and Landroval are the last two to jump for the narrowing exit. Miranda squeezes through, but Landroval slips on the squeaky clean floor and doesn't make it! The door shuts with an ominous *boom*! Landroval can't open the door from the inside, and Miranda can't open it from the outside! Beren, on the outside, smashes one of the large front windows. But the glass from the window rises up and reassembles itself back in place! Dorn picks the lock on the front door, and it swings open. Landroval comes out, and the party immediately votes to leave and never come back (by a vote of 5-2, everyone but the two elf brothers). It's starting to get dark, and maybe stormy, and no one even wants to wait the night and come back in the morning! "Some 'adventurers," mumbles Landroval. As we're leaving the house, we can see candles in each of the top floor windows lighting themselves, one at a time. That night we camp near the road, and see a patrol from Assambra go by. Next morning, we see in the distance a large abbey on a hill, probably the Abbey of the Just Hammer. It's afternoon by the time we come to it, and we decide to stay there for the night, what with the safety and the beds. Gates, smithy, temple with five towers. People in tavern wearing tabards, not robes. Abbey of Tear. Any news? Seems to be all quiet in the Dalelands after the battle in Ashenbinford. What about the house back there? They say that one of the king's mages became a good lich and lives there, or maybe it's the dragon cultists who killed the king. No one goes there now. The King and many of his men defeated the draco-lich when it attacked them, but died of mortal wounds. Bob the wizard was also fatally wounded, but perhaps he lives on by magical means. Maybe it's night hags! Maybe the draco-lich *wasn't* killed. The innkeeper hints that if anyone could clean the manor out, the Dalelands council would work something out with them as far as ownership of it, but the group rejects that idea out of hand (a disappointed look crosses Landroval's face). Maybe a "long-term goal," as Dorn puts it. So! Chandler's Town is the new name for the capital city of Scarsdale (used to be Scarsdale). Country is generally self-ruled, as in might makes right. We pretty much ride out of the shadow of Corminthir. When we cross a large stone bridge, we are in Scarsdale proper. We come upon Chandler's Town. Population about 10,000, looks booming. Some merchant caravans in town. We sleep in the woods on the far side, as there are no rooms to be had in town. Miranda sets an alarm around our camp. Next a.m., we ride on. Start to smell the sea in the air. As dusk falls, we can see the town of Scarsdale. At least one person ducks into a farmhouse as we come into sight. Probably bandits. Walled city, although the wall is falling into disrepair. Gates are open. We proceed. Shops near the gates are unusual -- brothels, rough taverns, tanneries, all pretty run down. Groups of armed folk, clearly wearing weapons (even if they don't look to know how to use them). We look for and find a Wandering Wyvern -- looks like a dive, though. We go on, and get to a residential part, which if anything looks even grimmer than the commercial section. Bars on the windows, no children, gang-looking types hanging about. We're looking for a better inn. Maybe near the "fountain" we hear. We continue down the road, hopefully to the docks or "fountain." Houses get nicer, with courtyards, and the men hanging on the doorsteps with weapons are liveried. Miranda asks one of those and he confirms that if we continue down this road, we'll come to the fountain, and an especially nice inn is the Corillian Sword. We continue. Looking about as we go, we spot an armorer, weaponsmith, scholar's house, apothecary, in easy-to-defend houses. Beren stops at the scholar's. Gwaihir and Landroval stop too, just so we don't get too split up. The rest of the group comes eventually to the fountain of five dolphins. Many people and armed guards are meeting quietly around it. Corillian Sword is here--looks like a converted manor house. Guards check the group in, servants take the horses. They get three rooms. Miranda tells the girl that we are with the church of Tear, and the price the girl gives is 12gp/room/day. Don't know if that's a hike or a discount! But anyway, it works. Skipping a little about how nice the rooms are and the bathing scenes... (although I think Dorn blushed pretty well!) Back to the bat scholar's. Beren speaks with the guards, they let us into the waiting room. Young man comes out. Beren asks about soul entrapment stuff. Such as the Talisman of Basir--how it works, how to reverse it, etc. Basic research is done at 25 gp/day, although special resources do cost more. Beren pays him a 100gp diamond to get him started. He turns to the elves. And for you sirs? We glance at each other. We're not really sure. We hadn't thought of hiring someone to do our looking for us -- we'll get back to you. He nods, and we leave. Back at the hotel, preparations are being made for the evening. Apparently we're going to go out looking for Borovic Dundragon. The first place we hit is the second Wandering Wyvern in town. We look kewl, get some looks as we go. Very loud, bad bard playing. Fight in corner, whores, dicing, ale, blood, vomit, etc. Half-orc barkeep. Beers. Dorn asks if any caravans are hiring swords. "Names cost money," the half-orc snarls. Miranda hears some interesting info. Necromancer in graveyard. Passage on ship to Dragon Court. Someone who was stopped outside of town by Sergeant Boric to "inspect" a load, and they had to bribe 'em 100gp to not have it confiscated. As for hiring swords, the names are Conrad the Brave, and "Silver." Another bar, more news. Bout of assassins, new poison. Strengthening of Zhentil Keep section of the guard to take up slack since the Church of Tear was burned. Thayans are hiring swords to watch out for their enclave. One more bar -- no, wait. On the way, we see a single guardsman being led into an alley by a voluptuous gal. Five minutes later, she comes out with chainmail bundle plus two swords. Tabard stuffed in gutter. Man is unconscious. Dorn checks him out. Miranda sees a lone man in the street all in white (thinks his name is Bolt, archer extraordinaire -- he carries a single arrow in his quiver). Miranda asks him where the church of Torm is. He gives directions. Phae wants to visit Temple of Laveatar for "info." We go there and ask about Boric. He's a skilled, if ruthless, swordsman, works with roving guard (in Archendale they're called "customs rangers"). The town guard has offered amnesty to any criminals from outside the city, if they are employed by the town guard. The cleric knows nothing of Drake Conning. That's it from the church of Torm. So, we go back to the hotel for the night. The plan is to find Conrad the Brave or Silver (whoever's leaving soonest) and sign on with them to go out in a caravan, and then Dorn can kill Borovic. Next day, we find out Conrad has signed on to protect the RWoT. That part of the town is all red. We come to a large iron wall. We bang on the door and a guard comes to the shutter. We tell him we want business, he lets us in (and tells us to come in the main gate next time!). C the B is staying at the Dancing Lich. We find a speaking directory, pick a random weapon shop. Corbin splits off, accompanied by Phae, to look for special magic items. Rest of us go to the weapon shop. Lots of stuff here! Miranda selects items as Sir Thomas requested and hands over the writ of credit. Dorn wants to see something really, really expensive. Beren is looking for darkvision goggles. Corbin is looking for something in particular, but we're not sure what. Scrolls no problem, letter of credit is accepted. Phae and Corbin go off together to the temple of Laveatar (yikes!). Dorn gets a masterwork potion belt pouch. Miranda sees a dark-skinned guy in bronze armor duck behind an apple cart. We all go to the Dancing Lich. It has a nice band, with a magic lute. We drink a bit. A guy in pure gold armor with all gold weapons comes downstairs, with a buxom blonde on one arm. His large, oversize spurs jingle as he struts to a table in the center of the room. Sits and drinks out of a large gold flagon (you get the idea!). Dorn, Gwaihir, and Landroval approach him about joining the caravan. He says to speak with Ash, his master of guards, later that night. We leave to go to back to the inn. The next day, all hell breaks loose... (okay, not really. I should save that expression for something *really* bad!) |