Far Isles Session #46 - From Well to Palace

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Rodrigo (Swashbuckler 3)
Corvus (Fighter 2)
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 4), with familiar Hermes and henchman Jaz (Elf 1)
Abdul el Abdul (Fighter 5)
Chaff (Vivimancer 5), familiar PrettyBird, riding dog PuppyWhuppy & henchman"No 7" (Halfling 2)

The party expended a significant amount of brain power trying to puzzle their way through the secret of the rotating platforms. They came up with several options to try:

• Swing the animated statue down to the lowest platform to see if that surface stayed steady when you avoided stepping on the upper surfaces. The statue hit the platform and flipped off the edge, going in the drink until No.7 lowered a rope and everyone hauled it back up (only to have it go inanimate once again after all that work);
• Chaff summoned the ebony fly so he could get at the door without stepping on the upper platforms, on the assumption the spinning motion activated the lock on the door. Alas, this didn't work;
• Kwinsea used her water  breathing to search below the surface of the piranha-plagued pool for another door, exit, or some other clue. This required something to distract the piranhas, so Abdul el Abdul and Corvus went back to the dead gorilla-centaurs and hacked off a few pieces to throw in the water and draw the fishes attention. That only worked so well, and the aquamancer did get rather bitten. She also didn't see anything of interest below the water.

In the end, they decided to tempt fate and turn the wheels. Corvus, being the biggest brute of the lot, was volunteered for this step. The first wheel was very hard to turn, and it was a few minutes before it turned all the way. A little testing with rope and grappling hook showed the second platform was now steady. So down went Corvus, turning the next wheel, and then finally to the lowest platform and turning the final wheel. When the rest of the party saw that Corvus was done (and was being shredded by piranha leaping out of the water), they rushed down posthaste. Opening the door, they found a tunnel, which led to a shaft and ladder going down. Above was a stone ceiling, and below was water. Just above the waters edge, however, was another door.

Gems

Down the ladder, and with Abdul el Abdul in the lead, into the door, the party advanced. Inside were three large stone blocks, each sitting atop a metal grate over a 20' deep pit. The room was also bone-dry, unlike the damp series of chambers they'd had to traverse thus far. After poking around for a bit, the party noted a couple of other key points. First, the ceiling above was polished like a mirror. It, however, did not reflect the simultaneous scene below it, but rather reflected what happens a few moments later in time i.e. it could be used to see the result of a action before it was taken. The other interesting point was the blocks were not so massive after-all, but seemed to float as light as a feather on the grates. The party proceeded to push the three blocks to the left, revealing behind each a small niche. In one lay a collection of gems, in the other a trio of silk hachimaki  inscribed with writing in the language of Madaro-Shanti which Kwinsea was able to roughly translate as  'water', 'dead', 'heal'. A search for secret doors or compartments in the alcoves and in  the dry pits revealed nothing more. Meanwhile, Abdul el Abdul has donned the hachimaki inscribed "heal", upon which the writing fading by half as he simultaneously had some health restored. 

Not convinced everything of value or interest had been found, the party decided to search in the water below the shaft. After first checking for piranhas, Kwinsea dove in and  swam below. She passed down a short shaft, then across a water filled chamber, and a short distance up another shaft. The shaft continued above, but there was no obvious way to climb. Going back to report, the party decided to leave her in the shaft and go back to the surface to re-set the well an see where the water carried the aquamancer.  What she found is the first shaft was filled with water (temporally blocked by a stone slab when they accessed the dry room) and ended at the top in a round 'bulb' with a weird stone torus on the ceiling. Several passages branched off this shaft, presumably leading to the series of chambers in the well. 

Death Monkey

While interesting, this exploration didn't reveal any further treasure or chambers, so the party headed back to the gatehouse to rest for the night and check on Awg-Wahmn. Next morning they headed for the palace, passing through the massive gate into an equally massive ruined hall. Along the north wall was a series of pillars, carved in the form of men and woman. Along the south wall a series of openings could be seem. On both sides rose three, room length and foot tall steps. Further on in the chamber was a pit in the floor, and a clay statue of a besital, naked half man/half monkey. Kwinsea immediately whipped out the crystal heart to animate the thing. Which was good, since just as Rodrigo was approaching the southern openings to check what was on the other side, a screaming mass of monkeys came pouring out and fell on the party. These did not look quite alive, and after  a close fight involving sword, spell, monkey statue and laser pistol, they were definitely now not alive. Rooting through the bodies the party found nothing, an for a lark Chaff tired the "death" hachimaki on one of the bodies. The monkey immediately healed of it's wounds and leapt to life, throwing itself at Chaff's feet. 

Before dealing with his new monkey henchman, Chaff had No. 7 lowered on a rope down into the pit. Once safely below the halfling was joined by Abdul el Abdul. The two found themselves in a chamber covered in bones, a mix of human and animal. They rooted through them for a moment, but didn't have much time as another screaming hoard of death-monkeys came pouring out of an opening in the north wall. The halfling and fighter luckily made it to the rope and were hauled up before too much damage was done, as Kwinsea held back the monkeys with a tidal force. They were eventually finished off by a mix of spells and missiles, leaving the party to decide what to do next ...

TOTAL XP

480

GAINS

5 Citrine (5 x 50gp)

3 Turquoise (3 x 20gp)

2 Blue Quartz (2 x 10gp)

3 magical silk hachimaki ('water', 'dead', 'heal')

KILLS

25 Ghoul Monkeys

LOSSES

none

Far Isles Session #45 - Down the Well

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Rodrigo (Swashbuckler 3), with henchman Corvus (Fighter 2)
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 4), with familiar Hermes and henchman Jaz (Elf 1)
Abdul el Abdul (Fighter 5)
Chaff (Vivimancer 5), familiar PrettyBird, riding dog PuppyWhuppy & henchman"No 7" (Halfling 2)
Aug-Wahmn (Calmonari 1)
Torak (Cleric 4)

One look at the jungle convinced the party that poling the raft up the river would be easier than another slog through the tangled tropical undergrowth. And they did make pretty good progress for the reminder of that first day and the early hours of the next, until the river became too shallow and rapid to proceed. By this time, however, the remains of an old roadway were visible on the south bank. Heading ashore and tying up the raft, they found the massive paving stones heaved and cracked and anything but easy to travel over. But certainly easier than the thick jungle. They had not gone far when, coming around a bend, they spied the crumpled form of a body on the road ahead. Upon closer investigation, it was obvious the body had been here many years, as little was left except the skeleton, some old rags, a rusted dagger and backpack. Kwinsea dug into the backpack and among the ruined remains of basic equipment was a book wrapped in oilcloth. While the others settled down for lunch, the aquamancer read through what turned out to be a journal, written in an oddly archaic but still generally understandable Common.  It told of a previous group of explorers who had found the lost city, named Madaro-Shanti. The journal contained some information this previous party had gleaned from the ruins, including a handy 'Rosetta Stone' allowing at least partial translation of inscriptions in the ruined city. Kwinsea learned that the city fell many years ago to a dark army, which laid it and the surrounding jungle under a curse. The curse drove one of the protector sprints of the jungle, Cho-Oda, insane. From its insanity arose the black mist, which would drain the life from all living creatures if they spent more than  a few days in its midst.  There was also an unusual statement buried in the text, simply saying "The Well Moves the Walls".

After lunch and story time, the party moved on again, and shortly encountered a strange situation. They'd been fighting jungle insects all the way, but as they passed through the latest fog of mosquitoes, the buzzing of the insects shifted and seemed to chant "Cho-Oda, Cho-Oda". The insects soon dissipated, however, with no other words.  It was not long after this that they noted the black mist staring to thicken, and the party was soon slogging through a thoroughly dead jungle where visibility came and went in accordance with the mists. After some hours of trudging through this bleak landscape, they could see through gaps in the black mist that the jungle was opening up. The road had led them to what would seem to be the ruins of the city. Little remained but fallen stone. The only obviously still standing structures were a massive gatehouse through which the road entered the city, and a large palace or similar building which could be seen near the centre of the ruins.

Gorilla-Centaur

The party deiced to skirt around the gatehouse, since the city walls themselves were fallen into ruin. Except Abdul el Abdul, who felt he had to approach the gatehouse proper and attempt to lift the massive portcullis found there. That didn't work, so he joined the rest of the party going around the structure. Which was good, as they were soon in need of the fighters help. As the party came around the side of the gatehouse, there galloped out of the mists a pair of strange creatures; gorilla-centaurs with the upper body of a gorilla on the lower body of a jungle antelope. These bellowed and smashed into the ranks of the party. One was cut down fairly quickly, while the second soon followed, but not before lashing out at Aug-Wahnm and crushing the calmonari below its body as it fell. Thankfully Aug-Wahnm survived (albeit at deaths door) and Torak bound his wounds and pulled his body out of the fighting line. For now four more  gorilla-centaurs  charged out of the mist. By this point the party had made it way towards the gatehouse, and were climbing the stairs they'd found leading to the top floor.  Rodrigo and Abdul el Abdul held the bottom of the stairs, Abdul el Abdul getting clawed, bitten and horribly crushed in a ape-hug by one gorilla-centaur. Meanwhile, from the stairs above, Jaz cast a sleep spell and Chaff a meld flesh. This left one gorilla-centaur asleep (soon to be permanently dispatched by Torak), and two others stumbling around as they were now joined at the arms. These two did not last long, falling to swords blows and a pistol shot from No 7. The last still living gorilla-centaurs turned to flee, but was likewise cut down.

Safe again, at least for the time being, the party grabbed Awg-Wahnm and carried his body up to the top floor of the gatehouse. Inside was an ancient charnel house, with bones lying shin-deep on the floor. It appeared the last defenders died to a man fighting. In the centre of the room also stood a large winch. The party rooted around in the bones, finding a leather purse with 5gp and a silver-studded leather hauberk. Abdul then went to the winch, and with relative ease turned it. From the sounds emanating from below, it would seem the portcullis that had defeated him before was now open. No. 7 climbed a ladder to the roof to look around, but thanks to the black mist there was little more to see than was visible from ground level. She did report movement of some sort to the north-east, and confirmed the large structure to the south-east was relatively intact and appeared to be a palace. After first making Awg-Wahnm comfortable, as they planned to leave him here to rest rather than drag him along, the party decided to head for the palace forthwith.

The party reached the palace without interference. There, in the courtyard in front of the building,  they also found a well. Square and ornately carved, it had two unusual features. The first was four stones head, one at each corner. The other was four handprints, one on each side. Torak looked closely at the heads and noticed that instead of pupils, those with open eyes have arrows circling in either a clockwise or counterclockwise direction. Each, with a single two-eyed exception, also had three eyes. As for the handprints, they were carved intaglio, but were unremarkable. Remembering the line from the journal about "The Well Moves the Walls", the party made various efforts to more or twist the well. Nothing happened, however, until four of them put hands in the carvings. A gurgling sound was heard, and Chaff could see (through Pretty Birds eyes) that the well was drained and mostly dry. At the bottom of the well shaft was a room, still damp with water on the floor, but otherwise accessible.

Stone Heads

After some discussion, it was determined Kwinsea would go down to investigate, figuring the aquamancer would survive any accidental release of water that would drown the rest. At the bottom of the well was a room, with a large brass valve/wheel set in the floor. On the east wall a steady pinprick stream of water arched into the room, while to the north was a niche 5' above the floor and holding a carved stone head similar to those above. After shouted consultation with her comrades above, Kwinsea turned the wheel on the floor clockwise (the only way it would go). As she did, the floor around it started to drop incrementally to form a circular staircase going down. So down she went, into a room with about a foot of water on the floor and two bronze wheels; one in the floor and one in the wall. At this point, the party above started examining the stone heads, and particular the eyes, assuming these were a clue as to how to turn the wheels. Shouting down directions, they told Kwinsea to turn the wheel on the wall clockwise and the one on the floor counterclockwise. Which once more worked, as a stone slab on the floor slide aside, allowing the water to drain and revealing a ladder going down.

By this time, with everything going without incident, the rest of the party followed Kwinsea down the well to the third room. This one had three wheels, one on the floor under three feet of water, and two on the walls. In the centre of the room was the rusted iron statue of a warrior, standing with spear and shield. There was also another niche in the north wall, this one about 15' above the floor. Based on their understanding of the eyes, the party started turning wheels. And immediately a section of wall opened on the east side and water began to pour in. The party tired to stop it by turning wheels back, but to no avail. As the water rose, the party started to climb back up to the previous room, but not before those still standing in the water were zapped by a shock of electricity emerging from the bronze wheels. That got them moving faster, and everyone was soon above. They decided in fact to go all the way up, resetting the well with the handprints above, and starting afresh. They had to do this five times before the proper steps were discovered; place a weight on a pressure plate in the niche, which unlocked all three wheels to turn clockwise. This opened a shaft in the floor, with another ladder leading down.

Down the Well

The ladder led into a room half submerged in water, with three platforms projecting from the wall. On each was a bronze wheel, and there was a door on lowermost platform. Once more, the water breathing Kwinsea was elected to scout ahead, and she jumped onto the first platform. Which promptly pivoted and dumped her into the water below. Where she was viciously attacked by a swarm of piranhas. Hauled back to the upper chamber via a rope lowered by her companions, she used the crystal heart to animate the iron statue so she could use it as a piranha guard. She and Rodrigo (and the statue) then splashed their way down into the water again and struggled through piranhas over to the lowest platform. Where the found the door solidly locked. The pair then decided to return above, taking the statue with them, to discuss with the rest of the party what to do next ...

TOTAL XP

565

GAINS

A silver-studded leather hauberk (20gp)
5 gp

KILLS

5 gorilla centaurs

LOSSES

Aug-Wahmn (temporarily) 

Far Isles Session #44 - Jungle, Ho!

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Rodrigo (Swashbuckler 3), with henchman Corvus (Fighter 2)
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 4), with familiar Hermes and henchman Jaz (Elf 1)
Abdul el Abdul (Fighter 5)
Chaff (Vivimancer 5), familiar PrettyBird, riding dog PuppyWhuppy & henchman"No 7" (Halfling 2)
Aug-Wahmn (Calmonari 1)

Gorbo of Jalwar

Just as the party was about to embark, Chaff suddenly remembered he still hadn't identified the potions and oil from the temple of the sea demon. He asked around the Collegium, hoping the learned types there could help. In the end he was directed to go find the alchemist Gorbo of Jalwar in the Blackmilk, that dreary and dark slum down on the river. He found the dilapidated old building with a sign out front advertising the services of an alchemist, an apothecary, and a sage. Chaff chose the first  option, and headed down into the acrid basement. There he met the short, round, Gorbo, who after some wheeling and dealing offered to identify the four items for a paltry 800gp.  Chaff learned therefore that he was the proud owner of a potion of healing, potion of watery death, and a potion of water breathing. The bottle of bath oil was actually oil of true seeing, which applied to the eyelids allowed one to see through illusions. Abdul el Abdul, who'd tagged along for the fun, attempted to get the fast talking little man to tell him about the scimitar. Alas Gorbo was not an expert on weapons, and instead chased the fighter out of the basement in a scowling fit. Outside, Abdul el Abdul shrugged and passed the scimitar along to Awg-Wahmn for the calmonari to try.

Back at the "Purple Haze", Captain Lynessa informed them it was quite stormy and they'd be fighting a head wind, so they choose to lay low and wait out the inclement weather. The next day was still brisk, but the wind had swung around to the south-west, giving them a fast voyage  to the Anchorage, reaching the isle in just one day. They encountered another vessel along the way, which turned out to be the sad-sack "Two for Trouble" headed to the same location. At the Anchorage already were Nalco's rowboat, the merchant Marios, as well as the "Serpents Revenge" and "Quall's Folly". The party decided to ignore all the vessels at anchor, and headed over the hill to report to Bellephrone on the successful delivery of the box to the Pale Lady.  Which the witch seemed to already know. Curious that.

With no fanfare or lights, the party had Captain Lynessa take the "Purple Haze" out to sea in the pre-dawn darkness, and they set course for the south-east and the Lost Jungle Isles. They made good progress on the first day, but sunrise on the second found the ship tossed and turned in the grips of a winter storm. Luckily they sighted land ahead, and the crew skillfully brought the "Purple Haze" into a wooded cove to wait out the gale. It lifted the next day, and after a quick circumnavigation of the island (which consisted of a central peak, a mix of forest and meadow, a possible town in a sheltered harbour, and a lot of sheep and goats) before raising sail once again and plotting course to the south-east.

Snake Rider

Another day of fair sail brought them to what looked like their goal; a small group of jungle-covered islands appeared over the horizon. Checking their log notes and questioning Pablo, the crewman hired away from the "San Lorenzo", they weren't sure if they were in the thick of dinosaur country yet. But they seemed to be on the right track.  Of the four islands, only one attracted any immediate interest.  There, columns of smoke climbed into the sky, hinting at some sort of civilized or intelligent life. The party decided to land ashore, taking the ships' boat in through the rocky reefs to land on the thoroughly overgrown island. There was no sign of any civilization at this level, nor anything in the way of a trias. So the bigger brutes in the party took turns hacking through the thick undergrowth, taking hours to make scant progress. While taking for a bit of a breather, however, Rodrigo glanced up into the canopy and discovered they were not alone. Giant snakes was slithering through the branches above them, surprisingly ridden by outlandishly decorated tribesmen. The party tried to communicate in all the languages they know, but without much luck. They tried offering a gift of coins and metal objects, leaving it on the ground and backing away. The trio took the offering, and as the natives spoke among themselves, Rodrigo discovered he understood bits and pieces of their conversation as it sounded a lot like the pidgin  he'd heard in his previous swashbuckling travels. The natives were talking about giving the offerings to Ungobungo, the Great Serpent, apparently their god. Through a combination of Chaff's pantomime and Rodrigo's snip-its of language, the party was able to convince the three snake-riders to take them to their tribal chief.

Carried by the snake riders, the party made it to the centre of the island much faster than they would on foot. They found that the tribe did not live on the ground, but on platforms suspended from the jungle trees. In fact it appeared that the natives never touched the ground but lived a nearly competently arboreal existence with their snakes. Of which a half dozen (with riders) now gazed on the party as they met with the chief. The party made further gifts to the chief, but he was unimpressed with trinkets and copper pieces. Although there was little glitter of gem and jewelry to be seen on the tribesmen, the chief seemed to expect such gifts 'as offerings to Ungobungo the Great Serpent'. He was placated by a gem and jeweled dagger, and answered the parties questions as best he could given the communication difficulties. They learned there were no other human inhabitants on the surrounding isles, nor were there dinosaurs. They did glean that all the tribes treasure was offered to the Great Serpent, who lived in the tallest trees at the north end of the island. While this information caused party ears to perk up, in the end they decided to take their leave of the natives and return to the "Purple Haze". The next day, however, they did scout the north end of the island, with Chaff and No. 7 buzzing the jungle on the fly. There were signs of something enormous moving in the treetops, but nothing could be seen through the thick canopy. While the idea of looting a snake-god was tempting, the party decided to move on and stick to their original quest; go find some dinosaurs to capture for sale in Xin.

Which was not easy, as the wind had now shifted, such that the ship was sailing in irons as they tried to head south-east. It took Lynessa and the crew three days of constant tacking to inch the "Purple Haze" towards the next island. This one was much larger, stretching almost a hundred miles from north to south. Although it was covered by thick jungle to the north, towards the south it was a mix man-high sword grass and blasted, bare rock. From the jungle itself drifted occasional tendrils of black mist or fog. They circumnavigated the island, and found a tidy cove on the east side into which flowed a fairly substantial river. The tandem pair of Awg-Wahmn the calmonari and Kwinsea the aquamancer found a school of sillago swimming in the river, and proceeded to question the fish for information about the jungle upstream.  Their piscian informant told them of the ruins of a human city, long abandoned. That seemed like a place to check out for loot, so the party decided to put dinosaur hunting aside for awhile and explore the ruined city.

TOTAL XP

825

GAINS

none

KILLS

none

LOSSES

A few trinkets, coins and a jeweled dagger 

Far Isles Session #43 - The Heist

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:
Rodrigo (Swashbuckler 3), with henchman Corvus (Fighter 1)
Kwinsea (Aquamancer 4), with henchman Jaz and familiar Hermes
Abdul el Abdul (Fighter 5)

The Guns

While Chaff, No. 7, and Awg Wahmn scattered off on business of their own, the rest of the party hoisted Torak's body and carried him off towards the temple of the Drowned God. Halfway there, Kwinsea called a halt. Chaff had left the yellow box with her, giving strict instructions to check the contents in his absence. Thinking said contents may induce a need for additional clerical assistance, she wanted to open it before they finished business with the priests of Brall. Carefully cracking open the case, she found two curious pistols. Red, made of some strange material and with no obvious way for a ball the exit the barrel, she thought it best to just close up the box once more and let Chaff deal with it later. 

Hauling Torak behind them, they soon arrived at the temple. The meeting with the High Priest was a little rocky as three of them (Abdul el Abdul having gone off to mourn Otock and buy a pet rat weasel mouse meerkat ferret) tried to cut a better deal in return for the conch. In particular, Kwinsea hoped to get few help with the golden hand print over her heart, and perhaps a deal on some healing potions.  In the end, rising tempers and a tightening circle of temple guards and acolytes had the party backing down on the demands. The High Priest did agree to take Torak's body and have him both returned from the dead and healed of his impediments. Kwinsea ended up forking over 1000gp to have the cursed hand of Hazzr the Golden Lich removed from her chest. As for healing potions, they shopped around to a few other temples and ended up buying a few at atemple of Anthor the Peacemaker, Lord of War and Peace.

Rejoined by Abdul el Abdul and his ferret Otock, the party stopped by the Purple Haze  to give instruction to Captain Lynessa  regarding provisioning of the ship and installation of rings, chains and cages for their upcoming dinosaur hunting expedition. After a few stops to have recently acquired treasures appraised and detected, and some other provisions (rabbits and sleep poison) purchased,  the party headed for the San Lorenzo. They were curious about the status of the vessel (currently under bond by the port bailiff and in the middle of legal proceedings due to the uncertainty over ownership/captaincy), news on Captain de Moncada (none), and details on their dinosaur sale (through a fence by the name of Lorenz of Nar, not directly to the buyer). Kwinsea also convinced one of the senior able seaman to jump ship and join the crew of the Purple Haze. The aqumancer figured he could help them navigate the Jungle Isles with more certainly, and point out places to avoid or explore. 

Meanwhile, Corvus and Rodrigo were starting to get uneasy, thinking that someone was always watching them. Corvus, tired of jumping at shadows, decided to face his demons straight on. Taking the ring of invisibility on loan from Torak, he headed for the fighting pits of the Collegium to find Tolk the Brute and whoever else might have sent the assassins. Corvus and the party eventually learned that Tolk was now washed out of the wrestling matches and forced to fight in the quasi-illegal death pits. They also learned the man who had sent the assassins was likely a bookie by the name of Houl. The party managed to arrange a meeting with the man, and tried to make a deal where Corvus would throw a match and make Houl's money back for him. That was a little too risky on his part for Houl, but he did offer a second option. He was owed a debt from a 'jeweler' by the name of Ogo. Now Ogo seems to have disappeared some time ago, but his shop was ripe for the looting. If Corvus and friends could break in and collect on the debt, Houl was magnanimous enough to let bygones be bygones. The party could even keep anything they gathered beyond the 2500gp Houl wanted to square away the debt. Although half-convinced this was a set-up, they agreed to take the deal and prepared to hit the shop that night. 

It was pitch black and pouring rain when the party, now reinforced by a fully recovered Jaz,  approached Ogo's shop. Corvus donned the ring of invisibility once more and moved forward to check out possible ways into the darkened building. Hauling himself up to the top of the garden wall, he found a scene to send shivers down an arachnophobes spine. The garden was draped in thick layers of webs, through which thousands of small spiders skittered.  That didn't look hopeful, so Rodrigo now took the ring and climbed to the roof of the adjoining building, in order to access a window without being seen too easily from the street. With a crowbar he cracked open the locked shutters, only to find the window bricked over on the inside. A quick check of other accessible windows revealed the same. Grumbling, Rodrigo returned to street level with the news. Next check was a sewer grate, which seemed to lead nowhere but a sewer. Abdul el Abdul finally took a turn with ring and grapple, this time climbing to the roof to check the chimney. Access to this was blocked by a trio of clay vents which blocked the opening. Getting frustrated, he had one last look around and noticed, just below the eaves, a round stained glass window. It was not shuttered, and more importantly, seemed to be free of bricks. The fighter signaled for everyone to climb the rope to the roof, and then had the beefier types lower him down to the window.  Using the crowbar, he carefully pulled off the sills and carefully turned the glass and pushed it inside the building.

Ogo's Shop

Abdul el Abdul, swiftly followed by the rest of the party, entered through the open window and looked around. And was unimpressed, as they stood in what looked like a plain dormitory. Apart from a few straw sleeping mats and a crude table, there was nothing to see except a set of stairs going down, a door, and a large fire place. Abdul el Abdul, foiled once by the chimney, was determined to outsmart it this time.   Looking in the flue, he saw first that the ashes were ice cold; no one had lit a fire in days or weeks. He also noted the chimney extended to the lower floors, and was wide enough to scouch down if he doffed his armor. Doing so, he found on the next level a frightful room with a demon's skull and a burning red candle, all in the centre of a magic circle. On the other side he found the tattered and torn remnants of a library or study. Inching down to the ground floor, he found himself in a kitchen. Abdul el Abdul scurried back up to report to the rest of the party, who then discussed what to do next. Avoid the demon skull was the first plan. The second plan was to deal with the shadowy figure watching Ogo's shop from a nearby roof, whom Jaz had spied with her infravision while keeping watch through the window.

Rodrigo once more took the ring, climbed down to the street, then up to the roof behind the watcher. Unfortunately, in the dark and rain, the swashbuckler scuffed a foot on the shingles. The watching figure turned with a start, but the invisible Rodrigo escaped detection. When the figure turned away, Rodrigo crept up behind him and put a dagger and sword to his neck, demanding to know for whom he was working and what was going on. The gutter-rogue replied he was working for Sarzuk, Ogo's second in command, and was under orders to make sure no one got into the shop. Next to him sat a cage with a raven, with which he was supposed to summon help if he spied anyone. The bird was still there, so at least the alarm had not been raised. Rodrigo silenced the watcher with a slice of his sword, and headed back to Ogo's shop. He related what he'd learned to the rest of the party, and all decided it would be best to search quickly, grab whatever loot they could, and get out before they were caught.

Abdel el Abdul scurried back down the chimney to the ground floor, followed by Rodrigo and Kwinsea. Corvus and Jaz stayed in the attic room to keep watch. Fanning out, they quickly explored the kitchen and a storeroom, then found the front room of the shop. There, behind a counter, lay a series of strong boxes built into the wall. Kwinsea carefully took point, searching for traps and leading the three behind the counter. There they spread out, checking each strongbox for traps and locks. Unfortunately, as Abdul el Abdul checked his first strong box, the floor below him collapsed. Kwinsea quickly cast featherfall on the fighter to break his fall. On gentle landing, Abdul el Abdul found himself in a small cage. This was not too disconcerting at first, but as he waited for a rope from above, a swarm of small spiders emerged from the darkness and started to weave him in  a mass of webs. Luckily Kwinsea and Rodrigo pulled him out before he was covered too completely.

The three turned their attention once more to the strong boxes. Most were opened and unlocked and empty, but a few had traps which were avoided. In one they found a small velvet bag of gems, and in another a silver and ruby necklace. But the greatest haul was in a secret compartment found by Kwinsea; 3 flawless rubies, 4 sparkling diamonds, and a bejeweled  snake-shaped dagger. This looked like enough to cover their debt to Houl and then some, so they scooped it all up then gathered Jaz and Corvus. Under the cover of a fog cloud from Kwinsea, the exited the window and headed to meet with Houl and made the transaction. Mission completed and payoff done, they all returned to the Purple Haze to prepare for departure to the Jungle Isles.

TOTAL XP

6665

GAINS

Velvet bag containing 10 amethyst (10x100gp)

Silver and ruby necklace [paste] (5pg)

3 Rubies (3x500gp)

4 Diamonds (4x1000gp)

Jewel encrusted, serpent shaped dagger (150gp)

KILLS

One of Sarzuk's goons

LOSSES

None