The party (Tylin [Ian], Huilam [Jamie], El Cid [Shane], Greywacke [Jeff], Burrito [Darryl], Lammy [Kevin], Argile [Richard], and Moonlight [Chris]) was back at their "secret base", licking their wounds after the trip to the graveyard. Having returned from a stressful trip, half the group needed to reduce accumulated stress, so Huilam, El Cid, Tylin, Lammy and Burrito all headed off to their vice purveyors to do this [at the cost of 5 'downtime debt']. Burrito had a family argument and his mother got upset with him. So, he ended up turning to Panadine for succour [ Burrito had 5 stress and the Vice D6 roll was 6. This meant he got 'lost in his vice'; so rolled again and lost his vice purveyor, i.e. his mother, so he had to get a new one. His vice changed from Obligation to Faith.]
After a couple of hours, they returned to the base. And then a Knives patrol turned up. They told the group that Chung wanted to see them. Now.
So, they all traipsed off to the Council Offices, sans Moonlight and El Cid who were too scared. Lieutenant Chung was down in the conversation pit with four no-neck bully-boys. He of course questioned them. A corporal had been killed, and a squad of guards magically slept, but not before they witnessed it all. The Budgie Smugglers were certainly distinctive, so it didn't take too much effort to work out what happened. Huilam didn't deny the killing, but when asked why they were in the graveyard, he made up some cock-and-bull story about searching for a relative's tomb.
"Then why didn't you bastards just go in with no weapons?" sneered Chung. "That's why the guards are there. You won't even get stopped then."
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| Lieutenant Anton Chung |
Huilam was about to speak, but Chung stopped him.
"Don't tell me some more bullshit," he said. "If you weren't heroes of Scabport, I'd have El Cid and that wizard of yours disembowelled, and the rest of you all whipped."
He looked over them all, and eyes stopped on the quailing Lammy.
"Anyway, the bosses upstairs won't let this go unpunished," he said. "Send that prick El Cid here, these fellows will give him a good seeing-to."
"Ooo," said Greywacke, always up for a beating. "Can I help too?"
They all went back to base. Moonlight and El Cid were still hiding in the rafters, so they told them the news. After some persuasion, El Cid relented and Greywacke and Argile escorted him back to Chung and his men.
Chung's bully-boys laid into El Cid with brass knuckles, clubs and scourges. Greywacke and Argile were given iron-shod staves, and they enthusiastically helped. El Cid got a brutal beating, breaking joint bones, his ribs and jaw, and was knocked unconscious - eventually (his tough-as-nails feat only prolonged his agony in this case by keeping him up).
El Cid was stretchered back to base by Greywacke and Argile. Moonlight's recent training enabled him to cure El Cid's severe injuries with Greater Heal spells [He had level two cures].
At one bell (one hour before dark), Argile went to the Kliban temple for his appointment with Priestess Slimy Douche. This was the first time anyone had seen her, and Argile was shocked at her breath-taking beauty; such a tragic name for such a vision of loveliness. The fate of irony was strong with this one. As Kliban was the god of Fate, this made a lot of sense.
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| Kliban Priestess Slimy Douche |
Argile took with him the chest from the Cankers (with the black nappers) neatly wrapped up with a bow. He presented this to Priestess Slimy as a gift - to be opened later.
Then he had an interview with her: the story was that Argile was considering becoming a follower of Kliban. Throughout the meeting, during the quiet times, he could hear the barely-audible scratching of the angry black nappers, like little finger-nails on wood, inside the chest compartments. He hoped she didn't. As fate would have it, there weren't many quiet times; Slimy waxed loquacious and talked and talked. She spent most of her time in temple, but she did reveal that she had a boy-friend called Frederick Formaldehyde.
Just before dark, the meeting was over and Argile went back to base.
_______________________
Just after dark, there was a loud knocking on their iron door of the group's "secret base".
Magda Romanov was standing there in the frosty air. She was, of course, one of the vampire liaisons from the Wraith King. They guessed what this was about.
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| Magda Romanov |
"It has come to our attention zat you vere deep in our home," she said. "An' zat you vere greeted by some ov our ... lesser aides. You met this greeting viz ... violence and destruction ... and contempt for unlife."
As an explanation, Huilam went off on a cock-and-bull story about recovering a family heirloom from one of the family crypts.
Magda replied that they only need ask and she can send some minions to do a thorough search to find it, and "After all, you still haf ze blue-tooth skull. Zo you can contact uz any night."
(This skull was kept in the the Luscious Pixie tavern.)
"My master's good vill only extends zo far," she said, and then departed into the night.
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The next morning, Tylin went to the Kliban temple and to the morning service to see if Priestess Slimy was still around. She certainly was, in fact she was taking the service.
He communicated this to the group, then he went back to the street outside the Kliban temple and secreted himself into an excellent hidey hole.
The rest of the group went to the Funken Wagnall temple to do some research on Frederick Formaldehyde. There was nothing on him specifically, but there was a significant family in Scabport named Formaldehyde; they had a manse in the Mansion district.
Later in the day, Huilam visited the Kliban temple. He spoke to some temple staff and used his Consort skill to find out more about Frederick Formaldehyde. He got some significant information on Frederick and learned that he was a chandler at the docks. (Chandler as in "ship supplier" and not "candle-maker"). Sure enough, one of the chandlers in the Docks district was "Formaldehyde's Chandlers". And inside they met Frederick himself, a tall and handsome fellow with a crew-cut and chiseled jaw.
The Canker priest refused to let them take credit for the assassination, and he did admit that it was the hooded woman in black. When they asked why he hired another group for the same job, he calmly said, to increase the chance of success. He also confirmed that the two black nappers that he had given them had returned in mist form; that probably meant both compartments of that chest were opened. If the nappers kill or are killed, they turn to mist and return home.
The group came up with another plan to get Priestess Slimy. They'd invite her and her and Frederick for a fancy meal at the Salacious Succubus, one of the up-market inns in the Temple district, and ambush her in the place. So they made a booking for 11 be'light (one hour after dark) on the next day. This information was passed via runners to the Kliban temple and to Frederick in person.
Later on in the day, El Cid & Moonlight headed to the Kliban temple on the fleeting-chance of getting a pot shot at Priestess Slimy. They never saw her, so headed home just before dark. As they left, Tylin (still hidden) noticed that the two were being followed. He surreptitiously snuck ahead and told El Cid. El Cid then ambushed and killed the follower, with his black fist.
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They did nothing the next day until one bell. While the rest of the party was doing prep-work for the Salacious Succubus attempt, Tylin went back to the Kliban temple. And he was shocked to see another funeral in progress. He made enquiries and it was for none other than Priestess Slimy Douche !
She had also been stabbed. They had been two slow.
Upon this news, El Cid and Greywacke rushed back to the Canker temple. The priest confirmed that they were indeed released from their contract. There was no sign of the mysterious woman in black this time, but they suspected her.
Since they had booked the Salacious Succubus, they all went and had a slap-up meal in remorse.
_______________________
Next morning, straight after light, it was time for another graveyard foray.
The guard patrols were not hard to avoid, so they got to the centre of the graveyard easily.
In Mausoleum 3, they got down to the 4th level. It was laid out like the other two, with two skeletons on level 2, three ghouls on Level 3, and four below. They were not brave enough to tackle beyond Level 4, so withdrew.
In Mausoleum 4, at Level 3, there was a passage that split. One path went straight down to Level 4, and to four nasties. The other path led to a bridge that crossed a chasm. Looking down this chasm, as far as the light would extend, on both sides, there were niches and alcoves aplenty. Occasionally, a skeleton would scurry out of one, and climb upwards, but it wasn't too hard to shoot. Across the stone bridge, the tunnel continued down to Level 4, and to four creatures. The group wasn't game to progress.
So, they went to Mausoleum 5. The tunnel down from Level 1 to level 2 was a single-file passage. They weren't brave enough to go down here.
There was still another six or so significant tomb-like structures in the centre of the graveyard still to explore, so they weren't particularly interested to take more risk to go deeper. Yet.
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