Kliban takes a blow

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."

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.

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.

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.

___________________

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.

Later that morning, Tylin spotted suspicious activity in the Kliban temple. There was a funeral going on. Brandon Stapleton had been killed. Stabbed, apparently. As soon as they heard this, El Cid and Greywacke hurried to the Canker temple, to try and claim credit for that killing. As they were shown inside by their guard, another Canker guard was exiting who was escorting a hooded woman in black. 

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.

________________

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.

Back to the Graveyard

Moonlight [Chris], Huilam [Jamie], Burrito [Darryl], El Cid [Shane], Tylin [Ian], Argile [Richard] and Lammy [Kevin] stood around the draw-bar of Carte Blanche. The suspicious attachment on the cart was worrying them, so they finally relented and took the cart to the Wizards' Guild to get an Identify spell on the suspect beam. This cost one COIN. Daisy Crown was the wizard who was tasked with the spell; four hours later, she reported the bad news. 

Suspicious cart chassis beam (marked in orange)

"It is a tracking device," she said. "But's also magically trapped, so unscrewing either of the two bolts to the chassis, or the two coach screws will set it off. Same's if you cut it, or drill a hole in it, or break it. It's been in-situ for many weeks. My spell does not say who's tracking. My spell also doesn't tell the effect of the magical ... uh ... discharge. Oh, and it's not evil too."

Carte Blanche would no longer be parked in the secret garage, but instead would be stored outside on the street. The party base was no longer secret, so they weren't particularly worried on being tracked. They did not want to dump the cart; new carts were rather expensive.

In the marmalade room, Ronny's lifeless body floated in the waist-deep marmalade. Dee Dee was drifting around floating on an inflatable life-buoy. Sorrow had joined her.

_____________________________

They all went to the Panadine temple to check up upon the analysis of the plague poison. Priestess Greta said her team had some preliminary results, and it did not look good. She suspected that the Wraith King was involved. But to prove that, she needed a sample of the foundation dust or sand. This would need to be collected from the source, so she wanted to group to venture to the very centre of the Scabport Graveyard. And to collect a sample: "Just a handful is all I need."

Greta gave them a vial of magical reagent, and an eyedropper. They were to put one drop on a "seam of sand. Or dust." If it turned blue, bromothymol blue, then they were to collect the sample from there. She also gave them 7 vials of holy water (in a smart bandolier).

But the Panadines could not afford to pay for this dangerous mission ("And don't go after dark!"), but she suggested that, since this would affect the city itself, they should go see the Knives to sponsor the trip.

So, the entire group (sans Moonlight) went to Knives, and were shown down to Lieutenant Chung's conversation pit. Chung listened to them patiently, and then just said no way, and shooed them away. The party was taken aback.

________________________

So, they headed off towards the Wizards' Guild. 

During that trip, party P.A. Esme intercepted them in the streets with two jobs from the Luscious Pixie noticeboard. One was from Panadine (already done), and one was a scrawled note from the Canker temple (god of Death)

____________________________________

Canker Priest

So, before visiting the Wizards' Guild, they decided to go direct to the Temple district and to the Canker temple. El Cid, Tylin and Moonlight were the only ones brave enough to venture inside the skull-shaped temple. (Plus Huilam still had the Protection from Evil field on him from the Panadines, which would last until the end of that day, so he would not be allowed inside any way.)

They were taken by guards deep into the stinking temple, and had to trudge through the slippery, ankle-deep muck on the floor, to be presented to the Canker Head Priest.

The Cankers had a job for some suitably discrete low-moral mercenaries. They wanted two Kliban priests assassinated. Priest Brandon Stapleton and Priestess Slimy Douche. They had to get the Canker priest to repeat that latter name several times with his papery voice. Yes, they had that name correct - poor girl; obviously it was fate.

Black Napper

Tylin negotiated: 5 COIN each murder. The contract required at least one to die.

The Canker priest gave El Cid a small chest with a split lid. 

"Inside," he rasped. "Are two black nappers. These are magical spiders with a fatal bite. After the bite, they turn into a mist, and return to us."

___________________________________________

Then they went back to the Wizards' Guild. Daisy was manning the front desk and performing as the liaison officer today (Sly Dunbar was out). They told her about the Panadine theory and how Chung was reluctant to pay for the Graveyard mission. Daisy listened and just said "Interesting." Then she had some relevant news for them:

Daisy Crown

In eight days time, there was to be a Council Meeting. This meeting had been delayed many times due to the recent city troubles. There was a controversial item on the agenda: the Knives wanted to increase the size of the council from 16 to 19, adding three more seats. The current 16 seats were apportioned: 5 Knives, 3 TGP, 3 WG, 1 REAL, 1 IMAG, 3 to other temples on a rotation, changed each season via lots drawn a year in advance. The three new seats were proposed to go to 1 Knives, 1 TGP and, very controversially, 1 to the Wraith King to give the Dead some say*. The WG strongly disagreed with this. 

Currently, the "Rotated" three temples are Vingt-et-un (Luck), Hob (Fire) and Funken Wagnall (Knowledge). But at the next meeting, they'd been decided to go to Nuke (War), Caribou Gorn (Nature) and Kliban.

To change the council size was a constitutional amendment and that required a two-thirds majority, i.e. 11 of 16. The Knives, and TGP and IMAG would be pro. WG and REAL would be anti. Nuke would be pro. Caribou Gorn would be anti. Kliban would be anti - Kliban always voted for the status quo ("that's fate"). This only gave 10.

The party did not reveal their contact with the Cankers, but did ask Daisy who the Kliban delegates would be. Daisy had to consult her Scabport Almanac and revealed it was Priest Brandon Stapleton with a backup of Priestess Slimy Douche.

"Now we know," muttered someone. Maybe, if the Kliban delegate never turned up, there'd be 15, and two-thirds of 15 was 10. But surely they'd still need 11.

Daisy went upstairs and consulted with some other wizards, and returned to the group. The WG would pay 8 COIN for the group to do the Graveyard trip to help the Panadines with the plague poison research. The money would not be paid in tangible chests, but instead would be in services. The party was happy for this. (And being in the form of services, it meant that they did not need to worry about storing the actual chests.)

* = The Wraith King's recent thesis on Critical Death Theory stated that the living-impaired were oppressed by the "cis-living", and discriminated against for the immutable characteristic that they were no longer alive. This was called "mortism". The living-impaired had difficulty expressing themselves, both orally and ambulatory (common symptoms were paralysis and soft-tissue decomposition), so there was a power dynamic between them and the living, adding to the mortism. Mortism was responsible for living-impaired individuals, without their enthusiastic consent, forcibly locked into air-tight containers ("coffins"), and buried or locked into stone prisons ("tombs" and "mausoleums"), or incinerated in pyres ("cremation"). Ironically, such blatant mortism was done by kin, loved ones and well-meaning friends, and they would even exacerbate such mortism with a celebration ("funeral" or "wake"). Finally, institutional mortism occurred later, when the living-impaired's estate and possessions were stolen and distributed to kin via a mortist contract ("will").

_______________________________

Tylin, Huilam and Argyle went to the Kliban's temple. Argile managed to book a meeting with Priestess Slimy Douche, which would be tomorrow at 1 bell (one hour before dark).

There were a few hours left of the day, so they decided to do a graveyard trip immediately. In the Skull district, there were more than the normal number of Knives patrols wandering around, and they were actively stopping anyone with weapons from entering the actual graveyard. But the graveyard walls were not very intact, so it wasn't hard for the party to avoid the guard patrols by entering through a random property's backyard. Then the group went straight to the very centre and found a large crypt. Sure enough, inside was a wide passage descending deeper into the ground.

And so they went down, and down, and down.

They encountered some skeletons, and a few ghouls. But these were dispatched with sword, arrow and Panadine holy water.

Their main danger was being stuck down here after dark, so Lammy watched the clock like a hawk. (All wizards carry a Wizards' Chronometer, supplied by the Guild, which shows the exact time. It also has an arrow which points directly towards the Great Kliban Temple at the centre of the Known World, so acts as a compass. This is why that direction is called "Klib".)

At every level, Huilam got out the vial and eyedropper and put a few drops on the dust and sand to see if it changed colour. They got down three levels, with no blue marks from the drops, before Lammy signalled that it was time to go, and so they made their way out to the sunlight, and out of the graveyard.  Just as night fell.

___________________________________

Next morning, they went back to graveyard. To a different catafalque and began the trek downwards again.

They got deeper this time, four levels this time, but they met consequently more undead.

Ghoul

As they were descending the ramp to level five, five ghouls attacked. The usual barrage of missile fire and holy water vials scattered, burned and defeated four, but one persevered. Argile took a brutal hit, which would have disembowelled him, but he managed to drop and avoid the worst of the damage, but was out for the count. El Cid was worse for wear and no-one else could fight, so they took off in a fighting retreat, four carrying the unconscious Argile.

[By this stage, party Stress was looking bad. They had spent a lot of Stress to help the missile combat and throwing holy water vials. 

Argile had to make his Resistance roll to save his life, but got to 9 Stress (8+ is bad). This zonked Argile and gave him the COLD trauma. 

El Cid, Tylin and Lammy were all on 7 Stress. Huilam 6. Burrito 5.]

  

To add insult to injury, as they rushed out of the cemetery, a patrol eight of Knives stopped them.

Generic Corporal

El Cid was leading and he was confronted by the patrol corporal. El Cid's normal arrogance and ill-manners came to the fore, and words were had on both sides, and they weren't deferential or respectful words. The corporal poked at El Cid with his sword.

"Do that again and there'll be trouble," said El Cid.

The corporal poked him again.

El Cid stepped forward and punched him in the face. El Cid hadn't really tested his new improved black IMAG fists (well, not against a living opponent). The poor corporal's face just caved in, right to the back of his skull, as brains, blood and spinal fluid spattered out. The rest of the squad gasped as the corporal's lifeless body sagged to the ground, and drew their swords. The party groaned.

Lammy cast a Sleep spell and Moonlight a Hold on the men, and they all dropped like nine-pins. The group beat a hasty retreat to their base.

Samples Collected

Lammy [Kevin] and Argyle [Richard] ceased their marmalading. Tylin [Ian] and Burrito [Darryl] began to marmalade themselves.

It had just gone dark, and the Budgie Smugglers were in the Fort Augmentin Travellers' Inn. They were making a special effort not mention their party name, since the current belief of those in the fort was that the Budgie Smugglers had brought the plague to the fort. 

They were organizing rooms for the night from the Lucy the barmaid: Huilam [Jamie], Moonlight [Chris] and Sorrow [Jeff] in one room. Argyle and Lammy with the marmalading Tylin and Burrito in the other. El Cid [Shane] wanted his own room.

Booker Dobbs (Insular Rogues)

The outside door opened, and a man entered. He saw the party next to the bar, and double-taked. Then squealed and rushed out, slamming the door. It was Booker Dobbs, a known foe, of the Insular Rogues.

The party leapt to action and rushed at the door. Lammy got there first,  and rushed outside into the night. He saw some movement on the stockade wall (which surrounded the fort). He shot a Light spell at it, illuminating a portion of wall, and they all caught a glimpse of Booker cresting the wall. He was well-gone when they looked over themselves.

They set watches during the night. El Cid was first in the corridor outside the three rooms. 

A few hours into the night, El Cid heard some suspicious noises, so hid behind a pot-plant in the corridor. Lucy the barmaid was up listening on Huilam's door. He confronted her, but she pleaded innocence "Just checking you're all tucked in for the night." The group was roused, but they didn't press it.

____________________

In morning, they spotted Daisy Crown in the fort compound. Apparently, the Wizards' Guild here could not get the trunk (that the party had gone to all that trouble to deliver a few days ago) out of the fort due to the plague lock-down. She added that, due to its nature, it could not be teleported (which would have been the obvious choice).

The wizards needed to get it to Two Frime via Winjammer which was many days antiwards [west].

"Why didn't Sly tells us to take it that far in our boat?" someone asked.

"Because we needed it sent to Captain Moses, when we gave it to you," said Daisy. "Plans change."

2nd Lieutenant Pigeon

About then, Second Lieutenant Pigeon and some soldiers arrived, so they left the trunk-question hanging and dealt with her. Suspicious, she asked about Daisy, and the party confirmed that Daisy was with them, so the lieutenant permitted Daisy to join the trip into the fort barracks. Apparently, Sergeant Evans and the REAL Priestess Deidre, whom they had met in the previous trip, had also succumbed to the plague. They were being held in the barracks cells with six other infected soldiers.

The group was taken down below to the cell area. The first thing they noticed descending the stairs was the stink of faeces and sweat, and then loud shrieks and unintelligible howls of rage. There were eight naked people, leaping and running around like insane baboons, behind bars in a large communal cell; six men and two women. These were "the infected" and their minds were gone. The floor was ankle-deep in urine, vomit, diarrhoea and an overturned trough. When the furious infected saw the party, they started to throw things at them. Mainly pieces of the more solid faeces, and undigested scraps of food from the vomit.

Lammy and Daisy fired a bunch of Sleep spells at the leaping angry victims and managed to drop the lot, but it took a lot. Then Huilam went in alone, squelching through the stinking muck, and thwacked two of the sleeping males with a club, then dragged them out, and chained them up. Huilam was immune from infection, of course, having the protective spell still on him from the Panadines

Lieutenant Pigeon donated a cart to the group, and so the two chained infected were wrapped up and put on the cart. And the group left for Scabport (sans Daisy).

_______________________________

Suspecting that they would be followed, they all kept a careful look behind. Sure enough, several hours into the all-day trip, there was some movement behind. El Cid and Sorrow held back from the group and hid behind some bushes by the road. It was Booker Dobbs, on a horse. El Cid, not one for waiting, shot him through the throat.

They hid his body in a shallow grave. 

________________________________

Towards evening, the group arrived back at Smugglers Meet, an hour out of Scabport. Rather than try to take the two infected soldiers past the Knives' patrols guarding the city gates, Huilam summarily killed the two chained wretches, and filled ten vials with their various body fluids: blood, mucous, cerebral fluid, urine and synovial fluid. Then the group burned the two bodies in a pyre. 

Panadine Priestess Greta Carmichael

By the time the bodies were consumed by the flames, it was dark. The Heroes of Scabport medals got the group through the guard cordon and into Scabport,  and so they went straight to the to the Panadine temple, and delivered five vials of plague fluids to Priestess Greta.  

Sorrow, El Cid and Argyle went to the IMAG temple. While Argyle minded the cart, Sorrow and El Cid went in. IMAG Priestess Clara met them and she took El Cid down to the Foundling - Sorrow was not game to go below, so stayed in a waiting room. The Foundling was very happy to have the vials, and instructed Clara to pay the agreed six COIN fee. They delivered the treasure to the party vaults, and then headed off to Lieutenant Chung at the Knives to collect the other six COIN for the Panadine delivery. And sadly, they had to hand in their Heroes of Scabport medals.

[ Downtime. ]

The next day, they headed funkenwards [north] to where Carte Blanche was lodged in the cleft of the rock. They first tried a block-and-tackle winch up to a heavy make-shift frame, but that failed. 

So, they dismantled the cart, and loaded the pieces onto the borrowed cart. Then took the pieces to a wainwright in the Dock district who assembled it. They specifically didn't risk removing the suspect magical beam. Carte Blanche was back home. 

The designated driver for the finicky Carte Blanche was still Attlee, so to fix this, Sorrow did the required attuning and he became the new driver. [This creates a 'Downtime debt'.]

Infection Continues

 

It was the next morning. El Cid's [Shane] "IMAG gift" fists had been throbbing all night.

El Cid wanted to go and punch something. He suspected that the Panadine cure had caused this. He wandered klibwards [north] to the coast road. A REAL patrol happened to be marching along the coast road singing Onward REAL Soldiers. 

Onward, REAL soldiers! Marching as to war.

With the light of REAL, going on before.

REAL the royal master leads against the foe;

Forward into battle, see his light-sticks go.

He was about to engage them in a punching spree, but his sensible consciences (Sorrow [Jeff] and Huilam [Jamie]) made him reconsider.

__________________________

Tylin [Ian], having travelled all night from Fort Augmentin, arrived at Smugglers Meet (an hour from Scabport), and straight away spotted  [with a bit of DM encouragement] Burrito [Stephen Beard for Darryl] and Moonlight [Chris], so he reunited with them.

They spent the morning circling greater Scabport anticlockwise, passing through farms (mostly scab farms) and satellite villages. 

Around lunch time, they reached the Scab river. Not wanting to risk swimming across the swiftly flowing, eel-infested river (it was 400 paces wide here), and not wanting to enter the city itself downstream, they headed upstream to find a bridge, following the river road - the Scab had roads on both sides.

Down a small valley, where a side stream entered the Scab, they came across their cart Carte Blanche. It was upside down and wedged in the cleft of a large rock. They scratched their heads as to how it could possibly have got in such a spot. Two of the three hired-hands were here, sitting by a fire, eating meat off a large haunch. This turned out to be the last remnants of one of Carte Blanche's horses who had got injured in the crash.

The other hireling was off chasing the other horse, the two claimed.

Unable to help with the cart, "We need a crane", they left the two to guard, and carried on.

An hour later, they found a punt, and a willing homesteader, who ferried them across the river.

Several hours later, now heading towards the sea again, they reached the Holbein woods and the Druids' Grove.

Then a couple more hours, and they got down to the coast to reunite with the rest of the group: Huilam, Sorrow and El Cid.

Sly Dunbar, WG Liaison

Huilam took a conch-call from Sly Dunbar of the Wizards' Guild. Dunbar said that the Panadine Priestess Greta Carmichael wanted El Cid brought in for tests. She was having doubts about the efficacy of her magical cure. The "magical poison plague" was in between a poison and a disease. And further research (praying) revealed that neither of the relevant curative spells worked one-hundred percent. 

El Cid’s fists were getting more and more painful, and no significant bashing targets had been found, so El Cid serendipitously decided that he would need to visit the IMAG Temple to have his fists ‘reconditioned’. So the party decided to sneak back into town.

Sneaking in to Scabport after dark wasn't much of a problem. The city has no significant walls, and the guards can't be everywhere. [Sorrow lead a group action and only Moonlight failed the SNEAK roll.] 

El Cid and Sorrow went to the the IMAG temple. They were met by their old "friend" Clara. The group had been told that Clara Haul had been executed (over her errors with Attlee). She was certainly alive, but more of an indentured servant now. She had lost her black sphere; that meant she was no longer a priestess. So this was the first time they had actually seen her face. It was covered in scars, so the guess was that she had ben severely punished for her past errors. Why she was so loyal to the temple was anyone's guess.

Clara took them to the Foundling of Darkness who was still in residence. It was delighted to see El Cid. It "held" his fists in its ethereal hands. El Cid felt a clammy tickling, like dipping your hands in a vat of warm wriggling maggots, but the throbbing certainly stopped. 

Foundling of Darkness

"Now you have to christen them," the Foundling whispered, voice like rustling parchment.

Clara brought forth a wretched gagged girl from the cells, and chained her to a post in the Foundling's chamber. The Foundling whispered to El Cid to punch her in the head "... put your back into it". 

El Cid complied. There was a sickening crunch of bone and gristle. His fist went right through the poor girl's head and even splintered the post beyond. They were all showered in blood and brains. At least she didn't suffer.

The Foundling chuckled.

Clara received her reward. Instantly, her black sphere was reinstated.

The Foundling offered to "redo Sorrow's eyes" but he graciously declined.

They left the Foundling's chamber, and Clara took the two back upstairs again. She asked them what they knew about the Plague, and they mumbled the public knowledge. She reciprocated and told them that she had heard it was a creation of the Wraith King. But that didn't make any sense: Why release it in Fort Augmentin then?

Clara wanted a live plague victim or fluids from one "a few vials will do". She could pay six COIN.

Sorrow and El Cid returned to the group and updated everyone.

Then, they went and visited the Panadines. El Cid and Sorrow were of course denied entry.

Panadine Priestess Greta 

Like the IMAGs, the Panadines wanted a live plague victim to analyze too. Or vials of fluids would do. The Panadines could not afford to pay anything, but Greta suggested to go and see the Knives or the Wizards' Guild. After all, it was in the Knives interest to see Scabport safe.

"But Panadine can gift a Greater Protection From Evil on one of you," said Priestess Greta Carmichael. "It should protect you from the plague, or its bearers. Return to us when you're ready to leave, because the spell has a limited life."

With Carte Blanche out of action, they hired a second cart (Downtime debt), went to the Wizards' Guild, and collected their eight COIN fee for the delivery of the trunk to Fort Augmentin. They also asked Sly if he wanted to pay for the Panadine job, but he said no.

They returned to base.

Tylin and Sorrow went to visit Lieutenant Anton Chung at the Knives base.

“How the hell did you guys get into the city?” he exclaimed. Then he sighed. "Don't tell me ... You're here now."

They exchanged info about the plague. So far the Knives and TGP soldiers were keeping it out successfully. 

Lt Anton Chung

“Plenty of plague suspects shot down by our guards at the Anti boundary checkpoint” he said. "But it's was only a matter of time before something gets through .... like you buggers."

So, they told about the Panadines and the six COIN fee. He sent a runner to Panadine, found out the gist of what they wanted, and so he agreed confirmed the quote.

He then gave the two a Hero of Scabport medal each. 

"This will get you past the Knives soldiers," he said. "Both directions. Just make sure you don't lose them, or give them to anyone else. Oh, normally the TGPs won't honour them, they'd hang you high, but maybe in these troubled times ..."

[ DOWNTIME ]

______________________________________

 

At first light, they went straight to the Panadines, and Huilam had the Greater Protection From Evil cast upon him. [The die was rolled: the spell would last three days.]

Huilam noticed that anything evil - for example Sorrow's black eyes or El Cid's black fists - he could feel it on his skin, like sunlight or hot coals from an open fire. The closer the evil fist was held to him, the hotter it felt.

The group then used the hired wagon [Downtime debt], and headed out of the city back anti towards Fort Augmentin. They thought that this would be the logical place to look for plague victims. The Hero of Scabport medals worked a treat and the guards let them out. They asked the guards if there were any victims around here, but no, we shot and burned them all.

Sorrow misjudges a ford

At the Smugglers Meet, they passed a wagon, and Huilam could feel evil near or in it. But they didn't investigate more. 

During the day, the passed another group which also had traces of evil. Again, nothing compared to the burning of EL Cid's glorious fists.

Around lunchtime, Sorrow, who was driving, misjudged a ford, and braked too late. The wagon turned on a stone and toppled over, rolled down a bank, and smashed a wheel.  [The next Downtime would be costly indeed!] So, they all traipsed on to Fort Augmentin on foot now.

2nd Lieutenant Pigeon

They arrived at Fort Augmentin just before dark. The plague flag was still up, and the guards threatened. But the Hero of Scabport medals worked a treat out here, and they got ushered in to see Second Lieutenant Pigeon. They never met her in the last trip, (having dealt with Barracks REAL Priestess Deirdre and Sergeant Evans), which actually turned out beneficial. Because the story had now morphed into a bunch of low-life pirates called "the Budgie Smugglers", out of Scabport, docked their boat here ("they used a shallop! A frigging rowboat! Haw haw haw!") a few days ago. They brought the plague in to Fort Augmentin in vials from a large magical trunk. Several of the soldiers had drunk these vials of red poison thinking it was a cure-all. Some had got sick, some had died and some had turned.

With Captain Moses gone ("he was a plague victim, one of the first, you see"), Lieutenant Pigeon was happy to have heroes of Scabport in her fort. Yes, she had some ex-soldier plague carriers in the barracks cells. "But we can talk about that tomorrow". It was night now, so she put them up in the Fort Augmentin Travellers' Inn.

A Plague?

During the night, the wind dropped and the storm ceased. The howling tempest was replaced by a light breeze from the anti*. And, now that the wind and rain had stopped, the group (Sorrow [Jeff], Huilam [Jamie], El Cid [Shane], Tylin [Ian], Burrito [Darryl], and marmalading Lammy [Kevin]) rested on their shallop the Smoking Loon. They could hear breaking surf in the distance. 

Dawn came on to reveal the Smoking Loon's position. They were about a league* off-shore. Off in the hazy distance along the coast, about six leagues, was a fort, presumably Fort Augmentin. But, on the beach, between them and the fort was a stranded ship, a twin-masted brig. 

Immediately, the boat that was anchored close to them whose lights they watched all night - it was a top-sail schooner, hoisted its sails. They were black sails; pirates! The schooner headed towards the beached brig.

[ * "anti" = east; "league" = 1000 paces, or 1 km ]

Wanting to stay well away from the pirates, Sorrow tacked the Smoking Loon further out to sea, and zigzagged towards Fort Augmentin.

"If we 'ad taken zee damn road," muttered Tylin disgustedly. "We would 'ave arrived zere days ago."

Fort Augmentin was a walled fort, well-clear of the sand dunes. A stream ran out here from the plains, and there was a jetty out into the sea. There were no other boats at the jetty.

A group of soldiers were marching down the track from the fort to the jetty as the Smoking Loon approached. There was a tall flagpole at the base of the jetty, and a yellow & black flag was run up as they watched. 

"Zat means 'plague'!" hissed Huilam, his marine knowledge returning to him with frightening alacrity.

As they neared, a few "stay-away" crossbow bolts whistled over them.

Sorrow headed back out to sea.

Huilam wrote a message in flags, and raised them up the mast. "We have plague cure."

Daisy Crown

Five minutes later came the reply "Approach with respect."

Just then, there was a loud BANG!! and Daisy Crown appeared - right on the stern. She brushed herself off (to maintain some dignity after the disorientating Dimension Door spell) and stood up. 

Daisy had arrived, via her Teleport, in Fort Augmentin a couple of nights ago, but, she had been told, that very night the fort commander Captain John Moses had taken ill of some kind of plague. He went mad and died the next day. The fort was locked down, and all travellers turned away. Captain Moses was the one that the group was supposed to deliver the heavy WG trunk to.

"Why didn't you tell us - via Sly Dunbar and the conch?" asked someone.

"Well ... uh," she said. "I can't read his mind, ... but I would guess Mr Sly was worried that you would turn around if you knew."

Daisy had been watching for them each day (using the WG periscope here). Now that she was on the boat, she made sure she sighted the trunk (it was too heavy to be TPed to the fort). And then she turned her attention to their "cure".

Discussion ensued around the “coincidental” timing of the plague arriving about one day's road-travelling time after they had left Scabport, and striking down the very commander they were to deliver the magical trunk to!

“Plague, my arse,” muttered Sorrow. “There ain't no plague here!”

And they mooted about sneaking into the fort to check the actuality and efficacy of the so-called plague.

A soldier on the jetty identified himself as Sergeant Evans, and shouted through a funnel

"You have a cure?" he shouted, in disbelief.

"Yes," cried Huilam. "150 vials of cures."

This was, of course, the useless faux-magic diluted blood of Igor. Their so-called Cure-all.

The logical question "You left Scabport, with your so-called cure, several days ago before the plague was even here, and before anyone was sick, so how could you possibly know it was necessary?" was voiced.

But magical divination, prognostication, or mystical foretelling was a viable answer in a world with magic. Q.E.F.

Daisy had a right chuckle. Having been involved in the Identify of the blood vials, she knew exactly what they were: "Cure? My arse!". 

Tylin thought to himself “And a very nice arse it is too.”

She was about to Dimension Door back to the Fort WG when she paused. "Tylin, want to come?"

He nodded, so she touched him, and he vanished with a bang. She vanished the next second.

Unluckily for Tylin, he appeared, three storeys up over the Wizards' Guild's cobbled courtyard with its extra-hardwearing stones, and ...just... fell. He smashed his ankle in a messy fracture. [ level two injury ]  

Daisy, some servants and the another resident wizard helped Tylin into a spare room and tucked him up, with his leg raised high. While they couldn't cure it magically, they could certainly wrap it up with vinegar and brown paper.

Sergeant Evans wasn't quite sure what to do about the cure, so he sent a runner to the fort to contact the new commander, Second Lieutenant Pigeon. Five minutes later, the garrison priestess arrived. She was REAL Priestess Deidre Evans. She allowed the Smoking Loon to dock, and then cast Detect Magic on the vials. They, of course, detected as magic. So, she arranged for a cart to be brought down.

To confirm that they weren't infected with the plague themselves, El Cid and Huilam drank one vial each of the cure-all. El Cid was promptly sick and he vomitted on the road.

"A common side effect," said Huilam reassuringly. Although the druids had boiled the Igor "potion", the vials were certainly not clean, and in the tropical Scabport climate, who knew what bountiful gut bacteria were present in each vial? A veritable cocktail of salmonella, norovirus and helicobacter, no doubt. Genuine potions were magically sterile, but fake magic imparts no protection.

Burrito, Huilam and El Cid accompanied Deidre and some soldiers on the wagon. They loaded all 150 vials of Igor's blood plus the WG trunk onto the cart. They had some cock-and-bull story about the WG trunk being part of the curing consignment.

Sir Porks-a-lot, Moonlight, Sorrow and the marmalading Lammy stayed on the shallop.

The trunk was delivered to the WG building in the fort, and Huilam, El Cid and Burrito climbed off. And then the cart headed off to the barracks, where the priestess planned to distribute the vials. (No-one, including the party, seemed to know if the potions were a cure or a vaccine.)

Huilam and Co picked up Tylin from the WG, who was now hobbling on a crutch, and headed for the fort's gate.

But, en route, a half-naked man lurched out from a side building, crazed and fast, and rushed at El Cid. His head was swollen, and he had festering buboes and running sores all over him. El Cid tried to knock him away with his sword, but that only made him angrier. He grabbed hold of El Cid and clawed and bit like a mad ghoul [level two injury*]. El Cid chopped at him, and Burrito blasted him with a bolt. That stopped him, but his head exploded, covering El Cid in a deluge of mucous, blood and pus.

[* = It was a level three wound, but El Cid's feat reduces this by one.]

Seeing this, and being considerably behind the group owing to his slow leg, Tylin did an about-face and hobbled back to the WG.

The three weren't hassled by the gate guards (they were only too happy to eject them), so they returned to the Smoking Loon, El Cid having to crawl the last 200 paces, as he bled out.

El Cid washed in the sea, and was eventually let on the shallop after a heated discussion about the risks of plague transmission. Moonlight and Burrito did not want to have anything to do with him, so they disembarked and planned to walk back to Scabport. 

The Smoking Loon (Huilam, Sorrow, wounded El Cid and marmalading Lammy) left the jetty and headed back towards Scabport. At least they had a tail wind now.

But, by now the black-sailed schooner had finished with the beached brig, so it plotted an intercept course to the Smoking Loon, and bade it heave to.

The pirate king, leering over the gunwales at the little shallop, introduced himself as Admiral Jack of the schooner Debonair. Huilam shouted out that they had the plague, gesturing to the plague flag of Fort Augmentin in the distance. This certainly stopped them from being boarded. Jack asked if they would kindly open all the hatches so he and his crew could see inside. Now, being completely empty (sans trunk and vials) they were happy to comply. Jack left a final gift, and the schooner departed, tacking off antiwards. The gift was a crossbow bolt shot into the Smoking Loon's mast, to which was attached a promissory note "The bearer of this note promises to pay Admiral Jack of the Debonair the sum of four COIN." Huilam ended up carrying this.

Beached Witch of Endor

____________________________________

Moonlight and Burrito encountered the survivors of the beached ship. It was the brig Witch of Endor out of Two Frime. During the storm, their anchor chain had snapped and they had run aground. And then, to add insult to injury, they were all robbed by the schooner, and some of their women and teens taken as slaves. Moonlight and Burrito had some more bad news for the wretches, Fort Augmentin had the plague, so they better walk to Scabport.

__________________________________________

Balm of Gilead

Back in Fort Augmentin, Daisy told Tylin that he had outstayed his welcome, being a non-wizard and all, and so can he please shift to the public inn in the fort. He grudgingly complied, and got a room there at the Fort Augmentin Travellers' Inn.

Later on that afternoon, Priestess Deidre arrived full of thanks. The Igor vials had been passed around the entire garrison. About fifty of the soldiers had been horribly sick (vomiting and diarrhoea), only two had died with GI problems, but at least they were all safe from the plague now. And as a gift of gratitude, she would heal his broken ankle. It was not a spell she could do herself (she was too lower level), but she was happy to use her last dose of her Balm of Gilead. Sure enough, that fixed the ankle. The garrison was happy to meet the cost of the room too.

_____________________________________

During the trip downwind to Scabport, Huilam contacted Sly Dunbar with the WG conch [which the party was very lucky to keep considering the DM forgot they had it and the pirates would have taken it!].

He warned that the Scabport authorities knew about the plague and they'd probably be stopped.

WG 1G Conch

An hour later, the 1G conch rang again. It was Lieutenant Chung this time. In a rare piece of cooperation, the WG had allied with the Knives over this matter, and Dunbar had patched Chung through. Huilam told Chung about El Cid, and Chung told them he would get the Panadines involved.

El Cid was starting to get delirious and was hallucinating. Sorrow's evil black eyes were smudged all over his face - like he was a oil painting and someone had smeared the eyes with a thumb.

Sir Porks-a-lot in her little cage, was looking more and more delicious by the minute. And not just delicious-to-eat. The lipstick and eye-liner that Huilam had applied (he hadn't) really brought out her inner beauty.

__________________________________

Near dark, El Cid and Burrito and the some survivors of the brig arrived at Smugglers Meet, a copse of trees one hour out of Scabport. Up ahead, the way forward was completely blocked by Scabport troops. Mostly Knives. No-one was allowed to pass. Anyone who approached was shot at.

Just after dark, Tylin sneaked out of Fort Augmentin and started the trek to Scabport.

_________________________________

About this time, out on the water, the Smoking Loon was trying to make its way into the Scab river. But two navy ketches approached and made them stop.

A rowboat approached with one man on the oars, and a woman in Panadine robes. She introduced herself as Priestess Sandy Carmichael and she'd been briefed by Lieutenant Chung. She was here to check the plague. She didn't seem worried about infection, so she clambered on board.

El Cid was delirious by this time. He saw a skeleton in a robe with glowing eyes float on board and converse with mister smudged eyes. But he had to protect his queen, in her little cage.

Sorrow suggested the priestess put El Cid to sleep, so she bade El Cid sleep with the Command spell, and he sank to the deck, magically down. But that spell only lasts ten seconds, so Sorrow cracked El Cid's thick skull with a belaying pin, knocking him out cold.

Sandy first cast Detect Disease. El Cid, human, yes. Huilam, elf, no. Sorrow, half-elf, no. Sir Porks-a-lot, sow, yes. Lammy, marmalading, no. Then she took samples of blood, mucous, skin, hair and fingernails off El Cid. Next she put a Cure Disease on him and a Cure on the concussion (that fixed his other chest damage too). Then she left with the soldier.

El Cid felt a lot better.

Unable to enter the Scab harbour, they took off further battlewards, down the coast a small way

They pulled themselves ashore and made camp. Hunting, Sorrow got them some rabbits. Poor infected Sir Porks-a-lot was put to the sword and burned.

__________________________________

Moonlight & Burrito began a long walk around the top of Scabport to the Druids Grove on the other side.

_________________________

Tylin found a concealed vantage point outside the Smugglers' Meet perimeter and settled in to keep a watch on the general proceedings.

Fort Augmentin or Bust

[  Downtime. ]

Esme arrived in the common room. There was a message from Sly Dunbar from the Wizards' Guild. He summoned the group via WG conch (stored in the Luscious Pixie inn). 

All went to Wizards' Guild to speak with him. He had a smuggling job for them.

WG Liaison
Sly Dunbar

"... After all, mon, ya' all be smugglers."

The job was eight COIN to take a package to Fort Augmentin, one day's travel anti-wards* along the coast road. The package was a trunk and was to be delivered to Captain Moses at the fort. The Captain was in charge of the actual garrison, so there should no trouble once they got it there, and they didn't need to smuggle it inside.

 

* = The four cardinal directions in the Known World are Klibwards (N), Funkenwards (S), Battlewards (W) and Antiwards (E). "K" Klibwards points to the centre of the Great Circle, "F" Funkwards directly away. "B" Battlewards the the direction (clockwise) that the two fighting gods REAL and IMAG move across the sky. And "A" Antiwards opposite to this.

The next morning, the whole group (El Cid [Shane], Sorrow [Jeff],  Burrito [Darryl], Huilam [Jaime], Tylin [Ian] and Moonlight [Chris]) headed to the WG to pick up the trunk in Carte Blanche. Carte Blanche was a finicky cart, and only Attlee had the skills to drive it safely, and of course Attlee was no longer part of the group. Finicky carts were hard to control and drive. However, if Moonlight walked along with the two horses, then he could easily control it.

They got to the WG and had a heavy trunk loaded onto it. The trunk weighed as much as two heavy men. And the sturdy cart sank down on its springs when loaded.

When they got home, El Cid, the so-called driver, noticed that Carte Blanche wasn't riding right. So, they all had a thorough search of the cart, and they found that it had a new mysterious structural beam bolted onto the chassis. It detected as magic. (So did the trunk, as expected).

They wondered if the beam had been placed on the cart during this trip, but as they had only used Carte Blanche occasionally this season, this beam could have been there for ages.

Not wanting to risk unscrewing it - Sorrow spotted suspicious triggers on the main anchor bolts of the beam - they left it in situ. 

So, the group drove Carte Blanche all the way back to the WG. Daisy Crown came out and checked it. She spotted the magic (which they already knew) and offered to do an Identify, but that would cost a full COIN, so they said no.

On the way home, El Cid bought a war pig (sow) which he named Sir Porks-a-lot. And bought it some hessian armour.

Worried about using Carte Blanche with its new attachment, the plan was to use the party's boat, the shallop Smoking Loon, and go to Fort Augmentin via sea. This trip would take two days rather than the land trip. Meanwhile, they would hire a bunch of roustabouts to take Carte Blanche for a jolly trip up klibwards. Thus if this magical beam was a tracking device, it would not cause any trouble.

 

Smoking Loon shallop

The next morning at first light, Carte Blanche was seen leaving their base and heading through the Scabport streets following the Scab river klibwards. This was the diversion, of course. 

Meanwhile, the Smoking Loon, kept in a secret boathouse under the dock, was loaded it up with everyone, Sir Porks-a-lot, her armour and the WG trunk. Then, they made their way quietly under the wharves (mast down, using oars) to the main Scabport docks. 

While the boat was clearing the dock, they spotted a familiar face on the wharf. It was Booker Dobbs of the Insular Rogues. Burrito offered to take him out with crossbow, but was talked out of it.

Then they headed out into the Scab river, past Prison Island and out to sea. There was a strong anti wind blowing and dark grey clouds beyond. The Smoking Loon was finicky, but the designated pilot was Sorrow, so he turned anti and started the long tacks, making their way slowly anti-wards.

Shallops, with their leeboards (rather than centre-boards or keels) are not very efficient at tacking so if this wind kept up, the trip would take four days

The first day, many of them were sea sick. The sea was running high. and the wind was strong.

They passed a few ships headed the other way, running with the wind.

That night the storm continued. Too dangerous to dead-reckon in a storm, and with no stars visible, they put out an anchor - the sea was shallow enough here -  and they rode out the storm all night in the inky blackness.

The second day was the same. Three boats passed them running with the wind, and by the end of the day, they had gained on another boat that was headed in their direction: a twin-masted schooner. 

When night fell, the schooner was a couple of crossbow's shots ahead of them. It dropped anchor and put on lights.