One day as Tomarra walked toward the tavern where the other adventurers sat in sotted indolence, she was accosted by three Melnibonéans. She retreated and started throwing spells at them, but it was soon evident she would be overcome, and the other adventurers were too far away to rescue her. A faint gleam of light appeared when Akim, a casual nomad acquaintance, saw the fight and rushed to Tomarra’s help, but he too was soon overcome, buried under the pavement of the street, and the three Melnibonéans were gone by the time the rest of the adventurers arrived, taking Tomarra with them, apparently through a rip in the fabric of the world. Akim eventually awoke, and freed from the rubble he and the other adventurers set off to spend the rest of their money drowning their sorrows.
A few days later the adventures were contacted by Yarret, the Warrier- Priest of Donblas, and told of a job that he wanted them to take. He takes them to an interview with the bereaved parents of the girl-child that Fiorgan sacrificed while making his escape from Karris. The parents, Isen and Moire Sharp-Axe, wished them to search for Fiorgan in Raschil, where he had recently be reported. Since the adventureres were completely broke and soon due to start sleeping in the streets they accepted the offer. Yarret escorted them from the house, saying he’d explain the arrangements when they were back at their quarters. While leaving the house they observed the owner, one Tobrytan, a distant relative of Isen and Moire and a figure of some importance in the politics in the County of Telhalk, where the Sharp-Axe clan dwells.
On the way back they were accosted by Keelera of Law, who castigated Yarret for employing them and the adventures for being Chaos-tainted slaves of that Melnibonéan bitch. An argument ensued, but it did not come to buffets or blades, and Keelera finally left in the direction of the docks.
Back at their lodgings Yarret explained that others sought Fiorgan elsewhere and he did not expect that the characters would find him in Raschil. He explained their renumeration for the mission, the travel arrangements, where to meet him in a few weeks in Raschil at The Three Blades Sharpened . He also explained what they should do if they did find and capture Fiorgan.
Not long after Yarret left a stranger knocked on their door and asked them to a meeting later that night at The Strong Arms, a tavern in located in one of the less fashionable parts of the waterfront, to discuss a proposition with regard to their upcoming journey. At the tavern the barkeep ushered them into a room occupied by a hooded and cloaked stranger. The stranger concealed his face, but they recognized his voice as probably that of Tobrytan.
The stranger wanted them to retrieve a statue that Fiorgan stole. He offered 23,000 bronzes and said that he was acting for an important family. He told them they could leave a message for him when they have the statue with the owner of the Strong Arms, the barkeep who showed them in, and left.
The ship the adventurers sailed on stopped in Utkel for a day to load cargo, and the adventures decided to get a letter of introduction to one of the Raschil merchants from Rampkin Woolstapler, Lady Listoria Sternbrow’s father. After a day chasing him around the filthy canals of Utkel’s industrial areas and nearly getting Pierce carded into wool, they finally caught up to him and found out that the man who had them on the run all day was an invalid who cannot walk! Rampkin, after a slightly testy interview, gave them a letter of introduction to his factotum in Raschil, Fredek.
Does anything happen on the way over? Do they notice anything strange, like someone watching them? Did they meet any other ships?[1]
Once they reached Raschil, they found lodging and then went to talk to Fredek. While Fredek himself didn’t have any information about the people in the arts and the antiques trade (which was the business Fiorgan was in during his stay in Raschil), he did give them letters of introduction to three merchants in that trade: Joska, Samuk, and Venkel.
They talked to Joska, and his behavior made them suspicious, so they kept him under surveillance, splitting their forces. This lead them to a strange tavern, The Laughing Hound, an unpopular seeming dive with a strange clientele.
In addition to the surveillance, they also also talked to the other merchants that Fredek had mentioned. First they talked with Samuk, a merchant with a somewhat clouded past, who let them know where Firogan’s house had been when Fiorgan had been operating openly in Raschil a few years before, and that Fiorgan was back in town and looking for buyers. He also let them know that he would be interested in whatever they find if they do find Fiorgan.
Next they talked to Venkel, a painfully honest but not very prosperous merchant, who told them of some individuals who had been cheated by someone sounding very much like Fiorgan: Bartalan and Katinka. They went and talked to Bartalan, an eccentric scholar, who complained bitterly of the way Fiorgan cheated him into buying a useless demon under the pretext that it had memorized a number of tomes vital to his researches. After that they talked to Katinka, an aging but still beautiful noblewoman, who told them how Fiorgan had played on her vanity and talked her into buying a mirror supposed to preserve her beauty. She also flirted with one of the adventurers and asked him to return alone sometime.[2]
At some point they checked out The Three Blades Sharpened, where they found an exceptionally good storyteller at work, Ranyart Finn, telling tales and consuming impressive amounts of alchol. This tavern caters to the soldiers, mercenaries, and warriors of Raschil, and a lot of adventurers do business here.
At some time some thugs attacked them in a long alley, but the characters beat them off easily, leaving most or all dead on the street for the city watch to clean up. Later Roshni Ponsu-ny[3] was kidnapped while on surveillance of Joska.
Wacky Pitaky obtained information from his contacts that a unsanctioned group buying and selling stolen artifacts, preferably Melnibonéan, also operated out of The Laughing Hound .
After some surveillance of the tavern, the adventurers broke into The Laughing Hound and found a concealed stair down into a glass- lined cave, where they were stalked by an invisible demon that chuckled maniaclly, stuck them full of quills, and spit poison in their eyes while they tried to rescue their previously abducted friend from his glassy prison, for he was entombed inside the translucent wall of the cave. Finally they succeeded in freeing him, but were then attacked by the cultists and their horrible protean altar, and after the usual hacking and slashing fled upward through another exit, foolishly hoping for the best.
This exit lead them into the crawlspace under Fiorgan’s house, a useful but dangerous outcome. Searching it they found the statue in a study with another statue, a warrior of wrought iron rods. The wrought iron warrior attacked them, and though they defeated it, at it’s demise it breathed flames, at which the room explosively burst into flame,[4] quickly spreading to other parts of the house. Fiorgan attacked while the adventurers were off guard, but one of the adventurers hacked off his hand and he called a demon to him that carried him off, calling curses back at the adventurers. The adventurers fleed, taking with them Fiorgan’s hand and the statue and leaving behind a burning block of buildings and hoping no-one saw enough to connect them to the fire.[5]
When Yarret arrived and learned what had happened he asked for the hand of Fiorgan – he knew that the child’s parents would want it, and also the Priests of Law might be able to learn something of Fiorgan from it. He also explained to the adventurers that the statue was the property of Tobrytan’s sept of the Sharp-Axes and contains a fearsome demon, and that the political consequences of the exposure of one of the power rising young politicians of the Purple Isle as a demon-worshipping Chaos-follower are likely to be fatal to the characters if they return to the Isle at this time. The adventurers agree that it might be best if they stayed in Raschil for a time. Yarret gave them a draft on the local Temple of Goldar for the rest of their payment, and suggested that they lie low for a while.
| [1] | Here is where my recollections get confused. |
| [2] | Wasn’t this Pierce? He did take her up on the offer later, after the main events of the adventure, didn’t he? |
| [3] | This was who was kidnapped, wasn’t it? |
| [4] | Probably the result of a number of bound fire elementals. |
| [5] | Arsonists are hated and feared throughout all cities, as the most terrible terrible threat to their security. |