Knight of Mystery
Summary
Adventure: Knight of Mystery
GM: William Dymock
Season: Jan 1993 AP
- Party
- Phaeton Tama (Scribe)
- Murthak, a firemage hobbit and very handy with an axe
- Wolf - a novice E&E mage
- Tamara - elven female and beginning mind mage,
- PJ De Bourgenac - an up and coming fighter
- Urgan - an Earth mage
- Lotus - an elf experienced in combat
- Employer
- Oberon Valmar
- Mission (reprinted from the Seagate Times - Issue 3. Link to the full version)
- It seemed easy enough at the time. All we had to do was to go up north, to a place called Calvenda, and find out what this knight was up to. His name was Sir Harold of Mulvania and he was claiming he was looking for a Lady Gwendolyn. No one had any idea where Mulvania was and if this knight was telling the truth.
Scribe Notes
PJ was also employing me to chronicle his adventures. On top of that, I was asked to deliver a letter to Liessa's Uncle Marcus who lived in that area. We were provided with a guide for the journey north, a dwarf by the name of Alex. The two week seavoyage up the coast was conducted in miserable weather. When finally we arrived in Fleaceport and took a barge upriver, we were attacked by bandits and Alex was killed. I put a Preserve Dead on the body in the hope of a later resurrection. Tamara kept complaining she couldn't sleep. Another couple of days saw us at our destination upriver, where Wolf organised the purchase of a cart - and several large barrels of ale to put on it. The guy must live on the stuff - he's always drinking it.
We arrived at the village of Luxley and settled down at an inn for the night. Just after midnight we were woken by a disturbance outside. An angry mob of villagers were chasing something down the street. A few minutes later, Tamara rushed in to our room. out of breath. She wouldn't elaborate just what she and Wolf had been up to but Wolf was being accused of witchcraft.
The next morning Wolf had to face the Trial by Fire (the local pond was too frozen). He had to hold a red hot bar of iron, and if the hand healed within three days then he was a witch. We waited three days while Wolf was kept under guard in the town jail. After the three days were up, the hand still hadn't healed so he was released, and ceremoniously run out of town.
After we left I began the long process of rebuilding Wolf's hand.
A fortnight later, we arrived at our destination and met up with our employer, Oberon Valmar. He told us that Sir Harold would be at the big tournament in Margrave, in three days time. We were also told to "be discrete". When I consulted the library I also discovered there was an 'evil' enchanter in the area by the name of Marcus. Liessa's uncle?
After being paid nearly half our reward in advance, we headed off to Margrave. On the way an arrow embedded itself in the side of the cart, where I was standing. The fighters rushed in the direction of the unknown assailant. It was soon revealed to be a red-headed woman called Merrilee of Odedra and she was hunting game. The arrow was an accident. I have my doubts.
That night, we decided to leave the horse and cart at a nearby farm (result - one happy farmer) and fly the rest of the way. Murthak had a flying carpet but we couldn't all use it as the weight would slow it to a crawl. So it was the case of putting just enough weight on it so it would be the same speed of my StarWings. We took off.
After a couple of hours we landed just outside Margrave, and headed in. Once there we found out that the tournament lasted for a week and that entrants had to register with the local Lord - a Sir Griswold. Lotus. We also noticed that Sir Harold was signed up.
Later on we found Sir Harold's tent. After talking to him we found that he was looking for Artoz, a necromancer, who had kidnapped Gwendolyn. Last he had heard, he was hiding in some mountains near Margrave.
That night a dagger, with a note attached, flew through our window. While the others went to investigate, I checked out the note which was warning us not to interfere. After a rooftop chase, Lotus and Murthak were able to dispatch our assailants. At a meeting with the thieves guild rep the next morning, we learnt they were from the local thieves guild and had been helping Sir Harold with his enquiries. We also found out that Artoz was from a place called Odedra. That's where Merrilee was from! Later on, a message came in from PJ. He had also came to that conclusion and was looking for her.
Tamara had also wandered off to make some 'discrete' enquiries. She came back and told us someone had 'kidnapped' her and warned her off. While the rest of the party went looking for Tamara's assailants, I went down to the tournament area and offered my services to the Healers there. I ended up having to heal Lotus quite a lot. Next morning we discovered that Sir Leopold's squire had been killed during the night. The assassins had been aiming for Sir Leopold and missed. The knife had a curious mark on it, which we were told later was the symbol of the 'Scarlet Breath' -an assassin group based nearby.
While I continued my work at the tournament, Tamara and the others continued asking around for information. Tamara was visible, the rest were Unseen. However all she managed to do was attract crowds and make people very nervous. At one point someone tried to attack Tamara but Lotus leapt to her defense (becoming visible) and nearly killing the guy. Lotus and Tamara ended up being brought before the city guard. They were charged with Disturbing the Peace and Assault. They paid the fine, then Lotus wanted to know what the fine was for assaulting the guard. When be was told be proceeded to beat up the Captain of the Guard before being subdued. He and Tamara were thrown in jail until their fate was decided. I had the job of healing the guard Captain.
Back at the tournament Sir Leopold was almost skewered by a sharp lance. According to the aura the lance had been hit by Binder magic. There's either a crazed Binder around or an assassin with investeds.
Another message came in from PJ. He had found Merrilee, halfway up a mountain looking for a dragon. She said she hadn't seen one before and wanted a look. PJ also found out that she was a Mind Mage, came from the same place as Artoz, but wasn't on his side, and that Margrave and Odedra were neighbouring countries somewhere near Kinlu.
The next day, I checked on the guard captain, who was recovering nicely, then went down to the tournament. There was another attempt on Sir Leopold. His horse exploded from under him.
After a couple of days, PJ was back and the jousting was over. It was then discovered that Sir Harold had left that morning. After passing through orc country (for some reason the orcs there were rather nervous about adventurers) we finally managed to catch him. He had found out that Artoz was in a cave in a nearby mountain. Murthak volunteered our services.
We reached the cave and ventured inside. The passages were long, dark. and there were a lot of them. At acouple of places we were attacked by bands of orcs. The first band was led by a Firemage, the second by a Dark Celestial. In the ensuing combats Lotus was killed.
We made our way down to a large cavern, split by a crevasse, and bridged by a bone bridge. As we crossed it we were accosted by Artoz and another group of orcs. I was killed by the stream of corruption he fired at us while the others charged in. Sir Harold charged at Artoz. Both became enveloped in Darkness while rest of us engaged the orcs. Tamara managed to get herself killed and once the battle was over. there was no sign of Artoz or Sir Harold. They found the necromancer's hideout but there was no one there - not even Lady Gwendolyn. However they did find what was suspected to be her hankie. They then searched down the cavern and managed to find some tracks which terminated in a blank wall. The wall had a very strong magical aura but appeared to be natural. Somehow they had gone through it but our party couldn't follow. It was decided to leave this underground complex. Searching around the mountain revealed no clue to where they could have gone.
After the three of us were ressurrected, we reported back to our employer. He appeared satisfied at our report and paid us the balance of what we were owed. There was a portal nearby that we could use to get back to Seagate but it wouldn't open for a week. So PJ and I went looking for Marcus the Enchanter. After a couple of days we found his tower and delivered the letter. The portal trip back took us through a plane called Galatere which was a hot steamy jungle full of dangerous creatures. We had an extra person with us - a Danielle of Margrave who looked very suspiciously Iike Merrilee. She is going back to the Guild to get a party together to find the Lady Gwendolyn!
