Session XIV - Venya the Assassin (2001-09-04)
During the night both Drik and Radagast dreamed. Drik's dream was about money changers, perhaps, who were being transformed into demons. Radagast's dream seemed to take place on a featureless plain, meeting a man wearing black gloves. The figure gave Radagast a message: "Seek the sign of the Blue Trush. Though the fox seems to be dead, his knowledge lives on." Upon waking, Drik and Radagast discussed their dreams. They figured Eomric might be the old fox, although they were not sure if it meant Eomric had somehow fooled death or if there was some cache of knowledge from him that could be very helpful.
Next in the schedule was a trip to Eomric's tower; Radagast did not want to go alone, even though he was convinced he would be pretty safe by scanning for magical traps. Still, it was better to be safe than sorry, Radagast thought. The guards let them in, and said there had not been disturbance during the night. Radagast was heading towards the room with the crystal ball, on the fifth floor if he recalled properly. However, as soon as he was heading for the stairs magical runes exploded in the ceiling, sending shrapnels flying around. Shaken, Radagast asked Drik to heal him, after which they withdrew. It seemed like Eomric's protective magic had been activated again somehow.
When the companions were headed downtown, they noticed a man waiting for an audience at the palace. The man introduced himself as Galen, an entertainer looking for work at the palace. Drik mentioned that he could have chosen a better time for that. When Galen recognized who Radagast and Drik were, he offered to write songs about their adventures. The companions decided to let him tag along. On their way to the temple they learned Galen was a minor healer himself, and whished to help the injured and sick people located at the temple. Radagast noticed he was carrying a rapier, and if his stories were to be believed, quite an adventurer himself.
At the temple Drik and Galen healed the people they could. There was a new batch of injured and diseased soldiers just brought in, one Waymarch Knight even. When Drik healed some of the knights wounds he became a little more coherent, and was able to describe where the attack took place (about a mile south of the city). He said there had been some 10-20 skeletal creatures with some kind of demonic leader. They did not seem to be ordinary skeletons, though, because his unit of ten men were almost immediately paralyzed by the creatures and did not have a change after that. Drik promised he would come back the next day to try and cure the knights disease. It seemed like the man whose disease Drik had cured earlier was doing quite well.
Drik then wanted to hire a fighter for the group. It was decided that they would meet at Sword and Cloak to look for suitable men. Drik spent some time looking for ingredients to make healing potions, while Radagast went to buy ink and other supplies needed to scribe magical scrolls. When Radagast was coming out of one shop, some lady bumbed into him and left a letter in his hand. Radagast quickly checked if he still had his money; it seemed he had, but somehow his silver pieces were in the place where his gold pieces should have been, and vice versa! "That was one good pickpocket," Radagast thought. "Good thing she was not looking for my money." He read the letter:
Hello, you don't know me, but your life is in danger. You and your friends have angered some very powerful people and they've put a bounty on your head. Thank God your handsome friends already left the city on their pilgrimage; if you have any sense you'll leave too. I can't say any more than this for fear of discovery.
PS. If you see your handsome friends again, tell them they can both leave me letters with the owner of the Sword and Cloak (but don't tell them both at once).
Radagast was amused: "Ha! Our holy men were courting the same woman, um?"
At the Sword and Cloak Galeon performed for the audience, playing some old, well known songs taking away the fear and uncertainty of the present day. People seemed to like that, and he ended up with a hat of silver and copper. "That certainly seems give a better living than Bardia trying to make bows," Radagast commented to Drik. As he and Drik scanned the crowd, they spotted Garwolf alone at a table, downing a drink. It seemed like he had had a few already. Garwolf didn't seem to be in too good a mood either, but Drik eventually convinced him that it would be a blast joining him in the fight against the undeads. Drik ended up buying drinks for the whole bar (even Radagast had one, without making a complete fool of himself), and also bought a room for Garwolf. Radagast wrote him a note so that when he woke he would know he should wait for Radagast and others at the inn, for they would head out in the morning. Galen said he had rented a room at an inn called the Green Dragon, where he went to spend the night. Drik and Radagast marched to the palace, as usual. In the evening before going to bed Radagast made his first scroll, protection against evil.
Morning came, but Garwolf was not in a condition to go anywhere. And he was in a really foul mood, would have cut Drik with his sword if he had had the strength. Eventually it was agreed that the trip would be delayed until the afteroon. After that, Garwolf broke into a room adjascent to his (accidentally) and fell asleep on the floor. Galen was concerned that they were trying to hire a drunk to be their champion.
Radagast showed the letter he had received, but neither he nor Drik were too concerned - after all they had been in life threatening situations for longer than they cared to remember. Galen seemed to take the message more seriously, and wanted to leave the city as soon as possible. They learned there apparently was a thief loose in the city looking more for excitement than money. He or she seemed to break into houses and rearrange furniture, leaving just a symbol of a blue bird behind.
Since they had a little time to kill, they decided to see if any of the men Garwolf had mentioned would be available for hire. Tomalac, or something like that, was probably out - according to Garwolf he was a mercenary up for hire but probably was leading Cordwellyn's army now. Tempes, on the other hand, might be available. He was the son of an influential merchant. The party headed to the river to the house, Galen leading his horse that was packed ready for the adventure.
A butler answered the door. He explained that Tempes was not home, his his cousin was available if the party wished to see her. Since there wasn't anything else to be done, everyone agreed. The butler showed them into a room, and a young woman soon entered. She was named Mathilda. She offered some wine, and sent a message to the kitchen to deliver some food for the guests. Galen explained their situation, and why they were looking for Tempes. Mathilda told them that her cousin was not available, since he was along with one of their caravans as a guard.
Galen then asked if she would like for him to perform for the group, and she was delighted. Galen gave a suberb show of his talent, leaving even Drik and Radagast looking at him with their jaws open.
As Mathilda left to leave the party to eat, Radagast's sixth sense was telling him that something was wrong. He had already sipped the wine carefully, and ate only a little bit of the food. He suspected something foul was at play, but could not have any real evidence to point this way or that, and he certainly did not want to rouse suspicions nor insult their host.
Soon the door to the room, and the window shutters were closed from outside. Everyone was feeling waves of nausea and weakness - the food was drugged! Drik became so weak he could not even stand up. Radagast's worst fears were turning to be true. A page entered the room, quickly followed by a man who stabbed him to death. It was Venya!
Venya aimed his crossbow at Radagast, and wounded him. Radagast was frantically trying to figure a way out, realizing that almost anything he did would give Venya time enough to shoot again, which would almost certainly kill Radagast. So he ended up casting Invisibility on himself, and laying low in the hopes Venya would try to shoot the place where he had been standing. Venya decided against that, since Galen bravely charged him, although missing. Venya drew two swords and engaged Galen, but he too missed. Meanwhile Radagast had crawled to Drik, and cast Bull's Strength on his friend. Drik now was able to stand up and move a little although he was still too weak to even lift his battleaxe he had laid on the floor.
Galen managed to scratch Venya a little, be Venya only laughed as he sunk his swords into Galen, showing what a real sword cut could do. Drik healed Radagast. Radagast activated his flaming sword. Galen was trying some fancy maneuvers against Venya, but he was not fooled. Radagast's surprise attack didn't hurt Venya too much, and neither did Galen's second scratch. Venya decided he did not want to be flanked with Galen and Radagast, and instead sprang to Drik. Galen had a change to heal his wounds, and Radagast sent bolts of magical energy into Venya. Everybody seemed to be leasing magic, as Drik shot a searing beam of light at Venya, just barely missing him and obliterating a window in the way. Venya decided that things were getting a little too tough, and gulped a potion that seemed to enable him to move twice as fast as normally. He then promptly whacked Drik again. Radagast also decided that some extra protection was in order and cast Shield. Venya then showed that he had truly developed some new skills as he feinted, leaving Drik totally open to his murderous next attack. Drik was looking pretty bad, but luckily Radagast was able to provide some cover for him so he could heal himself. Venya finally decided things weren't working as well as they should, and run for the door. Both Galen and Radagast charged after him, both missing. Venya gulped another potion and escaped invisible.
When Mathilda came back, things turned strange. Galen tried to grab Mathilda, and accused him for setting up the assasination attempt. Mathilda was furious, and threw Galen out. She was not mad at Radagast and Drik, however, so the companions used the opportunity to try and learn if she knew anything about Venya. She only knew that Venya had been hired as a cook recently. Radagast then asked her to investigate the matter, and send any information, including any of Venya's personal belongings to the palace, which she agreed to.
Outside, Galen and Radagast had to help Drik onto the saddle. They first went to see Garwolf to inform him of the change of plans.
For two days there was nothing to do but recover from the poison. Drik healed everyone a little every day. Radagast scribed three more scrolls.
Finally having fully recovered from the ordeal Radagast was returning to his room. He got a nasty surprise as Venya was there waiting for him, and nearly did Radagast in with his swords. Radagast backed out, and slammed the door shut, trying desperately to hold it closed while yelling for help. Again he could feel poison coursing through his veins. The warning about assassins turned out to be very real. Luckily Drik was walking near by, and came to help Radagast. Radagast stepped back and made himself invisible. Drik could not hold the door closed, probably due to the fact that Venya had gulped a potion of Bull's Strength. Venya burst out, and had to taste Drik's axe. Radagast did not have much time to think about his actions as the poison finally made him collapse on the floor, still invisible. As guards came running to the rescue Venya decided to split; he went back to Radagast's room, entered the fireplace and escaped by climbing up the chimney! Drik found the invisble Radagast and brought him back to consciousness. They got new quarters for the night, in case Venya or some other assassin were to try again, and decided to leave the next morning.
In the morning Drik and Radagast met the two other brave adventurers, Galen and Garwolf. Garwolf was in full armor, and looked capable of taking on an army just by himself. They passed by a trial, and saw that some people were not confessing to being Vecna worshippers. It looked like there were torturers ready to extract the confessions anyway. Nobody was too happy to see such a sign, especially after Alayn had declared that all Vecna worshippers would be sentenced to death. Drik said he was going to have a word with Alayn soon.
They discovered the place of the undead attack easily, because Bardia was there with his scouts. Drik was quick to notice that he had a new greatsword. Bardia explained it was called "Spiritshard", and was made for him by Eomric. They also discussed Venya, and Radagast showed the letter he had received. Bardia was also surpised to see Garwolf in the group.
Bardia could not find any tracks to follow at the site, although he said it looked like one of the attackers had been carried by a horse.
Bardia explained that previous week someone had probably been ambushed on the northern road, and that they had managed to follow the tracks a little bit. That time it had not been undeads, at least it did not look like it. Based on the description Drik was convinced it must have been Wiglaf who had been ambushed, and wanted to go and see if he could help somehow. So it was decided Bardia would take his troops east, while Drik and the others would circle the city by going west.
Not long after separation, Drik's arch-enemy the owlbear came charging from the bushes. Galen's eyes bulged; he had never seen anything like that. He had just been talking about how he would write songs about the heroic deeds they would do, so when he started signing Radagast yelled in exasperation to wait after the fight with the songs. But it turned out Galen knew what he was doing, as the song lifted the spirits of everyone. As Radagast prepared for melee by casting protective magic, everyone else was banging on the owlbear. Garwolfs hits proved to be too much for the beast, and it tried to run away, only to be killed by Drik's arrow and Radagast's magical bolts. "Finally this Magic Missile thing cought something that was running away." Radagast muttered to himself. It was also a small miracle Drik got a hit with the bow, considering he hardly knew how to hold it...