A.S.S.: Through Black Walls

General Summary

Wherein the humble beginning of group that would become the Arboreal Security Service is detailed

A Most Dangerous Undertaking

We join our adventurers as they, for reasons both personal and commercial, have agreed to undertake a task for Messelum, the general manager of the Fickle Fortune Palace of Entertainments. Our crew gathered at that august instition to learn just exactly what that entailed. The crew comprised:

• Treefallen, a devotee (some would say zealot) of Carida
• Kavra Aletide, of Cranky Foamer, a swashbuckler in need of funds
• Sir Courtois des Lapins, a knight from a distant plane
• Harriet, that knight's companion and chronicler

This distinguished assortment was quickly ushered into a sidebar of the Fortune to meet with Messelum and discover what the heck they would be doing. Treefallen (hereafter: Lenny), being a native of New Carydam, knew that whatever Messelum asked this group to do was likely a task offered by the Freeholder of the city, Rare Zoramar, as Messelum is his trusted associate.
That task turned out to be highly dangerous--they were to infiltrate the notorious fighting rings of Black Walls, discover where they were currently located in the Carydam Catacombs, but, more importantly, discover who, exactly, was attending these events. Simple, as long as they survive.
The first step in this infiltration process was to assume the carefully constructed cover identities offered by Messelum. They are to assume these identities and participate in the twice-monthly Free-for-All at Sensubic's School of Fisticuffs in the hope of garnering an invite to Black Walls.
Lenny was offered the role of Sjorni the Skull, a corpse-painted warrior known for throwing knives and axes. Sir Courtois was to assume, with difficulty, the personage of Doomweaver, who is notorious for both silence and biting. Harriet became Heroic Hverker, known as a gambler, a boaster, and a drunk. And, lastly, Kavra became Ethel, renowned for her unfailing politeness and devastating piledriver.
With these identities, our adventurers prepared to draw attention to themselves in the Fisticuff contest.

Free-for-All at the Fisticuff

Our intrepid heroes took the rest of the day to get accustomed to the characters they would be playing, as it was impressed upon them that the more successfully they acted the part, the most likely it would be for them to get an invite to the deadly Black Walls. They did so with aplomb, especially as they lined up in the participants' queue for the FFA.
Once apprised of the rules--no killing, last five standing win--it was time to get to business. And our crew did their business quite well, dispatching orcs and kobolds and bandits from the hallowed ring of the School of Fisticuffs. Soon enough, there were only five entries remaining. Well, soon to be four, as in the enthusiasm of his character, he just worked the last contestant into unconsciousness. Whoops.
Regardless, their victory earned them both the competition's first prize as well as the attention of one Garravar, a well-dressed, very handsome individual. He expressed admiration in the way they achieved victory and invited them to The Rattle twilight tomorrow if they wanted to earn real coin and, perhaps, patronage. This was clearly an invite to participate in the more lethal surroundings of the Black Walls. Given that was their mission, they agreed.

Tearing Down Black Walls

The next night found them outside The Rattle and quickly escorted, while blindfolded, into the Carydam Catacombs and to the location of the fabled Black Walls. There, they fought a tough band of bugbears and a salty bandit leader, all the while noticing--with almost alarming acumen--the distinguishing characteristics of various important personages in attendance.

It is also worth noting that Courtois used an infallible ability to detect surroundings to discover what direction the party was being led to endure the Black Walls. This, coupled with Harriet's ingenious use of disguise self to pretend to still be wearing the blindfolds insisted upon by their escort, resulted in a clear picture of just where this articulation of Black Walls was in New Carydam. Nice! That's surely information Messelum could use. He could also use the information of which jerkfaces are attending these events. Luckily, our crew had a keen eye for that as well, and recorded several individuals that might interest Messelum and Rare.
But back to our heroes bouts--they succeeded in their first fights, but it became clear, after a short respite, that these assholes had no intentions of letting them leave alive. Thus, it was decided that the time to make their exodus was now.

The next battle in the Black Walls became, then, against the guards (and Garravar) and our crew. After a brief fracas, our team proved the stronger one and they quickly make their way back to the surface of New Carydam. There, they reconvened at the Fortune, told Messelum what they knew, and were rewarded for their efforts.

And That's Where We Left It

We'll see what work Messlum has for this particular crew during our next sessions.

Various & Sundry Details

• Kavra got so into the character of Ethel that she might have made a brunch friend. She invited one of the Fisticuff's workers out for a meal after the FFA and they had a very nice time.
• Harriet and Sir Courtoios' bond deepened, with Harriet coaching the valiant knight through the intricacies of performance and storytelling. He won't ever be as good as Harriet, but he learned something.
• Lenny and Skeinblind Sarah's relationship also deepened. And grew more interesting. Where, exactly, did Lenny come from, again?

Character(s) interacted with

Messelum, general manager of the Fortune

"Garravar," the pseudonym of a Black Walls promoter and self-described "clever man."

Report Date

03 Jul 2022

Primary Location

Black Walls

Secondary Location

Carydam Catacombs