Session 18: Hot Pursuit!
General Summary
As Malcer and Davros arrived at Katrin's houseboat, Cassandra and Grouch were setting off on patrols with the Paladin's of The Maiden's Cross.
Malcer arrived at Katrin's houseboat and she was ready. He and Davros stepped aboard and she took them on a tour of the canal between Turlin's Well and the Outer Quarter. They stopped and investigated at various taxi stops and jetties but found nothing obvious, t was clear these stops were used frequently and recently from the mass of jumbled footprints.
Meanwhile Cassandra and her patrol started at the bottom right-hand edge of Turlin's Well and patrolled along the canal in the same direction that Malcer and Davros had recently headed in the boat. The Paladins of Maiden's Cross stopped various people along the way to make enquiries but no important information was forthcoming. Cassandra got the feeling that people were intimidated by the paladins but did not trust them fully.
After a tour of the canal banks on the East of the city Katrin headed across the harbour to the West side and they resumed their slow tour of the canal. Passing The Hill and North Gate districts they headed south towards the Market and Guild districts and on to the old docs beyond. Katrin informed them that the boat she had seen with the clown in it had been moored at the old docks.
Whilst examining a grassy patch near one of the taxi points Cassandra and Grouch spotted something. It appeared to be a small, red, round object like a child's ball but with a ridge in one side. After a few minutes it came to Cassandra....something from her childhood trips to the carnival that would visit Bard's Gate each year....it was a wooden clown's nose!
As Katrins' gondola approached the old docks area they saw something in the distant. The old docks were ramshackle, clearly there had been little investment here since the Huun invasion and some buildings were still collapsed or burnt down. They saw a light several hundred feet away on the canal and it appeared to be attached to another canal gondola. Creeping closer as quietly as they could they eventually saw three figures in or around the boat. They were dressed most strangely, all wearing clowns masks and two dressed in colourful robes, the third being a muscular man who stayed on the gondola. They quietly indicated to Katrin to try to get around behind the boat down the dark and narrow canal ways that riddled the old dock area. When no more than 100 feet away from the boat around a corner they could all hear the sounds of a squeezebox playing a cheerful, whimsical circus tune, surprisingly out of place in this dingy part of town. Malcer and Davros asked Katrin to wait and jumped off the gondola, making their through the unlit alleyways towards the music.
As Cassandra and the others were patrolling they were approached by a tall armoured man, dressed similarly to the Maidens and with the same symbol on his chest plate of an upturned and bloody sword. He demanded to know what they were doing and it was clear there was no love lost between this tall figure and the ladies. They threw half-hearted insults at each other until he withdrew, calling out that Barahil would hear of this.
As Malcer and Davros drew nearer to the docks they could hear giggling and laughter. Peering round the corer they saw, by the light of the lamp attached to the clown gondola, that several young people and children were gathered on the dockside a short distance from two masked figures, one playing the squeezebox and the other appearing to perform conjuring tricks, much to the delight of the small audience. This clearly having been going on for some time before Malcer and Davros arrived, one or two of the children had moved forward to get a better look at the magic tricks and were now near the gondola. Sensing that a kidnapping was about to take place Malcer and Davros tried to get closer but were spotted, the children screamed ad scattered and the clowns raced back to their gondola setting off immediately. Malcer shouted to Davros to get back to Katrin's boat and to follow on. As Davros ran, Malcer called upon the powers of his patron and sprouted two angelic, shining wings. He lifted off the dockside and set off in pursuit of the kidnapper's boat. Davros sprinted back to Katrin and they immediately set off in pursuit, however the kidnappers had a head start on them.
As Malcer approached from above he got a better look at the kidnappers as they looked up at him closing on them. The one who had been performing the tricks was dressed the most elaborately, his painted masks was both hideous and whimsical, with an oversized smiling mouth, small piggy eyes, and a huge bulbous red nose. A bright blue shock of hair stuck out in all directions on his head now that he had pulled back his hood. The other two were dressed more simply but with equally bizarre clown masks. As he looked up at Malcer the colourful clown began to chant and Malcer knew immediately he was an experienced magic user.
It was clear that the kidnappers were pulling away as Katrin and Davors rounded the corer and moved out into the main canal, Katrin shouted at Davros to help and he manned the oars, surprisingly proficient at rowing, they began to slowly gain on the kidnappers.
Malcer swooped down on the kidnappers and was met by force, one of the men fired off his crossbow but missed and a sudden rocking of the gondola caused him to loose his balance and fall overboard, the crossbow flying from his hands. The colourful clown fired off spells at Malcer in an effort too stop or at least slow him down. A sudden fog surrounded Malcer but he stayed on course and managed to land of the gondala. He swung at the large man as he balanced precariously on the prow and the punt came up to block his blow sending one back at Malcer.
Thanks to Davros' rowing, Katrin's gondola now began to gain on the kidnappers and they were soon within 20 feet of the other boat. Unfortunately the colourful clown spotted them, Davros saw him gesture and Katrin slumped forward into her boat with a groan, their gondola set adrift.
Malcer was having more luck and managed to send the large boatman sprawling into the canal, at this moment the colourful clown decided that the game was up and dissolved in a cloud of gas, drifting up and away on the wind. Davros roused Katrin from her magical sleep and together with Malcer they rounded up the other two kidnappers as they attempted to escape. The two men, were put in Katrin's boat to be questioned later and Malcer, Davros and Katrin headed back across the harbour to Katrin's houseboat.
On arrival they found Cassandra and Grouch waiting for them, surprised to see the two captured kidnappers in tow.
The two captured kidnappers, Trimble and Wyte were abusive and attempted to get out of their bonds but were held fast. The companions had little success with the captured men at first but the use of divine magic to ensure the truth loosened their tongues somewhat.
Some success was made and some information obtained, that the magic-using clown was called Dropsy and appeared to be in charge of the kidnappings and that the captured women and children had been taken to Slavers' Way, beneath the city. Davros asked the party's indulgence to let him try a little coercion on Wyte. The party agreed and Davros marched Wyte, the thinner of the two captured men, outside and onto the roof of the boat. If the other party members had seen how Davros' personality changed when he was out of sight they might not have formed their opinion of him as a capricious popinjay! When alone with Wyte he used his powers of persuasion very effectively to convince Wyte that he was a friend. Utterly convinced that Davros was now his friend Wyte talked, telling of a slaver merchant heading for the city soon to buy slaves. He also told of the password required to gain access to the Slavers' Way entrance near the old docks.
Trimble meanwhile was still pretty defiant inside the houseboat as Malcer attempted to put pressure on him, but when Wyte entered the cabin in front of Davros and opened his mouth to talk to Trimble, he suddenly stopped with a surprised and pained expression his narrow pinched face. Looking down at his chest he saw the end of Davros' rapier sticking out from between his ribs, mouthing a silent curse he collapsed forward onto the floor and Trimble became much more talkative, soiling himself in the process. Before collapsing to the floor in a blubbering mess, he told them that the brains behind the operation was Slave Master Greeli to be found in Slavers' Way.
Katrin, clearly flustered by the murder of Wyte and state of Trimble asked the party to leave, this was not how she saw the interrogation going and although grateful to them for stopping the kidnappings, she wanted no more to do with it all.
Character(s) interacted with
Dropsy the Clown, Wyte and Trimble
Sir Uswain
Sir Uswain
Notes
Trimble and Wyte named Greelli as the brains behind the kidnappings. They indicated that the Slavers' Way is at the south end of the Black Market, and that the password to enter Slavers’ Way is “Ribs and chains for The Master.”
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