Session 05
General Summary
The party known as Magma Force awoke on only their second morning in Cauldron to the
realisation that within one day of being in the city they had heard about and solved the case of the
kidnappings which had been plaguing the town for the last three months. They ate a hearty and
happy breakfast, feeling a little smug.
Morgan and Braken went off to the Church of St. Cuthbert to speak to Jenya and to do some
praying and helping out about the church and the rest set off into town to sell some of their
acquired loot.
At the Church of St. Cuthbert, Jenya once again congratulated the group on their successes of the
previous night. She told them that Keygan Ghelve had been arrested for his part in the crimes and
was to be tried on Friday. Meanwhile his shop was under guard by the town watch. She also said
that she had seen Lord Captain Commander Terseon, captain of the town guard, early that
morning and told him of their success. He seemed very pleased and had said he would see about
organising a meeting for the group with the Lord Mayor of the city. Braken said that they wanted
to return to Jzadirune to rescue Starbrow, the rat familiar, and also just to do some further
investigation so Jenya suggested they go see Lord Terseon at the Barracks to ask about being
allowed into Jzadirune.
Elsewhere in town Harley and Gotrek visited Skie's treasury and sold off a bunch of their treasure
haul. Skie was very interested to hear of their exploits and tales of their successes. She
recommended next time they bring proof of the villains demise, like a severed head or something
equally graphic.
That lunchtime the group met back in the Drunken Morkoth and there they saw Rhodry and Silus
who both looked like they had been beaten up. Asking what had happened it turned out they had
gone to the orphanage to ask about the missing children shortly before our heroes had, and on the
way back they were jumped by two members of the Last Laugh and beaten up and told not to go
poking their noses into the things happening at the orphanage. The group were somewhat
concerned about that to say the least. What had the crime syndicate got to do with this whole
affair?
After lunch the group went off to the Barracks and visited Lord Terseon, who lived in austeer
surroundings in a cottage in the corner of the Barracks. He invited them in, made them tea and
listened to their tale. He agreed that they had until the time that Keygan Ghelve was to stand trial -
dawn the day after tomorrow - to perform a further investigation of Jzadirune and then called for
Sergeant Skylar Krewis to come and show them to Ghelve's Locks and inform the watch there that
they were to be allowed in to the shop up until that time.
Then the group returned en masse to Skie's Treasury where they did some shopping. They tried to
barter for a discount but Skie explained to them about her "Wall of Heroes" outside the front of
the shop and said that though they showed some promise, they were not quite up to getting her
special Adventurers Discount just yet. The party spent their well earnt money buying better gear
including some magical trinkets.
After lunch Braken went off to the University to see what he could find out about beholders - the
answer being not a huge amount, other than they were extremely dangerous creatures. Harley went
off to visit with his cousin who lived on Lower Lantern Street and see if he knew anything about
the muggings by the Last Laugh on Rhodry and Silus. Harley's cousin Fenby told him to be
careful when asking about the Last Laugh and said they'd meet up for a drink that night where he
would tell more.
That evening Harley and Fenby met up at the Tipped Tankard Tavern, where Gryffon was
working and Krylscar was still celebrating his release from slavery. Both bought Harley a drink.
Harley then spoke to Fenby about the Last Laugh and general sculduggery in the city. Harley
learnt that the Last Laugh were led by a man known as The Jester. He was a sadistic and very evil,
highly trained assassin who was known to laugh maniacally as he killed his victims. In fact it was
rumoured that perhaps there were two men who were The Jester, perhaps twins? He was definitely
not a man to cross. In addition to the Last Laugh there was also a smaller syndicate known as the
Alleybashers and Fenby felt that blood would flow between the two before long. He gave Harley a
friendly warning to steer clear of two establishments as well - the Slippery Eel Tavern and
Minuta's Board. Both were run down taverns and best avoided if one valued one's health. Harley
also managed to get Fenby to pick him up some improved lock picking tools.
The next morning, a Thursday, dawned bright and sunny, a welcome relief from the rain the city
had been experiencing recently. It was a hot humid day. The group collected together in the
common room of the Drunken Morkoth after breakfast and decided they were ready to return to
Jzadirune. They purchased some more lights and then headed back to Ghelve's Locks where they
were admitted by the guards.
They made their way straight to where they thought the rat familiar, Starbrow, was being held and
Harley opened the series of gear doors which lead there. Opening the last one they found a room
with a small chest, upon which sat a silver barred cage and inside was an agitated rat. As they
entered the room, the front of the chest split open in a toothy maw and the chest began to speak to
them. It was apparently another mimic, similar to the gong they had fought and destroyed below.
This one talked to the party and tried to get them to pay it for the rat but they turned this approach
on its head, basically intimidating the chest/mimic into giving them the rat and backing off. They
gained a little information from the mimic, including the fact that it worked for the leader of the
skulks and dark creepers in Jzadirune and that it thought the leader lived in one of the big rooms to
the north. It pointed out one on the map where it thought he maybe lived. The group realized that
this creature had three skeleton keys to half the locks in the city above so it was vital they find him
and get those keys back.
The group then took Starbrow back upstairs and left him in the hands of the guards who fed him
some cheese and water. Returning to the gnome city the party made their way north through the
enclave towards where they thought the mimic had indicated. Along the way they were ambushed
by a small creature Harley identified as a dark creeper. It jumped out of the shadows at Camero,
the lantern bearer and tried to grab the lantern from his hands, but it was quickly overcome and
slaughtered.
Soon the party found their way to a huge room with two mezanine floors with spiral staircases
leading up to them and a massive gear cog suspended from the ceiling on iron chains. The gear
glowed with a magical light and the whole room sounded like gears whirring and clanking. The
place had the look of a massive room where things were created and Magma Force were put in
mind of the fact that Jzadirune was a place where many magical items were crafted in the older
days.
As they entered this fascinating place Gotrek's keen senses spotted a strange and hideous creature
floating in the air above the right hand floor. It looked like a giant brain with a beak on the front of
it, and a dozen tenticles dangling down from below its brain.
Camero wasted no time and chanted words of magic, firing magical darts into its brain. Then it
flew down, grabbed Gotrek in a tenticle and easily lifted him off the ground and back up to his lair
on the upper floor. The rest rushed up the spiral stairs to attack it but in seconds the creature's
tenticles had grabbed Morgan and Harley too. Camero fired more magical darts into it and Braken
stepped in past the writhing tenticles and battered the brain into pulp with his new mace. The
creature squealed, dropped the three warriors it has grabbed and fell to the floor, dead.
Report Date
11 Apr 2024
Related Plots