The Spice Merchants Of Sel-kai: Part Eight

General Summary

The offices that the party have to infiltrate are located in the southeastern corner of the ground floor and are guarded by two heavy set armed men. Deciding on stealth and caution, the party make their way back up to the upper floor and then down to the ground floor store room that lies conveniently near the offices, here they plan to wait until the evening when the asylum should be quieter. The companions are forced to withdraw suddenly when Aenor's men start moving more crates into the room. On investigation, these turn out to be weapon shipments, obviously illegal ones. A small stamp of a white swan and the newspaper that the swords have been carefully wrapped in clearly mark them out as having come from the infamous Pirates of Plasidar.
Laying their plans carefully and after waiting until the shadows draw in outside the building, Cherry and Sylke creep into the larger of the two offices via a set of stairs from the upper floor. The guard present stirs from a nap but is sent into a magical slumber by Sylke. Wedges are placed under the doors to prevent the party being disturbed and Ugnan rifles through the old log books and papers. Discovering that the door that they hoped would lead to the main office actually leads to the jakes, the party retreat upstairs and then, at great risk, burst from the storage room into the corridor.
Within seconds, the hapless men have been battered to the floor by a ferocious assault by Sharna and Cran. The latter stands menacingly on guard as Cherry and Ugnan again search through the papers that have been left on what must be Aenor's desk. The party know that they risk being described by the two injured guards but are reluctant to just kill them out of hand. More men arrive to move the weapons into hand carts and in a strange twist it sounds as if they are being led by Olvar One-thumb?
A potentially lethal combat in a narrow corridor is not what the party want – "the mission is everything" – and they make their escape by using the strange misshapen creature they discovered in the basement as a distraction. While Olvar and his men battle the enraged creature, the party withdraw to the dark streets of Sel-kai.
With time to look through the papers and discuss these with House Elgata's Head of Intelligence ("Eloen Para"), the companions learn something of the asylum's history and a link to an old merchant's guild, "The Honourable Guild Of Spicers". Aenor's papers reveal that House Betaran owns an old manor house on Teaque Island ( a day's sail to the north) where more "goods" are waiting to be collected by ship. These could be weapons, they could be something else. Eloen is pleased that the party have established a link between Aenor and the pirates – forewarned is forearmed. He doubts that House Betaran is aware of this – the pirates have been as much of a threat to their shipping interests as every other House. The party's next step is to travel to Teaque Island on "The Brine" captained by "Sarissa Elayne".
The party decide to move to The Pig 'n Poke to avoid any unfortunate meetings with Olvar who will doubtless start looking for them soon given the word they put out a few days ago. Complications are best avoided and a "linear plan" is simpler to follow – this rather surprisingly from Cran.
Drawn to the abandoned mirror in The Old Sword, and curious about Old Mother Cloot and her families connections to the asylum and The Spicer's, Sylke asks the party for their "help" (via a rope) in attuning with the device. However, the impetuous mage dramatically attempts to enter the portal despite Lyssa's urgent warnings. The portal hurls Sylke back into the old corridor stunned and badly injured. If the portal leads to Mother Cloot (who Davos Cloot "claims" died 3 years ago), she clearly does not want to be followed. Lyssa warns the party that "She Who Waits" (Queen Mab) lurks and watches in every mirror and it is a foolish mortal who gazes for too long into "the inbetween" or worse, attempts to enter without permission.
Foiled in her attempt to use the powerful device, Sylke prepares for a journey to the cold and mist-covered Teaque Island and a the desolate Orgillion Manor - it will almost certainly be horrible.

Report Date

30 Jun 2018

Primary Location

Sel-kai