Evelais, Verget the 1st, 838 ID
Mudgol determines to
teleport the PCs around him to rescue Regent Velvedine from her would be assailant, so he grabs Ballyhoo, Badger and Gruulsh and casts the spell...only it misfires, sending the four off to the nearest similar destination...an upper-castle feast at the orc fortress of the Mimresh! Six officers are stunned to have their meal interrupted, and to add insult to injury, Badger shoots one in the face with an arrow, not killing the creature but deeply offending it... Pressing the advantage of surprise, Mudgol once against casts his teleportation and the quartet arrives at Castle Floivin as planned, only they're too late! The assassin, guised as a young serving girl, is positioned above the regent, a short sword in her neck! He seems 'disappointed' that his plot was uncovered, but regains composure and turns towards the interlopers. Badger and Mudgol fire upon him with arrows and
magic missiles, but he survives to nearly slay the diviner with an acrobatic, lethal blow...alas, even knocking the half-orc unconscious, the rest of the PCs are able to send him to an early grave. In death, the assassin, Adder (aka Derelech) reverts to his human state, a swarthy man with two mismatched eyes. Ballyhoo and Badger use
dimension door to rush towards Armory Square and warn Commander Hoary, while Gruulsh and Mudgol watch over the corpses.
Meanwhile, while Ox remains ignorant of the situation, Baro has noticed the casting of Mudgol's spell, and the disappearance of his companions from Ettenhead. He visually scans the area, exchanges some verbal unpleasantries with the elf guard Nasriel, and then grabs the half-orc and
teleports to Armory Square, where he feels most likely to find them. Ballyhoo and Badger encounter the two en route, and they all bluster into Commander Hoary's officer quarters to inform him of the Regent's tragic passing, only to find the dwarf Captain Krennyk in his bath robes. He doesn't believe their story at first, but after Baro hucks a thunderstone at a wall, he feels that the Last Eidolorn are suddenly under attack, and musters the nearest barracks into action. Two dozen men, most barely armed and armor, begin a mad rush with the PCs and Krennyk back to Castle Floivin, stopping to grab more support at the Floivin Penitentiary. Within the castle, Mudgol and Gruulsh notice that the corpse of Velveldine has ALSO transformed, into a grayish humanoid creature that Mudgol identifies as a doppelganger! What's going on here? After confronting the guard out front, and picking up more soldiers through the castle, Ballyhoo and Badger dimension door back to the regent's chambers. Ox destroys a locked door with a single blow, and at long last the group is reunited, with Captain Krennyk barking out questions, unable to believe his eyes!
Badger loots the assassin's body, even going so far to remove one of the 'mismatched' eyes, which Mudgol has determined is a magical item. Gruulsh claims the doppelganger's corpse, but a search of the chamber does not reveal any further clues (apart from the lever which activated the regent's door). After the diviner attempts to 'flirt' with the maid-staff, the party decides that they must find Commander Hoary at all costs, to plan their next move. A guard is sent off, and our heroes decide to rove about the city and do some errands while they wait for the officer's return. Visits are paid to Teven the Worm, where Ballyhoo encounters a strange, talking suit of armor that has been assigned to guard the lowly wizard's business; and also to the Cathedral of Blades, where Gruulsh snaps up whatever curative potions have been restocked. The rest of the group heads off to the western Floivin market, where Badger and Ox procure a grocery list of items for Odd Jon back at the ruins, and go a little overboard, purchasing several pigs and a 'golden hen' from a trader. Ox is fascinated by his new friend 'Bernice', and hopes she will lay eggs of gold and make him rich.
Mudgol runs across a man named Lefleur, who is blowing up sausage casings into balloons for children at the market, and he offers him a 'gig' up at Ettenhead, which the chubby man politely accepts, barring any other competition he might face there. Baro further attempts to recruit a local carpenter to the soon renovated castle, and is met with a possible acceptance. The group then shuffles off to Dronn's Arsenal, where Baro wants to make a deal about having a Bellowbroth smithy at Ettenhead for the manufacture of tools. Alas, the Bellowbroth clan is aligned with the Vlad-Gnarlbottom merchant's group, and cannot compete. Ox tries to fly off the roof of the shop with the chicken Bernice, much to the dismay of the owner. It is at this point the half-orc realizes that the 'gold' of the hen seems to rub off on his hands...all the PCs then reconvene at Armory Square, and Commander Hoary finally arrives with some soldiers in tow.
Disturbed by the day's events thus far, Hoary and our heroes brainstorm what steps to take. Recalling that the doppelganger's previously encountered by Mudgol would travel in 'hands' of five fingers, they decide to use
true seeing on the staff of Castle Floivin to see if any other impostors are in place. The soldiers on duty, maids and servants of the castle are rounded up in the banquet hall and the spell is cast. Perversely, the diviner goes too far and looks down one of the maid's outfits, proclaiming that there was a 'ghost in there but now it's gone'. Lecherous! Gruulsh hangs out by the secret back entrance to the castle, but no one seems to attempt to escape as the procedure is being carried out inside. All present are proven not to be the foul shapechangers, so the PCs ask who might not have shown up for work that day. The staff notes that the accountant Coven was absent today, probably at a drinking spot, and the serving maid who turned out to be the assassin hadn't been seen in some time. Gruulsh races to the Seven Floods Inn, meeting up with Ballyhoo, who had performed to gather a crowd of suspicious locals who wanted to know if the rumors of the Regent's passing were true...
They arrive, and the bugbear is accosted by the staff and patrons of the esteemed establishment, and they also turn on Ballyhoo when he shows up and defends the shaggy humanoid. Nonetheless, Coven presents himself and seems to know nothing of the plot to slay the Regent. Further investigation is required, so Ox and Ballyhoo head out to the ruins east of the Keep, still in a bad state after the war with the undead. The bard examines the Twin Lizard Tap exclusively, while Ox watches the road. Ballyhoo finds a handful of coins, and a zombified, but still animated arm crushed under some of the wood of the Tap. Outside, a strange female rider, gowned in a crow's mask and cloak of flowing blue and purple rides past the half-orc into the Keep. Ballyhoo learns that the Tap, in addition to several other businesses in the city, were actually owned by Coven himself, purchased several years ago. After this revelation, Hoary gives permission to detain Coven at the Penitentiary, so the PCs march him in there and Ballyhoo uses
dominate person to gain the accountant's trust.
As it turns out, Coven did have some contact with members of the Score, helping the elusive Scroundel set up shop at a prime location for the night market and allowing Adder/Derelech to operate as an informant out of the Tap. He had also run into the halfling Shalabar, the gnome Parodee, Kohl Harthas and Baron Mordanc at various points, but claims under compulsion to not have known what they were after, only that it was shady business. Once the tragic events began to consume Floivin Province, like the humanoid uprising, death of Regent Bauerkroft and the undead plight to reclaim the obsidian hand of Ulan Vhor from the sewers below, he realized that these 'Score' were the catalyst. But at that time he was afraid for his life, and decided not to inform the Last Eidolorn. The PCs discuss what now to do with the accountant, for his crimes may equal treason and he qualifies for a public execution. Ballyhoo decides at long last to join the Last Eidolorn as a private, and then Hoary orders him to compel Coven to turn over his assets to the guard, and possibly replenish some of what the Eidolorn paid out to help repair the ruins of Ettenhead. As for Coven's ultimate fate, it is yet to be determined...
After re-assembling at the ruins, Mudgol decides he must attempt to
greater scry the location of the real Regent Velvedine, if there is one at all, and using some stationary and pens that Baro procured from the castle staff, he makes the attempt. The mirror is unresponsive, so whether Velvedine has entirely disappeared or never existed is unknown. Odd Jon is dismayed that Ox was taken advantage of with the golden hen, but says he'll use her at least to supply the workers and guards at Ettenhead with some eggs. The PCs plan out their next move...
PCs: Badger, Ballyhoo, Baro, Gruulsh, Mudgol, Ox
NPCs
Lefleur (human male): An interesting, portly and balding salesman at the Floivin Keep west market, blows sausage casings into personalized balloons, sells them to passerby, or gives them freely to children. Mudgol becomes so enamored of the sausage blowing that he invites Lefleur to set up shop at Ettenhead, and the man seems to have accepted the offer...
Zarm (zombie arm): When searching the ruins of the Twin Lizard Tap for clues, Lord Ballyhoo came across this still-animate undead right arm, which was trapped beneath some crushed and burnt wood from the War for Floivin Keep. He passes it on to Ox, who decides it would be best served as a gift to his fellow half-orc Mudgol. The diviner is thrilled with his new 'pet'.
