The Sudden Sea – Session 8

[April 29 – Secret Rooms and Murder!]

[This game uses the Hero System Fifth Revised Edition (FREd) roleplaying game.  Game sessions happen once a week.  This session happened October 9, 2023.]

[This adventure takes place on the continent of Terik, two years after the appearance of the Sudden Sea.  The PCs are refugees seeking a better life through adventuring.]

 

Player Characters

Sorvia of Stavros – female human ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)

Tharduk Lavabreath – male dwarf glassmaker from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom, had a glass shop in County Modon that is now underwater, literally

Kadruth Worldbender – male dwarf priest, serving He Who Protects, from the Northern Dwarven Kingdom

Anomin – female human shapeshifter, from lots of places, most recently County Modon

Islo Redgrass – male elf ranger, local to County Modon (village of Stavros in particular)

Via Roll20

Inserrant – female human musician, player of zills (finger cymbals) and singer

 

Spring

April 29, 56 I.C. (Imperial Calendar)

Wee Hours of the Morning

Inserrant, Kadruth, and Tharduk followed Anomin from the Crossed Arrows [the inn the adventurers were staying at] across the walled town of Nomi into the North Ward, where Sorvia and Islo were waiting at a secret door at the Nicabar residence.  The secret door was down some steps and below street level, adjacent to a servant’s entrance in the back of the residence.  They could hear in the distance the Sheriff’s deputies at the front door of the residence, arguing for admission to search for Kostakis, a sword for hire in the employ of Viktor Nikabar.

Kadruth investigated the secret door for the opening mechanism, locating it easily, and opened the secret door.  Behind it was a narrow passage that ended in a door.  On the wall just inside the secret door were some empty cloak pegs mounted on the wall.  There was also a mat for wiping one’s feet.

Islo stepped up and scrutinized the entry area for tracks to verify their quarry, Kostakis, had walked through here.  He could tell someone had wiped their feet on the mat relatively recently, but he could not verify that it was Kostaks, just that it was likely.  Islo then stated with confidence that Kostakis had definitely come this way.

Kadruth then used hand signals to indicate to the rest of the party that they were moving in and to be quiet.  The adventures stepped into the narrow hallway at varying levels of stealth.  Once the group was inside, Inserrant [in the rear] looked under the mat and fiddled with the cloak pegs to see if they did anything.  She found nothing doing so, but located a bar for blocking the secret door from the inside.  She whispered her concern that others might show up after the adventurers.  Anomin shifted from her crow form to human and then to cougar while the others agreed that barring the secret door would be the wise course.  Inserrant barred the door.

The adventurers advanced down the narrow passage to the door at the far end.  Islo and Anomin looked for any traps but saw little [Anomin rolled terrible and Islo just made his Perception roll].  At the door, Islo carefully opened it a crack and felt some unexpected resistance.  Peering through, he saw the door was also moving a small wooden lever set across the opening side of the door - either an alarm trigger or a trap!

Islo carefully pulled an arrow from his quiver with one hand while holding the door steady with his other hand.  He slid the arrow through the narrow opening and under the wooden level before lifting up with the arrow [and spending two Hero Points to re-roll one of the dice twice for a better result].  The wooden lever lifted up and went back into a resting position, allowing Islo to open the door safely.  Before doing so, Islo took the time to peer through the cracked door to see what the room on the other side contained.

The room was empty of people as far as Islo could tell.  There was a long table with bench seats in the center of the room, a freestanding cupboard on the far wall and a cabinet on the wall to the left.  There was a door out on the left wall, to the right of the cabinet.  The cupboard had many drawers on its upper half, a shallow counter at waist level, and two sets of cabinets below the counter.  The cabinet on the left wall only had two large doors.  The room was lit by candles.

Opening the door further, Islo stepped into the room.  Once inside he could see a framed map of the town on the same wall as the door he had stepped through.  Beside that door was a clockwork mechanism to which the wooden lever was attached.  The mechanism had a bell, suggesting it had been an alarm.  Islo chose to leave the mechanism alone.  He then waved the rest of the adventurers into the room.

The adventurers quietly moved in and started looking around.  Kadruth examined the alarm mechanism and noted it was of dwarven manufacture.  He quietly shared this information and Tharduk stepped over to examine it as well.  He found the quality was high and the bell likely to be very loud if triggered.  Inserrant took position by the door in, to prevent anyone from sneaking up behind the group.

Anomin and Islo stepped over to the door out of this room and listened at it but heard nothing beyond it.  Kadruth started investigating the cupboard, hoping to locate a stolen deed as incriminating evidence.  What he found instead was a variety of strange and interesting things, but no deed.  These things included tokens of various shapes and sizes, possibly for setting on the map if the map was set on the long table.

Tharduk investigated the cabinet and, after picking the lock, found a variety of maps, all mounted to thin frames like the map of the town hanging on the wall.  One of the maps in the cabinet showed Nicabar Logging and divided the forested area into various logging zones, just like the map he saw back at the Tsepi Forest logging camp.  This map had a section with symbols he did not recognize and he asked Sorvia to take a look at it.  She identified the symbols as the location of a mine of some sort.  [Note: human mapping symbols for mines are very different than dwarven symbols as dwarves don’t normally need to indicate where a mine is on the surface, just which tunnel it is off of.]  Sorvia carefully removed the map from its frame to ease taking it.

Kadruth attempted to open the cabinet doors on the lower half of the cupboard and found they were locked.  He attempted to force the locks open but could not apply the necessary force without making noise.  He waved Tharduk over and asked him to try.  Tharduk was able to pick open the locks and found more drawers inside.  These drawers held high quality paper, inks, and quills.  Some of the papers are blanks identity papers, some blank property ownership papers - these are forgery templates!

As Tharduk and Kadruth started taking some of the blank documents, the other door opened!  Standing in the doorway was Kostakis, who was clearly expecting someone else.  He said, “Oops - wrong party,” and started to close the door.  At the same time Sorvia drew and snapped off a shot at Kostakis and Kadruth cast Wall of Force to block Kostakis in and keep him from closing the door.  Sorvia hit Kostakis in the stomach before he could close the door, heavily wounding him and knocking him unconscious, followed by Kadruth’s Wall of Force appearing.

Anomin moved forward and pulled the unconscious Kostakis into their room.  She gets a brief view of the next room while doing so - it was some kind of sitting room with the back of a secret door leading out on the south wall.

Islo pulled out some cord and started tying up Kostakis, while Inserrant reported no one was approaching from the narrow passage.  Tharduk grabbed some cloth from the cupboard and stuffed it into Kostakis’ mouth as a gag.  Kostakis started moaning and waking up, so Sorvia whacked him over the head with her bow to knock him unconscious again.

Anomin pawed at Kostakis but could not search him with her cougar paws.  Seeing what she was trying to do, Islo then searched Kostakis’ pockets, finding some copper coins and an eating knife.  Islo took those and then finished tying Kostakis up.  Kadruth dropped his Wall of Force spell and then closed the door to the next room.

Once Kostakis was tied up, Sorvia removed her arrow from him and Kadruth healed his wounds.  This took a couple minutes, during which time others entered the next room.  Anomin was listening but missed this, so it was Tharduk who noticed first and warned the group.  Kadruth quietly dragged the unconscious Kostakis to the exit door.  Anomin, in cougar form, took a position by the door to the next room to strike anyone who opened it.  Islo took position behind the table to cover the door with his heavy bow while Sorvia did the same with hers by the map cabinet.

The adventurers could hear a few people on the other side of the door talk and then one voice called out for Kostakis, asking where he was.  Thinking quickly, Anomin dropped her cougar form, switching back to human before shapeshifting into her crow form.  Once in crow form, she used her mimicry to respond with Kostakis’ voice [she heard it enough the previous day when he did all the talking at the ambush], stating that “he” was in this room and needed a minute.  The other voice said, “I don't care we have business to discuss the sheriff is on to us.”  Anomin replied that “he” would be there in a moment.

Sorvia moved to the doorway out to cover the groups retreat while Kadruth started dragging Kostakis down the narrow passage.  Tharduk attempted to quietly grab all the papers in one of the cupboard drawers on his way out but pulled too hard and the drawer slipped out and fell to the floor.  [He rolled an 18 on his Stealth check, indicating complete failure.]  Anomin attempted to cover by stating, “I’m coming, I’m coming,” in Kostakis’ voice, but to no avail.  The door suddenly opened, showing a merchant in expensive clothes.  He quickly asked, “What the hell are you doing?” followed by “Who the hell are you people?”

Islo and Sorvia both immediately released arrows - Islo hit the merchant in the shoulder [7 Body 21 Stun] and Sorvia hit him in the stomach [8 Body 32 Stun].  The merchant dropped to the floor, dead.

Anomin flew into the next room seeing two rough looking men with shocked faces staring at the dead merchant.  Tharduk froze in place while Islo quietly asked, “Who was that?”  “I think that was Viktor,” Tharduk responded, shock in his voice.  Kadruth, hauling Kostakis down the narrow passage did not hear any of this, nor did Inserrant, who was down at the secret door to the outside, unbarring it for a quicker retreat.  Then Sorvia called to Kadruth, stating she just shot the merchant and maybe Kadruth should quickly come and heal him.  Kadruth sighed.

The toughs in the other room, finally regaining their wits, scream “Assassins!” at the top of their voice and scramble from the room through the other exit.  The space beyond that door looked to be a wine cellar to Anomin who was circling in the room the toughs had just fled.  Kadruth told Inserrant to go fetch the deputies before returning to the secret rooms to heal the merchant.  However, once he reached the body he could tell it was too late for healing.  So he started a different ritual, looking for divine aid.  Inserrant went out the secret door, into the town streets, looking for the deputies who might still be in the area.  Islo went down the narrow passage to protect the still unconscious Kostakis.

Tharduk, still standing where he had dropped the drawer, asked Kadruth if he could help Viktor.  Kadruth received a question from He Who Protects in response to his prayer, “Was this murder necessary?”  Kadruth turned to Tharduk and said, “No.”  On the floor above them they can hear the household spreading the alarm and the two dwarves started to leave.  Anomin, in a room full of shiny things, grabbed a rubber stamp with a shiny silver handle before flying out, following the dwarves.  [The crow form has kleptomania.]

On the street behind the house, Inserrant can hear the spread of the alarm in the house and sees lights starting to come on, spurring her to greater speeds.  The other adventurers make their way to the secret door, Sorvia carrying Kostakis.

In the town streets, Inserrant circled the block clockwise, hoping to find the deputies and lead them to the secret rooms.  As she made it around the second corner, to the street in front of the house, she spotted the deputies surrounded by the toughs the deputies had been arguing with for access to the house.  Now, however, the toughs were demanding the deputies enter as assassins were murdering people inside the house.  Inserrant decided her opportunity had passed and reversed course, now looking for the rest of the adventurers.

The entire party met back up at the bridge across the Cephissus River to the main part of town.  While crossing the bridge, several party members looked both ways to where the town walls crossed the river and openly wondered if there was anything blocking those at night [clearly thinking about fleeing town that way].  Anomin remembered the way looking clear during the day, but none of the adventurers could clearly see those portals now.

The adventures kept discussing what to do next.  Realizing that standing on the bridge was a very exposed spot to be, they decided to head towards the Sheriff’s Office.  As they were nearing the Post Office, they could hear a small group of people yelling for the sheriff crossing the bridge behind them.  Suddenly on the spot and with now real plan, the group slightly panicked.  Anomin did her best to be inconspicuous while flying above the area, keeping an eye on how things developed.  Inserrant started quickly walking back to the inn.  The dwarves followed Inserrant while Sorvia deposited the unconscious Kostakis on the porch of the Sheriff’s Office before following.

Not walking as a group, the adventurers arrived at the Crossed Arrows in dribs and drabs.  Inserrant arrived first, heading immediately up to the rented room to start packing.  Islo was slightly behind her and did the same, which drew the attention of the Tolk innkeeper, who was still away after the fire alarm.  She was standing at the door to the inn when Kadruth and Tharduk arrived.  Her sharp eyes [and a 3 on her Perception roll] noted that there was blood on one of Kadruth’s shoes.  She asked Kadruth if he was aware he was leaving red footprints.  He looked down at his boots and realized her actual question was: “Are you a murderer seeking to hide in my business and what kind of trouble are you bringing with you?”  Kadruth apologized for “the mess” and took his shoes off.  She recommended that perhaps it would be best if the adventures were quick to pack and leave.  Both dwarves agreed with her.  When Sorvia arrived with Kostakis’ blood smeared across her shoulder [she shot him in the stomach and he bleed a lot before being healed, so there was plenty to transfer to Sorvia’s armor while she was carrying him over her shoulder], the innkeeper gave her a sharp look, to which Sorvia said, “I'm going to pack.”

Back near the Sheriff’s Office, Anomin observed the second group of people arrive at the Sheriff’s Office and bang on the door.  The sheriff came out and all of them noticed Kostakis bound up on the porch.  They untied Kostakis and some talking happened that Anomin was not close enough to hear.  Then the sheriff, Kostakis, and the group of people started back towards the Nicabar house.  Anomin flew to the inn to update the other adventurers.

After packing and slinking out of the inn, the adventurers agreed that leaving the town was likely a good idea.  Kadruth observed the town walls and the sparse guards on it.  He located a good place to cross unobserved and used his Wall of Force spell to create a ramp to help the group hop the wall.

The adventurers moved away from the town until they found a spot they felt they could hide in and talk about what had just happened.

End of session

Commentary

[This was one of the best sessions we have ever had as a group!  The players worked their characters into a moral quandary and have totally bought into the story being played out.  As a GM I am so pleased with the situation and the players.  The players are not as enthused about the situation their characters are in and are agonizing over the situation.  I’ve been all smiles.  😀]

Sudden Sea Adventures

Sudden Sea Landing Page - Links to all the write-ups for this campaign 

Last session: Session 7 

 

Next session: Session 9