LL at Paul's: More special guest stars.

Howdy.

This week's game report is gonna be a little the same. As in once again I couldn't make it, and I'm posting my fellow players' accounts of the action.

I tried. Lord knows, I tried to get there, but we've just had a hellacious bout of weather (of a piece with everybody's hellacious weather here in the U.S. of A.)

I was in a hurry to leave for the game, and I dropped my garage door opener down between the porch and a four foot snow drift. Thankfully I fished it out, but it wasn't working, so I had to operate the garage manually. Then I got on the road and everywhere I wanted to go there was a crawling line of traffic. I spent an hour in my car and never made it out my town. And to top it off my "Check Tire Pressure" light came on.

So I cut my losses and went home and spent the night in.

But this is a gaming blog, and cathartic as it is to rant about you don't wanna read about my transit problems. So here's the report on this week's session, as written by Frog's player.

The party met up before the supper hour, and after Froggie briefed
everyone on the leads on Tinhelm's location that he had scared up, it
was decided that Ketil, Marklove and Klint would enter the Golden
Goose under the guise of regular customers, whilst the rest of the
party would wait outside the tavern in a nearby alley. That trio was
chosen because Tinhelm because they were not with the party when
Tinhelm was under our employ. After getting a brief from the rest of
the party about Tinhelm's appearance ('he's an elf who wears a shiny
metal hat'), the party proceeded to the Golden Goose. The trio
entered and were immediately seated at a table at the back of the
tavern, near the bar and under the stairs that lead to the
establishment's guest rooms. After a failed attempt to mingle with
the rest of the patrons in the dining hall, Klint asked the serving
maiden if she knew of Tinhelm, explaining that the trio were some old
friends of the elf who wanted to surprise him. She said that yes,
that she knew of him, that he often dined at the GG and in fact, the
trio had just missed him, for he had finished dinner some hours prior
to their arrival at the inn and he had gone out on some pressing
business. The trio decided to wait at the inn for him, and ordered a
rather sumptuous meal. As they chowed down on their vittles, they
concocted this story to try to lure Tinhelm into accompanying them to
a place where the party could shanghai him: the trio were
well-connected adventurers who had been able to arrange exit from
Bridgefaire, and they needed a guide who could take them to Green
Wilde. They would pay said guide very well for such work.

Whilst they were in the middle of suffering meat sweats from their
entree of a large slab of roast beef, they noticed a man with elfin
features who wore a tall metal helm with a peacock feather jutting
ostentatiously said helm enter the GG with a rather slatternly-looking
waif of a girl on his arm. It was our erstwhile henchman, Tinhelm.
One of the serving maidens met Tinhelm as he proceeded to the stairs,
and, using his nimble hearing skills, Klint was able to glean that the
maiden was in the process of telling Tinhelm that some folks had been
in GG earlier looking for him and that our trio was also in the tavern
hoping to meet Tinhelm. In an effort to prevent Tinhelm from
rabbiting, Ketil got up, drink in hand, to take an ostensible
post-meal constitutional and 'accidentally' bumped into Tinhelm,
spilling his drink on the former henchman. Apologizing profusely for
his misstep, Ketil insisted on buying the elf a drink and after some
initial protestations on his part (and some deft maneuvering by the
trio to surreptitiously surround him), Tinhelm agreed to sit down for
one drink. Ketil ordered the most expensive wine in the
establishment, and quartet sat down to have their drinks.

During the convivial sharing of libations, the trio explained that
they were under the employ of some very well-connected interests who
had made arrangements for the trio to leave Bridgefair so that they
could go to Green Wilde. Seeing as neither Ketil, Marklov or Klint
were unfamiliar with the lands between Bridgefair and Green Wilde, the
trio were actively searching for someone who could guide them to the
Green Wilde and that such a guide would be paid handsomely for his
time and efforts. Tinhelm did not bite at this ruse, but he did
mention that he was in the market for some strong arms to accompany
him on an expedition to some ancient ruins, where it was strongly
rumored that many treasures could be found. The trio changed tact,
and said that in addition to themselves, there were other experienced
adventurers in the employ of their bosses and that they could vouch
for 4 men who could potentially help Tinhelm on his quest. This
piqued the elf's interest, and it was agreed that 1 hour after
finishing parting company, Tinhelm would meet the trio at the fountain
in the southern quarter, giving elf enough time for his proverbial
roll in the hay.

BigFella here. This next part was written by Half Klint's player.

When we last left our stalwart band of adventurers, the plan was to track down a certain elf, Tamar Tinhelm, to- ahem- "discuss" a small matter of our missing war horses. Thanks to Froggie's crack investigative skills, we were able to narrow down his whereabouts to a couple of finer establishments in the north side of Bridgefair which he frequents. We decided to just pick the first one- The Golden Goose- and set up a stake out. After a quick huddle, we reckoned that the best way to go about it was to send in the three newbs (Klint, Kettel, and Marklov)- who Tamar didn't know- and have the rest of the veterans post up outside in case shit went down. And down shit went, as we were able to not only corner our prey, but secure a meeting with him at the town fountain later in the evening...

Leaving Half-Klint behind to hide across the street and watch the inn- just in case- the rest of our group hastily made way to the fountain to set up the ambush on the bridge which leads there from the posh side of town. Spells at the ready, the Deacon concealed himself on the bridge, while the rest of the crew took up various positions around the fountain. Like clockwork, about an hour later, Tinhelm emerged with a small entourage of two street toughs and made way to the meeting, Klint following closely behind.

After waiting for what seemed like an eternity for Tinhelm and his small crew to cross the bridge, it was time to strike! The Deacon quickly emerged from his hidey hole and let loose with a hold person on Tinhelm, freezing him in place like a storefront mannequin, which unfortunately left the two hired thugs. As expected, they were none too happy about what had just happened to their employer and decided to rush the Deke. The party being too far away to intervene quickly, Hearth decided to step in with the nuclear option and cast a sleep spell on the two thugs to try to quell the situation. Alas, the Deacon was also caught in the wake, and he and one of the thugs dropped into a sound, dreamless slumber.

All of the commotion must have confused Klint, as with a HIGHLY uncharacteristic display of valor and self sacrifice our tiny rogue decided to rush in and place himself bodily between the Deacon and the remaining thug that was about to lay down a killing strike. Palenthor must've smiled at this selfless act, as Klint was able to smite the ruffian in a single blow!

After a quick pause to catch their breaths, it was time to discuss what to do next. Klint and Frog, being the expedient types, wanted to slay the sleeping henchman. Predictably, Kettel and the Deacon would have none of it. This led to the usual argument about "killing innocent hostages...blah blah blah". Attempting to settle it, the Halfling challenged the obstinate Paladin to detect evil on the slumbering mafioso, which unfortunately turned up a big negative. Hence it was decided to tie him up and leave him in an alley, while- on Marklov's most excellent suggestion- we steal away to the abandoned Gnomish gem shop we had scoped out earlier for some uninterrupted quality time with our Elvish captive. We quickly made our way uptown to the boarded up edifice, and after some work prying open an entrance ended up in a nice, cozy underground basement chamber, with the Kettel and the Deacon keeping watch upstairs.

This is where things got ugly.

While waiting for our dear friend Tamar's paralysis to wear off, Frog and Klint spent some time trying to decide who was going to play "good cop" and who was going to play "bad cop" for the upcoming interrogation. After some deliberation it was decided that Klint would play "bad cop" and Frog would play "worse cop". The questioning did not go well, however, as it turns out that far from being the wealthy catpurse we had assumed, Tinhelm was pretty much just a degenerate bum who was in over his head. It was clear that we were lucky if we could pry a couple of copper from him, much less recoup the cost of the warhorses he had absconded with, and the 50 GP bottle of wine Kettel had ordered at the Goose earlier. In fact, all he had on his person was some hastily scrawled map to Stonehell which he claimed led to- quote- "riches untold". Yeah, right.

While all this was going on Marklov had been searching around the chamber and found a secret door in one of the corners, so at least some good had come out of all this. It was then decided that Frog and Klint would head to Tinhelm's room back at the Goose to attempt to collect on his debt to us from whatever meager belongings he might have, while exploration of the secret door would wait until they returned.

BigFella again. Now the narrative is once again picked up by Frog's player.

Convinced that Tinhelm was still holding out on the party, it was
decided that Froggie and Klint would head back to the Golden Goose,
whilst the rest of the party waited within the ruins of the gem
merchant's establishment. Whilst those two were away, Marklov had a
heart-to-heart with Tinhelm. He expressed his incredulity at the
elf's temerity in stealing the party's horses. Tinhelm's weak reply
was something like 'I thought I'd never see them again!'. It was
reminiscent of the 'What does Marsellus Wallace look like?' scene from
'Pulp Fiction', only cleaner.

Froggie and Klint proceeded to the Golden Goose, and nonchalantly made
their way up to room number 9. They knocked on the door, and they
were surprised to hear a male voice roughly telling them that they had
the wrong room and to go away. Froggie politely apologized for the
mistake and feigned going away, but, with a knowing look to Klint,
waited on a silent five count before kicking down the door. Inside
the room, Tinhelm's lady friend for the evening, Yolanda, sat
nervously in a chair, whilst a burly ruffian tossed the contents of
room haphazardly. Standing watch by the door was another thug, who
was taken by surprise when the room door was busted in. Froggie took
advantage of the moment and made an unsuccessful attempt to brain the
street-tough near the door. Klint hung back, cagily watching for an
opportune moment to sneak into the fray. The two thugs regain their
wits, and proceeded to gang up on Froggie, but their initial attacks
were rebuffed easily by the worldly veteran. Yolanda took the
opportunity to arm herself with a nearby candle holder, but she was
still too fearful to make an attempt to slip away. Froggie focused
his attention on the swarthy hooligan by the door, but the press of
the robbers' attack and the close quarters caused him to make another
awkward swing. Emboldened by the fact that they had superior numbers
on their assailant, the burlier of the two ruffians cuffed Froggie
soundly on the head with his cudgel. Enraged by the painful ringing
in his ears that the blow had caused, Froggie hefted his mace and went
all medieval on his current target's thieving ass, cracking the punk's
skull like Oprah going to town on an Cadbury chocolate egg. The
remaining bandit's shock at the quick turning of the tide of combat
continued as Klint deftly sneaked behind him and skillfully slid his
sword into the tough's gizzard. The halfling coaxed the dying bandit
into the long night with gentle shushes to make sure he didn't make a
noisy death rattle.

Sensing that her opportunity had arrived, Yolanda made a move towards
the door but Froggie pointed to her with his brain-stained mace and
told her to stay right where she was. Yolanda expressed her regret at
meeting Tinhelm, and revealed that the two men they had killed were
members of the new Haberdashers. After tossing the room and finding
only a gold piece and 10 silver pieces, Froggie tossed 5 silver pieces
towards Yolanda, and, with a warning to keep her mouth shut, she was
sent on her way. The dead bandits were placed in the room's closet,
and after making sure there no lookie-loos in the tavern's hallway,
Froggie and Klint made their exit from Golden Goose and headed back to
the ruins of the gnome shop.

Upon returning to the rest of the fellowship, Froggie informed Tinhelm
of the events at the Golden Goose. The elf let out a despondent groan
as he revealed that he was in deep with the new Haberdashers. Klint
shrewdly noted that while Tinhelm didn't have a single copper piece to
rub, Tinhelm himself could bring a hefty reward, the size of which was
dependent upon how eager the new Haberdashers wanted to get their
hands on the elf. The party decided to leave the matter for the
moment, as the hour was getting late and there was still the matter of
the inner recesses of the gnomes' secret lair. Leaving Tinhelm to
stew in his despair, the party proceeded through the secret door. In
the first room they entered, they discovered a tripod stand, near
which lay a length of string that attached to the handle of a door.
After some initial investigation that allayed their fears that the
string was part of some elaborate trap, the party opened the door to
which the string was attached. Beyond the door lay a bare room. On
the wall left of the door lay a doorway out of the room. On the wall
opposite the door was a round gap that was clearly made by some
burrowing creature. Cannily deducing that the creature which made the
hole might still be in it, the party proceeded through the doorway.
The party discovered a corridor, and as they proceeded down the
corridor, they could hear the distinct rush of flowing water, such as
can be heard from a river. Some distance into the corridor, the party
discovered a locked door on one wall of the corridor. Eager to earn
his keep, Marklov stepped foward, and after some initial fumbling due
to his reduced depth perception, the one-eyed rogue nimbly worked his
pick into the keyhole and successfully undid the mechanisms of the
lock. Beyond the door was a room bare except for a wooden chest with
a large padlock. In one corner of the room was another rough hewn
hole, similar to the one in the room with the door with the attached
string. His fingers tingling with the thrill of gaining unauthorized
entry to a room that someone had obviously barred from prying eyes,
the wily Marklov, after a cursory check for traps on the chest,
attempted to pick the large padlock. However, the intricacies of the
lock proved too complex for Marklov's skills. Froggie grabbed the
party's crowbar and, with Kashim's help, made an initial unsuccessful
attempt to the pry the chest open. The chest, however, could not
withstand the two fighters' second attempt and the lid was pried away.
Marklov pocketed the intact padlock for further study later. Inside
the chest lay several electrum coins and a scroll tube made of bone.
A later survey of the loot would reveal that there was 600 pieces of
electrum. Whilst the party elatedly gawked at their discovery, they
did not noticed the duo of humanoids with rat-like features, each
armed with short swords, sneak into the room. The creatures set upon
the party, and after an initial moment of surprise, upon which the two
rat-persons could not capitalize, the fight was joined by the party.
A fierce donnybrook ensued, and although the two creatures proved
fierce in spite of their resemblance to cowardly vermin, the party
overwhelmed them and they fell under a fierce barrage of blows from
the party's enchanted weaponry. Upon their deaths, the duo changed
forms to naked men. Realizing that they had just fought men cursed
with rat lycanthropy and not wanting to risk suffering the fate of
their dear departed companion Gentleman Jack, the party grabbed the
chest full of electrum pieces and beat a hasty exit from the secret
compound. They barred the secret door, and with nary a glance at the
trussed-up Tinhelm, they left the ruins of the gem merchant's shop and
returned back to their inn.

BigFella here. Dang. When the Deacon's on autopilot you guys go all Quentin Tarantino.
Sounds like it was a good town based session.

Lookin' forward to gettin' back so I can keep you goons on the straight and narrow.
Thanks to Half Klint and Frog for taking up the reportage this week, thanks to the rest of the 10d gamers, and thanks to Paul for running such an awesome campaign.