The noise of battle subsided leaving only the moaning sounds
of the wounded and the crunching grind of boots walking on across debris. The Red brothers ordered the rest of the
Cinder Block searched as they gathered the equipment of the fallen The brothers
attention was soon pulled from the spoils of war to the Vial & Flask. An attempt to burgle the magic shop was
attempted during the battle and the brothers were called in to observe the
result. A large construct described by
Hogni Bluesafe as a Clockwork Golem, had trapped two of the burglars in ten by
ten barrier made up of rapidly moving gears and cylinders. The groans of pain could be heard from within
every time a piece of the metal wounded either of the two. Outside the barrier, the shop was a mess of
flesh and bone that was scatteredH throughout the shop, the clockwork golem
having ground and torn the other would be burglars to death. Hogni proudly
revealed his masterpiece to the red brothers before turning the captured
thieves over to them. After some
discussion among the brothers it was agreed that Auge would stay to clean and
repair the shop. Tomorrow after the smoke
had cleared all the brothers wished to discuss future employment with Hogni.
As soon as the wall of gears was ended, the two humans
inside collapsed, one, clearly a spellcaster in and out of consciousness and
the other, described by Durg as being a monk/ninja, was gravely wounded. The gravely wounded human identified himself
as Ladderford and made it clear fairly quickly that he wanted to live. While
talking Ladderford made several hand signals indicating that the unconscious
spellcaster was under the mental control of some type of squid head. Ladderford explained that the vast majority
of Liquor Commission members here attacking this night were doing so to avoid
being put under similar mental control.
Ladderford talked quickly, offering up several theories, anxious to save
his skin and to be free of the aberration dangers. It was discovered that most
people had not heard that the half dragon sons of Son’s commodities had
returned. The group that had attempted to rob the Vial & Flask had been
given instructions to meet in the old section of the Driftdowns with whatever
they managed to recover. After providing
all the information that was requested of him, it was agreed that Jaren would
attempt to get Adalwin Joscelin to agree to allow Ladderford to leave
Stormhaven in exchange for honest information. Ladderford doubted such an
agreement could be reached but Vercel stayed with him at the Cinder Block while
Jaren and Durg went to Black Crown Tower to report to Adalwin about the attack
on the mage guard. If Adalwin was receptive to the plan, Vercel would bring the
Ladderford to testify to all that he knew.
When Jaren and Durg arrived at the tower many of the mage
guard were already taking their revenge on those members of the Liquor
Commision they had captured from the bold strike at Neutral Grounds. Wizards tossed helpless captives from great
heights, gambling on whether they could kill the prisoner with an expertly
aimed spell before the “guilty” hit the ground. Adalwin agreed to see the two
half dragon brothers, along the way various black crown officers asked Jaren
and Durg questions, or in the case of Durg, reported to their new boss before
his meeting with the new king of Stormhaven.
The former Keeper of the Night was not in a pleasant mood, wanting to see
if his officers now understood the dangers their new government faced. After some discussion, Jaren revealed their
capture of Ladderford along with their proposal to allow the human to be safely
expelled from Stormhaven in exchange for his information under the careful
questioning of Adalwin. The plan was
agreed to with the caveat that if Ladderford was found to be dishonest even
once, he would be executed along with the others. Once Vercel brought the “monk/ninja”
to the crown, Adalwin cast a spell to discern the veracity of the prisoner’s
words. Ladderford was able to answer all
questions truthfully earning his life and freedom, possibly working for Son’s
Commodities on the continent. The
highlight of information gained was that most of the thieves worked under the
threat of the mental control of aberrations, and that Ladderford himself was an
assassin with the mission to kill Hogni Bluesafe, and that a number of them were
to meet in the Old Driftdowns. (Note that the questions and answers, along with
notes will either be reviewed at the game or posted by Butch in comments). After the questioning, Adalwin Joscelin
ordered a unit of mage guard to the Old Driftdowns to root out those who
escaped justice.
Dealing with cleanup, diplomacy, and repairs took up a large
amount of time along with several plans made for the near future. Later the
party was contacted after the unit of mage guard that traveled to the
Driftdowns was reported missing and assumed under duress…
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