Chapter 11 - Tenosia

We started the session by re-equipping ourselves at the monastery's blacksmith. Vinz and Recnam bought themselves new armors, and every small shields were replaced with medium ones. Some other minor stuff was also bought by various people.

When we learned that the caravan would left in the evening the next day, some of us decided to investigate the man that organized the ambush. Recnam started by searching the temple's library; he discovered that the crest the dead leader had described him belonged to a very rich noble from Kapital named Pavlo Ruinas. He was a retired general of the Legion who had led many campaigns against the country of Tecla and was now rumored to be either an assassin, or at the head of an organization doing assassination, or both.

Armed with this information, Vinz (dressed as Reina again) and Rufus went back to Tenosia to find if this man had any domain in the vicinity. Vlad, Leif and Mushamee accompanied them, but were more interested in having fun. When we got in the city, we splintered in three groups.

Reina went to the Mercenary's Guild to talk to his friend, but he wasn't there. Thinking that thiefs and buglars could have heard of the noble, she went to one of the harbor's shady taverns. There she flirted with two big smugglers, playing the role of the lady who had been abandoned by her husband, and have you seen anyone with this three-arrows symbol on his chest? Unfortunately, no one had seen such a symbol before, so she dodged the two ruffians' advances and left. She quickly realized she was followed by the two men, but lost them just easily. Thinking she should try her chance with the nobles, she made her way to the rich part of town. There, she spotted a rich inn and convinced the doorman to let her in using the same abandoned wife story and a little bribe. The inside was not very inn-like; it was most like a series of private cubicles with separated with drapes. She sat at an empty one. She told her sad story to the waitress who was so moved she decided to ask her father, probably the owner of the place, about the symbol. But after she was gone, another person stepped in Reina's cubicle; it was Vasili, the same man who had warned him to stay away from the Inquisitors in Tenosia, the rumored bastard son of the Emperor. He told Reina (of course he knew it was Vinz under a disguise) that it was the last warning he was giving her, and that he didn't understand why someone like her would ally himself with a backstabbing bastard like Ruinas who used poison to kill people. Realizing Vasili thought we were working for Ruinas, she tried to clarify the situation, but Vasili left without listening.

Rufus went to Quirinius Veritas' temple to make some inquiries. Unluckily, the priest there didn't recognize about the symbol. Rufus took the time to explain to him all that had happen in the last two weeks. He also asked him how he could go about learning magical powers from Quirinius Veritas. The priest told him to seek the main center of Veritas worshipping, in Kapital.

(Warning: if you don't like reading about graphic sexual situation, skip the next two paragraphs.)

Mushamee, Vlad and Leif found some kind of private club for legionaires and well-to-do men. As they went inside, they realize it was a place of booze, gambling and sex. They immediately started gambling with the people around; Leif lost all his money to a big-breasted woman who bet he couldn't swallow six big sausages in six seconds. Mushamee lost a bit of money, but not that much. Vlad actually did win some.

To recap all of their losses, they decided to make a bet with some legionaires. Leif got naked, lied on a couch, and put a candle on his dick. Then Mushamee betted that Vladimir could snatch the candle with his whip without hurting Leif at all. The legionaires betted 75 coppers against, even adding that if Leif has his dick chopped, he would still get the coppers as a consolation. Everyone in the club gathered to look. Vlad concentrated, then with a quick snap of his wrist, wrapped his whip around the candle and yanked it away (luckily for Leif, who was quite drunk at that point). After Mushamee had collected his gains, a rich man came to talk to them. He said he had heard about the reputation of barbarians, and was willing to pay for a full night of free booze and wild sex for everyone if Leif could fuck three girls, one after the other, in 15 minutes (and we're talking about three complete sexual intercourse, here). Leif accepted the challenge. The guy designated three girls, a homely one, an average one and a cute one. Leif decided to start with the homely one, keeping the beautiful one for the end (for when it would be harder to be stimulated). He worked furiously for the next fifteen minutes, and won the bet! (even scoring a critical success on his HT roll with the homely girl). As a result, the windows were closed and the doors locked, and a full night of debauchery started. As Mushamee was the highest officer in the place, he had first dibs on the girls. He rolled a 3 on his sex-appeal roll, so was able to get it on with twin oriental girls.

Reina and Rufus waited for the three party-goers for a while at the city gate. When they didn't show up, they decided to go back to the Temple by themselves.

In the morning, Mushamee, Vlad and Leif came back to the Temple, still completely drunk, and completely exhausted. They went to bed immediately. went to sleep. During the day, Recnam continued his research, finding (luckily) a new scroll explaining the spells present in his bone staff (taken from the undead wizard/lich in the Holy City). When evening came, we outfitted ourselves and joined the caravan leader who told us we would travel by night and sleep by day.

Back to Top of Page

Chapter 12 - Road to Kapital

As we started this week, the caravan was just about to be on its way. At first we rode at night to evade any ambush, but we quickly went back to a normal day/night cycle. The first night in the trip, we met an encampment that welcomed us. Some guy came to see us and offered us some lockpicks. We bought two sets.

Six days into the trip, we reached a sacred Necros church near a cliff where we stopped for the night. While Recnam and all the other priests did their celebrations, Rufus and Mushamee standed guard while Vinz was meditating and the others were relaxing around. Suddenly, both Rufus & Mushamee heard a noise coming from the distance. They went to investigate. When they got near the cliff, they heared other noises coming from below. Mushamee lowered his torch, and saw a living dead corpse crawing up the cliff. It looked him in the eyes with worm-filled eyesockets and said, "Must tell!" Mushamee smacked it down with a sword. Rufus decided to get Vinz, but as he left Mushamee, roots sprouted out of the ground and seized the centurion. He tried to resist, but was finally dragged underground. As Rufus, Vinz and Recnam made their way to the cliff, other roots grabbed Rufus and started pulling him down. Vinz and Recnam used Recnam's staff as a perch, but Rufus couldn't grabbed it and he also disappear in the ground. Some roots tried to grab Vinz, but he jumped out of their ways and ran back to the cart. No roots tried to grab Recnam.

Mushamee and Rufus went down, down, down, and finally irrupted in a small cave with no light. As they shook off their fear, Mushamee tried to sense his location with his hands; he quicly touched a skull, which eyes started to glow. He realized they were in a tomb. A brimstone- reeking crack glowing with ruddy light appeared in the ground, and a spectral form made of green light emerged from it, saying "Mussssttt Teeeellll". Mushamee was about to attack it, then realized that since he came here via magical means, it probably meant the only way out was using magic; antagonizing or killing their hosts was probably not a good idea. Some light came from the fissure, so they could see that the body was wearing a really old robe of Necros; Rufus guessed it was at least 500 years old. The body then went on a tirade about us doing something horribly wrong (he didn't mention if he ment us the group, or the living in general). He said we had to stop it or it would kill most if not all of the people on the planet.

After his little speech, he sent Mushamee and Rufus back to the surface using the roots. Once they were on the ground, they told the other their little adventure. One of the Priests, sensing that something was amiss, came and asked us what had happened. We told him Mushamee and Rufus had probably just talked to the founder of this particular church. The Priest said it was possible, since the founder was reputed to have special powers, and died here approximately 500 years ago. He told us we were blessed to have been in his presence.

During the night Recnam contacted the dead priest. The priest said : "You have unleashed a terrible power that will destroy the world, and you have to stop it; you know what to do. The signs and clues are everywhere." Since we didn't know what he was talking about, that pissed Recnam off to no end. So he left the Priest and went to sleep.

While dreaming, he was contacted by the Serpent Queen. She told him our binding to the Inquisitor was strong enough to control a demon, or even a god. We cannot hurt the Inquisitors directly or indirectly, physically or mentally. We cannot pay someone else to kill them. We can't ask a god to break it. The only way is via magic, but we lack this knowledge at this point. We could find this it in rich people's forgotten collections of old war relics and items, but good luck finding them. The only good thing is that the church of Necros probably has some of these items hidden somewhere.

When morning came, the caravan started again. Three or four days later, we encoutered another caravan from the north and going south (we were going west). When we got near, we realize it was not a caravan, but a funeral procession. After a little talk, we learned that the dead man was none other than Vlad's father! Recnam offered Vlad to talk to his father, but he had no interest contacting him. After further discussions, Vlad decided to go with the procession to try and get the heritage from his rich father; he would join us back as soon as he could. (Note: Vlad's player, Eric, had to leave the group because he just had a baby; we don't know when he'll come back.)

The rest of the trip to Kapital, which took 42 days in all, was mostly uneventful, until the last day before arriving. As dusk was falling, we fell into an ambush; many arrows and bolts struck the caravan from the bushes. We dodged most of them (except Mushamee who was slightly hurt), but the High Priest who was the leader was gravely wounded by one bolt and fell on the ground. Vinz immediately disappeared in the bushes, sword in hand. Mushamee tried to spot the attackers, but it took him a couple of seconds to do so. Recnam hid in the cart. Leif jumped to the High Priest's aid, grabbed his body and brought him in the cart with Recnam. Rufus, having rolled an 18 on his Tactics roll, grabbed a spear and standed in the middle of the road, waiting for an opportunity. He was hit several times by a sling-wielded man, so he took aim at him. And aimed... and aimed... when he finally threw the spear, it did hit the guy, but made no damage. Rufus rushed the guy with his sword, then they engaged in melee combat.

Meanwhile, Vinz spotted some fire ahead; getting nearer, he saw an archer preparing to shoot a fire arrow. Vinz rushed him, surprising the guy enough to decapitate him in one swing.

Mushamee, having finally spotted something interesting, moved in the bushes. He saw one of the archers in a tree, maybe two meters above ground. He rushed him, grabbed the guy by his feet, and made him fall on the ground. He then decapitated him.

Leif, having saved the priest, grabbed Mushamee's shield and ran in front of the cart, in the open. Unfortunately for him, he didn't see any of the attackers. The attackers saw him and fired their bolts and arrows, but his Blocking skill and armor were so good that they either were blocked or the armor absorbed all damage. Seeing this, Leif decided to stay where he was and act as a decoy.

Rufus continued his fight with his opponent, but none was able to do any damage to the other.

Vinz, walking around, saw another man who had just finished recocking his crossbow and was about to load a bolt in it. He rushed him (again), surprised him (again), and neatly decapitated him (again). He grabbed the crossbow the guy had dropped, finished loading the bolt, and went back on the hunt.

Leif finally spotted one of his two attackers and slammed him. Both started hitting and slamming each other. Leif inflicted serious damage, but the guy was tough. Vinz spotted them and aimed for the enemy; he was suddenly hit in the chest by a bolt. Lucklily, his armor absorbed most of the damage. He looked for the sniper, and found him busy reloading his crossbow. He took aim and fired, putting his bolt through the guy's neck; he fell, unconscious. Leif finally ran his opponent through with his sword.

Mushamee saw the last guy standing, in the middle of a fight with Rufus, and ran toward him. The guy saw him coming, threw his weapon down, and surrendered.

Recnam immediately check on the High Priest. He saw he had a bolt through the chest and had to perform emergency surgery to remove it. The Priest is still alive, but in critical condition and will die quickly if nothing else is done.

Back to Top of Page

Chapter 13 - Road to Kapital - Kapital

As we started this week, we has just beaten the embushers to a bloody pulp, having even decapitated three of them. Rufus, Mushamee, Leif and Vinz took time to make sure they didn't miss anyone and to bring all the corpses back to the camp. Vinz also used the time to collect the weapons of the assaillants and cut the throat of the unconscious guy with a bolt stickinh in his throat.

While this was taking place, Recnam tried something desperate to save the High Priest. He cut himself pretty deeply (for 8 points of damage), and invoke the help of Necros. This resulted in the unintentional casting of one of the spell on the Scroll of Necros. Default for the spell was 5, but with Recnam's self-sacrifice giving +4, he succeeded. The spell in question put the Priest in Suspended Animation. The casting did take a lot of fatigue from Recnam, so he had to lay down. While he rested, he heard the sound of a horse galloping away in the distance.

When we all got together, Vinz examined the bolts that had wounded him and Mushamee, and concluded they were coated with a lethal poison that would start acting in approximately one hour. Luckily, he knew the antidote, so he sent Leif to get the necessary herbs (because of his Naturalist and Herbary skills) while Rufus gathered the necessary tools. 45 minutes later, the antidote was ready, and they drank it. It worked, and the poison only did minimal damage.

Since we had to stay the night at this place, Vinz went in the bushes to create traps to warn them of further intrusion. Meanwhile, Recnam decided to do a second surgery on the High Priest to stabilize him. Since he was a really important priest in Necros' church (Status 5), we decided that if the operation was unsuccessful, we would use one of the healing vials on him. Luckily, and greatly helped because a body in suspended animation does not bleed, Recnam performed his surgery successfully. The only problem we had now is we don't know how to get the Priest out of his particular state, or when or even if the spell will stop by itself.

Meanwhile, Rufus and Mushamee interrogated the two prisoners. They started with the conscious one. They were quick to explain to him that with the gravity of their crimes (ambush on an imperial road, attacking a Primus Pilus of the empire, almost killing a High Priest of Necros, use of poison), it was not a question of if they'd be put to death or not, but mostly how, and if Necros would forgive them or torture them for all eternity once they were dead. The guy still wasn't willing to talk, so Rufus cut one of his finger. When told that all the others would follow, then his toes, then his hands, arms, feet and legs, he decided to talk. He said his boss was Dmitri, pointing at the man Vinz had dropped with a bolt through the throat. He told them they were hired by a man wearing a black mask to steal a gold shipment coming in a caravan lead by Priests of Necros and to kill the High Priest. Rufus and Mushamee then woke the unconscious prisoner, and asked him the same questions. He mostly corroborated what the first one said.

Recnam contacted the spirit of Dmitri, and promised him a good afterlife if he would cooperate with us. Dmitri said the man with the black mask was called Romulus the Black, and was working from the Burnished Breastplate inn in Kapital. Recnam gave the last rites.

When the interrogation was finished, the two prisoners were handed to the priests who brought them some distance away and made them dig two holes in the ground deep enough to hold them up to their necks. The men were put into them, and the holes were filled up until only their head were showing. They were left there to die.

We decided to establish a watch for the night; one of us would be awake at every moment, with at least one Necros priest. Rufus was to take the first one, then Leif, Vinz and Mushamee (because og Recnam's self-inflicted wounds, we decided to let him sleep).

Halfway through his watch, Leif started hearing some strange music in the distance. He woke Mushamee up. When looking around, they saw a snake disappearing in Recnam's and the High Priest's tent. They decided to split, Mushamee going after the musician and Leif after the snake. Leif entered the tent. He saw Recnam, awake but immobile and looking at the snake on his chest. Leif quickly cut the snake's head with his sword. He then went out, saw another snake coming toward the tent, and killed it too.

Meanwhile, Mushamee was walking in the direction of the music, but poor vision and a lack of knowledge about traps lead him directly into one; he walked in a circle of rope and was pulled four meters in the air, dangling upside down. He yelled for help. That woke Vinz and Rufus up, who came to investigate. Before they arrived, Mushamee saw two crazy eyes in the bushes, then a little pipe aimed at him. He quickly cut the rope with his sword and fell to the ground; that didn't stop the stranger to shoot him in the face with lime. Mushamee was not choked by it, but was blinded. The stranger then dropped a small snake in Mushamee's armor. The snake had time to bite Mushamee once before the legionaire crushed him by rolling on himself.

When Vinz and Rufus arrived, the stranger had disappeared. Vinz decided to follow his trace. So did Rufus (unknowingly to Vinz). Vinz rapidly met a trap but was able to sidestep it and continue. Rufus wasn't quick enough and tripped it. He received a bee hive on the head, with the bees still in it. They came out, angry, and attacked him. He ran back toward the campfire and dosed part of it with water to create smoke and chase the bees away. Because of his Toughness, he didn't suffer any serious damage.

Vinz continued following the stranger, but because he (the stranger) had prepared traps along the way, Vinz had to be careful. He eventually reached the road. He heard the music moving away in the opposite direction from the capital. Although he wasn't able to capture the stranger, Vinz had enough information to deduce the man was probably from Tecla, a southern enemy nation who used tactics like the ones used by the stranger.

Back to the camp, Leif applied first aid to Mushamee, sucking most of the poison out. Mushamee did take some points of damage, though. We resumed our watch. During Vinz's watch, he collected the poison sacks from the two snakes Leif had killed.

When morning came, we packed up and started for the city. In the afternoon, the surroundings changed, with mansions, farms, and a lot more activity on the road. We finally reached the city gates, where a group of legionaires asked us some questions. They recognized Mushamee (who was still somewhat sick from the poison) and told him the Legion would probably march toward Tecla soon. When asked if they should go tell the Legion of his arrival, Mushamee declined, saying he would do it himself.

We followed the monks to the Temple of Necros. A couple of minutes after leaving the legionaires, Vinz saw one of them on a horse going through the crowd; probably to tell someone of our arrival. He told Mushamee about it.

Near the end of the afternoon, we finally arrived before the gates of the center of Necros' worshipping in the Empire. They let us in. Recnam went to speak with the Patriarch, while servants took the wounded High Priest to the infirmary. We were shown to our quarters. Mushamee decided to go to the Legion HQ next morning; Vinz told him that we were certainly under surveillance, so he will disguise himself and follow Mushamee to spot any 'followers'. Mushamee agreed.

Dinner bell was rung, and we were led to the dining room. There was a lot of people present, not only priests, but dignitaries as well. Mushamee even spotted four army generals, one of higher rank than him, the others of the same. Then a procession entered the room, with drums beating, and the Patriarch entered. He was a wry old man, still energetic. We ate. Later, he walked across the dining room, talking to some people. He came in front of Leif and thanked him about saving the High Priest. He said the temple had many problems with robbers and assassins, so he would like Leif to join the Temple guards as they were in diring need of experienced fighters. Leif seemed interested. Then the Patriarch walked to Vinz, and told him he should meet with the Night Captain right after the meal was over. Curious, Vinz accepted.

Meanwhile, Mushamee decided to go chat with the four army officers. They did recognized him and said they were happy he was back from his secret mission (seems someone high-ranking person covered for his sudden disappearance). Mushamee learned that the way he was poisoned was certainly a Tecla M.O., that all legions except the 1st Kapital Legion would be sent to the south to fight Tecla, that he would probably be sent to the south himself, and that the mobilization order came after he went on his secret mission.

After the Patriarch left, Vinz followed his direction to the Night Captain. It was at the top of one of the towers, so he had to climb many stairs. On his way up, all lights went out. Vinz immediately guessed it was probably a test. Going slowly, he continued. He sensed a small tripwire at his throat's level, so stopped. Before going under, he detected that one or two of the next steps were missing. He evaded the trap and continued. Later, one of his special skill allowed him to dodge an attack he never saw. Finally, he reached the top of the stair. There was a locked door. He tried a couple of time to pick it with his lockpick, but he was acting from default, so failed. The door was eventually unlocked from the other side. Vinz went in.

A woman was inside, waiting. She said Vinz would need some training in opening locks, and they could provide it. She then presented herself: her name is Katya Markova, Night Captain and leader of the temple's Night Guard. She said they were many other kinds of attacks against the temple aside from brute force, and it was her group that took care of it. She said most of her people were not really Necros followers, although they respected Him; they were mainly professional spys, thieves and assassins. She wanted Vinz to create a new cell of operatives to work inside the city, with people who are unknown in Kapital. The team would be mostly independent and free of action, and there would not be any rigid hierarchical structures to stiffle initiative. In time of need, Vinz would even be able to ask for Temple people for help. Vinz asked for some time to think about it, but is really interested (for him, it's like being officially supported and paid for doing the things he was doing anyway).

Back to Top of Page

Chapter 14 - Kapital

Since Bob had to leave early last week, it all started this week with the conversation he had with the Patriarch during the afternoon before the official diner.

As Bob mentioned, the Patriarch said the following things:

• There really is some dangerous power about to be or having been already unleashed in the world.
• There is a power struggle to replace the emperor, and the church of Necros is the perfect candidate for that.
• We should try to discover the Inquisitors' identities and try to infiltrate their power structure. We should also try to find a way to control them while maintaining the impression we are the ones being controled.
• The church is ready to pay well for the other member of the party to help Recnam on this quest. While Recnam had some reservation about hiring mercenaries, the Patriarch had none, because good mercenaries (the kind that stays bought) have a good reason to be loyal, while those who only acted for the goodness of their hearts have a tendency to abandon everything if the situation becomes too complicated or though.
• If we unmasked one or more Inquisitors, Recnam will gain status in the Church hierarchy.
• We should be very careful about Rufus and his tendency to say the truth. He should only learn what we want the Inquisitors to believe. He is one of the tools we can use to control them.

After being dismissed from the Patriarch's room, Recnam took a secret passage leading to the Temple's sewers. There, he took a full hour to try to speak with dead people and was happy to learn nobody seemed to have died in that place. From there, instead of going up to the Temple, he took the stairs down and found himself in front of a door guarded by a man with his mouth and eyes sowed shut. When Recnam approached him, he stepped up and put his sword on Recnam's neck. He touched Recnam's religious symbol and signaled with his hands that he (Recnam) was not of high enough status to have access to whatever he is guarding. Recnam went back up and met two temple employes who told him the man was known as the Listener, and that he should be left alone. They told him a couple of bad stories that happened to people trying to mess with him. Recnam went back to his quarters and we were all called for diner.

Fast-forward to the next morning. While the others were still fast asleep, Rufus left the Temple to go to Quirinius Veritas' temple. There, he met a priest and asked him if he could meet the High Priest. Since he had no ranks at all in the church (he's just a follower, not a priest), the answer was no. When told it was of the utmost importance, the priest finally decided to go check with the High Priest's secretary responsible for the Temple's security. The secretary agreed to see Rufus. At first Rufus refused to tell him the information he had, but when it was made clear there was no way he would meet the High Priest if he didn't, he told part of our story, including the bit about magic was coming back in the world (which provoked a rant from the secretary about how only weak people would resort to such means). The secretary finally told him that while he did believe Rufus was telling the truth, he was not sure Rufus had seen what he thinks he had seen, so there had to be confirmation of the story by other parties. Rufus told him he'd tried to convince the rest of the group to come meet him tomorrow. Rufus finally asked if he could have access to the Temple library, but was told it was only given to official members of the church. He went back to Necros' temple.

Meanwhile, Leif had to go see the Temple Guard's captain to enroll. He met some guards who made some fun of him (in a good-natured way) with the old 'there's someting on your boots - (looks down - hit lightly on the chin)' trick. The captain told him that for now, he should be working with the 'people upstairs' (the Night Guard), and to talk with Vinz about it. Leif, being dumb, understood he had to go meet the people upstairs, so he went. It was the same place where Vinz met Katya the night before. He put his ear to the closed door and heard people on the other side talking in an unknown language. When he knocked, the door opened and the people inside told him he shouldn't be there and to go see Vinz. They closed the door.

Because he was still ill from the poisoning, Mushamee had to cancel his planned visit to the Legion barracks. Recnam and Vinz went to his chamber to discuss the Patriarch's information. We then discussed what to do next, and decided to follow the lead to Romulus and the Burnished Breastplate Inn.

Having decided that, we asked Rufus and Leif to join us to decide our strategy. Vinz had the idea of going to the Burnished Breastplate Inn disguised as Dmitri, the leader of the ambushers. We all agreed it was a good idea. Leif suggested to act gravely wounded, so that if someone was observing the ambush (as the horse noises suggested), Vinz could simply said that yes, he was wounded, but was still able to get away. For support, we decided that Recnam and Rufus would be disguised as beggers and would hang just outside the inn, while Leif, disguised as a would-be gladiator, would be inside.

Before ending the meeting, Rufus told us of his meeting with the secretary of his church, and we agreed that Recnam and Mushamee should go with him at the earliest convenience.

Vinz went to see Katya to get new clothes, a big make-up set, and four big sticks for defense sticks (we couldn't bring our swords with us). She gave us everything we needed, but replaced the sticks by the TL2 equivalent of a swordcane, i.e. a big stick with a shortsword hidden inside.

Vinz went back to his quarters and spent the next couple of hours disguising people. Leif and Rufus were disguised first and went on their (separate) way. Recnam was next, then Vinz himself, using Luck to make it really good. Recnam then used his Forensics and Surgery skills to make Vinz's already existing upper-body wound appear life-threatening and make him look pale, sweaty and in pain. He then left for the inn. Ten minutes later, Vinz left too.

As he entered the inn, Vinz walked to the bar and ordered a drink, then sat at the far end of the room, making sure Leif could see him at all time. A couple minutes later, the patron came and sit in front of him, saying he shouldn't have come back, his life was in danger and he looked like shit. He examined the wound (not noticing it was mostly fake) and said that he should have this examined by a doctor. He finally said that he-knows-who would probably try to kill him if he stayed around. Vinz agreed he should leave. The patron left him, but Vinz didn't move.

Outside, at the back, Recnam saw three men approach the inn. One of them accosted him and asked a tax on the money he had gained by begging. Recnam gave him six of the seven coppers he had (legitimately) made. By the way they talked, it was apparent the group was composed of a really important man and two cronies. They entered the inn.

They looked around, saw Vinz/Dmitri, and walked to him. They asked him why he was back, that it was a foolish move, and that this place was probably under surveillance as it was the first time he had seen the beggar and the drunk outside. Vinz told him he didn't wanted to be a fugitive, and wanted to make things right. The man said to follow him and they went in a pantry in the back. Leif moved as near as possible in case Vinz called for help.

In the pantry, the leader (who soon revealed himself to be Romulus; it was also apparent that this man was educated and coming from the nobility) launched into a tirade about how Dmitri was an incompetent, not even capable to make a proper ambush. When asked to justify himself, Vinz related what had happened pretty faithfully (from the POV of Dmitri, and omitting his death at Vinz's hands). Romulus legitimately didn't seem to know about our group. When he asked why he shouldn't kill Dmitri right now, Vinz said he wanted another chance, that he knew the caravan's people were at the Temple of Necros, and he had some contacts inside that would help him killed them. Romulus thought about it, then said he gave Dmitri until tomorrow to complete his mission; he wanted as proof one ear from each of us and the head of the High Priest we had saved. Vinz accepted, and left the room. He also left the inn. On his way back to the Temple, he put on his cloak to hide his face and made really sure nobody was following him.

Leif decided to stay a little while longer to listen as much as possible to the conversation between Romulus and his cronies. He heard Romulus (who WAS totally convinced he really did speak to Dmitri) say he would tell Necros' temple guards about Dmitri's planned assassination attempt. That way he would get rid of at least one of his problems: either Dmitri would die, or the High Priest and his bodyguards.

One of the two bodyguards noticed Leif and asked him if, as a gladiator wanna-be, he had what it takes to make it. He then hit Leif with his fist without warning. Leif, having Combat Reflex, was able to parry. He tried to hit the guy with his fist, but was parried. The guy headbutted Leif for a little damage, then Leif punched him squarely in the chest (rolling max damage). The guy, enraged, drew a knife and attacked. Leif dodged, grabbed his stick while railing that the guy was a coward for drawing a weapon in a bare-handed fight, then knocked him out cold by thrusting the end of his stick in the man's stomach (again rolling maximum damage). The man, being in negative HT, crumbled on the ground. Romulus stepped forward, told Leif to get out, then stepped on the downed man's face. A hard master, it seems. Leif left the inn and went back to the temple. Soon after, Rufus and Recnam also left.

Back to Top of Page

Chapter 15 - Kapital

Back at Necros Temple after last week's little stunt, we met together to discuss how best to exploit the occasion we had. Since after some study Recnam had finally learned that the High Priest's Suspended Animation was permanent until cancelled and that he didn't know how to do that, we decided to fake the dead of the High Priest. Recnam went to find a head we could disguise as the head of the Priest, while Vinz and Mushamee went to see Katya Markova, the leader of the Night Watch, to set things up.

During his search, Recnam met an old priest. When asked about corpses, he asked Recnam why; when told, he admonished Recnam about using sacred corpses for such undistingued activities.

At the top of the tower, Katya was quick in telling us our plan couldn't be implemented, at least not without asking for the Patriarch's permission. Death is sacred to Necros' Church, and while most of the guards weren't actively worshipping Necros, they had to respect the Priests' beliefs in their day-to-day operations. Feinging someone's death, especially a High Priest, is sacrilegious and should be approved by the Patriarch himself, which would certainly take at least a couple of days. When told that Romulus said he will warn them in advance of the assassination attemp, she said they had effectively received an anonymous message warning them that someone in the Temple was in deadly danger.

Another thing that happened while talking to Katya is Vinz mentioned Ruinas' implication in all assassination attempts directed either at us or at the Temple's people. When asked how he knew that, he mentioned Recnam's power to speak with the dead. Katya seemed pretty pissed this power existed, because for her, it can lead to serious information leakage. Or maybe she has something to hide?

Vinz was also pretty pissed off because Katya refused to go with his plan. When he joined, he was promised freedom to act as he wanted, and the first opportunity he has of using this freedom, he is denied.

We all got back together to discuss this turn of event. Finally, we decided to go for something a little more plausible than Dmitri succeeding in his mission: he would be captured, and denounced Romulus as the instigator of the assassination attempt. A group of Priests accompanied by guards and led by Rufus (who has the legal power to interrogate people) would go to the Burnished Breastplate Inn to arrest him and bring him here for interrogation.

It was now late evening, so everyone went to sleep, except Recnam, who went to talk (as much as he could) with the Listener, and Vinz, who went searching for Katya to set up the new plan.

At the Night tower, the guard told Vinz Katya was making rounds with the guards. Since all the Priests slept in a separate mansion four stories high separated from the main Temple, Vinz guessed it would be the most probable place for an assassination attempt; thus, Katya would probably pass in front of the entrance door at a regular interval. He decided to wait for her there. At the front door, he saw four men standing guard, so got into a little conversation.

Five or six minutes later, he heard a strange music, identical to the one made by the snake charmer two nights ago. He told the guards about a possible snake attack, and ran in the park in the direction the music was coming from.

The sound was strong enough to wake Rufus up, and he made the round to wake up everybody else. Leif ran outside the Temple ground to patrol the surrounding streets, while Rufus and Mushamee went to patrol the park. Mushamee spotted a snake using vines to climb to one of the windows on the third floor. He tried to climb after it, but failed. Katya, who had just been alerted of the situation, took his place and climbed up. She reached the snake and stabbed it. It fell. Before it reached the ground, Mushamee sliced it in four equal parts.

While the music had stopped a couple minutes ago, Vinz was still stalking in the park. He finally found an empty straw box that was probably containing the snake(s). He ran to the nearest section of the enclosing wall, climbed it and look in the street; he only saw Leif a little way back. Vinz jumped back and joined Mushamee, Rufus and Katya.

Meanwhile, Recnam was in the sewers with the Listener. Suddenly, the Listener walked toward him, and using gesture, made Recnam understand he was needed upside. So he went.

We all met under the window where the snake had been killed. Recnam suggested that since it was probably the same assassin of two nights ago, and that he knew we knew about the music and snake tactic, the snake attack was probably a diversion. Katya sent Vinz, Recnam and Rufus to patrol around the Priest's barracks while she obtained special permission for her and Mushamee to go check on the High Priest and the Patriarch.

When they reached the back of the barracks, Rufus, Recnam and Vinz spotted a temple guard standing straight up, completely still. We when approached, he still didn't move, but we saw he was still breathing. One of us slapped him and he woke up from some kind of trance, surprised to see us there, and asking where his companions were. Vinz knew of no poison who could immobilize someone like that, but dimly remembered an old technique that allowed a very skilled rogue to induce such a state. We looked around and found the three other guards, still breathing but hidden in the bushes. While searching, Rufus foud a tile obviously coming from the mansion' roof. While Recnam rushed back to the barracks' entrance to warn everyone somebody had probably entered the sleeping quarters, Vinz decided to follow the intruder's way in and climb on the roof. He didn't had a rope, however, so halfway through, he slipped and fell down. Luckily, Rufus put himself between Vinz and the ground, and softened his fall. Both took damage, but nothing too serious. We then heard Recnam calling us, so we went to join him.

Meanwhile, Katya and Mushamee, having obtained the necessary authorization, climbed to the third floor where the High Priest's body was. When they reached his quarters, they saw a guard standing there, immobile, not even clinging his eyes. They walked to him, Katya first. Someone quickly emerged from the shadows and knocked her out with a hit to her head. The same form (it was our assassin, with his crazy eyes) tried the same trick with Mushamee and hit, but Mushamee was not knocked out. Mushamee stroke three times in a second. The assassin parried the first two with his bare hand(!), but the third one hit and sent him down on the ground. He then shot something from his mouth, but Mushamee blocked it with his shield. The man rolled away, so Mushamee had to Move to get to him and missed a Wild Swing. The assassin tried his Hypnotic thing on the centurion, but before he could finish, Mushamee hit him twice more in the chest, probably killing him. Then, to be sure, Mushamee hit him twice more. When looking for the key to the High Priest chamber, he saw it tied to the assassin's wrist; to get them, he chopped both the assassin's hands off. He got in the chamber, and saw the High Priest was still in the same state. He went back outside and woke Katya up.

A while later, the Patriarch called us all to an urgent reunion where he expressed his disappointment toward the group, but mostly toward Katya. He said it was a grave situation when High Priests were in danger in their own sacred Temple, and that something will have to be done about it. He added that these attacks would not be enough to start a war withg Tecla, even if the assassin clearly came from there, because we don't have any proof that the was working for the Tecla government. Finally, Mushamee made everyone remembered that Ruinas had led successful campaign in the South, against Tecla.

Back to Top of Page

Chapter 16 - Kapital

We started the session immediately following the meeting with the Patriarch about the assassination attempt. Before going to sleep, we decided to go ahead with the kidnapping of Romulus from the Burnished Breastplate Inn, then go to the Sun Temple as soon as possible after the kidnapping. We all went to sleep (it was past midnight).

When we woke up, near noon, we all sat together to eat and discuss our strategy for the afternoon operation. It was decided we would go for an 'unofficial' kidnapping, bring Romulus here, and interrogate him. We also decided to use Dmitri's personna to convince Romulus to talk. Vinz decided to disguise himself to be as unlike Dmitri as possible. All the others would go as themselves, except for Recnam who would not show outside signs of his priesthood.

Vinz went to see Katya to get some help dealing with Romulus' bodyguards. He estimated their number at about five, so Katya lended him six of her guards: her second-in-command Renaldus (a.k.a. Big Ren) his subordinates Ocho (male), Marius (male), Irina (female), Portia (female) and Publius (male). Vinz told them to be at the front of the temple in one hour in civilian clothes. He then went to his quarters to disguise himself as Maryse, an old, big-saggy-breasted prostitute with too much makeup on.

When we all met together at the front of the Temple, we planned our actions in detail. One of the problems is that only Leif, Recnam and Vinz had seen Romulus; we had to find a way to identify him to the others. When all was settled, we put our plans into action.

An hour later, Leif and Mushamee, with Maryse flirting with both of them. They sat at a table and the two men started a game of dice. Maryse looked around and saw that Romulus wasn't there. During the next half hour, the rest of the group entered the inn in groups of two or three and sat all around the room.

Another hour passed, then Romulus entered the place, accompanied by five men. They all sat down at a table and ordered beer. As planned, Leif and Mushamee started a loud argument, accusing each other of cheating. They so put their heart into it that Mushamee's Bad Temper almost took over. Disgusted by such a childish mentality, Maryse left their table and looked around for another potential client. She spotted Romulus and walked toward him. She langurously offered him her "services," putting her hand on his arm (which was the agreed signal). He said he would give her twenty zolotos if she would steal Leif's purse. She accepted.

When the signal was given, all members of our team stood up, except for two of Katya's Nightguards which had probably not noticed it (they did stood up when they saw the others standing). Big Ren stepped in front of Romulus's table and order him to come with us without causing trouble. Romulus refused. He stood up with his five men, followed by another group of five sitting at a different table. They all drew their shortswords out. Renaldus, Mushamee, Leif and Irina also drew their shortswords, while Marius readied a weighed chain, Portia her knives, and Publius and Recnam their quarterstaff. Acting horrified at the prospect of an all-out battle, Maryse stepped away from Romulus and discreetly slipped her hand in her robes to grab her sword.

The standoff lasted a couple seconds max, then Romulus and his men threw the table on Renaldus and the battle was joined. Romulus and two of him men engaged Ren, while six ran toward Mushamee and Leif who were the nearest to Romulus except for Ren. The last two engaged some of the Nightguards elsewhere in the inn. A rapid checkup showed us these bodyguards had heavy leather armor, while the Nightguards had concealable heavy chain mail under their clothes. Of our small group, only Mushamee, wearing legionaire attire, had any armor on.

Romulus and Ren both attacked and defended against each other, while Maryse, still acting terrified, positioned herself as best she could (although since Romulus' back was against a wall, the best she could hope was a side attack). Mushamee cut down one of the men coming for him. Seeing that the legionaire was probably the most dangerous of us, the five other men split in two groups: three went for him, one for Rufus and one for Leif. Mushamee parried all three attacks, while Leif parried his attacker. Rufus missed his defense, but took minimum damage.

Next round, Romulus got a lucky shot on Renaldus (critical hit, triple damage) and fell him. Maryse fast-drew her sword and tried to knock out Romulus with two hit with the flat of the blade to the brain; one missed and the other was parried by Romulus, who yelled at her that she was a bitch and a traitor. Mushamee attacked all three guys in front of him once. He decapitated one, knocked another out, and was parried by the last. The guy in front of Rufus got a knife in the heart, courtesy of Portia (but it didn't do enough to knock him out). Rufus attacked the guy in front of Leif, who parried him. Then Leif 'Rochamboed' him (kicked him in the nuts as hard as he can) to drop him unconscious. Finally, Marius entangled one of the two other guys' legs with his chain.

Next round, Romulus turned on Maryse who parried him. Then she feinted him by a large marging, and successfully disarmed him. Rufus got rid of the wounded guy (courtesy of Portia) in front of him with a sword thrust. The last guy in front of Mushamee decided retreating was a good idea and started running away. Mushamee ignored him and stepped toward Romulus. Leif decided to do the same. One guard attacked Maryse, who parried him. Recnam walked toward Romulus and the others. The guy held by the Marius's chain freed himself. Other Night Guards did other stuff, but I don't remember what (and they didn't had much impact).

Next round, Romulus fast-drew a pair of knives, stepped in corps-�orps with Mushamee and attacked him teice. Mushamee retreated and parried both attacks. Maryse slashed the throat of the guard who had attacked her (not hard enough to decapitate him, however). Leif did a flying tackle on Romulus, who sidestepped him. He landed face first on the floor, where another guard kicked him in the nuts (but not hard enough to stun him, since he has High Pain Treshold). Rufus started running toward the guard who was trying to run away, followed by one of the Night Guards (maybe Ocho or Irina). Mushamee attacked Romulus three times to the head to knock him out. The first one hit, but the second critically failed, ending his turn. Romulus however failed his HT roll for the first attack and dropped on the floor. Leif grappled the guy who had just kicked him, and immobilized him. Recnam, recognizing the guy Maryse had wounded as the guy who had hit him when he was disguised as a beggard the day before, knocked him out with a hit of his staff on his head.

Next round, Maryse stabbed one of the remaining guards from behind, right in the kidneys. Mushamee finished him off and decapitated the guy grappled by Leif. The fleeing guard reached the door, but was tackled by the Night Guard following him. Rufus finished him off quickly. The last guard still conscious jumped through the window. Maryse jumped after him and knocked him flat out with a small hit to the brain. She then got on her feet and dragged him back inside. Recnam used his Physiology to break the knee of the guy he had just dropped in a way it would never healed, effectively crippling him for life.

There was a brief but intense discussion between Rufus and Recnam to decide if we should take a minute to stop the bleeding of Renaldus or not (Rufus insisted that we should, Recnam said we had no time). We finally decided to side with Recnam, betting that Ren was though enough to sustain the trip back. Mushamee and Leif shared the two bodies we had to carry back (I don't remember which took which). Recnam also wanted to go back to the Temple openly, but Rufus (which was ignored) and Irina explained to him this operation was in no way official, and it would not do to be captured by the city guards.

We left the inn by its back exit, and went back to the Temple using back alleys. Maryse, acting as scout, easily spotted a group of five thugs waiting to ambush the group. A simple warning convinced them to leave us alone. When we reached the temple, it was dusk.

While Renaldus was taken care of, Katya accompanied us to the Temple dungeon to interrogate Romulus. We followed her, meeting the Listener on our way (Recnam concluded he was probably guarding the access to the dungeon). The dungeon was a dark place with only some torches as light source. The place was filled with small cells, and had a complete set of torture tools. We met some Temple priests who were specialists in torture. Vinz went back to his quarters to disguise himself as Dmitri, and went back to the dungeon where Recnam perfected his supposed wounds. He was then put in one of the cell.

Mushamee and Leif left the interrogation to Rufus and Recnam. They woke Romulus up. At first he resisted, and thus was tortured a bit by Recnam. Then Dmitri was brought in. He made as if he had been severely tortured, and had to name Romulus to save his life. He asked Romulus to confess his sins to have a good afterlife. Then Recnam hit him with one of the torture devices and Dmitri fell on the ground, dead. The other priests took him away.

That, combined with the promess of torture, was enough to convince Romulus to talk. He finally admitted he worked, although indirectly, for Ruinas, through one of his men named Otto. He was only a hired hand, and had nothing to do Ruinas' plans. He knew he was working for Ruinas because he always liked to know who he is really working for and had once followed Otto back to Ruinas' estates in Kapital.

After he was put in one of the cell, we took some time to discuss what we should do with him. We could kill him, or we could use him in some way. One of the priests even suggested we could make him another Listener :). But we couldn't agree for now, and since it was now late night, we decided to postpone the decision and went to sleep.

Back to Top of Page

Chapter 17 - Kapital

After the interrogation of Romulus, we all retreated to our chamber. Recnam studied Necros' scrolls and was able to cast the first spell written, Death Vision, for the first time. The vision he had was of him getting killed by an arrow to the heart in one of the city streets.

Nothing else happened during the night, except for Rufus who had an exceptionally lucid dream. In it, he was in a library where all the shelves of books were out of his reach. A skeletal figure holding a book called "The truth of Life and Death" approached. The figure said that since Rufus had said "In the name of Necros" and had defended Necros' temple that Rufus was a better follower of Necros than many "official" worshippers. He offered to give Rufus the supernatural gift that he wanted (magery), but Rufus, horrified by the prospect of becoming a follower of Necros, declined. The figure warned Rufus that there was a danger approaching, but that if Rufus followed/listened to Necros' messenger that he could avoid the danger.

As Necros walked away, Rufus noticed that his (Rufus') right hand was skeletal, then Rufus noticed that his missing left hand was also there and skeletal as well.

That's when Rufus woke up screaming, and made a firm commitment to avoid shellfish for a late supper in the future.

Mushamee was awaken by Rufus's scream and ran to his room, but Rufus told him all was allright. Mushamee went back to his room. As Rufus was going back to sleep, he heard some ruffle at his window but didn't pay much attention to it. When he woke up in the morning, he saw that a crow was in his room. He tried to shoo him away, but the crow wasn't phased. He started following Rufus around.

In the morning, we all met to discuss our plans for the day. We decided that we would all go to the Sun Temple as ourselves, except for Vinz who would go as Regis (the disguise he used when going to the Sun Temple in Tenosia). This time, Mushamee would be the one waiving the recognition amulet around.

Just after noon, we walked to the Sun Temple. Its architecture was similar to the one in Tenosia, but on a much bigger scale. Before entering the Temple, Rufus' crow perched on one of the arches and squawked once, but he didn't try to interfere with our going in. We all ganged up around Mushamee and walked to the end of the Temple, where a ceremony was taking place. One of the Priests asked Mushamee to participate, and he accepted. At the end of the ceremony, he learned he had been chosen to go through the ritual of cleaning. He got disarmed and dragged into a four doors room with a "spa" in the middle. Several Priest of the sun showered him with flower and perfume. Then they all went into a library of some sort. Mushamee noticed the unlocking sequence of the library's very heavy door.

Another priest, obviously of higher ranks than the others, greeted Mushamee by calling him a demon. He said he was expecting us earlier, and that we were late. Mushamee explained he was delayed because forces opposing our Masters (the inquisitors) had sent them into the wrong direction. The priest, still addressing Mushamee as a demon, gave him a pouch full of gold so we could partake in every activity which would satisfy any desires and perversions we had.

Before letting Mushamee go, the priest told him his group needed us to steal the "Great Tome of Power" from the imperial library. He said that even the librarians have forgotten about that book. He gave us two weeks to accomplish this task, because the book has to be retrieved for the festival of Zasev. They gave Mushamee a copper cylinder containing a map of the library, a new inquisitor's amulet and a scroll with the inquisitor's orders. The priest also had a scroll describing each one of us as a demon ("Bringer of Death", "Night Blade", "The Guardian", etc... Mushamee asked for a copy of that scroll to be delivered to Necros' temple.

After the conversation concluded, Mushamee was led outside to the others. He did not manage to remember the locking sequence of the library door.

We went back to Necros' Temple to discuss this privately in one of our chambers. Rufus' crow came to visit us. At least one of us tried to touch it, but was bitten. We let it be. One of the litterates among us, probably Recnam, read the scroll containing the instructions from the Inquisitors to the others. It said we had to steal the book in the next two weeks (12 days), otherwise we would be hit by the "curse of 30 days" (the Inquisitors' servants didn't say anything about this curse).

We took a while to look at the library plans. We saw that the book was in an abandoned section of the library that probably hasn't been visited for hundreds of years. This section was connected to an old crypt with an opening leading to the sewers, so we decided to take that route.

We went to the Night Guard tower and asked Katya where we could order some concealable chain mails like her Night Guards'. She gave us an address in the seediest part of town, and a password to identify ourselves as reliable.

The place in question was a shabby little blacksmith shop. The boss seemed to be of the ultra-suspicious kind, but when we gave him the password, he became much more open. We told him we were looking for five sets of concealable chain mails. After some negotiation, we settled on a unit price of 500 coppers, and all armors had to be ready in 10 days. After they finished taking our measurements, we went back to the Temple.

As night was falling, we agreed Recnam should try to reach the Serpent Queen to try and get some information. Luckily, he succeeded. Here's what he found out:

• The crow is probably what was called a familiar.
• There is a lot of books that can be called the "tome of power," so she cannot say what it contains.
• Any books containing spells will introduce a little more magic in this world and could be called a tome of power.
• Magic is not bad in itself but can be used for really bad things. She gave the gift to Recnam because she knew he would use it for the good side, but not everyone would.
• She heard about the 30-day curse, but didn't know if it was real.
• If we decided to kill ourselves to escape the malediction, we could possibly be brought back as mindless undeads by the binding we all share. But getting killed by accident would probably nullified it.
• Vlad is going well and the settling of the heritage is coming along. She will inform him about the 30-day curse that could affect him if we don't steal the book.
• Her using a lot of her own power to give the Magery gift to Recnam and Vinz allowed other people to get it in turn.
• Time does not really exist. It is a big wheel and in the dream world, the past is the future and the present and vice-versa. There could be a way, if necessary, to use this world to go back in time.
• Because of the magical uprising, some people gain the ability to turn themselves into animals. She didn't mention if it was permanent or at will.
• The six persons of our group surely have something demonic in them to have been summoned by the Inquisitors in the desert, but we will have to confront more "demonic" creatures much more dangerous than the giant white worm we fought in the desert.
• Leif is definitely fucking woolen mammals

(The last line was a running joke about Leif probably taking his pleasure from fucking sheeps when there is no women around, which of course he denies vehemently :))

Back to Top of Page

Chapter 18 - Kapital

Since we had ten days to wait before getting our new armors, we decided to keep a low profile. Vinz decided he was to remember the Lockpicking skill. Recnam went to the library to study architecture and to create a much smaller map of the library and its surrounding tombs (he has the Cartography skill). Rufus spent them looking for and talking to his contacts (which didn't amount to anything). He also had a crude new artificial hand made, with an extension to hold a torch.

Mushamee and Leif decided to go gambling and whoreing. Before they left, Leif handed a dead rat to Mushamee, saying it was coming from his grandpa and that Rufus' crow had told him to hand it to Mushamee. Mushamee accepted the gift, and as a result, suddenly felt much better (he was healed of his remaining wounds). He decided to keep the rat for now by making a necklace out of it and putting it around his neck. I'm sure that went very well with the female gent :) He did won a good amount of money while gambling. Leif broke even.

Early morning, ten days later. We discussed our tactics for the night, then Vinz, Mushamee and Leif went to get the armor vests. The armorer admitted he was surprised we came as planned and paid every single copper we owed him, and added he'd be delighted to do business with us again. A quick inspection of the vests showed us they were in really good condition, so we congratulated him in turn for the quick work. The three guys put on their personal armor right there and brouthg the other two to the temple.

While waiting for nightfall, we decided on the equipment to bring. We settled on some torches, a crowbar, a set of lockpicks, a shovel, a pickaxe, and many waterproof bags to carry books. Vinz took some time to memorize the library plan made by Recnam. Finally, just before going, he put dark makup on all of our faces; combined with the robes we would wear, this should make us less recognizable. This anonymity was also the reason why Vinz vetoed Leif's intention of wearing his wooden mask that makes him (supposedly) invisible to demons.

Long after night had fallen, Recnam guided us to the sewers entrance in the temple (the place with the big sewage-filled pool in which he dropped after his first meeting with the Patriach). The guy he met at this time was still present. He agreed to opened the sewers door for us (which was REALLY, REALLY well sealed), saying this hadn't been done in years. He also told us to be really alert, as there was supposed to be some kind of demons running around down there.

We went through the opening, and the door was resealed behind us. We rapidly joined the main tunnel, which was NOT the perfect kind of sewer tunnels you find in fantasy game; it was a simple mostly-circular tube with water at the bottom. Leif used his Orienteering skill to determine the direction of the Library, and we set off. Order was Vinz (armed with his crossbow) and Leif, Rufus (with the torch) and Recnam, then Mushamee.

Approximately 15 minutes later, Vinz heard noises in front of us. He signaled everyone to stop and for Recnam to come take a look (Nightvision). In the distance, Recnam saw some kind of wormish form emerging from the water, then quickly plunging back into it. He told us what we saw, so Mushamee joined Vinz and Leif in the front row.

Suddenly, and 8-feet worm emerged from the water just in front of Vinz and attacked him. Vinz was quicker with his crossbow, however, and shot point blank, damaging the beast. The worm's attack missed. Mushamee attacked it three times; I think two of them connected. Leif attacked and hit too. On the worm's turn, he tried to bite Mushamee with its cylindrical mouth, but was blocked. He then spewed some seriously poisonous fumes on the front line. Mushamee and Vinz resisted, but Leif started gagging and wouldn't stop for the next 15 seconds.

Next round. Recnam stepped in front of Leif to protect him. Vinz fast-drew his sword and attacked two times. One hit. Mushamee attacked the worm, hit once with his sword and once with his shield. The worm attacked Vinz, but missed a second time. It then breathed poison again, this time on Vinz, Mushamee and Recnam, but they all resisted.

Third round. Recnam bashed the worm with his staff, doing maximum damage. Vinz decided to Wait to attack the worm in its mouth. Mushamee attacked, with the same result as last round (1 sword hit, 1 shield hit). The Worm attacked Recnam, but instead of biting him, it puked on him (kind of a Sewage Jet :)); Recnam dodged(!). Vinz attacked two times in the open mouth; the first one went through, the second one was blocked by the mouth. However, the impaling blow was enough to destroy the worm, who disintegrated right in front of us. Vinz, remembering what happened in the desert a couple months ago, quickly cleaned his sword from any residue, and encouraged others to do the same.

We resumed our trips. Fifteen minutes later, as we got near the library, we saw five people in the distance. They seemed to be small thugs. They told us it was their sewers, that we had no rights to be here. Vinz wanted to get rid of them, but the others were against it, as we had no place to bury their bodies. Finally, Mushamee gave them five coppers and promised them five more when we come back if they left us alone. They happily agreed (it was more money than they saw in the last month). Recnam gave them another five coppers, "with the blessing of Necros" (which caused Vinz to reprimand him about the need to keep our identities a secret).

We followed a new tunnel until we reached an iron grid with no doors. Mushamee, Leif and Vinz tried to rip it from its hinges; no luck. Vinz tried to used Breaking Blow with the pickaxe to break it, but missed his roll. Finally, we used the crowbar as a lever and all pushed together. The grid slowly moved, then gave with an enormous "crack!" We put it back in place and waited 10 minutes to be sure the noise had not attracked any undue attention.

The tunnel behind the grid was much smaller, and slowly going up. We went in in a bent up position, Vinz at the head with a torch. After a little while, he detected that one of the stone before him was not like the others. He carefully went over it, then we put Mushamee's shield on top of it to allow the others to cross easilly. The last one to go, Mushamee took back his shield and marked the place.

A couple minutes later, we reached the end of the tunnel. A grid opening was over Vinz's head, but something was pinning it in place, something solid. Vinz and Leif switched places (but Leif was so clumsy he kneed Vinz in the stomach hard enough to damage him, even with his new armor). Leif then went flat on the floor, put his legs on the grid and push with all his strenght. The first try didn't work. On the second try, he did lift the grid a bit, enough for Vinz to slide the crowbar in the opening. This crude lever allowed us to combine our strength, and finally, whatever was pinning the grid was moved aside and the grid opened.

Vinz went first, followed by the others. We were in a mausoleum, a rectangular room with two doors in the middle of one of the walls. All three other walls had niches with caskets in them. We saw the thing that was pinning the grid was another casket, alone in the middle of the room. Leif, who was near it, heard some noises coming from inside. More specifically, he heard the word "Braaaaiiiiinnnn." Not wanting to left any undead behind to surprise us later, we decided to get rid of it. Leif and Vinz grabbed each end of the casket's lid, Mushamee positioned himself properly, and Recnam cut himself. On signal, the lid was removed and a zombie instantly sat up. But between Recnam's Undead Repelling and Mushamee's attacks, he didn't lasted very long. Mushamee finished him with a stab in the heart (at Recnam's request) and the body dissolved, except for its preserved heart that Recnam grabbed quickly. We examined the other coffins, but they didn't show any signs of activity.

Vinz investigated the two doors. They were locked, but the locking mechanism was on this side of the doors. And it was big. Vinz grabbed the crowbar and applied the right pressure at the right place to unlock them. Mushamee then pushed the massive doors aside, and we were inside the library. More torches were lit, and Vinz took a little tour of the place to make sure no obvious traps were present. The others soon joined him.

The place was somewhat big, with shelves and shelves of books and scrolls from ground to ceiling. Only Rufus and Recnam were litterate, so we prepared ourselves to spend hours searching. Vinz expressely told the two that if ever they think they have found the book, to NOT remove it because it could be trapped. The search began.

After a little while, Vinz noted Leif standing in front of a shelf, not moving, looking at whatever was on it. Vinz went and asked him what waswrong. Leif pointed at a series of stone tablets with scrolls between them, all bound together. It was making some sound, like a constant wind! We guessed it was the Tome of Power we were looking for. Vinz looked around it, and noticed that while all the rest of the wood shelves were not touching the wall behind them, the section under the Tome had been cut and removed, and replaced carefully with a section that went into the wall. Obviously a trap for whoever would pick up the book without authorization, probably triggered by a pressure change on the wood. But there must be a way to safely remove the book, otherwise why keep it? Vinz again looked all around and noticed that the book on the right of the Tome was identical in composition and size. So a quick push of the Tome and this other book to the left should left the pressure on the trap unmoving. Having the best dexterity, Recnam was asked to perform the deed. He did, and we were able to grab the Tome of Power. Recnam noted it was very cold to the touch. He put in in one of the waterproof bags.

Now this entire thing didn't take long, so we decided to stay around and look for other interesting books.

Back to Top of Page

Chapter 19 - Kapital

As we started the game, we were all in the hidden section of the Imperial Library, looking for some interesting books beside the Tome of Power we had already found. Leif and Recnam went back to the mausoleum, and Recnam decided to speak to one of the dead guys. The one who answered told him all the books were cursed, that "they" were on their way, that we should leave, and that we were already doomed. Recnam came back in the Library to warn us, so we decided to leave, but not before throwing a bunch of random books in our bags. As we all went back to the mausoleum, Mushamee closed the double doors to the Library and Vinz decided to wreck the lock. Rufus went into the access tunnel, followed by Recnam, Mushamee and Leif. As Vinz was finishing working on the lock, he saw part of the door coming forward, and a deformed human face emerging from it. He jumped back in surprise, then turned around and plunged into the tunnel. He yelled to the others to move it.

We all walked toward the sewers as fast as we could. Once again, we used Mushamee's shield to move over the trap. When we reached the end of the tunnel, we had the big surprise of finding the iron grid back in place, as solid as ever. At the same moment, Vinz heard a big noise behind him. He turned around and saw a big rock on fire near the access hole fall into the tunnel. Then another. And another.

Recnam joined Rufus at the front of the line (with some help from Mushamee when they became stuck). The grid couldn't be pulled in as it was much larger than the tunnel. They tried to push it, without success. When Vinz yelled that something bad was coming from behind, Recnam called out loud to the five thugs we had met earlier, promising them gold if they'd come help us right now. Soon, he saw and heard twelve forms approaching; alas, they had red eyes and were whispering "braiiiiinnnnnssss". They packed themselves on the other side of the grid and tried to grab whoever was near it.

In the back, Vinz saw two big paws settling down in the tunnel, then two others; they were shaped like those of a lizard or a bird. Finally a big body lowered itself. It was kinda shaped like a human-sized wolf made of clumped-together dirt (or sand, or possibly ash), with an elongated snout and reddish-yellow fire shining out between the clumps. It smelled like brimstone. (OOC: reminds me of a mini-sized, wolf-shaped Balrog.) It breathed fire at Vinz, who acrobatically dodged the jet. At this point, the marks on our heads became so brilliant we didn't had to use torches anymore. Vinz shot the demon with his crossbow, doing near maximum damage. He saw a hole appear in the demon's hide where the bolt had hit, and fire flowing out. At least our weapons could hurt it.

Back in the front, Recnam retreated behind Mushamee. He decided to try a new spell from Necros' scroll, Control Zombie. He gravely cut himself on Mushamee's sword to get a +4 bonus, but even then he was rolling at 11 or less and failed. Rufus sat down and tried to push the grid with his legs, but the additional leverage was still not enough. One of the zombies used the occasion to grab one of his legs. Rufus tried shaking it free, but failed. The zombie bit him for some damage. Mushamee grabbed the poor Informatore and, pulling as hard as he could, successfully broke the zombie's grapple. Recnam decided to grab the Tome of Power and "combine" its power with Necros' scroll; it didn't amount to anything.

To the back again, as the demon-wolf rushed Vinz and tried to bite him. He failed. Vinz fast-drew his sword and started hacking at the beast's neck. Leif grabbed one of his throwing axes. On the next turn, the wolf breathed two times on Vinz, who successfully dodged both flames (thanks to acrobatic dodge and his new armor). He hacked the demon two times, missing with his eye shot but hitting with his neck shot. Leif, stuck behind Vinz, decided to aim at the demon. The next round, the monster got in close combat with Vinz and tried to bite him; missed again. Vinz had to wait until the barbarian retreated before stepping out of close combat and attacked two times to the neck; one of them hit. Next round, same step-and-bite attack from the wolf-demon, but Vinz parried it. He and Leif retreated (for the last time as we were now stuck to the others), then attacked again. He missed with the eye shot but hit with the neck shot. On Leif's turn, he was not sure if he should throw his axe or not (his effective skill was only 10), but Vinz told him we had to take this beast down this round. He threw his axe and (luckily) hit. He did maximum damage, and that was enough to destroy the demon.

The beast exploded, spreading fire on Vinz. The assassin was somewhat singed, but his armor stopped all damage. In front of him was now a big pile of ash with a charred human skeleton lying in its middle.

Back in front, Mushamee tactically estimated the situation and decided to get rid of the zombies. He stepped forward and proceeded to hack, maim and kill all twelve of them easily, as they couldn't come at him more than three at a time.

When all was over, Leif joined Mushamee at the front and they tried to move the grid aside; it still was not working. We decided to go back to the mausoleum. There, we saw that the massive double doors had been completely destroyed, and in the hidden library, there was now an open passage leading to some other part of the building. Leif used one of the Health onguent we had on Recnam, who was about to fall unconscious. Recnam used his luck to get the maximum number of HT back, i.e. 6. Before renouncing to go back by the sewers, Vinz decided to try something. He walked to the grid, concentrated on Breaking Blow, and rolled against an effective skill of 8... and got a 4. One of the bars was completely moved aside. He tried it with another bar. He didn't succeed, but one of the attempt only failed by 1 so Sean ruled Vinz moved it just enough that a normal person could squeeze through. Vinz came back to get the others.

Back in the sewers, Rufus successfully recalled the way we came from, so we went on our way. Midway through, Vinz heard some noise coming from a side tunnel in front of us. We extinguished our torch, and while the others retreated in another side tunnel, Vinz sneaked up. He heard people talking, and when he poked his head around the corner, he saw ten legionaires in full attire climbing down in the sewers. The insignia on their shields were hidden. He heard them talk about having to find and kill the five "demons" who were in the Library, and, as importantly, retrieve the stolen books. Vinz joined the others and we took off in another direction. Some time later, we reached an intersection with an opening in the ceiling. Recnam was hauled up to take a look outside. He saw he was maybe thirty meters from the legion headquarters. Two legionaires were standing guard at the gates. Those who had Stealth, i.e. Vinz, Recnam and Leif, climbed out of the sewers without being seen, and retreated in a dark corner. Vinz decided to pass himself as an old drunk hobo and go distract the two legionnaires to allow the others to get out without being seen. It worked quite well, especially since with a long walk in the sewers and burnt clothes, Vinz already looked and smelled like the job.

When everyone was safely out of the sewers, Vinz left the legionnaires and joined the group. Recnam used his Intuition to determine in which direction we should walk. Ten to fifteen minutes later, Vinz, again acting as scout, heard someone talking ahead (it was around 3-4 in the morning). He sneaked up and saw another group of four legionaires with their shield standards covered standing in the middle of the road. This time he heard them complain about having to be out there at this hour, but they had to do it since the order came directly from Otto (which is a member of Ruinas' entourage, and was the one who hired Romulus to kill the High Priest of Necros). We took a side alley around them.

Later, we finally arrived across the street from Necros' temple. It did looked like the proper place for an ambush, so Recnam did some reconnaissance (Nighvision again). He saw two dark forms on each of the Temple door's side, one 40 feet away behind a public seat, and one on the building's balcony just to our right, facing the street. All were armed with crossbows. After a small discussion, we decided Vinz would take aim at the guy behind the seat (as he was the fartest away), and Leif at the guy on the balcony (with his throwing axe). Then, Mushamee would simply step forward with his shield and sword and charge the two guys near the door, blocking their initial attacks and then engaging them in melee combat. Vinz and Leif would then shoot the other two before they had time to attack Mushamee.

Vinz and Leif took their aim. Mushamee started forward; all four assassins noticed him and took aim. Vinz fired, hit the guy behind the seat in the chest and rolled maximum damage; the guy fell backward. Leif threw his axe and hit the guy on the balcony for three points of damage. The two guys in front of Mushamee fired, but the legionaire blocked their bolts.

Next round, Vinz started running toward the guy he had shot. Leif got his next throwing axe. The guy on the balcony redirected his crossbow at Leif and fired, but Leif dodged. The two guys in front of the temple each drew a sword and a knife. Mushamee reached them.

Third round. Vinz reached the downed guy who had passed out. Leif started aiming at the guy on the balcony, who started reloading his crossbow. Mushamee attacked one guy three times, but the first two attacks were parried and the third one dodged. The two guys attacked him; one attack was blocked, the other went through, inflicting minor damage. The weapon was poisoned, but Mushamee rolled a critical success on his HT roll to resist.

Fourth round. Vinz grabbed the downed guy's crossbow. The guy on the balcony continued to ready his x-bow, and Leif continued to aim. Recnam drew his sling. Mushamee was attacked two times, but blocked both. He feinted and attacked the same guy twice, with one attack hitting for average damage.

Fifth round. Vinz took aim at the guy on the balcony. Leif threw his axe at the same guy, hitting for seven points of damage. Mushamee finished the guy he had hurt the round before. The guy on the balcony dropped his crossbow and started working to unlock the door leading inside the building. Recnam aimed at the last guy attacking Mushamee.

Last round, Recnam threw his rock, but missed. Vinz dropped the guy on the balcony with a bolt in the chest. Mushamee concluded the fight by critically hitting the last guy for triple damage, vertically cutting him in two.

We looted the bodies for their money and weapons. Recnam knocked on the Temple door. One or two minutes later, Katya appeared, asking what had just happened. We told her about the assassins; she was scandalized. She invited us to drop the weapons we had just collected in the Night Guards Armory. She then acquiesced to Vinz's suggestion of sending guards at the back entrance of the Temple to get rid of the assassins that were probably waiting there. Mushamee and Leif volunteered to help.

Back to Top of Page

Chapter 20 - Kapital

As we started this session, we had just warned Katya to get rid of the assassins who were probably still waiting at the back door. Mushamee and Leif decided to go with her. The assassins outside, seeing a force of 15 men coming from the temple, decided to take a hike.

Back to Top of Page