Session 2: Hope Is Fickle As A Woman

After cleaning out the crypt, Aram, Dante and Erevan were joined by Tic-Tac, who had been delayed elsewhere. They decided to hide the bodies of the three Toothcutters that they had killed earlier, and perhaps find another way out of Under-Tyr. Tic-Tac went scouting, while the rest headed back for the 3 dead bodies and moved them down to the crypt while trying to hide their tracks, at least somehow. Shortly after that was done, Tic-Tac returned, having found no other exit.

As they headed back for the stairs to Karlen's shop, they came upon a strange meeting between two groups of men.

Psst.. James, is that you?

Yes it is.

Do you have the scroll-case?

Yes!

At which point a man stepped forward, out of the shadows, only to be killed by some crossbow bolts. As he fell to the floor like a virgin on prom-night (read: quickly), he dropped a scroll-case. The PC's immediately heard running from the side he came from, running away, at which point two men came into sight, from the other side.

Catch him and kill him

One man said, and the other ran after the fleeing him. At this point, the PC's decided to jump the remaining man. Dante moved in, almost invisible in the shadows and broke the man's neck in one quick snap with his garrote, only to be showered with crossbow-bolts from the shadows. The fight was on, against 4 roguish types, armed with swords and crossbows. Aram went down from a crossbow-bolt to the chest, but managed to get back up quickly and help kill the remaining enemies.

Going through their dead adversaries, they found that James (the first who died) was a Toothcutter (he had the usual pointy teeth) and the rest had a weird symbol that no one had ever seen before (see previous blog post). The scroll-case held a single papyrus note, with the words:

Amanda Hope

written on it. Assuming it was a person, Erevan deduced that it must be a lowborn or a bastard, based on the name.

Then Aram, Erevan, Tic-Tac and Dante headed back to the Fallen Dragon Inn to get some well deserved and needed rest.


23rd day of Rest in Sun Descending, Year of Priest's Defiance
The next morning, the PC's headed over to Argul to finish up their mission.

Thank you my friends, this was just what I was hoping for.

The stone tablet? It’s merely a house symbol from a forgotten period. Not very valuable in itself, but it might lead to other riches.

I must do some diggings. But as always, there is always someone who wants what you have. I hope I can trust you to keep quiet about what we have done and found, aye?

Aram was not quite happy about Argul wanting the half they had previously agreed on. He thought that the stone tablet should be enough. But after some negotiating, Argul settled on 3 gold pieces and the tablet. The potions were never mentioned and the 4 heroes to be left Argul, with a promise of more to come soon.

With their first mission done, they decided to find out more about Amanda Hope. While Dante unloaded the obsidian and the gold pieces at an acquaintance, a little investigating taught the PC's that Amanda Hope was indeed a young woman, working as a hostess at the Golden Inix, an expensive wine- and ale-house in the Caravan District.

Once there, they quickly spotted her, a young godly beauty with long raven-colored hair. Talking to her yielded little information. She was clueless as to why someone would harm her (the assumption of the PC's based on her name being on the scroll), although she did mention that a certain Markus Vrexar, a rich merchant part of the Iron Consortium, had been trying for weeks to get her to marry him, without luck, as she had no inclination of marrying a man thrice her age, fat and with a wart.

While talking to her, they noticed a young man starring at Amanda intensely, seemingly with lust in his eyes. Dante followed him home during midday, but learned nothing but where he lived. They spend the day asking questions about Amanda and the mysterious symbol, but even when Tic-Tac looked up a former and very shady colleague, there was nothing new to learn.

At night, the PC's followed Amanda who was being escorted home by Kurt, one of the bouncers of the Golden Inix. On the way, they were suddenly stopped by a templar and 3 guards who were demanding who they were and where they were going. Dante refused to stop, trying to pretend he wasn't with the others, which led to bloodshed. The fight was quick and brutal, finishing when Erevan magicked down a guard trying to run away. Afterwards, they found another note in a scroll-case on the Templar. It said:

Elf, mul, eladrin and thri-kreen

After that, they all went on their way towards Amanda's, where they kept vigil all through the night around her house. But nothing happened.

24th day of Rest in Sun Descending, Year of Priest's Defiance
The next day, they went back to the inn, where they once again saw the young man, this time in disguise. Staging a diversion and using a Potion of Friendship and some magic, Erevan got him talking some. His name was Khor and he wanted to bed Amanda. Or rather, that was what he said. Erevan promised to help him get into her house, but he was left with the feeling that Khor was not completely truthful. More investigation into Khor's house revealed it to belong to Olaf, a baker with a wife and two girls, all 4 of which Dante found dead inside the house, along with a wide range of utensils mostly used by assassins.

They decided to set him up at Amanda's this very night, hiding inside her house to catch him "in the act".

Ding level 2

Cast of characters has been updated: LINK