The Party arrive at the Elf Stone Tavern its Elvish architecture is clear for all to see, as are the patrons of the establishment, all of which appear to be of the pointy ear persuasion. Walking up to the bar they order themselves the customary ales and 1 water and make their way through the crowded tavern in search of Siressa and hopefully, answers. Suspicious eyes follow them as they make their way through the bar and head up the stairs to the mezzanine level. Off in one of the corners Garrick notices a young, crimson skinned Tiefling shrouded in a dark cloak, as the Party cautiously approach a wry smile creeps across her face and she motions for them to take a seat at her table.
"Can I help you?" she asks
"Siressa I presume?" asks Finn. She nods her head slowly. "We have been advised that you have brokered a number of recent transactions with some of Waterdeep's nobles"
"I broker many deals, and all of them carry with them an agreement of secrecy"
Finn explains the importance and authority of their investigation but the Teifling remains stoic in her convictions. Although she does suggest that a suitable payment might change her mind and loosen her tongue. Finn reminds Siressa that given her implication in each of their lines of enquiry with the nobles the party are more than able to simply have her arrested and the information be forced out of her instead. Siressa contemplates this for a moment and suggests an alternative, should the Party beat her in a complicated game of chance, skill and deception then she will provide the information they seek free of charge. If, on the other hand she emerges victorious then payment shall be required if any secrets are to pass her lips. Our group of heroes and gambling addicts gather their heads together to discuss the next course of action and it is quickly agreed that they will accept Siressa's challenge. She smiles as they return to their seats around the table and she takes out a small pouch from her belt and empties a number of cubed dice onto the table. Siressa explains the rules of the game which most of the party pay attention to. With a sense of misplaced confidence our heroes settle in and the game of chance and deception begins.
Now it would normally be appropriate to describe in detail how this game unfolded but it appears that your trusty narrator was also one of the ones not paying close attention to proceedings but be comforted in the knowledge that after a series of dice rolls and accusations our heroes emerged victorious. The questioning of Siressa may begin without charge. Finn asks about her contact who helped to broker the various deals and she informs them that her contact was someone called Velaross whom she met with in a safe house beneath The Skewered Dragon Tavern, she warns the group that he keeps dangerous company and is often found with Mind Flayers. Despite trying to gain further information it appears that Siressa has told all that she knows and she begins to get up from the table, the group thank her for the information and warn her about her to be more vigilant in her future dealings. She bids them farewell and disappears into the crowd. Our heroes decide to plan their next steps over a drink and are presented with a rather pleasant Elvish ale and a solitary glass of water which Sigrid sips gratefully.
The Skewered Dragon seems to be the next breadcrumb in our group's quest but the mention of the possibility of encountering Mind Flayers fills them with a sense of unease. They decide that it would be best to inform the local Watch of their intentions and all of the information they have managed to gather thus far should the worst happen and they not return. Finishing up their drinks they leave the Elven Tavern and head towards The Skewered Dragon. En route they pay a visit to the City Watch and advise them of their plans. The Watch Captain thanks them for the heads up an assures them that his troops will remain vigilant. With those precautions taken care of our heroes head to The Skewered Dragon Inn. The tavern is as ramshackle a place as Finn and Farraine remember from when they were last here, the stench of beer and body odour is rife and almost perceptible to the human eye. As our group head deeper into the tavern the Barman recognises the faces of Farraine and Finn and bellows "Oi! You two, you're barred". A number of the more brutish patrons rise from their seats and start to head towards the party. For once Farraine tries to counter this hostility with reason, and attempts to calm down an increasingly tense situation. One of the local bar dwellers takes a swing at Farraine's head but he manages to nimbly dodge out of the way of the flying fist and quickly counters with a flurry of blows of his own. This seems to be the cue the other patrons were looking for and an all out brawl breaks out in the dilapidated tavern. It soon becomes apparent, however, that the patrons of The Skewered Dragon have somewhat underestimated how much our heroes have changed since they last saw them. No longer are they the fresh-faced adventurers they were when Finn and Farraine first caused a ruckus here. These adventurers are battle hardened and vastly more experienced than last time and as the sawdust and splintered furniture settles to the beer stained floor our heroes stand victorious and unscathed amongst a pile of bruised and bloodied brutes. "Er, what'll it be gentlemen, on the house of course" stammers the barman. Farraine walks over to the bar and leans in close to the barman's face. "Just take us to the basement, we have business to attend to".
The barman leads them through to the back room and down a series of steps to the basement. "Leave us" says Farraine and the barman quickly scurries back up the steps and begins the arduous task of cleaning up the broken furniture that lies scattered on the tavern floor. Back in the basement the party notice a flagstone in a darkened corner of the room has been moved to one side. Looking closer they see a ladder descending into darkness. One by one the party make their way down the ladder and into a darkened tunnel some 30ft below. They find themselves in a narrow passageway descending at a slight angle towards some water. they move closer to the water and Sigrid prods at it with her staff. The ripples slowly dissipate without incident. The party look at one another and wonder how best to tackle this. As they are about to enter the water Lucian suddenly remembers that he has a spell somewhere that might prove useful and after rummaging through his spell book he casts Water Breathing on the party. Slowly they descend into the murky water and swim along the submerged passage minutes pass before they emerge on the other side. They follow the winding passageway, Finn walking up ahead searching for any traps, no other sounds can be heard but their own footsteps. Rounding a corner the party begin to notice a foul smell of decay coming from up ahead. They edge forward cautiously and the passage opens up into a small room. In the centre of the room lays the source of the odour, the long dead remains of a fellow adventurer. Garrick checks the body for any possible booby traps before searching through the pockets of the late adventurer's clothes. He notices a small coin purse clasped in the withered hand of the body and reaches for it. As his hand gets closer to the purse it shifts and warps into the form of a deadly mimic. In a flash the mimic snaps it's teeth around Garrick's hand and begins to shake him violently. Garrick manages to get free from the mimic's vice-like grip. Farraine quickly steps into action and unleashes a number of attacks on the creature. There is a screech of pain as Farraine's blade cuts through it's flesh. Garrick manages to regain his composure and cast Toll of the Dead on the beastly creature and it howls once more. He quickly summons his spiritual weapon which shimmer's into existence and takes a swing at the writing mimic but the creature is able to dodge the attack. stepping from the shadows, Finn raises his crossbow and takes careful aim, firing a bolt deep into the heart of the beast. It lets out a final scream as the bolt pierces it's skin and falls limply to the floor.
"Well that was quick" murmurs Lucian, poking at the remains with his staff as Sigrid for reasons known only to herself throws her Onyx Dog at it. Garrick looks down at the wounds on his hand and casts a healing spell. His skin shimmers as the wounds begin to slowly close up leaving only faint scars as evidence of their existence. Taking some time to survey their surroundings, Finn moves from wall to wall searching for any hidden doorways or traps. Unfortunately it seems like the only route out of the room is to continue down the passage on the opposite side from where they entered. The party continue down the passage way until they see a green light coming from around a corner up ahead. Slowly they move closer and find that the light is coming from some kind of magical portal with menacing tentacles sprouting from it's edges, on the floor beneath it, some kind of writing has been etched into the stone. As the party move up to the portal they are each able to read the text, Garrick, with his helmet of Comprehending Languages grimaces as the text flickers between all known forms of linguistics, he quickly reaches up and removes the helmet and rubs his eyes. The inscription reads as follows:
A Castle made of brick and stone
Takes 20 years to make
The bricks I need to finish it
How many does it take?
The party stand confused for a moment, deep in thought.
"Wait! I have it" exclaims Finn, a look of pure joy on his face. "the answer is 1"
The rest of the party look unconvinced.
"The riddle asks how many does it take for it to be finished, well it only takes the final brick for it to be considered finished, it doesn't matter how many have been used up to that point as whatever number that might be the castle still wouldn't be finished until the final brick has been put in place. The answer is 1 I know it."
The other party members looks at each other as the Halfling begins to bounce up an down in excitement at his own genius.
"You know what, I think he may be on to something" says Lucian.
Finn wastes no time and walks up to the portal "One" he says. The portal shimmers slightly and becomes more solid, more tangible, the tentacles withdraw. Finn breathes a silent sigh of relief. The rest of the party join him and together they all step through the portal.
The group emerge in another darkened corridor, Farraine hears voices coming from up ahead. Sigrid wild shapes into the form of a bat and takes off to seek out the source of the conversation. Rounding a corner she is able to make out 2 distinct voices. One she doesn't recognise but the other belongs to none other than Lord Edgar Kormallis. The corridor opens up into a room and she flutters inside flying around as bat-like as she can she that the person speaking with Kormallis is a Red Wizard who ask Kormallis if he has been taking his medicine and the Lord replies that indeed he has. Before she attracts any further attention, Sigrid quickly flies back to the rest of the party and tells them what she was able to find out.
The party slowly make their way towards the room. Finn whispers to Lucian "Now whatever you do try not to hurt Lord Kormallis, I know what you get like with your fireballs". The Wizard casts the Halfling a disapproving stare but then punctuates it with a wry smile. Soon the passageway begins to open up, the room itself has a number of walls separating it into sections. The party edge into the room, being careful not to be spotted as they take their places, it appears there is a third person here, none other than a Mind Flayer, it's tentacled maw and elongated head move as he converses with the Red Wizard. They are talking about someone called Durnam and a possible doppelganger. It is at this point that Farraine accidentally kicks a stone as he tries to get closer, the Red Wizard looks over and notices the Fighter for the first time he utters words of power but Lucian is quick to counter it. What follows is likely to be studied in the annals of Adventurer Combat for years to come. A master class of battlefield control and efficient attacks. Garrick immediately tries to banish the Mind Flayer with a spell, a wise tactic that unfortunately is unsuccessful. He also conjures his spiritual weapon to assist the party on the battlefield. Sigrid then conjures animals and a giant constrictor snake appears at the feet of the Mind Flayer and wraps itself around the creature. Seeing the Mind Flayer incapacitated Finn turns his attention to the Red Wizard and raises his crossbow and gently squeezes the trigger. A bolt flies from the bow and buries itself in the shoulder of the Wizard. Farraine then steps forward towards the struggling Mind Flayer and unsheathes his blade he winds up for a flurry of attacks but after the first one hits, the Mind Flayer seems to warp space around him and disappears to the other side of the room. The fighter curses under his breath as he pivots and directs the rest of his attacks on the unfortunate Red Wizard. Blood spurts from the numerous wounds carved into his body and he slumps to the floor dead.
"Where did Squidward go?" shouts Lucian, Farraine points to the Mind Flayer, the Wizard moves out from cover and unleashes a chain of magical lightning from his fingertips in the direction at the enemy, who is still struggling to free himself from the constrictor snake. Small arcs of electricity move across the Mind Flayers body as Garrick cast his own Moonbeam spell on the creature. It's howls of agony immediately cut off by the blows from Garrick's spiritual weapon. Shocked slightly from the electrified quarry in its grasp the constrictor snake unleashes an attack of its own as it bites the Mind Flayer's arm.
"Get behind me" Sigrid tells Kormallis, the Lord rushes over and cowers behind the Druid as another bolt from Finn's crossbow pierces the chest of the Mind Flayer. Farraine once more moves up to the Mind Flayer and unleashes another whirlwind of attacks with his sword but once more after the first one hits the Mind Flayer warps the space around it and disappears to the other side of the room.
"I'm getting sick of this" the Fighter curses. The Mind Flayer then attacks the snake, it hisses in pain and releases the Mind Flayer from its grip before freezing solid. Lucian reacts immediately and casts a giant spectral hand which envelopes the Mind Flayer once more. Garrick moves closer to the struggling Mind Flayer and calls forth his Spiritual Guardians, their spectral forms gliding in circles around the Cleric the Mind Flayer howls in pain as they pass through its body. Garrick's spiritual weapons then hits the Mind Flayer causing it to scream once more, blood oozes from the many wounds covering its body. Just in case, Sigrid casts another spell to entangle the Mind Flayer should it manage to escape the spectral hand. Finn unleashes a spell of his own and ice crystals form over the Mind Flayers body as Farraine once more swings his blade at the head of the bloodied enemy, there is a sickening sound as blade meats skin, the Mind Flayer once more warps from sight, reappearing on the other side of the room only this time it seems to have forgotten its head. Our heroes have once more emerged victorious and surprisingly without a scratch on them.
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