"If I may beg your pardon Sirs, M'Lady. I know things are a little intense at the moment but there is the matter of our guest in the cellar. I believe he may be able to provide some useful information, with the appropriate motivation of course" says the barman, giving Farraine a knowing wink.
Farraine immediately gets up, a smile crossing his face. Finn places a hand on his arm "Wait" says the young Halfling, "I have faith in your abilities to garner information from people, but given the current mood of a number of the city's patrons I think it would be unwise to conduct 'persuasive negotiations' on the premises, not to mention on our authority. Perhaps it would be best to contact the City Watch and see if they can offer some Official Assistance in the matter"
Farraine looks down at the Halfling, his smile fading slowly into a scowl as he begins to realise that Finn may have a point, the last thing they need is another angry mob at the door.
"Very well, do what you must"
Finn gets up from his seat and heads out of Trollskull Manor in the direction of the City Watch Headquarters. When he arrives he is greeted by Commander Seth Crawley, "Good morning, Master Hilltopple, what trouble have you managed to cause this time?". Finn explains to the Commander that the suspected culprit in the spreading of the lies about Lucian, is currently being held in the cellar of Trollskull Manor and whilst he and his friends may have the authority to question the suspect as they see fit, he believes that it would be best to do things 'by the book' on this occasion. Commander Crawley agrees with Finn's assessment of the situation and immediately dispatches a patrol to head to Trollskull Manor and retrieve the prisoner. Finn and the Commander head back to Trollskull Manor and arrive shortly after the patrol has collected the suspect. Ozen hands over the bag of coins he appropriated from the suspect, less the cost of repairs to the establishment caused by the scuffle. The party and Commander Crawley make their way the the Castle Dungeons where their suspect is getting acquainted with his secure accommodation. Farraine moves up to the bars of the prison cell and smiles at the chained figure, one of the guards steps forward and unlocks the iron door and Farraine steps in.
"Now, let's get things straight, we know that you have been spreading malicious rumours about Lucian and you are currently in possession of information that we would also like to know. Now I will be able to get that information from you, one way or another. So the question is how easy do you want me to make it for you?"
The prisoner remains silent. "Where did you get the money?"
The Prisoner looks up at Farraine "I don't know anything" he pleads.
"Just break his fingers" Says Garrick from the other side of the bars. Farraine is slightly surprised by the Cleric's willingness to resort to violence so quickly but he recovers in the blink of an eye and snatches one of the hands of the prisoner. Grasping one of his fingers tightly there is a snap followed by a scream of pain.
"Okay, okay" he wails, "I was given the money by a benefactor"
Another snap and another scream, Commander Crawley turns and walks out of the room, his guards following behind him.
"Look, I didn't want to do it, I needed the money" says the captive, looking and his mangled fingers.
"Who gave you the money, who told you to spread these rumours?" asks Farraine.
The prisoner remains silent, Farraine grabs another finger and yanks it from its socket. It appears that 3 is indeed the magic number and the prisoner begins to tell Farraine all that he knows. With tears running down his cheeks, he tells of how he joined the Sea Spiders, that the Ship's Captain had met him in The Black Tankard and paid him to spread the rumours about Lucian and the rest of the Heroes of Waterdeep to sully their reputation for none other than Severin Silrajin. Garrick steps forward and places his hands softly on the prisoner's twisted fingers, a healing glow illuminates the room briefly. Finn calls for Commander Crawley who comes back into the room, flanked by a couple of guards.
"I heard what he said" says Crawley, "I'll make sure that he provides a full confession and send it out to the press. It should help with your Wizard's situation somewhat." With that, the party bid the Commander farewell and head back to Trollskull Manor where Ozen prepares for them a meal. As they sit around their usual table, conversation turns to Sigrid's current predicament.
"So are we going to sort this out or what?" asks Finn.
"It is surprisingly comfortable" replies Sigrid.
"That may be so, but I'm not pushing you around for the rest of our adventures. Besides what if the next place we have to fight through has stairs? We can't be accepting jobs based on their accessibility provisions now can we"
Sigrid frowns at the realisation of the impracticality of her situation. "Fine, what did you have in mind Master Hilltopple?"
Finn takes a small piece of parchment from his pocket and begins writing.
"To Vajra Safahr, Sorry to trouble you at this time but we are in need of your assistance. It appears that Sigrid has got herself into a rather sticky situation during our most recent expedition. Despite our warnings it seems curiosity got the better of her when we entered a room with a chair sat opposite a statue of a snake. To cut a long story short, we made it out alive but Sigrid is now permanently stuck to the chair. If there is anything that can be done to remedy the situation we would be most grateful. Yours Sincerely Finnegan Hilltopple". Folding the message, Finn heads outside and finds an street urchin and calls him over. Finn gives him instructions to deliver the message to Blackstaff Tower and hands him a silver piece for his troubles. The boy thanks him for his generosity and sprints off down the street. The Halfling returns to the rest of the party and takes his seat as Ozen is refilling their tankards.
After a couple of hours the door of the tavern opens and the urchin boy rushes in grasping a small potion bottle in one hand a note in the other. He hands the notes to Finn, who opens it up and begins to read "Master Hilltopple, I have created a potion that should remove the effects of the spell. It needs to be applied to the affected area carefully and should work immediately. May I remind you and your party that interacting with suspicious objects is potentially dangerous and foolhardy and there are some magics that even I cannot undo. Yours Vajra Safahr". Looking up from the note Finn takes the potion from the urchin and hands him another silver piece. He then looks from the potion to Sigrid's aged backside and back to the potion.
"Any volunteers?" asks the Halfling. Lucian, Garrick and Farraine suddenly find their tankards the most wonderous items in the Forgotten Realms and remain silently transfixed.
Finn hands the potion bottle to the urchin boy and asks if he would apply the potion to the geriatric glutes, he agrees and uncorks the bottle. Slowly and with a little bit too much rubbing the boy applies the liquid to Sigrid's backside. After a bit of hissing, that they all hope is part of the potions effect, Sigrid slowly gets to her feet. Tossing a gold coin at the boy she quickly heads off to the bathroom with a surprising turn of speed. The rest of the party talk with raised voices, trying to block out the noises coming from the toilet. After an extended period of time a rather exhausted Sigrid returns to the party and they resume their drinks and discuss their recent failure to recover The Heart of Ashardalon.
All of a sudden the door bursts open once more and Renaer Neverember enters the tavern and makes his way over to our band of heroes. "I have news, friends. We have received word of the whereabouts of Talis The White. We have been told that she is currently located in a mountain fortress in the Anauroch Desert known as The Tomb of the Demi-Lich."
"Well that sounds inviting" says Finn with more than a hint of sarcasm. However they agree to assist and head out to investigate further. They quickly finish their drinks and gather their gear before heading off in the direction of their two remaining Wyverns to transport them to their destination.
Below the 2 Wyverns, city becomes forest, forest dwindles into desert and mountains loom on the horizon. On the other side of the mountain range they sport a deep depression in the valley below, this is where their quarry lies. Swooping down to the ground our heroes, leap from their mounts at the mouth of a cave that narrows to a single long corridor. Brightly coloured rocks pave the floor and walls. On one of the walls stands a 2 headed jackal/humanoid figure holding a bronze chest. Finn slowly walks up to it and inspects it carefully but it doesn't appear as if there is anything overly unusual about it, aside from the 2 heads of course. The party follow the Halfling down the corridor as he scours the stone floor for any possible traps. as he takes a step forward he feels a soft click beneath his foot and he leaps back just in time as the floor swings drops down to reveal a spiked floor some 30ft below.
"Watch your step everyone" Finn says, as the floor slowly returns to its original position. Bending down, the Halfling takes out a dagger from his belt and jams it into the mechanism, stopping it from triggering again. Finn continues to slowly walk down the corridor, his skilled eyes examining the stonework ahead of him, his feet gliding gently and purposely with each step. Sigrid takes out the onyx dog statue and conjures the animal from within. The furry pooch pushes past Finn and trots off down the corridor with reckless abandon and almost immediately disappears from sight, there is a wail followed by a squelch as it is impaled on the spikes below. Finn looks to Sigrid with an accusatory stare before returning his gaze to the path before them. Each step, carefully planned and thoroughly scouted beforehand as our party make their way slowly down the corridor. Eventually they reach the end and on the wall directly infront of them is a large carved face in the shape of some devilish creature, it's mouth frozen in a horrific, demonic scream.
To their left there is an open archway, beyond which, vapours swirl mysteriously. Finn inspects the arch closely and discovers three coloured gems; a yellow one to the left, an orange one to the right and a blue one in the keystone above.
Turning to the carved face, the Halfling conjures his mage hand and fists the mouth of the devil, it disappears immediately. "Well that's ominous" he says. Scanning the walls and the archway reveals nothing of note to the party. "Perhaps we need to place our hand in the mouth, it may be some kind of sacrificial thing" he says looking directly at Farraine who returns his gaze with a shake of his head. "Anyone?", silence. "Fine", the Halfling rolls up his sleeve and slowly pushes his hand into the gaping maw of the carved head. A pain unlike anything else he has ever experienced shoots from his hand up to his shoulder. Quickly pulling his arm from the hole, blood drips from a number of wounds. Finn's shock turns to disappointment as he realises that nothing else happened, despite his heroic sacrifice.
Whilst Finn chugs a healing potion the rest of the party investigate the coloured gems and discover that they can be pressed. Farraine tries pressing the yellow gem to the left, as it recesses into the stonework there is a click before it slowly returns to its original position. Nothing else happens. The fighter then presses the orange one and it to sinks into the stonework and clicks then moves back to its resting state. Once again nothing of note happens and the swirling vapours on the other side remain. "Perhaps they all have to be pressed at the same time", suggests Farraine. With that, Lucian gives Sigrid a boost so that she may reach the blue gem whilst Garrick and Farraine take the yellow and orange ones. "After 3, 1....2...3!". They each press the gems into the stone, 3 clicks, then....nothing.
The party step back from the arch despondently, surely they aren't completely beaten already. After a short period of self reflection, Farraine suddenly exclaims "Hang on, I just remembered. This necklace of mine protects me from harmful gases, I can just step through and see what happens". With that, the fearless fighter steps into the mystical vapours and disappears from sight. The party look to one another in surprise and trepidation, "Where did he go?" asks Garrick. Sigrid closes her eyes as she tries to magically locate Farraine.
"He's close by" She exclaims. Lucian needs no further information and brazenly steps into the gaseous corridor. He too immediately disappears from sight. Not wanting to be split up and with nothing else happening at the moment, Garrick, Finn (with his familiar, Binky) and Sigrid follow their friends into the swirling mists. There is a blinding flash, when they open their eyes once more they find themselves in a cramped room, on the wall in front of them are 3 wooden levers which can be moved either up, down, left or right. They search their surroundings for anything that may offer some hint as to where they have found themselves and more importantly how they can get themselves out. Binky flies upward to the ceiling and reports back that it does appear there is something about it, perhaps it will move if the levers are placed in the right position.
Finn moves over to the levers and inspects them closely to see if there is any indication of their correct position but is disappointed to find that all three look identical. The Halfling appears to have reached 'Fuck it' and moves the levers into a random position, unsurprisingly, nothing happens. He tries again and again, and again, and believe it or not thrice more. Each time with each combination of positions nothing happens and the party remain trapped in the confined space. Finn then tries the combination of setting each of the levers to the downwards position. There is a click, the Halfling smiles triumphantly. Then the floor beneath them gives way and they plummet towards a set of deadly iron spikes. Lucian quickly casts a Feather Fall spell and their momentum recedes gliding gently to the ground below.
The party find themselves 30 feet below the cramped room they were once in with no other mean of escape, their only way out is back the way they came. "Sigrid, why don't you turn into one of your animal forms and carry us back up? A giant spider perhaps would be able to scale these walls" suggests Garrick. The Druid considers the idea. "Perhaps a gecko instead" she replies.
"And how, exactly would you take us with you if you're a gecko?" asks Lucian, shaking his head.
"Good point" replies Sigrid. With no other suggestions forthcoming, Sigrid morphs into a Giant Spider and Farraine leaps onto her back as she scales the rocky walls back to the top of the shaft. "Now what?" shouts Farraine as they reach their destination.
"Spin a web and you should be able to stay up there until whilst she comes and gets us" shouts Finn.
Sigrid spins a small web and Farraine takes a seat whilst she heads back down to collect the rest of the party. One by one they are returned to the cramped space. When they are all sat on the webbing, Finn moves each of the levers back to their original position and the floor swings back into place. He then pushes each of the levers upwards and above them the ceiling swings down to reveal a dark opening above. Binky flies upwards into the dark space above and tells of a passageway leading north. Finn quickly retrieves his grappling hook from his backpack and throws it up into the darkness. he heaves on the rope and begins to pull himself up. Whilst he and Binky wait for the other to join them Finn calls Binky over to him.
"May I ask you something?" the Halfling whispers to the Imp "Aren't you supposed to be immune to fire?"
The mischievous creature smiles at Finn, "Maybe" he chuckles.
"So why did you let me think that Lucian kept killing you?"
"Never liked him, thought that he might actually start to show some kind of remorse, but he never did, not even when he torched those poor slaves on the ship. He's a heartless bugger that one."
"No he isn't, he's just a little...er...inconsiderate at times" replies Finn "Regardless though, I need you to stick around from now on, no more messing with Lucian, okay?"
The Imp nods slowly as the rest of the party make their way up the rope. Once they have all made their way up they begin to head down the dark corridor, carefully stepping between a series of large metal spikes. At the end of the tight corridor they notice small specks of light coming from above. Binky flies up and notices that it is one of the traps they had found when they first entered this place but he is unable to open it. Instead Finn climbs on Spider Sigrid and together they are able to force the trapdoor open. As they emerge into the bright light of the stone corridor they find themselves right back at the beginning. Finn lets down a rope and Lucian, Farraine and Garrick join him in the entrance corridor.
"Well that was completely pointless" says Garrick as they take in their surroundings once more. "Perhaps we should take a closer look at that statue this time. Everything else we have tried so far has just led to almost certain death or capture". Finn walks over to the statue and runs his fingers gently over the bronze chest in the hands of the statue. Finding a small needle trap he reaches for his tools and disarms it before the lock clicks open. The bottom of the chest opens and a large diamond falls out and into the palm of the Halfling.
The Cleric walks over to Finn and inspects the wall around it carefully. "Oi, Finn, I thought you said there was nothing interesting about this thing" he says pointing at some kind of button.
"Ah, yeah, I must have missed that, er, stand back, I got this." replies Finn who steps back from the statue and once more conjures his Mage Hand into existence. The hand extends a finger and presses the button. There is a click and the sound of stone moving against stone as the wall slides away to reveal a doorway at the end of a short corridor.
"After all that shit, the door was here all along! For fuck's sake!" shouts Farraine.
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