Category:Perestroika

From Enlil

Still in Serriyam, the party finds their feet with the help of Julian. They go about dealing with Bladelaw and The Hammers, creating a unified front within the city, and through their actions, tear down a segment of the city wall.

[edit] Collected journal entries

In this session, we discussed what to do with our new information received from Mr. Poe. We discussed his proposition, and Aaron, Laucian, Beatrix, and Solomon decided to accept the compensation delivered by Julian, while Liesl declined. The party parted ways with Julian and proceeded to hike back to the temple, buying some fruit from a cart along the way. The adventurers heard a scream down an alley during the walk, and rushed to the aid of a woman who was surrounded by some orcs. After eliminating the orcs (none escaped to get reinforcements) and stabilizing the woman's condition, the party anxiously anticipated finding out what that was all about.

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	The following information comes from Solomon Knotbeard.
	Solomon has learned of many topics through his years of research, and is an avid archivist. He has managed to pick up a lot of random facts, and has dabbled in many esoteric topics.

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I returned to my family's house after dining with the party and settled in for a short stay where I would be able to focus on learning my new spell. My father permitted me use of his study, and I set to work.

After a night's sleep, I resumed the preparations for a few hours when I heard a great commotion downstairs. Several individuals were speaking in raised voices, culminating in my mother ordering someone to leave and slamming the door. I walked to the top of the staircase, where my parents informed me that orcs would be forcibly entering very soon. Apparently they were seeking a young, male dwarf. I contemplated my options while my parents grabbed crossbows and my grandfather an axe.

Before I had an opportunity to truly contemplate the situation, the door broke down. I decided to act as quickly as I could. I assumed the orcs had at least spotted my vague form, but I wished to disguise myself by some means. Realizing that drastically changing my shape or size would draw unwanted attention, I altered myself into the form of a female dwarf of comparable age (accentuating my feminine characteristics on the off chance that these orcs were unable to easily tell the difference between male and female dwarves). I ran down the stairs and begged both sides to not resort to violence, as the young dwarf sought was not here.

Little to my surprise, my pacifist pleas were ignored and a bloody battle ensued. Ever since childhood, I had always heard my grandfather tell the tales of when he was the valiant Solomon Kilrudikud, whirling around the battlefield like a cyclone of death. If his present fighting skills are any indication of how good he was in his prime, he has been selling himself short. As my peace tactics had proven useless, I took to slinging a few magical missiles of my own, and in short time we had killed or incapacitated all of the orcs but their captain. Unfortunately, he escaped. Elder Solomon, sadly, was badly wounded, as was my father.

My family and I fortified the house and I ran out to acquire some extra healing potions for my injured grandfather and father. When I returned, we completed fortifications and I crossed my fingers, hoping that Dunash might return with some of his friends to provide sorely-needed reinforcements.

It was at this point that I realized separating from the party to avoid holding them up was probably unwise. Crap.

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	The following information comes from Liesl Thistledown.
	Liesl's inquisitive mind and earnest approach to situations makes her an excellent observer.

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We discussed our current situation with Darius. Currently, the army of Ungerholt is arriving in two days, the army of Thune in four. Residents of the city need to be convinced that the upcoming fight against Ungerholt is winnable, for which we need the arms and equipment of Bladelaw.

To that end, we set out for the house of Henrik Horntooth, as figuring out his secrets is apparently what will ingratiate us with the Bladelaw gang. Aaron unlocked the gate surrounding the apartment in case we needed to make a fast entry or exit. The upper floor of the building was well lit, so Aaron slipped onto the ground floor and explored.

Outside, the rest of us watched the upper floor for signs of life. Beatrix spotted a man fitting the description of Henrick. We waited a few moments, but decided to act quickly when he showed signs of hearing noises below.

I strode through the gates and pounded loudly on the door. To my surprise, it was answered by Mr. Monsanto himself! I caught the sight of a foot fleeing back up the stairs, so of course I followed! Aaron informed us that he had found a body in the basement, so it is perhaps best that his description bookend mine.

I went up to the second story and was confronted with the sight of a middle aged woman in drab clothing, clutching a crossbow. She claimed to be a cleaning lady, but having maintained my own impeccable residence, dear reader, I can tell you that a crossbow is not an implement of cleanliness--quite the opposite, in fact, as they tend to leave behind somewhat of a mess!

After refusing to put down the crossbow and shooting me with a bolt (it happens) she attempted to negotiate. We were skeptical of her, based on the body in the basement, but as I tried to negotiate, she lept out the window!

The party ran out of the house, excepting Mr. Monsanto, whose spryness continues to amaze, who jumped out of the window! (Note: try this in the future?) Beatrix, who was standing guard, had managed to grapple the armed cleaning lady. Others joined in the grapple, but she managed to shake us off and ran into the night...

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	The following information comes from Aaron Monsanto.
	Aaron has a way of seeing things that others look past, and his insights should not be disregarded lightly.

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They mystery surrounding Mr. Henrick Horntooth continues to grow, though I am begining to have my theories on what is happening, and they involve an imposter!. As Liesl's account has mentioned, we decided, upon hearing that Ungerholt's approach was eminent that we needed to ingratiate ourselves to Bladelaw as quickly as possible. To that end we determined to head back to Horntooth's home and fully investigate. Upon arriving I determined that someone needed to enter the home and take a quick look around, and it seemed that I was probably the best person to do it. I hopped the fence, and unlocked the gate, in case the others needed to enter quickly should there be trouble (And boy am I glad I did!). Anyway I stealthily entered the first window I found, and entered in to a small office. It was I must say, a huge mess, and believe me I've seen a few pretty big messes in my time. If the woman in question was indeed a cleaning woman, she didn't do a very good job in that room!

I cant say for sure, but it looked to me like someone had fairly recently (maybe today maybe earlier) ransacked the place as if they needed to find something rather quickly. I did my own cursory look around, and found little of interest except what appeared to be a journal left on the center of the desk. I won't go into detail just yet one what appeared to be in the journal, but I am rather suspicious about it.

Regardless, as I moved through the lower level of the house I found a small, fairly unremarkable kitchen, which seemed to have a trapdoor leading down to a cellar of some sort. Something told me I'd better investigate, I am glad I did!

Upon entering the cellar at first I only saw a few shelves filled with canned goods and other things you'd expect to find in a place like that. Then as I looked to my feet I came face to face with a mummified body! I'm not expert but I'd say it'd be down there for some time, several weeks at least, maybe even months, the cool dry air preserved it pretty well. I've never really gotten a good up close look at Mr. Horntooth but this body sure fit the description I'd been given. I was about to look some more when I heard Leisl pounding on the door saying it was important. I had a split second to decide what to do, and fearing that I was about to be discovered, or that some other sinister fate was about to befall me, I decided I'd better let her in. Upon answering the door, I found a very Surprised looking Liesl and Solomon waiting there. I heard and noticed out of the corner of my eye a foot moving up the stairs, as if someone had been on their way down and I had scared them back up, but before I had a chance to question the situation, Liesl, ever quick to react to changing circumstances, barged up the stairway after the fellow. I followed along and we came face to face the crossbow weilding woman in question. I will say that I am ever impressed with Ms. Thistledowns willingness and ability to take injury to get directly at a problem. Quite different from my own approach but it seems to be just as effective in the end. Anyway, the woman was a quick, and attempted to give us the slip by leaping out the nearest window. She didn't count on one such as Beatrix waiting outside for her or on my acrobatic skills, and we soon had her grappled. However despite my best efforts to tie her up, she managed to slip free and we were forced to give chase once more...

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	The following information comes from Aaron Monsanto.
	Aaron has a way of seeing things that others look past, and his insights should not be disregarded lightly.

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This woman has begun to annoy me. She's quick and determined, I'll certainly give her that! Our chase continued after this woman. We followed her around several corners, nearly catching her several times but she remained just ahead of us the whole time. Laucian showed up, and seemed to launch into some odd oratory, trying to convince her to stop. Unsurprisingly, this did not convince her and the chase continued. We managed to get her cornered briefly, but she managed to slip past us, though Laucian did get a fairly solid knock on her with his staff. She disappeared into a very old empty house, and when we followed, we found a rather deep hole in the kitchen, which seemed to lead into a tunnel of some sort. I have a feeling we've pretty conclusively found our link between Horntooth and In His Shadow. We only need to determine what to do now, follow her or secure that body and get in touch with Bladelaw.

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	The following information comes from Liesl Thistledown.
	Liesl's inquisitive mind and earnest approach to situations makes her an excellent observer.

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I'm ready to see how far down this rabbithole goes!

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	The following information comes from Liesl Thistledown.
	Liesl's inquisitive mind and earnest approach to situations makes her an excellent observer.

---

We paused for a moment to evaluate our options--while obviously the desire of my stalwart companions and I was to leap into the unknown in pursuit of the strange cleaning lady, we also worried that the evidence of Henrick's demise (namely, the corpse) might be removed while we were off on adventures in subterranean parts unknown.

Beatrix volunteered to fetch Julian and guard the premises, so the remainder of the party bid her farewell and down we tumbled (well, only Aaron tumbled) into the darkness!

The passageway in the abandoned house appeared to link up to the under-city catacombs we'd encountered on our entry into Serriyam. We ran after our suspect, following her trail up a flight of stairs, into what appeared to be an above-ground tomb.

We sprang out into the open air to find ourselves, not unsurprisingly, in a graveyard.

(Personal note: What is it about evil that compels those held in its thrall to graveyards, tombs, and catacombs? Through personal observation of my own encounters with evil, they seem to gain little to no benefits by frequenting the resting places of the deceased. Could it be, perhaps, a matter of style? I cast my own eyes to my rather coarse cloak and ponder the implication: is evil such an attractive force in the world because it is sexier and more flashy? I will speak with Aaron on the matter of style, I think. While I think that it is beyond me to add any flourishes to my austere lifestyle, perhaps his large hats can serve a larger purpose in the pursuit of justice.)

As we emerged from the tomb, we heard the unmistakable sound of an arcane chant--we found ourselves faced with a wizard and the cleaning lady, wielding the same crossbow she'd shot me with earlier. The soon-invisible wizard summoned a horde of scorpions, but Solomon managed to pin him to the ground and render him semi-visible with a web spell. I waded through the web and killed him with one blow.

Meanwhile, the party members who found themselves fighting with the cleaning lady were shocked to observe her cast aside her human form and shift into a strange grey being! Her shape-shifting abilities were unable to save her, however, and she was soon vanquished as well.

Now we pause to evaluate our options and see what evidence and spoils our enemies have left...

[edit] See also

• Two letters in Serriyam

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	The following information comes from Aaron Monsanto.
	Aaron has a way of seeing things that others look past, and his insights should not be disregarded lightly.

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After defeating the Wizard, and that shape changer, we took a moment to evaluate what they were carrying and what we should do next. We found that the Wizard was carrying a quantity of gold, a scroll, some rather trivial items, that Solomon assures me are important for casting spells, and most importantly two letters. These letters seemed to indicate that the shape changer was in the employ of In His Shadow and was working to give some of their assassins a moment to attack and kill Mr. Bladelaw. We also found that the shape changer was carrying a rather large sum of money, some sort of oil (later identified as something with which to enchant magical items), and a rather mysterious broken glass amulet. After this search we moved back toward the home of Mr. Horntooth, and awaited the arrival of Julian and a number of Bladelaw's men. When they arrived we quickly showed them all the evidence we had collected, and departed to warn Bladelaw of the potential assassination plan.

At The Peacock we spoke with Erik Surefoot about what we had found. We were thanked for our information and told we could meet with Bladelaw at his home later that evening. Seeing no reason to wait we all proceeded to the home of Bladelaw, a rather palatial (and busy!) manor, and came face to face with the man we'd been hoping to talk to for quite some time! Solomon's account does a find job of covering the rest of the meeting and evening until we all took our leave and rested in the fine quarters supplied by Mr. Bladelaw.

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	The following information comes from Solomon Knotbeard.
	Solomon has learned of many topics through his years of research, and is an avid archivist. He has managed to pick up a lot of random facts, and has dabbled in many esoteric topics.

---

Mr. Bladelaw has quite the impressive estate -- I myself have never been inside before. Indulging our party in a most exquisite spread of fine food and drink (especially considering the late hour!), the august Bladelaw granted us an audience and discussed with us plans for the coming invasion. Through some diplomacy, Laucian and Liesl brought him to our way of thinking: That his well-trained men and access to extensive armaments could definitely help destabilize any hold Ungerholt can get on the city before Thune's men arrive. We set a meeting for 1pm at the house of my parents (great-granddad is going to be really excited about this, I feel) with representatives of Bladelaw's crew, The Hammers, and The Serryic Knights. Bladelaw was, however, sadly unable to shed much light on the activities or whereabouts of members of In His Shadow, but he did seem to approve of our goal to get to Omil's library before they do after the anticipated fall of the city. Most exciting, if you ask me. We were given access to a mage who identified a number of our items for free (no small bargain there!) and we were escorted to some very fine lodgings.

Tomorrow should be a very auspicious day for ourselves and for Serriyam.

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	The following information comes from Aaron Monsanto.
	Aaron has a way of seeing things that others look past, and his insights should not be disregarded lightly.

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After making a quick trip to the Serryic Knights head quarters, we informed Darius of the meeting and then proceeded toward the Knotbeard home. Once there we were delighted to find the way cleared and quite a bit of security. The leaders all met and then decided to use on of the upstairs rooms to have their meeting. Meanwhile the rest of us stayed downstairs and enjoyed tales of adventure from Solomon's grandfather, and the wonderful hospitality of his mother. After a matter of an hour or so the leaders of the various groups emerged and announced they had come to an agreement to fight for the freedom of the city. This was met with much rejoicing.

We all then escorted Darius back to the Serryic Knights headquarters and then proceeded over to the Temple to make some preperations and find out how things stood there.

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	The following information comes from Solomon Knotbeard.
	Solomon has learned of many topics through his years of research, and is an avid archivist. He has managed to pick up a lot of random facts, and has dabbled in many esoteric topics.

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After tending to some business with the temple, the we made way back to the Serryic Knights' headquarters and laid out some basic strategy for the next morning before getting to bed early. We woke the next morning and made our way to the area in front of the city gate. Aaron and Laucian snuck through some carts in an abandoned marketplace, where they met up with Yarin. Liesl and I snuck around between barracks, noting that caltrops had been left underneath the windows of the barracks to slow the exit of any troops. The gate seemed to be sparsely guarded, with the ogre standing at the gate and two orcs standing outside the West gate. Liesl made a frontal assault on the ogre, surprising it greatly, while Solomon summoned a celestial dog and Laucian and Aaron sniped from the shadows. Liesl was able to gut the ogre and we killed another orc before one escaped into the West tower. I have a feeling we're going to see more resistance than this before our task is over.

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	The following information comes from Solomon Knotbeard.
	Solomon has learned of many topics through his years of research, and is an avid archivist. He has managed to pick up a lot of random facts, and has dabbled in many esoteric topics.

---

We made our way over to the East tower and came under fire from the arrow slits in the tower. Defensive structures are so useful! Laucian created a smoke screen to provide some cover and Aaron was able to pick the lock to the tower door. Three orcs were waiting and I was able to use a spell to render one unconscious. My feeling of satisfaction lasted only a moment or two, as Liesl promptly used her long sword to cleave through one of the conscious orcs and well into the one I'd put to sleep. Laucian silenced part of the tower, and we fought our way up the stairs. We did battle with more orcs and a mage all the way up the staircase until I was able to jump up to the second level and reshape the stone support for the tower into the form of some useless-looking aquatic mammal -- it seemed like a structurally unsound thing for me to do -- and we fled. Upon exiting the building, we decided to head West, to get out of the way of the siege weapons and retreat with the other team. We heard, but did not see, somebody fall from the West tower -- I sincerely hope it wasn't a friend. Without much time to dwell on that, however, I saw a Griffon fly over the wall in our direction. I've read about these beasts before... and while I'm not entirely sure how much I should be afraid of it... the damn thing is pretty impressive looking.

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	The following information comes from Aaron Monsanto.
	Aaron has a way of seeing things that others look past, and his insights should not be disregarded lightly.

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My what an exciting battle! Battle is always a rather frightening and dangerous thing, but it can also be quite exhilarating! Where to start recounting what happened?! Solomon has already given a very good account of the first part of the battle, so I will only attempt to sum up my perspective and perhaps add some color to his account before moving on to the most unexpected part of the battle. We began by almost flawlessly executing our plan to deal with the Ogre. I felt quite good about the shot I fired with my crossbow, I really think I hit a pretty vulnerable place on that Ogre. Liesl of course delivered the most damage to the creature but we all managed to do some damage to the beast, and avoided a prolonged battle with the creature. We then proceeded to attack the Orcs and make our way to the tower we needed to take care of. In the process we saw a few members of the other team making their assault on the other tower. It seems they were quite successful and impressive as well. But anyway! after fighting and dodging arrows we were able to make it over to the door of the tower, where I easily picked the lock, and gained us entry. I soon ran up the stairs, only to have an arrow shot at me, and to come face to face with some sort of Shaman or something with a skull necklace. I did not remain there long. Luckily once the whole group was together we were able to make a very effective assault on the the denizens of the tower. Laucian had already very effectively silenced the area, and Solomon seemed to have little trouble re-shaping the base support of the tower into what I can only assume was some sort of sea-creature.

Upon leaving the tower though, we were quickly to come face to face with some sort of beast with several of the characteristics, not only of a bird but also of what I believe is called a lion. Solomon said it was called a Griffon. Whatever it was, it was very large and very aggressive. Upon sighting it, it was clear this creature was going to be trouble for us. Where did such a creature come from? Where did the enemy keep it? Why hadn't we seen or heard about it before? These are all questions I intend to find the answers to. But first an account of the battle, and how it was defeated. I hope that such information can be helpful to some future reader should they ever encounter such a ghastly creature. In the chaos of the battle I may have lost some details, but I still think that my account may be of help to any future adventurers who happen to read this.

Upon the start of the battle one of my magic using colleagues summoned an eagle to help us in our battle, and the brave creature did what it could against a MUCH larger foe, though sadly it could serve as little more than a distraction to the beast. As I recall the creatures first target was our stalwart Mage Solomon, who managed to survive (though just barely it appeared) one of the most devastating and aggressive attacks I have ever witnessed. The flying creature dove as fast as it could toward our Dwarven ally and ripped into him with is claws. Seeing my friend in such distress, I dropped my crossbow and dove toward him, healing potion in hand. He drank the potion and I do believe it may have saved his life.

Meanwhile Laucian began to fire arrows at the creature, and Leisl bravely ran up next to it and began to attack with her sword.

Upon finding Solomon in better shape, I determined that if Leisl and I could flank the creature we both might be able to attack more effectively while it had to attempt to deal with both of us. I did what was possibly one of the stupidest things I've ever tried (but also one of the most thrilling!) and tumbled underneath the creature to get to the other side. Several times while tumbling I nearly lost control, but I managed to pull it together and got to the other side intact and in a position to deliver a serious blow with my trusty rapier. Looking back on things I think I've figured out a few ways to make my attacks even more devastating when I find an enemy unable to defend properly against them. One of our allies from the other tower (at least I presume that's who) seems to have fire off some sort of magical attack, and I believe that our old friend Yarin was able to deliver a surprise attack on the creature with one of his many crossbows, though I wasn't at an angle to see this particular attack. Once the creature was dead, the other strike team began to leave their tower, and we all made our hasty escape, stopping just long enough to appreciate the ploom of dust that went up once the siege equipment did it's job on the gate. If this turns out to be as inspiring an example to the people as I hope it will, this town might just have a future!

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Lost in Serriyam	Perestroika	Chasing Away the Shadows