Shackled City, Chapter 3: Flood Season – March 26th
I was standing outside Orek’s bath house and saw some guards approaching. I went back inside and informed the others. Hawk wasn’t around. The guards came in and we turned Triel over to them. They asked about her stuff since she is bound and naked. They then asked if we found her this way. I responded that we found her naked in the bath. Tom also informed them that she confessed to being apart of Sarcem’s murder. The guards led her away in manacles.
We discussed about what to do next. DaVid, Jax, and Xiloscant were going to check out the spell-component shops to see if they can find anything out regarding Skaven. Tom and I decided to take the wands and Triel’s stuff to Jenya to see about getting them identified.
Jenya told us that three of the four wands are wands of water control and the fourth wand is a wand of ‘cure serious wounds’ with seven charges. Tom took the wand of cure serious wounds. They didn’t have anyone around to help with the other items so Tom and I went to the Drunken Warcof tavern to wait for the others.
Hawk showed up and shortly after that DaVid, Jax, and Xiloscant showed up as well. They didn’t have much luck at the spell component shops but did say that someone reported four gnomes all dressed alike wearing blue hats went into one store and bought-up most of the supplies and crafting equipment.
Tom remembered something and ran off. As we ate our dinner and contemplated what to do next, Crylscar came and sat down at our table. Apparently the Union of Justice rescued him in an adventure prior to me joining.
He told us that the Swiftblades are also looking for the wands of water control – so we have competition in that area. Corsten Pike may know something more about where they are searching. We asked him about a group of gnomes wearing matching blue hats and he told us that they are some sort of magical special forces group.
Before he left, Crylscar also told us that he’s started a new adventuring group and he’s really excited about it. He wants to know if we’ll be sponsors of his group. Hawk seemed pretty happy about this and agreed.
After Crylscar left we had an epiphany: Hawk and Xiloscant can use their special city-tracking skills to find out where Skaven is based on all of the clues that we’ve gathered so far. They worked on that and were able to narrow down his location to an abandoned warehouse. We immediately set out to the warehouse and formed a plan.
There were two visible entrances so we split up into two groups to cover both doors. Jax, Tom, Kre, and Xiloscant were to take the door on the north-side of the building while Hawk, DaVid, and I were to take the door on the eastern-side of the building. I stood at the corner of the building so I could see both parties and signal each other when we should go in so it will be coordinated.
There appeared to be some issues with locked doors but they seemed to get them resolved and both groups were ready to go. As soon as I gave the signal I ran back to my group and we opened the door.
I could see that there was a ton of webbing everywhere inside the warehouse. It looked just like the webbing we saw earlier in the caverns. Hawk stepped inside and was attacked by a large spider. DaVid used a wand to shoot some fire into the building and Hawk got burnt too.
Something else from inside shot out some sticky webbing and encased DaVid. I took out my new bow for the first time and fired at the spider inside. I’m not a very good shot with the bow.
We continued in this way for a little while. I had to use my flaming fists to free DaVid out of the webbing. DaVid used his wand some more to clear a path free of webbing inside. Hawk and DaVid went in. I didn’t know what was going on with the other group but from the faint sounds emanating from inside, there was definitely battle going on.
As I stepped inside, a wide bolt of lightning blasted through us. It knocked DaVid, unconscious, to the ground and Hawk was bleeding badly. I was pretty hurt too but shook off the shock of the blast.
I knew that we were looking for Skaven and that he is a spellcaster. I deduced that this must have come from him and ran as fast as I could toward the source of the lightning. As I ran, I drew upon my ki power to summon an orb of energy which I hurled at a little halfling against the wall at the other end of the warehouse. It didn’t seem to do anything.
He cast another spell and a type of scorching ray blasted into me. I was hurt real bad but knew that he was a potent spellcaster and that we needed to take him out right away. I ran up to him hitting with my fists and snapping out with a kick. I think I connected as he seemed to be hurt. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Tom running towards us too. This was a welcome sight because I didn’t think I could withstand another spell from the halfling caster.
The halfling spellcaster stepped away and cast another spell. There was a shrieking wail but it didn’t seem to do anything to me. Now it was my turn to retaliate. This would probably be my last chance to stop him.
I tried to stun him and decisively strike with all my might. I swung hard and smashed down on his head. My hit connected and he crumpled to the floor! Success! There are still other large spiders and creatures to deal with in the warehouse so we’re not out of trouble yet, but I suspect that this halfling (Skaven?) was the big boss.