Age of Worms, Session 24

The party complied with the guardsmen's request that we visit their post and be questioned, but Cameron, already in sorts due to being accused of a crime he didn't commit, raised a fuss and was held until he calmed down and his status as a noble and reasonable certainty could be obtained that he was not, indeed, the attacker on Tarquin. The evidentiary lynchpin being a key, found by Tarquin, that none of the party had familiarity with that featured a crest depicting a giant octopus pulling a ship down.

New lodgings were made, a change of address was left with Eligos, and the group sprang into investigation, trying to discern who had it out for them and why. The best leads were found after throwing gold at people who frequent the Crooked House, in hopes that more booze money might loosen tongues. There, we found the name of Cameron's accuser as well as leads on the key, being told that it was the symbol of a trading coster no longer in service, which had several holdings in the River District, warehouses all bearing the same symbol, one of which still stood.

Hiring a guide off the street to lead us to this River District, and the warehouse of interest - a place called Sodden Hold, since that name was painted on the side.

Waiting a short while, looking for anyone exiting or entering, Mullins decided to ask around (which was aided by Cameron failing at intimidate) to see what we could find out about the place. We turned up no leads, and so decided to go in through the door, which had to be forced in. Therein, we found a normal storage room of a warehouse with various doors leading off to the sides. Moving to the first door, however, we found that some of the crates and barrels were mimics, which posed enough of a threat to keep us occupied for quite some time, and though some were caught and at least one party member had fallen unconscious, we fought through to a win against the beasts.

Once everyone was back to fighting shape, we pressed on, finding a dangerous pit trap in front of the first door we checked, and then moving on to search the other chambers, which held nothing of great interest. Katain pressed forward past the pit trap to inspect the chamber beyond, with the others slowly making their ways through by jumping or being pulled through with a rope. The pseudodragon had discovered chests under a flight of stairs which held a few valuables, as well as another door leading off which led to a hall with cells holding several prisoners with a set of double doors at the end.

Informing the prisoners that we would come for them once any danger had been assessed and taken care of, we moved forward through the double doors to find a chamber with the floor fallen out. Water filled with rusted old weaponry sat a little below support struts that once held the floor in place and now seemed to be the only way across the chamber. With a few false starts and an incident with Mullins falling into the pointy water, Cameron started to make his way across the beams by lying down and scooting. This was a poor decision, however, as soon he and the rest of the party were attacked by invisible air creatures that had no problems attacking us, but presented a very tough foe to fight.

Cameron made it to a stable piece of flooring with the healing aid of Able and Katain, but the aid proved futile and both he and Katain were struck down. Mullins disappeared from sight and Dairon saw that being out in the open was a death warrant and retreated into the hall with the cells. Able and Caine both retreated to the doorway to a more defensible fighting position and the four remaining men (well, three men and a gnome) were set to make a final stand when we left off.



Cast of Characters
Cameron val Dane, Human Knight 7 - Me (deceased)
Dairon val Eite, Human Bard 5 - Me (cohort)
Mullins, Gnome Rogue 3/Wizard 3/Mirror Master 1 - Paul
Able Nightengale, Human Healer 7 - David
Caine Smithe, Human Marshal 5 - David (cohort)
Katain, Pseudodragon Warlock 2 - Tami  (deceased)