Session 15

=May 24th, 2018 - The Red Sun Slaughter=

Planning and Preparations
The session began as Cadmus settled into the meeting with Rufus and the two others they didn’t know in the back of the Bubbly Doreto. Cadmus was brought up to speed, and showed his commitment to the cause to the leader of the Red Sun, the late middle aged male human Gin-Singh. With his four assassins committed, they began to plot in earnest. The other two assassins were as different as could be, the first was an old grisled retired member of the Red Sun named Fuller. The second was a pale and scrawny man boy named Bob.

The location setup by the Brotherhood was a backroom meeting room in the restaurant Gardetto’s. The assassins would dress and pose as servant waiters in the room, staying back behind the targets at all times and concealing their small curved blades. Rufus and Cadmus would target the leader and bodyguard of the Stormblades, while Fuller and Bob would take out the two mercs for the Gray Company. Their signal would be when Gin-Singh said ‘dessert is served’, and finally they discussed escape options. The Red Sun had arranged a row boat to be tied up just a few minutes run from the back alley at the river docks.

Cadmus discussed a second option, asking if they could arrange the use of one of the tunnels that goes under the great wall separating the Upper and Lower Wards. He knew of their existence from his time in the Red Sun, but had never seen one. It took a little convincing, but Gin-Singh agreed and explained how to get to the back alley cellar entrance of such a nearby tunnel. After wrapping up final details, the group departs until the next evening. Rufus and Cadmus meet their friends in the front and they all return to Selebon’s Supplies for the rest of the night, once again paying passage tolls through the Trade Gate.

After waking the next morning the party assessed the situation. They were almost certain the cult was taking a northbound land caravan that would depart in one or likely two days. The group decided to once again split up to make various preparations. Rachen and Lachlan volunteered to keep an eye on the known cultists and their empty wagons. Thia would once again stay around Selebon’s Supplies working as an employee so she could stay close to Elysian in the upstairs apartment, and watch passerbys. Rufus wanted to scope out the two exit strategies for the upcoming night to ensure they didn’t encounter any surprises.

Cadmus wanted to investigate a third escape option for the two of them, and with Barlo by his side they went to visit the family of Tom Haverford. Cadmus knew the Haverfords were one of the prominent criminal families of the Landing, and figured they may return the kindness they paid to young Tom in the cultist hatchery cave. Knowing the family mainly operated out of a restaurant in the east Lower Ward known as the ‘Friendly Hydra’, they made that their destination. Once seated they quickly asked to speak with the owner of the restaurant and were shot down, but after mentioning Tom expressions changed. A large overweight human male soon lumbered out from the back of the restaurant and pulled up a chair at the half-orcs’ table.

He introduced himself as Mr. Haverford, and asked what his son had been up to. The half-orcs knew that Tom was a halfling, but they did not press the matter. Cadmus spoke of how they assisted his son in a dire situation but parted ways once they were safe. They were here hoping to see if Tom had safely arrived home. Mr. Haverford expressed regret that he had not seen his son in many months, but thanks the travelers for the news and assistance they lent him. Cadmus then asked if that thanks could be returned with help in finding a way underneath the Trade Wall, as they had heard the wall separating the Upper and Lower Wards be called. Mr. Haverford stood up and apologized that he could not be of any help, and walked away.

Rufus scouted the river docks seeing all manner of ships, but not until the very east end did he find the tiny piers that held row boat sized vessels. There were only a few such boats present, and all but one were occupied, making preparations to leave or having just arrived. The single lone row boat was tied up on the furthest pier and everyone seemed to just ignore both, boat and pier. Rufus then found his way back to the alley of the Bubbly Doreto and began following the directions they received last night to the tunnel. Soon after, he found himself in front of the cellar doors in an alleyway behind a restaurant. At the moment, the doors were locked shut. He went around to see the name of the restaurant - it was the ‘Friendly Hydra’.

Rachen and Lachlan hung around the caravan gathering area watching the cult wagons, but not shortly after they arrived Rezmir and a small group of bodyguards purchased horses and departed north on the Coast Way Road. The pair continued to watch the wagons and what cultists remained. During this time, Rachen noticed an exotic traveller and her wagon load piqued his interest. She was a lovely wood elf named Sylvia, who told him she and her companion were transporting a load of carved Deepwood statues to the city. The wood was very solid and strong, with a sheen unheard of in trees of the region. She told Rachen if he was ever in their elven city of Caranthya to look up the armorsmith Oron, who specializes in crafting armor made from Deepwood.

The two wood elves parted ways with Rachen and he observed them as Sylvia travelled into the city after hiring porters to carry the statues, while her companion stayed with the wagon. A few hours later while still inconspicuously watching the cultists and their wagons, Rachen observed Sylvia return guiding porters carrying crates of dark wood logs. They loaded up her wagon, and her companion began seeing to packing the crates securely for the upcoming journey. Rachen was curious, and conversed with Sylvia about the strange wood that was not the same as the Deepwood she arrived with. The wood elf said he was correct, this was rare wood from the far Under Jungle, which she intended to sell to the master carvers of Ironbay on their way back north to the Deepwood.

Rachen said he was likely looking to travel north on this next caravan with them, and Sylvia mentioned they were looking to hire a personal guard for the journey. Soon, Rachen was hired for enough gold to cover his cost of rations for the entire journey. Around this time, Thia had spotted a new cultist she recognized from the camp carrying goods with other porters past Selebon’s Supplies. She followed them to the northern caravan grounds that Lachlan and Rachen were surveying. Together they watched as the porters loaded up three of the five wagons the cultists were caretaking, and most of the porters returned to the city. The one Thia recognized went to the nearby inn the other cult members were staying at.

The Red Sun Slaughter
Late that night, Cadmus and Rufus arrived at the back of Gardetto’s as planned. The rest of the party agreed to be close by in the front of the restaurant in case things went pear shaped. Most were enjoying a casual drink at the bar, careful to be aware of the situation. In the back meeting room, Cadmus and Rufus changed into their servant clothes and stored their items in a chest in the room, the other two assassins were already dressed. Gin-Singh, the Red Sun leader, and his personal bodyguard, a muscular female dwarf, were already in the room.

Soon after, the two other mercenary leaders and their entourages arrived through the front of the restaurant. Each group left a few guards in the front of the restaurant, at separate tables, near the door to the back meeting room. Only the leader and one bodyguard of each company was allowed in the back. Once all were seated, the ‘servants’ brought in food and catered to their wine glasses. Each leader’s bodyguard stood behind and to the side of their patron.

The meal was eaten in silence, only after they finished did they begin to discuss business. It was at this time Gin-Singh gave the signal, saying ‘dessert is served’. The servants moved forward, and it was the overzealous Bob who was stabbing his victim first. The others moved to strike, Cadmus, Rufus, and Fuller each were able to open up their victims throats and it was over in a matter of moments. Surveying the gorey scene, Bob bolted out of the back door, Fuller said he ‘doesn’t run’, and Cadmus picked up the chest as Rufus waited to leave.

Then, Gin-Singh’s female dwarf bodyguard wrangled the chest out of Cadmus’ arms. While the half-orc stood shocked and confused, Gin-Singh let out a yell for “help” that made the betrayal crystal clear. Cadmus acted quickly, casting Hold Person on the dwarf and snatching the chest back. Rufus stepped forward and as Gin-Singh drew his weapon the halfling put his bloody blade in the frozen hand of the dwarf bodyguard. Cadmus and Rufus bolted out the back as the door to the front of the restaurant burst open with sword drawn guards entering the murder scene.

From the front room of the restaurant, after the shouting for help, Rachen followed the mass of guards that answered in a hurry. Fuller was cut down, and the Red Sun leader was yelling to ‘catch them’, so no one really thought Rachen out of place as he followed a group of guards out the alley door. All the guards were going right after runners towards the docks, and so they followed. Rachen kept back and when the guards approached the docks themselves he ducked by a side building and watched. He saw the guards catch a young pale body just as he jumped into a small dingy, and killed him where he stood. With his friends nowhere to be seen, Rachen went back to the restaurant.

Rufus and Cadmus were lucky no one followed them left out the restaurant towards the cellar with the tunnel entrance. They reached it quickly, and let out a sigh of relief that the lock had been opened but was still there. Entering the cellar, Rufus used the lock to secure the inside of the cellar doors. Then the pair found themselves in the dark and damp storage cellar with no visible tunnel. After about ten minutes of searching they found the secret door in the wall behind a shelving rack that opened to the tunnel they sought.

On the far end of the damp tunnel, they found a ladder leading to a loose stone paver in a cellar filled with barrels of alcohol. They exited the tavern cellar in an alley of the Upper Ward, and like the rest of the party, found their way back to Selebon’s Supplies without much issue. If not passage tolls. The party regrouped and slept the rest of the night in Ackyn’s apartment above the store.

The Journey Begins
The next morning, knowing they were to be travelling northbound in a caravan towards Ironbay, the party went to work preparing. Rachen had already signed on as a guard for the wood elf merchant Sylvia, but the rest of the group decided to join instead as independent travellers. They purchased two horses and a wagon of their own to make the journey. Mostly to hide Elysian as much as possible within the covered wagon. The trip was to be around six tendays, and it was likely the hatchling would be known to others by the end. They hoped to keep that knowledge away from the cultists.

During the day, they witnessed another group of porters arrived with crates and filled the remaining two wagons the cultists were guarding. Strangely, the group numbered maybe twenty, and the party thought hundreds had left the Greenest raider’s camp. Regardless, the party gave their thanks to Ackyn and slept one final night in his apartment. Ackyn assured them he would send word to Leosin and Ontharr in Elturiel about what transpired and their destination. At first light of the next morning, the twentieth day since the raid on Greenest, the party set out in the northbound caravan of sixteen wagons and almost fifty souls.

The caravan travels at walking speed eight hours a day for six days, then they rest for one day, and repeat. The first few days out of Black Landing was easy travel in beautiful summer weather, the land for many miles filled with farmland and small villages. Near the end of the first tenday the Coast Way began to enter the outskirts of the Trollclaw Hills, an area filled with ancient battlefields and barrow mounds. Also home to quite a population of their namesake trolls, it was common knowledge not to light a fire at night atop one of these hills, or you would attract some of its monstrous inhabitants. The guards and travelers of the caravan were uneasy at first.

On the seventh day of the caravan journey, another beautiful clear summer day, the caravan caught sight of a herd of deer atop a nearby hill. On multiple such occasions so far hunters from the group would go after the animals for a feast, Thia being one of them. This particular herd however, was led by a magnificent stag with a coat of gold and horns that shown like platinum. Even if it wasn’t made of real gold, such a coat would be worth a fortune. Few hunters in the caravan were persuaded by a couple voices that said such an animal was likely blessed. The party however were all convinced of such words, and did not pursue the animals into the nearby woods. The hunters returned later that afternoon without the golden stag, but they did catch other deer from the herd.

Travel continued as normal, with only a few days of partly cloudy weather and a single light rain. The group was doing a good job of keeping Elysian contained in the wagon during the day travels, secretly letting him out at night while they camped. On the sixteenth day of the caravan journey, now well into the Trollclaw Hills, the caravan was snaking through a particularly narrow passage between two large hills. The party and their wagon were picking up the rear. Suddenly, an unsettling sound could be heard by all, and the rumble grew louder until they heard many gibbering voices.

Then, a swarm of goblins and ogres crested the hill to their left as the sound grew and they saw the heads of two giants. Then the two hill giants themselves crested the hill, lumbering down after the mass of ogres and goblins towards the caravan. Chaos erupted as the horses and pack animals tried to flee, most of the travelers and merchants ran away from the monsters, and the guards moved left to meet them. The party drew their weapons and preparing to face the onslaught, and the session ended there. It is the middle of the thirty fifth day since the raid on Greenest.

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