Strange Behavior - Group 3, Session 4

The adventuring party of Dhraangg the half-orc champion, Gambit the goblin alchemist, Tom the halfling bard, and Kleone the halfling druid have successfully subdued Fenric Morrikarn, and have decided what to do with him. After securing him firmly in a manner that would prevent any verbal utterances or somatic gestures from calling up more magical attacks, they waited until the first lights of dawn began to break before deciding to bother the Karn. (It should be noted that, as the party was tying up their foe, the little gremlim that had been companion to Fenric disappeared - literally disappeared - before it could be captured or subdued.)

At dawn, Tom left the others to tend the prisoner and made his way to the top of the hill and the Karn residence. Identifying himself at the gate as "one who was doing work for the Karn" met with more than a little suspicion, but eventually, he convinced the gate guards to at least get somebody in the house to confirm his identity. After twenty minutes of cooling his heels, one of the bodyguards the party had encountered at the Tankard and Plate appeared. He told the gate guards to admit Tom, and then instructed the halfling to follow him to the mansion.

After another fifteen or twenty minutes of standing idly in the opulent front hallway, the Karn descended the staircase from above, tying the velvet morning robe around his waist as he walked. Tom explained that the party was holding Fenric prisoner. He further described the secret laboratory/workshop beneath Fenric's house. He described what the party had discovered about the well poisoning/cursing, and that Fenric was clearly making the stuff. The Karn listened, then tersly instructed his bodyguard and one other of his staff to deal with things. They were to go and "discretely" collect Fenric and bring him "downstairs" to be further questioned by the Karn himself.

After the two toughs had hitched a wagon (a rather well decorated wagon more than a few steps above the typical farm cart), Tom accompanied the two toughs back to the Morrikarn residence. He showed them to the secret entrance in the library, noting that one of the two stopped there to roll up one of the carpets after tossing the furniture upon it aside. Tom, two toughs, and a rolled up carpet descended to the secret lair of Fenric Morrikarn.

The party was promptly dismissed with a simple, "You can go now. We've got it from here. You'll be contacted." The fact that the toughs preferred to work alone was unmistakeable, so the party returned upstairs and outside, heading back to their inn to get some breakfast and sleep. Before they were completely out of sight, though, they did look back in time to see the two toughs carrying a lumpy, rolled up carpet outside and tossing into the wagon. Those with the most sensitive hearing, heard a distinct moan as the package hit the wagon bed.

Late that afternoon, the party was awakened from their napping by the innkeeper, who had another simple summons: "Tankard and Plate. Sundown." They scrambled a bit, but were at the restaurant on time. The usual grunts were in their usual places. The party, having been through this routine twice before, headed toward the back room, disarming themselves as they went. Inside the back room, the second bodyguard took their weapons and placed them on the table as before. But this time, when the party approached the Karn's table, they noticed that there were actually plates of food and goblets of wine set at each of their four chairs!

As they enjoyed yet another meal involving the Chittiki dough-stuff -- this one was called "Dough ribbon and ground meat layer cake" - the Karn thanked them for their service and informed them that "Fenric wouldn't be bothering anybody anymore". As dinner plates were cleared and dessert served, one of the bodyguards deposited a leather pouch next to each of the party member's plates, a pouch that jingled when it hit the table. Looking inside, each one discovered ten platinum coins.

While still focusing on his dessert - some sort of cake and cream layered concoction that tasted distinctly of kafay and yet another exotic delicacy... something called choca... the Karn explained that Fenric had spoken of another threat. "They" would avenge him. The party recalled that Fenric had mentioned "them" when he was captured. The Karn informed the party that he wanted them to go into the mountains to the west - somewhere near the mining town of Stannilode - to find and deal with "them". His tone implied that this was not a request to see if they were interested in a job. He went on to say - much to Dhraangg's delight - that being so far out of town, and almost certainly NOT dealing with family, that the party need not be as discrete or nonlethal as they had been with Fenric.

The party informed the Karn that they had some business to complete in town first, but they would be leaving to deal with whatever this "them" threat was in a few days or a week at most. The Karn didn't seem troubled by that. And so, after completing dessert (which was accompanied by an excellent dark-roasted kafay drink), the party departed and returned to the inn.

Over the next few days, the party did some shopping and tourist-like sightseeing while they waited for Ga'ar the weaponsmith to upgrade the runework on Dhraangg's greatsword. Others weren't sure how they'd spend their time, but were considering various productive options.

The Game Session ended here.