Strange Behavior - Group 3, Session 3 Report

In the prior session, Dhraang the half-orc champion, Gambit the goblin alchemist, Tom the halfling bard, and Kleone the halfling druid had spied a little gremlin dropping something into the East Market well - that something being a bag of greenish-black goo in a coarse canvas pouch. The substance leaching out into the well water was the means for delivering the curse to anyone who drank or even came in contact with the well water. Unfortunately, they were unable to catch the gremlin, and lost it during pursuit. A run-in with the city watch (which is much more vigilant up on "the hill" than it is in the lower city, also hampered their efforts.

Word of the commotion they raised on "the hill" also got back to the Karn, who summoned them for a second meeting in the Tankard and Plate, which is where this game session began.

Th Karn was much more terse during this meeting that at the last... he was a bit annoyed with the party. He reminded them of the importance of being discrete. He also reminded them that they really had no "official" capacity in the city - they needed to keep the city guard out of all this. Finally, he reminded them of the importance of dealing carefully with anyone who might be "Family". These points delivered, the party was dismissed - and NOT invited to stay for a dinner of "cheese pillows in red sauce".

The group returned to their inn and got a bit of sleep before returning to the well for another stakeout. They had removed the second offending contaminant sack, and expected the culprit to return once more to drop a third one. But this time, rather than all stationing themselves around the well, they planned an ambush.

Dhraangg purchased a throw-net from one of the shops that dealt in fishing tackle. With a few very minor adjustments, he got it to resemble the nets he had used as as gladiator in Endmere. The plan was for him to lay in wait along the gremlin's anticipated route; he would trap the creature with the net. Stationed in the narrow alley the gremlin had used to escape the time before, the halflings - who would be watching the well - would drive the gremlin straight toward the half-orc. Gambit the goblin, in the meantime, was stationed along the most likely 'alternate route' the gremlin might take - again to ensure it was driven toward Dhraangg.

A sound plan with just one flaw!

As the gremlin was heading toward the well, it came through the alleyway and spotted Dhraangg lying in wait and looking the other way. It noticed its peril first, but the "eep" it let out as it turned to flee alerted the half-orc. Dhraangg gave chase, and actually managed to succeed in a net toss as the gremlin scaled the embankment toward the upper city, but it managed to free itself before the half-orc could pounce on it to completely subdue it.

It was slowed down sufficiently, though, that Dhraangg was able to discover, this time, where the gremlin disappeared to. Behind the house of Fenric Millikarn, there were several ornamental shrubs under a tree. Beneath one of these shrubs was a small hole or burrow dug into the ground. It was too dark and the hole too small for Dhraangg to determine where exactly it went, so he did what he could to secure the hole before going back down the hill to gather the rest of the group.

Gambit then tried to determine where the hole went, but though the goblin could get her head down into the hole enough to get a general sense of direction, she could not actually follow it. The passage appeared to head toward Millikarn's house, but she couldn't be sure. At this point, Kleone's familiar, the leaf leshy Bubblebone, was sent down the hole while Kleone attuned her senses to those of the familiar. Bubblebone was able to negotiate the tunnel, and found it led to the basement of the Millikarn house. A closed iron gate blockeed the leshy from actually entering the basement, but also helped prevent her from being spotted by the humand and gremlin that were inside. Also inside was a large cauldron of somthing that seemed to be burping out bubbles of thick greenish black goo. And since Kleone was seeing through the eyes of the leshy, it was also possible to definitively identify Fenric Millikarn as the person stirring that cauldron.

The party decided to attempt to apprehend the Karn cousin. It was about 3AM, and the town was quiet. They had been stealthy enough so far to avoid alerting the servants in the Karn house, though there was a closoe call with residents of the house next door. Now, they snuck to the front door of the mansion. It took Tom a few tries, but he managed to pick the lock on the front door.

They quickly found their way to the basement beneath the kitchen and pantry, but discovered it was only a storage room and had no accesss to the space that Bubblebone had seen. It took the party nearly an hour of silent, cautious searching before Kleone finally noticed the wall-mounted candlesconce in one corner of the library seemed "odd". Playing with it released the catch on the secret door in that corner, and a stairway to the basement beyond.

Quietly making their way down the stairs, the party got almost all the way into the laboratory where Fenric was working before Dhraangg managed to scrape his necksplitter on the stone wall. Throwing caution to the winds, the party - led by Dhraangg and bolstered by the inspiring singing of Tom - simply marched into the laboratory. As he did so, waving his greatsword in the hopes of intimidating Fenric, the half-orc recommended a quick and painless surrender.

The evil stare that was returned by Fenric was more than just a look of disdain - it carried magical power. Struck by the Evil Eye, and then by a second, more powerful spell cast by Fenric, Dhraangg suddenly found himself doubled over in excrutiating pain, and feeling somewhata afraid of what else this spell-wielder could do to him. The other party members maneuvered around the lab, waiting for openings.

Dhraangg retched, which seemed to ease the pain. He then straightened himself and closed the distance with Fenric. Since they needed to take him alive, Dhraanngg decided to simply take a swing at the human - but the blow missed its mark. So did the tanglefoot bag that was thrown by Gambit, and the lullaby that Tom had transitioned to failed to subdue the target as well. Fenric backed away, and with a flick of a finger sent an entire pile of heavy tomes hurtling across the room at unbelievable speed. They struck the half-orc squarely in the head. This did not faze him.

Dhraangg closed once more, and this time decided to simply grapple the enemy - and succeeded in doing so. Kleone, who has tranformed into a bear, leapt forward and took a bite out of Fenric. For good measure, Gambit tossed in yet another Tanglefoot bag, and this time found the mark.

Fenric tried once to break free, but failed, and then - realizing the futility of his position - surrendered. But as he did so, he began exclaiming that "they" wouldn't be happy. "They" would avenge Fenric. "They" would watch out for Fenric. As the party focused on what seemed to be wild rants from their secured prisoner, nobody noticed the little gremlin simply disappear into thin air with the faintest hit of a "pop" sound.

After a brief discussion, the party decided their best course of action would be for them to bring the Karn here to see for himself that his cousin was responsible for the contamination of the East Market Well. Having the Karn see the lab - and the goo - and all of the other arcane paraphernalia in the room - would be far more convincing than any "our word versus his" account of what was going on. It was agreed that Tom would go to Karn Manor after dawn and do his best to bring the Karn back here. The others, meanwhile, would wait with their prisoner in the secret basement.