Session date: Monday, April 17, 2017
Game date: Saturday, August 16, 209
PCs:
Gulleck Stonefoot, Dwarf 4, hp 23, xp 14197/17000
Caryatid, Magic-user 4, hp 19, xp 15948/20000
Simon Sackwell, Halfling 3, hp 11, xp 4732/8000
Adrien, Fighter 3, hp 9, xp 4072/8000
Retainers:
Manley "Meat" Smythe, Fighter 3, hp 17, xp 5057/8000
Brother Chase Pike, Cleric 2, hp 11, xp 2121/3000
Kevon, Fighter 1, hp 5, xp 131/2000
Debbi, Magic-user 1, hp 6, xp 312/2500
A couple of weeks had passed, in real life and in "game time". "Orc Debbiorc" and "Brother Orccake", who had been lodging with their "originals", Debbi and Brother Chase (aka Brother Beefcake), had grown so irritable and disagreeable that they both moved out and found apartments of their own. Rumors went round the Rusty Lantern tavern that they had found employment in a rival adventuring party.
Meanwhile, the adventurers decided to finally get around to purchasing that old abandoned house over in The Steps with the magical wardrobe. They called upon Vincent Patrenzi at his tastelessly gaudy mansion in the wealthy quarter of Idalium, and negotiated with him over a purchase price. Patrenzi's asking price had been 50,000 silver shekels, but Caryatid negotiated hard, insinuating that the house was unsecured, with unboarded windows, and it could present a liability. Why risk it, for a house he wasn't even using? This seemed to touch a nerve with Patrenzi, and they could tell he was willing to come down in price. Then, in a display case, they noticed the "Hand of Glory" (a withered human hand with black candles on each finger, said to point the way to wealth) that Patrenzi had won at last year's magical auction, and they remembered that he had a keen interest in interesting magical trinkets. Eventually they settled on a purchase price of 20,000 shekels but they also threw in a magical hand mirror they had found early in their adventuring career, that showed you the back of your hand when you looked in it, and a bundle of potpourri that was over two hundred years but still carried a strong aroma. Patrenzi was very amused by these magical conversation pieces, and perhaps happy to have a useless property out of his portfolio. They retrieved the money and magical items from their vault in the cellar of the Rusty Lantern and delivered it all to him the next day, and the deed was signed over to him. (Closing on a house in one day - try that these days!)
So, the team assembled at the Rusty Lantern on a Saturday in August, but this time they smuggled their armor and weapons out of the tavern in a wheelbarrow and made their way through the city and across the river into the ramshackle hillside neighborhood of The Steps, for they intended to enter the dungeon through the wardrobe. It did indeed work as before: they pushed their way through musty robes and coats and emerged from an identical wardrobe in a bedroom on the second level of the dungeon.
They emerged from the apartment into the hallway outside Green Caryatid's rooms, and at her doorway they found half a dozen hobgoblins hard at work rigging a bucket of something on the lintel above her door, with a string tied to the door handle. When the hobgoblins noticed the party watching them, one made an exaggerated ssssshhhhh gesture with a finger to his smirking lips. The adventurers shrugged and walked away, although Caryatid took a moment to cast Wizard Lock on the door into the apartment with their wardrobe, to keep those troublemakers out.
Next they went to check on the urchins who lived in the secret passages that ran between many of the halls in the northern portion of this level. Simon used his mind-reading medallion at the door of the urchins' hideout, and was disturbed to hear thoughts like, "Isn't it great that Caryatid the Green is our guardian now?"
Gulleck knocked on the door, but the urchins would not open the door to him. They seemed more reserved and distrustful than normal, and said that Caryatid the Green told them not to trust the adventurers. She was their protector and guardian now, and the urchins didn't want to upset her by letting the adventurers into their hideout. The urchins blamed the adventurers for the rift that had been caused in their number. Some of the other urchins still favored the adventurers over Caryatid the Green, and that faction had been kicked out of the hideout.
"Well, where did they go?" asked Gulleck.
"Who cares where those losers went?" sneered the urchin. "I think they're camping out in that big apartment area. Not the one the Goblin Prince took over, but the other one near it."
So the party took an uncomfortable leave from the urchins, and made their way around the corner to the door that they assumed the urchins were talking about. Once or twice before they had thought they heard buzzing behind this door, and having had alarming encounters with giant dungeon bees before, they had always avoided this door. But now they opened the door and entered the apartment complex beyond. It turned out to be very much like the apartment complex the orcs and now the goblins occupied, with a big central courtyard, surrounded by a balcony level with many doors leading off from the balcony every twenty feet or so. But unlike the other one, in the middle of this courtyard, an enormous beehive, easily 10 feet in diameter, hung suspended from the ceiling. A resonant buzzing emanated from the hive, pervading the courtyard. Four giant bees, about a foot long, could be seen crawling on the outside of the hive.
The party began to cautiously creep into the courtyard, looking around for any sign of the other faction of urchins. Unfortunately, the four bees on the hive noticed the movement of the party, and launched themselves into the air, divebombing the adventurers. Before anyone could react, Debbi was stung by two bees. She collapsed to the ground, convulsing in spasms (along with the two bees that stung her, which lay dying next to her, having ripped their stingers out of their bodies).
Gulleck and Simon quickly used their rings of animal control to make the other two bees sting each other. Alas, the damage was already done, for Debbi had passed away from the deadly venom of the bees. Fearful of drawing the attention of more bees, the adventurers dragged Debbi's body up the stairs to the balcony level and quickly entered one of the one-room apartments.
The apartment was empty apart from a battered old bed frame, an empty table against one wall, and a large mirror on the opposite wall. Caryatid went over to examine the mirror, and discovered that she could see in its reflection a large chest sitting on top of the table, while the actual table appeared quite empty. Simon studied this phenomenon and then went over to the table and carefully swept it with the blade of his sword. It was blocked in its motion by the invisible chest! Simon was able to open the chest with the assistance of the image in the mirror. Inside he felt two burlap sacks. These became visible when withdrawn from the chest, and contained hundreds of silver and gold coins! The chest also seemed useful, or at least interesting, so Meat and Brother Chase carried it along with them, as they carefully emerged back onto the balcony.
They checked a few more empty rooms before they discovered the hiding place of the urchins. About a dozen of the children were hiding in an apartment. They were pleased to see Gulleck and the other adventurers, and told them of the terrible schism that had split their group in half. After the adventurers had left them two weeks ago, later that very same day, Caryatid the Green had entered their hideout from the secret passage that led to her rooms. She was accompanied by a huge ugly man that she called "Mr. Beefcake". The children were very suspicious of her, and upset that she had discovered their secret hideout, but she spoke soothingly to them of how she only wanted to protect them and keep them safe. The urchins argued together as to whether or not to trust her, and suddenly one of the older urchins, Steven, declared that he trusted Caryatid the Green completely and absolutely and that they should all believe her and follow her guidance. Some of Steven's friends took his side, but most of the group was still suspicious of her. Caryatid smiled at them, and told them she was sure they would change their minds once they got to know her better.
After that, Caryatid the Green and Mr. Beefcake showed up every day or two, and would sometimes speak strange murmuring words while the urchins were arguing with each other, and suddenly another urchin would have a change of heart and start defending her passionately. More and more of them began to take her side and speak ill against Gulleck and Caryatid the Blue and the other adventurers. After a week, the split was about 50/50 and the arguments were continual. Eventually, the urchins who were still suspicious of Caryatid the Green were kicked out of the secret hideout and had to take refuge in these apartments. It was OK, the urchins said. The goblins wouldn't bother them here because of the bees, but if you ran fast the bees couldn't get you.
The adventurers were at a loss as to what to say. They felt somewhat responsible that Green Caryatid had discovered their hideout and evidently magically charmed half of the urchins into her allegiance. They were deeply concerned about her actions. Now she had an enslaved demon, a man she had apparently stitched together herself and given the spark of life, and a small army of ensorcelled urchins. They all knew she would have to be dealt with very soon.
Entreating the urchins to stay safe until the adventurers could return and set things right, they left, carrying Debbi's body and the invisible chest with them. They ran out of the apartment complex as fast as they could so as not to attract any more bees, and brought Debbi's body to the pool of resurrection. They were grimly pleased to see that many of the posters of the Goblin Prince that they passed in the hallway had been defaced by the urchins with the black paint Gulleck had given them.
Debbi was immersed in the pool, and came sputtering back to life, and then the entire party made their way back to the magical wardrobe and evacuated the dungeon thusly.
They did not declare their afternoon's plunder to the Adventurer’s Guild, as technically is required of all members.
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