Session 2: The Road to the Citadel

After a restful night’s sleep, the party awoke to the smells of breakfast cooking on the campfire. Lina encouraged them to eat well since the provisions would get thinner by the end of their voyage. The caravan would depart the next day in the morning so the party had one day to make any purchases and preparations for the trip.

After some inquiries, the party journeyed into the city together. Their first stop was the Iron Market, where a variety of vendors were selling arms and armor. Clancy stepped into the booth of a Bakshuni woman by the name of Bayari, looking for some studded leather armor. After finding a functional suit that fit decently, he tried to bid down her price, but she wouldn’t budge. So, instead he asked if it would be possible to emboss a nice Gaelic knot which he illustrated. She happily obliged and he agreed to pick it up later.

PPP also attempted to find a suit of studded leather, but unfortunately, neither Bayari nor any of the other merchants had anything in his size. She suggested that the only person in town who was likely to have something as unusual as armor that size would be Abu at Abu’s Emporium.

Terlis was anxious to find a place he could buy spells and after some circumspect questioning, he and the party found their way to The Third Wish. There they met a nearly deaf older gnome named Grad and his wife Tieshta. After the initial excitement of meeting a party with not one but two gnomes, Grad rummaged through his wares and pulled out a selection of spell scrolls. Terlis was in luck as the Ray of Sickness scroll he was looking for was among Grad’s inventory. Unfortunately, after paying for the scroll, Terlis lacked the money required for the equipment to scribe his scroll into his spellbook.

The next stop was Abu’s Emporium which was guarded by some mean looking thugs who insisted that only two unarmed people could enter the emporium at a time. After handing his maul to Clancy (who promptly dropped it), Zhang and PPP entered the emporium. Inside, they found Abu to be much more inviting than his guard. He sat the pair down in a comfortable chair where they were served teas and sweets, while he asked them what they were looking for. He then brought out an exuisitely designed battleaxe and excellently balanced maul for Zhang. Zhang expressed interest in the maul but was dismayed to learn that it cost 820gp. PPP had more luck, as Abu had an ornate suit of studded leather armor that had been worn by a somewhat self-conscious and extremely short nobleman of Arkesh.

Meanwhile, Riya had slunk to a dive called the Green Flagon Inn where she met an unsavory fellow named Eutus, who seemed familiar with her. There she purchased a set of thieve’s tools before returning to the group.

Properly supplied, the group decided that they had enough time to make one more exploration of the strange tunnels underneath the city. They traveled again to the crypt where beggars had set up the Rat God’s Fane. However, once they opened the secret door, they found only a wall of that strange material facing them. The entrance had been closed off somehow. With the use of his ability to shape water, Clancy was able to determine that the entire entrance had been shifted over about 20 feet to the right, implying that somehow a very large block of stone work had been moved.

Enraged by this blockage, Zhang busted through one of the walls of the crypt and with the help of Kiki, dug a hole to the now shifted entrance through the dirt and rock, while PPP and Mid sang them an encouraging. Emerging dirty but none the worse for wear at the other end, they discovered the entrance tunnel but found it similarly blocked at the other end. It appeared that there was no way through.

The party returned to the campsite that night for a late dinner. They went to bed early so that they could get up before the crack of dawn and make one more attempt on the sewer tunnels where Clancy’s familiar ferret had staked out for the night, but nothing had changed. Defeated, the party returned to their campsite in time for the departure.

Knute and Lina’s wagon joined up with the other wagons of the caravan and the party had a chance to meet the other wagons of the caravan. The “leader” of the caravan was a large, unpleasant man named Omar Dobi, who liked to make fun of the other merchants and remind them how much more successful he was with his three dresium wagons. He made several comments immediately disparaging of the party and was rude to Mid when she just tried to say hi. Clancy used his telepathy to try to convince Omar that his ferret was an evil demon creature that would haunt his nightmares. Omar seemed somewhat unnerved by this but continued to be unpleasant.

Liao and Ju were an older Xinnish couple who also owned one dresium wagon. They invited various members of the party in for tea and dumplings on a regular basis and were often trying to set up the female members of the party with their son Hsun who would take over the business after this trip.

Decius and Arcus Valuso were Tomani brothers who operated a tight ship and were polite but not particularly friendly with anyone outside their group. The final merchant in the caravan was Thedi Svidison, a young Guldorian who was here representing a merchant consortium for the first time. It became clear that he while he put on a show of confidence, he was very inexperienced and concerned with projecting an image of success.

The first few days were spent in pleasant travel in the towns and rolling hills outside of Arkesh. After a few days, the forests and towns disappeared and the party saw nothing ahead of them but the endless waves of the steppes. Everyone tightened their grip on their weapons now as this was where danger lurked.

It was only on the second day into the steppes that the PCs felt a slight tremor that announced the attack of a “bug”, also known as an ankheg, who emerged right in between their two wagons and threw Ernus with a sick smack into the side of one of the wagons. The characters immediately responded. Zhang charged forward and assaulted it with his maul, and Riya also beat at with her spinning kicks. Terlis and Clancy blasted it with arcane energy. But it was Kiki who had the final blow, chopping it in twain with two blows from her sword. No sooner had it fallen then another bug burst from the ground. The PCs repeated their attack, although Zhang was nearly taken out by its vile acid spray. With the advantage of the eerie faerie fire that Mid had used to outline its form, the PCs made short work and it was again Kiki who dealt the final blow.

Afterwards, Ernus picked himself up off the ground and refused any aid, although he failed to realize that Clancy had already healed him during the battle. The remaining guards were impressed by the party’s skill and started calling Kiki, “Kiki the bugslayer.” However, one guard, Hugo, had noticed some of Terlis’s magic and started grilling him about it, clearly uncomfortable that “sorcerors” were part of the caravan.

Things proceeded quietly for the next week or so. The Emerald Spire, a great and mysterious tower that extends into the sky as far as the eye can see, became visible. Quizzing others about it, the party found out that it was an ancient relic from before the twin cataclysms. Most treated it with dread and there were all kinds of stories about its foul inhabitants, although the majority spoke of a sorceror/lich/demon named Imhotep.

The caravan soon approached Fort Midway, a fort run by the Ranger Knights, that marked the midway point of the journey. As dusk fell one evening, the caravan was hurrying along past the normal point where a halt would be called in order to make the Fort by nightfall. Suddenly, Lina and Knute’s residence wagon lurched and came to a halt. After recovering from the shock (and for some fall), the party discovered that one of the back wheels of the wagon had broken. As it lurched over, Zaffa had been caught beneath it. His leg was now trapped and he was yelling for help. Zhang was the first on the scene and noted that lying near the wagon and Zaffa was a long straight metal rod. He picked it up and then he and Kiki were able to lift the wagon enough for Zaffa to scramble out.

Several of the party examined the ruined wheel, but only PPP was perceptive enough to note that the shattering of the wheel seemed so violent that is suggested sabotage. As the PCs wondered how and by who this might have been done, Omar Dobi came charging in demanding to know what the hold up was. When he saw the broken wheel, he shouted at Knute and Lina that they should take better care of their equipment and that he was leaving in five minutes if they didn’t get it fixed. There was a lot of shouting at this point as the merchants argued amongst themselves, but ultimately the remainder of the caravan began to head out for the fort, leaving Knute and Lina behind. Knute cursed and set himself to fixing the wagon with Ernus, Zaffa, and Lina helping out. Meanwhile the PCs spread themselves out along the road, alert for any danger.

It did not take long for this danger to materialize. Out of the dark, the PCs detected movement and the sounds of whispering. When they called out a warning, the response was “Shoot! They heard us. Go now!” Immediately, six humanoid forms on each side of the road rose up, their crossbows pointed in the direction of the wagon…..