Session 28

While out about town the Knot heard of a festival of Princess Iris, a long lost noblewoman of Ghastenhall.  The name sounded familiar, and checking with the journals Galen left with the Knot, they determined the ring they found from the Horn was labelled as being from Iris of Ghastenhall.

A quick check with their local contact Thrane confirmed it.  So the Knot quickly sent their goons to "find" a skeleton of a half-elven woman from a near by farming town graveyard.

The Knot did discuss what favor to ask.  They thought of titles, or information about the vale, but ultimately settled on the best reward ever.  Money.

As the Knot prepared to leave their manor house & make the short trek up the hill to the Duke's castle, they met an uninvited guest.

Appearing in a poof of brimstone & smoke a contract devil stood before the Ninth Knot.  Introducing himself as Dessiter, he offers the knot his help in their quest to undo the vale & bring ruin to Mitra's agents on this plane.  The Ninth Knot doesn't buy it and expects something more is at play.  Still, when the Devil offers a contract with limited terms and a reward of transforming Yvainne's three hell-hounds into Nessian War-Hounds, how could the Ninth refuse.

And sign the contract they did.  They would kill a monadic deva, the head of the Mitrians on this plane.  And gain three powerful beasts of hell as payment delivered up front.

Only after signing the contract, did the groups legal expert Wasyli point out the risk.  If Thorn ordered them to abandon their mission & leave monadic deva Ara Mathra alive, they would be forced to breach a contract.  As unlikely as it would be, it would be advised to leave their side dealings from being known by Thorn.

With the interruption from hell behind them, the Ninth dons the appearance of Hallack's crew and head to the Duke's castle.  Emmerick takes the roll of Hallack.  The knot considered using the real dwarf, but were reluctant, so Mardus, having spend the most time around the blacksmith plays that role.  Yvainne plays up the bard.  Summit the Monk, an easy role to play for sure.  They do not bring along a fake Sister Marta, deciding instead to claim she died at the Horn.  For all great lies profit from a sliver of truth.  Wasyli & Quell play new members of the adventuring band.

Initially their meeting with the Duke's court appears to go over poorly, the Mad Duke's aids seem to not buy the story & the assembled crowd seems to agree.  But Quell's keen ears hear a reassuring whisper from the Duke to his aid.  "Think, if we pretend to buy the story, I'll be ride of this long line of charlatans once and for all."  The Duke bluntly cuts to the chase, asking the Knot what reward was worth it.  Mardus responds asking for a large sum of over 20,000 gp.  The Duke balks, Emmerick tries to press it.  The Duke then asks to see the "alleged" evidence for himself, as he has his doubts.  Mardus, sensing their plot unraveling, jumps in and accepts the much smaller amount of 12,000 gp.  The duke agrees & adds the Ninth will have a feast in the Lord's Quarter to honor their efforts.

The Ninth enjoy the lavish feast, but wish to shake their disguise soon.  Their new found noteriety is weighing them down, so while wining and dining with the elites of Ghastenhall, "Hallack's Crew" mentions wishing to explore the rumors of a nearby Medusa.  Some dignitaries urged caution, but "Hallack's Crew" insisted.

The Ninth plan to shed their disguise the following day, hoping to not don it again.

As the feasting wrapped up, Wasyli mentioned to the group that the Tavern & Inn they were at happens to be the rumored location of the Arcanist Ben.  Wasyli was quite interested in meeting the man, so Yvainne & Mardus offer to introduce him that night.  A discrete payment to the Innkeeper manages to lead them to Ben's suite upstairs.

Wasyli meets the fellow arcane caster who kindly offers his sitting room to the acquaintances and brief pleasantries are exchanged.  Yvainne is sure to ask about Ben's wife, who Ben simply says is "doing fine".  Though Ben constantly seems to eye the door to the bedroom.  Inquiries about Ben's travelling companion, Vincent are made.  And the Knot finds out the vampire hear visiting a local vampire of some note.  A meeting is arranged between the Ninth & Vincent for the following night.  And Ben is quick to hurry his guests out of his suite without mentioning his wife.

The following day the Ninth meet Vincent.  The Ninth asked for help, in particular strength of arms.  Vincent pushed until the Ninth revealed their plot to assault the vale.  Vincent offered to bring the Ninth before his ally, “Prince” Gaius Vestromo, vampire of Ghastenhall.  Further Vincent gave the Ninth an edge, he told them Vestromo needed a family heirloom held in the vaults of the Cathedral of Mitra-Made-Manifest in the Vale.  When asked what Vincent got out of the deal, he made it quite clear.  He knew Thorn's organization would be in a place of power, when that time came, he'd come calling for favors owed.  With a fang lined grin Vincent added "When you're forces rule this kingdom, and rule it they will, I will come calling."

That same night, Vincent lead the Knot into a near by graveyard & into an abandoned mausoleum.  Mardus noted the banal and stereotypical lair for a vampire, to which Vincent gave a sympathetic response of "Not my choice for a home..."  The Knot met with the dread vampire & under the guidance & advice of Vincent managed to gain the Prince's support in the form of 10 vampire spawn.

With the macabre scene behind them, the Knot runs into trouble of a different nature the following day.  Mardus is sought out in the Red Quarter by one of the pimps who works at the Golden Palace in the Red Quarter.  It seems Master Vex needs some help.

Rounding up the Knot, Mardus meets with Master Vex.  They find the eastern priest there badly injured, along with some scared looking thugs.  Master Vex is quick to ask for help.  His creatures have broken loose & he needs the situation dealt with.  And quickly.  He'll gladly pay the regular winnings for the game, just so long as speed is taken.  Quell, smelling fear & profit pushes, he wants a shadow stake-holding in the Golden Palace.  Master Vex balks at that.  But to sweeten the pot, Quell offers to not only capture as many of these creatures alive as possible, but further will ship future creatures they find back to the pit fighting arena.  In exchange a simple 1% cut of the profits is required.  Forced with little option, Master Vex buckles & agrees.

The Knot makes quick work of the creatures that fled into the sewers.  Relying on their powerful skills, the Knot recovers most without incident.  The only exception, the mighty Allosaurus which they were forced to kill.

As the weeks slipped by the Knot became increasingly restless.  Sending a cell of the shroud to the Vale they scouted out the area.  There was a village full of innocents.  Woman and children.  Emmerick was the most vocal.  He disliked the idea of wonton slaughter.  It reminded him of the uncaring fires of the inquisition.  Quell has a moment of pause as he remembered the burning flame of mitra kill his master & leave his master's children as orphans of the state.  Mardus reminded the group that ever since the beginning he's been a proponent of corruption but maintaining social order.  Simply with a new absolute ruler and the law of Asmodeus.  This destruction and worse the plague.  The more research into the savagery of the plague gave the Knot more pause.  Except for Yvainne, the death priest seemed quite pleased with the prospect of sending her dark god so many sacrifices.  Still, a reluctance hung about the Knot.  Was Thorn truly looking to rule Talengarde or simply cause chaos...

With their free time spent, Tiadora arrived to inform the Knot it was time to meet an old friend, The Fire-Axe.  Taking the form of a white-furred female bugbear, Tiadora provided teleportation coordinates to the ruins of Westkirk Castle, the current headquarters of Fire-Axe.

Arriving in mass across the mountains, Tiadora quickly led the Ninth to see the First.  A warm reunion was had.  Fire-Axe informed them they'd be given one squad of soldiers to invade the Vale with.  Tiadora pushed for a second troop lead by Fire-Axe's chief lieutenant, Night-Mane.  Fire-Axe hated that idea, but soothing words from the Ninth changed his mind.  He & Tiadora spoke to the Ninth of some different sources of potential help, Drugar were in the mountains near by, likewise, the Medusa was on the other side of the mountains near Ghastenhall.  He also told the Ninth of a Ogre Magi on the run in his camp.  Something about killing a sub-chieftain over a dispute.

With pleasantries & business concluded, the Ninth left the First to his planning.

Combining arcane divination and cunning tongue, the Ninth easily tracked down the Ogre Magi and explained plainly he had no future left in Fire-Axe's hoard.  But glory still awaited him.  After haggling over a price, the Ninth settled on a fee nearly identical to the monthly profits they'd just secured from the Golden Palace.

A convenient arraignment if there ever were one.

With affairs in order, the Knot makes their next move.  To track down this Medusa they keep hearing about.  With a little bit of luck & skill they manage to find the ruined temple that's the supposed location of the snake-haired horror.  Doing areal recon they spot a cluster of stone statues out front, likely victims.

The Knot steels itself & approaches on foot...

Session 27

The first week in Ghastenhall is a whirlwind of activity.  Wasyli meets the Ninth Knot's new cohort, Trik.  The priest of Asmodeus invites Wasyli to join an interfaith service the first morning of their stay in the Manor house in the Lord's Quarter of Ghastenhall.  The service is not held in a basement, or hidden closet, but rather on the ground floor sitting room.  It is a surreal experience for Wasyli to see.  All those years of his Aunt telling him to hide his faith.  And here it is being openly worshiped, not less than a mile from the Duke of Ghastenhall's audience chamber.  The trappings of Hell and the Midnight Lord on full display.  An odd sight indeed.

The rest of the week is filled with various actions.  The knot is quick to sell off the ill gotten equipment recovered from Branderscar as well as do some long overdue shopping.  Emmerick disappears to gather information from the town.  Others ask Thrane more questions about what is going on and how the disease will be released.  And other sundry actions take place.

The only other major event of the first week is the day of the pit-fight.  

Brother Summit "hungry" for combat, goes with Mardus & Quell to the Golden Palace, a hive of scum and villainy in the Red Quarter of town.  Having heard rumors that this is the place to get into pit fights, he's not disappointed.  Quell acts as fight manager & fast talks with the owner, Master Max, about the rules & getting Summit into the fight.  Using the same stage name as back in Farholde, "Empty".  Mardus does raise an eyebrow at the overly friendly nature of Quell.  A side of the elf he hadn't seen before.  Clearly the rogue is comfortable now that he's back home in Ghastenhall.

The negotiations finalized, the three return that evening where Brother Summit fights against 3 savage beasts. First the giant two-headed cobra falls to the monk.  The Owlbear who followed fared an equally poor chance against Summit's blows.  Some in the crowd notice his fighting stance looks similar to the Monks of the Serene Order.  But under the roar of the crowd, Quell & Mardus don't notice their comments.  Mardus is too busy shooting out narrations of Summit's fighting style, while Quell chats with Master Max as the fight goes on before them.  The last brute to face the monk is an Ankylosaurus.  The dinosaurs large stunning tail & think armored skin prove a hard challenge.  At one point Mardus is worried about needing to use a Breath of Life spell on Summit if he were to fall.  But the Monk perseveres & triumphs.

With the fight over, Mardus takes a battered & bruised Brother Summit back to the manor house to recover.  And Quell slips away to find himself at his old stopping ground.  The Silver Tankard Inn.  Eager to see how his old friend Khyber the elf slips into the tavern.  His usual table is empty, and Khyber is no where in sight.  He does spot his favorite barmaid, Eve.  Part friend, part little sister, it's comforting to see a friendly face, even if under his disguise she fails to recognize him.

He smiles and is a bit surprise to see her flirting so much with a patron. But his smile disappears when he sees who she's flirting with.  Emmerick.  The Unholy Warrior fails to notice Quell as he sits smiling & chatting up Eve.

Quell wonders in the back & picks a spot near his old table & waits.

The second week progresses along.  Much like the first.  

Quell continued to watch for his friend at the Silver Tankard, while quietly watching Emmerick maintain a role of wounded veteran and hobnob with locals and flirt with the pretty barmaid, Eve.  Quell eventually saw his friend Khyber show up.  And though Khyber gave Quell a look and even asked him "Do I know you?" the elf simply shook his head.  Afraid to speak & blow his cover.  Khyber also noticed the wounded soldier flirting with Eve, which raised an eyebrow on his rugged face.  But Quell noted he seemed too busy giving orders to a couple of thugs working for the local crime boss Nicholas Breuder.  It seems old Khyber has moved up in the ranks in Quell's absence.

The other Knot members continued their routine.  Emmerick gathered information & flirted with Eve, unaware of Quell's ever watchful eye.  Other knot members went about their business.  Two rumors did cause some of the Knot to investigate.  Rumors swirled of murder of woman in Red Quater.  That combined with rumors of an older man with a young woman who seemed confused wondering the market place raised concerns among Yvianne & Mardus.  So they went snooping around but found little to go on.  Consulting with Quell, they decided to dismiss the murders as likely an unfounded rumor.  But the story of the older man & confused woman did lead them to a name.  Ben.  It seems the necromancer who travels with a vampire is in town somewhere.

Also there was more pit fighting.  Brother Summit went up against a Wooly Rino that tried to skewer the Monk on his great horn, only to be stomped to the ground & knocked out.  A slicer beetle tried to take off a hand but found his pincers weren't sharp enough to bother the punishing kick & flurry of knuckles the Monk had to offer.  The charging Dire Lion that attacked the Monk nearly shredded him to ribbons.  And Mardus was worried he'd have to jump in and rescue the monk.  But the cat eventually fell just like all the others.

All in all, a pretty tame week for the Ninth Knot.