Session 6

The Ninth knot's first 3 days in Aldencross were quite eventful.

Before even entering, a brief but fateful discussion happened.  Emmerick being familiar with the abilities of a Paladin, having served under one (Sir Balen) wished to hide their true nature before entering a town & watch tower on the border of the most good & holy kingdom in the lands which could be crawling with them.  So he wisely conversed with Yvainne to make sure she could shroud both their aura's with magical means (Non-Detectable Alignment).

The first day, Galen & Yvainne pend time setting up shop in the town market & started selling off all the groups hard earned loot, all under the guise of a traveling merchant & wife.  Along the way Yvainne pend a lot of time working the crowd at the local tavern & inn, the Lord's Dalliance to get as many rumors as possible.  Most seemed to swirl around the arrival of a local band of actors who would be putting on a play in town & at the Tower.

Summet spend the first day exploring the outskirts of town, to get the lay of the land.  Checking all the routes in & out of the town as well as the general traffic patterns.  And spend the evening socializing with a group of Dwarves from out of Town, brought in to work on the Tower.

Mardus & Emmerick, under the rouse of a Knight of Alerion & Priest of Mitra (both costumes they'd grown quite accustomed to wearing) investigating the unexplained disappearance of Sir Balen of Karfield & his squire, Timeon of Balentyne, began with the local Pastor in town.  They found the Chaplin to have a handful of useful magical items he'd be willing to sell them & told them if they wished information, they should start at the Tower with Lord Havelyn.  They approached the "Watch Tower" to find out this was no simple tower, but a massive keep, their task would be tall indeed...  But they continued & pressed the local guards for an audience.  After parleying with a Captain who's name was unknown to them, they were allowed an audience with Sir Havelyn, commander of the watch tower Balentyne.  It was a tense meeting, but they managed to fool the Lord of Aldencross into believing their story.  And they did such a good job, they even got the commander to write a letter of introduction, signed & sealed to the family of the "missing" Squire Timeon of Balentyne.

Quell, acting as a traveling huntsmen spend time buying gear & socializing at the Tavern as well.  Finding odd bits of information about the near by tower.  But his greatest finding happened in the middle of the night.  For Quell was awoken to the sound of someone moving around in the lower level of the Lord's Dalliance well after closing time.  Quell investigated, with the utmost of stealth, and found the proprietor of the Inn sneaking into his own basement.  Curiosity peaked, the Elf follows & somehow remains hidden from the otherwise quick eyed proprietor  Ballem Barhold as he opens a secret door & walks down a long tunnel before emerging on the other side in a stone store room.  Quell observes all this without being observed back & then leaves, sure he'll investigate more later...

The second day exposes more rumors as well as other bits of information.

Galen & Yvainne continue with their Merchant act, adding a bit of spousal friction for added color and manage to sell more treasure, while getting all kinds of rumors, including some about Captain Zack, a bit of a dandy & a Captain Mott, who has a beautiful wife who he doesn't seem to hardly notice.  At least, so the rumors go...  The dandy, Captain Zack, is even spotted by Yvainne at the Lord's Dalliance that night but despite her advances, Captain Zack shows no interest, as if his heart is given over to another already.  The group begins to wonder if Zack is interested in any women...

Summit increases his standing with the Dwarves & via a mock "pay dispute" between him & Galen, he is able to get on the good graces of the head of the Dwarves, Barnabus Eisenbauch & runs errands for them outside the Watch Tower, while overhearing gossip from servants & guards.  Though, he's not allowed entrance into the Tower yet.  Something Eisenbauch promises if he can prove himself.

Mardus & Emmerick go with their letter of introduction & meet the mother of squire Timeon & ask about him and his family.  They leave veiled questions about Timeon's moral standing & purity, never out write calling him a cultist, but leaving enough innuendo to stagger a horse.

Quell goes "hunting" and scout the land.  He sized up the watch tower & made note of visible guards before resting in the evening & engaging in a bit of stealthy exploring at night.  He snuck through the passage in the basement of the Lord's Dallience & verified what some rumors the Knot heard.  The secret passage leads straight into the store room of the Balentyne Watch Tower.  But not only that, ol' Ballem seemed to have switched out wine in the stores, seems not everyone in this land is innocent...

The third day the group continues their role & stays mostly in town.

Galen & Yvainne finish selling their wares, Yvaine spreads rumors about becoming estranged from her husband & looking for work independent of him, perhaps as a cook...

Quell does some more "hunting" and spots a mounted patrol leave the Watch Tower.  And after resting in the evening, he goes on another nighttime search, this time his target is the in town residence of one Captain Zack.  He finds nothing of note, other than some of Zack's fine cloths have a perfume or other fragrance on them.

Summit spends all day near the tower, helping the dwarves & swapping stories with servants & the like who are coming & going.  At the end of it, Eisenbauch informs him that after their off day, Summit will be working with the dwarves IN the Tower.  Seems all the long nights drinking at the tavern finally paid off.

Mardus & Emmerick continue to pock around at the tower.  This time returning & insisting on talking to the Magister of the Tower, one Tacitus of Morimun.  They do the "good cop/bad cop" routine and insinuate Tacitus of potential dark magic, causing an argument ending with them being thrown out of the Magistrate's Lab.  They briefly stop & visit the Chapel in the Tower.  Standing in the sanctum of their enemy, the anti-paladin & oracle of Asmodeus manage to fake a prayer to Mitra then leave.  The voices ringing in Emmerick's head "BURN IT DOWN!!"