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Pieces of the Puzzle (Session #7)
After the group learned about the return of the Dark, they decided to let things settle down in the docks for a couple of days while Blaine and Kyle went on their yearly "door crusade".
Once every year members of the Order of the Hart go to their chapterhouse to take part in a ritual. A powerful spell is cast which opens a magical doorway that will take the paladin who steps through it to the vicinity of an evil act. The paladin is expected to stop the evil and return to their chapterhouse. Many other paladin orders have similar rituals.
On the night of the full moon in the month named for their god, Blaine and Kyle began the necessary preparations for a "door crusade". They prayed for hours until their allotted time, dawn. The entire Order gathered in the chapel and prayed in unison for the strength to defeat the evil which they were about to face. All of the paladins were dressed in their finest armor, with many wielding magical swords and shields. Sir Jarik began reciting the ancient chant that would open the door to great evil. A shimmering silver disk materialized on the altar and each of the paladins rose and stepped through one at a time.
When Blaine and Kyle stepped through they were surprised to see that they were still together. Normally the door sends each paladin to their own trial, apparently the magic of the door felt it was more appropriate for the brothers to fight as a team. Their surprise was short-lived, because nearby they saw three women being restrained by six orcs. Five of the orcs wielded falchon, while the sixth carried an orcish double-axe. Kyle and Blaine roared a battle cry and began to charge the evil humanoids, hoping to save the women from whatever the orcs had in mind for them. When he heard the cry, the double-axe wielding orc commanded his underlings to attack the paladins. The brothers quickly closed the distance to their adversaries, launching mighty attacks, felling two of the orcs quickly. Seeing that his underlings were in trouble, the orc leader waded in, double-axe slashing to and fro. With their leader's help, the orcs were able to turn the battle more in their favor by knocking Blaine to the ground dying. With his brother out of the battle, Kyle was outnumbered three to one. Kyle maneuvered himself over to his brother while keeping the orcs at bay. He killed another of the falchon wielding orcs and reached down to lay hands upon his brother, healing him. Blaine opened his eyes and jumped to his feet while defending himself from further blows. When he regained his feet fully, he and Kyle fought back-to-back, each protecting the other's flank, while hitting the orcs with powerful blows. Once the orcs had the advantage of number taken from them, they were defeated quickly.
After defeating the orcs, the brothers noticed that just over the hill there was smoke rising. Blaine rushed to the top of the hill to check for more danger while Kyle went to the unconscious women to make sure they were going to survive. The smoke was rising from the remains of a merchant caravan, Blaine looked for survivors, and found none. Kyle administered first aid to the women bringing them back to consciousness. One woman was dressed in fine clothing, and when she awoke she introduced herself as Jacqueline Ravenscroft, and the other two young ladies as Onnie and Cora, her servants/traveling companions. She explained that she had traveled to the city of Cairin to the north to trade for goods from Citadel Morel. They had been hounded by orcs on the entire return trip. This was the first time that she had seen this many orcs on the north road. They were able to find a couple healthy horses from the caravan to bear them back to the city. Kyle and Jacqueline rode on one horse and chatted the entire way, while Blaine allowed the Onnie and Cora to ride the second horse. It took a day to travel from the battle site to Jacqueline's family house in the Gate Heights district. Kyle asked Jacqueline if she would like to have dinner with him sometime and she accepted. The paladins dropped the women off at Ravenscroft Manor and headed to their chapterhouse.
Meanwhile, while the paladins were taking care of their crusade...
Rory spent time in the High Bridge district trying to learn about the Rascals, a thieves' guild that primarily consists of halflings and gnomes. He went from tavern to tavern, but it seemed as if the Rascals either don't exist of didn't want to be found.
Kruenor and Gaelen spent a day watching the Teketian embassy, hoping to learn some information about Terrak Dojan and his Teketian cohorts. The following day, Kruenor and Gaelen set themselves up in an alley across from the embassy, when they heard a sound farther down the alley. They turned in time to see three men in Teketian livery approach from the rear of the alley. When they looked toward the street, they saw that two others had cut them off and were approaching cautiously. The lead warrior in the alley said, "Come with us, the Ambassador would like to speak with you." At this, Kruenor and Gaelen darted into the empty street. The men converged on the companions, grabbing Kruenor and tackling him to the ground. He told Gaelen to find the paladins and Gaelen evaded the men and ran toward the Order of the Hart chapterhouse. The Teketians dragged Kruenor into the embassy kicking and screaming.
Once within the walled courtyard of the embassy, the Teketian guards allowed Kruenor to get to his feet. Kruenor jumped up, kicked one of his assailants in the groin, then composed himself. The lead warrior asked him to follow him to the ambassador. Kruenor, figuring that he couldn't escape anyway, followed. Just as he stepped on the stairs to ascend to the second floor, he heard loud footsteps, and turned to stand face to thigh with Terrak's runic guardian. The guardian waited for Kruenor to start up the stairs, then followed. The Teketian warrior showed Kruenor to an intricately carved door
Sitting at the desk fifteen feet from Kruenor was his greatest enemy, Terrak Dojan. Terrak rose and introduced himself, asking Kruenor for his name. Kruenor answered, "Kruenor Saarinen" and asked why he had been taken. Terrak laughed and asked Kruenor why he had been watching the embassy. Kruenor answered that he thought that it was a beautiful building, he was just admiring it. After a short conversation, Terrak told Kruenor that he'll be watching him and let him leave.
Gaelen ran to the chapterhouse, he asked Sir Jarik if the Goodwin brothers had returned, they hadn't so Gaelen decided to wait for a while. After about an hour, Kruenor walked through the door. He told Gaelen what happened, then they left for the Cat House.
When the brothers returned to the chapterhouse, they checked in and went to the Cat House to find the rest of the group. Everyone was there except Rory, he was continuing his quest to find the Rascals. As a group, everyone but Rory decided to go to the finest restaurant in Xraxus: Kelin's.
Rory spent the entire night trying to track down someone from the Rascals so he could join, but he didn't have the necessary contacts in High Bridge.
The next evening, Kyle went to Gate Heights in a carriage to pick up Jacqueline Ravenscroft for dinner. They went to Kelin's and had a wonderful time.
Rory spent the evening in High Bridge, ending up in a tavern known as Bimble Hobbler's. Kruenor was having a drink in Bimble Hobbler's when Rory entered, so he stayed for the rest of the evening.
Gaelen began feeling claustrophobic in Xraxus, so he left the city for a couple of days to spend some time in the Gray Forest. While in the forest, he came across a meeting. Gaelen quietly crept close to the small group. When he caught a glimpse of the men he was surprised. There were two druids, each in brown robes with a red paw insignia on a chain around their neck and there was a tall man obviously from the city. The man from the city was tall with greasy, black hair, and he wore black leather armor. Rory was able to read the lips of the druid facing him, catching part of the conversation, "The shipment will be in on the next new moon, the ship will wait at Darn's Rock". Gaelen was able to slip away from the strange meeting without being detected.
Blaine decided to go into Crabtown to see if he could find some information, when he entered the Black Shanty, a small, dark tavern, the few existing customers quieted instantly. Blaine instantly diffused the situation by buying everyone in the bar a beer. After buying several rounds for everyone in the bar, Blaine was able to speak with an old sailor named Rufus. Rufus mentioned in passing that he was going to sign on to a ship that is going to be in port on a week: the Black Heart. The ship sails out of Skurge, a city that Blaine had never heard of. Taking this seemingly innocuous information with him, Blaine left to spend the rest of the night at the Cat House.
The next day, Kyle decided to go and catch some entertainment at the arena. He watched several chariot races and noticed a large number of white robed people with a yellow fleur-de-lis emblazoned on their chests.
That evening, Blaine decided to take Rory with him to Crabtown to get some more information. On the way, they spotted a group of leather armor clad rogues who were obviously preparing to attack. Blaine charged into their midst as Rory withdrew into the shadows. The rogues began firing shortbows at Blaine, but his armor stopped most of the arrows. Rory supported Blaine with spells, and timely dagger throws. The battle was decisive with the rogues being defeated handily. One of the rogues ran and Blaine was unable to catch him.