2 Arodus 4719, midday

Citadel Altaerein, Hellknight Hill

The others sifted through the stuff, both useful and useless, that the boggards had with them and we were ready to continue exploring eastward. I opened the door and was met by another boggard who was soon joined by his companion.

Things were again taking an unfriendly turn when amazingly the boggards called for a truce. Mercifully Liberte spoke their language (Boggardeese?) and we were able to work out an arrangement where they would help us in exchange for their freedom.

I like it when people are reasonable and was quite happy with this deal, but clearly Alak was not. Up until this point I had only been slightly annoyed by the want-to-be Hellknight’s attitude, but his comments made me glad that the Hellknights had abandoned the citadel and we only had to deal with the one arrogant prick.

Our two new allies were named Skort and Venak and they were a font of information. Back in their homeland, far to the south, their leader had been overthrown and a large number of their people joined up with a group of cultists called the Cinderclaws. These cultists were led by a priest called Malarunk and it was he who led them through a portal and into the citadel. Once here the plan had been to take over the surrounding lands, but this was delayed by the stairwell collapse that isolated Malarunk and a large group of Cinderclaws on the level below us from the remaining cultists on this level.

Skort and Venak were done with the entire shit show and just wanted to get back home. They confirmed that there were a handful of others still on this level waiting to ambush us and that the goblin’s bear was trapped in a chamber to the north. They said bear had already chewed through several cultists before they gave up on trying to deal with it.

This gave us the idea to release the bear into the room where the remaining Cinderclaws were waiting and let it deal with them. Combining skills we were able to do just that and we were left with only one grievously wounded boggard. Sadly the bear perished.

We searched the chambers and found a handful of useful items and saw where they had been trying to tunnel their way out (they did not know of the secret way we had used to get down here).

We began to wonder about how to get down to the lower level which led us to searching more on this level. There was the problem of the wicked little creepy doll to deal with and so we came up with another cunning plan to lead the doll into the catacombs and let the skeletons finish it off. This plan did not go as smoothly as the previous one. The doll’s lust for vengeance against Hellknights made it focus on Alak. But in the end the doll was destroyed.

Alak guessed that the doll was created by a Hellknight back when they lived here and they decided not to take it with them when they left. And thus the doll’s hatred for the order. I can’t blame it and the best part about the encounter was seeing the little mini Hellknight devil doll fearlessly attack Alak.

We found a few more useful items and briefly entertained the thought of attacking the jelly cube in the back room but decided (wisely) to return later with more fire based magic.

This left the doors at the east end of the catacombs to explore.

There was a chamber with a table and a store room beyond these doors, and recent footprints that showed someone had come this way, left through one of the doors into the catacombs and then hurriedly returned through the other door.

We found more interesting items in the chamber, including a ring which had belonged to Alak’s father. He was thrilled because this was what he came to the fortress to find, and he announced he would be returning home.

While the young fighter was certainly useful to have around in a scrape, his narrow world view did not fit in with the rest of the group and I will be happy to see him leave.

But this was not the most important find beyond the catacombs. We found a tunnel that took us all of the way back to Breachill and into the basement of the Pickled Ear! With this knowledge in hand we returned to the citadel and took Skort and Venak up and out into the surrounding woods. We advised them to be wary but to hang out in the vicinity because we might at some point be able to return them to their homeland.

2 Arodus 4719, night

Breachill

We returned to Breachill with Alak and Warbal. Warbal agreed to update the town council on what was happening at the citadel while the rest of us joined Alak for a last drink before he departed.

Over dinner Aemi told us more about her past. She was apparently a child of a well to do but highly dysfunctional family which eventually left her penniless and homeless and put her on a perilous path that brought her here. It sounded a lot less pleasant than my humble background.

After that talk turned to our next actions. Aemi felt that Voz, the bookstore owner, was deeply involved in what was happening at the citadel, and her theory made a lot of sense. We decided to head over to the Pickled Ear and talk to the owner, Roxie Denn, to see what she knew about the secret passageway between her place and the citadel.

Some folks are people persons — not just those of us who enjoy the company of others, but those who actually know how to interact with people, read their body language, and sway them to different ways of thinking. Hanspur knows I am not one of them! But Aemi and Liberte are. Tarsius acts as if he is, but, well I’ll get to that later.

As such I found it is best to let Aemi or Liberte do the talking for the group. If I have an idea or an opinion I want conveyed I find it better if I pass it on to them and let them integrate it into the conversation.

Thus at the Pickled Ear it was Aemi that did the talking as Liberte carefully watched and the rest of us hung around, trying hard not to look threatening. It helped that we were officially employed by the town council. It also helped that we already suspected Voz and so had a convenient person whom Roxie could throw under the bus when she realized we were totally onto her.

Yeah, Voz paid her for discrete access to the tunnel and had used it just days before. Aemi looked at me and suggested we might need to get into someplace we weren’t supposed to be.

I was totally on board with that.

3 Arodus 4719, morning

Breachill

On the way to the Reliant Book Company Liberte split off to see the Breachill archivist and share some of what we had discovered at the citadel.

At the bookshop a notice signed by Voz was prominently hung on the door stating that it was closed until further notice.

“Well that’s convenient,” I offered, “because it means there is no better time to go in and look around.”

Tarsius thought it was a good time to get a search warrant from the town council. Bless his heart. But Aemi suggested he go do that while we waited.

Some time later, after the rest of us had searched Voz’s place, he returned a little dejected. It seemed that council woman Gardania was more interested in protecting the rich and powerful than administering justice, and nothing Tarsius said had changed her mind.

While he was away keeping the authorities distracted we entered the building through a back window, and after disarming a few traps and unlocking a few locked doors we found that Voz had left in a hurry. We didn’t completely loot the place, although it was tempting — what better way to counteract someone bent on harming the community than to use their own tools against them? We did find a book, some magical scrolls, and more importantly a scrap of paper that read, “Aha! Entrance to Alseta’s Ring-Guardian’s Way.”

We learned that Guardian’s Way was a fortified outpost some six miles out of town.

Now what?