Underworld Chronicle - Part 2

Midwinter City, January 1045TA - The Shadow Guild.

Rayyan meets with the party again a few days later. It is time for them to ‘Run the Gauntlet' – to be tested by the Shadow Guild.

After arriving at a secret location, the party are teleported into the Gauntlet. The Gauntlet consists of a series of rooms connected by passages. As they progress further into the complex, the rooms they leave are sealed off – forcing them ever deeper. The rooms are designed to test the skill of the prospective members – lock picking, trap finding and disarming, climbing and combat skills to name but a few.

The party come out the other side, battered but not defeated. They meet with the Guildmaster who informs them they have scraped a pass and are now members of the Shadow Guild. They are told to speak to the Daymaster who will inform them of their first task.

Midwinter City, January 1045TA - The Rumourmonger.

The party speak to the Daymaster. For their first job he tells them to investigate a dwarf named Brewster Horgann. Brewster is a rumourmonger working in the Docklands. He buys and sells information to and from local inhabitants, thieves etc. He has recently come into a large deal of money and they want to know where he got it from.

They track him down to an inn called The Seagull and then trail him to his home. After dealing with his bodyguards they interrogate Brewster. At first he refuses to answer their question, but Dog begins to torture him to force him to talk. After a few minutes he tells them that he has been paid to arrange a meeting between two local gangs: Theo's Tigers and the Scorpions.

Believing he has more to tell, Dog continues the interrogation, eventually leading to his death. The party search the house for loot and find a collection of messages that they take with them back to the guild.

At the guild they read through the messages. They are all tip-offs regarding the movements of merchants, money and goods around the city. The party decide to keep the best of the notes and act upon themselves.

Midwinter City, February 1045TA - Lady Blacklake's Ring.

The party's first job is to investigate the tip-off 'Lady Wilhelmina Blacklake has offered a 5000Cr reward for the return of her stolen wedding ring.' Alex and Amrod disguise themselves two investigators called Mr Daley and Mr Quimby and visit the Blacklake residence in Norn Hill. They interview Wilhemina, a woman in her eighties. She tells them that the ring was in her bedroom and presumed stolen by a burglar. The local watch have been unable to find the ring.

They return to the Guild HQ and inquire with the Guild's fences to see if they have seen any sight of the ring. Amazingly one of them has. He got it from a local pawnbroker and sold it on to a local confidence trickster.

They visit the pawnbroker and discover he got it from another pawn shop in the Docklands. They trace the path of the ring back to a pawnbroker's shop in Norn Hill. After interviewing the owner of the shop it becomes obvious that Lady Wilhemina's daughter-in-law had stolen the ring and then pawned it.

They return to the Shambles and begin searching for the ring's current owner, Jim Rivers. They discover that Rivers pretends to be a rich merchant in order to seduce and rob visiting women.

Unsure whether to steal the ring or buy it from him, they decide to break into his house to find out more about the man. Inside they find a small, cheap house. In the kitchen they find a padlocked hatch to a cellar with strange noises emanating from it. Tibidee picks the lock and they head down - only to be attacked by a blood spattered ghoul. They quickly dispatch the ghoul and search the basement. They discover several partially eaten corpses hanging from meat hooks. As they leave the grisly basement they are confronted by Rivers, accompanied by several summoned skeletons. Battle begins and ends with Rivers dead on the floor. They search his body for thr ring and scarper. The next day they deliver the ring to Wilhemina Blacklake for the substantial reward.

Midwinter City, February 1045TA - Malleve Sorendon's Missing Husband.

After returning Lady Blacklake's ring they move on to another tip-off. This time the message reads 'Malleve Sorendon is offering 100Cr to anyone who can bring her word of her missing brother'. After visiting Malleve, work colleagues and other members of his family they put together an accurate picture of the missing brother. Malleve was recently widowed, so her brother lent her money to help her financially. To make ends meet he borrowed money from a local loan shark but was unable to meet the repayments. In order to end the loan the moneylender used him as a courier doing work for the local gangs. While on one of these trips he failed to return.

The party set off to a local village called Glendale - the courier's last port of call. After a bit of investigation they discover that he arrived, completed his business and left the village. He then failed to return to Midwinter. That night, while they are asleep in the village's inn, someone posts a note under their door. They find the note next morning and read it. The note is an invitation to talk about the missing courier. After breakfast they set off to the meeting place.

They are met by four local bandits. They explain that they have the courier and have been waiting for their arrival to discuss the terms of his release. Confusions grows between the two parties leading to an inevitable conflict that ends with three of the bandits dead and one barely clinging to life.

They return to the village with the surviving bandit where they interrogate him. They explain that their leader ordered the kidnapping of the courier, but did not discuss the job with the rest of the gang. He is currently being held in the gang's hideout - an abandoned mine a few miles to the north. They head off to the mine. On the way they foil an ambush set up by the bandits and finally reach the mine late in the day. They watch the place for a few hours and plan a night-assault.

They take out the sentries patrolling the camp and then assault the mine, working htere way inside. Eventually the remaining two bandits surrender in return for their freedom and the party return to Midwinter with the courier.

Midwinter City, February 14th 1045TA - The Mysterious Warehouse.

They return to the city and decide to investigate another message - 'Undercover watchmen are guarding the large four story warehouse on Quayside near the Bronze Sigil'. Alex, Ted and Crow set off in to the Docklands and soon find the warehouse. Around they spot over a dozen men in plain clothes patrolling the area around warehouse.

Deciding that the place is too well guarded they set off back to the Shambles. They have not gone far when they are stopped by a strange figure dressed all in black. He explains that three of his 'brothers' have been captured and are being interrogated in the warehouse. He offers them 500Cr to rescue his brothers. He will provide a diversion to allow them entry to the warehouse. If they rescue the three, then there will be a reward ten times as much.

The three agree to the job. The black-clad man attacks the group of men around the warehouse's entrance, killing two. He then dashes off, closely followed by the patrolling guards. The three friends sneak over to the warehouse entrance and stealthily make their way inside. They are able to sneak past the guards on the ground, first and second floors. On the top floor they find the three captives, currently being interrogated by two watchmen.

Alex and Crow attack the watchmen while Ted frees the prisoners. As more watchmen from below are alerted by the noise they manage to escape through the windows and to the ground before they are captured.

The next day they find the promised reward in their rooms, a selection of magical items and a letter telling them that they can cal upon them for help three times.

On to Part 3 of the Chronicle.

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