The Assassin Strikes! Chapter 1, Book II

From the Chronology:

15 Coldeven (March), 590 CY The Castellan of the Keep on the Borderlands is assassinated in his chambers. The party is questioned by Olaf Snowfalcon, who orders them to the river town of Garrotten to discover who killed the Castellan. 

16 Coldeven (March), 590 CY The Inquisitor Corvus and Sir Percy lead the party to Garrotten where they begin their investigation. 

17 Coldeven (March), 590 CY The party explores the town. They hold a first meeting with the mayor, who they immediately suspect is behind the attack.

Book II is a play through of Len Lakofka's L2 The Assassin's Knot (1983).

The Narrative:

In the evening on 15 Coldeven, Marshal Olaf summoned  some of the party from their rooms in the tavern to the Castellan's audience chamber in the Keep.  Summoned were several of those who had fought in the Caves of Chaos: Corvus (priest of Pholtus), Olga (Dwarven Scout),  Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobar (noble artificer), Ambiguity (Rakasta druid) & her companion mountain lion, Morbor (dwarven fighter), Evryhss (elvish adventurer), and Artemis (elf warrior). In addition Fandal (winged halfling rogue/wizard), one of the adventurers who had recently arrived from Saltmarsh, was summoned as well.

Olaf informed them that the Castellan of the Keep was found strangled at 8 AM that morning. His bedroom was locked from the inside. No furniture or other objects were overturned or broken; however, three clues to the murderer were found in the room. First, a small red ruby (value 50 gp) was located near the body. Second, a golden lute string was found under the bed. Third, a red leather button was found in the Baron’s hand. The Keep had been sealed after the discover, but several people had left the night before. An effort to speak with dead gave no clues, as did other priestly divinations. 

Corvus, the Inquisitor of Pholtus, and Sir Percy, a Keolandish noble, are given authority to investigate this murder, with their assistants. They are told that three unusual folks were in the Keep's tavern the night before but have since disappeared and are unaccounted for. First, an old man with long white hair, wearing a blue robe with the symbol of three barracuda on it (the robes of a priest of the Suel diety Osprem), ate meal. The old man displayed a beautiful golden holy symbol, a small whale with red ruby eyes. Second, a handsome man in traveling clothes had a few drinks and played his lute for the people in the tavern. The lute had unusual golden strings. Third, a mustached man wearing a distinctive red vest with ornate red buttons showed up late in the evening and drank several rounds of ale. Again, in the morning, when the Keep was locked down following the discovery of the Castellan's corpse, none of these three could be found, nor was there any record of them entering or leaving the Keep.

Olaf instructs the group to journey to the nearby river town of Garrotten. It does not enjoy a good reputation, as dark rumors suggest that Garrotten is the headquarters for assassins who operate right under the nose of the town’s mayor. There is no proof that such a guild exists, but a common phrase in this region is, “If you want someone killed, go to Garrotten.” Additionally, oddly given its inland location, the town posts a small temple to Osprem, Goddess of the Seas and Water Travel. The party is to find out who killed the Castellan and why, and to bring them to the Keep for interrogation if possible.

Map of Garrotten, Keoland. Note that East and West
are reversed from normal practice.
Garrotten is on the western shore of the Javan River.
It lies in the County of Cryllor.
In this post, when a location is first mentioned
its map location is noted in the text like this (#1).

Late on 16 Coldeven the band rode into Garrotten on the road from the Keep. Fandal stayed invisible, as winged halflings were uncommon enough to attract attention. Ambiguity sends her mountain lion to prowl the nearby woods and wait for her call if needed.

The first building they came to was the general store (#13), run by Lydia, a beautiful, statuesque blonde and her husband Gelmark. The party questioned the proprietors but gained no useful information, though Morbor was smitten by the Amazonian beauty, and propositioned her several times despite her marriage. 

Moving on the band road up to the town inn, The House of Abraham (#2). There they discovered that the innkeep, Abraham, was the man in the red vest. The other inn residents included Basmar, a riverboat captain, a dwarf named Oscar, and a professional gambler named Wilfong, amongst others. 

The band ate some food and retired to their rooms for the evening.

On 17 Coldeven they began the investigation in ernest. After breakfast, the band walks up to the mayor's castle (#1) and asked for audience. With Corvus and Sir Percy as their spokesman, the group met with Arness, Mayor of Garotten, her advisor Tellish and captain of the mayor's guard, Ascue.  The mayor was clearly unhappy with the party's documents naming them royal inquisitors investigating the murder. Arness claimed she should have been asked to handle the investigation herself. But she didn't openly oppose the party, and they left the castle.

They noted after leaving the castle that some of the town guards were orcs - an unusual choice for a Keoland town.

L to R: Tellish, Arness, Ascue.

Returning to the inn, Artemis & Sir Percy stayed in their inn rooms, Fandal used his art to turn invisible and spent the day flying about the countryside scouting. 

Corvus (priest of Pholtus), Olga (Dwarven Scout),  Ambiguity (Rakasta druid), Morbor (dwarven fighter), and Evryhss (elvish adventurer) went about the town. They visited the Theater of Mystic Celebration (#4), where they talked with the owner, Balmorrow the Bard and decided he clearly was not the assassin despite one of his harp strings being at the murder scene. They also visited the druid Martin (#7), and then Krak, the half-orc armorer (#19). He was an angry man, who clashed with Morbor, they nearly fought. Then the party visited the Church of Osprem (#3), where they spoke with the high priest Harper, clearing him of the murder despite a man with his holy symbol being seen in the Keep, and the curate Basil. 

Finally, they visited “Ohlatta, Jeweler and Money Changer.” (#29) She was so secretive and odd acting that the party went to extraordinary steps to sneak into her very fortified home and spy on her, but they discovered he was just a very paranoid former adventurer. 

With that, they returned to the inn to spend the night in their rooms, with the Mayor still their primary suspect. 

This played out over two sessions - 25 February and 2 April 2023.

Disclaimer: This blog recounts the fictional events of a game of Dungeons & Dragons. Views expressed by characters within the blog are those of the characters, not the players, dungeon master, nor the blog's author. All other views in this blog are my own and represent the views of no other person, organization, or institution.