Unravelling the Assassin's Knot, Chapter 2, Book II

 From the Chronology:

Inn common room regulars L to R: Philmar,
Wilfong, Rillis, Oscar, Abraham, Captain Basmar

18 Coldeven (March), 590 CY Trying to shake things up, the dwarf Morbor tries to arrange a wrestling match for amusement in the town. That night, the party meets a contact at the bridge outside town and are ambushed by brigands they suspect were hired by the assassins. 

19 Coldeven (March), 590 CY The mayor has the innkeeper arrested, they party enters the castle to interrogate him and uses a spell which reveals the assassin was Tellish, the mayor's advisor. Tellish escapes them, but the party manages to free the innkeeper and fight their way from the castle, which they and the townsfolk besiege. They send a message to the Keep asking for reinforcements.

The Narrative:

In the morning on 18 Coldeven, Corvus (priest of Pholtus), Olga (Dwarven Scout),  Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobar (noble artificer), Ambiguity (Rakasta druid), Morbor (dwarven fighter), Fandal (halfling rogue/wizard), and Evryhss (elvish adventurer) made their way to the common room (#8) where settled down for breakfast alongside many of the inn's regulars. 

During the night, the party discovered that the inn had a crawlway (#15) under it connected to the guest room by secret doors in the floors. Very suspicious!  

After a quick breakfast, Artemis (elf warrior) left town, returning to her elven homeland after deciding that human politics are too sordid. 

Krak the Armorer

The party spoke with Glami the bartender, Abraham himself, and Rillis the cook. They learned a few useful things from Falpir the stableboy. 

Throughout the day the band works to investigate more. Fandal continued to fly invisibly around the castle. 

Several other characters continued to explore the town, having a discussion with the town beggar and fool, Priska. He gave them some interesting bits of information, but they became more and more convinced that the Mayor was behind the assassination. 

Morbor the Dwarf

Morbor decided it was time to shake things up, the people of the town were too cautious and suspicious to provide the party much information. So, he challenged the people of the town to a bare-knuckles fight as entertainment, being certain to challenge Krak. Morbor plastered the entire town with flyers for this fight, and he managed to attract a lot of attention. 

While Morbor was busy wit this, several other party members had lunch and played cards with Wilfong, Basmar, and Oscar. The party makes an agreement to meet representatives of the assassins at the stone bridge south of town.  

The party is at the bridge at midnight, as agreed... and they are promptly ambushed by a dozen bandits. The fight is brief and brutal, the bandits had bitten off more than they could chew with these survivors of the Caves of Chaos. All twelve were taken down without any of the party even being wounded. A small group of town guards showed up soon afterwards, questioning the party.  Among the dead bandits was Oscar, the dwarf from the inn, and Sangster, one of the leaders of the town guard who had questioned the party earlier in the day. 

Most of the party returned to the inn for the night. Evryhss (elvish adventurer), however, decided enough was enough. After all of the bloody fighting in the Caves, and now the likelihood of more bloody fighting in Garrotten, he left the party, returning to his homeland. 

Abraham works the bar, while Wilfong
gambles with some farmers.

The next morning, 19 Coldeven, Corvus (priest of Pholtus), Olga (Dwarven Scout),  Sir Percy Cleghorn Stanley Hobar (noble artificer), Ambiguity (Rakasta druid), Morbor (dwarven fighter), and Fandal (halfling rogue/wizard) all went to the common room for breakfast.

While the are eating, A strong patrol of town guard come into the inn and arrest the innkeeper, Abraham d'Farmin, for the murder of the Castellan. While the inn (and the rest of the town) are stunned, the party follows the guard to the castle, where they demand a second meeting with Lord Mayor Arness. 

L to R: Tellish, Arness, and Ascue.

Clearly irritated, Arness compromised with the party by sending them into the castle dungeons with Tellish to interrogate Abraham. 

It isn't clear precisely what Arness and Tellish intended with this move - most likely Tellish was to somehow force Abraham to confess. But that didn't happen. Instead, the party cast a spell that compled Tellish to speak the truth, and he failed to resist its effects. Tellish spilled all about the plot to kill the Castellan. He and the party quickly fought, Tellish was defeated but utilized some sort of magic to fade away into the ethereal realm, escaping the party's wrath. 

The badn rescued Abraham and slew the ogre prison guard but found themselves trapped in the dungeon of Arness' castle while guards came for them. Fleeing through the dungeon they found Arness' alchemical laboratory, and in there discovered a secret tunnel that led them out of the castle, opening up

from a hidden trap door on the hillside.  The passage was guarded by invisible zombes that appeared as they attacked, but the party easily destroyed them. 

Tellish fades into the ether...

This played out over two sessions - May and 4 June 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.