Session 6

Alamar

In Grindlebuck we bought some clothes (and I bought a glaive) and were promptly attacked by a stone giant with two heads who didn’t enjoy our fashion sense. We hurt him badly, particularly Alia, who seems quite effective with a bow. I’ll have to make sure to steal her bowstring before trying to steal a kiss. But the fight attracted attention from the guards, who subdued the giant while we returned to our inn. Where the guards were waiting to arrest us for drawing weapons in the streets or some such stupidity. I was the only one smart enough to hide and pretend not to know any of them, but I did follow after the guards left, so that I could meet up with them when they got out of prison, or maybe until I got bored and left. If there was a public execution maybe I could stage a rescue. Or wave at them and disappear into the crowd if there were too many guards. Come to think of it this is a dwarven city. I’m taller than all of these dwarven fucks. Hiding in crowds will be a problem. Maybe if I shave one and crouch?

There was a guard captain who told us no caravans were leaving the city because wild creatures were going crazy and attacking the caravans. She didn’t have any work for us guarding caravans but did want us to find out how the derro were getting surface goods. We told her we would look into it.

But the guards apparently are unclear about the definition of “arrest” and seem to confuse it with “hire” or perhaps “deputize”. The rest of the group were … arrested … and told to find some weird derro who wears a hat with two tails and sneaks around the city. And they got a giant escort to the giant’s part of the city where the giants talked to them about boring giant things and gave them a huge giant dildo made of stone. Apparently it is our destiny to take this giant stone dildo and… I stopped listened at that point. Clearly it’s not MY destiny to take anything. Alia or Althea can take one for the team as far as I’m concerned. Or maybe Eldath. I’m not sure the other two would survive. Dwarves are tough, though.

Alia

I went with the old man to sell the bracelet to a jeweler. I don’t know why he was the one doing it, but it seemed appropriate to have someone more … charming… along. We managed to talk the jeweler into buying the bracelet for 50 gold more than he originally stated, and without killing anyone, which he really wanted to do. Dwarves. Although, had he insisted, we both looked at each other and were perfectly willing to offer up Alamar as the sacrifice. We split the wealth with the party, and between that and the gold I found on the dead guy, we were able to equip ourselves. I have pants! There’s a layer of clothing between me and any “accidental” touching my ass by Alamar. He hasn’t yet, but it’s only a matter of time. I have a bow and arrows again. Darts suck. I used the remainder of my gold on two daggers. As soon as I get more money, I can be fully equipped with the six daggers I’m missing. We rested at an inn where the “rooms” were little alcoves cut out of the rock. No privacy, very unsafe.

We saw a weird derro with two tails of something on its hat. It scampered off and we did not follow. We should have. We went to the caravan place to try to hire on to get out of the city, but there were no caravans going out. It’s too dangerous outside the city, and creatures are going mad. The caravan master did, however, want us to find out where people were getting gold. She opened a drawer and it was full of gold and jewels. We agreed to see what we could find out. Alamar wanted to case the place to come back later and empty that drawer, but there are too many unemployed guards around. Conveniently, we were promptly accosted outside by a gnome with an earth elemental, who offered to sell us gems. Said it got them from Blendenstone. The person it usually sold the gems to was not in his shop. It didn’t want to sell the gems itself, as it was illegal. We declined, because we already stand out uncomfortably.

We did, however, wander by the shop. It had a sign on the door that indicated that the owner had not left voluntarily. Seemed a great opportunity to pick the locks and see what was left inside. Before we had the chance, there was a crash, and a giant with two heads came barging through the gate towards us. It had one head screaming, and the other looking very confused. I nocked an arrow. Everyone else got out of its way and it ignored them. I got out of its way, and it backhanded me. I got up and shot it, staggering it. We battled it briefly. The grey dwarf guards approached, and actually yelled at us for having weapons out illegally. Really? Fine, the giant is all yours. We bailed. I’m pretty sure K9 healed the giant as we left, just out of spite. I tried to hide behind a stall in the market, and bumped into an invisible grey dwarf. I hate them. I hate this city. I hate the Underdark.

We got back to the inn, where the guards walked in right after us. I again tried to hide, and failed. I noticed Alamar managed it, and that burned. We were marched into their version of a prison, and asked nicely to wait in a cell. They’re polite about it, at least. We were finally brought to someone in charge. She said she had talked somebody else out of selling us as slaves. Yeah, been there, done that with the drow. Not impressed by that threat. Instead of killing us or enslaving us, she wanted us to search for … a derro with tails of whatever the hell it was on his hat. Yup, should have followed him the first time. Now we have to find him all over again, because of course we agreed. She also wants us to do general spying and find information on anything interesting. Oddly enough, it seems being strangers means we have an advantage over her guards. I’m all over this, because stealing information is my thing. We got a few passes that should get us through the gates.

Upon being let out of the prison, we were met by a giant, who wanted us to come talk to some other giant. Sure, it gets us towards the derro section of the city.I spotted Alamar following us. Demon boy is sneaky. The giant who wanted to talk to us said that there was a great evil loose causing all the trouble down here. He gave us a stone that he said talked to him, and said it would lead us where to go to deal with the great evil. I don’t recall volunteering. The great evil can do whatever it wants down here. I just want to get to the surface. We accepted Alamar back into the group, and got him caught up to speed. I hate to admit it, but I agreed with Alamar that we very much need to break into that shop. Don’t tell him, I’ll never hear the end of it.