And so, off they went... The rest of the day was spent walking through the occasional rain.
Around 2 PM, a loud explosion and dark smoke was seen above the eastern part of Goran. The party increased its pace, for as much as that was still possible. When they reached the city gates of Goran, they found them closed. A sign was posted upon the gates:
|
Due to unforeseen circumstances, the city is now under martial law. The city gates close at 6 PM, and will not open again until 8 AM. |
Not able to do anything about the current situation, the party broke camp a fair distance away from the city. They kept an eye out for possible guard patrols. None were seen, until around 10 PM Malek noticed a white dragon circling the city. It kept circling for about half an hour. Through the spyglass, the party noticed that a person wearing silver-coloured plate mail appeared to be riding the dragon. At 10:30 PM, the dragon flew off west, and was not seen again during the rest of the night.
Afraid that it might cause them trouble, Cerilon deposited his Greek fire into the portable hole. As the party got in line, Jyslin tried to act as normal as possible, with her hand still stuck to the cursed sword. The line moved very slowly, allowing them sufficient time to come up with a cover story in case the guards would question them.
Around 10 PM, it was the party's turn to make their way through the city gates. The guards directed them to a cart where their stuff was to be searched by a mage. Malek was the first to be searched. The mage identified his cloak as a Cloak of Protection. When the mage asked Malek where he got the book bound in black leather, Malek answered that he found it somewhere. The mage countered that it must have been left behind by a very important cleric. Upon checking the potions that Malek was carrying, the mage confiscated two potions:
|
Smoky, translucent, musty, tan |
| Cloudy, layered, spicy, ebony |
After a fairly quick interrogation of the rest of the party, they were allowed into the city of Goran. As soon as they were out of sight of the gates, they encountered a rogue street vendor shouting: "Genuine belongings of the late and honoured Marxis - genuine and cheap!" The party asked the vendor what happened and he told them that Marxis passed on at 2 PM the day before. Laurana looked through the stuff the guy was trying to sell, and she noticed that one of the pants still had a price tag on it from a shop in Goran.
Disturbed to hear about Marxis' death, the party headed to the Temple of Adina. Bart was especially anxious to get to the temple, because the smoke seemed to be coming from that direction. Fortunately, the temple was intact, and the smoke was actually coming from somewhere beyond it. Laurana continued on to go check up on the Temple of Magister, while Bart opened the doors to the Temple of Adina. He talked to Iridia concerning Marxis' death. Meanwhile, Laurana found out that the explosion took place in a building 2 blocks away from the Temple of Magister. The building belonged to the Diamond Exchange, and it was visibly missing its upper floor. Laurana headed back to the Temple of Adina and waited outside. Inside, Bart found out that due to the extend of the explosion there was very little physical evidence of Marxis' death. After making a donation to the temple, the party joined Laurana outside where she told them about the explosion at the Diamond Exchange. The party decided to split up: Bart and Jyslin were heading to Mary at the Palace of Justice while the rest of the party headed over to the Diamond Exchange.
Laurana noticed that some mages were casting a spell to detect what may have transpired at the crime scene. Meanwhile Bart and Jyslin arrived at the heavily guarded Palace of Justice. A clerk asked them about their business at the Palace of Justice, and after Bart explained that they were there to talk to Mary, of the Special Guards the clerk asked them to wait. A little bit later the clerk returned, and let them in. Around the same time, Cerilon, Laurana, and Malek decided to head back to 'Fool's Belly', where they rented some rooms. Cerilon asked the inn keeper where he might be able to buy a map covering the area to the south of Goran where a mine was rumoured to be, and he was told that only the Mage's Guild had a map of that area. Changing the subject to the Keep of Ghargaroa, Cerilon asked if the inn keeper might know anything about that building. The inn keeper replied that it was fairly famous in past days because it was built by the Mage's Guild as a line of defence for any force that tried to overtake Goran. It was abandoned ages ago, when it became apparent that no such protection was really needed.
Mary discussed the explosion at the Diamond Exchange with Bart and Jyslin, explaining that Argolar was fortunate to get out of the building unharmed, seen that it was his building that got half demolished. She then asked whether the party would be willing to figure out what city council members might be less respectable than the ought to be. She provided them will the names of all the city council members, and mentioned that Famir was known to be dead. The city council members (and their positions in the city) were:
| Marxis (Magister) |
| Molar (Top Merchant of Artifacts) |
| Lars (Top Merchant of Currencies) |
| Pryde (Top Merchant of Precious Metals) |
| Argolar (Top Merchant of Jewels) |
| Famir (Top Merchant of Grain) |
| Galoth (High Priest of Maloch) |
| Zagor (High Priest of Magister) |
| Brael (High Priest of Meanos) |
| Iridia (High Priestess of Adina) |
| Mori (High Priestess of Byrda) |
| Floa (Guild Mistress of Thieves) |
Mary added that she suspected Molar, Pryde, Galoth, Brael and Mori to be possibly connected to the assassination attempts on the Magisters. She also mentioned that one issue they were currently dealing with had to do with which visitors from other cities may have been present at the Diamond Exchange at the time of the explosion. But over all, Mary seemed certain that Galoth was the most likely person to have been involved with the attacks. When Jyslin asked whether they could get a position as deputies in the Special Guards, Mary had to refuse, saying that the gifts the party received on Moralis' request were probably more help than she could ever offer.
Bart and Jyslin headed to 'Fool's Belly', where they exchanged information with the rest of the party. The decision was reached that Cerilon, Laurana and Malek should pay Reginald another visit (at the Temple of Meanos), and so everyone took a short nap awaiting the midnight hour.
Cerilon cut straight down to the matter at hand, and asked Reginald what he had to offer in return for the cursed sword. After offering the party some tea and cookies, Reginald presented the following items for the party to choose from in return for the sword:
| A stone jug |
| A little metal ball |
| A mirror |
When asked to provide more information about the items, Reginald refused to give more information because Cerilon refused to mention who was in possession of the sword at this moment. He did mention that they were powerful magical artifacts. The three party members asked to be excused for a bit, and they went outside to talk to the rest of the party. Consensus was reached and everyone other than Bart headed back in. This time, Cerilon did knock though. Reginald invited them back in, and when Jyslin asked whether he could just get the sword on loan, Reginald explained that he would have to join the temple in order to do so. In the continuation of the conversation, the fate of Marxis came up, and Reginald mentioned that the only piece left of Marxis turned out to be a bit of skin from the inside of his right arm. It apparently had a tattoo of a rod in three pieces.
The party pushed on to learn more about the three artifacts Reginald was allowing them to choose from, and Reginald provided some hints about their function: the jug would provide water, the ball would help with survival under water, and the mirror would create a duplicate. Laurana commented: "I thought they were powerful items." The comment did not seem to disturb Reginald in the slightest.
Once again, the party reconvened outside to discuss their choices with Bart. The decision was made to choose the little metal ball.
Once back inside with Reginald, Jyslin stated that she wanted to exchange the sword for the little metal ball. Reginald quickly cast a spell, and the sword disappeared from Jyslin's hand. At the same time, a little wooden box appeared on the coffee table, and inside was a round pearl.
The party bid Reginald goodbye, and as they were leaving Laurana turned to Reginald and asked whether Marxis was truly dead. When he confirmed that he was indeed dead, she asked the same about Molar. This time the reply was that someone that does not exist cannot be dead. When finally asking about the little piece of skin of Marxis that was left, Reginald replied: "Anything in this world can die only once for real."
Slightly puzzled, the party headed back to 'Fool's Belly' for a restful night.
Last modified: Feb 17th, 2002
©1999-2002 by Aedil