Rousted In Rastenburg At The Rose Court
Summary
Adventure: Rousted In Rastenburg At The Rose Court
GM: Anna
Season: Autumn 803 WK
- Party
- Employer
- Court of the Rose
- Mission
- discover why people have been disappearing from their dungeon
- Original scribe notes
- Media:Snau0301.zip
Scribe Notes
Day1
The party has the following people in it:
- Roderigo – a fearless (ig) noble “moustachioed” halfling of dangerous reputation. An excellent (trainee) e&e mage
- Sauté – a fearsome badly singed elf fire mage who is strangely short.
- Lady Lizette Summers – a gentlewoman adventurer of apparently seamless virtue.
- Sir Sven – a scary armed to the teeth giant-like chaos knight, water mage.
- Sera Angelis – a she elf with a golden breastplate – which tends to catch the eye of those endowed with a y chromosome.
- Sir Dontalon Falouge – a foppish well dressed gentleman adventurer and clever e & e mage, who has a tail & whiskers - meow!
- Saurus – a very large lizardman - who dares to dabble in the dark arts.
Our party has been hired by the Court of the Rose, through their emissary, Ash - a fop, to discover why people have been disappearing from their dungeon. It is the sort of dungeon where people go voluntarily. Sauté has been there before (strictly on guild business) – he drops dark hints, nudges & winks. We conclude it is a high-class brothel. The toffs elect Lady Lizette as party leader (primarily because of who her daddy was.) Roderigo is voted scribe although his literacy skills are still in the developmental stage. The party agrees to meet at the White Swan.
Sir Sven makes strength and healing potions at 200sp a go. Sir Don (apparently a poor fighter takes 10!) Unbelievable! Saurus takes 5! Incredible! The doughty Roderigo needs only 1. Sir Don, the true gent, gives 5healing plus 2 x strength to lady Lizette. Sauté suggests he will eat the soul of water element creatures to make him better at spells. Sir Sven looks on darkly. The party discuss disguising Saurus is plate armour with a cloak. It turns out that he is rather weak & t
The idea is vetoed. He agrees to walk on all fours & pretend to be a pet.
At the White Swan, (Sir Don & Sir Sven with retinues in tow – possibly meaning the rest of us!) All are in full fig engarbed in the best clobber. Ash has hired a private room with a top fireplace. Heaps of grub. Ash plays the lute. On request from Roderigo he plays song about tipsy nuns & sailors. Sauté reveals that someone once tried to kill him here & it is not a nice place. The party drinks with a mixture of caution and abandon – free drinks – yee ha – caution abandoned !! Predictably we have been drugged and we all fall asleep accept Serra Angelis, who immediately bolts the door. She revives us with a neutralise poison spell. Roderigo turns invisible and skulks. Sir Don sends out a wizard eye. We are wedged in but Sven kicks it in. Sven sends out a rainstorm to Saute’s horror. Sven regales a rumour that elfs eat babies. We leg it through the kitchen and all the way back to the guild. Sir Sven, playing the Viking macho man tosses the ill Lady Lizette over his shoulder. Sven also puts Sera over his shoulder and carries both. At the guild we sleep.
Delphinium and Ash are there. We conclude that our mission is not a secret. We decide to travel by water elemental from Seagate to somewhere Sven can make us a boat. Roderigo strongly objects and votes for horse and cart through dangerous lands taking months, but is overruled. HE Has no choice but to get completely trashed and thus avoid the horror. Sven waterproofs everything and casts water breathing we travel by water elemental.
Having fled Seagate via water elemental we settle done & wait while Sven makes a battle barge to take us across the sea.
Day 3 (3rd Fruit)
Peaceful
Day4
Peaceful but rain
Day5
Overcast
Day 6
We pass by a fisherman’s boat
Day 7
Fine
Day8
Rough - we meet mer folk
Day9
Clearing. By evening we reach Freeport. Ash and Lizette discuss Court etiquette. Sven & Sir Don go to buy 2 mules and a cart. Captain of the Guard hates the Rose Court. We set watches. 1. Sven & Sera 2. Saute & Roderigo 3. Lizette & Saurus 4. Sven & Sir Don
Day 10
Fine day – we depart for Rastenberg. By evening we reach a Tavern. It is fairly full. We order food and take a table by the fire. An angry mob descends towards our tavern. We evacuate and pause to pick up the person inciting them & run north toward Rastenberg, stopping on the road an hours walk from it.
Sir Don commands Sauté to pitch a tent. He does. Party debate what to do with the prisoner. Sir Don charms and he & Ash question him. The prisoner gives a lame explanation. Roderigo valiantly suggests a more pragmatic solution – trimming his toes. Overruled. Prisoners name is Spider. Sera Angelis assists him to pee by dangling him above a list trench - she being strength enhanced – yuck! Saurus attempts to sap the prisoner (tied up) to stop his whining - but misses. Lady Lizette covers prisoner in blankets to keep him warm. We wake up as the prisoner having freed him self whilst concealed under the blankets & escapes. We chase and catch him. It seems no one was
really on watch. Sauté probes the prisoner’s soft and spongy bits (reason not too well explained.) The rest of the party (except Roderigo and possibly Saurus) are disgusted.
Day 11
Morning. Ash, Saurus and Sauté stay behind as the rest of the party go to retrieve horses and cart from Rastenberg. We queue at the gates and are taken by the guards to the barracks where we are questioned. They advise that the city is not that safe. We are recommended the Golden Lion Inn. Guards advise of problems with out of town factions and to beware bandits. We go to find the Court of the Rose. We go to a coffee house and eat cakes and coffee. Roderigo & Lizette go to a bar - liquor is very strong & the locals are suspicious – hmmm time to abandon ship – they bale out. Sir Don buys a map. At the Rose Court we see Delphinium. Everyone is a babe!! We are led into the castle. Masted (an eleven lady) is also there. Masted explains that there has been a peasant uprising in the city. Mercenaries have been called in to help the city guard.
Delphinium reveals a plan to smuggle Ash, Saurus and Sauté into the city. We are shown rooms. There are many rules whilst in the city. You must pay for all services. Cash is vulgar so gifts are used. You must bathe once per day etc. You must bang a gong before casting. The gong is in the Courtyard. You cannot wear orange. Sometimes you must wear blindfolds. If you break the rules you are punished in various ways including cleaning. We are shown the bathhouse at 4 p.m. It is a very complex area and easy to get lost. Sire Don & other nobles go out on horses and bring in Ash & co. Saurus is disguised as game slung over a horse. The guards notice Ash is with us.
Saurus is not allowed in the Courtyard between 4 p.m. and 4 a.m.
Day 12
A party is going on but our party tries to sleep in prep. For casting spells prior to our adventure. Lady Lizette decides not to sleep and to go and eat & drink. She is approached by “Oak” and “Web” who offer her a drink. It tastes really really good! Ash rescues her and teaches her how to say “not interested”. She visits various rooms – mirror room, waterwheel room, garden etc.
Dinner – Sauté, Roderigo, Sera & Lizette join her. All but Roderigo drink a brown liquid, which turns out to be a happy inducing drink – yee ha! Party down! Everyone is cruising for a little action. Roderigo gets no offers even when he borrows a ring from Lizette and puts it on his finger despite looking as winsome as is possible given his limitations (9 PB & short) Ebony explains:
- Left hand – man likes woman
- Right – man likes man
- Both – AC/DC
- 3 rings – anything goes.
Roderigo slinks off to bed with his tail between legs. The others stay. Sauté & Sera Angelis party one & do lots of touching and soulful gazing and …. (well, you’ll have to ask them). We are to meet Delphinium at breakfast (12 p.m.)
Day 13
We are awoken by a mob outside attempting to invade Rose Court & other privileged places. Sven grasps rune sword & runs out. Sir Don appears in magic pj’s & curly toed slippers, Roderigo affixes moustache & rushes out… Sir Sven casts a rainstorm which discourages mob. A horn blows – mercenaries and guard charge.
Sir Don of Nightingale insists on bandaging wounded. Roderigo attempts to loot but finds only lice! Sauté is recognised by Guard member – not favourably. Sera Angelis, utilises famed guild charm skills to max effect & asks the guard if Sauté “boned his wife” ? He does not like us we think.
Everyone dresses to meet Delphinium. Lady Lizette is suddenly very assertive.
Delphinium, Ash< Masted, Lilly – (she of black leather etc) Bear, Volpine are there. Delphinium tells us: 2 weeks ago Suede who was helping Lilly went missing from the Dungeon. It has only one entrance. There was a smell of sulphur in the room. They believe is a haunting. They do not know if our problems in transit are related. Last night, Lavender, a witch, went missing. Our prisoner is still being held. People have only gone to the dungeon in twos or threes since. The dungeons are extensive. The river under the water is not running properly. The Court has many enemies due to its privileged status. The newest people in Court are Venom, Badger, Petal. There was a death about 12 years ago. A Lord had a heart attack. The Court is about 150 years old thew same as the rest of the city. It is a low mana zone.
We debate torturing the prisoner. Sir Don = against it. Roderigo = pro. Giselle was an acquaintance of….? Lilly & Ash will go in the Dungeon with us.
The guards have requested to talk to us. We will see them tomorrow after breakfast. We arm ourselves and prepare to enter.
Order – Sven, SA Saute, Don, Lady L Ash, Roderigo, Lilly Saurus
Lilly has a lantern. Suede was a human 6’2” of about 23 with strong muscles. We explore look around various antechambers through various passages, notice many mirrors and some secret passages. We come to a room done up in black leather and chrome with bottles on coffee tables, lounging chairs with a two door entrance. Ash advises this is the interview room where Lords & Ladies wait to receive treatment. Lilly was in the room when Suede disappeared in the dungeon. He made no noise. Lilly knows of no other way out. There was a 30 min gap between when she saw him last and when she knew he had disappeared. It was about 1 a.m. Lilly shows us the dungeon proper – all the usuals for S&M – Sire Don reveals that he has previously been tortured in a dungeon. Suede was in this room or the prep room when he disappeared to the knowledge of Lilly. There is a swing wall with a room in behind with whips, chests, masks, manacles & feathers.
Alligator clips, needles hooks, & funny shaped clubs with two lumps on end. These look familiar somehow. Sera DA’s - the only unusual aura is a magic aura on the chest. Lilly says it is magically protected from intrusion. There is another room, which is not opened very often. Saurus attempts to determine if someone has died. Suddenly he screams and collapses. It is determined that he has encountered a very strong death presence. Ash reveals that this area is seldom used – being for necrophiliacs. There is a natural; grotto behind a swivelling wall - full of coffins with an earth floor. All the devices apparently used by necrophiliacs are apparently there. It is dry & clean. Vampires have stayed here to entertain the necro crowd. There are no tracks. LLS looks in a coffin where she discovers a pair of black gloves. Sera DA’s and determines that they allow interplanar travel of some sort. We discover a concealed passage 1 person wide. We go down it – Serra, Sven, LS, Don, Rod, A, L, S. It twists about. There are 5 alcoves. One has a deep ubliat. Others have tables with bottles etc. Roderigo is tied up by the party and dropped down an ubliat on the end of a rope & told to scream if he sees anything. He screams after about 5 seconds alleging he saw a big snake. The party pulls him out. Sera lights a torch & oil and tosses it down there. There are some shadows. Roderigo maintains he saw a snake still. The party do not see anything - mysterious! Sera the tart, calls Roderigo a girl.
We come to a trap door in a ceiling with a stepway going up. Sven enters. It turns out to be an opulently appointed bedroom with a 4 poster. There are no mirrors. Saurus casts a spell but has a bad backfire and is cursed as a result. We retrain him. This is the vampire guest room. Roderigo saps Saurus unconscious. He has lost his memory and appears to be merely a big lizard that cannot talk or do anything other than reptile brain functions. He travels through some natural caverns past a series of openings where there is running water. Saurus is returned home by Lilly. We enter a large ballroom via a large spiral staircase. Ash takes us to the water room. It is large and noisy. Sir Don admires a fine machine that is functioning there pumping hot water etc. Ash notices a spell has been cast on him. He begins to walk deliberately toward the well; Roderigo saps him for his own good & knocks him out. We suspect there is a vampire or a mind mage somewhere. We leg it to the kitchen. Ash refuses to tell us what happened. We take the restored Ash back to our rooms. Lady L dissipates the spell on Ash. We go together with Ash to see Delphinium & to enquire about openings in the water/ plumbing system.
We hear fighting down stairs. The gates are opened to allow Bear to enter followed by a Guard. Sir Don fools guard into thinking he is casting a dangerous spell. Sir Sven swings Saurus as a club at the guard – he scarpers. Bear tells us through Ash that he went to see Reed a namer to remove the curse on Saurus. Reed has disappeared. The watch had staked out Reed’s pad & attempted to “feel Bears collar” so he made like a baby and headed out. Slime has been taken by the guards. We believe he is at the leavers bridge guardhouse. It is revealed that Reed is the Duke’s Court namer. He lives mostly at home or at the Court. We go to the law library while Sir Don researches. There is a picture of a beautiful woman with red hair & green eyes. Rodrigo asks if she was a librarian. She is Rose – the Founder. We enquire about past vampires. The last one to come here was Morlock. He cam in for training & stayed about 8 yrs. He was very popular. Were rumours he would “taste” consenting clients. He was accused of eating town folk. He left 43 years ago. One of the problems for the Rose Court is that it has different laws than the town.
We go down the tunnels again Ash leads. We pass various see through bathes, windows etc. back ton the ubliat. Sir Don & lady Summers go down. There is no snake. Saurus is completely animal like & embarrasses himself by sniffing up Lady LS’s dress. We search the rooms again including the necrophiliac room. Saurus chews what he must assume is a bone – well that is one name for it but his actions are quite inappropriate. We go to the water room where Sven summons a small hobbit sized water elemental that is told to search the water pipes etc. A message arrives for us delivered by a servant. It says
Dear Strangers, welcome to Rastenberg. I would be please to meet you at the Green Door at 4.00 a.m. Yours truly, V.
Ash says the Green Door is a relatively respectable establishment. The water elemental tells us that there is a body underwater and some boxes secured under water. The body is retrieved. Ash believes it is Suede. The body is preserved. We drink coffee & roast beef sandwiches in preparation to meet “V”
Day 14
Rodrigo tries to turn invisible but it backfires and he goes arthritic. Sven has second thoughts about meeting V – he believes it a trap. We all reconsider except our party leader who decides that a solo mission is in order and she leaves alone. We keep a basic watch sharing rooms. Sir Don studies. Suarus eats a powder and develops a rash of sorts he itches and continues to embarrass us by scratching with his hind legs. At 11 a.m. we eat breakfast. Lady LS is not back. Feather checks out Roderigo and gives him a herbal drink that appears to fix the arthritius.
The Captain of the watch, Beech, is there to meet us. We are done up in full fig all formal like. We scoff cakes & biscuits. The Captain regards Sauté suspiciously. Sauté looks as unobtrusive as is possible. We tell him we are from the Seagate Guild and are employed by the Rose Court. Sauté tells he has been here before through the R Court. The Captain arrears suspicious about why we are here. He tells there is a peasant revolt being stirred by some one called Blood. His concerns were there were only 5 of us who entered by the front city gate. The convoy of Lord with bodies disguised as game were noticed. Sir Don blathers considerable utilising all manner of high faluting garble. The Captain asks if a Guard can accompany us. His name is Cow. He is armed with Broad sword & hard leather armour. Sir Don casts a locate on Lady LS. Sir Sven decides he would rather get pissed and shag some wenches which he does for about 12 hours.
Sir Don, Roderigo (hoping to find some dirty picture books), Sauté, Sera Angelis go to the library. Sauté (who being singed is basically butt-ugly) gets hit on by the foxy Masted – who from the ring on her right finger is strictly into Sapphic sex. Sera, suspicious – DA’s and discovers she is be-spelled. Rodrigo by leaping into the air attempts to sap her but misses as she is about 6 feet. She screams for help from Bear.
Saute, Sera & Roderigo attempt top restrain. Sir Don explains about the magical effect to Ash and security. Masted is taken away.
Sven is summoned from the room of the delectable Cherry where he has been occupied. We decide to go & find lady Lisette. It is 2.00 a.m
Day 15
We follow the arrow from Sir Don’s locate spell. Cow is pissed from indulging at the Court. We are being watched and followed as we leave, We go down some smaller streets the arrow points to a particular building. This is the Merchant’s Quarter. We knock on the door and by using Cow’s authority get to search the place. Nothing is there. The arrow posits down a sewer grate. After bumbling around for a while in the water we end up following down a series of tunnels ending up in natural cavern whcih appears to have been developed. The layout is similar to the cave system under the Court. We find a crudely drawn design hat looks a little like an Orc. Being too fatigued we get back to the Rose Court for the 4.00 a.m. closing.
At 7.30 a.m there is a knock on the door. Suarez has been curse-removed. Over breakfast a plan is discussed. We examine Suede’s body. He has drowned. He was tied to the sewer posy mortem. Sir Don thinks of a plan that involves throwing flour at the invisible mind mage.
Saurus casts speak with the dead on Ash. The following is revealed: Didn’t see what killed him, Not know how killed, No one was with him, He was not in a fight, did not commit suicide, not know why died, not enter pump room, died in sewers, not meeting someone, not know of vampire in sewers, looking for something, not know what looking for in sewers, entered sewer from Rose Court, entered from water room, no secret entrance to sewers, water not flowing when entered, entered pipe to see what stopped water, found something in tunnel, was alone in tunnel, left dungeon to find out what stopped water, did not see anything but water b4 died, did not see anyone tween water room and dungeon.
Lady Summers is shown in the party is suspicious & Roderigo is elected to sap her until she can be examined. He fails first attempt but succeeds on the 2nd time. Saurus saps Roderigo believing he has attacked Lady Summers. Lady Summers when revived tells how she was kidnapped but seems very well disposed towards her kidnappers.
Ash is DA’d by Sera – nothing is revealed. We go to the guard house after hearing that a Partisan has been captured. Having to leave weapons at the door it takes Sven about 10 hours to unload his loot. The Partisan tells how he knew Blood as a teenager. He spent a lot of time traversing the thief’s highway –(tunnels under the city) He was well dressed. He disappeared about 40 years ago. Blood’s family is not known. He agrees top show us where the thieves’ highway is. We meet a very old looking thief. The vampire left the Court at the same time that Blood appeared.
Toadstool believes that Blood has taken over the thieves guild. We are shown the entrance to thief’s highway on the map by a large tree in the Vellum (family?) grounds.
We are in the attic of a building across the road overlooking the Vellum estate grounds. There is a gazebo, herb garden, many trees, paths and we can see a hole near to some trees. There is a big manor house to the right from where we are.
Roderigo casts walk unseen on himself. Suarus loans him some poison powder. He climbs the walls and scouts around the grounds. He mixes some food with poison and leaves out for the dogs. One appears to eat the poisoned food the other two parcels are ignored. A dog appears to notice Roderigo and he bails out.
We question one of the occupants of the house who is a servant at the Velum family. She tells us. It is a very proper family. The Lord forbids the name of “Blood”. Blood left due to a scandal. Blood found a secret place and spent a lot of time there. He was not interested in the family business. Blood was handsome. There are rumours that Blood was involved in an uprising in the peasant’s quarter. The Lady of the House does not like the Sun. Keeps heavy drapes. We watch all night and during the day.
Day 16
The party gets bored it ends up Roderigo gets slapped by Sven and then by Sera. Lady LS attempts to join in Roderigo warns her off.
During Roderigo’s & Saute’s watch a blue glow is discovered coming from the tunnel Lady Summer is turned unseen and goes to investigate. Roderigo goes invisible and joins her. Mercenaries are there, (apparently have been suspicious by the poisoned dogs), they are fighting in the blue glowing area. They seem to go into the hole.
The Lord notices that Roderigo has left the gate open and summons the dogs. Lady Lisette is busted by the dogs. They chase her. Sir Don tries to cast quickness on her.
The party except Sir Don are in the alleyway.
There is a scuffle between the dogs ad Lady Lisette. We all pile into help her eventually killing them. Mercenaries come from around the alleyway. Saurus casts a wall of bones to delay them. Sera creates a bitch in heat to distract the dogs. Sir Don unearths a large magic wasp which he jumps on with Cow and flies to the entrance of the hole. We all end up down the hole. There is still a glow in the cave, Sauté casts a fire protection spell on us all after we trigger ward. The watch follows down We hide from them and they end up going on ahead. There is a clear trail of glowing” blood” for us to follow. We end up in a large room. The watch are all dead on the floor. There is a watermark at 18 feet. We are asked to surrender by some one speaking from a 20 foot raised platform. We back off. Behind us at 2 TMR is a wall of water. Sven identifies as being bound water.
There was a big scrap. Spells, javelins & swords everywhere. Many brave deeds are witnessed as the party seriously kicks badster butt. Saurus has created heaps of walls of bones & some godawful smelling spell (noxious vapours?) to great effect. Sir Don has used his “buzzy bee” – most effectively & has cast quickness & other useful spells. Sven is godamned scary. Roderigo crashes head first into a wall after being dropped there by said buzzy bee. Serra Angelis is a one woman storming party taking on all of them at once. At the end Saurus almost drowns. The room ends up flooded and stinking of toxic fumes. Heaps of badsters - including one mage are dead, some are bound up for questioning later. There are some (7) prisoners including a water mage. Some of the badsters flee into another room via the corridor which is not blocked by a wall of bones.
Serra DA’s the prisoners & determines they are all magically controlled by binding will
Rk 8.We go down the corridor. In the room are two mage like entities – an old man &
Lavender from the R Court. There are 4 big guards, a handful of bandits also and
another woman from the Court. We charge in with Serra & Sven at the front. They are
like live motor mowers chopping things to bits. Combat is going well. Suddenly the woman
in the party all go bad – turning on the party members – uh oh it looks like a mind mage.
Saute deals to Serra with a flaming sword. It is a quick draw sap-out between lady
Lizette & Roderigo. He is quickest to the draw and the party leader is knocked out.
Quickly the party deals to the remaining baddies, Saute making mincemeat of the Mind
Mage.
Day 17
After tying up & looting we get back to the Court, having met the Guard Captain on the way, who escorts us there..
We re-enter the Court, scrub up & go to meet Delphinium who is a serious babe when well-kitted out. We explain ( Sir Don explains in courtier fashion – the rest interrupt with clumsy inelegance ) Just then word comes that Lady Lizette (who has been locked in a dog kennel for safe keeping due to the spell has escaped and is trying to free the unconscious mind mage – who has been identified by his brother as being Blood. We secure LL. There is evident tension between the Guard Captain & Delphinium. Delphinium is happy with what we have achieved and confirmed that we will be paid 2000 sp each + a magic trinket each. We are asked for our requests in this regard. Lady Lizette will recover in 4 days.
We leave immediately….. It took from day 3 to day 11 to arrive. Assuming 8 days travel return – we arrive on day 25 at Seagate.
Loot
- We find assorted assassins + thieves gear,
- 4 sets of scale armour,
- Weapon smithed shield
- 1 Ring – hearing behind walls & doors – Roderigo
- Gloves – touching the afterlife – Saurus
- Broach to assist memory – Lisette
- Circlet – seeing in dark psychic esp– Sir Don
