Tuesday 4th November Finn Finnegan - Male Halfling Thug 2 - NPC Gavin Scone - Male Human Fighter 1 - Darryl Sherwood Mel Licious - Dwarf Psionicist 1 - Steven Krijnen Polly Ester - Female Human Bard 4 - Andrew Earl Herb Skunkhead - Male Human Pyromaniac 1 (Hob TF) - Matthew Carr DM - Jeff Clendon
All I can say is it is lucky for Gavin that Flung is marmalading.
Later the next day, Halcyon was summoned away by her temple. We, ourselves, had noticed strange goings-on. Like rumours of bodies hanging from lamp posts, men found on the streets with their throats cut, people going missing. It seemed that thieves and miscreants were being killed at an alarming rate. I wondered if this had anything to do with the anonymous letter I sent to Stewart claiming that Morten was William Hurst. Who can say?
I snuck away from the party and checked on my captives back at the "The Silver Swan". Oh, dear. One dead body, the MA guard, and ropes on the floor. It seems that the thief escaped. Bah.
Back at our inn, after I had returned, two no-neck thugs arrived. The barkeep pointed them over to our table and they wandered over. One was a Pensive Islander (black as lamp-black) and all muscle.
"Eh, mon," he slurred. "We lookin' for Polly."
All eyes turned to me.
"Uh, can I help you?" I asked wanly.
"Eyrie," he said. "You comin' wit us. Now."
Gavin rose. Always the gentleman.
"Eh up, chuck. That's no way t' treat lady."
I signed a quick cant: "What's up?" and said "It is okay, Gavin."
Black boy looked at me dumbly, but the other fellow signed back. "Mr Big wants to see you, girl*."
I swallowed audibly, both orally and aurally.
"I think it would be best if I go with these two gents, guys" I said hoarsely.
Mr Big was there and he introduced himself as Sam, Sam Spade.
Let us get one thing clear. Sam does not speak at you straight. rather he skirts around the topic, or embeds it in so many metaphors that you have to struggle to get meaning.
After a long diatribe warning me off the vices of drinking, gambling and whoring - at least that is what I think he was on about - Sam got down to business and explained some things. Apparently, Morten has been a "naughty boy", and has been "overstretching his demesne".
"In winter, when the watery sun shines on the ice of the Tourniquet range, blue shapes appear in the shadows. These are hard to preserve."
Sam found out, via Stewart I guess, that Morten has been doing this. Apparently Morten has gone into hiding. Sam did actually mean gone into hiding and not "gone into hiding". Some of the fellows gracing the streets with the blood from their cut throats had "gone into hiding", you see. Morton was not just "hanging around" either. But a lot of his boys were. It also seems that the little round of blood-letting ("putting the laundry out") that Morten visited upon Hank Bier during the MA raid on the old TG was not approved ("not given the big spanking" nor "the hard-shagging with 12 inches of flesh").
Apparently, my ex-captive - a fellow called Ash, the one who escaped from "the Silver Swan" - was now just hanging around. Literally, this time.
I asked about the wizard Lumpkin too. He had gone into hiding but I did not manage to ascertain whether it was "gone into hiding" or not.
Sam thanked me profusely (I thought), and told me that I would from now on be baby-sat and "arse-groped" by a fellow called Herb "Mary-Jane" Skunkhead. He was the Pensive Islander who asked me here from the "Crimson Locket"..
Spade gave us sanction to break in to Hursts Mansion. Maybe "order" or "command" would be a better verb. Spade wanted the wand (that Morten asked us to retrieve from the old Charles place).
So we broke in. There was only one guard and Skunkhead, Flung and Gavin dealt to him.
We found deeds and titles and money. But no wand.
However, the deeds and titles gave us 20 more addresses.
In one of the buildings there was a trapped room beneath. In it was some more gold, some rings, and the wand.
Sam was quite happy to receive the wand. he go the TG's (new) indentured wizard to Identify. It was a wand of Polymorph Other.