A few weeks later our heroes are woken in the middle of the night (actually an hour before dawn according to Helena) and summoned to the
briefing room. It would appear that in the (actual) middle of the night a noble and member of the City Council, Malor Hightower, has been murdered. The family of the
noble wish to cover up the murder but a representative from the government has asked Helena to discretly and urgently investigate the matter.
The family has denied anyone access to the body or the site of the murder which explains the absence of Circe at the meeting (gone to examine
the body and the murder site). Helena would like the rest of the party to go out into the city and obtain what relevant information they can.
At lunchtime Helena and the party meet up and compare notes. The following facts seem relevant
- Malor Hightower seems to have led a blameless and unexceptional life.
- Malor was 'very close' with his best friend Cador Dawnbringer a noble from a less influential house.
- Two carriages were parked last night in the mews behind the Hightower townhouse where the murder took place.
- One of these carriages was a frequent visitor but the other hadn't been seen before (according to the local cats).
- Malor was killed by a vampire, a fact that even a casual observer would spot (let alone an invisible infiltrator with expertise
in vampires).
- Besides the commotion at the Hightowers there was also an unusual amount of activity last might at the households of the Silverferns, the Dawnbringers and the Goldhammmers.
- By a strange coincidence there was also another murder in the city last night; that of the driver of a rental carriage. The body was found in a mews the other side of town from the Hightower residence.
Helena reminds the party that they have had previous contact with vampires in the sewers below the city. She asks for a volunteer for a dangerous solo mission to make contact with the vampires. Without hesitation every member of the party steps forward. They all suggest Milo should go. Comforted by Helena's assurance that she will know his location at all times and that she wont let his valuable equipment fall into enemy hands Milo
trudges off. The rest of the party hit the streets to see if they can find out what has been bothering the other noble houses in the middle of the night.
The next round of investigations reveals
- The Silverferns, who are leading merchants, had a crucial shipment of goods arrive in the docks in the night.
- The Dawnbringers were agitated because Cador Dawnbringer is nowhere to be found.
- The Goldhammers (as befits the richest family in
Ostelor) pay their servants well enough to be tight-lipped. They did, however, let slip that practically the whole family was active last night.
- The unknown carriage in the Hightower mews last night was the same one in which a body was found this morning.
- A Speak with Dead spell on the carriage driver's body revealed an address he went to before he was killed.
- Halflings are hard to Charm but have very low resistance to an offer of tea and scones.
- Halflings are capable of eating a surprising amount of scones.
While being entertained by the vampires (of Goldhammer house as Helena now knows) Milo received an invitation to return with his boss.
Helena, on hearing that a dangerous rogue vampire was responsible for Malor Hightower's murder and that he probably intends more mayhem,
comes to an arrangement with the vampires to take the villain and his minions down (for a generous fee plus expenses). Once the party has cleared out
his base in Ostelor they will immediately journey to his lair on the other side of the
Yellow Mountians under the ruined tower of Kando Manara to clear that out as well. The vampires warn Helena that Malezar is also
a sorceror who has probably been resident in that complex for 200 years.
Helena has had the suspected Ostelor base of Malezar under surveillance ever since she found out the address from the dead carriage driver.
There has been no visible activity since and the curtains have been drawn all day. A quick vote decides that the party will apply a 'Top Down' rather than a 'Bottom Up' strategy. On the top floor the party discover a teleportation circle. On the next three floors the party successfully battle vampire spawn and undead assassins. The party's stealth skills fail, however, on the stairs down to the basement. As
Circe opens (and then naturally stands behind) the basement door an assassin leaps out at Horatio and he is quite glad of his fancy armour.
Disposing of the assassins the party notice another door on the other side of the room. Unfortunately another figure leaps out
at Horatio when that door is opened and before the party can say 'That looks like Cador Dawnbringer' Horatio and Cador are locked in a deadly combat.
No Name becomes concerned that there might be penalty clauses in the party's contract regarding the killing of innocent noble hostages
and casts Command on Cador causing him to drop his sword. She then uses her persuasiveness to convince him that they are not trying to
murder him but are actually a rescue party. It transpires the Cador was abducted (by Charm rather than violence) yesterday afternoon.
Thus it wasn't him but an imposter who visited Malor Hightower and he is devastated to hear of his friend's death. He is still sobbing
when the party return him home.
The next day the party ride to the western edge of the Yellow Mountains and use magic flight to help them the rest of the way. The tower of Kando Manara
is quite visible from some distance but when they enter the ruins any access to the lower levels appears to be completely blocked
by rubble. After much searching they find a small cave nearby with a stone door at the back which unfortunately Circe can't open. She opines
that it would seem likely that a password is required to open the door.
After much discussion Beorhtric uses Dimension Door to bypass the door taking
Horatio with him. The duo descend some stairs and come to an empty room. As they cross the room they hear a rumbling noise. Luckily for the pair they use the few seconds warning they had to head for the other side of the room, just reaching it before a very large boulder lands in the room. Bruised and battered and having just possibly narrowly avoided death Beorhtric feels that discretion is the better part of valour and uses Dimension Door again
to return to the party.
The party reconsider their options and in the end decide that all future exploration of the complex must avoid setting off traps triggered by floor pressure. They therefore cobble together a caravan consisting of magic brooms, winged boots, floating platforms and levitation spells. Returning they cross the original chamber, pick the lock of the door opposite only to find the passage behind it shortly blocked by enormous boulder. Circe and Milo crawl to the top of the boulder and see six wights guarding the passage. Luckily Milo spots a lever that enables the boulder to be moved sideways and he pulls it using Magic Hand Legerdemain allowing the rest of the party to attack and destroy the wights.
Further into the complex the party find a room with rows of stone coffins. Since there are some signs of undead in the coffins the party surround the occupied coffins one by one and slay the undead as they rise. Their next
big challenge occurs at a chasm which intersects the passage. A team of six wights guard both sides of the chasm. Unfortunately for the wights the party possesses at least two magic users who can shove people backwards as well
as Horatio who can use his shield to shove people around. Although some members of the party try kill the wights the old fashioned way with bow and sword the Pullers, Pushers and Shovers are mostly too quick for them and the
wights all end up in the chasm.
A little further on the party come to Malazar's beautiful. well stocked and eminently lootable library. While most of the party make mental notes of the possible value of the books, Horatio is taken by the glowing meteoric rock
with a sword protruding from it. Unable to resist a challenge which combines both strength and dumbness Horatio grips the sword and yanks it out. Luckily Milo notices what he is doing and boosts his resistance at just the right moment to avoid his soul being entrapped in the sword for eternity.
The party finally come to a door guarded by six vampire spawn. Although tougher than the wights the party sweep them away and enter a room shaped like a semi-circle. On the far wall within a magic sphere, within a prison with
glowing magical bars they can see a beautiful woman who cries out for their help. Milo enters the room which, despite the precautions that he takes, triggers an almighty fireball. The woman wails some more but No Name uses Truesight
to see that underneath she is actually a male vampire who casts another fireball at the party. The party can't reach the vampire to melee him while spells are inefffective, teleportation does not work and non-magical missile weapons are
just not up to the job. Circe, however, uses a non-magical summons to introduce him to a friendly tentacle and follows up by flying into his cage as a bat. As she hoped this encourages other members of the party to break out their
Polymorph spells and the vampire is quickly surrounded. Just as he appears to be thinking about a magical retreat Milo lands a deadly killing blow.
Behind the magical cage is another room containing Malezar's tomb and in an adjoining secret room his treasure. The party take their time to loot the whole complex and return to Ostelor where various grateful people shower them with gold for their efforts.