The House of Xaniqos is in a slight state of uproar over the coming Council of the Eight Ruling Houses. Matron Mother Thandysha is away often and her eldest daughter is taking care of the daily routine. Somewhat proud of their success in getting rid of the kobold infestation, the siblings sleep in and have a late breakfast. Suddenly the Matron Mother sweeps in. Everyone is dead silent; the lady Thandysha never ever enters the dining room…

Though she looks ravishing, dressed up in her finest clothes, her face is contorted in a mask of rage. In an icy voice she tells her offspring that she has received a message. A message saying Vorn is still alive!! Due to their failure, Vorn’s second-in-command, who was supposed to take over from him and support house Xaniqos, barely escaped with his life. They have killed a doppelganger in stead of the real deal! Acidly she tells them,

Vorn needs to be dealt with at once. And try not to alarm the whole city!

In a swirl of robes, the Matron Mother leaves the room. Seems breakfast is over. Taldinyon advises them to hurry: Vorn is trying to escape the city!

After a stop at the armory, where Lilith asks for healing potions, the four make their way to Vorn’s mansion in great haste. When they arrive at the street, a carriage – pulled by a huge lizard – is parked in front of the main door. The Scout sucks in a sharp breath when she sees her ogre ‘friend’ carrying boxes towards it. Two drow are on top of the cart, while another is on the open loading platform at the back of the cart, surrounded by furniture. At every street corner pox bearing spies have been stationed and silent signals flow back and forth. So much for a stealthy approach.

The drow mercenaries urge the lizard forward and slowly the cart starts moving. The ogre drops everything he is carrying and runs alongside, while the other drow is balancing himself in the open cart. The Xaniqos race after, dodging crossbow bolts. They have to stop the wagon somehow! Jharrath summons two earth elementals, who attack the lizard, while the Cleric calls forth a spiritual weapon that gleams with an evil red force, hovering over the lizard’s head. The draft animal halts, unwilling to move forward. The streets are suddenly deserted.

The ogre turns back and aims for Phaedra, swinging his great club. Fortunately the Scout is protected by her armor. Alvra charges the giant ogre and throws his javelin, while bolts still hum through the air. Phaedra uses the opportunity to get clear of the ogre and tumbles past him towards the lizard. In the midst of this chaos, Vorn – with intricate spellcasting – counterattacks and suddenly one of the earth elementals and the spiritual weapon vanish. Enraged, the Wizard shoots a firebolt at Vorn to protect his remaining elemental, who is still punching the lizard.

Lilith calls upon the powers of the Spider Queen and commands the ogre to fall. When the giant humanoid crashes to the ground, Alvra immediately charges the prone brute. The Cleric again calls out to Lolth and orders the ogre to stay. One of the mercenaries jumps from the cart and stalks Alvra. The Fighter appraises this new opponent – hired mercenaries are not exactly known for their great loyalty – and decides to attack the new threat. While Lilith dooms the ogre, who is still on the ground, a newly summoned elemental finally delivers the last blow to the big humanoid: the ogre is dead! The Cleric helps Alvra and uses a touch attack to kill the hireling.

Meanwhile the Scout takes down the lizard, thus immobilizing the chariot. She then uses her spiked chain to try and pull Vorn from the carriage. Though she doesn’t succeed, Phaedra does manage to harm him. Jharrath aims a hail of stones at Vorn and the nearby second mercenary.

It is time for new measures. Vorn concentrates hard and is lost in the trance of spellcasting. With a spell of blindness, Lilith tries to break Vorn’s concentration, but to no avail. A huge gelatinous cube slides over the ground towards the Xaniqos Wizard and soons envelops Jharrath in acid ooze. Each creature that comes too close, will be attacked by the mindless cube.

Alvra throws a javelin at Vorn and hits, but the leader of the Pox Bearers quickly takes a healing potion. The Fighter launches himself at the carriage and attacks in melee, which causes Vorn to flee. The Xaniqos must prevent this, if it is the last thing they do! Phaedra and Lilith, who were both fighting the remaining drow mercenary, now turn to Vorn. The mercenary runs for his life and escapes, evading the Cleric’s hastily shot crossbow bolt. Phaedra attacks Vorn with the use of a tanglefoot bag, and Alvra jumps in for the kill. Vorn is down and out.

All three of them now shoot, hack and slash at the gelatinous cube to free their brother, who might still come in handy. At least his summoning skills are quite useful. Jharrath does look a ‘bit’ mangled. Phaedra orders two servant bugbears to carry all the furniture, books and papers from the cart back into the mansion. They hurriedly search the bodies of the slain drow and ogre and find a nightscale armor, a potion belt, a masterwork rapier and crossbow, spell book, plus a pouch with 100 gold pieces. The Cleric now orders Alvra to cut off the guild leader’s head and cover it in rags. This way the proof of his death is undeniable.

They head home – Vorn’s head dangling over the Fighter’s shoulder – where Taldinyon is waiting. The Weapon Master takes one look at the severed drow head and then sends a patrol to clean up the ghetto. The potion belt contains a potion of haste, which Phaedra can make good use of, and two potions of bear’s endurance. Lilith gives one to Alvra and keeps the other for herself. The Scout hands Jharrath the nightscale armor, but holds on to the spellbook, planning on giving that to the Matron Mother.