pox bearers

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.

With the upcoming council of the ruling houses, the ambitious Matron Mother of House Xaniqos is determined to make the best impression she can to prove herself worthy of her position as part of the eight ruling houses. The new-found glory of the ambitious house is slowly building up with every repair and the atmosphere is almost undrowlike positive.

Three days of relative peace have passed when, after the evening prayers, the four warriors are once again called to the chapel in full armour. They are greeted by Matron Mother Thandysha. Their next mission has to be conducted in deepest secrecy. If they are caught, they will be on their own. The Matron Mother explains the situation:

A group of highly contagious pox bearers, commanded by Vorn, calls the shots in the Ghetto of Outcasts. This guild gets its income by threatening other inhabitants and visitors with contamination with the incurable disease. The so called Pox Tax. House Xaniqos demands a share of these taxes, like House Everhate did before them. And now someone is spreading the rumor that House Xaniqos has a cure for the pox. Of course this is bad for business! Leader Vorn is suspected to be the source and has to be taken care of as soon as possible! The guild’s second in command will then step in to take over the Pox Bearers Guild.

The siblings promise to take care of this problem, after which Solaufein opens the door for them. They cross the bridge and turn left into the Ghetto of Outcasts. On their way to Vorn’s mansion, they pass beggars of many of the lower races and even some drow, most are covered in boils. Finally they arrive at their destination: a mansion which is looking surprisingly good, especially for a guild of diseased. The mansion has an upper-surface look, with two big doors in the front.

The Xaniqos drow deem it better to enter in the least conspicuous way. Phaedra spots two dark shapes exit a service door in a side alley and moves in to have a closer look. The door is ajar and when she enters, she finds herself in a bar. Four people are playing cards, while others are slumped against the wall. There is a door at each end of the room.

When Phaedra returns from getting the others, she notices one of the men has gone missing. She questions a male drow who is still sitting at the table about it, but he denies. The scout lashes out with her foot, kicking the chair from underneath the impudent dark elf.

You say there was no one else here and I say there was. Apparently one of us is lying… are you suggesting it is me, male?!

Fear flashes over his scarred face and he stammers,

Upstairs, Mistress, he went upstairs.

With a swish of her piwafwi, Phaedra straightens again, earning herself an approving glance of the cleric.

They all head through the left door of the bar and find themselves in an entry hall, a staircase on their right. After a brief inspection they discover another door which leads to a storage room, filled with barrels. Lilith tells her sister to jam the door to the bar. Then the four drow move up the stairs together, stealth no longer useful now their arrival has been announced. And indeed, upstairs a voice invites them into a large room. A smooth faced man in a piwafwi and robes is sitting behind a desk, while the drow from the downstairs bar is sitting in a chair on the right side of the room. He’s playing with a knife, his face flawed by an advanced stage of the pox. Near the door is a big muscled orc, with only a couple of marks of the disease.

Lilith addresses the man behind the desk – assuming it’s Vorn – and demands to know if he is spreading the rumours about the pox antidote. Any pretence of small talk is destroyed by the impatient tone of the cleric’s questions. Vorn soon admits it and sticks to his tale that House Xaniqos is indeed withholding the cure. As neither of them backs down, the conversation soon turns into a fight.

To make matters worse, two bugbears come running up the stairs. Daggers whoosh with astonishing accuracy and speed through the air. Alvra buries a javelin in the bugbear’s stomach. It goes down and doesn’t move again. Phaedra manages to kill the orc, while Lilith whacks the drow to the ground, but not before one of his daggers hurts the scout. The cleric is also wounded. Meanwhile Jharrath summons two earth elementals, who throw themselves into the fight. The fighter busies himself with the second bugbear, and the three drow and the elementals attack Vorn with spells and in melee. Finally Vorn goes down. His features and form change and what remains is a Doppelganger!

The younger sister searches the dead drow and finds a wristsheet. No wonder he was that quick. She takes the magic object very carefully, favouring her injured shoulder where a magical dagger is embedded.

The wizard investigates the bookshelves on the left side of the room and finds a scroll and a wand to detect magic. A faint aura triggers his interest, and after careful examination he finds a strange slot on the side of the bookcase, rune shaped. Jharraths rids Vorn’s body of magical bracers and a rapier, plus a healing potion, a scroll of confusion and a dagger. Vorn’s ring fits perfectly in the bookcase slot and when the drow turns it, a stairway opens, leading downwards. He also discovers a book on node magic, faerzess magic.

Lilith searches the desk and finds a couple of letters plus the key to a big chest in the corner. Another treasure awaits them there: two hundred gold pieces, five malachites and three pearls. The letters, addressed to Vorn, clearly indicate that House Xaniqos has a cure for the pox.

The party decides to return home, taking the exit staircase. It spirals down into an alley at the back of the house… where a big ogre awaits them with a club. It attacks and hits the already wounded Phaedra hard. In stead of fighting the creature, drawing attention to themselves, they head back to the Xaniqos mansion.

It is obvious the scout needs help, so Lilith heals her sister. Phaedra still feels sick and feverish, and her arm itches. The cleric’s face also buzzes with an uncomfortable feeling, but that slowly subsides. In another book Jharrath has found, he reads that what the sisters are experiencing, are indeed the symptoms of the pox! But – according to the book – a cleric of Lolth can remove the disease, though they will stay a bearer of the disease for life. Doppelgangers seem immune to the pox.

When they arrive home, Solaufein is already waiting and directs them towards the temple. He then alerts the Matron Mother, who listens attentively to their story. When she hears there’s an ogre on the loose, she immediately sends investigators to clear up this loose end. Thandysha is pleased with the news of Vorn’s death, the letters and the gold and gems. Phaedra and Lilith remove their armour and are examined by their mother. A spell removes the disease from the cleric, while a vial, handed over by a minotaur, cures the scout. The Matron Mother confirms Lilith’s question: House Xaniqos really does have the cure for the pox!

The four young drow pray to the Spider Queen and then head towards their rooms. Tomorrow they have to report to the City Guard and patrol the surroundings. In two days the Council Meeting will be held.