Chapter 7 : Back in Hafanus

#### Back in Hafanus

Shortly summarizing, we fled from the temple of the Snake People, following the ‘Ancient One’ who had activated the big Portal in the wall of the room where he, presumably, also had his treasures brought. It appeared we caught him in the act of fleeing, and he choose to leave all behind. It was all we could do to snatch up what we did, before leaving the room, also through the Portal, because either the activation of the Portal, or some other action of the Ancient One, had started an alarm, and Lava and other things were flooding into the room rapidly. We exited inside a nondescript temple, out of which we had to flee as well because of the Lava pouring out after us through the still open Portal. When we ran out into the streets, we soon recognized our familiar Capital City of Hafanus.

With no other obvious and direct goal, we decided to seek out our old friend Nimrod. He was happy to see us again, but also told us that the situation in the Capital had sharply deteriorated since we left. The Emperor still had not been seen or heard of, other than commands issued in his name, that were or appeared at odds with his regular rulings. The Order of Samui had gained in influence considerably, and was dominating much of the Political, but certainly also Religious life.

Other religions were effectively not tolerated, to the point of downright repression and Temples and Shrines were closing or being closed rapidly. The dominant position of the Order of Samui was also clear in the streets of Hafanus, where buildings of the Order, and especially their big headquarters (they may consider it temple grounds?) had been extended at the expense of many. Nimrod’s house now bordered one of the expanding boundaries of these.

After exchanging more of our respective experiences, we decided to scout out the immediate vicinity, starting along the Sewer passageways where we had already been before. It appeared also here the Order was active, and we caught one of the Samui officers conferring with a Mindflayer about some Party being sent North on a quest

to retrieve some powerful artifact. This sounded too close to home for our comfort, and indeed through Nimrod we could confirm that one part of the Well of Many Worlds, had in ancient times been sent North, or had ended up there later. So we prepared for a journey North to head them off, or perhaps overtake them in case they had the head-start, and arranged passage on a ship to speed up the first long leg of our travels.

After some extensive shopping for magic items and other supplies – for once we could actually afford to get most of the equipment we needed because of the spoils we took from the Ancient one – we still had two whole days left until our boat would leave. We decided to use this time to find out more of what was behind the mysterious kidnappings that went on in the city over the past several months, and had apparently been getting worse recently. They always happened at night, and involved black or dark carriages dragging people away with great speed and apparently at random. Drew and Juneeka went touring through the city in a rented carriage, from a local wagon maker. After a bit of socializing with the fellow, they learnt little more than what we already knew. It happens at night, apparently at random, and he for one did not go out after dark any more. He would not know how to recognize one of these carriages particularly – from their description they could be from anywhere. And he also had not heard any rumours from his fellow wagonmakers. Meanwhile, Tinder was asking around about some other things (sorry, I forgot), and Terrak was seeking contact with the local Thieves Guild.

Terrak ended up in an unnamed alehouse at the nearby market square. He soon spotted a conspicuous guy sitting by himself at a table. With some careful verbal maneuvering, it became clear he was willing and able to help provide some of the information we sought. He told me to stay put, while he disappeared in the back of the inn common room, after he tossed a boy a coin and told him to ‘Get Jim’.

Some twenty minutes later, a big guy clad in animal skins entered and went through the motions of securing the area, after which he sat himself at a table. At that moment, Terrak felt a hand on his shoulder and was surprised to hear a female voice speak to him ‘So, you wanted information’. While she sat down, he measured her up, but found no particular characteristics. Terrak decided to get straight to business, and told her that he wanted to know as much as possible who was behind the kidnappings. She told us the common things (night, carriage, fast, blahdiblah), and added that she did not see why she would tell me more, unless he revealed the purpose of my visit to Hafan. Terrak told her there were two things important for him. First was the conspicuous absence of the Emperor, and second, and probably linked, was the advance of the Order of Samui. The first he could do nothing about right now, but the other seemed in some way linked to those kidnappings, as well as to his personal interests.

These interests, he added, would take him out of the city soon, but would probably entail ending or at least distorting those who were behind the kidnappings. This appeared sufficient, and she told Terrak that the carriages returned to a hideout somewhere east, most likely in an abandoned building because of the involvement of Undead, who of their nature would not mingle with the Living, and vice-versa. He thanked her, and when the silence stretched till it became apparent Terrak could not think of more to ask, she left with a warning: ‘I hope your information is true’.

Meanwhile, Juneeka had had an insight, and had been conversing with an Owl, who after a lot of cross-species misunderstandings been able to understand her question and confer the idea of a location of the source of these big four-legged creatures that roamed the night streets of this city. After nightfall, the owl had agreed to take her to the place, which was somewhere to the east of our Inn. This nicely confirmed the information retrieved by Terrak, and we spent the rest of the afternoon resting for what would likely become a busy night. During Drew’s performance at the Golden Globe, we discussed the news with Nimrod. After learning of our imminent encounter with undead, and our ill preparation therefor, he had to admit he had not the contacts to organize support for such an endevour on such short notice. We awaited the return of Juneeka from her special scouting mission, and the subsequent end of Drews show.

When Juneeka returned, she described the house, and how she had tracked one of the coaches picking up a cloaked and hooded figure from the house. It had ridden away from the house as fast as possible, but winding perhaps to avoid being tracked. At some point, it started a more or less random search through one of the Quarters, and picked up an unlucky lone person from a street. It seemed, she added, completely random except for the initial stretch where they had seemed to want only to put distance between their nighttime task and their quarter house. With the added incentive of a possible hostage rescue, we set out for the house. Once there, things seemed to go suspiciously simple, but in spite of Terraks gut-feelings, each and every door was unlocked, unguarded and free of traps. This nicely matched the complete desertedness of the house, and without any incidents we found ourselves at the top of a staircase leading down into the basements.

The complete silence, as well as the absence of dust anywhere, and the subsequent lack of any tracks or trails on the floors still produced an ominous feeling. Going Down We found ourselves at the top of a staircase leading down into the basements. We proceeded down the shabby looking steps, keeping a sharp eye out for signs of traps or other unpleasant surprises. Before we even came halfway the stairs, one step gave way under my soft boot, and it was unfortunate that I hit a cupboard or something below the stairs with my leg as it went through. The clatter of pans, pots and whatnot shattered the nightly silence. Soon we heard boots approaching fast from below; and we scrambled to find good positions to defend and fight back. I was first to meet the enemy at the bottom of the stairs, but they were already with four or five by then, and the latest clearly a spell-caster by the way he kept behind the others and stayed near the door. As cautious as he chose his position, however, his posture was commanding and there was no hint of hesitation when he pointed his staff at the stairs and blasted Balls of Fire at it – and us. By then Drew and Rufus had joined while Juneeka and Hendel were still making their way down the stairs; the Dwarf was held up considerably by having to take shelter from the Fire Balls in the landing above. It took all our cunning and tactics to hold against the Orcs (? not sure now), but we managed to chop them up successively. I would have targeted the spell caster, up close if possible but with bow and arrows otherwise, had we not been short-handed by the delay of Hendel behind the burning staircase. As it was, when we were finishing off the last few of his henchmen – as likely they were – he cast the room in Darkness and vanished. By that time, I had just managed to close up to him, but had only landed a blow or two at him.

Hindered by the lingering Darkness, we attempted pursuit, but found no trace of the survivors. A scan of the adjacent rooms and areas brought us a peculiar surprise: we had been there before! Or, rather, we found a passage leading down into a temple – the very same temple that we had rooted out when we were in Hafan before. I don’t remember if it was this temple or another room, but Juneeka warned us of one of the larger rooms – clearly (also) a temple room. She sensed a strong presence of Evil there and would not enter herself, and explicitly advised us not to do so either. We continued down another flight of stairs to the entrance to the Sewers and returned home – that is to what remains of Falowë’s temple.

#### The City Watch

We continued down another flight of stairs to the entrance to the Sewers and returned home – that is to The Stag. We wanted to have at least a good nights’ sleep before the start of our voyage tomorrow, so we prepared for an early retreat, and some of us were already in their blankets. While the rest were still rummaging through backpacks and equipment, we heard noises coming from below – as well as from the street. Accustomed as we are to living in hostile environments, we immediately grasped the situation; the City Watch were coming in for a search. As they made their progress through the Inn – first through the common room and past the innkeeper – we heard them shouting and calling out their targets.

Apparently a group of five dangerous criminals had been identified as the force behind the abductions, and they had also been seen destroying one of the cities’ temples a few days earlier. Not willing the delay that we would inevitably suffer while explaining the situation to the Watch, a Legislator, Judge, or worse, we decided that we should get an early start today, and head for the Harbor lest we miss our boat in the morning. Going downstairs would bring us to the first group of people that might wish to talk to us, and thus a possibly big delay. Fortunately we had a room with a view – our window overlooked a nice alleyway with convenient access to the flat roof of the building across, so we decided to use this alternative exit from our room.

While we made our way across, using Rufus’ Rod of Lordly Might1 and Hendel’s Rope of Climbing. Not expecting much patience from a City Watch search party, I was still annoyed when they apparently ignored my assurance that I would come to the door (well, I might, The Stag is a decent Inn and we will be back in Hafan some day), and started battering it down before I could get my self decently across the alley. At the shouts of wonder over our creative thinking behind us, we made our way across the rooftops. After clearing a few alleyways – and Rufus having to rescue Drew once to our incalculable glee while he slid off a slate roof where he tried to land on while playing his Harp – we came onto a main street. We followed it till we met the people in Charge of it. Some may say we were extorted into paying toll for using the rooftops, but what is twenty gold pieces per person for the safe delivery of our party from the City Watch and an unobserved doorway back onto the anonymous streets of Hafan? Anyway, we paid the two black­-clad thieves and they escorted us through the roof­top door downstairs and out of the front door.

#### Level grounds

We made our way towards the Harbor without much further ado – I did carefully check for a possible tail, but although I saw no­body I still did not feel completely reassured. A simple plan quickly emerged for descending the hundred­ fifty­ foot cliff that separates Hafan­ proper from the Harbor. Drew could use a scroll of Feather Falling, so all we had to do was link hands and jump together – the silly spell terminates as soon as you touch ground, including the ground that you start from! That was almost as easily done as said, but when Drew and I were happily Falling, we immediately realized that Hendel and Rufus had lost their nerves in the face of the pitch­ black chasm looming below them – they had not jumped.

Drew and I landed on the roof tiles of an abandoned and ramshackle building. The loose tiles and other holes in the roof gave easy access to the attick, and a trapdoor revealed stairs going down to first floor. Meanwhile, Juneeka, who had flown down, had also joined us again. Not willing to cross the large, dark area for fear of unsafe floors, or possible lurkers, we decided the first­-floor window would do nicely for an exit. I was dismayed, however, to find that after opening the blinds, I could not step out. A feeling of tentacles gripping me held me in. When I looked around to ask Drew for help, I saw he had been gripped by what looked like a big, tentacled mass of writhing shadows. While I started hacking at the tentacles holding Drew, he cast Glitterdust. This drew the attention of Juneeka, who had started a brief scout of the immediate surrounding of the house, so she returned and cast a Flame Strike at the creature. It did not seem to kill him, but it nevertheless disappeared, and that was good enough for us. We quickly continued, and found the stairs going down.

As we approached the front door, Tinder came crashing through it with Rufus in his wake. They told us of the fun they had passing the guard posts at both ends of the stairs that lead down from the City to the Harbor – which also explained the bells that had just started tolling. These hafanese are nothing if not sticklers for keeping certain factions and strata in their city nicely out of each others’ ways. Around the harbor area that our ship was moored in, was another wall with gates and guards in it. Also the top was quite heavily patrolled. After discussing several options, we set out to hire another boat to sail us around the wall through the harbor, to the pier where our ship lay, trusting that fifty or sixty gold would stop him from doing anything unprofitable. We jumped off, Rufus also after paying the man the second part, while at the harbor wall the alarm was called that a ship was illegally docking. We then made our way across the Y­-shaped pier towards the other leg where our ship was. We remained in hiding their while the City watch rushed in to check what that other ship had been doing, but a stack of cargo and Drew’s silent music kept us hidden from their eyes.

The captain almost jumped when we came aboard, walking in from the end of the pier, but only mentioned that he had not expected us anymore. Without much further ado, he saw to the final preparations and the ship cast off. Then we noticed that all ships going in and out of the harbor were stopped by small vessels. When we inquired, he explained this was the Harbor Watch, and that they were apparently looking for the aforementioned party of five. He suggested we made ourselves unavailable for the moment, to which we heartily agreed.

#### Naval Pursuit

The Harbor Watch gave no trouble at all, and although we expected the captain to charge the additional expenses he probably made, he did not mention anything. So, our journey to the icy north began – first in easterly direction. There is not much that can be said about traveling at sea, as the days go by without much change in the surroundings. It was therefore almost a relief when some disturbance started among the crew, and the captain told us we were being pursued by pirates. They were the kind that were first interested in the killing and second in the profit. They would attempt boarding as soon as possible, kill everyone and take whatever would be most profitable, which may or may not include the ship. Also, their two­-masted ship was clearly faster than ours, so our options would be limited – we could either fight for a chance or die without fighting.

The following hours went by in attempts at planning some kind of first strike – a place where we might force their ship into the shallows or onto rocks for example, but we came up with no feasible plans. Juneeka went to investigate their ship, but learnt little of much use, except to know that their crew numbered at least forty. So we resigned to waiting till they would come into range of our bows and spells. They were clearly eager to start the battle, for at about one hundred paces, they opened fire – literally – by sending Fire Balls in our direction. Fortunately, relatively little harm was done, also because Drew or Juneeka managed to Dispel a few of them. While we were keeping an eye out for the next attack, and tried to locate the spell caster, we were surprised by activity behind us on the aft deck. When we turned, we saw our captain slumped over the steering wheel, motionless and bleeding heavily. The deck was cramped with four of the pirates, who apparently had been Teleported in. We immediately attacked the gutless bastards, but at the first few sword and axe strikes, it was clear it would take considerable time and effort to get rid of them.