Chapter Two

Part 2. The Thieves Guild

Day One

A bookcase hides a secret passage. On the back of that book case, a large map illustrates the entire region with a few markings of special note. Beneath the map, a slot in the book shelf contains a journal from Charlatan himself. As the journal is falling apart the Druid casts a mending spell and the pages repair enough to see some old and curious symbols. The rogue believes this to be an archaic form of Thieves Cant. The party take both the map and the journal with them.

A short passage leads to a nondescript wooden door (the same as every door that exists in these tunnels). This magic door leads to a cellar of an inn back in the town.  The owner of the shop knows nothing of the portal and thinks he’s speaking with a bunch of lunatics. They are forcefully ejected from the tavern with all of the patrons there witnessing the spectacle.

The group makes the decision to return to address Lady Stoatris Wyvernjack the Great, but again has to deal with her intermediary. The quest is proving to be more challenging than expected, but the party is making headway and the reward is increased to 12,000 gp each.  

The group is instructed to a local historian who can help interpret the hand written notes on the map, and combined with the journal, many of the written notes indicate trade routes yet there a few cryptic marks of interest.  The historian can’t provide much more information than that. He does indicate what he can of the nature of the magic items the party acquired in The Charlatan’s office.

Day Two

The party rests for the night and prepares for their journey, having purchased horses, selling some trinkets and supplying themselves with any immediate necessities. As they leave town a runner chases the group down and hands them a note: “Find Eeore Donahue. Smart Fellow. Abby.” 

The party rides to Copry, the largest city in the region, with hundreds of thousands of people and the head of the Copry river valley which here joins the sea. Copry is a very cosmopolitan city, and it serves as a hub for trade, travel and communication to other parts of the land

The various districts are distributed throughout the city, although many are easily accessible to the center of the city.

The districts include: 

-Metalwork and smithing, armorer and weaponsmith

-Butcher/meat/animal processing, leatherwork and glue

-The Campus and the Abby

        -Medical and security is in the center of town, along with the seat of local government, but smaller “gangs” enforce their own rule of law, locally. And most neighborhoods have an herbalist healer.

-The red light district along with other nefarious sorts. The Rogues Guild operates from here. It’s near the harbor and thieves and pirates seem interchangeable in their profession. Leader is named Murmur. 

         -The harbor—Fish and trade

-Each neighborhood has a local pub and locally famous bards

-Trade goods and traveling merchants.  A hub of far reaching but often inaccurate or semi-accurate information. Also jewelers, fabric, spices, etc

        -Banking and financial district

The party proceeds directly to the Abby and seek an audience with the wise Aodh Donoghuei (pronounced Aye-odd Donogay, but heretofore known as Eeore Donahue)—can provide info on the ingredient The Ember Heart, which they learn is a massive, rough cut ruby that pulses with an unnatural inner fire. He also warns that the Thieves do not have it but likely know where it is. He can further say that when challenged, The Thieves can act unpredictably, with their own set of rules and test their initiates in many ways to ensure they only have the best among their ranks. He has heard that the leader of the guild is knows as Murmur. He also knows the lay of the land, trade routes, the safest passages, rivalries and history. 

The party knows they need to go to see the thieves and want to meet with Murmur, so they make their way to the harbor and the brothels. They find a local ruffian and after some bribery, the group is taken to a nearby brothel. The party continues to be evasive as to their purpose, but as soon as the mention that they are searching for The Ember Heart....

They wake up in a room.

Day Three

When they wake up they find themselves in a room with markings on the various walls, and one large stone door with 3 great iron chains running strait up into the ceiling. A history check reveals that this is ancient dwarven construction. 

1. A puzzle is illuminated: Three squares inscribed on the wall, a number is etched at each corner. For the first two squares, a number is also in the center of the square. In the third square the number is empty but three tumblers formal a combination lock below the box, each numbered 0-9.
   
    (The solution is: the interior answer is the sum of the bottom 2 numbers minus the sum of the top 2 numbers)
2. When that puzzle is solved, rumbling gears within the walls and ceiling slowly turn and the first chain grows tight and rigid. The second  puzzle illuminates. ALLEVILMURDERED appears in moveable sliding tiles with channels leading to a center common channel that opens to 15 individual channels.
   
   A LEVEL RUM RIDDLE. This is a pass phrase to gain free voyage on privateer vessels. “I present to you a level rum riddle. These casks appear light.” Murmur will impart this information when they ask.
3. When this test is answered correctly, more gears rumble and the second chain tightens. A third test appears. “One Chance” is written above a number of symbols.
   
   The answer is Circle, Square, Line. The party answers correctly, the gears engage again, the chain tightens and all of the chains lift the door.  
4. When the door opens, a narrow but long hallway is revealed. An obstacle course lays between the doorway and a ledge at the end of the hall. A shiny red button can be clearly seen on the far wall. The course is suspended over an inky void. Lothriel easily navigates the course and pushes the button. Clockwork gears engage and lift a floor allowing the rest of the party to pass through a newly opened door.  

If the team had failed any portion of the test, the room would have been filled with sleeping gas and the party will be removed to awake in a brothel, each member would have been charged 1gp for accommodations or have to battle a human Thug. (The party earns more street cred if they battle, but it’s not that much)

The party succeeds in escaping the room, and they meet the leader of the Thieves Guild, Anton Hidel also known as Murmur. Murmur listens to the group and discusses The Ember Heart.  The guild will not help the party in obtaining the ingredient. He claims Lady Stoatris the wizard is weak, power hungry and dangerous (Lawful Evil—she would create a dictatorship if she could.). She needs the Ember Heart to craft a spell to summon an old and powerful djin, making her one of the most powerful wizards ever. They will work to stop the party if our heroes continue to try and help the wizard—by force if necessary. He recommends taking the ingredient to a different wizard, Gormal Hyland. But which wizard if any could be the right one.  

The party asks about the sole readable entry from The Charlatan’s journal.

The first of the markers indicates the The Thieves Guild. Murmur confirms there was a break within the guild a long time ago, and history holds that they took The Ember Heart with them. The third symbol shows the symbol of The East.  They also know that the chest was stolen from the rogues in a massive kobold raid some time ago. Presumably taken as a part of the treasure honoring their earthly deity an Adult Red Dragon, Sandstorm, but the kobolds do not know what they hold. The thieves guess that the Dragon will keep the chest well guarded for centuries. He doesn’t say much more.

The party debates continuing the quest at all, not knowing what the potential rewards are, but having a clearer picture of the potential downsides. They decide to press on, however, for the treasure, the glory and the adventure. (Good choice, I must say.)

They return to Eeore Donahue, and ask additional questions. He imparts what knowledge he has of Gormal Hyland, including his purchasing dead bodies and the possibility of necromancy. But Gormal is exceptionally reclusive and little is truly known about him, including any certainty of his whereabouts. Eeore knows that to get to Sandstorm, they need to go through the kobold city, which will take much more power than the party now wields, possibly even needing an army. He speaks of the hatred shared by the gnomes and kobolds of each other.