No one answers your knocks. What else did you expect at this hour?
[Name] turns pale as a sheet when [Hero] sees you and backs off in horror.
“The murderers!” cries, when [Hero] sees you, turns pale as a sheet and backs off in terror.
Doesn’t look like you have much choice about what to do there. You make a quick getaway while trying to avoid any more attention.
“You?” cries.
“Didn’t I tell you quite distinctly to piss off?” [Hero] bellows and looks around for something to hit you with. Finally, [Hero] grabs an old broom.
Looks like you’re going to get no joy here. You get going before you can find out just how painful that broom can be.
Nobody responds to your knocking!
Looks like nobody’s home. At least, there’s no response to your knocks!
Even after repeated knocking, nobody answers!
There is no reaction from the inside. Apparently, nobody’s home!
The door is locked. The house appears to be empty!
“It is getting late. I’m afraid, I’ll have to throw you out now!” says, pushes you out the door, and locks it from the inside.
Guess you screwed this one up! You prefer to make off.
The portcullis is down. The castle is closed to the public at this hour.
One of the guards stops short when he sees you.
“The murdering scum!! Have at them!” he shouts, draws his weapon and charges towards you. One of the other guards runs back to the castle, presumably to get help. The others hurry to the attacker’s side.
The reinforcements arrive within seconds. You are surrounded by guards in no time at all.
Not such a good idea after all, traipsing right into the lion’s den! You get out while you still can.
“There’s a guided tour of the castle two hours after noon,” one of the guards tell you. Do you want to take it?
The guided tour costs 3^Bits per person. As you cannot afford that price, you can’t take part.
Right on time, at the second hour of noon, the guide appears. The man is wearing a blue uniform and a peaked cap of the same color with a fancy emblem on the front. The tour starts at the portcullis and leads first into the kitchens, where you all have a drink.
Next stop is an abandoned dungeon tract including an ancient torture chamber. This is followed by a duty guards’ lounge, and then the castle walls. The guide talks at length, at extreme length even, about the maneuvers held once a week with participation open to town citizens, travellers, and anybody else able to hold a weapon.
Apparently, the fear of an orc attack is much bigger than people let on, as the entire tour quite obviously is only meant to get volunteers for the maneuvers or city guard duty.
Accordingly, once you reach the end of the tour, your guide reminds you once again that participation in the maneuvers entails absolutely no obligation on your part.
“The maneuvers have already begun,” the guard tells you. “But you can still join in.”
Do you want to join the maneuvers?
“There are maneuvers at the second evening hour today!” the guard tells you. Do you want to take part?
“Come one, come all!” the training officer greets you and gives you a wooden training weapon each, after which he starts with a few warm-ups, followed by a lecture on the most common mistakes beginners make. Then, he lets you pair up for some short training fights.
Next, you form two groups and prowl the battlements. One group tries to storm the castle using siege ladders and finds out that the defenders are in a much better position. The instructor ends the exercise before the first siege ladder tumbles over, so no one is seriously hurt.
To finish the maneuvers, you get to fight a stuffed dummy moved by six guardsmen from a safe distance using poles and levers. Some of the participants are dealt some heavy blows this time.
Ale for everybody marks the end of the event, after which you find yourselves back on the street in a state of complete exhaustion.
“The castle is closed to unauthorized entry,” the guard states in a firm, but not unfriendly tone. “However, there is a guided tour every Earthday at two hours after noon, 3^Bits a head.
Every Fireday, open maneuvers are held for anyone able to fight during the second hour of the evening.”
The information desk and the office of requests and matters of estate are closed.
There’s a sign next to the door reading: “Opening Hours: Every day but Praiosday from the beginning of the third hour of morning to the end of the fourth hour of afternoon”.
The doorman points down a wide hallway on the right, when he notices your uncertain looks. “Information desk, third door on the left,” he says in a friendly voice.
You stop in front of the door he mentioned and knock. “Enter!” a female voice calls from inside.
The courthouse is closed.
A sign next to the door reads: “Opening Hours: Every day but Praiosday from the beginning of the third hour of morning to the end of the fourth hour of afternoon”.
You couldn’t say where those guards appeared from all of a sudden, but you don’t stand a chance: within a few moments, you are disarmed and bound.
The building is fairly intricate in construction. The corridor leads to a small door without a sign. With a shrug, [Hero] knocks.
[Hero] waits patiently until the Priestess is free, then [Hero] approaches her and points at the guild armband.
“The tradesmaster said you would know about the connecting tunnels underneath the town…”
The Priestess looks at [Hero] in astonishment, then her eyes alight on the armband.
“Oh!” she says. “You seem to have settled in quickly. You haven’t been in town all that long, have you?!”
She leads you into a small side chamber and throws aside one of the fur carpets. A large, round slab of stone with a solid iron ring in the center can be seen underneath.
“No one but me enters this room,” she explains. “You can use this entrance at any time.”
You are wanted for murder in this town! Walking into a tavern would be asking for it!
Eraion appears to have had one drink too many again, as once more he starts to do magic, accompanied by his usual overacting.
The words spoken by Eraion are drowned out by the background noise of the tavern, but the arch he draws in the air with his fingers is clearly visible.
In the middle of the tavern, a low, scintillating rainbow of about four paces in length appears. One of the customers pulls out a recorder and starts playing it both loudly and badly.
one of the women present
the woman
Eraion pulls along, as he jumps on the rainbow and starts a wild dance. For not quite a minute, the two of them perform an exuberant dance. Then Eraion’s concentration seems to fade, and the rainbow flickers. With an elegant leap, [Hero] jumps to safety.
Eraion, on the other hand, misses his cue and drops to the ground with a thud. Painfully, he picks himself off the ground and decides to steady himself with a nice big tankard of stout.
The elf murmurs a few words, than he snaps his fingers. A blueish white ball of light appears just above his palm.
Eraion grabs his tankard for a sip, but stops just in front of his mouth, as the ball of light follows his hand. It’s quite amusing to watch the elf try to get a drink without touching the ball of light.
After finally managing to quench his thirst, Eraion concentrates on the light again, which slowly changes color from blueish white to green, yellow, and red. When it finally scintillates with all the colors of the rainbow, he ends the spell and goes to get another tankard of stout.
Eraion must have cast the spell without anyone noticing, for when he nods his head just now, he suddenly becomes translucent. Then his body completely disappears. His clothes are still visible, though, and seem to hover in the air when the elf steps behind the bar to fill another tankard with stout.
[Hero] watches with some interest as the tankard’s contents is seemingly poured into thin air and completely disappears. After Eraion has emptied the tankard, a loud belch ends the performance, as the elf becomes visible again.
Tarik is inside the tavern. Do you want to join him?
The fellow opposite you is a Holberkian. Your attempts to start a conversation all fail miserably. You are unable to tell whether the Holberkian can’t or just doesn’t want to understand.
The guy opposite you is a Holberkian. But you can’t talk to him. The only word you can make out is “Ordo”.
Nobody answers, when you knock on the door. It isn’t locked, though. Do you want to go in?
The rat-catcher isn’t in.
Do you want to:
Wait
Look around
Leave
After waiting for two hours, you decide that enough is enough and leave.
The rat-catcher’s cabin is only sparsely furnished. You find nothing of interest.
Do you want to:
Leave again
After some minutes, a trapdoor opens in one corner of the room, and the rat-catcher climbs out.
He looks at you somewhat surprised, but then he nods a greeting and closes the trapdoor.
The rat-catcher’s hut is only sparsely furnished. The only thing noticeable is a strange artifact lying on a shelf. It looks like a doorknob that has been cut in half, with three small rods set into the cut and a button on the round side.
When [Hero] pushes the button, several small fins extend from the rods, but they disappear again the second [Hero] lets go of the button.
Do you want to take that strange thing along?
After some minutes, the door opens and the rat-catcher enters.
He looks at you somewhat surprised, but then he nods a greeting and closes the door behind him.
Do you want to:
Enter the sewers
Return to the town
Enter the town
Return to the sewers
“That’ll be one Silver each!” the rat-catcher says.
Well, if you haven’t got the money, I guess, you’ll just have to keep the lice.
[Hero] tries to bargain for a discount, but the rat-catcher stays firm.
“I make hardly any profit as it is,” he explains. “I need the money to buy the necessary ingredients.”
After convincing Xebbert Drbann to recalculate the amount of ingredients needed, [Hero] finally manages to get a discount of one Bit.
Xebbert Drbann builds a remarkable contraption: With a small hand pump, he draws some fluid from a big cauldron above an open fire into a hose that leads to a shower head. A second, smaller cauldron contains clear water for rinsing. The shower head is set above a wooden basin with a lot of holes in the bottom.
“The solution mustn’t stay on the skin for too long, so it has to be able to flow straight out,” the rat-catcher explains.
The rat-catcher pulls a curtain around the shower and the basin underneath. When[Hero] has sat down in the basin, Xebbert calls out: “Close your eyes, until I tell you to open them again!” and starts pumping.
The fluid is itching and stinging on!your skin, and it is also far too hot - hopefully, the vermin feels the same about it.
Shortly afterwards, the stinging subsides, lukewarm water flows from the shower, and the procedure ends.
While[Hero] towels off, Drbann asks for!% clothes which he first beats out carefully and then dusts with a small atomizer. Then he beats them out again and hands them back through the curtain.
After[Hero] has pulled back the curtain and stepped out, the rat-catcher gestures toward the basin.
“Next, please!”
The whole procedure is repeated until all of you are clean.
With a loud “Hesinde be with you!,” [Hero] throws open the door immediately after knocking.
“I was born under the sign of Phex!” the druidess answers calmly, then she gives you a warm smile. “How can I be of service?”
[Hero] holds the rune wand out to Quenya. The druidess carefully takes the artifact and looks it over suspiciously. Then her eyes start to gleam. Totally absorbed in the study of those runes, Quenya seems to hardly notice her surroundings any more.
With shining eyes, she compares the runes to the signs on several parchment scrolls she pulls from the shelves in rapidly growing numbers and piles on the table.
“Fields of Alveran,” Quenya blusters. “Whose wand is this?”
“Borbarad’s - but he’s dead!” [Hero] begins % tale, and notices with some satisfaction that the druidess flinches at hearing that name.
“That explains a lot,” Quenya says finally. “I’ll write down a translation for you. The magicians will know how to interpret it.”
Industriously, the druidess scratches at a small parchment roll with her quill, before waving it about to dry the ink and then rolling it up.
“You can read it, too, if you want to!” Quenya says, when she sees [Hero] looking at the scroll uncertainly.
“For a Ducat, I can try to catch a glimpse of Satinav’s domain. But I cannot guarantee that whatever I see is actually going to happen!”
There is a pentagram engraved in the surface of the round table. Quenya puts five small lights at the corners of the sigil, surrounding the crystal ball in its center. A strange, sweet smell pervades the air.
The seeress sits at the table, covers the crystal ball with her hands and concentrates. The far-away look in her face shows that her senses have left this plane.
Beads of sweat form on the woman’s brow, and her hands clench the ball. With a soft moan, she rolls her eyes. Then she appears to return from wherever she has been. She looks tired when she addresses you.
“I’m afraid that was no help at all: I saw all of you fighting a being similar to a spider, but the size of a house! Sometimes, Satinav sends me the strangest visions when I try to enter his spheres.”
“You shall be brethren to the rats, and need fear the light of day, hunted by all!”
“Death and destruction line your road. Many more sacrifices the Gods will demand before the dark pall lifts from the Northlands!”
“Only by evil thoughts you can surmount the thoughts of Evil.”
“It is meeting the great white that shall lead your steps in the right direction.”
“There is not much time left to save you from destruction. Only by not tarrying and resisting the lure of wealth you shall succeed.”
“High above the ground you shall cross the illusions of Darkness. Choose your steps with care and do not tread into emptyness!”
“The mirrors of dead mages shall show you the way into strange places.”
“The vision was clear and distinct - there can’t have been any mistakes!” Quenya declares emphatically.
“The vision was very weak and extremely vague!” the exhausted Quenya whispers.
“Open from the first hour of morning to the end of the second hour of eventide.”
The shop is closed. Gorm Doldrecht is dead, and so far, no one has come forward to take over his business.
“Open daily, except on Praiosdays, from the 3rd hour of morning to the 1st hour of eventide.”
Panicked, the merchant jumps up. With desperate courage, he grabs a pickaxe and swings it wildly about.
“Out!” he screams in a high-pitched voice. “Out!”
At a favorable moment, when the priest is alone, [Hero] takes him aside and points at the guild armband.
“The tradesmaster said you have knowledge of the connecting tunnels underneath the town…”
The priest checks out the armband, then, satisfied that it is genuine, he nods.
“This way,” he says and leads you into a side room. The floor is covered with wooden planks, three of which can be moved with a stick by the wall. Underneath, a large round stone with a solid iron ring handle in its center appears.
“I use this room to meditate, no other priest is allowed in,” he states. “You can be sure no one will see you in here.”
When the priest is by himself for a moment, [Hero] displays the guild armband.
“The tradesmaster said you had knowledge of the connecting tunnels beneath town…”
The priest gives a quick nod when he sees the armband, then he leads you to a dark side room and lights a small lantern standing next to a large oval disk. The disk is hanging at an angle between the wall and the ceiling, and the lantern casts a perfectly round shadow on the ground. You notice the Madamal traced in softly glowing lines within the shadow.
“It takes about a minute,” states Eran Dorgan, whatever that is supposed to mean. A short time later, a round stone section swings out from the shadowed floor. “To open the entrance from underneath, you just give the cover a light push,” the priest explains.
[Hero] catches Desmoda Truespring, the current head of the temple, and shows her the guild armband.
“The tradesmaster said you have knowledge about the connecting tunnels underneath the city…”
The priestess gives a friendly smile and leads you to the side of the Great Hall, where a small garden is lit by a large window.
“Here?” [Hero] asks in astonishment. “In plain sight?”
“No better hiding place,” the priestess smiles. “Everybody sees it, but nobody notices!”
In the middle of the plants, there is a metal lattice set into the stone floor for the water to flow off.
“The shaft leads to the old sewers,” the priestess explains. “The lattice is not fastened.”
And indeed, the conservatory offers sufficient cover for the corridors beneath.
“You have been holding out on us!” [Hero] greets the priestess and holds out the guild armband for her to see. At first, Elaja looks somewhat embarassed. But then her face lights up, as she finds out the accusation wasn’t meant seriously.
“Along here!” she says and goes on ahead to a small, somewhat remote chamber, where she lifts a simple wooden trapdoor and beckons you down.
When the priestess greets you in the antechamber, [Hero] points at % armband: “The tradesmaster told us you would have knowledge about the connecting tunnels beneath town…”
“Why, certainly - walk this way,” Liska says and leads you through the temple.
Inside a remote chamber, which quite obviously sees visitors only rarely, the priestess moves aside some empty wooden crates with the help of [Hero]. Underneath, a large, rectangular stone slab comes into view, with a solid iron ring set in the middle.
Have you come to pay off your debts?
Graciously, the roper takes the 90 Ducats and rips up the IOU she took from a drawer. “To future business,” she says with a smile.
“We can do business from 1000 paces on upwards. - After that, you can order smaller amounts, too, and at reasonable prices.” The roper woman winks at you.
Do you want to:
Ask for the price
Close the deal
Leave it
“There are two kinds of rope available, normal strength and extra strength - I can do special orders, too. A normal strength rope will set you back 5^Bits a pace, the extra strong one is 9^Bits.”
Normal strength is the sort of rope available in shops, whereas extra strong rope is used mainly aboard ships.
Do you:
“We can get normal rope anywhere, let’s have the strong stuff!” [Hero] announces.
Right away, the roper starts measuring out your purchase. She is so occupied with her work, she doesn’t notice your expression grow ever more worried, as the reel grows bigger and bigger.
Finally, the woman cuts the rope as evenly as possible and beams: “That’ll be 90^Ducats!”
“Of course, I’m willing to accept an IOU,” the roper hastens to add, as she sees your sheepish face. “But don’t even think about a discount in that case.”
She goes to a small desk in the corner and starts scratching out something with a quill on a piece of parchment. When she is finished, she hands it to [Hero] for a signature.
“To establish a friendly business relationship, I’m even willing to give you a discount on that,” the roper declares ceremoniously. “Let’s say - 88^Ducats, 2^Crowns!”.
“That much!”[Hero] screams almost as if in physical pain.
After an extended bargaining session,![Hero] manages to lower the roper’s price by another two Silvers.
In a strenous, concerted effort, you manage to get the “mountain of rope” out the door, aided by the roper.
“Do come again!” she calls after you with a wave. [Hero] scratches his/her head.
“A thousand paces are more than I thought,” [Hero] admits. “And damnable heavy!”
1[Hero] nods in agreement. “About ten-thousand ounces this. - We’re not going to get very far lugging that around!”
Musing, [Hero] looks at the rope.
“Say, isn’t this the harbor area…?”
It takes you a full hour to move the rope to a more frequented spot, and another five to sell it all off to various sailors and passers-by. The largest amount, three hundred paces, ist sold to a merchant shipman. All in all, you earn 92^Gold Ducats. - You are bushed!
In a strenous effort, and with the aid of the roper, [Hero] manages to get the “mountain of rope” out the door.
“Do come again!” she calls after, with a wave. [Hero] scratches his/her head.
“A thousand paces are more than I thought,” [Hero] muses. “And damnable heavy! About ten-thousand ounces,” [Hero] adds thoughtfully.
It takes [Hero] a full hour to move the rope to a more frequented spot, and another five to sell it all off to various sailors and passers-by. The largest amount, three hundred paces, is sold to a merchant shipman. All in all, [Hero] earns 92^Gold Ducats - and is completely bushed by the end of it!
“I’m not done yet,” the tailor says, “come back in two days time.”
“Not finished yet,” the tailor says, “come back tomorrow.”
“Not quite done yet,” the tailor says, “come back in hours.”
“Almost ready, but not quite yet,” the tailor says, “come back in an hour.”
“There you go. Isn’t it a beaut.” Proudly, the tailor gives you your costume.
And who would you like to tailor the costume for?
“Made to measure would cost you,” the tailor declares after taking all necessary measurements. - Pity, that’s more than you’ve got!
The tailor takes all the needed measurements, and you pay the Silvers.
“That’ll take about two days,” the tailor says. “If you’d come back then?”
You’ve already turned towards the exit when the map maker shouts:
“Hey, if you’re not familiar with the city, I can sell you a city map for only ducats.
Would you like to buy a city map?
“Ok, it’s a little bit expensive. But it’s also very useful!” ventures [Hero] and pays the demanded price to the map maker.
“Much too expensive” says [Hero].
“Ok, but don’t start complaining when you get lost in the city”, the map maker replies.
This way leads to a deserted warehouse. Do you want to return to the city?
The warehouse is empty. A manhole cover blocks the entrance to the sewers.
Do you want to go down into the sewers?
The warehouse is empty.
Do you:
Go in the house and enter the sewers
Go on
The door isn’t locked. The house is empty. You find nothing of any interest.
The tower has a large doorway, but that appears to have been walled up years ago. You notice some barred windows further up.
“I don’t see any ghosts!” [Hero] complains.
As if on cue, a small light suddenly appears right in front of you. A strange fog billows up around it and slowly condenses to something remotely manlike in shape.
[Hero] takes two steps back in shock.
“You shouldn’t say things like that!” the apparition mumbles reprovingly. [Hero] pales.
“Severe wrongs I commited,” the ghost declares in a pompous voice, “and bound to this place therefore am I, to appear for every night hereafter!”
Suspiciously, [Hero] shoots a look at[Hero], but[Hero], too, has lost!% healthy color, has drawn back, and stares at the apparition in terror.
Do you want to cast a spell?
Who will cast it?
The apparition gives a painful moan, the fog starts to flow apart, the light burns brightly, then the figure reforms. 1[Hero] is caught by an invisible power for a few seconds and shaken about somewhat fiercely, than it’s over.
“You shouldn’t do things like that!” the apparition mumbles reprovingly.
The spell has no effect on the ghost.
“You shouldn’t do things like that!” the apparition mumbles reprovingly.
Slowly the fog dissipates, the light fades away, and everything returns to normal.
“Excuse me for a second!” says A[Hero], disappears into a dark corner and relieves A,self.
A[Hero] disappears into a dark corner and relieves A,self.
A[Hero] has only just pulled Ahis/her pants back up, when A[Hero] hears something. Motionless, A[Hero] stops to listen. A dark human shadow passes by close to A-_ hiding place, laughing softly. After a few steps, though, the figure stops suddenly and snaps his fingers, as if struck by a sudden inspiration. Seconds later, the street is empty again.
Pensive, A[Hero] returns to Ahis/her friends.
[Hero] has hardly touched the wall, when the light appears again, once more surrounded by whisps of fog slowly taking up human shape.
“What do you want?” a voice mumbles, apparently from the middle of the fog.
For a second,[Hero] gets the impression that the voice is coming from a totally different direction, but![Hero] can’t see anything there.
“Who are you?” asks[Hero].
“I am D… - I mean… I was… Dabbert… Zolthan…, a… mighty magician.”
“And what curse binds you to this place?”[Hero] continues.
“I have brought upon myself severe guilt. The Tome of… Lolgramoth fell into the hands of an innocent man by my doing, and the Arch Demon won power over the unfortunate mortal.”
The apparition is silent for a long time, as if waiting for another question. Then, when it is quite obvious that none is forthcoming, the ghost continues.
“It happened long ago, but even now the curse may be lifted by sealing the tome.”
Again the voice falls silent for a while.
“Today, the tome is in the hands of another innocent, who might fall to the Demon at any time, should she open it at the wrong page.”
By now, the voice sounds rather impatient, but[Hero] gives the others secret signs to keep quiet!
By now, the voice sounds somewhat impatient, but[Hero] keeps quiet and waits!
“Do you not want to help me lift this curse?” the apparition finally asks somewhat meekly.
[Hero] at last is moved to answer: “What’d we have to do then?”
“There are two artifacts that may counteract the power of the tome: the dried hands of a goblin. In general, goblin hands are considered good luck charms, but these two are cursed and have the exact opposite effect - they attract bad luck! The two talismans are in the hands of Movert Welzelin and Charinje Elmsjen; they both live somewhat north of the market square.”
“We’ll check out the situation first,”[Hero] decides. “Afterwards, we’ll be back to meet you!”
“That guy knows his way around town very well for a ghost! I don’t like the smell of this!” states[Hero], when you’re at some distance from the tower.
“We should definitely keep our eyes peeled!”
This time, it takes quite a while for the bound soul to appear.
“You have the hands!” the apparition exclaims.
“take them to Zyla Horger - at the South Gate - and explain the circumstances to her. - She has the tome!”
With that, the apparition is gone.
“Boy, that was fast this time!” [Hero] states with some surprise.
Do you want to show the letter you found aboard the ship?
“The Gods be with you!” says [Hero]. “Frida Pansken has asked us to collect the equipment she deposited with you.” Rank sizes you up with a suspicious expression on his face: “I’ve never seen you before in me life! Do ye think I’d just hand the stuff over to anybody?”
What are you going to answer?
“How would we know about it?”
“How would we have gotten this letter?”
“That’s why she gave us this letter as proof!”
“You could have overheard that anywhere! Not on my nellie!”
And with that, he slams the door in your faces!
“That’s what I’d like to know, ‘cause I don’t believe ye!”
And with that, he slams the door in your faces!
“Well, I guess I can’t argue wi’ that!” Rank grudgingly admits. “Wait here, I’ll get the stuff.”
A short time later, he returns with a scale armor, than leaves again to get the shield and the swords.
“All righty,” he huffs, “ye owe me 60 Ducats then!”
You pay the requested sum.
“I don’t treat pets” he adds with a glare at [Hero].