In the Labyrinth

We went shopping and met for dinner in front of the Twilight Palace, where Elaira performed. When we met, I was a little surprised to see that in such a short time, Bloodrush had managed to acquire a tattoo. It's on his face, right on his cheek. I can't really make out what the symbol is. I think if I ever get a tattoo, I will probably ask around so I can get it done by someone different. The next morning, we went to the Labyrinth, located in the quarry in the caves. We found a barred hole; an entrance to the caverns. Though no one approached when we entered, I could see a minotaur guard within, and Elaira and Horadric talked to him and convinced him to give us rooms at 3 gold a night. Expensive by most metrics, but a bargain for us given what we've been paying at Twilight Palace! Bloodrush paid for the rooms and the guard showed us the dining hall and our rooms. What I liked best about this place was how vast the hallways and rooms were. Easily large enough for me to stretch out, unlike the close quarters on the lightning rail and at House Sivis.

After checking out our rooms, we decided to go to the dining hall and try to gather information about Nym. What we learned is that we are apparently horrible at this. The only highlights were that Bloodrush intimidated an orc into mumbling something about a gnome who wasn't a gnome (I can't put together what's going on here, but it seems like it might be related to a changeling like the one we saw on the lightning rail); and Elaira overheard someone talking about the daughters of Sora Kel: Sora Katya, Sora Teraza, and Sora Maenya. Before we knew it, a fight broke out. I think Horadric started it, but I can't be sure because our efforts were poor all around and there were people getting angry with us all over the place. In the end the ones who actually resorted to violence were six minotaurs and two rogues. At first, this battle was somewhat frustrating for me: I positioned myself near the front lines only to find myself slid across the entire room and almost bull-rushed twenty feet straight down. However, I was able to open a breach in the earth and the resulting vent of chaos let me get back into the fray. At some point their mage activated some kind of gloves that caused a great hedge to sprout forth, and it looked like this was going to be a significant impediment to us; however, the fellow didn't last long and when he perished, the wall disappeared. After all of our foes had been defeated, we found some thieves' tools, 1300 gold, and the Green Thumbs gloves. We also had ourselves a couple of prisoners to interrogate. Horadric said he thought he could figure out how to work the gloves, so we let him have them.

We learned that these fellows worked for a minotaur warlord named Rhesh Turakbar, who worked for the daughters of Sora Kel. One of them knew a gnome who worked for Turakbar also, who had a dragonmark. We suspect this was Nym. He said he'd last seen Nym at Turakbar's castle, and he vaguely gestured in the direction we would find it. They said their job was to collect pay from Khadrous, the owner of the Labyrinth, for their "protection." We also learned that there was a guy named Brakenworth who was captured by the guard in Graywall, who knew a secret way into the castle. However, he was turned to stone outside the last tower in the city, so getting the information from him would prove to be difficult. As we continued our interrogation, the minotaurs claimed that the castle had a sizable fighting force with archers and over 500 fighting men, with traps everywhere. I suspect that they were exaggerating, or perhaps I should say I hope so at least.

The rogue we had captured was a mercenary. He said he knew about an associate of Brakenworth's that was an Oni; that the Oni might be a possible enemy of Turakbar. He did tell us that Brakenworth had crossed the law and possibly had crossed Xorchylic, the Illithid who runs Graywall. He said that Brakenworth had stolen something of great value from Turakbar which was never recovered. We learned that Turakbar rarely leaves his castle, excepting the occasional hunting party; and we learned a little more about the three hags: Sora Katra, the voice of Droam; Sora Maenya, the iron fist; and Sora Teraza, the powerful oracle.

Upon a search of the rooms of the foes we had defeated, we found a paper instructing the group to go to The Crag to ask Sora Teraza about the prophecy relating to the Deep Door. We suspect that the Deep Door is underneath Graywall, but don't know much else about it.

When we finished with our business and went back into the public areas to try to gather information, we found the minotaur guard rather strongly encouraging us to leave due to the trouble that had ensued so soon after our arrival. On our way out, Bloodrush started blabbing loudly about how the owner of the labyrinth didn't pay the protection fees. Judging by the shocked reactions he got, if his rumor spreads, I don't think that Khadrous will have a good time of it.

Our plans are to head back to Twilight Palace and regroup, but I think overall there is interest in finding out more about Brakenworth and whether we can acquire any useful information from him before heading after Turakbar's Castle to try to nab Nym.

XP for Unraveling the Prophecy Session #3

Each player gained 700 experience for the session.

Total XP: 11200 (level 8 at 13000xp)