Burton, in the form of a dog, peers into the dark tunnel headed under the park. This tunnel is quickly identified as a sewer based on the foul odor of mildew and the trickle of gray water.
He hears a muffled scream, then a brief silence before he hears a deep voice singing. Burton follows the voice rather than waiting for the others.
Shadowsilver makes her way to the sewer entrance an instant after Burton makes the first turn in the tunnel. She follows the singing as well. As she makes the first turn, she sees a dog up ahead. Knowing it is Burton, she gets his attention as quietly as possible. Burton acknowledges her and waits for her to catch up. As they prepare to continue following the singing, they hear some haphazard splashing from where they entered.
Qarzdaq and Qhortho turn the bend to see Burton and Shadowsilver staring at them. As they are about to continue following the trail, they hear the all-too-familiar sound of metal on metal – the scraping of blades against each other.
Finally, the group reaches a bend that opens up to a large chamber about 50 ft square with a 30 ft ceiling. A very muscular man with a hump on his back is standing at the back end of the room. The group spends a few minutes deciding whether this is a natural deformity of the man from hunching over, and thereby being a “hunchback”, or whether there is some large growth on its back in the form of a hump, making him hump-backed. It turns out that it was the latter, it did not appear that the man was hunched over in any way, and so they continue.
“Huh?? I thought I told you to leave me be.” He turns and faces you.
He turns to the group, his face horribly disfigured. He remains in place next to a table with a few potions of various shades of violet, red, and green. One is black.
The chamber resembles that of a torturer’s dreamscape – mutilated, dismembered bodies lie mostly-eaten on the floor around him. He wears a heavy chain around his neck with 10-15 links. Clearly this man is an established maester.
A woman is on a rack behind him with her hands and ankles chained to it. She is bleeding from a hole in her throat, but her neck has not been slit. She wears a look of terror and is clearly trying to scream, but no noise is coming from her.
“What do you want? Do you have food for me? I’m always… so hungry…” The maester looks at Shadowsilver, then over each of you, “Oh… do you look tasty…”
He looks as if he is about to take a step forward, but stops himself and looks down at the ground.
As menacing as this large disfigured man is, there’s a look of desperation in the way he carries himself, as if he is in a constant fight to control his actions.
The group readies themselves for anything and before they make a move, as if he already knows what they were about to do, he yells, “I’ll teach you to come meddling in my affairs!”
The maester quickly drinks the black potion, stabs the woman in the chest, and rushes the group.
As the battle begins, it is clear that this will be one of the toughest yet – except that Qarzdaq successfully casts Hold Person, paralyzing the maester on the ground. They all take turns slashing and stabbing him until the spell finally wears off. He is able to get up, but it is only moments later that he is felled permanently.
Shadowsilver takes the chain off the corpse, and sees it is composed of multiple metals: five links of lead, five silver, two yellow gold, and one of pale steel.
The potions are then looted and the group explores the sewer system over the next few hours and doesn’t find anything of importance.
As late as it is, they then head to the keep to inform Payret that they had succeeded. One of his guards said they should come back in the morning, but that he was pleased.
The group then head back to the inn and talk with Bancey.
“So it was all true?? There really was a monster out there?”
After telling her about the young man they saw earlier being involved in the scheme, she mentioned about him still owing her money… “but I don’t suppose I’ll be seeing any of that!” She lets out a small, one note laugh. “I didn’t expect to see it anyway.”
Qarzdaq decides to pay the 15sp debt of the young man and Bancey is grateful.
The group then rests…
… well, almost all of the group rests.
Shadowsilver sneaks out and is able to steal some very enticing deep red potions.
Burton tries to do the same thing with gems, but ends up breaking his thieves’ tools in the process.
The next morning, Qarzdaq and Qhortho have some breakfast and wait for Shadowsilver and Burton to meet them, unaware that they had gone out the night before and needed some extra rest.
Once they reconvene, Tholannan still nowhere in sight, they make way to the keep to speak with Payret.
Payret greets the group solemnly, and asks for an account of all events from the night before, sparing no detail, and about the methods used in the process.
After relaying the events from the night before,
“Hmmm… it seems you may be up to the Solutionists’ charge after all. Very well….”
“Wait, weren’t there 5 of you? Where is the tall Rhoynish one?”
Burton mentions how he had been missing and was probably helping at the hospital.
“Ok then. As he is one of you, and he is aiding our people, I will allow this to extend to him as well… This is highly irregular. Please kneel.”
All 4 of the members kneel as directed. He draws his sword and points it towards the group.
“To each of you of The Unlikely Assembly, The Busters of Ghosts, I, Ser Payret Dayne, Knight of House Dayne, and Lord of High Hermitage, hereby bestow upon you the responsibility to aid those who share the Dayne goals, values, and principles to the utmost in any way you deem necessary.”
“I dub thee The Gang of Solutionists.”
“Please rise.”
He sheaths his sword and each member (including Tholannan) gains 500XP.
“So what lies in store for you next? Will you stick around town or forge a path through the world?”
The group tells of their quest for Mors and Nymeria.
“I hold no ill will towards the Martells. And if Vorian has agreed, I will follow his lead – you may count me as yours, as I count you as mine.”
Payret then tells you about how he supplies troops and weapons to Blackmont and that he was getting ready to send on the next shipment. He also mentions that Blackmont is not likely to join the Martells; they are of a highly guarded mindset being so close to the front lines to the north.
“If you are planning to infiltrate them, you will not have a chance unless you can sneak in somehow. I may have a mutually beneficial arrangement … With my next shipment, I’d have to hire a caravan and guards, when you could take the caravan without direct payment in return for easy access into Blackmont.”
“Be careful not to rouse suspicion on yourselves – I will deny involvement if you are caught.”
Qhortho decides to take the horses they rode in on – except Tholannan’s – speaking of which, where is Thol??
Anyway, so Shadowsilver takes the helm of one wagon and Burton hides with the cargo; Qarzdaq takes the helm of the second wagon.
The plan is to have Qhortho stay back with the horses so the wagons can go through the gate.
Although the terrain grows increasingly difficult and rocky, even on this well-kept road, the travel is as smooth as ever with no threats encountered. After about five days of traveling, 90 days since leaving Valyria, the Blackmont sigil is seen flying in the wind.
Qhortho diverts into the rocky brush with the group’s horses while the two wagons continue ahead.
As they approach, they see the formidable wall surrounding the town with a prominent closed gate at the end of the road. Guards patrol the walkway atop the wall.
As the group approaches the gate, the guards on the wall raise their bows, and draw their strings.
A sickening sense of betrayal washes over the wagon drivers.
HALT! Who goes there?!
Qarzdaq, remaining as calm as possible, responds that they are bringing gear from High Hermitage.
After what feels like an eternity, they lower their bows and relax their strings slowly.
RAISE THE GATE!
As they pass through the gate, they enter an open courtyard where other wagons of weapons rest. The drivers are directed to bring the wagons in line with the others. As they park the wagons, Shadowsilver notices that the other wagons all have the familiar marks indicating tainted shipments.
In front of you, there are at least 100 troops gearing up for what looks like it might be a deployment. As the men pick up new gear from the shipments, they file into standard order. The entire layout of Blackmont makes it clear that this is a military town, with all residents and services here to provide for the army and their families.
To the east side of town, there are a few merchants and an Inn with a section of small houses closer to the rear wall to the north.
A man dressed in polished plate armor and a dark black cape strides from the main keep and moves to address the men, tucking a rolled parchment under his arm as he does so.
“Alright men, tonight is the night we deploy with the new moon, get some rest now – you’re going to need it – Dismissed.”
The men slowly disperse to the barracks to the west side of the town.
The caped man hands the parchment to a young man at his side who follows him down the road to the west and into a building behind the stables, separate from where the other men headed.
Burton goes to the general goods shop and purchases a new set of thieves’ tools then the three of them go to the tavern to have a few drinks, purchase accommodations for the night, and to hatch a plan for what they should do next.
Qhortho finds a very small clearing in the brush to wait things out. After a couple of hours, he hears something along the road, followed by many successive swears. Qhortho makes sure the horses are well-secured, draws his sword and stalks through the brush as quietly as a Dothraki might, which is to say, not very quietly at all. He peers out through the foliage and sees a man with a broken wagon wheel. After looking around a bit, he starts to repair the wheel using what supplies he has. Qhortho sits and waits.
After some time, the wheel is well-enough repaired for the driver, and he continues on his way, never making any signs of noticing the Qhortho.
Qhortho then heads back to the horses and waits.
After a few hours, dusk fades into night, and the plan springs into action.
Burton disguises himself as a child and sneaks over towards the commander’s barracks. The door is locked, but Burton opens it with ease. The door creaks open but he quickly causes a minor noise disturbance in the form of a barking dog outside to cover the sound. He closes the door using the same technique. He finds the parchment on a desk and reads it:
To Horn Hill tonight for surprise attack.
Follow the markings along the hidden path to the west.
He then tosses it back on the desk and it lands exactly where he picked it up. He sneaks out the same way he came, but for some reason, decides to make the sound that of a person talking. This rouses the suspicion of the nearby soldiers and they come out running. Burton starts yelling about a dog chasing him and the guards slow down and turn back towards their sleeping quarters.
Burton reconvenes with Shadowsilver and Qarzdaq and informs them of what he’s learned. They must leave tonight – and soon.
The three of them make their way to the wall after a few more hours and time it just right. Shadowsilver scales the wall in between guard passes, throws down her rope, Burton and Qarzdaq climb up, the rope is then tossed to the other side of the wall, Qarzdaq and Burton climb down, and Shadowsilver gathers the rope and climbs down the wall.
For a change, everything went perfectly according to plan.
They then met back up with Qhortho where they gathered their horses and found the hidden trail to the west. They began their tough ride on the stupidly rough terrain through the mountains, following the markers that were left for the army.
During the first 5 days of travel, they encountered some constrictor snakes, which they easily destroyed, and earned 250XP each.
They take a long rest using their normal watches.
Upon first light, Shadowsilver, Burton, and Qhortho all rise, but Qarzdaq is unresponsive. He looks dazed and is only somewhat responsive. He is entirely unable to walk.
The group cleans up after themselves, leaving no trace of their travels.
Qhortho mounts his horse, then lifts Qarzdaq and places him over the back of his horse. He then takes the reins of Qarzdaq’s horse, accepting the responsibility of the animal for the remainder of their trek until Qarzdaq is well enough to ride again.
They continue on their way following the markers, now 95 days since leaving home and more experienced by a total of 8855XP.