Haul of the Quartermaster

Chapter 2, Part IV

Written by Victoro (Dan)

We began our infiltration of Shuck's party and proceeded to divide ourselves to explore the three floors. After ingeniously disguising myself as the carriage entrepreneur Ken Goaway (what a guy!), I travelled to the top floor with Guy and Aine accompanying me.

After Darwin lit Chuck Shuck on fire, he was escorted to the basement dungeon by two guards. However, Aer and Artemi ambushed the guards and murdered them. (Sloppy and amateurish thievery in my humble opinion, but perhaps it bought some time.) Meanwhile, Mews got into a literal cat-fight with another Tabaxi named Catrina, who apparently murdered her mother. Her anger was understandable, even if it did jeopardize the whole affair.

Ultimately, it was up to the three of us on the top floor to do the real work. First, I unlocked the door to the machine room. I discovered some sort of color puzzle and, with minor assistance from Guy and Aine, deactivated the anti-magic force field. I unlocked the next room and yet again made an indispensable discovery: a map of a hexagon-shaped building that seems to resemble the structure we found earlier in the woods. I also found a suit that seemed to belong to Chuck Shuck himself, and had the brilliant idea of putting on the suit to disguise myself as the slave-owning magnate.

With my disguise, I dared to enter the balcony where the King and his guards had been. Strangely, the King and the guards had disappeared from the tiny balcony. How could they have possibly left that room? At least I found the King's expensive-looking brooch. Around this time, Guy went downstairs to fetch our weapons from the basement. At least SOME of my companions have their wits about them!

But just as I was about to plunder an enticing blue bedroom, a great snafu occurred. Aine, the Empress of Fools herself, was tinkering with a suit of armor and caused a giant explosion that destroyed the entire house! This is truly the most bombastic and unprofessional group of scoundrels that I've ever worked with! The entire house was devastated instantly. I was able to avoid damage using my unparalleled dexterity and finesse, but I fear that dozens of partygoers met a different fate. Unfortunately, no time to loot their corpses.

Outside, a brawl had been brewing for some time. Mews had launched a surprise assault on Catrina, while Artemi was fighting the magistrate, who was apparently his brother Adrick. Adrick was so powerful, he almost killed Artemi by tapping him on the shoulder! I tried using my disguise to convince Catrina and Adrick to run away, but I was too late. Artemi knocked his brother unconscious, and both Katrina and Mews were put to sleep by Guy. Thinking quickly, I looted Adrick's body and found some jeweled key. Perhaps it belongs to the doors in that hexagonal building in the woods??

I planned to loot and hogtie Catrina per Guy's instructions, but another twist happened. Chuck Shuck, that glorious bastard, flew towards us in a giant suit of armor and attacked us! (It reminded me of a penny novel I read called "Trails of Cold Steel", but that's besides the point.)

Around this time, Owen suddenly emerged from the rubble and started helping us. (I presume he had the trots during the entire party, who knows?)

Either way, we figured out how to circumvent the shields and Guy landed the killing blow on Chuck. (Amateur hour, but whatever.) But sadly, one of my arrows ricocheted off the armor and struck the unconscious Adrick. Shortly after, he turned into ooze and melted away. I would feel contrite if I understood what the hell just happened.

Loot acquired:

  • Two rings from the house offices (sell?)
  • Map of hexagonal building (keep)
  • King's brooch (sell?)
  • All our weapons back (thanks to Guy)
  • Jeweled key (keep)
  • Some bauble that Artemi looted from his brother's clothes (sell)

Note: You all may have seen me fetch a burning paper from the rubble. Disregard it; I assure you it was just some low-quality pornography.