Session Thirty-Eight (Graveyard of Empires Summary)

Session 38 – Dec 17, 2014

Morning at the Lone Barrel, 8th of Denrilden,

Adelard escorts us to the East Harbor docks. Before we shove off, he wishes us luck and wants us to take revenge for the Mercers slaughtered by the Punters lost last night. He has not heard anything about Ardman. He agrees to send word via canoe if anything significant happens while we pursue Rotho and Barnier.

We row north by northwest pass the Rock of the Kelwater prison, von Waybeck’s place then Waterman’s former office. Inconspicuously giving the Punters compound a wide berth, Finklemur notices Aardman walking along the rope bridge from the central tower to the covered pier along the Kelwater. The Boys quickly change plans.

Finkelmur jumps over board. Feigning drowning, Fink calls Starchie for help. Starchie heroically leaps and mimes a rescue, dragging Finkelmur towards the Punter’s open piers. Thorfus, Axel, Sturloc and Kotarr start yelling encouragement at Starchie. Thorfus drops in several admonishments at Fink for being a silly old man. The punters collect about their pier marveling at the spectacle. Chuq and Perrett use the distraction to slip into the water. They hide below the row boat’s gunwale opposite the Punters.

At the most opportune moment, they swim for the covered pier. It is unoccupied. The two climb out of the water. Perrett bars the double doors along the northern wall. Chuq attempts to lock the single door near the double doors. Not having the key, his attempt fails. He directs Perrett to the wooden ladder to the 2nd floor. They emerge into an empty anteroom then burst through the west wall door.

Sitting at the only desk in this room is Aardmann. Chuq dives and misses. Perrett follows and pins Aardman to the floor. Aardmann is not cowed, he scrambles from underneath the spear held at his throat. Working as a team, Chuq and Perrett pin Aardmann to the floor. He is brained by Perrett.

Along the open piers, the Punters present have helped Finkelmur and Starchie onto the pier. They ignore Thorfus’ entreaties to allow Finkelmur and Starchie time to recover from their near drowning. Under protest, the Boys row off to the north slowly.

Wrapping the ledgers strewn about the room in one of the blankets from the bed, they and Aardman are secured in the large chest by the window. Both Perrett and Chuq carry the chest to the anteroom as the exterior door can be heard being unlocked. We are discovered! A punter tough and guard lieutenant attach Chuq and Perrett. During the scuffle, Chuq sticks the lieutenant with his spear and the two punters flee across the rope bridge. Perrett severs the rope railings with his sword. Falling with the bridge, both punters are slain by the fall.

Death by severed bridge alerts the punters loitering on the pier. Slamming the door shut, Chuq and Perrett maneuver the chest to the trapdoor. Perrett lowers the chest to Chuq as Chuq is descending the ladder. The two successfully arrests the chest’s fall to the deck below. Aardmann is only slight tussled. Scurrying quickly all three plunge into the water still within the covered pier. Chuq and Perrett are pushing/towing the floating chest as fast as they can as Punters charge through the unlocked single door. Most follow along the wooden pier as two dive after us.

The ruckus caught the Starchie Boy’s attention and intuitively they row down river to cover Chuq and Perrett’s escape. The swimming punters can’t close fast enough. Finkelmur hurls a patch of 15’ darkness about the covered pier’s single door. It covers their approach and confuses the punters caught within. Axel and Kottar pincushion the swimming punters. Both slip below the waves dead.

Boat side, the ledgers and Aardmann are extracted from the chest then we haul it in with us. With subdued haste, we row back to East Harbor. Aardmann is placed back into the chest and we send a runner for Adelard. Surprised by our early return, he adroitly switches gears and helps us sneak the Aardmann to the Lone Barrell.

Osith Whixley clears the inn of witnesses so that Aardmann can be put to the question. As expected, Aardmann obfuscates. That is until Perrett calmly takes his left hand pinky finger. Aardmann didn’t expect such ruthless treatment. Once his situation is made clear, his testimony overflows with details.

Here is what we learn before and after Perrett takes his pinky:

Almrich is supposedly his birth name; some other aliases used are Reinaldus and Crispin.

Originally from a local fishing village on the Kelwater, he moved to Vargen to find his fortune. Taking up with the punters two years ago, his lack of scruples made him a perfect herder of Grell’s Lambs.

Perrett was pleased to hear Aardmann confirm that Grell’s Lambs are indeed enthralled intelligent peoples. When asked specifically about the Grell’s, Aardmann suspects the whole family is responsible for all the lambs from the City of Midmark. Newtown Islanders picked up by Midmark City watch are very likely to be found guilty for any infraction by Judge Grell. Custody is then assumed by his son, Elain Grell, who arranges passage across the bay to Caligan. Aardmann has worked the trip across the bay as well as from Caligan to points upriver along the Kelwater and Vargwater and seldom into Vargen.

It is an open secret amongst all the punters that Grell’s Lambs are slaves but not all the punters know any intimate details. The Mercers will be pleased to learn this.

His promotion to Weaponsmaster for the Punters was precipitated by his foiling a liberation plot. One of his partners, Aubrey Grodecop, became enamored with Em. The infamous Em liberated from bullywugs by an earlier team of Starchie Boys. She was a lamb and Aubrey a shepherd, the two conspired to escape together. Their mistake was asking Aardmann for help, he sold them out and the lovers were sold to the SilverThrone trading company; specifically, the Whitefall station located along the grey flood branch of the Vargwater. Axel and Thorfus were intrigued when they heard this bit. Unfortunately, we cannot share this with Aubrey’s brother at this time, he has left Vargen.

Rotho Waterman himself raised Aardmann to Weaponsmaster. Currently Rotho joined by Barnier Brocket and 63 punters are barging up the Kelwater. Rotho plans to search the Kelwater for an underwater cave entrance to a river Dragon’s lair. He expects to kidnap a young dragon to ransom it back to the parents for their treasure. The contraption Chuq discovered in the cover pier last night will allow Barnier to explore underwater without surfaces for breath and the young dragon will be secured with the special shackles they have. Supposedly, the dragon sphere will help in some way.

The Dusty Gnome moored in Caligan is waiting to unload a lot of the latest lost lamenting Lambs unto punters barges. Since Rotho left about dozen punters behind, the Dusty Gnome will likely wait for few days before anyone shows up to unload its cargo. Aardmann is willing to show us various delivery points upriver along the Vargwater and Kelwater but he doesn’t have any names to share. The only one he knows is Grimtooth, a gnoll leader working on Merchant’s road.

Crispin Eichmeir captains the Flaming Maid, a ship that also ships Grell’s Lambs across the bay. He doesn’t know where the Flaming Maid is at this time. More than just curious, he was reading the ledgers for any leverage against his bosses. Lastly, he is willing to cooperate for leniency.

Taking a moment to confer amongst ourselves, we decide Aardmann’s testimony will be best used in Midmark. Lord Thorton can publicly denounce Judge Grell before the elections; he can also dispatch ships and marines to confiscate the Dusty Gnome. The liberated Dusty Gnome lambs along with Aardmann’s sworn deposition should help the Mercer’s publicly shame the Punter’s, perhaps bring justice to all of its members. Axel and Thorfus are eager to pursue the lead up the Vargwater to save Em and Aubrey. Chuq looks forward to dismantling the remaining slave trade routes up the Varg and Kelwaters.

Captain Ischaq Stans welcomes Perrett and Aardman aboard the Chastity Snake bound for Midmark. The Starchie Boys remain at the Lone Barrel to explain the current state of events to Phyllis Chaumbire of the Mercers. At first incredulous, especially as prestigious an organization as the SilverThrone as well as others using slave labor, she accepts our handling of the situation.

Concerned that Rotho Waterman might have an adult river dragon under his persuasion, we want to follow him upriver. Hoping to thwart his plans and return in time to help in Caligan, we rush to the Starchie Boats moored in Eastharbor. Our team is augmented by several Mercers Mercs – Kelgax, Erris, Hangust and Barromir under the command of Adelard. Let’s get to rowing!