Modron Madness

From Lexicanum

A Cousin in Distress

Things  were fairly quiet in the party’s house in the Market Ward – well as quiet as things can be with Hothfin square-bashing in the small yard at the back while Dronic went through his morning arms-practice and Fiara pranced about acrobatically on nearby walls. In fact things were pretty noisy -  except in the front shop where Petherwick was trying to keep Jysson’s Scrivener business afloat scribing laboriously  away at a letter for a client in a language he wasn’t sure he even spoke! His peaceful scribing was interrupted by the bell as a well-dressed tiefling entered the shop, proclaimed himself to be Fiara’s uncle and asked to see her. Signing heavily, Petherwick bade their visitor sit and went to fetch Fiara from the chaos of the back yard. Fiara’s uncle,  Xanders Miloni, told her that her cousin Xaldra had vanished a week a go in the Gate-town of Sylvania, where she was delivering a despatch to Isel Three-Thumbs, a Sensate. He wanted Fiara (and her friends) to go find her. Fiara immediately accepted and her uncle offered a sizeable pouch of gold to defray their expenses.
 
The party immediately set about urgent preparations for their mission. Petherwick headed to the Great Library to research what he could about  Sylvania; Sylvania it seems is a party town, with plenty of bars, inns, shows and the like, it is a place teeming with life and energy at all hours of the day or night. Individualism and freedom of expression can be seen in every facet of life, from architecture to economy to nature. Most notable of the architectural variety is the Sensate Embassy, which is a majestic pyramid, created entirely of petrified wood! Sylvania is run by seven beings that are simply known as the Seven Spiritors. Folks are not quite sure if these high-ups are undead, petitioners, proxies, an ancient race or even powers. Sylvania is also home to two large and ornate temples, dedicated to the Greek and Elven pantheons.

Hothfin, meanwhile despatched a lad to try and locate a portal to Sylvania -  eventuallythe rlad reported back saying there was one located in a tavern called The Forest Glade in the Clerk’s Ward.

Dronic went shopping for supplies.
 
Late that afternoon they arrived at The Forest Glade, discovering it to be an oasis of calm in the normal chaos of Sigil, the barmaid was a nymph, much to the distraction of the male members of the party. A light and refreshing lunch – roast eagle’s breast (except for Petherwick who had the Hippogriff egg omelette),  paid for by Hothfin in an attempt to impress the barmaid – they made enquiries about the portal to Sylvania. The barmaid pointed them to a carving on the wall of two trees and said they needed to run between them – while drunk!
 
Copious amounts of Auerhaven Light Ale  later,  the party found themselves standing in the streets of Sylvania – right in the middle of a confrontation between the worshippers of the Greek and Elven pantheons. The elves seeming were objecting to a somewhat scurrilous, not to mention obscene, statue the Greeks had erected in the square that morning. Petherwick even in his inebriated state was appalled by such chaotic displays and attempted to remonstrate with the brawlers.  Dronic meanwhile began cheering them on offering hints and tips on the best way to cripple an elf to the Greeks. Fiara and Hothfin ignored the altercation and headed for the nearest pub in search of more beer – and possibly even a clue to the whereabouts of her missing cousin.
 
The nearest pub turned out to be the Courageous Tavern, the tavern-keeper was a female barbarian dwarf and the tavern was suitably rowdy. Hothfin settled in with a few pints of Ginglebarney Walnut Stout while Fiara made a vain, drunken attempt to question some of the patrons about Xaldra and Isel Three-Thumbs. Eventually Petherwick and Dronic joined them and they commenced the serious business of getting even more drunk. The evening's higlights included Dronic totally failing to get-off with the barmaid, Pethwick getting squiffy for the first time ever, Fiara trying to chat-up an incredibly  pissed bariaiur and Hothfin getting drunk enough to try another  pint of The Lady’s Pain - before ultimately being dragged off to the Common Room and collapsing into unconsciousness.
 
Next morning, hung-over and feeling decidedly unwell, they began the serious business of trying to track down Xaldra, starting with the Drunken Leaf, the inn she had been staying at. They found that all here gear was still there, so it seemed likely that she hadn’t left voluntarily. After a brief visit to Isil who told them that last he had seen Xaldra she had gone off with three men, Petherwick decided to see if there was any Harmonium presence in town. He found them in a small office in a back-street and while joining the Faction,  managed to ascertain from that several people had vanished since the arrival of the Modron March a week ago. Petherwick also managed to get the name of a potential witness, Eldrad Moor, a gnome who worked at the Fiery Toad.
 
Eldrad, when they eventually tracked the Fiery Toad down, was busy building some kind of machine outside the pub. When asked what it was for he said it was to toss people into a large pool of water  near the edge of the forest – through he couldn’t quite remember why he had though it a good idea to design such a thing. Somehow he managed to talk Hothfin  to help him “calibrate” the mechanism by undertaking test ride. Which fact Hothfin immediately regretted - as he slammed into the ground about 10 feet short of the pond!

In-between the gnome’s incessant rambling they did manage to get out of him that  he had seen a group of bashers carrying three people away and he was pretty sure that one of them was a tiefling girl. They had been headed spire-ward into the forest, the other side of the pond. Upon investigation, Dronic managed to find what looked like a trail heading deeper into the forest.

Philosophers in the Forest

After briefly getting lost in Arborea where the party joined a bacchanalian revel; Fiara got mistaken for a Trojan, and they all drank from the Fountain of Lamneth (thus mistakenly and probably cataclysmically fulfilling someone else’s quest), the party finally found themselves on the trail of the brigands who had kidnapped Xandra.

The trail led to the  brigand’s campwhich was in a cave in a small range of hills a couple of hours from the town. Fiara, scouting forward identified there were two brigands guarding the entrance. She noted that next to one rested a hunting horn -  presumably to be blown as a warning in case of trouble. From the edge of the woods, they could see smoke rising from the top of the hill, hinting at more occupants within. Petherwick, decided that boldness was required in this situation and strode forward to greet the guards, playing the strangely believable part of an innocent lost in the woods. 

One of the guards introduced himself as Arfur, a member of the Bleak Cabal, and pointed at his friend Bobb. Arfur seemed keen to engage the young wizard in conversation and even philosophical debate on the meaning of life – his view being there was none. His comrade Bobb however, seemed a tad more suspicious and eyed Fiara nervously as she attempted to manoeuvre round them to get a clearer view into the cave entrance.

As Dronic and Hothfin emerged from the woods, Fiara edged round further, angling to get closer to the hunting hor. Bobb however, seemed to sense what she was up to and abruptly attacked. Hothfin, his martial senses honed,  reacted quickly casting Silence on the horn. As Dronic and Fiara drew weapons, Bobb sighed heavily – or at least would have if anyone could have heard him - and drew his own weapons. Petherwick, deciding that in a contest between discretion and valour casting Invisibility was the better part.

Bobb and Arfur were made short work of, though both Fiara and Dronic were injured in the fight. While Hothfin saw to his comrade’s wounds, Petherwick took the opportunity to slip inside the cave, where he found four more brigands playing cards. While he waited patiently for his comrades to arrive he observed the four as they played cards and mused on the philosophical conceit of  there being an invisible wizard in the cave trying to sneak past them. Spotting a passageway leading off the far end of the cave, he attempted to make his way cautiously round them – thus inadvertently making their thought-experiment concrete!

After healing his comrades, Hothfin picked up the silenced warning horn and they began to move down the passageway.  Seeing Dronic appear at the entrance, Petherwick immediately cast Web -  trapping the brigands in place and the party rushed in to secure the cave. Unfortunately two of the brigands were outside the Silence effect and called out a warning to whoever might be in the other cave. A shadowy figure appeared briefly to see what was going on before taking to their heels down the passageway, hotly pursued by Fiara and Dronic. Unfortunately the brigand chief, for it was he, was able to evade capture by using a cunningly hidden escape tunnel next to his bedding.

Returning to the main cave they began interrogating the captives – which consisted of Petherwick asking them polite questions while Fiara poked them with a sword! Eventually they were able to ascertain that the brigands had been hired by one Valens, a wizard,  to bring him experimental subjectsfor the princely sum of 10gp a time. The brigands seemed quite happy to discuss their chosen field of work in general but also pointed out they were still under contract to the wizard for another month and as proponents of Social Contact theory  were unable togive the party more detailed intelligence until after their contact had lapsed. Deciding they had to pay the mysterious wizard Valrens a visit, the Petherwick manged to obtain generalised directions to his abode.

As they left Hothfin warned the brigands not to follow but to remain in the cave or the eleven archers he had stationed outside would fill them full of arrows. Operating on Shrodinger's cat principles, they readily accepted Hothfin's admonition, feeling that in the balance of probability, being filled full of arrows was not career optimal for philosopher brigands.

 The Wizard in his Lair

 Following the vaguest of directions given to them by the brigands, they party wandered through the forest when suddenly a wild boar darted out of a thicket ahead and slammed into the invisible Petherwick! For a moment or two the boar was stunned by the collision witan unseen wizard, which gave Dronnic the opportunity to shout “Breakfast!” and unlimber his axe. Assisted by Hothfin, it didn’t take long to finish off the boar and roughly butcher it.
 
A few minutes later, as they resumed their trek, they found evidence whatever the boar was fleeing from – the rest of the sounder torn to shreds. After a brief investigation, they began to move on only to have something snatch Petherwick up into the trees. Petherwick only had time to see a vague hairy shape sniffing at him, before whatever it was pushed him out of the tree!

Petherwick landed with a thud on the ground – winding him badly just as his comrades arrived to help. They barely had time to help him to his feet when tow creatures launched themselves out of the trees at them. The creatures looked like apes, but someone had embedded armour plating into their flesh and grafted wicked looking blades to their forearms. A brutal combat ensued and before the apes were despatched most of the party bore serious wounds.
 
They wisely decided to rest and recuperate, and early next morning set out once more finding a path that led to the edge of the forest. Ahead of them there was an escarpment and about half way up the cliff, a set of stone steps led to a door. The door was guarded by two Tacharim knights, but the judicious use of a Hold Person spell from Hothfin enabled him and Dronnic to topple the guards over to the ground below. Fiarra checked the door and discovered it wasn’t locked, so without further ado – or even knocking – they entered.
 
Behind the door, a complex extended deep into the escarpment, and they began exploring. Their first obstacle was the leader of the brigands, who proved little challenge to the party, though to Petherwick’s  disappointment the brigand leader seemed disinclined to engage in philosophical banter  – perhaps being overwhelmed by  the crushing inevitability of cruel circumstance!
 
The brigand leader dealt with, they delved deeper into the complex, finding evidence of the wizard’s gruesome experiments apparently attempting to combine modron components into humanoids. As wellas a well-stocked library, they found a lab and also managed to find the cell, where the wizard's test subjects were held – including much to Fiarra’s relief, her cousin Xaldra.

They were in the process of freeing the captives, when from deeper in the complex two Tacharim knights, dragging a modron between them, and accompanied by a figure clad in a garishly coloured lab-coat and a weird helmet – presumably Valrens - appeared. Valrens called out to them angrily and admonished them for interrupting important scientific work. The party were in no mood however to negotiate, Hothfin setting forth and launching a lighting bolt at them. The Tacharim dropped the modron who scuttled away! As Fiarra and Dronnic advanced,the Tacharim  took up guard positions. Hothfin then cast Silence – targeting the wizard’s weird looking helmet. As battle was joined Valrens quickly realised he was in a Silence  effect and began to retreat , unfortunately straight into a bunch of modrons – presumably  freed by the one who had been dropped who began attacking him furiously. Fortunately for the wizard, he had retreated beyond the range of the silence and was able to cast wraithform and flee.
 
Their master having fled, the remaining  Tacharim were swiftly dealt with. The party were then able to set the modrons free to re-join the Great March and take the other captives back to Sylvania.