Session 4

ADVENTURE 4: THE TRIAL OF PYLOR: Now the group explored further, deciding to take the nearby stairs down. The stairs descended down many levels, and it took the party nearly twenty minutes to get to their bottom, a huge cavernous chamber with smooth walls, covered in bat guano. Further to the southwest, they could see a tunnel going deeper still into this cavernous grotto, and nearby they could see a sinkhole above, light emanating faintly from it, illuminating vaguely the figure of a humanoid of some sort, barely visible in the darkness. Before they could do anything, from the sinkhole area came two creatures; large, powerful and batlikemobats. They attacked, letting out piercing screams that stunned the party, and ripping into them with powerful bites. It was a tough battle, but the heroes prevailed, slaying their foes. Then they approached the lone figure in the distance, to discover that it was only a statue: a very lifelike statue of a man holding a lantern and sword, looking ahead in shock. Deciding that this was no place for artwork, the characters realized that this must be some kind of cursed man, turned to stone by some vile magic. Jimwise and Xyun decided that they should head back to town and purchase a magic scroll to free this man. The others agreed, and they went back up to the previous floor. In a side-tunnel not far from the stairs, they found another tomb area with several caskets. The paladin could sense evil from within these caskets, however, so the party wisely avoided this room and instead climbed back out of the tunnels and went to investigate the nearby shrines of Thyr and Muir. Managing to get into several of the secret rooms under the temple of Muir, the characters found some stashes of weapons and armor, and took some, replacing Pylors shortsword, which had been broken in battle with the Mobats. Still, the final room eluded them, and so did the Shrine of Thyr; they needed to purchase some scrolls to get inside these, and so they headed back to Nenkal City, intent on purchasing their gear and getting back to the burial halls.
As the others did a bit of shopping, purchasing scrolls from the local wizard community, Pylor decided to indulge in some more illegal actions. In the bustling High Market of the city, he snuck up to a merchants booth, intent on robbing him. While the merchant spoke with a customer, Pylor dragged the merchants chest away, trying to steal it. Unfortunately, the merchant heard him and began yelling for the guards. Pylor escaped into the crowd and down an alley, chest in tow, and went back to the Filthy Harlot tavern, where he saw that Pezzel was having a drink and talking to his friend Gorbash. When Pezzel asked him about the chest he was carrying, Pylor claimed that he had found it in the street. For now, the gnome believed him. Pylor, analyzing the chest, found that it had a trapa magical alarm rigged to go off when someone opened it. He went outside to try to disarm the trap, sitting on a curb outside the tavern. He failed, and the alarm went off, sending a continuous blaring noise across the streets of the city. He opened the chest to discover some platinum and gold, and while he was looking for a false bottom, three city guards came up to him. The guards recognized the chest, and said that Pylor matched the description of the culprit. They wanted to take him in for questioning. In a burst of panic, he tried to run, but could not as they surrounded him, Pezzel came out then and managed to convince them not to kill the bumbling thief. Pylor then agreed to go to the barracks for questioning. Meanwhile, Telok and Xyun managed to acquire the items they needed, also managing to sell some of their dungeon loot.
In prison, the guard captain Renald questioned Pylor. He knew about the previous incident where Pylor and had been caught pickpocketing, and when he asked about the chest, the rogue first denied that his name was Pylor, then said that it was his chest. Not believing his lies, the guards charged him with the crime of thievery, as well as evading arrest. His trial would be tomorrow night. The others, when they found out about the incident from Gorbash, went to the barracks and arranged to meet with the guard captain tomorrow morning.
The next day, Captain Renald told the characters all about the upcoming trial, which was to be held in a courthouse near the Imperial Palace. As they told him that the thief was indeed called Pylor, he was also charged with lying to the guards. As the time speeded forward, Telek went to a local adventurers hangout: the Delvers Den, to search for another rogue to assist them in their adventure, and signed up with the registrar there. The trial then came, and all the other PCs went to the courthouse to watch the trial of their former accomplice. It was a quick one. The judge, using a Zone of Truth, got Pylor to admit to all three of his crimes, and the words of witnesses confirmed his confessions. Afterwards, angry at the outcome, Pylor insulted and cursed at the judge, and managed to lengthen his sentence due to contempt of the court. He was put in prison for nine years, sent to languish in the depths of Nenkals dungeons. His adventuring career was over. Disgusted at the deeds of their companion, the others rested for the night.

DM’S COMMENTS: Not much of the dungeon this time, mostly taken up by the antics of a criminal PC and terrible thief.