As Novalia mounts her horse and rides off to return to the freehold, her stirrup breaks. A few hours into the trip, a wheel breaks on one of her carts carrying weapons and supplies. She has one of the mercenaries travelling with her repair it. They camp for the night; when she wakes up in the morning, she finds that the mercenaries have disappeared, and curses Paks for not hiring more reliable people.
As she continues on her journey, she sees a hawk diving down to catch a mouse; as it returns to the air, she sees that it is holding a serpent. This is clearly a sign of some sort, but she brushes it off and carries on. When she stops for a meal, she finds that the mercenaries took all her food. Cursing Paks again, she tries to hunt, but as she pulls back her bow, it breaks.
She forages for food, quickly finding a small stream. In the stream is a little fish being hunted by a big fish; as the big fish is about to catch its prey, an even bigger fish comes up and eats both of them. Ignoring these signs, and her growing hunger, she continues on. As she is preparing her camp that night, she is suddenly attacked by a giant weasel. It leaps forward and bites her, latching on to her leg. She tries to hit it, but misses. It bites harder, sucking her blood. She stabs at it and misses. She tries to knock it loose, but fails. She's knocked unconscious and bleeds to death.
Meanwhile, back on the river, we've just passed through Lave and Telryn has finished his interview with Delmaron. With the advantages provided by Telryn's Bull's Strength and Steal Sleep spells, we're making excellent time up the river, travelling about a hundred miles per day. As the day progresses, we see taht the water is getting redder and redder, until it seems that we're sailing on a river of blood. The captain and sailors are nervous of travelling on the river when it's this red, because of the monsters. They mutter about how it's good money we're paying, but worth nothing if they can't spend it.
The first night after passing through Lave, we hear someone singing out on the water. Stone says we should either stop or go forward more slowly. The Captain shouts to the crew not to listen! Chuck wakes up and goes over to the side of the boat to hear better. A crewmember who is also at the rail points at what seems to be a beautiful woman swimming in the river. Chuck says "Hi!"; he's mesmerized by her. Two more sailors are also entranced, and all four start waving the singers over to the ship. Stone goes to wake up Paks. As the singers get closer, Chuck tries in vain to see their faces, which are covered by their long dark hair.
As the singers start to climb into the boat, Chuck and the sailors are able to see past their hair, and the enchantment is broken - they have giant sucker mouths instead of faces, and are clearly monsters. Chuck and the crew reel back.
Telryn casts Color Spray at the creatures on the starboard side, but it has no effect on them. The two on the starboard side try to grab Chuck and the crewman, but they miss. The two on the port side manage to grab the sailors at the rail. One attaches to the sailor with its sucker mouth and starts draining his blood, but the other fails to grapple its prey. Paks invokes the divine favor of Madriel.
Paks (to the Captain): "What are they?"
Captain Yengly (astonished): "Blood Maidens, here? By Chardun's seven hells!"
He grabs a boathook and rushes forward. Stone steps over and tries to break the crewman whose blood is being sucked free, but he fails. Miriel casts Hold Person on that one and freezes it.
Telryn casts Magic Missile at one on the starboard side; it immediately swims off. The two crewmen next to the other one on that side grab belaying pins and whack at it, one misses, one hits. The crewman on the port who was not grappled steps back. The other breaks free from the now-immobile Blood Maiden and pulls back. Paks moves forward and swings at the still-moving creature on the port side, but she hits the boom with her head, fumbles, and loses her sword, which imbeds itself in the mast. Captain Yengly takes his boathook and stabs at the same one, injuring it. Chuck swings at the remaining creature on the starboard side, hitting her and chopping her head off. He sends his snake to the other side. It bites the still-mobile one, and poisons it, killing it. Stone grabs the paralyzed one and kills it with one blow from his head. Miriel runs over and heals the crewmen. The Captain says that we're trouble to have aboard, but Stone points out that we won, and Miriel adds "Easily."
As we travel, the lands the river flows through are getting more rocky and hilly, and we see some vineyards. In the late afternoon of the second day from Lave, we're nearing Mullistown, having travelled this far without further incident. As we come into town, Telryn starts to go on at some length about the history of this, his hometown. It's a town built on river traffic; the river is interrupted at this point with a series of locks. In the old days, the area was populated by bandits who put chains across the river and stopped people until they paid tolls. These days, the bandits are the local government, and it will cost us gold to get through the locks. Unfortunately, the unseasonable reversal of the river current surprised everyone and the whole system is screwed up. We're charged five gold for pilot's fees, but told we won't be able to get through until at least the day after next.
Even with the chaos caused by the change in direction, the river isn't that crowded; reports of orcish brigands have caused people to limit their travelling until the Vigilants and paladins get rid of the orcs. Captain Yengly tells us that he's given his crew leave and invites us to go with him for a nice dinner in a tavern. Goldpetal declines politely, saying that he's tired and doesn't like the looks of the city, so he plans to stay on the boat. We can all see that it's a rough town, at least this part of it. Telryn had lived in the east part of town, which housed the Vigilants and the University, and was near to some interesting ruins, near the coal mines. He doesn't know this part of town. Paks decides to stay on the boat too, but the rest of us go with Captain Yengly to the Silver Eel tavern. Telryn's owl Chester stays on the boat. At the inn, the sailors order fried fish and two big jugs of cheap wine fortified with cheap brandy. They exclaim over the rigours of the trip and how they deserve a drink (or seven) after all that! Chuck buys dinner for them.
The bar is very much a dive, with the usual mix of humans, dwarves, and halflings, and also a lot of half orcs, and even a few goblins.
Chuck: "Don't we kill goblins?"
Crewman: "Nah, they're domesticated here, but they're not safe if you leave the town. Oh, hey, look over there - isn't that Dak the jockey? The famous wolf jockey!"
He explains that the last time they were in town, one of the sailors won 10 gold on the wolf races. The sailors send over a jug of wine to Dak, who is drinking alone in the corner. One sailor goes up to him and asks for an autograph, but the goblin just growls and sends them away. A little while later, however, he comes over and asks to sit down. Stone makes room for him.
Dak: "You don't look like the common sort of people who drink here."
Telryn greets him in goblin, while Stone explains that we're just passing through on our way to the Keldur mountains.
Dak: "You must be caught in the lock thing." (He looks significantly at the sailors.) "I need to speak to these guys privately."
Sailors (grumbling): "We're not good enough for you?"
In the end, though, they don't want to start a fight, and they move to another table, still grumbling.
Dak tells us that he has a problem, and he needs someone who is not local to help, so the word doesn't spread - his wolf was kidnapped today, and there is a big race tomorrow. If the word gets out about the kidnapping, the odds will go crazy and he'll lose all the money he's bet on himself. He's looking for someone to investigate, as he can't afford the ransom. He tells us he needs us to save his wolf, Furryside, the fastest wolf in Mullistown. Time is short, because the race is at 5pm tomorrow. He offers to pay us, though he says he has little, and what money he does have he's saving to open a goblin orphanage. He might be ablet to pay the 1000 gold piece ransom, but it would wipe out his savings.
Stone: "You can keep your money."
Dak says he needs Furryside back before the wolf review at 2pm, but it's most important that he be back by the time of the race, at 5pm. He points to the wall of bar, which is adorned with sketches of the wolves in tomorrows race. The second favorite, after Furryside is Wolfbiscuit. We start to question him.
Telryn: "Do you know who would do this?"
Dak: "No."
Miriel: "How did you receive the ransom note?"
Dak: "I found it in his stall when I went to see him earlier today. Naturally, I thought he was there."
Miriel: "Where were you instructed to deliver the ransom?"
Dak: "I was supposed go to a spot by the docks, but I didn't go."
Chuck: "Can we see his stall?"
Dak: "Sure, I can take you to the arena."
Telryn communicates with Chester, asking him to attract Paks' attention and bring her to us. Chester flies around Paks, annoying her, then flies towards Telryn. Paks grabs her shield and sword and follows, finding us, with some surprise, in a sleazy tavern sitting with a goblin.
Paks: "What's going on?"
We introduce Dak and explain that we've taken on a job for him, summarizing his story. We get up to go to the arena; Stone grabs the remains of the two jugs of fortified wine and takes them over to a table of orcs, who grunt in thanks. He buys three fresh jugs for the sailors, telling them we'll see them later.
We follow Dak to the arena; on the way, Telryn casts Mage Armor on himself. The arena/racetrack is huge. Daks introduces us to Garmen, the goblin groundskeeper. Chuck asks to see Furryside's stall. Telryn asks Garmen if he saw anything unusual today, but he says he didn't. Chuck asks if anyone has been in the stall, then checks carefully around it for tracks. At this time of night, the arena is very quiet, and Dak asks us to be quiet as well, so word of the kidnapping won't get out.
Chuck doesn't see anything unusual around the stall. While he's looking, an old gray wolf comes over and sniffs around, then starts talking in goblin to the groundskeeper. Telryn asks Dak how the wolves are able to speak and is told that of course wargs can speak goblin, as they have been battle companions for centures.
Telryn: "What is this ancient one's name?"
Dak: "Caninetariat."
Telryn asks Caninetariat in goblin if he knows anything about Furryside's disappearance. Caninetariat doesn't know anything specific, but he's very upset. He's the coach of the wolves, and he spent much of the day giving the young ones a pep talk. He was asleep when Furryside disappeared, but later he was wandering around the stalls and noticed that the Furrycide in the stall was just an illusion. He sniffed around and found some tracks, but they disappeared quickly. He also smelled perfume. Telryn does a Detect Magic in the stall and all around, but finds nothing.
Garmen remembers something: something a bit unusual happened yesterday - a dwarf stabled his pony here. He left with his pony this morning.
Telryn: "Where was the pony stabled?"
Garmen: "Just down here."
He takes us to the stall the pony used. Chuck looks around and says there was never a pony here.
Miriel: "Can you tell us about the other owners and bookies? Are any of them dwarves or magicians, or associated with them?"
Garmen: "Of course, there are lots of dwarves around here, because of the mines, but they generally aren't interested in the races. I don't know of any magicians, either. Besides the owners, there is an organization, a benevolent organization, called The Scaled, who help us and donate to the races. They provide protection."
Miriel: "Have any of them bet heavily against Furryside?"
Garmen: "I don't now about that; I'm not a bookie."
Paks: "What do you do to prevent magic efforts to affect the races?"
Garmen: "We employ a track mage, Torsyne."
Miriel suggests that she learn Augury, to see which course of action is likely to yield results. Paks and Chuck want to go talk to the Scaled. Stone says he'll go with Daks down to the docks, pretending to pay the money, as Chuck has suggested. We go back to the ship to prepare; on the way, Miriel stops by the bar where we ate and picks up two loaves of bread. Paks goes to put her armor on. Chuck puts some of his manacles in the bag which is supposed to hold the ransom, so that it will be heavy and clank. Miriel casts Bread of Life on the bread and gives the pieces to Paks, Stone, Chuck, and Dak. Telryn casts Mage Armor on Stone and Bull's Strength on Paks. Miriel and Telryn go off to meditate and study.
In a dockside alley, Stone and Dak are walking to the meeting place, followed by Paks supporting Chuck as if he were drunk. Stone moves on to wait while Chuck and Paks sit down and Paks starts to lecture Chuck about what their captain will say. After they sit a while, they notice four thugs moving towards Stone.
Thug: "Hey, you guys are in our alley."
Paks (to Chuck): "On your feet you! Let's go back."
Thug: "You're gonna have to pay the tax."
Stone: "What's the tax?"
Thug: "All the gold you have."
Stone: "Okay, come over here."
Stone roots around in his belt as the thugs move towards him.
Stone aims a flurry of blows at the first one - he lands one punch and kills him outright, so he tries to subdue the other and knocks him out. Paks holds Chuck back, telling him to just keep walking until they see if Stone needs help, so as not to give away that they're with him. Dak figures Stone is okay, but pulls out his dagger and hangs on to the bag. The remaining thugs turn and run. Stone runs after them, but they get away. Stone goes back and drags the unconscious one to the canal and dunks his head in. He wakes up quickly.
Stone: "Where's the wolf?"
Thug: "What wolf?"
Stone dunks him. Twice. Three times.
Thug: "Where do you want it to be?"
Dunk.
Stone: "Do you have any idea what I'm talking about?"
Thug: "No."
Dunk.
Stone: "Do you want to die like your friend?"
Thug: "No."
Dunk.
Stone: "Where's the wolf?"
Thug: "At the arena?"
Stone tires of ths and knocks him out again, drags him back to the alley. He tells Dak that this wasn't the right people and stacks the unconscious one on the other guy.
Dak: "That's pretty good work; I'm glad I hired you."
Stone: "You should check 'em for money."
Chuck and Paks wander the alleys a bit and wander back to where they can see Stone and Dak.
Twenty minutes later, the two thugs who got away come back with three other guys in studded leather armor carrying short swords. They stand at the mouth of the alley.
Thug: "You beat up our friends. No one beats up a wharf rat, we run the docks."
Stone: "Come over here and talk to me?"
Thug: "No, we'll stay over here."
Stone" "Come on over, just to talk."
The thug comes over carefully.
Stone: "Sorry about that. We're trying to do some business with the Scaled."
Thug: "They don't do business here, this is wharf rat territory. What have they done?"
Stone: "Kidnapped a warg."
Thug: "Ah, a warg-napping, eh? Playing with the odds. They shouldn't do their business down here."
Stone: "We're looking for a warg, a dwarf, and probably a pony."
Thug: "We'll need to go talk to the boss."
Stone: "Take me to him. Oh, The guy on top there is still alive."
Thug: "We'll hvae to take this up with Shan Thoz."
Daks is doubtful, but Stone reassures him.
The thugs lead Stone and Dak off; Stone moves slowly so they can be easily followed. They bring Stone and Dak into a warehouse, where they see a big fat guy behind a desk and four or five half orcs, with big clubs and swords. A few men are hanging around outside, on the roof, near the doors, etc.
Shan Thoz: "You killed one of my men."
Stone: "YOU tried to steal from me."
Shan Thoz: "You were on our territory."
Stone: "Do you want the silver I found on his body?"
Shan Thoz: "Yes, the weregild is one gold."
Stone gives him the silver.
Stone: "We need to find the wolf."
Shan Thoz: "I don't know anything about it, but thanks for the tip, I'm gonna go bet."
Stone: "When we find the wolf, you'll lose all your money."
Shan Thoz: "I don't think you're going to find the wolf."
Stone: "What's going to stop us from finding it?"
Shan Thoz (menacingly): "I don't know, accidents happen."
Stone looks around.
Stone: "Who's first?"
Shan Thoz: "You're free to go."
Stone: "I said, who's first?"
Shan Thoz: "No violence in my office!"
Stone pushes Dak behind him and backs out of the place.
Dak (sarcastically): "That went really well. We're supposed to keep it quiet! I don't think they had anything to do with it. We should try the Scaled."
They rejoin Paks and Chuck.
Miriel casts three Auguries. "Will the hanging out on the docks help?" Woe and weal. "Will contacting the Scaled help?" No answer. "Will investigating the owners, mage, or others associated with the track help?" Woe.
Stone: "We need to find a big bookie."
Dak: "Corzyne."
Chuck: "Who is your bet with?"
Dak: "Corzyne."
Stone: "Will we pass the ship? It's not too far away."
Stone detours to the ship to pick up Telryn. Miriel tells them the results of the Auguries, but stays behind on the ship to rest. The party goes to see Corzyne, who does business in a small place behind the Silver Eel. He has four very obvious guards, heavily armed.
They go in, and Stone asks for a word for us alone with Corzyne.
Corzyne: "Sure, step into my office."
He opens a door behind him, which leads to his office, containing a desk, piles of racing forms, and pictures of wolves on the walls.
Stone: "We have a problem."
Corzyne: "What can I do for you?"
Stone: "We need to know who has put large bets on Wolfbiscuit?"
Corzyne: "The smart money is on Furryside."
Stone: "Are there any odd bets on longshots?"
Corzyne: "Nope, everyone thinks Furryside will win. He's been winning all his other races. Anyone who tries to mess with the odds is handled by the Scaled, they're our protection."
Chuck (to Dak): "Maybe we should just tell them what's going on?"
Dak: "Yeah, you already told everyone else. You're not doing such a good job; I don't have my wolf back yet."
Paks: "What's the purse for the winning wolf?"
Dak: "The winner gets 1500 gold."
Stone (to Chuck): "Why don't we just put 1000 on Wolfbiscuit and forget about Furryside."
Chuck: "That would tell Corzyne what's going on."
Corzyne: "Dak, why don't you have the Scaled help you out?"
Chuck: "They might not be able to help us."
Corzyne: "I think you should talk to them."
Telryn starts to gesture to cast Charm Person, but a bodyguard quickly stops him.
Guard: "No spells in here!"
Corzyne: "Well, if you won't go to the Scaled, you could at least talk to Loowys Strangeblood or the track mage."
Telryn lights up - Strangeblood is his mentor.
Stone: "We have a connection to Strangeblood, we'll talk to him first."
Telryn: "We should also talk to the Scaled."
Corzyne: "I don't think the Scaled would steal a wolf. They have no reason, and it's not their style. You may want to talk to this goblin at the docks, Pram. He hates the races; he says they're bad for the goblins. Maybe he has something to do with it. Pram holds court this time of night at the Golden Lamprey, a favorite with stevedores and dockworkers."
Stone: "I'll go talk to Pram, you guys go talk to Loowys Strangeblood. Dak, you should go rest for the race."
Dak: "Make sure you bring him back before the review! Good luck guys."
Paks asks him for something belonging to the wolf, so Dak takes her along to the arena. Before we leave Corzyne, Stone puts 10 platinum on Furryside.
Stone heads for the docks with Chuck. Telryn and Paks go to talk to Loowys Strangeblood.
Stone and Chuck reach the inn and walk in to find a goblin standing on a table preaching against wolf races and humans. He's getting lots of crowd support. Stone joins in with cheers and calls of crowd. Chuck can see that Pram is quite serious, he's trying to organize a union. After some more talk by Pram, Chuck calls out "Kidnap the wargs!"
Pram: "Yes, the warg races are just to take your money! They're controlled by humans! It's all a trick."
He goes on in this vein for 10 minutes or so, then asks for people to sign up, leaving his minions to answer questions from the crowd. Stone walks to the front.
Pram: "An orc brother! Good to see the orcs are with us!"
Stone: "What are we doing again?"
Pram: "Organizing!"
Stone: "Right!"
Pram: "We need to stick together!"
Stone: "Right! What are we going to do about these warg races?"
Pram: "You might as well just throw your money in the river. They're a symbol! Something's got to be done!"
Stone: "Right! I want to buy you a drink!"
Pram: "Thanks brother!"
They get some grog and Stone brings up the races again.
Pram: "It's not about the races, it's about brotherhood. We've got to do something. We'll boycott the races!"
Stone: "Or kidanap a warg?"
Pram: "Get your head chopped off by the Scaled? Are you crazy?"
Stone: "I dunno, if we took one of the wargs, it might stop the races."
Chuck: "Who hates these races more than you? Anybody?"
Pram growls a bit at being addressed by a human. "I dunno, I don't like 'em."
Telryn and Paks walk all the way across town to Telryn's old house. They go in. His old master is there sleeping, so they wake him up. Telryn looks around - the house looks smaller and shabbier to him now, and his former Master is kind of old, and doesn't seem so powerful anymore. Still, they greet each other warmly.
Strangeblood: "Telryn! It's so good to see you! It's been a while. Let me warm you some spiced wine. Tell me about your adventures!"
Telryn introductes Paks.
Strangeblood: "Wonderful! This is your lover? Are you guys married?"
Telryn: "No, we're just travel companions. We're just passing through town on an errand to the Skykeep for the vigils."
Strangeblood: "The Skykeep? Tell me more! You know no one ever makes it back from there - I can't really see you taking such a rough trip."
Telryn: "Well, we're stuck because of the problem with the locks. We were hired by the wolf rider Dak..."
He goes on at some length about our adventures and our current mission for Dak. Eventually Paks interrupts him.
Paks: "We think there was an illusionist involved in setting up the crime. We thought you might be able to help us locate him."
Strangeblood: "Illusionist, eh? Funny you should say that. Just the other day a halfling illusionist came by. I sold her a scroll of hypnotism."
Paks: "Could she use that to hypnotize a warg?"
Strangeblood: "Sure, they're smart, and you tell me they talk - I wonder what they say?"
Telryn: "They mostly talk about warg races. Did she say where she was staying?"
Strangeblood: "No, she seemed like an adventurer, so probably at some inn."
Paks: "Do you still have the money she paid with?"
Strangeblood: "Yes, I think I have it around here."
Paks: "Could we use that to scry for her with?"
Strangeblood: "Sure, we'll try."
He fills a bowl from his fount and casts a spell.
Strangeblood: "Sorry, I don't get anything. I do have a scroll for you though. If you're going to the Skykeep, you'll need this. I just made it the other day and the buyer couldn't pay for it. It's a scroll of lightning bolt."
Telryn: "We have to go now, but I have so much to tell you. I'll drop off some notes before we go."
Strangeblood: "I understand. Thanks for sending the glitter ink. I've been reading your journals, they're very interesting."
Paks: "Can you tell us anything about dangers on the way to the Skykeep?"
Strangeblood: "I don't know much, but there are rumours of all sorts of monsters out there. First you have to go to Mansk, which is full of barbarians and horsemen. Then you cross the Blood Basin; there are strange and horrible monsters in the water. Then you must climb the Kelder Mountains. It's not an easy climb, and few make it. The Skykeep used to be a floating castle, no one knows how it was made to float, but 75 years ago, during the blood monsoon season, it crashed. Now the ruins are full of monsters created by the magic energy that was dispersed when it crashed. You really don't want to go there!"
Paks and Telryn go back to Goblintown to ask around about a halfling illusionist.
Meanwhile, Stone and Chuck go to talk to the Scaled. They have a cute little house, near the Silver Eel. There are run down houses next to it, it's not the best neighborhood, but the Scaled's house is very nice. The door is open, so they go in, and find several ruffians lounging about.
Ruffian: "What do you want?"
Stone: "What do you want?"
Ruffian: "You're in my house!"
Stone: "We need to talk to someone in charge."
Ruffian: "Drago is here, you can talk to him. Hey Drago, foreigners here to talk to you!"
We go into the back and find a bunch of guys playing cards.
Drago: "What can I do for you?"
Stone: "There's a problem, someone's trying to fix the wolf races."
Drago: "What do you mean?"
Stone: "Can we talk to you in private?
Drago: "Boys."
The others put their cards down and go, except for one big half-orc in chain mail and helmet, clearly a bodyguard, who stays around. Drago offers us drinks.
Drago: "What you're talking about sounds serious. Let's hypothesize that someone kidnapped a warg to fix tomorrow's race. They demanded ransom. Hypothetically speaking, if either of you have anything to do with a warg-napping in my town, you're not leaving this building."
Stone: "No, we're trying to find the warg."
Drago: "Well, why didn't you come to me sooner?"
Daks: "Uh we didn't think it was a good idea."
Drago: "Of course I'd help if Furryside is missing! Belsameth's left tit, we have a lot of money on Furryside!"
Dak: "So do I. We've got to find the wolf!"
Drago: "What do you know?"
Stone: "Well, we know the Wharf Rats have nothing to do with it, and neither does Pram. We've heard about an illusionist, we think she was disguised as a dwarf and pony."
Drago: "You know, there was this illusionist last week, a halfling, she came in here from Shelzar. She said she wanted to join our organizaiton, but I didn't like her, she seemed too independent, too much trouble. She probably stole the warg in revenge for being rejected. That's one dead halfling."
Stone: "So, baked halfling?"
Drago: "My guys go out there and beat her down, word will get out. That could be a problem."
Stone: "So, hypothetically, if we went out here and took care of this problem?"
Drago: "That'd be fine."
Stone: "Just tell us where she lives."
Drago: "I'm not sure where she lives, but I've heard that she might be staying in a abandoned warehouse on the north side of town."
Chuck: "Where's a map? Let's find the rest of our party."
Stone: "Thanks!"
Drago: "Just make sure that wolf shows up!"
Paks and Telryn make the rounds of the inns, asking about a halfling illusionist. Paks hears in one bar that some female halfling was in with "friends," buying provisions and heading back to a warehouse near the river. They ask more about the "friends" and the location of the warehouse.
They go looking for Stone and Chuck; everyone bumps into each other in front of another bar. Paks is disappointed that they already know about the warehouse. Telryn suggests resting first and getting Miriel, but Paks says we don't need her. As they're talking, thugs show up at either end of the street. One of them says "Shan wants that wolf to stay hid, so it's going to stay hid."
Paks charges the two at one end and gets a critical hit on one. Stone charges the other way and kicks one. Chuck steps aside and shoots two arrows, one in each direction. He hits both. His snake moves down the street and bites the one Stone hit. The enforcer in front of Stone swings and misses. Another swings and misses. The other mills about. The other two swing at Paks. One hits. Someone on the roof tries to drop a box on Stone's head, but it bounces off his mage armor.
Paks swings at one in front of her and kills him. She glares at the other and says "You're next, buddy." Stone punches the two in front of him, trying to stun them. He knocks both unconscious and steps over the prone bodies towards the remaining one. Chuck shoots at the guy on the roof and hits. The snake bites the remaining one in front of Stone. Telryn Magic Missiles the guy on the roof. He takes off, as do the one in front of Paks and conscious one in front of Stone.
Paks draws her bow and tries to shoot the one that ran from in front of her, but she can't see him well enough. Stone follows, but the guy knows the streets better than he does and gets away. Stone grabs one of the unconscious enforcers and starts dunking him in a canal.
Stone: "Where's the warg?"
Enforcer: "I don't know."
Dunk.
Stone: "Who sent you?"
Enforcer: "Shan."
Dunk.
Stone: "Where's the halfling illusionist?"
Enforcer: "What halfling illusionist?"
Dunk. Elbow!
Enforcer: "Your mother."
Slam. He's unconscious again. We search the bodies and find 10 gold pieces. Paks wakes up one of the others and gives him one gold piece for the weregild. He swears at her and she knocks him back out.
Paks suggests we go back to the bar for more information. Telryn wants to go to the boat to rest, and tells her to get him and Miriel when she's ready to go on.
Stone questions one of the people in the bar, and has no trouble getting answers, as orcs and goblins aren't put off by him. They give him the address of the warehouse, then they start discussing cookery of halflings, but the other orcs won't come with him. Chuck finally has to drag Stone out. Stone buys a barrel of grog for the table before he goes. They're very enthusiastic.
The party goes to pick up Telryn and Miriel. We decide to wait an hour and go to the warehouse at dawn, pretending to be trying to hire an illusionist. We discuss what to say about why we need one, and finally decide on a story about how Miriel is being forced to marry someone other than the man she loves. Paks will be her guard. While we're resting, an agent comes from Corzyne, who tells us to come quickly, someone has just placed a wager of 200 gold on Wolfbiscuit. Telryn asks if it was someone from the Wharf Rats, but it wasn't. Corzyne's men are delaying him so we can follow him. The messenger urges us to hurry. When we get there, we start to follow the guy, looks like just another thug. Telryn has Chester follow him from the air so we can follow at a distance. He leads us to the same warehouse we already had the address of. He opens the door and steps in. We hear them barring the doors behind him. The warehouse looks abandoned, nondescript, with no windows. The roof looks like it might have holes in it, so Telryn sends Chester, who tells him there are. There are a few adjacent buildings. The warehouse we're interested in is about 30 feet high. Chuck uses a grappling hook to climb up on an adjacent building, leaving his snake on the ground with us. Telryn casts Mage Armor on himself.
Paks and Miriel try to go in the front door. Stone climbs up with Chuck to try to go in from the roof. Telryn hides between the buildings. Stone and Chuck hop over to the warehouse roof just as Paks and Miriel knock on the door. Stone and Chuck peer in through a hole in the roof. The warehouse is totally empty of goods, but there is a lot of trash on the floor. In the far corner, there is a group of people sitting around a campfire. They can see seven guys in armor and a female halfling. They see the warg chained to the wall, near the group; in fact, one guy is dangling a key in front of the wolf, taunting him with freedom. He looks up at the roof when he hears Chuck and Stone, and the wolf lunges and rips his arm off.
Telryn walks over and casts Bull's Strength on Paks. Chuck and Stone see the halfling gesture, and suddenly much of the interior of the warehouse is shrouded in fog. Paks rushes the door, but just bruises her shoulder. We hear people milling about inside. Stone drops down and runs into the fog towards the warg. Chuck runs over on the roof and does Summon Nature's Ally to summon a dire rat. Then he drops down. Miriel tells Telryn to set the building on fire.
Telryn waits for Paks to open the door. Stone and Chuck hear the halfling casting a spell. Paks yells for Chuck and Stone to open the door and casts Divine Favor on herself. We hear more milling around. Stone goes over and unbolts the door, and the fog pours out. Telryn moves in and casts a flaming sphere towards the thugs, but doesn't hit anyone. Chuck moves forward with the dire rat, towards the campfire. He bumps into someone, but he can't see anyone - the person is invisible. Chuck tries to grapple anyway, and succeeds in grabbing the guy. The dire rat attacks the same guy and bites him. The snake slithers in. Miriel blesses everyone. We hear the wolf snarl, moving towards the door.
Telryn yells (in goblin): "Furrycide, wait!"
Telryn sees the halfling past Chuck and yells again. Paks moves in and swings at her, but her sword just sweeps right through the illusion and dispells it.
Paks yells: "That's not her!"
An invisible thug attacks Telryn and hits him. Another invisible thug attacks Stone, but misses. The guy Chuck is grappling tries to break free, but fails. Stone steps over, leaps into the air, and kicks at the one who attacked him and the one who attacked Chuck. He hits the one who attacked him. Telryn moves his flaming sphere at the guy attacking Chuck. Chuck pulls out his dagger and stabs at the guy he's grappling, knocking him unconscious. The dire rat leaps to attack the illusion of the halfling, but just sails right through it. The snake goes after the thug on fire and poisons him, killing him. Miriel calls after Furrycide and tries to slow him down, but he ignores her.
Paks moves over to the corner by the fire swinging her sword as she goes, but she doesn't manage to hit anything. Miriel senses someone walking past her and swings, but misses. Stone kicks twice at the live thug next to him and hits him once, killing him. Telryn asks Chester to follow the warg. Chuck lets go of the unconcious body and heads for the door. Miriel calls to everyone that the wolf is gone and they should come out, then moves down the street out of the fog.
Everyone comes out of the warehouse. Chuck fetches his rope from the adjacent building. Paks searches the area and finds a stub for 250 gold bet on Wolfbiscuit. Chester reports that Furryside went straight for the arena, so we follow, to guard him. Stone takes off ahead of us. Telryn tells Chester to stay at the arena and keep watch. We get to the arena and see Dak with his wolf, both of them very happy. No one tries anything; we guard the wolves during the morning and the wolf review. Paks and Chuck bet five platinum on Furryside. Telryn puts ten platinum on Wolfbiscuit to show. Chuck puts one platinum on Hell Hound to show. Miriel puts one platinum on Never Die to place.
Odds (win/place/show):
Furryside 5 to 2/ 2 to 1/ 4 to 3 Wolfbiscuit 4 to 1/ 5 to 2/ 2 to 1 War Rules 6 to 1/3 to 1/2 to 1 Scrimshaw 10 to 1/5 to 1/5 to 2 Never Die 20 to 1/10 to 1/4 to 1 Hell Hound 33 to 1/15 to 1/10 to 1
The Scaled are delighted that we found the warg and that we're placing all these bets. The race starts. Furryside and Wolfbiscuit are far in front, followed by War Rules, Hell Hound, Scrimshaw, and Never Die. Never Die attacks Scrimshaw and knocks his rider off. Furryside and Wolfbiscuit stay in front, Wolfbiscuit pulling into the lead. War Rules stays in third, but Never Die gains on him. Furryside and Wolfbiscuit stay neck and neck, with Wolfbiscuit just ahead. War Rules and Hell Hound slow down, Never Die moves into fourth. Furryside attacks Wolfbiscuit and hits, but Wolfbiscuit still manages to pull in front, to win the race. War Rules comes in third, Never Die is a distant fourth, and Hell Hound trails in last. We win 108 platinum on Wolfbiscuit, Telryn wins 40 platinum, and Paks wins 10 more platinum from her bet on Furryside to place.
Dak comes by and tries to give us each 10 gold, but we tell him to keep his money. We head back to the boat, which is finally through all the locks. Miriel advises everyone to eat their bread, to fuel them for the long night ahead.