M.A.G.U.S. adventures - in the land of the Six Cities (1)

After a while, we got sick of learning and training (and getting drunk each night, adds the DM), so it was about time to get involved in a new adventure. Fortunately, we needn't look for long. Our wizard had already called upon us for another task. What's the worse thing that could happen?

The wizard was looking for a stonemason to repair his tower, previously damaged in the earthquake. Of course, it wasn't as simple - with wizards, it never is. He needed the best and most renowned mason in the land. He even had his eyes on an individual - but he was far away on a commission, working for a baron in the land of the Six Cities. Furthermore, this particular baron had once caused some minor slight to the wizard. Poaching the stonemason was his way of getting revenge. Never mind that the mason was constructing a great temple, meant to forever inscribe the baron's name in the book of history!

On the road

We had several weeks worth of travelling ahead of us. We tried to take the high roads to avoid any mishaps, but we couldn't stay out of harms way altogether. On a forested part of the land, we were ambushed by bandits. Thanks to my danger sense, I have been able to anticipate the attack, and we were prepared for the charge. Luckily, the bandits were armed with woodcutting axes, and wore no armor. Phempheus drew his sword, while Aegon threw poisoned daggers at the attackers. I stood my ground and chopped a bandit in half! The remaining attacker lost his nerve, and ran away. We looted the fallen, then continued on our merry trip.

Arrival

We had done some documentation before leaving, so we mostly knew what to expect when we arrived. Still, the local customs bedazzled us, as we made our way to an inn. Fortunately, the opportunity arose to make new acquaintances.

First of all, we made friends with a dwarf, who was drinking pitcher after pitcher of ale. We just had to admire his drinking expertise, his beard, the dwarven expertise of building in general, etc. Naturally, we got drunk way faster than he did, so we decided to spend the night there.
In the morning, we managed to get acquainted with the inkeeper. The inn was festooned with plants and leaves, so we deduced that he's an alchemist - a great starting point for Aegon to talk with him. He also did some backroom healing jobs, where my own medical expertise would come into play. Soon we learned that he had contacts in the local criminal underworld. Great! Straight road to accomplishing our goals. Well, at least the first step.

The construction site and the stonemason

The innkeeper got hold of some dusty mason's outfits for us, and bribed some guards. Meanwhile, we spied upon the construction site, and tried to come up with ideas (including threatening the mason, and kidnapping his family). Wilborin immediately refused all plans that included the killing of the baron.

Our preparations were in place for us to infiltrate the construction site. We did manage to get some more info out of the innkeeper. It seemed that the whole 'kidnap his family' thing had already occurred to somebody: this was exactly how and why the baron 'convinced' the mason to work for him. Well, at least we got an attack vector.

For the beginning, we prepared for the first. Phempheus and myself went in with daggers in our boots. Aegon had throwing daggers prepared with poison; he had even prepared a small amount of special sleeping poison, in case we needed to drag the mason out against his will. So let's see how this plan survives contact with the enemy.
After lunch break, we mingled with the returning workers, and soon enough, we managed to get close to the master mason. We let him know that we are in the employ of a powerful personage, and we can get him and his family to a safe place, in return for him accepting a job. As far as we could tell, he was convinced; still, he asked for a day to think about it. We spent the rest of the day among the workers. We even met the dwarf again, around the smithy; he was convinced that we took the odd job for money.

The morning after, we slipped in to the construction site using the same disguises. Fortunately, the master mason was convinced; however, the execution of the plan was not going to be easy. He gave us a map of the fort where he and his family were kept, but we didn't have enough time to come up with a reasonable plan. It had to be that night. The mason would need to go to the baron to give a progress update on the temple, drawing away some guards from the prisoners and the fort in general, leaving us room to get the family out. We barely had a couple of hours to come up with something.

Up next: the rescue mission.