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Nick's Journal

Session 1:  June 20, 2006

It was getting late.  Nick had just sat down on the front stoop of the candle smith’s shop and he was finishing off a couple of stewed pickles he grabbed off the deli counter when Old Man Pete was talking to a customer.  He heard the commotion in the alley on the other side of The Monkey.  Adjusting his gear, he moved cautiously yet swiftly across Obsidian, through the front door and through the window into the alley.  Before doing so, he pocketed a piece of pie off one diner’s plate and a piece of cheese off another’s.

He saw the old man preacher who hung around with Miss Jenya being beaten by several of the Laughers.  They weren’t going to kill the preacher but they were meaning to do him no good.  They kept on telling him to stay away from the orphanage.  That caught Nick’s attention and he swung out the window and drew his knife with his left hand, his good one.  He about landed on a short hobbit fellow and right in front of an elf holly roller type.  Both these men were barking out orders to the Laughers to get lost.

The Laughers left soon enough.  They didn’t want attention but wanted to deliver a message with some thumps on the noggin.  Soon after that the jackboots showed up trying to do some investigation.  But they didn’t seem too eager to chase down the Laughers.  They were probably saving their energy to go after some young kids causing mischief instead of trying to apprehend the real criminals in town.

There was quite a group in front of Rufus, the old man who was hurt.  Nick could tell that these folks were all the adventuring type from the country who didn’t know their way around town.  First off, some volunteered to give evidence to the magistrate.  Nick knew that would end up as a waste of time, and perhaps if these country hayseeds got him caught up in the day’s events, then some outstanding complaints and warrants would be settled against him.  Better stay back and let the ones volunteering to do their civic duty, thought Nick.  Second off, they didn’t know who the Laughers were and naively asked why they painted their faces.  And worse is that they didn’t think Nick was old enough to be out on his own.  The female ranger from the outskirts certainly thought Nick should be at home or in school.  He’d have to set her straight.

After the jackboots left to go pretend to chase down the Laughers, Nick heard Rufus say that he was visiting the Orphanage and that some of the children were kidnapped right out of the orphanage!  Nick’s heart sank and he also wondered what would have happened if he had decided to bunk down there when the kidnapping occurred.  He and Patch would have protected the kids and Grammy Gretchen or they would have died trying.  Nick tried to pry more out of the old man but he wanted to go back to his temple.  While the others who seemed to want to help Rufus agreed to take him home, Nick wasted no time in running to the orphanage to check up on Grammy, Patch and the other kids.  He shouted to the others he’d see them at the temple later on.

Running all the way to the orphanage caused Nick’s hand to get itchy again.  Time to change his glove again.  Good thing he was seeing Priestess Jenya later tonight at her temple.  But he didn’t want to have another run in with that pompous arse that runs the place though.  Hopefully he was traveling around the country showing off that white horse of his.

Nick was relieved to find everyone except for the missing youngsters OK at the orphanage.  Patch was about the only half orc he liked and he was taking the kidnapping extra hard.  He couldn’t figure out how someone managed to break into the orphanage cause he locked all doors when he retired for the evening.  Nick could tell Grammy Gretchen did not blame Patch or that she thought that Patch was drinking again.  It was a mystery to both of them and there were no clues.

Something sinister was happening and with all the other abductions in town Nick wanted to find out more.  Maybe the other folk at the temple have gathered some clues by now.

Back at the temple, Nick felt more comfortable knowing the Priest was gone.  Nick felt embarrassed looking all sweaty and grungy before the lovely Priestess Jenya (why did Nick’s hairs on the back of his neck stand up when he saw her?).  Miss Jenya asked for everyone’s help to try to locate the children and the others who had been kidnapped.  Before Nick could volunteer everyone’s services, the Elf Priest (his name was Angrod Moonstar) asked for money to save the children!  Did he need another gawdy unicorn medallion to make him look important?  Priestess Jenya offered rewards far beyond mere gold.  She gave us a list of those who had been abducted and had asked her gods for help and they gave her a message that suggested that some half dwarf was using the Malachite Hold as a slave trading operation.  But why kidnap old men, women and sickly children for slaves?, thought Nick.

For outsiders, the others were quick to pick up on some of the clues.  Nick followed the others to the gnome locksmith’s store.  The elf cleric Angrod was making a mess of things, banging on doors and waking the whole neighborhood up.  He was not one to be discrete.  Luckily, the elf’s persistence paid off and the frightened gnome agreed to meet everyone at The Eel tomorrow for lunch.  The gnome seemed very nervous and said others were watching him.  Nick and the others went to the Drunken Morkoth for a night’s rest (again, one of them asked what the Morkoth was, so Nick had to tell everyone about the monster in the Lake!  “That mothering ranger Nakama thought Nick was making up a children’s story right on the spot!  Geesh, why doesn’t she just leave me alone!” thought Nick).

While the group turned in for the night, Nick doubled back to the gnome’s shop and climbed up a roof on the other side of the alley and spied on the shop the rest of the night.  Nick shadowed the gnome when he left to meet the others at The Eel for the lunch.  Satisfied that nobody was spying on the gnome, he entered the tavern a couple minutes later to see the greedy elf priest Angrod – never discrete – openly questioning the gnome and then patting him on the head.  Lucky Nick knew nobody was following the gnome to the inn or they could have been exposed or worse!

Back to the gnome’s shop they went.  Priestess Jenya’s god was a help because the clues were starting to make sense.  Someone found a secret panel behind the curtain and Nick figured out how to open it.  Nick had been in plenty of city tunnels and sewers but the stairway down didn’t look familiar.  When they got to the bottom, a bunch of masks were on the walls and one of them spoke a welcome to Jzardirune the ancient gnome city.  The mask also warned them about traps and guards behind every door.  Nick knew that the mask was warning them about the two round doors with teeth.  Nick hadn’t seen any door like these before, and he had no clue with his experience on how he’d open them.  Luckily one door was kept open by some rubble.  Nick examined the door and determined that he didn’t want to be anywhere near the door when the rubble was removed.  The teeth looked sharp and could close on someone instantly.  He wondered if the door was left open so that someone could go back and forth without having to worry about springing a trap, like the mask said.  That made him eye the other door which was closed very suspiciously.

The hobbit – his name was Glyn – crawled through the slightly open door as Nick held his breath.  Whoa, something sliced Glyn open and he screamed out in pain!  Nakama, the smothering mother type, was nearly stabbed to death by a rapier being wielded by a slinky partly invisible creature.  Nick thought fast – his plan was perfect as he tumbled past the creature and got off two kill shots with his rapier and his dagger.  Too bad Nakama was laying near death and couldn’t see how “that kid” killed the creature so easily!