Chapter 9. The Crafter's Conspiracy
Lohar scoured the corpse of the Mind Master and found a symbol with nine jagged swords and a crown in the centre, the grey skull mask, 200 electrum pieces and the small black and purple amulet. He also took the flying skull that was perhaps the Mind Master’s wizardly focus.
The Questers rested in the tavern, guards came to collect them in the early morning and took them to the Great Hall of Rajatar.
Yaeldrin suffered horrific dreams of three white tigers in three courts of lords. One in a Yeoholmish hall with a young lord, one in Rajatar by Ilgaroth’s side and one by the side of a gaunt grey king.
Before visiting the Lord Ilgaroth, Meridius went to the blacksmith Kelgor to retrieve his white dragon scale shield. Kelgor informed him that it now protects him against cold and is magic shield (it is +1 and has cold resistance). Meridius paid him the other half of the share and asked if there is any points of interest in Lucidar, for that is where they are headed. Kelgor told him that the blacksmith Ovni is there, a gnome who is of the same organisation, a Crafter, and would welcome a visit from the Questers.
The Questers then met with the Lord Ilgaroth, Lady Kälmar the Coin-Countess, Ranger-Count Gruzdar (the Elf-Hunter), and the Dwarven Trade-Count Bazmak Gan. They are thanked solemnly and well by Ilgaroth, who shows them his wound and says that he cannot sleep, and is cursed. Yaeldrin shows him the same wound and that they are bound together by this curse.
Gruzdar is offended by Rakab and Lohar, as is Bazmak Gan, who tries to make a case for the dark dwarves and that they bring wealth to Rajatar. Rakab and Lohar make a stand against the dark dwarves. Bazmak Gan and Gruzdar are banished from the council for the time being.
Ilgaroth and Kälmar, both half-elves, offer to ferry the Questers to Lucidar. The Questers accept, but only after spreading the news that they are travelling via cart, so as to sneak out nondescript.
All the Questers get aboard the barge Gretchel, a swearing, smoking and spitting old gnome lady. The journey is long and mainly uneventful, though the Questers bond and share many jokes with Gretchel and come to grudgingly like her.
Rakab begins to like her a little more than grudgingly, and one night whilst piloting with her, he has sex for the first time after being pent up in a tower as a scholar for his whole life.
Most of the Questers refuse to mention it, incase they lose their breakfast in disgust.
Gretchel pilots them to the mouth of the Palar River, where another boat takes them onto Lucidar proper, at Slushmire port where the waves wash up as slush, because of the climate.
Slushmire is Lohar’s old residence, it stinks of fish and whores, mingling into one smell. The place is corrupt and bustling with ships and people from across the continent.
Lohar immediately goes to his criminal contacts, the Court of Thieves, the Gramont crime family. His contacts invite him for a meeting with the new head of the crime family Galton, who is in a relationship with the former bosses daughter, Raness.
Lohar invites Rakab, Pascal, Aemaeon and Tareen to see the new leaders of the Gramont family.
Meanwhile Meridius and Yaeldrin head to the dirtiest tavern in Slushmire, the Fishy Gutter.
Galton welcomes Lohar back to Lucidar, but Raness does no such thing, and blames him for the death of Guival, her father, the former boss. She is adamant that Lohar failed in his duty, and Lohar apologises wholeheartedly, that he loved Guival, he was like a father to him. Raness does not accept, and bids him to do this task for Galton. It is clear that Raness is forcing the investigation and Galton would rather it be swept under the rug.
Galton explained how two members of the Court of Thieves have been murdered recently. Raness shows Lohar the body of one, kept in ice and preserving salts. Rakab inspects it and finds an arrow wound that has a blackness around it. He correctly deduces it is an arrow that has a withering effect, like his own magical touch. He also finds the symbol of the Crafters upon one of the murdered victims bodies.
Raness tells them that they were both killed near the Armourers Street and these two were racketeering the armourers there. Raness wants Lohar to investigate the murders. Lohar promised he would have answers as soon as possible. Galton thanks him and they departed.
Meanwhile, Meridius and Yaeldrin got into some trouble. Many of the patrons of the Fishy Gutter were being racist to Yaeldrin and his elven heritage and towards Meridius, calling him a Carmalekian spy, that they saw one of his ilk pass through here. Yaeldrin wanted to talk it down, but Meridius cast thunderwave and killed 5 of the 6 people threatening them.
He paid the innkeeper for his troubles and the tavern emptied. They stayed inside a little while and then finally left. As soon as they went outside they saw two guards who had been summoned.
Meridius decided to thunderwave both guards after they tried to question him. One was killed, the other was knocked over. Horrified crowds watched on.
The rest of the Questers soon arrived on the scene. Lohar paid the crowd with the electrum he salvaged from the Mind Master, to try and hush them up, telling them that it was the doing of Carmalek. The Questers are dumbfounded as to Meridius actions, and some openly tell him he is foolish.
They then went off and investigated the area of the blacksmiths. They found immediately that the smithy of Ovni, called the Gnomish One, has been burnt down. One of the rival smiths saw them investigating and told them that Ovni is hiding out at the Hot Springs in Lucidar, not Slushmire.
They headed off to find Ovni and do so with relative ease. They knocked on the door of a bath salt warehouse and they are let in by Ovni, after Lohar stated their intentions, calling themselves the Questers.
They had a long conversation with Ovni, who is a friendly, if a little gruff, gnome. He revealed that he is indeed a member of the secret organisation of the Crafters, the organisation who built the Ark for the wizards to contain the King-in-the-Ark. Their secrets are passed down through the ages from smith to smith and mason to mason. Only the Crafters know how to open the Ark. They asked Ovni about the three talismans of Qorth Azell, the giant temple that they found with the Crafters symbol.
Ovni stated that this is a special vault, created by the Crafters to protect one of their great secrets. Ovni wants a piece of the action, and said that he wants to journey with them there.
The Questers stayed with Ovni for a couple of days and finally devised a plan to draw out the assassins who search for Ovni and killed the racketeers, who were actually working with Ovni. Ovni also told them that the arrows are of dark elvish make, all the way from Syvalmae, where there was once a Witch Queen.
They sprang their trap upon the assassin. They let it be known that Ovni is reported to want something from his armoury, he wanted to search amongst the rubble.
Pascal cast major image to be Ovni and sent him to the armourers street. The Questers waited around in areas nearby for the assassin, but at bow and arrow distance, not near Pascal’s major image.
Rakab raced towards the arrow that fired into Ovni’s illusion. He cast haste upon himself and misty-stepped and ran and caught the assassin…a wood elf with a black crystal shard of the wizards.
The rest of the Questers caught up to Rakab and they interrogated the assassin, who claimed he works for the Cabal of Azarak, the five wizards.
Pascal used detect thoughts and suggestion for the assassin to spill his secrets. He was thinking about a wizard in the woods creating landsharks.
The assassin revealed through interrogation that Galton, the new head of the Gramont crime family, was to blame for the death of Guival, Lohar’s father figure, and that he, Venimar, was there and helped kill Guival all those years ago…it was sanctioned by the Cabal… and Galton was involved.
So ends the ninth chapter of the First Book of Azarak.