Tuesday, 31 July 2012

Mandraiv's Diary 1



While taking a break from my studies, sitting in the park overlooking that dubious Acadamae of amateur conjurers, reflecting on my imminent rise to power, I stumbled across some kind of card, with a picture of a small man equipped with some kind of scourge riding an ogre with the caption of “The Teamster”.  On the back was in invitation to meet with some people with a grudge against Gaedran Lamm in order to get him, apparently with information about where he is holing up these days.

Arriving a few minutes late, I was surprised to see five other people in a small house, apparently the others who wanted to get Gaedran.  Should be able to get him with just his address, but then if others want to come to watch me exact my revenge, so be it.  If it wasn’t for the bastard, I’d be in the Acadamae showing them all how it’s done, surely a power in the city already.  So he has it coming.  And a few witnesses won’t do my reputation any harm.

Some Varisian witch arrived shortly thereafter and told us that Gaedran had stolen her harrow deck, apparently making it difficult for her to predict the future.  She had already used the deck to discover us, a group of people wronged by Gaedran, and figured we’d help her get the cards back.  Still, I’ll happily trade the return of some artefact of Varissian trickery for the address and my chance to get back at Lamm, so I figured I’d go and sort the bastard out.  The witch gave us all a fortune telling before we left, some mumbo-jumbo about our supposed futures.  As usual, the predictions were vague, general and without time frame, and as such almost certain to come true.  Still, it seemed to give some comfort to the other people there, except one massive bastard who started to drop one shoulder and lean his head to the opposite side afterwards, as if there was something weighing down one shoulder.

The six of us headed to Lamm’s place, some kind of warehouse stinking of fish, and as I was sneaking in some of the other were seen.  We were immediately attacked by a bunch of orphans – clearly Lamm’s work practices remain the same relating to the young and unfortunate, and their bosses.  The fight was intense, and the help of the others was actually useful, although Artox and I could have taken them if we needed to, while one of us, the priest, kept telling the orphans to leave us alone and flee.  Since they seemed to be wavering in their commitment to the fight and were of little consequence to me, I joined in this myself, and soon the children tuned on their oppressors.  Good idea that form the priest.  We killed one of Lamm’s lieutenants, a half-orc, and captured another, a gnome.  Then we wasted some time questioning the orphans before telling them to flee, suggesting they find their way to an orphanage or church for somewhere to sleep and maybe start a new life.

We then proceeded towards where Lamm had to be hiding, and eventually found him down below the warehouse on a rickety dock, accompanied by a crocodile and another lieutenant.  Setting Artox after the beast and angling for a clean shot on Lamm, I was pleased to see some use from the others as they managed to keep the henchman and croc busy while I took care of Lamm.  He tried to talk us down, but after a few seconds his left eye started twitching, the way it used to when he was about to start beating me, so I put a quarrel through it.  The henchman was also killed, and the croc escaped into the river.  With my revenge taken care of, in front of an audience appreciative of my marksmanship as a bonus, we set about looting the place.

We found plenty of goods, including the pack of cards we had agreed to retrieve, a broken brooch supposedly belonging to the queen, and most strangely the head of the witch we spoke to earlier.  Seems she was dead, an interesting development worth investigating – I’d never really considered summoning back the dead, but this could be a great way to develop my power, influence and wealth.  Figuring that tonight’s work, while personally gratifying, probably constituted an adventure, and returned more money that I could normally expect to make in a year, I decided on a new career path and a sure way to rapid advancement.  If I can continue to gather cash this quickly, I’ll be able to buy the Acadamae in no time and put all those pathetic posers out on the streets.  Returning the queen’s brooch has to be a good star on gaining true political influence too.

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