The various characters involved were formed into a cadre to serve the varied interests of the magician Tercel. Upon learning this, the cadre immediately was marched off to the nearest dive by Kelmesh to engage in drinking, which is apparently a popular gnollish team-building exercise. Or something. The Severed Hand (or Paw) was the dive in question. While imbibing certain noxious liquids, Gregor managed to offend the other patrons with his flagrant command of unnatural abilities (i.e. arcane spells) and was tricked into consuming a pint of the tavern-keepers finest, er, "product".
Gregor's response: "Tangy..."
Certain other individuals observed that there was a degree of physical similarity among the other staff of the Severed Hand that defied simple inbreeding. The curious behaviour of this staff and their pitiful attempts to wheedle information out of the players established such an air of suspicion that the staff and the cadre both felt compelled to leave. Upon returning to Tercel's compound the cadre discovered that they had been assigned a task.
The task assigned to them by their patron involved discovering the plans of a mysterious foreign magician named Gherl. The magician had recently arrived in the city and was believed to be engaged in patronage negotiations with one Lord Herstan Orvrael. Tercel sought intelligence regarding the nature and purpose of this alliance, and the precise elements of Gherl's variety of magic.
After polling their normal informants and plumbing the depths of their own minds, the cadre discovered that Lord Orvrael typically entertained himself at club named 'The Cresting Wave'. Being the owner of this club gave the good lord certain advantages over its other clientele. The cadre elected to employ a cunning ruse to gain entrance to the club. By making up Tinker an ingenuous foreign prince from a land called 'Cormyr' (a role that Tinker was strangely capable of pulling off...) the cadre attained a table on the lower level, and soon excited enough interest to be invited upstairs to the exclusive part of the establishment. While this duplicity was occuring, Perrin used more traditional infiltration techniques and crept around the building under the cloak of a charm of invisibility and his own not inconsiderable skills in stealthy movement. The cadre, on ascending the stairs, discovored Lord Orvrael; seated with certain of his confederates and discussing the minutiae of naval warfare in a low voice.
After a period of waiting and sampling the fine victuals of the club, the cadre bore witness to a strange gathering of personae at the table of Lord Orvrael. Some where nobles, and natural clients of the lord, others had a relationship that was less immediately obvious, even to those members fo the cadre that are skilled at determining such things. The nature of the assembly was revealed when a strange foreign man led the party upstairs to the top level of the building.
Perrin pursued, while Bethel arranged a distraction to cover the ascent of the rest of the cadre. The quiet halfing saw the last of Orvrael's party entering a small office and passing though a secret door, concealed in the carvings of the long arms of a great sea creature. The cadre paused to regroup, and then passed through the hidden door and down a long flight of narrow dark stairs. Wafting up the stairwell was the salty scent of the sea.
At the bottom of the stairs a winding tunnel lead to an illuminated area, where Lord Orvrael, the foreigner, and the others stood in a loose circle about a pedestal. Upon the pedestal, covered with a cloth ab object reposed. At Lord Orvrael's command a long sackcloth bundle was drawn forth. The covering was then removed from the object on the plinth, revealing it as a idol of some sort, depicting a tentacled kraken-figure. The foreign man drew forth from his robes a curious set of scrolls and began a queer invocation. The space above the idol warped and rent and the image of an old man appeared. The old man had only a single foot, and bore a staff - perhaps to support his lame leg? He also wore a strange grin upon his face. The image spoke, and spoke with a ghastly rushing noise. It called for the ancient dues, and at this Lord Orvrael drew a knife and thrust it into the sackcloth bundle. It was at this time that the cadre confirmed their suspicions about the nature of the obkect contained within the bundle. The image, which the foreigner addressed as "Panzuriel the Downdragging Lord", rewarded Lord Orvrael and his fellows in some unspecified way and then commanded them to reawaken the other "sacred places" before returning through its warp in space. The corpse was then dragged and tossed into the pool of water that lay along one side of the cavern by two of Orvrael's quiet servants. Lord Orvrael ordered his retainers to "fetch others" and departed with the participants, but not before replacing the covering over the idol. The waited for the retainers to depart along another tunnel and then investigated the cavern. It was discovered that the pool appeared to be tidal in nature and probably connected to sea via some kind of underwater tunnel. Perrin then travelled along the passage traversed by Orvrael's servants, discovering that it terminated in the cellar of some kind of guard room. The cadre then departed through the convenient agency of Karathai's divine spells and made their report to Tercel, who appeared interested but not yet decisive in his opinions.
Arson + Arcana
Hostage Negotiation
"Possibly the most important thing that we learnt from this episode is that the raising of ancient gods is against the rules, although Tinker already knew that I guess. Anyway, it's official, so it's just as well we're keeping an eye on Gehrl and the others." - Perrin, halfling observer.