Chapter One - The Lotus and the Dragon

[Vardaen]

Daerith is sweating, and sweating badly, Sasserine is on the edge of a jungle and is a hot place to start with. Add to that all the fighting, then all the hard labor of lugging the gold, the slender elf is just plain tired. As he hauls the chest into the library with Sindu on the other end he smiles at Lavina, "Oh there was some success yes. We found their hideout, and cleared them out!" He sets the chest down with a loud and heavy *THUMP* and then lifts the lid for Lavinia to see, "There it is, all your missing gold. Well most of it anyhow, Vanthus might have spent some of it, but we wager there some 8000 gold or more among those bags." He then collapses into the nearby chair. "Before you ask, we didn't find him. He's apparently off on some smuggling mission for the Lotus Dragons right now. He'll be coming back to town to find the hide out totally devoid of wealth, thieves, or even a cook!" He chuckles to himself as he looks to Kora, "Something to drink would be excellent Mrs.Whistlegap, thank you."

Sitting there catching his breath for a moment he lets that sink in and gives the others a chance to chime in.

[Trogdor]

"You recovered most of the stolen gold?" Lavinia says to Daerith, her eyes widening in surprise. "I thought that was gone forever. I'm so happy I could kiss you!" And that happiness is clearly evident on her face. Then she catches herself, blushes ever so slightly and adds, "that is, I could kiss all of you." Her eyes look down and she self-consciously bites her lower lip. Then she regains her poise and adds, "well most of you." And she pats the bearded Knarra on the shoulder. "No offense intended, sister."

"But you really must give me the whole story," she says, sitting down at the library table. "Please, all take a seat and start from the beginning."

[mackaber]

Berek almost breaks into a loud laugh at Lady Vanderboren's slip of the tongue but remains composed so as not to embarass her even more, agt least not yet. At her inquiry of a tail Berek beams from cheek to cheek happy to provide some details. "It was a bloody mess I tell ye. Thugs all over da place. They had's poisoned weapons and a humongeous monstrous hound. But me split it's mangy head open that was quite a mess. There was another one of the ugly spiders like we found on ye ship and an undead bugbear. Oooh and they even had's a dragon but they'se all dead. Oh and we found evidence that ye beloved brother killed ye folks and hates yer gut, but we'll get to that later..."

[Vardaen]

Daerith is beaming after Lavinia's comment, he heard it like he wants to hear it. The woman wants to kiss him. Blushing he looks down and then laughs about sister Knara glad the atteniton isn't on him for the moment.

Then Berek just drops the bomb about Lavinia's parents and brother, Daerith stands back up, "BEREK!" He cross the room and puts an arm around Lavinia, protocol be damned. "I'm sorry Lavinia, but the insensitive dwarf is right. We discovered documents confirming that it was Vanthus, and the Lotus Dragon that burned your parent's ship. I'm sorry, it... its a terrible thing." He glares at Berek for the way he delievered that news so off the cuff, then looks back at the noble woman. "I'm sorry."

[mackaber]

"Ah admit it you wanted to hug er anyway Daerith" Berek adds in an oddly sincere tone, that could only be explained through bitter irony or his Dwarven heritage, before addressing Lavina again his tone harsch and broking no room for compromise "And rest assured that will find em and gut em for what he's done to ye Lavina sweetie. A kinslayer is the worst of creatures and deserves nothin more than quick death."

[Trogdor]

"Oh no," Lavinia says distantly as Berek abruptly reveals the truth about Vanthus. "I knew he was troubled. But this ..." Her voice catches and she stops talking. Immediately Daerith jumps up from his chair and comforts her, trying to soften the blow Berek has just delivered. Lavinia returns the elf's embrace, a gesture devoid of any romantic component, being solely motivated by grief. She's just learned that her little brother, who was once dearer to her than anyone, was responsible for the death of her parents. She shakes a few times and finally breaks down into tears, hiding her face in Daerith's shoulder.

After a good long cry, she steps away from Daerith and draws a handkerchief to wipe away her tears. "I'm sorry," she says, blinking away the remains of a few more tears. "I suppose I knew in the back of my mind that my parents' death might not be an accident. But I wouldn't let myself believe that Vanthus was involved." She folds up her handkerchief and puts it away. "I can see now that I was wrong. He's truly turned his back on me and everything that once mattered to him." Her lips narrow with determination. "We'll have to find him and see that he faces justice for what he's done." You can see in her eyes the last flicker of love she once had for her brother going out.

"But for now I want the details of what happened to you today." Lavinia sits down at the table again, her demeanor all business. The happiness about your success is clearly buried beneath the sorrow of your news. "Berek, you've given me the highlights. Now let's hear it all from the start."

OOC

You can fast forward through the telling of the details if you like. Kora will soon show up with wine and beer, along with some bread, cheese, and fruit. And Lavinia will ask detailed questions. It could easily take a few hours and extend into dinner.

[Vardaen]

Daerith just holds Lavinia, saying nothing more, letting her cry. When she finishes he helps her to her feet and nods once about Vanthus having truely being lost and needing to face justice.

Once seated around the table, and with a wine in hand Daerith relaxes a bit, he goes as far as to cast a minor cantrip to chill his glass of wine and enjoys the cold beverage more than normal after the hard days work. He tells the tale along with the others starting with the Taxidermist's Shop, making sure to highlight his own skills, espcially the kill counts and spells and powers he used up in defeating the Lotus Dragons, as much for Lavinia's purpose as for Berek's. When the story eventually reaches the war room and the map he comments about the pins and such, and what ever else they learned from it mentioning that Sindu has some letters from Vanthus to the woman Rowyn that they are about to talk about. He lets the others tell their own tales, up to this point as well, helping remember details they forgot or he forgot.

Then the story of the final fight with Rowyn and Guttugger, as dramatic as he can, he helps tell the story. Eventually it comes to where he found the secret passage with his spell, and all the Vanderboren gold and everything else. "However... ", he begins, "...this is where things go sour. Rowyn got away." He looks at Sindu now, with a dislike in his eyes, "I was against this, but the others overruled me Sister Knara's voice. Rowyn was allowed to be 'tested' in the waters of the Urchin cave we mentioned. So Sindu and Berek threw her in, she promptly called to some underwater guardian and rode away on its back escaping into the harbor via some underwater tunnels. I wished to bring her to face justice by your hand and that of the City Council, but alas, she has no doubt fled Sasserine, perhaps right into the arms of Vanthus." He finishes his fourth glass of wine by the time the tale is told. The rest of the story, searching and looting and lugging gold and wealth isn't that exicting so he doesn't bother to tell it in much detail or comment on it if the others wish to explain about it -- that is save for the Kobold Cook, she gets some story time as well.

[Trogdor]

OOC

Okay, I'll try and keep things moving forward. But right now mack is on vacation, arkahm and Eanwulf are dealing with offline issues that keep them away, and Catty is MIA, as is my potential replacement for her. Right now, V is the only player I have posting.

But right now were in the denouement, so I can do a bit of narrating. People should feel free to backpost a bit once they get back online.

At the moment, though, I'll tentatively loot at holding any serious advancement off until next Monday (the 23rd). Hopefully tby then I'll have four people regularly posting and can get our fifth online.

Lavinia is suitably impressed by the tale that Daerith tells and the others add to. In the end, pretty much everything from your adventure in the halls of the Lotus-Dragon halls is told by one person or another. And when you are done, Lavinia's nods and smiles.

"From what you say, it's not just me that owes you thanks, but the Dawn Council as well." Lavinia nods to all of you. "Rowyn Kellani, my brother, and the rest of the Lotus-Dragons intended nothing short of taking over all of Sasserine. And their plan sounds like it had a good chance of success. I'd like to take a look at that war room you mentioned and, if possible, get a representative from the Dawn Council down there. I'll wager that the Watch could do very good things with the information on the map you spoke of. I'd also like to borrow that picture to show it to the Dawn Council. Between that and the war room, they'll have to acknowledge what the Lotus-Dragons were up to."

"We should move quickly," she adds. "Every moment we waste gives the remnants of the Lotus-Dragons a chance to clean things up and warn their allies." She stands up and walks over to a cabinet. "If any of you are injured, however," I've laid in a supply of healing potions." She unlocks the cabinet and reveals a rack with a handful of potion bottles, along with some conventional healing supplies. "It seemed prudent, given the way things have been going."

The next day is a rush of activity. This includes interviews with representatives of the Dawn Council, a trip to the Vanderboren vault to return Lavinia's recovered wealth, explorations of the waterways in the Lotus-Dragons' guildhall, and a good deal of effort to dispose of the treasure you recovered.

You quickly discover the water entrance to the former Lotus-Dragon guildhall and explore the waterways. One in particular leads to a pen for the rhagodessas, the likes of which you've fought recently. These are disposed of with some effort, revealing the body of an unfortunate thief with a few valuables still on his body.

OOC

I'd have played this out. But in the name of speeding things up, I'll narrate it. Loot is added to the sheet.

Berek starts to liquidate what you recovered and is off to a pretty good start. He's also made some inquiries about how to sell the contents of the taxidermist's shop, though that will take a bit more time. He's confident that the bulk of the movable treasure will be gone in a few days, while the clearing out the shop may take a few weeks.

Two evenings later finds you once more in the dining room of the Vanderboren estate, another fine meal prepared for you. After several enjoyable courses, Lavinia raises her glass. "I wanted to thank you all again for all that you've done. But more than just words, I wanted to give you something more tangible." She takes a sip, puts her glass down again, and turns to a sideboard. Opening up the door, she reveals several items.

The first are clear to all of you - five silk bags, each with a hundred coins in them. Lavinia distributes these to you all and you're surprised to find that they are platinum, not gold. "You saved my home, my fortune, and probably life," she says. "This is a well-deserved reward."

Then she turns to take out a few other items. "These are things that I would like to give you as a token of my appreciation. They are some of the things my parent's took with them on their adventures. I think they would be useful to you all." She starts by taking a fine shield from behind the sideboard. "This is an enchanted shield my parents recovered, but never used. I hope it will serve you well." Then to Shumba she draws forth a quiver filled with a few arrows. "This is my father's old magical quiver. It can hold many more arrows than it appears. It had a few magical arrows remaining from when he last used it. I've left those in for you." For Berek she draws forth what appears to be a small folded piece of silver fabric. But when she holds it up you can see it's a shirt of the finest mithral links. "This belonged to a dwarven companion of my parents who retired to a life of quiet research. He wished them to find it a good home. And I can think of no better place to go than with you." To Sindu she gives a small over-the-shoulder haversack. "I know that you prize mobility. Like Sindu's quiver, this will hold much more than it appears it might. You can fill it with all of your possessions and then some, yet it will weigh no more than it does now." Finally, for Daerith she pulls forth a large pearl and a small oaken wand. "These were my mother's. The pearl will expand your ability to use your magic each day. And the wand can be used to summon webs to entangle your opponents. I"m sure you'll put both to good use."

Then, closing the door to the sideboard Lavinia returns to her seat. "And finally, I have been asked to extend to you an invitation from the Dawn Council to a banquet and dance in your honor. They want to thank you personally for what you've done for the city.

OOC

I've converted most of the treasure to cash and added in the 1000 gp bonus you all received from Lavinia. It's nearly 3000 gp each. I still need to deal with a few of the normal items, but I don't want to delay anymore. I've updated all of you character sheets with the wealth. I've also added the items that Lavinia gave you.

[mackaber]

Berek chimes in from time to time in the reteling of their findings and is rather eager to inform Lavina and anyone else interested on the City Map in the Lotus Dragon's guildhall.
The next the day the industious Dwarf spends wheeling and dealing within the city and while he is busy selling excess weaponry to his fellow Dwarfes at the armored Dwarf he looks into the possibilities of getting some magics placed on his shield there, altough it takes some rather hefty negotiation on his part.
When Lavina again summons them to her chambers to present the group with a few special gift Berek can barely believe his eyes when he is handed the shiny silver shirt. "By the gods" he mutters "Mithril..." what then happens most who have come to know Berek over the last few weeks would consider rather uncharacteristic as he wraps Lavina in a tight bear hug and plant a big hary kiss on her cheek. "Me must be the luckiest Dwarf in all o Sasserine to be wearin Mithril. Ye have a thousands thanks Lavina!" when the meeting has concluded he heads right of to the tavern to show off his new second skin to his kin.

[Vardaen]

Daerith spends the days with Lavinia, acking as both bodyguard, and a voice for her to the other nobles and the Dawn Council. He explains the situation so many times that he could do it as a play if someone wanted him too. This frees up Berek to deal with the loot sales, but at some point he pulls out a few of the perfume bottles and stashes them to the side. "These would make fine gifts for Lavina and her generousity towards us." For the time being he gets the others to atleast put the perfumes to the side to talk about selling or gifting them later.

Then comes the dinner and the gifts from Lavinia. He smiles widely as Berek gives the woman a huge hug. Well that should make things easier for me. Then Lavinia gifts him with a Pearl of Power and Wand of Webs and he is more than pleased. "Thank you so much Lavinia, you have been both generous and honest in your dealings with us. I am pleased we could help you and Sasserine as well. I know there are more issues to deal with, but I can't help but feel like we have secured a lasting victory so far." He then produces one of the perfumes, and looks at Berek and the others. "We recovered theses in the vaults of the Lotus Dragon. We would like to present them to you as a small gift of our thanks, for your generous gifts of such fine magical items, and for believing in us in such personal maters. They shall only enhance your already alluring personage, and woe be to any man who attempts to resist your charms when coupled with this fine sweet perfume." He then produces and gives Lavinia the bottles of the truely expensive perfume found in Rowyn's things.