A Rescue Gone Wrong
Dwahain, Dindle, Rae’thu and Io remained trapped in a pocket dimension used by the Cult of Wyrm as a feeding pen for a Copper and Blue Wyrm that they were holding captive.
It had been over two weeks since anyone had seen Dwahain, Dindle, Rae’thu and Io. News of their altercation with the VCG constables over an unlicensed copper dragon hatchling had spread throughout Volanthia. Lord Nolan (3rd son of House Kemler) claimed the hatchling belonged to Dwahain, a fact disputed by the dwarf runeweaver. The situation escalated until the parties involved came to blows. This led to the disappearance of the Sergeant in command of the patrol along with Lord Nolan and Dwahain and his companions. All the suspects involved were now wanted for questioning.
Hadrian the Common (now officially a constable of the VCG), through his contacts at the constabulary, learned that the Cult of the Wyrm had become a top priority for the VCG. Considerable resources were being spent on locating the hideouts of the Cult of the Wyrm. However, Dwahain was now a “person of interest” as he was believed to be a member of the Cult of the Wyrm. It was unclear if they had real proof of this. It could simply be a convenient way for the VCG to pin a real crime on Dwahain, who had gained a rather negative reputation with their organization, but who thus far had avoided having any charges stick. A city-wide manhunt was now underway for Dwahain, as well as his companions, Lord Nolan and the missing Sergeant.
Hadrian recalled from earlier conversations with his friend Arthur Hyperion that the Cult of the Wyrm used pocket dimensions to hide away their activities, and that the portals leading into them were invisible without a spell of Truesight and a draconic word. Having fought with both Arthur and Dwahain against the red Drake Ashorlaug the Horrible, Hadrian found it difficult to believe that Dwahain was secretly a member of the Cult of the Wyrm, and sought to find him before any other VCG constables did in the hopes of clearing his name.
Hadrian knew that Arthur Hyperion was key to recovering them as his Lens of Truesight combined with his past experience with the Cult of the Wyrms portals, made him one of the few people capable of finding them before the VCG did. Working together to locate their former classmates, Hadrian and Arthur found allies in Marimas, Woggie, and Farranak, who did not want their friend Rae’thu to be cast in a suspicious light due to his association with Dwahain in this matter.
Through some discrete investigation, the group managed to locate what they believed was the correct portal. However, the way was blocked by an angry mob of protesters from the Lamplighters Union. Knowing that Arthur was the only one who could get back through the portal, Farranak, Woggie, and Marimas decided to create a distraction in order to allow Hadrian and Arthur to sneak past.
However, the situation escalated and while most of the Lamplight protestors ran off when Farranak charged their lines, four bruisers stayed behind, determined to teach these ‘college boys’ a lesson. They threw down a metallic cube that quickly transformed into a brass golem that they referred to as the Light-o-tron 2000. The union’s new invention seemed to bolster their courage, and they attacked. However, between Farranak’s flaming ancestral sceptre and Marimas’s caustic magic, the Light-o-tron was destroyed before it could even engage. Undeterred, the union bruisers fought on, and discovered they actually had another cube on them, throwing down a second Light-o-tron that proved more effective.
In the end, they were still no match for the ‘college boys’, and after Marimas nearly killed one of the bruisers with a particularly potent Flaming Breath spell, they lost their willingness to fight and fled the scene.
In the aftermath, Farranak, Marimas, and Woggie headed towards the alley they last saw Hadrian and Arthur go down. They left the scene of the battle with the lamplighters union just in time, as a squad of VCG constables arrived to investigate a disturbance. As they fanned out to look for witnesses, they could be heard grumbling to themselves that if the Council of Archmages didn’t do something soon these Lamplighter protests were just going to keep getting more violent.
Wishing to avoid any interaction with the VCG, the trio took off running before they were spotted, however as they turned a corner a portal suddenly flared to life on a blank wall next to them and Arthur, Hadrian, Dwahain, and the rest of the missing classmates tumbled out into the alley causing everyone to collide and fall down in a heap.
Seeing the wounds on Farranak, Woggie and Marimas, it was clear to Hadrian that things with the protestors got out of hand. Violence in the streets was unacceptable to the VCG. Hearing his fellow constables not far away, Hadrian reached for his signal whistle. He could signal them and turn everyone in for questioning, including Dwahain and the others. But was that the right play?
WHAT DID HADRIAN (OR ANYONE ELSE FOR THAT MATTER) DO?
GM NOTES:
LAMPLIGHT UNION REP: if no rep yet, started PCs at 8 if part of a college and 6 if part of a noble house.
After the altercation, -1 Lamplighter REP if beating them, but not killing anyone.
If any LampLighters died, -3 for any PC that killed a lamplighter and -2 for Everyone else that didn’t (by association)
(Marimas dropped one to -11 with Flaming breath crit) (gave an extra -1)
Serious Injury (burned scalp and ears) would eventually recover
Woggie tried to make a show of healing him to avoid rep loss, but they didn’t believe them
VCG showed up just after they ran off down the alley… “fan out, look for witnesses. This violence is getting out of hand… the Council of Archmages needed to do something…”
As they ran, a portal opened and their friends all spilled out…
Hadrian had to decide if he would blow his signal whistle…
Hadrian the Common and Arthur Hyperion located a hidden Cult of the Wyrm portal, near the last known location of Dwahain, Woggie, Farranak, and Marimas had.
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