The Cast of Characters

Episode 1: Gains and Losses

The scene opens at the theater, on the opening night of the city's newest play. New Thartan ambassador Asa Elriksdoitter is in attendance, as are a pair of elves (Artus and Xylos). The play turns out to be a dud, overly concerned with the minutiae of high elven culture; of all those in attendence, only Artus gives it a standing ovation. The wealthy and elite of Skullsport then gather for a garden party, where Asa hobknobs with the rich and privileged while Artus drags his bone elf compatriot to meet the playwright, Suki Lilantern. She had been drowning her sorrows with her good friend, bard Dane Maeron, but Artus' entirely unjustified praise lifted her spirits. She invites the elves to dine with her, over Dane's objections, where they are seated next to Asa and her senator host.

The group talks about the play and other events for a while until the party breaks up. Asa returns to her newly-purchased townhouse only to find that is in fact haunted by a spirit that has taken to appearing randomly. The next morning, she sends he manservant Jorczek to find the learned bard she had met the night before, as well as to gather a group of bodyguards (with instructions to select as broad a range of skills as possible). Meanwhile, Dane is asked by Suki to apologize to Artus, to whom the bard had been quite rude. On the way to meet the elf, Jorczek catches up to him, and the bard leads the servant to a part of town where mercenaries wait for caravans to guard.

Once there, Jorczek gathers a group of warriors and other mercenaries: a halfling woman and two human men, as well as the pair of elves and Dane himself. Bringing the group back to Asa's townhouse, he allows her to describe the haunting. She tells of the ghost: a glowing blue spirit of a man dressed in extravagant clothes, with three puncture wounds in his chest. The only sounds he makes are the word, "Blaaaannnkk," and an eerie moan of "eeeEEEEEeeee." The group immediately begins to investigate the situation, with Jack Phelan, a man of dubious background, conducting a search of the room. Soon, the group split up: Emma the halfling hit the bars where the locals spent there time, looking for information about the previous owner and his servants, while Dane met the others at the Skullsport Landowner's Office. Perusal of the files there revealed the city had seized the house when the owner, a "Lord Gythur," had been killed without heir. No details of the death were listed however. Emma learned that few even knew he had died.

That night, Emma and Jack took on a more detailed search of the house while the elves meditated in the haunted room, while Asa (disguised as her maid) slept nearby. The search was interrupted when the ghost was discovered in the dining room; Jack summoned the rest while Emma hid. Upon arriving, the group sees the ghost turn to face them. Over the objections of her new bodyguards, Asa reaches out to touch the ghost. Suddenly, the flesh melts from its face and its scream sends chills down everyone's spines. Emma and Xylos, overcome with stark terror, flee the scene immediately, running from the house and not looking back. The ghost then turns to touch Asa, and the group springs into battle!

However, it soon becomes clear that steel has no effect on the apparition. Asa summons a sphere of flame to burn the ghost, but the rest of the team has difficulty disrupting the ghost. Soon, though, Dane has an insight. Drawing a wand of healing magic, the bard smites the ghost with positive energy, the antithesis of the undead creature's existence. Asa also drew her own wand, and the pair attempted to destroy the ghost while their allies, unable to strike directly, aided them in their efforts.

In time, Dane struck the final blow with his wand, and the ghost dissipated. But before it left the plane, the ghost showed all in the room a final image: the scene of its own death. Killed by three arrows somewhere in the midst of farmlands, Gythur's final thoughts revealed what was tying him to his undead limbo: "My blankkeeee." Asa deduces he must be seeking his security blankie, and the team returns to their beds to rest and prepare for the search for Gythur's personal effects.

Episode 2: Dazed and Confused

The group wakes after a sound sleep that followed the temporary defeat of the ghost of Lord Gythur. Over breakfast, Dane, Lionel, and Xylos discussed their backgrounds and qualifications while Asa looked on (and Artus was completely distracted). Soon, the conversation turned to devising a plan to locate Gythur's possessions. While everyone agreed that the neighbors would a good source of information, there was strong disagreement between Asa and Artus on how to go about questioning them. Artus believed that inviting them to the haunted townhouse was an unnecessary risk, but in the end Asa firmly stated that the decision was hers to make and that the risk was minimal. She sent her manservant Jorczek out to knock on the neighbors' doors and invite them to afternoon tea.

Dane and Xylos went out to acquire some Energy Water, in case they need to fight the ghost again. Xylos knew this positive-energy-infused liquid burns the undead on contact, while Dane was familiar with one of the healer's guilds near the theater of Skullsport. Called the Healers of Harmony, this hall is a gathering place for clerics and bards who use music to bring health to the body and soul. One of Dane's theater friends, the bard Rall, spotted the pair and was happy to sell them seven vials of energy water. The pair returned just as Jorczek did, bearing news that four neighbors had accepted invitations.

Soon, the guests arrived and tea began. The guests were Firi, a level-headed gnome Blue Wizard; Ky Strongwell, a bombastic retired warrior; Velonia, a rude (but sexy) heiress; and Senator Dyrock Greenhammer, quiet dwarven representative from Votok Province. The guests were able to share general impressions about the eccentric Lord Gythur, but none were close friends with him. They explained that he was skittish and afraid of just about everything, only leaving his house for boat trips to Cestia to feed his gambling addiction. They were largely unaware he had died, thinking he had simply moved. In the kitchen, Lionel attempted to ask the servants a few questions, but his lack of tact merely annoyed them. The tea ended without any decisive information.

The seductive Velonia was quite taken with handsome Dane, who was all too happy to escort her home. Upon arriving at her palatial mansion, she waved away her servants and invited the bard up to her bedroom. She poured two cups of a strange liquid for the pair, drinking the concoction first. Velonia was clearly affected, but Dane drank up anyway. The hallucinogenic poison had an immediate effect on Dane as well, causing his perceptions to alter substantially. The bard was able to stay conscious just long enough to enjoy his time with the heiress-very much. Afterwards, a pair of servants dragged the barely aware Dane down to the kitchen, where they washed and dressed him. As they worked, they casually discussed what they had overheard during tea. One mentioned a former servant of Gythur's, named "Lanky," that had fallen on hard times and was shacking up near the Spine. Then, with little ceremony, the servants dumped the woozy Dane back on the street.

Meanwhile, the rest of the group searched the city auction records for clues as to whom Gythur's possessions were sold. Coming up empty, they returned to the townhouse in time for Dane to stumble in the door, muttering, "Lanky…spine…" Asa immediately deduced he had been poisoned, and they rushed the bard back to the Healers of Harmony. The cleric on duty was clearly disgusted by Dane's ingestion of the poison, but he grudgingly reduced the severity of the poison (for a fee). Dane regained enough of his faculties to spit out the name and location of Gythur's servant, then returned home to sleep off the rest of the effects.

The rest of the team headed to the Spine, the stretch of massive dragon-like vertebrae that ring the northeastern portion of the city. A shantytown of Skullsport's homeless and disenfranchised had sprung up in the bones' shadows, which protected them from the hot summer sun. Artus began shouting loudly for someone named "Lanky," which only attracted a dozen poverty-stricken men claiming to be Lanky. A quick display of martial prowess by the elf convinced them that they did not, in fact, want to be Lanky. Asa managed to convince one trustworthy man to lead them to their quarry, who turned out to be a rustic halfling horse-groomer (called "Lanky" on account of his near four-foot height).

The halfling was able to recount the exact circumstances of Gythur's death, as was riding behind the carriage on the day of the attack. He related how the Lord had decided to take a trip, along with many of his valuables, towards the city of Wright's Cove. About halfway there, mounted archers savagely attacked the procession, slaying Gythur and most of the servants. Lanky beat a hasty retreat, but when he returned with the Sheriff of a nearby village, the bandits were gone and all baggage was stolen. The halfling could not remember the exact town, but was happy to accompany the party and point out the location. Asa graciously offered the down-on-his-luck halfling a job as her stablehand, which he gladly accepted. The team agreed that they needed to head out and find the bandits and the Sheriff, so preparations began for a trip to the country.

Episode 3: Country Living

With the halfling, Lanky, to lead them, the group set off into the Rincalin countryside. Dane unfortunately was still recovering from his poisoning and opted to stay home in bed; Lionel stayed behind as well, to look after him. The remainder of the group rode north into Hartland, the province surrounding Skullsport. An evening at a roadside inn almost sparked trouble when Jack chose to camp by the side of the road rather than renting a room-only to find out from the local patrol that camping within 2000 feet of the road was illegal.

Another two days passed on the road, until Lanky lead them to the village of Hancot. Here, they talked to the sheriff that had investigated the crimes, learning that the bandits had struck only a handful of times, and were very difficult to track down. He mentioned that he had attempted to set a decoy caravan, using Gythur's abandoned cart, but the bandits had not fallen for the ruse. Xylos surmised that the bandits were getting inside help from someone in the village. The sheriff was able to send the team to Rao's general store, where the carriage was resting.

Jack examined the cart thoroughly, which had been stripped of all valuables. He did finds a reddish brown dried crusty substance on the spoke of one wheel, which Xylos was able to identify as mashed beans. The group then talked to Feria, the healer, who had examined Gythur's body. They asked her whether there were any bean farms in the area, and learned that one own by Ravik Taverson was a few miles up the road-not far from the ambush site.

Lanky led them to the site, where they searched a copse of trees on a rise above the road. Jack managed to spot someone hiding in the bean fields watching them, but let him turn and run back before alerting the others. Convinced they had to move quickly, the group turned to approach the bean farm.

Jack and Emma sneaked through the fields, keeping pace with the wagon (with the two elves atop), Asa, and Lanky, the latter pair mounted. The group decided to go directly towards the larger of the farm's two houses, a two-story white farmhouse. The road caused them to pass very close to the longer one-story house, and no one in the wagon saw the quartet of archers waiting in the windows to open fire! Jack and Emma saw from their hiding place, but were unable to react before a volley of arrows flew, striking Asa, Artus, Lanky, and Xylos with deadly precision. Lanky was immediately knocked from his pony and into unconsciousness.

Battle ensued, with Emma dropping several of the hidden archers while Xylos used a web spell to trap a number of escape-minded bandits inside the longhouse. An umber charged from the house only to meet Jack's hidden rapier the hard way, while Asa summoned a very effective dire badger. Jack and Artus tore into the umber while the badger dealt with a tiny man with a poisoned sword that had followed. While seven bandits managed to flee on horseback (most had ran for the stables as soon as the scout returned), the group killed 5 bandits and captured another 4.

Asa interrogated the captured bandits, learning that stolen goods were fenced by their boss, the farm owner Ravik, who lived in the white house. Meanwhile, Emma and Jack took their time searching the larger farmhouse. Jack eventually found a locked secret door down to a hidden basement, and picked the lock. He then opened the door, only to be met by a deadly arrow to the chest from the basement's hidden occupant! Jack collapsed, and Emma tried to trade shots with the assailant but couldn't see in the basement's darkness. She yelled for help, and the rest of the team came running.

Xylos suggested they should flush the archer out; a suggestion Artus took the wrong way, The foolish elf charged into the basement to flush out the attacker, only to meet another precise arrow that killed him outright! The rest of the group used a bit more strategy: Asa summoned another dire badger and cast a light spell on it, sending it in to sniff out the enemy. The badger found him, but was unable to get his claws into him as the archer switched from bow to heavy flail. Xylos' wand was unable to enfeeble the rogue, who was taking cover behind a few crates of stolen goods, and Emma's arrows were equally blocked. The rogue was able to crush the badger, which unfortunately meant the light vanished as well!

Faced with an archer rogue that couldn't be seen, Xylos closed the basement door, and the group began discussing their tactics. Unfortunately, Ravik had keen ears, and soon knew that the team was running out of options. Shouting through the door, he offered a deal: If they let him walk out with his money, he wouldn't attack. Emma was prepared to accept the deal (they were there for the blankie, after all, not his money or even him), but Xylos shouted down that they refused. The rogue then fell silent, and Asa began healing Jack, bringing him back to consciousness.

A few seconds later, Ravik threw open the door. Xylos immediately tried to shoot him with another ray of enfeeblement, but the combination of the man's agility and the proximity of his allies (Asa and Jack) caused the beam to miss. Jack struck feebly with his rapier, while Emma shot him once, but in seconds the man ran for the stables. The group decided to let him go at this point, and he fled the farm on horseback.

Emma and Jack searched the basement, finding Gythur's blue blankie in a pile of his clothes. They also found a small fortune in stolen merchandise, a large portion of which Jack carefully loaded onto his wagon. While one of their captives had escaped during the second fight, the other 3 were turned over to the sheriff of Hancot-who, luckily, believed Emma when she said they had only carried off Gythur's possessions. With blankie in hand, the team's return trip to Skullsport was uneventful. Lionel welcomed them home with a hearty meal for the victorious team, and Jack and Emma began to sell off their looted items for cold hard cash. While the group never learned the secret of how the bandits were able to predict the coming of wealthy caravans with such accuracy, they accomplished their objective: the retrieval of Gythur's security blanket.

Epilogue:

After returning to Skullsport, the group gave the ghost of Gythur his security blanket. The ghost howled and vanished in a swirl of bluish mists. Their mission completed, the group split up to pursue individual interests.

THE END.