Athan met Elmo in the Inn. Elmo hangs out at the Inn a lot, and seems to like to drink. But he was a nice enough man, and seemed to be a well-equipped fighter. Indeed, Elmo explained he was a member of the village militia, though his services haven't been needed much lately. His brother, Otis, is a well-known fighter who serves the Viscount. Otis went to the Town of Nulb on a mission from the Viscount a few months ago, but hasn't come back, which has Elmo concerned, given that Nulb is a well-known den of evil pirates, thieves and assassins. He also believes that Canoness Y'Dey must have suffered the same fate as his brother, since the two of them left together and neither has been seen or heard from since.
Athan and Sarril decided to visit Canon Terjon to see if he knew anything about the "yellow eye of fire" symbol. As they were on their way to the Temple of St. Cuthbert, they were ambushed by an assassin, who was none other than Gremag, business partner of Rannos Davl who runs the trade shop. They managed to adequately defend themselves and kill Gremag. Searching his body, they found, in addition to his poisoned dagger, the same "Yellow Eye of Fire" symbol, and a letter. The letter enumerated specific items that needed to be supplied to the Temple of Elemental Evil. It was signed by Lareth the Beautiful, with the symbol of Lolth.
The party took this information to Jack, the Village Elder, who immediately called a town meeting to discuss the matter. During the meeting, the party was able to get confirmation that the Yellow Eye of Fire is a symbol that was once associated with the nearby Temple of Elemental Evil. They are told how the temple was never completely destroyed, and how former agents of the temple continue to operate, always trying to recruit and rebuild. Several people, including local lords Rufus and Burne, and other agents of the Viscount, like Elmo's brother Otis, are constantly watching. Jack is quite disturbed that two of the temple's agents were able to operate in Hommlet, undetected, for so long. He reports that as soon as they found out about Gremag, Rufus sent his men to trade shop to arrest Rannos, but Rannos Davl had already fled. The shop was now boarded up and under guard while the village decides what to do. It was also reported that, in going through Rannos' journals, he was supplying weapons and goods to Lareth who works out of the moathouse. The bugbears and the men the party encountered there must work for Lareth. Rannos apparently had a sinister scheme working where he put out rumors that he knew of dungeon full of wondrous magic and treasure, and had the only map known to exist. Adventuring parties, hearing about the rumor, would come to his shop and pay him handsomely for the map. If the party looked like an easy target and had good gear or treasure on them, he would have them ambushed outside of town and their stuff taken from them. Jack showed the group a stack of scrolls with the same map copied on every one. They matched the map the party found on the dead group outside the village before they got here.
Nice connection--also, don't you wish Erol Otus had been called in to create more adventure maps back in the day? The dude basically gives us Dragotha as an afterthought! (not to mention the dead gnoll's eye socket)
ReplyDeleteOh, absolutely. That map is fantastic. Incorporating into the game has less to do with an adventure hook as much as it was me looking for what is the coolest map I could find. Simple dotted lines with an X would have been too boring.
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