4th session: Scumtown

3rd Moon, 30th day, year 4553
After dispensing of the orcs, the T'orgh brothers tried to find the tracks of the dark elf who had disappeared, but with no luck. So instead, they continued their journey south, towards Menzo.

4th Moon, 1st day, year 4553
As they travel south, Ukerin suddenly senses that they are under magical scrutiny. When he tells the others, Nalfein mentions he noticed something similar some days ago.

4th Moon, 2nd day, year 4553
Almost arrived at Menzo, they are ambushed by some dark elves. The fight is short and brutal, and ends with the T'orghs having a captive, courtesy of Ukerin's Sleep spell. They try to get him to talk, but to no avail, and decide to take him to the T'orgh Palace, so that he can be properly questioned. One of the dead dark elves has a wand on him.

The T'orghs move on, and soon after, Ukerin notices again that someone is spying magically on them. Doesn't help much, but an hour later, they are again ambushed by some dark elves seemingly unrelated to any of the noble houses. Once again, the fight is quick and brutal, and while Ukerin is floored, the others manage to deal with the attacking dark elves. One of the dark elves has a warhammer on him.

Later, they arrive to Menzo, and once at the palace, they send the prisoner away to the dungeon.

They then hurry over to see their father, High Priest Venar. He is pleased that they resolved the goblin incident as he wanted, and is very curious about the 3 scrolls and the magical markings when shown by Nalfein. Venar decides to keep them, to find out what they are. The brothers are told that they are  now worthy of getting their insignias enchanted. Then they are dismissed.

4th Moon, 3rd day, year 4553
The T'orghs head down to Scumtown, in order to find a discreet mage that can identify their new items. They simply do not trust their uncle or any of his underlings enough. They also want to see if maybe someone call tell them about the map and buy their gem and their art object.

After looking about around in the chaos that is Scumtown, they run into a dark elf named R'azz, who offers to help them. After trying a bit on their own and not coming up with anything, they decide to see what happens and follow him. He leads them to the home of Al'zar, and his pet goblin Goff.


They pay him 300 gold to identify the 3 items, and wait while he does so. It turns out to be:
- Shortsword +1
- Warhammer +3
- Wand of Lightning with 78 charges

Meanwhile, they have also had the time to check out the last two scrolls:
- Scroll protection from acid
- Scroll protection from gas

They head home, and find out that their cousin, Mistress Quira, has had her  hands on the prisoner, and he has admitted that he was sent by House Mizzrym.

They briefly talk with Re'var about the map, but since it doesn't fall under his areas of expertise, he recommends they visit one of the 3 "independent" sages in Menzo and see if one of them can help them. He tells them to visit Zyr'kha

4th Moon, 4th day, year 4553
Zyr'kha, who resides in a small tower between House Tuin and House Jhalavar, turns out to be a young, arrogant and dirty female. She does quickly find out that Arthur the Ox is a human nickname for Aru'tha Argith, a former Weaponsmaster for House Argith. He died in 4402, before the map was made. He was a hero of the last war, the nickname given as a testament to his size and prowess in battle. She tells them that the map probably starts at his grave. Unfortunately, it is not widely known where it is, and asking House Argith probably won't do much good. She could probably find out where it is located, but that would take a month and cost them more than 3000 gold. Instead she recommends that they visit Zz'arc, one of the other sages. He knows more of such matters.

As it turns out, he doesn't know either, but he can probably find out in about 10 days. The T'orghs decline for now.

The same evening, once back at the T'orgh Palace, they are summoned by their father. He has had a vision from Asmodeus, and there is now an oracle in Menzo, somewhere in Scumtown. He doesn't know what form this oracle takes, it could be everything from a newborn babe, to an old man, to a goblin. He wants the brothers to head down and find the oracle. Without attracting any undue attention to the House.

4th Moon, 5th day, year 4553
So the next morning, the brothers head back to Scumtown. They ask around a bit, but with little luck. Then Ukerin tries again, this time magically disguised as an orc, and he learns that someone in the Shadow Knives talked about an oracle not one day ago. They quickly find R'azz at the Lusty Maiden where he normally hangs out. He tells them to be vary. Scumtown is under the control of 3 guilds, the Nightravens (run by a trio of bugbears), the Red Skulls (run by a hobgoblin) and the Shadow Knives (run by an orog), and not much happens without their knowledge or agreement.

The brothers decide to head down to the Shadowknives' HQ, an inn called the Green Hare. Going in, they find themselves starred down by 20-ish orcs. Nalfein loudly proclaims that the brothers want access to the oracle, and that they are willing to pay for it, hoping that at least one of the lesser creatures will feel tempted. They quickly return to the Lusty Maiden and await.

And the wait is not long. After about 30 minutes or so, as they sit and get a drink, someone tosses a Fireball into the Lusty Inn. Ukerin manages to turn the table to protect himself, but still almost dies. Nalfein survives the blast and quickly heals Tagar so that he doesn't die a crispy death.