As the wagon rolls towards the Rivergate district, the ruby armed mage wipers instructions. There will be an attack and the wagon will be tipped over – in the chaos and confusion of the fighting, the prisoners will escape and head towards a manor house from which one of the escaped entities emerged. There they are to determine how the key they stole may be put to use. House Vladaam is bound to start wondering what they were doing in the basement – but they may be busy trying to explain why they have a secret prison down there. In any case, there is bound to be a short period of time where the group will be off everyone’s radar. Jedica suggests they take full advantage of it.

The attack comes and the ‘cultists’ tussle with the guards...

The butler spills the tea and it seems the family in question has been whispered about for years. Lurid tales of demonic blood and whispers of slave trading drift about the Noble Quarter. A bit of reconnaissance is carried out and a plan is carefully concocted, discussed, rehashed, deliberated, refined and recapped. Of course, it promptly goes out the window once they actually gain access to the estate. It seems the ground are protected by guards (noted), dogs (planned for) and werewolves (totally did not see that coming).

This precipitates a running battle through the ground floor of the mansion...

They follow the tunnel, noting that it has been clawed through stone and soil. It is six feet wide and about twice as tall, pointing to a creature of some size having churned through the earth to make a passage that stretches eastward, under Oldtown and towards the Spire. At one point, the passage splits but the group continues straight ahead. The passage splits again – and the group presses onward. Eventually they find themselves in a dead end, so they set about looking for hidden areas…but none are found.

While they search, noises tell of another group coming up behind them, but they head down the nearest side passage and are lost from sight. The dwarves tell of a lamia, a minotaur and a pack of goblins so the decision is made to tail them and attack with surprise, which they do...

Leaving aside the tempting trapdoor and the stairs beyond, the group sets about spending the stipend and trying to blend into the uppermost crust. None of them are any good at it. However, their notoriety does afford them a bit of celebrity status, and the helpful hints of the house butler do head off the most egregious faux-pas.

The group goes out shopping and seeing how the top tier lives. Is very nice. Very very niiiiice. It is also quite expensive and the stipend is dwindling at an alarming rate. While the furniture is delivered and the barbarians settle into the routine of guarding the villa, the group starts to receive the first invitations to parties and the like. Now, the real tests begin. The test of patience, primarily.

A birthday party here, a luncheon there and a whole lot of...

The march is mostly uneventful save for two encounters. The first is a party of foragers, on the wings of the barbarian horde. They spot the party and head inland. The barbarians indicate that the group should follow and they do so. A bit later on they are spotted by a cavalry company – presumably outriders from the city’s defense force. There are some tense moments, but the troopers seem content to watch and do not try and make contact. Eventually, they ride in the same direction as the party of foragers.

Within a couple of hours, the group runs into signs of struggle. Dead troopers, dead horses, blood spatter and trampled foliage all indicate contact between the groups...