February 05, 2005

Hook

Adventurers needed to eliminate a stupid and potentially evil nuisance. Meet at the Dark Eagle at 1:30. Ask fro Jerek.

Plot Synopsis

The interested group meets with a rustically dressed man, Jerek, who explains that he represents a coalition of offworld farming communities. Apparently, some weirdo has been attempting to use them as test subjects for his 'evil' experiments. These experiments would seem to be much more stupid than evil, as the last one was an attempt at brainwashing. The process involved washing the top of the subject's head, attempting to get at the brain, so it didn't really work so well and the henchmen doing the job were all promptly booted out of town. Jerek explained that this sort of thing has been happening for awhile and that they're all sick of it and want the weirdo disposed of. The only information he has is that two people out hiking spotted the silhouette of a caste a ways off, and it looked really creepy so they didn't go closer.

The group agrees to the terms, and Jerek leads them to the portal to his world, where he points them in the direction the hikers saw the castle. The group departs, using various forms of flight to speed things up, stopping at another village to question one of the hikers a little more closely before heading off into the mountains, looking for this supposed castle.

As the group flies over a deadfall, they spot something on a bluff a ways off, so they move closer to investigate. It is, indeed, the castle, but a good number of them note that something about it doesn't look quite right. There is a stone arch bridge leading out to the front gate. Loten flies up over the castle walls to go look, spotting a stone square inside the castle walls. The castle walls themselves seem to be fake, made of some kind of cheap plywood, and the only notable thing about the stone square is the pedestal at one end. On the pedestal is a lever and the word 'PULL'. Lotem doesn't pull it. He reports back to the group that it's a fake and they look around some more; Tyn and Fred go look at the stone square, while the others locate a small door in the sides of one of the bridge archways.

Eventually the lever is pulled, and the square retracts, revealing a pool beneath it. Fred reaches in and is ineffectually attacked by Piranhas, which he promptly electroshocks, eventually eating a few of them and finding them quite bony and not very good.

Those back at the door knock, and a small slat opens. The man inside demands to know what they want, and they reply that they're selling insurance. He goes back inside and reports to his superiors, before coming back and asking for the paperwork. They ask to come inside, and after much arguing, the door is eventually broken down and the two henchmen inside tied up. They start to look around inside, except for Tyn, who can't fit and starts doing Draco-frolics outside and ends up demolishing most of the fake castle. The group encounters several goons, all of whom seem to be henchmen with no names and just numbers, an incomplete booby trap (they hadn't finished digging the pit of despair yet). Fred finds his way into the personnel department and tries to apply for a job, stating that the piranha-security system wasn't very good and he would do a better job, and ends up dispatching his interviewer. Dom, Virdon, and Lotem are attacked by 'Evil Automatons', which turn out to be wheeled wooden boxes with a fake red light and a henchman inside. The group reconvenes at a large set of locked doors, which Fred bangs on, claiming that the Piranhas are broken. They are let inside, revealing a large room with a huge machine of indeterminate purpose, a bunch of henchmen, and a crazy looking guy with bad hair. Fred casts an Audacious and the group attacks the henchmen, who don't put up much of a fight. Dom tosses the bad haired weirdo off a catwalk, but the damage isn't severe. The weirdo pulls a ray-gun and tries to shoot Fred with it, but only hits one of his own goons in the back. Virdon checks down a narrow hallway and finds a strange device labeled 'Time Machine'. The group mops up the rest and take the weirdo prisoner and then leave, except for Lotem who takes the time to demolish the machine with some thrown wrenches and a grappling hook. On their way back to the entrance, they encounter Tyn, who had gotten bored and started widening the corridors by bashing her way through. They fly back with the prisoner and meet Jerek, who says he simply wants them to get rid of the weirdo. They are paid 350 silver each for their work, and then they return to Jaern, depositing the weirdo at the Centralia Mage's Guild. Fred tries the Time Machine, but it simply collapses into a bunch of junk.

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