Chapter Eight: Crescent City (Seeking Answers)

Crescent City, April 16

Having already learned a great deal about what's going on in Crescent City (see here and here), the heroes split up to further delve the secrets of the ribald waterfront town. Meanwhile, Neil and Rygorh remain closeted at the Tumbling Drunkard Inn crafing magical items and researching spells.

Lorelei talks to her swamp elf friend, Greenroot, who introduces her to his sister, Autumntree, who is a druid. Autumntree agrees to cast spells for Neil while he is crafting Amulets of Natural Armor at a rate of 15 gold pieces per day. Each amulet that Neil crafts takes two days.

Greenroot further opens up about the goings on in the swamp. He tells Lorelei of the abandoned plantation. The Valjean family left the place years ago. The family fled in the middle of the night and have never been seen again. No one goes there anymore. They say the place is haunted. The swamp elves avoid the place like the plague.

Greenroot also tells Lorelei about the Temple of the Dead God. It's a place of great evil, deep in the jungles. There are terrors there that regularly swarm out to consume any swamp elves or others that come too near. The swamp elves absolutelly refuse to go near the place. However, for a price he might be convinced to lead Lorelei and her friends into the swamp and point them in the right direction.

Alev approaches the clergy at the Cathedral of the Blessed Marius and is received rather cooly. The minor functionary who meets him, a woman by the name of Charity Eastenfield, explains that Vigilence Derrick, the local head of the church, might be able to speak to Alev if he will explain more thoroughly the nature of the threat. If Alev is willing to tell some details about the situation she may be able to make an appointment with Vigilence Derrick on the morrow.

Seebo and Casey make the rounds of some local taverns asking about the "Testing Maze" and the "special treasure." Most people express total ignorance about these things, but eventually they manage to find a grizzled old codger of a rogue named Rooster who is willing to talk . . . for a price. He demands several rounds of hard whiskey and a handful of silver pieces in exchange for his tale:

"Yeah, might be I know a thing or two about this treshure you speak of," he glances furtively over his shoulder and whispers hoarsely. "You see, it was the King and Queen o' Thieves as ran the city in them days; Thom and Lolly Lankin. And a good pair they were!" he proclaims as he downs a shot of the whiskey. Rooster shudders a bit as the whiskey courses down his throat. "Ah! Yes, well, ya see, they saw to it that only them as needed robbin' was robbed. And they kept the killin' to a mini, mimin, and there wadn't that much killin' neither!" "But that all came to uh end when the new preacher came to town. Was nigh on ten years ago when Vigilence Derrick," Rooster hawks up a good glob and spits it on the floor, "came around and decided that the King and Queen had to go. So, he sets the city guard to rootin' out all their hideouts and friends. Eventu'ly, well, one o' the Lankins' friends gave 'em up. So, the preacher sends in the troops and ketches 'em and hangs 'em. But a'fore he got to 'em, well, they managed to hide away some o' deer booty. Some says as ol' Thom and Lolly never got caught anyhow, and it was someone else that the preacher hung in their place." The geezer shrugs his shoulders, "Eh, who knows? What I do know is ever' thief and would-be burglar this side o' Beacon City has tried his luck in the Maze. Most of 'em don't live and none of 'em never found no treasure." "If ye really wanna know about it, though, ye oughta go to the new theives. See, it's on Lord Raglan's side o' town, an' he won't take too kindly to anybody pokin' around without his permission."

Rumus and Tilk check about the local libraries and such and find little of use regarding the current situation. The do manage to confirm some details regarding the founding of Marianism as the state religion, the swamp elf slavery situation and other minor facts.

Dinah pokes about and learns a bit about Lord Malthus, the governor of the city:

"Aye, he's a sly one," the young lady says. Dinah is talking to one of the higher class whores of the inner city. "He keeps his nose clean and manages to always avoid blame for anything that goes wrong. He's always playing people off against one another. First the Church against the rogues, then the rogues against the Guard, then the rogues against each other." "But he has managed to bring the crime rate down. There's less mugging and killing than there used to be, and an honest working girl can usually be sure that she can ply her trade without fear of getting killed when it's time to collect."

The war rumors are just that: rumors. While you can find people to speak firsthand about the situation in Chillhame, there is no one that can speak from direct experience about the war in Jehannum, Visk or Kahoor. There are several "my friend's uncle told him and he told me" accounts, but there is no one with any direct knowledge of the goings on anywhere except in Chillhame.

No one is able to learn anything about the origins of the Gray Reaver.

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