Freeport

Whilst the rest of the group had been in the temple, receiving visions and the like, I had used my time profitably in selling the various items of jewellery and gems which we had taken from the cave of the sahaugin. Friar Porpington spent his time investigating the shrine of St Cuthbert, and I encountered him later muttering about its inadequacy.

We were strolling through the temple district wondering where to start with our mission to improve Freeport, when the fellows we had encountered on board ship came running up to us. They barely paused in their excitement about having had some sort of 'vision' to receive the hundreds of gold coins which I handed out.

Then they went on to describe a view of an underground temple, filled with worshippers. The friar identified them as followers of "The Unspeakable One", an unmitigatedly evil deity devoted to the destruction of all life on Oerth. With no option open to us but to thwart it, we decided that we should set out immediately.

We discussed our options, and both Friar Porpington and I set out for the Commissioner of Police to Freeport, holed up in a building in the Old City. The rest of the group (once they had tracked down the half orc before he reached a bar with all his gold) were to go straight to Klarn Street, and keep watch on the warehouse.

Porpington and I found the Police building swiftly. It was a well-attended site in a well-policed part of town. In fact, the only part of town which was policed.

We reported to the front desk, requesting a warrant to search the warehouse, and were asked to wait for a moment before seeing the Commissioner of Police. This gentleman listened politely for a few moments, before agreeing freely to sign a warrant for us to investigate the warehouse and the ground beneath it, as long as we did not explore the sewers.

We then discussed the possibility of our being deputised into the police, and he stated that he would have to speak to the ruler of Freeport. He did, however, state that he "deputised us to deal with all agents of Chaos within Freeport", which pleased both Porpington and myself no end. It would be nice to have it on paper, though.

The warehouse was quiet; seemingly abandoned. Careful pushing of the door showed that it was unlocked, and so I swung it open. To be hit in the face with a bag of screaming sea-creatures! I crushed these "urchins" with contempt, as Porpington did something which made the pain in my face lessen.

The ill-lit warehouse was filled with crates and barrels, and the group of us moved in. Although we were trying to be cautious, we still failed to spot the ambush, as two men leapt from behind crates and attacked us. These were followed by a third figure in robes, all of whom were cut down with chain, arrows and guisarme.

The orc failed miserably, having been sent running once again by a spell from the robe-clad assailant.

After a while of searching, the bard was fortunate enough to locate a trapdoor, cunningly concealed under a large tea-chest, and we headed down a long winding ladder into the badly lit caves below�

We adventured along a corridor, hearing sounds of chanting growing louder and louder as we passed along it. Eventually, the orc snapped, and charged forwards into the room, confronting ten more thugs standing around an altar, and another figure who was clearly the high priest to this mad cult!

The orc's mad charge meant that forming a plan was quite impossible. Bolstered by the bard Huey Morgan's musics, we moved into the cavern, hacking down our foes as we went.

Veit hurtled off into combat with our foes on the left flank, and was swiftly borne under by a tide of evil-doers, but not before he managed to hit the high priest and break his concentration.

It turned out that this was an appalling move, as the altar shimmered, and swiftly turned into some sort of tentacular monstrosity with a huge row of sharp teeth!

To make matters worse, the high priest summoned some fiendish dog from hell, which attacked my bardic comrade, 3 or 4 thugs were still standing, and Porpington casting a damnable spell which caused his target to break out in sores and lesions, things were going very badly for us.

The tide turned after a few moments of furious combat, however. The fiendish hyena was despatched with a couple of well-placed blows of my guisarme, and my armour proved sufficient to turn any other blows. The High Priest, however, began to hurl glowing balls of magic at the orc and myself, which wounded us both severely, and I believe that the orc would have fallen if not for the healing magics granted him by Friar Porpington.

The tentacular creature was despatched by the orc, who in a blinding rage then turned to, and slaughtered, the high priest. Shortly thereafter, the remaining thugs were slain.

Much bolstered by our success, we began to loot the place, stopping only to minister to the orc, who collapsed suddenly to the ground bleeding heavily. We constructed stretchers for him and Veit, and dragged them, together with our loot (and the Eyes of the Sea Dragon, which had been on the altar), back to Father Pellegro.

The pirate-priest healed our wounds, and supplied us with a writ to pay for several items of magic to be identified by Falthar, an irritating human mage of his acquaintance.

Pirate Ned's ghost vanished once the Eyes of the Seadragon were handed over the Pellegro, despatching another irritant from the face of the world.

Several evil books were handed over to the Commissioner for Police, together with a tentacle from the creature which the orc had managed to kill. He was most impressed, and rewarded us; promising to speak to the Freeport lord in the next 2 days.

We then headed to the 'Scholar's Quill', an inn by the docks which we had been recommended.

Naturally, on the way there, we were attacked by eight to ten press-gangers. I tried not to kill these men, but the same restraint was not shown by my comrades. The orc literally tore one of them into two parts with one swipe of his great-axe! After this, the others fled�

I tried to care for the other wounded foemen after the fight, and was rewarded (rather shockingly) as a glowing light spilled from my fingers, saving the wounded men from certain death. This was a most unexpected development, and one I intend to explore further in the days to come.

After the fight on the docks, we were bought beers by one 'Brother Egil', a cleric to Boccob. This man had a concern, in that one of his friends (a librarian) vanished 2 days ago. He offered us 75 pieces of gold each to find his friend, "Lucius". Apparently, the High Priest of Boccob was not interested.

Brother Egil explained that Lucius had changed dramatically 6 years ago, forgetting things from his past before vanishing for 4 years! He returned, looking much the worse for wear, and was described as 'disturbed' by his friend. Since then, he has disappeared again.