Diary of Captain Nomed Oppenheimer - Entry Number 15
Wednesday, November 11, 907 of the Third Age
We need to get a better class of friends. When we need to travel to another dimension just to get the gifts we earned for saving the damn world, we might as well be treading water. But, at least we have an angry super-ship out for blood after us, which is… fun.
After we closed the rift of the storm, we made our way south towards Haggelthorn in order to receive our compensation for our heroism. We actually made landfall at a reasonable hour, and the town was already abuzz with our deeds. As a matter of fact, we even gained a new sidekick, the lovably dense CJ, who had come from Portsmith, (still under the lingering effects of the storm), and who also had an axe to grind with Jana Blackfire. He told us also that the Overlord had sent another flying ship to locate the Wanton Wench, her sister the Siren Song. Upon hearing this, Wendy the Wench informed us that her sister was slightly more bloodthirsty and insane than herself, as well as being much larger and powerful.
With this knowledge in our back pocket, we made our way to Haggelthorn Hall to receive our just rewards and to celebrate our victory with a feast. However, when we arrived the feast was, let’s just say, wanting. The only ones there were Elias and the ancient butler, and our gifts were nowhere to be found. We were reasonably upset, and after a few threats were exchanged, Elias told us that the great hall had been cursed by the ghost of Elias’s grandfather Thaddeus. He was upset and screaming that his book had been stolen. He attacked the staff, and shortly after several items, including our gifts, went missing. He had only been spotted in a single room upstairs, and so we headed up there. The halls upstairs were lined with all manner of animals, both heads and fully formed taxidermy creations, which just added to the mystique of our slightly evil host. Elias showed us the game room, where Thaddeus had been spotted, but there was not much of interest there, as we could not detect anything unusual. He then informed us that he had hired a mystic to speak with Thaddeus, and that her corpse was currently residing inside the smoking room.
Inside the smoking room was the corpse of the mystic, as well as her tarot cards and a mysterious riddle she carved into the table. The others insisted on solving this puzzle, and though it took quite a bit of effort, we discovered the pattern. They wished to use the cards as a portal right away to find Thaddeus, but I warned that maybe we should find the book he was so keen on retrieving first. They reluctantly agreed, and we headed towards the servant’s quarters as Thaddeus’ rants were our only clue. The first room was locked away, and behind it we fought a shade of what must have been Elias’s nanny. CJ and Wrane provided a good distraction while the rest of us put the creature down, and as we searched the room, we found only a few items of note, including a gold cross, a key to the house, and an ancient summoning book which Elias was very keen to get back, called it the Book of Bricklebon.
In the other servant’s quarters, which housed those that were attacked by Thaddeus, was a lead-lined box, which was enchanted and locked. The puzzle was simple enough to solve, and when we looked in side we discovered a bag full of rubies and a calling card of the local book sellers, Finch and Bull. We figured the servants had sold the book and so headed towards the local inn to find them. While Wrane and I searched their rooms, the others kept the servants busy, although the one who was directly attacked by Thaddeus was absent, and we were told she had fallen in love with one of the book sellers. In their rooms was not much, but I took impressions of the keys they had to Haggelthorn manor, just in case it could come in handy.
We headed to the book shop, which housed the book sellers above the store, and quietly made our presence known. After an extremely brief struggle, we politely asked where the book the servant Gretchen had stolen. The seller was happy to return the stolen property, and we received the book, Edges of Dreamland. Sufficiently happy with this, I made my way down to relieve the thieves of their ill-gotten coins, and when I returned I was witness to what could only be described as a spear-induced wedding. My companion’s idea of justice I guess?
We returned to Elias and entered his library in the hopes that returning the book would return our items, but unfortunately there was no such luck. We had to do this in a more direct route. We went back to the smoking room and invoked the tarot cards, where we were transported to another realm that looked similar to ours, although it was entirely in black and white. We left the room and were meted with the gradual animation of the taxidermy beasts that lined the halls. Knowing we were on the clock, we raced to the game room in hopes of finding Thaddeus. He was there waiting, and impatiently demanded his book. In what can only be explained as a moment of “weakness”, Finn threw the book at Thaddeus and cowered behind the rest of the party. Thaddeus, seemingly shocked at how easy that was, dissipated through one of the walls with his book and was gone. Without our leverage, and with a bunch of animated monsters out for us, we barricaded ourselves in the game room while Java searched for our items. She found them and one by one, returned them to the smoking room. With time running out, I made a distraction with some bombs on the far side of the hall to keep the animals away, and then we made a break for the smoking room. We made it inside and invoked the cards again and were returned to our own realm.
And here we are, with our items and only a few more bumps and bruises than when we started. Elias needs to start carrying his own weight here. But now we have options. We can head south to try and fix our mirror. We can head north and try and get our sails. We can head east and get revenge against Jana. Or we could just make a run for it to the west and call it a day. All while staying away from a crazy super-ship. Sounds like fun times are ahead.
Boy I could use a drink.