Riders on the Storm

The Veiled Society

I was not told of this adventure until later, but I felt, as it was their first, that it should be told. After my first meeting with Bearclaw (see the relevant entry) he went directly to the Drifting Griffin, where he met the Wizard Tomas Runecarver. The next morning (when the events I am about to describe took place), he became acquainted with the Troubadour Brighton Truthseeker. The three became companions rather quickly, for reasons that will become obvious to the reader. --Mataxes, Merchant of Bartertown

10 Riag 1508 TH

The Widow Thanto (a dwarf woman who specializes in midwifery and healing herbs) burst into the taproom of the Griffin, nearly incoherent with fear. Once Ro'ahl had calmed her down, she began to relate how she had heard voices in her cellar during the night, and was afraid that someone - or something - was after her.

Ro'ahl asked if there were any who could go down into the woman's cellar, and Bearclaw quickly volunteered. Tomas and Brighton decided to accompany him, and the trio crossed the street to the Widow Thanto's house. Descending the ladder into her cellar, they found a tunnel had been dug and poorly concealed.

Curious, the three began to explore the low-ceilinged tunnels, finding a surprisingly extensive network of passages beneath the streets of Bartertown. While exploring they came into another cellar, where two black hooded men were burying a rather large bundle. They found another cellar that contained digging equipment, as well as timbers that were clearly to be used to shore up the excavations. While they examined these objects, a dwarf came in, also wearing a black hood. They captured this individual, and tied him up to question later.

Tomas wondered why these buildings were connected by tunnels, and suggested they go upstairs in one of the cellars to discover what lay above. Above the cellar where the two figures had been burying the bundle, they found a house that apparently had just been the scene of a crime of some sort. While they explored this building, Tomas found a signet ring, presumably dropped by one of the assailants. There was blood in the house as well, but no sign of a victim.

Brighton suggested going down and digging up whatever had been buried down below, but the trio had no digging equipment with them. Tomas pointed out that it was time for lunch, and he doubted that whatever was there would be gone when they got back. So the group returned to the Griffin.

As they were eating, a squad of Clystone's Guardians (little more than thugs with official titles, if you ask my opinion -M) entered and promptly arrested the three under suspicion of murder. Tomas hid the signet ring he had taken so that it would not be found on his person, and the three were hauled off and placed in custody.

Three hours later, the group was hauled before Clystone, the magistrate of Bartertown. Clystone informed them that the daughter of one of the prominent merchants in town, Luca Tanley, had been found murdered and buried in her cellar. The three of them were the only ones known to have been in the area at the time.

"I'm pretty sure you didn't do it," Clystone told them. "But I don't really care. Somebody is going to swing for this."

So they were offered a choice, find the true killer, or be executed for the crime themselves. They were given four days to find out what they could. If they hadn't discovered the identity of the killer by the time Luca's father returned from Darranis, they would be executed. Clystone did give them one lead - he mentioned a group known as the Veiled Society rumored to be muscling in on the black market.

To "supervise" the investigation, Clystone sent along the dwarf Swordmaster Mica. It soon became clear to the others that Clystone did this more to get the dwarf out of his hair than for any other reason. Mica seemed to be operating under the assumption that he was a human, he was just short. (The reasons for this belief have become more clear with recent events. See my treatise on the Riders.-M)

So the four returned to the scene of the crime. They uncovered several items of interest during their investigation: the cork of a wine bottle (with the merchant's seal still attached), a dagger with dried blood and red hairs, and letters written in the blood stain on the floor. Also, it seemed Tanley kept very careful track of his financial records. Nothing seemed disturbed or out of place on the second floor of the house.

Next, the group searched the abandoned house down the street (located above the cellar with the digging supplies). They found the wine bottle that matched the cork. The tunnels, they discovered, had been collapsed. In the cellar, they found a scrap of paper with a crudely drawn map of Butter Lane on it, with some of the buildings marked. They figured out that the buildings marked were the building they were in, the Tanley house, the Rattlebone Inn, and one other building (later determined to be the house of the merchant Lowill).

Bearclaw came to speak with me at that point, trying to learn more about the Veiled Society that Clystone had mentioned when speaking with them. Unfortunately, I could tell him little - I had only heard the vaguest rumors about this shadowy organization. Instead I offered him a job - pick up a package at midnight at the Gates of Throal, and deliver it to my friend Arlorn's house in Bartertown. As this task wouldn't interfere with his investigations, he accepted.

(It should be noted at this point that while I am an independent operator, I am friends with several people who happen to have connections to the Kingdom of Throal, and I trade favors with them quite often. I am not however -- despite rumors to the contrary -- a Throalic agent. -M)

When Bearclaw returned from my shop, he and Brighton went down the street to the Lowill house. Nobody appeared to be at home. As they left the area, a dagger was thrown at Brighton. Attached to it was a note - "Be at Hatchet Lane by the eleventh hour, or else."

The four then descended into the tunnels once again, hoping to find more clues as to the identity of the murderers. In the ruins of a burned building, they encountered two cadaver men, and in another side tunnel the remains of some large cocoons. They also found that the digging had been stopped (or at least it appeared so) just beyond the Tanley house.

At this point, Bearclaw decided to get some rest for his late-night job. Tomas, Brighton, and Mica went to learn more about the members of the Council of Merchants.

On the way back to the Griffin, they came across an orator in a small marketplace, who was speaking out against Clystone. As the Guardians closed in, a rock flew, and a riot erupted. Trying to avoid arrest again, the three broke through the line of Guardians and pursued the speaker.

The rabble-rouser escaped through another tunnel. Dejected, the three returned to the Griffin, stopping off at the Lowill house along the way. There was still nobody at home, and Brighton decided to break in. Some bottles of wine in Lowill's cellar matched the brand of wine found at the crime scene, but there was no other evidence to connect the Councilman to the crime.

Brighton (with Mica tagging along) headed out to Hatchet Lane for his appointment. There they encountered a group of other ne'er-do-wells, and were inducted into the Veiled Society. Led by a masked figure, the group of thugs was led through the streets, and set up an ambush for a dwarf who would be coming along shortly. The leader told them that there would be others with him, but the dwarf was the target.

Bearclaw arrived at the Gates of Throal at midnight, and learned that the "package" was actually a dwarf named Simion. As they left the gates for the other side of Bartertown, they were approached by a gang of Buundavim, sent by Shadowswift as escort for the "honorable dwarfling."

As the escort made their way through the city, the trap was sprung. The Veiled Society thugs (including Brighton and Mica) clashed with the Buundavim escorting Simion. When Mica spotted Bearclaw in the melee, he and Brighton changed sides, turning the tide of the fight in favor of Simion's escort. With the battle lost, the thugs vanished off into the night, pursued by the Buundavim. Bearclaw escorted Simion the rest of the way (followed by Brighton to make sure they weren't ambushed again), and was rewarded for his assistance by Arlorn.