Against the Veiled Society

This past weekend’s game was the finale of The Veiled Society. It felt like our first true urban adventure. I have been running several adventures in the city but they have been dungeon adventures. This one was more open. I created a couple of generic “City Streets” VTT maps to help with some of the urban situations the players got themselves into. The session went longer than usual and I think I did not do the ending justice. But otherwise, I think it went okay.

Session 16: Against the Veiled Society

Players: Lakima (Magic-user), Eathwund (Fighter), Daen (Dwarf Fighter NPC).

The players had previously agreed to help the Town Watch investigate the death of Lady Lucia. Not knowing much about the Vorloi family Lakima asks their manservant Huntley. Huntley cannot tell them much. He knows that the Vorloi family is led by Baron Tomas Vorloi who used to be a commander in the Duke’s army. He knows he is well connected to the nobility. They have arrived recently and started to move in on the Radu family in the shipping in Edgerton.

As they head out into the streets they notice that the mood is no longer festive. The Harvest Festival is over and there is an undercurrent of anger directed toward the Torenescu family coming from not just the supporters of the Vorloi and Longbardi families. Some people are even linking the Torenescu Family to the Veiled Society.

Eventually, they make their way to the Town Watch. They meet with Sergeant Frans who introduces two clerics of St. John who will be joining them. The group sets out for the Fortunato Villa. They do a simple search of the villa. They find that Lady Lucia tried to spell something in blood on the floor where she died but someone wiped it clean. From the villa, they head to the Turano guesthouse. Sergeant Frans tells them that the town guard found a tunnel led to this house from the tunnels the adventurers had discovered under the town. The only clue they find here is an almost empty bottle of cheap wine. They head over to the abandoned warehouse that sits over the tunnels. It is boarded up but the main door is open. Inside they find the entrance to the tunnels and several open crates holding weapons (daggers and clubs).  They decide to descend into the tunnels beneath the city again.

In the tunnels, they investigate beyond where they went before and Frans let them know what the town guard found. They find a chamber piled with skeletons. The skeletons look to have been here for at least a year. Unable to find anything of interest they head back up to the warehouse and go over and talk to Goodwife Amelia. She is happy to see that they are safe. When asked she tells them that she only started hearing voices in her cellar a few weeks ago.

With that, the group heads back toward the town. The two clerics say their goodbyes. As they are passing through the town square they see that a crowd has formed around an orator who is standing on a wooden crate. The man loudly suggests that the Torenescu family is behind the killing of Lady Lucia and that they are also robbing the poor townsfolk. He tells them something has to be done. The crowd starts to riot with little provocation. Shops are vandalized and the crowd grows in size. Sergeant Frans runs off to call out the Town Guard.

Lakima, Eathwund, and Daen stay in the square in the center of the riot and they follow the orator who steps off of his platform and runs down an alley. A brief chase leads to the man ducking into a cottage and locking the door. It takes a few comical attempts before they are able to force the door open. Inside they see a sparse chamber and a trapdoor on the floor. Flipping the door open they see a ladder going down. Daen scrambles down and reports it is a tunnel and he can see a bobbing light moving away down the tunnel. They all climb down and run along the tunnel.

The tunnel ends at another ladder leading up to a trapdoor. The trapdoor closes as they arrive and they hear something heavy being dragged across the floor to block it. Daen drinks a Potion of Gaseous Form and turns into a cloud of gas. All of his equipment and clothes fall to the floor. As a cloud of gas, he heads up through the cracks around the trapdoor. Below they hear a scream from above, followed by several thumps. Moments later something is dragged across the floor. Then the trapdoor is flung open and a naked Daen looks down at them.

“Can someone toss me my clothes?”

Eathwund climbs up the ladder into a small cottage. There is only a bed, a table, and a footlocker full of rocks. Daen asks Eathwund if he brought up his clothes. He has not. So Eathwund takes hold of the man Daen caught while the dwarf climbs down the ladder naked. Lakima quickly climbs up the ladder to interrogate the man. Below Daen struggles into his clothes and armor.

The man claims he is not a member of the Veiled Society. He says that a man dressed as a Veiled Society member paid him 20 gold to incite a riot against the Torenescu Family. He does not know who hired him by name or face. They tie the man’s hands and take him to the Guard Station. Sergeant Frans is busy out dealing with the riot but they do make certain that the man is imprisoned and they give a statement to the Watch commander. Eventually, Sergeant Frans returns looking a little worse for wear. His men have successfully broken up the riot.

They head to the cell holding the imprisoned orator and question him. The man insists he knows little. Lakima successfully casts Charm Person on the man. But it turns out that the man was telling the truth. The only information he adds is that it was clear to him that there were professional agitators in the crowd. He also suspects that the man who paid him was well-born. He spoke well and his hands were clean.

They all leave the cell and return to the front desk. The watch leader tells them that a message arrived addressed to them. There is from Theosius (a woodcarver who lives in their neighborhood) asking them to meet a boat at Milborne Bridge outside of town. It is very urgent. Lakima suggests to his friends that this could be a trap. Sergeant Frans offers to send men with them.

They consider but instead, they suggest that Frans and some men go first and hide near the bridge where they can view the proceedings. The adventurers will come later. They let Frans get a head start and then head for the bridge. As they approach the bridge they see a riverboat tied up at a dock. They approach and an old man questions what they want. Once they tell him he goes into the boat and returns with a well-dressed merchant who introduces himself as  Simion Torenescu. Simion tells them he needs to get to the castle. If he can speak to Baron Vorloi it should assure the Baron that the Torenescu family was not behind the killing of Lady Lucia.

They set out and pick up Sergeant Frans and three guards. As they pass through the Old Mill District they are ambushed by sixteen thugs wearing Veiled Society hooded cloaks. Men attack from the alleyways around them surrounding their position. Daen and Eathwund kill several of the untrained attackers and Lakima successfully casts Sleep on nine of them. The leader of the group casts a Light spell at Eathwund blinding him. Daen runs after the cleric and pummels him to the ground. The man surrenders and the few thugs try to run for it but are caught by the town guard. They take all of the men under guard to the Town Guard Station. Eathwund confiscates the cleric's mace.

Daen and Lakima escort Simion Torenescu the rest of the way to the castle. Once he is safely inside Simion pays them 500 gold for their help. They return to the guard station where Eathwund waits, slowly regaining his sight. Frans tells them that the cleric made a full confession. He says his name is Urdino Masi. He claims that he is in the employ of the Torenescu family, that he killed Lady Lucia, and that the Torenescu run the Veiled Society. Frans is somewhat skeptical. The man only shrugs when he is asked to explain why they were trying to kill Simion Torenescu. Lakima tells Frans that he will go home and sleep and come back with a spell that will aid in the questioning. They return to their Chapter House. On the way, Lakima checks on Alayna’s Alchemy shop but he finds it closed and dark.

Overnight, Eathwunds sight has returned. The three adventurers arrive at the guard station. They ask to see the cleric who led the Veiled Society attack on them. The man greets them and laughs when Lakima tries twice to cast Charm Person on him. Both castings fail. With Plan A not working they separate out one of the other captured men and question him. Under duress, and with Frans promising to go easy on his sentencing the man agrees to talk. He doesn't know who runs the Veiled Society. Everything is done by messages and the messengers wear hooded cloaks. He himself has acted as a messenger. The man does tell them about a meeting place under the Blue Water Mead Hall. And that there is a meeting tonight.

The adventurers have a short discussion with Sergeant Frans. He tells them that the Blue Water Mead Hall is a cheap tavern located outside the city walls along the river. Guards sometimes go there looking for thieves or river pirates. If the town guard shows up he fears they will be seen long before they can enter and everyone will flee. They decide that Lakima, Eathwund, and Daen will enter the hall and look for clues. If they find anything in the scouting mission they will come back and get the town guard.

The three head to the Hall. As they are passing through the Old Mill District, Eathwund spots movement on a roof and shouts a warning. Everyone ducks just as a crossbow bolt thuds into a nearby cart narrowly missing them. They see a Veiled Society thug climb down the side of a building and run away carrying a crossbow. They give chase to the man. He starts to get away but then tires and they begin to catch up to him. But he crosses Ravinger Bridge and ducks into the Blue Water Mead Hall before they can catch up with him.

Rather than scout the Hall, the adventurers decide to crash the party. They run right past the tavern’s bouncer standing near the door and into the crowded tavern. They do not see the man but they do notice the curtains in a rear doorway are disturbed. They race through the curtains and find two men playing dice.

“Where did he go!” Lakima yells at them. They point out a door. They open the door and see the river and no man. Coming back into the room they question the two men some more. Meanwhile, Eathwund searches the wall and finds a latch that opens a secret door. One of the men shrugs when asked about it. Inside is a small robing chamber. On one wall are nine hooded cloaks. There is a trap door on the floor. Opening the door they see a ladder heading down. They walk down a narrow tunnel until it turns. Peering around the corner, Daen sees a man guarding a closed door. In the distance, they can hear the rise and fall of a large number of voices.

Daen jumps around the corner and opens fire with his crossbow but misses. The man yells out an alarm at the top of his voice and draws a sword and attacks. The fight in the narrow space is over quickly, Daen and Eathwund manage to kill the man. As Eathwund stabs the man he falls clutching at a potion vial that rolls away across the floor. Eathwund picks it up. Stepping up to the door, Daen carefully opens it a crack. On the other side is a large chamber lit with torches. At least twenty men wearing Veiled Society cloaks are listening to a man on top of a raised area. The man talks of overthrowing the Town Guard and taking control. Then he talks about doing away with traitors. He yells, “we know what to do with traitors, the woman should not have been killed!” With that one robed man is singled out and dragged to the ground. The men kick him repeatedly until he stops moving. Then the man on the stage tells them to go out and foment more riots.

The men shout in agreement and begin to leave the chamber. Some leave through a door to their left but some walk up to the door that the heroes are behind. The door opens and the men look at them strangely but just move past, “the meeting is over,” one of them says. Lakima mentions, “Ohh, we were late.” Once the men are gone they enter the room. The man on the stage is gone and they did not see him leave. The body of a man lies on the floor. They check and the man is dead. They unmask him but they do not recognize the face. While searching on the stage they find an open passage behind the gong. It leads to another robing room. A door leads further underground. They open the door and head down the passage. As they turn the corner, a giant of a man attacks them. The man is seven feet tall and wearing only a loincloth. He swings at Daen with a club calling him a runty man. Daen angrily charges into the fight but misses repeatedly and is struck twice by the giant. Daen comes to his senses and slowly retreats so that Eathwund and Lakima can also attack the giant. Working together they manage to bring him down.

The giant was guarding a door and another ladder leading upward. They fling open the door and see a small, well-lit chamber. An older man lies dead on the floor in a small puddle of fresh blood. Another man stands over the dead body and holds a sword to the throat of a third man. The man being held shouts for help. The man with the sword turns and curses at the adventurers telling them he is now going to put an end to their meddling. He leaps up on the desk and attacks Eathwund. Eathwund fights back but misses several times. Daen also joins in and manages to strike the man with his hammer. Lakima tosses several (six) darts at the man, and many hit him. The man yells in frustration and vows to kill the magic-user last.  Eathwund finally manages to slash the man with a solid blow followed by Daen striking him and then Lakima throwing one of his darts in the man’s ear. The man collapses in a heap, clearly dead.

The other man who was being threatened crawls out from under the desk and profusely thanks them for rescuing him. They question him and the man, who tells them he is Zweiss Radu, is quick with answers. The man they killed is his Uncle Cartha. Cartha just killed his father Anton Radu who was the leader of the family. There was a power struggle brought on by the recent events. He thanks the heroes and offers them a lockbox full of gems to and positions of trust in the Veiled Society. They think about it but decline. Zweiss insists that his brother Antonito is the real troublemaker behind the Veiled Society. They question why he was wearing the robes then and leading the recent meeting. He makes excuses. Eventually, Zweiss is able to convince them to let him go in exchange for not mentioning the lockbox full of gems (I was a little surprised that the players went for this).

Zweiss leaves up the ladder. They gather up the lockbox, some of the notes and books, and drag out the two bodies. Climbing up the ladder they find they have emerged in the storeroom next to the tavern. As they emerge the bouncer shouts at them but quickly shuts up when he sees the two dead bodies. They drag the bodies across the Old Mill District before being stopped by town guards. Luckily Frans had given them a document noting they were working for the Town Guard. Once seeing the document the guards help them carry the bodies to the Town Watch station. At the Station, Sergeant Frans is not really surprised that the scouting mission was abandoned and turned into a full out battle. He sends town guards to the Mead Hall to gather more information. One of the books they found has details of the membership of the Veiled Society with Radu family members at the top of the list. Guards are sent out to round up all of the named members. Sergeant Frans also sends men to the castle to get more guards for the roundup. Town criers are brought in and given instructions to spread the news that the Veiled Society has been arrested and that the Radu family was behind the group. He returns with a word that the Castellan would like to meet with them. Lakima asks that they meet later. They need to go get cleaned up.

The adventurers return to their Chapter House for a needed rest and clean up. The bribe of gems is counted and revealed to be 10,000 gold. They place it in their vault. Returning to the Watch station, Sergeant Frans escorts them to the castle where they meet Castellan Rufus Wright and Simion Torenescu. They are thanked for their actions and get another reward of 500 gold coins. The castellan tells them that he will let the Earl of Thurmany know about their actions.

They return to their Chapter house for the night. The next day Lakima takes one of the gems to Fairfax jewelers to get it put into a lady's pendant. After a few days, it is ready and he presents it to a delighted Alayna. Alayna also identifies the potion they came into possession of as a Potion of Invisibility. Lakima identifies some of the weapons they confiscated as magical. A sword+2 and a Ring of Protection+1 that Cartha had and a Mace+2 that the cleric had.

They check in with Sergeant Frans a few days later and learn that most of the men listed in the books have been arrested. Antonito and Zweiss Radu have not been found. In addition, some of the men who also worked as deckhands on riverboats have not been located. A 1,000 gold reward has been put out for the leaders.