Road to Kebnegard, Chapter Eight

The Albino and Captain Gaafa
Saturday, February 4th, 988 AD

After a few hours rest in Arkady's house (in which time, Arkady spoke to the Lord Mayor about the powerful priests that fried JC and are most likely thinking evil thoughts as I write, who responded that he'd like to very much speak with us all about it), we hear cheers in the streets. Ivan stops a fellow in the street and asks what all the hubbub is about, bub. He says the Albino has come into the city with more grain. Ivan wakes Arkady (after only two hours of sleep), who goes to meet with Eugenius the Albino from Estonia, who promptly tells him he will never make the run into Novgorod again.

After the rest of us finish our resting and healing, we go and meet with:

Vasli and the Captain too (doo-doodoo-doo-doo),
the Lord Mayor and his wife,
the crazy girl,
the Albino and Sadko-an,
here in Vasli's Land (sorry...)

We met with the Lord Mayor, Iarena (his wife), Vasli (the champion of Novgorod), Stepanova (the crazy girl), the Albino, Captain Gaafa (who starts when he sees Wong), and Sadko. We talk about the evil clerics and how we know nothing about them, the Tarot Dungeon, and who's got what powers (Stepanova is a paladin of low power and Iarena is a cleric of modest power). Once the dinner is over, we start back towards Arkady's house, but Captain Gaafa catches up and challenges Wong to a duel.

Wong: What?
Gaafa: I challenge you to a duel. Right here, right now.
Wong (after determining he's no Kensai): Fuck your mother. I'm hurt and I'm resting.
Gaafa: No! We're dueling now on the old terms.
Wong: What you mean, old terms?
Gaafa: If I win, you marry me. If I lose, I pay the fee.

Wong breaks out in a cold sweat and quickly explains a bit of her history. It turns out, when Wong was traveling through Novgorod last with her uncle, they ran into a bit of a tight spot on the money angle. She decided to take on all comers who wanted to challenge her to a duel, which is where she came up with the old terms. She of course never lost a duel, but it got to a point where she couldn't make a quick coffee run without three snot-nosed punks wanting to take her away from it all. She ran to Germany.

Gaafa: You beat me once, but I've been practicing and I'm sure I can take you now.
Wong: I not do that anymore. I'm done.
Gaafa: No, you're not done. We're dueling now!

Gaafa takes out his sword, at which point Ivan levels the spear at him and Reynaldo sends a note to Arkady through the boxes that says "Get your ass over here now!"

Ivan: Are you retarded? Go defend your city, you horrible little man, before I kill you.
Gaafa: I have no beef with you, dwarf. Draw your weapon Wong!
Wong: ...uh, no.
Ivan: What kind of a man are you, picking on an injured girl. Turn and face me! (thwacks Gaafa on the side of the head with the spear)
Gaafa: Have you any idea what I could have done to you, dwarf?
Ivan: Have done to me? Do it yourself, you cur! (thwack)
Gaafa: Knock it off! I want to duel with Wong, not you!
Ivan: (thwack) She (thwack) said (thwack) no (thwack)!

Arkady rides up with thirty stone mules.

Arkady: What the hell is going on here?!
Gaafa: Have this man arrested! He keeps hitting me with his spear!
Reynaldo: And that's because Gaafa won't take no for an answer.

After some explanation, Arkady does a facepalm and tells his mules to go back to guarding the city. Reynaldo apologizes for not being more exact in his message. Arkady chastizes Gaafa, who swears to Wong they'll duel once the siege is over.

Wong: Yeah, yeah, whatever.

We go rest, except for Wong, who goes to visit some old friends (with her hood up). Arkady tells us that his soul is tied to the fate of Novgorod, which is yet another reason why we should help save the city.

Treachery!
Sunday, February 5th, 988 AD

At about 2am, boulders get hurled into Novgorod. Arkady, Ivan, JC, Nicolae, and ten stone mules go to check it out. We see a bag fly through the air and land with thud, revealing a very angry Golden Wolverine. Ivan kills it just he goes down. Some Stone Mules carry Ivan back to Arkady's house where the rest of the party starts gearing up as more bags full of angry Wolverines rain down. Reynaldo fights a Nicolae blinded Wolverine by himself. Conrad, Thalia, Anna, and Edward fight another Wolverine. They kill it while Rey levitates his Wolverine and starts shooting arrows at it. Jean-Claude and Arkady make a circuit of the wall to see if anything is amiss out there, and Arkady notices that a soldier's neck has been slit. He figures someone has snuck in. Another soldier lets Arkady know that the river gate has been lifted. He notices zombies filing through the gate underwater. With the box, Arkady tells the party to get to the river. They all do, except for Thalia who carries Ivan to the citadel and then helps protect the Lord Mayor, and Wong and Nicolae who just pussy out. At the river, Jean-Claude and Reynaldo, both flying, Lightning Bolt the river a few times to get all the zombies that haven't yet left the river. Edward, Anna, and Conrad fight alongside the Stone Mules and the regular army on the East Bank of the river. Conrad gets hurt real bad and drags himself to the citadel where he knows Thalia and Ivan are. Wong and Nicolae are forced to fight zombies as they near Wong's friends' house on the West Bank. Nicolae lays a piece of chainmail on the ground and Wong waits behind it. When two to four zombies step on the chainmail, Nicolae lets loose with a Shocking Grasp and Wong finishes them off. Reynaldo Levitates a piece of flat stone and uses it to squish twelve zombies and starts shooting arrows again. On the West Bank, Vasli and Sadko, along with more of the regular army, defend that side, and after about an hour, the battle ends with Novgorod victorious.

We all head back to the citadel and a soldier informs Arkady that another soldier from the South Wall has been found alive, but with his throat almost slit. He tells us that someone dressed in gray or white, or possibly made out of something gray or white, took a blade to his throat and then he fell off the wall. We also find out that the two guards on the grain that the Albino brought in are also dead from stabs to the back. Arkady, Jean-Claude, and Reynaldo go to check it out and see that the seals on three barrels have been broken and the rice level is down about a quarter of the way down the barrel. Some other barrels are opened and sharp rocks are found mixed in with the rice. Arkady orders the arrest of the Albino but he's already fled the city, before the attack commenced. We rest.

After dusk and after resting, Edward Speaks with the Dead from the wall and they both say basically the same thing that the live guy did except that their sure the men that killed them were covered in white dust, not made from it. Reynaldo, Conrad, Wong, and Nicolae go see Wong's friends about a silver mirror, but are stopped by Svipdag Aruson, another mason who wants to duel. Wong tells him they'll duel after she's recovered a bit and Svipdag agrees. At Wong's friends' house, they direct us to a silversmith near them to inquire about the silver mirror. Reynaldo, Nicolae, and Conrad go ahead while Wong visits some more. Reynaldo finds a nice mirror but the merchant quotes him a price of 1400gp. They leave, thinking of ways to raise money. Back at the citadel, Thalia figures out what happened the night before. The Albino's rice barrels contained three men, hiding. They came out of their barrels and killed the guards there, snuck across the city and killed the guards on the South Wall and then pulled the gate up to allow the zombies in. The Wolverines were a distraction while they did their killing, and the grain supplied the white dust that they were covered in. Arkady and the party (save Wong, still visiting) go tell the Lord Mayor about this. Anna detects no poison in the grain and then we all rest.

Payment and Dueling
Monday, February 6th, 988 AD

We go see the Lord Mayor about payment for the incredibly deadly mission we're about to undertake. He agrees to let us use the armory as well as commandeer a finely wrought polished silver mirror. Reynaldo lets him know exactly where he can find one. There might also be some cash after successful completion of the mission. We talk with Sadko and Arkady about changing the plan once we're in the Tarot Dungeon only because the Albino was there when we formulated it. We decide to scrap the frontal assault as that will only tip them as to when we'd be arriving from behind. We sleep during the day so that Wong can duel at night. Svipdag, also a former suitor to Wong from the good old days, has really been practicing and wants to duel under the old terms as well. Wong decides to change them a bit. If he wins, she'll marry him after successful completion of the mission. If he loses, he goes into the dungeon with them. They duel and Wong mops the floor with him. We go into the room with the Tarot cards, where Nicolae immediately learns that the Fool card he is carrying will undo up to four cards that are ripped with it. We rest in that room.

Resting
Tuesday through Thursday, February 7th-9th, 988 AD

We rest, heal up, and plan for three days mostly because we need to, but also because if there are any spies in Novgorod, maybe our going into the room a full four days before we actually go into the dungeon will throw them off our scent.

Begin the Interlude
Friday, February 10th, 988 AD

The party pulls their cards in this order: Wong, Nicolae, Jean-Claude, Ivan, Thalia, Reynaldo, Edward, Anna, Conrad, and Svipdag. Once a card is pulled, the person disappears and the next pulls it. Because of the nature of the magic, Isabela does not disappear when Reynaldo does and then elects not to go. I also elect not to go in and instead wait patiently for someone to come back out so that they can tell me what has happened and I can continue their brave tale.

End Chapter Eight
Previous: Road to Kebnegard, Chapter Seven
Next: Road to Kebnegard, Chapter Nine