Crime and Punishment
Session Twenty-One of the Notoriety of Kings Campaign

Zephday, 45 Suntash 204 [continued]

Nicos' boat bumps into the side of the vessel. Throwing up a rope he quickly shinnies on board to find himself face-to-face with a deck full of zombie gnomes. He gives a small yelp and the briefest cower before he realises that they aren't coming to attack him. He pokes one in the forehead and it falls over. Across the deck he can see Stone and nine of his men getting up. They are making their way to the hold. Nicos calls out to them. Stone says that the only reason he is here it to deal with O'Hare. He and Nicos head into the hold followed by Stone's men.

Down below, the Elias and Raza are doing their best to make Brack and Arvan comfortable. Elias feels a little guilty about slaying them, but he hopes they will recover. O'Hare's body has become visible, and the disgustingly little gnomish necromancer is discovered lying with a number of books, some of which may be journals and others that could be spell books. O'Hare wears a magical ring on his finger that Elias quickly pockets, saying they will give it to Gaston later to identify. They then hear footsteps on the stairs and Stone arrives on the scene with Nicos.

The pair view Stone and his men suspiciously. Neither are in a good enough state for another fight. Stone's men spread out and block the stairs as Nicos says hello and hurries over to heal Arvan. Elias wishes he'd had the presence to mind to hide the Heart of Llysallian, and it wasn't sitting in his hot little hands. "Where is the gnome?" Stone asks. Elias and Raza point out the still form of Damodred O'Hare; Stone snorts and storms over to it. He lifts the gnome into the air and brings him down heavily on this granite knee. The gnome's spine snaps in half, and Stone throws the corpse contemptuously into the corner.

"I didn't come here for the Heart. I came here to deal with him," Stone regards the party coldly. "You shouldn't have acted against us. The Heart wasn't what was hoped. My employer was going to make you an offer on it tomorrow. Of course, you didn't know that."

The party look to each other concernedly. Brack is now back on his feet, but is still rather unwell. They realise that they need to get to Ravenna quickly if they are to save her life. Stone continues. "You must realise that if I wanted to take the Heart from you I could, but I have been briefed for such an eventuality. This is how it's going to work: you will give to me that 1500 crowns you took under false pretences earlier this evening. Secondly, Fenton Pryde will be keeping this vessel as a recompense for the one your colleague sank" – he gestures at Nicos – "In return you can keep the Heart. However, this is dependent upon entering into a business arrangement with my employer."

The party are none to sure about this, but Stone is convinced that they have no choice in the matter. He says, "You can try to escape with the Heart now. You can try to stop me and my men by force. The chances are you won't succeed, but you can try. But what do you think will happen if you are successful? Do you really want to make an enemy of my employer? He's been very understanding of you up to now. You've murdered his employees, you've stolen from him, you've wrecked two very expensive carriages – the list is very long. Better to have Mr Pryde as an ally than an enemy. Take the Heart now with his blessing, but be aware that he will expect something of you in return. Besides, who is going to steer this ship back to the dock if not me and my men?"

At length the party agree and emerge on to the deck where Arvan restores Ravenna to health. She looks at the scattered bodies, the sodden Nicos and Stone's men and decides not to ask what happened too closely. Elias shows Ravenna the items that he discovered on O'Hare's body. Tucked into one of the books was a scroll of Improved Invisibility (expended). This explains how a necromancer was able to cast such a powerful illusion spell. Ravenna goes weak at the knees at the sight of O'Hare's ring. She believes it has some sort of metamagic effect. Elias gives Ravenna the ring so she can figure out how it works.

At the direction of Stone, the men and the party begin throwing the zombies over the side of the boat. The smell is quite foul and Stone doesn't want to take all these rotting corpses back to Fenton Pryde. After a few minutes, Nicos throws one of the zombies over. Before it hits the water it is intercepted by a pair of enormous jaws, and Nicos sees a large serpentine body break the surface before diving back into the inky water. "There! There!" yells the cleric. "Stop throwing things overboard! There's a big swimming death machine down there!" He then pauses to remember that a little while ago he was swimming out there. Nicos fumbles for a chair.

The ship moors just as dawn is breaking across Uris. As they disembark, Stone warns the party not to follow him or try to contact Mr Pryde. "When the time comes, Mr Pryde will contact you." Ravenna cannot let it lie like that and challenges Stone, demanding to know where her uncle is, and what the man-mountain has done with him. Stone denies his involvement in any abduction of anyone's uncle. Ravenna scoffs. Stone tells her not to worry, and that these things have a habit of working themselves out, if they are left alone. With that he turns and walks away into the darkness, leaving Ravenna with some hope that her uncle will turn up safely. The Chosen of Narramac return to the White Suite, carrying the Heart of Llysallian, with the stated intention of getting some sleep.

The End of Crime and Punishment
The adventures of the Chosen of Narramac continue in
Dai Caled

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