Adventure 2: Kidnapped!

This adventure used the AD&D Forgotten Realms adventure Kidnapped as its plot. Names and places and other small details were changed to fit the world of Nicey Nice.

Session One
Hykros, the High Cleric of Cymur asked the players to help him get his only son back from kidnappers. Worried about the news spreading to unsavoury types in the city, he has already dispatched a decoy team of clerics with a false ransom. He does not want to get the lawkeepers involved in this, or the kidnappers might kill his son. So instead he asked the players. He asked the players to take on the quest spell to ensure their co-operation, and they submitted.

Hykros filled them in on the details. Mikhail was abducted on the way home, and his nanny was killed. She was ressurected and gave details. The ransom consisted of a number of magical items and 500,000 GP. They were told that they had to go to Darkhaven, to the Struggling Squid Inn, under the guise fo Lord Bilcru and party, to receive further instructions. Also, he gave the players a portrait of Michael, a salve of true-seeing, and Mikhail's wolf-hound, Dog. Pilbo was given the bracelet that linked to Dog's collar that grants empathy.

Hykros handed them over to his halfling assistant Dirtin, who was not hugely impressed with the party. He asked them to come up with a suitable disguise to travel under. The players decided to play up to the Lord Bilcru idea. Enialis would play Lord Bilcru, a powerful warrior self-styled as a Lord. Kildrik would be his dwarven bodyguard. Pilbo would be his halfling advisor, and as he had been a sailor, he had suggested to Lord Bilcru that they go to the sailors' pub, the Struggling Squid, to try their famous calamari. The Nameless Wizard was Lord Bilcru's friend who wanted to travel to Darkhaven to purchase squid ink for his spells. Darius was Lord Bilcru's chained-up barbarian slave. And Varis would not travel in the wagon, but would sneak behind them.

They leave the cathedral and head through town on the wagon towards the Western Gate.

Encounter One XP: Agreeing to the mission: 100 XP. Coming up with a plan: 100XP. Total = 200 XP.

Session Two
Heading to the Western Gate, the players were halted in their tracks by an overturned cart of a cheese merchant. They stopped to help him, but left two people on the wagon just in case. The cheese merchant rewarded them with a large wheel of cheese, plus some special halfling cheese for Pilbo. In time the traffic started to move again, but Merlika Ogreslayer of the mercenary band the Red Alliance stopped them in their tracks once more. She boasted of being really strong and said she would escort them (they lied and said they were headed to Avondiel, not Darkhaven). She challenged Kildrik to an arm wrestle to prove she was stronger than him, but she lost, so she stormed off. The players were free to continue and left the city.

Encounter Two XP: Helping with the cheese: 100XP. Not drawing too much attention to themselves: 100XP. Rebuking Merlika: 200XP. Total for this adventure so far = 600XP.

The players travelled as far as they could until dark set in and they had to make camp. They decided to sacrifice their security to be closer to the water for the horses. In the night, they set up a watch roster. When Kildrik was sitting watch, Dog started growling so loud that he woke up the players. They failed many spot checks until the lucky reroll of Pilbo let him spot a movement in the darkness. Varis and Pilbo shot fire arrows into the darkness but didn't shoot very well. Merlika Ogreslayer came out of the darkness, with four red-headed women beside her. They demanded the chest and the riches within. The party almost gave her the chest without a fight, hoping that the chest's traps would kill the women, but then they realised that it could risk setting off their quest spells! So they fought instead. After killing Merlika, Kildrik intimidated two of the remaining four women into flee. The other women were dead soon after. Dog got quite wounded, but Enialis treated him.

Encounter Three XP: Don't let the Red Alliance reach the wagon: 200XP. Defeated the Red Alliance: 300XP. Managed to raise the alarm in the night: 100 XP. Total XP so far in this adventure = 1200XP.

After hiding the corpses of the three dead mercenaries the players carried on down the road. They found the Fighting Terrier Inn, and just as they were about to arrive one of the spokes of one of the wheels on the wagon busted. So they had to unload so that the innkeeper could get his man to fix it. Thoughtfully, they paid for a room and had Darius and the Nameless One guard the chest in the room. The other four drank and ate in the common room. The innkeeper was very talkative and asked a lot of questions, but they managed to stick to their Lord Bilcru story. They spotted four men playing cards and very obviously trying to listen to their conversation. Kildrik got up and asked if he could join their game. Three of the men shuffled off, mumbling, seemingly angry to be disturbed, but one remained. He claimed he had only just met the men that day, and that his name was Hiram. He invited Kildrik to play cards with him. Meanwhile Enialis sat and talked with a family at another table. Pilbo spent 7GP on the wheel repairs, the room, and the food and drink. The wheel repaired in less than two hours, they got on their way again.

Encounter Four XP: Posted a guard over the chest: 100XP. Kept up the story despite the nosy innkeeper: 100XP. Finding out that Hiram was not with the other three men: 100XP. Total so far = 1500XP.

Session Three
While he slept, the Nameless One received a Sending from Hykros, who urged him to tell his friends not to do anything stupid, but to enact the transaction exactly as the kidnappers demanded.

Back on the road, rounding a hill, the players caught sight of a bridge over a ravine. Then they heard a terrible roar and a troll emerged! But through good teamwork, they managed to take it down before it could hurt them too much. They even found its horde of 300GP and split it evenly.

Hiram, from the tavern, sat and watched them fight the troll, and then complimented them on their skills. He said some enigmatic things about how they had to get the ransom to Darkhaven and not make any mistakes! The players sadly, did not see anything suspicious in this! They just imagined that Hiram was a perceptive, friendly man who had guessed the truth of their journey.

Encounter Five XP: Defeated the troll without help: 1400XP. Total so far = 2900 XP.

Closer to Darkhaven, the players come upon the smoking ruins of the decoy wagon full of the clerics of Cymur. It looks like they didn't go down without a fight, taking several bandits with them.

The players made it to Darkhaven and asked for directions to the Struggling Squid Inn. The shopkeeper they asked was a bit suspicious, since they weren't sailors, but gave directions anyway. Dog, the horses and the wagon had to be stabled there. The players put a special effort into getting the trunk into their room, which was booked under the name of Lord Bilcru. They posted Darius and the Nameless One to watch the trunk, sending food up to them, while the others went down to the common room to enjoy the famous calamari.

Session Four
Kildrik apparently got really paranoid when he drank, because he critically succeeded his Spot check to see suspicious characters moving towards the stairs with armour and weapons drawn. They fought a gang of thugs outside their room while two wizards climbed into the room through the balcony window. Pilbo took out four men with his fists of fire.

They managed to take all of the assailants out and then the city watch turned up to clean up. They saw nothing out of the ordinary with the situation - this just seemed like a run of the mill tourist attack.

Encounter Six XP: Bring the trunk up to the room: 200XP. Defeat the robbers without help: 300XP. Total for this adventure so far = 3400 XP.

At midnight, there was a knock on their door. A grubby, skeevy looking old man told them they were to follow him in the wagon and bring the chest. He threw a scarf at them. Dog sniffed it and barked excitedly - it seems to be a sign that they have the child. The players found the wagon all ready to go, and followed the man out of Darkhaven.

Session Five
Following the man, he led them through a magic dead zone. Then they came across the drop site, and it was Hiram who they found there! He warned the party off doing anything stupid, and got them to get off the wagon. His brother, almost an identical twin, brought the boy out. They heard Hiram use names: the brother was called Will, the old man was Clive, and the big guy who took the trunk off the wagon when ordered was Bart. Will gave the boy to the players once Hiram had the chest, and then got on the wagon and lead the horses away. Hiram and Clive rode off - and then Hiram signalled someone called Silmon, and rocks came tumbling down, cutting the party off from the kidnappers and putting their lives in danger!

Session Six
A lucky guess from the Nameless One predicted that the rocks would fall short. If they had tried to run, they would have got crushed! So instead they stood still. They tried to track the kidnappers but their tracks were greatly obscured. They found the wagon and horses again and started the trip back to Nairu.

Back in Nairu, Hykros greeted them with open arms. He invited them to dinner, where he gathered information from them and his boy. It turns out that they know these names: Clive (the old guy), Silmon (a nice lady), Will (the brother), Bart (the thug) and Hiram, or actually Tadus as Mikhail heard him being reffered to as. They don't know who the shaprshooter was or if there even was one!

Hykros invites them to come back tomorrow, if they want to talk about vengeance...

Encounter Seven XP: Verifying Mikhail's identity using Dog: 100 XP. Saving Mikhail: 400 XP. Surviving the landslide: 200XP. Without injury! 100XP.

Adventure total: 4200XP.

Players have reached Level 3.