ASFTD: Session VI
A Shadow from the Deep
General Summary
As the party rested in the company of Bjorn and his Dwarven soldiers, Flintwick, who was clearly deeply uncomfortable with the plan that they had formulated, and the casual way in which Bjorn and the rest of the Dwarves from the Kingdom of Kjörnsholm spoke about Thralls and their position in Kjörnic society began to take an interest in the thick iron collars that the Dwarves carried, which were intended to be placed around the necks of the Thralls purchased from the Kin of Sabratha, as a sign of their bondage and status.
After a couple of hours of rest, the party moved on in the company of Bjorn and his men as they descended deeper into the Underdark. The tunnel that they were following curved and meandered until it opened up into a long, low-ceilinged cavern named Bleak Hollow. Beyond the fast flowing waters of an underground river, which they suspected was the same one they had encountered in the tunnels further up, the party could see a collection of well-crafted, fine looking tents, and hear the sounds of a large group of people up ahead. Crossing the river into the Slave Market, the party were struck by the sheer number of people of all species, surface dwellers and denizens of the Underdark that where there to view the Kin of Sabratha's wares. Moving through the slave market, Elijah began to question Bjorn about the market, specifically around who was in charge of its operations. As they were already approaching the long stone plinth from which the auctions were held, Bjorn pointed to the Shadow Elf, dressed in elaborate dark purple robes with gold embroidery, who was leading proceedings from the podium, named Bedezorus.
Now that they were in the slave market proper, Elijah, Rain and Thorwald decided to move to the auction area to see if they could assess what was going on. Their path took them past the large pit carved out of the stone floor of the cave inside of which the slaves were kept who were waiting to be brought up to the auction podium. Down in the shadows of the pit, they were sure that they could see the occasional flash of a ragged green tabard, similar to those worn by Linde Frankesen’s men. As they moved into the crowd that was observing and participating in the auction that was taking place, they watched as a group of well-educated men, described as clerks and accountants, being sold for hundreds of gold pieces each, and then being moved to another area of the slave market where they were branded with their new owners mark, and held until they were ready for collection.
Meanwhile, Flintwick had slipped away to investigate the holding area where the slaves who had been bought awaited collection by their new masters. After spending a fair amount of time investigating the construction of the cages and their doors, he attracted the attention of one slave who was being held in a large cage with several others. On questioning the Halfling through the bars he learnt that he was originally from the Union of Mishtoon where he had worked as a farmer. He had not been fed for several days, as he was not quick enough to secure any of the meagre amount of food that was dumped into the main holding pit once a day, nor had he any idea of what he would do if he managed to escape, other than try and make the journey back to the Union, which he knew would be long and dangerous. After managing to secretly palm the Halfling some morsels of food, Flintwick moved on and re-joined the rest of the group.
Back in the auction crowd, Elijah, Rain and Thorwald had observed the auction that was taking place right up to the point that a halt was called so that new wares could be brought to up from the holding pit for inspection and sale. Bedezorus, proclaiming that there was to be a pause in proceedings of around twenty minutes began to make his way across the market towards the largest of the tents in Bleak Hollow, with the party following as closely as they dared to him, eager to try and engage him in conversation. Inside the tent into which Bedezorus had gone were several large tables where Shadow Elf book keepers were taking money and making records of sales for buyers, beyond which was an area screened off from the rest of the tent by long, semi-transparent red curtains. Assuming that the screened off area was where Bedezorus had gone, Elijah and Thorwald began to approach it, whilst Rain and Elijah joined one of the queues before an administration desk in an attempt to find out some information of who was buying slaves down in Bleak Hollow. When they eventually reached the clerk at the desk the two of them learned that Linde Frankesen had never bought or sold slaves from the Kin of Sabratha before, and they also learned that the more regularly one bought from the Kin, and the more money that you spent with them, the more likely it was that a buyer would be invited down to the city of Sabratha itself, where the much larger slave markets, selling much more highly valued slaves were located. Having learned this information, Rain stepped out of the tent to explore more of the camp, and approaching an area where slaves being brought up from the holding pit could be inspected by prospective buyers, he spotted a male human who wore the distinctive green tabard and coat of arms of Linde Frankesen. Making a beeline for this man, Rain entered into a short conversation with him, learning that his name was Johann and that he had indeed been working as a guard on the ambushed caravan they had found days before. Unsure of what to do, but unwilling to leave the man alone, lest another punter become interested in buying him, Rain stood his ground in front of the man, acting to discourage anyone who showed interest in him.
Hearing the sound of soft voices behind the curtain, Elijah and Thorwald decided to enter the closed off area and directly start a conversation with Bedezorus. Inside the closed off area they found Bedezorus and two other Shadow Elves sat around a table, conversing and drinking wine, and a potentially frosty reception was quickly brought round when Elijah and Thorwald claimed to be from the Barony of Hohensten looking to buy slaves. The mention of Hohensten clearly intrigued Bedezorus, who invited Elijah and Thorwald to join him at the table, and dispatched one of the Shadow Elves to collect a series of documents for him. Having gotten this far, Elijah and Thorwald fell back on their line that they were working for Linde Frankesen and were looking to buy back some of her people who had been captured by the Kin. Bedezorus, however, was clearly interested in probing deeper into their relationship within Hohensten to the Baron. He suggested that they could perhaps come to some sort of deal surrounding Linde Frankesen’s men, if the two of them would agree to deliver something for him. As Bedezorus’ assistant came back into the curtained area, bearing a small stack of paper, Bedezorus showed them a contract that had been drawn up, detailing the reserving of a slave by Baron Theobald who was valued at several thousand Platinum pieces, who it was intimated was the Baron’s flesh and blood. Written in red ink on the bottom of the contract were the words ‘Payment defaulted, asset reclamation activities commenced’. Bedezorus then noted that he had been tasked by the Matriarch of the Kin of Sabratha to send the Baron messages, carved onto the backs of people taken from his own Barony, warning him that his time to pay up was short. To further press the point, and make plain how impatient the Kin were becoming, he asked that Elijah and Thorwald deliver a small wooden box to the Baron on his behalf and to tell him that representatives from the Kin of Sabratha would meet him at the village of Ansbirn in the north of Hohensten to discuss final payment in a week’s time. Inside the box was a single severed, human ear still wearing a gold earring in the shape of a tower.
Having come to an agreement, Bedezorus then led Elijah and Thorwald out into the slave market, where they were joined by Flintwick, and they began to pick out to him the slaves in the holding pit that looked as if they wore the uniforms of Linde Frankesen’s trading company. These slaves were then brought out to the inspection area where Rain was standing guard over Johann so that the party could confirm the slaves were indeed employees of Linde Frankesen. The eight individuals, including Johann did indeed all bear the same Frankesen coat of arms, and they managed to hash out a deal with Bedezorus that he would hold them back from sale until they had delivered his message to the Baron and that they would then buy their freedom, at a reduced price, from him at the meeting that the Baron was expected to attend. As a show of good faith, they bought the freedom of Johann, so that they could take him back to the surface, and on to Kleinhaupt to increase their case with Linde Frankesen, who they still hadn’t met.
With the deal struck the party readied themselves to leave immediately, when they realised that Flintwick was missing. Just as they began to look around for him, there was the sound of a gunshot from the other side of the market, followed shortly by a deafening explosion. As Shadow Elf guards began to converge on the area near the holding cells, Bedezorus, followed by the party followed and found Flintwick surrounded by guards, two of which were using Creature Catchers in an attempt to restrain him. In the area where the auction had been taking place, one of the bags that Bjorn’s men had been carrying, full of the Thrall collars had been torn open by the small Blackpowder device that Flintwick had planted there, and scattered its warped metal content throughout the area. As the party approached, they saw Flintwick turn and shoot off the lock on the nearest holding cell, clearly in an attempt to free the slaves inside. As a guard stabbed him in the back of the leg, Flintwick was brought down to his knees as Bedezorus began to move towards him. With a swift movement he drew a dagger from his sleeve and cut Flintwick’s throat, before turning back to Elijah, Rain and Thorwald. ‘I suggest you choose your friends more carefully next time. You have one week, and I will know if you do not carry out your side of the deal. Do not disappoint me….’
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