DISCLAIMER: The following passage is regarded as highly unreliable evidence by most serious scholars of the period.

PART FOUR

- Strange Flora – Murder – Copious Drug Abuse - Rat-Burglars – Elvish Mayhem -

The group managed to leave the village without further complications and set off into the swamp. During their journey back to Marienburg they encountered a weird looking plant with blossoms that resembled human ears and lips, which they incinerated with firearrows, and later on a patch of fungus with a dead man lying in the centre. When the group went over to loot the body, Marcus triggered off a cloud of spores which tried to get into his nose and mouth. Fortunately he was able to get away before he was infected and the group were subsequently able to get a tarnished silver ring and some low quality weapons from the cadaver.

On their return, Marcus had a brief conversation with the gate guard regarding the unusual flora, and was directed to the “world-famous Marienburg Institute for Botanical Research”. Tyrella slipped away at this point to sell the ring, intending to inflate the price by claiming that it had magical powers. Although this seemed to work, the canny buyer managed to haggle her back down to a reasonable price for a normal, unremarkable ring. Angered by this, she promptly palmed the ring back off the buyer and swiftly left the area. She was later able to sell the ring for a more sizeable sum, which did not offend her pride to the extent that she felt compelled to steal it back a second time.

The rest of the group headed to the Three Barrels Inn, only to learn that the Light Wizards had taken all the available accommodation. They promptly get rooms at a nearby inn instead, and leave a message with the bartender of the Three Barrels Inn, should the merchant attempt to get in touch with them.

Then Marcus headed off to the Institute, accompanied by his faithful if reluctant bodyguard. After checking out the University and the Temple of Verena, they were eventually able to track it down to a small island to the north of the Templewijk.

The Institute itself seemed to comprise of one elderly and rather grumpy man in a black robe. He was interested in the plant with the “lips” and “ears”, requesting samples in future, and was able to identify the fungus. It releases rage-inducing spores in order to provoke fatal struggles among its victims and feed upon the remains of the losers.

Heidi then split up from Marcus after they left the Institute and made her way to the Pit Fighter’s Guild. On the way she encountered two burly men clearing up graffiti and an Ogre who was overseeing them. She chatted for a while with the Ogre, who apparently works for a notorious crime boss called Mr Henchman., before heading on to the Guild and picking up an Ironfist. She was asked if she would be interesting in fighting in the Pits herself, a female Dwarf being an oddity and therefore attracting a big crowd, but she declined, at least for the moment.

Meanwhile the Elven siblings had gone to check up on Osric at the Golden Lotus Dreaming House. On the way they noticed that they were becoming the subject of an increasing number of hostile looks but it was not until the reached the Ogre that Heidi had already met that they discovered the reason why. A dispute had blown up between the stevedores and the Sea Elves concerning the offloading of Elvish cargos and some fighting had occurred, albeit rather one-sided fighting. Mr Henchman disapproved of this anti-Elven attitude and so the Ogre provided Tyrella and Cavindel with an escort to the Golden Lotus.

Here they were quickly ushered in by a black-robed figure, concerned that the streets were not safe for Elves. Cavindel went to speak with Osric while Tyrella sampled the establishment’s fare. Osric, although still rather confused, was able to tell Cavindel that some Elves had been asking him questions earlier about the Eye. He also made clear his views, and those of Solkan, on the matter of Elves, namely that they were abominations that needed destroying. These sentiments did not help Osric’s life expectancy; just as the two were about to leave, Cavindel snuck back and slit the sleeping witch-hunter’s throat. Tyrella at this point was doing little other than giggle as she had imbibed a large quantity of refined Black Lotus.

Marcus had been in the Three Barrels Inn for some time, listening to a lecture on magical artefacts, before Heidi returned. When Tyrella and Cavindel arrived, they explained to the others what Osric had said and went on to explain that the witch-hunter had been mysteriously murdered. Discussions in the Inn indicated that a criminal by the name of Cobious was behind the recent anti-Elf feeling.

A short time after nightfall a note arrived for Marcus, inviting him to a meeting at the Rusty Barnacle tomorrow night. Unfortunately no-one in the group knew where this particular tavern was. Inquiries in the Three Barrels initially proved fruitless, even when Heidi shouted her question at the crowd in general. Tyrella eventually managed to track the location down.

A second message arrived then, from Miss Reiva this time, in which she informed Marcus that the Sea Elf Manikins were looking for him. In light of the information that Tyrella and Cavindel had already provided this was a little alarming, and the siblings headed off to the Elvish quarter to find out more.

Here the Elves were prepared to share information with their kinsmen, although expected it to be kept confidential:

• The Elves themselves are looking for the Eye.
• Salomon, a criminal from, Ind, is not significant.
• Little is known about Cassidy, and he cannot be detected by magic.
• Cobious is a crime lord working for the Elves and is attempting to hold back the stevedores.
• The Brotherhood of Purity has been stirring the stevedores up.

After this, Tyrella and Cavindel went to see their patron, Aventil Foamstrider and discussed various matters. They then went to the Temple of the Four Winds for healing before returning to the Inn.

Before Cavindel spoke to Marcus however, he first approached Heidi with an offer of employment. She declined, on the grounds that she was currently under contract to Marcus. Cavindel then went on to tell Heidi and Marcus that there was another party interested in the Eye and passed on the warning that he had received from the Elves, about transporting the Eye in a lead box and not touching it.

The group then retired to the other inn where they had booked accommodation and enjoyed a much nicer evening, away from the Light Wizards. One drunken fellow wondered aloud why a group of Elves were “stomping heads” two nights ago.

When the drinking had ended and the group had gone to sleep, they left Heidi on the first watch. She noticed a shadowy figure going through their packs and charged it with a blood-curdling yell. It let out a startled squeak before throwing a couple of razor-edged metal stars at her. One missed, the other embedded itself into her shield where it began to corrode the metal. Seeing the failure of its attack, it quickly scurried off, evading a couple of hasty blows before disappearing into the night. Before she lost it, Heidi did notice that it had a peculiar gait, and a long tail.

The others were curiously slow to awaken from their slumber, only Cavindel reacting with any kind of speed. He scouted around, looking for any sign of the creature that Heidi described but without success. The reason for the unusual sleepiness of the others soon became clear, when Heidi discovered four soporific incense burners placed in the corners of the room. When the others finally came round they discussed the attack.

Heidi believed the attacker to be a Skaven, and the Elves agreed. Marcus however was sticking very strongly to the official Imperial line that Skaven were a myth. He did identify the throwing stars as being manufactured from refined warpstone and therefore unsafe to handle. They decided to hand these over to the Light Wizards for safe disposable.

There was some confusion when they did this, as the Archwizard upstairs did not seem to realise that the people trying to get rid of the toxic materials were the same people that he was trying to hire, in the form of Cavindel, to get rid of the toxic materials. So Cavindel at least managed to make some money out of the situation.

The group then made its way to the Rusty Barnacle, in the less salubrious end of the Kruiersmuur, with the intention of spying out the land. They spent some time there, sampling the local ale and chatting with the barman. Marcus and Heidi then headed off to see Miss Reiva, where both were treated to fine hospitality by their hostess.

The group then met up again at the Rusty Barnacle as night was falling. The barman took them into a back room where they were introduced to a local free trader called Andries the Fish. He explained to them that he knew where the gem was, and indeed had a buyer already lined up. However, he appreciated that there were other interested parties and he invited the group to bid for it at the auction he was going to hold at Candle Wharf. It emerged at this point that the buyer he already had was none other than Salomon Singh. A Thijs Modegekker was the man responsible for bringing the Eye into the city.

Once they were alone, the group discussed what to do next. There was some argument in favour of leaving the situation alone; after all the situation had lost its urgency if the interested parties were now aware that the group did not possess the Eye and it seemed unlikely that they could muster the funds between them to make a serious bid.

Tyrella and Cavindel decided to speak once again with their Elvish patrons, while the other two returned to the Three Barrels Inn. The Elves decided that the best course of action now was to have the group attend the auction and distract attention from the Elvish war galley which would sail up the river and sweep the assembled bidders with ballista fire. They reassured Tyrella and Cavindel that they would not be fired upon, nor would their human ally.

At the Three Barrels Inn, Heidi and Marcus were approached by the Arch-wizard in the hope that they knew where Cavindel was. In answer to Heidi’s question, he would only reply that the reason was secret. When the Elvish siblings finally did return, and explained the new plan to their comrades, they were understandably worried.