Breaking Links

Sul, Barrakas 22, 998 YK (Day 36).

As they are on their way to the lightning rail to head west to the city of Rekkenmark (their first stop), the Eclipse Collective is interrupted by a group of thugs who claim that the party has "caused many problems" for them by "taking out the Bloodreavers and the duergar" in the Thunderspire Labyrinth. They attack, and Zil'dejin recognizes them quickly by the patches and the armbands they wear: they are Cabor's Chains. Zil'dejin is driven into a battle-mad rage, and returns their charge in equal measure. The party has little difficulty with them, who despite their numbers are quite weak and fall quickly. Afterwards, they discover a note on one of the thugs with rough descriptions of the party, and Zil'dejin insists that they investigate and discover where Cabor's Chains are hiding in the city and eliminate the group once and for all.

Zil'dejin puts on one of the arm bands worn by the slavers and wanders around less reputable areas of Vedykar, but because of his race and the almost entirely human nature of the Chains, he earns no information. Garmeth moves about the city at random looking for the armbands and patches, but also turns up empty handed. Lucan takes the note and shows it around the Vedykar Exchange to see if anybody recognizes it, and finds a beggar who does, though Lucan is forced to pay him to earn the info. Stahlstrauss, Eshunu, and Tam'elanath stay behind to track down the thugs to where they came from, and they learn that the slavers came out of the sewers. Cecil tries to use his knowledge of the city's layout to discern where they might be hiding, but is unsucessful.

When the party regroups, they decide to go into the sewers to search. Cecil remains on the surface and searches for an approximate central area for the sewers, and a ventilation shaft of some kind nearby. He winds up in the Vedykar Exchange. Garmeth also ends up on the surface after wandering about the sewers on his own, looking for the hideout arbitrarily. He meets with Cecil the Exchange. Tam'elanath uses his tracking skills and Lucan uses his knowledge of the street layout to create a mental map of the sewers, and they end up in a central hub. Zil'dejin and Stahlstrauss, who are moving together, end up there as well, but not before getting lost by Zil'dejin's navigation. Still, through the efforts of Stahlstrauss searching the walls they discover a rudimentary map of the sewers which gives more clues to the hideout of Cabor's Chains. Eshunu scatters insects to look for secret or small entrances, but comes up empty-handed (empty-mandibled?).

At this point, the five still in the sewers realize that there is a large patrol after them, and hear them approach. This patrol has to return to the main group within a set time, or Cabor's Chains will flee the city, so the Collective must avoid them. Zil'dejin and Stahlstrauss go down a random tunnel with the intent of following any passersby, but they never come that way. Eshunu goes up to the surface to find Cecil and Garmeth, and informs them of the situation, as well as the rough direction of the slaver patrol. Lucan goes up to the surface, and comes back down behind the slavers to follow them, and successfully does so with Tam'elanath, who hid in the sewers to achieve the same end.

Zil'dejin and Stahlstrauss meet with Tam'elanath and Lucan, who have found the well-hidden sewer entrance to the hideout of Cabor's Chains. Meanwhile, Eshunu, Garmeth and Cecil discover that the underground hideout is likely connected to two obviously related inns (the Hog's Head and the Hog's Tail), and after unsuccessfully trying the Hog's Tail they gain some information in the Hog's Head - Cecil seduces the clerk while Garmeth and Eshunu sneak around to find the secret entrance, which they do. The three of them proceed down a ladder hidden in a pantry, while the other four break through a door in the sewers. They meet at about the same time at opposite ends of a room where they spy a grizzled, scarred man discussing slave pit fighting with one of the slavers, who has a dragonborn slave on a chain leash.

Zil'dejin recognizes this man as Borahm the Scourge, the leader of the landship caravan he was a part of, and attacks immediately when he realizes this. Borahm taunts him, claiming he killed the man who took Cabor's life, and points to the glaive hanging on his wall, a weapon reputedly used by this killer. Cabor wields his spiked chain with great accuracy, but after a long battle, Zil'dejin takes his life. He takes Glanvar's magic glaive, which he recognizes as the genuine article. The party then sorts through some old slave contracts, which are written in unintelligible code, and take Cabor's magic bracers.

Borahm the Scourge