Session Fourteen: Mirrors Everywhere

Image from the great blog Hack & Slash

Since they have a surplus of trade goods left over from the treasure hoard, the Doppelstompers decided to head toward Pechen to try and sell them to the merchants there. But first, they make a detour to visit the local baroness, Lady Miloslava Sved. The Doppelstompers are interested in turning the hospital the doppelgangers had been using into their own base of operations. The baroness doesn't actually have jurisdiction over the city, and is unwilling to use her influence to help a ground of adventurers. The 'Stompers do get the feeling that she does not get along with the mayor, Hosok Tere.

The Doppelstompers are increasingly worried about the bandits that seem to be preying on travelers between Threshold and Pechen. They hired some troops, some crossbowmen and heavy infantry, but they still don't have a large number of people compared with the amount of bandits they've seen.* As they load the wagon up for their trip, a shady figure shows up with the now familiar crates, and asks if they characters will take them to Pechen, and deliver them to Vladimir le Poutine.** The trip does not yield up any bandits, though there is a hydra the party had to sneak around.

When they get to Pechen, the party sells their trade goods without incident and goes to meet with Vladimir. They trade him the crates for 4,000gp. While in Pechen, they decide to look into this wizard who's looking for them. Vasily meets with some low reaction rolls unfriendly townspeople, and gets angry, but Devabriel is able to calm him down. Devabriel, on the other hand, is able to talk to some of his commercial contacts, and learns that the wizard is named Sanbalet. That seems to be a good excuse for the party to leave town, and go loot the abandoned tower they've heard about.

The tower is largely unoccupied. On the first floor, underneath a pile of supplies, is a baboon, which is quickly slept. The Doppelstompers are divided on what to do with it. Ieho argues it is dangerous, and should be killed, but Darwain wants to leave it alive. In the end, Darwain wins, and he carries the sleeping ape outside of the tower. In every room in the tower, there is a pane of broken glass reflecting the contents of the room. In several rooms, there are also signs of violence. Whatever happened to the owner of the tower, it is clear that it was not voluntary.

On the second floor, in a room with yet another mirror, Vasily noticed some movement inside the mirror. Before he could say anything, a large baboon-like creature leaped from inside the mirror to attack him. It was a fearsome beast, but Wylith incapacitated it with a choking grasp, allowing the Doppelstompers to kill it easily. In the next room, an ochre jelly split into five when it was hit by an arbalest bolt, but Wylith's burning hands made quick work of them.

At the top of the tower, the party found a room with four cages. One had obviously been used to free the baboon Darwain rescued, and another was still home to four stirges. Fortunately, when they swarmed, Vasily killed three of them, his sword practically making a snicker-snack sound. The fourth was not a problem for the experienced party, and they left the tower.

*As a side note, while bandits are found in the wilderness in bands of up to 80 men, a bandit camp generally contains several such bands.
**Sadly, the very next day, I saw a local barbecue joint make the same joke, but with cheese curds.