I received the summons quite early on a rather dreary Mestea morning. Why Lord Iphios requested my presence was at once unclear and a bit unsettling. Although sometimes appearing on the fringes of the socialite lifestyle, certainly I had no prior dealings with a noble such as Iphios. Oh well, best to see what the blueblood wants.

Iphios’ instructions are to meet at some cemetery overlooking the harbor. I arrived to find Lord Iphios waiting with an interesting collection of locals. Standing near the lord is a hulking member of the city guard named Gorgos. Talking quietly amongst themselves are, I learn, a potter named Damos and some apparent tomb-raider named Cyrus. Quite a curious collection indeed…

Iphios greets us and claims he needs our help with something, then stands aside to reveal the shattered door of an ancient tomb. He explains this is the final resting place of Eleus the Elder. Naturally I remember the name as one of the ancient and revered astrologers of the past, but this knowledge gives me no insight as to why his grave would be disturbed. The five of us enter the desecrated tomb, to find three sarcophagi. Two appear undisturbed, that of Damia, wife of Eleus, and their child Dauphine. The third sarcophagus, however, is a wreck. The remains of Eleus have been taken, and there is nothing to suggest the identity of the culprits. Iphios tells us that this is not the first such crime in Klymeus, in fact, over the previous year a half dozen such robberies have occurred. This very graveyard was in fact patrolled by a pair of city guardsmen, apparently to no avail.

Iphios is quite troubled. The city is already a bit on edge with the failing health of King Acateon, and these grave-robbings have some of the other local lords wondering aloud if Iphios is up to the task of protecting the city as is his charge. Our small, eclectic congregation is to investigate the disappearances of the bones of the ancient astrologers… At least I now understand why I am here. This has the smell of foul magic about it, although of what sort and to what end I cannot say. Certainly my firemagic skills will be needed…

Emerging from the desecrated tomb, the group notes the approach of a horse-drawn carriage into the cemetery. The carriage pulls up to the tomb of Eleus the Elder, and Eleus the Tenth disembarks. By chance Cyrus the tomb-raider happens to be nearest the old noble, who immediately begins to berate the stunned man for allowing such a travesty. The potter Damos interrupts, and begins rapid-firing questions at the old noble…How did he learn of the robbery? A messenger very early was it? And how did you find the messenger service? Much to early you say?... Thoroughly distracted by the quick-tongued potter, the old man alights his carriage and heads for home, but not without providing us our first clue. It seems that Eleus X’s manservant Elestos greeted the messenger that morning. Perhaps he will provide us information regarding this stranger…

At our request, Iphios summons the guardsmen who patrolled the graveyard last night, an old-timer named Pello and some wet-behind-the-ears recruit named Cleon. Neither prove to yield much in the way of useful information, although their stories are confused, and I believe they probably spent their shift drinking whiskey instead of patrolling the grounds… After this, Iphios departs, as do the less-then-useful guardsmen. Damos agrees with the logic of interviewing this manservant Elestos, while the pot-bellied Gorgos takes Cyrus to re-interview the two derelict guardsmen, separately this time.

Damos and I arrive at the dilapidated mansion of Eleus X. Obviously the old guy has been clinging to his ancient family status and dwindling treasury for too long now… We knock at the front door, and eventually are greeted by Elestos, a man nearly as old as his master Eleus. There is even some physical resemblance, perhaps this Elestos is a cousin of some sort, who knows… From the servant we get a description of a distinctive little man, quite unattractive with a bulbous, crooked nose. We also learn that the last such grave-robbery victim’s family, one Lord Myndas, also received notice of the event from a messenger that may be one and the same as our misshapen man. We learn that we should seek Xeneus, Myndas’ baker for more information.

Arriving shortly at the much better maintained home of Lord Myndas, we are directed to the servants entrance around back by some haughty servant. (Perhaps a hotfoot would change his attitude?) We ask at the rear entrance for this Xeneus, who appears shortly. A nervous little creature this baker, but he does confirm our suspicions regarding the messenger. Very early, very ugly. It must be the same man. Damos and I decide to report these early findings to Iphios, since we need to ask the Lord Protector a few other questions as well…

We meet Cyrus and Gorgos at the manor of Lord Iphios, and together we detail our brief investigations thus far. Gorgos begins to divulge concerns regarding Pello, but Iphios cuts him short, explaining that the experienced Pello has been shepherding the young Cleon, a political hiring, some relative of a Lord or some such, one which Iphios rather seems to regret. Iphios admits that he had not sent any messengers to inform Eleus X or Myndas of the break-ins. This confirms our suspicions that the ugly messenger is our first key to unlocking this puzzle… The group begins to speculate out loud as to the cause for the robberies. Damos asks if I know of any nefarious magical purpose for these old bones, but, uncertain as to the possibilities, I keep my suspicions to myself. Iphios opines that this may be an attempt by more devious Lord of the City to discredit him in order to elevate their own progeny to his post. We take our leave of Iphios. Gorgos and Cyrus break off separately for some purpose unrevealed to the rest of us, while Damos concocts a plan.

Finding Gorgos, we form a trio a short while later and descend once again on the servant’s entrance at the manor of Lord Myndas. Soon Xeneus is produced, and the potter weaves his rhetoric again. Using the rather imposing figure and personage of Gorgos in his guard’s regalia, we quickly convince Xeneus to accompany us as we seek out this mysterious messenger. Cyrus is still missing, but we determine to carry out Damos’ plan nevertheless. As one who has first-hand visual knowledge of the ugly man, Xeneus will be quite valuable to us in this quest. We begin to question the bartenders and serving wenches at various dock-side pubs in the seedier section of town. A half-dozen stops and no small number of beers later, our search bears fruit. At the Far Traveler the barkeep is quick to identify the man we describe as Leus, a regular customer. Damos quickly assures the man that we seek Leus to repay a debt, and the party pays for a private room curtained of from the common area. Damos stealthily cuts a small peephole in the curtain to conduct surveillance and await the arrival of Leus. I tire quickly of the conversation in the curtained room (Gorgos, “So, we all have ancestors?” - not very bright this one…) and take a seat at a table in a corner near the door, to watch for Leus from this vantage.

After some time waiting, a man who clearly fits Leus’ description arrives to the throaty greetings of many of the bars regular customers. Leus heads for the bar. As Gorgos and Damos appear from the curtained room, I approach the messenger from behind. We maneuver the confused little man to my table, where Damos instructs him to accompany us outside to discuss, “Business.” Leus loudly proclaims that he has no secrets and regardless, all here are his friends, so we can speak at ease. Damos urges him, “This is business you’d want to keep to yourself, friend.” Then, whispered, “The game is over. Lord Demios has implicated you. You are in serious trouble.” Leus tells his curious compatriots that this is all a big misunderstanding, and that he will return shortly. With that, we take him out of the bar and into an adjacent alleyway for questioning. Leus appears confused. “Why would Lord Demios be talking about me?” We inquire about his messenger duties as regards the tomb break-ins. He demurs, “The break-ins are clearly public knowledge.” But we remind him that he knew of these far too early for word to have spread to the general populace, in fact, before Lord Iphios arrived on the scene. How does he have such detailed foreknowledge of these events without sharing responsibility? He is reluctant to answer, despite Gorgos’ stated desire to beat the information from him, until I quietly produce a rather small flame from the nether and manipulate it casually. Damos quickly catches on, and plays up the small display fully, “See that? My friend here can do that to you if necessary – from great distances even…” It is amusing to wonder who is more frightened by this threat, Leus or the simple-minded Gorgos… With this bit of intimidation, Leus does divulge that he meets with a man who sometimes gives him tasks, such as notifying the families of those desecrated tombs. In fact, he is to meet the man this very evening at the nearby Dancing Fish. It is decided that Damos and Gorgos will scout ahead at the Fish, while I keep Leus under close observation until the meeting time arrives. I return to the Traveler and buy the somewhat subdued Leus a drink, (instructing the barkeep to bill Lord Iphios) while reassuring his buddies that all is well. Leus tries to talk his way free of the engagement, offering to spy for us for coin, showing a willingness to betray his contact. When this is pointed out and when questioned on his variable loyalty he is unable to respond with much. We wait and drink in relative silence…

As the appointed hour nears, I escort Leus to the Dancing Fish. He ‘accidentally’ bumps an arriving patron as we leave, briefly escaping my grasp, but my natural nimbleness aids me, and I clamp down quickly on his collar, warning him against another such attempt… On the way, we run into Cyrus, absent for so long until now. He tells a disjointed tale of how he and Gorgos apparently assaulted Xanton, Leus’ contact, and so debilitated him that they needed to take him to the nearby temple of Poseidon for immediate medical attention… Leus seems no less confused then I, especially when Cyrus asks if I know where Damos is. “He went with Gorgos to the Dancing Fish.” I respond. Cyrus is now the one confused, as apparently Damos was not with Gorgos when the Cyrus encountered the latter earlier that evening. At that moment the object of our discussion himself appears. I am now becoming more and more concerned with the loyalties of this small group I find myself associated with. People seem to appear and disappear with little rhyme or reason, and the idiot (or skilled acting) guardsman just rendered our next suspect unconscious and useless…

For some reason the priestesses of the temple are familiar with Cyrus, so Damos decides to go and attempt to determine the health and possibly interrogate this Xanton. Cyrus and I accompany Leus to the Dancing Fish to await further developments. After no small amount of time passes, I begin to grow yet more concerned over the whereabouts of the potter and the dullard, and send Cyrus off to investigate. While alone with Leus, I agree to use him for some intelligence gathering, since he appears no more suspicious by nature than my own traveling companions. We agree to meet before dawn at the tomb of Eleus the Elder for his report, both on the events afoot, and on my “friends.” Cyrus returns with Gorgos, having apparently located him in a sailor’s prayer circle at the temple (?) while Damos appears a short time later, to inform us that the injured Xanton has been sedated by the sisters of Poseidon and will not be available for questioning until the following morning. After dismissing Leus with veiled threats regarding my firemagic, Damos does provide one bit of good news. We have another name to investigate. Before being sedated, Xanton requested to be taken to a ‘Senesh Haburta.’ The name is foreign and unfamiliar, but it is a lead…

It is nearing midnight, but the plot is unraveling, and so we agree to separate for various reasons, and to meet in a couple hours at the food cart of a vendor named Niko. I am uncertain what the others are off to, but I retire to my apartment, to concoct a couple doses of sleeping draught, and catch a quick cat-nap.

Meeting as planned at Niko’s, Cyrus and Gorgos tell of speaking with Pello’s wife, who sobbingly stated that Pello went off with a man matching Leus’ rather unmistakable description, apparently not an uncommon event. Pello was upset at having been assigned desk duty by Lt. Anto. Gorgos and Cyrus determine that this implicates him in the disappearances, though I am as yet unconvinced. Damos then produces an astrologer’s notebook, replete with many notations regarding the movement of the stars. It is an unremarkable book but for the entry on the last page showing a rare confluence of four prominent celestial bodies aligning in a perfect diamond pattern. There must be some significance here, but unable to determine what it means, I remain silent. I offer to retain the book for further study. Talk quickly returns to the cemetery where Eleus’ tomb was defiled. For some reason the others become convinced that a second break-in at the same location is likely tonight. The proposal to stake out the cemetery is floated, and seems to gain consensus. This is not exactly what I had in mind when I thought to meet Leus here, expecting rather to be undisturbed… In order to maintain some secrecy in my investigations, I go along with the plan, and arriving at the old graveyard take up a spot near the tomb of Eleus, the better to try to catch Leus unobserved come dawn. Not expecting much here, I get as comfortable as possible and doze. The night passes as uneventfully as I anticipated, and my meeting with Leus was, less than earth-shattering to say the least. He was unable to provide any useful information regarding Senesh Haburta, and really the only new information he provided at all was that the guard Gorgos has an illegitimate daughter with a barmaid at the Dancing Fish (actually, I remember the girl, a cute, saucy wench who had served us the night before…) I question Leus about his relationship with Pello. Pello is a simply a friend, he assures me, nothing more. Unable to coax anything else from the little man, I agree to give Leus some more time for his investigations; we establish a meet later that evening…

Our vigil unsuccessful, the party reassembles and discusses our immediate plans. I accompany Damos to the temple of Poseidon to question Xanton. It seems that Damos has disguised himself as a traveling healer, and under this ruse we are greeted quickly by the sisters. They do not have good news to share. During the night some sort of monsters appeared in the temple, slaying both Xanton and a sister nursing him. They are described by a transient rooming at the temple as dark of skin, light of foot, with white hair and a cat-like grace. Listening to the accounts, I recognize them as Druas, and examination of the room where the killings occurred uncovers a Druas footprint in the standing blood on the floor. Things are certainly getting interesting! That our adversary is employing Druas assassins is a most unwelcome development… Discussing things with Damos, he now reveals that the astrologer’s book I have taken possession of last belonged to Theus. Theus is a hack of an astrologer; a haughty, snotty man whom I had the displeasure of studying with briefly some time before. He has lately been climbing in the astrologer circles however, and there is talk of him as the next king (the folly…) I also learn of a passing connection between Theus and Senesh Haburta, which Damos has apparently uncovered from an undisclosed source. This connection is further strengthened when we rejoin Cyrus and Gorgos. Cyrus relates information given by his scholar friend Agarato, who claims that Senesh Haburta is a Hyperborean sorcerer manipulating the young astrologer Theus to his own ends. We all agree that some rest is in order before we confront this Senesh Haburta. We shall meet again at 2 o’clock. Before turning in however, I convince Cyrus to lead me to his scholar friend, who is very reluctant to tell more of what he knows. I cruelly inform him of the Druas assassins, and assure him that he needs to share all he knows lest his fate be the same as poor Xanton’s. He does reluctantly give up information indicating that Haburta is not Hyperborean at all, but rather a Thulian sorcerer of some merit, and an altogether undesirable creature.

Cyrus and I part ways for the aforementioned rest. Barely do I reach my residence however when the mournful notes of the Palace trumpeters announce the passing of the sickly king. So much for napping. If there indeed is some plot with this Haburta and he intends on elevating the hack Theus to the throne, we must act quickly, to ensure that Euriman is elevated to his rightful place instead of this pretender and his puppet-master. Needing to reassemble the group quickly so that we may act to stop this travesty of justice, I seek out the shop kept by the potter Damos. The shop is closed up when I arrive, but as I knock on the big glass window Damos appears behind me. Sparing no time for idle pleasantries I tell him that we need to regroup and act quickly. He is prepared. He too has heard the trumpets and suspected that they indicated the passing of King Acateon. Although he seems unconcerned with the political implications of Theus’ possible ascendancy, he does agree that action is required. Just as we begin to discuss how best to locate Cyrus, he and Gorgos quickly ascend the hill nearby and join us in front of Damos’ shop. Gorgos is short of breath, and decked out with a shield and cuirboulli helmet, and hefting a two-handed battle axe. I am not sure how he came to grasp the importance of the trumpets, but am glad he is well prepared all the same. Suddenly he begins babbling that I should burn them, burn them quickly. I try to explain that I need to know who I am burning (I have not let on that Damos’ exaggerated the range of my magic a bit to Leus, and Gorgos seems convinced I have some sort of long range flame-throwing ability. Oh well, it won’t hurt to keep him properly respectful of my abilities after all…) Gorgos is not talking about Haburta or Theus even however. He has a note which he shows to me. It says that he must show up at the Observatory at Midnight, and he is not to speak of this to anyone. So much for that I think… I convince the frazzled guard to drink a bit of my concoction, and he calms enough to explain that along with the letter he received a lock of hair, which he recognizes as his daughter’s. I feign surprise at the revelation of this daughter, to match the reaction of the others. It would appear that someone has kidnapped the lummox’s little girl. This is dire indeed, but the more pressing matter is Senesh Haburta and Theus. I convince Gorgos that the two are related, and the four of us set off for Haburta’s residence.

We barely arrive in time. As we approach, a carriage drawn by a stout pair of horse leaves the drive, and turns away from us heading towards the Palace. Briefly, Theus’ pitiful face is evident in the rear window, but I have little sympathy for the weak man. His own ambitions surely led him to his current position. I yell out for the carriage to halt, and after slowing briefly, a harsh command comes from the passenger compartment and the driver violently snaps the reins and the carriage begins to accelerate away. Not content to allow the apparent source of our troubles to escape quite so easily, I quickly create a minor fireball directly in front of the straining horses. Startled, they rear and stomp, and become quite frantic. This has the desired effect as the carriage slows to a near halt. Damos had been sprinting after the carriage, and now sprung up onto the running boards and spoke to those inside briefly before jumping down and then climbing onto the driver’s bench and grappling with the sturdy man holding the reins. Together they tumbled to the ground. Meanwhile Cyrus had run to the other side and was now apparently talking to or slashing at the horses, which at least served to further frighten them. Gorgos closed on the rear of the carriage and began hacking feverishly at the wooden wheel with his large axe. The coachman on top the carriage stood and threw a short sword at Cyrus, which deflected harmlessly of the flank of one of the horses. I was now close enough to look into the carriage myself. Theus was there, of course, as was a wizened, heavily cloaked fellow who frankly radiated evil. “Senesh Haburta I presume.” “And you must be the firemage I have heard so much about,” he replied. With that, he began the motions and incantations of a spell, and I reflexively dove for the ground, feeling my hair prickle as the unknown magic passed by harmlessly above me. Time to fight fire with fire as it were, and so I quickly sent a powerful fireball screaming into the depths of the carriage itself. The spell ignited with a very satisfying crash and the carriage was engulfed in flames rather immediately, just as I intended. Unfortunately (for him) poor, dear Theus was consumed by the flames, but to my surprise Haburta managed to stagger out the door on the other side of the carriage. There he was quickly tackled by Damos, apparently not merely the simple potter he wished to appear… “Remember, Stop Drop and Roll!” he exclaimed as he carefully bounced the villain’s head of the cobblestones, rendering Haburta unconscious. As this was happening, Gorgos came under surprise attack by a pair of Druas, probably the very same assassins who had done in Xanton the night before. Gorgos quickly readied his small shield and his baton, and began a duel with the two lithe creatures. The coachman had now jumped down to struggle with Cyrus, who seemed to be handling things quite well. I ran around the back of the carriage to see Damos trussing Haburta, and quickly decided that however skilled Gorgos may be, he was outnumbered and perhaps overmatched by the pair of Druas. After briefly considering a fire attack, only to discard this option for fear of killing Gorgos in the backlash, I ran and attempted to tackle the one assailant Gorgos had yet to strike. Unsuccessful in my attempt, I at least distracted him from continuing to strike at Gorgos. Now if Damos or Cyrus would come help before these skilled knife fighters carved me up for lunch… I quickly determined that my best chances for survival were in actively trying to stay clear of the Druas’ strikes, which I managed to do nicely. Cyrus then joined Gorgos, and together they killed one of the assassins. The one facing me paused briefly to calculate the new odds, as Damos too advance upon the fracas, and turned to run. Before he got ten steps away, my fireball engulfed him, leaving a smoking and charred corpse behind…

The adrenaline of the fight was fading quickly when a pair of city guardsmen appeared and tackled Gorgos who was still brandishing his baton. Before he had a chance to determine who was assailing him now, Gorgos struggled fiercely, and with no small amount of success, scoring minor but undoubtedly painful blows to the peacekeepers. I quickly stepped in to explain the situation, and soon all had their weapons holstered. At some point Cyrus and Damos vanished, not to my great surprise. As another pair of guards arrived, I explained that Senesh Haburta was behind the desecration of the cities tombs (which I fervently hoped would prove to be true…) and that in all likelihood he had a kidnapped child squirreled away in his nearby residence. When asked about the flaming carriage, I denied knowledge of its remaining (and rankly burning) occupant, not wishing to deal with the explanations that killing young Theus would entail, at least until I could speak with Lord Iphios. I directed one of the guardsmen to fetch Lord Iphios, tasked another to guard over the still unconscious, bound and gagged form of Haburta, and took the remaining pair to investigate the Thulian’s residence, seeking evidence of Gorgos’ daughter.

Approaching the door to Haburta’s manor, we could hear an agitated growl from just inside. Some sort of animal was patrolling here, but what kind I could not determine. I prepared another fireball, and told Gorgos to get the door. He faithfully began to hack at it with his large axe. “Try the latch,” I suggested, and he immediately complied, striking the latch solidly with the axe. Quickly becoming exasperated, I tried again, “No, open the latch, with your hands…” No sooner had he thrown back the door when some kind of dark, large feline pounced at him. Loosing my readied fireball directly at the creature, I scored another direct hit. By the time it landed on Gorgos’ chest, the flaming kitty was dead. Quickly extinguishing the secondary flames on Gorgos’ clothing, the four of us entered the residence. I directed the guardsmen to search the upstairs, while Gorgos and I headed through a door to the left. We discovered a well appointed study, and a door leading to a staircase descending into darkness. Casually summoning a minor flame to light our way, I followed Gorgos into the large basement. An impressive array of alchemy equipment lined one wall, while a number of large, wooden chests sat near another. As we took this in, I absently invoked a small magic and lit the many candles that were in evidence, providing a goodly amount of light in the room. The two guardsmen found us, and reported finding nothing upstairs. They seemed a little distressed at this, and seemed rather uncomfortable to be in this strange basement as well. Gorgos discovered that the chests were locked, and as we began to discuss our next actions, Cyrus suddenly descending from the study above. Stating that Damos was upstairs, Cyrus examined the locks, and somehow managed to get them open quickly. As he lifted the lid of the first however, a low, plaintive moaning was heard to emanate from the box. Startled, he dropped the lid and stepped back. I had a suspicion that these chests held the remains we sought, and I crossed over and lifted the lid of the moaning chest to reveal, indeed, skeletal remains. The moaning continued. I could not find any way immediately to identify the remains, but decided to close the lid anyway, so to stop the moaning, at least temporarily… One of the guardsmen had apparently remembered a pressing engagement, for the last thing I could see of him is his rapidly retreating backside up the stairs and out of the eerie basement.

Lord Iphios arrives, and although I explain that we have solved the mystery, and have in our possession the missing remains, if not the means to identify and differentiate them for a return to their proper resting place, he seems less then totally pleased. Here I do explain, regretfully, the demise of Theus, and point out that now at least the foreign manipulator Haburta is in custody, and Euriman’s ascendance should proceed as planned. Iphios asks Gorgos if this room has been carefully searched, and is informed that we only just arrived here not many minutes before. The search is conducted, and the guard that did not flee uncovers a number of smaller boxes back on a shelf behind bottles of reagents that seem to match the chests of bones. Inside are what appear to be the burial artifacts from our disturbed corpses, and using this new development we are able to determine who is whom (or was anyway…) Damos rather cavalierly requests payment, for his “associates” which Lord Iphios assures him will be forthcoming. Iphios also seems less than convinced that all the pieces of this puzzle are in place, but with the exception of recovering Gorgos’ missing child, what possibly could remain undone?