Characters: Zak Trueblood (Rel Vobud) - Pat[0], Mena Timaly (Time Renald) - Denise[0], Lorraine Jace (Lori) - Marie[0], Jethro (Tom) - Dean[0], Kesh (Tes Larya) - Kim[0], Andre () - Gene[0],
The city of Gimel is the capital of the Duchy of Gimel. Duke Harold is the leader of this small duchy which is aligned with a larger kingdom to the east. The Duke is a good and kind ruler but has left the day-to-day running of the duchy to his Prime Minister, Mansfield LeBlank. LeBlank is a corrupt and evil man who was involved in much corruption and a member of the Black Glove. The employment in the duchy is also harshly controlled by the guilds. The Guild Master, Marcus Bello, and his son Gregory, keep a tight grip on the local merchants and prevent all but guild members to be employed.
The Father was a priest of the Church of the Common Good who believed that all people where entitled to an education and a job. The Father ran a secret school that trained people who did not have the money to pay the guild's high "tuition." Graduates of the school where found positions and guild membership costs were provided for by the school. These graduates took on the guise of emigrants who had already been trained. They lived dual lives: public lives working as foreign workers, and secret lives supporting the school and assisting new recruits.
Members of the party are graduates of the school. They have explored the 'haunted mountain' to the north of Gimel, investigated the murder of the Father, been arrested, escaped, traveled to the west to visit a magical city, and brought LeBlank and Gregory Bello to justice.
The Duke and the Guild Master's daughter, Adrian, marry as planned. With LeBlank out of action in jail and Gregory Bello executed, the Guild Master's power is weakened. Life is good in Gimel with the Guild's power waning (by royal decree) and corruption in check.
Life is good at the school as well. The party returns to the School to help rebuild. With the diminished power of the Guild, students may for the first time openly seek jobs. Enrollment at the school increases and life at the school returns to normal. As normal as it can without the Father. A new leader is chosen for the school and the party is kept busy with teaching, rebuilding, and recruiting.
Three years pass. As the group readies for the annual memorial gathering in honor of the Father a message arrives from Gimel.
The message reads:
Come at once. Urgent matter to discuss. Must talk in person. -Duke Harold
The party is in the forest on the way back to Gimel. A fire is lit since the moon is new and Zak is on watch. Late in the watch, Zak notices a glint of white in the distance. About that time, the wind picks up, clouds roll in and a mist begins to rise. The wind makes the fire flicker and almost go out. The horses get nervous and start moving about which wakes up Kesh. The group is up and readies the camp in case flight is needed.
Willie scouts the area and sees Ninjas heading for the camp. He returns and warns the group. The party tries to leave on horseback but Zak is knocked off his horse and Kesh returns to help. The rest of the party returns to assist. After a few rounds of fighting, Willie is held, and stabbed with the black knife. The party hears a terrible scream and sees Willie collapses to the ground and a dark robed figure with a white mask holding a black knife fades away. The fighting continues. Each round another party member died: Kesh, Mena, and finally Foren.
All of a sudden Everything freezes for Zak. "Zak, you can't move. The Ninjas are also frozen. You see a dark figure appear in front of you. He is wearing a white mask, one hand is white, the other is black with a black knife in it. He advances toward you laughing. Faintly you hear a voice saying over and over again, "One man's steam is another man's ice." The voice sounds familiar. The figure advances toward you and places his white hand on your right shoulder, raises his knife, and..."
Willie shakes Zak and says: "Zak. Wake up! Wake up Zak! You fell asleep on watch." The voice heard was the Father. Characters will be told of the dream that Zak had and must decide what it means.
Once the characters get to Gimel, they will learn that LeBlank has escaped and that Marcus Bello, the Guild Master, have been killed. He had no signs of wounds except for a small cut on their arm. Also the Black Knife is missing. A traveler may have sighted LeBlank leaving Gimel by the east road heading for Kovel.
The characters decide to travel to Kovel by way of the School. They return to the school after spending the night in the Silver Ram. They talk with Father Gerald who blesses their mission and offers supplies for their journey.
At sunup, the party leaves for Kovel. They travel north and east toward the east-west road between Gimel and Lovel. The road has campsites along the road every 10 miles or so and the party finds one shortly before sundown. They spend the night without incident.
The next day also goes without incident until they meet Davis and Emily Cooper at their planned way stop. The decide to camp with the Coopers and set watches. Zak casts a Detect Evil but gets no readings. The Coopers retire to their tent shortly after sundown and are not seen again until the morning they are seen entering the camp with water and firewood. No one saw the leave the tent and the tent looks like the door was not opened. The Coopers mention that there is a nice in within a day's travel called the Shady Oak Inn.
The party finds the village of Shady Oak around 2:00 and decide to stop for the night. It will give them a change to have a good night sleep and check if LeBlank has been this way. They stay in the only inn in town called the Shady Oak Inn. The party learns that LeBlank may have passed by over a week ago heading east. The owner, bartender, cook, and evening entertainment is a kind, middle aged man name Bill Hilton. The have lunch and dinner each consisting of stew and hard bread. The meals are good but monotonous.
The next morning while eating breakfast, Willie almost scalds his mouth on a broth drink. Bill apologies and remarks "One Man's steam is another man's ice." On hearing this statement, Zak is so upset that he sprays the party with the mouthful of broth he was drinking. After apologizing, Zak ask Bill about that phrase. He remarks that it is something he learned in Kovel where he was born. The phrase is not used much around here. Later Zak tells the rest of the party about his dream.
The party leaves and travels on. Another night on the read, but by the end of the next day, they reach Kovel. The pass the first inn (The Black Adder) since it looks a little rough. The find Mitch's Tavern and Inn much nicer, if more expensive at 2pg per day including breakfast and dinner. The party finds two rooms and settle in.
Willie meets with a fence and gest info on LeBlank. He cases the warehouse and is almost caught by Ninjas.
Zak casts a Detect Evil spell and discovers a beautiful blond (moderate to strong evil, hunger/longing, repressed - she is a vampire working for LeBlank named Lena Allen) who leaves with a strange, robed figure (evil alignment but not magical). Zak follows the pair and Kesh follows Zak. The pair go to the warehouse and go inside. Zak and Kesh return to the Inn and wait for Willie and make plans.
Foren checks out the Fighter's Guild but finds nothing. Mena works the bar but discovers little about LeBlank's group. Kesh checkouts the undertaker's house (William Herse) and is followed back to the bar (unknown to Kesh).
Willie trails day watches and finds the Herse house as well but discovers nothing except there is a lot of traffic going between the warehouse and the Herse house. After a day of watching, Willie returns and reports his finding. The party decides to wait till morning to proceed.
Foren and Mena go to the bar to see if there is any action but find none. When they return to their rooms, it has been searched (things are slightly out of place). They alert the others and Kesh and Willie check out the roof. While Kesh is down a trap door leading into the inn, Willie is killed. The party rushes Willie to the Temple but he can't be resurrected.
Mena and Kesh struggle. Kesh wants to go and burn down the warehouse. Mena stops him and convinces him to wait till the others get back. Kesh agrees to wait till Foren gets back. He gives Foren 15 minutes to find the others. As soon as Mena leaves, Kesh heads for the stables and warehouse. He has his horse kick open the door, throws in a lantern, backs up and waits with his bow. He kills two Ninjas but is hit from behind by the knife.
The party finds kesh under his house. They throw the Ninja bodies into the fire and head for the temple. Like Willie, Kesh's cannot be resurrected.
The next day, the party discovers that the warehouse has been burned down and the Cooper's shop was also destroyed. They learn that the undertaker's house is empty and that there are reports of a party that left town heading south early the morning after the fire.