Creation of Narrative in Tabletop Role-Playing Games - Jennifer Grouling Cover [110]
“Maureen!” I exclaimed, “Don’t scare us like that!”
Maureen sighed. “Would you all like some almonds? David?”
David grumbled, “You take the second watch. Now.” He returned to his bedroll.
Maureen shrugged her shoulders and agreed to watch camp. So, we all snuggled back into bed, only to be awakened once more. Maureen had spied three figures in black robes approaching us. As David readied his sling, two arrows whizzed past Maureen and Cuthalion. The figure in the rear hurled a sack into the camp, which landed at my feet. I immediately began to investigate by poking it with my rapier. The sack seemed to be made from a fine cloak and was closed by gold-woven cord. I cut it open and two heads rolled out. I jumped back in shock ... it was the half-elven twins, Mirador and Mardowin! In addition to the heads were two hands tied to a long black arrow, and a scroll tube with the markings of Erbin, the god worshiped by those evil religious zealots we had encountered in Gateway. I wondered immediately what Maureen might be up to and grabbed the scroll tube and stuck it in my cloak. My thought was to see what it said before she did.
I found that Maureen had charged one of the assailants with her rapier, and he appeared to have fallen. By this time, Maureen and the others were chasing one of the other attackers, and I saw my opportunity to get some information without the others finding out. But Maureen must have had the same thought because she returned to the body as well. The guy was unconscious, so I sacrificed one of my healing potions in hopes of getting some useful information from him.
As he came through I challenged him, “Who sent you?”
He spat at me. Without hesitating, Maureen cut off his ear and asked again, “Who sent you?”
The prisoner glared at us, “You know who sent me—the one who will be your death.”
Maureen went for his other ear, but I stopped her. After all, we needed him to be able to hear us. She cut off his finger instead and asked, “Why were you sent?”
“To deliver a warning. Had they wanted you dead, you would be dead.”
“Did Thaddeus send you?” I asked, trying to make my connection between the mysterious man I encountered in Travensburg and the Obsidian Brotherhood, the underground group that we fought in Gateway.
He scowled, “Thaddeus is not my master.”
“But you know him?” I prodded.
“Of course, I know him.”
“So, who is your master?” Maureen proceeded.
“Soren. He will come for you.” At which point the prisoner faded into unconsciousness. We decided to end his suffering, so I gave Maureen my dagger to slit his throat. Much to my shock, she also carved her initial in his chest.
We returned to camp to find Fletch still there. The rangers were still in pursuit of the enemy, and knowing what a powerful enemy it was, I decided it would best to warn them and sent Poe, my raven familiar, to tell them to come back to camp. Meanwhile, Maureen offered us a much-needed drink.
The rangers returned to camp and asked about the attacker we had pursued. We hadn’t thought much about how the party would respond to our interrogation of him, so we quickly said that he had been taken care of. They asked if we had searched the body, and I admitted that we hadn’t.
David immediately wanted to check it out. At which point, Maureen and I stood in his way and tried to convince him it was of little importance. But this only piqued his and Cuthalion’s curiosity, and they seemed in none too good a mood to begin with. So, they went and searched the body and were quite unhappy to find him with an “M” carved into his chest.
They returned to camp and demanded to know who these attackers were, who the heads were, and what was going on. At this point I had no choice but to trust my new party members. Maureen and I explained who the Obsidian Brotherhood were and our various dealings with them. Maureen even showed the group her