Interlude - Scene 8 (of 10)

Goldar heads into the hallway and looks down the stairs.  Below is a barracks room with a couple of goblins and a bugbear.  He charges in and attacks the first goblin.  Berend moves in behind him, missing the bugbear with his flame strike.  Ragdar follows.

Back down in the hallway, Vector tries to open the double doors with his mage hand spell.  They quickly realize their error when the hands rattle the doors but find them locked.  Brandis tries to break the doors down, but isn't strong enough.  Saxton, however, is able to crash it down.

Goldar cuts into the goblin next to him with his giant sword.  The goblin attacks him back, chopping into Goldar with its battle axe.

Nearby, Medrash maneuvers his way over to the bugbear at the end of the room.  He cut's into it with a viper's strike, then follows up by blasting it with his flaming dragon's breath.  Berend attempts to assist him with a lance of faith blast, but misses.

Out in the main hallway, two goblin guards move in and both cut into Saxton's light armor.  From the rear, Vector blasts one of them with his magic missile.  Brandis attempts to assist as well summoning his divine strength and attacking, but his mace swings over the goblin's head.

Back in the barracks room, Ragdar curses the bugbear, and then misses him with an eldritch blast.  The bugbear attempts to strike at Medrash, but can't penetrate his tough armor.

Outside, Saxton challenges the goblin in front of Brandis then launches into a brash strike on the goblin in front of him.

Inside, Goldar launches a pressing strike against his goblin.  The goblins in the barracks attack back, cutting into Goldar twice.  The other two, outside, manage to miss Saxton.

Vector then hurls a flaming sphere to the rear of the goblins, blasting them with fire.

Medrash also opts for a massive attack, striking at the bugbear with a bloody ending maneuver.

Berend calls out a healing prayer on Goldar, then launches a flame blast at the bugbear.  Ragdar follows it up with an eldritch blast.  The bugbear attacks back, slamming his mace hard into the dragonborn's head.

Brandis stabs at the goblin in front of him, wounding it.  Saxton, however, finishes off his opponent with a brash strike.  The other goblin attacks Saxton, cutting into him again.  Vector tries to finish the goblin off with a magic missile, but misses.

Inside, Goldar chops into his goblin opponent again.  It attacks back, cutting him deep.  Berend calls out another healing prayer for Goldar.  Next to him, Medrash fails to connect his sword with the bugbear.

Berend then calls out a daunting light, blasting the bugbear into cinders.  Ragdar then curses the goblin on Goldar, then blasts it away with his eldritch blast.

Brandis and Saxton struggle to kill off their remaining goblin opponent.  Brandis manages to score a wound on it with his valorous strike, but Saxton misses with his brash strike.  Saxton then takes a moment to catch his breath, after having been stabbed so many times by the goblins.  As he recovers, the goblin stabs into him again.

They aren't the only ones having trouble, as Goldar takes on another of the goblins in the barracks, charging into it with his avalanche strike.  He ends up with a goblin blade in his ribs for the trouble.

Back outside, Vector softens the goblin at the door with a magic missile.  Brandis then finishes it off with an invigorating smite.

In the barracks, Medrash misses the remaining goblin with his sword.  Berend, however, flames it into charcoal with a series of two blasts of sacred flame.

Interlude - Scene 9 (of 10)

With the goblin and bugbear guards dead, the group searches the bodies.  They find a small amount of gold in the barracks, and a belt on the bugbear.

The groups quickly find that the barracks room opens into the hall, and everyone gets back together.  Vector determines the belt they found is a magical belt of vigor.

Although no one else appears to have heard the noises of battle or decided to investigate, everyone is still wary.  They decide the best thing to do is start exploring the temple to make sure nothing can come at them from behind.

Up the stairs from the barracks is the hallway continuing from the balcony door.  Inside the main hallway, the group spots one door to the south, double doors at the east end of the hallway, as well as two passages leading off to the north and south by the double doors.  Everyone decides to begin with the door to the south.

Saxton retakes the lead, with everyone strategically placed behind him.  He first checks to make sure the door is unlocked (it is), then cracks it open.  The door opens into a large room with a small interior wall and stairs leading down to a large pool of water; clearly, this is a bathing chamber.  Along the south wall of the pool is a large statue of a half-woman, half-fish creature.  Medrash examines it over carefully, making sure it contains no hidden treasure or traps.

A hallway does lead out of this chamber, which appears to connect back up with the hallway leading south from the double doors.  Checking it out, the group finds it ends in a single door.  They can also check the northern passageway beyond the double-doors – it has a stairway leading up to another single door.

The group decides to go through the double doors rather than try the other single doors.  Once again, they find the doors unlocked.

As the doors are opened, they see it opens into the main temple chamber of Torog.  Carvings of eyes adorn the floors, walls, and ceilings.  An idol of a hideous, toad-like creature stands at the far end of the hall.

The center of the floor contains groups of chains – this is obviously where the slaves were being held, but no slaves are seen.  Saxton does, however, spot a group of hobgoblin archers and their pet dire wolf waiting for them inside.

Once again, the discussion turns to whether to try and draw the enemies out, or rush them.  Ultimately, it is decided that rushing in makes more sense.  The plan is to quickly grab one hobgoblin prisoner then kill the others, and use the prisoner to find out where the hostages were sold.  Berend elects to guard the rear while the others go in, just in case anyone comes out from the other passages.

Interlude - Scene 10 (of 10)

Brandis is the first to charge inside the temple chamber, immediately hitting the wolf with his divine sanction.  

Radgar follows, cursing the nearest hobgoblin and blasting it with his eldritch blast.  Saxton charges up a short set of stairs to the raised platforms on the sides of the temple, attacking at a different hobgoblin with a crushing strike that barely misses.

Goldar lets out a savage growl, activates his stone endurance, and then charges at the wolf.  Channeling the fury of thunder hooves, the barbarian hits the wolf with a vicious attack.  He follows it up with an avalanche assault, spraying Brandis with blood and entrails as the dire wolf is cut in half.  Still full of adrenaline, Goldar charges up the nearby stairs at one of the other hobgoblins.

Medrash enters the chamber and charges at the nearest hobgoblin on the ground floor.  With Ragdar having already softened the creature up, Medrash kills him with a quick attack.

The surviving two archers retreat from their attackers, then fire their bows.  Goldar's imposing presence causes the archer on him to miss, but the other hobgoblin impales Saxton with an arrow.

Vector responds by blasting the hobgoblin on Saxton with a magic missile, while Brandis runs up the stairs on the other side of the room, hoping to reach the other hobgoblin before Goldar tries to kill it.

Saxton attacks the hobgoblin in front of him with a steel serpent strike.  Ragdar then curses the creature, and kills it with an eldritch blast.

Goldar then tackles the last hobgoblin, knocking it to the ground.  Brandis follows quickly behind, and the two capture the creature.

Saxton makes a show of heating up a dagger in a nearby brazier while Vector asks the hobgoblin where the slaves are.  It doesn't take long for the creature to break.  He explains that their leader, Krand, has already taken the slaves to the duergar clan who have been requesting all the slaves.  They apparently stay somewhere known as the Horned Hold, but the archer does not know where it is.

With few other options, the group decides to wait until Krand gets back then extract the information from him.

Interlude - Session Notes

This is another of the sessions I ran with that other group.  Obviously, this time I am using the Thunderspire Labyrinth module rather than one of my own adventures.  I had bought it originally because I thought the primary group might get to it, but at this point the group may hit level 10 by the time we even finish the Keep on the Shadowfell module, not to mention my own personal ideas.

Anyhow, this is almost the same group of players as last time.  The Brandis and Medrash players were new this time.  The Dante player is back home in Canada (hence, Dante's journey to Kanadia).  And the Tor and Sax players simply wanted to switch characters (to Ragdar and Saxton, respectively).  As for Goldar, I wanted to give the Scrag player an alernate character to play to avoid trying to explain the character constantly going back and forth.

As for the adventure, the opening fight was just something I slapped together.  I did remember my Hippogriff miniatures this time, so I got to use them.  And I thought the chimera would be a cool addition.  The fight itself was made using the Crossroads map from the D&D minitiatures game (though I imagine the actual intersection between the Vale Road and the Trade Road is more of a 3-way intersection, lol).

The encounter with Rossi was originally just meant as a quick shout-out to the other campaign, but the Saxton and Brandis palyers really got into the discussion thing.  The dark creeper was another of these.

The rest of the adventure was pretty much by the book from the module, except I adjusted it so the climactic battle was a bit smaller.  To be honest, I was once again pressed for time and needed a way to get the encounter over with quicker.

We plan to continue on sometime over the Christmas holidays.

Interlude - Cast of Characters

Krolec Jar'Bin - Elven Ranger

Interlude - Scene 1 (of 5)

Several days ago...

After getting some rest to recover from the climactic battle in the Tombwoods, Krolec decides to help out around the family business for the day.  As he is restocking the shelves, he notices that supplies seem to be low.  His father, Honlor, explains that their shipment from the Windsong Elves (whose clan lives in the eastern section of Harken Forest just south of Harkenwold) is a day overdue, which is unusual.

Knowing how dangerous the area has become lately, Krolec immediately suspects something may have gone wrong.  Krolec and Honlor decide the best thing to do is have Krolec travel the reverse of their route back and try to locate them to see if they have fallen prey to weather or other delays, or something more sinister.

Interlude - Scene 2 (of 5)

After gathering some basic supplies, Krolec heads out on King's Road to Harkenwold.  The travel over the next couple of days is uneventful, save for passing the usual assortment of travelers along the road (though not the elven merchants Krolec is looking for).

Once he arrives in the area, Krolec begins asking around to see if anyone has seen the elven merchants – focusing on checking with local law enforcement, taverns and inns, and any merchant contacts in the area.

Several of the local merchants in town remember the elven merchants traveling through a few days ago.  By all accounts, their activities were normal.  They picked up some supplies needed for travel as well as a few odds and ends they planned to sell in Fallcrest, not only to Krolec's family but to some of the other merchants in town (such as some plants used as packing materials that they bought from the Spices and Seasonings store that they planned to sell to Eli Leng).  In the end, the merchants reportedly left Harkenwold around the usual time along King's Road, heading towards Fallcrest.

Wondering if bandits are involved, Krolec tries to gain intelligence on the seedier side of the area, asking around to see if the elven merchants looked like they were being scoped out or followed.  According to the word around town, criminal activity has been very low lately, between Lord Nimz establishing his base at Raven's Roost and Shaelynna acting as an unofficial sheriff in the area.

Interlude - Scene 3 (of 5)

After resting for the night, Krolec gets up early the next morning and refreshes his supplies.  He also makes sure to purchase some bandages and other healing aids in case he finds the elves injured later.  Thinking back on his trip down to Harkenwold, he knows there are many areas where the merchants could have been ambushed from the woods.  He heads back towards Fallcrest to investigate, making sure to leave word with the locals to let the nearby elf clan know he is looking for their missing people.

The first day traveling back is uneventful. Early on the second day, Krolec spots some smoke coming from just a bit inside the forest to the north of the road.  He decides to quietly move into the forest and investigate.  He spots a small clearing up ahead with a few men; he recognizes ones of the men as Alby, the chief enforcer of Juniper Creek.  Alby and his men appear to be burning some bodies.

Looking closer, Krolec can see the bodies they are burning are goblin bodies, which look like they died from wounds in battle.  Alby appears to have four other enforcers with him, and six goblin bodies can be discerned in the fire.

Krolec decides to call out to the men, "Peace be with you" while staying hidden.  Alby and his men, startled, immediately ready their swords and look around, with Alby yelling for whoever is there to show themselves.

Krolec steps out into view, though making sure his cloak hood obscures his face as much as possible, on the off chance that Alby recognizes him.  Krolec announces himself as "another hater of goblins" and compliments Alby and his men on their kill.  He explains he is looking for a group of missing elves.

Alby greets Krolec as a stranger, explaining they have not seen any elves.  His village has been having problems with goblins, though.  According to Alby, thier prophet sensed the goblin presence infecting their section of the forest.  Alby and his men discovered the goblins using these woods as an area to ambush travelers and drive them into the southern forests, where the goblins dwell.  Alby the same thing happened earlier to Krolec's clansmen.

Krolec thanks Alby for the information and heads back out on his way.

Interlude - Scene 4 (of 5)

Looking around the area carefully, Krolec spots an area a couple of miles up ahead where he can tell something happened.
 
There's a section of northern forest that appears to have been carefully cleared out a little to provide a clear line of fire to the road and contains signs of someone sleeping there plus some bones and other remnants suggesting meals were eaten for a few days.  The footprints around the area confirm to Krolec it was used by goblins.
 
To the south, he can spot an area where a mule and wagon left the road abruptly, and spots a couple of elf tracks running that way as well.

Krolec starts by looping around to check out the northern forest area.  The north forest is unoccupied. Krolec does spot some tracks and bush movement back to the east along the north forest (back the way he just came, likely where they were killed by Alby and his men).

Stepping into the southern forest, Krolec immediately spots some broken goblin arrows and areas where the foliage was disturbed by people (and a wagon) coming through, heading south.

A bit further in, he sees the merchant wagon and a dead mule. The wagon has been looted, and the mule looks butchered by crude knives. Nearby are the corpses of two elves - one with his throat slit, the other with several arrows in his back; both have been stripped.  He also spots a third set of elf tracks leading further into the forest, with some goblin tracks following after.

Krolec can tell the tracks are about a week old, which fits in with the timeline of when the merchants would have been traveling through the area to Fallcrest.  Despite the time that has passed, Krolec still decides to ready his bow and follow the trail.

After a few miles, the elf tracks appear to split off to the west while the goblin tracks appear to continue south.  It appears the surviving elf managed to elude the goblins.  Krolec decides to follow the elf tracks.  His honor demands he try to maintain the life that is left before avenging the ones that are lost.  He's hoping to find the remaining elf, make sure he is ok, and then reassess the situation.

Interlude - Scene 5 (of 5)

The tracks continue to head east until dusk.  By the light of the waxing moon, Krolec continues on for a couple of hours until he spots some strange lights off in the distance.  He carefully moves forward along the path, which seems to more or less be heading in the direction of the lights.

As he gets closer, he sees that the forest emerges out into some marshlands.  Near the edge appears to be the ruins of a half-finished castle.  The lights appear to be coming from inside the castle, which is right where the tracks appear to lead.  Krolec decides this is likely Kalton Manor, the abandoned castle on the edge of the Witchlight Fens.

Krolec decides to find a large tree to climb up and camp in for the night.  At sunup, he begins moving in carefully, looking around for any banners or guards on the castle that can identify who is located there.  But as he gets closer, he sees there does not appear to be anyone guarding the area nor does it appear as if anyone has attempted to live in the castle for quite some time.

With his bow at the ready, Krolec examines the castle to find the different ways he could get inside; there is a main door, a hole in the side wall, and some windows.  Ultimately, Krolec decides to head in the main door, as the elf he is tracking did.

As he enters into the main hall, Krolec notices the walls are dried with old blood and have gouges cut into them from large claws.  Over in one corner of the room, he spots a piece of parchment.   Over near the stairs, he sees the body of an elf.

Krolec heads over to the elf to verify his condition.  The elf has a broken neck, as if he fell from up the stairs.  From the decomposition rate, he's been dead a few days.

He then goes over and grabs the parchment.  It appears to have been sitting around for a few weeks.  It reads:

"I have been in refuge here for a couple of days now.  Last night, I saw strange glowing lights.  They whispered to me, tried to trick me into falling to my death.  Thinking about it now, I wonder if that would have been preferable to the fate in store for me.  
 
I know this will be the record of my last words.  The creature has been unleashed, and all the others are dead.  I feel the chills as my body shakes in these ruins.  I can still feel the burning from where the claw pierced me.  The beast is coming for me.  If only we had never found that hut of skulls...
 
Julian Whittlesey"

Krolec pockets the note and looks at the claw marks on the walls.  They look a few weeks old and do not match any creature Krolec is familiar with.

He then grabs the few minor personal items on the dead elf so that he can have them returned to the elf's family.  He is back on the road to Fallcrest by noon, and arrives in town that evening, heading straight to bed after a brief chat with Honlor.

Interlude - Session Notes

Yep, that's two interludes in a row.  I was hoping not to do it that way, but it's how things worked out.

Basically, the Krolec player missed the last couple of sessions because of family issues and knew I had a policy of not letting a character gain a level until after they actually attend a session (as they get some XP even when they miss).  So, he offered to do a play-by-email mini-session to catch his character up.

I'd never actually done a PbE session before, and I wasn't overly happy with the result.  I did get a chance to expand a couple of things a little, but overall it felt a little too linear for what I normally like to do.

The basic concept (searching for missing merchants) was the Krolec player's idea and I kind of took it from there.  But between not having a good feel for PbE and the fact that the Krolec player can be counted on to always do the least interesting thing possible in a game (and heaven forbid you ever try and run a mystery - the man couldn't puzzle together a Scooby Doo episode), it just didn't quite "gel" how I wanted it to.

I think the hardest part of this was at one point, to avoid confusion, I had to specify how the timeline worked in the game so he properly understood what it meant when I said something like "dead for a week" or whatever.  

For anyone who is interested, here is the timeline (the "day" listed refers to the number of days that have passed in game from the beginning of the campaign):

Day 44 of the Campaign - Krolec has rescued Stevenson from Rufus the Red's henchman (Dancor Rossi) and is heading back to Fallcrest.  The elf traders leave the elf woods and head into Harkenwold for supplies.
 
Day 45 - Krolec makes it back to town with Stevenson.  The elf traders leave Harkenwold for Fallcrest along King's Road.
 
Day 46 - Berend's group returns from Asandar (including Scrag).  Krolec's group regroups and plans for the final cemetery battle.  The elf traders apparently come under goblin attack.
 
Day 47 - Krolec and the others fight the final battle in the cemetery.  The elf traders were supposed to arrive in Fallcrest and deal with Krolec's family this day, but never showed up.
 
Day 48 - Krolec's group returns to Fallcrest and he learns the elf traders are overdue.
 
Day 49 - Al is killed while Krolec heads to Harkenwold.
 
Day 50 - Krolec arrives in Harkenwold and asks around town about the elf traders.
 
Day 51 - Krolec begins heading back towards Fallcrest.  Alby's group apparently encounters and kills the goblins in the northern forest at this time.
 
Day 52 - The Tombwoods re-opening celebration is going on in Fallcrest.  Krolec encounters Alby and spots the goblin tracks.
 
Day 53 - Leigh and the others head to Hunter's Ridge.  Berend's group heads out for Thunderspire.  Krolec heads in to investigate Kalton Manor then heads back to Fallcrest [end of interlude].
 
Day 54 - Leigh and the others return to Fallcrest from Hammerfast.  Berend's group assaults the Chamber of Eyes. [in the future for Krolec at this point]

Session 23 - Cast of Characters

Leigh - Eladrin Wizard
Krolec Jar'Bin - Elven Ranger
Challa Kri - Kalashtar Paladin
Tiberius Enchilada - Human Warlord
Durmindin - Wilden Shaman

special guest stars:
Tobolar Quickfoot - Halfling Wizard
Zena - Human Fighter

Session 23 - Scene 1 (of 7)

The group arrives via the teleportation portal back to the temple of Bahamut in Fallcrest, where they are greeted by a slightly grumpy Grundelmar.  He mentions that the soldier, Gerdrand, is looking for them again then goes on to chastise them a little for coming and going at all hours.  Grundelmar explains likes the group and appreciates their good work, but reminds them that this is a sacred temple to his god, Pelor, and not their clubhouse.

Leigh makes polite apologies and assures Grundelmar they have the utmost respect for the temple.  She knows they need to find a better base of operations, particularly with Merend gone now (and thus eliminating their real connection to the temple).

As the group is deciding what to do next, both Larrak and Scrag get careless and stop paying attention, missing key parts of the group conversation about getting together later that day.  Thus, they both (independently) wander off while it is decided that Leigh will go speak to Gerdrand then everyone will get back together and decide what to do next.

The remaining members of the group – Challa, Tiberius, Leigh, and Durmindin – then head out of the temple.  As they leave, Tobolar Quickfoot comes rushing over.  He explains he has been sent by the High Septarch to find Leigh and escort her back to the mage's tower.  Leigh remembers Nimozarran wanted to talk to the group before, and figures she may as well get it over with.

As they are talking, Krolec spots the group and heads over.  After resting from his long journey, he had been on his way to the temple to look for the others.  Across the way, Zena appears to have had the same plan.

When everyone meets back up, Leigh starts explaining to Zena and Krolec what they missed while they were away.  As she is talking, Zena coughs a lot; sometimes with blood coming up.  Her owlbear flu is clearly not recovered.

Krolec, staying focused on the discussion, takes Al's death in stride.  While he is upset that Al damaged the group's reputation, he feels Al's premature death was a foregone conclusion after seeing all of Al's reckless behavior.

Leigh then introduces Durmindin, Challa, and Tiberius to the others.  Krolec can tell the group dynamics have altered; this new group of three people appear to be semi-independent, and Leigh now seems to act as something of a leader.  Krolec is actually happy to no longer be in charge, as he can now focus on simply being the group scout.

Just as introductions are complete, Zena is overcome by a violent series of coughs and collapses to the ground.  Sensing she is dying, the others quickly haul her back into the temple.  Grundelmar is able to stabilize her, but knows she can no longer go adventuring.  He has her carted off to a sanitarium, where she will either recover from her owlbear flu, or die.

Session 23 - Scene 2 (of 7)

After the dying Zena is sent off, the group returns to the matter at hand.  Krolec agrees with Leigh that they should go see what Nimozarran wants.  Challa and the others, however, aren't so sure they want to get involved; meeting with the High Septarch sounds political to them.

Tiberius announces his group's intent to stay behind, but Krolec explains the Septarch may have information for all of them.  Leigh ultimately decides everyone should go, and Challa feels they are then obligated to join.

Along the trip, Krolec discusses his recent mission to Leigh about looking for the elves, including the goblins and the mysterious beast of the Witchlight Fens.  While they are talking, Tobolar is asking Tiberius if he's heard about the great local hero, Mitka.  Tobolar, a fellow halfling, hopes he can one day measure up to Mitka's legacy.

Tobolar lets everyone into the high tower and leads them up the long winding stairs to Nimozarran's receiving chamber.  There he greets them and congratulates them again on the good work they've done and his sadness at the passing of Al, who had potential to be another great wizard.

The old wizard then explains to Leigh that he is not long for this world, and is worried about the future of the honored mage guild in town.  As the last wizard in the city, he wishes to designate Leigh as his heir – making her the next high septarch of the city.

Leigh is both flattered and alarmed, not sure what responsibilities such a position would require.  Nimozzaran explains that the main responsibility is to carry on the fine tradition of wizardry in the city, keeping up the tower and mentoring others as needed.

The group tries to assess the financial obligations.  The wizard explains that the tower is free from city taxes as part of a deal from the wizards saving the city during the Orc Wars.  However, the guild itself (which would just be Leigh at this point) is responsible for the maintenance of the tower.

As for Tobolar, Nimozarran announces he is releasing his apprentice.  He feels the halfling is now ready to venture out into the world on his own, though he still may require some teaching and assistance from time to time.

Leigh tells the high septarch she needs time to think about it.  He seems fine with that, noting that he still has some time left.  

As they are talking, Challa sends a telepathic message to Tiberius, noting that their group will not be able to stay out of city politics if they continue to associate with Leigh's group.  Tiberius mentally responds that they should continue down this path for now, to which Challa agrees.

Nimozarran then explains he had a second reason for contacting the group.  He explains that the kobold attacks around Kobold Hall aren't random enough; that something more sinister and intelligent is behind the attacks.  Tobolar wonders if it could be a dragon, knowing the connection between dragons using kobolds are servants.  The old wizard agrees it is a distinct possibility.

The elderly man also mentions how he has sensed the evil presence around Kobold Hall, which coincides with the feelings that Durmindin has had about the area.  Nimozarran reminds them all, though, that there are many sources of evil and corruption in the area.  Durmindin announces his intention to cleanse the area, which Nimozarran understates as being a long journey.

Krolec then shows Nimozarran the note he found at Kalton Manor, and asks if it could be related.  The wizard responds that although it is a source of great evil, the beast of the Witchlight Fens is a chaotic one.  They are looking for something more organized at Kobold Hall.

Tiberius then wonders about Tobolar accompanying them to Kobold Hall, as they could use his help.  Nimozarran simply says it is up for all of them to decide – Tobolar's fate is now his own.  Tobolar happily accepts the invitation.

As they leave, Leigh expresses her concern about the political implications of being the high septarch, but Nimozarran explains that he has found it is best for wizards to stay out of the affairs of more mortal men.  He has no standing or desire to deal with the local town council or anyone else in the political machine.

Session 23 - Scene 3 (of 7)

After the meeting with Nimozarran, the group wonders if there is anything else they can cross off their list.  Obviously, they already missed meeting Vargas to get to Schlomo.  They do need to go see Gerdrand still, but Leigh decides to go see Honoria Mellnor at the art gallery first and get that visit out of the way.

Since the invitation was to see the painting made from the Relcoff sketch that he made, Krolec decides to accompany her.  Knocking on the door, they find Honoria happy to receive them.  Apparently, she was just in the middle of a new series of more abstract pieces she calls, “still life with cabbages”.

The gallery hallway is adorned with various portraits of the aristocratic families of the city.  Honoria explains that she maintains them all as part of belonging to the local historical society.  While looking over the pictures, both Krolec and Leigh spot something.

There is something wrong with the Ruddiger family portrait.  Krolec recognizes the current Lord Ruddiger (one of the group’s enemies in town) as the young man beside his now-deceased father.  But, to the other side of the young Ruddiger, a figure seems to have been painted out of the painting.

Krolec asks Honoria about the alteration.  She confirms that clearly it’s been painted over.  It would have happened before she was in charge, so she isn’t sure why it was done.  She offers to spend some time restoring the painting.  Krolec thanks her, but warns her to be careful – something hidden could be dangerous to uncover.

They then move on to the Relcoff painting, which Krolec and Leigh praise.  Honoria offers them tea, but they explain they have no time to stay.  She tells them to come back any time, and she’ll let them know what she uncovers in that painting.