WGM1 Border Watch Errata                                              Home Up
 
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ATTACK AND ASSASSINATION!

As the PCs approach Barduk, they see it smoking from the fires of another raid: the humanoids have attacked!  In actuality, the orcs did not intend to breach the fort, only to serve as the cover for Jetero's assassination.

Jetero's killer, a dark elf named Celini, has posed as a non-drow half-elf.  He has rented a room at the inn next door to Jetero's.  When the raid began, Celini drew Jetero into the stables under the pretense of defending the caravan train.  Then he buried a poisoned dagger into Jetero's back, killing him in the same manner that Jetero's brother perished.  Celini then slid an orc arrow into the wound to make it appear that Jetero died from the orc attack.

Unknown to Celini, however, Malin also rushed to defend the wagons during the attack. Celini saw the merchant approaching only at the last minute, and fired an arrow at him from the darkness to slow Malin down while he made good his escape.

The dark elf then raced back to Jetero's room to recover the secret notebook, but grew frustrated when he ransacked the room and could not find it.  Fearing capture, he returned to his room to decide where to look next.  He could not leave Barduk without it, but the longer he remained, the greater the chance that he would be revealed as the killer.

The PCs arrive on this scene when they return from their meeting with Jeremiah.  Read the following boxed text:

You return to Barduk to see the village in flames!  Townsfolk fight the fires, carrying water buckets over the fallen bodies of orcs and humans.  The orcs appear routed, having retreated almost as quickly as they attacked.

Once inside the fort, you spot Malin slumped against a wall, an arrow in his leg.  He beckons you over and urges you to check on the caravan, certain that someone has stolen valuable cargo.

Anyone entering the stables finds the wagon trains undisturbed, but spots Jetero, in a heap, convulsing on the ground.  His lips have turned blue and his eyes are wide open and dilated.  He attempts to speak dying words to the PCs (perhaps the name of his killer), but his purpled tongue swells inside his throat.  His end is particularly horrible and agonizing.

Characters spot an arrow jutting out of his back.  Anyone who examined the wound may make an Intelligence check; characters who succeed recognize that his wound came from something much larger than an arrow tip -- probably a blade.

When Captain Rildillian learns of Jetero's murder, he meets with the PCs to organize an investigation.  Since the tower guards can confirm the times of the PCs' departure and arrival, they are the only ones not under suspicion.

Rildillian suggests the PCs start with Frakus.  The boy, who was in the stables at the time of the orc attack, may have heard something.

Questioning Frakus will require some skill.  The boy hid in a stall during the entire attack, but doesn't want to appear to be a coward.  He will insist that he spent the time fighting off the orc hordes.  If the PCs suggest that he spent the battle defending the stables from attackers, he will accept that as a heroic endeavor and tell what he saw (while defending the stable, of course).

He tells the PCs of two men who came into the stables ("scrawny li'l guys"-- although just about everybody is scrawny and little to Frakus).  He tells PCs that one of them "just fell down," and that the other "just shot an arrow at the wall" and then ran away.

In actuality, Celini shot an arrow not at the wall, but through it, in the space left by a broken slat.  PCs can discover this by investigating the spot where Frakus says the arrow was fired.  They can clearly see the broken slat, and the place where they found the injured Malin beyond.

Malin still has the arrow that injured him.  PCs can easily recognize the fletching as quite superior to the typical crude orcish make.

This should set the PCs' investigation into full swing.  From here, the DM can throw in a few useless interviews with fort inhabitants, but with two very important interviews interspersed: one with the killer, and one with a barmaid who hid in the storeroom.

The barmaid tells of a great struggle that took place in one of the rooms above the storeroom.  She doesn't realize that this was simply Celini ransacking Jetero's room.

Celini attempts to keep a low profile.  He does not want to make any slip-ups by telling a story and then forgetting the details.  He simply says that he stayed in his room during the attack and didn't see or hear anything.

PCs should be able to deduce that if a barmaid one floor below and several rooms away could hear the scuffle in Jetero's room, then a sharp-eared half-elf in the room next door should have heard it as well.

If players miss this bit of knowledge, they may have difficulty solving the murder.  Give them some time to piece together the puzzle, but if they fail, allow Celini to grow nervous with the passage of time. He may break into one of their rooms to search for the book, giving PCs the opportunity to catch him red-handed.

Assuming the characters solve the murder or at least suspect Celini, they may find the distinctly-fletched arrows (similar to the one from Malin's leg) hidden in his room.  When confronted, the drow panics and attempts to bolt, but if he sustains any injury in his escape, he surrenders immediately.  He's much more confident in his ability to talk his way out of a bad situation than to fight his way out.

If PCs interrogate Celini, he becomes brazen and arrogant, since he knows he has an ace up his sleeve: the location of the secret base within Furyondy.  He offers to barter his life for the base's exact location.

The DM should give the PCs a chance to roleplay this and see if they agree with Celini's offer.  If they do not accept, Captain Rildillian will step in and accept the offer, recognizing that the future of Furyondy is more important than the life or death of one dark elf.

Celini doesn't care much about the success of Iuz's attack.  As a freelancer, he has no real loyalty to Iuz, and as long as he is alive, he's confident in his ability to escape from whatever prison they put him in.

He tells the location of the secret base at the old deserted Cragson Mines.  The entrance to the abandoned coal shaft lies about 10 miles to the southeast.

Rildillian directs the PCs to strike at once, before Iuz learns of the camp's discovery and launches a preemptive attack.  He allows PCs to take up to four guards to assist in the strike.  With the fort still reeling from the attack last night, he can spare no more.

Celini, 3rd-level fighter/2nd level mage: Str 15, Dex 14, Con 12, Int 15,Wis 9, Cha 14; Race half-elf disguise (actually drow); THAC0 18; hp 17;Weapon Long sword; AC 5; AL CN.  Spells: Change self, Friends

Celini stands 5' 3" tall.  He has a slight frame and weighs 125 pounds.  He has blonde hair and typical half-elven features.  He usually wears nonmagical elven chain mail under his robes.  He has disguised himself as a normal half-elf with special drow abilities, but he has no dark elf abilities any more (he has spent too much time on the surface).

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