Empire of the Ghouls Session 2 – The Black Book

We finished Everyone Lies by Ben McFarland from Streets of Zobeck in our second session, and moved on to the first chapter of Empire of the Ghouls, Dread Chambers of the Undercity by Chris Lockey. Here’s the write up.

28th Low Summer, 92 FY (contd.)

The Silk Scabbard heist is on! Louthin, Penumbra and the Gears sneak through the Cartways, while Bubbles and Zygmunt go through the front door. Zygmunt can’t prise Filipa and Iskra away from their merchant customers and ends up agreeing to go to Sylvia’s room. Meanwhile, the other characters have run into a guard in the passageway and he is shouting for reinforcements. As Zygmunt crashes through the wall into the corridor, Bubbles sneaks into the nearest upstairs comfort room. By an amazing stroke of luck, it turns out to be Iskra’s. She grabs the Black Book and makes a run for it; the others do the same. 

Back at the Dented Shield, the party send messengers to Lady Marack and the Cloven Nine, inviting them to Hommel’s Botanical Garden at midnight. Tearing the book in half, Pen and Louthin start reading.

Later that night, the characters wait in an empty shop on the ground floor while the Gears scouts the upper floors. When Lady Marack and the Spyglass Guild arrive, they are attacked by ghouls who try to drag Lady Marack off. The characters join the battle against the ghouls and rescue her. Meanwhile, the Cloven Nine, led by the wizard Andros, attack from the rear, demanding the book. The party give each group half of the book and escape. 

Back at the Dented Shield, Ilyana has gone but she’s left the party the key to a safety deposit box containing jewellery stolen from Lady Marack as a thank you.

1st High Summer 

The Gears brings his friends to the Rampant Roach, a kobold eatery. The owner Skirtal hires the characters to act as bodyguards for his nephew Brik who has been falsely accused of kidnapping a blacksmith’s daughter named Rozalyn Turnyr. Later on, they visit her bigoted father Heston’s shop to examine the crime scene, but there are no obvious clues. 

2nd High Summer 

The characters spend the day catching giant rats in the Cartways with Brik, near where he lost the silver dagger that was found at the scene of Rozalyn’s disappearance. There’s a confrontation with some goblins but Bubbles kills their leader before he can be questioned. 

3rd High Summer

Day two with Brik, escorting him safely to and from his lunch deliveries. That evening the characters track down Sgt Hendryk. He doesn’t seem to have any leads on Rozalyn’s kidnapping, but tells them they have let down Mr Underhill.