After escaping from the prison, the characters must follow Agosta's trail if they ever wish to succeed in their mission, and find Bret de Maud. As they found out in the previous Tale, Agosta has gone south . . .
The characters have escaped from their prison, but their mission to find Bret de Maud is not over yet. The characters retrieved information that Agosta went south, most probably to the Vantery safe house, unfortunately Agosta is not a very trusting man, and told very few people where the Vantery safe house is, so the characters are going to have to do a bit of investigating.
Vantery is a large town situated in the north of Chaubrette. The ruler of the town is Lord Mythrem fel Deridom, an elf of great repute. He was an adventurer once, but has settled down, and now looks after his prosperous town.
Vantery is unlike anything the characters have seen before. The best way to describe Vantery is as a spired town, each house or business in the town trying to out do the other, with lacquered wood, painted doors, and small towers jutting out of every building. The town and main castle seem to be melded into one, the keep is inseparable from the town and the town is inseparable from the keep. All the buildings in the city look like mini-fortresses, all made out of the same, strange white stone as the castle.
The town contains all the essentials of adventuring life, and the characters will have no problems finding most items, the only items they will have trouble finding are all the weird or exotic items that have to be imported from foreign countries.
The characters are going to have to find the safe house if the wish to get any further in their quest to find Bret. Te characters will have to find an inn to stay for the night if they wish to investigate.
There are in fact three inns in Vantery. The first is the Lion's Den, a huge expensive inn run by Elkor Demous III. The second inn is the Sad Glade, run by Jem Silverhair, a beautiful elven warrior. The last inn in the city is The Knotted Tree, and this inn is the safe house in the town.
The character's will probably ask around in one of the three inns. If they are lucky enough to find the right one, go to Poking Noses below. If not, they are going to have to have a lead in the right direction. The best thing is to say that Goj Jeminat, the innkeeper for The Knotted Tree, is the best source of information in the town, and they can get this piece of information from anyone.
This will push the characters in the right direction, and thus they can move on to the next part of the adventure. The reason Goj knows so much is because all his information comes from Agosta, who has his finger on both the local news as well as that around each safe house, and Albion. He is treading on very thin ice, and information is his only safety line. He passes a lot on to his men, but even with the stuff he keeps to himself, this makes Goj very well informed.
Now the characters have found out where they really want to go, they can now set about poking their nose about in the wrong places. The characters can ask the innkeeper of The Knotted Tree, Goj Jeminat, wether they know anything about Agosta, or has he seen Bret. He will be very defensive (a point should be made of this to the characters) and thus should the characters curiosity be piqued. If they still don't get the hint, then once they leave, they will be attacked by a group of twelves thugs. Once they realise they have found their man, or at least the right place, they can start looking around the inn (see The Vantery Safe House below for details on what is in the inn, and Carrots for details on where the trail leads to next ).
The thugs will try to rush the characters and overwhelm them by shear numbers. They are fairly easily frightened though, and can be quiet easily scared off.
The Knotted Tree is a medium-sized inn, which is run by Miramen, an ex-soldier. It is used as one of the safe houses for Agosta in Chaubrette, to transport weapons from the fortress in the Drakken Peaks to the port of Meore on the northern coast of Chaubrette (see Finale and Escape respectively ).
The innkeeper is Goj Jeminat, a thin, dangerous looking man, with thinning black hair, beady eyes and a sharp nose. He will be very unhelpful if the characters start fishing for clues, and will have the characters thrown out of the inn if he gets suspicious.
This level is fairly Spartan, as this is where most of the traffic occurs. The whole of the inn is decorated with anchors, sails and other maritime type objects. Goj is trying to buy the sailor market, as a lot of them try their feet on dry land every once and a while.
There are a number of tables scattered throughout the common room, surrounded by chairs. There is a set of stairs leading up to the next level, situated in the south-west corner of the room.
The oaken bar dominates the room, and is well polished. This is where Goj will be unless it is night, and he will be downstairs or in his room upstairs.
There are two doors out of the kitchen, one into the common room, and the other to the bar. There are always kitchen hands in here in the say, but at night they go to their homes in the city. There is nothing of interest for the characters here.
This is where all the stores are kept, and there is a connivent exit/entrance in the form of a back door.
The stairs down are hidden from snooping eyes by a small partition.
These rooms contain a single bed, a desk, a cupboard and a small set of drawers. The room is nice, but is not decorated and seems very bare.
This room has three beds, and is the economy room. It contains one desk, a large cupboard and drawers but little else.
This is mainly for couples, as it contains a desk, cupboard, drawers and two desks.
Each room is similar to "1 - 2. Single Sleeping Quarters" above, but the two rooms are joined together, making it a double room for two people who like each other, but don't want to get too close.
This is similar to "1 - 2. Single Sleeping Quarters" above, except it is better furnished. Everything is the same, except the furniture is of better quality, and the room is looked after better. This is the best room in the inn, other than Goj's room
This a large corridor, with stairs leading down to the ground floor, and a set of stairs leading to the next level.
This is the most opulent room in the whole inn, richly furnished, and containing a few exotic decorations and tapestries. The room is dominated by a huge bed, and also contains a desk two cupboards a set of drawers and a small chest. The only item of any interest to the characters is the small chest which contains all of Goj's treasure.
This is where all the mercenaries sleep. There are six pallets scattered through the room, but that is about all. They all don't trust each other therefore there are no possessions in the room. The room is fairly bare, with two cupboards, but that is all the furniture.
There are four mercenaries here, unless they have been called by Goj.
See "1 - 2. Single Sleeping Quarters" above, on the First Floor.
This a large corridor, with stairs leading down to the first floor.
This is where the guards stay when there are prisoners who have to be looked after, or cargo to be protected. There is a table in the centre of the room with four chairs around it. There is also a matching set of four mercenaries inside the room. At the moment there is no cargo, nor are there any prisoners, but there are two mercenaries stationed here to make sure no nosy patrons come down here.
This is normally where weapons are stored before being carted off to Meore, and then put onto the Encarta and taken to Albion.
At the moment the room is completely bare, but normally is filled with creates full of weapons.
The cells are where the prisoners are kept, and only have a simple mechanical lock to keep the prisoners in. The inside of the cell is plain, with four small cots, and little else.
Once the characters confront Goj, and have gotten rid of his mercenaries who will come to his aid, the characters can find out what they were waiting for the whole time. Agosta went east to his fortress somewhere in the Drakken Mountains, but he has never been there and so he doesn't know exactly where it is. That's all they are going to get, so the characters might as well get a move on.
The characters are getting closer, but they still have a long way to go, before they come to the end.
