Royal Council Homicide

he Royal Council, representing the nobility of Britannia, had gathered again in Castle British. The object of their meeting was, to discuss the events of late, concerning the new threat - men in dragonscale armor. But something was wrong. Very wrong! Invaders clad in dark cloaks suddenly attacked the council, killing the members with glass daggers, which immediately shattered when hitting their victim. The Royal Council was no more.

Sharkeye had heard the news from the town criers. A horrible massacre had happened inside Lord British's castle. Immediately, he mounted his ethereal ostard and made towards Britain. When he entered the large meeting room, he saw the corpses and shards of shattered glass all over the stone floor tiles. He bent down to one corpse, and recognized Francesco. Upon examining the corpse, Sharkeye discovered a blood-stained parchment, and quickly slid it into his pocket. He then showed the parchment to Jasper the investigator, who was waiting out front. From him, he received the hint to let the parchment be analyzed by an alchemist of Moonglow, who could be found at the Illusionist's Guild near the telescope.

The alchemist was easily found on the rooftop of the guild house. She requested some speckled poison (from Speckled Scorpions in Ilshenar) and zoogi fungus (from the Solen Hive) to thin the dried blood on the parchment. When Sharkeye supplied those ingredients, she really thinned the blood and revealed a soggy parchment. Sharkeye was now sent to Althara, as scribe in the Lycaeum of Moonglow.

The scribe finally was able to transcript the parchment and reveal a message from Lady Aileen, who had fled from the castle together with Sherry the Mouse. It was a message to the dead Francesco, telling him that he should meet her at her residence in Trinsic.

Sharkeye searched the whole town for Aileen, but couldn't find her. Then he took a closer look. In one of the houses, he discovered on the bed a book with a new message from Aileen. This message, however, didn't help him much.

Then, hidden in a cupboard, he found a paper, revealing that there must have been a conspiracy between one council member and a hooded stranger. The traitor was some soldier named Brian, wo already was known for his evil deeds during the raid against the Followers of Armageddon back in the Early Days. She had then talked to Anselm in the Trinsic Mess Hall.

Anselm was quickly found, and he directed Sharkeye Pike to the FOA headquarter near Lord British's Castle. Sharkeye didn't hesitate, but rode off immediately.

After searching quite for a while, the pirate finally found the FOA headquarters in a small harmless-looking farm northwest of Lord British's Castle. The place was full of dangerous traps. In a drawer, Sharkeye found a journal from Erik, leading him to the Britain Graveyard. He read:
"TUESDAY: Sara is trying to be strong but I see the redness of her eyes. She has been crying over the loss of Brian. It is unfortunate he had to be sacrificed for the cause but he did us and the FOA proud. Richard could have used his help disposing off that noisy Aileen and her wretched rodent friend but I know he will handle them just fine.
THURSDAY: I took the documents captain Avery had in his possession and buried them in the graveyard. They are too incriminating to be allowed to just randomly float around. In the wrong hands, they could hurt our cause.
FRIDAY: We act tonight..."
He grabbed a shovel and went...

After digging around in the soft dirt of the graves for a while, he finally extracted a corroded box. When opening it, a poison trap sprang loose! The box contained a scrap of paper, a damaged book, and a journal. The scrap of paper unveiled a secret word "eored", and the damaged book contained the names of the four kidnappers of Aileen and Avery: Erik, Sara, Richard, Brian. The journal was from Avery, where he mentions strange activities below the city. The sewers! Avery's journal entry:
"I've received yet another report of strange activities taking place below the City. I keep meaning to investigated but there never seems to be enough time or enough available hands to take care of things. I'll try to have a look tonight after this Council meeting nonsense is over."

(Note: If you put down the corroded box, it cannot be picked up again! So either leave it in your backpack or place it in your house.)

The humid and stinking air burned in Sharkeye's nose, as he chased off some rats with his kryss. There it was! A small basked was placed on the ground, containing a note from Sara to Richard, who must have hidden the prisoners down here.

The pirate searched the rest of the sewers and finally left it on its Lost Lands side. There, in the Hopper's Bog southeast of Papua, he found another note on the ground. This one was from Erik, and it was leading to the caves of Minoc:
"Richard, I don't know what's delaying you but the prisoner is just too difficult to keep under control, we have to keep pressing on. I am hoping things went well taking care of the Lady and her pet friend. We are proceeding as planned and meeting our contact by the Minoc cave. Be there... Erik"

Sharkeye knew that south of the Hopper's Bog another passage was leading back to Britannia, into the Minoc Caves. The criminals must have taken that route with their prisoners. At the cave entrance, he really found the next message from Sara, which directed him to the Ethereal Fortress. Sara's message:
"Richard, Erik has gone ahead with our 'guest' and our contact. They are going to the Ethereal Fortress as planned. Erik still doubts anyone will bother searching Inu's former cell, but your absence has made him extremely nervous. He has decided to reinforce the security adding 2 other passwords to reach the cell on top of those already existing. I had to sneak this note for you so don't tell him I warned you. It should not be too hard solving the passwords. They're Jeebus or Rebus or something 'bus'. I didn't quite understand the name. But Erik said you're the one that showed him a book about them at the Lycaeum. Please be safe. Sara"

Sharkeye made for the Lycaeum to find the mentioned book first. Knowing already that "Rebus" was a word puzzle which uses pictures to represent words, he finally stumbled across a book called "The World of Rebus". It was an interesting read!

Sharkeye continued to find the Ethereal Fortress. He had been there before. The fortress was on an island which could only be reached through a secret teleporter in the Spider Dungeon in Ilshenar. At the end of this dungeon, a teleporter leads to Reg Volom, the island with the fortress. People, be warned! The Ethereal Warriors don't like it when you hang out close to them.

At the end of the great marble hall of the fortress, Sharkeye descended into a black hole in the ground. After a short walk, he came across a parchment on the floor, saying "Masteropenthydoor". What did that mean? Sharkeye defeated a swarm of undead monsters before he could take some time to concentrate. The pirate pondered, and as he mumbled the word in thought, he suddenly was transported down into the cellar of the building.

He followed a long and winding corridor until the path forked. Intuitively he turned right, coming to a room with poison traps on the floor. In one corner, a pedestal with a crystal was standing, on which was engraved: "O_ER_T_O_". This must be the first Rebus! He figured out that the word meant "OPERATION" without the letters "PAIN" - Painless Operation!

He quickly turned back to the junction and took the other corridor, until he was standing in front of a door. The room behind it was filled with evil undead creatures. On speaking the words "painless operation" he could enter. At a side glance to the western wall of the room, beside a sarcophagus, Sharkeye discovered a sign saying "123SAFETY456". It was the clue for the next door!

He then headed quickly to the northern exit and spoke the password "Safety in Numbers" to get out. It had worked! It was a close shave, as the monsters had attacked him immediately upon entering the room.

He soon reached the next door. To a room full of Balrons and Daemons. This time he cast Gift of Renewal before he opened the door and ran towards the northernmost exit. On his way through he glanced at one of the music stands in the room, on which was written the word "futile".

He would try this password at the door. He had little time to escape the Balrons and Daemons. As he reached the door, he shouted "futile" and was transported out into the safe corridor.

The next room was full of Ogre Lords, Ettins, Trolls and Troglodytes. Again, he prepared, entered, and looked around. Fortunately, the creatures in this room did not attack him too fast. He headed toward the northern wall. There he saw an engraving on one of the decorative shields on the wall, saying "Concerto".

He cast a protective spell and quickly hastened to the eastern door past the Paragon Orgre Lord and the other humanoids and said the password "Concerto". He was transported into the next corridor. He made it! He had survived!

Downstairs, in some kind of prison room, he met Casca the Ambassador. He asked Casca for "help", and received a scroll for Captain Ulrich in Britain. Sharkeye recalled out.

On top of a training tower near the southern bridge of Britain, Sharkeye finally found Ulrich the Captain, after searching the surroundings of the castle for a very long time. Ulrich handed over a nice reward (a 25,000 point token) and revealed that the FOA always used a secret portal inside the Wisp Dungeon to escape. The password could be acquired by solving a riddle on a some rare necklace in the dungeon.

Sharkeye searched the Wisp Dungeon from top to bottom. In Level 2, he finally found the first clues: On one of the tables in a room filled with jewelry, he found a white beaded necklace inscribed with the letters "MVKP". He memorized those letters and continued. He continued to fight his way through rooms with Evil Mages and Dark Wisps, until he found a big hall. In the northwest corner there is a stand with four statues. On each statue a name was engraved: "Martoo Saul", "Miron Vehl", "Zendella Kxriss", "Junin Pince". Sharkeye tried to combine the names according to the clue on the necklace, as Ulrich had recommended: "MartooVehlKxrissPince". In the center of the hall, there was a stone pentagram on the floor. When stepping onto it and speaking the password, one was magically transported inside a chamber with two teleporters.

Sharkeye knew this chamber! It was the hidden room behind the teleporter maze they had discovered during their last expedition to the Wisp Dungeon! After some research, Sharkeye figured out that the normal way to reach this room through the teleporter maze had been disabled. He proceeded to the northern teleporter and entered. He found himself in the Balron's Hall, down in the lowest level of Wisp Dungeon. Only few other adventures had also found out the secret and were already there. Together they fended off the diabolic beasts while trying to summon their real enemy by speaking the word "eored".

Melissa the Servant of Nosfentor appeared! She spoke: "Ah... Looking for something? Kronos, perhaps? Oh wait, he's dead! Or maybe it's someone of a more... manly demeanor. Avery, was it? Pity. You came all this way just to die."
Then she laughed showed her true face and attacked the intruders. She often cast unknown spells using the words of power "Mur Kal Ort" and "Ku Ort". A fierce battle had begun! When Melissa was finally brought down, she shouted: "Fools! This. Isn't. Over."
The bravest of the fighters received a cloak as a reward. Suddenly, the guards Thomas and William appeared and arrested... Avery?
Avery: "I'm free! You've saved me! They've had me..."
William: "Avery! We've caught you at last!"
Avery: "What is this!?"
Thomas: "You are under arrest for the murder of the Royal Council!"
Avery: "Help me!"
Thomas: "At last, we'll bring the criminal to justice. Your kingdom thanks you!"

07/2008

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