Previously, the heroes descended into the ancient waterways, found and infiltrated the headquarters of the night master, and then proceeded to explore the place. Besides many rogues, all going about their business, the heroes managed to find the night master himself, watching over Hamish. When Luca’s first attempt to translocate Hamish back to the surface failed, the heroes found themselves in a confrontation with the night master, a dozen rogues, and a pair of aberrant lords who had been hidden inside the walls.
Fifth Day, First Ride, Autumn Twilight, 1262
(Silvermoon is waxing, Bloodmoon is waning, Darkmoon is waning)
There heroes were scatter all over the underground headquarters of the night master. Quentin and Emrys were nearby one another, at the chambers of the night master himself. They had just seen Luca run in and translocate away with Hamish, but they had no idea where to. Quentin was being confronted by two aberrant lords while Emrys was fending off two rogues.
Meanwhile, Astrid and James were fighting off several rogues, back-to-back, in the lobby of the headquarters. While Astrid was bloodied up from having taken on several rogues, she was holding her own by the time that James came to relieve her.
Unbeknownst to any of the others, Luca had translocated to just outside of the entrance of the headquarters. Hamish was still blank faced and unresponsive. Even after slapping him in his face, the young mage would not acknowledge Luca or respond in any way. Luca had seen him in the same state at the orphanage in Grimsdown, but he had been wearing a grotesque crown of flesh at the time. Now it appeared as if something else was amiss, despite Hamish showing bruising and scarring where the crown had previously sat.
Quentin faced off against the two aberrant lords and was immediately assailed by a force that clouded his mind like a wave of hot air. Inspired by Luca’s willingness to charge into the room to save his friend, Quentin shrugged off the evil manipulations by the aberrations and stayed on course. He moved closer to Emrys, eager to lend the sorcerer aid against the rogues who were frustrating him. As the knight did so, one of the aberrant lords lunged at him and latched onto him with those dreadful tentacles. Barbs on the inside of the tentacles bit deep into any exposed skin, and the weight of the aberrant lord dragged Quentin down but despite that he managed to reach Emrys and aid in his defence. The other aberrant lord turned to the night master and engaged him.
While James was squaring off against Lunchbox, a brute of a rogue who had lunchboxes for hands, Luca stopped trying to get Hamish to respond and struggled to come up with a solution to bring his friend to safety without having to resort to leaving his companions behind. It was in that moment that Luca heard a strange sound coming from deeper into the ancient waterways. When concentrating on it, he could hear the distinct sound of rats in the distance. The skaven were coming for the rogues of the Steady Hand to settle the score for the battle the heroes had found earlier in the day. Luca touched the earring he wore and sent a message to warn James, who wore an identical earring, before taking Hamish and heading back inside the Steady Hand base.
Emrys and Quentin struggled to reunited with James and Astrid but eventually managed, though not without taking a few wounds. Emrys relied on his sorcery while Quentin relied on some the innate talents he discovered were awakened by the jaunt through the realm of the fey earlier that year. Emrys let loose an illusion that left the rogues and aberrant lords stunned and confused, and followed it up a devastating earthquake that damaged and collapsed part of the corridor behind him. Quentin outpaced the opposition by shrouding himself in mist and reappearing a long distance away.
It was clear that there were other rogues in the base that the heroes had not encountered yet. One of them, a dwarf with blonde hair poked his head out of one of the doors and negotiated safe passage for him and two others who had been wounded in the fight against the skaven. The other two were a man and a woman, while all three of them were wounded, the woman was especially bloodied up and had to be supported by the other two. The heroes let the three wounded rogues depart. Before departure, the blonde dwarf said that if the heroes were looking for the missing custodian, he could be found in the chamber at the end of the corridor he came out of. Quentin went in to investigate.
Astrid, who had darted down a different corridor in pursuit of two rogues, had reunited with the rest of the heroes, and it was at that point that a gruff, familiar voice called out; “Whoever is out there causing these fucks a headache, let me fight at your side, head to hip!” Some of the heroes guessed that this was Brandomiir’s voice. The last of the rogue opposition went down as eldritch bolts of purple energy shot from the crystal-tipped staff, and Luca felt the mounting pressure of Blackstar’s hunger subside. Temporarily.
Quentin took his lantern and explored the dark corridor that the three wounded rogues came out of. The corridor was lined with rooms on either side, one of which had an open door, revealing a bloody bed, likely where the rogues had tried to dress their wounds. At the rear of the corridor Quentin discovered a room where a custodian was gagged and bound to a chair while an aberrant lord stood over him, tentacles writhing nervously, while holding the tail end of a slug which was burrowing itself into the custodian’s eye.
