Ubaron arrives in Dingradur to equire whether his armour is yet ready. It isn’t, but Yspadadden and Ranulf avail themselves of Ubaron’s transport magic return to Chittagong with him. There they meet up with Wilf, who like Ubaron is waiting for Paradoxides to finish his sums so that they can go with Grettir to find the missing Rangers. In the meantime the group remember a secret door they had spotted in the sewers under Chittagong while liberating Silden’s beard. They rustle up Ranji Rat, their customary sewer guide, and descend into the olfactory riot that is the Chittagong sewer system.
They find the door with little difficulty and open it to find themselves in the basement of a dwelling place. Judging by the conjured Phase Spider that pounces upon Ranulf as he enters the room beyond the secret door, they have stumbled upon the lair of some sort of sorceror. The next room, full of zombies, fortunately inert and awaiting orders, rather confirms this hypothesis, along with what is plainly some kind of alchemist’s laboratory. After indulging in a little petty larceny there, they venture upwards to find themselves in an inn. They creep around before inevitably waking someone up. The alarm is given and they make a hurried exit via the attached brothel, amidst much screaming and shrieking. They lay a false trail onto the street but retrace their footsteps back into the basement, removing as much evidence of their passing as possible (though the dead phase spider is a bit of a give-away). They do not encounter the wizard.
Later enquiries reveal that they have just kicked sand in the face of the notorious Dr Ozymandias (aka Dr O), leader of the Blue Heaven gang who operates out of an establishment called the First Inn, Last Out. It is to be presumed that he never established the identities of the intruders, for they hear no more of it.
F-24
OE Date: April 694
Characters: Yspadadden, Ranulf, Wilf, Ubaron NPCs: Ranji Rat
Real World: November 2002 ; Where: Surbiton?
See also Salrod’s Diaries