The party spent some time discussing plans, asking questions to Gravycakes and the other NPCs. They asked questions and were thinking about ways to outsmart/set a trap for the cults. After about 3 hours a guard came bursting in, apparently a disguised member of Dead Man’s Grace broken into the guard room, stole some of the PCs personals (except Cassius), and fled but not after setting some things on fire including three guards who are now deep fried dead. The party asked Gravycakes to send word through the Thieves Guild that they would be reviving Elissa in Snakes Town this evening around 9:00 o’clock, hoping to set up a trap. Twigg led them deep into the tunnels, into sub-lake tunnels. At a T section, Ailekk’s heightened mood of paranoia from being underground kicked in and he heard off in the tunnel to the east the sounds of footsteps and slithering of large serpentine creatures. Upon announcing this to the group, Rurrick took off running away from the enemy, moving forward through the tunnel. Everyone else followed, and after a couple minutes of running they made it to a solid wood door with glowing magical globes hanging on either side. Swell tried the door but it was locked, Urd inspected it and found a magical trap that Rurrick disabled with a dispel magic spell. Around they same time, the group felt something odd happening to them. Swell opened the door, and they went into a 30 foot round storage room with crates, barrels, buckets, etc and a spiral staircase at the far end. The party went up, with the door closing and locking itself behind them, and they entered into a large lower chamber of the tower. The first floor of the Mage’s Guild was about 100 feet in diameter, with over a dozen apprentices wandering around. The room was full of bookcases, rising up 40 feet to the tinue to slightly vaulted ceiling. The spiral staircase continue to ascend upwards to the floor above. In addition to the apprentices, a Tiefling in green robes with red skin and red wings was flying about arranging books and the higher levels of the book case while barking out orders to the apprentices. Urd yelled out “Whoever cast the wards below should be replaced.” Or something similar. The guild master flew down to the group, while muttering. He demanded to know why the PCs were in his guild. They bantered for a few moments, while they noticed Froonsnyr studying at a table. Cassius also noticed some wizard apprentices of Dree (they recognized them from knowledge), who smelled very vile. When asked about them, Arkvall responded with “They’re foreign exchange students.” After asking a couple of questions and letting Arkvall know they came from Dravens Port with the blessing of Ma Thornberry, they asked for a private audience with him. He pointed at the stairwell. Cassius and Twigg opted to stay below while the rest went up to meet with him. In the first floor of the mage tower Cassius, Twigg, and Froonsnyr had some excellent conversations where Twigg asked Cassius lots of questions about recent events, Oron, and Breschka. The party asked Arkvall if they could talk in private. They went up the spiral stairs (40 feet up) to the 2nd floor which opened into a foyer area with hallways in all directions. They went down a hallway into Arkvall’s office, a decent sized room about 20 feet tall with shelves on all sides and a desk. Swell, Urd, Ailekk, and Rurick went in and told him about the cults and their trap. He seemed to not know much about the cults or corruption, or much else about things outside of the guild. He got nervous and cast some kind of spell (see invisibility), and identified something following/watching Ailekk. He dispelled the scrying spell. Somewhere along the line Swell lied and convinced Arkvall he was a mage. After the scrying debacle, Arkvall gave the party a scroll of invisibility. Arkvall suggested they talk to Keerlese Favoredarm, guild master of the Bounty Hunter’s Guild. He used a sending stone to contact her, where he argued with her for several minutes about whether or not she’d been warning him about the cults (apparently she had). Apparently someone had placed a bounty on each of their heads, for a total of 6000 gold (also one out on Reis). She offered to help them, but only if they joined her guild. The party was now left with the challenge of reaching the diplomat guild/administration building where they could register membership with the bounty hunter guild. Arkvall offered to escort them if they could find something arcane to trade him for the service, making this an official “transaction”. Rurick gave him their one sending stone and a picture of the talismans, while Ailekk told him everything they’d been able to find out about the talismans so far. Their part fulfilled, Arkvall and 2 mages (one human, one elf), escorted the party to the administration building where they all paid 50 gold and joined the guild. Twigg stayed behind and was told not to deliver the “bait” to the guards. Exiting the building and approaching the south square they saw about 30 guards there, with Captain Sidrove “Sid”, standing in the front. He approached the party and confronted them, while the party asked if he was aware of the corruption to which he responded “Yep.” Rurrick (I think), “Responded with what are you gonna do about it?” At which point Cassius and someone else noticed 3 of the guards getting really nervous. Cassius said, “Hey, why are those guys looking so nervous?” And pointed them out. At that point a fight ensued and the corrupt guards were slain by the other guards. Sid and 20 of the guards offered to escort the party to the bounty hunter guild. Reaching the guild, Arkvall left having fulfilled his obligation to the party. In the guild, the party went to the top floor and discussed matters with Keerlese. This is where the session ended. Bounty Hunter Guild Module Here