Arcade’s Journal -- Bounty Hunters/The Flaming Manticore

...Alix informed us today that he sent an insulting and obnoxious letter to his father, Lord Tarim-Loial in Kindric, a few weeks ago. Plainly he is (again) inviting trouble. We are staying alert for bounty hunters just in case....

...relaxing with the group at the Flaxen Manticore. The trophy room is coming along well, and Stavros has been a wonderful addition to the inn. He only breaks heads when it is actually called for, and keeps order marvelously. One good tusked scowl from him settles the unruliest drunks.

Still no word from Grundo, although happy rumors have trickled into town that a bearded horror has been wreaking havoc upon the goblin tribes in the nearby mountains....

...yesterday at the Manticore I was sitting with Alix, Nolin, Tom-Tom, Tao, and Velendo at our usual table. Into the inn walked a huge man, wearing black armor and carrying a bizarre polearm. (I have since been informed that it is called a bohemian earspoon.)

He stopped briefly at the bar to speak to the bartender. From the seat next to me, I heard Alix say in a loud whisper "Oh damn!" I turned to find that Alix had activated his ring of Invisibility, and I immediately suspected a bounty hunter. The large fellow turned to stare at our table and did something with an amulet. He then walked purposefully over to our table and introduced himself as Kirykon the Tracker. After a brief and uninformative chat, he suddenly turned to the chair next to me and scooped up the invisible (and now apparently paralyzed) Alix. As he strode away I shouted an alarm, and began to cast.

At that moment a mangy, mongrel dog ran in from the kitchen and transformed into a gray-robed mage, wearing a necklace of golden globes. I cast Irritation on Kirykon, followed by Mirror Image on myself. The mage, trying to cover for Kirykon, cast Stinking Cloud into the crowded inn.

Tom-Tom somehow caused a giant squirrel of flame to leap out of the roaring fireplace and attack Kirykon. I tried to Spook the mage without success, so I charged him instead. As Tao moved to block the door, Kirykon struggled with the squirrel and tried not to drop Alix.

Velendo, sadly, had been caught in the ’Cloud. He managed to struggle over to the mage, and just as I struck the mage with my Wand of Shocking Grasp, Velendo vomited in his face. This led to a great deal of vomiting all around, turning the situation very messy indeed!

However, as Velendo was clawing at the mage’s robes he pulled one golden globe free of the necklace. It exploded with a fiery blast, tossing us around like matchsticks and killing the mage in the process. As we picked ourselves up, we noticed that the entire necklace was now hissing and smoking! Seeing this, Kirykon threw Alix at Tao and barreled past her out the door, leaving his polearm behind. Everyone leaped for cover.

Suddenly, the necklace whipped itself off the mage’s neck and flew out of the inn window into the sky, where it detonated in an earthshaking inferno, shattering windows in nearby buildings. (I currently suspect that Tom-Tom had something to do with the flight of the necklace.)

In the chaos, the badly wounded Kirykon made his escape with Lady Natalia Ballard’s horse and carriage. Tao tried to follow, but our ranger was unable to control her panicked horse! We hurried to extinguish the inn, which was now ablaze. This was quickly accomplished....

...Tom-Tom’s inquiries later revealed that Kirykon usually hires assistants while bounty hunting, and also that he has a morbid fear of fire....

...still suspicious of Lady Ballard, as her conveyance had been so very handy for Kirykon’s escape. I asked her again regarding her father’s business. She claimed that he was a stonemason, when previously she had called him a chicken farmer. However, within a day she had vanished, leaving a package for Alix. This turned out to be a large stone chicken. "Fillane Deepleaf" had fooled us once more! We mounted the chicken and the earspoon in the trophy room....

...while waiting for the Manticore to be repaired (the owner has said it will now be named the Flaming Manticore) Alix sent another letter to his father, asking to be left alone. We soon received a letter from Lord Tarim-Loial himself, the richest man in all Gaunt. He is coming here, to Rampart! He wishes to speak to Alix, personally.

Meanwhile, Rofan has come to see us with a request for aid from the temple of Galanna. It seems legitimate....