Kasei sends the man in front of him to the ground, bleeding. Mal's first arrow is a miss, but the second take sdown the man behind the one Kasei just stopped.
The man in front of Gunther attacks again!
It's a miss!
Now the man who fell down stands up. He then moves up the stairs and gets ready to strike!
A fifth man (though only three stand) enters the room and hands at the back of the group.
Naurin's shot flies true, and sends another thug to the ground!
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Vincenzo takes a 5' step to L5.
He then takes his readies action, tossing his alchemical item at the thug in square P5.
Price 50 gp; Weight 1 lb.
DESCRIPTION
Harvested and concentrated from the remains of slain ghasts, this foul-smelling powder is kept in tightly sealed flasks. It is thrown as a splash weapon and the flask breaks on impact, releasing noxious dust. The target is nauseated for 1 round and sickened for 3 rounds after that. A successful DC 12 Fortitude save prevents the nauseated condition, but not the sickened condition. Creatures within 5 feet of where the flask hits are sickened for 1 round. This is a poison effect.
The Steel Wyverns must have been made of butter, for all the resistance they offer the dour-handed Pathfinders.
After Naurin drops one, Kasei and Vincenzo miss. But Malfeas does not! His first shot drops the thug in front of Gunther, the second sinks to the fletchings in the leader's gut. He doesn't fall, but with a mighty swing Gunther ensures that he'll never rise again.
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Naurin hobbles from one thug to another with her healer's kit, working to stabilize each of the thugs, although she sees that the leader is past saving.
"Anyone have any rope to tie them up?"
After each of the thugs is secured, Naurin releases a burst of positive energy, healing the thugs and Gunther.
Naurin tries to do her best scowl at any that awaken. Probably more effective is the fact that they were so handily defeated, their leader is dead, and they lay tied up and helpless at the group's feet.
Before leaving she makes sure that the marbles and caltrops are all swept off into the sewer channel.
The thugs come to and after the questioning begins, one volunteers to speak.
"Look, we don't know much. Our boss there, Randalan, has been working the Almsman for protection money. Times have been tough for us, so we figured we could squeeze him for a bit more. We never figured on things going sideways like this."
The Almsman comes over and thanks you for getting the gang off his back.
"I'll see to it that these men are turned over to the authorities. Now, if you want to know more about that crazy old friend of yours I'll tell you where he was living. Follow that main sewer tunnel to the east. Follow the next south branch when you come to it. Look for a mossy, overgrown door marked 'Skytower' along the south wall."
The Almsman’s directions lead to a heavy wooden door. A sign on the door is partially obscured by grime and moss, and the word “Skytower” is still barely legible.
You enter the room.
This room was once the basement of a building above, but the stairs in the far corner are now choked with charred rubble and seem to lead to a new stone foundation of the new building above. Odd furniture and knick-knacks of all description fill the remaining space, and strange winged effigies made of wood and broken pottery are arrayed in a bizarre diorama. The focal point of this display is a pair of chairs standing on different-sized piles of old crates like thrones on a dais. A charred and shriveled corpse dressed in rotting and burnt finery and wearing a tin crown is propped up in one of the chairs while the other, lower chair, sits vacant.
The tin crown bears a crude inscription that reads "Emperor Relios."
Amidst the furniture is a desk with several log books and journals. Most of them detail the day-to-day transactions of the Skytower Emporium, the man Relios' shop dealing in fine furniture and accessories. One of the books is Relios’s personal journal. It details the goings on of many of his wealthy clients, as well as Relios’s personal life including the details of his ancestry and his son Gandros' birth. The family was definitely not nobility of any kind.
One of the last ledgers mentions that Relios was falling on hard times and intended to sell his Wayfinder back to the Pathfinder Society. The ledgers also show that Relios was selling a steady stream of yellowcap mushrooms to members of the pre-revolution high society in Augustana.
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Naurin also considers the yellowcap mushrooms.
"Perhaps the 'emperor' was the former owner of the 'Emporium' (some common shop), and then hard times and poor conditions, and perhaps his father's death, all led to his son's madness. These effigies might be the army that the son was saying he was assembling - quite literally, as it turns out."
Gunther and Naurin remember hearing about these mushrooms. They were grown to produce a powerful hallucinogenic drug that was once highly favored among Andoran's pre-revolution nobility. Nowadays the drug is not popular, and the mushrooms are worthless in a monetary sense.
Vincenzo and Kasei both hear noise coming from the very back room, some sort of shambling, shuffling sound, as if creatures are moving around back there...
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"Hallucinogens - add that to the list of causes. Perhaps he may even recover with time away from this place and them."
As the sounds are heard, Naurin casts a spell of Guidance on each member as they pass her, then casts Bless from her wand over the group, replacing it in her belt, swiftly palming her wand of curing. "These might be the outsiders or demons that caused the Gandros' injuries."
Initiatives:
Round 1:
Malfeas <<
Dimitra <<
Vincenzo <<
Dretches
Kasei
Naurin
Gunther
You see three figures in the back room. Naurin immediately recognizes them as dretches, although they appear smaller than they should and severely disoriented. They seem to lack most of the usual traits of demons, and it seems even normal weapons will harm them as usual.
Mal's shots slam into one of the demonic creatures, ending its existence.
Dimitra begins to sing, granting the party additional courage.
Vincenzo readies his blade.
The two dretches advance, trying to attack Kasei and Gunther with their claws!
Fortunately, the wretched things cannot land a solid blow!
Round 1:
Kasei
Naurin
Gunther
Gunther's sword leaves a huge gash in the chest of one dretch, but doesn [i]quite[i] finish it off.
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Dimitra quickly tries to remember if these creatures are susceptible to mind-affecting effects and what languages it understands.
She remembers that they only understand abbysal, so an attempt to antagonize them would not work. It seems like the combat is well in hand, so she continues singing and waits for events to unfold while drawing her dagger.
Mal's arrows end the fight in a hurry! The first shot slays the dretch Kasei had attacked, and the second puts the one Gunther wounded out of its misery.
The party searches the room, and doesn't find any valuables. They do locate a piece of parchment with blackened lines on it. Naurin look sit over and can see that it's a magic scroll that has been read. There are no signs of any kind of portal, magical or otherwise. Perhaps the demons were summoned by means of the scroll?
The party gathers the information from the journals and returns to Venture-Captain Wallace's office in the Pathfinder lodge.
"Well done! Well done! I'm glad there was no real portal there. And thank you for eliminating those dretches. No matter how weakened they were, they would still have caused a great deal of mischief. Now, what should we do with Gandros? I'm interested to hear your advice. We could allow him to return to his 'kingdom', or perhaps leave him in the care of this Almsman. I suppose we could also find a place for him at the local asylum. What say you?"
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"Yes, but unfortunately his choices are tainted by mushrooms and madness. If he could recuperate at the surface or with the Almsman, he might recover enough to be more clear-minded. Perhaps, though, it is better that he remain a prince, if only is his own mind."
Naurin, seeing part of the Pathfinder 'family' reduced to such hard times, quietly uses her portion of the group's earnings to better supply the Almsman's sanctuary, with particular instructions to the Almsman (and his beggar followers) to look out for the well-being of Gandros.