Aardvark's "A Conspiracy of Silver Ravens" Hell's Rebels Campaign (Inactive)

Game Master Troy Malovich

Devil's Nursery

All their teeth, eh? ... Are tiefling teeth different than other teeth? That seems like a strange motivation.

Should've confirmed earlier. I think breaking in at dusk is the plan, and I vote to go with it.

Tasha sighs quietly, as she picks up her book once more. Well, if anything, I know a lot more about the seedier places in here., she thinks to herself as she flips around the pages filled with euphemisms.

"Strange, yes... Do you know how these Tiefling died?"

Devil's Nursery
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Homick balks, and shrugs, "Well, I ain't no medicine man. I'm just a tailor. I just try to clean and straighten em up respectable like so's they family can give respects. If'n I had to guess, I'd say it was all the damage to they faces. No other wounds was as bad. As far as special teeth, depends on yer blood, but some have bigger fangs en others, but not much more that any other kin that has em."

The Harbor District
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So, if you guys are returning at dusk, you have some time to wait, as you all headed out in the morning. Do you intend on returning to the coffeehouse to wait, or trying to find your friends?

"A horrible way to go... So our killer uses brutal force... I'm sorry to ask, but do you have any idea how the... well the teeth, we're pulled out?" shivers run up Zoltan's spine as he asks.

Let's try to find our friends. Splitting the party and all!

Devil's Nursery
----------------------------

The older man just shrugs apologetically and offers what you can easily tell is a guess. "Violently, during the fight?"

The Harbor
-----------------------------

The group decides to pack up their stakeout to go find the others. If they were coming back at night, there was no reason sticking around now. The Devil's Nursery isn't too far away, and even a little asking around will easily lead the team to find the other non-tieflings in the area asking questions.

You are all together now at Homick the tailor's shop, "Sew What?"

I thought we were going to do one round of asking around before heading to join the others, per Dawni's earlier suggestion, but this works too. ;)

So, what are you guys doing?

I was just waiting to see if the other group was going to do something else before greeting them at the tailor's shop.

Tasha follows the rest into the tailor's shop, her eyes darting all around the place. Her thoughts cross over the murders, and a dark look spreads on her face. You'd think that the mainland Cheliaxians would be all over tieflings, right?, she thinks as she sits down and waves. As she learns more about the conversation, she runs her finger across her own teeth, shuddering as she imagines someone extracting them. Even posthumously.

Tasha scratches her head as she attempts to find reason in the killer's motives. "Not to go to false assumptions, or anything, but I think it might be possible that the killer is someone who thinks they're, ugh, doing good.", she quickly raises her hands in the air defensively. "Look. Imagine your country is attacked by orcs. The people who generally dislike others aren't going to form parties to hunt the orcish armies, because that's dangerous. Instead, they'd go for the half-orcs, since they, too, are a shade of green and have big teeth." She bites her lips. "So the killer might be thinking of getting rid of the Infernal influence, but isn't stupid enough to start killing Thrunes or actual devils." She sighs, giving the old tailor a sympathetic look. "Or I could be grasping at strings. I hope I'm grasping at strings.", she shudders. I should really learn to keep my mouth closed.

Zoltan thanks them all for their help as they take their leave. When alone, he comments as they make their way back to meet the other ravens: "So, what do we know about those murders? It seems we have little to go on, is it not?"

To Tasha, he beams warmly and says: "What an interesting theory. It is certainly possible! So, what if it is, what does that tell us on how to find the murderer?"

Bardigan shakes his head, grieved at the thought of a murderer running rampant killing tieflings for their teeth. He wondered suddenly if his aunt was ok, but forced the thought down, trying to take comfort in the fact she wasn't anywhere near the nursery given how busy their efforts with the ravens kept her.

He shakes the tailor's hand, "Thanks for your time and your help."

Turning to his allies, he shrugs, "Maybe we could talk to a few other folk? Is there anyone else you can think of besides Homick here and Jandish, Zea?"

Zea furrows her brow in consternation at Tasha's suggestion, her shoulders slumping in dismay at the seeming futility of finding someone whose entire motivation is a misguided strike at Cheliax itself. At Bardigan's question, she shrugs, but her face turns to one of pleading, "I don't know of anyone else that could help. You've got as much as I can think to offer."

To Bardigan:

Zea mentioned Kalinda, the woman who cremates the bodies, earlier, but I didn't have her introduce us there because she only sees them after they have been cleaned up and prepared, but if you think it would be worthwhile, it is another person to talk to.

"I like Tasha's hypothesis. Perhaps we should work it out, see where it leads us?"

Ganner smiles and nods to Bardigan. "Our stakeout confirms there's something off about the place the mercenary is being held. But we'll need to return later tonight to get inside." He looks embarrassed by talking so much.

Dawnilea nods at Ganner's statement, "Nobody really seems to be coming in and out... Might be worth asking some of the former dockworkers the mercenaries have replaced -- but that's probably best done with ale and darkness... Plus, we figured you'd be in trouble and need us by now."

Bardigan puts on a hurt expression, his mouth slightly agape at Dawnilea's comment. "I've only ever been ambushed and had daggers thrown at my back when I've been with you, I'll have you know."

Turning back to Zea, he nods and smiles, the gesture both broad and genuine. "Zea, you have been a tremendous help. Missing teeth isn't a lot to go on, but it just might be enough to get us closer to this murderer. We'll keep going until we've found out who this fiend is and stopped him."

Zea looks confused by Bardigan's promise, "So... you're leaving now? What should we do if it happens again? How do you plan on finding the murderer?"

"We're leaving, but we've not abandoned the case. The day is still early and perhaps we can continue asking around for information?" says Zoltan and he looks to his companions to see if they would rather stay a while longer and continue the investigation.

Then a thought touches him and he turns back to Zea: "Say, where do people from the Nursery go when they have a bad teeth that needs fixing?"

Apart from talking to more people beyond those Zea's voluntered and brought us to already, I'm at a loss as to how to look into this further. Apart from using my aunt Jinx as bait and laying a trap for our murderous reverse toothfairy, I'm feeling stuck.

Zea looks at Zoltan curiously at the question, before shrugging as she responds "Fixing? Nah, we usually find a apothecary for the pain and pull it, or find someone to pull it for us, usually friends or family."

Zoltan nods: "Right, so no the idea that our killer may be collecting teeth doesn't ring a bell... Well then, perhaps we should continue exploring the area and talk to people?"

Perhaps we should talk to the apothecary and see if he or she sells the teeth that they pull... or has been queried about it in the past.

Dawnilea nods at the suggestion, "Seems as good an idea as any... Starting with the apothecary, tha tis."

Zoltan smiles and nods his approval. He asks: "Zea, would you be so kind as to point us in the direction of the apothecary?"

Bardigan nods in agreement, though it seems as if he's only half paying attention to the conversation.

Nodding, Tasha looks at the others. Yes, I suppose actual reasonable suggestions are better than wild accusations., she sighs, before noticing the others planning to leave, shouldering her bag. "Let's go and find them. If anything, they should know what people might want to do with... uh, the teeth, better than us."

Zea leads the group around to the nearest apothecary, and then a couple others not too far away. The region of Redroof doesn't have much in the way of physicians, and especially within the Devil's Nursery. The herbalists in their shops offer very little in the way of information or suggestions. It seems you guys may have hit a dead end in your investigation.

Zoltan retains his composure, though he is visibly upset.

"I am at a complete loss. All I can suggest is that we stay here as long as we need to, but it is likely we will get into other kinds of troubles doing so..." He looks to the others to see if they have other ideas.

We've narrowed down the area where the murders happen. I suggest we patrol the area and try to catch the killer in the act. The area all the murders have happened is only about eight-hundred feet apart from west to east, and the furthest northward is only about five-hundred feet from the south wall. It's a lot of area, but we can do it. I'm guessing that the murderer is within the area, and this is the hunting ground.

Falling back on a different clue we found earlier... not as good maybe, but since we are dead-ending on what we have...?

"I'm wondering at this point if we could lay a trap for our tooth-stealing murderer. We can look at where all the other bodies have been found and have someone act as bait to lure him out. I'm sure my aunt would volunteer, were I to ask."

Dawnilea cocks her head, "I like the idea of setting a trap, so long as we still cover the whole area. I'd hate for the killer to strike 300 feet away from our bait while we weren't looking."

Zoltan nods: "Well then, let's lay a trap! Your aunt is certainly not like my aunt, Bardigan! Is she a Tiefling?"

Bardigan shrugs at Dawnilea's suggestion, "We'll do what we can, of course." He then turns to Zoltan and nods, "Yes, she is. She was with us when we started our, ah, let's call it our 'bold, new venture'. But if I'm going to be asking my aunt to stick her literal neck out, we should have a plan at least. Let's draw up a simple map, mark where the past victims have been found, and see if we can find someplace suitable near the middle of it all to lay our trap."

Krizta pulls out her journal and a pen, sketches in a map of the area, and starts marking all the spots where the murders happened, so that it is easier for everyone else to visualize.

It doesn't take much to establish a mostly central location, roughly a seventy to eighty foot radius to try and look into for laying a trap. The area is a big jumble of buildings, most of which are cobbled together or ramshackle.

Added a map so you guys may plan how you want to do this.

Bardigan points to one of the corners in Krizta's sketch, "That looks promising. It's out of view from general passersby and looks like someone would normally be pretty vulnerable there."

Added a red circle to the map

"Right. Then where shall we hide? We need to encircle the killer, yes? So perhaps we should be in separate positions. I, however, am a little small to hope to stop a killer. Perhaps that can be used to our advantage? The killer may opt to go through me and thus end up where we want him, or her, or it..." Zoltan suggests.

"Up on the roof overhead? Maybe around the corner?" Bardigan shrugs, looking to the others and in particular to Dawnilea for advice.

"Are some of us good with archery? How do we plan to capture it? Or is our intent to kill it?" says Zoltan. He had decided to switch the assassin to an 'it.' Thinking it would make the decision on capture or kill somewhat easier.

Krizta agrees that they should hide, and approach the area separately. Krizta marks on the map on which roof she will be, so that her allies know.

When they are ready that evening, Krizta goes that location, waits for a time when the alley between the buildings isn't being observed, and takes up her position, waiting for the sounds of the trap being sprung.

Perception: 1d20 + 8 ⇒ (4) + 8 = 12
Climb: 1d20 + 4 ⇒ (18) + 4 = 22
Stealth: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (16) + 6 = 22

Tasha nods to her bow. "I dabble in archery. Mostly against notice boards, to be fair.", she chuckles, before her smile wanes. "I'd want to capture them alive... But a murderer walking around on the streets is an even worse option, so I'll try and stop them regardless... And I'm talking way too much, since I'm working myself up for it, it seems.", she clears her throat, fingers rapping on the table.

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Tasha makes her way up the side of the building, accompanied by grunting and complaining, and stands next to the chimney. Oookay... So I'm going to be shooting at a killer. A mass killer. A crazy mass killer. And I'm alone at a rooftop. Taking a deep breath, she opens her quiver, draws an arrow and leans on the chimney.

Perception: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (8) + 2 = 10
Climb: 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (6) + 2 = 8I'll take 10, I guess.
Stealth: 1d20 + 5 ⇒ (17) + 5 = 22

Dawnilea says, "I'm not much of an archer. Can't help but wonder if one of the other alleys might work better. I could hide behind a rain barrel or woodpile, or in a well."

Zea watches the planning process with curiosity, but she keeps darting glances at Bardigan, from just under her brow as she looks down at the map. As the others speak, she kind of leans over to him, looking a little emboldened. "Your aunt is a tiefling, right?" She looks him over, from head to toe, his dress and bearing. "This is the Nursery. My people, my home. You don't need to bring her in, I'll be your bait. I know this place better than she would."

Tasha, you can't take 10. It's one of the house rules.
I'll call climbing the houses a DC 15, but it's only a 5 if you use the chimney effect of the opposing walls roughly in the area of the red circle.

Sense Motive: 1d20 + 1 ⇒ (9) + 1 = 10

Bardigan turns to regard Zea and nods, opening his mouth to explain further but her offer to play the bait catches the words in his throat. He regards her for a long moment, mirroring her assessment of him, before nodding once. "Alright. And I won't even tell my aunt that you didn't think she could handle it." He holds a straight face for barely a breath before a playful smile breaks across his face and he laughs. "But Kintargo is Kintargo, Zea, no matter how many little pieces people try to cut it up into. And Kintargo's my home too." He gives her shoulder an encouraging squeeze as he looks to the others. "I have a bow, but I'm not great with it. Ganner and I have fought together more times than I care to count now," he smiles at his friend and offers a nod, "so he and I can take the southern stretch. Dawnilea, how about you and Zoltan take the north corner there, while Kritza and Tasha cover us from up above."

I'm ready to advance if everyone else is!

Ganner nods and flexes his hands nervously. "Got your back."

Dawnilea nods, relieved at the thought of bringing her blades into play, "Consider it done..." She turns and says, "Zea, call out, and we'll be there in a flash."

Stealth: 1d20 + 6 ⇒ (10) + 6 = 16

I'm assuming Dawni can use that wagon, I think, for cover to hide?