As the group crosses the makeshift bridge, Variel looks down at the water. "Not to alarm any of you, but I think something's watching us. I thought I saw something in the water back there, and I think something swam by beneath us here as well. I can't really tell what it is, though." The elf draws his sword and brings up the rear, looking over his shoulder again when he reaches the rear bank. "At least there's no water in here."
"Oh, that's always a good sign," Mephiston mutters, his voice utterly dripping with sarcasm. "Then I suggest we stay away from the water rather than stick around and see who's decided that we're interesting. Let's pick a path and get moving." He heads to the passages and looks down them a bit to search for a way forward.
Tosguld curiously inspects the sandy pit in the center of the room.
Mephiston moves toward the pit and peers down inside, and as he does so the guardsman remembers rumors he once heard; some say underground fighting pits can be found around the Siphons, and are often used as a form of entertainment by slave owners. How much of this was truth or fiction was a matter of opinion, but this seems to be proof of just such a location. Dried blood has clotted the sand at the bottom of the pit, and Tosguld can spy two small holding cells on either side of the pit. Further examination finds the hilt of a broken dagger, rusted from what must be months or years of disuse. The blood splatter in the sand and on the walls is dried and flaking, not recent.
Mephiston looks around before heading down one of the passages. It leads to another siphoning room like where they entered, although this one does appear somewhat different; the room they entered from had grates where the water was flowing much like this one, but not in the same fashion as this room. Looking down, it seems like another collapsed pathway has fallen and subsequently filled with water. If they can get through the grating, the party could likely use the collapsed tunnel as a passage, as it doesn't seem to have the same flow of water as the one before. He also passed by another collapsed passage, but as he heads back toward the others to tell them what he finds, he notices a small draft of air. Perhaps this tunnel could be excavated, given some time? The process would be noisy, but it would open an unexpected avenue of movement if successful.
Ahto follows down the path after Mephiston, but when he sees that he reached a dead end, stops at the intersection.
"We can try up this way," he says, pointing northward.
He continues to scan the area for their quarry's marks.
After scanning the fighting pit, Tosguld stands and follows the sound of Ahto's voice down the hallway.
He keeps his eyes peeled for any hazards.
Varrren follows the others, content to let Mephiston and Ahto determine their path for now. He keeps his own senses alert for any approaching threat.
As the three of them head farther into the room, Varrren stops Tosguld just in time to prevent the guardsman from stepping onto another pressure plate. He notices two long, narrow slits in the wall just next to him, likely the opening for whatever trap would have been sprung. Otherwise, though, the room seems to just be another cistern. It clearly joins the path toward the north from the room Mephiston is in, although what lies down that passage is unknown.
Hearing the other group moving north, Mephiston elects not to suggest the southern passage just yet. There was no reason to get involved in hard labor that could turn out to be completely pointless. He stops to disable the pressure plate before moving past it and heading up to the next passage to look ahead and see what's up the northern passage.
Pyrrha does her best to follow after the vanguard of the group's members while keeping an eye on anyone straying from the safety of its numbers.
After Mephiston disarms the trap, two long blades slide slowly out from their place in the wall; the blades are rusty and worn, and coated in some odd residue. The passage to the north leads to what seems to be a storeroom. While no one from above ground has likely used it as such in a long time, the belongings here—a few crates, a backpack, and a pile of sandbags—very well may belong to either Grozz or other denizens of the Siphons. The items here don't seem to be old enough that they were left since the last time the guards had been down here, although there is a fine layer of dust over the crates.
The room to the north seems empty from what the group can tell. A few grates in the floor can be spotted from the hallway, and the room seems to be split into smaller nooks, but nothing else is visible without heading farther in. The passage to the west is once again collapsed, although the water flow is clearly much shallower here than it was before. Walking up to the edge reveals the water is trickling through, and at worst might come up to your knees in the deepest spots.
"Check out the pack and the bags, maybe..." Ahto suggest to Mephiston. "They look fresher than everything else down here."
In the meantime, Ahto scans the area for anything else of note. He eyes the grates in the floor: Are they loose? If they are, could somebody squeeze down into one? How would a sneaky bugger like Grozz hide out from the law?
"It can't hurt to check things out," Mephiston agrees. "I'll check ahead as well." He moves forward to examine the supplies and then the path heading north.
While Mephiston heads forward to check out the grates, Ahto hangs back and inspects the grates. It's simple enough to see that no one could fit through the bars, and cutting through them would take a while. However, in the room Mephiston was in, he does notice that the grate on the left side of the room seems to be loose in its fitting. Dropping down into the pool to examine it further, he can feel it shift when he pulls on it. Another tug or two might wrench it loose, and beyond that he can see the shallow pool slope upwards from the rubble into another passageway. The others seem to drop down some sort of pipe; it seems perhaps the rubble has obstructed the flow from this one, causing it to pool as it did.
Mephiston decides to head farther north, and pokes around in the supplies. From what he can tell, most of it is food and water, the kind that would survive down here for long periods of time. In one of the crates, though, he finds a few grisly knickknacks; cleaned knuckle bones and strips of tanned flesh sit in the bottom of one of the boxes, all wrapped up in some cloth. Each strip of flesh has a name inscribed on it, likely the name of the victim.
When Mephiston lifts the pack, it's far heavier than he originally expects. When he opens the top, the bag lurches forward in his hands and silver and gold coins pour out of the now open hole, clattering onto the ground. Inside, Mephiston finds still more coins along with a small, hand-written note.
Grozz,
The tiefling will be at the Shield & Spear, but he won't be alone. The guards won't be there, they've been paid off, but I expect he'll have a few local toughs with him. He'd be an idiot to not think this is a trap after the kind of trouble he gets himself into. You can do what you want with anyone who gets in your way, but remember, we need Twist alive. Don't leave witnesses, but try not to leave a bloodbath on public streets. Kill them in the bar if you have to.
You'll get the other half after the job is done.
"What in the world?" Mephiston mutters as the coins spill out all over the floor. He flips the note open and his eyes widen. "Hell's fiery hole. I think we've been outmaneuvered. It looks like Grozz is being paid to abduct the tiefling we're looking for. If he's already left, he'll get there ahead of us."
Varrren looks up sharply, "Where is he headed?"
"A place called the Shield & Spear." Mephiston takes a moment to consider if the name has come up in any of his efforts to gain access to the local gossip and underworld.
Pyrrha does a double take at the massive amount of coin, fighting the urge to say how impractical it is to make large payments that way, especially when it complicates her stealing it from their target.
She does ask with a greedy grin, Need a hand with that?
Ahto laughs to himself as he sees the coins spill out of the bag. "No wonder we couldn't find more markers leading to his hideout...we're in it."
"So now we gotta get back out and head to the Shield and Spear. Greeaaaat."
The Shield and Spear is another bar in the Coins, on the other end of the district from where you were earlier. More importantly, though, you remember hearing there'd been a fire there only a few days ago; the building went up in flames some time in the middle of the night, reducing the entire establishment to a charred husk. Several of the buildings nearby suffered some damage but none seemed to take the brunt of the flames. The owner's body was pulled out of the wreckage, obviously burnt to a crisp. You're not sure, but you think you remember that they believed someone might have set fire to it purposefully.
"Ah yes, I remember now. It's less or an actual bar and more the ruins of a bar that burned to the ground. Quite recently in-fact. It seems that whoever is involved in this mess has a sense of melodrama, luring someone to an abduction at a burned shell of a well known building." He taps his chin thoughtfully. "It's almost a pity that we can't be sure that he'll actually be brought back here. Otherwise we could just set-up an ambush for when they return rather than running after them. Though we could still try that I suppose."
"Yeah, I can imagine the look on Grozz's ugly mug to come back here and find us waiting for him. Of course, if he's already killed Twist and taken his tail, it won't matter much. Without anything else to go on, we might have to go lookin' for him."
Without any other leads and nothing better to do, let's get going. Pyrrha says as she does her part in confiscating the coins.
Varren calmly assists in claiming the treasure for their own, "Indeed, haste seems to be the word of the day."
Heading out of the Siphons the same way they came in, believing that their quarry is no longer down below. Instead, they make the trek back through the Puddles and into the city proper. It takes them another few hours to get to the Shield and Spear, and by the time they arrive night has already struck. The streets, while not completely quiet, are largely empty. The hollowed-out husk of the tavern sits before them, with its sign burnt almost beyond recognition; only the actual shield and spears mounted over the doorway give you a clear indication that this is the place you're looking for. The door still remains on its hinges, but half of it is missing, and the party can see clearly into the building.
Pushing it open, the ash on the floor billows up around them. Otherwise, the inside of the building is utterly still. The floor is scorched and burnt away, and looking up reveals the second floor must have mostly collapsed during the fire. However, at least at first glance, it doesn't seem like anyone is here.
Taking in the scene Pyrrha breaks the quiet, Too early? Or too late?I'm just noticing its quiet, the real question is why?
"We'll see in just a minute." Mephiston mutters a word and waves his hands, vanishing into thin air again. He creeps forward silently, making his way into the burned out building and scanned the area for any signs of a struggle or anyone lurking about.
Ahto scans the area, looking for any sign that they are being watched.
Mephiston takes a look around while invisible, and Ahto keeps an eye out to make sure no one's watching him. Mephiston slowly makes his way around to the other side of the building, examining the structural damage from the fire. It doesn't seem as if the city guard has been here recently—either because they didn't have the time or they were paid enough to not even investigate—but it's obvious to Mephiston the fire didn't start accidentally. Huge scorch marks mar one of the back walls like a sudden fire and sprung up and engulfed them before spreading. Shrugged up against one of the walls is a burnt carcass with a long, heavy blade stroke cut through its shoulder, and another sits in the back corner. He spots the drag marks where they must have hauled the owner's body out of the store, but the back of the tavern seems undisturbed.
A few seconds later, though, Mephiston hears a light thud behind him. When he turns around, a tiefling with deep purple skin stares at him with a knife drawn. While he's looking just past Mephiston's shoulder, he does clearly seem to have a decent idea of where the Chelaxian is standing. When he flicks his view down to the ground, Mephiston realizes the man must have spotted his tracks in the ash. "If you raise your voice, I will stab you enough times that I'll find something vital eventually." His voice is quiet but tense, hissing out from between clenched teeth. "Who are you? Do you work for Grozz?"
Mephiston calmly moves on hand to his mace, ready to draw in an instant. "If you think you're that good at back stabbing, clearly you've never been to Westcrown. Whether you learn who I am depends entirely on who you are. But I can say that I don't work for Grozz. I was planning to turn what was left of him over to the guard once I was done with him actually. Now if you'll stop pointing knives like a back alley thug, perhaps we can talk like civilized people."
"You... you're after Grozz?" The tiefling starts to lower his knife, but he still doesn't seem totally convinced. "Then how'd you know to come here? How'd you know Grozz burned this place down? The city guards around here sure as hell didn't tell you. They don't know, or don't care, or are getting paid off. Maybe more than one." The tiefling's voice is still tense, but Mephiston notices that the man's rigid posture begins to relax. His eyes still focus on Mephiston—or where he's pretty sure Mephiston's face is, even if he's off a bit—but he's not quite so aggressive. "Well? If you really don't work for Grozz, why'd you know to come here in the first place?"
"Because an hour or two ago, I was in Grozz's base with my associates planning to beat him unconscious and take him for interrogation, only to find that he had already left. Frankly, I had no idea that he burned this place down, but he was so kind as to have left a letter detailing his latest job behind like a fool. A letter that kindly informed us that he was planning to come here and kidnap a tiefling who knew too much. You're welcome by the way."
Hearing Mephiston talking to someone, Ahto moves to investigate.
He rounds the wall and sees the tiefling. "Well, what do we have here?"
Pyrrha joins Ahto near by but is keeping an eye out more for trouble than worrying about what the Tiefling might do. Let's make introductions quick before you know who arrives.
Since Mephiston did not seem alarmed, Varrren keeps a watch for any approaching foes.
"I'm welcome? What are you—" The tiefling looks at Mephiston confused, then a look of understanding hits his face. "You all made a mistake. Twist is already gone, they took him the night this place burnt down; I was here hoping that I might be able to find something that would lead me to him. When you all showed up, I figured you were cleaning up Grozz's dirty work."
When Ahto and Pyrrha come around the corner, the tiefling looks defensive for a moment, but he eventually puts his knife away. "I guess you're looking for Twist too, then. Damn. I was hoping maybe you'd at least know where he was. So much for that."
Mephiston raised one eyebrow, though still invisible his face was unreadable. "I'm going to have to ask you to explain yourself. Because we saw someone who matched Twist's description this morning during that incident in the Ascendant Court. So someone has either lied to me or outsmarted me in the last 24 hours and I do not like to be outsmarted." His mace slides silently into his hand.
Ahto gives the tiefling an appraising look.
"Look, I don't know what anyone else told you, but Grozz grabbed Twist a couple days ago. I'm his brother, I've been looking for him ever since and I haven't had any luck. I even checked Grozz's... dumping grounds out in the Puddles, and he wasn't there either. Twist is alive, but I don't know where he is. Whoever payed Grozz to grab Twist didn't want him dead, I guess, but I don't know why." Ahto doesn't recognize the tiefling, but he's also pretty certain the tiefling isn't lying to them.
"Yes, but that doesn't explain why we saw someone who looked just like your brother watching that little scuffle in the Court this morning. So apparently whoever caught Twist either f*cked up and let him get away, or you're missing something too." Then he smiles wickedly. "But if you know where Grozz hides out, then I believe you can still help us. If he's not here, we'll just have to go back to the Puddles and... persuade Grozz to explain the discrepancies."
"I mean, I know he's holed up down in the Siphons. I just don't know where he is down there. I just know where he dumps his bodies, when he dumps them anyway. I hear he had a way to turn them into his undead servants, and they keep his home safe. That might just be a rumor, though." The tiefling sighs, his hand resting on the pommel of his knife. "All I know is, I'm pretty sure Twist isn't dead. I'm not doubting you saw him... in the Ascendant Court, you said? You're right, I've got to be missing something too. Why would he be out and about if he was kidnapped? If he got away, why wouldn't he come see me? It doesn't make sense."
Pyrrha makes a face a blows at a stray hair in futile, Well this was a bust. Back to combing the Siphons? Maybe we can find another clue here?
Ahto gives a sigh of frustration. "They've got us chasing our tails. There's gotta be something we missed...maybe we should check out this dumpsite you mentioned?" Ahto looks to the tiefling.
"Other than when he makes them into his macabre... sculptures, Grozz has a dumping ground in the Puddles. I don't much want to head back there, but we can if you want. Something could have shown up since I last checked; I just hope it isn't my brother's rotting corpse. If you want to check out the Siphons again, there's dozens of ways in. We could check this out on the way there."
That's a start. Might get lucky and be able to work our way backward from there. Pyrrha says rolling her shoulders ready to head there along the way.
Twist's brother leads the group back into the Puddles, and by the time they arrive it's deep into the night. The tiefling takes the lead and ventures through the dilapidated houses, before poking his head through one of the broken doorways. A moment later, the tiefling recoils and retches, then waves the group on. "This is it. There's a sinkhole in here that he'll stow bodies to decompose. It's... not pretty." Inside the broken building, the group is met with the same disgusting stench that Twist's brother must have been struck by. Several corpses—or pieces of corpses, in some cases—are laying in the water in various states of decomposition. A few of them are rotten and maggot-filled, although some are less so. Notably, there's still no sign of a tiefling stowed in there, not even a tail.
Varrren looks down into the pit, retching a bit and suddenly grateful that he has missed dinner this day.
After a moment, he gives a small sound of surprise, "Aren't we hunting for an orc?"
With a few words of magic, a ghostly hand withdraws a green-skinned arm from the pit. It follows Varrren out of the building and holds the arm up for the others to see, "This seems a bit fresher than the rest; the water around it was still stained red."
"I certainly hope it's not our quarry," Mephiston mutters as he leans in to examine the arm. "We're rather short on other leads at this point."
Revealing a kerchief and holding it to her nose to ease her sense back into the Puddles, Pyrrha prods in jest, I might have believed you for your word, yet you were still compelled to drag that up here, what for may I ask?
Varren drags the arm up magically, and anyone with any sort of anatomical knowledge—or even just someone who's seen a severed limb once or twice before—can tell the wound is still quite fresh. While the blood has begun to congeal, it still hasn't done so completely and the arm still moves when jostled. Whether it was Grozz or not, whoever lost this arm hasn't been without it for long. You do notice a few smatterings of blood where the cobblestones aren't wet with salt water, as well. What you can find leads down farther into the Puddles.
"Looks like whoever's missing that hasn't been without it for long. They might even still be alive."