"Right," Barek says as he marches over and tries to punch Iesha in the nose.
Tunder does not understand Selena's request, but, seeing Barek trying to comply, he does his best to follow suit.
Spiked Gauntlet, cold iron: non-lethal
Foxglove Townhome - Round 2 - continued
Selena feints in and draws the attention of the Iesha creature, allowing Barek a better chance to strike it. She wants this one alive, and shouts to her teammates to use less than lethal force if possible.
Tunder is distracted by the shout and his punch misses, but Barek is able to land a sold blow against the shape-shifter. The rubbery skin of the thing seems to absorb some of the impact, the but it is still rocked on its heels by Barek's power.
Seldon will cast bless.
The sound of Barek's punch jogs Tunder's memory. "The blasted things just absorb a hit from a fist or mace. You have to use a spear or axe to take them down."
Foxglove Townhome - Round 2 - continued
Bringing the blessing of Desna to his allies, Seldon invokes his goddess against the unnatural thing.
The Iesha-thing is grim and determined in spite of the wounds, her speech falling back into the guttural chirping of its native tongue. She reaches for Tunder trying to draw the dwarf into an unnatural embrace, but the strong-armed dwarf is able to hold her office.
Eyes still wild with hostility, Mirela moves quickly to engage the other creature.
Foxglove Townhome - Round 2 - concluded
As the Iesha-thing grabs at Tunder, Mirela is able to slip behind it and drive her rapier clear through the cursed creature. The facade of Iesha melts and molds back into the horrific faceless original shape as the last threat slumps to the floor gargling out a string of curses in some unknown and unknowable tongue.
End of Combat
"What the hell are those things?" Barek leans down to lift the Iesha-thing and examine it. "Shapeshifters? Why would they want to appear like Aldern and Iesha? Where they living here?"
Tentatively, Barek goes over to examine the food in the kitchen. He's almost certain he'll find something grotesque in the pot.
Selena checks on the creatures to see if they still breath and if so she tries to stablalize them so she can question them later.
Heal check
I don't know but we need to find out as much as we can here. Clearly there is more going on that we don't know about and are out of the loop. We need to quickly discern what is going on to stop any further threat that may be posed to us.
"If the city doesn't suspect any ill they're free to use Aldern's estate and wealth at their leisure. I can revive one if we can bind it's hands. But there's no guaranteeing it cannot simply change its shape to break it's bonds."
"Let us search the townhouse. Look for letters. More correspondance from this "Brotherhood"."
"I'll go upstairs."
Take 20 to search the house 31 total.
While the men do the hard searching for information Selena, once finished assessing the creatures, moves the creatures to a back room and away from the front door. She then returns to the front windows and peers out making sure that no one is coming to check on them. Hopefully the closed doors and boarded up windows were enough to stifle any sounds that may have been made during the short but violent struggle moments ago. Only once that is all accomplished does she scan the area with detect magic around the house.
Watching the faceless creature fall unconscious, Mirela's expression is one of snarling disgust. Finally, she sheaths her blade and spits on the ground while muttering some varisian curse "La dracu 'cu aceasta creatura!"
Stepping back, she glances over at Seldon and shakes her head "Oh no, leave these things as they are Seldon." Glancing about the room, Mirela finally appears to be calming down as she more rationally adds "You're right of course Seldon, we should look for his correspondance. Where is his study I wonder? Seems good a place as any to start looking."
Selena finds that both the creature still cling, barely, to life. Her ministrations are enough to stabilize one of the rubbery faceless shapeshifters. After tending to the fallen foe, the enchantress checks the window to see if the fight attracted any undue attention. Seeing no city watch rushing in or really any neighbors at all, Selena is fairly convinced they are still unnoticed. Selena's scan of the downstairs does not turn up anything magical.
Barek checks what is over the hearth in the kitchen and while it smells tasty, whatever is in the pot makes the man's stomach reel. Some unidentifiable meat that looks way too much like rodent.
Seldon, Selena, and Tunder move upstairs to search more, looking for anymore evidence of exactly what was going on. Remembering the letter at Misgivings from Xanesha, they look specifically for items like that.
The second floor seems to be guest rooms and a sitting parlor, and nothing unusual is found there. The top floor holds what looks like Foxglove's bedchamber and private study. In the study, the fireplace mantel is decorated with two roaring lion heads. A thorough search by Tunder reveals the presence of a small, keyhole in the back of the left lion's throat. This keyhole is quite strangely shaped, looking like a triple bladed tang is required to fit the lock.
Barek recoils from the pots. "Ugh, some sort of stewed rat. There's still fur on it!" he quickly drops the pot lid back down. "I guess it could have been worse. If this really had been Aldern, it would have been something much worse."
Barek heads upstairs to see what the others have found. "Hey, we found a key like that on Aldern, right? Or in the fungus, I can't remember. Somebody's got it, right?"
After stabilizing one of the things Selena tries to drag it along wiwth her while she heads upstairs o help with the magical search. As her effort is much quicker than the mundane searches she arrives in time to scan the area as Tunder finds what appears to be a keyhole in a lion. Indeed we did find such a key on the keyring. Hopefully what ever is kept locked will give us some clue as to what Aldern was doing.
Depositing the thing by the door she looks at them, What, I was able to keep it from dying somehow and didn't want to leave it on the floor in there. What happens if it wakes up while we are up here. I still don't know yet what language it speaks but figure some research would reveal it and the method of communication needed to interrogate it. Hands on the hips if they protest, We need answers.
"There's nothing I want to hear from that thing other than the sound of its last breath."
Tunder gets the unorthodox key (from whomever has it) at goes to open the secret compartment.
"I can question it upon the morrow, but I fear Desna cannot grant me her worldly knowledge and traveller's tongue this day, and such a delay may see our enemies act against us."
"... oh. and Barek? I've eaten worse things than rat in my time."
As Seldon discusses his culinary flexibility, Tunder fits the tri-bladed key into the slot and turns it. The well-oiled mechanism turns easily revealing a secret compartment set just behind the carved mantelpiece. A velvet bag containing what sounds like coins is set inside atop a shallow wooden case. Finally, a thin ledger book rests on the bottom of the safe.
None of the items upstairs detect as magical. Upon closer inspection, the velvet bag seems to contain 200pp, Foxglove's emergency stash. The shallow tray holds several legal papers pertaining to the townhouse, but there is something else interesting as well, the deed for Foxglove Manor. Reading the document, you see this:
Know all men and women present that we, the members of the Brothers of the Seven, upon this day the 6th Arodius in the year of 4624 Absalom Reckoning, hereby concede and by this deed confirm upon Vorel Foxglove provisioned ownership of the holding to be known here and henceforth as Foxglove Manor, located north of Magnimar on the Lost Coast Road due west of Bleaklow Moor up on the promontory, for so long as he, Vorel Foxglove, shall live, or as long as his direct descendants shall live, to a period not to exceed one hundred years. Construction of Foxglove Manor, having been financed partially on the holdings and coin of Vorel Foxglove to the amount of six and sixty percent, and partially upon the coffers of the Brothers of the Seven to the amount of the remainder, four and thirty percent, backed by collateral in the form of the Seven's Sawmill, located itself upon Kyver's Islet, Magnimar, shall ensure only the physical and initial construction fo the aforementioned manor, with any subsequent repair and maintenance to be the sole responsibility of Vorel Foxglove or his descendants for the aforementioned period of one hundred years. Upon the passing of this time, on the date of 6th Arodius of 4724 Absalom Reckoning, ownership of Foxglove Manor, to include all lands within a mile around and below, immediately and forevermore reverts to the Brothers of the Seven, with the employment of the manor, its grounds, and all improvements placed upon it by any prior inhabitants to be subject to the Brotherhood's discretion. And so that our gift, concession, warranty, acquittance, and defense have the best perpetual strength and security, we have affixed Magnimar's seal to the present charter, which shall serve in lieu of signatures, the names of the Brotherhood to remain apart from this, or any other, document.
Flipping through the ledger, you can see most of the entries are mundane accountings of Foxglove finances, but a few entries at the end catch your attention. These are nearly a dozen entries from over the past 3 months labeled as "Iesha's Trip to Absalom" each indicating Foxglove was paying someone referred to as "B-7" 200gp/wk for her trip, dropping off the payment each Oathday at midnight to a place called "The Seven's Sawmill"
"One of the Sawmills by the river. It's not much, but it's a lead." he says, frowning. "If they're bearing the Magnimar Seal this conspiracy might go deeper than we thought. It makes sense that the murders are unchecked. Assuming of course that this Brotherhood is behind them..." he postulates, turning to the others.
"What do you think, melloneamin? What shall our next course be? I for one would like a nice meal. It's not often a pilgrim like myself gets to visit a restaurant, and I'm afraid so many nights dining at the Dragon has corrupted me."
know local just incase you can't take 10 on knowledge checks
Selena nods her head with Seldon's assessment of the Sawmill. That does sound like out best lead. We will have to investigate that soon. The question is when however. Food sounds good and a night's sleep along with the chance for you to pray to your goddess for miracles to interrogate this creature is something I would not pass up. I would think that we have at least a day before we head to the sawmill to finish up loose ends here.
Looking at the thing by her Selena shrugs her shoulders resigned tot he fact that this was her idea. I will remain here with it to make sure it does not awake while we are gone and flee. If you would bring some food back for me that would be greatly appreciated. That and if one of you could dump that 'stew' in the sewers for the rats then I would not have to worry about this place as much.
Reading over the legal documents and ledger entries, Mirela appears somewhat reflective as she adds "It appears Aldern went into business with some ruthless people if I had to guess."
Looking over at Seldon with a somewhat befuddled look, Mirela shrugs "You know the area better than I apparently, so I'll follow your lead Seldon." Placing the ledger down, Mirela places her left hand over her stomach "A nice meal sounds good though, then off to the Sawmill?"
"If you want to go out for some food, Seldon, take Miri or Tunder with you. I'll stay here with Selena to watch the prisoners. Bring the food back and we'll eat here. I'll throw out this nasty rat stew."
Perhaps to speed things up you could find a scroll of the miracle you wish to cast. That would allow us to finish this task up and proceed to the Mill as quickly as we can. We did just find some money to use. What better way than to use against those who are against us?
Selena smiles as Barek offers to clean the stew out. Thank you so much. I will see about clearing hte rest of the place up while the others are gone.
"That sounds like a plan, Selena." Seldon says, offering Miri his arm and beckoning to Tunder before stepping into the night air. "This is Magnimar-s new money district. Look there! That's the Triodea. The biggest theatre in Varisia. I haven't seen it's equal since... Well, I haven't seen it's equal."
After some sightseeing, Seldon returns with rich stuffed vine-leaves, spinach pastries, olives, cheese and some kind of rich, osirian marinated lamb, fresh from the spit and wrapped in some strange flat-bread from across the inner sea, along with two pitchers of wine.
Taking Seldon's arm, Mirela appears relieved to be leaving Foxglove's flat, even if only for a short while to get some food and do some scroll shopping.
Glancing at the others before she leaves, Mirela adds with a smile "See you all in a bit!"
Without having to travel too far through the streets of the metropolis, Seldon is able to bring back food and wine for the party to split, and what started out as a creepy experience in the townhome, actually turns into a comfortable evening.
Selena's clean-up and Barek's inestimably wise choice to throw out the rat stew allows the small group to forget about their cares and nosh on some fine food and good (if not great) wine.
Not long after the meal ends, the rubbery prisoner starts to stir, waking all from their respite.
Selena relishes the food and gives Seldon a big hug for procuring it. This is absolutely delicious. Why it almost makes me forget about that thing over there. Just then the thing moves and selena adds again, Almost.
Looking at Seldon she inquires, did you get a scroll to question it or should Barek subdue it further knocking it out enough that it won't awake till after we are done with the sawmill?
Barek shoves a piece of lamb wrapped with flatbread and covered in some yogurt sauce into his mouth. "Mwwmmahm. Mmmawham." He looks at everyone for a moment. Then holds up his fist and points to the prisoner.
After a few moments of chewing, Barek manages to swallow the food in his mouth. He reaches over for another piece of flatbread. "Dang, this is good. You want me to hit him again? Or maybe we ought to see if he'll tell us anything?"
Selena takes the scroll from Seldon with thanks as she familiarized herself with the verbiage on it. Once she is ready she looks to Barek and Tunder for support. I may need you 2 holding it to keep it from lashing out when it wakes please.
Selena then casts the spell allowing it to understand and speak common. As it is stirring already selena waits patiently for it to recover before inundating it with demands and grilling it for information. You live only by our grace. You tell us what we want to know you have a chance to leaving here alive. You don't tell us I will make sure that your existence last for only another 6 seconds. Do you understand me?
Despite Selena's peppering it with questions, and the ever-tightening grip on its rubbery arms from Tunder and Barek, the faceless stalker does not speak a single word. It simply sits there, disregarding the existence of its interrogator as best you can tell from a faceless creature.
As selena is threatening the creature she tries to help intimidate it but s hope the real threat comes from the muscle holding the creature.
Intimidate aid
Barek leans down close to the stalker's face. "Hey, you heard the lady. And I know you speak common. Now tell us what she wants to know. Who put you up to looking like Aldern and why? Does it have anything to do with the Seven's Sawmill?" He spits as he talks and the spray lands in its face.
The big fighter cracks his knuckles and holds up a fist to the faceless stalker. "Or you keep quiet and give me good excuse to see how well your rubbery head bounces off the floor."
Tunder only reluctantly keeps hold on the creature preferring to have killed it while it was unconscious. He does not even bother to speak to their prisoner. "I said from the beginning we should kill it. Just let Rumilda take care of the problem."
The faceless stalker looks alarmed at the vehemence in the threats of Barek and Tunder. It turns to regard them both with its eyeless face, before speaking in the Common. The natural voice of the stalker is rather reptilian and sibilant.
"Ssso, you would asssk me to give up my missstresss? That will never happen. Ussse your petty weaponsss on me? The missstress will avenge my death and my brotherssss. I have nothing further to sssay."
And despite any efforts to the contrary, you cannot get the creature to speak anything else.
And Rumilda will take care of the problem.
And so she does.
With the faceless foe dispatched for good and group's appetites sated for now, they are faced with a decision to move forward to the Seven's Sawmill now, or rest until the morning. (You arrived in Magnimar around mid-day, so it is likely late afternoon/early evening now. Perhaps 2 hours of daylight left, about half of that spent getting to the Sawmill you estimate.)
"There will probably be fewer folk milling about later in the evening. I say we go now."
With them obtaining all the information that they could from the creature sell a sighs and waits for Tunder to finish the task. Looking to the group she apologizes for the wasted time. I am sorry that came to no fruition other than we know there is a female behind all of this. I had hoped to get something of a lead but it was for naught.
As Tuner indicates his willingness to head out now Selena nods her head in agreement. I will go with you tonight if you wish. You agreed to follow my suggestion in questioning that thing. It cost us time and thus we are behind the curve again. Let us hurry onward to the sawmill to find out what we can.
"Wait, I-" Barek holds up his hand, but the dwarf's axe is too fast and comes crashing down, splitting the creature's head. He looks horrified at the execution.
"Tunder! She wasn't any threat! We could have turned her over to someone! Given her as proof of whoever is behind this!" He looks up to the ceiling and sighs, trying to calm himself. "She was an enemy, but..." He stands up and walks away.
"Let's find the sawmill and see what's there."
"Hmpf! If you really thought that, you would have called for the constables right away. Instead we took the time to ransack a noble's house, torture a captive for information, and took time out for dinner. Think about it. You have to see how that would look." Tunder finishes cleaning the blood and gore from Rumilda. "And I dispatched it as quickly and cleanly as I was allowed."
Gathering up their things, the party leaves Foxglove's house behind, hoping that they never hear that family name again. Heading south through the bustling streets of Magnimar, the troop follows the directions of Seldon, who remembers where the Sawmill sets on the shores of Kyver's Islet in the southern part of the City of Monuments.
After nearly an hour of travel to get through the busy streets, the party finally finds the footbridge leading from the mainland to Kyver's Islet. The small island is set right in the middle of the mouth of the Yondabakarai River. Using the sweeping hydraulic power of the river to turn the big mill wheels, many mills have sprung up on the little island. AFter a bit of searching and asking around, you find your way to the Seven's Sawmill on the south-eastern edge of the small islet.
The mill looks innocuous enough as you approach, a tall, wooden structure that appears to have four main floors and a small rookery on top. Underneath, an undermill area drops into the flowing river, and that is where the machinery of the mill turns, powered by moving water.
A wood plank deck attaches the mill to the shore, and seems to wrap around the building. An outside flight of stairs leads down to the waterline below the mill. A pair of double doors appears to be the only egress and sit on the west side.
Selena hopefully is able to put a calming hand on Barek's shoulder. He is right Barek. I though the same myself for a second at bringing him to the authorities. Yet if that happens we ourselves will be questioned and under scrutiny. We have no jurisdiction here. We must be careful or we ourselves will be accused and unable to find out any more of the threat to Sandpoint. If it was within my ability I would conceal all of our identities. Unfortunately I am neither strong enough nor skilled enough in the illusionary arts to accomplish that task. Thus we may have to undertake some dubious paths to see this through.
Believe me that if Tunder did not take care of it, I would have for the same reasons as him. Do not hate us for it but rather try and see that it was out of necessity not malice or yearning for bloodshed.
Selena follows along with Seldon as he leads the way. She had not travelled this way much in her home city as she was always at school or dealing with her father's associates. This area was not the right social circle for her to be seen in. Still it would not do for someone to recognize her so she kept her disguise up with her hat as much as she could.
Arriving close tot he mill to see it Selena looks to the others and asks, Do you want me to try the front door first under disguise and see if they will open it? If no such luck then at least they will not know our identity and we can still try brute force or subterfuge. With the stairs leading down to the water level we could try and break a gear to shut it down and force them to open up the doors and thus provide an entrance for us?
Getting closer to the mill, Selena whispers to Miri, If it is alright with you I wish to take on the guise of Aldern. If the people here do not know of his death then it might give them pause on how to deal with us. that might grant you and the men a chance to get in their midst to strike a telling blow before they can react. That is of course if it comes to blows.
Glancing over her shoulder at Selena, Mirela appears forlorn at the prospect of having to see Aldern again. Though not dismissive of the idea, she responds "I'm not crazy about it Selena, but I see your point... anything that gives us the upper hand."
Taking a few steps forward, Mirela suddenly pauses "Should I scout it out first? With all the noise from the mill and river, I could easily scope it out and report back."