Romon circles around Ven's store giving it a wide berth. No need to invite trouble.
At the Kitten, he'll ask for Shayliss and break the news about her sister as gently as possible, if she hasn't heard already. Apply comfort as needed. Then, stressing he's working with the Sheriff, he'll ask what she knows about Katrine's boyfriend, their habits, any weirdness, threats, unusual events.
Diplomacy ..Diplomacy .. Diplomacy
Sense Motive
Lastly, he'll gently ask if she wants to see her family. He'll take her or get a town watchman to take her if she wants.
Diplomacy
The river doesnt go close to the Foxglove Mansion which lies well outside town..it does flow into the sea at Sandpoint harbour.
Romon
It's a bit early for the girls at the kitten to be up but one of the Shoanti bouncers lets you in a few questions and he takes you to see the Madame.
Kaye Tesarani is a short, blonde, very busty woman with a forthright attitude and a wicked sparkle in her eye.She is also widely known to be in a relationship with the Sherrif.(Think Dolly Parton in "The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas")
After explaining the situation she advises you that she thinks she should break the news to Shayliss herself..but she is impressed with your diplomatic manner and agrees to let you speak to her once the sad task is out of the way.
maybe an hour passes before Shayliss is led into the Madames parlour..she's obviously been crying and is patently nervous around you..
Questioning her gently under Miss Kaye's gaze you quickly find out that she cannot add anything to what you already know..she doesn't want to see her father who, it appears, has disowned her. Kaye sends her back to her room and sends one of the older girls to look after her.
"We'll watch out for her " she tells you.."she's a nice girl..and shows promise too..she's enthusiastic and she enjoys men..and men certainly enjoy her..she would have ended up here eventually I think you just pushed up the time scale a little. As for her father..well you just let me deal with him..finding whoever did this to Katrin could set you back in his good books though"
Muchorak and his companions head off up river while Romon sets off on his errand..Inakai takes Marak to speak to the local expert on things Thassilonian, Brodert Quink.
Brodert is tremendously excited to be involved in a murder investigation,and does everything he can to aid you.
Here is the gist of what he tells you
Unfortunately, much of the lore about ancient Thassilon has been lost; what does remain has been gathered from barely legible carvings on the surviving monuments or extracted from the myths and oral traditions of Varisian seers and storytellers.
What he knows about Thassilon is that it was a vast empire ruled by powerful wizards. The sheer size of the monuments they left behind testifies to their power, and the unnatural way many of these monuments have resisted erosion and the march of time testifies to their skill at magic.
Most sages place the height of the Thassilonian empire at 7,000 to 8,000 years ago, but Brodert thinks the empire was even older—he suspects it collapsed no sooner than 10,000 years in the past.
Much of what Brodert has to say is vague theory based on conjecture—his belief that the Old Light was once a war machine capable of spewing fire from its peak is relatively unpopular among his peers, for example.
The star itself is known as the “Sihedron Rune,” and signifies not only the seven virtues of rule (generally agreed among scholars to have been wealth, fertility, honest pride, abundance, eager striving, righteous anger, and rest), but the seven schools of magic recognized by Thassilon (divination magic, Brodert points out, was not held in high regard by the ancients). Brodert notes with a smirk that much of what is understood about Thassilon indicates that its leaders were far from virtuous, and he believes the classic mortal sins (greed, lust, pride, gluttony, envy, wrath, and sloth) rose from corruptions of the Thassilonian virtues of rule. In any event, the Sihedron Rune was certainly a symbol of power, one that may well have stood for and symbolized the empire itself. The fact that the killer carved it into the flesh of his victim might point to the fact that the murderer is some sort of scholar—although as soon as Brodert comes to this conclusion, he just as quickly proclaims himself to be innocent.
Marak Ali and Naria..trak along the river banks covering both sides but you are unable to find any clues as to where the undead thing left the water..
About 2 hours after you begin your search a mounted member of the watch catches up with you "Begging you pardon Sir " he gasps adressing the Shoanti "but the Sherrif asks that you return immediately..something else has come up"
Romon
As you leave the Kitten you are accosted by a memember of the watch "Best get up to the Garrisson,the Sherrif want's your bunch again" he tells you
Marak and Inaki
Just as Brodert finishes his long winded tale theres a knock at his door. A watchman delivers much the same message
|
Marak takes the scholar's hand in gratitude, and peers at it as unobtrusively as he can, knowing that it would take much scrubbing to remove blood from under the nails, if he had been present for the massacre at the mill.
Other subtle signs of something amiss, such as the man having clearly changed his clothing fairly recently, may also present themselves to his eye...
Turning to the mounted rider, "What has happened?" The Shoanti quicken's his pace to get back to town, but is mindful of not leaving Naria behind.
Naria does her best to keep pace with the Shontai
Ali in wolf form and Lunas easily lope alongside the others as they hurry back. Occasionally the wolves have to check their stride so as not to outpace their two legged companions
Before he leaves Romon thanks Madame Tesarani for taking care of Shayliss. "I'll be back to see her soon." Regarding Shayliss' father, "I doubt very much anything will put me back in his graces."
Stepping outside Romon squints and frowns. The sun is bright after the subdued dim interior of the Kitten and he had hoped to ask, perhaps urge, the girl to go back to her family. Maybe it is the right place for her after all. Still the unfamiliar tang of guilt lingered over his whole involvement in this affair. He tried to shrug it off. Kaye is right. If not me, then someone else, and she probably ends up there anyway.
...
Romon
As you leave the Kitten you are accosted by a memember of the watch "Best get up to the Garrisson,the Sherrif want's your bunch again" he tells you
...
"Thank you, I will," Romon tells the guardsman. He trots a roundabout course to the Garrison, again giving the general store a wide berth.
Marak sees nothing under the sages fingernails except ink..nor is there any indication of his having shanged clothes recently.
Muchorak.
I don't know" says the watch man.." a patrol came in with a prisoner and then the Sherrif just said to go get you"
You all make your various ways to the Garrison again..Hemlock looks perturbed..not something you have noted in him before..it must be something serious for his usual Shoanti stoicism to be shaken like this.
What could shake Hemlock like this? Inikai thinks then thinks of Ilsoari and hopes it has nothing to do with the wizard.
Inikai tells the others what Quint said about the rune as they all hury to see the sheriff.
Arriving at the Garrison and seeing Sherriff Hemlock, "What is it? The watchman said something of a prisoner, have you caught the man responsible?"
The Sherrif shakes his head at Muchoraks comment.."No..we have not caught the Murderer but we know last night wasn't his only strike..."
He goes on to explain..
"I've had patrols out scouting the area just in case the goblins were still actively planning anything..one of them just came back in. They had a prisoner with them..and he is I believe completly insane..but he's raving about His Lordship..there were three bodies in the area too...and each had that star carved into them"
"How are you sure he isn't the man? Killing can weaken the mind for some."
"No from what we can glean from the patrol the others were ripped apart by tooth and claw. I have him in the cells until we can shift him to the sanatorium..do you want to see him?""
"Indeed" Muchorak nods his head in agreement, "But first, the proximity of the bodies to this man? Was he found amongst them, within arms reach, half a days travel...what distance are we talking about? Do you believe he may have witnessed this act? How old is the scene? Did your patrols check the area for tracks? Was anything left behind with the same rotting smell?"
Sheriff Hemlock explains that, two days ago, a patrol of guards along the Lost Coast Road were assaulted by a deranged man near an abandoned barn south of town along the banks of Cougar Creek. The man was obviously sick and insane, his flesh fevered, eyes wild, mouth frothing, and clothes caked with blood. The guards subdued him, but when they checked inside the barn they discovered the mutilated bodies of three men. Although all three bodies were far too disfigured to identify, one of them carried a piece of parchment that Hemlock gives to you to read
The note identifies the bodies as Tarch Mortwell, Lener Hask, and Gedwin Tabe, three notorious con men and swindlers known well to Sheriff Hemlock as local troublemakers. He personally forbade the three men from operating their con games and barely legal operations in Sandpoint, and wasn’t particularly surprised at the time to find them murdered—it was only a matter of time before they tried to swindle someone worse than them, after all. But in light of the mill murders and the fact that Mortwell, Hask, and Tabe all bore the same seven-pointed marking on their chests that Harker did, Hemlock is convinced there is something worse than revenge afoot.
The bodies of all three men lie in state in a cool basement room below the Sandpoint Garrison, not far from the holding cells containing Ibor and Ven you are welcome to examine them if they wish.
The insane man has been identified as one Grayst Sevilla, a local Varisian thug. Sheriff Hemlock warns you that Grayst is “a bit off his rocker” and they shouldn’t expect much
THE NOTE
Messrs. Mortwell, Hask, and Tabe—
A deal has come about that I need
capital in. It involves property and
gold, and though I am not at liberty to
tell you the exact details, it will make
us all rich. Come to Bradley’s Barn on
Cougar Creek tonight. We can meet
there to discuss our futures.
Your Lordship
"Well it's clear they were lured there by this 'Lordship'" Muchorak looks to his companions, "I know that this insane man may hold the keys to unraveling this, though I do not know how to gather it. I am not skilled in talking with those who have lost touch with reality."
|
|
"Nethys grants me insights into some unsettling things, and the workings of a madman's mind may well be one of those." Marak says, sounding less-than-eager to plumb the depths of a murderer's madness.
"I am also passingly familiar with mundane techniques of inquery," he adds as an afterthought, silently rebuking himself for once again thinking first of arcane methods, than of more practical and worldly solutions.
"Did this madman have a weapon when he was arrested?"
"Again this 'Lordship' is mentioned. I think this points to Foxglove."
Hemlock leads you to the cells..an open barred arrangement(think old west jailhouse)
Grayst himself is crouched, sobbing, in the corner of his cell. His skin is pale and looks gangrenous, hair wild and eyes milky white
Marak
Grayst looks up as Muchorak comes into view and grins almost ferally..
“He said. He said you would visit me. His Lordship. The one that unmade me said so. He has a place for you. A precious place. I’m so jealous. He has a message for you. He made me remember it. I hope I haven’t forgotten. The master wouldn’t approve if I forgot. Let me see… let… me… see… ah ..yes..yes..that was it..He said you should come to the Misgivings soon, to meet the Pack, for they have something wonderful to show you.””
"Misgivings?" Muchorak pauses, "Where is this place?"
|
|
Seeing the man's yellowish complexion and the faintly-earthy smelling sweat upon his brow, Marak reflexively makes a sign against evil and hisses, "The man is in the last throes of Ghoul Fever. He will likely die this night, and return as a corpse-eater."
"I could likely hold off death with medicine, until Nethys' power can purge the illness from him, but it will not restore his broken mind, and I suspect that he wishes to join this Pack, and would resist..."
"So what are we going to do with him?"
"What about the cathedral up the hill? Would they have anyone who could help?"
"So, this 'pack' is a pack of ghouls. And his lordship is likely a necromancer since a ghoul would not be likely to send notes."
"Could we force this madman to lead us to his master, or bind him and use him as bait? I hate simply waiting for our foe to make his move but what else can we do without knowing more?"
Sensing the stench of sickness, evil and the abomanation of undead, both Ali in her Gnome form and Lunas growl and back away slightly, the hackles raising on the backs of their necks.
"He no no good. Smells of sick and dead!" Ali echos Marak's pronounement
"He can't attack us from behind the bars" Inikai assures Ali as he puts his hand to her shoulder.
You are all as powerful as most of the local NPCs so none of them will have more effective ways of dealing with Grayst's condition.
"If he is about to become something vile and his mind is already broken, "Muchorak pauses, "Then it is best to put him down."
He turns to the others, "Now where is it ghouls like to make their homes? Let us be off to find this pack and end it's existence. Such cursed things should not remain with the living."
"Yes, it would be best to put him out of his misery and to end any threat he represents." But it would be fascinating to study the mind as it descends into undeath an madness Inikai thinks to himself.
Ali nuzzles Icki's hamd with her cheeck for a mommentin appreciation for his support. She did not fear the creature but was merely repulsed by it, still she understood her friends kind intentions.
As Big Bear talks of going to hunt and kill this other pack Ali nods and growls in fierce agreement with this notion saying "Yes yes, we go kill'um dead dead other pack of no-dead, dead ones. They no can have you Big Bear!" The small Gnome says with passion as she grabs on to the large arm of the Shoanti
"You already have pack and we keep you with us! Ali say so!"
|
|
Marak clears his mind with an invocation to Nethys, and attempts to dredge up any useful information on the sorts of lairs that Ghouls might prefer. He gets lost in thought, and misses the rest of the conversation, reminiscing about the warm droning voice of his old teacher, back at the temple.
"Uh, probably near a cemetary, or something. They prefer the flesh of the dead, and even if they don't lair in the immediate area, perhaps we can track their location from their visits to attempt to exhume the dead to feed..."
Inikai thinks back to his father's lectures on Nethys and the other gods of the world. The old man would always touch on the faiths of other gods and that they were less deserving of admiration than the faith of Nethys, of course. Certainly he had spoken on death and undeath. Furrowing his brows, Inikai struggled to recall any valuable details.
Marak's mention of graveyards and fresh flesh helped him to focus on the the nature of ghouls.
Muchorak looks down at Wolfspirit, "I have no intention of leaving you Wolfspirit nor will I of my own free will." Turning to the Sherriff, "Are there any graveyards outside town?"
|
|
Marak's eyes widen at Muchorak's question, as he belatedly remembers the impromptu burial site he has begun near the old lighthouse ruin, for those ancient bones discovered in the caverns below the city.
Have I unwittingly brought this to pass, providing new fodder for the corpse-eaters? he ponders, growing both angry at the thought of these bodies being defiled, after what horrors their owners suffered in life, and fearful that his wish to expiate his own shame at being so fascinated by ancient Thassilon that he ignored their dark and terrible practices by properly burying these last victims that he may have provided opportunity to some new (or very old) evil...
Romon draws the party back from Grayst's cell. He balances a dagger on a fingertip while he says quietly, "Put him down and we're still trying to hunt up his friends. Instead we could do this breezy. What if Marak juices him with medicine, we all leave, then Muchorak comes back feeds him a line and springs him. We all tag along a few steps back, and bingo, we walk in His Lordship's parlour."
"We'll wrap this up by tomorrow morning." Romon flips the dagger up watches it through a full rotation and catches it on the same fingertip.
sleight of hand
"Well, what do you say?"
"That is a good plan, I must say."
"Can you do that, Marak? And if so, can we place something on him like a leather band, tightly wrapped around his ankle? That way, if we lose track of him, we can use magic to home in on the band. And if you know of any destructive spells that can be placed in wait on the band then we can turn him into a walking surprise weapon to use against his master."
Muchorak looks at Romon, walk with the dead as if friends what else do these civilized men do willingly, "I cannot do such, if you wish to magic one of you to look like me that is fine. But I will not walk with such a thing not even in this ruse."
"Look, Muchorak. Unless someone knows where these Misgivings are, this is the fastest way to find His Lordship. And I don't think you'll have to walk with him. He's fairly drooling to get back to his Lordship. I'll bet you four silvers, you'll have to run."
|
|
Marak replies quietly, not sure how the ghoul fever may have affected the man's senses, and not wishing to be overheard.
"I have neither a spell to produce a magical trap, nor a spell to locate an object at a distance prepared today. If the afflicted man knows the location of 'his lordship,' it would be simpler to just pluck that information from his mind, I think, which is something I can do."
Marak gives no sign of agreeing with or disagreeing with Muchorak's objections, but ends up shooting down the catch and release plan, in any event.
"Inikai, you appear to be quick with a turn of the phrase. The magic I will invoke allows me to view only the thoughts that the individual has at the top of his mind, so he must be tricked into thinking clearly of the location of his lordship. If you can arrange for him to think of the location, and other useful information, such as the numbers of this 'pack,' or others in town who may be afflicted, within the handful of minutes I will be able to contain the magic, it would be most helpful."
"The Misgivings.." hemlock says.."Well that clears up something..it's the other name for the Foxglove Mansion..though no-one seems to know why any more"
At this Grayst howls and leaps towards the cell door..you are not concerned as the cell is stoutly barred and locked...until he tears the lock off in a frenzied show of strength and leaps at Muchorak
Combat..surprise round one action each
Ali 27
Naria 21
Marak 19
Muchorak 15
Grayst 14
Inakai 12
Romon 10
Muchorak draws his blades and brings his longsword down upon the creature...
Seeing his companion being attacked Ursus howls and attacks the fevered man...
Already wary of the fevered man both Ali and her companion are fast to react in defense of their Pack Leader.
Changing forms almost inastantly, Aliwolf's furred form joins that of Lunas' as they leap to the attack
Ali attack & damage:
Lunas attack & damage:
"Yeep" Naria lets out a startled cry as she instinctively hurls a series of blue bolts at the lunatic (casting magic missile)
Romon steps back and sheathes his knife.
Inikai is taken aback so much that he can only clumsily draw his morning star and attempt to back out of the path of the abomination.
The two wolves throw themselves at grayst bringing him to a staggering stop and then he hits the ground..naria's bolts smash into him yet he is still living until Maraks weapon ends his suffering