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After a brief whisper between Saul and Aelwynd, the half-elf smiles and nods before turning back to the dinner party.
"I had a feeling about you when I first laid eyes upon you. It turns out I was right. You are steel wrapped in silk. A steel nail to be more precise. My question to you Lady Makorios, is what does a branded Hellknight from the Order of the Nail wish with the key? I imagine public knowledge of your interest is not something you want known, or you wouldn't be working with the poor doctor here. Rest assured, we'll give you some time to withdraw from the auction."
Then with a shark like grin, deadly and full of teeth, he adds, "You have until I finish this lovely glass of wine, though sadly for you I am still quite thirsty."
He raises his glass as if in toast and then begins to drink.
She stops drinking for a moment, then downs her wine completely. She turns to the doctor, “Thank you for the meal Doctor, and best of luck at tomorrow’s auction. You'll need all the luck you can get after the stunt you've pulled here tonight!"
The lady ignores Aelwynd and promptly walks out the door.
The good doctor simply face-palms at the development....
He doesn't look up. "Yes. Yes it is. I.... I didn't know... I'm... sorry. I.... you need not worry about me. I'm sure even if I wanted to, they'll cut my funding as punishment. I.... might need to take a vacation."
You return to the manor, happy at least this wasn't horrible.
There's no rest for the weary though. Sheila looks out to see some sun still up, and makes your choice for you. “It seems the Runecarved Key has attracted the attention of a small exporting company run by the dubious Vaor family of Underbridge. Why the Vaors are interested in the key, or even how they came up with the deposit, is beyond my imaginings. I doubt they have much in the way of finances, but one can never tell. Perhaps they represent someone else more powerful, perhaps not. In any event, I need someone to head down to Underbridge and find out. This map should get you to their warehouse quickly. Best of luck, Pathfinders. This might turn violent, as they're known to be rather wicked.”
Following the map is easy. There are no windows to the warehouse, and the doors are sealed tight.
Despite heavy doors, you hear the sound of scurrying and crates being moved.
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Aelwynd looks to the faces of his group.
"I could do with facing a bit of true wickedness right about now. I mean it's not kicking puppies, but it'll do."
Aelwynd whispers to the group, "I can hear movement inside. It sounds like crates are being moved, and some sort of scurrying about, like someone is in a rush. I can't tell exactly how many people are there, but I would imagine it's more than one. How do we want to handle this?"
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Sielan struggles to keep his voice low, "Yeah, hear it too. We could go with what we have been doing and march in like we belong. I still have the invisibility magic I can throw on Nachts and he can see what they are moving. Aside from that my magic will only a whole lot less stealth. Unless you want me to turn into a bull and smash their front door in."
The idea amuses himself, but it puts it aside. "That would be fun, but probably better to have Nachts scouting and us rushing when it goes south."
The conversation outside the warehouse is enough to alert the keen ears within... as well as a rather observant rat on the roof. "Intruders!"
With the element of surprise lost, you open the doors to see a warehouse literally crawling with rats.
A slew of dire rats skitter about while a party of wererats take positions, drawing blades on the move.
Two of the wererats hold out hands that immediately burst into flames!
Round 1:
Enemy: Position
Caduceus: Go
Aelwynd: Go
Saul: Go
Ariana: Go
Sielan: Go
Nachts: Go
Saul opens up with a lot of pent up power, eager to fight actual evil!
Round 1:
Enemy: Position
Caduceus: Go
Aelwynd: Go
Saul: Skalding
Ariana: Go
Sielan: Go
Nachts: Go
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With his newly enhanced speed, Aelwynd dashes forward, spinning past Caduceus and dodging between rat and wererat alike. He grins as he spins up to the green clad wererat, practically nose to snout, and winks as he attempts to move past it.
"Hello there meat!"
Once to the other side, he swiftly thrusts his blade...
...in a cleverly executed feint making him seem off balance.
Aelwynd covers up a mistake well, ready for what comes his way!
Round 1: Battle Cry, Haste, Raging Song (Optional)
Enemy: Position
Caduceus: Go
Aelwynd: Set up
Saul: Skalding
Ariana: Go
Sielan: Go
Nachts: Go
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Nachts looked on, puzzled at how he somehow became the scout. I'm about as quiet as a rooster in the morning.
But the sound of someone sounding the alarm snapped him out of his reverie. "Heh. Heheh. HehehehEHEHEHAHAHAHA! WITNESS ME, LORD OF NIGHT, AND DRINK ... DEEP OF THEIR SCREAMS!!!!" he shouts, calling upon his god's divine favor.
"SCREAM FOR ME!" he howls with glee, as the glaive seeks out the rat-thing in yellow.
The glaive's point bursts out through the creature's back as it wheezes painfully, it's lungs filling with blood. "Good. Good. My Lord awaits ... you on the ... other side" he whispers lovingly.
Nachts too has plenty of pent up aggression to release. His glaive does a shocking amount of damage, utterly destroying the lycanthrope.
The others scream and turn their attention to the odd half-elf.
Round 1: Battle Cry, Haste, Raging Song (Optional)
Enemy: Position
Caduceus: Go
Aelwynd: Set up
Saul: Skalding
Ariana: Go
Sielan: Go
Nachts: Kill
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"I've never expected to see you all so ready of a fight! Well you aren't going to leave me behind!"
Stepping back Sielan calls upon his bracers and summons his full plate from his back leaving him clad in shining, if a bit battered armor. With the blessings just beginning he pushes back into room calling arcane words of destruction as he smashes through the dimensional door right into the middle of the room dragging willing allies with him.
Caduceus sets the field up, a weal for the Pathfinders, woe for the wererats.
Sielan opts for the fast way through the underlings...
Round 1: Battle Cry, Haste, Raging Song (Optional)
Enemy: Position
Caduceus: Prayer DD choice
Aelwynd: Set up
Saul: Skalding
Ariana: Go
Sielan: Bampf
Nachts: Kill
Prayer
Ariana lops the head off a dire rat with a single swing!
A quartet of rats descend on Nachts , but bite only armor.
The wererat next to the fracas stabs at Aelwind with a short sword . He picks her stab up on the four line with a prise de fer and stabs her through the heart. Despite her resistance to such metal, it's more than she can handle and drops dead.
Another rat and were rat come around attacking Aeelwynd: and , but his defense is far too strong.
A pair of crossbow bolts come from wererats who shoot at Ariana, then drop the weapons , but they're weak at best.
Towards the back a pair of fist-sized flames are tossed at Sielan one hits him in the face for .
He gets swarmed by rats but they cna't get through his armor either. In the fray are a pair of wererats, one getting set up for a sneak attack , but it's useless.
Round 2:
Enemy: ATK
Caduceus: Go (DD choice still open)
Aelwynd: Go
Saul: Go
Ariana: Go
Sielan: Go
Nachts: Go
Caduceus cuts down a pair of rats!
Despite the cover, Nachts overwhelms the were rat and a pair of dire rats to boot!
Round 2: Battle Cry, Haste, Raging Song (Optional)
Enemy: ATK
Caduceus: Kills
Aelwynd: Go
Saul: Go
Ariana: Go
Sielan: Go
Nachts: Kills
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As he bounds away with incredible speed, Aelwynd tips his hat and calls back to Nachts, "Thank you my dark friend!"
As he sails toward the black ringed wererat spellcaster, he calls upon the magic in his blue scarf to extend his weapon's reach. He stabs out once with near blinding swiftness...
Aelwynd dashes forward with a fleche. He stabs the wererat straight and true , but this one is certainly more hale than the others, and withstands the worst of it!
Ariana's blade never slows, cutting rats before her!
Sielan's first punch severely wounds the wererat, but his awesome second shot breaks it's neck hard enough to make the back of it's head touch it's actual back!
He turns and strikes the white ringed wererat, which also is enough to drop her.
Round 2: Battle Cry, Haste, Raging Song (Optional)
Enemy: ATK
Caduceus: Kills
Aelwynd: Hit
Saul: Go
Ariana: Iterative
Sielan: Kills
Nachts: Kills
Black: 40
Saul and Ariana take out foe after for in the blink of an eye. Finally the etwo spell casting wererats drop the flames from there hands, "ENOUGH! We yield! There's no reason for the slaughter to continue. Please!"
"What have we done to warrant your attention?! Please!"
Out of combat.
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"Our attention? We just happened by while out for a stroll, when suddenly we heard a commotion, and decided to poke our heads in. Seeing all of your shiny, whiskered faces we thought we should get in a little exercise and let out some of our recent frustrations. You see, we had a really unpleasant day today. Something to do with an auction and a key. Not that you would know anything about that, would you?" Aelwynd says with a tilt of his head and a wry grin.
He steps closer to the nearby wererat spell caster, his blade still dripping their blood.
"I think it would go a long way to making our moods better if any other parties interested in a similar venture were to back away... pull out... or better yet, scurry for the shadows, never to be heard from again in relation to such a thing. Don't you agree?"
"Ummmm okay! We don't even WANT to be in the auction. We got mixed up in something we don't really care about, and THIS violence isn't at all it. We're just into extortion, thievery, etc. The gold we were going to use was a gift after something else. Seriously! a strange woman hired us for the sum of the deposit, to walk around the outside of the Abadaran cathedral and scatter “some seeds or dust or something.”
As some of you interrogate the wererat, the rest of you search for proof of the story and come across THIS
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"Someone who doesn't plan on winning the auction likely plans on stealing from it, and this sowing of seeds will no doubt help them do just that. From the note, these seeds will have some effect that is dangerous, hence the warning to be careful or they might not be able to collect their payment." Aelwynd replies to Sielan, never taking his eyes from the wererat.
He then asks the wererat, "First, describe this strange woman that contacted you and second, where exactly are these seeds you were given? Be specific and detailed in your account."
You can tell that the note was written by an educated person who is a native speaker of Varisian.
"That's the thing, there wasn't a "specific" location, we just did them sort of randomly. Most were by where the auction takes place."
It doesn't take you long to determine that the sullen wererat knows little, and is really just a pawn in someones long game.
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After the ratman answers Sielan...
"...walk around the outside of the Abadaran cathedral and scatter “some seeds or dust or something.”
With a wicked grin under a deadly stare, Aelwynd gives the ratfolk an ultimatum.
"We really must be going, but I think it wise you disappeared from the city for a long while. Before you go, there are just two more things we need from you. First, a description of what these seeds or dust really looked like, and second, give us any claim slip you have for your gifted funds. If you comply with theses two simple requests, we won't have any issue with you leaving. Think of it as an investment in your future. By that I mean you get to have one."
***<<<*>>>***
As the party leaves the warehouse and and are reasonably sure they are not being spied upon, Aelwynd suggests "Despite much of the unpleasantness we have been asked to do, I don't want our associates hurt or worse. We need to head back in and to tell Sheila what we have discovered and then scour the outside of the cathedral for the seeds."
Suddenly he spins, his eyes wide! "I know there are other members in different groups and I would bet at least one that can read the impressions from objects. If we gave them this note, perhaps we could learn more about who the woman was!"
"Or can one or more of you use other divination magic to find out about the person that left this note?"
The wererats look back and forth, not having any good answers, and clearly beginning to realize they're in over their heads. The one thing they do understand quickly, is that leaving town is in their best interest....
Having completed the missions, the party returns to Heidmarch manor, only to see the Venture-Captain shaking her head at the tally. You're still short.
She looks up with an idea, “Prior to the founding of our lodge, the Pathfinder Society had few contacts and fewer resources here in Magnimar. One of our best was an alchemist and a sage name Darga Cranstone. Cranstone kept a small lab in Ordellia, performing specialized research using rare herbs that grow wild in the Mushfens. Yesterday, word from Absalom arrived that several years ago, our organization paid the alchemist an advance of over a three thousand crowns for some research. Several months later, Cranstone had only turned over half her findings, and eventually failed to complete the commission. Then for a short while, the Society lost all contact with her. Just days before the Decemvirate sent a debt collector to hunt down Darga, her apprentice suddenly sent word that his mistress was still working on the project. This kept on for several seasons, with the apprentice’s notes becoming more infrequent, until they simply petered off. While the sum was fairly significant, other matters put recouping the lost sum on hold, and after a few years, it was eventually forgotten. Now that we have again been reminded of this debt, I need you to go to Cranstone’s tower and collect the fee she owes us, with interest.”
You're not sure what you hope to find when you get there, but this seems to be something of a relief. You arrive at Cranstone’s rundown tower to find it long abandoned. The doors and windows have been boarded up and dozens of old, faded notices plastered on the door warn trespassers to keep out and that the property has been seized by the lord mayor’s office. Still, it appears like a long time has passed since anyone from the government has paid the premises a visit....
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Aelwynd does his best to scout around the place, looking for anything special before he approaches an entry point for the group. He looks it over for hazards or traps of any kind as well.
He motions if it's safe for the group to move forward.
"Maybe the assistant tried to carry on their Darga's work after they died and then they decided to leave? This is peculiar."