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Kesuraman attempts to follow the servant's tale, though it's clear from the way his eyes dart back and forth at each new wrinkle in it that he's chasing possibilities in his mind. An enchanted lantern? I'm curious, is it intended to cause a curse-wait! It shone on a tapestry? I should like to see it, perhaps it is of sufficient age to provide some valuable historic-what's that? A doorway appeared within it? And the thieves ran? How could they not wish to study this doorway? This story makes no sense!
"Just a moment," Kes says, his quiet voice showing just a touch of impatience, "this doorway, is it still open? May I see the tapestry? And what does this lantern do? Did the thieves take the lantern when they fled? This is all most peculiar, so many threads to untangle!"
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Orrin looks on, trying to see if there is anything he can do to aid Skelg, but he doubts it. It was said many priests and doctors had tried to help, and the half-elf's specialty is more transformative than curative.
"These thieves, are they of any significance? Did they know what the lantern would do, are they enemies of yours, perhaps?"
Skelg scoffs weakly. His servant translates.
"The lantern, tapestry, and most of the items in the vault were trophies taken from my master's homeland - from the funeral ship of a defeated rival by the name Haldyr Bjornsson. My master suspected they were enchanted but never thought them important enough to learn the properties of."
"Just a moment," Kes says, his quiet voice showing just a touch of impatience, "this doorway, is it still open? May I see the tapestry? And what does this lantern do? Did the thieves take the lantern when they fled? This is all most peculiar, so many threads to untangle!"
"These thieves, are they of any significance? Did they know what the lantern would do, are they enemies of yours, perhaps?"
"A day after the thieves struck Tirfyr, one of the master's guards, walked into the portal on the tapestry to investigate. He returned a moment later saying that it led to a ship encased in ice. He went back to investigate further, but after half an hour, the portal disappeared, trapping poor Tirfyr in that frigged landscape. My master says the ship in the tapestry now is the funeral ship of Haldyr. He believes Tirfyr traveled to the ship and that the cure to his curse lies there."
"Two days ago, the thieves returned with their leader - a brute named Bengeirr - and killed the manor's guards. He spat on my master within his sickbed and said, 'Now you’ll die in bed like an old woman.' He left those thugs to keep myself and the other servants from going for help and tossed the bodies of the guards in the vault. It was only by chance that my master was able to smuggle a letter to your Society hoping his old sparing partner would send help immediately."
"I d-d-d-don't know. Not without the lantern I think", Skelg stammers.
"D-d-don't know that either. He's got to have b-b-b-base in the city somewhere."
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Kasumi nods thoughtfully as the servant tells his tale. "So the tapestry creates some kind of portal to the ship from which it was originally taken? Interesting."
After a moment, she continues. "Given that they were surprised by the portal, it sounds like the thieves might not have known that the lantern was magical. Could they have simply been looking for valuables to sell on the black market? I wonder how many buyers would be interested in buying such a specialized item - if we have difficulty finding the thieves, perhaps we can identify likely buyers by asking around."
Skelg starst to speak but a fit of shivers turns his words into a hoarse cough.
"My master trusts in your capabilities. Please, make haste!"
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"Very well, it appears we need to locate this brute, Bengeirr, and have a discussion with him," Kesuraman observes. "Perhaps there is some sort of directory of the inhabitants of Absalom that we could reference? Or perhaps we could ask around...though that would mean talking to people, a lot of people. Anyone particularly interested in or good at doing that?"
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"I'd certainly be willing to try asking around the city and see if anyone has seen this 'Bengeirr'. He doesn't sound like a subtle man, so I'm guessing he's made an impression on someone since he arrived, and I do have a certain way with people." Kasumi smiles just a little too broadly.
"We could also see if we can convince the men who attacked us earlier to point us in the right direction. I could try charming one of them, or we could fall back on more ... conventional means. I realize that they're out cold at the moment, but perhaps Kes or Orrin can mix up a batch of smelling salts?"
"Or ... how are you guys at sneaking around? If we can stay out of sight, maybe we can tail the two of them back to their hideout?"
The party returns to their captive. After a bit of magical healing the prisoners come to.
"Ugh. Curse you cowards! You're fools too if you think we'll talk. You'll die just like Skelg!"
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If you'll let me treat it as an assist on the Intimidate for +2, Kasumi will use one of her daily uses of Dancing Lights to remind them of the light show she hit them with earlier. Unless you want me to choose between doing that and making my own separate Diplomacy check if it fails, in which case I'll do that.
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"I'm surprised brave men like you would want to protect a man who would leave you with the most dangerous job while he hides in a back alley somewhere. If you tell us where Bengeirr is, we might be able to convince the local authorities that you didn't know the details of the plan or what you were getting into when you signed on for this."
Narayan and Orrin's threats seem to shake the pair's resolve but not enough to break them. It's Yana's measured approach that gets results.
"To the Hells with this!" one blurts out. "Bengeirr's not paying us enough for this. He's holed up in a warehouse by the docks - near the Rosy Fingers Tavern. He'll be there with 3-4 other warriors like us at any given hour."
"Only one set of doors - two if you include the ship's entrance. You'd need to swim but you could consider it a backdoor."
With their destination determined the party departs for Bengeirr's warehouse.
The warehouse across from The Rosy Fingers Tavern is built right on the docks, part of it extending over the water. The building is thirty feet tall with no visible windows. On the landward side is a pair of large cargo doors with a smaller door built into the right one. Piers run along either side of the building and on the seaward side is a massive set of doors able to accommodate a small ship.
The street is busy, with several taverns among the warehouses. Most of the warehouses have sentries in front of them, and the ships at the docks are similarly guarded. A northlander warrior with an axe resting in his lap sits on a small pile of crates across from the warehouse, obviously keeping watch on the main door. Another patrols the adjacent docks.
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Kasumi smiles at the "guard". "Good boy, go get yourself a biscuit," she says, flipping him a copper piece before the group departs.
Kasumi considers Orrin's question. "I don't think we're going to be able to talk them down - they haven't been very chatty so far, and it doesn't seem like there's anything they really want except for Skelg to die rather painfully."
She looks around at the crowd. "I'd prefer if we could eliminate that patrolling guard quietly first, but I'm also reluctant to strike first with all these people around. We may just have to prepare ourselves and goad them into a fight."
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After a long spell of thoughtful quiet, Kesuraman replies to Narayan's suggestion, "I am not much of a swimmer, but I have an extract I can drink to let me swim like a monkey and climb like a fish...or something like that. I'm sorry to say, I haven't worked out how to make it work on others yet. But I'm fine with swimming in."
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Kasumi smiles at Narayan's enthusiasm, but also nods as Kes speaks. "I hear you, Kes - I'm not much of a swimmer either. Fortunately, I have a scroll with a similar spell, so I should also be able to handle it."
She hesitates for a moment. "The real trick might come after we're inside - if they spot us and attack while some of us are still in the water, the first ones in will have to hold them while the rest of us climb out." Suddenly realizing that's she's talked herself into a bit of a corner, Kasumi drops her thoughtful tone and puts on a bright smile. "So, uhh, who wants to go first?"
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Orrin fishes through the depths of his backpack, coming up with two vials of clear liquid. "One of these should get me through the water fine, anyone else who doesn't have their own way of swimming better can take the extra."
"Not much way around them seeing us in the water, s'far as I can tell," the half-elf notes in response to Kasumi's concerns. "Still, I think the stealthiest among us should go first, so likely one of the least armored. I'll follow them, as I'm not so quiet but I can provide cover and support in a close-up fight." Suddenly thinking up a new idea, he notes, "Or, we could make a distraction. Kesuraman, you mentioned being able to utilize explosive alchemy. I know the trick too, to a lesser degree, I'm sure. Regardless, those babies provide quite the show. Think that could work?"
The party makes it to the far side of the warehouse without incident and while the patrolling guard is still on the other side each pathfinder slips off the dock and into the water. After diving underneath the ship-sized doors the party surfaces on the inside of the warehouse to find it surprisingly empty. Two more ulfen warriors stand guard near the entrance but they do not notice the intruders right away.
"What the Hell! We've got intruders!" one of the guards shouts.
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Kasumi doesn't want to move up and expose herself to melee. She'll use her move action to draw her wand of Magic Missile and direct a blast at yellow (who I think is the only one she can see).
She turns at Kes' remark. "A spellcaster? The servant called Bengeirr a brute - could this band have another member that the flunkies at the manor didn't know about?"
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"That's a problem, we should neutralize them as soon as possible," Orrin grimaces, stepping forward and drawing his morningstar. "I think we have others we may have to deal with first, however...Hey, you! Want a piece of me? Well, here I come!"
Kasumi's bolt of force pelts the nearby thug but doesn't do enough damage to bring him down.
Happy to answer the half-elf's challenge both guards grab their longaxes and close the gap. They're surprised by the alchemist's inhuman appendage but not too surprised to fend it off before striking back.
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Kesuraman pulls a small flask off the bandolier on his chest and pounds it against his other hand, giving it a brisk shake before throwing it at the guard in the green jacket. As the bomb explodes directly on the target's head, Kesu flinches, muttering, "How can it always surprise me how loud those are?" He shakes his head to clear it, then pulls out a flask of alchemist's fire.
Kesu's target collapses to the ground as the explosive takes out a good chunk of his skull. The other guard is splattered with shrapnel and bits of gore.
The yellow coated ulfen warrior evades both Narayan and Korez.
A moment later the source of the spellcasting heard earlier comes down the stairs leading up to the warehouse's office - a fearsome ulfen man with ruddy skin and wild black beard. In one hand he hold an ornate lantern that matches the description Skelg gave of the one that afflicted him with his terrible freezing curse. The newcomer roars a prayer to Gorum and points at Korez calling into a being a spectral two-handed sword that swipes at the undine pathfinder.