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If you could read my mind, you would know I'd do this.
An invitation brings summons to The Sword Point, a pricey inn in the Old Cassomir district. Waiting there are two older humans: a caramel-skinned man with strong hands and a pale, thin woman with neatly piled platinum hair. After a long, assessing stare, the elderly woman speaks.
“We are grateful that you came. This is my husband and long-time comrade, Verus Crandel—we called him “Igneous” in our day—and I am Branda Tulles. The two of us were once adventurers like you, and we, along with a few of our friends, have had more than our share of excitement in our youth.”
She looks to her companion, who sits up to take a sip of ale, wiping his gray mustache with an embroidered cloth. He says in a weathered voice, “Each year about this time, the remaining four of us gather together in this city to remember our fallen friend, Rhoma Bissel, and to lend our experience to a cause worth fighting for. We can still face bullies and brigands and such, but my hammer gets heavier every time I lift it. I’ve meant for each of our last three ventures to be the end, but Branda and I still travel here every year to meet up with Dern Fosimuth and Taergan Flinn and to share a few stories with younger travelers like yourselves.”
He pauses for a long second before he continues. Worry hangs heavy in the air as he clears his throat.
“Our two friends have not made their appearance yet this year. We’ve learned that one, Dern Fosimuth, is laid up in a place called Mother’s Care Home for Invalids, in nearby Hope’s Hollow. The other one is more curious—Taergan Flinn is a half-elf, so he’s a bit more active and nimble than the rest of us. And he never really took to retirement, so this gathering started as his idea. It worries us that he hasn’t shown, especially as we’ve made our share of enemies over the years. We think it’s best we stay here, should Taergan arrive, but ask that you would check his home for us just in case—and bring word back of Dern, as well.”
Branda Tulles takes over from there. “We’ve talked about mentoring a few younger pioneers, maybe even handing down a few secrets we never quite explored. We’d be willing to lend you our company and more if you’d be good enough to check on our two friends. If they need help, we’d rather someone younger and up to a challenge discover them. Once we know they’re safe, we’ll look in on them ourselves.”
The retired adventurers promise to reward each of you upon safe delivery of Flinn with coin and treasures from their personal stores. The veterans also offer their services as mentors or contacts for as long as they are able.
A tall, slender Ustalavan man, prematurely graying at the temples, bows. "Of course. We are more than willing to undertake such an effort."
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"YEHEAAH! It's about f@&*%ing time this place got interesting. I was startin to get really BORED!" The Rage shouts in his head, his excitement creating pressure against the back of his eyes.
Ruckus blinks a few times to clear his thoughts. "Ok, ok. We.. I'm in." Standing about average height but a little overweight, he has unruly brown hair that defies most attempts at grooming, yet still looks presentable. He's not a pretty man, but he has an impish and infectious smile and had in the past made a decent living as a stage magician and comic harlequin traveling with an acting troupe in Varisia. Then one day he found himself walking in the woods, loaded with the possessions of the master of the troupe and The Rage laughing wildly in his head. It wasn't the first time something like that had happened in his life and he had learned that escape was often more successful then apology.
As so he left Varisia and made his way far from it, eventually landing in Cassomir where The Rage had more or less behaved himself for the last few months.
The pair thanks you for agreeing to help them and offers you a description of Flinn's townhouse in northern Threegates and also brief directions to Hope's Hollow, an hour's ride along the eastern road through the BLackwood Swamp.
A halfing with rocklike skin speaks up. If it will give you peace of mind, then I would be honored to help adventurers such as yourselves. He bows before putting on his wide-brimmed hat and a yak-skin coat. Once he is finished, he heads outside to find his trusty yak. He hops up on the giant pack on the back of the beast of burden and waits for the others.
Sitting at the table, the burly half-orc listens intently as the two speak and explain the situation. He takes out a harrow deck and shuffles the cards, mumbling to himself as he lays them out in a three by three grid. He nods his head a few times before finally pronouncing "The spirits concur! Galtar Gorbesh and his amazing falchion of doom will aid you!"
I will aid you as well. A human finally speaks up but he then says no more.
I got several interesting partial matches, and true matches as well as my original role card in the spread. I put lines through the results I would not read (as you do not have to read every card in the spread), strangely they all showed up in the neutral (unclear) line.
Mwhahahahahahahaha.
“My new friends, I have some questions if you please.” Garltar smiles a wide, tusked smile. “Taergan’s house is here in Cassomir? Do you know if he employs a house staff? Also, I don’t mean to pry, but can you tell me why such worldly adventurers as yourselves would choose Cassomir to meet? Does the city have special meaning to you as a group, or as individuals? Or was it special to Rhoma in some way, and that is part of honoring her spirit? Do you have any notion of the kind of affliction that Dern has been taken with to end him up in such a place?”
Verus shakes his head, "No, Taergan lived by himself; we were the closest to friends he ever had, as far as we are aware. I don't think he's ever had any servants."
Branda nods in agreement and explains, "Cassomir was just a central spot for us all to visit, I guess. And we all wound up nearby when we eventually settled down. Rhoma was the oldest of our group; she had settled into a comfortable life and died peacefully, surrounded by her family, inside the extensive library that was her most cherished place."
Verus then jumps back in, "And after a serious accident Dern, our trusted cleric, hasn’t been able to walk, so I think someone helped commit him to a care home in Hope’s Hollow known as the Mother’s Care Home for Invalids. If Taergan isn't at his home or you can't find any signs of him, Dern would probably have been the last to see him and you might be able to check in on our poor cleric if needed."
Galtar nods jovially and says, "Let us travel to Taergan's home then."
Sure, that sounds fine to me, Galtar. Hopefully the trip will be a pleasant one.
Located on the northeast side of Cassomir, Taergan Flinn’s townhouse appears worthy of a lifelong adventurer. Large, clear windows overlook manicured bushes, presenting a posh face to the front drive. A small building sits on the north side of the property.
The townhouse’s second floor is constructed of wood, and has many windows. The building’s southern wing appears to house a laboratory of some kind. The house is as quiet as the neighborhood surrounding it.
The townhouse’s front door is closed but unlocked and any knocking goes unanswered. The foyer is visible from the front windows. The expensive furniture and painted wooden doors of this room are undisturbed.
Galtar opens the doors, stepping into the foyer calling out "Taergan? Taergan Flinn? Your friend Branda sent us here to find you! She is worried about you! Can you hear me? We mean you no harm!"
Galtar lets himself into the house but hears no reply. Letting himself in, he finds the foyer fairly bare; a billiards room stands open to the left.
Hear what? Tobian takes a moment to listen if the half-orc will be quiet long enough for him to do so.
"Yeah Ruckus, I do hear that. You don't hear that Tobian?" Galtar begins to thump his foot on the floor in time with the noise.
The Ustalavan surreptitiously clears his throat before speaking in a deep and mellifluous voice. "Yes, I hear it as well."
-Posted with Wayfinder
In search of the stairs up, the door straight ahead leads to a small sun room with large bay windows. Connected to the sun room and the billiards room is a kitchen in which lingers the aroma of cooked lamb.
The next door indeed leads to the stairs, via a room that is displayed like a small museum: a tasteful menagerie of Flinn's travels and victories packs the large room. Near the staircase hangs a fine painting of Flinn and his four adventuring friends. The center of the room contains a large glass-fronted display case.
Galtar studies the painting, getting a sense of what Dern looks like, as well as what Rhoma used to look like.
"Something worth trapping? What's in here?"Galtar carefully looks at the display case, careful not to get too close.
The display case contains some alchemical discoveries, letters from other adventurers, a few paintings, and several archaeological artifacts. There is nothing of outstanding monetary value but clearly of significance to the missing adventurer.
Further on, the next door leads to his laboratory; bright windows illuminate row after row of shelves stocked with chemical reagents, minerals, and metals, as well as creature parts. A wooden attic door remains closed in the ceiling in the southeast corner, a dangling pull string hanging from above. A low partition separates a small office; clearly several alchemists perform work here.
The office houses a number of records of ongoing experiments but no notes that would lead to finding the half-elf.
Should probably avoid that attic door unless we want to investigate. Looks like something heavy is resting on it... Temüjin states the party.
The rocky halfling investigates the various alchemical tables. Meth Extract Lab? ... Wonder what this guy was up to...
Tobian looks at the attic door to see if there is a way to bypass or disable it.
"A moment--let us see if there are any preternatural influences about." Zeldones gestures gracefully and murmurs a pair of brief cantrips before gazing around the room with his eyes closed, one hand pressed to his forehead.
Well, I could give it a try if you want. Everyone ready? If the group is ready then
Zeldones notes the aforementioned potions and of course the slight magical tint to the many alchemical reagents in the room but otherwise notes no magic in the laboratory.
Tobian works a slender object into the trap door and pushes the object sitting on top of it out of the way so as not to fall down when the door is opened. It seems the door was rigged with a dozen burst jars that would have fallen down.
Above there is a large study that has clearly been ransacked. papers and inkwells have been thrown around the room. A large wooden cabinet lies on its back, its closed doors facing the ceiling. A window in the east wall has been broken out.
The west wall is a large tinted window overlooking the well-appointed alchemy lab. Something makes a loud thump from inside the fallen cabinet.
Galtar pushes forward to the fallen cabinet and tries to open it.
When Galtar opens the cabinet, he releases three tiny creatures with ever-gnashing maws filled with row after row of mismatched teeth. The creature itself is a flying orb with little more than a giant mouth on its body.
[spoiler=DC 17 KN (planes)]
Temüjin channels energy into his fist before reaching his hand into his pouch and draws out a gauntlet of earth. The halfling swings his earth-coated fist at the closest beast.
Zeldones steps back and draws a loaded crossbow from under his cape, which he fires at the nearest of the creatures. The bolt goes wide, though.
Temujin hits the creature but to a lesser effect than expected! Zeldones' bolt sticks in the wall and Ruckus backs away down the ladder to the laboratory.
red: 12 dmg
Calling to the others, "These hungry little buggers are cacodaemons. Nasty. Immune to acid, and resits cold, fire and electricity. Silver or good weapons hurt the most. Whatever was going on here, it's not good! Don't let them bite you either, they carry some nasty outer planer sickness."
Turning to face the creatures, Galtar draws his weapon and swings! "Falchion of DOOM!"
Galtar hits the green daemon as they start to fly out of the cabinet!
One of the daemons tries to cast a spell. After it fails, its two buddies don't bother to try and instead just attack!
red: 10 dmg
green: 14 dmg
The earth crumbles away from Temüjin's fist, hitting the floor with a thud. One of the cacodemons tries to bite him, but the small halfling is able to sidestep the gnashing maw of the beast.
Temüjin channels his energy through his hand as the dirt swirls around his body. It reforms into a claw (tekko-kagi) and the halfling tries to stab the demon in the belly.