Hoping to take advantage of the confusion and the dim lighting beyond the campfire's glow, Tathane ducks and rolls underneath the wagon and into the shadows as he attempts to hide. Although Orange has an idea of what the wily halfling is up to, he can't spot Tathane's hiding place.
Grayscales enters into a furious frenzy of flailing arms and legs as he attempts to break free of the webbing, but the webs prove surprisingly strong and he finds himself unable to free himself!
Deciding that a more direct approach might be appropriate now, Thern casually walks up to Purple and attempts to hit him with a series of two quick punches to the face - one of which connects squarely with Purple's jaw while the other one misses entirely.
Meanwhile, Teann almost finds himself caught in the webbing but he's still able to wriggle free and direct Fuzzy the Cheetah to furiously rip into the man with tooth and claw! Fuzzy's teeth and claws all find their mark as he lays into Purple's back - with a horrendous scream of pain he falls to the ground, a puddle of blood slowly pooling underneath him.
Pleased with his friend and his confidence boosted Teann moves forward out of the webbing and conjures flame in his hand, flinging it at the robed spellcaster. The orb just manages to clip the man's shoulder, singeing flesh and burning a nice hole in his robes.
Unsure of what else to do and unable to locate the halfling, Orange takes a few steps forward and takes aim at the cheetah that just brutally shredded his companion...
...but misses the lithe animal by a wide margin!
"YEOUCH! Dammit, okay, okay, I yield, I yield!" the robed man cries, realizing that the situation has spiraled beyond his control. "Stand down you fool," he hisses to Orange, the only other of his men still standing. He slowly raises his arms in the air.
"Take what you want, just...just spare the rest of us..."
A white raven begins circling overhead. The bird is Sheila Heidmarch’s signal that you should wrap things up and head back to Heidmarch Manor with or without the Aspis Consortium’s gold.
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Yorad works his way free of the sticky webbing and moves over to the man bleeding profusely, snatching back his knife. "Glad I could get you back!" He murmurs as he helps stanch the man's bleeding. "No hard feelings," he points the tip of his blade at the robed man, "but PLEASE don't do that again."
After seeing the white raven circling above he motions for his companions to get to the wagon and taking the coins therein. "Time to go everyone. Grab a chest and let's get moving." He adds, hefting a large chest all by himself.
No different than a busy day at the docks.
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"Well done, friends," Lazarus Logos congratulates his companions, "An auspicious beginning." He reloads his wand of magic missile into a wrist sheath, depressing its spring and locking it in place with an audible click.
While the others gather up the loot, the samsaran approaches the wizard, "Nicely cast, your web."
Lazarus casts a covetous eye over the mage's equipment. Anything of use here? He casts detect magic and examines anything with a detectible aura.
As Yorad moves to retrieve his knife from Red's body, he finds the man to still be alive - albeit barely. Working quickly he staunches the worst of the bleeding, saving the man's life. Meanwhile, the wizard sighs and dismisses his magics and allows himself and the remaining guard to be disarmed and restrained. With that done, the rest of the group begins to get to work stripping the rest of the caravan crew of their belongings as well as investigating the two wagons for the gold they seek.
A quick search through the two wagons reveals that the northern wagon contains nothing else but the chest of Aspis gold and simple travelling supplies. The southern one seem to have been the personal caravan of the wizard. A rather comfortable bedroll is off to one side, while an opened cage, presumably where the lizard is kept, is on the other.
Searching through the guards and the drivers, you find a total of 40 blunt arrows, 38 normal arrows, two tanglefoot bags, two sets of studded leather armor, two composite longbows (+2 Str), two rapiers, and two clubs. From the wizard, you liberate a potion, a scroll, a wand, a quarterstaff, a spell component pouch, a spellbook, and 70 gp. Lazarus easily identifies the potion as a potion of Cure Light Wounds. Also of interest is a small note regarding the terms of sale of a non-intelligent rare magical beast for a rather large sum of money.
The wizard, quite obviously the caravan leader now that you think on it, grinds his teeth in silent fury as all of this goes on around him. However, when Lazarus approaches to compliment him on his spellwork, he stares at the samsaran as if unsure whether to be flattered or simply amazed. The wizard finally seems to settle on something halfway in-between.
"Well, it's not every day you find yourself bound and robbed by highwaymen that also happen to have an appreciation for spellwork," he responds as he eyes Lazarus up and down and then glances around to the rest of the group as well. "Since you've got me over a barrel, the least you can do is tell me who you and your friends are - the name of your band, something to call you by?"
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Lazarus Logos responds to the wizard with a cool smile and silence. Can't blame you for asking, but we're not revealing our identities, thank you.
He casts read magic and scans the scroll and flips through the spellbook. Then he examines the remaining items.
The samsaran holds up the note regarding the sale of a magical beast. He raises one dark eyebrow in question. "Tell us about this. A 'non-intelligent rare magical beast,' eh?"
Sounds like a thinly-veiled reference to the Runecarved Key, I think.
Maybe one of my more intimidating colleagues would be a more successful interrogator.
Realizing that Lazarus has no intention of revealing anything further about himself or his accomplices, the wizard settles back into a sullen silence as he watches you pack up all of his belongings and the caravan gold.
Further study on Lazarus' part reveals the scroll to be a scroll of Create Pit. Within the spellbook he finds the following spells:
1st - Alarm, Grease, Mage Armor, Magic Missile, Shield
Cantrips - Detect Magic, Read Magic
When the samsaran asks about the note regarding the magical beast, the wizard scoffs. "Why should I explain such things to you people? You're clearly the mastermind behind this whole escapade, figure it out for your..." he begins, but then pales as Grayscales glares at him, uttering a rather terrifying hiss.
"...Ah. Yes, you see, that regards the sale of my sleeping friend here," the wizard quickly adds, motioning to the lizard who is still fast asleep by the southern wagon. "As a little side-venture, I acquired him and had planned to sell him to Jorston Droaeb, the gamemaster at the Serpent's Run coliseum."
At this, the captive wizard snorts indignantly. "Yes actually, considering your friend has the proof right there in his hand and said magical beast is currently sleeping off whatever your other friend there did to him!"
Tathane doesn't get any sense that the wizard is being anything other than truthful on this particular point.
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Lazarus recognizes the spell on the scroll and leafs through the spells contained in the wizard's spell book. Blessed be Lady Luck! I'll scribe a few of these into my spellbook as soon as time permits.
Overhearing the wizard's interrogation, his ears perk up at the mention of a name and location. Hmm, Jorston Droaeb and the Serpent's Run coliseum. That sounds familiar.
"This man may still be hiding some information. Has anyone heard of Gamemaster Jorston Droaeb or the Serpent's Run coliseum?"
"You lot are out of your minds," the wizard exclaims and you're sure that he'd be throwing up his hands right now if they weren't tightly bound. "I've told you all there is to tell you. Hells, at this point you may as well take the beastie and sell it to him yourselves - I've always enjoyed the feeling of salt in my wounds!"
Tathane suddenly speaks up. "Hey, he might actually be telling the truth after all. The Serpent's Run, it's up in that fancy Alabaster District and it's one of the few places up there that'll welcome anyone able to pay for a seat," the half-elf explains. "It offers all kinds of entertainment - decathlons, horse and dog races, magic shows, circus performers, and sometimes they even do mock-gladiatorial battles."
He looks at the sleeping lizard and shrugs. "Maybe that's why this guy caught this thing to sell. It'd probably put on a good show for Old Jorston and bring in a lot of coin. He doesn't truck in things like actual bloodsports but mindless beasts and animals are another story."
Two hours before the auction is slated to begin, Sheila Heidmarch calls everyone back to the theater for another emergency briefing. She appears greatly agitated and her tenor is one of immediacy.
“My friends, we have little time and much work to do, so I’m going to make this simple. While you were dealing with the Aspis Consortium, my informants in the city investigated the individuals you reported on from last night’s gala. It seems a number of them have sufficient funds to jeopardize our efforts. In what little time remains, I need you to prevent as many of them from participating in the auction as possible. My agents will provide each of your groups with a mission brief. Once you complete the task, return here to inform us of the results, and we shall quickly set you upon another mission. Again, we need you to complete as many missions as you can before the auction starts. But remember to keep your efforts clandestine and try not to kill anyone important. We’re still trying to win the auction somewhat legally.”
After some discussion about what to do with your prisoners, you settle on simply leaving them and their wagons where you found them - either leaving them unconscious but untied or perhaps leaving a knife nearby to allow them to eventually cut themselves free. The trip back to Magnimar and to Heidmarch Manor is thankfully uneventful and Venture-Captain Heidmarch is pleased that you were able to recover the gold. By this time, the hour is late and everyone is dismissed for the evening to enjoy a good dinner and a good night's sleep before the auction the following day.
Her announcement made, Heidmarch seems to realize that the assembled group might need slightly more to go on than what she's just given them. "Oh yes, I almost forgot! I suppose you might want to hear a small bit more about how to best disrupt our rivals' plans, wouldn't you?"
The Venture-Captain then quickly runs through a brief summary of what her informants learned about each of the individuals...
"I think we got lucky with our merchant friend, Falrig Sneve. He mentioned that he was trying to conserve funds for the auction, so we sent him an invitation to stay at Haruka House on the grounds of our manor. If you have yet to see it, Haruka House sits alone on the west side of the main house and is the most luxurious of the four Thassilonian cottages on the property. As far as I can tell, Sneve suspects us of no foul play. Still, we can't have him mucking up the auction, can we? Thankfully, I doubt we have to do much. Ensure no actual harm comes to him, though, as such would reflect poorly upon Heidmarch Manor and the Pathfinder Society. Rather, somehow trick him into believing the Runecarved Key is cursed and he should withdraw from the auction without any further urging."
"While we're not sure how much of a threat Dymal Rinks poses to our winning the auction, we don't want to take any chances. Our informants tell us that Rinks owes a considerable debt to the proprietor of the Matador, Master Basaale Minvandu. Short on the funds to cover his debts, Dymal Rinks hopes to cash in on the Runecarved Key as part of a wild investment scheme. Unfortunately for Rinks, Minvandu wants his debts paid immediately and has sent his collectors to track the halfling down. I suspect we can easily knock Rinks out of the auction by turning him over to Minvandu's thugs. Still, I’m a little wary of this course of action as handing Rinks over to the bone-breakers may very well result in his death. Despite being a desperate little imp, Rinks is a decent arbitrator and if word gets back that we played a part in his death, it might make things difficult in the future. If you can avoid getting him killed it might help. Perhaps you can pretend to be thugs and scare him off or simply threaten to rat him out to Minvandu if he doesn't back out of the auction. In any event, do whatever you need to do to drive him away. Oh, and he lied about his whereabouts. Our informants say he's hiding out at the Galesford Inn in Dockway."
"I need not warn you how much of a threat Lady Kaddren is to our mission — she is wealthy, powerful, a wizard, and she hates us. Thankfully, our talented informants seem to have uncovered her weakness: scandal! It seems the lady has been seen slipping in and out of the tower of the Golemworks's master wizard, Toth Bhreacher, at unusual hours. If the two of them are involved in an affair, it could imply Lady Kaddren might be showing Toth political favoritism — an illicit act that would also break her family's long-standing efforts to keep nobility and business separate. Such evidence might stand to ruin her if it fell into the hands of her rivals. I need you to collect, fabricate, or purchase enough hard evidence to be able to blackmail her. While blackmailing her won't help ease her opinion of the Pathfinder Society, it is perhaps the only way we can get her to back out of the auction."
"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."
"I'm not sure yet how we can get Doctor Landis to back out of the auction, or if we fail, if we can outbid him; at least not until we know who is acting as his anonymous patron. I have a strange feeling about the whole thing. I doubt his patron has noble intentions and I suspect the good doctor is probably in a lot more trouble than he realizes. Go to the museum and see if you can get Doctor Landis to introduce you to his anonymous patron, or at least his patron's contact. Once we know who it is, we can hopefully drive a wedge between the doctor and his benefactor."
"There were two women at the pre-auction who paid their deposit in Minkaian coins which, according to our sources, may have been stolen during a recent caravan raid. If such is the case, the duo no doubt have dubious intentions. The women call themselves the Duchesses and they likely have ties to one of Magnimar's criminal organizations; I suspect the Rushlight Society. Still, it is their finances and not their intentions that most concern us. Some of our more reliable street contacts informed me that the two women were last seen entering the home of a local merchant named Windun Landers. Perhaps not so coincidentally, Landers has a wrought iron rushlight mounted on his door casing. Head to the man's residence, and see if you can't figure out how much money these “Duchesses” have. If all is as I suspect, they don't have enough to bid competitively. I'm also near certain they're using stolen funds, so leave whatever gold you find. I don't want us bidding with illegally gotten coin — that'll create more problems for us than it will solve. Lastly, whatever you happen to find, do not involve the authorities. I cannot risk the courts subpoenaing your testimony during the auction."
"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."
"We're still a little short on funds and we need to make some quick coin! If you're daring enough, head over to the Alabaster District and enter a hydra baiting competition at the Serpent's Run coliseum. The Master of Games, Axetongue Droaeb, has offered a decent sized purse to adventurers willing to get in the ring with one of his ferocious multi-headed beasts. As always, this event draws a tremendous crowd, one whose coin will more than double the purse he pays to contest participants."
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Having decided to opt for tasks that might require more stealth and fisticuffs than schmoozing and negotiation, the group decides to go pay Underbridge Exports a visit. With the aid of the map from Venture-Captain Heidmarch, you make your way down to the Underbridge District which is located underneath the Irespan, the city's largest and most impressive monument. Seedy taverns, poorly run brothels, and rat-infested gambling dens compete with salt-blasted tenement buildings and cheap flophouses here in Magnimar's most dangerous district.
Eager to avoid drawing too much attention to yourselves you stick to following the trail laid out for you on the map, which soon leads you to a small, but sturdy-looking warehouse that sits near the trash-strewn shore. A single set of double doors is set into the northern face of the building, above which a small wooden sign reads, 'Underbridge Exports'. Despite the sun being well up in the sky by this point, you don't see anyone outside.
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Before the majority of the group move forward to inspect the warehouse more closely, Lazarus quickly opts to make use of his stash of wands to give the party a little blessing for the task at hand and to shield himself should things end up going sour. With that done, the samsaran opts to wait within the relative safety of a nearby alley with Thern and Fuzzy while the rest of the group get to work.
Tathane, Yorad, Grayscales, and Teann all attempt some stealthy reconnaissance as they start to circle the building; Tathane and Grayscales both seem to simply meld into the shadows and vanish while Yorad and Teann's results are somewhat less impressive. Nonetheless, no one seems to notice the group of people slowly circling the building. There are no windows to be seen, which isn't unusual for a warehouse - especially down in Underbridge. While there doesn't seem to be anything of interest outside, everyone encircling the building can hear the faint, muffled sounds of conversation as well as the telltale screeches and thuds of heavy objects being moved around.
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Yorad silently returns to the alley to confer with his teammates. Once assembled he shakes his head in frustration, "I don't see any way to sneak up on these guys so looks like a direct approach here. I say we pretend we are simple bandits and see about robbing the place. Any contraband we find will tell us all we need to know." Drawing a blade he twirls it up in the air, adding "I don't want to slaughter them but we are in the Underbridge, so that is a likelihood. Any problems with that?"
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Lazarus nods and recaps the party's mission statement before they execute. "The Venture-Captain's stated intent is to prevent as many of the other potential bidders from participating in the auction as possible. She told us keep our efforts clandestine and try not to kill anyone important."
"She wasn't sure why the dubious Vaor family is interested in the key, or even how they came up with the deposit. She speculated that perhaps they're representing someone else more powerful. We're here to find out and to knock them out of the competition without revealing our identity or killing anyone important."
"Ready?"
Lazarus casts shield of faith on himself, as soon as everyone is ready to go.
After a quick bit of huddled discussion, the group comes up with a plan - sort of. As the rest of the group fans out to either side of the warehouse door, Grayscales boldly strides up and knocks, announcing his intentions to do some work for the Vaor family. From within the warehouse, all sounds of conversation and box-moving cease.
A few moments pass and then there's the sound of approaching footsteps. The warehouse door opens and a shabbily-dressed man with large teeth and a shrewlike nose peers out, regarding Grayscales with a rather peevish expression. He doesn't seem to be aware of the rest of the party, pressed against the walls on either side of the doors.
"Eh? Who're you? You said Kresh hired you to do some work here?"
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"Uh...alright then, iffin' you say so," the man responds, sounding a bit uneasy. He glances over his shoulder and then steps back to allow the party entry into the storehouse. As Fluffy moves to follow Teann in, the man's eyes widen and he splutters, "Here now, you can't tell me Kresch gave you the okay to bring your pets along, too! She ain't here right now; just leash it outside or something until she gets back. Then, iffin' she gives the okay, your beast can come inside if you promise it won't make a mess or try to eat anyone."
While the man appears to be distracted dealing with Teann and Fluffy, Tathan quickly attempts to slip inside the open door unnoticed. While Fluffy waits outside, the rest of you file inside the warehouse. The first thing that the group notices is that the warehouse is rather poorly organized, with crates and boxes stacked haphazardly throughout the building. Some of them sit open, their contents - mostly what looks to be salvaged junk - scattered about. The second thing that as soon as you all step inside, the man shutting the doors behind you, is that he isn't alone - two figures lurk nearby, attempting to hide behind some of the crates and boxes!
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Thern
Teann
Tathane
Yorad
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KV
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Grayscales
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Warehouse Thugs
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Lazarus (Shield of Faith)
Active Conditions: Bless
Thern, Teann, Tathane, and Yorad are UP!
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Thern glances about the room. He leaps back when he notices the thugs and does what he automatically thinks to do. He turns to the man next to him and swings both his fists, but he remembers hearing something about not killing anyone important so he holds back a little.
Though it appears as if these people were expecting trouble, most of you prove to be quicker on the draw than they as you spring into action! Thern immediately whips around to his right and delivers two quick strikes, one across the jaw and another to the gut, to Green who staggers and nearly hits the floor. Tathane attempts to help Thern out and takes advantage of Green's distraction to try and bash him with the flat of his blade, but the thug manages to duck under the blow! Meanwhile, Yorad weaves through his allies to engage the other punk, striking him soundly across the cheek with the flat side of his dagger blade.
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Thern
Teann
Tathane
Yorad
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KV
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Grayscales
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Warehouse Thugs (Green -10 NL, Yellow -5 NL)
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Lazarus (Shield of Faith)
Active Conditions: Bless
Teann is UP!
Teann calls on his bond with nature to light Yellow up; the man shrieks with real pain this time as the scent of burnt flesh fills the air!
The third figure over in the corner hisses angrily. "Gods almighty, why did you let them in when there are so many!?" comes a female voice. The figure steps into the light and you see a familiar face...in a manner of speaking. Fur covers her face and her beady eyes peer out from under her hood; Kresch Vaor, but not like you've seen her before.
You realize that Kresch is a wererat, a form of lycanthrope.
"Stand down," she motions to the two men and turns to the rest of you. "You have us at a distinct disadvantage. Who are you people and why have you come here?"
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"Who we are is unimportant. Your lycanthropic nature is of no interest to us, Kresh Vaor. Nor do we seek your heads. We have only two demands: Withdraw from the bidding for the Runecarved Key and reveal the identity of your backer."
Lazarus Logus holds out his arms in a sweeping motion, emphasizing how the party outnumbers and outguns Voar and her henchmen.
"Give us your word that you will abide by these terms, and we will leave you in peace."
"That's why you lot showed up???" Kresch gapes. "In that case, you have a deal! We never cared anything about that damned piece of junk anyway," she grumbles. "All I'd planned to do was go and fetch the deposit later, but if I'd known taking this job would bring every Tom, Dick, and Harry in Absalom down here I wouldn't have bothered at all."
Kresch beckons you all back to her office in the back, where a small desk sits strewn with all manner of papers and ledgers. After flipping through some of the papers, she pulls out a small note and hands it to Lazarus.
"And before you go asking, no, I don't know who she was, but she hired me to go mill around the cathedral and spread some sort of seeds or dust or something," the wererat explains. "And that's all I did and that's all I know. We square now? If so, would you kindly get out of my warehouse?"
Lazarus' intuition tells him that Kresch is being completely truthful with her words; she'd clearly like nothing more for her and her employees to be left alone at this point.
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Lazarus examines the note, and he passes it around to his colleagues, encouraging them to do so as well. That sigil looks interesting. What about the handwriting or the words themselves, syntax, word choice, or other clues?
The samsaran turns back to Kresch Vaor, his tone and expression conveying polite insistence. "If you don't have her name, please describe the woman. You should also show us these 'seeds' or 'dust' she asked you spread."