Karl seems to think on that one, as if you'd brought up something he hadn't thought of before. He shakes his head, banishing an internal line of thinking, then "looks" in Dura's direction. The Chymic Works had many dealings with Doctor Brada, though he usually kept me in the dark about what exactly they supplied. I know we did get and use the bleach - little more than a strong cleaning agent. But, you know...and I didn't think much of this at the time...but there were many entries in the logs, both to and from the Works. I don't know much about the financial aspect of the business, but tell you what...that's a whole lot of transactions for just some bleach.
We would very much like to inspect these logs. Do they still exist?
Alas, no....as far as I know they were destroyed in the fire. You can assume that the most important of these were what you discovered in that metal box.
"Well, the Chymic works would likely have records of their own. Maybe we can get a peek. Shall we?" she asks the others.
Leeoli nods agreeably.
You find Vorkstag and Grine's Chymic Works to be a mundane chemical factory in the heart of Lepidstadt. You know little, save for the facts that Grine is an odd-looking gnome and Vorkstag is a well respected merchant. Also, the factory seems to be working all nights of every day, by the amount of smoke that comes from it. It's into the evening before you approach the factory, and the sun has just finished its descent.
A tall, iron chimney belches yellow clouds into the sky from this small brick factory. Large leaded windows arch in a dozen places on its outer walls, but they are so begrimed as to be opaque. A large gate opens onto an inner courtyard behind a sign proudly proclaiming "Vorkstag and Grine, Chymic Works." The building has two floors and a tower, topped by a lightning rod.
You immediately smell the acrid fumes coming from the chimney, as you approach the main gate of a courtyard. A twenty foot high stone wall, topped with broken glass, surrounds a small courtyard before the workshop. A heavy oak gate bars entry, with a bell hanging by one side.
Rufus eyes the broken glass on the walls. "No need to risk infection for official business." He approaches the bell and, unless anyone objects, rings it.
You ring the bell, and watch the courtyard with interest as you await a reply. You see that there's a large iron-wheeled cart in the courtyard, ready for deliveries. Shadows conceal the corners of the courtyard in darkness, the light of a pair of glowing lanterns on the building the only source of light.
After a few moments, a door opens up on the second floor, above and overlooking the courtyard. The light from the room beyond cloaks a man-sized figure in show. It calls out in a voice that seems to be used to getting its way. Yes? Can I help you?
"Yes, hello!" Dura calls up at Rufus' urging. "I wonder if we might talk to you for a bit. Or some representative of your place of business. We're on a fact finding mission for the city."
The figure seems to mutter under his breath, then his head moves as if getting a closer look at you from above. Still, his face can't be seen as the light from behind does its work. I don't have the time for that. If you need our services, you'll have to come back during the day and make an appointment. He waits for you to leave his establishment.
"Not even a cup of tea?"
No, now go.
How about we stay, and you make us leave the hard way. Lest you are thick, the easy way is talking to us with few minutes.
The man seems to pause, but not out of fear. He's taken aback, and it's obvious he's not used to being talked to like this. Why, you yeasty, swag-bellied varlet! You are the one trespassing here, and not me. You can come back during normal business hours - the day time - and petition for an appointment. Until then, you can leave, or I'll loose the guardian of the grounds.
Dura shakes her head in frustration. "We're outside the gates. There has been no trespass. Perhaps we can get a warrant to come back."
Leeoli senses that this man is just a surly business owner aggravated by pesky inquiries. You get the idea from his stance and responses that he feels pretty self-important and thinks you're beneath his time.
Indeed, get your warrant and I will meet with you to discuss how you have no business bothering my work! With that, he shuts his door, himself on the inside.
You get the feeling by his snide tone that he feels it would be pretty hard to get a warrant.
Gur sighs and limbers up his axe. "Well, guess we are doing this the hard way. Between that chemical to make your kind see in the dark, their logo being all over, the funny business with the doctor, and the fact that he is cursing like a caiman got him I would say that is our man and I am pulling him in for questioning." Gur cracks his neck and lines up his swing."I'll open the gate for you."
Wordlessly, Rufus draws his sword. He also produces one of his tiny, dark stones, placing it in his mouth. He bits down, his jaw clenching visibly. He convulses, the sinew of his neck tensing and flexing as he jerks his head back. His body trembles, quakes, and jerks, and he doubles over in pain, but only for a moment, and when he throws himself upright, the whites of his eyes have become riddled with blood vessels, themselves surrounding darkened, onyx irides the color of the stone.
Leeoli follows, pulling his rapier out, while deftly swallowing a sandy mixture. At once his hands drop to the ground.
Gur hits and obliterates the wooden gate in one strike. Chunks of it fall away to clatter on the gravel path at their feet. You enter into the courtyard, and see before you an iron-wheeled cart, and a door to the north and double doors to the east - all of them closed.
Only moments after you break down the gate, you hear a metallic thud, and then the jingling of heavy chains. The sound pulls your gaze to the southeast corner of the courtyard, where in the waning light you can see the form of a massive dog. When the light hits it, though, you realize that this hound is a creation of some sort, made up of spare parts, slick glistening muscles knitted together in ropy strands. The creature's mouth drips thick viscous drool, perhaps an added creation of whomever made this vile thing. It growls, and springs towards you, its loose chain in tow!
For a moment, Leeoli studies his target intently, then moves in and strikes out with elongated arms,
Finally in his element, Gur rushes to strike at the hound. His annoyance at all the past days politics and intrigue bleed out into the cold logic of one axe and one enemy. He knew who was wrong now, and he was going to make sure justice was served.
"A perfectly balanced concentration!" Rufus compliments Leeoli's alchemy as he side-steps the man's strangely long arms. He ends up north of the hound, slamming his blade down deeply into its back.
Leeoli offers up quite the distraction, waltzing into battle with his two elongated appendages. Though he misses with his strike, he manages to distract the creature enough for Gur and Rufus to get into position.
And, the two reign down near perfect blows on the canine, axe and sword slashing off huge chunks of the beast's flesh.
Rufus notices that not all of his damage went through, as if the creature had some sort of resistance to his blade.
Dura growls and waves her hand causing a spiritual blade to appear. She points at the metal dog and the blade darts towards it.
force damage
Zazaria sees Gur moving in, and calls upon Pharasma's power to protect her powerful ally as he wades into melee.
Dura's weapon appears and chops down, but the hound, hurt as it is, is still able to dart aside. As it does, you can see the chain still attached to its neck - the far end of it is unlatched, not broken. This confirms your belief that this creature was released upon you and hadn't broken its bonds.
The hound, having no escape at all where it is cornered, has no choice but to attack. It snarls and lashed out a Rufus, taking a large chunk of skin from its attacker.
The jagged and broken teeth latch into Rufus's hand, crushing and ripping as the jaws tear away. He cries out in fear and pain, but the wound begins to knit closed.
Yanking his sword free from the creature's back, he thrusts it into the "flesh" behind its shoulder, toward what he hopes to be a vital organ.
Leeoli unleashes a studied strike, trying to finish the oddly made hound.
Gur swings another blow at his foe, seeking to drop the beast before it can do further harm to his charges.
Rufus, Gur, and Leeoli fall upon the hound with a stunning display of power, finesse, and brutality. The creature is taken apart, limb by limb and left in a pile of spare parts.
Silence reigns over the courtyard, as a closed door to the north and closed pair of doors to the east stand ready for inspection, should you so wish.
Gur strides forward, a dark mass of muscle and steel balanced by a cold certainty of purpose. There is a door, there is an answer, when all you have is an axe everything becomes kindling.
Gur's axe once again destroys a wooden barrier. Splinters fly about as the door caves in where it seemed to have been splined together in wooden stiles. You see a huge chamber that occupies a whole side of the building, from the cellar level below up to the roof high above. Seven iron vats, each ten feet across, occupy the majority of the room. Furnaces fuel the vats at cellar level while at the ground floor level a series of planks have been laid across the vats to allow passage to a ladder that leads to an iron walkway on the level above. Two ladders also allow access from the planks to the floor below. The air in the chamber is cloying and acidic, the fumes of whatever is in these vats filling the space with the nauseating cloud.
You stand on a narrow stone platform fifteen feet above the floor. and the ceiling is another twenty feet above your head. There are planks running between the vats that are about 10 inches wide, and they look fairly precarious.
There are a dozen "men" about the chamber, tending to various activities like cleaning the vats, mixing liquids for testing perhaps, or jotting down notes. Nearly half of them are armed, and look up, startled at the splintering of the door.
These men are dressed in thick robes and wear masks about their faces, no doubt to keep away the stench that assails you. Each seems to be misshapen somehow - some with strange legs that seem far to thin, some with arms too long, another with a round hunchback that seems ridged. They all turn to look at Gur, tensely watching the massive form that just entered their midst.
Gur looks over the assembles men and growls. "I am not here for you, stand aside and you will not have to die this day." He then begins his distance devouring stride to the ladder.
Rufus doubles over, relieving himself of dinner.
Leeoli's nose twitches at the foul aroma
Throw down a mask, eh brute? By orders of you-know-who, I am to inspect the alchemical process efficiencies.
The robed creatures pause in confusion as Gur seems to just ready himself to walk through their midst. At Leeoli's claim, one of them snorts, then yells out in a guttural version of common. Intruders! Someone get the boss!
The half dozen that are armed - each on the walkways, turn to charge at Gur, wielding heavy clubs. The others seem to move around in confusion - most of them on the floor down below. It doesn't seem like they have a procedure for this sort of drill.
Leeoli dashes forward, skirting the brim with ease. With a quick study Leeoli unleashes a strike, then prepares to parry and riposte.
Rufus regains his composure long enough to focus on the nearest enemy. He leaps forward, his sword sweeping fiercely and set to remove the man's head.
Rufus manages the edge of the vat with ease.
Gur bellows at his companion. His brow furrows in consternation at his friends ignoring the simple answer. "Get down here. Why fight on dangerous ground when we don't have to?"
Rufus easily skirts around the edge of the vat, his heavy boots sturdy but flexible enough to grip the edge of the vat as he sidesteps about. With a stunning maneuver, Rufus skips across to the first plank and completes his movement with a swiping strike that cuts this poor fellow's head from its shoulders.
As the now-disrobed head flies away, you can see that it is a man's, but is misshapen, with odd bony ridges and what may be scales. It looks like a man, but a deformed experiment of one.
Edit
Rufus, unable to attack, heaves out his guts as Leeoli dashes around behind him. He slashes at the figure, and scores a solid hit, knocking its hood away to reveal a deformed man with ridges and scales over his skin. He barely keeps his feet as he tries to shrug off Leeoli's blow.
The creatures inside the chamber react! The ones on the lower floor, seemingly mere workers, move away, rushing to the southeast corner. The others are under the same restrictions as Leeoli and the others on the planks, and can only move into better positions, their clubs out and ready to defend themselves.
The man confronting Leeoli grits his teeth in pain from Leeoli's strike, and swats at Leeoli with his club. Leeoli easily turns aside the blow, forcing the man to overextend into close enough range, then Leeoli takes off his head. The body and head both tumble down into the bubbling vat below.
Darn. There goes his mask too.
Leeoli hesitates. I hope we are right about this; I am not keen on murder.
Gur strides along the floor towards where he sees the up ladder, if nothing else he can climb the vat when he gets there.
You collect yourselves in the first few seconds - Gur begins to move, his purpose as clear as his stride. He reaches the ladder leading down and descends to the bottom floor. Rufus, to his dismay, begins to empty the contents of his stomach onto the floor of this high platform. Dura and Zazaria wrinkle their noses and avert their eyes, but Daniel moves a bit closer, sniffing at the air. Leeoli beseeches the gathered workers, but to no avail. He moves along the ledge of the vat, instead.
Rufus collects himself enough to move, and pushes forward around the vat, holding both arms out for stability as if he were walking a tightrope. Once on the other side, he lashes out, striking down the man, and sending him flying into the second vat.
Gur moves along the floor, taking little note of the "men" in their thick robes as they swiftly move away from him. He reaches the ladder up and begins to climb. Leeoli attempts to move, but the sour smell gets to him, and he forcefully expels tea and cheddar biscuits he'd had while they were interviewing their witness, Karl. Dura and Zazaria sniff in disdain, but move into the room, Daniel at their sides. Dura and Zazaria immediately begin vomiting. Daniel looks at each of them in confusion, then obediently sits in between them.
Leeoli
Robed figures
Gur
Dura
Zazaria
Holding his breath momentarily, Rufus steps lightly across the planking...
...and skewers the next worker he encounters.
Rufus charges across to the next worker, skipping along lightly, sword leading. When he reaches the next guard, he chops down, and cleanly through. Both parts of the now split man tumble down to hit the ground below with a wet splat.