The cover from the small burrow's entrance prevents Shrec's sword from connecting. However, Andracar missiles send two more faeries to the Boneyard (or back to the First World... not sure... :P)
Round 2 [bold may go]
Kranzer [HP 29/30; CHA: 5/9; bleed 1]
Tooth Fairies x3 [all 3 at 0 hp]
Merisiel
Kavor
Andracar
Shrec
***whrr-tschzz-tschzz-tschzz-chk***
~~BOTTING KRANZER~~
[Move: stand up]
[Standard: ready action to stab tooth fairy when they come out.]
for P/S cold iron dmg.
Three tooth fairies empty out of their lair, their tiny comical voices issuing a battle cry!
One of them fall to Kranzer's cold iron death.
The remaining two look at each other, worried, and decide to nonetheless defend their lair and each take on a dwarf!
[miss!]
[tooth fairy dead]
The tooth fairy tries to bite Kranzer's nose off!
for plus paralysis.
Round 2 [bold may go]
Kranzer [HP 29/30; CHA: 5/9; bleed 1, PARALYZED]
Tooth Fairies x1 [0 hp]
Merisiel
Kavor
Andracar
Shrec
COMBAT OVER!
The dying tooth fairies that you defeated... start to explode into clouds of sparkling white fairy dust that clings to creatures! This glittery substance has... a stench most foul...
Any medium creature gets stuck in the burrow. Andracar, however, moves freely within the cozy hole.
An investigation of the tooth fairies’ den reveals a chamber slowly being decorated with teeth of all sorts; in time, the tooth fairies hope to wallpaper the entire area with teeth, but for now only a few disturbing patterns decorate the walls. In the center of one of these is a gold tooth worth 250 gp. You also find Kranzer's missing teeth, which have only been detached for a few seconds...
A more interesting find than the gold tooth lies in the far side of the area, where the broken, toothless body of a young tiefling child has been set in a place of reverence in a niche in the wall. The child’s body has been tightly wrapped with thick preserved sinews, its wrists and ankles shattered and bound with cold iron chains. All but one of its teeth have been knocked from its jaws. An examination of the grisly find reveals dozens of phrases have been inscribed in Aklo in very fine writing along the sinews, which have come from an adult tiefling.
were no happenstance event—they were engineered. No clues exist to point the heroes toward the perpetrator of this vile act, however.
|
Kavor Doan tries to help by gathering up Kranzer's teeth.
"Maybe hold them in place while Andracar uses his holy healing fire?"
Then he tries to read the Aklo writing along the sinews.
"This poor child was sacrificed in a ritual to create the tooth fairies. Our task is not done with the defeat of the faeries. We must find who created them! Perhaps if we ask around we can identify the child and see if any suspicious individuals were spotted near them before they disappeared."
He glares at the writing, and violet flames race up and down his axe before fading.
As Kavor holds Kranzer's teeth in their empty sockets while he receives healing, the teeth reattach and the bleeding stops.
Zea cannot believe her eyes upon seeing such monstrous cruelty.
As you all return the sacrificed child to the tiefling community, funerals are organized and sense of deep respect falls upon you all. You get the sense that not one tiefling in Devil's Nursery would refuse to open their door to you should you come calling in the future.
Upon returning to the Coffeehouse, as you discuss the way ahead with Rexus and Laria, you notice the men you rescued at the Sallix Salt Works last week busying themselves with chores, deliveries, and other tasks necessary to lay the ground works of this new rebellion you're part of.
Later in the evening Rexus comes down from his study to relax and discuss your activities with you. After the last customer exits the shop and Laria turns the 'CLOSED' sign towards the street, Rexus tells you that his mother, Porcia Victocora, was a member of a secret group of historians called the Sacred Order of Archivists. It was for this reason that she and her estate were targeted for destruction by Thrune, and now he grows increasingly convinced that his mother still lives, and that she’s been in hiding in the stronghold of the Sacred Order.
If nothing else, he would like the return of any of her personal effects from the hideout, as all of those that had been stored at the manor were burned.
Now that Rexus has finished translating the Silver Ravens documents with your help, his convictions that his mother survived the Night of Ashes grow stronger. He asks you for one more favor: he reveals that the Sacred Order of Archivists have long used chambers below a local museum of oddities called Hocum’s Fantasmagorium as a secret base of operations. If his mother survived the fire, she may have remained silent for so long simply because she’s been lying low in the chambers below the museum. Rexus has never been inside the place—indeed, it’s been closed to the public for many years—but he knows the mithral key that was among the things his mother left him supposedly opens many locks within the building.
The revelation that the Fantasmagorium was used as a safe house for the Sacred Order makes a lot of sense to Laria. Once she learns of this, she encourages you all to investigate the Fantasmagorium. If any members of the Sacred Order of Archivists survive, they’d be great allies to have. At the very least, the number of documents the order has in safekeeping should be a significant boon to the Silver Ravens. Of course, complicating matters is the fact that the building was closed down many years ago after its previous owner fell into debt.
Rexus hands you the mithral key, and tells you that it should even work on the front door.
FANTASMAGORIUM!!
When Rexus is asked, he says, "The structure was the passion of a struggling stage magician and salesman named Braedan “Hocum” Azperex. The man had the building constructed a year after the Chelish Civil War ended, with the goal of “bringing whimsy and joy back to Kintargo.” His plan was to have the Fantasmagorium serve as a museum of fantastic oddities and “authentic” magical phenomena.
His charm and showmanship transformed the bizarre concept into a minor success for many years, but when the exhibits (many of which were either grossly exaggerated or utter hoaxes) began to lose some of their novelty, the Fantasmagorium struggled to make ends meet. It finally went out of business 20 years ago, and Hocum died not long thereafter—the building has remained shut down and something of an eyesore ever since... hmm... now that you mention it, dear, I seem to remember as a child some vague conversations between mothers and some of her friends... I think the gist of it was that once the Fantasmagorium began struggling financially, the Sacred Order of Archivists secretly purchased the building from Hocum to use as its own hidden headquarters... if I remember correctly. So maybe old Hocum stayed in business much longer than he would have, I figure... as I'm sure he would have had to move out if my mother and her friends hadn't bought him out while allowing him to live there and keep showing his oddities."
This sprawling, single-story structure has certainly seen
better days. The building’s stone facade stands out amid the
brick-lined walls of its neighboring structures, and numerous
windows to the left and right are boarded up. Signs advertise
rates and incredible exhibits within, and above everything a
crimson sign announces “Hocum’s Fantasmagorium!” A large
lock hangs from the front door.
|
|
"What a fascinating story," remarks Kavor Doan.
"Maybe everything in here is hoaxes and hocum, but more than one true wizard has concealed his mysteries in plain sight."
He looks at the door.
"I don't see anything. But Merisiel, your eyes are keener than mine. Any signs of recent entry?"
He'll let the elf open the door.
Rexus hands you the mithral key, and tells you that it should even work on the front door.
Merisiel tries to pick the lock open, curious to see if she could pick that lock without the key. Alas, the lock is too complex for her, and with a sigh, takes the mithral key out of her pocket and slides it into the lock, before turning the key clockwise. The door's bolt slides inwards smoothly and the door opens without a sound. The hinges have been well-greased, notes Merisiel.
Inside, you see an entry hall with a box office window to the west; beside that window is a door with a 'staff only' sign. Through the box office window you can see that the room has various theatrical costumes, ropes, posts, blank signs and banners, paints, and some well-worn musical instruments, as well as an open cashbox for the daily ticket receipts.
To the north, an archway opens up into what seems like a large room full of exhibits, but you don't have clear view of its content from your position.
|
|
Kavor Doan will move into the room, searching for footprints or other signs of passage.
"I think we should take our time looking around; there is no urgency that we know of, and the only spell I have running will last another three and a half hours."
He moves on in to the archway and looks into the large room.
"First the box office, then examine this large room?"
He is carrying his Wand of Shield and his Waraxe.
As soon as Kavor steps into the archway, two skeletal exhibits labeled 'Arcadian Skunk Ape' animate!
Round 1 [bold may go]
Kavor
Andracar
Skunk Ape Skeletons
Merisiel
Shrec
[MISS!]
for [MISS!]
The skeletons charge Kavor, but his armor absorbs the blows.
Round 1 [bold may go]
Kavor
Andracar
Skunk Ape Skeletons
Merisiel
Shrec
Round 2
Kavor
Andracar
Skunk Ape Skeletons
Merisiel
Shrec
Shrec moves up to the skeletons, reckless, powerattack, rage and if I hit, Cleave
and
Merisiel cracks some major ribs on the left skeleton and Shrec destroys the one to the right.
The left skeleton retaliates against Merisiel!
for bludgeoning damage.
Round 2 [bold may go]
Kavor
Andracar
Skunk Ape Skeletons
Merisiel -9
Shrec
Round 3
Kavor
Andracar
Skunk Ape Skeletons
Merisiel
Shrec
for bludgeoning damage. [miss]
Kavor circles the undead sasquatch and destroys it with his axe.
COMBAT OVER
What do you do?
I celebrate good times come on.
E2
The cashbox is, of course, empty, but
a successful DC 20 Perception check reveals a few
treasures that have fallen down along the back side
of its podium. In all, there are 1 pp, 4 gp, 2 sp, and a
tarnished copper ring of swimming to be found here.
E3
The hall of cryptids features all manner of strange or
mythical beasts said to haunt Kintargo and Cheliax over
the years.
easily identifies most of the exhibits as fakes, stitched
together from various other animals and bits of wood
or enamel, though the mislabeled remains of a few
genuine monsters lie about, including a mastodon skull
misidentified as the skull of a cyclops king and a set of
fake plaster fangs the size of daggers labeled “teeth of
the blue dragon Rivozair.”
There also appears to be tracks and other recent
disturbances in the dust on the floor. Now that the skeletons
have been dealt with, you can see tracks leading from this room northwest to area E4.
allows the PCs to follow the tracks in the dust from
one room to the next, but once combat takes place in a
chamber, the DC of this check increases to 15.
he definitely finds those tracks and leads the way.
A briny odor wafts from a dozen water-filled cases in this
room, each a display of strange, colorful sea creatures.
Puddles of water cover the floor alongside shattered glass
and fish skeletons. A ten-foot-square tank of murky water
stands to the northeast.
The exhibit primarily featured species of fish and
shellfish from Nisroch Bay and amphibians from the
banks of the Yolubilis River, and well as a few colorful
but hardy Arcadian species. All are now dead, including
the hall’s biggest draw—the onetime occupant of the main
tank, a four-clawed reefclaw identified as a “Quadclaw
Marauder.” The waters are murky with its decayed remains.
Despite the menacing label, the contents
of the “Quadclaw Marauder” tank are harmless. In a tank
in the adjunct room to the southeast (area E4a), two dead
creatures float. The tank identifies them
as “Arcadian Mermaids”. They appeared to have starved to death after the museum shut down. Their bodies remain in the tank. The
dog-sized creatures combine the upper half of a deformed monkey
with the lower half of a fish.
E5.
Plants, rocks, and hundreds of motionless specks fill
the countless glass cases throughout this long hall. The
preserved husks of giant insects and arachnids—including
a ten-foot-tall spider—leer over the displays. A dead man’s
body, swathed in red-and-black robes and covered in welts,
lies on the floor.
Eight scarlet spiders lurk throughout the room (tiny size).
Ravenous, they scuttle forth to attack you all as you enter.
Round 1 [bold may go]
Shrec
Kavor
Andracar
Merisiel
Scarlet Spiders x8