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Senach claps his hand on the terrified prisoners shoulder and tells them "Rest here. We will dispatch this threat and then come back for you. I promise we will not leave you down here!"
He turns away from the people as they settle in, and looks for Vulpina. Seeing her near the open chest, he peers in over her shoulder. "Those scrolls are nice, but they are beyond my ability to use.. We should keep all of this, but we need to hurry." Senach relates to her the statements made by the released prisoners as he draws his mace and waits for everyone to be ready.
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Vulpina frowns. "These scrolls... one typically doesn't keep this sort of thing if they don't think they'll use them. And the prisoners didn't see what we're up against. In most cases I'd recommend someone lead them back, or at least stay with them, but I don't like the idea of splitting up." She thinks for a moment. "We should leave the sword with them, at least."
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Senach bursts the door open. This 15-foot-by-30 foot room is clean and dust-free. A stack of barrels in the southeast corner are the only furnishings. The next room has several clean straw pallets covered in blankets and sleeping mats. The barrels contain water.
Senach feels a blade enter through his armor and into his ribs
The creature that stabbed Senach is a pale blue humanoid that has bulging white eyes, wild hair, four-fingered hands, and a large hooked club.
The blade slashes at Senach once again as the creature seems too fast.
Though Senach is able to avoid the second blow.
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Monster
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Elowyn
Senach (13/18)
Quintillus
Lady Vulpina
Mardak
Kazu
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"Fang! Attack!" Elowyn commands pointing to the foe that struck Senach...
and the tiger moves forward to the right of Senach (provoking i believe) and snaps out to bite the blue skinned creature...
...
Elowyn moves past the creature drawing her club and strikes at the foe with her club flanking with her tiger...
...
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Fantooth digs into the creature's leg, nearly dragging it to the ground.
As Elowyn moves past the creature turns and stabs out at her.
She dives back and quickly back in, cracking her club into its ribs.
Kazu uses the advantage and leaps around the side, slamming his claws into its blue face.
The creature shakes it's head, wispy white hair flutters about as it does, but it still stands.
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Monster (-7; 13 NL)
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Elowyn
Senach (13/18)
Quintillus
Lady Vulpina
Mardak
Kazu
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Quintillus' spell is cut short as Lady Vulpina moves in and slashes her wakizashi through the derro's chest.
The group explores the rest of the final building and finds that, in the next room with straw pallets, there are stacks and stacks of cages full of normal rats. On a small table next to those cages is a small, shiny black rat statue—the jet rat. This artifact gives off a moderate transmutation aura. There is also evidence here—a ledger written in Undercommon—that the derro have slowly increased their slave sales over the last couple of months, with a huge surge in the last couple of weeks. Anyone who can read Undercommon finds a note in the ledger about a human woman who escaped not long ago and the mite slave that was beaten to death for allowing it to happen.
Near the barrels is a large chest in which the derro keep their slave sale earnings. You have liberated 250 gp from a slaving operation. Andoran would be proud.
By defeating the derros here and taking the jet rat, you have slowed the derros’ plans for the future but not stopped them entirely. Kidnappings slow in the city, but continue to expand in the countryside around Cassomir. Rumors begin to circulate throughout the city that the derro menace has been stopped, but some whisper darker tidings, such as the recent spotting of a derro inside the walls of Swift Prison, a rumor the Taldan authorities heatedly deny.
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Venture-Captain Hestia Themis, a petite, raven-haired, black-eyed Taldan beauty, paces her office within the Pathfinder lodge in Cassomir and addresses you.
“I am perplexed. A new kidnapping spree plagues my beloved city. It seems our citizens make easy prey to those who profit from such exploits. While this disturbs me, I am more troubled by reports that some of those kidnapped return to the city as undead monsters who accompany this Cult of Nature’s Cataclysm plague, a plague that I can’t seem to excise from my beloved city."
“This ends now! For a third time we battle Groetus-worshiping dogs and there will not be a fourth!” Taking several deep breaths, Hestia regains her composure. “I am sending you to Swift Prison to interrogate a cultist we captured who was trying to kidnap a local engineer. Meet my man Garver out front—he’ll take you in to see the Nature’s Cataclysm fool. Find out where the other cultists hide, where they’ve taken their recent victims, and how they’re turning them into skeletons. Free as many Cassomir citizens as you can—the good publicity never hurts. Any questions?”
Swift Prison’s prisoners must pay fees for lodging and favorable treatment. These payments even include a “chains tax,” requiring a prisoner to pay 5 sp each month to avoid being shackled. Swift Prison has an unusual policy in which non-violent criminals who pay for the privilege are allowed to roam the streets surrounding the prison, so long as do not cross the invisible boundary known as the “Rules of the Swift” (which is what the prison calls the invisible boundary that surrounds the prison). Prisoners who cross this boundary are put to death when recaptured—very few have broken those rules in the prison’s history.
The wardens of the Swift are notorious for allowing unusual privileges in exchange for exorbitantly high sums. Prisoners who pay these extortions earn the right to reside in one of the Swift’s private apartments. Rich prisoners may also purchase the “Liberties of the Swift,” the right to walk the prison grounds and surrounding city streets freely. Wardens of the Swift are often replaced after being caught abusing their posts for personal gain.
Those unfortunate souls too destitute to pay often find themselves locked in the Swift’s cellar begging cells. If they are unable earn enough money to pay for their release by begging, they typically succumb to disease. The inmates call these dank cellars Stavian’s Fair.
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Fangtooth and Elowyn spend what little time in-between the missions out in the nearby woods feeling more at home in nature than in a city. They hunt, trap and relax under the sky an stars but eventually they return in time for the briefing looking refreshed and more experienced.
"I know nothing of this place."
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Vulpina spends the next few days off from Pathfinding, considering herself having well-earned some time away from sewers, zombies, and sewer zombies. It is with some irritation that she is recalled from her soirées and tea ceremonies, although when she hears it has to do with the kidnappings, she seems to realign her frustrations toward the cult rather than the Society.
"If ever I am to be imprisoned, let it be in this place," she chuckles. "For those of us who may not be, ah, in the know, Swift Prison is a proper prison for the poor, but an apartment for the rich. I'm assuming our cultist is the former, Madame Captain?" she asks.
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Senach reels as he is hit by some unseen weapon for opening the door, but before he can react or even move out of the way, the rest of the team charges through him and ends the threat. He coverrs his wounds, then helps the team to go through the room. "It seems that we have disrupted quite the operation here.." he says, examining the ledger. "Lets see what the Venture Captains have to say about all of this. Good Job, everyone! Now lets get these people back to the surface and cleaned up so that they can be returned to their families!"
Later, in Themis' office, Senach sits quietly listening to the rightly irate Captain. "We will continue to do all that we can to rid humanity of this menace." Senach chimes in. "But I am concerned about this conversation.. how are we to get more out of the man than you already have?"
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Kazu pads softly into the room, so quietly that few of you notice him. He looks little different from the few days ago since you parted. Although his chain mail appears particularly shiny... Almost as if it is glowing.
He snarls when he hears mention of the Swift Prison. In reply to Vulpina, he scowls, "Pray you never fall on hard times, then. If you are too destitute to pay, you'll find yourself locked in the cellar begging cells, commonly known as the Stavian’s Fair. They typically succumb to disease. Not much better than slavery." He almost spits in disgust but remembers where he is and restrains himself.
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"We will continue to do all that we can to rid humanity of this menace." Senach chimes in. "But I am concerned about this conversation.. how are we to get more out of the man than you already have?"
"He might be a bit more open to someone other than myself at this point."
With no further questions of teh Venture-Captain the group makes way for Swift Prison.
Swift Prison’s formidable gates loom over those who pass beneath them. Out front, a gilded statue stares uncaringly at those who serve time beyond her sentry-like gaze. The wrinkled, dirty faces of Cassomir’s prisoners are briefly illuminated behind the bars of the ground floor begging cells. Their pathetic drone as they beg for coppers fills the courtyard in front of the prison. Hestia’s man, Garver—a tall Taldan man with a slim physique and plain peasant’s clothing—approaches. “You made it. Good. Follow me.” Garver turns and enters the prison, marching through myriad hallways that twist and turn and finally end at a plain but thick wooden door. Garver produces a key and says, “Our captured cultist enjoys visitors, and if you like his work, it’s all for sale.”
"Any questions before you enter?" he asks of you.
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"Work?? What are you talking about??" he asks, completely puzzled. "I understand he probably has the means to pay for some of the luxuries around here, but to be selling things like a common merchant?"
The man chuckles. "Easier to show you rather than tell you."
"Trust me. The Swift is known for its security. No prisoner would dare to violate its rules even if it seems a bit... unique."
how many have been taken so far and from where? Any clues as to who did the kidnapping? Anything can help us start this investigation/rescue."
“At least 15 Cassomirites—all of them engineers, city planners, masons, and the like.”
“The evidence points strongly toward those Groteus-worshipping fools, the Cult of Nature’s Cataclysm. With Dalirio dead, it seems unlikely that they’ve reorganized themselves. I suspect derro influences.”
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Senach gives the guard a puzzled look before turning to his companions. "Any further questions, or should we go solve this riddle for once and all?" Outwardly, the Nagaji is calm, but you can see his gauntleted fist clenching and unclenching on the handle of his mace.
I like this not.. but holy Erastil, give me the strength to confront my enemies at the proper time and not embarrass myself..
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"Well, here ya go." he says as he pushes open the door.
You are then led through the door and down several stone steps into a dingy, shadowed room with three cells. Garver gives the two guards there some coins and they head back up the stairs, closing the door behind them. In the center cell, covered in paint, a man dressed in torn beggar’s rags, his feet shackled to the floor by a 3-foot length of chain, throws color onto a dirty canvas. The man stops painting when you arrive, looks through the bars, and exclaims with a toothless grin. “For you, my master, always for you!” He then lays the painting atop a small pile of recent works and sets up another blank canvas, madly attacking it with his brush.
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Vulpina can't help but smirk; she apparently wasn't as far off as she thought, regarding the beggar's condition. She steps forward, gesturing to the rest of the party to stay back, and leans against the bars.
"Hail Groteus," she whispers. "I am a double agent, sworn to keep the Pathfinders from disrupting our sacred cause. I've managed to capture the engineer you were fool enough to acquire so close to the guards, but I need you to tell me where to bring him. Quietly, now, or they'll hear-- and when I ask you to repeat yourself, swear that you know nothing."
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The crazed painter splotches some more paint and screams into the air. "For you, my master!”
Garver produces a small metal rod from his belt and loudly bangs on the cell bars until the cultist snaps out of his painting reverie.
Rushing to the cell he grips the bars and smashes his face against them tight, staring at Lady Vulpina with intense eyes. “Friends! Did the Master send you? Yes, he must have. Praised be he who ends the days! Do you seek my secret? Soon enough—but in return I ask something from you. You must give it to me as I need it to complete my collection.” He points to two paintings hung in a shadowy corner of his cell. A third canvas hangs next to them but is blank. “If you go outside this very prison you’ll find a statue covered in gold. You may have already seen her! Describe this statue to me in exquisite detail and I will tell you all I know.”
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"The Master's collection can remain incomplete no longer," agrees Vulpina, face inches from the artist. "But I have seen her, and she is worthy of your talents. Her skin shines like aasimar flesh; her hair shines and scorches all who pass beneath her with the blight of the sun, and her hands hold terrors in their unending grasp!" Her voice quavers, raising as her eyes slowly widen to match his own intense stare. "Her eyes, never blinking, see nothing, for she knows the impending doom that our master will cast down upon us all-- and her ankle is scuffed, a bit, on one side!"
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The crazed painter seems to ignore Lady Vulpina for a short period. He furiously paints the blank canvas on his wall, splashing paint wildly about his cell. Upon completing the painting, he shows it to you. It shows a twisted perspective of Lady Vulpina's description. The once-beautiful statue stares back transformed, her visage twisted into a demonic snarl. Short humanoids with large, black eyes torment cowering prisoners in the painting’s background. Brandishing a radiant holy symbol, a lone figure fails to fight them off.
Examining the other two paintings on the wall, they’ll find some of the same iconography (the paintings stacked on the floor are abstract smears of paint, in sharp contrast to these three works of art).
Once the crazed painter completes his third masterpiece, he rapidly explains. "Master resides in the Crypt of Fools, hidden deep beneath Old Cassomir. Where that is, I don't know, but if anyone does it would be the engineers at Cassomir’s engineering guild, the Hall of Wonders. the engineers have complete blueprints of nearly everything built by the Taldor government in Cassomir, and since the Crypt of Fools was built by the government to hide the crypts of shamed families, it’s highly probable they have all of the information you need." he taps his head as crazy eyes shift about underneath disheveled hair. "I know this cause Dalirio once told me we need to remove the files from the Guild. That's righ Dalirio yet lives." the crazed painter giggles. "He received the Master's blessing!"
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Kazu, not one of patronising talk, leaves those more silver-tongued to speak, or rather, deceive the crazed man. When he completes the drawings, however, Kazu curiously draws close to look.
"And those small figures, they are derros! Like the ones we fought earlier to free the slaves!" he squawks. Hoping for more clues, Kazu turns to examine the other paintings in the cell.
"That one, the one with a a stately, white stone building? That's Cassomir’s Imperial Hall of Records. The three-foot-tall bas-reliefs that circle the building’s outside walls at ground level are warped and twisted, though." Here, Kazu stares uncomfortably at the painter, before continuing. "There, derros again at the hall’s steps and seem to punish criminals — all of whom are wearing the robes of Taldan government officials. Hmm, at the southwest corner of the building, the bas-relief glows a bright white. That figure of ... Aroden is attempting to sooth those frightened children by playing a flute."
"Ah, and that's third one. That's the northeast retaining wall that shores up parts of the ruined Quickfall Abbey. Again, he has painted dozens of angry derros smashing brightly-painted urns against the retaining wall. And there, Aroden again frantically trying to push down an that barred door in the middle of the wall. Hmm, ah, to escape another from that group of pursuing derros."
Kazu looks curiously at painter again. "Why would he paint all that?"
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Senach quietly takes all this in as the others manage to decipher the crazed mans words and paintings. When everything is explained and the artists words are considered, Senach reaches an alarming conclusion. "So, your "Master" that is alive again has left you here to paint pictures of the coming invasion?? Is that what you are saying? Or do this pictures simply show what you hope will happen??"
Awenydd83
Senach Slane
Elowyn Tyykeritassu
Tyranius
Lady Vulpina