"Amazing how keen the sense of smell is in your porcine companion, Morrigan. A tooth may not be much to go on now, but if it belongs to the aggressor and not the victim, identifying the perpetrator may be just a little easier."
"Good boy! It's a tooth..."
Morrigan scruffs Bacon on the top of his head affectionately.
The tooth looks like it could belong to a human, elf, or tiefling. It definitely looks like it came from a Medium-sized creature.
Zea interrupts your study of the tooth.
"This place is creeping me out. What did you find over there..?" she asks, walking forward to get a closer look. She pales visibly when she sees it.
"...look, can I just take you guys to the morgue so I can go home? I really don't want them to be finding my teeth in an alley tomorrow morning."
"Indeed. Please, show us the way so that you can find shelter."
While travelling, Voreni asks Zea if the tooth means anything to her.
"Has anyone publicly threatened tieflings? Were any notes left on the bodies? And Zea, I am Corian." He drops some silver into her hand. 'For your troubles."
Corian also Detects Alignment on the crime scene and on Zea, for good measure.
The news about someone, or something, killing tieflings shocked Valleria more than it would be expected... chelaxian blood, member of the watch, not born in Cheliax... but, for some reason, it disturbed her.
I hope Arishaa is all right... if not, I'll never forgive myself...
She wanted to ask Zea, just to make sure, but not in front of the others. In the alley, Valleria focuses her attention in looking for tracks.
Despite the copious blood on the cobblestones, there are no tracks from an assailant. Valleria is able to find tracks of multiple people who most likely were involved in removing the body, but those move out of the alley towards the main avenue, and clearly show that they were carrying/dragging something heavy (likely the body).
Any alignment aura surrounding Zea or the crime scene is too weak to register for the spell. She doesn't seem to take much notice of your spellcasting.
"The only threats I've heard lately are from folks in the Nursery, saying it's the Dottari or Asmodeans doing this. Nobody's done anything stupid yet, but there's a lot of talk about evening the score, if you know what I mean..." she says with a worried look. "Like I said, I wouldn't suggest being out here after dark."
After your investigation of the alley, she takes you to an abandoned shop deeper in the Nursery where the body lies in state; the Tieflings plan to burn it after the sun goes down to prevent it from rising as undead. The body's face has been thoroughly mutilated, but a closer look (heal check and perception check) may reveal more.
Voreni examines the body closely, paying extra attention to the victim's mouth to see if the found tooth may have come from them.
Ignati stays away from the mutilated body, happy to let Voreni examine it. He knows his strengths, and medical examination is certainly not one of them.
"Are they always found in alleys? Do the murders happen in regular intervals or seemingly random? There must be some way to track this creature down before he kills yet another person."
Wilhelm jumps in, piggy-backing a line of questioning off of Ignati's that occurred to him while he was asking.
"And are there any connections between the victims themselves? Familial relations, perhaps, or maybe similar occupations or habits?"
Valleria approached the body.
"Hum... perhaps I should take a look at the body... I'm not a specialist but my time with the Grey Maidens had thought he how to... thought a couple things."
Firstly, she tried to identify the corpse, paying close attention to the peculiarities of the tiefling. Even tiefling brothers could be completely different and if it bore some kind of distinctive mark, it would make her task easier.
After that, she searched for anything unusual in the body, something left by the murderer... anything out of place.
Finally she analyzed the cause of death itself... any bruise, scratch, signs of struggle... did it fight before dying or the murderer got him by surprise? There was many things a body could tell.
"There's no real pattern. This is the third body we've found, and they're always in different places. It seems to happen every few days" says one of the morgue workers.
Voreni's initial inspection of the body finds numerous small bite and claw marks covering the body, and a great deal of disfigurement around the face.
Valleria performs a more thorough, medical inspection, and finds a disturbing detail: all of this person's teeth have been removed, clearly by force.
Wilhelm has heard a little bit of everything from his time in the Guard. Sometimes it's the crazed ramblings of drunks, sometimes it's something more substantial. A lot of it gets forgotten, but sometimes things stick in the mind just long enough to be jarred loose by association. While he listens to the answers and watches the others in their examinations, he mulls everything over from a more abstract perspective. Perhaps he can come up with some sort of creature whose characteristics fit the current information.
At least, he hopes there's some sort of creature. This level of mutilation coming from a person would have to be the work of a complete monster.
"I think we're dealing with a species of evil fey called Tooth Fairies. I've heard stories about them, they collect teeth and often hunt in packs to take down bigger creatures to get them. Nasty little things probably have a lair somewhere around here, somewhere."
"Well, at least I can detect their evil nature," says Corian. 'That may help. How small are they? Do we need to get some nets, or...fairy spray?" The false priest shrugs. "And we know a motive, or lack thereof: capriciousness. We should deal with this quickly and make sure that the 'Chrome Crows' are properly credited."
'Chrome Crows', eh?
"Well we should find these evil fey before they find another victim. Although I'm not really sure the best way to do so. Perhaps one of us could go out tonight as bait to lure the fairies into an ambush. I don't mind volunteering. I wouldn't ask anyone to do something I wouldn't do myself. Or I'm open to other suggestions."
"Brave of you, Lady Winters, but these perpetrators seem to be targeting tieflings. Likely due to the second-class citizenship my kind suffers under. No, if we're looking for bait, I'm the worm for the hook," Voreni says distractedly as he watches Valleria at work.
Learning a thing or two about anatomy and wounds would be helpful. I must locate some books on the subject in the near future.
"Not a bad idea Voreni, but we can double our chances." Ignati holds up the extract he never used and smiles. "This could disguise me as a Tiefling, if expend all my resources for the day I can keep the guise up for about sixty minutes."
He pats the young man on his back and nods at Morrigan. "As the lady says, we can't ask you to do anything we wouldn't do ourselves."
"I too have the ability to disguise self. And if I don't need to use it to disguise as a tiefling, I'm definitely going to disguise myself as something without a mouth. I like all of my teeth, especially my cute little tusks." Morrigan flashes a toothy half-orc grin.
"Bait sounds good. I think our best bet will be to either hang around one of the places where the bodies were found, or stake out somewhere around a place equidistant from all of them, since that's probably close to the hiding place they're coming from.
"I might also suggest doing both, but we don't really have any way to know how many of them we're dealing with and it would be better not to get overwhelmed. They're fey creatures, so if any of you have cold iron weapon, they'll probably come in handy, but they're individually pretty weak so it may not be a big deal if you don't."
"I have 18 cold iron crossbow bolts remaining. If anyone else uses a crossbow, I do not mind sharing."
Valleria sighs at the mention of cold iron.
Unfortunately it is not so easy in my case... Perhaps the way to go is strike harder, right?
Corian chuckles. "I am also versed in the ways of disguise. Perhaps we should form a a theatrical group and perform The Six Trials of Larazod...such a smash in Westcrown, I hear." He turns to Morrigan. "Do you have the messaging spell? I can detect evil as it comes, or hopefully before, and you can let our real tiefling and Ignati know that they are coming. And I can enhance that crossbow--you and Wilhelm can hit them at range, and I and Valleria can close in and hit them hard, as it were."
"I don't have the messaging spell, but we each have a silver raven figurine that can deliver a message."
"Sounds like a plan, then. I think we should execute it and, hopefully, stop these killings before there are any more deaths. Stay on your toes, though. Fey are often unpredictable, and we may have to improvise a new plan on the spot."
As night falls and the Silver Ravens move out into the Devil's Nursery to troll for Tooth Fairies, an eerie quiet has settled over Kintargo. The curfew has emptied the streets of the usually bustling city, and only the distant sounds of dottari guard boots patrolling the streets can be heard.
Ignati skulks through the streets sporting his new horns and lightly scaled skin, dodging the authorities as he does, hoping to catch sight of anything sinister that may want his teeth.
This may be the strangest thing I've ever done.
Wilhelm follows after Ignati in his disguise, trying to stay far enough back that he doesn't deter the little pests from showing up, but also trying to be close enough to help should they take the bait. He also tries to be as quiet as he can, though that's not exactly something he's had a lot of experience with, and the armor's stiffness makes that a little bit harder. Hopefully he's quiet enough to not ruin the attempt.
Morrigan can go with Voreni and Valleria.
Corian doesn't even bother to stay quiet at night. He remains in his priest's robes, ready to talk his way out of a meeting with dottari.
Morrigan hears Corian's robes go swish, swish, swish even from a distance and face palms. She had no idea robes could be so loud.
Your footsteps echo loudly across the cobblestones as your two patrol groups patrol the Devil's Nursery.
The first night of patrolling ends quietly, with no sign of the vicious fey creatures you seek. Perhaps it is too soon after their last hunting party.
A second night's patrol:
Without warning, the air shimmers in front of Ignati, Wilhelm, and Corian, and a squadron of eight tiny blue fairies with ragged ears, horrible teeth, and cruel black eyes break into attack groups, their bloody pliers glistening in the night.
Attack group 1 attacks Ignati:
Attack group 2 attacks Wilhelm:
Attack group 3 attacks Corian:
Ignati suffers 2 points of non-lethal damage, Wilhelm suffers 3 points of non-lethal damage, and Corian suffers 1 point of non-lethal damage as they are all assaulted with pliers.
Corian sweeps at one group with his mace.
Corian calls down a holy Judgment of Milani, surrounding himself in a healing light.
"Milani protectvm nöobis!" he shouts, casting Bless on himself and fellow patrolers.
Beginning Round
Round 1 action
Wilhelm reacts quickly, perhaps too quickly, sweeping his spear at the suddenly-appearing fairies. He grimaces as they pinch him with their tiny pliers, but backs up a bit afterward, stabbing at one of the ones that made it through his spear-screen and setting up another spear-screen for if they try that again. He tries to position himself so he can use his reach to try and defend fairies going into his allies spaces, too, if possible.
between rounds
Ignati reacts quickly to the small platoon of plier wielding pixies that has just assaulted him. "Well that didn't take nearly as long as I expected!" He says to his companions as he ducks around Wilhelms constantly moving spear. He strikes again with his rapier at whichever fairy is closest.
Ignati, Wilhelm, and Corian repel the initial charge, with Wilhelm cutting down one as it moved in to attack, and another before the group could retreat, while Ignati quickly dispatched another with two quick thrusts of his rapier.
The five remaining Tooth Fairies squeal in terror and withdraw as fast as their wings can carry them. Wilhelm easily cuts down the remaining fairy that attacked him, and one of Ignati's assailants as well.
The remaining 3 fairies are now ~120 feet from the group.
Round 2
"You're not getting away so easily," mutters Wilhelm quickly before breaking into a full sprint to close the distance with the little nasty creatures. One of the benefits of eschewing the usual heavy armor of the guard for his own personal equipment is that it allows for a much more natural range of movement. With luck can either run them to ground and finish them off or at least get off some extra attacks on them with his good reflexes before they pull some trick to escape completely. Best case scenario, they realize they can't flee and try to slug it out.
Corian drops his mace and nocks an arrow at one of the faeries.
"We're here for your teeth!" he yells helpfully to the flying imps. "I don't think you'll need them soon! Asmodeus will be seeing you shortly!"
I wonder how the other group is fairing... I hope they are doing okay.
Voreni almost feels dejected. It would appear that another night will pass without incident. Perhaps I do not look like a tempting enough target? More likely that it is too soon after the last attack. Perhaps the others are having more success.
Having no ranged weapon to speak of Ignati shrugs and runs after Wilhelm, hoping to provide back to for the man, despite the fact that he doesn't seem to need it.
"Are my own teeth not white enough for you?" He calls ahead, hoping to tempt them to turn back so they can finish off the horrible little creatures.
Wilhelm's spear is just barely able to reach the creatures as they gain height, but he does manage to drop one more. Of the last two remaining, one takes an arrow to the leg from Corian. Wilhelm knows that the creatures will likely not be able to become invisible again for quite some time, so following them should not be too difficult.
Corian raises his figurine to his lips. "Second team, we have faeries! We're at..." he describes the lovely surroundings. "Get over here before we kill them all! Better yet, ambuscade them!"
Wilhelm scowls in frustration as the flying creatures continue to flee and gain height. They'll have to come down sometime to rest, though, and since they shouldn't be able to become invisible again until then, running them to ground seems like the best option for now as long as they stay within sight. He can keep up with them for now, but he'll get tired eventually if he has to keep sprinting to do so.
Now that things have become less hectic, he remembers the plan to draw out the fairies had the second part of bringing in the second group. The heat of the moment drove it completely from his mind. Fortunately one of the other members of his team is a bit more conscientious.
As he continues to follow the fairies he tries to think a step ahead of them and try to determine where they might be heading based on where they attacked the other victims and where this ambush happened. Their nest is probably someplace within easy reach of all of them, and if they're scared they're probably going back there.
"Come back here and face us, you little cowards," he calls after them, unsure if they even speak common. It's the thought that counts, though.
Chasing the fairies through the twists and turns of the Devil's Nursery, Wilhelm rapidly finds himself lost in an unfamiliar part of the city, but is too focused on the pursuit to take much notice.
Meanwhile, Corian's figurine leads the secondary team of Morrigan, Valleria, and Voreni to join them in the pursuit. What the reunited group finds is a partially-collapsed tavern with a small hole about 5 feet wide leading into what looks like a very tight chamber within (roomy enough for Tooth Fairies, presumably). The fairies were seen rushing inside, and are certainly hiding within.
"Is everyone alright?" Voreni asks, after rushing back to the other team. "So this must be the foul fae's lair. That looks to be a tight fit." His eyes suddenly grow wide in alarm, "Where is Sir Wilhelm?"
Valleria looks inside the tunnel.
"So... this means we are going in, right? If so, I think I'll take the point as soon as I can properly see inside... any of you knows that trick of making something shine like a torch? If not, a torch will also work I think..."