It appears my earlier post has also been eaten. It said that I was standing behind Sari's infamous behind in the marching order. It also said I agree lets split and find Amekio.
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Yod, you have no specific knowledge of tunnels under the town other than the one you're in right now. With your background in Riddleport, you're no stranger to the notion of underground areas used by smugglers to get legal good past local customs or illegal goods in, period. These are just such tunnels. The faint smell of the seaside certainly backs that idea up. There's also a sour smell down here though, particularly in the area you now stand in.
So, northeast, west, or back to Cha?
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That sounds good to me. Anybody have any idea where we might find Amekio?
The group returns to the fork where Cha waits in the darkness. There are still no sounds from any of the branches. Are you guys returning to talk to Hegred before exploring further?
"What did you see down there? Did you make it to the end?"
There is another fork that goes west, the main tunnel keeps going NE.
Didn't go all the way to the end of any of them, there is a bad smell at the fork. Still getting a bit of ocean smell must be one of them that comes out along the cliff by the water.
It was only a vaguely sour and musty smell. The party arrives back at the small chamber with the hooded lamp. The door into the hall still stands open. There are actually three doors remaining unopened. One right next to the one you enterred, and two around the corner.
The half-elf's body is still in the hall, and Sari is carrying his pack with most of his possessions (flute, book, etc.) on her shoulder.
I vote to take master dwarf with me and open the door closest to us. Yod and Cha, would you take one each or rather go as a team? Just take a quick look and holler if you see anything interesting.
Ok I'll start with the door in the corner. Cha you with me or going to the other door?
"I'm with Yod. My nightvision isn't so good."
Sari opens the nearest door. Her lit staff reveals a small chamber (10'x10') that looks as if it was once some kind of office. There's a very old wooden desk, several crates, and a mattress thrown on the floor in the corner. Next to the mattress are three empty wine bottles.
There are no other sconces, just the aforementioned lantern. Cha sticks close to Yod as he opens the door in the corner. Beyond is a dilapidated storeroom. The air is musty and the corners are filled with cobwebs and dust. In the center of the room there is a mattress on the floor with a shocking crimson bloodstain. A woman lies on the mattress, bound, gagged, and blindfolded. Her dark hair is matted with blood and she does not move.
Behind you, someone is coming down the stairs. Hegred's voice calls, "Sari, we're coming down...Cha...Orc guy?". There's more than a little fear in his voice.
Sari and I head to the door closet to us.
Yea, its us Hagerd. Come on down. Sari, lets go see what Yod and Cha found.
???????????
"We're down here, Hegred." Let's go help Cha and Yod out.
When you reach her you discover that it is Ameiko, and she is breathing, though it's very shallow. The head wound looks painful but it has matted over to the point that she's stabilized. She also has a livid purple bruise on her left cheek. You remove her bindings and cast your spell.
Ameiko's breathing becomes stronger and more even. After a moment, her eyes flutter open. She looks panicked for an instant, then calms as she takes in the faces of her rescuers.
"What...? Tsuto!" She starts to sit up, then winces in pain and grabs her head. She sinks back down to the soiled mattress and closes her eyes. "Oh Tsuto," she mumbles, "what have you done?"
"Ameiko, rest easy. What has Tsuto done?"
"He's allied himself with monsters! He's murdered my father's workers... destroyed his business... he's done something with my father - kidnapped him, or worse! Sandpoint will not forgive him. He wanted me to come with him - he thought I'd join his 'little band'. He said the town was going to be destroyed. When I turned him down... I thought he would kill me."
She brings a hand up to the partially healed wound on her head. "I thought he did kill me..."
Hegred and several of the town watch linger in the doorway, listening to Ameiko's monologue.
She looks around at all of you, her eyes very sad. "You have to catch him. He has to be stopped. He's become a monster himself!" She begins crying again, hands pressed to her temples in pain.
I'm gonna go check the other door at this time, if I dont find anything hostile in the last door I will do a thorough search of the area down here. Just in case there are any other bricked up doors or tunnels we have not noticed. I wisper to the others
If you get to it while I'm doing that don't forget to mention that he shot first before I had time for any questions. Or I can tell her if you want
Ah, Amekio sorry to tell you this but your brother is dead. He was trying real hard to kill us and we didn't have a choice. Sorry.
"I am very sorry about your brother. But what's this about your father? Tell us what you know, and we'll see if we can help."
I nod to Eberk and towards the door. "Let's go see if we can't make ourselves useful somewhere else." Once we get outside, I'll move the little crowd outside of the door down the hall some. "Let's give her some air. It's been a bad day for her. What's going on upstairs? Did you check out the rest of the rooms? We need to get Father Zantus and some of his followers in here. We need to get some of the mess cleaned up before family members of the workers start showing up. We also need to round up some torches as well and get this place lit up. As soon as the top side is secure, we've got to investigate the rest of the tunnels. I think we've just found a goblin backdoor into the city!"
Hegred is as eager to step out of the room as Cha is. His eyes widen at the revelation of the tunnel. "Father Zantus is upstairs already. There are bodies everywhere up there." He lowers his voice. "Lonjiku - Ameiko's father is up there. I'm surprised you didn't see him. They coated his body in glass."
Hegred's expression is dazed - like he's having a hard time soaking in what he's seen.
"I have men on all the entrances to the building. If you guys are willing to lead the exploration of these tunnels I gladly accept the help."
Father Zantus appears on the steps, a grim expression on his face and a lantern in his hand.
"Where is Ameiko?", he nods a greeting to Cha and Eberk as he passes by to the store room. "Again you show you worth in the service of our town. Desna smiled when you came to Sandpoint."
He pauses briefly as he steps over Tsuto's body to examine the young man and shakes his head sadly.
He taps softly on the storeroom door and enters.
Ameiko looks up at Sari.
"Tsuto hated our father... um, my father. He thought he killed our mother. Tsuto said he had him tied up, but the way he turned our workers over to the goblins..." She tries to staunch her crying. Her next words are thick with the effort.
"My father has been such an ass to Tsuto all his life!"
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I am sorry for your family troubles and I truly hope your brother has found some measure of peace. What can you tell me about your brother's dealings with the goblins? Do you know what he was up to? With your help, maybe we can get to the bottom of this.
"We went through the upstairs very quickly. We had just finished with the goblins when we opened the door. As soon as Sari can get away from Ameiko we'll head back down the tunnels." I look at Eberk. "The tunnel smells of the ocean. There's a lantern with a shade...a signalling device for boats, I suppose, but what about the flute? I have a feeling it's magical, but I'm too drained to give it a proper look. I'm thinking it be used to get past something or someone at the end of the tunnel...a guard or ward perhaps? We should take it with us when we head out."
Ameiko stands with Sari's aid. She brushes crusted hair from her forehead with a hand and acts a bit woozy. She notices the pack on Sari's shoulder.
"That's his flute, isn't it? Is that his pack? The book is his journal. It was open on the desk when we were fighting. There was a sketch of a woman. I think he took up with some harpy that's led him to this end."
Father Zantus comes in quietly.
"Ladies, I thought to offer comfort. Ameiko my dear, are you injured?"
He crosses the room and after a brief examination of her scalp, invokes a prayer to Desna that stitches the wound entirely. The bruise on her cheek dims to just a red mark and some of the clouds in her eyes part a bit.
"Ameiko, I have to tell you something." He holds both her hands in his and leans in close.
"Your father was killed. The watch are taking him to the chapel now, along with the other victims. You can go to him, if you have need, but it is not good. There is no question in my mind that it is him, and I would spare you that..."
The lantern suddenly flares to life in my head. "That's it!" I bolt from Hegred and the others to find Yod. I move in close and start whispering excitedly to him.
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"Tsuto...could it have been him at the wagon? He brought the goblins in and coordinated it all. It's making sense." I pace back and forth, gesturing as I try to sort it out. "He's a bard! He plays a flute." I move back in close to Yod and whisper, "Father Zantus recognized him. Tsuto was probably a very persuasive fellow, as bards usually are. He persuaded the father to initiate the attack with the thunderstone without the Father's knowledge." I pace some more, then come back. "The bow! He gave it Bruthazmus, and the arrows. They were designed especially to kill Shalelu! We need to look at that last arrow again and see how it's crafted and to see if it has any special qualities. We need to find out if he has any friends in town that might have helped him in this. We need to get to them before they can get out to report of his death." I back up and take the time to breathe, then as an afterthought, I look around to see who might have been close enough to hear me.
Yod, the last door leads to a more modern looking storeroom. Crates and barrels. Glassware on shelves. Etcetera.
As Father Zanthus leaves with Ameiko, I search through Tsuto's bag.
Well lets check out those tunnels then see what turns up!!
I will try to remember not to kill everything that moves.
None of the contents of the satchel are magical. The small pouches contain gold and silver dust. The ring he had on his finger is magical, but none of his other gear is. The shortbow is composite (+1 strength). The thieves tools and flute are of masterwork quality. His money purse contains 10 platinum coins.
The small leather-bound journal is filled with maybe 25 parchment pages. The first couple of pages are random drawings and notes scratched in margins. Many of these are scratched out. There’s a drawing of a statue’s head, a couple convincing sketches of goblins, and several progressively more realistic renditions of a woman’s face. There are several melodies scratched out on impromptu staffs.
The next several pages show sketched maps of the same town. Sandpoint. The sketches have arrows crossing walls and heading into the town from several directions. They each have a circle where the center of the festival was on the day of the attack. They each have an arrow ending in the cemetery. The first plan, the one with a line emerging from the Glassworks building, is circled. The four that come after all have lines crossing them out. At the bottom of the first one is a little editorial remark:
The raid went about as planned. Few Thistletop goblins perished, and we were able to secure Tobyn’s urn with ease while the rubes were distracted by the rest. I can’t wait until the real raid. This town needs a burning, that’s for sure. This is followed by more pages of musical melodies.
The next page of the journal is a nude drawing of the same girl.
Next come several more maps of Sandpoint. These have many more arrows crossing the walls and emerging from the Sandpoint glassworks building. There are three of these with various details different between them. After the last of these is written:
Ripnugget seems to favor the overwhelming land approach, but that’s not the best plan. We need to get the quasit’s aid. Send her freaks up from below via the smuggling tunnel in my father’s glassworks, and then invade from the river and the Glassworks in smaller, more focused strikes. Once a few key buildings are burning, taking the wall will be child’s play.
The rest except Bruthazmus agree, and I’m pretty sure the bugbear is just being contrary to annoy me. My love’s too distracted with the lower chambers to make a decision. Says that once Malfeshnekor’s released and under her command, we won’t need to worry about being subtle. I hope she’s right.
Over the next several pages the nude woman gets more and more suggestive in her poses. In the last two pictures she has a tail, large shadowy wings, and small protruding horns. The very last shows one of the woman’s arms twisted into a taloned claw. There’s also a hulking creature pictured behind her with its hand on her shoulder.
The last page that’s been written on says the following:
My love seems bent on going through with it – nothing I can say convinces her of her beauty – and she makes the punishments more painful each time I bring it up. She’s obsessed with removing what she calls her ‘celestial taint’ and replacing it with her Mother’s grace. Burning her father’s remains at the Thistletop shrine seems to have started the transformation, but I can’t say her new hand is pleasing to me. Hopefully when she offers Sandpoint to Lamashtu’s fires, her new body won’t be as hideous as that hand.
Maybe I’ll luck out. Succubi are demons too, aren’t they?
After looking through Tsuto's things, I hurry to the rest of the group to tell them what I've found.
"It seems we have found the insider responsible for these attacks. And from the journal, it also seems that the worst is not over yet. Maybe we should go somewhere more comfortable, peruse the journal and come up with a plan. I'm definitely feeling the lack of breakfast this morning."
I agree with Sari. Let us go somewhere to discuss what Cha has put together, and what we have learned from the book. Get all our new found buddies up to speed. Maybe we can figure out a good way and/place to launch an attack. Kind of gather our thoughts and our forces.
"That's a lot to digest. Didn't the sheriff tell us about some girl (Nualia) who was killed in a fire and her bones were in the urn too? Any chance she didn't die and this girl the elf's in love with is the same one? The remains, after all, were the bones of the Father...shouldn't have too many kids I'm thinking. The girl was an orphan he was raising. Also, it looks like we're dealing with demons here. We're going to need a council meeting to sort this stuff out. We need some history help."
I suggest we have Hegred post guards downstairs until we can follow the tunnels. Let's take what we have to the Mayor and start plotting our next course of action.
Lets go! Sari, is Amekio okay to walk or do we need to carry her?
Yeh was not the girl who was supposedly killed half demonic or something like that?
Do we want to let the locals search the tunnels or should we, we might see some other clues down there that they might miss.
I don't think there's anyone as qualified as us to explore the tunnels...especially if they come across a half naked woman...I mean, I've got experience in those situations.
Hey sounds like a plan to me, I'm ready to go when you are.
"Gentlemen, I use the term loosely....I thought we were heading back to a civilized place to carry out a plan based on the information we have. I, for one, do not want to run down any tunnels, willy-nilly, unless there is a dire need. Can't we just have someone post guard here, and study the journal we have and act accordingly? However, I understand your wish to chase after fabled naked woman flesh....who wouldn't want to find their dream girl at the end of a dark, dank, dirty tunnel?"
You four ascend back into the now well-lit first floor of the Glassworks. Mayor Deverin is just arriving. She holds a handkerchief in front of her face as she comes into the workroom and takes in the chaos. She gestures to you and walks out the open double doors and into the rear yard of the place.
You follow her out into the fresh sea air. She turns to face the group.
"Hegred told me of your offer to descend into the caves. Your group is best suited to crawl around down there and assess the threat to the town. You look like you could use a rest first, though.
"If you have a stomach left after all that," she gestures back to the Glassworks, "lets go back to my offices and talk over the next steps, and get you some food."
Ahhh a women after my own heart. I am starving and could use a bite to eat and a pint before we head back in. Cha, Sari, do either of you need to rest up?
"After all we've seen this morning, friend dwarf, I could use more than a rest. With that said, after we make a plan, I'd feel stronger after a rest."