Lia leaves the girl to the burly man and does a search of the room they're in.
Perception is:
I give Brennin the eye. (You know the one, it says don't tell me what to do)But decide his directions merit action. Perception check is 13+1=14. If I need to take some extra time, I do.
Rondo's misty remnants trail up to the ceiling of the room to mingle with wisps of smoke. The fire in the front room smolders in several places. You've no doubt that it will eventually catch for real and bring the place down if left alone or fed. Potentially with the neighbor buildings as well.
Samaritha takes heavy drags of air as the gag and the strain of being suspended come off. Her dress from the night she was taken lies crumpled in the corner of the room and she retrieves this and puts it on before speaking.
"Get me out of here," is all she can manage.
Lia's quick search of the room yields a whole lot-a-nothing. There's a pail of stale water in the corner, an extremely suspect bed, and a rickety old chair.
Rees's survey of the wizard's bedroom has better results. On the same table where Rondo retrieved his potion are others, along with a scroll tube he neglected to take with him. The tube contains 5 scrolls. Next to the bed you find one of Rondo's spell books. A quick glance shows lots of pages covered in flowing script and annotated diagrams.
I move to the front room and beat out the fire as best as I can in a couple of minutes then prepare to exit.
"Let's get Samaritha out of here. Rondo can come back and save his house after we're gone."
Trystan kneels down by Isegrim while his friends search the house and put out the fires. He concentrates and channels energy to all within reach.
Feeling much better and with Isegrim conscious and mobile, Trystan helps beat out any remaining flames on the main floor.
He takes a moment to scrawl a note with one of Rondos quills and pins it to the wall with a bolt. "See you soon.." it reads.
Once outside, Samaritha takes Brenin's elbow.
"I can't go back to my flat by myself now. Will you take me there so I can get some things? I want to move into the Goblin for at least tonight. My place is not far from here."
I nod. "That would probably be best. It's too dangerour to be out here on your own, especially with all of the enemies we're making."
Samaritha has to find her land-lady to let her into her place. It consists of two tiny rooms. The front where everyone clusters uncomfortably, and a small bedroom where Samaritha goes to change and gather some things.
When she comes back out she seems a little more composed. The new clothes help. She has a shoulder bag and a valise which she begins to fill with every item in the room she's taking with her.
"What was I thinking?" she says as she gathers her possessions. "I can't come back here at all. He has my key to this place... knows where it is. If he comes looking for me he's going to come here. I can't even defend myself without resting first."
She stops packing and turns to the group.
"But not tonight he won't. Listen, I overheard him quarreling with someone else while I was his... prisoner. He's meeting someone. He thinks he's going to learn the truth about the blot tonight!"
"Let's get back to the goblin so we can all talk. We have to be at that meeting. What else did you hear?"
Suddenly Brenin realizes he's done forgot all about Samaritha's imprisonment.
"I'm sorry. I can't change what he did to you, but I promise you this. He won't get away so easily the next time."
Brenin helps her gather her things, then moves outside to look around before leaving.
No threats manifest as the group takes back to the streets, then to the ferry back over the Velashu River, and finally back to the comforts of the Goblin.
Saul immediately agrees to house Samaritha while she figures out her next steps. He gives her one of the vacant rooms in the guest wing and pays her wages she missed while held captive.
With a bowl of soup in front of her she relays some of what she saw and heard while held. She's obviously uncomfortable sharing some of things that happened to her, so she sticks to the overheard conversation.
"He was arguing with another man about the meeting. He's trading Cyphermage secrets with some contact of his for information on the true nature of the blot. He's supposed to meet tonight, out in the boneyard. Some place called 'Victor's Crossing'? I don't have any idea who the source of the information is, but Rondo was excited by the prospect of being the first under-study to bring real news of the blot to Elias Tammerhawk... the wizard who runs the Cyphermages."
Brenin paces back and forth, agitated. "Trading secrets with Rondo? Rondo's a fool. Someone's using him more than likely for their own purposes. And when that's done, he's a dead man. No better time than tonight out in a deserted swamp, especially when news of his earlier enocunter with us comes to light."
"Samaritha, how strong a wizard is Rondo? The only spell he cast against us was to raise four skeletons."
"I don't know the answer to that. The skeletons were his 'servants'. They were around the entire time I was there. He used them constantly to threaten me. They handed me over to him after I was exhausted and had no ability to defend myself, and he made sure I never got enough rest and had no access to my grimoires - so there was no chance for me to measure myself against him."
"Come to think of it, I can't remember him casting anything at all, so I have no idea what his abilities are. But he can use items, and those he seems to have in abundance. He certainly has some pull, being a mouthpiece of sorts for Tammerhawk. No doubt the order is the source of his wands, scrolls and potions."
"If we could find out what's in that book," this while pointing to the spellbook you recovered, "we'd definitely have a better idea of his capabilities. In any event, they must be compromised somewhat now that you have that in your possession."
"Let me look through it and I might be able to tell you something of his abilities. With some sleep, I could cast read magic and tell you pretty quickly how far his powers go."
"It really won't matter how strong a wizard he is if he's dead. One way or another, I'd like to see that happen tonight. We can't wait until tomorrow if we can find Victor's Crossing tonight and make the meeting."
After studying the scrolls, Samaritha hands them back to you and delivers the verdict. Mage Armor, Comprehend Languages, Identify, False Life, and Darkvision.
Ifn you guys want to go off and fight again I'm with you. I'm down a couple spells, but after my power lunch I'm feeling all sassy again.
Lia takes a shot at id-ing the potions with the standard, taste it and see what it is routine.
In addition, she racks her brain to see what she knows about Victor's Crossing.
Laughing,"Thats usually the way I try to figue them out too."I head over to Lia to see if she is green or not and offer to help out any way I can.
Turning to Brenin and the rest, "You guys do realize I'm a witch right." Bringing out the snake, "I usually try & keep Sims here a secret." "You all have proven yourself trustworthy and seeing how we are fighting together you should know that he is my familiar. If he dies, I am seriously disabled."
Brenin is a little suprised at the appearance of the snake, but he's not particularly scared of them and shrugs it off. "You should have sent him up Rondo's robe."