The door awaits!
Greyveil
Chusynd (Damage: 39)
Sahess
Thoriel
Tak
Seldiliel (Damage: 1NL)
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Sahess allows Greyveil to deal with the door in his way before she prepares to deal with it in hers. Quietly, she says "If the door is locked and otherwise impenetrable, I can deal with that." She pats the sword and indicates it can be used as an improvised door opener, being adamantine and tougher than most wooden doors.
Seldiliel and Greyveil confirm a lack of presence both physical and mental beyond the door.
Thoriel finds the door unlocked and opens it easily. Beyond is a much larger room, strewn with pillows much like those in the other rooms. Empty wine bottles, used hookahs, and bits of clothing are scattered about as well. Throughout the room the smell of musk and incense hangs, not heavily, but still present.
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"What depravity, indeed." It is very clear from her voice that Seldiliel does not disapprove. "I imagine that the Zarta will expect a...thorough report of what happened here."
Where is everyone?
Seldiliel will maintain the concentration on her detect thoughts spell, slowly making her way towards the door in the corner to see if she can sense anyone behind it.
Tak and Thoriel throw back the curtain to reveal a small shrine. Cabinets to either side flank a grinning idol with dark wings. Tak easily recognizes it to be a stylized representation of Alichino.
On the far side of the room, Seldiliel senses the presence of multiple minds beyond her door, a welcome change for once. However, as she picks up random thoughts of "what is it now?" and "Zeffiro best not be wasting my time down here..." followed by very inappropriate fantasies, the door opens and a man in a jester's mask enters, approaching uncomfortably close. "I am Zeffiro Lesiege, and you are trespassers. State your business here." Behind him, four more richly dressed men and women follow, wearing expensive masquerade masks.
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"Well, we're were sent here to make merry of course! What other reason would there be for a group of enticing young men and women to be down here? Let us in and I'm sure you could find some good use to put us to."
Seldiliel smiles at the man who's thoughts she picked up with a predatory glint in her eyes.
The fiend in her mind whispers, I want you to save that one for last. Selidiliel licks her lips.
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Sahess looms in the back of the group, unsure exactly of what to say in this situation that wouldn't cause it to devolve into glorious bloodshed. She maintains her spot and prepares for the worst. She could use honeyed words or try the other route and intimidate them into submission, but thus far she's uncertain which route would work better or if either would prevent a horrible calamity.
"Are you now?" The confident voice takes on a hint of amusement. "I fear I have no positions for you to assume, even if you did NOT break my little clockwork toys. I suppose you are Pathfinders, yes? I can't think of anyone else who would be so bold as to break into a respectable establishment and begin smashing things up." He clasps his hands behind him, somehow appearing to look down the nose of the jester's mask at the party. "I can afford to overlook this incursion, as long as you explain what possessed you to embark on it in the first place."
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Sahess grins. Her blood begins pumping slightly faster, and her hands clench and unclench, preparing. "An abduction. A missing person. One whose number you may presently join should you answer my next query in unsatisfactory faction. What know you of the location of Olivina Sharnau, and this or other disappearances?"
He tilts his head, appearing to regard the nagaji intently as he responds. "Of Olivina, I know nothing, which pains me deeply. She is after all, one of my favorite actresses at the moment." He waves a hand dismissively, although not in Sahess's direction. "Kidnapping is such an uncouth method of compelling partners, especially when they are so much more tractable with their own free will." He lays a hand casually on the shoulder of the woman standing behind, who laughs with a deep, sensual mirth. "Of course, I have had my own agents investigate, as assurance I will not be troubled by such things."
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Sahess considers compulsion by force, but again thinks the better of it. Her blood is still riled, so she remains behind several layers of people to prevent her bloodlust from consuming her higher mind. Hopefully someone will ask this lech what he knows, so I don't wind up asking him against that wall, across the room, and with material damage to both his person and assets.
"What a capital idea! So good to see common sense employed among your society." The laugh is not quite derisive, but the smug superiority remains intact. "You should ask the venture-captain in her tattered, tacky lodge who might have cause to snatch up Karcau's citizens, as my men tracked the culprits back to that manor."
"Yes, perhaps you would like to discuss repayment for damages done to my property?" Zeffiro laughs heartily, causing the rest of his entourage to join in. "I can assure you that while you are certainly quite dangerous, assaulting a well-connected, legitimate businessman in his own establishment and even unprovoked, would be much more ruinous to you than to me." The condescending tone was heavy, dripping from his inflections. "Can I help you with anything else?"
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Thoriel joins Seldiliel and the others talking to Zeffiro and his entourage. "Oh, hello. I'm Thoriel. I'm sure it's a pleasure, or at least it could be in better circumstances. Sounds like we're all getting along rather well now, though. We'd be happy to report back to our Lodge as you suggest and ask them some more questions, talk about the compensation for damages and all of that...but could we first trouble you to let us see the rest of your establishment here? Just so we can report back that we've found nothing out of the ordinary, you understand?"
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Sahess grimaces, but it is thankfully hidden behind a full plate helm. "What my companions mean to say is that we will be going now." She begins ushering the group towards the exit. "We will be going back to our lodge and ask the questions that this noble individual suggests, rather than bothering him more. Time is fleeting." And patience is waning.
"This is the finest funerary business in a hundred miles. I consider it bad for business if dead nobles don't turn up on my premises regularly." The women of his entourage titter at the black humor. "You've been misled, I am afraid. Those characters you speak of were run off to your lodge by my agents. If you do not accept my word, take the pack that one dropped in his haste. You'll find it in the cabinet to the left of the altar." True to his word, a nondescript backpack is there, containing a sheathed short sword and an empty vial. A dark residue stains the inside of the vial.
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Greyveil does retrieve the pack saying. I do take your word good sir. I am sure they were up to no good and you did the city a service by running them off.
Once out of the building he will check the pack and try to identify the vial's previous contents, telling the others [b]Hmm. This contained a dose of black smear, a poison favored by dark folk.[/b[
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Seldiiliel casually looks at the poison vial, confirming what Greveil stated about the poison. Selidiliel also unsheathes the short sword and holds it up to the light.
It just seems too convenient that they have evidence of it being a darkfolk who did it. But we should probably report what we've found so far to the Lodge.
"The wealth of your master doesn't intimidate me, so you can wipe that smug look off your face. If we killed you right now, he would give you a nice funeral service and then he would just replace you with another lackey. He's not going to take on the Pathfinder Society over you."
Seldiliel laughs manically as she brushes her hair back with her hands. "If you have more to tell us, I recommend that you just tell us now. If we have to come back here because you "forgot" to tell us something, I will personally force feed that mask to you."
Zeffiro looks about, inspecting the masked nobles behind him. "Well, I do hope all of you will vouch for me when the trial is held for my murder!" he opines, turning back to Seldiliel as the entourage guffaws and makes fawning affirmations. "And of course, when my friends in Pharasma's priesthood restore my life, I do hope you are still interested in my services."
Exiting the basement to the fading murmur of Zeffiro's entertainment for the night, the party make their way to Miregold Manor. Even at this hour, the city is alive. Irregular music drifts from open windows above balconies, and a few small groups play by ear on poorly-lit street corners. The manor is perched on a hillside estate that overlooks Karcau proper. An unruly garden and a copse of trees, through which a cobblestone path runs, isolates the manor from the general public. The manor is designed in a classic Ustalavic style, with a steep roof, arched window frames, and a pair of slender turrets flanking the front door. An iron front door is adorned with bronze filigree and a lion’s-head knocker. You find that the door is unlocked.
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"It is strange that they had us stay in an inn when the Society owns a perfectly suitable manor in the city. But then I feel like I've heard some bad rumors about this lodge. Stories of young Pathfinders suffering gruesome fates in the catacombs that lie beneath it. I don't really remember more than that; but perhaps we should prepare ourselves before going in."
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"I can prepare, but if I do so we can not dally, my spells do not last particularly long." Sahess declares, and assuming there is assent to her statement, she will proceed to cast Shield and Enlarge Person on consecutive turns, doubling her size, providing a massive bonus to strength and weapon damage, and then offsetting the loss in maneuverability with the addition of a force shield. She additionally casts Mirror Image and See Invisibility. As she travels through the first room, she retrieves her runestone of power and activates it, enabling her to later cast another 1st level spell should it become necessary.
"I will not be slowing. Keep behind me, keep up, and for Torag's sake if I fall then make sure someone escapes to tell our tale." She grins a maniac grin that fortunately no one can see. "Not that I intend on falling, of course." And with that having been said she sets off at a brisk 25 foot per round pace, keeping alert and scanning her surroundings, though not stopping for anything that doesn't seem of the utmost import.
Darkness fills the lodge as Tak peers through it thanks to his orc heritage. No traps line the front door nor within view. Inside, a compass-rose inlay decorates the wooden floor. A massive stuffed elk head hangs on the wall opposite the entry. A pair of hallways exits the foyer on either side of a curio-covered mantle. A large scrap of paper sits beneath a squat granite statuette of a reclining person with a dog face.
Chusynd noticed nothing out of the ordinary about the statue, as it seems to be nothing more than an average gothic sculpture. Greyveil finds the parchment has script on it, but as the light of the party's spells illuminate it, the ink seems to vaporize from the page!
To either side of the door stand coat racks, the one on the right burdened with fur coats on one side, but Seldiliel and Thoriel notice that the left bears threadbare burlap, a heavy canvas coat of a guardsman, and the breezy silk jacket popular with merchants. This likely are the stolen costumes from the theater.
Sahess finds the lounge ahead, featuring a trio of velvet-upholstered settees, each with an accompanying wooden end table. A long mantle displays several artifacts from across Garund and Casmaron, including a collection of antique blades. A nearby wet bar holds dozens of bottles from across Golarion. A decanter of brandy sits open on the bar, slowly evaporating; a scrap of paper lies next to the bottle. An elaborate Keleshite rug stained with muddy footprints sprawls across the floor.