Chumley steps beneath Tilly and hits her hard with his mace. The crunching sound echoes off the cavern walls. Her breathing comes in short, rapid gulps. She looks down at the Pathfinders, a look of pure hatred and malevolence comes over her. Bloody air bubbles form on her lips as her eyes lose focus. Her breathing stops. Her features relax. She slowly floats to the ground, unconscious.
Diri casts detect magic and can see that Tilly's boots glow with a magical light. Upon further investigations, Diri and Chumley can identify them as boots of levitation. Tilly also has a potion of gaseous form and a wand of misdirection.
The Pathfinders hear voices coming from the pit. The descend and from the pile of rags they find two sleeping girls.
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Pooka breaths a sigh of relief when Tilly's unconcious form floats down from the ceiling.
"What in the nine hells is going on in this place?" he asks, oblivious to the ironic nature of his question.
Not wanting to chance falling into the pit as well as not being entirely sure what he can help with, Pooka does his best to stay out of everyone's way until someone asks him specifically to help.
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Diri casts stabilize on Tilly, to, if nothing else, give us a bit of time to discuss her status.
"Triage should always be the serial-positioned objective when combat has commenced so remember that falsehoods spoken while ascertaining necessary care is both illogical and asinine." Diri states. "Alongside general reparation of wounds I also possess knowledge that can alleviate afflictions caused by poison though I would like to observe you as a control group of sorts first."
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With his rage subsiding, Xûll slumps and allows his arms to shrink to their regular but still substantial size. "We are being fooled by Tilly-creature, and attacked by demons... but me is believing these are to be real humans." Xûll rushes down to help them out of the pit.
"What was to be happening here?" he asks the two girls, "Please, be telling us everthings."
Xull studies the two girls. One looks like a toddler, while the other looks like an adolescent. The two girls awaken, and are quite groggy.
"Whhhaaattt?" She looks around, eyes wide in terror.
Xull notices that they two girls resemble each other, but do not look like Tilly.
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Pooka carefully crosses the wooden plank across the pit and descends the stairs. He reaches Xull's side and removes his full-faced helm.
"Hello, please don't be afraid." Pooka says calmly
And please don't be demons again...
"We are pathfinders, from Absalom. We are here to help. What are you doing down here? Do you remember anything? Do you not feel well? Here, Diri can use this wand on you, it might help. You are.. You are Tilly and Tarcey, aren't you?"
The real Tilly?
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"Damn, no more demons," Targath says and exhales heavily, "but at least it seems we got this manor cleared of every demon hobo s~&@ we came across. And f@+% you, Tilly f@$@ing demon s&!@, nearly snatched my dagger!" He goes over to get his dagger back and checks it for damage, then sheathes it. Targath lifts the girl with one hand and turns it to check it.
"So, guys, is this girl a real girl, or was it just some demon possession crap you high-minds talk about? Or just a disguise?" he asks, "if she's just a puppet for the abyss, we'll drop this over the ledge."
The two girls in the pit come around with a little care from Diri. They seems frightened, hungry and sick. "I am Tarcey. This is my little sister Tilly. You here to save us? We need to find Pa and ....oh no oh no oh no." She grabs Tilly in a tight bear hug, holding her face close to the chest. They both are crying hysterically, sobbing into each other. Tarcey points to the couple siting at the table. "Pa? Mother?"
The Pathfinders comfort them and eventually the stop crying and just sit with blank expression on their faces.
Tarcey speaks softly, eyes on the ground, emotionless. "We was just trying to start a new life. Done left Kintargo. Headed up Egorian way. Storm hit something fierce and we sheltered in the stable outside. Wasn't getting any better so we headed in this big house. Soon as we got in some flying stone creatures chased us right into that evil woman. That Vaga is pure evil. She drug us down here with a thin man, and musta given us something cause we slept and dreamed horrible dreams. And now Pa and Mother are dead and killed them. If I ever see her again I am going to rip her eyes out!"
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"Please, do not be saying such things," Xûll says in soothing tones, "Your are being children, and ripping of eyes is not being good for minds of ones so young." He looks sadly upon these poor souls who have lost so much and moves over to the one who must be Vaga, the one who pretended to be Tilly.
"Be allowing me..." is all he says before he reaches down and pulls her eyes from her sockets.
As the halfling killer known as Vaga slowly bleeds out a few feet form her horrible diorama . , the Pathfinders make their way back to the first floor. A second sweep to make sure they have covered everything turns up no new information.
Once seated in the dining room, Chumley and Diri spread out their respective papers while Xull, Pooka, and the Anders children scrounge for food and water. Targath is brooding, meanly.
Chumley pours over the journal finding two more entries of note.
Sweet Aglorn, even in your death you assist me greatly. I read your thesis on rerouting portals, and I think I reproduced your work at the Diamond Gate. With Ostergarde’s infernal portals re-tuned to the Abyss, I have swelled my army of murderers with a demonic horde! Shax be praised! I leave for a wedding, which conveniently brings me near Absalom where I can delve the yet-unexplored dungeons beneath the ruins of Bonekeep. If I’m right, I can move my army there— closer to the city—and keep them hidden under the ruins until I’m ready to strike! Oh, how I wish you still lived, brother, for the chaos and death shall be glorious!
Dearest Brother, your memory spurs me on. I’ve hit minor snag in my plans, but do not fret, sweet Aglorn, for they are minor inconveniences. I failed to find ingress to the dungeons under Bonekeep, and on that same damned trip I discovered that Ostergarde had exchanged ownership. The very same Pathfinder Society responsible for your death sends agents my way! I must flee, but don’t worry—I have left those meddling Pathfinders a little gift. Brother, I head to Nerosyan, forsaking my position in the Thrune government. Shax has shown me the force I need, and it waits in the Worldwound! With this force, I shall return to Absalom, set my murderers upon the city, and when chaos and fear grip the entire population, my demon army will strike. So north we go, brother, and from there, to the City at the Center of the World!
Diri looks over the dossiers from the desk in the library. She finds a list of prisoners transferred from a prison that recently burnt down, 'Sinner's End'. These papers confirm that the deaths were faked and the prisoners were taken to Ostergarde .
The Butcher of Korvosa—Dalton Krunne Life Sentence for murder Transferred to Sinner’s End
murder and cannibalism En route to Ostergarde
The Gentleman Strangler—Regis Jaggere Life Sentence for murder Transferred to Sinner’s End
and conspiracy against the En route to Ostergarde
Egorian nobility
The Giggling Granny—Nettie Fallows Life Sentence for murder Transferred to Sinner’s End
and child abduction En route to Ostergarde
The Lullaby Lady—Vaga Underbough Life Sentence for murder Transferred to Sinner’s End
and indecency to corpses En route to Ostergarde
The Monster of Macini—Salter Wisp Life Sentence for murder Transferred to Sinner’s End
and theft En route to Ostergarde
All that is left is Diri's book collection "The Gates Ajar".
Diri - I need you to make me a will save. Anyone else? Anyone is welcome to read it. Just make me a will save.
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Chumley watches as Xull rips out the not-Tilly's eyes in front of the two girls. Well, that was a tad dark. Cross Xull off the "Baby-sit the human-spawn" list. He dismisses his Enlarge and bows his head sadly to the girls, holding his hat behind him. "Don't you worry yourselves a bit about where you're going after this tragedy. I'll make proper sure you have a roof over your heads that won't cause such nightmares, even if I have to buy it myself." Besides, the Blackros owe us a bit after this one...
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Diri flips pages greedily and erratically, stopping on a page that seems to be marked.
"This is." She trails off into silence, lost in thought.
A few seconds later, she picks back up: "The name Arastrax seems to be the serial observation from this page that was deemed important enough to warrant page defacement," she says, pointing to a dog-eared page. "It would be prudent to take it along," she adds with a shrug, offering the book to Chumley (or anyone interested).
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Pooka looks at the cover of the book over Diri's shoulder. He flips open his journal and takes a few minutes to record the events of the sweep and clear of the house, making sure to note the storm that drove them to shelter, and the similarities with the journals found in the shed.
He records details about the prisoners that were kept here, and about the halfling murderess who was left behind to continue killing for some time.
"Hey Diri, so can you give me a quick recap of that book? I'd just like to include a reference for my report." he says with a smile, pen in his hand.
The horrors of Ostergarde conquered, the Pathfinders exit the manor with the two Anders children. Both children desperately want to get as far away from Ostergarde as possible, and indicate that they have family in Egorian they were planning to stay with when the whole family arrived from Kintargo.
After seeing the children safely reunited with family, and with Ostergarde secured, the Pathfinders return to Absalom, where Ambrus Valsin greets them with a rare warm smile. He immediately thanks the Pathfinders for a job well done and informs them that the Blakros family is pleased as well.
When Valsin learns of Tancred Desimire’s shocking plans, he seems unconcerned; despite his nonchalance, he immediately takes this information to the Decemvirate. What future plans the Ten will unleash to counteract the grandiose schemes is not immediately revealed.
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Diri delivers The Gates Ajar and a pile of disjoint, cross-referencing, nigh-incomprehensible scribbles (her notes) to the Archives, hoping someone else in the Society can learn a thing or two from acoustic studies of Targath's profanity, trigonometric studies on extended reach (comparing and contrasting Xull's long arms to Chumley's doubled size), and her abstract for a study to find some non-magical way to not have to swim ever.
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Xûll has little to say to Valsin, liking the man no more than Lort and his friends do. Diri does an excellent job of the report and so he allows her to deliver it.
"Thanking you, Diri," he says as they leave Valsin's office, "That was being most thorough... though me is to be fearing Targath was wanting of it to be more concise! Ha! It was being a most excellent pleasure to be adventuring with all of you. Me is hoping to be doing so again soons!"
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Chumley keeps quiet as Diri offers her observation. Well, this certainly worked out well. And I've got some dirt on Tancred Desmire and the Blackros family that might come in value to the Sovereign Court...
As the group leaves Valsin's office, he holds his hat in his hands and regards the group. "Well, chums, it's been a roight pleasure traveling with you all. Think I might be seein' what all I can wheedle out of the Blackros before adventurin' out again, but I do hope our travels have us cross paths once again on the Open Road."
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Targath barely can keep his rage within himself; all the waiting, the travel, the constant agony of waiting for better news. The imprisonment of Zarta Dralneen makes the shoanti man anxious, and as such he doesn't loiter around in Valsin's office. The instant he is dismissed, he leaves, not listening to others congratulate him or their teammates, nor to leave a report of any sort to the venture-captain; so true he is to his nature, hating books, bookworms, and writing in general.
Some can hear Targath menace around, yelling profanities, and ravaging the training dummies.
Some say he has been assaulting some people on the streets during night time, when law enforcement isn't at its strongest.
Some say they saw the shoanti brute hiding an alley, sobbing.