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Ellie nods emphatically at Heccan, shuddering as the rats are put down. Thank god I didn't have to do that. "Filthy things, and no matter how many you kill, ten more seem to pop up..."
The halfling carefully approaches the doorway, staying a good distance from where Ceobryn had pointed out a trap, and has a good look it for herself.
Vennoc easily dispatches the rat.
Ag'mira examines the man to find the most of his injuries are nonlethal, causing him to lapse into unconsciousness.
Ellie examines the pointed out trap to find that it appears to be mechanical trap triggering a swinging axe by stepping on a pressure plate.
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"Hmm..." Stepping back away from the doorway, Ellie turns to the group, bright eyes lingering on all those who show some muscle to their physique, and then the chairs scattered around the nearby table.
"There's a pressure plate here," she explains quickly, "looks like a swinging axe trap. Maybe try and chuck one of those chairs on the plate to activate it? Then we can head on through, no big deal."
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Heccan continues to survey the area looking for any hints of magical auras. He tilts his head as he watches Ellie and Ceobryn examine the trap. Easy there agents. No reason to tempt fate, something spared us by the keen eyes of the good mister Ceobryn.
Heccan walks over to the disabled caster. He eyes the fallen man for a long moment, seemingly weighing options in his head. He nods once. I must admit Ag'mira, your idea of testing that trap on this fellow is sorely tempting. I am curious as to what that axe trap would do to the man. But alas, I fear we must question him and I can think of no better currency to bargain with than a man's life. I wonder if you would be so kind, Ag'mira, to wake the fellow up once you have him secured. I rather think I shall chat with him about our missing agent.
Heccan eyes the unconscious man cooly and waits to see if Ag'mira is able to revive him enough to speak.
Ag'mira heals and brings the druid back to consciousness. Looking up he sneers. "Death to all! Defilers!"
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Ah yes, thank you my dear. Heccan smiles to Ag'mira then dramatically allows his face and demeanor fade to an icy cold as he shifts his gaze to the captive. He flashes the raving caster a cool confident smile, allowing him to rant a but before raising a finger and interrupting his cries. He speaks to the man initially in a voice fo heavy sarcasm before shifting to a more somber tone. Death to the defilers you say? Well, what a superb idea. With whom should we start with, hm? Perhaps the fierce lady to your right who just saved your life and is very eager to once again take it away. Or the swordsman behind me who would separate your head from your shoulders without as easily and without any more thought than slicing a head of lettuce. Oh, I know, maybe our stalwart ranger who is dying to find out what that little trap of yours will do to you. If I were you though, I think I would start with the lady with the strange cylindrical contraption as she would merely shoot you and be done with it, and not drag out your torment like the others.
Heccan leans in close to the captive, tilting his head as he delivers his point to the man. You know? I have a better idea. You answer my questions and I will save you from the torrent of violence that I am barely keeping at bay. I can think of no fairer bargain than that at the moment. Your life for just a few answers. One, I am sure you are aware, you cannot refuse. Now, tell me what I wish to know. Let us start with who you are and what persons you are working for or with. Why must you keep constantly keep company with vermin? Why are you taking people? Oh, and more importantly... Heccan leans in even closer to emphasize his last question...where is Cestis?
Heccan gives the man a solid icy stare as he awaits his answer.
The man nearly froths at the mouth as he replies. "What you call vermin will be the inheritors of the world after all others are gone! I know my place, do you?" He stares coldly for a moment then says. "I don't where this...Cestis is. I'm guessing you mean he was taken. I don't know what happens to them after they go to the boat."
Ellie shakes her head at the frothing madman's mutterings. "He's totally nuts... why did we wake him up again?" she wonders quietly to Henry.
The man begins to cackle madly, spittle flying form his mouth.
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Ellie shakes her head at the frothing madman's mutterings. "He's totally nuts... why did we wake him up again?" she wonders quietly to Henry.
"What? Who? Oh! Not quite sure, m'Lady, what? They all seem a bit nuts. Just leave him tied up and take him to the authorities, I say. Who? What? Let's keep going and track down Cestis, what?"
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Heccan wrinkles his brow as the madman rambles on about a tide of vermin. Madmen. We are tasked with unraveling the plans of madmen. Terrific. He turns to regard Henry and Ag'mira. I suppose he did live up to the spirit of the bargain, as limited value as that was. My apologies Ceobryn. We will not be able to test that trap on him after all, though I wholeheartedly concur with Ag'mira. Definitely gag him.
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Ag'mira smiles wickedly at Heccan "With pleasure my dear sorcerer."
She moves back to the druid, cuts off some strips of his clothing and shoves it in his mouth then ties it in place. "Finally some peace and quiet, now lets go get our missing agent. Ag'mira loads her crossbow and readies for a fight. After you Ceobryrn"
Ceobryrn throws a chair on the trap and nothing happens. After some trial and error, (and enough chairs) the trap is finally sprung. A swing axe flies down and chops some of the chair to splinters.
While Ceobryrn springs the trap, someone notice a chest under a table. Looking, you find the chest holds about 1600 gp in Cassomir trade bars.
With the trap sprung, an unlocked set of double doors lay before you.
Stepping through the double doors, the party sees a long set of stairs leading down to another set of double doors. Opening those doors reveals tall vaulted ceilings that disappear into darkness high above as candles and torches barely illuminate the lower reaches of this room.
Along the north wall are three cell doors, thick wooden affairs bracketed by solid steel bracings with small, six-inch square windows set high in them. Enormous crates, barrels, and sacks of goods are stacked neatly in the southwest corner of the room. The floor is clean granite, etched with a wavyline pattern that permeates throughout the entire room; the design even climbs the walls and disappears into the vaults above. A rat-shaped chalk drawing dominates the floor in the center of the room, clearly depicting a dire rat leaning forward as if to pounce.
A tall Taldan man and what appears to be an undead creature stand waiting for the party. "I wonder what the racket was that I heard up there."
"Prepare to die by the hands of Darlirio Teppish!" The man says.
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Ag'mira moves forward within 30' of Darlirio and makes eye contact with him. She smiles pleasantly as she casts her hex.
"Sleep free you,
Dreams take you,
Dull the senses,
Go to sleep,
All night long."
This hex can affect a creature of any HD. The creature will not wake due to noise or light, but others can rouse it with a standard action. This hex ends immediately if the creature takes damage. Whether or not the save is successful, a creature cannot be the target of this hex again for 1 day.
Ag'mira steps into the room and puts a hex on the Taldan. His eye blink rapidly, then roll back in his head as he falls to the ground, snoring softly.
Vennoc charges into the room and cuts the man as he falls!
Ellie blast the undead with her musket, knocking away quite a few bines and a chunk of rotted flesh!
Ceobryn follows up by putting a single arrow in the creature, finishing it!
Searching the bodies, the party finds a breastplate, cataclysm amulet, masterwork heavy flail on Darilio. The cells to the north are packed full of Cassomirites of all stripes, including the missing Pathfinder Cestis who is alive but appears to have been badly beaten.
Half of the crates in this room are marked with gigantic red X’s, painted on with a wide brush. The supplies include flour, grains, sugar, coffee, tea, dried goods, and so on—everything the cult needs to supply its operations. The citizens held captive in the cells to the north thank the party profusely for helping them and tell tales of dark- or gray-skinned humanoids with enormous gray eyes who came frequently to negotiate with Dalirio before buying a handful of captives and taking them from the room.
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With the consistency of melted gold, Heccan slides over to the captive as the party flexes their collective muscle to drain information from the helpless foe. He flashes his cool, confident smile, a smile that one would see on a person holding a winning hand of cards and being the only one in the room to realize such. He offers the captive a choice My dear soul, you certainly are in a quandary. My fellows have every right to act this way, what with all your attempts to kill us and all. Right now, I am your only friend. I know what you are thinking. Why how gallant of you to fend off your compatriots on my behalf, what a true noble! Ah my friend, there is where you are wrong. I do not see a person here, oh no. You, lost soul, are a book, a scroll. I scrap of information that interests me, but only for the moment. Now speak little book, answer these questions my comrades ask. Tell us who set you on this course. Otherwise? Well...Heccan's gaze casually glances toward the rest of the party every book has a shelf life. he maintains his smile and awaits an answer.
The druid's eyes go wide, obviously slightly mad, he says. "Darilio was our leader. Where the people go? I don't know. I am not so bold, I do as I'm told. Heheheheh!"
Ceobryrn talks to the hostages, and they relay essentially the same information as before. "I think the crates with the "X"s were ready for loading onto the ship of theirs." One man says, then Cestis speaks up. "I couldn't make out what race the people were, but they bought some of the hostages." He goes on to describe the humanoids in detail.
Something about the description jogs Ellie's memory. She believes the humanoids sound like duergur.
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After searching the rooms thoroughly, Ag'mira sits down on a crate pulls a small scorpion out of her backpack, pets it and watches it crawl up her arm to rest on her shoulder.
"Unless anyone has something more to checkout here, lets drop the prisoner off as Henry suggests then see Venture-Captain Hestia Themis. We may get a lead to follow up on these duergur and where they would have taken the other captives."
Returning to the Pathfinder Lodge, the party turns over the captive to the Taldan authorities. Venture-Captain Hestia Themis commends you for finding Cestis and stopping the kidnappings, telling the party that you have bright futures in the Society.
Some time later, you all receive a missive telling you to return to the Lodge for a briefing with VC Themis.....
Venture-Captain Hestia Themis, the same small, dark-haired, and dark-eyed Taldan woman, sits behind her enormous blackwood desk in the Pathfinder lodge in Cassomir and clears her throat. “My friend, the Countess Arieta Patrizia, is dead. She escaped her capture by the fiends who operate beneath Cassomir only to succumb to disease and wounds incured in Cassomir’s disgusting sewers. Ordinarily, this would be a matter for the Taldan authorities, but Arieta came to me directly after escaping and recounted a story that leads me to the natural conclusion that only the Pathfinder Society can resolve this issue.”
Venture-Captain Themis rises and paces back and forth behind her desk. “Arieta told me of an artifact she saw while in captivity below Cassomir. This artifact, called the jet rat, is known to us, but we must confirm that what she saw is indeed true. She claims to have seen it transform normal rats into something bigger, more vile and mean. If that’s true, the artifact she saw down there is old, evil, and should be stored safely in the vaults beneath the Grand Lodge in Absalom where we can study, catalog, and examine it. Worse, she claims to have seen this object in the hands of the derros, vile Darklands creatures that we have long suspected are responsible for the Cassomir kidnappings. I have a map here that shows the location of the sewer grate Arieta was dropped through when she was kidnapped. She could not, due to her illness, recall much about how she got to the location where they kept her in captivity, but she knows where they dropped her into the sewers and you’ll find that location on this map.”
Venture-Captain Themis stops pacing and eyes you across her desk. “Bring me back this artifact—if you happen to free a few captured Taldans along the way, that’s good news, but the artifact is your mission. Any questions?”