"There's no way that will work long-term. The moment some devilbound investigator gets their claws in those two will sing like birds." Orrias carefully blanks his face to hide his own discomfort and draws his dagger. "Get our new friend out of here, I'll cover our trail."
Nerris' hardened lollipop does just enough damage to knock the guard unconscious! He's woken shortly after that by Indra, and he and his companion give the tiefling a series of panicked nod before they are knocked unconscious again.
Before Orrias has a chance to do his dirty work, the liberated captive gestures out to the front office, where you find a locked coffer. (Later, after a little bit of work by Nerris, the lock pops open to reveal a pile of coins: 67 gold pieces, and 423 silver pieces.)
Orrias, the guards are each carrying their standard gear for Thrune goons: studded leather, light maces, a set of manacles, 4 gold pieces each, and a bronze pendant worth 30 gold pieces each.
- - -
The five of you do your best to disguise your captive in plainclothes, and help him along back to the others. The whole lot of you split up, and make your way across the city back to the coffeehouse, where Laria finds ways to discreetly usher you all downstairs. The men collapse in the bunkroom, unconscious from their efforts.
Well done! Laria cheers quietly, as she gazes over at Forvian Crowe's slumbering form. It'll take me a while to get them back up to health, but they should be solid allies once they are ready. She runs upstairs, then returns with another large basket of pastries for everyone. Get some rest yourselves, and do your best to lie low for the week. Who knows what effect your actions will have? Korva and the sisters were wondering what you wanted them to get up to next, but otherwise you've earned a bit of respite, I think.
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Indra tries to keep her head down a little extra during the next couple of weeks. She spends a fair amount of time helping the "new recruits" get back to a semblance of health. She wants them all in fighting shape, just in case. She also wasn't thrilled with the idea of just bringing them into the Wasps Nest, but it seemed like the most expedient plan. Hanging around them also let's her eaves drop on them. She's not willing at this point to take anyone's loyalty on faith.
With the "free time" she has, she continues to care for her medicinal herb gardens and her mushroom garden. It might look odd if she simply stopped supplying those who rely on her.
Business is still pretty slow. She isn't too concerned. Several of her herbs need to come into season.
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By this point in the party's salty shenanigans, Pip is all too eager to hit the road and put this all behind him. He hefts the coffer into Alexite's hands and instructs the strong and strong-headed rake to follow him, lest he be a bit foggy from his blows.
Pip has no interest in sticking around long enough to rifle through the downed guards' pockets. He deems that a couple coins and more Thrunie pendants aren't worth the risk of running afoul of more goons.
Back at the Longroads, he listens in as the new week shifts the party's talk from old business to new business.
Throughout the week, he also performs more shows with the tri-fold purpose of earning money for his family, sustaining his cover as a humble comedic genius, and reclaiming a sense of normalcy after so much skulduggery and skull-bashery.
He is feeling less than inspired, to say the least.
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After the business with the guards, Orrias withdraws into himself for a while to deal with his guilt, throwing himself into books and alchemical formulae, and spending many hours at target practice with his hand crossbow. He continues producing and selling alchemical tinctures but his heart isn't really in it, and he gets drunker than he ought once or twice.
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Nerris spends the week spending time at home. In between working in the office she spends time with Sally trying to recuperate. Unfortunately, between dealing with a rambunctious kid and her injured arm her work output diminishes considerably.
After the week is up Alexite and says,"Sure. I'll take you up on that offer. I don't usually go drinking but I'd figured it would be a good idea to get to know everyone better."
25 Rova, 4715 AR - Morning
Location: The Wasp's Nest under Long Roads Coffeehouse, Kintargo, Cheliax
Weather: Cloudy and rainy
It's a grim day in Kintargo. The rains haven't let the sun out in a few days, and everyone in town is feeling it.
You've kept your ear to the ground for the week, but it appears that there's been little fallout over the plight of the salt works. The Fushi sisters make some discreet inquiries on the side, and it turns out that the current administration isn't too worried about having lost Kossrani, as he had been dealing salt on the black market, cutting out Thrune and keeping his gains (now in your pockets) for himself.
Your own notoriety has increased, though not enough to warrant a full investigation. However, it's also attracted a couple of loyal supporters to your cause, folks who know that you're behind good news in the city, and they want to be a part of what's happening.
Finally, Forvian Crowe and his men are more than ready to join the cause, and are prepared to serve as freedom fighters in the city, however you wish to direct them.
- - - - -
The news today, however, is not so welcome. Laria passes coffee to each of you, and shares a particularly pained look with Indra. My ears to the ground are telling me that there've been murders in the Devil's Nursery - three unfortunates already gone. It's driving the tieflings there into a panic, for sure, and I'm worried that these are terrorist actions by Thrune agents. There isn't anyone in the city that's leading the way you all are these days. You find out what's happening, and stop it, and the downtrodden will follow you anywhere.
She sighs. You might want to check with some of the locals, see if they might tell you something they might not tell another. Or look over the murder sites themselves, or even if you can observe one of the bodies. She waves her hands to the side, adding, But you probably don't need me to tell you how to do an investigation. Do you know anyone who lives there that you could talk to?
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Indra's ears perk up and her eyes narrow at Laria's news. The Devil's Nursery... s%#!. Indra is no stranger to the "Nursery," having lived there for several years in her youth. Since she has moved out, she has only been back for her friend, Strea Vestori. And with her missing, what's the point? The murders. That's the point. Some of them may be those who matter to me. And if they have been harmed...
She knows people in the Cloven Hoof Society and has worked with them on occasion, usually reluctantly, usually at Vestori's urging. This could be another of Thrune's sins. It could also open up new possibilities.
Indra sighs heavily. "Well, s$++," she says wearily. "I do know some people who live in the Nursery. I prefer not to go back there unless I have to, but it seems I do. We will want to talk to the Cloven Hoof Society. I should be able to arrange that. Probably. We haven't always been on the best of terms. We would probably do well to check out Kelimber's market, as well. We should be able to pick up on gossip there, perhaps with a smattering of fact."
"We would need a lot more information," Orrias muses. "Were there bodies found, or did these people just vanish? A body could tell us a lot about what we're dealing with. Are there gangs or other local players we need to be aware of? So many questions."
"I don't know much about the neighborhood," Pip says, shaking his head. "I never found myself performing over that way; not too much to laugh about there."
The slip certainly hadn't expected to find himself investigating any murders. Then again, very little of the past couple of weeks was expected, either.
One of Pip's personal pleasures has been the scant few mystery stories that Nandy stocks in the bookstore. He thoroughly enjoyed the often sordid stories, even if he could never figure out the solution on his own before reaching the end.
Hopefully he can be a better detective in reality than in fiction.
It's not difficult for Indra and Orrias to put their heads together and ascertain a fair amount of detail regarding the latest goings on in the Devil's Nursery. It's easy to imagine how much damage something like these murders would be doing to the local community's morale. However, your current knowledge is a little out of date for the present tragedy, so you'll need to pound the streets to get a little more detail.
Nerris says,"Listen whatever differences you have had with them I'm sure they'll appreciate the help. We just need to figure out what exactly is going on."
Indra usually preferred to get information through guile or scaring people, but that didn't seem appropriate in this instance. So she swallowed her pride and went to chat with the Cloven Hoof Society. "I'm looking for any information you might have on the murders in the nursery. Who was killed, how, where exactly? We ALL have a vested interest in seeing this ended, and gods know the Thrunes aren't going to help us out."
Orrias identifies a few of the tieflings' whisper-masters, people with a reputation for knowing what's going on, and cajoles them. "It's understandable that you'd be reluctant to trust an outsider, but I think we're in a position to truly help on another."
Pip keeps to the rest of the Redroof district that hems in the Devil's Nursery and asks among the neighbors. In particular, he seeks out any halflings who live among the red brick slums, as Pip well knows that his kin is often overlooked and thus privy to crucial details and observations.
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You make your way into the Redroof district, around and through the Devil's Nursery, and it's as though you run into exactly who you need to see every step along the way.
Nerris tracks down some fellow healers she knows in the area. They share their sadness over the three deaths they have seen so far, though they note that the first two victims were cremated quickly to prevent them from rising as undead, the third to be cremated tonight. Before cremation, each was examined, and the cause of death appeared to be from tiny puncture wounds. In addition, each of the victims was found without any teeth, as though the culprit had pulled them from their mouths as a sort of grim trophy.
Pip, checking in with the local halfling community, hears that each victim appears to have been killed at night. They are able to help you pinpoint the locations of each of the three murder sites, though they are reluctant to go near them. When you triangulate the three locations, you discover that they are all within a few hundred yards of each other, at the furthest, narrowing the activity down to a still sizeable part of the slum, but better than looking at the whole of Kintargo.
Orrias' winning charm gets the better of some of the locals in the know. One young tiefling with blood red eyes actually takes you to one of the murder sites, the most recent. The rain has removed most of the blood from the street, though not all of it. As you look around...
...you see a single tooth by the wall of a nearby building, likely from one of the victims.
Indra has a tricky time initially - it's been some time since you made your way to this part of town, and you are stunned to see that the door and windows to the Cloven Hoof Society's headquarters have been boarded up. "Been that way since the night of Ashes," a voice says behind you. It's the young tiefling, Zea, that you last saw at the riot in Aria Park. "You must've been too busy to come check up on us, I suppose."
Zea listens to your query, and nods. "It's probably for the best that you found me, since I found the last victim. Come, I'll show you." She takes you, even waiting for you to gather your comrades, and leads you underneath an abandoned shop. The body's face has been mutilated...
...confirming what Nerris had heard earlier: all the teeth have been removed. Tiny - and slightly inflamed - humanoid bite marks are on the victim's hands and neck, along with several little gouges of missing flesh.
The five of you put your heads together, and it's Alexite who happens to recall an old tale of fey creatures who are known to steal the teeth of hapless big folk. Quite literally, the tooth fairies have come to Kintargo!
Though the five of you aren't versed in lore about the natural world, your former companion, Sera, is reachable by messenger, and she provides additional details from her own training and study. Tooth fairies are fey created when a willful child's tooth (or, rarely, a whole child) is buried in a place with strong connections to the mysterious realm of the fey. Wicked and capricious, tooth fairies delight in spreading fear and pain, and have a perverse need to steal the teeth of humanoid creatures.
By the time her note arrives, it's nearly twilight, and Zea ushers down three other tieflings from the community who have come to help cremate the latest victim. "We'll be getting inside before it's fully dark," Zea says. "You can hide here, if you wish, but whatever is doing this is catching us unaware in the street, and it's been a couple of nights since the murderer last struck."
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As the group pieces together the mystery, Orrias considers what he knows about methods of fighting fey--which isn't much. "We might need to shop around for the right supplies, and perhaps lay a trap. Though baiting such a trap might proved tricky."
He's uncomfortably aware of his own teeth and tries not to think about them being violently yanked out of his mouth by cackling little horrors.
Alexite purses his lips. ”I mean, if it’s bait we’re after...” he glances at Indra. ”Blue can handle herself, and she seems like the kinda prey these choppers like. Maybe we do it like we did the Saltworks? Set up an ambush point near the other murder sites and let Blue bring ‘em to us?”
He scratches his head. ”There’s somethin’ all fey are s’posed to fear...running water? Cold iron?”
Nerris feels her teeth a little bit before speaking up. She says,"You know I might have teeth that they might be interested in. If they want teeth then something a bit more tusky might be up their ally. Though I really don't want to loose them. I kind of think they are cute."
Indra takes Zea's hand. "I'm sorry you had to be here for this kind of thing. I've met some people that I think can help. Go hide, be safe tonight. We'll see what we can do." She gives her as encouraging a smile as she can, given the circumstances.
As the group debates the best way to do this, she refrains from mentioning the disguise potions her friends carry. Mostly because she had thought of being bait, too. "Nerris. Do you have access to any spare teeth laying around the clinic you work in? Perhaps it doesn't need to be your own teeth."
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Nerris' eyes go wide at the suggestion. She says,"OOo right I'm a doctor. I'll just borrow some babies teeth."
"Wow. Who would have thought that we'd find something less appealing than a noggin floggin' from a Thrunie?" Pip says with a shudder. A slip's courage should not be underestimated, but that does not mean they are immune to being creeped out.
"Not sure what role I could play. If these fey prey upon the 'big folk,' then I'm rightly ruled out. Then again, I would probably blend into the night crowds pretty well and could serve as a good lookout for whomever does volunteer as bait."
By now, you're all versed enough to know that fey creatures react poorly to cold iron, and that it would be wise to carry a dagger or other item made from such material just in case.
- - - - -
The five of you choose a somewhat central location between the three murder sites, and hunker down to see what happens. Indra and Nerris take up somewhat obvious positions...
Perception Checks
Stealth Checks
Target? 1=Nerris, 2=Indra
...when it appears that Nerris' tusks are simply too interesting. A diminutive creature zips in from the darkness, wielding an oversized pair of pliers, and it tries to bite at you with it's ridiculous grin!
Though it's jaws aren't quite strong enough to break very far through your skin, it does manage to score a minor scratch and you feel your body stiffen slightly before releasing. There's something potent about their bit! It yammers in it's own language, and you hear the hoots and howls of others like it from the shadows!
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With her new cold iron dagger, Indra will move to Nerris' side. Figuring this isn't the only one, she pronounces a judgement of justice on the critter and attacks.
The little critter is so fast and small, she doesn't even come close. "Be careful with those bombs this time," she says to Nerris. "They're so noisy."
Nerris just looks a bit despondant at Indra. "All right I'll just try and capture them," she says while grabbing at one of them them.
With a bolt nocked and ready, Orrias draws his hand crossbow with a flourish and levels it at the darting little fey, though he isn't confident enough to fire with it so near his companions.
It's difficult for him to forfeit nearly a dozen gold coins for weapons when such an amount would be a small fortune to almost any other slip in Kintargo. However, looking to Indra, he remembers that this is to stop the murder of people just as vulnerable as the halflings. That makes it easier to pay the coins, and it gives him the strength to swing a much heavier weapon than he's used to.
...
Pip can scarcely see the tiny little buggers from his corner. He also doubts whether they would understand any satirical invectives he might hurl at them. As he steps forward and whirls his sling, he hopes for everyone's sake - especially Nerris - that his aim is true for once.
Alexite has been drinking from his hip flask while waiting for the tooth fairies, and now he tosses it down and strides forward with the morningstar they found below the Wasp's Nest swinging in his hand. He whistles cheerfully. "These are ugly little f+#&s, aren't they?" He takes a two-handed stance and prepares to swing like he's aiming for the bleachers! He grins, attempting to display his pearly whites.
for
Alexite takes a mighty swing, but perhaps he should have taken a few fewer sips first. It goes wide of the mark!
Orrias preps to fire his hand crossbow...
Pip's bullet finds the mark! It cracks against the little fey creature's head, though as it suddenly jerks, Indra's dagger goes wide.
The creature screeches, biting madly at Nerris...
...but missing the mark. It tries to fly away, leaving itself open...
...and the fighter clobbers the creature to the ground. It collapses limply, it's little pair of pliers clattering to the cobblestones before it lies still.
From the shadows, you hear the hoots and hollers of many similar fey voices, as a whole flock of the little fey converge on your group! Seven of them in total emerge. Three engulf Alexite, two cover Indra, and two over Nerris!
Though the three mostly feel inconvenient scratches at their skin, Alexite gets just enough of the insidious creature's paralytic saliva that he becomes briefly frozen in place!
Orrias has plenty of opportunity to fire at incoming targets, and though he strikes true, the bolt does insufficient damage to pierce the creature's magical hide.
Nerris makes a desperate grab at the closest fey, and though she gets another scratch for her effort, she manages to hold onto it!
Indra slashes at the little creatures with her dagger
but she might just as well be spitting at the damn things.
"Any help would be appreciated, gentlemen," she says to those not surrounded by fey.
Oh sure, iI’l just jump right in there, lemme just shake off these things and it’ll be noooo problem, Alexite thinks sarcastically at Indra, completely paralyzed.
Advancing on the nasty little fey swarming his companions, Orrias nocks another bolt.
"Hey! Get off the blue priestess!" he shouts and fires.
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If not for the fact that they were bloodthirsty little tooth-mongering monsters, Pip may have actually been amused as the tiny creatures seemingly winked into existence. He likewise puts aside his fleeting amazement at being a "big'un" for a change, compared to these wee fey beasties, as his mind worries over a pressing concern.
Would these fey even understand his words to be affected by his magic? Despite the language barrier that likely stands between them, Pip reasons that they are not above falling prey to a hypnotic rhyme, even if they cannot understand the meaning.
Thus, on the benighted and fey-haunted streets of the Devil's Nursery, Pip launches into a verse of rhyming nonsense poetry to distract the fairies.
"One tall midget reached up high,
Touched the ground above the sky,
Tied his loafers, licked his tongue,
And told about the bee he stung.
He painted, then, an oval square
The color of the bald man's hair,
And in the painting you could hear
What's undetected by the ear."
Nerris looks despondent at Indra and says," Can I please use a bomb? I can't catch them all. Hell I'm surprised I got one."
Orrias' shot is right on target, but doesn't seem to penetrate as well as it should have.
Pip calls out his nonsense poetry...
...and the three trying to gnaw on Alexite turn to pay attention to the little halfling performer.
Indra's dagger slice goes wide, unable to connect.
The unaffected Tooth Fairies continue biting at Indra and Nerris...
...and though only one is able to barely scratch through Indra's armor, it bites deeply enough that the paralytic spittle freezes her in place!
"Indra!" Cursing in elven, Orrias knocks another bolt and takes aim at the same flitting fairy he'd shot before.
Nerris sighs at the situation. She says," Everyone is always in the way. Everyone! "
Pip is relieved, almost shocked, to have struck a chord with his most bizarre audience ever.
"Hopefully the ol' galoot can make good use of this reprieve and put out some of their lights," Pip thinks to himself
His sling hangs idle from his hand. He dares not load another lump of cold iron lest his shot strike Indra in the nose - for he fears her wrath perhaps more than even Calistria's. Thus, Pip continues his rhyming babble in hopes of entrancing more of the tooth fairies.
As he speaks, he drops his sling and draws his new mace in case, heavens forbid, he should need to rush in and swat some flies.
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Nerris easily maintains her choke hold on the little fey creature.
Orrias' bolt slams home, punching through the creature's leg and causing grievous damage to it.
Two of the tooth fairies turn to face Pip, one of them with Orrias' bolt still in his leg, joining the other three that have eyes locked on the halfling and his curious rhymes.
The remaining two non-fascinated fey are the one grappled by Nerris, the other perched on Indra.
The one grappled by Nerris just manages to wriggle out of her grasp! [ooc]((But not until after you decide what to do to it.))
The one perched on Indra raises its pliers to her mouth, locked in a paralytic gape, locks onto one of her teeth, and YANKS! The tooth comes free, whereupon it raises it's trophy and gives a chittering giggle of delight!
Nerris is just going to attempt to stuff the tooth fairy into her bag. "I can fix that....," she says while slamming her bag shut.
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Owwww! I'm gonna rip your g%%!*&n wings off and make a necklace out of your f+~%ing skulls!
At least that hasn't happened to me...yet. Alexite thinks morosely, trying to move his fingers. They twitch a little...
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Pip has never been on intimate terms with fear, so he reasons that the emotion kindled by the attack on Indra is anger. He would be most adept at slinging another cold iron bullet. However, Pip remembers how his sling skills previously chipped the nose of Calistria - and he realizes that he fears Indra's wrath yet more!
Instead, he decides to turn his caustic wit into something less metaphorical. He conjures and hurls a glob of acid, aiming for the one perched on Indra.
In the heat of battle, he neglects to consider how much more painful acid can be compared to a stone, so let's hope his aim is not off!
Seeing his crossbow doing far less damage than he would like, Orrias stows the weapon as steps towards the one he had injured, now distracted by Pip's bizarre monologue.
Tentatively reaching out so he doesn't startle it too soon, the elf claps his hands together to seize the little wretch, planning to stuff it into something to trap it like Nerris had.
Nerris gets the foul little creature into her bag. She can feel it struggling furiously, trying to bite its way out.
Orrias snatches the fairy out of the air, catching it in a stranglehold and freeing it from it's fascination of Pip.
Pip's sizzling acid glances one the fairy on the shoulder, drawing it's attention to the little sorcerer.
The grabbed and tied up fairies try to escape their bonds...
...and each manages to find a way to wriggle free!
And the one struck by acid flies quickly towards Pip to bite him!
But the teeth are just off the mark of the quick halfling.
As she regains control of her muscles, Indra grins, a little bit of blood running down her chin. She mutters a series of arcane syllables, and weaves her hands as she casts a spell.
"Gotcha, you little bas--no, s!%@! S@@*!" Losing the fairy almost as soon as he's nabbed it, Orrias vainly attempts to snatch the flitting menace out of the air again.
"rrrrAAAAAAHHHH!" Alexite finally manages to free himself of paralysis. Leaping out of the cloud of fairies, he whirls and swings his new cold iron weapon at the nearest one.
for