No. We'll take him to the Rodgam wedding. The only crime here was his, Flori affirms. You need to listen to people when they're telling you the truth.
The Watch Man points his sword out, and is backed by half a dozen of his fellows. 'Listen, you are walking through my patrol with a corpse on your back, covered in filth with nothing but your story. Now, come with us, or we will make you. You don't want that, do you?" the man says, red bread dripping water onto his cloak. A small crowd has formed around them, curious what was going on in the middle of the night.
We will not fight or resist, but you can check our story with Sir Rodgam. He hired us to watch his party, due to the recent murders, and sure enough, this fellow chose to try to kill someone, but we stopped him before he could.
It takes a long time. Flori, Lefty, Shadow and the dead man are taken to a Watch station, and men are sent to get Sir Rodgam. In the meantime,t heya re interrogated, weapons searched and other paperwork.
In time though the merchant prince arrives, in a rage at how they are treated. Rodgam is an important man and soon has the Watch licking Lefty's boots. After that they are alone in the room with Rodgam and the dead body.
He points, 'What happened?"
They recount the events from the moment the lights went out. Lefty tried and failed to stop the darkness, so he and Flori took advantage of it instead, chasing the man and trying to take him alive, but they struggled to do so, and he died on Flori's shoulders.
The good news is that he is most likely the person responsible for the murders.
Have you seen the body? Do you know who he is? Flori asks.
Rodgam peers at the dead man, spread out a table. "No, I don't. I wonder if he got in with a disguise or simply in with the chaos." The big man shrugs, 'So that is it then? I will say this, you work fast. Only the guard was killed. Sad, but not a catastrophe."
Well, someone knows who he is. Perhaps with your influence, the city will investigate a bit to find out, Flori says. You're certainly not the only person of means who wants this resolved.
Lefty speaks. Were you able to recover the items the man had? I saw a wand, and the druid saw a necklace, which was probably a focus for a spell. If the wand is what I think it is, we can be sure the dead man is the culprit, he says, helpfully.
I'm sorry for the loss of the guard, but you are right. The man could have killed many more and gotten away with it, had we not foiled him.
Rodgam shakes his head, 'I talked to M'Kellid. The necklace exploded in a flash when the lights went out. It was destroyed by whatever spell was cast. As for the wand..."
There is a small pile of the man's items next to him. It has no wand, little of value except for s symbol of Norgerber. A few small coins, a battered (non-magical) ring and nothing else.
'It must have been lost in the sewers. He never had a chance to use it." The old trader peers at the dead body. "I have to say, I'm a bit disappointed. I expected someone more...impressive."
So did we. We tried to keep him alive because he didn't "seem" as threatening as you would imagine a killer to be, the human says.
There could be something more to this, but there's no evidence. He may have just been a crazy worshiper of Norgorber, and nothing else, Lefty adds. Some of them just love to murder.
The man shrugs and then hands Flori a bag of gold. 'The rest of your payment as promised. You did good work and saved lives tonight, remember that." Then the older man shrugs, "I'll keep you in mind if I need anything else."
I'm sorry we didn't get it completely right, Latharien says to Rodgam, but we can't anticipate every possible move. Convey our condolences to the guard's kin.
Lefty's perfectionism can make him annoying at times, but Flori sees it as part of what makes him good to work with. She was like Rodgam; she felt their efforts were hardly a failure.
Given the difficulty, this was a serious win, to most people. He was the smartest person she knew, by far, and casting Haste and Darkvision were good moves, after the failed one. It's why they caught him and survived the dangers in the sewer.
Lefty isn't sure they got the real murderer, but they got someone. They'll know soon enough, if it turns out they didn't.
Flori bows slightly, offering her hand. Pleased to be of service, Sir, with just the right smile and polished lilt to the voice. Good evening.
Rodgam nods and leaves.
Two days pass and Lefty still wonders if they caught the true murderer. Flori and Lefty debate it, but having little information to go on, usually just call it off.
They are at a rather nice restaurant eating lunch when they see a plume of smoke and fire off to the east, only a few blocks away. Screams and shouts radiate from the inferno, which is where Rodgam and Sons had its offices...
Looks like we may not be done here, the elf says.
They rush full speed to the scene, towards the fire, looking for anything notable.
They cut through the crowd, which isn't easy. Some are running away from the fire, others toward it, and others just in a confused muddle. But they are soon there, pushing through (Flori's rather imposing and dashing looks help).
The offices are fully aflame, although water spells are keeping it contained. Out front, a group of clerks and guards stand huddle together, blinking at the raging fire. Besides them, a body lies lifeless.
It is Rodgam and a few clerics of Abadar hover over him, looking despairing.
Is he dead? Did anyone see anything? Flori asks the clerics.
Lefty starts Detect Magic.
One of the cleric's, a strong female half-orc looks up, sad. 'He sent out an alarm as soon as the fire started. We found him outside the fire, but he was already dead. He wasn't burned." She holds up a limp arm, and Flori can see jagged spikes of white sticking through the skin.
'Boneshatter." She says, laying it back down carefully. 'Someone killed him. Probably used the fire to drive him outside..."
A few men from the Watch are showing up, and eye Flori and Lefty carefully. A few of them recognize Flori and Lefty and they don't appear pleased to see them.
Lefty continues the Detect magic, looking for lingering auras of necromancy and conjuration (teleportation).
Lefty detects the remains of the boneshatter spell, and finally, after much hunting, finds the old used wand. .
He doesn't detect teleportation. Perhaps the easy of access due to fire and crowds rendered unneeded?
The Watchmen close in, one looking at Flori, 'You seem to show up around dead bodies alot.".
Flori ignores the man.
She takes the wand and lets Shadow take a long sniff.
Show me where it went, Shadow!
Flori looks for signs of passage, too, though it can't be easy.
It takes Shadow a moment but soon her tail is swishing as she cuts through the crowd. Lefty and Flori follow closely, pushing people aside. One of the Watchmen chases after them but they are too quick and soon lose the frustrated man.
Shadow winds through crowded streets heading deep into the worse districts of the Docks. The streets grow narrower, less well-kept, pocketed with potholes. The warehouses becoming dirtier, some abandoned. Finally, Shadow leads them to a dirty square, covered with cracked paving stones and surrounded by beggars. In front of them is the Grog Pit, the most vile and infamous flop house and tavern in the Docks.
It looks crowded.
They take a moment to alter their appearances. Flori looks a little less fabulous than usual. Latharien also casts Mage Armor on himself. This could get ugly.
Good kitty! Keep going, boy. Find that killer! She holds the wand again so he can remember it.
Shadow leads the way. Anyone who doesn't like it can f. o.
Shadow leads Flori and Lefty right to the old, weather beaten door to the Grog Pit, painted an old blue. They are eyed by a massive half-orc bouncer with a heavy metal club in his hands.
"You lookin' for trouble?" he says, voice a deep bass. 'If so, you've come to the right place." He taps the club in his hands, as if eager for a fight.
No, we're good. Just looking for a drink.
They'll try to just keep moving on inside and see what Shadow finds. A fracas would ruin their shot at finding the killer.
Flori and Lefty awkwardly slide past the bouncer/guard and enter into the main common room of the Grog Pit. It reeks of stale ale, body odor and rotting wood. Tables are scattered around, with men drinking, gambling or talking. A nasty, greasy looking man serves drinks behind a bar, stocked with bottles that look old enough for Aroden to have drank some of them.
Along the back wall are a series of doors, and up a wall runs a rickety staircase.
Shadow goes into the room but seems to lose the scent. Everyone in the nasty tavern is starting at the pair of tracker and the cat. A few of the gamblers looks worried but more, some of them local crime bosses seem harder to scare.
'What's all this?" The greasy barman says, hands under the counter. "You looking for trouble?"
Just a couple of mugs, Flori says, dropping 3 coppers on the bar.
Looks like Shadow's lost the trail, She tells Lefty. What now?
He did good. Just look for anything unusual, like a symbol of Norgorber, or someone who smells like smoke from the fire, the elf suggests.
Shadow
The man keeps his hands under the table, and makes no move for the coins. "We don't much like folks asking questions. This is a private place."
One of the heavier men sitting at a gambling tables mutters something to another, and three large men stand up, making their way toward the bar.
Flori has a feeling the barman is hiding something but isn't going to give it up easily.
I didn't ask you any questions, Flori says evenly.
Can we get a drink, or not?
Lefty surreptitiously reaches for his Grease wand.
The man looks a bit abashed at being called an eavesdropper. He does finally grab a bottle of nasty smelling whiskey and pour two dirty glasses, picking up the coppers.
The three big men loom behind them and ask, 'We having a problem?" For a moment Flori thinks the barman is going to say something but doesn't and shakes his head. The bully boys retreat, but not much, keeping an eye on these well-dressed strangers.
Lefty has no issue putting his hand on the wand.
Lefty gambles, thinking the culprit, if he's still in the bar, isn't one of these bullies. He casually releases the wand and looks for a place he can cast a spell without drawing much notice.
If nothing else, he'll just go back outside and cast Detect Thoughts. It's a longshot, but it's all he's got.
Flori keeps looking for any signs of a possible culprit; a symbol of Norgorber, a whiff of smoke smell...
Lefty heads outside, and casts his spell. He gets a riot of thoughts from inside, most of them the usual, thoughts about gambling, people trying to calculate odds, read tells, figure out a bluff. A few thinking of how to steal a drink or slide an ace out of a sleeve. One or two prostitutes thinking how much to charge the men, ad a few conmen sizing up their marks. He sense one or two minds that he can't crack, that must be made of stern stuff. He wonders if they noticed...
He does note one mind who is thinking about Norgorber and Flori.....
Inside Flori scans the room, doesn't see anything. She does notice a grubby man, losing badly at dice, keeps glancing at her, and pretending he doesn't. He is bad at hiding his face.
Before Flori can move one of the seated men, the local bosses, sits up as if stung. He barks an order to the thugs, 'We got nosers. Her friend, most likely. Take them out and work 'em over." he turns back to his drink as the three thugs come up and try to put hands on Flori, obviously intending to literally throw her out.
Hands off, creeps! I can show myself out. Flori puts one hand on the long grip of the sharp blade strapped to her back.
Latharien focuses in on the one thinking about Norgorber; looking for another thought or just a good look at him/her, general appearance, etc., before anyone tries to grab him.
The men don't touch Flori but they firmly escort her (and Shadow) outside. lefty sneaks past them, invisible.
He peers into the nasty tavern and spots the same man Flori noted, the grubby man looking at dice.
Latharien hates that he can't cast cantrips like a sorcerer. He wouldn't have to use his ring to cast one, now, but he does.
He's aware that there may be others who can see him, invisible or not.
He focuses on the grubby man, not trusting the image he sees, and looks for others who might see his invisibility.
The elf casts Arcane Mark with his ring. He made noise. He then moves to the grubby man, deftly.
If the man doesn't see him, he touches him on the skin, but on his neck, or whatever exposed skin the “man” has, placing his mark without notice.
He then escapes, stealthily. He marked his prey. It could easily fail.
Lefty goes outside, looking for Flori and Shadow. They'll have some things to talk about.
He got a good look at a thing. It may or may not be a real man.
Lefty is sneaky and the room is full of talking, singing, sometimes shouting people. The man does jump when Lefty touches his neck, and looks around wildly, but looks right through Lefty.
The elf makes a clean escape, meeting back with Flori and Shadow.
We have a suspect, but no way to link him to the fire. Sorry about the rude ejection, but at least I marked the man.
So do we wait him out? Flori asks.
Yes. He'll come out of there sometime.
They use their hats to alter their appearances several times, keeping an eye on the Grog Pit, waiting for their suspect to come out. Then, they'll follow him.
Lefty and Flori wait outside, keeping an eye on any backdoors or rooftop escapes. They wait, and wait and wait. Folks come and go, drunks and loser, winners and con-men. No one notices the pair of them, but they don't spot the mark.
Hours pass.
Something has gone wrong.
They'll give up and try again some other time. There are just too many ways for this guy to do his thing. They can't catch him, let alone prove anything.
My mark is on him. It is unique. It can only be detected or removed by specific magics. It may still be on him if we cross paths again, but I doubt it. I'm done with it.
Flori concurs. Me, too. We have no proof of anything. We killed the last man, and that didn't stop anything. It just brought us more trouble. Let others deal with it. We can't right every wrong. I say we get out of here.
Flori again casts Pass Without Trace, and they go home.
Lefty tells Flori about what he noticed about the man's thoughts.
Flori suggests they get some advice. My friends at the Salon might be able to tell us something about Norgorber that we don't know.
They go to the temple of Calistria and ask around.
Flori asks around and they get an earful. Apparently there has an active sect of Norgorber for some time now, more open then usual. Rumors of bribed Watch officials and other abound. Someone of means must be running it, or they have a good source of income.
They have to dig around but apparently the best rumors have it located on Misery Row, the legendary Slave Pits of Absalom. It is a tricky area as slavery is in a legal gray area in the city, and both slave master and anti-slavery patriots roams the streets, attacking each other. It is a chaotic place.
Other then that, they also hear the Grog Pit is another center of Norgorber activity, as well as the other more usual criminal kind.
They decide to scope out the Grog Pit. The suspect may or may not look the same, but with Latharien's mark on him, the elf might get lucky and spot him again. Just need a Detect Magic up. Not hard to do as long as it's noisy.
Using their hats, they assume the forms of two males. They'll drink and watch the entrance, Lefty Detecting and looking for his mark.
This could take a while, maybe a few days. That's OK.
Well before they get there, Lefty casts Clairaudience/Clairvoyance to get a look inside before they enter.
Lefty and Flori stake out the place. The first day is boring and slow, and the Grog Pit is an unpleasant place to pass the time. They do get challenged to two drinking contests, a game of darts, and an obviously rigged game of dice.
Soon they notice something. There is another team staking out this nasty tavern. A collection of men are rotating, mostly outside, but sometimes, inside, keeping watch on the folks coming and going. They don't look like rival gangs or thugs.