DM Carbide's Rise of the Runelords

Game Master John Woodford

Vidar grumbles and wipes his mouth, as if to get rid of a bad taste.
"Bah! Even dead, the man still cause nothing but mischief!"

Andrezi sardonically laughs at Vidar's comment. "True, very true, but if there is no chance of catching that other stalker at this point, we should search out the rest of this building for anything of use."

No other fights for the moment, so assume that Andrezi patches up your fighter at some point.

Searching the townhouse, it quickly becomes apparent that someone else (possibly the stalkers, but it's not clear) has been through the premises...although there's nothing like turned-out drawers and the like, there are no paper records of any sort, even in desks. There are small pieces of jewelry of negligible value, but nothing of the sort that Aldern was well-enough off to have owned. It's looking like a dead end when Vidar realizes something: the other key that was found on Aldern's body had a roaring lion motif that matches the decorative heads on the third-floor fireplace mantel. Sure enough, there's a tiny keyhole in the back of the mouth of one of the lions, and the key opens it easily.

The small hidden compartment holds 200 platinum pieces in a leather pouch, as well as a wooden case containing a number of legal papers pertaining to the townhouse along with the deed to Foxglove Manor. The latter document has some interesting aspects and I'm about to put it in the slides.

Cure Serious Wounds on Wojciech: 3d8 + 6 ⇒ (5, 3, 7) + 6 = 21
Cure Light Wounds on Wojciech: 1d8 + 5 ⇒ (3) + 5 = 8

Nia purses her lips as she reads over the financing agreement. "So Vorel had backers. Interesting that it specifies ownership includes everything up to a mile below the Misgivings." She looks over at Wojciech. "The house was bad enough but there was a lot of even worse stuff under Foxglove Manor- ghouls and an evil laboratory. This kind of implies these Brothers of the Seven knew about it."

She looks around at the others. "Sounds like we have some people to talk to."

GM, is 6th Abadius 4724 perchance today's in-game date? Or sometime soon?

Is there any chance a PC would recognize the name?

Kn:Local re Brothers of the Seven: 1d20 + 14 + 1d6 ⇒ (19) + 14 + (3) = 36 Ha! Turns out she's a member of the local chapter. ;)

It's late 4707, so the turnover date is a little more than 16 years from now.

In addition to the deed, there's also a thin ledger whose last entry is dated just after the Swallowtail Festival. The last dozen entries, each dated a week apart, are weekly payments of 200 gp to someone referred to as "B-7," for "Iesha's Absalom Trip," The first entry notes that payment was delivered to "the Seven's Sawmill" late at night on Oathday, and the other entries are notated "Payment as usual."

Nia knows the location of the sawmill, and is aware that it's associated with the Brothers of the Seven, a secretive gentlemen's club consisting of merchants or thieves (or both!) depending on who you talk to. She also knows that Vorel Foxglove was either a member of or otherwise closely associated with the Brothers.

What do you want to do?

When you say gentlemen's club do you mean like a place you can go and smoke cigars and drink whiskey and make business deals? Is this Sawmill like a code for a hidden clubhouse? Would her Knowledge check be good enough to know that stuff?

If it's that kind of club, maybe we could bluff our way in as Aldern and company.

If the Knowledge check isn't good enough to know that level of information then I guess we can go scout the Sawmill and see what's what.

The Sawmill is an actual functioning lumber processor. Describing the Brothers of the Seven as a gentlemen's club does make it sound like something out of Sherlock Holmes, but that's misleading. They're an organization that doesn't advertise their existence to the point that knowing of them at all was DC 30. (How that aligns with the name of the sawmill being public is a mystery.)

Gotcha. Thanks DM! Let's go recon the sawmill, then.

"We should go give this sawmill a look. Wait, what day is it? The notes said payment was made on Oathday." Nia shakes her head. "Regardless, we need to scope the place out but nothing might happen until the next Oathday."

Wojciech nodded, "Sounds like a plan. Just tell me what to do; I'm not exactly stealthy."

The last entry was around two weeks ago, not long after Aldern took the party on a boar hunt.

Incidentally, remember the note you found in the caverns below the Manor to Aldern from someone named Xanesha--if you go to the Campaign Info tab, there's a link to the old maps, and it's in the slides for Foxglove Manor.

Thanks, DM! Xanesha, Mistress of the Seven. OK. So we know she and Aldern know the sihedron ritual (though do we know what that is?) so presumably the Brotherhood knows about that and the plague of ghouls. We might even infer that maybe the Brotherhood is about transforming themselves into ghouls? That could be what the sihedron ritual is about.

Nia digs around in her pack to find the note they'd found earlier that also references a Brotherhood, to show to Wojciech. "We should be careful, it sounds like this Brotherhood might be involved with all the ghouls we had to fight back in Sandpoint."

Also remember that the ritual murder victims had a Sihedron rune carved on their bodies.

"Necromancy, secrets, ghouls, ritual murders...
This is shaping up to be akin to one of those horror novels that were so popular a decade or so back.
...
...
Um...I do not suppose one of you have a parent or sibling they have not seen for a long time?
If it keeps up like this, the main villain will no doubt turn up to be that person."

Vidar has concerns about the nature of the plot, and its relationship to penny dreadful horror stories. Nia has thoughts about ghouls and the Seven's Sawmill. However, with no further answers forthcoming, the party heads off to the sawmill to reconnoiter.

The mill is one of several that operate along the shores of Kyver's Inlet, and in appearance and sound is indistinguishable from the others. Nia knows that it produces about as much finished lumber as one might expect from a mill its size, and were it not for the information found in Aldern's hidden document cache there would be no reason to suspect it was anything out of the ordinary.

It sits on massive wooden pilings driven down into the riverbed. A wooden boardwalk wraps around the northern rim of the building, and a narrow flight of stairs leads down to a door on the east side just above the water level. The churning of four large waterwheels under the mill fills the air with sound and spray.

"Obviously, this is an operable sawmill and will likely have people around. How do we want to handle this? Direct questioning? Something more subtle?" Andrezi asks the others, unsure of how to go about the investigation into the sawmill.

I'm all for barging the front door down and demanding answers," Wojciech said with a half-grin, "But I think this might need a... softer touch."

It's daytime, so the mill is currently in operation. But they must close at some point, right? And the payments are delivered at night, presumably after the actual mill work is done for the day ("late at night"). So we could Gather Information- DM if this is an industrial area do the mill workers congregate anywhere nearby? A tavern for drinks or pub or something for lunch?

I'm thinking Gather Information and scope out the exterior layout during the day then break in under cover of night. Or if we Gather Information good enough maybe somebody's like 'yeah, that blacked-out carriage that always comes at 2am on Oathday and stops right there in front of that convenient alley' and we can act on that.

Nia nods at Wojciech. "Let's ask around about the mill's hours, manpower, that kind of thing. Subtly, since the Brotherhood probably has spies in the neighborhood watching for strangers asking questions. And we can figure out where the mill's exits and entrances are from the outside. Maybe look around the area to see if there are any tunnels or anything leading underneath?" She shakes her head. "We'll have to see where things take us."

What does Andrezi look like? Vidar's a 6'6" Ulfen with no Diplo skill, Wojciech's the same just a little shorter, and Nia is a classic Chelaxian girl who might attract attention talking to mill workers in the middle of the day. Could Andrezi blend in with them?

DM, is there a check to try to avoid being noticed while Gathering Information? Stealth or Bluff, maybe?

Andrezi is 5' 10" and 175 lbs. Dark brown hair and brown eyes. Tanned skin from travel, but otherwise a fair typical Varisian. Pretty good with diplomacy, not so much with bluffing.

You can take a penalty to your Gather Information Diplomacy check to minimize the chances that someone gets suspicious, or make a Bluff check to eliminate the penalty.

The mill runs 24/7.

Nia nods at Wojciech. "Let's ask around about the mill's hours, manpower, that kind of thing. Subtly, since the Brotherhood probably has spies in the neighborhood watching for strangers asking questions. And we can figure out where the mill's exits and entrances are from the outside. Maybe look around the area to see if there are any tunnels or anything leading underneath?" She shakes her head. "We'll have to see where things take us."

Wojciech nods, "Right. I'll see what I can find." He grinned, adding, [b]"I'll play the Brevic tourist. Thicken my accent and play dumb."

Gather Info (Diplo): 1d20 ⇒ 7

hah! I guess the locals aren't very forthcoming to random tourists from Brevoy.
flashbacks of Chekov asking about nuclear wessels

Likewise, Andrezi will do his best to gain a bit of knowledge, trying to blend in as a native Varisian and working his questions into idle chit-chat.

Gather Information (Diplomacy): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (6) + 11 = 17

I will utilize the Luck Domain ability Good Fortune to re-roll that...

Gather Information (Diplomacy): 1d20 + 11 ⇒ (10) + 11 = 21

Nia joins Wojciech and Andrezi in the hunt for intel.

Gather Info+Inspiration: 1d20 + 13 + 1d6 ⇒ (7) + 13 + (6) = 26 Damn, the dice are not with us today.

OK, I think we're looking for any useful information about entrances/exits (especially not obvious ones), shift changes, guards, and any information about this weekly schedule late night Oathday payment. Also anything else interesting.

One minor complication is that no one from any of the area sawmills stops at any of the local bars. You learn quickly that it's because they're all competitors, and after a few too many "spontaneous" barfights turned lethal someone in the city government put their foot down. Even though there haven't been any infractions for years, the area is still heavily patrolled by the city guard.

You're able to learn some potentially useful things, though. In addition to the shipping/delivery schedule (new minimally processed logs show up according to no apparent schedule; processed timber or firewood goes out every three days), you learn that they run three shifts, shift changes at midnight/8AM/4PM, and every Oathday at midnight they have some kind of all-hands staff meeting--the 4-midnight shift stays late, the midnight-8 shift gets there a little early, and the 8-4 shift shows up for a while.

Thanks DM! Ok, that sounds like they have all hands on deck in case of pesky adventurers. Damn. I don't know if we want to fight three shifts of burly lumberjacks all at once.

What does everyone think? Tbh I'm not sure what I think would be the best way to do this. I'm leaning toward sneaking in after that all-hands meeting lets out; presumably the payment or whatever would still be there then but we wouldn't have to fight the maximum possibly number of NPCs. But maybe going in during the day would be better? Idk.

It sounds like the rituals, if happening there, are occurring at the all-hands meetings? If we are looking to disrupt things, perhaps going in beforehand would be prudent? As someone who works shift, just before shift change is usually the most unmonitored... Tired workers, plus trying to wrap your work up so you can brief your relief and go home, etc.

The main part is to try to avoid them scattering and going to ground so we have to deal with them forever afterwards.
Got to strike as hard and as completely as possible.

So go in before the shift change, take out whoever's on site, then mop up stragglers as they come in? That could work.

Sounds like a reasonable approach.

You know what they say, "It's the beginning of a plan". And a bare bones plan is better than no plan.