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I think that is a very wise sediment Pavro. Lets check the office rooms and spaces here before we move on. Having seen the raw destructive power of Aressa, Marcoul wisely remains close to her. As the group passes near the bodies and Severus leans down next to the corpse, Marcoul slowly glides up next to him. An excellent idea! Perhaps you can determine what type of weapons they were killed with, and if the blows seemed to come for a smaller creature, like that of a goblin.
Marcoul nods politely while listening to the Pavro relay some of the details from Sanpoint's notorious past. As Thandion pauses in mid stride Marcoul raises an eyebrow. Theres more then he let's on. Let's see how he reacts to some stimulus... As they crest a hill and spot the Glassworks Marcoul nods. I suppose we could investigate that Pavro. It's possible it might be a coincidence, but it could be more. I would be interested to learn more about this "Chopper" and what god he claimed to follow.
Now on his guard Thandion does not react to Marcoul's question and moves on.
"What killed them can wait until we make sure no one else is being killed." Thandion says following into the workshop area.
The investigation of the rest of the upstairs is uneventful. You are able to trace the timeline and flow of the obvious battle. Goblins were apparently camped out in the large workroom area; somewhere around three to four hours ago, the mercs entered through the front door, and took the initial wave of goblins by surprise as they started to hack their way to the stairs. More goblins resisted, and even managed to kill a few of the probably half a dozen to a dozen mercs before they got slaughtered and were forced to retreat downstairs.
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It looks like the goblins were attacked by some unknown force. Pavro, you don't know of any mercenary bands that operated out of the area did you? This is growing stranger by the moment. I would have expected to see something like this in a place like Kaer Maga not Sandpoint. Alright then, this area is clear and it looks like the mercenarys got pushed downstairs. Let's move to the lower levels and pray that we are not too late.
Severus nods.
"It has been only a few hours. I am sure the goblins are still here. Be wary, gentlemen."
Pavro nods,
"Well whatever the case we need to get down there - lead on 'Ress if you would."
Aressa stalks down the stairs with Pavro following - some way behind.
The battle seems to have moved downstairs as the goblins retreated and the mercs advanced.
As the upstairs is searched Thandion is becoming noticeably more irritated. "Why would a bunch of idiot amateurs come in here and get themselves killed and in the middle of the night too.” By the time they start down the stairs he stalks down the stairs pushing in front of Pavro and Marcoul.
Who would have tipped these mercs off about the goblins? And on the same night Ameiko disappeared? You don't think she could have brought the mercs, do you Pavro? Avian wonders, pistol still at the ready, scanning the room for more clues.
Heading downstairs, you have to stop briefly as the aromas of the fresh dead in a compact space become even stronger. The main part of the basement seems to be mostly storerooms, most recently goblin barracks, and hallways, which are filled dead goblins, and the occasional dead merc. There is also two brick walls across the hallway; one of these brick walls has been largely dismantled, and just beyond it, you see the body of an old man, which after some examination turns out to be Lonjiku Kaijitsu, sword still in hand, and a trail of blood leading further in the sealed off portion of the basement. All is silent as you take in this gruesome scene. All told, you have counted at least a couple dozen goblins, and 8 mercs.
By the gods, isn't that that drunk guy who was pestering the waitress at the bar the night after we fought the goblins? Avian screws his eyes up in concentration at recalling the memory. Said he wasn't the 'doddering fool' we thought he was and could take care of himself. And if I remember, he talked like he was talking to somebody we couldn't see.
Avian bends down to examine the sword, voice grave, Guess he couldn't take care of himself after all.
Then, feeling an explanation might be in order, Old race instincts, sorry. Our instincts to scavenge and our love of shiny objects make us a little irreverent when it comes to the possessions of dead men, even patriarchs like this man. Avian then lays the sword back where he found it.
"Ameiko's father... My guess is that he was leading the mercenaries, he'd have the resources, and I think people would have noticed if he were meeting with goblins. Tsuto on the other hand has been away for five years, a time I find curiously close to Father Tobyn's death. He would have a much easier time treating with goblins I think. Speculation I know, but lets treat him as an enemy until we know otherwise. If anyone can use that sword take it, he was rich and proud so its likely to be a good one, we can return it to Ameiko after we save her."
Pavro says darkly, chanting a quick detect magic and scanning the nearby bodies for potentially helpful resources. Once he has determiend if there is anything that might be of use he casts light upon his hat and follows Aressa into the formerly sealed off section of basement.
Severus searches the body further, hoping to find something useful.
"There is not much wrong with scavenging. It has its uses, so long as one does not overstep the boundaries of propriety."
Thandion steps over the body and says through gritted teeth "Lets keep moving if we are lucky Ameiko might stay alive just long enough for us to save her." but I doubt it. "Scavenging can wait until we have someone to return the possessions to." Thandion continues to follow the trail of blood.
The sword is a masterwork katana, with the family heraldry displayed prominently on the hilt. He also has masterwork studded leather armor. Curiously, he has absolutely nothing else, not even sundry items that you would typically expect a man of his station to carry, save a single key to the building; it's as if he knew he was going to his death, and saw no reason to burden himself with anything but his clothes, armor, and blade.
Following the hallway, it eventually wraps around back to the other brick wall, and is mostly more storage rooms, though these seem to be empty. There are, however, several points of interest. First the blood trail ends at the corpse of a man that looks like a younger version of Lonjiku. Second, just beyond the corpse is the opening to a tunnel. Third, there is an office that someone has setup a cot and chest in a corner, apparently sleeping there. Fourth, there is a locked door.
Severus takes the key from the body, and the armor if it can be removed quickly.
...
He examines the younger corpse.
to identify.
to determine time of death.
He holds the key out.
"See if this key fits that lock there. Or if you fear it might be trapped, I can look myself."
Pavro takes the key grim faced and moves forward to try the locked door, thinking there might be some significance to Lonjiku carrying this key and so little else,
"A bad day for the Kaijitsu family by any measure, lets just hope Ameiko lives to mourn it."
Aressa moves into the office giving it a cursory search.
Giving the scene a sober gaze, the paladin makes a sign of obeisance to Erastil, touching his holy symbol as he looks upon the dead patriarch. Then Vors will take the time to sheathe the katana and stow it away while the other are dealing with the door.
"This can go to Ameiko when we find her."
You're able to make an educated guess that the younger man was probably Tsuto, and he seems to have died about the same time as the others, though unlike the others, it probably took a while for him to finally lose consciousness after collapsing at his final resting place; it could not have been a very pleasant ending. After thinking about it, it occurs to one of you realizes that the key on Lonjiku was probably the key to let him and his men into the building, and that he expected never to leave the building alive. However, there is that office that someone has been living in that may hold further keys, and Aressa does spot a keyring on the desk. Nothing else really stands out on just a cursory glance; there are papers and a few books on the desk, and the chest is open, revealing clothes and toiletry items.
Severus reveals what he learned from examining the body.
"There is something strange going on here. This was Tsuto. Ameiko should be nearby."
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Your right Severus. Marcoul agrees, with a thoughtful tone in his voice. It looks like Lonjiku Kaijitsu knew something was going on. But its more then that... It seems strange that some of the walls have been bricked off, and do you all remember the morning of our hunt? There were several workers from the Glassworks that came and spoke to Ameiko just before we left. Lonjiku shut down the Glassworks before the festival, and the workers mentioned that he wasn't sure when it was going to reopen. Whatever is going on here we have a responsibility to get to the bottom of it while the sheriff is gone. Finishing his address, Marcoul kneels down next to the younger Kaijitsu and begins searching him and the occupied office for clues or anything of interest.
After a search of the room and its occupants Marcoul will keel next to each of the fallen men. Solemnly crossing their arms Marcoul closes his eyes and whisperers a prayer over each of them. May whatever your deeds in this world be reflected in your rewards in the next.
Aressa swipes the keyring up on a claw and flings it across to Pavro who snatches it out of the air and begins trying keys in the locked door, grim faced and worried for his friend.
By the gods, I fear more and more what we will find at each step of this bloody trail of clues. Lonjiku, Tsuto, dead mercs and goblins. Avian helps the others look around the room for clues or anything of note.
Pavro tries several keys before finding the one that unlocked the door. Opening it up, you see what probably was once a file storage room, but right now is a prison cell for a bound, blindfolded, and gagged Ameiko.
Searching Tsuto, you find nothing save his sword, a masterwork longsword, and some masterwork leather armor. However, it quickly becomes clear when you search the office that he is the one that had been staying there, and that most of his stuff was in there. His chest holds a couple sets of reasonably nice clothes, various toiletries and other necessities, and a bag with 600 gp hidden amongst everything else. The desk yields little, as most of the papers are obviously both heavily encrypted and old, but there are a few important pieces of info to be found. First, the books turn out to be a battered prayer book to Lamashtu and Tsuto's journal. Also, a few of the papers seem more recent, and might be potentially useful if you can find someone to break the encryption.
"Ameiko!" Pavro exclaims, dropping the keys with a clatter to rush forward and drop to his knees. His dagger springs out from his wrist sheath and he quickly severs her bonds, starting with the gag, and leaving the blindfold until he has a chance to say,
"Ameiko, its Pavro, you're safe, but... I'm sorry, your father and Tsuto are dead. We found them here, if you don't want to see them for the moment you can keep the blindfold on... I'm sorry we did not get here in time for them."
Aressa tears the cloak from a mercenary with her teeth and drags it over Tsuto, heading back to do the same for Lonjiku.
Severus takes the time to examine some of the bricked off walls, seeing that Ameiko was found safely again.
Thank the gods, you're alive! Avian lets out a sigh of relief. As Pavro frees her, Avian begins gathering the encrypted papers and asks Severus, what do you make of these?
Upon reading Tsuto's recent journal entries, he caws in disgust. Offering the whole CITY to Lamashtu? He can't wait for the REAL raid? This is worse than a giant invasion! Avian paces in the room nervously.
Severus looks over the journal pages that Avian is concerned with.
"Interesting. Again, the goblin attacks are planned, obviously as a distraction so that the body could be removed. Notice how the attacks are focused on the northern part of the town near the graveyard. And the body was stolen for some demonic ritual. We had suspected that, but here is proof."
He starts as he reads something rather unusual.
"Lower chambers? I had suspected these additional walls were indicative of architectural transformations of the Glassworks. But this would have taken a long time to build."
He turns back to Avian.
"As to the encryption. If it is based on simpler logics, it should be easy to uncover. I will look at it when I have more light and a decent location to apply myself to the problem."
"What's a Lamashtu?" Asks Pavro, whose religious education consists largely of discovering what you can get away with during services.
"Lamashtu, the Mother of Monsters. A demonic power of the Abyss. I am certain Marcoul can tell you more, should you wish to know. Suffice it to say, she is wholly and entirely evil, and her followers do evil and despicable things in an attempt to gain her favors." The last is said with an air of contempt, though surprisingly neutral.
Thandion still seems on edge but sigfinicantly better now they have found Ameiko alive. "There seems to be two strong leads from this and maybe more once Ameiko is up to talking or if we can decypher the code." Thandion says in a monotone devoid of emotion.
"This love of Tsuto, seems to be the one who united the tribes and is planning to become or summon a demon and burn down Sandpoint. I would prefer to deal with her before she does any of these things. She at least was at Thistletop and if she has built a shrine there she might still be. However we have promised to stay in Sandpoint and protect the town."
"The second issue is the mention of tunnels the goblins could use below the glassworks, one assumes behind this recent wall. We could either break down the wall and explore the tunnels as their might be goblins there, maybe even Koruvus with his magical sword. Or we could trust that Lonjiku knew what he was doing and reinforce the wall that is already here. While less urgent we can do either of these while staying in the town."
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"What's a Lamashtu?" Asks Pavro, whose religious education consists largely of discovering what you can get away with during services.
Lips curling in distaste Marcoul spits on the floor. Let us not speak her name if possible. The red priest begins while eyeing the prayer book like it was a snake. Some beings know when their names being spoken aloud, and I would prefer not to draw eyes upon us if necessary. Seeing the confusion his his companions eyes Marcoul patiently begins to explain.
The one that Tsuto speaks of is known as the Mother of Monsters. She is venerated by gnolls, medusae, harpies, goblins, minotaurs and the occasional insane human. All other gods hate and despise her and she honors no contracts or orders but her own.
Picking up Tsuto journal with one hand Marcoul points out several significant passages. We have several names mentioned in here of note. Apparently Ripnugget and Bruthazmus are working together with a Tsuto's love and some creature known as Malfeshnekor. I think that Shalelu will want to know about this. She mentioned that she and Bruthazmus have clashed in the past. And this here, points Marcoul to another passage. Tsuto states that his "love" wanted to be rid of her "Celestial Taint" So she burned her fathers corpse as a sacrifice to the Mother of Monsters. We now know that the point of the raid was the capture Father Tobyn's corpse, and we know that Father Tobyn had a daughter named Nualia. Based on what I am seeing here, Nualia must still be alive and she never died in the fire that claimed the priest. Finally, Marcoul points out one last image in the journal. This is the most unsettling part. Pointing to the sketched image of the clawed hand Marcoul silently touches his silver inverted pentagram. It looks like the body was accepted as a sacrifice. Her goddess has at least partially transformed her.
Laying the journal back down Marcoul rubs his nose in though. I think we should go below and investigate this complex. The journal mentions a Quasit and "her" freaks. We can't afford to leave this route unprotected so close to Sandpoint. Anything we could build up they could most likely tear down, or just avoid by attacking over land rather then from below. Looking at each member in turn Marcoul slowly looks towards the brick strewn passage. I would suggest for now we escort Ameiko back up to the surface and bring the body's of the guards with us. Once she is safely away we return below and do our best to clean out whatever is down here. What do you all say?
Thandion nods to Marcoul "Good catch on the her father's corpse. If Nualia is still alive whose body is in her coffin? You are probably right that it worth exploring below, it might just be a tunnel to the beach but we should find out. Agreed lets get Ameiko and" gestering at the bodies of the mercenaries "these bodies out of here, they will have family and someone should get started looking for them to return their bodies and earthly possesions."
The brick walls seem to have been to shut off this back part of the basement from the main building. There is a tunnel by the old smuggler's office that leads down and away from the building. Those helping Ameiko quickly figure out that she's probably been drugged up somehow, and will not likely be herself for a while.
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Perhaps Lonjiku kept a list of names for the mercenaries. If he did then we can see about returning personal possessions. Any loose coin, weapons or armor however are forfeit as payment for us having recovered and put to rest their body's. Regardless, this is a moot point. We need to get Ameiko out of here. Kneeling down to Ameiko, Marcoul feels her pulse and checks her eyes. She was drugged. Thandion, Vors, we will need to carry her. As Marcoul casts a eye over the room, he taps his foot in thought. Severus, your a learned man. Do you know anything about Quasit's?
Vors shoulders his bow and takes up Ameiko into his arms with ease.
"Let's get her back to the Rusty Dragon. Once she's settled, we can get back here and check these tunnels. We should leave word for Shalelu. Either she or the Sheriff will want to see about sealing up these tunnels once we've rousted out whatever is lurking there."
You set about the process of cleaning up. Getting the foreman and his men to take turns watching the tunnel to ensure that nothing comes from that direction before you can deal with it, you are able to discretely get Ameiko back to the Rusty Dragon, where her relieved servants take over in tending to her. After a thorough search of all the bodies, you find no means of identifying any of the mercs, and think that Lonjiku probably didn't find out any information about them beyond the fact they could fight, as they look like your typical port ruffian. Some of them did have some decent gear, but nothing that really stood out, and none of them had much of anything beyond their weapons, armor, and some gold (probably their pay from Lonjiku).
All told, you found the following:
~150 gp worth of goods from the goblins and their makeshift barracks, with the "best" stuff being barely sellable on its own for it's intended purpose, and most of it being suitable for nothing more than souvenirs and recycling.
A total of 2 sets of clothes from Tsuto's chest - 1 set of courtiers's clothes whose better days are clearly well past, 1 set of travel clothes
From the 8 mercs -
3 masterwork leather armor, 1 set of studded leather armor, 4 leather armor, 3 light wooden shields, 1 light steel shield, 2 bucklers
2 longbows, 1 shortbow, 60 arrows, 4 light crossbows, 80 bolts
1 masterwork longsword, 1 longspear, 2 shortswords, 6 longswords, 8 daggers
200 gp
You also notice one of the workmen collecting a few goblin ears, and find out that Deviren Hosk, the owner of the Goblin Squash Stables, has been known to pay bounties on goblin ears. After finding this out, you are able to collect 28 goblin ears from the goblins downstairs (the ones upstairs have already been taken by the workers).
Pavro sees Ameiko back to the Rusty Dragon and then gathers upon the gear. Seeing the missing goblin ears and hearing about Hosk's bounty he sends Aressa to do the bloody work of ear removal while he sorts through the mercenaries gear getting it ready for when Ameiko recovers.
Once this is accomplished Pavro says,
"We should head into the tunnels now, I don't like the idea of leaving whatever is down their with more time to scheme and plan."
Goblin goods = 150gp
1 set of courtiers's clothes, 1 set of travel clothes = 15.5gp
3 masterwork leather armor = 240gp
1 set of studded leather armor, 4 leather armor, 3 light wooden shields, 1 light steel shield, 2 bucklers = 46.5
2 longbows = 75gp
1 shortbow = 15gp
4 light crossbows = 70gp,
80 bolts and 60 arrows = 7gp
1 masterwork longsword = 157.5gp
1 longspear, 2 shortswords, 6 longswords, 8 daggers = 131gp
Total = 907.5gp
With 10% Favored Sun sales bonus = 998.25gp
Plus 200gp = 1198.25gp Plus whatever we get for the goblin ears.
"As a point of contention, it is 'the quasit' not Quasit. It sounds more like a type of creature than a specific name of a creature."
You get 20 gp/ goblin ear. Usually, it's 50 gp, but since technically other people killed these, he's setting aside the other 30 to eventually give Ameiko, as she is the closest he can get to paying the one responsible for the death of so many hated beasties.
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Yes, I believe your right Severus. I know more about devils then I do demon, but I believe the Quasit is a type of demon. Sadly I can't recall much more then that. I was hoping that you might know something on the subject of any weaknesses they might possess. Hrm... let me think
Once back at the Rusty Dragon, Marcoul hastily scratches out a note to leave with at the Inn for Shalelu. It details what the group has found so far, as well as their intent to head into the tunnels underneath of the Glassworks to investigate a possible hidden route into Sandpoint. Once the note is written Marcoul will give the letter to the hafling bartender that initially notified the group that Ameiko was missing and requests that she give the elf the note once she sees her again.