Marissel nods quickly, motioning forward with his gun as Jakob looks back to see if everyone is ready.
Lyla hangs in the back and let the big fighters barge in first.
Karri nods, focused on quelling her inner voices she herself is silent.
Ortik nods from the back to Jakob. "Let's get him," he says grimly.
The air in this large room is somewhat chilly and stinks of the river, no doubt thanks to a huge opening in the floor that drops away to the river shore five feet below. Several pilings emerge from the waters to support the roof above, with mossy ropes slung between them. In two places, rusty manacles hang from the ropes over the water. Two five-foot-wide walkways cross the hole’s edge to the other side of the chamber, where a collection of old cabinets, lockboxes, and piles of clutter are strewn about. Chipped porcelain plates, a cracked goblet, badly rusted silverware, an old wooden shield with a crossbow bolt embedded in it, the odd dinged helm, and other “treasures” litter the floor of this entire chamber. Three tables, their tops heaped with additional clutter, stand amid this mess, while just west of that a wooden door seems to provide access to a walled-off section.
Inside the room, you hear voices.
"Boss, come on. We need to go! Now!"
"I'm not goin' anywhere. They're likely to catch me goin' over the water. I'm staying here. Let 'em come. I'm ready."
"Gaedren, you can't be serious. If we stick around, we're as good as dead! They're not here yet; we can still get outta here if we hurry!"
In the back of the room you can see an old man clad in ragged noble's clothes arguing with two other men carrying bows & longswords.
You all know who the old man is. His reputation for utter cruelty precedes him in many ways. He snatches children off the streets from their parents, he murders innocent people to spread fear, and creates shiver to ruin the lives of countless others.
Gaedren Lamm.
He looks up as he hears the boards of the room *creak*. He yells. He points an accusing finger at Jakob as he steps in. "You're responsible for all this, aren't ya?! I'll take it out of your hide, you worthless s**t-stain of a moth!"
Demitri follows behind Jakob, and Gaedren starts to pale. "You! How'd you find me?! I thought I paid good jink to keep your ilk off my back!"
Marissel enters. Gaedren's fingers twitch. "Oh, you again? Say, real sorry about your brother there--tragic. Ya know, I always felt you'd make a better partner than he ever did--"
He's cut off by the sight of Ortik entering behind him. A confused look crosses his face--the guard on his left, however, snarls. "Just didn't have the good sense to stay dead, did you, Squat?!"
Gaedren turns. "Wait, you know that one?"
"Only that he doesn't die when he oughta."
Gaedren looks back in time to see Lyla follow. His mouth starts frothing with rage. "You--!! YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE DEAD! I SHOULD'VE FED YOU TO GOBBLEGUT WHEN I HAD THE CHANCE!"
When Karri finally enters, only then does Gaedren realize he's neck-deep in it.
"…oh, sod."
He pulls out a hand crossbow and fires it at the alligator sleeping in the water.
The bolt strikes the beast squarely in its back. The alligator awakens and roars!
"GOBBLEGUT! SIC 'EM!"
It's now or never.
Fate has decreed it. And you are its instrument.
He will die.
Lyla throws a bomb over the people in front of her and peeks trhough their legs to see if it hits her target–the hated Gaedren Lamm.
"Gaedren Lamm. You have failed this city."
Demitri double moves across the walkway.
"Name's Ortik," the dwarf replies to Lamm and his cronies. "And I've come on behalf of Old Man Hartleby. A good man is paying for your crime, Lamm, and like a dishonest spice merchant, the scale cries out to be balanced." He steps back in shock as the massive crocodile writhes in the water before him. "You sure do grow them big down here. I wonder, do you think Gobblegut will care when we feed you to him?" As he speaks, he withdraws his herbs and weeds harvested from the streets. He crushes them in his hands, whispers to them, then scatters them skyward. They land upon his compatriots, lending them aid in their righteous cause.
Jakob takes one look at Lamm and his face changes, a mask of hatred twisting his normally placid features. He rushes up behind Demitri, swinging his hammer around the old guardsman at the first of Lamm's guards.
Seeing the bastard that had her man murdered Karri calls to Legion. They come howling through her flesh and take control. Her scarred form sprints towards the nearest guard, her fingers curled into claws. As she gets close she pushes one of those claw-hands into her own chest and pulls out the power to blind stun and shatter the meat-bags that must be destroyed. From inside her own body, Karri watches with a detached fascination: This is power! She suppresses a shudder as the Legion begins to gibber and froth. The magic is pushed out and away from her into the men, spraying them with vibrant hues of red, green and yellow and blue. The smell of corruption comes from her body as she screams and rants in language unknown to any living thing.
Marissel snarls at Lamm's careless mention of his brother. He takes careful aim with his gun and fires. The resulting bang echoes loudly in the small room.
Ortik's bless spell settles in, instilling you all with hope.
Demitri gets in the face of Gaedren's right-hand man, his sword's edge sharpening to a fine point.
Lyla's bomb arcs over the alligator's pool... landing squarely at Gaedren's feet. The old man curses and throws his arms up to protect himself as the bomb explodes. It doesn't help him much.
His flunkies don't fare much better.
Jakob swings his hammer, the reach on it allowing him to target Rightie. Rightie yells "S**T!" and staggers backward away from the swing.
Marissel's gunshot rings out and catches Gaedren squarely in the gut. The old man doubles over, spitting out blood.
Karri's color spray lashes out...
...and blasts them all.
Gaedren staggers back, howling "MY EYES! YOU SCARRED B*TCH, MY EYES!"
His henchmen crumple, looking more like garish buffoons than hired thugs.
Gobblegut, in his fury, starts blindly thrashing about, targeting...
2=Karri
3=Leftie
4=Gaedren
5=Rightie
6=Demitri
7=Jakob
...Leftie, of all people.
However, he can't seem to get a good enough grip on the sides of the pool to clamber up to where he can bite him.
Lyla feels her Dexterity mutagen finally wearing off.
Marissel brings his other hand back and swings, releasing the axe. His hand continues it's motion after the axe leaves his hand, and he reaches down to grab one of the paper cartridges from his pouch, loading it in the gun.
Standard action, throw axe at Lamm
Move action: reload gun with alchemical cartridge.
Karri steps closer to Lamm, she pushes herself to the front of her mind and whispers, "You should have left Velaro alone, flesh bag." She then scrapes a form from her arm and casts it into the blind man's face. An arc of painful electricity leaps from her hand towards Lamm.
Unable to reach Lamm with his hammer, he drops it and draws the scimitar again. Stepping past Demitri and the stunned goons, he hacks at Lamm in a brutal fury.
Demitri growls under his breath as the alligator comes too close for comfort. It would have to be dealt with.
Marissel throws his axe at Lamm and swiftly reloads his pistol. The axe barely misses Lamm's head and buries itself in the wall behind him.
Karri's jolt catches Lamm in the jaw. He spasms--"Nggghh!"--and falls to the floor.
Demitri swings at Gobblegut as it tries to clamber up onto the floor above. His sword catches the alligator in the snout, and it squeals in pain. It topples back into the water with a great *SPLASH!* and ceases to move.
Jakob steps over the fallen guards and begins to hack at Lamm's prone body.
Once. Twice. Threefourfive times. Sixseveneightnine.
Gods above, the man has some issues to work out.
When Jakob is done, you can clean up what's left of Gaedren's body with a mop.
"He is dead. You can stop now." Demitri says to Jakob putting his sword away.
Marissel sighs. It's finally done. He tucks his gun in his belt then walks over to retrieve his axe. But as he walks near Lamm's innards, his smile falters. What did he mean partner?
Once his axe is back in it's place, Marissel begins searching the two henchmen.
Jakob steps back, panting, wiping Lamm's blood away from his eyes with the back of an arm. He looks around at the faces around him, seeing only friends, and then pulls the scimitar out of the mess of gore that was one Gaedren Lamm. Slowly his breathing returns to normal. He wipes the blade of his weapon clean and sheathes it.
"So ... it's over," he says.
Once Marissel finishes searching the two thugs, he begins to drag their bodies over to the south side of the room, and dumps them off, so they lay shore of the river below.
On the thugs' unconscious bodies, you find:
-2 Tanglefoot bags
-2 Thunderstones
-2 potion bottles containing a pale blue liquid
-2 longbows sized for Medium creatures, with 2 quivers containing 10 arrows each
-2 longswords sized for Medium creatures
-2 suits of studded leather armor sized for Medium creatures
-2 coin pouches containing 48 gp each
The thugs land with a *THUMP* on the beach below.
The water around Gobblegut's body is starting to turn red.
"It is over. We should get out of here and check on the children."
Demitri will open the door to the last room.
Karri's body sways in time with Jakob's swings, her eyes glowing that sickly green. In her mind, she fights for control reaching and pulling herself back into her own body. Closer to Abyss, little girl she chides herself. Be more careful...though Lamm did deserve what he got... The scarred woman's eyes go back to their natural color and she smiles, her hands relax and she simply enjoys the mess that has been made of Lamm.
While Demitri checks the room, Marissel terriers to see if he can salvage anything from the wreck that is Lamm.
Searching Lamm's gibs, you find:
-A masterwork dagger
-A masterwork hand crossbow with 10 bolts
-A ring of keys.
This foul-smelling room seems to be a combination bedroom and study. A wooden bed with a lumpy mattress stands against the east wall, while a round table heaped with dirty plates, bread crusts, stained goblets, fruit rinds, and scuttling cockroaches sits nearby. At the foot of the bed sits a large strongbox, a slighty rusted lock securing its lid. A sagging dresser filled with moth-eaten clothes well past their glory days is in one corner—what appears to be a wooden hatbox surrounded by a small cloud of flies sits atop this dresser.
A lump appears in Ortik's throat as Jakob strikes down Lamm, ending his menace with several cleaving strikes, even after his soul has fled. By all that is holy, please, let this bastard have written down proof of his deed. His word was all that could free the Old Man.
He silently follows Demitri into the adjoining room, and he heads directly to the table. He shoos the cockroaches away, digging through the heaps of dirty dishes in the hopes that Lamm left some clue to his misdeeds. He spies the lock out of the corner of his eye. "There's a foot locker in here that could use some gentle persuasion to open," he calls to the rest of the group.
On hearing Ortik's request, Marissel enters, ring of keys handling in his hand. He hands the keys to Ortik, then stares curiously at the wooden hat box. Eventually, curiosity gets the better of him and he walks over to open it.
Ortik snorts to himself as Marissel hands him a keyring. "These picks out to do the job, thanks very much." Once he satisfies himself that there's nothing interesting on the table, he heads to the strongbox, unlocks it, and opens it.
It takes a bit of fiddling, but you manage to fit one of the keys into the rusted lock and turn it. There is a *click*, and the lid pops open.
Inside the strongbox are thirteen bundles wrapped in cloth & tied shut with twine, as well as a thin book with a brown cover. The book has several dark stains of dubious nature on its cover.
The bundles contain the following:
-a narrow teak cigar case inlaid with bits of jade (25 gp)
-a 2-pound gold ingot bearing the Cheliax coat of arms (100 gp)
-a miniature gold crown (350 gp)
-a fist-sized scrimshaw carving of a kraken with garnets for eyes (200 gp)
-a silver ring bearing the inscription 'For Emmah, the light in my nights.' (150 gp)
-a highly realistic & highly scandalous figurine of two entwined succubi (450 gp)
-a masterwork shuriken
-an adamantine arrowhead
-an abalone-shell holy symbol of Shelyn (300 gp)
-a tiny glass tube containing a dose of oil of keen edge
-an obsidian wand
-a crystalline vial containing a dose of silversheen (Vial is worth 50 gp)
-a bejeweled, circular, golden brooch with a broken clasp. It depicts a pseudodragon & an imp coiled around each other in a yin-yang pattern. The pseudodragon's eye is an amethyst, whereas the imp's eye is an emerald. Even to the untrained eye, it's clearly the most valuable treasure of the lot. (1000 gp)
A foul odor assaults your nostrils as you open the hatbox.
Inside, you find a head, poorly preserved and coated with crude, unsightly makeup to give it a semblance of life.
It's Zellara's head.
And beneath it is a smaller wooden box.
Marissel jumps back, the box clattering to the floor. Zellara's head rolls, seemingly endless till it comes to rest at Marissel's feet. He stares at it, then finally stoops down, inspecting the severed head. He shivers throughout his short inspection.
At last, he gets up, seeming to have learned nothing, and walks over to where the wooden box lays on the ground. He picks it up and begins to inspect that.
Opening the wooden box, you find a deck of Harrow cards.
Karri does not even flinch as Zellara's head tumbles out onto the floor. Hahahaha! You have been tricked, fooled! You should have let us guide you! Karri leans over with Marissel and examines the head. "We have been duped; we have never met this woman. At least not as she was. The remnant is weeks dead." Her face is a mask, Lamm dead. A ghost sending us on errands. Or, someone using her face to send us on errands...
Karri takes a moment with the wand to discover it's purpose. "I have no idea. Anyone else?"
After Lamm and his minions fall, Lyla walks around the room a little stunned. So... this is how it ends? This quick? For all those years? She crouches next to Lamm's disfigured body and stares at it for a while, without moving. An old man chopped to bits. I expected more from you, Lamm. She cleans his face off the blood until finding the eyes, wide open and empty. She reaches for his face and brings his eyelids down, and then gets up. "So long, old man."
She then sees her teammates are turning the room upside down searching for all kinds of stuff, and worries she might not get the good loot as soon as they see them handling a wand of magic missile.
When Marissel opens the box, she rushes to his side and pushes him, yelling "Hey, grasshead, lemme get some of that too!" She arrives just in time to see the box open, revealing the head of Madame Zellara. She jumps back in horror, and covers her mouth as if that would be enough to keep her breakfast down. "What the f...! Zellara?"
She agrees with Karri's remark. "Yeah, if this is Zellara, then she can't be the one back at the house. This head is old." When the sorceress asks about the wand, she says "Let me hold on to that, I'll take a look at it," disguising the fact that she already knows what it does.
Ortik sorts through the strongbox with a growing franticness. "Papers, papers, come on, you must have written something down in your life, Lamm. A journal, a ledger, something that says - oh, hullo, what are you doing here?" Ortik picks up the beautifully crafted brooch, the gems sparkling in the flickering light.
"Now here's something I never expected to see down here. This brooch might as well be Korvosa. It belongs to the Arabasti line, and by all rights should be in the hands of the good Queen herself. How in the Nine Hells did you come by this, Lamm?"
His eyes also widen as he sees Madame Zellara's head roll onto the ground. "And what in the Nine Hells have we stumbled upon? Someone set us upon Lamm, someone that wore Zellara's form. Must have known her in life. Family, maybe? Varisians have large families, and would go a long way to pay a blood debt. But why the subterfuge like this? Makes no sense."
"This makes no sense. We should gather all this and hurry back to see 'Zellara'."
"Before you go charging back, Demitri, think about this - what use does whoever set us on Lamm have for us, now that he's dead? Look at the facts. Word on the street is that Lamm is making mistakes after years of being careful, and there's definitely something going on here bigger than just the Lambs. My guess? His part in whatever is going on is over, and he realized that his partner wants to tie up loose ends. So they get some patsies, blinded by vengeance and righteousness to do their dirty work for them. Hell, they don't even need to pay them - Lamm's lifeblood is all the reward they need. So, now that the patsies have finished the job, what's the next step?"
Ortik pauses, looking at the rest of the group.
"Kill the patsies."
He lets this sink in for a moment.
"We've been cats-paws this whole time. We might have originally come together to fight Lamm, but now we need to stick together. If we go our separate ways, then they can pick us off one-by-one, as neat as you like. Much harder if we don't give them that opportunity. As for the house, you're right, we should check it out, but we should assume that they know we might return there, and have set an ambush." His face is grim as he realizes just how deep this mess has suddenly gotten.
"But we sent the children back there. I'm not losing her again..." That familiar sadness begins to seep back into his features. "We need a plan. We have Lyla scout while we back her up. Once we get the go ahead, we'll make our way in and see who this 'Zellara' really is."
The book you found is a journal that Lamm kept. For the most part, the early entries in the book aren't particularly relevant to the Old Man: mostly they detail the hauls his 'little Lamms' brought in.
Some of the more recent entries, however, catch your eye.
29 Abadius, 4711 AR
One of the Lamms brought in the most curious thing: a pretty, bejeweled brooch. Bloody thing looks like it came off the neck of the Queen herself. Gave the kid an extra sweet roll for his trouble. Takes a lot of balls to try something like that; I'll hold onto it, maybe it'll be good leverage with our dear old 'Queen.'
5 Calistril, 4711 AR
Well, this week just turned right to s**t, didn't it?
Hartleby wouldn't go along with it. Here I was, just wanting to see if any of his people would be so kind as to help out an honest merchant in need, and he tells me to bugger right the hell off! Who the hell does he think he is?! Doesn't he know who I am?!
Well, if the bastard won't play along, he can sit in Citadel Volshyenek for the rest of his (probably short) life. It was a simple matter to have one of my agents frame him for murder. He didn't like the disguise Giggles made for him--said it was 'too sodding obvious.' I told him it wouldn't make a difference if there's an eyewitness against the Old Man. Gartaman Raelk better be willing to play ball; if he squeals, he'll soon gain a new appreciation for what his catch of the day goes through every morning.
Well, the guard had Hartleby hauled in anyway. He went willingly! One wonders why he can't extend that same courtesy to me? Maybe he'll be more open-minded when he's due for the gallows...
...well, if that sodding rat bastard of a partner Devargo didn't up and cut me loose. Blighter's the only one who knew how to make the damn stuff, and Yargin's too bloody stupid to pick up where he left off.
I'll think of something.
"That'd be the smart move, Demitri. If we've sent those kids back to a trap, and they've done something to them, then may the gods grant mercy upon them, for they won't find any from me. Whenever everyone's ready, we need to get going, for their sake more than ours."
As everyone examines the room, Ortik leafs through the journal. "Well, one of the Lamms did nick the Queen's brooch. Or at least an incredibly well done forgery. I've no eye for that myself, though I expect anyone caught with a forged brooch that's been in the Arabasti line for generations is first in line to get their neck stretched. He says he wanted to keep it for leverage on the Queen - I wonder what sort of leverage Lamm could possibly have on Ileosa..."
He grows quiet as he reads one of the early entries in Calistril. He reads the pages intently, over and over, as though committing every word to memory. Finally, he shuts the book, and a grim smile crosses his lips. "I've got what I came for. Assuming they'll accept this as proof that Lamm framed the Old Man, that is. One more thing - after we check in on the kids, we've got another name to look into. Devargo. He was Lamm's chemist, I think. We find him, we find out more about what Lamm's operation was all about."
Except Lyla, who can hold the deck without feeling that lethargic sensation.
The others toss the room, and Jakob watches, distracted. He had thought killing Lamm would be enough, that when it was done, and Hannah was back at home that life could return to normal, but something had happened to him. He's drenched in blood, and as sickening as the thought is, it feels right. He can't go back to loading ships in the harbor, not after this.
Zellara's head falls out, and they all stare for a moment. The others speak, and he listens, but it is hard to comprehend. She had been so sweet, and just this morning, they had all eaten together around her table. There are questions to be asked, but surely this cadn't be the same woman. It makes no sense. Then Ortik and Demitri speak of danger to the children.
Jakob stalks back to the corner where he dropped his hammer. He picks it up and looks at the others.
"Hannah's going there," he says, as if that is all there is to say, and then he turns for the exit.
Marissel holds his stomach, he doesn't look well. He watches Lyla blankly for a minute as she goes around gathering things. Then, as his legs are about to give way under him he tosses the harrow deck to Lyla, Here's something else for you. As soon as the cards leave his hands he stands tall again, his color returning to its natural blue.
He listens to the conversations about Zellara and her imposter. He nods. We should go check on the kids. This could be a very dangerous game indeed. He thinks back to his first meeting, trying to remember any hints. Then a thought occurs. It might actually be her spirit somehow. The card that summoned me to her home that night was found in a locked box. And I holds the only key. There were other strange indicators that night as well. He thinks for a minute, looking at the hard faces around him. Then he raises his hands almost as if to defend himself from real blows, I'm just saying we shouldn't go in firing our . . . he looks at his companions weapons, er, swinging our swords.
As you all begin leaving Gaedren's hideout, you smell something mixed with the odor of the harbor. It smells like something burning.
As you go back through the Kraken's Folly, the odor gets stronger. One of smoke. The sound of alarm bells ringing is interlaced with screams, moans and the clashing of steel on steel. A periodic detonation of arcane power occasionally overpowers them all.
Stepping out in front of the fishery, you finally see what's happening.
Korvosa is burning.
A wing of Sable Company griffon riders swoops overhead, angling toward Castle Korvosa at a breakneck pace. One of the mounts is badly wounded, raining blood down into the street before crashing into a statue, shattering it.
Amid the chaos, the voice of a Korvosan herald cuts through the din: “The king is dead! Long live the queen!” only to be shouted down by ragged cries of “Hang the queen!” and “The usurper whore must die!”
So passes Eodred Arabasti, the Second of his Name.
Through an alleyway, you can see a contingent of iron-clad knights with horned helms pursuing what appears to be a small gang of looters. Their swords are dripping with blood, and several bodies lie dead at their feet.
Knowledge: Local
"Hellknights," Jakob mutters, watching them in pursuit of the looters. [i]They're probably stealing, but is it really necessary to kill the looters? He hesitates for a moment, then shakes his head. Hannah could be in danger, again, because he was fool enough to allow her to leave his sight, again. "We don't have time for them."
A riot? How ironic. Karri nods at Jakob's words. "He's right, we don't need to be out in this mess." Her voices however, have much to say as they exult in the apparent chaos around them...