Can I tell what is fueling the fire?
~grim and pale faced~I've smelled fire like that before, just not on this plane. This is bad Caldir...VERY bad...
As you continue to observe the ominous pillars of fire and the rubble filled crater area, you notice a large dark shape in a nearby alley that seems to be watching you. Before you can react, the shape steps into the light and reveals itself to be none other that the mayor of Westcrown-Arvanxi Aberian!
He is in terrible conditon-his clothes are filthy and torn, blood cakes his head and hands and stains his clothes here and there, and his expression is one of fear and persecution.
Hello Caldir and...er...friend; sorry if I startled you, is there someplace that we could speak more...discretely?
"How about the alley you just stepped out of?"
Aside to Ragnar:
"It looks bad, which means we need to do something about it if it lies within our power to do so. There are a lot of good people here that we need to protect, and I imagine a lot of not so good ones too."
You're in charge Caldir. Just make sure I don't end up back in a painting...
The three of you slide into the dark alley, apparently unnoticedc.
The Mayor-I’m talking to you because I love this city. I know I’ve not been the best mayor, and those who hate me have plenty of reason to, but what’s happening up the hill will ruin everything. You’ve doubtless heard the rumors—that there’s a devil imprisoned under my home and its infernal power is the source of my manor’s extravagances. Those rumors are correct. The devil’s name is Liebdaga the Twin—he’s an infernal duke from Avernus, and the House of Thrune put him there. But now something’s gone wrong. I caught my majordomo, that b*#*& Crosael, trying to steal the contract that details the conditions of Liebdaga's imprisonment from a hidden safe in my chambers, and now the ruins of my home are crawling with devils, thugs, diabolists, and worse. Seems Crosael’s more than she appeared—not only is she actually a damnable tiefling, but she’s been working for the Council of Thieves all this time!
"It is good to hear you are concerned for something other than your own skin. Where is the contract now? Other than this Tiefling, do you know who else serves the Council, or who actually sits on the Council? The devil is the prisoner of House Thrune? Does House Thrune involved with the Council? Who are the hell knights loyal to in this mess? Do you have a safe place to stay?"
Mayor-I, errr, just happened to have a copy of the contract with me. If you are willing to deal with Liebdaga and the forces trying to free him than I will sign partial ownership of it over to you Caldir. This should grant you a bit of leverage against Liebdaga should you confront him, and you might be able to use your ownership of the contract to bypass some guardians or traps in the Nessian Spiral. It quite clearly states 'The undersigned shall be considered bound by this contract, and shall be granted access to the Nessian Spiral's workings hould the need for repairs or adjustments arise.' There is also a section that mentions what could be a way to shut down the infernal engine safely-somewhere in the Nessian Spiral are five 'cooling pools', where waters fromt he River Styx are drawn in from the Great Beyond to regulate the infernal energies drawn off of the pit fiend, and in the event of a 'cataclysmic failure', like now...., the flow of waters from the Styx can be shut off with the application of a device called a Stygian Keyrod once kept by the Spiral's Keepers. Shutting off this flow of unholy water should throttle the engine's energy output, and hwile this could cause the engine to flater and fail, that's a much preferred solution to the destruction of the engine and the release of Liebdaga.
Mayor-I'm not even sure Crosael is an actual member of the Council. I know she associates with Chammady and Ecarrdian Drovenge, but their father, Vassindio, is head of the Council and he would never sanction such an insane action as trying to loose a pit fiend upon the city. Very bad for business!
The pit fiend Liebdaga is a prisoner of a device called an Infernal Engine. It's what powers, ummm powered, my mansion and House Thrune placed it here as a reward and tool for mayors of Westcrown to use. The previous mayors had ways to communicate with him, but I never bothered with him as the thought of talking to a Duke of Hell is terrifying at best and I haven't the stomach for it. Liebdaga is imprisoned somewhere in the Nessian Spiral and I know a little of the area (I'll give you that info when you get to the rooms he knows) but I never really did much in the Spiral besides make sure the tieflings who lived down there were kept happy with food scraps and disciplined when necessary.
Mayor-To get to the Spiral you will have to make your way through the ruins of my former home. I'm not sure what is left, but I do know that the ground floor of the eastern wing mostly survived and is beign held by that traitor Crosael and her allies.
In the spiral you will find Tunnel Rats, that's what we call the tiefling servitors there. They are a terrifying bunch, and worst of all is the commander of the Keepers-Veladness. He's a dark-eyed, evil-looking mongrel with glowing spidery stripes along the side of his head and his grating voice always sends chills down my spine. If I had to guess, he'll be the one that either has the Stygian Keyrod or knows where it is. Don't trust him!
No ranks in linguistics and can't use untrained.
Is he being honest with me or is he somehow trying to screw me by assigning contract to me? If I don't sense anything wrong then I will go ahead and have him assign the contract to me as below.
"Don't worry Mayor, not much danger of me trusting Veladness. Go ahead and sign the contract over to me and I will deal with Liebdaga. If I find out you are screwing me over, I'll let my friend Ragnar here use you for sword practice. Anything else I need to know?"
You get the sense that you can trust him, but Desna knows he has one of the worst reputations in Westcrown. However, he seems earnest enough and it's been a long time since you have talked to someone this depsperate. Your threat of Ragnar makes him go even paler than he was before, not something you thought could happen.
Avoid the thieves and devils and make yoru way into the Nessian Spiral, find the key rod to shut down the Stygian Cooling Chambers, and then make your way to the Spiral's center to banish or even destroy the pit fiend, certainly weakened by its long imprisonment as a fuel source, before he can regain his power and escape. You are of course welcome to anything you can scavenge from the ruins of my home or treasury.
You had asked about the Hellknights and where their loyalties lie. For the mostpart their loyalties lie with themselves and with power. That should mean House Thrune, but with all this upheavel who knows who will hold the power of Westcrown in the days to come. There is no doubt that they will be fighting with the Dottari over who protects the city now that...this has happened. As for the Thrune monarchy, they have never loved Westcrown. All of this ruckus may be exactly the excuse they need to destroy the old capital once and for all.
I hope you are the hero this city...deserves. Gods know I have done it no favors. Desna with you Caldir!
He signs the contract over to you and then sits and waits for you to make your way further towards the ruins.
http://beta.ditzie.com/gallery/main.php?g2_itemId=76011
There are barricades blocking access to the crater and pillars of flame and a few other buildings still standing besides the remains of the Mayor's home.
"Desna with you Mayor, if you know of a safe place to stay you should head there."
"Come on Ragnar, looks like its time for us to go to work."
Move through the ruins looking for anything useful while heading to the eastern wing.
"A hastily erected barricade of lumber, wagons, rain barrels,
and crates blocks off the street leading into the ruined plaza
beyond. Numerous spears and sharpened lengths of wood
protrude through the barricade to aim at the plaza, and a stack
of wooden boxes and blocks on the left side allow access to the
top of the wall should someone wish to drop down into the
plaza on the other side."
It's a DC 5 climb check over to the other side.
Climb out of the frying pan and into the fire (aka ruined plaza).
Well at least it sounds like I'll get to kill some devils...
As you make it over the top of the wall you are confronted on the back side by a group of Dottari guardsmen. There are six of them and the NCO yells up at you, You there! Stop where you are or you will be fired upon. Go back the way you came; this area is closed to citizens. They are pointing crossbows at you.
I hold up the contract for them to see.
"Gentlemen, i am wounded beyond words, don't you recognize us? Caldir from the Six Trials of Lazarod and Ragnar the winner of the Hellcaller's Cup. We have been appointed by the Mayor to look into this matter on behalf of the City of Westcrown."
Dottari-Oh sure, and I'm the Mayor himself. I've just been sitting here with my servants thinking about what to have for lunch-the fish or the beef. What say you fellows? Snickers from the group.
Give me a diplo check and some RPing...
"I guess we could always kill them Ragnar but I would rather not be bothered, I just cleaned my rapier and dagger this morning."
RPing? What the hell do you think my last post was!
The brash guard blanches and goes pale as you give him a calculating eye, Errr, well let's not be rash. You may indeed be Caldir and Ragnar, but I wouldn't know I'm just a squadman. Let me go for the lieutenant. Just stay there to be sure please. He scurries off and comes back a few moments later with a bleary eyed officer. Officer to the squadman-Good gods Dendron, you are lucky to be alive...he must be in a good mood. Officer to you-Hello there Ser Caldir, sorry if my man here was a little flippant. It's been a tough morning for those of us in the Dottari. Welcome to our post, I am Lieutenant Sathar. How may we aid you and your comrade Ragnar?
"It has been a tough morning for all of us Lieutenant Sathar. My apologies to you and your men, I'm afraid this senseless destruction has put me in a foul mood. Ragnar and I are going in to what's left of the Mayor's residence to try to put an end to these pillars of fire. You can aid us by continuing to do your job out here. And a prayer to Desna probably wouldn't hurt!"
LT Sathar-Speaking of aid, is there any way you could help us? Two noble families have homes right in this area points out two large mansions near the ruins of the Mayor's home and have asked for our help in securing their homes and saving any survivors. The problem is that with the Dottari spread thin dealing with unrest throughout the rest of Westcrown because of this explosion, we don't have the men to spare to do the job. In addition, I swear last night as we were setting up a perimeter here that I saw a few creatures slipping into the buildings. Not sure what exactly is happening, but I'm afraid that powers wishing Westcrown ill are gathering to make this current catastrophe even worse. Is there any way that you two could do this task? The families have promised a hefty reward and I'm sure they'd be greatful to whomever did this deed.
"Its probably related to everything else going on here so Ragnar and I will check it out. What are the names of the families and how many people are we looking for in the homes?"
LT Sathar looks relieved-Thank you Caldir! I had feared for the fate of me and my men from the ire of these families. The families are Mhartis and Rasdovian he says pointing out each of the 2 homes around the cratered area. They didn't say how many people we should look for, just that we should check the houses and look for survivors. If we had more men we would have done that just as part of securing the perimeter, but as it is we only have enough to hold these two barricades. Points off a ways to where you can see a similar barricade.
"Let's go Ragnar, no time like the present."
Head towards the closer home.
+4 is for the helm, helps on visual perception only
"The eastern corner of this one-story wooden guardhouse has
collapsed, exposing a hallway and a pair of storerooms. The
twisted and mangled remnants of what was once an iron gate
lie in a heap in the middle of the rubble."
You recognize the remains of the iron gate as the one that provided entry to the grounds of Aberian's Folly-the Westcrown mayoral crest is still somewhat visible amid the ruins.
There are three doors and a crumbled wall section that you can enter through.
Are we in the right place. Wanted to check out the Mhartis and Rasdovian homes first.
If so, enter the crumbled wall section.
This building appears to be some type of guard house that would protect the entrance to the mansion; not uncommon in Westcrown during these uncertain times. During times of distress, families would rally to this building as it is the most secure structure in the compound usually.
You move close to the crumbled wall seciton when your nose picks up the distinct smell of guano and your eyes note that the room beyond is lined with a huge host of bats. They appear to be sleeping, for now...
Are these normal sized bats or some sort of giant or dire bats?
I point to the bats in case Ragnar missed them and wave him back, then I slowly back up as quietly as possible so as not to disturb the bats. I point towards the nearest of the 3 doors and approach.
Normal sized, but there are a LOT of them...
You hear the noise of three or four men on the otherside of the room. They appear to be making small talk.
Small talk, why would people sit around making small talk in the middle of a crisis, especially it they needed help securing their homes and were worried about their very survival. His suspicions raised, Caldir stops for a moment to listen to what they are saying. Questions course through his head: Do they really sound like people in need of help, if not, what is going on here?
Setting your ear to the door you can discern that there are four distinct voices. They appear to be guardsment discussing their protection detail for 'the master' and what they will do when this is all over with.
Whisper to Ragnar: "Something's not right here Ragnar, keep your eyes and ears open, and be ready for anything."
Then knock and open the door.
"This area is being evacuated, do you gentlemen require any assistance?"
Take in the contents of the room.
Four men, with finely crafted breastplates and shields, are standing about talking with each other. When they hear your voice they look up and immediately upon seeing your face It's HIM! draw longswords and attack!
The room (20'x20') looks like a guard room with some cots, table with chairs, and basic furnishings. There is a door to in the back left of the room.
"Yes, its me!" Slice and dice them.
You quickly slice through the first two of them; a startled gurgle is all that escapes their lips.
The other two silently cut at you:
But their blades are no match for your defenses.
Sorry about this fellas, nothing personal...
Ragnar's first strike cuts clean through a third guardsmen, but he stumbles on some debris throwing off his second strike.
Gorum!
Your action top of round 2.
"Something else is here Ragnar!"
You slice the last man to ribbons and he falls to the floor.
***end of comabt***
Something else, eh? Hope it's a devil...
"Something may have been controlling these men."
Open door at back left of room, don't want to give someone more time to escape or get ready for us.
"This small office features a single desk and chair. A strange
scent, like that of thick loamy soil, fills the room."
The room is 10'x10' and there are no windows or doors leading out from it.
Sensing something at the last moment, you dodge aside as a large pale-grey skinned man-thing drops from the ceiling hammering at you with two wickedly clawed hands.
I would have thought my guards more...effective. Oh well, more fun for me. It will be my greatest pleasure to taste your blood Caldir.
Taste my steel first villan!
I have got to stop jabbering and start connecting...
"They only thing of mine you'll taste is my steel you filth!"
Three of your four blows hammer into the humanoid, causing it to hiss out in pain; as it does so the its body transforms into a smokey mist and seeps through the cracks in the walls leaving the room empty for the moment.
Based on which wall it seeped out, head in that direction in the building.
"Ragnar keep your eyes open for a coffin, looks like more damn vampires!"