Aldern? Wabbit asks questioningly
Aldern gives Wabbit an award-winning smile. "Yes, hello my good man. I don't mean to impose, but I am a Lord, if you don't mind." He flashes his signet ring. "Have we met before?"
Well now, Lord Aldern. It is a pleasure to meet you, we are just here with a relation who has come to visit. Pardon us imposing.
The nobleman once again smiles, this time with a nod of respect. He looks around and spots the curious Amaya standing by her manor. "Ah, I see. Not a problem, gents, ladies. I bid you good-day and farewell."
Then he continues his stroll, heading East while humming pleasantly.
Cleo is struck mute, as he walks away. "Ah... um... we should follow him... right?"
Sounds like a plan
"First... Ameiko, this is your sister Amaya. I was meaning to introduce you right and proper, but that man is bad, very bad and we have to follow him.
Keep each other safe until we get back... please." the little halfling looks back and forth between the two, smiles and then says Bye, before hurrying after the others.
Brelin looks around again suspicious of this entire town. She'll speak with the group to see what they think later, but for now she'll follow them in their chase
Well..it suddenly came to me that when it comes to sneaken around, I'm pretty much going to be loud and visible. Never learned how to tiptoe real good.
Cleo is struck mute, as he walks away. "Ah... um... we should follow him... right?"
yeah... But if we ALL follow him, he'll notice for sure. No way he'll fail to notice a BattleBoar walking the street behind him. I wish Maria was here. She could do this better than I. But here's an option. I can disquise myself and follow him for a bit
Relavent skills /items
Disguise +7
Stealth +12
Sleeves of many garments
Let's not split up right now. Too risky.
Ameiko is just starting to recover from the initial grief of the deaths of her friends, when Cleo picks her up and takes her to meet the little sister she never knew existed. Though not by much, Ameiko is old enough to have been Amaya's mother, and the motherly instinct kicks in quickly. Ameiko recognizes Aldern Foxglove from his time in Sandpoint, and hurries Amaya into the house before Cleo even gets the chance to warn them.
Wabbit uses his sleeves of many garments to create a disguise to look like a peasant. Since the magic doesn't cover anything other than clothing and armour, Wabbit hands his weapons and other gear to his teammates. After getting ready, he begins to trail Foxglove, who hasn't gone far with his stroll. Though the distance isn't far, Aldern is frustratingly slow. He has conversations with a few people, though nothing more than small talk. He drops a few coins into the hat of a homeless man, and he later orders some tea from a restaurant and people-watches at an outdoor table. Finally, after what must have been at least an hour, he strolls home to a three-story townhouse. It's only two blocks away from the Kaijitsu manor. He takes out a key from his jacket, takes a look at his golden pocketwatch, and then unlocks the door and heads inside. At no point did Wabbit feel like he noticed the halfling's presence.
Wabbit returns to the group he's in a townhouse three blocks from here. Just went in very casual, looked like a normal day for him... Don't think he noticed me
"I assume that is his townhouse, the one we are supposed to investigate." Cleo sighs "He is behind closed doors, should we go confront him. It would be better than in the middle of the street, don't you think?"
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Getting right into kick in the door? We haven't even had Elevensies yet.
"Not kick. Knock. Talk, determine what we are dealing with, then start kicking if need be." Cleo says, still flummoxed at what is happening.
He couldn't be expecting us. He's right now figuring out what to do as well, he knows we'll come eventually. I agree with Cleo, we should go now
The group, minus Ameiko and Amaya, walk the few blocks over to the Foxglove townhouse. It's a three-story tall building, with the first two floors whitewashed, while the third floor is painted navy blue. While it isn't nearly as lavish as some of the noble estates in Magnimar, it's still far beyond what any commoner could hope to afford.
The group can see that there is a walled off backyard behind the townhouse, as well as what's likely a shed.
This area is regularly patrolled by guards, including on occasion paladin orders and Hellknights.
Cleo remembers that she has two keys from fighting a ghast, and Foxglove himself. One is a fairly normal steel key, with gold inlay and the Foxglove family arms. The other is a very long bronze key, with the head of a lion on the handle.
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"So we knock and if that doesn't work, we try the keys?" she asks the others. And if no one argues against it she'll reach for the door's knocker, and realizes it is not halfling height, so will look up at Furnock, "Um, could you?"
Furnok knocks the knocker.
So what ar we going to talk about? That weird disease? His sister?
why would we talk about that...when we can talk about his undying admiration of YOU!??
"Oh! He might have more pictures." Cleo teases... somewhat. "You sensed evil, didn't you Wabbit? I saw your nose twitch like it does when you smell something bad."
Yup... This Aldern is evil. Hold on Wabbit begins to evil-Dar the house trying to sense Aldern
What pictures? Hmm..He might have been the one who stole them from us
Furnok knocks on the door with an ornate lion's head doorknocker, and shortly afterwards Aldern answers. With his award-winning smile, he greets them.
"Good day to you, gents and ladies. We met earlier today, did we not? What might I do for you?"
"Yes, sir." Cleo starts hesitantly amazed it is him still "Um... we're from Sandpoint, Cleo Gingerberry is my name and these are my friends." she'll introduce each of them quickly. "I was wondering if we could have a moment of your time inside. There is something very important we need to talk to you about."
Quite a lot has been happening in sleepy little Sandpoint. I'm not even sure where to begin. This story requires tea. Does any of your staff have a pot of tea on?
Indeed Lord Aldern, especially in regards to your Sandpoint property
Without missing a beat, the nobleman replies "Certainly. Please come in, I'll have Iesha put a kettle on."
The inside of the Foxglove townhouse is quite stunning. White marble tile makes up the flooring, save for a carpet at the main entrance. The place does look a little empty, however. There aren't any paintings on the walls, and the room to the left is completely empty. Coming out of the dining room is none other than Iesha Foxglove, who curtsies respectfully before welcoming everyone into the home.
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Iesha?... What the.... I am SOOO confused
Not much of a deceiver, Cleo just starts into accusations.
"Who are you?" Cleo's tone turns firm once the doors are closed "You are both dead." Cleo points at Iesha "He killed you. We saw your body. And you..." she points to Aldern "You turned into something horrible, went on a murder spree even Sandpoint has never seen, and then... we killed you."
So once again, Who Are You?"
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cutting right through the small talk ... No BS. She's getting more and more like her mom. which isn't a bad thing. Cleos mom is a formidable woman
Well this escalated quickly, and here I was about to compliment Iesha on her lovely house.
Without a care in the world, Aldern Foxglove turns his back to the party. With his right hand in a pristine white glove, he snaps once. A terrible explosion bursts from beneath the carpet, covering everyone in flame. Aldern and Iesha both disintegrate immediately, showing absolutely no emotion. Bacon gets thrown right out of the room, cooked and crispy. Only Aggah manages to escape unscathed, for she was hiding behind a pillar. The house is engulfed in flame, burning quickly.
evasion
evasion
She stares at the man waiting for him to answer or charge them, her hand on the little hilt of her dagger, and then...
Fire, FIRE, . She screams in pain and fear, dropping down to her knees she grabs her holy symbol and prays with all her might to heal them all.
Furnok and Bacon's lives flash before their eyes as the blast lifts them off their feet and toss them into the air. Bacon narrowly avoids becoming breakfast and getting replaced with his cousin, Brisket due to Cleo's healing energy but Furnok still ends up draped over a lamppost.
It's an illusion, we've been tricked!
Brelin's first thought is to look for a foe to strike, only after does she acknowledges her burned body
Cleo reactively heals everyone as soon as she can, while Brelin scans for an enemy to hex. Though guards are running towards the townhouse, they are still a long ways away. Both Aldern and Iesha are nothing but burnt husks now, and nothing else stirs but the survivors, and the flames. The fire may not do anything to the marble floor, but the wallpaper is burning up quickly. Soon enough there will be a blaze around the townhouse.
Was this just for us? An entire manor destroyed just to get to us?
Still looking around, she starts to move out of the house
This place will soon be an inferno, we should leave
Wabbit feels proud at the sight of Cleo channeling her formidable mother....and then that proud warmth turns into fire... gods I'm soo stupid
Wabbit survives the blast like he always does, by Chaldira's grace, that and having someone nearby to patch him back up Follow the dead evil villain into his lair. What could go wrong?
Seeing the blaze intensify Wabbit realizes that the neighboring townhouses need to be evacuated
Someone get the house on the right. I'll get the house on the left. We need to make sure they evacuate
"We should...get back to Ameiko and Amaya NOW" Cleo coughs out, and starts hurrying back. After healing everyone again.
Furnok and Bacon hobble off down the road.
Cleo channels another burst of healing as everyone starts hobbling away from the building. Neighbors are quickly exiting their houses, mostly out of curiosity for what transpired. Soon enough, this place will be swarming with guards, and hopefully a water line. The Cobbled Shield does not want to be involved in such things, so they make a beeline for the Kaijitsu house.
Though it's unclear how many people would be reliable witnesses that the adventurers were there, the Cobbled Shield manages to make it to the house without any interference. Ameiko and Amaya open the door for them, and fetch some ice for the burns. Indeed, this house features a magical cooling room. The wonders of magical engineering.
"So that loud bang... what happened?" Ameiko asks.
"It was a trap. Of course it was a trap." Cleo feels like an idiot. "We knocked, were let in, and then the place exploded in fire. It is only by Erastil's will we're still alive." look up at the two sisters "How are you two? Did you start talking yet, about who you both are and why your father would have kept you separated from each other?"
Cleo will talk while placing a hand on their friendly boar, pushing healing energy into him.
[ooc[droppping two spells from her sheet, strike throughs[/ooc]
The two sisters are infinitely more concerned about the adventurers, but Ameiko does mention that it turns out her father was not the 'loyal, faithful husband' he claimed to be. Practically living multiple lives, he was married to two women at once, and managed to keep them oblivious to it.
After a bit of rest, and a fair bit of healing energy, it is time to decide what to do. The sun will set in a couple hours, but there's no curfew here, and Magnimar is RELATIVELY safe during the night.