Variel turns to the study of his scroll of Masterwork Transformation.
He then focuses on his familar as it sits in the long hair on the side of his head and it whispers new arcane knowledge in his ear.
Ruber nods happily when remembering Betina. "Aye sometimes she was, I don't remember her longing for home as this was her home and always has been. Maybe wherever she is she is longing to get back here, who knows? I hope you do find her soon. Thanks for bringing me some news at least."
Ruber looks over at the armour you are offering him and mulls over the news you brought. "I can get this refitting done fairly swiftly and that armour is quite good quality. I'll give you a bit of gold and get this sorted for you by the afternoon, my little helpers have a trick or two up their sleeve to get this finished sooner." Ruber nods at the halflings in the shop and they run to get their tools.
One of the halflings speaks up from below the pair. "Ah don't worry we only really work for big folk. None of us small ones are fighters or soldiers, so we just make it for the town guard and any would-be traveler than can spare the time in craft." The halfling smiles and carries on with the work.
When the party is all ready to go they leave town, catching up with Chara she is complaining a little that they took so long but ceases her tirade when they get moving towards the mansion. Chara tries to make small talk with the group on the journey there. The conversation seem to lead to just idle chit-chat about what people enjoy doing, Chara herself is talking like what they are currently on is some grand adventure.
Upon reaching the mansion the place is as they left it aside from one small difference, there is a set of regurgitated bodies left near the main doorway. They look to be half digested with dried stomach bile. No-one recognizes the bodies that are left in the pile.
Going past the bodies back into the mansion the group passes the place where they last fought. After a few twists and turns through empty barren hallways the group pass a door from where large groaning noises are emanating. The door is a large double door likely leading into an atrium. Past that door at the end of the wing is a locked purple door, the brightly coloured door is extensively out of place in such a dank mansion, it also looks new or at least has not become warped or petrified like many of the doors here.
The group is also aware they left a creature down the end of the left wing of the house. Where the group goes is up to them.
Drak would like to go to the smithy and ask about reforging the sword we found. He also would like to to report to them (especially the other halfling) about what they discovered yesterday.
Ruber looks at the sword, How would you like me to reforge this? Do you mean you wish me to change the weapon? Ruber asks inquisitively. The blade seems to have some magic left inside, I take it that is what you wish to keep?"
Yes, I'd like to keep the magic but in another weapon, perhaps something like a rapier. I do not know if such a thing is possible or what the price of doing so would be, however, I wanted to inquire on the matter. Are you able to do such a thing or perhaps know someone else who can? I apologize if I am asking for the impossible, and if so there are additional matters that I came to discuss, namely what we were able to find. If your halfling assistant is here I'd like to address her with this as well.
"It is possible though I think the easiest thing for me to do is transfer this enchantment to another item instead of keeping it on this one. As reforging the metal would take far more time than necessary. Do you have any other weapon in mind to place this on? I can do a rapier like you first suggested." Afterwards he calls in Clarissa to talk to you.
Ruber has the ability to transfer enhancements from weapon and armour to other ones, this takes him 8 hours to do and costs either 100gp per level of enchantment or 100gp worth of residuum.
Clarissa scampers into the main foyer then notices it's you and presents a large smile "Oh heya again, what can I do for you my fine gentleman?"
Drak nods at the blacksmith.
I will return later with an appropriate weapon of masterwork quality. Hopefully no more than a day or two if all goes well. Your assistance has been invaluable and that I hope our dealings will continue to be mutually beneficial.
When Clarissa enter Drak will throw her a smile.
Greetings again Clarissa. I wish I had come with better news. We found no signs of the other halflings. There was a strange magic ritual, a golem, and undead - though the undead encountered was certainly no halfling. I fear the worst but not all hope is lost. We are however currently pursuing several leads. I do have one question - do the words or names 'Snow' or 'The Man in White' mean anything to either one of you?
After they give their answer Drak will thank them. I also ask for your discretion and that you not repeat what is said here too freely. I'd prefer that our enemies not know that we are onto them. Surprise has always been one advantage that I like to keep for as long as possible.
Before they head out, Trogg asks around to see if anyone (bartender, etc.) knows anything about the Fayences caverns - where exactly they are, how large they are, whether anything lives there, etc.
Upon reaching the mansion the place is as they left it aside from one small difference, there is a set of regurgitated bodies left near the main doorway. They look to be half digested with dried stomach bile. No-one recognizes the bodies that are left in the pile.
Are they humanoid or animal? Large or small? Any indication of how recently they were deposited here?
Going past the bodies back into the mansion the group passes the place where they last fought. After a few twists and turns through empty barren hallways the group pass a door from where large groaning noises are emanating. The door is a large double door likely leading into an atrium. Past that door at the end of the wing is a locked purple door, the brightly coloured door is extensively out of place in such a dank mansion, it also looks new or at least has not become warped or petrified like many of the doors here.
Can Trogg tell what might be making the moaning sound? If it sounds like it's emanating from a living creature, can he tell why: pain, sorrow, pleasure, or something else?
The group is also aware they left a creature down the end of the left wing of the house. Where the group goes is up to them.
"We should begin by investigating the room we didn't enter last time. It seems that the contents may provide us with additional clues about what exactly is going on around here."
Drak nods at the blacksmith.
I will return later with an appropriate weapon of masterwork quality. Hopefully no more than a day or two if all goes well. Your assistance has been invaluable and that I hope our dealings will continue to be mutually beneficial.
When Clarissa enter Drak will throw her a smile.
Greetings again Clarissa. I wish I had come with better news. We found no signs of the other halflings. There was a strange magic ritual, a golem, and undead - though the undead encountered was certainly no halfling. I fear the worst but not all hope is lost. We are however currently pursuing several leads. I do have one question - do the words or names 'Snow' or 'The Man in White' mean anything to either one of you?
After they give their answer Drak will thank them. I also ask for your discretion and that you not repeat what is said here too freely. I'd prefer that our enemies not know that we are onto them. Surprise has always been one advantage that I like to keep for as long as possible.
@Drak
Clarissa ponders for a moment "errr, Snow doesn't ring a bell. There was a man in white that came to her house a couple times. He was a lawyer or something from what I heard. He was around before the disappearance of her parents but I doubt he was related. Very much a pencil pusher type. Does that help at all?"
@Trogg
Everyone Trogg asks knows about Fayences caverns. They say it is the main network of caves in the mountain. However every time they get to talking about the entrance they stare off into space and draw a blank before snapping back into reality. They then assume they told you. The last time you heard about this is the cave entrance adventurers were heading off into.
The bodies were deposited here within the last day, there is a mix of animals and humanoid. This is obviously part of another adventuring party, this is such a big gold rush that even greenhorns seem to have come out and they are dying in droves.
Trogg listening at the door can tell the sound is a creature snoring, the way it is doing so likely suggests a muzzle or snout of some kind. He can't tell if it is sleeping soundly or not however, just that it is a sleeping creature.
The barricade is still in place and the creature is still there. There seems to be sign of a fight just outside the place but no dead bodies around here. This could mean people fought out here then left or maybe the creature inside ate them. It is hard to tell from the fight marks around the doorway.
At the end of the west wing of the house past a library which was previously filled with goblins that Jazz ushered out is a doorway. The doorway is barricaded from your side. Inside you can hear the sound of buzzing. The door has a small hole you can look through with bars on it, edging your view closer and looking up you see a fairly large creature strung up on the ceiling. It sounds like something metallic is holding the creature up so is likely chains. Previously when tested a flying leech swarm flew down and attacked what was below the creature before flying back up.
"The plan, as I see it, goes something like this. First we get some sort of magical light into the room and see if we can make out what that thing is. Then we attempt to partially dismantle the barricade, just enough that we can quickly take it down. I call a swarm of bats into the room to distract the leeches for a bit, we take down the barricade and hammer the leeches and the other thing with magic, salt, and whatever ranged weaponry we've got." Trogg's got a sling he can loan someone if they need one.
"I suppose, as an alternative plan, that we could try extracting everything valuable out of the room through the hole in the barricade ship-in-a-bottle style , then go upstairs and collapse the ceiling on the room."
By the way, how difficult would it be to climb the walls inside the room?
Try mage hand, it will be good for a few pounds of weight... or maybe use the mage hand to take salt into where we saw the swarm?
"Whatever that is, chained to the ceiling... we're not yet certain that it's hostile. If it's chained and strung up like that, couldn't it be a prisoner? The leeches we can dispose of without hesitation, but I'd like to know what that thing is before we just pepper it to death with arrows -- or drop the building on it."
Using magical light you can see that there is a pair of feet dangling just above the height of the door in the centre of the room. The leech swarm is drawn to the light up until it disappears. Though you doubt this will distract them if you attack.
Lets do this then. Drak sheaths his weapons and will grab a handful of salt in each hand.
Rikaku will take up a spot just behind the frontline, a little nervous for the upcoming battle. Mainly because the idea of flying bloodsucking leeches was perhaps the scariest thing he'd ever heard of. He'll leave the salt to people with a modicum of competence, and will instead prepare himself by reinforcing his defenses with a mage armor spell.
Variel copies the Kobold in casting Mage Armour.
You summon a swarm of bats, rats, or spiders (your choice), which attacks all other creatures within its area. (You may summon the swarm so that it shares the area of other creatures.) If no living creatures are within its area, the swarm attacks or pursues the nearest creature as best it can. The caster has no control over its target or direction of travel.
I'm not much good against that swarm, but if that's a friend up there I can try to cut him loose if you lure the leeches away...
When the group is ready, Jazz begins removing pieces of the barricade so they can enter.
Grab some salt my good Rybal.
Drak readies himself, his hands full of salt.
Variel arms himself with Salt after his protective wards are up.
The group undoes the barrier, it is loud enough to alert the creature and the leeches to their arrival.
Except for Rikaku who seems to have frozen up knowing there is no barrier between him and the leeches the entire party is reacting faster than the leeches.
The creature on the roof groans as it reacts to new people entering. The party can now see it clearly with the door wide open. The creature is looks like a large bloated human, the body has been elongated and is rotting. In the stomach of the creature there is a gaping wound slowly drizzling out blood. In this wound is a nest of leeches, eggs hanging out about to be hatched, many of the smaller leeches are all over the creature's leg sucking up the blood before it falls from its body. The leeches have been living in this poor thing, for god knows how long.
The creature starts to shake trying to break free from the chains. The group can see now that the chains are going from the roof underneath the creatures arms and piercing it through and through it's body. The chain going in one arm pit and out the other, latching onto to the other wall. It can't break off as it would have to cut its body clean off.
"Looks like more of the siren's work..." Jazz says looking at the wretched victim.
Salt Ranged Touch Attack
Drak throws his two handfuls of salt at the swarm, hoping that it burns the creatures for what they have done.
I hope this works...
Trogg waits until there is a decent mass of leeches somewhere other than the humanoid on the ceiling before calling for bats, which swirl into the room and begin devouring the leeches.
Varies throws his salt, yelling in defiance.
As the door swings open the Leech swarm is greeted by a large cloud of salt being pelted at them. The group hears the leeches crying out in a high pitched squealing sound as their skin melts away.
A bat swarm then attacks the leeches and left in the room is a flurry of flying minute creatures gnashing at each other. The leeches attack the bat swarm back.
The creature on the roof groans and shakes. Three giant leeches land in the centre of the room.
Drak seeing giant leeches hit the ground will draw his weapons. Great. more bloodsuckers
Drak will move, drawing his weapons and using one to strike one of the leeches on the side, preferring his tactics that don't involve head on charges into multiple foes. Once his strike has been made he will promptly draw upon his inner power and turn invisible.
Though he quivers in fright as the rest of the party charges into the room against this grotesque sight, Rikaku eventually summons up enough courage to move into the room and look up at the squealing leeches. He still trembles, but opens his mouth and breathes out a burst of cold fire into the air. The blue flames lick over the two swarms locked in battle with one another, causing frostbite rather than burn wounds.
There is a rush of wings as the remaining bats pour out the door and down the hall, vanishing out of sight.
[...] A swarm takes half again as much damage (+50%) from spells or effects that affect an area, such as splash weapons and many evocation spells.
Variel goes in for another handful of salt.