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Kuch and Midnight take lead and climb down bravely into the unknown, effortlessly rappelling down the rope they've secured up top.
Broken bedrock, hunks of wattle, and splintered lumber—all lightly dusted with sea salt—sink into the mud. The lurching profile of a bowed and broken structure stands here, its walls little more than rows of warped timber, covered in withered vines, that converge at strange angles. The door on this side of the wall appears to be missing from its frame. The fog remain thick at the bottom obscuring a lot of your sight save for the rough outline of the building and the stairs nearby.
Agent Midnight sneaks around, as always.
Before they reach Dahlia, Baltoros takes the group aside. "What's strange to me is that thus far there seem to be only two people who have been in the manor recently: Justerian, and his killer. Yet there were two different divine signs, one for Milani and one for Urgathoa. The easy answer would be to assume that Justerian had converted to worship Milani. Yet we shouldn't discount the possibility that Justerian have been a worshiper of the Pallid Princess either. Seems unlikely, though living in fetid squalor isn't exactly outside her realm of specialty." He pulls on his beard absent-mindedly. "Let's keep this theory to ourselves when we speak to Dahlia, but it might be good to keep this possibility in mind for our investigation."
When the party meets with Dahlia, Baltoros (again?) asks if Justerian's nature had changed in the time leading up to his disappearance.
"Alright, let's consider the intel we collected."
"A young lad wanted to join the Bloody Barbers, but he learned they were hunting for the killer as well. The killer was targeting former slaves. They know the killer wore metal armor and seemed to have difficulty controlling the right side of their body."
"A gang of kobolds found the body of a half-elven cleric, perhaps the one the Bloody Barbers had rumored about. Unclear. They found a letter on the cleric, noting several former slaves the writer was trying to help in the name of Milani."
"Justerian was attacked and killed. Murder weapon: a club, probably blunt trauma. Elements of Milani and Urgathoa were present. A letter written by someone with the initial W, urged him to live elsewhere."
"If Justerian isn't religious, then whomever worshipped Milani, perhaps this W person, tried to find him but found the killer instead." Her eyes narrow. "This person seems to have a list of the targets right here."
Overhearing the conversation, Dahlia interrupts with a comment, "As far as I know, he occasionally did speak of a priest of Milani. In fact, it was the priest that recommended him to take the job at this very place, or so he told me!"
Midnight realises something is amiss about the whole thing and attempts to start the discussion, and it continues as you make your way back to the Pathfinder Lodge.
Upon returning to Ambrus Valsin, he listens curiously to your findings, and ask you the question. "Let's assume everything you've found for a moment is somehow connected, what can you decipher about the Rose Street Killer so far?" He asks the team before he provides you your final assignment.
Balistar peers into the hole, then - with a shrug at Baltoros - follows Kuch and Agent Midnight down the rope.
Once the group is gathered at the bottom, Balistar says,
"So I been finkin', mates. Baltoros 'ere pointed out that we only ever saw signs o' two people at Justerian's disgustin' mansion. If our late lamented cook weren't a priest o' Milani, an' he also didn't have no truck with the Pallid Princess, then it stands to reason that the signs o' Milani an' the signs of ol' PP 'erself must've come from the same person, don't it? Mebbe a shapeshifter or somefin'?"
Only then does he really look around.
"Oi, 'oo decided to stash freed slaves 'ere? An' what did they say to 'em to get 'em to come 'ere? 'Congratulations, you are all free! Thank you fer 'elping ta save the city from the invadin' Abyssal 'ordes, now please climb down this 'ole inta the gloomy misty dark an' go wait in that abandoned building until we call fer ya.' Yeah, that would go over big."
He thinks for a moment.
"OK, it woulda gone over big wif me, but I ain't most people, am I?"
"Aaaaa!" Balistar slips on the rope as he climbs down into the hole. He scrambles frantically at the side of the pit, desperate to grab a handhold.
But his efforts are to no avail, and Balistar plummets into the mist!
Balistar hits the ground outside the former tavern and safe house with a bone-crunching crash. He remains unmoving, eyes closed, as the sound echoes back up the hole.
"Oi, that’s not 'ow that's supposed ta work, is it?"
With Ambrus
"The Sanguine Thorn? Under normal circumstances, I'd think it a mere coincidence, but roses are a significant part of Milani worship - it certainly seems like another clue about Milani's presence in this investigation."
Precipice Quarter
Upon arriving at the misty and ragged pit, Baltoros peers in.
Seeing nothing notable, he keeps watch as the others descend. He is relieved to see Midnight and Kuch reach the bottom without injury, but his relief turns to horror as Balistar's grip on the rope slips. He is glad to hear the half-elf's fragile voice emerging from the mists, and reassures him. "On my way, Balistar. Hold tight, if you can."
He then attempts his own descent, with a mix of taking care yet making haste.
Balistar staggers to his feet and weaves dizzily for a moment, then straightens up slowly, one hand on his side to keep his ribs from moving in ways they should not. "I'm fine, mates. Let's carry on."
Baltoros lashes out with his hands, dropping the trident, in a hope to catch himself.
He completely misses any handhold and lands flat on his back at the bottom of the pit, several feet away from Balistar. He takes several moments to catch his breath, groaning all the while. Uneasily, he props himself up on one arm, then another, and finally takes to his feet. He inspects his bruised and cut body for a bit, then ambles gently over to Balistar to examine his wounds as well. He then produces his holy symbol and lets Gozreh do the rest.
"That will have to suffice for now, I'm afraid," he says.
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Baltoros tends to the duo's wounds through magical healing, and soon after the Pathfinders turn to approach to sunken rotting house. In a few steps, Kuch hastily stops the group to point out that the ground in front of you is not safe to travel. A clay-and-water slurry looks seemingly solid but is actually a sinkhole in disguise.
"What's the best way around that?" Agent Midnight wonders. "I'm not used to foraging much outside of the city."
Balistar gently stretches, testing his healed ribs, then claps Baltoros on the back once the priest has healed his own injuries.
"Good as new, or near enough! Thanks, Baltoros! An' thanks to Gozreh, too, if they're listenin'!"
The half-elf stops at Kuch's warning, then crouches low to try to help find the edge of the sinkhole.
Balistar gently stretches, testing his healed ribs, then claps Baltoros on the back once the priest has healed his own injuries.
"Good as new, or near enough! Thanks, Baltoros! An' thanks to Gozreh, too, if they're listenin'!"
The half-elf stops at Kuch's warning, then crouches low to try to find the edge of the sinkhole.
Kuch leans closer and tries to discern the means of bypassing the sinkhole.
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Kuch and Balistar start marking up several areas that are deadly and hazardous, enabling the rest of the party to simply avoid them as they walk carefully into the building.
Inside the rotting tavern, the fog is simply not present allowing you to see a little bit better albeit slightly dark. Splintered remnants of tables and cabinets clutter a long, rectangular room that reeks of mold and decay. In the corner of the room, a locked wooden chest lies.
From around the corner, you hear some shuffling noises that makes you immediately realise that you're not alone in this place. Turning towards the source of the noise, you see a couple undead creatures roaming inside! An armored skeleton. holding a Morningstar and a shield scrawled with a, presumably, unholy symbol, and two zombies.
The skeleton immediately reacts to your intrusion and moves slightly closer while casting a black ray towards Kuch! The half-orc reacts timely and ducks his head to have the ray fly over!
(Stealth)
Midnight dashes in, draws her crossbow and fires it at the black skeleton.
Balistar, with his low-light vision, does not need a light source, but does not want any of the other Pathfinders not having a free hand if they need one. Before they go inside, he pulls a hooded lantern out of his pack, checks the oil, and lights it.
Once inside, when the dead start to shamble towards them, the skeletal warrior captures his attention first.
"I dunno what that skelly is, but I know it ain't supposed to be walkin' around like it owns the place!"
Balistar spots the zombies as they stagger into the light from his lantern.
"C'mon, Paffinders, let's send these escaped corpses back ta Pharasma!"
Balistar draws his rapier and glares at the blue zombie.
"Oi, come on then, ya shamblin' git! Let's see how ye dance!"
"'Ey there mates, I jest remembered that these zombos are partic'ly 'urt by slashin' at 'em, and by the kind o' energy Baltoros calls up for 'ealin'!"
"I'll provide support against the... 'zombos', then." Meredith leers at the skeleton as her bolt has no lasting effect.
Kuch did not waste time thinking about the nature of the undead - he was never one for the books. The skeleton's armor and helm provided plenty of a target for his heels so he jumped right into the fray!
Baltoros smiles in response to Balistar's thanks. As they traverse the floor of the tavern, and around the pit, he notices it growing darker and waves his hand over the shaft of his trident, causing it to glow with divine Light.
In the room, he sees Kuch dodge the skeleton's dark ray and hears Balistar's advice. "It won't reach from here, but I'm queueing it up." He then steps up alongside the half-orc while shouting a curse and pointing his finger at the armored figure.
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Kuch heads straight for the armored skeleton and knocks into it with a solid punch! A few bones crackle beneath the armor, but clearly the creature is far from falling. Baltoros follows through with a cantrip that slightly injures the creature.
The zombies slowly limp towards Kuch and lay their wrath on him, attempting to take him out! The lash out a few punches and grab hold of the half-orc.
The skeleton cackles evilly, as if to mock your advance, and then starts casting another spell! His body soon glows in a black aura and shortly after a burst of negative energy spreads across the room healing the undeads and harming every living creature! Baltoros just avoids the channelling effect.
Kuch is gravely injured and is surrounded by a horde of undead scum!
Don't forget to add +1 to attack and damage rolls from Inspire Courage, folks!
Balistar continues his inspiring cantrip. "'Ey there, Kuch! We're comin' ta help! Remember 'ow Ailson Kindler an' her party o' Paffinders used ta 'ave ta fight there way through 'ordes of the undead - if they could torch a nest o' vampires, while 'alf-drained o' their blood, we c'n take care of a coupla zombos an' this skeletal whatever the 'eck it is!"
Balistar strides over to the blue zombie and lunges at it with his rapier. "Now let go o' my friend, ya brain-eatin' bastard!"
Midnight reloads her crossbow.
Then she focuses on the zombie with the Red pants.
And then she fires a single bolt.
"I've got your back, Kuch!"
As the zombies close in on everyone, Baltoros clutches his own dripping-leaf holy symbol and sends out a countering wave of positive energy.
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Balistar's rapier thrust through the closely zombie ripping out a chunk of flesh and rotting organs from it. Likewise, Midnight does the same and rips out more bits and pieces from her crossbow leaving the creature with fist sized holes.
Baltoros release positive energy which severely weakens the zombies, the energy washes through and kills the zombie earlier weakened causing it to release it's grasp on Kuch!
The cold unyielding grip of the undead hands was not something Kuch was used to - no painful grips or chokeholds were going to work on the dead people! Thankfully, the combined efforts of his fellow Pathfinders destroyed the troublesome zombie, and the instant Kuch was free from grapple he seized the moment and unleashed a devastating series of blows!
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Kuch's flurry knocks the life out of the zombie causing it to fall to permanent death. The half orc turns to do the same to the skeleton but his armour proves to be tough as his strikes gets deflected.
Without flinching and maintaining its evil cackled, the armored skeleton continues releasing waves of negative energy!
Midnight drops her trusty crossbow, pulls out a sap and runs up to threaten it. She takes a moment to study it.
"I can help you flank! I don't know how much I can do against this directly..."
Balistar reels from the onslaught of negative energy. He rallies and shakes it off, but when his starts to speak, his voice is still raw.
"Remember... remember the unflaggin' spirit o' Durvin Gest! One skelly warrior? Why, 'ee woulda laughed himself silly, ee would! Let's send it back ta Pharasma wif a big red bow!"
Balistar casts Inspire Courage.
Glancing at the broken bits of furniture scattered around the ruined tavern, the young bard spies what he needs.
"'Ere we are! Nice an' easy, then. Jest like a game o' whackbat."
He raises his hands around the grip of his rapier, winds up, and swings like he's swinging a bat.
A mostly-intact leg from the shattered table rises from the floor behind the skeleton, pivots away from it, then swings forward into the creature!
Balistar casts Telekinetic Projectile .
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Midnight moves in to get closer to the action, and hopes to provide some tactical flanking.
Balistar concentrates his innate arcane abilities to telekinetically move a broken piece flying a quick velocity towards the skeleton. However, his choice of object was not a very good one as the item smashes into the armor and breaks apart easily. The undead looks unharmed as a result of that projectile.
"Just you against the four of us - your unholy patron will not save you!"
Through gritted teeth Kuch persists attacking the loathsome undead.
Baltoros grins to see the zombies drop, and his eyes are drawn back toward the lone, remaining skeleton. The Garundi man again points his finger square at the abomination's chest as he utters a chant to Gozreh; lush green light envelops the creature.
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Kuch delivers a few blows to gravely injure the skeleton, and Kuch follows through with some positive channelling. The creature looks to be on the brink of death, out of breath but before you realise it. His hand glows black as he and he cast a spell of negative energy on himself, reinvigorated, he swings his Morningstar at Kuch! The half orc ducks timely!
"Di..ii..eee.." It criess creepily in common tongue.
Balistar gapes at the skeleton as it heals itself with the same negative energy it had used against the Pathfinders. Suddenly, the tumblers fall into place.
"Bloody 'Ell! That skelly's no warrior! It's a bleedin' priest! It's an undead cleric! Mebbe it's wot killed Justerian! Get 'im!"
Balistar casts Inspire Courage.
Balistar looks around the room for something sturdier than pieces of the splintered table, then smiles.
"'Let's see ya shrug this off, ya bony bastid! Smashy-smashy!"
With a flick of his fingers, a heavy, rusted iron skillet flies up from behind a toppled counter and hurtles towards the skeleton!
Balistar casts Telekinetic Projectile .
Agent Midnight runs around the room so she can flank with Kuch. She readies her gauntlet and throws a single fist at the skeletal fiend.
You can tell she really misses her crossbow. "The planks here- my foot got stuck as I swung. It won't happen again."
"No worries, just keep distracting it!", says Kuch as he continues pummeling the undead, hoping to find a way past its defenses.
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A few more blows from the monk breaks the bones that keep the skeleton together. With a final cackle, he falls to his demise. As you search the room for clues and the zombies, you come to a dreadful realization that the zombies are their former identities are those of the victims of the named Rose Street Killer! The only identity you cannot immediately conceive is the skeletons.
Nearby, there is a fresh trail of blood that leads to leading to one of the larger holes in the floor, calling down below, you realize that someone is down there, injured but alive. "Help! Is..Is someone there? Is the undeads gone?!" The voice cries.
Helping her out of the hole, you piece her as the missing Pathfinder that Valsin set you out to search, Nelfurhin Zor, and she tells her story. Slowly the pieces of the clues you found, start to make more sense, as they connect with her story.
"The skeleton...no..Wennel.. he wasn't always like this..he used to be a great half-elf, one that I admire and is the inspiration of why I joined the Society, the Liberty Edge! Wennel, he was a cleric of Milani, he freed me from slavery, and many others, and helped us get our bearings. We remained good friends until....until this."
"For the last 2 months Wennel had insisted that he was close to proving that several abductions around Absalom were connected to a secretive cell of slave traders. He expressed his intention to expose the cell even if it meant its members might try to silence him."
"He went missing for awhile, and I got worried, but was overjoyed when I heard his voice outside my door. It was unusual, but I paid no attention to it. But was shocked to find he was not himself. He kidnapped me, and as a result, here I am, barely alive.."
"Alright. Target neutralized." Agent Midnight relaxes and goes to retrieve her crossbow when she hears someone calling for help.
"It's good we were able to reach you in time." Midnight checks the woman for life threatening injuries. "Unfortunate we weren't able to help them... You said he was a priest of Milani? We found markings of Urgathoa nearby one of his victims."
Baltoros grimaces as the defiant skeleton crumbles under the fury of Kuch's fists; a rib here, a shoulder blade there, and soon their enemy is nothing more than a pile of splintered and detached bones. He heals everyone once as a bubble of divine energy expands outwards from his open palm.
He looks at the unholy symbol portrayed on the now-dropped shield for a moment, then examines the chest in the room. Focused as he is, Baltoros is still as surprised as the rest to hear a living voice calling for help.
He listens intently to Zor's tale, and things begin to click. "it sounds like whoever he was investigating hired the Barbers to kill him. But did this shady group raise him from the dead? And why did he kidnap Zor here?" he asks, turning to the rescued Pathfinder. "Was he trying to, er, convert you to his cause as he seems to have done with the others here?" He gestures to the broken zombie bodies nearby.
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Baltoros recognises the crudely scrawled symbol on the shield vaguely resembles the unholy symbol of Urgathoa. Additionally, he recalls from his studies of the undeath that men who died not at peace, with unfinished business, are likely candidates to breath undead life especially with the help of a deity of death.
"Errr, I'm more than certain of his alignment to Milani prior to his death, in fact, this here place used to be one of the church's safe houses before the earthquake. I.. I recognise being here." She mutters in her weakened state. She knows not the answers to the rest of your questions.
"Wennel did great good, helping all that he could. Whatever this was... it was a perversion. A mockery of the man. Pay it no mind, and remember the great things he did for you and everyone he could. Spread stories of the great feats he completed- he asked for nothing in return, you can honor him, at least."
Agent Midnight visits Wennel's memorial, formally dressed, her hair braided, her purple boots cleaned and shined. She gives her proper respects and wishes him goodbye. "Your sacrifice was not in honor. Thank you for your efforts."