Kite Hill rises just north of the Greens, Kintargo’s noble district. Kite flying is popular here due to the prevalence of ocean breezes. When you arrive, nearly a hundred people of all ages and ancestries are enjoying the day or flying kites. Some speak out against Nidal and the doom that awaits Kintargo for allying with the shadowy nation, to general murmurs of agreement. You see no obvious evidence of either Scarlet Triad agents or Bellflower operatives among the crowd—to all appearances, this is just another day on Kite Hill.
A stall with a sign that reads “FREE KITES” does brisk business handing out homemade kites to anyone who wants to try their hand. A middle-aged halfling woman operates the stall, and she waves you over.
“You lot look like you could do with some kite flying!” says the halfling proprietor of the makeshift stall. With a cheerful voice she asks, “Which one strikes your fancy?” and she gestures to the many kites hanging around the simple frame of the stall. “I’ve a few butterflies left, and a couple of boxes, and plenty of classic diamonds. I have orange, chartreuse, crimson, violet, coral, yellow—pick any! They’re free! Help us protest against the drab Nidalese diplomats infiltrating our beloved Kintargo by showing them all the colors the sky can hold! I can help you make your choice and get you up and flying, if you’ve never flown before!”
Once you are at her stall and begin the process of selecting kites and assembling them for flight, the halfling lowers her voice and leans in closer. “Name’s Nolly. I see you're here with Hundy. He’s a brave man and a good friend," She nods to the halfling with you, who returns the nod.
"Nolly, we've got trouble," Hundy says. He fills her in on his capture and what he's learned.
Nolly purses her lips. "I’ve heard rumors of the Scarlet Triad, but they’ve been devilishly difficult to pin down. Knowing what you’ve learned about them is enough for me—we’ve got to get the word out about them so the Network can be ready!” She hands over a set of red diamond kites and purple box kites and then explains the plan.
"We use kites to send messages sometimes, since the whole city can see them on a clear day like today. Of course, fine details aren’t something you can convey with kites, but we can get enough of a warning out like this. We’ll put up a combination of red triangular kites to represent this Scarlet Triad, and use some purple box kites to represent the Bellflower Network’s safe houses. Once they’re in the air, we’ll need to guide the red kites to smash into the purple ones. Anyone in the Network won’t realize at first who the red kites are meant to represent, but they’ll all know that our safe houses in Kintargo are in danger as the purple box kites get ‘attacked’ time and time again. Our agents know to scatter and hide, and hopefully we’ll then be able to deal with these Scarlet Triad villains.”
"Understood." Illyiana says after receiving instruction on how to manipulate the kites. Though she's never flown a kite before, she's able to quickly pick it up and send the red kites smashing into purple ones.
As soon as Illyiana gets the kites up high, there is a flash of light as a tall insectile fiend suddenly appears a few dozen feet away! Shrieks fill the air as the creature brandishes its spear and bellows out in Common, "For the Umbral Lord!"
The fiend begins attacking indiscriminately, stabbing screaming citizens with its longspear! "Glory to Nidal! May darkness take the Silver City!" it shouts.
"We have to stop that thing!" Nolly yells.
Pril's eyes watch all the kites with wonder. When she's offered her choice of kites she immediately begins looking for a blue one. Her search is cut short, however, when the decision is made to use the red and purple ones to send a warning.
She's just beginning to get the hang of the kite maneuvering when the rude fiend interrupts.
"I don't know why, on a beautiful day like this, your chosen activity is to stab random people with your spear. You should be flying a kite!" she shouts out at the creature as she closes and engages.
Letting the kite go for now, she tries to stop that thing as instructed with arrows.
Nketiah surrounds Pril with a cloak of swirling colors before beginning her inspiring chant. The fiend stabs the gnome as she moves in to attack it, but the monk resists its frightful presence, thanks partially to Nketiah's chant and Nolly Peltry's inspiring presence.
Pril lands a blow on the devil. Nolly loads sling bullets into her hoe before hurling them at the fiend, striking it once. Illyiana scores a hit, but Lucius's searing light misses.
The devil screeches and stabs Pril twice more, one a critical hit!
Pril shimmers in place for a moment avoiding some of the nasty spears effects. She grimaces but, counting on the cardinal to keep her on her feet, doesn't relent.
Illyiana watches Pril take a serious beating before shouting over at Lucious, "Pril needs you!". She then places two excellent shots into the devil attacking Pril.
Nketiah augments Lucius's healing with some of her own, brining Pril back to full health. Pril lands another hit, then Illy shoots the devil twice, one of which is a critical strike! Nolly batters the devil with another sling bullet.
Though badly wounded, the devil stabs Pril twice more, including another critical hit!
"Get off of her!!!" Illyiana shouts from behind her bow, continuing to draw and fire arrow after arrow into the devil.
"Is that all you know how to do? Stab things with your stupid spear?" Pril says to the demon. "You should find another hobby. Kite flying is really fun."
With Nketiah firing arrows and Nolly hurling another sling bullet, the devil falls!
”Thanks for helping!” Nolly says. ”Odd. It’s not like the Umbral Court to call upon a devil to do their dirty work and not a velstrac. I suspect that someone is trying to distract the you and authorities alike by capitalizing on the political climate between Ravounel and Nidal. We’d better get that kite message out now!”
As you are delivering a message, a portly halfling man loiters nearby, looking nervous. Nolly waves him over and tells him he can speak freely. He bobs his head and speaks.
“Nolly, just before all that mayhem, I seen a fella there skulkin’ about on the far side of the hill by some of the trees. Tall human, goldish skin, full beard, red cloak. He had manacles hangin’ from his belt, which put me into the mind that he was two fistfuls of trouble. Then he did some magic, and that bug monster steps out of the thin air. The man and the monster just stared at each other, but I think they was talking with their minds. Then the bug monster popped over onto the hill, raging for blood, and the man took off. I didn’t see where to, Nolly, I’m real sorry about that. But I heard that monster talkin’ like he was workin’ for the Umbral Court, and that man sure didn’t look like no member of no Umbral Court!”
Heading to the spot the halfling pointed out, Illyiana is able to pick out the devil's prints and the man's prints. The devil’s tracks are consistent with a creature being summoned on the spot and then using dimension door to reach the hill, but the man's tracks lead elsewhere. The ranger might be able to follow the trail, though it will be difficult through the bustling city streets.
"Before you go, I'd like to ask for some advice," Nolly says. "The rumors of a Nidalese devil attacking folks at Kite Hill will soon spread. On one hand, that's a good thing, as stirring up public sentiment against Nidal is helpful to the Bellflower Network. But on the other hand, I worry that the attack was a trick designed to throw unearned blame on the Nidalese. I could let people know that Nidal wasn’t actually behind the attack, but if I don’t start spreading the message soon, it will be too late. What do you think I should do?"
"You okay?" Iillyiana asks unnecssearily to Pril, knowing that if she was still on her feat she would answer that she was fine.
"Right." she responds to Nolly, taking up the kite again to deliver the message.
Once the strange man is described, she waves the others onward and says "We best go look into this. Quickly now."
She pauses to address Nolly "How soon is soon? Do we have some time to investigate to get to the bottom of this first? I'd hate to spread misinformation."
---
Finding signs, she crouches to the ground and begins to search for signs of their movement.
"We can probably wait a couple of hours, but not more than that if we want to control the narrative," Nolly says.
Illyiana is unable to follow the tracks very far, and there's no time to try again. You have to check on the Bellflower Network's sage houses before the Scarlet Triad gets to them. You can either head to the Long Roads Coffeehouse or Lady Docur's School for Girls first.
"You okay?" Iillyiana asks unnecssearily to Pril, knowing that if she was still on her feat she would answer that she was fine.
"Just a little warm-up for the day," Pril replies with a grin as she readjusts the fit of her gi to account for the holes that it's acquired.
~~~~~
When the tracks peter out the gnome frowns. "I guess that's that. We should head over to the Coffeehouse," she says.
You quickly make your way to the Long Roads Coffeehouse. A short flight of stairs leads to the double doors of a handsome two-and-a-half-story wood and stone building. The doors currently swing awkwardly loose, one of them damaged. Two broken chairs lie sprawled on the front stairs, which are smeared with what could be food or something fouler. Overturned tables are visible through the front windows. The smell of blood, cardamom, and coffee wafts down the stairs, along with the sound of muffled banging.
The main door is the most obvious entrance to the coffeehouse, but there is also a side door that opens onto an alley. Open windows on the second floor provide other means of entry, though they are 15 feet off the ground.
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"Before you go, I'd like to ask for some advice," Nolly says. "The rumors of a Nidalese devil attacking folks at Kite Hill will soon spread. On one hand, that's a good thing, as stirring up public sentiment against Nidal is helpful to the Bellflower Network. But on the other hand, I worry that the attack was a trick designed to throw unearned blame on the Nidalese. I could let people know that Nidal wasn’t actually behind the attack, but if I don’t start spreading the message soon, it will be too late. What do you think I should do?"
"This was not the work of Nidal." The Cardinal says decisively. "They would have used Kytons had they wished to announce themselves and the Umbral Court is a place of subtlety. This was not them. You can start spreading rumors to that effect - focus the blame on the true culprits, the Scarlet Triad."
----------------
"Main door." The Cardinal suggests, "We have nothing to fear and much to lose by wasting time."
Pril nods and makes her way up the steps towards the doors hanging open.
The public dining room is a mess of overturned tables, broken chairs, smashed dishes, and corpses. The sharp smell of scorched coffee and burned bread fills the air.
There are only two corpses here, both identifiable by insignias they wear on their armor epaulets as members of the Scarlet Triad.
Suddenly, the ghostly echo of diabolic bells reverberates with a bone-shaking clamor. At the same time, Pril can see phantasmal hell hounds manifest before her, invisible to all but the gnome!
The hounds lunge at Pril as the bells toll!
Pril grimaces as the hounds bite her, but shimmers for a moment avoiding the tolling of the bells.
"Hounds of Hell!" she yells out to the cardinal, pointing at the manifestations.
Illyiana fights off most of the damage and calls out "Cardinal! I think this is your area?"
As Lucius exorcises the devil dogs, Nketiah sings a countersong that disrupts the bells! You don’t have time to rest on your laurels, though, as two ghostly figures rise up from the floor, groaning with fury. Each resembles a square-jawed man in heavy armor wielding a burning mace. Lucius recognizes him as the former tyrannical mayor of Kintargo, Barzillai Thrune!
One spirit flies at the cardinal while the other attacks Pril!
"Who the heck are these guys?" Pril questions as she attempts to engage the spirits.
Nketiah begins her inspiring chant and casts haste on Pril. Illy shoots one of the Barzillai shades twice, though her arrows aren't very effective. Pril has more luck with her ghost touch handwraps, scoring two hits and leaving it completely stunned! Lucius blasts it with searing light, almost destroying that shade.
The other one attacks the priest again!
"I don't think these things fear my arrows very much!" Illyiana remarks, making a mental note to invest in something more effective for creatures like these in the future. Despite being less than effective, her first strike is amazingly accurate and deadly!
Pril destroys the damaged shade before moving in to attack the other one, though she fails to land a good blow. As Lucius heals himself, Nketiah and Illy land several good shots. The shade turns its ire on Pril, scoring a critical hit!
Illyiana fires several mediocre shots, grimacing as Pril gets burned by the fire.
"See?" Pril calls out after being slammed with a burning mace. "Was that so hard? I'm the one you want to worry about."
Illy hits twice, and Pril lands all of her strikes! The second shade bowls and fades away!
The gnome looks down at her singed and torn clothing and chuckles. "I'm glad these things are cheap. I seem to be going through a lot of them lately."
She turns around and adjusts her damaged outfit before facing the group again. "So let's go find out what all the banging was about."
The pantry has been recently looted. The office is a shambles, with paper strewn about haphazardly. A trapdoor in the ceiling has a folding staircase descending from it, but several steps on the ladder are broken and stained with blood.
Climbing up, you emerge into a study. Two overstuffed sofas sit facing each other in this room, while a round table with a few stools nearby sit opposite. The spicy scent of coffee and tea lingers in the air.
A human man and woman are hiding behind a sofa, but they emerge when they see you. ”Thank the gods! We were attacked by Nidalese agents! They abducted the rest of the staff! Please, you need to inform the authorities!”
Pril's eyes go wide and she turns to look at Lucius in surprise.
The two people narrow their eyes, then their forms shift, revealing them to be tiger-headed fiends! They cast spells, battering you with sonic energy!
Pril stumbles back from the sound attack and then rushes forward to engage.
Illyiana is taken aback by Lucius's forward position, but backs him up as he makes a demand. When trouble inevitably ensues, she's ready. She takes aim at the one using sonic energy and fires three arrows at them.
The fiends attempt to counter Lucius’s spell, but they are unsuccessful. One is takes the full brunt of the flame strike while the other dodges some of it. Illyiana and Pril miss with their attacks. Nketiah heals Lucius.
The eyes of the fiend Pril attacked flash green as it projects telepathic waves, filling your mind with thoughts of evil decadence. It reaches out for the gnome with a vampiric touch. The other one targets Illyiana with hideous laughter.
"Ugg... You do that to puppies? That's vile!" Pril says with a look of disgust as the images assault her mind.
Illyiana is ill-prepared by the enemies spells and attacks and though she avoids dropping and laughing, she takes the brunt of damage from the attacks and isn't' feeling well at all. She turns to the side, vomits and stays there a few seconds as she collects herself before standing up straight again and readying her bow. Taking aim with a single arrow, she fires at the rakshasa.