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The skulks have blue-grey skin.
As you roll the corpse over, the key falls out of her top.
(Round 14)
Magdelina (double move)
Molvil (search corpse, (move 30'?))
Swarm
Salmok
Ejtehah
Nilah
He manages to move quick enough to prevent the oozes from attaching, but the acid burns over his body show he is not faring well enough.
(Round 14)
Magdelina (double move)
Molvil (search corpse, (move 30'?))
Swarm
F Skulk
Salmok
Ejtehah
Nilah
(Round 14)
Magdelina
Dwarven Brothers
Molvil
Nilah burns away fully half of what was left. It is now about 1/3 of the size it was upstairs.
The red-headed dwarf will exit the cell as soon as Magdelina opens it, trying to get away from the swarm.
(Round 14)
Magdelina (double move)
(move 30'?))
Molvil (search corpse,
Swarm
Salmok (double move)
Ejtehah
Nilah (Acid Splash)
(Round 14)
Magdelina (open cell)
Dwarven Brothers
Molvil
(Round 14)
Magdelina (double move)
(move 30'?))
Molvil (search corpse,
Swarm
Salmok (double move)
Ejtehah
Nilah (Acid Splash)
(Round 15)
Magdelina (open cell)
Dwarven Brothers (red headed exit center cell)
Molvil
(Round 15)
Magdelina (open cell)
Pietros (exit cell)
Barengar
Molvil
Swarm
F Skulk
Salmok
Ejtehah
Nilah
There are only a few globules left!
(Round 15)
Magdelina (open cell)
Pietros (exit cell)
Barengar
Molvil (acid splash)
Swarm
Salmok
Ejtehah
Nilah
Having lost its meal, it moves onto Magdelina.
(Round 15)
Magdelina (open cell)
Pietros (exit cell)
Barengar
Molvil
Swarm
Salmok
Ejtehah
Nilah
@Nilah easily burns away the rest of the globules (that aren't attached to Magdelina)
One of the oozes leapt onto @Magdelina before Nilah scorched the rest, but Magdelina simply shakes it off into a dank corner.
The dwarves introduce themselves as Barengar and Pietros Gearwright. The brothers are thin and unkempt, but otherwise in good condition besides the recent chemical burns on Pietros from the ooze swarm.
Once you confirm the threat has passed, the Gearwrights explain they were passengers on a ship returning from Magnimar to Janderhoff when their vessel was attacked lake pirates. The Gearwright family specializes in clockwork engineering, a notoriously rare skill set and a fact the brothers used to make a case for being taken for ransom. This thieves' guild "The Gilded Hands" are only housing them for a prenegotiated fee from the lake pirates.
Barengar thanks you for saving his brother, and offers information about a valuable magical creation that can be found in the guildmaster’s office and tells them how to open its secret compartment.
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Ejtehah is really relieved.
“I am glad that you dwarves are now free! And to be honest I am also glad that our investigation here has led to clear evidence of criminal activity because I would otherwise have really feared that we would have acted against the law!“
He looks at the dwarves.
“So do you have any further information for us!? Anything about the leaders here or anything that you’ve heard about their activities?“
The brothers explain that it seemed the nefarious elements of the thieves guild were kept "downstairs" (underground), and the legitimate logistics business was kept upstairs on the ground level. The broken Clockwork Spy is in the Guildmaster's Office on this level.
That, and the information about the pirates, is all they know. To Nilah they explain the gist of the mechanics of the Clockwork Spy, and say they just want to go home, and sleep in their own beds with their families again.
A desk sits to the south, covered in an alchemical equipment and supplies, including a logbook. A cot with an extra padded mattress rests against the far wall, a small locked chest at its foot.
Several cots are arranged in this room, along with a small card table and chairs. On the south wall there is a door with a sliding panel built in the door at eye level.
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Salmok heartily greets the dwarven brothers. As he watches them leave to go back to their families, Salmok suggests exploring more.
"Hmmm.. we should probably report back to the sherieff at some point. Just to let him know what's going on here.". Salmok talks as they start to search the place. "We should also check in on the dwarves later - just to make sure they make it back safe and sound."
@Magdelina gives the Gearwright brothers a note to take to the Inn so they can receive food and rest while they finish up with the search and Sheriff.
The contents of the logbook list the members of the guild through the use of nicknames, detailing criminal specialties and assignments. It is unhelpful for disclosing the true names of the guild members, but does indicate how organized they were.
The small chest is locked,
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Nilah grimaces as she eyes the guilds heavily marked-up map.
Right, evidence. I'm quite certain this will do. The sheriff needs to see this quickly...
Continuing to scan she notes the circled name.
It looks like they had plans for us too. Molvil, I see they singled you out as... trustworthy to children? They certainly wouldn't pick me for that. She remarks, rolling her eyes.
She then wanders immediately to the Guildmaster's office per the previous instructions from the dwarves. She brings the locked chest to the party, asking who might be skilled at picking the lock .
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As the dwarves turn to leave, the Professor hands them some rations and instructs them: "If you wait for us to finish, we can escort you to the Sheriff's office so you can make a report." If they insist on leaving immediately, she nods in understanding and gives them directions. "If you care to inform Sheriff Feldane that we seem to have cleared out the criminals from this location, she will be glad to hear it."
Once they're set, true to her nature, Professor Maesandri opens every door and examines every room. Upon hearing that she'd been singled out, she muses: "Hmm... I wonder why?"
"Well, since we have Borvius's keys right here, let's try them in all these locks. Surely at least one of them will work." She busily sets about doing so.
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On Borvius' key ring you find a key to open both the locked chest and vault.
D16. Guildmaster’s Office
The equipment on the desk can be assembled into a full alchemist lab (40 pounds). The clockwork spy inside the locked chest is broken, but can be repaired. Inside the secret compartment is a traveler’s any-tool (Ultimate Equipment 323), an arcane scroll of locate object, and a divine scroll of cure serious wounds.D19. Smuggled Goods
Many of the stolen trade goods can be returned to local and returning merchants. It’s all too bulky to have much short-term value to your group immediately, Ilsurian officials will eventually reward you for returning them. This area also contains a locked box with a holy symbol (DC 10 to identify) marked clearly on the box.D20. Guild Vault
A large chest contains a handy haversack, a key of lock jamming, 1,600 cp, 640 sp, 300 gp, and 40 pp. A small chest contains 5 doses of Shiver narcotic. The room also contains a small pouch with four uncut peridot gemstones (worth 24 gp each), and a silver chalice set stolen from the temple of Erastil (worth 300 gp).
Shortly after you finish searching the area, Sheriff Kyra and her deputies show up. She thanks you for gift-wrapping the enemies upstairs and listens to what you have discovered. She is both impressed and thankful for your efforts in trying to keep as many alive as would let you. "It is hard to believe such a large cancer was able to grow in our town! A murderous thieves guild with connections to the lake pirates and secret drug trade, besides! It will take a while to process all this paperwork and arrests! I would like it if you would stay in town for another 2 days or so while we finish the investigation, so we can fill you in on what we've discovered. I must admit, I am ashamed I was unable to see what was going on before my very own nose." She looks chagrinned. "I must make a public apology to Mistress Delisen. Perhaps I'll volunteer for the dunk tank."
While the thieves’ guild contains many valuable trade goods, these rightfully belong to the victims. Sheriff Feldane suggests that your group be allowed to take the magic items and thieves’ personal possessions, but leave the rest to be returned to their owners—particularly the silver chalice set that belongs to the temple.
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@Molvil the module said to pick a character that had been "outspoken" during the adventure. And Magdelina had already had a little bit of spotlight with the RP with racism and romance, so I rolled a die to pick between you & Ejtehah
The Professor's eyes shine as she reverently holds the arcane scroll of Locate Object in her hands. "This... I am a bit of a collector of spells, you could say. Although it will be a long while before I am able to cast this spell, I dearly hope I am able to copy it into my spellbook!"
Professor Maesandri assures Sheriff Feldane that the Pathfinders will be happy to assist with the remainder of the investigation. Then, with the least harsh expression anyone has seen on her face yet, she continues: "We all blunder from time to time, Sheriff Feldane. I've always told my students: 'Failure is fine, unless you refuse to learn from it.' I suspect that your investigation will give you plenty of insight into how groups like this function, so you'll know what to look for in the future. I have faith that you'll do right by this city and its people."
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"Agreed. These thieves were subtle and hard to find. It was only a series of luck that we found our way in here and managed to come to the bottom of this." Salmok smirks. "Almost died once or twice, but was worth it to bring these thieves to justice!"
Salmok gives the sheriff a handshake. "We'll hang around for a few days. In the mean time, yes, we should bring everything back to their rightful owner."
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Nilah visibly untenses as things wind down, particularly when the sheriff arrives and verifies the teams' findings. As they walk through the building, Nilah points out specific details to the sheriff with her prehensile tail. She makes a point to let them linger on the map most of all.
The dunk tank? Perhaps that would do. Why don't you let Almara and Ika choose. She smiles warmly as they prepare to leave the sheriff to her work for the day.
We could use a couple of days of actual downtime anyway.
The town rewards you with 800 gp for returning their properties.
Sheriff Feldane and her deputies have their work cut out for them! She has enough suspicion, conviction, evidence & villians to continue where your group left off, interrogating the captors, sifting through the paper evidence, and eventually driving the remnants of the guild out of town.
The Umbra Carnival is completely exonerated! True to her word, Sheriff Kyra makes time to volunteer for the dunk tank and publicly apologize to help repair the relationship between town and circus. The crowds return to the carnival and performances sell out. The town seeks a replacement for the kindhearted Sister Woodmere, as well as guardians for the Braeton children. Chelaxians and Varisians set aside their differences in an annual memorial to the victims. A greater understanding is reached, and the community grows even stronger.
...(After a few days, Sheriff Kyra returns with her report...)
After a few days of celcration at the Circus, Sheriff Kyra returns to inform you of her investigations. "I must thank you for leaving so many of the perpetrators alive, being able to interrogate them made my investigation much more fruitful."
"This is what we've determined so far"
The arrival of the Umbra Carnival presented just such an opportunity. With the circus in town, the Gilded Hands quickly planned to perpetrate their boldest schemes and pin the blame on carnival folk, who are seen by the townspeople as even less trustworthy than other ethnic Varisians. The day the circus arrived and started to unpack, the Monchellos dispatched spies to circulate among the curious local onlookers to search for a likely mark they could set up. Their chosen victim was of course Jherizhana. The thieves’ guild rightly assumed that if the murders appeared to be perpetrated by the sphinx, the circus would be blamed for the subsequent robberies, and for bringing such a dangerous and uncontrollable creature to town.
As the start of their plot to undermine the circus, the Gilded Hands started the trouble by releasing the circus' 'baby dragon.' Apparently, one of them wearing a disguise (big red beard) paid the panotti Phardaen to put on a show to keep him distracted so they could release it.
After sowing the seeds of mistrust with the escaped monitor lizard, the Gilded Hands began the next phase of their frame-up after the opening night’s final show. Highest on their list for robbery and murder was Archivin Walder—Ilsurian’s local moneylender and pawnbroker, and proprietor of the Locked Box. Through clever use of alchemy, the thieves’ guild staged Walder’s murder under the supervision of its two guild masters to make it look as though the Sphinx was responsible. Robella used a feral mutagen in conjunction with an enlarge extract to simulate the claw attacks of a large creature, while walking barefoot in order to leave the strange clawed tracks. Borvius staged the scene where the body would be found, and confiscated Archivin’s master key to the Locked Box vault. When morning came and news of the murder circulated, the entire guild helped to generate a rumor concerning something resembling the sphinx flying above the town in the moonlight.
As for the robbery, Borvius outsourced the intended massacre of the guards to allies of the thieves’ guild, the Nisku (skulk) tribe. The Gilded Hands used to pay the skulks off with a drug called shiver so the creatures wouldn’t interfere with the guild’s nocturnal activities. Now thoroughly addicted, the Nisku do whatever Borvius commands just for an occasional supply. Unfortunately, the skulks know very little about the actual guild as the Monchellos didn’t trust them at all, with the exception of the two you... were forced to kill downstairs. Borvius gave Walder’s keys to four skulks with orders to infiltrate the Locked Box and kill all the guards. The plan went awry when Agnes Walder got the guards to leave their post to help search for her husband. The skulks dispatched the lone guard and began looting the office on their own initiative to please Borvius (and hopefully acquire more drugs as a reward). With three of the guards out of the building and the timetable altered, the skulks were interrupted. Two of the skulks fled, but in their haste one was accidentally locked inside of the vault, and the other was caught in a trap.
When Sister Woodmere vocally shared her plan to confront the sphinx and make some divinely inspired determination of her guilt or innocence, the Monchellos (knowing her ability to detect lies or compel the truth) believed she could do it so they devised a plan to kill Sister Woodmere right inside the circus, preventing her from interfering and diverting all of the attention back on the performers. Spies watched for her to head to the circus, while cutpurses stood ready to create a diversion so Robella could assassinate her and leave the body where it would be most incriminating.
The murder of Sister Esrelda was executed through good timing and teamwork on the part of the Gilded Hands, even though mistakes were made. Once Esrelda’s intentions were known, rogues from the Gilded Hands staged a distraction to draw some of the guards away from their posts by picking pockets and then raising the alarm themselves. Once the citizens checked their own purses, they coalesced into a mob—drawing carnival guards away from their regular stations. While not every circus guard was at the confrontation where your group interceded, most were suppressing other confrontations with performers and vendors. Meanwhile, Esrelda entered the tent at with the intent of speaking to Jherizhana. However, Jherizhana must have been elsewhere at the time because the tent was empty. Robella and two of her rogues, disguised as clowns, slipped inside after Esrelda and attacked. Outnumbered, they grappled the cleric and garroted her to prevent her from crying out or casting spells. Robella finished her off using her combination of feral mutagen and enlarge extract. Once Esrelda was dead, Robella left the circus by use of an invisibility extract (accidentally dropping her used vials). Her two rogues slipped out the back after unlocking the cage, and discarded their clown costumes.
Braeton was already on the Gilded Hands assassination list, but by this point your group had involved themselves to the point of becoming a nuisance. The Gilded Hands were relying on the crime spree being blamed upon the carnival, but with each murder your group had cast a shadow of a doubt. The Monchellos arrived at the conclusion they’re framing the wrong individuals. Their plan was if your group could be portrayed as criminals working with the carnival to commit the crimes, then everything in relation to your investigation would be cast into doubt, and I would look like a fool for ever having cooperated with you.
So Borvius staged the note on Filton's corpse to draw you into the ambush at the Braeton Manor.
As one of Ilsurian’s wealthiest citizens and merchants, Braeton commanded no small authority on the town’s docks. This frequently put him at odds with Borvius’s legitimate business interests, which relied on competing river merchants who need labor and logistics. More importantly, Braeton’s business had complicated the criminal activities of the Gilded Hands—much of which dealt with smuggling and fencing goods brought to town via the docks at night. The Monchellos realized that if they acquired Braeton’s business, they would have the makings of a proper criminal empire. Even if Braeton were just killed, it would still offer the guild greater latitude with their nocturnal dockside activities - hence Braeton’s selection as the guild’s final victim. Since Braeton had no grown heirs, Borvius could buy his vessels from the town at a reduced price while maintaining the illusion of legitimacy.
By the time you got to the Braeton Manor, the guild had already murdered the Braeton adults and servants, and Borvius used one of Robella’s infused extracts of disguise self on himself so he could appear as Molvil to the children, in order to trick them into being living witnesses to your alleged crimes. The plan was to stage the massacre so it appeared your group and the Braeton family killed each other. Once the rescued children incorrectly identified Molvil as one of the attackers, the frame-up would have been complete. Borvius had also come up with a cover story in case he was seen or caught, or his followers killed: the story was to be that several of his workers didn’t show up for work that day, so he (and any followers who survived the battle) innocently came looking for them, and was then attacked by your group (to explain any injuries).
As your business in town is concluded, you start to pack up and say goodbye to any local friends you've made.
The Gearwright Brothers offer any of your group lucrative work acting as security for their engineering contracts throughout Varisia, including mysterious locales such as Kaer Maga. Potentially more enticing is a personal invitation from Ika and Almara Delisen to join the Umbra Carnival and travel all across Avistan as part of a new family. But the Pathfinder Society awaits your report, as does the original matters you were each travelling for.