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"I don't like the look of those spiders. Let's stay clear of that."
Grunyak points up, "Is there anything upstairs to look at instead?
Grunyak at seeing the weird messages, "It's almost like a speak with dead spell but with information. I have never seen anything that gives time of death like that. Dead don't know time you know."
“I was merely caught up in examining the planar phenomenon of the dreamscape overlapping with the Material realm,” Huxwren sniffs. “I was discerning if it reacted to positive energy like a haunt or would require a more forceful response. From what I can tell, it is the latter.”
“As for these little pests - I think I’ve got one more lightning bolt left in me. Eldrin my boy, what about you? Grunyak? Any of those thunderclaps remaining?”
As you stand near the door watching the crawling spiders, you catch a whiff of a rank smell, like rotting flesh.
Drusilla opens the door to the spider room, and discovers not a swarm of spiders, but something much worse. The carcass of an immense spider- possibly an ogre spider like you faced in the tunnels- sits rotting in the centre of the foyer. Thousands of tiny spiders seem to have made a home in its flesh. Worse still, as Dru opens the door, this immense monstrosity rises on its eight legs, an undead abomination that knows only hunger!
Eldrin was ready for it, and alone among the pathfinders reacts before the creature can act.
Eldrin
Undead Abomination
Taariik
Grunyak
Drusilla
Huxwren
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Taking a moment before Drusilla opens the door, Eldrin hastily flicks through his spell book and studies one of the spells.
His new spell freshly memorised Eldrin launches immediately into the incantation as soon as the door is opened and the monster revealed.
Eldrin reaches the end of his incantation causing a small mote of red energy to appear in his hand. He reaches back and throws it toward the monstrous spider.
Eldrin's fireball erupts in the small foyer, instantly incinerating all of the tiny spiders around the deathweb, but the huge undead creature seems to avoid the worst of the blast. Filthy webbing and old wooden crates are crushed and burned in the super-heated fury, but the stone walls of the temple and the wet wooden walls don't ignite.
In response the deathweb lumbers toward the doorway, and bites at Drusilla with incredible force.
The canny fighter is unable to avoid the devastating bite, which crunches flesh and bone alike.
...
Deathweb
Taariik
Grunyak
Drusilla
Huxwren
Eldrin
...
“Come now, it’s just a deathweb.” Huxwren claps his hands twice. “Chop chop, there we go.”
The undead spider is burned by the holy spell, but it doesn't appear to be blinded or as badly burned as Grunyak expected, perhaps it is more spider than undead.
Huxwren casts a spell and everyone is filled with an arcane alacrity, which Drusilla puts to good use, ignoring her injuries and dealing some powerful strikes of her own. Her morningstar crushes brittle bones and rotted flesh alike.
Taariik dances to channel the spirits and inspire you all on, but his call for holy smite goes unanswered from Irori. His ninja training doesn't let him down though, and his shadow clones appear as expected and as numerous as ever
Haste (last round 8): +1 bonus on attack rolls and a +1 dodge bonus to AC and Reflex saves, double speed (to a max of 30 extra feet), extra attack on full attack action
Eldrin
Deathweb
Taariik
Grunyak
Drusilla
Huxwren
Eldrin fires a barrage of missiles at the spider beast. Despite being unhappy with their potency, as the last one slams into it the deathweb collapses to the ground, and the remaining few spiders skitter into the floorboards.
Eldrin
Deathweb
Taariik
Grunyak
Drusilla
Huxwren
The room is desolate, the outer doors and windows have been boarded up, and the much older doors to the temple are barred from the other side, flanking arches that must once have contained stained-glass once have been bricked over, leaving a foyer that would have been drab and unwelcoming even if it didn't have the body of a decomposing giant spider.
Looking around you find that adding to the smell is the rotting corpse of a would-be burglar. You surmise that the deathweb must have been intended to dissuade unwanted guests from entering via the unused front doors, and this unfortunate soul must have snuck in through one of the gaps in the boarded up windows just in time to be killed. Their dagger and leather armour are unremarkable, but their magical boots are of more interest. Huxwren determines that they are Boots of Elvenkind, as well as that their owner was a confident thief named "Quick Jack" who thought that their magic would allow him to dance into the house and steal shiver without getting caught.
Taariik leads you down the rough-hewn steps beneath the torn-up stage. They lead downward past recessed alcoves holding the desiccated husks of dozens of mummified bodies. Each alcove has a butterfly motif engraved in it. The passage exits into a large cavern littered with shattered wine casks of an antiquated vintage.
Drips of seeping groundwater echo throughout the cavern. The frame and chains of a wooden windlass hang over a massive iron cover that caps a shaft in the cave floor.
"Well well well..." Huxwren crosses his arms and taps a finger. "This would be the place where that Nahum fellow found the Dreamstone. I will admit that I'm not quite certain how this relates to the shiver and people dying in their sleep, but I am certain there is causation and not mere correlation at work here!" The halfling eagerly awaits the opening of the shaft.
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Dru asks Gruniak if he can use her curative wand on her
When I was a young girl, my mom used to say each night "Sleep tight, and don't let the bugs bite." When you're a bit older, you smile at the memory, but shrug it as something not really important and true. And then life shows you you should have listened to your mom...
Taariik winds the windlass, and the massive 10 foot diameter iron cover gradually lifts, an inch at a time for every hard-won turn of the winch.
Suddenly the cover bursts open and slams into the rock, and the cavern is flooded with nightmarish visions. The psychic energy locked in the well is so potent it has apparently congealed into something almost physical.
Grunyak and Eldrin find the assault overwhelming and drop to their knees and wretch with the staggering psychic shock, but the others manage to hold their footing. All around the cave visions are playing out; the dark expanse of space and the faint echoes of some conjuring call; a gut-wrenching impact and visions of entire cities swept away by searing blasts; leering, chanting monks; fantastic roiling landscapes; people gripped by madness as they gnaw their own bloody tongues; and finally, a closing gate followed by darkness.
Looking down the shaft of the well shows smooth metal walls for 60 feet, and at the bottom an opened lead coffer, empty.
Satisfied that you've finished exploring the lower level and put an end to the cult's activities down here, you return to the second floor, then take the spiral staircase by the entrance up to the third floor. You find a bedroom appointed with what appears to be the house's least-tattered accoutrements; a fine bed, bookcase, and desk, though the finery is offset by weather-beaten, waxed leather curtains stretched across a gaping hole in the room's northeast wall. As you're looking around, you see a number of barely discernable shades of strangely pacing shadows flittering around the room.
As the strange shadows touch Huxwren, Grunyak and Taariik, the fall asleep. They have a brief dream of being in another version of the same room, but one with all of its walls intact. A man that Huxwren recognises to be Nahum Caligaro sneers at them, and a quasit sits perched on his shoulder with a similar evil glare.
After they're brought around, each of the dreamers find themselves possessed by an irrational fear of the man they saw, but only Grunyak temporarily loses control due to the magical fear, and soon gets himself together.
In a room to the south you find the spider-eater's lair. Discarded pig bones and the cracked exoskeletons of large spiders litter the chamber. Metal springs keep two large shutters closed to the outside world, and on the south wall a barely breathing human is limply suspended by spiderwebs as thick as human fingers, his very aware eyes staring in horror down at his grossly undulating abdomen.
As you stare on in horror, a young spider-eater bursts forth from the prisoner in a spray of gore, but you can quickly dispatch it.
It's a fitting end for this house of horror, for with that gruesome task complete, you have cleared the place out. Clearly in the past it held a temple to Desna, then later generations built an undersea shrine to Gozreh, but the current occupants have found faith in a darker "God", one that currently lies of a sunken chamber, slumbering but not dead.
You were tasked with stopping the Brotherhood of the Spider and their shiver operation, as Magistrate Drune was certain it was responsible for the rash of deaths the district had been seeing, in particular the death of Frell Tann, a nephew of a powerful Magistrate. You had already found that evidence in Greeley's hideout, but you came to the house on hook street to bring the cult to justice, and so you have.
And yet questions remain. You found no evidence that the cult had been poisoning the wells at Magistrate Drune had suggested explained the rash of nightmares, and you've experienced the dark nightmare dreamscape plaguing Bridgefront yourself. You've found hints of a deeper mystery, but an elusive one. For now it's time to collect your reward, and to take a hard-earned rest.
“Hmph. What a rude fellow.” Huxwren dusts the dirt and grime off his sleeves and does his best to not look like he’s deliberately keeping himself from appearing to hyperventilate. “While I would love to continue delving into this house’s secrets, but those guards downstairs will raise a fuss if we don’t let them know they can leave.”
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"Well well well..." Huxwren crosses his arms and taps a finger. "This would be the place where that Nahum fellow found the Dreamstone. I will admit that I'm not quite certain how this relates to the shiver and people dying in their sleep, but I am certain there is causation and not mere correlation at work here!" The halfling eagerly awaits the opening of the shaft.
Taariik looks confused. "Ehh, I do not know if I really understood what you mean. This Dreamstone seems really powerful! Do we need to find it??! Somehow the drugs made me see things when these thugs hit me yesterday! No idea what core ... cerla ... ehh ... yeaah ... that means but we need to find this shiver connection!" he says clapping Hux on the shoulder.
~ ~
When I was a young girl, my mom used to say each night "Sleep tight, and don't let the bugs bite." When you're a bit older, you smile at the memory, but shrug it as something not really important and true. And then life shows you you should have listened to your mom...
Taariik nods with a sly smile. "You do not seem to be a woman that always listens to her mother!"
~ ~
Suddenly the cover bursts open and slams into the rock, and the cavern is flooded with nightmarish visions. The psychic energy locked in the well is so potent it has apparently congealed into something almost physical.
Grunyak and Eldrin find the assault overwhelming and drop to their knees and wretch with the staggering psychic shock, but the others manage to hold their footing. All around the cave visions are playing out; the dark expanse of space and the faint echoes of some conjuring call; a gut-wrenching impact and visions of entire cities swept away by searing blasts; leering, chanting monks; fantastic roiling landscapes; people gripped by madness as they gnaw their own bloody tongues; and finally, a closing gate followed by darkness.
Taariik is completely consumed by the images and shakes his head.
"Wha ... what was this?!? These people are suffering! What dark forces are at play here?!?" he stammers with fear in his eyes.
"I ... I cannot get the images of mad people gnawing their own bloody tongues out of my mind!" he says a the group walks up.
~ ~
Satisfied that you've finished exploring the lower level and put an end to the cult's activities down here, you return to the second floor, then take the spiral staircase by the entrance up to the third floor. You find a bedroom appointed with what appears to be the house's least-tattered accoutrements; a fine bed, bookcase, and desk, though the finery is offset by weather-beaten, waxed leather curtains stretched across a gaping hole in the room's northeast wall. As you're looking around, you see a number of barely discernable shades of strangely pacing shadows flittering around the room.
As the strange shadows touch Huxwren, Grunyak and Taariik, the fall asleep. They have a brief dream of being in another version of the same room, but one with all of its walls intact. A man that Huxwren recognises to be Nahum Caligaro sneers at them, and a quasit sits perched on his shoulder with a similar evil glare.
Already under emotional stress, it is no wonder that Taariik drops unconscious!
"Arrghhh ... who is this?!?"
On the way out of the house, a final scan of detect magic from Eldrin reveals some muffled auras coming from a desk in the bedroom. After fiddling with it for some time you discover a sliding panel that reveals a number of hidden treasures.
A pristine velvet bag holds 18 talismans, two of which are imbued with magic (a quick examination by Eldrin or Huxwren will tell you that they are a lesser talisman of sealed summons and a lesser talisman of warrior's courage), while the others are pseudo mystical seals worth around 10GP each.
A small hypnotist's locked unlocks to show tiny drawings of Nahum and Myra, and you also find an antique Prognostication Manual signed "To my love, Myra - Nahum". There is a magical +1 dagger, a single bag of dust which turns out to be dust of appearance, and a thick leather tome with several hundred names inscribed within - membership rolls of the cult. Finally there is a bag with 600 gold pieces and a note: "Withhold Hosef Barvasi's payment until the book of dreaming is returned"
Leaving via the tunnels, you dismiss the guards and begin the long walk across town, out of Bridgefront and across the bridge to City Hall, where you're ushered into Magistrate Drune's office with impressive speed. Drune is rubbing his hands together with uncharacteristic glee, and seems as if he can barely contain his excitement.
"Yes, I've already heard! Burned them out of that base of operations so you did, root and branch. Wonderful! I have your reward here"
He takes out some slips of paper and gives them to you.
"Hand those in at the treasury and they'll see you rewarded. I wouldn't go flashing the platinum pieces around Bridgefront though, those vagrants would kill their own mothers for so much as a single platinum piece. No no, You've done the city of Korvosa a great service, a great service indeed. Spend some time in the Heights or South Shore, you've earned it. Now I must be getting on, is there anything else?"
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After recovering from the visions caused by the lifting of the metal cover in the basement of the house on hook street. Eldrin says "I think the initial portion of what we saw may have been when the Star Stone fell to Golarian."
Later while briefing the magistrate on the events of the past few days Eldrin will look to the rest of the group for their assent to him handing over the book of names.
Huxwren nods approvingly at the handover of the cult’s rollcall. ”Serves the cheeky blighters right for destroying so many books and valuable artifacts.”
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Grunyak frowns as Eldrin looks his way and shakes his head slightly with a 'no'.
Grunyak tries to get a read on the magistrate's intent with such a list. He is not in favor of a religious witch-hunt. He wonders what good it will do. But he can't get a sense of him.
"What is the next step you want us to take, Magistrate Drune? Do we continue after this fella, Nahum and perhaps recover this Dreamstone. It seems to be the magical might behind the sleeping nightmares."
"Not at all, not at all, all the problems are solved I assure you, now that the cult is taken care of it will take a little time for the shiver to get washed out of the system, but once that's done all will be well. It's time for you to rest!"
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Eldrin pauses reaching for the book unsure what to do. After a moment he decides to leave the book where it is. "The cult has been captured or have fled and the leaders are either in prison awaiting judgement or are dead. But I suspect the problem is far from solved. We found no evidence of the local water supply being tampered with."
Drune's demeanour changes slightly as he becomes perhaps a little annoyed.
"No evidence yes, but there were just subtle. As I told you before our own investigations have proven the well tampering. Now that the leaders of the cult are dead or in custody, the problem is solved"
He stands up and gathers some papers together.
"I really must be getting on, lots of prosecutions to get to you understand"
At the same moment Captain Crandon (who had apparently been waiting just outside the office) opens the door and waits expectantly for you to depart.
Leaving the odd meeting with Magistrate Drune, you decide to head back to Madame Carrington, who despite being difficult to communicate with in the waking world, has proven a steadfast ally to you in the dreamscape.
Walking through the streets of Bridgefront, you see the familiar signs of disturbed sleep. Queues for the coffee vendors have gotten longer if anything, and bleary eyed residents discuss their most recent nightmares at every corner.
In fact, compared to your walk into the district just a couple of days ago, it may be that the area affected by the troubled sleep is growing larger. It's hard to say with any accuracy, but before it seemed like the signs of trouble didn't begin until you were well into the district near the Night Market, but today the near-universal signs of sleepiness begin as early as Pearl Street.
Arriving at Madame Carrington's, you're welcomed in with much less formality than before. Carrington's Assistant Maynard ushers you inside and takes you straight into her parlour.
"Madame Carrington asked me to rouse her as soon as you arrived, she needs to sleep almost all the time now to protect dreamers in her sanctuary in the dreamscape, though the Baku can do so in her stead for brief periods while she eats."
He tenderly rouses her by placing a hand on her face, then fetches a tray with milk and honey and small pieces of bread and begins feeding her. While he's fetching the tray Madame Carrington appears to concentrate, and the ghostly form of a young aristocratic womman appears before you.
"Please don't be alarmed, my name is Giurescu." She moves to affectionately stroke Madame Carrington's hair, who closes her eyes in response.
"Alyssa wishes to apologies for the theatrics the last time you were here. We are bound together despite my death, and she knows she can call upon me to speak for her in this world where her body fails her, but sometimes she chooses not to, to spare me the effort she would say- but I know she does it to impress potential customers"
Her tone is joking, and you can see Madame Carrington roll her eyes and a twitch in her cheek hints at a smile.
"Having met you all in the dreamscape however, she knows you can be trusted, so here I am. The situation worsens in the dreamscape; try as she might Alyssa can't protect everyone who needs her help, and more and more people are sucked in every night. It has become clear that lucid dreamers can be killed in the dreamscape, so anyone who is naturally gifted, or anyone who takes shiver, risks real death every night. She is putting her life on the line in there. Do you know what is causing it yet? Do you know how to stop it?"
“Darling, you would not believe what we’ve found out.” Huxwren grins as he sinks deep into a chair much too large for his small frame. “Giurescu, was it? A pleasure to make your acquaintance. Now, where to start...”
“...and so it seems that our next step is to retrieve this book from these young hooligans who have absconded with it.” The halfling nods in satisfaction. “You wouldn’t happen to know where we might find them, would you?”
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"It is just so. We need to convince this 'Josef Barvasi' that we need the book to save the city. I suspect he will understand and give us it."
Grunyak looks at the others to see if his sarcasm was understood. "Well, anyway, do we have any idea where to find this fellow?" "Perhaps the city guards have a lead on how to find him?"
"It was nice to see you again, Lady Carrington. And it was nice to meet you, Giurescu."
Giurescu shakes her head, and looks to Madame Carrington. She looks back to you and replies.
"I'm sorry, neither of us are very well informed about local gangs"
Maynard interjects while he continues to feed Madame Carrington.
"Josef Barvasi is the head of Barvasi's band. I had heard that he was aligned with the Brotherhood of the Spider, but I'm afraid I know little more than that. They haven't collected their protection money in weeks."
Saying your goodbyes and allowing Madame Carrington to return to sleep in order to protect slumbering locals, you hit the streets, your only option to locate Barvasi being to ask around and hope you don't get fooled again.
After an hour or so you find the same story told by every local worker and street dweller you find (those that know anything anyway); those members of the gang that still live have gone into deep hiding. No-one's heard from them. Several people also mention that in order to find them you'd need someone to set up a meeting, pointing out underworld information brokers whose job is to arrange such parlays, and that the price for such a thing would be 100GP.
The morning of the meeting with Josef Barvasi, Huxwren once again calls everyone together to their small room. "Since we don't know that this gang won't get violent, I thought it would be best to be prepared for anything." They continue chatting as they set out candles in a rather small circle, a broad smile on their face. "I'll have to ask you to be gentle with Spitfoot - they startle easily. Just... try to keep your voice calm, don't shout, and whatever you do, NO. GUNSHOTS." They catch each Pathfinder's gaze before nodding.
The seance begins as the halfling tucks themselves into the middle of the small circle. They pull out a blanket and drape it around their shoulders, then pull their hat down over their eyes. Slowly they begin to rock back and forth, speeding up and slowing down and speeding back up in a gradually-increasing tempo. Their breath begins to come faster and harsher as well, eventually growing strong enough to blow out one of the candles. Then another. And another. And another.
As the last flame flickers out, Huxwren leaps to their feet. The blanket falls away, revealing a small polished shield strapped to their arm. From beneath the brim of the hat peak wide, wild eyes. "Wah!" they shriek, then flinch back. "Oh, it's you. Or... or is it really? What if you've been replaced... No, I would have heard that. Yes, can't be. Okay. Okay, good. Um, right." They gulp loudly and then slowly look towards the door. "I, uh, guess we have to go... out there?"
You decide to pay the 100 gold pieces to an information broker in order to find the mysterious Josef Barvasi, though actually finding them one turns out to be quite tricky. The street rats who suggested the course of action don't take your money, they merely point to another on a nearby street corner who will. This person in turn sends you to someone else, and the whole thing continues. Eventually you have to give up and retire to the inn you've chosen near Madame Carrington's.
The night passes uneventfully, though on waking you each remember some details of the nightmare before being taken to Madame Carrington's dream sanctuary, and you each clearly remember seeing a strange floating elephantine like creature (but much smaller, the size of a pony) with brown fur. It watched over the dreamers and the nightmare monsters seemed scared of it. Though your memories are spotty, you do recall a sense of overcrowding in the dream sanctuary.
The next day you are approached at breakfast by a young woman with an apron and a pencil tucked behind her ear.
"Mornin'. Word on the street is that you're after a meetin' wiv a certain Josef Barvasi. I can make that happen for the right price. They call me Weatherly"
After she takes the payment (and helps herself to some bread rolls from your breakfast) she tells you it'll be another day until she's finished making her enquiries, and to expect word tomorrow. You spend the day shopping, and the you find the mood of the city is tense. More dead sleepers have been discovered, and the authorities are playing them off as caused by illness or old age. You feel a growing pressure to find the book and stop whatever is happening here, and you can't help shake the feeling that something else is looking for it too.
After another uneasy night (you each distinctly remember a haggard Madame Carrington in her dream form begging you to break this nightmare as you wake) you begin preparing for the day, and as soon as Huxwren has completed their ritual a street urchin bursts through the door, panting for breath.
"Message from ... Weatherly. Get to the ... Rook's Roost ... Right now!"
You race toward the Rook's Roost which you first heard about as a location that Frell Tann frequented. You find some wooden stairs crawling up an alley wall toward a second-story awning that shelters a stout iron door roughly etched with blackbirds. Strange scents waft from the door's barred porthole, and a sad looking doorman waits outside for you.
"You'd best come in"
He leads you inside, where the proprietor is looking downcast. The place is eerily empty. Its many beds and sofas have been pushed aside to create a clear path to the rear of the establishment, where a single door hangs torn from its hinges. A thick pool of coagulating blood spreads from the doorway, giving off a heavy metallic odour.
"You're the ones who were to meet Josef Barvasi? You're too late"
He says no more, merely nods toward the broken door. Moving to investigate, you're met with a horrifying sight: The mutilated corpses of 8 humans, each spread out on reclining chairs, their blood pooling deep on the room's floor. Above the corpses hang several tangled hoses that lead to small spigots above each couch. The hoses snake upward toward a strange apparatus on a tall brass stand behind the couches, itself crowned with the gaping-mouthed, decapitated head of a dead-eyed frog-like creature: the preserved head of a slain hydrodaemon much like the one you fought on the docks.
You move in to invesigate as the proprietor Asnaan watches from the doorway. As you are doing so, something stirs in the blood.
The pools of blood silently gather and roll into a vaguely humanoid but nightmarish shape. It smashes a crude fist at Huxwren while you are all pre-occupied with examining the gruesome scene.
Huxwren's defences are more than up to the task though, but the creature is giving off some sort of mental feedback that is putting you all off.
Taariik
Grunyak
Blood Monster
Huxwren
Eldrin
Drusilla