Gregoth's spiritual discharge misses the enforcer, spilling out of him too uncontrollably to be dangerous.
Turrey bamboozle's the enforcer briefly by rewiring her senses, then takes advantage of her clumsiness by sinking a well-placed arrow in her side, though again the strange mask seems to take some of the damage.
Bellaluna takes a quick well-placed shot at the enforcer's Chakanaj mask, and her bolt sinks into the enforcer's face beneath, though some of the damage is shared with the Chakanaj.
With a quick reload she fires two more shots simultaneously, one of which finds flesh, but the other is deflected by one of the Chakanaj's spindly legs.
Kaldren calls out calming words, perhaps for himself as much as Félicité, for both are calmed by it. Despite his calm demeanour though, he can't get his flail into a good angle to attack.
Félicité shares what she recalls of Chakanajs, and fires an arrow past Kaldren's ear that hits the enforcer as it's so hard to hit the Chakanaj. Her strategem plays out perfectly and the arrow hits a weak spot. She reaches out to patch up his wounds and easily stops the bleeding as well.
The enforcer keeps a hold of Kaldren, her face hidden beneath the Chakanaj as she chuckles at his feeble attempts to hit her. She whips the other end of the spiked chain at him.
◆ Grab
◆ Strike
She looks confused though as she smells the sounds of Kaldren struggling and sees the feel of the chain in her hand, and her strike is well wide
◆ Strike
Again she swings at him, but despite holding him in her chain she is looking in the wrong direction and the end of it smashes into ground.
◆ Peel Away
The Chakanaj peels itself off the enforcer, and floats directly toward Gregoth!
It then attacks him, flying around his head and trying to cut his face to ribbons with its sharp legs. It moves so quickly and so unnaturally that he finds it hard to follow.
◆ Feint
◆ Strike
Active Effects:
Haste: Everyone is quickened
Inspire Defence: Everyone has +1 status bonus to AC and saves, and resistance 4 to physical damage
Didactic Strike: The enforcer is flat-footed to everyone's first attack before Félicité's turn, and it will do 2d6 additional precision.
...
Gregoth
Turrey
Bellaluna
Kaldren
Félicité
Enforcer
Chakanaj
”Nope! Nope nope nope NOPE!”
Bellaluna reacts with horror to the sahkil peeling off of the enforcer’s face and attacking Gregoth. She Strides over into a better position and reloads both of her crossbows then fires them desperately at the mask!
Gregoth bats at the little mask-thing, not seeming to feel its clawed limb digging into his skin. He puts his shield up, then stares with empty eyes into the woman’s.
“Why?”
As if not expecting an answer from her, his sword-arm swings. The large man lets the momentum carry him to the side - and away from the flesh-mask - before the blade falls.
Kaldren raises his flail high, menacing the creature with a display of martial prowess concluding with a twist of his wrists sending the ball in a tight spiral. With this gesture a faint light emanates from the creature as Kaldren brings the weapon down upon the creature.
Félicité examines the mask.
◆
◇
◆ Stride
◆
plus plus plus Didactic Strike
◆ Shield
Turrey sings out a single piercing note and suddenly a torrent of spirits fly out of his mouth and attempt to rip into the enforcer.
He then hustles forward, standing just beneath and behind the axel of the waterwheel, and attempts to follow his spell up with an arrow at her.
Gregoth swings and takes a chunk out of the chittering Chakanaj, before turning his unnerving stare on the enforcer, who doesn't seem to be paying much attention. His follow-up strike on her misses as she dodges the blow, demonstrating impressive combat awareness as she seems focussed on Kaldren.
Turrey blasts the enforcer's spirit leaving her staggered from the spiritual assault, and follows up using Félicité's advice to land a critical hit.
Bellaluna spins and reloads both crossbows in a flash before firing them both at the Chakanaj left behind by Gregoth. They impact at almost the same time, but the Chakanaj moves so quickly after the first strikes that the second bounces off an armoured piece of skin.
Kaldren calls upon Pharasma to smite the mortic enforcer, and perhaps understandably she looks frightened once again. With good reason it turns out, because Kaldren follows it up with a mighty smash of his flail, threatening to crush her skull.
He struggles against the chain, but can't seem to break her unnatural strength.
Félicité moves to get a clear shot on the Chakanaj, and formulates her plan as it's reacting to Gregoth's strike. She can see Bellaluna is going to fire, and just as the strange skin-flap creature moves to dodge the second bolt, she fires an arrow into where it's going to be, sinking it in deep.
The enforcer has been weathering all these attacks and maintaining a look of pure rage toward Kaldren, now tinged with fear. She tries to knock him unconscious.
◆ Greater Constrict
Kaldren can't draw in enough breath to stay conscious as she pulls on the chain, and he passes out, dropping his flail and collapsing to the floor. The enforcer spins the other end of her chain around, and brings it suddenly toward Gregoth's legs.
◆ Trip
The big man is taken by surprise and hits the floor, and she brings the end of the chain down in a wide arc trying to smash his head.
◆ Strike
Gregoth rolls to avoid his head getting crushed, but it lands on his shoulder and opens up a bleeding wound
The Chakanaj chitters and casts another spell on everyone, trying to stoke their waning fear.
It then flies over toward Félicité
Active Effects:
Haste: Everyone is quickened
Inspire Defence: Everyone has +1 status bonus to AC and saves, and resistance 4 to physical damage
Didactic Strike: The Chakanaj is flat-footed to everyone's first attack before Félicité's turn, and it will do 2d6 additional precision.
...
Gregoth
Turrey
Bellaluna
Kaldren
Félicité
Enforcer
Chakanaj
Again Gregoth bats at the tiny thing without thought, sword sweeping upward towards its underbelly from his new location on the floor.
Gregoth's mighty swing prevents the Chakanaj from completing its spell, so it retreats toward Félicité injured and impotent
Active Effects:
Haste: Everyone is quickened
Inspire Defence: Everyone has +1 status bonus to AC and saves, and resistance 4 to physical damage
Didactic Strike: The Chakanaj is flat-footed to everyone's first attack before Félicité's turn (save Gregoth who has used his), and it will do 2d6 additional precision.
...
Gregoth
Turrey
Bellaluna
Kaldren
Félicité
Enforcer
Chakanaj
With his shield held a bit lower in preparation for another strike against his legs, Gregoth springs to his feet with more grace than his girth would imply. Stepping around to put the enforcer between him and Kaldren, he leans towards the woman and whispers to her in a frightening voice halfway between a hiss and a sob.
"It's too late."
And he swings his sword towards her neck.
Bellaluna curses under her breath as she reloads both of her crossbows. She then levels one of her crossbows towards the fiend harassing Félicité.
She then reloads the crossbow she just shot.
Félicité gets a good look at the facehugger up close.
◆
◇
Not seeing a decent way to attack it effectively, Félicité retreats ◆ and shoots at the enforcer instead.
◆
plus
◆
plus
Turrey sings about the movement of glaciers and molasses, attempting to slow the enforcer's momentum.
Then he fires off two quick arrows at the Chakanaj.
Gregoth's terrifying whisper leaves the enforcer visibly shaken, though she manages not to turn and flee. She seems to be thinking about it when Gregoth's sword slams into her side, taking her by surprise and spraying foul rotting flesh everywhere, and setting her alight.
Turrey weaves a spell of slowing around the enforcer, which seems to leave her moving languidly like in a nightmare. He then fires a couple of quick shots, the first informed by Félicité's strategy strikes true and leaves the strange fleshy fiend flapping in distress, but it manages to avoid the second.
Bellaluna similarly takes advantage of its distress and pins it to the wall with her bolt, the brilliant rune glaring as it continues to sear the now dead flesh.
Active Effects:
Haste: Everyone is quickened
Inspire Defence: Everyone has +1 status bonus to AC and saves, and resistance 4 to physical damage
Didactic Strike: The Chakanaj is flat-footed to everyone's first attack before Félicité's turn, and it will do 2d6 additional precision.
...
Gregoth
Turrey
Bellaluna
Kaldren
Félicité
Enforcer
Chakanaj
Returning to consciousness Kaldren reaches out for his weapon and gets to his feat. He sets himself and strikes out at the creature.
Kaldren stands, and with finality brings his flail down onto the enforcers head, crushing the flesh like a rotten cabbage. The enforcer collapses to the ground in a stinking heap. Gregoth's bleeding wound is dealt with quickly.
The "noble" cowering in the corner squeaks out a plea when he thinks you might be coming for him next
"Aaah, don't hurt me! I just did what she said! That Viuna said she'd send me to a final blade if I didn't stand here and pretend to be selling an invitation. I'm just a banker, I just want to go home. I can give you a reward if you let me go..."
He then starts to sob. Behind the building materials you find two fresh corpses, each bearing many cuts not dissimilar to Kaldren's. One is a pale gnome wearing a bandolier with two alchemical items. They are labelled in a flamboyant hand "Fire" and "Sight". Another is a muscular human dressed in hunter's clothing who has a satchel filled with parts for a particularly complex snare of some kind.
When you unearth the bodies, the mewling banker lets out a wail of anguish.
"She KILLED them! They came to buy a- sniff- invitation like you, and she cut them down as if they were nothing"
[ooc]What do you do?
Bellaluna looks at the banker and the bodies and sighs. ”Go before you get in over your head.”
The elf completely ignores the other bodies, seemingly unfazed by the death, and goes over to the wall where the “mask” is now pinned by one of her bolts. ”My question is,” She tears the bolt out of it and holds the dead sahkil for the others to see. ”Why was this thing with her?” The not-fully-dead sahkil then twitches as Bellaluna holds it up, causing her to yelp and drop the creature to the ground. She instinctively stomps on the fiend followed by a shot with one of her loaded crossbows. She looks at the others after her clear overreaction and just says ”That thing creeps me out, okay?”
The banker nods and runs toward the door, but turns around once he makes it through the doorway.
"I meant it about the reward, come see me at the bank and I can set you up an account!"
He vanishes before you can ask him anything further.
"The estate offered another invitation, but it might be a trap. I say traps are meant to be sprung, perhaps we can split up and have a diplomatic team come in from the obvious entrance and a sneaky team come in from a different entrance."
Turrey looks over the fallen bodies, shakes his head, and wipes away a tear. "So sad. Every soul is a work of art, if they let themselves be. These enforcers seem the very opposite of gardeners--rather, they trammel the spirits of those they object to."
He gives the vials a look, and the makings of the snare, and gently probes their pockets and bags for any other clues as to who they were, and what they knew.
He then does the same with the enforcer's pockets, looking for any clues.
He then takes a moment to consider the odd abomination that the enforcer had worn for a mask. What tales have I read, that might help me know more of their origin, and motives? Are there more around? And if so, are they servants, partners, or masters of these 'gardeners'
At Félicité's suggestion, Turrey nods. "I see the wisdom in visiting the Harble estate. The other thing on my mind is to seek out the old shrine of Pharasma, which I hear is just out of town. I heard that there was an elderly, one-eyed human who was also asking about the masque, and who said he could be sought out there. Perhaps we visit the Harble Estate first? If the Lord is ill, he may want to retire early. I can come and offer to soothe his soul with song. Perhaps before I do though, we should take care to scope the estate out? I am reasonably good at being inconspicuous, when I put my mind to it...and can become invisible for a bit, if need be."
Turrey has a thorough search of the slain individuals, and does find a pouch of embossed cards reading "Halipoor Snimwalt, Alchemist-for-Hire" on the gnome. Neither the hunter nor the enforcer have anything by means of identification.
Félicité and Turrey agree that Lord Harble's estate ought to be the next step, and after Félicité takes care of everyone's cuts and Turrey and Kaldren have had the opportunity to refocus, you set off. Remembering that Soul Mother's Herbs is not too much of a detour, and that the shop had alchemist tools aplenty, you stop in on the way.
Keznin offers to confirm if the items are healing in nature, and after a quick sniff and a couple of quick tests with some herbs he announces.
"I'm fairly sure they're not healing draughts, nor any ward against disease or poison. Beyond that my alchemy is rudimentary I'm afraid, but you're welcome to use any of my equipment"
Gregoth and Félicité both have some training in alchemy, so they take him up on his offer and spend 20 minutes examining the vials.
Gregoth is convinced that the vial labelled "Fire" is a Major Alchemist's Fire, and Félicité that the one labelled "Sight" is a Major Eagle-Eye Elixir. Checking each other's conclusions, Gregoth is unable to make much of the "Sight" vial, but Félicité agrees with Gregoth about the "Fire".
You arrive at the Harble estate around 4pm, with the sun getting low in the sky. From the street the main house seems grand, set a short way in from a six foot iron fence enclosing the entire estate. As you walk past, you can see that the main gate is slightly ajar. Unique amongst the larger houses in this street, there are no visible guards posted anywhere on the grounds.
Gregory shakes his head, a worried frown creasing his face. “I think you’re right ‘bout a trap here, Félicité. Don’t know if it’s already been sprung though.” Slowly he rolls up his sleeves and surveys the front yard of the estate, looking for possible hiding places he - or someone meaning to surprise him - could hide.
"Yeah, given that front door hanging open, and no guards outside, I think maybe we all just walk in, staying quiet.
"I have a soft step and a keen eye...and I can compliment them with invisibility, if I pull the hood of my cloak up. Why don't I go a bit in? I'll use Message to keep you posted.
"..and if you don't hear anything from me, please hustle in after me.", he winks, and then pulls his hood up and vanishes.
Bellaluna nervously rubs the trigger guard of her crossbow with her finger. "I don't like this. Not one bit."
Turrey begins an initial exploration of the manor grounds by himself, staying in regular contact with the others via message while they try to look inconspicuous standing in the street.
He finds that the front door is locked, but that a servants entrance just around the corner is unlocked. There are also a number of windows slightly open that look like they could be opened further and climbed into.
"OK, let's go in this unlocked door. Pause twelve seconds and then follow behind me, as quietly as you're able. Once we turn corners, I won't be able to message you, but I'll come back around if I need to."
Then, still invisible (at least for now) Turrey takes his bow in hand and heads in.
Félicité will open an investigation into Halipoor Snimwalt.
---
After others have snuck in, Félicité will walk into the gates rather openly, scanning for dangers. (Perception +30 for sight, +28 for auditory)
Deciding to venture into the house together, Turrey waits to be joined while invisible, then the group heads in.
Inside, the manor is tidy but sad, its dark-paneled galleries holding ancient portraits of several generations of Harbles in sagging frames. The servants quarters through which you enter look hastily abandoned.
Moving into the main house, everyone save Félicité notices that there is no silverware anywhere, though when it's pointed out to her she agrees it's odd. Indeed on further consideration any number of other valuable knick-knacks that might be expected in such a home are also missing.
On entering the main bedroom you are met with a powerful odour of decay, as well as the gruesome sight of a balding old man dead in an enormous canopy bed. Elsewhere in the room there is a large oak desk.
Remembering how the guard at the mill had hidden in the shadows, Gregory draws the blade at his side free of its scabbard. “We heard a rumor he wanted to sell something, but no rumors he was dead? Smells sour to me.”
What check is it to see how he died? I think I have some feats.
As Bellaluna walks into the room, she instinctively slaps a hand over her mouth to muffle her screams of ”Cayden Cailean!” She then looks up and points at the ceiling as she says ”Sorry.”
”Well, we’re already trespassing, might as well add some ransacking to the list to see what the hell happened to this guy. Hey, Felice, you’ve probably studied some of that Rahadoumi medicinal stuff; how fast can you do an autopsy on the guy?”
Félicité starts to examine the corpse. Certainly all the signs are of expiration from natural causes, but corpses can be staged, and she knows what to look for.
At the same time, Bellaluna begins to search around the room, starting with the desk. The second drawer that she opens contains a pristine piece of cream coloured card, inviting the bearer and their entourage to the Masque at the Gray Monastery.
It doesn't take Félicité long to convince herself that there is nothing suspicious about the corpse, and that he died in his sleep of natural causes, and has probably lain here for about a day. She had heard that Lord Harble had been ill, though he must have been downplaying the severity.
As Turrey is suggesting finishing searching the property, there is a knock at the front door, and muffled voices reach you through the house.
"Lord Harble, open up, it's the guard! We're going to enter for your safety as we've had reports of your servants leaving town. Lord Harble are you in there?"
Seconds later, you hear the sound of the servant's entrance being opened, and more voices calling out, closer this time.
Félicité will motion to Bellaluna to take the card, and to hide.
She will quickly make gestures that advocate she and Turrey () answer the door, while the others were less forthright about their presence.
Bellaluna’s face completely pales when she hears the knock at the door. She stuffs the invite into a pocket and rushes under the bed!
Turrey whispers, "Wait, before you hide, what if I cast a spell that makes you look like Lord Harbie, and the rest of us like his servants? Do you think you could persuade the guard that you dismissed some faithless servants, but hired new ones, and are quite alright?"
Gregoth frowns. “As long as they can’t smell him, it could work.” He sheathes his sword and gestures around the building. “Can you, I don’t know, make this look like someone lives here still too?”
With the plan set, Turrey casts a quick pair of spells, transforming Bellaluna into a slightly more healty version of the corpse in the bed, and everyone else into an array of colourful servants.
The sound of the spellcasting clearly draws the attention of the searching guards, who stop calling out for Lord Harble and approach the bedroom through the very large house. You all leave the room and spread out, allowing Bellaluna to flawlessly adopt the mannerisms of an aged, ill noble and respond to the guards who approach.
There are four constables from the Litran City guard who look surprised to see Lord Harble, and quickly bow deeply.
"Lord Harble, we feared the worst when we had reports that your servants had been seen leaving town together. Is everything OK?"
Bellaluna grabs the blanket off the bed and wraps herself in it, not thinking about the fact that a dead man was just touching it. She hunches over once the constables come in sight and lets loose a fake coughing fit. ”Will you keep it down?!” She acts as if she is a mildly annoyed, very ill man. ”I’m sick for Cayden’s sake! Nasty thing I’ve come down with; didn’t want any of my servants to catch it, so I sent some home, and others out of town to try to find a remedy for this blasted illness.”
”I’ve been—HAK—like this all week; I swear an entire tankard of mucus has migrated to my throat. And as you can see, I’m fine, simply under the weather. And I suggest you lot head out as well, so you don’t catch—“ “Lord Harble” lets loose another phlegmy-sounding coughing fit, as Bellaluna looks into the empty hand she just coughed into (holding it such that the constables couldn’t see if she had something on it) and grimaces. ”Oh goodness…Towel! Please get me a towel!” Bellaluna trails off as she tries to slip back into Harble’s bedchamber for some “rest.”
Félicité hands Bellaluna a towel, and she returns to the room, holding her healer's tools and glaring disapprovingly at the constable.
"Mister Constable, I have no need to remind you that my lord is under the strictest of orders to be resting. Please keep your questions short and to the point - he simply must recover before the Masque."
Félicité motions for the constables to keep their distance.
If there's a pause in the conversation or they otherwise look like they intend to pry, Félicité will move to intercept them. "I need to make sure you're not bringing any other diseases into this household, my lord is in a fairly vulnerable state right now." She will then ask them to remove their armor so that she can see whether they have any red dots on their backs, and take any opportunity she can to look for clues about who sent them (), and whether they might be friends or foes if the disguises were to fall apart.
Turrey whistles a jaunty tune while dusting the some vases in the hallway, and Félicité and Bellaluna put on a performance of their own.
"Oh, milord, begging your pardons we had no idea. We'll be on our way, wishing you the best of luck in your recovery. We'll keep an eye on the entrance until your guards return milord, fear not, though it might be an idea to lock the servants entrance regardless.
The guards look quite convinced, and nearly stumble over each other in their haste to get away from the sick "Lord Harble".
You are left alone in Lord Harble's house just after sunset, having obtained an invitation to the Masque.
"Well done, Bellaluna! And no blood shed, praise Sheyln.
"I'm still inclined to search out that Pharasman shrine tonight. Why don't we wait a few minutes, and then I can go check up front to see if those earnest guards are indeed still lingering about."
Bellaluna takes off the blanket she has draped over her body and lays it over the body of Lord Harble. ”I swear this—” The elf continues speaking in the “Lord Harble” mannerisms without thinking, then coughs as she continues in her regular mannerisms. ”I swear this day is just trying to screw us over. I agree we should search out that shrine if we can. If the guards are still out there we could probably sneak out the servants’ entrance or trick them by saying we’re going into town for some medicine—though the latter would require another one of that particular spell so I’m not looking like this when we go out.”
With Bellaluna's agreement, Turrey (still magically disguised as a servant) heads out the servant's exit and walks slowly, casually, toward the street, looking for the guards they met.
As Turrey walks outside, he spots one of the guards from earlier stationed just outside the main gate of the manor. Expecting to be seen he waves hello, but the guard seems to be looking elsewhere. Testing a theory, he throws a pebble to draw the guards attention, but even that just elicits a confused look in the wrong direction followed by a belch. Satisfied that the guards are no match for your wiles, you all slip out under the cover of sunset.
You decide to investigate the old shrine to Pharasma that you've heard about, hoping to perhaps find the elderly one-eyed human that had been asking about the masque. It's less than a mile to the south of town, though the old road you need to follow is overgrown and it requires a light to find safe footing. Kaldren casts a light spell and fills the night with a holy radiance.
When you arrive at the shrine, you discover that it's in a sorry state indeed. When it was built it would have consisted of a blocky central structure with two towers, all made of stone, but now one of the towers has collapsed across the top of the building. The sheer weight of stone up there makes you wonder how the collapse managed to not take the whole structure with it, and two orange ribbons hanging across both doors give credence to the thought; they bear the words "Unsafe! No Entry!
Choosing to proceed cautiously despite the warning, you open the old door and step into the shrine, taking a look around the old interior while Bellaluna's watchful constantly watch for signs of attack.
Kaldren, Turrey and Félicité all immediately notice that many of the floor tiles are not safe. Gregoth however can spot the telltale signs of serious instability, and points out which tiles will collapse if stepped on, and which are merely loose.
Armed with the knowledge of which tiles are safe you spread out to explore the room. There is an ancient spiral drawn on the northern wall that looks to have been recently cleaned, but it would require crossing some loose tiles to get to. To the west is a small alcove that appears to have been used as some sort of sleeping chamber, as it contains a bedroll and a mound of blankets, from underneath which a hand protrudes.
The sleeper doesn't move or respond, and peeling back the blankets you find a fresh corpse of a middle-aged man with pale hair and a slight build. He wears leather armour over well-tailored clothes with ink stains on the sleeves, like a well-to-do clerk or scribe might wear. He has a dirty eye patch over one eye, but the eye beneath appears ordinary.
Félicité begins a more thorough examination.
She finds very little to indicate what might have killed him, save for a look of fear on his face and signs of clenched teeth. Some follow-up alchemical tests on his blood confirm that he likely died of intense fear, perhaps from a spell like Phantasmal Killer or similar. She further finds evidence that the body has been preserved by magic, and so it's impossible to tell how long ago they really died.
"Death by fear ... and preserved magically. There are some dark forces at work."
Félicité will go examine the spiral. Is it Pharasmin?