Mithralline gives a toothy grin -- Good minions! Now I don't need to kill them for insolence! -- and dons the bracelet. She waits for Caraid to focus and tend her wounds.
Searching around the area the immediate area doesn't turn up much of interest. The door that the ghoul was backed up against is locked, so you go back to some of the rooms you bypassed earlier in search of the key. The nearest room appears to be a barracks full of shoddy bunk beds. A dozen or so red cloaks hang from pegs on the wall. A bag of holding type I hangs among the cloaks. It contains two moderate frost vials and two stone fist elixirs.
The other room off the main brewery seems to be the lair of the ghoul alchemist. Gruesomely detailed images of dissected humanoids and animals cover several workbenches and adorn nearly every inch of the walls of this cramped room. Closer examination reveals that each of these illustrations depicts a body wracked by illness, poison, or both: many depict bloated organs, pockmarked skin, shriveled limbs, bleeding orifices, and other grim results. Each is annotated with a combination of letters and numbers in some form of shorthand. A key hangs on a nail to the right of the door.
This key fits the door at the end of the hall, and once you are healed up and ready, you proceed through it. Curtains of beaded finger bones and teeth adorn the walls of this chamber. Numerous corpses lie along the walls of the room, and another human figure slumps in an alcove to the south, imprisoned behind iron bars. An enormous iron cauldron caked with burnt flesh bubbles and hisses at the center of the chamber, spewing bone-white fog that roils along the floor. Shapes like human faces occasionally push from the burnt flesh on the sides of the cauldron, opening their gap-toothed mouths in an unceasing litany of screams.
A pale changeling woman with long nails the consistency of iron stands beside the cauldron. This must be the leader of the Three-Fingered Hand, Kepgeda the Hag-Nailed! "You've ruined everything!" she wails, raising her hands in preparation of casting a spell!
"Shut yer trap!", Ceceka barks at the woman. He moves forward and throws his entire weight into a strike aimed at the changeling's hands.
Kepgeda shrieks as the blade slices her hands. She carefully steps away from the fighter before casting a spell, attempting to strike Ceceka blind!
"We specialize in ruining things."
Telvir gestures and some of the rust nails pounded into the wall fly out and zoom at the changeling.
for
"Get her, Smoke."
The dog moves in for a bite.
for
Caraid takes a while to work his magic, spending a little while beforehand prodding Mithralline with needles just to make himself feel better. But since that isn't really helping he pumps her full of all the negative energy he has left and then claps Ceceka on the shoulder briefly.
--------------------------------------------
Out of significant magic Caraid is reduced to throwing chaotic energies around. He nearly gets Mithralline in the back of the head, but that's purely chance...
Seeing Ceceka reel Caraid calls out. "She's still in front of you, keep swinging!"
Ceceka wildly swings his fauchard at the foe that should be in front of him, but there's no feedback other than the weapon's hiss as it slices the air. He then steps forward and strikes again.
Aily is rarely impressed, but the entire ambience of their adversary leaves her speechless. Not so much that she does draw her knife as she dashes across the room to take up a position on the otherside of her.
"Follow my voice, Mr. Cecka, she is right here." the maid says as she takes an initial slice.
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HP 26/42
AC 19 (21 with shield raised)
Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +8
Hero points: 2
Focus Point: 0/1
Effects: Wounded 1
With her shield up, Mithralline again dashes forward in an inhuman burst of speed, leaping on the hag. She again waves her blade, hoping to attract the hag's attention to allow her minions to take it down.
Despite his blindness, Ceceka manages to land another hit on the changeling. Telvir's projectile finds its mark as well, but the rest of you miss as Kepgeda ducks and dodges.
Suddenly, the screams coming from the macabre cauldron increase in intensity, and a torrent of phantasmal, three-fingered hands with iron claws spews from the cauldron to assail you! Kepgeda cackles with glee.
Kepgeda raises a shield of force and casts slow on Mithralline!
The hands are a mess, the skin is peal, the pus is oozing out. They might be phantasmal but the visuals alone invoke imaginings of stains on her already devastated demeanor.
She stabs and slices, her eyes wide with emotions she is not equipped to deal with. And WILL deny ever having.
HP 13/42
AC 19 (21 with shield raised)
Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +8
Hero points: 1
Focus Point: 0/1
Effects: Wounded 1, frightened 2, flat footed, slowed 1 for 1 minute
Reeling, Mithralline raises her shield again and with a shriek, slashes at the changeling.
Caraid is outside the room and decides that that's a very good thing as the cauldron inside goes beserk. He takes a little longer to line up his shot this time and nails the hag in the face.
"You were very close Ceceka!" He calls, "A little to your left?"
Telvir considers haunts an occupational hazard and knows enough to at least attempt to deal with them.
Meanwhile, he motions for Smoke to attack the changeling.
for
Ceceka withstands the spectral assault, but at what cost? Blinded and bewildered, he stumbles forward and wacks away at the changeling. 'Left! To the left!', Caraid had said. Sadly, the fauchard fails to find the changeling.
Caraid scores a critical hit on Kepgeda, while Smoke bites her as well. The rest of your efforts are unsuccessful.
The spectral hands continue to assail you!
Meanwhile, Kepgeda steps towards Ceceka and slices him with her dagger!
HP 6/42
AC 19 (21 with shield raised)
Fort +8, Ref +6, Will +8
Hero points: 1
Focus Point: 0/1
Effects: Wounded 1, frightened 2, flat footed, slowed 1 for 1 minute
"Fall back!" Mithralline snarls as she slowly retreats.
Telvir and Smoke both hit the floor as the haunt claws at them.
Caraid swears as, for the first time ever, Mithralline speaks sense. With nothing else to do he covers the retreat with divine firepower.
"Ceceka, fall back! Towards my voice! Quick as you can!"
Ceceka never heard Caraid's word as the spectral claws once again find him, and shred his world to bits. Warm crimson flows from vicious wounds inflicted by dagger and claw, and Ceceka's form grows still.
As her mistress runs, and an ally falls, Aily presses her lips tightly together. Her blade slices out quick and sure, followed by another "Someone Grab Ceceka!" the maid orders, sharp and clear. People who could ACTUALLY tolerate her lady were a rarity, so losing one of the few would be a waste.
Caraid blasts Kepgeda with another lance of divine energy, then Aily stabs her twice with her dagger. Fortunately, the changeling is already badly injured, and as the dhampir scores her second hit, Kepgeda groans and falls!
As the changeling goes down, the three-fingered hands converge on her. They drag Kepgeda's body into the bubbling cauldron, and the air is filled with the sickly-sweet scent of cooking flesh. Their vengeance enacted, the hands fade away and the cauldron's screaming finally ceases.
With the hag down Caraid hurries into the room to work on Ceceka.
Mithralline creeps back in and looks around.
"Well done," she congratulates her maidservant. It's good that the woman has finally learned something from her own example. Mithralline is actually proud of her for being less simpering than usual.
She goes to inspect the cauldron and the rest of the room.
Just south of this room, a prisoner is shackled behind an iron grate. An emaciated human woman is unconscious here, suffering fro mthe effects of extreme starvation.
Removing her shackles and rousing her with some food and water, the grateful woman shares what she knows. Her name is Altinmered, and she is a low-ranking member of the Export Guild. Kepgeda's plans required extensive information about Geb’s food supply chains. She needed to know which farms grew food to send abroad, which ones grew food for local consumption, who monitored food production, how distribution worked, and so on. Kepgeda had been grooming Altinmered as a contact for several months. Altinmered had been extorting local officials for several years, and Kepgeda offered her power in exchange for information—even a place in her coven, if Altinmered was receptive, and a visit to her powerful mother for even more favors. Altinmered agreed, but Kepgeda’s intentions soon became clear.
Kepgeda was plotting to poison the people of Graydirge on orders from her mother's coven, called the Graveclaw. The Graveclaw is pursuing other nefarious plans throughout Geb, though Altinmered is not sure what those plans entail. Kepgeda admitted she only kept Altinmered alive to make her suffer, and to gloat about how Altinmered was never worthy to meet her mother.
The last room in this complex is Kepgeda's sanctum. Dirt, sticks, dried moss, and stones cover the floor of this room. Dying vines hang from pegs set in the stone walls. In the southeast corner is small wooden box and a burlap sack bursting with dead leaves.
The wooden box puffs out black smoke when opened. It contains a few large pieces of human skin inscribed with the magical rituals Kepgeda knows: create undead (crawling hands) and create undead (zombies). It also contains five onyx gemstones worth 16 gp each, and two larger onyx gemstones worth 60 gp each. Hidden within the sack of leaves is a key made of granite, its shaft carved to look like a spine. This is the Graydirge Bank key that Kepgeda stole from the Bone Shards.
Mithralline ponders just eating the woman -- she's hungry, and Altinmered seems pretty useless, not to mention a traitorous worm. But she looks too scrawny to provide much of a meal, and Mithralline settles for shaking her head in disappointment.
"Let's go inform Blood Lord Haldoli what we found," she says.
She glances again at Altinmered. Maybe just a little sip, later.
Caraid diverts his course upon seeing Telvir on the floor, applying a waft of something powerful and sweet smelling as well as a powder of some sort which dulls the elf's pain. Then he moves onto Ceceka, and then to Altinmered who proves very chatty as he works on her.
"You'll need to come with us." He says gently. "This is important information that you've got."
"Right," He says once everyone is conscious again. "We need to speak to Ortogar at once. Take everything of value and move it, quickly."
He takes the wooden box with the scrolls and onyx and makes a note to sit down with Telvir to go through it later.
Mithralline scowls as Caraid tries to take charge. Some initiative is good; too much makes him a possible threat.
"Yes, as I said!" she snaps.
Instead of SCREAMING in frustrated rage, Aily manages to strangle all emotion deep in her boiling guts. She stands rock still, for nearly a minute before she sighs, moving with grace to help the two fallen members of the group up from the ground. "All is well, the enemy is dead, and we are one step closer." she tells them, but to anyone who knows her well enough by that point, knows she is telling herself that in HOPE it keeps her from stabbing various things.
She diligently collects the items into her pack, and says nothing else. At all.
Both Ortagar and Berline are grateful that you were able to stop Kepgeda's plans to poison the living population of Graydirge. Her motives behind the plan still remain obscure, but in the meantime, the quick can rest easier knowing that their food supply is safe.
By rescuing Se-Maut-Get and Altinmered, you have gained favor with their respective factions.
A few days after defeating Kepgeda, you receive a summons from Taf-gekhta Seven Stomachs, the high governor of Graydirge, who has heard of your recent accomplishments. You are to dine with the governor at his manor, along with your benefactor, Berline Haldoli.
The governor’s mansion is a veritable fortress of bones with a pair of spires rising high above the city. Two dour ghouls lead the way through narrow passages and down stairways to a chamber well below the streets. In this impressive ossuary-turned-dining room, a fine meal is laid out on low tables surrounded by comfortable cushioned chairs.
The meal consists of some of Berline’s specialties, as well as several dishes specially prepared for ghouls and other undead. Taf-Gehkta greets you as you sit down at the table beside the halfling necromancer.
"I've heard you've been getting into some scuffles about the town of late. I'm not too keen on disturbances in Graydirge, you know," the ghast grumbles.
"My proteges here have had much success in accomplishing the tasks I have set before them," Berline interrupts. "I am both delighted and grateful for their efforts!"
"Ah, yes, yes, of course, of course," Taf-Gehkta grumbles. "You lot aren't in any sort of trouble. I'd certainly never accuse the allies of Graydirge's only resident Blood Lord of causing me trouble. No, certainly not... Nonetheless, I would like to hear of your activities in your own words..."
As soon as the summons comes, Aily dashes out to discover all she can about the govenor.
The maid returns from her 'errand' to help her mistress get ready, in her best outfit with her hair perfect styled, or at least as perfect asa flying mosquito can be made. As she does so, she fills her mistress in with any details about the governor in hopes it will keep the pest from making a total fool of herself.
At the dinner, she stands at attention, arms behind her back, waiting on her mistress, silent unless spoken too.
Caraid, unlike Aily, is both cheerful and chatter-y. At the invitation to tell of the groups adventures he smiles blindingly, making sure to turn said charm particularly towards Berline, and launches into the tale.
He tells the story almost entirely truthfully, glossing over the battles unless his interlocutors seem interested, and doing his best to make sense of the tangled skeins of cause and effect that were uncovered. He doesn't mention the status of the bank, or the suicide of its proprietor, but otherwise leaves nothing out, although he does perhaps dwell slightly longer than strictly necessary on Mithralline's catastrophic attempts at diplomacy in the Ghoul Quarter and credits Aily for rescuing the situation.
Aily's lips tug slightly upward, before she gets a hold of herself and resumes her mask.
Telvir is happy to relate the basic of the group's activities to the high governor. "Through the insight of Blood Lord Berline, we were able to discover a group plotting to poison the food supplies of the quick residents of Graydirge. We managed to track them to their various lairs and deal with the problem. Permanently, I hope." Though putting things down permanently is more difficult in Geb than elsewhere, Kepgeda's cauldron seemed to do a fairly thorough job.
"I do fear that there is more mischief afoot. The changeling we defeated mentioned her mother several times, and her coven, so I imagine we have a hag meddling in the affairs of the city."
Aily learns that Taf-Gekhta Seven Stomachs took over from his predecessor about 10 years ago, and everyone is shocked that Taf-Gekhta has remained in power amid all of the chaos following Geb’s return to the public eye. The citizens consider him lucky to have avoided any fallout from the ensuing disputes between the Blood Lords and the rising tensions between the Great Factions. Taf-Gekhta is obsequious and constantly changes his mannerisms, including how he dresses, to please whichever Blood Lord or Great Faction representative might be present on a given day.
***
The governor listens to your tale, frowning and nodding in all the right places. Berline is quite cheerful about what you've done, as is her usual manner.
As your tale wraps up, a ghoul suddenly barges into the dining room. "Governor! Governor! I demand to speak to you at once!" The governor’s staff follows the irate ghoul, making apologetic gestures, but Berline waves them off and insists the undead speak his mind.
The urbane ghoul wears wire-rimmed spectacles, an elaborate wig made to look like entrails, and an immaculate vest studded with silver pieces. "Thank you, Blood Lord. I am Vaskish Quicktongue, representative of the Tax Collectors Union. I have come to reopen Graydirge Bank after months of bureaucratic maneuvering in Mechitar. Imagine my surprise to find signs of intense violence there! I demand to know the meaning of this!"
"Curious. I thought the bank premises were the responsibility of the Builders League." Telvir closely watches for Quicktongue's reaction, unwilling to tip his hand about the contract that was found in the vault.
Caraid takes a back seat, quite willing to let Telvir lead on this bit of conversation. The light in the room around him brightens noticeably, although this might simply be the usual side effect of his... condition, rather than reflecting any particular level of glee at the situation.
Or maybe he's enjoying the heck out of it.
Mithralline, sensing some of Artichoke's turmoil, tries to send soothing thoughts. She appreciates her minion wanting to stab the potential usurpers for her, but it's not necessary yet. If it becomes necessary, Mithralline will probably handle it herself ... though perhaps Avocado would like to take care of Caraid after all his impertinence.
Mithralline politely sips at her blood, letting her minions details their activities ... though she does scowl a bit at Caraid's clearly addled memory. Impertinent! He will be denied any time with Asparagus if he continues!
Vaskish's eyes widen at Telvir's statement. "What?!? The Builder's League? What nonsense do you speak? Graydirge Bank is, and always has been, owned and operated by the Tax Collectors Union!"
"Who is the highest ranking member of your Faction in easy distance?" Caraid asks, still enjoying himself. "You might want to summon them as quickly as possible."
"It's me," Vaskish insists. "Do you have proof of your absurd claims?"
"Yes," Caraid says simply. "What is it worth to you?"
"Now, now," Tef-Gekhta Seven Stomachs says, clearing his throat. "I will not condone bribery or extortion in my home. If there is proof that the Builders League has a claim on Graydirge Bank, then the ownership will fall to them. Otherwise, the Tax Collectors Union will retain its authority." The governor looks to you expectantly.
While Aily is perfectly happy watching Caraid preen so delightfully, she is worried her lady is not being seen as being a leader, which is something Aily needs her to be. So the maid steps lightly forward, bending down to her mistress' ear, and whispers "they are seeing him, my lady, not you.
Resisting the urge to simply walk out of the ghoul's home and thus avoid his proclamation Caraid looks over at Telvir and, once his fellow necromancer agrees, produces the contract.
"The bank was abandoned for over two years." Caraid explains, offering it to Berline, the authority in the room who he trusts the most. "And as you see, if the Union was absent for more than a year and a day then full authority reverts to the Builder's League. I am sure the Blood Lady will confirm the truth of this momentarily."
Berline examines the document and nods in agreement. "Yes, it checks out! It would seem, then, that the Tax Collectors Union is out of luck. That's why they say to always check the fine print!" she says cheerily.
Vaskish is livid. "Preposterous! Inconceivable! This is an outrage!" he fumes. He does not challenge the rival faction's claim, though, and he slinks away shortly thereafter. You're pretty sure the Builders League will look favorably upon you once word gets to them of your decision here.
You return to the meal and conversation now that the interruption has passed. Taf-Gekhta concludes the evening by rewarding you with a mentalist's staff for your service to Graydirge.
Outside the governor's manor, Berline turns to you and smiles. "You comported yourselves well tonight. I wouldn't expect anything less! But I do have a word of advice: the Great Factions are not to be trifled with, and while they all have Geb’s best interests in mind, they are often at odds with each other. Favoring one often means slighting another. While it’s possible, it’s quite difficult to establish and maintain extensive relationships with several different Great Factions at once. So, pick your favorites carefully!
"Now, I'll be using my contacts to learn more about this coven of hags that Kepgeda was associated with. In the meantime, take some time to get settled in at your new manor--and get that kitchen fixed up! I'll be in touch!"
Ceceka squirms about in his chair, visually uncomfortable at the direction this is taking. Yes, Caraid might be in the right (the law, after all, is not an absolute construct), but ... no, maybe he is right.