Ser Helmut frowns at the ashes of the scroll with disgust. As the Stinking Cloud begins to disregard his personal sense of aromatic preferences, the Thaumaturge burps.
Feeling a bit greener than usual, the goblin-Slowly--Strides out of the front door!
Mees disrespect fer da Alchemist prowess has comes to bites Mees buttocks!
The cloud causes bot Helmut and Viv to become nauseous! Vyana hits with her arrow, outlining Podiker in glowing light, a beacon for Siobhan to follow as she moves up to the fleeing alchemist. Viv grants her heroism before she goes.
Podiker curses as he opens the door, runs down a short back hallway, and opens another door to his storeroom.
Ser Helmut pukes all over everything as the green(er) goblin stumbles toward where the stupid (but brilliant) Alchemist headed.
Unfortuantley Viv took a deep breath just as the cloud hit, breathing in too much of the toxic fumes. She coughs loudly, doubling over and barely able to focus on the current precitament. It takes everything she has just to move out of the smelly cloud.
Vyana moves to give her a clear shot down the hallway and draws, enchants, and looses an arrow at the fleeing alchemist.
Siobhan slices Podiker as he flees down the hall. Vyana moves through the stinking cloud and gets a clear shot on the fleeing alchemist, then shoots him in the back, a critical hit! He shrieks in agony as the magical claw gouges him, leaving a bleeding wound. As Helmut and Viviana gag on the smelly smoke, Siobhan advances and hooks Podiker's legs with her blade, sending him sprawling to the floor.
Badly wounded and bleeding heavily, Podiker groans and raises his hands in surrender! "Please, spare my life!" he begs.
Vyana approaches the prone alchemist and switches her bow for a short but very sharp dagger. Cutting a swath of cloth from his robe, she covers her hand and then proceeds to search the man, removing from his possession anything that looks to possibly contain regents of his trade - vials, flasks, bottles, etc.
"Idiot," she mutters under her breath. "This is all your fault. We could have just talked like civilized people, but noooo ..."
She leaves the interrogating to those more personable than herself, but makes sure that the prodding point of her dagger never leaves his belly as she searches him.
Ser Helmut comes through the fog choking, coughing, collecting different ideas about how he wants to retrieve information from the stupid (but awesome) prone and panicked alchemist.
The goblin walks up to said prone and panicked alchemist and kicks him in the Alchemical reagents!
"Oof! Right in my philosopher's stones!" Aliver groans, going cross-eyed and doubling over after Helmut kicks him.
At length, Aliver confesses to a long litany of crimes. He has been involved for quite some time with criminals and poison trafficking. He gives you details on the vanishing of many forlorn elves from the slums of Magnimar over the course of the past decade—elves who were missed by no one, weren’t particularly high on anyone’s list to investigate, and who were all delivered by Aliver to a ghast named Kanker as meals in order to keep his alliance going. He grows fearful and quiet if asked for more details about Kanker.
Aliver claims that he did not know he was working with deros. He only knew them as a group called the Midnight Dawn and provided them with supplies to aid in alleged "dream experiments." He believed they were simply some sort of new drug gang from Magnimar. But he tells you that his main point of contact with the group was none other than Kaleb Valdemar, who leads the group of adventurers you recently met after defeating the Sandpoint Devil!
Viviana’s hand flies to her mouth, eyes widening in disbelief. "Kaleb?"
She steps forward and steels herself, voice low but fierce. She crouches beside the prone alchemist, eyes locked on Aliver. "Now you listen here. You said you didn’t know your employers were deros, but you did work through Kaleb Valdemar.Everything you told us, every shipment, every dream experiment, I want the ledger entries, dates, names. We’ll need proof when we confront him."
Vyana's poking dagger emphasizes the importance of Viv's instructions.
|
Siobhan frowns as Aliver explains a number of half-forgotten tales of woes she heard in Magnimar. The desire to deliver him to justice is quite intense but Viv seems much more distracted by Kaleb Valdemar and Von agrees with her sister - going after someone with that name is going to require absolutely unequivocal proof.
Ser Helmut begins to wind up his leg again.....
Aliver directs you to a series of incriminating documents and ledgers, proof of his crimes. Additionally, he hands over his valuables: a +1 striking hand crossbow, 3 greater darkvision elixirs, , 2 lesser bomber's eye elixirs, 8 lesser elixirs of life, 8 moderate frost vials, 10 giant wasp venoms, and 120 gp.
By stopping Aliver Podiker's nefarious scheming and disrupting the Midnight Dawn's plans, you have prevented the third of Sandpoint's seven dooms!
Ser Helmut looks a bit disappointed not being able to get another Jimmy kick in ....
Viviana gathers the ledgers and documents, briefly skimming entries of shipments, dates, annnnndd the unmistakable signature of Kaleb Valdemar. She nods once, decisively, then turns to her companions.
"Looks like what he said is true, we’ve got everything we need here." She shoulders the satchel heavy with ledgers and alchemical vials with an audible "Ooof."
"It is time for Podiker to spend some time with the guard and then we confront Kaleb Valdemar. He’s the link to this Midnight Dawn."
The ledgers and Aliver's own confession is more than enough for Sheriff Hemlock to arrest the alchemist. Mayor Deverin and Sheriff Hemlock see to it that Nisk Tander of Bottled Solutions is put in charge of cataloging the shop’s supplies and setting up the stock to be sold to generate money for the town’s use.
Asking around Sandpoint reveals that Kaleb Valdemar is no longer and town. He and his adventuring companions departed earlier that day. They did not say where they were going...
Ser Helmut frowns as he eats some pickles while listening to tall folks talking about Kaleb leaving town.
Wees should forms da posse! Mees goes finds sum spurs, pistol and donkey!
Viviana pats Helmut on th head and nods "If Kaleb went to Magnimar, we’ll find signs of him at the stables or the docks. If he stayed closer to home, the Lost Coast Road patrols might have spotted him?"
With a reluctant sigh, she says "He didn't go into the Pit, right? There's no sense in that?"