The trip north from Absalom to the city of Daggermark provides plenty of time to become familiar with your fellow Pathfinders as the miles pass by uneventfully.
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A fashionably-dressed nagaji looks the group over, then bows slightly. The sun glints off his chain shirt and his weapon (a silvery cross between an axe and a dagger). "I am Hsskomoro, of Nagajor, Jalmaray, and Abssolom."
"Hass anyone been to Daggermark before?"
Before leaving, he tapped himself with a wand and consulted a reference, looking for information on Daggermark.
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Naomi is short and looks human save that her skin is ashen grey, and every once in a while you’ll catch sight of a tail as she makes or breaks camp. Her hair is red, almost unnaturally so, and somewhat long in a single braid. She wears simple and loose fitting clothes out on the trail, but she had a much nicer outfit suitable for nobles when meeting at the lodge. She is followed around by a dog she calls Teak, which has a harness with bags.
”I have not actually been there. Haven’t heard anything other than that it exists either.” Naomi replies rather lazily, as she stares up at the sky in thought.
Teak is going back and forth smelling everything on the road as the group passes.
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Climbing up from below decks is a medium height human blonde with graceful build, with a badge from The Exchange stamped on her breastplate. She wears a sword at her side, with an oddly wider than normal scabbard.
"Pleased to meet you all. I'm Akkina. Looks like we're still a ways off. Anyone cares for some refreshments?"
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Name's Berix, says a man in a black cloak, whose hood is thrown over his head. His face is also wrapped in a scarf, so you can occasionally see only his eyes - yellow, without pupils and clearly not human. The figure of this man is absolutely out of proportion - one arm is slightly longer than the other, and there is a small hump on his back. He has a falchion and a long bow on his back and an always angry cat the size of a large dog is huddled around his feet. It has a very strange tail, similar to a mace . It's a Plague Hunter. He pats the cat on the head. I've never been to those places, but I'm from Riddleport, which means I've seen some s%#%. I don't think it will be worse there. The voice sounds hoarse.
Hskomoro learns that although Daggermark seems anarchic, the infamous Assassin’s Guild and Poisoner’s Guild wield considerable influence over the city from the shadows. The Guilds’ reputations prevent too much disorder, as locals who threaten the status quo tend to wind up dead.
Any Daggermark citizen can hire an Assassin’s Guild apprentice once per year for a nominal fee, but members of the city’s military cannot be targeted by these trainee contracts. This rule has led to a high rate of military enlistment.
The Poisoner’s Guild is closely allied with the Assassin’s Guild, though the poisoners’ interests are more academic in nature. Poisoner’s Guild members often serve as contractors, brokering assassinations as a means of testing their newest concoctions.
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"Hass anyone been to Daggermark before?"
"No," Replies a half-orc woman in a sibilant, slightly hoarse voice. but I've heard good things about it...!"
...The fact that she definitely seems to know what she's talking about with regards to the place only makes her attitude toward it that much more of an eyebrow-raiser.
Though not at imposing-looking as some half-orcs, and even relatively attractive in a feral way, there is nonetheless something about this one that most would find both overtly and insidiously frightening. It's actually a bit difficult to tell what she is at first glance, as if she were some avante-garde artist's conceptual composite of various things a typical Human might call to mind when they think of "monster" - a little bit of orc, undead, fiend, dark arts practitioner, axe-murderer, and evil genius all in one. She sports a strange tattoo running from her face all the way down to her lower leg, and is bedecked with a rather diverse assortment of weapons, including an expertly-made hunting bow, what looks like some kind of weaponized trowel, a couple of grisly rotten skulls hanging at her side, and a formidable axe on her back the likes of which a Galtan executioner would envy. The only things on her person that reflect more light than they absorb are her teeth, eyes, the intense glint of mithril beneath her coat, and what appears to be a fancy engraved cigar box, immaculately-kept in her coat-pocket.
Her luggage is overstuffed with bags, bottles, flasks, dry goods, thin books, and gods-know-what else, and she is presently reviewing what appears to be a freshly-purchased - perhaps even freshly-printed - cheap but sturdy booklet detailing the "night-life" of Daggermark.
She looks around at her compatriots one by one - with an extra "hungry" look at both Akkina and Beryx, before returning to her book with a wide, gruesome grin.
"Ohhhh, I think I'm going to enjoy this one...!"
"Looks like we're still a ways off. Anyone cares for some refreshments?"
"Well don't mind if I do! Whatcha got?!"
"Anyone for cards? Dice? Dominoes??"|
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Khana seemed going for the "graveyard hobo" look. Well, that was her call... but he'd found a clean appearance tended to open doors among humans and their ilk.
"Citizenss get a disscount on hiring an assasssin. That meanss more danger for uss if we offend the wrong persson." That hardly sounded like a "good thing" for them to walk into, but a full team of Pathfinders could probably handle a single apprentice assassin.
Hskomoro checks that his various backup weapons are properly accessible, and that his backpack is well-balanced. He should have picked up a sling, but Daggermark will have something available.
He accepts whatever "refreshments" Akkina is offering, regardless of quality.
Khana recalls that openly discussing assassinations makes locals jumpy, so Guild contractors use coded language to discuss targets. Guild contacts typically refer to assassins as “specialists” related to whatever job they use as a public front.
As you arrive in Daggermark, the weather has turned unpleasant, gray skies unloading chill sleet down on the city. The halls of Dryblade Lodge are a welcome reprieve from the elements, as you are shown to a waiting room with comfortable chairs outside of the venture captain's office.
The wet sleet patters steadily against the window, breaking up the Lodge’s eerie silence. Venture-Captain Istivil Bosk emerges from his office accompanied by a dwarf in a military uniform, who pulls a flask from his coat pocket and fills two small glasses with vodka.
“I’ve already made excuses to my superiors, and I’ll check in myself every few hours to make sure the safe house is still secure,” the dwarf rumbles, handing one glass to the venture captain. “You focus on hammering out your agent’s escape route.”
“Already working on it,” Bosk replies. The two raise their glasses in a toast.
“Then may we take this story to our graves, and drag our heels the whole way there,” the dwarf proclaims as they each down their vodka. The dwarf sets his glass on the table, dons a thick wool cloak, and trudges out into the sleet.
“That was Brandur Clovesh, a sergeant in Daggermark’s infantry,” Bosk explains, closing the door after his departed guest. “Please excuse his brevity. He’s taking a big risk to help me out of a dire situation, the same situation that led me to request your aid. One of our local agents, a gnome named Timinic, has been exploring and surveying the sewer complexes beneath Daggermark. I made sure to clear his activities with every official possible so we wouldn’t draw unwanted attention from the Assassin’s Guild or the Poisoner’s Guild, which run the city behind the scenes. To my knowledge we’ve stayed in the Guilds’ good graces, but somehow Timinic’s mission ran afoul of...”
A fit of coughing interrupts Bosk mid-sentence, and he begins gasping and clutching his chest. His vodka glass shatters as it tumbles from his hand. Moments later, the venture-captain collapses.
Struggling between choking coughs, Bosk manages to croak out "Poison...potion in...my desk..." He eagerly accepts Hskomoro's vial, the antitoxin seeming to ease his coughs but not eliminate them.
Naomi sees the darkened streets are empty, although the falling sleet has provided ample space for tracks.
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Daenerija peeks at the small library Khana is carrying "You like to read a lot, do you?" she asks
"I like to do a lot of things, and it's good to know where to go to do them!" Khāṇa replies.
Khāṇa pulls out her healing kit and practically throws it at whoever's closest to her.
"Somebody else take care of this," She says as she rushes back out the door. "My game is on foot!"
She immediately starts trying to track down Sgt. Clovesh, all but burying her face in the sleet as she tries to catch his scent.
Daenerija finds the venture captain's desk a mess of documents sprawled across its surface, no obvious potion vial in sight. She quickly begins to check drawers, searching as fast as she can.
Khāṇa rushes out into the wet streets, scanning for anything to point the way after the sergeant. However, she realizes the scent of the dwarf disappears at the doorway, seeming to not cling to any of the slowly filling footprints in the slush.
Hskomoro I
Naomi Hiddenleaf I
Khāṇa Tsogtsos II
Daenerija I
Beryx Zinder
Akkina
Hskomoro and Beryx join in the frantic search of the desk, opening drawers that Daenerija has not yet reached. Akkina's divination immediately detects the aura, but concentration reveals three separate auras in the area, at least one of moderate power.
Outside, Teak darts from footprint to slushy footprint, barking in random directions. Khāṇa inspects the doorway, finding nothing out of the ordinary in its construction. If any magical properties exists, they are well hidden from her view.
"Find Brandur, he must...have answers. Warn him!" Bosk urges, desperation stretched across his face as he gasps out the words. Beryx manages to find a hidden catch that releases a small vial labeled 'EMERGENCY'.
Hskomoro II
Naomi Hiddenleaf I
Khāṇa Tsogtsos II
Daenerija II
Beryx Zinder II
Akkina II
Akkina is not sure about the properties of the potion, but at the very least it isn't more poison!
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Naomi brings Teak back inside. ”Whoever that guy was did a good job of disappearing. But he also drank from the same flask, so either some sort of trick flask or the poison came from elsewhere.”
Khāṇa gives up on the door and bounds back inside.
"Damn it! Good point!" She says tersely to Naomi.
She accordingly snatches up the glass the Venture-Captain drank from, using two pieces from her lockpicking kit as impromptu tongs so as not to touch it herself.
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Naomi brings Teak back inside. ”Whoever that guy was did a good job of disappearing. But he also drank from the same flask, so either some sort of trick flask or the poison came from elsewhere.”
Daenerija's eyes widen as she considers what she had missed "Maybe the dwarf has developed immunity to this particular poison. I'd say trick flask is more likely option here, so I'll check if its magical."
Inspecting the glass shows nothing unusual about the glass itself, nor does there appear to be any obvious residue. The divination turns up no magical auras so far.
"Find Timinic...before someone else does..." Bosk pleads, reaching for the potion vial.
Hskomoro
Naomi Hiddenleaf
Khāṇa Tsogtsos - Perception on glass
Daenerija - Detect Magic
Beryx Zinder
Akkina
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"No time" Hskomoro tells Naomi, picking up the tossed healer's kit. If nobody else was going to try... "Can you usse thiss?" If nothing else, she'd probably had more experience patching up the smooth-skins.
Hskomoro focuses on a twisted tuft of hair from his belt pouch, then touches the Venture-Captain. A brief scent of bear wafts over them, and the Venture-Captain gains a measure of resilience.
Venture Captain Bosk clings to Beryx as he swallows the potion down. Almost immediately, he stiffens, his head thrown back and eyes wide as sponge-like yellow foam erupts from his mouth and nose, spilling down to the floor. Unable to even choke as the thick substance begins to harden in the air, the venture captain's hands fall away from Beryx's sides, his body slumping to the floor.
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Khāṇa stares wide-eyed at the (ex-)Venture-Captain as he meets his gruesome, and novel, fate.
"Impressive!" She simply declares. "I don't think I've ever seen that before."
"We've obviously got our work cut out for us. Speaking of which...."
After somewhat absent-mindedly retrieving her healing kit, she sets to cutting out some of the fatal foam from the body in hopes of studying it further.
"I don't suppose anyone else knows what that was???"
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"I don't suppose anyone else knows what that was???"
"A backup plan." Hskomoro considers the setup for a few moments before searching the desk again. Perhaps they found the wrong potion... but if the right one isn't here, that says something all on its own.
"The poissoner wass here enough to find the potion, brew thiss trap with a color to match, and sswap the vialss. It wass planned, not ssspontaneouss."
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”Or scary idea, the poison used is formulated to react to such a potion.” Naomi says, gesturing to Teak to sit, as the dog seems to want to smell the venture captain.
”I will see if anyone else is in the building.” Naomi says as she takes Teak and checks the rest of the building for any other pathfinders or visitors.
As Khāṇa kneels by the fallen leader, the acrid smell of the foam assaults her senses, a waxy aroma of vinegar left on to boil. She notices now what she missed in the chaos of the poisoning, a residue on the shards of Bosk's glass that has the same smell as the foam.
Hskomoro
Naomi Hiddenleaf
Khāṇa Tsogtsos - Checking Bosk's body
Daenerija
Beryx Zinder
Akkina
Beryx joins Hskomoro in pouring over the documents spread across Bosk's desk, finding a number of maps pertaining to Daggermark.
Naomi makes her way down the halls, finding the eerie silence a product of the lack of agents occupying the lodge.
Hskomoro - Investigating the desk
Naomi Hiddenleaf - Searching the lodge
Khāṇa Tsogtsos - Checking Bosk's body
Daenerija
Beryx Zinder - Investigating the desk
Akkina
Akkina finds it difficult to access Bosk's mouth with the hardening foam spilling out of it. Khāṇa recognizes the signs of heart failure in the venture captains presentation, brought on by a fast acting poison that would have killed him had the suffocation not ended his life first. Checking closer, she recognizes the physical effects are consistent with the use of dark reaver powder, likely laced with aconite root and other substances to reduce the onset time. The intricacy of the compound makes it far more expensive and not usually available on the market.
Beryx and Hskomoro confirm there are no other vials hidden in the desk, but find the maps and survey documents bear the signature of field agent Timinic. Looking over them, they notice that most of the surveys begin at the Dripping Wall Distillery. Notes included with the surveys mention multiple encounters with suspicious folk in the sewers nearby, along with requests for additional security from the proprietor, Ramyla.
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"Anyone know who is this Timinic he mentioned?"
"Bossk ssaid Timinic iss a gnome looking through the ssewersss."
Hskomoro holds up the maps and notes he found. "Timinic may have found trouble near the Disstillery. What doess the body tell you?"
While waiting for an answer, Hskomoro takes 30 seconds to check the room for magic not being hauled around by the living Pathfinders.
Hskomoro's divination pings magical auras in the venture captains office, much as Akkina's did earlier.