The three southern doors all push open easily, looking to be some sort of servant housing. Small plain beds of straw lay on the floor in a corner of each, with a modest spread of non-perishable personal items seemingly left behind in a hurry.
The northern door leads into a much more well-decorated (but still of obviously servile nature) room, with a proper wooden bed with frame differentiating it from the rest. It, too, has been abandoned with haste, leading the room to look much sparser than you suspect it might once have been. The back wall opposite the door has an intricate hand carved insignia of the family crest from earlier, indicating this room may have been that of a treasured mentor or servant.
Perception DC 20:
The northern room has a secret door in the northern wall. It is cleverly concealed, but trivially easy to open once you know it’s there.
I’ll reveal the rooms once I’m home from work in a bit, just wanted to get a post up early.
The second Maccha's warm hand touches the door it swings excessively dramatically open to reveal a ballroom, well-lit with two of the same everburning torches in ornate candle holders on the western wall.
Clearly a room meant for a decadent dance or party, the ballroom has not lost any of its luster over the decade or so since it was abandoned. Gilded tile covers the floor around the polished marble dance floor, the ornate stone worn with frequent use of bygone days. Heavy metal doors similar to the one Maccha just opened sit in the wall, two to the east and one to the north. They appear as blank metal from this side, however, with none of the etchings from the one you opened.
Four suits of empty night-black Hellknight armor, fashioned so as to appear as statues, stand at attention in the room. The suits of black iron squarely anchor the four corners of the dance floor, as if maintaining an invisible order on any guests. A conductors' podium sits between the southern pair of armor, indicating some form of musical entertainment occupied that side of the room.
The corridor Aoede looks down continues north away from the light, ending up in a dark passage before a door leading to the north. It is one of the more regular ones, made of stone and plain unlike the ornate metal one.
Can just assume you're casting Resistance every minute or so unless circumstances prevent it, doesn't make a lot of sense to keep mentioning it.
Believer stepping out into the dark end of the corridor doesn't suddenly provoke some horror to step out and reveal itself; in fact the only thing the paladin notices out of the ordinary is a slight cold breeze coming from under the ornate metal door. No magic, or evil, thankfully.
Nothing happens to Believer indeed, and Llewela moves forward to take a closer look at the engravings. They seem to be of some of the history of the noble family that once resided here, including the family name: House Tiarvayne.
The main subject of the engraving is a family seated at the head of a grand feast table. A kingly figure at the center raises a goblet, but in the shadows behind him you can see faint outlines of crimson-clawed hands clutching the back of his chair, giving the impression of a devilish horned figure leaning close to whisper in his ear. Dozens of finely-dressed noble figures dance around the edges of the engravings, cavorting in the festivities, but a closer look reveals that many have cloven hooves or skeletal feet peeking out from the bottom of dresses or pants. Centered at the top of the two doors' engravings is what appears to be the family's crest: an unbroken chain linking a crimson trident to a skeletal hand grasping said trident.
Llewela's religious knowledge is unfortunately enough to identify the crimson trident as part of Mephistopheles' unholy symbol, one of the archdevils of Hell itself.
The southern door opens onto a dim hallway, with an everburning torch ensconced into the wall at a T intersection. Several more doors line the walls, with a larger more ornate one on the far eastern wall (marked with the red rectangle). You can't tell from this far away, what with the brightness of the torch, but it seems as if the ornate door is made of metal unlike the previous stone ones and has some amount of engraving to it.
The very second that two people enter the storeroom, the whispers slowly increase in volume until they're audible to everyone easily. Most are unintelligible, but what you can make out centers around the voices requesting food.
Llewela and Tessa hear the whispers more prominently, rising to a crescendo before they stop completely (but not for the others, they can still hear them).
Llewela and Tessa:
You have been locked inside the food storage for your own safety. Kind old Orlin, the family's chef, hid the rest of the staff here away from the madness of the house.
But...that was hours ago. How many hours? Has it been days yet? Weeks? You have already long since eaten all the food on the shelves in here, and all the rats you found. Jastel...he 'left' a few hours ago. Or days. It's hard to tell. Such a good friend you once had, now reduced to this. Shame what happened.
Wait, did Harlowe just stash some food away? What is he hiding from you? Take it! Take his food, take him!
Llewela and Tessa, give me a Will save would you? DC 14, if you fail attack each other once as per confusion. Either way, the whispers fade shortly thereafter and the room returns to silence.
Knowledge (religion) DC 12:
That effect was a haunt, a supernatural leftover of some spirit or traumatic event. Whatever caused it, the haunt’s energy had dissipated for now, and you don’t believe it will reset until tomorrow, if not destroyed by then.
Quick clarification: this abandoned 'haunted' noble house is across the main street from the graveyard and out of sight of the sniper nest you heard about. You won't have to worry about Thrune's agents finding you here, at least.
Maccha sees the door isn't trapped, but is firmly locked. Her quick hands pop the lock open easily, revealing a small storeroom: boxes and crates and barrels galore. They're all covered in cobwebs and dust, showing that no one has been in here for quite a long time. A door stands in both of the walls to the north and south.
Perception DC 20:
A faint whisper of many voices can be heard as Maccha opens the door, saying something about wanting bread.
With plan set and only a handful of hours left until dawn, you set out to the Tiarvayne manor. What follows is a mostly uneventful trip, though you do have to stop several times to dart behind whatever cover is available to hide from CCG or dottari patrols. Strangely enough not a single Hellknight to be seen.
Arriving at the Tiarvayne manor, you see it is in fact abandoned. The manor itself has obviously not been upkept for many years, with the garden bushes often sprawling into the paths winding through the front yard. The grounds are suspiciously empty of most of the trash one would suspect to be found at an abandoned house in a city as populated as Kintargo (courtesy of the teenage population), lending some credit to the rumors of hauntings. Or, at least, the belief of the people in such rumors.
A quick reconnaissance of the grounds and manor reveal multiple entrances through heavy looking stone doors, although all of the matching carved marble shutters have been pulled closed and latched shut. The building itself is actually in surprisingly good shape, the majority of its whole having been constructed of carved stone, with accents such as the handrails of the porch made of the same marble as the shutters. The curved wall at the south appears to be some sort of entrance hall perhaps, while the northeastern curve is the edge of a tower poking slightly above the manor's second story.
The white rectangles are the doors, in case you didn't notice them. Feel free to do any prep you want to do before arriving at the manor.
Following up on the lead Believer manages to squeeze out of a particularly knowledgeable local, you learn that the manor belonged to the Tiarvayne family. Known for their darker proclivities when it comes to the fields of magic, rumors abounded even before the civil war and the loss of their house that the Tiarvaynes delved deep into the secret arts of necromancy. Hence the tunnel into the graveyard, you suppose.
”Whatever’s left of the family in that house isn’t alive, and no one in their right mind wants to find out just what inhabits that awful, awful house.” the woman who told you about the manor in the first place says, over a drink so generously purchased by Believer. ”Story after story of leftover magic or the corpses of their victims: mostly of grave robbery rather than actual murder, or so the stories go.”
”Legend has it they actually worked with smaller groups of rebels against Thrune and her lackeys, back in the days before Barzillai. They didn’t care for the rebellion itself, mind you, but Thrune didn’t let them operate freely the way they wanted to. Who knows what secrets they may have hidden down in the depths of that old house of theirs?”
The mission to the graveyard is in fact dangerous, but also potentially extremely rewarding. The clue you got from the tengu sisters mentioned the cache being hidden 'in a crypt under a weeping angel'.
Should you wish to ask around a bit about the graveyard, the Tooth and Nail is as good a place as any to do so before heading out.
Diplomacy, Gather Info:
DC 10:
"Heard they increased the guard activity around the graveyard over the past week: something about increased unruly behavior. Not only that, but it's being padlocked up at night, never done before!"
DC 12:
"Old priest Lestor used to do nightly rounds there — disappeared recently. They say the graveyard’s got a new 'guardian.'"
DC 15:
"The graveyard guards are working in pairs. One stays still, the other walks a loop every 10 minutes."
DC 17:
"There's a rebel sympathizer still on the caretaker staff. Old woman. Looks harmless. She might help... if you give her the old passphrase."
DC 20:
"Captain Vosker’s hoping someone comes to recollect the cache — they’ve rigged a sniper's perch on top of one of the mausoleums. Outright disgraceful, if you ask me."
DC 30:
"That crypt you’re going to? It’s tied to an old noble house that secretly supported an older rebellion. There's a way in that doesn’t go through the main gate. Don't know how to get to it, but I'm sure you could figure out a way."
I've put up a map of the graveyard on Roll20 and moved you guys there. I figured you'd have lived in Kintargo long enough to know the layout and plan a 'heist', as it were. Once you settle on a plan of attack and angle of approach, we can get started!
"I've always had problems with those nasty Thrune types, yeah. Too chaotic for their tastes, they've always said!" Vendalfek says, running in small circles on top of your table in a childish display of energy dispersal. "But enough about that, I think it's high time I retire from this place. I can see the lovely bartender is quite fed up with my antics, so I shall make good my exit. Until next time, new friends!"
The house drake leaves the table with a promise of making contact later, leaving you with an interesting mix of confusion and lingering interest in such a unique creature. You do believe you'll be seeing Vendalfek again, for whatever that's worth.
With that settled and the night coming to a close, that leaves your second mission: heading on over to the cemetery to retrieve the stolen Hellknight weapon shipment. Luckily the shenanigans over at the Tooth and Nail left plenty of time in the shadow of nighttime to make it a viable option, and the cloudy skies of the past couple of weeks will definitely help this specific mission.
I assume you'd like to go to the cemetery immediately after leaving the Tooth and Nail, as that was the original plan, but let me know if you'd like to do anything before!
The house drake is hiding (poorly) atop one of the rafters when it receives the message, and it jumps in surprise at the sound of the voice inside his head.
"Ah, so the game is up! How unfortunate, I was having so much whimsical fun." is his reply, and he scuttles his way over the rafters until it's above your table before scurrying down a wooden post and landing on said table.
"Name's Vendalfek. You’re not city guards, are you? No uniforms, no jangly keys, not enough grumbling. Good! Not dottari or Hellknights either, which means we might actually be friends!" he says before plopping himself down in front of you, hiding behind a large pitcher from the rest of the room.
"This is about my little pranks, isn't it? Don't tell me you didn't enjoy the show!"
What would Tessa like to say to the house drake? Message doesn't allow a save so feel free to talk to it.
Setrona catches on to Maccha's ruse, understanding at once and studiously avoiding pointing out that she knows and can see the house drake. "What in the world caused that? What are we going to do about it?" she asks, clearly not sure whether to start preparing for a fight or not.
Working together, the group manages to calm the crowd down enough for the few still-confused people to be contained and held back. Within a handful of moments the entire crowd has been pacified and returned to their seats, either on their own or forcibly for the confused ones.
The house drake is flittering around up in the rafters, cackling quietly to itself above all of the chaos it has caused. It seems rather pleased with itself, all things considered.
Setrona makes her way over to the group, having seen what you did with stopping the brawl fight. "What in the Hells happened? Why did everyone just start fighting?"
The group settles into their position and waits to see what causes these raucous bar fights in a place not usually known for them, and Blosodriette makes her way up into the rafters. The half hour until the fights typically break out passes fairly quickly, with the bar slowly filling up as the day passes into evening.
A few minutes after the appointed time, Blosodriette sees a small window set into the wall get pushed in and slowly but surely open completely. At first she doesn't see anything come through the window, but neither is she obviously noticed by anything. A few seconds later, however, a strange cloud of mist appears almost as if from midair and drifts down over a group of the bar patrons sitting at the biggest group of tables in the middle of the floor. Blosodriette (and the rest of the party) can see as a small purple dragon about the size of a small housecat pops out of its obvious invisibility and appears crouched on the rafters.
The cloud falls down on the crowd of people, and within moments the people in the crowd have been roused into a confused state. Even a quick glance is enough to notice several of their eyes are glossy, as if
Knowledge (Arcana) 15:
This small dragon is actually a Korvosan house drake, an unusual Chelish variant of the more common but still rare pseudodragon. The small drakes are almsopt always CG, and are mostly about causing mayhem and finding ways to enjoy themselves. The breath it used is a confusing breath that causes its victims to act in unpredictable ways, including attacking the person nearest to them.
Not gonna run this as an actual combat, just gonna give each person a 'turn' to try and stop the non-affected people from fighting. Figured this would be easier than trying to run a bar fight combat with everyone in the scene.
"At what time does it help? Is the chaos concentrated inside the building?
"Around eight forty-five every night, or at least within a few minutes either way of then. That'll be in another thirty minutes or so, so you all arrived in plenty of time to help tonight." she says, sounding relieved at the thought of you solving this problem, or at least trying to. "Yeah, the fights only happen inside the building itself, and never in the attached bakery. Just in here, which is extremely frustrating."
Quote:
"D-do they have anything that can calm someone's heart and mind,"
"As in alchemical concoctions? No, but a stout whiskey will steel anyone's nerves. You look like you need some reinforcement, this one's on me." she says, waving her hand at a barmaid and ensuring she brings a glass of the strong alcohol shortly. "Don't drink too much, though, don't want you inebriated for whatever is happening here."
Quote:
"Sounds like magic to me." Believer suggests. "Confusion, maybe?"
"That's what we thought the first few times it happened as well, but we brought a wizard in and he didn't find any signs of magic leftovers like you would expect from a spell." she says, shrugging. "Must be something specific causing it that enters around the time it does, not something left behind. But that's just me acting on my limited info, nothing professional."
Quote:
Has anyone been seriously hurt?
"Thankfully, not yet. Just a handful of rough punches thrown, a few bruises, and a couple of broken bones here or there. I'm concerned it might escalate though, which is why I called for...you. For help." she says, looking around at the group with a sign of hope on her face.
If there's any investigating you want to do in the next half-hour, feel free to do so. Otherwise we'll skip past it and move to the appointed hour.
Blosodriette merely giggles in the face of Tessa’s anger, obviously thinking that she’s too useful to the party for them to actually do anything against her. She does as ordered, refreshing her invisibility every few minutes and parking herself on Tessa’s shoulder.
Setrona welcomes you enthusiastically into the Tooth and Nail, waving you towards a booth and taking a seat in the comfortable sitting spot with you. ”Welcome! Come, I have just the thing: cherrywood rum tea. Savory to match the treat of the blackberry tarts Luculla makes over at the Sweet Tooth.” she says, smiling warmly before suddenly frowning. ”As to my problems, well it’s really the Tooth and Nails’ problem. Every day since the Night of Ashes at the same precise time each night, it’s as if the entire tavern front room loses their mind and the room breaks out into a raucous brawl. The people involved in the brawls have no memory of what caused them to start fighting, and I suspect there’s something more serious than just the overbearing tension of…the city’s political climate.” she says, obviously not wanting to speak her mind in public.
”I’ve heard your little gang is something of a problem solver group, no? I’d appreciate your help on discovering what’s going on in the tavern at night, if you have some spare time that is.”
"It appears that one of Thrune's thugs tortured a little girl to summon a gang of tooth fairies."
"Oh, how delightful!" Blosodriette calls out, cackling. "That is just diabolical. Was probably that b$$~* witch who is always trailing Barzillai, wasn't it? She seems the type to be that crazed."
Quote:
"Before we go, Blosodriette? Did you see anyone paying this place undo attention or anything else worthy of note?"
"Nope! It was extremely boring all day, had nothing to do but sit here and scratch at the walls. While you're out, do you think you could find me something to do? Books to read at least, I'm bored as Hell." she says, before breaking out in a fit of cackling laughter again at her pun.
Leaving the base and heading towards the Tooth and Nail, you discover that unfortunately the rain has only gotten worse. Though perhaps it's for the better, and will make your nighttime cemetery raid easier to accomplish without being caught.
The single-story Tooth and Nail is marked by nothing but a wooden post outside, four bent and rusty nails and six wolves’ teeth hammered into its weathered face. The tavern shares the building with a confectioner’s shop, identified by the words “Sweet Tooth” painted at its entrance on Tuce Alley. Inside, the Tooth and Nail carries the stink of stale beer, tobacco smoke, and less discernible odors hovering in the air like clouds of gnats. Narrow windows, stained yellow, allow in little natural light, and a few sputtering candles do little to disperse the gloom. The furniture is dilapidated, and was of poor quality even on the long-ago day it was fashioned.
The Tooth and Nail is also where you first met Rexus, and Setrona, the patron of the bar, remembers you as a friend of the people and welcomes you with a grin and some drinks. "Heya, good to see you again! We don't often have newcomers, but with the Thrashing Badger burnt down on the...night, more people have made their way in. What can I get for ya?"
The skies above the city have been covered in clouds swollen with rain, constantly mirroring the overall disposition of Kintargo's citizens. You hear rumors on the street, spoken in hushed tones by handfuls of people too afraid to speak too loud. They speak of Barzillai and his magical allies controlling the weather through some horrible dark magic, or perhaps an artifact that requires human sacrifices. Whatever the truth of the matter, the near-constant gloomy skies does nothing to alleviate any pressure building up under the city's new and wholly unwanted leader.
'Blossom' is indeed nowhere to be found upon first entering the Wasp's Nest, but thankfully the little imp makes her way over to the group and pops out of invisibility within a few seconds of Tessa looking around to see if she can find the trouble-maker.
"Was your venture into the outside world successful, master?" the devil titters, looking over the five of you. "Hopefully not too strenuous!" she continues, seemingly either unable to sense the poor mood or unable to care.
The journey back to the Long Roads Coffeehouse and the Wasp's Nest beneath it is canopied in sheets of rain, the water lightly but steadily falling from the sky as the group makes its way to a place of relative safety.
Not many citizens are out and about as a result of both the new Thrune regime and the weather, but the ones that are keep their eyes down and away from any other passersby. Scattered vendor stalls still peddle their goods, but the overall atmosphere of the city under stress prevents most people from being willing to stop and shop. Perhaps the handfuls of Hellknight patrols (clearly of the Rack variety) sweeping through the streets are responsible, but mostly seem to be for show. At least, you don't see any of them stop anyone on the street and they don't appear to give you anything more than a passing glance as their heavily-armored boots splash through the stone walkways.
Finally, you arrive around noon at the Coffeehouse to a warm welcome from Laria. "Rexus made his way back to his own house to continue working on those documents you found rotting away. I'm sure he'll have them cracked wide open any time now." she says reassuringly, before taking your lunch orders.
"I'm still working on that...special order, Tessa. I got your latest letter, but still need a bit more time to figure out how to get things settled. In the meantime though, I have another undertaking, as it were, if you have the time. Rexus introduced you to Setrona over at the Tooth and Nail, right? Well she's been having some unusual problems with fights breaking out the past few nights and has some suspicions that something is causing people to be more riled up than usual: in a magical way. Would you mind taking a look over there this evening and seeing what you can find out?"
The Tooth and Nail is location O8 on the map in the player's handbook, and is conveniently fairly close to where your new found corvid friends hid the stolen shipment of Hellknight weapons: the Old Kintargo Cemetery. The cemetery is still lightly patrolled by the Asmodean church, so you'll need to be sneaky if you want to recover it.
Zea and the other nearby tieflings (whether attending the orphan’s funeral or one of the few others visiting the graveyard) all obviously are brought to tears by Believers’ words. The mention of Milani seems to surprise a handful of them, but none of them are outraged or even look like they want to protest. Seems as if you’ve found a sympathetic group in the hellspawn, which is to be expected.
After the funeral is over, Zea approaches you once more. ”Thank you…so much. That was beautiful, more than I could have possibly hoped for. Both the words and killing those…things…for us. We don’t have much here in the Nursery, but any time you need any sort of healing or even a place to hole up, you are all more than welcome to come calling. You know where to find me, obviously.” she says, laughing quietly despite the circumstances. ”Perhaps I could even make dinner for us all one evening, who knows?”
Once you’re done speaking with her, did you have anything else in mind, or just back to the hideout? There’s some info/rumors to be gathered both in the Nursery and the greater city, if you wanted to spend some time looking around.
Zea takes you across the street to the graveyard of a long-abandoned church, which you can tell even at a glance was once dedicated to Desna.
"We aren't allowed to have service here anymore, obviously. But they don't stop us from...using the graveyard." she says, finishing solemnly. "We can put her to rest her."
You see that more than one grave has been dug ahead of time, leading you to believe that perhaps death here is more common than you'd like to think about. A couple of other funerals are happening alongside yours, most likely the other victims now that the case has been solved. A few of the other people milling about look over and offer weak smiles of thanks or nod in appreciation as you pass by.
Zea takes the wrapped body of the orphan to one of the smaller ones, placing it inside a small poorly-made wooden coffin from a stack of them before setting it down in the grave.
"I am not very good at speeches, if any of you want to say anything..." she says, trailing off, her voice seeming unsure and unsteady.
The child's body is so damaged it's hard to identify what actually killed them. Whatever happened to him, it was extremely painful; seems like Tiarise isn't as interested in helping the tieflings as she pretends to be.
When you return to Zea with the body, she is obviously horrified but unfortunately not surprised. A resigned look of weariness comes over her as you explain what happened, that Tiarise likely orchestrated the summoning, if not the entire killing spree. "I am not surprised, this sort of thing happens quite often to...to us." she says, leaving the 'tiefling' part unspoken. Cheliax doesn't have that great of a view on tieflings in general, and it seems as if even here they can not escape the negative treatment. Especially with the new Thrune in town.
When asked about the child's parents, Zea unfortunately confirms Believer's fears. "I don't recognize her unfortunately, which all but ensures she is one of the many orphans, voluntary or not, that you can find on every corner of the Nursery. If you want to put her to rest properly, we have our own little graveyard we keep to ourselves. I can take you there, help you perform our traditional rites, should you wish." she says, smiling somewhat weakly as if to cover the immense pain she is surely in constantly in her line of work.
Warning for child harm/death, it's bad but I feel it's necessary to the character of the scene.
With the faeries dead, you can take a closer look at their chosen lair. A few dozen teeth line the walls in strange patterns. In the center of one of these patterns, set in the center in what looks to be a kind of proud display, is a single solid golden tooth worth 250 gold. At the far west side of the room a near-collapsed niche sits in the wall, and even from here you can see there's something in it.
Content Warning:
Inside the niche sits the bloodied and broken body of a young tiefling child. The child’s body has been tightly wrapped with thick preserved sinews, its wrists and ankles shattered and bound with cold iron chains. All of its teeth have been knocked from its jaws. An examination of the grisly find reveals dozens of phrases have been inscribed in an unusual language in very fine writing along the sinews which look to have come from a larger body.
Linguistics DC 20:
The strange writing is in Aklo, a language most often used in the Darklands far below the surface. The message confirms that the body was used in a ritual to create the spell that summoned the fairies.
I don't think that makes it. GM, in the future, I don't mind if you roll saves like this.
Got it, I'll likely handle saves like this from here on, if that's okay with everyone.
Reflex, DC 14:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (10) + 5 = 15
Aoede is paralyzed, and the fairy targeted by Tessa's magic manages to dodge out of the way of the greasy spell. Llewela's handaxe hits the fairy square in the chest, smacking it aside and ending it.
The last remaining fairy follows after Believer (granting her another AoO against it) and viciously continues its attack attempt.
Kinda hoped that Aoede and Tessa covering their faces would help hinder that. Oh well.
It did! I gave you a +2 on your CMD, but they rolled pretty well. Good thought though!
Maccha's first strike, Llewela's second, and Believer's are the only ones that manage to connect on the flighty little faeries. Maccha's just barely scratches the surprisingly hardy skin (dealing less damage than she feels it should), but Llewela's heavy handed blow slaps the one she hit to the ground with a crunch. Believer punches hers hard, but surprisingly doesn't finish it off
The two remaining faeries fly towards Aoede and Believer respectively, attempting to strike out at the two. This time
Got a crazy crit for a whopping two damage on Believer and an extra nonlethal point, and 1 lethal and one nonlethal on Aoede. I need fortitude saves against paralysis from both of you.
Apologies, Knowledge (nature) can tell you a bit about the faeries.
Maccha's attack goes wide, but Aoede's swift halberd strike finds its mark, splattering the tiny fae's body to the ground against the rotting crates where it explodes into a cloud of white fairy dust. It sticks to the two women next to it, and actually has a foul stench so sickening that both Maccha and Aoede cough harshly.
DC 10 Fort save against sickened. This is a poison effect.
Seems as if they aren't very sturdy when faced with real combat and weapons, but nonetheless the three remaining faeries fly eagerly towards the party, pliers and teeth at the ready.
The three faeries left will move into the squares of the three closest spots, whoever that is. One goes into Aoede's, Believer's, and Llewela's (wherever she ends up). Aoede and Llewela can make AoO's, but Believer is still flat-footed.
The horrible little creatures launch themselves forward towards the group and the ones targeting Aoede and Believer manage to wrench out a single tooth from the two of them.
Believer and Aoede both lose a tooth as they yank them out violently, dealing 1 point of bleed damage and 1 point of Charisma damage. If the tooth is reclaimed and any magical healing is applied within 10 minutes, the tooth will heal and be fine.
The main and upper floors of the tavern have been stripped of any valuables long ago, leaving the place bare besides the descent into the basement.
The small hole leads down into a water-soaked root cellar section, where four of what you presume are the tooth faeries are buzzing about in their new lair. Small patterns have been etched into the wall with teeth being pushed into them in a bizarre unsettling attempt to decorate the lair with their trophies.
As soon as you enter the lair, the four fairies turn their eyes on you and wave their oversized (for them) pliers menacingly towards the group.
The trail leads back to the south, heading towards the city wall for a bit before curving back into the heart of the district. The footprints lead to the front end of an abandoned partially collapsed tavern that clearly hasn't seen any patronage in months, at least.
The tavern itself doesn't have anything interesting in it beyond some rusty silverware and moldy food, but there's a rather large section of the back storage room that has collapsed. A small hole in the rubble looks to lead deeper into the collapsed basement of the abandoned building, though you'll have to get closer to it to see anything.
Seems as if whoever the tracks belonged to were interested in seeing this tavern with its basement so you can probably safely make the assumption that on the other side of this hole, and prepare as such.
The most recent murder scene, the one where the victim you examined came from, is relatively empty of people. A handful of vagrant tieflings mill around the entrance to the back alley, but quickly scatter once they see you approach. Only Believer appearing and attempting to talk to them gets them to stick around long enough for them to confirm that the hellknights and Tiarise were in fact poking around the night it happened. What they wanted or what they found, they don't know, but they left pretty quickly.
The actual scene itself doesn't have much evidence to be found immediately to your eyes, as the murder itself actually happened a couple of days ago and any immediate evidence has been washed away by the rain of the past. A single tooth sits up against a wall in the alley, confirming your suspicions that the teeth were ripped out at the scene of the attack, most likely by the fairies.
Survival DC 15:
A trail of the hellknight's boots leads away from the site, to the southeast along the wall. This area hasn't seen much disturbance since their passing, and they must have passed through here relatively recently. Perhaps the past day or so.
You can take 10 or even 20 on the survival, it'll just take a bit of time.
Zea is obviously startled by the physical touch, and stands in the hug awkwardly for a bit before patting Tessa on the back.
”Uh…yeah.” she says, extremely ‘elegantly’ and not uncomfortable at all. ”Yeah, I can do that. They started from the right side of this map and worked their way to the left in the semicircle. I thought it was the pattern of a mortal serial killer, but if it’s true that they’re the opportunistic killings of faeries, that means they have to have a sort of lair right? Maybe if you set up that ambush you can find your way to their hideout by following a wounded one, or somehow tracking their movement throughout the night.” she says, catching on to the beginnings of a plan.
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The order they happened could be important to tell if it's some sort of path the murderers are going through. Regardless, it's best we go, I fear we might run into more Hellknights near those places as well."
She nods, agreeing. ”Checking out the other murder sites could be valuable as well, though like you said there might be Hellknights or even Tiarise herself checking out those sites if you’re right about her nefarious interest in them. Will have to be careful, those Hellknights do not mess around.”
”We’re obviously not sure how many there are of the creatures, but presumably more than one, right? You’ll need to be careful, but I think they might be drawn to the lone tiefling walking through the streets. If these faeries are roaming from their hideout, maybe it could be somewhere in the ‘center’ of the semicircle, to the south part of the district? At least a good place to start, that’s for sure.” she says, seemingly realizing how much she’s been talking and falling quiet as she looks around at the group.
You can! These hellknights carry the symbol of their order proudly, a spiked wheel with a blood drop in the middle. They are of the Order of the Rack, the same order which has been garrisoned in Kintargo to aid Barzillai in his submission of any rebellious forces.
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Zea, did you see the other victims? Did they have similar wounds on them and missing teeth?
"Uh, yeah they all did. I didn't know that...there were such horrible things in this world." she says, shuddering as Tessa tells her about the tooth fairies. "I have had suspicions that Tiarise was behind it somehow, but I wasn't able to bring any evidence up." she says, shrugging. "It doesn't surprise me that witch is involved at the very least."
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Are you a healer, Zea?
"I, uh, somewhat." she says nervously, waving a hand around the inside of her 'clinic'. "I don't have any magical healing powers or anything, just my own two hands and what supplies I can scrounge up..." she finishes, hoping not to disappoint.
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If we can see a map of the Nursery and mark down where the bodies have been found,
Zea brightens up at this, nodding. "Now that, I can do. Hold on one second, I'll draw a quick map for you." she says, excited to help in any way possible. After a few minutes, she has a map ready for you to look at. "X's are the previous four, star is the uh, newest one.." she says, her voice drifting off sadly.
Nope, that was Nox, Thrune's bodyguard with the hell hound. This is one of his other minions. It's Local, not nobility, but 17 is good enough to get some info.
"She's been a...constant annoyance in the Nursery ever since that bastard Thrune popped up. No one knows where she came from, but she hasn't left us alone. Always buzzing around, poking her nose where it doesn't belong." she says, obviously frustrated.
Tessa remembers a few rumors going around about the witch, a powerful member of Barzillai's inner circle. She is one of his closest arcane allies, and has great knowledge specifically dealing with the intersections between outer planes. Tiarise is one of the biggest fore-leaders of the secret revision of Kintargo's history, attempting to remove all history of any rebellion from its past.
"Not letting you get whacked to save our hides," she says as she tries to pull the tiefling along with her.
Zea breaks away and stays downstairs as the group moves up. "They'll be expecting me, this is my 'clinic', as it were." That the tieflings have been reduced to this shoddy place tells you more about their situation than you could have gotten by asking.
"Go, I'll get them to leave." she says, not leaving any room for disagreement.
Believer spots a small broken plank with a hole in it that would provide a safe spot to take a look at the going-ons below, without much chance of them seeing you. Assuming someone decides to spy, of course.
Within a few moments of you making it upstairs, you hear the door to the impromptu exam room slam open and those metal footsteps enter the room below you. A handful of hellknights come into view through the hole, passing beyond your sight as they investigate the room. Right behind them is the unusual sound of buzzing insects, a lot of them.
"Ah, chirurgeon." a female voice says from the door, out of view of the hole. The voice is quiet, but strong, echoing throughout the building completely somehow. "Good to see you again, I hadn't expected to be back so quickly but ah, I was in the neighborhood. You understand." The figure finally walks into view, a dark-skinned woman clearly not of Chelish descent carrying a strange staff topped with flowing bead strings. Surrounding her are numerous of those flying swarming insects you heard earlier.
Zea speaks, her voice obviously nervous. "Tiarise, it's so good to s-see you." she says, out of view. "What can I help you with?"
"I'm here to inspect the body, of course. Thrune has a lot of interest in the...happenings in the district. We want to help you solve these unfortunate murders."
Sense Motive DC 15:
It's pretty obvious that Thrune doesn't actually care about the well-being of the tieflings in Devil's Nursery. You aren't sure if they had anything to do with it, but at the very least their interest is purely academic, not out of any concern for the tieflings.
"Of course, it's right over here." Zea replies, presumably taking her over to the body you were examining not a handful of minutes ago. They spend a few agonizing minutes talking quietly amongst themselves, Tiarise clearly looking over the same details you did, with the mutilated face and missing teeth. After those few minutes, the Hellknights reappear in the hole as they leave, and the witch is shortly behind them with her small swarm of insects following her.
Believer and Tessa work together to look over the corpse, seeing if they can figure out what exactly is responsible for the horrible gruesome murder. After a few minutes, they come to the same conclusion: awful fey called tooth fairies. Contrary to some popular fairy tales, tooth fairies are horrendous little mutilators of both bodies and mouths. Brought into being with a special ritual in which teeth are buried at a place with strong connections to the mysterious realm of the fey, they are true terrors of the night, raiding the settlements and districts they live in and stealing teeth before killing their victims.
Before you can do too much with this info, however, you hear the sounds of metal armored boots on the stone streets outside. Whoever they are, they aren't trying to hide their presence. Within a few moments it is clear the mysterious 'visitors' are making their way here, as the front door of the abandoned shop is smashed open and several yells of pain are heard, presumably from the guards up front.
Zea comes flying in, sprinting at full pace into the back room the body was being held, her eyes full of fear. "Thrune's witch Tiarise is here with those hellknights, you have to hide! They say they're after the body, go upstairs, they won't find you. Quickly, you cannot be caught here!" she says, her eyes pleading with you and pointing to a set of stairs at the back of the storeroom.
GM, if there's nothing going on besides a staring contest between Blosodriette and Aoede
Yeah that's pretty much it. Those instructions sound fine, and she agrees to them.
Zea waits for everyone to be ready and then walks with you through the streets of Kintargo. She has a hood pulled up over her face (presumably to hide her fiendish heritage and horns) and does her utmost best to not attract the attention of anyone besides the party.
Luckily (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), the morning is still young and the day is sunny and bright as you make your way across the city, with not a single cloud in sight. The streets are somewhat filling back up after the terror of the past week or so, but people are still nervous and don't speak to anyone outside their immediate groups. You can still feel the tension hanging over the town like a fog cloud.
Finally, after what seems to be an agonizingly slow journey through the slightly larger crowds compared to the previous few days, you reach the abandoned shop that Zea says contains the body of the poor victim. She nods at two hellspawn men standing guard at the door way, and they let the group pass into the empty storefront. It's slightly cold even inside, with the fall weather getting colder and colder every day.
"Come, she's over here, in the storeroom." Zea says, leading you to the table where the body is stored before leaving you to your work. "I'm sorry, I just can't stay and look at her too long...I'll be right outside."
The body is hidden under a rough sheet, but pulling it back immediately reveals the cause of death: the face and neck area have been significantly mutilated. Further investigation is necessary to discover anymore, however.
Gore warning for the spoilers, in case it wasn't obvious. This wasn't a pretty death. The heal one in particular is brutal.
Heal DC 13:
All of the victim's teeth have been viciously removed, obviously without her permission.
Perception DC 12:
Numerous tiny and slightly inflamed humanoid bite marks dot the victim’s hands and neck, along with several little gouges of missing flesh.
I don't suppose you can tell the others who else has fallen victim to this string of murders?"
"Well, there's Morvay, that's the one from last night. She...she was my friend yes. That's why I finally decided to step up and find some help." she says, her voice cracking. "I didn't know any of the other four well, but I do know their names: Ravik, Sarea, Morin, and Kali. We want to get headstones made and all, but until this is all over with, no one really wants to get out and about. Understandably, if you ask me."
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Llewela perks up at the details of the Hetamon's "cult", and racks her brains to see whether she'd heard of him before.
Llewela isn't quite sure who exactly Hetamon is himself, but the religion of freedom and roses sure seems a lot like Milani. A secret cult leader of the Everbloom in Kintargo is certainly a prime target for Thrune and his allies; it makes sense they'd make him disappear, if they are at fault that is.
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Yes, I think we should look over the body for ourselves.
Zea is obviously extremely relieved to hear that you'll take the 'case' on, as it were, and smiles weakly as you seem to be taking her seriously. "Well, like I said, we're keeping the body in a safe place, I just have to...track her family down and ask them where she is. You could accompany me to their house? We should try to do this during the day if possible, so the earlier the better." she finishes, looking resolved.
”Disappeared completely, frisked away or left the town, either or. All I know is that Strea was one of the most vocal spirited tieflings I’ve ever met, and that Hetamon was the leader of one of the local cults: some deity of ‘freedom’? Mentioned roses a lot, not sure what that’s about.”
”And well, honestly, we’re not really focused on finding them at the moment, we have a lot on our hands currently. Very much more concerned with keeping those we still have alive.”
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Is there anything in common across them
”Beyond them all being tieflings, all taking place in Devil’s Nursery, and all happening at night? Not really, that we can see. That’s why we came to…you all. For help.”
”Just last night was the most recent victim, a young woman in a back alley near the southern wall. I can take you to the place she was found, if that’ll help at all. We’ve been pretty quick to burn the remains of the previous four victims, preventing vengeful spirits, but I think her body is being held somewhere. I’ll have to check into where…she is” she finishes, sadly.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it." the imp says dismissively waving a hand. "To be clear, that means from everyone right?" she asks, smirking playfully.
Zea looks extremely nervous to even be here in the first place, but it seems as if it's more to do with where she is (as in, away from the Nursery), rather than anything to do with you in particular.
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"Now then, please tell us what you can. Who all has been killed?"
"It's...it seems like random killings on the street. I probably don't have to tell you how little Thrune and their allies care about tieflings, but to allow us to be murdered in the street is something that I thought was beyond them." she says, on the verge of tears.
"We used to have an advocate for us and our kind among us, actually. Strea Vestori, she worked to reverse this trend and to earn a place of honor and respect for Kintargo’s tieflings by founding the Cloven Hoof Society. But, as with so many others, she disappeared on the Night of Ashes, along with the person she was working with. Someone called...Hetamon I think?" she says, looking unsure.
Are we just on the main floor amongst the other customers or on the 2nd floor where we've been sleeping?
The woman is waiting upstairs in the office for Believer, and the paladin finds herself meeting with another of her kind, though quite different in kind. Her skin is deep red, marking her as one of the more common kinds of tieflings found in Cheliax.
She gasps as she sees Believer (and anyone else who joins), her face looking up to her with hope.
"It worked! I had heard rumors but I wasn't sure they were true...to think someone is actually trying to help the city again, it's been such an awful week."
After small talk is made, she introduces herself as Zea, a woman from the district most commonly known as Devil's Nursery. "I...well, we have a problem over in the Nursery. Do you all take on murder spree cases?"
Knowledge Local DC 10:
Tieflings are treated as second-class citizens at best in Cheliax, and despite Kintargo’s progressive attitude, this prejudice is still rampant in the city. The majority of Kintargo’s tieflings never make it out of the city’s most notorious slum—the Devil’s Nursery. Here, tieflings are generally left to live their own lives without much interference, but those who dare to travel far from the area run the risk of facing harassment or worse. This toxic environment does little to give Kintargo’s tieflings a fair chance to rise out of the poverty into which they are born.
Believer knows the info in the spoiler for free, as a tiefling living in Kintargo.
"That's not usual for Imps, is it? What do you remember from your life? Did you serve the Sarini family then too?"
"I...don't think it's usual, no. Then again, I'm not an expert on the Hells, you know." she answers, making herself at home on Believer's shoulder. "Cozy! As for serving the Sarini's, I think it might have been something like that? I remember I've always been small..." her words drift off, as if she is lost in thought.
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it would help to know more about what you can do,
"Good question! Well, you've already seen my invisibility, and I can use it to stab things real good from behind. I can change shape into various small animals, but I don't like doing it so don't ask me to. I have a handy collection of magic scrolls to use in combat, as well as my pipes." she says, pulling the set of pipes out. "When I use them just right they attract rat swarms, though they don't really like listening to me so it's not very reliable." she plays a little tune on the pipes, and it actually sounds pretty good.
Perform (wind):1d20 + 8 ⇒ (14) + 8 = 22
"Got a handful of divination magic too; can ask some questions every now and then, to see what's a good idea, or even ask the big man downstairs himself once every handful of days."Augury once per day, Commune (only to Asmodeus) once per week.
Once you're done deciding what you're to do with the imp, Rexus takes Believer aside and asks to speak for a second. "We had someone order your re-leaf tea...she's waiting upstairs." he says, looking over at the tiefling knowingly. "Perhaps leave the imp down here until we're sure she can be trusted. I'll take a quick read through her contract while you speak to the 'customer', see what I can find in the meantime."
Blosodriette cackles upon hearing this, clearly enjoying her surprise, but then a strange look comes upon her old face. ”I think…I think I know that language from my life before…before all this” she says, waving her hand over her impish form. ”I have a handful of broken memories, and learning the language of angels before is one of them.” she says, her head turning as if she was deep in thought.
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…”would you be a dear and wait on the Lavender One's shoulder?”
She looks confused for a second before seeing Believer’s skin, understanding. She launches off of Tessa’s shoulder and comes to rest on the tiefling’s instead. ”Hi! That one sure is a strange one, huh?” she says, pointing back to Tessa.
Believer knows from her check earlier (and just general knowledge) that fiends are not *supposed* to remember their previous lives at all, let alone keep skills like languages.
"And I find it hard to believe that even if you were under orders you wouldn't find some way to play another such prank."
"Believe whatever you want, you certainly know nothing about how Hell or its contracts work. If the person in control of me or my contract (that would be the delightful lady I am currently standing on) orders me to do something, I must do it." she says, scowling at the warpriest. "Besides, it was meant to be a harmless prank, I didn't intend to kill or even hurt anyone, just scare them off."
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"It's true that taking actions that cause a death is still a crime. Manslaughter, I believe is the common term. But given we are... disinclined to seek out a court of justice. What are you prepared to offer in terms of... reparations?"
"Uh...nothing? Are you intending on taking me to court? I don't think any of you wonderful people in this little rebellious group will be entering any sort of court anytime soon. So let's do away with that little bit of false bravado shall we?" the imp spits out, dismissive.
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She tries to consider what she knows of such contracts, including what happens to the Imp if the contract is destroyed, as well as what happens to the Imp and the contracted master, in this case Tessa, if the Imp is killed.
Destruction of the contract would likely just dismiss the imp back to Hell, it wouldn't free it or kill it or anything. The contract itself probably has some protections against her acting on or damaging it directly, so she can't just destroy it and return herself back to her home freely.
Maccha finally returns with Rexus in the middle of this conversation, and when he's caught up with the new info he reveals that he has found the contract the imp mentioned. "It's uh, extremely convoluted and will take me a few hours to decode all the intricacies and hidden clauses and such, but the gist of it is that she's telling the truth: the contract is magical and binds her to the service of the Sarini family. I can answer a few basic questions, but nothing complex yet. I wonder how this document got into the Raven's possession."
"So you do want to return to Hell. Could you have done so, if you had successfully opened a strong enough portal? Or would your contract have bound you here as long as it was intact?"
"Well that was actually what I was trying to find out!" she cries out, frustrated. "I wanted to see if it would even work, but obviously it didn't, seeing as how I'm still here. Stupid useless portal." she finishes, grumbling.
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"Little better than pests."
"That's what I'm sayin'!" she agrees, tittering a bit. "Don't even know why they still make them down there, if you ask me."
"And what, precisely, were you trying to summon up down there? Missing your friends?"
"What, that little old hole in the wall? Was trying to get myself back through it, if I'm being honest. But there wasn't enough energy there to open a portal to get me home, just enough to bring those two disgusting low-lifers." she says, obviously disgruntled.
"The music we heard beneath the old Livery, that was you then?"
"As a matter of fact it was, yes. On my trusty pan pipes!" she responds proudly, in perfect Celestial. A knowing smirk graces her lips as she stares at Believer for a single moment before moving on to answer other questions.
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If you are bound to the Sarini, why would you wait until now to reveal yourself? Why not tell us when you first saw us?
She titters almost maniacally before speaking. "Well that's just all the fun of it, isn't it? Nothing says I have to present myself immediately, and she didn't give me any orders so I was free to do as I wish. Now the devil is out of the bag, as it were, there's not much reason to stay hidden, is there?"
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"Well, let us allow bygones to be bygones, hmm? If she says that it was an accident, well then we can hardly hold poor Blosodriette responsible, can we," she asks as she gives a doe-eyed pout to the others while gently stroking the imp's hair. "It's not as if it's her fault the wall's construction was too poor to stand up to a little, ol' prank, is it?"
The imp nods enthusiastically in agreement with Tessa's (well, sort of) words. "This cute one has the right of it! Twas an accidental overstep, that is all. I did not mean to hurt anyone, was just a harmless prank, you can't hold it against me!"
