Ven thanks Cesadia, "I will study it further when I have time."
He turns to Aenian and the group. "I'll be ready to return to Fort Hailcourse at first light, unless you have a better suggestion."
"Rest and heal and then head back to the Fort, yes. Let's clear and secure that place. Maybe we will uncover some clues to what is actually going on at Iris Hill."
Winter and Trillis, with Vaustin as escort, take a brief trip to the New Chapel to check on the Briarstone refugees and to collect Trillis's armor and gear. They come back about an hour later to spend the night at the Sleepless Agency.
With a quiet word of thanks, Sholn departs to reunite with his family. Cesadia sends a couple of her agents to see him safely home.
Before Aenian goes to the market, Cesadia calls him over. She is holding a long object wrapped in oilcloth -- clearly a blade. "My good friend and business partner, Dobrius, was a keen swordsman. He..." she stammers, then hands you the bundle. "Put it to good use."
Swapped urban grace for .... another extract cant recall at this moment. I'll update later.
Aenian accepts the weapon from Trillis, "Thank you, this is far too kind. And entirely.unexpected."
Aenian removes the weapon from the oilcloth to inspect it.
Ven rubs his chin as he considers how to re-enter the fort. "Surely they've added guards since we left. I probably can charm my way in. Or I can turn us invisible and we can stealth in. What do you think?"
"Hang on, let me recall the last time your charm worked ... ah, nope. Must be part of that 'missing' memory. Invisibility and stealth it is! No attacking super powered deep ones this time unless we're all in on it."
The blade is a rapier of exquisite craftsmanship of a baroque Chelish style. The detail lines are silver enameled with royal blue. The edge is magically sharp and looks as if it were new off the forge.
"At least until you can get your own blade... back..." Cesadia smiles ruefully for a moment as her words trail. She chuckles and adds, "Putting 2 and 2 together now that I'm saying it out loud. One of my eyes and ears in town keeps tabs on the Stain. He told me Risi Nairgon came in a few nights ago proudly wearing a flashy new rapier. Hmm: red scabbard, detailed basket in the shape of a bird... sound familiar?"
Ven turns to Aenian, ”Do you want to try scaling the wall?”
"An impressive blade, I am honored."
Aenian sheathes it as he studies the Fort.
"If we are to scale the wall, let's circle around to the Northeast where that Deep One boss nearly killed me. However, was there a path in underground, to or from the cistern/well? I'd much prefer to enter from below than get through the walls."
With Vaustin and Trillis, you head out into the night-shrouded town. The streets are empty and all the homes are securely locked and shuttered. You have no trouble reaching the fort. The place remains as deathly quiet as when you left it the day before. You scale the walls and quickly make it back inside the north barracks.
Ven will head south.
With an extract of cats grace in one hand and the new rapier in another, Aenian heads south with Ven, Vaustin and Trillis.
You explore the rooms to the south and east of the barracks. The fort is deathly silent and appears to be completely abandoned.
You pass through a kitchen with a stone worktable and large iron pot suspended in a cold fireplace. Adjacent to the kitchen is a dining room with that contains a long wooden table and a dozen chairs. A pair of decorated chests and a display case featuring a collection of creations from some of Thrushmoor’s artisans sit against dining room walls.
To the east of the dining room is a courtroom. The walls of this semicircular room are clad in wood up to half of their height, and decorated with murals of the town’s civil life on the upper half. A bench runs along most of the curved outer wall, under three grated windows fitted with stained glass. Opposite the bench are a trio of highbacked chairs and a desk with a stool. Two more benches sit in the middle, near a central pillar that supports the ceiling.
To the north of the dining room is the magistrate's office, identified by a title plaque on the heavy wooden door. The office is furnished with a wooden desk decorated with the Ustalavic coat of arms, set in an alcove beneath the ascending stairs. The walls are almost completely draped with warm, woolen tapestries. A wide cabinet with reinforced doors stands against the north wall.
"They left in a hurry ... we were just here, so let's see if they made any mistakes in their clean up."
Aenian searches the desk and the cabinet and behind the drapes.
Ven will detect magic and will help search.
Aenian steps over to the desk. Ven scans for magic and spots some auras coming from within the cabinet.
While the others are distracted, Aenian catches movement out of the back corner of the room. A silvery figure emerges from the shadows, closing on him rapidly!
The silver woman stabs at Aenian with her paired short swords. As she moves and attacks, the air around her makes a hissing noise. Her form shifts and dances as if there are multiple figures in motion.
;
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Trillis moves to Aenian and heals him.
Ven assumes his dark half and blasts the woman with a magic missile.
; +2 bleed
Aenian attacks back
Aenian fails to parry and nearly fumbles his own blade in the counter-attack. Trillis steps up, quickly healing his new wound.
Ven blasts the creature with jagged force missiles, bypassing its illusory defense. The spell appears to damage the silver woman, but any bleeding immediately ceases.
It spins away from Aenian and comes at Ven, stabbing with both blades.
;
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Ven withdraws from the woman and drops his dark half.
Trillis goes to total defense.
Aenian steps to the southeast and lets Vaustin in to assist, stabbing as he does so and using a move action to study his target and then striking with precision
Vaustin moves in with his hammah opting to attack with powah!
Aenian and Vaustin team up and land a couple solid hits against the silver woman. The wounds instantly close and appear to start healing, though its impossible to tell with the thing's unnatural physique.
Ven withdraws to the far side of the room while Trillis blocks.
Never ceasing motion, the woman twists low and away from Vaustin, stabbing at Aenian with her twin blades before coming up beside the eastern door.
;
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Ven will hit her again with a magic missile while Trillis remains on the defensive.
Nimbly dodging both attacks, Aenian twirls with the woman and attempts to pin her in the corner leaving an opening for Vaustin.
Vaustin follows Aenian with his bullish technique, rushing forward and swinging his hammer with a crushing overhand blow.
Aenian makes a quick movement then stabs, piercing the enemy true but unable to determine if he hit anything vital. Vaustin swings wildly, missing over her head by a few inches.
Ven blasts the silver woman with another volley of force missiles while Trillis stands defense.
The silver woman steps back, and folds, making your eyes blur as she disappears into a small mirror mounted on the back of the doorway. Aenian watches her image match his then morph to match his own appearance. She winks at him but otherwise mirrors his movements.
Ven holds his action to see if the woman is going step back out of the mirror. "Who are you and what do you want?"]
If she attacks he will blast her with another magic missile.
The image of Aenian glances at Ven and smirks. "Tilsitari is this one's label," it responds in a voice like a tinny echo of Aenian. "You have created powerful enemies. Leave Thrushmoor now or face certain doom."
"Are you associated with these enemies or just aware of them?"
"They pay me, so one supposes 'associated' is accurate."
"When you escaped, you earned a second lease on life. Take it and go. Your persistence will only lead to your deaths, or worse."
"Someone here knows what happened to our memories. We arent stopping until we.solve that. What will it take to get you to switch sides? How much are they paying you?"
"Switch... sides?" the mirror image of Aenian smirks but then shakes his head. "No, this one has no love for Melisenn, but no wish to be annihilated either. She will already be incensed to learn of your escape; news of which has yet to reach her ears."
"This one , however, could delay the news for a day, perhaps two. The deep ones are fickle, useful but repulsive. No one will miss them. But eventually, Melisenn will come back for you."
"500 gold, for this one's silence."
Ven shakes his head. "Forget it. You keep silent or we'll annihilate you!"
Aenian's image frowns at Ven. "Good luck with that." It glances back to Aenian, adding, "You have an hour to escape town. After that, your lives are your own to waste."
The image shimmers slightly and Aenian believes he is once again viewing his own reflection.
"Ugh, we could've used the two days ... I was hoping she might take a counter offer." Aenian looks at Ven with frustration.
Ven shrugs, "She couldn't be trusted."
He walks ups the stairs .
Upstairs from the magistrates office is a comfortable reading room furnished with a large table, a few padded chairs, and a standing mirror. The room appears reasonably clean compared to the rest of the fort. A fireplace sits cold in the corner, and a pile of books and folios is spread across the table. The standing mirror appears to reflect normally, but you can't shake the feeling of being watched.
This room, like the rest of Fort Hailcourse, is empty of inhabitants. The remaining zombie guardsmen pretending to stand watch on the battlements are easily avoided or dispatched. Other than the watching mirror-doppleganger, you appear to have free run of the place.
Ven detects magic and then searches the room, scans through the books and folios, and studies the mirror.