ROR:Session/12

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Starring: Calum, Haneet, Hilma, Isra'a, Karaz, Tokki
Guest Starring: "Aldern and Iesha Foxglove", Justice Ironbriar
Challenge: Below
Location: Magnimar, including Foxglove Townhouse and Hall of Justice
Date Played: 19 & 26 Sep 2015

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Welcome to Magnimar

Chapter 2: The Skinsaw Murders - Part 6: Chasing the Skinsaw

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Traveling to Magnimar

Tokki

By sea or by land

We travel to end evil

Before all is lost

Attacked by fierce maws

Rimmed with icy cold and blood

The ocean is fierce

Isra'a

It seems that every time we get some idea of where to go, that whoever we are looking for is waiting for us. Once we determined we must investigate Foxglove’s place in Magnimar we decided to go immediately. With any luck – that should give us a small manner of surprise.

We booked passage on Vhiski’s ship – our fee wasn’t coin, instead we were to serve as guards. Why don’t banks ever ask me to be a guard? It has to be a ship… There was a bit of trouble on our voyage. We encountered a hydra and some sturgies. I was completely useless against the hydra – I really need some new tricks. The sturgie hadn’t seen my tricks before and I laid waste to them.

Calum

Ah, the pleasures of Magnimar in winter. The somewhat less offensive smells of dead fish, rotten seaweed, and fetid swamp than in the summer. The exorbitant prices for the most common fare at the taverns. The noise of rowdy drunks, night-market hawkers, and harborside doxies at all hours of the night and day. The city government so self-serving and ineffectual than they can only be bothered to repair the streets nearest their own homes. Yet for all its imperfections, Magnimar is certainly warmer in winter than Sandpoint, and its attractions and advantages are much more widely varied. Here I can have a long, restful few months to do real research, compare notes of my most recent Thassilonian findings with my fellow Antiquarians, and finally study at length the spellbooks of the other mages I have encountered during my most recent little adventures.

But no matter the advantages of being in Magnimar, getting there is never anything but odious. It merely depends on whether one wishes one's irritations, inconveniences and insults to be terrestrial or maritime. My companions, in a tearing hurry to wrap up every little strand of this terrible Foxglove affair, chose the maritime route and paid for it with rough seas, bad food and a hydra attack as the icing on a shit cake. At least I was able to be of some assistance against the hydra - but the stirges were another matter. If there is a more repulsive, festering plague of a creature on the Material Plane than stirges - I'm sure we'll be encountering it any day now.

Getting Bearings

Tokki

Home away from home

The structure and sound walls soothe

If just a moment

Isra'a

What an amazing city this is! I can get into all sorts of trouble here, which I will do when I have a little time to myself – away from prying eyes. We managed to find the location of Foxglove’s townhouse, again my companions neglected to let me do my thing. I understand lying is against their ‘code’ and all but I don’t see why they couldn’t look the other way once and a while.

Foxglove Townhouse

Tokki

Prepare for trouble

We are now seeing double

Foxglove somehow lives

Faceless skin wearers

A devil from recent past

Their plot is murky

Hilma

Dear brother,

As you have no doubt surmised from this envelope, I have arrived in Magnimar. My companions and I traveled here to further investigate the horrific murders that have been occurring. We had discovered that Aldern Foxglove had a townhouse in the city. What we did not expect to find in that townhouse was Aldern himself and his wife, seemingly quite hale and hearty. This was, of course, all some scheme. They were unnatural beasts that had taken the forms of the lord and lady and were in league with that infuriating quasit, Erylium. Both the quasit and the false lady escaped, but we managed to fell "Aldern."

Isra'a

Large townhouse, owner known to be dead… someone pinch me. Too bad for me, someone had already tossed the place – they made sure to make it look like they didn’t. While searching around for some clue (and gold) we stumbled upon Aldern? Iesha? Convincing enough – my first instinct was to call them out but I couldn’t find a solid reason to not buy into these imposters.

They did end up being imposters – some kind of shape shifters. Actually, I’m glad they were imposters and not the real deal – Iesha beat me soundly last time I saw her. Speaking of last time I saw her, everyone’s favorite quasit showed up. I am so looking forward to ending her tormenting of me. I have a plan for next time we meet, I hope it works out.

Calum

As luck would have it, I came to Magnimar so much later than was my custom that my rooms had been rented out to someone who offered a few coppers more than the exorbitant fee that the worthless landlord had extorted from me back in May. Luckily, my adventuring career has been remunerative enough that I was able to find lodgings at least as good as those I had last year, along with the rest of my companions. They pulled me away from my books long enough to visit the townhouse of the late Aldern and Iesha Foxglove. Imagine our surprise when they turned out to be considerably less late than we had assumed them to be! Of course we were all suspicious, but they demonstrated a far more gracious response to our home invasion than I would ever have been able to muster. Iesha was kind enough to brew us some tea, which was so delicious I was about to ask for the name of her supplier when I began to feel unaccountably sleepy. My memory of the event is rather fuzzy after that...I only hope I didn't embarrass myself by falling asleep in their salon.

Hall of Justice

Tokki

Justice should prevail

Putting my faith in the law

To do what it does best

The false Ironbriar

Muddies the cogs of justice

With ill ire and death

Hilma

Tokki went to the Hall of Justice to report these imposters. He was gone longer than we thought he should be, and Izra'a and Haneet ran over to see what was keeping him. They returned quite quickly to report that Tokki was falsely imprisoned and in great danger. We rushed back to the jail with me riding a donkey and carting the tell-tale corpse of the false Aldern. Isra'a, Karaz, and Haneet entered before I did, attempting to get to Tokki before it was too late. As soon as I thought they had enough of a headstart, I entered, explained that we had been framed for the death of Aldern, presented the body, and showed the assembled justices the evidence that this body was not, in fact, that of Aldern.

The justices let us go, believing our version of events, while they investigated further. They warned us not to leave the city itself while the investigations continued. It seems there have been a series of these cultish murders in Magnimar, as well, so this has become much bigger than I anticipated.

Isra'a

After dealing with the imposters (one kill, one fled) we decided to alert the authorities, Tokki decided to head to the Hall of Justice to file the paperwork. When he didn’t return after a few hours, Haneet and I went to have a look. We found out he had been imprisoned and they meant to do the same to us. I noticed some people closing in and Haneet and I were able to slip out.

We hatched a plan that involved me disguising myself as a guard and arresting Karaz and Haneet. We figured that once we were in the back we could locate Tokki and bust him out. I was able to bluff my way into the back and found Tokki being jumped by several other prisoners. It looked like a setup. We helped him out with the assailants and broke him free. Once he was loose I bailed – I am not about to wait around for more guards or Justices to show up. Besides, Isra’a was never even there.

🎲 DM Section

Encounters

Foxglove Townhouse

2x Faceless Stalkers, advanced with 1 bard, 1 witch, 1 fighter (Approx CR 6 each; CR 8 as a pair, technically)

1x Erylium - Quasit Witch 7 with low morale

Hall of Justice

6x "lumberjacks" (Skinsaw Cultist) Rog2/Clr of Norberger 1 (CR2 x 6 = 7)

Environment a wash, +/- 0

Recap Reward

Before next session's day

Bad Guys' plans upset: +1 week downtime after chapter (base of 2 weeks)

• Tokki, Hilma, Isra'a, Calum, Haneet

Late

Bad Guys' plans adjusted: +3 days downtime after chapter

• none

Not done

• Karaz

Expires

End of Chapter.