Session 29 - Scene 8 (of 10)

Leigh takes the lead position in the boat, directing everyone else.  She skillfully spots some debris in the water and has Scrag and Larrak row around it.

As they near the island, Leigh notices evidence of strong currents.  She deftly instructs Scrag and Larrak on how to row to avoid getting capsized.  Eventually, they reach the island shore.

The island is quite small, only a few feet above the water and no more than twenty or thirty feet of land surrounding the tower area.

The tower building itself is a combination of a tall watchtower with an attached guardhouse.  The building is in rough shape, with walls partially collapsed.

The group spots a front entrance with double doors; one of the doors has fallen off its hinges.  The main doors, leading into the guardhouse, appeared to have once faced the old docks (which are long gone).

Larrak directs everyone over to the side door, which is on the tower section.  

As they prepare to enter, it occurs to Larrak that they never decided whether they wanted to capture or kill Rufus.  Tiberius remarks he is unsure as well.  Leigh reminds them that the purpose of the mission is to capture Rufus and gain evidence over who hired him (as it is suspected the four lords who oppose the group had something to do with it).  Larraks notes that as dangerous as Rufus is, they may be forced to kill him anyhow.

Leigh steps up to examine the door.  She finds neither any arcane enchantments nor any traps.  It does not appear to be locked.

Larrack moves everyone into battle positions.  Scrag moves up to open the door, with Larrak behind him.  Leigh gaurds the rear, looking out into the river.

Scrag opens the door to find that it leads to the tower stairs.  He hears something faint coming from the top of the tower, though the dwarf behind him does not.

Moving closer, Silas hears the noise as well.  He believes it to sound like a girl crying.  Leigh suspects it is the ghost, but Larrak believes they must investigate just to be sure Rufus doesn't have some kind of captive.  Challa suggests heading upstairs cautiously, as either way it could be a trap.

Scrag, still in the lead, heads up the stairs.  As he nears the top, he can see an adolescent girl up there, crying.  Looking closely, he can see the girl is slightly transparent.

The female figure smiles at Scrag and motions for him to come up to her.

Leigh pushes her way past some of the others to get a look.  She can tell the girl is a ghost, but doesn't recognize her as anyone famous.

Nudging his way up beside Scrag in the stairwell, Larrak asks the figure if she can speak.  She just smiles and giggles at him, motioning him up.

Tiberius forces his way behind the dwarf.  Speaking over him, he tells the ghost she is free to leave.  When she does nothing but smile and motion for him to come up, he tries to get her to come to them, but to no avail.

Despite everyone else thinking it is a trap, Scrag decides to head up to see what the girl wants.  A couple of stairs later, he steps on a rotten plank and crashes through.  He falls fives stories into the basement below.

The female figure then transforms into a disfigured, transparent specter, letting out a fearsome scream that pierces the minds of most of the rest of the group then flies off before anyone has a chance to react.

Tiberius, upset that he cannot attack the spirit, starts heading down to Scrag.  Everyone but Silas follows.  Silas steps past the broken stair and up to the top of the tower.  After making sure the ghost was not guarding anything of value, he heads down to the others.

Session 29 - Scene 9 (of 10)

Down at the bottom level of the tower, the group descends to find a prone Scrag.  Durmindin asks Scrag if he is OK.  The half-orc stands up and brushes himself off, suggesting it was only a flesh wound.

The basement level is quite dark, so Leigh finds a large stone to illuminate.  They can see that the bottom level is essentially made up of three cells.

The first of the cells appears to be mostly bricked up, though a few bricks have fallen through to reveal a hole.  Leigh tosses the stone through the hole.

The cell inside appears to be painted red on all surfaces.  Strange markings adorn all the walls.  In the corner sits a pile of humanoid bones.  Near the hole sits a small book.

Durmindin moves in to get a closer look.  He can tell the bones are that of a human.

Leigh is more interested in the markings and the book.  She determines the markings are of the abyssal language – the language of demons.  She surmises the cell was that of a demon worshipper.  The book, however, appears to be mundane – it is not magical.  Leigh mentions she wants the book, which does not surprise Larrak.

However, everyone quickly turns their attentions to the other cells first.  The middle cell appears to have a recent bed of straw in it.  The last cell appears to be empty.

Leigh detects that something magical is under the straw.  Examining it closer, she determines it is not trapped.

Scrag steps in and sifts through the straw with his axe.  He finds several items – around 40 gold in loose change, a liquid of some kind in a bottle, a sapphire, a longsword, a set of hide armor, and some kind of note.

Leigh carefully looks over the items and determines the liquid is a healing potion, the longsword is a magical challenge seeking longsword, and the hide armor is a magical set of shadow hound hide armor.  Scrag starts to discuss who should get which magical item, but everyone else wants to wait until later to discuss.

Tiberius and Larrak are more concerned with seeing if anyone has been here recently.  The remains of food near the straw bed look to be a week or so old.

Leigh, however, is most interested in the note.  She sees that it is a letter to Rufus and the broken seal is of a snake in the shape of an "S".  She recognizes it as the symbol of Salazar, Lord Groddic's advisor.  The letter itself is unsigned.  It mentions wanting Rufus to have a "meeting" with Lord Barret and gives instructions to meet a man at the Lucky Gnome Taphouse for full instructions.

Larrak, meanwhile, checks over the empty cell.  He wants to make sure nothing is hidden there.  After spending some time searching, and being assisted by Leigh, he finds nothing.

Tiberius wants to go into the red room next.  Larrak, however, is adamantly opposed.  Leigh ends their arguing by using her mage hand spell to pick up the book and bring it out to her.

She discovers the book is a journal, marked on the cover with the initials "M.A.R."  After making sure it isn't trapped, Leigh opens it.  It appears to be a diary of a young woman who was imprisoned in this room.  The front pages of the diary are old, faded, and brittle and therefore difficult to get much out of.

The last page of the diary, however, is easier to read.  It is dated July 13, but with no year, and signed MAR.  Leigh reads it aloud to the others:

"My final breaths draw near this night.  I have been imprisoned here for nearly a week since daddy killed my beloved V'rak.  And today he took the child from my womb.  Anton, my dear brother, ripped him from my arms.

Anton returned tonight to feed me.  After my begging and pleading, I was finally able to get him to tell me what he had done with my baby boy.  I was horrified to learn that he dropped him off in the Tombwoods – where the best we can hope is that he dies of exposure before being eaten by the walking dead.

I will never forgive them.  Whilst we were betrothed, V'rak taught me the arcane secrets of contacting the forces of the abyss.  My death shall unleash a dark curse, unleashing those forces on the world – that I may have my retribution for the lives of myself, V'rak, and our newborn child."

As Leigh reads, it doesn't take Scrag long to figure out the baby mentioned was him, and that this book is the diary of his deceased mother.

Session 29 - Scene 10 (of 10)

When Leigh finishes reading the passage aloud, a cold breeze flows out of the red room and past the group.  Then, the walls begin to bleed.  As Tiberius is suggesting they quickly retreat, a white mist appears, causing everyone but Durmindin to writhe in pain from its burning effects.

The blood from the walls begins to pool on the floor, and swirls with a dark purple color emerge.  The group feel themselves being transported to another dimension as the basement around them transforms into an abyssal labyrinth.

Everyone is separated.  Many of the group find themselves surrounded by hideous demons.

Tiberius sees a shadow demon coming at him.  The demon lets out a blast of abyssal power, but he manages to resist its effects.  Tiberius responds by activating his stoneborn armor and attempting his stand the fallen maneuver, but fails.

Scrag finds himself surrounded by four creatures – a hezrou demon, a gnawing demon, a mezzodemon, and the banshee spirit.  Rather than fight, he elects to make a passionate plea to the banshee, explaining he is her son.  The banshee spirit seems confused and looks at him closely.  With a sad whine, she disappears.

Silas finds himself all alone in a dark corner.  Unsure what is going on, he elects to wait a moment and figure out where he is.

Nearby, Larrak spots a small runespiral demon.  He charges into it, slicing through its carapace with his reaping strike.

Silas spots Larrak as he charges by.  Silas moves himself into position and blasts the runespiral demon with his radiant vengeance.

Leigh discovers she is close to Scrag.  Spotting the large hezrou demon, she decides to focus on it first.  She blasts it with a fire burst then puts up her fire shield to protect herself.

Meanwhile, Durmindin discovers he is closest to a gnaw demon.  He tries to blast it with his wrath of winter, but fails.

Challa faces yet another kind of demon, the disgusting yolchol demon.  It tries to spit a web at her, but she manages to avoid it.  She then blesses her axe and slices into the shambling mound with a valorous strike.

The runespiral demon next to Larrak backs up a step, then blasts the dwarf with its lightning.  Another near Leigh blasts her as well.

Leigh is also not pleased to see that the hezrou demon has targeted her as well.  It stomps over and smashes into her with a powerful blow that nearly causes her to lose consciousness.

Durmindin isn't having much better luck, as the gnaw demon swoops in begins biting him.  Scrag has twice as much trouble as two of them move in and bite him.

Scrag then suffers worse when the mezzodemon charges in and pierces him with its barbed trident.  Pinned to the ground, Scrag first makes his escape then changes to his panther form.  Ignoring the demons on him, he rushes over to put himself between the hezrou and Leigh.  He strikes into the demon with furious strength then pauses a moment to catch his breath.

Meanwhile, the shadow demon claws into Tiberius again.  The warlord responds by forming a bastion of defense then striking the shadow creature with a guarding attack.

Across the room, Silas moves up and cuts into the runespiral demon with an overwhelming strike.  Larrak follows up the attack with another reaping strike, killing it.  He then takes a moment to get a second wind, then rushes over to the yolchol demon attacking Challa.  He tries to hit it with a brute strike, but misses.

The yolchol demon attacks back at Larrak and Challa with its tentacles.  It misses Larrak with the first but hits him with the second.  Challa is hit by two tentacle strikes.

Nearby, Leigh moves into position and blasts the hezrou with her burning hands spell.  She follows it up with a shocking sphere, blasting the hezrou again.

Durmindin finds himself close to Leigh.  Ignoring the gnaw demon for a minute, he casts his spirit of healing flood on the hezrou, injuring it and healing Leigh.  He follows up with a healing spirit to further reduce Leigh's injuries.

Challa, sensing Larrak can handle the yolchol, decides to assist against the hezrou as well.  She makes an ardent vow then charges at the hezrou, cutting it down with her axe.

The mezzodemon moves to attack Durmindin, but he reacts quickly and moves away.  The remaining runespiral demon blasts Leigh again while the graw demons go after Challa and Scrag, but all miss.

Scrag shifts around to position himself against the nearest gnaw demon.  He smashes it to the ground with her earthgrasp strike.  Calling upon his berserk fury and wildling strength, he strikes into the gnaw demon again.

A fair distance away, the shadow demon tries to claw Tiberius again, but misses.  Tiberius responds by circling the demon and hitting it with his viper's strike.

Nearby, Silas blasts the yolchol demon with his radiant vengeance.  Larrak then chops into the demon with a brute strike, killing it.  He then starts towards the runespiral demon.  Challa attacks the runespiral as well, hitting it with her righteous smite.  It responds by blasting her with its lightning.

Meanwhile, Leigh blasts the mezzodemon and one of the gnaw demons with a scorching burst.  Durmindin then moves his spirit companion over to the mezzodemon and blinds it with the spirit of the hawk's wind.

The gnaw demons surround Scrag, biting into him.  Scrag responds by using his thunder ram assault on two of them, knocking them back.

Across the room, the shadow demon claws into Tiberius again.  He continues to circle around, hitting it again with his viper's strike.  Silas helps out by moving over and attacking the demon with his angelic alacrity.

Leigh lets off another blast at the demons, hitting the mezzodemon and the two gnaw demons near him.  One of the gnaw demons is reduced to ashes.  Durmindin assists by hitting the mezzodemon with a spirit renewal strike.

Larrak, however, focuses on the runespiral demon.  He tries to cut it down with a dazzling strike, but misses.  The demon blasts Challa in return, who kills it by summoning a hallowed circle.

The mezzodemon and gnaw demons all focus on Scrag, but fail to overcome his defenses.  He responds by crushing the mezzodemon into a pile of goo with his thunderstep strike.

In the corner, the shadow demon continues to claw Tiberius.  He tries to strike back with his viper's strike, but fails to catch the demon.  He then calls out some words to inspire himself.

Silas uses his intervening blades to harm the shadow demon again.  He then finishes it off with his oath of the final duel.

Leigh then uses her scorching burst to finish off another of the gnaw demons.  Everyone moves in and kills the last one.

With the demons all dead, the group find themselves transported back to the basement of the tower.

Session 29 - Session Notes

Well, this session was certainly more successful than the last one.  The group managed to do a halfway decent job investigating this time.

Originally, I planned to gloss over the investigation this session and get to the combat with the demons quicker, but since it started off with some good ideas I just ran with it.

As far an their different avenues of approach, since they had multiple ones I used a lot of skill rolls.  The undercover lady of the evening with her handler idea was actually mine, though - I suggested it as an option that would get bonus XP.  As expected, hilarity ensued.  XP well spent.

Rufus' hideout being in the tower of waiting was another idea I had a long time ago.  I'm trying to clear up as much of the in-city adventuring ideas as possible so this area will become "cleaned" and they can feel like they are able to move on.

The way things are going, they should wrap up everything in the next few sessions.  I'm probably going to fast-forward the campaign a good six months for a "winter period" then pick it back up again.  By then, there should be noticeable progress in the region and the action will shift more towards the Winterhaven area.

Scrag's mother is another idea that came up a while back.  The implications of it haven't been fully realized yet, but it will lead somewhere interesting.

The cell itself was inspired by the Amityville Horror and I wanted to add some demon fighting and dimensional transportation to make the group feel off-guard in the fight.  The battle itself, unfortunately, started a bit too late in the evening and as a result, ended up being a lot easier than it should have been.

I did learn that night that the Larrak player will be dropping out for a while due to a work schedule change.  Which also means his kid, the Scrag player, may also have to drop.  As they are my favorite players, this is pretty disappointing.  

I'm also a bit frustrated with the Challa player trying to force her husband into the game - he's kind of a prima donna type and I'm not really sure I want him there.

Interlude - Cast of Characters

Krolec Jar'bin - Elven Ranger

Interlude - Scene 1 (of 10)

Some time ago...

A cold rain falls on the city. It hits the slate roofs of the buildings surrounding the town plaza, falling to the cobblestone streets below. The water pools on the streets and travels between the stones down towards the drains.

As the water rushes through the drains, it pours into the sewer tunnels. The sewers begin to flood, with most of the water heading for the river. But a small amount of backflow travels down a different path, heading through cracks and soaking down through the earth into the ancient catacombs below.

Water drips onto the skeletal remains in the catacombs and begins to pool at the cavern floors. Again it falls through cracks and dampened earth, going down deeper still.

Somewhere below the catacombs lie the ancient caverns of the underdark. Here the water merges with small underground streams that supply the inhabitants that live there in permanent darkness. As the underground streams swell from the increase in water, some begins to run off, and follow chasms down even further into the earth.

By the time the liquids reach the further depths, the water combines with enough earth, slime, waste, and mold to become viscous flows of sludge. It flows down the walls of the deep tunnel passageway, putting out one of the torches lit there.

The tunnel is quite large and filled with all manner of slime and fungi that blanket the rotting remains of once nice stone furnishings. This chamber was said to once hold fine wood furniture and tapestries as well, but they have long been rotted into dust.

Along the walls are old metal torch holders, with new torches stuck inside; lit by the man who stands in the center of the room. He stands over the large beast in front of him. The creature snarls then begins a low growl. The man puts his hand back inside the large sack he holds. "Don't worry, it will be all right. I have more for you.

The man pulls out the contents of the bag, feeding it to the beast. "There you go" he says, "You need to keep your strength up. We have so much left to do..."

In the corner of the room lie several skulls, arranged neatly in a L-shaped row – as if they are forming the foundation of a structure...

Interlude - Scene 2 (of 10)

Over a week ago...

Krolec begins his search for his sister, Jantor, by talking with his father, Honlor, about the last time she was seen. As far as the elder elf knows, Jantor didn't have plans to go anywhere. However, she hasn't stopped by to visit for several days and has not been seen at her craft stand in the town square lately.

Krolec's father further explains that his mother did stop by Jantor's room at the boarding house where his sister lives the other day, but no one answered the door. Krolec decides to head there next to investigate.

Interlude - Scene 3 (of 10)

At the boarding house, Krolec is invited in for a "nice cup of tea" by the kindly old lady who runs the boarding house, Mrs. Wilberforce. As he sits down, she begins a long, rambling story about her deceased husband, Preston, and offers Krolec some crumpets.

Krolec thanks her for the crumpets and waits for a moment to interject. He explains he is looking for his sister and wonders when the last time Mrs. Wilberforce saw her.

After thinking a moment, the old woman responds that she believes the last time was the day after the big party at the Tombwoods re-opening. She remembers Jantor came home that night not feeling well, remarking that "the poor thing had a terrible chill" and that she made Jantor some soup.

Mrs. Wilberforce goes on to explain that she heard Jantor in her room the next day, sounding awful. The landlady explains that she offered to help, but Jantor did not want her to come inside (which Mrs. Wilberforce attributes to Jantor having too much pride to be seen in a very ill state). She goes on to explain that Jantor got "very cross" with her when she tried to open the door and slip in some more soup.

The old woman kindly explains she didn't think anything bad of it, as she knows people don't like company when they are sick. Krolec, however, begins to get suspicious. It is very unlike his sister to be rude to a well-meaning landlady.

Mrs. Wilberforce then says how she went out shopping that day and didn't hear Jantor when she got back that night. She hasn't heard her in the room since.

Krolec's concern grows, and he asks Mrs. Wilberforce to unlock Jantor's room so he can check on her. She happily complies. Once she gets the door open, the landlady is quite shocked to see the room in shambles; there is stuff all over the place.

Krolec immediately has Mrs. Wilberforce get behind him, back out in the hall, while he draws his swords. He quickly scans the room to make sure no one is inside. He spots no one, but the door to the bathroom is closed.

Sheathing his long sword, Krolec advances carefully towards the bathroom door with his short sword at the ready. As he walks over, he spots a mark on the floor in the main room, obscured by a cushion. He stops and moves the cushion; he sees the mark is the end of a large claw mark. The mark looks vaguely familiar to him, but he can't immediately place it.

Focusing his attention back to the bathroom, he opens the door. Inside, he sees that the bathroom is completely trashed, with claw marks are all over the walls and several small pools of blood on the floor. Most distressing of all is a giant hole ripped in the floor that appears to lead down to the sewers.

Krolec's mind begins to race. He knows the cemetery party was five or six days ago, making the trail long cold. He turns his attentions back to the claw marks. Thinking for a moment, he finally places them; to his horror, he realizes they are the same marks he saw at Kalton Manor: the beast of the Witchlight Fens must have captured his sister!

Interlude - Scene 4 (of 10)

Krolec walks Mrs. Wilberforce back to her own room and tells her not to worry as he will take care of things after he goes and lets some people know what has happened. The old lady seems a bit confused as to what is going on.

Krolec first thinks of heading to the Temple of Erathis to get some healing potions, but then remembers that the group bought the last of them just the other day. Instead, he heads over to the Temple of the Sun and talks with Grundelmar.

As Grundelmar is no healer, Krolec knows the dwarf will have no healing potions. The ranger remains hopeful, however, that he will have some kind of illuminated stone to borrow. The priest confirms to Krolec the temple has such a stone, but as a holy item of the church Krolec would need to convert to worshipping Pelor before he could take it. Instead, Krolec takes Grundelmar up on his offer of a couple of sunrods. He also offers to let the others in the group know what Krolec is up to should he see them.

Krolec then heads over to Teldorath's shop to replenish his arrow supply and to the Halfmoon Trading House to pick up some rations. Afterwards, he quickly goes around to the usual hang-out spots for the rest of the group to try and get help, but can't locate anyone; apparently, they have already found something else to work on.

The elf then finally forces himself to to go back home and inform his parents what has happened. He states to them very plainly that Jantor appears to have been kidnapped by the beast of Kalton Manor. His parents are understandably horrified at the idea of Jantor being dragged down into the sewers by some kind of crazy monster. They wonder how such a thing could happen and why it would happen to her.

Krolec finds it an odd situation as well, wondering why his sister was targeted out of everyone else. He asks his parents if they know what she had been working on recently.

They respond that they are not very sure. She had been working and selling her wares as normal up until the Tombwoods celebration. Other than that, she spent some time at the party talking to Eli Leng about his statue. They haven't really seen or heard from her since she had to leave the party early when she injured her hand.

Since he was gone at the time, Krolec isn't familiar with the events. Honlor goes on to explain to him that Jantor cut her hand on the statue Eli Leng was showing her.

Krolec wants to hear more about the statue, but Honlor doesn't know much about it. Neither he nor Lunor took must interest in it. All they know is it was a statue of some strange creature with large claws (which Jantor cut herself on while handling it). His father also says something about his friend Shaelynna bringing up the statue from Harkenwold for Leng.

Thinking about it more, Krolec recalls Merend once mentioning there was a crate with a statue in at the Spices and Seasonings store in Harkenwold. According to what Merend told him, as Krolec was a prisoner of the Raven's Roost bandits at the time, the owner of the Spices and Seasonings store said the crate was the last shipment back from the Whittlesey Expedition. The owner was trying to hire Merend to take the crate back to Eli Leng.

Krolec begins putting the pieces together in his head. Whittlesey and his men were apparently killed by the beast, based on the diary notes Krolec found at Kalton Manor. Krolec wonders if there is some connection between the statue and the creature.

Interlude - Scene 5 (of 10)

Before going back to the boarding house, Krolec decides to stop by Eli Leng's shop and see what he knows. The elf wonders if the statue could be magic. He feels he needs to get going on locating his sister, but has a strong suspicion that knowing more about what he is up against will increase his chances of success. Mostly, Krolec just hopes he gets to Jantor in time.

As Krolec reaches Leng's herbal shop, he sees the sign is uncharacteristically set to "Closed". Looking inside the window, he sees the store looks like normal, but dark with no one inside. There are no apparent signs of disturbance.

Krolec considers what to do. Normally one should contact the city guard, but Krolec doesn't want to waste the time. Instead, he begins asking around at some of the nearby shops to see if anyone has a spare key or when they last saw Leng.

Unfortunately, Krolec is not successful in this endeavor. None of the other shopkeepers around seem to have a key, and none of them remember when they last saw Leng, except that his store has been closed for the last few days (though reports conflict on exactly which day it was last open).

The elf decides to head back to Jantor's room and head down into the sewers. But on his way, another thought occurs to him. He decides to go check the exit drains from the sewers that lead into the river; he wants to make sure the creature and Jantor didn't leave some other way before heading down there.

It takes some time, but Krolec eventually checks all of the sewer exits along the river. He doesn't spot anyone or evidence of anyone leaving the sewers from the drains. By this point, the sun has set.

Interlude - Scene 6 (of 10)

Krolec goes back to his home and grabs a quick hot meal. He plans to head over to the temple to update Grundelmar then head down into the sewers. When he reaches the temple, the dwarf priest isn't around.

As Krolec turns to leave the temple, he is greeted by a pair of town guardsmen and Lt. Gerdrand. The lieutenant says with a bit of a sigh, "I should have known you people were involved somehow."

Krolec asks Gerdrand what he is referring to, and Gerdrand explains Krolec will need to come with him – he has something to show Krolec. Lt. Gerdrand and his men take Krolec back to a guard post near the river.

He takes Krolec inside. On the floor is a blanket covering what appears to be a humanoid form. The lieutenant steps over to it. He explains to Krolec that this was found in the river yesterday morning after it was flushed out of one of the sewer drains, and they've been able to keep it quiet so far to avoid inciting panic.

Gerdrand pulls back the blanket to reveal a mis-shapen naked corpse. It appears to be part man, part reptilian – half of its face, back, and one arm are covered in green scales. The little finger and ring finger on the hand appear to be fused together, with one long talon coming out of the end like a long fingernail.

The lieutenant then asks Krolec to tell him why he was spotted checking the sewer drains along the river that day. Krolec explains that his sister appears to have been taken by a creature from the sewers, and that he suspects it is the same creature he saw evidence of at Kalton Manor.

Krolec goes on to tell Gerdrand how Jantor cut her hand on Eli Leng's statue, and how the creature shown in the statue has claws similar to the beast making the claw marks. Krolec worries magic or curses are at work, and confesses his fears over his sister's fate have only increased.

On a hunch, Krolec takes a closer look at the corpse on the floor. The body is misshapen and partially decayed, but after examining it closely, he is able to confirm his suspicions; it is the body of the merchant, Eli Leng. He informs Gerdrand, and suggests they check Leng's shop for the statue and any other clues that may be there. Krolec wants to move quickly in order to neutralize any evil magic or curses.

Gerdrand agrees with Krolec's assessment. He arranges for one of district commanders, Sgt. D'Agosta, to accompany Krolec with a couple of his men.

Interlude - Scene 7 (of 10)

Sgt. D'Agosta and his men accompany Krolec directly over to Leng's shop. He immediately has one of the men produce a set of lockpicks and gets the door open.

Korlec goes in first, creeping in quietly. Looking around, the elf spots no one and nothing appears to be disturbed.

Inside the shop, Krolec sees two doorways leading to the back. The first is out next to the shop counter and is covered by a red curtain with a rope across the middle of it. From the rope hangs a sign that says, "Cabinet of Curiosities - admittance 8 silver". The other doorway is behind the counter, and has a black curtain over it.

Sgt. D'Agosta and his men make their way into the main store while Krolec checks out the area behind the first curtain. Behind the curtain, the ranger finds a small room filled with shelves. The shelves are organized into themes - with shelves holding collections of odd stones, rare herbs, remains of strange creatures, and collections of antiquities. Each item has a small card detailing the provenance of the item.

Krolec spots the strange statue of the creature on one of the shelves. It appears to be of a lizard-like creature with long talon-like claws. The card below it reads, "Unknown Statue from the Witchlight Fens region. Possibly a deity of some kind of the Kothoga Tribe. Found by Julian Whittlesey in a hut made of skulls" and is marked with a recent date.

After informing the guards he has found the statue, Krolec cautions them all to treat it with extreme caution. He explains his sister became ill after being cut by it.

D'Agosta and his men come over to look at the statue. One of the men comments on how ugly it is.

Krolec pulls the statue out carefully from the shelf to get a better look. He does not recognize the species of the creature. He does, however, spot some flecks of dried blood on one of the claws.

Krolec speculates they should get the statue to a priest to examine it, as the card says it could be a religous item. D'Agosta has one of his men grab a large sack and Krolec gently places the statue inside.

Once that's done, the ranger examines the main room and finds little out of the ordinary. He then heads back behind the black curtain, finding a large room used as a living area. Off to the side are two smaller rooms - one bedroom and one bathroom. The only thing he notices as being unusual is the large rug in the middle of the room; it looks as if it has been moved recently and isn't quite lying flat.

Krolec moves the rug aside and spots a cellar door underneath. He alerts Sgt. D'Agosta, and the soldiers enter the area to back him up.

The ranger then opens the door and begins to head down the creaky old wooden stairs. It is completely dark below, so Krolec activates one of his sunrods to see.

The cellar becomes bathed in light. Krolec sees that it appears to be largely used as some kind of work area. A string hangs over a work bench area, with small metal clips attached to it; a couple of the clips are attached to large, strange-looking leaves that are drying.

He also spots a couple of dried leaves sit below on the workbench next to a mortar and pestle. On the other side of the workbench are a large glass beaker and several flasks, all empty. There is also a flask containing a small amount of green liquid sitting on a metal stand over what appears to be a small oil lamp. It is connected by a sloped glass tube to another flask next to it, containing a clear liquid. Next to that is some kind of hollow dart.

Across the room, the elf sees an old wooden door in this room, apparently leading to another section of the cellar.

Krolec decides to examine the workbench carefully first. He notices a green residue on the hollow dart, and discovers a secret drawer hidden in the workbench. After making sure the drawer isn't trapped, he opens it to discover a small, leather-bound journal inside. The journal is marked with the initials, "E.L."

Carefully opening it, Krolec discovers the journal is some kind of scientific journal, with a lot of strange notations. It appears to discuss rare herbs Leng found and properties he found from their distilled compounds.

The first half of the journal seems very neat and orderly. As Krolec gets to the back, some newer entries are written in a more excited matter. The exact writings are difficult to read, but Krolec identifies one passage saying something about "coated by residue...used as packing material". Further down are some abbreviated notes stating, "ent. blood via cut" and "ab. phy. mut." followed by "subj. increase agg., str. as mut. occur".

The pages after that appear to be three days worth of notes about some kind of experiment, listing amounts of compounds used and observed reactions. The phrase "mut. continue, no rev. ind." seems to come up a lot. The handwriting gets worse each day, and the last day seems to have degraded to something child-like. The last words written are "no hope".

Krolec begins trying to make sense of it all. It appears some reside coated the statue from the leaves used as packing material and the cut on Jantor's hand from the statue caused it to enter into her system. He believes Leng was discussing increases to strength and either aggression or agility, and trying to work on some kind of cure but was unsuccessful.

Interlude - Scene 8 (of 10)

Leaving the work bench alone for the moment, Krolec decides to check out the other room in the cellar. The old door creaks a bit as he opens it, but Krolec does manage to get in as quiet as is possible. Inside is a small stone room. Large claw marks similar to the ones he saw before scar one of the walls. Attached to the wall are the remains of two chains, the ends of which seem to have been ripped off. Nearby in a corner are the remains of a broken flask and a bent hollow dart.

On the other side of the room is a small desk with some loose papers written on it. It seems to be a collection of hastily taken notes. Much of it is difficult to read.

Some of the legible notes Krolec is able to read include:

"[date from a couple of weeks ago] - 1st sight. prime subj. m."
"[date from a few days ago] - 1st sight. sec. subj. fem."
"attr. to leaves??"
"[illegible date] - capt. sec. subj. ident. as JJB"
"rap. trans. obs. in sec. subj. - time of expo. est. < 2 days"
"add. subj. obs. - time of expo. 3-5 days."
"hyp. - JW is prime subj."
"prime subj. on her sce. mate sea.?!?"
"subj. esc. pro. w. exp. on self"

On the far side of the room is a large metal door. It is partially open and appears to have been clawed / forced open from the inside.

Krolec puts together more pieces of the puzzle. Eli apparently discovered the first subject a couple of weeks ago. Then, a few days ago, he found a second subject, a female. Eli apparently believed the creatures were attracted to the leaves.

He goes on to speculate that Leng's notes indicate he captured the second subject, and identified her as Jantor Jar'Bin, Krolec's sister. Krolec believes Eli was noticing rapid transformations in her and estimated her time of exposure under 2 days.

The next note Krolec isn't sure about – something about something else observed with a time of exposure of 3-5 days. Leng also hypothesized the first subject was someone identified as "JW". Krolec has no idea what "prime subj. on her sce. mate sea.?!?" means, but believes the last line is talking about Jantor escaping, Leng being exposed, and beginning experiments on himself.

Krolec wonders to himself if Leng was trying to find a cure, or trying to cause particular types of mutations. He believes the green substance on the work bench may be some kind of cooked-down concentrate, with the clear liquid possibly a type of distillate.

The elf decides an alchemist will be needed, believing that perhaps the temple of Erathis has one. He decides to go back to the other room and get a closer look at the leaves and the liquids.

Eventually, the ranger determines the green vial appears to be a cooked down concentrate of some kind of compound made from herbs and some unknown reagent(s). The clear liquid appears to be an herbal distillate - a mix of water and essential oils.

Based on the notations in his journal, it looks to Krolec like Leng was experimenting with the same herbs but using different reagents as well as trying concentration levels of water. Krolec is fairly certain that Eli was infected and trying to cure himself, but he can't tell if Leng was successful or not – he was still experimenting at the time the notes stop.

Krolec goes back up and grabs the bag with the statue. Carefully comparing the residue to the green liquid, he can see they are similar, but not the same. He is unsure which reagents Leng was using for the final experiment. He also can't tell much about the leaves, except that they seem exotic – like the kind of leaves one might find in the Witchlight Fens region.

An epiphany comes to Krolec – "JW" is Julian Whittlesey. Whittlesey wasn't the last victim of a monster that killed his team; he became the monster that killed his team. He wonders if the liquids would help save his sister, or make things worse. He knows he will only have one shot to save her and/or Whittlesey.

Interlude - Scene 9 (of 10)

Around this time, Sgt. D'Agosta and his men head down into the cellar. He asks Krolec about what is going on. One of his men stumbles around in the other room, and asks where the metal door goes.

Krolec apologizes to the sergeant and explains he is trying to figure out what Eli was doing with the alchemy apartus. He goes on to explain how from Leng's notes it appears Whittlesey and Jantor both mutated into creatures similar to what Eli appears to have become. He tells D'Agosta he can't tell if Eli was working on a reversing elixure or something to cause the mutations and so they need an alchemist from the temple to help them figure things out.

As for the metal door, Krolec guesses it leads into the sewers, though notes he has not gone through it yet.


Krolec's gut instincts tell him they should fill the hollow dart with the green mixture of Eli's and try giving it to Jantor and Whittlesey if there is enough, but he recognizes it's a total wild hunch. D'Agosta doesn't seem convinced. Krolec goes on to speculate that if they run into Whittlesey or Jantor in changed form, the creatures likely would attack them as they may not realize who they are anymore – giving it as another reason for needing an alchemist.

Krolec then decides to check out the metal door. He sneaks quietly into the doorway. Unsurprisingly, the metal door leads to some steps that head down into the sewers; apparently this building is one of the ones built with a maintenance access point.

Sgt. D'Agosta suggests that he leave his two men to guard the area while he goes off to get a couple more men. He also wants to talk to Teldorath about fixing or replacing the metal door - the damage from the creature currently prevents it from closing/latching properly and it is a security risk. He will leave Krolec to find an alchemist, as the sergeant is not aware of any in town.

Interlude - Scene 10 (of 10)

Krolec heads to the Temple of Erathis. He quickly explains to the attendant he needs to speak to the priest on duty. After a few minutes of waiting, Father Goffman appears. He gets a slight look of contempt on his face when he sees the elf and wants to know what Krolec wants.

Undeterred by Goffman's demeanor and history of antagonism with the group, Krolec quietly relays a brief synopsis of what has happened and why they need alchemy help.

After hearing Krolec's story, Goffman's attitude softens. He seems genuinely concerned, but tells Krolec that, unfortunately, no one in the temple performs any kind of alchemy outside of the blessings that create healing potions.

Krolec wonders if Goffman would have the right knowledge to determine if Leng came up with a cure, but the priest explains only a skilled alchemist would be able to tell.

After leaving the temple, Krolec tries to think of where he might get assistance. He then remembers his deceased friend Al once mentioning that his grandfather was skilled in alchemy.