Session 51: What Goes Bump in the Night Report
General Summary
Three more vampire spawn have emerged from the top floor of the Snapping Line! These are just simple townsfolk, turned by Xolec in case he and the Rists needed reinforcements. Castellon Kiara Shadowbreaker goes first, shooting one of the vampire spawn with her musket without hesitation. Her soldiers, meanwhile, move to protect the civilians and prisoners. Following this, Keledek the Unspoken - who is still outside - can see Xolec's mist form with the light of his Fire Elemental and the refractions of the rain. Using the spell Cone of Cold he flash-freezes Xolec and scoops him into a bag of holding. Senior Talon Delmirev Adrex then moves to reinforce Kiara. He swings with his holy sword at a vampire spawn, critically failing. He attacks again and still misses, But then he makes a final, third attack, and the blade connects! The longsword flares with radient energy, seriously wounding the vampire spawn. He then orders the Knights of Raan keep James stunned and go to reinforce Captain Eliander Fireborn downstairs. Castellon Shadowbreaker then stabs at a vampire spawn and commands Delmirev to attack with a Commander's Strike. Delmirev misses. Following this, a soldier shoots at one of the spawn. The rest of the soldiers continue to guard the commoners and exits. Keledek the Unspoken, having captured Xolec, Misty Steps inside and brings his highly controlled Fire Elemental inside as well, making for the cellar to aid Captain Fireborn.
Downstairs is a wine cellar, within which is a trapdoor to hide precious wines. Eliander and the two knights of Raan are helping a barmaid who was bound and gagged up. Keledek asks if they need any help, and Fireborn says no; there's no hostiles, just a prisoner. Delmirev then knocks two out of three of the vampire spawn out, careful to ensure that - while horribly wounded - they won't bleed to death. One of the Kinghts of Raan keeps stunning James, while the others help Eliander untie the barmaid. She explains that her name is Leta, and that she had came into work today. She couldn't find her boss, Hannah, and when she checked if she was in the cellar she was attacked by Xolec. He tied her up and gagged her, but she has no idea know why. A cursory inspection of the cellar reveals that it is clearly where Hannah, James, and the three guests were buried and rose as well.
Poking his head back upstairs, Keledek shoots Firebolt at the last spawn and then has their fire elemental attack. Finally, Kiara knocks them out with the pommel of her blade. Eliander comes up and announces that Leta is saved while the troops restrain the unconcious vampire spawn. The party then begins to plan their next move, hoping to interrogate the vampire spawn.
While they are planning, however, one of Kiara's rangers enters. She salutes her commanding officer, and informs her that they have completed their task of staking out Lankus Kurrid's bar and home. Apparently, he just fell asleep and didn't seem to do anything suspicious at all today. Right afterwards, while a Guardsman approaches Captain Fireborn and delivers a message from Lt. Johnny: no activity has been noted at Crabber's Cove. Clearly, the brotherhood is aware of the empire's activities in town and have gone to ground.
With this in mind they decide to dismiss the elemental, keep the soldiers (and one of Keledek's familiars named Beelzebulb Junior, aka BJ) at Crabber's Cove, and transport vampires to the barracks. While a contingent of soldiers stand guard over the vampires Keledek, Delmirev, Shadowbreaker, and Fireborn are going to wake and interrogate Kurrid, probable cause be damned.
As they head towards the Wicker Goat, the precession is halted by Warden Cortez Stonehorn. He looks to them solemnly and announces, "Captain Fireborn, I'm afraid you're under arrest for the murder of Tomas Primewater."
Eliander is astounded and demands to know the meaning of this, protesting that Tomas Primewater is supposed to be alive but ill and in Seaton! The Warden counters with a horrifying revelation: Tomas's body was found in the closet of Eliander's office at Hoolwatch Tower, complete with both mundane and magical herbs, salts, and other aromas to try and cover up the stench of decay.
They want to go with Eliander, but Stonehorn says that isn't necessary. Keledek then lists all the people who have died while imprisoned not just this past year, but the past several years, including inmates the guard hadn't publically released the details of. This scares and embarasses Stonehorn into allowing further guards to ensure Eliander's safety.
After the commanders further confer with one another and the Warden admits he doesn't want to do this, Eliander decides to go with Stonehorn to the jail. He knows he is innocent and that these charges won't stick. This is probably a trick to distract them; they must not let it.
Delmirev, Keledek, and Shadowbreaker then decide to split their forces. Delmirev and Keledek will take a soldier to interrogate Kurrid, while Shadowbreaker and the rest of their forces go to guard the Vampire Spawn and investigate Captain Fireborn.
Delmirev, Keledek, a corporal arrive at the Wicker Goat shortly thereafter. Kurrid lives in the upper floor, with the ground floor used for the tavern. Keledek asks Delmirev if they should go in quietly or loudly, as the tavern townhouse is all locked up for the night. They decide that Keledek should sneak in and secure Kurrid, with Delmirev and the troops coming in a minute later to interrogate him.
The wizard casts Misty Step and teleports to the second floor through a window. Landing on his feet, he looks around. To his left is a staircase down. Before him is a doorway, and to his right is another doorway. He goes right first.
The rightmost door reveals a bedroom. There's a dresser adorned with medals and decor, a few maps on the walls, and a suit of armor displayed proudly. A glass of water rests on a nightstand, next to which is a bed. Under the covers, sound asleep, and illuminated by a sliver of moonlight is none other than Lankus Kurrid.
Keledek closes the door quietly to investigate the other room. The second door opens to an officer. Across the room is a desk with several ledgers, recipies, and reports scattered about. An old campaign poster is peeling off the wall, and a handful more maps, books, and historical documents sit on the walls ans shelves.
Keledek returns to Kurrid's bedroom, the seven foot tall man towering over the sleeping bartender. He then loudly casts the Light spell right in Lankus's face, roughly awaking the man. Kurrid is caught off guard, but Keledek's attempts to indimidate him don't work; he recognized Keledek's voice immediately. Lankus asks what The Unspoken wants and why he blinded him, and Keledek asks what he knows of the Brotherhood of Keraptis.
By now, Talon Delmirev and the corporal have arrived upstairs. Entering, they see Kurrid reach for the glass of water. To spite the interogatee, Keledek grabs the water first and drinks it in one gulp. Unforutnately, the water was poisoned, and Keledek immediately begins sputtering as the poison starts working its way through his system. Delmirev, seeing that Kurrid just tried to kill himself rather than submit to questioning, immediately casts Zone of Truth. Both Lankus Kurrid and Keledek the Unspoken fail.
They ask again what Lankus Kurrid knows of the Brotherhood of Keraptis. He dodges the question, appealing first to the Corporal, a former comrade in arms. The corporal dismisses his appeals to character and states that this is protocol. Mr. Kurrid then demands to know what he has been accused of that warrants this level of scrutiny and force, which yeilds only stonewalling and a damning question: what was worth dying to keep secret?
Seeing that he's been cornered, Lankus starts talking. In a mad ramble, he explains that the Brotherhood of Keraptis know that the dwarves took over Keraptis's human empire, which they believe spanned as far as the Hold of the Sea Princes at its height. The dwarves replaced a glorious human magogcracy with a theocratic monarchy. He loves the Keoish people (read: keoish humans), and belives in a mythic past stemming from Keraptis the Wizard. He appeals to the humanity of the three of them, outright stating that the Jan Pana are nothing but spirits who need to go back to the realm they came from. Skerrin told him the truth when he was told the theories and words of a man known only as "M", who was wrongfully imprisoned after being a higher up in the empire due to their restrictive laws on magic (read: laws against abuses of magical power) but is now free. The archaeological record in the area, according to Kurrid, supports these theories due to the presence of stonework that he believes the Jan Pana were simply too stupid to have created themselves.
When his appeals to his interagators to take up his cause fail, he reverts to putting them down. The corporal, he says, is a dwarf-loving bootlicker. Keledek is nothing but a foreigner, and Delmirev? Delmirev is a half-breed dragonborn. Enraged, Keledek demands to know if Lankus Kurrid can even cast spells if he believes in magocracy. Kurrid says he can, and attempts to cast Misty Step to escape, but Keledek casts Counterspell. Lankus is quickly detained and taken to the jail by Delmirev and the Corporal. As Keledek is out of spell points, he opts to instead return to his tower to rest.
As this transpires, Kiara heads to Hoolwatch Tower to investigate the body. Jewlery and clothing confirm that it is Tomas, and given the state of decomposition he has clearly been dead for nearly the whole time he was missing. There are indeed both mundane supplies to try and cover the scent, and evidence of Prestidigitation being used to not only clean the sack his remains are in, but also deal with the smell as well.
Forntunately for Fireborn, that's where the evidence starts to become more complicated. The body clealry hasn't been in the closet long: it's atop pristine notes dated earlier that week, and there's no evidence of spills or other disturbances. Furthermore, the door was locked when the janitor opened it, and there's no clues at the house and the stairs. Only the janitor and the Captain have keys to the room, and both have alibis for where they were when the body must've been placed in the closet.
Given this, and what Maria told Kiara, Castellon Shadowbreaker thinks that this was planted by the brotherhood in a sloppy and desperate attempt to frame Eliander. It's just too convinient. By now, the others are back at the barracks, and questioning of the prisoners can begin.
After using Zone of Truth, it is clear that neither the janitor nor Captain Fireborn killed or moved Tomas's body. That said, they have others to interrogate.
Lankus Kurrid cannot confirm the identities of anybody else in the brotherhood beyond Skerrin Wavechaser, Jenaro Cauce, and a compatriat who died during the war. Questioning the members of Primewater's cook staff elminate all but the littlefolk woman Feliza. Eventually, they pry out of her that she was once said human woman who fought alongside Mr. Kurrid, but that what Lankus had left out was that she had been brought to Skerrin for ressurection. In turn, Mr. Wavechaser brought her to the wizard M, who had a magic cauldron that used the Reincarnate spell. This, however, brought her back as a Littlefolk. She was then pressed into repartmiento labor, which she believes was above her station. Due to her resentment towards the Jan Pana, and thankfullness for M, she joined the Brotherhood and they manuevered her into the service of the Primewaters, where she served as a useful informant. She also confirms that while she doesn't know the identity of M, Man on the Inside, or the unnamed thenth member, she has a rough idea of who Manos, Ojos, and Orejas are: they have to be working class humans. Ojos and Orejas probably either work for or frequent the other two bars, as they see and hear a great deal of infromation both mundane and criminal. Manos, meanwhile, is likely one of the mercenaries employed by Ingo the Drover.
This leads the commanders to realize that the woman they saved and have been debriefing, Leta, might be a brotherhood informant. Curious as to why she was spared by Xolec, who could have recognized her voice from Crabber's Cove, they question her. She dodges the questions and answers in half truths, but eventually they confirm that she is indeed the brotherhood operative Orejas. She joined because she wanted a better life for herself. She is able to identify Manos and Ojos. Manos is named Anthon, and he worked for Ingo the Drover as a mercenary. Ojos, meanwhile, is a person named Suelęśµ. Xe are an information broker who frequents the Empty Net. Unfortuantely, when guards are sent to arrest the two, both have fled and their houses have been cleared out; they skipped town together, or otherwise went to some hiding place.
The identities of Man on the Inside and the unnamed tenth member have yet to be revealed, but for now the Talon and Castellon have their work cut out for them keeping their many prisoners secure, healing the Rists and three of their clients to Dhampirs, and reinforcing both Saltmarsh and Seaton before the Fleet of Monmurg arrives the next day. The situation is dire, and all hope rests on Talon Co'oquilan Mystan, Sir Virion Sylvenne, Hunter Bubbles, Seklyn/Selina, and the crew of the Sea Ghost to quickly retrieve the weapons from White Plume Mountain on the Obsidian Isles....
Missions/Quests Completed
- Stop Xolec the Vampire and heal his victims
- Arrest more members of the Brotherhood of Keraptis
- Prove Eliander Fireborn's innocence
Character(s) interacted with
- Xolec
- James Rist
- Captain Eliander Fireborn
- Warden Cortez Stonehorn
- Lankus Kurrid
- Leta
- Feliza
