Chapter 4: Hunting a Killer
The group visited the Constabulary to find information about the serial killer bounty, where they encountered a tiefling ranger named Namira who was also on the job. After finding nothing of value from the constables save the killer's victims being from the slums, they departed together across the city.
On the way to the slums, they encountered a group of people gathered around someone preaching about Tiamat being the rightful goddess of Sydonia and having given mankind the gift of magic. As he called for open rebellion against the church (and mentioned "shedding their skins" and accepting Tiamat's gift), the crowd became angry and rowdy and the constables arrived. The preacher and his guards quickly fled the scene, but Namira caught a glimpse of a red scaly tail from beneath their robes.
After speaking with residents of the slums, the group discovered that the victims had been skinned, deboned and scalped before being dumped in the slums. The killer was targeting young and attractive men and women with clear skin and good hair. After some time interviewing the families of the victims, the group decided to explore an abandoned building and discovered 2 more victims. On one of the corpses, they found a small mechanical toy horse. Thrain identified it as complex artifice, but could not recognize the maker.
After a visit to the craft district, they discovered the toy was from an old abandoned toy shop in the district. They tracked it down and, after Dox picked the lock, they entered. The shop was in disrepair, with broken shelves, tables, crates and barrels everywhere. Old toys lined the shelves and floors, but as they delved further they were accosted by a trio of animated dolls on tricycles with sharp silver needles in their hands. Human skin had been grafted onto them, and the hair was likely human as well. The dolls attacked the group, and eventually managed to prick Thrain with a needle. His consciousness was swapped with the thing, and as it posessed Thrain he was made to attack his allies as the doll lay lifeless. They dispatched the other two dolls (with Namira and her twin axes dealing the most damage to them), and Rasper used their magic to force Thrain to laugh uncontrollably (his laugh was that of a small girl). After failing to pierce him with the needle again, they destroyed the remaining lifeless doll and Thrain lost consciousness. After failing to wake him by conventional means, they pricked him with the doll's needle again and he awoke.
As they explored the shop, they encountered a pair of mechanical hawks (as well as another doll) that attacked them and viciously maimed Thrain's face. After dispatching these constructs, they delved into the basement. After disarming a trap on the last step, they discovered a table with a half-flayed corpse. As they approached it, the corpse rose up as a zombie while the skin of 3 victims crawled out from barrels and attacked them. These boneless monsters nearly slew Rasper when one of them enveloped them and began suffocating the defenseless bard. Namira, Dox and Thrain finished off the remaining boneless creatures and the zombie and thrain healed Rasper's wounds. After investigating the room, they found several instruments and knives used to skin, debone and remove hair from corpses. The killer seemed to be making animated constructs from these materials.
Back upstairs, they ventured deeper into the shop and avoided what appeared to be a scarecrow before moving upstairs (but not before disarming another trap in the stairs). On the second floor, they found the killer's workshop. The killer was accompanied by an animated doll and a suit of animated armor covered in human skin. He sent his minions after the group while firing a pistol at them from afar. Before long, Rasper incapacitated him with their magic while Namira, Dox and Thrain dealt with the constructs. Dox was pricked by a needle, but Namira managed to slay the doll with a well-placed shot of her longbow before he could be posessed.
With the constructs destroyed and the killer still incapacitated, Dox tied him up and they began interrogating him. He revealed little but madness, and Dox discovered a magical pan flute on him that he used to help capture his victims. They knocked him unconscious, gathered his journals and notes and left to bring him to the constabulary. According to his journals, he had blended necromantic magic with artifice to create his minions from people. After speaking to the chief inspector, they were rewarded with 600 gold pieces for returning the killer alive. They returned to the riverstone tavern for a well-earned drink and meal, where the group discussed what had brought them to Dragonwatch in the first place (for the first time since meeting on the train job).
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