Session 3: Murder Mystery and Rising Dead

General Summary

The Sleepy Bastard stood almost empty as Thomas Torkenmad, the cavalier of the order of the dragon, stood by the notice board looking for some work. With him was Jakkul; the tengu inquisitor of Sarenrae, Ska; the lizardfolk slayer, and Uphoa; a monk with the blood of a Genie in his veins. The group decides on a quest to look for some of their fellow adventurers. 
After setting out to a supposedly hidden tower north of the city, the party picks up the trail of the adventurers. It leads them to the aforementioned tower, where the party gets overwhelmed by rats. After slaughtering hordes upon hordes of rats they make it to the top where they find a mysterious figure who seems to be controlling the rats. Ska, who was fed up with the massive amounts of rats, quickly disposes of the figure. With the trail on the adventurers gone cold and their only witness lying dead on the ground, the party admits defeat and heads back to the city. 
The party barely has time to return to the tavern before they are interrupted by a messenger bearing an invitation for Thomas and Jakkul to the home of Count Astu, an elderly grippli noble living in the upper districts of Nova Aera. The party decides to go together and when evening comes they head out for the count's mansion. Well, there they are greeted by the count's butler Josef, a properly dressed halfling who welcomes them to the estate. He then leads to the dining room where the other guests are seated. In order from left to right, it was: Drakishk Sharpspear; a burly lizardfolk and the captain of the city guard, Sadia Torfina; a lean elven lady and the city's best doctor, Rusia Masumi; a mysterious catfolk woman with a dark past who now works for the mayor, Pastor Zuck; an albino tengu and the head preist of the temple of Sarenrae, Gothrad; a hobgoblin from Scraptown who has very active in trying to fix the poorest district in Nova Aera, and lastly Nan Soopugum; a poshly dressed female gnome who dabbles in magic.
After everyone is seated the count enters and welcomes everyone to his home. He then orders his servants to bring the food before telling everyone why he has summoned them. Apparently he is trying to create a network between influential residents of the city with the party representing the adventurers of the city. However, as everyone starts to eat the count suddenly freezes. He stands up and then drops dead in front of everyone. A murder has been committed. The party begins to investigate and after a while of discussing and weighing the option of killing all the suspects since they all had motive, they manage to find the answer. 
It was Nan, who after putting herself in some serious debt was offered a chance to rid herself of that debt by taking employment with the count. Nan who knew the count was a perverted freak that gladly screwed people over wanted none of it and figured if the count died right after she was employed she wouldn't have to serve him. The party gets a handsome reward from the city guard before returning to the tavern. 
After a while, they begin to look for some more work and find a notice about missing bodies from the graveyard by the temple of Sarenrae. On the behest of Jakkul the party heads for the temple where they meet up with Pastor Zuck again. He shows them where the bodies have disappeared from. They manage to pick up a trail that leads them to a cellar where they find a necromancer with a pack of ghouls who is trying to create a flesh golem. He offers them a good price on the golem once it is completed, but the party won't have any of it and attacks. During the fight, Jakkul gets bitten by a ghoul and infected with ghoul-fever. Fearing that he will turn into a ghoul the rest of the party put him down and burn his remains, before returning one man short to the tavern for even more adventures.

Rewards Granted

The Murder of Count Astu

• Quick Runners Shirt
• 500 gold

The Rising Dead

• Skeleton Arm (Holy Symbol)
• Ghoul Mask
• Robe of the Persuasive Speaker
• 300 gold

Campaign

Adventures of Nova Aera and Other One-Shots

Protagonists

Thomas Torkelmad

Human
10-Level Cavalier

Ska

Lizardfolk
10-Level Slayer

Jakkul

Tengu
10-Level Inquisitor

Report Date

16 Sep 2018

Primary Location

Nova Aera