8. Lost souls

At the cave, Vilras and Nox were assaulted by bandits in black cloaks, two children, and one adult, resulting in Nox being knocked out due to some lucky hits from the bandit leader. However, utilizing Vilras’ acid breath and spear the attackers were quickly subdued.
Back at the Scream House, Wynnstan and Sefris blockaded their room while freeing the tortured captives, including Jacks and his daughter. However, Jacks revealed to them that he had never met them before and they had been tricked by someone else instead. Focusing on escaping first, they hauled the captives up and out of the vile basement. During that lengthy progress, a grotesque monster started breaking through the barricade. It was a floating ball-shape, with a big, glazed over white eye above a big toothy maw. Small spines covered the body between tentacles, ending in similarly foggy white orbs.
Wynnstan used the argument of ‘money’ to hire a cart to carry the captives to the cave, but some bandits spotted them as soon as they started to leave, assuming easy prey. A quick but convincing illusion of the executioner produced by Sefris spooked them away long enough to ensure an escape. They arrived at the cave with the escapees in tow, offering them a place to stay for the night and some clothes to stay warm. Haunted by their memories, they often woke up screaming and mumbling about a “Two-Faced Monster” who seemed to be behind the torture. The next day the party had some back and forth about what to do with the ten escapees and themselves. They decided that returning to the City of Gold was too risky and went to the Stone City instead to drop off the escapees and check on Jacks’ warehouse before traveling further to the Mud City, a place of many outlaws where they could remain hidden. After a day of travel by foot, the group arrived at the Stone City to find the warehouse completely empty.