Quillax keeps Lucia Scarnetti alive and delivers a healthy baby boy. Group returns to Magnimar, shopping, investigate two recent murders of wealthy & greedy persons, meet the Hell Knight Sir Jereth Rogare, defeat two Faceless Stalkers in Foxglove manor and learn of the 'Brotherhood of the Seven' and the Seven's Saw Mill.
Quillax's Account
Journal
After a troublesome labour, Lady Scarnetti gave birth to a healthy baby boy; both mother and child were doing very well when I left.
Upon our return to Magnimar, we heard of the death of Tolfas, a man who ran a gambling den frequented by the Mayor. It was rumoured that he was killed in a ritualistic manner.
While we were waiting for Clank to be repaired, we began to investigate the rumours. Speaking to the guard at Arvensaw Tower, the place I'm told crimes are reported, we were told that Commander Odenberg was very concerned as Tolfas was found on his dining room table with a zehedron carved into his chest. We were also told of the Merchant Caier 'the Miserly', who traded in silk and ivory. She was also found dead with the run carved into her chest.
The Mayor was so upset by the crimes and the lack of progress by the guard that he involved the local branch of Hellknights to investigate; we were told Sir Jareth Rogare was in charge of investigating.
We rounded up most of the party to go speak to that Hellknight at their Bastion while Jarrick decided to sit out the meeting. We left Sepheria in charge of verbally sparring with the Hellknight, given her training in the Courts she was best placed to get the most with giving away the least.
From him we found out that the servants were unaware of the murders happening until the bodies were found. There was no sign of forced entry but that doesn't rule out the locks being picked. The injuries appeared to be made by a war razor.
Whilst Sepheria was dancing through courtly speak with the Hellknight, Jarrick donned his scarf of disguise to keep an eye on Foxglove Manor. It appears to not have been lived in for some months, especially as the bottom windows were boarded up. He spoke to some neighbors who said that no one had been there for at least a year.
Having left the Hellknight Bastion, we bumped into Jarrick and planned to investigate the Foxglove TownHouse the following day after Clank had been repaired and Sepheria's sword had been completed. We planned to enter when the street quiets enough for us to slip inside unseen. As we have the keys, it is technically not breaking and entering and Aisha's spirit had told us there was something of importance within the house.
A touch of Major Illusion allowed us to spend the time figuring out which key we needed to enter (it turned out to be the Opal key), without drawing attention to ourselves. We stepped inside and much to our surprise, we came face to face with Aisha Foxglove. She called out for Aldan. Something seemed wrong with her face, like it had been painted on, and when Sepheria challenged her identity, the Foxgloves' faces seemed to melt off and we were faced with two aberrations: Faceless Stalkers.
Clank closed the door and held it shut while we fought. Each of the stalkers had a curved scythe-like blade covered with a green ichor that they dripped from their skin. It looked and smelled like something dangerous.
The fight, while in close quarters, quickly turned in our favour with minimal injuries on our side and death on the part of the Stalkers, one at Sepheria's blade and one at Jarrick's.
Notes on Faceless Stalkers for those who are not familiar:
- Aberrations able to mimic human faces in a Polymorph type of ability.
- They usually haunt desolate areas, like around Sandpoint.
- The hunt by luring travellers off the road or ambushing them.
- They are not normally found in cities - they don't like the crowds and while they can mimic human bodies, they don't understand the social niceties
::Supposition:: That someone set the Faceless Stalkers up in the house with Aldan's and Aisha's faces for a purpose. The aberrations had been in the house for about the same length of time that as Aldan (the real one) has been dead by our hands.
Once we were sure they were dead, we searched the house, looking for whatever Aisha knew was here. We found it in the fireplace - some coin and a container of important papers, including legal papers for the townhouse and manor, and a ledger that indicated that up until 3 months ago, when we believe Aldan had been transformed, he was paying for "Aisha's trip to Absolom" which considering it was 200gp weekly, delivered on Oathday to the sawmill on Kaiver's Islet, it was fairly obviously a payoff or bribe and was written in Aldan's hand.
Additionally, there is a note from a "Xenesha" who belongs to the Brotherhood of the Seven, to Aldan. She indicates that Aldan was harvesting Vorral's phage for them and that somewhere in the House was the answer to the ritual done to Aldan. She also states that they had compiled a list of victims for the Zehedron ritual and that the rune must be carved into the victim before death.
Just as we were going to investigate the backyard, Rogare approaches us. Over the course of the conversation, he mentioned that the Guards had found little over the course of their investigation but he and our group had already found so much more despite just starting. He infers that there may be someone within the Guard working against the investigation. The Lord Mayor had involved the Brotherhood due to the lack of progress by the Guard.
::Supposition:: The Brotherhood of the 7 have someone placed highly in the Guard to suppress the investigation by the Guard.
Further conversation reveals that the most powerful Lemashtu force he has heard of was 2 years ago. An elven priestess was involved with the cult, who were abducting people near Brewanwall. She killed 3 Hellknights for certain and the rest were hoped to be dead as alive would be a far worse fate. From what Rogare knew, the cult was no longer in that area but had moved South, towards the general direction of Magnimar but not near the city yet.
Rogare promises to share any more information with us and heads back towards his Bastion.
After some discussion, it is decided to quickly check out the sawmill. Moncey and I sweep around the building on silent wings, looking for clues, entrances, as well as a general layout. Neril follows behind to act as backup in case anything goes wrong while the others head back to Hidemarch Manor to await our return.
The sawmill appeared to be silent for the night as the wheels were stilled. There were some doubledoors leading into the side of the building (within a fenced courtyard) where wagons could deliver or pick up wood. There was a dovecote on top of the building with some messenger ravens and some papers on a spike as well as a trapdoor. A door on the other side of the building led down to the waterwheel level. There are no windows in the main body of the building.
Flying under the sawmill into the waterwheel level, we can see the mechanisms for the waterwheel to connect to the pistons along the southern wall that drive the sawblades. The levers which would stop the wheels in an emergency are rusted in place.
While I'm looking around, some people come in and start hooking up the wheels to the mechanisms to start them again. This is particularly bizarre as it's around 11 at night. No sawmills ever willingly run night shifts, its too dangerous as even with nightvision, it's easy to lose a hand or a life. And this is a sawmill that runs only periodically anyway, so why would they be sawing in the middle of the night.
I lead Moncey back to Neril and we all return to the Lodge to discuss our findings and plan how to continue.
Some other information that the others found in our absence is that the Mill has been called the 7 sawmill coloquilly as it is owned by 7 aristocrats and that in all the years since it was built (a little over 100), it has never changed hands.
At some point, We need to find out who the 7 aristocratic families are, and if there is a "Xenesha" amongst them.
[xp = 1000]
Non-Journal Extra Notes:
- Karzoug, Rune Lord of Greed
- Graydon Scarnetti's house (cousin to the Scarnetti we met), in the Alabaster district, not far from Hidemarch Manor and the Pathfinders' Lodge.
- Hellknights primarily fight against Chaos - they are rumoured to be in league with devils but they kill devils. They only ally with devils to fight against a bigger cause of Chaos. In order to join the Hellknights, you must have killed a devil in single combat. The "Bastion" or chapterhouse of the Hellknights is in the Naos district.
- Jareth Rogare, part of the Order of the Nail. Rumoured to have briefly wandered off with a lawful neutral paladin of Adabar by the name of Sayeen.
- Foxglove Townhouse is just outside the Alabaster district in the Naos district near the StarSilver Plaza. It is nearer to the Pathfinders' Lodge then the Hellknight's Bastion.
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