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[5E] The Age of Worms - Solid Snake's Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="SolidSnake_01" data-source="post: 7319669" data-attributes="member: 63254"><p><strong><u>Journal of Melinde Vereen - Entry II</u></strong></p><p></p><p><em>I think I last left off while we were talking with Coucilman Thran…</em></p><p></p><p>Our discussion became something of a question and answer session for a brief time before we were dismissed. I asked about replacing Loris (the Arena’s master), and the Councilman had no specific plans for that.</p><p></p><p>I asked about the Serial Killer in the Lower Ward, and Mr. Chozik said he had heard of someone or something called the “Lantern Man,” which was thusly named because the rumor was that a person would see an eerie green lantern before someone was killed.</p><p></p><p>We did learn that the Champions Games would entail a group dinner before the actual event, held at an undisclosed location, a tour of the Arena and the catacombs/living quarters below the event venue, and an assignment of living spaces in the catacombs.</p><p></p><p>Etona was fairly adamant that she would not want to participate in the Champions Games and let Councilman Chozik know this fact before we left. He stated that most teams had a minimum of 3 members and a maximum of eight.</p><p></p><p>After finishing our meal of duck and pudding, we made our way out the front gate. No carriage ride back, which seemed surprising if the Councilman and Elgios wanted to remain secret acquaintances or ours. Needless to say, I was hungry to continue our investigation of the murders in the Foreign quarter by the assassin who had killed Svans, the art dealer/former Circus of Peace performer.</p><p></p><p>My next stop was the Baker’s shop near the Crooked House. We made our way inside in the mid afternoon, the shop was still busy but not overwhelming. The head baker was Kroga, a surly dark-haired, scarred man with a bull-ring nose piercing. He had a personality to match his face. I decided to play it safe and actually buy something to get my information. Etona is hosting a party for a group of the poor in 3 days, and she’s going to need some food. Cakes seemed like a reasonable choice. </p><p></p><p>After Etona explained her design, 7-8 cakes that were frosted in silver to look like a crescent moon, Kroga seemed to be more willing to talk. We were really there to see if he could identify the flour found at the scene of the crime. Etona presented the flour from the crime scene, and Kroga nearly tossed his proverbial cookies. Apparently, he is some kind of flour guru or something. He went into a tirade about the flour we showed him, stating it was some kind of amalgam of poor ingredients possibly not even pure wheat flour.</p><p></p><p>Etona absorbed it all quite well. I think we all became experts after that little lesson with Kroga. Needless to say, Etona’s real shining moment was convincing Kroga to find the distributor of this particular flour for us, for a price. I ponied up the gold he requested for the cakes and the investigation of low-quality flour distribution. Etona seemed satisfied. Rey filled a bag with baked goods, and Riskhar looked perplexed at the entire shops contents. I don’t think he had any idea why a creature would take time to prepare food in such a way, or really, prepare food at all.</p><p></p><p>While walking back to the Crooked house, Etona started talking about Egan. In fact, she said something I had never heard. Apparently, the little rat was a legitimate devil-worshipper, an Asmadai with powers from the Nine Hells! It makes sense, given the nature of his fire magic, but to think… Etona assured me that he had purged himself of the devil-brand and forsaken the fire magic, but I was uneasy about it still.</p><p></p><p>At any rate, Etona was planning on going to the Silver Dragon Inn to tell the barkeep that she was leaving a message for the Asmadai. I nearly fell over when I heard this plan. At the very best, she would have been thrown out of the bar, possibly had the Watch called on her or been arrested. It’s well known that the Asmadai have been active in the City, but always in secret, and true-branded devil-worshippers are put to death. I had to convince her that such a plan was foolish.</p><p></p><p>It seems that she was planning on contacting someone who Rishkar had maimed (taken his hand off) in order to fulfill Egan’s monetary debt to the Asmadai. Apparently, they had something from the Whispering Cairn that they wanted to trade. My suggestion was this: we go ask someone at the Watch if they have anyone being held on suspected Devil Worship who is going to be released in the next couple days, give that person the message and let them deliver it. After some discussion, Etona finally agreed.</p><p></p><p>I made a stop at the Middle Gate to pass my message to Viddick. He said there was a man who was being held for using devil-magic to predict dice games at the Red Dragon Inn who could take the message back to any real Asmadai, if they existed. Viddick also confirmed that the threat in the lower Ward was known as the “lantern man.” Our needs quickly met, we headed back to the Crooked House.</p><p></p><p>Back at the slightly-off-kilter Inn, we returned to an evening of chaos. The cook had left for the day earlier and apparently never came back for the evening dinner shift. Borgo was missing. Etona immediately took up work in the kitchen, making some dishes for hungry customers while Mr. Graff’s wife, Sarfina did her best to stay out of the way.</p><p></p><p>Rey, Rishkar and I excused ourselves to go check on Borgo. The cook lived only a block away, and the evening air was starting to settle with smoke from fireplaces. The humid breeze that portends rain only added to the muggy evening. When we arrived, there was no answer at the front door. Rey scaled the side wall of the 2nd floor apartment to find the window open and, after entering, Borgo’s dead body in his main room. His throat slit and a patch of skin missing from his chest (albeit a different size and location from Svans).</p><p> </p><p>Rishkar’s keen scent found a small dusting of flour by the window sill and evidence that a skilled thief had picked the window lock from outside. Our investigation took us downstairs to the neighboring apartment. A balding older man appeared in modest priestly garb of Pelor. He introduced himself was Loffer.</p><p></p><p>Having two incidences on our hands, we had more questions for him, and he produced some helpful information. Apparently, he heard some commotion upstairs a couple hours ago but thought it was Borgo doing a dwarven dance of some sort. That tidbit wasn’t useful, but he was able to link the killings.</p><p></p><p>He said that Borgo and Svans were performers together in something called the Peace Circus. He also knew a bit about the history of the Peace Circus. Apparently, they were successful until a few years back when some people broke into their group’s compound and tried to free a bunch of animals. The animals went crazy and some innocent people died and others were hurt. Arena fighters subdued some of the creatures, and only a few escaped, but the circus fell apart quickly after that, and the various performers were scattered in the Foreign Quarter, taking odd jobs. The others included Coralina (the elf who performs at the Crooked House) and her Husband Rocktar (a wrestler) and Coralina’s musician (a half-orc who works at the Crooked House part-time).</p><p></p><p>Such a wealth of information was welcome. Loffer asked to be allowed to say something at Borgo’s funeral before we called the Watch to come document the crime scene, and we felt that such a rite would be well-accepted. The usual Watch paperwork and negotiating an explanation for Rey’s unorthodox tactics ended with us being late for dinner and quite hungry when we made it back to Etona’s meal of Vegetable stew and potato crisps.</p><p></p><p>That night, I assume Etona went to speak to more poor folk at the docks because she smelled of fish and mud in the morning at breakfast. </p><p> </p><p>Speaking of breakfast, the night went well, but I was awake only a half an hour before more chaos erupted in the Crooked House. Etona was planning on making breakfast with Mrs. Graff when the poor woman started screaming from the cellar. </p><p></p><p>We all rushed down to have a look, expecting a large rat or spider. Sadly we found a scene of another murder. The half-orc custodian/musician, another member of the Peace Circus was lying in his blood on the floor of the cellar, hacked to death with a common wood axe. A quick inspection showed that another, not identical, strip of flesh had been removed from this poor man’s chest as well. It looked like we had a pattern on our hands.</p><p></p><p>Rey discovered a hand-print with only 3 fingers on the back of the cellar door. The print was covered in blood. Our only 3-fingered acquaintance was Lucian, the drunkard war veteran who practically lived a the bar in the Crooked House. A quick discussion with Mina, Mr. Graff’s daughter, led us to believe that Lucian left around the second bell of the morning, drunk, and had not been back. No one knew where Lucian stayed at night, but it seemed like the consensus thought he slept outside.</p><p></p><p>This killing was different from the others, clearly not as stealthy, more sloppy and possibly more rushed. It seemed our killer was changing strategy, which meant we needed to find them soon. Also, Lucian, though an unlikely suspect, was now a serious person of interest.</p><p></p><p>A quick discussion led us to an urgent departure and a hasty trip to Coralina’s apartment. When we arrived, we were greeted by Rocktar, a large muscle-bound, shirtless man with short gold hair and a crooked grin. He, apparently, is the husband of Coralina. It turned out Coralina was in the apartment as well, though she looked a bit uneasy around Rocktar. </p><p></p><p>We explained the killings and that Lucian was a top suspect currently. Rocktar nearly took off to the Crooked House when he heard that. Rey, Rishkar and I decided it was best to accompany him back to the Inn while Etona escorted Coralina out to the temple of Sehanine to ask her some questions.</p><p></p><p>At the Crooked House, Rishar and I waited inside with Rocktar. The lizardman and the muscle-bound human seemed to be satisfied by throwing each other to the ground repeatedly in a test of combat prowess, though I think Rishkar was not impressed. Wrestling, unless it’s arm wrestling, has never been interesting to me. </p><p></p><p>Outside, Rey intercepted Lucian, who was still quite drunk. I came out when he arrived, and Rishkar kept Rocktar busy inside. After invoking my holy symbol to create a zone of truth, I questioned Lucian. The poor man thought Rey was looking for a date. He answered truthfully, and hadn’t been back to the Crooked House since he left when the bar closed. So, he wasn’t a suspect after all. Rey also pointed out that Lucian’s 3-fingered hand was much larger than the one on the back of the cellar door. Either we had the wrong three-fingered man, or we were dealing with a small doppelganger. I was starting to seriously consider Etona’s theory about changelings stealing Phreet.</p><p></p><p>We passed a tankard to Lucian and sent him on his way. Once Rocktar’s initial anger cleared, we explained that Lucian wasn’t the suspect and that we needed to do more investigation to find the culprit. Rocktar agreed to return peacefully to his apartment and wait for us to return.</p><p></p><p>Once again, we called the Watch, and soon the Crooked House was being canvassed as usual.</p><p></p><p>Not wasting a moment, Rey, Rishkar and I swiftly walked to the outdoor stones of the Temple of Sehanine.</p><p></p><p>Meanwhile, at the temple, Etona had talked to Coralina, gathering information about the eventual collapse of the Peace Circus after a failed exhibition with reptilian raptors at a small party. She learned that Coralina was having a relationship with Volin the former Beastmaster of the Circus behind Rocktar’s back. Also, she learned that Coralina would prefer to be engaged with Volin over Rocktar. </p><p></p><p>The most important information from Coralina was something she witnessed while staying the night with Volin. She recounted a story of a white-haired, white-eyed humanoid scaling the wall to Borgo’s home. She was too afraid to call out for help, but wasn’t sure what she could do. Essentially, she kept it to herself, not wanting to worry, but after Etona had explained the series of murders, she is sure that this thing was involved. </p><p> </p><p>Once I returned, we shared the information about Lucian with Etona, and she shared what she had gained from Coralina. The young, elf, performer seemed uncomfortable about talking wth Rocktar present, so we were glad to have the privacy of the temple.</p><p></p><p>We quickly devised a plan. We would send Coralina and Volin out of town for a week or two, spending our gold to secure an Able Carter coach and Inn somewhere South or East of town, more than 20 leagues, at least. Then, we would invoke Rocktar’s sense of physical superiority, and general greed, by asking him to stay at his apartment, specifically staying indoors for a couple days to see if we could use him as bait to lure out the assassin.</p><p></p><p>Coralina agreed. </p><p></p><p>First, we went to see Volin, a handsome, middle-aged human with strands of grey in his hair and an overconfident air. He thinks of himself a quite a swordsman, though he looked more like an amateur with a knack for animals to me. Needless to say, he verified everything Coralina had said (while my magical Zone of Truth) and agreed to our plan.</p><p></p><p>Coralina returned with us, but without Volin, to encourage Rocktar to act as our hero to lure out the assassin. The large muscled man quickly agreed when he heard that there was a 50 gp reward.</p><p></p><p>After a quick goodbye, we put our stake-out into action. Rey and Rishkar remained on the streets watching the house while I ferried food to Etona and Rocktar, who stayed indoors. Rocktar rescheduled all his wrestling lessons for two days, and all we had to do was wait. Etona and Rey set a magical trap on the only window to the apartment, something that would cast a moon-like shadow outside to alert Rey or Rishkar and possibly signal that Sehanine was watching the household. Etona seemed intent on meeting the assassin first. She hopes to parley. Maybe she knows something about changelings. Maybe not.</p><p></p><p>That evening, it began to rain. I brought food to the crew at lunch and dinner, but nothing had happened either time. I decided to put up an advertisement for a Wizard or Mage for the Champions Games at the Crooked House. Maybe I can get some interest while they do the stakeout. We will need someone to cover for Etona.</p><p></p><p>What I didn’t know was what was going on at Rocktar’s place. Apparently the white-haired humanoid was there, setting off the magical trap just as we had planned.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="SolidSnake_01, post: 7319669, member: 63254"] [B][U]Journal of Melinde Vereen - Entry II[/U][/B] [I]I think I last left off while we were talking with Coucilman Thran…[/I] Our discussion became something of a question and answer session for a brief time before we were dismissed. I asked about replacing Loris (the Arena’s master), and the Councilman had no specific plans for that. I asked about the Serial Killer in the Lower Ward, and Mr. Chozik said he had heard of someone or something called the “Lantern Man,” which was thusly named because the rumor was that a person would see an eerie green lantern before someone was killed. We did learn that the Champions Games would entail a group dinner before the actual event, held at an undisclosed location, a tour of the Arena and the catacombs/living quarters below the event venue, and an assignment of living spaces in the catacombs. Etona was fairly adamant that she would not want to participate in the Champions Games and let Councilman Chozik know this fact before we left. He stated that most teams had a minimum of 3 members and a maximum of eight. After finishing our meal of duck and pudding, we made our way out the front gate. No carriage ride back, which seemed surprising if the Councilman and Elgios wanted to remain secret acquaintances or ours. Needless to say, I was hungry to continue our investigation of the murders in the Foreign quarter by the assassin who had killed Svans, the art dealer/former Circus of Peace performer. My next stop was the Baker’s shop near the Crooked House. We made our way inside in the mid afternoon, the shop was still busy but not overwhelming. The head baker was Kroga, a surly dark-haired, scarred man with a bull-ring nose piercing. He had a personality to match his face. I decided to play it safe and actually buy something to get my information. Etona is hosting a party for a group of the poor in 3 days, and she’s going to need some food. Cakes seemed like a reasonable choice. After Etona explained her design, 7-8 cakes that were frosted in silver to look like a crescent moon, Kroga seemed to be more willing to talk. We were really there to see if he could identify the flour found at the scene of the crime. Etona presented the flour from the crime scene, and Kroga nearly tossed his proverbial cookies. Apparently, he is some kind of flour guru or something. He went into a tirade about the flour we showed him, stating it was some kind of amalgam of poor ingredients possibly not even pure wheat flour. Etona absorbed it all quite well. I think we all became experts after that little lesson with Kroga. Needless to say, Etona’s real shining moment was convincing Kroga to find the distributor of this particular flour for us, for a price. I ponied up the gold he requested for the cakes and the investigation of low-quality flour distribution. Etona seemed satisfied. Rey filled a bag with baked goods, and Riskhar looked perplexed at the entire shops contents. I don’t think he had any idea why a creature would take time to prepare food in such a way, or really, prepare food at all. While walking back to the Crooked house, Etona started talking about Egan. In fact, she said something I had never heard. Apparently, the little rat was a legitimate devil-worshipper, an Asmadai with powers from the Nine Hells! It makes sense, given the nature of his fire magic, but to think… Etona assured me that he had purged himself of the devil-brand and forsaken the fire magic, but I was uneasy about it still. At any rate, Etona was planning on going to the Silver Dragon Inn to tell the barkeep that she was leaving a message for the Asmadai. I nearly fell over when I heard this plan. At the very best, she would have been thrown out of the bar, possibly had the Watch called on her or been arrested. It’s well known that the Asmadai have been active in the City, but always in secret, and true-branded devil-worshippers are put to death. I had to convince her that such a plan was foolish. It seems that she was planning on contacting someone who Rishkar had maimed (taken his hand off) in order to fulfill Egan’s monetary debt to the Asmadai. Apparently, they had something from the Whispering Cairn that they wanted to trade. My suggestion was this: we go ask someone at the Watch if they have anyone being held on suspected Devil Worship who is going to be released in the next couple days, give that person the message and let them deliver it. After some discussion, Etona finally agreed. I made a stop at the Middle Gate to pass my message to Viddick. He said there was a man who was being held for using devil-magic to predict dice games at the Red Dragon Inn who could take the message back to any real Asmadai, if they existed. Viddick also confirmed that the threat in the lower Ward was known as the “lantern man.” Our needs quickly met, we headed back to the Crooked House. Back at the slightly-off-kilter Inn, we returned to an evening of chaos. The cook had left for the day earlier and apparently never came back for the evening dinner shift. Borgo was missing. Etona immediately took up work in the kitchen, making some dishes for hungry customers while Mr. Graff’s wife, Sarfina did her best to stay out of the way. Rey, Rishkar and I excused ourselves to go check on Borgo. The cook lived only a block away, and the evening air was starting to settle with smoke from fireplaces. The humid breeze that portends rain only added to the muggy evening. When we arrived, there was no answer at the front door. Rey scaled the side wall of the 2nd floor apartment to find the window open and, after entering, Borgo’s dead body in his main room. His throat slit and a patch of skin missing from his chest (albeit a different size and location from Svans). Rishkar’s keen scent found a small dusting of flour by the window sill and evidence that a skilled thief had picked the window lock from outside. Our investigation took us downstairs to the neighboring apartment. A balding older man appeared in modest priestly garb of Pelor. He introduced himself was Loffer. Having two incidences on our hands, we had more questions for him, and he produced some helpful information. Apparently, he heard some commotion upstairs a couple hours ago but thought it was Borgo doing a dwarven dance of some sort. That tidbit wasn’t useful, but he was able to link the killings. He said that Borgo and Svans were performers together in something called the Peace Circus. He also knew a bit about the history of the Peace Circus. Apparently, they were successful until a few years back when some people broke into their group’s compound and tried to free a bunch of animals. The animals went crazy and some innocent people died and others were hurt. Arena fighters subdued some of the creatures, and only a few escaped, but the circus fell apart quickly after that, and the various performers were scattered in the Foreign Quarter, taking odd jobs. The others included Coralina (the elf who performs at the Crooked House) and her Husband Rocktar (a wrestler) and Coralina’s musician (a half-orc who works at the Crooked House part-time). Such a wealth of information was welcome. Loffer asked to be allowed to say something at Borgo’s funeral before we called the Watch to come document the crime scene, and we felt that such a rite would be well-accepted. The usual Watch paperwork and negotiating an explanation for Rey’s unorthodox tactics ended with us being late for dinner and quite hungry when we made it back to Etona’s meal of Vegetable stew and potato crisps. That night, I assume Etona went to speak to more poor folk at the docks because she smelled of fish and mud in the morning at breakfast. Speaking of breakfast, the night went well, but I was awake only a half an hour before more chaos erupted in the Crooked House. Etona was planning on making breakfast with Mrs. Graff when the poor woman started screaming from the cellar. We all rushed down to have a look, expecting a large rat or spider. Sadly we found a scene of another murder. The half-orc custodian/musician, another member of the Peace Circus was lying in his blood on the floor of the cellar, hacked to death with a common wood axe. A quick inspection showed that another, not identical, strip of flesh had been removed from this poor man’s chest as well. It looked like we had a pattern on our hands. Rey discovered a hand-print with only 3 fingers on the back of the cellar door. The print was covered in blood. Our only 3-fingered acquaintance was Lucian, the drunkard war veteran who practically lived a the bar in the Crooked House. A quick discussion with Mina, Mr. Graff’s daughter, led us to believe that Lucian left around the second bell of the morning, drunk, and had not been back. No one knew where Lucian stayed at night, but it seemed like the consensus thought he slept outside. This killing was different from the others, clearly not as stealthy, more sloppy and possibly more rushed. It seemed our killer was changing strategy, which meant we needed to find them soon. Also, Lucian, though an unlikely suspect, was now a serious person of interest. A quick discussion led us to an urgent departure and a hasty trip to Coralina’s apartment. When we arrived, we were greeted by Rocktar, a large muscle-bound, shirtless man with short gold hair and a crooked grin. He, apparently, is the husband of Coralina. It turned out Coralina was in the apartment as well, though she looked a bit uneasy around Rocktar. We explained the killings and that Lucian was a top suspect currently. Rocktar nearly took off to the Crooked House when he heard that. Rey, Rishkar and I decided it was best to accompany him back to the Inn while Etona escorted Coralina out to the temple of Sehanine to ask her some questions. At the Crooked House, Rishar and I waited inside with Rocktar. The lizardman and the muscle-bound human seemed to be satisfied by throwing each other to the ground repeatedly in a test of combat prowess, though I think Rishkar was not impressed. Wrestling, unless it’s arm wrestling, has never been interesting to me. Outside, Rey intercepted Lucian, who was still quite drunk. I came out when he arrived, and Rishkar kept Rocktar busy inside. After invoking my holy symbol to create a zone of truth, I questioned Lucian. The poor man thought Rey was looking for a date. He answered truthfully, and hadn’t been back to the Crooked House since he left when the bar closed. So, he wasn’t a suspect after all. Rey also pointed out that Lucian’s 3-fingered hand was much larger than the one on the back of the cellar door. Either we had the wrong three-fingered man, or we were dealing with a small doppelganger. I was starting to seriously consider Etona’s theory about changelings stealing Phreet. We passed a tankard to Lucian and sent him on his way. Once Rocktar’s initial anger cleared, we explained that Lucian wasn’t the suspect and that we needed to do more investigation to find the culprit. Rocktar agreed to return peacefully to his apartment and wait for us to return. Once again, we called the Watch, and soon the Crooked House was being canvassed as usual. Not wasting a moment, Rey, Rishkar and I swiftly walked to the outdoor stones of the Temple of Sehanine. Meanwhile, at the temple, Etona had talked to Coralina, gathering information about the eventual collapse of the Peace Circus after a failed exhibition with reptilian raptors at a small party. She learned that Coralina was having a relationship with Volin the former Beastmaster of the Circus behind Rocktar’s back. Also, she learned that Coralina would prefer to be engaged with Volin over Rocktar. The most important information from Coralina was something she witnessed while staying the night with Volin. She recounted a story of a white-haired, white-eyed humanoid scaling the wall to Borgo’s home. She was too afraid to call out for help, but wasn’t sure what she could do. Essentially, she kept it to herself, not wanting to worry, but after Etona had explained the series of murders, she is sure that this thing was involved. Once I returned, we shared the information about Lucian with Etona, and she shared what she had gained from Coralina. The young, elf, performer seemed uncomfortable about talking wth Rocktar present, so we were glad to have the privacy of the temple. We quickly devised a plan. We would send Coralina and Volin out of town for a week or two, spending our gold to secure an Able Carter coach and Inn somewhere South or East of town, more than 20 leagues, at least. Then, we would invoke Rocktar’s sense of physical superiority, and general greed, by asking him to stay at his apartment, specifically staying indoors for a couple days to see if we could use him as bait to lure out the assassin. Coralina agreed. First, we went to see Volin, a handsome, middle-aged human with strands of grey in his hair and an overconfident air. He thinks of himself a quite a swordsman, though he looked more like an amateur with a knack for animals to me. Needless to say, he verified everything Coralina had said (while my magical Zone of Truth) and agreed to our plan. Coralina returned with us, but without Volin, to encourage Rocktar to act as our hero to lure out the assassin. The large muscled man quickly agreed when he heard that there was a 50 gp reward. After a quick goodbye, we put our stake-out into action. Rey and Rishkar remained on the streets watching the house while I ferried food to Etona and Rocktar, who stayed indoors. Rocktar rescheduled all his wrestling lessons for two days, and all we had to do was wait. Etona and Rey set a magical trap on the only window to the apartment, something that would cast a moon-like shadow outside to alert Rey or Rishkar and possibly signal that Sehanine was watching the household. Etona seemed intent on meeting the assassin first. She hopes to parley. Maybe she knows something about changelings. Maybe not. That evening, it began to rain. I brought food to the crew at lunch and dinner, but nothing had happened either time. I decided to put up an advertisement for a Wizard or Mage for the Champions Games at the Crooked House. Maybe I can get some interest while they do the stakeout. We will need someone to cover for Etona. What I didn’t know was what was going on at Rocktar’s place. Apparently the white-haired humanoid was there, setting off the magical trap just as we had planned. [/QUOTE]
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