AAR: [6M] Another Murder Night in Sossanopa (2020-10-24 16:00 gmt)

[ChrisDDickey]

LFG: Another Murder Night in Sossanopa
GM: Chris D
Organized by: no one
Difficulty: 6M 4 or 5 players.
Time: 2020-010-24 @ 1600 gmt Saturday at noon Eastern.

A few weeks ago I wrote an adventure for the Murder Night in Sossanopa rumor, but when done realized the adventure as written did not make a very good quest for Mymbruie. So I wrote a different adventure and ran that. This is the original. Same rumor.

Rumor: viewtopic.php?f=58&t=2047
Rumor: There is something wrong in Sosanopa, murder most foul. Two people have been discovered murdered in the last week, one a prominent local merchant. These gruesome crimes have left the locals horrified and worried about who will be next. The crimes seem to be linked but the local guards can't find the common element and have thus far been unable to find any suspects.

The leadership of Sosanopa has asked for assistance from the local adepts in locating and bringing this murder to justice before more deaths.

[sigfriedmcwild]

Name: Elisen
Last played on: 2020-10-20
ECR: 6 (63105lp)
Discipline: Cavalryman 6 / Troubadour 5
Quote/Unique: Deliverance flies on silent wind
Notable Abilities: Zoak power! (and a last chance salve)
Downtime: Animal training step 14 (10 + karma), Item History 18 (rank 5; 10 + 2 karma), Research 18 (rank 5; 10 + 2 karma)

[Anoush]

Name: Bloodbeat II of Syrtis

ECR: 6
Last game played: Oct. 20
Discipline: Nethermancer 5
Quote: Tsch!  I hate birds!!
Unique/Notable Abilities: Experience Death, Frighten, Last Chance, Night’s Edge, Soul Armor, Spirit Talk, Summon Ally Spirits, Viewpoint
Downtime: n/a

[Icarus-Wolfswift]

Name: Icarus Wolfswift
Last played on: Keen on Keshof
ECR: 6
Discipline: Air Sailor 6 / Messenger R3
Quote/Unique: Back in the saddle again
Notable Abilities: I have forgotten

[bronzemountain]

Name: A'horangi Ha'hana Syrtis
ECL: 7
Discipline: Monk
Quote/Unique: "Respectfully, I must now punch you."
Notable Abilities: Very polite dinosaur. Fully Item History/Research a Journeyman TI in one week.
Downtime: Research 1/22 (+3 for 20sp), Item History 3/24
Last Game Played: 2020-10-20

[predajey]

Name: Vralino Hammer-Shield

Date of Last Game Played: Oct 15
ECR: 7
Discipline:

• Spear Master (Circle 6)
• Elementalist (Circle 2)

Unique: Spears, Spells, Surgery, and Socializing...somewhat. I also navigate and alchemate... in moderate.
Downtime:
Item History (Rank 5 ESR 16)
Alchemy (Skill Rank 1, ESR 8)

• Booster Potions

[ChrisDDickey]

AAR:

Player Rewards: 
Elisen: 7,500 lp, 650 sp, 3 tips.
Bloodbeat II of Syrtis: 7,500 lp, 650 sp, 3 tips.
Vralino Hammer-Shield: 7,500 lp, 650 sp, 3 tips.
A'horangi Ha'hana Syrtis: 7,500 lp, 650 sp, 3 tips.

Journal Bonus:  375 lp, 162.5 sp.
GM Rewards (Truck) 800 lp, 200 sp, 3 TIPs.

Downtime:
Elisen: Animal training step 14 (10 + karma), Item History 18 (rank 5; 10 + 2 karma), Research 18 (rank 5; 10 + 2 karma)
A'horangi Ha'hana Syrtis  Research 1/22 (+3 for 20sp), Item History 3/24
Vralino Hammer-Shield: Item History (Rank 5 ESR 16) Alchemy (Skill Rank 1, ESR Booster Potions

Further Information:
The PCs investigated a series of murders in which the heart and head of the victims were taken (and spleen, but that was just because one of cultists liked to collect spleens, they were not needed for the ritual), and then disrupted a foul ritual.

[predajey]

The following is a recollection from Vralino Hammer-Shield, a 15 year old Ork girl who grew up avoiding society. She and her companion Orfun have recently moved to Trayckid to run the infirmary and the orphanage. The text remains unaltered to maintain its authenticity (Certain terms and names written wrong to keep in character). It is written in Or'zet.

Tonight was another joyful evening of carousing and drinking, but this time, it was interrupted with a scream. In the past, a scream never meant much more than someone was having fun, but my buddies seemed to think otherwise. We went to the stable behind the tavern to discover a dead body was found. Rangi asked me to calm the stable maid, so we started talking about hot guys in Sosanopa. She seemed to think the stable boy was pretty decent, but then I started talking about a rather dashing elder mage Dalyor. I wonder what happened what happened to him? Anyways, she had a thing for dwarves, so that got me thinking, I don't really know a lot of dwarf adepts. There are plenty of dwarves in Throal, two of the ones I know are among the most prominent alchemists and enchanters in Throal. They're a bit old for me. Actually, I don't really find many dwarves attractive. They're so short, and some of them are pretty short tempered, which makes for a bad match with me. I'd piss them off all the time, but that's the complete opposite for the stable maid. Plus she was short, being a dwarf herself. Having the same occupation probably helps with finding chemistry or commonality or whatever they say relationships need. Actually, come to think of it, I haven't actually been in a relationship. I did hang out with Duouquirai for a bit, but I haven't seen him lately. Or maybe she's a her? I never actually figured out whether Duke was a guy or a girl. They're an elf like Dalyor. Maybe I should try seeing an elf? Jeez I'm just like my dad. I can't believe he hooked up with my mom. I wish we spent more time together, as a family. We used to be together when I was younger, but then Mom took me away and our family just got splintered after that. My mom's a bit of a bitch. Maybe I should avoid seeing elves? After Duke, there's Thorkell, but he seems a little on the old side. I'm not sure if he tolerates me or what, but he seems to be hesitant to go out adventuring with me. He's a troll, though. Oh, there was that new guy I've seen hanging around half naked most of the time. Jupiter, I think his name was? He writes for an underground newspaper. I'm glad I got a subscription while they're still cheap. That's where I get most of my news. I'm not sure my dad would approve of being with an elf who's known for being half naked all the time. Or some of the time. Or in public. But he seems like he'd be fun to be with. What was I talking about? Oh yeah, the dead body. I followed Rangi around while she did some investigating. Every now and then, she'd ask me to interrogate someone. Rather than use the preferred intimidation techniques, she asked me to be nice about it. Elisen took over a couple times, since I had no idea what to ask about. Elisen pissed off a couple of the victim's apprentices. Kind of odd being an apprentice to a wool and dye specialist, but he's probably been knocked out a lot less than I have. We bedded down for the night and decided to re-engage in the morning.

Today we started off by interrogating the apprentices, then we asked the guards about murders, disappearances, and the like. We ended up at a farm, where the new girl, Bloodbeat, did some weird necrophiliac voodoo to see what killed the ork. I saw some tracks and we followed them to the barn. I swear, I'm only helpful at the most random of times. In the barn, there was some movement upstairs, so we prepared for combat. Rangi knew where a couple of guys were, and Elisen's zoak seemed to recognize more upstairs. When Rangi went after one of the ones downstairs, she told Elisen to go upstairs. Another guy went after Rangi, so I went after him, then a guy went after the new girl Bloodbeat. Rangi headed for the stairs and I went to go help Bloodbeat, then I went unconscious and woke up back in the tavern. Apparently my help wasn't necessary after keeping Bloodbeat alive. Plus I got a new scar! This one covers one of my kidneys! I should really think about having a kid soon. My mom had me when she was about my age. Then again, it's a kid. I don't want any kids! They're nasty dirty disgusting food mooching little tykes that just absolutely look adorable when they're all helpless and taking massive dumps in the diapers that I don't want to change!!!

[Anoush]

Bloodbeat's Journal:

Sosonopa was usually a sleepy river town. The only excitement was on the wharf, as ships arrived and departed. But that day broke the rules.

I had met Elisen, the windling cavalryman, there, at the River’s Edge Tavern, for a pleasant dinner. He brought along a couple of his friends, A’horangi, a t’skrang monk, and Vralino, an ork swordmaster, Jarock’s daughter.

We were just ordering dessert when a scream rang out, coming from the back door. We raced over to see what was wrong. In the back courtyard we saw a screaming bar maid and a man, both pointing to the tack room door. Inside the tack room, we found the body of a dead dwarf and blood everywhere. The dwarf’s head had been severed and taken away, and his abdomen and been sliced open, and parts excised. No wonder the bar maid was screaming.

The dwarf was wearing good quality clothing, newish, made of fine fabrics. By the drying of the blood, we estimated that he’d been dead for no more than one hour, perhaps as little as a half hour. There were partial, smudged footprints in the blood. From that we could tell that there had been more than one attacker, probably several, and that some of them were a medium-sized humanoid (e.g., human, ork, elf), but no other details could be determined. The dwarf also sported a heavy signet ring on one finger, which we removed in the hopes of identifying him from that. No spirits were on hand.

The bar maid had calmed down by that time. So, Elisen chatted with her. He learned that the dead dwarf was a regular customer, Borjn Thews, a wool merchant whose shop was down the road. Earlier that day, he’d come to the tavern and left his pony with the stablehands.

We went back to the stable and looked over the pony. In the stall we found a saddle and tack, but no saddle bags. We also looked for a blood trail, but found none beyond the confines of the tack room; there were just too many tracks to follow. We did find some bloody towels in the corner, which we assumed that the murderers had used to wipe off their shoes.

I performed an Experience Death spell on Borjn. I experienced him walking into the stable, up to pony, then hearing a sound behind him, then feeling him turn around, and before he could catch more than a glimpse, he was being hit in the head, and falling unconscious, then dead. It took only two strikes to knock him dead. The glimpse seemed to include one or two human-sized people, but it wasn’t clear.

By this time the local sheriff and his troops had arrived. Along with a large gathering crowd. We handed over Borjn’s ring to the sheriff for safekeeping. Among the crowd’s chattering, we heard comments like, “Another one, another dead body.” Talking to some of the crowd, Elisen learned that an obsidiman traveler on his way to Sosonopa had also been killed, just on the outskirts of town. The traveler’s head, heart, and spleen had been taken. Quickly checking Borjn, we found the same missing organs.

I knew of no specific Nethermantic rituals that would use those parts in particular, but my knowledge of evil rituals was sadly lacking. I expected there were some such rituals.

Next we went to Borjn’s shop, a warehouse for wool fabric and a shop for dyeing fabric. Two people, Borjn’s staff we presumed, lived above and behind the shop. But it was already late in the evening. So it took quite a bit of knocking and pounding on the door before one of them answered. We’d obviously woken him from a sound sleep. We said we wanted to talk to him about Borjn’s business, so he told us to go away until the morning.

We returned to our inns and visited the shop first thing the next day. Elisen took the lead, starting with an apology for our disturbance the previous night. The man — Borjn’s journeyman — was shocked to hear that his master was dead. The other employee, a boy of about 12, an apprentice, was equally appalled. They reported that nothing unusual had happened at the business, no unexpected trends, no fierce rivalries. The only odd thing was that elves from the Blood Wood were now buying some of Borjn’s woolens, demanding that the products be delivered on the other side of the river.

Next we went to the docks to talk to the ferry workers, to try to learn more about the Blood Elves. They had no more details to give us, but one of them mentioned that two dead fishermen had been found about six days ago, on their drifting boat. One was a human male, and the other a t’skrang female.

By this time, a crowd had gathered, again. And someone else added that a local hunter, a troll, had gone missing te previous week, asking if he was going to turn up dead, too. Another added that an ork farmer’s cottage had burnt down not long before, and that the body had been badly burnt, but no head had been found.

Hmmm, that mean that one of five of the common Name-giver races — dwarf, human, t’skrang, troll, ork — had each been killed or was missing (and presumed dead). We began counting how many elves and windlings were resident in town, thinking that they’d be the next targets. Perhaps there was a foul ritual that needed body parts from each Namegiver race? How horrible!

Realizing that there were too many elves and windlings in town to protect them all, we decided to investigate the ork’s farm, only an hour outside of town, to see if we could learn more there. The cottage had been burned and parts of a burned ork body were found. Performing an Experience Death, I learned that the farmer had been mucking out the stable when he saw four figures — humans and orks by appearance — come in to the stable, along with a few flying creatures, about the size of windlings, but with tails, not legs. Between them all, they dragged the ork into the cottage, pressed an axe to his neck, and that was it, he was dead.

The barn was still standing and undamaged. Vralino followed some tracks from the stable to the cottage, and learned that the group came from the North, and after killing the farmer milled about, and then went to the barn. There were no tracks leading away from the barn.

We plotted our attack for a moment outside the barn, when suddenly we all felt something touching our minds, attacking us, and then we heard movement within the barn. Battle had begun. It was a tough fight. Vralino fought fiercely until she went unconscious defending me from melee attacks. Meanwhile Elisen and A’horangi dealt with the flying creatures. We regrouped and our combined efforts whittled the enemy down enough until they were all dead or dying. In the aftermath, we identified the flying creatures as changelings, and the others — humans and orks — as some sort of cultists.

We returned to Sosonopa and reported what we’d found to the sheriff. But somehow we didn’t think this was the end of the story.

[sigfriedmcwild]

From the memoirs of Elisen of clan Adorjan, Haressa-tis and Lore Keeper

I was back in Sosanopa, once again having dinner with some other adepts when we heard a scream from the back of the inn. As we moved to investigate one question went through my mind "What is wrong with this town?". I would come back to that question several times in the next couple of days.

For the records my companions were:
- A'horangi Ha'hana Syrtis, a t'skrang Monk and Bodyguard
- Bloodbeat Syrtis, a t'skrang Nethermancer
- Vralino Hammer-Shield

A'horangi, with their usual unfailing politeness, asked the innkeeper if we could exit through the back. Behind the inn were the stables where we found the stable hand comforting one of the wait staff. They pointed us to the tack room, where the decapitated and gutted remains of a dwarf rested on a bench.

A'horangi examined the corpse. The dwarf looked to be wearing good quality clothing but most of the jewellery had been removed, there was no sign of altercation and several organ had been removed.

Meanwhile Vralino and I worked to calm the two employees, who were able to identify the victim as Brojn Thews, a local wool merchant whose workshop was just outside town.

By this point a crowd had gathered and several guards arrived so we passed on what information we could while asking the crowd if anyone had seen anything, but all we got was someone mentioning that an obsidiman traveller had been found dead a couple of days earlier.

Bloodbeat decided to use their nethermantic arts to experience the death, a power that from what I could see was just as unpleasant to use as the description suggests. All Bloodbeat was able to gather was that the dwarf had been knocked out by a couple of namegivers using the showels stored in the tack room.

We decided to go check the workshop, where we found two apprentices who were not keen to discuss matters in during the night. The others went back to town to rest, while I parked Isidoros by the workshop and had Teh keep an eye out. In the morning I tried to talk to the apprentices who didn't seem to be hiding anything. I decided to withhold the news of their master death out of some misguided suspicions but in retrospect it would have probably been better to let the children know before they found out in the market.

We instead proceeded to investigate master Thews' house, which proved unenlightening other than the fact he was selling wool to elves from the north. We hired a boat to go check the delivery location, but found nothing of interest, however chatting with the boatman revealed that two fishermen (human and t'skrang) had gone missing in the last week.

What. Was. Wrong. With. Sosanopa?

At this point I went to the captain of the guard and demanded a full list of people that had died or diappeared recently and lo and behold, there was also a missing troll hunter and an orc farmer burnt in their own hut.

What. Was. Wrong. With. Sosanopa?

At this point we started suspecting some kind of ritual that required parts from each namegiver race and discussed putting all the elves and windlings in town under watch.

But before doing that we went to check out the farm, where digging into the ashes we found a ribcage that looked like the corpse had been beheaded before cremation. Bloodbeat once again experienced the death and reported seeing four human like figures and two things that may have been windlings with tails, which immediately made me thinks of changelings and the terrible stories I've head about them.

We decided to examine the other building in the farm, starting from the barn. As we approached we noticed something was inside, so Vralino asked us to wait so they could reattune a matrix. Shocking no one within a couple of minute of hanging near the door, whatever was inside started trying to mess with us, so we charged in to fight a few cultists and two changelings.

The fight was quite brutal with Vralino being taken out while protecting Bloodbeat. Following the trail of the cultists we managed to find their main ritual and put a stop to it.

As we left Vralino seemed to be in a weird mood and mentioned something about not having heard from their parent, Jarock Hammer-Shield, in a while.

[...]

As I wandered by Skyreader Island I heard rumors that Vralino had gone on an expedition to track down Jarock and had come back dragging their corpse and an enormous head. Nib, Redsun, Mazor, and Mal had also been lost. I decided to steer Isidoros towards Trayckid to try and being what little comfort I could to Vralino, we've both seen too much death already.