When I met Juniper (Solanus Pyrocantha, elven Shadow and Questor of Lochost) for our usual not quite breakfast, not quite lunch hanging out at an inn, they were dragging a rather confused or possibly star struck looking Vralino (Vralino Hammershield, orc Swordmaster and Elementalist) along and muttering something about being kicked out.
Turns out they'd been "shacking up" with someone name Ginepro, who has just kicked them out this morning for "investigating the enemies of the people and planning Lochost's retribution". According to Vralino this involved a lot of red strings and pins on one of the walls, I can see why this Ginepro may have been upset. On the positive side Juniper was convinced that they'd cracked the code in the journal from the slavers we'd eliminated months before (see my notes on the chains we forge) and was ready to track down the lead.
Once Bloodbeat (Bloodbeat II of Syrtis, t'skrang Nethermancer and Weaponsmith) and Lazulin (troll Raider and Sun Herald) had joined us and we were suitably fed, we went into the nascent "barter town" to visit righteous retribution on some slavers. As we trudged through the muck, I noticed more people that usual staring at us, with a mix of fear and anger, which to be honest I was not used to from people that aren't trying to kill me on the spot. It turns out that the "buildings" to the side of the "street" we were walking down were not abandoned ruins, but actually homes and Isidoros had be wrecking their way through since the "street" was so narrow. Extremely embarassed by this faux pas, I sent Isidoros back to wait by the gates, while I proceeded with just Jacint.
As we approached out destination I took to flying higher to keep an eye on the general situation. The others attempted to approach our target, a rather non descript shack right next to the mountain, stealthily. Bloodbeat took a look at the astral in the area and did not find anything. The inside seemed dark and empty. The only access was through the front door which was locked, but Bloodbeat has learnt how to step between shadows, so they stepped inside and unlocked it for the rest of us.
We started looking around and quickly noticed that the inside of the shack was a really high quality, almost as if the outside was camouflage. After much looking and some property damage, we figured out that the extremely heavy cupboard in a corner hid a tunnel into the mountains. We managed to make our way down, Vralino found a trap with some kind of poison on it.
As we were getting our bearings the giant statue on one side of the room came to life while two rock crabs came at us from deeper in. The fight was rough with Lazulin getting squished by a crab and Vralino getting beaten up by the statue. Once we were done with the creatures we noticed that the crabs were chained and some people were huddled at the far end. Turns out the cave was used as a holding pen for slaves and the crabs, statue, and traps were there to prevent escape.
We made our way out with the slaves and as we were about to leave the shack, someone knocked in an over elaborate pattern on the door. And then left, leaving a cart in front of the door. I spotted a well dressed dwarf making their way to a nearby "inn". I followed in and started chatting with them, their name was Fofraeck and they traded in carrying muck away from town, and is paid handsomely to park his cart in front of the shack for a while with some regularity. He then gets directions to somewhere else where he parks and waits again.
Definitely not a patsy used to moved slaves around. Why does nobody ever question "free cash"?
The others found a note pinned to one of the slaves with a set of convoluted directions, we follow the directions and find ourselves at the estate of Dwolgret Woldbuckle, a well known noble that is not the staunchest supporter of the crown. Juniper talks with one of the workers there, apparently the lord is not in but someone is living in the villa.
We trudge back to Fofraeck, get him to take us down to the estate in his cart. Turns out he'd already made drops here and knows where to go. We make our move, terrify the seven goons inside into surrendering, the boss tries to run away but Lazulin impales him with a spear. The "fight" was quick enough that they couldn't even burn their incriminating correspondence.Statistics:Posted by sigfriedmcwild — Fri Mar 12, 2021 12:33 am
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