Runelords 2E IC

[DrK]

An evening spent in the Rusty Dragon with Ameiko's cooking, large flagons of ale or chilled wine (as preferred) combined with steaming baths in the rose scented water in the massive tubs on the first floor and comfortable feather down beds leave all of you feeling refreshed and happy in the morning. Awakening with the sun streaming through the windows and an unusually sunny Autumn day. Strapping on armour, weapons and other adventuring gear you troop down to breakfast to be greeted by the maids, steaming mugs of fine Kaf imported form distant Quadira and a platter of still warm bread, meats, cheeses and some local preserves. The nice breakfast is interrupted however as a tear stricken guard steps through the door, looking at you all he seems weary and broken... "Hemlock is dead...."he gasps out, "He was patrolling the south of the town near the boggy creek. We found him, Anders and Jacques this morning or what was left of them!"

[Bunny Commando]

Lysander - HP: 60/60 - Conditions: None - Active Effects: None

---------------

Lysander wakes up in a somewhat joyless mood; sure, he was treated by Ameiko's exceptional cooking, but the memory of those kids still haunts him. The sellsword wonders if he has finally gone soft, letting the people of this town get under his skin (had he proposed to visit the Cathedral so he could meet that priestess?) but in the end, the terrible events that have struck Sandpoint until now bother him more that he anticipated. So when the guard interrupts his breakfast with the dreadful news of Hemlock's death, Lysander is conflicted; he never liked the Sheriff, always felt he was good enough to take care of some drunkards at best - he even thought of running against him and become Sheriff himself! - but he never wanted him dead and now that Hemlock is gone, he feels...sad? And guilty, too. Maybe he was too harsh on the Sheriff, maybe if he trusted him a bit more he could've done something to save his life.

"Damn." Lysander says, the sellsword unable to muster the anger that so many times has given him the strength to carry on "Did you find anything other than the remains?" he asks before turning towards the others "...I say we should go take a look before departing for the Foxglove Estate."

[stack]

Jon is silent for a moment after receiving the news. He had not known any of the men well, but thought well of the sheriff. He nods agreement to Lysander's proposal.

[farothel]

"Sure, why not," Shalendra said, "but I think we have to find and destroy the source as quickly as possible though."

[DrK]

The walk through the tow is a somber affair as the news of the Sheriff's demise had been spreading. You head across the southern bridge past the large mansions on the bluff overlooking sandpoint and soon come to a split in the road. Here you know you need to turn south to head to the Foxglove Manor that sits some 8 miles down the coat. But there is a cluster of 5 worried looking guards, pasty faces and red knuckles where they clutch weapons and nervously look into the woods.

Approaching you can see the bodies covered by cloaks and as you pull them back you can see the horrible way they both died. Minor wounds and large bruises on the head suggest they were knocked out before being staked to the ground and partially eaten. The rictus's of pain clear on the faces of both sheriff and guard. One of the men nearby shakes his head, "He was tough be 'ee was fair. 'Ee didn't deserve nowt like that.". A small note pinned to his chest reads "Shalendra my love I shall see you. " and is signed "the skin saw man..."

As you all spot the note all of the guards you realise are looking at Shalendra, a mixture of worry and hostility on their faces.

[Bunny Commando]

Lysander - HP: 60/60 - Conditions: None - Active Effects: None

---------------

Lysander kneels to examine both bodies and even though this is certainly not his first crime scene, he can't really hide that he's both pained and sickened by how brutal the deaths of the two guards were. The note, however, worries him more; he snatches it, quickly read it before passing it to the intended recipient "Have any idea who this fellow could be?" before noticing that the watchmen are all looking at Shalendra - and their look, the sellsword certainly doesn't like.

"What you're gawking at, you useless bean-heads?" he says, stern and suddenly aggressive; he stands up and points at the corpses "Have you brought blankets or do you want to parade Hemlock across town? Make ready to bring them to the Cathedral, chop-chop!"

Spoiler

Show

Don't know if you need an Intimidation roll.
If so, here it is (1d20+9)[23]; Lysander has the Quick Coercion feat, so he needs just one round of conversation instead of one minute.

[DrK]

The guards snap to, a couple shooting Lysander dark looks. But all begin to unroll some heavy thick sack cloths that one of them had brought back to be able to load up the sheriff and the unfortunate guard who had been so brutally murdered. It takes a few moments to wrap them up in sack cloth and in that time the party can search the area. Jannis finding the same stench of decay on the wounds as had been at the mill and Jon finding a few scuffed footprints of bare clawed feet similar to the mill as well. The foot prints head South, ominously down the road that would eventually pass via the Foxglove manor if they followd it for another 7 or so miles.

[farothel]

"Don't look at me," Shalendra said, surprised, "I don't know anybody with that name.
So if that dude knows me, he was using a different name at that time or he knows me and I don't know him. Here, let me see that note."

Taking the note she tries to figure out if she knows the handwriting.

[stack]

Jon eyes the trail. "Perhaps it was a mistake to wait."

[Farmerbink]

"Hemlock is dead...."he gasps out, "He was patrolling the south of the town near the boggy creek. We found him, Anders and Jacques this morning or what was left of them!"

Jannis chokes on a heel of bread when the guard manages his first sentence. "What!? how!?" Struggling to maintain his composure, the young cleric blinks away shock and dismay. "He was... surely not alone!? Hemlock, what were you thinking?!" Wide-eyed, his gaze falls to the floor, as he visibly wrestles with the news, forcing himself to maintain silence long enough to let the man finish his report. "Hells bells, all three of them..." he finally stammers, shaking his head in disbelief.

Nodding in agreement with Lysander, he suddenly scowls in anger at the unknown foe. "Of course we'll check it out first. This is... Gods, this is madness anew- worse than the unpleasantness, even...."

---

A few minutes later, Jannis peers at the slain with an odd expression of hope and grief. The scene threatens to bring his breakfast back up, but he stoically forces his gorge back down, blinking as he tries to ignore the brutality of the scene. "Ugh, I hoped it wasn't true..." he mumbles, reaching for the note from Shalendra. He reads it silently, mouthing the words as confusion begins to spread over his features. Gently, Jannis recovers Hemlock's still face, his own gaze glassing over as he ponders the words. "OK, I know this looks bad, but I will absolutely vouch for you, Shalendra. She simply hasn't had the opportunity to be involved in this. She was with us at the farm, and the Dragon last night. Nobody even came in to talk with her or anything...."

The young cleric's eyebrows furrow as he tries to think through everything, eventually abandoning the hope of resolution for searching the area. "Smells just like at the mill," he mutters with a deep frown. As Jon and Shalendra indicate footsteps leading south, he looks up with a steely sneer. "Headed towards the manor," he snarls with surprising vitriol.

Sighing, Jannis responds to Jon. "I wish we hadn't, but we couldn't have known something like this would happen. Hemlock and the others knew the risks, but Gods alive I wish we had been here." He looks around the scene, perhaps for the first time recognizing the severity of the situation. "Hells, they weren't just slain," he grimaces. "They were murdered. This wasn't even a fight."

He gulps, feeling small all of the sudden. "Deadeye preserve us, but we can't let this go." Standing up straight, he locks eyes with the guards still working on litters. "Spread the word that Foxglove Manor is the source of this. Gods willing, we will settle it once and for all before the sun reaches its zenith. If we don't come back..." He breathes out, deeply. "I hope we come back...." he finally murmurs.

[DrK]

Shalendra studies the writing but does not recognise it. Everyone paused in a moment of shared grief before after Jannis's strong words you look down the path knowing that it will lead to the cliffs and the manor. The party leaves the main area of Sandpoint's farmlands roughly to following the Lost Coast Road where it crosses the Soggy River. Then a little over a mile SW along the Lost Coast Road until a bridge crosses Foxglove River, just before reaching the Whisperwood (which you see clearly to the south). From there, it is a simple thing to simply follow Foxglove River along its winding path - which includes an old wagon road - westish to the coast. Its a long hike, taking most of morning as you arrive under foreboding grey rain filled clouds around lunch time.

You can all share what they know or what they've heard about Foxglove Manor, putting together bits of lore, gossip, and public knowledge, it turns out it is a stunning amount...
Foxglove Manor is over 80 years old, and has been the seat of the Foxglove family the whole time. Some sort of tragedy struck the family a few decades ago, and no one’s lived there since. Common rumor holds that the place is haunted.
Foxglove Manor is known as the “Misgivings” by some locals, particularly by Varisians. It certainly has a bad reputation—sightings of strange lights in the attic windows, muffled sounds of screaming from above and below, and even rumors of a huge bat-winged devil living in the caves below the manor are but a few of the tales told about the place. The Foxglove family lived there as recently as 2 decades ago, but then a fire burned down the servants’ building, Cyralie Foxglove was found dead—burnt and dashed on the rocks below the cliffs behind the house—and Traver Foxglove was found in his bedroom, dead by his own hand. The children, including young Aldern Foxglove, were sent away to be raised in Korvosa by distant relations.
Aldern Foxglove recently returned to live in the manor, but he had a hell of a time hiring locals to aid him in the reconstruction and repair of the old building. Until Aldern moved back in, the place was cared for by a man named Rogors Craesby (a retired innkeeper who lost an ear in a bar fight many years ago) who came in 3 days a week from Sandpoint to air the place out, check for squatters, and make minor repairs.
Foxglove Manor was built decades ago by Vorel Foxglove, a merchant prince from Magnimar. He and his family lived there for 20 years before the entire family perished from disease. The surviving Foxgloves of Magnimar shunned the place for 40 years, until Traver Foxglove moved back in. The Foxgloves have traditionally been associated with the Brothers of the Seven, a secretive gentlemen’s club based in Magnimar and consisting of merchants or thieves, depending on whom you talk to. Members of the society periodically visited Foxglove Manor at night during the years the manor went unlived-in, perhaps to check up on the building and make minor repairs—or perhaps for more sinister pursuits.


The route leading out to Foxglove Manor is a 3-mile hike along a narrow path that follows the Foxglove River from the covered bridge where it flows under the Lost Coast Road to the dark sea cliffs overlooking the Varisian Gulf. Here, wild sea birds call out to a roaring ocean that churns hundreds of feet below. As you all near Foxglove Manor, it almost seems as if nature herself has become sick and twisted. Nettles and thorns grow more prominent, trees are leafless and bent, and the wind seems unnaturally cold and shrill as it whistles through the cliffside crags. The path slowly rises, bending around a steep corner in the cliffs, and then Foxglove Manor looms at the edge of the world. The strangely cold sea wind rises to a keening shriek as Foxglove Manor comes into view. The place has earned its local nickname of the “Misgivings” well, for it almost appears to loathe its perch high above the ocean, as if the entire house were poised for a suicide leap. The roof sags in many places, and mold and mildew cake the crumbling walls. Vines of diseased-looking gray wisteria strangle the structure in several places, hanging down over the precipitous cliff edge almost like tangled braids of hair. The house is crooked, its gables angling sharply and breached in at least three places, hastily repaired by planks of sodden wood. Chimneys rise from various points among the rooftops, leaning like old men in a storm, and grinning gargoyle faces leer from under the eaves. It may be around mid day, but already there is almost the sense of a darkened pall here.

[stack]

Jon shakes his head as he surveys the scene. "An ill omened place. I don't suppose we can burn it down and see what evil runs out. Mores the pity, it is a blight on the land."

[Farmerbink]

Jannis nods somberly. "I'm certainly glad we opted for midday. This would be even more off-putting in the dark." He glances around, not precisely sure what he's looking for.

"Jon, would you mind checking around for more tracks? This far from town, I wonder if our culprit might have been less careful to stick to the river?"

With a frown, he pauses, looking at the shell that must have once been the servants' house. "At least some of the rumors must be true..." he mutters.

[Bunny Commando]

Lysander - HP: 78/78 - Conditions: None - Active Effects: None

---------------

"We could burn the building to the ground, but there is the risk our murderer might be able to escape. Better to find this 'Skinsaw Man' and kill him, it's the only way to be sure." Lysander says to Jon, now that the sellsword is closer to his mark some of his anger has returned to give him the much needed strength to brave the Foxglove Manor; that said he approaches the ruins just outside the house, to see if there are traces of the murderer.

Spoiler

Show

Lysander checks the B1 area.

[farothel]

"I think we better first see what interesting things are in there," Shalendra said while looking around, "lets first clear those ruins and then go to the main mansion. Besides, if we push hard enough we can probably topple the thing without burning it. It doesn't look very stable to me. But let me sneak up to those ruins and have a look around, okay."

If there was no objections, she would head up to the ruins for a look around.

Spoiler: OOC rolls

Show

stealth: (1d20+13)[29]
perception: (1d20+10)[29]

[DrK]

As you approach the house the four heroes approach the ruins or what you assume must be some servants quarters. Its impossible to tell how many floors the outbuilding that stood here once had for all that remains are sooty scorched stones of the foundations. To the east a four foot wide stone wall sits partially collapsed in the corner of the ruins. A small well sits by the ruined walls, as Shalendra peeks inside the well seems to drop a LONG way down, certainly beyond the range of her vision the hole a plunging void of darkness although a splashing of water can be heard at the bottom of the shaft.

Looking around though both Jannis and Shalendra find traces of the same bare foot prints near these ruins and a cluster around the well suggesting a darker use for the shaft than just for gathering water. As you wander the small ruins a few sickly looking ravens perch atop the walls, they hop and flap clumsily away from you as you approach cawing loudly but returning as you pass by. watching you with dark beady eyes.

[Farmerbink]

Jannis meets the crow's awkward stare before nodding somberly at the bare footprints as Shalendra points them out. He smirks at her mock suggestion, before taking a much more steely tone. "If only. I agree with Lysander, though. We need to make sure this 'skinsaw' fellow can't come back."

Without another word, he readies his bow, waiting for Shalendra or Lysander to take the lead investigating the manor in earnest.

[farothel]

Shalendra tries to get within 30ft of the ravens to do a detect magic on them, as she's convinced that ravens shouldn't look like that and thinks they might be sentries for someone inside. And she wants to be sure before they move in.

[Bunny Commando]

Lysander - HP: 78/78 - Conditions: None - Active Effects: None

---------------

Lysander stands besides Shalendra sword in hand; the sellsword has noticed those crows as well and he eyes them with suspicion and would certainly not put past this "Skinsaw Man" to use such tools to spy on them "Crows love dead people" he mutters, ready to shield the elven lady if those eerie birds make a move.

[stack]

Jon studies the birds, thinking there may be something off about them. (nature is +13)

[DrK]

The pair of heroes study the crows, and they realise that the carrion crows are bedraggled and a bit dark looking but seem otherwise normal. The air though does seem almost stained with necromantic energy but the crows are normal.

[farothel]

"There certainly is necromantic magic around here," Shalendra said, "but the crows seem normal birds, insofar that they can be in this environment. I think we can proceed, but with caution."
She would do so, using the bushes as cover and first going to a window where she could look into the house before even going near the door.

Spoiler: OOC

Show

using the bushes as cover, she will go to the spot in the middle where she can see into B2 and B7.
stealth: (1d20+13)[31]
perception: (1d20+10)[23]

[Bunny Commando]

Lysander - HP: 78/78 - Conditions: None - Active Effects: None

---------------

Lysander eyes the crows with suspicion again, but since Shalendra said they are just birds (albeit unnerving ones) the sellsword moves towards the door of the Manor but doesn't open it - first he tries to listen through the wood what might be inside.

Spoiler

Show

Perception roll, I guess it's the DM that should roll it.

[Farmerbink]

Jannis offers an ugly snort. "Normal doesn't mean good," he mumbles, following several paces behind his more sneaky companions.

[stack]

The birds having already seen them, Jon forgoes thoughts of bestial reconnaissance and follow the others.

[DrK]

The party look suspiciously at the crows that watch them with beady eyes and approach the double doors that seem to hang limply on the their hinges but are closed, although a cursory check of the handles would suggest that are both unlocked and will open with a push. Shalendra presses up against the windows to peer into the rooms through the grimy and bubbled glass of the windows. Looking into the entrance hall she jumps in suprise before calming herself. Mouldering trophies look to fill this large welcome hall. The heads of a boar, bear, firepelt and stag line the walls but its the stuff taxidermist's creation in the centre of the hall that had given her pause. A magnificent looking beast some 10ft long with the body of a lion complete with heavy maned head, but long bat wings pinned upwards as if in flight and a twisted tail studded with barbs supported by a couple of poles held above its back as if arcing forwards - the stuffed manticore fills the centre of the hallway.
The smaller room (B7) is less clear as the glass is poorer quality and the window very small offering little light. But Shalendra can peer into what may have once been a small parlour, a tired looking piano covered with patches of mould and keys warped and missing in places is positioned in front of the window blocking much of the view but the room looks relatively empty save for tattered mouldering curtains and a dirty looking floor and a door leading further into the house.

do you open the doors and head into the hallway (B7)?

[farothel]

"We might get attacked by animated stuffed trophy animals," Shalendra said as she explained what she had seen inside. Then she moved to the door and tried to open it, taking out her lockpicks if it was locked and working to get it open.

Spoiler: OOC rolls

Show

if needed: thievery to get it open: (1d20+11)[15]

[DrK]

The main doors open with a slow and loud creak revealing the hallway beyond with the dull light from the cloudy grey sky and scudding storm clouds. The sounds of the house straining and creaking gives this long high ceiled room an additional sense of age and decay. The place smells damp, the unpleasant tinge of mould lacing the air as surely as it stains the wooden floor, walls and furniture in pallid blackened patches. Doors branch off to the left and right of the room and the other end as you look in is an archway.

In the dim light an archway beyond the snarling manticore seems to lead into an old dining room. A mahogany table surrounded by chairs in the room with twin fireplaces and faint daylight coming in through a stained glass window. The windows seeming to have a range of things on them but from the doorway and over the length of the house its hard to make out the details...

[Bunny Commando]

Lysander - HP: 78/78 - Conditions: None - Active Effects: None

---------------

Lysander carefully walks inside, the ancient-looking sword ready to strike in his hand "We are dealing with magick from the ancient Empire. For all we know, they might've used stuffed animals as guards back then." the sellsword says half-jokingly, but there is a real concern in his voice - he is scared but too proud (in a quite unhealthy way) to admit it. He moves towards the dining room, slowly and cautiously, quite expecting an ambush and stopping along the way to check whatever might look even remotely suspicious.

Spoiler

Show

Lysander goes towards B4, but stops if there's anything of interest before.

[stack]

Jon follows Lysander, keeping his eyes open.