Giantslayer: Battle of Bloodmarch Hill [IC]

[BuckGodot]

Aasgar grabs his axe and stows his dagger then turns back to her, "He's gone after one that ran. I tried to help the two up here but one was already gone and apparently, you got to the other. We should try to find him, but someone needs to stay with the survivors. Where is Cici?"

[lostsole31]

Imrijka looks at Aasgar carefully. "She has her own home. Remember? She lives here. But you still didn't tell me what happened?"

[BuckGodot]

"Abenor and I were awakened by someone trying to pick the lock. I think we managed to surprise them slightly by opening the door. We were then attacked by these ice sword wielding people..." he says as he quickly begins to put on his armour.

[lostsole31]

Imrijka will assist Aasgar in helping him put on his armor. In the middle of that evolution, Abenor will return, putting away his dagger that he dropped in the hallway. "Cham is lighting lights downstairs to greet the guard." He looks to Imrijka and nods to acknowledge her.

[BuckGodot]

Aasgar looks Abenor over... "Any luck with the last guy?"

[lostsole31]

Abenor answers by doing a "chiburi" to his sword before picking up his scabbard and putting Ileor away.

[BuckGodot]

Aasgar acknowledges with a nod... "Now... Let's find out what we can." and once he's in armour, he heads out into the hall to gather the wounded and bodies. He will help carry them downstairs and out to meet the militia.

[lostsole31]

The guard will appear after a couple minutes and with the "assassin's" gear collected. All of those ice blades (each had one) has since melted and evaporated. Each of them are outfitted with the following:

• Potion of Cure Light Wounds
• Antitoxin
• An empty canister that was laying by their bodies (and looks like the hilt of the ice blade they were using)
• Smokestick
• Leather Armor
• Light Crossbow w/ (10) bolts
• Short Sword
• Thieves' Tools
• Pouch containing 4 gold and a beryl worth 50 gp

[BuckGodot]

"Who will handle the questioning of the survivors? I'd very much like to be present..." Aasgar asks.

[lostsole31]

Imrijka will handle interrogation (if you don't mind), as she is a formal inquisitor of the church of Pharasma.

This is what is learned .....

The would-be assassins reveal that their employer is a half-orc with significant facial tattoos, though they don't know his name. Beyond this, the erstaz-assassins know nothing -- they don't even know the reason why they were hired to kill the PCs in the first place. They were to kill Aasgar and Abenor first, then Imrijka, then go to a private residence and kill the red-haired witch that resides there.

This is all that can be gleaned from them.

[BuckGodot]

"Were they paid in advance? Four gold and a gem don't seem like enough for the task that was set out for them." Aasgar responds.

[lostsole31]

No more information can be learned, not even if the money in their purse was payment, or just what they happened to have. Nor the terms of payment or if they even carried with them what they were paid.

[BuckGodot]

Aasgar will help clean up from the attacks and then go down and see about food. He's awake and after an attack like that, not feeling like going back to sleep.

[lostsole31]

Food is not going to be served for many hours. Abenor and Imrijka go back to sleep.

[BuckGodot]

Since it will be many hours before the food is served, Aasgar will head back to his room, remove his armour and try to clean up the wounds he received before climbing back into his bed to rest.

[lostsole31]

Sunday, 28 Calistril 4715 AR (Waxing Gibbous)
Weather: 10/0 F. Winds N 20 mph. Dry. Wind chill (eff. -15/ -25 F).

With no window going into his room, Aasgar can't see the sun, but Abenor must be up already since he is not in bed.

Aasgar performs his morning routine, taking an hour of dedicated and brutal weapons forms and calisthenics, and finishing with akashic meditation. Even with the room's brazier and being a central room (so well insulated), Aasgar knows it will be freezing again today and reforms his sash of the four seasons. The diadem of dazing was a good idea, but when used in battle it was resisted so he doesn't feel so badly about letting that pass (for now). After a half-hour of meditation, he forms tiny, half-moon glasses that rest upon the bridge of his nose. When he pushes them up to his eyes, a magical quill springs to his hand, ready to rapidly copy text ... the spectacles of the scribe.

He finishes this, and heads down for breakfast, where he is met by Abenor and Imrijka, who have already had theirs.

"Good morning, and a pre-emptive apology," says Imrijka. "Pharasma has granted me divine powers to ferret out the unfaithful in our church. She has not given me powers of healing for that stab wound you're sporting there. I could look at it the old-fashioned way, but I think if we catch up with Cici, you would be better off."

[BuckGodot]

Good morning and thank you. I have already done what I could. I think letting Cici tend to it would be best. Any new developments since last night?" he says after gingerly sitting down to avoid reopening the wound. He tucks into breakfast while waiting for a response.

[lostsole31]

"Indeed," answers Abenor. "We are sent for by someone staying with the half-orc and dwarf at Clamor. Another frigid day."

[BuckGodot]

"Well then... Let us not tarry. We'll go around to collect Cici and head over... I hope no one will be offended if I dress in more... Appropriate attire. I feel like I'm strolling about with a target on my back..." he responds and takes another bite. Feeling around on his back, he eyes Abenor with minor suspicion... Once finished eating, he will return to his room and gear up.

[lostsole31]

Cici had told Imrijka how to get to her cottage, so you don't need to ask about. Imrijka will cast a spell on herself to try and abate some of the feeling of cold weather. She tells you that her spell is only going to last for about 40 minutes or so. You collect Cici and make it to Clamor Morninghawk's Fine Steel. It is Sunday, so you don't hear the noise that gives the smithy its unofficial name, but Agrit Staginsdar - Sara Morninghawk's wife, and a dwarf at that - lets the quartet of heroes in.

She offers tea while bringing the group in to meet .... the elusive Katreza. "Well, I imagine you have some questions for me, yes?"

[BuckGodot]

Aasgar nods his thanks and accepts some tea before sitting down. He looks at Imrijka and asks, "Do you want to take the lead on this or..."

[lostsole31]

"Before we begin, Elder," Imrijka says to the white-haired, half-orc cripple, "I'd like to get some background information. Who are you, and what life's journey brought you before us?"

Katreza tells you his story. Katrezra was raised among the orcs of the Empty Hand tribe, and now suffers from painful afflictions and weeping sores gained from his time at the Brimstone Haruspex, an orc temple in the caldera of a smoking volcano in the Kodar Mountains, whose highly caustic fumes supposedly grant insight into the future. Although the sulfurous gases maimed him and symptoms of his overexposure still trouble him, Katrezra gained minor oracular powers from inhaling the fumes, and he soon left the barbarous orcs to seek sanctuary in Trunau.

"Why did Rodrik come to you?" she follows up.

“What I told you just now," replies Katreza, "is no great secret: that I was cursed with preternatural visions many years ago, during my time with the Empty Hand. Since I left those savages, many have sought my counsel into matters ranging from the mundane to the dire, but I’m afraid the omens that assault my dreams are nigh indecipherable, even to me, and I have no means of directing them.

“Rodrik originally approached me to ask for advice while courting Brinya Kelver. The love-struck fool—bless his soul—thought I might have some special insights into the traditions of her people or visions of the couple’s everlasting happiness... but come now, do I look like the romantic type?” He smiles wryly, then shakes his head and moves on. “I couldn’t help him with his relationship, but we gradually became close friends. I’d been experiencing vivid hallucinations of white swords or crosses, and dreams of the Plague House outside town. When I told him of them, he seemed to think my dreams might help with his investigation. I told him about my visions as best I could, but the muse of my nightmares is as abstruse as she is unkind.”

[BuckGodot]

"Now we're getting somewhere... What can you tell us about his investigation? And do you perhaps know the whereabouts of his journal?" Aasgar asks.

[lostsole31]

“To be truthful, I don’t think even he knew exactly what he was looking for. Rodrik had run afoul of a flood troll in the Plague House not long ago, and the poor fellow was convinced it was not just an isolated incident. He came to me seeking guidance, and his curiosity was piqued by my visions. I told him that flood trolls are native to Belkzen, but they rarely roam this far south of the Flood Road. Since learning of his investigation, though, I have had nightmares unlike any before, and I fear that some greater evil may be at play within Trunau’s walls.”

Katreza points to a drawer at his nightstand, and Abenor opens it and takes out a journal book. Thumbing through it, Abenor seems to absently ask, "Why did you go into hiding?"

Katreza nods slowly. “Rodrik had plans to go back to the Plague House, but because of the unease I felt from my visions, I suggested he leave his journal with me, which he did. The night of his death, my visions were even more terrible, though still indecipherable. When news of Rodrik’s death reached me in the morning, I knew it must have been foul play, so I fled the Sanctuary, fearful that whoever targeted Rodrik would come after me as well. His death grieves me to no end, but at least my efforts bought me enough time to share this information with you.”

[BuckGodot]

Aasgar nods to the elder, "You were wise as since we've taken up this investigation there have been attempts on our lives... Let me also ask, does the name Melira mean anything to you?"

[lostsole31]

He shakes his head. "It sounds like a female name, but I can't say as I've seen that name before."

Cici asks, "Given your visions, is there any chance you know who killed Rodrik?"

He shakes his head again ruefully. “I don’t, and worse, I didn’t predict the ill fate that befell him. But even if I had, I’ve learned there is little one can do to combat fate.”

[BuckGodot]

"Do you have any idea what the white swords or crosses might mean? They've been popping up in the form of graffiti all over town." Aasgar asks, shifting in his seat and gently pressing his wound with a wince.

[lostsole31]

"I'm sorry, but I do not," Katreza answers.

Cici sees Aasgar holding his bandaged wound. She asks Aasgar, "From last night?"

Assuming Aasgar nods or something, she says, "I don't think I will get all of it, but this might help." She puts her hands over his wound and golden energy billows forth to provide 10 healing to Aasgar. "I'm sorry, I can only do that once a day a person .... but it is a gift that I may use limitlessly given enough wounded."

Imrijka leans forward, having heard everything so far. "What's in the Plague House?"

At that question, Katreza the oracle answers, “I have seen visions of the Plague House many times these past few weeks, and though I can’t say with any certainty what these divinations might mean, I believe there is more beneath the ashes of the Burned Church than soot and rubble.”

Aasgar, can you think of anything else to ask?

[BuckGodot]

Aasgar nods his head to Cici in thanks. He looks at the others and then says, "Thank you for your help in this matter. I suggest you remain in hiding until it is safer."

He rises and begins preparing to head out into the cold.

"Shall we head back to the Ramblehouse? I'm curious to know the contents of the journal."

[lostsole31]

The group gives their leave of Katreza and heads back to the Ramblehouse.

The group works together looking over Rodrik's journal, but there is only one section that seems to be relevant (see Handout #3 in Discord).