The Kobold answered the parties’ questions indicating that
the group of men that had burned and looted the wagon had headed south to a
place it called the “Crying Stones”. It seems that the group, possibly snake
worshippers, had captured the Kobold tribe, and young Skritch wanted revenge,
and would help the party. Aeldrin, is uncomfortable with the interrogation, and the
thought of confrontation with the men holding the Kobold tribe, “My days of
fighting except in self-defense are at and end, I’m afraid I can’t continue
down the path you all are about to follow. I wish you luck and may we all share
a pint at the Red Cloak soon.” He walks away. “Yip, Skritch fight! Skritch show the way.”, as Nikhillish
cuts the kobolds bonds. And so, our four heroes Nikhillish the sage, Umaul the
Goliath bard, Farlin the Gnomish druid, and Charrd the lost half-elf, follow
Skritch as she scrambles through the underbrush leading them all north. It takes about four hours and the sun is setting as the
fallen stones that were once a place for travelers to stop and water mounts,
and make offerings to the forest for save passage. From this distance the party
can just make out the tops of 18’ statues with their cloaked heads bowed
towards the north. It is with an attempt at silence that they all attempt to
sneak silently to the ruined place of worship. Skritch points, “Cursed elvish place, yip.” And spits. Half the party glides like ghosts and the other half steps
on every twig in their path. The stone ruin of elvish architecture is 60’ in diameter.
With four, five-foot-wide, columns spaced evenly across it surface as if they
held a raised dome that is long gone. The statues appear elven, but the faces
have been disfigured to appear reptilian. And on the norther side is a raised
dais and before it steps leading down. Charrd spots the man wrapped in a dark cloak, hood pulled
down, standing behind one of the pillars. The teen half-elf harshly calls out,
“Samuid! What are you doing here!” As the cloaked man reaches inside his cloak Skritch darts
out of the shadows of the underbrush and strikes the man in his shin, the small
clawed kobold foot tearing through the calf and snapping the bone. “Steiner!”, burst from his lips like a call for help, just
before the kobolds clawed fist punches him in the throat silencing him forever.
A dual fanged serpent dagger slips from his fingers to clatter onto the cold
stones of this fallen place. A second man jumps out from behind the column nearest the
steps in front of the dais, shock on his face as he watches the kobold kill his
partner. A Nikhillish starts a low chant and when he stops a single
gong strike rings through the still air, and the second man’s eyes go wide as
his skin grows pale and he flees down the stairs. In a silent orchestrated dance, the party follows, first is
Charrd followed by the others. They are all startled as 7’ man dressed like the
others rushes down the steps and through their group to stand among the columns
of this dark place of worship. A single brazier burns at the far end with a 15’ reptilian
featured elf statue looking over a cloaked man with a dagger, and prone body
that appears wrapped in strips of cloth like a mummy. The man nearest the body, holds the dagger high, ““Shēsin
takím arsiæ hinneis, shēsin takēm zi aotī heis pi kæs. fua harisa.. E na kalpa
fis, Kalpava dēgo, na orilæ. Attas, o!” Skritch rushes to the closest man she refers to as a Snake
Mouth and once again delivers a Kick, that brings him to his knees so that she
can tear his throat out, “Where are my people!” Copper smell of blood becomes much more noticeable. Charrd’s sing song whisper drops three of troubled slumber. Another man charges Charrd and stabs him with a scimitar,
and Charrd responds, “Samuid, it would be best if you dropped your weapon and
surrendered” The man looks at Charrd’s blood dripping from his sword and
smiles. A whirling dervish kobold comes up behind him, and she
delivers several well-placed kicks that leave him a crumpled heap. Charrd with a smile, “I told you.” Nikhillish chants low, and Farlin yells, “Sheleighly!”
Before the gong note fades Farlin has struck down the last man between him and
the leader next to the wrapped body. The leader shouts to the 7’ snake mouth, “Hút for Slǐstrikti
hívulo? Orrē aswafanais, paifā! Dy hí fú, bes lālú, mespārú tso hāsla? Pēlos,
au, pēlos...”” The 7’ cultist, “Sasōl, ebei? Shēsin Muggle saum hwinæ. Tōr
shēsin Muggle harisa.” The leader smiles. The kobold moves through the sleeping cultist and delivers
coup-de-grace The Leader sings, “Hút for Slǐstrikti hívulo, Orrē
aswafanais, paifā!” and the dagger plunges into what would have been the heart
of the wrapped figure and a red stain appears. Nikhillish once again begins his chant, as Farlin moves up
next to the leader with the dagger, and as the gong is struck, Farlins quarter
staff strikes the man’s head with a sick crunching sound. The body falls still
and the dagger once grasped falls free. Farlin rushes to the giant snake mouth cultist, but before
Umaul can get a word out Farlin strikes him a heavy blow. The disguise fade and
Nikhillish is quickly at his side. The party begins to clean and care for their
wounds. Nikhillish, “As I feared the poor soul they sacrificed is
beyond my help.” Farlin recognizes the face of the man they had hoped to
locate and save, “It’s Fraklin, the Apothecary initiate.” Umual, “What do you make of this?”, and with several swift
strikes from his axe he decapitates the stone statue, and looking up at him
from the ground is an elvish face with distinct snake like features. Nikhillish, “Found a letter on the leaders.” Farlin, “Watch how you handle that dagger is coated in
poison.” Nikhillish, “Looks like this cell of the cult was
conscripted to acquire the artifact and pass it on to an Irontusk in
Windbergen. Then prepare this space for some dark ritual.” Farlin, “We should return Fraklin Thornleaf to the guild so
they can send him on the long sleep.” Nikhillish, “There is a prayer I would say over him before
we start our journey back.”, and he begins to hum and bring our candles and incense
from his bag. Skritch, “What about Skritch, tribe gone… dead or they
leave… Are we new tribe?” The party discusses and Umaul is very enthusiastic about
including the little kobold in their cabal. At dawn the party gathers up their gear, and head back to
the city. Umaul has the statue head strapped to his back and the wrapped body
of Franklin Thornleaf over his shoulder. It is a procession that travels in
silence stopping only for food, and short rests. …. Cecil shakes his head at the loss of another guild member.
He confirms the parties’ assumptions that a poison dagger was used to kill
Franklin, a rare poison from the jungles to the south. Nikhillish, “We have a lead. We believe the artifact has
passed to a contact in the River Market, and we are headed there next to learn
what we can.” Cecil, “Good luck, be careful, I don’t want anybody
delivering you back to the guild like Franklin.” ….. As the group enters the market they fan out, and Nikhillish
quickly identifies the Brennans fish stall. Nikhillish, Farlin, and Umal
approach the old lady running the stall. And as they begin talking to her they
flash the bracelets. As they ask about Irontusk she nods in the direction of
the half-orc at the end of her stall. As the trio attempts to make introductions to Irontusk he
bolts… He makes it half way through the market when Charrd behind another stall
once again sing songs and the half-orc collapse. The White Cloaks of Tyr move towards Nikhillish, Irontusk
now surround by Charrd, Farlin, and several locals, and Umual that has grabbed
the old lady Brennan and runs from the market. Charrd, and Farlin convince everyone that the half-orc has
been exposed to a sickness that the Apothecary guild is investigating. Nikhillish, with the help of Farlin, convince the Tyr White
Cloak that they are there on Apothecary guild business, and that the old lady
and the Goliath that just ran were part of a snake cult that killed members of
the Apothecary. Umaul, runs out of the market cradling the old lady,
Brennan… the White Cloaks are shouting for him to stop. The old lady stops
screaming as he convinces her that he is also a member of the cult. As they
move through the underbelly of Windbergen he uncovers that she was planted by
the cell. To wait and watch, Irontusk was just a fence she had made contact
with, and that he could move hard to find items. With the cell destroyed she
would just wait to be contacted by the faithful, and continue to move among the
unworthy. Umaul leaves her at a shanty she calls home and tosses his bracelet
to the ground. Umual, “I’m out.” And he proceeds to a take a long route
back to the Red Cloak. Farlin, Nikhillish, Charrd, and Skritch carry Irontusk back
to the Apothecary guild. As they bring him in there is a bit of commotion
around the unconscious half-orc. Cecil, “What is this?” Nikhillish, “We need a quiet place to interrogate him, he
had the artifact, and we need to learn whom he gave it to.” Cecil, “Not here, not in the guild house. To many people saw
you bring him in, the guild can’t be party to this.” Nikhillish, “You became party to this when you let a Neflin
artifact go missing, when you made us your agents.” Cecil, “Perhaps we were too quick in making you all agents
of the guild. Farlin it is time to return the guild standard, and this half-orc
to where you found him.” Nikhillish, “Maybe we take him to the temple of Tyr and let
the white cloaks figure out what he did with the artifact you loss!” Cecil, “If that is your and Tyr’s will. Farlin I’m sorry for
where this has brought us, but the guild cannot be part of kidnapping in broad
daylight, from the market no less. I will looked forward to our future walks in
the forest, and bring the herbs you find by for sale. I’m always your friend.” Farlin, “Until we meet again.” Nikhillish, Charrd, and Skritch drag the half-orc outside
the guild and sit him against the wall of the Escaped Goat tavern. Nikhillish, “I’m setting him free Cecil.” As the party takes up positions around the street outside
the Apothecary guild, tavern, and incense shop, and other local businesses the
half-orc stirs and then in confusion rises. He stumbles has he begins to walk
away from this place, and figure out how he got here. He checks his pockets to
see if anything is missing, and never notice the four people following him,
making their way in and out of the afternoon crowds. Irontusk eventual sits down on a public bench to gather his
wits, and from the shade steps Charrd the half-elf teen, and whispers, “Look
into my eyes, I will count down from 5 and on 1 you will…” The half-orc takes a drunken swing at the teen, “Get out of
my sight before I.” And with the rest of the party rolls up to grill the
half-orc. It becomes quite clear that they know plenty about his dealings with
Gall, and if he is to get any peace he has to kill all of them, in broad
daylight, and based on the last encounter they all had it did not go well for
him… So, he spills. “Feydan’s Tinker Shop, I dropped it off there, a staff
length package wrapped in cloth that had Arcane symbols that seem to move through
the cloth stitching.” The party heads back to the Red Cloak to see if Gavin can
direct them to “Feydan’s Tinker Shop” The learn two things at the Red Cloak, Gavin has gone
missing, and the tinker shop location is in the high-end district. At that moment Cecil darkens the Red Cloaks portal and
appears out of breath. “Good.. I had hoped… to find you here… Look I understand if
you don’t want to listen, but I ask your indulgence.” Charrd, “I hate you.” Cecil, “And you have every right to young man. I’m sorry
that I was so dismissive, but it was for show as we believe there is a traitor
in the guild, working against us. I had to give the appearance that you are no
longer our agents in hopes of throwing off whomever is feeding information to
our enemies. The guild master and I ask that if willing you continue the search
and find the lost Neflin artifact.” He tosses a large bag of coins on the table and a few gold
spills out. “That is yours either way.” Nikhillish, “If we find the staff, it must be made available
to the sages of the Pruth Tower, so that it can be studied.” Cecil, “Of course, the guild was contracted by the sage Hans
Eldar to transport it to him, a member of the tower.” Farlin scoops up the bag of coins and begins to distribute
them, “Count on us Cecil.” Charrd, “I still hate you.” The group gathers their things and heads to the tinker shop. ….. Umail goes into the “Black Oak” tavern across from the
tinker shop, and begins to sing for his supper, while Farlin, Skritch, and Nikhillish
grab a table outside and a few pints of ale. Charrd disappears into the shadows of the fading sun as he
scouts all the possible entrances, or exits to the two-story shop. Farlin is first to enter the shop where he is greeted by an
older man with a large smile. Feydan, “Welcome friend to my magnificent tinker shop what
wonderous item do you seek?” Farlin looks at the shelves of vases, brass, and wood
oddities, but he also notes the stairs just right of the entrance that lead
upstairs, and that behind the man at the counter appears to be another set of
stairs leading down. Farlin, “uh, wow there is just so much great stuff, what I
was looking for is something to help with my cooking… something for seasoning.” Feydan, “I have just the thing, it comes from the desert
cities in the west. They say the people there raid the northern tribes for
their hardwood so that they can construct these cylinders of delight.” And with
that he produces from under the counter a 1’ long cylinder of highly polished
oak, with both ends capped by highly polished brass. Feydan, flipping one of the brass caps open, “You put your
herbs, salts, or pepper in this end and then twist the bottom, behold how the seasoning
come out finely ground. It is whispered that that the dukes on chef has
purchased one of these from me, but I don’t reveal whom my patrons are… it’s
true.” Farlin, “That is just what I need, how much for such a fine
item?” Feydan, “It is my last one, and I like your face, 5 g.p.” Farlin produces the coins, and as Feydan sweeps the ground spice
from his counter, he scoops up the payment handing the Cylinder of Spice
Delight over. Farlin walks out smiling and reconvenes with Skritch,
Charrd, and Nikhillish outside the Black Oak. “Two sets of stairs, one up, and one down.”, says Farlin. There is much discussion about how to distract the shop
keeper and let Skritch run behind the counter and down the stairs into the
basement. It is decided that Umaul will ask to but something for a lady friend
and they will have Feydan show off as many of his wares as possible. And so they party piles into the shop, Farlin telling Umaul
what great things are for sale. While Feydan is happy to have customers, he is
a bit overwhelmed as he runs about the shop showing Umaul one of a kind items
sure to please anyone. Charrd takes the opportunity to barge up the stairs to the 2 nd
level where he finds a room of inventory and two clerks whom quickly tell him
this area is not for customer, and politely ask the teen to leave. When the moment is right Skritch moves like a shadow through
the shop past everyone and down the stairs to the basement. She fines boxes
which appear to be inventory of sorts, and the personal journal of Feydan…