The Sharn Inquisitive - highlights, vol. 3

 THE SHARN INQUISITIVE - Still only 3gp/year! -  Now printed twice weekly! - Sul, Olarune 16, 1000 YK

 

LOAN OFFICE HIT BY IDENTICAL BEAUTIES

Owner offers own reward

 

SHARN, Downstairs - The usually quiet Wir morning was shattered as alarms rang out from the neighborhood Gold Tank Reserve.  Eyewitnesses report a group of identical human women entered the Gold Tank, barred the door, and relieved the site of an undisclosed sum.  "They trashed our security clockworks like they were drunken buffoons," cited one employee (who asked to remain anonymous).  They went on to say that the robbers were well armed, both mundanely and magically, and seemed to know exactly what to expect during their heist.  Owner Ambrost Mugland has offered three thousand Brelish marks for information leading to the capture of the culprits.   "The good citizens of Sharn deserve to know they can conduct business in safety, and if I can aid in that, so be it, " he added.   The Sharn City Watch are asking that any tips be directed to the sergeant on duty at the Downstairs Watch Office on Balderdash Street.  The culprits are to be considered armed and dangerous; if spotted, citizens should not approach or attempt to apprehend.

 

WHO IS "THE BOO"?

Threat or menace?

 

SHARN, Downstairs - The usually quiet Sar daytime was batted about like a cat toy as neighborhood residents were accosted by an oddly costumed character who would sneak up behind them and yell "BOO!".   No violence or other crimes were reportedly done by this person, although all in their wake were left startled and very confused.  "Why can't we have peace?" questioned Bokskar Druuk, owner of a local lobster roll kiosk. "We get enough rowdies around here during the evening.  We should be able to spend our daylight hours quietly, not jumping out of our boots because of some practical joker!  I was in the War, damn it!  For how long are to put up with this?"  Eyewitnesses weren't able to determine sex or race due to the flamboyant costumage of the culprit, only able to agree that they seemed 'really batty'.  The Sharn City Watch are asking that any tips be directed to the sergeant on duty at the Downstairs Watch Office on Balderdash Street.

 

 

OVERDOSE DEATHS CONTINUE

Shiver me timbers!

 

SHARN, Fallen -  The rate of deaths attributed to shiver usage continue to climb in the Fallen district.   In the past week, eight more fatalities were reported, and authorities speculate there are likely more being unreported.   "Fallen has long been a hotbed of unsafe and unregulated narcotics sales and abuse," cited  Lord Mayor Cathan ir'Demell, "and I have and will continue to give further support to all those employed in stopping those behind this crisis."  Shiver, a soporificant and mild hallucinogen, is legal within Breland, but only through House Jorasco dispensaries, which see to the manufacturing of shiver with much fewer rates of addiction and to aid of those wishing to kick their habits.  House Jorasco pleads with anyone dealing with shiver or other addictions to visit any House ward or clinic for help.  "While there are cheaper sources of shiver, their manufacture has no overview or safety standards, and can be cut with almost anything," House representatives warn.  

Beggar Dane says:

"During the so-called 'Witching Hour' - are curses half price?  Asking for a fiend."

The Life and Times of a Dead Man - Episode 14 - The pornographic slime

Gattlebee tells the companions that what he needs is in the freezer. Zita inquires about what Gattlebee needs, but he assures her that she doesn’t need to know. She tries again, and he says it’s all that is left of his marriage. 

He unlocks the doors and ushers the companions inside. They enter what used to be a tasting room. As they watch, two things drop from the ceiling behind the bar. The constructs start chanting, “Good day. Welcome to the Yeast of Day brewery. I hope you are enjoying your tour.” 

The two clockwork tavern keepers come around from behind the bar. One of the clockworks grabs Sabrina, and the other attacks Dol. Audrey Rose throws a bomb at one construct while Sabrina slips the bond. The constructs attack Sabrina and Dol again, who both fall unconscious. Zita tumbles behind the enemy and stabs them. Audrey Rose throws bottled lightning at one of them. It fizzles and then closes in on Gattlebee. 

Hendra flanks the other construct with Zita, who daggers it. Hendra stabs it too. Gattlebee takes a five-foot step away from his construct and throws bottled lightning at it. Audrey Rose throws bottled lightning as well. The construct attempts to hit her but misses. The other construct hits Hendra but does not grapple her. 

Zita stabs the construct on a vital junction. It collapses. Audrey Rose destroys the last construct with bottled lightning. 

Sabrina argues with Gattlebee about the circumstances. Neither is happy with the other. 

We enter the brewery proper. There are large-size brewing tanks throughout the room. Gattlebee heads to the back, where the cold room is located. As they cross the open floor, Zita and Hendra notice that the dust on the floor has recently been disturbed. Sabrina hears metallic thumping coming from somewhere in the room. 

Gattlebee opens the door. This room is freezing cold. There are crates and barrels everywhere. Gattlebee reaches up on top of a high shelf and pulls down a silver ring; he pockets it. “That’s everything. We can go now.” The group turns to go. 

As they head towards the exit, two creatures appear. One appears like a diabolical cactus, and the other looks like a wyvern. The cactus person, Dewey Daystar, tells the companions, “Hold it right there. Reach for the sky. I know you got the alchemist, Gattlebee. He has committed crimes against nature. … None of you are going to leave this building.”

Dol attempts to daze Dewey Daystar. It doesn’t work. Tweetie bear attacks the drake, but it avoids him. Dewey gestures, and his green skin turns brown. The drake starts a dodge parry dance with Tweetie bear; neither can hit the other. Sabrina uses hypnotic stare on the creature. It retaliates with an attack of opportunity against Sabrina. 

Hendra runs forward and shoots the creature. Zita dashes toward the drake. Dol was moving toward the catwalk when a pornographic slime suddenly emerged. She runs away. Tweetie Bear enlarges and continues its dance with the forest drake. Hendra is unable to charge. Meanwhile, Zita closes in and stabs the drake. Audrey Rose throws a bomb at it. 

The pornographic slime pursues Dol, who continues to outrun it. (Jim yells, “It’s coming after you.”) Tweetie Bear wrestles the drake to the ground and breaks its neck.  

Daystar yells, “You’ll all pay for that.” He gestures, and hail starts falling on the group. Zita falls unconscious, and Sabrina dies. 

Audrey Rose throws a bomb at Dewey Daystar, but it doesn’t appear to do much damage. Suddenly, he turns into a bear. 

The pornographic slime closes on Audrey Rose, but her shield protects her. On the other side of the room, Dol pours a potion down Zita’s throat. The bear claws at Hendra and grapples her. 

Audrey Rose throws an acid bomb at the bear. The ooze wraps itself around the bear’s head and suffocates it to death. A little cactus form of Dewey Daystar is found within the ooze. 

Dol searches for Gattlebee so that they can get the hell out. Zita drags Sabrina’s corpse toward the exit. They hightail it out. Audrey Rose checks on Sabrina, but she is truly dead. Dol finds Gattlebee and directs him to leave. Bosley helps Zita carry the body. The party makes it safely out of the Yeast Brewery. 

Gattlebee disguises himself as Sabrina. They stuff her body in the bag of holding.

Sabrina is in a long winding line of people. Standing before her is a grey elf. She seems confused and asks, “Where are we?” Sabrina hears music. Two skeletal women in colorful flowery dresses approach her. Sabrina asks the elf about the two skeletal women, but the elf is no longer paying her any attention. One of the skeleton women is playing an instrument. She asks Sabrina, “Why are you so worried about money?” She hands Sabrina two silver pieces. Sabrina is wearing a tunic and has nowhere to put her money. Sabrina claims to have lost her two silver pieces and asks for two more. The lady hands Sabrina two silver pieces. Sabrina still has only two. She throws a silver piece into the woman’s guitar case, a pitch-black void. “I’m not sure you are worth it,” says a falcon-headed figure behind her. He’s got weapons struck throughout his body. “You’re really desperate to get out of here, aren’t you?” he asks. Sabrina asks, “What do I have to pay?” He grabs Sabrina by the head. “Oh, I see what you can do.” He hands her a collection of shiny cooper cubes and instructs her to swallow them. She swallows them. 

Zita and Bosley are trying to stuff Sabrina into a bag when she awakens. Everyone is shocked to see her alive. They make the twenty-minute trip to the Broken Barrel. Phoebe is behind the bar. Audrey Rose tells Phoebe that they were ambushed by alchemical goblins. She’s surprised to hear about them because Ambrose wouldn’t usually hire them out. She’s less surprised by Daybreaker and his drake. She recognizes the goblin gang as the Chemical Kids. Phoebe needs to look into what’s happened. She gives the companions each 250 gold. 

We need an in with one of the religions to get a cure light wounds wand; otherwise, they must go to a House Jurisco hospital. They can also go through the Pathway society. 

The companions wind their way home, resting and preparing for their future adventures.

They get 1100 XP.

The Life and Times of a Dead Man - Episode 13 - I Love A Parade

The companions have completed their surveillance and prep work. Audrey Rose distributes the anti-toxins she created. Sabrina takes the broach and leads the charge to Vashon Gattlebee’s house. The house is barred with chicken wire and topped with barbed wire. Audrey Rose picks the lock at the front gate. Sabrina steps into the yard and hears a boom, deafening much of the party for a few seconds. Bosley and Sabrina stagger back as a spray of liquid splashes past them. The shed's wall suddenly grows a mouth and says, “No solicitors.” 

The companions walk down the path, and Sabrina sets off another trap. Bosley, Zita, and Audrey Rose are all deafened. Audrey Rose is sprayed with a jet of purplish liquid. Sabrina steps on the porch, and something activates. Little pellets hit Sabrina and Bosley on the face and hands. Sabrina bangs on the door and continues to be hit by pellets. Bosley steps off the porch. 

Since no one is answering the door, Zita picks the lock. Sabrina steps inside. She’s in a sitting room. Meanwhile, the rest of the party continues to be pelted by pellets. Vashon Gattlebee is standing amidst his alchemical lab. Sabrina shows him the broach and tells him that Phoebe sent them. Gattlebee needs to pack his bags before the party can leave.  

Inside the cage are food bowls, greenery, and water. Audrey Rose can’t see the creature, though. The others see something scamper under the tables. Suddenly a six-legged chameleon erupts from the tables. The chameleon knocks a bottle over at Bosley’s feet; it explodes. 

Gattlebee tells the companions to take care of Slick and that there’s a potion to give it. Unfortunately, Bosley, Zita, and Audrey Rose are deafened, so they don’t hear his instructions. Bosley throws a Ray of Frost at it, and Zita attempts to double-dagger it. Dol calms the creature. Hendra finds the green and silver potion and moves toward Slick. Zita double-daggers the animal, which sets it off again. Dol throws the potion into the creature’s open mouth, turning it back to its normal size. 

Gattlebee finishes packing, places Slink back in his cage, and locks it. Gattlebee hands them a bag with three thunderstones, two cure light potions, and three tanglefoot bags. Gattlebee disguises himself as Dol, and Dol disguises himself as Gattlebee. 

They start taking the route that they charted out to the brewery. As they travel the course, they see more and more people in costumes and masks with instruments. Audrey Rose and Zita use their hats to change into costumes. The group and their parade escort start going through the bottleneck bridge. They see a couple of short, cloaked figures smoking cigars at the ambush point Zita had initially mapped out. 

Sabrina tells Gattlebee to change into a parade goer; she does the same. The short figures come out at them. Hendra shoots them with a crossbow. Dol throws a tanglefoot at one, and Audrey Rose throws a bomb at the other. Bosley walks up and spell strikes one of the goblins. The goblin goes to throw a bomb at Bosley and misses and throws it behind himself. Another goblin throws a bomb. The end of the bridge is now encased in fog. 

Sabrina goes through the cloud and becomes nauseated. A crossbow bolt zips past Zita’s head. Audrey Rose throws a bomb at one, and Zita aims a crossbow at the other. Bosley stabs the goblin. It attempts to retaliate but misses. A goblin throws an alchemist bomb at Audrey Rose, knocking her out. 

Sabrina makes it to the other side of the bridge. Zita pours a healing potion down Audrey Rose’s throat. The goblin throws a bomb at Zita and hits her and Audrey Rose. 

Sabrina and Gattlebee run to the Yeast of All brewery. Dol heads to the Broken Barrell. 

Bosley and one of the goblins engage in combat. Zita pours another potion down Audrey Rose’s throat. Once she’s up, she takes her own potion. Bosley runs the goblin through and saves the potion. The remaining goblin calls for backup. Bosley, Audrey Rose, and Zita slip away and head toward the Yeast of All brewery. 

Gattlebee takes his hat off and approaches the woman outside the Yeast of All brewery. She slaps him, unlocks the door, and storms off. 

Everyone gets 1300 XP. 

The Life and Times of a Dead Man - Episode 12 - BOO!

As a reward for their work, the companions received 1000 gold each. Flush with her winnings, Sabrina goes to the racetrack.

Zita asks Charlie what he knows about aberrant dragon marks. Charlie suggests that the dragon mark may have been caused by the drugs the boy took. Charlie suspects there may be more going on and recommends they keep their eyes open for this Black Sugar. Zita next asks Charlie about the Dolgrim. Charlie finds it odd that the Dolgrim called the boy emissary. Next, Zita asks about Ambrose Muglen. Charlie has heard that Ambrose would do anything for money. He’s surprised that Ambrose is interested in alchemy. Charlie recommends we continue working with Dunsley. 

Dol goes to the cemetery to see if there have been any recent changes in the recently dead. Some deaths stand out, but nothing like what Dol described. He leaves his name and Audrey Rose’s as possible contacts if something arises. 

After three days, the companions receive a message slipped under their door from Ceseli, who wants to meet. They go visit her that day. She has good news. She has been able to sell some of her grandmother’s goods and has a portion of their payment ready. She gives them one thousand gold. (Everybody gets 166 gold, 6 silver, and 6 copper). Her money is still tied up in legal and bureaucratic red tape. Zita asks Ceseli if she’s been in contact with Ambrose. She hasn’t heard from him in a while. 

Audrey Rose asks the group if they should hire someone to look after the house. While Charlie agrees it’s a good idea, the companions don’t want to spend the money. . A trained servant would be 2 gold and 1 silver a week. The group debates how to hire. Audrey Rose wants to go to the agency to find someone. Zita and Sabrina wish to interview and hire someone for the group. 

The companions receive a message from Phoebe inviting them to the Broken Barrel. They head there and are served drinks by the goblin they’d previously met. Phoebe leads them to the meeting room. She shows them a signet ring on her index finger. It depicts three towers interconnected with bridges with a crossed pair of keys. Hendra and Zita recognize it as the symbol of Sharn. The ring indicates that Phoebe is in the employ of the mayor. The ring is authentic. The lord mayor is not the most powerful person in the city; the city council is. He is, however, a direct line to the crown and has been mayor for twenty years. 

Next, Phoebe asks the group if they’ve heard of Vashon Gattlebee. Bosley and Hendra had heard of him before because he was in the paper. He’s an alchemist who has created a new explosive. Ambrose is interested in getting the formula for this new explosive. The mayor wants to bury it. Phoebe wants the companions to escort Gattlebee from his home to the Broken Barrell, where he will be brought to a safe location. The adventurers ask to borrow a hat of disguise. Gattlebee wants to stop at an old brewery, The Yeast of All, not too far from the Broken Barrell. He’s supposed to be expecting them in four days. That gives the companions time to scout out the route. They’ll each be compensated 500 gold upon successful delivery. Expenses within reason will be covered. Phoebe hands Audrey Rose a cameo broach as proof for Vashon. She gives the group a map. Gattlebee’s home is in Foundation. The quickest route from the Foundation neighborhood to the Downstairs district is across the Bottleneck Bridge that goes from one plateau to another. She marks all the places along the map for them. 

[Bosley copies Obscuring Mist into his spell book, and Audrey Rose copies False Life.]

Hendra spends her time in the Downstairs neighborhood buying drinks hoping to gather information. She finds out that alchemists all over the city are trying to replicate the formula but are instead blowing up their own labs. Dol researches points where the group may get ambushed. Zita gathers information, and  Audrey Rose checks out the Bottleneck bridge. Sabrina investigates. They all discover that Gattlebee’s house is a townhome structure with a sizeable garden in front. It’s overgrown with a sticky bushy flower. The front yard has a tool shed and a chicken wire barb wire fence. The Yeast of All brewery has been out of business for a while, and the windows are all boarded up. 

Dol and Hendra check out the Yeast of All brewery. Sabrina tries to see if she can set up a parade. Audrey Rose observes the people observing the house. Zita manages to chat up a botany professor. He tells her that the bushy flower is a poisonous variety of plants that will sicken and cause wisdom damage. The group discovers that the bottleneck bridge is the best way through the neighborhood. Vendors set up booths throughout the day. At night the city watch puts up a checkpoint to help deal with drunken rowdies. The Yeast of All is definitely closed. 

Audrey Rose makes two bottles of antitoxins. Hendra looks over local deeds and paperwork and discovers that The Yeast of All brewery was owned by Gattlebee’s wife. Zita investigates possible sewers that might be able to help the group. Hendra researches local politicians to see who would be interested in gaining the formula. From what she can tell, the crown wants to keep the secret buried. Zita investigates Gattlebee’s wife. She finds out that their marriage ended when Gattlebee told his wife about the research he was doing. They divorced about a year and a half ago. She also finds out that Jazeem’s newest play is about to open. 

Audrey Rose makes two more bottles of antitoxins. Bosley investigates the route. Hendra investigates Gattlebee. She discovers that he used to be a student at the local university. His demeanor put off other students and professors. He was brilliant, but his behavior kept him from being as successful as he could have been. He is a loner and prefers to stay that way. Zita explores the route and can get a good vantage point where the Bottleneck bridge meets Downstairs. She sees something peculiar. Someone has been smoking a lot of cigars here. She thinks someone has been setting this spot up for an ambush. Audrey Rose makes two more antitoxins; she now has six. Zita finds that some of the stalls are under renovation. She suspects that these are avenues of ambush. She decides to turn these stalls into the city so they get shut down. 

Audrey Rose investigates the Downstairs neighborhood. Dol does the same. A vigilante is seen from time to time around the area, but the locals think nothing of it. Finally, the group develops a selection of alternative routes we can use if we need to bug out. 

The group is awarded 300 XP. 

The Life and Times of a Dead Man - Episode 11 - Peanut Butter/Ochre jelly time!

A giant ooze slinks through the water toward the heroes. Hendra identifies the ooze as an ochre jelly. The monster is an ooze that shows up pretty much anywhere. She knows that they are mindless and immune to electricity. Furthermore, these creatures have a tendency to split if hit with piercing and slashing weapons. Hendra throws a rat bomb at the ochre jelly. Dol asks Tweetie-Bear to back up and warns it not to use its bite or claws. He then grabs a rat bomb from Audrey. Audrey throws one of her bombs at the creature. The creature closes in on the group as Bosley retreats onto land. Hendra pulls out a metal stick and smacks it. Dol backs up onto land and searches for a weapon. Zeta throws a rat bomb at the ooze. Audrey Rose throws another bomb at it. The ooze retaliates by attempting to attack Hendra but misses her. Bosley tries to find an improvised weapon but has no luck. Sabrina flees for the other side of the water while Hendra beats the creature with her metal stick causing bird skull pieces fly out from the ooze. Meanwhile, Dol finds a long piece of pipe with a chunk of cement at the other end which he hands to Bosley as Zeta beats the creature with the crowbar. Audrey Rose throws another bomb. The ochre jelly continues to miss Hendra. Bosley swings the cement pipe at the creature and watches it fall apart. The ooze is dead.

Zita hightails it across the water to where Sabrina is already waiting. The group is ready to cross the water and get out of this area. Dol remains behind to search around the rags in the middle of the water. Dol finds a leather bag filled with teeth with gold and silver fillings. Dol pockets it.

The party continue forward. One way curves back around to the left, and the other way is filled with crates in a makeshift shed. The crates are neatly sorted and stacked, and Audrey Rose suspects it is where the goblins do their fixing. Zeta’s danger sense goes off. She feels like something is watching her, and she turns just in time for a crossbow bolt to fly past her. Another bolt hits Dol in the shoulder. Crawling amidst the crates are mechanical monkeys.

Tweetie-Bear clamps onto the monkey’s paw and wrestles with it, while Dol throws a rat bomb at the other monkey. The monkey fighting with Tweetie-Bear crawls back up the wall and fires a crossbow bolt. The second monkey misses Audrey Rose burying a crossbolt into the wall. Sabrina throws a dagger at the second monkey; a chunk of him falls off. Audrey Rose throws a shock bomb at one of the monkeys. It seizes, convulses, and falls over. Zeta buries her dagger into the remaining monkey, but he remains standing. Tweetie-Bear grabs the creature with its claw and mouth and flings and shakes it about. All that is left is a single arm hanging out of Tweetie-Bear’s mouth.

Suddenly, they hear a voice from among the crates, “Is it safe? Is it clear?” One of the crates opens, and a warforged comes out. The warforged is named Monsie; he’s the crane operator. He warns the group to be careful around the airship; people say it’s haunted. Dol asks Monsie if he has anything that can help. The creature hands him two vials of holy water. Audrey Rose points out that she does extra damage with thrown weapons, so Dol hands her one of the vials.

The group goes down the road toward the airship. As they search the area, they hear creaks and moans throughout the wreckage. Audrey Rose finds an old, dented nameplate that was once attached to the side of the hull; it reads Harpy’s Kiss. Bosley and Hendra have heard of a dirigible named the Harpy’s Kiss that was a freelance ship that did jobs for Breland during the last war. It was brought down about ten years ago in a battle with Saerif (spell check) forces. It was captained by Phera Wyndslow. As they continue searching, they hear a deep growl followed by a shrill whistle. Appearing above where they are searching is a crudely constructed automaton with a propeller that is slowly spinning. Tweetie-Bear recognizes this as a Haunt. 

Sabrina asks the Haunt what she’s doing way up there. She doesn’t respond. Sabrina attempts to bluff her way past by saying the group is in a hurry on a mission of mercy. The aberration points at the nameplate that Audrey Rose is holding. She is Harpy’s Kiss. Audrey Rose offers to take the nameplate to a museum or the university. At the mention of Wyndslow’s name the Haunt’s eyes light up. The Harpy’s Kiss tells Audrey Rose, “Find her.” Then it disappears. The group has taken a quest to find Captain Wyndslow. They decide to take a moment to search the area just in case there is anything of importance left behind. Sabrina is incredibly shocked that they don’t find anything in the area.

The adventurers slide down the other side of the wreckage. They come across a crude encampment with hastily set up tents and a recently extinguished campfire. Three gnolls climb out of the garbage and attack them. Hendra charges in and attacks the one in the middle. A splash of the gnoll’s blood smolders Hendra’s armor. Audrey Rose hits one of the gnolls right on the snout with her bomb and it falls over dead. Zita charges in against the other gnoll and double daggers it to oblivion. The gnoll’s acidic blood burns Zita’s hand. Tweetie-Bear dispatches the last gnoll. Audrey Rose determines that these gnolls are malnourished and have come down with some kind of disease. Sabrina thoroughly checks the camp and doesn’t find anything of use.

Hendra finds the gnoll tracks, and the adventurers follow them. Coming around the corner they come across the unusual sight of a riot of fungi. Audrey Rose wants to bottle up the fungi, but Sabrina casts Forbid Action forcing her to hurry past it. As they make their way through the fungi something grabs Hendra and Bosley by the leg, pitching them forward. Suddenly little green guys with spears and sharp claws climb their way out of the fungi. Bosley attacks one, and Audrey Rose throws alchemist fire at another, killing it in a blast of flame. Tweetie-Bear launches itself at another and rips off its arms and head. Dol points out that there are ribcages with fungi growing out of them. In the middle of the fight, Dol and Sabrina get into a debate about what this means. Fortunately, the green creatures are not very good with their spears. They attack but miss. Sabrina impales one through the chin. Unfortunately, Bosley fumbles and Audrey Rose misses her fire throw, hitting the wall instead. The creature takes splash damage and then is torn apart by Tweetie-Bear. Despite winning the fight and being among the fungi, Sabrina continues to insist that Audrey Rose should not bottle the fungi. Zita calmly and rationally persuades Audrey Rose. Getting the same message from two people who don’t normally agree, Audrey Rose decides it’s best to listen. She stares longingly at all the bright colors and bids them adieu.

The party moves its way past the tiny jungle of fungus. They come to what looks like the end of the path of the junkyard where they see three figures coming out of a storm drain. The bigger of the three looks at the adventurers and exclaims, “Look boys, dinner.” Surprisingly, Sabrina charges in and slices one of the gnolls. Audrey Rose throws a bomb at the center figure, catching all three with the bomb and killing the one on Sabrina. Tweetie-Bear recreates the decimation of its previous foes. The remaining gnoll swings a sap at Bosley, but he jumps back just in time to avoid it. While the gnoll laughs, Hendra shoots a bolt right through its mouth. The fight is quick and over so quickly that Bosely ponders why the goblins needed help in the first place.

The party heads back to the goblins to claim their rewards. They display the gnoll ears they have collected. The goblins are overjoyed and give them their reward of a lump of cold iron. The adventurers bid the goblins a fond farewell and head to the storm drain. They go through the storm drain and arrive near the Broken Barrell. Phoebe and the goblin are cleaning glasses when the group arrives. They all head to a private room where Dol hands Phoebe the bag and the others return the hats. She empties the bag and returns it to the group, gifting them the bag of holding. From the tellers, the party gathered 18g and 15 silver. The tellers' money is distributed as Phoebe and her crew work on opening the lockbox.

The group received 1000 xp.  Vault money will be counted and the amount emailed to us.

The Life and Times of a Dead Man - Episode 10 - Keystone Crooks

There are two tick-tocks marching in front of the wings. The party disguise themselves before entering the bank. Bosley closes the door on the four waiting customers and secures it with a crowbar. There are two clockwork guards inside the building. There is a barred gate covering the area before the vault. There is a table off to the corner inside the vault, but the party members can’t quite see what’s on it.

Audrey Rose throws a bottle of lightning at the guard closest to her. The guard convulses and turns its attention to her. Hendra charges the other guard and does high levels of damage to it. The two guards start ringing loudly. Hendra and Zita are deafened by the siren. The two guards attempt to punch Hendra and Audrey Rose and miss. Sabrina is certain that there is more ringing coming from within the bank.

Bosley attacks the guard on Audrey Rose with Shocking Grasp. Dol summons snakes by the backdoor. Sabrina runs towards the tellers, “Let me in. I don’t want to die. They’re trying to kill me.” Zita strikes at the guard on Hendra. Audrey Rose takes a five-foot step and casts a shield spell. She hears someone yelling through the front door.

Two more clockworks show up. They pull out javelins; one falls on the floor and the other bounces off the wall. Bosley stabs at the clockwork and misses. Zita double-daggers the guard. Audrey Rose fumbles her bomb causing splash damage to the guard. Hendra runs the sword through the clockwork, and it collapses into a dismantled heap.

Bosley hears attempts to batter the door down. He ignores the sounds and slashes at the clockwork, skewering it right in the power supply. Sabrina examines the dismantled tick-tocks and fails to take a fist full of parts. Zita unlocks the teller’s gate, and Audrey Rose makes her way through the door. Dol summons a wolf and threatens the tellers.

Hendra sees a big, locked steel box on the table. Zita unlocks the backdoor and sees a room with tables and chairs. Audrey Rose throws a bottle of lightning at one of the guards outside the vault. The guard retaliates by attacking the wolf; it disappears. The second guard closes in on Audrey Rose and punches the wall behind her.

Dol attempts to vault over Zita and scrambles up the steel door, slipping, and falling on top of Zita. Sabrina helps Zita up. Zita tries to vault over Dol and grabs a hold of the vault door, but her foot catches on Dol, and she’s back on the floor. Audrey Rose throws a bottle of lightning at the guard; it gets hit by a turquoise cascade of flurries and falls into a heap of smoking parts.

Bosley attacks the other guard with Shocking Grasp. Dol stands up and offers to lift Zita. It doesn’t work. Sabrina walks into the conference room and starts opening doors. Zita stands up and disguises herself as one of the tellers. Audrey Rose blows the head off the last guard. The siren is finally silent, but all our ears are ringing.

Hendra yells at the tellers, “Down on the floor, face down, hands behind heads!” The tellers follow suit. Bosley runs into the vault and attempts to lift the box; it’s too heavy. Sabrina walks into the vault door and loudly announces, “This is easy!” Zita attempts to pick the lock on the door that Sabrina just vacated. She successfully unlocks the door.

At this point, the ringing in their ears stops and they can hear normally again. Audrey Rose tries to shove the box into the bag of holding but she’s not strong enough. Bosley also tries, but the box isn’t budging. Dol greases the table and pushes the box into the bag.

Sabrina goes to examine another door. Someone hiding behind the desk fires at her. A crossbow bolt sinks into her shoulder. A dwarven woman with a repeating crossbow is standing there. Sabrina casts Hideous Laughter on her, but the dwarven woman resists the spell's effects.

Zita goes to examine the escape route to ensure that it’s safe. She yells to us that the way is clear. Audrey Rose goes to help Sabrina. She throws a bomb at the dwarven woman; she misses but the woman still takes splash damage. Hendra steps into the room and yells, “Drop the crossbow, and you’ll be fine.”

Bosley goes to a safety deposit box to examine it; it requires two keys. The dwarf shoots at Audrey Rose and misses. Audrey Rose yells, “I told you to put the crossbow down.” Sabrina leaves the room and empties one of the teller boxes.

Audrey Rose throws a bomb and retreats per Hendra’s instructions. The front doors batter open and the sirens start again. The party retreats. Sabrina empties the last teller box. The dwarf yells at Hendra to get out. Hendra responds, “Anything for a lady,” and she runs out.

The tick-tocks attempt to chase us down and slip and fall on the grease spell. The four customers run into the room and yell, “Get them. We’ll be rewarded handsomely.”

They continue retreating full speed ahead. Hendra sees that people are coming from both ends of the alley; they look like guardsmen. The party all run into the entrance of the scrapyard. Dol places another grease spell outside the scrapyard. There is a particularly tall tower of junk inside. Perched on top of an old folding chair is a goblin. He yells, “Come through here. Come through here.” Zita trusts him, so we go that way. As the last of them run past, the tower of junk collapses blocking the way.

The goblin leads us around a wall of junk. His name is Goback and is a member of the Nail biters tribe. He likes that they pissed off the guards. The Nailbiters have recently been joined by some War Forges. He wants to introduce them to Lord Glass. Goback leads them around a corner to an encampment. Goblins are sorting through junk and Warforges trying to fix things. There’s a goblin on top of an apparatus that is a cross between a bicycle and a roasting spit; cockroaches are being roasted. “It’s a Roachtisserie,” says Hendra. Everyone groans.

All the goblins surround us and offer to sell them thundersticks to fight gnolls. A goblin in a big floppy tophat introduces himself as Lord Glass. He’s wearing a shirt with embedded glass. He asks the group to fight the gnolls that are between them and the storm drain. Lord Glass offers to give them the best junk in return. He shows them a lump of metal that Audrey identifies as Cold Iron. There’s enough to make one weapon. The group agrees to take out the gnolls.

The way to the gnolls is blocked by a big metal box. Munsey (one of the goblins) knows how to operate the crane; he went to go do something about the gnolls and hasn’t come back. There’s also an airship blocking the way. We head to the crane.

There is a big box sitting in fetid water blocking the way. Dol summons crabs into the water. Bosley climbs into the cockpit of the crane. There are several handles. The control panel has been removed revealing the cables and wires underneath. Bosley goes to sit down and is ankle-deep in roaches.

Dol casts grease on the roaches. There’s now a swarm of roaches following Bosley. Zita goes as far away from them as she can. Audrey Rose throws a bomb at them. The others aren’t sure what to do and run away. Hendra runs to the goblin camp. Audrey Rose throws alchemist fire at the swarm. Hendra buys alchemist fire from the goblins; it’s a balloon made out of a rat. Zita also gets two rat bombs. They all return just as Audrey Rose destroys the swarm.

Bosley climbs into the crane and operates it successfully. The big metal box is moved out of the way, unblocking the path. Dol summons Tweetie-Bear. They proceed through the fetid water. Sabrina casts prestidigitation on the party members. What looks like an oil slick is moving toward them in the water.

The players get 1,066 XP

The Life and Times of a Dead Man - Episode 9 - Stupid COVID

 The group meets up with Bosley and Dol and catches them up on what they missed. Bosley knows about the dolgrim. A dolgrim is created when two goblins are fused together. They are the result of an interdimensional invasion that took place thousands of years ago when goblins were in charge. These things have been around for a long time. The Daelkyr are responsible for all the aberrations that are here. Bosley feels left out and wishes he had been involved in the dolgrim’s demise.

Cord is looking worn out and feverish. Our heroes bid him adieu and head back to the brownstone. Before they leave, Cord’s family pays them a thousand gold. Bosley asks Charlie if he’s heard of Black Sugar. He hasn’t, but he wants us to keep an eye out for it. He suspects that it will come into play again in the future.

As the party still had a credit voucher for furniture at House Cannith, they use it to outfit our rooms and the sitting area.

Zita goes to visit Ceseli. She shares with her that we are now a detective agency, the Townsend Agency, and shares the address with her. They agree to keep in touch and visit for a while. Zita still does not seduce her.

Bosley and Audrey Rose talk magic as they examine the spell book together. Audrey Rose discovers that she can learn to identify magic items and learn the spell false life out of the spell book. (She’ll have to try false life again in a week.)

Charlie messages us one day to tell us that we have a visitor. An envelope is under our door. The envelope contains a handwritten letter that says, “You seem to be doing a good job. If you want to do more good work come to this address at 7 pm. – Phoebe Dunsmith” Hendra and Audrey Rose know that Phoebe is a dwarf who owns The Broken Barrel located Downstairs (a tavern district).  Phoebe inherited this property from the previous owners some years ago and it has been a staple here ever since. 

The party arrive a little before 7 pm to scout out the area. The bouncer is escorting two people out of the store. The place appears rowdy and busy. There are low-class workers coming in and out. Hendra appears extra tense. Sabrina leads the way in. The bar looks clean and the tables and chairs are a hodgepodge of styles. Behind the bar is Phoebe, a smiling dwarf. A skinny goblin stands up behind the bar and asks what he can get them. Sabrina orders three ales and hands one to Hendra. Audrey Rose orders a flaming whiskey. Zita asks for something pretty with an umbrella; the goblin offers a Dunsmith Dram. Zita suddenly notices that Audrey Rose’s hair is on fire.

After a while, Phoebe approaches the party and asks them to follow her. She leads them to a small sitting room. Hendra notices that there is a small hole the size of a thumbnail on the floor. She acknowledges that her name is not dwarven and that she has her reasons for changing it. She’s heard about us from the papers. She asks how the seven of them feel about robbing a bank. It’s the kind of bank that makes very high-interest loans to people who can’t pay it back and loans money to white-collar criminals. Ambrose Mugland owns the Gold Tank; it’s one of his enterprises. She offers us 10% each, and she’ll use the remaining funds for another venture. Hendra and Audrey Rose have reservations about the idea of robbing a bank. She needs us to do this before tomorrow afternoon. There are usually a dozen tic-tocks, but there are only six right now.

Phoebe produces a bag and starts to hand out hats; they are hats of disguise. She hands Dol a bag of holding type 1. There will be customers, bank tellers, and the bank manager, Icarius in the bank; the manager may be a problem because she is a good shot. Tic-tocks possess ropes in their shoulders that they use to hogtie their victims.

Phoebe gives us instructions for what to do when we escape. She tells them to empty the vault and go out of the employee exit in the back. Immediately across the road is the entrance to the scrap yard. The party will go into the scrap yard. In the yard, there is a storm drain entrance and the party must, take that all the way back here.

The party decide to do this early in the morning when there are fewer customers. The tic-tocks are constructs of the clockwork subtype. They are vulnerable to electricity. They are mindless creatures. They are not immune to anything. Audrey Rose creates three bottles of lightning in preparation for the fight, and Sabrina casts spells upon party members to assist them should they be bound. 

They arrive at the bank early in the morning. There are two tic-tocks patrolling outside. The front door is between the two wings. There are customers lined up outside the bank. Sabrina gives each of them three silvers and convinces them that the bank is closed. They leave, but more customers arrive.

We don’t receive any XP.

The Life and Times of a Dead Man - Episode 8 - Down in the Dolgrims

The female halfling knocks back a potion. The male halfling pulls out a scroll and attempts to cast from it, but instead, it blows up in his face. Zita argues, “I don’t understand. What did my brother do to deserve a beating? And why are you taking it out on my friends?” The halflings ignore her and don’t seem to care. 

Audrey Rose takes a mutagen and becomes more graceful and air elemental-like. The halfling shoots a crossbow bolt at Hendra who nimbly moves out of the way. Two thugs draw short swords and close in on Hendra while the other two move in on Audrey Rose. The male halfling pulls out another scroll and sends a fan of fire toward Hendra and Zita who dodge out of the way. Zita flanks one of the thugs and double daggers him in his kidneys. Hendra attacks the thug with her longsword. Audrey Rose finishes him off with the splash damage from her bomb.

The halfling tumbles and attacks Hendra who rolls out of the way. Both thugs miss. The halfling pulls out a scroll and sends a magic missile at Audrey Rose. Zita double-daggers the female halfling, and Hendra follows up with a thrust of her sword. She then turns around and stabs the thug behind her, dropping him. Audrey Rose throws a bomb at the spellcasting halfling burning his eyebrows.

The male halfling throws a bottle at Hendra who takes fire damage. Hendra is on fire! Sabrina and the thug exchange blows; Sabrina bests him. Zita tumbles nimbly behind the female halfling and does devastating damage. The halfling is bleeding profusely but is still up. Audrey Rose throws a bomb at the male halfling knocking him out.

The female halfling, Bellis the Brave, drops her short sword and puts her hands up in the air, surrendering. Sabrina has her drop all her items, and Hendra makes her disrobe. Zita demands to know what all this was about. According to the female halfling, Cord showed up a couple of days ago with his friends, beat them up, and stole all her gold. Cord had a dozen small monsters with three arms and two mouths. Cord said he had to find Nori and go back. Bellis tells them that Cord is still at the Little Bowl of Boldrei.

Bellis provides directions to the Little Bowl of Buldrey which is a floating building. The party reached the dock to the building; it was damaged and badly washed out at the end. The building is in a severe state of disrepair. The damage is likely a remnant of the tsunami that hit last year. There is a large piece of plywood on the dock. It’s a sign for the Little Bowl of Buldrey with the same symbol that the halfling wore. Hendra opens the door and a chime loudly rings. The inside of the building is as dilapidated as the outside. The furniture is burnt and in disrepair. Laying on the ground is a teenage boy. Standing next to him is a green, lumpy creature with multiple arms and two mouths. It looks like an icky goblin. Near the boy is a trapdoor. Hendra hears something above her. She looks up and finds a dozen creatures hanging in the rafters. Zita asks to see Cord. The creature near Cord summons our heroes into the room. Sabrina approaches the creature and Cord. She notices something glowing under his shirt.

Sabrina asks about the glow. The creature answers, “The mark of Messerie. Daelkyr.” Sabrina walks past him and slashes open Cord’s shirt. There appears to be a tattoo on him; it takes up most of his shoulder, arm, and a portion of his neck. It glows blue and red. Cord is asking for Nori. He insists that he has to go back to save Nori. Sabrina pretends to be Nori, and Zita acts as though she’s Warem. Sabrina tries to get Cord to House Jarasco. Cord insists that no one can see him because they would want to hurt him. “You know about these things. We had the same history tutor.” The creatures are concerned that Sabrina wants to take Cord. Thr creatures exclaim, “Messerie tells us what Daelkyr wants us to do.” They all start drawing their weapons.

Audrey Rose drinks a Shield potion; Zita gets into a defensive stance, and Hendra draws her longsword and closes in. The creature blocks Hendra’s blow with its shield. The creatures in the rafters pepper our heroes with crossbow bolts, injuring them all. Sabrina casts Tasha’s Hideous Laughter causing one to fall over in bouts of laughter. Audrey Rose throws a bomb into the mix and Zita knicks one on the cheek. Three creatures come charging at Audrey Rose, but their attacks are ineffective against her shield. Two close in on Hendra but are equally ineffective. The two that close in on Sabrina stab her. Sabrina skewers one through the mouth. Cord scurries into the corner. He appears frightened.

Audrey Rose throws a bomb into a cluster of three creatures. Two of them fly back and are destroyed. Zita tumbles behind the remaining one and attempts to strike at it. Hendra slashes at the prone figure laughing on the floor. Sabrina slices across the face of the main creature. It seems pissed.

Cord is in the corner mumbling to himself. Sabrina notices that his tattoo is glowing brighter and starting to pulse.

Audrey Rose continues throwing bombs. Suddenly, the trap door blows up and a ghastly figure emerges; it has multiple goblin faces and tentacles. Two of its giant mouths attempt to bite Hendra, and it attempts to grapple her. Prone Hendra attacks the giggling goblin.

The creatures attempt to attack but are ineffective. One of the creatures attempts to stab Sabrina but appears as though he attacked the big, ghastly creature. Audrey Rose throws a bomb and destroys two more creatures. Zita does a graceful tumble and then drinks a healing potion. Sabrina does her nifty trick again, killing a creature, and then falls unconscious. Hendra stands up and stabs at the air. Creatures ineffectively beat at Zita and Audrey Rose.

Cord looks terrified. His tattoo starts to glow and it pulses brightly forcing the group to make will saves. Audrey Rose begins to play with colors that only she sees glowing in the air. Zita and the creatures continue their fight, while the big creature focuses on Hendra. In a mad craze, Audrey Rose kills the creature fighting her.

Audrey Rose’s mind clears. She finds the big ghastly creature standing in front of her, and so she burns it with a bomb. Hendra’s head clears. She slashes at the creature; it gurgles and growls and falls over to the ground. The mark on Cord looks a lot like a dragon mark.

Sabrina and Hendra search the area. They find a box stashed behind the bar. It contains a very detailed, etched masterwork medium breastplate (350 g). They find a scroll case with a glitter dust scroll. There are assorted bottles of decent wine (26 g), and several bottles of fine olive oil (57g). There is 442 gold worth of gold, silver, etc.

Audrey Rose finds a piece of brown butcher paper in Cord’s pocket. Neatly stamped across the paper are the words Black Sugar. They take Cord to a House Jarrasco clinic. Audrey Rose goes to get Cords parents and returns with them to the clinic. It seems that Cord has developed an aberrant dragon mark. The parents are distraught but relieved that their son is alive.

Sabrina goes to sell things. Then she goes to tell the guard everything that has happened.

1500 xp and 506 gold

The Life and Times of a Dead Man - Episode 7 - My name is Charlie

Audrey Rose casts identify on the robe and potion found in the last session and reveals a Robe of Bones and  Oil of Reduce Object

Having previously contracted Filth Fever, Hendra goes to House Jorasco where they cure her disease and cast lesser restoration. Sabrina also visits to remove the curse on her hand. They rub bacon grease on her hand and then cast remove curse. The gem disappears in a cloud of green smoke. 

The estate has had its assets frozen because Lady Araluna was complicit in the Sharn Slicer killing spree. However, since Ceseli was one of the victims, the party decides to submit paperwork refuting the bank’s stance and countering that as a victim she should not be held accountable. Sabrina inquires with the city watch about whether there is a reward for taking out the necromancer and for returning the Sharn Slicer’s body. After talking to them, she is certain that there will be compensation.

A few days later...

Each party member receives an invitation. They gather information about the area and scout ahead. The house is in a neighborhood called Dava Gate (Sharn: City of Towers 44) in Middle Central Plateau (Sharn: City of Towers 43). The district is middle class; small businesses cluster in towers surrounded by residential areas, and look little different than the homes around them. This quiet neighborhood is in an area in a roundabout between two towers with all of the residences looking like the same brownstones. Sabrina knows that this house has been unoccupied for a little over twenty years. The houses in this community sell quickly, so it’s very odd that it’s been unoccupied for so long.

There are kids playing outside the house. They tell Sabrina that she shouldn’t go into the house because it’s haunted. The children describe one of their friends "hearing voices" when they entered previously. After talking to the heroes, the leader of the children dons a goblin pirate mask and leads the rest of the kids away. 

Despite the warning, Sabrina knocks on the door. The door soundlessly opens; there is no one there. Tweetie-Bear starts to growl and complains, “I don’t like this place.” Dol detects magic and doesn’t detect anything out of the ordinary. Sabrina goes inside the building. There are no lights on, so Hendra pulls out her continual flame rock. The house is two stories and built in a gallery style. There are wooden stairs going up to the balconied second floor. There is a mechanical lift opposite the stairs. Sabrina decides they should check out the basement, when they all hear a voice in theirs head that tells them that it’s not necessary. The voice tells us that it haunts this place. We can refer to the voice as the Dead Man. Sabrina convinces him to go by the name Charlie. Sabrina asks about pay, and Charlie tells her that patience and persistence will pay off. Sabrina responds, “I don’t like fortune cookies; they give me gas.” 

Charlie has need of eyes and ears because right now he is limited to this house. He asks them about the grub they found in Sawfish Brothers (1). He asks that if they find another one, to bring it intact as he wishes to find more to study. Charlie wishes to be both their patron and client.  He reveals that the heroes growing fame brought them to his attention. Charlie offers the house as new headquarters. 

At that moment, someone knocks on the door. Sabrina opens the door and finds a man and woman dressed in storekeeper clothes. She welcomes them and tells them, “We’re the Townsend Agency.”

The mother tells the party, “We need your help finding our boy.” The boy's name is 'Cord'. He’s been missing not quite a week. The parents last saw him when he was going to spend a day with friends, but he never made it home. Cord’s friends were found dead inside a shop. Unfortunately, the Shar Watch was so busy with the dead bodies that they didn’t have time with the missing person’s case. Cord is an apprentice with House Cannith,(2) 

The party tracks down one of Cord's friends, Nelt Morris for more information. His father is in the Tradefair district (Sharn: City of Towers 47) and runs Morris Paper and Paper Goods. They also discovers that Warem Wrestin and Nori Ebenor are the deceased friends. Morris also runs the Silver Smith store where the bodies were found. The Faldrens give the party their address in the Tradefair district. The heroes gather information on the four kids. The kids aren’t well known in the neighborhood as much as their families are known. The Faldrens own a provision and grocers. The Wrestins work in construction for House Cannith. The Ebenor’s work for House Kundarak as bankers.

Morris, the widowers, own Morris Paper Goods and a few other properties that he rents out. There’s nothing remarkable about any of them. Sabrina gets the impression from people that Morris is very much into the Church of the Silver Flame.

Meanwhile....

A vigilante visits the crime scene. Behind the clerk’s counter there are empty cheap bottles of wine. The floor is dusty; there are signs of recent movement in it. There are impressions on the dust in the ground where humanoid forms were laying. There are urine stains on both spots. The pot-bellied stove was used in the last week. She pulls out burnt twine and butcher paper from the stove. There is the usual smell of ashes and burnt wood but also something sweet like cinnamon. Someone used the privy within the last week. There’s a lose floorboard under the bed; there is a tin box inside. There are several empty vials, and one filled with silvery looking liquid.

Dol and Bosley go visit Morris Paper Goods. He observes Tars Morris to try and figure out how to disguise himself as him. Nelt shows up at some point and helps Tars around the shop.

Audrey Rose, Zita and Sabrina show up at Morris Paper Goods. The party asks to speak privately with Nelt. They find out that sometimes the kids hang out on Morris properties and drink wine. Cord sometimes brings Shiver. Shiver is a narcotic that gives you lucid dreams. While Shiver is generally legal, it isn’t entirely legal nor socially acceptable. There are houses where it can be legally distributed and taken. They watch you when you use it to ensure you are safe. House Jorasco legally oversees this. Having Shiver outside of Shiver dens is really iffy. There are some places that cut it with other things.

The day Nelt last saw Cord, he said he found something extra special. They all met up at the shop and it was coconut covered macaroons. After he ate his, Cord said he had to go back. Cord demanded Nelt’s macaroon; Nelt threw it in the stove. Both of the other kids convulsed and died. Cord ran.

Nelt has searched various Morris properties, but he hasn’t checked Cliffside (Sharn: City of Towers 50) yet. Cliffside is the western and southern borders of Sharn; it’s a docks district. Sabrina intimidates the hell out of the poor kid.

The party all meets up afterwards to catch up on what we found. After comparing notes, they head to Cliffside. Nelt’s directions take the party to Greyflood (Sharn: City of Towers 50). Most of the traffic here consists of sailors in search of entertainment. Bars, flophouses and small shops - many of which don't bother to advertise the nature of their business - line the street which winds precariously a long the edge of a steep cliff overlooking the river. Sabrina gathers information on where she can find macaroons. She doesn’t get straight answers from many people. Dol disguises themself as a young boy and asks around about drugs. They get told to get lost a lot. Hendra disguises herself as Molly Malone. She also attempts to track down the drugs with no luck.

Zita and Audrey Rose go around in search of Cord. Zita tells everyone she is searching for her missing brother. Two sailors tell the party about a commotion at Little Bowl of Boldrei. The people who run it are outside Warehouse 17.

The heroes find their way to warehouse 17. Outside there are a pair of halflings.  Zita approaches one and asks about her brother. The halfling approaches her brother and does a strange twist with her leg. Zita notices right before the halfling tells us, “We did see a boy named Cord here. We owe him a beating.”

1. Audrey Rose did an autopsy of the Sharn Slicer during the two days off. There are no signs that the worm ever inhabited the Sharn Slicer. There are runes etched into his skin by a tiny blade or needle.

2. As of late there has been a schism within House Cannith regarding which direction they should take. Cannith was responsible for the creation of the warforged and not all citizens are happy they were liberated and made citizens as well.

The Sharn Inquisitive - highlights, vol. 2

 THE SHARN INQUISITIVE - Still only 3gp/year! -  Now printed twice weekly! - Wir, Olarune 11, 1000 YK

SHARN SLICER SLEUTHS SUCCEED!

Stinks of Sawfish Siblings!

 

SHARN, Outskirts -  Early Zol morning, the public funeral procession of the notorious Sharn Slicer was interrupted by a gang of body snatchers, who managed to sneak the Slicer's corpse away in the week's rainstorm.   Thanks to intrepid local heroes - the same ones that brought down the Slicer, no less - the remains were recovered post haste.

According to our heroes, Vander Anderhoff, owner of Sawfish Brothers Meats, was harboring a necromancer interested in transforming the Slicer's remains into a horrid new form of undead.  The necromancer, identified as Eladra Lilybrook of Karrnath, allegedly hired a gang of toughs to attack the procession and race away with a mannequin to mislead the City Watch, while she absconded with the Slicer's body via magical means.  Anderhoff and his brothers, Kinto, Parne, and Torkan, allowed Lilybrook to use their place of business as a hideout for an undisclosed reward.  Torkan remains at large and is wanted for questioning.

"Whatever they were promised, it must have been substantial," says Bosley, a hobgoblin mercenary among the heroes responsible for bringing down the Sharn Slicer.  "Between all the guard dogs and zombies we found, quite a bit of gold must have been put into the Brothers' hands."  The Sharn City Watch have closed off the Sawfish Brothers' slaughterhouse pending further investigation and health inspection.

LIGHT SHOW DELIGHTS; PUZZLES 

House Lyrandar investigates

SHARN - House Lyrandar agents questioned several residents of the Mithral Tower district on Mol after mysterious lights approached airships departing from Lyrandar Tower.  A cluster of the translucent, glowing lights approached the Virtue's Price from Mithral Tower and floated around the hull before streaking back to the towers of Sharn. Mol's encounter marks the third time this year that an airship crew has reported seeing the strange lights. Most eyewitnesses say the lights are spherical or ovoid, but some say they take a bipedal form when they cluster together.

"I didn't really see features, but it looked a bit like a glowing woman with arms outstretched," said Tinar Blugostra, a passenger that disembarked from the Virtue's Price just before it departed Sharn.

Blugostra said she watched the glowing lights flit across the deck and hull of the rising Virtue's Price. It floated near the observation dome on the lowest deck of the airship, she said -- "almost like it was peering through the windows at the passengers."

House Lyrandar spokesman Korvik d'Lyrandar emphasized that passengers and cargo were unharmed by the light display. Most found it amusing, he said.  "What we're seeing is probably a natural magical phenomenon or the activity of a few arcane pranksters," he said. "Airship travel remains the safest, most luxurious way to travel across Khorvaire. All that happened is that our passengers got a free light show as they departed Sharn."

Beggar Dane says:

"Sorrow shared is sorrow lessened.  Joy shared is joy multiplied.  Madness shared is clockwork flounder pants."

An Invitation arrives for the heroes

(Each of the characters receives an invitation the following Far, two days after the events at the Slaughterhouse)

Dear (appropriate name here),

You are cordially invited to a gathering that should be of significant interest to your future investigations, your weary heads, and your pockets.

Dress is causal.  Come with open minds and inquisitive souls.  Failing that, curiosity and greed will suffice.

7PM local time

355 Macanudo Street

Dava Gate

Middle Central Plateau

Sharn, Breland  

(The invitation is unsigned)

Editor's note

Days of the week in Eberron: Sul, Mol, Zol, Wir, Zor, Far, Sar

The Life and Times of a Dead Man - Episode 6 - What do you expect? It's a Living room!

The party continues exploring Sawfish Brothers looking for the body of the Sharn Slicer and to hopefully figure out why it was taken in the first place.

The party heads downstairs and hears the rain still pouring outside. There are iron hooks hanging from above for holding sides of meat. Hendra notices faint footprints indicating that there have been people through here recently.

As the party turns a corner, there is a large man with a big hammer.

Hendra says, "If you stand down we don't need to fight me in my many friends back here" 

The guy has a menacing grin on his face until he sees the party and mutters, "I'm not getting paid enough for this. You'll find that crazy witch out past the waste disposal." He leaves.

The party continues and finds the killing floor. They approach one of the doors and inside find a waste disposal area that incinerate animal remains.

After looking for a bit, zombies appear and are shambling toward the heroes. 

Battle ensues. 

The doors open and another large man with a hammer moves in to attack.

During the battle, Sabrina encounters a service lift!

The party defeats the zombies and the hammering human.

The party continues exploring and find a room of taxidermy animals - poorly done.

Eventually, the party finds their way into a room with a shrine that the party can't identify (metagame: Blood of Vol).

Inside the room is also, a BUNCH of summoned spiders, a couple of zombies, and a woman casting a spell from a scroll.

Battle ensues.

As it starts, the witch summons a snake.

*edit*

After the desperate battle, the party succeeds in defeating the various summoned creatures, the zombies, and, with a crossbow bolt at the end, the witch.

The party continues looking and finds a room with an unusual sight.  In the middle of the floor there is some sort of glowing magic circle with a variety of runes dancing around it. Hovering over the circle, there is a jagged green crystal spinning slowly in the air. Below the crystal is the body of the Sharn Slicer. Light is coming out of it and it is focused on a jar in the middle of the room. Light is going through the jar and bathing a man manacled to the wall. The jar is radiating evil and makes anyone approaching it uneasy. The party determines it is some sort of necromantic ritual and is focusing energy of some type into the man in hopes of attuning the energy.

Sabrina insists on taking the obviously evil magic items and selling them. When Sabrina attempts to take the gem, it sticks to her hand.

The man chained to the wall awakes. His name is Clory and says he's been there a few days. He begs the heroes to free him and get him out of there. He has no idea what was going on. The heroes let him follow them for his safety.

The jar is holding a small, bright green, grub of some type. Bosley concludes that it is actually what is radiating evil. They shatter the jar and crush the grub. They take the body of the Sharn Slicer. 

They head back upstairs via the elevator and into the smoke filled room. The room sounds of boiling liquid. 

Fun Quotes!

I'm not a murder hobo, I'm a murder resident!

I'm not going into any undead-cow room!

See? They're not zombie cows, they are REGULAR zombies!

It's Chekov's Meat Hook

The Life and Times of a Dead Man - Episode 5 - Guest note taker time

Disclaimer - not really guest note taker as there are 2 of us. I just didn't add anything to her notes before posting like I usually do....

 We are at the front entrance of Sawfish Brothers. The rain does not hide the smell. Hendra and Zita are not feeling well but they continue forward. Sabrina and Hendra enter the establishment, the rest follow. We hear a snarling sound coming from up ahead. Sabrina moves forward to investigate. She opens the second door she comes to and runs into a man and his guard dog. The dog charges and mauls Sabrina. She goes down.  A pack of dogs appear down the hallway. One bites Zita, another trips Bosley, and a third barely misses Audrey Rose. Despite being down, Bosley attacks the dog. Audrey Rose throws a bomb and burns the three dogs. Tweetie-Bear and Dol take out the main guard dog. Then Dol pours a potion down Sabrina’s throat. The dogs attack again, and Zita goes down. Hendra takes out a dog, and Audrey Rose takes out another.

Dol looks into the room to see what the guy is doing. The guy points a heavy crossbow at Dol and shoots at him. The crossbolt embeds in the wall behind him. Tweetie-Bear runs in, knocks over the chair, and pounces on the guy. The remaining dog goes after Hendra but misses. Hendra sinks her longsword into the dog’s neck.

The guy in the office drops his heavy crossbow and draws two heavy axes. He attempts to attack Tweetie-Bear but misses. Bosley pours a healing potion down Zita’s throat. Audrey Rose is unable to throw a bomb due to the close proximity of her allies, so she pulls out her parasol and leaps into battle badly missing the bad guy. He attempts to retaliate against Hendra but buries his axe into the wall instead. Bosely’s spell missed the mark. The bad guy manages to fend off Zita’s dagger attacks. Suddenly Hendra leaps in and slashes the bad guy across the gut. Zita’s rainbow potion awakens Sabrina. We search the room. The office is tidy. There are cattle purchases from different farms and sales to local butchers. Masterwork heavy crossbolt. Audrey Rose finds a hidden compartment in the cabinet. There is a red ledger book inside. It is written in code. We find two cure light potions, masterwork studded leather, two masterwork axes, 17 gold, and 30 silver.

We go back to the first room and unlock the door. The room is messy. Audrey Rose finds a loose floorboard. There is a hollow space with a ragdoll, wooden dentures, and a pouch filled with 60 gold and 188 silver. Zita carefully dissects the ragdoll and finds nothing inside.

We go down the hall to the next door. There is a Sharn City Watch uniform in the corner of the room. We go to the last door in this hallway. There is the odor of moldy food. There are filthy clothes, dirty dishes, and unmade beds. Sabrina finds a leather wrap under one of the beds. The wrap is filled with knives and bone saws. Two of the masterwork daggers have a hawk pommel.

We go down a different hallway. Tweetie-Bear warns us that he doesn’t like the feel of the upcoming room. The room is completely buried in bones. Down the hall there is another door. This one has a pin. Dol unlatches and opens the cold door. There is a pale lump hanging in the room. Zita buries a crossbolt into it.

“Beware! Something is here,” Tweetie-Bear warns. Shuffling around in the back of the room are two scaly figures lurching toward us. They are undead kobolds. Audrey Rose flings a bomb at them. Dol swings himself up on the meat hook and slides down. Tweetie-Bear claws one of them and kills it. The other goes after Tweetie-Bear. Bosley stabs the undead creature with his rapier right through its eye socket. Tweetie-Bear neatly bisects the remaining undead. 

We retrace our steps and check out a different hallway. We enter a room with a large collection of knives, meat cleavers, and bone saws. Suddenly two haggard women waving clubs pounce on Tweetie-Bear. A third opponent pops up, flanks Tweetie-Bear and skewers him with a rapier. Audrey Rose flings alchemy fire at them. Hendra slashes one of them and eviscerates her. Sabrina casts Hideous Laughter on the guy, and he falls over laughing. Bosley casts Ray of Frost on the haggard woman and takes her out. Audrey Rose hits the laughing man with alchemy fire. Zita strolls into the room and stabs the prone man twice. Sabrina neatly stabs him in the throat ending his life.

We find a masterwork rapier, four daggers, a potion of cure moderate wounds, and an unknown potion. The women are wearing two wooden amulets that we’ll identify with knowledge religion later.

We enter a room full of cows. The next room is covered in smoke. We back out of it and try the next room which turns out to be another office. It’s full of dust and appears unused. Next door is a neat, handsomely decorated bedroom. There’s a bear hide rug on the floor (150g). There are three paintings (35g each). The bedsheets are silk (15g). We find a chest with 119 gold, 257 silver, and 455 copper. There is a potion of Eagle Splendor.

In the following room we find another wooden chest. Inside we find 84 gold, 51 silver, and 3 pearls (100g each). There’s another cure light wounds potion.

We open the door to air out the smoky room and head downstairs. The smell coming from room makes Audrey Rose think it’s a rendering room. There’s the smell of tallow.

The Life and Times of a Dead Man - Episode 4 - The Chase!

Ceseli is choosing not to make any public appearances. Futhermore, she has decided to remain living in this house. She does not wish to make any public appearances. Zita carefully approaches her about upcoming bills and still doesn’t hit on her. Ceseli knows nothing about the house’s finances. While Zita assist with the dishes, Barnsworth indicates that he doesn’t know anything either. Zita asks Audrey Rose if she knows where the noble houses bank; Audrey Rose assumes they have a bank account with House Kundarak. She sends a summons to the local branch of Kundarak requesting a representative to come visit Ceseli to keep it “private”.

Ceseli knows that the group is owed money; she gives Zita a wooden shield with the family crest carved onto it. The shield once belonged to her father (A masterwork densewood buckler worth 330 gold). An argument breaks out between Zita and Sabrina about where to live in the meantime where Sabrina wants to leave and Zita is trying to encourage long-term patronage.

Zita receives a 1000 gold reward from House Phiarlan for saving Vivi Knotts. Cole ir’Chartsheim’s family provides another 1000 gold reward for saving him. Furthermore, House Cannith in conjunction with the manufacturer’s guild. provides 800 gold pieces in credit for Cole’s rescue as well. The City of Sharn gives a 1500 gold reward for capturing the Sharn Slicer. The party members each receive 638 gold. Sabrina is sizing up the fine silver and the quality of the wooden furniture as she is concerned about being paid by the ir'Dromdal estate. She catalogs items in the house that are worth selling.

Shopping occurs.

A few days later - the group is in the rain participating in a funeral procession. The corpse of the Sharn Slicer is going to be paraded through the neighborhood to prove that he’s dead. The group is given a place of honor in the procession. They are standing outside the exit of Lattice Ave. They are thanked and congratulated by numerous strangers. Zita uses the opportunity to network.

Audrey Rose swears she heard the carriage stop, but it hasn’t started up again. She turns and points this out to Zita. The group decides to go investigate and find the carriage is overturned. They discover a group of figures carrying a sack that suspiciously looks like it has the halfling in it. They run off and the party gives chase.

Bosley sprints after the scoundrels. He comes across a road closure and becomes entangled in it. Dol and Sabrina tumble ahead. Hendra flips past the road closure and sprints full speed ahead. Zita trips over Bosley and falls on top of him. Audrey Rose gracefully jumps the hurdle and sprints behind Hendra.

Two of the scoundrels stop to slow the party while the rest continue. One of them pulls out a sword and attacks Audrey Rose; the other threatens Hendra but misses.

Meanwhile, Dol comes across a set of stairs and nimbly makes his way across the outer rail. Sabrina shows up and casts Hideous Laughter on one of the scoundrels while Hendra attacks the other. Tweetie-Bear shows up and slaughters the bad guy. Sabrina and Zita fly down the stairs, leap the balcony, and enter the house.

Hendra runs into the house and trips over her own feet. Audrey Rose follows Hendra and recognizes the family that lives there. She waves hello as she sprints by, closely on the heels of the bad guys. Dol and Tweetie-Bear fly by as well.

Meanwhile, Sabrina continues casting Hideous Laughter. Audrey Rose throws a bomb into the cluster of bad guys. It bounces off of one and splashes damage onto the others. Tweetie-Bear shows up and starts biting the bad guys. Dol attempts to trip the bad guy and instead is hit by a sword.

For some reason Hendra is still yelling at the owners of the house. Zita shows up to the main group and stabs some of the bad guys. Audrey Rose attempts to throw a bomb into the cluster of bad guys but misses them. The bomb bounces and does splash damage to the bad guys and patrol men alike.

Bosley shows up and is stopped by the guards. They demand to know why he is chasing the others. As they argue Sabrina runs past them chasing the body snatchers. Suddenly a vegetable cart stops their progress. Dol and Tweetie-Bear show up at the cabbage cart. Tweetie gets his claw stuck in a head of cabbage, and Dol greases the ground by the cart.

Hendra continues screaming at the family to let her go. The man carrying the halfling drops the sack and pulls out a battle axe. “That’s enough,” he growls. He swings at Zita and cracks his axe into her armor. The other body snatcher attempts to slash her with his sword but also misses. Tweetie-Bear charges into the battle axe guy and bites his head. Sabrina follows up with her sword cane and intense stare and takes out the other guy. Zita stabs him with her dagger, and Audrey Rose lobs a magenta bomb into the face of the bad guy throwing him back. Sabrina starts searching through the bodies of the people at her feet. She pockets the vials, thieves’ tools, and 25 gold in assorted change. She gets a master work great axe, four javelin, a masterwork breast plate, a couple of vials, a bag of change 124 g, and a gold necklace. There is a note with a map on the body for Sawfish Brothers. The Anderhauf brothers own the Sawfish Brothers.

The guard show up. Audrey Rose explains the situation, but when they go to remove the halfling from the bag they find a child size mannequin. (The party now has a child size dummy.) Audrey Rose identifies two vials of acid, and Sabrina recognizes a cure light wound potion, a potion of bull strength, and a potion of cure moderate wounds. (Each gets 24 gold.)

Zita examines the mannequin. Sabrina leads the group to the Sawfish Brothers.

1. Viktor Saint-Demain is a private inquisitive behind the capture of quite a few criminals. 
1. He’s highly regarded by the watch.
2. It is believed that that criminal in question was brought in by the Heroes of the Star.
2. Bosley does not, in fact, have a bone through his nose.