sIV: Hommlet Millhouse
General Summary
As the guards left the unconscious and bound Chenashi in the care of the mercenaries, the said mercenaries decided to spend their unsupervised time looting the just cleared out cellar found beneath the Hommlet Mill. Here the party found some rolled-up sleeping bags, some satchels and backpacks with Common clothes in them, and a trunk with a large lock. Upon Pip the Ranger closely inspecting the locked trunk, he found the lock of high quality and demanded time to crack it. Ok with this, Mangoseed ascended the ladder to keep an eye out for the guards and eventually help with Chenashi's proper arrest at the keep, and Bitty sat on a crate in the cellar watching and peeling a potato with his teeth.
After inspecting the lock more, Pip moved away from the eye-shaped cover and began cracking away, sure there was no trap on the lock. Twenty minutes later, the lock popped open, and attempting to force the lid up, Pip was struck with a powerful concussive blast. Through trial and error, Pip sustained a serious internal injury and was extremely weak afterward. Upon determining through multiple tries that the trap was well hidden and automatically reset itself, the chest was secured with a rope cradle, and with earth magic from Pip was lifted up to the hole of the cellar and brought through.
It was during this that Pip told Bitty to kill the prisoner, and agreeing she was worth more trouble if she escaped, Bitty walked up and aimed a firebolt right at her heart. But - with poor eyesight, Bitty missed causing the hay floor of the cellar to become alit with a warm orange glow. Scrambling up the ladder, the mercenaries closed the hatch, hoping to kill the prisoner with smoke. Upon waiting long enough (or so they hoped), Pip used Control Fire to manage the fire and smoke to a manageable level, and eventually snuff the flames. However, because of conflicting stories from Bitty and Pip, the 3 were placed under temporary arrest, with the trunk being brought to the keep by guards prior to the fire starting.
As the main group found themselves in the keep's dungeon, Kiln awoke in a lavish room. Finding the bathroom, Kiln hid, closing the bathroom door behind him as the main door to the room opened. Seeing Kiln missing, the owner of the room began to speak, knowing he was awake at this point from his magical slumber. Recognizing the voice as Rufus Brunel, Kiln emerged into the bedroom and was filled in by both Rufus and his wife, Lady Camilla.
Upon being caught up, Kiln was brought to the underkeep, first to the morgue where he confirmed the identity of Chenashi as being a person he saw while kidnapped and under magical influences. Then Kiln was brought to the Dungeon, whereupon Kiln's conformal of the burned woman's involvement, his friends were already being released and allowed back their gear.
With the mercenaries united, they all agreed to Rufus' deal to become temporary Badgers while looking into the people that were involved in Kiln's kidnapping. This brought with it the perks of a red sash, that identified them as guards and let other guards help out or look the other way (depending on the severity of the actions being taken) as well as a daily sum of 5 gold pieces (given after a daily report after sundown).
Taking to the Inn of the Welcome Wench, the group began to question and investigate the people there that night, while Pip went upstairs to bed and rest until his internal injuries went away. Here the group would meet and speak with Xaod the Slayer, an adventurer and mercenary new to town.
Hired and tasked with a clear job, the group went back to the Karlun's House the next day to speak to Karlun Fies and his wife once more. However, upon arriving the group found the doors barred. Upon gaining entrance to the house the three found it deserted and left in a state of disarray. After much time and sleuthing, Bitty, Kiln, and Mangoseed came to the conclusion that a fight broke out in the bedroom and extended into the kitchen, where the last display of normalcy was still around - old, stale, and rotting food.
Mangoseed with his keen eye stepped outside of the house and looking towards the mill across the river, noticed three things. Firstly, that the boat was gone, likely carried downstream, and smashed to bits at one of the bridges in town. Secondly, that the mill was still in operation, being tended by what looked to be a small girl in a red dress. And lastly, a bird sat still and motionless at a tree positioned just to the side of the mill.
Gathering his comrades, the group headed to the Mill and headed to the bird first. Lifting Kiln to grab it, it was discovered to be a mechanical construct of sorts that ticked and whirred and had actual moving eyes. Trying to discover its secrets, Bitty ended up knocking the head of the bird from the mechanical body, and pocketed both pieces to find out its purpose, and replicate it, at a later date.
After this, the group approached the mill once again and questioned the little girl, who had informed the mercenaries that she was hired by Karlun Fies to clean the mill, but he hasn't paid her in many weeks and as result, she now only comes by once a week to do a check-in and hope to get her money.
As Mangoseed took an afternoon swim later in the day, in between the Mill and Miller's House. He discovered a most gruesome sight. Both the Miller and his wife had been tied to bricks and left to drown at the bottom of the Emridy's Run by unknown assailants. Calling for Rufus and the guard, they were informed of the bodies, and the eye symbol found on the trunk. Upon hearing this Rufus demanded the mercenaries seek him out at night and he would tell them about the symbol and the town.
Realizing the eye on the chest was seen once before, Mango and the others headed for Telna's Kitchen once again, and seeing the symbol on a tapestry in her office, the group decided to look around more closely. It was here that Kiln found the ledger had notes in the margins and near the end of the book some were written in Infernal Script. Able to read Abyssal (a language using the same script) Kiln loosely translated the Writing, but recognized that it should be six words long, and his translation was much too long to be correct, leading the warlock to believe it was truly Infernal. Hoping that Spugnoir could read the book, it was taken to his shop.
Here the group was informed by Haunor that Spugnoir had left that morning on another trip for ingredients and left his 10 year old daughter Renne in charge. Taking a shot in the dark, the party asked if she knew infernal, and to their luck, she did. Having been taught many a curious book by her father, she was well enough learned in the script to translate the ledger's writing as "Praise be The Elder Elemental Eye". Satisfied enough, the mercenaries thanked Renne and took the ledger, and left.
While outside the group would ask Haunor about the local spots to visit, and he mentioned Terrigan's for a rough and fun night of fighting and cheap ale. Taking his word on it, the group headed right to Terrigan's. Here the group would run into Xaod again, fighting in the ring. Mangoseed would get a drink and join the common room, hearing talk of normal work and the hard life of living in a frontier town, while Bitty and Kiln found an informant in the back of the bar. Speaking to this Gnome who called himself Nierethi, the two would ask him many questions but receive no answers as they were too broke to pay for it. Questions such as the eye and any cults in town, as well as about the bird found by Mangoseed, retrieved by Kiln, and broken by Bitty, and even questions about the old ones. Looking for a way to make some friends, Nierethi proposed that came Fireday, that the two could act as guards on a trip for him over the weekend, and he would give them all their desired information upon completion of this task.
Discovering much, but no real useful information, the group left Terrigan's decided to head back to the town, towards the inn and the keep to give their nightly report to Rufus.
Rewards Granted
300xp awarded for EL 2 lock (DC 23) on the trunk in the Mill Cellar.
Character(s) interacted with
Report Date
31 Oct 2021
Primary Location
Secondary Location
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