COMPLETED: Imprisoned Tieflings

General Summary

Halflocke inquired if the party would be willing to aid in ascertaining the truth of imprisoned Tiefling in the Hawthorne residence, and then assisting in getting them out of there. His plan is to ferry them out of the city along with Mess and Pious if they so wish as payment. Pious seems a little too eager to accept the request before really hearing out the whole thing.
Pious, Mess, and Araz decide to go scout out his residence. A two storied manor with high wrought iron fence. Walking the perimeter they notice that a portion of the first floor has no windows. They also see a large ballroom which as time passes begins to fill with guests as the Count's son begin to arrive for a party to be held later that evening. Two members of the staff are sent out to gather ingredients for the festivities, Pious and Mess follow them. Mess, disguised as a human named Todd Thaddeus, approached the two; William, the butler, and a young woman. They revealed to him that their master could be found at the Shipwright's Guild in Wharfside.
Pious and Mess go to visit Vincent Hawthorne in Wharfside. They get in with surprisingly little difficulty. No one seems to pay them any mind save a Tiefling they singled out and acknowledged. Upon meeting with him, he seems amicable though a little bit too friendly given the situation, as many employees in Wharfside are Tieflings and presumably his business is suffering because of their loss. After the meeting it was obvious that something was digging at Pious and Mess approached him. Nothing came of it and they split up Pious deciding to remain and tail Vincent.
Mess is able to meet back up with Araz before deciding to go inside to investigate. They are able to get inside without much difficulty however once inside they were met with a guard at the end of the hall. Mess able to use magic to disguise himself convinced the guard that Araz was a new hire and they were searching for clothes. They slipped into a room and thankfully were able to find clothes Araz could fit into however tight they may have been. Afterward they tried to investigate the halls before realizing the guard was getting too suspicious of them and they made for the kitchen. The kitchen staff were hard at work prepping food for a banquet and barely took notice of them before they wandered into the cellar. At this point Pious caught up and figured since his companions were gone they must be somewhere inside. Just barely sneaking passed the outer patrols and the hall monitor he too found himself in the cellar. Mess and Araz were able to discover a hidden entrance to some other section of the house. Inside was a long hallway with 6 barred doors, within they found Tiefling huddled together they spoke to a group in the first cell to figure out what was going on. A spokesman eventually came forward explaining that they are forced to fight in some sort of arena. Frustrated that they can't help them right now they promise they will return with help to get them to safety.
They track down Halflocke and give him the information that he is seeking. Halflocke arranges with the party transportation out of the city for the imprisoned within Hawthorne manor. Gives the party time for any last minute preparations that they need to make, allowing them to set the time of the break-out.
The time was set, the party decided it would be safest for Pious to be the only one to enter into the holding area since he is the only one able to pick locks.  Mess sends a group of familiars to keep an eye on things.  The intrusion goes according to plan as Pious is invisible.  However after several moments within the estate an additional guard exits the manor to investigate the lock and soon an alarm is raised.  The alarm is silenced by a shatter spell cast by Araz, however the blast did kill the 2 guards that had arrived on the scene.  This being witnessed by yet another guard that was outside rushes to investigate and is shot twice by Aethelin and Ostreleia.  He is able to hobble himself inside and warn some others who eventually look out to investigate.
Meanwhile inside Pious is busy opening the six cells, and right when he is about to finish some of the imprisoned tieflings get restless and make a break for it however some get lost within the estate and never join up with the party outside the walls being recaptured.  The ones that remain get dust of disappearance spread on them and are escorted out by a still visible undead rat familiar.  Pious however feels something pulling him back and as he withdraws down the hallway begins to hear a childhood song.
Ascending a staircase he finds himself outside of a well furnished room and see a tiefling woman brushing her hair in front of a mirror.  Having no way of making himself visible he elects to break the invisibility by making an attack.  This startles the woman but her fear, recedes into shocked acknowledgment as she recognizes her brother.  Katya had no idea Vincent was holding anyone else here and tries to convince Pious he would never do that.  He eventually takes her down to see the cells behind a secret wall.  She's in disbelief but doesn't think Vincent would do such a thing without good reason and is resolved to ask him, Pious feels there is nothing more he could do and leaves her with instructions on how to get a hold of him.
They return to Halflocke with the 18 tieflings they were able to get out with.  He offers to Pious and Mess passage along with the others out of the city as payment.  They both refuse and are now entitled to one favor from The Jade Hand.  The next day they receive news from Novah Willamay about what story the royal family is running as a cover for the actual events, to the effect of a attack against Vincent Hawthorne as a means to injure Demorant Hawthorne and as such Vincent has been moved to the Castle Spire.  This was accompanied by a bounty for a party of individuals not matching their actual descriptions, signed by Vincent Hawthorne.  Unfortunately the tieflings that failed to escape were executed without trail, there has also been no word from Katya aka. Elizabeth.

Report Date

18 May 2021