We arrived back in town, having dodged the undead birds as I previously described, and found our friends already in treatment. Here in town, their situation seemed much less dire, and it did not take long at all before they were completely cured.

We were unsure of what to do about the Misgivings, but one thing was clear: we were a little underprepared for what we’d run into there. So it was that the party decided to undergo a little extra training, ranging from one to four weeks in duration depending on the individual, during which we honed existing skills and learned a few new ones.

I myself was able to engage a master sorcerer and, within the space of three weeks, learn the spells of identify and mirror image, and improve my skills with magic devices, spellcraft, perception, and healing. I also took up the study of arcane knowledge, learning more about the origins of magic and different forms it may take. Conditioning and workouts improved my toughness, and some concentration techniques allowed me to better focus some of my spells. It was, if I may say, 300 gp well spent. Although I must admit, it wasn’t all that long ago that paying 300 gp for an education was entirely beyond my capability.

I’m proud of how I’ve done. I find myself relying more on my magic than my quarterstaff or claws these days. I guess that makes me more like Father.

The group went through the items and artifacts we’d uncovered and decided to sell a portion of it for living and training expenses. My share came to 414 gold, 2 silver, and 5 copper. Deducting my training expenses, I find myself still adding to my wealth, which now totals 668 gp, 6 sp, and 5 cp. I am by no means wealthy, but neither am I destitute.

With some of the group finishing earlier than others, it is not surprising that some had the time to undertake some more research related to the Misgivings after their study was done. The caretaker, we had learned, was named Roger Craysbee, and we thought he might have been able to tell us more of the manor. And well he might have … had he not succumbed to ghoul fever and been killed at our own hand upon arriving in the area! Well, greater good and all that I suppose.

Kane and Rigel asked around and it seems there have been no new ghoul outbreaks. Locally, we seem to have addressed the problem. We did discover that apparently there were some rather grisly murders in Magnimar – faced ripped off, symbols carved into the bodies, that sort of thing — within the last month. Word has been slow to spread about this because the authorities seem to be trying to control communications about this.

About a week after this, Kane, Rigel, and Avia decided to go to Magnimar and investigate the rumored murders. It is also possible they may find information about Alderin’s (hopefully still living) sisters there. The plan was for them to investigate while the rest completed their studies, and return in time for us all to decide what to do next. They left, conveniently, on 1 Kuthona.

Travel to Magnimar is 2-3 days, depending on how long you travel each day, and the pace you set. We expected the earliest they’d be back would be about a week, and the latest to be about two. Instead, after about a week we got what appeared to be a hastily written note, saying that on their trip there they’d seen some sort of demon horse and fought off snakes and that there was more to tell about the murders and we should come there rather than they coming back to Sandpoint.

So it was that upon the “graduation” of the last student, Olithar, Nolin, Sabin and myself headed south to Magnimar. It was the 15th of Kuthona as we set off.

Sunday, 15 Kuthona, 4707

Later that same day, we came across a bloody scene. There were three dead horses, and at least one dead human .. and six giant geckos partaking of the buffet. They did not seem vicious enough to have initiated the carnage, but rather seemed more like opportunistic scavengers.

In fact, I took a couple of steps towards them and stomped my feet and shouted, to see if they’d scatter. (I don’t think my companions agreed this was a clever test.) Nolin remained on his mount and the others readied their weapons. When the gecko closest to me took an awkward swipe at me, the lizard exterminators went to town. Olithar’s gleeful use of a fireball did little to win them over (and it turns out that cooked gecko really doesn’t smell all that savory.) Five of them eventually went down; a sixth got away at a comparatively leisurely pace. The only person injured by these large creatures was Sabin.

Inspecting the remains we found only

20gp
[230] wand (of knock, 18 charges)

We theorized these might have been traveling thieves (travelling no longer).

The rest of the trip was uneventful, and we arrived in Magnimar on 17 Kuthona.

Toilday, 17 Kuthona, 4707

Upon our arrival Avia, Kane, and Rigel greeted us and told us in more detail of their adventures.

Apparently on their way here, they were camped the first night when one of them heard a sound. Not too far away, perhaps a quarter mile or so, they saw a big horse coming over the crest of a hill. It stood up on its hind legs and made a scream unlike anything a horse makes. Creatures ran blindly away from it. It spread its wings (!) and flew up into the night. It had a tail as long as its body, if not longer. Thankfully it flew away from them, not towards them. Kane says it sort of matches up with the description of the Sandpoint Devil, considered by many (but now none in our group) to be something of a legend. It’s supposedly responsible for missing livestock and children.

They slept uneasily that night.

On their next night, Kane was on guard when he heard rustling. Instead of waking the others, he investigated, and almost got outnumbered by a small group of 6-8 foot snakes. After a skirmish, they disappeared and Kane sheepishly admitted they were “goblin snakes”.

The next day, 3 Kuthona, they had arrived in Magnimar. They were staying with Nolin’s parents, who had graciously opened up their home to their son’s friends. They entered from the NE gates and Nolin’s parents’ house was actually not too far from that gate, in a moderately affluent section of town. Successful merchants tend to characterize the residents in this part of town.

Nolin’s parents had no particular knowledge of the Foxglove sisters, but suggested that the census bureau may know of them. Kane and Rigel each cleverly but foolishly independently bribed the officials with 10gp to get them to reveal that they might want to look in the Marble district.

Once there, they and Avia when to a pub and bribed a barkeep 10gp (only once, this time) to learn that they seemed to be in Korvosa. But they also learned that Aldrin’s townhouse was in the Great Arch district.

It was about this time they thought it better for the group to come to Magnimar rather than for them to return to Sandpoint, and sent the cryptic note to us.

Over the intervening days they continued asking trying to find out more about both the Foxgloves and the murders. But the authorities were really clamping down, because the citizens were getting so nervous as to be almost riotous. Victims allegedly came from all walks of life (again, the official were making no official statements) which meant nobody felt safe. Word on the street was that there was about one a night, but it was clear after a couple of inquiries that we were not going to duplicate our teamwork with the Sandpoint constabulary. They really were being very tightlipped here, and any investigation would have to be without the benefit of official assistance or authority.

On the other hand, that can make the investigation go more smoothly too. Clearly the authorities in this town are not doing the citizenry any favors by withholding information.

Upon our arrival, Olithar was quick to check with the head of his order at the church, whom he knows well, but again found there was little information to be had.

We were filled in with the efforts of the other half of our group, and the full group proceeded to Aldrin’s townhouse. It appeared to have an enclosed garden in the back (enclosed by a wall) and seemed locked up. A decorative fountain out front was not running. Strangely, the windows on the ground floor were boarded up, in contrast to the other houses around it. This did not seem to be a disreputable section of town, and the boarded windows made it rather stand out. But they were not boarded at the front of the house, just the side and back. From the front, it looked just like any other of the townhouses on this street.

Nolin was uncomfortable about prying the boards off and breaking into the house, but when we produced the key we’d retrieved from the manor and found it fit into the lock on the back door, he decided that owning the key meant we had every right to enter the house, and rejoined us. Having pried the boards off the back door, and unlocking it, we cautiously entered what used to be the garden. It obviously hadn’t been tended for a while and was overgrown (although not really gone wild.) There was no evidence that anyone had been through the garden recently.

There was a door into what appeared to be a little sunroom, and all the windows here were also boarded over. We entered the sunroom. The room was cold (boarded windows; no sunlight!) and stale smelling. Another door led into the main part of the house and was not locked.

This appeared to be the kitchen. A small pantry was found to the north, and doors led to the north and south. To the south was a study, but it appeared to have been ransacked. The chair was turned over, and the drawers on the desk were open with papers scattered around. Avia turned on her evil radar and announced quietly that there was evil to the east and north.

Sabin, Kane, and Avia went east — and found, much to their surprise, that Aldrin and Aiesha were seated their in the lounge, rising to their feet as the group entered. “So nice to see you. Have you eaten? We can make you some lunch.” They seemed utterly human but Avia confirmed again they were evil. A shout from the kitchen seemed to confirm that something evil might be entering the kitchen — Nolin had opened the door to the north only to find a horrible, largish creature on the other side, and shut the door.

Meanwhile, Aldrin was continuing the small talk and it seemed that this Aldrin did not know a) he was dead, and b) his dog was dead, or c) who we really were. Finally Olithar interrupted with “How long have you been evil?” and Aldrin replied “that’s a rude question.” And the melee began. Both Aldrin and Aiesha rippled a bit before becoming creatures that, we learned later when we compared corpses, were similar to the one that had decided to come after Nolin in the kitchen.

Olithar, Avia, Kane, and Sabin battled the two in the lounge, while Nolin, myself, and Rigel battled the one in the kitchen. They were awfully strong, and Olithar and Nolin both took damage before the creatures were put to rest. I used magic missiles to work on the creature in the kitchen, to good effect.

At the completion of this battle, Avia turned on her radar again and found no more evil within range. We discussed what these creatures may have been here for and why they took the shapes they did, but decided the answer must lie within the house somewhere. All the rooms on the first floor, including the trophy room from which the third creature had emerged, appeared tossed and thoroughly searched. We went upstairs.

On the second floor we found a hallway, a guest bedroom, an empty corridor (?!) and a library (with the floor, of course, full of tossed and thrashed books).

On the third and highest floor we found a master bedroom and another study. We observed from the dust that nobody had been here for about a couple of months, so the creatures we fought must have stayed downstairs. Were they responsible for any of the murders in town? What WAS their purpose? I guess we won’t know. Rigel went to search the study but it was who Kane noticed something unusual about two lion heads on the mantle of the fireplace. On the left lion, the back of the throat had a little hole. Rigel found that the lionhead key we got from the manor fit perfectly. The right lion head went click and we found the head now bent back. This is a bag of 200 platinum pieces in it and a shallow wooden case with legal papers in it and a thin black ledger.

The legal papers were with regard to the manor. 2/3 of the house was paid for by the Foxgloves; 1/3 by the Brothers. Over the last three months, payments for “Aiesha’s trip to Absalon” of 200 gp per week were made at the Brothers 7 Mill. A month and a half ago was the last payment … around the time of Aldrin’s death. The entries look to my untrained eye to be made by Aldrin. Who did the money belong to? What was this trip — Aiesha was dead too and must have been during the time these payments were being made. Was this some sort of code phrase or was it really planning for some sort of trip? Absalon is months away by travel, unless one goes by magic.

So now we sit in a building with three corpses and an enigma, and think.