Citadel's Shadow II, Session 16

Citadel's Shadow II, Session 16 was a session of the Citadel's Shadow II campaign, played on Mar. 17, 2019 (UTC) (Mar. 16, 2019 for some participants).
==Personnel==
===Game Master===
*GM: played by Michael Lee Viviano
===Player Characters===
*Fern the Siegemaster: inventive fox-person student played by Rail Runner
*Juan de Fulmando: sword-wielding human alchemist played by Alden Loveshade
=== Non-Player Characters ===
* Krendall Moulerbos: male human rat exterminator
* Thuddeus Gunch: constable in Delctra's Cauldron Borough
* Ursula Nidonge: female human mercenary
* Yagritte Ratreaper: female dwarven rat exterminator
=== Special ===
* Jinxi: androgynous jester with poppet Jack played in this session by Aimuliam Wiggle-Sword
== Events ==
=== 1742 ===
Ulthrane 14 (Middleday) (continued): Fern the Siegemaster, Jinxi, Juan de Fulmando, Krendall Moulerbos, Ursula Nidonge, and Yagritte Ratreaper continued eating, drinking, and visiting in The Inn of the Innocence in Trynser City during a break from rat fighting in Packer's Cave.  Juan praised Ursula for her fire spells, told her about about his wards Fuylu de Fulmando and Heva de Fulmando, and she her own parents, like his wards, were a housekeeper and chef.
The group noticed that Krendall had gotten at least a bit drunk; on further observation, they noticed Krendall had gotten drunk enough to be a detriment to their rat fighting.  Krendall, however, strongly objected to being left out, saying, "Yuh think yer gonna put me to bed and finish ther job by yerselfs, and cut me out of the pay?!?"  Juan said that neither he nor Fern nor Jinxi were getting paid; they were doing it for the good of the city.  He said Krendall needed to sleep it off.  Krendall made insults, and threw his ale mug at Juan and missed--hitting the head of a huge half orc who's with several equally huge friends.
Jinxi tried to help by apologizing to the half-orc and offering a napkin, but the half-orc instead tried to grab Jinxi, who narrowly escaped his grasp.  Juan told the half-orc that Jinxi was covering for a friend who had just nearly died and then got drunk and threw the mug at Juan, not the half-orc.  Krendall mouthed off to the half-orc, and Juan said it was out of his hands.
The half-orc swung at Krendall who flinched and drunkenly stumbled away from the punch.  Fern pulled her rifle, preparing to give a "warning shot" upwards if necessary, while Jinxi tried to distract by making an announcement and then pretending to slip on the spilled ale and landing in a humorous manner, while the poppet Jack seemed to hit Jinxi painfully in the head.
One of the half-orc's big buddies grabbed Jinxi, who didn't avoid it.  Meanwhile, Fern aimed at the wall/ceiling corner, and fired.  Fern then yelled, "Well, stop fighting already."  The shot distracted the guy holding Jinxi, and Jinxi wiggled free.  Juan then announced if someone wanted to see the rest of the show, they could see Jinxi and Jack perform that evening at Madame Maude Lynn's Theater of Thrills.
The door to the bar opened, sunlight shining in darkness. A deep voice like a subterranean earthquake rumbled... "I heard a shot," said Constable Thuddeus Gunch.  Juan whispered to Fern to put the gun away, which Fern did.  Yagritte clamped her hand over Krendall's mouth and dragged him to the counter, while Jinxi told the constable, "No need to be concerned good sir. There was just a drunken misunderstanding that has since been dealt with."  Juan told Gunch he was glad the constable was there, and that he apologized for the noise, but they were advertising that evening's performance.  Gunch was a constable with a lot of experience.  He noticed not only the demon dust smoke but also a ray of sunshine coming through a hole in the corner of the building, and wasn't buying it (especially not Jinxi's comment of "Well now, that's the last time I put pepper in my soup.")  He talked to the bartender.
Juan said all repairs would be made, the bartender said the gunshot had stopped a barroom brawl from breaking out, and Gunch accepted it, leaving with a warning eye at the bar.
Jinxi used a napkin to soak up the spilled ale, while Juan suggested Krendall should pay for damages as they were done to save the drunken rat exterminator from getting beat up, which met with agreement (although Yagritte was still taking care of Krendall, so neither one of them was there).  Fern said she could repair the roof, and Jinxi offered to hold her up, but it was decided standing on a table or chair would be better.  Fern's repair was successful.
Yagritte apologized for her partner Krendall's behavior,  The group, especially the experienced Yagritte, decided that if fire spells and alchemist's fire were safe to use in the cave (as long as they stayed away from wooden supports), Fern's rifle should be as well.  The group paid their bills and returned to Packer's Cave minus Krendall.
After listening for rats (Fern heard sounds of only normal-sized ones through a hole the rats had dug near the front door of Packer's Cave), they entered.  They virtually ran into a standing skeleton!
Upon examination, they realized it was the remains of the dwarf Vilburd Gruskin aka Packer, the owner of the cave whose dead body they had found earlier in the cave in a cart.  The skeletal body was lashed together crudely and propped up with barrel staves.  The rib bones weren't put together properly.  (It was put together with rat poo and rope).  The group knew it must have been done very recently, and went further in.
They soon found a body lying in the trap they'd found before.  It was on the floor and went down when something was on it, with small blades inside.  The body was a human male, and they determined he was alive.  The man then screamed to "Stop it!" and "Make it Stop!"  Juan started medical treatment on the man who they discovered was Giles Mumfret.  Giles was the operator of the Witch on a Stick, who had gone in with Packer to get his stuff and had been missing.  While Juan used mundane healing, Ursula cast a healing spell on Giles, who fell unconscious.  (Citadel's Shadow II adventure 2019 03 16)