Runelords 13.0 - To the Big City

With a handful of clues leading them to Medinipur, the group waited in Sandpoint for the results of the Sheriff's investigation which would either implicate them in murder or free them of charges, for until they were exonerated, they were barred from legally leaving the Sandpoint region. Both Virgil and Khyrralien became sick from their exposure to the mould in the Misgivings, the former's health expedited by a Remove Disease spell from Mother Zantis, the latter who preferred to sweat out the lung infection on his own whiny merit. Luna spent much of her time studying Zara and keeping Aldern company as he adjusted to his new unlife, while Eamon spent his in the church and dodging the pesty reporter Leo. All four adventurers kept an extremely close eye on Aldern, lest the Lordship take over once more and prey on the village; he was accompanied by at least one of them at every moment, but there was no hint of strange behaviour on his part. Virgil eventually went so far as to invite him to join their "adventuring party", an invitation that he excitedly accepted, and which allowed them to not only continue to politely observe him but to potentially benefit from his extremely enhanced undead abilities.
Ten days after they returned from the Misgivings, the sheriff gave his formal decision: there was not enough evidence at the sanitarium to convict them of criminal behaviour, especially as no one had come forward with any allegations against them for the murder of the teifling woman. With their names cleared despite their actual guilt, they thanked the sheriff profusely for his leniency and promised to go directly to Medinipur to arrange for someone to go exorcise the manor to prevent any other undead from spawning there and plaguing the town, as well as to investigate the address they had found linked to the fugitive Koume Kamun. They set out immediately to prepare to leave, gathering supplies, purchasing a wagon, preparing Sebastian and informing people like Ameiko and Quint of their departure. Quint, absorbed with his studies and experimentations regarding the Runewell of Necromancy that he had been given, cared little that his summons were leaving; he did request that Luna bring him back some books from the city though. 
Virgil went to find Shadliss, and found her minding her family's store. The two female ravens, Rosaline and Juliet, perched outside on the eaves, while inside, Romeo sat jauntily on a perch. When Virgil questioned this, Romeo casually explained that he was dry and comfortable in here, while the other two didn't want to go indoors. Turning his attention from the bird, Virgil told Shadliss that he was leaving for the city, to which she responded by leaning on him for an invitation to join. He relented quickly, telling her that he would have to have permission from the rest of the group, and that she would have to have leave from her parents, lest they put out a warrant for his arrest as a kidnapper. Ecstatic, she helped him purchase the supplies necessary for the four day road trip that would take them to the city; Virgil purchased perhaps three times too much of everything, just in case. He told the others later of his arrangement with the girl; he received stern looks, particularly from Luna and Eamon, but no one denied him his dalliances to his face. 
The next morning marked their departure with a downpour. Shadliss met them at the Rusty Dragon Inn, pulling a cart with their veritable mountain of camping gear and other supplies. Eamon shook his head at the degree of waste, but said nothing. Passing out rain cloaks for everyone, Shadliss stood excitedly and waited to leave, impatient for her dreams of leaving the city to be finally answered. The six of them made their way to the stables, where Sebastian had been boarded. The horse reared and panicked in his stall, along with the other animals, unnerved by the evil extraplanars and the ghast that walked among them. Virgil and Eamon were unable to calm him, but Shadliss walked up to the frightened creature and managed to skilfully assuage his fears. Virgil complimented her skill with animals, while Romeo made a sidelong comment about the man's lack thereof. With the horse calmed, he was hitched to their laden wagon; Eamon sat at the front and directed the cart out of town on a four-day trip to the city. 
The four days were uneventful and marked mostly by heavy rain. Though the vast majority of those in the group required neither food nor sleep, as the undead could both go for several days at least without their gristly sustenance, they nonetheless maintained the charade for Shadliss' benefit, and for Sebastian. 
On the afternoon they finally made it to Medinipur, the weather had deigned to stay overcast, though it threatened to resume raining at any moment. The road led them towards the main gate, which Aldern insisted they take if only for the view. Passing by some gate guards who barely gave them mind, they were introduced to the city by means of a sweeping view, showing off the two layers of the city, separated by a cliff drop. With that, they turned about and left the gate again, taking the outer road about the walled city to reach the far side where Aldern's townhouse stood. As they neared the house, the rains started again. 
Aldern's home was in the nicer part of town, part of an upscale residential district. He had no private stables, he explained as they drew near, so Eamon resolved to drop the others off before taking Sebastian to the nearest communal stable at the end of the street. Aldern excitedly told the others about his house, eager to show them his decor, and readily offered for them to stay, though he feared he had insufficient beds and some would be forced onto couches. He continued to prattle until they reached the house, at which point he paused in confusion: the windows on the main floor had been boarded up. Wondering what the meaning of this might be, the group climbed out of the wagon and Eamon steered Sebastian towards the stables. 
Unsure of the safety of the situation, Khyrralien and Virgil offered to go to the door first, leaving the other three near the street. Deciding to knock, they heard someone call from inside, and within the moment, the door was answered by a pretty woman: a lady they recognized as Aisha Foxglove, who they knew full well was dead. Trying not to act suspicious themselves, they introduced themselves as friends of Aldern, and the woman gushed amicably, introducing herself and saying that her husband had spoken of them. She pulled them into the house and out of the rain, closing the door behind them; if she had noticed the other three, she made no mention of it. As they were dragged in, Virgil motioned subtly behind him to the others to not follow, the danger obvious. Insisting that the two come and join them for lunch and a visit, Aisha shooed them out of their wet cloaks and into a dining room; they didn't see her lock the front door behind them. 
Luna and the two others continued to stand in the rain, with Aldern panicking slightly that someone was apparently in his house, and that something was going on. Luna, for her part, sighed: the other two were on their own until Eamon made it back, as she was not about to lead Aldern and Shadliss in without him and neither would she leave them alone, particularly in case Lordship resurfaced. She scribbled a soggy note out and asked Shadliss to send Romeo to deliver it to him, hopefully to speed him in his return, lest he take an hour tending to his horse. Taking the paper, Shadliss instead read it and whispered something to the bird, prompting it to take off into the rain. Luna rolled her eyes and shrugged, taking out her rifle and preparing for the worst. 
As Eamon cleaned Sebastian's hooves, Romeo flew in and landed nearby. In a harsh, awkward voice, Romeo spoke to him, telling him to hurry and that there was danger. Eamon, nonplussed, demanded further information that the bird was either unwilling or incapable of divulging, so he hastened his task with some resignation, with Romeo shouting at him to hurry. When Eamon finally returned, he was told about the mysterious person inside, and how the other two men had gone in and hadn't yet returned. Eamon led them up to the door, but found it to be locked. Luna sighed and muttered that now Shadliss would get to learn how to pick a lock, at which the girl frowned and claimed she was already well-versed in the art. Taking out a set of lockpicks, she began to prove her point. 
Meanwhile, Virgil and Khyrralien were taken into a dining room, where a ham had been set out. Aisha talked politely, asking of them and their travels; as they tried to maintain a sense of composure, they replied evenly. Eventually, they hazarded the question of where Aldern was; she replied that he was just upstairs. Calling out to him, a man's voice replied, and a few short moments later, Aldern did indeed enter the room, greeting them and shaking their hands. The pair had a difficult time hiding their apprehension, and as Aldern spoke to them, Aisha came up from the other side of the table, subtly surrounding Khyrralien. Without warning, the Foxgloves suddenly attacked, claws manifesting from their hands as they slashed at the fey. The two adventurers retaliated immediately, but Khyrralien could not escape from between them and suffered from their attacks dearly. With his only hope to take down one of the aggressors so that Khyr could flee before he could be desummoned, Virgil focused his attacks on the creature that posed as Aisha. Just as Khyr shouted that it was the end and that Virgil had to save Vansaya, his crossbow, the devil's sword plunged deep into "Aisha" and she collapsed, reverting into a disturbing golem-like creature as it slumped to the ground. Khyr quickly withdrew, charging back towards the front door, while Virgil moved towards "Aldern". After a few strikes were landed on him, the doppleganger turned and fled, running upstairs with Virgil on his heels. 
As Shadliss finished opening the lock and moved to open the door, Khyrralien threw it open, covered in blood and obviously badly wounded. He trilled at the others that they were under attack and that Virgil was still inside, so they rushed in with Eamon at the front, following the sounds of stomping upstairs. 
The impostor, having reached the third floor and the end of the line, ran through a bedroom and towards the window. Lunging forwards, Virgil's sword lashed out and cut at "Aldern's" legs, tripping him. As he tried to escape, Virgil continued to assault him, holding him until Eamon ran in and struck the final blow. Virgil groused good-naturedly at the theft of his kill; as the others caught up, he deftly healed himself, Khyrralien, cleaned their clothes and the room, and declared flawless victory. 
Luna was glad that nothing particularly serious had occurred, and set about inspecting the bodies of the creatures: a sort of swamp-dwelling arcane creature that could imitate people, often used as spies and decoys. Aldern fretted that things had been in his home, while Shadliss took the excitement in stride. A thorough investigation of the house was conducted, but beyond a perfectly good ham sandwich being found in a barrel in the shed outside, there was nothing amiss beyond the barred windows and the bodies of the two impostors. They speculated that the Brotherhood, in an attempt to disguise Aldern's absence, had placed decoys in his house to deter strangers and dispose of meddlers; barring the windows would make it much more difficult for those trapped inside to escape before the doppelgangers could kill them. 
As the next order of business, they asked Aldern to show them the safe he had mentioned to Luna the week before. Though he was obviously a bit loathe to show his secret safe to everyone, particularly now that he was beginning to feel as though perhaps his life wasn't completely lost, he relented anyway. Inside the compartment hidden behind a lion statue was a pile of papers, a signet ring, some money and a very nice dagger. Aldern took the dagger and showed them the ring before moving to close the safe; they stopped him, and asked for permission to flip through the papers, lest the mysterious instructions that were referenced were hidden among them. He frowned, but again relented: there were many official documents, including a ledger and the deed to Foxglove Manor, which did indeed state that ownership would revert to the Brotherhood, but nothing suspicious or untoward. With a frown, they deduced that any sort of instructions here must have been left with the creatures they had killed. As they flipped through the ledger, idly awed by how much money Aldern could spend on frivolities, they noticed a strange, repeating item: every week, Aldern was paying 200 gold to the Brotherhood's sawmill for "Aisha's trip". They questioned what this could be, but he waved them off and dodged the question, flipping the book shut and putting it away. Closing the safe, he quickly offered them run of the house and excused himself to the sun room downstairs. 
The rest of them divvied up the rooms among them, the girls in one guest room and Khyrralien in the other, with the other two men on couches. When Shadliss skipped away to investigate the room she was staying in, a good sight more luxurious than any place she had stayed before, the four muttered that they needed to probe Aldern for further information. Luna was co-opted to try first, and she politely joined Aldern in the sun room, where they watched the rain fall in huge drops onto the panes of glass. Gently, she tried to learn more information about the strange entry in the ledger and if Aldern did indeed know anything else about the goings-on, but he adamantly refused, his demeanour becoming edgy and almost panicked when she pressed, so adverse to the topic he was; she quickly gave up. 
Later that evening, Virgil tried to speak to him, being a sight more forceful in his wording. Though obviously uncomfortable and recalcitrant to consider the subject, Aldern admitted that Aisha was indeed dead and that he hadn't told anyone in Medinipur; he was paying the Brotherhood to keep it a secret. He would speak of nothing further involving her, her means of death, or anything surrounding the terrible events that had so recently plagued his life. Though Virgil tried to both press and coerce him, Aldern remained silent, the thoughts of the subject driving him to fear and avoidance. Grateful for what he had been told, Virgil let him be. 
When night had long since fell, the rain had slowed to a fine drizzle, and Shadliss had fallen asleep, the four adventurers set out into the streets, taking Aldern along with them: now that they were in town, they were going to look up Koumei. 
Category:Rise of the Runelords