Citadel's Shadow II, Session 7

Citadel's Shadow II, Session 7 was a session of the Citadel's Shadow II campaign, played on Jan. 18, 2019 (UTC) (Jan. 17, 2019 for some participants).
==Personnel==
===Game Master===
*GM: played by Michael Lee Viviano
===Player Characters===
*Augustus Scitoria: former soldier and gladiator played by Grogimus Maximus Iratus (NPC for part of the session)
*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 ===
* Hanna Gruskin: an older dwarven woman
* Maisy: Witch on a Stick employee
== Events ==
=== 1742 ===
Ulthrane 12 (Landsday) (continued): Augustus Scitoria called for the arrangement of a full military funeral for the terrier that got killed fighting rats. Meanwhile, Hanna Gruskin rode to the Witch on a Stick while Juan de Fulmando accompanied Fern the Siegemaster to get her gun at St. Bassard's School and Home for Disadvantaged Youth.  Fern got her short breechloading carbine with a rifled barrel, and Augustus, Fern, Hanna, and Juan met at the Witch on a Stick tavern.  It was in a building with two other businesses, a glassware emporium and a jellybean factory.  They noticed a sign at Witch on a Stick in large letters proclaiming, "Going Out of Business."
Juan and the group learned from Witch on a Stick worker Maisy, 56, that the workers' boss (who was Giles) was missing after he left to get some items from a cave.  The cave was owned by Hanna's brother Vilburd (whom Maisy called by his "human" name "Packer," a name Hanna apparently didn't recognize).
Maisy let the group check Giles' desk. After about half an hour of fruitless searching, they read a note tacked to the wall over the desk that read, "Directions to Packer's Cave."  They found the cave was listed as being on an "upward" slope on the side of Paytern Hill, northwest of the center of town.  There were a few caves there, most used as homes, but some for garbage disposal.
The group debated about walking or taking a carriage there, with Augustus quoting the Legions' motto of "March or Die."  Juan appealed successfully to Augustus supplying the use of his carriage for an alchemist, young lady student, and a dwarven woman with a limp.  Augustus, Fern, Hanna, and Juan took the carriage to Packer's Cave.
They found a small road along the side of the hill that ended at a shack with no other buildings nearby.  The door was plastered with notes from people who were trying to get in touch with Packer, some of them urgently.
The group saw a cave entrance behind the shack that was blocked off with an iron door. There were rails that extended about two yards outside of the door.  Fern crouched down to look under the door, and several rats scurried out.  Fern leapt back, nearly stumbling off the road on the edge on the side of the cliff.  One of the rats got flung over the edge.  Juan whacked a rat, Augustus argued with the help who didn't like rats, and Fern took no damage.
Fern used some improvised lockpicks to open the door to the shack/cabin (Hanna provided a hairpin).  Fern saw it looked like someone else had tried to pick the lock before.  Inside they found a dwarf-sized bed, a couple of sets of clothes on a hanger, a water basin, a chest, and a table with "assorted bits of junk."  They found a few keys, bits of locks, and a locksmithing set, and moldering food on the table, a sign it had been untouched for quite a while.  With Hanna's permission and Fern's lockpicking, they got into the locked chest.  Inside they found several ledgers, a few coins, and a religious token that Hanna recognized as being for Lagadak, the god of crafts.
They decided to use the table to stand on while opening the cave door to avoid another rat attack; Fern and Juan moved it into place.  Hanna decided to leave (possibly worried about what they might find), and said she would meet them at the Witch on a Stick the next morning.  Augustus left with her for her protection. Juan said that with some demon dust from Fern's cartridges, he could light a torch or lantern.  (Citadel's Shadow II adventure 2019 01 17)