Lira in "State of Panic"

**Lira**, together with Azula, Marley, Nicolas, Nong-Poi and Rob, arrived at the Free City of Soliton to secure a ship that would bring to the island where the Godslayer sword was being kept.

## A Reunion

*Main Article: A Reunion*
The group was locked in a prison cell with other petty crime breakers. All those with them seemed like normal citizens, and had likely also been apprehended for violating the curfew.

Lira was the first of the adventurers to be called in for questioning. She was fetched out of the cell by Lieutenant Denise von Schreiber, a human woman who seemed somewhat familiar to the ranger. Though Lira asked if they had met before, the lieutenant denied it.

As Lira exited the cell, she brushed against the guard who had opened the door and pickpocketed his key.

In a separate room, Denise asked Lira whether she had been knowingly consorting with thieves. The elf only lied and claimed that they had not known the captain they had hired was a smuggler.

The lieutenant expressed her doubt that Lira and the others had entered the city legally, since none of their names had been found at the gate records. Though the elf had admittedly given a false name to the prison warden, she was sure that at least stalwart Nicolas had written his own name.

Somewhat unnerved, she insisted that the guards inspect the weapons they had confiscated. Lira claimed that they had been arcanely marked when they entered the city, though no such mark was found.

Lira was returned to the cell and the other members of the group were taken and questioned similarly. A little after the lieutenant had left to question Marley in solitary, Lira slipped out the key she had stolen. She easily unlocked the cell and left, feeling claustrophobic, despite the fact that the others hesitated to follow her.

However, as she walked down a hallway, Denise returned unexpectedly. The elf considered running, but Marley called out to her from his nearby cell and convinced her to stand down. Evidently by some agreement between the lieutenant and rogue, they had all been set free.

The group returned to the inn, where they found Brad unexpectedly still in the city. He was distraught, and told them that Lisa had disappeared from his side when he had been trying to convince the guards at the city gate to let them pass.

Lira suggested that they find Lisa's trail, but they found the area by the gate full of people. They gave up, since all footprints and scents had been erased by the crowd. Instead, they followed Brad to the guard post, where they reported the disappearances of Lisa, Rob and Minos.

A guard, after some persuasion, gave them the address of Frederic, the guard who had been in charge of the gate the previous afternoon. They reached his upper story apartment, and the door was answered by his dwarven wife and infant child.

The dwarf happily said she would bring her husband to the door. However, when she returned, she abruptly said that he had gone out. Suspicious, Lira forced open the door and the group found Frederic trying to climb out the window.

Lira dragged him back into the bedroom and she and Azula confronted him from across a desk. Lira gestured a snarling Scout onto the table, and warned Frederic that the beast would be able to tell if he was lying and would react accordingly.

Frightened, Frederic admitted to omitting their names from the log. Lira and Azula learned that some nameless group had coerced the guard into removing the names of suitably suspicious targets, in order for the city guards to think that there was some illegal way to enter Soliton.

The guard also revealed that he had seen a dark elf with a staff enter the city with their group, though Lira and Azula denied having anyone like that in their party.

Just as Azula considered closing the nearby window that the guard had attempted to escape through, a crossbow bolt flew into the room. It hit Frederic in the throat and he fell to the ground. Lira peered out the window and saw an assassin crouched on a roof across the street.

As Azula hurried to stop Frederic's bleeding, Lira and the others jumped out the window to the next building. They were still on a rooftop a street away when the assassin caught sight of them and fled. Lira tossed Scout after him in an attempt to give her companion a head start, but she missed. The beast fell and was stunned, but was able to give chase later.

Before he left her range, Azula managed to throw two Guiding Bolts after the assassin, injuring him, though he continued to run. As the fastest in the group, Lira was able to catch up to their target first. She ziplined across the last few feet and tackled him bodily to the ground.

They rolled to their feet with equal dexterity, and faced off at close range. Only here did Lira notice that, though human, the assassin had a single orc arm.

As the group caught up, Lira, Marley and Azula were each poisoned badly by the assassin's scimitar. The dwarf was eventually able to break their opponent's arm, and he collapsed to one knee. However, he continued to lash out with his weapon and keep them away, until Azula finally broke his other arm as well.

The guards found them shortly afterwards and took the assassin - a wanted man named Inverno - away.

Lieutenant Denise, who had accompanied the guards, praised Marley for his efforts, which Lira and Azula immediately noticed. They confronted the orc, who attempted to lie, but they both saw through it. He eventually admitted that the lieutenant had warned him that their movement in the city would be magically tracked.

Even after this, Lira suspected that Marley was not telling the full truth, but she let it go.

The group returned to the guard post, where they met Captain Steffan Hrothgar. He deputized them to help him find the city's missing children, though Nicolas was uncomfortable and suspicious of him, likely from his paladin schooling.

They returned to the inn and were reunited with Rob and Minos, who were soaking wet with sea water. Lira asked what had happened and whether they were hurt. The sorcerer told of their capture by a baron who had imprisoned his father Rikheart.

Only as they spoke did Lira realize that she had recognized Rob's eyes in Denise's.

## False Appearances

*Main Article: False Appearances*
The next morning, Lira, Marley and Azula separated from the others, deciding to allow Minos and Rob to recover from their ordeal. Later, they assumed, Nicolas and Nong-Poi would aid the two in investigating Rob's father and the mysterious baron.

The three headed for the burgrave's keep to interrogate the assassin that had been arrested the night before. However, upon reaching the square, they found it crowded with people, save for an area at the center that had been cordoned off. Marley observed the splatters of blood and viscera in the cleared area, and declared that they had belonged to an orc.

They soon learned from the crowd that there had been a prison break. Azula entered the prison's solitary confinement cell and discovered that Inverno had escaped. She sensed as well that the assassin - whose arms had both been broken - had been magically healed to aid his escape.

Outside, Lira and Marley investigated the battle site. Marley discovered an odd patch of blood that differed from the rest, which he said belonged to neither orc nor human. Lira directed Scout to sniff the blood, and the beast immediately ran toward a nearby street.

After calling for Azula, they hurried after the giant weasel. Some minutes later, they discovered that they had retraced their steps and returned to their inn. Despite wondering whether her companion had simply wanted to return home, Lira continued to follow him.

As Scout ran up the narrow staircase, Lira, Marley and Azula crowded after him. When they reached the hallway, Lira discovered a dragonborn barbarian attempting to break down the door to their room. Immediately alarmed, she drew her bow and demanded to know what he wanted.

The stranger insisted that he had simply been locked out of "his" room. However, Lira could tell he was lying, and loosed a warning shot near his feet.

The dragonborn then claimed that he was an old friend of Nicolas and had happened to overhear that the paladin was staying in the inn. The group then invited him to the tavern below. Only as they moved back downstairs did they realize that the dragonborn was accompanied by a half-elf cleric.

After they had sat down, the two introduced themselves as Firroth and Auren. Marley sniffed the former and subtly told Lira and Azula that the blood they had been following belonged to him.

Lira asked Firroth what he had been doing at the prison. He claimed that he had witnessed the prison break, and while he and Auren had fled, they had been attacked by a man with an orc arm. The group shared that they were looking for that assassin as well, and asked for their help to find him, as well as investigate Soliton's missing children.

The group traveled back to the burgrave's keep and were directed to the head investigator of the missing children case. The investigator was a dwarf who kept a small, paper-filled office.

They offered their help and showed him the deputy badges granted by Captain Steffan, but the investigator irritably said that he was busy.

Equally annoyed, Firroth lifted the dwarf off the floor and threatened him, but the investigator was not impressed. After the dragonborn had meekly set him back down, Lira called the investigator's attention to how many people had crowded into his office. She casually threatened his paperwork and, after she had knocked over a couple of stacks, the dwarf hastily cooperated.

The group learned that the dozen or so children had all disappeared in the middle of the day without any signs of commotion. One father had even claimed that his ex-wife had been seen leading his daughter away.

They questioned the ex-wife, but she claimed that she had not seen her daughter in a long time. After verifying that she was telling the truth, the group began to suspect a doppelganger. However, since none of Soliton's arcane warning lamps had gone off, all they knew was that the disguised person had not used magic.

As they walked down the street nearing evening, they realized that they were being followed by a half-elf. Lira directed the group around a sharp corner, then waited for their tail right next to the intersection. When the other turned the corner and bumped into her, she grabbed him.

The man surrendered immediately and claimed that he was a guard working for Lieutenant Denise. She had apparently suspected that the adventurers were responsible for the disappearances, and had wanted evidence.

As they convinced the half-elf that they were innocent, Azula remembered Nicolas' unsettled feeling about Captain Steffan. She asked the guard if his boss had been acting strange recently. Somewhat surprised at his own answer, the guard confirmed the suspicion.

However, before they could get much information, the lieutenant came up behind them and interrupted him. She dismissed her soldier and, when they were alone, admitted that she had also recently been suspicious of her own captain. Steffan, she told them, had been acting withdrawn for a month and had started taking night shifts.

Bemused, Lira asked if Denise thought the captain was a vampire, and was surprised when she said yes.

The group decided to confront the captain, though Marley needed to spend a few moments convincing Denise to come with them and face her mentor. However, as they started to leave, Firroth sensed the presence of the man who had attacked him that morning.

Remembering their previous encounter with the assassin, Lira and Marley decided to check the rooftops. As the others left for the keep, the two climbed upward.

Lira climbed up first and as she waited for the half-orc, she began to pace the moonlit roof. However, she soon realized that her shadow was flickering oddly. Every time she moved, there would be a delay before her shadow followed her.

Alarmed, Lira shot an arrow down into the roof and through her own shadow. A glowing smile opened across the shadow and a black cloud surged up toward her. Engulfed as she was, the elf was forced to abandon her bow and use her less effective shortsword.

As she struggled, Marley finally arrived and tried to defend her with a rapier. Though obviously injured by their weapons, the shadow continued to strangle Lira.

Thinking quickly, the half-orc lit a torch and stabbed at the shadow with fire. It finally retreated back to the roof with a hiss. As Lira saw the shadow dart toward Marley, she finally had room to shoot an arrow and kill it.

The two left the roof and ran to find the others. As they caught up with Azula and Auren, they learned that the others had heard Denise cry out from ahead of them, but vanish before they could help her. Firroth had charged into a nearby room to look for her.

However, when the clerics had followed, they had seen two Firroths fighting each other. They had managed to subdue them both, but the group stood over the unconscious figures a moment, unsure of what to do.

## The Guardian of Soliton

*Main Article: The Guardian of Soliton*
After bringing the twin barbarians to the inn, the group locked them in separate rooms. Unbeknownst to them at first, this distance broke the impostor's mental connection with the original. Firroth promptly beheaded the doppelganger, who had been posing as Lieutenant Denise.

Soon after, Baron Dominic von Schreiber accused them of kidnapping his sister and the adventurers were detained. Before they reached the prison though, they were rescued by Sei, a thief that Nicolas, Rob and Nong-Poi had befriended.

## The Assault

*Main Article: The Assault on von Schreiber Manor*
The group was brought to the Thieves' Guild, and were allowed to rest in one of their storage rooms. The next morning, Lira and Marley were the first to wake up. Since they were surrounded by crates and barrels, they opened one out of curiosity and found a giant's amputated arm.

Unruffled, Lira moved out of the way for Marley, who was eyeing the large rings on the giant's fingers. However, Sei came in and stopped them, saying that everything in the room already had buyers.

Since Rob had told the group that he had recognized Baron Dominic's voice as that of the one who had kidnapped him, they asked Sei about the von Schreiber manor. She gave them directions, but warned that the guards were looking for them since they had escaped arrest.

As a thief and charlatan, Marley eagerly gave them tips on disguise. He suggested that they pretend to be foreigners, and they all darkened their skin with soot. Lira also tied a bandanna around her brow to hide her elven ears.

As the group walked together in the market, Marley and Nicolas led the way and spoke to each other in false accents. However, the deception was barely believable and a guard began following them. Luckily, the adventurers noticed in time and quickly dispersed into the crowd.

When the guard caught up, he was surprised to only find Nicolas, Azula and Minos. He asked them where the others had gone, but Nicolas insisted that they were only three. As Minos suggested that it was just the heat, the guard wandered away, confused.

The adventurers regrouped and finally reached the large, enclosed manor. From a nearby alley, they could see two guards standing just inside the locked gate.

Few of them could scale the eight-foot fence, thus Marley volunteered to climb up and provide reconnaissance. Before the rogue left, Rob handed Lira and Marley his Rings of Whisper, which would allow them to communicate from a distance.

Marley reported that, aside from the two they could see from outside, there was a guard standing alone just below him and two others patrolling the back of the house.

In an attempt to get the gate open, Nicolas walked in front of the two gatekeepers and seemingly collapsed from heat stroke. One of them quickly unlocked the gate and approached him with a waterskin. At the same time, Lira ran up out of "concern" for her friend. As she knelt beside them both, she pickpocketed the man's keys.

As the ranger supported Nicolas by the arm and left hurriedly, the guard returned to the gate. However, upon realizing he could not lock the gate, he began arguing with his fellow gatekeeper on which of them had the key. Hearing the commotion, the guard near Marley came over to listen.

Marley took the opportunity to jump down and hide in a bush beside the house. However, as he tried to open a window, the solo guard heard the rustling of leaves and came to investigate. Lira quickly sent Scout around the far side of the house, through the fence, then into the same bush as the orc.

When the guard stopped in front of the bush, the giant weasel darted into the open and startled him. The two gatekeepers looked up and wondered aloud what the unusual beast tasted like. As Scout shouldered open the gate and ran down the street, the two chased after him.

Lira bristled as she watched the two fire arrows after her companion, and seriously considered breaking her cover to protect him. Fortunately, Scout was able to hide from the guards despite his injuries.

As the individual guard took over the watch at the gate, Marley threw a rope over the wall for everyone to climb. After unlocking a window, the large group began filing into the manor. However, as Rob started to enter, the patrolling guards came around the house and saw him.

The sorcerer quickly cast Sleep, which was luckily enough to knock them both unconscious. They pulled the bodies into the manor with them and, as Lira bound their arms, Azula also suggested that they strip them to delay them whenever they woke up.

The group began to explore the house. When they reached the entrance hall, they noticed a family portrait depicting parents and their presumed children, two boys and a girl.

As Nicolas and Azula admired the intricate chandelier depicting Bahamut, Lira inspected the dining room. When she tried to open a cabinet however, she flinched from a poisoned needle hidden in the handle. After finding only silverware inside, she called Marley over to help her inspect it, since she was convinced such a protected door hid something important.

Upon finding a seam bisecting all the shelves, Lira passed the rogue her crowbar. However, even after splintering one of the shelves, neither of them could figure out what the cabinet hid.

The two returned to the main hall when Auren called their attention to a piano upstairs, and Marley and the cleric went up first to investigate it. The others followed close behind, but were careful to stay out of sight.

Marley whispered down that they could see a piano on the next floor, but its bench was empty, despite the music obviously coming from the instrument. When the orc considered throwing a piece of bread at the piano, Lira sharply stopped him. She instead handed up a piece of wood from the cabinet they had broken, suggesting that it could at least reasonably have fallen from the ceiling.

Marley tossed the chunk in an arc and it landed flat on the seat. The music stopped abruptly and Lira felt a sudden unease as a girl's voice asked whether they enjoyed the music. They saw a brief glance of a ghost resembling the young lady from the portrait, before she faded from sight.

Auren, who had been standing next to Marley, abruptly moved away from the group. He went to the piano, sitting down and smoothly continuing the piece that had been playing earlier. Realizing that the cleric had been possessed, Marley tried to coax the ghost into coming back out, but just missed a strike from the irate ghost's mace.

Seeing this, Azula insisted that they just allow the ghost to finish her piece. Lira felt uncomfortable with being vulnerable to an attack, but settled down on the floor with the others to listen.

As the ghost finished playing, she abruptly noticed Rob. Still controlling Auren, she swept toward the sorcerer and cradled his face, asking "Rikheart" where their son was. As the others tried to convince the ghost who Rob really was, she angrily attacked them.

Reminded of the time she had been hallucinating from Maeve's enchanted bow, Lira was careful not to actually hurt Auren. She restrained the cleric from behind as Azula and Nicolas came at him with rope. However, before they had finished, the ghost fled his body.

With the ghost distracted, Nicolas and Marley helped Rob wash the soot from his skin. At this, the ghost finally recognized the sorcerer and calmed down. She told them that they needed to stop her little brother Dominic, who was planning to kill thousands of people using the scroll he had taken from Rob. Though they tried to keep questioning her, the ghost only sat back at the piano and slowly vanished.

The group continued through the house and came upon the family treasury. Lira joined her fellow adventurers in looting, and came out with several Guided Arrows and Boots of Haste. She mused that, as a wood elf, she was already the fastest, but supposed that the boots still had uses.

Afterwards, they noticed that one corner of the vault had a section of wall protruding oddly. Azula and Firroth broke a hole through the stone with a warhammer, but could only make an opening big enough for a hand. Marley pressed his face against it but could only see an opposite wall.

Lira went to the bedroom across the hall, where she had noticed a vanity. She casually broke the mirror and returned with a shard. Putting both her hand and the shard into the hole, she saw that there was a hidden staircase in the wall.

The group went up one more floor and returned to the corner of the house where they had seen the staircase. After moving a table, they easily found a trapdoor that led downwards into a crypt. Nicolas pushed open a pair of double doors at the far end, and Rob immediately recognized the hall he had appeared in after he had been kidnapped.

At the creak of wood, a figure on a throne at the end of the hall stood and greeted them coolly. Nicolas stared at him and the four other soldiers waiting for them, then slowly pulled the door back closed.

They glanced at each other nervously a moment, before the group heard murmured voices on the other side, then heavy thuds on stone. Curious, Marley peeked through the door again and was grabbed by a giant hand. As they watched in horror, they recognized a flesh golem with the face of Rob's father.

## The Soulless One

*Main Article: The Soulless One*
Lira and the others could only watch as Marley was thrown across the room by the flesh golem. The creature then immediately turned its attention to them, and Nicolas and Firroth crowded the doorway to hold it back.

Effectively trapped in the crypt, Lira fired arrows over their shoulders at the golem. They could only just see that it was flanked by two fanatics and an orc. Beyond them, the baron had approached a few steps, accompanied by a magic-wielding tiefling that seemed to be his right-hand man.

The tiefling touched the baron with his staff and transformed him into a giant eagle. The baron flew upwards to a balcony overlooking the hall and disappeared from their sight.

Since he had landed somewhere by the front of the hall, Marley ran up behind the tiefling and put a silence collar on him. However, the enemy revealed himself to be a druid and transformed into a crocodile. He attacked and pinned the rogue, nearly killing him if not for his orcish blood.

Since they were still separated from Marley by the golem, Lira crouched swiftly and gave Scout a healing potion for him to carry. The weasel then slipped out past the golem's feet, running towards Marley and passing him the item.

Eventually, Nicolas was able to push the golem back enough for Lira and the others to slip free. Rob and Minos, remembering the last time they had been in the hall, ran to the nearby cells to free the captured children. Nicolas and Nong-Poi focused on the golem and orc, while Azula and Firroth attacked the fanatics.

Lira and Auren followed Scout and fired on the druid from a distance. Marley managed to free himself from the crocodile's jaws and took cover behind the ranger.

Nong-Poi leapt and finished off the golem with a poisoned bolt she had taken from the assassin Inverno. Seeing the giant creature fall, one of the fanatics surrendered, but Firroth continued attacking him.

Disapproving of this but unable to look away from the druid, Lira sent Scout over to the dragonborn to stop him. The weasel jumped in front of the fanatic and snarled at Firroth, but the barbarian only kicked him out of the way and sliced the fanatic in half.

Lira threw a rock at Firroth in annoyance, but could do little else during the battle. Azula knocked the second fanatic to the floor and suggested that he play dead, pointing at Firroth.

Auren and Lira finished off the druid's crocodile form, just as Nicolas and Nong-Poi killed their orc opponent. The paladin and monk charged the tiefling and knocked him unconscious.

Curious, Nicolas touched Nong-Poi with the staff that had fallen from the druid's hand and inadvertently turned her into a giant eagle. Enjoying herself, Nong-Poi flew a few circles over their heads before ferrying each of them to the second floor.

Lira was second to be carried up after Nicolas. They arrived in a room with a magical circle etched into the ground, which she later learned had also been written in the scroll taken from Rob. The baron stood at the center, surrounded by six unconscious children.

Nicolas was attempting to pick up one of the children, but was driven back by a flash of energy. Lira fired at the baron from over the paladin's shoulder and killed him with a clean shot. However, as the baron fell, he managed to smile and say that it was not over.

Uneasy, Lira approached the body after Nicolas finally managed to lift a child and disrupt one edge of the circle. She stabbed the baron in the throat for good measure, but was still not satisfied when the magic failed to disperse.

Marley came over and, since he was injured, Lira asked him to set the body on fire while she helped the others with the children. The rogue stripped the body of valuables before doing as she requested.

Nicolas eventually realized that he could push the children from the circle without getting hit by the energy if he only touched them with his shield. Lira copied him with a coil of rope and Rob with his staff.

After freeing all the children, the ghost of Denise reappeared to thank them. With all the missing children in tow, the group found a shortcut that came up into the manor's dining room. As they left the passage, Lira recognized the poison-trapped cabinet she had set off.

By that point, the manor had been filled with guards and they left the children in their care. They exited the building and were met by a thief, who carried a message from Sei. He told them that Captain Steffan was about to be executed by exposure due to being a vampire, despite the man's refusal to actually kill or drink living blood.

They ran to the crowded city square, where a stage had been erected. Aside from a small council, the stage only held a box with air holes. Rob reminded them that he had a Wish scroll from Cassana, which could cure vampirism, but the others insisted that they should save it.

Lira tried to cause a distraction by starting a fight, but the random townsman she punched was only slightly annoyed. Nicolas mimicked her with more success, and all eyes turned to the sudden brawl at the back of the crowd.

Azula ran up to the box with the druid's staff and shoved it through an airhole. As the crowd settled down and looked back toward the execution, the box was opened to reveal only a cat.

In the confusion that followed, the group picked up the vampire cat and easily slipped away.