Upon waking after a long rest, the group heads back to Vorian Dayne to return the sword Dawn.
After speaking with him, he rewards them and secures the group’s silence about the matter by payoff. He makes it quite clear that if he hears of this story from any source, he will make the Martel’s push much more difficult with the knowledge he has now from you. Each member gains 500XP.
The newly minted Busters of Ghosts tell their tale of clearing the prison and the Solutionists’ fate, which yields mild surprise from their host, and thanks in the terms of gold.
He writes a message to his cousin Payret Dayne in High Hermitage about the loss of the Solutionists and asks the group to deliver this message, which they accept.
The Assembly get on the road to High Hermitage. Along the journey, they encounter some Sabretooth Tigers, which they destroy without too much trouble. For this, they gained some pelts, smoked the meat to have road rations, and gained 225XP each.
One night while on watch, Burton awakened the group after hearing some rustling in the brush around the campsite. It turned out to be 4 Giant Constrictors. During the course of battle, the Constrictors managed to entangle and restrain a few members, but in the end, regardless of the struggle, they overcame the snakes and roasted them up to increase their rations and their experience (by another 300XP each).
At around noon, High Hermitage appears to come out of nowhere. No noticeable increased traffic, no large spires, just a walled red keep – not much larger than The Sandship. The footprint of the town seems a bit larger and is surrounded by walls, but all in all, not really any more impressive than The Sandship.
As they approach, they take notice of how little security there is around the walls, but as they enter along the rocky and dusty road, the familiar sounds of a living township begin to fade in and overtake the sounds of nature that has served as the soundtrack for the past 5 days.
As the keep is approached, it becomes clear why High Hermitage has its reputation of a strong Knightly House: the guards appear disciplined and well-trained and more like troops than the guards seen everywhere else.
They stare these new visitors down as they pass without changing stance – however, it is apparent that they are ready to act at a moment’s notice.
Burton decides to test one of the guards by creating a minor illusion of a mosquito flying nearby his ear. He guard dismissedly waves his hand in the air towards the figment, but otherwise does not move. Burton seems satisfied with that result.
No one stands in the way as the group approaches the entrance of the keep. As the doorway threshold is passed, a man stands up from a table in the back of the hall. The man is dressed in worn lordship-style garb, studded leather armor that you can see through the thinner threaded areas, and a longsword at his side.
Who goes there?
The Unlikely Assembly and Busters of Ghosts state their business and, after learning that this is Payret Dayne, deliver their message. (+100XP)
Payret breaks the seal on the message:
Ser Payret Dayne, Lord Knight of High Hermitage,
I, Vorian Dayne, Lord of Starfall, Site of the Fallen Star, Keeper of the Star Forge, and Sword of the Morning, regret to inform you of the Solutionists’ demise.
The messengers before you followed up after the Gang and found their remains beneath our prisons. This group managed to succeed where the Solutionists failed and, as such, I would recommend their service any day.
I regret any inconvenience this may have caused.
Vorian Dayne
Lord Knight Payret’s face morphs from that of stoicism to absolute fury.
He grabs a nearby clay pot and throws it hard across the room, the pot shattering as it finds the firm embrace of the wall.
He yells with as much force as his lungs allow, “This is just like him! Fuck!”
He looks at the group still standing before him, “Just… leave…”
Shadowsilver mentions quickly, “we succeeded where the others failed, so…” Payret’s response was to glare at her.
As they were all about to leave the keep, he says, “Wait.”
He walks over to the visitors slowly, his hand on the hilt of his sword. It seems an eternity before he gets within conversation distance.
Are you interested in taking the place of the Gang of Solutionists?
The Assembly responds in the affirmative, but cautiously.
If you solve this one pressing issue that they were going to tackle when they returned, I would consider it. The Gang has its perks, you know.
If you stick around town, I will send you on jobs as they arise and pay you accordingly.
If you’d rather leave, you are free to do so, but since you will not be at my ready, you won’t receive pay.
I would, however, supply you with credentials denoting this title – and as a result, you might be surprised at the hospitality you receive on your travels.
While abroad though it would be your duty, after remedying any issues, that you announce “the Gang of Solutionists from High Hermitage are glad to have been of service”.
If you accept these terms, I will allow you to take on this task to prove yourselves worthy of that title.
The group says they are interested, and so he continues:
People keep going missing, but it’s always the low-lives. They are always reports by other low-lives. Rumors are spreading about a bogeyman snatching them to clean up the town. My men are not trained in detective work like this.
I don’t know any more of the details, I just want this solved.
Speak to the tavern owner at The Hermit and tell her that I sent you to help.
Over the course of the next few hours, the group did some haggling and purchased some services from the best experts they’ve seen their entire time in Westeros.
During this time, Qhortho managed to get a deal he was looking for, but used an intimidation tactic to pull it off. This may be an action that comes back to haunt them all, but in the short term, it saved Qhortho about 75gp!
Eventually, they make their way to The Hermit, a decently-sized establishment with a modestly-sized patronage. It can be easily seen that this is a quintessential Tavern/Inn.
Bancey Rowman, the owner, stands stout at about 5’2” with long brown hair and blue eyes. She isn’t unattractive, but because she is so disheveled and unkempt, she is not the type of person one would typically approach for conversation.
Bancey is mid-yell through a doorway behind her when the crew enters.
After a brief introduction, Bancey cuts right to the chase: “How much do you know?”
After recounting everything Payret told them, she says, “Being the center of the rumor market, we get many stories – most are bullshit mind you – but there’s something more going on here I think.”
She continues, “Today’s what, Tuesday? So I guess it was this past Thursday night – a young girl was in here drinking at a table alone and she slipped away to the back – not uncommon for the sorts of girls who come to a tavern alone at night, if ya know what I mean.” She nudges her elbow at Burton with a sly look in her eye, “This guy knows what I mean, am I right? Huh, Eh?”
A yell is heard from the back room – “my apologies… excuse me a minute” she walks off through the doorway. Unintelligible yelling can be heard between a man and a woman. She returns to the bar, and just before she opens her mouth to speak to the group, she turns her head and yells to the back room, “and you can’t make any dessert until AFTER you serve the mutton!”
She focuses back to the matter at hand,
“sorry, so where was I… Yes – so this young girl was in here drinking by herself and she left out the supply door – but she left a half-drunk mead on the table and never came back. Seemed strange, but not too crazy, I suppose.”
“But then I overheard a brothel worker in here on Saturday talking about how her friend disappeared a week prior. That might not sound too absurd on its own anywhere else, but ya’ just don’t hear stories of abductions around here, people don’t…”
She looks as if someone just interrupted the conversation, “Hey You!” she yells at a patron who is trying to skulk out the door behind you.
The man looks a surprised as if he’s just been caught stealing.
“Hey, you owe me now for a week’s stay – when am I going to see my rents??”
The man stammers a bit, “today ma’am, today – I promise – it will be today” and he scampers off.
“I’m sorry again, I’m the only one running this place since my husband…” a hint of welling can be seen in her eyes before she catches herself an instant later. “But that’s neither here nor there…”
“So… … right… …,” she says while composing herself, “people don’t just go missing around here. Folks who come to High Hermitage are either passing through or tend to settle. It’s a great throughway for brothels and tradesmen. And settlers tend to be either one of those two… or they join the ranks of the Daynish Guard.”
“Ok ok, so those two things, hard to say if there’s something deeper going on, but then on Sunday, I heard of some street dweller that keeps going on about some commotion he heard a couple of weeks back – this sounds like it could be more sinister, but it’s a story from a street dweller, so who the hell knows…”
“Anyway, if you can figure out if this is all nonsense or if there’s something going on, it would be a great service to our town.”
Shadowsilver extends an invitation to help deal with the deadbeat for a price. Bancey declines for now; she wants to see if he’ll fulfill his promise.
The Unlikely Assembly, Busters of Ghosts sit down for a moment to have some ale and talk about what they’ve learned. There seems to be a pattern to the disappearances, but it’s not quite known yet.
They leave The Hermit and head to the church right down the street. The notice 3 homeless individuals outside, panhandling – but one stands out from the rest, with his loud, obnoxious, and animated style. The group walks over to him and begin a conversation.
He tells of an experience a couple of weeks ago, “… and then I heard screams and I thought I was at the church, but then I was at the hospital, and then I was back at the church, and then it was dark, then it was light and…”
The group stops him there and think they need to talk to someone else. They approach a more normal beggar.
“Yeah, he’s been like that for as long as I’ve known him. I didn’t actually see or hear the thing he was talking about – I leave here when there’s no more people coming to the church. I do remember quite clearly that it had to have happened on a Monday because the next day when I heard about it, he was talking about no one being around for a while, and that is typical the day after a busy church-going day.”
They make their way to the Hospital next, where they learn relatively little, but Tholannan, being a healer, decides to stop by an operating room where he channels the power of Mother Rhoyne and helps the surgeons out with no expectation of payment in return. The hospital does pay Tholannan what they can afford, and the group heads on their way to the brothel that is closest the Church and The Hermit, The Canal Centre Brothel.
Along the way, they talk about the pattern and try to nail down the timeline.
| SUNDAY | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY | THURSDAY | FRIDAY | SATURDAY |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| THE CHURCH INCIDENT | THE BROTHEL INCIDENT | |||||
| | THE HERMIT INCIDENT | |||||
| TODAY | |
It appears that the incidents have all happened exactly 5 days apart and that today is when the next incident should happen, if this pattern were to hold.
Upon reaching The Canal Centre Brothel, which you’ve learned the locals call Carnal Centre, you speak with the proprietor and determine that it is true that one girl was never seen from again, but she was a relatively new hire and so he thought nothing of it. No one else has gone missing – though he heard of some loose rumors of other disappearances, but they were all shady rumors.
After speaking with the woman whose friend went missing, they realized there was nothing more to learn quite yet, so Shadowsilver asked if she could stage as one of the Canal Women that night and only be brought out if the clientele wanted to take his date offsite.
The proprietor agreed and so the gang formed a plan.
Qhortho would wait behind The Hermit; Tholannan would patrol the road from the brothel to the keep, then take a left to loop around the block to the back road leading south towards the brothel; Burton would be near the park outside the brothel; Shadowsilver changed clothes and would be inside the brothel; Qarzdaq would be near the Church. Qarzdaq also hired a few of the beggars to follow some of the patrons leaving the Carnal Centre that night.
They devised a clever set of communication devices relying on their magical talents acquired on their journey.
- Market Hall Trading Center
- Church of the Seven
- Smith Street Center (Industrial)
- John’s Wares
- Training Grounds
- Mill Street and Garden
- High Hermitage Keep
- The Hermit (Tavern & Inn)
- Medical
- Red Hill Brothel
- High Hermitage Racecourse
- Canal Centre Brothel
As evening approaches, the brothel patronage increases as expected, and a few patrons are seen leaving the establishment.
One of those people is a young man. Burton sees him and recognizes him as the man he saw leaving the inn earlier that day. Burton wonders how he could pay for a woman and not be able to afford the meager cost of lodging. Disguised as a dog, Burton follows the young man and woman into the park just west of the brothel.
Shadowsilver, looking out the window of her room, takes notice of Burton running into the park and leaves the brothel – chasing after some dog in the park at night.
Burton sees the young man step down into an embankment with the girl and moments later climb back out of the embankment, jogging towards the center of town. Burton continues towards the embankment.
Shadowsilver notices the man, and taking no chances, promptly thumps an arrow into the man, killing him. She continues her pursuit of the dog when Burton causes a flashing pulse of light to shoot into the sky about 30 feet up, attempting to call his friends.
Total XP this session: 1125