Liseth was relieved when Ms Kaijitsu interposed herself in front of Cato and started going through the acolyte's medical supplies.  Relieved that the innkeeper was skilled with medicine.  She needed to get the arrow out, but the girl was also aware that somebody who didn't know what they were doing could cause more harm than good.  And she wouldn't be in a state to help them once they started.

"Mr Vinder gave me all of his best medicines and supplies; to thank me for healing Katrine..."  Relief soon changed to consternation as Liseth watched Ms Kaijitsu set everything up and get ready to perform the arrow extraction.  Without access to magical healing it was going to hurt; a lot.  But a brief moment of intense pain would be far better than suffering with a goblin's arrow stuck inside of her shoulder for any longer.

And now Liseth had reminded herself about Katrine.  But it wasn't exactly a good time to think about how she could apologize to the other girl.

After receiving the gag and nodding to show Ms Kaijitsu that she was as ready as she was going to get, Liseth closed her eyes...only for them to burst open again the instant the arrow was pressed forcefully through her.  She didn't recall much after that until Ms Kaijitsu had finished dressing the now arrow-free injury.

For the next several moments all that the acolyte could manage was to nod at the comment of seeing Father Zantus as soon as possible; all the while whimpering and making no attempt to keep the tears from streaming down her cheeks.  She knew that she should be embarrassed about what Ms Kaijitsu said about Kerr, but if her face was flushed it was due to the pain more than anything else.  Now that he had been mentioned though, Liseth longed to be back at the Cathedral with the other young acolyte.  But how would he react when Kerr saw Liseth in the state that she was now?  He was so worried and scared for her during the first battle with the goblins.  What might he say or do when she showed up covered in bandages and wounds?

"Th...thank you.  Ms Kaijitsu."  Liseth finally tried to move her arm now that the arrow was freed from it.  It still hurt, but not nearly as much as it had when the arrow was stuck in.  And she had full range of motion.  Both of which were very good signs.  "And thank you too Pisca."  She laid her good hand on top of Pisca's head as the gnome hugged her, trying to distract herself from her own pain by examining the head injury.  "But I think that I would prefer to avoid having arrows stuck in me at all."

Using her good hand, Liseth called down a light sprinkle of pure, room-temperature, water to clean the blood from around Pisca's injury.  It dampened her hair and dripped off at some points, but was a great deal more focused than the blob of water that she dropped on the goblin earlier.  The the acolyte leaned down from her chair and closely examined the wound.  Then she got wearily down off of the chair and on to her knees in order to look Pisca in the face and closely examine her eyes.

"I think that you'll be okay Pisca."  She pushed herself back into the chair, "It looks superficial; I don't think that anything inside was damaged.  Father Zantus can fix everything once we get you to him."  Liseth retrieved some of her supplies still on the table and smeared a paste on the head injury to keep it from inflaming and forming into a nasty bump.  "Ms Kaijitsu, can you help me dress this please?"

Finally, a bandage was wrapped around Pisca's head to cover the injury.  Liseth sighed; if she was stronger they wouldn't need all these bandages and other things.  She should be able to just clean and fix all of the wounds easily using her divine energy.  But she never expected to need to use it so much.  Father Garrick did tell her that the more she used her powers, the stronger they would get.  And the easier they would come to her when she needed them.  But right now she was too tired to perform anything more than the most basic of orisons.

"Let's go and see what Cato and Kellan found.  I hope that they haven't gotten into trouble..."  Liseth stood from the chair and took a few weary steps in the direction that the two men went before stopping and leaning against the wall.  Then she watched Pisca to make sure that the gnome didn't need any help walking herself.

---

---

Seeing that the room was apparently free from immediate threats, Kellan walked over to the rucksack at the foot of the bed, knelt, and quickly rifled through it.  He found nothing other than changes of clothes of the style Tsuto had been wearing earlier, a couple of unopened bottles of what looked like alcohol, and a small, empty leather purse.  Dropping the rucksack, he began a systematic search of the room, tapping the walls in an attempt to determine if there might be secret doors or passageways.  As he did, he found that the wall on the left side of the room (as one entered through the door) seemed thinner or less solid than the back or right-side wall.

He found nothing else out of the ordinary.

As Kellan was tapping the walls, Cato walked in.  The wizard nodded in acknowledgement at the warrior and immediately began assisting with the search.  He looked around the chamber, then strode over to the writing desk, looking it over and bending down to see if there was anything interesting on the floor or in the small wastebasket he found on the desk’s bedward side.

Nothing.

As Cato started going through the desk’s drawers, he found it.  A small leather-bound journal, secured with a clasp, lay innocently in the top drawer as if had been hastily tossed inside.  Cato called Kellan over as he removed the book from the desk and sat down in the chair to review it.  Undoing the clasp, he opened the front cover to read the block letters on the first page of what amounted to an intelligence jackpot:

THE JOURNAL OF TSUTO KAIJITSU

The leather-bound booklet contained over two-dozen parchment pages, most of which were filled with either annotated maps of Sandpoint or quite-detailed drawings of a beautiful-looking woman in various states of undress.  The drawings themselves were of high quality; apparently Tsuto was something of an artist when he wasn’t organizing goblin raids on his erstwhile hometown.

The maps each depicted different battle plans.  The first set outlined an attack for a group of 30-40 goblins; one of those maps was circled, and both Cato and Kellan recognized it as the plan followed by the goblins who attacked Sandpoint during the Swallowtail Festival.  The page following contained a brief after-action report:

The raid went about as planned.  Few Thistletop goblins perished, and we were able to secure Tobayn’s casket with ease during the commotion.  I can’t wait until the real raid.  Nualia’s right; this town deserves a burning. 

Of more pressing concern were the next several pages, each of which illustrated an assault on Sandpoint by a force of what appeared to be 200 goblins.  None of these were circled, and while many were scratched out as if they had been rejected, the implications were clearly ominous.  Tsuto’s thoughts on the various operational ideas were scattered throughout:

Ripnugget seems to favor the overwhelming land approach, but I don’t think it’s the best plan.  He may be what passes for a goblin tactical genius, but that's not saying much.  We should get the quasit’s aid.  Send her freaks up from below via the smuggling tunnel in the Glassworks, then invade from both there and the river in smaller but more-focused strikes.  The rest (except Bruthazmus) agree, and I’m pretty sure the bugear’s just being contrary to annoy me.

My love is too distracted with the lower chambers to make a decision.   She says that once Malneshfekor is released and under her command, we won’t need to worry about being subtle.  I hope she’s right.

Tsuto seemed to have a firm grasp on strategy and tactics; many of his suggestions made a lot of sense to Kellan, who had received some rudimentary training in such things, and to Cato, who had studied with the Hellknights.  The last page of the diary was damaged by some sort of liquid spill, but Cato and Kellan could still make out most of it:

My love seems bent on going through with it.  Nothing I can say convinces her of her beauty.  She remains obsessed with removing what she calls her “celestial taint” and replacing it with her Mother’s grace.  Burning her father’s remains at the Thistletop shrine seems to have started her transformation, but I can’t say her new hand is pleasing to me.

The next script is in a shakier hand.

I’m beginning to wonder if, well, if she loves me at all.  There.  I wrote it.  She doesn’t seem to care anything about what I want.  She’s going through with the transformation despite my reservations.  She instructed me not to contact Ameiko.   But that is something I just cannot do.  I understand why the rest of them need to burn, but not Ameiko.  I refuse to see her harmed as a result of this raid.

I’m going to bring her down to the basement and keep her in father’s study.  I’ve moved father up to the Glassworking Room where he can be watched over by the goblins; I don’t want them together and the least father deserves is a little fear after what he’s done.  I’m sure after he’s spent a few hours in their company he’ll be begging to tell me what I need to know.  They’re crazy.  And these are the SMART ones.

The final entry followed:

Well, that was easier than I thought it would be.  Ameiko is in the study and father upstairs.  The terrified look on his face when I left him with the goblins was priceless.  I just hope the bastard doesn’t have a heart attack; I need that information.

Had a conversation with Ameiko when she woke up.  I probably shouldn’t have.  I knew she would never understand about the cleansing of Sandpoint, and she certainly wouldn't about me and Nualia.  My sister has tied herself to the people of Sandpoint.  She tried to convince me that what I was doing was wrong.  Ha!  As if.  If only I could get Nualia to talk to her, she would come around.

Still, I . . .

A blob of ink stained the page.

. . . sounds like the goblins are downstairs again.  How many times have I tol

The journal stopped there.  Cato and Kellan looked at each other.  The rest of the group was DEFINITELY going to want to see this.

---

---

This message was last edited by the GM at 00:39, Tue 21 Jan 2014.

"Mors buggufle ... "  Things were stirring.  Her comfortable support was shifting, telling the gnome that it would soon move itself out from under her, leaving her to fend and balance and do all of the things normally expected of her, by herself.  Pisca lifted an incredibly heavy eyelid, and a striking violet eye peeked out.  The coast seemed to be clear.  Besides, the testaments of certain long-necked birds to the contrary, They-Can't-See-You-If-You-Can't-See-Them tends not to hold true most of the time.  So, Pisca opened both her eyes.  Things didn't look much different than they had when she'd closed them.  But, given that there was an equal chance than any new thing that might show itself here in the basement of the Glassworks might as much be a bad new thing as a good new thing, no change was, all in all, not too terrible a thing to open your eyes to.

"Alright, Lys.  Getting up.  I'm getting up here.  The gnome climbed first to all fours, and then, from there to her feet.

"I don't think there's anything in the rooms," Pisca called, somewhat unsteadily to Kellan and Cato.  "Just rooms.  With stuff.  For the Glassworks.  Ameiko said she knows it.  And I really don't think any goblin is going to be hiding in any closets this time."

"We need to go down here."  Once again, the gnome entered the breech in the wall.  Her fingers wove in the pattern of her cantrip once again and she spoke the word of power.  "Jibber."  The Dancing Lights blinked, disappeared, and then reappeared, this time, vaguely in the shape of a monkey with wings.

"Lets go," said the gnome as she staggered into the darkness after her Dancing Flying Monkey.  "To the beach."

---

Active Effects: Message 20m (On Cato and Kellan), Bless 2m, Dancing Lights 1m

HP 1/18
AC15
Archaeologist's Luck 1/7
This message was lightly edited by the player at 22:03, Mon 20 Jan 2014.

Kellan had been reading over the young wizards shoulder, and given Cato's superior schooling it was only natural that the farm boy turned soldier needed a little more time to work through the pages than the Mage. As he continued to read he experienced a conflicting assault of emotions.

The first was joy, that Tsuto had been so vain, or careless, or prideful that he had left such a damning piece of evidence. Kellan was immediately certain of it's authenticity as it contained details that could be validated over a long enough span of time. He thought of the Sheriff and Alergast and Mayor Deverin being able to rally Sandpoints forces and perhaps enlist the aid of nearby organizations to meet this threat. Now they had names, numbers, tactics. It was almost too good to be true.

The second was disgust, or perhaps he was just disturbed at how casually the half elf wrote of slaughtering the people of Sandpoint, his friends, neighbors and family. No mention of demands for surrender, no mention of any goal except devastation. There was no goal here but to raze the entire town to the ground.

The third was a touch of sadness, for Ameiko and the boy that had been Tsuto. What had driven him this far? How would Ameiko ever recover from this? She was strong certainly but this exceeded what anybody could be expected to endure.

"Liseth!...Pisca!, we found something" he called out into the hallway, his tone making it obvious that it was the good "we found something" and not the "Oh Desna I just got punched in the throat" found something.

Pisca returned from the gullet of the mysterious tunnel for the fifth time.  Or, was it three?  And, as irksome as it was, it turned out to be well worth the turn around and walk back.  One thing in particular struck the gnome as she read Tsuto's journal pages when it came her turn.

"He does actually seem like he can be saved, Ameiko."  Pisca held two pages up side by side as she spoke.  This strategy, however, yielded nothing more than viewing them individually had.  "He does.  Second thoughts.  And there's a third thought.  And a fifth.  The biggest problem I think we'd have coaxing him back to our side would be that he seems to hate Sandpoint so much."

"Why is that?  Surely he can't have it in for the entire town.  What about Bethana?  Didn't he like her too?  From what I've learned, most of the problem that he's had here were with your father."

Ook!  And there was another thing too.  There's no mention here anywhere of ... what happened to Lord Kaijitsu.  It just says that he left him up there.  With the gobbies.  Maybe he didn't know.

"Um ... "  The gnome gave Ameiko a covert look, wondering once again when the right time was to tell her.  "Maybe if we can convince him that not everyone in the town is bad ...  I wonder how he got that idea anyway?  From what I know it sounds as though he hadn't spent a lot of time here."

"And ... um ... anyone notice that from what Tsuto says here, this Nualia is Father Tobayn's daughter?  Didn't ... didn't both Father Tobayn and his daughter die in a fire during the Recent Unpleasantness?  But ... here, Tsuto mentions a celestial taint.  And then Mother's grace.  I wonder what that means.  But some sort of angelic or demonic heritage might explain how she survived."

"Why she seems bent on destroying Sandpoint, though ... "

"There's so much here.  Malneshfekor.  Shrines ...  I think we need to go to the Mayor with this."  Pisca shook her head.  "And with Sheriff Hemlock out of town with a goodly contingent of the guard too.  We might have to take matters into our own hands here.  And soon."

---

Knowledge Religion check, please for Malneshfekor.  (Bard can use Knowledge skills untrained.)

Also Knowledge Local for Nualia's mother.

Active Effects: Message 20m (On Cato and Kellan), Bless 2m, Dancing Lights 1m

HP 1/18
AC15
Archaeologist's Luck 1/7
This message was last edited by the player at 14:09, Wed 22 Jan 2014.

Cato eagerly opened Tsuto's journal and started reading, barely noticing as Kellan stepped up behind him to read the journal as well.  The revelations were as amazing as the journal was damning.  Cato seconded Kellan's feelings of astonishment, disgust and sadness as he read the journal.

But Cato also felt a sense of relief.  Finally, here was information they could use to fight back against the goblins attacking Sandpoint.  They didn't have to just stand vigilant for goblins sneaking into the city.  Here were the names of those behind the assaults.  Bruthazmus, Ripnugget.  And Nulia.  Finally, there was Malneshfekor.  And a quasit.

But one line in particular really bothered Cato.  He repeated it out loud to Kellan.  "Send her freaks up from below via the smuggling tunnel in the Glassworks."

"Hmm...it looks like Pisca has the right idea investigating this.  The smuggling tunnels must lead somewhere else than just the beach.  We probably need to investigate.  Though not today, perhaps.  I don't think we could handle anything much more.  And Tsuto makes it seem as though Nulia's 'freaks' are more dangerous than just goblins.  What else could there be down here?"



OOC:
Knowledge Arcana on Quasits.  Or is Knowledge: Planes better?  I always forget.  Also for Malneshfekor.

The irony might have been humorous had Liseth not been so miserable.  Almost right as soon as Pisca said that there was nothing to find, Kellan gave a shout proclaiming that they had found something important.  Instead of giggling though, she simply wandered into the small room where the two men were reading the journal that they found.  She gratefully took the opportunity to climb atop the messy cot and set herself down wearily while everyone perused the journal they had found.  Certain that they would pass it to her at some point.

Liseth's frown didn't change the whole time she read through the information.  It certainly confirmed the conspiracy theory that there were plenty of people that wanted to hurt Sandpoint.  And this Nualia was behind stealing Father Tobayn's remains...and it says that she burned them; and that they were the remains of her father.  She was Father Tobayn's daughter?  But if she was alive, why did she have so much hatred in her?

It did become apparent, even to Liseth, that Tsuto was merely a lackey in all of this.  It was obvious that the others were only using him, twisting his hatred of his father into something even more wicked and evil.  Pisca was right; he did seem to have second thoughts.  Liseth only hoped that it wasn't too late to save him from the other conspirators.  Because they don't seem like they would be very forgiving when they find out that he tried to save Ms Kaijitsu against their wishes.  And lost this journal that they were reading...

The girl wondered how Ms Kaijitsu would take the information written in here.  Especially the part mentioning her father being left upstairs.  With Goblins.  It didn't seem as though Tsuto intended to kill Lord Kaijitsu, at least just yet.  But what did he expect all those goblins to do when he left the poor man with them?

"We need to show this to Father Zantus too; it tells us who stole Father Tobayn's remains, and why.  I never believed that it would be his daughter...and she only wanted to burn up the remains for some kind of evil ritual."  Liseth sighed, "It's just terrible.  Everyone says how Father Tobayn was such a good, nice man.  How could his daughter be so malevolent as to wish Sandpoint destroyed?  Maybe we should get Father Zantus and the Mayor, and even Mr Barret too, all together and show this to them all at once?"

Liseth still wasn't sure that they were the best choice to explore where these tunnels let out at.  Not in the condition that they were in at the moment.  But...well, Pisca might just be right again.  It would be good to know exactly where the goblins were getting in at.

She just hoped that there weren't any more sneaking around in there.  Or at the passage's exit...

Knowledge (Religion) concerning evil rituals that might require the burning of your father's remains?  And maybe which god (or powerful demon/devil) the shrine at which it was performed might be dedicated to.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 20:51, Tue 21 Jan 2014.

"Well, the sooner we get going, the sooner we can deliver this news to everyone."  The gnome had climbed up onto the cot and curled up next to Liseth, placing her head, quite uninvited, into the acolyte's lap.  As Lysa perused the pages, Pisca went over them as well, albeit with a sideways view.

"Look at that, Lysa."  Pisca poked a part of the page with a small gnomish finger.  "It says this Nualia was obsessed with removing a celestial taint.  That's angel blood, right?  I can't imagine it would be heavenly dirt.  But, then it goes on to say that Nualitta wants to replace it with her Mother's grace.  And it looks like part of that replacing starts in the hand.  Maybe a claw.  Or a hook.  Or a hoof.  Or a tentacle."

"But the question that comes to this gnome is this:  If the celestial taint didn't come from Nuamina's mother, where did it come from?  Father Tobayn wasn't an angel, was he?  Maybe in disguise?  Hmmm.  If he was, would he have been burned up in the fire?"

"Of course, maybe Tsuto didn't mean Nuami's real mother.  Maybe her mother really was an angel.  Father Tobayn had an angel for a wife.  Maybe Tsuto was talking about a metaphorical mother.  See how Tsuto capitalizes Mother.  Lamashtu.  I'm betting Lamashtu.  She's the Mother of Monsters, isn't she, Lys?"

It was really quite comfortable here in Lysa's lap.  Too comfortable.

"We'd better go.  Go.  Go.  Goooooo.  Ow."  The gnome winced as she sat up, the cut on her stomach reminding her of the battle she'd just gone through.  "Go.  Go and then sleep.  Maybe."  Pisca sighed.  "I bet it's not a whole lot past noon."

---

Active Effects: Message 20m (On Cato and Kellan)

HP 1/18
AC15
Archaeologist's Luck 1/7

"I don't think that we'll have much luck learning who Nualia's mother is with just this."  Liseth absently ran a hand through Pisca's hair where her head was laid in the girl's lap.  It was amazing just how much like an innocent child Pisca seemed at times; even though Liseth was almost positive that the gnome must be at least twice her own age.  "Kerr said that Father Tobayn didn't have any real family, that his daughter was adopted.  So if Nualia does have celestial blood from one of her parents, it couldn't have been from Father Tobayn.  Maybe Father Zantus would know more though?  About Father Tobayn's daughter?  Although according to both him and Kerr, she was supposed to have been killed years ago, in the Cathedral fire."  Liseth frowned again, "If she is still alive, why does everyone think that she is dead?"

---

---

“You’re welcome, Liseth.”  Ameiko watched her patient closely to see how she would weather the aftermath of her spur-of-the-moment surgery, but it looked like the young acolyte was going to hold up just fine.  She looked weary, but not weak.

Well, no weaker than anyone would be who had just had an arrow pushed through her shoulder.

“I definitely prescribe arrow avoidance for the immediate future.”  Ameiko said in her best physician’s voice.  “And the far future, now that I think on it.  It’s a good thing you made a friend out of Ven."  She patted the medical kit.  "You’d have to be injured pretty badly to be beyond the healing offered by the items in this satchel.”  She gave the blonde an encouraging grin as the girl began to treat her gnomish friend.

“A . . . gnomish child.”  As the innkeeper knelt down the help Liseth with Pisca's dressing, she favored the gnome with a small, amused smile.  Her story of Desna and Lamashtu was . . . somewhat altered from the traditional version.  “I suppose there’s no reason why it couldn’t be.  And if that is the case it might indicate that your gifts ARE from Desna!”  Ameiko treated this conclusion as if it was the most natural thing in the world.  “But I’m not sure that Lamashtu’s enmity towards Desna indicates that she’s in any way interested in Sandpoint.”

Ameiko turned in alarm as a shout came down the hallway, but it was just Guardsman Storval informing them of his find.  She followed the rest of the group as they moved with varying degrees of infirmity down the hall to discover just what it was that had been discovered.

It was a journal.

Ameiko wasn’t surprised to find her brother had been keeping a journal; the boy was forever writing or drawing or doing something else creative.  He could never just sit still.  She waited patiently as the others passed the leather-bound book around.  When her turn came, she sat on the bed next to Liseth and leafed through it.

Tears sprung unbidden to her eyes as she read her brother’s thoughts.  “I think you’re right, Pisca.”  She smiled through her sorrow.  “I think Tsuto’s having second thoughts.  Maybe we can convince him to abandon this . . . evil.  And to answer your question, I think that Nualia somehow poisoned him against Sandpoint."

"Tsuto’s always been somewhat bitter about how Sandpoint treated him.  He was the scion of an important noble family, but still cast off and pretty much ignored by anyone who had any interest in political advancement or who might need a favor from Lonjiku Kaijitsu, and that was just about everyone.  It simply didn’t pay to help or even notice the shunned son of one of the most influential men in town.”

Ameiko sighed.  “I can hardly blame him for being angry.  He was not treated well.  But he never had any desire to kill anyone, much less burn the whole town down around their ears.”  She grimaced.  “I can only imagine that this Nualia woman influenced him.  I don’t know how she did it, but she inflamed his bitterness into a murderous rage.”

She scanned back over the book’s pages, pointing to a passage.  “Do you see how he’s looking for information from my father?  I wonder what information that could be.  I’m assuming you already freed him from the goblins upstairs?  Maybe you could ask him about it.  Unfortunately I do not believe we are,” she sighed again, ”on speaking terms.”

Ameiko nodded at Pisca.  “I agree.  We need to get this information to the people who most need to know:  Mayor Deverin, Sheriff Hemlock, and Father Zantus.  Any investigation that might take us away from getting it to them needs to wait.”  She did a double-take as the gnome continued to speak.  “Wait, the Sheriff is out of town?  With some of the guard?  Whatever for?  This seems to be a really inappropriate time for it.”

Ameiko shrugged at Liseth’s question about Nualia’s presumed demise.  “Everyone thought she was dead because she was in the cathedral and everyone in the cathedral died in the fire.  Everyone else, at least.  But I agree, we should go.  I can’t think of anything else we can accomplish by sitting here in my brother’s former room.  Father Zantus will be able to tell us more.”

---

---

This message was last edited by the player at 07:46, Wed 22 Jan 2014.

---

---

Pisca tottered up off the bed and left the room, turning to her right to explore the passageway further.  As she traveled down the hallway with her gnome-shaped light apparition, she was disappointed to find that it looped back around to the area where the party had been ambushed by Tsuto and his goblins.  There was no sign of any tunnel heading to the beach, or indeed to anywhere else except back up the stairway to the Glassworks proper.


W = Wall      dd = rock debris (difficult terrain)
s = Staircase  D = Door
A = Ameiko

---

---

After having shared the contents of their find Kelllan stooped and inspected his goblin prisoner once more. How much did this little creature know? Chances are good he may have been to this infamous thistle top camp, perhaps he might be coerced into telling him about their defenses. Did he know of this Nualia?

He ignored Ameiko's allusion to freeing her father for the moment. As much as she deserved to know, he was sure that she would want to go to the body immediately, and that could end in nothing but more sorrow. Instead he decided to try and lift her spirits in some other way. As much as his pride nagged at him for it, he could see that Tsuto had been caught up in the scheming of more nefarious beings. He at least deserved an impartial trial.

"If can't promise anything Ameiko, but if we run across your brother again I will try to take him in alive, for your sake. He is a talented fighter however, so if pressed..." He trailed off "But I will try" he added with a resolute tone.

Hefting the prisoner for what would hopefully be one of the last times Kellan moved around to check what was on the other side of the thin wall. Nudging open the final door in the hallway.

"Belor went off to Magnimar for extra troops, Ameiko," Pisca had said after hopping down off the cot.  "To help protect the town.  Looks like he'll need more than he's thinking that he'll need."

This had been before she left the room and found, to her supreme disappointment, that there was no tunnel to the beach here.  But there had to be.  There just had to.  What had she done wrong?  What had she done to make the mysterious tunnel to the beach disappear?  In her mind, the gnome carefully reviewed the things she had done between the cot and the door.

She'd turned to Cato and said, "Cato," she'd said, "didn't you say something about Thassilon scholarship?  Don't you think that the name Malneshfekor has something of a Thassilon ring to it?"  That's what she'd said.  It seemed innocent enough.

Then she'd turned to back to Ameiko just at the doorway.  "Desna and Lamashtu is a good story, Ameiko," she'd said, by way of justifying her conclusions.  One of the better ones.  It has gnomes in it.  And you know what they say," Pisca added, just before adding the key element of her proof, "there's always truth in a good story."

"Don't worry, we'll get Tsuto back," she'd said then.  "I'm betting that it's love.  If you read the stories, there's a lot of madness and magic in human love.  It can make people do crazy things.  Like set a horde of goblins on the town you were born in, for example."  That seemed fine too.  Nothing wrong with that.  How could those words possibly cause a tunnel to disappear?  Or ... hide?

A snippet of a song had then come to her.  The door to the dark barrow of the ancient Fey Ancestors had opened for the briefest of splitiest seconds, and the snippet of song had escaped and dropped down onto Pisca.

Aaaaand when love grows,
It grows like a flower or grows like a tumor
Love shows the Gods have a sense of humor ...

Maybe that was it.  Fey magic that disappeared a tunnel.  Or maybe scared it away.  The gnome sighed.  No sense looking now.  That might take longer than she wanted.

"It's gone now," Pisca called back to the others.  "The tunnel to the beach has disappeared.  But it has to be here somewhere.  Tsuto said it was here in the journal.  Maybe we can come back later and search for it.  If for no other reason than to try and seal it up."

The gnome began back up the stairs, climbing half way to the top before realizing where they were going.  They would be so close.  The double doors between that storage room with the trapdoor and the Glassworks room would be open.

"Ameiko," the gnome halted at the top of the stairs, stopping the march up and out, "I think there's something that we've been meaning to tell you.  But it's not a nice thing.  It's not nice, but it's something that you'll have to know eventually.  And probably soon."  Pisca gathered the Tian woman's hands into hers.  With the height of the stairs to equalize them, she didn't even have to look up that far to gaze with sympathy into her eyes.  "I'm sorry, Ameiko," she said.  Then Pisca pulled Ameiko Kaijitsu up the rest of the way to the top of the stairs, through the storage room and into the workroom that had become a chamber of horrors.

---

Active Effects: Message 20m (On Cato and Kellan)

HP 1/18
AC15
Archaeologist's Luck 1/7

Cato looked up from Tsuto's journal, lost in thought as his mind rambled through names he had learned reading books of planar lore and Thassilonian history.

"Yes, Pisca, I remember reading about a Malneshfekor in ancient Thassilon.  A powerful barghest, and lieutenant of one of the Runelords.  I find it unlikely that he'd be still alive. More likely, someone's just using the name to try and play off the old Maneshfekor's reputation.  A quasit is interesting too, a demon that is often a familiar.  It might mean we're dealing with a wizard or something similar.  Or perhaps a free quasit, trapped on the material plane, who used to be a wizard's familiar.  Who knows how old these tunnels are?  Brodert and I speculate that some of this town might date back to Thassilon times."

Cato shook his head, returning his focus to the room.  "I guess the only way we're going to find out more is to keep exploring.  If there's an immediate threat to Sandpoint right IN Sandpoint, down here in these tunnels, that might be a more pressing concern than the Thistletop goblins.  According to Tsuto's journal, they hadn't yet decided on a plan of attack yet, but this Nualia has allies down here, below the Glassworks that might attack the town."

Cato watched as Pisca walked out of the room and explored the rest of the hallway.  After the others had finished with the journal, the wizard carefully stowed it in his pack. Cato stepped out into the hallway, stopping to inspect the last remaining door with Kellan, bemused as the gnome continued her wandering.

Cato took up his usual position alongside Kellan as they opened the last remaining door.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:57, Wed 22 Jan 2014.

Liseth agreed immediately with Ms Kaijitsu's assertion that they should leave and find Father Zantus.  In fact, that idea was exactly what she wanted to do.  The acolyte took a deep breath before pushing herself up off of the cot in order to follow everyone out of the room.

There was still one more unexplored place down here with that last door, but Liseth was certain that Cato and Kellan wouldn't have any trouble opening it up just to see what was inside.  She followed Pisca and Ms Kaijitsu towards the stairs; even though the girl had not been able to look the older woman in the face ever since her comment about her father.  Liseth looked hesitantly up the stairs where the room of horror waited above; they might be able to lead Ms Kaijitsu around it and get out of the Glassworks without her having to see what happened.  But that felt almost as bad as lying to her, and she would have to learn the truth eventually.

"Ms Kaijitsu..."  Liseth began, trying to find the words to say, "Um...Ms Kaijitsu, you love your father, right?  And you know that he always loved you too, even though he might have a bad temper?"  She suddenly thought of seeing Lord Kaijitsu the other night, when he had a fight with his daughter.  And how that was now going to be the last interaction that they ever had with each other.  Ms Kaijitsu was a strong woman, but the girl could not imagine her taking the news well.

Pisca seemed intent on showing the innkeeper what had happened first-hand.  But Liseth did not want to go back into that hellish furnace room for anything, and didn't think that Ms Kaijitsu really needed to see it either.  She tried to stop her instead, keep them from going inside to see all of the mutilated bodies; including the body of Lord Kaijitsu, with his expression of pain and horror forever frozen onto his face...

"Wait!  Please don't go inside there!"  Liseth tugged on Ms Kaijitsu's arm opposite where Pisca held her, "Please, you don't want to see what the goblins did in there!"  Liseth bit her lip, but now that she had started she had to finish.  Ms Kaijitsu would want to know why she was acting this way, "The goblins killed everyone...all of the workers that were in there.  And..."  She hesitated again, longer this time, "And...um..."  Liseth's voice shook with anxiety at giving such terrible news, "Lord Kaijitsu..."

---

---

As Kellan and Cato opened the door to what seemed like the final room in the Glassworks basement, they realized that the chances of them finding a secret door were very low.

Extremely low.

But only because they found a yawning tunnel in the left wall of the room as they entered.

While this room was clearly not a bedroom or study, it had much the same feel as the one in which Tsuto had been staying.  The empty wooden shelves abutting the walls were musty and moldering, and a utilitarian-looking desk in the far corner of the room was covered in dust.  Behind the desk, a sad-looking chair lay on its side, as if it were attempting to hide its embarrassment from view.

The tunnel itself was large, around eight feet wide by eight feet high.  Kellan strode into the room and allowed the brilliance from his poleaxe to illuminate the first part of the passage; it was buttressed by wooden supports and the dirt on the floor was packed down.

This was no hastily-constructed passageway.  It was not a nasty, dirty, wet tunnel, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy tunnel that had never seen any use.  It was clearly meant for some purpose.  But what that purpose was remained a mystery.

---

---

---

---

“Extra troops.”  Ameiko nodded; that seemed prudent.  “Well, I hope that he gets a legion.  If Sandpoint is truly facing an invasion by over 200 goblins, he is going to need at least a company to have any chance of holding out.  And far more than that if he wants to avoid a terrible loss of life.”  The innkeeper looked as concerned as one might expect.  “We definitely need to get this information to Kendra and Abstalar and, um, well, Alergast, I guess.  He’s in charge in Belor’s absence, right?  Sandpoint needs to start preparing itself.  Now.”

Ameiko followed Pisca out of the room, chatting with her as they walked down the hallway and up the stairs.  “Yes, well, love is certainly a powerful thing.  Although I’m not sure that there is any real love here, at least for poor Tsuto.  I think he is so desperate for love that he’s latched on to this woman, who uses him for her own purposes without any care for him at all.”  Ameiko’s eyes flashed.  “My brother may or may not be beyond redemption, but either way there shall be a reckoning for what she has done to him.  And to all of us.”

Ameiko stopped short when the gnome grabbed her hands and stared telling her about a thing that she had to know.  She looked over at Liseth as the young acolyte began talking, babbling almost, about how much her father had loved her.  As if the girl had any inkling of the complicated relationship between her and Lonjiku.  Ameiko herself didn’t know what she really felt about her father.  Was it love?  Disgust?  Admiration?  Fear?  Probably some combination of all of that and more.

Ameiko couldn’t help but think back to the little girl she had been, climbing up onto her father’s lap as he stroked her hair and sung a traditional lullaby from their homeland as they watched the roaring fire together.  Her mother had been sitting nearby, sewing some garment, smiling at the scene of domestic happiness.  It had been so long ago, but it seemed as if she need only turn around and see that younger man, his wife, and his daughter, as if it were happening right now.

She wished she could go back to that time and undo everything that had happened since.  All the hurtfulness.  All the anger.  All the bitterness.  All the resentment.

Ameiko was jarred from her reverie as Liseth tugged on her shoulder and Pisca dragged her into the Glassworking Room.  She had that feeling in the pit of her stomach that one gets when one is about to face a horrible truth.

And then there it was.

Her father, dead, decorated with molten glass in a horrific fashion.

Ameiko was surprised at how little she felt.  Nothing, really.  Just numb.  She picked her way through the carnage of workers she had known for most of her life to stand before her father, and what he had become.

What the goblins had made him.

She reached out and touched a piece of hardened glass that had melted itself into his body.  It was hard, and sharp, yet brittle.

Much like her father himself.

Ameiko turned to the two women accompanying her.  She smiled; they both looked so concerned.  She should tell them it was going to be all right.  “It’s all right,” she said, the tears brimming in her eyes giving the lie to that statement.  “It’s all right.”  She said again, as if she was trying to convince herself.  She gave what could only be called a brave smile.  “Shall we go see what the boys have gotten up to?”

But it was not all right.  Her father was dead.  Her mother was dead.  And her brother was lost in the grip of an anger inspired by that father, lost and fallen under the sway of a woman who wished only to use him for evil.

Nothing might ever be all right again.

---

---

Kellan stood silhouetted against the gaping chasm that was the opening to the tunnel, the lift emanating off of his weapon failing to penetrate the depths of the tunnel, and in turn lending an even more ominous glamour over it's recesses. The boys mind was working out the logistics already, why, you could march full grown armored men two or three abreast straight down it with little effort, as such it could easily accommodate the hundreds of goblins that Tsuto had alluded to.

Was this what it must be like for Dwarves? He had heard of the endless wars beneath the earth fought in tunnel and warren with barely enough room to swing a blade. The din of battle would be terrible down here with all the echoes and darkness, no breeze to carry away the charnel scents of the dead and dying, the close stifling miasma of sweat and fear. It would be terrible.

Turning he gave Cato a knowing look as if to say "well, here it is", before crouching and running a hand along the floor, then the wall. He wondered where it came out at. They were in no condition to find out right this moment, but soon, very soon.

"We should probably catch up with the girls, search the bodies, and go report this...I should also probably drop this off at the garrison" he suggested, referring to his bound prisoner. "Unless you have anything else you would like to examine while we are down here"

Pisca hugged the Tian Innkeeper, her arms going around the woman's waist.  In defiance of Ameiko's actual calm, Pisca found herself overcome by all the grief and hysteria that she imagined Ameiko to be experiencing.

"I'm sorry.  I'm so sorry," the gnome sniffed.  It was good to cry.  It was good to suffer heart-wrenching loss and mental anguish.  Especially when the causes were not your own and you could simply leave them behind afterwards.

"Alright.  Okay."  Pisca wiped tears from her face.  "I wonder what's keeping them down there anyway.  There's nothing there anymore really."

Wrong.

Again.

"There you are."  The gnome wagged a disapproving finger at the enormous (for a gnome) tunnel.  "Don't you know," she continued, "the first lesson of not being seen is not to stand up."  What Pisca imagined that the tunnel might have ducked behind to avoid having been found by Kellan and Cato was not at all clear.  Though that problem was made irrelevant by the unrealistic expectation of the tunnel hiding itself in the first place.

Pisca walked to the place at which the edge of the room met the beginning of the tunnel.  With hands on hips, she examined line at which room became tunnel.

"Lysa," she asked of the most experienced woodland tracker she had available, "which way do you reckon North is?"

---

Active Effects: Message 20m (On Cato and Kellan)

HP 1/18
AC15
Archaeologist's Luck 1/7

Cato stared in wonder at the tunnel that opened up before Kellan and him.  The conscious part of his mind was shocked at the size of it.  Instead, he fell back on scholarly analysis.  Obviously, this was far newer than ancient Thassilon.  He had never heard of the Runelords using construction like this, and besides, the wooden supports would never have lasted for millennia.  But it wasn't exactly recent, either.  Something this size couldn't have been built without disposing of a massive amount of dirt, and using an equally massive amount of lumber.  Cato supposed you could hide its dispersion over years, slowly sprinkling out little trails of dirt through Sandpoint.  And maybe you could hide the purchases of the timber shorings as fuel meant for the Glassworks fires; but a large number of people would have have to be involved for years.  Cato found it unlikely that the employees of the Glassworks would all be quiet or loyal.  Even one of them getting a little too much ale in front of Ameiko might have spilled the secret.  No, it was probably older.  But for what purpose?

As Cato surveyed the tunnel in front of him, he realized he was actually quite eager to further plumb its mysterious depths, once he and the others had rested up.

The scholar nodded at the young guardsman, looking a little dazed, still considering the tunnel.  "Yes...let's get back to town.  That's an excellent idea.  Inform the garrison.  Excellent idea..."

OOC:
Knowledge Engineering for any information about the tunnel.  Age, construction?

Liseth's heart sank as Ms Kaijitsu made her way into the glassworking room; and despite her own reservations, she followed her inside.  If only to be able to  provide some measure of support.  Though the young blonde was careful to avert her gaze from the scene of the goblins' atrocities and stay focused on Ms Kaijitsu.

"It's okay to cry,"  Liseth tried to be as empathic as she could when the stunned Tian woman turned towards Pisca and herself.  Only to try and tell them that it was alright; there was no way that was really how she felt after everything that had happened.  Liseth advanced with Pisca and attempted to comfort Ms Kaijitsu with an embrace of her own, "No one would think any less of you.  Crying is good; it lets all of the bad emotions out."

Liseth maintained physical contact with Ms Kaijitsu when they made their way back downstairs to see how Cato and Kellan were doing; holding the older woman's hand.  She was surprised to see that they had located the secret tunnel Pisca had been talking about.  Why was it even there?  It certainly didn't look as though goblins dug it out.  but regardless of how it came to be, there was a big passage and goblins were using it to sneak into Sandpoint.

"North?"  At Pisca's question, Liseth looked at the tunnel before staring blankly up at the ceiling for a few moments.  Almost as though she was attempting to draw a map in her head of the tunnel's position under the Glassworks, and how the building itself was situated in the town.  "Actually, I think that the tunnel goes north from here.  But not for very far or it would hit the water.  It probably turns northeast after a little bit, in order to get outside of Sandpoint."  She frowned; Liseth had been doing that a lot lately, "I wonder how far it does go, and where the exit is?  And how long have the goblins known about it?"

"North ...  North ... "  The gnome pondered the significance of the word, both in the context of the tunnels, in its relation to the geography of Sandpoint, straying even into things generally north-ish associated.  Ice.  Cold.  And mammoths.  None of the later three things, however, having to do with anything immediately at hand.

"This is disappointing," muttered the gnome herself, as she took a few tentative steps further into the tunnel, as though ascertaining something from the mere feel of walking into the tunnel.  "It doesn't look as though it goes immediately to the beach."

And then it happened again.  This time it was a light that shone out of a door opened somewhere in the barrow mound of the ancient Fey Ancestors.  Shrouded in mist, and made up of as much dark as it was made of light, this shining inspiration struck Pisca full on, blinding her in its beam.  It pinned her in place, blinking, and momentarily sightless.

"Smuggling tunnels," the gnome said.  "Smugglers.  Secret codes.  I know why he chose the White Deer."  Then, as abruptly as it had come, the light cut out.  Pisca, free to move, began pacing in an excited circle.  "He was found at the base of Junker's Cliff.  Everyone assumed that he'd fallen, or been pushed, been thrown even.  But what if he was there in the first place?  What if that's where he was killed?  What if he had business there?"

"I've got to go.  I know where this lets out.  At least one of the places where this lets out.  I know.  I'm sure I know," said the gnome, pleading with her new (relatively new) human friends.  "This tunnel must have an exit under Junker's Cliff, or somewhere just north of town.  That's the one I want to find.  It may go other places too.  But we don't want to go there just now."

"Lysa, you can help me find it.  Tsuto and his gobbies must have used this tunnel to get out.  There's no way they could have gotten past us up the stairs.  You can follow their tracks in this dirt, can't you?  Please?  Can't you?"

Pisca shuffled further down into the tunnel, from there looking back at the others.  "We won't go far," she added.

"And, I think, Lysa, a better question than how long the goblins have know this tunnel was here, would be how long did Lord Kaijitsu know this tunnel was here?"  And that thought lead onto an entirely new back street, dark and murky, with secrets lurking in every shadow.

---

Active Effects: Message 20m (On Cato and Kellan)

HP 1/18
AC15
Archaeologist's Luck 1/7

Kellan seemed surprised to say the least at Pisca beginning her jaunt down he tunnel. He had heard rumors of some other races being able to see in the dark, so perhaps the tunnel did not look quite to foreboding to the dainty gnome, but still.

"Pisca, no offense intended but you look like a stiff breeze could know you over...is there really anything down there that you have to find right away? It could be trapped...or Tsuto could have left some goblins behind to cover his escape. We have Ameiko, should we really press our luck today?"

He shifted the goblin into his other arm. It was like carrying a big smelly child who would bite your face off if awake, and given half a chance.

Press?  Luck?  Pressed duck ...

The gnome took on a lost and forlorn look that seemed, if anything, to indicate that she was considering possibilities that ran contrary to her present desires.  Were they all horribly injured?  Yes, for the most part, they were.  Did they have what they came for?  Yes, to this question too.  Ameiko was with them, hale and hearty.  Would the tunnel and its secrets still be here in an hour or two?  Tomorrow?  Next week?  The answer to this was less clear.  The tunnel had already managed to hide once.  Could it escape an exhaustive search by a determined gnome now that its presence was known and confirmed?  Pah!  Unlikely.

If they went to Father Zantus he could heal her.  (And maybe fix her lunch.)  Then she could come back.  It was only still around noon-ish.  There was still plenty of time to follow the tunnel out to the cliffs.  The Glassworks would still be open.  To her at least.

"Alright."  Pisca limped back from the tunnel to the room.  "Alright.  Lets go."

But then the gnome turned briefly to the tunnel again.  She pointed a finger into the darkness in its depths and said in a voice deeper than her own, "I'll be back."  Then she turned to take the stairs up to the storage room and the doors in it that lead outside to Sandpoint.

---

Active Effects: Message 20m (On Cato and Kellan)

HP 1/18
AC15
Archaeologist's Luck 1/7
This message was last edited by the player at 18:14, Thu 23 Jan 2014.

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---

The members of the small group looked at each other, then at the tunnel.  It had been a rough morning, and the day wasn’t over.  Now that the excitement and adrenaline of combat, finding Ameiko, and the searching of the Glassworks’ basement had subsided, each of them started to experience a bone-deep weariness that indicated how badly off they really were.  Finding a place to rest and heal up seemed like a VERY wise course of action.

Led by Kellan, who was still lugging the limp body of Thok as if it were a favorite doll without which he was afraid to face the world, the group trudged back up the stairs and away from the mysterious tunnel.  When Kellan reached the top of the stairs, Ameiko, who was far more familiar with the Glassworks than anyone else, nudged him and pointed to the double doors across from where they’d emerged from the Glassworking Room.  Kellan looked at her, nodded, and strode over to the indicated doors, throwing them open to reveal the bustling busyness of midday Sandpoint.

As the group emerged from the Glassworks, they were nearly blinded by the sun’s seemingly-overpowering brightness.  Everyone blinked in what was a harsh glare after the darkness of the building’s interior, some even throwing up a hand to protect their eyes.  At the same time they took a deep, full breath for what seemed like the first time in hours.  The clean, crisp sea air was a most welcome change from the close, stuffy, hot, death-infused confines of the Glassworks.

When their eyes adjusted, they saw a Sandpoint not much different than the one they had left.  Townsfolk went about their daily business, blissfully heedless of the horrors that had happened mere hours previously only yards from where they were walking.  What would the passersby think if they knew that goblins had killed and hewn the bodies of Lonjiku’s glassworkers while they themselves slept comfortably in their beds the previous evening?

Probably nothing good, if the startled looks the passing townsfolk gave Kellan and his unconscious goblin prisoner were any indication.  Not wanting to start a panic, the young guardsman, joined by Cato, waved to the others and headed off, making the short trip down Rat Alley and up Main Street to the Garrison as quickly as he could.  Ameiko gave everyone a hug before she headed back to the Rusty Dragon, almost demanding that everyone stop by for dinner that evening.  As Ameiko departed, Pisca took Liseth’s hand and the two girls started walking across town to the Cathedral.

As the groups started off through the idyllic, sun-drenched streets of Sandpoint, it was almost like the horrific events of the morning hadn’t even happened.

Almost.

Continued in #6a:  A Gathering Storm and #6b:  Father Knows Best 

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This message was last edited by the GM at 19:09, Fri 24 Jan 2014.