25 Mostan 1120

Follow the Money

Their adventure in the swamps of Tierthas left the party with more questions than answers. They dumped the drug dealer Pan'phar Thrissek at a small coastal village and returned to Marhaven with a sample of the alien creature that was the true source of Harmony and the paperwork left behind by Noktilo.

While Grimaldi examined the remains of the creature the party turned their focus to the paperwork. It became clear that a large amount of money had been made from Harmony drug business, and that most of that money had been sent on to the Central Bank of Nessen. To go any further in their pursuit of the Servants of the Beast Below leadership, the group would have to follow an old justiciar's adage and follow the money.

The report from Grimaldi was unsettling. The slime they had collected from the swamp cave was completely unidentifiable -- it bore no resemblance to any known natural or magical substance. By following the formula seized from the cave, however, Grimaldi was able to replicate a small batch of Harmony. Whatever the goop was, it was the genuine source for the drug.

The sample of the slime creature itself proved even more disturbing. Not only was it totally alien to Grimaldi, his senior aides, and even the arcanists of the illumian cabal, it actually grew in the lab. Grimaldi, fearing what the thing might do if allowed to regenerate itself, had the sample magically disintegrated and sent the ashes to the Elemental Plane of Fire.

After hearing Grimaldi's report there was nothing left to do but head for Nessen. The party provisioned the Chimera and sailed for the port city of Corbanos, the primary commerce hub for the old nation.

Upon docking in Corbanos the party took an impromptu tour of the dock sector. Unlike Survale, it appeared that Harmony had not made much of an impact in this city. A few stoned wastrels wandered around, but most people seemed clear-headed and hard at work. As they walked from the docks to the business district they found no sign at all of the wasted druggies that lined the streets of Survale. They took this as a good sign.

The Central Bank of Nessen's headquarters stood in the heart of the business district. It was a solid-looking stone building with barred windows and a formidable entrance. What they could gather about the bank from locals suggested that the people within would be equally well fortified. The Central Bank had a longstanding reputation for protecting the privacy of its customers, which included governments as well as businesses and wealthy individuals.

After some discussion of tactics, it was decided that Mrs. Wilkins and Aria would go inside and try to glean some information about the bank's security measures. They approached the receptionist and, with Mrs. Wilkins and her legendary charm in the lead, inquired about opening an account for managing large sums of money. The receptionist smiled warmly and led them to the office of the branch manager, Mr. Penworth.

Penworth proved to be a balding man in impeccable clothes with exactly the kind of manner one would expect of a bank manager. He listened to Mrs. Wilkins' cover story, grinned at them both, and surprised them with his answer. "That's a very clever cover story," he said, "but completely unnecessary." Then he addressed Aria directly. "Miss Seastar, you're here for the package, aren't you?"

Aria held back her bewilderment and agreed. Penworth excused himself to retrieve the package, giving them both a few minues to collect themselves. When he returned he held an oilskin envelope about the size of a waterskin. He asked Aria to confirm her identity by naming the seal on the package: the family seal of Lord Tagren, her father, who had vanished some 15 years before. With that done, Penworth gave Aria the package.

Inside the envelope was a pair of soft leather gloves. They were exquisitely tailored and included an embroidered symbol on the back of each -- the crest of Aria's monastery where she had been raised and trained.

Mrs. Wilkins tried to recover and ask, obliquely, about the security arrangements of the bank, but Penworth would not divulge anything. He was more expansive on the subject of the package. It had been left some six months ago, by someone whose identity was not recorded by their request. He had known Aria would be there for it because he had received her message two days before.

Aria and Mrs. Wilkins left the bank puzzled and a little unnerved. They had sent no message; obviously someone else had intimate knowledge of the party's movements and plans and had used that knowledge to ensure that Aria received the gloves. But who, and why?

Strontium used an identify on the gloves and learned that they were a pair of Daneth's gloves, a rare and beneficial magic item designed for lawful good monks. Not something an enemy would bestow on Aria, that much was certain.

Having failed to glean anything useful from Penworth, the group visited a tavern in the business district, hoping to eavesdrop on some bank employees. There were none. In fact, they learned from other patrons, the Central Bank of Nessen was like a closed community -- its employees never patronized the businesses nearby, they simply came and went. Some said the Bank was even more closed than the local illumian cabal, because the illumians at least sell crafts in the market and allow visitors to make use of their library. Bank employees seemed to do nothing but enter the bank in the morning and leave at closing.

This was interesting and provocative, but was not getting the group any closer to their objective of locating the local Servants of the Beast chapter. They split up to pursue separate options. Quinn and Mrs. Wilkins headed for the seedier end of town, with Quinn taking on the role of a Harmony addict looking for a fix, while the rest of the group watched the bank for any signs of aberrations or other suspicious activity.

Strontium fired up his detect aberration spell and used it to monitor the customers going in and out of the bank. After an hour or two of this he detected his first aberration: a youngish-looking man with red hair and fair skin and slight build. When the man left the bank Strontium and Caenus followed.

A few minutes later their quarry turned into a side street with no other traffic. Strontium accosted the man and asked him about the Servants of the Beast Below. The man grew visibly nervous when Strontium stated matter-of-factly the knew the man was an aberration and that such creatures frequently led cells of the cult. He disavowed any knowledge of the Servants of the Beast and seemed about to flee. Caenus grabbed him and restrained him, and when the man cried out for help Caenus knocked him unconscious with a head bash. With the now-unconscious aberration slung over Caenus's shoulder, he and Strontium made their way through back streets back to the Chimera.

Down at the docks, Quinn and Mrs. Wilkins learned that there was a low-life named Louie that had Harmony for sale and got directions to the little shack he called his office. They also returned to the Chimera with this news. On the way they noticed an amusing sight: a tiny barge, possibly a garbage skow cleaned up for cargo use, bearing the name Kurtulmak. Quinn chuckled to see such a pathetic-looking boat named for the racial god of kobolds.

At the bank, Melian assessed the external security of the building and found no weakness to exploit. Closing time came and a cluster of people, presumably last-minute customers and low-level staff, filed out of the bank. Aria, Melian and Audas scoured the group for familiar faces but spotted none. Then, as the doors were closing, one more figure slipped through them that Aria recognized: it looked like Penworth, though Aria doubted herself for a moment because instead of the bank manager's flawless business suit this man wore common middle-class street clothes. But the face, the build, the walk were definitely Penworth's.

Aria tailed Penworth through town and into a middle-class residential neighborhood, where he let himself into an unremarkable house. She debated knocking on the door but decided not to tip her hand. Besides, while Penworth's behavior was certainly odd it didn't seem like anything criminal, or even remotely related to the mission at hand. So she filed the data away and returned to the bank, where Melian and Audas were waiting with news that they needed to return to the Chimera immediately.

Back on ship, the party assembled to question the aberration Caenus and Strontium had captured. He gave his name as Bob and claimed to be a simple accountant with a bookkeeping firm in Corbanos. He continued to maintain that he had no knowledge of the Servants of the Beast and had never heard of a tsochar. When confronted by Strontium with the fact that a magic spell had revealed an aberrant life form in him, Bob finally admitted that yes, he was an aberration. Specifically, Bob was an elan -- a humanoid created by infusing an adult human with psionic energy, resulting in a life form that appears human but never ages and, barring violence, is immortal. Elans are created voluntarily, he explained, after being invited to join the race and agreeing of their own free will. The infusion of psionic energy alters the elan's biology enough that they are technically aberrations, but they do not, he insisted, act against humanity the way that mind flayers and other, more well-known aberrations do.

Realization set in that this aberration had nothing to do with their mission. Bob declined the group's offer of payment and simply asked to be allowed to go about his business unmolested. He left the ship and hurried back to the business district at a full run.

Quinn announced her success in locating a Harmony dealer. Since this was the best lead they had and had worked for them before, they quickly decided to pursue Louie and squeeze him for information on his source. Quinn and Mrs. Wilkins took Caenus and Strontium with them for muscle and found their way to the dirty shack that Louie used as his base.

Inside they found Louie, a dirty-looking human, and two overmuscled human thugs. Quinn, again pretending to be a shaky addict, took the lead and asked Louie about Harmony. He had it, he admitted -- plenty of it, as demand in Corbanos wasn't all that high. When Quinn declined Louie's lewd offer of barter, he accepted 25gp for a single dose vial. Once Quinn satisfied herself that it was truly Harmony, she opened the door to usher in her three companions. Louie became belligerent and his bodyguards came forward to try and intimidate the group into leaving.

This was not a smart move on their part. Caenus barrelled inside with his spiked chain already in motion. Within seconds one of Louie's bodyguards was on the ground, bleeding his last from a punctured lung, and the other was a stern look away from joining him. Before anyone else could even move Louie was standing in a fresh, warm puddle of his own making, blubbering about mercy.

Strontium stepped in as the other half of the party's interrogating tandem and, with Caenus standing there calmly as the blood dripped off his weapon, took over the interview. Louie quickly gave up his source: a pair of sea kin guys who bring Harmony in on a dumpy little barge named Kurtulmak about once a month. Quinn recognized the boat's description immediately. A broken Louie refunded her money and surrendered the rest of his Harmony supply, which Caenus took great delight in smashing, on the spot.

The group left Louie to clean up the mess of his office and his dignity, picked up the rest of their party, and went in search of the Kurtulmak. They found it where Quinn had spotted it earlier, only now there were lizardfolk loading barrels and crates onto the boat under the direction of two sea kin men. The party discussed options. Kurtulmak was an unpowered craft built for shallow water, so it would be traveling slowly and staying near the coast. The Chimera was too fast and too visible to follow, and the group was loathe to rush the boat right there at the dock and tip their hand. Instead they took to the water, using their various magical items and abilities to breathe and swim, and followed the slow-moving barge from underneath.

A night, day, and night passed before the barge came to a halt. The party hung back and watched the lizardmen drag the craft to shore partially beach it before attacking.

It was a longer fight that the one in Louie's shack, but not by much. Strontium spread an Isaac's lesser missile storm across all eight of the boat's occupants while the rest of the party focused on dropping the nearest foes quickly. The lizardfolk fought back with claws while the sea kin leaders hung back ready to run. When Strontium fried the leader with magic missiles the second sea kin did, in fact, bolt, but Mrs. Wilkins halted him in his tracks with a hypnotic pattern. Now that they had a captive to interrogate the group quickly dispatched the remaining underlings, sending Baelavin to chase down and dine on the last fleeing lizardman.

Mrs. Wilkins rendered the hostage friendly with a charm monster spell and led the interrogation. In the barge were supplies, he explained, that he'd been sent to buy and bring back to his new boss, Noktilo. The group recognized that name, of course. Noktilo, the captive explained, was directing some kind of building project in a new underground cave up in the forest. Would he show them the way? Sure, no problem!

They didn't really need much help, as it turned out -- recent deliveries from multiple groups had begun to wear a path in the jungle that Caenus could clearly discern. Strontium asked their new friend about the traps used to secure this new cave and learned that there hadn't been time yet to build any.

The sea kin led the group to a clump of trees and debris about an hour from shore by foot. There, he showed them, was a concealed opening at the mouth of a tunnel that led down into the ground. They would have to slide or crawl down the tunnel, he explained, but once inside there was room to stand.

Mrs. Wilkins cast invisibility sphere to provide concealment and they filed down the tunnel with their guide in the lead. Unfortunately they hadn't impressed on the sea kin the need for stealth; he reached the bottom and called out for Noktilo immediately to announce his arrival.

The cave was pitch dark. Strontium's darkvision showed him a rough space with a dirt and rock floor and an underground stream rushing across the space. He cast light on a stone and tossed it into the center of the space so his companions could see as well. A wood blank bridge crossed the stream and led to the far side, where the familiar figure of an elderly lizardman with a staff sat on a rock next to a lean-to.

Noktilo moved his arms and spoke, and the bridge covered over with writing black tentacles, effectively blocking anyone from crossing it on foot. Quinn, forgetting a vital detail of their first encounter with this sorcerer, shot a freeze spell across the gap only to have it reflected back at her. She just dodged the ray to avoid most of the effect, but then found herself under attack as a black-scaled lizardfolk appeared immediately behind her and ripped into her flesh with a sharp claw. Audas immediately aimed an eldritch blast at the attacker which it, but then felt himself struck in the side by a shuriken hurled from a different, previously invisible, attacker. The little steel star itself inflicted only a glancing blow, but Audas quickly felt himself weakening and noted that the steel was coated in a thin paste that was clearly some kind of poison.

Aria used her speed and agility to jump across the flowing water to Noktilo's side of the cave, still invisible. Noktilo saw Caenus land a telling blow to one of his ninja guards and cast hold monster on the warrior to freeze him in his tracks. Mrs. Wilkins sent Derrick after the ninja with a bite while casting greater invisibility on herself. Strontium used dispel magic to free Caenus and moved quickly out of the thick of battle, still covered by invisibility.

On the far side, two more ninjas appeared from behind the lean-to and took positions on either side of Noktilo, failing to notice the invisible monk just few feet away. Aria revealed herself by launching a flurry of blows against the nearest ninja but the creature proved as difficult to hit as legends say -- all three blows missed. Meanwhile Caenus drew his longbow and provided support from afar.

Noktilo, seeing an enemy uncomfortably close, turned invisible. Mrs. Wilkins cast see invisibility on herself and watched the sorcerer quietly creep away from the rock where Aria and his bodyguards were engaged. Strontium let fly a magic missile volley in support of Aria, which exposed him by ending the invisibility. For his trouble he was rewarded by the appearance of a fifth ninja, who jumped on him from the ceiling and delivered a grievous surprise blow before rolling away and turning invisible.

Quinn followed Aria's lead and tried to jump the stream, but she lacked Aria's speed and agility. She landed short of the far bank and had to clamber to avoid falling into the fast-moving water. Still, she ended up on the far side. That was enough to provoke a lightning bolt from Noktilo, who remained invisible despite the offensive move. Mrs. Wilkins saw him move again after casting the spell to conceal his location.

Derrick to this point had tried unsuccessfully to bite one of the ninjas. This had rendered him visible, and now caused him to draw fire. The ninja he had missed rolled away and threw a poisoned shuriken at Derek. The steel bit and the poison paralyzed the dog, rendering him helpless. Audas jumped to defend the dog with an eldritch chain and Mrs. Wilkins took things further with a phantom strangler that choked the ninja and prevented him from killing her familiar and pet.

Aria felt the power of her adapting gloves guide her hands and landed several solid blows against her ninja foe. Quinn, severely weakened by the lightning bolt and a ninja sudden strike, borrowed the Rod of Health to heal herself.

As the last of the ninjas fell on the party's side of the cave, Noktilo let loose an ice storm that rained cold and bludgeoning hail on the party. Mrs. Wilkins cast glitterdust to make Noktilo visible to the rest of the group, which gave Strontium a target for some retaliation in the form of a lesser missile storm. Caenus tried to follow Quinn but landed squarely in the water and had to struggle to avoid being swept away by the current. By the time he was in position to join the melee Quinn and Aria, with support from the others across the water, had Noktilo on his last legs.

The old sorcerer raised his staff high and smashed it into the ground. The staff exploded and destroyed Noktilo where he stood. He had clearly intended to take Aria and Quinn into death with him, but they managed to avoid the full blast and lived to see the remains of their enemy become visible.

Inside the cave the party found what were clearly parts for constructing another mixing machine like the one they had destroyed in Survale. Plans for the machine and a list of materials were included. Also in the plan was a drawing for a pit similar to the one in the swamps, so apparently Noktilo had intentions of recreating the source of Harmony in the jungle. In the sorcerer's lean-to the party found a cache of gems and a smooth ceramic tile bearing an 8-digit number and a phrase in Draconic: and the Three shall suffer the wrath of the Beast.

The group pondered this find as they took the Kurtulmak back to Corbanos and realized that what they had there was the Servants' bank account number and password. Strontium and Mrs. Wilkins took that with them to see Mr. Penworth at the bank and close the account.

Penworth saw the pair immediately, accepted the tile, and brought them a wooden box containing, he said, all the assets remaining in that account. It was disappointingly light in weight. Inside the box was only one item: an ivory carving of a humanoid male in a monk's fighting stance.

Outside, Aria identified the figure as an aventi male and the stance as one taught to her at her home monastery, but the figure was not detailed enough to be identifiable as any particular aventi. They determined that the statuette had no magical properties and stored it on the Chimera for now. Clearly a visit to Aria's hometown was in order.

<MR>
9/6/07