The Business Of Murder

Participants

• Elgon Kitmus
• Tingle
• Kaladan of Norixius
• Arden Rook
• Iria

Recap

Session 18/19 Recap:

After only briefly catching up with Lief before he goes back to home base, the group heads onward to speak to Lt. Frieda at the Autorus HQ. The grim news is delivered steadfastly by the seasoned Autorus lieutenant, their old coach and promoter Gil was dead.

Wanting justice, JKS was granted special authority to look into the matter in lieu of Autorus resources which likely could not be spared. Handing over what little information she had, Frieda points them towards the slum of Peachroot, where Gil’s widow still remained.

Peachroot was an area of dense honeycombed tunnels carved into ancient city columns that serve as gang territory for many of meager means. It was the largest slum in section 6, and the surrounding area also tended to attract an unsavory crowd.

Iria picked up on this notion well, having not been to the area, but used to the type. These folks were the kind that she was more used to, that she could read. It just so happened one of the more greasy half-goblins soap-boxing about one thing or another was actually laying out a thieves cant, the secret language of rogues. Giving a quick affirmative to the job being asked of her, Iria never even let on to her friends that she had just entered a contract with an unknown entity.

Upon return to squad quarters, the day did not improve. The goliath raid had severely damaged the structure of their building leaving the guild exposed, Becky critically injured, and the interior ransacked and partially ruined. After checking in and recovering from the initial shock, a regiment of death-knights showed up outside, entering a protective formation around the building. An envoy discloses that they are there courtesy of Normaad.

Finally able to relax, the group visits Becky in the infirmary, introducing Elgon to their ranks. Becky avoided any infection during the attack, but suffered a blow from a magical weapon causing difficulty in her healing. After all are settled, the group finally rests.

The next morning, the enforcers make ready to head to peachroot, with a side-trip to the hospital to drop off the sample of diseased flesh Elgon collected from the dead raider. Their journey is almost immediately interrupted by a drow seeking revenge for his brother, openly challenging them to combat. The group dispatches him without so much recalling what the dark elf sought revenge for.

While at the hospital, Arden suggests Elgon heal his wounds as they sought the tech that helped them with Kal's curse. Soon they were pointed towards the appropriate infectious disease doctor, and left her in an excited state since she and her colleagues could properly study the specimen directly.

After a rather uneventful journey onwards through the rave, the group soon found the noise, smell and claustrophobia of Peachroot quite distinct. The climb to the crime scene was 20 minutes, the enforcers trudging up wet and dirty metal stairs. The set on which Gil was found dead was only a floor below where he lived, although on the opposite side of the building from his apartment. Any fall on these stairs for an older man could certainly prove fatal. The group finds some subtle yet suspicious clues in the area, but no hard evidence to go on. They decide to speak to Tuhnyey, the widow.

Arden was first to knock on the door of Gil’s apartment. He knocked louder the second time and the door gently cracked open from the rapping of his fist. Looking back to Kal, the dragonborn readied his weapons and opened the door.

The area is veiled in a strange blackness that light nor darkvision seems to piece. As enforcers spread, cautiously moving through the first room, they hear a skittering sound approaching. Upstairs, a woman screams.
Elgon takes a calculated slash into the darkness, connecting with something soft that seems to move away. The lighting seems to return to dim conditions over the previous impenetrable blackness. What lies before the ranger is a squirming mass of brain matter with monstrous legs protruding from its sides. Not finished yet, the creature leaps at the loxodon’s head, but creature’s psychic attack is shaken off. Tingle, Iria and Kal settle the score with a couple remaining creatures as the group heads upstairs to the cries of a struggling woman.

Now safe Gil’s widow, Tuhnyey, answers the group's questions as they inspect the apartment. They find a series of strange markings which they take note of beyond the presence of strange creatures found lingering here.

Tuhnyey leads them to a contact in the Labyrinth of knowledge, a likely good place to find more on what they seek about the strange markings on the wall. The group agrees and they leave to escort the distractingly beautiful high elf to Squadquarters before continuing the investigation.

After getting her settled, the group spends a brief amount of time on the recovery effort planning before heading out to seek their contact, Boro Kline.

After only a quick walk they find themselves stunned they never noticed this magnificent building before. The interior is equally impressive, the enforcers marveling at the collection of knowledge as Tingle speaks to the attendant at the front desk, arranging for them to meet with Boro. After a brief ride with the large, Minotaur curator in one of the mechanical lifts, they find the appropriate section to begin their research. Tingle’s explanation of the curiously patterned markings in the apartment, as well as the involvement of Boro’s old friend Tuhnyey, had sparked interest in the old bull.

Not moments after they had spread out to look in various sections of the shelves, did the group hear Boro cry out in pain, struck with an arrow, as several figures reveal themselves from the rafters above.

A mix of drow warriors and duergar, an uneasy alliance from the underhive, attacked the JKS enforcers and the curator from all sides. In an engagement where they were outnumbered two to one, the enforcers suffered little. They wore down their enemies numbers, causing the few survivors to flee back between the small crevices between the lift tracks above from whence they came.

An attack like this in the labyrinth was unprecedented, and Boro now had further resolve to help. He retrieved his last resort, the mysterious Eon Codex, a magical tome containing cumulative knowledge across millennia. Whispering a set of magical instructions to the large book, the turned towards JKS and told them the process would take some time, and he would contact them when an answer was reached.

Leaving the labyrinth, the group became more unsure of themselves by the hour. They decided to stock up on supplies in gamuts alley, as a feeling of required preparation for the unknown seemed to linger. Afterward stocking up, they head down to the Embrace and kill several hours drinking, whoring, dancing and singing. This is where Iria goes over her plan to meet her mysterious contact about a job. Needing gold for the repair of Squadquarters, the group hesitantly agrees to see it through.

Wearing off their buzz as the clock strikes near midnight, they venture out to let Iria make contact in a dark offshoot between looming buildings on a main thoroughfare. The other members of JKS climb up to observe on nearby rooftops. Iria’s conversation is brief, which is an assassination of a prisoner within the 10th circle, an autorus prison run by the private security guild 10th Circle. Iria quickly negotiates the price upwards for such an ask, but feels confident she and her allies can pull it off.

The female drow returns to the enforcers with the details. In a quick debate about morality within the rave, and the need to survive with squad-quarter repairs, the job was a go.

Autorus Prison 6, colloquially called 10th Circle for the guild that truly ran it’s operations, was in another far set corner of section 6 that JKS had yet to venture close to. The oval building loomed above them like an ancient colosseum. Following Iria’s lead, the enforcers carefully spread out in the general area, calling on all their skill and knowledge of how to blend in, and use the rave to their advantage. They saw the patterns of the guard patrols, scanned for possible entry points, and remained subtle about the whole thing. When all was said and done, the group fed a rope up to a vent facing a dark corner of the rave. Shuffling along in relative blackness, Elgon sniffs out the right direction, leading them to the correct region of the prison to mount their strike. They couldn’t get any closer using the vents.

Dropping down into what seemed like a small guard's quarters, the enforcers' hearts nearly stopped when they saw the projected image of Boro Kline appearing in the room next to them. The minotaur wore a grim expression as he offered his findings, "My friends, the Codex has delivered its answer. The markings are a rare and forgotten language... Quallith, the written language of the Illithid, the Mind Flayers"

Live Notes

We pick up in Peachroot, in Gil's apartment, a strange complete darkness shifts in the space, maybe 1% visibility. We last heard skittering all about, including one through our legs.

Initiative!

• We fumble about in the dark
• We can hear somewhat rhythmic banging and the scream of a female from upstairs
• Elgon takes a stab in the dark and connects with something squishy. The lights in the area suddenly return, though the thing is still there. It's like a brain with animalistic legs
• The thing rears up and claws at Elgon, but the loxodon shakes off the psychic assault
• The door near Iria creaks open and another thing flies through the door taking a shot at Iria, but she also resists the mental attack
• Tingle takes position and conjures his dark sabers, sinking one home in the brain by Elgon, taking it down
• Iria roasts the other brain with an Eldritch blast as he moves away, then Kal takes it down with an axe strike
• Another scream from upstairs, this one pleading for help
• Elgon first, the group starts to head up the stairs, and Elgon spots another one of the things in the upstairs hall
• The thing leaps attacking at Elgon, though in its haste misses the attack
• Elgon stabs it hard, and though it isn't dead, Elgon pays it no mind and steps over it, going to the door looking for the woman in distress
• Arden draws and stabs it hard. Tingle follows up for the killing blow

Victory!🎉

• Elgon finds the woman, introducing us and stating our business
• Tunye is a distractingly beautiful elf
• The apartment is humble but tidy. There are pictures about of gladiatorial teams, likely Gil's coaching history. Some are enforcers at JKS.
• Some of the decor is out of place for the setting - a series of markings on the wall in a rectangular pattern. It looks
• Tunye said Gil talked about us all the time, that our win was going to turn his life around
• She said she's never seen anything like them before, that one suddenly attacked her while she was in the pantry, that she thinks she killed it, but she heard others and barred herself up here.
• She asks if we know anything about the lettering on the wall downstairs, which she says wasn't there before the things attacked her.
• She suggests consulting the Labyrinth of Knowledge for information. She recommends her contact Boro Kline, in a position of authority but is likely to be grumpy without her reference.
• Kal and Elgon head to check out the pantry. The thing is confirmed to be dead. There are peanuts.
• Tingle and Arden check out the lettering. Tingle copies the markings down onto paper, and he and Arden split the map in two and each take a half at Kal's suggestion.
• We escort Tunye back to Squadquarters

Some business at Squadquarters

• Tingle helps Tunye move in, prepares his things, reviews the drawing
• Kal surveys the state of the brewing equipment, taking note of what needs replacing
• Elgon fashions some kind of disgusting slurry of peanuts and ale for the road

We head out for the Labyrinth of Knowledge

• It is beautiful, ornate, and immaculate. It is astounding we didn't notice it previously
• Tingle explains our business to the assistant curator, who calls the head curator, Boro, who agrees to assist us upon assurance that Tunye is safe. Elgon, uninterested, asks for recommendations on readings about his people to peruse while this transpires.
• The group with Boro takes an elevator that descends from the ceiling, and finds themselves in a wing of particular volumes. Boro says he'll search the languages on this side, if part of the group wants to check the other side for the codes
• Meanwhile, Elgon finds some information describing some historical accounts of loxodons, including some detail about loxodons in other spires. This captures Elgon's attention
• Tingle suddenly hears a sound and Boro cries out in pain

Initiative!

• One of the bad guys, of which there appear to be many, slips into Arden's view. Arden looses an arrow and strikes one in the chest. Tingle follows up with a magical roasting, finishing the dude off.
• Bad guys start to move in. Some of them start to increase in size. Boro begins to chant and readies a greataxe. Arrows fly
• Arden starts to cook one of the big dudes in his armor
• Boro lets loose and starts to cleave enemies down
• Kal lands a couple of strong hits and brings his enemy down, with some extra damage into another nearby
• One of the bad guys lands a critical hit on Boro, who is looking ok but seems to have lost use of one of his feet
• Another bad guy lands a critical on Iria, who picks herself up a nasty scar
• Elgon joins the fray, whipping in and stabbing one of the big guys straight through the throat, dropping him instantly
• Arden begins to suggest to one of the big guys that the opportunity is ripe for revenge on his comrade, then while the attention is distracted Tingle drops a puddle of grease between them
• Kal crunches a couple of axe hits into his greasy opponents, felling one
• Another crit hit from the bad guys, this one give Elgon a horrible scar that affects his appearance
• Yet another crit hit on Iria, this one inflicts a horrible scar
• Kal lays a large hit into his opponent. The other remaining enemies begin to flee. The last enlarged dude knows its hopeless, tries feebly to get more hits in, failing until Elgon steps over and ends his suffering

Victory!🎉

• "Friends of yours?" Boro quips
• These guys were intent on harming us. Jumping us like this required climbing through the crawlspaces between queues, which due to the operation of the elevators would be extremely risky.
• They have no guild markings on them
• Elgon recognizes that these are not a type of drow that is not normally from around here, but these ones smell like the Rave
• Boro says he thinks he can trust us, and that it may be time to bring out the "big guns". He leads us back to the main floor.
• Boro fiddles with something on the statue, and comes back with what looks like an old tome, motioning us to come close
• "This... is the Eon Codex"
• He places his hand on the book, which glows blue. He concentrates his thoughts and utters a magical phrase, and the latches open and the book begins to flip through pages, more pages than should be in the book

We head out for Gamut's Alley

• We stock up on potions, arrows, pay a collective 350gp (70gp each) to get the process started to replace the busted brewery equipment

We decide to head to The Embrace to kill some time

• Tingle goes to intermittent town on an orcish lady of the night, Elgon hangs by the bar eating peanuts, Arden takes a drink and watches the band, Kal takes his medicine

It gets to be about time to head to the meeting spot

• Most of the group keeps their distance from Iria, keeping to shadows and disguising their appearance
• The party uses ropes and climbing to hop upon onto the rooftops. Arden camouflages his appearance along with Tingle casting illusion of a chimney and they are well-concealed
• A secretive gentleman approaches Iria
• He whispers, in a raspy voice, "The mark is in the 10th circle, ward 3, cell 17. killing him is gonna be the easy part. hard part is gonna be getting into the cell. gotta case the prison, figure out how to get in without setting the alarm."
• Iria wisely questions the price. He slaps 50 gp in her hand, says there's another 350 upon completion. He deflects a few more questions and retreats into the night
• The group debates the value of this mission. Arden and Tingle object, but the group ultimately decides to go scope out the prison
• Tingle pays for 2 weeks rent out of pocket: 500gp

We head to the 10th Circle Prison

• We begin to mount our incursion. Elgon nabs a perfect spot with a rope into a vent through a secretive alley, and the group sneaks in
• Elgon sniffs around, locating the direction of Ward 3
• The group filters out of the vent and into a room in ward 3. There are muted voices outside the door.
• Boro appears in a misty visage, "My friends, the Codex has delivered its answer. These markings are a rare and forgotten language... Qualleth, the written language of the Illithid"

We call it for the evening

🏅LEVEL 5🏅

Loot