IN THE SHADOW OF THE SPIRE

SESSION 35A: BIRDS OF A BLACK FEATHER

January 18th, 2009
The 18th Day of Kadal in the 790th Year of the Seyrunian Dynasty

Once they had reached a position of relative safety (i.e., far away from the chaos temple), Ranthir magically attuned his vision. Looking over the items they had looted from the cultists, he saw several arcane auras. These items, combined with the various coins and gems, constituted a small fortune.

“They were well equipped,” Tor said.

One of the items, in particular, held particular interest for the fighter: Gavele’s preternatural speed was explained by the enchanted boots she wore. Tor, who had struggled to keep up with the long, powerful strides of Agnarr’s barbarian-bred legs, claimed both these and a shirt of finely crafted and mage-touched chain.

Once they had emerged from the sewers, they sold the unclaimed items in various shops across Midtown and the North Market. Then they headed to the Cathedral and received divine healing, mystically purging their poison-wracked bodies. They also took the opportunity to stock up on a variety of portable curatives so that they would be able to deal with poison on site in the future. (“This probably won’t be the last time we’ll be dealing with the Brotherhood of Venom.”)

They had completed these chores as a matter of urgency and necessity, but now that the dinner hour was approaching, they realized they were still variously caked with sewer sludge, crusted blood, and other various foulnesses. And so they headed toward the bathhouse on Tavern Row.

BIRDS OF A BLACK FEATHER

When they arrived at the Row Bathhouse, however, they found a small crowd gathered around its gaping door. A carpet of black feathers covered a broad swath of the street directly in front of the building.

Ranthir turned to Elestra. “What type of feathers are they? Raven or crow?”

“I don’t know, I’m an urban druid.”

But Ranthir was thinking about what Elestra had told them of her experiences at Nadar’s Pub: Sir Kabel had dismissed the possibility that she had been a messenger from the Killravens explicitly because she had been too small to be a raven.

They approached one of the men gathered around the scene. “What happened?”

“I hardly know. I was just walking down the street when a huge flock of birds flew into the bathhouse. Several people ran out, most of them screaming their fool heads off. And then the bird flew back out again.”

“What type of birds were they?”

“I don’t know. They were just black birds.”

“Wait,” Ranthir said. “Were they crows, ravens, or blackbirds?”

Dominic sighed. “I don’t think he knows.”

With a shrug, Tor and Tee headed into the bathhouse. They found Derra, the proprietress of the bathhouse, being questioned by a watchman. Tee took the opportunity to sneak through the far door and into the baths themselves.

She found the pools tainted with blood – crimson tendrils eddying between black feathers. She poked around for a bit, but didn’t find anything notable.

As she came back into the front office, the watchman spotted her and kicked them out onto the street. As they emerged from the door, they spotted a raven watching them from the roof on the opposite side of the Row. Seeing that it had been noticed, the raven took off and began to fly away to the south.

Reacting instantly, Elestra called upon the Spirit of the City and transformed into a hawk. She winged her way quickly after the errant raven. The crafty creature managed to dodge her first attempt to snag it, but on her second pass she was able to clasp it in her talons. She winged her way back towards the others—

And then flew past them on her way to the Ghostly Minstrel.

“Where’s she going?”

Tee was exasperated. “She’s like a magpie! But instead of shiny things, it’s bad guys.”

TELLITH’S TROUBLES

Elestra flew in through the window of her room. The others followed on foot.

But when they opened the front door of the Ghostly Minstrel, they found Tellith being confronted by a large ogre and three thugs.

“—and don’t think your delver friends will help you,” the ogre growled.

“Delver friends like us?” Tee stabbed him in the back.

With a roar of pain, the ogre whirled around and lowered his hands. From the tips of his fingers a wave of fire poured forth, bursting through the front doors of the Minstrel.

But Tee, reacting in the flicker of an eye, had flattened herself against the wall – avoiding the flames completely. Stepping forward again and coming en garde, she smiled, “You shouldn’t talk to Miss Tellith like that.” She backed out of the way as Agnarr and Tor, pushing their way through the door, closed in.

The ogre growled, backing away cautiously. “Kill the woman! Now!”

One of the thugs headed towards Tellith. She screamed and ducked under the front desk.”

“Seeaeti!” Agnarr called.

The ogre was pretty much blocking the entire front hall, so Seeaeti – being a clever hound – leapt through the front window, landed in a cascade of glass on a table, jumped from there onto the floor, ducked under a club swung by the nearest thug, and then harried his leg – keeping him away from Tellith.

Two more of the thugs were heading towards Tor. Tor eased into a defensive posture and then, in a flurry of sudden motion, beheaded the two thugs and gutted the ogre. All three of them fell dead.

Ranthir gaped. “That was amazing…”

“Keep one of them alive!” Tee pushed her way to the front of their line and thrust her dragon pistol into the face of the last thug. “Surrender!”

“No problem! No problem at all! I’m just the hired help!”

Without taking her eyes off him, Tee called over her shoulder. “Are you all right, Tellith?”

“I think so… Is it safe to come out?” Tellith crawled out from under the desk and patted Seeaeti on the nose. “Good dog!”

Questioning the thug they discovered that he and the other two had been hired by the ogre – who had been named Fatok – to provide an intimidating front. (“The ogre wasn’t intimidating enough?” Dominic wondered aloud. “Strength in numbers, I guess,” said the thug. “I just took the cash.”) They’d been extorting various businesses up and down Tavern Row in the name of the Killravens when Fatok had decided that the Ghostly Minstrel was a rich and tempting target.

They cut him loose with a message for the Killravens: Stay away from the Minstrel.

Dominic healed the other two thugs and got them on their feet – they had, after all, just been hired help.

By the time he was done, a member of the watch had shown up. Looking at them, the watchman smirked. “You again? I thought you were keeping your noses clean.”

It was the same watchmen they’d run into so many times on their second day in town. He briefly questioned them and Tellith, and then took the two thugs into custody.

“What about him?” Tee asked, nudging the ogre with her foot.

“Huh…” The watchmen looked down. “Well, he’s too heavy for me to carry. I’ll grab some of the others and come back to haul him out of here.”

After the watchman left, they quickly searched Fatok’s body. They found that he wore an ebon ring shaped like a curved feather. (“We need to get rings,” Dominic said.) They were discussing how they could move him to some place secure where they could revive him and question him, but then the watchman returned with help and hauled the corpse away.

Running the Campaign: Withdrawing in Victory – Campaign Journal: Session 35B
In the Shadow of the Spire: Index