Caelesti's notes

Date

07/05/2007

Log

Carric filled Mavis in on the missing spellbook. Mavis said she had heard that sorcerers could read minds, and perhaps we could use that technique on Connor to find out who was interested in the book. Caelesti said that she didn't have the spell, but she could buy a scroll. Talon admitted that she was good at reading people's body language, and the party should try that first, in lieu of paying for a scroll. Mavis said that she would meet the group later.

Carric, Talon, and Caelesti went back to Connor's shop. Talon cast detect thoughts at a distance from Connor, so that he wouldn't know it. Carric then tried to steer the conversation to make Connor think about the potential buyers of the spellbook. Connor's thoughts revealed Sir Phineas and Malcolm Sneed.

The party returned to the Silver Harp Inn. Talon said she had to meditate by the fire. Carric wanted to meditate in the noon sun. Caelesti joined Carric in the sun.

After the meditating, Talon revealed the names of the two contacts that she had read from Connor's thoughts.

Mavis returned to the inn with a tall man named Squint. Squint said he was from the guild, and that Connor's "protection" was up to date, so the robbery was unauthorized. Talon asked, "How can we help you? And what will you pay us?" Squint said that he would pay the party 500gp each for finding out who did it and, ideally, returning the thief to the guild, dead or alive. Finding out the name would be sufficient.

Questioning people at the inn, the party found out that Sir Phineas is a neighbor of Nessey's parents, and Sneed has a house in the merchant district and a warehouse at the dock.

Mavis suggested entering the suspects' buildings and searching around. Carric objected. After arguments for both sides, the party settled on observing the buildings from the outside. Perhaps there would be rat tracks leading up to one of them, or some other clues.

The party headed first to Sir Phineas' house, circling around it. The party stopped at a gate in the back alley. Caelesti asked if it was locked. Carric did not want to find out. After some more arguing, Mavis and Caelesti moved to check out the gate. The door was locked, but Mavis unlocked it quite readily. Caelesti entered first, followed by Mavis.

Talon snuck off, talked to the guards at the front of the mansion, offered them her card, said she would perform for the lord and lady of the house the next night, and left.

Inside the hedge, was a suspicious-looking building; its shutters were all closed. Caelesti asked Carric to look for tracks around the suspicious-looking building. Carric joined Caelesti and Mavis. He immediately noticed some dragging marks heading toward the building. The three stopped at the door. Mavis did some searching on it, then tried to unlock the door, but could not. Caelesti cast knock on it. Mavis and Caelesti both heard a funny noise. Mavis searched the door again and found a needle trap. She quickly disabled the trap and opened the door.

Inside the door was a private temple to Cerridwen with a bloody altar that did not seem to have been used recently. There were two other doors in the room.

Mavis spent some time, but was able to unlock the first door, closest to the alley. Inside were body parts, mostly human, much lab equipment, and a small bookcase full of books. There was also a construct, sewed together of body parts. Mavis saw it twitch and quickly shut the door.

The three moved to the other door. Mavis opened it readily. Inside were priestly garments.

The party locked the doors on their way out so it wouldn't look like anyone broke in. Outside the hedge, they found Talon, hiding quite poorly. The four worked their way out to the alley.

The next stop was Malcolm Sneed's house in the merchant area. It was a much smaller house; the lights were on. Cealesti moved up to a window and peeked in, seeing a man doing some paperwork. She moved to another window and saw a large dog lying down in the kitchen. The rest of the house looked ordinary as well. She reported back to the others. Mavis suggested searching the study the next day while the merchant was away.

The party moved off to check out the warehouse. There was a fence around the warehouse. The gate on the fence had a small padlock. The warehouse door had a large padlock. Caelesti cast knock on both padlocks. Mavis and Caelesti moved up to the door. They could here footsteps padding about. Caelesti climbed up to a window to get a better look. Three large dogs with spiked collars patrolled the warehouse. Caelesti silently cast sleep on them; it took three tries to affect them all. Caelesti climbed back down, moved to the door, and said "let's go in" as she entered.

The party moved to an office area in the back. Mavis picked the fine lock on the door. Inside the room was a safe with a combination lock. Mavis wasn't even going to attempt the lock, so Caelesti cast knock on it. Inside the door was another locked door with a superior key lock. Mavis could not open it, and Caelesti could not cast any more knock spells. The party had to leave, locking up on the way to leave no trace.

The party returned to the inn for the evening. The next day they returned to Malcolm Sneed's home. Carric used Animal Empathy to calm the guard dog, while Mavis picked the lock on the kitchen door. As the party entered, Carric kept the dog calm. The party moved to the study. Mavis found a secret compartment under a desk drawer. The compartment contained a ledger, a complex key, and a combination. The ledger was about a secret smuggling operation. Talon scanned the ledger for useful information. Before leaving, the party put things back to the way they were.

That evening, the party returned to the warehouse. Mavis picked the outside padlocks. Caelesti climbed to an open window and silently cast sleep on the dogs again, only taking two tries. The party moved into the office again. Caelesti cast knock (twice) on the safe, and it was opened. The missing evil book was in the safe; Caelesti stuck it in her pack. While she continued looking through the safe, the front door opened.

Two wererats in hybrid form entered the warehouse. The wererats moved to wake the dogs; one gets woken. Caelesti shot magic missiles at a wererat. Mavis drew a silver shortsword and waited. Another dog was awakened. Carric started summoning a dire wolf.

Two dogs advanced on Talon, both missing. Another dog is awakened. Caelesti cast magic missiles again. Mavis moved to flank a dog, sneak-attacking it to death. Carric's wolf appeared and attacked a wererat, tripping it. Carric then turned to calm the dogs. A wererat struck Talon with a rapier, but missed with its bite. Talon backed up, pulled a Thunderstone out of her pack, and threw it behind a wererat.

The prone wererat tried to stand, and was knocked backed down by the dire wolf. Caelesti cast magic missiles at the other wererat. Carric turned from the dogs, drew a silver dagger, and attacked the same wererat. Mavis moved to flank the same wererat and sneak-attacked it, badly wounding it. Talon began singing to inspire courage.

The prone wererat again tried to stand, and was knocked unconscious by the dire wolf. A dog moved to attack Talon, but missed. Caelesti cast sleep, putting both dogs back to sleep. The dire wolf moved to attack the remaining wererat, taking a hit as it moved. Carric and Mavis both attacked, but missed. Caelesti cast magic missiles on it, dropping it.

Carric talked about binding the wererats and returning them to the guild. Mavis said that she would heal the one by her with her sword and stabbed it dead. Caelesti moved and stabbed the other downed wererat with her silver dagger, killing it. One of the wererats was Malchom Sneed.

The party searched the wererats and found stuff.

Talon's notes