Stop the Cliffshadow Murders

Breakfast at Freelancers Tavern was unusually quiet.  Glesni and Quelenna were at a table on their own, but Glesni did not ask about the little halfling who was no longer blue.  Hikawera, Kaelani, Mia, and Ondar were at the long table with Tai, Ana, Meurig, and Manu.  Mia was relaying the events of the prior day, but without her usual saucy confidence.

Manu was creepy looking, with pale translucent skin and tall black horns.  Like Hikawera, Kaelani had the stature of a dwarf; but unlike the Fire sagani Glesni was used to, he was a Rock sagani.  His mossy hair and beard were strange to Glesni.

Once breakfast was done, Ondar and Glesni headed towards Arnari's office, clearly wanting to follow up.  Manu and Kaelani followed them, tempted into joining a mission.  As they settled into Arnari's office to talk to her, Glesni stayed standing, ostensibly because of her bow, but Arnari was not fooled and perhaps neither were the others.  She marvelled at how easy Manu and Kaelani were with each other.

Arnari launched into the list of available missions without preamble, and did not consult her papers for the egg missions.

• House Liona wants us to fetch them gryphon eggs; they will pay 150gp/egg or a trained gryphon for a dozen eggs.
• House Aldous wants more hippogryph eggs; they will pay 100gp/egg or a trained hippogryph gelding for 10 eggs.  If the eggs are for destrier hippogryphs, then 120gp/egg.
• More tracking down whatever was causing those murders.  Some stuffed animal caused children to do it –

Arnari looked up at Glesni and Ondar.  Glesni frowned and said, "I disagree."  Ondar straightened up in his chair and said, "We know the stuffed animal is correlated, but not necessarily killing."  Arnari looked back at her papers.

• Garth Nimblefingers of the Academy of Magic wants us to look into what is chewing on spellbooks, and eating the students' spell components.
• Lastly, someone needs to check out the pollution up Pirates Dream river.  The fee is now 100gp + an uncommon potion each.

Ondar declared, "Ondar is here for murder."

Kaelani said, "I want to check out the pollution.  The murder is okay, but not my skill set."

Manu piped up in a strangely high voice, "I'm down with the murders.  But, poking around inside the magic-school sounds fun!"

Glesni added, "The pollution or murder are the right thing to do."

There was a moment of silence, then Arnari said, "Right.  Murder."  She rearranged her papers.  "Yesterday the Freelancers discovered, nobody had been entering the houses.  Most were pillow-over-face/throat-slashed.  Kids 6-9 were murdered more violently."  She read, and continued in a neutral voice, "Neighbours:  6-9-year-olds had 'new best friends' with new stuffed toys, which caused a personality shift."

For all they'd heard some of this recitation from Mia, both Manu and Kaelani looked a bit aghast.  Glesni said, somewhat forcefully, "A child is not capable of pillow-over-face."

Ondar shrugged.  "Some people sleep like the dead," he said mildly.  Glesni scowled, "Especially if drugged or drunk!"

Arnari didn't want to hear it.  "Go, check in with Mayor Kaiea."

Off they went, the four Freelancers to Pegasus Square.  Upon entering the building with the Mayor's Office, the assistant recognized Glesni and Ondar from the previous day, and showed them in to see Mayor Kaiea almost instantly.  

Kaiea looked much the same as the prior day.  His fiery red hair was slightly disheveled, and bright orange eyes a little sad as they sat down in his office chairs.  When the Freelancers asked what he had learned, he shook his head and said, "Only what you Freelancers discovered.

"There was a new set of murders overnight," he continued, handing Glesni the updated report.  "The Hairsorcerers, who run a salon in the Trade District.  Go there; the Guard is already there."

The report now had, below the Guildstrom victims:

The Freelancers were startled.  Glesni handed it to Ondar, then asked, "Is there… a clockwise pattern?"  Ondar declared, "Need the string again."  Kaelani and Manu looked at each other, and the report, as Kaiea brought out the map Ondar had used the day before.  But, there was no pattern still.

Ondar asked, "Have they removed the bodies?"  Kaiea replied, "The Guard has been told just to look."

Kaiea apparently had heard of the previous day's misadventure in the Trade District, and gave better directions to the salon.  Not that he had to; Manu knew his way around.

The Freelancers arrived at the Hairsorcerers' in short order, to find the building was a 3 storey structure with a barbershop on the first floor, the family residence on the second floor, and others renting out the third floor.  So, they were prosperous.

Two Guards were at the door, and were happy to see Freelancers arrive.  Glesni nodded to them, and asked, "Were you at the others?"  The Guards said, "Yes," then nodded grimly at the closed door.  "We haven't touched anything."

Ondar tilted his head slightly.  "How did you know to look for dead people?"  The Guards traded off with each other answering, "The barbershop did not open on time, and a neighbour tried to wake them up, and called the Guard when it was way too quiet."

Ondar asked, "Anything else to know?"  The Guards looked at each other, then one said reluctantly, "The son was the most… bloodily…" his voice trailed off.

Glesni checked the door.  It didn't seem forced (beyond the Guard's efforts). Manu asked, "Are these city Guards involved?"  Glesni said, "...no?"  Ondar pointed out, "These guys are disturbed."  They entered the apartments.

The apartments were 4 rooms:  a kitchen/dining area, and three bedrooms for the parents and kids.  Ondar went into the parents' room, and saw the two bodies in the bed.  Pillows were over their faces, and their throats were slashed.  Drips from the knife blade led out of the room; he followed them to the daughter's room.

Kaelani had gone to look in the daughter's room.  He had also seen the drips, which led both in and out of the room; and the daughter was also in bed with a pillow over her face, and throat slashed.

Glesni pointed out the drips seemed consistent with a small person, as she went around and checked the windows methodically.  But she wondered what good was a secure boundary, when the horror was within.

Manu wandered into the parent's room, and checked their stuff.  He found pegs on the wall with clothing changes, and a small table with cosmetics.  He also found a lot of hair products, including very fancy beard oil.

Ondar glanced into the son's room, then went back outside and talked to the Guard.  "Can we get someone with speak with dead?" he asked politely.  They nodded, and Ondar returned upstairs.

The Freelancers went into the son's room.  Kaelani was looking for stuffed animals, based on what he'd been told about thus far.  Manu was checking the boy's belongings, and noticed the toys were unused recently.  Glesni was looking for footprints, since she was sure the child did not do this to himself…

What they saw was a little boy on the floor, with a kitchen knife in his hand.  The child had been stabbed repeatedly by something which pierced.  A stuffed toy was next to the child's corpse, which had a lumpy rag doll body, faded blue-black long legs, a longish neck, and a pointy beak.

About when they noticed the beak was bloodstained, the stuffed toy stood up on its blue-black legs and made a sound almost like an angry goat.

Manu did not like this at all!  He immediately used mage hand to pick up the toy 5' in the air, putting it just below eye-level with Glesni.

• A confusing wave of rage washed over the Freelancers.  Glesni and Manu shook it off, but Ondar and Kaelani were compelled to attack the person nearest them, which meant each other.
  • Kaelani turned and took a swing at Ondar, who caught Kaelani's fist and somehow ducked under the Rock sagani's 4' stature for the return swing.
  • Impressive as that looked, Ondar's return swing also missed.
• Glesni did not like this even more than Manu!  After all, the toy was in her face!  She backed into a corner of the boy's room, and the stuffie, dangling in the air, tried to beak her eye.  It missed, but her face was scratched, and Glesni lost the cool she always only ever imagined she had.  "Ow!  What is wrong with you!" she cried.
  • Glesni, far enough away to shoot, put an arrow through the stuffie as it dangled in the air like a practice target.
  • To her horror, black blood dripped from the toy.  Riding the surge of adrenaline, she shot it again.
• Ondar backed out of the room pulling out his own longbow.  "Manu, move the toy into corner!" he called out, and shot an arrow at the toy, missing.  But his own adrenaline was surging, and he shot again.  The arrows stuck out of the far wall of the room.
• Kaelani pulled out his rainstick, and hit the toy like it was a piñata.  He invoked Ua to smite the thing, and the rainstick flashed with bluish grey light as it slammed into the dangling stuffie.  The toy screamed in an unknown language, then the seams popped and its innards drifted to the floor, along with a few more sparkles of Ua's divine light.

The stuffing on the floor was soaked in black and red blood.  The red blood was that of its victims?  The black was its own?  The Freelancers stared at it, horrified and confused by a living toy with black blood.

Glesni asked in a hushed voice, "Do we think this is it?"  Kaelani said, "No," and Ondar declared, "We need the source of these toys."  As they stared at it, the Freelancers realized another mystery had been solved: the boy had been beaked to death by the toy.

Manu, less phased by the black blood than the others, checked the toy more carefully; he wanted to find out if the type was powered by the blood or if someone imbued the toy with blood.  He poked at it for a couple minutes, then straightened.

"Seems like it started out imbued with black blood," he told the others, "and now it had functional body parts!"  Ondar nodded at this discovery.  "We'd noticed different levels of completion," he recalled.

"I bet that means there are undiscovered murders," Glesni mused.  Kaelani took it one step further: "What happens when they are complete?  Are there these things wandering around Cliffshadow?"

Forestalling their alarm, Ondar said, "Wait for the cleric.  When they get here, what we want to know is –"  Ondar was interrupted by a knock on the door, which was then opened by a Guard.  "Cleric is here!"  He held the door open as a cleric of Ua entered, a female Rain sagani, then bowed and shut the door.

She nodded at Kaelani, who introduced her to the other Freelancers as Jeanah, and then explained the situation to her as best he could.  While they were thus occupied in the front room, the others were in the young boy's room arguing over how to ask the questions they needed without crossing the forbidden boundaries of the speak with dead spell.

Kaelani and Jeanah, having been prepped for the sight of the murdered child and bloody toy, entered the room.  Jeanah's lips compressed momentarily, then she invoked Ua and cast speak with dead on the young Hairsorcerer.  The young boy only drew enough breath to whisper plaintive answers.

Manu:  so when you found it, what did the doll look like?
child:  a lumpy rag doll body, faded blue-black long legs, a long neck, and a pointy beak.
Manu:  the toy, did it ever look any different?
<The child's head shifted from side to side.>
child:  ended with bloodstained beak, that was after pecking me.
Ondar:  how did you acquire the doll?
child:  it found me; a couple streets over I heard it call me, and I knew we would be best friends.
Glesni:  if the doll called you, what else did it tell you?
child:  no-one else could hear it but it had really good ideas for pranks and tricks, and I did it.
Kaelani:  does the doll have a name it told you, not that you gave it?
child:  the doll's name, we picked it out together.
<The child gave a long, shuddering sigh, as his animating spirit fled.>

They withdrew into the common area, and Glesni thanked Jeanah very formally.  Jeanah replied, "I can cast this one more time, today."  Glesni said sadly, "Unfortunately, we might need it."

Manu said then, "We can very clearly describe these toys, filled with demon blood!"  Glesni turned to Jeanah and asked, "Can you locate object?"  Jeanah shook her head sadly and said, "I'm sorry, no."

The Freelancers decided they should talk to the neighbours, especially the kids, so Glesni and Kaelani went to do that.  They found the son's former best friend and talked to him; he told them about two prime prior, the young boy had started acting weird; playing mean tricks, pushing people into mud puddles, pantsing people in the street.  He became too mean to play with.

They asked if he remembered where the stuffed toy was found, just over 3 primes ago?  He described his friend "looked up weirdly," and ran across the street to the toy, which was against the wall.

Kaelani asked, "Did your friend mention a name for the toy?"  The boy made a face.  "'Squeaky', or something like that."  Glesni told him, "Let us know, if you find one of these toys!"  They headed back to the others.  "We would like to speak with dead with the other child, she has not been cremated or buried," they told Jeanah.

Manu suggested, "Should we reach out to parents?  'We lost our precious stuffie,' we can tell them."  But this made Manu realize he also wanted to talk to the neighbours, and asked them about the behaviour of the parents, trying to discover if the toy had influenced them at all.  He came away with the idea that the parents weren't understanding at all why their youngest was acting up.

They all put their heads together.

Manu:  I suspect the aged characteristic [of the toy] is consistent.
Glesni:  why do you think this?
Ondar:  not made new.
Manu:  converted old toy.
Ondar:  vaguely Cassowary-shaped.
Glesni:  the Cassowary is not a fiend.
Ondar:  the god isn't; agents might be.
Glesni:  we should follow Manu's suggestion.  ['we lost our precious stuffie']
Manu:  must be vague!
Ondar:  why not shout it from the rooftops?!  Bring it back, or family dies!
Kaelani:  do not want to cause a panic.
Jeanah:  can do this.
Guards:  will send to the Mayor, but you want a reward, like 10gp.
<All agreed.>
Ondar:  why can't we search, with locate object, on a gryphon?
Glesni:  please, suggest to Mayor.
Guard:  will do.

At this, they left one Guard at the Hairsorcerers' place.  The other Guard headed to the Mayor, and the Freelancers - with the cleric of Ua - headed to the Trade District morgue.

The Trade District morgue was an unpleasant place, kept cold by means of spells.  Escorted by a grim Guard, they found the little girl laid out with the rest of the Rathammers.  Glesni looked at her wounds, trying to keep a clinical attitude.  Was she also pecked to death?  "I can't tell," she admitted.  Ondar looked, and told her, "Yes."

Jeanah again invoked Ua, and cast speak with dead.  As before, the young girl only drew sufficient breath for quiet answers.  Manu turned to Glesni.  "Glesni, can you make an illusion of the doll?" he asked.  Glesni closed her eyes, imagining what the girl's friend had said the previous day, then realized Manu meant the one they had "slain".  She cast minor illusion of it.

They thanked the grim Guard, and left the morgue, all but Ondar and Glesni stamping a little to warm up.  "We will go poke around Trade District," Kaelani assured Jeanah.  "Please, prep locate object."  Jeanah nodded, and headed back to the Church of Ua.

Manu:  is the toy you had, the same shape as this?
girl:  almost the same shape!  Close to my Flappy!  ...the neck is a little too long.
Ondar:  did Flappy have any other friends?
girl:  not that I know of; only had me.  Other friends couldn't hear Flappy, weren't enough
Glesni:  the night that your family died, what did Flappy tell you?
<The girl drew breath to speak, exhaled weirdly, drew again.>
girl:  Flappy told me it was time to play the best prank yet, and it was with the kitchen knife and making sure everyone was dead.
Manu:  what are all the places that Flappy asked you to go to?
girl:  Flappy had me mostly stay around the neighbourhood.  We had fun pranks there.  But, he did promise once we played the Best trick, he would take me to see his mama.
Ondar:  what did you find out about the mama?
girl:  didn't know much about his mama.  Good with sewing, and maybe lives to the southeast or southwest.
<The girl's body went utterly still as her animating spirit fled.>

Southeast or southwest wasn't really a great clue, but it was still early afternoon.  There were so many different things to look for, the Freelancers didn't really bother to decide as a group what they were doing.

• Ondar was looking for a lady with creepy looking dolls.
• Glesni was looking for a shop that repaired/resold used clothing.
• Manu was people-watching.  He was especially looking for kids playing mean pranks, and noting the state of their clothes.
• Kaelani was watching for kids carrying stuffed animals.

Glesni and Kaelani didn't really see anything that stood out.  Children with stuffed animals appeared to be carrying bear-shaped animals.  Manu and Ondar saw kids in clothes similar to the dolls.  In particular, Ondar spotted a weird little old lady, with a tote-bag full of cloth scraps.  He pointed her out to the others.

They all followed the lady to the western edge of Cliffshadow proper; beyond the edge of the street, they could see fields.  She entered a modest, only mildly run-down house.  The lady seemed to be a short, hunched human.  They all held back and contemplated the house's purpose:  was it a shop?  Ondar and Manu had to physically stop Kaelani from just tromping up to the front door.

The building was maybe 25'x35'.  Glesni noticed a lot of cracks in the masonry , and said, "Are all those cracks from lightning?  Is it a Church of Storms thing?"  Kaelani said, "No.  Really, not."

Manu circled the house, and found an unused door with a window in back.  Ondar snuck up to it and peered inside, and saw cloth scraps sorted all over, of the same types as used in the stuffie toys.  He came back and told the others.  "We should break down the door," he declared.

Glesni countered that instead they should set a watch, or at least, send to the Guard or Freelancers Tavern before breaking the door down.  If this lady was the source of the dolls, who knew what else she could do.  This wiser counsel prevailed, but it was Glesni who was sent to the tavern to report in, while the other three watched the tiny house.

It was a couple hours after lunchtime when Glesni entered the Freelancers Tavern.  The front of the tavern was getting busy with customers, but the back was relatively empty as those Freelancers not on a mission had scattered on other errands or training.  Hikawera was in a corner strumming on his cittern, and Arnari and Meurig were sitting at a table, talking quietly.  Nohea was standing deceptively casually at the door in between the front and the back.

Arnari looked up expectantly as Glesni approached, her face composed.  Glesni nodded at Meurig and told Arnari, "Cassowary dolls have been teaching children 6-9 years old, of stabbing the parents.  We've determined an old woman is making the dolls, in a house to the west of here, not far.  Ondar wishes to break her door down, but I've come to tell you and recruit anyone else who wishes to join us in capturing this person of unknown abilities."

While she'd learned to roll with the unexpected actions of her Freelancers Guild, Arnari managed to be surprised.  She had not been expecting the group she'd sent on mission that morning to have already tracked down and be ready to halt a murderer; and despite Ondar's quip about the Cassowary of Murder initially, she had expected the Freelancers to uncover some common thread.  "So, you've tracked down the cause of these murders?  That was the parameters of the mission."

Hikawera stopped and was listening as Glesni described the doll with black blood and the assistance of the cleric of Ua, and finding the old lady with the cloth scraps.  "I will be joining," Muerig declared.  "I can join in for taking down grandma!" Hikawera said jovially.  He was unimpressed by Glesni's tale.

"Wait, wait," Arnari held up her hand.  "Come to my office first; let me make sure Kaiea knows."  Then in a swirl, she stood up, grabbed her duster, and went upstairs, Glesni following.  Meurig and Hikawera did also.

Arnari was casting sending.  "The Freelancer have located the person orchestrating murders.  Do you want to take over, or how much for mission?"  Kaiea replied, obviously surprised, "Freelancers handle, please.  250 gp/person.  Good job, fast work!  Freelancers were reliable, as always."  Her eyes focussed back on the three Freelancers waiting, and she said, "Well then!  The mission to neutralize the murders will pay 250 gp each.  Glesni, one moment, here is the payout for finding her," and she handed Glesni 720 gp in a mix of platinum and gold.  

They left, Glesni leading them back to where Ondar, Kaelani, and Manu were watching over the house, and filling them in on details.  Behind, in Freelancers Tavern, Arnari dispatched Valan to the Mayor's Office with a more wordy report, to retrieve 2300 gp for Freelancers.

The old woman had not left the house while Glesni was gone, but Manu had peered in and seen a half-made doll, confirming she was the source of them.  The small house appeared to have a second-floor loft against the back wall, and the roof/ceiling sloped up towards the right.  It had no skylights.

Muerig invoked his divine sense, and detected 4 fiends in the house.  He smiled at the others.  "None of you are a fiend," he assured them.

Hikawera crossed his arms.  "Bust in, or draw her out?" he asked.  "Bust in," everyone else replied.  Ondar suggested, "Pound on door!  'Fiend inspection service!'"  Hikawera counter-suggested, "Go to door, pretend to be an older sibling?  'Toy was lost!'"

At any rate, the Freelancers arranged themselves.  Ondar would go to the front door; Meurig to the back with Hikawera.  Kaelani and Manu with Ondar; and Glesni across the street from the front door.  The Cloud elf's blue hair kind of prevented her from blending in .   It sort of looked like this:

Then Manu used his sorcerous abilities to cast invisibility on both himself and Kaelani.

Ondar pounded on the door.  "Open up in there!  Fiend Inspection Service!  Please bring down all fiends for inspection!"

The door creaked open anticlimactically, and there was no other sound.  The four Freelancers in front peered in from where they were, but saw nothing but sewing supplies, and many dolls on the floor in various states of completion.  Certainly, no beings were in sight.

Spooked by this result, Manu slowly backed away from the door, and readied to dodge any attack, despite his invisibility.

• The old woman was on the second-floor loft, which was why none of the Freelancers had seen her.  She stood up and sent a blast of blue-black light at Ondar; but her desire to be dramatic got the best of her and she fell as she did so.  The blast hit the door way above Ondar.  She stood back up, but seeing Ondar, crouched back down behind the railing.
• All doubts dispelled, Ondar walked into the house and mounted up the stairs to the loft.  At the top of the stairs, he grew large, barely fitting under the ceiling.  The towering quinametzin pulled out his longbow and shot the old woman.  Shackles of fire grasped her, burning her and holding her in place.
• Hikawera tried the backdoor; it was unlocked.  Unfortunately, it was also stuck shut.  So, he cast thunderwave, the boom echoing down the streets.  It blew the door open, and caught one of the dolls, a green one, and sent it flying across the room.  It caught the restrained old woman too, but she took less harm from it than the green doll.
• The cassowary dolls that Meurig had seen as fiends came to life!
  • Up in the loft, a brown doll moved to large Ondar and pecked him, causing his leg to bleed.
  • From the first floor a red doll moved up the stairs and also pecked at Ondar, but missed
  • The green doll ran to the backdoor, and pecked at Meurig, missing
  • A tan&white doll also moved to Meurig, and made that funky noise again.  A confusing wave of rage washed over Meurig and Hikawera , and they were compelled to attack the person nearest them, which meant each other.
    • Hikawera drew his rapier and pierced Meurig badly.
    • Meurig swung and missed Hikawera, who exclaimed in frustration, "Move your fat ass!"
• From across the street, Glesni did not have a clear view of the loft, but she did have a clear view of the green doll; so she sank an arrow into it with her longbow.  Black blood dripped from it.
• Kaelani went in the door and climbed the stairs.  He struck the red doll with his rainstick, shedding invisibility.  He invoked Ua to smite the thing, and blue-grey light flashed as the doll was clobbered with the rainstick and burned with holy radiance.  The red doll fell limp.
• Meurig used sorcerous subtle spell, chewing on black paper to produce acid dragon's breath.  He breathed on the two cassowary dolls in front of him, the acid dissolving away the cloth.  The green doll dissolved entirely.
  • Meurig turned on Hikawera, angry.  "Don't stab me again."

Manu concluded that everyone had this handled right, and voluntarily ended his invisibility.  He went into the building, and saw the old woman held in place by Ondar's fire shackles.  He cast mind whip at her, but she managed to avoid most of the effects.  But by now so much magic was coalescing in the little domicile it swirled around Manu chaotically, and the hanyou started to grow taller and taller, until he was 3" taller than Glesni (not counting the horns).  Glesni's eyes widened; did Manu suddenly get blessed by the Goose?

• The old woman was burning from Ondar's shackles and did not like that at all.  She cast something at large Ondar, but he was fine.  She invested some effort and broke out of the fire shackles.
  • Ondar tried to charm her, but she was fine.
• Large Ondar cut at the brown cassowary doll in front of him with his longsword.  Despite his dealing a long slash to the doll, it remained in action.
• Hikawera addressed the tan&white doll, "You'd make a very strange feast, given you're all stuffing!" and thus applied vicious mockery to it.  He stepped away from Meurig without another word.
  • The old woman pointed a bit down from the loft, and a faint, almost invisible, black and blue mist spread out from there in a sphere, engulfing Ondar, Kaelani, and Meurig.
• The brown doll attacked Ondar and missed.  The tan&white doll attacked Meurig, but missed because of Hikawera's vicious mockery.
• Glesni sank an arrow into the tan&white doll with her longbow.  Black blood dripped from it.  She crossed the street and positioned herself to the right hand side of the doorway, just outside.
• Kaelani, confused by the mist, walked down the stairs and to the doorway, then stopped.
• Meurig was not confused by the mist.  He moved around the tan&white doll and breathed acid on it.  A bit more of the doll dissolved, but it was still in action.

Manu walked past Kaelani out the door, elbowing him.  He looked back in, and again cast mind whip on the old woman, who looked distinctly like she was developing a major headache, as if 6 Freelancers in her house wasn't already a major headache.  Manu stepped back to the left of the doorway, then said, "Good choice to come over here, Kaelani.  They can't see you so well!"

• The old woman sent two blasts of blue-black light at large Ondar in sequence.  Both of them blasted him with force.
• Large Ondar split the brown cassowary doll with his longsword, then moved next to the old woman.   Adrenaline surging , he shoved her over the railing (she landed on her ass, prone), then jumped down on top of her.  He was hurt from jumping from that height, but she was too.
  • The old woman jumped up, turned translucent, and ran out of the building past a startled Hikawera.
• Hikawera cast suggestion on her.  "Sit the fuck down, and surrender."  It worked!  She sat down and surrendered.
• The tan&white doll moved to the doorway and crit Meurig, piercing him badly.
• Glesni moved into the doorway and shot the tan&white cassowary doll again; this time, it went limp.
• Kaelani dashed around the building, trying to avoid the weird mist while still catching up to her.  When he saw her sitting, he grinned.
• Meurig became confused by the mist, and held stock still.
  • Having fulfilled Hikawera's suggestion, the old woman stood up and dusted herself off, then started walking away.

Manu went back inside the house, looking for any obvious repository of fiendish blood.  He saw something suspicious in the corner to his near left, and moved to check it out.

• The old woman turned around and sent two blasts of blue-black light at Hikawera in sequence.  Both missed; perhaps she was unused to walking backwards and casting eldritch blast.
• Large Ondar became confused by the mist, and ran into the corner of the house to the right of the front door.
• Hikawera cast fly on Kaelani, then granted him bardic inspiration.  "Go fucking catch her!" he admonished the Rock sagani paladin.
• Glesni sent a seeking arrow after the old woman, who avoided most of its effects.  So Glesni wasn't sure where she'd gone, but the lady still had an arrow in her.  The Cloud elf ran through the house after her.
• Kaelani was flying!  He caught up with the old woman and beat her with his rainstick.
• Meurig, no longer confused by the mist, ran after the old woman.  His dragon's breath spell having expired, the Black dragonborn used his own acid breath to douse her in acid.
  • The old woman moved the sphere of blue-black mist to cover the Freelancers chasing her.

Manu stared at the cauldron in the corner, full of bubbling black blood.  Then he turned his attention to the ongoing combat, and ran out the back door… except Manu was taller now, so instead of running out the hanyou slammed his horns into the lintel.  Base of horns stinging, he saw the old woman down the street to his east, and cast magic missile at her; she fell.

Glesni examined the bubbling cauldron in the corner, and how it was set up.  It was a shrine to the Cassowary of Murder, alright, and a trough of demon blood.  She and Ondar, who had ceased being large, went out the back door to catch up with the others.  Kaelani and Hikawera were wracking their brains trying to figure out what she was.  Meurig was explaining that he wanted to wake her up, so she had a proper trial.

Ondar:  don't want her to wake back up.
Hikawera:  don't wake up.
Kaelani:  also want to take her back to Church of Ua.
Glesni <frowning>:  do we think she is possessed?
Ondar:  an innocent explanation defies belief.
Kaelani:  we are not here to be judge/jury/executioner.
Glesni:  no, we are here to stop these murders.
Kaelani:  turning her in does that.
Hikawera:  ...and, destroy the shrine.
Kaelani:  a job for channel divinity!
Meurig:  let's stabilize her.  Then she can be arrested.
Manu:  let's bind & gag her, first.

As Manu and Kaelani moved to do so, Ondar searched the lady and found a surprising number of items on her person.  He found a cloak and daggar, a necklace with a silver raven, and a wand.  In her pockets he found 45 cp, 500 sp, 105 gp, 10 plat, 2 Bloodstone, 1 Chalcedony, 1 Citrine, 3 Jasper, 1 Zircon.  Lastly, Ondar discovered she was wearing gloves, which were almost invisible.  He carefully peeled them off her hands, but her hands were just the soft hands of an old human woman.

Hikawera, Meurig, and Glesni went back into the house to look around more.  Hikawera and Glesni looked at the shrine, while Meurig started searching the loft.  Hikawera took a sample of the black blood, and Glesni admonished the short Fire sagani, "Should not keep blood."

She considered the shrine; it was set up with the claws and beak of a cassowary, dripping the black blood.  She then added, "Also, this might be an actual shrine, to an actual god."  Hikawera was unimpressed, and replied, "Of course it's an actual shrine.  Could not stop us before, from messing with it!"  Glesni rubbed her left shoulder uncomfortably.

Up in the loft, Meurig found a plain shield leaning against the wall.  He examined it closely; it had no obvious motif, nor seemed used by the old woman.

Manu, Kaelani, and Ondar returned, the latter two carrying the bound, unconscious woman.  They again looked at the lady closely; were her abilities a sign she was not mortal?  They could not tell, and decided to bring her to the Church of Ua to hold her and make that determination.

The paladins also wanted to bring the Church to cleanse this shrine.  But Manu pointed out, "We need to have Church to study the black blood before destroying, so locate object can find it – more shrines, or dolls."

With this decided, Glesni handed 180 gp each to Kaelani, Manu, and Ondar.  Then Glesni, Kaelani, and Manu headed to the Church of Ua, while Ondar and Meurig kept watch.  Hikawera started casting identify on the items they'd found.  In the hour or so it took for them to return, Hikawera had learned what all the items were.

Glesni, Kaelani, and Manu returned with two clerics and two paladins of Ua.  The clerics healed Ondar, and the paladins took custody of the still unconscious old woman.  There was no question of the need to purify the house and shrine.  Glesni wanted to burn all the unfinished dolls; Meurig agreed, offering to breathe fire on them for 1 minute, nonstop.  So they all worked together to pile all the dolls and scraps in the street, and have a large bonfire as the Daystar sank in the west.

• Ondar → level 4!

Church of Ua sent to Arnari, the next day, that the lady went by the name "Cass."  Totally not creepy at all.

Hikawera identified the items acquired from Cass, which were claimed by the Freelancers who captured her.