Failed Cassowary Hunt

The back of Freelancers Tavern had been a bit slow the last couple days, after a good half-dozen Freelancers had departed on airship for some mission in the inner reaches.  The tall human, Ka, and tall (well, for a gnome) Lorcan were not on that mission; but Ka hadn't cared, because he had been going through the last of the trainings with his flying bear, which he'd named Ohenui.  He'd taken measurements and gotten Ohenui barding, too.

Lorcan had been making another batch of poison for his blowgun needles.  Good thing he'd finished it, becuase a nekomata had shown up who appeared to poke her nose into everything.  Her name was Minji.  She'd back off and circle back at the slightest cross word, Lorcan observed.

Satisfied with Ohenui's progress, Ka was very enthusiastic about taking missions again, and convinced Lorcan as well as the Bronze dragonborn Torinn and Wind sagani Khalid to join him.  Curious Minji followed them up to Arnari's office.

The chairs were sort of in a semicircle, and Torinn sat all the way to the left.  Khalid sat to his right.  Ka leaned against the wall behind him.  Minji wasn't sure about all these chairs; apparently she'd either talked to Tomtom about joining the guild or she'd talked to Arnari in another room.  She waited near the door, ready to leave if the situation became adversarial.  Lorcan sat near the center of the semicircle, politely attentive to the dark half-elf behind the mahogany desk.

Arnari considered Minji a moment, then launched into a list of mission.  The first two were familiar to the others…

• Haven Hills hippogryph eggs.  House Aldous will pay 100gp/egg, or if you bring back 10 eggs, one hippogryph.
• Pirates Dream river for pollution.  Am considering sending a group to visit the wizard Gwidion, but meanwhile we need to check for more weird creatures.
• You might have heard of Cassowary fiends in Cliffshadow.  The dolls have been tracked?  But we need to investigate if there are any more.  If we find any, make them dead.

At this point, Timmy walked in, and was flustered to find an unknown nekomata next to the door, and 4 others listening to Arnari.  But he recovered, and Minji did not bolt, so he sat down to the right of the chairs.

"Fourth and final mission," Arnari continued…

• Freelancers figured out probable location of the Map is near Three Rivers.  Kaiea wants a team to reconnoiter at Three Rivers to find out the exact location.

Ka spoke up.  "I would like to know what the not-egg missions pay," he said.  Arnari replied, "Pollution is 100gp/person plus a potion.  The others, 100gp."

Lorcan:  so, everything is 100gp/person except pollution?
Ka:  up for murder demons, or the map.
Torinn:  up for any.
Minji:  curious about murder-birds.
Lorcan:  would like pollution or the map.
Timmy <tiredly>:  but pollution is my old mentor.  I think these birds are in need of taking care of.

Timmy wasn't really trying to persuade the others, just state his opinion, but perhaps that's exactly why his words carried some weight, and the Djogeon halfling convinced the others to go after the cassowary fiends.

Lorcan:  what made the Mayor think there were more left?
Arnari:  the Mayor isn't sure.  Remember, some things do not hurt them.
Lorcan:  do we have the superposition of where the cassowaries were found vs known murders?
Arnari <looked at papers, then at map>:  cassowaries:  2 in Trade [District], 1 in Guildstrom, 1 onsite in Trade; murders: 1 in Trade, 3 in Guildstrom.
Lorcan:  so, some in Guildstrom.
Torinn:  so the Mayor wants us to do what?  He has no evidence?  What if we found nothing?  Walk around a couple days?  Will we still get paid?
Arnari:  yes
Torinn <shrugged>:  let's walk around a couple days
Minji:  how do we prove a negative?
Arnari:  Freelancers' prestige means we are trusted to perform a thorough investigation
Lorcan <astounded>:  does he not have reports?
Arnari:  he's not sure.  The numbers line up but there's still a possibility of more that were missed.
Ka:  shall we wander through the alleys at night, looking like prey?
Lorcan:  shouldn't the Guard have reports?  What good are the Guard?
Arnari:  they aren't trained with murder daemons!
Lorcan:  they are trained in murders!
Arnari:  they can't tell it's a daemon!
Torinn:  oh!  Can we get a list of murders?
Arnari:  no; you are doing the work.
Minji:  let's go!  I want to see what makes this city tick!
Lorcan:  where are you from?
Minji:  oh, elsewhere

Anyhow, it was clear Guildstrom was the place to begin, so the six of them headed out of Arnari's office and out to Sparrowhawk Street to find out what they could.

It was late morning, with enough cloud cover to not be too bright, and the Freelancers were walking through Guildstrom, except for Ka who was on Ohenui (and Ohenui was walking).  Since this district had quite a few artisans, Torinn had gotten in his head he should be looking for someone who could craft (or who already had for sale) a +1 maul.  Everyone else was looking for anything unusual or listening for unusual gossip.

Torinn saw a number of high-quality blacksmith shops, but none of them imbued weapons with magic.  Ka was pretty distracted by being out & about on the winged bear and getting the attention of passerby.  Lorcan didn't want to be marked by the passerby as being associated with Ohenui, so stayed a bit in front and away.  He and the others concluded that it was a pretty standard morning.  The food places were in that lull between breakfast and lunch; a lot of the ground floor shops were busy.

They came up to a corner with a busker who'd drawn a crowd.  Torinn and Ka were focussed on other things, but the other Freelancers noticed pickpockets working the crowd.  They didn't seem that good but the busker was holding peoples' attention.  Lorcan used an invisible mage hand on one of the pickpockets to relieve them of the purse they'd just pocketed, which he later discovered had 17gp.  Too bad he hadn't marked the owner.  Minji just did a normal pickpocket on one of the pickpockets, and the purse she'd lifted had 11gp.

Concluding that nothing would be discovered by wandering the midmorning streets, Torinn turned into an alley.  The alleys were narrower than the streets, and this alley had more people than the Freelancers were expecting.  Lorcan was still trying to move in a way that others would not mark him as part of the group with the bear, and was basically flanking the Freelancers unseen.  But with the narrowness of the alley, people seeing Torinn were perhaps not seeing Ka on Ohenui either.

Anyhow, at the intersection of two alleys, Torinn paused to look around, and a couple people materialized out of hiding places with drawn daggars, who clearly had concluded Torinn was an easy mark.

Three other people materialized holding daggars, cleary intending to relieve Torinn and his friends of their valuables.  Khalid was having none of it.  Glaring at them, she said, "Back the fuck off, and stay away from me!"  One of them hesitated, so Khalid pulled out a club and smacked that guy upside the head.

• Lorcan saw how most of these cutpurses were near Timmy, and none of them had seen him.  So Lorcan cast infestation on the fellow south of Timmy.  It had no effect, so Lorcan just hid.
• Minji pulled out her daggar and stabbed the fellow that Khalid had tapped with her club.
• The would-be mugger wasn't happy with being clubbed and stabbed, and said, "Guys, maybe this is a mistake."  The others scoffed.  "Don't be a pansy," "They look like they have money!"  The bleeding mugger hesitated.
• The two assailants on Torinn did not hesitate, and struck with their daggars.  One missed with a critfail, but the other stabbed Torinn in the tender bits.
• The mugger on Timmy that Lorcan failed to infest struck down with his daggar, crit'ing and stabbing Timmy at the base of his neck, and Timmy crumpled, mortally wounded, bleeding out into the alley.
• The other mugger on Khalid missed.
• Ka, in the back on Ohenui, was very displeased about Timmy, and so was Ohenui, who flew over to the mugger and bit him.  Ohenui also swiped with a claw, but missed.
  • Ka, silent as death, drew his black rapier and ran the surprised fellow through.  As the late mugger slid to the ground, Ka pivoted to his left and attacked the mugger who'd missed Khalid.
• Unfortunately Timmy was still bleeding out.

Torinn, stabbed in the tender bits, raged, pulling out his silvered great maul, and clobbered the guy who stabbed him.  Almost mocking, he stepped back and forth between the muggers, who tried in vain to hit him with their daggars.

• Khalid drew her short sword and took out the mugger she'd clubbed.
• Lorcan sent a blowgun needle into the neck of the mugger between himself and Timmy.  He handed the surprised Minji a healing potion, motioning at Timmy with his chin, then hid again.
• Minji looked at the healing potion, then at Timmy, then poured it down his throat.  Having never seen this work before at close range, she peered into his face as the wound knit.  "Are you there?  Are you there?"  Timmy's eyes flew open.  "Hi!" Minji exclaimed.
• Two cutpurses remained up, and one was between Khalid and the very angry Ohenui.  Khalid's nose wrinkled as he pissed himself… then he disengaged and ran away as fast as he could.  The other one, facing the raging Bronze dragonborn and his great maul, disengaged and ran in the other direction.
• Ohenui wanted to follow the mugger who'd pissed himself, but Ka stopped him, which meant he was standing on the head of the assailant who'd downed Timmy.  Ka did not make Ohenui move off him.

Lorcan emerged from his hiding spot, and checked the assailants the Freelancers took down.  They were all human, and he stabilized the two that didn't have an angry winged bear standing on them.  He didn't find anything of value on them, nor did he expect to.

Minji found 10gp.

Lorcan judged the two he'd stabilized would take an hour to recover, and both Timmy and Torinn decided they were happy to take that hour to recover as well, so the Freelancers tied them up, and Lorcan figured these were as good a source as any to find out if any unusual murders had been happening in the Guildstrom alleyways.

How to get this information was another story, but Khalid and Torinn were very excited about trying to suspend them from Ohenui and have him fly around.  The captive miscreants woke up to this topic of conversation, and Lorcan, despairing of getting anything useful out of them, just sat against the wall of the alley, with his head on his knees.

Ka said in a conversational tone, "I can try to talk them out of it, if you can tell use about any unusual activity in the underbelly of the city."

The bound cutpurses were entirely focussed on (and scared by) Ohenui.  "So sorry, we did not see the bear, no, nothing unusual, shived a rival gang, but that's not unusual…"

Ka:  okay
Torinn:  were we just, targets of opportunity?
Cutpurses:  yes, you were coming along and looked like you had money
Minji:  are there demons?  Have you seen demons?  Demons seem interesting.
Cutpurses:  are there demons?!  Do we.. have to watch out for demons?!
Torinn:  absolutely, you have to watch out for demons.
<Torinn tried to sound intimidating, but his voice cracked.>
Lorcan:  let's just tie them up with their own bootlaces & belts, and leave them here.
Torinn:  we should bring them in to the Mayor.
Minji:  don't know how reliable a source they are.
Torinn:  he's a politician; he can tell if they are lying.
Minji:  perhaps.
Ka:  Guard.  quick&efficient.
Timmy:  don't want them to starve!
Minji:  you're so nice.

So, Lorcan's and Torinn's ideas were overridden, and they hauled the two prisoners into the nearest Guard station.  The Guards took them, but were surprised, and wanted to know what was going on.

Torinn:  they tried to jump us, and it went poorly for them.  Also, almost killed our friend.
<Torinn gestured at Timmy.>
Captain <staring at Ohenui, outside>:  ...okay
Lorcan:  have you had reports of murders that are unusually messy?
Captain:  ...messy?
Lorcan:  ...violent.
Captain:  no?  Had domestic violence the other day but nothing I would consider out of the ordinary.
Minji:  are you sure the one who was hitting that was not possessed?
Captain <no longer distracted>:  possessed?!
Minji:  well we were asked to make sure there wasn't any demons or possession going on
Captain <eyes wide>:  in Cliffshadow?!  No, nothing like that going on
Timmy:  hey guys, I have an idea.

The Freelancers thanked the Guard captain, and went back outside.

Timmy was very proud of his idea.  "I've been looking up cassowary research!  Maybe they will be attracted to food supply."

Lorcan:  these are demons.
Torinn:  a group of Freelancers would be a gathering of food supply.
Khalid:  get some fruit and cut it up?
Torinn <impatiently>:  these are demons.  They eat people.
Lorcan:  well, we left a person back there; can cut him up.

It was early afternoon by now, so the Freelancers resumed their initial purpose, which was poking around where the initial murders had taken place in Guildstrom.  The first place was only three blocks from the Guard station.

Poking around again, Torinn again was paying more attention to blacksmith shops than anything else, and Khalid's attention was split by Torinn's lack of focus and everything else.  The others were looking around, and asking around, and didn't really find out or hear rumours of anything out of the ordinary.

They did find what might work as a good place for an ambush, but discussed it and decided that a better place was back in the alley intersection where they'd had that fight.  Any cassowary demons would be attracted to easy prey or recent death, so the Freelancers decided to set up an ambush there after dark.

So, they went and had dinner, then returned to the alley.  It was emptier than they expected, but the body of the mugger Ka had slain was still there.  So they set up Torinn as bait.

• Torinn lingered in the intersection trying and failing to look helpless
• Ka on a nearby roof on Ohenui
• Lorcan and Minji on the lowest nearby roof, with Lorcan hiding
• Khalid on the opposite roof
• Timmy hid in the intersection's northeast corner

Time passed.  Torinn started flexing.  Minji stayed excited, her tails lashing as she watched.  Ka and Ohenui were also excited.

A couple of times, someone came to the north alleyway, and passing through, skirted Torinn, or the dead body, which had gone into rigor.  A couple of other times, someone came, saw Torinn, froze, then stepped back and away.  The Freelancers on the rooftops noticed these times, it was one of the cutpurses they'd fought.

They gave up when the Daystar rose, and headed back to Freelancers.  Ka and Minji were disappointed.

Minji:  we can do another night, in the Trade District
Lorcan:  near that lady's house!

At Freelancers, they grabbed an early breakfast, then all passed out in their bunks until the late afternoon.  Then they checked with Nyls where the cassowary lady's house was, and he pulled out the mission reports and sent them there.

The Freelancers did not have a difficult time finding another alley that seemed a likely place to set up, and they mimic'd what they'd done the previous night.  Torinn was bait, looking wealthy and unassuming, and the others chose nearby places as stakeout posts.

The night passed, and they saw people carrying suspicious packages (not demons, just people), and random drunk people looking for a likely place to pass out.  No cassowaries.

The Daystar dawned again, and everyone was considerably less excited this time.  They had no rumours; and two ambushes in likely places had not been sprung.  The Freelancers headed back to their tavern, contemplating what to tell Arnari.

In the end (and after breakfast), that was exactly what they did tell her; Arnari assured them that this result was still valuable information, and paid out 90gp as their fee for the mission.  Whereupon they all again passed out in their bunks until late afternoon, at which time Minji's insatiable curiosity got the better of her.

• Minji → lvl 1 warlock!