Investigate Origin of Skeletons

Cathance was telling others, post breakfast, about how they had travelled north of Lakeview and encountered three grells.  The grells had apparently been living in the river.  She waxed dramatic in explaining how Large Ondar had become during the battle.

Timmy looked chagrined, and clenched his jaw; he'd been apprenticed to the wizard responsible for this mess.  Nix, who had also been there, sat back, quietly, smoking her pipe, as the tale was relayed.  Lorcan was intrigued, musing on the substance causing these effects.  Tai and Ana were nodding: Tai at the outcome of the battle, Ana at how relieved she was not to be out there in the middle of Nature getting attacked.

The net effect was that Cathance inspired them all to visit Arnari's office in search of gainful occupation, including Ondar and Nix.  Ana immediately settled herself in the cushiest chair Arnari had.  Tai sat, gingerly, in a larger one; it creaked ominously under his bulk, prompting Ondar to lean against the one bare wall.  Timmy sat in the least comfy chair, still unsure if he wasn't taking liberties.  Nix sat in one of the fancier wood chairs, and a large black cat appeared, twirling between her legs.  The cat had purple wings, and Lorcan wondered if it, too, came from this "pollution."

Anyhow Lorcan sat in an appropriate chair, wondering how all of these people went through life without understanding chair etiquette.

Arnari looked at everyone sharply, and reminded them she had 

• Two standing missions from House Aldous and House Liona to acquire hippogryph eggs and gryphon eggs, respectively.  "Please take care of Timmy, Lorcan, and Ana," she added, "if you go after gryphons."
• There is still pollution on Pirates Dream River.

Timmy rolled his eyes, then shrank back into the chair.  Arnari continued.

• Not too long ago, some Freelancers including Block, Lorcan, Ondar, and Nix went to Sceap and ran into some really big aggressive ants.  They dealt with two, but there might be a hive.  Might be good for the Freelancers to return and find the ant mansion and either neutralize it, or if too big, report back.

This pronouncement just dismayed Lorcan.

Lorcan:  they are Nature's creatures too; they should just be moved.
Arnari:  there's not a lot of room to move them; but if you try, you will die.
<Ana nodded emphatically.>
Tai:  how big are we talking?  Ana sized?  Tai sized?
Arnari:  gryphon sized.
<Tai's eyes grew very wide.>
Ondar:  Ondar briefly considered trying to tame one.
Arnari:  this pays 150gp/person for scouting.
Lorcan:  I'm sure the people in Mantzur would be willing to go help move them!

Arnari nodded, then pointedly set the paper aside and picked up the next one, from a different stack.

• The other mission is, to investigate a bunch of skeletons.  Mayor Kaiea will pay 100gp/person to find where the fuck these skeletons came from.

Arnari put the paper down and looked at everyone.

Arnari:  undeads within the city is bad news.
Ana:  interested in the skeletons; not willing to leave things unfinished.
<Ana was on the mission that discovered the skeletons.>
Arnari:  not… because you don't want to deal with Nature?
<Ana held her finger to her lips in a shhh gesture.>
Tai:  also interested in skeletons, but ants are interesting.  Or pollution.
Timmy:  skeletons or ant mansion interesting, but don't quite want to go back there [pollution] yet.
Lorcan <grudgingly>:  pretty interested in skeletons.
Nix:  I am on board for skeletons!
Arnari:  okay, skeletons. <reordered her papers.> things we know:  they were seen at the Wendehals mausoleum, where there were skeletons, stomping feet, crawling claws…  Kaiea wants to know who created them; and where did the bodies come from.
Ana:  what I recall about the mausoleum, is that the family was known for hunting.
Arnari:  that's another family; House Thomas.
Tai:  also, a suspicious gravedigger.
Ana:  I guess we should start at the graveyard.
Tai:  we can stop by Academy of Magic and see if there are dropouts.
Ondar:  someone told the goth loner at the Academy to make some friends.
Ana:  is a good idea to check the Academy.
Lorcan:  or check for recent arrivals, to the city.

Anyhow, that was as good a plan as any; so they walked over to the Academy of Magic.

The Academy of Magic was not far from Freelancers Tavern, and once there, Ana tried to locate people she knew, starting with Colanette Kapura, an assistant professor, specializing in Illusion.

That caught Lorcan's interest.

"She taught me flaming sphere," Ana told the others animatedly, "She's my favourite person."  She led the other Freelancers to a place of offices, all the doors were closed.  Ana knocked on one of them, and it was shortly opened by a human woman in working wizard robes.

Ana:  we're on a job from Freelancers, looking for an active necromancer; we're wondering about disaffected students, got expelled, etc.
Colanette <reflexively>:  necromancy isn't illegal. <brief pause>  But the tricky bit is getting consent.  We do teach it, but usually use animals.  People don't usually consent.
Ana:  we ran into clear traces of human, non-consensual necromancy in a nearby graveyard.
Colanette:  I won't tell anyone, but I don't remember –
Colanette:  actually, about a year and a half ago, there was someone who came in and wanted tutoring in necromantic stuff.  They were interested in starting a business with carting, using undead oxen along the main road.  They got what they wanted, and left.
Colanette:  I don't remember the person and haven't heard of undead oxen… it was a man, but kind of wealthy to get such spells.
Ana:  who keeps these records?
Colanette:  records are only for classes; talk to the Dean?
Tai:  well, do you know which of your colleagues would have talked to him?
Colanette:  actually, Darag.

While they were talking, Lorcan was thoroughly casing the office.  Colanette's office had all kinds of spell components for an illusionist, and fascinating optical illusion puzzles on her desk.  Colanette's voice was in his background, explaining that Darag, another assistant professor, did a lot of the tutoring of this person, and describing to the Freelancers where his office was.

Darag was not in his office; apparently he had a class.  They waited, and a Rain sagani showed up 20 minutes later, unlocking the door.  He raised an eyebrow.  "How can I help you?"  The office beyond was messier than Colanette's, but about the same size; books were stacked all about, discussing necromancy and conjuration.

Timmy said, "Hey!  We heard you might have tutored someone on necromancy who wanted a trade route with undead oxen.  Is this true, and did you treat it as a curiosity or a viable business model?"  Darag was silent for a while, and squared some of the stacks of books.  Then he pulled out a journal, and sat at his desk.

Darag:  yes, I tutored him.  I'm not sure it was viable, but I'm not one to turn away bad ideas if someone is paying me for it and not hurting anyone else.
Lorcan:  do you think that's really what he wanted the spells for?
Darag:  it's been a couple years and I've not heard of anything.  But, he seemed trustworthy.
Ana:  do you have any details on this person?  ...We're on Freelancer business, not just creeping.
Darag <paging through book>:  it's Roberto, I – wow, Weningworth?  My handwriting is usually better than this.
Tai:  can I look?  <looked>  Wend-something.
<Lorcan looked and shook his head.>
Ondar:  can you write something, so I can compare handwriting?
<Darag consented and did so.>
Ondar:  the writing is the same… it's Wendehals.
Ana:  do you know how to contact him?
Darag:  last I knew, Roberto lived in Cliffshadow; but that's it.
Lorcan:  we don't know this is non-consensual, then.
<Tai, Ana thought back to the encounter in the graveyard, and Ana remembered there were more skeletons than undead.  Narrator voice:  whatever that means.>
Ana:  you would think if it was consensual, they would have some sort of visual indication
<Lorcan gave Ana a somewhat astounded look.>
Lorcan <to Darag>:  thank you for your time.
Darag:  if someone's doing non-consensual necromancy…

The Freelancers left the Academy of Magic, at a bit of a loss what to do next.  Lorcan asked, "What is Wendehals, are they a formal house?"  But none of them were from Cliffshadow.  Ana said, "Presumably the Mayor would know about the house."

They decided to go to Cliffshadow city records to see what there was to see.  Once there, Ana tried to use reason to persuade the records clerk, a polite but unmoved Wind sagani, but Nix and Tai were successful at schmoozing her enough to get them in to look at the records.

Once they had the ledgers, Timmy and Ondar started arguing over them; either it was over Timmy's head, or too low for Ondar to properly read.  The argument escalated until they almost ripped the ledger, but Lorcan rescued the ledger from this drama and calmly found what they were looking for.

Roberto was the last scion of the Wendehals family, and died about a year prior.  Asking the clerks about it, the Freelancers figured out there was a bit of a scandal:  a very elegant lady was meeting up with Roberto before his death.  He didn't seem to be in poor health… anyhow, she was "out of his league."  Nor did she inherit after his demise.

Trying to discover heirs, none were to be found.  The estates languished in city control, then were refurbished and sold.  The buyers were unrelated.  The mausoleum was maintained by funds from the estate; and Roberto was buried there.

The clerks noted that Roberto and the lady were in their mid-to-late 40s; they did not know who the lady was.  Human, pale skin, black flapper/bob cut hair.  She liked silk dresses and furs.

Suddenly suspicious, Ana asked, "How pale was she?"  The clerks laughed, "Not that pale, but always wore makeup."

The Freelancers took their leave, but based on the information gleaned, decided to check out where Roberto was buried.

Tai and Ana led the other Freelancers back to the graveyard in Parkside, and once there, to the Wendehals mausoleum.  Ana sent Hawkie up to look around, too; and Nix sent up her flying cat, named Mercury.

The mausoleum was locked.  Lorcan tried to pick it, to no avail.  So, they went looking for a groundskeeper, and soon found Dinkin, the gravedigger from the prior Freelancer visit, trimming the grass around the gravestones.  He recognized Tai and straightened.

Dinkin:  is there more?
Tai:  need to confirm someone is interred there.
Dinkin:  okay, but… is it safe?
Tai:  should be?
Dinkin:  what is a safe distance?
Tai:  10x?
Dinkin:  200?!
<They all arrived at the mausoleum.>
Lorcan:  do you remember the last internment here?
Dinkin:  Roberto Wendehals should be the last person put here.

Dinkin unlocked the door, and then, casting a reproachful look at the Freelancers, retreated in a way that was just slightly faster than allowed for dignity.  Tai pushed the stone door open, and Nix, smiling, cast light on the tip of her pointed hat.

The Freelancers entered, led by Lorcan, Ana, and Tai; they checked if it was as undisturbed as it ought to have been, and Tai thought another person had come through.  "Try to be stealthy," he advised.

"Fine," said Ana, sharply; and she disappeared as she cast invisibility on herself.  However, she still managed to be the least stealthy as the Freelancers descended into the crypt and tried to sneak towards the far end.  Even Nix, with a light on the tip of her hat, managed to be less noticeable.

As the Freelancers advanced to the back of the crypt, Tai noticed that nobody had cleaned up, after the fight with skeletons his previous Freelancer team had encountered,  "Should talk to Dinkin," he muttered darkly.  Lorcan frowned, and looked to see if the bones had been recently disturbed, since that fight.

By now all the Freelancers were checking out the back of the crypt.  Nix cast detect magic, and realized the bones have necromancy on them, too strong to be remnants.  Timmy noticed bootprints, stepping over piles of bones, and going up to the sarcophagus.  The back coffin had the nameplate ROBERTO.

"I'm gonna open the sarcophagus," Tai announced abruptly.  The other Freelancers glanced at each other.
Lorcan hid in a corner.
Timmy hid in the other corner.
Ondar moved towards Tai.
Nix moved to the wall on the left.
Ana moved to the wall on the right.

Tai pushed on the sarcophagus lid - not very hard - and it slid right open.  Within, was an empty coffin.

A male voice cried out, "Grave robbers!  Thieves!  You'll pay for this!!"

The bones whirled and swirled, and six skeletons stood between the Freelancers and the exit.  Two were armed with axes and shields; their axes and helms were bronze and steel.  Two others had spears; another two with short swords.

Now the coffin was open, it was clearly empty… and lined with lead.  Nix's detect magic lit up with signs of the magic mouth and glyph of warding spells.

Tai unlimbered his greataxe, letting out a bestial roar of rage.  He ran over to the nearest skeleton, and exhaled the cold breath of a Silver dragonborn on 4 of the skeleton.  His rage was so great, his axe started glowing.

• Lorcan pulled out his blowgun, and from his hiding place shot the skeleton holding a brown spear, to great effect.
• The skeleton he'd shot moved to Lorcan and thrust with his spear, but Lorcan swerved and avoided it.
• The skeleton with a black spear went after Nix and her lit hat.  Tai struck it with his glowing greataxe.  It speared Nix, but not a good blow.
• One of the sword bearer skeletons tried to walk past where Ana was.  She was still invisible and it stumbled into her.  It stabbed with the short sword, but missed.
• The other sword bearer stabbed Tai, who shrugged most of it off because rage.
• Timmy had a whole bunch of skeletons in front of him!  He drew his shortsword and stabbed the one that had just run into Ana.
• Ondar became large, but not as large as his normal large, because then he'd've had a problem with the crypt ceiling and all.  Anyhow, because he wasn't as large, he was able to get between combatants to get to the skeleton who'd stabbed at Nix with its black spear.  Not-as-large Ondar slashed it with his vicious scimitar, and the bones fell apart again.
• Both of the axe bearers attacked Tai.  The one in bronze struck him twice, and the one in steel struck once then missed.  Tai's rage was protecting him though.
• Nix, unhappy at being speared, snapped at Tai, "I hope you like it cold, dragon boy!"  She pulled some water out of a waterskin and sent a jagged ice knife at the steel axe skeleton.  The ice knife pierced it, then exploded:  ice shards hit all the skeletons, as well as Tai.
  • Tai does like it cold, and was merely nicked by the ice shards.
  • The skeleton with the brown spear collapsed into a pile of bones.
• Invisible Ana moved past not-so-large Ondar, and cast thunderwave on the skeletons beyond Tai, the boom echoing painfully throughout the crypt as she faded into view.  The sword bearer was pushed back, but neither axe bearer was.

Tai had a feral grin on his face as he swung his greataxe at the skeleton with the steel axe & helm.  The grin faded slightly as the axe sailed right by.

• Lorcan used the blowgun to shoot the skeleton Timmy had stabbed, and it collapsed into a pile of bones.
• The remaining sword bearer stepped back up to Tai and stabbed him with its shortsword again.
• Timmy attacked the skeleton with the steel axe & helm, piercing it with his shortward.
• Not-so-large Ondar slashed at the steel axe skeleton with his vicious scimitar, crowding Ana in the process.  The skeleton deflected the blow with its shield.
  • Not-so-large Ondar backed off, and the skeleton slashed with its axe, but missed.
  • Ondar noted to Nix he also enjoyed the cold.
• Both axe bearers attacked Tai again.  The one with bronze struck him, then missed, and the one in steel missed twice.
• Nix moved past Lorcan, and sent a mind sliver at the remaining sword bearer.  It dropped its weapon, clutched its skull, and crumbled into dust.
• Ana stepped back, and the skeleton swung its steel axe at her.  She cast shield, and a spectral wing flashed out of Nix; the combination repelled the strike.
  • Then Ana cast chromatic orb, which settled on cold before it struck her assailant.

Tai again swung his greataxe at the skeleton with the steel axe & helm, and had a critical fail, but he just looked like an overdramatic miss.

• Lorcan used his blowgun at the same skeleton, but the needle just stuck in its shield.
• Timmy stabbed at the same skeleton with his shortsword, but missed, so he backed off.  The skeleton gnashed its teeth at him.
• Not-so-large Ondar used his vicious scimitar to bisect the skeleton with the steel axe & helm.
  • Flush with success, not-so-large Ondar turned to the skeleton with bronze, and whiffed.
• The skeleton with bronze - the only one left - attacked not-so-large Ondar with its axe, missed, then tried to attack Tai, and missed.
• Nix cast ray of frost at the skeleton, but it cleverly intercepted the ray with its shield.
• Ana cast ray of frost at the skeleton, but that went over its head.

Tai, frustrated, recklessly attacked the skeleton, his glowy greataxe hitting it with force.

• Lorcan's needle went totally wide.
• Timmy cast chill touch at the skeleton, but the skeletal hand got confused and missed.  He looked down at his hands, sadly.
• Not-so-large Ondar slashed at the skeleton, damaging it badly, but not decimating it like he had the others.  He used his fire rune to afflict it with shackles of fire, burning the bones.
• We'll never know what the skeleton was going to do next, as the fire kept burning the bones, which collapsed in a heap of char.

Nix pulled out a stinky salve, and applied it to Tai's wounds, healing him a bit.  Lorcan, emerging from his corner, asked her, "What does detect magic tell us now?"  Nix looked around, eyes unfocussed.  "Magic mouth, glyph of warding, the skeletons have necromantic energy, but it's fading out."

Ana said, "I'm thinking magic mouth can be traced," and walked over to the sarcophagus to check.  Nix started looking for anything else the detect magic could pick up.

Ondar, Lorcan, and Tai looked more closely at the coffin in the sarcophagus.  It seemed pretty nice, and they concluded that while someone might have been in this coffin, certainly nobody dead had been.  Anyone in this coffin had been alive.  Roberto probably faked his own death.

While looking, they found a secret drawer!  It had… 353gp in assorted coins, and under those, a small map!  Everyone came to look.  It sure appeared to be a minor wealth cache.  The map was a mystery though.  Lacking detail, it was clearly intended for a reader familiar with the general area… which itself was not obvious.

The map didn't appear to be Cliffshadow, but again, none of the Freelancers in the group were from there.  As far as they could tell, it might not have even been on Duquesne.  The Freelancers took the gold and the map, then headed out, deciding to visit the Mayor directly.  They waved at Dinkin as they headed southeast from the graveyard.

On the way to visit Mayor Kaiea, the Freelancers had to decide what to tell him.

Lorcan:  do we mention the gold and the map?
Tai:  the gold shows there was long-term planning, so yes
Ana:  the map, we should show
<Lorcan quietly assented, hands folded in front.>
Tai:  the map should be shipped around, like to Skyguard.

Mayor Kaiea was extremely interested in the find, and was fine with the Freelancers keeping the found gold.  He paid them 100gp each, saying, "Thanks for finding this information out.  I do not have a lot for you to do right now, but certainly let me know if you hear of any more undeads."

They took their leave, vaguely dissatisfied with this answer, but pretty pleased at the acquisition of such unexpected wealth.  As they headed back to Freelancers Tavern, it did not occur to any of them that they'd inadvertently fulfilled the accusation of "Grave robbers!" from the magic mouth.

• Lorcan → lvl2!
• Timmy → lvl2!
• Nix → lvl3 (Sorcerer 2)!
• Ana → lvl5!
• Tai → lvl5!