Justice or Revenge?

January 13, 2X26

Sloane, Slaid, Guygiss, and I have spent the past few days securing Jenner's site for an ambush upon his expected return. We have a look-out schedule, established engagement plans based on approach, and a keen thirst for discovering more about this cell of lycanthropy plaguing our city.

A wagon approaches matching the description provided by the captive shopkeeper. It parks around back and we post up to engage upon their entry. Jenner exits with two bodyguards, one a thick fellow who stays by his side, the other a slender warrior who tends to the horses. Jenner and Thick approach the shop from the rear.

We leave the interior dark to draw them in, but Thick comes in alone to light a lantern. My Slumber spell is still able to catch them both, but only Thick succumbs to it. Guygiss cartwheels out to engage Jenner, followed by Sloane and Slaid. I rush to the rear of the workshop yard in case the final guard flees.

I hear the sounds of battle and by the time I regain line of sight, Slender joins Jenner and Thick on the ground. The headman is clasped in silver manacles while the others are executed as the monsters they are. We are eager to learn more about the cell's activity and if there are any children still in captivity, but Jenner is resistant to Slaid and Guygiss's interrogations. We deliver him to Jeremy at the Temple of Turas.

Slaid, ever the opportunist, convinces Jeremy to award us one of the buildings captured during the operation, provided we keep up appearances until the end of the month to draw in more cultists. The priest informs us that interrogations have revealed two other suspicious actors that warrant observation, MacFarland the Toymaker and Tandy's Leathers.

Our group plans our next steps. Fortunately, a gladiatorial bout is scheduled for the 15th where we expect to be able to observe the two new players. The rest of the group prepares for that while I retire to the Tower of Knowledge to scribe spell formulae into my spellbook. A magician's work is never finished.

January 15, 2X26

The arena is full and Slaid is bouncing with anticipation of the fight involving Scarface and his cronies who we captured some days back. Their punishment is to die on the sands of the coliseum. I wish the group well and pray to Istreus that the secrets of this cultist cell will reveal themselves to my compatriots.

My studies are interrupted when the party arrives some hours later to the Tower's grounds. Apparently, Slaid was dissatisfied with the performance of the gladiators and jumped from the stands to the sands, shooting Scarface dead. While a bold choice indeed, I worry that he will sooner than later cause himself trouble acting out of turn.

During the aftermath, Slaid discovered the horned rat tattoo among other gladiators, tracing it to a branding mark used by the Lanista Nicodemus. When Jeremy was summoned and the party mobilized to capture him in the stands, he had already fled, likely tipped off by the public interference in the bout. The team were here at the Tower to collect me en route to Nicodemus compound for questioning.

I join them, Guygiss and I slipping off to watch the rear entrance while Slaid, Sloane, and Jeremy of Turas make their interrogations. Apparently Slaid's blunt aggression causes them some difficulty with the Lanista and his staff. Jeremy is able to convince Nicodemus to allow a search of the premises, which turns up a shrine to Galmorm, the Great Poisoner, Cthonic god of Treachery. This is justification enough for the Temple to seize the location.

Meanwhile, Guygiss trails a furtive figure departing from the rear entrance to a tannery. After some observation, he returns and I join him. With unknown combatants within, we plan to secure the scene. This means different things to the strange little not-elf and me. 

My magic neutralizes the suspicious figure and shopkeeper in the front room. Guygiss enters to secure them and search while I watch the door. We are interrupted by a worker at the tannery and Guygiss knocks him out with a quickly produced sap. Unfortunately the scene gets more complicated as more workers try to push into the front room of the shop with others come around to the front. Guygiss produces a blade and fells the two near him, while the others flee, presumably to summon the guard.

Wolfsbane reveals only the first suspicious man to be a lycanthrope and I use my magic to stabilize the bleeding men, likely dupes similar to the other locations we had uncovered. Guygiss quickly interrogates the apparent owner of the shop and gets him to confess to cooperation with Nicodemus and some knowledge of questionable activity. When the guards show up, we are able to explain the situation and are relieved to learn that they are en route to Nicodemus' compound to execute the seizure of the property. We join them.

Despite Slaid's best efforts, he is unable to apply wolfsbane to any of the principals of the Lanista's staff, or even the Lanista himself, but the compound is locked down, the occupants arrested, and the rest left up to the Temple's interrogation team for now.

Musings:

We just keep winning, again able to control the battlefield with advanced knowledge and ambush tactics. Picked up a couple magic items too.

I was surprised that there was no immediate repercussion to a citizen joining the arena bout. I was surprised at how cooperative Nicodemus was in the search of his premises. I expected an ambush or at least resistance after Slaid's insults. It's possible the cell doesn't reach all the way to the top, but with the horned rat symbolism all over the compound I doubt that.

Jeremy is showing himself to be a cautious investigator, seeking more evidence than is satisfactory to Slaid's player, who immediately suspected him of being corrupt when he wouldn't just kick the door in and kill everyone in the Lanista's compound. We're still getting our feet under us in regards to expectations of setting, notably that NPCs have rank and status. City work is different than dungeon work. The tone is being established through play, which is the way. Don't tell, show.

While I like the idea of the building as part of our reward, I'm certainly hoping for some more cash for the xp attached. The Nobiran Wonderworker has an absolutely brutal xp progression. Either way, we're affecting the city in significant ways, earning a reputation among the Turas Temple, and having fun doing it. I'm ready for the next session.