13. Sleeping With Your Devil Mask

Sleeping With Your Devil Mask On

Treasure

Summary

In the basement of the abandoned house in Trollskull Alley Hamidal noticed a slight shimmer on the wall in the shape of the the rune found on the top of the treasure map. A small part of the wall turned out to be a rotating panel that hid a small alcove containing a wand. Painted on the back of the panel was a string of letters: “CNSRRBONIRUWMUTASSHROHED”. Hamidal attempted to use his magic to comprehend the gibberish, but was unable to make any sense of it. The wand was magical, but only seemed to reveal already revealed secrets…

One of the thugs the party had questioned mentioned his purpose in being with the group was to retrieve a wedding ring he’d lost while gambling with the group. He said he knew the location of the leader of the group’s hideout, so the party decided to check it out. Blegor’s hideout was found behind a locked stone door in the sewers with a sign saying “Keep Out!”. Inside they found a fairly normal looking office - desk, chair, bookshelves. An examination of the room revealed that one of the bookshelves had been moved, leaving tracks on the floor. Pulling it away from the wall revealed a hidden alcove with a ladder leading down to a hallway.

The hallway bent halfway down it’s lenght, and Footsteps was able to notice that the floor at the corner was actually a tarp colored like the stone of the floor, covering a pit trap filled with spikes. Another stone door was at the end of the hall, leading into another chamber. This chamber had arcane scribblings in chalk all over its walls, an acid-eaten corpse, and a rug in front of another door. Checking the corpse and its environs, the party found what appeared to be a pressure plate that opened a trap door in the ceiling - presumably full of acid, judging by the state of the corpse under it. Footsteps examined the rug, checking under it and poking at it. Satisfied that it wasn’t trapped, he sat on it hoping that it’d fly - instead it tried to eat him. Thanks to his party, Footsteps was not eaten by the rug, but he was severaly injured and knocked unconscious by it. The rug defeated, Grick helped Hamidal to revive Footsteps.

The door in this strange room led to a bedroom with a nice looking bed, another rug, another desk, and a strongbox. The desk contained a spellbook, which was scooped up by Hamidal. The rug turned out to be mundane this time around. The strongbox contained a scrap of paper and a folded letter atop a pile of coins and jewelry. The letter was written to Blegor from someone named “The Baron” instructing him to “spy on the drow”. When Aradaine read the scrap of paper, all it said was “Oops”… which set off a ward, exploding in a cloud of ice and cold mist. Footsteps was at the end of his rope, there were no other doors - hidden or otherwise, so the party decided to (cautiously) retreat back to the Alley.

As the party made their way back to the tavern, the noticed a patrol of Watch guards enter the south end of the alley and head towards the abandoned house they’d just left. Not having been back home since striking a deal with Lord Cassalanter, the party sent Grick into the tavern to let Istrid know that she’d be staying in the Cassalanter’s guest house for the remainder of her tenday. To that surprise turn, she gave out a deep belly laugh that the party could hear all the way out on the street. Grick stayed with Istrid in order to escort her to the Cassalanter’s and see that she got herself settled, heading back to the tavern afterwards to await the return of the rest of the party.

Hamidal and Aradaine were both familiar enough with the city to surmise that the ‘birdman statue’ mentioned on the map was actually the Hawk Man walking statue - now a residential tower. Neither were too familiar with the actual contents of the building, as it lies above street level, requiring a guard to lower a basket or ladder to allow entry. Upon arrival, the party found the ladder lowered and a guard positioned at its base. Kael waved his watch badge at the guard, and they were quickly allowed entry. The guard at the top of the ladder pointed them towards the door for the restaurant so, feigning knowledge they didn’t have, the party entered to find a large, nicely appointed restaurant on the first floor of the statue’s hollowed out center. The maitre d’ led them to a table, where the party decided that the kitchen was a good place to start their search. Kael again flashed his badge, telling the staff that they were there as part of the Watch to do a food and safety inspection. The maitre d’ led them to the kitchen and let the staff there know the Watch was to be given access.

It was about early evening at this time, and the restaurant, while not completely full, was doing a brisk business. The kitchen staff all gave a look to the party, but was mostly absorbed in frantically trying to keep up with the orders they had before them. The chef assented to their inspection, telling them there were two storerooms in the back, and asked that they please stay out of the way of the staff. Footsteps and Aradaine inspected the dry goods storeroom, finding nothing out of the ordinary, while Hamidal and Kael inspected the cold storage, also finding nothing. Footsteps returned to the kitchen to furtively ‘inspect’ a barrel of fish while they discussed what the map could mean. They questioned the chef as to other storage or otherwise hidden spaces, to which the chef pleaded ignorance. Using his ability to detect sources of magic, Kael noticed a glowing symbol below the barrel Footsteps was casually snacking from.

Surprised at this turn of events, Kael roughly handled the chef, demanding to know what they might be hiding. The party tensed at his sudden anger and asked him to unhand the innocent woman, to which he eventually acceded. Prying up the stone on which the symbol was writ, they party found a small cache containing two silver daggers with a note saying “For the shopkeep” as well as piece of paper saying: “FOUR AT A TIME. READ TOP TO BOTTOM.”

Leaving the restaurant, the party questioned Kael on his behavior, but he saw nothing wrong with his actions. Seeing that the hour was getting late, and the dinner hour now all but passed, he invited the party to sup and rest at the nearby Yawning Portal. With two pieces of the puzzle in hand, Hamidal was able to work out the code - the jumble of letters, when arranged as posited in the second clue, read: “Crimson Brush Southern Ward”. The party mostly went their separate ways, mulling over their actions of the past few days and their motivations for what they were doing.