Burn Offerings                                                                                                                                                                               The Hook Mountain Massacre The Skinsaw Murders Part One:  Murder Most Foul Sheriff Hemlock's Plea After a brief visit to Magnimar (financially inspired, as ever when Heroes have stuff), our heroes moved back to Sandpoint for a few days of well-earned rest. Soon enough, their rest was interrupted by a request from the sheriff. Apparently, some murders have happened and he feels his men are not equipped for the investigation, whereas the Heroes of Sadpoint would find it an easy task to get to the bottom of the distasteful episode. It seems that two people have been killed at the lumber mill last night and that these are not the first bodies to have been found slain in some kind of ritualistic way - a few nights back, three well known local conmen had been murdered at a barn out of town. The sheriff offered several leads, as well as the dubious honour of deputisation )which is apparently not a word). The main leads were the lumber mill itself, where the murder scene was relatively undisturbed, and the bodyguard to the men first murdered, who had gone insane and was being held at the local sanatorium, the Saintly Haven of Respite. More disturbingly, the sheriff showed them a note found on one of the corpses. It read 'I do as you command, master' and is signed 'Your Lordship'. The heroes made for the lumber mill first, entering through a group of rubberneckers. Inside, a gruesome scene greeted them, with a woman's body badly damaged from the waist up by having met a log splitter in inadvertent circumstance and a man, who had had his jaw and most of his face removed. Aramir swiftly ascertained tat the killer had watched the mill from across the creek and had then entered via an upstairs window, before moving downstairs to commit the atrocities. From a hand axe embedded in the floor, the group realized that the girl had defended herself and possibly wounded her assailant. From the smell of the place and particularly the bare foot prints of the killer, A'luna was able to advise the group that the murderer was a form of undead - Thorfinn queried this with Farther Zantus, who advised that either a ghoul or a ghast most nearly fitted the description but that they normally consumed their kills. The other sign of note was the seven pointed star carved in the mans chest, which they swiftly realized was the same as the rune they had seen before and of which they still had an amulet. From the lumber mill, they headed for the asylum. Here, Zarlis headed in to talk to the bodyguard, with all but Franck in attendance. On seeing her, the man had an adverse reaction and said: 'He said,. He said you would visit me, His Lordship. The one that unmade me said so. He has a place for you. A precious place. I'm so jealous. He has a message for you. He made me remember it. I hope I haven't forgotten. The master wouldn't approve if I forgot. Let me see... let... me... see... ' He paused, then gabbled 'He said that the bodies you are finding are signs and portents; that when he is done, you shall be remembered forever and the misgivings shall be your throne!' At this point the madman stood and screamed, breaking his bonds and attacking. Using her acute psychiatric skills, the Paladin proceeded to lead several members of the party in bludgeoning him unconscious. As they left the asylum, the party realized that they either had not heard the man speak or had no recollection of what he had said - this made it difficult to follow any clue they may have learnt. Fortunately, before they got too bored, a man came into town with tales of walking scarecrows so they went off to look into that instead, again at the sheriffs request. (Three minutes to five o'clock). As they made their way through the farmsteads around Sandpoint, they were attacked on several occasions by ghouls made up to look like scarecrows, with the skirmishes causing them little harm. Soon they were in sight of the Hambley farm, which had been reported as the centre of the problem. Part Two: Misgivings Foxglove Manor They cautiously approached the farmstead, Franck attacking the outside toilet as Zarlis moved in through the front door supported by Natties, with Thorfinn and Aramir watching the barn and surroundings. The house was deeply unpleasant but empty. As they searched the house, the ghouls in the barn sneaked around and attacked Thorfinn. Things looked a little tricksy for a while, until the others arrived and helped to deal with the menace. Once the battle was over, they build a large bonfire and burned the corpses, as Nattie searched the house, finding the unfortunate farmers life savings. They returned to town and gave the money over to his relatives, before asking everyone they could find what the word misgivings meant to them. They found that it was a ruined manor with a bad reputation a few miles down the coast, which had belonged to the Foxglove family. Thorfinn eventually remembered that this was the surname of the nobleman they had rescued during the goblin raid that had made their name in Sandpoint and they set off to continue their investigation into the murders. They soon reached the manor and began to check for ways of ingress. After Nattie found that the locks were beyond her, Aramir broke a window and they entered into a dance parlour, where a ruined grand piano leaned drunkenly to one side. Never having seen a piano before, Franck went and stood guard over it in case the large teeth proved to be a threat. They moved on into a hallway and began to explore the ground floor. On the far side of the hall was a long room with a stuffed Manticore in it. Franck wandered off as the others checked it out and found a small empty room near the front of the house. As he moved across it, things went a bit weird. Franck found himself worried about the strange things that his husband was doing in the basement and had an overwhelming urge to save his daughter from the danger. This was a little odd, since he is not female, not married and has no children. Unfortunately, this did not occur to the large barbarian. He swiftly grabbed Nattie and jumped out of the open window, rushing to the servants quarters. The rest of the team didn't really notice anything odd about this and continued to search the large chamber. After a few minutes, Franck calmed down and squared his actions with Nattie. As they returned and entered the large room again, Franck was attacked by the Manticore, which to him and him alone seemed to be alive and on fire, dealing him a nasty burn. The Manticore then immediately went back to simply being a stuffed creature, whereupon Franck destroyed it and the table it stood on. In the main room, Thorfinn found four stained glass windows depicting a Treant, a Roc, a Sphinx and a Kraken and so went to have a look at the room which had spooked Franck, with Aramir but found nothing odd. In the washroom, they found a diseased rat and put it out of its misery. The next room of interest was the library. Here they found a bookend that had clearly been used to hit someone and a scarf of good manufacture. As Aramir entered the room, the scarf rose from the back of the chair it rested on, wrapped itself round his neck and began to strangle him. Luckily, he managed to get loose from its grip without taking too much harm. The party began to move upstairs, finding themselves in a hallway with many doors. The first lead to a bedroom, where Zarlis had a vision of her parents (or at least someone's) trying to kill each other. In the next, Thorfinn found a set of musical instruments, all in poor condition. In the next bedroom, Thorfinn heard a child's voice saying 'What's on your face, mommy' . The next, a washroom, was so uninteresting that they decided to ignore it. This takes us to the master bedroom, where a portrait hung facing the wall. Zarlis decided to turn it round, to display a woman with black hair. On seeing this, she felt a wave of sadness, while Aramir felt a wash of fear. They moved on. The final room was a gallery, with seven portraits hung in it. they carefully cleared the dust of the ages from the portraits. As they finished this task, the room became perceptibly colder and all but Thorfinn fled, as the portraits changed. One portrait of a woman suddenly depicted a tumor ridden corpse, as did one of a girl. One of a man showed him with his throat cut, while another of a woman showed her blackened and charred. One of the boys transformed into a ghoul like monster , while two more were unchanged. The final portrait erupted in a gout of fungus and mould, which did Thorfinn no harm apart from making him very filthy. They moved to the final room, where Nattie suddenly moved swiftly to pick up a piece of wood from the desk on the far side. Somehow sensing something wrong, Zarlis grappled her, only to be grappled in turn by Thorfinn, who found the paladins behaviour very odd. After some time, the mess was sorted out and the party moved on. They moved upstairs to the attic, finding several storerooms. Moving on, they came to an observatory, with a ruined telescope. After briefly thinking of throwing himself out of the window and down the cliffs outside as he was on fire, Franck noticed he was not actually on fire and thought better of it., instead opening the trapdoor in the ceiling and having a look at the sky. In the next room, Zarlis and Nattie found a woman, deathly of aspect. As Zarlis poked her, she flew into a rage and attacked. The battle went badly until Thorfinn turned up and turned her, after which the party hacked her down. (For background, this was Iesha, a revenant, whose sole aim was to leave this room, find Aldern and kill him. Unfortunately,  once Zarlis broke her self loathing as she looked at her reflection, she could not get out of this room because of all the people in the way) In the next room, Nattie had images of unfulfilled glories and found an expensive looking painting. as she picked it up, Thorfinn pointed out (in no uncertain terms) his conviction that they should leave everything where it was. After moving the painting randomly around the room, Nattie left it where it was. They next moved down in to the basement, with Thorfinn and Franck leading the way. As they moved in to the main room, swarms of rats poured from gaps in the floor and walls. Nattie and Aramir retreated upstairs, Franck moved to throw furniture at the swarms, Zarlis started picking fights with individual rats and Thorfinn looked for a safe room. Eventually, a combination of stuffed Manticore, curtains and oil was used to disperse the swarms, while Thorfinn found an iron door and opened it by softening the stone that formed its frame. Inside was a laboratory / library of some sort. The party searched the lab, finding a few things of interest. There were cages marked as made in Magnimar by Pug's Contraptions, containing dead rats, and many books. On examination, these appeared to be concerned with the creation of Lichs. At this point, Franck was visited by yet another of the visions which had been plaguing the party - this time of Vorel Foxglove researching lichdom and of Vorels living end as he drank a potion and doubled over in agony. Franck shrugged and carried on. Moving on, they found a room with a hole hacked in the floor and stairs leading into inky darkness. As Zarlis entered the room, it was his turn for a vision, of Aldern digging at the floor with a pickaxe, with each blow saying 'For you'. Zarlis was shocked to realize that the words were directed at him. Still, he thought, that's the way of things and carried on. At the bottom of the stairs was a cave system. As Franck moved through a tight squeeze he was attacked by a hideous dire bat dread ghoul that he swiftly discovered was more than a match for him and a complex corridor fight ensued. Zarlis and Thorfinn moved back to try to find a way round and were attacked by ghouls. The combat was lengthy and bloody (well, on one side, anyway) before the enemies were finally vanquished. As the combat ended, Thorfinn, not realizing the state of things behind him, wandered off to see what lay beyond, leaving the others to search the bats lair. They found some stuff, as Zarlis followed after Thorfinn, then came back and brought the rest of them with him. Thorfinn had found some more ghouls and called forward archers as he took up a defensive stance. However, everyone else decided that a full on melee combat would be more efficient and another nasty combat ended with the ghouls dropping. They moved to the final cavern in the complex, with Franck at the lead with Thorfinn close behind, the rest of the party moving gingerly across a mudslide to reach the entrance. Within, Franck and Thorfinn found Aldern Foxglove, hideously deformed into a ghast. He welcomed them and a lengthy conversation took place, with Aldern requesting that they save him from the Skinsaw Man. Both were confused by this, even more so when he suddenly seemed to change and attacked Franck. Rather bizarrely, the barbarian responded to this by asking him not to do it again. Some time later... They got bored of the conversation as others arrived - Aramir realizing that Aldern seemed to be waiting for something and, correctly surmising that the something was Zarlis, barred the door against him. Thus, as combat was joined, Zarlis found himself outside the door, trying to open it against the combined might of Nattie and Aramir. After a while, Zarlis gained entry and Aldern straightened, calling himself the Skinsaw Man. This was ore or less the last thing he did before he reached his final rest. Part Three: Welcome to Magnimar The party searched the room, finding a few bits and pieces and, more importantly, a note, signed Your Mistress, Wanton of Nature's Pagan Forms. The note talked of a delivery of something from the caverns to the Brothers and went on to discuss the Sihedron Ritual, indicating that the ritual required some form of human sacrifice. It also mentioned Foxglove's town house, which was lucky, as this gave the team somewhere to go next. After advising the Sheriff, they set off on an uneventful journey to Magnimar. Foxglove's Townhouse On arrival in the nig city, the party set about finding the townhouse, eventually locating it in the Grand Arch District. As night fell, they arrived and discovered that one of the keys from Foxglove opened the front door. They moved cautiously into the cramped interior, where Franck was a little surprised to be confronted by Aldern Foxglove, whom he had helped to kill only a few days earlier. Unfortunately for the Faceless Stalker, it lacked certain tactical information and, after Thorfinn shouted out to kill it, a short combat took place. They then searched the building, with Aramir noticing that there was something odd about one of the upstairs mantel pieces. Eventually, he and Nattie found a keyhole and, even more fortuitously, the key that opened it. Inside was money and the deed to Foxglove Manor. the deed indicated that a group called The Brothers of the Seven had helped in the purchase eighty years ago and that the manor, including up to one mile around and below, reverted to them after one hundred years. There was also a ledger which listed visits by Iesha to Absalom, with a reference to someone called B.7 as paying for the trip, with payment made at The Seven's Sawmill every Oathday at midnight. Part Four: The Seven's Sawmill The Mill The next morning, they visited the sawmill, finding a simple wood processing operation as they moved, fully armed and armoured, up the stairs to visit the manager. This should be an interesting conversation... The party had a quick discussion and came up with a new plan for their investigation of the sawmill - as Thorfinn and the others loudly left, Nattie hid herself under some old sacks to wait for nightfall, when they assumed the mill would be empty and ripe for investigation. Unfortunately, the sawmill works on a twenty four hour rotating shift system, badly limiting this approach. Nattie checked out the area as far as she could and left at about midnight, realizing that there was little more to be gained. They spent the next couple of days moping around Magnimar. Nattie went sightseeing, Thorfinn winged at all who would listen, driving Franck to drink. Zarlis had her masterwork sword enchanted while Aramir did stuff - anything to avoid being in the house with a most unhappy Thorfinn, who just wanted to go back to Sandpoint as it was obvious the sawmill did just what it said on the sign. A'luna meanwhile went to the local Pathfinder chapter house and gained access to their library to see what they knew of the Brotherhood of the Seven. She managed to discover that it was a secret society akin to the Freemasons, with connections to Norgorber worship and the Skinsaw Cult. The party continued to wait for Oathday to arrive, when they planned to do something (although nobody really knew what). On the evening of Oathday, they gathered at the sawmill at dusk and waited. At 11.30, a group of five men passed down the road to the mill and everyone followed them down, apart from Thorfinn and A'luna. As the others broke into the sawmill, Thorfinn and A'luna were startled to see three more cultists passing down the road. Thorfinn stepped forward and asked them the time. He then started (or attempted to) a religious debate, despite the men saying that they were late for some kind of ritual. A'luna moved out of the shadows and cast Zone of Truth, asking the men what the ritual was. Making his saving throw, one of them said that it was a blessing for the transportation of lumber (what a pile of...). Thorfinn asked if he could accompany them to the blessing and, having little choice, the men agreed. Meanwhile, the others entered the sawmill and moved to the first floor, where there was much commotion from beyond a door. Franck noticed three men upstairs and moved to attack them, since they were wearing cultists robes and skinsaw masks (a mask made of human skin with big teeth and a single bulbous eye). As he butchered them relentlessly, Aramir barred the door using a longsword and a scabbard belt - this held for a few seconds before the cultists broke through. A'luna entered the mill as Thorfinn chatted to a cultist outside, before sending hiom to fetch the watch. The other two cultists joined the battle and a major conflict ensued, with Franck hard pressed by the cults leader, before the day was finally theirs Part Five: The Shadows of Time The Shadow Clock As the fight finished, the party quickly searched the Sawmill, finding a few odds and ends. In the office at the top of the building, Nattie found three books, two indecipherable to her and one of fairy tales of the Eldest. Gathering their loot, they retired to the townhouse to consider their next action. In the morning, several of them checked out the rumours on the mean streets of Magnimar, finding that there where tales of the murder of Justice Ironbriar, one of the leading lights of Magnimar. They decided to return to Sandpoint, since the books appeared to be beyond their skills to translate. Back in their home base, Thorfinn reported to the sheriff that they had put down the source of the murders with extreme prejudice (or something along those lines). With the aid of Madam Mvashti, they discovered that one of the books was a wizards spell book. The other they finally translated after three weeks of effort, using a combination of A'lunas magic and Natties perseverance with the cipher. The book was a combination ledger and journal and contained more than enough information to put Ironbriar away for a goodly time (if anyone could be bothered to raise him first).In the journal, Ironbriar spoke of losing his heart to the Wanton of Natures Pagan Forms and of visiting her at the Shadow Clock. He also mentions receiving payment from the Red Mantis for delivery of Vorel's Legacy, whatever that may mean. Thorfinn asked the local engineering expert what the Shadow Clock was and found that it was a famous landmark in the Shadow district of Magnimar (as well as receiving a free and extremely lengthy lecture on its construction). They returned to Magnimar, where they learnt that more detail had leaked of the events at the Sawmill and that it was now known that Ironbriar was some sort of monster who collected peoples faces - this was a major shock to the residents of Magnimar, but it did resolve several outstanding murder investigations. Rumours of half orcish assassins were also prevalent in the city, although the source of these was a little obscure (except of course to the party). As Thorfinn began a lonely vigil at the Shadow Clock, Zarlis and Aramir set off to see the local authorities to get permission to act as duly appointed deputies of Sandpoint within the city boundaries. They soon got to see a lowly official, who seemed more than happy to let them do what they liked, provided it was in the Shadow District, particularly after Zarlis unleashed the full potential of a Paladins charm and diplomacy, making an eloquent plea for their case (or at least getting a very good roll on the skill check). The official asked them to wait for a few days while the paperwork cleared. Three days later, Thorfinn was sure he had seen movement of a very large bipedal creature in the clock tower base, which was backed up by the rumours from local residents who tended to avoid the area. Zarlis and Aramir received an invitation to meet the mayor, who turned out to be a large, jovial chap, who happily provided them with the papers to investigate the Shadow Clock. They gathered and started to enter the lower floor of the unstable structure. As they did so, a hideous giant moved to attack them - a Flesh Golem. The battle was quick and brutal, with Zarlis falling before the assault despite the aid of A'luna in staying upright and Franck also pressed hard. However, the golem eventually fell before their combined might. Nattie, as the lightest, began to lead the party up the rickety stair leading from the ground floor of the tower, spiraling round its inside into the inky darkness overhead. Zarlis began to follow her closely, until she realized the stair was barely supporting their combined weight. Gradually, they ascended, keeping 15 to 20 feet between each other. As they climbed, a bell fell from the gloom above, crashing through the stairs and taking Aramir and Zarlis with it - fortunately, their fall was broken by the ground. The arty left the stair and Thorfinn went back to use stone shape to over a way of continuing forwards and upwards. Finally, Nattie reached the top, where the stair passed through the wall of the tower to continue on the outside. As she looked through the opening, a long sword flashed out of the opening and badly wounded her. she immediately began to retreat, causing everyone to shuffle around on the stairs. As the Faceless Stalker moved to confront them on the stairs, Nattie and Zarlis tried to swap positions. After a few moments, the stars gave way and they and the Faceless Stalker fell 40 feet to the next flight of stairs below, where they barely managed to hold on - the Faceless Stalker being a little less fortunate. A lengthy battle ensued, as everyone moved upstairs and downstairs to try to work out some kind of strategy, while Zarlis pottered off all the way downstairs to retrieve her sword. Aramir began to make a child's playground, using ropes and the rafters the bells hung from while Thorfinn and Franck practiced a balancing and acrobatics routine on the remaining 5 foot section of landing before the opening, all the while trying to combat the remaining Faceless Stalker. A'luna got involved, using her magic weapon spell to give them a few moments of respite from the physical comedy they were creating 200 feet above the ground, with no wires or safety nets. At long last, with most of the party sitting on beams or halfway up knotted ropes in the most lethal playground climbing frame ever devised, the faceless Stalker more or less gave up and died of laughter. Undaunted by the trivial facts that their clerics were nearly out of spells and their hit points were not at optimum, Franck lead the party onwards and upwards, into a room below the roof of the clock tower. Here, there was the machinery to run the clock, rusted solid and a trapdoor leading up on to the roof space. They moved up into a space open to the elements, the roof having rotted away. Above them, a statue of an angel peered across the city. They fanned out across the roof, until Franck ran into something solid (and invisible). As the party readied their weapons, still widely spaced, a female with the lower half of her body that of a snake appeared - a Lamia Matriarch. Unfortunately for Franck, she was the last thing he ever saw, as she attacked him with great vigour and dropped him in seconds, too far from his comrades for them to give succour. Shocked, the rest of the party withdrew from the tower as fast as they could and returned to Alderns townhouse for a planning session. The plan they finally hit upon was to get a mage to cast bark or stone skin on Aramir so that he could stand in front of the Lamia while the rest of them did something else - there may have been a level more of complexity to the plan, but that is a rough synopsis. Thorfinn tried to recruit some Hellknights but was unable to do so. They also went to see the mayor to see if he could help them to recruit a full time mage - he guided them to an adventurer of his acquaintance called Thunder Oakenstaff. They found her in a tavern, somewhat the worse for wear and persuaded her to help them with her mighty magic - the following morning, when she had sobered up. The next morning, with hung-over sorcerer in tow, they climbed back up the tower, with some trepidation and a clean change of underwear. Moving out of the trapdoor, the roof space was empty apart from the corpse of Franck. This time, they moved more cautiously across, until aramir found the Lamia. A mighty ding-dong of a battle ensued, but, prepared with their plan, Thorfinns scorching rays, the bark/stone skin and the power of a true magic user (or at least quite a lot of magic missiles), they found the going less lethal and prevailed against their deadly opponent. Pausing only to gather Franck's body and some loot, they reported the area clear and returned to Sandpoint, to bury their fallen comrade who had gone the way of all barbarians.

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