GOLOTHA:
DEEPER
DARK
Dark Rethem Adventure 3
GOLOTHA:
DEEPER
DARK
Credits
WRITER
Alun Rees
CONTRIBUTORS
Anders Bersten and his players,
Andy Gibson and Neil Thompson,
the players at IviniaCon and
the HarnWriters Team
MAPS
Alun Rees
THANKS
to N. Robin Crossby and Columbia Games for HÂRN,
to Anders Bersten for sponsorship of the NPC art
NOTICE
This is a self published HârnFanon work, created by Alun Rees. It is a
derivative work of material published by Columbia Games Inc. and is
released for free distribution and personal use by Alun Rees without
the permission or endorsement of N. Robin Crossby, his estate, or
Columbia Games Inc.
This document is available for download free from www.lythia.com.
If you have been asked to pay for this document, either as a download
or as a hard copy, you have been robbed.
THE DEEPER DARK 1
INTRODUCTION
Golotha: The Deeper Dark is best played with a group
that has already completed Peran: Heart of Darkness and
Afarezirs: Root of All Evil. It provides the link between
those adventures and the final instalment of the ‘Peran Quartet’ campaign, Mejetus: Ancient Shades.
If the player characters (PCs) have not completed
Heart of Darkness and Root of All Evil then the GM will
need to make some changes and the climax of the adven-ture may have less significance to the players.
Adventure Outline
Golotha is known as the darkest and most disreputa-ble city in all Harn, perhaps in all western Lythia, yet most of the acts that earn it this reputation are carried out in secret seclusion. This adventure lifts the veil on some of those secrets and confronts the player charac-ters (PCs) with both the nature and consequences of the evils at large in the town.
The adventure begins when the PCs receive a mes-sage from their former patron, Jamys Abrant of Tormau, which prompts them to begin a search for a missing per-son they have met before. They quickly become em-broiled in the hunt for a gruesome serial killer which gains supernatural, perhaps Morgathian, overtones.
With its horrific reputation and secular power in Golo-tha it appears Golo-that the church of Morgath may finally be making its move to engulf Rethem and the surrounding realms in the Shadow of Bukrai. Only at the climax are unexpected allies revealed and the PCs left with a choice that may imperil their very souls.
As written the first scene of this adventure takes place on the 9th of Nolus, the day after the PCs return to
Golo-tha having completed Afarezirs: Root of All Evil. The Epi-logue of that adventure outlines some of the things that they may wish to do on the 8th of Nolus and that should
take no more than a day.
If the GM prefers to insert an interval for some side-treks, perhaps concerning the spirit they may have brought back from the Afarezirs, then they should ensure those take the PCs away from Golotha for a month. In that case this adventure takes place in Larane, rather than Nolus.
The adventure follows a quite precise timetable once it begin so that the climax is reached at midnight on the 13th of Nolus.
Essential Resources
• Peran: Heart of Darkness; Afarezirs: Root of All Evil;
Golotha: Trident Inn, Golotha: Guild of Arcane Lore, Po-etic Map of Golotha and Golotha: Zarainsen Warehouse,
(all available from Lythia.com).
• Golotha (available from Columbia Games) and a ver-sion of the HarnMaster Rules (available from Columbia Games or Kelestia Productions).
Helpful Resources
• The Rethem kingdom module would be helpful to set the political scene and this adventure may be easier to play if the GM also has access to HarnMaster:
Mag-ic and HarnMaster: Religion (all are available from
Co-lumbia Games).
SEQUENCE OF EVENTS
ACT III: HUE AND CRY
Scene 1: Innocent?
Scene 2: Midnight Mass
Scene 3: Arcane Lore
Scene 4: Here They Are!
Scene 5: Temple Hill
EPILOGUE
ACT I: BACK IN GOLOTHA
Scene 1: The Message
Scene 2: Halyn of Sharo
Scene 3: Hamis of Nerele
CRIME SCENES: GOLOTHA
These investigative encounters can occur at any time after ACT I Scene 4 during periods when
the PCs would otherwise be waiting for infor-mation.
A focussed group which is prepared to divide the labour between them might complete them
all before ACT II begins.
ACT II: A SIMPLE JOB
Scene 1: A Real Gentleman
Scene 2: Going Underground
THE DEEPER DARK 2
GM’s PROLOGUE
Over the last 30 days there has been a murder every 2 to 4 days in Golotha.
While people disappear from the streets of the city of screaming spires all the time no one pays much atten-tion. People just keep their heads down and thank the gods they have invested in private guards, or found the money to pay the Zarainsen boys, or some other local mob, their monthly protection fee.
This last month those certainties have been greatly disturbed. First a stable boy from a wealthy family from the Nemiran neighbourhood; then a street urchin near the docks; a merchant visiting from the east who didn’t turn up for a meeting at the Merchantyler’s Hall; and a drunken Ivinian mercenary waiting for a ship home. So it has gone on.
Every few days the same story sweeps through the city: another body found – or at least most of a body. The head and some of the organs have always been re-moved by the time the body is discovered and blood is left daubed all around: on walls and even doorsteps. No one is naïve enough to believe that this doesn’t happen beneath some of the temples, or in the dungeon of Caer Chaftar for the amusement of the King or Queen; but this is public – very public.
After the ‘Butcher’, as he has become known, has tak-en what he wants the body is left; displayed for all to see. Once propped up against a well; once hanging from a tradesman’s sign; once laid out in a lane for some good-wife to find when she turned out her bedding that morn-ing. The remains of the urchin were found kneeling next to a stack of sailcloth.
That isn’t the Golothan way and it’s making people nervous. The weather hasn’t helped. Spring was warmer than usual and the start of Summer has not provided any relief. The foul miasma that hangs about the canals on warm days seems even denser than usual and is a re-minder that death is stalking the city.
Perhaps relief will come through a break in the weather; perhaps through the capture of the ‘Butcher’. the weather will break. What is certain is that the city resembles a cask that has been left to ferment in the sun – the risk of a violent explosion is increasing all the time.
ACT I: BACK IN GOLOTHA
Overview
It is the 9th of Nolus and the PCs have been back
in-Golotha for barely a day. They receive a message from a previous patron, Jamys of Abrant, who needs them to find the man they rescued from the forest in Peran: Heart
of Darkness. While he offers no cash reward he does offer
them further patronage and a place to return to. They seek out more information and begin to under-take the task they have been set.
SCENE 1: THE MESSAGE
Overview
As written this adventure assumes that the PCs will find lodgings at the Trident Inn, somewhere they already know and probably trust. The GM can find details of the Trident’s rates for bed and board in the article of that name.
GM Aims
• To hook the PCs into the adventure by reminding them that Jamys of Abrant has played fair with them and might be a friend worth keeping.
PC Outcomes
They accept the task of finding someone they have al-ready found once, or at least news of his fate.
Description of Events
Having arrived back in Golotha on the 8th of Nolar
they will first need to find lodgings. Those they are most familiar with are the Trident Inn and this adventure as-sumes this is where they will base themselves. Even if they choose to stay elsewhere the GM should play the scenes as described with only changes to the people in-volved. The rest of the 8th, and the 9th until noon, will
generally allow time for them to complete their business with the litigant Nobar of Rushez, and get any other pressing business out of the way.
Even if they have other things they would want to do they should be interrupted by a street urchin who has been sent to find them with a message from Halyn of Sharo, Captain of the Serenela’s Fancy, the boat on which they travelled from Tormau to Golotha before em-barking for the Afarezirs. Captain Halyn wants to see them at Northaven.
If the PCs delay … then Captain Halyn could seek
them out and precipitate Scene 2.
Link to the next scene
The obvious next step is to go and find Captain Halyn of Sharo. If they go to Northaven and look for the Se-renela’s Fancy they will find her docked and loading car-go for her voyage back to the north.
THE DEEPER DARK 3
SCENE 2: HALYN of SHARO
Northaven Wharf
Overview
The PCs get more detail on what it is that Jamys wants and make a connection to the underworld of Golo-tha.
GM Aims
• To ensure Halyn of Sharo appears to be as honest as he is and to use his fear of the consequences of fail-ure to spur the PCs on.
• To present enough detail of their mission to get them to their next contact.
PC Outcomes
They accept what Halyn tells them about Kutz and depart in search of Ald of Ernaldin offering Halyn some reassurance that they’ll do what Jamys wants.
Description of Events
Northaven is looking as it always does: crowded and busy. The Fancy is docked beneath one of the derricks that perch on the longer of the main keys of Northaven. The tide is high and the stink coming off the water is higher still. Over the masts of the ships tied up here the walls of Caer Chaftar rise as if built straight out of the wa-ter and men-at-arms can be seen surveying the scene be-low them.
Around the Fancy a small flock of row boats have ap-peared – as if from beneath the dock itself selling any-thing from food to drink via women and men. The Nivik is swarming with day-labourers loitering in the hope of earning a penny for a watch or two spent hauling sacks and barrels out of the hold and onto the wharf.
Captain Halyn is busy selecting the ones who look like their capable of the work and fending off the small boats determined to sell him or his crew something; any-thing.
However, when he sees the PCs he quickly delegates the jobs that need doing and joins them on the dockside. It is clear that he not only remembers them but that he’s also very pleased to see them. He was very much hoping to see them; indeed he had hoped to see them the last time he docked in the city. He was afraid Jamys would take it out on him if he couldn’t find them this time.
Halyn will suggest they share a cup of ale and leads them across the wharf to a stall serving ale at trestles outside the Seaman’s Guild. The PCs will recognise one of the pot boys from the Trident Inn serving; Kardis has a franchise from his cousin, Ald, who runs the Seaman’s hostel. Sitting on stools among the hubbub of the key he will hand over a letter from Jamys of Abrant, owner of the White Stoat Inn at Tormau and Lia-Kavair guildmas-ter of the northern hundreds.
The Letter …
… is written in a sufficiently obscure way as to en-sure that unless the reader is one of the PCs who com-pleted Heart of Darkness it will mean nothing.
The letter (… and its ‘translation’) says:
‘Old friends, if you are reading this then you have returned safely to Golotha and can soon be welcomed back to the bos-om of your family, here in Tormau’.
THE DEEPER DARK 4
… if you are alive – good. I have a way to help you return to the comfortable life you’d begun to enjoy here in Tormau. …
‘If you can find a particular instrument for our important local friend then he will be much happier to see you return.’
… The Earl of Tormau, or his cousin and constable, Vavryse, needs something that the PCs can provide …
‘Look for the ship which took you south. You know the Captain and he knows you and he will advise on the nature of the instrument I want you to bring home with you.’
… Captain Halyn of Sharo brought them south to Golotha in his nivik the Serenela’s Fancy. He always docks at Northaven and that’s where the PCs can find out what Jamys wants …
‘You’ll remember the instrument once the captain reminds you. It is the same as the one you found in the forest. Our important friend has misplaced it.’
… this has something to do with the trip the PCs made into the Peran wilderness last year when they re-turned with a man called Coln of Kutz.
‘The instrument remains unplayable so I sent it south to see if it could be re-tuned.’
… it appears Kutz remains much as he was when last the PCs saw him but perhaps Jamys was instructed to send him south for more sophisticated medical aid …
‘As ever, your old friend Jamys.
Postscript: It would be a great shame if you couldn’t find the instrument again; it would be such a disappointment.’
… don’t disappointment me …
If the PCs walk away from the instructions Ja-mys has sent them … then the adventure is over for
them. It is worth reminding the PCs that life doing odd jobs for Jamys was pretty good and left them with plenty of time to pursue other interests. Passing up on that could be a serious mistake. The tone of Jamys’ letter is serious enough that he might even come after them if they let him down.
Halyn’s Story
‘Jamys called me up to the White Stoat about a month af-ter I carried you to Golotha and told me he had another spe-cial cargo for me – a man. He promised the passenger would be not trouble as he would be accompanied by a youth to see to his needs during the voyage. Once in Golotha I was to take the boy to Hamis of Nerele and then follow the boy’s instruc-tions.’
‘The boy who came to the ship with the passenger was dressed poorly but his bearing and manner marked him as of gentle birth. I reckon the boy had something to do with Caer Tormau.’
‘The passenger himself was a tall gaunt man with a strag-gly red beard. His left arm was severed below the elbow and he looked ill. I put his grey pallor down to the wound being infected but the arm looked clean and well healed. Still, he was sick with something; perhaps some ill humour. The blank look in his eyes wasn’t right somehow.’
‘Jamys himself came down to the dock with my instruc-tions. I was not to question the boy and was to give him and the passenger my own cabin for the voyage. They were to eat alone and not with me or the crew.’
‘They kept themselves to themselves as we made good time south. They never talked to any of the crew and I never saw them talk to one another, either. In fact I don’t think the gaunt man could speak. I never saw him do anything without the boy’s prompting. When they took the air during the day the boy led him everywhere and when he went to the side to throw-up when it first got choppy the man just stood there as if fixed to the deck. I didn’t like it – having him aboard. Just staring like that, never an eye blink.’
‘We had a bit of a blow out in Boka Bay and the boy had no sea legs. He was laid up and so when I took in their food he couldn’t even look at it. I put the food in front of the pas-senger and he looked straight through me. When I went back an hour later to see to the boy the food was where I’d left it and I swear the fellow hadn’t moved a muscle. Didn’t twitch, not even when the Fancy was pitching like a maiden. We had an hour of thunder; he just sat there – might as well have been dead.’
If the PCs ask if the man or boy had names …
Halyn says he wasn’t given any names and he didn’t ask. However, the description of the gaunt passenger will confirm that this was Coln of Kutz.
If the PCs ask why the man was being sent to Golotha … Halyn has no definite answer but will tell
them what Jamys said as the passengers came aboard. He “hoped someone in Golotha can do something for the poor bastard”. Halyn thinks the man was being sent for some sort of treatment in Golotha.
If the PCs ask what happened to the man when the Fancy reached Golotha … Halyn says he did what
he was told to do. He took the boy, and the man to Hamis of Nerele. Hamis runs the waterfront for his cousin Jarop of Zarainsen. Halyn had to lead the man by the hand across the wharf to the Longshoreman’s Hall where Hamis can usually be found. The man wouldn’t move without being led. It was as if he was blind or stu-pid.
Halyn saw the boy hand a parchment to Hamis who had one of his clerks read it through and seemed to agree to something. Th boy handed over a hefty bag of coin and left the passenger with Hamis. Halyn loaded the Fancy and headed back north with the boy, as asked. He was pleased he’d gained some goodwill from Jamys.
If the PCs ask about Jarop of Zarainsen … Halyn
will lower his voice further and confide that people say he runs the most powerful guild of the Lia-Kavair on the island of Harn; right here in Golotha.
If the PCs ask Halyn why he was so relieved to see them … he doesn’t want Jamys to become
disap-pointed in him as he relies on a welcome at every port along the coast to make a living. Also, when he passed through Tormau 2 weeks ago and Jamys still hadn’t heard anything from Golotha he mentioned that he
THE DEEPER DARK 5
derstood Halyn had two young grandchildren. Halyn is now even more worried.
If the PCs ask Halyn what it is Jamys wants them to do … he tells them Jamys wants to know why
he hasn’t heard back about the gaunt passenger who was handed over to Hamis. He gave Halyn the impression that after he’d delivered the man he could expect a mes-sage to carry back to Jamys when next he visited. He’s now visited twice more and there’s been no message. Jamys is getting impatient and, Halyn suggests, worried that he’s misplaced someone the Earl is still interested in.
The last two visits Halyn has also carried a message for the PCs. Jamys has made it clear he would regret it if anyone else heard the message so Halyn is eager to say his piece, get his ship loaded and on its way north again. He may head straight for Tormau instead of making his usual stops just to bring Jamys news.
He’s been living in fear that Jamys would ask him to get more involved, or that someone else would beat what he knows out of him one dark night. Jamys made Halyn memorise what he was to say when he found them.
Jamys’ Message
‘Find Hamis of Nerele, who runs the Longshoreman’s Hall on Northaven. Hamis knows a lot of people and he and I have had dealings in the past. The word I sent him was that he was to pass the passenger on to a fellow in a similar line of business as me with a letter saying what was to happen and what I wanted to hear. My associate’s name is Jarop, Jarop of clan Zarainsen. Halyn tells me he saw the letter handed over when the man was handed over.’
‘The letter had some questions in it that our powerful friend wants answering. It’s those answers I’ve undertaken to obtain for him. The deal is that he gets his answers and the passenger returned in one piece and I continue to be a wel-come guest and business man in Tormau.’
‘Halyn tells me he did what he was supposed to do but has heard no news. I believe he love’s his family so I trust his word. I want you to find Hamis and say to him: “Jarop’s old friend in the North sends fraternal greetings to his godfather and requests news of the job that he paid to get done”. That will be enough to get his attention and confirm you come from me.’
‘I want you to find out what’s happened to the man we both know and get whatever news you can to me as quickly as possible. I need something to placate our powerful friend. If the questions I asked have been answered then you can bring him back here.’
Link to the next scene
Halyn will be relieved to have passed on his message and eager to get back to the Fancy. He will repeat the message if necessary until he’s certain the PCs under-stand what Jamys wants them to do.
He will point out the Longshoreman’s Hall just up the wharf and bid them good luck and farewell. He will be
back sometime over the next 2 weeks if they have any message for Jamys, or want passage north.
THE DEEPER DARK 6
SCENE 3: HAMIS of NERELE
Overview
The PCs make the connection Jamys has asked of them and then have an opportunity to explore the city while they wait for news.
GM Aims
• To delay the arrival of Hamis so that when the scene ends it is approaching dusk.
• To play Hamis of Nerele as a tough man who con-trols the waterfront and knows he has all the cards. • To convince the PCs that violence will not further
their quest and that patience is the best policy, at least for now.
PC Outcomes
They accept that Hamis knows what they are talking about and that he will pass on their message. They also understand that he represents powerful forces in Golotha whom they need in order to complete their task.
They then return to their lodgings for the night.
Description of Events
The Longshoreman’s Hall sits with a commanding view of the wharves of Northaven and it is from here that Hamis dispenses his power.
Most of the work on the docks is done by
day-laborers, some with experience and some without, picked from the hungry crowd that assembles every morning in the hope of work. Without Hamis’ say-so no one is al-lowed to present themselves to ship captains for work. He maintains a bunch of burly thugs to ensure his rules are not broken. Of course he takes a small cut from the earnings of everyone he grants permission to work. It is likely that Hamis will not be at the Hall when the PCs fin-ish their conversation with Halyn. The GM should delay Hamis’ appearance until at least late afternoon.
If the PCs ask where Hamis is, or when he will return … they are told he is always around in the late
afternoon to oversee the collection of ‘donations’ to the Brotherhood of Longshoremen and make sure it’s com-pleted by dusk.
At the appointed time Hamis appears and seats him-self on the balcony of the Longshoreman’s Hall surveying his kingdom.
From there he oversees the ‘donations’ being collect-ed from those that have found work that day. He occa-sionally calls one of his boys up to point out someone he’s not certain has the right to work that day, or who may have promised an extra donation.
Access to the balcony is via a staircase that leads up from the wharf and around which a handful of his thugs drink and gamble the day away until the queue forms to make donations.
If the PCs approach arrogantly or aggressively … they will get nowhere. This may precipitate violence
and the GM should be ready to point out that Hamis is the only lead they have and they are on a busy wharf sur-rounded by labourers who rely on him for work!
If the PCs approach respectfully … they must
convince the thugs that they are worthy to speak with Hamis.
Rhetoric: will work, boosted by mentioning that they
bring “fraternal greetings from the North”. This form of words is how members of the Lia-Kavai,r and their agents, often identify one another. It will be further boosted by mentioning Jarop’s name. Jarop is cousin to Hamis’ wife, so they won’t ignore the mention of his name.
When the PCs speak to Hamis … he will display
his usual truculent manner making it clear he’s dong them an enormous favour by even listening to them.
If they press him on what happened to the man Captain Halyn handed over to him … he will become
more vague. He is careful to admit nothing to do with Halyn, Kutz or any letter instead he prefaces anything he says with phrases such as: ‘If I did receive a visit from this man …’, and ‘If there was a passenger who was handed onto me …’, or ‘Supposing that a letter from the north existed and suppose I received it from this Captain and the boy you say he brought to me …’.
However he also gives the impression that he does know things and has ‘certain connections’ he is willing to talk to, on behalf of the PCs. That will take time and they ‘… must be patient’. If they will tell him where they are staying then he will send word to them as soon as he has ‘made some enquiries on your behalf.’
If the PCs tell him where they are staying …
then he will smile benignly and wish them well, confirm-ing that he ‘will be in touch’.
If they refuse to tell him where they are staying … he will make a big performance of their lack of trust
and remind them that it would be an easy thing for him to have them bundled into oblivion right now if that was what he wanted. Equally he could have them followed so he’d know every step they took; ‘Do you really want to put me to that trouble?’.
If the PCs consider taking him hostage or threatening him … the GM should remind them of
where they are and how difficult it would be to make fur-ther progress with his blood on their hands. While Golo-tha has a reputation for lawlessness this is only a superfi-cial appearance. The truth is that there are very tight networks of enforcement; they simply aren’t official. The looks on the faces of Hamis’ thugs and the crowd of day-labourers all around should give them the first evidence that what Golotha abhors is a power vacuum. The locals would prefer to put up with Hamis’ blunt exercise of power and spend weeks in some war to establish the new top dog on the wharves. The city looks after its own, even when they are very unpleasant people.
THE DEEPER DARK 7
Link to the next scene
Hopefully the PCs will leave Northaven with their re-lationship to Hamis intact. If they don’t all is not lost but they will have made life more difficult for themselves.
They can do what they like with the rest of their day, but if the GM has timed it well they will return to the Tri-dent Inn to play straight through the next scene.
Curfew sounds
SCENE 4: THERE’S BEEN A
MURDER!
Overview
The PCs return to the Trident Inn for the night hoping that the morning will bring news from Hamis.
Sadly the dawn of the 10th Nolus brings less pleasant
news.
GM Aims
• Encourage them to stay at the Inn overnight so that Kardis can give them some background of recent events.
• To provide an opportunity for them to investigate a ‘typical’ Butcher murder scene and to draw any con-clusions they like about similarities to any ‘Ripper’ knowledge. Anything they believe about White-chapel in the late 1880s can only reinforce the at-mosphere in Golotha.
• To encourage the PCs to ask Boraga about the mur-ders.
• To encourage them to investigate the previous mur-ders.
PC Outcomes
They are sufficiently interested in the murder(s) to begin making some enquiries.
Description of Events
The Trident was always busy into the night when they were last here. They are, therefore, surprised when the common room empties well before dusk. The only peo-ple left apart form the PCs are a pair of travellers from Techen who arrived down the Thard earlier today. None of the local regulars the PCs may have noticed from last time stay, and even before the common room empties the place has a slightly subdued feel. Even the whores who live upstairs retire early realising they are not likely to see much business after dusk.
Indeed, as they walked back to the Trident they no-ticed the streets were a little less busy than they remem-bered.
Then, as dusk actually falls, they hear the brazen sound of horns echoing across the city and the clash of the great gong which normally calls the faithful to wor-ship at the Temple of Agrik.
If the PCs ask Kardis what’s going on … he will
tell them about the ‘Butcher’ as described in the Pro-logue. The effect is that his, and many other businesses, are suffering. The city’s governing Council have declared that the fall of dusk be signalled around the city to warn
THE DEEPER DARK 8
folk to return to their homes. Not everyone does, but most of his regulars do. Even the group from the Cohorts of Gashang, who often get drunk at the Trident, stay less late than they did.
If the PS choose to take to the streets … Kardis
will tell them they are fools and that his door will be firm-ly barred in a few minutes. They can waste the night on the streets but a reminder about the fatigue rules will probably get them to bed.
The following morning
Before dawn the PCs will be woken by shouts within and outside the Inn. When they look outside they will see other folk who have been startled from their beds looking nervously out from behind shutters and half closed doors. Others are leaving their homes and head-ing down Chafin Street towards Chafin Square.
The streets of Golotha
If the PCs ignore the commotion … they can
re-turn to their beds and have the details of the murder sce-ne described to them by Kardis’ eldest son, Maike. He will push past them, or be seen from their window, join-ing those headjoin-ing down the street. As he sees them he’ll shout, ‘There’s been a murder!’.
If the PCs follow Maike … they will avoid some of
the crowd by taking the narrow way beside Nobar’s house and into a back lane behind the houses and busi-nesses that front onto the Square. This will get them to the murder scene with some of the first arrivals; there are
already a few there but as more arrive they fall as silent as those first on the scene.
Hanging from a hook above the rear door to a house is the headless corpse of a woman. She has been disem-bowelled and strings of her gut are draped around her shoulders like some bizarre shawl.
The Butcher has struck again …
If the PCs try to examine the corpse … they will
be assisted by the arrival, through the door above which the body is hung, of Shorka of Larsi, crying ‘I’m a physi-cian, let me through. Help me cut her down.’ This is his house.
If the PCs are quick in volunteering to help …
they will see she was hoisted a few feet off the ground by a rope tied under her arms. They can also get a close look at the body as Shorka, rather theatrically, announces to the crowd: ‘I fear I am too late, not even my skills can save this poor wretch, if only I had been called earlier’.
Physician: The muscles of the neck, wind pipe and
gullet haves been cut through by a very sharp blade, but the bones of the neck have been separated rather than hacked through. The body cavity has been opened by a single cut from just below the ribs to the groin. The cuts are not those of a crazed maniac but of someone who is good with a knife working quickly and efficiently.
If the PCs enquire among the crowd about Shorka … they will find that he has a decent reputation
as the only guilded physician in the city who will treat anyone, irrespective of their station (or condition). Most physician restrict their trade to the better off members of Golothan society. He is, though, not cheap and despite his ministrations many of his patients do not pull
through. Someone in the crowd will know someone who knew someone who sought to complain about him when their wife died. They didn’t take the case to court, though, so there couldn’t have been anything in it.
Shorka will then depart back into his house after an-nouncing: “I could not save her, but my surgery is open for any of you who are ill or need a medication after this terrible shock ”.
If the PCs look around the walls of the alley…
they will notice that as well as the blood that has soaked into the ground in front of the door there are splashes of blood on the wall beside it.
If the PCs examine the blood splashes … it is
ob-vious that they were not caused by the random spray of blood from the woman’s wounds. They appear to have been ‘painted’ onto the wall with a coarse brush of some kind. They are certainly not a letter of Lakise or Runic (the scripts most likely to be recognised by PCs) but they are certainly not arranged randomly:
Drawing: will allow a PC with parchment, pen and
ink to take down a likeness of the symbols for future ref-erence.
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W
If the PCs don’t record the symbol … they can
roll 5 x INT in future to recognise something in the same
style or 3 x INT to tell if it is the same symbol.
If the PCs wait … then at about the time the crowd
has reached its peak, and they might struggle to leave the alley without having to push folk aside, a shout from the back announces: “Boraga is here …”.
If the PCs enquire who Boraga is … someone in
the crowd is happy to describe him as ‘the corpse collec-tor’.
He is paid by the city to collect any bodies found in the canals and can also claim a fee for collection and de-livery of bodies found elsewhere to their family or friends. Rumour has it that if bodies are not claimed then he dips them briefly in the canal and claims his fee from the city. His house and mortuary backs onto Shemeda Canal.
When he arrives the crowd parts before him and in the resulting silence all that can be heard is the squeak of his wheel barrow. He is a tall, stick thin man, with a bald head almost covered by the cowl of his dark brown cloak and robes. His appearance is enough to convince some that one of the ancient gods of the dead continues his trade.
On his arrival is heralded by the squeaking of the wheels of the long barrow he hauls behind him. He asks if anyone present claims the body. Before the PCs can consider making the claim themselves a weepy voice from the crowd says she shares a tenement room with the dead woman. He offers profound condolences and holds out his palm for payment of a penny. In return he will ask where she wishes the body to be delivered and whether she wishes it to be prepared for ‘consignment to the flames or entombment’. The young girl hands over the penny and says she will arrange for collection later in the day.
Boraga is stronger than he looks and, scooping up the corpse, deposits it in the barrow with surprising care and deference. He says not another word, and a grave look is enough to silence any who think to address him as he wheels the body away.
If the PCs try to interrupt him … he will ask in his
deep, sombre voice, if the corpse is a relative. If the PCs claim it is then he will ask the woman who knew the dead woman if she can confirm that is the case. She will shake her head and say she has never seen them before.
He will give the PCs a sad look and depart shaking his head as he goes.
If the PCs follow Boraga … he makes his way
across Chafin Street and past the Palace of the Silver Orb to his home and place of business.
If the PCs interview the girl who claimed the body … she turns out to be a street whore called Myla.
She shared a small room with the dead woman, Ela. Both were orphans who grew up on the street and made a living the only way they knew how. The rent was due at the end of the week and so, despite the warnings, they went looking for clients. It was Myla’s turn to get the use of their room; she took two clients there during the night. If it had been Ela’s turn with the room then it might be Myla who was dead.
If the PCs interview Shorka … he will claim
(truth-fully) that he heard nothing in the night and only knew of the murder when a scream announced the body had been found. By the time he had dressed and collected his instruments the crowd had already formed and it was too late for him to do anything for the poor girl. It was, though, an opportunity to remind the community of his offer to treat anyone for a fee.
If the PCs follow Boraga and ask if they can ex-amine the body … only if he is in the privacy of his
mortuary will he, for a fee, allow them to ‘be alone with the body’. The PCs are left with an unpleasant sense that this is a service he often provides.
Physician: Given time to examine the body more
thoroughly the PCs can confirm that the muscles of the neck, wind pipe and gullet were cut through by a very sharp blade and that bones of the neck have been sepa-rated rather than hacked through. There are no cuts on the bone and the wounds to the neck are clean and not torn. The cut was made by a confident hand, probably with one or two swift cuts. Examining the body cavity reveals that, as well as spilling to poor woman’s guts, the killer removed her liver.
If the PCs interview Boraga at the mortuary …
he will, for a fee, tell them that he has been responsible for collecting a number of the Butcher’s victims but has recorded what he knows of each of the murders to date. He has an interest in such things.
By consulting his records the PCs can get an accurate picture of the Butcher’s progress.
The Pathology of a Serial Killer?
Boraga keeps records of all the bodies he finds and is able to take the PCs through his ledger indicating the Butcher’s victims with his long bony finger. The GM should insert the relevant month:
Victim a - Night of the 13th of last month: a street
urchin of no fixed abode. Decapitated and bladder cut out. Found kneeling beside a stack of sailcloth on North-aven Wharf.
Victim b - Night of the 16th last month: a serving boy
from one of the better houses on Puril Street. Decapitat-ed and right arm missing; found floating in UkDecapitat-edela Ca-nal.
Victim c - Night of the 19th last month: Merchant
be-lieved to hail from Kaldor. Decapitated and right leg re-moved. Found hanging by left arm from the sign of the
THE DEEPER DARK 10
harper Nicola of Varianes beside Kalphor Wharf but be-lieved to be staying at the Hand and Fist Inn.
Victim d - Night of the 22nd last month: Ivinian
mer-cenary living rough while waiting a ship home. Decapi-tated and genitals removed. Found sitting, corvered in his cloak, with back against the well on Chafin Street. Believed drunk until blood noticed late in the morning.
Victim e - Night of the 25th last month: Apprentice
to the locksmith Horah of Urmel found leaning against the side door of a goodwife behind Northaven wharf. Decapitated and right lung removed; ribs neatly cut.
Victim f - Night of 28th last month: Whore of no
fixed abode found hanging from Kalphor Wharf. Decapi-tated and left arm removed.
Victim g - Night of 1st of this month: Squire of
visit-ing knight in the stables of the Bridgetower Inn (horses unharmed). Decapitated and guts removed.
Victim h - Night of the 4th of this month: Fisherman
found on East Haven dockside. Decapitated and left lung removed.
Victim i - Night of the 6th of this month: Beggar of
no fixed abode found in doorway in Sewertown. Decapi-tated and body opened but cannot say which organ was removed.
Victim j - Night of 7th of this month: Beggar of no
fixed abode found in a doorway in Sewertown. Decapi-tated and right kidney removed.
When the PC have finished examining his records Boraga will add the details of the most recent victim:
Victim k - Night of 8th of this month: ‘Whore found
hung above the back door of Shorka the physician. De-capitated and liver removed.’
If the PCs comment on the murder of the beggar on the 6th of this month … Boraga will explain that the
other local beggars got to the body before him and he could only record that the head was missing and the body opened. A number of organs appeared to have been removed or showed the sign of teeth marks … ‘per-haps dogs or rats got to the body first’, he observes drily.
Maps for Sale!
Within an hour of the Butcher’s most recent victim being discovered, maps of the city are being hawked around the streets for a penny. They claim to show where each victim was found. Such is the fascination with the Butcher and his murder spree that Tykar of Renchasa, a local lexigrapher specialising in maps, has done little else but copy a map of the city. With each murder he update his stock; some better off citizens buy new maps rather than updating earlier versions them-selves and boast of their collection!
Appendix A is a copy of Tykar’s original,
unannotat-ed version of the map.
Appendix B is a copy of Tykar’s sensationalised map
showing the achievements of the Butcher.
Link to the next scene
It is to be hoped that the PCs, confronted by the Butcher’s work, will be drawn into investigating this, and the other, murders.
If they begin their investigation … the GM should
begin to offer the PCs the encounters found in Crime Scenes: Golotha, below. The rest of the 10th of Nolus is
THE DEEPER DARK 11
SCENE 5: GOLOTHA POOL
The gibbet beside Golotha Pool
Overview
It is the morning of the 11th of Nolus and the PCs
re-ceive a summons to a meeting that is to take place that night. There they will be offered a deal that will help them satisfy Jamys.
They can spend the rest of the 11th continuing their
investigations (see Crime Scenes: Golotha, below). What they learn at the meeting will either add pace to their existing investigations, or prompt them to begin.
GM Aims
• To ensure they don’t do anything to annoy the Zarainsen ‘family’.
• To make use of all the established ‘Godfather’ tropes to play Jarop of Zarainsen as a younger Don Corleo-ne who balances fear with respect among ‘gentle-men’ and is used to making folk ‘offers they can’t re-fuse’. He prefers to work through understandings ra-ther than direct threat; which he considers crude; • To ensure they accept Jarop’s bargain;
• To help them notice a lot of activity on the walls of Caer Chaftar as they return to the Trident Inn.
PC Outcomes
They will leave Jarop believing they have made the only bargain that’s going to get them the information Jamys wants.
Description of Events
The PCs are likely to continue to investigate the mur-ders and will have all day on the 11th to do so.
Returning to the Trident that evening they will find a message waiting for them. It is in a neat and cultured hand and says:
There are some goods you may wish to examine waiting for you at the Chandlers warehouse on Golotha Pool. It is
signed JZ.
If the PCs ask Kardis about the warehouse … he
will quietly tell them that it is a chandlery business owned by Jarop of Zarainsen. That is a name the PCs will connect with the information they received from Ja-mys and is tied directly to their search for information about Coln Kutz.
If they have time to scout out the warehouse …
THE DEEPER DARK 12
staff; most of whom look like they could handle them-selves.
If they turn up early … they will be told the
ware-house is closing to comply with the advice from the Hep-tarchial Council that honest folk should secure their busi-nesses and homes at dusk.
If the PCs choose not to attend … the GM should
remind them of what Jamys wants and that Jarop of Zarainsen is too powerful to ignore. It is also worth hav-ing Kardis remind them that Jarop is not a man you trifle with when asked, politely, to meet him. If you do then the request tends to get much less polite.
If they are adamant that they don’t intend to meet him … they should awake that night to find
them-selves trussed up in their blankets and carried to the meeting!
If they are to turn up on time … they will not have
set off from the Inn until after the curfew horns have blared and the brazen gong of the temple has sounded. Chafin Street will be pretty much deserted, just like Chaf-in Square. There may be the odd drunk wendChaf-ing their way back to their lodgings but otherwise … all is eerily quiet.
However, they will find the warehouse is anything but closed and silent. The large double doors are wide open and four men are loudly playing a game of dice at a well-lit table out front. Inside a drum is gently beating the time for a young voice that is singing a cheery folk song. A marked contrast to everywhere else.
If they approach the men playing outside the door present their letter … they will be escorted in
side. There are more men chatting and gaming inside but they fall silent at the arrival of the PCs.
If they keep their wits about them on entering … they find themselves in a large well-lit room that
re-sembles a tavern set up in a shop! A couple of casks of ale are propped up by the door and Jarop has brought in extra tables and stools. A large number of Lia-Kavair journeymen and apprentices are sipping ale and making a show of enjoying themselves among the varied goods that Jarop stocks. This is despite the curfew and the fear hanging over the city.
INT x 4: there is a much wider range of goods
dis-played than you would expect in a typical chandlers. Where chandleries exist in rural towns they limit them-selves to those goods the local manors cannot provide for themselves, acting as importers of goods from other shires. Even in cities they tend to focus on a particular segment of society. Dockside chandler will provide eve-rything a captain needs in one place. In poorer quarters they often combine usury with trade in a range of ‘essen-tials’. In better parts of town they are rarer as the wealth-ier classes prefer to buy from individual masters.
This chandlery, though, resembles a cave of treasures. There is everything from rolls of course cloth to fine lin-en; from tin cups to pewter tankards; from candles to finely decorated lamps.
They will be led through this shop floor to a second room where they are ‘advised’ to leave any weapons they have with them.
If they refuse … then they are asking for trouble.
The GM should remind them that if Jarop wanted them killed there are enough guildsmen in the warehouse to ensure they suffered at least serious injury whether they are armed or not.
INT x 3 or some trade related skill: the goods
stacked in this half of the warehouse are of higher quality and/or from more exotic markets.
When Jarop’s bodyguards are satisfied they pose no danger to their master they will escort the PCs up some stairs to an enclosed gallery at the back of the ware-house. There they are ushered into the presence of their host: Jarop of Zarainsen.
He’s a big man running slightly to fat. He is seated beneath a lamp at the back of the room talking quietly to a couple of his closest advisors. Two other men, eying the PCs suspiciously are seated on some bunks in the room. There should be enough Lia-Kavair present to de-ter the PCs from doing anything stupid.
Jarop looks up as the PCs approach and gestures them to approach to within 6 feet of where he sits. Per-ceptive PCs will note that two bodyguards stand ready to either side of him while several others place themselves behind the PCs. None of this is done in a heavy handed manner; the Lia-Kavair present ooze calm professional-ism.
The Guildmaster of the Golothan Chapter of the Lia-Kavair will thank them politely for coming to meet him as requested and explain that he understands that they are looking for a particular ‘package’ that was sent from the north a little while ago.
If the PCs seek to dissemble with Jarop or play games … he will come equally quickly to the point,
tell-ing them to ‘stop messtell-ing me about’. Are they interested in finding what they told Hamis they were looking for, or are they too stupid to see an opportunity when it pre-sented to them.
Jarop is a bright and able man; he could not have got to his current position otherwise. He has a good feel for human nature and can tell when people lie to him. He is here to do business and isn’t interested in posturing time wasters. If they show not respect then they will not be treated with respect.
Throughout the meeting Jarop tells the PCs only those things that are true and will not to lie to them; that would be ‘dishonourable’. He will, though, be economi-cal with the truth. He didn’t get where he is today with-out learning how to keep some things hidden.
He did take possession of Kutz.
He did arrange a safe place for him to be kept. He did arrange consultations with those best able to diagnose the man’s condition.
THE DEEPER DARK 13
What he won’t tell the PCs is that subsequently Kutz went missing. He will always talk about what he did and what had happened. He never implies that he currently holds Kutz.
He will address that difficulty if and when the PCs have delivered on their side of the bargain he is offering.
If the PCs consider threatening Jarop … the GM
should ensure they remember where they are; at the cen-tre of the most powerful chapter of the Lia-Kavair on the island of Harn, surrounded by large number of Jarop’s best men.
If the PCs are straightforward with Jarop … he
will come quickly to the point. He believes he knows ex-actly what they are looking for and would be very willing to help them find it. However, that favour is deserving of a favour in return. ‘You do something for me; I’ll do something for you’.
Jarop has a little local difficulty that the PCs can help him with.
An offer they can’t refuse?
Jarop will point out how ostentatiously ‘open’ his business is even though the curfew has sent people back to the safety of their homes. He has a certain status to maintain and that means he cannot be seen to be con-cerned about the Butcher. He is setting an example that people notice.
He also has certain ‘obligations’ to many townsfolk. They do him favours and in return he does them good turns; like protecting them and their property. There are certain ‘fees’ that change hands and certain expectations that must be delivered.
Over the last month certain expectations have been shaken and a certain degree of confidence has been lost. He is a business man and his business relies on confi-dence. He likes to make sure his ‘friends’ are not sur-prised by events. This last month there have been some surprises he does not like.
Normally he would deploy his own ‘resources’ to bring someone to ‘justice’; but the Butcher murders are different. They are sufficiently concerning that he cannot been seen to be too concerned.
He cannot be seen to be trying too hard.
He has to be seen to simply deliver without even try-ing. That is the nature of the ‘confidence’ on which his business is built.
He has made ‘discrete’ enquiries. He has had his network of informers show some ‘interest’ in these mat-ters. They have come up with nothing. Now he needs to take a more ‘overt’ interest; carry out a more ‘direct’ in-vestigation. Yet to do so would sap the very ‘confidence’ he is seeking to maintain.
That is where the PCs come in. They want something from him. He will provide them with what they need in return for a small favour: finding the Butcher.
He is relying on their ‘discretion’. They can do what they like as part of their investigation except mention his name or that of his organisation. If they run into difficul-ties they must not claim his patronage and if they come to his notice during their investigations he will deny all knowledge of them.
If the PCs have questions … Jarop will wave them
away. All they need to know is that his usual sources have given him nothing.
What the PCs can do that he can’t is approach some of the victims’ families openly or investigate the scenes of the murders. They can take approaches his men can-not. He confides: ‘Their talents lie in other directions’ … as one of them loudly cracks his knuckles.
If the PCs have already made some enquires fol-lowing the previous scene … Jarop will make it clear
he knows they have already started asking questions. That’s good – now they need to ask some more; and get some answers.
When they have an identity or an address for the monster who is killing ‘his people’, they are to contact Jarop again, through Hamis.
If the PCs refuse … then Jarop will ask them how
else they will find what they are looking for.
If the PCs ask for assurances that Jarop can de-liver his end of the deal … he will recite most of what
they know from Jamys. If Jarop doesn’t have Coln Kutz, then he certainly knows exactly what Jamys wanted. He goes further and describes Kutz in sufficient detail to con-firm that he must have, at least, seen him. His descrip-tion of the symptoms of Kutz’ condidescrip-tion suggests he’s been in his presence for more than a moment. Finally, he describes what Jamys wanted to know: can the man be brought back to himself so he can tell what happened to him, or is his mind gone forever?
He will provide everything short of actually allowing them to meet the one-armed man.
He won’t tell the PCs exactly who he consulted; that would provide them with clues they could follow them-selves. He also won’t tell them what any consultation revealed. Otherwise he will provide enough impressive detail to convince.
Link to the next scene
The next morning, the 12th, the PCs can begin (or
continue) their investigations.
As well as anyting they find out in Crime Scenes: Golotha they will hear several rumours that the Butcher has struck again; but no one can tell them where.
THE DEEPER DARK 14
CRIME SCENES: GOLOTHA
The canals of Golotha
Overview
If the PCs do not start investigating until after they meet Jarop they have all of the 12th and the 13th of Nolus
to do so before Act II begins.
GM Aims
• To offer the PCs the opportunity to develop any ide-as they might have about the murders.
• To make creative use of the city to make sure they don’t catch the Butcher …. Yet.
• To recognise some plot hooks for future adventures in Golotha, but to keep them focussed for now.
PC Outcomes
They will begin to build up a picture of the Butcher’s approach to his craft before they are called to the next Act by a message from Kardis at the Trident Inn.
Appendix C reproduces the symbols found at the
site of each murder victim.
Strategies of Investigation
If they try to set a trap for the Butcher … it will
fail. He simply doesn’t go near wherever they have set
their trap, no matter how logical their deductions and plan!
If they wander the street on the off chance that someone points the Butcher out to them … they will
be given a lead to the interview about Victim a. The GM can continue to point them at successive interviewees if necessary until they get the message and start actively investigating.
If they adopt a more systematic approach …
then the GM can provide the ‘best’ witness they can find for any of the murders as a sequence of investigative en-counters. Each is connected to one of the twelve mur-ders Boraga has recorded. They can be approached in any order, perhaps based on a pattern the PCs might begin to imagine.
The GM should keep track of the passage of time and each of the encounters will take a 3 hour watch to com-plete. Most of this time will be spent finding the best per-son to talk to &/or finding a way to get access to them. The GM can roleplay a chain of leads leading to the spe-cific interviewee, or abstract the process to a roll against
Intrigue or other appropriate skill,where:
CS: reduces the time taken by 1 hour
MS: doesn’t increase or decrease the time taken MF: increases the time taken by 1 hour
THE DEEPER DARK 15
CF: increases the time taken by 2 hours
If the group of PCs split up … then they can
in-crease the number of leads followed in each watch. It doesn’t matter if the PCs have time to complete all the encounters, or not, before the evening of the 13th of
Nolus. Act II must begin then whatever they think they have worked out.
The encounters are intended to provide atmosphere and a sense of the unknown while confirming that the murders are carefully, even if the choice of victims is very varied. Subsequent scenes will confirm or disprove some of the theories the PCs may will begin to construct.
The Format of the Encounters
Each encounter is described in the following way:
Interviewee: A brief description of the person being
interviewed and their attitude to the approach.
Location: Where the interview takes place.
Initial demeanour: what is the starting reaction of the
interviewee to the PCs.
Why they won’t tell: What it is that makes them
re-sistant to telling everything they know.
What it will take: … to get them to tell what they
know.
What they know: … and can tell the PCs. They may
tell the story in different ways but this is the core of what they know. Continued questioning will add nothing else, though in one or two cases the PCs may be prompted to look somewhere else after the interview is over.
How it will end: what will bring the interview to a
‘nat-ural’ end.
Victim a
Night of the 13th last: a street urchin of no fixed abode. Decapitated and bladder cut out. Found kneeling beside a stack of sailcloth on Northaven Wharf
Interviewee: A girl of about 10 who the PCs are told is
the sister of the boy who was murdered and was sleeping nearby when he was discovered by a fishwife arriving early to set up her stall at the fishmarket.
Location: an apparently empty tenement in Sewertown. Initial demeanour: she is surly and uncommunicative. Why they won’t tell: she feels guilty at surviving when
her brother died. They normally took it in turns to stay awake and protect the other but that night, when he went to sleep for the middle watch of the night and she was supposed to stay awake … she got cold and left him on the wharf to find more shelter beside one of the build-ings. It was there she fell asleep only to wake when the fishwife started shouting.
What it will take: … she is afraid that if she tells the
truth then they will blame her, as she blames herself. Therefore they have to win her trust perhaps by talking about other things related to her brother that she is more comfortable with: how he probably always looked after
her; how she always looked up to him etc. In that way a successful Rhetoric will lead her to slip up and let out
some of the truth. Once that happens it will be as if a dam bursts and she will tell them everything, and feel better for sharing her guilt. Successful PCs are likely to have to offer her hugs and human kindness and may leave her feeling much better about herself.
What they know: … she can narrow down when the
murder took place to sometime in the middle watch of the night – after she was supposed to be on guard and before the fishwife arrived an hour or so before dawn. There was a lot of blood splashed around but she can’t remember if it was arranged in any pattern.
How it will end: It will be clear from the transformation
of her demeanour that they have everything she knows and is even willing to show them where it all happened. They won’t learn anything else particularly useful but they don’t know that.
Victim b
Respectable Nemiran
Night of the 16th last: a serving boy from the one of the better houses on Puril Street. Decapitated and right arm missing. Found floating in Ukedela Canal.
Interviewee: A boy of 14 or so, out with some equally
spoiled friends throwing stones at beggars working the bridge from Chafin Square across to Arlun Way. He is the youngest son of the household for whom the serving boy worked. When he wasn’t doing menial work in the kitchen the victim acted as his ‘page’. This spoiled brat has no recollection of the tanner’s yard he was born above before his father did better and moved them to Nemiran.
Location: near the house of his former master on Puril
Street, a substantial property near the better, far, end of Puril Street.
Initial demeanour: he is dismissive and superior when
the PCs approach him. He goads them from the protec-tive huddle of 3 friends and because he is in sight of the guards on the bridge.
Why they won’t tell: This young man is a snob of the
un-THE DEEPER DARK 16
less they are of noble rank, in which case he grovels in a very unattractive way!
What it will take: … he recoils at the very thought of
having to have anything to do with the PCs but will co-operate if he thinks it will make them go away.
What they know: … he can tell them that the serving
boy used to sneak out to meet his mother who worked in a different house along the street. When he hadn’t come home by the following morning the alarm was raised. His father had the woman beaten in case she was hiding the boy for whom he’d paid good money. They didn’t find the body until the following day when it bobbed up in the canal when the lock gates were opened.
Discussing this with one of the lock keepers will sug-gest it is likely the body went into the water in the Eshone Canal and was washed up to the Ukedela. Inves-tigating the Eshone canal they will discover some faded rusty swirls on a wall out of sight from the street.
L
How it will end: Once he has told them what he has
agreed to tell them he will simply walk away from them, and will call for help if they come after him.
Victim c
Night of the 19th last: Merchant believed to hail from Kaldor. Decapitated and right leg removed. Found hang-ing by left arm from the sign of the harper Nicola of Vari-anes beside Kalphor Wharf but believed to be staying at the Hand and Fist Inn.
Location: The Hand and Fist Inn on the corner of Laen
and Oraena Streets.
Interviewee: the Innkeeper, Tarian of Quasstin (see
Golotha F37).
Initial demeanour: Rude and obnoxious making it clear
that scum like the PCs would be better off finding some-where else to drink the swill they must be used to.
Why they won’t tell: Tarian bullies his staff and also
discourages customers he thinks lower the tone of his Inn. On this occasion that includes the PCs.
What it will take: … Rhetoric (flattery) will reduce his
hostility enough for him to reveal what he knows.
What they know: … he can confirm that the
mer-cantyler was indeed from far Kaldor and died owing him payment for board and lodging and a significant gam-bling debt. He has sent a letter east demanding payment but has heard nothing and won’t until the next caravan makes it along the Salt Route and back again.
He can also confirm that there was blood splashed all over the wall next to the harper’s door. He would recog-nise similarities if shown a drawing of the symbols from the most recent murder and would say that the splashes where the body was found looked more like:
D
How it will end: Now! Get out of my Inn, you scum.
Victim d
Night of the 22nd last: Ivinian mercenary living rough while awaiting a ship home. Decapitated and genitals removed. Found sitting with back against the well on Chafin Street. Believed drunk until blood noticed late in the morning.
Interviewee: The woman who noticed the blood that
had soaked out of his groin into the ground.
Location: her family’s rooms on a lane in Sewertown. Initial demeanour: Slightly fearful of the burly
strangers at her door.
Why they won’t tell: Her recollections are muddled
and confused.
What it will take: …. Patience – this adds an hour to
the time taken for the interview as the PCs endlessly have to take her back over what she tells them sorting through the jumble of memories until they are in a logical sequence they can understand.
What they know: … there were no bloody symbols
painted on any of the walls nearby, though after immense probing she does say there were some funny dark patch-es on the dry ground around the well that she hadn’t thought of until now. She was so fixated on the dark patch around him that she didn’t take much notice of an-ything else.
She can offer no suggestion as to the shape of the stains on the ground she might have seen.
How it will end: Her baby needs feeding so they will
have to go.
Victim e
Night of the 25th last: Apprentice to the locksmith Horah of Urmel found leaning against the side door of the goodwife behind Northaven wharf. Decapitated and right lung removed.
Interviewee: The Goodwife who found the body. Location: Her house off a lane behind Northaven Wharf. Initial demeanour: Not happy to be reminded about
those events.
Why they won’t tell: She can’t see any reason why it is
helpful to drag up such events. It was unpleasant enough to experience it without having to think about it all again.
What it will take: … They need to convince her that it
could be her clues that help the PCs track down the Butcher and then she and her family can sleep easy in their beds again. Rhetoric or even Rhetoric (Com-mand), if they play the ‘authority’ card, will help.
