Date: 10/28/09

XP Awarded: 1,200 (Deivon, Gob, Signore), 0 (Kiria)

Start: The Seven's Sawmill in the Kyver's Islet section of Magnimar, late autumn.

With the leader of the murderous cultists lying on the sawdust-covered floor of the sawmill, the party searches his office. The walls of the room are decorated with several human faces stretched flat over wooden frames by strips of leather. In the room's desk the party finds a tome entitled "The Syrpents Tane: Fairy Tales of the Eldest," a wizard's spellbook emblazoned with entwined red and green snakes, and a slim ledger apparently written in code. The party splits up to thorougly search the rest of the mill. Gob finds a trapdoor in the office that leads to the roof, though there's nothing up there. Signore finds a hidden cache of robes, war razors, bags of gold, three potions, a crystal decanter set, and a tiny wooden box with three small diamonds. He also notices that there are suspicious bits of gristle and bloodstains near the sawmill's enormous water-powered saw blades. Meanwhile, Deivon doesn't have any luck getting the two captives to give any more information.

Afterwards, the party sits to plan the next move. Signore recognizes the cult leader - though he can't say where from, he seems to be an important person in Magnimar. Allowing his body to be found by the town guard would certainly result in an investigation that could result in the party being tracked down and sent to prison. With the dawn quickly approaching, the party decides to burn the sawmill to destroy any evidence of what happened. Watching the deserted city streets below for guard patrols, the Deivon and Signore drag their two bound captives across the street while Gob sets a series of small, strategic fires that quickly escalate into a blazing inferno among the mounds of sawdust and drying wood. The party hurries over the bridge from Kyver's Islet into Magnimar proper as they hear the whistles of guards and the running feet of the fire watch. Parting from Gob at the Stone of the Seers, Deivon and Signore are soon back at their inn.

The next morning the streets are abuzz with people talking about the mysterious fire on Kyver's Islet. The Seven's Sawmill burnt down to the waterline, and one nearby building was damaged by the fire. There is no mention of the bound cultists the party left at the scene, and rumors are flying about the cause of the fire - most seem to attribute it to a gang fight over protection money. Another item of news that catches Signore's attention is the disappearance of Justice Ironbriar, one of the thirteen members of the esteemed Justice Council - Magnimar's highest court. As soon as he hears this rumor, Signore recognizes the face of the dead cult leader.

Over the next few weeks, the adventurers rest, train, study, and take care of business matters. There are no more occurances of ritualistic murders where the victim is carved with a seven-sided rune, and the tense atmosphere of fear in the city returns to normal. Gob spends most of his time tutoring at the Stone of the Seers and adding spells to his spellbook, some of them from the captured spellbook the party just found. Kiria spends most of his time living the good life with Shalelu and his good friends from Magnimar's extensive theatre scene. Deivon helps get the party's new townhouse cleaned up and does a lot of training with a new magical greatsword he purchased. And Signore spends some time in the borders of the Mushfens a few miles south of Magnimar, honing his tracking and wilderness skills. Showing the magical, hatred-inducing masks to a fence, Signore finds out they could be worth some valuable coin to the right people. Balancing the evil nature of the masks against the potential profit, the party decides to sell the masks to line their pockets. Meanwhile, Gob comes ever closer to breaking the complex cipher encrypting the contents of the thin ledger found in the sawmill's office.

When the Justice Council publicly reveals plans to use powerful magic to find their missing member, Signore reveals to the other party members the identity of the dead cult leader in the sawmill. The party fears the evidence-destroying fire may have only delayed their fate of being hunted by the city watch. Kiria agrees to secretly disseminate information associating Justice Ironbriar with a murderous cult via his contacts, with the hope this will lead any divinations toward the truth of the matter (hopefully without involving the party!).

That evening, Gob announces he's broken the cipher encrypting the journal. The contents make it clear that he was at the head of a murderous cult named "The Skinsaw Men," and a member of a shadowy organization named "The Brothers of the Seven." Entries detail years of serial killings and violence, which escalated with the appearance of someone he refers to as "Wanton of Nature's Pagan Forms." This woman stole Justice Ironbriar's heart and provided him with a new method of murder, one involving desecration of the victim's body with the seven-pointed rune. There's not much more information about this person in the journal, save the fact that he's visited her several times at the Shadow Clock in Magnimar's Underbridge section. The party makes plans to visit the next afternoon.

The next day, the party gets their adventuring gear and meet Gob in Dockway near the filthy shadows of Underbridge. As the looming Irespan cuts off the weak afternoon sunlight, the neighborhood quickly deteriorates into a series of squalid taverns, brothels, and drug dens. Unfriendly toughs watch the adventurers from dark alleys, but Deivon's wary eye and heavy armor seem to deter them. After a few minutes, the Shadow Clock comes into view. Near one of the massive grey pillars that supports the grimy, blackened bridge overhead, a decrepit and dying tower of weathered stone and rusted metal looms. High above, barely 15 meters below the bottom of the Irespan, a tangle of scaffolding sits near a section of the tower that has fallen away. The tower's clock face is frozen in time, and above a stone statue of an angel leans precariously, almost as if she were preparing a final leap from her decaying perch.

At the tower's base, two enormous wooden doors sag in their frames, leaving a large gap at the bottom. The party cautiously approaches and enters, finding a cavernous, dimly lit area that's almost like a rubble-filled courtyard. Along one side lie several partially collapsed offices, and beyond mounds of fallen plaster sits a single wagon. A rickety wooden staircase climbs into the gloom above, winding in an ever-tightening circle inside the tower. Barely visible are four enormous bells hanging from sturdy crossbeams.

The group moves to the offices and begins peering inside, but the mounds of rubble and the stench of decay make it clear nothing of interest remains inside. As he moves around the wagon toward the last collapsed office, Gob is surprised as an enormous shape breaks free of the wagon and swings a large, wickedly barbed scythe at him. The misshapen monster is from a child's nightmare - a jumbled mass of body parts incorporating as much cow and horse as man, topped by an idiot head that leers and drools like a grotesque baby through lips sewn together. A trio of what first seemed carved pumpkins hang from its belt, but a second glance reveals them to be horribly bloated human heads with a sick yellow tinge.

The scythe hits Gob squarely in the chest, almost killing him, and it's all the dwarf can do to remain on his feet. With a shout of surprise, Deivon cautiously moves up to engage the creature, wary of the reach of the gleaming scythe. He swings his greatsword in a mighty arc and lands two blows on the behemoth, forcing it to stagger back a half step. Signore slips behind one of the crumbling walls and begins to work his way around the wagon to flank the creature. Gob frantically backpedals, trying to get clear of the scythe's range to safely cast a spell. He manages to caste a spell that magically quickens himself and his allies, avoiding another hit from the scythe.

The creature roars in pain from Deivon's hits, and moves forward to follow up his scythe's vicious onslaught. Deivon isn't strong enough to deflect the blows, and he takes two hits as the blade cuts deeply through his heavy armor. Signore manages to come out of hiding behind the beast, but his small weapons barely register against the heavy body. Deivon hits once again with his greatsword, and the creature is now suffering from several wounds. Gob again backs up from the melee and casts a lightning spell, hitting from the side. But instead of roasting the creature, electrical fire plays over its body and its wounds knit themselves closed.

The monstrosity presses the advantage against Deivon, but this time Deivon side-steps the powerful but slow lunges and opens another gash in the creature's stitched chest. Signore finds that while his new rapier doesn't inflict much damage on the lubmering brute, the magical flames running along its blade do. The creature is now moving slower, and as Deivon strikes again a thin cry of pain escapes the lips sewn shut with thick black thread. Gob finishes the words to a spell that engulfs the monster in magical flame, and the tower echoes with its dying wails.

Though Deivon and Gob are badly wounded, the party takes a few moments to search the body and the rest of the ground floor of the tower. Tied around the brute's neck is a fine (though dirty) cloak that seems to shift in color and texture according to its background. Deivon takes the large, barbed scythe, and the adventurers discuss returning to the townhouse to get healing from Kiria.