Rime of the Frostmaiden: Ten-Towns, Part 29

The previous post is here. The adventure starts here.

After failing to capture the duergar Durth Sunblight, the beat-down party returned to the White Lady Inn to figure out their next course of action.

The cold and wounded PCs arrived with the drinks-after-work crowd and hurried to claim a table. The halfling musician/medium Rinaldo was working the room, and came over to greet the adventurers. While most of the group pretended not to know the guy, Hjolgram the dwarf bard was happy to see him, and proposed that he and Rinaldo perform a duet! But the plans for their impromptu show didn’t get very far, as the two performers didn’t know the same songs; after all, the dwarf hailed from an entirely different world, and only recently found himself in the Realms. However, their discussion eventually led to Rinaldo telling the bard about a new piece he was working on, that was inspired by the mysterious ice-knife murder last night.

The what now?! Apparently a man visiting from Targos had died while alone in his locked bedroom. A servant found the man with a long blade of ice sticking out of his chest! It was Easthaven’s second ice-weapon killing – the party had heard of the previous one in passing – and the latest in a long string of recent murders in town. The PCs’ thoughts went immediately to Sephek Kaltro, who had slaughtered a bunch of people across the Ten Towns in the name of Auril the Frostmaiden, but Sephek had been destroyed. Or had he? As some kind of undead abomination, who’s to say that he couldn’t come back from being cremated?

It occurs to me now as I write this that we could have avoided everything that follows by doing a séance with Rinaldo and asking the White Lady who killed the man and where he was. I think we were so annoyed with the halfling, despite how useful the last séance had been, that we immediately rejected the idea when he suggested that we attend another one.

The weary adventurers resolved to investigate the matter on the morrow, and headed off to bed. In the morning, Hjolgram and Flint the half-elf rogue searched for a buyer for all the duergar armor they had looted from the fortress (which eventually netted the party 85 gold!) while the others headed over to the scene of the crime, the Ivory Peacock Inn (located near the Wet Trout on the far edge of town).

Elementary

Over at the Peacock, the self-appointed investigators confirmed Rinaldo’s information from the witnesses and learned a bit more. The victim, Rennerd Ironside, was a wealthy whale oil magnate who had just arrived from Targos. He was thought to be in his room for the night when a scream caused his servant, Ruprecht, to fetch the innkeep to unlock the door. Rennerd was found dead with a rapier made of ice protruding from his body. As mentioned, the door was locked, and the room had no windows. A militia member, a man named Brimwald, had responded to the crime and was said to be still looking for the murderer.

So: ice weapon, ability to teleport or otherwise get into a sealed room, killing rich people from Targos who presumably pulled some strings to avoid the human sacrifice lottery. It all matched up with Sephek Kaltro’s modus operandi, so either the killer had returned, or a new unholy avenger had been empowered by the Frostmaiden in the wake of Sephek’s destruction.

The innkeep didn’t remember anyone asking questions about Rennerd specifically prior to the murder, or anyone asking questions about who was staying at the inn generally. She did report that there was a “character” she didn’t recognize present that evening, though. The PCs were interested if this stranger was wearing the usual cold weather clothing or not, as Sephek had just worn normal clothing and was seemingly immune to the freezing temperatures. But the proprietor couldn’t recall either way. She did note that the man was dressed rather shabbily.

The dwarf and half-elf rejoined the others, minus the duergar gear and with a purse full of coins, and after filling the pair in the group split up again. Hjolgram and Omm the tiefling sorcerer went looking for Brimwald, while the others stayed at the Peacock to hunt for clues.

My Dear Watson

After asking around, the dwarf and young tiefling tracked down Brimwald, an officer in the Easthaven militia. “Excuse me,” announced Hjolgram without preamble, “Agency of Heroes business.” When the lieutenant looked confused, Hjolgram produced his most prized possession – the letters signed by the Speakers of Caer Dineval and Caer Konig – and waved them in the man’s face. A very embarrassed Omm tried to make himself as invisible as possible without using magic.

Brimwald examined the letters, which only made him more confused, and shrugged. While he was suspicious of these unusual amateur detectives, he was also happy to have someone discuss the case with! His account matched Ruprecht’s, but added the small detail that had taken the ice rapier outside and stuck it in a snowbank so as to preserve the evidence. Also, he had a theory as to who committed the murder.

“Do you know those sculptors that make statues out of ice? I think one of them made the rapier! And then…” As the man went on at length about a theoretical conspiracy of ice sculptors, Hjolgram and Omm politely listened and then took their leave as soon as they could.

The Hound of the Peacock-villes

Back at the Peacock, the PCs had found the partially-melted rapier in the snow outside. Twiggy Tenderfoot the druid tried to detect if there was any magic about the weapon, but there was not; it was just exquisitely shaped ice. Aside from being a different type of blade, it did look to be very similar to the weapons that Sephek conjured out of the freezing air.

Meanwhile, Madoc the ranger took some table scraps out to the alley behind the inn, scattered the food on the frozen ground, and waited for a furry friend to arrive. When a mangy mutt came sniffing around, the wild-looking man invoked the spirits to allow him to speak with animals, and greeted the dog. The surprised pooch scarfed down the food before saying hello back.

“Is this your territory?” Madoc asked. The wary dog nodded. “You remember any two-legs around here who smelled wrong? Like a dead body, but still moving? Or just cold?” The mutt said she did, though she didn’t remember when. “If I give you more food, will you walk around with me and tell me if you smell a two-legs like that again?” Yes, the animal said, if you give me the food now. After she had eaten the rest of Madoc’s food, the pair set off to search the neighborhood.

Flint and Twiggy returned to the Ivory Peacock’s common room. They spoke with Ruprecht a bit more and learned that he would be transporting his employer’s corpse back to Targos in the morning. Twiggy inquired if he required an escort, as the party had spoke of heading in that direction next anyway, and the servant agreed to pay the Agency for its services.

As Ruprecht walked away, a rough-looking middle-aged man approached the rogue and druid. “Excuse me for prying, good folk. Heard some of your talk, and wanted to say, I was here that night the fellow from Targos was killed. And… well, I saw the man that did the deed, I’m sure of it.”

Next: the killer revealed!