Until an ogre pushed roughly past them and moments later, Trug squealed something, shouting what was probably another goblin's name, then took off in a run into a side street. The others confusedly paused to see what had happened, and Xoma sent his bat-spirit familiar, Xots, into the air to locate the errant goblin. Xots reported that Trug had run through a series of streets in alleys in pursuit of another goblin...which thensuddenly became a much larger goblin or goblin-like creature. A trick or lure? Then he lost sight of Trug. The rest of the party gave chase.
Xoma, accustomed to swift movement in shadowed, stony streets—not entirely unlike the giant ruins of Xen'drik back home—was the first to find the junction where Trug had disappeared. There he found a pair of ogres arguing over a troll, who hunched nearby, a chain hanging between a collar on his neck and one of the ogre's hands. When Xoma drew closer, the three large humanoids gave up pretenses and attacked.
The drow hastened himself, then rose up with levitation even as the troll sprang forward and lunged for him. Then Xoma was beyond its reach, dropping a stinking cloud beneath him to envelop his sudden foes.
The others came on the scene, to see the ogres barreling through the noxious cloud, coughing and angry. A battle had begun. Magnus, Rendar, and Cypher came in first, with Doongul shortly behind them. The dwarf had not yet used his newly-upgraded peg-leg, but still running for him could still be an awkward show. The half-orc and human barbarian were the first to engage the ogres, while Xoma delivered a shocking grasp to one of the monsters courtesy of his flying familiar.And that is when the harpies appeared, though only two, emerging from windows that overlooked the otherwise-empty street junction. One of them was Occyra, the harpy they'd fought (and who had escape) out on the plains beyond the city, only now her skin was noticeably hardened with barkskin. That previous encounter had established a marked enmity between Xoma and the harpy. According to Sa-Jira and Zerasha, Occyra was the second-in-command of a flight of harpies known as the Wind Howlers, who were well known for not aligning with the Daughters of Sora Kell. Evidently, she'd caught up to the PCs several days after their last meeting. Perhaps their many loud, riotous, and conspicuous battles had made them easy to find?
Occyra and the subordinate harpy unleashed the power of their voices. While they were hideous to look upon, their voices were deadly sweet and supernaturally entrancing. Cypher was stricken by Occyra's, while Rendar was immediately enraptured by the other's. Both half-orc and warforged immediately set out to climb the buildings up toward where the harpies were perched, specifically avoiding the noxious cloud of Xoma's spell. This left Magnus and Doongul to square off against the troll and remaining ogre—which took some time, as troll's famously regenerate their wounds.
Cypher shook off the effect's of Occyra's voice and climbed back down to the street, and when Rendar shrugged off his audible stupor, he took advantage of the higher ground and flung himself bodily at the troll from on high. He hoped to skewer it, but instead just crashed into it but managed to roll back quickly to his feet. Between human, dwarf, and half-orc, the troll and ogre went down. Doused with oil and set alight, the troll was kept from rising again.
Four goblin assailants revealed themselves, two loosing arrows from one side of the battlefield, while two others rushed from an alley and stabbed at both Cypher and Magnus. They dealt injury but were themselves quickly struck down.
Xoma, floating above the battlefield and closer in altitude to the harpies, used a web spell to keep Occyra from moving freely about or even from acting at all. They exchanged attacks, but even when she broke free, he sent her crashing to the cobblestones with a gust of wind spell. As she tried to flee on foot, too battered to fly, she conjured a spell that made the street sprout stony spikes, hindering her pursuit. However, the agile Cypher climbed alongside one of the buildings and reached her before she could limp away. With a swipe of a dagger, he slashed open the harpy's throat and ended the battle.The second harpy proved no lasting threat. Two of the goblins had fled. They'd had no uniform or emblems to identify them, but were obviously aligned in some way to Occyra.
Using his Mark of Finding, Rendar was able to locate the missing Trug by homing in on his cloak: he'd be stashed in an alcove behind a crate in one of the nearby side streets. He was alive but not conscious, stiff but stricken by some power. His eyes were wide open but unseeing, strange straight cuts down his face, and in his mouth was stuffed a slip of paper on which was written, in elegant Goblin:
This is a message to the eastern thief-maggots who murder on a whim and hide in the shadows. Face me in the games on the first night of Long Shadows if you seek the absolution for your crimes and the return of your friend. Speak to Zerasha if my message is not clear.
- Z.S.
The PCs didn't know who Z.S. was (yet). And at first, they mistook "your friend" to be Halbazar, but later would learn it referred to Trug. While still alive, his soul was absent from his body, and his body could only be kept alive with effort. Doongul was not happy about this.
While the group looted the bodies, Xoma bore the dragged Occyra's body into the center of the street. There, to his companions' chagrin, he made a statement of triumph and contempt for his foe by "marking her" with his own urine. He intended to set her corpse on fire as well (like the still-smoldering troll), but Xots warned them that a band of armored trolls and gnolls were headed their way—members of the Flayer's Guard. Not worth encountering just now.
Carrying Trug's stiff body, they reached the Tooth and Steel without incident and there bargained with the oni smith Szala Jal again. There were yet many ways to spend their gold: creation of a homonculus for Cypher, enchanting Doongul's masterwork warhammer, recharging wands, and otherwise stocking up on magical resources. Szalas Jal also supplied them with a little bit more information:Z.S. was Zurin Souldrinker, the oni who led the Skinners gang, roguish and religious thugs and killers who revered the Mockery. Gray Garrak, the bugbear the PCs had slain in the Temple of the Hand—and whose dragonbone maul Magnus now carried—had been one of the Skinners. The PCs had firmly made enemies of this gang, and Zurin Souldrinker obviously knew who they were now. Szalas Jal explained that Zurin was an oni of necromantic power—"with whom I have no quarrel"—who possessed the ability to suck the soul out of his victims. The only way for a soul to be freed was by Zurin's own volition...or his death. Zurin's demand that the PCs face him in "the games on the first night of Long Shadows" meant to face him in the Arena on the 26th of Vult, which was one week away.
The choice was theirs: Either they allowed Trug to die by leaving his soul excised from his body, or else face Zurin's challenge "on the first night of Long Shadows." Doongul could not allow the goblin to perish, and even Xoma would not tolerate the idea of a creature, or its soul, enslaved by another.
Long Shadows itself is an infamous three-day holiday, wherein the Shadow's power is said to be strongest in the world. In many lands, it is a time to shut one's doors and windows and wait for the mayhem to pass. For others, it is an opportunity for mischief, or worse. In Graywall, whose citizens mostly revere or placate the Dark Six, it is sure to be celebrated by much of the populace, and will be reflected in the blood sports of the Arena.
Upon meeting with Zerasha, the medusa priestesss learned of what had happened and offered them new plan: She believed she had a means of learning more about the Winter Coalition, if indeed the PCs were part of its prophecy. But it required them to be transmuted into stone—such as that rendered by the gaze of a medusa—and then back into flesh again. She possessed the means to do this. But there was another way:
This very night, the Arena was hosting a few games of Six Stones—wherein seven participants enter an enclosure with a basilisk. Neither magic nor weapons can be used; each man must outlast the others. Seven men enter, but only six leave. He who is not turned to stone by the gaze of the basilisk is the winner. Zerasha said that Sa-Jira's mother, Sa-Zira, the ambassador from Cazhaak Draal, would be willing to sponsor them for their part in rescuing her daughter. If they could win the favor of the crowds, perhaps entering the Arena to face Zurin Souldrinker needn't be as hopeless at it sounds.
And if they lost in Six Stones, well, Zerasha needed them to be in stone form anyway....
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