Shattered Star

Anastasia and Flynt see Fenster starting to scuttle off in the corner of their eyes.

Anastasia lets out a shrill whistle. "Hey, fleabag, hold it," she barks at him.

Fenster slinks back down. "Whateva yew say boss."

Anastasia walks over to him and pulls a pouch off her belt. "This whole scuffle was our fault, so here." She tosses him the pouch, which contains ten gold sails. "We're square now, got it?"

Fenster grabs at the bag cautiously at first, but then greedily snatches it. "Absolutely, boss. Ol' Fenster's got yer back," he says, then looks around cautiously. "Ken I go now?"

Anastasia jerks her head. "Get out of here."

Shuddering slightly in discomfort as Naomi picks herself up, one blackened hand going to feel at the marks on her face. As her fingers come away bloody, she closely examines the blood, and the gunk that smeared around the wounds, and scrunches her nose in disgust. "Reminds me of a case of filth fever I saw a few years back. These next few days are going to be horrible," She says, shaking her head slightly.

"And I wasn't trying to control him, just get him to be a bit more agreeable," She petulantly mutters quietly to herself.

"You were using magic to influence his mind," Anastasia says, her voice flat and devoid of emotion save for an undercurrent of anger. "In the future, don't."

Naomi squeaks slightly, not realizing she'd actually said that last part out loud. Blushing with embarrassment, she meekly nods her head, before once more returning her hand to her wounds. This time the hand is briefly consumed in a golden flame, as the wounds mostly knit themselves back up.

[Cure Light Wounds on Self (Healed 8)
13/14 HP

3/6 Level 1 spells remain]

Their course decided, the group heads off, following Fenster's instructions. The path takes them through some particularly run-down areas of mostly abandoned buildings. They eventually come to a building that meets what Fenster's directions describe.

The building has seen better days. Its clapboard sides are dark with mildew and marred by scorch marks. In places fire has gutted portions of the roofs moss covered tile shingles, but the building appears to be structurally intact. The building stands near the stark wall of the Seacleft, and scree from several decades of minor rockfalls has piled up along its southern face. The building's windows are heavily boarded over but the wooden doors of the building are intact.

After inspecting the southern entry, the party opens it into the main entryway. The entire floor of this chamber has collapsed into the pool of water five feet below. The earthen walls of this flooded subcellar ooze with foul rivulets, and the smell is abominable. Two oozing sewer pipes protrude through the east wall of this pit just above the level of the sewage. Part of the ceiling above the entrance has collapsed, revealing an attic crawlspace above; a rickety ladder leads up from the water into the crawlspace. A door stands in the far wall across the sludge pit. A wooden plank balanced between both doors makes a precarious bridge between the two doors.

After noting that the ladder is old, ricketing, and will likely collapse if used, Anastasia carefully balances her way across the beam.

Ali attempts to follow their compatriot across but slips on the plank and falls into the sewage with a screech of nigh unholy might.

As Ali pulls themselves out of the muck, a trio of goblins burst forth from the sewer pipes in the room. Naomi quickly springs forth, blasting them with fire. Ali follows up by swiping a sword through two of them, basically exploding their guts all over the room. Finally, Cade finishes them off with a magic missile.

With the goblins slain in a scarily-efficent manner, Cade attempts to cross the unsteady wooden plank to cross the pit of sewage.  He only takes two steps forward before losing his footing and plummeting into the filth below.  Sputtering and coughing, the unfortunate wizard scrambles forward, desperate to clamber out of the foul-smelling slurry as quickly as possible.  He manages to pull himself out of the muck by following Ali's lead, though not without sustaining a deep wound to his pride. Cade vigorously wipes what he can off himself with his robes and shakes his glasses clean of filth, looking wholly uncomfortable and defeated while doing so.

Naomi makes approximately two steps onto the board before likewise falling into the muck below. Utterly disgusted she makes her way out the other side, and lets out a huff. A wave of cold fire sparks from her fingers to cover her body, clearing away much of the muck as it passes. "Could this day possibly get worse?" She cries to the ceiling.

As if on cue, another small band of sewer goblins crawl out of the woodwork as the group crosses the wooden plank and enters the next room.  Before the group can react, one of the cretins lobs a tattered sack filled with feces at the party, which catches Anastasia in the face, followed by a crossbow bolt to the shoulder.  Unfortunately, this is all the injury the goblins can muster as Anastasia and Ali quickly close the distance and beat the trio of muck-dwellers into a bloody pulp.

[Ana takes 1 damage and is sickened from the sack of poop, then 3 damage from a crossbow bolt.  Ana and Ali both retaliate by critting two of them to death--or near-death in Ana's case.]

Anastasia cringes as she's splattered with blood and begins fervently wiping it off wherever she can.

Naomi slowly approaches her friend, concern clear on her face. With a flick of her wrist, the same cold flames from moments before dart across the air to Anastasia, clearing away much of the blood and feces. "We'll definitely need a trip to the bath-house after this," She mutters.

Ali looks to Naomi. "Can I get one of those too? Please?"

From the rafters above the party hears a female voice call out. "You make a mockery of my soldiers, trespassers! My grand plans can't abide by people who would disrupt them. Surrender to my greatness at once, or suffer my wrath!"

Anastasia smiles gratefully at Naomi, but the voice interrupts before she can properly thank her. "Your soldiers made a mockery of themselves," she calls back, annoyed. "And I'm not surrendering to someone I can't see."

The party hears creaking footsteps along the rafters. Soon they see two goblins with crossbows pointed at them take position above. Joining them is a beautiful woman, though looking slightly worse for wear at the moment. Her hair is reddish brown and messy. Her clothing is covered in dirt. Her skin is slightly tan, and her eyes speak to Varisian heritage. However something is off in her eyes, a kind of subtle glow to them. Hanging from her neck is a rather impressive shard of some strange metal. She points a rapier down to the assembled adventurers. "I am Cecilia Genovese, future queen of Magnimar's crime. Now I demand once more, surrender to my glory or die."

As the woman-claiming-to-be-Cecilia comes into view, Cade's attention is immediately drawn to the strange shard of metal hanging from her neck.  Adjusting his glasses, Cade watches as the shard glitters ominously in the dim light, which is a property the scholar immediately recognizes.  "That necklace," he observes aloud with astonishment building, "it's made from horacalcum--a starmetal!  What on Golarion is a metal that rare doing in a setting so squalid?!"

"Can't say I've heard of you before today," The gnoll smiles.

"This squalid setting is just a momentary bump on my road to greatness," Cecilia replies defensively. "And thanks to the power of this wonderful necklace, I'm soon to be the most well known name in Magnimar, perhaps even the world!"