Father Skinsaw

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Episode no.	Episode 35
Date	2009
Game Master	Abbe
Characters	Dorothea Honeypot Nathaniel Nell Velicia
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As it looked very hard to approach undetected we decided to wait for the sunset. Still keeping the sawmill under watch we retreated a little further away to wait for dusk. When darkness slowly fell we discussed which way to approach and decided to swim. I didn't like the idea as I'm not a good swimmer and there was a strong current in the river. With the risk of getting into the waterwheels I thought we should try another approach, but the others insisted and Honeypot suggester a ritual turning us into sea otters. I'm not that fond of strange magic, but it's preferred to drowning and had the added bonus of being harder to notice and if the workers saw us they would just think it's a couple of otters swimming by. She also cast telepathy and some dark light that made sure we could see but that couldn't be seen.

The swim was hard and dangerous but it was made easily by being a sea otter. It almost felt sad to stop swimming and start climbing. We climbed the wall of the sawmill. It was a sparsely planked wall and we could see light shining through the slits, but they were too small see anything clearly through. When we were almost at the top Nathaniel got stuck. He's a good climber but he was also the heaviest with his armor and all. Since we had been using a rope to make sure no one would fall, we all got stuck. It was easily enough solved, but there were a few tense moments before we all got up on the roof. The next step up the tower I climbed first and secured a grappling hook and the others followed easily enough. Carefully we lifted a trapdoor peeking down, ready to spring into action. There was a small room. It was lit but there were no one there.

There were a ladder, a desk, a chair and lots of faces cut off people. It was an evil temple decorated in this grotesque manner. We all climbed down there and prepared for a fight. Stealthily I opened the double doors ever so slightly and looked through slit.

File:Justice Ironbriar.png

Justice Ironbriar.

I froze in place as I saw a man I immediately recognized but haven't seen in several months and had hoped to never meet again. It was Ironbriar. He was talking to most of the workers gathered before him in a large room. I wanted to kill him but I couldn't bring myself to act at all. We all listened while he talked about preparing for a big finale. They planed to kill the mayor. His voice gave me the chills.

I broke out of it and threw my dagger at him but still being shook up I missed. Through her magic Velicia suddenly appeared next to Ironbriar wearing that awful mask and said "The skinsaw man have come for you!" hitting him with her sword. They were completely surprised. Nathaniel went out into the room and drew some of workers and Ironbriar's guards to himself and downed several of them with sweeping slashes with my fathers sword. I almost felt proud of him even though it was only his sword. Dorothea ran out and engaged lots of the workers, but prepared for her scary magic. Honeypot jumped over one of his evil priests and attacked Ironbriar himself. Hoping to be steadier on the hand up close, I ran up to him and attacked but my memories made my hands shake and I hesitated just enough for him to avoid my dagger. He teleported away just barely out of sight around a corner, while his evil priest used magic to blind us with a big flash. It missed me but some of the others got blinded.

File:Skinsaw cultist.png

The flamboyantly dressed skinsaw cultists.

Nathaniel struck all around him in a flurry of attacks still hitting some although being blinded, while Dorothea showed her magic is at least as powerful as Ironbriars by teleporting to block his way downstairs and downing several workers in an explosion where she left from. Honeypot confused a magic user and I used that opportunity to kill him. Then I hid in the awful temple room. Ironbriar said something out loud that sounded like "I lost the rest of your family but I will..." and ran up to me. He tried to do some kind of magic reaching for me and teleported up the ladder.

Nathaniel killed both bodyguards around him and ran up the ladder after Ironbriar, and hanging on the ladder stabbing upwards with my fathers longsword he forced Ironbriar from the trapdoor and was able to follow him up. Honeypot ran up after them. I hid in the room below them and hesitantly looked for an opportunity to throw my dagger at him. He appeared and as I threw he gave me an evil stare and I missed again. I had a strange view from below as Nathaniel attacked Ironbriar and with his impressive footwork tricked him to stand over the trapdoor. From the room I heard Dorothea cast her terrible black magical cloud that eats everything. Upstairs Honeypot distracted and confused Ironbriar. He staggered on the edge of the trapdoor about to fall. I took the opportunity to rush up the ladder and stab him with all my strength, all my anger and all my collected hate for what he had done. The dagger was buried deep in his figure and I almost lost it in the big flow of fabric of his strange costume, but I held on to it as blood whet my hand and he fell past me, hitting the floor with a loud thud. Tears were flowing down my cheeks. I jumped over him and out the wide opened double doors and left the room. I had thought killing Ironbriar would feel good, but now it had only brought back a lot of bad memories.

When I had settled down a few moments later I joined the others as we looked through the rooms and searched for interesting things. In the evil temple we found books, maps and paintings and of course the horrible trophies of their killings. Velicia told us that it was an evil cult of followers to Nerull. Ironbriar had been Father Skinsaw. One of the paintings was of a strange ice town cut out of a frozen waterfall. It had an ice cathedral and several domes. Among the books one stood out. It was a fairytale book with beautiful golden covers and paintings in it. There seemed to be strange stories in it. There was also a very interesting dagger. We found the diary of Ironbriar, but it was written in three different languages and in cipher.

Standing in the temple looking up the trap door at the night sky above I heard a caw from above. I remembered the ravens in the cage above and asked
"Why do they keep ravens out on the roof?"
"They're carrier birds. They carry messages. It's probably more common with carrier pigeons but ravens would work."
"But how do they know what address to go to?"
"They are trained to always return to the same place."
"So if we release them, we could follow them, and would get to where they're sending messages?"
We discussed a releasing a raven and follow that bird to see where it would lead us but we couldn't do it at night. "We have to get the guards. They need to see this." said Velicia
"But we're wanted by the guards." I objected.
"We can't let this become just a robbery. The city guards have to know so they can keep an eye out for more members of the cult."
"Alright. But I won't be here when they come."

Velicia said that she would take care of Ironbriars diary to make sure nothing important was missed in the translation and since it was the best evidence we had for his guilt we didn't want anyone loyal to him getting their hands on it. We decided to split up. Nathaniel and Velicia went to get the city guards, while I, Honeypot and Dorothea took the birds and left for the woods. We went out straight into the dark woods surrounding the sawmill and didn't stop until we were sure we couldn't be seen from there. Then Honeypot performed the ritual that befriended the ravens. All participants got an animal as a friend and we got a raven each. Dorothea seemed to like her new pet and started looking at the night sky together with it. When we were about to go home she didn't answer us but stayed looking at the stars.

As it was too dark follow the black ravens we returned to Magnimar to get some sleep before trying to follow the birds. It was no trouble for me and Honeypot to get in even though the the city gates were closed for the night. We got back to the inn and I ordered a meal. I don't like going to bed hungry. Before I had finished Nathaniel and Velicia returned. They told me that the guards had been hesitant at first but found the sawmill appalling and immediately believed them when they saw the temple. Nathaniel went to bed, but Velicia ordered more food and joined me. When we had finished Velicia said she would create some magical things as she is an eladrin doesn't need as much sleep as us others. I asked if she could help me by creating a pair of braces and she said she would. I stayed up too late talking to her. I'm still used to night time activities.