COLD HEARTED KILLER

Just another gruesome day in Ten-Towns: howling wind, bitter cold, foul tempers, and snowdrifts big enough to bury a herd of moose. But tonight Mead Hall in the town of Good Mead in Ten Towns is abuzz with news about a series of recent killings tonight. Before the murders, the only question on everyone’s mind was, “Will summer ever return to Icewind Dale?” Now the question is, “Will I be the killer’s next victim?” Nothing breeds fear and paranoia like a murderer with no face.

As you talk, you overhear in Mead Hall that three cold-blooded murders have been committed in the past month: a halfling trapper in Easthaven, a human shipbuilder in Targos, and, three days ago, a dwarf glassblower in Bryn Shander (Each of these places are one of the different ten towns in Ten Towns). Each victim was found with a dagger of ice through the heart.

What’s the connection? The drunken lot huddled in the hall offer no credible ideas, but sitting apart from them is an elderly shield dwarf with a nasty scar across her nose who looks like she has something worth knowing. She’s been smoking her pipe and eyeing you ever since you all walked in.

Something inside you tells you your heroic adventure is, indeed, about to begin.

She comes up to you all.

"Well met. I am Hlin Trollbane." she introduces herself. "I'm a retired bounty hunter who lives in Ten Towns looking into these murders. Out of boredom and, well, a sense of moral decency, i've taken it upon myself to investigate the recent murders because no one else—not even the Council of Speakers—can be bothered. I have one decent lead. You and your friends interested in some work?"

"What are the terms" Rak would reply as he once again leans back in his chair. "My new friend here has already made me feel plenty warm and fuzzy on the inside so I have no need to help out of the goodness of my heart. "He would say motioning to the bouncer" What's the pay and do you want the person responsible dead or alive? Dead would be easier." The githyanki would say from under his hood. 

Slap. Clunk. Pages rustling as they flip. Phineas' tome is back on the table and notes are being taken. "A murder mystery? A tale indeed!" Despite the horrific news, the strong heart seems to be smiling. "Adventure? Danger? Mystery?," he looks about the others. "Who wouldn't be interested!?! Now tell us about this lead?"

"Very well then." she sits down with you all. "Here's the information on my lead. Sephek Kaltro works for a small traveling merchant company called Torg’s, owned and operated by a shady dwarf named Torrga Icevein. In other words, Sephek gets around. He’s charming. Makes friends easily. He’s also Torrga’s bodyguard, so I’m guessing he’s good with a blade."

“His victims come from the only three towns that sacrifice people to the Frostmaiden on nights of the new moon. This is what passes for civilized behavior in Icewind Dale. Maybe the victims found a way to keep their names out of the drawings and Sephek found out they were cheating, so he killed them. Maybe, just maybe, Sephek is doing the Frostmaiden’s work."

“I followed Torg’s for a tenday as it moved from town to town. Quite the devious little enterprise, but that’s not my concern. What struck me is how comfortable Sephek Kaltro looked in this weather. No coat, no scarf, no gloves. It was like the cold couldn’t touch him. Kiss of the Frostmaiden, indeed."

“I will pay you four hundred gold pieces to..deal..with Sephek Kaltro, ascertain his guilt, and deal with him, preferably without involving the authorities. When the job is done, return to me to collect your money.”

Phineas' pen comes to an abrupt stop as he raises his eyes from the tome and his huge smile expands impossibly bigger. "Did you say 400 gold?" He turns to look at the others, practically bouncing up and down like a kid at a candy shop. 

"Sephek is a very dangerous man." Hlin admits.

Mica tilts his head, blinking for a moment, and attempts to remember something useful for the situation. “Sephek Kaltro? He killed them?” He repeats in the voice of the woman speaking to him. “You sure about that?” He asks in an elderly, gnome-tinged voice, remembering a scene of an old merchant in his family’s shop. Oh, how he missed being there. He never would’ve imagined himself thinking that. Four hundred gold pieces was too tempting to pass up, but still, Mica cannot remember a time he has killed anyone, much less someone who sounds more than capable of ending Mica’s own life. As he thinks this, another blistering cold streak of pain runs through his skull, and he rests his head on his good hand.

"The evidence really adds up." Hlin mentions to Mica. Then, after a moment, "You all look capable. Do we have a deal? I can also let you know where I think he's going to strike next. It's not too hard. Only three towns in ten-towns offer up sacrifices to Auril. Sephek and the merchant caravan he works for would be in one of those places."

Phineas nods, writing a few more notes in his book before slamming it shut and placing it back in his pack. He gives a quick look to the others, taking in stock of what could be the possible companions. "Murders be serious business," he says. "I'm in. Where do we start?"

Hlin nods, "Your journey to find Sephek should start by investigating these three locations: Bremen, Dougan's Hole, or Lonelywood. Meet me back here with evidence that you've dealt with him. I'll be waiting. Good luck."

"So four hundred gold each? Or do we have to split that amount among..." Rak stops and counts the group aloud.. "five people? Surely us saving the poor citizens of ten towns would be worth five hundred gold if we are to split it" The gith asks with the most sincere and concerned tone of voice he can manage. 

persuasion 12

"Four hundred gold each?" she laughs. "No, i'm not Bank of Waterdeep. That's total."

(before Hlin's approach)

'Glad to hear that the hospitality is to your liking.  I'm Kilmus Kreigston, at your service to be certain.  More importantly, I'm in the service of the Master and Mistress of the hearth here to ensure the comfort of all of its patrons'

Kilmus glances up as Hiln approaches the table and steps back to give the strangers some room to talk with the shield dwarf.  As the bounty hunter wove her tale and drew in the newcomers, Kilmus kept himself just enough apart that he could still break away and take up his post at the door. Just far enough removed that he could pretend he wasn't interested in these murders, and that the allure of the adventure and gold that came with it didn't pull at him.
 
'Sounds like a spot of work worth doing and an honest days wage'  His father's voice rang clear and loud in that familiar thick accent throughout the hall. The money would be help.  It's far more than he'd see in a month of days working the door here at the hall - and maybe it would be enough to secure passage on another ship.  Besides, he knew he wouldn't be able to stay here at the Mead Hall forever.

'There's something not right here.  There's more to this than she's letting on'  His mother was always more skeptical of the world outside their village.  She was also right far more often than his too-trusting father.

'Why, exactly, are you hiring outsiders to do this work?  Why not bring this to the authorities?  Give them your evidence and have them pass judgment on this Sephak?'  his deep baritone cuts across the chatter of the bar - a voice accustomed to the setting and attuned to be heard at need.  

Hlin looks slyly at Kilmus, "I'm hoping to find a group of people with questionable morals to take care of him in a more..discrete and permanent manner. I don't want him jailed. I want him dead. I can bet almost anything he's the one responsible for those murders." 

'Violence only begets violence - you're wise enough to know that Mistress Dwarf.  This will come to ill, a cycle of violence bouncing back on itself.' 

Kilmus shakes his head and walks away from the table, back towards his post near the door.

'But if this Sephan is killing innocents, shouldn't someone stop him?  There must be a way to break the cycle of death.'  His sister's voice this time. Soft, kind, and hopeful.  A voice long since silenced in the world.  An innocent snuffed out by the anger and greed of strangers left unchecked.

Settling into his post at the door, Kilmus resumes his regular scan of the room, looking for the typical problems of a tavern and turning over this newest one in his head over and over.

"I see nothing wrong with killing a killer.  I suppose four hundred would be fine being split four ways but if Kilmus has a change of heart I really think five hundred would be more appropriate. Can you really put a price the safety of Ten  Towns? Don't you want your young ones to be able to frolic in the snow without having to worry about this murderer?" Rak would add with a smirk.

see last post for persuasion roll

The whole situation was a strange blur to Mica. Of course, he’d gone on missions before at the request of his patron, but he rarely needed to do more than deface a monument or steal something for similar worshippers or Fiends. Murder was a large jump. However, 80 gold was a tempting option, especially knowing how difficult it was to find honest work as a Kenku that was new in town. Money was money, and while Mica hears the concern of the others, he wasn’t in a position to bargain or question their employer. Fate seemed to orient itself perfectly. “I’m in,” he nods at the Halfling, repeating his own words to him. Unfortunately, that meant getting back into the cold, and Mica shuddered - he really should get some more clothes. He didn’t want to reveal how he kept himself alive quite yet. He remembers a time back in Waterdeep where he was running mail as a side job, and a woman asked where he got the jade necklace on his neck. “D’you know where I can get some o’ these?” he says, pointing towards the various winter clothes everyone was carrying. After that, he’ll pack away any morsel of food that he hadn’t finished - he had almost starved once, and he was determined not to go hungry again, especially now that it seems the group will be traveling again. 

Persuasion:23

 Fintan surveyed the dwarven women, and with an incredulous laugh sheathed her dagger with a clink, cautiously throwing herself into a nearby chair. ''Well, I do think this would be a great opportunity for thee, as this supposed killer has taken one of my own targets. The bastard of the Targos Shipbuilder owed me a bit for a fight. It's not like you wee folks haven't ever given a good beaten to someone that deserved one, ay? Its not quite different from killing a killer for there be still the same amount in this town, only difference is we be doing this to stop it, for the good price of 80 gold.''  

She stretched a map of the town out over her leg before turning her sharp gaze to Kilmus, challenging him.'' You say you're here to ensure the hearth is comfortable to all its patrons, yes? Well, what about all the lovely, but drunken, patrons here that could walk out and never return. Say, I don't think your mistress or master would be the happiest goblin out there if that 'twas to happen.Though I do agree this appears a bit suspicious, nothing ever is quite straight forward in backwater towns like these, but us folks could always do a little investigation of our own. even if its for 400 gold instead of  500.' Besides, I quite avidly wish to stop this victim taking, don't you?' We could even split and gather more information around town.''  Fintan calmly declared, a twinkle in her eyes at the thought of adventure, be it a bit of a suspicious one. She traced her finger over the path she had taken to get here on her worn map, quietly affirming her own thoughts that there was a pattern, a darker rhyme and reason to the fates bringing them all together here. She quietly thought of all the kind people that lived here, ignoring the haunted look in her eyes, the silent darkness that plagued her. They had helped her and in return she would help them, even if she had to do more investigation and live in more danger then she already did, after all its rare for a elf to be a wrenched one.

She quickly shook the thought away and taking out a nib, began to categorize which town is more likely for a company of the shady sort to reside in.

To Kilmus: "Perhaps. Perhaps not. But I can't stand by and do nothing."

Hlin says after Rak drives a hard bargain: "You all seem like a thoughtful, capable bunch. Fine. I'll raise it to five hundred gold, and not a dragon more. Now git. I'll be waiting here."

Kilmus, from the corner of your eye, you spy someone out the window. A figure, peering in. A young woman. You're not sure how you can make that out, seeing as the window is mostly frosted over, but she seems to be trying to get your attention. You wonder why she hasn't gone inside, and it's possible she's trying to play off she just got caught peeping inside.