The PCs ignore Shalabarr's warning, remaining outside the Blind Vixen as they wait for he and his companions to finish their meal and drink. But Shalabarr does not emerge, so the PCs enter the tavern. The halfling is nowhere to be found. The PCs question a half-elf they hadn't seen earlier, who motions towards a curtain behind the bar. Pockny approaches the curtain but is waylaid by the blind vixen herself, Frestha, who threatens the priest with a rolling pin. Our heroes claim they have writs to arrest Shalabarr, and Mudgol tries to trick the old woman with a page torn out of his spellbook. Frestha has her cook Baffles read the page, and he recognizes the hoax. Frestha then urges the PCs to leave her establishment. Though the tavern has no visible rear exit, the PCs suspect that she has helped Shalabarr escape.
As our PCs exit the tavern, they see the woman in leathers from earlier, who had accompanied Shalabarr into the Blind Vixen with two other halflings. She is chewing an apple beneath a tree, right behind the tavern. As the PCs approach, she beckons them to follow her outside Halehusk, where Shalabarr is waiting to meet them and discuss their business in privacy, away from the ears of any passing by guards. The half-elf woman from within has also followed the party outside, and they leave Tundra Wolf to keep a watchful eye upon her while they follow the woman, 'Fancy' Nan to the East of the village. She leads them to a clearing, springing a trap upon them. The two halfling thugs from earlier leap out of the surrounding cornfields and Nan draws out her axes.
As Tundra Wolf and the half-elf woman (known as Navan) close in on the battle, Nan notices the tide may turn in the PCs' favor, so she activates a ruby amulet about her neck, which summons a shadow-self to aid her in the battle. The battle is bloody, with Imperion being taken down several times, only to be healed with Pockny's magick. Mudgol picks a fine time to play archer, firing upon the halflings. Due to their concerted fire, the PCs emerge victorious from the battle, without managing to kill any of their opponents! They restrain the human woman and the halflings, but Shalabarr is nowhere to be found (his rickshaw has left the village). Imperion snatches the inert pendant from about Nan's neck, and the heroes decide to carry the lot back to Floivin Keep, where they can turn them over to the city guard, without alerting the local Captain of Halehusk. They drag along the belongings of the three, deciding they are ultimately worthless. Imperion notices a strange series of marks engraved on the back of 'Fancy' Nan's neck.
Once they arrive at Floivin Keep, they approach the Eidolorn Guard at the East Gate courthouses, who in turn sends out word to Lt. Banghorn, and then escort Nan and the halflings to the Floivin Penitentiary building in Armory Square. After filing their report, they decide to split up. Pockny heads to the Cathedral of Blades, while Imperion heads for the barracks to get some rest. Mudgol decides to follow the woman Navan, under the suspicion that she might be an unregistered magic user. She heads over to Dronn's Arsenal to have a metal disc beaten upon which she can place an arcane mark. Tundra Wolf temporarily disappears, presumably to find himself a stout city brew. Soon, a local guard fetches Pockny from the Cathedral, and the two head to Armory Square to join up with Imperion. Turns out, this 'guard' is none other than a well-disguised Lt. Banghorn! Pockny is surprised, but not Imperion, who sees through the guise. After Mudgol arrives, Banghorn grants the PCs permission to interrogate the three prisoners being held at Floivin Penitentiary.
They first attempt to crack Nan, to no effect, so they move over to the halflings' cell. The halflings are being held in a cell with a filthy, long-bearded old man known as 'Zinsk', who speaks in a creepy tone and apparently has been convicted for lewd acts. The halflings have no desire to answer the party's questions, but Zinsk informs the PCs that he has overheard their nervous chatter. Our heroes arrange to have Zinsk moved from his cell to the guards' rec room, where they interrogate him. The old man attempts to bargain for his freedom, or the visitation of a woman to sate his awful desires. He winds up getting to keep the pet rat 'Fluffy' he has concealed in his clothes, and the promise that a woman would 'visit' him, if only to ask him further questions. He tells the PCs that the halflings were nervous that 'Grandmother' might find out they were working for Shalabarr, and that they are angry that they didn't get their money up front from the flamboyant never-do-well.
Zinsk is returned to his cell, where the PCs confront the halflings with their new-found knowledge. The halflings make a deal with the heroes, not to inform Grandmother Hosspotch of their dealings, and in turn they relate their duties, which were to crack a few skulls for Shalabarr Klasp (revealing his last name). They claim he is not a Hosspotch, and Grandmother is not fond of the deviant entertainer. Navan arrives, and the PCs convince her to speak with Zinsk, honoring their earlier deal. Zinsk approaches the cell bars, and suddenly 'Fluffy' darts out from his clothing and up Navan's skirt. Mortified, she stomps the rat out, and it zips back into the cell! What the hell is going on? Angry, she storms out of the Penitentiary, with the PCs in tow.
Later, they head back to the Fiery Rat to meet up once more with Lt. Banghorn, encountering Tundra Wolf outside in a screaming match with the barkeep, over the tavern's incendiary sign, which has nearly set him on fire twice now as he passed below it. Inside, Banghorn is disguised as a heavily cowled Melethesian merchant. After awarding them each a sack of bonus pay (10 platinum each), he insists that the party's two new companions be deputized, so they can assist in the next mission. The PCs, and Banghorn, have learned that both Nan and Shalabarr Klasp belong to an organization known as 'The Score'. This is purported to be a group of 20 men and women who were once slaves at Sothos Karr to the south, who now function as spies and mercenaries for various parties. It is unknown who they are working for, or why they are in Floivin.
Lt. Banghorn charges the PCs with hunting down Shalabarr Klasp and any other members of The Score they can muster. The heroes believe there is some connection between this organization and the red marks they found on the map Shalabarr carried in a compartment of his rickshaw. The PCs leave to purchase some supplies, and Mudgol uses his earnings to identify the ruby amulet, which turns out to be an Amulet of the Black Mimic. Imperion purchases a potion of cure light wounds from the Chapel of Blades, and with the help of Mudgol, Navan registers herself as sorcerer with the Arkana Arkiva, to avoid later harassment.
PCs: Imperion, Mudgol, Navan, Pockny
NPCs
Baffles (human male): Baffles is the head cook for the Blind Vixen tavern in Halehusk. He's a swarthy, hairy man, with bushy eyebrows and thick nose hairs. He is very fond of a cherrywood pipe which he almost chokes on as he chews it so fiercely, and he wears a chef's cloth cap slung low over his eyes.
'Fancy' Nan (human female): A skilled dual axe fighter and a member of the shadow organization known as The Score. Little is known of Nan's origin, but she is fair skinned, with beautiful auburn hair and gleaming hazel eyes. She serves as a bodyguard to Shalabarr Klasp, and has the brand of The Score carved into the back of her neck. A fierce combatant, Nan was known to have a particular trick up her sleeve; a magical pendant which conjured a shadowy image of herself to aid her in battle. Nan was defeated in Halehusk by the PCs, and turned over to Floivin Penitentiary, where she remains.
Frestha (human female): Frestha is the proprietress and barkeep at the Blind Vixen tavern in Halehusk. She's a blind woman in her 50s, but wise and courteous to most of her patrons. It is suspected that the gray and black haired woman is in league with criminal elements, for Shalabarr Klasp and his companions were able to escape from the PCs prying eyes, though there are no visible exits to the Blind Vixen save the front door. Frestha may have a handicap, but she does not let it stand in her way, and brooks no trouble nor treachery from anyone walking through her door. She is known to be pretty mean with a rolling pin.
Zinsk (human male): A twisted old man, filthy and unkempt, with an all-too long, graying beard with fecal stains and rat whiskers throughout. Zinsk is being held in the Floivin Penitentiary due to various lewd acts he has committed against local women. He is known as the most infamous peeping tom in all of Floivin Province, but his methods are rather...unconventional. Zinsk refers to himself as the 'Keeper of Rats', and is never without his precious 'best of the brood', a stumpy albino rat named 'Fluffy'. Zinsk constantly craves the presence of a woman, but to what end...
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