Session 1: Make contact with Bhjurba's Den

"Alright Gonzo, take em to see Bhjurba. I gotta make sure the guys on the wall are set for the night."

The red haired guard leaves the party, and heads towards the walls. With her boot still off, Gonzo waits patiently for her to put it back on. With night approaching, an eerie silence falls upon the settlement. It should be safe within the tower walls, but for some reason your instincts are still on high alert. The air feels unnatural, maybe if you concentrate you could--

SQUAWK! "Smells of blood."

The bird swoops down, perches itself on the door of the nearest building, and sharpens his beak on the red cross that is mounted on the frame. His head perks up once Yrsa makes mental contact.

"Kilo no stay. Kilo not get eaten like the others."

This bird seems to have some strong opinions about the area.

"Mmmfid mmrd. Mfets mo mmfemr mmr mfeady, mfirate."

You hear the bird as you follow Gonzo towards the tower doors "Don't get eaten!" and a final SQUAWK as the doors close behind you.

...

The party earns 150XP for making to the Tower!

The walls inside the tower are made from rough stone, but the floors are nice a smooth. It's fairly well decorated, but still has a certain air of brutality to it. Gonzo leads the part up a spiraling staircase, you can't help but remember they story Tarl told about children being thrown from the top of this tower. There's also that dungeon below, where Tarl's sister is being held.

"Mmfurba mmikes mmf mfop. Mmf mfink mt's mmfemfuse mfe's a mfort mmfwarf, mmfike mfoo!"

Gonzo chortles at his own joke, and also giggles a little while pointing at Leilara.

On the way up, Leilara's nose catches a familiar scent. Smells like flowers from behind a closed door. Wouldn't be too hard to give Gonzo the slip for a minute or two, if that's the course of action you want to take.

Leilara slips away unnoticed. The door was unlocked, probably because no one expected a thief to break into the tower. The inside of the room dark, but Leilara can make out the outlines of a writing desk, large wardrobe, and a cage large enough to hold a person. There's another door that leads to another room, but the perfume smell is definitely coming from this room. Every so often you catch a whiff of death, probably from the open window.

...

Gonzo laughs and nods in reaction to Yrsa, and leads the party up to the final floor.

Magnus finds a note on the desk, it looks unfinished and the inkwell has been knocked onto the floor. It reads:

Herald,
That girl you sold me was too strong minded, what backwards hole did you find her in? She refused to do a single task, so I sent her to the surgeon a couple days. A few weeks of rehabilitation should sort her out. I've talked to Bossa, and replaced her with another pretty one. He's a weird one, always fiddling with his scarf. At least this one does what it is told...

Talk to Bossa if you want that girl back, we'll probably end up selling her to the---


And the rest is covered with spilled ink.

On closer inspection, the cage has a detailed, ornate design. It's sort of weird to see something so barbaric as a human cage be so finely crafted. These slave traders have a strange taste in decor.

Leilara also notices the letter on the desk, but nothing else of note.

The wardrobe door is stuck, it'll take a serious effort to yank to open. Also, she discovers that it smells absolutely horrid. The perfume doesn't do much to mask the scent up close.

The cage is also closed shut, but she can see a bundle of cloth on the ground. However, her arms are too short to reach from the outside.

Magnus gives a good tug, and the wardrobe door pops open. A decomposing corpse ungracefully slumps onto the floor, barely missing Magnus. The slight smell of death now fully encompasses the room, gross!

The body looks like someone who was wealthy, probably a slave trader. From the way his head is tilted at an impossible angle, it clear that someone had snapped his neck.