The Skinsaw Murders

"Eep!"  Li Kao ducked, and the shelving behind him was smashed to bits by the creature's fist.  To his right, Yola rolled out of the way of the thing that used to be Seoni as it balled up its hands and swung them like a fleshy flail, its arms distending to an unnatural length at it gathered momentum.  On the second floor, Malvick heard the crash of breaking furniture and sprinted down the stairs, Ariva on his heels.

Li Kao's mind races through all his years of accumulated lore on the undead, searching for a clue as to the nature of their attackers, even as his hand withdraws a small crystal prism from the folds of his robe.  He mumbles an incantation and blows into the prism.  A kaleidoscope of colours burst forth and wash over the creature in front of him as it winds up for another swing.  It shrieks out in surprise and covers it featureless face, momentarily stunned by the sensory overload.  Definitely not undead then, Li Kao thought.  For the spray of colours he had conjured usually had no effect on the mindless undead.

Yola had just gotten a surprise of her own, but of a very different kind.  She rolled around her opponent's first swing and cut deep into its side with a powerful side swing.  As the blade connected, a transformation took place.  A silvery light ran up and down it twin lengths and the creature before her shied away.  Yola, shocked by this development lower her guard for a moment.  The Seoni-creature's flailing fist caught her across the shoulder and sent her reeling.  She swore and redoubled her attack with her mysteriously transformed blade.

At about this time Malvick arrived in the doorway.  He took stock of the situation in an instant.   Yola had trapped one ... thing in a corner and was hacking away at it furiously.  At the other end of the room a second red skinned creature held one had over its face and flailed blindly with the other.  Li Kao had pressed himself as far back into the corner as he could to avoid the wildly flailing, distended arms of the creature.  Since Yola seemed to have things well under control, Malvick fired three arrows directly into the creature threatening Li Kao.  It staggered backwards but did not fall.  Malvick reached for another arrow, but the thing's vision cleared and it swung at Malvick.  Its arm stretched and stretched, and Malvick, over ten feet away from it, was slammed against the door frame with enough strength to splinter the wood.  As the creature's arm snapped back to its normal length Malvick rose to one knee and put two arrows to his bow at once and let fly.  Both shafts buried themselves deep into its fleshy torso, and the thing slumped to the floor.

Yola, bruised by several solid punches, finished her opponent off with a vicious flurry, and the three companions stood victorious.  Li Kao dusted himself off and straightened his robe.  He walked over to one of the strange corpses and placed his fingers on its brow, eyes closed in concentration.  Irori granted him knowledge of the thing, and he knew its name:  Ugothol, commonly known as a Faceless Stalker.  An abhorrent race of shapeshifters created thousands of years ago to serve unknown masters as infiltrators and assasins.  Since the fall of ancient Thasillon a millenia ago they have degenerated into little better than parasites preying on other humanoid communities, hiding away in murky swamps, praying for the day that their ancient masters rise again and return them to their rightful status.

Afterwards, the three search the rest of the townhouse.  Malvick remembers the lion headed key they took off Aldern back at the mansion and reasons correctly that there may be a link with the lion headed Mantle piece on the second floor study.  The key fits into a cleverly disguised lock inside one of the lions' mouth, and opens a secret compartment that the original looters missed.  Inside is a strong box.  The three grab the strong box and return to their rooms at the inn before the night gets much later. 

Reuniting with Sasha and Xer, the group opens the strong box.  Inside the find what must have been Foxglove's secret nest egg - a large pouch containing 200 platinum pieces ( worth 1000gp).  There is also a shallow wooden box containing a number of legal papers, including the deed to the townhouse, as well as the deed to Foxglove manor.  The deed indicates that the Foxglove family only financed two-thirds of the construction 80 years ago; the remainder was financed by a group called the "Brothers of Seven."  The deed also bears an unusual clause near the end that indicates that after one hundred years ownership o Foxglove manor, and lands within one mile "around and below" revert to the brothers.

Under the case is a thin black ledger - the majority of the purchases and payments are mundane, but several near the end are of interest.  There are nearly a dozen entries over the past three months labeled as "Seoni's trip to Absalom," each indicating Aldern paying 200gp a week  for her "trip" to someone referred to a b.7, dropping off the payment every Oathday at midnight at a place called "The Seven's Sawmill."