The Skinsaw Murders

The party agrees that travelling to Korvosa in pursuit of the Red Gull and its cargo of plague rats is the right thing to do.  How much trouble can the woman in the clock tower get up to while they are away anyway?

Once the decision is made, Li Kao gets the group moving.  "Sasha, you'll know your way around the docks better than anyone, take Yola as added muscle and make arrangements for our departure on the next ship out. Xer, head back to the inn and get our things in order. Malvick and I will set the stage here for his murder and then we will all meet up at the inn and see where we stand. All of us try to remain as cloaked and forgettable as possible, the fewer witnesses of our presence here and our hasty departure the better."


Li Kao and Malvick select the cultist closest in build to Malvick, and the two set about the grim task of methodically making it appear as if the ritual sacrifice had been successful. Assuming it will not be possible to cover the signs of battle, Li Kao focuses on making it look as if Malvick had been killed just before the heroes showed up.  Then the two slip out into the night, waiting for the slaughter house scene to be discovered.

At first light Sasha and Yola head down to the harbour and arrange passage on the fastest vessel departing that morning they can find that will accept passengers - a light cargo hauler out of Riddleport named the Direption.

The party sets sail straight away.  After talking to the captain it becomes apparent that there will not be a chance to catch the Red Gull at sea.  The Direption's captain knows the other vessel, saying that the ship is known for its speed and her captain for being precise in his navigation ( likely why the Brothers chose her as their courier).  He does expect that they will be able to make up some time on her though, as the Direption runs with more sail than the Red Gull, and the winds look strong.

During the trip, Li Kao copies many spells from the new spell book into his own (blink, cat's grace, fox's cunning, grease, haste, mage armor, shrink item, spider climb, web).  More importantly, he cracks Ironbriar's cypher and decodes his journal.  If he wasn't already dead, there is enough evidence in the journal to put Ironbriar in the gallows.  It also makes it clear that he had had his heart stolen by the Wanton of Nature's Pagan Forms.  There is very little detail on her in the journal, but he does note that "his dark haired muse" has shown him new ways to kill, directing him and his cult to victim after victim, and that he vistited her on at least a dozen occasions at the old clocktower)

The trip is tense for all.  Malvick, returning to the city of his birth, haunted by the faces of dead comrades; Sasha struggling with her loyalties to a family long since estranged; Xer, with no family of her own, trying to uphold the codes of a faith that turned its back on her: Yola sailing farther away from the rolling plains than any of her tribe ever had; and Li Kao, unsure that his faltering light will be bright enough to shepherd these younger souls through the dangers ahead.

After three and a half days at sea, the Direption sails under the watchful cannons of the Korvosan Guard and into the harbour of the city of the Crimson Throne less than twelve hours behind the Red Gull...
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If there is anything else your characters want to do either before leaving Magnimar or while on the Direption, post it here.  Also, feel free to discuss you plans for what to do once you disembark.  Otherwise, I'll be posting the next installment sometime this weekend.