Session 19 - Welcome to Fernmire

    This session started with the party looting the bodies of the orc horde and traveling to Fernmire.  One of the things first noticed by Bl'nx was a faint aura of evil that seemed to cover the entire town.  The first thing they did was accompany Areden to the store Unique Tools where the met the gnomes Podpon and Abonwar.  They concluded their business quickly and Areden went to Fernmire's Finest, the finest inn and restaurant in Fernmire.  The party continued to do some shopping and sold all of the weapons and armour they picked off the orcs as well as went to purchase a few items.  The big ticket purchases are Bl'nx's armour coming in at 2300 gold and Saloch's fancy robe at 50 gold.  For some context Bl'nx spent the equivalent of 230 000 dollars on armour and Saloch spent 5000 dollars on a robe.  The party then went to spend a night at The Sparrow's Inn.  Zanben set out to make a deal with the inn keeper to perform in exchange for free room and board and spent his day advertising himself around town.
      Later that night at roughly 8 o'clock an incredibly thick fog covered the entire city.  It soon became almost impossible to see anything in the fog and many of the residents went home.  Unfortunatly for Zanben this meant that there was a very small crowd and he did not net as much money as he thought he would.  Bl'nx decided to stand outside of the inn and wait for anything bad to happen as he was definatly suspicious of this fog.

It was around this time that mike had to go home which is unfortunate because he keeps missing all the fun stuff. 



    At the end of the night Zanben had made a few silver and Bl'nx heard some guards running towards the east end of the town.  He caught up with one who told him that there was some sort of crime commited and that the guards were going to investigate.  Bl'nx followed them and found 5 people dead in the street all in the same area.  The guards fanned out looking for the assailent.  Upon closer inspection Bl'nx discovered that their faces were horribly twisted in fear.  This made Bl'nx fairly suspcious and he went out looking around the town for the assailent as well.   Around the same time Zanben went to go look for Areden to get his opinion on the matter.  Areden wasn't quite sure what to make of the fog but told Zanben he was finished with his business in this town and had good reason to leave.  Bl'nx and Zanben ended up returning to the inn where they met each other and compared notes.  As the clock tower struck 12 the fog began to dissapate.  Kyler was asleep at this point.
   
    The next day Bl'nx and Zanben went about the town to talk with some of the people of Fernmire in the investigations and Kyler went to train with the guards.  Bl'nx was concerned that who ever had done this probably came from the  Fernmire sea and had due cause to believe that it was aquatic in nature.  When inquiring at the docks he was directed to a man named Bascom Yates who lives at the docks in a house boat.  Bascom Yates told him that he didn't hear anything last night but he considered himself lucky as he had just moved out of that neighborhood a week prior to the killings of the night before.  They also learned that about 3 weeks ago Emory Steele a fisherman who worked at the docks had drowned at sea while fishing. 

    Not having too many leads Bl'nx decided to just investigate the major sources of evil in the town.  The first area he had was the graveyard, the second was the butchery the third was Prardo's Emporium of Mystery and Horror and the majority of the fishing wharf.   They decided first to investigate the graveyard where they found 3 grave diggers. The grave diggers informed them that there was no unusual activity during the night but told them that Emory Steele was Bascom Yates employer.  The second place, Prardo's Emporium, was much more promising.  Prardo's Emporium is basically a freakshow of strange monsters and artifacts.  Customers pay for tour's and for 10 times the regular tour price they get to see the truely horrifying tour.  Bl'nx argued with the Halfling Proprietor Prardo over whether or not he would get his money back if he wasn't truely horrified.  Eventually they got on the tour and Prardo showed them a number of dead or caged monsters and evil magic items.  One item of note was a tentacle ball that looked the same as what Saloch carried.  When asked Prardo wouldn't reveal his source of items.  Though Zanben enjoyed the tour Bl'nx was disgusted by the large collection of evil creatures kept in the area.  They went to the guards station to report Prardo and picked up Kyler while they were there.  They also consulted with Areden who was in the process of leaving.  He told them he believed it was something to do with the undead.  When asked why he was leaving he explained he had a death in the family and was going to the ressurection ceremony.

    The third place they checked was the butchery were they met a man Bl'nx determined to be evil who gave his whereabouts the night before saying he was at home with his wife and child the night the murders happened.  He also told them that the killings happened outside Bascom Yates old house.  Verifying his story the party members when to the butchers house and spoke with his wife.  Around this time the fog started to move in again.  Kyler told the family to keep inside and the party split up with Zanben watching Prardos while Bl'nx and Kyler went to the sea to see what they could see.  At about 10 o'clock a translucent figure emerged from the sea looking like a man soaked to the bone with a fishing net draped over him.  He floated to the same area where all those people died the night before.  While he hung there the party caught up with him and Kyler asked if he was Emory Steele.  The ghost spoke Bascom Yates name and immediatly attacked the two of them and after a long drawn out fight in which charisma was drained and Kyler's face ended up twisted like the corpses before.  The party eventually defeated the ghost and then ran to the guard post and brought the guards to Bascom Yates house where they arrested him and discovered a large bag of gold coins.  The party went back to the inn and slept.