Game date: Thu 08 Sept 4711 A.R.
Early Thursday morning, Sheriff Hemlock dropped by the Rusty Dragon to tell the Sandpoint Heroes that he and three men would be leaving for Magnimar within the hour, and would probably be gone for several days. He again asked the adventurers to stay in town and to make their presence known, as the townsfolk had mostly taken a liking to them, and their presence would likely make residents feel less uneasy with the sheriff away. Shalelu also wished Hemlock a good journey, and said that she would be leaving for her homeland in the Mierani Forest that morning as well, as she wanted to get there before the winter set in.
The next three days passed without any major incidents. The adventurers conducted some personal business, and otherwise acted like de facto town guardsmen.
Game date: Sun 11 Sept 4711 A.R.
That ended early Sunday morning. Over breakfast at the Rusty Dragon, the heroes were approached by a visibly upset Bethany, the Dragon's chief of staff. Bethany reported that Ameiko Kaijitsu, the owner and proprietor of the inn, failed to show up to work. That was strange: Ameiko never took a day off without telling anyone first. Bethany said that she went to Ameiko's apartment, and she wasn't there either. She said that she let herself into Ameiko's apartment, and found that her bed hadn't been slept in. She said that she briefly searched the room and found a crumpled-up letter in the wastebasket, which she had smoothed back out. She handed the letter to Ted:
Hello, Sis!
I hope this letter finds you well, and with some free time on your hands, because we’ve got something of a problem. It’s to do with Father.
Seems that he might have had something to do with Sandpoint’s recent troubles with the goblins, and I didn’t want to bring the matter to authorities because we both know he’d just manage to weasel his way out of it as usual. I know you’ve got some pull here in town. If you can meet me at the Glassworks at midnight tonight, maybe we can figure out how to make sure he faces the punishment he deserves. Knock twice, then three times more at the delivery entrance, and I’ll let you in.
In any case, I don’t have to impress upon you the delicate nature of this request. If news gets out, you know that these local rubes would assume that you and I were in on the whole thing too, don’t you? They’ve got no honor at all around here. I still don’t understand how you can stand to live in this stupid little backwater. It’s so much better in Magnimar, or even Riddleport!
Anyway, don’t tell anyone about this. There are other complications as well, and I’d rather talk to you in person about those later tonight. Don’t be late!
— Tsuto
Charrone asked Bethany about Tsuto, she made an unpleasant face. "Ameiko is the eldest of the Kaijitsu children, but old Lonjiku wasn't too thrilled about that-- he wanted his firstborn to be a son. While his second child Tsuto was a boy, he was even less pleased. You see, Tsuto is of part-Elven blood, but he looks for all the world like his mother. Neither old Lonjiku nor the late Lady Kajitsu were of Elven descent, if you catch my drift. While everyone pretended that the old man was the boy's father, Lonjiku never warmed to the child, obviously not his. When Tsuto was very young, he sent him to Turandarok Academy to study with the waifs and orphans. He also forbade his wife from visiting. Only Ameiko ever visited.
"Tsuto was trouble. He frequently fought with the other children, and only old Lonjiku's money and influence kept him enrolled. The day he graduated, Tsuto left town, and the rumor was he went straight to Riddleport. Ameiko had a big argument with her father over this, and she joined a band of adventurers not too long after that. She was gone for two years, and made enough money adventuring to buy the inn! She says she only returned when she learned of her mother's death five years ago.
"Lady Kaijitsu? Oh, it was a tragic loss. She was the Chopper's first victim. She went suddenly missing one day about five years ago-- Old Lonjiku got the sheriff and the guards to look for her, they checked ship manifests, everything. But then other bodies started to show up, and the town became terrified of a killer we called the Chopper. No, they never found her body, but we all figured she must have been Chopper's first victim and after killing the second, he stopped trying to hide the bodies. Anyway, when Tsuto found out his mother died, he returned for the funeral. At the funeral, he publicly accused his father of pushing her off the balcony of their manor, and old Lonjiku slapped him, then struck him with his cane. Tsuto cursed his father and left, for good he said. I haven't seen or heard of him since! And good riddance, I say!"
The party decided to check out the Glassworks to see if anyone there had seen Ameiko or Tsuto. On the way over, they stopped by the Academy to find out if their recollection of Tsuto matched Bethany's assessment. The headmaster was engaged, but they spoke with one of the teachers, who gave pretty much the same story as Bethany.
When they got to the Glassworks, it was about half past nine on a Sunday morning. The sign on the door indicated that the shop should have opened half an hour earlier, but the door was locked and nobody answered the door. Larissa checked the back door, the delivery entrance, and the service doors-- all locked. However, smoke still came out of the chimneys, indicating that someone was still stoking the furnace used for fusing glass.
Looking in the windows, Larissa made a horrific discovery: the main workshop was overrun by goblins, who appeared to be amusing themselves by smashing glassware, burning and/or melting things in the furnace—and mutilating the bodies of the dead glassworkers! One sight was particularly ghastly-- a man, obviously dead, was seated in a chair and completely encased in glass. Fortunately, the goblins seemed to be having too much "fun" to notice the rogue peering through the window. Larissa returned to the main group, and informed them what she saw.
Larissa picked the lock at the back door, near the workshop, and the party entered. They burst into the workshop, and immediately began exterminating the goblins. There were about ten goblins in the place, and they attacked the party with tongs dripping with molten glass, hurled glassware, whips, and dogslicers. A pitched battle ensued: the party was outnumbered, but better-armed and better-disciplined, and quickly began a goblin body count.
At one point in the battle, Halfred found himself attacked from behind. He wheeled to find a young half-elven man in leather armor had jut hit him in the back with an arrow. Enraged, Halfred leapt at the man, assumed to be Tsuto, and struck him before he could escape. While the blow was mighty, Tsuto didn't fall. Instead, Tsuto produced a heavy paper tube, put it to his mouth, and blew into it. A cloud of black dust shot out of the other end, catching Halfred in the face. Halfred felt a severe burning sensation in his eyes, which became so irritated and teary that he was effectively blinded. Tsuto tried to move past the blinded Halfred, but Halfred's reflexes were too good, and he caught Tsuto before he could make his escape. With a blow to the head from Charrone, he went down, unconscious but not dead. Larissa removed his weapons and tied him up securely.
The rest of the party slew all but two of the goblins. These two managed to make it to a back door of the workshop, and eluded Ted and Declan, who went searching for them. The party found a stairway into the Glassworks cellar, and assumed that the goblins must be holed up down there.
Ted sent for the town guard, and the adventurers made a quick search of the rest of the Glassworks main floor. The body of one of the eight glassworkers was found in the worker's dormitory, but there was enough blood and signs of a struggle to indicate that the goblins most likely attacked the workmen while they slept. One other body was found butchered like a hog in the factory's dining room, with a good amount of its flesh unaccounted for. Declan suggested that the goblins must have eaten it.
In the workshop, the party found the mutilated bodies of six more glassworkers, plus the glass-encased body in the chair. That body was older, with Tian features. MacGreggor recognized him as Lonjiku Kaijitsu from the brief address he'd given early in the day at the Swallowtail Festival.
Turning their attention to Tsuto, they found a set of lockpicks, a potion, a finely-crafted rapier and shortbow, a potion, and another one of the blow-tubes full of blinding powder. Larissa claimed many of these items, as they fit her style. He also wore enchanted leather armor.
Jubal and Sandi of the Sandpoint Guard arrived. They woke Tsuto and attempted to interrogate him. Aside from a smug grin that even a few back-hands couldn't remove, he said next to nothing. The guards took him to the garrison for further questioning.
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