A Study in Crimson

This page is a work in progress. During the harvest festival in the Crimson Casbah, three visitors found themselves following a well dressed man running in terror. They follow this man into an alley where they found him dead with his head torn off and his blood drained. It seemed some creature had killed him in the middle of town and removed itself from the memories of those watching. Jeerlock, Shawn, and Drake were taken for questioning and interrogated by a Roadani cleric. She told them the man killed was a high ranking WMA member, and she let them go with a warning to not investigate. Despite this the three decide to look into his murder. They found their way to his room at the local inn. Searching it they found clues that he was being hunted by a Sren’Kana, a Stone-Eater to be exact. In the morning the group was the first to rise at the bunkhouse. They followed tracks of the Sren’Kana on the roof which indicated it had gone west. They also found most people in the Casbah were lethargic and sad. At the temple of Cainar, they spoke to the priest and he told them something had broken in last night and stolen his supply of mind stones. He didn’t get a good look at it. They also found the cleric there. Seeing as she was one of the few coherent people in town they teamed up. They realized the only people unaffected by the lethargy likely had mind stones of their own. The Cleric then brought them to find the Commandant. They found he too had been killed by the Stone-Eater. Drake tried to scry on the Sren’Kana but was noticed. The monster began to hunt him. To get rid of the beast they decided to continue with the festival and throw a party in the tavern. There they found the tavern keeper was being hunted to. After going through hours of setup, they threw the party. Through the combination of loud music, free alcohol and food, a spell from the cleric, and a well thrown spear by Shawn, they drove the Sren’Kana from Crimson Casbah, breaking the spell and freeing the town.

Important Characters
Player Characters
 * Drake Horngold: A fire-breather and magician from the Southern Isles. He went by the name Southern Dragon, though he never lived a life of piracy.
 * Jeerlock Jolmes: Renowned in Toalla for his escapades, Jeerlock was a famous detective and monster hunter.
 * Shawn Shotson: The assistant of Jeerlock and former member of the Roadani Military. Shawn was a doctor and well trained in arms.

Summary
Crimson Casbah lay on the dividing line between the Empire of Roadon, and the vast merchant state of Toalla. A small town of little importance, it was often forgotten about except for the festival. The six nights of festivities, one night for each god, attracted the attention of people on both sides of the border. The town was unique in that inside the red walls, was a blending of the two cultures. On the second night of the festival, the night devoted to Caianr, there were fire breathers from Roadon, candy merchants from Toalla, and scarecrows put up for the celebration in front of each building decorated in both styles. To celebrate the god of emotion, people brought their instruments. Dozens of people tried to play together. There were Roadani Drums, Toalla trumpets, flutes, and string instruments. Somehow the chaos resolves itself into a pleasant background for the night. It was the end of the year, and people are celebrating, happy to get through it.

Interrupting the joy, Jeerlock Jolmes noticed a man in fine Toallan clothes, running through the crowd in a panic. He looked in terror at each scarecrow as he fled. Jerrlock and his assistant Shawn decided to follow the man. In his frenzied dash, he bumped into the firebreather Drake during a performance. Annoyed that his finale had been ruined, Drake decided to follow him as well. The three dashed between buildings, Drake some distance behind the others, until Jeerlock stopped. He thought he saw a shadowy figure on a nearby roof, which gives him a sense of deja vu. Shotson broke him from the trance and they ran on. Interested in what had made Jeerlock stop, Drake climbed on the roof and found nothing. His thoughts were interrupted by a short scream. Jeerlock and Shawn entered a small plaza to see the Toallan man dead, with his head and lots of blood missing. Shawn had some medical training from his army days. He investigated the corpse and guessed by the tear, that the head was ripped off. He also found claw marks.

Jeerlock noticed Drake on the roof and after a terse conversation, Drake climbed down. The firebreather stuck his fingers in the blood. As soon as he did, he felt a horrible sense of dread, and knew the man was being chased. Before they could continue investigating, a squad of Roadani soldiers appeared. They demanded to know what was happening, but calmed after Shawn showed them his amulet. Jeerlock, Shawn, and Drake, got escorted away from the crime scene and told they would be questioned soon, but were not under suspicion.

-Taken to a meeting room in Roadani quarter, Jeerlock sits at table, Shawn watches out the window, Drake stands in the corner

-Drake tries to leave after a few minutes, speaks with door guard, she promises him tea

-As drake is about to leave, there is a knock on the door and tea arrives along with spiced cookies

-Wait another 10 minutes and drake throws a log from the fire through the window, as a cleric opens the door.

-Cleric is a member of the roadani military and a war mage. She also has a red stripe on the collar of her robe indicating she has studied emotional magic

-She asks them what they saw, Jeerlock mentioned the body and the figure, Cleric seems exasperated. Also asks if they think their memories are incomplete. Jeerlock says yes and she asks them not to investigate for their own safety. Also tells them the body was an important WMA member

-When she leaves Jeerlock and Shawn follow her out, then climb onto a roof because Jeerlock has deduced that the figure uses the roofs to move. Drake joins them after leaving through the window. They all agree to investigate starting with the Toallan tavern where the victim likely had a room

-All climb down and go to tavern

-At tavern Drake pretends to be a prostitute that the WMA guy hired. Convinces the bartender to lead him upstairs where they knock on his door. There is no answer and bartender makes him leave.

-Drake meets Jeerlock and Shawn outside and shows them which window belongs to the WMA guy. Jeerlock pulls out a grappling hook and throws it at the window timing it so the glass breaks when he deduced someone inside would drop a cup.

-They climb inside, Drake lights candles with magic, Jolmes deduces he has incantry tattoos under his hand wrappings

-Quickly search his room. Jolmes finds a talent in a coat. The coat also has a red ribbon wrap indicating the man went to the temple of Cainar.

-shotson and Jolmes find that the man has been reading a book about monsters. He has marked a chapter on the Sren’Kana of emotion, a stone-eater. The Sren’Kana eats mindstones and can make people forget it.

-They also notice he’s been writing with the paper left in the room. Shotson uses some ink to do a rubbing of the latest thing drawn on the table. Ends up with a poor rendering of a twisted face with many teeth and pointed ears.

-Group also notice that there is a rooftop across the street that looks into this room

-They leave the raven and go to that roof. See claw marks like those of a cat in the wood and a trail leading away

-Decide to check it out in the morning, go spend a night at the bunkhouse

-In morning they are the first up, go to scene of murder and find three roadani guards asleep

-Drake goes down and scared that he woke them up, jumps into a barrel nearby. As the soldiers wake up Drake jumps out of the barrel and pretends he was stuffed in. Asks the soldiers to cut the rope tied around his hands

-Shotson yells “By goodness! I can’t tell if this is idiotic or ingenious”

-Soldiers seem to be in a daze and cut Drawk free but refuse to go after who Drake says tied him up

-Shotson is highly offended and jumps down demanding that they be better as Soldiers of Roadon and he wants to speak with their supervisors. Dazed, the name their supervisor and sit back down

-The investigators leave, following the Sren’Kana tracks on the roof. They find some blood and a path leading west

-Eventually gets to main boulevard and they drop down to find a mask stolen from a nearby scarecrow

-knock on door and ask the tired person inside what the mask was. It was a lion

-Afterward go to the temple of Cainar, see priest arguing with a group of lethargic guards. He is wearing vivid red robes and a tall golden hat.

-He is very excited to meet Jeerlock and Shotson. He has read of their escapades.

-Invites them to his office. Says someone broke into his office and tore his safe open, stealing the mind stones inside. He also says no one noticed an intruder except for him. He doesn’t remember any details about the intruder but the thing ran away with the mind stones after he call for his butler with his bell.

-Has his lethargic butler get them tea. They all realize most people have been extremely tired. The Sren’Kana probably used the mind stones to cast a spell of lethargy on the Casbah. Holmes hypotheses that only people with mind stones are unaffected

-Say goodbye to the priest and promise him they will look into it.

-Find the cleric upstairs speaking with some soldiers, she is upset to see them but agrees to work with them since most people are all incapactied. They all talk about what they learned and she agrees it is a Sren’Kana. She also found some lore which suggests that Stone-Eaters are afraid of snakes

-They go to the Commandant’s tower to try and speak with him. Find only a few people out and about on what should be the most popular day of the festival

-At the tower, the guard lets them into the commandant’s room

-Find the commandant dead like the other corpse. Guard at the door said he didn't think anyone went into the room

-Jeerlock looks out the thin window into the Casbah below and realises the Sren'Kana must have walked in through the door since the window is too narrow to crawl through.

-They talk with the cleric and realise the Stone Eater is targeting the town's leaders. Since now the highest ranking Roadani and Toallan have both been killed. They also think it cast the spell of apathy to stop the feeling of joy in the town. Even though it delights in dread, it likely hated positive emotions from its victims.

-Drake wants to attempt to scry the beast with his day stones. Focusing on the picture shotson made, he tried to illuminate in his mind where the Sren'Kana was.

-sees the beast in a dark corner drinking blood. It has a terrible face like a leech with rows of circular teeth and tufted ears. It's hollow eyes look right at Drake and the fire breather realises he is now being hunted.

-using drake as bait they want to lure the beast to the tavern then drive it away with jubilation.

-the cleric goes to find a mindatone to cast a counter spell. Shotson and Drake go to the Toallan tavern to try and start a celebration. Jeerlock goes to check on other leaders to make sure they aren't being hunted and to get the Toalla priest to gather people to the tavern that night.

-go to tavern and drake starts feeling anxious. The tavern keeper is nervous and hostile but is eventually convinced to let the celebration happen in her tavern. She even agrees to donate food and drink cause her life is on the line

-Jeerlock checks on the priest and he is acting normal. He promises to bring people to the tavern along with his favorite brandy. He realises if the cleric and priest are feeling fine, the beast must also be hunting the tavern keeper

-After about an hour of set up, Drake begins to feel a desire to get outside and run away. He is able to control himself but the others soon realize that the tavern keeper has run away. Jeerlock and Shotson run after her. Jeerlock is able to deduce which way she went and they talk her back.

-When they get back they find that drake in his paranoid state has started a bar fight. It is resolved when Jeerlock offers everyone free drinks.

-Soon the Priest of Cainar shows up with some other people. He offers Shawn and Jeerlock some of his rare brandy.

-The Cleric shows up with some of the unaffected Roadani

-Drake is able to keep his fear underwraps and begins to perform with a fiddle.

-By now night has fallen. The people inside the tavern are celebrating but with an air of caution.

-In a short time, the door opens to reveal a figure in a lion mask. It removes it to reveal a leech-like face and tufted ears. It looks at Drake

-Drake begins to play frantically, using magic he summons the form of two snakes in fire. He also begins screaming along with his music. Other people begin to scream in support as well and the Cleric casts a spell of excitement and joy on the people. Shawn takes his spear and throws it so it moves through one of the snakes. It comes alight and strikes the Sren’Kana in the chest.

-Fleeing the happy people, snakes, and pain, the Stone-Eater runs from town, leaping over the wall as the celebration follows.